Bahrain Threatens Legal Action Against Human Rights Activists

Bahrain Threatens Legal Action Against Human Rights Activists

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

MANAMA, Bahrain – Representatives of the Bahrain government reported Thursday that as many as 75 foreign human rights activists will be subject to legal action.  The government charges that these activists received “unauthorized training” from human rights groups in the country.  Officials declared these activists to be persona non grata, meaning “an unwelcome person,” and may seek to expel them from the Kingdom.  This is just the latest move in an intense country-wide security crackdown sponsored by the government in the run up to the parliamentary elections on October 13th. 

Government Cracks Down on Human Rights Activists (Photo Courtesy of Bahrain Human Rights Society)
Government Cracks Down on Human Rights Activists (Photo Courtesy of Bahrain Human Rights Society)

The government contends that the Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS), the country’s first human rights non-governmental organization, unlawfully offered training to human rights activists within the region.  BHRS hosts regional training sessions for those interest in monitoring human rights violations by government actors.  During these sessions, activists are taught how to monitor unlawful detentions and the principles of international law regarding detentions.   In 2009 BHRS conducted training sessions in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain.  

Earlier this month, the government took over BHRS in order to quell potential opposition to the country’s leadership.  BHRS members were prohibited from commenting about Thursday’s allegations however, one member told the press that the group had always operated transparently.  Amnesty International has urged the government to rescind its decision to exercise control over BHRS, claiming that it “undermines the basic rights to freedom of expression and association.”  Responding to opposition, Government officials stated that it continues to welcome “all citizens of brotherly and friendly countries” as long as they do not “carry out wrongdoings that (are) detrimental to the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

Critics contend that the government’s recent security operations are designed primarily to disenfranchise the country’s minority Shia population in order to ensure Sunni dominance in the parliament.  International watchdog groups continue to pressure Bahrain to improve its poor human rights record and fear that political conflict may be a catalyst for a human rights crisis.  Just last month over 250 activists were detained by authorities and reports indicate that some detainees may have been tortured.  The government also continues its campaign to shut down media outlets reporting on security crackdowns.   

As the election draws near, one can only wonder if it will reinvigorate Bahrain’s democracy or whether the country will continue to spiral into authoritarian rule.  

To read press releases and statements issued by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Federation for Human Rights click here. 

For more information, please see:

Counterpunch – Constitutional Monarchy or Police State: A Blurred Line in Bahrain – 24 Sept. 2010

Deutsche Presse-Agentur – Bahrain Declares Activists Persona Non Grata – 24 Sept. 2010

Bahrain News Agency – Interior Ministry to Take Action Against Illegal Trainees – 23 Sept. 2010

Commonwealth Games: Reported Child Labor Laws Broken in India

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India –“Not just kids playing in the dirt or using a hammer as a toy”, Harvard fellow and trafficking expert Siddharth Kara told Becky Anderson of CNN.

Children are working for as little as three dollars a day on Commonwealth Games construction sites in Delhi.
Children are working for as little as three dollars a day on Commonwealth Games construction sites in Delhi.

As the Commonwealth games approach, the Indian government has been marred by construction delays, corruption scandals, a fever outbreak due to sweltering temperatures, the failure of a footbridge near the main stadium and security concern after last weekend’s shooting where two tourists outside Delhi’s Jama Masjid mosque, reported John Coats of the BBC

New evidence has surfaced showing children from age seven being used in the preparation stage of building.

In the exclusive interview with CNN International, Harvard fellow and trafficking expert Siddharth Kara reported that child labor was a widespread and well known issue in New Delhi. He also stated that he tried numerous attempts to contact the Dehli department of labor, with no success.

In a few day of observation Kara documented 32 cases of forced labor and 14 cases of child labor, all for production interconnected with the Commonwealth Games.

Kara, a renowned expert on the subject of human trafficking, also outlined the harsh conditions these children were forced to work under. “The children I saw were the ones where I felt I had documented child labor — where children were working, picking up hammers, banging stones, paving entry ways and planting grass along the roads to beautify them, hours and hours at a time. I documented children aged seven, eight, nine, ten years old working alongside their families in this mad rush to get the construction completed.”

Kara reported that, “[t]he conditions are sub-human and that’s really the only word I can apply,”…”[t]hey live in the dirt, they go to the toilet behind bushes and trees …[t]he children, especially the young ones, don’t have a sense of what’s going on. They’re told to do the work and they just do the work. They don’t know that they should be in school or that they should be playing.” 

