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Human Rights Institute
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Contemporary Issues in Human Rights This bi-weekly electronic newsletter is researched and written by students in Professor Rachel Taylor's Contemporary Issues in Human Rights class. The contributors read widely in their areas of focus and choose the week's most important human rights stories to highlight. Information in the write-ups comes from the sources provided and has not been independently verified.
March 26 , 2008
Human Rights Activities of United Nations Organizations | Migration and Human Rights Women's Human Rights | Children's Rights | Corporations and Human Rights Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide
Human Rights Activities of United Nations Organizations Ninth Periodic Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human A report issued on March 20, 2008, by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in cooperation with the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur stated that recent attacks by militias and the Sudanese Armed Forces on four villages in West Darfur violated international humanitarian and human rights law. The attacks occurred in January and February on the villages of Saraf Jidad, Sirba, Silea and Abu Suruj and were part of a major military push by the Sudanese government to regain control of West Darfur's northern corridor, and force out the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), an insurgent group. According to the report, the government’s actions “violated the principle of distinction stated in international humanitarian law, failing to distinguish between civilian objects and military objectives. Moreover, the scale of destruction of civilian property, including objects indispensable for the survival of the civilian population, suggests that the damage was a deliberate and integral part of a military strategy." The attacks, which included aerial bombardments and ground offensives by armed militia and the Sudanese Armed Forces, resulted in at least 115 deaths (including women, children, elderly and disabled people) and the forcible displacement of more than 30,000 others. Homes, schools, NGO clinics and offices, community centers, water structures, food storage facilities, milling machines and stores were systematically looted, vandalized and in many cases burned down, sometimes with people still inside. There were also reports of rape committed by armed uniformed men during and after the attack in Sirba.
UN Mission to Chad and Central African Republic Signs Status Agreement with Chad The United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) signed a status of mission agreement with Chadian authorities on March 22, 2008, thereby establishing the operation’s legal principles. The mission was set up by the Security Council in September 2007 to help protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid to thousands of people uprooted due to insecurity in the northeast of the Central African Republic and eastern Chad, as well as in the Darfur region of Sudan. A U.N. press release stated that the operation of 300 police and 50 military liaison officers, as well as civilian staff will focus on the areas of civil affairs, human rights and the rule of law. However, Victor Da Silva Angelo, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for MINURCAT, emphasized that the mission “will work strictly in the framework of the Security Council Resolution 1778 [which created the mission], which limits our efforts to the refugee camps and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in eastern Chad.”
Human Rights Committee Meeting in New York March 14-April 4 The Human Rights Committee (HRC) began its ninety-second session at United Nations Headquarters in New York on March 14 and is reviewing reports submitted by Tunisia, Botswana, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Panama on measures taken to implement the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). As the monitoring body to the ICCPR, the HRC examines reports submitted by States Parties on their compliance with the ICCPR. Government representatives introduce the reports and answer oral and written questions from HRC members. States parties to the ICCPR’s Optional Protocol recognize the competence of the HRC to consider confidential communications from individuals claiming to be victims of violations of any rights protected under the treaty. During this session the HRC will review a portion of these communications in a closed session. The HRC will present its concluding observations at the end of its session.
By Lauren Torbett Iraqi Asylum-Seekers Doubled in 2007 Last week marked the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, and new data on the increased numbers of Iraqi refugees highlighted the continuing crisis of displacement caused by the conflict. The number of asylum-seekers from Iraq nearly doubled in 2007 to more than 45,000 out of 338,000 total asylum-seekers worldwide, making them the largest group of asylum-seekers in industrialized countries for the second year in a row. These figures were made clear in a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which documented the reversal of a five-year downward trend in the number of people seeking asylum in industrialized countries, largely based on the jump in asylum applications from Iraqi refugees. However, this number of Iraqi asylum seekers represents only one percent of the total number of Iraqis displaced by the violence. According to statistics from the International Organization for Migration, there are now more than 5.1 million displaced Iraqis, including 2.4 million refugees and 2.7 million internally displaced persons. Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria and IDPs in Iraq face dire economic conditions growing worse by the day, prompting international agencies and non-governmental organizations to call for an influx of humanitarian aid from donor governments.
