Web pages about "Crimes Against Humanity And War Crimes"

Call for arrest of suspected Sudanese war criminals

Tue, 13 May 2008 17:48:03 +0100

Over 2.3 million people have been displaced in the Darfur conflict. More than 90,000 people are believed to have been killed as a result of the conflict, and over 200.000 are thought to have died from conflict related causes. Thousands of women have been raped since the conflict began.

On 27 April 2007 the International Criminal Court (ICC), an international tribunal, issued two arrest warrants against government minister Ahmad Harun and Janjawid leader Ali Kushayb. The two are suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur, including murder, rape and torture.

The Sudanese authorities have refused so far to allow Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb to be tried by the ICC.

Take action to ensure that persons accused of the worst human rights violations are brought to justice.

Routine killings of civilians in Somalia

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:44:30 +0100

The dire human rights and humanitarian crisis facing the people of Somalia has been revealed in a groundbreaking new Amnesty International report.

First-hand testimony from scores of traumatized survivors of the conflict is included in the report, which exposes the violations and abuses they have suffered at the hands of a complex mix of perpetrators.

These include Ethiopian and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) troops on the one hand, as well as armed groups on the other. For many civilians, there is nowhere to go to escape the violence.

“The people of Somalia are being killed, raped, tortured; looting is widespread and entire neighbourhoods are being destroyed,” said Michelle Kagari, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Africa Programme.

Witnesses told Amnesty International of an increasing incidence of what it locally termed as “slaughtering” or “killing like goats” by Ethiopian troops, referring to killing by slitting the throat. The victims of these killings are often left lying in pools of blood in the streets until armed fighters, including snipers, move out of the area and relatives can collect their bodies.

“The testimony we received strongly suggests that war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity have been committed by all parties to the conflict in Somalia – and no one is being held accountable,” said Michelle Kagari.

“The human rights and humanitarian situation in Somalia is growing worse by the day. This report represents the voices of ordinary Somalis, and their plea to the international community to take action to end the attacks against them, including those committed by internationally-supported TFG and Ethiopian forces.”

Security in many parts of Mogadishu is non-existent and the entire population of the city bears the scars of having witnessed or experienced egregious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

“There is no safety for civilians, wherever they run. Those fleeing violence in Mogadishu are attacked on the road and those lucky enough to reach a camp or settlement face further violence and dire conditions.”

The Transitional Federal Government, as the recognized government of Somalia, bears the primary responsibility for protecting the human rights of the Somali people. However, the Ethiopian military, which is taking a leading role in backing the TFG, also bears responsibility.

“Attacks on civilians by all parties must stop immediately. Also, the international community must bear its own responsibility for not putting consistent pressure on the TFG or the Ethiopian government to stop their armed forces from committing egregious human rights violations.”

Amnesty International has urged that the capacity of the UN Political Office for Somalia be strengthened, and that AMISOM – and any succeeding UN peacekeeping mission – be mandated to protect civilians and include a strong human rights component with the capacity to investigate human rights violations. The organization has also called for the UN arms embargo on Somalia to be strengthened.

Indonesia urged to ratify the Rome Statute

Fri, 02 May 2008 16:26:36 +0100

Indonesia must fulfil its commitment to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 2008, Amnesty International has urged.

In 2004, the President of Indonesia adopted a National Plan of Action on Human Rights. Significantly, the Plan states that Indonesia intends to ratify the Rome Statute in 2008.

Midway through 2008, however, it remains uncertain whether Indonesia will achieve its target. In particular, national legislation providing for cooperation with the International Criminal Court has not yet been enacted.

Amnesty International has called on Indonesia to take all necessary steps to ratify the Rome Statute this year, to demonstrate its commitment to end impunity for the worst human rights violations: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

What is the International Criminal Court?
The International Criminal Court is a permanent independent judicial body created by the international community to prosecute crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Under a system of complementarity, it will only act when national authorities are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute crimes.

The Rome Statute was adopted at an international conference in Rome on 17 July 1998. To date 106 countries - more than half of the world - have ratified. The International Criminal Court, which began work on 1 July 2002 has already commenced four investigations into crimes committed in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur (Sudan) and Uganda. Its first trial is expected to start this year.

Ethiopia must release mosque attack children

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:11:14 +0100

Ethiopian forces and forces of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) have been accused of targeting civilians in an attack on a Mogadishu mosque on Saturday. Twenty-one people were killed in the attack, which Amnesty International has said may constitute a war crime.

