Friday, April 30, 2010
Facebook, necklines and no earthquake, by Francis Chartrand
We can found on Facebook a string of unnecessary groups as found interesting groups. And, here and there, we find some fun groups that stand out from the crowd. They show us as often as they can convey ideas that cross the border of virtual ...
Have you heard of "Boobquake" this week? How do you not heard of this idea was hatched female head of a young American? Here is how an idea Women in reply to an absurdity male has spread across the Web as a wildfire. And to think it all started with the aim of a sermon right-thinking Iranian Ayatollah!
Indeed, last April 17, Ayatollah Kazem Sedigh, imam of Friday prayers in Tehran, was quoted by the Iranian daily Aftab. The latter told his followers the power (unknown) of women on Earth: "There are many women who do not dress decently [...] that can prevent young men astray, corrupt their chastity, which increases earthquakes."
When women replicate ...
The quote that goes around the world (and who made many people laugh) fell into the ear of a young blogger outraged American Jennifer McCreight. On a whim, she decided to open a Facebook group to propose a female experience quite anecdotal. Thus was born the "boobquake."
The idea is to check this absurdity by inviting a maximum of liberated women to reveal their cleavage, just to see if it would increase the earthquakes. In my case, I do not really need a specific day to wear a plunging neckline! And yet, despite all my efforts, I never managed to trigger one small earthquake.
The success of this Facebook group has quickly surpassed the expectations of its organizers. Initially, Jennifer McCreight had launched the idea as a joke ...
But since it was a joke and there is nothing more frustrating than to hear such nonsense, tens of thousands of women have cleavage most challenging their wardrobe last Monday (in over those who are without even thinking!).
All this not to cause or be vulgar, but simply to participate in a bizarre scientific experiment.
After all, has said the young American student, said that if the imam is true, try to prove ...
Operation "Boobquake"
In a few days tens of thousands of people registered on its Facebook group. The movement was launched. Nothing could stop him.
Then radio and newspapers have started talking about the real. It is not surprising to learn that "Operation Boobquake" was covered by the largest U.S. media CNN, BBC, CBC, ABC, FOX, and then goes around the world.
That said, the young woman in question is surprised anyway. She would never have thought that running a small Facebook group could make as much noise! Not to mention the excitement that can also be found on Twitter ...
Good player, Jennifer McCreight has even been tabulating results in very serious to test the theory of this imam. An imam who was certainly no awareness of the power of social networks in the Western world. Had he known that his words would cause such reactions, he would have refrained from saying such nonsense?
An avalanche of necklines shakes the Web ...
In the end, he appears well on a massive outflow of female cleavage does not increase the risk of any earthquakes.
Moreover, it is now possible to buy a T-shirt online to proclaim the fact that we survived the "boobquake"! In fact, this idea started as a joke has demonstrated greater impact of the social web that the power of women's breasts ...
For the anecdote, it may well indicate that an earthquake of 6.9 on the Richter scale occurred in Taiwan on the morning of "Boobquake. Not provided destabilized, Jennifer McCreight said on Twitter that occurs an average of 134 earthquakes per year and that the transaction was whether we could detect a significant increase in earthquakes that day.
In short, we have long known that women can move mountains, but against all odds, a surge of cleavage and bare legs do not cause additional earthquake.
Ĺink
Labels: Atheism, Francis Chartrand, Human mistake, Human rights, Islam, Sex
Friday, December 04, 2009
The Swiss are lying polls! An overwhelming majority (57%) of the "people" said no to the construction of minarets, by Francis Chartrand
The Swiss are prohibiting the construction of minarets
Source: Le Progrès.fr, November 30 2009
(...)
Commentators have universally described the result of "huge surprise" contradicting the polls that predicted during the campaign rejecting the proposal of the populist right by 53% of voters. However, the 26 cantons of Switzerland, only four cantons (Basel-City and the French-speaking cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Neuchatel) have rejected the proposal supported by the UDC party of the populist right and the small Christian party right UDF.
Despite a common front of the Government, other parties and representatives of all religious communities in Switzerland, the UDC has managed to convince.
He hammered it was not to deprive the Muslim places of worship but to refuse the minarets as "visible symbol of a claim of political and religious power, which undermines the fundamental rights". To prevail, the proponents of the ban were not in the shade, with posters showing a woman completely veiled by a burqa before the Swiss flag-covered minarets, whose stylized figure evoked missiles. Declaring "assume" the result, Yvan Perrin, Vice-President of the UDC, acknowledged that "a fit of temper Muslim countries is possible."
This vote is "expressing some concerns among the public about Islamist extremists" to be "taken seriously", said Minister of Police and Justice Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, a defector of the UDC who opposed the ban. The Green Party is considering him an appeal before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for violating religious freedom.
Switzerland / minarets: the FN satisfy
Source: Le Figaro, November 29, 2009
The Vice-President of French National Front (FN, far right), Marine Le Pen, welcomed the outcome of the referendum banning the construction of minarets in Switzerland, asking "elites to deny the aspirations and fears of people Europeans ".
The Swiss have decided on Sunday in a referendum by an overwhelming majority (57.5% of voters) to prohibit the construction of minarets. "A very clear majority, the Swiss come to defy the polls, denying the massive construction of minarets in Switzerland, welcomed Ms. Le Pen said in a statement.
The polls predicted during the campaign rejecting the proposal of the populist right by 53% of voters. The head frontist noted that "Switzerland, as in France, the elites + + but were massively.
"These elites must stop denying the aspirations and fears of the European peoples who had no objection to religious freedom, reject conspicuous signs that want to impose politico-religious Muslims, often at the limits of provocation" " , she said. "As Nicolas Sarkozy reduced on these topics, his stock at a cynical electioneering," she called "the French who do not have the chance to say in a referendum to do so, massively during the regional elections next March.
Minarets banned in Switzerland: Political favorable reactions from ItalyROME, November 29, 2009 (AFP)
Source: LaCroix.com, November 29, 2009
Several Italian politicians, including a minister and a president of the region have responded positively to the outcome of Sunday referendum banning the construction of minarets in Switzerland, described as a "lesson in democracy." "Switzerland has sent us a clear yes to towers, not the minarets," said Minister of Administrative Simplification Roberto Calderoli (Northern League party populist anti-immigrant) to the Italian news agency Ansa.
"It would appear that the choice of the Swiss people is one part of the respect for freedom of religion, the other the need to curb the political and propaganda associated with Islam," he said. This "should make us think," he said.
For its part, Riccardo De Corato, deputy of the People of Freedom (right party of Silvio Berlusconi) and deputy mayor of Milan, said that "very democratic Switzerland today gave a lesson in Italy, particularly leftists who, if an initiative of this kind had occurred in Italy, have set up barricades and cried foul.
The MEP of the Lega Nord Matteo Salvini also referred to "a great lesson in democracy on the part of Switzerland. "Unfortunately in Italy we do not consult the people to know what he thinks of mosques and Islamic centers," he told the Ansa.
