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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH This is the first edition of Human Rights Watch's monthly email update. The update will highlight the impact of our work around the world as well as recent campaigns and publications and special features like interviews and book reviews by HRW staff and members. This update will be sent to all HRW listserv subscribers. If you are not subscribed to an HRW listserv would like to receive only the monthly email update you can subscribe by sending a blank email message to hrw-update-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com. --- -------- A Colombian Army officer whose links with abusive paramilitary groups was a focus of our February 2000 report, "The Ties That Bind: Colombia and Military-Paramilitary Links," is now being prosecuted by civilian courts, in part due to the high profile given the case by Human Rights Watch. Colonel Jesus Maria Clavijo was head of a Colombian Army battalion that coordinated massacres and selective killings with paramilitaries in the state of Antioquia in 1997 and 1998. Government investigators who collected evidence against him were forced to flee the country because of threats on their lives. In interviews with Human Rights Watch they expressed concern that unless our organization called attention to the case, it would be shelved, like dozens of others that link military officers to abuses. Their evidence included dozens of cellular telephone and beeper calls between Clavijo and paramilitary leaders to coordinate operations in the field. It is very likely that Clavijo will be convicted; if that happens, he will be the highest ranking Colombian Army officer so far to be sentenced to prison time for abuses. View the report online: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/colombia/ -------- Freedom of expression in Chile remains shackled by military-era restraints. Although the country has recently made strides in prosecuting the abuses of the Pinochet dictatorship, the same repressive defamation laws that the military regime regularly employed against its critics are still in use. Since Human Rights Watch's 1998 report on freedom of expression we have been campaigning on this issue. In March, we released our second report: "Progress Stalled: Setbacks in Freedom of Expression Reform." HRW staff worked with the influential Chilean newspaper, El Mercurio, and the President of the Inter-American Press Association to publicize the findings of the report and lobby Chile's President Lagos. After meeting with Human Rights Watch, President Lagos sent legislation to Congress for the repeal of film censorship. The government publicly committed itself to speed up legislation in Congress on contempt laws included in the National Security Law. View the report online: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chile/ -------- In response to Human Rights Watch's February report on child labor in Egypt's cotton industry, grant-making body US AID has added a new condition to Egyptian aid: cash transfers will be tied to the government publicizing its decision to rescind the 1965 decree that required cotton farmers to provide children to work in the cotton fields. The report "Underage and Unprotected: Child Labor in Egypt's Cotton Fields" documents the hazardous conditions endured by children forced to work in fields. Read the report online at: http://www.hrw.org/hrw/reports/2001/egypt/ -------- Hundreds of thousands of children work under dangerous and grueling conditions as hired laborers in US agriculture. These children risk serious illness, including cancer and brain damage, from exposure to pesticides, and suffer high rates of injury. They routinely work twelve hours a day, six or seven days a week, for little pay. Human Rights Watch has launched an online campaign urging the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to protect all working children equally. Find out more and sign our online petition at: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/farmchild -------- From March 19 through April 27, 2001 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is holding its annual meeting in Geneva. Human Rights Watch staff have been participating and urging world leaders to pass a resolution condemning Russia for the ongoing atrocities in Chechnya. A similar resolution passed by last year's Commission marked the first time the Commission had censured one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Since then, Russia has totally failed to implement the resolution which calls for holding the perpetrators of war crimes accountable and allowing UN monitors to visit Chechnya. Human Rights Watch continues to document atrocities at an alarming rate. HRW's March report "The 'Dirty War' in Chechnya: Forced Disappearances, Torture, and Summary Executions" details the cases of fifty-two "disappeared" individuals who were last seen in custody of Russian soldiers. Read the report online at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya/ Find out more or take action online at: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/russia/chechnya -------- In late February, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Tashkent and Komilov, Uzbekistan signed an agreement that gives the ICRC complete access to all detainees in all places of detention and at all phases of the criminal process in Uzbekistan. This follows on the heels of a visit by HRW Executive Director Ken Roth who pressed Uzbek authorities for this step. Human Rights Watch also urged the U.S. State Department to make ICRC access a benchmark to evaluate Uzbek progress when considering aid programs with human rights conditionality. See Human Rights Watch's 2001 World Report entry on Uzbekistan at: http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/europe/uzbekistan.html -------- -------- On March 29, Human Rights Watch's International Film Festival opened in London with a gala benefit and the screening of "Before Night Falls". Film maker Julien Schnabel introducing his Oscar-nominated film of the life of an openly gay Cuban writer and his persecution in Castro's Cuba. Among the film highlights of the week are "Bamboozled," the UK premiere of Spike Lee's latest film; "Bread and Roses" followed by a special Q&A with British film maker Ken Loach; and on closing night, the world premiere of "Injustice," a documentary about the death of black men in police custody in England. For more information, visit the HRW International Film Festival Web site at http://www.hrw.org/iff -------- UGANDA IN EASTERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: FUELING POLITICAL AND ETHNIC STRIFE View online: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/drc/ SCARED AT SCHOOL: SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST GIRLS IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS View online: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/safrica/ BEYOND REASON: THE DEATH PENALTY AND OFFENDERS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION This report argues against imposing capital punishment on the mentally retarded and lists the obstacles they face in the US criminal justice system (Mar. 20). View online: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/ustat/ -------- Your contribution to Human Rights Watch will allow us to continue to investigate human rights abuses in over 70 countries and provide innovative solutions to end them. HRW does not accept financial support from any government in the world. Every investigation we undertake, every advocacy campaign we embark on, and every report we produce is paid for solely by generous contributions from individuals and foundations. To find out more about membership, or to make a donation online, by phone or postal mail visit http://www.hrw.org/donations/ |