http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/07/25/colomb16475.htm
(Washington, DC, July 25, 2007)—Guerrillas’ use of antipersonnel landmines is having a devastating impact on civilians in Colombia, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. New reported casualties have escalated dramatically in recent years, due largely to increased use of landmines by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.
" By using antipersonnel landmines, the FARC are leaving Colombian civilians who have no part in the conflict maimed, blind, deaf or dead. There is simply no excuse for using these indiscriminate weapons. "
José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch
Antipersonnel landmines are easy to manufacture from cheap, readily available materials. The FARC has invoked the low cost of building them as a justification for their use, calling the landmines the “weapon of the poor.” While the majority of landmine casualties are military, the mines are also injuring hundreds of Colombia’s poorest, most vulnerable citizens every year.
“By using antipersonnel landmines, the FARC are leaving Colombian civilians who have no part in the conflict maimed, blind, deaf or dead,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch. “There is simply no excuse for using these indiscriminate weapons.”
The 34–page report, “Maiming the People: Guerrilla Use of Antipersonnel Landmines and Other Indiscriminate Weapons in Colombia,” is accompanied by an extensive photo and audio slideshow in English and Spanish, and documents the impact on civilian survivors of guerrillas’ use of antipersonnel landmines in Colombia, as well as the difficulties that such survivors face in obtaining needed assistance from the government.
When they suffer a landmine injury, survivors’ whole lives are seriously affected. The incident not only causes physical effects, but also often impacts their mental health, their ability to support themselves and their families, and their ability to remain in their homes.
“I live dying,” said one farmer in his fifties who lost a leg and most of his eyesight when he stepped on a landmine in the state of Santander. “Now I live from handouts and from the food my children give me. … I’ve been sick for three years and, still, I don’t die.”
Human Rights Watch’s report also describes the FARC’s use of other weapons, such as gas cylinder bombs, in civilian areas. The bombs are impossible to aim accurately, and regularly hit civilian targets such as houses and churches, injuring or killing civilians.
The laws of war forbid the use of weapons, such as antipersonnel landmines, which have an indiscriminate impact. In addition, individuals and commanders of armed groups who intentionally direct attacks against civilians could be prosecuted for war crimes, or — if the attacks are part of a broader systematic attack against a civilian population — even crimes against humanity, under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
“If there is evidence that FARC commanders are intentionally directing attacks against civilian populations with these landmines or similar weapons, they could face prosecution by the ICC,” said Vivanco.
The report recounts a Human Rights Watch interview with Francisco Galán, a spokesman for the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, which also use antipersonnel mines. Galán, then in detention, stated that his group did not believe that the laws of war apply to them, and that instead a “creole” version of such laws should apply in Colombia.
The ELN has offered the Colombian government a temporary ceasefire in the context of peace negotiations. Presumably, the ceasefire would include a cessation in the use of antipersonnel landmines.
“The cessation of mine production and use should be unconditional and permanent,” said Vivanco. “The ELN should not be treating the rights of Colombia’s civilian population as a bargaining chip.”
While the guerrillas are the main users of antipersonnel landmines in Colombia, paramilitary groups have also been known to stockpile the weapons.
The Colombian government has banned the use of antipersonnel landmines under the terms of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, and its laws provide for medical, economic, and other benefits for landmine survivors. Colombia is also receiving substantial international aid, including from the European Union, for victim assistance and other mine–related initiatives. Nonetheless, the report explains, civilian survivors often lack adequate support.
Survivors, local officials and healthcare providers are often poorly informed about the benefits available to landmine survivors. In addition, the benefits can be difficult to access due to paperwork requirements, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and short deadlines for claiming them. Other survivors find that financial assistance, which is provided only in two lump–sum payments, ends up being inadequate to cover some of their basic needs.
