Sheikha Fatima Fund for Refugee Women Launched in the UAE

Sheikha Fatima Fund for Refugee Women Launched in the UAE

By Nykoel Dinardo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) announced yesterday that it will be partnering with the United Arab Emirates Red Crescent Authority (RCA) to launch a major fund raising campaign.  The campaign will be based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under the guidance of Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, widow of the UAE’s founder and the president of the UAE Women’s Association.  The money raised will go into the Sheikha Fatima Fund for Refugee Women and the UNHCR and RCA will direct it to projects related to refugee women and children.

The fund was created in 2003, when the former first-lady donated approximately $540,000 (US). However, it had difficulty getting off the ground when the UNHCR office in the UAE closed. 

Aimed to draw attention to the situation of refugee women and children, the campaign will last 90 days.  Its launch was scheduled during the month of Ramadan, a time when charitable giving is strongly encouraged throughout the Islamic world.  The campaign includes lectures and other events with civil society organizations, schools and the private sector.  There will also be mock refugee stations set up in malls, a poster campaign, and radio and television advertisements.  It is hoped that entrepreneurs and corporate leaders will take the most active roles.

The money raised during the campaign will help provide basic medical services, shelter, food and education to refugees from regions such as Afghanistan, Somalia, Georgia, and Iraq.  The Fund will target women and children specifically as beneficiaries.  It has already contributed to projects including the donation of sewing machines to women in Afghanistan, and a vocational education project in Yemen.  There are also plans to set up classes for children with special needs in the Lahaj district of Yemen. 

Hamdi Bukhari, the UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries, explained that women and children make up over 60 percent of refugees worldwide.  He stated that this campaign is the first in a series of initiatives in the upcoming months. 

For more information, please see:

Khaleej Times – Shaikha Fatima Fund to Help Refugee Women, Children – 16 September 2008

The National – Fatima’s Fund for Refugees Relaunched – 16 September 2008

NDTV Arabia – New UAE Fund to Help Refugee Women, Kids – 16 September 2008

ReliefWeb – Fundraising Campaign Launched in Abu Dhabi – 16 September 2008

UNHCR – Fundraising Campaign Launched in Abu Dhabi – 16 September 2008

BRIEF: Solomon Islands Media Argue Freedom of Press

HONIARA, Solomon Islands – The press is lashing back after the Solomon Islands Government reportedly told journalists the manner and extent to which they would be allowed to cover this month’s Constitutional Congress meetings.

Acting through the Constitutional Reform Unit, the Government issued a letter to the press outlining new restrictions and guidelines the media was to follow. Upon receipt of the letter, the Media Association of Solomon Islands met to discuss the possible ramifications of signing the document.

MASI believes that the Government has issued these new restrictions in order to gain control over how actions of the Congress are reported to the public. The media body also condemns these restrictions as a violation of the public’s right to freedom of the press.

John Lamani, MASI’s president, says that the Government’s demands are “unprecedented, outrageous, unacceptable, and naive,” reports Radio New Zealand International.

Mr. Lamani is confident that the press will ignore the Government’s demands. According to Mr. Lamani, signing such a document would give the Government “sweeping powers” over what can and cannot be reported.

MASI has demanded that the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet investigate the situation and call on the Constitutional Reform Unit to take back their demands.

For more information, please see:
Solomon Times Online –  MASI Rejects Constitutional Congress Reporting Restrictions – 18 September 2008

Radio New Zealand International – Solomon Islands media angry at Government attempt to control reporting of Constitutional Congress – 17 September 2008

A Tibetan Monk Tells of Interrogations and Abuse in Chinese Prison

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – A Tibetan Buddhist monk, who identified himself as Jigme, went into hiding after Chinese security agents visited his home last week.  According to Jigme, he was detained on March 21 and accused of participating in this spring’s uprising against Chinese rule across Tibet.  He said that he was questioned and abused for two days at the People’s Armed Police guesthouse in the Gansu province town of Xiahe.  “They hung me up by my hands and beat me hard all over with their fists,” Jigme told the AP by phone Friday.  Similar treatment was meted out to other Tibetan prisoners, while family members were refused permission to bring them additional food and warm clothing, he says.  After several weeks of interrogation and abuse, he was released for medical reasons.  Jigme states that he took no part in the violent protests that followed deadly rioting in Tibet’s capital of Lhasa on March 14.

According to Jigme, political indoctrination campaigns had intensified in Tibet.  Monks are forced to attend twice-weekly “patriotic education” classes where they are told to shun all contact with the Dalai Lama and his followers.  The Dalai Lama is accused by China of fomenting the spring protests.
A police officer contacted by phone in Xiahe, who gave only his surname, Liu, said he had no information about Jigme’s case. Officials at the Communist Party management committee also said they had no knowledge of such a case and refused to give their names, making Jigme’s claims impossible to verify.  However, the basic facts of his story correspond with testimony given by monks and nuns detained in previous campaigns and widely reported by credible overseas human rights groups.

