http://hrw.org/reports/2007/philippines0607/
Philippines: Prosecute Political Killings
Failure to Prosecute, Lack of Witness Protection Leads to Official Impunity
(New York, June 28, 2007) – The Philippine government should aggressively prosecute members of the security forces responsible for hundreds of extrajudicial executions in recent years, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
" There is strong evidence of a ‘dirty war’ by the armed forces against left-leaning activists and journalists. The failure to prosecute soldiers or police suspected in these killings shifts the spotlight of responsibility to the highest levels of the government. "
Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
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The 84-page report, “Scared Silent: Impunity for Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines,” based on more than 100 interviews, details the involvement of government security forces in the murder or “disappearance” of members of leftist political parties and nongovernmental organizations, journalists, outspoken clergy, anti-mining activists, and agricultural reform activists. To date there have been no successful prosecutions of any member of the armed forces implicated in recent extrajudicial killings.
“There is strong evidence of a ‘dirty war’ by the armed forces against left-leaning activists and journalists,” said Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The failure to prosecute soldiers or police suspected in these killings shifts the spotlight of responsibility to the highest levels of the government.”
While abuses have been common in the decades-long armed conflict between the government and the communist New People’s Army (NPA), unlawful killings appeared to shift into a higher gear in February 2006, after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo accused leftist political parties of allying themselves with military coup plotters. In June 2006, Arroyo declared a new strategy of an “all-out war” to eliminate the NPA, which may have sent a signal to the military that abuses would be tolerated. The NPA also continues to commit human rights abuses, including kidnapping and unlawful killings, which Human Rights Watch also condemned. But such abuses by insurgents do not justify the military or the government committing further human rights violations through extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of any person, including members of political groups and civil society organizations that are sympathetic to the insurgents’ cause.
Most of the victims of the political killings documented by Human Rights Watch were members of legal political parties or organizations that the military claims are allied with the communist movement. None of the incidents investigated by Human Rights Watch involved anyone who was participating in an armed encounter with the military or was otherwise involved in NPA military operations. Each victim appears to have been individually targeted for killing.
Three motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and killed Sotero Llamas, the former Bicol region commander of the NPA, while he was riding in his car on the morning of May 29, 2006, through his home town of Tabaco City, in Albay province. Llamas, who had been imprisoned in 1995 for his membership in the NPA, was released in 1996, became a consultant to the peace process, and then became a founding member of the political party Bayan Muna. In February 2006, Llamas was one of the 51 people whom the police accused of rebellion and insurrection and being involved in the conspiracy to overthrow the Arroyo administration. A judge dismissed the charges, but state prosecutors subsequently re-filed the case, which was still pending at the time of his death.
Three eyewitnesses currently in hiding told Human Rights Watch of the involvement of soldiers in the death of Pastor Andy Pawikan, a member of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, on May 21, 2006. Pawikan, his wife, his 7-month-old daughter and three other women were walking home from church when they were stopped by a group of about 20 soldiers. The women, including Pawikan’s wife, were allowed to proceed but the soldiers detained Pawikan, who was carrying the baby. After about 30 minutes, those who had just been with Pawikan heard “many” shots. They were too afraid to investigate. After some time a group of soldiers came and returned the child to Pawikan’s mother-in-law. The baby was covered in blood but otherwise uninjured. The next day soldiers from the locally based 48th Infantry Battalion told the villagers Pawikan had fought the soldiers and they had no choice but to shoot him.
Human Rights Watch also found that the Philippines government is consistently failing in its obligations under international human rights law to hold accountable perpetrators of politically motivated killings, and thus denying victims’ families justice. One apparent roadblock to prosecutions is the seeming unwillingness of senior military officials to even recognize that superior commanders may be legally responsible for acts of their subordinates as a matter of command responsibility. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. told the media, “Criminal acts only involve the individual.”
The Philippine national police also frequently labels cases “solved” when a suspect has been identified and charges have been filed before the prosecutor or the court, even if the evidence and allegations are so uncertain as to raise significant doubts that a viable case could ever be pursued. The alleged perpetrator is very rarely in custody and in many cases is not even capable of being apprehended. Families told Human Rights Watch that they received little or no information from the police about the state of investigations, and that the police showed almost no concern as to whether the victim’s family still has unanswered questions or concerns. One widow said: “We’ve had no contact [with the police] since the killing .... That’s why we don’t trust them. Because it’s been almost two months, and the investigation doesn’t seem resolved.”
“The armed forces serve the civilian authority, but the government isn’t exercising that authority when it matters most – in protecting civilians,” said Richardson. “The victims and their families deserve better from their government.”
