By Greg Hall
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Two recent newsworthy events highlight the international efforts being made to further women’s rights and protect women from inequality and discrimination. First, Sunday marked the United Nations’ thirtieth year celebration of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, an annual day dedicated to paying respect to worldwide victims of torture. This week also marked one year since the opening of the Swedish school Egalia, a preschool aimed at promoting gender neutrality by eliminating common stereotypes.

The UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture celebrated its thirtieth anniversary on Sunday. Last year, at Denmark’s request, the UN designated June 26 as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.  Torture against women in particular has been an important focus.  Certain forms of gender-specific violence perpetrated by state actors, as well as by private individuals or organizations, amount to torture, and it is now recognized that gender-specific violence falls within the definition of torture in the Convention against Torture.

One country has promoted women’s rights for decades.  A preschool in Sweden, Egalia, takes human rights and equality to a new level.  The school proclaims to be totally gender neutral, and teaches gender equality by eliminating common socialization that occurs in ordinary schools.  For example, the school staff refers to the children as friends instead of boys and girls.  The colors of the toys are also gender neutral.  Even the dolls are anatomically correct. The school refers to a person whose gender is not known as a “hen” instead of a him or her. School officials believe that such behavior will help eradicate stereotypes that lead to future gender inequality.

Critics of the school’s program are wary. Jay Belsky, a child psychologist at the University of California, Davis, said he’s not aware of any other school like Egalia, and he questioned its mission.

“The kind of things that boys like to do – run around and turn sticks into swords – will soon be disapproved of,” he said. “So gender neutrality at its worst is emasculating maleness.”  Despite opinions such as Belsky’s, the school boasts a long waiting list for admission.

Such events as the thirtieth anniversary of the International Day in support of torture victims and the one-year anniversary of the opening of the innovative Egalia highlight a long road ahead for women’s rights. But, at the least, it is clear that efforts are being made to reduce discrimination and ill treatment based on gender.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Education Associates – International Day of Support of Victims of Torture – 26 June 2011

New York Times – No ‘him’ of ‘her’; Preschool Fights Gender Bias – 26 June 2011

UN – International Day of Support of Victims of Torture – 26 June 2011

By Christina Berger
Special Features Editor

MOSCOW, Russia — Russia’s Ministry of Justice refused to approve the registration application of a new political party founded by prominent opposition members. This refusal will effectively bar the party from participating in the upcoming Duma (Russian assembly) elections in December and presidential elections in March 2012.

Russian federal law requires that a political party must have at least 45,000 members and regional departments in at least half of Russia’s 83 constituent units in order to be registered. The new liberal political party, the People’s Freedom Party (known as PARNAS), which was founded by Russian opposition leaders, including former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, “for a Russia free from abuse and corruption,” claims 53 regional offices and 46,000 members.

The Ministry of Justice claimed they denied the application to register PARNAS because the submitted charter does not comply with federal law on political parties, mainly the regulation that charters must provide a stipulation for the rotation of heads of the governing body. The Ministry also said that the party’s required 45,000 signatures contained violations because some of the party members were dead, underage, or not legal residents of the region where they signed. Additionally, the Ministry said they received written statements from citizens disavowing their signatures as members of PARNAS or denying they attended the PARNAS general meeting.

PARNAS leadership claimed that the charter was identical to standard charters, and that they had the requisite eligible 45,000 members. Also, Kasyanov and others have reported that some people who joined the party, which held its founding Congress in December 2010, were summoned by police officers and questioned about joining the opposition party, as well as whether they realized they could lose their job or their children would lose the opportunity to study at university. Nemstov stated that he wasn’t surprised because Russia’s ruling party is “deadly afraid” of the opposition and their elections “are nothing but a farce.”

President Dimitri Medvedev recently pledged to increase political competition in Russia , and if the PARNAS registration application was the first test of that pledge, many feel it was a failure.

Kremlin critics claim that authorities often use technicalities to deny registration to opposition parties. Leaders outside of Russia have also found this decision troubling. U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said in a statement, “[the U.S. is] troubled by reports of pressure from authorities in the regions designed to intimidate PARNAS (the party’s) supporters, prompting them to resign positions or disavow their signatures on required lists.”

