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mercoledì 20 luglio 2016

Italia - Fermato il ddl sul reato di tortura chiesto dalle UN da decenni

Blog Diritti Umani - Human Rights
Il ddl sulla tortura, in questo clima di ripetuti attacchi terroristici, per iniziativa del Ministro Alfano viene di nuovo fermato al Senato per ulteriori modifiche. Di fatto è un rinvio a data da destinarsi. Non penso che sia un buon servizio alle forze dell'ordine fermare l'inserimento del reato di tortura nei nostri codici. E' una legge che da decenni ci chiedono le Nazioni Unite. Proprio in questo clima di deterioramento delle garanzie e dei diritti umani questa legge potrebbe essere un segnale importante per riaffermare con forza i diritti senza mostrare il minimo cedimento alla violenza e al clima che si vive in questi tempi. E' quello che chiediamo alle Istituzioni Democratiche del nostro paese.
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Il Fatto Quotidiano
Le forze dell’ordine “stanno facendo un lavoro eccellente, che non può avere il freno derivante dall’ansia psicologica o dalla preoccupazione operativa in un contesto complesso nel quale dovrebbero venire a trovarsi”. Questa la dichiarazione di Angelino Alfano per motivare il suo freno verso la legge che renderebbe la tortura un reato specifico in Italia e che il ministro dell’Interno vuole ancora modificare prima dell’approvazione. Punire la tortura costituirebbe un’ansia psicologica.



Il disegno di legge è attualmente in discussione al Senato, che già ha modificato il testo proveniente dalla Camera aggiungendo una parolina magica: reiterate. A cosa si applicherebbe tale qualificazione? Alle violenze che una persona deve subire affinché esse possano venire indicate quale tortura. Un pestaggio ben fatto, orchestrato da più persone (una cosiddetta ‘squadretta’ ad esempio) in modo che a ciascuno possa venire imputato un unico atto violento, non basta a configurare il reato. Ma questo per Alfano non è ancora sufficiente. Auspica che altre modifiche vengano introdotte alla Camera, così da svuotare ancora di più di significato una legge che le Nazioni Unite – non i centri sociali o le teste calde – ci chiedono da decenni.

E noi, da decenni, discutiamo di come definire la tortura. E, da decenni, la legge viene affossata da chi sostiene che una definizione troppo stretta legherebbe le mani agli agenti, che devono pur fare il loro dovere e un po’ di violenza – seppur senza reiterare – la devono pur usare. E così ci ritroviamo Genova, Asti, Stefano Cucchi e tutti gli altri. E le impunità attorno a questi episodi. 
La definizione di tortura esiste già. La danno le Nazioni Unite nella convenzione di cui l’Italia è parte. La tortura è “qualsiasi atto mediante il quale sono intenzionalmente inflitti ad una persona dolore o sofferenze forti, fisiche o mentali, al fine segnatamente di ottenere da essa o da una terza persona informazioni o confessioni, di punirla per un atto che essa o una terza persona ha commesso o è sospettata aver commesso, di intimorirla o di far pressione su di lei o di intimorire o di far pressione su una terza persona, o per qualsiasi altro motivo fondato su qualsiasi forma di discriminazione, qualora tale dolore o sofferenze siano inflitte da un agente della funzione pubblica o da ogni altra persona che agisca a titolo ufficiale, o su sua istigazione, o con il suo consenso espresso o tacito”.
Il testo oggi in discussione non cita il requisito del dover essere pubblico ufficiale per poter commettere tortura. Credo sia una gravissima mancanza. La tortura non è una violenza privata: per quella è vero che le fattispecie di reato già presenti nel codice sono sufficienti. La tortura è un evento pubblico, che può cambiare la storia, che è stata usata da regimi o da sistemi per affermare il proprio dominio sul singolo e l’arbitrio del potere, per affermare una rottura nello stato di diritto e il porsi del ‘sovrano’ di turno al di sopra della legge. Ma tant’è. Tanto si è scritto e tanto si è detto sul fatto che limitare il reato alle forze dell’ordine avrebbe offeso la loro sensibilità che la specificazione è stata tolta.

Ora della parola ‘reiterate’ e di qualsiasi altra modifica Alfano abbia in mente davvero non si comprende il senso. Come quando anni fa, durante un’altra delle tante discussioni parlamentari finite nel nulla, il governo affermò che, affinché ci sia tortura, le sofferenze inflitte non vedono essere “fisiche o mentali”, come dice il testo Onu, bensì “fisiche e mentali”. Viene da ridere. I detenuti di Abu Ghraib incappucciati, denudati e circondati da cani ringhianti non avrebbero dunque subito tortura. Non si capisce perché le istituzioni si mettano così spesso di traverso nei confronti di una legge capace davvero di punire la tortura. Se non per una protezione aprioristica e sciocca nei confronti delle forze dell’ordine, che sarebbero ben più tutelate nelle loro tantissime componenti oneste da un testo serio e apprezzato a livello internazionale.

sabato 19 settembre 2015

UN Human Rights Council urges Sri Lanka war crimes court

BBC
The United Nations has called for a special court to try war crimes committed during the Sri Lankan army's long conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels.
In a long-awaited report, the UN human rights office accused both sides of atrocities, especially during the final stages of the war in 2009.

In response Sri Lanka promised a local inquiry but will not allow the proposed court, which would have foreign judges.