In response to growing international pressure, in August 2006 President Arroyo created a special police body, Task Force Usig, which she charged with solving 10 cases in 10 weeks. At the end of its mandate the Task Force claimed that 21 cases were “solved” by filing cases in court against identified suspects, all of them members of the Communist Party of the Philippines or the NPA. Only 12 suspects involved in these incidents were actually in police custody.
In August 2006, President Arroyo also created the Melo Commission to further probe the killings of media workers and left-wing activists since 2001. The commission’s report, which was only made public under pressure from United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston, failed to provide any new information or analysis on the cases. At the commission’s hearings, army and police officials were not challenged when they advanced distorted understandings of command responsibility, and were instead indulged in lengthy digressions on the importance of neutralizing the NPA threat. The Melo Commission’s mandate expires on June 30, 2007.
Human Rights Watch said that while the government claims that it is doing all it can to address abuses, it has taken few concrete steps to end the killings or prosecute perpetrators. On paper, the Philippines has a witness protection scheme, special courts to investigate political killings, and a variety of government taskforces and commissions investigating extrajudicial executions, but the government is failing to implement these measures in a credible or convincing manner. This generates widespread fear, particularly in affected rural communities, of further military abuses. Witnesses and family members of victims are afraid to cooperate with police for fear of becoming targets of reprisal.
Human Rights Watch called on the Philippine government to immediately issue an executive order to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippines National Police reiterating the prohibition on the extrajudicial killing of any person. In addition, Human Rights Watch has urged the United States to consider suspending military aid to the Philippines until members of the military suspected of involvement in murders have been prosecuted.
“Actions speak louder than words, and the only real proof of the government’s commitment to end these killings will be when the perpetrators are finally held to account in a court of law,” said Richardson. “Until the Arroyo administration, the army and police act on their obligations to investigate crimes and prosecute the perpetrators, even when they are members of the security forces, people will continue to get away with murder in the Philippines.”
Selected statements from “Scared Silent: Impunity for Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines”:
“At the moment I’m receiving texts saying someone will follow members of the family. I don’t know if it’s a threat or a warning. He says in some of the texts that he knows who killed my father and that I should go talk to him. I don’t know who he is. I just have his number… [I’ve received around] twenty. Saying things like ‘Don’t investigate or we’ll get your family.’”
– Marilyn Llamas, September 21, 2006
“[One witness] has already disappeared. The other witnesses are afraid of the situation here. They are afraid that the perpetrators will begin to kill them also, because they were [warned] by the perpetrators that they will come back and kill them if they talk about the incident ... I am afraid that their families will also be killed if they stand up regarding the incident .... If I push the case I’m afraid of what might happen to [me and my family]. So I’m not quite sure if I’ll pursue the case or not.”
– Maria Balani (not her real name), date withheld, 2006
“After the internment of my sister, the police investigators invited me to come talk to them ... Okay, I went. They asked me for my statement, so I gave them the same statement I’m giving you now. But I noticed that the investigator did not write down my statement ... They did nothing.”
– Human Rights Watch interview with Maria Fabicon (not her real name), date withheld, 2006
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Mauritania: ARTICLE 19 publishes report on the state of freedom of expression in Mauritania
ARTICLE 19, Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression is today publishing a report on the state of freedom of expression in Mauritania [in French] together with an ARTICLE 19 and Mauritanian Human Rights Association (AMDH) action plan for the country (in English & French).
In June 2006 and March 2007 ARTICLE 19 jointly organised two workshops with its partner AMDH. The aim of the workshops was to inform Mauritanian civil society groups on the African and international mechanisms in place for the protection on freedom of expression. These workshops were also an opportunity to research and assess the state of freedom of expression in the country.
From its activity ARTICLE 19 has published a report titled ‘Mauritanie Rapport Sur La Liberté D’Expression’, and a country action plan that identifies key areas where freedom of expression in Mauritania can be improved:
• High newspaper prices and poor distribution
• Insufficient training of journalists
• Need for training of legal practitioners on justice and freedom of expression and of the press.
• Lack of training institutes and curricula on media rights and freedom of expression and the press
Another key problem identified by the national advisory commission is the State domination of the Broadcast sector. Mauritania is the only country in the West African region without privately-owned radio or television.
The report is currently only available in French, and the action plan in English and French.
To view a copy of the report and the action plan in French please follow this link: http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/mauritanie-rapport-sur-foe.pdf
To view a copy of the Mauritania action plan in English please follow this link: http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/mauritania-action-plan-english.pdf
NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information, please contact illia@article19.org Tel: +44 (20) 7278 9292.
