Uganda: For Women with Disabilities, Barriers and Abuse
(Kampala) – Women with disabilities in northern Uganda experience ongoing discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Many are unable to gain access to basic services, including health care and justice, and they have been largely ignored in post-conflict reconstruction efforts.
US: Immigration Detainees at Risk of Sexual Abuse
(Washington) – The US government needs to strengthen its protection of people in immigration detention to prevent sexual abuse and to ensure justice for victims, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
India rejection of Vedanta mine a landmark victory for Indigenous rights
Amnesty International has described the Indian government’s decision to reject the bauxite mine project in Orissa’s Niyamgiri Hills as a landmark victory for the human rights of Indigenous communities.
Amnesty International has described the Indian government’s decision to reject the bauxite mine project in Orissa’s Niyamgiri Hills as a landmark victory for the human rights of Indigenous communities.
India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests today rejected the mine project proposed by a subsidiary of UK-based Vedanta Resources and the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation, after finding that the project already extensively violates forest and environmental laws and would perpetrate abuses against the Dongria Kondh adivasi and other communities on the Hills.
“The Dongria Kondh and other local communities have been struggling for years for this decision, which is a very welcome one,” said Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Deputy Director, Madhu Malhotra.
“The companies and the Orissa government should now guarantee that they will not attempt to simply move the project to another site without ensuring adequate safeguards – they must ensure they will respect the human rights of Indigenous and local communities wherever the companies operate.”
Amnesty International also welcomed the government’s decision to suspend the clearance process for the six-fold expansion of the Lanjigarh refinery at the foothills of Niyamgiri, operated by Vedanta subsidiary Vedanta Aluminium, after a government’s expert committee found it to be illegal.
“The authorities should order a clean-up of the Lanjigarh refinery, which has caused air and water pollution, seriously affecting the rights of neighbouring communities who are finding life there unbearable”, said Madhu Malhotra.
Amnesty International called on government authorities to establish a clear and transparent process that seeks the free, prior and informed consent of any Indigenous communities who may be affected by such projects, and respect their decision, in accordance with national and international law.
The Ministry-commissioned expert report that underpinned today’s decisions, documented the companies’ legal violations and human rights abuses. Its findings and the rejection of the project are consistent with Amnesty International’s extensive report published in February 2010, Don’t Mine us out of Existence: Bauxite Mine and Refinery Devastate Lives in India.
For eight years, the Dongria Kondh and other communities in Niyamgiri have been protesting against bauxite mining plans by Vedanta Resources subsidiary, Sterlite Industries India, and the Orissa Mining Corporation.
The communities were concerned that the project, which would have been situated on their traditional sacred lands and habitats, would result in violations of their rights as Indigenous peoples to water, food, health, work and other rights to protection of their culture and identity.
“After years of struggle and visits by committees our voice has finally reached Delhi,” a Dongria Kondh leader today told Amnesty International.
Yemen abandons human rights in the name of countering terrorism
The Yemeni authorities must stop sacrificing human rights in the name of security as they confront threats from al-Qa’ida, Zaidi Shi’a rebels in the north, and address growing demands for secession in the south.
The Yemeni authorities must stop sacrificing human rights in the name of security as they confront threats from al-Qa’ida, Zaidi Shi’a rebels in the north, and address growing demands for secession in the south, Amnesty International said in a new report.
Yemen: Cracking Down Under Pressure documents a catalogue of human rights violations including unlawful killings of those accused of links to al-Qa’ida and Southern Movement activists, and arbitrary arrests, torture and unfair trials.
Yemenis accused of supporting the Huthis who are armed Zaidi Shi’a rebels in the northern Sa’dah region, or the Southern Movement, have also been targeted for arbitrary detention, unfair trials in specialized courts and beatings, together with journalists, dissenters, human rights defenders, and critics of the government.
Some have been subjected to enforced disappearance for weeks or months by largely unaccountable security agencies that report directly to Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
“An extremely worrying trend has developed where the Yemeni authorities, under pressure from the USA and others to fight al-Qa’ida, and Saudi Arabia to deal with the Huthis, have been citing national security as a pretext to deal with opposition and stifle all criticism.” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Director for the Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“All measures taken in the name of countering terrorism or other security challenges in Yemen must have at its heart the protection of human rights.”
The number of death sentences passed in trials of people accused of having links to al-Qa’ida, or to the Huthi armed group has noticeably increased. In 2009, at least 34 people accused of links to Huthi armed groups were sentenced to death.
The security forces have killed at least 113 people since 2009 in operations the government says target “terrorists”. Attacks have become more frequent since December 2009 with security forces in some cases making no attempt to detain suspects before killing them.
At least 41 people were killed, 21 of them children and 14 of them women, on 17 December 2009 when their settlement in al-Ma’jalah area in the southern district of Abyan was hit by missiles.
