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Human Rights Watch IN THIS ISSUE:
The Human Rights Watch monthly email update highlights the impact of our work around the world, as well as recent campaigns. It does not list everything we produce or on which we work. For the latest information from Human Rights Watch, visit our home page at http://www.hrw.org. Past monthly updates are archived at http://www.hrw.org/update/.
The U.S. Congress has unanimously passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 -- a rare bipartisan action, and an even rarer display of congressional concern for prisoners’ rights. The law authorizes federal grants for programs to prevent and punish prison rape, and would cut federal prison funding for states that do not control the sexual assault of prisoners. The seeds of this victory were planted by HRW researcher Joanne Mariner, who literally wrote the book on prison rape in the United States. Mariner’s three years of research culminated in 2001 with the publication of a 348-page volume, No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons -- the first nationwide study of this issue. Rep. Frank Wolf, a Republican and the co-sponsor of the bill in the House, insisted that portions of the report be read into the Congressional record. He also sent more than 60 copies with personal notes to other members, expressing confidence that if they read the report, they’d support the bill. The new law also requires an annual Justice Department survey of all 50 states -- what will be the most sweeping survey ever made of sexual assault in prisons. “I’m quite sure that this legislation would not have happened without HRW’s report, which highlighted the horror of prison rape and made clear that correctional officials do not take the problem seriously,” said HRW U.S. Advocacy Director Wendy Patten. “Now, with Congress taking a stand and declaring that no one should be sentenced to rape, we can move forward and work to ensure effective implementation of the bill.” Mariner’s report focused on the rape of male inmates by other inmates. A 1996 Human Rights Watch study, “All Too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons,” focused on the rape of incarcerated women and concluded that male officers in some states were raping female prisoners without fear of punishment. Human Rights Watch has urged President George Bush to move quickly sign the legislation. See Human Rights Watch’s work on human rights in U.S. prisons at http://hrw.org/prisons/
CONGO: Advocacy Gets Results
On July 8, Human Rights Watch released “Covered in Blood,” a 57-page report documenting massive crimes against humanity and ethnic killings in the Congo province of Ituri. Exactly one week later, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in particular its northeastern province of Ituri, will be the new court’s most urgent investigative priority. The prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, used Human Rights Watch’s facts and figures about Ituri in making his announcement. Human Rights Watch’s report on Ituri has also prompted the Ugandan government to reopen an investigation of the 2001 killings of six International Red Cross workers in the region. The report presented evidence that the Ugandan Army may be responsible for the slayings. Human Rights Watch has worked in coalition with other human rights groups to persuade the United Nations to expand its peacekeeping presence in Ituri with a stronger mandate. On July 28, the UN Security Council upgraded the peacekeepers in Ituri from observer to protector status. Passage of the resolution, which authorizes troops to use force to protect civilians from attack, has the potential to save thousands of lives. “In May and June we saw hundreds of people killed in front of UN peacekeepers who were unable to do anything about it because they lacked authorization from New York,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher for Democratic Republic of Congo. “The new peacekeeping force gives us some hope of avoiding a repetition of the Ituri tragedy.” See Human Rights Watch’s work on the Democratic Republic of Congo at http://hrw.org/africa/congo.php See photographs of the Ituri victims at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/congo/ituri/photos.htm
SERBIA: First War Crimes Law
In early July, for the first time, the Serbian parliament adopted a potentially important new law for prosecuting war criminals. The law creates a new post of war crimes prosecutor and identifies a district court in Belgrade to judge war crimes cases. Perhaps most important, the law includes provisions for witness protection - a major obstacle to trying war crimes cases in the past. HRW researcher Bogdan Ivanisevic says the Serbian government now needs to muster the political will to make the new law effective. Political will is particularly necessary where the police are concerned. The law establishes a special unit within the police to collect evidence in war crimes cases. But in fact, most war crimes were committed by members of the police, or by volunteers or paramilitaries who were associated with the police. "There are major political hurdles to overcome now, especially in the police," says Ivanisevic, researcher on the former Yugoslavia for Human Rights Watch. "The new law is a good start, but we still have a lot of work to do." Human Rights Watch has been arguing for some months that Serbia was mounting too few war crimes trials, given the scope of the crimes committed during the wars in the Balkans and Plans to close down the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in favor of domestic proceedings. Conducting serious war crimes trials should be a requirement for continued U.S. aid. In the few trials that have gone forward, Human Rights Watch has closely followed the proceedings and found serious flaws. Ivanisevic has attended most of the trials that have taken place so far, and has put forth recommendations for reform and international technical assistance to improve the proceedings. What to look for now: indictments or other progress on prominent alleged war crimes, including the mass graves at Batajnica, in the Belgrade suburbs, which are thought to contain some 500 bodies of Kosovo Albanians killed in 1999. See Human Rights Watch’s work on human rights in Serbia and Montenegro at http://www.hrw.org/europe/fry.php
SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN IRAQ: A Call to Action
The insecurity plaguing Baghdad and other Iraqi cities is preventing women and girls from participating in public life at a crucial time in their country's history. In Baghdad alone, Human Rights Watch has collected 25 credible accounts of rape and abduction in interviews with victims, witnesses, Iraqi police and health professionals, and U.S. military and civil affairs officers. Our July 2003 report, “Climate of Fear: Sexual Violence and Abduction of Women and Girls in Baghdad,” was covered widely, including in-depth pieces on National Public Radio and the BBC World Service, and a front page story in the New York Times. Now we need supporters like you to step up the pressure on the elected officials in the U.K. and U.S. and the Coalitional Provision Authority in Iraq. The sexual violence is so pervasive that in many cases, women and girls are too fearful to leave their homes for school and work. Police give low priority to allegations of sexual violence and abduction, and lack the necessary resources and training to respond effectively. Invariably, victims confront indifference and discrimination from Iraqi law enforcement personnel. U.S. military police are not filling the gap when Iraqi police are unwilling or unable to conduct criminal investigations of violence against women and girls. What You Can Do: Contact your U.K. and U.S. elected representatives, and the Coalitional Provision Authority in Iraq. Urge them to implement and increase aid for programs targeted at legal reforms, law enforcement training, and health and support services for women. Call on the U.S. military to deploy a special law enforcement unit in Iraq to investigate sex-based and trafficking crimes against women and girls. Prime Minister Tony Blair President George W. Bush The Honorable Colin Powell The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld Individuals can find contact information for their senators or representatives at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ For more on Human Rights Watch’s work in Iraq, visit http://hrw.org/campaigns/iraq/
Become a Member or Make a Contribution 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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PRISON RAPE: Groundbreaking New U.S. Law
Rebecca Kwekinai and fellow villagers fled their homes in Nyakunde late last year. "We ran with our children and took nothing with us." She is holding her two-year-old child, Baraka (left), and 18-month-old Dieumercy, whose mother died in the camp from diarrhea. © 2002 Marcus Perkins/Tearfund
Witnesses identified the man on the right as Nebojsa Minic, known as "Mrtvi" ("Death"). He is implicated in the extortion and killing of six family members in Pec on June 12. On the left is Vidomir Salipur, a Pec policeman and alleged head of the Munja gang, who was killed by the KLA on April 8, 1999. The date and location of the photograph are unknown. © Human Rights Watch
Women walk through town in southern Iraq. May 2003. © 2003 Olivier Bercault/Human Rights Watch