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Call on Kenya's leaders to respect and protect human rights

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:35:37 +0000

Amnesty International urges Kenya's leaders to ensure the human rights of Kenyan people are protected.

An international day of public and online action this month will demonstrate solidarity with the people of Kenya and call on the Kenyan government to protect people from politically-motivated and ethnic violence.

On 27 February, people can show their outrage at the continuing human rights abuses in Kenya in a series of events organised by Amnesty International; including an online Facebook action and a series of street demonstrations.

The disputed election of 27 December 2007 sparked an outbreak of fighting and a series of grave human rights violations. At least 1,000 people have been killed so far, while more than 300,000 have been displaced.

Amnesty International's recent visit to Kenya found evidence of unlawful killings, the ethnically targeted forced relocation and burning of homes by armed militias, excessive use of force by security officials, sexual violence against women and girls, and violations of freedom of expression and assembly. Amnesty International has also documented death threats against human rights defenders and activists.

The death toll includes hundreds shot dead by police, who were deployed to quell the post-election violence and break up mass protests against the election called by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) opposition party.

Subsequent violence has seen increasingly organised attacks by ethnic militia and youth gangs against people of Kikuyu ethnicity, which has led to retaliatory attacks by Kikuyu militias and youth gangs.

There is particular concern at the ethnic dimension to the political violence and its possible long-term implications for Kenyan society.

Amnesty International calls on the Kenyan government to protect the people of Kenya, many of whom have endured unrelenting suffering in the last two months. Kenyan leaders must end the cycle of impunity that perpetuates the politically motivated violence in Kenya.

Join the protest:

Amnesty International organizing streets demonstrations in the on 27 February. If you turned up to show your support...

Please send your photos to cold27south@photos.flickr.com

Kenyan victims of political violence speak out (26 February)
Kenyan activists receive death threats (1 February)
Killings continue in Kenya (28 January)
Kenyan police fire at protesters (18 January)
Kenyan election sparks political killings (4 January)

Rape: ever present danger for Darfur's women

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:14:09 +0000

"All around the camps there is not enough wood. But the Arab Jammala dominate the area and we daren’t go far out. If you are a man you will be beaten, if you are a woman you will be raped." – Internally displaced man living in a camp, 2007.

At least 2.3 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Darfur. Most of those driven from their homes and communities are now living in more than 65 camps dotted around Darfur.

Hundreds of thousands of people were driven from their home in 2003-4 in attacks that were accompanied not only by killing, but also by rape of women on an unprecedented scale.

Janjawid militias used rape as a weapon to humiliate and punish the communities they attacked. They often carried out assaults in public and abducting some women, taking them to militia camps to live for months in sexual slavery.

There are more women living in camps than men and the threat of rape remains rife for those who venture outside the camps. Many of the camps are surrounded by belts of deserted land with hardly a tree standing. Rapes are carried out on women who leave the camps to go to market or collect firewood. They are carried out by Janjawid militia, government soldiers, armed opposition groups and even by other displaced people.

One girl displaced during the conflict told of being raped by a group of men from the Sudanese army while collecting fire wood. When her brother took her to report this to the local police, the policeman refused to report the case and detained her brother when he questioned the procedure.

"The images of that day occupied my mind. I can’t say I have completely recovered. The shock is still terrible. I don’t trust the police and I never will trust them," said the girl to Amnesty International.

Most women raped in Darfur never report what has happened because it’s so unlikely that the perpetrator will be brought to justice that there’s little point in a woman harming her reputation and prospects of marriage.

Police rarely investigate cases of rape reported to them, while if the alleged rapists are members of the Sudanese Armed Forces, justice appears to be impossible. In some instances, it is the person who makes the complaint who is detained.

Send a seasonal greeting for Romani rights

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:23:03 +0000

Roma are one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnic minority groups in Europe. They are also the most deprived.

The persistent discrimination faced by the Roma community perpetuates their economic and social marginalization. They suffer massive discrimination in access to housing, employment and education. In some countries, they are prevented from obtaining citizenship and personal documents required for social insurance, health care and other benefits.

