Amnesty International issues human rights plan for Honduras
Amnesty International on Thursday issued a series of recommendations to newly elected Honduran President Porfirio Lobo to repair the damage done to human rights since the June 2009 coup d’état, which left hundreds seeking justice.
The 13 recommendations include issues relating to investigations into the human rights abuses committed by security forces, rejecting amnesty laws for those responsible for the crimes, training judges on international human rights legislation and setting up an effective witness protection programme.
"Honduras’ devastating coup d’état has left the country in urgent need of a programme of human rights reconstruction with clear objectives and a timeline for completion," said Kerrie Howard, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Americas programme.
"If President Lobo wants to restore the rule of law and confidence in his government, he must ensure the abuses of the past seven months are dealt with quickly and effectively."
Amnesty International’s report also summarizes 20 cases which include police killings, arbitrary detentions, beatings and ill-treatment in detention, sexual abuse of women and girls, harassment of journalists, judges and activists.
No-one has been held to account for these abuses and few investigations have been opened.
On 1 August, 38-year-old teacher Roger Abraham Vallejo died in hospital as a result of injuries sustained from a bullet wound to the head, caused by a rubber bullet reportedly fired by police during the break up of a protest in Tegucigalpa in July. An investigation into the killing is open but no advances have been reported.
On 23 September, 16-year-old Gerson Ariel Cruz was seriously wounded by police following the break up of a protest in Tegucigalpa. According to an eyewitness, the police chased protesters into a residential neighbourhood where they opened fire with live ammunition. Gerson, who had taken no part in the protest, was shot in the stomach.
When family members tried to take him to hospital they were turned back from a police roadblock, substantially delaying their journey to seek emergency treatment. Gerson survived but sustained serious injuries from which he has still not fully recovered. The shooting was reported to the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights and an investigation is on-going.
"There are dozens of cases of killings, beatings, sexual harassment and other abuses by the security forces against members of the opposition movement and those seen as critical of the coup d’état which need to be urgently investigated," said Kerrie Howard. "Hondurans will expect President Lobo to provide answers and a resolution to the hundreds of human rights abuses committed by the security forces since 28 June 2009."
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo took office on 27 January. He was elected in November last year amidst a political crisis that saw President Manuel Zelaya ousted by military-backed right wing politicians in June.
Honduras: Recommendations to the new Honduran government following the coup of June 2009 (Document, 28 January 2010)
EU: Keep Sanctions on Mugabe’s Inner Circle
(New York) – The European Union should maintain its travel restrictions and asset freezes on President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle until Zimbabwe carries out the concrete human rights reforms set out in the 2008 Global Political Agreement, Human Rights Watch said today. The EU is currently reviewing its sanctions policy toward Zimbabwe.
‘Shocking’ execution of Iran protesters condemned
Amnesty International has condemned the execution of two men arrested during protests that followed Iran’s disputed presidential election last year.
Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour were hanged on Thursday after being convicted in unfair trials of “enmity against God” and being members of Anjoman-e Padeshahi-e Iran (API), a banned group which advocates the restoration of an Iranian monarchy.
They are the first executions known to be related to the post-election violence that erupted across Iran in June and has continued since.
"These shocking executions show that the Iranian authorities will stop at nothing to stamp out the peaceful protests that persist since the election," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.
"These men were first unfairly convicted and now they have been unjustly killed – it is not even clear they had links to this group as their ‘confessions’ appear to have been made under duress."
According to the Iranian authorities, at least nine other people are currently on death row in Iran after being sentenced to death in similar post-election ’show trials’.
"Our fear is that these executions are just the beginning of a wave of executions of those tried on similar vaguely worded charges," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour were convicted of “enmity against God” by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court in October. They were also convicted of "propaganda against the system", "insulting the holy sanctities" and "gathering and colluding with intent to harm national internal security".
Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani was accused of illegally visiting Iraq where he was alleged to have met US military officials.
Arash Rahmanipour’s lawyer says he played no role in the election protests and was forced to confess in a “show trial” after members of his family were threatened.
The two men’s lawyers were not informed of their clients’ executions, as is required by Iranian law.
"These executions highlight how the justice system is used as an instrument of repression by the authorities. They are sending a warning to those who may wish to exercise their right to peacefully demonstrate against the government, not to go out in the street,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
Further anti-government demonstrations are widely expected to take place on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on 11 February.
According to Iranian officials, over 40 people have died in demonstrations since the election, which were violently repressed by the security forces. Amnesty International believes the number to be much higher. More than 5,000 people have been arrested, many of whom were tortured or otherwise ill-treated.
