by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

GENEVA –  The United Nations announced on Tuesday that over 100 Syrian refugees were being relocated to Germany this week, in the first step of a plan to relocate nearly 12,000 Syrians this year.

107 Syrians will be the first among a group of 5,000 Syrians to be relocated to Germany by the end of this year in what the U.N. is deeming a temporary humanitarian admissions program, according to Melissa Fleming, the spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

This first wave of refugees being relocated to Germany are identified as particularly vulnerable, and includes “women and girls at risk, people with serious medical conditions, survivors of torture or others with special needs,” according to Fleming.

“This is a lifesaving tool for most of them,” Fleming stated.

Neighboring countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon have taken in most of the Syrian refugees so far, as 2 million Syrians have fled. The refugees are faced with makeshift conditions in these countries, however, and the U.N. is calling on additional western countries to contribute.

The U.N. has only managed to find homes for roughly 7,000 refugees in twelve western countries in the current plan, despite the goal of reaching 12,000. Other countries that have agreed to accept Syrian refugees include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Under this program, Germany’s relocation plan is currently the largest. The country has announced that it will extend two-year residence permits which allow the Syrian refugees to work, and the permits could potentially be lengthened if the Syrian conflict remains unsettled.

This first group of 107 Syrians are departing from Lebanon on Wednesday, and will travel to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees where they will be greeted before being transported to an accommodation center for two weeks. At the center, the Syrians will receive basic language training, and receive an orientation on the schooling and healthcare system of Germany. After the two-week orientation, the Syrians will finally depart to their temporary homes across Germany.

For more information, please see:

Fox News – Syrian Refugees Temporarily Resettling in Germany Under Biggest Relocation Program – 10 September 2013

New York Times – Germany to Accept Syrian Refugees – 10 September 2013

World Bulletin – Germany to be Temporary Home of 107 More Syrians – 10 September 2013

Deutsche Welle – Syrian Refugees Heading for Germany – 9 September 2013

 

 

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – Over 160 protestors were arrested in East London on Saturday after police officers sought to prevent clashes between hundreds of anti-Islamist activists and thousands of counter-demonstrators near a large Muslim community.

Roughly 3,000 police officers were deployed to segregate the two groups in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. The police formed barriers across the streets to keep the anti-racist counter-demonstrators in assigned areas while attempting to enforce restrictions on the anti-Islamist activists.

The English Defence League (EDL), which focuses on the perceived threat of radical Islam to traditional British values, had been denied permission to march through the neighborhood, as many feared a threat to public order in the Muslim-heavy community.

The police attempted to implement geographic and time restrictions on the EDL, after the group lost a court battle to overturn the restrictions on Friday.

Around 150 counter-protesters were arrested when a group broke away and headed toward the Tower Bridge, where the march was supposed to end, according to a police spokesman.

Another 14 protestors, mostly from the EDL, were arrested for violent disorder and possession of knives and fireworks. The EDL’s leader, Tommy Robinson, has been arrested for incitement, according to the group’s Twitter page.

Despite the number of arrests, the police spokesman said there were no serious clashes. “The police presence did manage to keep the two groups apart,” the police spokesman stated.

Local members of Parliament had written to the police department, requesting a ban on the march, as many feared a repeat of violent clashes in 2011 between the EDL, the police and anti-fascist groups in Tower Hamlets.

The counter-demonstration was organized by Weyman Bennett, joint national secretary of Unite Against Facism. Bennett was pleased with the turnout, and ultimate results of the counterdemonstration. “They [EDL] didn’t come up with enough numbers and they really depended on the police to be able to escort them in an area where they were not really wanted. It really was like outsiders trying to cause trouble,” Bennett said.

Chief Superintendent Jim Read, a senior officer involved in the policing effort, said there were minor clashes during the day, but only 5 people injured.

“Our intention was to prevent violence and show support to the local communities and we believe we achieved this today. We want to thank the local communities for working so well with us on what has been a difficult day. The key point is the two groups did not meet.” Chief Supt Read said.

For more information, please see:

The Independent – More Than 160 Arrested at EDL Tower Hamlets March – 8 September 2013

Reuters UK – More Than 160 Anti-Islamist and Rival Protesters Arrested in London – 8 September 2013

The Times of India – UK’s Far-Right Leader Tommy Robinson Charged Over London Protest – 8 September 2013

NY Times – Rival Protests in London Over Islamists – 7 September 2013

 

 

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The highest Dutch court has declared that the Netherlands must pay compensation to the family of three Muslim men who were executed during the Srebrenica massacre.

