(Corrected) Equatorial Guinea: Human Rights Concerns Taint Election
ICC: Prosecutor Seeks OK on Kenya Inquiry
(The Hague) – The request today by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to the court’s judges to open a Kenya investigation is a decisive step toward justice for the country’s 2007 post-election violence, Human Rights Watch said. The move comes after more than a year of inaction by Kenya’s authorities on national prosecutions.
Abduction and killings of journalists and politicians in the Philippines must be investigated
Amnesty International has condemned the killings of at least 21 civilians, including journalists and members of a politician’s family, in the southern Philippines province of Maguindanao, the first reported killings linked to national elections to be held in May 2010.
A group of about 45 people were ambushed and abducted by about 100 armed men, according to reports. The military recovered the bodies of 13 women and eight men—some of them mutilated.
"These killings underline the danger facing civilians in the run up to the national elections. The authorities must immediately launch an independent and effective investigation into these murders and ensure that they do all they can to prevent killings and other violence," said Donna Guest, Deputy Asia Pacific Director, Amnesty International.
The sister and the wife of Esmael Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan town, were on their way to file his certificate of candidacy as provincial governor when they were attacked.
The province of Maguindanao witnessed widespread election violence during previous polls.
Amnesty International has been told that at least 12 journalists were part of the group who were targeted. It is not known how many journalists were killed.
Private armies, often employed by rich and politically influential families in Mindanao, have committed abuses with impunity.
"The government must prohibit and disband private armies and paramilitary forces immediately. The authorities should also establish clear standards on human rights protection and ensure their implementation, particularly during the election period when politically-motivated killings could increase." said Donna Guest.
Burundi: Reverse Ban on Civil Society Group
World AIDS Day: Punitive Laws Threaten HIV Progress
(New York) – HIV prevention efforts – and the promise of antiretroviral therapy as prevention – are being undermined by punitive laws targeting those infected with and at risk of HIV, Human Rights Watch said today on the eve of World AIDS Day.
Myanmar must end arrests of activists and continue aid after Cyclone Nargis
International donors meeting in Bangkok this week should pressure the Myanmar authorities to end harassment of activists trying to help survivors of Cyclone Nargis, and ensure sufficient aid reaches those affected, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
In late October, the Myanmar authorities arrested at least 10 political activists and journalists for accepting relief donations from abroad, sources inside the country told Amnesty International.
Their whereabouts is unknown and it is not clear whether any charges have been brought against them.
The ten —whom Amnesty International considers prisoners of conscience— were among at least 41 dissidents arrested last month as part of a broader crackdown by the Myanmar government.
"The authorities are denying Nargis survivors assistance they desperately need and have a right to receive," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher.
The most recent crackdown precedes the 25 November meeting of the ASEAN Tripartite Core Group (TCG), which was established in May 2008 to monitor, coordinate and facilitate international aid to areas hit by Cyclone Nargis. It comprises high-level representatives from ASEAN, the Myanmar government, and the United Nations.
"More than 18 months after the cyclone, the survivors still require critical support from the international community," said Zawacki.
Extra funding is still needed to provide new houses, cyclone shelters, livelihood programmes, water and sanitation facilities, education facilities, and health services to hundreds of thousands of people in Myanmar, international agencies say.
The TCG’s three-year project for post-cyclone recovery efforts has a projected cost of US$691 million, but only $125 million has been committed.
"Leaders meeting in Bangkok must ensure that the required aid is forthcoming and reaches those who need it," Zawacki said. "The international community should increase its donations and demand transparency, accountability, and non-discrimination in the distribution of aid."
Seven people arrested in late October are members of the local Lin Let Kye (Shining Star) programme, formed in May 2008 and devoted to relief and social activism: Ka Gyi, Zaw Gyi, Lai Ron, Shwe Moe, Aung Myat Kyaw Thu, Paing Soe Oo, and Thant Zin Soe, who is also the editor of Foreign Affairs Weekly. Three others who had made donations to humanitarian efforts, Thet Ko, Myint Thein, and Min Min, were also arrested.
Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on 2 and 3 May 2008, and left 140,000 people dead or missing.
In October the US pledged to fund US$10 million through international NGOs for Nargis-related recovery programs, while the EU committed to funding 35 million Euros (US$51.5 million) for the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust (LIFT) fund, aimed at improving human security in Myanmar. Funds of US$326 million have been committed so far in the original 2008 Myanmar Flash Appeal, out of the US$477 million requested.
Kazakhstan: Rights Deteriorating as OSCE Chairmanship Nears
(New York) – Foreign ministers gathering for the annual Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Athens on December 1 and 2 should use the meeting to urge Kazakhstan to address pressing human rights concerns before it takes over the chairmanship of the organization in January, Human Rights Watch said today.
Equatorial Guinea: Human Rights Concerns Taint Election
(New York) – Conditions in Equatorial Guinea cast serious doubt about the credibility of the forthcoming presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has ruled the oil-rich West African country since seizing power in a coup in 1979, is widely expected to easily win the presidential vote scheduled for November 29, 2009.
Tajikistan women beaten, abused and raped in the family
The authorities in Tajikistan must properly prosecute violence against women as a criminal offence, Amnesty International said in a report published on Tuesday.
Violence is not just a family affair: Women face abuse in Tajikistan, documents the physical, psychological and sexual abuse women face in the family and urges the authorities to address it as the crime it is and not to dismiss it as a "private family matter".
"Women in Tajikistan are beaten, abused, and raped in the family but the authorities tend to reflect the societal attitude of blaming the woman for domestic violence. They see their primary role as mediator, to preserve the family rather than protect the woman and to safeguard their rights," said Andrea Strasser-Camagni, Amnesty International’s expert on Tajikistan.
"The traditional Tajik family values, reinforced after the break-up of the Soviet Union, impose further discrimination on women by narrowing their identity to that of wife and mother, or pushing them into the lowest paid sector of the job market."
"By writing off violence against women as a family affair the authorities in Tajikistan are shirking their responsibility to a large part of the population. They are allowing perpetrators of such crimes to act with impunity and, ultimately, denying women their human rights."
Violence against women, and especially in the family, is widespread in Tajikistan. One-third to one-half of women have regularly been subjected to physical, psychological or sexual violence at the hands of their husbands or their in-laws.
Often, Tajik women are economically dependent on their husband’s family. They have told Amnesty International that upon setting foot in the in-law’s home after marriage they may be subjected to harsh treatment not only from their husbands, but also from their in-laws, and in particular from their mothers-in-law who themselves may have been abused as young brides.
"Women are being treated as servants or as the in-laws’ family property. They have no one to turn to as the policy of the authorities is to urge reconciliation which de facto reinforces their position of inferiority. This experience of violence and humiliation in the family makes many women to turn to suicide," Andrea Strasser-Camagni said.
There are insufficient services to protect the survivors of domestic violence, and most of these are provided by internationally funded local non-governmental organizations. The police, judiciary and medical staff are not sufficiently trained to deal with cases of domestic violence.
Education is a key factor in developing girls’ empowerment and providing an escape route from violence and poverty. However, girls drop out early from schools; instead, they enter into early and often unregistered or polygamous marriages, all of which increase their dependency on their husbands.
Initial measures undertaken by the Tajikistani government to combat domestic violence have proved largely insufficient.
Although Tajikistan has ratified relevant international human rights treaties, it is falling short of its international obligation to protect and fulfil women’s rights.
Amnesty International has called upon the Tajikistani authorities to:
- prevent and prosecute violence against women in the family through the introduction of an effective domestic law and nationwide support services;
- carry out a nationwide public awareness campaign in order to address the unlawful practices of unregistered, polygamous, and early marriages;
- remove all barriers to girls’ education and address the root causes of girls dropping out of education.
UN: Secretary-General Should Evaluate Gaza Inquiries
(New York) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should provide an analytic, evaluative report on Israeli and Hamas investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations during the Gaza conflict, as requested by the General Assembly, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the secretary-general made public today.