By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe 

MOSCOW, Russia – On Thursday, the United States Congress passed a bill to stabilize trade with Russia. However, the bill will also simultaneously penalize Russian officials who are linked to human rights violations.

In August, Russia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), and as a result, opened its market and reduced tariffs under the terms of its membership.

The new United States trade legislation, which passed by large majorities in the House and Senate, replaces a 1974 provision, the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, that connected trade relations with the former Soviet Union to the emigration of Jews and other Soviet minorities. Before the new trade provision was passed, the US was the only WTO member that could not take advantage of Russia’s newly modified market.

Under the Magnitsky bill, named after Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian prison three years ago after allegedly being tortured, the United States will release a list of Russian officials suspected to be involved with human rights violations and withhold their visas and freeze their financial assets.

The bill currently awaits President Barack Obama’s signature. President Obama, expressing his desire to sign the law, stated, “The legislation will ensure that American businesses and workers are able to take full advantage of the WTO rules and market access commitments that the United States worked so hard to negotiate.

He continued, “My administration will continue to work with Congress and our partners to support those seeking a free and democratic future for Russia and promote the rule of law and respect for human rights around the world.”

Furthermore, Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, a supporter of the Magnitsky bill, said, “Today, we close a chapter in U.S. history. It served its purpose. Today, we open a new chapter in U.S. leadership for human rights.”

However, despite the optimism in the United States, Moscow does not favor the human rights portion of the trade bill. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the bill “a performance in the theatre of the absurd”.

The Ministry also said, “It’s strange and wild to hear such claims about human rights addressed to us by politicians of the very state where in the 21st Century torture and the kidnapping of people all over the world were officially legalized.”

Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, warned that the Magnitsky provision will provoke a “symmetrical and asymmetrical reaction” from Russia. He continued, “It’s inadmissible when one country tries to dictate its will to another.”

As a response, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, announced Moscow’s plan to retaliate by barring “entry to Americans who are in fact guilty of human rights violations.”

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Russia to retaliate over US Magnitsky rights act – 7 December 2012

Reuters – US trade-human rights link tests Obama-Russia ties – 7 December 2012

BBC News – US Congress passes ‘Magnitsky’ rule on Russia trade law – 6 December 2012

The Washington Post – Russia fumes as U.S. Senate passes Magnitsky law aimed at human rights – 6 December 2012

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Authorities in the Dutch capital city have announced plans to evict and rehouse families who have been a persistent nuisance to their neighbors or  police in container homes in  an isolated part of the city.

The plan has been defended by authorities as a means to prevent bullying of innocent neighbors and reduce anti-social behavior.  While innocent neighbors are often forced to leave due to trouble, the city council wants to reverse this trend.

Describing the current trend, Mayor Eberhard van der Laan had said “This is the world turned upside down.”

Council member Tahira Limon further explained: “Our plan is to combat bullying.  Usually people are scared to report problems for fear of intimidation. It’s an upside down world and we want to change it so the people who cause the problems are moved.”

Authorities further assert that the council’s rules would only be enforced against offenders in extreme cases, such as if gay people were being harassed or if police witnesses were being intimidated.

However, under the plans which would take effect in January, offenders identified as nuisances, including families, would be rehoused for a period of 6 months or more, in a residence made from an industrial shipping container, away from the public, under 24-hour watch of police and social workers.  There they would have access to only “minimal services.”

A special hotline and system for reporting complaints to the authorities is also planned.  On average, Amsterdam receives 13,000 such complaints of anti-social behavior every year.

Presently, Amsterdam has special squads in place to identify offenders for compulsory six month behavioral courses.  A special team of city hall officials is now being created to identify offenders who, if their behavior does not improve, will be subject to the rehousing program.  Social housing problem tenants who do not show improvement or refuse to move to the cargo unit residences face eviction and homelessness.

Mayor van der Laan had tabled the 1 million € (£800,000; $1.3 million) plan several past years.  However, some smaller scale, 10 shipping container residences have already been experimentally created for persistent offenders in Amsterdam and elsewhere in the Netherlands.