One UN estimate is that 40,000 Tamils died in the final army offensive.

Analysis: Charles Haviland, former BBC correspondent in Colombo
In the government's reaction to the report, there appears to be one major shift. Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told the BBC that ex-President Rajapaksa and his family would not necessarily be protected if there were allegations of serious crimes against them.

"Where even the president or other commanders or defence secretaries - whoever - is involved, our government is ready to take action."

But otherwise Colombo is sticking to its line that a Sri Lankan process, with nothing more international than advice, will suffice. He said a series of domestic commissions, including a South Africa-style Truth Commission, will be set up "to clear the name of the country".

That is not compatible with the hard-hitting UN report. Its main thrust is that a hybrid - part-international, part-Sri Lankan - tribunal is needed, because "years of denials and cover-ups" mean the Sri Lankan system is "not yet ready to handle these types of crime".

Sexual violence and torture
Unveiling the report in Geneva, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said only a special court with international magistrates and investigators would be up to the huge task of examining the alleged crimes over a nine year period up to 2011.

"Our investigation has laid bare the horrific level of violations and abuses that occurred in Sri Lanka, including indiscriminate shelling, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, harrowing accounts of torture and sexual violence, recruitment of children and other grave crimes," he said.

He also called on the Sri Lankan government to remove from office anyone if there were credible grounds to believe they had committed human rights abuses.

The report's main findings include:
numerous unlawful killings between 2002 and 2011, allegedly by both sides
enforced disappearances affecting tens of thousands over decades
the "brutal use of torture" by security forces, in particular during the immediate aftermath of the conflict
extensive sexual violence against detainees by the security forces "with men as likely to be victims as women"
forced recruitment of adults and children by the rebels, particularly towards the end of the conflict

The report said forced recruitment by the rebels would, if proven in court, be a war crime. The denial of humanitarian assistance - which it said the government might be guilty of - could also constitute a war crime.

Senior Sri Lankan minister Rajitha Senaratne told the BBC: "Our stand on war crimes is we need an internationally accepted local inquiry. We are not ready to agree with the international inquiries."

Despite its promises to pursue accountability, the government elected last month would be reluctant to hold war-crimes trials, correspondents say.

The BBC's Azzam Ameen in Colombo says most among the majority Sinhalese community opposed prosecuting troops.

Some Tamil politicians in the north back a UN-led inquiry and say they have no faith in a domestic process.

The final months of the war saw hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians trapped in territory held by the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in the north-east.

While government forces were accused of indiscriminate shelling leading to massive casualties, the Tamil Tiger rebels were alleged to have used civilians as human shields and shot people trying to escape.

Allegations persist to this day that the army killed rebel leaders and others after they surrendered or were captured - and the UN admitted in 2012 that it could and should have done more to protect civilians.

As well as the thousands of Tamils who died in the final battles near Mullaitivu, many others are still missing.

The UN human rights office postponed the planned publication of its report in March, after Mr Rajapaksa lost the presidential election to party rival Maithripala Sirisena in January.

Mr Sirisena, who served as a government minister during the final stages of the war, had promised to co-operate with the UN.

The Rajapaksa government held its own commission into what happened in the last years of the war, but critics said it lacked credibility.

The 26-year war left at least 100,000 people dead. There are still no confirmed figures for tens of thousands of civilian deaths in the last months of battle.

Channel 4 and the UN have documented numerous atrocities committed during the war.

One investigation said it was possible up to 40,000 people had been killed in the final five months alone. Others suggest the number of deaths could be even higher.

domenica 13 settembre 2015

UN human rights expert condemns executions of 10 people in Chad after swift trial

The Typewriter
An independent United Nations human rights expert has condemned the recent executions of 10 people in Chad who were suspected of being members of the terrorist group Boko Haram following a swift process that may not have met international standards.
The 10 were executed on 29 August following a three-day trial. Chadian authorities reintroduced the death penalty in the wake of terrorist attacks carried out in the country by Boko Haram between June and July.

“While I express my deepest rejection of the terrorist attacks in June and July, I encourage the Government to react to such events within the limits of its obligations under international law,” the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, said in a news release issued yesterday.

“The death penalty is an extreme form of punishment and, if used at all, should only be imposed after a fair trial that respects the most stringent due process guarantees as stipulated in international human rights law,” he said.

According to the news release, it is unclear whether their swift trial abided by international human rights standards, or whether those executed were able to use their right to appeal, as the hearings were moved to a secret location on the last day.

Mr. Heyns noted that the last official execution in Chad took place in 2003, and called on the Chadian authorities to reinstate the moratorium on the use of capital punishment that was put into place in 2014.

“In addition to the other problems with these executions, when dealing with a right as fundamental in nature as the right to life, this back and forth between having the death penalty and not having it, is arbitrary,” he said. “Instead of making life more valuable, as the presumed intention behind the executions was, such conduct cheapens the lives of all concerned.”

The UN Special Rapporteurs on torture, Juan E. Méndez, and on human rights and counter terrorism, Ben Emmerson, also endorsed the statement by Mr. Heyns.

Independent experts or special rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

sabato 29 agosto 2015

Chad - Lake Chad: “Worrying humanitarian situation”, warns UN

MISNA
“The communities we met had witnessed indescribable violence. Entire families found themselves in worrying humanitarian situations”, the United Nations Under-Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, Toby Lanzer, said warning of a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Lake Chad basin.