A spokesperson for the European Union’s foreign-policy chief also expressed concern at the denial, saying “[t]he difficulties faced by political parties in registering for elections effectively constrain political competition in Russia, reduce the choice available to its electorate, and show that there are real obstacles to political pluralism in the country.”

Lyudmila Alekseeva, the chair of Russia’s oldest human rights organization The Moscow Helsinki Group, said, “If there was some hope for a fair election, now it’s gone.”

For more information, please see:

MSNBC — New Russian opposition party barred from election — 22 June 2011

CNN — Russia refuses to register liberal party; U.S. ‘disappointed’ — 22 June 2011

BBC — Russia rejects new opposition party registration — 22 June 2011

Russia Today — Opposition party denied registration for accepting dead members — 22 June 2011

RFE/RL — Russian Opposition Party Denied Registration — 22 June 2011

By Greg Hall
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

GENEVA, Switzerland – The United Nations narrowly passed a resolution on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity by a slim margin, with twenty-three countries in favor and nineteen opposed. The resolution is intended to combat discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender people. It establishes a formal UN process to document human rights abuses against these groups.

Proponents of the resolution argue that the endorsement vindicates a continuing international movement to end infringements on human rights based on sexual orientation. “This represents an historic moment to highlight the human rights abuses and violations that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people face around the world based solely on who they are and whom they love,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement. Furthermore, proponents argue that the resolution demonstrates the universality of human rights.

Opponents question the legal aspects of the resolution. “We are seriously concerned at the attempt to introduce to the United Nations some notions that have no legal foundation,” said Pakistan’s Zamir Akram. In addition, speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Pakistan said the resolution had “nothing to do with fundamental human rights.” A diplomat from the African state of Mauritania called the resolution “an attempt to replace the natural rights of a human being with an unnatural right.”

Asked what good the U.N. resolution would do in countries that opposed the resolution, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Baer said it was a signal “that there are many people in the international community who stand with them and who support them, and that change will come. It’s an historic method of tyranny to make you feel that you are alone,” he said. “One of the things that this resolution does for people everywhere, particularly LGBT people everywhere, is remind them that they are not alone.”

The resolution requests that the High Commissioner for Human Rights prepare a study on violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and calls for a panel discussion to be held at the Human Rights Council to discuss the findings of the study in a constructive and transparent manner, and to consider appropriate follow-up. It is believed that a great number of crimes against gay, lesbian, and transgender people are concealed or minimized. The resolution seeks to bring to light these atrocities and human rights abuses.

For more information, please see:

Detroit Free Press – U.S. calls first UN gay rights resolution historic – 18 June 2011

The New Civil Rights Movement – Will the UN’s historic human rights resolution reduce ‘corrective’ rape? – 18 June 2011

Huffington Post – U.N. Gay rights protection resolution passes, hailed as ‘historic moment’ – 17 June 2011

IGLHRC – Historic decision at the United Nations: Human Rights Council passes first-ever on sexual orientation and gender identity – 17 June 2011

The Slatest – U.N. endorses gay rights for first time – 17 June 2011

By Polly Johnson
Senior Desk Officer, Europe

FAREHAM, United Kingdom – A former prison guard at the Nazi-run Trawniki camp in southeast Poland, where thousands of Jews were murdered, was discovered this week living in a retirement community in Fareham.

Alexander Huryn, 90, is from Ukraine but has lived in the UK since 1948. Documents recently obtained by Holocaust researcher Dr. Stephen Ankier revealed that Huryn served as a guard at the concentration camp in 1944 and 1945.

Huryn has vehemently denied accusations of his participation in the Holocaust. “I absolutely never saw anyone get killed at the camp and I never killed anyone,” he told the Daily Echo, a British paper. Rather, Huryn said, the Nazi regime forced him into service, but his primary responsibility was to groom horses for Nazi officers.

