HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
MONTHLY EMAIL UPDATE
July/August 2002
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> International Criminal Court Becomes a Reality
> United States Ratifies Child Soldiers Protocol
> Landmines Update
> Spotlight on Spain's Treatment of Migrants and Asylum Seekers
> Weapons Influx Risks Renewed Violence in Kenya
> Update on the Death Penalty in the United States
> Meeting Milosevic in The Hague
> Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Eastern Congo
> Advocacy in Washington: Afghanistan, Israel, Uzbekistan, and Colombia
> Become a Member or Make a Contribution
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INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BECOMES A REALITY, DESPITE US ATTACKS
The world's first permanent international criminal court became a reality on July 1. The ICC is authorized to try those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes when states cannot or will not prosecute such cases in their national courts.
As of July 1, seventy-six countries have ratified the ICC Treaty. As noted in previous email updates, Human Rights Watch has played a central role in the establishment of the court, helping negotiate the treaty, promoting its ratification, and defending the court against detractors, particularly the U.S. government. On the launch of the court, De Morgen, the Flemish daily paper, called Human Rights Watch the "driving force behind the creation of the ICC." The Washington Times described HRW as "a de facto architect of the court."
The U.S. government has strongly opposed the ICC. On May 6, 2002, the Bush Administration announced its withdrawal of the U.S. signature on the ICC Treaty and stepped up its efforts to secure an exemption for Americans from the court. At the UN Security Council, the United States threatened to veto a UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia (and possibly other peacekeeping missions) unless U.S. peacekeepers were granted immunity from the jurisdiction of the Court. Following strong opposition to the U.S. proposal, the Bosnia mission was given two short-term extensions to allow further debate. The Security Council ultimately approved a resolution to suspend for one year any ICC investigation or prosecution of UN peacekeepers from countries that have not ratified the ICC treaty. The resolution requires an additional positive Security Council vote to suspend ICC action beyond one year, meaning that no permanent council member acting alone can ensure ongoing suspension. The United States is expected to pursue other initiatives to undermine the court, including by negotiating bilateral agreements that would override states' obligations to surrender any U.S. citizens to the court.
Find out more about the International Criminal Court at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/icc/
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UNITED STATES RATIFIES CHILD SOLDIERS PROTOCOL
On June 18, the U.S. Senate gave unanimous consent to U.S. ratification of the child soldiers protocol (the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict). Human Rights Watch played a leading role in lobbying on behalf of the protocol and securing the support of the Bush administration
and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In addition, HRW's children's rights advocacy director, Jo Becker, was invited to Quanitco Marine Base in Virginia to speak at a seminar on child soldiers attended by over 80 officials from the Marines, Army, Joint Chiefs, and State and Defense Departments. As a result of the seminar, the Marine's Center on Emerging Threats and Opportunities will recommend training dealing with child soldiers for all Marine officers and all Marines to be deployed to combat areas where child soldiers are used.
Thanks to all who sent letters and participated in the national call-in day on child soldiers. We still need your help to encourage other governments to ratify the child soldiers protocol.
Find out more and take action at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp
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LANDMINES UPDATE
Angola ratified the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty on July 5, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo acceded to the treaty on May 2. The treaty now has 125 State Parties, while another 18 countries have signed but not yet ratified this landmark agreement. HRW is working with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines to reach an ambitious goal of 135 State Parties by the time of the Fourth Meeting of State Parties to the treaty, which opens in Geneva on September 18. Just prior to this meeting, HRW will release the fourth annual Landmine Monitor Report. The report documents nations' compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty and the humanitarian response to the global landmine crisis.
Find out more at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/mines/1999/
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SPOTLIGHT ON SPAIN'S TREATMENT OF MIGRANTS AND ASYLUM SEEKERS
On the eve of the European Union summit in Seville in June, Human Rights Watch released a detailed letter to EU heads of state regarding the agenda for the summit. We expressed serious concerns about the continuing absence of adequate rights protections for migrants in the EU's growing arsenal of immigration policy proposals, including on immigration detention, trafficking in human beings, expulsions and returns, the treatment of unaccompanied migrant children, and the erosion of international protection standards for asylum seekers and refugees. Two weeks later we released "Discretion Without Bounds: The Arbitrary Application of Spanish Immigration Law" as further evidence of the way that EU member states often arbitrarily treat migrants. Spain held the EU Presidency through the end of June. The report discloses that the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in Spain is primarily dependent on their point of entry into the country, regardless of the fact that Spain's immigration and asylum laws should be applied uniformly throughout the country. In the report, HRW calls on the European Union to provide leadership by incorporating human rights protections for migrants into all of its current and future immigration law and policy proposals.
The release also generated a new wave of interest in our February report on the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in the Canary Islands, resulting in renewed radio, television, and print media coverage both within Spain and internationally. In the United Kingdom, BBC Radio, Channel 4 News primetime, and The Independent ran spots on the Canaries situation in the days just before the Seville summit. The releases resulted in articles and interviews in Radio France International, Tiempo, the Financial Times, the Boston Globe, Knight Ridder, the Associated Press, and the Panafrican News Agency.