The UN adds that wide insecurity has forced over 41,000 people to flee the islands to settle in more secure zones in the interior territories over the past month. The area has in fact been targeted by numerous attacks by the Nigerian Boko Haram militants. The insecurity has also impacted crops during harvest time, heightening the possible humanitarian consequences.

“The international community should urgently reinforce its humanitarian action, especially for the displaced people in the Lake region who have been affected by the crisis", Lanzer said. Only 35% of the $572 million needed to address the most pressing needs has been made available.

martedì 25 agosto 2015

UN Human Rights Expert Francois Crepeau: EU Should do More to Help Migrants

AP
A U.N. human rights expert says fences, tear gas, threats and deprivation of food, water and shelter won't keep refugees and migrants away.
Francois Crepeau, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, says EU members should focus on controlling but not sealing borders, fighting anti-migrant sentiment and ensuring that migrants and asylum-seekers can move around, get jobs and integrate.
In a statement Tuesday, Crepeau said: "Let's not pretend that what the EU and its member states are doing is working. Migration is here to stay,"

Many European countries have been struggling to cope with a recent wave of migration.

Crepeau said EU officials should do more to counteract people-smugglers and create a massive resettlement program for refugees fleeing violence and persecution from places like Eritrea and Syria.

domenica 23 agosto 2015

UN: 411 cases of human rights violations went unpunished in Darfur in 2014

Sudan Tribune
Khartoum - A new report by the UN Human Rights Office claimed that serious human rights violations and abuses that occurred in Darfur in 2014, including killings and sexual violence, have largely gone uninvestigated and unpunished.
An internally displaced woman waits at a healthcare center at
El Sereif IDPs camp in the South Darfur town of Nyala
May 29, 2010 (Reuters)
The report, based on information provided by the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID), states that out of the 411 cases documented by the mission of alleged violations and abuses of the right to physical integrity, by all parties to the conflict, very few were investigated or resulted in arrests.

“Of these, 127 involved the use of sexual violence. These 411 cases are illustrative of a much broader pattern of violence,” it adds.

It details incidents where Sudanese police and security forces were allegedly involved in physical attacks against civilians, including shooting and killing, as well as abductions, robberies and extortion.

“Such cases are underreported due to fears of reprisals and a general lack of trust in the authorities,” the report reads.

The report points out that in some cases, the work of UN human rights staff was impeded by difficulties in gaining access, “including the refusal of government authorities and armed opposition groups to allow staff to reach areas where serious abuses were alleged to have taken place”.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said the report paints a very grim picture of the systemic failure, or outright refusal, by the authorities to take human rights violations seriously.

“The casual manner in which inquiries by UN human rights staff have been dismissed by local police is deeply disturbing and indicates the extent to which State officials feel they are above the law. The authorities must bring an end to the endemic impunity in Darfur,” he pointed out.

The report also documents violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict, including indiscriminate aerial bombardment of civilian areas resulting in deaths and injuries, burning of villages, and destruction of other civilian property.

“In these cases, the state has also failed to establish effective legal or judicial mechanisms to hold perpetrators of such crimes accountable,” it said.

According to the report, earlier initiatives by the Sudanese government to address the situation, including the creation of the special court for crimes in Darfur in 2003, national commissions of inquiry, judicial investigation mechanisms and the revision of the 1991 criminal code, “have so far been ineffective – reflecting a lack of will to address impunity”.

Al-Hussein urged the Sudanese government and the armed opposition groups to take the findings of this report very seriously and to prioritize the fight against impunity, “including through prompt, thorough, effective, independent and impartial investigations, and prosecutions, in line with international norms and standards”.

He also urged both parties to cooperate with the investigation and prosecution of violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law, including with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Darfur has been a flashpoint for lawlessness and violence since rebel movements took up arms against the Khartoum government in 2003.

According to the UN Human Rights Council, 400,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced.


martedì 18 agosto 2015

Syrian Airstrikes: UN, Human Rights Groups Condemn Massacre

HNGN
The deadly airstrikes which targeted civilians in a crowded market in Douma, Syria, has earned widespread condemnation from the international community.
Airstrikes initiated by Syrian government forces that rained down on the main market of Douma, Syria during rush hour on Sunday, as covered in this HNGN article, has triggered widespread criticism worldwide, with the United Nations expressing horror at the "unacceptable" attack.

U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien has stated that the United Nations condemns the airstrike, which has now become one of the bloodiest incidents in the four-year-civil war in Syria.

"I am horrified by the total disrespect for civilian life in this conflict," he said, according to Al Jazeera, adding that he was "particularly appalled" by the increasing death toll.

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy in Syria has described the attacks while speaking in Geneva, describing them as "devastating," reports NDTV.

"Hitting crowded civilian markets killing almost 100 of its own citizens by a government is unacceptable in any circumstances," he said.

Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, has stated that the incident is premeditated and the attack was planned very well.

"This is an official massacre that was carried out deliberately," he said, emphasizing that a second missile hit the market a second time after civilians rushed to help the victims of the first missile strike.

In an interview with CNN via Skype. Abdullah al-Shami, a media activist, described the chaos that pervaded the area after the attack.

"In some places there was not enough capabilities to transfer the victims. It was very painful to see dead human bodies just left on the sidewalk. Scores of injured were bleeding while waiting their turn to get treatment," he said, according to CNN.

