PORTRAITS OF WOMEN AT NUREMBERG

Diane Marie Amann*

Many of us who work in the field of international criminal law

owe our interest at least in part to proceedings held in the aftermath of
World War II. Cementing my own interest was The Anatomy of the
Nuremberg Trials, the indispensable 1992 memoir by leading U.S.
prosecutor Telford Taylor. 1 At a much more exalted level, Judge
Navanethem Pillay, now the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, has said that she:
[F]irst came across the Nuremberg Trials on a shelf in
the library at the University of Natal in apartheid South
Africa. A student enrolled in classes for nonwhites,
Pillay spent hours reading the trial transcripts,
transfixed by the ideal of justice represented in the
account of countries coming together to hold
individuals responsible for the most heinous acts. 2

No doubt other international criminal law jurists have a similar story to

tell. Nor is there much doubt that most assume that at these trials few,
if any, roles were played by women.

*Professor of Law and Director, California International Law Center at King Hall,
University of California, Davis, School of Law; Vice President, American Society of
International Law; founder, IntLawGrrls. Based on my keynote lecture at the 2009
International Humanitarian Law Dialogs in Chautauqua, New York, and on remarks
the same year at the Center for Race and Gender Studies, University of California,
Berkeley, this essay represents an early effort in ongoing research respecting the
roles of women in post- World War II trials. By way of caveat, the research to date is
based largely on archival sources, some of which are contradictory; every effort has
been made to present facts accurately. My thanks to David M. Crane for inviting me
to continue this research, to John Q. Barrett, Mark A. Drumbl, Kevin Jon Heller, Eli
M. Rosenbaum, and Valerie Oosterveld for comments on this project, and to Peg
Durkin for library assistance.
1
TELFORD TAYLOR, THE ANATOMY OF THE NUREMBERG TRIALS (1992) [hereinafter
TAYLOR ANATOMY]
2
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, A Child at the Time of the Nuremberg Trials, Navanethem
Pillay now Carries their Legacy Forward,
http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotlight/ils/related/bus-driver.html (last visited
May 19, 2010) (this is an undated article, presumably written while Pillay, formerly
a Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, was an International
Criminal Court Judge).

1
 Reading Taylor’s Anatomy likely will leave but one lasting
recollection of women at Nuremberg. On July 5, 1946—three weeks
to the day before Chief U.S. Prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson, began the
closing argument at the Trial of the Major War Criminals 3—a Paris
designer invented a belly-button-baring swimsuit. 4 The Parisian
named the suit, modeled by a striptease dancer when “[n]o respectable
model would,” after the South Pacific atoll at which the United States
had just conducted its first atomic bomb test. 5 The suit indeed proved
a bombshell at its Nuremberg début that same summer. The occasion,
Taylor noted, was a party that Katherine Biddle held for the sixtieth
birthday of her husband Francis, the American judge at Nuremberg.
Members of all four Allied delegations—the Russians, the French, the
British, and the Americans—came to the requisitioned villa that the
Biddles called home. “It was a lovely evening,” Taylor wrote, “the
food and drink were served outdoors around the large swimming pool,
and Catherine (an accomplished poetess) spoke charmingly of
enduring love.” 6 He continued:
After dinner the swimming pool was put to use. The
first two in were Jenny Pradeau and Janine Herisson,
among the prettiest and youngest of the French
delegation, who appeared in what were soon to be
known as bikinis. Few if any of us had previously seen
these provocative garments, and the sides of the pool
were soon crowded with ogling males. 7

3
Transcript of Closing Statement of Mr. Justice Robert H. Jackson (July 26, 1946),
in 19 TRIAL OF THE MAJOR WAR CRIMINALS BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL
MILITARY TRIBUNAL 397 (1948).
4
KELLY KILLOREN BENSIMON, THE BIKINI BOOK 10-11, 18, 26 (Assouline Publ’g
Corp. 2006) (describing immediate postwar development of the suit by Louis Réard
and a rival).
5
Id. at 26; see also SLATE, A Brief History of the Bikini,
http://www.slate.com/id/2145070/slideshow/2145060/fs/0//entry/2145040/ (last
visited May 19, 2010) [hereinafter Brief History] (including a photo of striptease
dancer modeling the suit).
6
TAYLOR ANATOMY, supra note 1, at 398 (retaining, in passage quoted in text,
Taylor’s misspelling of Katherine Biddle’s first name).
7
TAYLOR ANATOMY, supra note 1, at 398 (retaining, in passage quoted in text,
Taylor’s misspelling of Katherine Biddle’s first name).

2
The passage conjures an image of a curvy body clad in a few cloth
triangles as the singular emblem of women at Nuremberg.
Taylor’s account is not unique in this regard. Memoirs and
other historical accounts tend seldom to mention women. The name of
Katherine Fite—whose essential contribution to the London Charter
John Q. Barrett details in this volume 8—does not figure prominently
in these works. Two women’s names do appear: Hitler’s mistress, Eva
Braun, who committed suicide with him shortly before the war’s end,
and Ilse Koch, the camp superintendent’s wife known as the Beast of
Buchenwald. 9
Occasionally, a book refers to women who testified at the
10
trials, and a few mention in passing Tania Long, who, along with her
husband, covered Nuremberg for The New York Times. 11 Yet women
did play key roles at Nuremberg, even at the first trial. Many women
joined Long in the press gallery, among them New Yorker reporter
Janet Flanner, an American expatriate who criticized Jackson’s cross-

8
John Q. Barrett, Katherine B. Fite: The Leading Female Lawyer at London &
Nuremberg, 1945, in PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN
LAW DIALOGS 9-30 (Elizabeth Andersen & David M. Crane eds. 2010).
9
See WHITNEY R. HARRIS, TYRANNY ON TRIAL: THE EVIDENCE AT NUREMBERG
458-65 (S. Methodist Univ. Press 1970); CHRISTOPHER J. DODD WITH LARY BLOOM,
LETTERS FROM NUREMBERG: MY FATHER’S NARRATIVE OF A QUEST FOR JUSTICE 6,
96, 105, 1047 (Crown Publ’g Grp. 2007) (for evidence on Braun). See HARRIS,
supra, at 434 (for evidence on Koch; quoting an affidavit on “Buchenwald
barbarism” that alleged the skins of prisoners’ corpses “‘were turned over to SS
Standartenfuehrer Koch’s wife, who had them fashioned into lamp shades and other
ornamental household articles’”). Koch was one of many women convicted and
executed following postwar trials relating to camp atrocities. See Ilse Koch Hangs
Herself in Cell; Nazi ‘Beast of Buchenwald’ Was Serving Life Term, N.Y. TIMES,
Sept. 3, 1967, at 1. Two women stood trial at Nuremberg: Dr. Herta Oberheuse, a
dermatologist that conducted medical experiments, who was convicted in the
Doctors’ Case and sentenced to twenty years. WILLIAM L. SHIRER, THE RISE AND
FALL OF THE THIRD REICH: A HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY 990-91 (Simon &
Schuster Inc. 1990). Inge Viermetz, a civilian aide to an SS officer, who was
acquitted in the RuSha Case. TELFORD TAYLOR, FINAL REPORT TO THE SECRETARY
OF THE ARMY ON THE NUERNBERG WAR CRIMES TRIALS UNDER CONTROL COUNCIL
LAW NO. 10 177-79 (1949) [hereinafter TAYLOR REPORT].
10
An example is the reference to testimony by one “Madame Boundoux.” See
HARRIS, supra note 8, at 439.
11
See DODD, supra note 8, at 265-66, 282; see also Jim Yardley, Tania Long, 85, a
Reporter for the Times in World War II, N.Y. TIMES, Sept. 6, 1998, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/06/nyregion/tania-long-85-a-reporter-for-the-
times-in-world-warii.html?scp=1&sq=tania+long&st=nyt.

3
examination efforts and branded the proceedings “‘dull and
incoherent,’” and the English writer Rebecca West, whom Taylor said
had a “brief encounter” with Judge Biddle. 12
News accounts placed another woman lawyer, besides Fite, at
Nuremberg early on. Irma Von Nunes had been admitted to the
Georgia bar in the 1920s while still a teenager, 13 and during World
War II became a captain in the U.S. Women’s Army Corps. Reports
describe her, without further elaboration, as the first woman involved
in the war crimes trials. 14 Among non-lawyers assigned to the trial
was Captain Virginia Gill, executive to the prosecution. 15 As the
memoir of prosecutor Whitney R. Harris noted, moreover, Jackson
was aided throughout by “his secretary, Mrs. Elsie L. Douglas.” 16
Many women served as interpreters. Among them was twenty-three-
year-old Edith Simon who, as she later recalled, served as a translator
at pretrial interviews with Hermann Göring, a leading Nazi defendant
“‘not particularly thrilled to see a woman, a Jewish woman, as his
interpreter.’” 17 Yet though a courtroom photograph of the Soviet
prosecution table includes an unnamed woman, 18 no work yet found
mentions a woman judge, prosecutor, or defense counsel in the
courtroom at the first trial.
Thus, it is no surprise that in a 2005 speech, Judge Patricia M.
Wald could name no woman among what Telford Taylor had called an

12
DODD, supra note 8, at 267 n.11; id. at 43-44 (quoting Flanner); TAYLOR
ANATOMY, supra note 1, at 547-48, n.*. See Carl Rollyson, Reporting Nuremberg,
in 17 NEW CRITERION 74 (1998).
13
Brookfield High School Notes, COURIER, May 29, 1929.
14
See KAREN BERGER MORELLO, THE INVISIBLE BAR: THE WOMAN LAWYER IN
AMERICA 1638 TO THE PRESENT 184 n.* (Random House Inc. 1986).
15
See PETER HEIGL, NÜRNBERGER PROZESSE – NUREMBERG TRIALS 82 (2001).
16
HARRIS, supra note 8, at 14.
17
See Alexandra J. Wall, Edith Coliver, International and S.F. Activist, Dies at 79, J
WEEKLY (Jan. 4, 2002) http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/17031/edith-coliver-
international-and-s-f-activist-dies-at-79/ (noting that Simon, known as Edith Coliver
after marriage, had been born in Germany and earned a bachelor’s degree at the
University of California-Berkeley before going to work at Nuremberg).
18
Table of Soviet Attorneys, in photo exhibition 60 Years Marking the Nuremberg
Trials, YAD VASHEM: THE HOLOCAUST MARTYRS' AND HEROES' REMEMBRANCE
AUTHORITY (photo. reprint 2005) (1945-46),
http://www1.yadvashem.org/exhibitions/nuremberg/nuremberg_10.html (last visited
May 19, 2010).

4
“‘exceptionally strong supporting cast’” of lawyers who assisted the
judges at Nuremberg. 19 The lawyers who were named included two
former Supreme Court clerks and two law professors. 20 All of them
were men—men who held positions in the profession not open to
women in the mid-twentieth century. It is true that a woman did clerk
for the U.S. Supreme Court in October Term 1944, but she was not
succeeded by another woman until 1966. 21
As for academia in that period, Professor Herma Hill Kay has
written that “when World War II ended, exactly three women held
tenure or tenure-track appointments” on faculties belonging to the
Association of American Law Schools. 22 It is therefore truly
remarkable that women did succeed in working as lawyers at
Nuremberg.
Among the several women who represented defendants, 23 a
notable example is Elisabeth Gombel, the only woman to have served

19
Patricia M. Wald, Running the Trial of the Century: The Nuremberg Legacy, 27
CARDOZO L. REV. 1559, 1568 (2006) (quoting TAYLOR ANATOMY, supra note 1, at
119).
20
Id. (mentioning law professors Herbert Wechsler and Quincy Wright and former
clerks Robert Stewart and Adrian Fischer).
21
ARTEMUS WARD & DAVID L. WEIDEN, SORCERERS’ APPRENTICES: 100 YEARS OF
LAW CLERKS AT THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT 89-90, Table 2.11 (2006)
(stating that the first woman Supreme Court clerk was Lucile Lomen, who clerked
for Justice William O. Douglas in October Term 1944, and the second was Margaret
J. Corcoran, who clerked for Justice Hugo Black in October Term 1966); Linda
Greenhouse, Women Suddenly Scarce Among Justices’ Clerks, N.Y. TIMES, Aug. 30,
2009, at A1, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/washington/30scotus.html. Five years after the
close of the first Nuremberg trial, Wald herself earned her law degree, then clerked
for a federal judge at the intermediate appellate level; she would go on to become the
first Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,
and a Judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
AMERICAN INNS OF COURT, Awards: The Honorable Patricia M. Wald,
http://www.innsofcourt.org/Content/Default.aspx?Id=321 (last visited May 19,
2010).
22
Herma Hill Kay, The Future of Women Law Professors, 77 IOWA L. REV. 5, 6
(1991).
23
The presence of women defense counsel may reflect the absence of German men
eligible to serve as attorneys. Women who represented defendants included: Gerda
Doetzer; Agnes Nath-Schrieber, who assisted her husband in representing
defendants; and Dr. Erna Kroen, who spent thirty years as a music director in her
hometown of Leverkusen after her work in the Farben trial. See TAYLOR REPORT,
supra note 8, at 307, 319-20; Bayer’s Culture Makers, BAYER KULTUR,

5
as chief counsel on either side. Gombel had been a legal adviser in the
Junkers Aircraft Factory. She became lead counsel for Ernst Wilhelm
Bohle, an officer in the German Foreign Department charged in the
Ministries Case, after the initial appointee dropped out for unspecified
reasons. 24 As stated in a Nuremberg history by Illinois attorney John
Alan Appleman, at arraignment, “much to the amazement of the
Tribunal, Prosecution, and all persons concerned,” Bohle became the
only Nuremberg defendant to plead guilty. He entered a plea to a
single count of “membership of the SS with knowledge of its criminal
activities,” and was sentenced to five years. Appleman advanced a
gender angle for this “amazing” turn of events, writing: “One wonders
whether the fact that he had a woman counsel had anything to do with
his decision to enter the plea of guilty.” 25 Even though Gombel’s
client spent less time in prison than nearly all convicted in the case, 26
the comment does not convey compliment.
One non-American woman prosecutor was Dr. Aline Chalufour
of France, who had worked for General Charles DeGaulle in Canada
during the war, and was one of three prosecutors at the British military
trial pertaining to the Ravensbrück camp. 27 In a letter home, Fite
wrote that Chalufour was “really very intelligent and congenial—and I
lack congenial feminine companionship.” 28
A number of American women served as prosecutors; a very
few will be mentioned here. “Miss Sadie Belle Arbuthnot,” as The

http://www.culture.bayer.com/en/cultural-department.aspx (last updated Nov. 11,

2009).
24
TAYLOR REPORT, supra note 8, at 336-37.
25
JOHN ALAN APPLEMAN, MILITARY TRIBUNALS AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMES 223
(Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1954).
26
Sentences for defendants convicted at trial ranged from time served for one
defendant and four years for another, all the way up to twenty-five years in prison.
Two defendants were acquitted. Id. at 222-23.
27
See ATROCITIES ON TRIAL: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE POLITICS OF
PROSECUTING WAR CRIMES 144 (Patricia Heberer & Jürgen Matthäus eds., Univ. of
Nebraska Press 2008); TAYLOR, ANATOMY, supra note 1, at 213; Letter from
Katherine Fite to Mr. and Mrs. Emerson Fite, (Oct. 14, 1945) (on file with Harry S.
Truman Library & Museum), available at http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/
study_collections/nuremberg/documents/index.php?documentdate=1945-10-
14&documentid=nuremberg2016&studycollectionid=&pagenumber=1[hereinafter
Fite letter].
28
Fite letter, supra note 27.

6
New York Times called her, earned her law degree at night school
while she was a secretary at the U.S. Department of Justice,
presumably during the New Deal. 29 Arbuthnot served on the
prosecution team during the Justice Case, then became the first
woman judge in the court system that the United States established in
the part of Germany that it occupied after the war. 30
Belle Mayer Zeck, who had practiced as a federal government
lawyer after graduating from Fordham Law School, worked on the
Farben trial of industrialists. 31 After Nuremberg she and her husband
William Zeck, another member of the prosecution team, became
Democratic Party activists in Rockland County, New York; at one
point, she made an unsuccessful bid for a state legislative seat. 32
Mayer Zeck died at age eighty-six in 2006, on the same day as Drexel
Sprecher, another prosecutor at Nuremberg. 33
Mary M. Kaufman also worked on the Farben Case. 34 During
the New Deal she was an organizer for the Works Progress
Administration, studied part-time, and earned her law degree from St.
John’s University. 35 While an attorney for the National Labor
Relations Board, Kaufman continued to organize for the WPA,
eventually finding her way to Nuremberg. On return to the United
States, she embarked on a high-profile career as a leading attorney for
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and others tried under the Smith Act during
the McCarthy period. 36 Kaufman helped found the National Lawyers

29
Associated Press, U.S. Woman Judge in Germany, N.Y. TIMES, Sept. 29, 1950, at
10.
30
Id.; see APPLEMAN, supra note 25, at 157-58; TAYLOR REPORT, supra note 8, at
170 n.112.
31
N.Y. TIMES, Belle Zeck, 87, Prosecutor at Nuremberg, Dies, Apr. 5, 2006, at A5
[hereinafter Belle Zeck].
32
Id.
33
Douglas Martin, Drexel A. Sprecher, 92, U.S. Prosecutor at Nuremberg, N.Y.
TIMES, May 8, 2006, at B8 (observing that Sprecher and Zeck both died on Mar. 18,
2006); Belle Zeck, supra note 31 (stating that Zeck died on Mar. 18, 2006).
34
APPLEMAN, supra note 25, at 177.
35
Eric Page, Mary M. Kaufman, 82, Lawyer; Cases Involved Communism, N.Y.
TIMES, Sept. 11, 1995, at 13; JEWISH WOMEN’S ARCHIVE, Personal Information for
Mary Kaufman, http://jwa.org/archive/jsp/perInfo.jsp?personID=121 (last visited
Mach 6, 2011).
36
See generally Margaret Jessup, Mary Metlay Kaufman, in 1 GREAT AMERICAN
LAWYERS: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA 424-32 (John R.Vile ed., 2001).

7
Guild, and was also active in antiwar protests and as a lawyer for
arrested protesters. Indeed, she linked international criminal law of the
Nuremberg era to issues of nuclear and chemical warfare in the
Vietnam era. 37
Last, but by no means least, was Cecelia Goetz. The New
York-born daughter of a lawyer, she decided to study law, and earned
all her degrees at New York University. 38 She graduated at the top of
her class at NYU Law School, where, as Editor-in-Chief, she became
the first woman in the United States ever to head a major law journal.
Yet she could not find a job after her 1940 graduation. One of her
classmates explained years later:
Her concentrated experience as Editor-in-Chief of the
Law Review could not be followed by jobs in the
private or judicial systems as a clerk to a judge. That
was totally unavailable at the time. Limited
opportunities came to be available in the federal
government in Washington at the beginning of World
War II when men were being drafted or otherwise
joined the armed services. 39

Even so, Goetz found herself working for two years at her
father’s firm. Her desire to become a trial attorney met “the prejudice
against females as government litigators” that abided, according to one
author, “even in departments known to be headed by liberals”; Goetz,
it was suggested, “was ‘much too attractive to be a good lawyer.’” 40

37
Mary M. Kaufman, The Individual’s Duty under the Law of Nurnberg: The Effect
of Knowledge on Justiciability, 27 GUILD PRAC. 15 (1968). See also Mary M.
Kaufman, Judgment at Nurnberg – An Appraisal of Its Significance on Its Twentieth
Anniversary, 25 GUILD PRAC. 66 (1966); Mary M. Kaufman,
Statements, Declarations, and Agreements Leading to the War Crimes Trials at
Nurnberg, Germany, and Relevant Documents, 25 GUILD PRAC. 88 (1966).
38
See Goetz, Cecelia H. (Helen), in THE CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN
BIOGRAPHY 277 (John S. Bowman ed., Cambridge Univ. Press 1995) [hereinafter
Goetz Cambridge entry]; Goetz, Cecelia Helen, in I WHO’S WHO IN AMERICA 1294
(48th ed., 1994) [hereinafter Goetz WHO’S WHO entry].
39
NYU LAW, Alumnus/Alumna of the Month (Sept. 1, 2004),
http://www.law.nyu.edu/alumni/almo/pastalmos/20042005almos/ceceliagoetzseptem
ber/index.htm [hereinafter Alumna] (quoting Herbert Rubin).
40
DAWN BRADLEY BERRY, THE 50 MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN AMERICAN LAW
173 (1996).

8
 Eventually, Goetz landed a job in what is now known as the
Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington,
D.C. 41 She “became the first woman ever to be offered a supervisory
role” at DOJ, but turned it down because she wanted to join the
prosecution team at Nuremberg. 42 She was rejected because of her
sex—even though nurses and secretaries already were there, she was
told that there was no housing for a woman lawyer. 43 So she applied
directly to Taylor himself. As Goetz told an interviewer in 1984:
Fortunately he did not share such antifeminist views
and he immediately directed that I be appointed to the
prosecution team. Nevertheless, in order for me to be
processed, Taylor had to sign a “waiver of disability”
form—the disability being the fact that I was a
woman. 44

Goetz earned prominence among the women attorneys.

Serving as one of three major associate counsel in the Krupp
industrialists’ case (left), 45 she was the only woman
to give an opening statement at a Nuremberg trial. The practice was
for prosecutors to take turns reading what was a very long opening.
As one of five Americans to read the address in Krupp, Goetz stirred
excitement. One reporter, present to profile Goetz for the New York
Sun’s “News of Women” section, wrote:
Listening to her reading part of the opening statement
in the hushed court room, marriage and children don’t
seem to fit into the picture. It would seem a shame to
take her away from what must be a brilliant future. The
British were particularly impressed. At the first

41
Goetz WHO’S WHO entry, supra note 38, at 1294 (stating that at the time it was
called the Claims Division); see Goetz CAMBRIDGE entry, supra note 38, at 277.
42
NYU LAW, supra note 39.
43
BERRY, supra note 40, at 174.
44
MORELLO, supra note 14, at 184 (quoting Goetz); see also Symposium, the Fifth
Annual Ernst C. Steifel Symposium: 1945-1995: Critical Perspectives on the
Nuremberg Trials and State Accountability: Panel I: Telford Taylor Panel: Critical
Perspectives on the Nuremberg Trials, 12 N.Y.L. SCH. J. HUM. RTS. 453, 516 (1995)
[hereinafter Goetz remarks] (remarks of Judge Cecelia Goetz).
45
TAYLOR REPORT, supra note 8, at 190 n.174.

9
 opportunity they swarmed over to congratulate her on
her striking performance. 46

This deserves note, and not only because of the reporter’s

musing on Goetz’ marriageability. 47 The Krupp opening statement
contained little flourish; it was, rather, a recitation of sobering facts. 48
The change in readers carried with it no change in authorship. Nor
was Goetz given any noteworthy lines, save one reference to the
misery of slave laborers. 49 That those in the courtroom nonetheless
applauded underscores the novelty of Goetz’s feat. It almost seems
that for a woman to deliver her lines without error was in itself
astonishing. In addition to this reading and her trial preparation
efforts, Goetz elicited testimony at trial. Excerpts of her cross-
examinations show that the Germans, like all hostile witnesses,
frequently tried to deflect or dodge her questions. Yet Goetz was
tenacious, refusing to accept their evasions. 50 The excerpts
demonstrate that she was a very good lawyer.
On return to New York, Goetz earned an LL.M. in tax law and
practiced at a number of firms. In 1978, she became the first woman
appointed to the federal bankruptcy court in the Second Circuit; later,
she helped to found the National Association of Women Judges. Yet
she downplayed her role as a woman judge. In words presaging
debates that swirled about the recent appointments of Sonia Sotomayor
and Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court, Goetz told the New York
Law Journal in 1982:
Once you put on a robe, the male-female distinction
disappears, at least as far as the people who appear

46
Judy Barden, Our Woman in Nurnberg, N.Y. SUN, Jan. 21, 1948, at 18.
47
Goetz later married and gave birth to two sons. Goetz WHO’S WHO entry, supra
note 38.
48
See Transcript of Opening Statement of the Prosecution (Dec. 8, 1947), in 9
TRIALS OF WAR CRIMINALS BEFORE THE NUERNBERG MILITARY TRIBUNALS UNDER
CONTROL COUNCIL LAW NO. 10 60-131 (1950).
49
Id. at 87-102 (including that portion of opening statement read by Goetz). Goetz’
notable line stated that defendants “participated in the formulation and presentation
of demands for slave labor to be fed into the maw of the industrial machine, and in
the spoliation of occupied territories.” Id. at 98.
50
See id. at 957-60, 969-72, 989.

10
 before you are concerned. They don’t see you as either
male or female.

The judge’s role overrides the individual. I really don’t

see any essential difference between a good male judge
and a good female judge. All judges must have
patience, a willingness to listen, compassion and, above
all, integrity. I’m afraid there’s nothing very startling in
all of that. 51

Perhaps more startling is the fact that Goetz—like most of the

women lawyers, 52 and unlike many of the men—never wrote about
Nuremberg. “I have not written anything about Nuremberg and I
myself have wondered why that was,” she said at a 1995 symposium
that explored links between the trials after World War II and those
newly formed after war in the Balkans and genocide in Rwanda. 53 Her
remarks fell far short of celebratory. She admitted that she had
“hesitated” to speak “when I realized that the probable object was to
use Nuremberg as a precedent for trials of the atrocities now going on
elsewhere.” 54 Warning against use of the “flawed” Nuremberg
precedent that had accepted the defense of necessity or coercion—in
effect, the “Hitler made me do it” defense—Goetz described the
outcome of the matters on which she worked as “unsatisfactory,” and
her time at Nuremberg as “unhappy.” 55 She recalled “the burden of
interpretation,” “the widespread destruction of evidence,” the
“problem” that “we were all very young,” “did not speak German,”
and thus were compelled to rely on unsophisticated” and at times
“hostile” research staff. 56 Finally, she said, “Nuremberg

51
Alan Kohn, Bankruptcy Judges Have Same Philosophy, 188 N.Y. L.J. No. 47, at 1
col. 2 (1982) (quoting Goetz).
52
Kaufman, supra note 37 (pointing to an exception).
53
See Goetz remarks, supra note 44, at 516. Made at the Fifth Annual Ernst C.
Stiefel Symposium, “1945-1995: Critical Perspectives on the Nuremberg Trials and
State Accountability,” these remarks, id. at 515-30, appear to constitute Goetz’ entire
published recollections of Nuremberg.
54
Id. at 516.
55
Id.
56
Id. at 569.

11
itself was a very unpleasant place to be. It had been bombed out,” and,
contrary to the implication of the Marlene Dietrich-Spencer Tracy
dalliance in Judgment at Nuremberg, “We were not supposed to
fraternize with Germans.” 57
All this transpired during what Goetz called “a period of
pervasive gender bias.” 58 Although she used the term to describe her
difficulties in landing the position, the observation no doubt applied as
well to the job itself. It was a time when male staffers unabashedly
ogled their female counterparts at a pool party, 59 when “masculine”
women were subject to ridicule, 60 when reference to a “bordello,
brothel, whorehouse” might set
off “a wave of laughter” in the courtroom. 61 A time when the
hometown paper’s account of “Our Woman at Nurnberg” dwelt as
much on the woman’s physical appearance and dieting woes as her
legal acumen. 62

57
Id. at 530; see also DVD: Judgment at Nuremberg (Roxlom Films, Inc., 1961).
58
Goetz remarks, supra note 44, at 516.
59
TAYLOR ANATOMY, supra note 1, at 398, quoted supra text accompanying note 6.
Elsewhere in his memoir, Taylor reported that one woman interpreter was “known as
‘The Passionate Haystack,’” and that Judge Biddle “found her rather stiff” at a
dinner party despite the reputation implied by the nickname. Id. at 547-48.
60
Journalist Janet Flanner enjoyed a successful career though she dressed in men’s
clothes and lived openly with a woman. See Annalisa Zox-Weaver, At Home with
Hitler: Janet Flanner’s Führer
Profiles for the New Yorker, 34 NEW GERMAN CRITIQUE 101(Fall 2007). But other
women encountered scorn. Of the lawyer described at text accompanying supra
notes 12-13, this was written: “Little Miss Von Nunes wears her hair cut like a boy’s,
affects an almost masculine garb and declares that marriage, like jail, is a good thing,
but that she prefers to see other people in both.” See LILLIAN FADERMAN, TO
BELIEVE IN WOMEN: WHAT LESBIANS HAVE DONE FOR AMERICA 313 (Houghton
Mifflin Co. 2000) (recounting
description as an example of the “mild innuendos regarding a professional woman’s
inversion” in early twentieth-century America).
61
TAYLOR ANATOMY, supra note 1, at 546 n.* (describing such an incident during
first Nuremberg trial).
62
“Meeting Cecelia socially, the last thing you would imagine her to be is a lawyer,”
ventured the New York Sun article about Goetz. Barden, supra note 44. It went on:
“Thick black curly hair falls to her shoulders and frames a pixy face. She is 5 feet 3
inches tall, but won’t tell her weight. ‘This overseas diet has put on ten pounds,’ she
said with a sigh. Her looks would fool anybody into thinking she spent a gay
irresponsible life . . . .” Id. In similar vein was a German news story that described
“the Greek nose and the extraordinarily red mouth” of lead defense counsel Gombel,
a “striking blonde.” DER SPIEGEL, Briefe an Elisabeth (Aug. 21, 1948),
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-44418737.html.

12
 Offering a glimpse into the pervasive dismissal of work by
women—indeed, by anyone deemed feminine—is this passage in
historian Joseph E. Persico’s 1994 book on the first trial:
Justice Birkett enjoyed exercising his talent for
invective against the interpreters. A speech in the
vigorous, masculine Russian of the prosecutor,
Rudenko, had been rendered into English by an effete
interpreter whom Birkett complained sounded like ‘a
“refayned” decaying cleric, a latecomer in making an
apology at the vicarage garden party rather than the
prosecutor of major war crimes.’ Gruff German
generals were interpreted by young women with chirpy
little voices, diminishing the power of the witnesses’
testimony. 63

The comment suggests the challenges women like Edith Simon faced,
not only from an erstwhile Nazi leader, but also from Allied officials.
And yet some of the women at Nuremberg—like some women
elsewhere in the decades after World War II—pursued pathbreaking
careers. A photo of Parisian stripper Micheline Bernardini wearing le
bikini thus bears more than passing relation to the photo of Cecelia
Goetz wearing a barrister’s robe as she addresses the Nuremberg
tribunal. Goetz and her sisters gained entry into a room from which
women always had been excluded, and thus opened doors for women
in subsequent generations. The bikini played a not entirely dissimilar
role that same year. Its inventor was inspired, in fact, after noticing
that women at beaches were “rolling up and pulling down the tops and
bottoms of their two-piece suits as far as possible to expose as much of
their bodies to the sun as they could.” 64 His innovation sparked
outrage in institutions that relegated women to a defined place in
society. The Vatican banned the bikini as late as 1964. But by then it
had caught on. As stated in The Bikini Book, the tiny tog “fit perfectly
with the sexual liberation of the ’60s, which went hand-in-hand with

63
JOSEPH E. PERSICO, NUREMBERG: INFAMY ON TRIAL 263-64 (Penguin Books
1994) (quoting British associate Justice William Norman Birkett, and referring to
Soviet Chief Prosecutor Roman Andreyevich Rudenko).
64
BENSIMON, supra note 4, at 10.

13
the advent of the birth control pill.” 65 Though the relationship
between women’s sexuality and women’s progress is complex, at least
for some women, autonomy in one aspect of life increased autonomy
in others. Thus it intrigues to learn that Janine Hérisson, one of the
“prettiest and youngest” women whose bikinis reduced men to
poolside oglers, appears to have had a successful career translating
novels from English to French. 66
Though many women remained relatively silent after
Nuremberg, two artifacts from the 1990s indicate that they did not
forget their work there. One is a letter that Farben prosecutor Bella
Mayer Zeck (below right) wrote at age seventy-six. A New York
Times magazine article had questioned the legitimacy of the
Nuremberg trials, in part on the ground that they rested, after all, on
international law. Her tart reply: “[T]o dismiss treaties and
international conventions as ‘creative’ is to deny that international law
exists. The fact that enforcement procedures are lacking in these
conventions does not vitiate their effect.” 67
The other is the recollection by Cecelia Goetz, then nearly
eighty, “diminutive, white-haired,” and using a cane, of the decades-
old decision of the United States to release arms merchant Alfried
Krupp after he had served only a third of his sentence. Goetz uttered a
cry familiar to any foiled lawyer: “‘I’m still outraged. It was a total
miscarriage of justice.’ 68

65
Id. at 11.
66
See au: “Hérisson, Janine,”
http://melvyl.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3A%22He%CC%81risson%2C+Janine%22
&fq=&se=nodgr&sd=desc&dblist=638&qt=first_page (last visited May 19, 2010).
67
Belle Mayer Zeck, The War and the Law, N.Y. TIMES, § 6, at 6 (May 28, 1995).
68
Lyn Riddle, Remembering Nuremberg Prosecution of Nazis Still Stirs Pride,
Passion, ATLANTA J. & CONST., Sept. 26, 1997 (quoting Goetz). See also Goetz
remarks, supra note 44, at 524 (criticizing the commutation of Krupp’s sentence).

14
 LEADING WAR CRIMES PROSECUTIONS
Matthew Parker-Lavine

Over the past seventeen years, the international community has

established a number of international and hybrid (mixed international
and domestic) tribunals to adjudicate war crimes and crimes against
humanity. Starting with the creation of the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993 by a UN Security
Council Resolution,69 progress toward establishing a system of judicial
accountability for atrocities is truly taking root. Prior to 1993, the idea
that there would be a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC)
and multiple hybrid and ad hoc institutions operating concurrently
would have been unthinkable. Over the course of this same period, the
provision of such justice has improved drastically in its efficiency. As
these institutions gain stature and prominence, they have begun to
develop a body of best practices in the administration of justice.
Along these lines, this paper seeks to study the role of leadership
within the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of war crimes tribunals. In
doing so, I hope to compile information for individuals seeking to
assume similar leadership roles in the future and shed some light on
how context affects leadership in this particular type of institution. In
this way, I hope this paper will prove useful both as a case study for
students of leadership and for practitioners in transitional justice.
For this study, I interviewed a series of leaders who are
currently serving or who have served previously as leaders within the
OTP of a war crimes tribunal, either as the Prosecutor or Deputy
Prosecutor. 70 I asked them a series of questions about their views of

69
S.C. Res. 827, U.N. Doc. S/RES/827 (May 25, 1993).
70
Here, I believe it would be important to conduct similar studies among judges and
Registry staff. However, due to the highly varied nature of the work each organ
within the institution conducts, I believed it was wise to limit my study to the OTP of
each institution. Additionally, due to time constraints, I limited myself to those
individuals with the highest level of authority and responsibility within OTPs. This
is not meant to imply in any way that there are not other important leaders within
these institutions.

15
leadership as exercised within their respective institution. 71 The
individuals I interviewed came from five institutions – the ICTY, the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the ICC, the
Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), and the Prosecutor’s Office of
Bosnia and Herzegovina. 72 They represent a diversity of backgrounds,
including both men and a woman, common and civil law traditions,
African, European, and North American origins, and both Prosecutors
and Deputy Prosecutors. 73
The results described below outline my synthesis of these
interviews as well as advice culled from specific individuals. While I
am sure that none of my interview subjects would agree with all of my
conclusions, I hope that they all would agree with a good deal of them.
Where conclusions seemed to vary depending on the nature of the
individual or institution involved, I have tried to make this clear.

71
See Appendix A (for a list of the planned questions). Note, however, that the
interviews were fairly unstructured; not every individual was asked every question,
and at times, the discussion went in directions not accounted for in this list of
planned questions.
72
For more on these institutions, see their English-language websites:
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA,
http://www.icty.org (last visited May 6, 2010); INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL
FOR RWANDA, http://www. unictr.org (last visited May 6, 2010); INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL COURT, http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Home (last visited May 6,
2010); THE SPECIAL COURT FOR SIERRA LEONE, http://www.sc-sl.org (last visited
May 6, 2010); THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA,
http://www.tuzilastvobih.gov.ba/?id=9&jezik=e&kat=5&opcija=sadrzaj (last visited
May 6, 2010). Additionally, I should note that two of my interview subjects, Fatou
Bensouda and Serge Brammertz, had previously served in a different war crimes
tribunals from the institution they currently represent, Ms. Bensouda as a trial lawyer
at the ICTR and Mr. Brammertz as the Deputy Prosecutor at the ICC. Finally, I did
not interview any individuals from the Extraordinary Courts in the Chambers of
Cambodia (ECCC, otherwise known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal). This omission
was based on issues of access but will hopefully not significantly bias my research
findings; the only significant divergence between this institution and those I have
included in my study that may be of interest to a future study is the preeminence of
civil law practitioners in the ECCC, whereas the other institutions are staffed more
heavily by common law practitioners.
73
See Appendix B (for a full list of individuals interviewed). The interviewees were
selected based on past associations and do not represent a random sampling of
tribunal leaders. If there is any bias in the individuals I was able to interview, it is
toward North Americans, although to a certain extent this bias reflects the general
overrepresentation of North Americans in these types of institutions.

16
 Given that I hope this paper will be of interest to both
international justice practitioners and students of leadership more
broadly, I will give equal weight to identifying best practices and the
specific context of war crimes tribunals that is unique to this type of
leadership. I will start by briefly discussing the facts of the war crimes
tribunals on which I base my study. Next, I will lay out the content of
my research findings, identifying themes of best practices. Finally, I
will synthesize the information I have collected and will discuss how
the unique context of war crimes tribunals demands a particular style
and type of prosecutorial leadership.
A. Background – War Crimes Prosecutions:
International and hybrid war crimes tribunals, broadly
speaking, all have several commonalities. All are charged with
adjudicating the cases of those accused of violations of the laws and
customs of war, although the specific substantive and procedural law
that each applies may vary considerably. As a result of this work, all
are invariably under a tremendous amount of political pressure, based
on the sensitive nature of the judicial work performed. All are seeking
indictments and prosecutions of senior officials who maintain some
degree of political support, each is under pressure from local
authorities to focus prosecutions on rival political or ethnic groups,
and each is engaged in efforts to demonstrate their relevance to other
components of the peace-building process. In each case, therefore, the
type and source of political pressure varies, and the demands of
leadership are highly varied. However, in each case, the institutions
are attempting to move societies engaged in or recently emerged from
conflict toward a normalcy defined by the supremacy of the rule of
law. This effort at shaping norms and punishing those responsible is
conducted in the face of strong political pressures in the opposite
direction. This political pressure may be the single most distinctive
factor contributing to the unique nature of prosecutorial leadership in
these institutions.
Organizationally, each court is divided into three of four
component units, including a Registry in charge of administrative
measures, Judges’ Chambers, an Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), and

17
in some cases an office dedicated to supporting defense counsel. All
are highly professional organizations, staffed largely by lawyers,
criminal investigators, judges, court administrators, and other
professional staff. All are, to greater or lesser degrees, multinational in
composition, combining individuals from various different countries
and continents, often with highly different legal backgrounds.
Due to the big differences in the work performed by each
component organ and the highly varied demands on leaders within
each component, I have chosen to focus my research exclusively on
leadership within the OTP. OTPs are typically structured with two
overall executive prosecutors, the Prosecutor and the Deputy
Prosecutor, leading the organization. Below these individuals are unit
chiefs, such as a Chief of Prosecutions or Chief of Investigations.
Below unit chiefs are the trial teams, headed by Senior Trial Attorneys
(STAs) or Investigative Team Leaders. Beyond that, different
institutions have different organizational structures, including separate
appeals teams, investigative teams, research groups, etc. One of the
most prominent cleavages within the OTP is between lawyers trained
in civil and common law countries. Another important and consistent
divide is that between legal and investigative staff; in the words of one
interviewee, the former are trained “not to make decisions by
consensus nor by reconciliation, but through an adversarial process.” 74
In contrast, criminal investigators generally are accustomed to more
hierarchical management techniques. These internal dynamics provide
a second key contextual constraint on the exercise of leadership within
these OTPs.
Despite these broad similarities, however, there are important
differences between each of the institutions I have studied. While the
ICC has global reach, possessing jurisdiction over the 100 countries
that have subscribed to the institution, all of its cases to date have
focused on situations in Africa. The other institutions have more
limited geographic mandates, covering Rwanda, Bosnia, the entire
former Yugoslavia, and Sierra Leone, respectively. Each institution

74
Telephone Interview with Norman Farrell, Deputy Prosecutor, Int’l Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugo. (May 4, 2010).

18
differs in its formal authorities and the oversight mechanisms to which
it reports. The ICC is a court of last resort for crimes committed in
countries that have voluntarily submitted to its jurisdiction, 75 and
reports to an Assembly of States Parties (ASP). In contrast, the ICTY
and ICTR were created by the UN Security Council (UNSC) and have
jurisdiction over states that resisted the formation of the court. The
UNSC oversees these institutions, although the UN General Assembly
has a role in evaluating their budgets. Finally, the Prosecutor’s Office
of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the SCSL are unique institutions
situated within the host country. Although the Prosecutor’s Office in
Bosnia is more firmly rooted in the local judicial system, 76 both have
international jurists in positions of significant authority and both have
some degree of foundation in international law. 77 In terms of
oversight, the SCSL reports to a UN Management Committee, whereas
the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is responsible to
the national government. 78 There are, of course, many differences
between each institution. However, for the purpose of this paper, I
have attempted to highlight those I believe are most relevant to the
exercise of leadership within OTPs.
B. Content of Leadership:
In this section, I will identify some of the insights I have
gained from interviewing prosecutorial leaders. This section is
organized thematically, focusing on specific responses to questions

75
One exception here is the case in which the UN Security Council refers a case to
the ICC, as has happened with Sudan. See S.C. Res. 1593, U.N. Doc S/RES/1593
(March 31, 2005).
76
In the case of Bosnia, the Prosecutor’s Office exists as a separate entity from the
State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose judges hear war crimes prosecutions.
77
For example, as David Schwendiman notes, “the Special Department of War
Crimes of Bosnia and Herzegovina is led by the Deputy Chief Prosecutor—who,
between November 2007 and December 2009, by operation of national law—had to
be an international prosecutor drawn from the prosecutors in the Special Department
for War Crimes.” Telephone Interview with David Schwendiman, Deputy
Prosecutor, Prosecutor’s Office of Bosn. & Herz. (Nov. 11 2009) (citing Article 18a,
Law on the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina).
78
One exceptional aspect of the Bosnian government’s oversight of the Prosecutor’s
Office is its role in personnel decisions. In Bosnia, the High Judicial and
Prosecutorial Council is responsible for all personnel selections, which provides an
interesting challenge to prosecutorial leaders who do not have freedom to select their
own staff.

19
about particular aspects of prosecutorial leadership and/or
management.
i. Goals of Leadership:
When asked about the goals they pursued in exercising
leadership, every one of the interviewees noted that the mandate of
their institution established the basic objectives. As one prosecutor
noted, “the goals of leadership must ultimately fulfill the objectives of
the institution.”79 In others words, each leader viewed his or her
leadership as serving the broader goal of reducing impunity and
deterring or at least punishing crimes. Despite this consensus on the
ultimate objectives of leadership, there was considerable divergence in
terms of the instrumental goals of leadership within the OTP that
depended heavily on the individual and the institution.
Specifically, there were two instrumental goals that all
interviewees identified as important (albeit to greater or lesser
extents): ensuring that their respective institutions had the external
political support it needed to conduct its prosecutorial work; and
ensuring that the OTP was a well-organized, functional institution.
Different individuals focused on external and internal goals to various
degrees, depending largely on their position (Prosecutors were
generally more concerned with external representational goals and
Deputy Prosecutors with internal organizational goals), the institution
(some institutions had to fight more fiercely for political and material
support while others, particularly those founded recently, had to worry
more about internal organization, while still other institutions, such as
the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, could not afford
not to be fixated on both), and the individual (some were personally
more inclined toward internal management whereas others chose to
focus more on external issues). Interestingly, the two interviewees
with military experience (both Americans) were the most interested in,
and were able to offer the most specific analyses of, fostering a
cohesive team as an explicit goal of their leadership. 80

79
Telephone Interview with Serge Brammertz, Prosecutor, Int’l Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugo (May 6, 2010).
80
Telephone Interview with David Crane, Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone
(April 20, 2010); Schwendiman, supra note 8.

20
 ii. Interactions with the Public:
Interviewees agreed that interactions with the public were an
essential component of OTP leadership within war crimes tribunals.
Prosecutors tended to focus more on these interactions than Deputy
Prosecutors, although this varied by individual. As one Prosecutor
noted, you are the “most public face of the tribunal, so whatever you
say attracts a lot of attention. [Your external message therefore]
depends a lot on your audience.” 81 Prosecutors tended to identify two
crucial audiences: victims (and their representatives); and powerful
outside actors (such as governments and non-governmental
organizations) that could help the prosecutors achieve their ultimate
objectives. Interestingly, far fewer prosecutors focused on messaging
directed at the non-victim general population of countries emerging
from conflict, with the notable exception of those in institutions based
in the country for which they held substantive jurisdiction (SCSL and
the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina). 82
Most interviewees agreed that interactions with victims and
victims’ rights groups were of utmost importance. As David Crane
noted, the institutions were formally charged with ensuring justice for
victims, and as a lawyer, you must “know your client.” 83
Interestingly, this form of external communication, while identified as
crucial to leadership, seemed generally to be an end-state. While
victims’ rights groups could certainly aid the respective courts,
interviewees universally did not treat their interactions with these
groups as instrumental, but instead as serving directly the goals of the
institution. In fact, many prosecutors seemed eager to expend political
capital and resources in securing positive relations with victims’ rights
groups. For example, David Schwendiman detailed efforts the
Prosecutor’s Office undertook to re-engage on missing persons issues
as a means of working with victims’ groups in a positive manner. 84

81
Telephone Interview with Hassan Jallow, Prosecutor, Int’l Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda (April 13, 2010).
82
Crane, supra note 12; Schwendiman, supra note 9. To be fair, other interviewees
focused on this issue, just not as heavily.
83
Crane, supra note 12.
84
Schwendiman, supra note 8.

21
 The other external constituency on whom prosecutorial leaders
focused their attention could broadly be classified as powerful external
actors capable of helping the institutions achieve their objectives. This
consists largely of governments (especially Western governments most
likely to provide political and material support to these institutions),
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society
groups, and individuals with oversight authority of the respective
institution. To a large extent, these relations were instrumental;
prosecutorial leaders sought good relations with these actors in order
to secure assistance in pursuing the core goals of leadership.
Prosecutorial leaders identified three key components of good
leadership that were essential to this aspect of OTP leadership:
employing and living up to the symbolic nature of one’s position;
projecting impartiality in one’s actions; and simply communicating
well and practicing good diplomacy. For example, when the ICC
faced some negative questioning regarding its overwhelming focus on
African cases, Fatou Bensouda wisely made use of her status as an
African woman to demonstrate, symbolically and directly, that the
“ICC is working with Africa to solve problems of Africa.” 85 This was
particularly relevant in cases involving gender-based violence.
Perceptions of impartiality were likewise important in
generating credibility with victims’ groups and with external actors,
and were essential to the overall functioning of the court. As Hassan
Jallow noted, public perceptions of a court’s partiality or impartiality
largely flow from the actions of the prosecutor. 86 An additional
technique that each interviewee seemed to employ to varying degrees
was clarifying goals and narrowing expectations appropriately.
Victims often expect that each case will receive attention, whereas the
courts often have only the resources to focus on representational cases
and those defendants accused of being most responsible for atrocities.
Consequently, a strong, clear mission statement that is effectively and
honestly communicated has proven essential in generating support

85
Telephone Interview with Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor, Int’l Criminal
Court (April 26, 2010).
86
Jallow, supra note 13.

