The Cost of World Cup Preparations in Brazil Leads to Labor Strikes

by Mridula Tirumalasetti

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASÍLIA, Brazil– With the World Cup just a few weeks away, bus drivers, teachers, police officers, and other public employees continue to protest in the streets of Brazil. Pre-tournament protests have been going on since mid-April in order to protest the amount of money the federal government has spent on preparations for the World Cup.

A member of the Homeless Workers’ Movement is pictured carrying the Brazilian flag during a protest in Sao Paulo (photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times)

Although labor protests are fairly common in Brazil, the World Cup has presented a host of problems. The government promised the World Cup would improve the lives of Brazilians, but corruption and excessive spending have triggered waves of unrest. President Dilma Rouseff’s popularity has since decreased due to these broken promises, which could threaten Rouseff’s chance for re-election in October.

“The government has paid all its attention to building soccer stadiums up to First world FIFA standards, while our schools continue at the lowest standards,” said President of the Sao Paulo municipal teachers union, Claudio Fonesca. Fonesca added, “We have nothing against the World Cup…If the government had money left over to pay for everything, there would be no problem.”

Bus drivers in cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have also gone on strike. Sao Paulo will host the opening match of the World Cup on June 12, but 15 of the 28 bus terminals in Sao Paulo have closed. Not only are soccer fans expected to rely on buses for public transportation, but Brazilians rely heavily on buses as a method of transportation, especially in cities like Sao Paulo where there is limited metro service. The bus drivers, who have been rebelling against their union, want more than the 10%  salary raise they were offered. Vehicles have been abandoned, passengers have been stranded, and over 300 buses have been vandalized as a result.

Also, new projects for public transportation, which were promised by the government for the World Cup, have either not started or remain unfinished. This has led to anger over the cost of the stadiums, because they have become symbols of waste.

Even police officers in Recife stopped working and left the town unprotected for a period of three days. In those three days, there were reports of looting, homicides, and other acts of violence. At least 17 people died as a result. The federal government sent in military officials in order to provide emergency security. Other police groups have since promised a day of national “paralysis”. Bosco Gandra, President of the Brazilian Confederation of Civil Police Workers, said “We want to send the message that the government has had no strategy to improve its security forces, which has left Brazil vulnerable to violence and corruption.”

For more information, please see the following:

Los Angeles Times– In Brazil, labor protests ramp up as World Cup nears—17 May 2014

Reuters—Bus strike paralyzes Brazil’s biggest city as World Cup looms—21 May 2014

Buenos Aires Herald—Waves of pre-Cup strikes sparks chaos in Brazil—22 May 2014

Al Jazeera—Brazil bus strike sparks Sao Paulo chaos—22 May 2014

This Week in Syria: Syria Deeply

Syria Deeply

 

Dear Deeply Readers,  

The diplomatic drama that unfolded over Syria this week will be just a footnote in history. But in these days of disintegrating conditions on the ground, it serves as a snapshot of global paralysis and geopolitical dysfunction that prevents any degree of accountability and containment in Syria’s conflict.

This round of debate began when France, backed by dozens of countries, made a push to refer Syrian war crimes to the International Criminal Court. But as the resolution moved to a vote in the Security Council on Thursday, Russia and China swiftly blocked it. By the BBC’s count, it was the fourth time those two states have vetoed action by the U.N. Security Council, protecting their strategic allies in the government of President Bashar al-Assad. That leaves Assad’s opponents to look for strenuous alternatives. As the New York Times explains, they can now look to set up a special tribunal, outside the remit of the ICC, or pursue a relatively rare “Uniting for Peace” resolution at the U.N. General Assembly, which would bypass a deadlocked Security Council.

It’s not the only case study in the need to work around international rules. This week the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made the case that it’s time to sideline Syrian state sovereignty in order to deliver aid to rebel-held areas without regime consent. The government is “failing in its responsibility to look after its own people,” Ban wrote in a confidential report, cited by the New York Times. Government blockades have reportedly left 241,000 people without access to food, with millions more lacking health care and basic services.

