Explosive Weapons’ Effects in Armed Conflict and Measures to Strengthen Protection
The 80-page report, “Destroying Cultural Heritage: Explosive Weapons’ Effects in Armed Conflict and Measures to Improve Protection,” details both the immediate and long-term harm from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas on cultural heritage, such as historic buildings and houses of worship, museums and archives, public squares, and performance centers. It shows that the Declaration on explosive weapons could serve as a valuable tool for addressing the problem.
Middle East Watch is concerned that the Egyptian government is using its emergency law and other measures to stifle emerging domestic dissent against the Gulf War.
A military coup in Suriname in December 1990 reversed the trend toward elected government in South America. Despite this and ongoing civil strife, the government scheduled elections in May 1991. Human Rights in Suriname investigates current abuses in the context of the election campaign as well as ongoing abuses including executions, committed by the military and military-allied armed bands.
Since mid-1989, the special region of Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra has been the site of massive human rights violations. The abuses have been sparked by actions of an armed opposition group, the Acheh/Sumatra National Liberation Front, more commonly known as Aceh Merdeka or the Free Aceh Movement, and a heavy-handed response from the Indonesian military.
Shortly after Nicolar Ceauscu was overthrown on December 22, 1989, the world was exposed for the first time to the shocking images of Romania's orphans, expecially its handicapped children and babies with AIDS.
On November 29, Egyptian voters will go to the polls to elect 444 representatives to the People's Assembly, Egypt's national legislative chamber, which passes laws and nominates the President of the Republic every six years.
As Guatemala prepares for presidential elections scheduled for November 11, 1990, the nation is in the grips of the worst human rights crisis since the military turned over government to civilians in 1986.
Labor Rights and Freedom of Expression in South Korea
Despite the South Korean government’s June 1987 promise of reforms, there is a wide disparity between the rhetoric of democracy achieved and the reality of the retreat from reform. The government of President Roh Tae-Woo has failed to deliver on promises of reform in two key areas: worker rights and freedom of expression.
Violations of the Laws of War by All Parties to the Conflict
In the course of less than a year, Liberia has become a human rights disaster. Over half its population has been displaced from their homes, including over 500,000 who are refugees in West Africa. All parties to the conflict have committed grave abuses of human rights against civilians, violating the humanitarian standards governing non-international armed conflict.
Malawi is a land where silence rules. Censorship is pervasive: Orwell, Hemingway, Graham Greene, and Wole Soyinka are among hundreds of authors who have been banned. Dozens of Malawians suspected of critical views are detained without charge or have been unfairly tried.
The first major expression of popular anger in the Soviet Union occurred in the republic of Kazakhstan in December 1986, when thousands of youths took to the streets to protest the appointment by Moscow of Gennady Kolbin as First Party Secretary for Kazakhstan. In the violence that followed, at least three people were killed by government forces and hundreds were wounded.
For the past decade, Colombia has been rocked by political violence that claims thousands of lives every year. Both the Colombian government and the Bush administration have oversimplified the causes of the violence, linking it too readily to drug traffickers and underplaying the role of the military and paramilitary groups.
Starvation as a Weapon and Violations of the Humanitarian Laws of War
Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, is a besieged city. Food supplies are running out, and there is scarcely any fuel and water. The army rules, exercising a wide range of arbitrary powers, requisitioning food at will, and preventing people from trying to ease their plight by searching for food outside the city.
Published in 1990, this 36-page report documents the Kenyan government’s requirement that all ethnic Somalis in Kenya carry identification cards in order to benefit from state services. The Kenyan government claimed the cards were needed to identify “illegal aliens” following the influx of refugees escaping the conflict in Somalia.
