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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.
April 23 , 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 Thousands Flee Post-Election Violence in Zimbabwe Thousands of people are fleeing Zimbabwe to escape post-election violence, according to the New York Times. The results of the presidential election held on March 29 have still not been released. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe called for recounts in the elections of dozens of legislative seats, most of which went to the opposition candidates. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition party, claims victory in the presidential election and says that the delay is an attempt by Mugabe to steal the election. Mugabe's government has charged Tsvangirai with treason and plotting a regime change with the U.K, the formal colonial power in Zimbabwe. At the Security Council’s High-Level Meeting on Peace and Security in Africa, which was held at the United Nations on April 16, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern at the delay in releasing the election results and called for the South African Development Community (SADC) to take action, stating that the “credibility of the democratic process in Africa could be at stake.” A day after the meeting, a government spokesperson for South Africa expressed concern about the delay in the release of the results and the reports of rising violence, and urged election officials to release results of the March 29 presidential vote. South African President Thabo Mbeki has been increasingly criticized for insisting that the situation in Zimbabwe is not a crisis and that it can be resolved through the Southern Africa Development Community.
Rising Cost of Food Will Lead to Increase in Food Riots U.N. Warns United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director General Jacques Diouf warned that rising food prices in developing countries will lead to an increase in food riots and called for world leaders to attend a food crisis summit in Rome in June. Record food prices will increase food import bills by 56% in developing countries, where 50-60% of people’s income goes to food, as opposed to only 10-20% in the developed world. Food riots have already occurred in several African countries, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Haiti, and thirty-seven countries face food crises, according to the FAO. Diouf said measures needed to address the crisis include a massive seed transfer to farmers in developing countries, the creation of financial mechanisms to ensure poor countries can continue to import the food they need, and the giving of a larger proportion of aid budgets to agriculture.
UN Special Procedures Mandate Holders Call for Restraint and Transparency in Wake of Mass Arrests in Tibet Autonomous Region and Surrounding Areas in China Several United Nations Special Procedures mandate holders issued a joint statement of concern regarding the ongoing protests and reports of high numbers of arrests in the Tibet Autonomous Region and surrounding areas in China. On March 28-29, Chinese security forces raided monasteries in the Tibet Autonomous Region and arrested over 570 Tibetan monks, including children, who were suspected of participating in protests and communicating with exiled Tibetan communities. There were also reports of security forces firing on protestors and alleged killings. The UN experts called for restraint and non-violence by all parties, access to the regions for journalists and independent observers, guarantees for the free flow of information, and full implementation of international standards in the treatment of protestors and detainees, both in China and in other countries where protests are occurring. The mandate holders also called on China to grant their outstanding visit requests to enable them to fulfill their responsibilities to the Human Rights Council. The mandate holders issuing the statement were: the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr Philip Alston; the Special Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Mr Ambeyi Ligabo; the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ms Asma Jahangir; the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders, Ms Hina Jilani; the Independent Expert on minority issues, Ms Gay McDougall; and the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, Mr Manfred Nowak.
By Lauren Torbett Thousands of Afghan Refugees Pushed Out of Camps in Pakistan Last week the UNHCR expressed concerns about Pakistan’s plan to close refugee camps and repatriate 2.4 million Afghan refugees by the end of next year. On April 15, Pakistani authorities brought in bulldozers to demolish the Jalozai camp outside Peshawar, which housed over 70,000 Afghans. The closure is part of the government’s plan to close more than 80 refugee camps by the end of 2009, citing concerns that the camps are safe havens for terrorists and criminals. More than two million Afghans are registered as refugees in Pakistan, where many of them have lived for almost thirty years since fleeing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Despite the continuing violence in their home country, the Afghans’ refugee ID cards expire in December 2009 and Pakistan has set a target for all refugees to voluntarily repatriate by that date. The UN refugee agency is urging the Pakistani government to revise its plans in light of the instability and poverty in Afghanistan, the fifth least-developed country in the world. Massive repatriations from Pakistan pose the risk of a humanitarian emergency in Afghanistan, much like the humanitarian and political crisis caused by Iran’s deportation of tens of thousands of Afghans in 2007.
Internally Displaced Population Reaches Highest Level Since the Early 1990s Armed conflicts have led to the internal displacement of more than 26 million people worldwide according to a report released last week by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. The annual survey found that numbers of internally displaced persons increased dramatically last year in Iraq (to almost 2.5 million total IDPs), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1.4 million), and Somalia (1 million), while protracted displacement crises continued in Sudan (5.8 million) and Colombia (up to 4 million). The total represented the highest number of displaced persons since peak levels in 1993. The scope of the displacement crisis has not prompted sufficient protection and humanitarian assistance from governments, the report noted. Internally displaced persons are “the world’s most vulnerable people,” UN High Commissioner of Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a press conference to release the report. IDPs are “too frequently victims of the gravest human rights abuses,” as they face armed attacks and sexual violence in addition to hunger, disease, and inadequate shelter. The report called for increased international action to address the causes and consequences of the displacement crisis.
