| | |
|
| |
|
|
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ---
---- Human Rights Watch continues its intensive efforts to ensure that the world's responses to the September 11 crimes against humanity do not themselves run afoul of international human rights standards. This was a key message in a November 1 statement that Human Rights Watch issued along with 48 human rights, humanitarian, religious, and cultural groups. By listing 10 principles to guide U.S. action in response to the crimes of September 11, the statement insists that any response reject, rather than replicate, the inhumane logic of terrorism. Read the statement online at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/11/principles1101.htm Much of HRW's efforts has focused on human rights conditions within Afghanistan. Our researchers in surrounding countries are collecting testimony from refugees and others with first-hand information. For example, HRW reported that on October 21 at least twenty-three civilians, the majority of them young children, were killed when U.S. bombs hit a remote Afghan village located near a Taliban military base. On the night of October 22, at least twenty-five, and possibly as many as thirty-five, Afghan civilians died when U.S. bombs and gunfire hit their village, Chowkar-Karez (none of the witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch knew of Taliban or Al-Qaida positions in the area of this attack). Human Rights Watch urged the U.S.-led alliance to ensure that it is taking adequate precautions to avoid civilian casualties, and to launch an immediate investigation into the bombing raids that hit Thori village and Chowkar-Karez. Read our statements online at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/10/afghan1030.htm and http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/10/afghan1026.htm A Human Rights Watch report "Humanity Denied: Systematic Violations of Women's Rights in Afghanistan," documents a catastrophic assault on women's human rights during a decade of conflict in Afghanistan and under the repressive rule of the Taliban. Afghan women are likely to face further suffering at the hands of warring factions and to endure some of the most serious humanitarian consequences of the U.S.-led military action. HRW urges the international community to protect women's rights during the conflict and include full respect and protection for women's human rights as an integral part of any post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan. View the report online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan3/ In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on October 19, Human
Rights Watch urged the United States to use its influence with the
United Front(Northern Alliance) in Afghanistan to ensure that their
forces do not engage in reprisal killings, indiscriminate shelling, and
other serious violations of international humanitarian law. Human Rights
Watch cautioned that a violent end to Taliban rule in Mazar-i Sharif,
the largest city in northern Afghanistan, could pave the way for
retaliation by United Front forces against local Pashtun civilians and
others perceived to be associated with Taliban rule. A number of
commanders associated with the emerging coalition of opposition forces
in Afghanistan have a record of committing atrocities. Human Rights
Watch staff discussed the human rights record of the United Front on
CNN, Fox News, and National Public Radio. Is it lawful to assassinate persons suspected of terrorist acts? Is the U.S. military response to the September 11 attacks consistent with international humanitarian law? Questions and answers on the legal issues arising from the war in Afghanistan and related anti-terrorism efforts have been posted at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11/ihlqna.htm Our work monitoring opportunistic repression in the name of "anti-terrorism" continues with updates on arrests in Uzbekistan, legislation in India, and China's crackdown in the province of Xinjiang. Find out more at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11/opportunismwatch.htm The U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan marks the fourth phase in the country's twenty-three-year-old civil war. In every phase foreign powers have intensified the conflict. Find out more about the history of the war in Afghanistan at http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/afghan-bck1023.htm Twenty years of foreign invasion and civil war, political turmoil, oppression, and recent drought had already displaced more than five million of Afghanistan's 27 million people before the September 11 attacks on the United States. The commencement of U.S. and British air strikes against Afghanistan on October 7 has heightened the humanitarian crisis. Find out more about the impact of the September 11 attacks on refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in the Afghanistan region and worldwide at http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/refugees/afghan-bck1017.htm To receive by email HRW's breaking news and backgrounders on the September 11 crisis and its aftermath send a blank email message to afghanistan-subscribe@topica.com 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 ---- Every year the Human Rights Watch community gathers to honor human
rights monitors from around the world. Now, more than ever, it is time
to recommit ourselves to the ideals of justice and human dignity that
are at the core of human rights values. Our Annual New York dinner takes
place on November 7 honoring human rights defenders from Guatemala,
Indonesia, Pakistan, Sudan, and Uzbekistan. The Los Angeles dinner will
be held on November 12 and the San Francisco dinner on November 15. ---- You can now find Human Rights Watch documents on our Web site organized by country. Visit our country index page at http://www.hrw.org/countries.html ---- Human Rights Watch's latest report on Colombia, "'Sixth Division:'
Military-Paramilitary Ties and U.S. Policy in Colombia," presents
evidence that officers in army brigades and in some police units
routinely flout or circumvent orders to break ties to paramilitaries.