Human Rights Watch urged the Colombian government to review and reform its victim assistance programs to address some of these problems.
http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/colombia/doc/informecol.html
El Equipo Nizkor hizo público el pasado 12 de junio de 2007 el documento "Crímenes contra la humanidad y crimen organizado en Colombia", que tiene como subtítulo "Doctrina, jurisprudencia y normas de Derecho Internacional y de Derecho Internacional de Derechos Humanos de obligado cumplimiento para el sistema de justicia colombiano".
El documento doctrinal, de 266 páginas, se distribuyó especialmente a las instituciones judiciales y se entregó en forma personalizada a los jueces de la Corte Suprema de Justicia, Corte Constitucional, Procuraduría y Fiscalía General de la Nación, así como al presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Reparación y Reconciliación y a otros operadores jurídicos especializados. También se distribuyó selectivamente a organizaciones especializadas en derecho internacional de los derehos humanos y a algunas organizaciones de derechos humanos...
El documento que presentamos tiene como finalidad dar una respuesta a un tipo de consulta que se nos ha realizado en varias oportunidades por quienes podríamos llamar operadores jurídicos en un sentido amplio. Es, por lo tanto, un análisis de la situación específica de los desmovilizados de las autodefensas y de las cuestiones derivadas de la aplicación de la denominada "Ley de Justicia y Paz".
Como consecuencia necesaria, este análisis afecta también a todos los responsables políticos respecto de los cuales se ha demostrado su participación, directa o indirecta, en lo que en la jurisprudencia internacional actual se conoce como "empresa criminal conjunta", expresión que reemplaza en la terminología a la de "organización criminal" en el sentido de las sentencias de Nuremberg...
El documento en cuestión no tiene como finalidad analizar jurídicamente las operaciones militares, ni las operaciones de fuerzas e individuos extranjeros en el territorio de Colombia ... de conformidad con el derecho internacional y el derecho internacional humanitario. Tampoco se analiza la guerra civil en Colombia desde la óptica del derecho internacional, análisis jurídico que sería necesario a la hora de tratar la cuestión de las guerrillas...
El análisis que presentamos se adecúa al estado actual de la jurisprudencia en el derecho internacional, la cual, en los últimos años, ha tenido un avance decidido al reconocerse expresamente la figura de "crímenes contra la humanidad" en la jurisdicción ordinaria en sentencias de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos y también por una decisión del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos, avances que se recogen en forma amplia en el informe... Desde este punto de vista, la finalidad del mismo es la socialización pública de la jurisprudencia aplicable y de la necesidad de comprender que la justicia es una condición necesaria de un sistema de derecho...
Esperamos en este sentido que este documento sirva a la necesaria socialización de la jurisprudencia y de la aplicación de lo que para muchos son las nuevas figuras de "crímenes contra la humanidad" y pueda ser utilizado, no sólo en los procedimientos jurídicos, sino en el necesario discurso de defensa y representación de las víctimas.
http://hrw.org/reports/2007/us0707/
US: Mandatory Deportation Laws Harm American Families
Legal Residents Often Deported for Minor Crimes
(Washington, DC, July 18, 2007) – The mandatory deportation of legal immigrants convicted of a crime, even a minor one, has separated an estimated 1.6 million children and adults, including US citizens and lawful permanent residents, from their non-citizen family members, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
" How do you explain to a child that her father has been sent thousands of miles away and can never come home simply because he forged a check? "
Alison Parker, senior researcher with the US Program at Human Rights Watch
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US immigration officials have deported 672,593 immigrants because of criminal convictions since 1997, after Congress passed legislation making deportation a mandatory penalty for a long list of crimes, including minor, non-violent offenses committed years before the laws went into effect. Many of those deported arrived in the US as children and were lawful permanent residents who had lived legally in the country for decades.
“The laws are not only cruel in their rigidity, they are senseless,” said Alison Parker, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch’s US Program and author of the report. “How do you explain to a child that her father has been sent thousands of miles away and can never come home simply because he forged a check?”