Roma are often victims of police ill-treatment, while their complaints are seldom investigated. Many Romani children are unjustifiably placed in "special" schools, where scaled-down lessons limit the opportunities to fulfil their potential. Romani children and women are among the communities most vulnerable to traffickers.

Ensuring equal access to rights for Roma must be a European priority. Almost 80 per cent of the total European Roma population (of about 10 million) live in European Union member states and aspiring member states.

European governments have the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of Roma in the same way they would their majority – and other minority – populations. To improve the situation of Roma, the European Union must show strong leadership. It must develop a more comprehensive and cohesive approach to realizing the human rights of Roma and give guidance and assistance to its existing and aspiring member states.

Read more:

Slovak education system fails Romani children (Report Abstract, 14 November 2007)

Macedonia: Government's failure to address double discrimination against Romani women and girls (Press Release, 6 December 2007)

False starts: The exclusion of Romani children from primary education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia (Report, 16 November 2006)

Demand the truth about student's disappearance

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:12:00 +0000

"Even today I think, maybe today, tomorrow, they will return my son to me … Every night he appears in my sleep and during the day I cry all the time ... That is not a life any more. For me everything came to a halt. I don't live; I just walk over the earth." - Bilat Akhmatkhanova, Artur Akhmatkhanov's mother

In April 2003 22-year-old Artur Akhmatkhanov was grabbed by masked soldiers and bundled into an armoured personnel carrier. He has not been seen since.

According to eyewitnesses, it was members of the Russian federal forces (FSB) who detained the Grozny student and human rights volunteer.

Amnesty International has been told that the following day, police and FSB officers collected empty cartridges and a blood-smeared cloth from the scene for analysis, but Artur Akhmatkhanov's family has not been told what happened to him or why.

A year after Artur’s enforced disappearance, the military prosecutor denied that the Russian military were involved, saying: "[N]o special operations for detaining citizens on the territory of the Chechen Republic were conducted, no citizens were detained and no one was handed over to the law enforcement agencies."

Artur Akhmatkhanov’s enforced disappearance is part of a deeply worrying pattern of ongoing human rights abuses in Chechnya and neighbouring republics in the North Caucasus. The Ombudsman in the Chechen Republic reported in 2005 that more than 2,000 people had "disappeared" at the hands of unidentified security forces in Chechnya. The Russian NGO Memorial estimates that up to 5,000 men, women and children have gone missing there since 1999. Amnesty International knows of only one conviction related to an enforced disappearance.

In June 2007, Amnesty International delivered 4,630 signed postcards for Artur Akhmatkhanov to the Russian Embassy in London with a copy of the report "Russian Federation: What Justice for Chechnya’s Disappeared?" An embassy official said he welcomed dialogue with Amnesty International and acknowledged that some enforced disappearances and abductions were the responsibility of the state. He said the concerns raised would be transmitted to Moscow.

Despite this the investigation into Artur’s disappearance has been suspended. Artur’s mother, Bilat Akhmatkhanova, has never stopped searching for her son.

End persecution of Falun Gong practitioner

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:17:21 +0000

"We must make efforts to create a harmonious society and a good social environment for successfully holding the 17th Communist Party Congress and the Beijing Olympic Games […] We must strike hard at hostile forces at home and abroad, such as ethnic separatists, religious extremists, violent terrorists and ‘heretical organizations’ like the Falun Gong who carry out destabilizing activities." – Zhou Yongkang, Minister of Public Security.

Bu Dongwei, a Falun Gong practitioner who worked for the US-based NGO, the Asia Foundation, is serving two and a half years Re-education Through Labour (RTL) at the Tuanhe facility in Beijing. What did he do? He exercised his right to freedom of religious belief. With no trial, he was sent to RTL for “resisting the implementation of national laws” and “disturbing social order”. The evidence was a verbal confession and 80 copies of Falun Gong literature the police said they discovered in his home.