HRW's recent report "Nowhere to Turn: State Abuses of Unaccompanied Migrant Children by Spain and Morocco" on the treatment of unaccompanied Moroccan children in Ceuta and Melilla also benefited from further press attention. On the basis of our reports, representatives from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe conducted visits to Spain to look into the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers. The UN's Office of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants has also indicated that it will conduct a visit to Spain in the near future to look at the treatment of migrants, especially unaccompanied minors. Also in June, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child denounced Spain's treatment of unaccompanied migrant children during its review of Spain's implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and called for urgent action to protect unaccompanied children's rights.
Find out more about human rights in Spain at http://www.hrw.org/europe/spain.php
Find out more about the human rights of migrants and asylum seekers in Western Europe at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/migrants/
Read "The Other Face of the Canary Islands: Rights Violations Against Migrants and Asylum Seekers" at http://hrw.org/reports/2002/spain/
Read "Nowhere to Turn: State Abuses of Unaccompanied Migrant Children by Spain and Morocco" at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/spain-morocco/
Read "Discretion Without Bounds: The Arbitrary Application of Spanish Immigration Law" at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/spain2/
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WEAPONS INFLUX RISKS RENEWED VIOLENCE IN KENYA
For years Kenya has been a conduit for arms shipments destined to nearby areas of violent conflict. More recently, the flood of weapons has spilled back into Kenya, making the resort to violence more likely -- and more deadly. The spread of small arms and patterns of election-year ethnic violence threaten to endanger human rights as the country gears up for the next round of elections, anticipated for late 2002.
Human Rights Watch's report "Playing with Fire: Weapons Proliferation, Political Violence, and Human Rights in Kenya" documents the dangerous nexus between arms availability and ethnic attacks in Kenya. It highlights politically instigated armed violence on Kenya's coast during the last general election cycle, in 1997. More than 100 people were killed and over 100,000 people displaced in weeks of attacks in a quiet resort area.
The report includes first-hand testimony from perpetrators of the attacks who said they were backed by ruling party politicians. They gave detailed accounts of how they were recruited, armed, trained, and led to attack ethnic communities that were viewed as likely opposition voters in the 1997 elections.
From 1998 to 1999 a government commission of inquiry in Kenya known as the Akiwumi Commission examined that and other cases of inter-ethnic violence, including other incidents attributed to the ruling party. Its report, issued nearly three years ago, has yet to be made public. The release of the HRW report helped spark renewed debate in Kenya about the impunity for those who have fomented ethnic violence. It was followed by renewed calls for the release of the Akiwumi report in the media, in parliamentary debate, and by civil society groups.
The HRW report was launched with a press conference in Nairobi on May 31. It was covered extensively by the Kenyan media and international press, including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, BBC World Service, VOA, AP, Reuters, and AFP.
Read "Playing with Fire: Weapons Proliferation, Political Violence, and Human Rights in Kenya" at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/kenya/
Order the report at http://store.yahoo.com/hrwpubs/kenplaywitfi.html.
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UPDATE ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE UNITED STATES
The U.S. Supreme Court made two landmark rulings regarding the death penalty during the month of June. In the decision Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court ruled that executing prisoners with mental retardation was unconstitutional, reversing its 1989 ruling that upheld the executions of such offenders. Twenty of the 38 death penalty states had permitted the execution of mentally retarded capital offenders. Days after the Atkins decision, in the decision Ring v. Arizona, the Supreme Court decided that juries, not judges, must determine whether defendants may receive the death penalty. The Ring decision invalidated death penalty laws in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Nebraska and left open the constitutionality of death penalty laws in Alabama, Florida, Indiana and Delaware, where juries have limited roles in death penalty sentencing. Shortly after making its ruling, the Supreme Court lifted the stays of execution it had granted to Amos King and Linroy Bottoson, two death row defendants from Florida, pending consideration of the Ring decision. Three days later, Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed death warrants for both men. However, hours before the execution of Linroy Bottoson, the Florida Supreme Court granted indefinite stays of execution to both King and Bottoson so that it could consider the constitutionality of Florida's death penalty laws.
On July 1, 2002, Federal District Court Judge Rakoff declared the federal death penalty unconstitutional. The ruling applies only to the federal case before Judge Rakoff, involving two men, Alan Quinones and Diego Rodriguez. In his decision Judge Rakoff noted, "Evidence has emerged that innocent people — mostly of color — are convicted of capital crimes they never committed, their convictions affirmed, and their collateral remedies denied, with a frequency far greater than previously supposed."
During June, Human Rights Watch continued to write clemency letters on behalf of all prisoners scheduled to be executed. Four people were executed in Virginia and Texas during June.
