United States to Prosecute Child Soldier

February 13, 2010

By Stephen Kopko

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen accused of murdering United States military personnel in Afghanistan, is set to stand trial in July. Khadr is one of the six Guantanamo Bay detainees being prosecuted in front of United States military commissions. Controversy surrounds the trial of Khadr. He was fifteen years old at the time that he allegedly committed the murder. Therefore, some human rights groups as well as the United Nations believe that he should not be prosecuted for the murder because he was indoctrinated as a child soldier.

The United States will prosecute Khadr for the murder of a United States Special Forces soldier. In 2002 United States military forces engaged in hostilities with extremists in eastern Afghanistan. After the military excursion ended, soldiers approached and destroyed a compound where the extremists were hiding. As they were approaching the compound, someone from inside threw a grenade at the soldiers. The explosion from the grenade resulted in the death of one soldier and blinded another. Khadr was the only person that was found inside the compound. He was arrested and eventually became a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. At the time of the incident, Khadr was fifteen years old.

The Obama Administration has been criticized for prosecuting Khadr. United Nations officials, human rights advocates, and Khadr’s lawyers believe that Khadr was a child soldier at the time the incident happened and should not be prosecuted. At the age of ten, Khadr moved to Afghanistan with his family. His father became apart of Osama bin Laden’s organization. Therefore, Khadr became indoctrinated with bin Laden’s message and mission at a young age and became a child soldier. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the United Nations Special Representative for children in armed conflict stated that “the U.N position is that children should not be prosecuted for war crimes.” Also, there has been allegations that Khadr was tortured as a prisoner at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay.

The United States will try Khadr for his actions in July. According to the senior prosecutor of the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Captain John Murphy, Khadr’s background will be taken into consideration by the commission in determining his guilt or innocence. He stated that “even in our traditional court system, we try fifteen year olds, and we try them as adults.”

Despite the arguments against prosecuting child soldiers, there is no United States or international law prohibiting their prosecution. Nevertheless, past war crimes tribunals have set the precedent of not trying child soldiers. Professor Michael Newton of the Vanderbilt University stated that the consensus in the international legal community is not to prosecute child soldiers.

For more information, please see:

MSNBC–U.S. trial of ex-boy solider raises fierce debate–10 February 2010

CBC News–Omar Khadr: Coming of age in a Guantanamo Bay jail cell–23 June 2009

Humans Rights Watch–The Omar Khadr Case: A Teenager Imprisoned at Guantanamo–June 2007

Ivory Coast President Dissolves Government

February 13, 2010

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – On Saturday the Ivory Coast opposition declared it will no longer support Laurent Gbagbo as president because he dissolved the government and electoral commission.

A spokeswoman for the opposition said the dissolution of the government on Friday night is the first step towards dictatorship which cannot be allowed to establish itself.

Neutral parties have also condemned the government dissolution. “It runs in the fact of all the peace accords we’ve signed since 2004 . . . that today the president thinks he has the power to do this gives the impression that we’ve gone back twenty years into the past. ” said party secretary general Francois Kouablan.

Because of the oppositions refusal to support Gbagbo, the anticipated elections will be delayed further. Gbagbo’s presidential term expired five years ago. Since then, a date for elections has been set, and then canceled, every year since 2005.

“We want to have the elections as quickly as possible, but first we’re going to have to fix the rolls,” said FPI election coordinator Martin Sokouri Bohui.

Tensions arose this past week after Gbagbo’s party accused the head of the independent election commission for attempting to add around 500,000 illegitimate voters into the rolls. Accusations are coming from both sides as the opposition has accused the ruling party of trying to disqualify voters who were not allied with Gbagbo

At least a quarter of the nation’s twenty million people have been disqualified from voting based on the electoral law’s convoluted definition for determining eligibility, stoking the tension.

This anticipated election is aimed at ending the crisis that began with the attempted coup against Gbagbo in September 2002, which left the country split between the rebel-held north, which is mainly Muslim, and the government controlled south, which is mainly Christian.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Ivory Coast President Dissolves Government – 13 February 2010

AP – Ivory Coast Opposition Won’t Support President – 13 February 2010

VOA – Ivory Coast President Dissolves Government – 13 February 2010

Reuters – Ivory Coast’s President Dissolves Government – 12 February 2010

Fiji Defends Its Human Rights Record, Responds to Critics

February 13, 2010

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji responded to criticism of its human rights council at a United Nations conference in Geneva.

Several countries have expressed concern for the situation in Fiji, in particular the actions taken by the interim government in regard to human rights.

The UN review panel, which included New Zealand and Australia, claimed that Fiji misrepresented its human rights record, while Fiji, on the other hand, stated that its accusers have also been criticized for human rights violations.

Fiji claimed that it had accurately portrayed its domestic situation to the UN Human Rights Council.

Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, Fiji’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, stated that “these sorts of criticism are not reserved for Fiji” at these conferences.

Fiji’s delegation at the UN council meeting was led by Peceli Vocea, who is also Fiji’s permanent representative to the European Union.