22
among victims groups and outside actors, particularly those in charge
of funding decisions who may find comfort in such clearly-delineated
responsibilities.
iii. Sources of Power:
Interviewees tended to agree that the power to serve effectively
stemmed from two sources: formal authorities; and personal traits.
Formal authorities gave prosecutors status in terms of their official
managerial roles and competencies, in terms of their official rank
(which mattered more than one would hope in interactions
internationally and with oversight bodies), and especially in terms of
their formal authority to issue indictments. Personal traits that were
essential to leadership, both externally and especially internally
included competence (in terms of management, leadership, experience,
and the core legal skills of the office) and charisma.
Prosecutors and Deputy Prosecutors achieve their rank and
responsibilities through formal processes that grant them some degree
of immediate legitimacy. ICTR, ICTY, and ICC Prosecutors are
elected by either the UNSC or the ASP, respectively, granting these
individuals a strong degree of legitimacy, at least among the member
states of these institutions. Further, these positions carry a high rank,
either within the UN system (as is the case for the ICTY, ICTR, and
SCSL) or national jurisdiction (as is the case in Bosnia). 87 As most
governments and international organizations are quite hierarchical, this
rank matters in the respect and deference accorded to the Prosecutors
and Deputy Prosecutors. 88 Further, these positions often come with
formally-delineated authorities over the staff of the OTP, such as is the
case of the ICC Deputy Prosecutor. While such formal command
authority is a source of power, virtually every prosecutor viewed
employing such ‘hard power’ as a ‘silver bullet’ to be eschewed “99%
of the time” in favor of cooperative, consultative relations with OTP
staff. 89

87
For example, the ICTY, ICTR, and SCSL Prosecutors held the rank of UN Under-
Secretary-General.
88
Crane, supra note 12.
89
Id.; Jallow, supra note 13 (et al.)

23
 Finally, OTP leaders’ formal authorities include one extremely
powerful tool: the power to indict. As David Tolbert noted, there is a
“tremendous amount of moral and political power behind an
indictment.” 90 Unfortunately, this source of power can cut in both
directions – several interviewees noted the risk involved in
indictments, given that neither the OTP by itself nor the entire court as
an institution is empowered to arrest indictees. For this, the courts are
dependent upon state actors. Further, even when arrests occur,
indictments do not automatically result in convictions; judicial
independence means that judges ultimately decide the fate of those
prosecuted. Consequently, indictments carry risks, namely, that
without arrests or with prosecutions that lead to acquittals (particularly
if there are many of them or if they occur in prominent cases), they
may undermine the power, authority, or credibility of a prosecutor. 91
Beyond formal authorities, OTP leaders derived power from
sources internal to themselves. Although important for almost all
interviewees, these qualities mattered more strongly for Deputy
Prosecutors, who tended to hold tightly the reins of internal
management and leadership within the OTP itself, and who did not
carry the elevated rank of Prosecutor.
One source of power for many leaders was fostering a sense of
their own competence within the organization, not only as a leader and
manager, but as a lawyer. “There are real leadership qualities
associated with management and you have to have the respect of [your
staff]… They had to respect you as a manager, but they had to respect
you enough as a lawyer.” 92 Given the highly professionalized nature
of the OTPs, possessing core litigation skills is one source of power
and compels a great amount of respect among staff members, many of
whom are highly skilled litigators who may have years of experience
at the national and international levels. This sense of competence was
often built through experience, particularly in the case of Deputy
Prosecutors. Every Deputy Prosecutor I interviewed had years of

90
Telephone Interview with David Tolbert, Deputy Prosecutor, Int’l Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugo (April 5, 2010).
91
Id.; Brammertz, supra note 11.
92
Tolbert, supra note 22.

24
experience at both the national and international levels, typically
within the same institution they eventually rose to lead.
An additional source of power was personal charisma,
particularly leading through example. While it is difficult to
characterize ‘charisma,’ and no interviewee claimed to possess it,
several examples led me to the conclusion that most of my
interviewees relied on personal charisma as a source of power. For
example, Fatou Bensouda recalled an incident in which an STA had to
leave one of the most important and complex trials, the prominence of
which is derived in part from the fact that it was the first case the ICC
heard. Realizing that putting another STA in charge of the trial
without giving him the proper time to immerse himself in its details
would be unfair to that individual, she decided to step in personally
and lead the prosecution. This charismatic act, and the important
symbolism it carried, seemed to motivate and inspire her prosecutorial
staff. 93
In another example, David Schwendiman recognized from
prior service in Bosnia that one key area for improvement was risk-
acceptance in prosecutions. The timidity of his staff in its pursuit of
indictments was hampering the ability of the Prosecutor’s Office to
prosecute important cases. Upon his appointment as Deputy
Prosecutor, he took risky positions in support of a more robust
prosecutorial model: “In a culture that shrunk from risk, we
encouraged people to take risks.” 94 Overall, personal charisma,
coupled with experience and competence, was an essential component
of leadership, particularly for Deputy Prosecutors.
iv. Delegation of Tasks:
Interviewees demonstrated a remarkable amount of agreement
in terms of what aspects of leadership could be delegated to
subordinates and what elements must be exercised personally by the
Prosecutor or Deputy Prosecutor, respectively. All agreed that acting

93
Bensouda, supra note 17.
94
Schwendiman, supra note 9. Although he also instituted procedural changes that
encouraged risk-acceptance among his staff, his charisma and personal risk-taking,
including assuming political pressures and defending the institution publicly,
encouraged his staff to follow his leadership.

25
as a symbol of the supremacy of the rule of law as well as external
representational responsibilities could not be delegated by the top two
leaders in a tribunal (although respondents varied in terms of their
views on to the extent to which the Prosecutor had to conduct these
activities or could delegate some degree of responsibility to the Deputy
Prosecutor). To a large extent, these responsibilities seemed to take
primacy; to the extent that they were required in order to secure
adequate political support for the operation of the tribunals, they
absorbed much of the leadership focus of the Prosecutor (and even the
Deputy Prosecutor to a lesser extent). The ICTY and ICC seemed to
be especially subject to international political pressure, and the
external representational and symbolic demands on their leaders in
particular seemed to be quite heavy. 95
To the extent that political support was more forthcoming, the
Prosecutor and certainly Deputy Prosecutor focused their personal
attention on broader issues of trial management. In most instances, the
Deputy Prosecutor (with participation of the Prosecutor) had to ensure
that issues, including legal issues that affected the entire office, were
led by him personally. Leadership and seemingly fair decision-making
were necessary to resolve disputes between trial teams working on
related cases to ensure that the OTP followed a consistent strategy.
For example, leaders had to ensure that the OTP took a consistent
position across cases as to which individuals comprised specific joint
criminal enterprises (JCEs) and as to what the objectives of the JCEs
were. 96
On the other hand, the day-to-day management of trial activity
was universally recognized as an area in which it was essential to
delegate leadership to the STAs. STAs often have a great deal of
experience within the institution and are subject-matter experts on
issues pertaining to their specific trial. Granting them flexibility to
lead their teams as they see fit was universally seen as the best strategy
for leadership. This encouraged STAs to exercise leadership and
reduced the direct burden on OTP leadership. As both Hassan Jallow

95
Brammertz, supra note 11; Bensouda, supra note 17.
96
Farrell, supra note 6; Jallow, supra note 13.

26
and David Crane noted, the best style was “macro-management,”
focusing on the big picture and allowing a great deal of leeway to the
STAs in terms of implementation 97.
v. Leading versus Managing:
Most interviewees did not see a strong distinction between
activities that involved leadership versus management, with the
notable exception of external representational duties and serving as a
symbol of the institution and of the preeminence of the rule of law. As
Serge Brammertz noted, you “can’t lead without people knowing how
to follow you. That takes management. And you can’t manage
without exercising leadership.” 98 This may be in part a product of the
size of the organization and its relative flatness. 99 Although there are
individuals with whom the Prosecutors and Deputy Prosecutors
interact more and less frequently, there are not multiple layers of
bureaucracy, necessitating the kind of distant, symbolic, or
motivational leadership that may characterize larger organizations.
To the extent that interviewees distinguished between
leadership and management, it tended to be in describing different
aspects of the same action. For example, David Tolbert described the
leadership qualities necessary for good management decision-making:
“You have to be open, but decisive. You have to be willing to listen,
but at the end of the day, people have to understand that you’re going
to make a fair decision. Making a decision in real-time is more
important than making a perfect decision six months from now.” 100
Overall, the distinction between leadership and management in terms
of how they headed their respective OTPs was not significant to the
interviewees.
vi. Talent Development:
A number of interviewees agreed that talent development
within their organization was an important component of their
leadership, although Deputy Prosecutors seemed to spend more time

97
Crane, supra note 12; Jallow, supra note 13.
98
Brammertz, supra note 11.
99
Even the largest of the institutions, the ICTY and the ICC, have fewer than 200
individuals working in their respective OTPs.
100
Tolbert, supra note 22.

27
on such issues. However, as one interviewee noted, before talent
development, you need accurate talent assessment. 101 In this regard,
cultural sensitivity seemed important, particularly in regard to legal
traditions; it was important to identify how staff members’ previous
experience may or may not have prepared them for work at the
international level. For example, the U.S. style of cross-examining
witnesses, which tends to be more aggressive, is less effective
internationally when worked through a translator. The witness has
time to think through responses and is not confronted by the tone of
voice the prosecutor might use. 102
Most interviewees discussed formal training programs they ran
that were required of all investigative and legal staff, especially when
the demands of the institution are quite different from those of the
national prosecutorial background of most staff members. For
example, one interviewee discussed trainings meant to sensitize staff
going into the field about their conduct in investigating sexual crimes
and in situations where their actions could endanger witnesses,
victims, or others. 103 Beyond these formal training programs, most
interviewees noted that the hands-off management style they employed
tended to foster staff development as individuals took greater
responsibility for their own work and that of their team.
One obstacle to talent development routinely identified by
many interviewees was rigid hiring procedures. Across institutions,
limitations on internal promotions and human resource hiring
restrictions proved to be major obstacles to overcome in order to
ensure adequate internal talent development. David Schwendiman
noted frustrations with the promotion and hiring system that was
controlled completely outside the Prosecutor’s Office by the Bosnian
High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council. 104 Likewise, David Tolbert
noted frustrations with the UN system, and offered advice on this
point:

101
Farrell, supra note 6.
102
Id.
103
Bensouda, supra note 17.
104
Schwendiman, supra note 9.

28
 “It is hard within a structure that’s as rigid as the UN…
You need to understand the system you operate in.
There’s a huge amount of frustration for these talented
lawyers and investigators because they’re in this rigid
system… You have to try to make the system work for
you. Having a good understanding of the
administrative rules is important.” 105

In this regard, it seems, UN administrative functions are still lagging in

their adjustment to the unique challenges of staffing large judicial
institutions.
In this section, I have dealt with a number of issues,
summarizing themes that leaders identified as the best practices of
leadership – known in the leadership literature as the “content” of
leadership. While these practices are essential tools for future leaders,
their specific application is driven by the context in which a leader
finds himself or herself. In the next section, I will turn to an analysis
of this “context” of leadership.
C. Context of Leadership:
In this section, I will return to the main themes of context, and
will discuss how particular aspects of war crimes tribunals affect how
leadership is exercised within respective OTPs. Having discussed best
practices, I will focus more heavily on the strategic environment in
which leaders must employ these tactics. In particular, I will share two
broad conclusions on prosecutorial leadership in war crimes tribunals
regarding internal diversity and external representation.
i. Leading Diversity:
One unique aspect of war crimes tribunals is their highly
diverse nature. UN (and ICC) staffing tables, when applicable, ensure
regional, national, and gender diversity within these institutions. One
interviewee noted the difficult internal leadership challenge of taking
“all these people from all these different nationalities and coming up
with a structure that works.” 106 However, with this diversity along one
axis comes a great degree of homogeneity along another – most staff

105
Tolbert, supra note 22.
106
Id.

29
members of OTPs are either highly skilled lawyers or criminal
investigators. On many issues, cultural differences did not seem to
overcome professional affinities. For example, one interviewee
identified as a challenge the fact that lawyers were universally biased
toward thinking their own legal traditions were best. 107 The final
context I found critical for the exercise of internal leadership was the
often high-pressure nature of the work. This is particularly relevant
when the tribunal is either located in the country of concern, or when it
is dealing with crimes committed in a conflict that is still on-going.
This internal context dictates to a certain extent how
prosecutorial leaders must exercise their leadership. Most
interviewees viewed hands-off management as the best leadership tool
with respect to a highly motivated and professional workforce. As
one leader stated, “encourage people to decide for themselves to go in
the direction you want them to go.” 108 Coupled with this hands-off
management style, however, must be a hands-on leadership style. This
means that leaders must know their staff very well, and must maintain
an open mind in attempting to understand them and their background.
While management must be hands-off, you must be engaged closely
enough with your staff to understand their needs and to foster a sense
that they can approach you for assistance, when they require it.
Striking the right balance between these approaches is a difficult task
of leadership within these institutions. However, the typical leadership
structure in which the Prosecutor largely delegates these activities to
the Deputy Prosecutor may make it easier for the latter individual to
focus on and excel at this type of leadership.
ii. Need for Political Support:
From my interviews with these prosecutorial leaders, I learned
that one of the toughest tasks of leadership is the generation of the
political support and perceived legitimacy necessary for the OTP of
each institution to do its job. As one Prosecutor noted, “[at the]
national level you have clear jurisdiction, legal framework, and public
support… At the international level, success or failure depends on the

107
Jallow, supra note 13.
108
Id.

30
cooperation you receive.” 109 As a contrast, prosecutors in domestic
systems typically are conducting their work under the political
supervision and support of a justice ministry (or Department) that is
involved in policy setting and involves itself in the highest level policy
debates inside the government. While specific cases may merit
political attention or even opposition, and cases of misconduct may
cloud legitimacy in some instances, the overall prosecutorial system
itself is rarely challenged. One can say that domestic legal systems
typically have inherent legitimacy.
On the other hand, leaders in international and hybrid war
crimes tribunals face a potential lack of inherent legitimacy on two
fronts. First, the concept of supra-national justice challenges the
prerogatives of states. Although each of these institutions was
delegated their judicial authority from states, these decisions did not
represent the universal consensus of states, or the universal agreement
of individuals within the governments of certain states. Consequently,
seventeen years after the foundation of the ICTY, and even with the
establishment of the ICC, these institutions are still struggling, at
times, for legitimacy in the eyes of their supporters. Although they
seem to have established themselves in the international landscape, the
costliness and time-consuming nature of prosecutions as well as
concerns that prosecutions may interfere with peace processes, such as
with the Sudan, have led to renewed skepticism of these institutions,
even among supporters. This skepticism is dangerous for the tribunals,
given their reliance on states for authority and resources. More
troubling, they do not possess the power to arrest the individuals they
indict. For this, they are dependent on the police powers of states, and
the political pressure states may place on other states to make arrests.
Second, these institutions do not have automatic legitimacy in
the eyes of the public in the areas of conflict where the crimes
occurred. In countries emerging from or engaged in conflict, the rule
of law is not a comfort to the average citizen confronted with
widespread and systemic political violence and impunity; fragile states
are practically defined by a break-down in the rule of law and a culture

109
Brammertz, supra note 11.

31
of impunity. Although victims will be eager to see their immediate
victimizer face justice, war crimes tribunals largely focus on higher-
level organizers and orchestrators of systemic violence, not the trigger-
pullers many victims would like to see punished (although to be fair,
many victims have a more sophisticated, political view of
responsibility). One typical result of this dynamic is a situation in
which, for example, one groups’ political leaders face indictment
while the local thugs of a rival group do not. In such a context, it is
easy for political leaders potentially facing indictment to manufacture
political opposition to prosecutions, especially when the slow pace of
international justice makes victims feel their own concerns are not
being addressed.
Given this two-front challenge to the legitimacy of war crimes
tribunals, prosecutors are under a tremendous burden to generate
support among the states that control budgetary and political resources,
and among the population of states affected by conflict. This may be
perhaps the greatest challenge of exercising leadership within
international and hybrid war crimes tribunals. An effective prosecutor
must generate the support, in terms of political support, credibility, and
resources, so that his or her staff can perform their core work without
feeling the burdens of political opposition. This requires effective
diplomatic engagement and serving as a symbol of impartiality and the
primacy of the rule of law. As David Tolbert summarized, “you have
to be able to build support from countries that are friendly and then
deal in a very hostile environment.” 110 There are moments of great
importance, and “being prepared for that and thinking about it
beforehand is hard to do, given the day-to-day management
responsibilities, and you do not know when it is coming.” 111
D. Conclusion:
Overall, I have attempted to present and synthesize war crimes
tribunals’ prosecutorial leaders’ views on leadership. I have
identified themes among their views on leadership best practices with
regard to specific acts of leadership – the so-called “content” of

110
Tolbert, supra note 22.
111
Id.

32
leadership. Finally, I attempted to synthesize their responses in the
overall “context” of leadership, identifying what I consider two of the
greatest challenges to successful prosecutorial leadership with the OTP
of war crimes tribunals.

APPENDIX A: PLANNED QUESTIONS

1. General: How would you define the goals of leadership within an
international / hybrid criminal tribunal?

2. General: What is an example of a time in which you demonstrated

such leadership? What is an example of a time when you learned
about leading through a challenging event?

3. Interactions with the public: How do you conceptualize the image

and message you wish to convey to the general public? How does this
differ for countries directly affected by the underlying conflicts and
those that are further removed from them? How do you feel your
leadership fits in to the overall projection of that image?

4. Representing the organization to central UN and nations: How do

you conceptualize bridging your role as leader of the organization with
representing it to the UN and member states? How do you ensure that
the right messages are conveyed both internally and externally?

5. Vision / Renewal: How do you relate your vision for the future of
international justice to your day-to-day responsibilities?

6. Power: What are the sources of power and authority for leaders in
international tribunals? Which do you find most important in your
exercise of leadership?

7. Mitigating political conflicts: How do you approach issues in

which there is a clear conflict of interest? How do you keep people
focused on the broader organizational agenda in such situations?

8. Near versus far subordinates: How do you attempt to motivate

subordinates in your organization with whom you might not have
frequent, personal interaction? How do you ensure that everyone (or
most people) within your organization feels motivated toward
achieving a greater purpose? Likewise, how do you focus on
motivating those with whom you have frequent interaction?

33
 9. Delegation of tasks to co-leaders: What elements of leadership /
leading the organization, do you feel comfortable delegating to your
team? Which responsibilities do you insist on keeping personally?

10. Leading versus managing: Some scholars of leadership

differentiate between leadership and management, viewing the former
as visionary and the latter as process-based. In what ways does the
structure of the organization call upon you to lead versus manage?

11. Talent Development: How do you focus on developing individual

talent within your organization? What is the appropriate role of
tribunal leadership in fostering such professionalism?

12. Context of Leadership: How do you think the composition of the

organization (international in staffing, mostly lawyers, highly
professional, etc.) affect the nature of leadership within the
organization?

APPENDIX B: LIST OF INDIVIDUALS INTERVIEWED

Individual Institution Position Country Date of Interview
(Legal Tradition)
David Tolbert ICTY Dep. Prosecutor United States 4.5.2010
(Common Law)
Hassan Jallow ICTR Prosecutor The Gambia 4.12, 13, 20.2010
(Common Law)
David Crane SCSL Prosecutor United States 4.20.2010
(Common Law)
Fatou Bensouda ICC Dep. Prosecutor The Gambia 4.26.2010
(Common Law)
David Schwendiman BiH Dep. Prosecutor United States 4.27.2010
(Common Law)
Norman Farrell ICTY Dep. Prosecutor Canada 5.4.2010
(Common Law)
Serge Brammertz ICTY Prosecutor Belgium 5.6.2010
(Civil Law)

34
 REFLECTIONS ON WOMEN IN INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL LAW
Marilyn J. Kaman*

I have been asked to speak on the topic of “Reflections on

Women in International Criminal Law.” My reflections necessarily
come from my own mission abroad, during 2002-2003 as an
international judge for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. I will
tell you more about that mission in a moment, and to do so, I will use
examples of four women to describe my experiences: Two names you
will recognize, and two you will not. All four women should be
familiar to you for the role they played in the pursuit of international
justice for women.
As you may know, Kosovo is a province of today’s Serbia and
Montenegro. It is a land that has been subject to competing beliefs and
claims for centuries. Historians mark an important date as 1389, when
the Ottoman Empire engaged in battle on the outskirts of present-day
Pristina (Kosovo Polje/Fushë Kosovë, municipalities in the Pristina
district). Four hundred years of rule by the Ottoman Empire followed
that battle, which came to be regarded as a battlefield of humiliating
defeat by Serbians. In 1912, Turkish domination ended, and Serbia
annexed Kosovo in 1912. An independent Albanian state was
declared in the same year. In 1943, communist Yugoslavia was
formed.
With the death of Yugoslav President Josef Tito in 1980, the
uneasy truce keeping the republics of Yugoslavia together unraveled.
In 1987, Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic returned to Kosovo
Polje/Fushë Kosovë, by then fabled as a place of humiliating defeat six
hundred years earlier. Milosevic set the stage for Kosovo’s conflict
between Kosovar Serbs and Kosovar Albanians rallied ethnic Serbs by
declaring, “[n]o one should dare to beat you!” 112

* Former International Judge, United Nations Mission in Kosovo; Judge, Hennepin

County District Court.
112
GUARDIAN.CO.UK, Exiles in the Enemy Camp (May 8. 1999),
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/1999/may/08/balkans3.

35
 During the 1990s, judges were dismissed from their posts,
Serbian police took over from Kosovar Albanian police, and Albanian
schools were closed. Kosovar Albanian resistance to Serbian actions
grew and, in late 1997, the Kosovo Liberation Army made its first
public appearance. Serbian authorities planned and implemented a
campaign of expulsion of the Kosovar Albanian population from
Kosovo.
Back in Minnesota, I read the newspaper stories that carried
pictures of the forced exodus, as well as mass graves. On March 23,
1999, NATO intervened. The 1999 war ended on June 8, 1999, and
the United Nations made the decision to become the interim civilian
administration for the province, including re-establishing the rule of
law. By then, however, ethnic tensions ran high and the judicial
system had been destroyed. My own understanding of these events
then was only intellectual, gleaned from reading the morning
newspaper before going to work.
Only three years later, I would find myself boarding a plane
bound for Kosovo to become a participant in the process of rebuilding
a destroyed justice system. When I arrived in Kosovo I had
orientation in Pristina, the capital, for several days, and then I was
posted to a city called Pec/Peja. Or is it Peja/Pec? These are two
names—one Serbian, one Albanian. And even the order in which you
say the names supposedly signifies a bias or preference. Again, it
would be difficult to be an impartial international judge in Kosovo,
where every move was scrutinized. Pec/Peja is located about sixty
miles to the West of Pristina, at the base of the Albanian Alps. It is a
lovely area with a foreboding history.
The foundation for my work as an international judge in
Kosovo was laid by a woman in the aftermath of another war—World
War II. That woman’s name is Eleanor Roosevelt. As you know, in
1945, U.S. President Harry Truman appointed Roosevelt as a delegate
to the UN General Assembly. She played an instrumental role, along
with others, in drafting the UN Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (“Declaration”). The Declaration begins with the recognition
of the “inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all

36
members of the human family [as] the foundation of freedom, justice
and peace in the world.” 113
Proceeding from those opening sentences, the Declaration then
sets out thirty articles detailing the rights of human kind. These rights
generally fall into two categories—civil and political rights (right to
life, liberty, and security of person; free speech and assembly,
prohibition of slavery, torture, and cruel, inhuman degrading
treatment; no arbitrary arrest, detention or exile; presumption of
innocence; freedom of thought, opinion, conscience, and religion;
freedom of movement; right to a fair trial; right to equal protection;
right of asylum; right to own property) and social, economic and
cultural rights (right to work; right to education; right to an adequate
standard of living; right to rest and leisure; right to social security;
right to participate in the cultural life of the community). 114
Roosevelt later referred to the Declaration as "the international
Magna Carta of all men everywhere." 115 Interestingly, the vote of the
General Assembly on the Declaration in 1948 was unanimous, except
for eight abstentions by certain countries, which took exception to the
implications of the Declaration. 116 The exception was still in force in
2002, and I encountered it while I was a judge in Kosovo.
Following the Declaration, the march toward international
criminal justice took steps forward with the Nuremburg Trials, with
the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia in 1993, and with establishment of the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1994. Kosovo followed in 1999,
only this time the UN would internationalize Kosovo’s domestic

113
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217 (III) A, U.N. Doc.
A/RES/217(III) (Dec. 10, 1948), available at
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6b3712c.html.
114
See id.
115
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech on Adoption of the Declaration of Human
Rights (Dec. 9, 1948), HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENOCIDE: SELECTED STATEMENTS;
UNITED NATIONS RESOLUTION DECLARATION AND CONVENTIONS, U.S. DEP’T OF
STATE (1949), reprinted in NATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR UDHR 50,
FRANKLIN AND ELEANOR ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE (Aug. 5, 1998),
http://www.udhr.org/history/ergeas48.htm.
116
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA ONLINE, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR), (2011), http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/618067/Universal-
Declaration-of-Human-Rights.

37
courts by bringing in international judges to sit with local judges to,
hopefully, bring a measure of impartiality to the outcome. That is what
my job was.
Almost immediately upon arrival in Pec/Peja, I came to know
of the second woman I would like to mention in my reflections today.
Her name is Haxjere Sahiti:
[She] was married on a Sunday, murdered on a
Monday, and buried in the woods in the same
afternoon. Married life lasted less than [twelve] hours
for her. It ended with the [twenty]-year-old Kosovar
Albanian woman lying dead on her family’s living
room carpet, with seven bullets fired into her torso.
The killer was her . . . brother Ismet. The murder was
witnessed by her mother and brother. Her crime was
supposedly not being a virgin on her wedding night,
thus bringing . . . her family into disrepute. 117
Under traditional Albanian cultural code, known as the Code of Leke
Dukagjini, a bride may be returned to her family if she “‘is not as she
should be’ on her wedding night”; or, the groom may kill her
himself—“with a bullet traditionally given to the [groom] at the
wedding by the bride’s father” (as in this case). 118 The problem?
Upon exhumation of Haxjere’s body, it was determined that she had
been a virgin after all.
The international police, with whom I worked, investigated this
crime and tried to find the killer. Another problem? No one wanted to
give information to the police, for to do so would “point the finger”—
again against the Code of Leke Dukagjini. Under the Code, “Blood
Follows the Finger.” If you accuse someone, then the consequences
may return to you or your family (by being killed). In the context of
investigating, prosecuting, and adjudicating criminal offenses, this
means that witnesses do not want to “point the finger,” or tell police or
the courts what they know about a given case. To do so would violate
notions of maintaining family “honor.” To do so would mean that the
potential witness (or their family) would “pay”—with their lives—for

117
Christian Jennings, Medieval Murder Marks Tragedy of Kosovo, SCOTSMAN
(Aug. 26, 2002), http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/world/Medieval-murder-marks-
tragedy-of.2356002.jp.
118
Id.

38
the information given to police. In Haxjere Sahiti’s case, her family
professed to the international police that they knew nothing about the
circumstances surrounding her murder.
As an international judge in Kosovo, I was asked to sit on
“politically sensitive cases”—of war crimes, crimes against humanity,
ethnically-motivated disputes, trafficking in drugs and human beings,
and genocide. I also acted as an “investigative judge”—more akin to a
prosecutor in the United States—and determined whether sufficient
evidence existed to charge someone with a crime. In the process of
conducting my duties, I faced many unconventional obstacles that
necessarily exist in a mission environment. With Hajere Sahiti’s case,
I unexpectedly confronted a new obstacle for me—that cultural norms
dictate what a “permissible killing” is and dictate the silencing of
knowing witnesses.
The case of Sabahate Tolaj caused me to experience yet
another obstacle that was only theoretically known to me. Sabahate
was thirty-five years old, turning thirty-six in November 2003—after I
left the mission. She was not married and had no children. She was
born and lived in the village of Poberxh (pronounced something like
Poberdge), in the municipality of Decani. Sabahate had completed the
Aviation School in Sarajevo. During the 1999 War in Kosovo, she
was a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army. By 2003, under the
UN Mission in Kosovo, Sabahate had been a police officer for roughly
two and a half years. First, she had worked as a Kosovo Police
Service officer in Decani in the Patrol Unit, and later in the
Investigations Unit. Then she was transferred to Peja, where I also
was stationed. Sabahate worked in the Murder Squad of the
Investigations Unit. This is how we met. She was investigating high
profile murders in the region and referred those investigations to the
international judges, like myself. Sabahate and I had numerous
conversations and we felt a particular kinship with one another.
One day I asked her about her safety. You see, I had
bodyguards and she did not. Sabahate just shrugged and said, “[t]his is
what I do. I enjoy it. And it is the right thing to do. So, I do not
worry.”

39
 On November 24, 2003, at 7:45 in the morning, Sabahate and
two other Kosovo police officers were going to work when they were
attacked in a “drive-by” assassination plot. 119 Sabahate and another
police officer were killed; the third police officer survived his
wounds. 120 The suspects’ vehicle overtook the victims and opened fire
with automatic rifles into the interior of the victims’ vehicle. 121 A
white Audi 80 vehicle, believed to have been driven by the suspects,
was later recovered. After nearly four years of investigations and
court hearings—justice comes slowly—the convictions were read out
in Peja District Court on September 21, 2007. Bedri Krasniqi was
sentenced to twenty-seven years for double murder. 122 The other
accused were acquitted because there was not enough evidence to
prove the charges against them.
Sabahate was killed only a couple of months after I returned
home. My sadness over her death is still present with me. An all-too-
familiar post-script exists in Sabahate’s death and the conviction of her
killer. In December 2008, wire services in Kosovo carried the
following news story: “Double murderer escapes Kosovo prison.”
The story read as follows:
A man convicted for the murder of two Kosovo [Police
Service] members [in 2003], today escaped from the
Dubrava prison, it has been confirmed. A statement in
Pristina indentified him as Bedri Krasniqi, and added
that nine members of the correctional services were
held on suspicion that they helped him escape.
Krasniqi was reported missing, but police say that he
likely escaped in the night between Saturday and
Sunday, ‘which makes the investigation more difficult.’
Search is now underway for the inmate, who was last
year found guilty and sentenced to 27 years behind bars
for murdering two and wounding another KPS member

119
See Neeraj Singh, KPS in Front Line in War on Crime, FOCUS KOSOVO, (Dec.
2003), http://www.unmikonline.org/pub/focuskos/dec03/focusklaw1.htm
120
See id.
121
Id.
122
Albanian Murderer Escapes Kosovo Prison, SERBIANNA, (Dec. 1, 2008),
http://serbianna.com/news/archives/1070

40
 on the Pec-Decani road. As of this date, the murderer
has not been located. 123
Thus, while doing my work in Kosovo, we worked with an outmoded
criminal code, with difficulties in securing witness cooperation, with
building cases despite disappeared witnesses, and worked through
translators of two languages.
After I returned home, I met the last woman I would like to
honor today and who also has integral ties to Kosovo, Natasa Kandic.
Natasa Kandic is a human rights activist in Serbia. In 1992, she
founded the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) in Belgrade, a
nongovernmental organization aimed at protecting the rights of
minorities in Serbia.
Since 1990 she has pursued the facts surrounding both
civil and criminal human rights abuses against
repressed minorities throughout the former Yugoslavia.
Since founding HLC in 1992, she has earned a
reputation for accurate and unflinching reporting of war
crimes. Throughout the 1990 wars in the Balkans, she
was the subject of repeated threats, harassment, and
harsh physical assault. Ms. Kandic has researched
killings, disappearances, torture of prisoners of war, and
patterns of ethnic cleansing in times of armed conflict
by interviewing witnesses and victims. Upon collecting
a large body of documentation on war crimes, the HLC
in August 1994 began cooperating with the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) at the Hague. And, as of June
1999, it has also been also cooperating with
prosecutors’ offices in Serbia, Montenegro, and
Kosovo, providing them with information and expert
assistance with regard to war crimes trials. 124

When the 1999 bombing began in Kosovo, “Kandic jumped

into her car and drove some [four hundred kilometers] by herself,
dodging NATO missiles and police roadblocks. When she got to

123
Double Murderer Escapes Kosovo Prison, B 92, (Dec. 1 2008),
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-
article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=12&dd=01&nav_id=55435.
124
Natasa Kandic, CIVIL COURAGE PRIZE (2010),
http://www.civilcourageprize.org/honoree-2000.htm.

41
Podujevo, in Kosovo, she was shaken by what she saw.” 125 She said,
“‘I spoke to women and children who were robbed, then held in
burning houses for intimidation. I saw the houses, the rooms in which
the bodies had been burned.’” 126 During the NATO campaign, Natasa
Kandic frequently visited Kosovo and spoke on Radio Free Europe,
the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and the Voice of America. Her reports
were published extensively in the foreign media:
Natasa Kandic was born in 1946. She received a B.A.
in Sociology in 1972; from 1974 to 1979, she was a
researcher and analyst in housing and related problems
for the Belgrade Trade Union Organization. She is a
recipient of, among others, the Human Rights Watch
Award (1993), the Lawyer's Committee for Human
Rights Award (1999), and the National Endowment for
Democracy Award with Veton Suroi (2000). In 2002,
she received the award of the Human Rights Committee
in Leskovac (Serbia), and on May 28, 2003, the Tutin
Municipality Plaque for her ten-year efforts for the
promotion of human rights in the Sandzak region. Her
name was also on Time magazine's list of thirty-six
“European Heroes” in 2003. 127

My time as an international judge in Kosovo has had a

profound impact upon me. I am often asked, “What did you learn?” I
will tell you now some of what I learned: I learned to be by myself,
for in an apartment without reliable heat and electricity, one has time
to think; I learned how much I cherish my family and friends, both
from home and in Kosovo; I learned international law. Although
murder was a familiar legal concept to me, war crimes and crimes
against humanity were not. Now I am passionate about learning that
new body of law; I learned that cultural norms can find their way into
the courtroom, and have an impact upon guilt or innocence; I learned
that not everyone wants to reestablish the rule of law, and that some

125
Dejan Anastasijevic, At War Against War Crimes, TIME (April 20, 2002),
available at http://www.time.com/time/europe/hero/natasakandic.html.
126
Id.
127
Natasa Kandic, CIVIL COURAGE PRIZE (2010),
http://www.civilcourageprize.org/honoree-2000.htm; see also Anastasijevic, supra
note 14.

42
will kill innocent police officers toward their end; I learned that
rendering verdicts was important, but I ultimately learned that
inculcating a belief in the rule of law was more abiding than any one
verdict I rendered; I learned that each one of us can do our part in
advancing the cause of international justice for women, and for
bringing to life the values of the Declaration.
In 2000, Natasa Kandic wrote the following words to a General
in the Yugoslav Army:
I stand where I have always stood, defending the right
to life, the right to freely use one’s native language, the
right to freedom of movement, the right to publicly
criticize authorities. I stand in support of every court
that punishes the perpetrators of war crimes and those
who ordered crimes against humanity. Ethnicity is
irrelevant; a crime is a crime. 128

These are values enshrined by the efforts of Eleanor Roosevelt,

values sacrificed with the killings of Haxjere Sahiti and Sabahate
Tolaj, and values to which we can rededicate ourselves today, in
whatever way we are able to, as Natasa Kandic has done. That is why
we will sign the Third Chautauqua Declaration 129 this week—to
rededicate and redouble our efforts toward seeking justice for women
in international criminal law.
Thus, I reflect on the crime victim, the bystander, the
perpetrator, the police investigator, the prosecutor, the defense
attorney, the judge, the translator, the professor, and the human rights
champion. They—and we—are bound together toward this goal, and
together we will succeed. These are my reflections on women in
international criminal law.

128
E-mail from Natasa Kandic, Executive Director, Humanitarian Law Center, to
Yugoslav Army General Staff Belgrade (Aug. 21, 2000), available at
http://k.mihalec.tripod.com/current/natasa_letter.htm.
129
THE THIRD CHAUTAUQUA DECLARATION (adopted at the THIRD ANNUAL
INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW DIALOGS), Sept. 1, 2009, available at
www.asil.org/files/3rdChautDeclaration.pdf.

43
 THE INCONSPICUOUS GENOCIDE OF ALBINO
AFRICANS
Ryan D. Cole*

“There was a man who was not a witch doctor himself, but he came up
with the idea that an albino potion can make a person rich, so they
started stealing body parts from the graves. When they ran out of
graves, they decided that now were going to hunt down live human
beings.”

-- Jackson Kanyere, Tanzanian witch doctor

An inconspicuous genocide is occurring in the African

countries of Tanzania and Burundi. Not against an established
national, racial or religious group, but against an ethnicity whose
solidarity exists through the color of their skin. Albino Africans, who
suffer from a rare genetic condition that is characterized by a lack of
pigment in their eyes, skin, and hair, are being hunted down and
murdered in the Great Lakes region of Africa. 130 This is because
renegade witchdoctors have convinced local peoples that the blood,
bones, and skin of albino Africans, when made into potions or
talismans, possess magical properties that bring love, luck and wealth.
131
Although the motive behind these murders may be supernatural,
the threat to the safety of all albino Africans is very real.
This article advocates for the international recognition of, and
action against, the ongoing genocide of albino Africans. Part A
highlights case studies of individual albino Africans directly affected

* Student, Syracuse University College of Law, J.D. Candidate Class of 2011.

Ithaca College, B.A. Legal Studies and B.A. History, 2008.
130
Juju Chang, Journey to Tanzania: Reporter Exposes Epidemic of Albino Killings,
ABC NEWS (Oct. 2, 2009), http://abcnews.go.com/2020/journey-tanzania-reporter-
exposes-albino-killings/story?id=8712754&page=1; Andrei Engstrand and Alex
Wynter, Through Albino Eyes: The Plight of Albino People in Africa’s Great Lakes
Region and a Red Cross Response, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS AND
RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES, 2009, at 5, available at
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2009.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/SKEA-
7XXGVD-full_report.pdf/$File/full_report.pdf (the Great Lakes region of Africa is
considered to be the general area between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria).
131
Chang, supra note 1, at 1.

44
by the genocide. Part B is an examination of the various motives
behind these killings, which include religious beliefs and poverty. Part
C presents the contention that the widespread discrimination, murder,
and inhumane treatment of albino Africans rises to the level of
genocide as defined by the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Part D is an evaluation of the
current responses by local governments and the international
community to this humanitarian crisis. Part E is a conclusion with
suggestions on what methods should be implemented in order to end
this serious threat to all albino Africans.
A. Case Studies of Albino African Murders:
The exact number of albino Africans living in Tanzania and
Burundi is a mystery. Estimates on the combined populations of the
two countries range from approximately 7,000 to 200,000. 132 To date,
the official death toll of albino Africans stands at 44 killed in Tanzania
and 12 in eastern Burundi. 133 A number of gruesome horror stories
elaborate on how serious of a threat exists for all albino Africans
occupying this region of Africa.
Mariamu Stanford, 28 years old, is a single mother with
albinism living in a rural region of Tanzania. 134 In October of 2008,
men armed with machetes broke into her hut and began cutting at her
arms, trying to amputate them from her body. 135 Stanford’s screams

132
The official number of registered albinos is 6,977 in Tanzania, but the Red Cross
believes the total is higher because those are only volunteer registrants. Chang ‘s
article estimates that the number of albinos in Tanzania is 170,000 and Obulutsa’s
article estimates it at 200,000. Also, the Burundi Red Cross and Albinos Sans
Frontieres Burundi believe that there are at least 1,000 albinos in Burundi, but the
real number is unknown. Engstrand, supra note 1, at 8; Jody Ray Bennett, Tanzania:
East Africa’s Albino Underworld, NGO NEWS AFRICA (Dec. 15, 2009),
http://www.ngonewsafrica.org/2009/12/tanzania-east-africas-albino-
underworld.html; Juju Chang, Africans With Albinism Hunted: Limbs Sold on
Tanzania’s Black Market, ABC NEWS, 1, (Oct. 2, 2009),
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/africans-albinism-hunted-
tanzania/story?id=8567612&page=2; George Obulutsa, President: Hand Over The
Albino Killers, ABC NEWS, 2 (March 4, 2009),
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7011809&page=2.
133
This figure was provided by the Tanzanian police to the special parliamentary
committee investigating the killings. Some private organizations say that the number
is actually over 50. Engstrand, supra note 1, at 5.
134
Chang, supra note 3, at 1.
135
Id.

45
were enough to draw the attention of other villagers who ran to rescue
her, but before help could arrive, the intruders had fled the scene
leaving her mutilated body behind. 136 As a result of the attack,
Stanford lost both of her arms and her unborn child with whom she
was five months pregnant at the time of the attack. 137 One of the
attackers was later identified by Stanford as her own neighbor. 138
Jeremiah Ndayiragije, a young albino man living in Burundi,
recalled an equally chilling story to Al Jazeera correspondent Yvonne
Ndege in a 2009 interview. 139 He explained to the reporter that his
brother Daniel, an albino like himself, was murdered by the eldest
brother of their family. 140 Ndayiragije elaborated, “[a]ll of his limbs,
arms, and legs were chopped off and gone. Afterwards, my brother and
sister in law were overheard fighting over the money they got from
selling the body parts.” 141 The eldest brother, who sold the murdered
boys body parts for $240, is currently on the run from authorities. 142
Gasper Elikana, a ten-year old albino boy, was another victim
of the albino African genocide. 143 The boy was seized, beheaded, and
then hacked to death in front of his black father and neighbors who
had risked their lives to try and save him. 144 The men escaped with
the severed leg of Elikana and the boy’s father was left fighting for his
life in the hospital after receiving at least one machete blow to the
head. 145
B. Motives for Genocide:
What is it that drives neighbors and siblings to murder their
fellow villagers and family members? The answer seems to lay in the

136
Id.
137
Id.
138
Id. at 3.
139
Yvonne Ndege, The ‘Genocide’ of Burundi’s Albinos, AL JAZEERA (July 24,
2009), http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/07/2009723740694359.html.
140
Id..
141
Id..
142
Id..
143
Alex Wynter and Stella Marealla Masonu, Great Lakes: Red Cross Moves to
Address Humanitarian Aftermath of Albino Killings, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION
OF RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES, Nov. 6, 2009, available at
http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/09/09110601/.
144
Wynter, supra note 14.
145
Id..

46
religious beliefs and economic situations of those living in Tanzania
and Burundi.
In the Great Lakes region of Africa, where superstition runs
deep, traditional healers and witch doctors possess significant religious
influence over their constituents. 146 Of the 41,048,532 inhabitants of
Tanzania, a staggering thirty-five percent practice indigenous
religions. 147 As for Burundi, with a population of 9,511,330, an
additional twenty-three percent are faithful to indigenous religions. 148
The influence of these traditional healers and witch doctors is
evidenced by a number of unique local beliefs. For example, some
Africans maintain that albino children are not real humans and are
instead the ghosts of European colonialists. 149 Others claim that their
complexion is the result of their mother having been impregnated by a
white man or of having been laughed at by an albino while
pregnant. 150 Moreover, these superstitions contend that albino
Africans, as ghosts, do not die, but instead simply disappear when they
are killed. 151
These indigenous beliefs allow their faithful to dehumanize
albino Africans and justify the murdering of their fellow countrymen.
When these superstitions are coupled with the deplorable economic
conditions in this specific African region, the result is the perfect
motive and climate for genocide. Tanzania and Burundi both fall in
the bottom ten percent of the world's economies in terms of per capita
income, with the average Tanzanian making an estimated $1,400 a
year and the average Burundian bringing in just $300 annually. 152 In

146
Reuters, Four Albino Killers Sentenced to Hand in Tanzania, THE EAST AFRICAN
(Nov. 2, 2009), http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/681430/-/qx61dvz/-
/index.html.
147
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook-Tanzania,
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tz.html (last
visited Feb 19, 2010).
148
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook-Burundi,
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/by.html (last
visited Feb 19, 2010).
149
Bennett, supra note 3.
150
Id..
151
Chang, supra note 3, at 2.
152
Central Intelligence Agency, supra note 18; Central Intelligence Agency, supra
note 19.

47
some regions, such as the area of Ruyigi, Burundi, the average income
is even lower, at just $10 a year. 153 The poor economic situations of
the people of Tanzania and Burundi foster the murders of albino
African because albino body parts are extremely valuable on the black
market.
According to an investigative report by a BBC news team, the
right leg of an albino African can sell for $2,000 and an arm for about
$800 on the black market. 154 In another report by the Red Cross,
senior police officers in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania,
estimated the value of a complete set of albino body parts, including
all four limbs, genital, ears, tongue and nose, at $75,000. 155 These
numbers amount to a fortune in this region of Africa and seem to be
the primary motivation for the widespread and systematic killings. As
Rick Guidotti, a human rights activist for the organization Positive
Exposure, explains, “[w]hen there’s an opportunity to feed 10 children
when you bring the bones of one child with albinism, it’s greed but it’s
also survival.” 156
With the world in the middle of an economic crisis that is
affecting every corner of the globe, the economic pressures for the
people of Tanzania and Burundi are stronger then ever. As money
becomes tighter and threats to survival continue to materialize for the
people of Africa, this gruesome source of revenue will become even
more appealing and the plight of albino Africans will fall further into
peril.
C. The Genocide of Albino Africans:
The widespread killing and inhumane treatment of albino
Africans should be considered genocide and approached as such by the
international community. Article II of the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide
as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

153
Phillip Martin, Africa’s Albinos Seek their Place in the Sun, GLOBALPOST, 2 (Aug.
7, 2009), http://current.com/1onvm4c.
154
Id.
155
Wynter, supra note 1, at 5.
156
Martin, supra note 24.

48
(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental
harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group
conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in
whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births
within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to
another group.” 157
Although at first glance albino Africans do not appear to fall
within one of the protected groups of the CPPCG, under closer
examination, it is apparent that they should be considered a protected
ethnicity. Ethnicity refers to the identification of a group based on a
perceived cultural distinctiveness that makes the group into a “people.”
158
This shared heritage may be based upon putative common
ancestry, history, kinship, religion, language, shared territory,
nationality or physical appearance. 159 Similar to the genocide against
homosexuals and the disabled during the Holocaust, albino Africans,
are a unique ethnic group brought together not by a national identity,
race, or religion, but by a rare genetic condition. Their shared heritage
is rooted solely in their complexion; an appearance that makes them
readily identifiable as an ethnic group.
Accepting arguendo that albino Africans are an ethnic group
protected by the CPPCG, the treatment of albino Africans in Tanzania
and Burundi clearly rises to the level of genocide as defined by the
convention. On top of the dozens of reported mutilations and murders,
albino Africans are subjugated to widespread discrimination and
severe mental harm as a result of the murders of their fellow albino
countrymen. Out of perpetual fear they are forced to flee to foreign
countries or to hide in schools, safe houses, and refugee camps. 160

157
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide art. II,
Dec. 9, 1948, 78 U.N.T.S. 277 available at
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html (last visited Feb 23, 2010) [hereinafter
CPPCG].
158
See Donald Keith Robotham, The Study of Ethnicity, Minority Groups, and
Identity, in Anthropology, ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA ONLINE,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/27505/anthropology/236862/The-
study-of-ethnicity-minority-groups-and-identity (last visited Sept. 22, 2010).
159
Id.
160
Martin, supra note 24; Wynter, supra note 1, at 6 (stating that it is impossible even
to estimate the number of albinos who have been displaced).

49
Marginalized and afraid, they are unable to go about their daily
activities and, as a result, are unable to provide for themselves or
establish any meaningful way of life. 161
Furthermore, the genocide is not isolated to parts of East
Africa. Instead, this inhumane treatment of albino Africans is also
common place in several West African nations as well. 162 As quoted in
an NGO News Africa article, journalist Vick Ntetema explains, “East
Africa is the only region where the story of albino killings has been
revealed through the media. [Yet, in] some western African countries
albino babies are killed at birth and older ones are sacrificed to the
volcano gods. . . . In Cameroon, children, including those without
albinism, are killed during election campaigns for superstitious
purposes.” 163
All things considered, the mental, physical, and emotional
harm being inflicted on albino Africans clearly rises to the level of
genocide as defined by the CPPCG. For this reason, the situation
facing all albino Africans requires an international response that is
proportionate to the severity of this humanitarian crisis.
D. Humanitarian Response:
Although the response to the plight of albino Africans has been
minimal, there has been some positive support for their cause.
Through convictions, restrictive policies, public condemnation, and
humanitarian aid, local governments and the international community
have been able to temporarily improve the situation of albino Africans.
Still, a more permanent solution is lacking.
In regards to local governments, more than 1,000 people have
been arrested since 2008 as a result of the attacks against albino
Africans. 164 Those arrested include witchdoctors, businessmen and
women, hired killers, members of the clergy, police officers, and
parents and relatives of the victims. 165 However, only seven of these

161
Wynter, supra note 1, at 6.
162
George Obulutsa, President: Hand Over The Albino Killers, ABC NEWS (March
4, 2009), http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7011809&page=2.
163
Bennett, supra note 3.
164
Id.
165
Id.