“The Yemeni authorities have a duty to ensure public safety and to bring to justice those engaged in attacks that deliberately target members of the public, but when doing so they must abide by international law,” said Malcolm Smart. “Enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment, and extrajudicial executions are never permissible, and the Yemeni authorities must immediately cease these violations.”
“It is particularly worrying that states such as Saudi Arabia and the USA are directly or indirectly aiding the Yemeni government in a downward spiral away from previously improving human rights record.”
The Southern Movement is a loose coalition of individuals, political groups and other organizations advocating for greater rights for people in the south, with origins tracing back to the 1994 civil war between northern and southern Yemen. Many factions of the Movement now call for the south to secede from the rest of Yemen.
Huthis, followers of Hussain Badr al-Din al-Huthi in the region of Sa’dah, have been fighting the government since 2004 in what initially began as a protest at the US led invasion of Iraq, but developed into armed conflict particularly after the killing of their leader by the government.
The Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) was created in the name of ‘countering terrorism’ in 1999, its remit expanded in 2004, and three additional SCCs were then established in 2009. The SCC has been used to convict people such as journalists covering the conflict in Sa’dah, or grievances expressed by the Southern Movement.
Hundreds have been tried by the SCC since its establishment in 1999.
This court is now being used by the Yemeni authorities against a wide range of people whose activities or disclosures are considered hostile or harmful to the government.
Qassem Askar Jubran, former diplomat, and Fadi Ba’oom, political activist, were arrested in April 2009, charged with “harming the independence of the Republic” and “the unity of Yemen” and for organizing protests in aid of the Southern Movement. Both were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in March 2010, and have since been released.
“All they have against him is involvement in the Southern Movement, writing in al-Ayyam newspaper, attending gatherings,” Salah Askar Jubran, Qassem’s brother told Amnesty International in March.
The creation of the Specialized Press and Publications Court (SPPC) in May 2009 was widely seen as a government attempt to suppress non-violent opposition and the expression of critical views in the media.
Anissa Uthman, a journalist working for al-Wassat newspaper, is among several journalists and editors tried by the SPPC. In her absence she was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment in January 2010 on charges of defaming President Saleh. According to reports, she was prosecuted because of articles she wrote criticizing the arrest and imprisonment of human rights activists.
Russia: Stop Forced Dress Code for Women in Chechnya
(Moscow) – Russia should put an end to local rules forcing women in Chechnya to observe an Islamic dress code, Human Rights Watch said today.
UN must not use flawed data on cause of Nigeria oil spills
Amnesty International has challenged the credibility of data cited by a senior UN official investigating oil-impacted sites in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta, Nigeria.
Amnesty International has challenged the credibility of data cited by a senior UN official investigating oil-impacted sites in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta, Nigeria.
A United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) official is reported to have said that 90 per cent of oil spills in Ogoniland were due to sabotage and criminal activity, and just 10 per cent due to equipment failure and negligence by companies such as Shell.
Amnesty International has challenged UNEP’s reliance on these figures, which were produced by Nigerian regulatory agencies that are known to depend heavily on the oil companies themselves when it comes to spill investigations.
“Relying on these figures would be a serious misjudgement, with potentially significant ramifications for those living in the Niger Delta,” said Audrey Gaughran, Director of Amnesty International’s Global Thematic Issues Program. “UNEP must be aware that the figures have been strongly challenged for years by environmental groups and communities. They are totally lacking in credibility.”
“The people of the Niger Delta have been lied to and denied justice for decades. The issue of oil spill causation is sensitive. If UNEP is going to comment on the cause of oil spills it should do so only on the basis of hard and credible evidence, not figures that are a source of conflict.”
In June 2009 an Amnesty International report on the human rights impacts of oil pollution concluded that the oil spill investigation system in the Niger Delta was totally lacking in independence, and was inadequate to determine the proportion of oil spills caused by sabotage, as opposed to equipment failure. Amnesty International found that in many cases oil companies have significant influence on determining the cause of a spill. The report documents examples of cases where Shell claimed the cause of a spill was sabotage, but the claim was subsequently questioned by other investigations or the courts.
Amnesty International has called for independent oversight of the oil industry in the Niger Delta, including disclosure of all relevant information on the causes of oil pollution.
Between 1989 and 1994 Shell itself estimated that only 28 percent of oil spilt in the Niger Delta was caused by sabotage. In 2007 Shell’s estimate had risen to 70 per cent. The figure now given by Shell has increased to more than 90 per cent. Amnesty International has repeatedly asked Shell to produce evidence to support these figures. Shell has been unable to do so.
“While sabotage and vandalism are serious problems, there is no evidence to support the figures offered by oil companies and the Nigerian government agencies,” said Audrey Gaughran.