 

On 11 July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces overran an area near a United Nations compound, which a Dutch battalion of U.N. peacekeepers (“Dutchbat”) controlled. Among the thousands who sought shelter at the compound, Dutchbat turned away three Muslim men after Bosnian Serb forces had been witnessed abusing and killing several Muslims outside the safe area of the compound.

In all, 8000 men and boys were killed and buried in mass graves. The atrocity has been called “the worst massacre on European soil since the Second World War.”

Hasan Nuhanovic and Rizo Mustafic, relatives of the three men, filed suit against the Dutch state, which accepts “political responsibility” for the mission’s failure and claims that responsibility for the massacre lays with the Bosnian Serbs. Pending appeal to Holland’s Supreme Court, the Hague appeals court ordered the Dutch to compensate the men’s relatives.

On 6 September 2013, the Dutch Supreme Court issued a final decision that ordered the Netherlands to compensate relatives of those men. In so doing, the decision confirms precedent stating that “countries providing troops to U.N. missions can be held responsible” for the troops’ conduct. Additionally, the decision enables other victims’ families to seek compensation from the Dutch.

The ruling stated that “Dutchbat decided not to evacuate them along with the battalion and instead sent them away from the compound. Outside the compound, they were murdered by the Bosnian-Serb army or related paramilitary groups.”

“People participating in U.N. missions are not always covered by the UN flag,” said Liesbeth Zegveld, the human rights lawyer who represented the Bosnian families. She added that the case is historic because countries can now be held criminally liable for their actions in U.N. missions, despite the U.N.’s immunity from prosecution.

“I was thinking about my family, they are dead for 18 years,” Nuhanovic said. “It does not change that, but maybe there is some justice. It should have happened years ago. In the future countries might act differently in peacekeeping missions and I hope the lives of other people in the future will be saved because this mistake was admitted.”

To preserve justice and human rights around the world, compensation policies should promote and encourage safeguards to protect innocent people who might otherwise be abused or even murdered. Absent the security of such fundamental safety, we will have fought for nothing.

For further information, please see:

Amnesty International – Netherlands Supreme Court Hands Down Historic Judgment over Srebrenica Genocide – September 6, 2013

BBC –Dutch State Liable for Three Srebrenica Deaths – September 6, 2013

CNN International – Netherlands Liable for Deaths of 3 Muslim Men in Bosnia, Court Says – September 6, 2013

Dutch News – Supreme Court Says NL is Responsible for 3 Srebrenica Deaths – September 6, 2013

The Guardian – Netherlands to Pay Compensation over Srebrenica Massacre – September 6, 2013

Reuters – Dutch State Blamed in Three Srebrenica Deaths: Supreme Court – September 6, 2013

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Russian lawmakers will soon discuss a bill to remove children from homosexual parents. Among other issues, world leaders plan to express their concerns about Russia’s policy at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg.

In June 2013, Duma Deputy Yelena Mizurina proposed both the “Gay Propaganda to Minors” bill—now law—and the idea of revoking parental rights from homosexuals.

Currently, under Russian law, sufficient grounds to revoke parental rights include alcoholism, drug addiction, and “premeditated crime against a child’s life.” If made law, the bill adds to such grounds the “fact of non-traditional sexual orientation.” Parental rights could be terminated whether one or both parents are homosexual.

With reference to the June 2013 law, Deputy Alexei Zhuravlev of Putin’s United Russia Party stated that homosexual “propaganda” must be prohibited in the public and “also in the family.”

In the bill, Russian lawmakers cited Mark Regnerus, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas—Austin, who conducted a controversial study claiming that “gay parenting” results in psychological problems for children. Although the entire theory has been declared invalid by the American Sociological Association, Zhuravlev said, “The harm that could be inflicted on a child’s mental health if their parents are homosexual is immense.”

Head of the Kremlin’s Human Rights Council Mikhail Fedotov responded to the new bill, asking, “Will we deprive left-handed people of their driver’s licenses now too? They’re left-handed, you know, and all our vehicles have the steering wheel on the left side, so it’s harder for a left-handed person to drive.”