50
criminals have been convicted and sentenced to death by hanging, all
of whom have had their execution orders stayed because President
Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania refused to sign the orders. 166
Still, local governments have tried a number of additional
methods to combat the genocide against albino Africans. President
Kikwete has urged the public to identify the criminals behind this
genocide and has deployed officials in numerous regions to offer
people the chance to confidentially name the culprits. 167 Also, in
January 2009, Tanzania authorities attempted to stamp out the attacks
on albino Africans by scrapping the licenses of all the country's
traditional healers. 168 How effective these policies will be is yet to be
seen. However, they will do little as long as Africans continue to feel
unsafe identifying the killers of albinos and traditional healers
maintain significant influence over local constituents, whether through
licensed practice or not.
The international community, led by the Red Cross, has been
able to provide some shelter and aid for albino Africans. It has
collected food, clothing, sun block, and provided safety in the form of
shelters, schools and churches. 169 However, the aid is not enough and
the conditions in the stifling shelters are dreadful. 170 For these
reasons, the Red Cross is calling for more international assistance in
the form of health education, wide-brimmed hats, long sleeved tops,
and vocational teaching equipment. 171 The collection of these items,
which are tailored to albino Africans whose lack of skin pigmentation
makes them especially susceptible to skin cancer, and the

166
Id. (at least 90 people, including four police officers, have been arrested in recent
months for involvement in the killings or the trade in albino body parts).
167
Obulutsa, supra note 34.
168
Id.
169
Alexis Manirakiza, Albinos Under Burundi Protection Welcome Napoleon,
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES *Oct.
27, 2009), http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/09/09102801/; See also Wynter, supra
note 1, at 6 (schools have played an active role in sheltering albinos such as the
Kabanga school, which has taken in 49 albinos and the Mitindo school, which has
taken in 103 albinos).
170
Manirakiza, supra note 41 (children sleep on foam blocks on bare concrete; they
are filthy and often hungry; and many, lacking proper protective clothes, many are
also badly sun burnt).
171
Wynter, supra note 1, at 18.

51
improvement of shelters housing albino Africans are essential to any
permanent improvement in the current conditions facing albino
Africans. If this minimal involvement by the international community
persists, the situation which all albino Africans face will not improve.
E. Conclusion:
The plight of albino Africans is dire and calls for justice.
Although international aid and government law enforcement may have
provided viable, temporary solutions to the problem, a permanent
remedy is still needed in order to stamp out the genocide of albino
Africans. The best permanent cure to the threats facing albino
Africans seems to come in the form of either education or a united
international action.
One possible solution is to educate those who practice
traditional beliefs that the superstitions behind albinos are false. By
providing scientific proof that traditional beliefs are wrong, the albino
African community can break away from the stigma that has been the
source of their persecution. This approach is supported by Al-Shaymaa
J. Kwegyir, a former airline employee who last year became the first
person with albinism to sit in Tanzania’s parliament. Kwegyir argues,
“[t]he president appointed me, so as to help albinos and trying to
educate people about the albinos that they’re human beings. They need
equal rights like everybody else.” 172 The implementation of such a
solution may be difficult because of the low literacy rates and the high
percentage of indigenous beliefs in parts of Africa, but it remains a
viable long term method to combat the genocide against albino
Africans.
An alternate solution to the genocide of albino Africans is a
united international response to the crisis. Similar to actions taken by
the international community in Rwanda, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone,
this genocide might best be addressed by peacekeeping forces and
international tribunals. Those most responsible for the genocide could
be held responsible by an international tribunal, such as the
International Criminal Court or an ad hoc tribunal, and peace keeping
forces could provide protection for albino Africans. Although this

172
Martin, supra note 24.

52
solution nears the border of being extreme, the precedent for such an
action is well established and it may be exactly what is necessary to
quell this humanitarian crisis.
Whatever the response may be, it needs to occur now before
the situation facing all albino Africans worsens. The world knows all
too well what happens when it turns a blind eye to such a crisis and
fails to take timely and appropriate action. The threat to the safety of
all albino Africans is real and must be addressed.

53
 BE THE CHANGE

Kelsie Flynn 173

The study of human rights and genocide is an important area

for every human being. No matter what career you have or
background you come from, ethics is a part of daily life. Whether the
decisions are unconscious or well thought out, we are constantly
making choices based on our own personal beliefs of what is right and
wrong. It is sad to say that in some areas of the world, violence and
terror seem to be the way these decisions are handled. Our world
leaders have been battling these groups for years in the on-going
pursuit of world peace. As the struggle continues, it is time for my
generation to come forward and start preparing to resist forces that
violate human rights anywhere and everywhere in the world. It is
important to listen, firsthand, to accounts of genocide and the
mistreatment of humans. It is even more important to apply what we
hear and learn in order to make the world a better place.
One of the most unfortunate things about our world is that not
enough people understand it. The “big picture” isn’t always clear to
those with less insight as to what goes on around the globe. There are
too many individuals who focus on getting through daily life and only
concentrate on their own problems. There is more to life than the
routines of one soul.
Hopefully someday people all over will get further involved in
future studies and will feel inspired, as I have, by the study of human
rights and genocide. I have explored human rights and genocide in my
studies at school. As a member of the Model United Nations, my
partner and I had to study virtually all aspects of world culture. We
went into deep discussions with our advisor and frequently talked
about the genocides in Rwanda and Darfur. Winning the competition
only further encouraged me to learn and understand everything I could

173
Senior, Kenmore High School, Kenmore, NY; Winner of Impunity Watch Essay
Contest for the Students of the Summer Institute for Human Rights and Genocide
Studies, Buffalo, NY.

54
about the situations of countries in need. I left with the feeling that I
really could make a difference.
As I go to college and discover who I’d like to be, human
rights will surely play a part in my development. I’d love nothing
more than to be able to join the United Nations and take part in an
organization that focuses on improving the treatment of humans
around the globe. That future may be awhile down the road, but I can
take certain steps now that will help me when I cross that bridge.
Learning about tragedies is imperative to forming the building blocks
of change.
Every person makes an impact on several people throughout
their lifetime. It’s remarkable to think that I could one day touch
millions of people. One person can do that simply by setting a
precedent. During my lifetime, I’d like to increase my understanding
of human rights and genocide in order to start a motion for change—
change the way people view the world and their own lives. Our global
society may depend on it.

55
 AFRICA DESK
ROME STATUTE REVIEW CONFERENCE TO
CHALLENGE NEGATIVE PERCEPTIONS

May 30th, 2010

By Celeste Little
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda- Monday, May 31 begins a two-week

conference in Kampala, Uganda to review the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court hosted by Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni. The conference will be attended by representatives of state
parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in the Hague,
the Netherlands. Fifteen hundred to two thousand delegates are
expected to attend.

The Rome Statute is a treaty that established the International Criminal

Court, its functions, jurisdiction, and structure in Rome, Italy on July
17, 1998 and was implemented on July 1, 2002. There are 110 states
which are party to the statute and there are 38 states which have
signed and not ratified the treaty. The seven countries that voted
against the treaty are Iraq, Israel, Libya, China, Qatar, the United
States, and Yemen. The ICC is defined by the Rome Statute, as a
permanent tribunal to prosecute the most serious international crimes.
The statute requires its own review, and in turn a review of the ICC,
every seven years and the upcoming conference in Uganda is the first
time since 2002 that the statute has been reviewed.

One of the two primary focuses of this year’s conference is to make

changes to Article 125 of the statute, which deals with the crime of
aggression, it’s definition, and the use of certain weapons to constitute
war crimes. The second major focus is stocktaking, where non-
governmental organizations and other key parties will discuss the
impact of the Rome statute on four pertinent areas–the impact of the
Rome Statute system on victims and their communities, cooperation,
complementarity, as well as peace and justice.

56
Critics have said that the ICC has only prosecuted crimes committed in
Africa, which evidences that it is a primarily European court, targeting
Africans. The ICC has considered this negative perception in choosing
to hold the review conference in Uganda as well as the revue the
conference would bring to the country.

For more information, please see:

Voice of America– Uganda Hosts Review of Rome Statute Conference– 30 May
2010
AFP-ICC Seeks More Teeth at Kampala Meet-29 May 2010
Daily Nation-Nation Meets in Kampala to Chart Future of Hague Court-29 May
2010

CRIMINALIZING HOMOSEXUALITY IN
AFRICA

June 10th, 2010

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda- The sentencing and subsequent pardoning of

Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, two homosexual
Malawian men, has spurred renewed criticism of the social policies of
many African nations. The men were arrested in Malawi for being
homosexual (homosexuality is against the law in Malawi) and were
sentenced to 14 years in prison. Malawian President Bingu wa
Mutharikal pardoned the two men only after numerous countries and
international organizations threatened to end their aid and financial
support to Malawi.

The two men’s recent experiences reveal the stark reality of the severe
social and religious condemnation of homosexuals in Africa.
Although pro-gay rights activists have made substantial progress in the
last few decades in their fight against the discrimination and
stigmatization of homosexuals around the world, last week’s detention
of Mr. Monjeza and Mr. Chimbalanga illustrate the difficult fight
activists have ahead of them in Africa.

57
The international community’s strong condemnation of the detention
of the two men was an optimistic sign that progress may be possible.
The carrot and stick maneuvering employed by many international
organizations threatening to withdrawal aid worked to free the men,
but can such tactics be used to create social change? The arrests in
Malawi have only seemed to fuel the ambitions of other African
nations in their attempts to criminalize homosexuality.

Members of the Ugandan Parliament are currently working to pass a

bill which would mandate more severe punishment for violations of
the country’s anti-homosexuality laws. In fact, this bill would allow
courts to sentence violators to death. These laws not only apply to
individuals whose sexual preference is for a person of the same sex but
also to those who have AIDS, as well as gay rights supporters and
sympathizers. Anyone who encourages or participates in “LGBT
behavior” is subject to these laws.

Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, a staunch supporter of

his country’s renewed efforts against homosexuals, contends that
homosexuality is not a part of African culture. Instead, President
Museveni argues that homosexuality is a symptom of Western culture
which has the power to destroy nations. Mr. Museveni has also
received strong backing from the African Church, as many religious
figures have called for initiatives to strengthen the morals of the
African people. Some American evangelicals have also recently
traveled to Uganda to voice their support for the bill. These calls for
stricter anti-homosexual laws have caused may, including members of
the Church of Uganda who support gay rights, to flee the country.

Human rights organizations warn that bills like the one being debated
in the Ugandan Parliament impedes the success of international health
initiatives. These organizations contend that the stigmatization
associated with homosexuality hampers AIDs education and treatment
programs. Activists continue to worry that anti-homosexual legislation
will contribute to the AIDs crisis in Africa.

58
Despite the movement among Ugandans favoring anti-homosexual
legislation, one organization predicts that the bill will not pass due to
intense international pressure. United States Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton condemned the bill but failed to announce any
repercussions against the government should the bill pass. Other
countries and international organizations however, are taking a more
direct approach. Sweden has vowed to withdrawal the $50 million in
annual aid to Uganda. The European Parliament has also threatened to
withdrawal aid. In all, Uganda is faced with the threat of losing
roughly a third of its national budget if it passes the bill.

Uganda has also asked numerous countries to extradite Ugandan

asylum seekers in order to prosecute them. Many Ugandan
homosexuals have fled to European countries, particularly Britain. In
response to Uganda’s demand for the return of asylum seekers
however, the British government has taken a firm stance against
extraditing homosexuals who have fled Uganda. The British
government announced that it would not extradite any Ugandan for
breaking Ugandan law unless the crime was also a violation of British
law. Since homosexuality is not a crime in Britain, it seems that these
individuals are safe for the time being.

As debate on this bill comes to a close it is likely that the international

community will continue to pinch Uganda in the hopes of persuading
enough lawmakers to vote against the bill. Even if the bill does not
pass, homosexuality will still remain a punishable crime in Uganda.
At the very least these last few weeks have shown that discrimination
against homosexuals is deeply rooted in African social and cultural
attitudes. Although failure of this bill may not be considered a “win”
among gay rights activists, the international community’s commitment
to fight this bill shows that there is still hope for progress.

For more information, please see:

San Francisco Chronicle – Christians Blamed for Anti-Gay Hatred in Uganda – 9
June, 2010
BBC Monitoring Africa – Convicted Malawi Gay Man Reportedly Rejects Asylum
Offers Abroad, Marries Woman – 8 June, 2010

59
Episcopal-Life – Ugandan Bishop Says ‘Human Sexuality is Universal’ – 8 June,
2010
Africa News – UK to Protect Gay Asylum Seekers – 5 June, 2010
Africa News – Museveni Opposed to Homosexuality – 4 June 2010
Africa News – Anti-Gay Legislation Could Ruin Health Efforts – Activists – 2 June,
2010

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN

ZIMBABWE’S DIAMOND MINES

June 21st, 2010

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe – The Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), an

international organization seeking to prevent human rights violations
in Africa, is in an intense struggle against the government of
Zimbabwe to stop human rights abuses in the country’s diamond
mines. In its June report entitled “Diamonds and Clubs: The
Militarized Control of Diamonds and Power in Zimbabwe,” the
organization observed that government sponsored smuggling
operations have led to numerous human rights violations in a diamond
mine in Chiadzwa. In addition to numerous other claims, Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe is being accused of using his military to
intimidate, manipulate and murder citizens.

PAC has taken a more direct and hard-line stance against the
government after the recent arrest of Farai Maguwu, a rights activist
who is currently facing charges of “communicating falsehoods” about
the violence at the Chiadzwa diamond fields. Rights groups including
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights are concerned that Mr.
Maguwu is being tortured and that the government will keep him
incarcerated indefinitely.

In an attempt to stem the violence, international organizations led by

PAC are asking the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme to redefine
the scope of the term “blood diamonds” to cover those diamonds and
gems mined in Chiadzwa. The Kimberly Process is a joint

60
government, industry and civil society initiative designed to stop the
flow of conflict diamonds around the world. The Kimberly Process
imposes strict requirements on member states and only certifies for
trade those gems which are “conflict-free.” Zimbabwe is one of 49
member nations to the Kimberly Process.

PAC claims that the current definition is outdated and too narrow in
scope. Representatives noted that the definition “erroneously assumes
all governments are legitimate and does not recognize that such
governments in whole or part could engage in acts of terror or
criminality as egregious as any rebel movement.” PAC further noted
that the Kimberly Process has lost credibility on the world stage and
fears continued inaction against the government of Zimbabwe. PAC is
also pushing the United Nations to emplace an embargo and all
Zimbabwean diamonds until the government can properly control the
mining and trade of its diamonds. This seems unlikely however, as a
similar attempt to inhibit the trade of Zimbabwean diamonds was
rejected last year by China, Russia and South Africa.

The government however, contends that it is being treated unfairly.

Government officials have protested that Zimbabwe’s inability to get
trade certification has slowed economic growth and has taken power
away from the government. In fact, the government’s Mines and
Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu argued that the PAC is
simply trying to “demonise their
The United States has also come out against the rights violations
however; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted that the U.S. is
“trying to walk a fine line between supporting the people and keeping
the pressure on the Mugabe leadership.” President Obama recently
renewed “targeted sanctions” against 220 officials and agencies
associated with the Mugabe regime. According to Clinton, the United
States recognizes that Zimbabwe’s ruling elite is corrupt and are
profiting from the country’s diamond exports at the expense of the
poor.

61
An official review will take place next week in Tel Aviv however the
Kimberly Process monitor to Zimbabwe has already recommended
that the nation be allowed to sell diamonds mined from Chiadzwa.

For more information, please see:

The Herald (Harare) – Government Mines Prompts ‘Blood Diamond’ Review – 16
June, 2010
SW Radio Africa – No Agreement From KP Monitoring Group on Diamonds – 16
June, 2010
BBC Monitoring Africa – Clinton Says U.S. Renewed Sanctions Imposed Against
Zimbabwe to ‘Pressure’ Mugabe – 15 June, 2010
BBC Monitoring Africa – South African Based group Concerned About Possible
Torture of Zimbabwean NGO Chief – 15 June, 2010
Global Witness – Mugabe Elite Grab Diamonds, Says NGO – 14 June, 2010
SW Radio Africa – Report Says Diamonds Sustain Mugabe Regime – 14 June, 2010
The Kimberly Process

ICC CHARGES SUDANESE PRESIDENT WITH

GENOCIDE

July 13th, 2010

By Sovereign Hager
Managing Editor- News, Impunity Watch

THE HAGUE, Netherlands-The Pre-Trial Chamber I of the

International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a second arrest warrant for
Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir. The chamber
found reasonable grounds to believe Bashir responsible for three
counts of genocide committed against the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa
ethnic groups. The ICC issued its first arrest warrant against Bashir in
March of 2009 and it continues to be in effect. The first arrest warrant
is for five counts of crimes against humanity, including murder,
extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape. It also included two
counts for war crimes: intentionally directing attacks against a civilian
population and pillaging.

The initial arrest warrant rejected the genocide charge, which the
Prosecutor appealed on July of 2009. In February of 2010, the Appeals
Chamber reversed the decision unanimously on the genocide charge
due to an erroneous standard of proof. The Appeals Chamber then

62
ordered the Pre-Trial Chamber to decide the genocide charge again
based on a correct standard of proof – reasonable grounds.

The Pre-Trial Chamber I concluded that there was reasonable grounds

to believe that Bashir had the specific intent to destroy in part three
ethnic groups. In issuing the warrant, the Pre-Trial Chamber I seeks
international co-operation in obtaining the surrender and arrest of
Bashir for the charges on both the first and second arrest warrants. A
request has been sent to the Sudanese authorities as well as to all State
Parties to the Rome Statute, and the United Nations Security Council
members that are not parties to the Rome Statute.

The United Nations Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to

the ICC via resolution 1593, on March 31, 2005. Four cases are being
heard under this resolution. The Sudanese government criticized the
ICC decision, calling it a “political decision” and stating that “Sudan
does not pay attention to this political campaign and will respond to it
with more economic achievements. Sudan’s minister of information
called the indictment a “desperate attempt to create instability in Sudan
in order to stop its development process.”

Genocide is considered the gravest crime in international law,

requiring proof of an intent to wipe out “in whole or in part” a racial,
religious, or ethnic group. ICC Prosecutor, Moreno-Ocampo accused
Bashir of keeping 2.5 million refugees from specific ethnic groups in
Darfur in camps “under genocide conditions, like a gigantic
Auschwitz.”

For more information, please see:

Open Democracy-The Omar al-Bashir Indictment: the ICC and the Darfur Crisis-15
July 2010
International Criminal Court-Trial Chamber Issues a Second Warrant of Arrest
Against Omar Al Bashir for Counts of Genocide-12 July, 2010
Rueters-Omar Bashir Indicted for Genocide-12 July, 2010

63
 ‘CHILD WITCHES’ ABUSED AND KILLED IN
NIGERIA

August 28th, 2010

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

AKWA IBOM, Nigeria- In several states of Nigeria, children accused

by church leaders of being witches are tortured and abandoned by their
communities, to either die or be trafficked out of the country. While
the belief in witchcraft has been a centuries old tradition in Nigeria, a
majority of the abuse of ‘child witches’ has been occurring for the last
10 years. In most cases, the leader of a makeshift church will identify
a child as a witch and promise the parents that he will ‘deliver’ the
child. Deliverance includes torturing a child until they confess and can
cost anywhere from $300- $2,000. The torture itself ranges from acid
baths to burnings to beatings and can result in death.

Often, the pastor will claim the child cannot be delivered and needs to
be cast out. If they are not killed they are abandoned and many found
by children’s rights groups bear serious wounds and scars from their
ordeals. One such group, led by Sam Ikpe-Itauma, works to educate
Nigerians about the realities of both their beliefs and the exploitive
scams many of the pastors are operating. Mr. Ikpe-Itauma’s Child’s
Rights & Rehabilitation Network includes a shelter for 200 abandoned
children who were branded witches in their communities.

One child currently living at the shelter, Godwin, says after his mother
died his church pastor told the family it was Godwin’s fault. Godwin
was beaten until he confessed to killing his mother through witchcraft.
Afterwards, he was forced to sleep with his mother’s corpse every
night for three weeks until Mr. Ikpe-Itauma found him and brought
him to the shelter.
Several organizations have charged the Nigerian government to stop
the abuse of child witches.

64
This particular type of child abuse has been made illegal by the U.N.
Convention on the Rights of the Child (of which Nigeria is a member)
and Nigeria’s Child Rights Act passed by most states. Despite
identifying the abuse, those in local government believe programs like
Mr. Ikpe-Itauma are frauds, meant to make money and smear the
reputation of the country. The Information Commissioner of Nigeria’s
Akwa Ibom state, Aniekan Umanah, stated “There may be problems
yes but it’s been blown out of proportion and people are capitalizing,
on what ordinarily may be a social problem[… w]e will not allow the
image of our state to be smeared.” Several arrests have been made and
the government has promised to provide more regulation on church
organizations but so far, there have been no prosecutions.

For more information, please see;

CNN- Children Abused, Killed as Witches in Nigeria- 27 August, 2010
The Zimdiaspora- Nigeria’s Child Witch Hunt; Children Accused and Abused- 15
August, 2010
Gather- Nigerian Children Accused of Witchcraft are Cast Out of Society- 25
August, 2010

TWO HUNDRED CHILDREN IN NIGERIA

DEAD FROM LEAD POISONING

September 22nd, 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ABUJA, Nigeria – An outbreak of lead poisoning has resulted in the

deaths of at least two hundred children in Nigeria, prompting the
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) to send a five-person team of environmental emergency
specialists to Abuja, the capital city. The source of the lead poisoning
is from lead-contaminated waste dumped from illegal gold mining and
extracting by locals. In addition to the deaths of two hundred children,
up to eighteen thousand people have been affected, according to UN
sources.

In order to assess the full scale of the poisoning, the UN emergency

team will spend close to two weeks in Nigeria, analyzing the soil and
65
drinking water in an area encompassing seven villages in the Zamfara
state. In the villages where contamination has been confirmed, the
villagers were grinding ore by hand to find gold and unknowingly
freed lead particles, which are also contained in the rocks. “Proper
sampling from the mobile laboratory is urgently needed to determine
the scope and magnitude of the crisis and to assist in developing a
rigorous response,” OCHA said in a statement.

Children are more vulnerable to the effects of the contamination, and

most of the deaths were among children under the age of five. In one
village, thirty percent of the children under five have died from the
poisoning, according to Médicin Sans Frontières (MSF). “This is an
incredibly serious and worrying situation,” said Lauren Cooney of
MSF, adding, “while we still don’t know the full extent of the
problem, we expect that there are going to be medium- and long-term
health effects for people in these villages.” The poisoning also causes
deafness, blindness, brain damage and muscular problems.

OCHA has allocated two million dollars from the Central Emergency
Response Fund (CERF). The World Health Organization (WHO) and
the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are working with local health
authorities and non-governmental organizations to treat victims of the
outbreak.
Local officials insist that the situation is under control, even though the
response has been hindered by heavy rains, which have made it
difficult to reach the isolated villages.

For more information, please see:

Guardian – Nigeria gold rush sees 200 children killed in outbreak of lead poisoning –
22 September 2010
Radio Netherlands – UN investigates lead poisoning in Nigeria – 22 September 2010
BBC - UN investigates Nigeria lead poisoning deaths – 21 September 2010
United Nations – UN probes outbreak of lead poisoning in northern Nigeria – 21
September 2010

66
 LEADER PRESUMED RESPONSIBLE FOR
MASS RAPES IN DR CONGO IS ARRESTED

October 7th, 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NORTH KIVU, Democratic Republic of Congo – A Democratic

Republic of Congo (DRC) rebel commander suspected of leading the
attacks in July and August that resulted in hundreds of rapes has been
arrested, according to UN peacekeepers and the army in DRC.
Lieutenant Colonel Mayele of the Mai Mai Cheka rebel group was
captured in a joint operation in the North Kivu province and turned
over on Tuesday to UN peacekeepers and the Congolese army in
Walikale, eastern Congo. He is in detention in Goma, and a case has
been opened up.

A spokesman for DRC’s Mai Mai militias, said, “We gave Mayele to
the UN so that he can be investigated by the international criminal
court for his actions against the local population.”
The arrest came during a visit to DRC by UN Special Representative
on Sexual Violence Margot Wallström, who has called DRC the rape
capital of the world. Between three and five hundred people are
thought to have been raped during the wave of attacks that took place
between July 30 and August 2 by two hundred members of three
armed groups. The known victims include two hundred and thirty-five
women, fifty-two girls, thirteen men, and three boys. At least nine
hundred and twenty-three houses and forty-two shops were looted.

“It is a victory for justice, especially for the many women who have
suffered rapes and other forms of sexual violence. The numerous
criminal acts committed under ‘Lt. Col.’ Mayele’s command cannot be
undone,” Wallström said. “Let his apprehension be a signal to all
perpetrators of sexual violence that impunity for these types of crimes
is not accepted and that justice will prevail.” Victims of the attack said
in interviews that they believed the purpose of the attacks was to
intimidate local people seen by the rebels as government supporters. A

67
doctor, Cris Baguma, visited rape victims in their villages, learning
that the rebels had come in peace and only began the rapes after being
given food by the villagers.
“Men saw how they raped their wives, sons saw how they raped their
mothers. Everyone in these villages is now very withdrawn and cold
and in need of psychological assistance,” Baguma said.
“It is crucial that the victims of the rapes in Walikale and in so many
other places in the DRC see justice done,” said Wallström. “I call on
the Government to ensure a swift, rigorous and open process of
justice.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Arrest in DR Congo over mass rape – 6 October 2010
BBC – DR Congo rebel leader arrested over mass rapes – 6 October 2010
Guardian – Militia commander Mayele arrested after mass rape of Congo villagers –
6 October 2010
UN News Centre – DR Congo: UN helps seize rebel leader presumed responsible for
mass rape – 5 October 2010

ETHIOPIA ACCUSED OF USING

INTERNATIONAL AID TO SILENCE
OPPOSITION

October 24th, 2010

By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NAROBI, Kenya - The Ethiopian government is denying claims it

used international aid as a weapon against opposition groups. A
recently published report from the Human Rights Watch (HRW) finds
the Ethiopian government withheld international aid, including food
and micro-loan payments, from political opponents. HRW believes
international aid was withheld to suppress opposition groups ahead of
the country’s May 2010 election.

During these elections, the government of Prime Minister

Meles Zenawi, won all but one of the 536 seats in Ethiopia’s
parliament. This result stands in sharp contrast to the last election
cycle in 2005, when opposition groups captured 170 seats of

68
parliament. After the May elections, opposition groups took to the
streets to protest. The government moved to crush these protests,
ultimately killing over 200 people in the process.

In response, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs insists the HRW

report is inaccurate. To substantiate their claim, the government points
to an investigation carried out in January 2010 by the Development
Assistant Group that investigated similar claims of corruption. This
investigation found the distribution process of international aid was
adequate, and the appropriate safeguards were in place to allow for
equitable allocation of aid. The Ministry believes these accusations are
an attempt to blackmail the Ethiopian government as part of HRW’s
personal vendetta against them.

Human Rights Watch claims this report was based on an extensive six-
month investigation, which included interviews with over 200 people
in 53 villages across three regions of Ethiopia. The findings across the
nations were consistent; people had been denied aid or loans because
they either supported an opposition party or had views that opposed
the sitting government. Consequently, food, housing, fertilizer, seeds,
and micro loans were denied to opposition group supporters.
Furthermore, some sources claim that disagreeing with the ruling
government can also limit admission into the country’s university and
even the type of employment opportunities available. Since Ethiopia is
a strategic western ally in the troubled Horn of Africa, it has been
receiving generous amounts of international aid. Specifically, the
amount of international aid the government receives has doubled
between 2004 and 2008. In 2008, Ethiopia received over $3 billion
dollars (U.S.) from the international community.

For more information, please see:

BBC Africa — Ethiopia used aid to bribe voters – Human Rights Watch – 19
October 2010.
Ezega — Ethiopia Rejects Human Rights Watch Allegations – 20 October 2010.
AFP — Ethiopia using aid to suppress dissent: rights group – 19 October 2010.
Macon — Rights group: Ethiopia denying opposition aid – 19 October 2010.
The Globe and Mail — Ethiopia using Canadian aid as a political weapon, rights
group says– 19 October 2010

69
 VIOLENCE ROCKS WESTERN SAHARA

November 11th, 2010

By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

RABAT, Morocco - Violence erupted this past Monday, November

8th when Moroccan security forces raided an opposition group’s
protest camp in Western Sahara. The camp called Gadaym Izik was
home to more than 12,000 Polisario Front protesters before the attack.
The Polisario Front consists of Saharawis, a nomadic native people
that have resisted the Moroccan government for several decades.

There are conflicting reports on the number of people injured and

killed in the attack. According to the Polisario Front, 19 people were
killed in the fighting, 723 were wounded, and 159 people are still
unaccounted for. Alternatively, the Moroccan government claims eight
members of its security force were killed but not a single civilian was
harmed in the fighting.

The Gadaym Izik camp was established about a month ago to protest
both a lack of jobs and discrimination of the Saharawis at the hands of
the Moroccan government. The Polisario Front established this protest
camp on the outskirts of Laayoune, the capital city in Western Sahara.
In response, Moroccan security officials swept in and forcefully shut
down the camp. The security forces are accused of using live
ammunition, tear gas, and water cannons.

This most recent clash comes at a time when the Moroccan

government and the Polisario Front are meeting in New York City to
negotiate a peace deal. The third round of United Nations (U.N.)
backed talks continued despite the violence. After the talks concluded
on Tuesday, U.N. special envoy Christopher Ross explained the two
sides had rejected each other’s proposal on how the negotiations
process should continue. However, both sides did agree to continue
peace plan discussions in December or early next year.

70
The Moroccan government has outlined a proposal that would keep the
territory under its control but grant the region autonomy, thus
allowing the Polisario Front to control administration of the local
government. On the other hand, the Polisario Front is seeking full
independence.

Specifically, the Polisario Front has offered a proposal for a popular

referendum to take place that will determine if Western Sahara
should become an independent state or remain under the government’s
control. The Polisario Front has been seeking independence from the
Moroccan government since the 1970s.

For more information, please see:

BBC Africa – Morocco ‘raided Western Sahara camp to sabotage talks’—11
November 2010
Canadian Press – Calm returning to Western Sahara after 2 days of unrest – 11
November 2010
CNN International — Deadly clashes reported in disputed Western Sahara – 10
November 2010
UPI – Western-Sahara-erupts-into-violence – 10 November 2010

17 AFRICAN LEADERS INDICTED BY THE

ICC
December 19th, 2010
By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch, Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya- Last week the International Criminal Court (ICC)

indicted a number of Africans from Uganda, Darfur, the DR Congo,
and Kenya for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes as
defined under the Rome Statute. Among those arrested are six Kenyan
officials with ties to the 2008 voting violence that affected over half a
million Kenyans and Sudan’s president, Omar al Bashir. Bashir has
been charged with ten counts, including five counts of crimes against
humanity, two counts of war crimes and three counts of genocide. The
six Kenyans indicted are all members of the ruling Grand Coalition
and have been implicated in the post -election violence of 2008 that
left over 1,100 dead, three times as many injured and over 600,000
displaced.

71
Among the Kenyans arrested are Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru
Kenyatta, Finance Minister Francis Muthaura, the Civil Service and
Cabinet Chief and Industrialization Minister Henry Kosgey, currently
suspended Higher Education Minister William Samoei Ruto, Head of
Operations (KASS FM) Joshua Arap Sang, and former Police
Commissioner and current Chief Executive of the Postal Corporation
Mohamed Hussein Ali. The indictments against these officials stem
from the violence in 2008 that lasted for over a month after their
nation-wide election that many fear will be repeated after the
upcoming 2012 elections. “These were not just crimes against innocent
Kenyans[.] They were crimes against humanity as a whole. By
breaking the cycle of impunity for massive crimes, victims and their
families can have justice” said Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo, “and
Kenyans can pave the way to peaceful elections in 2012.”

Kenyans who have come forward to act as witnesses against the ICC
indicted are already being threatened and face being ostracized from
their own communities. In Kenya, a country marked by strong tribal
and ethnic divides that correlate to political loyalties, acting against
one’s own group is viewed as a serious betrayal. However, many
Kenyans wish to avoid the violence of 2008 and those willing will
testify that political candidates and public officials spoke at rallies,
urging Kenyans to violence as a means to meet their objectives. One
young witness [name omitted] said he attended a rally where Samoei
Ruto encouraged “[. . . ] the youth [to] prepare for violence, that the
women should start crying in public to encourage the men to do
violence.”
For more information, please see;
allAfrica.com- Kenya: ICC Has Indicted 17 Africans- 15 December 2010
Afrique en Ligne- Kenya: ICC Strikes Heart of Kenya’s Grand Coalition Cabinet- 19
December 2010
The Christian Science Monitor- Threat to Kenya’s ICC Witnesses: Traitors Will Be
Dealt With ‘Ruthlessly’- 15 December 2010
MSNBC.com- Prosecutor: Kenya’s Deputy PM is War Criminal- 15 December 2010
M&C News- International Prosecutor Pushes For Arrest of al Bashir- 9 December
2010

72
 MUGABE USING BLOOD DIAMONDS TO
FUND ZIMBABWE ELECTION

December 30th, 2010

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe- The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has

released a report citing ‘blood’ diamonds as the main source of
funding for President Robert Mugabe’s upcoming 2011 election in
Zimbabwe. These blood diamonds, also called conflict diamonds, are
being mined from the Marange fields in Zimbabwe, a mining cite that
lost it’s Kimberly Process (KP) certification last year after reports of
forced labor and other human rights violations reached the Israeli
Diamond Exchange, the group that leads the KP. The KP is a
watchdog group made up of government, diamond industry and civil
officials to end the mining, smuggling and sale of blood diamonds.

Despite losing its certification, the Marange fields continues to be

mined. Last week, David Vardi, an Israeli Diamond Exchange trader,
was stopped at the Ben Gurion Internatiol Airport after flying in from
Zimbabwe carrying $140,000 in uncut diamonds. While the KP has
not classified the diamonds coming from Murange as blood diamonds,
they have put a stop to their export and some fear that President
Mugabe’s effort to control the fields will increase the number of blood
diamonds on the market. In addition to the HRW report, the Africa
Canada Partnership group reported in June that it had investigated the
Marange fields and found that the mining cites were under military
control yet none of the proceeds were benefiting Zimbabwe’s
government. Because the military reports to the President, many fear
Mugabe is using these diamonds to ensure his victory in the next
elections. Tom Porteous, UK director of HRW, said “Revenue from
the mines is serving to prop up Mugabe and his cronies.” The HRW
report cites unnamed soldiers, diggers, local and national parliament
leaders and others inside Zimbabwe’s government as the source for
this information.

73
Mugabe’s party, Zanu (PF), has denied the existence of any diamond
smuggling. However, the latest HRW allegations follow years of
reports citing torture in the mines as well as military slayings of
freelance diamond miners and other human rights violations. The
Marange fields remain under a KP enforced embargo until the
international community can agree the diamonds being mined there are
conflict free. If Mugabe is using the Murange feilds to fund his
campaign for 2011, Porteous believes the diamonds will be used to “[.
. .] fund political violence and intimidation of Mugabe’s opponents.”

For more information, please see;

VOA News- Human Rights Watch Says Zimbabwe’s Murange Diamonds Funding
Mugabe Party- 29 December 2010
Business Day- Diamonds Funding Mugabe’s Election- 30 December 2010
AFP- Blood Diamond Fears in I. Coast Political Duel- 28 December 2010
AFP- Israeli Trader Barred as ‘Blood Diamonds’ Suspect- 29 December 2010
IW- Zimbabwe Delays Elections- 23 December 2010

FORMER RWANDAN MAYOR ON TRIAL IN

GERMANY FOR GENOCIDE

January 22nd, 2011

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

FRANKFURT, Germany- Onesphore Rwabukombe, a former

Rwandan mayor, is on trial in Frankfurt, Germany, accused of
ordering three Tutsi massacres that resulted in over 3,000 deaths
during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Rwabukombe has been charged
with genocide, murder and incitement to genocide before the German
court. In a statement of the charges, prosecutor Christian Ritscher read
aloud in court, “Between April 11 and 15, 1994 the accused ordered
and coordinated three massacres in which a total of at least 3,730
members of the Tutsi minority who had sought refuge in church
buildings were killed.” Rwabukombe, who has been living in
Germany since at least 2002, was arrested last summer and could face
life in prison if convicted.

74
This is the third time Rwabukombe has appeared before the German
courts since 2008, being released both previous times after the court
decided their was a lack of evidence. This time, prosecutors plan to
call approximately 50 witnesses. Rwanda’s Prosecutor General Martin
Ngoga stated his support of the trial, telling AFP, “We are grateful to
Germany.” As the former mayor of Muvumba in northeastern
Rwanda, Rwabukombe is charged with being the chief organizer of
these crimes and ordering those below him to threaten any Tutsis
seeking shelter with the deaths of their families. Some of the refugees
turned away by Rwabukombe’s men were later murdered.

While many of the Rwandans suspected of carrying out the genocide

in 1994 that resulted in the murder of at least 800,000 are living in
European countries, this is Germany’s first trial of a Rwandan suspect.
Rwandan courts have conducted some trials and a special court, the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, exists in Tanzania to try
suspects. Elsewhere, several European countries have conducted
Rwandan genocide related trials but with a large number of suspects
living all over Europe, many countries are not taking the steps to bring
these people to justice. However, recently Interpol issued almost 100
‘red notices’ for the arrests of Rwandans living in Europe suspected of
taking part in the 1994 genocide. Said Jurgen Schurr, representative
for the London-based human rights group Redress, “These trials [. . .]
send the important signal that these countries do not accept to provide
a safe haven to suspects of such crimes.”

For more information, please see;

VOANews.com- Germany Opens First Rwanda Genocide Trial- 18 January 2011
AFP- Rwandan Genocide Trial Opens in Germany- 18 January 2011
BBC News- Rwandan Mayor Rwabukombe Tried For Genocide in Germany- 18
January 2011

75
BOTSWANA’S BUSHMEN DENIED ACCESS TO
WATER

January 24th, 2011

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CENTRAL KALAHARI, Botswana-Botswana’s Central Kalahari

Bushmen are once again being forced from their ancestral lands as the
country’s courts decide this week whether the Bushmen should have
access to a local water supply. Kalahari Bushmen are an indigenous
hunter-gatherer people of the desert interior of Botswana. They were
evicted from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 2002 and allowed
to return in 2006 after Botswana’s High Court declared their forced
removal unconstitutional. Since 2006, the government has banned the
Bushmen from hunting in the reserve and denied them access to the
only local well by sealing it, a well the Bushmen claim they have been
using for decades. Bushmen have to walk long distances, often
outside the reserve, in order to collect water.

The government claims that allowing the Bushmen to draw from the
well would be incompatible with the goals of the Central Kalahari
reserve. However, since the bushmen returned to the reserve,
Botswana’s government has allowed the company, Wilderness Safaris,
to build a safari resort complete with a pool, on the reserve.
Additionally, on the same day the Bushmen appealed the water
decision in court last week, Botswana granted Gem Diamonds a 3
billion dollar contract to mine in the reserve. Gem Diamonds and the
government claim they have the consent of the Bushmen whose land
they will be on. Survival International, an advocacy group for tribal
people, has been helping the Bushmen represent themselves in court.
On Wednesday, Survival Director Stephen Corry said, “How can
people who are denied water to force them out of the reserve possibly
be in a position to give their free and informed consent?”

Botswana’s actions regarding the Bushmen are drawing criticism from

several organizations, including the African Commission on Human

76
and People’s Rights and the U.N. A U.N. official on indigenous
people went so far as to say the conditions in the Kalahari Reserve are
‘harsh and dangerous’. Survival International has increased its efforts
to improve the life of the Bushmen.

The group is encouraging the international community to boycott

Botswana tourism and diamonds until the government recognizes the
Bushmen’s land rights.

For more information, please see;

CNN- Leaked Cable: U.S. Envoy Criticized Botswana on Bushmen- 21 January
2011
The Botswana Gazette- Survival Protesters Target International Tourism Fair in
Madrid- 23 January 2011
Africanews.com- Kalahari Bushmen to Fight Court Ruling- 18 January 2011
Independent Media Centre Australia- Botswana Approves$3BN Mine as Bushmen
Water Case Gets Underway- 19 January 2011
Mail & Guardian Online- ‘Thirsty’ Bushmen Go to Appeal Court- 21 January 2011

ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS CONTINUE

THROUGHOUT EGYPT

February 4th, 2011

By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CAIRO, Egypt -On Friday, February 4, hundreds of thousands of

people streamed into Tahrir Square to protest against Egyptian
President Hosni Mobarak. The Friday protest, billed as “Departure
Friday” follows two days of bloody clashes between anti-government
demonstrators and pro-government supporters. The violence has left
dozens of people killed and hundreds more injured. As President
Mobarak clings to power, the international community is
contemplating what to do next.

The Friday protest marks the 11th day of demonstrations and many in
Tahrir Square do not plan on leaving until President Mobarak is
removed from office. Organizers of the protest were hoping to turn
out one million demonstrators but initial estimates are closer to two

77
hundred thousand. Reports from Tahrir Square claim the atmosphere
is festive, with less violence than has been seen in the past couple of
days. The composition of the protesters cuts across social, economic,
and religious lines. There is a mix of upper and middle class Egyptians
as well as people with more moderate means. Additionally, the
protesters include both Muslims and Christians.

The 11 days of protest have seen a mix of peaceful demonstrations as

well as bloody clashes between anti-government supporters and
Mobarak sympathizers. One reason for Friday’s calm atmosphere in
Tahrir Square is due to the Egyptian army’s renewed presence. The
army, which initially asserted itself during the first few days of the
protest, then fell back as the pro and anti government factions clashed,
has once again reasserted itself creating a security perimeter
around the square. The army’s security barrier has helped to limit
clashes between the opposing parties and create a more organized and
safer environment.

Although Tahrir Square, also known as Liberation Square, has been

the focus of intense media coverage, other acts of civil disobedience
and protest have taken place in cities through Egypt including Giza
and Alexandria. Estimates vary widely on the number of people
injured and killed since the demonstrations began. Anti-government
protesters wounded in the clashes have received medical treatment
from both the Egyptian military as well as make shift hospitals that
have sprung up in mosques around Tahrir Square. The Egyptian health
minister claims that eight people have been killed and over eight
hundred others have been wounded. On the other hand, the United
Nations estimates that more than 300 people have been killed
throughout Egypt while 4,000 people have been injured since the
protests began on January 25.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The response from the International community to this crisis has been
restrained. The United States, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and

78
England have expressed concern for the safety of protesters while at
the same time calling on the Egyptian government to make necessary
reforms. Unfortunately, difficult questions about how quickly
President Mubarak should leave office and who should step into
his position still remain. Several days ago, President Mubarak claimed
he would not seek re-election in September of 2011; however this
concession has not appeased the protesters who are looking for him to
leave office immediately.

As the situation in Egypt has become more intense, the international

community has become more forceful with its words. The United
States, who initially claimed support for President Mubarak, has been
working hard to get out in front of this crisis. President Obama has
recently made statements calling for political reforms to take
place “now”, but he has been careful not to call for President Mubarak
to step down immediately. Similar sentiments have been echoed by the
leaders of other nations, including several European countries that sent
a letter to the Egyptian President asking him to create a transitional
government.

Furthermore, news outlets are reporting the United States is trying to

broker a deal where President Mubarak will step down and his Vice
President Omar Suleiman would assume power. The plan would call
for Vice President Suleiman along with Egypt’s military leadership
to form a transitional government until elections can be held.
Conversely, other media outlets claim that the United States has
already offered this suggestion and the Egyptian President has
rebuffed it. Questions remain about whether Mr. Suleiman or the
Egyptian military would want to break away from President Mubarak.
The ties between the Egyptian President, his leadership team, and the
Egyptian military continue to be tested. These ties will become further
restrained as the protesters in Tahrir Square plan a march on the
presidential palace.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Egypt Holds ‘Day of Departure’- 4 February 2011

79
All Africa – Clashes Rock Cairo as Pro-Mubarak Supports Hit Back – 3 February
2011
BBC – ‘Day of departure’ rally in Egypt—4 February 2011
New York Times — White House and Egypt Discuss Plan for Mubarak’s Exit – 4
February 2011
Reuters — Egyptians rally for Mubarak to go now – 4 February 2011
The Guardian — US hatches Mubarak exit strategy as Egypt death toll mounts – 4
February 2011

UNPRECEDENTED INTERNET SHUTDOWN IN

EGYPT SPARKS FEARS OF TECHNOLOGY
ABUSE

February 7th, 2011

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CAIRO, Egypt – On January 28, a week into Egypt’s ongoing

protests, President Hosni Mubarak’s government ordered Internet
service providers to sever all forms of communication, including
Internet access, mobile networks and SMS. Though the Internet was
restored as of last Wednesday, the blackout marked an unprecedented
Internet milestone. Egypt’s economy and society rely heavily on the
Internet. A think-tank based in Paris, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, estimated that the Internet blackout
cost Egypt’s economy about ninety million dollars.

More concerning, however, is the notion that a country as

technologically advanced as Egypt was able to shut down all
communications as quickly as it did. James Cowie, co-founder and
chief technology officer of Renesys, an IT company in New
Hampshire, told the Los Angeles Times, “Over a period of about 20
minutes, it’s as if each of the primary service providers started pulling
the routes that lead to them. It wasn’t like a simultaneous withdrawal.
“There are private companies of varying sizes that own and operate
their own infrastructure. But it seems they got a call so they turned it
off,” Cowie said.

80
“What we are seeing in Egypt is a frightening example of how the
power of technology can be abused,” said Timothy Karr, a campaign
director for Free Press, an advocacy organization, said.
Such swift action brings to mind oppressive regimes such as that of
North Korea, which forbids its citizens from accessing the Internet at
all.

Even during the recent uprising in Tunisia, only specific services and
websites were blocked.
And it seems that the United States aided with the shutdown.
According to an article by Karr, a U.S. company based in Sunnyvale,
Calif., Boeing-owned Narus, sold Telecom Egypt “real-time traffic
intelligence” equipment, which may have been used by Mubarak’s
regime to sever all communications. The equipment is more
commonly known as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), technology that
allows network managers to track content from users of the Internet
and mobile phones. Most disturbing about DPI technology, according
to Karr, is that “[c]ommercial operators trafficking in Deep Packet
Inspection technology to violation Internet users’ privacy is bad
enough; in government hands, that same invasion of privacy can
quickly lead to stark human rights violations.”

For more information, please see:

Arutz Sheva – Egypt’s Internet Crackdown ‘Had US Help’ – 6 February 2011
Information Week – Egypt Takes $90 Million Hit From Internet Blackout – 3
February 2011
Los Angeles Times – Egypt may have turned off the Internet one phone call at a
time – 29 January 2011
Huffington Post – One U.S. Corporation’s Role in Egypt’s Brutal Crackdown – 28
January 2011
Telegraph – How Egypt shut down the internet – 28 January 2011

81
 POST-REFERENDUM IMPLICATIONS A
CONCERN FOR SUDAN

February 6th, 2011

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan- In a matter of days the results of Sudan’s

referendum vote to decide whether South Sudan should be
independent of North Sudan will be announced. With preliminary
polls showing an almost unanimous vote from the South Sudanese in
favor of succession it is expected that the referendum will pass.
Following the relatively peaceful voting process, questions now loom
as to whether the North and South will be able to transition peacefully
and negotiate bilateral resource sharing agreements until South Sudan
is truly independent.

