News

53 Charged After Celebrating Gay Wedding in Nigeria

April 28, 2017

By Samantha Netzband

Impunity Watch, Africa Desk Reporter

LAGOS, Nigeria– 53 men have been arrested in the Nigerian state of Kaduna after celebrating a gay wedding. The group was charged with conspiracy, unlawful association, and unlawful society. Currently homosexual acts are illegal in Nigeria. If caught for performing homosexual acts one can face up to 14 years in prison.

Kenyan gay and lesbian organizations demonstrate outside the Nigerian High Commission in Nairobi on February 7, 2014. (Photo Courtesy of NBC News)

Upon being charged the group plead not guilty to the charges of conspiracy, unlawful assembly, and unlawful society. The groups defense lawyer, Yunusa Umar, claims that the group was illegally detained for 24 hours. He also said that most of the group is students. Gay rights group claim that the group was celebrating a birthday rather than a wedding. Maria Sjodin, deputy executive director of LGBTQ advocacy group OutRight Action International, said she believes the gay wedding story is just an “excuse” and part of the police’s attempt to “crackdown on an emerging LGBTQ movement” in Nigeria.

Homosexual acts were made illegal in Nigeria in 2014. The creation of this law came from the two conservative parts of the country: evangelical Christianity in the South and Islam in the North. Human Rights Watch and other rights group claim that the law was also created to legitimize abuse in the LGBT community. “Extortion, mob violence, arbitrary arrest, torture in detention, and physical and sexual violence” are common against people suspected of homosexual activities, Human Rights Watch said in a 2016 report. The country also bans gay marriage.

Currently the group is out of jail on bail pending a hearing on May 8th.

For more information, please see:

BBC Africa – Nigeria ‘gay wedding’ bust leads to charges – 20 April 2017

Deutsche Welle – Nigeria arrests 53 over Gay Wedding – 20 April 2017

The Journal – Nigeria charges 53 men with conspiracy to organise a gay wedding – 20 April 2017

NBC News – 53 Arrested in Nigeria for Celebrating Gay Wedding, Police Say – 20 April 2017

Human Rights Organizations Warn Against Vietnam’s Human Rights Offenses

April 26, 2017

By: Nicole Hoerold
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HANOI, Vietnam – The Vietnamese government is receiving international criticism for its human rights offenses. According to a study which measures global levels of human rights offenses, Vietnam is considered one of the world’s most authoritarian police states. Activists are concerned that too little attention is paid to the human rights abuses in Vietnam, despite the fact that its neighboring states are often criticized for their offenses.

Protesters hold signs calling for justice in the trials of dissident blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh and land protection activist Can Thi Theu in Hanoi, Vietnam in September 2016. Photo courtesy of Reuters.

One major human rights offense propagated by the Vietnamese government is the imprisonment of anyone voicing political opposition to the communist state. Amnesty International reports that Vietnam detained 91 prisoners for their political beliefs in 2016, eight of which were journalists.

Amnesty International has also called attention to Vietnam’s execution rate, as it is the third largest executioner over the last three years. The government executed 429 people between August 2013 and June 2016, the human rights organization reported. The high death toll raises questions about the victim’s cases, legal proceedings, as well as the nature of their crimes. The government, however, has yet to release answers to such probes.

Vietnam is a communist country, so the government is able to control much of society, culture, and political philosophy. Recently, citizens have begun to act out in protest against the government and in favor of more rights and liberties. Villagers in a Hanoi suburb are holding twelve police officers and more than a dozen others hostage over a land dispute. The government attempted to seize land for official use, but villagers were unhappy with the stipend they were paid in turn. Activists are applauding the effort and encourage more to speak out against oppressive state action.

For more information, please see:

The Diplomat – Vietnam’s Quiet Human Rights Crisis – 17 April, 2017

Foreign Policy – This Village In Vietnam Is Holding A Dozen Police Officers Hostage – 17 April, 2017

Asian Correspondent – Vietnam’s ‘conveyer belt of executions’ condemned by human rights watchdog – 11 April, 2017

Radio Free Asia – Detained Vietnamese Human Rights Attorney to Receive Award For His Work – 4 April, 2017

U.N. Peacekeepers Ran Sex-Ring in Haiti

April 24, 2017

By Sarah Lafen
Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, North America

Port-au-Prince, HAITI — Over 100 U.N. Peacekeepers stationed in Haiti are implicated in a child sex ring. According to an investigation which focused on the presence of the Peacekeepers across the world over the past 12 years, over 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse by Peacekeepers were reported. From 2004 to 2007 in Haiti, over 134 Sri Lankan Peacekeepers exploited an average of nine children per day. While 144 Peacekeepers were sent home after an internal U.N. report on the abuse, none have been sent to jail.

A woman who was raped and impregnated by a Peacekeeper wipes her tears during an interview (Photo Courtesy of AP).

One teenage Haitian boy said he was gang-raped in 2011 by Uruguayan Peacekeepers who filmed the assault on a cell phone. The report also revealed that dozens of Haitian women were also raped, while dozens of others engaged in “survival sex” with the Peacekeepers. One victim girl told U.N. investigators that from ages 12-15 she had sex with about 50 Peacekeepers, including a “Commandant” who paid her 75 cents.

