HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
MONTHLY EMAIL UPDATE
October 2001
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IN THIS ISSUE:
> Aftermath of the September 11 Attacks
> Human Rights Watch Annual Dinner: Reaffirming Human Rights
> Advocacy at the UN World Conference Against Racism
> Caste and the UN World Conference Against Racism
> Making the International Criminal Court a Reality
> Banning Landmines
> HRW Film Festival on the Road
> Recent Publications
> Become a Member or Make a Contribution
> Subscribe or Unsubscribe to this Update
---
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AFTERMATH OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS
Message from Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch:
Never has it been more important to reaffirm our commitment to the basic
principles of human rights.
The September 11 attacks in the United States shocked the world.
Thousands of people lost their lives in just a few tragic minutes. What
makes their deaths particularly abhorrent is precisely that the victims
were innocent civilians, in no sense legitimate targets.
As the United States prepares now for war, we must remember how
precious are the lives of those who take no part in violence and combat.
Like the office workers in the World Trade Center, the ordinary women
and men of Afghanistan do not deserve to die.
In the coming weeks and months, we at Human Rights Watch will make
every effort to monitor compliance with international humanitarian law,
by all parties to an armed conflict that now seems inevitable. We will
have teams of researchers deployed throughout central and south Asia to
investigate any failure in the duty to spare civilians and to insist
that refugees from the fighting be properly protected. Where police are
engaged in bringing suspects to justice, we will uphold international
standards of law enforcement. And in countries where the fear of
terrorist attack runs highest, we will be vigilant for harassment and
discrimination against Muslims, people of Arab or Asian descent, and
other people of color who may be unfairly targeted in this fraught
political climate.
These are confusing and polarized times, but one principle remains
constant: human rights belong equally to every person on the planet.
That is a powerful idea, but it urgently needs defending now.
Since the September 11 attacks, Human Rights Watch has been a leading
voice for human rights. We are monitoring developments across the globe
including the refugee crisis in Afghanistan, hate crimes in the U.S.,
deliberations at the United Nations and repression around the world in
the name of "anti-terrorism." Our warning that governments were using
anti-terrorism as a pretext for repression was featured by the BBC, the
Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. We are monitoring legislation
in Washington and pressuring the leaders of the U.S. and the European
Union to make human rights protection an integral part of the fight
against terrorism.
To find out more about Human Rights Watch's response to the September
11 attacks, as well as to learn the latest breaking news, visit out Web
site at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11.
For suggestions on what you can do, visit
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11/action.htm
For details on opportunistic repression in the name of anti-terrorism,
visit http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11/opportunismwatch.htm
For information on human rights and the refugee crisis in Afghanistan,
see http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/afghanistan
For information on human rights in Pakistan, see
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/sasia/pakistan
For information on human rights in Uzbekistan, see
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/cenasia/uzbekistan.shtml
For details on what you can do to prevent hate crimes, visit
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11/hatewatch.htm
To contribute to our emergency work and help us meet the extraordinary
expenses we are now forced to incur, visit
http://www.hrw.org/donations//default.asp?dtype=sept11
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ANNUAL DINNER: REAFFIRMING HUMAN RIGHTS
As the world mourns the loss of so many innocent people as a result of
the attacks in the US on September 11th, it is also a time to recommit
ourselves to the ideals of justice and human dignity that are at the
core of human rights values. Please join us for the Human Rights Watch
first annual dinner in London on October 18. The event will honor four
individuals who are speaking out for justice in their homes in Chechnya,
India, Jordan and Sierra Leone. Our Annual New York dinner takes place
on November 7 with human rights defenders from Uzbekistan, Indonesia,
and Sudan, followed by the Los Angeles dinner on November 12 and the San
Francisco dinner on November 15.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit
http://www.hrw.org/community
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ADVOCACY AT THE UN WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM
An eight-member Human Rights Watch delegation, led by Board Member Joel
Motley and Advocacy Director Reed Brody, participated in the World
Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa (August 31 to September 7).
HRW played a key role in several programmatic victories that set the
stage for future activism on issues including the protection of migrants
and refugees, repairing the legacy of slavery, the equal application of
criminal justice, and equal nationality rights for women.
HRW also played an important role in condemning some of the
inappropriate criticisms of Israel at the NGO Forum (August 28 to
September 1) and in protesting the U.S. walkout. HRW's comments on both
issues received world-wide coverage.
The conference's final document called on governments to adopt
far-reaching programs to address intolerance and discrimination against
the 150 million migrants in the world, including education campaigns and
prevention of workplace bias. It asked countries to combat intolerance
against refugees and to protect the more than 30 million people
displaced in their own countries. In a significant step, for which HRW
also campaigned, the conference asked countries to allow women the right
to transmit their nationality to their children and spouses on an equal
basis with men, a right denied in many countries, especially in the
Middle East and North Africa. The final document also asked countries to
monitor and ensure accountability for police misconduct and to eliminate
"racial profiling." It called on countries to fund anti-racism efforts
and public awareness campaigns in schools and the media. It urged
governments to collect data disaggregated by race, which is a first
means of identifying and then addressing discrimination in health, the
provision of government services, and the administration of justice.
