Nasa Indians Oust Soldiers Temporarily

Nasa Indians Oust Soldiers Temporarily

The Nasa tribe in Colombia has long been caught in the crossfire between government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attacks. As the fighting has increased in recent months, the tribe has asked both sides to leave the area, a known corridor for drug smuggling.

The Colombian government has based much of its security strategy around territorial control and protection of populations. Security gains in recent years have come due to increased security presence in population centers. They believe that removing the military from the area would cede ground to the FARC and be a step back in terms of security.

Intense fighting in Cauca between government forces and leftist FARC guerrillas has driven more than 2,800 indigenous and mestizo people from their homes in the past two weeks.  The Association of Indigenous Governments of North Cauca, or ACIN, had set a deadline of midnight Monday for all “armed actors” to vacate the 14 Indian reserves in the region.

“We profoundly regret having to use force to restore our constitutional rights. This could have been avoided if the army heeded our request in due form and the government had ordered them to leave,” the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca said in a statement to the Associated Press.

The military personnel that faced attacks on Tuesday were lauded for not resorting to the use of force against the Nasa.  Many soldiers engaged in non-violent resistance strategies in an attempt to prevent their removal from the post.

Unfortunately, events took a turn on Wednesday.  Riot police firing tear gas and shotguns retook the strategic communications outpost located on a hill in Colombia’s turbulent southwest.  Eight Nasa Indians were injured, though none seriously.

In an unrelated incident in the same region Wednesday, soldiers shot and killed a man when he ignored orders to halt at a military roadblock, Toribio’s chief of security told The Associated Press.

The man was not an Indian, said the official, Carlos Pascue, but a group of Nasas angered by the killing seized 30 soldiers and held them for 10 hours before releasing them.

Critics have scolded President Juan Manuel Santos for failing to protect troops.  Colombia’s constitution recognizes the autonomy of the indigenous peoples and their right to exercise control over their designated territories.  However, Santos said the government would not remove soldiers from the area, but it was open to dialogue even though pulling troops out from the region was not negotiable.

It is unclear whether this incident will have an appreciable impact on Colombia’s 2014 presidential elections.

For further information, please see:

 AJC – Colombia’s military retakes hilltop from Indians – 18 July 2012

BBC News – In pictures: Indigenous Colombians expel soldiers – 18 July 2012

Christian Science Monitor – Armed with sticks, Colombia’s Nasa Tribe attacks a military base – 18 July 2012

Reuters – Colombian forces clash with indigenous group, blame rebels – 18 July 2012

Fox News Latino – Indigenous People Confront Army In Colombia – 17 July 2012

Jamaica Promises Harsher Penalties for Child Sex Abusers

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaican leaders want tougher punishments for people who sexually abuse children.

Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller says tougher sanctions are coming for child abusers. (Photo Courtesy of Go Jamaica)

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller told the People’s National Party Women’s Movement conference this week that Justice Minister Mark Golding is looking at ways to strengthen child abuse laws.

“What you need to do is stop it,” Miller said.  “A woman represents motherhood.  A woman is now prime minister of Jamaica.  Stop it.”

The comments came after government figures showed more than 1,000 reports of sexual abuse against children through April of this year, according to the Jamaica Observer.  Between 2007 and 2011, more than 7,200 cases were reported.

Recent United Nations studies indicated only a handful of child sex abuse cases in the Caribbean and Latin America lead to convictions.  Marcelo Suarzo, the UN Populations Fund regional director, said it is unclear if the problem is with the laws or enforcement of the laws.

“What I am sure of is that impunity is the worst solution to sexual violence,” Suarzo said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, adding that only two percent of reported cases in the region result in justice.

A school-based study conducted by the U.S. Agency for International Development in 2007 showed that one in three Jamaican girls between the ages of 10 and 15 experiences her first sexual encounter by force.  Roughly 12 percent of young girls reported having sexual intercourse before they turned 15 years old.

“The issue needs an integrated response,” Suarzo told the Observer.  “We need to strengthen our policies, make the appropriate investments and work closely to identify cases to ensure an integrated response from all the systems that are in charge of the application of justice.”