"I am satisfied + not + cons minarets in Switzerland, also said the president of the Veneto region (Veneto, north), Giancarlo Galan. Me too" I voted a hundred times' no, "he said .
The Swiss have decided on Sunday in a referendum by an overwhelming majority (57.5% of voters) to prohibit the construction of minarets.
The minarets banned in Switzerland by popular vote: the shock!
Source: France Info - November 29, 2009
The outcome of the vote is final: 57.5% of Swiss voters approved the ban on building new minarets, as proposed by the populist right.
A result which contradicts the polls, is "ashamed" to the intelligentsia and Swiss breath away its European neighbors, including France ...
"Switzerland is turning to the extreme right" response of Swiss sociologist Jean Ziegler, France Invited guest. "It's a total insult to Muslims who live peacefully in Switzerland [...] This is something that makes me ashamed."
Switzerland does not want minarets A 57%, the Swiss electorate voted to ban them.
Source: Metrofrance.com, November 29, 2009
"The construction of minarets has been banned in Switzerland." The announcement fell on Sunday afternoon, four hours after the Swiss people voted, with 57.5% against the towers that adorn places of Muslim worship.
This vote was a huge surprise to commentators. During the campaign, polls predict left in effect the opposite result. Moreover, almost all political parties, business community and representatives of religious communities in Switzerland had a common front against the ban.
This vote is a victory for the Central Democratic Union (UDC) party of the populist right behind the referendum. The UDC has managed to convince that this was not to deprive the Muslim places of worship but to refuse the minarets as "symbol of a politico-religious claims of power." He had created controversy during the campaign, using posters covered minarets resembling missiles. This Sunday, the Greens announced consider an appeal before the European Court of Human Rights for violating religious freedom.
Meanwhile, the ban must be registered in the Swiss constitution. A text whose preamble proclaims the spirit of "openness to the world" the Swiss people ... "in the name of God Almighty."
Link
Labels: Francis Chartrand, Human rights, Religion and fanaticism, Switzerland
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Rights groups challenge Iran leader at racism meet, by Francis Chartrand
GENEVA (AFP) — Human rights groups on Sunday challenged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to eliminate severe discrimination in Iran, ahead of his arrival at a UN conference against racism and intolerance in Geneva.
The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), the Baha'i International Community (BIC) and the Iranian League for Human Rights (LDDHI) said Ahmadinejad must tackle discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities, women, and halt incitement to hatred.
"By coming to the Durban Review Conference, President Ahmadinejad signals a commitment to the conference's goals of eliminating all forms of discrimination and intolerance," said Diane Ala'i, the BIC's representative at the UN in Geneva.
"His first move on returning home, then, should be to address the severe discrimination and persecution that have flourished under his tenure," she added.
Ahmadinejad is the most prominent head of state scheduled to address the opening of the UN review conference on Monday, which is being boycotted by the United States, Israel, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands.
His virulent anti-Israel statements and comments casting doubt on the Holocaust have prompted fears that his speech could overshadow the primary aim of the conference, to take stock of racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance around the world.
The rights groups said religious discrimination was widespread in Iran, notably affecting Baha'is, Christians, Jews, Sufis, Sunni Muslims, and other minorities, through arbitrary arrests, intimidation and harassment.
They also accused Iranian government-controlled media of fomenting hatred against Bahai's, and warned that repression against activists belonging to ethnic minorities including the Kurds was "rising dramatically".
"Human rights have sharply deteriorated in Iran under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, as well as against women, are of grave concern," said Karim Lahidji of LDDHI.
The human rights groups called on governments taking part in the conference, as well as the media, to hold Ahmadinejad accountable for violations in Iran.
Link
Labels: Francis Chartrand, Hostile races, Human rights, Iran
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
DR Congo: Brutal Rapes by Rebels and Army, by Noémie Cournoyer
(New York) - Rwandan rebel forces, government army soldiers, and their allies have raped at least 90 women and girls since late January 2009 in the volatile North and South Kivu provinces of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said today. The Rwandan rebel forces have also been implicated in the deaths of most of the 180 civilians killed during this period.
The United Nations Security Council will discuss on April 9 the latest report by the UN secretary-general on the peacekeeping force in Congo. Human Rights Watch called on the UN Security Council to press the Congolese government to remove human rights abusers from its armed forces and end rights violations, including attacks against women and girls.
The Rwandan Hutu militia called the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) attacked and burned dozens of villages and towns in Masisi and Lubero territories (North Kivu) as well as in Kalehe territory (South Kivu) in recent weeks, committing numerous deliberate killings, rapes, and acts of looting. Blaming government military operations, the FDLR deliberately targeted civilians, used them as human shields, and accused civilians of having betrayed them. According to witnesses and victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch, the FDLR have been implicated in the killings of at least 154 civilians since January 23.
"The FDLR are deliberately killing and raping Congolese civilians as apparent punishment for the military operations against them," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Both the fighters who commit such horrific acts and the rebel commanders who permit them are responsible for war crimes."
The FDLR were temporarily pushed out of their military positions in January and February 2009 following the start of a joint military operation against them by Congolese and Rwandan troops on January 20. Following the withdrawal of Rwandan forces on February 24, military action diminished and the FDLR reoccupied many of their previous positions.
Most recently, at least seven civilians were killed and 24 others wounded during FDLR attacks in Lubero and Walikale in early April. On March 20, 2009, the FDLR attacked Buhuli, North Kivu, and four other nearby villages, killing at least five civilians, including two women, an elderly man, a 7-year-old girl and 9-year-old boy. On February 13, the FDLR attacked the village of Kipopo, killing at least 13 people, who were burned to death in their homes.
In late February, the FDLR abducted at least a dozen women and girls from Remeka, in Masisi territory, North Kivu. Two women who escaped reported that FDLR combatants brutally killed nine of the women and girls when they resisted attempts to rape them. The fate of the others is unknown.
The Congolese army has also been implicated in numerous rapes. In March, Congolese soldiers raped at least 21 women and girls in southern Masisi and northern Kalehe territories. Many of the victims were violently gang raped while the soldiers were on looting sprees.
On March 24, four women from Ziralo, South Kivu, were returning from the market when they were stopped by a group of army soldiers at a makeshift barricade. The soldiers took the sacks of food the women were carrying and then said they were going to examine the women's vaginas for any hidden money. The soldiers took the women into the nearby forest and gang raped each of them for hours. One woman was six-months pregnant and was raped so brutally that she lost her unborn child.
The recent killings by the rebel group are in addition to those perpetrated by its forces on January 27, when FDLR combatants hacked to death dozens of civilians used as human shields at their military position in Kibua. One witness at Kibua interviewed by Human Rights Watch saw an FDLR combatant batter a 10-year-old girl to death against a brick wall.
According to the United Nations, an estimated 250,000 people have fled their homes since January, adding to hundreds of thousands of others who fled earlier waves of violence.