Prior to 1997, immigrants who committed a crime were permitted to go before an immigration judge, who could exercise his or her discretion in imposing penalties. However, the legislation Congress passed in 1996 precluded immigration judges from considering whether deportation would be excessively harsh in light of the immigrants’ family relationships, community ties, US military service records, or the possibility of persecution if returned to their country of origin. The deportation takes place after the non-citizen has completed the terms of the sentence imposed for the crime.
The 88-page report, “Forced Apart: Families Separated and Immigrants Harmed by US Deportation Policy,” is the first comprehensive assessment of the deportation of non-citizens with criminal convictions and the impact on families and communities in the US. The deportation cases documented in the report include:
• A 52-year-old man who lived in the US as a lawful permanent resident for 40 years, served in the US military, has four US citizen sons, and was convicted of possession and sale of small amounts of drugs;
• A father of three US citizen children convicted of breaking into a car and stealing a $10 bottle of eye drops from a drug store;
• A young man who had lived in the US legally as a refugee from Laos since the age of four.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data included in the report, 64.6 percent of immigrants deported for crimes in 2005 had been convicted of non-violent offenses, including non-violent theft offenses such as shoplifting; some 20.9 percent were deported for offenses involving violence against people; and 14.7 percent were deported for “other” crimes.
Human Rights Watch used census data on immigrant family size to estimate the number of spouses and children left behind in the US after their spouse or parent had been deported because of a criminal conviction.
Reform of the 1996 laws was not included in the comprehensive immigration legislation Congress considered this year. However, in January 2007, Congressman Jose Serrano introduced a bill (HR 1176), which would allow immigration judges to consider the interests of US citizen children during deportation hearings. The bill would not, however, protect spousal relationships or other links immigrants have to the US, such as longstanding lawful residence or service in the US armed forces.
“Most members of the European Union and other major democracies take family relationships and other links to the country of immigration into account before a final deportation decision is made,” Parker said. “But immigration judges’ hands are tied in the US; there is nothing they can do to protect families or to acknowledge the many contributions non-citizens have made to their communities or the nation.”
Two immigrants deported because of criminal convictions, Wayne Smith and Hugo Armendáriz, have brought a claim against the US government before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights. Smith and Armendáriz, both of whom have wives and children in the US, lived in the country as lawful permanent residents for 25 and 28 years respectively, before their deportations for drug offenses to Trinidad and Mexico.
A hearing in the case, for which Human Rights Watch submitted an amicus curiae brief prepared by the Stanford Immigrants Rights Clinic, will be held this Friday July 20, at the Inter-American Commission in Washington, DC.
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/tajikistan-policy-of-control.pdf
Tajikistan: New ARTICLE 19 Report Shows Freedom of Expression Under Threat
ARTICLE 19 today launches its new report, The Policy of Control: the State of Freedom of Expression in Tajikistan. This report shows that compliance with international standards of freedom of expression is still a long way away in Tajikistan.
A decade since the end of the civil war, Tajikistan is still recovering economically and psychologically. Substantive democratic reform is needed to ensure political freedom, access to information and pluralistic forms of expression.
The media in Tajikistan is still largely controlled by the State authorities and the independent media struggles to operate in an industry that is subject to stringent licensing regulations. The authorities use a number of methods to interfere in the daily activities of the print and broadcast media; there is also manipulation of State-run facilities, such as printing houses, to exert pressure. This was particularly evident during last year’s presidential elections. Moreover, websites and newspapers have been targeted, and journalists have suffered various forms of harassment - including death threats.
Although the right of freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Constitution, many journalists resort to self-censorship to avoid persecution. Extremely low salaries and difficult economic conditions have also made Tajik journalists susceptible to accepting payments for articles. More media training is needed to create industry standards and a level of professionalism that cannot be tainted by State pressure.
Defamation is a criminal offence in Tajikistan, with excessive penalties and special protection against defamation and insult of the President or other public officials. This makes it virtually impossible for journalists and other groups to be critical of the government and publicly call into account their actions, an important function of any open, democratic society.