Seven police officers detained Bu Dongwei in May 2006. His family learned where he was held three months later. They dispute the evidence against him and the claim by the authorities that Bu Dongwei decided not to appeal his assignment. Officials at the facility where he is held have asked Bu Dongwei’s family to contribute around 400 Yuan per month (US$52) towards his living expenses.

This is not the first time Bu Dongwei has been imprisoned for his beliefs. After petitioning the authorities to review their ban on Falun Gong in 2000, he was sentenced to 10 months RTL for "using a heretical organization to disrupt the implementation of the law". Amnesty International has been told that during RTL he was deprived of sleep, beaten and forced to sit in a small chair all day – all to make him renounce his beliefs.

The decision to assign a person to RTL is taken by the police, without charge or trial. People can be detained for up to three years, which can be extended by a further year when necessary.

Attempts to substantially reform or abolish RTL now appear to be back on the legislative agenda after being stalled for more than two years. But in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing police have used abusive detention practices such as RTL to 'clean up' the city.

Free imprisoned trade unionists

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:01:44 +0000

Two days after Tran Quoc Hien was chosen as spokesperson for the United Workers-Farmers Organization (UWFO) in January 2007, he was arrested. The legal consultant only took the job because four other leaders had been arrested before the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Viet Nam in November 2006.

The Vietnamese authorities allege Tran Quoc Hien "joined reactionary organizations through the internet", and that "[u]nder the guise of helping members of the public lodge petitions" he and his accomplices incited demonstrations and posted "distorted" articles on the Internet.

He was also accused of being a member of Bloc 8406, an Internet-based pro-democracy movement calling for peaceful political change and respect for human rights. On 15 May 2007, Tran Quoc Hien was sentenced to five years' imprisonment plus two years' probation. Amnesty International does not know where he is.

The four UWFO leaders, Nguyen Tan Hoanh, Tran Thi Le Hang, Doan Huy Chuong and his father Doan Van Dien, are believed to be held at B5 prison camp in Dong Nai province. Amnesty International does not know when they might be tried or on what charges.

UWFO aims to protect and promote workers' rights, including the right to form and join trade unions without government interference. The organization also calls for justice for people whose land and property have been unlawfully confiscated by government officials, and for an end to exploitation of cheap labour and dangerous working conditions.

Viet Nam does not allow independent trade unions. Peaceful dissenting activists and government critics face arrest, imprisonment, house arrest, surveillance and harassment.

Protect campaigning journalists

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:33:44 +0000

"Thanks to the effort, thanks to the letters, thanks to the urgent actions … today we can smile and we can be alive, because they drew attention to our situation…. The powerful people who wished to take our lives, the government, the circles of power, realized that our situation is not only known in Honduras but in the world…" - campaigning journalist Dina Meza

Award-winning Honduran journalist Dina Meza and colleagues at online publication Revistazo.com and its publisher the Association for a More Just Society (ASJ), were subjected to a campaign of harassment and intimidation after investigating several private security firms for labour rights violations.

One colleague, lawyer Dionisio Díaz García, was shot dead in December 2006 while on his way to the Honduran Supreme Court to prepare for a related case taken up by ASJ. No one has been brought to justice for his murder.

In the months leading up to his murder, Dionisio and Dina were followed by unmarked cars. Dina’s children were followed home from school and personal, derogatory comments were posted about her on the Revistazo.com online message board.

Soon after Dionisio's death, ASJ president, Carlos Hernández, received a text message saying, “You are the next because you the heat [sic – head]”. Around the same time he received the threatening text message, he was pursued and kept under surveillance by two men on a motorbike. Other ASJ members also reported an intensification of threats and intimidation. They were also told of an apparent plan by private security firms to assassinate ASJ members: the same source implied it would be better for ASJ journalists to leave the country for their own safety.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asked the Honduran government to protect members of ASJ, but so far the investigations to identify those responsible for the killing of Dionisio Díaz García and for the threats and intimidation of other ASJ members have produced no concrete results. While the perpetrators remain at large, ASJ members remain vulnerable.