Eleven of the twenty-one dead were killed inside the mosque, including the Iman Sheik Saiid Yahya, Sheik Abdullah Mohamud and a number of Tabliq Islamic scholars. At least ten other individuals were killed in the area around the mosque. Their bodies were later brought to the mosque by local residents.

Seven of the twenty-one were reported to have died after their throats were cut, a form of extra-judicial execution practised by Ethiopian forces in Somalia.

The mosque was raided during extensive conflict in the north eastern area of Mogadishu, in which a number of Ethiopian soldiers were reported to have been killed. According to eye-witnesses, the eleven killed inside the mosque were unarmed civilians taking no active part in hostilities. A spokesperson for the Ethiopian government has denied the involvement of Ethiopian troops in these killings.

Amnesty International is also concerned that approximately 41 children, estimated to range from 9 to 18 years of age, were taken by the Ethiopian military from the Al Hidya mosque where they were attending religious classes. The children are reported to be detained at the Ethiopian military base close to the pasta factory in Mogadishu. Other younger children present were not arrested.

Witnesses have told Amnesty International that Ethiopian forces said these children would be released "once they had been investigated" and "if they were not terrorists".

The Ethiopian military and TFG forces have been fighting against armed groups opposed to them for two days. The Elman Human Rights Organisation has documented 81 deaths and more than one hundred injured in the fighting. It is not known how many of these were civilians.

The attack on the mosque followed increasing attacks by armed groups opposed to the TFG on towns in southern and central Somalia. Local residents of Beledweyne City have reported that members of the Al-Shabab militia killed four teachers in an attack on 13 April. An Al-Shabab leader has claimed that the teachers were shot in crossfire.

The targeting of civilians constitutes a war crime. Amnesty International has called for international action to end impunity for crimes such as these, which are being committed in many areas of Somalia. The organization has said that the Ethiopian Government and TFG must ensure an independent investigation into these killings.

"Any Ethiopian soldiers found to be responsible must be prosecuted in accordance with international fair trial standards without use of the death penalty," said Amnesty International.

The organization is also calling on the United Nations Security Council to take action to end impunity throughout Somalia, through the establishment of an international Commission of Inquiry or similar mechanism to investigate serious human rights abuses and violations being committed in armed conflict in the country.

Thousands lost in Kashmir mass graves

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:28:23 +0100

Hundreds of unidentified graves – believed to contain victims of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other abuses - have been found in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

Amnesty International has urged the Indian government to launch urgent investigations into the mass graves, which are thought to contain the remains of victims of human rights abuses in the context of the armed conflict that has raged in the region since 1989.

The findings appear in the report Facts under Ground, issued on 29 March by the Srinagar-based Association of the Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). The report details the existence of multiple graves which, because of their proximity to Pakistan controlled-areas, are in areas not accessible without the specific permission of the security forces. Since 2006, the graves of at least 940 people are reported to have been discovered in 18 villages in Uri district alone.

The Indian army has claimed that those found buried were armed rebels and "foreign militants" killed lawfully in armed encounters with military forces. However, the report recounts testimonies from local villagers saying that most buried were local residents hailing from the state.

The report alleges that more than 8,000 persons have gone missing in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. The Indian authorities put the figure at less than 4.000, claiming that most of these went to Pakistan to join armed opposition groups.

In 2006, a state police report confirmed the deaths in custody of 331 persons, and also 111 enforced disappearances following detention since 1989.

Unlawful killings, enforced disappearances and torture are violations of both international human rights law and international humanitarian law, set out in treaties to which India is a state party. They also constitute international crimes.

Amnesty International has called on the Indian government to unequivocally condemn enforced disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir and ensure that prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations into all sites of mass graves in the region are immediately carried out by forensic experts in line with the relevant UN Model Protocol.

All past and current allegations of enforced disappearances must be investigated and, where there is sufficient evidence, anyone suspected of responsibility for such crimes must be prosecuted in fair trial proceedings, with all victims granted full reparations.

Carnage and despair in Iraq

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:14:10 +0000

Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the country is still in disarray. The human rights situation is disastrous, a climate of impunity has prevailed, the economy is in tatters and the refugee crisis continues to escalate.

A new Amnesty International report, Carnage and Despair: Iraq five years on, says that, despite the heavy presence of US and Iraqi security forces, Iraq is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with hundreds of Iraqi civilians killed every month.

