Background to the Geneva Meeting
China
Chechnya
East Timor
Uzbekistan
Sierra Leone
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Sudan
Colombia
Haiti Documents
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Oral Intervention : Item 9 of the Agenda
Item 9 - Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world
(on 3/28 by Cassandra Cavanough)
Mr Chairman,
Human Rights Watch wishes to bring three situations to the Commission's attention. Two of these, unfortunately, involve permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. We hope, nevertheless, that the Commission will find the political will to address them
The armed conflict in Chechnya has taken a disastrous toll on civilians. Thousands have been killed, and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes and live in squalid conditions.
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We are accordingly asking the Commission to condemn the abuses in Chechnya and to mandate a sustained and thorough investigation conducted by a team of U.N. investigators. While we would welcome the deployment of the Commission's thematic rapporteurs to the region, the magnitude of the abuses argue for a longer-term involvement.
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A Human Rights Watch team in Ingushetia since November has documented abuses by both parties to the conflict. Most serious have been three massacres of Chechen civilians by Russian forces -- in Alkhan-Yurt, and in the Staropromyslovskii and Aldi districts of Grozny. After interviewing hundreds of witnesses, we have concluded that at least 120 civilians -- many of them elderly men and women -- were summarily executed. Yet Russian prosecutors have closed the investigation on two of these, concluding that Russian forces committed no crimes. This closure reflects the overall atmosphere of impunity in Chechnya, which has allowed Russian forces to loot with abandon, extort civilians for bribes, and torture detainees in custody.
Mr. Chairman, these massacres are war crimes, and their perpetrators must be brought to justice. It would be extremely optimistic, though, to expect domestic remedies to achieve this, as several western leaders have recently proposed. While we have welcomed the appointment of Vladimir Kalamanov, the Presidential Representative for Human Rights in Chechnya, his office may be unable to overcome the obstructions posed by the prosecutorial authorities. Accountability must therefore be pursued through international agencies as well.
We are accordingly asking the Commission to condemn the abuses in Chechnya and to mandate a sustained and thorough investigation conducted by a team of U.N. investigators. While we would welcome the deployment of the Commission's thematic rapporteurs to the region, the magnitude of the abuses argue for a longer-term involvement.
Mr Chairman,
The situation in China and Tibet continues to deteriorate, with increasing restraints on freedom of association, assembly, expression, and religion.
The crackdown began in October 1998 with new regulations on the formation of non-profit and voluntary organizations. In December, the first three China Democracy Party leaders were sentenced to long prison terms, followed by twenty-five more.
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We urge the Commission to censure China and to call on its government to take immediate and positive steps to end these abuses.
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Freedom of religion has been a particular casualty. The most prominent target was Falun Gong. Using retroactive laws, harsh prison terms were meted out to the group's leaders while scores of others were administratively sentenced and thousands were arbitrarily detained for brief periods of forced reeducation. At least six Catholic bishops have been "disappeared" and unofficial Protestant evangelical groups have been harassed.
The government tightened media restrictions, in particular over the Internet. Cafes with Internet access must register and inform the police about their customers. Several bulletin boards, as well as newspapers, were closed or re-structured for allowing political discussions. In January 2000, new regulations prohibited the transmittal of "state secrets" -- a notoriously vague term under Chinese law-- on the World Wide Web or through e-mail.
In Tibet and Xinjiang, the crackdown on so-called splittists has intensified. In Tibet, monks and nuns who refuse the government's demands to renounce the Dalai Lama or to accept government-chosen religious leaders have been expelled from their monasteries, arrested, and sentenced. Some have died in prison. In Xinjiang, the pace of executions has been stepped up. A leading Uighur businesswoman received an eight-year sentence for attempting to meet a foreign delegation. Imams who refuse to include Chinese religious propaganda in their teachings find themselves imprisoned and their schools and mosques arbitrarily closed .
We urge the Commission to censure China and to call on its government to take immediate and positive steps to end these abuses.
Mr. Chairman,
Human Rights Watch is alarmed by the ongoing abuses by rebel groups in Sierra Leone since the signing of the Lomé peace accord.
Since the July l999 signing, we have documented scores of serious violations by rebel forces, many as recently as January and February 2000, against civilians living within Port Loko, Kambia, Kabala and Makeni Districts. These abuses include extrajudicial killing, rape, torture, abduction, ambushes, mutilation, attacks on aid workers and their beneficiaries, the training of child combatants and looting of property. The attacks on villages, which often happen within the context of food raids, have displaced thousands of civilians, particularly within the Port Loko District.
Recent attacks against civilians living in camps for the internally displaced occurred less than one kilometer from checkpoints manned by ECOMOG [the West African peacekeeping force], the Sierra Leonean Army soldiers, and/or UNAMSIL peacekeepers. Victims told Human Rights Watch that most of the perpetrators had identified themselves as members of the ex-Sierra Leonean Army and may have also included members of the rebel Revolutionary United Front.
Rebels have also refused to release abducted civilians still held in violation of the Lome Accord, including those held as sex slaves and 'rebel wives.' Abducted civilians who have recently escaped describe forced labor, particularly in the diamond mining areas, and forced taxation.
Mr Chairman, the Commission should urge that the human rights component of UNAMSIL is fully staffed and deployed throughout the country, and that it report promptly and publicly on abuses against civilians. The High Commissioner for Human Rights should deploy her envoy, Mr. Bethuel Kipligat to investigate the relationship between a commission of inquiry and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Thank you.
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