Fiji Times Publisher Deported

Fiji Times Publisher Deported

By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

Image Courtesy of Fiji Times

Small Rex SUVA, Fiji – Rex Gardner, Fiji Times publisher and acting CEO, was declared a prohibited immigrant this week and was ordered out of the country by the interim Government.  The deportation follows a High Court ruling last week in which the newspaper was found in contempt of court and fined for publishing a letter criticizing the court’s validation of the 2006 military coup.  Mr. Gardner is the third newspaper publisher to be deported from Fiji in less than a year.  He was given his Removal Order at his office which was signed on Friday by the permanent secretary for Defense, National Security and Immigration, Peniame Naqasima.  Mr. Gardner was scheduled to meet Immigration officers yesterday afternoon but they failed to show up to the meeting.  He was classified as a prohibited immigrant under section 13(2)g of the Immigration Act of 2003, a clause of the act he called “obscure.”

Mr. Gardner is being deported eight months after his predecessor was also ordered out of Fiji.  In May Australian publisher Evan Hannah was deported amid claims he was a security threat.  In February of last year Russell Hunter of the Fiji Sun newspaper was deported following the publication of a series of controversial articles.

Immigration Director, Viliame Naupoto, confirmed Mr. Gardner will fly out of Fiji on Tuesday morning.  “It is because of his guilty plea on contempt of court,” said Mr. Naupoto.  The Immigration Director claimed the guilty plea put him in breach of his work permit and that the action is consistent with other foreign nationals that were deported.

Pacific Media Freedom Forum says the deportation is despicable and unacceptable.  Online co-chair, Monica Miller, criticized the move, saying that working in the Fiji media has become increasingly difficult due to the lack of media freedom.

Fiji Law Society president, Dorsami Naidu, said the action by the interim Government marked a sad day for democracy in Fiji.  Mr. Naidu said that if a person breaches his work permit there are processes to be followed allowing that person to present their case in court.  He continued, “This is a draconian way of doing things where the order is given in the evening when the courts are closed.”

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Pacific journalist group says deportation of second Fiji Times publisher is despicable – 26 January 2009

The West Australian – Fiji Times publisher to be deported – 26 January 2009

Fiji Times – Deported – 27 January 2009

Fiji Times – A nation’s prayer – 27 January 2009

Fiji Times – Major setback, says FABC – 27 January 2009

“Strike Hard” Campaign in Tibet

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Chinese authorities launched a 42-day “strike hard” campaign in Tibet since Jan. 18, 2009.  According to the Chinese-language state-run Lhasa Evening News, “Within three days of the launch of the winter “Strike Hard” campaign, the Lhasa municipal public security bureau had deployed 600 officers and around 160 police vehicles, and had conducted raids on seven housing blocks, 2,922 rented houses, 14 guest house and hotels, 18 bars and three Internet cafés in Lhasa.”

The authorities in Lhasa had rounded up and interrogated 5,766 Tibetans in the first three days of the campaign.  Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) contends that the main objective of the campaign is probably to find participants in last year’s Lhasa unrest.  TCHRD assistant director Jampa Monlam said that police questioning is focused on last year’s March 14 demonstrations that turned into rioting in Lhasa.  “They are asking people where they were during the March 14 incident in Lhasa, whether they have an alibi, and so on. If you can’t prove where you were during that time, you will probably be detained.”

In addition, all visitors are required to apply for a temporary residence permit from the police if they wishes to stay for more than three days and less than a month in Lhasa, TCHRD said.

“Strike hard” campaign was first launched in China in 1983 to fight corruptions and crimes.  However, the motive of launching this campaign in China and in Tibet is very different.  The motive of launching such campaign in Tibet is to intimidate and eliminate those supporting Tibetan independence and human rights activists in Tibet.

For more information, please see:

Punjab Newsline – China grills 5766 Tibetans under winter “Strike Hard” campaign in Lhasa – 23 January 2009

Radio Free Asia – China ‘Strikes Hard’ in Tibet – 26 January 2009

Tibetan Review – 5,766 rounded up in Lhasa under winter ‘strike hard’ move – 26 January 2009

World News – 5766 Tibetan people questioned in winter ‘Strike Hard’ campaign – 24 January 2009

Human Rights Group in Yemen Urges Government to Act to End the Use of Child Soldiers

By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen– On January 25, the Seyaj Organization for Childhood Protection, a Yemeni child-rights organization based in Sana’a made an urgent humanitarian appeal to end the use of children as tribal fighters in northern Yemen.  According to a recent study by the organization, as many as half of the tribal fighters involved in violent clashes in north Yemen are children.