The Congolese army says it is preparing for the next phase of operations against the FDLR, this time expanding the operations to South Kivu. The army has added over 10,000 additional soldiers from former Congolese rebel groups, including the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), the Coalition of Congolese Patriotic Resistance (PARECO), and other local militia groups. The rapidly mixed brigades of former enemies have been sent to the front lines with no salaries, rations, or any formal training, increasing the likelihood of future human rights violations.
Serious abuses against civilians by government soldiers have already been reported. Army soldiers killed at least five civilians in Lubero territory in March, some while on looting sprees. In Ziralo, an elderly man was killed by soldiers while they raped his wife and looted his home.
The rapid integration process has included no formal vetting mechanism to stop those with serious records of past human rights abuses from being promoted and integrated into the Congolese army.
Bosco Ntaganda, wanted on an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the war crime of enlisting child soldiers and using them in hostilities, was promoted to the position of general in the Congolese army in January 2009. In addition to the ICC charges, Ntaganda has been accused of commanding troops that massacred 150 civilians at Kiwanja in North Kivu province in November 2008.
Jean-Pierre Biyoyo was recently appointed a colonel in the Congolese army despite being found guilty by a Congolese military court in March 2006 of recruiting child soldiers. He later escaped from prison. Both Ntaganda and Biyoyo play an important role in current military operations.
The Congolese army will be supported by the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUC, in its military operations against the FDLR. MONUC says that its top priority is to protect civilians, but it is not clear how civilians will be protected against further attacks by either FDLR or Congolese army soldiers.
"Protection of civilians can only be taken seriously if known human rights abusers are removed from the ranks of the Congolese army," said Van Woudenberg. "The Security Council should seek an immediate answer from the Congolese government on when it will carry out such arrests and what it will do to stop further rape and killing by its troops before it gives any support to the military operations."
Link
Labels: Congo, Human rights, Human Rights Watch, ICC, Noémie Cournoyer
Monday, March 02, 2009
Canada - Khaled Mouammar of the Canadian Arab Federation, "Peter Kent, and Ignatieff are professional prostitutes"
Recall that the Canadian Arab Federation is a partner of the Canadian Human Rights *, which could explain a decision otherwise absolutely inexplicable from the Commission.
But where Mr. Mouammar he learned to spell "whores" (prostitutes)?
The Canadian Arab Federation has received millions of dollars of our money for things such as "Basic Training in English for adult newcomers to Canada to facilitate their social, cultural and economic."
Nothing like finance Islamofascism dealing with "professional whores" Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister of Canada, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism and the leader of the Liberal Party Canada ...
* The Canadian Arab Federation, a partner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission
On 5 December, the Canadian Human Rights Commission released its Report to the Human Rights United Nations under the universal periodic review (UPR) of Canada's obligations regarding human rights. In paragraph 19: Discrimination and hatred, the Canadian Arab Federation and CAIR-CAN are listed as partners of the Commission (in note 34).
Discrimination and hate
19. Canada has established programs to combat racism and other forms of discrimination and promoting tolerance, which is an encouraging sign. However, several speakers noted a recent increase in hate crimes in Canadian society, and others have also noted an increase in hate propaganda, including the Internet (note 34) a situation they find disturbing.
Note 34: See, among others: Bernie M. Farber, The Internet and the promotion of hatred: the dilemma of the twenty-first century, in Canadian Issues, Spring 2006, Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) & Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR -CAN), Brief on the Review of the Anti-terrorism Act, Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee on Public Safety and National Security, September 2005, available in English only. http://www.caircan.ca/downloads/CCC-RAA.pdf
Link
Labels: Canada, Francis Chartrand, Human rights
Thursday, February 12, 2009
China: Human Rights Lawyer in Arbitrary Detention, by Anne Humphreys
(New York) – The Chinese government should immediately disclose the whereabouts of Gao Zhisheng, a leading human rights lawyer who disappeared two weeks ago, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Human Rights in China said today in a joint statement. The three organizations stressed that Gao was at immediate risk of severe torture and ill-treatment by the Chinese security services and called for his immediate release.
“We are intensely fearful for Gao Zhisheng’s safety at this time, given the security authorities’ long history of abusing him and his family,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “He has given detailed accounts of how he was tortured in police custody in the past and he may well be suffering more of the same right now.”
Lawyer Gao, who had been under constant police surveillance, along with his family, since receiving a suspended sentence for “inciting subversion” in 2006, was last heard from on January 19, 2009. According to reliable sources, he was subsequently detained by security forces and is being held at an unknown location.
“On February 9, the Chinese government will undergo a comprehensive review of its human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council,” said Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China. “Coming close on the heels of the scathing review by the Committee Against Torture in November 2008, arbitrarily detaining and torturing a leading rights advocate is no way to show human rights progress.”
In September 2007, Gao was detained for several weeks shortly after sending an open letter to the US Congress denouncing the human rights situation in China and describing his and his family’s treatment at the hands of the security forces.
Gao detailed his illegal detention in 2007 as well as severe and sustained torture at the hands of security agents – including violent beatings, repeated electric shocks to his genitals, and having lit cigarettes held close to his eyes over a prolonged period, which left him partially blind for days afterwards. After he was released, acquaintances described him as seeming to be “a broken man,” both physically and spiritually.
“China should immediately release Gao Zhisheng,” said Roseann Rife, Asia-Pacific deputy director at Amnesty International. “China should demonstrate that its takes its international obligations seriously, in this case specifically the obligations under the convention against torture, which the Chinese government voluntarily took on in 1988.”
In November 2008, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) reported in its “Concluding Observations” on China that it remains “deeply concerned about the continued allegations, corroborated by numerous Chinese legal sources, of routine and widespread use of torture and ill-treatment of suspects in police custody.”
Amnesty International, Human Rights in China and Human Rights Watch strongly urged concerned governments and intergovernmental bodies to call on the Chinese government to take all necessary steps to ensure Gao Zhisheng's safety and well being while in police custody and to release him at the earliest possible date.
Voted in 2001 as “one of China’s top ten lawyers” by a publication run by the PRC Ministry of Justice, Gao is a self-trained legal professional with a history of representing the victims of some of the most egregious and politically controversial cases of human rights abuses by the police and other government agencies. In October 2005, he wrote a series of three letters to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao calling on them to halt the continuing torture and ill-treatment of detained Falun Gong practitioners and the ongoing persecution of underground Christians and democracy activists.
After his 2007 detention, Gao expressed fears that he would be tortured again if he was rearrested.
In June 2007, Gao received the Courageous Advocacy Award of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). His memoirs, A China More Just, were published in English the same year.
Link
Labels: Anne Humphreys, China, Human rights, Human Rights Watch
DR Congo: Groups Fear for Civilian Safety, by Marie-Êve Marineau
(Goma) - A coalition of 100 humanitarian and human rights organizations today called on John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, to insist that protecting civilians be a top priority of the joint Congolese and Rwandan military operation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Holmes is due to arrive in Goma, the North Kivu capital, on February 7, 2009.