ARTICLE 19 is an independent human rights organisation that works globally to protect and promote the right to freedom of expression. It takes its name from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees free speech.
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=512&ArticleID=5621&l=en
Investments in Management and Rehabilitation of Natural Resources Central to Conflict Resolution and Peace Building in Sudan Says UN Environment Programme
Geneva/Nairobi, 22 June 2007 - Sudan is unlikely to see a lasting peace unless widespread and rapidly accelerating environmental degradation is urgently addressed.
A new assessment of the country, including the troubled region of Darfur, indicates that among the root causes of decades of social strife and conflict are the rapidly eroding environmental services in several key parts of the country.
Investment in environmental management, financed by the international community and from the country's emerging boom in oil and gas exports, will be a vital part of the peace building effort, says the report.
The most serious concerns are land degradation, desertification and the spread of deserts southwards by an average of 100km over the past four decades.
These are linked with factors including overgrazing of fragile soils by a livestock population that has exploded from close to 27 million animals to around 135 million now.
Many sensitive areas are also experiencing a "deforestation crisis" which has led to a loss of almost 12 per cent of Sudan's forest cover in just 15 years. Indeed, some areas may undergo a total loss of forest cover within the next decade.
Meanwhile, there is mounting evidence of long-term regional climate change in several parts of the country. This is witnessed by a very irregular but marked decline in rainfall, for which the clearest indications are found in Kordofan and Darfur states.
In Northern Darfur for example precipitation has fallen by a third in the past 80 years says the report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch.
The scale of climate change as recorded in Northern Darfur is almost unprecedented, and its impacts are closely linked to conflict in the region, as desertification has added significantly to the stress on traditional agricultural and pastoral livelihoods.
In addition, "forecast climate change is expected to further reduce food production due to declining rainfall and increased variability, particularly in the Sahel belt. A drop in crop yields of up to 70 per cent is forecast for the most vulnerable areas," says the Sudan Post-Conflict Assessment.
http://www.hrcberkeley.org/download/NUgandaReport2007.pdf
Damning report on Uganda war crimes
By Yasmin Anwar, Media Relations | 15 June 2007
BERKELEY – A report released today (Friday, June 15) by the University of California, Berkeley, and Tulane University provides hard data on forced conscription into the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group accused of kidnapping tens of thousands of women and children to serve as soldiers, servants or sex slaves in northern Uganda.
The report documents rising violence in the 20-year-long conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and Ugandan government forces, which have been negotiating a ceasefire. Data was collected from rehabilitation centers in the war-torn, eastern African republic by members of the Berkeley-Tulane Initiative for Vulnerable Populations. The group is made up of faculty and researchers from UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center and Tulane University's Payson Center for International Development.
The International Criminal Court, a permanent tribunal that prosecutes individuals for war crimes and handles situations referred to it by the United Nations Security Council, has issued indictments against LRA leader Joseph Kony, a self-proclaimed spirit medium, and four other commanders. The Berkeley-Tulane report, "Abduction: The Lord's Resistance Army and Forced Conscription in Northern Uganda," could be made available to the court's Office of the Prosecutor if the rebel leaders are brought to trial, the researchers said.
"Our research shows that Kony and his henchmen abducted as many as 38,000 children and 37,000 adults into his rebel army over the past 11 years," said Eric Stover, coauthor of the report and faculty director of UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center. "These conscripted civilians were forced to commit horrible crimes, including the mutilation and killing of fellow villagers and even family members."
Stover and Tulane coauthors Phuong Pham and Patrick Vinck presented their findings today at a press conference at 10:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. PDT) in Gulu, Uganda. The event, hosted by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), marks the International Day of the African Child.
"One of our most alarming findings is that young women between the ages of 19 and 30 were held the longest in rebel captivity, averaging about four and a half years," said Pham, assistant professor at the Payson Center for International Development. "Many, if not most, of these women were forced to serve as 'wives' and domestic servants to top rebel commanders."
Among the report's findings:
* As many as 38,000 children and 37,000 adults have been abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army since 1986.
* Nearly one in four of the abductees is female and, on average, women remain enslaved by the LRA three and a half years longer than men.
* Young women are often used by LRA commanders as "wives," and up to 10 percent become pregnant while in captivity, contributing to the length of their stay.
* In some LRA-occupied regions, as many as 10 percent of the inhabitants were abducted. While some eventually returned to their communities, others died in captivity.
"Many of these children and adults are still unaccounted for, and more work is needed to identify the whereabouts of those still missing," said Vinck, director of the Berkeley-Tulane Initiative.
