Syrian Opposition Publishes Recommendation on Political Transition

Press Release

Head of Syrian Coalition and Syrian Expert House to Present “Syria Transition Roadmap”

Istanbul, Turkey – Leaders of the Syrian Expert House, a group of approximately 300 Syrian human rights activists, academics, judges, lawyers, opposition leaders, members of the Syrian National Council and the National Coalition for Syrian Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, defected government officials, defected military officers, members of local revolutionary councils, and commanders of the armed opposition announced the release of a report presenting comprehensive recommendations on the post-Assad democratic political transition.

The report, entitled “Syria Transition Roadmap,” will be officially unveiled on August 14 at a press conference in Istanbul, Turkey at Holiday Inn Istanbul City. Ahmad Assi al-Jarba, president of the National Coalition for Syrian Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, and leaders of the Syrian Expert House will give an overview of Syria’s imminent transition at the conference.

Syria Transition Roadmap covers the topics of constitutional reform, political reform, electoral reform, security sector reform, economic reform, and transitional justice in post-conflict Syria. The recommendations presented in Syria Transition Roadmap are the result of a year-long consensus-building process. The Syrian Expert House’s final conclusions within the report represent the political common ground of the Syrian opposition on key issues. These recommendations will remain valid, no matter how the Syrian conflict is resolved.

Syria Transition Roadmap specifically recommends the following:

·         The future Syrian government will be a hybrid presidential/parliamentary system to ensure the presence of checks and balances in state institutions.

·         The starting point of the new Syrian constitution will be the Constitution of 1950, which will be amended and modified by a 290-member Constitutional Assembly, elected in a national election. The new Syrian constitution will be approved by a national referendum.

·         The Constitutional Assembly will be elected in an election featuring proportional representation across 20-30 multi-member districts with an average of 12 seats per constituency. Proportional representation will ensure party pluralism, allowing for the first election to lay the foundation for a strong democratic system.

·         The independence of the judiciary will be guaranteed by completely separating it from the executive branch. National reconciliation will be achieved through a long transitional justice process in which justice is assured for all of Syria’s victims.

·         The security services will be restructured and cleansed of corrupt officials. All armed groups will be disarmed, demobilized, and reintegrated into Syrian society.

·         Syria will gradually abandon its state-led economic model in favor of a market-based economy. Public sector employees will continue to be paid while preparing for the overhaul of the state administrative structure.

For further information, please see:

Syrian Expert House

SCPSS

Taiwan Protest Over Military Death

By Kevin M. Mathewson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Tens of thousands of people have rallied in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, to protest against the treatment of Hung Chung-chiu, a 24 year old army conscript.

Protesters say they are not convinced the investigation is sincere.

Hung had been held in solitary confinement for bringing a mobile phone with a built in camera onto his military base. He was subjected to strenuous punishment, including exercising in the hot sun, resulting in organ failure brought on by heatstroke.

Hung’s family said he was refused water during his punishment and had previously filed complaints of abuse against his superiors.

Eighteen army officers, including a major-general have been charged in connection with the case. The country’s defense minister has also resigned. The 18 officers were indicted on charges ranging from abuse leading to death and involuntary manslaughter to imposing illegal punishment on a subordinate and offences against personal liberty.

Hung’s death has spawned outrage across Taiwan and further damaged the reputation of an already fragile army.  Taiwan’s army is currently struggling to find volunteers as it tries to phase out conscription. All Taiwanese men aged between 18 and 36 are required to complete one year’s military service.

Protesters, many dressed in white to symbolize truth, covered the streets of Taipei saying they believed the investigation into Hung’s death was corrupt.

“I am mourning for Hung Chung-chiu and I want the truth. I hope there won’t be any more abuse and death like his in the military.” protester Jenny Tan said.

“The Cabinet has requested the Defense Ministry and the Justice Ministry to spare no effort to investigate the case and review the current system to prevent any unhumanitarian (sic) actions and abuse of power.” premier Jiang Yi-Huah said.

President Ma Ying-Jeou has publicly apologized for Hung’s death and promised justice for his family.

“As the president and the leader of the country’s three armed forces, I hereby guarantee that Hung Chung-chiu will not have died in vain and such tragedy will not happen again.” President Ying-Jeou told Hung’s father Hung Chi-tuan.