In a public letter to Holmes, the Congo Advocacy Coalition expressed alarm that the joint military operation has to date contributed to the flight of thousands of people from their homes in anticipation of violence, adding to the 1.2 million already displaced in earlier waves of fighting. The coalition further raised concerns about reprisal killings and the use of civilians as human shields by the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), as well as reports of rape and looting by all sides.
"Congolese civilians are always targeted when there are military operations and their fears of being killed, raped, or looted are very real," said Juliette Prodhan of Oxfam. "The Congolese and Rwandan forces and UN peacekeepers should do all that they can to ensure that civilians are protected during the joint operations and are not once again the targets."
On January 20, 2009, the Congolese and Rwandan governments began a joint military operation against the FDLR, an armed group based in eastern Congo, some of whose leaders are wanted on charges of genocide. While there have only been a few skirmishes so far, there is widespread anticipation that the fighting could intensify and spread in the coming days and weeks.
The coalition warned against a repeat of the unimaginable brutality suffered by Congolese civilians in Haut-Uele territory in northeastern Congo following the launch of a joint Ugandan and Congolese military operation to disarm the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group based in Congo. More than 700 people were massacred by the rebels in less than one month. Minimal protection measures had been put in place to protect those at risk and to halt the killings.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUC, has a strong mandate to protect civilians but has been left out of military planning in both joint operations, in the Kivus and Haut-Uele. It is also still awaiting 3,000 reinforcements authorized almost three months ago. In its letter, the Congo Advocacy Coalition urged Holmes to insist that the peacekeeping mission be given a central role in civilian protection and relief in planning all military operations and that the mission has the resources it needs, as mandated by the UN Security Council, in order to effectively protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access.
The coalition also called on Holmes to urge parties to resume the political process needed to address the underlying issues driving the Congo conflict, such as exploitation of mineral wealth, lack of justice, and representation of minorities.
"All of the armed groups need to disarm," said Kubuya Muhangi, the president of CRONGD-North Kivu. "People in eastern Congo desperately want to go back to their homes and to be able to stay there without fear of having to run again."
The Congo Advocacy Coalition, made up of local and international nongovernmental organizations, was established in July 2008 to advocate for greater protection of civilians and respect for human rights in eastern Congo. Members of the coalition's steering committee include: ActionAid, ENOUGH Project, Human Rights Watch, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Oxfam, Conseil Régional des Organisations Non Gouvernementales de Développement (CRONGD) - North Kivu, Promotion et Appui aux Initiatives Féminines (PAIF) - North Kivu, Institut Congolaise pour la Justice et la Paix (ICJP) - South Kivu, and Association des Femmes Juristes du Congo (AFEJUCO) - South Kivu.
Other Signatories:
International NGOs:
Action Against Hunger/ Action Contre la Faim (ACF) - USA, American Bar Association (ABA) Rule of Law Initiative in DRC, Beati i costruttori di pace/ Blessed are the Peacemakers , CAFOD, CARE International, Centre Lokole/ Search for Common Ground, Global Witness, International Emergency and Development Aid (IEDA) Relief, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Great Lakes, Refugees International, Tearfund, Trocaire, War Child Holland
Congolese NGOs:
ACAEFAD, Action by Christians Against Torture (ACAT)/Sud Kivu, ACPS, Action des Chrétiens Activistes des Droits de l'Homme a Shabunda (ACADHOSHA), ADECOF/Sud Kivu, AFCD, AFCDI, AFECEF, AJERF, Africa Justice Peace and Development (AJPD), ALCM, AMALDEFEA, AMI-KIVU, ANAMEDAPED, APIBA, APRODEPED, ASADHO (Association africaine de défense des droits de l'homme) - Sud Kivu, ASALAK, Action Sociale pour la Paix et le Développement (ASPD), Association pour le Développement des Initiatives Paysannes (ASSODIP), AYINET/DRC, BDENA, Blessed Aid, CADRE, Collectif des Associations des Femmes Pour le Développement (CAFED), Campagne Pour la Paix (CPP), CCJT, CEDAC, CELPA/SK, Centre d'Appui pour le Développement Rural Communautaire (CADERCO), Centre de Recherche sur l'Environnement, la Démocratie et les Droits de l'Homme (CREDDHO), Centre de promotion socio-sanitaire (CEPROSSAN), Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche en Education de Base pour le Développement Integré (CEREBA), Coalition RDC pour la Cour Pénale Internationale (CPI), Collectif des Organisations des Jeunes Solidaires du Congo (COJESKI)/Sud Kivu, Collectif des Organisations des Jeunes Solidaires du Congo (COJESKI)/ Nord Kivu, COPARE, CUBAKA, DYJESKI, EFD, Encadrement des femmes indigènes et des ménages vulnérables (EFIM), Entraide des Femmes pour les Déshérités (EFD) - Uvira Sud -Kivu, Foyer Social de Mogo (FSM/Kabare), GAIDER, GAMAC, GRAM-Kivu, Group d'Etudes et d'Actions Pour un Développement Bien Défini (GEAD) /Nord-Kivu, Groupe de Voix de Sans Voix (GVSV), Groupe Féminine, HEAL Africa, Héritiers de la Justice, Humanitas, IGE/CCD, La Synergie des femmes pour les victimes des violences sexuelles (SFVS), Mamans Umoja, Martin Luther King Non-Violence Group, OCET, PAL, PAMI, Perspectives "Monde Juste", PIDP-Kivu, PRENAO, PRODES, Promotion de la Démocratie et Protection des Droits Humains (PDH), RADHOSKI-Sud Kivu, Réseau Provincial des ONG de Droits de l'Homme (REPRODHOC)/Nord-Kivu, RFDP, SAMS, SARCAF, SILDE, SJPR/EST, Solidarité pour la Promotion Sociale et la Paix (SOPROP), SYNECAT, UCODE, UPADERI, VOVOLIB (Voix de Sans Voix ni Libertés)
Link
Labels: Congo, Human rights, Human Rights Watch, Marie-Êve Marineau
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
DRC: ICC’s First Trial Focuses on Child Soldiers, by Renata Daninsky
(Brussels) - The International Criminal Court's (ICC) trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, scheduled to begin on January 26, 2009 in The Hague, marks an important stage in efforts to establish responsibility for the use of children in military operations, Human Rights Watch said today. Another Congolese warlord sought by the ICC, Bosco Ntaganda, remains at large.
Lubanga, the former leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) militia who operated in the district of Ituri in northeastern Congo, is charged with enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 as soldiers and using them to participate actively in combat between September 2002 and August 2003. Lubanga's UPC forces also carried out widespread killing, rape, and torture of thousands of civilians throughout Ituri, though to date the ICC has not charged him or any other member of the UPC with such crimes.
"This first ICC trial makes it clear that the use of children in armed combat is a war crime that can and will be prosecuted at the international level," said Param-Preet Singh, counsel in Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program. "Lubanga's UPC also slaughtered thousands, and those responsible should be held accountable for these crimes as well."