Kony formed the Lord's Resistance Army after the 1986 overthrow of Ugandan president Tito Okello. His guerilla army operates mainly in northern Uganda and southern Sudan.
UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center has undertaken two research projects in northern Uganda in recent years - one on the impact of the war on children and youth, and the other on attitudes toward peace and justice in the region. For this latest report on forced conscription, the center joined forces with Tulane University researchers trained in epidemiology and development "to expand our capacity for data collection and analysis," said Camille Crittenden, executive director of the UC Berkeley center.
Much of the data for the report came from reception centers for former child soldiers and other abductees in northern Uganda. These centers were established in the 1990s to rehabilitate children who had escaped the LRA or were captured by the Ugandan army. In addition to collecting and analyzing data from the centers, the research team helped the centers improve their capacity to amass and study data on LRA escapees. The centers can now provide a more accurate picture of the escapees' experiences and needs as they reintegrate into their communities.
The report recommends that UNICEF and other international and national child welfare organizations develop community-based programs to help former child soldiers in northern Uganda and other war-torn countries recover from abuse and trauma, and establish livelihoods. Such programs would offer educational and career opportunities, including job and leadership training.
It also proposes that the United Nations establish a standardized system for collecting and analyzing data on former child soldiers and missing people for rehabilitation centers and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs. A systematic collection of data on child soldiers would reveal patterns of abduction and captivity that can be helpful to commissions, tribunals and criminal courts that investigate or prosecute war crimes, including the forced conscription of children, Stover said.
Freelance journalist Nuri Kino has recently written the report "By God: Six Days in Amman." During six days in April, he met several Iraqi refugees in the capital of Jordan, and was able to hear why they had fled.
He has almost daily contact with Assyrians, also called Syriacs and Chaldeans, in the war struck Iraq. Only a couple of days ago he received a phone call about an Assyrian couple who had been killed because of them working as interpreters for the American embassy in Baghdad. They were on the wrong side.
"This is what it looks like almost every day," Says Nuri Kino.
But it is not the constant reports of homicides and persecutions, but the signals of a systematic and ethic cleansing of the Christian Assyrians in Iraq is taking place, which made Nuri Kino go to Jordan during spring.
Changed attitude
"During the time of Saddam, they were ethnically persecuted, but as long as they changed their names into Arabic or Kurdish ones, and agreed to be called only Christians, they were allowed to practice their religion in peace. Half a year after the American invasion, a new systematic persecution with one single aim started -- to extinguish the existence of the natives of Iraq.
Churches are bombed, priests are brutally killed, nuns are raped and children are kidnapped...and it continues".
"There are people who go as far as to call it genocide," He says, and refers to the president of the Christian Barnabas Foundation, with principal center in Great Britain.
At the moment there are between up to 150,000 Christian Assyrians in Amman, the capital of Jordan.
Want a Safe Haven
According to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, about 1.9 million Iraqis are refugees in the neighboring countries, Syria and Jordan in particular.
The Catholic bishop in Baghdad, Andreas Abouna, said in a recent press release that as many as half of the Christian inhabitants of Iraq, as many as half a million people, have fled the country since the invasion of 2003.
"In 1991 the Kurds needed protection, in 2007 the Assyrians need protection," Says Nuri Kino.
"More and more Assyrian people are demanding an autonomous area in Iraq. That would be in the Plain of Nineveh, the ancient homeland of the Assyrians, where the Christians are still a majority of the population."
Sweden's Secretary of State, Carl Bildt, condemned Sunday's murder (AINA 6-3-2007) of an Assyrian priest and three deacons, saying "the attack is most tragic and unacceptable. There is need for a political development in order for human rights for all to become reality in Iraq.
The US Ambassador to Sweden said of Sunday's murders, "...a horrible act of terror. The issue of religious persecution in Iraq will be brought up for discussion by President Bush."
By Shamiram Demir
EasternStar News Agency
Edited by AINA
© 2007, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved
Este informe de Amnistía Internacional habla generalmente sobre la impunidad en México y describe siete casos puntuales en la que ésta se manifiesta.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/getfile.cfm?id=2975&tid=4896&type=pdf&l=1
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/getfile.cfm?id=2975&type=word&tid=4896&l=1
Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Crisis
Asia Report N°135
14 June 2007
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The resumption of war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been accompanied by widespread human rights abuses by both sides. While the LTTE has continued its deliberately provocative attacks on the military and Sinhalese civilians as well as its violent repression of Tamil dissenters and forced recruitment of both adults and children, the government is using extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances as part of a brutal counter-insurgency campaign. The likely results will be the further embitterment of the Tamil population and a further cycle of war, terrorism and repression. Without ignoring or minimising the serious violations of the LTTE, the international community needs to bring more pressure to bear on the government, through UN mechanisms, a reappraisal of aid policies and intensified political engagement. The alternative is a further decline into authoritarianism, violence, terrorism and repression.