"This market was bombed recently. The ambulance system was on alert but today the ambulances were not even enough to rescue all the people. The number of the injured was over the capabilities of the field hospitals," he added.

The Syrian crisis has already displaced a huge part of the country's population, with thousands fleeing the country to escape the violence. The influx of refugees from the country has affected other nations, as covered in this HNGN article.

lunedì 17 agosto 2015

UN human rights experts welcome release of Syrian human rights defenders

UN News Centre
Welcoming recent release of three human rights defenders from Syrian Government custody, the head of a United Nations-appointed human rights panel today urged the authorities to grant an independent organization regular access to those allegedly detained.

Paulo Pinheiro, Chairperson
of the Commission of inquiry on Syria
“The release of the three human rights defenders is something to be welcomed,” said Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, stressing that “in Syria, where a culture of impunity has taken hold, such good news is all too rare.”

Hussein Ghrer, Hani Al-Zaytani and Mazen Darwish, former employees at the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, had been arrested and imprisoned by the Syrian Government since February 2012.

According to the Commission, the three men were charged with “publicizing terrorist acts” and “promoting terrorist activities” in March 2014.

"Many of these detainees have been held for long periods without charge or without trial, and are often not permitted contact with their families or their lawyers," said Mr. Pinheiro.

Like many other human rights defenders and peace activists, these three advocates were charged under Article 8 of the Syria's 2012 Counter-Terrorism legislation, which prescribes imprisonment and forced labour for a variety of vaguely defined terrorism-related offenses that include distributing written materials or information.

“We repeat our call upon the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic to allow an impartial, neutral and independent organization regular access to the thousands of persons reportedly in detention in the country," underscored the UN rights expert.

The Commission, which also comprises Karen Koning AbuZayd, Carla del Ponte and Vitit Muntarbhorn, was established by the UN Human Rights Council in August 2011 to investigate and record all violations of international human rights law during the Syria conflict.

mercoledì 5 agosto 2015

UN Hails the Commuting of Death Sentences in Zambia

Diplomatic Courier
In a press release last week, the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on summary executions, Christof Heyns, and on torture, Juan E. Mendez, welcomed Zambian President Edgar Lungui's decision to commute death sentences of 332 prisoners to life imprisonment.

The use of the President's discretionary powers to commute the death sentences was hailed as a landmark 1st step, but the UN experts challenged the country to further work to abolish the death penalty and remove "all reference to the death penalty in the country's laws."

President Lungui made a historic visit to the Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison earlier this week and saw first hand the status of inmates in Zambia. Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison was designed with a capacity of 51, but was housing hundreds. It was the 1st time a sitting president had visited a jail in 40 years.

Many crimes are punishable by death in Zambia, such as murder and treason. However, the country has not carried out an execution since 1997.

President Lungui's actions are part of a greater and growing trend in Africa, as Special Rapporteur Heyns explained.

"This decision is in line with the trend in Africa - as in the rest of the world - to move away from the death penalty. As the Secretary General of the UN has said, there is no room for this form of punishment in the 21st Century."

But recent instability due to Islamism and civil strife in the region has started to reverse this progression in Africa. North Africa in particular has struggled with the death penalty, as terrorism and insurgency have tested the fragile balance of governance.

In the wake of the 2013 Egyptian coup d'etat, Egyptian judges have drawn international outcry over a series of mass trials and sentencing for alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters. Hundreds were sentenced to death, and "even though the execution rate is lower, these trials clearly do not meet international standards," explained the UN experts.

Another concerning situation in Africa is the Gambia, which ended a long-standing moratorium by hanging 9 people on death row in 2012. Gambian President Yahya Jammeh explained that the executions were a part of a measure to fight the rising crime rates in the country, and recently proposed that the number of offenses punishable by death be expanded.

Many nations that have had long held moratoriums on the death penalty are quietly slipping back into old habits, in the face of increasingly complex transnational conflicts. In the aftermath of the 2014 Peshawar school massacre, Pakistan has executed 179 death row prisoners and continues to act on many controversial death penalty sentences. Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy, is still on death row and continues to be in a state of legal limbo.

However, even relatively peaceful nations struggle to handle this controversial issue. Earlier this month, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set the execution dates of 3 inmates who had previously challenged the use of the drug midazolam, a sedative that will be used in their lethal injections. In June the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Glossip v. Gross that Oklahoma's use of midazolam as part of its lethal injection protocol does not violate the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment Also in June, the State Administrative Court of Jakarta denied the clemency appeal of a French citizen sentenced to death on a drug trafficking charge. The appeal was an effort to reverse the original clemency denial made by President Joko Widodo last year.

But despite these difficult and complex situations, the Special Rapporteurs noted that the future of death penalty in Africa is positive.

According to the special Rapporteurs, 3/4 of the world States have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice and the same applies to Africa. In 2014 only 4 States in the region are known to have conducted executions. Earlier in July, the Togo became Africa's 12th state party to the 2nd Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aimed at the abolition of the death penalty.

Moreover, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has consistently called for the abolition of the death penalty over the last 2 decades. The Commission has drafted a Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Abolition of the Death Penalty.

"These are very significant steps by the Commission, and if the Protocol is adopted soon by the African Union and opened for ratification by African States, that will give a renewed emphasis to the process of putting the era of the death penalty behind us," the UN experts stressed.