Some protection measures have been put in place, but these do not appear to be adequate. ASJ is also paying substantial costs every month to cover the transport and food costs of the police agents assigned to the job – money which otherwise would be available for their human rights work.

In July 2007, Dina Meza received Amnesty International's UK section’s ‘Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat’ for her work on Revisitazo.

Prevent execution of tortured woman

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:41:40 +0000

Samar Sa'ad 'Abdullah was sentenced to death in August 2005. She insists she is innocent of the murder of her uncle, his wife and one of their children. She has blamed her fiancé, saying he killed her relatives in order to rob her uncle. Her fiancé was also accused of the murder but it is not known if the authorities have been able to arrest him.

In court and in an interview in prison by a CNN reporter, Samar insisted that she is innocent. She said that she only confessed to the murders because she was tortured by the police. She is detained at al-Kadhimiya Women's Prison in Baghdad and faces execution unless she is pardoned or her sentence is commuted by the president.

After the fall of Saddam Hussain in April 2003 Iraq was controlled by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which suspended the death penalty. The interim Iraqi government which took over the following year reinstated the death penalty for a number of offences, and justified it by saying that the death penalty was necessary to deal with the precarious security situation.

The first executions were carried out in September 2005. Last year at least 65 people were executed, including two women and former president Saddam Hussain.

Former officials have been sentenced to death by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT) set up to bring to justice people suspected of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The CPA established the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI), which can also impose the death sentence and has jurisdiction over terrorist offences, organized crime, corruption and sectarian violence.

There have been serious shortcomings in cases where the CCCI has imposed a death sentence. These include confessions obtained through torture and other ill-treatment, pre-trial televised "confessions", and suspects having insufficient access to lawyers.

Release Myanmar's peaceful protesters

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:57:04 +0000

Peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar (formerly Burma) began in August sparked by sharp increases in fuel prices. Protests led by monks grew rapidly in size and number, calling for a reduction in commodity prices, the release of political prisoners, and a process of national reconciliation to resolve deep political divisions.

On the evening of 25 September, the authorities began a crackdown on protesters, including raiding monasteries, arresting monks as well as others, and imposing a curfew, forcing some activists into hiding.

Thousands of people are believed to have been arrested and currently Amnesty International estimates that around 700 remain in detention, in contrast to claims by the Myanmar authorities that only 80 people—against whom legal action will be taken—remain behind bars. Detainees have been poorly treated, and in some cases tortured.

At least 20 people are believed to have been sentenced to up to nine and a half years imprisonment in connection with the demonstrations, in proceedings that were closed and grossly flawed.

While the number of arrests has declined since 29 September, state security personnel have continued to search for and detain individuals suspected of involvement in the pro-democracy protests, primarily through night raids on homes. Such actions go against the government's assurances in early November to the UN Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari that no more arrests would be carried out.

They also flout the new Charter of ASEAN, which was signed on 20 November by all member states including Myanmar at a historic summit, and which commits them to the "promotion and protection of human rights".

Since the launch of the crackdown, the Myanmar authorities have also resorted to arbitrary and unlawful detention of family members or close friends and suspected sympathizers of protesters currently in hiding. Such action constitutes "hostage taking" by placing explicit or implicit pressure on the suspected protesters to come forward as a condition for releasing or not harming the hostage. This is a clear violation of fundamental rules of international law.

Amnesty International is also concerned that the context within which the September protests took place has not changed. For decades, human rights violations in Myanmar have been widespread and systematic. Abuses include forced labour and the use of child soldiers. Laws criminalize peaceful expression of peaceful dissent. Most senior opposition figures are imprisoned or detained, amongst more than 1,150 political prisoners held in deteriorating prison conditions.