The Amsterdam council denies that it is creating a ghetto, and assets that is the last thing it wants to do. A spokesman for the council told the BBC that a ghetto full of troublemakers would just become a “hotbed for more trouble.”

Some have observed that the city council’s plan bears a resemblance to a proposal last year from Geert Wilders, the leader of a populist, anti-Islam, Right-wing party.

In an interview, Wilders was quoted as saying: “Repeat offenders should be forcibly removed from their neighborhood and sent to a village for scum.  They will then be put into converted containers as homes. If juveniles are involved, their families should be moved too. Put all the trash together.”

Although a spokesman for the mayor has denied association with Wilders’ proposal, Wilders’ rhetoric has led to such rehousing projects being called “scum villages.”

Instead, the mayor’s spokesman explained that the cargo container residences would serve to enforce good behavior.  “The aim is not to reward people who behave badly with a new five-room home with a south-facing garden. This is supposed to be a deterrent.”

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Amsterdam Plan to Rehouse Serial Nuisance Neighbours – 4 December 2012

The Telegraph – Amsterdam to Create ‘Scum Villages’ – 3 December 2012

Dutch News – Amsterdam Plans Caravan Exile for Nasty Neighbours – 30 November 2012

Dutch News – Set up Special Villages Away from Normal Folk for ‘Scum’, Says Wilders – 10 February 2011

Press Release
Office of Senator Cardin

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, made the following statement regarding his legislation:

“I am pleased that the Senate finally will be voting on passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. In the memory of one courageous Russian, we are setting a precedent for future trade agreements that tells the world that gross violators of human rights cannot escape the consequences of their actions even when their home country fails to act. Visiting the United States and having access to our financial system, including U.S. dollars, are privileges that should not be extended to those who violate basic human rights and the rule of law.

“This bill may only apply to Russia, but it sets a standard that should be applied globally. I encourage other nations to follow our lead. I will continue to work with my bipartisan cosponsors towards passage of the Magnitsky sanctions for other countries so that human rights violators in all corners of the world understand that the United States is still committed to the universal cause of liberty and human dignity for those who stand up against oppression.”

For further information please contact:
Sue Walitsky: 202-224-4524 or 202-320-0819

By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla fighter in Kosovo and a former prime minister, was acquitted of war crimes. Haradinaj was charged with the torture and murder of Serb civilians and suspected collaborators while he was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army during its fight for independence in 1999.

According to court documents, detainees were “given very little food or water, were regularly beaten and subjected to other forms of physical mistreatment, and denied medical treatment for their injuries. A number of prisoners … died as a result of their injuries, or were executed on orders of the accused.”

Aleksandar Vulin, the head of the Serbian government office for Kosovo, commented, “An acquittal of Haradinaj by the ICTY would be a message that it is allowed to kill Serbs in Kosovo. How can we talk about the fate of missing persons, justice for those killed and return of those exiled, if a man who talk part in all this is set free?

In 2008, Ramush Haradinaj’s was initially acquitted of the suspected war crimes. However, his acquittal was overturned. The appeal judges determined that a retrial was necessary because of witness intimidation. Despite his retrial in 2010, Haradinaj and co-defendants, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj, were cleared of all charges.

Judge Bakone Moloto said that although there was evidence that the Serbs and their supporters were beaten at a KLA compound in Kosovo and at least one of them had died from their injuries, there was, however, no evidence of Haradinaj’s involvement in the attacks.

Mr Haradinaj’s lawyer, Ben Emmerson, stated, “With the consent of the people, he [Ramush Haradinaj] will soon be resuming his rightful position as the political leader of the country.” Subsequently, Haradinaj’s face appeared on billboards in Kosovo with the slogan, “the leader who keeps his word” and “forward with a clean slate”.

President Tomislav Nikolic of Serbia, claimed the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was “formed to try the Serbian people” for the wars of the 1990s. However, he continued, “Nobody will be convicted for the horrible crimes against Kosovo Serbs.”

In fact, Amnesty International expected that nearly 800 non-Albanians were detained and killed by Kosovo rebels during the 1990s, but few people suspected of such crimes were prosecuted in Kosovo.