Lubanga's trial was originally scheduled to begin in June 2008. However, the judges of the trial chamber unanimously decided to stay the proceedings - suspending the trial - because the prosecution could not disclose a number of documents collected confidentially from information providers as permitted under the Rome Statute, causing concerns that Lubanga would not receive a fair trial. The prosecution worked with these information providers to address the judges' concerns, and in November 2008 the trial chamber allowed proceedings to resume.
The Ituri conflict and other conflicts in eastern Congo highlight the participation of non-Congolese forces. Ituri in particular became a battleground involving the governments of Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo. These governments provided political and military support to Congolese armed groups despite abundant evidence of their widespread violations of international humanitarian law. The ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has repeatedly stated that he will bring to justice those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious crimes.
"Getting to the root of the conflict in Ituri means that the ICC must go beyond local war lords like Lubanga," said Singh. "We look to the prosecutor to investigate those who supported Lubanga and other militias operating in Ituri, including senior officials in Kinshasa, Kigali, and Kampala."
The ICC is faced with the challenge of making sure that the proceedings are meaningful for the communities most affected by the crimes in Congo. Human Rights Watch said that the Lubanga trial is a unique opportunity that the ICC cannot afford to miss and should make every possible effort to communicate with people in Congo about important legal proceedings in The Hague. To be effective, justice must not only be done but also must be seen to be done. Human Rights Watch will be looking very closely at the court's performance to this end.
Bosco Ntaganda Still Sought by the ICC
Bosco Ntaganda, who collaborated with Lubanga as chief of military operations for the UPC, has also been charged with war crimes by the ICC but remains at large. He currently serves as the military chief of staff of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a rebel group that is now collaborating with the Congolese and Rwandan national armies in military operations against a Rwandan armed group in eastern Congo.
On November 4 and 5, 2008, CNDP troops under Ntaganda's command killed an estimated 150 people in the town of Kiwanja, one of the worst massacres in North Kivu in the past two years.
In early January, Ntaganda claimed he was taking over leadership of the CNDP from its former head Laurent Nkunda, and on January 16 he declared that instead of making war on the Congolese national army, he would join its troops in fighting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan armed group some of whose leaders participated in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
"Bosco Ntaganda is not a viable partner for the Congolese or any other government," said Singh. "He is a war crimes suspect sought by the ICC, and he should be immediately arrested, not celebrated as a partner for peace."
The Congolese government, a state party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, is obligated to arrest Ntaganda. Yet no such attempt was made last week when Ntaganda was in Goma alongside the Congolese minister of the interior and other senior Congolese military officers.
Background
In addition to crimes related to child soldiers, Thomas Lubanga's UPC, which purported to further the interests of the Hema ethnic group in the Ituri region of northeastern Congo, has also been involved in ethnic massacres, torture, and rape during the Ituri conflict.
In March 2006, Lubanga was arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges involving child soldiers. In January 2007, the judges of the ICC determined that there was sufficient evidence to move forward with a trial.
This trial is the first in which victims will be allowed to participate in international criminal proceedings. More than 90 victims who have been found eligible will participate through their legal representatives. While not parties, victims have certain rights in proceedings, provided their exercise is consistent with the rights of the accused and a fair trial. This may include the right to submit evidence pertaining to Lubanga's guilt or innocence and thus contribute to the search for truth.
The ICC has charged three other Congolese warlords with crimes related to child soldiers, including Bosco Ntaganda, mentioned above. Two others, leaders of militias of ethnic groups allied with each other but rivals of Lubanga's, are in custody. They are Germain Katanga of the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Forces (FRPI), a Ngiti-based group, and Mathieu Ngudjolo, of the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI), a Lendu-based militia. Both are accused of using child soldiers in attacking civilians in Bogoro village in early 2003, among other war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, sexual slavery, and rape.
Children are currently recruited and used in armed conflict in at least 15 countries and territories: Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), India, Iraq, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, and Uganda. In the DRC, at least five parties to the armed conflict are known to use child soldiers. These include the Congolese army (FARDC), the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, the National Congress for the Defense of the People, pro-government Mai Mai groups, and the Lord's Resistance Army.
In addition to the ICC's cases, the Special Court for Sierra Leone has charged all nine of its original defendants, including former Liberian president Charles Taylor, with the crime of recruiting and using children under the age of 15 as soldiers. To date, the Special Court has convicted four defendants of this crime; those convicted are serving prison terms ranging from seven to 50 years. The Special Court's trial of Taylor is ongoing.
Ituri is one of the areas worst-affected by Congo's devastating wars. A local armed conflict between Hema and Lendu ethnic groups that began in 1999 was exacerbated by Ugandan military forces and through linkages to the broader conflict in the Great Lakes region. As the conflict spiraled and armed groups multiplied, more than 60,000 civilians were slaughtered in Ituri, according to the United Nations. Competition for the region's lucrative gold mines and trading routes was a major contributing factor to the fighting. Foreign armies and local militia groups - seeing control of the gold mines as a way to money, guns, and power - fought each other ruthlessly, often targeting civilians in the process. In their battles for gold, armed groups such as Lubanga's UPC were implicated in widespread ethnic slaughter, torture, and rape.
Human Rights Watch has been documenting human rights abuses committed in Ituri since 1999. Human Rights Watch published detailed reports in 2001, 2003, and 2005, as well as dozens of news releases and briefing papers detailing the widespread atrocities by all armed groups.
Link
Labels: Children, Congo, Human rights, Human Rights Watch, Renata Daninsky
Friday, January 09, 2009
Quebec - Chronicle Jacques Brassard on the decision of the Human Rights Commission not to investigate the complaint by Marc Lebuis
The Daily
Opinion, Wednesday, 24 December 2008, p. 11
Chronicle
Peace on Earth to men of good will ...
Brassard, Jacques
His name is Abu Hammaad Sulaiman Dameus Al Hayat. Whew! This is an imam in Montreal. A fundamentalist. He wrote a book entitled "Islam and fundamentalism, in the light of Quran and the Sounnah. Reading the book, the publisher of tipping point, Marc Lebuis, filed last April, a complaint against the Imam for hate propaganda under article 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act of person. Mr. Lebuis alleged proof that the writings of the imam were nice and contemptuous hate against homosexuals, the unbelievers (non-Muslims), women, Jews, Quebecers. It's a lot of people!
Enslaved woman
Quotes from the book of Islam can not be more explicit. Here are some all impregnated with hatred and contempt ... On homosexuals: they deserve to be "wiped out". Razing the village gay, perhaps? On the unbelievers (Christians): "They live like animals," they are perverse love perversity. " Not really often! On women: "Man is more complete in his intellect and his memory that the woman". Or again: "The veiled woman is a light in the darkness of the 20th century." Enslaved woman, woman light that Françoise David is said to keep! On the Jews: [They] spreading corruption and chaos on Earth. On democracy: "Freedom is a principle that is alien and contrary to Islam and, therefore, therefore, false." On this basis, try to come up with reasonable accommodations! And these are just a few samples ...