Seyaj noted that over the past four months, more than 63 people were killed in ethnic clashes in Amran province in north Yemen, and forty percent of those killed were children.  According to Ahmad Al-Qurashi, the organizations director, “the tribal culture in Yemen does not regard a 15-year old as a child…Yemen’s society as a whole views a 15-year old as a man and they’re forced into battles.  The society views fighting alongside a tribe as an important part of a child’s passage to manhood.  We see children as young as 13 carrying weapons that are bigger than they are.”

Seyaj blames the Yemeni government  for the high rate of children currently serving as tribal fighters.  The tribal areas in north Yemen are not provided sufficient financial resources by the government, and as a result they lack educational opportunities, and health and development programs.  Often children drop out of school by the age of 12 and either work in their families’ farms or are inducted as tribal soldiers.  According to the report released by Seyaj, the government does not intervene in the northern tribal areas to prevent the tribes from recruiting children as soldiers. 

In its Child Soldiers Global Report 2008, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers accused the Yemeni government of recruiting child soldiers in a war with rebels in north Yemen since 2004, despite the legal minimum recruitment age of 18.  According to the report, “joining the army was highly sought after, since other employment opportunities were extremely limited.  Parents sometimes agreed to the recruitment of their children into the armed forces because of their poor economic situation.”

Seyaj urged the government to provide the tribal areas with sufficient economic resources and with better educational opportunities in order to reduce the number of children serving as tribal fighters.  In addition, the organization is demanding that the fighting tribes throughout north Yemen to stop using children in armed clashes and to respect the State’s minimum legal age for an individual to join armed forces.  To that end, Seyaj recommends that government officials and tribal sheikhs enact a new law to punish those targeting women and children, using them as fighters for combat operations or for providing logistical support or any other form of engagement with tribal forces.
For more information, please see:

The Media Line – Report: Half Yemen’s Tribal Fighters are Children – 26 January 2009

Armies of Liberation – SEYAJ Opposes Use of Child Soldiers in Amran Tribal War – 25 January 2009

News Yemen – Yemeni Children Used as Soldiers in Sa’ada War: Report – 7 September 2008

Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers – Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 – 20 May 2008

Israeli Cabinet Approves Legal Team in Support of Soldiers

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

JERUSALEM – On January 25, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert announced that the Cabinet approved a measure that will give legal protection to its military officers if they are accused of war crimes during the Gaza incursion.  This measure was proposed by Defense Minister Barak in response to international calls for investigations and prosecutions of possible war crimes.  

In announcing the measure, Olmert stated, “The state of Israel will completely back anyone that acted in its name… The soldiers and commanders that were sent on missions in Gaza need to know that they are safe from different tribunals.  Israel will assist them and protect them as they physically protected us during the operation in Gaza.”

Prior to gaining Cabinet support, Barak urged ministers to back the proposal; “The endorsement will ensure that since we sent out soldiers to carry out Operation Cast Lead, which was carried out exceptionally and by the most moral army in the world, the state of Israel, which sent the IDF on the mission, will give soldiers and commanders backing in the face of any external accusations or internal self-flagellation,”

The measure creates an inter-ministerial committee and is headed by Justice Minister Daniel Friedman.  It consists of representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign, Justice and Defense ministries, and will include experts on international law.

The purpose of the committee is “to coordinate Israel’s efforts to offer legal defense for anyone who took part in the operation.”  According to Olmert, Friedman “will formulate questions and answers relating to the army’s operations, which self-righteous people … might use to sue officers and soldiers,”

According to the proposal, Operation Cast Lead was a legitimate act of self-defense under international law, and followed years of restraint following the firing of thousands of rockets into southern Israel.  In addition, the proposal states that despite Israel’s best efforts, there were tragic and regrettable instances of civilian casualties.  Means of avoiding civilian casualties included dropping pamphlets and calling local residents to warn them to stay away from conflict zones.

The proposal also notes that Hamas “cynically” used civilians as human shields and is therefore responsible for noncombatant casualties.  In addition, Hamas is also accused of using civilians to manipulate the media and international public opinion.  According to Olmert, “Out of a policy of moral acrobatics they try to make the aggressor the victim and turn the victim into the aggressor.”  He added, “Hamas’s policy for years has been to fight to the last drop of Gaza civilians’ blood and to hurt them.”

While Israel is committing state resources to protect its soldiers from international prosecution over possible war crimes, it still has an international obligation to investigate and prosecute for violations of the law of war.  International, Palestinian, and Israeli human rights groups demand that the Israeli government investigate various allegations and hold those responsible accountable.

For example, the BBC reported on four year old Samar Abed Rabbu.  BBC’s Christian Fraser met Samar in an Egyptian hospital.  According to her uncle, an Israeli tank stopped in front of the family’s home in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza.  Israeli soldiers ordered the family out into the street.  Then, an Israeli soldier opened fire; killing Samar’s two sisters and injuring her grandmother.  Samar was shot in the back and the bullet hit her spine, making it unlikely that she will walk again.

According to Samar’s uncle, the soldiers were only 15 meters away and they were all carrying white flags.  Her uncle insists that this was a deliberate targeting of civilians and thus a war crime.  

The BBC went into Gaza to look for Rabbu’s family and found her father, Khalid Abed Rabbu.  Khalid’s account of the incident is similar to Rabbu’s uncle.  The BBC submitted a map of the incident, the time and date, and witness statements to the Israeli military, who promised to investigate the incident.

During the 22 day operation, Palestinian Ministry of Health, 1,314 Palestinians were killed. 412 were children under the age of 18, and 110 were women.  It is estimated that 65 percent of Palestinian casualties were civilians.  In contrast, 13 Israelis were killed during Operation Cast Lead.  Three civilians were killed by rockets fired from Gaza.  Ten soldiers were killed during the ground incursion; however, four were lost to “friendly fire.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Israel to Protect Its Soldiers From War Crimes Charges – 25 January 2009

Bloomberg – Israel Names Team to Defend Soldiers Against War-Crime Charges – 25 January 2009

CNN – Israel Prepares Legal Defense of Soldiers – 25 January 2009

Jerusalem Post – Cabinet Okays Legal Backing for Troops – 25 January 2009

Independent – A Shameful War: Israel in the Dock Over Assault on Gaza – 25 January 2009

Reuters – Israel Promise Troops Legal Backing Over Gaza War – 25 January 2009

BBC – New Evidence of Gaza Child Deaths – 22 January 2009

BBC – Gaza Father Finds Out Child Survived – 21 January 2009

Pacific Leaders Will Meet Despite Fiji’s Absence

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Leaders from around the South Pacific are traveling to Papua New Guinea for a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum.

The Pacific Islands Forum represents over sixteen independent and self-governing states. Forum leaders meet to address issues involving the peace, harmony, security or economic prosperity of the participating Pacific nations.

The focus of this meeting will be on Fiji, and whether the Forum will suspend Fiji from the group for refusing to hold democratic elections in 2009.

On Friday, Fiji’s interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, announced he would not attend the meeting. Leaders from New Zealand and Australia have expressed their disappointment that Bainimarama will not appear to discuss the restoration of democracy in Fiji.

Fiji’s Interim Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed Khayu, is flying to PNG today to take Bainimarama’s place. Bainimarama had considered sending either the interim attorney general or Fiji’s interim foreign affairs secretary, Ratu Isoa Gavidi. But Isoa Gavidi is currently suspended from his government position for commenting on a political matter in breach of Fiji’s civil service code of conduct.

The meeting in Port Moresby was almost called off last week after leaders from Fiji and Papua New Guinea postponed it without the consent of the Forum members.

The meeting has been rescheduled, however, for Tuesday the 27th.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Forum leaders begin to gather in PNG for special meeting on Fiji – 25 January 2009

The Australian – Pacific Leaders Forum back on – 26 January 2009

ABC News – Pacific forum to go ahead – 24 January 2009