Strong leadership is vital to the adoption of a tenacious human rights framework in any region. The recent executive orders by President Lungui are a good sign of the kind of potent leadership that the region needs.

venerdì 10 aprile 2015

Eritrea blighted by 'ruthless repression' and human rights violations, says UN

The Guardian
Eritrean government accused of failing to cooperate with UN inquiry as abuses including detention and enforced military service are highlighted
The Eritrean government has been linked with “ruthless repression” and systemic human rights violations, including carrying out widespread detention and forcing citizens into indefinite military service, according to the UN’s first inquiry into human rights in the secretive country.

Rights abuses perpetuated by Eritrea’s government, coupled with dismal economic prospects, are driving hundreds of Eritreans out of the country every day, according to an interim report by the UN’s commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea.

“Most Eritreans have no hope for their future,” said Mike Smith, chairman of the commission, which was formed in June last year. “National service, whether in a military unit or in a civil assignment, is the only thing that from the age of 17 they can expect to spend their life doing – paid between less than $1 and a maximum of $2 a day.”

Describing Eritrea’s culture of “pervasive state control”, Smith said a network of spies had been created that permeated the basic fabric of everyday life. “A man employed by national security might not know that his daughter is similarly employed,” he said, noting that extra-judicial executions, enforced disappearances and incommunicado detentions were commonplace.

“Is it surprising that, faced with such challenges, Eritreans leave their country in their hundreds every day?”

As of July last year, more than 320,000 Eritreans had fled the country, according to the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). After Syrians, Eritreans are the second most common nationality to arrive on Italian shores.

The UN commission’s interim report, released on Monday, is based on interviews with about 400 people, including government officials, in five different countries. It incorporates 140 written statements relating to human rights abuses in Eritrea.
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The commission expressed concern that Eritrea’s government had “so far not cooperated” with its investigation and did not respond to repeated requests to visit the country to carry out research.

But the commission said that Eritrea was making some progress in improving human rights, noting that it had ratified the UN’s convention against torture and promised to reduce national service to 18 months. The commission will deliver its final report on Eritrea’s human rights situation in June.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the interim report showed “that it is essential for Eritrea to remain on the Human Rights Council’s agenda for the foreseeable future”. In the past, HRW has urged the Eritrean government to release political prisoners, let independent monitors into the country, allow independent media and end indefinite national service. HRW said there is no indication of progress on any of these points.


Eritrea has long been regarded as one of the world’s most secretive states, even drawing comparisons with North Korea. It was ranked at the bottom of the 180 countries assessed in Reporters Without Borders’ (RWB) 2015 press freedom index.

“Eritrea systematically violates freedom of expression and information. It is Africa’s biggest prison for journalists, with at least 16 currently detained – some of them held incommunicado for years,” said RWB.
Human rights activists endorse the UN’s belief that abuses have occurred on the watch of Isaias Afewerki, the Eritrean president. Photograph: Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images

Eritrea’s president, Isaias Afewerki, who has been in power since de facto independence from Ethiopia in 1991, has for decades used the threat of an outbreak of war with Ethiopia as a means of keeping his people under tight authoritarian rule.

In 1998, a brutal border war broke out between Eritrea and Ethiopia, killing an estimated 70,000 people on both sides. Despite agreeing to a new border under the 2000 Algiers agreement, which ended the conflict, Eritrea claims that Ethiopian forces continue to occupy positions in its territory.

The ensuing military stalemate between the two sides has led Eritrea to adopt a “no war, no peace” position with Ethiopia, according to the commission. “It is an expression abusively used by the Eritrean authorities to disregard international human rights law as if Eritrea was in a legal limbo,” Smith said.

Accusations that Eritrea was supporting the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab led the UN security council to impose an arms embargo on the country in 2009. The UN also levied asset freezes and travel bans on some officials.

Human rights activists are pushing for tighter sanctions against key figures in Eritrea’s government, saying they continue to commit crimes against humanity under the guise of protecting the country from Ethiopian aggression.

“If the UN inquiry concludes there is a situation of crimes against humanity in Eritrea, which I very much hope it will do, then we can say the international community is duty bound to respond with actions commensurate to that of crimes against humanity,” said Daniel Mekonnen of the Eritrean Law Society, who added that he is hoping Eritrean leaders would be referred to the International Criminal Court.

The Eritrean government responded to the UN’s inquiry by criticising its reporting methods. Tesfamicael Gerahtu, an Eritrean diplomat, said: “My delegation is dismayed at the protracted reliance on unreliable, unproven and sensational information and interactions. Preconceived ideas and conclusions on Eritrea have become rampant.”

Leslie Lefkow, HRW’s Africa director, said: “The [Eritrean] government’s refusal to cooperate with human rights investigators is symbolic of its broader rejection of essential human rights reforms. Until that stance changes it is impossible to have meaningful impact on the domestic crisis and the massive exodus of Eritreans provoked by the dire human rights situation.”

mercoledì 15 gennaio 2014

EU must open doors to avoid Syrian refugee catastrophe, says UN

The Guardian
Colin Firth, Michael Palin and Grayson Perry condemn lack of British action over what David Milliband calls 'the defining humanitarian crisis of our time'
The crisis posed by millions of refugees from Syria's civil war flooding into neighbouring countries is becoming a humanitarian and political catastrophe that can only be eased if Europe opens its doors, the UN and European commission have warned.