ARTICLE 19’s recommendations include:
• Reform of the Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting
• Ensuring that all forms of harassment against the media are brought to an end
• Abolishment of all criminal provisions on defamation (and particularly the special protection for the President and public officials)
• Transformation of the State broadcaster into a public service broadcaster
A copy of the report is available at:
NOTES TO EDITORS
For further information, please contact Federica Prina, Senior Programme Officer (Russia and Central Asia, federica@article19.org, +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.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/LIVRE_ESP_PDF_BD.pdf
EL OBSERVATORIO PARA LA PROTECCIÓN DE LOS DEFENSORES DE DERECHOS HUMANOS
COMUNICADO DE PRENSA
El testimonio obstinado
Lanzamiento de la versión en español del Informe Anual 2006 del Observatorio para la Protección de los Defensores de Derechos Humanos
Ginebra-París, 12 de julio de 2007. La Organización Mundial Contra la Tortura (OMCT) y la Federación Internacional para los Derechos Humanos (FIDH), en el marco de su programa conjunto, el Observatorio para la Protección de los Defensores de Derechos Humanos, publican hoy la versión en español de su Informe Anual 2006.
Dicho informe denuncia la difícil situación que, al menos 1,311 defensores de derechos humanos, enfrentan día con día en el ejercicio de su trabajo, tales como los obstáculos a la libertad de asociación, existente en cerca de 90 países alrededor del mundo.
Esta nueva edición, para la cual el Sr. Kofi Annan, antiguo Secretario General de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, escribió el prólogo, coincide con el décimo aniversario del Observatorio, el cual rinde tributo a las mujeres y hombres que luchan diariamente porque la justicia triunfe sobre la impunidad, arriesgando a menudo sus propias vidas.
Con motivo de este lanzamiento, el día de hoy se llevará cabo una rueda de prensa en la ciudad de Bogotá, Colombia, así como reuniones consecutivas durante los próximos días en otros lugares de Latinoamérica. Es importante destacar que otras numerosas ruedas de prensa han sido organizadas a nivel nacional e internacional a lo largo del presente año en París, Ginebra y Bruselas, por mencionar algunas, gracias al apoyo de las organizaciones miembro y de las organizaciones asociadas y/o contribuyentes tanto de la OMCT como de la FIDH.
Por otro lado, recordamos que las versiones en francés e inglés del mencionado informe, fueron ya publicadas el 14 y 22 de marzo de 2007, respectivamente. Su trascripción en ruso para la sección de Europa y la Comunidad de Estados Independientes (CEI), y en árabe para el norte de África y la sección de Medio Oriente, está proyectada para un futuro cercano.
Este informe está disponible en los sitios web de la OMCT y de la FIDH en los siguientes enlaces:
http://www.omct.org/pdf/Observatory/2007/observatoire_rapport_annuel2006_esp.pdf?PHPSESSID=071f531629a00cf554d22fc71455f6d6
http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/LIVRE_ESP_PDF_BD.pdf
Para mayor información favor comunicarse con:
OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: + 41 22 809 49 39
FIDH: Gaël Grilhot: + 33 1 43 55 25 18
http://www.ncgub.net/mediagallery/download.php?mid=20070702190012811
Written, edited and published by the Human Rights Documentation Unit 25 June 2007 © Copyright June 2007 by the Human Rights Documentation Unit
http://hrw.org/reports/2007/papua0707/
Indonesia: Police Abuse Endemic in Closed Area of Papua
Government Should Open Central Highlands to Independent Observers
(Jakarta, July 5, 2007) – In the Central Highlands of remote Papua province, a region closed to outside observers, police appear to be routinely committing serious abuses, such as extrajudicial executions, torture and rape, with impunity, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Endemic police abuse is deepening mistrust of the national government in Jakarta and potentially inflaming separatist tensions.
The 81-page report, “Out of Sight: Endemic Abuse and Impunity in Papua’s Central Highlands,” is the product of more than a year of research. The report documents daily abuses by police officers and other security forces in the mountainous and isolated Central Highlands area of the Indonesian province of Papua, located on the western half of the island of New Guinea.
