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Xenophobia Threatens Peace in Germany
By Sarah Lafen
Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, Europe
BERLIN, Germany — A federal government report released by the German government warns of unrest in Eastern Germany due to far-right violence as the product of “xenophobia and racist attacks.” The report warns that the line between protests and violence is becoming too blurred, and that the increasing violence tarnishes the reputation of East Germany as a place to do business. Through the report, the German government urges civil society to take a stronger stand against anti-migrant demonstrations.
Within the past year, attacks on refugees residing in East Germany have increased dramatically, including riots and arson attacks on refugee shelters. Far right-motivated violence was far more prevalent in Eastern Germany last year, at a rate of 58.7 average occurrences per one million inhabitants. This figure was significantly higher than the rate of 10.5 average occurrences per one million inhabitants in Western Germany. The attacks are most commonly carried out in the Eastern German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
In 2015, Germany accepted over 1 million refugees into the country. This movement increased support for the anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is represented in all of the eastern federal states. AfD is also known for their criticisms of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “open-door policy” toward asylum-seeking refugees.
Iris Gleicke, the federal government’s Commissioner for Eastern German Affairs, considers right-wing extremism to pose a “very seirous threat” to the social and economic development of new German states. Gelicke, who grew up in Eastern Germany, stated that “Society should not look away when people are attacked or refugee shelters are set on fire. A lot is on the line for east Germany.” On recent trips to Japan and California in attempt to draw investments into Eastern Germany, Gleicke claims that there was concern about whether their staff would be welcome in the Eastern German states, and whether or not their investments would be safe there.
Merkel recently expressed her regret for losing control over the refugee situation in Germany, stating that she wishes she could “turn back time” to better prepare the country for the influx of migrants. Merkel’s statements come in the wake of her conservative’s party second electoral defeat within the last two weeks, as voters rejected her open-door policy towards refugees.
For more information, please see:
The Huffington Post — German Government Fears Xenophobia Will do Economic Harm — 21 September 2016
Newsweek — Far-Right Violence ‘Threatens East German Economy — 21 September 2016
VOA News — German Government Warns Against Rising Xenophobia — 21 September 2016
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Justice for the Victims of Da’esh’s Atrocities
Joint Civil Society Statement
JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIMS OF DA’ESH’S ATROCITIES
Two years ago Da’esh swept across northern Iraq and conducted a widespread and systematic campaign of mass atrocities against minority communities. Across the Nineveh Plain, Da’esh captured thousands of members of the Yazidi community and set about the summary killing of hundreds of Yazidi men. Women and girls were subjected to sexual slavery and human trafficking. Boys were separated from their families, forced to convert to Islam and sent to military training camps. Since then, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry for Syria has concluded that Da’esh’s crimes amount to genocide against the Yazidis and other minority communities.
Da’esh is still systematically carrying out a program of atrocities against religious minorities in areas under its control. An estimated 3,800 Yazidi women and children still remain captive, and recent reports suggest that up to 15,000 victims of Da’esh’s crimes may be buried in more than 70 suspected mass graves across territory previously occupied by Da’esh in Iraq and Syria. More than three million Iraqis still remain internally displaced in Iraq, and many others have become refugees.
Wherever Da’esh exports terrorism, it also exports war crimes and crimes against humanity, including to Libya and Nigeria. Da’esh’s victims in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere need to know that those committing atrocity crimes will be held criminally responsible. International justice is contagious, and accountability is one of the most effective tools for protecting human rights and preventing the recurrence of atrocities.
States have a responsibility to protect all communities from mass atrocity crimes within their borders, and the international community has an obligation to ensure that responsibility is upheld. We call upon the government of Iraq and the international community to investigate and prosecute Da’esh fighters who have perpetrated atrocity crimes and to hold to account all parties committing violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Iraq and Syria. In doing so, we also recognize that fighting terrorism and countering violent extremism should never be used as an excuse for repudiating human rights, or ignoring international law.
Finally, the UN Security Council should assist in providing justice for the victims of Da’esh’s mass atrocity crimes by working with Iraq and other states to establish a relevant mechanism of international justice.