More than 2.1 million refugees have been registered by the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) in Syria's four neighbouring states; hundreds of thousands more are known to be living outside Syria's borders without access to aid.

The scale of the crisis is perhaps the most acute since the end of the second world war. David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), described the ever-deteriorating situation in Syria as "the defining humanitarian crisis of our time".

The UNHCR, European commission and British Refugee Council have urged EU leaders to acknowledge the exceptional crisis posed by the Syrian civil war and accept the temporary settlement of Syrian refugees inside their borders – relaxing "fortress" policies designed to keep migrants out of Europe.

The UN has issued an urgent call to resettle 30,000 of the most vulnerable Syrians worldwide – a call that remains unmet as the exodus from Syria into Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq fast outpaces the capacity to provide for them. The UK government has refused to take part in the resettlement scheme, calling the idea tokenistic and stressing the importance of the £500m of aid it has sent to the region.

António Guterres, UN commissioner for refugees, told the Guardian: "While countries neighbouring the conflict are being asked to keep their borders open, I find it disconcerting how many Syrians struggle to find protection in Europe, with reports of people being pushed back from a number of borders. And all this is happening although the overall numbers are small in comparison – Turkey alone has received 10 times the number of Syrian refugees as all EU member states together.

"I have been repeatedly calling on all countries, particularly in Europe and the extended Middle East, to allow Syrians to access asylum and enjoy quality protection."

Michele Cercone, spokesperson for the European commissioner for home affairs, said member states could not be coerced to accept the resettlement programme, but the commission had offered €6,000 (£5,000) towards every refugee a country accepted. "If all member states would get involved into an EU resettlement exercise and make available a proportionate number of places, we would be able to resettle thousands people more from refugee camps."

The EU has stressed the importance of aid but has resisted sharing the vast burden of refugees. While it has applied enormous pressure on Turkey to keep its borders open – Turkey has so far accepted about 600,000 people – it is working as quickly as possible to create a network of fences, patrols and policies to keep them from entering Europe. The EU has spent millions on border controls between Turkey and Greece.

About 64,000 Syrians – 2.4% of the total number who have fled – have sought asylum in Europe, with 60% of those applications made in Sweden and Germany.

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, revealed last week that the UK had taken in 1,500 displaced Syrians through regular asylum routes, but that number falls far short of demands of the UN.

"The neighbouring countries are beyond what in the west would be considered the breaking point," Miliband said. "The refugee influx into Lebanon – more than 800,000 out of a population of 4.5 million – is the equivalent of 60 million people coming to the US. The cost of the crisis to the Lebanese economy alone is estimated by the World Bank at $7.5bn (£4.5bn). It is time for the rest of the world to step up and for the US to lead by example."

Frustrated by the government's position, the Refugee Council has published a strongly worded letter in the Guardian addressed to David Cameron, stating "aid is not enough". The letter – signed by Colin and Livia Firth, Emma Thompson, Michael Palin, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Grayson Perry and Juliet Stevenson – says: "So far, 18 countries have responded by pledging resettlement places for Syrian refugees. We're ashamed Britain isn't one of them."

Vincent Cochetel, the director of UNHCR for Europe, described the UK's response as "timid" and "not good enough". Refugees - Afghanis and Somalis as well as Syrians - fleeing some of the most violent conflicts of our aged are simply being pushed into dangerous, illegal journeys to find safety.

As the inevitable exodus into Jordan, Turkey and the Kurdish north of Iraq continues, so enormous humanitarian demands grow.

The unresolved refugee crisis has been particularly destablising inLebanon, whose fragile sectarian mix is being increasingly unsettled by the influx of primarily Sunni Muslim refugees. The Lebanese government has refused to allow refugee camps or anything resembling a permanent shelter to be constructed on its territory, fearing deeply ingrained sectariantensions will be inflamed.

As the war has intensified, regional backers have increasingly shored up support for their proxies. The Alawite-led regime of Bashar al-Assad is resolutely backed by Iran and Russia, while the predominantly Sunni opposition is supported equally strongly by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and other Gulf states.

Syria has become an unflinching contest for regional supremacy, anchored largely by the ancient regional power struggle between Tehran and Riyadh, but fuelled by more contemporary grievances.

The volatile sectarian power tussle leaves little concern for the health and safety of millions of refugees, the majority of whom are women and children.

"We are talking about people that are in dire need," Maurice Wren, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said, arguing that the British government was being led too strongly by domestic pressures onmigration. "[What] we are seeing from the camps is eye-wateringly scary. It is just not a sustainable environment for people who cannot look out for themselves."

In a cafe in Istanbul, the Guardian found Syrian refugees discussing the response of Europe to the crisis, and the options available to them as a result. Because Turkey offers sanctuary but no permanent residency, refugees cannot work legally. Men in the cafe talk about travelling illegally to countries such as Germany or Sweden, which have very generous policies towards Syrians who make it to their borders. But there are almost no legal routes to either country from Syria or Turkey. At least Britain's position is honest, says one man: "They don't want any Syrians."

One man, Tarek, describes how he has tried and failed three times to cross into Europe through Bulgaria, each time being caught by Bulgarian border guards and "pushed back" into Turkey. If this was on Bulgarian territory, it was a breach of international refugee law. Illegal push backs from Greece and Italy have been widely reported by human rights groups.

This journey has separated Tarek from his wife, Yasmin, who is nine months' pregnant and their four-year-old son.