Read more about the death penalty in the United States at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/deathpenalty/
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MEETING MILOSEVIC IN THE HAGUE
On June 3 and 4, former Human Rights Watch researcher Fred Abrahams testified in the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic. His testimony focused on HRW findings in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999, including forced expulsions, mass killings and sexual abuse against ethnic Albanians. Fred's research is collected in "Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo." The October 2001 report documents torture, killings, rapes, forced expulsions, and other war crimes committed by Serbian and Yugoslav government forces against Kosovar Albanians between March 24 and June 12, 1999, the period of NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia. Three chapters also document abuses committed by the ethnic Albanian insurgency known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which abducted and murdered civilians during and after the war, as well as abuses by NATO, which failed adequately to minimize civilian casualties during its bombing of Yugoslavia. The report was admitted into evidence in the Milosevic trial. Fred's essay about the experience of being cross-examined by Milosevic appeared in the New York Times Magazine of July 21.
Read the essay at http://www.hrw.org/editorials/2002/fred_nyt.htm
Find out more about accountability and transition in the Balkans at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/serbia/
Read "Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo" at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/
Also, just released is "A Village Destroyed, May 14, 1999," an investigative account of the massacre in Cuska. The book, written by Fred Abrahams and Eric Stover, features the stunning photography of Gilles Peres. The book is a joint publication of Human Rights Watch and the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center. Carroll Bogert, Communications Director for Human Rights Watch, wrote the introduction to the book. The book can be ordered from University of California Press at http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9685.html
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SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS IN EASTERN CONGO
Forces on all sides in the Congo conflict have committed war crimes against women and girls. HRW's report, "The War Within The War: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Eastern Congo," documents the frequent and sometimes systematic use of rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Rwandan-occupied areas of eastern Congo.
The report was launched at a press conference in Brussels with Immaculee Birhaheka, representing a church-based women's NGO in Bukavu/South Kivu, and Mathilde Muhindo, a women's rights activist from Goma/North Kivu. Immaculee and Mathilde joined Human Rights Watch in meetings with EU and Belgian government officials. The report received extensive international coverage with articles in De Morgen, De Standaard, La Libre Belgique, Le Soir, The Guardian, National Post, Die Tageszeitung, Libération, La Croix, Jeune Afrique; and accounts on BBC, Radio France Internationale, Voice of America, Radio Canada, Radio Notre Dame, Radio Vatican, Radio Okapi (MONUC radio in Kinshasa), Chicago radio WBEZ; and the interanational wire services. Mathilde was also interviewed on Brussels television.
During a recent stay in Kisangani, HRW staff found interest among local NGOs in doing training or other sensitization of the military on sexual violence.
Human Rights Watch is currently following up about the report with meetings in eastern Congo, Rwanda and Burundi with RCD-Goma, a rebel group based in eastern Congo, as well as diplomats, NGOs and the Rwandan government. Immaculée, Mathilde and HRW have organized debriefing meetings for local NGOs in Goma and Bukavu and will organize meetings with the UN and international organizations to share information about what is being done on the issue of sexual violence.
Read "The War Within the War: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Eastern Congo" at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/drc/
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ADVOCACY IN WASHINGTON
ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
Human Rights Watch met with the staff of the House International Relations Committee to discuss HRW's findings in Jenin and possible actions that the US could take, such as supporting investigations. We also met with William Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Policy, to discuss Jenin and ask what steps the US is taking to ensure that Israel conducts an investigation.
HRW also strongly condemned the June 18 suicide bombing in Israel and called on Palestinian leaders to stop the attacks and bring those responsible to justice. Read the release at http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/06/busbomb0619.htm
AFGHANISTAN
In June, HRW continued to deploy research missions to Afghanistan to monitor human rights during the loya jirga process. The report "Afghanistan: Escalating Attacks on Aid Workers and Civilians" details factional rivalry in northern Afghanistan that is leading to a rise in attacks on humanitarian aid workers and Afghan civilians. "Afghanistan: Warlords Return" reports that Afghanistan's warlords emerged from the loya jirga with greater power and a new claim to legitimacy.
HRW met with the new Afghan ambassador to the U.S., Ishaq Shahryar, about issues of security, peacekeeping, and human rights in Afghanistan. We also met with U.S. Senators Boxer, Wellstone, and Nelson plus aides from a dozen other senators, and with White House officials.
In a long letter to the US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, HRW noted that the administration has a legal obligation to act in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and challenged administration plans to hold Afghan detainees indefinitely in Guantanamo without charge or trial. The letter also warned that the US administration has a responsibility not to transfer detainees to countries where they might be at risk of torture.
UZBEKISTAN AND COLOMBIA
The U.S. Senate passed an emergency supplemental appropriations bill with language suggested by HRW conditioning U.S. assistance to the government of Uzbekistan on that country's progress in meeting human rights commitments made to the United States. It also sets aside funding for democracy promotion programs in Central Asia. The bill retains human rights conditions and initiatives advocated by HRW for military assistance to Colombia.
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