The judges ordered Haradinaj and two of his associates to be released immediately. After spending almost four years in jail, Haradinaj returned to Kosovo and was welcomed by the prime minister and cheers by large crowds on the streets.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Kosovo ex-PM Ramush Haradinaj cleared of war crimes – 29 November 2012

NBC News – Kosovo ex-premier Haradinaj cleared of war crimes again – 29 November 2012

The New York Times – War Crimes Court Frees Former Leader of Kosovo – 29 November 2012

The Guardian – Ramush Haradinaj awaits new verdict on Balkan war crimes charges – 25 November 2012

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

WARSAW, Poland – On Tuesday, Poland’s Constitutional Court ruled that religious, or ritual, slaughter of animals used to produce kosher and halal meat is in violation of the constitution.  The ruling comes weeks before a European Union law is to take effect allowing the practice.

Animal rights groups had petitioned Attorney General Andrzej Seremet to bring the case before the court.  In June, Seremet argued that ritual slaughter for religious purposes was unconstitutional, and that a 2004 amendment allowing the practice violated a 1997 animal rights law permitting slaughter only “following the loss of consciousness” after stunning.

Although former Agricultural Minister Wojciech Olejniczak has claimed that the purpose of the 2004 amendment was to place Polish laws in line with those of the EU, the court ruled that, in the words of Judge Zbigniew Cieslak, “a decree that is supposed to serve in the execution of a law, and the realization of its goals, cannot be in opposition to it.”

The ruling brings Poland into conflict with current international EU laws, and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which includes sections on religious freedoms, such as the practice of ritual slaughter of animals.

Jewish and Muslim clerics have insisted that stunning an animal before slaughter is inconsistent with Jewish and Muslim practices for producing kosher and halal meats, respectively.

There are small Jewish and Muslim communities in the overwhelmingly Catholic nation of 38 million.  It is estimated that about 6,000 Jews and several tens of thousands of Muslims live in Poland.

However, Poland is also a leading producer in kosher and halal meats, exporting to other European countries, Arab countries, Turkey and Israel.  With two dozen slaughterhouses specifically specializing in kosher and halal meats, the export industry is valued at an estimated $259 million.

The same day that the court’s ruling is set to take effect, January 1, an EU directive (The European Convention for the Protection of Animals for Slaughter) also will become effect.  The EU directive will set common rules for ritual slaughter across the EU, but will also allow individual counties to decide whether or not to apply these rules.  Specifically, the new directive allows “derogation from stunning in case[s] of religious slaughter taking place in slaughterhouses,” but leaves “a certain level of subsidiarity to each Member State.”

Currently, Sweden has a complete ban on ritual slaughter.  Last year the lower house of parliament in the Netherlands voted to enact a similar ban before backing down in the face of controversy.  Non-EU countries Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland also have a ban.

Last year, during the Dutch debate on religious slaughter, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski defended it as an ancient practice said there was “a crisis of tolerance” in Europe.

Poland’s Agriculture Minister Stanislaw Kalemba has promised “[t]here will be no doubt about this as of January 1.”  His ministry believes the EU law takes precedence and will act to remove any doubts about ritual slaughter’s legality in Poland.  His ministry has already licensed 17 slaughterhouses to practice Jewish or Muslim religious slaughter.

However, animal rights groups have said Poland may still opt-out of the EU laws. “It’s up to us to decide whether we want a law authorizing this kind of slaughter or not,” said Dariusz Gzyra of the campaign group Empatia.

Additionally, Piotr Kadlcik, president of Poland’s Union of Jewish Communities, has said he believes the ruling contradicts a 1997 law on relations between his Union and the Polish state.  “It appears there is a legal contradiction here and it is too early to tell what this means,” he said. “We are seeking legal advice on this right now.”

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Polish Ritual Slaughter Illegal, Court Rules – 28 November 2012

Polskie Radio – Ritual Slaughter of Farm Animals ‘Unconstitutional’ in Poland, Court Rules – 28 November 2012

France24 – Polish Court bans Ritual Slaughter, EU Gives Go-Ahead – 27 November 2012

Jerusalem Post – Polish Court Rules Against Ritual Slaughter – 28 November 2012