(New York, April 2, 1998)--As President Clinton today recognizes the efforts of civil society in Africa, civil society activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are facing new attacks from their government. Human Rights Watch charged today that the Congolese authorities are cracking down on a range of independent voices -- including journalists, academics, development experts, and in particular human rights defenders -- in order to silence criticism of their increasingly repressive policies.
"On February 23, British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Robin Cook, announced that the EU would abandon any effort to sponsor or support a resolution on China at the U.N Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and instead would focus on `dialogue,'" the group said in its letter. "However, `dialogue' currently takes place without any publicly known agenda based on which results could be measured."
( 31 March 1998) -- Five of the world's leading international human rights organizations_Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation of Human Rights, and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights_ today welcomed the publication of a United Nations report on United Kingdom. The report, by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, a leading Malaysian jurist, results from his fact-finding mission to Northern Ireland and England in October 1997 to investigate allegations that police officers in Northern Ireland routinely issued death threats against and intimidated defense lawyers.
(Geneva, March 30, 1998) -- Human Rights Watch today called on the U.N. to investigate Saudi Arabian laws and practices that discriminate against migrant workers, including women migrants. In a submission to the Commission on Human Rights, the organization described how severe shortcomings in Saudi Arabia's labor and legal systems encourage the exploitation of foreign workers, leaving them vulnerable to serious abuses including forced labor, physical and sexual assaults, and arrest and conviction on false charges. "Saudi law gives employers tremendous power over their foreign workers' freedom of movement, power that has been easily abused," said Hanny Megally, director of the Middle East and North Africa Division.
This month, President Clinton will make the longest and most extensive trip to Africa by any U.S. president in history. It should be an exciting trip, and a rare chance to tell the American public about what is happening in different parts of Africa - some very positive trends, and some very serious crises.
We at Human Rights Watch have compiled a briefing packet to help prepare you for the trip. It's organized chronologically, with thumbnail sketches of the countries he'll visit, and some questions you might raise with the president and his hosts at various stops along the way. We've also included some material about places that aren't on the schedule, since, for obvious reasons, Clinton won't be visiting the African countries where human rights abuses are most egregious.
(March 18, 1998) --Human Rights Watch today commended the U.S. religious delegation which traveled to China, Tibet and Hong Kong in February to open an unprecedented dialogue with Chinese officials and others on religious freedom, but said the mission did not produce the kind of breakthrough that justified the Clinton Administration's recent reversal on human rights. Last week, the White House announced that the U.S. for the first time would not push a resolution on China at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights now meeting in Geneva, and that Clinton would visit China as early as this June. The delegation's visit was negotiated during last October's summit meeting between U.S. President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Washington, DC.
(Geneva, March 17,1998) Human Rights Watch today called on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to appoint an envoy to investigate the mounting atrocities in Algeria. The U.S.-based organization made the plea as the Commission began its annual six-week session here. The group also criticized the United States and the European Union for deciding not to seek a resolution on China's human rights record and asked the Commission to take stronger action on Bahrain, Burma, Cambodia, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo, Sudan and Tajikistan.
(New York, March 13, 1998)-- human Rights Watch has today written to His Holiness Pope John Paul II, requesting him to intervene on behalf of political prisoners during his forthcoming visit to Nigeria.
The Pope made similar appeals on behalf of political prisoners when he visited President Fidel Castro in Cuba recently. "The Nigerian government also holds a large number of political prisoners, and we hope to appeal for their release," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director for Africa at Human Rights Watch. "Conditions in Nigerian prisons can be life-threatening, and, given the intransigence of the Nigerian government, the pope's visit may be the last chance some of them have to come out alive."
(March 13, 1998) -- Human Rights Watch today welcomed the Chinese government's announcement that it is preparing to sign an important United Nations human rights treaty, but urged the Clinton Administration not to abandon its significant leverage for human rights improvements just when Beijing is beginning to respond to the pressure.
On March 11, at 1:00 AM local time, Hway Kaloke refugee camps in Thailand's Mae Sot district were attacked by a group of some 100 Burmese government and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) troops. Two people are confirmed to have died in the attack, and at least twenty others were seriously injured. One man, an amputee who was in the camp hospital, suffered severe burns. A total of 1,300 shelters in the camp, or approximately 85 per cent of the camp's area, were razed to the ground, leaving some 8,700 people homeless. The attack came as Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai was due to arrive in the U.S. for a three-day visit.
(New York - March 7, 1998) Human Rights Watch today called on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to launch an immediate investigation into possible war crimes being committed by Serbian security forces in Kosovo. In a letter sent today to Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor of the Tribunal, HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth urged the Tribunal to investigate arbitrary and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and the possible summary execution of detainees.
(March 6, 1998) -- Human Rights Watch yesterday sent the attached letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan, expressing serious concern that witnesses who gave testimony to his investigative team in the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire) have been arrested by the government. According to reliable information, on at least two occasions during the team's recent inquiry into allegations of massacres of Rwandan Hutu refugees in the Mbandaka area by forces loyal to now-President Laurent Kabila, government security forces broke in to meetings with witnesses and took the witnesses for questioning. A third witness was reportedly arrested twice, both before and after giving information to the team.
(New York, March 4, 1998) -- Human Rights Watch has learned with dismay that Olisa Agbakoba, prominent Nigerian human rights lawyer and founding president of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), was detained by police in Lagos on Tuesday and subsequently charged with holding an illegal meeting. Agbakoba was due to address a Lagos rally called by United Action for Democracy (UAD), a coalition of human rights and pro-democracy groups, in response to a pro-government rally today in Abuja organized and paid for by the military government.
Desde Washington, Human Rights Watch condenó enérgicamente el asesinato del Dr. Jesús María Valle Jaramillo, destacado defensor de los derechos humanos, ocurrido en la ciudad de Medellín el 27 de febrero.
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