A key finding of the report is that the police, particularly BRIMOB officers (Mobile Brigade police, the elite paramilitary corps used for emergencies), are responsible for the most serious rights violations in the region today, although some reports of brutal treatment by Indonesian soldiers continue to emerge.
“Conditions in Papua’s Central Highlands are an important test of how Indonesia’s security forces perform when political tensions are high and regions are closed to outside observers,” said Joseph Saunders, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch. “The police are failing that test badly.”
The new report follows Human Rights Watch’s report in February, “Protest and Punishment: Political Prisoners in Papua,” which documented severe restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association in Papua.
Many of the police abuses documented in the report were particularly cruel. One man told Human Rights Watch what happened when 12 BRIMOB officers arrested him and some friends for a peaceful independence flag raising:
My teeth fell out. Blood flowed out. I was hit. I was kicked twice and then in the stomach twice again. I was kicked in the nose, the mouth and the teeth. More kicks were ordered and this was repeated. I could not count the number of times. I saw all my friends given the same treatment. Blood was flowing from them and they were forbidden from going to the toilet. They ordered us to swallow our blood. My nose was bleeding. They ordered us to swallow the blood again. I do not know the name of the officer in command. They all punched us, taking turns.
Another man reported being beaten by the police while witnessing the arrest of another person:
I was beaten with the end of a gun on my back, and with fists to my face. My mouth and eyes were smashed and bleeding. I felt dizzy and fell. Straight away I was kicked by five members of the police and BRIMOB. They were all wearing complete official uniforms with guns ... I was barely conscious when five members of the police took me into the car. As they were taking me, they punched me to the back three times with rifle butts and then in the car I was beaten with a truncheon.
Human Rights Watch wrote to both the head of the police and the head of the military in Papua asking for information on all of the cases documented in the report, but received no response.
A lack of internal accountability and a poorly functioning justice system mean impunity for perpetrators of abuses is the norm in Papua.
“No one is being prosecuted for the crimes we documented,” said Saunders. “The police are acting as a law unto themselves.”
The Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua are closed to outside human rights observers. Journalists have extremely limited access. Many diplomats have told Human Rights Watch that they have little understanding of the situation in the provinces since there is not much independent reporting on conditions there. Reliable information on the remote Central Highlands region is even harder to come by.
Human Rights Watch called on the Indonesian government to open the provinces to independent observers in order to increase the amount and quality of information about conditions there and to allow independent and transparent investigations to take place.
“By keeping the region closed to outside scrutiny, officials in Jakarta are receiving biased and partial accounts of what is taking place,” said Saunders. “Reliable information is essential if officials are genuinely interested in identifying problems and finding lasting solutions.”
For years, the Central Highlands region has been the site of often tense confrontations between Indonesian police and military units and small cells of guerrillas from the separatist Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, or OPM). The pro-independence guerrillas have conducted repeated low-level armed attacks against Indonesian security forces, which continue to conduct “sweeping” operations in civilian areas, spreading fear and panic and leading many villagers to flee their homes.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engeur440082007
Torture, ill-treatment and killings continue to be met with persistent impunity for the security forces in Turkey, Amnesty International said in a report published today. The investigation and prosecution of serious human rights violations committed by officers of the police and gendarmerie are flawed and compounded by inconsistent decisions by prosecutors and judges. As a result, justice for the victims of human rights violations is delayed or denied.
"The criminal justice system needs reform. It needs to firmly put the protection of the human rights of citizens above that of the perceived interests of state institutions and officials," said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.
Amnesty International's report, Turkey: The entrenched culture of impunity must end,looks into the factors contributing to the impunity for law enforcement officials, including administrative delays, failings in court procedures and intimidation of human rights defenders and journalists. The report highlights the absence of an independent body which can impartially and effectively investigate human rights violations by state officials and the lack of centralized data collection of human rights violations committed by the security forces.