Furthermore, Reporters Without Borders calls on the Chinese authorities to release Dhondup Wangchen, and Jigme Gyatso. They have been detained since March 2008 for filming interviews with Tibetans.  Neither of their families has had any news of them for the past five and a half months.  The film produced by Wangchen and Gyatso is a 25-minute documentary entitled Leaving Fear Behind (www.leavingfearbehind.com).  It shows Tibetans in the Amdo region expressing their views on the Dalai Lama, the Olympic Games, and Chinese legislation.

For more information, please see:

AP – Tibet monk in hiding tells of interrogation, abuse – 14 September 2008

Reporters without Borders – Two Tibetan documentary filmmakers held for past six months in Tibet – 16 September 2008

Voice of America – Report: Tibetan Monk in Hiding from Chinese – 15 September 2008

Malaysian Government Silences Critics with Arrests

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Malaysian authorities arrested three persons under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows the government to hold them indefinitely without a trial.

All three were accused of inflaming racial and religious tensions. The three persons included Teresa Kok, a member of Parliament; Tan Hoon Cheng, a journalist; and Raja Petra Kamaruddin, a prominent blogger.

There have been several accusations that the arrests are an attempt to keep the present government in power. The opposition has threatened to bring down the present government by persuading parliamentarians to defect. Last March, the opposition received historic levels of support in a general election. With the election, the government’s ability to change the constitution was removed. .

In response to the arrests, a senior opposition politician Lim Guan Eng said, “The government must be deluded if they think that they can break us because we will not be broken, we will not be bent.”

There have been several protests since the ISA arrests, but police have broken up several demonstrations. However, 400 persons were able to hold a vigil near the capital for Teresa Kok. Protestors lit candles and prayed for the jailed Parliament member. Many shouted, “Free Teresa” and “Abolish the ISA.” A protestor at the vigil said, “I think they are panicking for whatever they are doing now, they are running out of options, and they are trying whatever way that they can to maintain their power.”

Opposition members fear a repeat of the arrests of 1987, where almost 120 activists, politicians, and journalists were charged under the ISA after the then Prime Minster Mahathir Mohamad blamed the media for playing up racial issues.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Malaysian Arrests Draw Protests – 13 September 2008

Reuters – Malaysia’s Anwar Hits Out at Political Arrests – 13 September 2008

Reporters Without Borders – Use of Internal Security Law is Serious Press Violation, Interior Minister Told – 16 September 2008

HRW Calls for Global Ban on Juvenile Executions

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

NEW YORK CITY, United States – On September 10, Human Rights Watch released a report, “The Last Holdouts: Ending the Juvenile Death Penalty.”  In the report, HRW renewed its call for a global ban against the practice of executing individuals for crimes committed as minors.  The report noted that only five states account for all of the juvenile executions since 2005: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Yemen.

The report states that Iran has executed 26 juvenile offenders since 2005.  So far, in 2008, Iran has executed six child offenders; including Behnam Zare on August 26 and Seyyed Reza Hejazi on August 19.  In addition to the six individuals executed, there are at least 130 others who are awaiting execution. 

The report also states that two juvenile offenders were executed in Saudi Arabia since 2005: Dhahiyan bin Rakan bin Sa`d al-Thawri al-Sibai`i on July 21, 2007, and Mu`id bin Husayn bin Abu al-Qasim bin `Ali Hakami on July 10, 2007. 

Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are members to the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights.  Both international treaties expressly prohibit the execution of individuals for crimes committed before the age of 18.  In addition, in 1994, the UN Human Rights Committee stated that it considered the prohibition against juvenile execution to be a part of international customary law. 

However, Article 7(1) of the 2004 Arab Human Rights Charter states “Sentence of death shall not be imposed on persons under 18 years of age, unless otherwise stipulated in the laws in force at the time of the commission of the crime.”  Both Iran and Saudi Arabia have laws which permit judges to impose the death penalty on child offenders.

In Iran, judges are permitted to impose the death penalty on individuals who have reached the age of majority (9 years old for girls and 15 years old for boys).  In Saudi Arabia judges have discretion to impose the death penalty on offenders who have reached puberty or who are 15 years old or older, whichever is first. 

The juvenile death penalty is outlawed in Yemen, but because birth registration levels were low young offenders can have trouble proving their age and are often treated as adults. Yemen last executed a juvenile offender in February 2007.  Adil Muhammad Saif al-Ma’amari was executed despite claiming that he was only 16 years old when the crime occurred and that he had been tortured to confess.   

For more information, please see:

News Yemen – UN holds Yemen, KSA, Iran, Pakistan Responsible for Juvenile Executions – 15 September 2008 

Human Rights Watch – The Last Holdouts, Ending the Juvenile Death Penalty in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan and Yemen – 10 September 2008 

Human Rights Watch – UN: Five Countries Responsible for ALL Executions of Juvenile Offenders – 10 September 2008 

Reuters – Iran Accounts for Most Juvenile Executions-Report – 10 September 2008