Post-Election Violence in Zimbabwe Drives Thousands to South Africa In the wake of disputed elections in Zimbabwe three weeks ago, more than 1,000 Zimbabweans are fleeing to South Africa every day to escape the mounting political crisis. South Africa’s largest newspaper has deemed the upsurge of refugees “Mugabe’s Tsunami,” in reference to the incumbent President who has ruled Zimbabwe for 28 years and was on the verge of losing to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the March 29 elections. Human Rights Watch announced findings on April 19 that the ruling party has set up a network of “torture camps” to intimidate political opponents and ordinary citizens. On Sunday, Zimbabwe’s leading opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, called for international intervention in what they said resembled a war zone. The MDC announced that more than 400 of their supporters had been arrested, 10 had been killed, and 3,000 families displaced by violence since the elections.
By Jennifer Toussaint Saudi Arabian Guardianship Policies Violate Basic Rights Human Rights Watch has released a 50-page report, titled “Perpetual Minors: Human Rights Abuses Stemming from Male Guardianship and Sex Segregation in Saudi Arabia” documenting the use of policies in Saudi Arabia to limit the ability of Saudi women to exercise basic rights. According to the report, Saudi women must obtain the permission of a guardian, who may be a father, husband, or son, to engage in basic activities, including work or access to healthcare. They are also unable to access government agencies on their own unless a female section of the agency has been established. Saudi women are essentially treated as legal minors who have no authority or autonomy over their well-being. The report highlighted the inability of women to free themselves from violent or abusive guardians, limiting the extent to which these women can confront issues of violence within their families. Also strained is the ability of Saudi women to exercise their right to justice, as they have trouble filing a case or being heard in court without a legal guardian present.
Pakistan Endures a “Brutal Year for Women” The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has released its 2007 annual report, State of Human Rights, which shows that 4,276 cases of women’s rights abuses were reported; this is more than double the number reported the previous year. The report goes on to state that these numbers are a “gross understatement” and that the majority of cases go unreported. The report identified conservative social practices and religious extremism as the main causes of gender inequalities. Among the crimes committed against women are honor killings, burning at the hands of in-laws, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. The report also highlighted the general apathy for women’s rights held within the Pakistan political arena and noted the continued bombing of girls’ schools by the Taleban, further affecting the ability of young girls to further their education. Increased Bio-fuel Production May Negatively Impact Women The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has recently released a study showing that increased large-scale bio-fuel production in developing countries may marginalize women living in rural areas. The plantations used for bio-fuel production require the intensive use of natural resources, of which small farmers, especially women, have only been able to obtain limited access. Also of concern are “marginal” lands that have provided important subsistence functions and are frequently farmed by women. Conversion of these lands to bio-fuel plantations may lead to displacement and the inability of women to provide food for their families. Without policies that seek to increase women’s ability to gain access to land, capital, and technology, gender inequalities will continue to persist, leaving women at increased risk for poverty.
By Daniel Werly Pope Address Sexual Abuse of Children in Visit to U.S. Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States this past week focused heavily on the sexual abuse problems in the clergy. He raised the issue three separate times on his visit, including at mass in front of nearly 50,000 people at Nationals Stadium in Washington DC. He called the crisis a “deep shame” that at times has been “badly handled.” More than 4,000 priests in the U.S. have been accused of molestation since the 1950s and the church has paid out over two billion dollars of related costs. The Pope also met with a group of five past victims of sexual abuse by the church who are now adults. This meeting was kept secret and the Boston-native victims were invited through the Archdiocese of Boston. Some of these victims demanded accountability and change within the church in order to address these problems. The victims gave the Pope a notebook with the names of 1,000 boys and girls who were molested in the Boston area alone.
Cardinal Hints at a Change in Church Laws Regarding Sexual Abuse A top Vatican official, Cardinal William J. Levada, suggested that there might be changes forthcoming in the Church cannon laws regarding sexual abuse. The Cardinal suggested that the changes might have to do with the statute of limitations aspect of the cannons. The current cannon states that the statute of limitation runs for ten years after the victim’s 18th birthday. Often victims “don’t feel personally able to come forward” until they are more mature and by that point the statute of limitations may have already run. In the past, special exceptions have been made to the statute of limitations for cases where strong measures needed to be taken.
Child Soldier Prosecutions in Sri Lanka Unlikely The chances that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharanbeing, the head of his breakaway faction, will be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) are very slim says Julia Freedson, Director of the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, a human rights organization that released a 60-page report on the subject last week. The report, titled “No Safety, No Escape: Children and the Escalating Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka," clearly accuses both the LTTE and Karuna factions of committing “heinous crimes against children.” The reason for this is that Sri Lanka has neither signed nor ratified the Rome Statute, which created the ICC in 2002. Human Rights Watch has begged the Sri Lankan government to sign the Rome Statute for years to no avail. Sri Lanka has not yet signed onto the convention due to fear of charges being levied against their national military. Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona says that country “is continuing to keep the ICC statute under review.” If Sri Lanka remains unsigned, it is not possible for the UN Security Counsel to refer cases of war crimes to the ICC.