Civilians are repeatedly caught up in the fighting. More than 1,500 have been killed and more than 250,000 displaced since early 2006. There have been hundreds of extrajudicial killings, and more than 1,000 people are still unaccounted for, presumed to be the victims of enforced disappearances. Hundreds more have been detained under newly strengthened Emergency Regulations that give the government broad powers of arrest and detention without charge. The security forces have also expelled hundreds of Tamils from Colombo. Forces commanded by the ex-LTTE commander Karuna, leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) now aligned with the government, engage in child recruitment, extortion, abductions for ransom and political assassinations.
While many deaths result from military clashes, the army – assisted by pro-government Tamil paramilitaries – is also engaged in a deliberate policy of extrajudicial killings and abductions of Tamils considered part of LTTE’s civilian support network. Targeted assassinations have been particularly frequent in Jaffna and parts of the east, often victimising civilians with no connection to the LTTE. Political killings, abductions and disappearances have also spread to Colombo, where abductions for ransom have targeted both Tamils and Muslims.
Tamils are increasingly fearful and alienated from a government that claims to be liberating them from the LTTE but has failed to promote any viable political solution to the conflict. The violence and abuse suffered by many Tamils has ensured increased support and funding for the insurgents.
The counter-insurgency campaign is leading to more authoritarianism in the country as a whole. Officials now routinely brand their political critics and human rights advocates as LTTE sympathisers, while political opponents and journalists have been arrested under the Emergency Regulations. What began as an effort to target LTTE supporters shows disturbing signs of becoming generalised repression of dissent. While routinely attacking moderate, democratic forces, the government has given free rein to Sinhalese nationalist groups.
For the most part the government has responded to criticism with denial, obfuscation and virulent, verbal attacks on its critics. In an attempt to deflect international criticism, it has also established new institutions to investigate allegations of human rights abuses. A Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI), backed by a panel of international observers, is investigating a series of atrocities. However, the history of such institutions in Sri Lanka is grounds for scepticism: previous commissions have been ineffective in stopping abuses or prosecuting perpetrators.
In any case, the CoI is no substitute for proper action by the law enforcement agencies and judiciary to investigate and prosecute abuses. The national Human Rights Commission is deeply flawed and has lost all credibility after being stocked by political appointees. Other domestic institutions are increasingly politicised or dysfunctional, leading to calls for an international human rights monitoring mission, which may be the only way to end the present wave of abuses. The international community has responded to the renewed conflict and human rights abuses, however, in a disjointed and lacklustre way. While there has been some public criticism, there is little sign of a coordinated approach that would put real pressure on the government to change course.
If the government does not begin to reassert the rule of law, it may find itself unable to bring under control the violent forces that have been unleashed – including the TMVP, other Tamil paramilitaries and criminal elements. The nature of the campaign against the LTTE has spawned a rise in general lawlessness. Democratic state institutions are increasingly threatened by the development of a regime that is becoming more authoritarian.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Sri Lankan Government:
1. Pursue vigorously investigations, indictments and prosecutions against those alleged to be involved in atrocities.
2. End the policy of extrajudicial killings and disappearances and take active measures to prevent abductions, killings and arbitrary detentions in government-controlled areas.
3. Assert effective control over the TMVP paramilitary group by:
(a) restricting it in civilian areas to unarmed political activity;
(b) arresting and prosecuting all members engaged in criminal activities, including abduction, child recruitment, extra-judicial killings and robbery; and
(c) strictly limiting the role of TMVP members in administration, relief and resettlement programs.
4. Prevent, prosecute and end any government facilitation of child recruitment by pro-government paramilitaries.
5. Guarantee the constitutional right to freedom of movement and residence of all citizens and end all threats and harassment by security forces of Tamils visiting Colombo.
6. Appoint the Constitutional Council and allow it to nominate the members of independent commissions, including the Human Rights Commission and National Police Commission.
7. Ensure that the Human Rights Commission publishes accurate data on complaints, and publish the report of the Mahanama Tillakeratne Commission on disappearances and other reports commissioned by the government on human rights issues.
8. Establish and implement safeguards against arbitrary and abusive detentions, including by:
(a) repealing those aspects of the Emergency Regulations that are not consistent with international human rights norms;
(b) enforcing existing laws and presidential directives providing for transparent arrests and detentions and instituting strong penalties for non-compliance;
(c) allowing the Human Rights Commission and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit all places of detention, including TMVP offices; and
(d) prosecuting officers who refuse to identify themselves, take down complaints or give receipts to family members when a suspect is arrested.