Even before Sudan gained independence from British colonial powers

and Egyptian rule it was embroiled in civil war. Fighting between the
North and South regions persisted for decades, lasting from 1955-1972
and again from 1983-2005. Finally, in 2005 a Comprehensive Peace
Agreement (CPA) was brokered between the North and South which
created an interim government with an option to extend the CPA in six
years or vote for succession. Within a few years of the CPA, it
became clear to leaders in both the North and South that neither would
be willing to agree to the CPA long-term, prompting the vote.

Since the vote and the expectation that South Sudan will become an
independent nation, concerns are growing over issues of citizenship,
boundary demarcations, oil resources and how South Sudan will
function as a government. One of the more immediate problems
facing the split between the two regions is that fact that tens of
thousands of South Sudanese are currently living and working in the
North. Many occupy civil servant positions, working in several
capacities including law enforcement. Some expect the North Sudan
government in Khartoum, led by Omar al-Bashir, to simply revoke the
Sudanese citizenship of all South Sudanese living in the North which

82
could create conflict as thousands of people are displaced. The CPA,
which would provide a roadmap in the coming years for agreements
between the two countries, has no provisions for such citizenship
issues.

Causing unrest for the international community is how both regions

will handle their oil concerns and interact with one another in splitting
natural resources . Since the U.S. sanctioned Bashir’s government in
the North, Asian countries have been the primary investors and buyers
of Sudanese oil. U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to lift the
sanction aimed primarily at the North if Bashir follows the steps
outlined in the CPA. This could open the region to Western
investment and oil exportation, something it has not seen in years.

Additionally, the business of transporting and refining oil between the

North and South has become increasingly complex. Approximately
sixty percent of the oil wells are in South Sudan but all the pipes run
into the North and the South currently depends on the North to refine
and sell its oil. Adding to this, there is also no consensus on whether
the oil rich state of Abyei, which straddles the contested border
between the two regions, will become part of North or South Sudan.
In order to gain oil independence, South Sudan has plans to build a
pipeline to Kenya which would allow it to export its oil independent of
the North but a plan like that will take years to complete. With oil
being the primary source of revenue for Sudan, it is doubtful that the
North will be willing to give up its interest in Southern oil. Both
countries will need to focus on peaceful negotiations that allow for
resource sharing.

Focusing solely on South Sudan, many wonder if a new government in

the region will be able to meet the needs of a country. Until now, the
South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) has operated as a
resistance movement seeking to protect and promote minority rights.
The ethnic and religious diversity of South Sudan’s population has
made it the target of the North, which routinely excluded minority

83
concerns. While a vote to split from the North would end this, some
fear that infighting and the inability to act as a government will plague
the South. The South will need to focus on infrastructure, social
services and providing proper diplomacy and foreign policy to guide
its new government.

For more information, please see;

The Huffington Post- Sudan; A Tragedy Any Way You ‘Cut’ It- 4 February 2011
The Namibian- Sudan: Post-Referendum Issues and Implications for Africa- 25
January 2011
Business Monitor International- South Sudan Referendum: Oil Industry Implications-
19 January 2011

HRW CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL

INTERVENTION IN MOGADISHU

February 14th, 2011

by Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia- The New York based organization Human

Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report on the war-torn capital of
Somalia, Mogadishu, citing heightened violence between Somalia’s
Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Islamic militant group
al-Shabaab . In this report, HRW has called upon the international
community to intervene in Somalia to prevent further civilian
casualties and stop the flow of refugees out of the country.

Somalia has existed without a central government since 1991 when

President Mohamed Siad Barre was removed from power. In 2006,
Ethiopian military forces entered Mogadishu to oust an Islamic court
coalition which was controlling the city. Since then, violence has
steadily escalated, leading to all out war-fare in the streets of
Mogadishu and mortar and rocket fire attacks within the city limits.

Al-Shabaab, which claims ties to al-Qaeda, has launched two major

offenses against the TFG, both in May and then again over August and
September of last year. Currently, the TFG, which is the
internationally recognized government of Somalia, controls only

84
portions of the capital city. The TFG has support from nearly 8,000
African Union peacekeeping troops but battles have been brutal and
often amount to small gains and losses. Frank Langfitt, reporting from
Mogadisu for NPR stated “This morning. . .the African Union took
about 70 yards and they expect that later tonight al-Shabaab will try to
take back that 70 yards.”

In the midst of this fighting, thousands of civilians in Mogadishu are

either leaving their homes or becoming victims of the conflict.
Though Somalis have been fleeing to refugee camps in Kenya since
1991, the recent conflict has prompted everyone who can afford to
leave Mogadishu to make the journey across the border. The
International Committee of the Red Cross reported this last January
that it received a record number of patients with war related injuries in
2010, amounting to over 2,300 injured. HRW claims that both sides
are responsible for massive civilian deaths which they believe may
amount to war crimes. Said Rona Peligal, deputy Africa director at
Human Rights Watch, “The world has for too long ignored the
appalling cost to civilians of the fighting in Mogadishu. . .An
international commission of inquiry is urgently needed to investigate
war crimes committed in Somalia by all sides.”

For more information, please see;

Bloomberg- War Crimes Investigation Needed in Somali Capital, Civil Rights Group
Says- 14 February 2011
Bikyamasr- End War Crimes in Mogadishu- 15 February 2011
NPR- On the Front Lines in Somalia- 14 February 2011

85
 IVORY COAST PRESIDENT REFUSING TO
RELEASE BODIES FROM CITY MORGUES

February 15th, 2011

by Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast- Hundreds of people have been killed in

Ivory Coast since the mid-December election in which opposition
leader Alassane Ouattara beat long-time incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.
The results, which have been certified by the U.N. and are
internationally recognized, show Ouattara winning with an eight point
margin. Despite this, Gbagbo has refused to hand over power and
there is strong evidence that he is coordinating military attacks against
those who voted for Ouattara.

Since mid-December as many as 300 people have been killed.

However, the number of those murdered could be higher. Since the
election, Gbagbo has refused to release the bodies of the dead, halting
autopsies on bodies with gun-shot wounds. These bodies have
remained at the city morgues and continue to come, with another 22
people killed this week alone. Reporters with the Associated Press
investigated in the former capital of Abidjan and found as many as 113
bodies at 9 different morgues. The U.N. believes another morgue is
holding 80 bodies, calling these cites “mass graves”. Morgue
employees told the AP that government officials stand guard at the
morgues to monitor all activity. The government is also refusing the
release the names of many of the bodies being held and family
members have had to physically search through the remains to try and
identify their missing loved ones.

Gbagbo, who has been in power for the last ten years, has been
suspected of carrying out ‘government death squads’ since 2002.
These squads are accused of ‘disappearing’ people and many are still
missing. One such individual, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, worked for a
non-profit group that was associated with Ouattara during the election.
Coulibaly was thrown into a vehicle after soldiers surrounded the café

86
he was at and started shooting. His family has not seen him since and
has not been able to find anything that points to his whereabouts.

The victims have been those who either supported Ouattara or those
even suspected of supporting his campaign. Many of the killings have
occurred in the northern region of the country which is predominately
Muslim and supported Outtara who himself is a Muslim from the
north. The names obtained by the AP indicate the victims of these
killings are Muslim.
The U.N. has repeatedly been denied access to sites of reported mass
graves and entrance to the government-run morgues.

For more information, please see;

Reuters- Nearly 300 Killed in Ivory Coast Violence, UN Says- 10 February 2011
AFP- At Least 296 Killed in Ivory Coast Unrest: UN- 10 February 2011
AP- AP Impact: New Proof of Ivory Coast Vote Killings- 15 February 2011

U.N. SANCTIONS LIBYAN OFFICIALS AND

CALLS FOR ICC INVESTIGATION

February 27th, 2011

By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NEW YORK CITY, United States of America - On Saturday,

members of the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to
impose sanctions on Libyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi,
members of his immediate family, and high-ranking officials in his
regime for their role in the violent crackdown on government
protesters. The council also approved a measure to investigate possible
international war crimes and crimes against humanity for the unlawful
killing of civilians over the last few weeks.

Contained in the resolution are several key provisions which ban

international travel for Libyan government officials as well as a
directive to freeze the assets of Libya’s leaders. Specifically, this
declaration is directed at Mr. el-Qaddafi, his four sons, his daughter,
and 10 prominent government officials. Furthermore, this resolution
provides for an arms embargo against the Libyan government.

87
Initially, Security Council members disagreed about whether to refer
Mr. el-Qaddafi and other officials to the International Criminal Court
for prosecution. However, the atmosphere changed when the Libyan
delegation and its U.N. representative Abdurrahman Shalgam sent a
letter to the Security Council president, Ambassador Maria Luiza
Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil supporting the war crimes investigation by the
ICC. Mr. Shalgam’s voice was crucial in helping this portion of the
resolution pass.

This was only the second time the U.N. Security Council has
recommended a member nation be investigated by the International
Criminal Court for possible war crimes or crimes against humanity.
The quickness with which this resolution was taken up and passed was
surprising. Reports from the U.N. Security Council chambers claim the
representative are deeply concerned about violence directed at
civilians and members were focused on drafting a resolution that
effectively deals with this crisis.

Saturday’s resolution comes a day after the United States government

unilaterally froze billions of dollars of assets belonging to the Libyan
government as well as property belonging to several Libyan officials.
According to President Barack Obama, he signed the executive order
because the violence and instability has become “an unusual and
extraordinary threat” to the security of the United States and their
foreign policy objectives.

For more information, please see:

BBC — Libya: UN Security Council votes sanctions on Gaddafi—27 February 2011
New York Times — Security Council Calls for War Crimes Inquiry in Libya – 26
February 2011
The Telegraph — We must stand ready to intervene in Libya – 27 February 2011
Voice of America News– UN Security Council Imposes Sanctions on Libyan
Leaders – 26 February 2011

88
 ASIA DESK
INNOCENT PEOPLE OR ARMED
INSURGENTS? NIGHT RAIDS IN
AFGHANISTAN

May 26th, 2010

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NANGARHAR, Afghanistan – Investigation into questionable night

raids continues as the death toll rises over the past week. The US
military has been conducting night raids on several targeted villages in
Afghanistan. These raids are night efforts to catch and put a stop to the
villages harboring Al-Queda operatives. Bereaved families demonized
night raids or “sneak attacks” by US troops, for often being premised
on faulty evidence.

Night rights increase tension between US/NATO forces and Afghan

civilians The grieving families claim that innocent civilians are being
killed under mistaken identity. The US military does not agree. After
nine civilians were killed this week, the US launched criminal
investigations.

Col. Wayne Shanks says they had concrete intelligence that a Taliban
sub-commander was in the housing compound at the time and was
planning an imminent attack on a US base. “It was an urgent need for
us to go in and stop the attack to prevent casualties on our side but also
innocent casualties,” he said. Resident Ehassamudion Kushkaki told
CNN the U.S. military did not announce their arrival at 1a.m. local
time while everyone was sleeping, so two of the nine killed were
shooting, thinking thieves were attacking them. The U.S. military
insists it announced its arrival and says all of those killed were
shooting at the forces.

The soldier confined also faces illegal drug use, assault and conspiracy
claims. Miles away in London, Fatima Ayud has been campaigning for

89
night raids to stop and offering help to affected families. Gen. Stanley
McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has
sought to minimize the use of night raids, noting past public anger.
Ayud says it’s not enough after, herself being a victim after a raid
attack targeted her extended family.

Nasrutullah Arsala, head of Nangarhar provincial council, tells CNN,

“There’s no doubt that when these cases happen, the people rise up
and the gap between the government and people widens.” This form
of impunity thwarts American efforts and energizes the Taliban
resistance.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera English- US opens Afghan deaths probe - 20 May 2010
CNN World – Civilians or fighters? Debate lingers over deaths at housing
compound – 25 May 2010
The Huffington Post – US Investigating Afgahan Civilian Deaths – 20 May 2010

KYRGYZSTAN CHAOS SHOWS SIGNS OF

ETHNIC CLEANSING

June 20th, 2010

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan – Homes and business have been

marked with ethnic background identifying symbols, forcing the
displacement of 1 in 4 people and questionable survival for those
whom remain. The ethnic bloodletting has killed hundreds and set off
a massive wave of refugees, with 400,000 people crammed in squalid
camps with little access to clean water and food.

The Central Asian state’s interim leader believes the number of people
killed since violence erupted just over a week ago may be as high as
2,000. Up to a million people are said to have been affected by
fighting between the Kyrgyz majority and minority Uzbeks. Many of
those who fled their homes are staying in Uzbekistan. “Where can we
go now? Our belief in the future is dead,” said Mamlyakat Akramova,

90
who lived in the center of Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest city and
the epicenter of the violence that broke out last week.

Entire Uzbek neighborhoods of southern Kyrgyzstan have been

reduced to scorched ruins by rampaging mobs of ethnic Kyrgyz who
forced nearly half of the region’s roughly 800,000 Uzbeks to flee for
their lives. John Holmes, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination
of Humanitarian Affairs urged a “generous and rapid response” from
donors. “I have been shocked by the extent of the violence and
appalled by the deaths and injuries, widespread arson, sexual violence,
looting of state, commercial and private property and destruction of
infrastructure,” he said.

Muslim tradition of burying the dead before sunset on the day of death
meant many hundreds of victims had not been counted. Eyewitnesses
and victims have repeatedly said that the violence was orchestrated,
and many have accused soldiers from the Kyrgyz military of being
involved.
Uzbeks in Osh complained the government was doing too little to
alleviate their suffering and said they were relying on small amounts
of aid from Uzbekistan. Many refugees complained humanitarian
supplies were being blocked and stolen by Kyrgyz officials.

“This is our nation, this is a holy land, but I can’t live here anymore,”
said Mukhabat Ergashova, a retiree who had taken shelter with dozens
of other in a crowded tent.” We are all witnesses to the fact that
innocent citizens were fired upon from an armored personnel carrier
by soldiers in military uniform. I don’t know whether they were from
the government or some third party, but they only shot at Uzbeks,”
said Sabir Khaidir, and ethnic Uzbek in Jalal-Abad.

For more information, please see:

CNN World – Kyrgyzstan investigating whether troops involved in ethic violence –
20 June 2010
BBC – UN launches $71m appeal for Kyrgystan refugee crisis – 19 June 2010
The Huffington Post – Kyrgyzstan Violence Claims Up to 2,000 Lives – 18 June
2010

91
 50 DEAD: PAKISTAN’S HOLIEST SHRINE
TURNED MURDER SCENE

July 2nd, 2010

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter; Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The death toll climbed to 50 on Friday

after a pair of suicide bombers detonated their explosive vests at one of
Pakistan’s holiest shrines, police said. Police are on high alert in
Pakistan as demands grow for a tougher crackdown on armed religious
groups in the central Punjab province after bombers targeted a popular
Muslim shrine.

Sufi shrine of Data Darbar mosque, Lahore Pakistan where thousands

visit daily
The targeted shrine was that of an 11th century Sufi saint, Ali bin
Usman, commonly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh Hajveri, who traveled
throughout the region spreading Islam with a message of peace and
love. His shrine is the most revered and popular of Sufi shrines in the
nation.
More than 200 people were injured in the blasts outside the Data
Darbar, a famous Sufi shrine complex.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan expressed alarm over the

attacks and called on both the government and Muslim clerics to stand
up to extremism. Security has been tightened at Sufi shrines across the
country, but many Pakistanis, already frustrated by a troubled
economy and crippling power cuts, are calling for the resignation of
Punjab government officials.

About 2,000 people, some armed, staged protests in Lahore on Friday,

shouting “Down with Shahbaz Sharif”, the chief minister of Punjab
“This sickening poison of extremism will be driven out of our nation
and we will not be cowed,” said Farahnaz Ispahani, a spokeswoman
for President Asif Ali Zardari, in a text message to CNN.

92
“Peaceful worshippers have once again been targeted by those who
want to destroy the fabric of this great country. We will not forgive or
forget and we will get justice for all Pakistanis murdered in cold blood
— be they Muslim, Christian, Ahmadi or of any other faith.” Talat
Masood, a defense analyst and former Pakistan military officer, said
Taliban-linked groups are exploiting the uncertainty over the
government’s response to such attacks.

“At the moment there is lukewarm support from the people, and the
people have no confidence in the government and their
governance,” he told Al Jazeera on Friday. “America is killing
Muslims in Afghanistan and in our tribal areas, and militants are
attacking Pakistan to express anger against the government for
supporting America,” explained Zahid Umar, 25, a frequent visitor to
the Lahore shrine.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera English – Pakistan on alert after shrine raid – 2 July 2010
CNN World – Explosions at famous shrine in Pakistan kill dozens – 2 July 2010
The Huffington Post – Pakistanis Blame U.S. After Shrine Suicide Attack Kills 42 -
2 July 2010

B A N G L A D E S H C H A R G E S 8 2 4 POST MASSACRE

July 12th, 2010

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Police in Bangladesh have charged 824

people for the massacre of 74 senior military officers during a mutiny
by border guards in February last year. All suspects could face the
death penalty if found guilty. Prosecutors say the border guards
rebelled over low wages and poor treatment

Seventy-four people, including 57 senior army officers, were killed

during the siege of a military base in Dhaka, the capital, in an uprising
that briefly threatened the government of Sheikh Hasina, the prime
minister. Prosecutors announced the charges on Monday and the trials

93
against the mutiny’s ringleaders and participants are expected to take
at least one year to complete in Bangladesh’s civil courts.

“We have charged 824 people with murder, conspiracy, aiding

and abetting murder, looting military weapons and arson,” Mosharraf
Hossain Kazal, the state prosecutor, said.
Rebelling soldiers were allegedly angry about their superiors’ refusal
to increase their pay and improve working conditions. “They mowed
their officers down in cold blood, using semi-automatic weapons and
rifles they’d looted from the barracks,” Akhand, the police
investigator, said of mutineers who took control of BDR headquarters
on February 25, 2009.
The violence has spread nationwide and Bangladesh appeared to be on
the brink of civil war.
Bangladesh’s civil courts in what will be the largest trial in the
country’s history will handle the case.

In parallel prosecutions, some 3,500 soldiers who had joined the

rebellion are being tried in military courts on lesser charges. The
tribunals have already convicted at least 200 guards with jail sentences
ranging from four months to seven years. The mutiny erupted at the
BDR headquarters in Dhaka and lasted 33 hours, during which officers
were killed and their bodies dumped in sewers and shallow graves.

“A senior officer was taken to the roof of a four-storey building and

thrown to the ground. The dead bodies of a few officers were set on
fire.” The mutiny took place just two months after the country returned
to civilian rule under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She had
originally offered an amnesty to some mutineers but this was rescinded
when the extent and nature of the bloodshed became clear.

For more information, please see:

BBC - Bangladesh charges 824 people over deadly mutiny – 12 July 2010
Al Jazeera English - More charged over Bangladesh mutiny – 12 July 2010
Radio Netherlands Worldwide - Bangladesh charges 824 for deadly mutiny
murders - 12 July 2010

94
DUCH FOUND GUILTY: WAR CRIMES DAY OF
RECKONING

July 26th, 2010

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter; Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Former Khmer Rouge prison chief

Duch has been found guilty of crimes against humanity by Cambodia’s
UN-backed war crimes tribunal. Duch, 67, whose full name is Kaing
Guek Eav, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The man who ran a notorious torture prison where more than 14,000
people died during the Khmer Rouge regime was found guilty of war
crimes Monday and sentenced to 35 years in prison — with 5 years
taken off that sentence for time served. The verdict against Kaing
Guek Eav, alias Duch, also convicted him of crimes against humanity,
murder and torture. Duch ran Tuol Sleng prison, where “enemies” of
the Khmer Rouge regime were sent.

At least 1.7 million people — nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s

population — died under the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime from
execution, disease, starvation and overwork, according to the
Documentation Center of Cambodia. But prosecutors said the former
math teacher ordered the use of brutal torture methods to extract
“confessions” from detainees – including pulling out toenails and
administering electric shocks – and approved all the executions.

A meticulous record-keeper, Duch built up a huge archive of photos,

confessions and other evidence documenting those held at Tuol Sleng.
Despite acknowledging the role he played at Tuol Sleng, codenamed
“S-21″, Duch insisted that he had only been following orders from his
superiors, and on the trial’s final day in November shocked many by
asking to be acquitted.
Wearing a blue shirt, the former Khmer Rouge jailer looked pensive
and slumped in his chair as proceedings were held behind a floor-to-

95
ceiling bullet-proof screen which separated the public gallery from the
rest of the court.

“I can’t accept this,” Saodi Ouch, 46, told the Associated Press news
agency. “My family died… my older sister, my older brother. I’m the
only one left.” Some said they wanted a tougher sentence. “There is no
justice. I wanted life imprisonment for Duch,” said Hong Sovath,
whose father was killed in Tuol Sleng. Many called the War crimes
tribunal efforts a “shame” and “slap in the face” to survivors.

The group’s top leader, “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, died in 1998.
The other Khmer Rouge leaders awaiting trial are “Brother Number
Two” Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, former
foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, the minister of
social affairs.

For more information, please see:

CNN World – Khmer Rouger survivors angry over Duch jail sentence – 26 July
2010
Al Jazeera – Khmer Rouge prison chief convicted – 26 July 2010
BBC – Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch found guilty – 26 July 2010

TRIAL OF THE MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE

September 11th, 2010

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines - A powerful political family is brought to trial

for plotting what is known as the deadliest incident for journalists
since 1992, when the Committee to Protect Journalists began recording
journalist deaths. On November 23, 2009, 57 people – 32 of them
journalist and media personnel, were slaughtered as they traveled in
Maguindanao province with intentions of filing “gubernatorial
candidacy papers for a local candidate”.

96
Nine months later, there are 19 people who stand accused at trial, out
of a total of 195 named in the overall prosecution, while 127 suspects
remain at large. The ultimate question remains, “whether the people
who ordered the killings – not just the triggermen — will ever be
brought to justice. The well-known identities of the political in-group
behind the killings are believed to be local allies of former President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Ampatuan Jr, then a local mayor, allegedly led the massacre to stop the
rival from running against him for the post of governor
of Maguindanao province in this year’s national elections.
Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia chief of HRW, said five people with
knowledge of alleged abuses by Ampatuan and his supporters have
been killed since the massacre.

“It is difficult to fight these devils,” she told AFP news agency.
Knowing the dark history of and rampant nature of political killing,
she remarks, “We want to see the light of justice.”
The first witness is a man named Lakmudin Saliao, once sworn in he
testified that Ampatuan’s father, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and brother,
Zaldy Ampatuan, were present at a meeting on November 17 where
they helped plan the massacre. The witness, a former house servant,
said the family had discussed killing their political rivals six days
before the ambush in which 57 people died.

Journalists in provincial Philippines have been killed regularly;

typically men on a motorcycle gun them down, as they make their way
to work, or drop off their children at school, or meet a source for
lunch. Since 2000, 32 journalists, other than those who died in
Maguindanao, have been killed and in only five of the cases has there
been even partial justice. In none of the cases have the more politically
well-connected men who paid them and ordered the executions have
ever been tried, let alone found guilty.

97
Convictions of the killers of journalists in the Philippines are so rare
that CPJ’s Impunity Index, which measures the rate of successful
prosecutions, ranks the country third worst, behind only Iraq and
Somalia. The Secretary of the Philippines’ Justice Department, Leila
de Lima, has called the trial a “litmus test” for the country’s judicial
system, according to press reports. The Maguindanao “litmus test”
will really be a report not just on the state of the nation’s judiciary, but
a frank indicator of the country’s future.

The summation of this trial will not address one of the root causes of
the massacre, the Philippines tolerance for locally run paramilitary
forces, which under national laws are allowed to deputize local militias
to combat Muslim separatist fighters in the country, the Ampatuan’s
have built up what amounts to a large private army. ”The government
has not done anything to disable and disarm these paramilitary forces,”
Evans said.

For more information, please see;

Al Jazeera English – Philippine massacre trial begins – 9 September, 2010
CNN – Trial expected to begin over Philippine massacre – 6 September, 2010
BBC – Ampatuan family ‘plotted Philippines massacre’ – 8 September, 2010
Huffington Post – The Worst Massacre You Never Heard Of – 23 August, 2010

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, NO PLEASANT

SURPRISE FOR CHINESE

October 10th, 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – When a group of people – two dozen bloggers,

rights lawyers and academics – gathered at a Beijing restaurant to
celebrate the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the jailed Chinese
dissident Liu Xiaobo, the police rushed in and arrested them. Although
10 of the 20 people who had been picked up were released, three of
them were given eight-day jail terms under the charge of “disturbing

98
the peace” and seven were escorted out of Beijing, according to Zhang
Zuhua, an activist who is in touch with the detainees.


 Liu Xiaobo, the 54-year-old scholar and author, who won the Nobel
Peace Prize for his outstanding contribution to human rights, is
currently serving an 11-year sentence on charges of “inciting
subversion of state power” imposed after an allegedly unfair trial.


 Liu is widely recognized amongst activists as a prominent
government critic who has repeatedly called for human rights
protections, political accountability and democratization in China.

Ever since the Norwegian Committee announced the winner of the

prize, the Chinese government reacted with unrestrained anger. In a
series of attempt to downplay the awarding of the prize, the chinese
Government called in the Norwegian ambassador in Beijing for a
dressing down, placed a number dissidents under house arrest and
blocked nearly all Internet sites and news media from disseminating
any information regarding the Nobel Peace Prize.
It was impossible for Chinese citizens or Web surfers to learn about
the honor bestowed on their countryman. Plugging “Liu Xiaobo” or
“Nobel Peace Prize” into a search engine resulted in blank screens and
error messages.

Only the Global Times, an English-language newspaper controlled by

the Chinese government, contained information on the prize, although
in completely contrasting tone. Liu, the newspaper’s unsigned editorial
said, is “an incarcerated Chinese criminal.” Awarding him the prize
was a “paranoid choice” that was “meant to irritate China.” The Nobel
Peace Prize has been “degraded into a political tool that serves an anti-
China purpose.

“It seems that instead of peace or unity in China, the Nobel committee
would like to see the country split by an ideological rift, or better yet,
collapse like the Soviet Union,” the editorial said. Zhou Xiaozheng,
director of the law of Sociology department at People’s University in

99
Beijing, when asked about to which extent people are aware of either
Liu or the Nobel Peace Prize, said, “[t]hey don’t know, and they don’t
want to know, because it’s dangerous to know.”
“As soon as I hear a foreign journalist wants to know about the Nobel
Peace Prize, I can sense the danger,” said Zhou.

In response to these hard-line approaches by the Chinese government

to silence the award, Catherine Baber, Deputy Asia-Pacific Director at
Amnesty International, expressed concerns.
“This award can only make a real difference if it prompts more
international pressure on China to release Liu, along with the
numerous other prisoners of conscience languishing in Chinese jails
for exercising their right to freedom of expression,” she said.

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – China, Angered by Peace Prize, Blocks Celebration – 10
October 2010
Amnesty International – Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Peace Prize Win Puts Spotlight on
China Rights Violations – 8 October 2010
The Los Angeles Times – Chinese media stay resolutely silent on Nobel winner – 10
October 2010

VIDEO SHOWS INDONESIAN SECURITY

FORCES TORTURING PAPUANS

October 18th, 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A video was posted on YouTube that

showed two Papuan civilians being abused by the Indonesian security
forces. Soon after, Indonesian police said they would investigate
reports of torture in restive Papua province, where the video was
believed to have been filmed.

In the video, which was released on YouTube last week showed

unknown interrogates questioning two Papuan men about the
whereabouts of a weapons cache as they burned one of the men’s

100
genitals and threatened to shoot him in the mouth. The same video also
shows another Papuan suspect being threatened with a knife.

The Indonesian security forces have long been accused of widespread

abuse and torture against civilians in Papua, where a low-level
separatist insurgency has been simmering for decades.
When questioned about this incident, Marwoto Soeto, national police
spokesman responded that he will investigate and find out what’s
going on. “We’ll also find out who recorded the video and spread it. If
police are involved, we will take firm action,” he added.

Another Police Spokesman, Wachyono, in Papua, raised the possibility

that the video was made as an attempt to discredit the police force,
which is known to torture and abuse detainees of all kinds, including
women and those held on minor charges. “I’m afraid this video could
have been made up to discredit police or the military. The people
making the video could be an armed gang,” he said.

However, he promised to take firm action if it is indeed proved that the

police was involved with human rights violations. US-based Human
Rights Watch says Indonesian forces have pursued brutal and
indiscriminate sweeps on villages in Papua, sometimes killing
civilians, and imprisoned peaceful political activists.

“For us, it’s an old song,” said Forkorus Yabuisembut, a pro-

independence activist. “The types of abuses carried by security forces
are so far beyond humane … nothing has changed.”
Human rights groups suspect that more than 100,000 people – a fifth
of the impoverished province’s population – have died as result of
military action.

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – Indonesian security forces accused of torture of Papuans after
YouTube posting – 18 October 2010
AFT – YouTube video shows Indonesian security forces torturing Papuanss – 18
October 2010
News Observer – Video shows Indonesian troops torture Papuans – 18 October 2010

101
 MYANMAR ELECTIONS PRODUCE
REFUGEES, NOT HOPE

November 12th, 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – A day after the historic elections held for the
first time in twenty years in Myanmar, thousands of new refugees fled
into Northern Thailand on Monday. The fighting broke out between
the Myanmar Army and ethnic rebels. Although the election was
disguised as a movement towards democracy, it has been widely
denounced by the international community as fraudulent, with citizens
not having the freedom to vote correctly.

The International Organization for Migration and the UNHCR (High

Commissioner for Refugees) says that “the fighting between the
Myanmar military and an ethnic minority armed group, the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), following the Myanmar
elections on Sunday, resulted in an estimated 12,000 people fleeing
into Thailand at the Mae Sot and Three Pagoda Pass border crossing
points.”

 UNHCR spokesman, Andrej Mahecic, said refugees started to cross
the border early Monday on foot and on inner tubes across the Moei
River. According to Mahecic, many of the refugees testified that they
fled because they were afraid for their lives after their houses were

”
attacked while other said they fled the sound of fighting. M any
collected their children from school and fled to Thailand with only the
clothes on their back, some even barefoot,” said Mahecic. “At first,
only women and children were crossing, but later in the day more men
arrived. Among the new arrivals are mothers with newborn babies as
young as five days and 15 days.” 


A government election has not been held in Myanmar since 1990

when leader of the National League for Democracy Party (NDL), Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi won with 60 percent of the popularity vote.

102
However, it didn’t take too long until the military intervened and
denied her power and continues to hold her in custody to this day.

Many unsung heroes demanded the return of their civil and political
rights, which have been denied by the military-led government for
more than 26 years. However, the government often resorted to violent
repression to deal with its citizens’ demands for freedom, and it is
estimated that more than 10,000 citizens have died in the process. This
led to thousands of refugees fleeing the military junta for survival and
personal freedom. One of the countries to house these refugees is
India. This past week, when US President Barack Obama paid a
diplomatic visit to India, he mildly rebuked India for its diplomatic
silence on Junta rule.

”When peaceful democratic movements are suppressed, as they have

been in Burma (Myanmar), then the democracies of the world cannot
remain silent,” President Obama said. At least 7000 refugees have fled
Myanmar in the past 22 years and are now residing in parts of India,
where they still face problems. Living conditions are poor but what is
worse for refugees is witnessing India’s reluctance to oppose the
military Junta back home.
”My heart aches, but my mind accepts the truth,” says Htay, Burmese
refugee now living in Janakpuri. So many seek refuge in other
countries. Nyuant Mungpi who has settled down in India three years
ago says he was disappointed to see the daily grind here. ”Most
Burmese in India want the UNHCR to recognize our refugee status.
We want to go to the US, Canada or Australia. There is very little
recognition for us, unlike the Tibetans.” says Mungpi.

For more information, please see:

VoA News – Thousands of Burmese Flee Following Elections, Fighting – 9
November 2010
The Times of India – They want India to speak up – 12 November 2010
Geneva Lunch – Burma/Myanmar refugees flooding Thailand – 11 November 2010
Pacific.Scoop – Burma’s elections highlight cruel tale of repression by junta – 9
November 2010

103
 GAME KILLING OF AFGHAN CIVILIANS BY
U.S. SOLDIERS

November 17th, 2010

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Andrew Holmes is one of five soldiers

accused of killing Afghans for sport. They’re also accused of
mutilating corpses and keeping grisly souvenirs as troops allegedly
covered up the deaths of their victims. Holmes’ lawyer denies the
charges and says he will fight them vigorously.

Pfc. Andrew Holmes of Boise, Idaho, faces military officials Monday

who will determine if there is enough evidence to court martial him
over the premeditated killing of three Afghan civilians. Afghan
President Hamid Karzai was briefed about the Army’s investigation
into a “rogue” Stryker platoon in southern Afghanistan while the
soldiers were deployed there earlier this year, an Army investigator
testified yesterday.

Camero, testifying by phone Monday morning at an Article 32 hearing

for Pfc. Andrew Holmes, said that the Army was careful to contain
information about the investigation because it didn’t want to inflame
the Afghan populace’s sentiment against U.S. soldiers. “We didn’t
want the public to know,” he said. As one of five U.S. soldiers from
the 5th Stryker Brigade accused of killing for sport and staging the
deaths to look like legitimate war casualties, Holmes will face an
Article 32 hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. Spc.
Jeremy Morlock was the first of the five to face an Article 32 hearing.

12 U.S. soldiers have been charged in what they called a conspiracy to

murder Afghan civilians and cover it up; along with charges they
mutilated corpses and kept grisly souvenirs.
Five of the soldiers face murder charges, while seven others are
charged with participating in a cover-up. According to the military

104
documents, the five were also involved in throwing grenades at
civilians.

Holmes’ attorney said he plans to put on a vigorous defense of his

client, arguing that he killed no one. “The only way these kinds of
allegations can occur is the command is completely derelict in
supervising, meaning there involved or there are ignoring that this kind
of conduct may be occurring,” Conway said. “And I don’t know which
one it is at this point.” Holmes’ attorney, Dan Conway, pressed
Camero, who was part of a team that went to the scene of a related
May killing, to gather evidence about the investigation to highlight the
Army’s lack of physical evidence from the January incident in which
Holmes was involved.

For more information, please see:

CNN - Soldier accused of Afghan sport killings faces hearing - 15 November 2010
The News Tribune - Stryker murder scandal details shared with top level of Afghan
Government - 15 November 2010
Boise Weekly – War: More Testimony in the Holmes Case - 15 November 2010

NORTH KOREA FIRES AT SOUTH, KILLING

CIVILIANS

November 28th, 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, Republic of South Korea- On Tuesday November 23, North

Korea attacked a populated South Korean island near its border, killing
two marines and two civilians while injuring dozens of people. Such a
provocation was “one of the gravest incidents since the end of the
Korean War,” according to Ban Ki moon, the current secretary general
at the United Nations.
North fired dozens of shells at a South Korean island called
Yeonpyeong, which marked the first time since the war that North
struck at land-based targets.

105
The attacked island is situated in a disputed area where a South Korean
naval vessel, the Cheonan, was sunk in March, killing 46 sailors. An
international investigative report blamed North Korea for torpedoing
the naval vessel, an accusation which North still denies. Although
skirmishes between the two Koreas are not uncommon, their tense
relations have worsened in the recent months especially after the
Cheonan incident. To make matters worse, just last week, an American
nuclear scientist who visited the North said he had been shown a secret
and modern nuclear enrichment facility.

The U.S. position had been to engage in talks when there was a
prospect of democratization in the North, he said. “Now the chances
for democratization are virtually zero, so they have nothing to talk
about.” Many analysts view the continuing provocation by the North
as their desperate plea to capture world’s attention as the totalitarian
regime goes through the transfer of power from Kim Jong-il to his 3rd
son, Kim Jong-un. Such a hard-line stance, they believe, will enhance
the military credentials of Kim Jong-un and garner a unified support
for his rising to the new leadership. Others link it to the need for food
aid, which has been largely denied by South Korea ever since
President Lee took office two years ago, and strangled by international
and United States sanctions.

Many regard China as a key player in easing the tension between two
Koreas. China, arguably North Korea’s sole trading partner and
political ally, tries to prevent a collapse of the North Korean regime,
which has potential to send a flood of refugees over its border.
Whether this latest exchange of artilleries will escalate into a full-
blown confrontation remains to be seen.

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Crisis Status’ in South Korea After North Shells Island – 23
November 2010
Bloomberg Businessweek – N. Korea Attack on South Kills Two, Sets Homes
Ablaze – 23 November 2010
Bloomberg – UN Chief Ban Ki-moon Condemns North Korea’s Attack on South –
23 November 2010
The Wall Street Journal – China Faces Pivotal Test – 24 November 2010

106
 SRI LANKAN ‘WAR CRIMINAL’ GETS U.N.
DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

December 11th, 2010

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Suspected Sri Lankan ‘war criminal’,

Shavendra Silva, former top military commander, played an alleged
key role in the slaughter of 40,000 civilians and is also accused of
clipping down separatist political group leaders, killed at gun-point, in
the midst of surrender; now sits in a pool of full diplomatic immunity
at the United Nations. The Srilankan government has expressed no
interest in holding this human rights abuser accountable, as evident
with their latest appointment of a war criminal as ‘deputy permanent
U.N. representative’.

The GOC of the 58 Division Brigadier Shavendra Silva shows

President Mahinda Rajapaksa a tank captured from the LTTE.
“Thousands were killed or starved. There were massive human-rights
violations and he’s the No. 1 suspect,” said the investigator, a human-
rights group expert who asked not to be identified. Now, the UN panel
has a war criminal, a man with first-hand knowledge of the slayings,
coming into the UN to represent Sri-Lanka. Human-rights groups are
outraged that Shavendra Silva, 46, a top ex-military commander, was
named Sri Lanka’s deputy permanent U.N. representative in August,
after which he moved to New York.

His arrival came a year after his troops defied international pleas and
shelled a no-fire zone packed with women, children and elderly
refugees, according to observers. “It’s a slap in the face,” said an
investigator familiar with Silva, who last year oversaw the final
months of a brutal 26-year civil war against Tamil separatists on the
island nation off India’s southeastern tip.
The war started in 1983 after the Tamils, a Hindu ethnic minority,
were denied power by the ruling Sinhalese, Buddhists, and formed a
violent resistance group, the Tamil Tigers.

107
Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva’s presence in New York coincides with
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon setting up a panel of experts to
advise him on accountability for human rights violations during the
final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka. It was after the New York
Times published an article critical of the Sri Lankan Government’s
appointment of Major General Shavendra Silva as the Deputy
Permanent Representative to the UN that a journalist questioned the
acting Dpt. Spokesman of UN Chief Ban Ki-Moon whether the expert
panel will interview Silva.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed a panel

of experts to advise him on Sri Lanka’s alleged violations of human
rights and humanitarian law during the last stages of the war against
LTTE. He was further questioned on whether the final report of the
findings of the Expert Panel will be made public, the Farhan Haq,
Acting Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General said that,
“We’ll have to see. As you know, it is an internal body, but it will be
up to the Secretary-General to determine what he makes public once
he received that information.”
In a phone interview from London, Mr. Keenan said it appeared to be
more than a coincidence that Gen. Silva would be appointed to the
mission in New York at the same time as Mr. Ban set up the panel of
experts.

“So it seems fair to assume that he is trying to influence it, which is the
right of the Sri Lankan government. But I think that is disturbing that
someone who himself was involved in the very incidents that the U.N.
has begun looking into should have any chance to influence the
panel’s operations,” Mr. Keenan said.

For more information, please see:

The Washington Times – Sri Lankan war crimes suspect get post as representative to
U.N.- 5 December 2010
Live Lanka - UN not sure whether Expert Panel will interview Shavendra Silva - 11
December 2010
FOX news - ‘War criminal’ gets a UN job - 21 November 2010
Free Malayasia Today – ‘War Criminal’ gets a UN job – 8 December 2010

108
 OVER 10,000 FLEE ETHNIC TENSION IN
EAST INDIA

January 7th, 2011

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch; Asia

GUWAHATI, India – Local police reports show four people killed

and more than 10,000 left homeless after ethnic clashes between two
rival tribes in India’s northeast in the past 24 hours. The victims were
traveling in a bus from Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo
Hills in western Meghalaya, towards Assam, police said.

Clashes escalated and eight villages were burnt down. On Wednesday,

three Garos were stopped by Rabhas and clubbed to death and eight
others were critically wounded. Another Garos was shot by police
allegedly trying to control mob tensions between rival villages. In
retaliation, the Rabhas went on a rampage torching several houses in
the Garo dominated areas of Torikas, Berubaris, Darakonas, Nebaris
and Rongketchis. Around 40 people from the Rabha community are
still missing, according to local villagers. Government officials said up
to 10,000 people, mostly Rabhas, have fled their villages after the
attacks and taken refuge in nearly a dozen makeshift shelters along
both sides of the state border.

“Rabhas living in Meghalaya suffered the most as 200 of their houses

were set on fire, forcing them to our side,” said P.C. Goswami, a
senior civil servant in Assam. On Thursday, thousands of Garos armed
with machetes, locally-made guns and spears descended from the East
Garo Hills district of Meghalaya into Assam’s Goalpara district and set
fire to hundreds of houses in seven Rabha villages around the Krishnai
area.

The latest round of trouble in Meghalaya and Assam erupted in

response to a longstanding demand for an autonomous council by one
of the groups. Authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in

109
Assam’s Goalpara district and Meghalaya’s East Garo Hills district
where the fighting took place, but tension remained high.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and Assam Chief Minister

Tarun Gogoi have both appealed for peace. Hundreds of armed
policemen and border guards have been sent to the area. The state
leader of opposition Conrad K. Sangma, accused the ruling Congress-
led Meghalaya United Alliance government of ‘taking the ethnic clash
lightly’. ‘I strongly feel that there is no seriousness on the part of the
(Meghalaya) government to sort out the issue in the initial stages to
diffuse the simmering tension,’ Conrad said.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Officials: Thousands flee tribal violence in northeast India – 7 January 2011
BCC – Four die in tribal clashes in India’s north-east – 6 January 2011
Reuters – Tribal clashes uproot thousands in NE India – 6 January 2011

BEIJING CENSORS REPORTS ON EGYPT

PROTESTS

February 2nd, 2011

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – As thousands of anti-government demonstrators

poured onto Cairo’s streets to demand freedom in the past couple of
days, China’s reaction was quick and simple: censor it.
Many state-controlled internet pages and news articles, including
sina.com and sohu.com censored the word “Egypt.” When the word
was typed in a search engine, it prompted a following response:
“According to the laws in force, the results of your search cannot be
given.” User comments regarding Egypt were also deleted from
Internet forums.

The recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia are giving pause to many
authoritarian regimes around the world and China is no exception. The
ruling Communist Party is wary of issues of political reform, demands

110
for democracy and disturbances to public order, even if all these events
are taking place abroad. That is why Beijing is notorious for closely
monitoring the 450 million Chinese Internet users to prevent or

“Of course, the government doesn’t want to see more comments on

(the protests), because stability is what they want,” said Zhan Jian, a
professor with the Media Department at the China Youth University
for Political Sciences. Censoring the Internet is not the only approach,
however. Beijing is also trying to get out ahead of the discussion,
framing the Egyptian protests in a few editorials and articles as a
chaotic affair that embodies the pitfalls of trying to plant democracy in
countries that are not quite ready for it — a line China’s leaders have
long held.
An editorial in the Global Times, a state-run newspaper, said such
uprisings will not bring true “democracy”, as defined by Westerners.

“As a general concept, democracy has been accepted by most people.

But when it comes to political systems, the Western model is only one
of a few options. It takes time and effort to apply democracy to
different countries, and to do so without the turmoil of revolution,” the
paper said Sunday. Two days later, the same publication took a hit
against the United States for supporting authoritarian governments in
pursuit of its interests in the Middle East, saying that “contradicts their
so-called democratic politics.”

China’s message to its own people is clear, said Jeremy Goldkorn,

who runs Danwei.org, a website that tracks the media and Internet in
China. “The Chinese government’s take is that chaos is harmful for a
developing country: ‘Look what happens when people go in the
streets,’” he said. “The Global Times frames everything as ‘This is the
danger of Western-style democracy.”

For more information, please see:

AFT – China micro-blogging sites censor ‘Egypt’ – 29 January 2011
Forbes – China restricts reports on Egypt protests – 2 February 2011
IHT – Wary of Egypt Unrest, China Censors Web – 31 January 2011

111
 FORGOTTEN CONFLICT DEATH TOLL
CLIMBS IN THAILAND

March 1st, 2011

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

YALA, Thailand – Yala has been under emergency rule since 2005.
More than 4,400 people have died from what seems like daily attacks.
Fighters in Thailand’s south have waged a violent campaign since
2004. While the international media focuses on Red and Yellow Shirt
clashes and a temple spat, a deadly rebellion still brews in Thailand’s
south.

Insurgents have intensified their attacks in the lower South in the hope
of attracting the intervention of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference, says army commander-in-chief Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Thailand is on the brink of political crisis as the separatist rebellion in
the country’s south has largely escaped international attention. Its
seventh anniversary passed quietly, with little mention.

Major shooting and bomb attacks, since the start of the year, are being
seen as an attempt by separatists to intensify the violence in a bid to
highlight Thailand’s southern insurgency.
The army chief said more surveillance cameras must be installed as
they could help identify rebels perpetrating violence. A call for more
residents of the South to become the eyes and ears of the state as Gen
Prayuth said tighter security measures would be implemented.
The army is concerned for the safety of people who might be harmed
by insurgents for cooperating with authorities.

The Thai government extended emergency rule in the country’s south

for an additional three months, despite rights groups being concerned
about the powers the law gives the military.
The commander-in-chief said the army was handling the insurgency
problem through a multi-dimensional approach using the justice
system, military strategies and development projects.

112
Gen Prayuth said the army might have to go on the offensive and try
harder to locate militants in hiding in the mountains and around towns.

“We will not fall for the [militants'] tricks,” the army chief said. “We
will do our best by invoking the law and by solving our own internal
problem.” The more progress officials make and the more support they
gain from local people, the more militants will intensify their attacks.
Meanwhile, police have linked a key member of the militant Runda
Kumpulan Kecil separatist movement to Monday’s motorcycle bomb
attack in Yala in which 18 people were injured.
The man was identified as Aumran Ming, an RKK group leader who
lives in Narathiwat’s Rangae district, said provincial police Chief
Chaitat Inthanujit.

Mr. Aumran is wanted for involvement in many violent attacks against

authorities and civilians since 2003. A sad truth is that, February was
just another month in southern Thailand.
Most of the past seven years, the authorities have decided to dismiss
the attacks as random acts of violence carried out by either bandits or a
handful of disgruntled Islamic militants.
Five years passed before the Thai police admitted they had a separatist
movement on their hands, a well-structured organization consisting of
five related groups operating across four provinces—Songkhla, Yala,
Pattani and Narathiwat—where six million Muslims live.

This is about more than just some obscure provincial groupings, there
has also been evidence of links with al-Qaeda and regional terrorist
outfits like Jemaah Islamiyah. ‘What’s happening in Pattani isn’t an
internal conflict, some (fighters) come from the neighboring country,
some come from far away, many thousands of miles,’ he has said,
while urging Muslims in Malaysia and Indonesia to join Jemmah
Islamiyahs jihad.

For more information, please see:

The Diplomat – Thailand’s Forgotten Conflict - 24 February 2011
Bangkok Post – Prayuth says rebels hope to draw in OIC – 24 February 2011
Al Jazeera – Car bomb hits southern Thailand - 13 February 2011

113
 EUROPE DESK

RAIDS AGAINST RIGHTS ACTIVISTS AND OPPOSITION

CONTINUE THROUGHOUT BELARUS

May 23rd, 2010

By Yoohwan Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MINSK, Belarus – Nationwide raids against human rights and

opposition activists continue throughout Belarus as police and state
officials searched offices and homes in Minsk, Hrodna, Brest, and
Homel. The raids are a part of President Alexander Lukashenko’s
ongoing crackdown against rights activists, opposition organizations,
and independent news media. Many organizations have reported that
the police have detained several members, and have confiscated office
equipment and published materials during these raids.

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee, an independent rights group, said

that Belarusian authorities detained several dozen opposition activists
beginning on Tuesday, May 18. Most of the detained activists were
released after questioning, but some activists have been arrested.
Those arrested have been accused of spreading false information,
under Article 250 of the Criminal Code of Belarus.