The report's main findings include:
* Torture and ill-treatment, including during unofficial detention, during and after demonstrations, in prisons and during prisoner transfer;
* Cases of ongoing trials in Turkey where statements allegedly extracted under torture constitute a central part of the evidence but where the court has ruled such evidence admissible.
* The refusal of courts to recognize independent medical evidence in torture or other ill-treatment cases. The courts usually only accept evidence provided by the Forensic Medical Institute, which is institutionally bound to the Ministry of Justice.
* The re-introduction of a controversial provision in the revised Law to Fight Terrorism which fails to make explicit that the use of force should be strictly necessary and proportionate and that the use of lethal force is only permissible when "strictly unavoidable to protect life".
* The lack of progress in investigating fatal shootings by security forces which were not part of an armed clash and which may amount to extrajudicial killings.
In March 2006, anti-government demonstrations in Diyarbakir in eastern Turkey were followed by mass arrests. There were widespread allegations of torture or other ill-treatment in police custody -- on the basis of reports of the legal aid service of the Bar Association it was estimated that 95% of the detainees, some of them children, were tortured or otherwise ill-treated. Thirty-four investigations into allegations of torture or other ill-treatment were reportedly initiated. Over one year later not a single prosecution against any member of the security forces has been opened.
Amnesty International welcomes the Turkish government's declared commitment to a “zero tolerance for torture” policy and to the protection of human rights. The organization has noted that there are fewer reports of torture and ill-treatment in police custody and that the safeguards in the protection of suspects against ill-treatment during their apprehension, detention and interrogation have been improved.
"The government’s commitment to a 'zero tolerance for torture' can never be regarded as a sincere and fully effective policy until real steps are taken to ensure that officials who violate the absolute prohibition on torture and other ill-treatment are brought to justice. Zero tolerance for torture and other grave violations must mean that those responsible are thoroughly and independently investigated, prosecuted and convicted," Nicola Duckworth said.
"Nothing short of a fully-implemented policy of 'zero tolerance for impunity' will end the spectre of torture, other ill-treatment, killings and enforced disappearances which still blights Turkey’s human rights record."
Background
Torture was systematically practised in police and gendarmerie detention throughout Turkey until recently. The 1980 coup was accompanied by the detention of one million people many of whom were tortured and died in police custody, were forcibly disappeared or tried in unfair proceedings. The mass violations of human rights in the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast and eastern regions of Turkey in the 1990s took the form of enforced disappearances and killings by unknown perpetrators which the state authorities showed no willingness to solve, and the forcible eviction of around one million villagers when villages were evacuated and destroyed by the security forces during the conflict with separatist armed groups. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly found Turkey in violation of its international obligations in cases concerning the right to life; freedom from torture and ill-treatment; and the rights to a fair trial, liberty and security, freedom of expression, an effective remedy, and protection of property.
http://hrw.org/reports/2007/kurdistan0707/I
raq: Kurdistan Security Forces Torture Detainees
Regional Government Must End Detainee Abuse and Violations of Due Process
(New York, July 3, 2007) – Kurdistan security forces in northern Iraq routinely torture and deny basic due-process rights to detainees, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
" The government must punish prison officials and interrogators found responsible for abuse. "
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East & North Africa director
Human Rights Watch urges the Kurdistan Regional Government to end torture and ill-treatment of detainees in the custody of the security services. The Kurdish authorities should treat all detainees according to international standards and ensure their right to due process and fair trials.
The 58-page report, “Caught in the Whirlwind: Torture and Denial of Due Process by the Kurdistan Security Forces,” documents widespread and systematic mistreatment and violations of due process rights of detainees at detention facilities by Kurdistan security forces. The report is based on research conducted in Iraq’s Kurdistan region from April to October 2006, including interviews with more than 150 detainees.
Human Rights Watch raised its concerns with leaders of the Kurdistan government, including President Mas`ud Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Government, who created a government committee to carry out inspection visits to several detention facilities in early October 2006.