By Amber Mills
The Niger Delta youths movement (a Pan Niger Delta NGO founded in 1999 that focuses on resolving conflicts in the region involving youth) has sued six oil companies and Nigeria’s federal government before a Federal High Court in Abuja for alleged crimes that implicate human rights abuses. The suit alleges that the oil companies burned gas and pumped noxious chemical substances into the atmosphere of the Niger Delta region for approximately 50 years during the course of their production. The substances emitted in the air are harmful to human beings and constitute a violation of the right to life, as alleged in the complaint. Half a century after oil exploration began, communities across the region say the environment, and the livelihoods that relied upon it, have been permanently damaged. To compensate, the youth organization is demanding N5 trillion, or approximately $43 billion USD, representing “general and special damages.” In addition to the federal government, the companies included in the suit are Shell Petroleum Development Company, Total FinaElf Ltd, ExxonMobil Unltd, Chevron Texaco Ltd, Nigeria Agip Oil Company Ltd, and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.
A Florida-Based Workers’ Coalition Launches an Attack against Burger King
Reports of human rights abuse by workers employed by private military and security companies in war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan continue to mount. Recently, a human rights organization initiated a legal challenge against Britain’s foreign secretary, David Miliband, over his failure to ensure democratic control over private military companies. A representative from the human rights organization said, “despite increasing evidence on human rights abuse by private military companies in Iraq, the government has failed to act.” “This free for all cannot be allowed to continue. David Miliband must act on this mercenary crisis as an urgent priority.” This call for action comes not long after employees of Erinys International opened fire on a taxi near Kirkuk, wounding three civilians. Another security company, Blackwater, is also in the news again, after a stabbing by a contractor at an Iraq post. These incidents raise questions about the permissible limits of military criminal jurisdiction and the appropriate level of oversight and restraint on these private contractors. Without proper and swift access to justice, many human rights, such as the simple right to life, may continue to be trampled.
Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide By Cassandre Theano Arrest Warrants issued for Burundians in Rwandan Genocide Burundians accused of participating in the 1994 genocide against the country’s ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus may soon have to face justice, asRwanda has issued international arrest warrants against Burundians presumed to have been involved in these crimes. Rwandan officials are relying on the collaboration of the Burundian legal establishment to arrest these individuals. The participation of these individuals in the genocide came about during sessions of the Gacaca courts, where people testified to the involvement of Burundians in the killings. The Gacaca courts are part of a system of community justice inspired by tradition and established in 2001 to help bring to justice some of the alleged perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. In related news, a World Food Program (WFP) employee accused of participating in the 1994 genocide has been acquitted of all charges. WFP is an independent branch of the United Nations. The employee, Jean Nepomuscene Munyangabe, was acquitted by the Gacaca court for the murder of two women and for having taken part in a road block during the 1994 genocide.
Armenian Genocide Remembered “Honor the truth of the past because denial makes it more likely that genocide will happen again.” This was the message that was echoed by generations of Armenians during the commemoration of the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. It was between 1915 and 1923 that Turkish soldiers killed more than one million Armenians in what was then the Ottoman Empire. Many more were displaced and lost all their property. The genocide also marked the beginning of the Armenian migration and is often referred to as the first genocide if the 20th century. Ninety three years later, the events that took place between 1915 and 1923 still hold much significance for Armenians. In the United Kingdom, Robin Garabedian, whose award-winning essay, “Why Remembrance of the Genocide is Important,” quoted Adolf Hitler as saying, “who today remembers the extermination of the Armenians?” as rationalization for the Holocaust. He posits that “if the world had stood up (against) the Armenian genocide, there wouldn’t have been genocide of the Jews, or in Cambodia in the 70s or in Darfur today.” In the United States, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaims April 20-27 as days of rememberance of the Armenian genocide.
Busy Week in The Hague This week will likely be a busy one in The Hague. The end of a hearing in the case of Charles Taylor by the Special Court for Sierra Leone revealed some chilling accounts of rebel atrocities as Charles Taylor looked on quietly. Prosecution witness Alimany Sessay recalled decapitated heads mounted as sign posts at check points and orders to forcibly conscript 8 to 15-year-old boys to have sex with 8 to 10 year-old girls, with a view to create fear in the minds of civilians and enemy forces, as well as to drive them out of the diamond-rich Kono district. In the meantime, the Appeals Chamber at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will deliver its verdict in the cases of Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura on April 22. Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura are both former Bosnian Muslim Army commanders who were found guilty in March 2006 of failure to prevent and punish crimes committed by their subordinates. Hadzihasanovic was sentenced to five years and Kubura to two and a half years in prison. The defense appealed against the verdict, calling for it to be overturned; the prosecution appealed too, asking for the sentences to be doubled to 10 years for the former, and 5 years for the latter. The ICTY will also hold a pre-defense conference in the case of six former Herceg Bosna officials on trial for crimes in Herzegovina and central Bosnia in 1993 and 1994. Meanwhile, the prosecution will continue its case at the trial of Croatian Generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak, and Mladen Markac, who have been charged with crimes during Operation Storm, as well as the trial of Serb Radical Party leader Šešelj, who is charged with crimes against humanity in Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Vojvodina.
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