Mass Rape Attack in DR Congo Over New Years

Mass Rape Attack in DR Congo Over New Years

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch, Africa

HIV Positive Congolese Rape Survivors in Luvungi (Photo Courtesy Unjin Lee and AFROl News)
HIV Positive Congolese Rape Survivors in Luvungi (Photo Courtesy Unjin Lee and AFROl News)

FIZI, South Kivu, DR Congo– On New Year’s Day, approximately thirty-three women were raped during an attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the small town of Fizi, located in the eastern region of South Kivu.  The organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that at their hospital in Fizi, fourteen women were treated on January 3rd, and another nineteen the following day.  Two more individuals were transferred to Baraka Hospital, 32 km to the south.  One had been beaten in the head with a rock and the other was suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.  Annemarie Loof, an official with MSF, said of the attack, “Women had been restrained with ropes or beaten unconscious with the butt of a gun before being attacked, some in front of their children.”

Violence between the residents of Fizi and the Congolese army (FARDC) had been escalating in the days before the attack after a boy in Fizi was fatally shot during an argument with two soldiers.  Later, residents of the town beat one of the soldiers to death.  Despite these clashes with the FARDC, none of the reporting agencies have confirmed who carried out the New Year’s Day attack.  In a statement made to Reuters AlertNet, Katrien Coppens, the  operations manager for MSF DRC stated, “Unfortunately it is a feature of the war in DRC but … this massive scale (of rape) in one day in a relatively small town is very shocking.”

Rape is a common weapon of war in the DR Congo and according to the U.N., 15,000 women were raped in Eastern Congo in 2009.  During that same year, MSF provided medical and psychological care for 5,600 rape victims in the North and South Kivu region.  As high as these numbers are, MSF and other humanitarian groups believe many more cases are unreported.  Last September the U.N. harshly criticized the Congolese government for failing to prevent a mass rape that took place between July 30 and August 2 and left 303 civilian victims in the Walikale region of Congo’s North Kivu province.  This attack, carried out by Rwandan and Congolese soldiers, occurred within a mile of a U.N. peacekeeper base.  The International Medical Corps. reported that during an attack on the town of Luvungi and five neighbouring villages, husbands were forced to watch their family members being raped while some victims were dragged into the forest.  After this most recent attack in Fizi, many fear the Congolese government is not doing enough to end war rape.  In the MSF report on Fizi, Loof said, “MSF is extremely concerned about the current situation in and around Fizi.  People are fleeing the area fearing further violent attacks.”

For more information, please see;

MSF- Press Release: MSF Treats Victims of Mass Rape on New Year’s Day in DRC– 6 Jan., 2011

CNN- Women Raped in Mass Attack in Congo, Humanitarian Group Says– 7 Jan., 2011

Reuters AlertNet- Gunmen Carry Out New Year Gang-Rape in Congo-MSF– 7 Jan., 2011

Guardian.co.uk- More Than 30 Women Raped and Beaten in DR Congo Attack– 7 Jan., 2011

Hungary Faces Criticism Over Restrictive New Media Law

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Hungary has recently come under fire for a new media law, effective January 1, 2011, which greatly expands the state’s power to monitor and penalize media outlets by imposing heavy fines for media coverage that violates “public interest, public morals or order.” Critics of the new law worry that too much in it remains undefined and can be used to silence public debate or media coverage that is critical of the government.  Criticism of the new law by media watchdogs and European governments has been particularly sharp given that Hungary assumed the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union on January 1.

If television channels violate the new law, they could receive a fine up to 200 million forints ($950,000), daily publications could receive fines up to 25 million forints ($119,000), and weekly publications could receive fines up to 10 million forints ($48,000).  The new law is administered by the newly created National Media and Communications Authority (NMHH).

One of the first acts of the NMHH was to begin proceedings against a radio station for playing two songs by the rapper Ice-T, which contain obscenities, before 9 PM, saying that the songs “could influence the development of minors in a negative way”.  The radio station responded in a letter saying that few of those under 16, in a country where most people do not possess advanced foreign languages skills, understand lyrics “written in slang, full of words and expressions missing from their curriculum, after one hearing, in a musical environment.”

It has been reported that all five members of the media authority, the NMHH, are members of or are linked to the Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. However, the Public Administration and Justice Ministry said in a statement on their website on Monday that Members of the NMHH “have no ties, either formal or informal, with the ruling political parties.”

In late December Hungarian Prime Minister Orban took a strong stance against any criticism of the new law.  “We are not even thinking in our wildest dreams about making amendments to the law,” he said in an interview with the Hungarian private television channel Hir TV.  “I am not inclined to react with wobbly knees to debates in parliament or Western reactions.  There is not a single passage in the law that does not correspond to the media law in E.U. countries.”

This Thursday, Orban acknowledged that Hungary’s six month presidency of the European Union got off to a “bad start,” as well as further acknowledging that Hungary might be open to the possibility of amending the new media law if the European Union requires it.  However, Orban claims other countries have comparable laws to Hungary’s new media law, though experts say Hungary’s law goes further than others and represents the worst practices in Europe.  As a result, Orban says, Hungary will only institute changes to the media law if other EU countries make similar changes.

For more information, please see:

ASSOCIATED PRESS – Hungary willing to consider changes to media law – 6 January 2011

BBC – Hungary PM ‘ready to change’ media law if EU demands – 6 January 2011

BBC – Hungary plunges into EU hot water in steering role – 6 January 2011

NEW YORK TIMES – Hungarian Leader Takes On Foreign Critics – 6 January 2011

BBC – Hungary rejects Western media law attacks – 3 January 2011

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Ice-T Lyrics Draw Media Council’s Ire – 3 January 2011

BBC – Under fire Hungary media watchdog raises concerns – 2 January 2011

NEW YORK TIMES – Hungary Waves Off Criticism Over Media Law – 25 Decuary 2010

Over 10,000 Flee Ethnic Tension in East India

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch; Asia

GUWAHATI, India – Local police reports show that four people have been killed and more than 10,000 are left homeless after ethnic clashes between two rival tribes in India’s northeast in the past 24 hours.