Haitian lawyer Mario Joseph is working towards getting compensation for victims of a cholera outbreak, which has been linked to Nepalese Peacekeepers, that killed an estimated 10,000 people. Joseph is also trying to get child support for a dozen Haitian women who were impregnated by Peacekeepers. Joseph asked people to “Imagine if the U.N. was going to the United States and raping children and bringing cholera,” noting that “[h]uman rights aren’t just for rich white people.”

U.S. Senator Bob Corker agreed with Joseph, and recalled his own disgust at the hearing of the U.N. sexual abuse cases uncovered last year in Africa. Corker commented that “If [he] heard that a U.N. peacekeeping mission was coming near [his] home in Chattanooga, [he would] be on the first plane out of here to go back and protect [his] family.”

This past March, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced several new measures to help combat sexual abuse by Peacekeepers. However, the report had little impact and never materialized.

This sex-ring scandal comes on the heels of the April 13th vote by the U.N. Security Council to end the Peacekeeping mission in Haiti. On the same day, Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., mentioned the scandal in her remarks to the U.N. Haley asked “[w]hat do we say to these kids? Did these peacekeepers keep them safe?”

The U.N. has no jurisdiction over Peacekeepers, which means the countries who provide the troops are left responsible for their punishment.

For more information, please see:

Telesur — UN Peacekeepers Gave Haitian Kids Snacks to be Part of Sex Ring — 15 April 2017

Foreign Policy — U.N. Peacekeepers Ran a Child Sex Ring in Haiti — 14 April 2017

Independent — UN Peacekeepers in Haiti Implicated in Child Sex Ring — 14 April 2017

Associated Press — AP Exclusive: UN Child Sex Ring Left Victims but no Arrests –12 April 2017

U.S. Troops Deployed to Somalia to Fight Al Shabaab

April 23, 2017

By Samantha Netzband

Impunity Watch, Africa Desk Reporter

MOGADISHU, Somalia– For the first time since 1994, U.S. troops are being deployed to Somalia to help fight Al Shabab. In 1993 during the Battle of Mogadishu 18 U.S. Special Forces personnel were killed and the U.S. withdrew troops fully in 1994. After the incident the U.S. has been involved in the country’s affairs, but hasn’t had troops in the country.

AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) peacekeepers march near the outskirts of Mogadishu. (Photo Courtesy of VOA)

The U.S. deployment of troops to Somalia shows how the fight against Al Shabab has intensified. Currently AMISOM peacekeepers are doing the best they can to fight the terrorist group, but U.S. troops will be able to train more peacekeepers and give training guidance. Al Shabab is an affiliate of Al Qaeda and has a strong presence in much of the rural part of Somalia. The group has staged terrorist attacks in the capital city of Mogadishu.

The U.S. troops will be deployed until September and will work alongside forces from the United Kingdom and Turkey to train AMISOM forces. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, the division deployed to Somalia, says the command will be working “inside Somalia’s borders” at the invitation of its government. Other details were not made clear.

The U.S. intervention comes at a time when Somalia is also dealing with a record drought and humanitarian crisis. Thousands are starving in Africa because of the drought and humanitarian assistance is needed from Somalia to Zimbabwe.

For more information, please see:

BBC Africa – US Troops to help Somalia Fight Al Shabab – 14 April 2017

CNN – U.S. Sending Dozens More Troops to Somalia – 14 April 2017

Military Times – The Pentagon sends dozens of troops to Somalia as fight with al Shabab intenstifies – 14 April 2017

VOA – Dozens More U.S. Troops Deployed to Somalia – 14 April 2017

Two Men Face Caning for Gay Sex in Indonesia

April 22, 2017

By: Nicole Hoerold
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

Human Rights watch has called on the Indonesian government to immediately and unconditionally release two men detained in Aceh province under a local ordinance that criminalizes homosexuality. On March 28, 2017, unidentified vigilantes forcibly entered a home and brought two men therein to the police on allegations of homosexual relations. The two men have been detained under Islamic Sharia law in Banda Aceh, the capital of the province.

A Sharia law official whips a man convicted of adultery with a cane in Banda Aceh, Indonesia in March 2017. Photo courtesy of AP.

The chief investigator at the facility indicated that both men have confessed to being gay and have been detained for sentencing. Under Islamic Criminal Code, the two men face up to 100 lashes for their behavior. This form of punishment constitutes torture under international human rights law.

Aceh’s Sharia law has been vehemently enforced, and the province’s police have previously detained lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual people. In October 2015, Sharia police arrested two teenage girls on suspicion of being lesbians for embracing in public. Aceh’s parliament has gradually adopted stringent Sharia-inspired ordinances that criminalize activity like a woman’s failure to wear a hijab, gambling, alcohol, and extramarital sexual relations, all of which can be legally enforced against non-Muslims.

Aceh is the only one of Indonesia’s 34 provinces that may adopt bylaws derived from Sharia law. Under Indonesian federal law, the national home affairs minister has the authority to review and repeal such local bylaws. However, in June 2016, the Minister backtracked on his announced commitment to abolish any forms of Sharia law in the county.

Though international media and human rights organizations are speaking out against the government on this issue, Indonesian officials have yet to act on the matter.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Indonesia: Release Gay Men at Risk of Torture – 9 April, 2017

ABC News – 2 men in Indonesia’s Aceh province face caning for gay sex – 8 April, 2017

The Guardian – Indonesia: gay men facing 100 lashes for having sex – 11 April, 2017

Deutsche Welle – Two men may get 100 lashes after gay sex in Indonesia – 8 April, 2017