Signed:
Amnesty International
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Yazda
War Crimes Prosecution Watch: Volume 11, Issue 14 – September 19, 2016
FREDERICK K. COX
INTERNATIONAL LAW CENTERFounder/Advisor
Michael P. ScharfWar Crimes Prosecution Watch Volume 11 – Issue 14
September 19, 2016Editor-in-Chief
Kevin J. VogelTechnical Editor-in-Chief
Jeradon Z. MuraManaging Editors
Dustin Narcisse
Victoria SarantWar Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world. To subscribe, please email warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org and type “subscribe” in the subject line.
Opinions expressed in the articles herein represent the views of their authors and are not necessarily those of the War Crimes Prosecution Watch staff, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law or Public International Law & Policy Group.
CENTRAL AFRICA
- Human Rights Watch: A Chance for UN Peacekeeping to Get It Right
- openDemocracy: Rethinking what ICC success means at the Bemba Trial
- Sudan Tribune: SPLM-N warns EU and US against funding Sudan’s militia
- Sudan Tribune: S. Sudan committed to hybrid court for war crimes: official
- BBC: South Sudan’s Kiir and Machar profited during war – report
Democratic Republic of the Congo
- International Justice Monitor: Judge Orders Legal Aid for Bemba in Witness Corruption Case
- Daily Mail: DR Congo warlord on hunger strike at war crimes trial
WEST AFRICA
- allAfrica: Mali: President Fires Defence Minister After Gunmen Seize Village
- Institute for Security Studies: A New African Force For Mali?
- The Washington Post: Gunmen Kill 3 Soldiers, Injure 2 In Central Mali ‘Ambush’
EAST AFRICA
- Christian Newswire: Liberty Counsel : Liberty Counsel Files Brief on Behalf of American Pastor in International Lawsuit
- Geeska Africa: Uganda drops charges against 17 in Muslim clerics murder trial
- AllAfrica: The Observer: Uganda: Kony Lawyer, Minister Sued Over Shs 1.2 Trillion
- AllAfrica: The Observer: Uganda: Mukulu Causes Fracas in Court to Get Transfer
- AllAfrica: The Monitor: Uganda: Museveni Orders Police Field Force Unit Out of Kampala
- All Africa: Somalia: 70,000 Refugees at Dadaab Willing to Return Somalia
- The Washington Post: Can Two Men Once Charged with War Crimes Tame Ethnic Violence in Kenya?
Rwanda (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda)
- The New Times: Rwanda: Swedish MPs Commit to Push for Arrest of Genocide Fugitives
- K93.3fm : Rwanda’s Withdrawal May Not Affect Future AfCHPR Ratifications
- Daily Nation: Repatriation threatened after Dadaab returnees are blocked in Somalia
- AllAfrica: Al Shabaab Beheads Elders in Southern Somalia
- AllAfrica: Mortar Shell Hits Near Mogadishu International Airport Ahead of IGAD Meeting
- AllAfrica: President Mohamud Launches National Strategy for Countering Violent Extremism (Cve)
- Human Rights Watch: Kenya Is Abandoning Somali Refugees
- Human Rights Watch: Five Wrongfully Detained in Somalia Now Free
NORTH AFRICA
EUROPE
Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber
- The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Indictment confirmed in the case v. Enver Buza
- The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Suspect Jasmin Viković ordered into custody
- Balkan Insight: Bosnia Arrests Six Serbs for Milici War Crimes
- The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Prohibiting measures ordered to the Suspects in the case v. Radomir Pantić et al.