Scores have been sentenced to prison terms, and in some cases flogging, after unfair trials, and at least 11 have been sentenced to death. One man – Hamed Rouhinejad – has had his death sentence commuted on appeal in January 2010.
Uzbekistan: Drop Slander Charge Against Photographer
(New York) – The Uzbek authorities should immediately drop the baseless slander and insult charges against the prominent photographer and videographer Umida Ahmedova and allow her to carry out her work and exercise her right to freedom of expression without government interference, Human Rights Watch said today.
Photographer faces jail for ‘defaming’ life in Uzbekistan
Amnesty International has urged the Uzbekistani government to allow its people freedom of expression after one of the country’s most prominent photographers was charged with "defamation of the Uzbekistani people".
Umida Akhmedova’s photographs, showing scenes of men, women and children carrying out everyday activities, were published in a book entitled Men and Women – From Dawn to Dusk in 2007.
She was charged by the Uzbekistani authorities on Saturday with slandering and insulting the Uzbekistani people and their traditions.
She is also facing charges for making a documentary film called The Burden of Virginity, which focuses on the traditional obligation on women to prove that they are virgins on their wedding night.
A court hearing is due to take place in the next two weeks. If found guilty of these charges Umida Akhmedova faces up to three years in jail.
"The life that she recorded is not the image of Uzbekistan that the government wants to be seen," said Maisy Weicherding, Amnesty International’s researcher on Uzbekistan.
"This is the first time that someone in Uzbekistan has been charged because their artistic expression has been interpreted as dissent."
Amnesty International said it fears that the photographer has been targeted for exercising her right to freedom of expression, and that she will not receive a fair trial. Should she be jailed, she also risks cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.
Umida Akhmedova told Aljazeera English in an interview on Tuesday that she could not understand why several years after the initial publication of the images a criminal case had been brought against her.
Her statement was not intended to be political, and in her opinion her images were full of love and positivity, she said.
People expressing their dissenting opinion continue to be harassed, beaten and detained in Uzbekistan even though the authorities repeatedly deny this.
At least four human rights activists and independent journalists were sentenced to long prison sentences in 2009 and others have faced short-term detentions, beatings and accusations of harming the reputation of the country.
Iraq: Candidate Ban Jeopardizes Election
(Abu Dhabi) – Iraq’s process of excluding candidates from the country’s national parliamentary elections on vague, arbitrary, and secret grounds violates the principles of a free and fair election, Human Rights Watch said today.
Cambodia: Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy’s Trial a Farce
(New York) – A Cambodian court’s closed-door conviction and sentencing of the opposition leader Sam Rainsy and two others takes Prime Minister Hun Sen’s campaign of persecution of critics to a new extreme and highlights government control over the judiciary, Human Rights Watch said today.
Governments must be held to account for secret detentions
Amnesty International on Wednesday called on all states to take concrete steps to end secret detention, following publication of a detailed United Nations report on its widespread use in the name of countering terrorism.
The UN study highlights the global nature of the problem, naming dozens of countries, covering every region of the world, as undertaking secret detention, or being complicit in it through international networks of detainee transfers and intelligence agencies.
Secret detentions, as the UN report clearly states, constitute a series of human rights violations and "cannot be justified under any circumstances." The practice is irreconcilable with international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
"Secret detention is not only unlawful in itself, it enables a range of abhorrent abuses including torture and extrajudicial execution," said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy for Amnesty International.
"States must act swiftly to implement the recommendations in this important study, to confront and end secret detention and the human rights violations it entails and enables."
Amnesty International has campaigned for decades against human rights violations associated with secret detentions worldwide, including enforced disappearance, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, extrajudicial execution, and arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
The UN study highlights secret detention practices in USA-led global "war on terror" operations since 11 September 2001.
Amnesty International said it continues to push for real accountability for abuses, including crimes under international law, perpetrated by the United States government in the course of such operations.
Governments that colluded in US rendition and secret detention programmes have also been urged to investigate the human rights and criminal implications of their own roles.
This week, Amnesty International wrote to the Lithuanian Prosecutor General urging him to open a criminal investigation into allegations that secret detention facilities existed on Lithuanian territory from 2003 to 2005.
Other human rights violations related to secret detention in the name of "countering terrorism" that Amnesty International has campaigned against include enforced disappearance in Pakistan, and the secret or prolonged incommunicado detention of "security suspects" in Saudi Arabia and those accused of involvement in terrorism-related activities in Tunisia.