Armed groups, including those opposed to the Iraqi government and the US-led Multi-National Force (MNF), have been responsible for indiscriminate bombings, suicide attacks, kidnappings and torture.

Since early 2006, violence has intensified and become more sectarian, with Sunni and Shi’a armed groups targeting followers of opposite faiths and driving whole communities out of mixed neighbourhoods. This has contributed to the displacement of over four million people. Two million of these are now refugees in Syria and Jordan.

Civilians are also at risk from MNF and Iraqi security forces, with many killed by excessive force and tens of thousands detained without charge or trial. The death penalty was reintroduced in 2004 and hundreds of people have been sentenced to death. At least 33 people were executed in 2007, many after unfair trials.

With the rise of fundamentalist religious groups, conditions for women have also worsened. Many have been forced to wear Islamic dress or targeted for abduction, rape or killing. A survey conducted by the World Heath Organization (WHO) in 2006/2007 in Iraq found that 21.2 percent of Iraqi women had experienced physical violence.

The situation in Iraq has not been helped by the Iraqi government’s failure to investigate effectively the many incidents of human rights abuse - whether committed by security forces or militia groups – and to bring those responsible to justice.

Economic conditions also remain very poor, with most Iraqis suffering from lack of food, shelter, water, sanitation, education, healthcare and employment.

Oxfam reported in July 2007 that 70 percent of Iraqis lacked access to safe drinking water and 43 percent were living on the equivalent of less than a dollar per day. Eight million Iraqis are in need of emergency assistance, with children the worst hit. Child malnutrition rates have increased from 19 percent during the period from 1991-2003, when international sanctions were imposed on the country under Saddam Hussein, to 28 percent in 2007.

The predominantly Kurdish region of northern Iraq has been more stable with fewer acts of violence, and has seen growing economic prosperity and foreign investment. However, here too there continue to be serious human rights violations, including arrests for peaceful political dissent, torture, ill-treatment, the death penalty and the killing of women in so-called honour crimes.

The invasion of Iraq started on 19 March 2003, with US military strikes on Baghdad. US President George W Bush declared the war over that May and, on 8 June 2004, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1546, declaring that Iraq’s occupation would end on 30 June 2004.

The Resolution stated that the MNF would stay in Iraq until the end of 2005. Since then, the MNF’s presence has been extended on a yearly basis by the UN Security Council and the Iraqi government.

Executive power was transferred back to an Iraqi government in June 2004 but successive administrations have been unable to stop the violence and bring a durable peace. According to a January 2008 survey by the WHO and the Iraq's Health Ministry, 151,000 people were killed from March 2003 till June 2006. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), some 34,452 people were killed during 2006, with thousands injured.

Palestinian homes demolished without warning

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:46:11 +0000

The Israeli army demolished more homes in Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday morning. The homes and property of Palestinian families in the villages of Hadidiya, Jiftlik and Furush Beit Dajan, in the Jordan Valley area of the occupied West Bank, were demolished.

Amnesty International's researcher on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories witnessed the demolitions. Donatella Rovera described the scene:

"In all the places, most of the people are children. These homes mostly have three generations – the grandparents, parents and children. In Hadidiya, there were four families, in Furush Beit Dajan, five families.

"All of the people have had homes demolished before, but this time they had no warning. The people were very, very upset. They were running to get their things out of their homes, but the bulldozer just went on demolishing."

Soldiers of the Israeli army arrived early in the morning in jeeps accompanied by a bulldozer and then demolished the buildings where the four families were living. The destroyed properties belonged to Mohammed Fahed Bani Odeh, Mohammed Ali Shaikh Bani Odeh, Ali Shaikh Musleh Bani Odeh and Omar 'Arif Mohammed Bisharat and their families – at least 34 people, including some 26 children.

After destroying these homes, the soldiers moved on to destroy homes and livelihoods in Jiftlik and Furush Beit Dajan, where homes have previously been demolished in recent months.

"In Jiftlik, they are destroying a farm – it is one of the rare farms here and there is otherwise not much livelihood for the people. They first bulldozed the vegetable area a couple of months ago; then they bulldozed the home last month," said Donatella Rovera.

"The family of Mahmud Mat'ab Da'ish, his wife and seven children were given a tent by the Red Cross and they started planting vegetables again. Today, the army has been bulldozing the green plants.