African Refugees Risk Death or Deportation Crossing from Egypt to Israel Egyptian police shot and killed a Sudanese woman trying to cross the Israeli border last week, making her the sixth African refugee this year to die in pursuit of a better life in Israel. Israel and Egypt have both taken a tough stance toward African refugees who attempt to cross the border. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Sunday that security officials should "prevent the refugee infiltrations, even if the matter requires the use of force.” Olmert issued a directive to security forces ordering them to immediately deport African refugees who are apprehended trying to enter the county illegally. More than 2,400 African refugees have crossed the border into Israel in 2008 so far, contributing to a total influx of 7,000 in the past year. Many of the migrants live in cramped conditions in parks and bomb shelters in Tel Aviv, prompting city officials to propose a “tent city” that would house 700 people. Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter has proposed an expansion of Ketziot Prison near the Egyptian border to temporarily hold the refugees. Israel has detained thousands of refugees at the prison over the past three years, hoping to stem the flow of Africans seeking political asylum and economic opportunities in the country.
Migrant Construction Workers in Beijing Exploited by the Chinese Government Chinese workers toiling on construction projects in Beijing face serious rights violations according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. The migrant workers are often denied wages for months at a time, while they are prohibited from joining independent labor unions or exercising the right to strike. Workers face dangerous working conditions and live in cramped quarters on the construction sites, but they often cannot access medical treatment. Because of residency restrictions in urban areas, migrant workers do not have the same social welfare benefits as city residents. More than one million migrants from the countryside are employed in the construction boom to prepare for the summer Olympics, a $40 billion project involving 10,000 building sites. According to the Chinese government, six workers have died during the construction of Olympic venues. Human Rights Watch is now calling for the International Olympic Committee to monitor labor standards for Chinese workers and ensure that they are not victims of wage exploitation or inadequate safety procedures. If the Committee fails to act, HRW says that Olympic spectators “should be made aware that the venues in which they are watching the Games may have been built by workers who were mistreated.”
By Jennifer Toussaint South African Rural Women Threatened By HIV Epidemic Rural women in South Africa are facing an uphill battle as the HIV epidemic continues to plague their country. A report by Amnesty International shows that rural women continue to experience discriminatory attitudes and practices from male partners and are often the victims of sexual and gender-based violence. Fifty-five percent of the estimated five and a half million South Africans infected with HIV are women. Because of their inability to negotiate safe sexual practices, rural South African women remain at risk of HIV infection. Many women interviewed for the Amnesty International report said they were unable to protect themselves against infection because of the risk of violence if they suggested the use of condoms during sex. Rural women living with HIV face particular difficulties in obtaining adequate food resources and frequently accessing healthcare services essential to their survival. Amnesty International is advocating for the increased participation of the South African government and the international community to address these issues.
Liberia Sets Up Special Court for Rape Cases The Liberian government is setting up a special court to deal with rape cases and instances of violence against women. Rape against women and girls was rampant during Liberia’s 14-year civil conflict and has continued to persist with impunity even after a peace resolution was reached in 2003.
Abuse of Jailed Iraqi Women Nearly 200 women, some with their toddlers and infants, are living in Baghdad’s only detention center for women. Some do not know why they have been arrested, while others report that their attorney had been shot and killed en route to the prison or judges in their cases have been bribed. Letters from female inmates and investigations conducted by members of parliament and human rights activists indicates that there are possible human rights violations occurring during these detentions and that they begin as soon as the woman is detained. In addition to claims of rape and other forms of torture, it is also reported that women are routinely detained for months before facing a judge to learn of the charges against them. Delays continue after the initial court appearance with investigations taking months to complete. One detainee reports being imprisoned for four years without her case going to trial. The delays are felt at all levels; even the process of releasing detainees cleared of any crime have taken months to complete.