People are frequently arrested without warrant and held incommunicado. Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment are common, especially during interrogation and in custody awaiting trial. Judicial proceedings against political detainees fall short of international standards for fair trial. Defendants are often denied the right to legal counsel and prosecutors have relied on confessions extracted through torture.

READ MORE
Myanmar: Eighteen years of persecution (Feature, 24 October)

Demand rights for judges

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:55:26 +0000

One of the key targets under attack in Pakistan's state of emergency, imposed by General Musharraf on 3 November, has been the country’s increasingly active judiciary.

As part of his charge sheet used to justify emergency rule, Musharraf blamed the judiciary for "working at cross purposes with the executive and legislature in the fight against terrorism and extremism". He also accused the judiciary of having “weakened the writ of the government.”

Following the declaration of the state of emergency, Musharraf summarily dismissed the Chief Justice Iftikar Choudhry, along with 11 other Supreme Court judges – a move flagrantly breaching the country’s constitution and core provisions of the UN Principles for the Independence of the Judiciary. Only those judges who were invited to resume their position and agreed to take an oath to uphold the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) were allowed to continue in their post. The PCO has suspended fundamental rights - including safeguards to arrest and detention, freedom of association and assembly - and provides full immunity for all government actions taken during emergency rule.

To date only five of the original 17 Supreme Court Justices have taken the oath. In addition, six newly hand-picked judges have been sworn in. The Supreme Court, normally comprising 17 judges, is likely to be reduced to 12.

The majority of the deposed Supreme Court judges, including Chief Justice Iftikar Choudhry, are under de facto house arrest. Other senior lawyers have been arrested and imprisoned, some are being held by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.

Sources have informed Amnesty International that a number of lawyers have been ill-treated while in detention. These include Syed Hassan Tariq, a prominent human rights lawyer and member of the executive committee of the district Bar Association in Nawabshah of Sindh Province, and Munir Mallik, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. On Friday 23 November, Munir Mallik was released from detention and admitted to hospital following a severe deterioration in his health.

In the months prior to the emergency, the Supreme Court and other higher courts had increasingly challenged the legality of a range of government actions and apparent misuse of executive powers. In particular, Chief Justice Iftikar Choudhry had taken a tough stance on the cases of enforced disappearances and found against the government in several rulings. The Supreme Court’s recent insistence that the government take concrete action to halt enforced disappearances, and provide information on the fate and whereabouts of the many hundreds of Pakistanis who have "disappeared" in the past six years, only served to increase Musharraf’s ire.

In an attempt to subdue the judiciary, Musharraf suspended Choudhry from his post in March. This move triggered a vibrant lawyers' movement across Pakistan, supported by civil society groups and political parties, outspoken and critical of Musharraf’s government.

Following a successful four-month campaign, Chief Justice Choudhry was reinstated in July by a full bench of the Supreme Court. With public confidence restored in the Court, there have been a flurry of petitions. One of the most controversial petitions relates to the legality of Musharraf contesting the presidential elections on October 6, while at the same time holding the office of Chief of the Army.

It is widely believed that Musharraf declared the state of emergency as a measure to pre-empt a Supreme Court ruling that was to determine his eligibility to contest the election in October. Musharraf’s term as President was due to expire on November 15. Many of the lawyers who were at the forefront in protesting against Musharraf’s candidacy, including President of the Supreme Court bar association Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Munir Mallik and retired Justice Tariq Mahmood, were immediately arrested following the declaration of the state of emergency.

As anticipated, the new and apparently subservient court has dismissed all legal challenges to Musharraf’s October re-election, and has endorsed the state of emergency and the PCO. This move has enabled General Musharraf to step down as Chief of the Army and be appointed as a civilian President, in effect conferring power from himself under one hat to himself under another.

The assault on the judiciary comes at a critical time in its history. The traditionally compliant Supreme Court had begun to assert its independence, not least in challenging the government’s human rights violations.

These actions triggered growing support among the legal community and those within Pakistan civil society who hope for improved access to justice and greater respect for human rights and the rule of law in Pakistan. These hopes have now been seriously undermined.