The Guardian found Yasmin in Harmanli detention camp in Bulgaria where she and her son are living in a portable building with three other families, surviving on one meal a day.

Back in Istanbul, Tarek says he will keep trying to get into Bulgaria to find his wife: "We suffer twice, first in Syria and now as refugees. I feel like I'm fighting the world to be with my family."

Syrians are not alone in their perceptions of the European asylum system as a giant trap. For refugees from across Asia and North Africa, including Afghans, Somalis and Eritreans, it is now almost impossible to appeal for asylum in Europe without travelling illegally along dangerous routes.

Those who do reach Europe are further confined by the Dublinagreement, which stipulates that asylum seekers must remain in their first country of entry, despite the differing conditions that refugees face across the EU. Italy, Greece and Bulgaria have all been widely criticised for their treatment of asylum seekers, but they say their geographical position means they are bearing an unfair share of responsibility for coping with refugee flows.

Cochetel said traumatised refugees were being put at risk by European policy. He argues that there must be wider reform of asylum policy in Europe, as Syria's neighbours cannot be expected to bear the full humanitarian weight of a conflict that offers little hope resolution.

"It's not good enough; its timid," Chochetel said: "Five hundred in France, 10 in Hungary, 90 in Ireland, none in the UK. We need to wake up to the situation. Everybody was hoping for a quick fix, but the reality of the conflict is that we know many people will never go home, not just because their house is gone but because the infrastructure is gone."

domenica 29 dicembre 2013

UN: One in five Lebanon residents Syria refugees

Press TV
As Lebanon is grappling with an influx of Syrian refugees, the latest UN figures highlightes the extent of the crisis. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has said one out of five people living in Lebanon are refugees who have fled the conflict in neighboring Syria. Some 30 percent of the Refugees live in substandard shelters. 


Lebanon’s government has refused to set up official camps for the refugees fearing a crisis similar to that of the Palestinian refugees 52 thousand of whom were living in Syria. Many of Syrian refugees are unregistered and undocumented migrants and live in hundreds of unofficial tent settlements on northern and eastern peripheries. 

The figures provided by the UNHCR do not include hundreds of thousands of refugees who are not registered. But estimates show that there could be over one million Syrian refugees in Lebanon living in tents like these. Some, 280,000 are children of school age, and over 70% very much dependent on any humanitarian aid they can get. 

The greatest suffering in the camps is seen in the eyes of the children. This boy was eager to go on television hoping that our presence would attract humanitarian aid. The women complain about how they’re not getting enough help for their children: This man was a school teacher in Syria’s Hama. Now he’s trying to help create an educational center for children of school age, many of whom have not received any education for two years: Lebanon currently hosts the highest number of refugees from Syria. More than a million other Syrians have fled to Jordan and Turkey. 

The United Nations has warned that the number of Syrian refugees will almost double over the next year to top four million.

martedì 26 novembre 2013

United Nations Must Tackle the Looming Human Catastrophe in the Central African Republic

Amnesty International
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - The United Nations must take full account of the human catastrophe of epic proportions unfolding in the Central African Republic (CAR) whenconsidering the options presented by the U.N. Secretary-General on peacekeeping in that country, Amnesty International said.

The situation is worsening on a daily basis in CAR, with extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings, rape and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls widely committed with total impunity by members of the security forces and armed groups alike.

"The crisis is spinning out of control, despite the fact that it has been ignored by the international community for far too long," said Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International. "People are dying in the Central African Republic as we speak, and action is needed as a matter of utmost urgency. There is no time to delay."

In an Oct. 30 report, Amnesty International denounced large-scale human rights violations and abuses in CAR. Satellite images the organization published a week later showed the shocking aftermath of abuses, including hundreds of homes that had been burnt to the ground and evidence of mass internal displacement.

The security situation has quickly deteriorated since December 2012, when a coalition of armed groups called Seleka launched an offensive against former President Francois Bozizé. Since Seleka seized power in March, violence by their fighters and armed opposition groups has spiraled out of control in what has now become a largely lawless country.

Tensions and clashes between different ethnic and religious communities are on the rise. The majority of the population is Christian - as was former president Bozizé. The current President Michel Djotodia and most members of the security forces are Muslim, as are former Seleka fighters, who are mostly from the north-east and from neighboring Chad and Sudan.

CAR is awash with small arms and light weapons, with up to 20,000 former Seleka fighters, as well as other armed groups, having easy access to weaponry. Even in the capital Bangui, daytime attacks by armed groups, including killings by former Seleka fighters and current members of the security forces, are more and more common.

In July 2013, the African Union declared that it would deploy some 3,500 soldiers to protect civilians in CAR. By the end of October, approximately 2,600 of these troops have been deployed. France also has troops in CAR and has just announced the deployment of additional forces.

"It is of vital importance that the U.N. work with other members of the international community, in particular, the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African States, and France to ensure that immediate concrete measures are put in place to establish law and order in the country," said Shetty. "The international community must take action before it is too late to ensure that the abuses come to an end and that CAR isn’t catapulted into the international spotlight because it became a human catastrophe."

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

mercoledì 19 giugno 2013

U.N. human rights official calls for change in Turkish police tactics

UPI
ISTANBUL, Turkey- A U.N. human rights official said Tuesday the situation in Turkey, where development in a park was a flashpoint for wider unrest, remains "highly combustible."

Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, called on the government to curb police abuses and heavy-handed tactics.

"The atmosphere is still clearly highly combustible," she said. "It is important that the authorities recognize that the initial extremely heavy-handed response to the protests, which resulted in many injuries, is still a major part of the problem."

As Pillay issued her statement, the government continued to search for organizers of the 22-day Taksim Square protests, conducting raids in Ankara and Istanbul. Nearly 200 people were detained in Istanbul where authorities charged 22 of them with organizing violent protests, Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News reported.

In addition to individuals, police raided Atilim Newspaper and Etkin News Agency in Istanbul.

Human Rights Watch said it has documented arbitrary detentions last weekend.

"The police assault on a peaceful crowd in Gezi Park and teargas use in confined spaces showed a dangerous disregard for the well-being -- and indeed the lives -- of protesters and bystanders," said Emma Sinclair-Webb, a senior Turkey researcher. "The repeated police violence against people who are dissatisfied with government policies has deeply polarized Turkey. The government urgently needs to change police tactics and issue a clear signal for restraint."

Turkey's government set off nationwide protests following a crackdown on environmentalists and other activists opposed to plans to cut down trees and redevelop a park adjacent to Istanbul's Taksim Square, Today's Zaman reported.

A Turkish man who stood silently in the square for 6 hours Monday night was identified as performance artist Erdem Gunduz. He was joined by hundreds of people eventually dispersed by police for blocking traffic.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has held power for 10 years, mobilized supporters for two huge weekend rallies.

He has criticized media coverage of the protests and lashed out at unspecified foreigners who he said want to hurt Turkey.

mercoledì 27 febbraio 2013

Atheists face extensive discrimination, UN rights council told

The Guardian

Humanist group raises concerns amid new efforts by Muslim countries in UN to ban denigration of religion

Atheists, humanists and freethinkers face widespread discrimination around the world, with expression of their views criminalised and even subject to capital punishment, the United Nations has been told.

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) said atheism was banned by law in a number of states where people were forced to officially adopt a faith.

"Extensive discrimination by governments against atheists, humanists and the non-religious occurs worldwide," said the union, which has 120 member bodies in 45 countries.

In Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan "atheists can face the death penalty on the grounds of their belief", in violation of UN human rights accords, the IHEU said in a document submitted to the UN human rights council.

In several other countries legal measures "effectively criminalise atheism [and] the expression and manifestation of atheist beliefs" or lead to systematic discrimination against freethinkers, it said.

Three of the states on the rights council – Pakistan, Mauritania and Maldives – have legislation providing for death for blasphemy against Islam, a charge that can be applied to atheists who publicly reveal their ideas.

The paper was submitted as the council opened its annual spring session against a background of new efforts in the UN by Muslim countries to obtain a worldwide ban on denigration of religion, specifically what they call Islamophobia.

Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, told the council there was a "rising trend" of Islamophobia. "We condemn all sorts of incitement to hatred and religious discrimination against Muslims and people of other faiths," he said.

This month a senior official of the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) said the body would focus on getting agreement on criminalising denigration of religion in coming talks with western countries.

Last November the head of the 21-country Arab League told the UN security council in New York that his organisation wanted a binding international framework to ensure "that religious faith and its symbols are respected".

The IHEU and other non-governmental rights groupings argue that many Muslim governments use this terminology and the concept of "religious blasphemy" within their own countries to cow both atheists and followers of other religions.

A number of these governments "prosecute people who express their religious doubt or dissent, regardless of whether those dissenters identify as atheist", the IHEU document said.

Islamic countries including Bangladesh, Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey had also stepped up prosecution of "blasphemous" expression of criticism of religion in social media such as Facebook and Twitter, it said.

OIC countries have 15 seats on the council, all from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, making up almost a third of the rights body.

martedì 26 febbraio 2013

UN chief reaffirms call for moratorium on death penalty

UN News Centre

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today reiterated his call for a global moratorium on applying the death penalty, stressing the United Nations’ long history of opposing the practice and the growing momentum among the international community to permanently end it.

“A global moratorium is a crucial stepping stone towards full worldwide abolition,” Mr. Ban said in a message delivered by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang.

“Capital punishment is inconsistent with the mission of the United Nations to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights and the dignity and worth of the human person,” Ms. Kang read, during an event at the Human Rights Council in Geneva organized by the International Commission against the Death Penalty, an independent body opposed to capital punishment.

The UN General Assembly first voted on a moratorium in 2007, and again in December 2012 with the support of 111 countries, 41 against and 34 abstentions. The resolution called for a progressive restriction on the use of capital punishment and eliminating it entirely for felons below the age of 18 and pregnant women.

Although not legally binding, the UN moratorium on executions carries moral and political weight.

“The United Nations system has long advocated the abolition of the death penalty. International and hybrid tribunals supported by the UN do not provide for capital punishment, nor does the International Criminal Court,” Mr. Ban’s message noted.

Approximately150 countries have either abolished the death penalty or do not practice it, but Mr. Ban noted that some recently reinstated the practice.

Thousands of people are executed each year, “often in violation of international standards, such as the right to fair trial and due process,” Mr. Ban said.

He added that the death penalty is still used for a wide range of crimes that do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” and based on information that is not transparent.

In addition, sometimes “wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice” can occur in well-functioning legal systems that sentence and execute persons who have been ultimately proven innocent, Mr. Ban said.