Vladimir Nekliaev, a proclaimed opponent of the upcoming

presidential election and the leader of the Speak the Truth opposition
group, was arrested on charges of spreading false information. State
officials searched Speak the Truth’s offices and its members’ homes
for two consecutive days – May 18 and May 19.

The organization’s founder, Uladzimir Nyaklyayew, recently

announced he may run against incumbent Lukashenko in the
upcoming presidential election, which will be held either at the end of
this year or the beginning of 2011. According to Nyaklyayew, the
organization’s goal is to “prompt Belarusian society to realize the real
state of affairs in the country where there is little room for truth but
where there are a lot of lies.”

114
Andrei Dmitriyev, an activist of the opposition United Civil Party, and
Sergei Voznyak, the editor of the opposition newspaper Tovarishch
were also both arrested after police raided their offices. They were
charged with spreading false information. Following reports of the
arrests, European Union officials expressed serious concern. “We are
very concerned about the news. We’ll ask for explanations,” said
Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for the EU’s policy chief.

For more information, please see:

Radio Free Europe- Nationwide Raids Against Belarusian Rights Activists

Continue – 20 May 2010
Earth Times – EU ‘Very Concerned’ About Belarus Opposition Crackdown – 19
May 2010
Winnipeg Free Press – 2 Opposition Activists, Journalist Arrested in Belarus – 19
May 2010
World Bulletin – Belarus Police Detains Opposition Journalist, Activist – 19 May
2010
Charter 97 - Wreaking Havoc in Oppositionists’ Flats all Over Belarus: Computers
and Leaflets Confiscated – 18 May 2010

BEHIND THE COAL MINE DISASTER IN RUSSIA

May 27th, 2010

By Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MEZHDURECHENSK, Russia – Two weeks ago in western Siberia

twin methane explosions destroyed Russia’s largest coal mine. At
least 67 miners were killed and 23 are still missing. The mine is
owned by the Raspadskaya Coal Company, controlled mainly by the
steel giant Evraz with a 40 percent stake in the Raspadskaya mine.

It is still unclear how the methane was allowed to build to such

dangerous levels in spite of modern sensors installed in the mine.
Government officials have said the explosions were likely a result of
an enormous underground burst of gas, a “mystery of nature” as one
expert described. Many Russian miners have offered another
explanation for this disaster. Mining companies often link workers’
pay to the amount of coal that is extracted and it is possible that in

115
order to increase their potential earnings, miners covered the methane
sensors with wet rags. Miners earn a base monthly salary of about
$830 a month, which can rise to $1,164 if they meet their production
quotas.

The deputy chairman of the Russian Coal Miners’ Trade Union stated
that this pay policy motivated workers to block sensors in another site
largely owned by Evraz leading to an explosion in 2007 that killed
110. In a commentary that ran in “The Moscow Times” on May 19th,
political analyst Yulia Latynina wrote that “Evraz must pay Putin’s
bureaucrats large bribes and kickbacks to stay in operation. These
‘corruption taxes’ are built into production costs at Raspadskaya,
which may translate into lower wages and thus the need for miners to
circumvent safety regulations in order to earn bonuses.

Most Russians learned about the mining accident from one of the three
nationwide TV channels that are either state-run or controlled by
Kremlin-friendly business interests. These channels did not cover a
protest on the night of May 15th, at least 300 miners and supporters in
Mezhdurechensk, the Siberian mining town where the tragedy
occurred. Raspadskaya miner Sergei Krasilnikov said the reason for
this protest was “because there was no information about the accident
and no one knew what was actually going on.

The Kremlin may have control over through the TV networks but
increasingly the youth of Russia are turning to the Internet, hearing
more objective viewpoints on the Raspadskaya tragedy.

For more information, please see:

Christian Science Monitor – After Russian Coal Mine Disaster, Questions about TV
Censorship – 25 May 2010
Radio Free Europe – Black Hole: Russian Mining Tragedy Stirs Old Questions of
Class, Privilege – 22 May 2010
NY Times – Putin Suggests Human Error in Mine Disaster – 11 May 2010

116
 SWEDISH OIL COMPANY ACCUSED OF CRIMES AGAINST
HUMANITY

June 25th, 2010

By Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Sweden’s public prosecutor, Magnus

Evling, opened a criminal investigation on June 21st after a report was
published alleging possible complicity in atrocities in Sudan by
Swedish firm Lundin Petroleum. The report stated that Lundin
Petroleum may have been complicit in “war crimes and crimes against
humanity.” According to Mr. Evling, “the purpose of the inquiry is to
investigate whether there are individuals with ties to Sweden who are
suspected of involvement in crime.” Carl Bildt, who left Lundin’s
board of directors in 2006 to become Sweden’s minister of foreign
affairs, is currently the focus of accusations. This case raises questions
about international obligations of corporations to safeguard human
rights in conflict zones.

ECOS claims that the civilian population was forcibly displaced and
victimized during the government’s efforts to secure the oil fields. It
is estimated that 12,000 people died and 160,000 were forcibly
displaced through the efforts of the Sudanese government. According
to Said Mahmoudi, professor of International Law at Stockholm
University, “there is evidence that Lundin knew about what was
happening, and they just closed their eyes simply because it was a
question of millions and millions of dollars.” Lundin Petroleum
denies any violation of international law.

One of the goals of ECOS in producing the report is the creation of

effective “limits for companies working in these types of conflict areas
with regimes that are committing human rights violations.” ECOS
Coordinator Egbert Wesselink stated that “in some parts of the world,
many companies are effectively working in a legal void because there
is no functioning legal system.” ECOS suggests that a possible
remedy for this would be the enforcement of national laws by

117
corporations’ home countries. Mr. Wesselink noted that enforcement
mechanisms are already in place, citing the Rome Statute and the
International Criminal Court, but the idea “has to be transferred to
corporations and the people leading them.”

Concerning Sudanese victims, there is precedent from the Bosnian

conflict, where an international commission was set up to compensate
victims. Furthermore, the Sudanese Constitution states that signatories
to oil agreements are responsible for providing compensation. Even if
compensation is provided at some point, it is likely that fair allocation
of will be logistically impossible.

For more information, please see:

Christian Science Monitor - Swedish Oil Company Under Scrutiny After Sudan War
Crimes Report - 22 June 2010
Reuters- Prosecutor Probes Swedish Link in Sudan Crimes - 21 June 2010
Stockholm News - Oil Company Accused of War Crimes - 6 June 2010

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS SAYS SAME SEX

MARRIAGE IS NOT A UNIVERSAL RIGHT

June 28th, 2010

By Yoohwan Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STRASBOURG, France – On June 24 the European Court of Human

Rights ruled that European nations are not legally obliged to allow or
recognize same sex marriages. An Austrian couple, Hörst Schalk and
Johann Kopf, brought a case against Austria in 2004 after the couple
sought a marriage permit in Vienna in 2002. Austrian law only
recognizes marriages between a man and a woman, and the country
refused to give the gay couple a marriage license.

Schalk and Kopf battled through the Austrian court system with no
success. After the constitutional court of Austria upheld the lower
courts’ decision to refuse their permit, the couple brought their case to
the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. They
118
claimed that the Austrian courts’ ruling violated their right to marriage
under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Following Article 9 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the

seven judges of the European court held that the Austrian couple is not
guaranteed a right to marriage. Each European country should decide
their individual laws and how far they wish to recognize the legal
status of same sex marriages. The court stated that marriage has “deep
rooted social and cultural connotations which may differ largely from
one society to another.” Each nation should implement their own
policy and the “court reiterates that it must not rush to substitute its
own judgment in place of that of the national authorities, who are best
placed to access and respond to the needs of society.”

Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Norway, and Spain allow

gay marriages. In addition, there are about a dozen other nations, such
as Britain, Germany, France, and (since January 2010) Austria, which
currently recognize legal partnerships that carry the same legal status
as marriage. Despite the lack of an EU-wide law, the European Court
of Human Rights did acknowledge “an emerging European consensus”
that same sex marriages should have legal recognition in Europe.
Furthermore, the court found that gay couples are entitled to protection
under charter definitions of family life.

Although Austria does not recognize same sex marriages, the country
passed a Registered Partnership Act in January 2010. This Act permits
a registered partnership between gay couples, but differs from a legal
marriage under the Austrian law. A same sex couple is restricted in
having a choice of name, adopting children, and using artificial
insemination.

For more information, please see:

AP – Court: Same-sex Marriage is Not Universal Right - 25 June 2010
BBC – European Human Rights Court Rejects Gay Marriage Bid - 25 June 2010
Irish Times – Same-sex Marriage Ban Upheld by Court - 25 June 2010

119
 RIOTS ERUPT IN NORTHERN IRELAND

July 16th, 2010

By Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - On July 11th, riots erupted in Belfast

when a Protestant march passed through areas mainly populated by
Catholics. Despite the calm in the region since a 1998 peace deal,
violence still often breaks out around July 12th as Catholics try to
prevent marches. Known as The Twelfth, the holiday has been marred
by violence and has been a continuing source of tension between
Catholics and Protestants. The date marks Prince William of Orange’s
victory over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in
1690. The month of July is the height of the “marching season”, a six-
month period in which the pro-British Protestant fraternal
organization, the Orange Order, takes to the streets to celebrate the
ascension of William of Orange to the British throne. The past decade
has seen a gradual decrease of tension between the groups, until this
year.

On the night of the 11th, twenty-seven officers were injured, including

three shot at close range by a man armed with a shotgun. On July
12th, the day of the march, police had to remove demonstrators who
staged a sit-down protest to block the march. Rioting erupted soon
afterwards and more than 50 officers were injured. There are reports
that on July 13th, four to six shots were fired at police in the mainly
Catholic Ardoyne district of Belfast. Many rioters also threw petrol
bombs and stones, prompting police to use water cannons to deter the
attacks. Now police commanders are saying that the rioting appears to
be on the wane after four nights of attacks that have left more than 80
officers wounded. A Belfast deputy commander, Duncan
McCausland, said rioting Wednesday night and Thursday morning
involved “a substantially smaller group of people.”

Politicians have accused the Irish Republican Army of directing the

violence that began Sunday night. British Prime Minister David

120
Cameron condemned the behavior of the protestors as “completely
unacceptable” and praised the police for their “bravery and restraint.”
Cameron said Northern Ireland’s police force is under local control
and is no longer taking orders from London. The Prime Minister also
stated “there is no excuse for anyone not to cooperate with the police
force.”

The Chief Constable of Northern Ireland, Matt Baggot, has stated that
his force is determined to bring those responsible to justice. Five
arrests have been made following the violence.

For more information, please see:

Christian Science Monitor – Northern Ireland Riots Raise Worries About ‘Bad Old
Days’ – 15 July 2010
Irish Times – Fourth Night of Riots in Belfast – 15 July 2010
AP – Police Dodge Gunfire in 3rd Night of Belfast Riots – 14 July 2010
BBC – ‘Significant Arrests’ Promised after Belfast Riots – 14 July 2010

MISSING WITNESS, POLICE INVOLVED IN DISAPPEARANCE

OF UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST

September 5th, 2010

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KHARKIV, Ukraine – Local news outlets reported on Wednesday

that a key witness in the case of missing Ukrainian journalist, Vasyl
Klymentyev, is also missing. Petro Matviyenko, another witness in
the case and Klymentyev’s colleague, would not reveal the name of
the missing witness but stated he had confirmed the disappearance
with law enforcement. The police are believed to be involved in the
disappearance and possible death of Klymentyev, who was last seen
getting into a car with an unidentified man on August 11, 2010 after
leaving his home in Kharkiv. His cell phone and keys were later found
on an empty boat floating in a reservoir near Kharkiv.

“There are enough reasons to believe that he is dead,” Interior Minister

Anatoliy Mohyliov said. “We have suspicions that members of law

121
enforcement organs, both current and former, may be involved.”
Mohyliov stated he would be taking over personal control of the case,
and switching the investigation to the Main Investigation Department,
which handles high-profile cases. President Viktor Yanukovych also
said he was taking personal control of the case, ordering law
enforcement to make “every possible and impossible effort” to find
Klymentyev.

According to the Ukrainian Journal, Henadiy Moskal, former deputy

interior minister and a member of the opposition group People’s Self-
defense, believes Klymentyev’s disappearance has something to do
with a battle for control over Kharkiv police. “In reality this crime has
been committed in the police environment,” Moskal said. “It was
committed in the battle for the post of the chief of the Kharkiv region
police department.”

Klymentyev, chief-editor and reporter for the weekly newspaper

Novyi Still (New Style), was reportedly offered a bribe and
subsequently threatened for his refusal to kill a story. According to
Matviyenko, deputy editor-in-chief of New Style, Klymentyev was
working on a report involving the illegal activities of a Kharkiv
prosecutor at the time of his disappearance. Matviyenko told Radio
Free Europe/Liberty Europe that the police and the prosecutor’s office
are connected and the investigators aren’t interested in finding
Klymentyev, despite statements by the Interior Minister and
President. Matviyenko called the investigation a “farce.”

For more information, please see:

Ukrainian Journal – Key Witness in Journalist Case Disappears – 1 September 2010
UNIAN – Disappeared Witness in the Case of Journalist Kharkov Klimenteva – 1
September 2010
RFE/RL – Colleague of Missing Ukrainian Journalist Slams Investigation – 30
August 2010
NY Times – Ukraine: Missing Journalist Is Presumed Dead – 26 August 2010
Ukrainian Journal – Minister: Missing Editor Killed by Cops – 26 August 2010
Epoch Times – Missing Ukrainian Journalist Threatened Before Disappearance - 23
August 2010
AP – Ukrainian President Urges Search for Missing Journalist – 20 August 2010

122
 UN COUNCIL REPORTS WIDESPREAD HUMAN RIGHTS
ABUSES

September 14th, 2010

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

GENEVA, Switzerland – The 15th session of the UN Human Rights

Council opened on Monday in Geneva. Navi Pillay, the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, noted in her speech to the Council
the occurrence of widespread worldwide human rights abuses and
increasing attacks against human rights defenders.

Pillay provided updates to the Council on specific world situations and

presented reports from the Office of the High Commissioner on
Human Rights. She noted the harsh conditions for migrants in Mexico
and the increasing assaults in countries such as Angola, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe as a result of competition over
natural resources. Pillay also raised concerns over Israeli draft laws.

Some of Pillay’s harshest criticism was directed toward France’s

Roma expulsion policy. “Such measures can only exacerbate the
stigmatization of Roma and the extreme poverty and exclusion in
which they live,” she said. “The often stereotyping and discriminatory
rhetoric by officials and by the media when referring to the Roma in
Europe is also an issue of grave concern.”

Larger countries did not escape Pillay’s criticism. She denounced the
US program of targeted killings of suspected terrorists as contravening
“international norms set to protect the right to life and the rule of
law.” China was the subject of censure, along with Egypt, Libya,
Syria, and Tunisia, concerning restrictions on civil society groups and
activists. Russia, along with Azerbaijan, was criticized for their failure
to seek justice against perpetrators of attacks and murders of human
rights defenders.

Much of Pillay’s speech focused on restrictions, harassment, and

attacks against human rights advocates, lawyers, journalists, and

123
organizers through various countries. “I urge the Human Rights
Council and the international community to support squarely and
vocally human rights defenders. In this context, I would also like to
bring to the attention of the Council the vital need to ensure the safety
and protection of defenders and other witnesses who cooperate with
UN-mandated fact-finding and investigative initiatives. Such
protection must span the whole cycle of these missions’ activities and
beyond.”

For more information, please see:

NY Times – UN Human Rights Chief Criticizes Big Powers – 13 September 2010
Reuters Africa – UN Rights Chief Hits Russia on Murders of Activists – 13
September 2010
UN Human Rights News – Human Rights Council Opens Fifteenth Regular
Session – 13 September 2010
UN News Centre – UN Human Rights Chief Voices Concern Over Deportation of
Roma From France – 13 September 2010
Voice of America – Widespread Human Rights Abuses Reported Worldwide as UN
Council Opens – 13 September 2010

ITALY’S OUTSOURCED BORDER PATROL FIRES LIVE

MUNITIONS AT UNARMED CIVILIANS

September 16th, 2010

By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MILAN, Italy - Libyan officials on board Italian Naval ships continue

to fire on boats suspected of carrying illegal African migrants. Such
use of force between the coasts of Italy and Libya has been
commonplace since May 2009. On May 14, 2009, Italy and Libya
entered into a joint agreement to curtail the flow of migrants from
Libya to Italy.

The terms of the agreement explained that Italy would supply

reconnaissance vessels to be operated jointly by Italian and Libyan
officials for the purpose of intercepting boats attempting to smuggle
African migrants into Italy. The agreement added that Italian officials
were not to physically participate in boat interceptions and were on
board the vessels only in a “maintenance” capacity.

124
The most recent incident occurred on Sunday, September 12, when
Libyan officials on board one of the several Italian vessels opened fire
on a Sicilian boat located 30 miles off the Libyan coast, Italian
officials report. The incident occurred in international waters.

Further investigation revealed that the boat was, in fact, an Italian

fishing trawler occupied by ten men – all of them Italian nationals.
Although none of the ten occupants were wounded, the boat’s captain
openly condemned Libya’s and Italy’s actions and inactions. Italy has
apologized for what it called a “mistake.”

“The fact that the Libyan patrol fired because it mistook the Italian
boat for a ship of migrants does not make it any less serious,” center-
left Democratic Party senator Giuseppe Lumia said. “Here, it’s a
question of respect for international norms and fundamental human
rights.”

While only Libyan officials fired upon the Italian trawler, human
rights groups worry that Italy’s silence over the matter implies that it
does not condemn the use of deadly force on innocent civilians. Both
governments said they are investigating the incident.

“The Libyans and Italians appear to agree that it was a mistake to

shoot at Italian fishermen, but imply that it’s OK to shoot at migrants,”
said Bill Frelick, Refugee Program director at Human Rights Watch.
“The bullet-riddled boat shows a reckless use of potentially lethal
force that would have been just as bad if it had actually targeted non-
threatening migrants.”

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Libya: End Lice Fire Against Suspected Boat Migrants –
September 16, 2010
Sahara Reporters – Libya: End Live Fire Against Suspected Boat Migrants –
September 16, 2010
Reuters – Libya Apologizes for Firing at Italian Boat – September 14, 2010

125
 CROATIA LIMITS HUMANS RIGHTS OF THE MENTALLY
DISABLED

September 29th, 2010

By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ZAGREB, Croatia – The conclusion of a recent human rights report

suggests that the Croatian government is forcing individuals with
intellectual or mental disabilities to live in institutions which deprive
them of their privacy, autonomy, and dignity. The government has
failed to provide alternative care options as promised to the European
Union and the United Nations, according to Human Rights Watch.
“Imagine always having to ask permission to leave the place where
you live, having no privacy to take a shower, and no chance to decide
what to eat or when to go to bed,” said Amanda McRae, fellow with
the Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch and the
author of the report. “This is the reality for thousands of people living
in institutions in Croatia,” she added.

While community-based programs in other countries show

effectiveness in offering disabled persons a better quality of life than
those living in institutions, Croatia has resisted in implementing such
programs. This resistance runs contrary to its position among the first
countries to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities. The UN Convention expressly provides disabled persons
the basic right to live in the community. The report recommends that
Croatia replace institutions with community-based programs in order
to remain consistent with the Convention’s provisions.

“Real leadership on this issue will require a serious and sustained

commitment to provide community-based housing and support for
people with disabilities,” said McRae.

While up to 30 percent of persons live in these institutions by choice,

Human Rights Watch cautions that such a choice is meaningless due to
the lack of alternative options.

126
There are currently over 4,000 people with mental disabilities residing
in institutions within Croatia. While there are some community-based
programs for the mentally disabled, there are only sufficient resources
to support 16 people. Similarly, while 5,000 people with intellectual
disabilities are institutionalized, community-based resources for the
intellectually disabled are able to support only 250 people. The
Croatian government plan for deinstitutionalization is part of its
preparations for EU membership. However, those plans have not yet
been made public. In the meantime, the number of institutionalized
people continues to grow.

For more information, please see:

The Open Society Mental Health Initiative – Living Proof: The Right to Live In The
Community – September 27, 2010
Human Rights Watch – Croatia: Locked Up, Limited Lives – September 23, 2010
UNHCR – Croatia: Unfulfilled Promises to Persons With Disabilities – September 8,
2010

SLAVE-LIKE CONDITIONS FOUND ON FISHING BOATS

SUPPLYING EUROPE

October 1st, 2010

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – Workers are suffering slave-like conditions on

illegal fishing boats supplying fish and seafood to the European
market, according to a report published Thursday by the London-based
group Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). The report “All at Sea
– The Abuse of Human Rights Aboard Illegal Fishing Vessels”
follows an investigation by EJF spanning four years.

EJF investigated fishing trawlers operating off the coast of Sierra

Leone and Guinea. The boats have official European Union numbers,
which means they are licensed to sell to the European market. The
official European Union numbers carried by the boats also mean that
those vessels should have passed strict hygiene standards. However,
the EJF report alleges that extremely unhealthy and hazardous
conditions exist on board many of the vessels they investigated. The

127
report claims that the “worst cases meet the International Labour
Organization definition of forced labor, including physical
confinement, compulsion, retention of identity documents, and non-
payment of wages.” The report goes on to detail conditions where
crew members have been “punched, beaten with metal rods, deprived
of sleep, imprisoned without food or water, and forced to continue
working after injury; the worst cases of violence include murder.”

Some workers are forced to work in areas sorting fish with no

ventilation and temperatures well over 100 ˚F. Photographs and video
show living quarters where the ceiling is less than a meter high, or
where wooden structures are perched precariously on deck in danger
of “being washed over the side.”

EJF alleges that workers are drawn from rural areas of countries like
Vietnam or the Philippines, as well as locals, with the promise of
higher wages than they could earn at home. It’s only when they get to
the boat that they find those promises never materialize – usually after
their passports have been taken away. The report details one case of a
vessel fishing illegally in Sierra Leonean waters, where “[local] crew
members had been picked up in Freetown and taken on without
contracts and were not given cash payment. Instead they were paid in
boxes of frozen ‘trash’ fish, which is the by catch rejected by the
European market.

Duncan Copeland, an EJF investigator, said, “We didn’t set out to look
at human rights but rather to tackle the illegal fishing that’s decimating
fish stocks, but having been on board we have seen conditions that
unquestionably meet the UN official definition of forced labor or
modern-day slavery.”

For more information, please see:

AOL News – Slavery Found on Fishing Boats Supplying Europe – 30 September
2010
EJF – EJF Releases New Report – 30 September 2010
Guardian – Modern-day Slavery: Horrific Conditions on Board Ships Catching Fish
for Europe – 30 September 2010

128
 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGES ITALY TO RESPECT
RIGHTS OF ASYLUM SEEKERS

October 30th, 2010

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

CATANIA, Italy — Amnesty International called on Italian

authorities on Friday to investigate the forcible return of 68 people to
Egypt after they were intercepted on a boat near the coast of Sicily.
Amnesty International is questioning whether the migrants were given
the opportunity to apply for asylum and international protection.

The boat was carrying about 130 migrants, who identified themselves
as Palestinians. The authorities arrested seven suspected human
traffickers when they boarded the fishing vessel, and the other people
were taken to a sports facility in Catania. They were detained for 24
hours in order to facilitate identification and return arrangements, the
Italian authorities said. 68 of the migrants were put on a plane to
Cairo, Egypt because Italian authorities claimed they were illegal
immigrants from Egypt and not Palestinians. Amnesty International is
questioning how identifications were made and protection needs
assessed, and whether these migrants were given appropriate
information and opportunity to seek asylum in accordance with
international refugee and human rights laws.

“All people rescued at sea must be given the opportunity to seek

asylum and to have their claims assessed in a fair and satisfactory
asylum-determination procedure,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty
International’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia. “There
are concerns that in this case none of the individuals, included the 68
deported, was given such an opportunity.”

According to Amnesty International, organizations such as the UN

High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International
Organization for Migration, Save the Children, and the Italian Red
Cross were repeatedly denied access to the migrants.

129
For years, thousand of migrants from Africa attempted crossing the
Mediterranean Sea to reach Italy, but that number has been drastically
reduced since Italy and Libya made a deal in 2008 requiring migrants
intercepted in international waters to be returned to Libya. Human
rights groups argue that this deal violates the rights of asylum seekers.
Amnesty International has broadly urged Italian authorities to stop
mass summary expulsion of foreign nationals in order to conform with
international laws and standards aimed at protecting the rights of
asylum seekers.

For more information, please see:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL — Italy Urged To Stop Mass Expulsions — 29
October 2010
AFP — 128 Immigrants Intercepted off Sicily in Egyptian Fishing Vessel –27
October 2010
DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR — Italian Coast Guard Intercepts 128
migrants — 26 October 2010

UK MILITARY INTERROGATION TRAINING AIDS: SLEEP

DEPRIVATION, FORCED NUDITY

November 3rd, 2010

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – UK military interrogation training manuals

told interrogators to use techniques such as enforced nakedness and
sleep deprivation in what is an apparent violation of international law,
according to a recent newspaper report. In the exclusive report, the
Guardian made public the information contained in secret military
interrogation training aids and manuals from 2005 and 2008, as well as
more recent materials.

The manuals advocate methods to promote humiliation, insecurity,

exhaustion, and fear in the prisoners before and during questioning. A
PowerPoint training aid from September 2005 obtained by the
Guardian says “Get them naked. Keep them naked if they do not
follow commands.” A manual from 2008 also advocated enforced

130
nakedness. The training materials tell interrogators to remove the
prisoner’s clothes and then search behind his foreskin and spread his
buttocks.

More recent training materials tell interrogators that blindfolds,

earmuffs, and plastic handcuffs are necessary tools to be used in
interrogation. Also, although the prisoner must be allowed to rest for
eight hours in every 24 hours, only four hours of that is required to be
unbroken sleep. Additionally, there is a section in the training
materials entitled, “positional asphyxiation – signs and symptoms”.

The Guardian makes the claim that these abusive techniques violate
the 1949 Geneva conventions which prohibit any “physical or moral
coercion,” as well as coercion used to get information. This report
comes at an especially sensitive time. WikiLeaks recently published
secret U.S. files from the war in Iraq showing coalition forces ignored
torture conducted by Iraq security forces. In addition, the high court in
London will hear arguments next month from the lawyers representing
more than 100 Iraqis who claim they were held and tortured during
interrogation by British forces between March 2003 and April 2007.

Reuters quoted a defense ministry spokesman as saying, “There are

ongoing enquiries precisely to establish the previous and current basis
for how we conduct our detention operations.” The spokesman added,
“The military … is committed to constantly trying to improve these
parts of its operations.” According to the Guardian, [a]ddressing the
legal status of detainees who may later face prosecution, the [training]
material states: “Let the judicial process deal with them after you have
finished.”
For more information, please see:
Reuters — UK Military Interrogations ‘May Break Geneva Rules’ — 26 October
2010
Telegraph — British Interrogation Techniques Advice ‘Included Sensory
Deprivation’ — 26 October 2010
Guardian — Humiliate, Strip, Threaten: UK Military Interrogation Manuals
Discovered— 25 October 2010

131
 UK MILITARY ACCUSED OF ABUSING IRAQI DETAINEES

November 5th, 2010

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – A lawyer representing more than 200 Iraqi

civilians told the high court in London on Friday that the Iraqis
suffered systematic mistreatment and torture by British soldiers in a
secret prison near Basra. The lawyer called this “Britain’s Abu
Ghraib.” These allegations come not longer after secret UK military
training aids advocating abuse and even torture were leaked to a
newspaper.

Michael Fordham, a lawyer for the former detainees, told the court that
the abuse of detainees began when British forces first entered Iraq in
March 2003 until they withdrew from Iraq in 2009. According to the
New York Times, Fordham claimed the former detainees had
experienced “beatings, starvation, sleep deprivation, electric shocks,
prolonged periods of nakedness and sexual humiliation by female
soldiers, sensory deprivation through the enforced use of hoods,
earmuffs and blackened goggles, and exposure to pornographic
DVDs.” The solicitors representing the former detainees submitted
video footage which they say substantiate the allegations. The
interrogators themselves filmed over 1,200 videos, and 13 of them
were submitted to the panel of three High Court judges.

One of the videos, which can be viewed on the Guardian’s website,

shows two interrogators screaming obscenities at a detainee. The
interrogators ignore the man when he says he has not been allowed to
sleep, and that he has not had food or drink in two days. One of the
interrogators threatens the man with execution. The lawyers for the
detainees claim that the man was beaten severely after he was led
away from the camera, as evidenced by the muffled sounds at the end
of the video.

132
The hearing before the high court is expected to last three days, at
which time the court will have to decide whether or not to overrule
two successive British governments, as well as military commanders,
who have previously refused to initiate a public inquiry. Opponents of
an inquiry have claimed that past reports of abuse of detainees were
individual incidents, the result of a few bad apples as opposed to
systemic, command-approved abuse.

Phil Shiner, a lawyer for the former detainees, believes that

it’s “nonsense” to claim it’s a case of a few bad apples. He also asserts
that people at the highest level of government knew what was going
on, and only a public inquiry will shed light on the truth of the matter.
“We want accountability, reparations and an apology,” Mr. Shiner
said. “There are lessons that have to be learned.”

For more information, please see:

BBC — Iraqi Civilians Systematically Abused, Court Hears — 5 November 2010
NYT — British Troops Accused of Abusing Iraqi Detainees — 5 November 2010
GUARDIAN — Iraqi Prisoners Were Abused at ‘UK’s Abu Ghraib’, Court Hears —
5 November 2010

EU ACCUSES SEVEN IN KOSOVO ORGAN TRAFFICKING

November 16th, 2010

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PRISTINA, Kosovo — European Union officials have accused seven

people of participating in an international organ-trafficking ring. The
seven people, including doctors and a former Health Ministry official,
have allegedly trafficked kidneys and other organs from impoverished
people through a clinic on the outskirts of Pristina.

According to the AP, EU prosecutor Jonathan Ratel said in the

indictment that an “organized criminal group” had trafficked persons
into Kosovo for the purpose of removing “human organs for transplant

133
to other persons”. Ratel is part of the EU’s rule of law mission, which
handles serious crime in Kosovo. The victims, who mostly came from
impoverished areas of Turkey, Russia, Moldova, and Kazakhstan,
were promised up to €14,500 ($20,000) for their organs. The organs
were then sold to patients around the globe, from Israel to Canada, for
between €80,000 and €100,000 ($110,000 and $137,000).

The organ-trafficking ring was first discovered two years ago, but it
took time for investigators to learn the extent of the network. EU
officials have recently made requests for evidence from Canada,
Germany, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. EU officials allege that the leader
of the organ-trafficking ring is Dr. Lutfi Dervishi, who is a prominent
surgeon and professor at Pristina University Hospital. His son, Arban
Dervishi, ran the clinic. According to prosecutors, Lufti Dervishi
recruited a Turkish doctor, Yusuf Sonmez, to perform organ
transplants after Dervishi attended a medical conference in Istanbul.
Moshe Harel, an Israeli citizen, allegedly identified, recruited, and
transported the victims, as well as managed the cash payments before
the surgeries. Along with those four, Illir Rrecaj, a former senior
Health Ministry official, and two other doctors were also indicted.

The seven people were charged with counts of trafficking in persons,

unlawful exercise of medical activity, and abuse of power. They were
all released on bail and are not currently in custody. Allegations have
been made in the past that during the war dating back to 1999, the
Kosovo Liberation Army kidnapped and killed Serb civilians for organ
harvesting. These claims have been investigated, but never proven.

For more information, please see:

NYT — Seven Charged in Kosovo Organ-Trafficking Ring — 15 November 2010
AP — EU in Kosovo Probes Organ Trafficking — 15 November 2010
BBC — Kosovo Medics Accused of Trafficking Kidneys — 12 November 2010
AP — EU Prosecutor: 7 Suspected of Organ Trafficking — 11 November 2010

134
 MIGRANTS, REFUGEES FACE INHUMAN LIVING
CONDITIONS, ABUSE IN GREEK PRISONS

November 19th, 2010

By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter Europe

STRASBOURG, France – A recent investigation in the Greek prison

system revealed severe police abuses against detainees. The Council
of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), the experts that lead the
investigation, report that police conduct, at times, bordered on torture.

In its report, the CPT notes instances of detainees being punched,

kicked, beaten with clubs and even threatened with rape. While the
below-par living conditions in Greece’s prisons are not novel, the
increasing detention has many human rights and political groups
worried that living conditions and abuses will worsen.

In response to such concerns, the Council of Europe is calling on

Europe to help Greece process inmates. The “Dublin II Regulation” is
major reason Greece is receiving so many migrants. The regulation is
an EU law that determines which state is responsible for looking into
an asylum-seeker’s application. While it aims to consider the
legitimate concerns of asylum seekers and irregular migrants, the
living conditions individuals face by being sent to Greek prisons under
its guise indicates indifference.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees and human rights groups

are calling for the stop of returns under the regulation because of the
inadequate protection against inhuman conditions in Greece. The
European Court of Human Rights seems to share those concerns. In a
recent opinion it appealed to Austria, the Netherlands and Britain not
to send any individuals back to Greece.

“Greece should not carry the burden of receiving the vast majority of
all irregular migrants entering the European Union,” said Manfred
Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture. “In a number of

135
Criminal Investigation Departments, I found more than 40 foreigners
held in administrative detention in office space temporarily used as
make-shift cells,” he added.

Nowak stressed that such conditions clearly violated Articles 7 and 10

of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Articles 7
and 10 were adopted to curtail inhuman and degrading treatment.
Monsters and Critics reported that while the Greek government is
planning on changing its system of expulsion centers, it has rejected
the allegations of serious abuse of detainees.

For more information, please see:

Monsters and Critics – Council of Europe Group Blasts Greece Over Prison
Abuses – 17 November 2010
Radio Free Europe – EU Sends Border Team To Greece Over Immigrants – 25
October 2010
Global Nation – EU Urged to Help Greece Deal With Irregular Migrants – 24
October 2010

UKRAINIAN BORDER OFFICIALS TORTURE MIGRANTS AND

ASYLUM SEEKERS

December 29th, 2010

By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KYIV, Ukraine – Migrants and asylum seekers, including children

and the elderly, face torturous practices and arbitrary detention at the
hands of Ukrainian border officials and police, said Human Rights
Watch in a recent report. The inhuman practices include the use of
electric shocks to “round up” those apprehended at the country’s
borders, lack of access to the asylum procedure, food deprivation,
detention of children, corruption and more.

The report, “Buffered in the Borderland: The Treatment of Asylum

Seekers and Migrants in the Ukraine,” reveals the Ukraine’s failure to
live up to its obligations under an agreement with the EU which came
into effect on January 1, 2010. For example, Ukraine has not taken the
initiative to close major legal gaps in its laws. One of the legal gaps

136
does not provide for the protection of those who flee generalized
violence and war or for trafficking victims. Such loopholes are not
just inconsistent with the point of the agreement, but also contradict
the EU charter of fundamental rights.

Under the agreement, the EU provides financial assistance to the

Ukraine to assist in the development of acceptable treatment towards
refugees and asylum seekers. While the report concedes that some
conditions in detention facilities have improved, it notes that Ukraine
continues to subject many individuals to inhuman and degrading
treatment.

The report also criticizes the EU for returning third-country nationals

who enter the EU from Ukraine back to Ukraine to face such inhuman
treatment. The report notes that the EU’s financial assistance does not
absolve its member states of their obligations under the EU charter of
fundamental rights to provide access to proper asylum procedures and
not to return people to face torture or ill-treatment or of the EU
members’ responsibilities toward unaccompanied children.

“The EU should suspend its readmission agreement until Ukraine

demonstrates its capacity to provide a fair hearing for asylum seekers,
to treat migrants humanely, and to guarantee effective protection for
refugees and vulnerable individuals,” said Bill Frelick, Refugee
Program director at Human Rights Watch. “Buffeted in the
Borderland: The Treatment of Asylum Seekers and Migrants in
Ukraine” is available at: http:/www.hrw.org/node/94366

For more information, please see:

Ukrainians.com – Ukraine: Migrants and Asylum Seekers Tortured. Mistreated –19
December 2010
PressTV – Report: Migrants Abused By Ukrainian Guards – 18 December 2010
Reuters – Migrants Returned by EU to Ukraine Face Abuse: HRW –16 December
2010

137
VATICAN LETTER WARNED IRISH BISHOPS NOT TO REPORT
CHILD ABUSE

January 21st, 2011

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

DUBLIN, Ireland — A newly revealed 1997 document shows that

the Vatican warned Irish Bishops against mandatory reporting of
suspected child-abuse cases by priests to the police. Victims groups
are calling this letter the “smoking gun” they’ve been looking for to
prove that the Vatican engaged in a culture of cover-up.

The document appears to contradict repeated claims from the Vatican

over the years that church leaders in Rome did not seek to steer the
actions of local bishops in suspected child-abuse cases by priests, nor
did they hamper criminal investigations into child abuse. The letter,
obtained by the Irish Broadcaster RTE, was sent by the late
Archbishop Luciano Storero. Storero was serving as Pope John Paul
II’s chief representative to Ireland at the time. The letter was a
response to a new policy that included mandatory reporting of
suspected abusers to police instituted by Irish Bishops to deal with
sexual abuse of children by priests.

The Storero letter, a copy of which the New York Times has made
available on their website, stated that the proposed policy of
mandatory reporting “gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral
and a canonical nature.” The letter stresses “the need for the policy to
conform to the canonical norms presently in force.” The letter goes on
to state that by following non-canonical procedures, Bishops “could
invalidate the acts of the same Bishops who are attempting to put a
stop to these problems” and the “results could be highly embarrassing
and detrimental to those same Diocesan authorities.”

A spokesman for the Vatican, Rev. Federico Lombardi, confirmed the

letter’s authenticity, but stressed that it was outdated, saying it referred
to a “situation that [they've] now moved beyond.” Lombardi indicated
that the approach to sexual abuse cases changed in 2001 when the

138
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the time led by then
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was put in charge
of such cases.

According to the Associated Press, today the Vatican instructs bishops

worldwide to report crimes to the police in a legally non-binding lay
guide on its Web site. This advice is not included in the official legal
advice provided by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
which was updated last summer. The Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith continues to stress the secrecy of canon law.

Victims groups and activists believe this letter proves that the Vatican
did practice a policy of cover up by instructing local bishops not to
report suspected abusers to the criminal authorities. “The Vatican is at
the root of this problem,” said Colm O’Gorman, director of the Irish
chapter of Amnesty International. “Any suggestion that they have not
deliberately and willfully been instructing bishops not to report priests
to appropriate civil authorities is now proven to be ridiculous.”

Joelle Casteix, a director of U.S. advocacy group Survivors Network

of Those Abused by Priests, said the Storero letter was the “smoking
gun” they’ve been looking for, and would likely be used in the future
by victims’ lawyers seeking to hold the Vatican responsible.

“In the mid 1990s, Irish bishops wanted to start telling law
enforcement about horrific child sex crimes,” the group, The Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement. “Top Vatican
bureaucrats told them no. That’s what this newly released letter shows.
We can’t help but wonder how many other similar documents- in
which the Vatican thwarts local efforts to combat abuse - remain
hidden in church records across the world.”

For more information, please see:

BBC — Vatican officials told Irish not to report child abuse — 19 January 2011
CNN — Irish abuse victims ‘disgusted’ at Vatican letter — 19 January 2011
AP — Vatican Warned Irish Bishops Not to Report Abuse — 18 January 2011
NYT — Vatican Letter Warned Bishops on Abuse Policy — 18 January 2011

139
 HUNGARY FACES CRITICISM OVER RESTRICTIVE NEW
MEDIA LAW

January 7th, 2011

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Hungary has recently come under fire for a

new media law, effective January 1, 2011, which greatly expands the
state’s power to monitor and penalize media outlets by imposing heavy
fines for media coverage that violates “public interest, public morals or
order.” Critics of the new law worry that too much in it remains
undefined and can be used to silence public debate or media coverage
that is critical of the government. Criticism of the new law by media
watchdogs and European governments has been particularly sharp
given that

Hungary assumed the rotating six-month presidency of the European

Union on January 1. If television channels violate the new law, they
could receive a fine up to 200 million forints ($950,000), daily
publications could receive fines up to 25 million forints ($119,000),
and weekly publications could receive fines up to 10 million forints
($48,000). The new law is administered by the newly created National
Media and Communications Authority (NMHH).

One of the first acts of the NMHH was to begin proceedings against a
radio station for playing two songs by the rapper Ice-T, which contain
obscenities, before 9 PM, saying that the songs “could influence the
development of minors in a negative way”. The radio station
responded in a letter saying that few of those under 16, in a country
where most people do not possess advanced foreign languages skills,
understand lyrics “written in slang, full of words and expressions
missing from their curriculum, after one hearing, in a musical
environment.”

In late December Hungarian Prime Minister Orban took a strong

stance against any criticism of the new law. “We are not even thinking
in our wildest dreams about making amendments to the law,” he said
140
in an interview with the Hungarian private television channel Hir TV.
“I am not inclined to react with wobbly knees to debates in parliament
or Western reactions. There is not a single passage in the law that
does not correspond to the media law in E.U. countries.”

This Thursday, Orban acknowledged that Hungary’s six-month

presidency of the European Union got off to a “bad start,” as well as
further acknowledging that Hungary might be open to the possibility
of amending the new media law if the European Union requires it.
However, Orban claims other countries have comparable laws to
Hungary’s new media law, though experts say Hungary’s law goes
further than others and represents the worst practices in Europe. As a
result, Orban says, Hungary will only institute changes to the media
law if other EU countries make similar changes.

For more information, please see:

AP – Hungary Willing to Consider Changes to Media Law – 6 January 2011
BBC – Hungary PM ‘Ready to Change’ Media Law if EU Demands – 6 January
2011
BBC – Hungary Plunges Into EU Hot Water in Steering Role – 6 January 2011
NY Times – Hungarian Leader Takes On Foreign Critics – 6 January 2011
BBC – Hungary Rejects Western Media Law Attacks – 3 January 2011

HUNGARIAN OFFICIALS CHARGE FORMER WWII OFFICER

WITH WAR CRIMES

February 17th, 2011

By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BUDAPEST, Hungary - On Monday, Budapest prosecutors charged a

former Hungarian paramilitary officer for his role in the massacre of
1,200 civilians in the city of Novi Sad during World War II. The war
crimes charged against the former officer, Sandor Kepiro, comes
nearly seventy years after the January 1942 massacre. He was indicted
after years of diplomatic pressure from the Simon Wiesenthal Center

141
which had listed Mr. Kepiro as its number one most wanted Nazi war
criminal.

The Budapest Investigating Prosecutor’s Office has charged the 96

year old with war crimes for his participation in a raid by Hungarian
armed forces on the Serbian city of Novi Sad. The crime involved the
killing of unarmed civilians by the invading Hungarian forces.
Specifically, the prosecutors allege that Mr. Kepiro helped round up
and ordered the execution of hundreds of people during the massacre
which took place between January 21 and 23, 1942. Those killed in
the attack were mostly Jews, Serbs, and Roma civilians. Novi Sad is a
city located in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina.

On Monday, Mr. Kepiro proclaimed his innocence and denied he

committed any of these acts. Additionally, he claims he is bed ridden
and can’t leave his home. Records indicate that he fled Europe after
World War II ended and went to Argentina. He remained there for
several decades and then returned to Budapest in 1996. In 2006, the
Simon Wiesenthal Center obtained information that Mr. Kepiro was
living Budapest and pressed the Hungarian government to charge him.
The Hungarian government claims that it had known about Mr.
Kepiro’s location for several years but was unable to charge him and
go forward with their case because of the country’s bureaucracy.

Located in Los Angeles, California, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is

dedicated to the continued search for Nazi war criminals throughout
the world. Mr. Kepiro had been at the top of the group’s most wanted
list of war criminals because of his involvement in this massacre. The
massacre at Novi Sad occurred at a time when Hungary was a close
ally of Nazi Germany. During this period more than 500,000
Hungarian Jews and more than 50,000 Roma were killed.

For more information, please see:

Deutsche Welle– Hungary Charges Former Officer With Wartime Massacre in
Serbia - 15 February 2011
Irish Times – Hungary Charges Former Police Captain with Massacre in 1942 – 15
February 2011
JTA - Accused Nazi Killer Charged in Budapest – 15 February 2011

142
NY Times – Hungary: 96-Year-Old Charged in 1942 Mass Killings – 15 February
2011
YNET News– Hungarian Man Charged with WW2 War Crimes in Serbia - 15
February 2011

FORMER SERBIAN OFFICIAL CONVICTED FOR WAR CRIMES

IN KOSOVO

February 26th, 2011

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A former senior Serbian police

official was convicted Wednesday by a UN tribunal for his part in the
“campaign of terror” against Kosovans in 1999. The International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced
Vlastimir Ðorðevic to 27 years in prison for crimes against humanity
and war crimes.

During the conflict in 1999, Ðorðevic was an assistant internal affairs

minister and the head of the public security department–the equivalent
of chief of police in many countries–as well as a close aid to former
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic. Ðorðevic was found guilty of
taking part in a “joint criminal enterprise” in 1999 along with officials
such as Milosevic in order to change the ethnic balance of Kosovo by
engaging in a “widespread campaign of terror and violence.”

This campaign of terror included murdering, deporting, and forcibly

transferring ethnic Albanians, many of which were civilians. The court
found Ðorðevic to be responsible for the murder of “not less than 724
Kosovo Albanians” who were murdered by Serbian forces. The court
found that “[i]n the large majority of cases the victims, including many
women and children, were civilians, who were unarmed and not in any
way participating in any form of armed conflict.”

Ðorðevic asserted that he had no control over the responsible Serbian

forces and instead he oversaw operations geared toward the
“terrorists” of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The court rejected these

143
claims, finding that Ðorðevic’s participation in the joint criminal
enterprise was “crucial to its success” and that Ðorðevic exercised
“effective control” over the Serbian police forces who committed the
crimes.

The court cited examples to show that the Serbian police

forces’ conduct was not part of any police operation to find and arrest
terrorists. In March of 1999, Serbian polices forces shot and burned
114 men and boys. On that same day in another city, the police killed
45 members of one family. Serbian police forces also lined up 19
women and children and shot them.

Ðorðevic was also found responsible for the mass deportation and
forcible transfer of over 200,000 Kosovo Albanians, though according
to the court that number is a conservative estimate and the true
numbers are likely much higher. The presiding judge stated that
“Kosovo Albanians left Kosovo because they were specifically
ordered to do so by Serbian forces, or because the conduct of Serbian
forces caused them to leave, in particular by shelling, shooting, killing
and by burning houses and other buildings in their villages, towns and
cities.”

Additionally, the court found that Ðorðevic played a “key role” in

concealing the killings of Kosovo Albanians. Ðorðevic directed a
coordinated operation to remove evidence of the killings committed by
Serbian forces by transporting the bodies in trucks and burying them in
mass graves. In 2001, 744 individuals were exhumed from a mass
grave near Belgrade.

The ICTY has indicted 161 persons for serious violations of

humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia from 1991-
2001. Proceedings against 125 have concluded. Ðorðevic is the eighth
former senior Serbian official to be tried by the tribunal, and the sixth
to be convicted.

144
Following Ðorðevic’s conviction on Wednesday, Amnesty
International called on Serbian officials to continue investigating. The
Director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia
Programme said, “Amnesty International welcomes the conviction of
Vlastimir Ðorðevic, but calls on the Serbian authorities to redouble
their efforts to ensure that all police officers and others suspected of
the murder of ethnic Albanians and involvement in the cover-up
operation, are brought to justice.”

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International — Serbia Must Pursue Others after Kosovo Murders
Conviction — 24 Feb. 2011
UN News Centre — UN Tribunal Convicts former Serbian Police Official for
Crimes in Kosovo — 23 Feb. 2011
ICTY Press Release — Vlastimir Đorđević Convicted for Crimes in Kosovo — 23
Feb. 2011
AFP — Serb Police General gets 27 Years for Kosovo ‘Terror‘ — 23 Feb. 2011
BBC — Serbian Police Chief Jailed over Kosovo Murders — 23 Feb. 2011

145
 MIDDLE EAST DESK

BAHRAIN BANS AL JAZEERA

May 26th, 2010

By Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

MANAMA, Bahrain — On May 18, Bahrain banned Qatari-based Al

Jazeera from operating within Bahrain for an indefinite period of time,
and barred a broadcast crew from traveling to Bahrain to interview
former UN Climate Chief Yvo De Boer. According to the official
Bahrain News Agency, the ban was imposed for “breaching the
professional media norms and flouting the laws regulating the press
and publishing.”