Several Indian unions have launched attacks against the government in effort to stop the dangerous labor practices done in preparation for the Games. Many of the same Indian unions have ruled out claims about child labor being used at the construction sites.

Based on government figures there is an estimated 13 million child laborers currently in India. Earlier this week Thursday, as part of an international commitment to eliminate child labor, India announced it had prepared a roadmap to eliminate the worst forms of “bonded labor, hazardous work, drugs, prostitution, trafficking by 2016”.

The Australian Olympic committee President John Coates, expressed on the Australian radio Friday that, “the Games shouldn’t have been awarded to New Dehi”. And due to an under resourced Federation, they don’t have the man power to monitor progress.

Athletes have withdrawn their Commonwealth participation because of health and safety concerns. Notable athletes include Australian world discus champion Dani Samuels and English world triple jump champion Phillips Idowu.

Delhi has had seven years to prepare, though very little work was done until 2008.

For more information, please see:

TIME – Let the Games Not Begin – 24 September 2010

CNN – Hard Evidence of Child Labor at 2010 Commonwealth Games – 24 September 2010

BBC – Games should not have gone to Delhi, says Australia – 24 September 2010

AFP- CGames: Child Labor Help ‘beautify’ Dehhi streets – 24 September 2010

Former Guatemalan Soldier Receives Maximum Sentence For Role in 1982 Massacre

By Erica Laster

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

FORT LAUDERDALE, United States – Former Guatemalan soldier Gilberto Jordan received the maximum sentence possible for lying on United States citizenship forms and was sentenced to 10 years in U.S. prison by a federal court in Florida last Thursday.  Prosecutors say that the 54 year-old pled guilty to taking part in the 1982 massacre of men, women and children in the Guatemalan village of Dos Erres.  Jordan acknowledged that he personally was also involved in throwing an infant down a well.   Allegedly, around 162 people were killed by gunfire or by being hit with sledgehammers.

Gilberto Jordan, a 54 year-old Ex-Guatemalan Soldier receives the maximum sentence for falsifying citizenship forms after admitting to his role in the 1982 massacre of men women and children in Dos Erres in Guatemala. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.
Gilberto Jordan, a 54 year-old Ex-Guatemalan Soldier receives the maximum sentence for falsifying citizenship forms after admitting to his role in the 1982 massacre of men, women and children in Dos Erres in Guatemala. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

“He never should have been allowed to live here peacefully for many years,” said U.S. Department of Justice senior trial attorney Hillary Davidson.  As a sergeant in an elite infantry unit known as the Kabildes , Jordan’s group was responsible for the control of opposition groups that rejected the military government currently in power in 1982.   The Guatemalan civil war lasted for decades before ending in 1996, claiming over 200,000 lives. 

At trial, Jordan insisted that the killings were committed out of duress, fearful for his own life after being told to follow orders or risk death as well.  He later asked for forgiveness for his actions in brief comments to the judge.  

Jordan was quoted as saying, “This is an incident in my life that I never expected to happen.”

Jordan illegally entered the United States in 1985, settling in Boca Raton, Florida.  Since 2004, he worked at a country club as a cook until his May arrest by U.S. agents. 14 arrest warrants have been issued for other suspects including 3 more awaiting trial for the Dos Erres Massacre.

District Court Judge William Zloch refused leniency and rather than impose the minimum 6 month sentence for lying on citizenship forms, gave Jordan the maximum 10 year sentence.  Judge Zloch commented that Jordan attempted to hide “his background as a mass murder,” indicating that “Anything less would be totally inadequate as just punishment for this crime and its accompanying heinous acts.”  

Jordan’s citizenship has been revoked and he will face prosecution for his crimes in Guatemala upon completion of his ten year sentence.

For More Information Please See:

Associated Press – Ex-Guatemalan Soldier Gets 10 Years In US Prison – 16 September 2010

Reuters – Ex-Guatemalan Soldier Gets Maximum Prison Term – 16 September 2010 

CBS News – US Seeks Max Sentence For Ex-Guatemalan Soldier – 15 September 2010

 

“Welcome” Raid Kills FARC Commander

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America 

The legendary commander, seen here in 2001. (Photo courtesy of Voice of America)
The legendary commander, seen here in 2001. (Photo courtesy of Voice of America)

 BOGOTA, Colombia—Colombia has reported that security forces have killed a legendary FARC military commander and strategist, Jorge Briceño.  The evasive commander was so highly in demand that at one point the U.S. State Department had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Colombian forces raided a key rebel compound in the south of the country Wednesday, killing over 20 members of the leftist group.  According to authorities, 30 planes and 27 helicopters were used to subdue rebels at their stronghold in the jungle south of Bogota.  The raid was code-named “Sodom” in a reference to striking at the heart of the FARC, but the new Colombian administration dubs it the “Welcome” they promised the guerrilla group.