9. Give every possible assistance to the Commission of Inquiry, including by:
(a) providing sufficient funds to retain private counsel so it need not rely on government lawyers;
(b) establishing and properly funding effective witness protection procedures;
(c) providing it full documentation and ensuring that officials called to testify cooperate fully; and
(d) proceeding expeditiously with prosecutions.
10. Invite the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other UN representatives, including the UN Working Group on Enforced and Voluntary Disappearances, to visit Sri Lanka.
11. Allow the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to establish a human rights field operation mandated to monitor abuses by all parties, protect civilians and perform capacity building in support of domestic institutions.
12. Sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and renew commitments to other human rights treaties, by new legislation if necessary.
13. Incorporate the concept of command responsibility into law and make forced disappearance a criminal offence.
To the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE):
14. Cease all political killings, abductions, extortion and suicide bombings and suppression of dissent.
15. Open all prisons and detention centres to inspection by the ICRC and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and cooperate fully with international bodies, including The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the OHCHR.
16. Cease all forced recruitment, of children and adults, and forced military training of civilians.
17. End harassment of humanitarian agencies and forced recruitment of their staff.
To the International Community:
18. Support a strengthened resolution in the UN Human Rights Council calling for an OHCHR human rights field operation mandated to undertake monitoring, protection, and capacity-building activities.
19. Maintain political engagement, through high-level contacts and visits, including a visit by senior members of the U.S. Congress and similar visits by delegations from other parliaments.
20. Maintain pressure on LTTE financing and extortion of the Tamil diaspora.
21. Encourage the UN Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against both the LTTE and the TMVP if they continue to recruit child soldiers.
22. Support capacity building for domestic human rights protection, including:
(a) funding and enabling an effective witness protection program that includes provisions for asylum and assistance to witnesses outside the country;
(b) suspending funding for the Human Rights Commission (other than special aid for its effective regional offices) until its members are reappointed on nomination of a new Constitutional Council; and
(c) giving more effective support to civil society organisations, particularly those committed to civilian protection and coordinated monitoring, documentation and advocacy initiatives.
23. Convene a consultation meeting of bilateral and multilateral donors to discuss new approaches that take into account widespread human rights abuses and the renewal of conflict, including significantly limiting aid to the government and increasing support for civilian protection and humanitarian initiatives.
Colombo/Brussels, 14 June 2007
http://hrw.org/reports/2007/guinea0607/
New Government and UNICEF Should Take Action Against Exploitation and Abuse
(Conakry, June 15, 2007) – Thousands of girls employed as domestic workers in Guinea face labor exploitation and physical abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today, on the eve of the International Day of the African Child. The new Guinean government, which took office in March, should fulfill its pledge to improve living conditions for youths, including child domestic workers.
" Girls recruited into domestic work in Guinea often live in conditions akin to slavery, and many are victims of trafficking. The new government urgently needs to take concrete measures to protect girl domestic workers. "
Juliane Kippenberg, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch
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The 110-page report, “Bottom of the Ladder: Exploitation and Abuse of Girl Domestic Workers in Guinea,” documents how girls as young as 8 years old work up to 18 hours a day as domestic workers, frequently without pay, and are often insulted, beaten and raped by their employers. Domestic work is the largest employment category among children in Guinea. Girls come from as far as Mali, and some are victims of trafficking and forced labor.
“Girls recruited into domestic work in Guinea often live in conditions akin to slavery, and many are victims of trafficking,” said Juliane Kippenberg, a children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch and the author of the report. “The new government urgently needs to take concrete measures to protect girl domestic workers.”
The large majority of girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch said their employers refused to enroll them in school, even when other children in the family were attending school. Current efforts in Guinea to increase girls’ primary school enrollment, in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, fail to target girl domestic workers.
A 15-year-old girl, sent by her father at age 8 to work for a woman in the capital Conakry, told Human Rights Watch: “The woman suggested to my father that she could look after me and send me to school …. I have not been in contact with my father since …. The other children in the family go to school but not me. The promise of education was never mentioned again. I do the domestic work and sell piment [hot pepper]. When she is gone, her husband wakes me up and rapes me. He has threatened me with a knife and said I must not tell anyone. He does it each time his wife travels. I am scared.”
There is no child protection system in Guinea. Child trafficking, child abuse, and labor exploitation are very rarely prosecuted. In March, a new government took office following popular protests against corruption, poor governance and worsening economic conditions. The new prime minister, Lansana Kouyaté, has pledged to focus on establishing the rule of law and improving living conditions for youths.