In response to the ban, Al Jazeera claims it was “surprised and

puzzeled” by the decision. They also expressed regret that the
decision was never officially conveyed to them, and said its editorial
line and professional policy in reporting on the news and on issues has
not changed. Al Jazeera reiterated that it continues to adhere to its
motto, “Equal opportunity for opinions and counter opinions.”

It is still unclear what precipitated this sudden ban, especially given

that Al Jazeera does not even have a bureau office in Bahrain.
According to Tunisian journalist Habib Toumi, the Information
Minister claimed the ban was imposed because Al Jazeera was
deliberately attempting to harm Bahrain and that it was demonstrating
a bias towards Israel. Claims of bias towards Israel have caused the
banning of Al Jazeera’s broadcasts in several Arab countries in the
past.

Israel also had a major clash with Al Jazeera last year, imposing
sanctions on the broadcaster after Qatar closed the Israeli trade office
in opposition to Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip. Israel
responded by calling the station a hostile entity and to sought to close
its offices in Israel. However, Isreal’s High Court of Justice prevented

146
this action, and instead chose to limit the network’s activity in Israel
and Palestine.

The Bahraini ban may also have been the result of Al Jazeera’s recent
programs on poverty and the treatment of Asian laborers, which are
purportedly sensitive matters in Bahrain. Other observers believe that
it is simply a reflection of persistent tensions between Bahrain and
Qatar since the settlement of a dispute over the Hawar Islands in
2001.

According to Gulf Daily News, Bahrain Journalists Association deputy

chairman Faisal Abdulla Shaikh said that he believes it is in
everyone’s best interests that the dispute be resolved immediately.
Watchdog groups such as the Committee to Protect Journalists have
also condemned the decision. Reporters Without Borders stated its
concern regarding the ban, and they “urge the culture and information
ministry to rescind this decision.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Bahrain Blocks Al Jazeera Team – 19 May 2010
Bahrain NewAgency -Bahrain-based Al Jazeera Office Temporarily Frozen Age– 18
May 2010
Gulf Daily News – Call to Resolve Al Jazeera Row – 25 May 2010
Global Voices – Bahrain: Why was Al Jazeera’s Office Shut Down? – 19 May 2011

CONTINUING INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION OVER

ISRAELI FLOTILLA RAID

June 5th, 2010

By Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

International condemnation has grown in the days following the raid

on 31 May of a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid headed
toward Gaza, which Israeli forces commandeered in international
waters. During the incident, seven Israeli soldiers were severely
injured when activists on the ship allegedly attacked Israeli
commandos with knives, Molotov cocktails, clubs, iron bars, and even

147
pistols from the injured Israeli soldiers as they descended upon the
ship, and nine activists were allegedly shot and killed by Israeli forces
either as they descended and/or from commandos in the helicopter
above and in nearby boats.

The United Nations Security Council acted in emergency session and

called for independent investigation into the incident. The Human
Rights Council also took action in a special sitting call for by Arab and
Islamic states and passed a resolution that sets up an independent
investigation and calls for an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

While Israel has rejected a demand for any international investigation,

they reportedly embraced a U.S. proposal on Thursday for an Israeli
inquiry that would include the participation of outside observers.

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, as well as the UN High

Commissioner for Human Rights and other World leaders have joined
countries throughout the World in condemning Israeli action in the
incident and demanding that the blockade of Gaza be lifted. Mr. Ban
noted that this tragedy highlights the underlying problem of the siege
of Gaza, stating that the siege was “counter-productive, unsustainable,
and wrong.”

While the U.S. took an active role in preventing any direct criticism of
Israel in the language of the Security Council Resolution, there are
also signs that the incident may be altering the U.S. position towards
the U.S. support of the Gaza blockade. The New York Times reports
that according to U.S. officials, the international pressure from the
incident “create[s] a new opportunity to push for increased
engagement with the Palestinian Authority and a less harsh policy
toward Gaza”; that the Administration considers Israel’s blockade of
Gaza to be untenable; and that they will press for alternative
approach’s that will ensure Israel’s security while still allowing more
supplies into the impoverished Palestinian area.

148
Mourning the death of the flotilla activists in Turkey (Photo Courtesy
of the AP)

Turkey immediately responded to the incident by recalling its

ambassador to Israel and canceling joint military exercises. Turkey’s
President stated, “Turkey will never forgive Israel for the killing of
Turkish citizens.” However, since the release of nearly all of the
detained activists, tensions between Israel and Turkey have eased: The
Turkish foreign minister said, “It was time that calm replaces anger.”

Due to diplomatic and political considerations, Israel decided not to

prosecute dozens of the detained activists, including many who Israel
claimed were linked to terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda, and many
who allegedly attacked the Israeli commandos when they descended
on the ships.

According to the Associated Press, Israeli Cabinet Minister Isaac

Herzog said the release of the activists was an effort, “to take full
control of this crisis management and move forward.”

The incident also led to other notable responses by states, including:

South Africa temporarily recalling its Ambassador to Israel; Nicaragua
severing all diplomatic ties with Israel; Sweden summoning Israel’s
ambassador to demand an explanation of the incident; Great Britain
calling for an end to the to the blockade; and perhaps most notable the
response by Egypt. Egypt, which kept its border crossing with Gaza
closed even during the 2008 Israeli invasion of Gaza, responded to the
latest incident by at least temporarily opening the border for
humanitarian purposes.

The Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor has responded

to some of the criticism by stating, “Those who criticize Israel would
be better advised to turn their criticism against the terror-supporting
rioters from the flotilla, who have nothing to do with humaneness.”

149
Israel appears to be focusing on its own allegations that the Turkish
charity participating in the flotilla mission, the Foundation for Human
Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), to terrorist
groups. This characterization is in especially stark contrast to the
stated adherence to “the principles of nonviolence and nonviolent
resistance in word and deed at all times” that is a stated principle and
practice of the Free Gaza Movement, the principle organizer of the
flotilla, as well as to the professed peaceful and humanitarian nature of
the flotilla’s mission in general.

Israel Remains Committed to Defending its Actions during the

Flotilla Incident

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused world leaders for

holding Israel to a double standard in regards to Israel’s actions in the
interception of a flotilla of ships on May 31 that was purportedly on a
humanitarian mission, stating, “Once again, Israel faces hypocrisy and
a biased rush to judgment.”

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have repeatedly justified the

actions by the Israeli commandos as acts of self-defense, have claimed
that the interception of the flotilla in international waters was
permitted by international law, and have stated that it is vital for
Israel’s security that they continue to enforce the Gaza blockade.

Israel claims that the lives of the Israeli commandos who descended
upon the ships were immediately threatened by passengers on the ships
that were armed with knives, Molotov cocktails, clubs, and iron bars,
and that they were further threatened as the activists took pistols from
the injured soldiers, and even threw one injured soldier down to a
lower deck of the ship. Israel claims that the soldiers used force only
after their lives were clearly threatened as acts of self-defense.

Netanyahu claimed, “The international community cannot afford an

Iranian port on the Mediterranean … The same countries that are
criticizing us today, should know that they could be targeted

150
tomorrow.” He further states, “Opening a naval route to Gaza will
present enormous danger to the security of our citizens.”

Israel claims that if any significant amount of cement and steel were
allowed into Gaza without restrictions it would end up in missiles and
other weapons that would be used against Israel. (It should be noted
that Israel now claims that cement was not found on the ship as
initially alleged; however, the Free Gaza ship that is currently in route
to Gaza is purported to have 550 tons of concrete.)

However, it appears that Netanyahu is willing to consider easing the

naval blockade on Gaza, as well as other creative solutions
for monitoring the goods that are allowed to enter the Hamas-ruled
territory. The New York Times reported that Netanyahu proposed to
Tony Blair, the international envoy of the ‘quartet of Middle East
peacemakers’, that an international naval force inspect future aid
shipments bound for Gaza.

Amos Gilad, a senior defense official, reportedly said in an interview

that in Gaza, “we only have bad solutions, worse solutions and worst
solutions”: “Hamas is a terrorist organization sworn to Israel’s
destruction. We, on the contrary, are facilitating them to bring in all
kinds of food, materials; they are even exporting strawberries and
flowers.”

Recent Developments in the Flotilla Incident

The Hamas minister of social affairs, Ahmad al-Kurd, accused Israel

of not delivering all of the supplies from the seized flotilla, including
batteries for wheelchairs and cement, and has said that he won’t accept
the aid from the flotilla until Israel provides everything that was
confiscated and all detainees were released.

Another ship from the Fee Gaza movement, the MV Rachel Corrie,
which was unable to join the ships in most recent flotilla due to

151
mechanical problems, has been boarded without incident by Israeli
forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu quickly distinguished the latest

incident between the boat filled with Irish and Malaysian activists of
the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish-sponsored activists that was
intercepted May 31 in an incident that left nine dead and scores
wounded: “The different outcome we saw today underscores the
difference between peace activists who we disagree with but respect
their right to express their different opinion and flotilla participants
who were violent extremist supporters of terrorists.”

In response, the Free Gaza Movement said, “we’d like to remind Mr.
Netanyahu that the only hate evidenced on board all six boats on
Monday morning came from the Israeli attackers.”

For more information, please see:

Jerusalem Post – Navy Boards, Takes Control of ‘Rachel Corrie’ Off Gaza Coast – 5
June 2010
NY Times – Second Set of Activists Steams Toward Gaza – 4 June 2010
Al Ahram Weekly – Death on the High Seas – 3 June 2010
Al Jazeera – S. Africa Recalls Israeli Ambassador – 3 June 2010
Al Jazeera – Turkey will “never forgive” Israel – 3 June 2010
AP – Israel Trying to Limit Diplomatic Damage From Raid – June 3, 2010
Haaretz.com – Under U.S. Pressure, Netanyahu May Ease Gaza Blockade – June 3,
2010
Jerusalem Post – Flotilla Dead Mourned in Turkey – 3 June 2010
Jerusalem Post – South Africa Recalls Its Ambassador – 3 June 2010
Telegraph.co.uk – Gaza Flotilla Attack: UN Secretary General Demands Blockade
be Lifted– 3 June 2010
NY Times – Israeli FM Proposes Inquiry With Foreign Observers – 3 June 2010
Al Arabiya – UN Approves Probe Into Israel’s Ship Raid – 2 June 2010
N.Y. Times – In Bid to Quell Anger Over Raid, Israel Frees Detainees – 2 June 2010
N.Y. Times – New Israeli Tack Needed on Gaza, U.S. Officials Say – 2 June 2010
Free Gaza Movement – Our Mission – 30 January 2009
Free Gaza Movement – We Will Be Back – 30 January 2009

152
 ‘ILLEGAL’ ISRAELI DEMOLITION/DEVELOPMENT IN EAST
JERUSALEM APPROVED

July 4th, 2010

By Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – Last week, the Jerusalem Planning and

Building Committee approved an initiative by the mayor of Jerusalem,
Nir Barkat, to create an Israeli archaeological park in the East
Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The plan has come under both
national and international scrutiny because it calls for the demolition
of approximately twenty-two Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.
Another sixty-six buildings constructed in the neighborhood without
Israeli permission will be legalized under the plan.

In this and past cases where Palestinian homes have been demolished,
Israel has maintained that it is simply enforcing the law by destroying
illegally built homes and other buildings. However, many of the
buildings have gone up without a permit because it is reportedly very
difficult for Palestinians to acquire permits, and very few building
permits have ever been issued to Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

When Barkat formally submitted the latest version of the development

plan, his spokesman said: “Now, after fine-tuning the plan and seeking
more cooperation with the residents as far as their needs and
improving the quality of their lives, the municipality is ready to submit
the plans for the first stage of approval.” However, Jerusalem city hall
had reportedly refused to hold talks with the neighborhood’s
Palestinian residents over alternative proposals.

The announcement by the Committee came just a day after Israel

announced that it will be loosening restriction of aid into Gaza, likely
as part of an effort to repair its international standing after the
international criticism in response to the Israeli raid of a boat convoy
heading to the Gaza strip on 31 May, which resulted in the deaths of
nine activists and the injury of dozens more. The latest announcement
by the Committee was criticized by Defense Minister Ehud Barak as
153
“bad timing” and poor “common sense.” It was also criticized by the
Israeli President, Shimon Peres.

The same development plan had been considered earlier in the year,
but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from
both the United States—who was attempting to revive Israeli-
Palestinian peace talks—and from increased international pressure
regarding its settlement plans in East Jerusalem in general, persuaded
Barkat to put the project on hold in March.

While the Committee has approved the plan, Israeli officials are
stressing that the final process requires the approval of the Interior
Ministry, a process that is likely to take several months, and that the
plan could still be blocked by the government. Barkat has defended the
development plan, along with other claims of broader housing
discrimination against Arabs—especially Palestinians. The Jerusalem
Post quotes his spokesman as stating, “Mayor Barkat is moving
forward with a master plan for Jerusalem that calls for an additional
50,000 new housing units over the next 20 years to fit the needs of the
growing population. Arab residents are approximately one-third of the
population of Jerusalem, and as such, we expect a third of those new
housing units to be for Arab residents in their neighborhoods.” The
spokesman further stated, “In addition, this week’s Municipal Planning
and Construction Committee has 41 items on the agenda for approval,
18 of which are plans by Arab residents of Jerusalem for new
apartments and construction in Arab neighborhoods.” The Jerusalem
Post also reports that the municipality claims it does not keep records
of how many local Arab building permits his office has approved since
taking office in December 2008.

UN Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon, publicly stated that the housing

development plan is illegal under international law, and the European
Union also recently stated its belief that the development plan is
illegal. Richard Falk, the Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur
on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied
since 1967 (working in an unpaid and independent capacity), believes,

154
“These actions, if carried out, would violate international law, with
certain actions potentially amounting to war crimes under international
humanitarian law.”

The United States State Department of State criticized the

development plan, stating that it undermined trust between parties, and
also increased the risk of violence. With Israeli police and Palestinian
youth clashing last Sunday in response to the development plan, it
appears that the US concerns were not unfounded. The rising tensions
between the parties since the Committee’s announcement resulted in
the Palestinian youth throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at police
in the same neighborhood where the homes would be demolished,
causing minor injuries to six police officers who were hit with stones.

The recent arrest by Israeli police of a Hamas member of parliament

for refusing orders that expelled him from Jerusalem also threatens to
further escalate tensions in East Jerusalem. Richard Falk cited the four
men’s case as part of “a larger, extremely worrying pattern of Israeli
efforts to drive Palestinians out of East Jerusalem – [which is] illegal
under international law.”

For more information, please see:

Jerusalem Post – An Open City? – 2 July 2010
Al Jazeera – Israel Arrests Hamas MP – 30 June 2010
Voice of America News – EU Says Israel East Jerusalem Housing Plan Illegal – 30
June 2010
UN News Centre – Demolitions, New Settlements in East Jerusalem Could Amount
to War Crimes – UN Expert – 29 June 2010
N.Y. Times – Palestinians and Police Collide in East Jerusalem – 27 June 2010
Haaretz – Reining in Barkat – 25 June 2010
BBC – UN Chief Says East Jerusalem Demolition Plan ‘illegal’ – 24 June 2010
Sydney Morning Herald – Jerusalem Housing Plans Jeopardise Peace Talks – 24
June 2010
Al Arabiya News Channel – Israel Revives East Jerusalem Housing Plan – 21 June
2010

155
 IRAN: LAWYER IN STONING CASE MISSING

July 29th, 2010

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

TEHERAN, Iran - Mohammad Mostafaei the human rights attorney

who represented Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the mother of two
whose death by stoning sentence was stayed after international outcry
over her case, has gone missing. Amnesty International reported
that Mostafaei was called in on Saturday for questioning at Teheran’s
Evin prison and appears to have gone missing after his release.
Mostafaei’s colleagues have said that they believe he is currently in
hiding.

Iranian authorities have detained Mostafaei’s wife, Fereshteh Halimi,

and brother-in-law, Farhad Halimi, in order to pressure Mostafaei to
turn himself in. The two currently remain in detention and have not
been allowed access to their lawyer, according to Amnesty
International.

Mostafaei, an open critic of the Iranian judicial system, has defended

many political prisoners, juvenile offenders, and individuals sentenced
to death by stoning. His blog helped to generate much of the
international outrage over Ashtiani’s stoning sentence.

Earlier this month Iranian officials said that Ashtiani would not be
executed by stoning, but said that she could still face execution by
hanging for her conviction of adultery. Shadi Sadr, a well-known
women’s rights advocate forced to leave Iran several months
ago, worked with Mostafaei in the past on behalf of women sentenced
to death by stoning. She says that she believes the regime is reacting
to the “international sensitivity” by placing pressure on Mostafaei.
Sadr added that the Iranian government’s reaction embodies the plight
of human rights advocates in Iran in general. She says that Mostafaei
“worked within the framework of the laws of the Islamic republic, he
never crossed the red lines set by the Islamic republic. This case just

156
shows the increasing pressure on human rights activists and how red
lines and limitations are becoming every day tighter and tighter.”

Malcolm Smart, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director,

said: “Mohammad Mostafaei is a thorn in the side of the Iranian
authorities and we fear that he is being persecuted in an attempt to stop
him carrying out his professional activities.” According to the BBC,
the Iranian government has also put pressure on another attorney
involved in Ashtiani’s case, as well as Ashtiani’s son, who
has fervently campaigned for her release.

For more information, please see:

AP – Amnesty: Lawyer in Iranian stoning case missing - 28 July 2010
BBC – Lawyer in Iran stoning case ‘missing’ – 28 July 2010
Radio Free Europe - Iranian Authorities Pressure Prominent Lawyer By Holding
Family Members ‘Hostage’ – 27 July 2010

ISRAEL TO DEPORT 400 MIGRANT CHILDREN

August 3rd, 2010

By Elizabeth A. Conger,
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel - On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu’s cabinet recommended the deportation of 400 children of
migrant workers within the next month. The recommendation was
approved by thirteen ministers, and voted against by ten, with four
ministers abstaining. Out of 1,200 children considered for deportation
this past year, 800 were allowed to stay in Israel.

Of the remaining 400 children, those whose migrant parents have been
in Israel for less than five years, and who have not yet entered first
grade or a higher grade, will be deported. Those children allowed to
stay in Israel must also speak Hebrew, and if they were not born in
Israel, must have arrived in Israel before the age of thirteen. The
parents of children allowed to stay must also have entered Israel
legally. A special committee will decide borderline cases.

157
Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog abstained from the vote, stating:
“I didn’t vote in favor [of the proposal] despite the improvements,
which I supported, I could not accept deporting a group of five-year-
old children.”

Those families whose children do meet the criteria must submit a

request to the Interior Ministry within twenty one days. If they are
found to qualify, they will be given an additional twenty one days to
produce required documentation. If approved, their parents and
siblings will be entitled to temporary residence permits.

Netanyahu said of the decision: “This is a reasonable and balanced

decision . . . It was influenced by two primary considerations – the
humanitarian consideration and the Zionist consideration. We’re
looking for a way to absorb and adopt to our hearts children who were
brought up and raised here as Israelis. On the other hand, we don’t
want to create an incentive that will lead to hundreds of thousands of
illegal migrant workers flooding the country.”

Israeli Radio has reported that the Kibbutz Movement has made an
offer to absorb the 400 children. Kibbutz Movement Secretary-
General Ze’ev Schor appealed to Defense Minister Ehud Barak to
freeze the cabinet’s decision. Schor stated that the children slated for
deportation were Israeli in every aspect beside their citizenship.

UNICEF Israel protested the cabinet’s decision calling it a “blatant

violation” of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which
Israel is a signatory. “Israel must formulate a human immigration
policy and stop the senseless revolving door policy, that wants to
deport migrant workers and their children, on the one hand, and bring
in new ones instead, on the other.”

Physicians for Human Rights Israel also protested the cabinet’s

decision and said: “The threat of deportation that hangs over the heads
of hundreds of children is a dreadful edict, which we refuse to accept.
We will continue to act in order to make sure that all the children

158
receive legal status in Israel and to assure that Israel establish a
humane and orderly immigration policy. Adhoc solutions like this one
are no replacement for such a policy.”

Israel has a population of 7.5 million, 250,000 to 300,000 of which are

migrant laborers. Only half of the migrant laborers in Israel have valid
documentation. Due to security concerns, Israel began to invite
foreign workers for limited time periods to replace Palestinians from
the West Bank and Gaza to work in construction, agriculture and
domestic work. A significant proportion of those initially invited to
work in Israel have outstayed their visas. The migrant population
also continues to swell because of an influx of African refugees and
economic migrants entering the porous border with Egypt.

For more information, please see:

Haaretz.com – Kitbbutz Movement Offers to Absorb Children of Foreign Workers
set for Deportation - 2 August 2010
The Jerusalem Post – 400 foreign workers’ kids out - 2 August 2010
The New York Times – Israelis Divided on Deporting Children - 2 August 2010
Haaretz.com – Cabinet Approves Deportation of 400 Migrant Children from Israel -
1 August 2010

TENS OF THOUSANDS FLEE EMBATTLED CITY IN YEMEN,

DOZENS KILLED

August 24th, 2010

By Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ADEN, Yemen – Upwards of 80,000 people have reportedly fled the

southern Yemeni city of Loder. The massive displaced has been
caused by the government alleged battle with al Qaeda-linked militants
there. The government has reported that at least thirty-three people
have been killed, including eleven soldiers, three civilians, and
nineteen militants with alleged links to al Qaeda. Witnesses in Loder
reportedly said that the fighting intensified after Sunday night,
following the expiration of an ultimatum to militants to surrender.

159
A security official told the AFP that Yemeni forces have recently been
able to enter the city and impose control over most of it, claiming that
al Qaeda elements have since fled.

Al Jazeera reports that it is difficult to independently verify reports

coming out of Loder, including government claims that only gunmen
are left in the embattled city, because the city is surrounded by troops.

According to the Examiner, Southern Yemenis began protesting three

years ago in an effort to obtain equal rights, triggered by escalating
state violence and arbitrary arrests. The current coalition of groups, the
Southern Movement, which has a range of demands from economic
and social improvements to full independence for the region, is
allegedly leading the present opposition, including calls for
independence. The Examiner reports that nearly seventy percent of
southerners are now in favor of succeeding from the north.

Some opposition forces, including the prominent exiled south Yemeni

leader, Ali Salem al-Baid, condemned the
government’s “massacres” in the south, claiming, “The military
campaign in Loder is aimed against our people’s resistance in the
south,” and that the government’s claim that it is fighting al Qaeda is
“an attempt to cover up the massacres committed against our people.”

Al Jazeera says that the separatist movement the government has been
battling in the South may be related to the current siege. They cite
Mohammed Al-Qadhi, a Sana’a-based journalist with The
National newspaper, as saying, “The government is trying to use al-
Qaeda as a pretext to attack movement activists who are pushing for
independence for the south,” he said.

The Yemeni government fully stands by its position that it is battling

elements of AQAP in Loder. The Yemeni army reportedly uncovered
a large stash of weapons, including rockets and anti-tank weapons
hidden in homes in the area, and the Yemeni Defence Ministry stated

160
on its website that “Outlaw separatist elements” collaborated with al
Qaeda in the clashes in Loder.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Yemeni Army Regaining Control of Southern City – 24 August 2010
Al Jazeera – Thousands Flee South Yemen City – 24 August 2010
United Press International – AQAP Leader Killed in Yemen – 24 August 2010
Examiner – Yemen Bombs Southern Town and Blames Al Qaeda, Dozens Dead and
Wounded – 21 August 2010

FORMER ISRAELI SOLDER DISMISSES OUTRAGE OVER

FACEBOOK PHOTOS

August 17th, 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel - A former Israeli soldier who posted photos of

herself posing with blindfolded Palestinian prisoners to her Facebook
account is defending her actions.

Eden Abergil, twenty-six years old, claims that she did nothing wrong
and was surprised at the controversy surrounding the pictures. The
pictures show Abergil posing in provocative positions near the
blindfolded prisoners. They were part of an album she posted entitled,
“Army – the best time of my life.” The pictures were discovered by a
blogger who circulated them around the Internet. The images
prompted comments from many users, and her Facebook account
quickly became blocked to outside users.

In one of the photos, in which Abergil is shown smiling in front of

blindfolded prisoners, a friend of hers posted about the photo, “That
looks really sexy for you.” Abergil posted a response – “I wonder if he
is on Facebook too – I’ll have to tag him in the photo,” referring to
one of the prisoners in the background. Abergil says that she did not
intend to make a political statement or spark such outrage. In an
interview with Israeli Army Radio, Abergil claimed that the images
had no “political significance.”

161
Yet both Palestinian and Israeli groups have attacked her actions. The
incident highlights a pattern of claims of alleged abuse of Palestinian
prisoners held in Israel. “This shows the mentality of the occupier, to
be proud of humiliating Palestinians,” Ghassan Khatib, Palestinian
Authority spokesman, told the Associated Press. “All aspects of
occupation are humiliating. We call on the international organizations,
starting with the UN, to work hard to end the occupation, because it is
the source of humiliation for Palestinians and a source of corruption
for the Israelis,” Khatib said.

The Israeli army has attempted to distance itself from the controversy.
IDF spokesman Barak Raz said that the pictures did not “reflect the
spirit of the IDF, our ethical standard to which we all aspire.” Because
Abergil was discharged from the army last year, future legal action is
still unclear. Yet Jawad Amawi, director of legal affairs for the
Palestinian government’s prisoner’s ministry, told CNN, “She did this
act while she was in military service, so in retrospect the Israeli
occupation is responsible for her acts. This is a breach of international
law, clearly a breach of human rights.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Storm over Israeli ‘abuse’ photos – 17 August 2010
BBC – Israeli woman soldier denies Facebook photos wrongdoing – 17 August 2010
CNN – Israeli in Facebook incident dismisses criticism – 17 August 2010
Haaretz – ‘Facebook photos of soldiers posing with bound Palestinians are the
norm’ – 17 August 2010
New York Times – Ex-Israeli Soldier’s Photos Condemned – 16 August 2010

IRAN STATES ’STONING AS PUNISHMENT IS NOT A HUMAN

RIGHTS ISSUE’

September 8th, 2010

By Alyxandra Stanczak
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – This past Tuesday, the European Union condemned

the stoning of Iranian women for the crime of adultery. The
condemnation comes in light of the sentencing of Sakineh

162
Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was convicted of murder and adultery.
Ashtiani confessed to both crimes after receiving ninety-nine lashes.
She has since rescinded her confession and her lawyer is adamant that
it was made under duress.

During the holy month of Ramadan, which ends on 1o September,

there is a customary stay of any death penalties; during this time,
Ashtiani’s lawyer has appealed to Iran’s supreme court and they are
reconsidering her case. Though Ashtiani is the center of the
international debate on stoning, the punishment she could face is not
rare for Iran to implement. Approximately forty-five people have been
sentenced to death by stoning since 2003.

The international outcry to this event is overwhelming.

France’s foreign minister Bernard Kouchner stated that he would
personally fly to Tehran and do whatever it takes to free Ashtiani.
Similar sentiments have been expressed by the Vatican, who stated
that they would attempt behind-the-scenes diplomacy to save
Ashtiani’s life. Brazil has offered Ashtiani political asylum.
International human rights organizations such as Amnesty
International have also taken a lead roll in advocating on behalf of
Ashtiani by placing telephone calls petitioning the government to
reconsider their sentence.

In response to European criticism, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman

Ramin Mehmanparast said Ashtiani faced charges of murder and
infidelity and the case shouldn’t be linked to human rights.

Stoning was implemented as a form of punishment after the 1979

Iranian revolution. The current government maintains that the death
penalty, which includes hanging and stoning, is essential to maintain
public order. According to Amnesty International statistics, ten people
were put to death by stoning in 1995, making it one of the worst years
in Iran’s history for that form of punishment. For a brief period in
2002, the Iranian judiciary put a moratorium on death by stoning.

163
However, in recent years and despite the international outcry, stoning
has been increasing in frequency.

For more information, please see:

The Huffington Post – Iran stoning case: EU condemns ’barbaric’ plan, Iran scoffs at
European concerns - 7 September 2010
Reuters - Iran tells the world: don’t make stoning a rights issue – 7 September 2010
Voice of America - Iran: Stoning case not human rights issue - 7 September 2010
Now Public – Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani Sentenced to Death by Stoning in Iran -
5 July 2010

AFGHAN ELECTIONS MARRED BY ABDUCTIONS AND

INTIMIDATION

September 22nd, 2010

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KABUL, Afghanistan – Saturday’s parliamentary election in

Afghanistan once again illustrated the numerous problems facing
international forces and Afghans in the country. Since Saturday’s
election, over 3000 complaints of fraud and intimidation have been
filed with the United Nation-backed Electoral Complaint Commission
(ECC). In the days prior to the election, abductions of civilians and
election officials raised security concerns throughout the country.

Taliban insurgent forces abducted more than 20 individuals on the eve

of the election and at least 22 people were killed by insurgent attacks
on election day. During the election, insurgents conducted 485
separate attacks on election facilities, according to NATO forces.
Despite these fatalities, a Pentagon spokesman noted that election
violence has decreased when compared to the 2009 presidential
election in Afghanistan.

Over 2,500 candidates ran for the 249 seats up for grabs in the
parliamentary elections. Against a backdrop of political instability,
the ECC is now charged with the task of ensuring the validity of
election results as complaints of illegal voting continue to pour in.

164
 Stressing the significance of the elections, a representative for the
United Nation’s mission in Afghanistan reported “[t]he independence
of these institutions is crucial to the credibility of the completion of the
electoral process.”

Over 1000 polling centers were forced to close their doors due to
inadequate security. In a comment to the Washington Examiner,
Army Captain Max Pappas, a member of the Provincial
Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan, stated that the “Taliban
intimidated people, but they weren’t able to stage a massive attack. At
least that’s a good sign, but this is far from over.”

Although international forces in Afghanistan remain committed to the

fight against the Taliban in the country, many recognize the difficult
challenges that lay ahead. Although U.S. officials remain optimistic
about the successful promotion of democracy in Afghanistan,
Saturday’s election highlights that the prospect of a legitimate and
functioning government may still be untenable in the short term.

For more information, please see:

Agence France Presse – Afghanistan Says Over 3000 Complaints About Vote – 21
Sept. 2010
Xinhua News Agency – 2 Election Officials Missing, Thousands Complaints Filed in
Afghan Polls – 21 Sept. 2001
Washington Examiner – Election Day is Day of Fear in Afghanistan – 20 Sept. 2010
ABC News – 22 Killed During Afghan Polls: NATO – 19 Sept. 2010
Al-Jazeera – Abductions Hit Afghan Poll Build-Up – 17 Sept. 2010

DOMESTIC WORKERS EXPLOITED AND ABUSED IN

KUWAIT

October 7th, 2010

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait – Domestic workers in Kuwait are facing

abuse and prosecution reported Human Rights Watch (HRW) on
Wednesday. Domestic migrant workers have been forced to work
long hours, are deprived of wages and are often subject to physical and

165
sexual abuse. Last year domestic workers filed over 10,000
complaints of abuse with their embassies however; HRW notes that
this represents only a percentage of all cases of abuse. Of these
10,000 cases, roughly 950 claims alleged that workers were raped and
sexually harassed by their employers.

Domestic workers compose one-third of the 1.81 million foreign

workers in Kuwait. Rights observers contend that there is a lack of
legal protection for migrant domestic workers who face abuse and
wage restrictions from employers. Laws limiting the hours a person
may be legally obligated to work during a single day do not apply to
migrant workers. One Sri Lankan worker reports that she was forced
to work more than 18 hours a day for a period of 10 months without
receiving pay. She now lives in a small government run shelter and is
dependent on social services.

Human rights groups say that the government is to blame. In Kuwait,

migrant domestic workers, under a sponsorship program (kafala), are
bonded to their employers. This makes it possible for employers to
exercise complete control over workers during the course of
employment without any recourse for employees. Workers may not
change jobs without the permission of their employers and those who
attempt to leave an abusive environment are subject to indefinite
detention and criminal penalties. A representative of HRW stated “If
abused or exploited workers try to escape or complain the law makes it
easy for employers to charge them with ‘absconding’ and get them
deported.”

Rights groups have called for the abolition of the sponsorship system.
The government stated that it plans to abolish this system by February
of next year and replace it with a government-administered
recruitment program. The government however, has been unable to
elaborate on whether any additional protections would be afforded to
migrant domestic workers under the new system.

166
For more information, please see:
Arab Times – Some Employers Take Advantage of Weak Legal Protection – 7 Oct.
2010
Daily Mirror – Domestic Workers in Kuwait at Risk? – 7 Oct. 2010
Jakarta Post – Kuwait: For Abused Domestic Workers, Nowhere to Turn – 7 Oct.
2010
Agence France Presse – Abuse of Maids in Kuwait Rising: HRW – 6 Oct. 2010

MEDIA FREEDOM SUFFERS IN TAJIKISTAN

October 21st, 2010

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan – The Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Europe’s primary human rights body
criticized the government of Tajikistan on Monday for its mistreatment
of independent media in the country. OSCE representatives
announced that the government has failed to comply with its media
freedom commitments by “blocking websites, preventing newspapers
from printing and launching tax or prosecutorial inspections” against
media providers.

In a statement to the Tajik government, the OSCE urged the

government to re-open foreign and internet media sources. At least
three major regional news websites have been shut down since
September 29th. Internet providers were ordered to block certain
websites after the Tajik government issued a directive demanding that
restrictions be imposed on those media providers, which the
government deemed to contribute to unrest in the country. The Tajik
government is currently conducting an intense counter-terrorism
offensive against Islamic militants in the country. One internet
provided commented “[w]e are trying to objectively report on the
unrest in the east but clearly some officials do not like this. “

The OSCE further noted that government pressure has also resulted in
the censor of printing houses, several of which have been forced to
stop printing independent newspapers. Although these organizations

167
report that technical failures are to blame for their decision to stop
printing certain papers, the OSCE remains unconvinced and believes
that the government used threats of tax inspections to coerce printing
houses into submission.

Representatives from the OSCE stressed the importance of free and

open media and encouraged the government to “reverse the ongoing
deterioration of the media freedom situation in Tajikistan.” Tajik
authorities however, have denied any wrongdoing and argued that
national legislation does not prevent the regulation of internet media.
“As for newspaper” stated a government representative “no
newspapers were shut down, while the suspension of some of them is
due to purely technical problems.” Despite international pressure, the
government remains un-persuaded by the OSCE’s concerns and may
take additional steps to censure and regulate media as it continues its
fight against militant forces in Tajikistan.

For more information, please see:

Moscow Times – Tajiks Urged to Stop Attacks on Free Media – 20 Oct. 2010
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty – OSCE Warns Media Pluralism in Tajikistan in
Danger – 18 Oct. 2010
Reuters Africa – OSCE Urges Tajikistan to Stop Attacks on Free Media – 18 Oct.
2010
Agence France Presse – Tajikistan Blocks Internet sites Amid Unrest – 11 Oct. 2010

LASHING AND DEPORTATION PUNISHMENT FOR HAVING

SEX IN UAE

November 15th, 2010

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – The Sharjah Sharia Court in

the UAE today sentenced two foreign workers to 100 lashings and
deportation for having “unlawful sex.” This incendiary ruling comes
after two immigrant workers, one Filipino and one Bangladeshi, were
found to have had sex out of wedlock, a crime under Sharia law. In
addition to deportation and other physical punishments, the

168
Bangladeshi national may also be imprisoned for up to a year for
committing adultery.

Reports indicated that the Filipino worker, a housemaid, invited her

boyfriend over to her sponsor’s house on numerous occasions while
the family was away in order to have sex. The two were caught after
the housemaid’s sponsor saw the worker’s boyfriend sneaking out of
the house. Both workers are said to have admitted to having sex while
the sponsor family was away.

Under Sharia law in the UAE, Muslim immigrants who commit

adultery are lashed and deported while non-Muslims immigrants are
imprisoned and then deported. According to reports, both workers are
Muslims, however, both may be subject to an additional prison
sentence. Having sex out of wedlock is illegal in the UAE. Kissing
in public is also illegal under Sharia law.

The UAE has come under fire recently for a slew of court rulings
sentencing foreign workers to a variety of inhumane and
disproportionate punishments for various “illegal” acts. In August, the
UPI documented 8 cases of excessive punishments. These cases are
only illustrative and account for only a portion of the harsh rulings
imposed against foreigners in the UAE. The government in Abu
Dhabi has yet to comment on the result of this latest case. However,
for those countries, which embrace Sharia law, today’s ruling is simply
business as usual.

For more information please see:

ABC News – Couple to be Lashed for Sex Out of Wedlock – 15 Nov. 2010
Emirates 24/7 – 100 Lashes Each for Illicit Lovers – 15 Nov. 2010
UPI – Illicit Couple Sentenced to Lashing in UAE – 15 Nov. 2010
UPI – Continued Cultural Clashes in Dubai, Abu Dhabi – 12 Aug. 2010

169
 VIOLENCE AGAINST CHRISTIANS INCREASES IN IRAQ

December 21st, 2010

By: Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – As Christmas draws near, Christians have

increasingly become targets of extremist violence throughout Iraq.
While the government has condemned the attacks and promised to do
more to stem the violence, the death toll continues to rise. The Islamic
State of Iraq, a militant group with links to al-Qaeda, has taken
responsibility for recent attacks against Christians and declared that all
Christians will be considered “legitimate targets” for future
operations.

Amnesty International stepped up its pressure on the central

government to protect Christian populations within the country after
an attack on a Christian church in October left 44 worshippers dead.
The human rights group noted that targeted attacks against Christians
have increased in recent weeks leading up to the Christmas
celebration. The group remains concerned about the prevalence of war
crimes against minority groups in Iraq and notes that Christians have
been forced to flee Baghdad and surrounding cities in great numbers to
find refuge. Over a third of those Iraqis who have resettled in the U.S.
are Christians and hundreds of thousands more have fled to
surrounding countries within the Middle East. Up to a million
Christians have fled Iraq since 2003.

Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa,
Malcolm Smart fears that “militants are likely to attempt serous attacks
against Christians during the Christmas period for maximum publicity
and to embarrass the government.” The government reported to have
stopped another set of suicide attacks on Monday after killing 3
Libyan nationals in a house raid. Police found suicide vests, bombs
and explosive material in the house. The presence of the three foreign
militants in Iraq highlights the government’s growing concerns about
the threat of violence from neighboring countries.

170
For the government today, terrorism remains equally an internal and
external threat to peace and security. The rush of foreign militants into
Iraq continues to be problematic for the government and its attempts to
promote stability. As the Iraqi leadership searches to create a unified
and legitimate government, it must do more for the politically
underrepresented Christians in Iraq. Failure to find a comprehensive
and religiously-neutral solution to this crisis may only further
exacerbate religious divisions in Iraq and risks further violence.

For more information, please see:

The National – Christmas is Not for Us, Say Iraqi Christian Refugees in Jordan –
Dec. 21, 2010
Agence France Presse – Amnesty Calls on Iraq to Protect Christians – Dec. 20, 2010
Amnesty International – Iraqi Christians Fear Spike in Christian Attacks – Dec. 20,
2010
Washington Post – Grim Xmas for Iraqi Christians as Many Flee North – Dec. 19,
2010

DEPORTATIONS OF SOMALI IMMIGRANTS “INHUMANE”

SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

December 22nd, 2010

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Thousands of Somali immigrants in Saudi

Arabia have been deported to the war torn city of Mogadishu, reports
Human Rights Watch. Calling the government’s policy “inhumane,”
the rights organization has found that roughly 2000 Somali immigrants
have been sent back into the war zones of Mogadishu since this
summer. International law prohibits the forcible return of refugees to
any place where they may face further oppression and violence.

Noting that the deportations have placed hundreds of refugee children

back in harm’s way, Rona Peligal, the Africa Director at Human
Rights Watch stated “[d]eporting anyone to a war zone like Mogadishu
is inhumane, but returning children is beyond comprehension.” The
human rights situation in Somali remains abysmal as domestic conflict

171
continues to engulf the country. The United Nations estimates that
approximately 1.4 million civilians have been displaced in recent years
and up to 270,000 civilians have fled the capital city in the last year
alone.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

reiterated these concerns and called upon the Saudi government to stop
the deportation of Somali refugees from the country. The U.N.
agency stressed that civilians face a “risk of serious harm” in Somali.
The Saudi government ignored the U.N.’s initial demands in July of
this year to stop deportations of Somali immigrants and it appears that
a change in policy is unlikely in the near future.

Saudi Arabia has not been the only country receiving international
condemnation for deportations. In July, Human Rights Watch and the
UN criticized the government of the Netherlands for forcibly deporting
Somali refugees back to their home country, citing similar fears that
civilians face continued violence in the country. Ensuring the safety of
Somali refugees continues to be an important goal for the United
Nations. Despite initiatives to protect and facilitate the resettlement of
displaced citizens, more action is necessary at the national level to
prevent the deportations of those fleeing internal conflict.

For more information please see,

Agence France Presse – Saudi Deportations to Mogadishu Inhumane: HRW – Dec.
22, 2010
Human Rights Watch – Saudi Arabia: Stop Deporting Somalis to Mogadishu – Dec.
22, 2010
Human Rights Watch – Somalia Documents / Reports – 2010
Africa News – Somalia: UNHCR Decries Saudi Arabia’s Deportation of Somalis –
July 26, 2010

172
 ABUSE AGAINST MIGRANT WORKERS TAKES CENTER
STAGE IN SAUDI ARABIA…AGAIN

January 13, 2011

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A Saudi court on Sunday issued a three

year prison sentence to a female employer of an Indonesian maid.
Reports indicate that the ruling may be the first time in the country’s
history that a punishment has been handed down to a Saudi citizen for
abusing a migrant worker. The employer was found guilty under a
new law issued by the Kingdom to fight human trafficking.
Observers contend that Sunday’s ruling is a small step in the right
direction for a country which continues to face international pressure
to secure rights and protections for migrant workers.

The maid, 23, suffered internal bleeding and broken bones after she
was severely beaten and burned by her employer. This latest case of
abuse against migrant workers has sparked international condemnation
for a problem which has been prevalent in the Middle East in recent
months. Migrant workers continue to be subjected to poor treatment,
abuse, arrest and deportations throughout the region. A
comprehensive report published by Human Rights Watch last year
found that migrant workers who suffer abuse at the hands of their
employers are likely to suffer emotional trauma and substantial
psychological effects. The report indicates that such abuse may also
contribute to forced labor and human trafficking.

While the ruling appears to be a small win for rights activists, both
sides are appealing the ruling. Indonesian officials have declared the
sentence to be unsatisfactory. Didi Wahyudi, the head of citizen
protection services at the Indonesian Consulate in Jeddah stated that
“[t]he punishment is not strict enough, it’s a very light punishment.”
Other’s however, appear to embrace the ruling with an optimistic view
towards the future. The Saudi daily newspaper, Arab News, reported
that the case “may become something of a watershed.”

173
The government in Riyadh has kept its distance in the controversy,
failing to comment about the court’s decision. Although the Saudi
government is unlikely to announce any significant change in its
policies towards migrant workers in the near future, Sunday’s ruling
may be a starting point to guaranteeing greater rights and legal
protections for migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.

For more information, please see:

BNO News – Indonesia to Appeal Sentence in Saudi Arabia Tortured Migrant
Worker Case – Jan. 13, 2011
Adnkronos International – Non-govt Groups Fundraise to Repatriate Migrants
Stranded in Saudi Arabia – Jan. 12, 2011
CNN World – Woman Gets Three Years for Abusing Indonesian Maid – Jan. 12,
2011
People’s Daily Online – Indonesia Files Appeal on Tortured Migrant Worker Case in
Saudi Arabia – Jan. 12, 2011

RISING FOOD PRICES SPUR PROTESTS IN MIDDLE EAST &

AFRICA

January 15, 2011

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

AMMAN, Jordan – In what was heralded as “a day of rage,” over

5000 Jordanians staged protests against the government for increases
in food prices and unemployment. While police were successful in
containing the protests, the demonstrations highlight the rising levels
of resentment against the government blamed for the country’s
declining standards of living and economic stagnation. The protests
occurred in five cities and were the latest in a series of demonstrations
within the region opposing rising food prices. The protests remained
peaceful and no arrests have been reported.

Even before the protests broke out, the Jordanian government had
dedicated over £141m to subsidize the cost of bread. Some of this
money has also been infused into the economy to spur job creation.
While the government’s efforts have proven helpful in cushioning the
impact of the current economic situation, those who are worse off have

174
felt little relief. Poverty and unemployment continue to be difficult
challenges for the leadership in Amman, and may be exacerbated by
continued economic decline. Current poverty levels continue to hover
around 25 percent in the desert regions of the country and Amman, the
country’s capital, continues to be the most expensive city in the Arab
world. The country’s budget deficit reach a record high in 2009
standing at $2billion or 9 percent of Jordan’s GDP.

The protests in Jordan were just one of many in recent weeks which
sought to bring attention to the rising price of food in the Middle East
and Africa. Some protests in Tunisia and Algeria turned violent. The
protests in Jordan mark the growing dissatisfaction with the population
of the government’s economic policy. The latest figures published by
the UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported a 25% increase in
the price of many of the most fundamental foodstuffs since last year,
including; bread, cereals, cooking oils, meat and dairy products. One
protest banner warned of the effects of a resentful and hungry
population reading “Jordan is not one for the rich. Bread is a red line.
Beware of our starvation and fury.” While these protests were
conducted in a peaceful manner, it may only be a matter of time before
the government is faced with a more tumultuous scenario.

For more information, please see:

Guardian – Jordanians Protests against Soaring Food Prices – Jan. 15, 2011
Agence France Presse – Jordanians Protest Living Conditions, Blame Govt – Jan. 14,
2011
Reuters Africa – Hundreds Protest Over High Prices in south Jordan – Jan. 14, 2011
The Press Association – Jordanians Protest at Rising Prices – Jan. 14, 2011

PROTESTS SUPPRESSED BY SECURITY FORCES IN BAHRAIN

AND IRAN

February 16th, 2011

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

MANAMA, Bahrain – Protests in the Middle East continue to spread

and escalate as angry citizens test the resolve of their governments in

175
Bahrain and Iran. Energized by the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in
Egypt, thousands have flooded the streets in recent days to demand
more rights and freedom from government tyranny. Now the situation
has turned deadly. Protests in both countries have met fierce
resistance by police forces ordered to break up opposition rallies by
government officials.

At least 2 people were killed and 50 injured Wednesday in Bahrain as

security forces reportedly lobbed tear gas into crowds and attacked
groups of protestors in Manama’s Pearl Square. Witnesses also
reported that the forces shot rubber bullets at those fleeing the square.
Pearl Square has been dubbed the new Tahrir Square and has been the
focal point of the growing opposition in the Middle East over the last
few days. The protests, which started Monday, proceeded peacefully
and thousands remained in the square throughout the nights, sleeping
in tents. Thursday morning, the square is nearly empty, the
stronghold of the opposition abandoned.

Sheikh Ali Salman, general secretary of the Wefaq party, the main
Shi’ite opposition party in the country, stated “We’re not looking for a
religious state. We’re looking for a civilian democracy in which
people are the source of power, and to do that we need a new
constitution.” Clashes also erupted in Iran Wednesday at a funeral
being held for a student shot during an opposition rally on Monday.
The protests in Iran, which are continuing into their second week, are
the longest since those held after the reelection of President
Ahmadinejad in 2009.

The government however, has not been timid in condemning the

opposition. Police forces have been given carte blanch in disrupting
protests and dozens of people have been arrested. While the protests
in Iran are a clear indication of overwhelming dissatisfaction with the
government, analysts fear that the movement will do little to shake up
the ranks of government. Many governments throughout the region
feeling pressure from their citizenry have already given concessions
and promised further reforms to calm dissent. Gaddafi however, has

176
been defiant and protestors have already faced violent resistance as
several hundred people clashed with police forces on Tuesday. Pro-
Gaddafi groups have also turned out in large numbers to assist police
forces suppressing the opposition.

