Swedish Oil Company Accused Of Crimes Against Humanity

Swedish Oil Company Accused Of Crimes Against Humanity

By Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Swedens Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt, who left Lundins board of directors in 2006, is the focus of accusations. Photo courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor
Photo: Swedens Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt, who left Lundins board of directors in 2006, is the focus of accusations. Source: Christian Science Monitor
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Sweden’s public prosecutor, Magnus Evling, opened a criminal investigation on June 21st after a report was published alleging possible complicity in atrocities in Sudan by Swedish firm Lundin Petroleum.

The report stated that Lundin Petroleum may have been complicit in “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”  According to Mr. Evling, “the purpose of the inquiry is to investigate whether there are individuals with ties to Sweden who are suspected of involvement in crime.”  Carl Bildt, who left Lundin’s board of directors in 2006 to become Sweden’s minister of foreign affairs, is currently the focus of accusations.  This case raises questions about international obligations of corporations to safeguard human rights in conflict zones.

The investigation into the alleged activity, which occurred between 1997 and 2003, is the product of a report by the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan(ECOS), a group of 50 European NGOs.  ECOS claims that the problems began in 1997 when Lundin Consortium signed a 1997 agreement with Sudan’s government for the exploitation of oil in an area where the government lacked “full control.”

ECOS claims that the civilian population was forcibly displaced and victimized during the government’s efforts to secure the oil fields.  It is estimated that 12,000 people died and 160,000 were forcibly displaced through the efforts of the Sudanese government. According to Said Mahmoudi, professor of International Law at Stockholm University, “there is evidence that Lundin knew about what was happening, and they just closed their eyes simply because it was a question of millions and millions of dollars.”  Lundin Petroleum denies any violation of international law.

One of the goals of ECOS in producing the report is the creation of effective “limits for companies working in these types of conflict areas with regimes that are committing human rights violations.”  ECOS Coordinator Egbert Wesselink stated that “in some parts of the world, many companies are effectively working in a legal void because there is no functioning legal system.”  ECOS suggests that a possible remedy for this would be the enforcement of national laws by corporations’ home countries.  Mr. Wesselink noted that enforcement mechanisms are already in place, citing the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court, but the idea “has to be transferred to corporations and the people leading them.”

Concerning  Sudanese victims, there is precedent from the Bosnian conflict, where an international commission was set up to compensate victims.  Furthermore, the Sudanese Constitution states that signatories to oil agreements are responsible for providing compensation.  Even if compensation is provided at some point, it is likely that fair allocation of will be logistically impossible.


For more information, please see:

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR – Swedish oil company under scrutiny after Sudan war crimes report – 22 June 2010

REUTERS – Prosecutor probes Swedish link in Sudan crimes – 21 June 2010

STOCKHOLM NEWS – Oil company accused of war crimes – 6 June 2010

Police Open Fire on protesters In Kashmir

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KASHMIR, India – “We want freedom” was the resonating chant as protests in Kashmir turned deadly when troops open fired on hundreds of demonstrators on Sunday, killing one person and wounding at least five.

A defiant protester shouts slogans in Jammu on Monday
A defiant protester shouts slogans in Jammu on Monday

Hundreds of people took to the streets, throwing rocks at security forces and surrounding an armored vehicle belonging to paramilitary soldiers, in a protest against the death of Mohammed Rafiq Bangroo, a 25-year-old who died Saturday after being beaten by troops in an earlier demonstration last week.  After the demonstrators tried to light a bunker on fire, the officers fired as an act of self defense, authorities say.

“We exercised maximum restraint.  Our soldiers opened fire only in self-defense after the protesters tried to torch the bunker,” Prabhakar Tripathi, spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force, told the AP.  Tensions in the Muslim-majority region have been running high since local police accused the military of killing three civilians in April, and officials now say they are clamping down by enforcing a tight curfew and other restrictions.

Despite a decline in violence in Kashmir in recent years, there are fears that militants are trying to regroup in the region.  Hundreds of thousands of Indian troops are based in Kashmir to fight a two decade-old insurgency against Indian rule.

A senior Indian army officer has been killed in a gun battle with separatist militants in Indian-administered Kashmir.  Colonel Neeraj Sood was “leading his troops” when he was gunned down by militants in Lolab area, the army said.  He was the highest ranking officer to be killed by militants in Kashmir in 2010.

It is not clear whether the militants have suffered any casualties in the clashes.

Many know this re-birth of violence comes at the worst time, Al Jazeera’s Prerna Suri reports from Srinagar, said: “The violence couldn’t have come at a worse time for the people of Kashmir.  It’s peak tourist season and families live entirely on tourism.  They say if violence spreads, the only ones to suffer will be them.”