The accelerated debate over how to bend the norms to benefit Syria’s people comes alongside an escalating battle on the ground – a surge in fighting and bombings that lifted Syria’s death toll to at least 162,000 people, a spike of roughly 10,000 casualties over the past two months. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which keeps the count, estimated that pro-regime troops have lost more fighters than rebel forces – part of the high cost of maintaining a relative upper hand, in what has devolved into a turf war in each Syrian province.

On Sunday al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra launched four suicide bomb attacks on army positions, while announcing it would create “an arms factory” to supply its fighters in Syria. Last week Assad troops lost their chief of air defense forces when Lt. Gen. Hussein Ayoub Ishaq was killed in battle. Elsewhere, a mortar shell hit an Assad election rally in Deraa,  killing an estimated 21 people. The bombing of Aleppo’s Carlton Citadel Hotelearlier this month is still providing rebels with a palpable morale boost, says one of the opposition’s most wanted commanders. He revealed himself to the Guardian as the architect of the Carlton attack, describing the ongoing campaign to tunnel under the city of Aleppo and strike government targets with underground explosives.

All this at a time when Syria’s military is, generally speaking, on the up in the fight. The Syrian army launched a counteroffensive against rebels in Deraa, who have been fighting each other in a spate of rivalrous infighting. Back in Aleppo, government troops repelled rebel forces who have been fighting to take control of a landmark prison – an offensive that has lasted for roughly a year (we’ve covered how prison inmates have languished in the shadows of the fight).

Outside prison, civilians are languishing in broad daylight. Areas of Aleppo have been without power and water for weeks; some Damascus suburbs have also gone darkDeir Ezzor is feeling a heavier hand of Sharia law,  as we documented in one case of a woman’s wedding celebrations, interrupted. And according to a new report, Syria is now the world’s biggest crisis of internally displaced people, or IDPs. More than three years into the conflict, roughly 9,500 Syrians are being displaced each day – approximately one family per minute becoming refugees on their own home soil. It’s proven to be a scale of disaster that the world is either unwilling or unable to handle.

Highlights from Syria Deeply:
As Rebels Fight Each Other, Government Heightens Offensive on Southern Front
In Deir Ezzor, Rebels Battle for More Than Just Oil
In Deir Ezzor, Sharia Law Interrupts a Woman’s Wedding
Surge in Fighting and Bombings Lead to Sharp Increase in Death Toll
Weeks of Power Cuts Hit Damascus Suburbs
One on One: Kareem Shaheen, Reporter, the Daily Star
Syria Is Now the World’s Biggest IDP Crisis

Headlines from the Week:
Washington Post: U.S. Inaction on Syria Helped Make it Hell on Earth
Frontline: For Syrians Fleeing Violence, Scant Refuge or Relief
New York Times: Syrian Fighting Gives Hezbollah New but Diffuse Purpose
Reuters: No Sign Syria Is Handing Over Chemical Weapons
Reuters: U.S. Steps Up Scrutiny of American Fighters in Syria
Reuters: Syrian al-Qaida at Foothills of Israeli-held Golan
BBC News: Anthony Loyd: Kidnapped and Beaten in Syria

Pope Francis Extends Invitation to Israeli and Palestinian Leaders to visit the Vatican for Peace Initiative

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

JERUSALEM, Israel/Palestine – During his first visit to the Holy Land as the leader of the Catholic Church Pope Francis called for peace in the region and endorsed the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After delivering an open-air mass in Bethlehem’s Manger Square in the West Bank on the second day of his three-day trip to the Middle East the Pope extended an invitation to the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to visit Vatican City for a “peace initiative.”