Fifty-seven-year-old Briceño, often called “El Mono Jojoy,” was the chief of military operations for FARC.  He had been hiding in a concrete bunker at the rebel base when he was killed.  President Juan Manuel Santos, who is visiting New York for the United Nations General Assembly debate, declared Briceño’s death as a significant victory and blamed him for much of the violence that has plagued Colombia.

“He symbolized terror,” Santos said.  “This is the most important blow ever against the FARC.”  The president told the Associated Press that Briceño’s death will be meaningful to Colombians:  “It is as if they told New Yorkers that Osama bin Laden had fallen.”

During the 1990s, Briceño allegedly orchestrated multiple attacks against military outposts.  Just some of the charges against him during that period include murder, terrorism, and drug trafficking.

Aldo Civico, an expert on FARC at Rutgers University, said, “[Briceño] was really the military mastermind of the FARC, so for the past 25 years he has been extremely important in the military gains of the FARC.”

Newly-elected President Santos is no stranger to combating FARC.  Before becoming president, he served as defense minister and led numerous strikes against the group.  Many of these strikes attracted attention after high-profile hostages were freed and Paul Reyes, the notorious leader of FARC, was killed.

It is hoped that Briceño’s death will rock the FARC to its core and push members to collaborate with Colombian authorities.  Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said that the successful “Welcome” operation was made possible by “the collaboration of members of the FARC itself,” and that “the FARC is rotting inside.”

Earlier this week, Colombian officials attacked a different FARC base, killing a senior commander and 27 other rebels.

For more information, please see:

New York Times-Colombia Says Rebel Commander Killed in Raid-23 September 2010

Washington Post-Colombian rebel leader reportedly killed in military strike-23 September 2010

Voice of America-Colombian Security Forces Kill Rebel Military Chief in Raid-23 September 2010

Two hundred children in Nigeria dead from lead poisoning

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Children in Abuja play next to lead-contaminated sites (Photo Courtesy of Getty Images).
Children in Abuja play next to lead-contaminated sites. (Photo Courtesy of Getty Images).

ABUJA, Nigeria – An outbreak of lead poisoning has resulted in the deaths of at least two hundred children in Nigeria, prompting the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to send a five-person team of environmental emergency specialists to Abuja, the capital city.

The source of the lead poisoning is from lead-contaminated waste dumped from illegal gold mining and extracting by locals. In addition to the deaths of two hundred children, up to eighteen thousand people have been affected, according to UN sources.

In order to assess the full scale of the poisoning, the UN emergency team will spend close to two weeks in Nigeria, analyzing the soil and drinking water in an area encompassing seven villages in the Zamfara state. In the villages where contamination has been confirmed, the villagers were grinding ore by hand to find gold and unknowingly freed lead particles, which are also contained in the rocks.

“Proper sampling from the mobile laboratory is urgently needed to determine the scope and magnitude of the crisis and to assist in developing a rigorous response,” OCHA said in a statement.

Children are more vulnerable to the effects of the contamination, and most of the deaths were among children under the age of five. In one village, thirty percent of the children under five have died from the poisoning, according to Médicin Sans Frontières (MSF).

“This is an incredibly serious and worrying situation,” said Lauren Cooney of MSF, adding, “while we still don’t know the full extent of the problem, we expect that there are going to be medium- and long-term health effects for people in these villages.” The poisoning also causes deafness, blindness, brain damage and muscular problems.

OCHA has allocated two million dollars from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are working with local health authorities and non-governmental organizations to treat victims of the outbreak.

Local officials insist that the situation is under control, even though the response has been hindered by heavy rains, which have made it difficult to reach the isolated villages.

For more information, please see:

Guardian – Nigeria gold rush sees 200 children killed in outbreak of lead poisoning – 22 September 2010

Radio Netherlands – UN investigates lead poisining in Nigeria – 22 September 2010

BBC – UN investigates Nigeria lead poisoning deaths – 21 September 2010

United Nations – UN probes outbreak of lead poisoning in northern Nigeria – 21 September 2010