The victims were travelling in a bus from Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills in western Meghalaya, towards Assam, police said.

Chandra Prakash Dahal stands over the derbies. Three cows and four goats were killed when his cowshed was gutted in fire
Chandra Prakash Dahal stands over the derbies. Three cows and four goats were killed when his cowshed was gutted in fire

Police say the violence was sparked on New Year’s Eve after Garos were accused of failing to adhere to a Rabha strike. Clashes escalated and eight villages were burnt down.

On Wednesday, three Garos were stopped by Rabhas and clubbed to death. Eight others were critically wounded, police said. While another was shot by police allegedly trying to control mob tensions between rival villages.

In retaliation, the Rabhas went on a rampage torching several houses belonging to the Garo dominated areas in Torikas, Berubaris, Darakonas, Nebaris and Rongketchis.

Around 40 people from the Rabha community are still missing, according to local villagers.

Government officials said up to 10,000 people, mostly Rabhas, have fled their villages after the attacks, and have taken refuge in nearly a dozen makeshift shelters along both sides of the state border.

“Rabhas living in Meghalaya suffered the most as 200 of their houses were set on fire, forcing  them to our side,” said P.C. Goswami, a senior civil servant in Assam.

On Thursday, thousands of Garos armed with machetes, locally-made guns and spears descended from the East Garo Hills district of Meghalaya into Assam’s Goalpara district and set fire to hundreds of houses in seven Rabha villages around the Krishnai area.

There is a history of tension between the two groups. India’s far-off northeast has for decades been hit by insurgencies and tribal conflicts. The Garo tribe has been protesting about strikes orchestrated by its rival, saying they disrupt movement and day-to-day activities.

Last year, a road blockade by ethnic communities crippled Manipur, another state in the region, for months. The crisis badly hit supplies of food, fuel and life-saving drugs to the state.

The latest round of trouble in Meghalaya and Assam erupted from retaliation to a longstanding demand for an autonomous council by one of the groups.

“India’s remote northeastern states have been withered by 50 years of bloody clashes, and the region is a turbulent mix of languages, races, religions and civilizations, including 400 tribal and sub-tribal groups, many of whom fear loss of identity.

Authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in Assam’s Goalpara district and Meghalaya’s East Garo Hills district where the fighting took place, but tension remained high, police said.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi have both appealed for peace and hundreds of armed policemen and border guards have been sent to the area

The state leader of opposition Conrad K. Sangma, accused the ruling Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government of ‘taking the ethnic clash lightly’.

‘I strongly feel that there is no seriousness on the part of the (Meghalaya) government to sort out the issue in the initial stages to diffuse the simmering tension,’ Conrad said.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Officials: Thousands flee tribal violence in northeast India – 7 January 2011

BCC – Four die in tribal clashes in India’s north-east – 6 January 2011

Reuters – Tribal clashes uproot thousands in NE India – 6 January 2011

220 Brazilian Firms Accused of Slave Labor

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil—On Monday, 88 more private firms were accused by the Brazilian government of engaging in slave labor, or forcing laborers to live and work in conditions equivalent to slavery.  The Labor Ministry now lists 220 such firms on Brazil’s registry of worker exploitation.

The accused companies will be punished by steep fines and will be unable to obtain credit at public banks or sell their products to government entities.  The firms will be blacklisted this way for at least two years until they demonstrate that they have brought their practices up to code.

Agricultural firms listed on the registry are believed to have forced workers to live and work in dangerous conditions, threatening their safety, hygiene and health.  There have also been allegations that the agricultural workers have been made to work illegally long hours and receive less than adequate pay.

The majority of the workers who have been trapped in slave labor were recruited from the poorest areas of Brazil.  After the laborers agreed to be relocated in promise of a job, they became imprisoned by employers who demanded money for food, rent, and previously unmentioned services.  The workers become imprisoned in debt bondage and have little choice but to do as their employers order.

The recent influx in slave labor in Brazil is the most severe since records on the matter emerged in 2003.  The 220 firms on the updated list include plantations, sugar mills, coal yards, timber businesses, construction companies and textile factories.

The government blacklist is updated every six months and 14 firms were recently dropped because they improved their operations to meet government standards.

Last year, a government task force rescued almost 5,000 slave laborers after conducting 133 raids on suspected farms in Brazil.  According to the United Nations International Labor Organization, there are roughly 12.3 million workers suffering from similar situations throughout the world.

For more information, please see:

EIN News-Brazil Cracks Down on Farm Slave Labor; 88 Firms Accused-5 January 2011

Sify News-Over 200 Brazil firms found treating workers as slaves-5 January 2011

Fox News-Brazil accuses 220 firms of using slave labor-4 January 2011

IMPUNITY WATCH PRESENTATION OF NECTALI RODENZO (3/5)

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IMPUNITY WATCH PRESENTATION OF NECTALI RODENZO (3/5) from Impunity Watch on Vimeo.

November 9, 2010. Impunity Watch Law Journal and the International Law Society hosted Nectali Rodenzo, a lawyer and Co-Coordinator of the National Front of Lawyers in Resistance to the Coup in Honduras. Rodenzo shared his experiences of the 2009 Honduran military coup, its context and aftermath, and how it relates to the human rights situation on the ground in Honduras today.