What was the response of the Canadian Human Rights Commission on this complaint? Denied! Why? The passages of the book "do not seem to promote hatred and contempt." So, no investigation. The complainant draws the following conclusion (Le Devoir, 17 December): "If you are a minority, you can take with impunity hate speech and derogatory to the majority."
The remark by Mr Lebuis does not however imply that all religious minorities are trying to both impose their beliefs and values and to establish their domination over the society in which they lodge. While it is true that there are fundamentalists in every religion (ie rigorous practitioners), there are Islamists who want to submit all the unbelievers in Sharia and adhere to duty of Jihad (holy war). You will not see Catholics or Jewish fundamentalists wearing belts of explosives, use of terrorism and killing innocents in the name of their faith. Only Islamists kill, torture and decapitate as an homage to their god. Their fundamentalism is very specific and unique, we must recognize.
Not isolated cases
In fact, there is an Islamist who can proclaim jihad, like Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammed, before a crowd in London: "The jihad is a duty, a struggle and an obligation. We will not rest until the banner of Allah, the flag of Islam, was hoisted on the 10 Downing Street (residence of the Prime Minister of Great Britain). Do not particularly the case of Imam Al Hayitri and that of Sheikh Omar are isolated cases. They are simply cases of "proven". For all practical purposes, in all mosques of the West, incendiary imams preach Islam even vindictive, obscurantist, radical, steeped in hatred of Jews and the West, vomiting democracy and freedom. And, indeed, the Canadian Human Rights is all that benign, harmless and basically insignificant.
In short, it must be understood is that the jihad, not only the war in Afghanistan and the killing of Muslims in Iraq and Algeria, not only to terrorist attacks around the world (from New York to Bombay, from London to Madrid, Jakarta in Islamabad), it is also, according to Pierre-Andre Taguieff in his book on Judeophobia unavoidable, a "cultural war in the western countries preachers close to the Muslim Brotherhood or from Wahhabis, supported by a multitude of associations engaged in proselytizing. "
Aim
Their first objective is to prevent the integration of ethnic minorities by Islamic indoctrination them out of the global society, then, to promote networking and support militant groups fanatics ready to kill and sacrifice their own lives for the cause.
And do you think not immune to this strategy and the process of Islamization. In Europe, it has become a real threat. There are already Muslim states: Bosnia, Kosovo. In several other countries (Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, etc..), The Islamization of society has reached a critical point. That reveal the hateful diatribe of Imam Montreal is that it is also underway in Canada.
Merry Christmas anyway!
Link
Labels: Human rights, Islam, Québec, Religion and fanaticism
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Central African Republic: Civilians Need Protection, by Iba Bouramine
(New York) - While the government and rebel groups take steps toward ending the civil war in the Central African Republic (CAR), civilians in the northwestern part of the country are being abused at the hands of a variety of armed groups, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today.
The 23-page briefing paper, "Improving Civilian Protection in the Central African Republic," released following a round of peace talks that began on December 5 in the capital, Bangui, urged the government to make civilian protection the highest priority and to adopt measures to protect civilians better in insecure areas in the country's lawless northwest. It also urged the United Nations and regional groups to support this effort.
"The people in this area are at the mercy of uncontrolled armed groups and gangs of armed bandits," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The government should be making every effort to protect them, beginning with expanding military patrols and making clear that attackers will not get away with their crimes."
In 2008, Human Rights Watch documented attacks against civilians in the region by rebels from the Popular Army for the Restoration of the Republic and of Democracy (Armée populaire pour la restauration de la République et la démocratie, APRD) and by elements of the Chadian National Army (Armée Nationale du Tchad, ANT).
Human Rights Watch also documented violent abuses by loosely organized bandits, known as zaraguinas, who are a huge threat to civilians in the northern part of the country.
The government's regular Central African Armed Forces (Forces Armées Centrafricaines, FACA) has been ineffective in protecting civilians from these armed groups, largely because it lacks the capacity, but also because of the way it operates. Many units are confined to Bangui, and when they go to the danger zones, they do not conduct regular patrols and generally venture no further than a few kilometers from the towns in which they are based. In some instances documented by Human Rights Watch, government forces did not give civilians effective warning of impending military operations and used indiscriminate lethal force, killing civilians during military operations.
"The mere deployment of security forces that are poorly armed, badly trained, or are not strategically mobilized to safeguard civilians is clearly failing to achieve the necessary protection," Gagnon said. "If the government sends out well-trained, well-equipped soldiers beyond the capital and the immediate vicinity of army bases, it will be able to protect civilians more effectively."
Last year, the FACA assumed primary responsibility for security in the northwest from the government's elite Presidential Guard, which had summarily executed and seriously abused civilians while conducting counterinsurgency operations in the region from 2005 to 2007. Human Rights Watch reported on these abuses in a September 2007 report, "State of Anarchy: Rebellion and Abuses Against Civilians".
The withdrawal of most Presidential Guard units from the northwest reduced government attacks against civilians in the region. But the individuals known to be responsible for the worst human rights abuses during 2005-2007 have yet to answer for their crimes.
"The lack of accountability is one of the major impediments to protecting human rights and establishing the rule of law in the Central African Republic," said Gagnon. "The government is required to investigate and prosecute those responsible for rights violations, and failure to do so can lead to even more serious abuses."
While the government bears primary responsibility for improving civilian protection, regional and multinational organizations may be in a position to enhance those efforts. Both the United Nations and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) have sent missions to the Central African Republic, including peacekeeping troops, which can augment government efforts to improve civilian protection in the northwest by conducting patrols in insecure areas.
The United Nations Peace-Building Support Office in the Central African Republic (Bureau d'appui des Nations Unies pour la consolidation de la paix en République centrafricaine, BONUCA) can help counter impunity by monitoring judicial proceedings and facilitating practical aspects of investigations such as transportation and forensics.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) can also support efforts to ensure accountability for international crimes by encouraging domestic judicial processes. If the government is unable or unwilling to hold those responsible for war crimes to account, the ICC may have jurisdiction.
Background
The country's current president, François Bozizé, came to power in 2003 after deposing Ange-Félix Patassé in a coup d'etat. Bozizé was elected president in 2005 elections that were considered free and fair but that excluded Patassé. Shortly thereafter, rebellion broke out in Patassé's home region in the northwest.
The main rebel group there, the Popular Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (Armée Populaire pour la restauration de la République et la Démocratie, APRD), largely consisted of elements of Patassé's Presidential Guard. A separate rebellion in the northeastern part of the country, led by the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (Union des forces démocratiques pour le rassemblement, UFDR), consisted mainly of soldiers who helped bring Bozizé to power but later turned against him for failing to compensate them adequately for their support. A third group, the Democratic Front of the Central African People (Front démocratique du peuple centrafricain, FDPC), was led by Abdoulaye Miskine, a Chadian with close ties to the Libyan government.