Pope Francis made an unscheduled stop to pray at the the Separation Wall that divides Israel from the West Bank, sometimes referred to at an apartheid wall. (Photo courteous of The Guardian)

The Pope expressed disappointment with the breakdown of talks between the two states earlier this year saying, “for decades the Middle East has known the tragic consequences of a protracted conflict which has inflicted many wounds so difficult to heal,” the pontiff declared. The situation, he said, had become “increasingly unacceptable.” Booth President Shimon Peres or Israel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accepted on Sunday Pope Francis Invitation.

Pope Frances said, “I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer” and called on the two leaders to agree to meet with him; saying, “in this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with Israeli President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace.” He added, building peace is difficult, but living without peace is a constant torment. The men and women of these lands, and of the entire world, all of them, ask us to bring before God their fervent hopes for peace.” “Even in the absence of violence,” he said, “the climate of instability and a lack of mutual understanding have produced insecurity, the violation of rights, isolation and the flight of entire communities, conflicts, shortages and sufferings of every sort.”

Pope Frances also made an unscheduled stop at the Separation Wall that divides Bethlehem and Jerusalem near an Israel military watchtower. At the wall be prayed for five minutes near graffiti on that wall that read, “”Pope, we need someone to speak about justice”, “Free Palestine” and contained a reference to the Warsaw ghetto. Mustafa al-Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian legislative council, said the pope’s decision to stop and pray at the separation wall “will remain in the world’s mind forever as a rejection of the apartheid wall.”

During his visit the Pope also addressed the need for a solution to the Syrian Civil War. The Pope said that it was “necessary and Urgent” that a peaceful solution to the Syrian Conflict be reached.

On the first day of his visit to the region Pope Frances gave a message of unity during a Mass at a stadium in Amman, Jordan – a majority Muslim state with a large Christian population. Christian refugees from Syria and Iraq where among those present at the Mass. During t In televised remarks after that meeting,  During his visit the Pope paid tribute to Jordan’s efforts to promote interfaith tolerance as well as its efforts to welcome refugees fleeing violence in Palestine and war-torn Syria. During his visit the pope visited some of the more than 600,000 refugees who have fled the conflict since its start in 2011.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Pope prays for peace at separation wall – 25 May 2014

CNN International – Pope Francis Invites Israeli, Palestinian Leaders to Vatican Peace Talks – 25 May 2014

The Guardian – Pope Francis offers prayers at Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem – 25 May 2014

The Jerusalem Post – Peres, Abbas accept papal invitation to pray for peace at Vatican – 25 May 2014

Vatican Radio – Pope Francis makes unscheduled stop to pray at Israel’s security barrier – 25 May 2014

Controversy Over Australian Detention Centers

By Max Bartels
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania 

Canberra, Australia — Thousands of people attempt to reach Australia by boat each year to seek asylum, mostly from Indonesia and other pacific islands. It has been the practice of the Australian government to intercept these asylum seekers at sea and transport them to one of a number of asylum detention centers until the government decides what to do with them. One of these detention centers in located on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and another on the small atoll of Naru.

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Asylum seekers being rescued by Australian Navy Personnel
(Photo Cutesy of The Telegraph )

In February unrest broke out over night at the Manus Island detention center where one asylum seeker was killed and a great deal more were injured, 2 had to be flown to Australia to receive treatment, one with a gun shot wound and another with a fractured skull. Similar unrest has also occurred at the Naru detention center where the asylum seekers burned down their shelters at the facility last year.

Amnesty International reports that the asylum seeker who died in the February Manus riots was Iranian and that during the riots he was beaten and hit in the head until he died. Amnesty International’s investigation of the incident, reports that the local police and the security staff used brutal and excessive force on the night of the riot. The investigation blames both the Australian government and the government of Papua New Guinea.

Despite the unrest Australia plans to continue its practice of offsite detention centers. The government maintains that it is still the best way to handle the issue of immigration, which is a serious political issue across the country. The government has cited the safety of the asylum seekers as one of the main reasons for the policy. The government claims that is it is important to deter these immigrants from attempting the perilous journey to Australia in open top boats. These boat are usually crammed to capacity or over capacity with immigrants and the journey is extremely perilous.

