HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
MONTHLY EMAIL UPDATE
May 2002
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IN THIS ISSUE:
> Violence in Israel, The Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Palestinian Authority Territories
> State-Supported Massacres in Gujarat
> 'Disappearances' Continue in Chechnya
> Widespread Labor Abuse on Banana Plantations in Ecuador
> Deported Because of Skin Color in The Dominican Republic
> Advocacy in Southern California
> What You Can Do
> Become a Member or Make a Contribution
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VIOLENCE IN ISRAEL, THE OCCUPIED WEST BANK AND GAZA STRIP, AND PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TERRITORIES
On April 3, 2002, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) launched a major military operation in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin, home to some fourteen thousand Palestinian refugees. The Israelis' expressed aim was to capture or kill Palestinian militants responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed more than seventy Israeli and other civilians since March 2002.
A Human Rights Watch team of three experienced researchers spent seven days in Jenin between April 19 and April 28, 2002 to establish a credible, impartial and detailed record of the fighting. Human Rights Watch found that a number of ranking Palestinian militants from the Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade lived in the refugee camp, but noted that the vast majority of the population in the camps were civilians who had nothing to do with terrorist activities. HRW found that during their incursion into the Jenin refugee camp, Israeli forces committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, some amounting prima facie to war crimes. HRW did not find evidence to support claims that hundreds of Palestinians were massacred during the operation, as some have alleged. Of the 22 civilian victims, many appear to have been willfully and unlawfully killed. Israeli forces also used Palestinain civilians as "human shields" and used indiscriminate and excessive force at times during the operation. In the fighting, 140 homes in the camp were completely destroyed and more than 200 others were severely damaged by missiles and armored Israeli bulldozers. This left an estimated 4,000 people, more than a quarter of the population of the camp, homeless. Medical aid was blocked from assisting the wounded, and humanitarian organizations were denied access to the camp during the offensive and even for several days after military operations had ceased.
HRW also criticized Israel's decision to suspend cooperation with the proposed United Nations fact-finding mission to Jenin. The Israeli government has also refused access to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.
The report was cited heavily in the international media. The New York Times published a stand alone piece on May 3 while most papers, from Brazil to the UK to New Zealand, incorporated the report into wider stories about the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian Authority territories. Researchers Peter Bouckaert and Miranda Sissons gave television and radio interviews with several international broadcasting outlets, including ABC News Nightline, ABC World News Tonight, The CBS Evening News, CNN, and the BBC. Jean-Paul Marthoz, European Press Director for Human Rights Watch, reports seeing Peter Bouckaert on Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Philippine television while in Manila.
Human Rights Watch is now completing a report on those behind the suicide bombings of civilians which the organization has repeatedly condemned.
Read "Jenin: IDF Military Operations" at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/israel3/
In Hebrew: http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/05/jenin0503-heb.pdf
In French: http://www.hrw.org/french/press/2002/israel0503.htm
In Arabic: http://www.hrw.org/arabic/press/2002/is-to-pa0502.htm
Order the report at http://store.yahoo.com/hrwpubs/jenidfmilop.html
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Contact your heads of state, the editors of your national and local newspapers, and Israeli and Palestinian officials insisting that all parties respect the basic principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. These principles prohibit all attacks that target or disproportionately harm civilians. Also encourage Israeli and Palestinian officials to investigate allegations of excessive or indiscriminate use of force involving harm to civilians and civilian property and hold accountable persons found responsible. In addition, urge Israeli and Palestinian officials to permit independent media and human rights groups full and unimpeded access to monitor the impact of military operations on civilians, to investigate violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and to prosecute anyone found responsible for wrongdoing. Take action at
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/israel/action.htm
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STATE-SUPPORTED MASSACRES IN GUJARAT
In the past two months, more than 850 people have been killed in the Western state of Gujarat, India, most of them Muslims. Unofficial estimates have put the death toll as high as 2,000. The violence began on February 27 after a Muslim mob in the town of Godhra attacked and set fire to a train carrying Hindu activists in which fifty-eight people were killed. This set off a three-day retaliatory killing spree by Hindus which left hundreds dead and tens of thousands homeless and dispossessed.
Released on April 30, 2002, "'We Have No Orders To Save You:' State Participation and Complicity in Communal Violence in Gujarat" charges that state officials in Gujarat were directly involved in the killings of hundreds of Muslims since February 27 and are now engineering a massive cover-up of the state's role in the violence. Human Rights Watch strongly condemned both the massacre in Godhra and the revenge killings that followed.