On June 21, 2008, the Popular Army and the Union of Democratic Forces signed a peace accord that extended a general amnesty to all parties to the conflict (except individuals accused of war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, or any offense within the jurisdiction of the ICC) and prepared the groundwork for an internationally mediated Inclusive Political Dialogue (Dialogue Politique Inclusif) between the government, former rebel factions and civil society groups. An opening round of peace talks was held in Bangui from December 5 to 20.
Link
Labels: Central African Republic, Human rights, Human Rights Watch, Iba Bouramine
Morocco: Suppressing Rights in Western Sahara, by Marie-Êve Marineau
(Rabat, December 19, 2008) - Morocco violates the rights to expression, association, and assembly in Western Sahara, Human Rights Watch said in a new report issued today, revealing stark limits to the progress that Morocco has made in protecting human rights overall. Human rights conditions have also improved in the Sahrawi refugee camps managed by the Polisario Front in Algeria, although the Polisario marginalizes those who directly oppose its leadership.
Human Rights Watch called on both Morocco and Polisario to take specific steps to improve the human rights situation in the territories under their de facto control, and on the United Nations Security Council to ensure regular human rights monitoring in both Western Sahara and Tindouf.
"The repression has eased somewhat, and today dissidents are testing the red lines," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "But Moroccan authorities - to their credit - ask us to judge them not against their own past record, but against their international human rights engagements. By that standard, they have a long way to go."
The 216-page report, "Human Rights in Western Sahara and in the Tindouf Refugee Camps," focuses on the present-day situation rather than on past abuses. Human Rights Watch documents how Morocco uses a combination of repressive laws, police violence, and unfair trials to punish Sahrawis who advocate peacefully in favor of independence or full self-determination for the disputed Western Sahara.
"The Western Sahara is an international problem that has been on the back burner for decades," said Whitson. "But through this conflict, the world can also understand and address the broader human rights challenges that remain for Morocco."
In Western Sahara, Moroccan authorities consider all opposition to their rule of the disputed territory as illegal attacks on Morocco's "territorial integrity," and use this as a basis to ban or disperse peaceful demonstrations and to deny legal recognition to human rights organizations. The problem goes well beyond repressive laws, however: police beat peaceful pro-independence demonstrators and sometimes torture persons in their custody, Human Rights Watch said. Citizens file formal complaints about police abuse that the justice system routinely dismisses without conducting serious investigations, reinforcing a climate of impunity for the police.
While Sahrawi demonstrations sometimes involve acts of protester violence that Moroccan authorities have a responsibility to prevent and punish, this cannot justify blanket bans on peaceful assemblies. Moroccan courts have convicted Sahrawi human rights activists of inciting or participating in violence based on dubious evidence, in trials that were patently unfair.
In preparing this report, Human Rights Watch interviewed scores of people living in Western Sahara as well as present and former residents of the Tindouf refugee camps. Both Moroccan and Polisario authorities received the Human Rights Watch delegation, imposed no significant obstacles on its work, and provided extensive answers to questions from Human Rights Watch that are reflected in the report.
In the Tindouf refugee camps, the Polisario Front allows refugees to criticize its management of daily affairs, but effectively marginalizes those who directly oppose its leadership. Residents are able to leave the camps if they wish to, including to resettle in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. The fact that most take the main road to Mauritania rather than a clandestine route shows their confidence in being allowed to travel. Yet, those headed to Western Sahara tend to hide their plans, fearing both official obstacles and the disapproval of other camp residents if their final destination becomes known.
The population of the camps remains vulnerable to abuses due to the camps' isolated location, the lack of any regular independent human rights monitoring and reporting, and Algeria's claim that the Polisario, rather than Algeria itself, is responsible for protecting the human rights of the camps' residents.
"The refugees in Tindouf have, for more than 30 years, lived in exile from their homeland, governed by a liberation movement in an environment that is physically harsh and isolated," said Whitson. "Regardless of the current state of affairs, both the Polisario and the host country, Algeria, have responsibilities to ensure that the rights of these vulnerable refugees are protected."
Human Rights Watch said that the UN Security Council should ensure that the UN presence in the region includes regular human rights monitoring. Virtually all UN peacekeeping missions around the world include a human rights component and, with MINURSO forces operating in a peacekeeper capacity in Western Sahara, this region should be no exception. In this, France and the United States, as the permanent Security Council members with the strongest interests in this region, have a critical role to play.
Among its many recommendations, Human Rights Watch urges Morocco to:
- Revise or abolish laws that criminalize speech and political or associative activities deemed affronts to Morocco's "territorial integrity" and that are used to suppress nonviolent advocacy in favor of Sahrawi political rights;
- End impunity for police abuses by ensuring serious investigations into civilian complaints and, where warranted, charges or disciplinary measures against abusive agents;
- Allow independent human rights associations to follow the procedure for obtaining legal recognition; and
- Ensure that courts reach verdicts based on the impartial weighing of all relevant evidence. Judges and prosecutors should give effect to suspects' right under Moroccan law to demand medical examinations, and reject as evidence any statement that is established to have been made as a result of police torture.
Human Rights Watch urges the Polisario Front to:
- Take pro-active measures so that all camp residents know that they are free to leave the camps, including to settle in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara;
- Ensure that camp residents are free to challenge peacefully the leadership of the Polisario Front and to advocate options for Western Sahara other than independence; and
- Eliminate or restrict broadly worded articles of the Polisario penal code that, for example, criminalize the printing of publications or participating in demonstrations deemed "likely to disturb the public order."
Morocco has ruled Western Sahara de facto since its troops moved in following Spain's withdrawal from its former colony in 1976. Morocco officially refers to the region as its "southern provinces," but the United Nations does not recognize Moroccan sovereignty.
Morocco opposed as unworkable a UN-brokered plan for a referendum on the territory's future and has proposed autonomy for the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. Morocco has made clear, however, that the plan envisages no rollback of laws criminalizing "attacks on territorial integrity." Thus, Moroccan-granted autonomy will not give Sahrawis their right to demand independence or a referendum to decide the region's future.
"Sahrawis differ on how to resolve the conflict," said Whitson. "But wherever they live, authorities must allow them peacefully to express and act on behalf of those views. Any proposed solution for the Western Sahara that does not guarantee these rights is no solution at all."
Human Rights Watch takes no position on the issue of independence for Western Sahara or on Morocco's proposal for regional autonomy.
Labels: Human rights, Human Rights Watch, Marie-Êve Marineau, Morocco
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
DR Congo: Protect Children From Rape and Recruitment, by Renata Daninsky
(New York, December 16, 2008) - The UN Security Council should respond to escalating violations against children in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, including the recruitment of child soldiers and sexual violence, said Human Rights Watch in a letter sent on December 10, 2008, to Security Council members. The Security Council's working group on children and armed conflict is expected to meet this week to consider action on this issue.