For more information, please see:

Reuters Africa – Libyan Online Protesters Prepare for “Day of Rage” – Feb. 17,
2011
Agence France Presse – Bahrain Forces Break up Protesters’ Camp: Witnesses –
Feb. 16, 2011
BBC – Middle East Protests: Country by Country – Feb. 16, 2011
DiscountVoucers.co.uk – Ahmadinejad Claims Iran Protests are Futile – Feb. 16,
2011
Reuters – Supporters, Opponents of Iran Govt Clash at Funeral – Feb. 16, 2011

ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS SPARK VIOLENCE WHILE

NETANYAHU WAFFLES

March 1st, 2011

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – Debate over Israel’s illegal settlement policy

has reignited in recent days after Palestinian protesters were met by
violent resistance from Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Israel’s
temporary moratorium on settlement construction ended in September
but many hope that recent international pressure will force the
government to continue a “silent freeze.” Last month, members of the
United Nations put forward a draft resolution condemning Israel’s
building of settlements in the West Bank. The resolution failed only
after the United States exercised its veto power in opposition to the
resolution. While Prime Minister Netanyahu has come under intense
fire from the international community, internal pressure from Israeli
settlers may force him to take a more hardline stance on settlements in
the future.

Since the settlement freeze, about 1700 new housing units in 67

different settlements have been constructed according to Peace Now

177
and 4000 new housing units are still waiting government
authorization. Despite further settlement development, the Prime
Minister has been increasingly vocal about Israel’s unsustainable
settlement policy noting that “the diplomatic struggle isn’t over
additional building in the settlements, it’s over the settlements
themselves.”

While the Prime Minister has called for the immediate destruction of
all illegal settlement outposts, actions speak loader than words. And
while Netanyahu has promised one thing, he appears to be doing just
the opposite. Despite his anti-settlement rhetoric, Netanyahu on
Monday swore to legalize established outposts, stressing “we are
currently making efforts to maintain existing construction.”

There are other reasons why the Prime Minister’s promise has been
received with skepticism. The Israeli Supreme Court has already ruled
that the settlements are a legal mechanism to promote and strengthen
the Jewish state. In addition, “outposts” have a distinct legal meaning
from “settlements” in Israel. Therefore, while the government has
promised to dismantle all of its outposts, all Israeli settlements, which
remain a central impediment to peace, will continue to stand. Finally,
history has showed that anti-settlement policies are political suicide for
Israeli Prime Ministers. This may be especially true for Netanyahu
who has already faced intense backlash from his Likud party for being
too soft on the settlement issue.

To address these concerns, one senior official noted that the

government may seek a smaller piecemeal peace agreement with the
Palestinian Authority. Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed that the
government may take such an approach, calling this option a “phased
path” which would seek to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict on an
issue-by-issue basis instead of through a comprehensive treaty. This
approach has already received substantial criticism from Palestinian
officials and some in the international community; including German
Chancellor Angela Merkel who has stressed the importance of a
comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian

178
Authority. Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas stated “[t]his talk about interim agreement and
‘phased path’ is just a reflection of the fact that we don’t’ have a
partner for the end game in this Israeli government.”

For more information please see:

Haaretz – Israel Vows to Raze all Illegal Outposts Built on Private Palestinian
Land – Mar. 1, 2011
Vancouver Sun – Israel Might Seek Interim Palestinian Peace Deal – Mar. 1, 2011
Jerusalem Post – Netanyahu Slams Settlers Over Gilad Farm Clashes – Feb. 28, 2011
JTA – Settlers Accusing Netanyahu Gov’t of Imposing Silent Building Freeze – Feb.
28, 2011

179
 NORTH AMERICA DESK

73 DEAD IN JAMAICAN SLUM AS GOVERNMENT SEARCHES

FOR SUSPECTED DRUG TRAFFICKER

May 31st, 2010

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

KINGSTON, Jamaica-Seventy-three people have reportedly been

killed and five hundred arrested during Jamaican police efforts to
capture Christopher “Dudus” Coke. Coke is a well-known leader in the
Kingston slums, who is wanted by the United States on drug
trafficking charges. Authorities intend to extradite Coke to the United
States.

Amnesty International called for a thorough investigation into the

violence and deaths. The rights group recognized that while authorities
have a responsibility to ensure order, the current extraordinary powers
exerted by the Jamaican security forces could lead to human rights
violations.

A state of emergency has been declared in parts of Kingston. Amnesty

pointed out that even in officially declared states of emergency,
international law requires Jamaica to guarantee the rights of those
detained, including having their detention reviewed by an independent
tribunal. Over five hundred people have been detained in the search for
Coke. Authorities have not explained the circumstances of the seventy-
three deaths.

The Jamaican prime minister, Bruch Golding has not yet visited his
constituents in the affected area. Residents complain about arbitrary
arrests and say that they do not feel safe. Coke and other slum leaders,
known as “dons” are thought to occupy a void created by a lack of
government services in Jamaica’s slums. There is already speculation
that the government will not be able to occupy the void in authority
after the dons are officially deposed.

180
Up to this point Jamaican slums have operated under an arrangement
where politicians and dons share power. The dons provide security
through extortion and control of the drug trade. They then channel
some resources through the neighborhoods to build support for certain
political leaders by ensuring the loyalty of their voters.

Coke is accused with trafficking cocaine and marijuana into the United
States’ East Coast, allegedly causing “gangland” conflicts that have
killed thousands. The government has asked at least ten other dons,
like Coke to surrender in efforts to combat gang violence.

For more information, please see:

AFP-Drug Suspect Still in Jamaica: Police Chief-31 May 2010
NY Times-Jamaica Strains to Fill Void After Ejecting Gang Bosses-31 May 2010
Voice of America-Unrest Death Toll Reaches 73-31 May 2010

STATE OF CALIFORNIA DENIES LEGALLY REQUIRED

ACCOMMODATIONS TO EMPLOYEES WHO ARE DEAF

June 2nd, 2010

By Ali Sprott-Roen
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SAN FRANCISCO, California - California state employees who are

deaf and hard-of-hearing are regularly denied sign language
interpreters for meetings, job training, performance reviews, and other
work-related events such as meeting with the public and clients. In
addition, deaf employees have been left behind during evacuation
drills as well as during real emergencies due to a failure to provide
accommodations.

Employee requested professional interpreters are often substituted by

insufficient or ineffective forms of communication such as lip reading,
utilizing untrained co-workers as interpreters and email or videophone.
The state of California claims budget limitations as an attempt to
justify its failure to provide reasonable accommodations.

181
These practices have resulted in workplace “isolation, exclusion,
prejudice and overall pervasive discrimination,” according to a suit
filed in the San Francisco Superior Court against the State of
California.

The suit was filed by Deaf and Hard of Hearing State Workers United
and has seven named plaintiffs, including one woman who works for
the Office of Deaf Access at the Department of Social Services. It
alleges violations of California fair employment law, the Americans
with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation act of 1973. It seeks
improvements in state policy, while asking for no money damages.
The plaintiffs hope to turn it into a class action suit on behalf of the
approximately 1,500 CA state workers who are deaf or hard-of-
hearing.

For more information, please see:

SFGate.com - Deaf State Workers Sue Over Lack of Services – 22 May 2010
KTVU - Deaf Workers Suing State Over No Accommodations – 21 May 2010
SF Weekly – - Deaf Left Behind During Emergencies, Lawsuit Says – 21 May 2010

CIA DOCTORS PERFORMED TORTURE EXPERIMENTATION

ON DETAINEES

June 7th, 2010

By Ali Sprott-Roen
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MASSACHUSETTS, United States – A just-released report from

Physicians for Human Rights alleges that Bush-era CIA medical
personnel conducted human research and experimentation on detainees
in an attempt to provide legal cover for torture and to refine future
torture techniques. This created the unintended consequence of
placing the medical professionals involved in legal and ethical
jeopardy.

There are domestic and international laws limiting human research and
experimentation, based on both the post-World War II Nuremberg

182
Code and American Common Rule, which ban experimentation on
humans without informed consent.

“In an attempt to justify the war crime of torture, the CIA appears to
have committed another alleged war crime — illegal experimentation
on prisoners,” says Nathaniel Raymond, director of the PHR’s
Campaign Against Torture and lead author of the report.

Allegedly illegal and unethical human research was conducted by

medical staff in three ways, according to the report. First, they
monitored and collected data on waterboarding. This lead to
modifications of the procedure that resulted in “waterboarding
2.0,” which added saline to the water to avoid rendering detainees
comatose or dead. Second, they studied interrogation techniques to
determine the most effective tactics, whether in combination or over
time, based on the susceptibility of the subject to severe pain. Third,
they conducted sleep deprivation experiments, for up to 180 hours, in
order to collect data to support future policies. The goal of this
research and experimentation was to develop interrogation methods
that remained within the limits established by government lawyers,
while producing the maximum effect of the torture.

“There was no therapeutic purpose or intent to monitor and collect this

data,” said Jonathan D. Moreno, professor of medical ethics at the
University of Pennsylvania. Consequently, according to the report,
medical professionals crossed the line from treating the detainees as
patients to treating them as research subjects.

These conclusions were based on an analysis by Physicians for Human

Rights of publicly released government documents and reports
regarding the CIAs interrogation program, including previously
classified documents released by President Obama between May 2009
and February 2010.

However, despite evidence of human experimentation and research,

the government has not investigated any of the medical professionals

183
involved in the interrogations. According to Dr. Steven H. Miles, an
expert on the role of medical professionals in torture, “There are
countries that, over the years, have condemned medical complicity in
torture in principle, but which haven’t really been willing to
investigate medical professionals or hold them accountable,” and that
includes the United States.

The CIA denies any wrongdoing, but Physicians for Human Rights is
calling on President Obama to initiate a criminal investigation into the
allegations and all agencies involved, and to prosecute the responsible
parties if a crime is found. In addition, there is a strong demand for
Congress to repeal changes made to the War Crimes Act in 2006,
which allow for a more lenient definition of illegal experimentation on
detainees.

Physicians for Human Rights seeks redress for past wrongdoing and
prevention of future interrogation experimentation and research tactics,
which its CEO, Frank Donaghue, calls “gross violations of humans
rights law” and “a grave affront to America’s core values.”

For more information, please see:

Salon.com – PHR report: CIA personnel engaged in human experimentation – 7 June
2010
New York Times – Medical Ethics Lapses Cited in Interrogations – 6 June 2010
New Haven Register – Bush administration conducted torture research on detainees,
report claims – 7 June 2010
HeraldSun – Doctors helped CIA perfect ‘torture” technique – 7 June 2010
NatureNews – Medics performed ‘interrogation research’ – 7 June 2010

BORDER PATROL AGENT FATALLY SHOOTS TEEN

June 15th, 2010

By Ali Sprott-Roen
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

JUAREZ, Mexico – In the second death of a Mexican citizen at the

hands of an American border patrol agent in two weeks, 15-year-old
Adrian Hernandez Huereka of Juarez was shot in the head and killed

184
on June 7th. He was believed to be throwing big rocks at the Border
Patrol agents who were trying to detain illegal immigrants.

The boy’s body was found on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande,
while the Border Patrol agent, who was on bicycle patrol, was on the
U.S. side. U.S. authorities claim that the agent was defending himself
and fellow agents, however Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, has
condemned the death and the Mexican Secretary of the state has stated
that using a firearm to respond to a rock attack is a “disproportionate
use of force.”

According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman,

Border Patrol agents are allowed to use lethal force “when an agent is
in imminent threat of physical or bodily harm, which could cause
death or injury or in protection of an innocent third party.”

The Border Patrol agent who shot Huereka claims he was surrounded
by suspected illegal immigrants who were assaulting him with rocks,
but a video obtained by CNN has casts doubts on this report. The
video shows the border agent emerging on his bicycle from underneath
a railroad bridge linking the U.S. and Mexico, then detaining one
individual who he drags along the concrete before raising his arm, with
what appears to be a firearm in hand, moments before two shots are
heard fired. Witnesses on the video can be heard saying in Spanish,
“they’re throwing rocks,” as well as “they hit him…they hit him.”

The boy’s body was found approximately 20 feet over the border on
the Mexican side. It is believed he was shot at close range due to the
presence of spent .40 caliber shell casings found near his body,
suggesting that the U.S. agent crossed the border to shoot the boy. The
Mexican Foreign Ministry responded to the event by saying that “The
growing frequency of this type of event reflects a worrisome increment
in the use of excessive force on the part of some border authorities.”
According to the Ministry’s data the number of Mexicans killed or
wounded by U.S. border Patrol agents has increased from five in 2008
to 12 in 2009 and 17 so far this year.

185
For more information, please see:
CBS – U.S. Border Patrol Fatally Shoots Mexican Teen, Incites Anger, Calls for
Investigation – 9 June 2010
Silver City Sun-News – Border Patrol agent shoots teen – 8 June 2010
Huffington Post – Border Patrol Agent Shots 15-Year-Old Boy at Bridge – 8 June
2010
CNN – Youth fatally shot by border agent had smuggling ties, officials say – 10 June
2010
Huffington Post – Border Patrol Shooting Video: Footage Emerges Of Moments
Before Teenager Was Shot – 10 June 2010

PROPOSED ARIZONA LAW VIOLATES THE CONSTITUTION

June 17th, 2010

By Ali Sprott-Roen
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

ARIZONA, United States – Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce,

who was the force behind the passage of Senate Bill 1070, now intends
to propose a law that will deny citizenship to children born in the U.S.
to illegal immigrants.

Such children are often called “anchor babies” which is a derogatory

term referencing the role of a naturalized child in facilitating the legal
immigration of the child’s parents. Pearce has stated his belief that
“anchor babies are an unconstitutional declaration of citizenship to
those born of non-Americans. It’s wrong, and it’s immoral.”

However, contrary to Pearce’s belief, the 14th amendment to the

constitution states, “all persons, born or naturalized in the United
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United
States. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.”

Despite this fact, Pearce and his fellow Arizona republican

representatives will likely introduce legislation this fall that will deny
birth certificates to children born in Arizona, and therefore American
citizens under the Constitution, to parents who are not legal U.S.
citizens.

186
In addition to violating the 14th Amendment, those who oppose the
proposed legislation also say it would increase discrimination and
create deeper divides in the community.

The bill is expected to end up in front of the U.S. Supreme court

before enactment. In light of the decision in United States v. Wong
Kim Ark, which confirmed that individuals born in the U.S. are citizens
regardless of their parents’ nationality, constitutional law experts
anticipate that federal judges will strike it down as facially
unconstitutional.

For more information, please see:

Time – Arizona’s Next Immigration Target: Children of Illegals – 11 June 2010
azcentral.com – Arizona immigration law sponsor Russell Pearce thrusts state into
political storm – 6 June 2010
LA Progressive – Arizona Anti-Immigration Senator Going After ‘Anchor Babies’
Next – 25 May 2010
The Raw Story – Author of Arizona law plans to target immigrants’ children – 12
June 2010
Mediaite – Report: Arizona State Senator to Target ‘Anchor Babies’ Next? – 21 May
2010

NY CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION INVESTIGATES IMPROPER

MEDICAL CARE AT SYRACUSE COUNTY JAIL

June 29th, 2010

By Ali Sprott-Roen
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

NEW YORK, United States – Maparo Ramadhan, a refugee from

Burundi, escaped persecution, torture and murderous officers in his
home country, only to be victimized by guards at the Onondaga
County Justice Center in Syracuse, NY.

Ramadhan was arrested on Dec. 27, 2008, but was not provided an
interpreter that spoke his language, Kirundi. So Ramadhan had no
idea what the charges were or why deputies came to take other inmates
out of his cell one by one – to take them to their court appearances.
Remembering African authorities who often took inmates away to

187
their death, Ramadhan sat down when deputies came for him. In
response, 8-10 deputies were called to his cell to place in him in
restraints, and in the process of doing so a guard broke the humerus
bone in his upper arm so severely that it protruded from the skin, as
evidenced by video of the incident.

However, despite Ramadhan sobbing in pain and concerns voiced

from the guards, the jail house nurse looked at his arm and simply said
that it was bruised and swollen and nothing else. Moreover, her report
indicated three times that the injury was to the lower arm, rather than
to the upper arm.

As a result of the incident and lack of medical attention, Ramadhan

now has a metal plate and screws in his arm holding the bone in place
and a foot long scar along his triceps from the surgery. He can no
longer raise his arm above his head, lift anything heavier than five
pounds, and is prevented from obtaining a job to support his family.

The New York Civil Liberties Union is looking into Ramadhan’s case
and also investigating the death of a pregnant inmate last year. After
spending hours in agony begging for care, 21 year old Chuneice
Patterson died from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy on November 11,
2009 at the Onondaga County Justice Center.

Because Patterson was vomiting and complaining that she didn’t feel
well, a nurse was called twice but declined to check Patterson’s vital
signs or follow proper protocol for examining a pregnant inmate on
both occasions. Patterson then suffered through the night, during
which time she pressed the emergency button saying she couldn’t
breathe but an officer said it sounded like a fake asthma attack. In the
morning, a deputy heard her moaning, but only responded by telling
her to knock it off and to come get her breakfast tray. Shortly
thereafter Patterson was found unresponsive in her cell and taken to
University Hospital where she was pronounced dead after fourteen
hours of agony.

188
The state commission representative reviewing the case said the nurse
“provided grossly and flagrantly negligent and incompetent nursing
care to inmate Patterson in that she completely misinterpreted and
minimized the significance of pain and vomiting at this
juncture.” Typically most nurses in the same situation would err on the
side of caution and get a physician to do an examination. An ectopic
pregnancy can be diagnosed in as little as five to ten minutes, allowing
the patient to receive emergency surgery in time to save her life.

Patterson is the second inmate to die from an ectopic pregnancy in the

last 14 years. Like Patterson’s death, the previous death of Lucinda
Batts was the result of the failure of nurses and doctors at the jail to
provide proper medical care.

The New York Civil Liberties Union has been investigating the cases
of Ramadhan and Patterson, as well as others, for more than a year.
The director of the Syracuse chapter of the NYCLU claims “The
information we’ve been gathering indicates the possibility of a pattern
that’s very disturbing.”

For more information, please see:

Syracuse.com – Refugee who fled war in Africa finds injury in a Syracuse jail – 7
June 2010
9wsyr.com – Inmate died without proper medical care – 25 June 2010
Syracuse.com – Pregnant inmate died after hours of agony in Syracuse jail - 16 May
2010

CHILD SLAVERY IN HAITI EXPECTED TO DOUBLE FROM

300,000

July 16th, 2010

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Despite being the first country to

abolish slavery in the Americas, the recent earthquake leaving Port-Au
Prince in ruins has increased fears of a soar in child slavery. Jean-
Robert Cadet, a Haitian advocate an author suspects that the number of

189
child slaves will double from its previous number of 300,000 in the
country. The 10 Americans caught at the Dominican border with 33
Haitian children in February only serves to fuel these concerns.

ABC News reported that according to UNICEF, there are

approximately 300,000 child slaves in Haiti, also known as
“restaveks”, a Creole term meaning “stay-with.” Haiti’s restaveks are
part of a hundred year system which impoverished families use,
sending their children away to wealthier Haitian families, who often
subject the children to verbal, physical and sexual abuse the Dissident
Voice reports. Poverty forces many Haitian families to sell their
children for money or material goods in order to survive. Some
however, simply give their children away without payment, an action
taken to save on the cost of feeding and caring for their child.

Despite Haiti’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the

Child on December 29, 1994, little progress was made in eradicating
the problem of child slavery in the country. Now, many people may
seek to capitalize on the desperation of families and the inability of
children to find and re-unite with their families. With poverty on the
rise in this country devastated by an earthquake with quickly depleting
resources, these same children may escape to richer countries, but only
to serve as slaves.

“Once children enter the family, they become a domestic slave and
they are at the mercy of everyone in the house. The only thing worse is
if the child is a girl, because there is sexual abuse and the risk of
pregnancy once she reaches puberty,” says Jean-Robert Cadet,
advocate and author of “Restavek.”

According to Cadet, 80% of the slaves are girls. Cadet himself was
given to a Haitian family as a restavek at the age of 4 after the death of
his mother. In the 1970’s, the family moved on to the United States.

After killing more than 300,000 people, the earthquake has left
countless more homeless, with children at great risk for survival,

190
violence and kidnapping. Cadet leaves for Haiti on Monday to
monitor the tent camps of earthquake victims and restavek children’s
treatment.

For more information, please see:

CNN Child Slavery a Growing Problem In Haiti, Advocate Says 11 July 2010
BBC News Haiti’s hidden ‘child slaves’ 20 March 2007
Dissident Voice Child Slavery In Haiti 3 February 2010

MEXICO’S NUEVO LAREDO UNDER NEAR MEDIA

BLACKOUT: DRUG CARTELS TIGHTENING CONTROL

August 11th, 2010

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico – Nuevo Laredo, the busiest city along

the United States-Mexico border with a population of over 360,000 is
adhering to a near complete news blackout. Drug cartels have forced
the population and news outlets to stop reporting events occurring
from drug related violence. The Televisa affiliate in Nuevo Laredo
suffered from a grenade attack thrown at the front door of its building
less than two weeks ago. However, both Televisa and its competitors
failed to report on the attack.

Accused of working for Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel, seven

civilians and four police officers were escorted to a detainee prison in
Nuevo Laredo in 2007. Using telephone calls, news releases and
emails, drug smuggling organizations dictate the boundaries of what
may be printed or aired to the public. “We are under their complete
control,” claimed a veteran reporter speaking anonymously. Another
editor claimed, “The cartels have eyes and ears inside our company.”

Four journalists were recently kidnapped after covering a protest

resulting from a warden’s alleged release of armed inmates. In murder
for hire, 3 massacres occurred with the prisoners given access to jail
guard’s vehicles and weapons. While many of the dead were rival
gang members, authorities confirmed that 17 young people were killed

191
in an attack on a birthday party after prisoners shot randomly into the
crowd – and then returned to their cells. Ricardo Najera, a spokesman
for the office of the attorney general indicated that ballistics matched
four of the guns used in the shooting as the same assigned to guards in
the northern Mexico jail.

Government officials and military representatives are also at the mercy

of drug cartels. The mayor of Nuevo Laredo disappeared for four
days, returning with the refusal to discuss violence resulting from drug
cartels. Federal police, prosecutors and the military general presiding
over city soldiers have refused to answer reporters’ questions or issue
statements on drug violence.

“Intimidation and coercion have been taken to an extreme level. This

drug war is also a war of information. The cartels are now telling
reporters what they can and cannot print, and the drug organizations
themselves are the content providers,” the Latin America director of
the Committee to Protect Journalists said. According to Director
Carlos Lauria, 30 journalists have disappeared or been murdered since
Mexico’s President launched a U.S. backed offensive against drug
crimes.

For More Information Please Visit:

NY Times Mexican Officials Say Prisoners Acted As Hit Men 25 July 2010
Washington Post In Mexico’s Nuevo Laredo, Drug Cartels Dictate Media
Coverage 2 August 2010
CNN 62 Cops Linked to Drug Cartels Arrested In Mexico 29 July 2010

KAWAIISU TRIBE FILES AMENDED LAWSUIT TO STOP

CALIFORNIA RESORT INFRINGEMENT ON TRIBE BURIAL
GROUNDS

September 7th, 2010

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

CALIFORNIA, United States - On August 15, 2010, the Native

American Kawaiisu Tribe of Tejon in Southern California filed an
amended complaint objecting to a statement in the Environmental

192
Impact Report (EIR) of Kern County which indicates that “the
property owner (who is also the owner of the remains), and of any
associated archaeological materials.”

The Defendants, Tejon Ranch Corporation and County of Kern made

the EIR, pursuant to a project proposing to build Tejon Mountain
Village (TMV), a 26 thousand acre resort. The proposal includes 750
lodging units, 3400 homes, a 160,000 square foot shopping center and
golf courses. The resort falls within Indian Country and the over 50
pre-historic village sites of the Kawaiisu people, an ancient Great
Basin Shoshone Paiute Tribe. Before European encroachment, the
Kawaiisu’s territory extended from Utah to the Pacific Ocean.

The Kawaiisu tribe calls attention to the Administrative Procedure Act,

the federal acknowledgement process and the Native American
Repatriation of remains. David Laughing Horse Robinson, Chairman
of the Kawaiisu Tribe of Tejon claims the statement proclaims TMV
ownership of Kawaiisu ancestor remains and sacred objects. He argues
that despite the land being set aside in Federal Reservations for Native
Americans, “the unborn and our ancestors are made into slaves and
property by that statement.” Robinson argues that California Native
Americans are receiving unequal treatment from those of European
descent. The threat by various corporations to bulldoze the Kawaiisu
Tribe’s land represents a serious infringement on humanitarian rights.
Robinson further contends that the Kawaiisu tribe was illegally
dropped from the list of recognized tribes on the federal register with
an allocation of land under federal treaty in 1853. He will defend his
right to represent Kawaiisu tribe in the proceeding before a Judge in
Federal Court until an attorney can be located.

The Defendants, the U.S. Department of Interior, Kern County and

Tejon Mountain Village Corporation, were first sued November 10,
2009 in Federal Court in Fresno with the Kawaiisu arguing that the
Defendant’s ignored Native American rights to historical sites and
burial remains. Both Kern County and Tejon Mountain Village have
filed motions to dismiss the complaint.

193
For More Information Please See:
The Mountain Enterprise-Second Lawsuit Seeks Injunction…for Kiwaiisu Tribe of
Tejon – 13 November 2009
Indigenous People’s Issues and Resources-Kawaiisu Tribe of Tejon in Emergency
Battle – 23 February 2010
Indigenous People’s Issues and Resources-Kawaiisu Tribe of Tejon Lawsuit
Amended Complaint Filed – 28 August 2010

NINTH CIRCUIT: STATE SECRETS TRUMP TORTURE

VICTIMS’ RIGHT TO SUE

September 10th, 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SAN FRANCISCO, United States—In what has been called a “sad

day” for “torture victims” and “all Americans”, the Ninth Circuit ruled
that possible exposure of state secrets outweighs victims’ right to seek
damages. The Court ruled 6-5 on Wednesday to block a lawsuit by
individuals who claim they were tortured in CIA interrogations. The
alleged torture took place under the post-9/11 “extraordinary
rendition” program, which transported terrorist suspects to secret
prisons. The lawsuit was brought against Jeppesen, a Boeing
subsidiary, for allegedly flying the suspects to locations where they
were tortured in 2007 by five such subjects.

One of the plaintiffs, Binyam Mohamed, was captured in Pakistan and

flown to a Morocco CIA “black site” where he says he was tortured.
He claims his penis was cut multiple times with a scalpel in efforts to
make him confess involvement with al-Qaeda.

The court’s decision supports the president’s power to invoke the

“state secrets privilege” and dismantle lawsuits that concern national
security. The majority agreed with the Obama administration that if
the lawsuit proceeded, state secrets could be exposed. In his decision
for the majority, Judge Raymond Fisher explained the case as “a
painful conflict between human rights and national security.”

194
Judge Michael Daly Hawkins, writing for five dissenting judges,
expressed concern that the lawsuit was dismissed too hastily. “[The
alleged victims] are not even allowed to attempt to prove their case by
the use of non-secret evidence in their own hands or in the hands of
third parties,” he wrote. The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Ben Wizner of the
ACLU, has promised to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. “If
this decision stands,” he said, “the United States will have closed its
courts to torture victims while extending complete immunity to its
torturers.”

Wizner categorized the decision as “a sad day not only for the torture
victims whose attempt to seek justice has been extinguished, but for all
Americans who care about the rule of law and our nation’s reputation
in the world.” Reprieve, a human rights group, stated that the court had
“derailed another precious chance at a legal reckoning with the
excesses of the war on terror. Yet again, those responsible for torture
and rendition have used ‘state secrecy’ to avoid facing up to their
crimes in court.” Opponents of extraordinary rendition worry that the
practice outsources torture to countries where it is deemed acceptable.

For more information, please see:

Independent-Victims of extraordinary rendition cannot sue, US court rules- 10
September 2010
San Francisco Chronicle-Court dismisses suit alleging ‘torture flights’- 9 September
2010
Guardian-US courts must lift lid on torture- 9 September 2010
AP-Appeals court lets government halt torture lawsuit- 9 September 2010

72 MIGRANTS KILLED IN MASSACRE: HONDURAN HELPED

2ND SURVIVOR FLEE

September 16th, 2010

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – 72 migrants of a group of 77 were

killed in Mexico on their way to the United States border by the Zetas
cartel after refusing to work for the widely known drug gang.
Authorities discovered the bodies bound, blindfolded and slumped

195
against a wall at a ranch in the state of Tamaulipas. The group was
made up of mostly of Hondurans, Ecuadorians, Guatemalans and one
Brazilian. The whereabouts of the three Mexicans, two drivers and an
assistant, are unknown. Two escaped the massacre after the shooting
stopped.

The Ecuadorian, Luis Freddy Lala suffered from a gunshot wound to

the neck but was able to stumble to a marine checkpoint, alerting
authorities. The Honduran who freed him was forced to separate after
hearing more gunshots behind them. Lala, 18, is now under the
Ecuadorian Witness Protection Program while the Honduran survivor,
whose name is being withheld, is under the protection of Mexican
security forces until further notice. Honduran Foreign Minister Mario
Canahuati issued a statement declaring that “We call on Mexican
authorities to take measures as soon as possible to avoid events like the
one that occurred in Tamaulipas.”

According to government figures, Guatemala, El Salvador and

Honduras are the most violent countries in the northern hemisphere.
Street gangs and the increase in drug trafficking have only exacerbated
the violence. Just 5 days ago in the northern Honduran city of San
Pedro Sula, at least four men using assault rifles burst into a shoe
factory, killing 18 and wounding 5 of the 23 employees on duty.
Authorities, including Police Commissioner Hector Ivan Mejia believe
the massacre was carried out as a part of a turf battle on a rival gang.
None of the 18 employees killed had criminal records.

Mexican authorities have seen an increase in violence and the use of

vulnerable migrants by cartels in order to further drug trafficking.

For More Information Please See:

Associated Press Official: Honduran helped massacre survivor flee – 4 September
2010
Washington Post 18 massacred in Honduras had no criminal records – 8 September
2010
CNN There Was Second Survivor From Mexico Massacre, Officials Say – 1
September 2010

196
 GAY RIGHTS AT THE FOREFRONT IN THE WAKE OF HATE
CRIMES & SUICIDES

October 10th, 2010

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

NEW YORK, United States – “It is tragic to see what hate can do,”
says President of the Human Rights Campaign for gay rights, Joe
Solmonese. Solmonese is among the many activists who believe that
the perpetrators of crimes against gay victims should be prosecuted.
His statement comes on the heels of the arrest of 8 members of a New
York gang for the battery and sodomy or four victims. The attacks
began after the Latin King Goonies, as the gang is known, learned of
the sexual orientation of an aspiring member.

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced that one
suspect is still believed to be at large. Kelly indicated that the gang
forced the 17-year-old pledge into an unoccupied apartment around
3:30 a.m. Sunday. After being questioned about his relationship with a
30-year-old man, the gang stripped him of his clothes, hit him with a
beer can and used a box cutter on him before sodomizing him with the
handle of a wooden plunger. At 8:30pm that night, another 17- year-
old was lured to the same apartment and questioned before being
robbed and beaten. At 9:30 pm, the gang found the 30-year-old man
and lured him to the same location. The man was stripped naked and
tied opposite the 17- year-old before the teenager hit and burned the
man with cigarettes under duress by the gang. The 30-year-old was
assaulted and sodomized with a baseball bat before being dumped
outside of his home, according to Police Commissioner Kelly.

The suspects then raided an apartment the 17-year-old shared with his
brother, holding the teenager for ransom to force his brother to give
the gang money. After hearing his younger brother’s voice on a cell
phone telling him to give the gang the money, the brother complied
before being tied up and left in the apartment. A search of the
apartment Wednesday revealed little information, which

197
Commissioner Kelly believes resulted from the suspect’s bleach
cleaning and repainting the walls. All of the suspects are residents of
the Bronx and despite 5 of the 8 being 16 and 17-year-olds, all of them
will be tried as adults.

Gay rights groups continue to address the upsurge in violence in their

community. Since July, at least 4 teenagers have committed suicide as
a result of anti-gay targeted bullying, including one Rutgers University
student, Tyler Clementi, whose suicide shook the nation after his
roommate live streamed his sexual encounter with another male
student online. The law has been slow to catch up with punishment for
the deaths of the victims. The Human Rights Campaign however
continues to fight and will this week descend upon Salt Lake City,
Utah to force a senior Church leader to rescind anti-gay comments.

For More Information, Please Visit:

Washington Post – U.S. Gay Rights Leaders Headed to Utah – 8 October 2010
Washington Post – Suicide Surge – U.S. Schools Confront Anti-Gay Bullying – 9
October 2010
CNN - 8 arrested in String of Anti-Gay Hate Crime in New York – 10 October 2010

INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FACES RESISTANCE FROM

GUATEMALAN GOVERNMENT

November 15th, 2010

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala- The International Commission

Against Impunity in Guatemala, an organization supported by the
United Nations was created in 2007 to eradicate contract killings,
dismantle illegal security groups and root out corruption among
Guatemala’s business and political elite. The same people who have
helped in the campaign are now its quarry with the head of national
police and a former presidential candidate now fugitives with arrest
warrants issued for their capture.

198
In late June 2010, the severed arms, legs and head of an unidentified
woman are found at a crime scene. Despite a homicide rate three times
the number as Mexico, the Commission was met with great resistance
from a number of top officials. Former Vice-President Eduardo Stein
has accused the commission of “going out of control,” ignoring
Guatemalan law and overstepping its mandate. Stein believes the
Commission is issuing erroneous criminal charges to the government.

Carlos Casetrana, former leader of the International Commission told

the Associated Press “all the cases we’ve brought to justice have so far
ended in prison sentences for the accused.” Those accused of
kidnapping, murder, drug trafficking received the most rapid
convictions. 1700 police officers, prosecutors and judges have been
purged as a result of Casetrana’s recommendations. Human Rights
First has praised the arrest of “hitherto untouchable ex-military
leaders.”

One of the Commission’s biggest accomplishments was the purging of

Guatemala’s Pavon prison farm. Pavon was supposed to be a
rehabilitation center for inmates where prisoners could tend livestock
and grow vegetables. It instead became a feudal state where inmates
had access to prostitutes, internet, video games, drugs and fast food.
The largest prison in the state, officers swarmed the prison on
September 25, 2006, retaking it from inmates running a cocaine lab
from its premises.

Today, nearly half the countries territory of 14 million is controlled by

drug cartel and other criminals. Civilians face dangers in even the
safest of government addresses.

For More Information Please Visit:

The Guardian – Bars, Brothels, And A Regime of Terror - 30 September 2006
Washington Post – U.N. Backed Investigators Shake Up Guatemala – 14 November
2010
CNN – U.N. Names Anti-Impunity Chief For Guatemala – 30 June 2010
Guatemala Times – UN Expert Calls For Drastic Change In Global Drug Control
Policy – 25 October 2010

199
 DEATH TOLL RISES TO 1,186: INADEQUATE RESPONSE TO
CHOLERA OUTBREAK

November 21st, 2010

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – “Cholera is an extremely simple disease

to cure,” comments Nigel Fisher, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator
in Haiti. Human rights groups are viewing the recent outbreak of
cholera as a foreseeable health risk and the failure to counteract it a
human right, which the government has the responsibility to prevent
and control. The outbreak has claimed approximately 1, 186 lives In
Haiti, with over 50,000 people seeking medical attention.

Haitians continue to receive inadequate treatment as poor living

conditions increase the rapid spread of Cholera. Easily treatable, the
United Nations has blasted the international response and the lack of
donor contributions to curb the disease. The United Nations recently
appealed for a contribution totaling $164 million to counter the cholera
outbreak in Haiti. Only ten percent of the funds needed to curb the
disease have been pledged.

Fear among Haiti’s sick has led to protests and violent responses in
some provinces of Haiti.

Many Haitians suspect that Nepalese Peacekeeping forces are

responsible for the outbreak. With most forces camped alongside the
river, river communities were the first to be hit, leading many to
suspect the disease was brought to Haiti by soldiers in the country.
Last Monday, 7 peacekeepers of the United Nations were injured by
protesters at Cap-Haitien, a northern city suffering from the epidemic.
The national police and the U.N. were forced to use teargas on
hundreds of protesters attempting to burn a police station and a
peacekeeping base.

One protester, Pierre Allodor, claims “The Haitian government is

never do nothing for us. And we know the international government is

200
still spending a lot of money for the Haitian people. But Preval, with
his government, he still keeps their money to take back to the United
States to buy some house.” The January earthquake only exacerbated
unsanitary living conditions, poverty and a broken health care system.
Doctors Without Borders head of mission, Stefano Zannini, says,
“There is no time left for meetings and debate.” With over 18,000
Haitians hospitalized from the disease, “the time for action is now.”

For More Information Please Visit:

Washington Post – 7 U.N. Troops Hurt, Attacked By Haitians Blaming Foreigners
For Cholera Epidemic – 15 November 2010
CNN – U.N. Blasts Global Response To Haiti Cholera Outbreak As Inadequate – 20
November 201
CNN – Anti-U.N. Protests Erupt In Haitian Capital – 18 November 2010
Human Rights Watch – Why Democracies Don’t Get Cholera – 25 October 2010

AMNESTY PUSHES FOR JUSTICE FOR NICARAGUAN RAPE

VICTIMS

November 29th, 2010

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – While abortion continues to be illegal in

Nicaragua, the use of 9 year olds to advocate for its use in the country
is not. According to reports by Nicaraguan police, more than two
thirds of the countries rape victims from 1998-2008 had not reached
the age of 17. Various tactics and measures used as solutions to
resulting sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies result in
stigmatization and further trauma.

Current Nicaraguan President Ortega's stepdaughter accused him of

rape in 1998. Authorities never prosecuted him. Amnesty reported that
one mother attempted to file a complaint regarding her daughter’s rape
by her stepfather. Despite her report, authorities charged her with
complicity and placed her in jail for 12 years for her failure to report
the crime earlier. Authorities never took action to arrest the stepfather.

201
Esther Major, a Nicaraguan research for Amnesty recognizes that
“Young victims of rape and sexual abuse demand that their right to be
free from sexual violence is protected by the Nicaraguan government,
and that they are supported so they can overcome the physical and
psychological trauma caused by such acts of violence.”

Nicaragua’s abortion law demands that rape victims who become

pregnant face imprisonment if they refuse to have the baby. Many
other victims are pressured into delivering the baby or giving the baby
up for adoption. Of the 14,000 cases reported in ten of the last 12
years, the main perpetrators were those in positions of power or
relatives of the victims.

The result of inaction taken by authorities is silence from the victims.

His stepdaughter accused Daniel Ortega, the current President of
Nicaragua, of rape in 1998. Zoilamerica Narvaez reported the abuse to
the authorities, indicating that Ortega molested her from the age of 11
to the age of 22. As a member of parliament, Ortega maintained
immunity from prosecution and the case was never brought to trial.

For More Information Please Visit:

Free Republic – Pregnant 9 year Old Victim Being Used To Push Abortion
Legalization – 20 April 2010
Amnesty International – Nicaragua Must Put An End To Rape And Sexual Abuse Of
Girls– 25 November 2010
BBC News – Nicaragua Accused Of Failing Rape Victims – 24 November 2010

FORMER GUATEMALAN INTERIOR MINISTER RE-ARRESTED

IN SPAIN

December 18th, 2010

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – Spanish authorities re-arrested

Former Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann in Spain on Thursday for
the second time this month. Vielmann is wanted in connection with
the execution of prisoners at El Pavon Prison in Guatemala,

202
extrajudicial killings and the murder of case witnesses. Evidence
suggests that the murders were not the result of a vicious gun battle,
but a carefully staged execution.

After Guatemalan authorities were unable to capture Vielmann,

Spanish authorities arrested him on the basis of a Guatemalan warrant.
40 days later, authorities were forced to release him because of lack of
an extradition request.

In 2006, 7 inmates were killed at El Pavon prison immediately

preceding a raid where authorities were thought to have discovered
corruption among inmates. Authorities later discover that top officials
and prison personnel were involved in illegal and illicit activities
including drug trafficking and prostitution. Guatemalan authorities are
also seeking his arrest in connection with the killing of 3 escaped
inmates located at El Infiernito prison in 2005.

The UN backed group, International Commission Against Impunity in

Guatemala, spearheaded the effort to bring down the former Interior
Minister after discovering his involvement. New photographic
evidence shows Vielmann standing next to prison officials the day of
the uprising. Further photographic evidence shows that some
prisoners were redressed and moved after being executed.

A report by the Guatemalan Human rights Ombudsman’s Office and

new physical evidence tracks the fate of various inmates. One inmate
was shown shot to death with no bullet holes in his clothing,
suggesting that he was shot while naked and redressed to cover the
execution.

“There are no super-citizens that are above the law,” says Francisco
Dall’Anese, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in
Guatemala. Vielmann was arraigned Thursday after turning himself
into authorities, charged with murder, crimes against humanity and
released on $132,000 bail.

203
For more information, please visit:
CNN – Fugitive Guatemalan Official Re-arrested – 17 December 2010
CNN - Photos Provide Evidence In Guatemalan Killings Case, Officials Say - 15
December 2010
CNN – Spain Re-arrests Ex-Guatemalan Minister - 16 December 2010

UNITED STATES RESUMES DEPORTATION OF HAITIANS

DESPITE RISK

January 16th, 2011

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, United States – Six Miami and Washington based

human rights groups filed a petition to halt Haitian deportation by the
United States with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR). Given the cholera epidemic and civil unrest, human rights
groups are attempting to stem the flow of Haitians back to the quake
ravaged country.

Over 350 Haitians have been placed in detention centers in the United
States since the Administration announced their decision to resume
deporting Haitians. While the Obama administration indicated that
deportation would be for Haitians who have finished serving time for
violent crimes, other Haitian families are terrified at the extended
possibilities. “We should not be having to look at families and telling
them we don’t know what’s going to happen, we don’t know if they
are going to be sent back to Haiti, we don’t know if they are going to
be given work permits so they can support their families,” says Cheryl
Little, immigration advocate of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy
Center.

Amnesty International argued that the deportation of Haitians would

lead to grave human rights violations. In the past week, 950 Haitians
have been deported. Javier Zuñiga, Amnesty International’s Senior
Advisor believes “Haiti is still recovering from a devastating natural
disaster. Instead of forcing people back to a desperate situation, the

204
Dominican Republic and other countries should be stepping up their
efforts to help Haiti and its people.”

Those facing deportation will be subject to harsh conditions and will

likely be placed in detention centers upon their arrival. 48 Haitians
placed in such centers have died in their holding cells. Over tens of
thousands of immigrants living and working in the United States are
Haitians who do not have legal permission to remain in the country.

While Haitians may apply for Temporary Protective Status (TPS),

many have stopped applying in spite of a January 18 deadline. Over 1
million Haitians still remain homeless and without proper sanitation in
Haiti. The Department of Homeland Security has refused to comment
on the situation.

For More Information Please Visit:

Caribbean News Now – Rights Groups Petition U.S. To Stop Haitian Deportations –
15 January 2011
Amnesty International – Dominican Republic Must Stop Forcible Deportation of
Haitians– 7 January 2011
Public Radio International – U.S. Resumes Haitian Deportation – 14 January 2011

FORMER HAITIAN DICTATOR, ‘BABY DOC’ DUVALIER,

ARRESTED

January 20th, 2011

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Report, North America

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – After living in exile in France for over

25 years, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned to Haiti Sunday,
receiving an unexpected welcoming committee: heavily armed police.
Duvalier was charged and arrested at the Karibe hotel Tuesday, just
two days after his arrival back to his homeland. Succeeding his father
in 1971, the former dictator faces possible charges stemming back to
the torture and murder of thousands of Haitians during his 15 year
rule.

205
In the midst of a questionable election, Haitian citizens are poised for
answers, questioning the reason for his return amid such turmoil in the
country. ”Everybody is in a wait-and-see mode, nothing is clear, and
this is very frustrating, especially for the people living in the tents,”
said Michele Pierre Louis, former prime minister to current President
Rene Preval.

Hundreds of thousands of Haitians were forced to flee the country in

fear of Duvalier’s corrupt administration. Duvalier associate, Henry
Robert Sterlin, indicated that the former dictator returned because he
missed Haiti and was moved by the January earthquake’s anniversary.
While a press conference was scheduled, it was quickly cancelled due
to the hotel’s inability to handle the overwhelming crowd. Part of a
familial rule which lasted thirty years, Duvalier assumed power after
the death of his father at the age of 19.

Human rights organizations have called for justice for the crimes he
committed. Michele Montas, Haitian journalist and former spokesman
for the United Nations secretary-general declared, “We have enough
proof. There are enough people who can testify. And what I will do is
go to a public prosecutor, and there is a public prosecutor that could
actually accommodate our complaints.”

Government sources indicate that a judge may take up to 30 days to

determine whether the accusations Duvalier faces have any merit in
order to move forward with the case.

For More Information Please Visit:

CNN – Charges Filed Against ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier in Haiti – 18 January 2011
CNN – Baby Doc Duvalier Returns to Haiti in Surprise Move – 16 January 2011
Washington Post – Duvalier’s Return Adds to Haiti’s Political Turmoil – 17 January
2011

206
 UN SPECIALIST INVESTIGATES HIGH RATES OF RAPE AND
ASSAULT IN INDIAN COUNTRY

January 31st, 2011

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

CHEROKEE, United States – On Friday, Rashica Manjoo stopped in

Cherokee, North Carolina to discuss action to be taken against those
that physically and sexually assault Native American women. As the
special rapporteur for the United Nations on violence against women,
Manjoo plans to report her findings to the United Nations Human
Rights Council.

Matilda Black Bear discusses her experience with domestic violence

and the unavailability of support for women. According to the
Department of Justice, one out of every three Native American women
are raped during their lifetime. Three of four will become the victims
of a physical assault. Over 30 years ago at the age of 26, Matilda
entered into a relationship with a man that quickly turned violent. “In
the ’70s there were no services for victims, let alone any laws to hold
perpetrators accountable,” recalls Tillie. “I went to the police and to
the judges and they didn’t know what to do with me.”

The Indian Civil Rights Act limits tribal courts sentencing authority
over Indians who have been accused of sexual and domestic violence
against women. Further, non-Indians are protected from sentencing by
Indian Nations which are prohibited from exercising jurisdiction over
non-Indian offenders. Terri Henry, Councilwoman for the Eastern
Band of Cherokee Indians believes, “The right to be safe and live free
from violence is a human right that many in this country take for
granted—but not Native women, who are beaten and raped at rates
higher than any other population of women in the United States.”

Advocates have expressed the need to push for greater jurisdiction,

services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, funding and
federal support. This past Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder
announced the formation of the Violence Against Women Federal and
207
Tribal Prosecution Task Force. In an attempt to change the rates at
which Native American women experience violence in their
communities, the Task Force has been directed to complete a trial
manual and discuss “best practices” for prosecuting those accused of
violence against women in Indian Country.

Holder stated that, “The creation of the Violence Against Women

Tribal Prosecution Task Force has been a priority for me since my visit
with tribal leaders last year, and I believe it is a critical step in our
work to improve public safety and strengthen coordination and
collaboration concerning prosecution strategies with tribal
communities.”

For more information, please see:

Citizen-Times – UN Studies Domestic Violence in Cherokee – 29 January 2011
Indian Law – UN Expert Investigates Violence Against Indian Women – 28 January
2011
Cherokee One Feather – DOJ Attempting to Combat Violence Against Indian
Women – 25 January 2011

VIOLENCE AGAINST PROTESTERS OF MILITARY HUMAN

RIGHTS ABUSES IN MEXICO

February 27th, 2011

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Concern surrounds the safety of

human rights activists after Josefina Reyes Salazar was shot dead
earlier this year. On Friday, three more relatives of the slain activist
were found dead near a gas station in Ciudad Juarez. This brings the
total number of Salazar’s relatives found slain to 5. Salazar was a
widely known activist and protester of human rights abuses by the
Mexican military who have been deployed to fight crime.