The Joint Study was prepared by four Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council (the Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism; the Special Rapporteur on torture; the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances).
Amnesty International welcomed the decision of the four Special Procedures to produce a joint study, which enabled them to address the human rights aspects of the practice of secret detention in an integrated and comprehensive manner, and welcomed the global geographic coverage of the report.
The Special Procedures will present the Study for discussion by states and civil society at the UN Human Rights Council at its next session; the presentation and discussion is scheduled for the week beginning 8 March.
Amnesty International submitted information to the experts and the organization’s published research features among the wide range of sources cited in the study report.
Venezuela: Stop Abusing Broadcast Powers
(Washington, DC) – The Chávez administration should not abuse its authority to compel broadcast of presidential speeches that promote the government’s political agenda, Human Rights Watch said today.
Pregnant women in Burkina Faso dying because of discrimination
Women are dying needlessly during pregnancy and childbirth because discrimination prevents them from accessing sexual and reproductive health services, leaving them unable to make key decisions on their pregnancies, Amnesty International said in a report released on Wednesday.
Every year in Burkina Faso more than 2,000 women die from complications during pregnancy and childbirth, according to government figures. Amnesty International’s report Giving Life, Risking Death finds that many of these deaths could have been easily prevented if women were given access on time to adequate health care.
"Every woman has the right to life and the right to adequate healthcare, and the government should redouble its efforts to address preventable maternal death," said Claudio Cordone, interim Secretary General of Amnesty International. "Women in Burkina Faso are trapped in a vicious cycle of discrimination which makes giving birth potentially lethal."
Most women in Burkina Faso are subordinate to the men in their lives with little or no control over key decisions such as when to seek medical care and the timing and spacing of their pregnancies in spite of having equal status under Burkinabe law. Women and girls continue to be subjected to early marriages and female genital mutilation.
The Burkina Faso government, with the help of the donor community, has developed ambitious strategies that have lowered maternal death rates in some parts of the country. However these are undermined by failures in implementation and a lack of accountability that allows medical personnel to get away with abuses, such as illegal demands for payments.
Poverty is a key contributing factor in preventable maternal death, particularly for impoverished women living in rural areas who face both financial and geographical obstacles to accessing healthcare.
In 2006, the Burkinabe government introduced a policy to subsidize 80 per cent of the cost of childbirth and making it completely free for the most impoverished women. However this policy is not well publicised leaving it open to exploitation by corrupt medical staff. Criteria have not been elaborated to establish who qualifies for subsidized care so costs continue to act as a barrier in accessing medical care.
The Amnesty International report says that unequal access to adequate health facilities especially in rural areas; shortages of medical supplies and trained personnel and negative or discriminatory attitudes of health workers are also preventing women from seeking care.
"Maternal death is a tragedy that robs thousands of families of wives, mothers, sisters and daughters each year," said Claudio Cordone. "So long as women are not allowed control over their own bodies, they will continue to die in their thousands."
The authorities have responded to the report which was sent to them in advance by welcoming "the meticulous and important" work done by Amnesty International, while stressing that the cases of misbehaviour by medical personnel were "isolated" and reiterating the authorities’ commitment to address the problem of maternal mortality in the country.
Amnesty International has called on the government to expand and improve access to family planning services, to remove financial barriers to maternal healthcare services, to ensure an even distribution of health facilities and trained staff across the country and to set up a well-publicized and accessible accountability mechanism to help combat corruption and mismanagement.
Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 177 out of 182 countries in the United Nations Development Programme’s 2009 Human Development Report.
Between January 28 and February 9 a campaign caravan will tour Burkina Faso spreading news of Amnesty International’s campaign to end maternal mortality in the country and providing information to stimulate debate.
Between 10 and 13 February the interim Secretary General of Amnesty International will meet with the country’s top authorities to share the outcome of the caravan and discuss government plans to address maternal mortality.
The campaign to end maternal mortality in Burkina Faso is a part of Amnesty International’s Demand Dignity campaign launched in May 2009.
In September 2009 Amnesty International launched a campaign to end maternal mortality and a campaign caravan in Sierra Leone.
Amnesty International believes poverty is a human rights issue and through the Demand Dignity campaign is calling for an end to the human rights violations that drive and deepen poverty.
The campaign mobilizes people all over the world to demand that governments, corporations and others who have power listen to the voices of those living in poverty and recognise and protect their rights. For more information visit www.amnesty.org/demanddignity