“Ending abuses against girl domestic workers should be a priority on the new government’s agenda for youth,” Kippenberg said. “Local NGOs currently provide the only source of protection and assistance for child domestic workers, but they lack resources and cannot cover the country systematically.”
Human Rights Watch urged the Guinean government with the support of its international donors and intergovernmental organizations, including UNICEF, to:
• Investigate and punish those responsible for child trafficking, physical and sexual violence against children, and labor exploitation. Take steps to professionalize judicial staff and curb corruption in the judiciary.
• Set up a child protection system that allows for systematic monitoring of children without parental care, in particular girl domestic workers. This should allow for the removal of girls from abusive environments, and reunification with their families or placement with foster families, if this is in the best interest of the child. Such a protection system should be established in close collaboration with international agencies and national nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
• Take specific measures to improve access to education for child domestic workers, such as the creation of more schools that offer primary education for children older than the official enrollment age (so-called Nafa schools or “schools of the second chance”) in Conakry and other urban centers.
• Amend article 5 of the Labor Code and Decree 2791 on Child Labor to set the minimum age for work as 15. Enforce existing labor protections and assist child domestic workers seeking redress through labor tribunals.
http://www.humanrightsblog.org/reports/journalistsonthefrontline.pdf
I would like to put your attention to the attached latest worldwide report from FRONTLINE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENCE. In this report you would find about Somaliland and Somalia Journalists HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS situation and many more useful information about human rights.
Thank you for your patience to read it.
Suleiman Ismail Bolaleh –xuquuq-
Chairman
HORNWATCH
http://www.ohchr.org/english/about/publications/reference.htm
UN LAUNCHES LEGISLATIVE GUIDE ON CHILD RIGHTS TREATY
New York, Jun 12 2007 8:00AM
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has launched a new publication which aims to serve as a research tool for children's rights advocates based on the major international treaty guiding their work.
"This major study documents how the Convention on the Rights of the Child came to represent a sea change in the way the international community was prepared to address the rights of children," High Commissioner Louise Arbour writes in the book's preface.
The two-volume Legislative History on the Convention on the Rights of the Child lists among the many major advances ushered in by the Convention recognition, for the first time in a human rights treaty, of the differential and often discriminatory impact that national legislation, policies, attitudes and cultural traditions can have on girls.
The Legislative History on the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first comprehensive record of the drafting of the Convention, according to a news release from Ms. Arbour's office.
Produced following 10 years of work by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Save the Children Sweden, the publication is available on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report 2007
by the US State Department:
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/index.htm
"Trafficking in persons is a modern-day form of slavery, a new type of global slave trade. Perpetrators prey on the most weak among us, primarily women and children, for profit and gain. They lure victims into involuntary servitude and sexual slavery. Today we are again called by conscience to end the debasement of our fellow men and women. As in the 19th century, committed abolitionists around the world have come together in a global movement to confront this repulsive crime. President George W. Bush has committed the United States Government to lead in combating this serious 21st century challenge, and all nations that are resolved to end human trafficking have a strong partner in the United States."
-- Secretary Rice
Related Links
COMBATTING INTERNATIONAL CRIMES IN SUDAN: ESSENTIAL NEW GUIDE ON ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT RELEASED
PRESS STATEMENT
[LONDON 8 JUNE 2007] REDRESS, the international NGO working to obtain justice and reparation for torture survivors, today releases the long-awaited Guide “Accountability and Justice for International Crimes in Sudan - A Guide on the Role of the International Criminal Court.”
On 1 May 2007 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for crimes against humanity and war crimes against two suspects: a minister in the Government of Sudan formerly responsible for the Darfur desk, and a local militia leader. This is an important first step after almost two years of investigations but one of the suspects even continues to be a minister of humanitarian affairs in Sudan. Only yesterday, the Prosecutor of the ICC asked the UN Security Council to take action so that the two suspects face justice before the Court.
The ICC operates in a difficult if not hostile environment. It continues to face many obstacles in holding the worst perpetrators to account and in providing justice to the many victims.
“It is of critical importance that the ICC’s work in Darfur is successful, for the victims in Darfur and the future in Sudan. The Guide is intended as a useful tool to benefit all those who are dedicated to accountability and justice in Darfur and worldwide,” said Carla Ferstman, REDRESS’ Director.