On another key issue which HRW had highlighted, the conference
acknowledged that slavery and the slave trade "are a crime against
humanity and should always have been so," and stated that governments
have a "moral obligation" to "take appropriate and effective measures to
halt and reverse the lasting consequences of those practices." This is
an historic recognition of the criminality of slavery and the moral
obligation to repair its lasting damage.
Amid controversy at the NGO Forum, another great achievement of the
conference was the unprecedented mobilization of victims of racism from
communities around the world, such as the Dalits, or so-called
untouchables of South Asia (see below), the Roma of Europe, and
Afro-Latinos who put their plights squarely on the international agenda.
At the conference, Human Rights Watch published two reports that
focused on ethnic strife in Côte d'Ivoire and caste discrimination
world-wide: "The New Racism: The Political Manipulation of Ethnicity in
Côte d'Ivoire" and "Caste Discrimination: A Global Concern." Both
reports received extensive attention at Durban and in the press.
For more on HRW and the World Conference Against Racism, visit
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/race/
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CASTE AND THE WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM
Human Rights Watch lobbying ensured that caste discrimination was on the
agenda of both the NGO forum and intergovernmental conference. Human
Rights Watch's work on caste began with the 1999 report "Broken People:
Caste Violence Against India's 'Untouchables.'" The release was the
catalyst for the formation of India's National Campaign for Dalit Human
Rights. The campaign, whose more than 100 NGOs are active in over 12
Indian states, has also joined with solidarity bodies in over a dozen
countries, many of whom are members of the International Dalit
Solidarity Network, formed by Human Rights Watch in March 2000.
At the conference, over 200 members representing the groups above,
including 160 Dalit activists from India, worked alongside Smita Narula,
senior researcher with the Asia division of HRW, and made their presence
felt through protests, NGO workshops, intensive government lobbying, and
cultural programs. On August 29, 2001, HRW released "Caste
Discrimination: A Global Concern." The report shows that more than 250
million people worldwide continue to suffer under what is often a hidden
apartheid of segregation, modern-day slavery, and other extreme forms of
discrimination, exploitation, and violence. In the lead up to the
conference mounting local and international pressure led government of
Nepal to announce that they would outlaw caste discrimination. The
campaign's work in mobilizing mass support in India has also forced
several political parties, as well as the country's own National Human
Rights Commission, to take unprecedented stands against the government
censoring of discussion of caste at the World Conference Against Racism.
Furious lobbying by the Indian government led to a last-minute removal
of references in the conference documents to discrimination based on
"work and descent," a reference to the plight of the Dalits. India only
fueled international scrutiny by fighting to keep caste out of the final
conference documents. To their credit, however, other governments stood
by the Dalit caucus and displayed the growing international concern for
caste discrimination.
For more on the campaign to end caste discrimination, visit
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/caste/
For more on HRW and the World Conference Against Racism, visit
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/race/
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MAKING THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT A REALITY
On October 3, the Central African Republic became the forty-first
country to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
We are now over two thirds of the way towards the 60 ratifications
required to make the court a reality. The International Criminal Court
will complement existing national judicial systems. It will be a
permanent tribunal that will investigate and prosecute those individuals
accused of crimes against humanity, genocide, and crimes of war.
Establishing the ICC has been a major institutional push of Human
Rights Watch. Most recently, in September staff attended the 8th ICC
Preparatory Commission meeting where the details of the Court's
implementation were worked out. At the meeting many states reiterated
their support for the ICC, and Peru and Switzerland announced their
intention to ratify the Rome Statute soon. On September 25, HRW
published "International Criminal Court Work: a Handbook for
Implementing the Rome Statute," which explains the principal obligations
of states parties under the Rome Statute and discusses how to implement
it into national laws. To find out more about the International Criminal
Court visit: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/icc/
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BANNING LANDMINES
On August 27, Eritrea acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, and on September
27, Nigeria acceded. There are now just four countries in Africa that
remain outside the treaty. In total, 142 countries have now joined the
treaty, of which 121 are states parties. In September, the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines released its third annual report, "Landmine
Monitor Report 2001: Toward a Mine-Free World", ahead of the Third
Meeting of States Parties in Nicaragua. Human Rights Watch, a founding
member of the ICBL, was responsible for the final editing and production
of this report, in its capacity as coordinator of the Landmines Monitor.
For more information visit http://www.hrw.org/arms/
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RECENT PUBLICATIONS
VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN
Violence against children is a bigger problem than governments
acknowledge, and in fact is often carried out by officials of the state.
