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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH --- ADVOCACY AFTER SEPTEMBER 11 Human Rights Watch continued to spotlight threats to human rights in the wake of September 11. Over the past month in Pakistan, HRW researchers interviewed hundreds of Afghan refugees to gather information about the situation in the Pakistani refugee camps and the areas recently opened on the Afghan border. Human Rights Watch pressed for the humane treatment of captured foreign fighters and their families and urged the United States and Britain to provide logistical support for the safe surrender, disarming, and detention of captured fighters. HRW also called on the United States and Britain to ensure that Taliban commanders alleged to have committed international crimes be held by an outside independent authority until they can be prosecuted before an impartial tribunal. HRW staff met with senior Pentagon officials in Washington to discuss compliance with international humanitarian law in the use of air power. HRW also participated in a UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) conference in Brussels on the role of Afghan women in rebuilding Afghanistan. Find out more at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11 Under President Bush's Military Order on military commissions, any foreign national designated by the President as a suspected terrorist or as aiding terrorists could potentially be arrested, tried, convicted and even executed without a public trial, without adequate access to counsel, without the presumption of innocence or even proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and without the right to judicial appeal. As the US Department of Defense began drafting the rules that will implement the President's order, HRW urged the Defense Department to incorporate provisions consistent with existing legal procedures in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a reasonable model of fairness and respect for individual rights that, by definition, works for times of war as well as for times of peace. We also pressed for military commissions to be used only for people arrested overseas where U.S. courts are unavailable for war crimes committed in the course of armed conflict. WHAT YOU CAN DO Saudi Arabia has long been a key strategic ally of the United States in the Middle East -- as the world's largest oil exporter, as host for some of the most sophisticated military bases available to the United States in the region, and as the largest market in the region for US goods and services, especially arms. This relationship was strained when it was disclosed that fifteen of the nineteen alleged September 11 hijackers were Saudi nationals. US officials have consistently sought to downplay the tension, as they have consistently downplayed the poor human rights record of Saudi Arabia. ------ On December 7, the US Senate passed Senator Jesse Helms's anti-International Criminal Court proposal, the "American Servicemembers Protection Act" (ASPA), as an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act. The ASPA attempted to undermine the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), which will prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes when national courts are unable to do so. The ASPA would have prohibited cooperation of any kind with the Court and was characterized by some as "The Hague Invasion Act" because it authorized the United States to use "all means necessary and appropriate" to liberate any US or allied persons detained by the ICC, which will be based in The Hague, The Netherlands. ------ The UN General Assembly recently requested an in-depth study on violence against children. Human Rights Watch first proposed the study two years ago, and successfully lobbied both the Committee on the Rights of the Child and UN member states to gain approval. The U.N. study was one of the key recommendations of HRW's October 2001 report "Easy Targets: Violence Against Children Worldwide." The UN study will examine violence against children in their homes, in their schools, on the street, at work, and in custodial institutions, and will recommend government measures to end such violence. Find out more about HRW's work on children's rights at http://www.hrw.org/children ------ Weapons sent to abusive forces in Africa fuel brutal wars and feed regional instability, with terrible consequences for human rights. In March 2001, the United Nations tightened a 1992 arms embargo on Liberia to curb weapons trafficking via that country to Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone. HRW's November 15 briefing paper, "No Questions Asked: The Eastern Europe Arms Pipeline to Liberia," reveals that the arms embargo has been flouted with alarming regularity and illustrates the channels through which arms are smuggled. The HRW publication, which drew on detailed findings in a UN report prepared by an independent panel of experts on Liberia, highlighted the role of central and eastern European governments in permitting the illegal trade. Find out more at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/11/liberialett20.htm ------ In early December, Human Rights Watch Counsel Pascal Kambale organized a Government-NGO conference on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In addition to pressing for the DRC's ratification of the ICC treaty, the conference facilitated the interaction between the Kabila government and the national human rights movement. On December 6, 2001, Minister of Justice Ngele Masudi announced that the DRC would ratify the ICC. Find out more about human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo at http://www.hrw.org/africa/congo.php ------ ARGENTINA Argentina's courts have reinvigorated long-stalled prosecutions of the perpetrators of crimes committed under Argentina's military government (1976-1983), but high-level government officials have been reluctant to support this effort. Read the press release at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/12/argtrials1212.htm BURUNDI The transitional government of Burundi, installed November 1, inherited an eight-year-old civil war and an expanding and abusive "self-defense" program purportedly meant to protect civilians against rebel attack. The program includes the rural-based paramilitary "Guardians of the Peace" which have committed many killings, rapes, and other crimes over the last four years. HRW's report, "To Protect the People: The Government-sponsored 'self-defense' program in Burundi," documents cases of forced conscription, the use of child soldiers, and atrocities committed by the "Guardians of the Peace." The report calls on the government of Burundi, to disband the paramilitary force. Read the press release at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/12/Burundi1214.htm Read the report at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/burundi/ EGYPT Saadeddin Ibrahim is one of Egypt's leading voices for political reform. A sociology professor at the American University in Cairo, he was the founder and director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies until it was closed by the Egyptian government in June 2000. The Center's program, ranging from the protection of minority rights to civic empowerment, included voter registration campaigns and election monitoring. On May 21, 2001, Egypt's Supreme State Security Court sentenced Saadeddin Ibrahim to seven years in prison and six co-defendants to prison terms ranging from two to five years with labor. Read the backgrounder at http://hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/egypt/index.htm RWANDA Although peace in the region is still a distant hope, both Rwandan government troops and rebel forces of the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR) have given civilians greater protection in the conflict in Rwanda's northwest in 2001. In "Rwanda: Observing the Rules of War?" Human Rights Watch shows that both government and rebel forces imposed new rules restricting attacks on civilians in the internal conflict, enforcing these through disciplinary measures. In stark contrast, the new rules did not apply to fighting by the Rwandan army and its proxies in Congo's eastern Kivu region or to ALIR's forces there. ALIR forces inside Rwanda also persisted in past patterns of looting and the use of child soldiers. Read the press release at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/12/rwanda1220.htm NIGERIA Between September 7 and 13, 2001, the city of Jos became the scene of mass killing and destruction for the first time in its history. As many as one thousand people are believed to have been killed in the six days of violence between Christians and Muslims. Thousands of houses and buildings were smashed or burnt; homes and businesses were looted; and some villages, such as Dilimi on the outskirts of Jos, were virtually razed. Government authorities and security forces failed to take action that could have saved hundreds of lives. Read the press release online at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/12/Nigeria1218.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 private contributions. To find out more about membership, or to make a donation online, by phone, or by postal mail, visit http://www.hrw.org/donations/ |
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