Easily available public information about the ICC in Darfur is critical for all those who are serious about justice for the crimes committed in the troubled region. The ICC’s role is often not fully grasped or is misunderstood, both in Sudan and elsewhere. The REDRESS Guide responds to the needs of Sudanese human rights activists, victims and others wishing to play an active part in the ongoing work of the ICC. It also seeks to assist all those who want to learn more about the role of the ICC in the bigger conflict raging in Darfur.
The Guide has been welcomed by human rights activists from Sudan. It closes an important gap and will be invaluable for all those here in Sudan and worldwide who are committed to lasting peace and justice in Darfur and the whole of the country.
Note: The Guide is available both in English and in Arabic, in hard copy and electronically at http://www.redress.org/reports/SudanICCGuideEnglish.pdf and
http://www.redress.org/reports/SudanICCGuideArabic.pdf.
A shorter guide for victims of international crimes in Darfur is available in English at http://www.redress.org/reports/SudanICCShortGuideEnglish.pdf and in Arabic at http://www.redress.org/reports/SudanICCShortGuideArabic.pdf.
For further information contact: Mr. Lutz Oette at lutz@redress.org Tel. 020 7793 1777
http://www.usawatch.org/docs/wariniraq.pdf
"War and Occupation in Iraq" - A New NGO Report (June 2007)
Since the March 2003 invasion, the US-UK occupation of Iraq has utterly
failed to bring peace, prosperity and democracy, as originally
advertised. This major report assesses conditions in the country and
especially the responsibility of the US-led Coalition for violations of
international law. In twelve detailed chapters, brimming with
information, the authors provide a unique and compelling analysis of the
conflict, concluding with recommendations for action. Among the topics
covered are: destruction of cultural heritage, killing of civilians,
attacks on cities and long-term military bases. The report has been
written and produced by /Global Policy Forum/ and co-published by thirty
NGOs.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510932007
At least 39 individuals who remain missing are believed to have been subjected to enforced disappearance by the US authorities. The wives and children of other detainees in secret CIA custody have also been held in custody and interrogated, either as potential sources of information or to secure the capture of their husband or father.
Based on research by six leading human rights groups - Amnesty International, Cageprisoners, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and NYU School of Law, Human Rights Watch and Reprieve -, the briefing paper Off the Record provides the most comprehensive account of these 39 individuals' apprehension and detention to date, including four missing detainees here identified for the first time.
Related materials
Press release: Leading human rights groups name 39 CIA 'disappeared' detainees
Report: Off the Record - U.S. Responsibility for Enforced Disappearances in the 'war on terror'
Video: Interview with Rabia Khan, the wife of Majid Khan, transferred to Guantánamo from secret CIA custody
Video: Interview with Moazzam Begg, unlawfully detained in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay for 3 years
Feature: USA: Government must end all secret detention and guarantee fair trials
The full list includes cases of nationals from countries including Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Pakistan, Kenya and Spain. They were arrested in countries including Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Somalia and Sudan, and transferred to secret sites run by the US government.
In many cases, the current fate and whereabouts of detainees included on the list are completely unknown. In other cases, some speculative information has emerged in the press or through research and investigation.
In all cases, the US government’s silence has created grave uncertainty. The US government must end the use of secret detention, clarify the fate and whereabouts of all people who have been secretly detained and allow them access to their families and to adequate legal process.
The US has the duty to detain and bring to justice anyone responsible for crimes but it must do so in a manner that respects human rights and the rule of law.
On May 26, 2007 five persons belonging to the same family were chopped to death in their own home. According to reports the alleged cause of the multiple murders was a land dispute which had gone on for some time.
The following day, according to reports, a group of people arrived from outside the neighbourhood in a bus and burned three houses. The same day two suspects were arrested by the police and within a few hours they had been shot dead and their deaths were announced through electronic media to the whole nation. Within 24 hours of that event the magistrate of the area pronounced that the two deaths amounted to justifiable homicide in self defence.
Within the two weeks around this event there have been several murders of families in various parts of the country. In fact extra ordinary forms of crimes are taking place reflecting an extremely abnormal situation.
Following this incident the Asian Human Rights Commission issued a series of statements. In this booklet these and earlier statements and a letter written to the Secretary of the Judicial Service Commission are included. In an open letter to the speaker of Parliament and the members of parliament the AHRC called for a parliamentary debate on the issue and for the development of a strategic plan on an urgent basis to deal with the issue of the lawlessness in an enlightened manner. The AHRC for the last ten years constantly pointed out that there is a situation of an exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country which if not decisively addressed may lead to unimaginable peril for the whole country. We are publishing this booklet to contribute to a public debate, which is now imperative if there is to be a recovery.
Available at
http://www.ahrchk.net/pub/mainfile.php/delgoda/