- Balkan Insight: Bosnian War Rape Victims Struggle for Compensation
MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
- The New York Times: Married off by the Khmer Rouge, and ‘Nobody Could Help Me’
- The Phnom Penh Post: Former Khmer Rouge Supporter Gives Talk to Students
- Japan Times: Japanese Academic Testifies at Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia
- The Washington Post: IS car bombing kills at least 12 civilians in Iraqi capital
- Reuters: Iraq gears up for late-year push to retake Mosul from Islamic State
- ALALAM: ISIS Barbarically Executes 8 Iraqi People by Drowning inside Cage in Mosul City
- RUDAW: UPDATED: Coalition airstrike destroys ISIS chemical weapons plant near Mosul
- Xinhua: Family of 7 killed in bomb blast while fleeing IS-held town in Iraq
- Aljazeera: Syria’s war: Use of chemical gas to be investigated
- CNN: Syrian ceasefire appears to hold, but aid deliveries are on standby
- The Daily Star: Prosecutors: Hariri killing was plotted in south Beirut
- The Daily Star: STL expert witness unpacks analysis of conspiracy
- The Daily Star: STL: Defense puts forward its own theory of phones
AMERICAS
- CBC News: Trois-Rivières man deported to Ivory Coast for alleged war crimes
- Los Angeles Daily News: Genocide in Guatemala topic of USC international conference
- Truthout: Iraqi Woman Uses Chilcot Report in War Crimes Lawsuit Against George W. Bush
- Daily Mail: Ex-head of Argentina air force convicted in ‘dirty war’ case
- Colombia Reports: ICC welcomes Colombia peace deal, but urges prosecutions
- Colombia Reports: FARC leaders touring Colombia to beg forgiveness for war crimes
- AP The Big Story: UN approves Colombia peace mission
- Telesur: Historic: Peru Jails 10 Military Men for Brutal State Massacre
TOPICS
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
- The New Times: Political will, selfless leadership key to a united Africa – activists
- Vancouver Sun: B.C. First Nations, business council pledge economic support with new agreement
- The Wire: Long Road Ahead For Transitional Justice in Nepal
- The Daily News: Disappearances major topic at UNHRC sessions
- The West Australian: Police frustrated with youth crime, family dysfunction in Kalgoorlie: Gordon
- The Hindu: Kabul’s global charity attacked in ‘war crime’
- The Washington Post: Report offers new details on San Bernardino terrorist attack
- The Guadian: Sarkozy urges special courts and facilities to detain potential terrorism suspects
- Bloomberg: Facebook and Israel Agree to Tackle Terrorist Media Together
- CNN: Germany: 3 alleged ISIS members arrested in Paris attacks probe
- The Guardian: Old Bailey jury to hear secret evidence from counter-terrorism officer
- ABC News: Russia Urges Syrian Rebels to Separate From ‘Terrorists’
- NBC News: 9/11 ‘Sponsors of Terrorism’ Bill Could Fuel Extremism: Saudi Adviser
- The Economist: High-seas piracy hits a two-decade low
- BBC News: ‘Do you have an AK-47 and can you swim?’
- S&P Global Platts: Piracy ebbs in Southeast Asia waters on lower oil price, better law enforcement
- Hellenic Shipping News: Indonesia can nab pirates in Philippine waters
- Maritime Executive: Vietnam to Extradite Eight Indonesian Pirates
With Election Postponed, Violence in Kinshasa Leaves at Least 17 Dead
By Samantha Netzband
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo-17 are dead after violent clashes in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Violence broke out after current President Joseph Kabila said the government would be postponing the country’s Presidential election. The election, which was originally scheduled for later this year, will now be held in mid 2017.
Protesters yell in front of a burning car during a demonstration in Kinshasa. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian.
Opposition leaders are frustrated with the President, claiming that he is trying to stay in office even though the country’s constitution does not allow a President to be in office for three terms. President Kabila and other government officials are claiming that this is not the case. The government says that there are not enough resources to hold a fair election and the postponement is only to ensure a fair transition.
The United States and other observers are considering sanctions against the Congolese government if elections are not held as planned later this year. Barnabe Kikaya Bin Karubi, Congo’s Chief Diplomatic Adviser, is currently in the United States pleading with United States officials to not sanction the Congo’s government.
“There are two resolutions that were pending in the House to impose sanctions on Congolese officials,” Kikaya said previously. “My mission is to plead with American officials and to prove to them that sanctions are not a solution to help us resolve our problems.”
The toll of the delayed election is already being seen at home. Three police officers and fourteen protesters have been reported dead. A police officer was burned in retaliation for shooting at protesters, and one opposition leader says he saw 25 protesters gunned down by security forces. While the government reports the death toll as 17, other reports have marked the number as closer to 50.
For more information, please see:
CNBC Africa – Clashes in Kinshasa leave 17 dead – 20 September 2016
The Guardian – Clashes in Kinshasa leave 50 dead, say DRC opposition groups – 20 September 2016