By Daniel Werly Nigerian Children Forced to Beg Soaring food prices and poor crop yields in Nigeria have forced many of that country’s parents to send children, who live with their families in rural areas, into the city to beg for money and food. The highest influx of child beggars is in the largest north city of Kano, where hoards of children line the streets wearing tattered clothing and holding begging bowls. Rural parents claim that they are sending their children to the city to learn the Koran but the real reason is that they do not have enough to feed their children. Islamic schools in Kano are overloaded with these rural children and are forced to send them out to the streets. There have been a growing number of these children in the last few months. A shortage in rainfall and an influx of crop-destroying locusts has caused a huge shortage in crops. Farmers in this area used to be able to feed their whole families but are no longer able to. The shortage in crops has also led to a sharp raise in food prices. The child beggars can fall prey to pedophilia, drug addiction, and sometimes even ritual murder. Human Rights Council Reviews Report by Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo On Friday March 21st, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Titinga Frederic Pacere, presented his annual report to the Human Rights Council. His report detailed continued instances of human rights violations including arbitrary executions, rapes, torture, and ill-treatment. He also reported that, despite the right of education embodied in the country’s Constitution, few children actually attended school and only 5 percent of the national budget had been earmarked for education. The Democratic Republic of the Congo responded by stating that the independent expert highlighted only a few cases of human rights violations instead of giving concrete recommendations. They also said they believe that they are doing everything in order to improve the human rights situation and called upon the international community for assistance. Michael S. Kelcheski of the United States commended the work done by the Special Rapporteur and recommended the Democratic of the Congo receive more technical and legal assistance for drafting and training and legal reform. United States Children are Victims of Sex Trafficking Sex Trafficking is a $9.5 billion industry in the United States and the second-most common form of organized crime. Many American children are being prostituted by pimps on the street, sold over the internet, exploited through pornography, and lured or forced into prostitution. Many of these “child prostitutes,” whose average age is 12, are being held in prisons for crimes that they have committed, although many argue that they have actually had crimes committed against them. About 100 college and high school students, professors, and social service workers participated in a Human Trafficking conference at Missouri University this past weekend. The conference, led by former victim Theresa Flores, included instruction on how to create a task force to rescue victims, how to identify victims, and how to spread public awareness. Flores is also raising money for a $1 million shelter near Columbus, Ohio, to house and rehabilitate girls who are victims of child prostitution.
By Amber Mills Oil Companies in Sudan According to one report from Amnesty International USA, much of the revenue fueling the conflict in Darfur is generated by the oil industry. This report estimates that 90% of Sudan's export income is derived from oil, with most of that going to fund military expenditures and virtually none supporting social development. In addition, since 2006, 27 adults and 3 children have died because of contaminated water due to the oil fields, according to one source. In addition to deaths from contamination, many people have been forcefully evicted to make way for low-sulphur crude oil ventures. These ventures have resulted in the loss of ancestral homes and livelihoods. The United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) in Darfur is aware of these statistics. However, unless government officials in the capital of Khartoum hear from key economic interests, including the oil companies that they depend on for revenue, UNAMID will continue to fight an uphill battle, and no significant change is expected to take place. To convince these oil companies to act, Amnesty calls for the support of investors.
Tobacco Industry Profiting From Poor Malawi Child Laborers A minimum of 78,000 children are working on a full- or part-time basis in the tobacco fields of the small, southern African nation of Malawi, according to a study by the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. Forty-five percent of these children are 10 to 14 years old. Meanwhile, the tobacco companies are estimated to have received nearly $40 million USD in revenues over four years through the use of unpaid child labor in Malawi. Many of the children working on these farms come from poor families who pull their children from school in order to earn money in the tobacco fields. These children also suffer various health conditions due in large part to poor nutrition and working conditions. Up to two million Malawians depend on the tobacco industry for their income, including small “tenant” farmers who are under contract with land owners to yield a certain amount of crop each year. The owners loan the tenants inputs including seed and fertilizer and deduct the debt from future profits, if any. The owners are also supposed to supply food rations. But when monthly allocations run out, workers, including the children, go hungry. Many workers also lack such basic necessities as medication, proper housing, and safe drinking water. In 1995, the Malawi government, through the Ministry of Labor in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, started drafting a Tobacco Tenancy Labor Bill to regulate the relations and transactions between the tenant farmers and the landlords. The bill has been taken through a number of revisions, but it has not yet been sent to Parliament. The treatment of Malawi's child laborers violates not only international standards but also legally binding treaties. Malawi is a signatory to a number of conventions against child labor including the 1973 International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 138 which sets a minimum working age of 18, and the 1999 ILO Convention 182 which outlaws child labor. The country also ratified the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Contrary to Local AIDS Law, Diamond Firms in Botswana Engage in Employment Discrimination In Botswana, potential workers are being tested for HIV without their knowledge and are subsequently being denied employment opportunities, despite national laws that condemn such policies. While the Assistant Minister of Labor and Home Affairs admits there is a policy gap on the matter, Human Rights Watch (HRW) contends the government is not doing enough to protect its citizens and enforce the law. Botswana is not a signatory to relevant sections of the International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), or the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Although Botswana is not legally bound, the following abuses are implicated: Until the government responds, hundreds of individuals will continue to be denied these basic human rights.
Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide By Cassandre Theano China Faces Intense Pressure as the Olympics Draw Closer When China bid to host the Olympics, it never expected it would be facing so many challenges, amounting to a public relations disaster, a few months before actually hosting the big event. Amongst the difficult issues facing China are the plight of the Tibetans, its support of the Burmese junta, and its continued partnership with Sudan, where the Darfur genocide has been ongoing for years now. At the root of the recent violent eruption in Tibet is a protest staged on March 10, 2008, commemorating the anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Over the past weeks, violent protests ensued in many provinces including Lhasa, where a main market was burnt down. Many have been killed and injured from the violence. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, has called for a probe into China’s treatment of Tibet, threatened to step down if nothing was done to bring calm, and called Beijing’s actions “cultural genocide.” . While the term “cultural genocide” is not clearly defined, it usually refers to the notion of deliberate destruction of the cultural heritage of a people or nation. The term “cultural genocide” was dropped for consideration in the 1948 Genocide Convention but reappeared in the United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. During her visit last week to meet the Dalai Lama in India, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi drew criticism from China when she declared: “[i]f freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in Tibet, we have lost our moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world.” China fired back by saying Pelosi needs to check her facts. U.S. Secretary of State Condolezza Rice has encouraged China to engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama on the Tibet issue. China and Darfur: Where Ultimate Sports Meet Ultimate International Crime Despite the Sudanese government’s documented genocide against Darfur’s African tribes, China has steadfastly stood beside Sudan, its largest trading partner in Africa. Bt the climate is starting to shift as China draws more criticism before the summer 2008 Olympics. One of the boldest moves came from Steven Spielberg who resigned as artistic director of the Olympics because of China’s reluctance to leverage its relationship with Sudan to halt the genocide. In fact, China remains Sudan’s largest arms supplier, despite calls for divestment that have been successful elsewhere. Sudanese oil remains a big attraction for China. Spurred by the protests and the shame brought by its relationship with Sudan, China’s special envoy to Darfur, Liu Guijin, articulated his disapproval of the events in Darfur, with one caveat, laying the blame on both the government and the rebels. This represented China’s first condemnation of the violence in Darfur which has been ongoing for the past six years.
Darfur Update On March 23, the Sudanese army denounced as biased a recent UN report accusing Sudanese soldiers of rape and extensive looting during offensives in western Darfur. The report by the UN quotes from credible sources who saw state-backed militias raping and looting after raids in villages. The report came shortly after Former UN Secretary–General Kofi Annan accused all sides of hypocrisy referring to the lack of resolve in solving the Darfur crisis. China and Russia, two of the five permanent members of the Security Council, have frequently shied away from imposing sanctions on the Sudanese government. These two governments have ironically also been accused of trading arms with Khartoum. In a surprising move, Russia recently proposed sanctioning the African rebels fighting the Sudanese government, while China has for the first time expressed its disapproval of the events in Western Darfur. The United States, Britain, and Spain have stressed that Sudan’s government must be sanctioned as well. Annan also criticized well-equipped countries for refusing to provide essential helicopters for the mission despite repeated appeals from the UN. While the Security Council imposed an arms embargo against the government and rebels, it is unclear how well the embargo is working especially considering that members within the Security Council are still trading arms with the Sudan.
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