The Human Rights Watch report "Easy Targets: Violence Against Children
Worldwide" documents beatings, torture, forced labour, sexual assault
and murder by police or other law enforcement officials, employers, and
teachers. The report was released in Geneva on September 28, a day which
the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child devoted to violence
against children. The report calls on governments to take stronger
measures to protect children from abuse and urges the United Nations to
undertake an international study of violence against children.
The Web version of the report features its summary and recommendations
in Spanish, French, and Arabic as well as sample letters and actions you
can take to help stop violence against children worldwide.
Read the press release at
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/09/target0928.htm
View the report online and take action now at
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/children
MACEDONIA
Macedonian government troops committed grave abuses during an August
offensive that claimed ten civilian lives in the ethnic Albanian village
of Ljuboten. The report, "Crimes Against Civilians: Abuses by Macedonian
Forces in Ljuboten, August 10-12, 2001," charges that Macedonian police
troops killed ten civilians and burned at least twenty-two homes, sheds,
and stores in the course of their August 12 house-to-house attack on the
village. The report, released on September 5, was covered in the U.S.,
European, and Macedonian media, including the New York Times and CNN.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, charged
with investigating allegations of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia,
contacted Human Rights Watch to provide evidence and contact information
for witnesses. The Tribunal has sent investigators to Macedonia to
decide whether to begin a full investigation. Although Macedonian
Minister of the Interior Ljube Boskovski flatly denied responsibility
for the attacks, Minister of Defense Vlado Buckovski said that the
allegations of the report should be investigated.
Read the press release at
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/09/macedonia-0905.htm
View the report online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/macedonia
View the photo gallery at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/macedonia/photos
IVORY COAST
Leading government officials in Côte D'Ivoire have incited a violent
xenophobia that is threatening to destabilize the country. "The New
Racism: The Political Manipulation of Ethnicity in Côte D'Ivoire,"
describes atrocities committed during presidential and parliamentary
elections in October and December 2000, and is based on extensive
interviews of victims and witnesses in Abidjan in late 2000 and early
2001. The report was released on August 28, on the eve of a national
reconciliation conference convened by President Laurent Gbagbo to end 20
months of political instability. The release was covered widely in the
regional media and was downloaded from our Web site by over 500 users in
Côte D'Ivoire.
Read the press release at
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/08/cote-0828.htm
View the report online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/ivorycoast
En Francais, http://www.hrw.org/french/reports/ivorycoast
SOUTH AFRICA
In "Unequal Protection: The State Response to Violent Crime on South
African Farms," Human Rights Watch charges the South African government
with failing adequately to protect residents of commercial farming areas
from violent crime. Black farm residents are most severely affected by
this failure, and black women are most vulnerable of all (Aug. 27).
Read the press release at
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/08/safrica0822.htm
View the report online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/safrica2
Order the report online at
http://store.yahoo.com/hrwpubs/unprotstatre.html
INDONESIA / ACEH
"The War in Aceh" examines the Indonesian security forces' role in
extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture, and collective
punishment; it reports on efforts to restrict rights of expression,
assembly, and association, particularly in regard to students, and looks
at the lack of remedies available to victims of human rights violations.
The report was released on August 20, as President Megawati and the
Indonesian government were going through a review of its policy in Aceh.
The report's release and findings were covered widely in the Indonesia
media. The report was praised for its thoroughness by a number of
Governments and NGO's involved in conflict resolution. In general, human
rights organizations in Aceh were supportive, as the report made
criticisms of the rebels that they felt they could not make themselves.
In advance of President Megawati's visit to Washington (Sept. 19-21),
HRW provided briefing material and information to members of Congress,
the media, the World Bank, and US policy makers planning to meet her.
Megawati was urged to take concrete action on judicial reform and
accountability for abuses, including in conflict areas such as Aceh.
Human Rights Watch was quoted in the press criticizing Bush's decision
to lift a ban on US commercial arms sales to Indonesia before these
reform steps were taken.
Read the press release at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/08/waraceh.htm
View the report online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/aceh
Order the report online at
http://store.yahoo.com/hrwpubs/inwarinac.html
CHINA
With the release of a backgrounder, "Freedom of Expression and the
Internet in China," HRW called on media and computer companies that are
doing business in China to work toward lifting government controls (Aug.
1).
View online at http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/china-bck-0701.htm
Read the press release at
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/08/china-0801.htm
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HRW FILM FESTIVAL ON THE ROAD
The Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival is scheduled for the
following cities and dates:
Portland, OR, October 5 - November 1, 2001
Seattle, WA, November 1-5, 2001
Denver, CO, November 5-14, 2001
Boston, MA, January 24-27, 2002
San Francisco, CA, February 2002
For more information about the traveling film festival, including what
you can do to host it in your town, visit
http://www.hrw.org/iff/traveling/about.html
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