"What happened in Gujarat was not a spontaneous uprising. It was a carefully orchestrated attack against Muslims," said Smita Narula, senior South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch and author of the report. "The attacks were planned in advance and organized with extensive participation of the police and state government officials."
The report was widely covered on all the major Indian news outlets and internationally on the BBC and CNN, and in the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal. On May 2, a day after the Indian parliament failed to pass a resolution in the lower house censuring the national government for its handling of the violence in Gujarat, the upper house gave a similar motion unanimous support.
Read the press release at http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/04/gujarat.htm
Read the report at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/india/
Visit the photo gallery at http://www.hrw.org/photos/2002/india/
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WIDESPREAD LABOR ABUSE ON BANANA PLANTATIONS IN ECUADOR
Ecuadorian children as young as eight work on banana plantations in hazardous conditions, while adult workers fear being fired if they try to exercise their right to organize, Human Rights Watch found in a new report. Ecuador is the world's largest banana exporter and the source of roughly one quarter of all bananas on the tables of U.S. and European consumers.
"Tainted Harvest: Child Labor and Obstacles to Organizing on Ecuador's Banana Plantations" documents labor rights abuses and the failure of the Ecuadorian government to enforce its labor laws in that country's banana sector. Human Rights Watch urged banana-exporting corporations such as Ecuadorian-owned Noboa and Favorita, as well as Chiquita, Del Monte, and Dole, to demand that labor rights be respected on their supplier plantations and to monitor compliance with this requirement.
The report was covered by the Financial Times, the Economist, and the BBC, as well as Ecuador's main newspapers and other newspapers in Latin America.
In May and June, Human Rights Watch plans to meet with corporate representatives, members of banana producers' and exporters' associations, International Labor Organization officials, Ecuadorian government officials, and partner Ecuadorian NGOs and worker organizations.
Read the report online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/ecuador/
Press release at http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/04/ecuador0425.htm
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Urge your local supermarkets, university food services, and other local banana providers to require their suppliers to disclose the identity of the plantations on which the bananas are produced and insist that those plantations respect the human rights of workers. Print out our fact sheet and post it where you buy bananas. Write to Ecuadorian-owned banana-exporting corporations Noboa and Favorita and U.S. food corporations Dole, Del Monte, Chiquita urging them to insist that labor rights be respected on their supplier plantations. Write to officials in Ecuador, the United States and the European Union urging them to protect banana workers' human rights.
For sample letters and contact information, visit
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/ecuador/
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"DISAPPEARANCES" CONTINUE IN CHECHNYA
Large-scale fighting in Chechnya nominally ended in 2000, but Russian forces continue to detain hundreds of people without charges in the ongoing operations against Chechen rebel forces. Most are later released, but dozens remain unaccounted for - "disappeared" - and are not seen by their families again. Relatives' inquiries to Russian authorities are met with denials that the "disappeared" persons were ever in custody.
"Last Seen...: Continued 'Disappearances' in Chechnya" documents 87 cases of "disappearance" since our last report on the issue a year ago and notes that the actual total of "disappearances" is believed to be much higher. The report was released at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on April 15, at a joint briefing with the Russian NGO Memorial.
Human Rights Watch was strongly critical of the Russian authorities' inadequate efforts to curb abuses by its security forces. Russian authorities have introduced some improvements, including better access to complaint mechanisms, the formal opening of investigations in most cases, and requiring the presence of civilian investigators and other nonmilitary personnel during large-scale military and search-and-seizure operations. However, most abuses remain uninvestigated and unpunished. Civilian prosecutors lack authority to investigate crimes by the military, and military prosecutors make little effort to look into allegations of abuse. There is also credible evidence that the military obstructs investigations, notably by transferring accused security and law enforcement personnel to avoid having them questioned.
The report was covered by the Washington Post, New York Times, Reuters, Associated Press, Financial Times, and Agence France-Presse. At the release, we also showed a video with testimonies of family members of the "disappeared," and displayed a photo gallery with pictures of family members holding photos of their loved ones. Both of these are accessible online.
Read the report at http://hrw.org/reports/2002/russchech02/
Read the press release at http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/04/chechnya041502.htm
View the photo gallery of portraits of the "disappeared" at http://www.hrw.org/photos/2002/chechnya/
View video interviews with relatives of the "disappeared" at http://www.hrw.org/video/2002/chechnya/disappeared.ram
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DEPORTED BECAUSE OF SKIN COLOR IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Targeted because their skin color is often darker, "Haitian-looking" people are frequently deported to Haiti within hours of their detention, causing families to be separated and children to be left behind. Suspected undocumented Haitians - including Dominicans of Haitian descent - have no fair opportunity to challenge their expulsion.