Nigeria: Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta (Report, 30 June 2009)
Middle-aged Falun Gong Practitioner Dies in Tianjin Prison Camp
NEW YORK—A middle-aged Falun Gong practitioner, who had been severely tortured in custody, died last month in a prison camp in Tianjin, the Falun Dafa Information Center recently learned. The death of Mr. Zhu Wenhua (???), age 53, brings to 50 the number of Falun Gong practitioners known to have died in Tianjin since 1999 due to persecution. The confirmed death toll of Falun Gong practitioners nationwide is 3,406, but overseas human rights experts say the real death toll is likely many times that figure.
Execution of four men in Equatorial Guinea condemned
Convicted after an unfair trial of attempting to assassinate the country’s President, the men were sentenced and immediately executed without the opportunity to appeal.
Amnesty International on Monday condemned the execution of four men in Equatorial Guinea, all convicted of attempting to assassinate the country’s President.
José Abeso Nsue, Manuel Ndong Anseme, Alipio Ndong Asumu and Jacinto Michá Obiang were executed on 21 August immediately after being convicted by a military court in the country’s capital Malabo.
“These men were convicted after an unfair trial, sentenced to death and executed with chilling speed without having the slightest opportunity to appeal their sentence,” said Erwin van der Borght, Africa Director at Amnesty International.
The four men had been living as refugees in Benin for many years, when Equatorial Guinean security forces abducted them in January 2010.
The former military officers were then secretly detained in Black Beach prison in Malabo, where they reportedly “confessed” to the attack on the presidential palace on 17 February 2009.
Amnesty International received reports that they had been tortured in detention, forcing them to “confess” to taking part in the alleged attack.
“Equatorial Guinea must put an end to the abductions, torture and executions it currently carries out under the pretence of justice,” said Erwin van der Borght.
José Abeso had reportedly asked to see his family when the sentence was passed but when his wife and son arrived at Black Beach prison an hour later he had already been executed.
Equatorial Guinean authorities initially blamed the presidential palace attack on Nigerian armed group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, who denied responsibility.
Scores of Nigerians were rounded up, imprisoned and expelled from Equatorial Guinea following the incident. Seven Nigerian fishermen and traders, who had been arrested at sea, were in April 2010 sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempting to assassinate the president.
Two Equatorial Guinean members of the opposition party People’s Union (Unión Popular – UP), who were tried along with the Nigerian nationals, were acquitted in April. Despite their acquittal, Marcelino Nguema and Santiago Asumu were last week convicted on the same charges and were on 21 August sentenced by the Malabo military court to 20 years and one day in prison.
“Marcelino Nguema and Santiago Asumu were tried twice on the same charges in a clear violation of international law. We consider them prisoners of conscience and are calling for their immediate and unconditional release,” said Erwin van der Borght.
Equatorial Guinea has been criticised by the UN for abducting Equatorial Guinean refugees from neighbouring countries and holding them in secret detention.
São Tomé e Príncipe: Oil Deals and the New Government
(Washington, DC) – The tiny country of São Tomé e Príncipe is at a crossroads with a chance to benefit from its potential oil wealth, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
Proposed China death penalty reforms may have no great impact on executions
If passed, the amendments would remove the death penalty from white collar crimes such as tax fraud, which already rarely receive the punishment.
Amnesty International has warned that proposed reforms of China’s application of the death penalty may not result in significantly fewer executions.
Chinese government news agency Xinhua reported on Monday that proposed amendments to China’s criminal code may see the death penalty removed from 13 out of 68 crimes that currently carry the punishment.
The draft amendments are working their way through numerous readings in China’s legislative chamber.
“Although we would welcome any reform that would in practice decrease executions in China, we are not yet convinced that these legal revisions will have a significant impact,” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Deputy-Director for the Asia-Pacific programme.
As part of its campaigning against the death penalty, Amnesty International has called on China to reduce the number of capital crimes.
“We are still waiting for the Chinese government to release the data that shows these proposed revisions are more than just legal housekeeping, removing crimes which have seldom been punished with the death penalty in recent years,” said Catherine Baber.
The draft amendment to China’s criminal code would, if passed, reportedly remove the death penalty as a punishment for white collar crimes such as tax fraud, and for smuggling valuables and cultural relics.
It would also remove the death penalty as a punishment for those over 75 years of age.
The ultimate impact of any reforms to China’s use of the death penalty cannot be publicly known and evaluated due to classification of execution figures as state secrets.
Amnesty International has called on the Chinese government to make the draft legislation and the national execution figures public, so that there can be transparent analysis and debate on the death penalty.
In a challenge to China’s lack of transparency, Amnesty International declined to publish its own minimum figures for Chinese executions and death sentences in its worldwide annual report this year on the death penalty.
China is estimated to be the world’s biggest executor.
Amnesty International said it opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, as the ultimate violation of human rights.
Death penalty report: China must end secrecy surrounding sentences and executions (Report, 30 March 2010)