The October 4 release of the report was covered by all of Colombia's
media, both in Bogota and in cities such as Cali and Medellín. Foreign
media, among them the Washington Post, the Economist, the Miami Herald,
and the Financial Times, also covered the release. For the first time,
our press conference was carried live on Colombian television. The U.S. government was not happy with our portrait of the drug war,
but U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Anne Patterson agreed to follow up on
several sensitive cases, in particular threats against Colombia's Human
Rights Unit prosecutors. Read the press release http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/10/sixthdivision.htm Read the report online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/colombia/ En Español, http://www.hrw.org/spanish/press/2001/colombia_sexta.html Find out what you can do to help stop abuses by paramilitary groups at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/colombia/action/ For more Human Rights Watch documents on Colombia visit
http://www.hrw.org/americas/colombia.php ---- Human Rights Watch worked with U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone's office to
introduce an amendment to this year's Foreign Appropriations Act
requiring the Bush Administration to report on all U.S. security and
military assistance to Uzbekistan. The amendment, which was adopted
October 23, requires the administration to report periodically on
assistance rendered and used by all Uzbek police and security forces,
and to report on whether these forces were involved in human rights
violations. Senator Wellstone introduced the amendment with an
impassioned speech acknowledging cooperation with repressive Uzbekistan
as necessary, but pointing out how this cooperation must be monitored.
Uzbekistan is the first member of the anti-terror coalition to be
singled out in this way. Senator Wellstone's speech drew heavily from
HRW's materials on religious repression in Uzbekistan. HRW also urged members of Congress to maintain, and strengthen, human
rights conditions on military training and arms sales to Indonesia. We
gave interviews to the LA Times, International Herald Tribune, NY Times
and other press over the last few months as reengagement with the
Indonesian military was being debated, and included it as a key point in
our advocacy around President Megawati's visit to Washington on
September 19-22. The Foreign Operations bill passed the full Senate on
October 24; goes to conference with the House soon, before both houses
enact the final version. The bill is expected to become law within the
next couple of weeks. ---- Individuals who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity
continue to hold high
positions in the Serbian government and police force, and the Yugoslav
army. HRW's 593-page report, "Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo," uses
statistical methods and comprehensive field research to document the
torture, killings, rapes, and forced expulsions of Kosovar Albanians
committed by forces under the command of former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic and his inner circle of political and military
leaders between March 24 and June 12, 1999, the period of NATO's air
campaign against Yugoslavia. More than 600 victims and witnesses of
atrocities were interviewed for the report. Read the press release at
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/10/kosovo1026.htm -------- Your contribution to Human Rights Watch will allow us to continue to investigate human rights conditions in more than 70 countries and to generate pressure to end abuses. HRW does not accept financial support from any government or government agency. Every investigation we undertake, every advocacy campaign we embark on, and every report we produce is funded solely by generous contributions from private individuals and foundations. To find out more about membership, or to make a donation online, by phone, or by postal mail, visit http://www.hrw.org/donations/ |
|
Contribute to Human Rights Watch
Home | About Us | News Releases | Publications | About HRW | Info by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Free Mailing Lists | Community | Store | Film Festival | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Press Contacts | Privacy Policy © Copyright 2006, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA |