HRW / Africa

URL: http://www.hrw.org/en/rss/taxonomy/7

Updated: 2 months 2 weeks ago

Guinea: Letter to President Condé on Accountability for 2015 Election Violence and Abuses

Mon, 10/10/2016 - 11:48

October 4, 2016

Mr. Alpha Condé
President of the Republic of Guinea
Conakry, Guinea

RE: Request for accountability for human rights violations and abuses committed during the 2015 Guinean presidential elections

Dear Mr. President,

As the anniversary of Guinea’s October 11, 2015 presidential elections approaches, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International write to urge you and your government to urgently take concrete and meaningful steps to ensure accountability for the serious human rights violations and abuses committed in the run up to and aftermath of these elections.

As independent and impartial international non-governmental organizations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International monitor and report on human rights in over 160 countries. We have documented violations and abuses and advocated for redress for victims in Guinea for several decades.

During several research missions to Guinea in 2015, our organizations documented numerous serious human rights violations and abuses allegedly perpetrated by members of the security forces and mobs affiliated with both the ruling party and opposition groups. The violations and abuses were committed between April and October 2015.

Those involving the security forces included arbitrary and excessive use of lethal force, resulting in the deaths in 2015 of some 10 people during demonstrations; torture and other ill-treatment of detainees; one case of rape; numerous acts of extortion, theft; and the looting of several markets.

We also documented the following incidents: the deaths of two men and rape of one woman by mobs associated with members of the opposition; the sexual abuse of a child by several men believed to be ruling party supporters; and the extensive looting and destruction of property in markets by mobs associated with the ruling party, often in complicity with the security forces.

These violations and crimes have elicited next to no judicial response, neither when reported by our human rights organizations, local human rights groups or the press, nor when victims have filed judicial complaints. Indeed, despite threats and obstacles, including financial hardship, at least nine victims or their family members have filed complaints to the judiciary for the loss or injury of their loves ones. A collective of some 400 victims filed a judicial complaint for the loss of property during the looting and pillage of their businesses between April and October 2015.

Disturbingly, however, the victims and some members of the criminal justice system interviewed told us that none of these cases have been the subject of in-depth investigations, none of the suspected perpetrators have been brought to justice, and none of the victims have received effective remedies and reparations. The wives and family members of several men killed during demonstrations spoke to our researchers about facing not only the grief from their loss, but also a period of intense financial hardship as they struggled to care for their families without any state support.

Human rights abuses committed during the run-up to the 2013 parliamentary elections were similarly unaddressed, including some 60 deaths, of which the majority were allegedly caused by members of the security services. This fuels what we believe is a dangerous cycle of violations and abuses and impunity.

Under international and regional human rights law, victims of human rights violations and their families have a right to an effective remedy and full reparations. As noted by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, “The failure of the State to properly investigate cases of death following the use of force is a violation of the right to life itself.”

Guinea: One Year On, No Justice for Election Violence

Mon, 10/10/2016 - 11:48

A security officer stands in the Madina market in Conakry, Guinea, following clashes between rival political party supporters on October 9, 2015.

(Dakar) – Authorities in Guinea should take concrete and immediate steps to ensure justice for the victims and the families of those who were shot, raped, or beaten to death during the 2015 presidential election period, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today in a joint letter to President Alpha Condé.

Guinea’s authorities should ensure that members of the security forces and mobs linked to both the ruling party and opposition groups are held accountable for the killing of 12 people, several rapes, and the looting of several markets in Conakry, the capital, during the election period. To date, no one has been brought to justice in relation to these crimes.

“A year of inaction is far too long for families who have seen their loved ones taken from them. Victims of last year’s electoral violence deserve justice for the harm inflicted upon them, and the authorities should not make them wait any longer,” said Francois Patuel, West Africa researcher at Amnesty International.

Presidential elections were held on October 11, 2015. The result was a first-round victory for Alpha Conde, the incumbent, who received 58 percent of the vote. The country will hold local elections in the coming months.

During the period around the 2015 elections, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented several incidents involving the security forces that resulted in the deaths of at least 10 people during demonstrations, most in Conakry. In addition, dozens of people were arbitrarily arrested and tortured.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have separately and jointly documented other violations and abuses committed during the election period, including the beating to death of two men and the rape of a woman by mobs linked to the opposition, the sexual abuse of a child by several ruling party supporters, and the extensive looting and destruction of property in markets by mobs associated with the ruling party, at times allegedly in complicity with the security forces.

Despite threats and financial hardship, many victims filed complaints to the judiciary about the killings, injuries, and property loss. However, the government has neither investigated any of these cases in depth, nor brought any suspects to justice, nor provided effective remedies to the victims, including full reparations.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch sent Guinea’s prosecutor general the details of several cases from the 2015 election period and urged the government to investigate the cases, including several complaints filed by family members and their lawyers.

Students arrested on April 7, 2015

Wed, 05/10/2016 - 11:42

Categories: Africa

The Failed Promise of Mining Embitters Malawians

Fri, 30/09/2016 - 23:27

Expand

Malcoal mine in Kayelekera. The open-pit coal mine is among the four largest coal mines in the country and is located on the back of a mountain, close to a river. Malcoal was reported to have closed down operations at the end of 2015, but the mine was still operational as of July 2016.

Malita had high hopes when she first heard that foreign and domestic companies would start mining in her area of Malawi. The government and the companies promised jobs, better schools and improved access to healthcare in her village. They didn’t tell people about the risks mining can bring.

She only learnt that it can involve relocation when representatives of a coal mining company ordered her to leave her home in Kayelekera, on the northwestern shores of Lake Malawi.

“We just saw the bulldozer coming,” she said. “I did not know anything. They made me move at noon when they came to demolish our houses. They just left me outside.”

They didn’t compensate her. Stories like hers are all too common in Malawi.

Over the past 10 years, the government has promoted private investment in resource extraction as a way to diversify its economy. The Karonga district, in which Kayelekera falls, is the country’s test case. Malawi’s only uranium mine opened there in 2009 and two of the country’s four biggest coal mines are there.

Villagers in Kayelekera say that in September 2013 the coal mining company forced at least 10 other households to move from their homes, which were near the company’s office building.

The mining company disputes this.

Malita is a widow who has five children and people like her were left in particularly difficult circumstances. “I had no husband to build a new house for me [and] all my children were young. I didn’t know what to do. I just built a shack under the tree.”

Today, three years later, her house still doesn’t have a door. “I have no one to make a door for me,” she said.

As multinational companies, including those from Australia and Cyprus, have started to prospect and mine in the Karonga and neighbouring districts around the lake, residents and nongovernmental organisations have voiced serious concerns about potential environmental damage and the effect on their health, water, food and housing.

While Malita spoke about her eviction several trucks from the nearby mines passed by, coating the primary school, children and fields in coal dust. It’s this dust that has fuelled anxiety about health risks such as respiratory diseases.

Young girl washing dishes at a borehole near Eland coal mine in Mwabulambo, Karonga district. Women and girls who are largely responsible for fetching water often have to walk longer distances—as a result of mining activity that has affected usual water sources—to fetch water from what they believe are less contaminated sources, farther away from the mines, risking danger and losing time to attend school, earn money, and rest.

Another concern is that the coal and uranium mines might have contaminated local drinking water.

Women and girls, who are largely responsible for fetching water, said they often walk longer distances to reach what they believe is a safer water source.

Villagers say they have never seen any results of water testing. And they also do not have the adequate access to healthcare facilities promised to them where they could be assessed and treated for any mining-related health conditions.

The government and companies operating in the Karonga district say they monitor the effects of mining. But they don’t release the results. Last year the government officer in charge of environmental inspections in the district left his post.

Malawi does not have adequate legal standards and safeguards to ensure that the mining industry does not compromise the rights of citizens. Weak government oversight and a lack of information leave people unprotected and uninformed about the risks and opportunities associated with mining.

Malawi shouldn’t repeat the mistakes made by mining in other countries in Southern Africa, including in neighbouring Zambia and Zimbabwe. Malawi is still new to mining. There are opportunities for the government and investors to respect the rights of and minimise the risks for residents and natural ecosystems, even as they push for economic development.

It is not enough to create a fertile investment climate for mining companies. The government urgently needs to protect and respect the rights of people.

Malita’s experience shows how important it is for the government, investors and mining companies to develop their industry in a way that benefits the country and respects the rights of the people.

Categories: Africa

Swaziland should implement past Universal Periodic Review recommendations to ensure progress on rights reforms

Mon, 26/09/2016 - 11:16

The Swazi government has made little progress implementing the recommendations it accepted during its last Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2011. There has been no progress on essential rights reforms that Swaziland rejected during the 2011 UPR review. These include: removal of all legislative and practical restrictions on fundamental civil and political rights, in particular those related to freedom of association and expression to allow the registration and operation of political parties; permitting greater political freedoms through free, fair, transparent democratic elections; ensuring the right to health without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; abolition of the death penalty; and decriminalization of same-sex relations and prevention of discrimination based on marital status and sexual orientation.

The government has yet to repeal, or amend as appropriate, a number of repressive laws that restrict basic rights guaranteed in Swaziland’s 2005 constitution, including freedom of association and assembly. The laws in need of amendment include the 2008 Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA), the 1938 Sedition and Subversive Activities Act, and the 1963 Public Order Act. Police have sweeping powers under the Public Order Act. The king’s 1973 decree banning political parties remains in force despite repeated calls from local political activists to have it revoked. The constitution does not address the formation or role of political parties.

Human Rights Watch urges the Swazi government to:

Guarantee rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and expression;
Revoke the king’s 1973 decree on political parties, allow the registration and operation of political parties, and introduce multi-party democratic elections;
Repeal or amend as appropriate repressive laws to comply with the constitution and international human rights standards, including the 2008 Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA), the 1938 Sedition and Subversive Activities Act, and the 1963 Public Order Act;
Enact reforms to ensure equality for women and prevent their discrimination in law and practice, particularly under Swazi law and custom. This includes resolving conflicts between civil law and traditional law and values to ensure that human rights standards are not ignored; and
Fully enforce and implement the constitutional provision that no woman shall be forced to take part in a custom to which she objects.

Categories: Africa

15 Years Behind Bars in Eritrea

Thu, 22/09/2016 - 11:10

This week marks 15 years since Eritrea’s opposition politicians and independent journalists saw freedom. In September 2001, Eritrean security forces arrested 11 government officials, 10 journalists, and numerous other dissidents, all of whom had one thing in common – they had criticized President Isaias Afeworki’s leadership. None of them have been seen since.

Eritrean refugees hold placards during a protest against the Eritrean government outside their embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel May 11, 2015.

None have been charged with a crime. They have now been held in incommunicado and indefinite detention for fifteen years. They have never been visited by family members. International calls for their release have been wholly ignored. Information from prison guards and others over time has trickled out, suggesting that several have died in captivity. In June, Osman Saleh, Eritrea’s foreign minister gave hope to family members and friends when he stated to Radio France Internationale (RFI) that “they are alive”.

Eritrea is one of the worse abusers of human rights in Africa. It has no functioning legislature, no opposition parties, and no independent media. National service, where people are forced to work for the military or in other government positions, is intended to last for 18 months but is often much longer –a decade or more – and harsh, with almost non-existent pay. Arbitrary detention is commonplace, particularly for those who try to evade national service. Many Eritreans report torture in detention. There is no rule of law, and there are restrictions on movement within many parts of Eritrea – for Eritreans and foreigners alike. Thousands of Eritreans flee their country each year to Ethiopia, Sudan, and Europe seeking a better future.

In June 2016, a UN Commission of Inquiry determined that abuses committed by the Eritrean regime are likely to constitute crimes against humanity. The Commission of Inquiry report will be presented to the UN General Assembly for consideration on October 27.

Over the past two years, the EU and several countries have broken with the isolationist approach historically adopted on Eritrea and opened renewed dialogue and partnerships.

On this anniversary of Eritrea’s crackdown, the EU and Eritrea’s other new-found friends should push for information about the whereabouts of those arrested in September 2001. If they are still alive, they should be charged and tried fairly and impartially, or released immediately.

For their family members, information about their well-being and whereabouts is long overdue. And for the Eritrean government, the move would signal they are serious about starting to implement reforms that they have spoken about but not delivered on.

It would be a particularly important signal to give ahead of the UN General Assembly’s debate.

Categories: Africa

Sudan: No Justice for Protester Killings

Thu, 22/09/2016 - 11:10

Sudanese men at the funeral of Salah Sanhouri, 26, who was killed during protests by security forces on September 27, 2013, pray over his body. Protests over subsidy cuts on fuel and food have been taking place across Sudan since September 2013.

(Nairobi) – Sudanese authorities have yet to provide justice to victims of a violent crackdown on anti-austerity protesters in Khartoum in September 2013, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch said today.

“Although it seems like Sudan has succeeded in sweeping the horrific violence of September 2013 under the carpet, victims’ families still demand justice,” said Mossaad Mohamed Ali, executive director at ACJPS. “The UN Human Rights Council, currently holding a session on Sudan, should press Sudan to hold those responsible to account for the appalling bloodshed on the streets of Khartoum and other towns, and provide meaningful justice to victims of killings, assaults and other abuses.”

Sudanese authorities responded with a violent crackdown to large-scale protests that swept the country following the announcement of austerity measures on September 22, 2013, with security forces and armed men allied to them using live ammunition, tear gas, and batons.

As many as 185 protesters and other civilians were killed, most of them shot in the head or chest, ACJPS and Amnesty International found in a joint study published in September 2014. Hundreds were injured and more than 800 others arrested, some held for weeks. Human Rights Watch research showed that many detainees were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, that many journalists and human rights defenders were beaten, and that female protesters were sexually assaulted by security forces.

Although Sudan established three state commissions of inquiry, no findings have been made public. All attempts to gain access to the findings have been unsuccessful. In September 2014, the United Nations independent expert on Sudan stated that the information provided by the government “does not provide evidence of a thorough and independent investigation.”

In November 2015, a Justice Ministry official announced that an investigation by the ministry had found that just 86 protesters were killed and that four security officers had been arrested in connection with these deaths.

Many victims’ families have tried to bring private prosecutions, but the groups know of no prosecutions that have concluded. The groups know of only one case – involving the killing of a pharmacist, Sarah Abdelbagi, who was shot outside her home in Omdurman during the protest – that advanced to trial. A policeman was convicted of her murder, but his conviction was overturned on appeal in May 2014 for lack of evidence.

“The government’s response has been to deny the scale of the violence and to claim that there is not sufficient evidence to identify and prosecute the attackers, a response that denies the victims’ rights and encourages impunity,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to publicly admit the scale of the killings and the role of its security forces.”

Sudan’s Ministry of Justice has attempted to settle cases by paying money (diya) to the families of the 86 victims identified in government investigations, which would be an insufficient remedy for these violations and would not constitute a sufficient guarantee of non-repetition.

The government has failed to ensure full, thorough, and effective investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for the killings. Even where investigations have proceeded and prosecutions are pending, in around 16 cases, a patchwork of immunities protect security and law enforcement officers from criminal prosecution, posing additional hurdles to justice.

“The September 2013 crackdown remains an ugly symbol of Sudan’s use of lethal force against peaceful protesters, and the lack of accountability for human rights abuses,” said Sarah Jackson, deputy regional director at Amnesty International. “Human Rights Council member states currently considering Sudan’s appalling rights record should loudly push the country to take victims’ rights seriously.”

Categories: Africa

Kenya Is Abandoning Somali Refugees

Sun, 18/09/2016 - 11:03

After 25 years of vicious conflict that has cost countless lives and displaced millions of people, peace has finally broken out in south-central Somalia — at least that's what Kenya says. And the UN refugee agency, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has joined Kenya to tell the world it should now focus on helping as many refugees as possible to return home.

But I recently spoke with some of the estimated 320,000 Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya, the world's largest refugee camp. And it's clear that peace is the last thing some of those signing up for UNHCR's $400 repatriation cash handout are discovering.

Expand

A newly arrived Somali refugee is forced out of the queue outside a reception centre in the Ifo 2 refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, July 28, 2011

A number of refugees told me they had returned destitute to destroyed Somali villages without health care provision and schools, or faced danger as armed groups continue to clash in and around their villages, including towns. After doing their best to survive, they fled back to Kenya, once again as refugees.

One of them is "Amina," a 38-year-old single mother. After a decade in Dadaab, she decided to try her luck and returned in January 2015 with her five children to her village, Bula Gudud, in the Lower Juba region, hoping to rebuild her life.

She told me: "After two days back home, fighting broke out between government troops and al-Shabab [armed Islamist group]. I could hear the bullets. My children were so scared. They just ran around, trying to get out of the house." The following day, Amina fled to the closest city, Kismayo. She had no relatives there but hoped she'd find safety and work to feed her children. She found neither.

She and her family barely survived for nine months with other displaced civilians in Kismayo's appalling internally displaced persons' camps. After a man in a government uniform raped her, a common occurrence in the unprotected and aid-starved camps across the country, Amina gave up and 10 months ago begged her way back to Dadaab.

But her ordeal didn't end there. The Kenyan authorities have refused to re-register her and her children as refugees, and UNHCR has not reactivated her ration card or given her any food.

"If we send 1,000 people home under the voluntary repatriation agreement but we then register 1,000 new arrivals, we would not get the job done," a Kenyan government official in Dadaab told me

Kenya, Somalia and the UNHCR had signed an agreement in November 2013 on the "voluntary repatriation" of Somali refugees. It says that both countries and the UN would make sure that Somalis return voluntarily and safely and would get help to resettle back home. A few months later UNHCR said that "the security situation in many parts of ... Somalia [is] volatile [and] protracted ... conflict has had devastating consequences, including massive displacement, weakened community structures, gross human rights violations and the breakdown of law and order".

But Kenya has repeatedly referred to this agreement as evidence that it is time for all Somalis to go home, stressing that the UN agency should help Kenya "expedite" refugee repatriation.

Somali refugees have a collective memory of previous repeated attempts by Kenyan security forces to coerce "voluntary" returns. In late 2012, Kenyan police in Nairobi unleashed appalling abuses in an effort to enforce an illegal directive to drive tens of thousands of urban Somali refugees into the Dadaab camps and from there back to Somalia. In April 2014, Kenyan security forces, primarily police, carried out a second round of abuses against Somalis in Nairobi and then deported 359 a month later without allowing them to challenge their removal.

In May 2016, Kenya announced that "hosting refugees has to come to an end", that Somali asylum seekers would no longer automatically get refugee status and that the Department of Refugee Affairs, responsible for registering and screening individual asylum applications, would be disbanded.

So far, thankfully, the Kenyan police in Dadaab appear to have been acting properly and the refugees told us they had not been harassed or directly coerced. But they are all aware that the government intends to close the camp by the end of November. Everyone we spoke to expressed the fear that those who do not take the voluntary repatriation assistance package now will be forced back later this year with nothing.

Since mid-2015, Amina and at least another 4,000 Somali refugees have either returned to Kenya after facing conflict and hunger back home or fled to Dadaab for the first time.

But with refugee registrations now closed, Amina and the others won't get food aid. Their survival will depend on the kindness of neighbours or relatives whose own rations were slashed last year by a third because of a funding shortfall. Amina and other returnees and new arrivals will also be the first to face arrest and deportation for "illegal presence" if Kenya shuts down Dadaab in three months.

International and Kenyan law require the authorities to make sure that anyone seeking asylum in Kenya is fairly heard and, if found to need protection, gets it. As long as Kenya continues to shred its commitments, Amina and thousands of others like her will languish hungry and destitute in legal limbo and wake up every morning wondering whether they are about to be deported back to the dangers that many have repeatedly fled and still fear.

Categories: Africa

Provide Genuine Refuge to World’s Displaced

Sun, 18/09/2016 - 11:03

Asylum seekers behind a metal fence in the ‘Hangar 1’ detention center, in Röszke, Hungary. September 9, 2015.

(New York) – The massive refugee crisis demands an unprecedented global response. At two summits on September 19 and 20, 2016, at the United Nations, world leaders should take bold steps to share responsibility for millions of people displaced by violence, repression, and persecution.

Leaders will gather in New York to discuss providing greater support to countries where refugees first land, just as many of those countries are at breaking point. There is a grave risk to the bedrock foundation of refugee protection, the principle of nonrefoulement – not forcibly returning refugees to places where they would face persecution and other serious threats. People are fleeing violence in Afghanistan, Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Honduras, Iraq, Somalia, and Syria, among others.

“Millions of lives hang in the balance,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “This is not just about more money or greater resettlement numbers, but also about shoring up the legal principles for protecting refugees, which are under threat as never before.”

This year, Human Rights Watch has documented Turkish border guards shooting and pushing back civilians who appear to be seeking asylum; Jordan refusing entry or assistance to Syrian asylum seekers at its border; Kenya declaring that it will close the world’s largest refugee camp in November and pushing Somalis to return home despite potential danger; and Pakistan and Iran harassing and deregistering Afghan refugees and coercing them to return to a country in conflict.

The UN General Assembly has convened the September 19 summit “with the aim of bringing countries together behind a more humane and coordinated approach” to refugees. The final statement, already drafted, is a missed opportunity to widen the scope of protection and limits expectations for concrete, new commitments. However, it affirms refugee rights and calls for more equitable responsibility sharing. Given the scale of the refugee crisis and populist backlash in many parts of the world, this affirmation should be the basis for collective action, Human Rights Watch said.

On September 20, US President Barack Obama will host a “Leader’s Summit” to increase commitments for aid, refugee admissions, and opportunities for work and education for refugees. Governments are expected to make concrete pledges toward goals of doubling the number of resettlement places and other admissions, increasing aid by 30 percent, getting 1 million more refugee children in school, and granting 1 million more adult refugees the right to work. Though the participants have not been announced, 30 to 35 countries are expected to attend. Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Sweden, and Jordan will join the United States as co-facilitators.

Boost Humanitarian Aid to Countries of First Arrival
The vast majority of the world’s 21.3 million refugees are in the global south, where they often face further harm, discrimination, and neglect. Human Rights Watch called on countries of first arrival like Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Thailand, Kenya, Iran, and Pakistan, to commit to proposals to provide refugees with better access to work and education.

The world’s richest nations have largely failed to help countries on the front lines of the displacement crisis. As of September 9, UN aid appeals were 39 percent funded, with some of the worst-funded in Africa; the appeal for refugees from South Sudan stands at 19 percent. The regional refugee response plans for Yemen and Syria are funded at 22 and 49 percent.

Increase Numbers Resettled in Other Countries
Resettlement from countries of first arrival is a key way to help refugees rebuild their lives and to relieve host countries, but international solidarity is glaringly absent. In 2015, the UN refugee agency facilitated resettlement of 81,000 of a projected 960,000 refugees globally in need of resettlement. The agency estimated that over 1.1 million refugees would need resettlement in 2016, but projected that countries would only offer 170,000 places. Representatives of 92 countries pledged only a slight increase in resettlement places for Syrian refugees at a high-level UN meeting in March.

In the European Union, the arrival by boat in 2015 of more than 1 million asylum seekers and migrants – and more than 3,700 deaths at sea – laid bare the need for safe and legal channels for refugees to move, such as resettlement. However, many EU countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, and Hungary, are focused primarily on preventing spontaneous arrivals, outsourcing responsibility, and rolling back refugee rights.

A July 2015 European plan to resettle 22,500 refugees from other regions over two years has resettled only 8,268 refugees, according to figures from July 2016. Most EU countries underperformed, and 10 failed to resettle a single person under the plan.

End Abusive Systems, Flawed Deals
The EU struck a deal with Turkey in March to allow the return to Turkey of almost all asylum seekers on the deeply flawed grounds that Turkey is a safe country for asylum; it is on the verge of falling apart. Australia forcibly transfers all asylum seekers who arrive by boat to offshore processing centers, where they face abuse, inhumane treatment, and neglect.

The EU and Australia should renounce these abusive policies. EU countries should swiftly adopt a proposed permanent resettlement framework with more ambitious goals and a clear commitment to meet them, Human Rights Watch said. They should share fairly the responsibility for asylum seekers arriving spontaneously, and help alleviate the pressure on Greece and Italy.

Governments also undermine asylum with closed camps, as in Kenya and Thailand, and by detaining asylum seekers, as do Australia, Greece, Italy, Mexico, and the United States.

While by many measures the US leads in refugee resettlement and response to UN humanitarian aid appeals, it has been particularly slow and ungenerous in admitting Syrian refugees. And it has had notable blind spots, as with its border policies for Central American children and others fleeing gang violence and its use of Mexico as a buffer to keep them from reaching the US border.

The Obama Administration met its goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year in the face of opposition from more than half of US governors and a lack of resettlement funds from Congress, but the US has the capacity to resettle many times that number. It should commit to meeting the Leaders’ Summit goals, which would mean doubling this year’s 85,000 total refugee admissions to 170,000.

Several other countries with capacity to admit far more refugees, including Brazil, Japan, and South Korea, have fallen woefully short. Japan admitted 19 refugees in 2015, South Korea only 42 aside from North Koreans, and Brazil only 6.

Russia resettles no refugees. The Gulf States do not respond to UN resettlement appeals, though Saudi Arabia says it has suspended deportations of hundreds of thousands of Syrians who overstay visitor visas. Most Gulf states, except Kuwait, have also fallen short in their response to Syrian-refugee-related UN appeals to fund refugee needs, according to an Oxfam analysis.

“Every country has a moral responsibility to ensure the rights and dignity of people forced to flee their homes,” Roth said. “When more than 20 million people are counting on a real international effort to address their plight, lofty pronouncements are not enough.”

Categories: Africa

The Human Cost of Environmental Protection in Côte d’Ivoire

Sun, 18/09/2016 - 11:03

“The government wants to starve us,” an Ivorian traditional leader told a local human rights researcher, describing what happened after the government evicted tens of thousands of cocoa farmers from nearby Mont Péko national park in July.

A farmer evicted from the Mont Peko National Park walks in the remains of his village that was destroyed during an eviction operation of farmers inside the Mont Peko National Park in Duekoue department, western Ivory Coast August 1, 2016.

The displacement of these farmers – the bulk of whom have moved to villages bordering the park – led the Ivorian Coalition of Human Rights Actors (Regroupement des Acteurs Ivoiriens des Droits Humains, RAIDH) to today warn that the operation “puts at risk food security, health and social cohesion in the area.” The influx of displaced farmers, who have lost the cash crops they depended on to feed their families, has meant that several towns and villages have seen their populations more than double.

Restoring Mont Péko, a 34,000-hectare national park that has been devastated by small-scale cocoa farming, typifies the dual challenges the Ivorian government faces in conserving forests and the endangered chimpanzees, forest elephants, and other animals that live there, as well as respecting the rights of communities that rely on forests for their survival.

Côte d’Ivoire – which at one point reportedly had the highest rate of deforestation in Africa – saw its forest decline from 50 percent of the national territory in 1900 to less than 12 percent in 2015. To help protect the country’s biodiversity and combat climate change, the Ivorian government has committed to return at least 20 percent of its territory to forest.

But measures to protect the environment, such as the protection of national parks, should not come at the expense of the rights of those who live there. International law protects anyone who occupies land from forced evictions that either do not provide adequate notice or do not respect the dignity and rights of those affected, regardless of whether they occupy the land legally.

Human Rights Watch and RAIDH in June documented how Côte d’Ivoire’s forestry agency evicted farmers from forests without warning and without giving them alternative housing or land. “Without our land, I don’t know what we’re going to do,” one farmer said. “We don’t even have enough food to give us the energy to work.”

“I still haven’t gotten back on my feet,” said a woman who was evicted in June 2015. “I have trouble feeding my children, and they are not going to school anymore.”

Other research by RAIDH in Mont Péko suggests that while farmers were told that evictions were planned, the government failed to ensure that villages bordering Mont Péko could shelter and feed those displaced, even if temporarily.

An August 11 UN report concluded that the infrastructure in communities surrounding Mont Péko was “largely insufficient” to accommodate those evicted, and that social, health and education services were “overwhelmed.”

As Côte d’Ivoire restores its forests, it should work harder to balance the human cost of evictions with the environmental imperatives. When relocating communities is the only option, the government should ensure that those displaced have the food and basic services that they need.

Categories: Africa

Video: Camp Closure in Kenya Leaves 260,000 Somali Refugees Without Options

Sun, 18/09/2016 - 11:03

Kenya’s repatriation program for Somali refugees, fueled by fear and misinformation, does not meet international standards for voluntary refugee return. Many refugees living in Kenya’s sprawling Dadaab camp, home to at least 263,000 Somalis, say they have agreed to return home because they fear Kenya will force them out if they stay. In May 2016, the Kenyan government announced plans to speed up the repatriation of Somali refugees and close the Dadaab camp in northeastern Kenya by November. Kenyan authorities, with officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), then stepped up a 2013 “voluntary” repatriation program.

Categories: Africa

UN Human Rights Council: Addressing the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Mon, 12/09/2016 - 10:55

(Geneva)

Your Excellency,

We are writing today to urge your delegation to address the worrying human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the 33rd session of the UN Human Rights Council, and to support a resolution that would increase the United Nations’ capacity to monitor and report on human rights violations in the country and help prevent an escalation of violence, abuse, and repression in the coming months.

Since January 2015, the Congolese government has imposed a brutal crackdown against those who have spoken out against or opposed attempts to extend President Joseph Kabila’s presidency beyond the constitutionally mandated two-term limit, which ends on December 19, 2016. Government officials and security forces have arbitrarily arrested scores of opposition leaders and activists, fired on peaceful protesters, banned opposition demonstrations, shut down media outlets, accused peaceful pro-democracy youth activists of plotting terrorist acts, and prevented opposition leaders from moving freely around the country. The UN Joint Human Rights Office in Congo has documented 760 human rights violations related to restrictions of democratic space, including 500 violations in 2016.

In one of the latest attempts to curtail human rights reporting during a period of increased government repression, the Congolese government in August 2016 blocked our senior researcher, who has been based in Congo with Human Rights Watch for over eight years, from continuing to work in the country.

There is still no justice or clarity on the mass grave in Maluku, on the outskirts of the capital, Kinshasa, where security forces buried 421 bodies in the middle of the night on March 18-19, 2015. Families of victims killed or forcibly disappeared by security forces, including during political demonstrations in January 2015, fear their loved ones were among those buried there, and a nurse in charge of one of the morgues in Kinshasa – and who likely knew about the mass burial and might have spoken out– died in suspicious circumstances the night of the burial.

Meanwhile, preparations for presidential elections have stalled, and senior government officials have said that elections cannot be held before the end of the year, officially citing technical, logistical, and financial constraints. A “national dialogue” called by President Kabila ostensibly to discuss the way forward, officially began on September 1. However, nearly all of the main opposition political parties have so far been unwilling to participate, fearing that the dialogue is merely a ploy for President Kabila to stay in power by dragging out the process. Kabila himself has shown no indication that he will step down at the end of his mandate, and some members of his ruling coalition have spoken publicly in support of a referendum to amend the constitution.

In what the Minister of Justice announced was an effort to ease political tensions in advance of the dialogue, nine human rights and pro-democracy youth activists were released from prison between August 27 and September 5. They had been arrested over the past year and a half after calling for respect of the constitution or participating in peaceful protests or other activities. Many were held for weeks or months by the national intelligence agency (Agence Nationale de Renseignements, ANR) without charge and without access to their lawyers or families, before eventually being transferred to Kinshasa’s central prison and put on trial on trumped-up charges.

Their release ended their wrongful detention, but in itself does not signify a shift in policy. The repression has not stopped, and much more needs to be done: charges against most of the released activists have not been dropped; at least 20 other activists and opposition party leaders and supporters remain in detention after speaking out against attempts to extend Kabila’s stay in power or after participating in peaceful political activities, including seven held incommunicado by military intelligence; protests in Lubumbashi and Kinshasa on August 29 and September 1 turned violent when police fired teargas on the demonstrators and arrested dozens of protesters; at least seven media outlets close to the opposition remain blocked; and the officials who have led the brutal repression over the past 20 months have not been held to account and remain in positions of command.

Our local network of human rights and other civil society activists tells us that growing numbers of Congolese appear to oppose an extension of Kabila’s term beyond December 19 and that the unemployed and marginalized youth in Kinshasa and other cities could become increasingly discontent in the coming months if the economic crisis deepens. Many say they are ready to mobilize and go to the streets in protest starting on September 19 – three months before the end of President Kabila’s mandate and when, according to the constitution, the electoral commission is due to convoke presidential elections. This raises the possibility of further violations against protesters.

Meanwhile, the security situation in eastern Congo, where dozens of armed groups are still active, remains deeply volatile. In the Beni area, armed forces have killed more than 600 civilians in a series of massacres since October 2014, according to the UN and local rights groups. There is a possibility that the many armed groups in eastern Congo and youth leagues in major cities might be manipulated for political ends in the coming months.

How the situation will play out should Kabila decide not to step down is unclear. But the risk of increased violence, instability, brutal repression, and a further shrinking of political space in the coming months is very real. While the window of opportunity is closing, we believe there is still time to influence the course of events and help to minimize further human rights violations.

The Human Rights Council and its member states have important means to help influence President Kabila and his top subordinates to halt the repression and human rights violations. At the 32nd session of the Council, the Netherlands delivered a joint statement under item 2 on behalf of 44 other countries regarding Congo. The statement expressed concern regarding ongoing violence, which had not abated since the previous joint statement was delivered in March 2016. After a country visit in July, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein expressed concern that the political uncertainty could lead to a serious crisis. Steps can be taken now to follow-up on these past statements to help avoid the worst-case scenarios and play a critical role in helping prevent Congo from descending into a Burundi-type scenario, with potential for large scale violence, instability, and repression.

We therefore urge you to adopt a resolution on the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Human Rights Council’s upcoming 33rd session that would address the above mentioned ongoing human rights violations, and that would:

Establish a dedicated mechanism for monitoring and reporting on the situation in Congo, such as an independent expert or an OHCHR team of experts with capacity for rapid response;
Mandate enhanced interactive dialogues on Congo at Council sessions in 2017, including with relevant UN bodies and stakeholders, in order to expand scrutiny of the human rights situation in Congo beyond the current discussions; and
Request thematic reports by the OHCHR, including on violence in the context of elections or increased political repression, which would provide dedicated attention to areas of particular concern.

Furthermore, we urge your delegation to support the call for an urgent debate during the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council, or a special session should the situation further deteriorate.

We thank you for your attention and would welcome opportunities to provide any further information about the human rights situation in Congo.

Categories: Africa

NGO Letter regarding the human rights situation in Sudan

Fri, 09/09/2016 - 10:48

(Geneva)

Excellency,

Our organisations write to you in advance of the opening of the 33rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to share our serious concerns regarding the human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan. Many of these abuses are detailed in the attached annex.

We draw your attention to the Sudanese government’s continuing abuses against civilians in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur, including unlawful attacks on villages and indiscriminate bombing of civilians. We are also concerned about the continuing repression of civil and political rights, in particular the ongoing crackdown on protesters and abuse of independent civil society and human rights defenders. In a recent example in March 2016, four representatives of Sudanese civil society were intercepted by security officials at Khartoum International Airport on their way to a high level human rights meeting with diplomats that took place in Geneva on 31 March. The meeting was organised by the international NGO, UPR Info, in preparation for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Sudan that took place in May.[1]

We call upon your delegation to support the development and adoption of a strong and action-oriented resolution on Sudan under agenda item 4 at the 33rd session of the UN Human Rights Council. The resolution should mandate a Special Rapporteur to monitor and report on ongoing human rights violations and recommend to the Sudanese government concrete ways to end them, and publicly urge the Government of Sudan to implement the recommendations made to Sudan by the UN Human Rights Council during its 2016 Universal Periodic Review.[2]

Five years on, the conflicts between Sudan and armed opposition in South Kordofan and Blue Nile continue to have a devastating impact on civilians. The most recent round of talks between the Government of Sudan and rebel movements ended in a standstill, with a lack of agreement on modalities for the provision of humanitarian aid and the cessation of hostilities.[3]

Sudanese government forces continue to attack villages and bomb civilian areas indiscriminately, and to block humanitarian aid groups from accessing affected areas. At least 1.7 million people, over half the population of the two areas, have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict started in 2011.[4] The National Human Rights Monitoring Organisation and Sudan Consortium documented twenty incidents of aerial bombardment in South Kordofan’s Heiban County in May 2016, including one incident on 1 May 2016, which resulted in the deaths of six children.[5] Government forces and allied militia have also been implicated in widespread levels of sexual violence. In February 2015, the Human Rights and Development Organisation reported how government forces raped at least 8 women in South Kordofan in one week.[6] The scale of sexual violence is likely much greater than any reports indicate.[7]

In Darfur, where conflict has continued for 13 years, government forces continue to attack civilians, especially in Jebel Mara. Over 80,000 civilians were newly displaced in Darfur in the first five months of 2016.[8] In 2015, the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan characterized Sudan’s strategy in Darfur as one of “collective punishment” and “induced or forced displacement” of communities from which the armed opposition groups are believed to come or operate.[9] The joint African Union – United Nations peacekeeping mission, UNAMID, has been largely unable to access the most affected conflict areas, due to government restrictions.[10]

Government forces continue to use excessive force to disperse demonstrations, resulting in death and injury and there has been no accountability for the deaths of more than 170 protesters killed during violent crackdowns in September and October 2013.

Across Sudan, national security officials and other security forces have targeted opposition party members, human rights defenders, students, and political activists for arrest, detention, and other abuses. In the UN Independent Expert’s second mission to Sudan in April 2016, he noted having received reports of prolonged detention without access to family and lawyers.[11]

Sudanese authorities also routinely repress the basic rights of women, including through public order provisions that criminalize “indecent” dress such as wearing trousers. Authorities have used these and other repressive laws to target female activists and human rights defenders for arrest, detention, and various forms of harassment, including sexual violence.[12] Authorities have restricted civil society organizations from operating freely, including those that fight for women’s rights.

In light of the situation in Sudan, the UN Human Rights Council must take stronger action in response to the widespread and grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law. We urge your delegation to ensure that the UN Human Rights Council adopts at its 33rd session a resolution under agenda item 4 to:

Strengthen the special procedure mandate on Sudan by extending it as a Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan under item 4, with a mandate to monitor and publicly and periodically report on violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in all parts of Sudan.
Request the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to urgently dispatch investigation teams, with expertise in sexual and gender-based violence, to investigate crimes under international law and serious violations and abuses of human rights in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, identify those suspected of criminal responsibility, provide recommendations for accountability, and to report to the Council on its findings at the 35th session.
On the 5th anniversary of the conflicts in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, condemn in the strongest terms the grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, including the continued indiscriminate aerial bombing of civilian populated areas, the use of cluster bombs, and other indiscriminate attacks on civilians by Government forces and allied militia, as well as the continued blockade of humanitarian aid.
Similarly condemn attacks targeting the civilian population and civilian objects in Darfur, in particular looting, destruction of civilian facilities, killings and sexual violence committed by paramilitary forces and other Sudanese government forces, which has led to forced displacement of civilian populations;
Urge the government of Sudan to allow unfettered access by UNAMID, humanitarian agencies and NGOs to all parts of Darfur and humanitarian agencies, and NGOs to all parts of Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
Urge the Government of Sudan to provide an update to the Council on concrete measures taken to implement the recommendations made to it during its UPR that enjoy its support, and the recommendations made by the Independent Expert following his visit in April 2016
Urge the Government to address the continued impunity of security forces and ensure accountability for the killings of more than 170 protestors in Khartoum in September and October 2013, as well as more recent killings such as the student protestors killed in April 2016.
Condemn the continued restrictions on the media, on human rights defenders and political opponents, freedoms of association and of peaceful assembly, and the use of arbitrary detention and torture, as detailed.
Urgently call for the release of individuals arbitrarily detained by the NISS and urge the Government of Sudan to repeal the repressive National Security Act of 2010, and all other legislation which grants immunities to Government of Sudan agents.

We thank you for your attention to these pressing issues.

Sincerely,

Organisations

Act for Sudan

Alkarama Foundation

Al Khatim Adlan Centre for Enlightenment and Human Development (KACE)

African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies

Amnesty International

Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies

Christian Solidarity Worldwide

CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation

Darfur Bar Association

Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre

DefendDefenders

Enough Project

Face Past for Future

Human Rights and Development Organisation

Human Rights Watch

International Commission of Jurists

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

International Refugee Rights Initiative

Journalists for Human Rights – Sudan

National Human Rights Monitoring Organisation

Never Again Coalition

People4Sudan

REDRESS Trust

Skills for Nuba Mountains

Stop Genocide Now

Sudan Consortium

Sudan Democracy First Group

Sudanese Human Rights Initiative

Sudanese Human Rights Monitor

Sudanese Rights Group (Huqooq)

Sudan Unlimited

Waging Peace

Individuals

Dr. Abdel Mutaal Girshab, Human Rights Consultant.

Dr. Ahmed A. Saeed, civil society member and political activist.

Nagla Ahmed, human rights defender.

Salih Amaar, Deputy Editor in Chief of Al-Taghyeer

Annex: Human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan since September 2015

Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile

The conflict between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, “the Two Areas,” is now five years old. Sudanese authorities and the opposition forces continue to disagree on modalities for humanitarian access to the region.

Since the outbreak of fighting, Sudanese government forces have indiscriminately attacked -- both by ground forces and aerial bombardment -- civilians in rebel-held areas of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. These attacks often coincide with planting and harvesting seasons, causing massive food insecurity and large-scale displacement. The South Kordofan and Blue Nile States Food Security Monitoring Unit reported that in the Warni and Kau-Nyaro areas of South Kordofan, controlled by the SPLM-N, 242 people in eight villages (including 24 children) were reported to have died from lack of food and hunger-related illnesses in the last six months of 2015.[13]

Whilst the Government of Sudan has a legitimate right to target the SPLA-N, international law requires that civilians, and civilian objects, are protected at all times. Attacks on civilian areas, including hospitals and schools, breach international standards and may constitute war crimes.

In April and May 2016, the International Refugee Rights Initiative and the National Human Rights Monitoring Organisation found that there had been a significant increase in the number of children killed and injured by bombs. Overall, the monitors documented a total of 101 incidents of aerial bombardments, shelling and ground fighting resulting in the deaths of 41 people (six men, four women and five children) and injury to 53 people (eight men, seven women and 22 children).[14]

Darfur

Following a referendum on the administrative status of Darfur in April 2016, the Government of Sudan reiterated its argument that UNAMID was no longer needed and that the referendum signaled the conclusion of the peace process.[15] Despite its claims that the war is over, civilians throughout the region continue to suffer the impact of fighting and widespread human rights abuses. Immunities protecting Sudanese authorities have led to a lack of accountability for crimes committed against civilians. In addition to government attacks on suspected rebel areas, other armed groups continue to fight often along ethnic lines over land or resources.

Human Rights Watch documented evidence of war crimes and potential crimes against humanity during two Rapid Support Forces (RSF) campaigns in South Darfur in 2014 and Jebel Marra in 2015. During these offences, forces repeatedly attacked villages, and burned and looted homes, beating, raping and executing villagers.[16]

Civilians in South Darfur and particularly Jebel Marra continue to face attacks and abuses in 2016 by the RSF in “Operation Decisive Summer” offensives. In January 2016, the Sudanese government renewed aerial bombardments and ground attacks on presumed rebel locations.[17] In January and February 2016, the government forces destroyed 47 villages and killed dozens of civilians in ground and aerial attacks.[18] Civilians displaced from Jebel Marra have reportedly fled to Kabkabeyia, Tawila, and Nertiti, orfurther into the mountainous region into rebel held areas, where they are unable to access humanitarian assistance.[19]

Authorities continued to stifle reporting on the situation. Civilians have been arrested and detained without charge for engaging in dialogue with members of the international community. On 31 July 2016, ten people, including seven internally displaced persons, were arrested and detained by the NISS in Nierteti, central Darfur, after attending a meeting with the United States Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, Donald Booth.[20]

Excessive use of force and extra-judicial killings

Authorities continue to break up demonstrations and political forums using excessive force and mass arrests. In April 2016, violent confrontations between students and security agents went on for three weeks at the University of Khartoum. Dozens of students were arrested during these protests, with an unknown number of detainees held in NISS custody, raising serious concern for the safety and well-being of all detainees.

On 5 May 2016, NISS agents raided the office of a prominent human rights lawyer, Nabil Adib, in Khartoum and arrested a group of students, their family members, and office staff. The students were receiving legal advice on appealing a decision by the University of Khartoum to expel or suspend them following their participation in the protests.[21]

In West Darfur, at least seven people, including one child, were killed when security forces used live ammunition at a crowd of protestors outside the West Darfur state governor’s office on January 10, 2016. The crowd had gathered to demand protection after the nearby village of Mouli was looted and burned to the ground. The following day, three people were killed and seven others sustained gunshot wounds when security forces again fired live ammunition at the funeral for the deceased. [22]

On January 31, security forces again used excessive force to disperse university students who convened to discuss the attacks on Mouli at El Geneina university. On 2 February 2016, one student, Salah al Din Gamar Ibrahim, died from a head injury following a violent raid, in which he was detained and beaten. His dead body was found outside his home and medical sources reported the cause of death was internal bleeding from a head injury caused by a sharp object.[23]

In April, two students were killed in separate incidents in which government security forces and armed students used live ammunition to break up protests at two university campuses. On 19 April 2016, Abubakar Hassan, (m), 18 years of age and a student at the University of Kordofan in El Obeid was killed by a gunshot wound to the head.[24] The attack began when the NISS intercepted a group of students marching peacefully towards the Student Union to submit a list of pro-opposition candidates for student union elections that day. The NISS agents, using AK47 rifles and pistols, fired into the crowd.

In the following days students demonstrated at universities across the country protesting Mr. Hassan’s death. On 27 April 2016, Mohamed al-Sadiq Wayo, (m), 20 years of age and a student at Omdurman Ahlia University was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest. Witnesses reported that the victim was shot by NISS agents after a political forum took place, which had been organized by the Nuba Mountain Students’ Association and at which members criticized the killing of Mr. Hassan as well as the forcible dispersal of demonstrations at Khartoum University on 13 April 2016.[25]

To date, there has been no accountability for the victims of anti-austerity protests that took place in 2013, when Sudanese security forces fired live ammunition to disperse protestors. Although our organisations documented that more than 170 individuals were killed, many the result of gun-shot wounds to the chest or head, Sudanese authorities have acknowledged just 85 deaths.[26] The mandate, composition and findings of three commissions of inquiry reportedly established by authorities to investigate the killings have never been made public. Out of at least 85 criminal complaints pursued by victims’ families, only one progressed to court. The murder conviction of the accused, a Sudan Armed Forces officer, was overturned on appeal.

Human rights defenders and victims rights groups calling for justice and accountability for the 2013 protest killings have been subjected to arbitrary arrests and harassment. On 3 February 2016 a group of 15 women were arrested and beaten with wooden batons by members of Sudan’s NISS in Khartoum for staging a protest demanding accountability for the 2013 protest killings.[27]

Repression of Civil Society Activists, Journalists, and Organizations

The NISS has continued to use its sweeping powers to detain activists, civil society, human rights defenders, and political opponents for up to four and a half months without charge. The NISS routinely holds detainees incommunicado and without charge for prolonged periods, sometimes in excess of the period permitted by the 2010 National Security Act. Our organisations have documented patterns of torture and ill-treatment of detainees and other forms of intimidation and harassment, such as summonses and threatening phone calls, to threaten perceived political opponents and activists.[28]

Over the past eighteen months, TRACKS has been raided twice, on 16 April 2015[29] and 29 February 2016.[30] National security officials have detained several of its staff and affiliates, and brought criminal cases against individuals following each raid, charging them with a number of offences including crimes against the state, which carry the death penalty. Three of the accused were detained without charge for 86 days by the Office of the Prosecutor for State Security before being transferred to Al Huda Prison to await trial, where they remain. In addition, charges pending for over a year were reactivated against a human rights defender, Adil Bakhiet, in May 2016.

Human Rights Watch documented how NISS has used its powers to silence female human rights activists in particular, including through sexual violence.[31] In addition, authorities continue to unduly restrict civil society organizations in other ways. Authorities have shut down organizations, such as the Salmmah Center in October 2014, and imposed undue restrictions on registration. The Confederation of Sudanese Civil Society Organisations reported that in the last quarter of 2015 three organisations faced ongoing restrictions in the renewal of their licences, one local organisation was denied registration, and another was forcibly closed without reasons being given.[32]

The NISS continues to censor not only independent newspapers or those affiliated to opposition political parties, but also those that are traditionally supportive of or affiliated to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP). A number of Sudanese laws restrict the right to peaceful expression, association and assembly, including provisions of the 1991 Sudanese Penal Code and the 2009 Press and Publications Act.

NISS officials have repeatedly summoned journalists and threatened them with prosecution, arbitrarily detained them, and harassed them with threatening visits or telephone calls from NISS officials ordering them not to report on so-called “red line” issues deemed to be controversial or critical of the NCP.[33] For example, in April 2016, newspapers were prevented from publishing information on the arrests of students at Khartoum University.

Post-print censorship, whereby entire print runs of daily editions are confiscated prior to morning distribution, continues to be routinely utilised, at great cost to newspapers.

During the second week of May 2016 the NISS confiscated the independent daily Al-Jareeda newspaper five times without giving any official reason.[34] Printed copies of the newspaper were confiscated by the NISS on 9 and 10 May 2016. The newspaper was allowed to publish on 11 May 2016, before daily issues were confiscated again on 12 and 13 May 2016.

On 11 April 2016 the NISS took down copies of Alrahil newspaper, known as a “wall” newspaper in El Fashir, which has been printed and displayed for readers on the wall outside the home of its Chief Editor since 1995. Its’ Chief Editor, Ms. Awatif Ishag, was arrested and interrogated regarding an article she had published on the referendum process in Darfur.

Death Penalty

The death penalty, which is implemented by hanging in Sudan, is not restricted to the most serious of crimes.[35] The crime of apostasy – which itself should not constitute a crime under international law – carries the death penalty. Crimes against the state charges that carry the death penalty have been used increasingly often since 2011 to punish and silence political opposition party members and other activists who have criticized government policy. Since the last review the scope of application of the death penalty has been widened. The crime of apostasy has been broadened to include additional prohibited acts and a new crime of trafficking attracts the death penalty.

Freedom of religion

Increasing restrictions on religious freedoms have been documented since 2013, particularly targeting members of Christian churches in Sudan. In other cases, individuals have been targeting for expressing alternative views and visions of Islam, or incorporating ongoing political events into worship.

On 14 July 2016, Yousef Abdallah Abker, (m), 55 years of age and a religious scholar, was arrested by security agents in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, in relation to a sermon he gave in early July. He was detained without charge. Yousef Abdallah Abker was interrogated for criticising the government and the deteriorating security situation in Darfur during the Eid Ramadan sermon he gave on 6 July. In his sermon, Yousef Abdallah Abker condemned the government of Sudan for its inability to control the security situation in Darfur and for overlooking abuses committed by pro-government militias, including killings, rape and robbery. Mr. Abdallah Abker was denied access to a lawyer and medical treatment following his arrest.[36]

[1] Joint NGO Letter, “Sudan blocks civil society participation in UN-led human rights review”, 31 March 2016.

[2] UN Human Rights Council Working Group on the UPR, “Draft report of the Working Group on the Sudan Universal Periodic Review”, May 2016.

[3] African Union High Level Implementation Panel on Sudan, “Statement on the AUHIP Cessation of Hostilities Negotiations”, 15 August 2016.

[4] Sudan Consortium, “Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan’s Two Areas and Darfur”, March 2015.

[5] National Human Rights Monitoring Organisation and Sudan Consortium, “Human Rights Update: May 2016”, August 2016.

[6] Radio Dabanga, “Govt. forces rape, wreak havoc in South Kordofan,” 23 February 2015,

[7] Coalition of NGOs, “Sudan: Joint Civil Society Statement regarding Sexual Violence in Conflict”, 20 June 2016.

[8] UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “Sudan: Darfur Humanitarian Overview”, 1 June 2016.

[9] UN Security Council, “Letter dated 16 January 2015 from the Vice-Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan addressed to the President of the Security Council”, 19 January 2015.

[10] Ibid.

[11] “Statement by the United Nations Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Sudan, Mr. Aristide Nononsi, at the end of his first mission to Sudan”, April 2016.

[12] Human Rights Watch, “Good Girls Don’t Protest’: Repression and Abuse of Women Human Rights Defenders, Activists, and Protesters in Sudan”, 23 March 2016.

[13] UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), “Humanitarian Bulletin Sudan, Issue 9”, 22 – 28 February 2016.

[14] National Human Rights Monitoring Organisation and the Sudan Consortium, “Attacks on civilians in Southern Kordofan, Sudan 2011-2016”, September 2016.

[15] International Refugee Rights Initiative, “’No one on the earth cares if we survive except God and sometimes UNAMID’: the challenges of peacekeeping in Darfur”, June 2016.

[16] Human Rights Watch, “Men With No Mercy”, September 2015.

[17] UN Security Council, “Special report of the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur”, 8 June 2016.

[18] Human Rights Watch Dispatch, “Inaction on Darfur, Again”, 17 February 2016

[19] SUDO UK, “SUDO (UK) Statement on January Government Offensive in Jebel Marra”, 31 January 2016.

[20] Amnesty International, “Eight arrested, whereabouts unknown”, 8 August 2016.

[21]Amnesty International, “Eight students arrested, whereabouts unknown”, 9 May 2016

[22] African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, “Sudan must protect civilians in West Darfur and reign in security forces after village burned and protestors lethally shot”, 14 January 2016.

[23] ACJPS, “West Darfur: One student dead after heavy beatings and serious concern for safety of another student detained incommunicado at security offices”, 8 February 2016.

[24] Amnesty International, “Sudan: Government must investigate brutal killing of 18-year old university student by intelligence agents”, 20 April 2016.

[25] 39 NGOs, “Open letter from 39 Sudanese NGOs and individuals concerning excessive use of force by Sudanese authorities”, 3 May 2016.

[26] Human Rights Watch, “Sudan: No Justice for Protest Killings”, 21 April 2014.

[27] African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, “Protestors calling for justice for victims of 2013 protest killings beaten and detained by Sudan’s security agency in Khartoum”, 10 February 2016.

[28] Human Rights Watch, “Sudan: Students, Activists at Risk of Torture”, 25 May 2016.

[29] African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, “Sudanese human rights defenders detained on baseless charges and others at risk after armed raid on Khartoum training centre”, 18 April 2015.

[30] African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, “Sudan: TRACKs office once against raided and staff targeted by NISS”, 23 March 2016.

[31] Human Rights Watch, “Good Girls Don’t Protest,” March 23, 2016,

[32] Confederation of Sudanese Civil Society Organisations, “October – December 2015”, January 2016.

[33] ACJPS and the International Federation for Human Rights, “Oral Statement submitted under item 11: Activity report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa”, 10 November 2015.

[34] ACJPS, “Independent Khartoum newspaper confiscated five times in one week, local Al Fashir paper’s editor harassed” 18 May 2016

[35] ACJPS, “The Wide Application of the Death Penalty in Sudan”, August 2016.

[36] Amnesty International, “Religious Scholar detained without charge”, 21 July 2016

Categories: Africa

Joint letter to UN Human Rights Council on Ethiopia

Fri, 09/09/2016 - 10:48

Geneva, 8 September 2016

To Permanent Representatives of
Members and Observer States of the
UN Human Rights Council

RE: Addressing the escalating human rights crisis in Ethiopia

Your Excellency,

The undersigned civil society organisations write to draw your attention to grave violations of human rights in Ethiopia, including the recent crackdown on largely peaceful protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions.

As the UN Human Rights Council prepares to convene for its 33rd session between 13 – 30 September 2016, we urge your delegation to prioritise and address through joint and individual statements the escalating human rights crisis in Ethiopia.

An escalating human rights crisis in Oromia and Amhara Regions

The situation in Ethiopia has become increasingly unstable since security forces repeatedly fired upon protests in the Amhara and Oromia regions in August 2016. On 6 and 7 August alone, Amnesty International reported at least 100 killings and scores of arrests during protests that took place across multiple towns in both regions. Protesters had taken to the streets throughout the Amhara and Oromia regions to express discontent over the ruling party’s dominance in government affairs, the lack of rule of law, and grave human rights violations for which there has been no accountability.

Protests in the Amhara region began peacefully in Gondar a month ago and spread to other towns in the region. A protest in Bahir Dar, the region’s capital, on 7 August turned violent when security forces shot and killed at least 30 people. Recently, on 30 August, stay-at-home strikers took to the streets of Bahir Dar again and were violently dispersed by security forces. According to the Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia (AHRE), in the week of 29 August alone, security forces killed more than 70 protesters and injured many more in cities and towns across Northern Amhara region.

Since November 2015, Ethiopian security forces have routinely used excessive and unnecessary lethal force to disperse and suppress the largely peaceful protests in the Oromia region. The protesters, who originally advocated against the dispossession of land without adequate compensation under the government’s Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan, have been subjected to widespread rights violations. According to international and national human rights groups, at least 500 demonstrators have been killed and hundreds have suffered bullet wounds and beatings by police and military during the protests.

Authorities have also arbitrarily arrested thousands of people throughout Oromia and Amhara during and after protests, including journalists and human rights defenders. Many of those detained are being held without charge and without access to family members or legal representation. Many of those who have been released report torture in detention. The continued use of unlawful force to repress the movement has broadened the grievances of the protesters to human rights and rule of law issues.

The need for international, independent, thorough, impartial and transparent investigations

Following the attacks by security forces on protesters in Oromia earlier this year, five UN Special Procedures issued a joint statement noting that “the sheer number of people killed and arrested suggests that the Government of Ethiopia views the citizens as a hindrance, rather than a partner”, and underlining that “Impunity … only perpetuates distrust, violence and more oppression”.

In response to the recent crackdown, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, has called for “access for independent observers to the country to assess the human rights situation”. Ethiopia’s government, however, has rejected the call, instead indicating it would launch its own investigation. On 2 September, in a public media statement, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights reiterated the UN High Commissioner’s call to allow a prompt and impartial investigation led by regional or international human rights bodies into the crackdown.

There are no effective avenues to pursue accountability for abuses given the lack of independence of the judiciary and legislative constraints. During the May 2015 general elections, the ruling EPRDF party won all 547 seats in the Ethiopian Parliament.

Ethiopia’s National Human Rights Commission, which has a mandate to investigate rights violations, has failed to make public its June report on the Oromia protests, while concluding in its oral report to Parliament that the lethal force used by security forces in Oromia was proportionate to the risk they faced from the protesters. The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions has rated the Ethiopian National Human Rights Commission as B, meaning the latter has failed to meet fully the Paris Principles.

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, who met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn at the margins of the European Development Days in June 2016, has called on all parties to refrain from the use of force and for a constructive dialogue and engagement to take place without delay. On 28 August, after the EPRDF party’s general assembly, Prime Minister Hailemariam reportedly ordered the country’s military to take any appropriate measures to quell the protests, which he described as illegal and aimed at destabilising the nation. Following a similar call regarding the Oromia protests, security forces intensified the use of excessive force against protesters.

A highly restrictive environment for dialogue

Numerous human rights activists, journalists, opposition political party leaders and supporters have been arbitrarily arrested and detained. Since August 2016, four members of one of Ethiopia’s most prominent human rights organisations, the Human Rights Council (HRCO), were arrested and detained in the Amhara and Oromia regions. HRCO believes these arrests are related to the members’ monitoring and documentation of the crackdown of on-going protests in these regions.

Among those arrested since the protests began and still in detention are Colonel Demeke Zewdu (Member, Wolkait Identity Committee (WIC)), Getachew Ademe (Chairperson, WIC), Atalay Zafe (Member, WIC), Mebratu Getahun (Member, WIC), Alene Shama (Member, WIC), Addisu Serebe (Member, WIC), Bekele Gerba (Deputy Chair, Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC)), Dejene Tufa (Deputy General Secretary, OFC), Getachew Shiferaw (Editor-in-Chief of the online newspaper Negere Ethiopia), Yonathan Teressa (human rights defender) and Fikadu Mirkana (reporter with the state-owned Oromia Radio and TV).  

Prominent human rights experts and groups, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, have repeatedly condemned the highly restrictive legal framework in Ethiopia. The deliberate misuse of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation’s overbroad and vague provisions to target journalists and activists has increased as protests have intensified. The law permits up to four months of pre-trial detention and prescribes long prison sentences for a range of activities protected under international human rights law. Dozens of human rights defenders as well as journalists, bloggers, peaceful demonstrators and opposition party members have been subjected to harassment and politically motivated prosecution under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, making Ethiopia one of the leading jailers of journalists in the world.

In addition, domestic civil society organisations are severely hindered by one of the most restrictive NGO laws in the world. Specifically, under the 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation, the vast majority of Ethiopian organisations have been forced to stop working on human rights and governance issues, a matter of great concern that has been repeatedly raised in international forums including at Ethiopia’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

This restrictive and worsening environment underscores the limited avenues available for dialogue and accountability in the country. It is essential that the UN Human Rights Council take a strong position urging the Ethiopian government to immediately allow an international, thorough, independent, transparent and impartial investigation into alleged human rights abuses committed in the context of the government’s response to the largely peaceful protests.

As a member – and Vice-President – of the Human Rights Council, Ethiopia has an obligation to “uphold the highest standards” of human rights, and “fully cooperate” with the Council and its mechanisms (GA Resolution 60/251, OP 9). Yet for the past ten years, it has consistently failed to accept country visit requests by numerous Special Procedures.

During the upcoming 33rd session of the Human Rights Council, we urge your delegation to make joint and individual statements reinforcing and building upon the expressions of concern by the High Commissioner, UN Special Procedures, and others.

Specifically, the undersigned organisations request your delegation to urge Ethiopia to:

immediately cease the use of excessive and unnecessary lethal force by security forces against protesters in Oromia and Amhara regions and elsewhere in Ethiopia;
immediately and unconditionally release journalists, human rights defenders, political opposition leaders and members as well as protesters arbitrarily detained during and in the aftermath of the protests;
respond favourably to country visit requests by UN Special Procedures;
urgently allow access to an international, thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into all of the deaths resulting from alleged excessive use of force by the security forces, and other violations of human rights in the context of the protests;
ensure that those responsible for human rights violations are prosecuted in proceedings which comply with international law and standards on fair trials and without resort to the death penalty; and
fully comply with its international legal obligations and commitments including under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and its own Constitution.

Amnesty International
Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Civil Rights Defenders
DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)
Ethiopian Human Rights Project
FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights)
Foundation for Human Rights Initiative
Freedom House
Front Line Defenders
Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect
Human Rights Watch
International Service for Human Rights
Reporters Without Borders
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

Categories: Africa

A Chance for UN Peacekeeping to Get It Right

Fri, 09/09/2016 - 10:48

Thérèse, a 14-year-old in the Central African Republic, probably doesn’t know that defense ministers from around the globe will meet in London on Thursday this week to discuss United Nations peacekeeping. But she has a stake in what happens there.

A United Nations peacekeeper stands alongside a road near the refugee camp of Saint Sauveur, in the Central African Republic capital, Bangui, November 29, 2015.

Thérèse was one of eight girls and women who told Human Rights Watch peacekeepers raped them in the eastern town of Bambari. Thérèse described how a peacekeeper grabbed her as she passed a UN base. “We walked for a while,” she said. “Then he ripped off my clothes and used them to tie my hands behind my back. He threw me on the ground, placed his gun to the side, and got on top of me to rape me. When he was done, he just left.”

Thérèse is one of many survivors of such abuses. The UN’s oversight agency received 480 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers between 2008 and 2013. At least 102 allegations were made against UN peacekeepers in Haiti since 2007.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pledged reforms following a scathing independent report citing UN failures in handling peacekeeper abuse. In the Central African Republic, some troops have been sent home, at least in part due to allegations of abuses, and UN and national teams launched investigations. Prosecutions began of some peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, accused of sexual abuse in Central African Republic, though there have been no convictions.

All too often when peacekeepers hurt those they are meant to protect, victims get little support or justice. Only troop-contributing countries can prosecute their own forces. Prosecutions and convictions are disturbingly rare, and information on their status hard to come by. According to Secretary-General Ban’s 2015 annual report on sexual exploitation and abuse, troop-contributing countries confirmed punishment of peacekeepers in only 10 cases.

Ministers meeting in London can address gaps in the system by requiring, as a precondition for participation, commitments from troop-contributing countries to hold their peacekeepers to account. Countries who don’t follow through should be suspended from sending peacekeepers.

More should also be done to prevent abuses. Ministers should commit to stronger screening mechanisms to weed out soldiers and police with histories of abuse, and require military forces on UN watchlists for sexual violence and abuse of children in conflict to meet benchmarks towards changing their standing. Standardized training on human rights obligations, and consequences of violating them, should be mandatory for all troops before and during deployment.

At last year’s peacekeeping summit, the US – UN peacekeeping’s biggest financial contributor – said it was committed to reform, including accountability for abuses. It’s time such pledges yield progress.

The UN relies on more than 100,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians in places torn apart by conflict. Failure of UN and troop-contributing countries to take all measures to prevent and punish abuses by these troops is unconscionable, and undermines the very idea of peacekeeping. And survivors know this. As Thérèse said of her rapist, “There should be some justice done to this man."

Categories: Africa

Zimbabwe’s Judges Under Fire

Fri, 09/09/2016 - 10:48

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe returned to Harare this week from an unexplained trip to the United Arab Emirates that triggered widespread speculation about his health, and even rumors that he had died.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe arrives home from abroad at the capital's main airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, September 3, 2016.

But on arrival, he put rumors to rest as he addressed the ruling ZANU-PF party’s youth league and launched a blistering verbal attack on the country’s judiciary. In apparent reference to a High Court decision to allow 18 opposition political parties that are calling for electoral reforms to conduct a protest in late August, Mugabe said: “They [the judges] dare not be negligent in their decisions when requests are made by people who want to demonstrate.” He claimed the judges gave permission in “full knowledge” that the protests could be violent, and said their decision was taken in “disregard to the peace of this country.”

This is not the first time Mugabe has attempted to interfere with the judiciary. In 2000, after judges ruled that the government’s controversial land reform program was unlawful, Mugabe called the judges guardians of “white racist commercial farmers.” In 2005, when High Court Justice Tendai Uchena ruled that Roy Bennet, a jailed opposition member of parliament, was eligible to contest the upcoming elections from prison, Mugabe described the decision as “stupid.” Justice Uchena subsequently reversed his own judgment and barred Bennet from participating in elections.

Mugabe’s government has also undermined Zimbabwe’s judiciary by disregarding High Court orders, and making frequent public statements attacking both the judiciary in general as well as individual judges.

His latest comments not only seem intended to have a chilling effect on judges – who will think twice before making similar rulings in the future – but appear to tacitly endorse the actions of the police who on August 26, 2016 violently cracked down on the peaceful protests. His statements also undermine Zimbabwe’s international human rights law obligations to respect due process and judicial independence under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which Zimbabwe has ratified.

Mugabe needs to stop interfering in the judiciary’s independence, so that the courts can play their crucial role in a democratic society. Zimbabweans have the right to peaceful protest and expressing their views, and judges should not be constrained in enforcing those rights.

Categories: Africa

Zimbabwe Bans Demonstrations in Harare

Tue, 06/09/2016 - 10:42

In the face of increasing protests across the country, the Zimbabwe authorities yesterday invoked a draconian law to ban all public protests in Harare.

On Thursday evening, a senior police official, Chief Superintendent Newbert Saunyama, announced that police would ban all demonstrations in the capital, including a planned demonstration the next day by 18 opposition parties. He justified the ban under the Public Order and Security Act. The parties – which are calling for national electoral reforms – decided to postpone the protest to a later date.

Riot police stand guard as opposition party supporters, arrested following Friday's protest march, arrive at court in Harare, Zimbabwe, August 29, 2016.

Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo

The law banning demonstrations, the Statutory Instrument 101A of 2016, went into effect yesterday. It’s use signals intensifying government repression amid rising public discontent. It prohibits “the holding of all public demonstrations” in Harare until September 16, 2016.

Violating the ban carries penalties of up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of $300. Since June, various groups and political parties have staged at least 13 public protests across the country over deteriorating economic conditions, widespread corruption, police brutality, and lack of electoral reforms.

The government’s ban on all protests violates the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression protected under international human rights law.

Today I spoke to lawyers who are preparing to challenge the ban in Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court. They intend to argue that the ban violates the right to free expression under the country’s constitution. They will also raise a constitutional provision that states that human rights can be limited only “in terms of a law of general application and to the extent that the limitation is fair, reasonable, necessary and justifiable in a democratic society based on openness, justice, human dignity, equality and freedom.”

Banning protests will not resolve the country’s problems. Instead of imposing pseudo state-of-emergency regulations banning protests, the police should be maintaining public order and protecting life and property. The government should make a clean break with the country’s violent past: It should allow peaceful protests, respond appropriately if protests turn violent, and hold all those breaking the law to account.

Categories: Africa

SADC: Reverse Downward Slide on Rights

Tue, 06/09/2016 - 10:42

Billboard advertising the 2016 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit in Mbabane, Swaziland.

(Johannesburg) – The Southern African Development Community (SADC) should take concrete steps to improve respect for human rights among its 15 member countries. SADC heads of state will meet on August 30-31, 2016, in Mbabane, Swaziland, for SADC’s 36th Summit.

“Political repression and disregard for basic rights characterized several SADC countries over the past year,” said Dewa Mavhinga, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “SADC governments need to ensure that they meet their human rights obligations and improve the quality of life for those who are most vulnerable.”

Child marriage remains a major concern in a number of Southern African countries, Human Rights Watch said. Half the girls in Malawi and one-third of girls in Zimbabwe marry before they turn 18. Girls who marry young often discontinue their education, face serious health problems from early and multiple pregnancies, and suffer greater sexual and domestic violence.

SADC member countries should align their laws to the SADC Parliamentary Forum Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage adopted in June, including by setting and enforcing a minimum marriage age of 18.

Human rights concerns in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe should get particular attention, Human Rights Watch said. SADC member countries have identified peace, security, and the promotion of human rights as key concerns within the region, but the individual countries need to take steps to ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law.

In Angola, the government of President José Eduardo dos Santos has pledged to improve its rights record, but instead has been severely curtailing the rights to freedom of expression and association. Security forces have used excessive force, arbitrary arrests, and intimidation to prevent peaceful anti-government protests, strikes, and other gatherings. In April, police gunfire wounded at least three people during a peaceful student demonstration against an increase in school fees in Caluquembe, Huila province. On August 6, soldiers fired live ammunition during a peaceful protest in Luanda, killing a teenage boy. There have also been reports of excessive use of force to evict people for development and agriculture projects.

In Zimbabwe, the government of President Robert Mugabe has disregarded the rights provisions in the country’s new constitution, neither enacting laws to put the new constitution into effect, nor amending existing laws to bring them in line with the constitution and Zimbabwe’s obligations under regional and international human rights conventions. The police use outdated and abusive laws to violate basic rights such as freedom of expression and assembly, and to harass activists, human rights defenders, and LGBT people. There has been no progress toward justice for human rights violations during past political violence.

Itai Dzamara, a pro-democracy activist and human rights defender who was forcibly disappeared on March 9, 2015, remains missing. Dzamara, the leader of Occupy Africa Unity Square – a small protest group modeled after the Arab Spring uprisings – had petitioned Mugabe to resign and to reform the electoral system.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has brutally cracked down on those who have spoken out against or opposed attempts to extend President Joseph Kabila’s time in office beyond his constitutionally mandated two-term limit, which ends on December 19, 2016. Since January 2015, government security forces have arbitrarily arrested scores of opposition leaders and activists, fired on peaceful protesters, banned opposition demonstrations, shut down media outlets, accused peaceful pro-democracy youth activists of plotting terrorist acts, and prevented opposition leaders from moving freely around the country.

In one of the latest attempts to curtail human rights reporting during a period of increased government repression, the Congolese government in early August 2016 blocked a senior Human Rights Watch researcher, Ida Sawyer, from continuing to work in the country.

The government should urgently free all political prisoners, allow Congolese and international rights defenders to continue their crucial work, permit activists and opposition supporters to protest peacefully and express their political views, and hold those responsible for the crackdown to account.

Meanwhile, the security situation in eastern Congo, where dozens of armed groups are still active, remains deeply volatile. In the Beni area, armed forces have killed more than 500 civilians in massacres since October 2014, according to local rights groups. The government needs to improve protection for civilians in the area, identify abusers, and hold them to account.

In Swaziland, which takes over as SADC chair for the next 12 months, human rights conditions have deteriorated significantly. The government has imposed restrictions on political activism and trade unions that violate international law, including potential bans under the draconian Suppression of Terrorism Act, and subjected activists and union members to arbitrary detention and unfair trials.

In Mozambique, the political and military conflict between the government and the opposition RENAMO party has resulted in increased human rights abuses. Since October 2015, tens of thousands of people have fled to Malawi because of abuses by the military, including summary executions, sexual violence, and mistreatment of people in custody. In Zambezia province, armed men linked to RENAMO have attacked hospitals and health clinics to loot medicine and supplies, threating access to health care for tens of thousands of people in remote areas. The Mozambican government has yet to publish its findings of an investigation of a mass grave found in May 2016 containing at least 15 bodies.

In South Africa, public confidence in the government’s willingness to tackle human rights violations, corruption and respect for the rule of law has eroded. The government has done little to address concerns about the treatment of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, or the root causes of xenophobic violence. The government has failed to ensure that an estimated half million children with disabilities have access to basic education. Rights groups expressed concerns about the government’s failure to develop a national strategy to combat the high rate of violence against women and the continued underreporting of rape.

“To achieve the SADC Summit theme of ‘enriching nations,’ SADC countries should seriously focus on respecting human rights, upholding the rule of law, and curtailing corruption,” Mavhinga said. “Transparency and justice will help drive regional economic development that can genuinely improve people’s lives.”

Categories: Africa

Kenya’s 'Disappeared' Deserve Justice

Tue, 06/09/2016 - 10:42

A few months ago, I listened to a Kenyan man talk about his brother who has been missing since April 2015. “To see the dead body of your family member is painful, but you at least know he is dead,” he told me. As the world commemorates the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances today, I think of him and many others I interviewed for Human Rights Watch’s report on people who “disappeared” after last being seen in the custody of Kenya’s security agents.

Others have reported similar findings. The official Kenya National Commission on Human Rights documented numerous similar cases, as have local rights groups and the Kenyan media.

Zeinab Bulley Hussein holding the national identity card of her son, Abdi Bare Mohamed. Community members stumbled on Abdi Bare’s dead body 18 kilometers from Mandera, in northeastern Kenya, three weeks after police officers arrested him outside the family’s home in August 2015.

Enforced disappearances are devastating. Family and friends of those disappeared suffer tremendously, often never learning whether their loved one is alive or dead. Under international human rights law, an enforced disappearance occurs when a person has been detained by government officials or their agents, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of the person’s liberty or to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the person.

In Kenya, Muslim communities are among those most affected by disappearances, caught between the threat of the armed Islamist group, Al-Shabab, and security forces that carry out abusive counterterrorism operations. While Kenyan government officials often condemn Al-Shabab’s horrific violence, they remain troublingly silent about security forces’ role in enforced disappearances.

Families who report their loved ones as missing to police, providing witness accounts of arrest, often receive no response or are told the police have no information. In some cases, government officials have suggested – without evidence – that Al-Shabab may have killed these people. When United States Secretary of State John Kerry recently visited Kenya, he said Kenyan authorities told him that people reported as disappeared may have crossed the Somali border to join Al-Shabab. This may be true in some cases, but without credible investigations into the disappearances – and considering Kenya’s counterterrorism response – these assertions should comfort no one.

Some diplomats suggested to me that perhaps the disappearances are conducted by “rogue” security officers. But the avalanche of evidence and the sophisticated inter-agency coordination of the operations make that unlikely. Even if true, without the government’s commitment to investigate the abuses and prosecute all those responsible, “rogue” officers will never face accountability.

Today, as the world stands in solidarity with victims of enforced disappearance, President Uhuru Kenyatta should commit to launching a commission of inquiry into these disappearances. Such an effort would be a first step toward justice.

Categories: Africa

Mozambique: Opposition Group Raids Hospitals

Thu, 25/08/2016 - 15:15

(Johannesburg) – Armed men linked to Mozambique’s main opposition party, the Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO), have raided at least two hospitals and two health clinics over the past month. The attacks on the medical facilities, which involved looting medicine and supplies and destroying medical equipment, threaten access to health care for tens of thousands of people in remote areas of the country.

Damaged medicine cabinet in Morrumbala District Hospital after the raid by RENAMO gunmen on August 12, 2016.

“RENAMO’s attacks on hospitals and health clinics are threatening the health of thousands people in Mozambique,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “RENAMO’s leadership needs to call off these attacks on health facilities immediately.”

In the most recent attack, on August 12, 2016, about a dozen gunmen who identified themselves as RENAMO entered the town of Morrumbala, in the central province of Zambezia, at about 4 a.m., several witnesses and local authorities told Human Rights Watch. The men first raided a police station, freeing about 23 men detained there, and then looted the local district hospital.

A nurse who was there said that the men opened fire at the building. “I was in the emergency room when they fired gunshots through the windows,” he said. “We were hiding beneath chairs, beds…anything we could find.”

The nurse and two Zambezia-based reporters who arrived at the hospital just after the attack said that the gunmen had looted medicine from the facility’s main pharmacy.

On July 30, a group of armed men who identified themselves as RENAMO entered the village of Mopeia, in Zambezia province, at about 3 a.m., two local residents said.

The armed men first raided the house of a local official of the governing FRELIMO party, who is the chief nurse at the local Centro 8 de Março health clinic. When they did not find him, they went to the clinic. A doctor who visited the clinic the following day said the gunmen burned patients’ medical records and stole vaccines, syringes, and medicines. The clinic stores essential medicines, including antiretroviral medicines for HIV/AIDS patients, for a population of over 8,000 people, he said.

Bullet hole in the window of Morrumbala District Hospital after the raid by RENAMO gunmen on August 12, 2016.

The armed men then went to Mopeia’s main hospital, about eight kilometers from the clinic. A nurse at the hospital said that she saw about 15 men in dark green uniforms enter the main ward in the early morning, most of them armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles. They entered the ward where patients were sleeping, threatened patients and medical staff, ordering them to leave the hospital, and carried away medicines, serum bags, bed sheets, and mosquito nets. The nurse said none of the patients or medical staff were hurt.

Together, Mopeia district hospital and Mopeia village clinic serve over 100,000 people, local health authorities said.

On July 31, about a dozen armed men who identified themselves as RENAMO raided the village of Maiaca, Maúa district, in the northern province of Niassa. The administrator of Maúa, Joao Manguinje, told Human Rights Watch that the gunmen attacked the local health clinic and the police station. They took five kits of HIV tests, four boxes of syringes, and over 600 vials of penicillin, he said.

Manguinje also alleged that on July 24, RENAMO gunmen had raided the health clinic in the nearby village of Muapula, where they stole, among other things, five obstetric kits, over 200 tetanus vaccines, and over 300 vials of penicillin. Human Rights Watch was not able to verify this attack.

I was in the emergency room when they fired gunshots through the windows. We were hiding beneath chairs, beds…anything we could find. A nurse who witnessed the hospital looting.

Mozambican authorities say that RENAMO gunmen have carried out similar attacks on health clinics over the past month in Sofala, Manica, and Tete provinces, in central Mozambique, but Human Rights Watch was not able to verify those reports.

The RENAMO party, which has offices in the capital, Maputo, has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the attacks. However, the party leader, Afonso Dhalkama, who is believed to be hiding in the Gorongosa bush, in the central province of Sofala, told the Mozambican private television station, STV, on August 5 that he had given orders to attack some areas of Zambezia province. He did not specify the targets or mention medical facilities.

Dhlakama said the attacks were a “military strategy” aimed at dispersing government soldiers who are surrounding RENAMO positions in Gorongosa bush, about 200 kilometers south of the villages that were attacked. Several districts of Tete, Zambezia, Manica, Sofala, and Niassa provinces have had recent armed clashes between government forces and Renamo fighters.

“RENAMO’s raids on medical facilities seem part of a repugnant strategy to damage health facilities and loot medicines,” Bekele said. “What they are succeeding in doing is to deny crucial health services to Mozambicans who need them.”

Background Information
After the 1992 peace agreement that ended Mozambique’s 16-year civil war, RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama was allowed to keep a 300-man private armed guard. Successive failures to integrate other RENAMO fighters into the national army and civilian life have encouraged former fighters to join the private guards and to camp in old RENAMO training grounds. RENAMO, a political party that currently holds 89 seats in parliament, is now believed to have an armed force of more than double what it was permitted.

Over the past four years, tension has increased between RENAMO and the governing party, FRELIMO, including an increase in armed attacks by RENAMO and counterattacks by the government. The parties signed a new peace agreement in 2014, but RENAMO says the government has failed to integrate RENAMO fighters into the national army and police in accordance with the agreement. The government says RENAMO has refused to hand over a list of its militia to be integrated into the security forces because it wants to use them as leverage for political negotiations. FRELIMO won elections in October 2014, but RENAMO says it wants to govern the six provinces in which it claims it received more votes.

In February 2016, Human Rights Watch documented abuses committed by government forces in Tete province, where RENAMO enjoys support among the population, including alleged summary executions and sexual violence. At least 6,000 people fled the area for neighboring Malawi. The Malawi office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that most of these people have now returned home, following assurances of safety by the Mozambican government.

In May, Mozambican and international media reported the discovery of several unidentified bodies near Gorongoza, between the provinces of Manica and Sofala. Human Rights Watch called on the Mozambican authorities to investigate the gravesite thoroughly, to identify the victims, and to hold perpetrators to account. The government says it launched an investigation in June, but it has not yet announced any findings.

Categories: Africa

You are here

HRW / Africa

Guinea: Letter to President Condé on Accountability for 2015 Election Violence and Abuses

Guinea: One Year On, No Justice for Election Violence

Students arrested on April 7, 2015

The Failed Promise of Mining Embitters Malawians

Swaziland should implement past Universal Periodic Review recommendations to ensure progress on rights reforms

15 Years Behind Bars in Eritrea

Sudan: No Justice for Protester Killings

Kenya Is Abandoning Somali Refugees

Provide Genuine Refuge to World’s Displaced

The Human Cost of Environmental Protection in Côte d’Ivoire

Video: Camp Closure in Kenya Leaves 260,000 Somali Refugees Without Options

UN Human Rights Council: Addressing the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo

NGO Letter regarding the human rights situation in Sudan

Joint letter to UN Human Rights Council on Ethiopia

A Chance for UN Peacekeeping to Get It Right

Zimbabwe’s Judges Under Fire

Zimbabwe Bans Demonstrations in Harare

SADC: Reverse Downward Slide on Rights

Kenya’s 'Disappeared' Deserve Justice

Mozambique: Opposition Group Raids Hospitals

Pages