The demonstration swelled after the shots were fired, when hundreds more people poured into the streets, chanting “Indian forces leave Kashmir”.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Muslim-majority Kashmir.  Opposition groups have been fighting since 1989 for the Himalayan region’s independence from India or its merger with neighboring Pakistan.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera English – Police on Kashmir protestors – 20 June 2010

BBC news – Indian army officer killed in Kashmir clash – 23 June 2010

The Huffington Post – Kashmir Police Open Fire On Protesters – 21 June 2010

Syria Refuses to Release Journalist and Imprisons Activist/Lawyer

By Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

Syria continues to imprison journalists and activists who criticize the government. (Photo Courtesy of Global Voices)
Syria continues to imprison journalists and activists who criticize the government. (Photo Courtesy of Global Voices)

DAMASCUS, Syria – On 16 June, Syrian journalist, Ali al-Abdallah, completed a two and half year prison sentence for “disseminating false information with the aim of harming the state,” for “membership of a secret organisation designed to destabilise the state,” and “inciting ethnic and racial tension.” He was sentenced, along with eleven others, for charges based on their calls for a radical shift in Syrian relations with Lebanon, as demonstrated by their support of the Damascus Declaration, a movement that is calling for peaceful and democratic change in Syria (Al-Abdullah had been elected to the secretariat of the Damascus Declaration Movement shortly before his arrest). However, shortly after he was set to be released, he was informed that new charges were being brought against him, and that he would therefore not be released.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the latest charges accuse al-Abdallah of  “disseminating false information with the aim of harming the state and weakening national feelings,” and with “taking actions, producing writings or speeches not sanctioned by the government that would expose Syria to the danger of hostility, or harm its relationship with a foreign country, or expose Syrians to retaliation against them or their property.” These charges stem from an article al-Abdallah wrote about three months ago, while he was imprisoned in Syria, that was critical of Syria’s ties with Iran, and criticized the religious form of government advocated by Iranian Shiite leaders.

Calls both condemning the detention and calling for the release of al-Abdallah have come from numerous human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On 23 June 2010, the prominent lawyer and head of the Syrian Organisation for Human Rights, Muhannad al-Hassani, was sentenced to a three year prison term under the same laws that were used to convict al-Abdallah and many other journalists and activists. Al-Hassani has represented numerous journalists and activists charged with crimes similar to that of al-Abdallah. According to Amnesty International, Al-Hassani had recently drawn public attention to both unfair trials of political prisoners before the Supreme State Security Court, and to a death that may have been caused by torture and ill treatment while in detention; he has allegedly held meetings with officials from foreign embassies to discuss human rights issues; and he has undertaken efforts to repeal the very law that was used to convict him. He is also the winner of the 2010 Martin Ennals Award, which recognizes the work of human rights defenders

The arrest and conviction has been condemned by numerous human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, the Syrian Human Rights League, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights, and the National Organisation of Human Rights in Syria.

The arrest of al-Abdullah, al-Hassani, and other critics of the government are reportedly part of a broader campaign against political opponents that has intensified over the past two years. While several of the other people detained for being part of the Damascus Declaration Movement have recently been released, there are many other journalists and activists who are currently detained in Syria. Riad Seif, a well-known opposition figure who is ill with cancer, continues to be imprisoned despite calls by Western leaders to release him. In addition, the office of the Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression was closed and placed under seal in September 2009.

Reporters Without Borders notes that Syria was ranked 165th out of 179 countries in their 2009 press freedom index, and that President Bashar Al-Assad is on their Internet Enemies list, as well as their list of “Predators of Press Freedom.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Syria Jails Award-Winning Lawyer: Rights Group – 23 June 2010.

Amnesty International – Syrian Human Rights Leader Jailed for Three Years – 23 June 2010

BBC – Syria Jails Leading Rights Lawyer – 23 June 2010

Committee to Protect Journalists – Syria Detains Journalist Beyond Sentence – 21 June 2010

Human Rights Watch – Syria: Political Detainee, Sentence Ended, Held on New Charges – 19 June 2010

International Free Expression Exchange – Authorities Refuse to Release Journalist on Completion of Sentence – 18 June 2010

Kaleej Times (U.A.E.) – Syrian Political Prisoner Re-Arrested on Release – 18 June 2010

Radio Netherlands Worldwide – Syrian Political Prisoner Re-Arrested on Release – 18 June 2010

Syrian Human Rights Committee – Detainee Ali al-Abdullah Transferred to SSSC Before Completion of His Sentence – 4 April, 2010

UN Urges Venezuela To Cancel Arrest Warrant For Television Executive

Guillermo Zuloaga Arrested Earlier This Year (Photo Courtesy of Caribbean Net News)
Guillermo Zuloaga Arrested Earlier This Year (Photo Courtesy of Caribbean Net News)

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – Late last week, Venezuelan officials urged Interpol to arrest Guillermo Zuloaga, president of Globovision.  Globovision is the only Venezuelan television station still openly critical of President Hugo Chavez.  The Venezuelan Government is accusing Zuloaga of illegally storing vehicles with the intent to sell them.