It appears the dialogue may already be having some effect.  Not only has there been a spike in the number of reported cases of child sex abuse, but there also has been a number of high-profile prosecutions.

On Friday, a former commandant of Jamaica’s Special Constabulary Force will be sentenced after he was convicted earlier this month on two counts of indecent assault on a minor.  The jury acquitted Harold Crooks, however, of carnal abuse since he and the teenage girl had sexual intercourse after she turned 16, Jamaica’s age of consent.

Earlier this month, a Kingston doctor was charged with four counts of committing sexual offenses against two teenage girls.  A report by a Jamaican police watchdog group called the Constabulary Communication Network alleged that Dr. Rakesh Thomas lured the girls, ages 14 and 15, to his office several times to engage in sexual grooming, touching, and intercourse.

And in June, a Jamaican national was sentenced in U.S. federal court to 18 months in prison for sexually abusing a minor on the cruise ship where he worked.  According to his plea agreement, Fabian Palmer befriended the 14-year-old girl and had sexual intercourse with her during a cruise last December.

At a recent meeting with Jamaica Observer editors and reporters, Jamaica’s UNICEF representative said more incidents are being reported to police “because [people] are realizing that silence is violence.”

Still, Robert Fuderich said the effort to stop the violence cannot stop there.

“There needs to be zero-tolerance,” he said.

For further information, please see:

Go Jamaica — Portia says Tougher Penalties Coming for Child Abusers — 16 July 2012

Jamaica Observer — Too Much Impunity for Sex Offenders, Says UN Official — 6 July 2012

Jamaica Observer — Former Police Commandant Found Guilty on Sex Charge — 5 July 2012

Stabroek News — Jamaican Doctor Charged with Sex Offences Against Girls — 2 July 2012

San Francisco Chronicle — Cruise Ship Worker Sentenced for Abusing Minor — 29 June 2012

Syrian Network for Human Rights and Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies: Homs Governorate Massacre Report

During Mr. Annan’s plan on April 10th to July 10th 2012, more than 1,170 citizens, including 108 children, have been killed in Homs either in the increasing indiscriminate shelling or in the massacres that increased during Mr. Annan’s plan, which defies the purpose of the plan.

Violence escalated significantly in both rural Homs and the city of Homs including Al-Houlah, Rastan, Al-Quseir, Deir Balaba, Al-Qaryatein, Qalaat Al-Hisn, Al-Khaldya, Jouret al-Shyah, Ash-Shammas, Joubar and Al-Sultanya.

All these neighborhoods,towns, and cities witnessed raids, rockets shelling, warplanes bombardment, extra judicial and summary executions, and horrible inhumane massacres in the presence of the UN monitors.

The following is a summary that shows the systematic suppression and violence used by Assad’s regime against Syrian citizens.

Rastan massacre: 11 April 2012
Eleven civilians from two families were killed when their homes were targeted with phosphorus and chemical shells burning the bodies completely making it impossible to identify them.

**WARNING: VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES**

Al-Bayada neighborhood massacre: 12 April 2012
9 victims, including 2 little girls, were killed due to indiscriminate shelling and barrages of gunfire on the neighborhood.

Ash-Shammas neighborhood massacre: 15 May 2012 and 6 June 2012
The killing of fourteen citizens was documented and verified after the raid of the neighborhood by Assad’s regime security forces, army troops and pro-regime shabeeha militias who perpetrated systematic terrorism.  They arrested scores of young men, gathered them in a public neighborhood, humiliated and tortured them, and then extra judicially executed some, including Marea Zaqreet, the Imam of the neighborhood’s mosque. This neighborhood hosted displaced people from the neighborhoods of Baba Amr and Joubar.

**WARNING: VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES**

Al-Houla massacre: Night of 26 May 2012
The most horrible and most bloody massacre in the history of the Syrian revolution in Homs; 109 victims most of whom are children and women were killed in a systematic attack by pro-regime shabeeha militias who came from pro-regime villages neighboring Al-Houla.  Assad’s regime army supported and covered those barbaric militias in their perpetration of this massacre.

**WARNING: VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES**

Al-Bwaida massacre/fertilizer factory workers massacre: 31 May 2012
Twelve civilians, fertilizer factory workers, were abducted and lead to a nearby farm.  Then they had were humiliated, tortured, extra judicially executed with gunfire, and disfigured by Assad’s forces.