His family sheltered Jews during World War II, according to Huryn. When the Nazi regime recruited him, he and his family feared they would lose their farm if Huryn did not comply. “I was sent because I was the eldest child. I had no choice. The Nazis took me away on a truck. I was very scared, I had no idea where I was going and definitely did not want to be there.” Huryn was 23 at the time.

“I don’t like what the Nazis did. I feel bad about what happened at Trawniki. It was terrible – but I had nothing to do with it.”

Huryn went as far to say that he had no idea what was happening inside the camps and only learned of the atrocities being committed after the war. Speaking to reporters at his home on June 13, Huryn said, “We were never given a rank, we were just soldiers. We were given a pre-historic gun, like an American Civil War rifle, and just five bullets.”

“I was asked to train horses for the German officers, even though I had no idea what to do. You didn’t dare argue. You just did whatever you were told. The German guards were not nice to me and I did not socialize with them. I never met Hitler or any other senior Nazis.”

Huryn and his wife now live in a bungalow in Fareham, where Huryn still earns a German Army pension of ten pounds a month. Their daughter, Sophie, who also lives in Fareham, said that her father “never really talked about it, but [ ] has always insisted that his family would have been shot. There were all sorts of victims of Adolf Hitler in all sorts of different ways.”

For more information, please see:

Daily Mail – Nazi concentration camp guard, living in Hampshire: “I was told to take the job, or die” – 14 June 2011

Daily Mirror – Hampshire OAP Alexander Huryn defends his past as a Nazi concentration camp guard – 14 June 2011

News From Poland – British pensioner revealed as former Nazi camp guard – 14 June 2011

This is Hampshire – Alexander Huryn tells Daily Echo: ‘I’ve done nothing wrong’ – 13 June 2011

By Greg Hall
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – After six years, Croatia has finally satisfied the requirements to be admitted into the European Union. Croatia’s bid was slowed by its past failures to cooperate fully in the prosecution of war criminals.

The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, said he was proposing completion of negotiations with Croatia, signifying that it had met the European Union’s requirements in a total of thirty-five policy areas. “This paves the way for Croatia to join the EU as the 28th member state as of 1 July 2013.” EU leaders are expected to approve accession at a summit on June 23-24.

Croatian people would have sought membership in the European Union much earlier than now.  However, before Croatia could begin its bid, it needed approval from then chief prosecutor for the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.  Thus, from the beginning, proceedings from The Hague had a direct impact on Croatia’s accession to the European Union.

For Croatians, this was not an easy accomplishment.  Many Croatians viewed previous military leaders and politicians as heroes because they fought for their country, despite the allegations against them .

General Ante Gotovina was arrested in 2005 for crimes against humanity and sentenced to twenty-four years in prison for his involvement in the country’s war for independence.  Gotovina’s extradition and conviction lessened Croatian support for joining the European Union from 53 percent to 44 percent.  Currently, Croatian support is up to 50 percent but expected to increase with Pope Benedict’s recent show of support.

Croatia recently indicted another former senior interior ministry official on Thursday, Tomislav Mercep, who has been charged with war crimes against Serb civilians at the beginning of the country’s independence war.

Though not all Croatians support accession, Croatia will likely be better off complying with the EU’s admission standards. Finland, like Croatia, had its doubts when it first joined. Finland’s approval rate of being part of the EU is now over 70%.

Croatia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Domagoj Milosevic, believes that joining the EU will significantly help the economy.  Other Croatians believe membership is a natural fit as they see themselves as part of “Western civilization.”

The international community supports Croatia’s accession. British Prime Minister David Cameron, said it was a “historic day.’’

“Croatia, in my view, belongs in the European Union,’’ he said.

For more information, please see:

Pakistan Observer – Croatia Charges Former War Criminal With War Crimes – 10 June 2011

New York Times – Croatia Given Conditional Approval to Join EU in 2013– 10 June 2011

Deutsche Welle – Between Apathy and Euphoria: Croatia’s Path to the EU – 10 June 2011

BBC – Croatia Cleared for EU Membership in 2013 – 10 June 2011