“Kurdistan security forces routinely subject detainees to torture and other mistreatment,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for Human Rights Watch. “Although Kurdish authorities have taken serious steps to improve conditions at detention facilities, they must do more to end the practice of torture. The government must punish prison officials and interrogators found responsible for abuse.”
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) are the two principal parties in the Kurdistan region, and each maintains its own security forces, known as Asayish. Both the KDP Asayish and the PUK Asayish operate outside the control of the regional government’s Ministry of Interior, maintain their own detention facilities, and have held hundreds of detainees, particularly those arrested on suspicion of terrorism-related offenses.
During interviews at Asayish detention facilities, detainees told Human Rights Watch that Asayish agents had beat them with metal rods and other implements, put them in stress positions for prolonged periods, and kept them blindfolded and handcuffed continuously for several days at a time. The vast majority of detainees with whom Human Rights Watch spoke also reported that they were held in solitary confinement for extended periods. With some exceptions, Human Rights Watch found that conditions of detention at Asayish facilities were severely overcrowded and unhygienic.
Human Rights Watch also found that the Asayish are holding hundreds of detainees in legal limbo without basic due-process rights, including the right to challenge their detention. In the vast majority of Asayish detainee cases that Human Rights Watch investigated, the Kurdistan authorities have not charged detainees with offenses, allowed them access to their relatives or a lawyer, brought them before an investigative judge, provided a mechanism by which they could appeal their detentions, or brought them to trial within a reasonable time period.
Human Rights Watch also investigated several cases in which Kurdish authorities had apparently held hostage relatives of individuals sought for terror-related offenses. In other cases, convicted prisoners had already served their sentences but remained in prison, and detainees who had been tried and acquitted continued to be held. Most had no knowledge of their legal status, how long they would continue to be held, or what was to become of them.
“The Kurdistan authorities must charge detainees with criminal offenses or else release them,” said Whitson. “Detainees must be able to challenge the legal basis for their detention and receive a prompt, fair trial on the charges against them.”
In July 2006, the Kurdistan National Assembly adopted the Law on the Combat of Terrorism in the Iraq Kurdistan Region (Anti-Terrorism Law), which criminalizes a wide range of offenses deemed to constitute terrorism. This law has not clarified the legal status of those terrorism suspects who were arrested prior to its enactment. This includes several suspects arrested in joint sweeps involving Iraqi and US military forces, and subsequently transferred to the custody of Kurdistan authorities.
“The Kurdish authorities must establish clear criteria to assess the legal status of terrorism suspects arrested prior to the Anti-Terrorism Law,” Whitson said. “And they need to appoint an independent judicial committee to conduct a thorough review of all detainee cases.”
During the months that Human Rights Watch conducted research for this report, it held regular discussions with the Kurdistan authorities, and acknowledges the cooperation it received from officials of both the KDP and the PUK. The KDP and PUK both gave Human Rights Watch access to all Asayish detention facilities and facilitated interviews with Asayish officials, prison directors, legal advisers and other relevant actors. Human Rights Watch also acknowledges the seriousness with which the Kurdistan authorities responded to the concerns now highlighted in this report. Over the course of the last year, Asayish officials have initiated partial reviews of detainee cases and released several groups of detainees, most of whom they had held without due process.
While Human Rights Watch recognizes and welcomes the cooperation of the Kurdistan authorities, this cooperation has yet to translate into any discernible improvement for most detainees in Asayish detention facilities and falls well short of the independent and impartial judicial review of the legal status of detainees that Human Rights Watch has recommended as a matter of urgency.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ESLAMR230012007
En los últimos dos decenios, en Colombia han muerto por homicidio más de 2.000 sindicalistas y han sido sometidos a desaparición forzada más de 138. En más del 90 por ciento de los casos, los responsables no han sido puestos a disposición judicial. Aunque en los últimos años se ha reducido el número de homicidios de sindicalistas, Amnistía Internacional considera que la crisis de derechos humanos a que se enfrentan las personas que desarrollan actividades sindicales sigue siendo grave. Las autoridades colombianas han tomado algunas medidas para mejorar su seguridad; no obstante, es preciso emprender acciones más decisivas para garantizar que se respeta el derecho a la libertad sindical en la legislación y en la práctica.