Even though the Australian Government presents valid points for their policies, human rights organizations have recorded a number of human rights violations at these detention centers. There have been numerous allegations of hunger strikes, suicide attempts, self-harm and unsanitary living conditions. Amnesty international has received reports that the detention centers do not provide adequate medical care. Amnesty international visited the Manus detention center this past November and reported asylum seekers were enduring unacceptably harsh conditions and humiliating treatment.

For more information please see:

Aljazeera — Asylum Seeker Dies in Papua New Guinea Camp — 18 February 2014

CNN– 1 Dead, Dozens Hurt After Unrest at Australian Center For Asylum Seekers — 18 February 2014

ABC News Australia — Manus Island Unrest: PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neil Says Locals Not Involved In Detention Centre Violence — 21 February 2014 

Amnesty International — Australia and Papua New Guinea: New Evidence Details Brutal Treatment of Asylum Seekers — 9 May 2014

 

US Deploys Troops to Aid in Search for Kidnapped Schoolgirls

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

ABUJA, Nigeria – The Obama Administration deployed 80 members of the Armed Forces to Chad to aid in the search for more than 200 young girls who were kidnapped from a school in Nigeria by Boko Haram militants the White House said Wednesday. United States President Barack Obama informed the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate of decision. “These personnel will support the operation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area,” the White House said in a letter, “the force will remain in Chad until its support in resolving the kidnapping situation is no longer required.”

Boko Haram’s leader Abubaker Shekau criticized schoolgirls for being taught “western education.” The group claimed responsibility for the abduction of nearly 300 young girls. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The letter was sent to comply with the War Powers Resolution requiring Congressional notification within 48 hours of the deployment of American Armed Forces. The deployment of armed personnel follows manned and unmanned surveillance flights launched by U.S. personnel earlier this month. The move also follows the deployment of a team of U.S. military, law-enforcement and hostage-negotiation advisers to Abuja.

“These are not combat infantry troops that we put into Chad,” Pentagon spokesperson Rear Adm. John Kirby said, “these are folks that are there to support the reconnaissance mission.” He said Chad is an ideal location to deploy troops to aid in the search because of its proximity to Nigeria as well as the United States’ strong relationship with Chad’s government. He said Reconnaissance flights will be searching and area in Nigeria and neighboring countries that is about the size of West Virginia.

The Obama administration had been criticized by some lawmakers in Washington for not more aggressively aiding in the search for the missing girls. “We should devote more of our national capabilities to help our Nigerian partners in locating the girls,” Senator John McCain on said May 16. “And if we get actionable intelligence about where they are being held, we should send U.S. Special Forces to rescue them — with the approval and cooperation of the Nigerian government and security forces if possible, but without them if necessary.”

The announcement form the Obama White House came on the same day Nigeria asked the United Nations to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organization. If approved by the United Nations this would enable countries to impose arms embargoes, travel bans and asset freezes.

Earlier this month members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sin,” claimed restorability for abducting nearly 300 young schoolgirls in the Nigerian town of Chibok. Since the attack members of the groups have allegedly kidnapped more girls from Nigerian villages including the northeastern Nigerian village of Warabe, prompting international outrage. A Boko Haram leader has threatened to sell the kidnapped children into slavery.

The United Nations spokesperson for Human Rights Rupert Colville told the press in briefing earlier this month in Geneva that the United Nations warns “the perpetrators that there is an absolute prohibition against slavery and sexual slavery in international law. These can under certain circumstances constitute crimes against humanity.”

For more information please see:

CNN International – 80 U.S. Troops in Chad Will Aid Search For Abducted Nigerian Girls – 22 May 2014

Time – U.S. Deploys Troops in Search for Kidnapped Nigerian Girls – 21 May 2014

Al Jazeera – Nigeria: Life for Schoolgirls in The North – 15 May 2014

Al Jazeera – More Schoolgirls Kidnapped In Nigeria – 07 May 2014