At least 175 children have been forcibly recruited into armed service since heavy fighting resumed in August between the Congolese army (FARDC) and the rebel group led by Laurent Nkunda, the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). There are reports that the number may be much higher. Scores of girls have been raped by parties to the conflict. Human Rights Watch observed some of these abuses in a visit last week.
"We wish Security Council members could have been with our researchers," said Jo Becker, children's rights advocate at Human Rights Watch. "The sight of drugged children carrying AK-47s might convince them that they should take stronger action to end the recruitment and rape of children and hold the guilty parties accountable."
Human Rights Watch researchers visited Nyamilima and Ishasha in North Kivu province, where they saw at least 30 children guarding barricades and patrolling the streets with weapons they could barely carry. Some were as young as 12, and four were girls. They were operating in areas now controlled by Mai Mai militias and the Rwandan armed group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
In some areas of Rutshuru and Masisi territories in North Kivu, Nkunda's rebels and other armed groups have gone door-to-door to force young boys and adults, some as young as 14, into their service. In other areas the group has recruited boys as young as 12 near displaced persons' camps. Some have been sent into combat without military training.
Pro-government Mai Mai groups recruited dozens of children for military service in late October, and the Congolese army has also recruited children to transport and distribute weapons.
Worldwide, 14 parties to armed conflict have been identified since 2002 by the UN secretary-general for consistent and repeated violations of international laws that prohibit the recruitment and use of child soldiers. Four of these "persistent violators" are currently recruiting children in the DRC - the Congolese army (FARDC), the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), pro-government Mai Mai groups, and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
"Tragically, many of the children recently taken are ‘re-recruits,' who have already gone through demobilization programs," said Becker. "These programs are too brief, and the children urgently need more support and protection from being recruited again once they return to their families."
Human Rights Watch has also documented rapes of girls and women by Congolese army soldiers and by combatants of the CNDP, FDLR and Mai Mai militias. Dozens of women and girls from Nyamilima and Ishasha have been raped in recent weeks by Mai Mai combatants, including girls as young as 9 years old, attacked while working in the fields or sleeping in their houses at night. Some witnesses credit FDLR combatants with trying to restrain Mai Mai abuses, but in many areas both groups have collaborated in attacks.
Nkunda's soldiers raped at least 16 women and girls in late October and November following their takeover of Rutshuru and Kiwanja. Congolese army soldiers fleeing an advance by the group raped more than a dozen women and girls as they fled Goma on October 29.
Tens of thousands of women and girls have been raped since the war began in 1998, and a recent report from the secretary-general found that between June 2007 and June 2008, the UN recorded 5,517 cases of sexual violence against children in Ituri and North and South Kivu - 31 percent of all sexual violence victims.
Human Rights Watch called on the European Union to urgently send a "bridging" force to eastern Congo to help UN peacekeepers stop further attacks on civilians, including children. Human Rights Watch wrote (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/09/european-union-deploy-bringing-force-north-kivu-eastern-drc ) to EU heads of state on December 9, asking them to deploy such a force quickly in eastern Congo following an earlier request from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the EU.
Human Rights Watch urged the Security Council to:
- Take measures, including additional sanctions, against parties responsible for the recruitment and use of child soldiers, and rape and sexual violence;
- Urge members of the Security Council and governments in the region to apprehend individuals wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), including the CNDP chief of staff, Bosco Ntaganda, who is accused by the ICC of crimes relating to child soldiers in Ituri in 2002 and 2003; and
- Ensure that UNICEF, the UN peacekeeping mission MONUC, and other relevant UN agencies receive adequate resources and personnel to promote the demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers, including girls associated with armed groups.
Statements by children
(All names below have been changed to protect the children's privacy.)
Anthony
Anthony was one of an estimated 50 children and dozens of adults forcibly recruited in mid-September by rival forces, CNDP and PARECO, just outside the displaced persons' camp in Ngungu (Masisi territory). His family had fled to Ngungu days earlier, after the two groups fought in their home village, Numbi:
"Five CNDP soldiers stopped me on the road in the middle of the day. They sent me with a large group of other men and boys - some as young as 12, others as old as 40 - to Murambi, where they said we would transport boxes of ammunition for the rebel soldiers. They beat us badly so we couldn't resist. When we got to Murambi, they didn't order us to transport boxes, but instead gave us military uniforms and taught us how to use weapons. Then, after three days, they put us all in an underground prison. We stayed there for four days, and new recruits joined us every day. On the fourth day, they called us out of the prison and took us to Karuba. That night, I managed to escape with two other recruits, and we ran all the way back to Ngungu. The others who remained behind were sent to Kitchanga for military training."
When Anthony and the others arrived in Ngungu, they sought refuge at the MONUC base. Like many fighters who choose to disarm or who escape forced recruitment, they were handed over to Congolese authorities, who sent them to the military intelligence prison in Goma (known as the T2) as a transit point on their way to demobilization camps. Detainees are often held at T2 for weeks or months without charge and are subjected to cruel and degrading treatment; some are tortured. After five days without eating, Anthony managed to escape and sought refuge at a MONUC base in Goma.
"I want to go back to our home in Numbi," Anthony said. "But I'm scared. If the CNDP soldiers find me there, they will kill me."
Marie
Marie is a 16-year-old girl who was raped by a CNDP soldier in a farm outside Rutshuru on October 29, just after the group took control of the town:
"The day the CNDP arrived in Rutshuru, they pillaged my neighborhood and shot and killed two boys, so I decided to flee to Goma. I ran through the farms on the edge of Rutshuru and met two Tutsi soldiers with guns and spears. They stopped me in the farm. I was alone. One of the soldiers spoke Kinyarwanda, and the other spoke Swahili. They said, ‘We're going to kill you.' Then they put a knife on my arm. I said, ‘No, please pardon me.' Then they said, ‘The only way we can pardon you is if we rape you.' They cut my clothes off with the knife. One of the soldiers raped me from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. There was blood everywhere. Then when the second soldier wanted to start, there were lots of gunshots nearby and they left, saying that if I fled they would kill me. After that, I managed to escape and made it to Kibati [a large displacement camp outside Goma]. I'm still in a lot of pain, but I don't have any medicine and there's no one here to treat me."
Liliane
Liliane lives in a displaced persons camp in Rutshuru. She was raped when she went back to her village to look for something to eat:
"One time, when I tried to go back to my village, the FDLR stopped me and raped me. They took me on the side of the road, near the village Buhuga. There were eight FDLR combatants. I was with seven other girls. All of us were raped. The other girls were from my village, but they don't live in this camp. They took us at 2 p.m. and let us go the next day at 4 p.m. We spent the night with them and then they let us go. One soldier raped me; there was one soldier for each girl. They abused us badly. They used their weapons to threaten us, but they didn't use them against us. I was 17 years old when this happened. The other girls were 16, 17, and 18 years old. I studied until the sixth primary level, but I can't study now that I'm displaced. I just want the FDLR and the CNDP to leave so I can return home and continue my life."
Labels: Children, Congo, Human rights, Human Rights Watch, Renata Daninsky
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