Hunger-Striking Chilean Women Meet Accord With Government

Hunger-Striking Chilean Women Meet Accord With Government

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

33 Women Protest End of Jobs Bill in Chile (photo courtesy of www.plenglish.com)
33 Women Protest End of Jobs Bill in Chile (photo courtesy of www.plenglish.com)

SANTIAGO, Chile – Last week, 33 Chilean women collectively entered a mine to protest the end of a jobs bill, which created thousands of jobs for citizens to rebuild infrastructure following a devastating earthquake.  Initially, regional officials vowed to have open dialogue with the protesters to peacefully end the demonstration.  Making good on their promise, government officials have reached an agreement with the hunger-striking women, bringing the ordeal to an end.

The women, who occupied the Chiflon del Diablo mine in Lota, were demanding reinstatement of the jobs bill; however, it was initially unclear whether this would be something that the government could realistically do.  Bio Bio’s regional governor Jacqueline van Rysselberghe reported that the women have given up their hunger strike after government officials promised to find them public-works jobs in the local municipalities.

In addition to the public-works jobs, the agreement includes job training for the women.  The agreement will also have ramifications that extend beyond the 33 women participating in the demonstration.  According to van Rysselberghe, 2,000 new jobs will be created to help those who lost their job with the ending of the jobs bill.

It is estimated that the February earthquake caused $30 billion in damage.  The jobs bill was created to put Chileans to work rebuilding homes and infrastructure.  It is also estimated that the legislature’s failure to reauthorize the jobs bill resulted in upwards of 12,000 people losing their government-created jobs.

It cannot be doubted that the 33 women made significant strides in helping those who lost their jobs; however, with only 2,000 new jobs being created, many Chileans are still left without a means of employment.

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune – Jobless Hunger-Strikers Reach Accord with Chilean Governmen – 23 November 2010

Presna Latina – Chile: Women Abandon Hunger Strike – 23 November 2010

Monstersandcritics.com – Chilean Authorities Willing to Talk to 33 Hunger-Strikers in Mine – 19 November 2010

Nuremberg Trials Museum Opens To The Public

By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter Europe

NUREMBERG, Germany – An exhibit commemorating the Nuremburg trials opened its doors to the public on Sunday.  The display is located at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, the building where several Nazis were sentenced to death between November 20, 1945 and October 1, 1946.

The exhibit, commemorating the 65th anniversary of the trials, features original documents and archival material including photo, video and audio displays.  Also on display are the original docks and seats where countless Nazi leaders such as Hermann Goering and Marin Bormann sat to face charges.

One of the major attractions is the famed Court Room 600, the room where some of the most significant trials were held 65 years ago.  The well-preserved and still-functioning court is open to the public when it is not presently in use.

Among those in attendance for the grand opening was 90 year-old Benjamin Ferencz, one of the original U.S. prosecutors at the trials.  In 1943, Ferencz, then 23 and  fresh out of Harvard Law School, began gathering evidence of Nazi crimes as the concentration camps were liberated.  Just four years later he found himself chief prosecutor at the trial of 22 Nazis.

Ferencz noted, “When I left Germany for the first time after World War II and left Nuremberg, my biggest regret was that I never heard from any German saying ‘I’m sorry.’  I would never have believed that I would come back 60 years later and would hear a completely difference voice and a different plan in the same country.”

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, also in attendance, expressed how the trials set a precedent for the development of international law.  Indeed, not only were the trials the first to establish the legal precedent of crimes against humanity, they also made way for the International Criminal Court.

“Because a lot was risked here in Nuremberg – politically, legally and personally – international law was able to develop and rules could be set out for future cases,” Westerwelle said.

In his closing remarks Ferencz emphasized that prevention is the goal, not punishment.  “By the time you are punishing you have failed,” he warned.  Before stepping down, Ferencz left the audience with a final question: “How far have we come?”

For more information please see:

CBC – Nuremberg Trials Explored in Museum Exhibit – November 22, 2010

DEUTSCHE WELLE – How Far Have We Come? Nuremberg Trials Museum Opens – November 21, 2010

RIANOVOSTI – Museum on Nuremberg Trials Opens Doors in Germany – November 21, 2010

Strike Continues at World’s No. 3 Copper Mine

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
 

A sign calls the mine Champion of the Labor Exploitation. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)
A sign calls the mine "Champion of the Labor Exploitation". (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

IQUIQUE, Chile—On Tuesday, a strike at the world’s third largest copper mine entered its nineteenth day. As of yet, production at that mine has not been substantially altered, according to a company spokesperson.

Workers have been on strike at the Dona Ines de Collahuasi mine and have refused to return to work until the mining company meets their demands and continues to negotiate. Labor leaders dispute the company’s claims that production at the mine has not been disrupted. They say that only 20% of production has been maintained during the strike.

Labor leaders also deny the company’s statement that 120 workers stopped striking and returned to work at the mine. The leaders declare, instead, that a much smaller number of miners, about 36, have broken the strike so far. There is a Chilean labor law that states that if half of the workers break a strike, then the strike must end at that moment. The miners that went back to work were responding favorably to an offer that the mining company presented to them last week.

Bernardita Fernandez, a spokesperson for the Collahuasi mine, expressed little worry about the strike’s implications, saying, “the company will meet all of its commercial obligations” even as the strike marches on. Fernandez has remarked that negotiations between the workers and the company have not been resumed this week. According to the company, collective talks had to be discontinued because the union was “intransigent”; therefore, only negotiations with individual workers will be pursued.