This law will create “unwanted tensions between Russia and the West”, predicted Leading LGBT activist Nikolai Alekseyev. “I cannot imagine how this initiative can be taken in the Duma. It is just another populist campaign [by Zhuravlev] to attract attention to himself. I don’t believe that such a law could possibly be signed by the President.”

While Putin attempted to cite Russia’s love for composer Pyotr Tchaiskovsky as proof that Russia appreciates its LGBT community, activists assert that fellow Russians are turning homosexuals into scapegoats for problems ranging from low birth rates to an HIV epidemic.

In anticipation of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, activists held protests in over 33 cities.

On the importance of challenging Russia’s anti-homosexual laws, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said, “Britain cannot have a foreign policy without a conscience and I don’t believe it is ultimately in the nature of British people to act without a conscience.”

Without children in a household to be orphaned upon their parents’ arrest or disappearance, Russia’s new law enables the country to take the next step in removing rights from its LGBT community.

For further information, please see:

The Moscow Times – Gays’ Kids Could Be Taken by State under Proposed Bill – September 6, 2013

Euronews – Draft Bill Could See Russian Parents Lose Custody of a Child – Because They’re Gay – September 5, 2013

Irish Times – Russian Duma to Debate Bill That Would Remove Parental Rights of Gay People – September 5, 2013

Washington Post – Russian Lawmaker Proposes Bill That Would Deny Gay Parents Custody over Children – September 5, 2013

The Independent – Tchaikovsky Was Gay But Russians Love Him, Says Vladimir Putin as David Cameron to Raise Concerns over Russia’s Controversial Policies – September 4, 2013

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Bucharest, ROMANIA – Romanian prosecutors charged the  former commander of a Communist-era  prison with genocide on Tuesday.

Alexandru Visinescu was formally presented with the charges before prosecutors at a hearing on Tuesday. He declined to comment as he was led to a taxi after the hearing. He has said he was  only following orders delegated to him.

Visinescu ran the Ramnicu Sarat prison where the  pre-Communist elite and intellectuals were incarcerated between 1956 and 1963.

Prosecutors have stated that under Visinescu’s command, prisoners were  subjected to starvation, beatings,  a lack of medical treatment and exposure to cold.  Visinescu could face life in prison if convicted.

Visinescu, 87, is the first Romanian to be charged with genocide since 1989. Former leader Nicolae  Ceausescu was the last, and was tried and executed in 1989.

Approximately 500,000 Romanian priests, teachers, peasants, doctors and diplomats  were condemned as political prisoners in the 1950s as the Communist government  sought to crush any dissent and gain greater autonomy. Nearly one-fifth of those imprisoned died due to  the inhuman conditions, historians have stated.

Back in July, the institute investigating communist crimes wrote to the general  prosecutors calling for Visinescu to be prosecuted for six deaths. The institute plans to forward roughly 35 files about former commanders to prosecutors.

In August, Visinescu lunged several times at  journalists who were seeking reaction to the accusations against him. Since  then, there has been widespread public debate regarding the Communist era, with many people advocating moves to punish former prison commanders.

President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Victor Ponta have both stated that  former prison commanders should face justice for crimes they committed during the Communist era.

Visinescu also was reportedly a member of the execution squad that killed Ion Mihalache, the founder and leader of the Agrarian Party in Romania. After the execution, Visinescu became the commander of a women’s penitentiary, where he was a notorious torturer, before eventually becoming the commander of Ramnicu Sarat.

Former inmate Ion-Ovidiu Borcea recalls witnessing Visinescu commit chronic torture, “The officer and the commander in chief continuously beat him, got him sick and did not offer him medical care. They would enter his cell and throw a bucket of cold water on him in the middle of winter. [Mihalache] would yell ‘This is Ion Mihalache, They’re killing me!’. This crime cannot be forgotten.”

For more information, please see:

Fox News – Romanian Communist-Era Prison Guard Charged With Genocide – 3 September 2013

Romania-Insider – Romanian Commander of Communist-Era Prison Charged With Genocide – 3 September 2013

The Telegraph – Romanian Communist-Era Prison Chief Charged With Genocide – 3 September 2013

The Tribune – Ex Prison Guard of Communist Prison is Charged With Genocide – 3 September 2013