A pesar de la supuesta desmovilización de los grupos paramilitares respaldados por el ejército, paramilitares aparentemente desmovilizados continúan matando y amenazando a sindicalistas. Las fuerzas de seguridad también han sido responsables directamente de homicidios de sindicalistas, así como de instigar procesos penales arbitrarios contra sindicalistas. Amnistía Internacional considera que sigue aplicándose una estrategia militar-paramilitar coordinada, que tiene por objeto menoscabar el trabajo de estas personas, tanto por medio de su eliminación física, como intentando desacreditar la legitimidad de las actividades sindicales. La guerrilla también ha sido responsable de homicidios de sindicalistas.
No siempre es posible determinar la motivación subyacente a las amenazas de muerte y homicidios cometidos contra sindicalistas. En el contexto del largo conflicto armado interno de Colombia, a menudo se ha convertido a sindicalistas en objeto de abusos contra los derechos humanos debido a su filiación política o a otros factores ajenos a sus actividades sindicales. Sin embargo, existe una constante de abusos contra los derechos humanos de sindicalistas cometidos en el contexto de conflictos laborales, lo que indica que se ataca a sindicalistas debido precisamente a su trabajo como tales.
Amnistía Internacional considera que la comunidad internacional tiene una importante función que desempeñar en los esfuerzos por garantizar el derecho a la libertad sindical en Colombia. El hecho de que la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT) decidiera en 2006 establecer una presencia permanente en Colombia a fin de mantener bajo observación el derecho a la libertad sindical constituye una excelente oportunidad para que la comunidad internacional vigile atentamente la crisis de derechos humanos a que se enfrentan las personas que desarrollan actividades sindicales y pida a las autoridades colombianas que tomen medias decisivas para garantizar su seguridad.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR230012007
Colombia is trade unionist danger zone
A plague of death threats and killings, a sham paramilitary demobilization process and almost total impunity - these are the perpetual battles facing trade unionists in Colombia. The country is one of the most dangerous places in the world to stand up for workers' rights.
A pattern of systematic attacks against trade unionists involved in labour disputes and campaigns against privatization is exposed in a new Amnesty International report.
Colombia's National Trade Union School documented 2,245 killings, 3,400 threats and 138 forced disappearances of trade unionists between January 1991 and December 2006.
Sixteen have died so far this year. Army-backed paramilitaries and the security forces are thought to be behind most of the attacks, despite the former's supposed demobilization. Guerrilla groups have also been responsible for threats and killings.
“Trade unionists across Colombia are being sent a clear message: don’t complain about your labour conditions or campaign to protect your rights because you will be silenced, at any cost,” said Susan Lee, Amnesty International's Americas Programme Director.
“By failing to adequately protect trade unionists, the Colombian authorities are sending a message that abuses against them can continue, while companies operating in Colombia risk being held accountable for human rights abuses for which, through their conduct, they may bear responsibility.”
The report lists human rights abuses against trade unionists -- and their relatives -- working in Colombia’s health, education, public services, agricultural, mining, oil, gas, energy and food sectors.
Trade unionists are human rights defenders. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 23, clearly states that: "Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests."
Amnesty International is calling on companies working in Colombia to use their influence with the government to end and prevent human rights abuses against trade unionists.
“The attacks will continue unless effective measures are taken to end the impunity enjoyed by those killing and threatening them. This report is a wake-up call for any multinational company operating in an environment in which human rights are systematically violated. Inaction is no longer an option,” said Susan Lee.
Creating Norms of Attorney Conduct in International Tribunals: A Case Study of the ICTY
A Working Paper in Civil Rights in the NELLCO Legal Scholarship Repository
http://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1195&context=bc/bclsfp