The 1,430 remaining strikers have been given a deadline of late Tuesday night to accept or decline the company’s most recent wage and benefits offer. This offer includes a signing bonus of roughly $30,000 per worker. The union representing the workers has announced that wage talks will have to continue because most of the strikers will reject the company’s offer.

“We are strong and united,” said Manuel Munoz, a union leader. “Right now they are just trying to break up our movement and that’s suicide. They have to discuss a new offer with us to resolve this conflict.”

Most of the striking miners have been living in tents in the port city of Iquique while the strike continues.

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg Businessweek-Collahuasi Union Says Company Must Resume Talks-23 November 2010

Reuters-Chile’s Collahuasi strike faces crucial test-23 November 2010

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

UPDATE: Iranian Woman May Avoid Stoning Sentence After All

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – The head of Iran’s High Human Rights Council announced today that Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian women sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery, “could be saved.”  It appears that the judiciary’s latest review of Ashtiani’s case precipitated the announcement although no details about its review were provided.  Ashtiani’s case has drawn significant international criticism from numerous governments and human rights organizations urging Iran to set aside the stoning verdict.

Ashtiani’s sentence has been stayed since July, pending the resolution of the judiciary’s final review.  She has been on death row for four years and has already dodged one death sentence.  In 2006, Ashtiani was found guilty for her involvement in the murder of her husband and received a sentence of death by hanging.  This sentence was reduced however, to a 10 year prison term.   

Ashtiani has already suffered 100 lashes as punishment for her crime.  Reports indicated that she has also been beaten up and tortured on a number of occasions.  Some fear that she may be tried a second time for the murder of her husband despite already being found guilty of complicity in his death.  If she is found guilty, she may again be sentenced to death. 

Since 1983, stoning has been the traditional punishment for the crime of adultery under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code.  Although the government has imposed a moratorium on the use of this punishment, the government has yet to officially abandon the practice and courts continue to issue stoning sentences.  According to Farshad Hoseini, head of the International Committee against Execution, at least 150 people have been stoned to death in Iran since 1980.  The majority of the victims were women.   Although the government denies any correlation between today’s announcement and the political pressure it has faced from this case, it seems likely that the international community’s efforts are a significant factor in the process to commute Ashtiani’s sentence.

For more information, please see:

Agence France Presse – Iran Stoning woman’s Life ‘Could be Spared’ – 22 Nov. 2010

Jerusalem Post –Life of Woman in Iran Stoning Case May be Saved – 22 Nov. 2010

National Post – Iran’s Stone-Age Justice system – 19 Nov. 2010

CBS News – Case of Sakineh Ashtiani Reflects Iran’s internal Divisions – 18 Nov. 2010

DEATH TOLL RISES TO 1,186: HAITIAN GOVERNMENT’s RESPONSE INADEQUATE TO EASILY TREATABLE CHOLERA OUTBREAK

By Erica Laster                                                                                                                              Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – “Cholera is an extremely simple disease to cure,” comments Nigel Fisher, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator in Haiti.  Human rights groups are viewing the recent outbreak of cholera as a foreseeable health risk and the failure to counteract it a human right which the government has the responsibility to prevent and control.  The outbreak has claimed approximately 1, 186 lives In Haiti, with over 50,000 people seeking medical attention.

Haitians continue to receive inadequate treatment as poor living conditions increase the rapid spread of Cholera. Photo courtesy of france24.com.
Haitians continue to receive inadequate treatment as poor living conditions increase the rapid spread of Cholera. Photo courtesy of france24.com.

Easily treatable, the United Nations has blasted the international response and the lack of donor contributions to curb the disease. The United Nations recently appealed for a contribution totaling $164 million to counter the cholera outbreak in Haiti.  Only ten percent of the funds needed to curb the disease have been pledged.

Fear among Haiti’s sick has led to protests and violent responses in some provinces of Haiti.

Many Haitians suspect that Nepalese Peacekeeping forces are responsible for the outbreak.  With most forces camped alongside the river, river communities were the first to be hit, leading many to suspect the disease was brought to Haiti by soldiers in the country.   Last Monday, 7 peacekeepers of the United Nations were injured by protesters at Cap-Haitien, a northern city suffering from the epidemic.  The national police and the U.N. were forced to use teargas on hundreds of protesters attempting to burn a police station and a peacekeeping base.

Several other protests took place Thursday in Port-Au-Prince.  At first peaceful, the demonstration turned violent as protesters were hit with tear gas.  Young men overturned dumpsters, set fire to vehicles in the area and threw Molotov cocktails at posters of Presidential candidate, Jude Celestin.  Endorsed by the outgoing President Preval, many Haitians believe this is a sign that the November 28 elections will not be fairly decided.

One protester, Pierre Allodor, claims “The Haitian government is never do nothing for us. And we know the international government is still spending a lot of money for the Haitian people. But Preval, with his government, he still keeps their money to take back to the United States to buy some house.”

Unsanitary living conditions, poverty and a broken health care system were only exacerbated by the January earthquake.  Doctors Without Borders head of mission, Stefano Zannini, says “There is no time left for meetings and debate .”  With over 18,000 Haitians hospitalized from the disease, “the time for action is now.”

For More Information Please Visit:

Washington Post – 7 U.N. Troops Hurt, Attacked By Haitians Blaming Foreigners For Cholera Epidemic – 15 November 2010

CNN – U.N. Blasts Global Response To Haiti Cholera Outbreak As Inadequate – 20 November 2010

CNN – Anti-U.N. Protests Erupt In Haitian Capital – 18 November 2010

Human Rights Watch – Why Democracies Don’t Get Cholera – 25 October 2010