However, a day after protests, President Ying-Jeou was mobbed by hundreds of mourners as he attended Hung’s funeral protected by security guards.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Taiwan protest over Hung Chung-chiu death – 3 August 2013

The Japan Times – Thousands in Taiwan protest conscript’s death – 3 August 2013

FOXNews.com – Mass protest in Taiwan over young conscript’s death – 3 August 2013

Yahoo! News – Taiwan president mobbed by mourners at conscript’s funeral – 4 August 2013

UN Special Investigator Says Chile Should Stop Using Anti-Terrorism Law Against Mapuche Indians

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – A senior United Nations investigator has urged Chile’s government to stop using anti-terrorism law against the country’s Mapuche Indians who are fighting to recover their ancestral land.

Mapuche Indians from the Temucuicui Autonoma community , 9 Feb 2013
Anti-terrorism law has been used against the Mapuche for more than 10 years. (Photo Courtesy of The Associated Press)

The Mapuche Indians make up 9% of the Chilean population. They live in rural communities and suffer from high levels of poverty.

Ben Emmerson, the U.N.’s special investigator on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, said a long-running dispute over land rights could boil over into serious violence and disorder at any moment unless urgent action is taken. He says the situation is “volatile” in the southern regions of Araucania and Bio Bio, where most Mapuche live.

Chile’s anti-terrorism law, drafted by General Augusto Pinochet in 1984 is one of the harshest in the Chilean statute book. It doubles the sentences for some offenses and allows for the conviction of defendants on the basis of testimony from anonymous witnesses.

Human rights groups say the law is abusive because it allows for suspects to be held in isolation without charge and for the use of secret witnesses and telephone taps.

“The anti-terrorist legislation has been used in a way that discriminates against the Mapuche. It has been applied in a confusing and arbitrary way, which has turned into a real injustice that has impaired the right to a fair trial, and it has been perceived as stigmatizing and delegitimizing of the Mapuche territorial demands and protests,” Emmerson said.

Mapuche prisoners have staged lengthy hunger strikes to protest the anti-terror law and what they regard as excessive police violence during raids on Mapuche communities. Other forms of protest have ranged from marches, occupation of public buildings, and setting up roads blocks.

“The preliminary conclusions of the U.N. official go along with what we’ve been saying: that there’s no terrorism and that this is a disproportionate law that only creates more tensions,” said Aucan Huilcaman, a Mapuche leader. “If Chile really wants to show its democratic side it must recognize the Mapuche people,” Huilcaman added.

There was no immediate response from Chile’s government.

The Mapuche conflict has been going on for years in the south, with sporadic outbursts of violence. In January of this year, a group of attackers set fire to a house belonging to an elderly couple whose family had a history of poor relations with the Mapuche neighbors. The couple died in the blaze. Their deaths shocked Chileans and raised questions about the inability of President Sebastian Pinera’s government to meet the demands of Chile’s largest indigenous group.

Emmerson said Chile’s government should come up with a strategy to solve the dispute, speed up the return of land and recognize the country’s largest indigenous community under the constitution.

For more information please see:

ABC News – UN: Chile Should Solve Land Dispute With Mapuche – 31 July 2013

CNN Chile – Relator de la ONU sobre Ley Antiterrorista: “Ha sido aplicada en una forma que es ilógica, discriminatoria y contraproducente” – 30 July 2013

El Universal – Relator de ONU advierte a Chile riesgo del conflicto mapuche – 30 July 2013

BBC – UN criticises Chile for using terror law on Mapuche – 30 July 2013

Fox News – UN official says Chile should stop using anti-terrorism law against Mapuche in land dispute – 30 July 2013

Israeli Cabinet Expands Government Subsidies to Illegal West Bank Settlements Just Days after the Resumption of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – The Israeli cabinet voted on Sunday to expand its list of West Bank settlements eligible for government subsidies. The vote came just days after the resumption of the long-halted peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.

Israel cabinet expands government subsidy eligibility to West Bank Settlement amidst the resumption of peace talks with Palestinian Officials. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The Cabinet voted to expand the number of communities included on its “national priority map,” a list of poor communities prioritized to receive housing subsidies and other government benefits. The list includes 91 settlements in the occupied West Bank region, up from 85 on the 2012 version of the map.

Many of the West Bank settlements included on the list would most likely be required to evacuate if the current peace talks result in an agreement between the Israeli and Palestinian governments.

Until recently, three of the settlements added to the list, Rehelim, Sansana and Bruchin were classified as “illegal outposts”, meaning they were constructed without the approval of the Israeli government. However, the Israeli government retroactively legalized them by normalizing their last year though a cabinet vote. They are now recognized by the Israeli government and eligible for government funding.