**WARNING: VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk6Unjzha5s&feature=youtu.be&has_verified=1&bpctr=1342647935&skipcontrinter=1&w=480&h=400

Talbiseh massacre: 10 June 2012
Assad’s forces carried out continual indiscriminate shelling for many days killing many citizens and wounding scores of others. On this day, ten people were killed in indiscriminate shelling and helicopter bombardment on the city.

Second Rastan massacre: 13 June 2012
More than fourteen citizens, including children, were killed in indiscriminate shelling, including helicopter bombardment, on Rastan.

The Rastan Second Massacre, children and women were killed by helicopter bombardment.

**WARNING: VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES**

Deir Balaba neighborhood massacre: 21 June 2012
The fierce shelling targeted the neighborhood concentrating on the neighborhood’s school, where it was known by the regime forces that displaced people had sought refuge.  This school was targeted directly with 3 shells killing 17 citizens in a few minutes.  The attack wounded many others at a time when there was a severe shortage of medical necessities and inability to provide any form of primary medical care.  At the time, it was also made impossible to transport the wounded to dispensaries or hospitals.

Qalaat Al-Hisn massacre: 28 and 29 of June 2012
More than 22 victims were killed in 48 hours.  Most of the victims were killed due to fierce shelling targeting the city.  The victims included 6 members from a family, they were extra judicially executed by pro-regime shabeeha militias.  In addition, 10 victims were killed due to shelling that targeted a bus that was transporting displaced people from Qalaat Al-Hisn.

Jouret Al-Shyah massacre: 1 July 2012
Fierce and continual shelling on Jouret Al-Shyah for more than a month lead to the collapse of many buildings and the killing of scores of scores of citizens; on 01 July 02012, Assad’s regime army shelled a building causing its collapse over the heads of people inside.  Six people were killed, one of whom is still under the rubble.

 

All information and videos in the report provided by:

Syrian Network for Human Rights

Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies in Syria

Palestinians Visit Family in Israeli Jail

By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel — On Monday, a group of forty Palestinians were allowed to see their relatives in Ramon prison in southern Israel.  The visit marks the first time in five years Palestinians have been able to visit family members incarcerated in an Israeli prison.

A Palestinian woman on her way to visit family at an Israeli prison. (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Before sunrise, the group gathered outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City.  Joined by representatives of the organization, the group boarded a bus to the Erez border crossing with Israel.  The Red Cross, which helped make the trip possible, expressed hope that Monday’s visit marks the beginning of regular trips to Israeli prisons.  Juan Pedro Schaerer, head of the organization in Israel and the Palestinian territories, described the organization’s objective in a statement released on Monday.

“This is a first step and we hope that visits by residents of Gaza will resume in full,” he said.  “We have repeatedly called for the resumption of family visits, which are a lifeline for detainees and their families.  Under international humanitarian law, Israeli authorities have an obligation to allow the detainees to receive family visits.”

Twenty-four inmates met with family members on Monday.  One visitor, Fatima Nashbat, described her emotions prior to seeing her husband for first time in almost six years.

“I haven’t seen my husband or heard his voice or even news of him for years,” she said.  “I don’t know what the meeting will be like, but of course my excitement is indescribable and I can’t wait to see him.”

Sivan Weizman, spokesperson for Israel’s prison services, confirmed that  prison visits are expected to begin on a regular basis.  The next trip is scheduled to occur in two weeks.  Weizman described Monday’s trip as having been completed “without incident.”

In May, Israel agreed to allow prison visits to resume in order to reach a deal to end a mass hunger strike by Palestinian detainees earlier in the year.  Israel had put an end to family visits in 2007, in response to the militant Islamist group Hamas’ rise to power in Gaza.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Palestinians Visit Jailed Relatives in Israel – 16 July 2012

BBC News – First Gaza Families Visit Jailed Relatives in Israel – 16 July 2012

Mail & Guardian – Gaza allows Palestinian prisoners’ families to visit – 16 July 2012

YNet News – Gazans to Visit Palestinian Prisoners Held in Israel – 16 July 2012