Amnesty International has urged greater protection for activists since

the murders. A participant in the “Forum on Militarization and
Repression,” Salazar aided in examining reports of citizens who

208
claimed members of the Mexican military committed human rights
violations.

According to an eyewitness, in early January 2010, Salazar was seized

outside of a shop in the town of Guadalupe by a group of armed
gunmen. One of them reportedly stated “You think you are tough
because you are with the organizations.” After Salazar fought back to
avoid being abducted, she was shot in the head. Authorities believe
another female activist, Cipriana Jurado, is also at risk.

Since 2007, violence linked to drugs and organized crime has

increased dramatically. President Calderon has dispatched over
50,000 units of federal police and military personnel to secure the
safety of all citizens and contain the violence. Ciudad Juarez has
remained among the most heavily infected areas. This past February
15, the home Josefina Salazar’s mother was torched and burned down
by unknown assailants.

Amnesty International believes members of the Coordination of Civil

Society Organizations, a local Ciudad Juarez group composed of
activists and supporters of investigation into abuses, may also be
targets of various gangs and attacks. “The authorities must ensure that
Cipriana Jurado, and other human rights defenders with the
Coordination of Civil Society Organization in Ciudad Juárez, receive
immediate and effective protection,” stated Kerrie Howard, Amnesty
International’s deputy director of the Americas Program.

For more information please visit:

Amnesty International – Mexico Urged to Protect Activists After Campaigner Shot
Dead – 6 January 2010 CNN -3 More Relatives of Slain
Activist Found Dead in Mexico – 25 February 2010
Washington Post – Suspect Arrested in Shootings Outside Mexico City – 17
February 2010

209
 OCEANIA DESK

PAPUA NEW GUINEA GOVERNMENT STRUGGLES TO

COMBAT CHOLERA OUTBREAK

June 5th, 2010

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor-News

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea- A cholera outbreak, which

started in August of 2009 appears to be getting worse. There have been
over 600 cases reported since August and reports of the disease are no
longer only appearing in rural areas. There have been reports of the
disease in the capital city of Port Moresby.

The government declared a public health emergency in August after

there were reports that public funds to fight the disease were “dried
up.” The spread of the disease to urban areas has been linked to
sanitation problems.

A health expert told Radio News Australia that in “the urban areas
you’ve got a lot of settlement areas, low income settlement areas, and
also enclaves of squatter settlements and these are generally not well
serviced with good quality water and sanitation standards.”

When asked about government preparedness for such an outbreak, the

government stressed that Papua New Guinea has “very limited
resources within its health care sector . . . they generally have a high
burden of health related issues, things like malaria, TB, HIV Aids etc .
. . when diseases like this come along, they really have to divert
resources from those areas to deal.”

Government officials are calling for multi-sector collaboration to

combat the disease aggressively.

For more information, please see:

Top News-Cholera Outbreak in Papua New Guinea’s Capital Port Moresby-4 June
2010
Radio News Australia-Death Toll Rises from PNG Cholera Epidemic-3 June 2010
Radio News Australia-Poor Sanitation and Water Quality Fuelling-3 June 2010

210
AUSTRALIA PLANS TO TRANSFER 750 ASYLUM SEEKERS TO
MAINLAND

June 7th, 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SYDNEY, Australia – The Australian government plans to transfer

all asylum seekers currently located in Christmas Island to a mainland
detention center. These refugees – about 600 Afghans and 150 Sri
Lankans – have arrived by boat since the suspension took effect in
April of this year.

Australia’s immigration minister Chris Evans says the government is

looking for mainland sites to accommodate the asylum seekers.

“It is our intention to take that cohort probably in the first instance to
Curtin where we’re increasing our capacity, but we’ll obviously make
judgments based on individuals,” he said.

Senator Evans says he hopes the improving situation in Afghanistan

and Sri Lanka – where most of refugees come from – will soon allow
the Australian government to send some of the asylum seekers back.

“The experience we’ve had since the suspension has confirmed what
we were seeing in the few months before that – that we’re getting a
much higher refusal rate,” he said.

“Many of the people who are coming to this country are no longer
found to be refugees and we’re able to – at the end of their processes –
potentially return them.”

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – Asylum seekers being moved to mainland – 3 June 2010
Radio Australia – 750 asylum seekers head to Australian mainland centres – 3 June
2010
ABC News – 750 asylum seekers heading for mainland centres – 3 June 2010

211
 US RESUMES TIES WITH INDONESIAN MILITARY GROUP
KNOWN FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

July 24th, 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The U.S. military has decided to lift a

decade-long ban on engagement with Indonesia’s Komanda Pasukan
Khusus (Kopassas), a special forces unit that has been accused of
human rights abuses.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, during a visit to Jakarta on

Thursday, said after meeting with President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono that a limited program of engagement with the group
would be permitted after the Obama administration concluded that the
group has demonstrated a commitment to human rights.

“I was pleased to be able to tell the president that as a result of

Indonesian military reforms over the past decade, the ongoing
professionalization of the [Indonesian armed forces], and recent
actions taken by the ministry of defense to address human rights
issues,” Gates told reporters after meeting with Yudhoyono, “the
United States will begin a gradual, limited program of security
cooperation activities with the Indonesian army special forces.”

Yudhoyono promised that Indonesian Military (Tentara Nasional

Indonesia, or TNI) reforms would continue and that there would be no
repeat of the abuses that once took place.

According to Human Rights Watch, Kopassus members have engaged

in serious human rights abuses, including carrying out abductions,
forming deadly militia forces in East Timor in 1999, engaging in
arbitrary detention of civilians in Papua, and abducting and killing
Papuan activist and leader Theys H. Eluay in 2001.

The U.S. government severed all aid to the Indonesian military in 1999
because of the widespread human rights violations.

212
Human rights groups have expressed concern with the recent decision.
“The Obama administration has just failed a key test. This is not the
way to encourage reform with a military that has yet to demonstrate a
genuine commitment to accountability for serious human rights
abuses. This decision rewards Kopassus for its intransigence over
abuses and effectively betrays those in Indonesia who have fought for
decades for accountability and justice,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia
advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, in response to Thursday’s
decision.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Gates that
outlined recommendations on how to approach continued engagement
with the Indonesian military, urging the Obama administration to focus
on a relationship that would both protect human rights in Indonesia
and further national security objectives in the United States. However,
as the letter noted, “without the necessary reforms in place, such
assistance may facilitate continued violations of human rights in
Indonesia and reinforce impunity.” The letter detailed past and recent
human rights violations.

The decision comes in the development of the U.S.’s attempt to

strengthen ties with Indonesia. President Obama has planned two trips
to Indonesia this year. Both had to be cancelled in the wake of
important domestic events: the health care reform bill and the Gulf oil
spill.

Pentagon officials have indicated that the relationship will develop

slowly, and that no cash aid will be delivered. Gates noted that
members of Congress had been briefed on the decision and response
was positive. Indonesian officials also welcomed the announcement.
“This is a positive start,” said Djoko Suyanto, Indonesia’s
commander-in-chief, adding, “we will prepare ourselves.”

For more information, please see:

Asia Sentinel - Kopassus Reinstatement Stirs Outrage - 23 July 2010
Jakarta Post - Kopassus officially off US military embargo – 23 July 2010
Los Angeles Times - U.S. to resume aid to controversial Indonesian army unit – 23

213
July 2010
Washington Post - U.S. to end ban on Indonesia’s special forces, angering human
rights groups – 23 July 2010
CNN - U.S. to resume ties with once-notorious Indonesian military unit – 22 July
2010
Department of Defense - Gates Seeks Stronger Military Ties With Indonesia – 22
July 2010
Human Rights Watch - Indonesia: US Resumes Military Assistance to Abusive
Force – 22 July 2010
Human Rights Watch - Letter to US Department of Defense Regarding US Military
Assistance to Indonesia – 4 February 2010

FIJI’S STRONGMAN STILL CENSORING AND RULING BY

DECREE

August 5th, 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji–Fiji’s prime minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, remains

unapologetically in favor of censorship and an iron-fisted military
regime. Despite pressure from nearby nations such as Australia and
New Zealand, Fiji’s strongman continues to place trust in his military,
but not his own people.

Commodore Bainimarama took control of the impoverished island

nation in a military coup in 2006. He did away with the constitution
and now rules by decrees. He told ABC television that he believes
only the military can adequately run the country and that politicians,
judges, and the publics are not trustworthy. He also defended his strict
censorship regulations and rule-by-decree regime.

“I don’t trust the people,” the dictator said. “We can’t bring about
changes if there are people that are still talking about bringing
instability.”

Bainimarama says dissent will not be allowed and has silenced

opponents, including the Methodist Church and tribal chiefs. He has
also expelled Australian and New Zealand diplomats after their
governments spoke out against his seizure of power and refusal to
implement elections.
214
“We need to stop all people speaking out against the government and
its reforms. I need to silence them,” the military leader stated.

A ban on foreign ownership of the media has been installed, and Fiji
Times, a popular news outlet, will close soon.

“I’ll be glad that people like the Fiji Times will no longer be here,”
Bainimarama said. “We’ll have our ownership of the papers, so we’ll
have at least some support for what we’re trying to do.”

The dictator has tried to justify censorship by explaining that some

media outlets understand his reasons.

“They understood that at some stage we’ll need to shut some people
up. . . . Reforms will never happen if we open everything out to every
Tom, Dick and Harry to have their say.”

Fiji has been suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum, which is
holding its annual summit this week in Vanuatu. Bainimarama has
criticized the Forum, saying it is dominated by Australia and New
Zealand, countries that are not Pacific Islanders.

“They crept in slowly like the proverbial camel,” he complained, “with

their head in, and then the front legs, and then the back legs, and all of
a sudden the owners of the tent were out and they were inside the
tent.”

Bainimarama says he wants to free Fiji from racial politics and hold
elections in 2014. Fiji has been divided by a power struggle between a
majority Fijian Indian community and various indigenous groups.

For more information, please see:

AFP-Fiji ruler says he doesn’t trust his people with democracy-3 August 2010
Sydney Morning Herald-Only military can save Fiji: Bainimarama-3 August 2010
ABC-At home with Fiji’s strongman-3 August 2010

215
PAPUA PRISONER CALLS FOR ATTENTION TO INDONESIA’S
ABUSES

September 19th, 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A Papuan political prisoner in Jayapura’s

Abepura prison says ongoing pressure by the international community
is crucial to force Indonesia to address human rights abuses.

Filep Karma, age 51, has been in the Abepura prison for over five
years after the district court found him guilty of treason when he raised
the outlawed Papuan Morning Star flag and organized a pro-
independence rally in late 2004.

Karma has been openly advocating for Papua’s independence from

Indonesia. He has been arrested and held in detention by the
Indonesian military on numerous occasions, most notably one being in
1999, when the Biak district court found him guilty of treason for
leading and giving speeches at the Biak protests. Despite being
sentenced for six and a half years in jail, he successfully appealed this
sentence, won his appeal, and was freed that year.

In 2001, when members of the Indonesian special forces (Kopassus)

killed then-Papuan-leader Theys Eluay, which dramatically raised
political tensions in Papua, Karma became more involved with the
independence movement.

Three years later, Karma helped organize an event on December 1,

2004, to celebrate the anniversary of Papua’s independence from the
Dutch. The event was joined by hundreds of Papuan students, who
chanted “freedom” and displayed the Morning Star Flag, which led to
Karma’s arrest.

216
Today Filep Karma is probably one of Papua’s most popular pro-
independence leaders as he never advocated violence as a means of
obtaining liberty and independence.

“We want to engage in a dignified dialogue with the Indonesian

government, a dialogue between two peoples with dignity, and dignity
means we have no use of violence,” Karma said.

There have been critical moments, too. In August 2009, after

experiencing difficulties urinating, Karma requested medical
assistance from the staff of Abepura prison, only to be denied of any
treatment or transfer to other medical clinic for diagnosis.

After long fight and intervention of various NGOs, Karma finally

received prostate surgery in September 2010, a year after he first made
requests for urgent treatment, which prison authorities repeatedly
denied.

He claims that international awareness of his plight has substantially

helped improve the prison’s treatment of his health condition and
brought positive change at the notorious prison.

“Because every time we report everything to people in the world, it

makes shame for the Indonesian government. They changed the head
of the prison. That’s why now, they will try to do best for the people,”
he said.

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – Papua prisoner calls for pressure to halt abuses by Indonesia –
20 September 2010
Human Rights Watch – Prosecuting Political Aspiration – 22 June 2010

217
 PNG POLICE KILLS UNDERAGE DETAINEE

October 27th, 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea – A Papua New Guinea

(PNG) policeman shot a 15-year-old being held in police custody. The
police was arrested immediately and was charged for willful murder.

The Post Courier newspaper reports Micah Anaiwe, provincial police

commander, as saying, the policeman is alleged to have gone into a
cell and shot the underage suspect many times. The teenager was in
police custody after he stabbed a supermarket manager during a
robbery in the Oro province town.

According to reports, the policeman was under the influence and had
allegedly been drinking with owners of the supermarket before the
shooting took place. This is the second time a shooting by a police
officer of a suspect in custody has happened in the province. Just last
month, a suspect arrested by two police officers was taken to a nearby
stream and shot.

Superintendent Dominic Kakas says PNG’s Police Commissioner,

Gary Baki, takes such matters very seriously and investigation will be
underway. “We’ve done our level best to try and win back public
confidence. He’s taken on a number of initiatives to also improve
policing and so on and this sort of like sets back a lot of positive
developments that have taken place.” An investigation from early this
year by the United Nation show a high incidence of police brutality
and torture at PNG police cells, and the government was urged to
improve the situation.

For more information, please see: see:

Radio New Zealand – PNG Police Commissioner concerned at shooting in custody –
27 October 2010
Radio New Zealand – PNG policeman arrested following fatal shooting of jailed
child – 27 October 2010
Radio Australia – PNG Policeman kills detainee in cell – 26 October 2010

218
 TWO TONGAN CANDIDATES QUESTION NOVEMBER
ELECTION RESULTS

January 10th, 2011

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga – After the historic November 2010 general

elections in Tonga, which marked a transition away from the 165-year
rule of the monarchy, two unsuccessful candidates are alleging fraud
in the election results. According to the Tongan Supreme Court, a
candidate of the Vava’u 14 constituency, Siale Fifita alleges that the
winner overspent the permitted amount on the campaign, carried out
election propaganda beyond the cut-off date and used bribery.

According to Mr Tuita, supreme court registrar, says a businessman,

Siosaia Moehau who was just four votes behind the winner of the
Tongatapu 6 constituency is convinced he won the seat as he thinks
there were a number of irregularities. “Some of the grounds stated are:
voting twice, which is false impersonation; another one was lack of
police control; and the other grounds is voting after declaration of the
ballots; and the last but not least is voting after 4pm, that was when the
voting was supposed to have ceased.”

In November 2010, general elections under a new electoral law were

held in Tonga, which determined the composition of the 2010 Tongan
Legislative Assembly – a first popularly elected parliament. For the
first time in the nation’s history, a party formed by a pro-democracy
movement emerged as the biggest winner in the election.

Four years prior to the election, anger over government’s forced

political reforms led to riots in the Capital, Nuku’alofa. During the
riots, gangs targeted businesses run by ethnic Chinese people.
Hundreds were injured and eight people were killed as much of the
town was burned down. Tonga suffers high unemployment and a
quarter of its population live below the poverty line. The November
election drew 89% of the 42,000 registered voters to cast ballots,

219
according to election officials. King George Tupou V called the
election “the greatest and most historic day of our kingdom”.

Amid expectations and concerns for this new democratic nation, this
election petitions came to light. However, the Supervisor of Elections
in Tonga, Pita Vuki, says it is common for one or two unsuccessful
candidates to file petitions after an election as the Electoral Act
permits. “It’s quite normal for any candidates to file a petition if they
feel there was something wrong in the conduct of elections or any
behavior of any other candidates.”

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – Tonga Supreme Court receives election petitions – 10 January
2011
BBC News – Strong showing for Tonga democrats in election – 26 November 2010
Radio New Zealand – Two failed Tongan candidates question election results – 10
January 2011

220
 SOUTH AMERICA DESK
BRAZILIANS EXPOSED TO LARGE QUANTITY
OF AGRO-TOXINS

June 2nd, 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil – In recent years, Brazil has become a haven for

agro-toxins that are shunned by other industrialized countries.
According to O Estado de Sao Paulo, the National Agency for Sanitary
Monitoring, the United Nations and the Brazilian Development,
Industry and Commerce Ministry claim that Brazilian farmers make
unabridged use of ten to twelve chemicals that are specifically banned
in other parts of South America, the United States, and the European
Union.

While legislation currently exists to limit the use of these dangerous

toxins, the government is “dragging their feet” and has failed to take
appropriate actions to reassess the chemicals or take them off of the
market completely. More specifically, the government has failed to
act even though many of these substances, including metamidophos,
have long been associated with endocrine problems in humans.

Despite Brazil’s movement toward genetically modified crops, the use

of toxins has not subsided. In fact, recent studies have shown that
more toxins have been used to treat genetically modified crops than
were used to treat non-genetically modified crops. Businesses that sell
genetically modified seeds, including Bayer and Dow, are the same
companies who manufacture the agro-toxins. These companies place a
great deal of pressure on Brazil to purchase the chemicals along with
the genetically modified crops.

Rosany Bochner, coordinator of Brazil’s National System of Toxic-

Pharmacology, fears that Brazilians are being exposed to potentially
dangerous substances that the rest of the world has rejected. Although

221
data does not currently exist that studies the health repercussions of
these agro-toxins, few deny that they will have long-term negative side
effects.

According to Researcher Frioruz Marcelo Firpo, Brazil is under

mounting pressure to keep up with the world’s economy. As pressure
mounts to ban these chemicals across the world, additional pressure is
being put on Brazil to purchase the toxins. While Firpo openly
acknowledges that Brazilians are paying a heavy “invisible” cost as a
result of ingesting these toxins, there does not appear to be a great deal
of optimism that practices will change.

For more information, please see:

Merco Press – Brazil has become a “haven” for the use of world-banned agro-
toxins – 31 May 2010
O Estado de Sao Paulo - Brasil é destino de agrotóxicos banidos no exterior - 30
May 2010
Check Biotech – Uruguay and Brazil: Genetically Modified Products and Agro-
toxins Go Hand in Hand-18 August 2009

‘OPERATION CONDOR’ TORTURE GARAGE

TRIAL OPENS IN ARGENTINA

June 5th, 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Five Argentine ex-military officials

have gone to trial accused of human rights abuses and the deaths of 65
people under a clandestine co-operative by several South American
dictatorships. Operation Condor, which operated between 1976 and
1983, was an effort to eliminate dissidents seeking refuge in
neighboring countries. There are hopes that the trial will bring to light
the secrets of the notorious Automotores Orletti torture center, one of
many similar prisons used by the military dictatorship.

222
The Automotores Orletti, nicknamed “the garden” by the military,
appeared as an auto-body shop in a popular middle-class neighborhood
of Buenos Aires. But behind its metal garage door, bound, blindfolded
prisoners were held alongside car parts and engines that ran to mask
their screams. Prisoners were interrogated and tortured, given
electrical shocks and submerged headfirst in water.

Rodolfo Yanzon, a human rights attorney representing the plaintiffs,

said, “This trial is even more important since the clandestine center
was used by intelligence services of other Latin American countries,
and people from those countries were detained there.” Among the
200-plus people held at Automotores Orletti were Argentines,
Uruguayans, Chileans, Paraguayans, Bolivians and Cubans. John
Dinges, author of “The Condor Years,” estimated that only 10 percent
of them survived.

A prosecutor described what took place in the secret prison as

“calculated and planned and amounted to a death sentence.” The
center was shut down after two Mexicans escaped, grabbing a firearm
and firing at guards. In 2008, the center was converted into a museum.
Those charged on Thursday were Raul Guglielminetti, Ruben Visuara,
Eduardo Cabanillas, Nestor Guillamondegui, Honorio Martinez Ruiz,
and Eduardo Ruffo. They were charged with illegal detention, torture
and the killing of 65 people. Guillamondegui was excused from the
trial because of bad health. Court officials said his health would be
monitored to determine if he would face trial later.

Operation Condor was a coordinated repression by South American

dictatorships against left-wing activists. Argentina, Chile, Paraguay,
Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay all participated. Rights activists say that
between 1976 and 1983, 30,000 people were killed or disappeared
under the Argentine dictatorship.

For more information, please see:

BBC-New ‘Operation Condor’ trial starts in Argentina – 4 June 2010
AP-Argentina court opens dirty war torture garage trial – 3 June 2010
Nine MSN-Argentines face trial for Condor deaths – 3 June 2010

223
 PERU: HUMAN RIGHTS HIGH COURT TOO
LENIENT ON SECURITY FORCE MEMBERS

June 21st, 2010

By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru – Human rights groups in Peru are complaining about

setbacks in trials and leniency of punishments for security force
members responsible for crimes against humanity during the Peruvian
Counterinsurgency War. The court dealing with these trials is the Sala
Penal Nacional, the highest-level court dealing with human rights
cases against members of the armed forces. Since 2009, the tribunal
has acquitted 65 accused and convicted only 15.

“There’s a clear tendency towards impunity on the part of the Sala

Penal Nacional in cases of extremely serious human rights violations,
that benefits members of the military and police who should be
punished for the crimes they committed,” said Ronal Gamarra,
executive secretary of the National Human Rights Coordinating
Committee.

Many facing the tribunal have committed several crimes against

humanity pursuant to orders from former Peruvian president, Alberto
Fujimori. Gamarra, who took part in the trial against Fujimori, said
that those defending the accused are, in essence, “paving the way for
an amnesty for the members of the criminal commandos that acted
under the former president’s orders.”
While support of the military is one of the main causes of delay in
judicial proceedings, military supporters allege that the delay is
actually caused by human rights groups and the judiciary.

Peruvian Defense Minister and military supporter, Rafael Rey,

recently reported that there is no information on the members of the
military who were posted at a number of army counterinsurgency
bases. The report noted “there are no documents because in the
counterinsurgency period military personnel were given their orders

224
verbally, using aliases as a security measure.” Therefore, Rey
concludes, military members being accused are victims of “judicial
persecution.” But the lack of documents raises the inference that there
was an attempt at hiding crimes against humanity. In a related
investigation of several acquittals, Rivera found an “alarming”
willingness of the Sala Penal Nacional to acquit defendants based on
“questionable arguments.”

Floria Cano, a lawyer with the Association for Human Rights, said that
“Rey asks us to be tolerant of the [military]. Our response is that we
are, and we will remain, intolerant of impunity.” She added that the
survivors remain eager to find out the truth and to see justice done.

For more information, please see:

Terraviva – Peru Faces Severe Setbacks for Justice in Cases Involving Military – 21
June 2010
Global Issues – Rights-Peru: Severe Setbacks for Justice in Cases Involving
Military – 19 June 2010
IPS – Severe Setbacks for Justice in Cases Involving Military – 19 June 2010

FORMER ARGENTINA DICTATOR TAKES

RESPONSIBILITY FOR RIGHTS ABUSES

July 7th, 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Jorge Rafael Videla, a former

Argentina dictator who helped to overthrow former President Isabel
Martinez de Peron, is on trial for human rights abuses. The abuses,
which date from 1976-1983, include kidnapping and torture. The trial
comes shortly after another former Argentina dictator, Gen. Reynaldo
Benito Bignone, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for very similar
crimes.

Videla’s reign as dictator, often referred to as the “Dirty War,” was

shroud with secret military prisons and torture centers. It was not
uncommon for Videla’s regime to capture leftist students, labor leaders

225
or intellectuals and seclude them in one of these secret holding places.
Some estimate that as many as 30,000 leftists were abducted.

Just days into the trial, Videla, who has previously been found guilty
of unrelated human rights abuses and sentenced to life in prison, took
responsibility for the military’s actions under his watch. Speaking to
the court, Videla stated “I fully assume my military responsibilities for
all the Argentine army’s actions during this internal war.”

Videla and his codefendants are specifically on trial for the murder of
31 political prisoners who were held captive and then shot to death
when they tried to escape. One attorney stated that there are significant
differences between the previous cases against Videla and the present
case. The 31 political prisoners at the center of this case were jailed
under the civilian government before Videla’s coup and were then
murdered when Videla took power, before the prisoners had a chance
to stand trial.

Miguel Ceballos, an attorney representing the victims, has a more

personal connection to this trial than most: Ceballos’ father was killed
under Videla’s watch. Ceballos said, “when they came looking for my
father at the prison, he knew he would be killed. He said goodbye to
his friends and left a photo of our family so they could tell us what had
happened.”
Any added jail time from this trial would mean little to Videla because
he is already serving a life sentence; however, a conviction would
offer relief to the victim’s friends and family members. Ceballos
stated, “This trial has been a long time coming. He is having the trial
that he denied my father.”

For more information, please see:

Euro News – Former Argentine Dictator Speaks In Court – 6 July 2010
Philly.com – Argentine Ex-dictator Faces Human Rights Charges – 2 July 2010
CNN – Former Argentina Dictator To Go On Trial In Rights Abuse Case – 30 June
2010

226
CHILE REJECTS CATHOLIC CHURCH’S CALL
TO PARDON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS

July 28th, 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – The Roman Catholic Church recently called on

conservative Chilean President Sebastian Piñera to pardon long-
serving human rights violators. Specifically, The Chilean Bishops’
Conference urged President Piñera to show clemency to prisoners who
showed repentance from human rights violations that occurred during
the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. Many of the longest-serving
prisoners are elderly and ill, including ex-military officials who were
directly responsible for abuses. The proposed pardon would have
pardoned 60 individuals. The Church’s actions come while Chile is
set to commemorate 200 years of Chilean independence.

The Church set specific parameters for those that they seek to be
pardoned: individuals who are over 70 years old, have served at least
half of their sentence, and who are ill. The Pinochet regime, which
lasted from 1973-1990, saw more than 3,000 Chileans killed at the
military’s hands. In a letter sent to President Piñera, the Bishops’
Conference stated that not all human rights violators shared equal
responsibility. The letter provoked a great deal of public outcry from
family members representing those who were killed and tortured on
Pinochet’s watch. The victims’ families called the request a setback
for justice and fairness.

Despite the effort, the Chilean President has refused to offer a pardon
stating, “I have reached the conclusion that it would not be prudent or
convenient in the current circumstances to promote a new law of
general pardon.” President Piñera was, however, receptive to the
Church’s proposal for improving the country’s prison system,
according to the President of the Chilean Bishops’ Conference. The
measures include improving facilities and building more jails to curb
overpopulation.

227
While President Piñera closed the door to a broad sweeping pardon,
he did leave the option open for the government to consider pardons
on an individualized basis. However, Piñera also said that no pardons
would be considered for those who violated serious crimes, including
murder and torture. Mireya Garcia, vice president of the Group of
Relatives of the Detainees and Disappeared, expressed concerns over
this case-by-case evaluation. Garcia fears that people who are
sentenced under different categories, but who committed human rights
violations, might be incorrectly pardoned.

For more information, please see:

Merco Press – Piñera Rejects Bishops’ Plea To Pardon Military Involved In Human
Rights Abuses – 26 July 2010
NPR – Chile Rejects Pardons Proposed By Catholic Church – 25 July 2010
New York Times – Chile Rejects Church Call To Pardon Officials – 25 July 2010

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS CONDEMN MURDER

OF COLOMBIAN INDIGENOUS LEADER

August 2nd, 2010

By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

RIOHACHA, Colombia – Another human rights activist was gunned

down last week, the latest murder in the ongoing struggle between
human rights supporters and guerilla groups. Human rights groups are
urging Colombia to be more proactive in protecting activists and in
prosecuting and punishing those responsible for this and other crimes
against humanity. Luis Alfredo Socarras Pimienta, a local dentist,
dental-care campaign organizer, leader of the Wayuu indigenous
people, and human rights activist was gunned down last Friday in the
doorway of his home. The unidentified gunman reportedly fled the
scene after the shots were fired.

Over the past year, Pimienta had organized several demonstrations to

protest the human rights violations and egregious living conditions the

228
Wayuu people were subjected to. The Wayuu people used the
demonstrations to urge the Colombian government to respect their
human rights and assist them in obtaining a better quality of life.
During the year Pimienta also ran for the position of mayor of the
Manaure municipality and for a position on the Polo Democratico
Alternativo party.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) reports

that Pimienta was widely recognized as a human rights activist and
indigenous leader of the Wayuu people. The Commission explained
“attacks against leaders break down the cohesion of indigenous people
when it comes to defending their human rights, and undermines their
sociocultural integrity” and “that the work of human rights defenders
is an essential component in building a solid and lasting democracy.”

In short, the IACHR says that it urges the State to protect activists
because a leader’s removal essentially disintegrates the cohesion, and
therefore the voice, of prejudiced groups, whether indigenous peoples
or otherwise. Without leaders such a Pimienta, indigenous groups
cease to have a collective voice, leaving only the voices of
independent and uninterested individuals, which are unlikely to be
heard or understood by local or federal governments.

Created by the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR is

an independent panel consisting of seven independent members
equally representing its 35 member nations. It assists in unifying the
voices of victims of human rights violations.

For more information please see:

CNN – OAS Human Rights Commission Condemns Colombian Activist’s Slaying –
August 2, 2010
Colombia Reports – OAS Body Condemns Murder of Indigenous Leader – August 2,
2010
Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources – IACHR Condemns Murder of Human
Rights Defender of Wayuu People in Colombia – August 2, 201

229
 FACEBOOK HIT LISTS SPARK MURDER,
PANIC

August 28th, 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

PUERTO ASIS, Colombia—A small Colombian town has been

gripped by panic after three teens that were named on online hit lists
were murdered. Many local families have reacted by moving out of
the area or sending their children away to safety. Three hit lists,
containing 90 names, were posted on the social networking website
Facebook. Those named were youths, threatened with death if they
did not leave the town Puerto Asis. According to a local official, some
of the names on the lists were nicknames only known and used within
the youths’ group of friends.

The message on Facebook read in part: “Please, as a family, urge

them to leave town in less than three days, otherwise we will be
obligated to realize acts such as those of August 15.”
On August 15, Diego Jaramillo, 16, and Eibart Ruiz, 17, were shot and
killed while riding a motorcycle between Puerto Asis and Puerto
Caicedo; soon afterward, the first hit list was posted online containing
their names.

Five days later, Norbey Alexander Vargas, 19, was murdered in Puerto
Asis after his name was included in one of the ominous lists. Although
officials at first believed the lists to be a prank, they have now
launched an investigation aided by Internet experts. The Facebook
page has been blocked. Puerto Asis is a small town of 70,000 people,
located in the remote jungles of southern Colombia near Ecuador. The
names on the Facebook hit lists indicated that most if not all of the
youths mentioned were from Puerto Asis.

Colombia is a country at war with various militant anti-government

groups and violent gangs. The infamous FARC (Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia) group and a dangerous gang called Los Rastrojos

230
have ties in the area. Internet hit lists are new to Colombia, but similar
threats have been signed and publicly displayed by right-wing
paramilitaries, naming alleged “drug addicts and prostitutes.” In 2005,
the paramilitaries were demobilized and splintered off into numerous
criminal gangs.

It is believed that criminal gangs in Colombia consist of 4,000 to 9,000

members and operate in 24 of the country’s 32 states. The Colombian
ombudsman Volmar Ortiz issued an alert, indicating that the Los
Rastrojos gang may be responsible for the recent murders and hit list
intimidation. Ortiz’s warning said the gang “executes violent acts,
spawning community conflicts, imposing their will, intimidating and
dispensing punishment against those culturally and socially
stigmatized.”

For more information, please see:

LA Times-COLOMBIA: Deaths of 3 teens feed fear over Facebook threats-26
August 2010
Time-Colombia’s Facebook Hit List: Drug Gangs 2.0-26 August 2010
ABC News-Facebook Death List: 3 Colombian Teens Killed-25 August 2010

BRAZIL’S PRESIDENT APPROVES

CONSTRUCTION OF DAM THREATENING
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

August 31st, 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

recently signed a contract allowing the construction of a controversial
dam to begin. The Belo Monte mega dam, as it is being called, is set
to be built on the Amazonian Xingu River. President Lula
championed the dam under the guise that it will be a victory for
Brazil’s energy sector and the Brazilian government claims that the
project will create 20,000 jobs. Critics contend that, in all likelihood,
the dam will devastate the area and cause the demise of the local
government and indigenous peoples.

231
Walter Coronado Antunes, former Environment Secretary of São
Paulo state, has called the dam “the worst engineering project in the
history of hydroelectric dams in Brazil, and perhaps of any
engineering project in the world,” in response to the many design
flaws of the project.
The buildup to this move has been wrought with controversy and legal
action from the area’s indigenous peoples and human rights groups.
The bidding process was interrupted three times by legal action by
different groups, including the Brazilian Federal Public Prosecutors
Office, who object to the dam. Hundreds of Indians are currently
protesting, joined by experts, human rights groups, environmental
organizations, and Brazil’s Public Ministry, against the Belo Monte
dam.

Set to be the world’s third largest hydroelectric dam, Belo Monte is

projected to flood 154 square miles and will permanently dry up a 62-
mile section of the Xingu River, leaving the indigenous communities
along the banks without water transportation and the food provided by
the river, according to International Rivers, a California-based NGO.
Initial numbers project that the dam will affect 50,000 peoples’ lives,
including displacing at least 20,000 people from the region.

Critics fear that this project sets a dangerous precedent and more dams
will follow Belo Monte. These critics also say that the power needed
for Brazil’s economic growth could be greatly reduced by less invasive
measures, including investing in energy saving techniques.
The dam is scheduled to begin operating in 2015. It will generate
enough power to supply 23 million homes in Brazil.

For more information, please see:

The Epoch Times – Brazilian Government Signs Huge Amazon Dam Project – 27
August 2010
Radio New Zealand News – Massive Hydro Electric Dam Approved For Brazil – 27
August 2010
Survival International – Brazilian President Signs Death Sentence for Amazonian
River – 27 August 2010
Survival International – Serious Damage: Tribal Peoples and Large Dams Report –
2010

232
INDIGENOUS PRISONERS SEEK RESOLUTION
TO HUNGER STRIKE

September 4th, 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – Chilean President Sebastián Piñera recently

called for an end to an ongoing hunger strike by indigenous Mapuche
inmates. The Mapuche political prisoners are protesting a Pinochet-
era anti-terror law that was used to convict them. The Mapuche people
have clashed with the Chilean government and farmers for years over
ancestral lands in the southern part of the country.

The anti-terror law, which has been widely criticized by human rights
groups, including Amnesty International, was used to label the inmates
“terrorists” based on certain actions, such as setting timber shipments
on fire. The law also allows government witnesses to conceal their
identities at trial and permits defendants to be tried by military
commissions.

The hunger strike began in July with five prisoners and has since
grown to include 34 inmates in various jails throughout Chile. Many
of the prisoners have lost up to 40 pounds during the hunger strike and
are experiencing dizziness and low blood pressure. Last month, the
families of the Mapuche prisoners went to Santiago, the capital, to
denounce irregularities in their trials and push for dialogue with the
authorities.

Spokespersons for the Mapuche families stated that the prisoners were
at a critical stage in the hunger strike and continue losing muscle tissue
and experiencing vital organ failure.
President Piñera said that his government will send two bills to
Congress next week to reform anti-terror legislation and the military
justice system in an effort to end the strike. He added, “I want to ask
all of those worried about the health of the protesters to help us end
this hunger strike.”

233
The police and military have been accused by human rights groups of
using excessive force against the Mapuches in the past. But the
indigenous peoples have come under fire for sometimes violent
protests where they have burned crops and the trucks and machinery of
forestry companies.

The Mapuches lost their lands to the newly formed states of Argentina
and Chile in the early 19th century after having fended off the
Spanish conquistadores for centuries. The indigenous peoples
ancestral territory spanned most of the south of Chile and crossed over
into Argentina.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Chile Wants to End Hunger Strike over Terror Laws – 3 September 2010
The Argentine Independent – Chile: Health of Mapuches on Hunger Strike
Worsens – 2 September 2010
IPS – Mapuche Prisoners on Hunger Strike to Demand Talks – 12 August 2010
Intercontinental Cry – Mapuche on Hunger Strike over Chile’s Militancy – 4 August
2010

COLOMBIAN MILITARY OFFICIAL

ARRESTED FOR UNLAWFUL KILLINGS

October 9th, 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombian officials have arrested an army

officer suspected of 11 extrajudicial killings of civilians. Major
Orlando Arturo Cespedes Escalona was arrested Thursday in the
northwestern city of Medellin. The 11 deceased individuals were
presented as leftist guerillas killed during combat.

Those allegedly killed by Escalona include 11 adolescents and young

men, ages 16-28, from Toluviejo, a town in the northern province of
Sucre. Recruiters lured these young men to areas through promises of
agricultural work and money, but they were then executed. While

234
remains from 10 bodies have been found and returned to family
members, one 16-year-old is still missing.

Colombia’s Attorney General has stated that Escalona will face

aggravated kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, and homicide charges.
The case is being handled by a special human rights and international
law prosecutor who also ordered the arrest of retired Col. Luis
Fernando Borja.

In what has become known as the “False Positives” scandal, the

Colombian army has been accused of killing civilians and presenting
them as guerrillas killed in combat to pump body counts. The soldiers
who claimed credit for the “kills” received weekend passes and other
benefits. Civilian accomplices lured the victims away from their
homes and in what is described as a common practice, army recruiters
would bury the men in common graves to give the impression that they
were insurgents killed in combat.

There are many other instances of extrajudicial killings aside from

those that Escalona is accused of. The number of documented victims
has already topped 2,000. However, some suspect that the number
could be closer to 3,000 victims. Other recruiters have been already
been convicted and sentenced to no less than 25 years in prison.

Victims’ families and human rights activists suspect that a directive

issued in 2005 by then-Defense Minister Camilo Ospina offering
incentives to soldiers for insurgent deaths may have spurred many of
these killings.

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune – Colombian Army Officer Arrested for Unlawful
Killings– 8 October 2010
Colombia Passport – Military Arrested for Murder of a Protected Person – 7 October
2010
Colombia Reports – Army Major Arrested for 11 “False Positive” Murders – 7
October 2010

235
 33 CHILEAN WOMEN STAGE HUNGER
STRIKE TO DEMAND JOBS

November 20th, 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – A group of 33 women have banded together in a

Chilean mine 3,000 feet underground to protest the end of a program
which, at one time, provided thousands of people with jobs. In
February, an earthquake devastated Chile. As a result, the Chilean
government created a Military Job Corps program, which put people to
work clearing debris and constructing emergency housing, amongst
other things.

In September, the government failed to extend the program, forcing –

by some accounts– 12,000 people out of work, adding additional stress
on those who had already lost their homes and livelihoods to the
earthquake. In an interview with the Santiago Times, protest
spokesperson Ivania Anabalón stated that Chileans have “tried several
actions at all levels [since September] and cannot make the
government understand that all we need is a source of work.”
Anabalón also stated that “[t]he governor wouldn’t even look at us.”

Reports from several news agencies indicate the women have

hundreds of supporters and sympathizers protesting and rallying
outside the mine, which was operating as a tourist attraction when the
women occupied the coal mine. Javier Matamala, who is currently in
charge of the mine, has urged all parties involved to end the protest
quickly and peacefully “to avoid damages to this historic location.”

The women sent an open letter to the Piñera Administration, referring

to the recent effort to rescue 33 trapped miners in the north of the
country. They ask the government to use that same kind of effort to
provide assistance for the thousands of Chileans who have lost their
236
jobs and homes due to the earthquake and the failure to reauthorize the
jobs bill.

Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter urged the 33 women on hunger

strike to reconsider their protest and said they were “lucky” to have
had jobs for a few months. The governor of the Concepción region,
where the mine is located, told Radio Cooperativa that Lota municipal
chief of staff Vasili Carrillo, a one-time guerrilla who battled the 1973-
1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, was orchestrating the women’s
protest.

For more information, please see:

Epoch Times – Women Stage Hunger Strike in Chilean Mine – 18 November 2010
Latin American Herald Tribune – Chilean Women Mount Hunger Strike to Demand
Jobs– 18 November 2010
Hispanically Speaking News – 33 Chilean Women Lock Themselves in 9,000 Feet
Deep Mine – 16 November 2010

COLOMBIA NAMED ONE OF THE MOST

DANGEROUS COUNTRIES FOR JOURNALISTS

December 30th, 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – A recent report published by Swiss-based

Press Emblem Campaign calls Latin America the most dangerous
region in the world for journalists. In 2010, there were a reported 105
murders of journalists worldwide, 35 of which occurred in Latin
America.

While Mexico and Honduras were among the most dangerous

countries on Press Emblem Campaign’s list, Colombia was named the
seventh most dangerous area, with four murders of journalists in 2010
alone. According to the Swiss NGO, Colombia’s numbers are on par
with other South American countries, such as Brazil.

237
Fewer fatalities have been reported this year compared to 2009, when
122 journalists died, but the toll is higher than the 91 deaths recorded
in 2008. Blaise Lempen, Press Emblem Campaign’s Secretary-
General, said that “the killing of journalists has become an epidemic
with no cure.”

“The international community has not found solutions to it, or put in

place effective mechanisms for bringing the perpetrators of those
crimes against journalists to trial.” Since the NGO began keeping
statistics five years ago, 529 journalists have been murdered
performing their professional duties.

The media watchdog’s president, Hedayat Abdel Nabi, pressed for

action to better protect journalists. PEC campaign promotes the
adoption of international legislation to protect journalists in carrying
out their mission. Nabi also stated “let’s move together in 2011 to
achieve a well deserved bold step for journalists, 2011 could be the
target date, then or never.”

For more information, please see:

Examiner – Latin America Considered the Most Dangerous Region for Journalists –
27 December 2010
Hindustan Times – Journalists’ Death Toll Reaches 105 in 2010 – 27 December
2010
Latin American Herald Tribune – Latin America Most Dangerous Region for
Journalists in 2010 – 27 December 2010

220 BRAZILIAN FIRMS ACCUSED OF SLAVE

LABOR

January 5th, 2011

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil—On Monday, 88 more private firms were

accused by the Brazilian government of engaging in slave labor, or
forcing laborers to live and work in conditions equivalent to slavery.

238
The Labor Ministry now lists 220 such firms on Brazil’s registry of
worker exploitation.

The accused companies will be punished by steep fines and will be

unable to obtain credit at public banks or sell their products to
government entities. The firms will be blacklisted this way for at least
two years until they demonstrate that they have brought their practices
up to code.

Agricultural firms listed on the registry are believed to have forced

workers to live and work in dangerous conditions, threatening their
safety, hygiene and health. There have also been allegations that the
agricultural workers have been made to work illegally long hours and
receive less than adequate pay.

The majority of the workers who have been trapped in slave labor
were recruited from the poorest areas of Brazil. After the laborers
agreed to be relocated in promise of a job, they became imprisoned by
employers who demanded money for food, rent, and previously
unmentioned services. The workers become imprisoned in debt
bondage and have little choice but to do as their employers order.

The recent influx in slave labor in Brazil is the most severe since
records on the matter emerged in 2003. The 220 firms on the updated
list include plantations, sugar mills, coal yards, timber businesses,
construction companies and textile factories.

The government blacklist is updated every six months and 14 firms

were recently dropped because they improved their operations to meet
government standards. Last year, a government task force rescued
almost 5,000 slave laborers after conducting 133 raids on suspected
farms in Brazil. According to the United Nations International Labor
Organization, there are roughly 12.3 million workers suffering from
similar situations throughout the world.

For more information, please see:

239
EIN News-Brazil Cracks Down on Farm Slave Labor; 88 Firms Accused-5 January
2011
Sify News-Over 200 Brazil firms found treating workers as slaves-5 January 2011
Fox News-Brazil accuses 220 firms of using slave labor-4 January 2011

INDIGENOUS PROTESTERS OUSTED FROM

EASTER ISLAND HOTEL

February 7th, 2011

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

EASTER ISLAND, Chile—On Sunday, police officers raided a

luxury hotel on Easter Island to evict indigenous individuals who had
been occupying the building. The occupants have been protesting the
loss of their ancestral lands on Easter Island to tourists and other non-
indigenous residents who visit the island to view its famous ancient
monolith statues.

Chilean police drove the last of dozens of indigenous Rapa Nui

protesters from the Hangaroa Eco Village and Spa hotel, one of the
last strongholds captured by them in protest last year. Members of the
Hitorangi clan have remained on the grounds since August of last year
and insist that the property was illegally taken from their illiterate
grandmother. They claim that the notoriously cruel dictator General
Augusto Pinochet illegitimately sold their grandmother’s land to the
Schiess family. The protesters also argue that there are plans to
develop Easter Island to cater to non-indigenous people, and their
ancestral lands will be lost.

The police raid on the hotel came just two days before the protesters
were scheduled to go to court and discuss ownership of the property.
According to Rodrigo Gomez, the protesters’ lawyer, about 50 armed
police officers raided the hotel in order to oust the last 5 inhabitants.
Gomez called the incident “utterly irregular and illegal.” The Save

240
Rapa Nui website has reported that a Chilean judge had previously
refused to allow police to evict the hotel’s occupants.

Last December, over 20 people were wounded by pellet guns shot by

police as they tried to scatter Rapa Nui protesters. Last month, James
Anaya of the United Nations spoke out in defense of the Rapa Nui,
asking Chile’s government to “make every effort to conduct a dialogue
in good faith with representatives of the Rapa Nui people to solve, as
soon as possible, the real underlying problems that explain the current
situation.”

The Rapa Nui protesters who were squatting in the hotel were arrested
by police and then let go to await a court hearing. Easter Island
(officially called Rapa Nui) is a Unesco World Heritage Site and was
annexed by Chile in 1888. It has a population of approximately 4,000.

For more information, please see:

Today Online-Police evict last of Easter Island protesters-7 February 2011
BBC-Police evict Rapa Nui clan from Easter Island hotel-6 February 2011
Herald Sun-Easter Island squatters evicted-6 February 2011

HISTORIC AWARD TO ECUADORIAN

RESIDENTS IN POLLUTION CASE

February 15th, 2011

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

QUITO, Ecuador – A judge in Ecuador has awarded $8.64 billion to

Ecuadorian residents of the Amazon who had sued Chevron for years
of crude oil pollution. The award is set to double if Chevron does not
apologize within two weeks. Both sides have indicated that they will
appeal the verdict.

Chevron claims that the court’s verdict is the “product of fraud.” The
plaintiffs assert that the award is too small in relation to the cost of the

241
pollution’s cleanup. In addition, Chevron alleges, “the Ecuadorian
court’s judgment is illegitimate and unenforceable.”

The lawsuit charged that the oil company used a variety of substandard
production practices in Ecuador that resulted in pollution that
“decimated” several indigenous groups in the area.

According to the Amazon Defense Coalition, Chevron has admitted

that Texaco, its predecessor, dumped more than 18 billion gallons of
toxic waste into Amazon waterways, abandoned more than 900 waste
pits, burned millions of cubic meters of gases with no controls and
spilled more than 17 million gallons of oil due to pipeline ruptures.
The coalition claims that cancer and other health problems were
reported at higher rates in the area.

Luis Yanza, a spokesperson for the Assembly of those Affected by

Chevron, said at a news conference that the ruling was “historic” and a
“collective victory.” Yanza was also quick to proclaim that the award
was fairly insignificant in terms of the harm that 30 years of pollution
has had on the area.

The judgment against Chevron is the latest skirmish in 18 years of

litigation between the Amazon indigenous groups and Chevron, which
inherited the lawsuit when it purchased Texaco in 2001. Although both
parties will appeal, Humberto Piaguaje, a local leader, called the
judgment “a victory for the population that lives in the oil-producing
area in northern Ecuador.”

“The judge did justice and has seen reality,” said Piaguaje. “We know
that this is only one part of our fight and we will continue until there is
justice and the damage is healed. The world should know that what
happened in the Amazon and our fight for life, for justice.”

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg – Chevron’s $17 Billion Ecuador Judgment May be Unenforceable,

Analysts Say – 15 Febraury 2011
CNN – Appeals Planned after Amazon Residents Win Ruling Against Chevron – 15

242
February 2011
Reuters – Snap Analysis – Chevron-Ecuador Case Only at Beginning of the End – 14
February 2011

243