The Palestinian Authority seeks to reclaim lands captured by Israel in 1967, in the hopes of establishing a state that will include the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, with Israel’s borders returning to the pre-1967 lines. Since 1967, the Israeli government has allowed the construction of dozens of settlements on Palestinian lands. The settlements have been deemed illegal under international law by most of the international community. These settlements are now home to roughly 560,000 Israelis.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official stated that she believes the cabinet’s action “will have a destructive impact” on the peace process. She believes that the vote affirmed suspicions felt by many Palestinians about the Israeli government’s motivations for agreeing to participate in the peace negations. She argued, “[t]his is exactly what Israel wants. Have a process for its own sake, and at the same time have a free hand to destroy the objective of the process.”

Four Israeli ministers abstained from voting on this issue, including Amir Pertz, the current  Environment Minister and former Minister of Defense from 2006-2007, said of the vote, “I don’t think it is the time diplomatically, or from a socioeconomic point of view, to include new settlements that until recently were illegal.”

Mark Regev, a spokesperson for the Israeli government, pointed out that the list voted on by cabinet is only a list of communities eligible to receive funding and that the Israeli government would have to grant additional approval for any subsidies to settlements to be dispersed.

The vote can be viewed as an attempt to shore up support for the coalition government in communities added to the subsidies list. Likud, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s party has historically supported settlements. Some of the settlements added to the subsidy list are political strongholds of the Jewish Home Party, one of the member parties of the governing coalition. It is opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian State.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Israel expands West Bank settlement subsidies – 4 August 2013

Jerusalem Post – Despite peace talks, cabinet approves preferential status for settlements – 4 August 2013

Jewish Telegraphic Agency – West Bank settlements join Israel’s list of national priority communities – 4 August 2013

Reuters – Israel puts 91 Jewish settlements on priority spending list – 4 August 2013

Wall Street Journal – Israel Expands Settlements Eligible for Subsidies – 4 August 2013

 

 

Attack on Indian Consulate in Afghanistan Leaves 12 Dead

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India– Insurgents attacked an Indian consulate in Afghanistan’s eastern capital Jalalbabad on Saturday morning. Twelve people were killed, reinforcing growing fear that a regional struggle will soon erupt as foreign troops pull out of the country.

Outside the site of a suicide attack that tore through the Indian consulate at Jalalbabad, Afghanistan. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

Twenty-three were wounded after checkpoint guards stopped three men in a car as they approached the consulate in Jalalbabad. Two of the men jumped out of the car and opened fire on the guards, while the third detonated multiple explosives. No Indian officials were killed, though the blast badly damaged a mosque and dozens of homes and small shops nearby according to a statement issued by the office of the governor of Nangarhar province, Gul Agha Sherzai.

India condemned the attack and, without naming any country or group, blamed outside forces.

“This attack has once again highlighted that the main threat to Afghanistan’s security and stability stems from terrorism and the terror machine that continues to operate from beyond its borders,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

Arch-rivals India and Pakistan have long vied for power and influence in Afghanistan. Many see the struggle intensifying as more international forces are pulled out of the region by the end of next year. Afghans fear that the absence of NATO-led foreign forces could lead to another round of bloody external interference and turmoil in the impoverished and violence-racked country.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, seen as close to India, is strongly opposed to the Taliban, who some say is supported by elements of the Pakistani state, in particular its powerful intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The Taliban, which openly promotes armed opposition to Karzai’s Western-backed government, denied responsibility for Saturday’s attack on the Indian consulate close to Pakistan’s border. Nevertheless, Afghan sources identified the three attackers as “Pakistani nationals”.

Attacks on the Indian embassy in Kabul -two during 2008 and 2009 that killed more than 50 people together – led to accusations by Karzai that Pakistan was attempting to obliterate India-Afghanistan relations. He gave no evidence for his assertion, and Pakistan denied its truth.

Victim’s of Saturday’s attack included eight children, and several women. Many people had gathered outside of the consulate to apply for visas when the attack occurred. An additional 23 people were injured; however, Afghan reports have dubbed the attack a “failure”.

 

For more information, please see:

Reuters — Attack on Indian mission in Afghanistan raises specter of regional struggle — 3 August 2013

BBC — Afghan attack targets Indian Mission — 3 August 2013

Indian Express — Blast at Indian consulate in Afghanistan kills 12 — 4 August 2013

Bloomberg — Suicide Attack on India Consulate in Afghanistan as Ties Deepen — 4 August 2013

The Guardian — Indian consulate in Afghanistan attacked by suicide bombers — 3 August 2013