CAR/DR Congo: LRA Conducts Massive Abduction Campaign
(Washington, DC) – The Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted more than 697 adults and children in a largely unreported campaign in the Central African Republic and the neighboring Bas Uele district of northern Democratic Republic of Congo over the past 18 months, Human Rights Watch said today.
Rwanda: Tribunal’s Work Incomplete
(New York) – The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda may lose its credibility unless it indicts and tries Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) officers suspected of having committed war crimes in Rwanda in 1994, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the tribunal’s chief prosecutor made public today.
US: Clinton Should Stress Human Rights on Africa Trip
(New York) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should emphasize human rights on her seven-nation trip to Africa, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Clinton.
Africa: Reaffirm Support for International Criminal Court
(Pretoria) – More than 130 civil society and human rights groups from across Africa issued a statement today calling upon African states that are parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to reaffirm their commitment and their obligation to cooperate with the court.
Kenya must provide shelter for 3,000 forcibly evicted in winter
Three thousand people in Nairobi are now exposed to the cold and rain of Kenya’s winter after they were forcibly evicted from their homes last week.
Amnesty International said on Tuesday that Kenya’s government should provide emergency shelter and other humanitarian aid to those evicted.
Police told residents of Githogoro Village, Nairobi, they had 72 hours to dismantle their homes before the bulldozers, which were lined up at the edge of the settlement, moved in. The evictions appear to have been carried out as part of the government of Kenya’s plans to build a new road, the Northern Bypass.
“It’s a disgrace that thousands of men, women and children were evicted without adequate notice or consultation and during the season in which the Kenyan weather is at its worst,” said Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “Many families have been living in the settlement for almost fifty years and now have no option but to sleep in the rubble of their homes.”
Communal toilets were also reported destroyed as part of the forcible evictions, increasing the risk of the spread of disease among the remaining residents who have inadequate access to clean water and other essential services.
“The Kenyan authorities have a duty of care towards their citizens and should ensure the victims of these forced evictions have access to shelter, clean water and other essential services,” said Irene Khan. “Kenya’s government is failing to deliver on its promise to comply with international human rights law regarding evictions and until it does, there should be an immediate end to all forced evictions.”
Since the establishment of the very first informal settlements in Kenya, large-scale forced evictions have regularly occurred in a manner that contravenes international human rights standards. In a report released in June 2009 Amnesty International identified up to 127,000 people in Nairobi at immediate risk of having their makeshift homes and informal businesses demolished under a government-led plan to clean up the river basin.
Through its Demand Dignity campaign, launched in May 2009, Amnesty International is calling on governments globally to take all necessary measures, including the adoption of laws and policies that comply with international human rights law, to prohibit and prevent forced evictions.
Ghana: Obama Visit Should Highlight Rights
(New York) – United States President Barack Obama should use his visit to Ghana on July 10 and 11, 2009 to encourage its new president, John Atta Mills, to take a leadership position in Africa on issues of democracy and justice, Human Rights Watch said today.
African Union refuses to cooperate with Bashir arrest warrant
The African Union (AU) has refused to cooperate with a war crimes arrest warrant against Sudan President Omar al-Bashir. Amnesty International has described the AU’s decision not to acknowledge the warrant, which was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March, as an insult to victims of human rights violations in Darfur.
“This decision by the African Union member states shows a disdain for those in Darfur who suffered gross human rights violations and makes a mockery of the AU as an international body,” said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Africa Director.
“By supporting a wanted person accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, it undermines the credibility of states who are party to the Rome Statute and the AU as a whole.”
The AU’s resolution, adopted at the end of the 13th African Union Summit of Heads of States and Government Assembly held in Libya, would violate the obligations of African state parties to the Rome Statute to cooperate with the Court (article 86).
This includes the obligation to cooperate for the execution of arrest warrants. Africa played a leading – indeed, decisive – role in 1998 in the establishment of the ICC. Thirty African states have so far ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
African states strongly supported the creation of the ICC as a court of last resort to ensure that African victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes receive justice and reparations whenever states were unable and unwilling to investigate and prosecute such crimes.
Three African states, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, referred situations in their own countries to the ICC on such a basis. A fourth country, Côte d’Ivoire, has recognized the ICC’s jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes in its territory or by its citizens abroad.
Kenya: Bring Prosecutions for Torture in Northeast
(Nairobi) – Kenyan security forces beat and tortured hundreds of civilians in several communities during an October 2008 disarmament operation in Kenya’s northeastern Mandera districts, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.