Vocea spoke positively about Fiji and the interim government’s plans for the future, welcoming the UN’s recommendations for improving human rights.

“Fiji will employ the outcome of this process as a benchmark for future human rights reporting and express the commitment that in areas found wanting, it will be improved upon in future reviews.”

The representative stated that Fiji would continue with its “roadmap for democracy”. He also claimed that former President Josefa Iloilo, who was in office at the time Fiji’s Constitution was annulled, called for elections by September 2014 at the latest.

Further, Vocea indicated that discussions about a new constitution would begin by September 2012 and that Fiji would have a new constitution the following year.

He also told the UN council that although Fijians have a right to freedom of speech, the government placed “limits” on the media in light of national security interests. Vocea also noted that the Public Emergency Regulations implemented by the interim government are not permanent and will soon be lifted.

Various reports indicate that interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama intends to retire as military commander after Fiji holds elections in 2014. However, a spokesman for the Prime Minister stated this is not the case and that Bainimarama would run for the position if the people wanted him to do so.

For more information please see:
Radio Australia News – Fiji replies to UN rights accusers – 12 February 2010

Radio Australia – Fiji PM will not stand down as military commander – 12 February 2010

Radio New Zealand International – Fiji promises improvements in human rights – 12 February 2010

Sydney Morning Herald – Fiji dismisses pressure for elections – 11 February 2010

Police Violence in Rio Slums

February 13, 2010

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

RIO DE JANIERO, Brazil-Brazil’s police are being criticized for their response to a violent incident in a slum that left eight people dead. During a routine patrol in the city’s northern zone the police called in reinforcements after they came under fire.

The police response led to what is considered to be one of the worst outbreaks of violence since October, when drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter. Forty people were killed in the police response. Brazil’s bid for the 2016 Olympics was accepted just one week later.

The state governor ordered a police crackdown on gangs in the slums in mid-2007. Officers are accused of heavy handed tactics and of fueling the violence by forming off-duty vigilante squads that extort slum residents. The United Nations and human rights groups criticized Brazil’s aggressive policing.

Three people are killed in Brazil’s slums each day on average. Officials defend their methods, arguing that they are going up against heavily armed gangs with assault rifles, grenades, and even anti-aircraft weapons. Last week, police found the body of the leader of a local non-profit organization that offers young people living in the slum theater training. Fred Pinheiro’s throat was slit and he had been missing for two days.

In the past nine years, 10,216 people have been killed in police clashes in Rio. The majority took place in the city’s nine hundred and eighty slums.

For more information, please see:

AP-Shootout in Rio Slum Ahead of Carnival; 8 Dead-11 February 2010

The Washington Post-Eight Killed in Pre-Carnival Violence-11 February 2010

AFP-Eight Dead in Police Clash with Drug Gang in Rio Slang: Officials-11 February 2010

Dissident in China is Denied Appeal

February 13, 2010

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – One of China’s best known and well-respected democracy advocates, Liu Xiabo, was turned down again by a court in Beijing in an appeal after being sentenced to eleven years in prison.

Human Rights advocates have spoken out that the Beijing Municipal Higher People’s Court convicted Liu, and sentenced him with an unusually harsh sentence. Many believe that he received such a sentence because he not only played a key role in organizing Charter 08 – a petition for political freedom and an end to the ruling Communist party’s monopoly of power. The online petition has garnered thousands of signatures since it was released just over a year ago. Many believe, however, that Liu’s status as a scholar and his academic background are the real reasons he was convicted of “inciting subversion of state power,” say human rights activists.

According to Amnesty International, several Beijing human rights activists were placed under surveillance following the decision on Liu’s appeal. “By upholding the verdict, the court missed an opportunity to right the wrong,” said Roseann Rife, the deputy director for Asia and the Pacific at Amnesty International. “His harsh sentence is a stark reminder to the Chinese people and the world that there is still no freedom of expression or independent judiciary in China.”

Human Rights activists, however, are not the only voices speaking out against the decision, Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., United States ambassador to China, uttered his concerns. Huntsman denounced Liu’s verdict, stating, “We believe that he should not have been sentenced in the first place and should be released immediately.”

About twenty other foreign diplomats showed their support for Liu by appearing outside the court. A statement from the European Union declared that the decision “is entirely incompatible with his right to freedom of expression.”

The denial of Liu’s appeal is not the only hard-line decision recently issued by Chinese officials. In the same week, one human rights activist in Sichuan was sentenced to five years in jail for having publicly blamed the earthquake deaths of thousands of children on shoddily built schools, another who had helped distraught parents planning to sue the authorities had his appeal against a three-year prison term turned down, and a young factory worker who said he had joined a banned political party because he did not like the Communist party’s abuse of power was found guilty of subversion by a court in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen and sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Many fear the string of convictions and harsh sentencing to continue for activists, but human rights advocates are speaking out and attempting to reform China’s severe treatment.

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Chinese Court Denies Appeal by Jailed Activist – 12 February 2010

Wall Street Journal – China Sentences Earthquake Activist – 10 February 2010

The Guardian – Chinese dissident’s appeal rejected – 11 February 2010