Zuloaga and his son, also named Guillermo, are reported to have left the country and claim that the charges are false.  Rather, the Zuloagas claim that they are being persecuted for political purposes.  The elder Zuloaga owns a car dealership and has stated that the vehicles belong to the business.

Recently, Frank La Rue, a United Nations independent human rights expert, urged Venezuelan authorities to withdraw the warrant against Zuloagas.  La Rue echoed the sentiments of many other human rights activists when he expressed fear that the warrants are a means for the ruling government to silence political decent.  La Rue also expressed fears that the warrant illustrates a broader deterioration of expressive freedom in the country.

La Rue’s message was clear when he stated that “no Government in the world has the right to silence critics or those who oppose the State with criminal proceedings.”

The recent warrants against Zuloagas are not the only acts of intimidation committed against Globovision employees at the hands of the Chavez government.  Starting in 2001, Globovision employees have been privy to threats and harassment because they have freely exercised their expressive rights.  In 2008, the harassment and intimidation led the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to order measures to protect its employees.

The United States has also intervened in the situation out of fear that the warrants are politically motivated.  State Department spokesman Philip Crowley stated that the U.S. is “very concerned” with the warrants and that the warrants are “the latest example of the government of Venezuela’s continuing assault on the freedom of the press.”

Venezuela is a party to Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which guarantees fundamental freedom of expression.  Although the country is bound by the terms of article, the Chavez government has done little to uphold the article’s principles.

Although Le Rue has requested a meeting with the Venezuelan government to fully assess the country’s freedom of expression standards, the request remains unanswered.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Venezuela Asks Interpol To Arrest Openly Critical TV Station’s Owner – 18 June 2010

 UN News Centre – UN Expert Urges Venezuela To Cancel Arrest Warrant Against TV Executive – 17 June 2010

Yahoo News – US Concerned By Arrest Warrant For TV Network Owner in Venezuela – 14 June 2010

Update: Israel Eases Gaza Blockade, Allows Building Supplies into Region

By Alyxandra Stanczak
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – In response to discussion and comments about the Gaza embargo led by British Middle East envoy Tony Blair, and U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified in the foreign affairs and defense committees of the Knesset, Israel’s legislative branch, that the Gaza blockade should restrict fewer critical items. Netanyahu’s testimony came after Arab League prime minister Amr Moussa’s trip to Gaza this past week to meet with Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Building materials and other critical items can now enter Gaza. Photo courtesy of the New York Times.
Building materials and other critical items can now enter Gaza. / Photo courtesy of the New York Times.

Netanyahu indicated last week that he supported increasing the amount and type of items that would no longer be subject to Israel’s blockade of Gaza. The former rules governing Israel’s blockade required all items entering Gaza be on an “allowed items” list. This rule was amended so that items not explicitly on a “banned items” list could be imported into Gaza.

Significantly,  building materials can now be shipped into Gaza.  The region’s infrastructure underwent intense damage during the 2008-09 three week Gaza War.  Roughly five percent of Gaza’s commercial and government buildings were destroyed, resulting in the loss of 189 buildings, including eleven factories and eight warehouses.  Furthermore, 6268 homes are estimated to have been damaged or destroyed during the war. These buildings have, largely, remained unrepaired since 2009 due to the difficulty in attaining necessary repair materials. As a result of the damage to these dwellings and the lack of available material to repair them, it is estimated that roughly 20,000 Gazanas have remained displaced after the war.

The Knesset’s decision to allow building materials into Gaza is the first stage in the process of  rebuilding infrastructure in the war-torn region.  Schools, hospitals, government buildings, and other critical institutions that were severely damaged, hope to begin rebuilding as soon as the materials become available in Gaza.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Israel to loosen Gaza blockade – 21 June 2010

BBC – Israel outlines changes to Gaza blockade – 21 June 2010

Ha’aretz – Decision to ease Gaza seige weakens Hamas –  21 June 2010

Reuters – U.N. agency calls for full lifting of Gaza blockade – 21 June 2010

United Nations Development Programme – Gaza – One Year After Report – 24 May 2010

Human Rights Watch – Israel: Investigate Unlawful Destruction in the Gaza War – 13 May 2010