Released on April 4, "'Illegal People': Haitians and Dominico-Haitians in the Dominican Republic," calls on the Dominican Republic to revise its deportation policies to ensure due process and to avoid race-based discrimination, to recognize the citizenship of Dominicans of Haitian descent, and to allow Haitian children to attend Dominican schools.
In Santo Domingo, José Miguel Vivanco, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division, and Deputy Director Joanne Mariner met with several high officials in the Dominican government, including President Hipólito Mejía. President Mejía agreed to grant Dominican citizenship to Claubian Jean Jacques, a Dominico-Haitian student whose case was highlighted in the report. Jean Jacques, an outstanding high school student who would otherwise not have been allowed to graduate, was promised a college scholarship by Mejía.
The report received substantial media attention, included coverage on CNN and a mention in the New York Times.
Read the report at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/domrep/
En español: http://hrw.org/spanish/informes/2002/r_dominicana.html
Read the press release at http://hrw.org/press/2002/04/domrep040402.htm
Order the report at http://store.yahoo.com/hrwpubs/ilhaitanddom.html
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ADVOCACY IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Volunteers and members of Human Rights Watch's California Committee South (CCS) have been extremely active in April. In response to misinformation about the International Criminal Court (ICC), volunteers sent letters to their representatives, met with the media, and provided support for radio public service announcements. CCS volunteer and international law professor Greg Fox also published a response to an anti-ICC piece in the Wall Street Journal. HRW staff and CCS volunteers are developing an ICC online lecture as part of their educational outreach on the ICC.
Following the CCS Student Task Force's successful call-in campaign for hearings on the Optional Protocol to stop the use of child soldiers, students gathered over 2,000 signatures and wrote U.S. Senator Tom Daschle urging the Senate to ratify the treaty. A delegation of Student Task Force members also visited the Mexican consulate to thank them for ratifying the Protocol and to discuss Mexico's pending ICC ratification.
LA Young Advocates met with Robert Hodgson, Assistant District Director, Detention and Deportation, to discuss recommendations based on their interviews with detainees at the INS detention center in San Pedro. The meeting and interviews follow up on HRW's 1997 and 1998 reports on the detention of children by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Members of the CCS wrote state Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg to support her proposed changes to California's Three Strikes Law. The current Three Strikes legislation mandates twenty-five years to life for persons convicted of any felony who have two previous convictions. Goldberg's proposed changes would eliminate excessive sentences for less-serious or non-violent third strikes.
For more information about Human Rights Watch's California Committee South visit http://www.hrwcalifornia.org
To find out more about HRW's traveling film festival, visit http://www.hrw.org/iff
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WHAT YOU CAN DO
Below are links to actions you can take part in. For our complete list of current campaigns, visit http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/
MILITARY REVENGE IN NIGERIA
Write to President Olusegun Obasanjo and to the Nigerian Embassy or High Commission in your country calling for a prompt, independent and impartial criminal investigation into the killing of more than 200 unarmed civilians by the Nigerian military in Benue on October 22 to 24 2001, and for the prosecution of those who carried out the killings and destruction. For more information, sample letters, and contact details, visit http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/nigeria/action.html
STOP SEX DISCRIMINATION IN GUATEMALAN MAQUILAS
U.S. clothing manufacturers (and two food processing companies) contract with factories, or "maquilas," in Guatemala that discriminate against women on the basis of their reproductive status. Potential female employees are asked invasive questions on applications and in interviews about their pregnancy status, sexual activity, and use of birth control. Some are compelled to prove they are not pregnant before they can be hired. Those who become pregnant once they have been hired are sometimes fired, and often are denied access to their full legal maternity benefits, including access to prenatal health care. This discrimination violates Guatemalan law. It is also illegal in the United States, and it violates international human rights norms. Write U.S. companies, factories in Guatemala, and Guatemalan and U.S. officials urging them to denounce sex discrimination in the maquilas, to investigate allegations of sex discrimination, and to enforce the law. Find out more and take action at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/guatemala/
STOP THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE UNITED STATES
If you live in the United States, contact your state governor urging a moratorium on the death penalty. Or, check out our list of pending legislation on the death penalty and contact your State Legislature. Visit http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/deathpenalty/
THE CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES
Ask your government to join and implement the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. If you live in the United States, you can write a short letter to the President, Secretary of Defense, or Secretary of State, or find your Congressional representative to let them know how you feel about antipersonnel landmines and the refusal by the U.S. to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Contact the U.S. Campaign for more information and to endorse the ban. Visit http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/mines/1999/whatdo.htm
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