"In all three locations the soldiers haven't allowed us to get near, I don't even know if they have a military order to destroy everything - we asked them but they didn't show us anything."

The families in Hadidiya have lived in the same area for generations, herding sheep and goats and cultivating land on the Jordan hills. They have come under increasing pressure from the Israeli army to leave the area. The same four families had their homes destroyed in February this year and other homes were demolished several times by the Israeli army in 2007.

The demolitions are part of intensified efforts by the Israeli army to expel Palestinians from the area of the Jordan Valley. Much of the Jordan Valley, including the Hadidiya area, has been designated by the Israeli authorities as a "closed military area" and the army has been exerting increased pressure on local Palestinian villagers to force them to out of the area.

For years, the Israeli authorities have pursued a policy of discriminatory house demolition, on the one hand allowing scores of Israeli settlements to be built on occupied Palestinian land, in breach of international law, while simultaneously confiscating Palestinian lands, refusing building permits for Palestinians and destroying their homes. The land vacated has often been used to build illegal Israeli settlements. International law forbids occupying powers from settling their own citizens in the territories they occupy.

The demolitions come one day after the Israeli government came under international criticism for approving the construction of hundreds of new houses for Israelis in the Givat Ze'ev settlement north of Jerusalem. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the government to "halt settlement expansion" in the West Bank. Javier Solana, the European Union (EU)'s foreign policy chief, said the EU opposed the move to expand the settlement.

UK: Gagging potential witnesses will not serve justice

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:10:26 +0000

Following the injunction granted on 28 February 2008 by the High Court of England and Wales to prevent Ben Griffin, a former member of the UK Special Forces (UKSF) Special Air Services (SAS), from making any further disclosures relating to the work of the SAS, Amnesty International's Senior Adviser, Anne FitzGerald, said:

“Rather than seeking to silence people who might have credible evidence of alleged human rights violations, which may include war crimes, the UK authorities should be seeking to investigate those allegations.”

“Amnesty International repeatedly makes calls for the UK to ensure that full and independent investigations are carried out wherever there are credible allegations that agents of the UK, including members of the armed forces, may have been responsible for grave violations of human rights law or for war crimes. Those calls all too often go unheeded: only last week Amnesty International repeated its call for such an investigation into the UK's alleged involvement in the US-led programme of renditions and secret detention, following official confirmation, after years of denial, that rendition flights did indeed touch down in the UK territory of Diego Garcia.”

“There can be no accountability without transparency: people - including former soldiers - who have information that may constitute evidence of war crimes or of grave human rights violations must be reassured that they can safely make that information public, without fear of punitive legal action against them. If the government of the UK succeeds in gagging Ben Griffin and burying any significant information he may possess, it risks preventing others from coming forward who may have evidence of serious violations.”

Uganda strikes deal with LRA on trials

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:31:30 +0000

The Ugandan government has struck a deal with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) about where their leaders will be tried. LRA leaders accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes would be tried by a national court under the terms of the deal.

Many of the people have been charged with horrific crimes – and international warrants have been out for their arrest for more than two and a half years.

As a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC, Uganda has the duty to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigations and prosecutions. In particular, it must cooperate in arresting and surrendering any person charged by the Court, without delay.

Arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and the others who are still alive were issued on 8 July 2005 and Uganda is obliged under international law to arrest and surrender them regardless of any agreement reached in the peace process. They are also obliged to bring to justice all those responsible for crimes under international law in fair trials without the death penalty.

The Rome Statute provides that, once the men have been surrendered to the ICC, the Ugandan government may then apply to have the cases returned to Ugandan courts. However, it would be up to the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC to decide whether Ugandan courts are able and willing to genuinely investigate and prosecute the LRA suspects named in the warrants.

Amnesty International has called for LRA members charged with crimes under international law to be surrendered to the International Criminal Court (ICC) immediately.

“It is not acceptable for the Ugandan government and the LRA to make a deal that circumvents international law,” said Christopher Keith Hall, Senior Legal Adviser in Amnesty International’s International Justice Project. “They must be handed over to the ICC so that their guilt or innocence can be determined once and for all. The people of Uganda deserve no less.

“At the moment, we have no evidence to suggest that even a new court established in Uganda to deal with these cases would be able and willing to do so in fair proceedings that are not a sham.”

During approximately 20 years of fighting between the LRA and the Ugandan government, soldiers on both sides have murdered tens of thousands of people and forcibly displaced about two million people.

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.