News

U.N. Tries to Refer North Korea Human Rights Cases to ICC

By Hojin Choi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea – Japan and the European Union circulated a draft resolution encouraging the U.N. Security Council to refer potential human rights violations in North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The draft resolution is based on a 372-page report from the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on North Korea, led by chief author, Michael Kirby, a retired Australian judge.

The report described wide-ranging human rights abuses, including torture, starvation, rape, enslavement and killing that could only be described as “extermination.” The report also highlighted prison camps, alleged to be political detention facilities holding some 120,000 individuals. The North Korean regime has vehemently denied the existence of any such facilities.

43 U.N. member-states have signed on in support of the draft resolution. The resolution will be discussed in the General Assembly’s Third Committee, which generally deals with human rights issues. While no members of the General Assembly hold a veto power, unlike the Security Council, the General Assembly does not have authority to issue legally binding orders.

This is the first time that any member-states have moved to refer the North Korea case to the ICC. The coalition was built largely on support from the United States. John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, made a bid to raise the profile of human rights issues in North Korea. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. presented an award to Michael Kirby in a display of gratitude and support for the draft resolution and its findings. Kirby urged the member-states to push the Security Council to refer the case to the ICC.

“The truth in this report is very concerning to the world community, and your country has to face up to it,” Kirby proclaimed.

China and Russia, two of the fifteen member-countries of the Security Council, will likely use their vetoes against any attempts to refer the case to the ICC. The Foreign Ministry Spokesperson for China, Hua Chunying, said during a daily news briefing, “we believe that for the issue of human rights, referring a case to the ICC is not helpful to improving a country’s human rights situation.”

Kirby, anticipating China’s veto, commented that “we [will] continue to [work] in hopes that China, as a great power, will act as a great power should.”

North Korea refused to admit to any of the allegations contained in the report. North Korea’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador, Jang Il-hun, said that “in my country we don’t even know the term ‘political prisoners.” He warned that North Korea would take countermeasures against any efforts to charge the leader, Kim Jong-un, with human rights violations at the ICC.

On October 15, North Korea circulated another draft resolution calling for “an end to the practice of calling into question the human rights situation of specific individual countries.” About 60 U.N. member-states attended the meeting.

Kim Song, center, of North Korean mission alleged at the United Nation’s meeting that there has been “a political conspiracy by the United States and hostile forces” (AP)

North Korea also insisted that the country has improved its human rights situation by providing a “free, compulsory educational system” and “free medical care.” It said the report was based on “wild rumors” spread by “hostile forces.”

Even though the General Assembly resolutions have almost annually criticized human rights situations in North Korea, Iran, Myanmar, and Syria, this is the first time such a resolution has recommended referral to the ICC.

For more information please see:

The New York Times – Coalition Seeks to Send North Korea to International Court Over Rights Abuses – 25 October 2014

Reuters – At U.N., China asked to back rights case against North Korea – 26 October 2014

The Korea Times – Pyongyang challenges UN’s accusation of human rights violations – 26 October 2014

Reuters – U.N. draft urges ICC referral for North Korea, but Pyongyang fights back – 9 October 2014

The New York Times – North Korea Challenges U.N. Report on Violations – 20 October 2014

Ukraine Reports Claim Russia Storms Back into Ukraine with Force

By Kyle Herda

Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine is reporting that Russia has entered back into Eastern Ukraine, specifically into the Luhansk region. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko reported at least 32 tanks, 16 artillery systems, and 30 trucks loaded with fighters and ammunition, along with three mobile radar units on trucks, crossed over from Russia into Eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

Pro-Russian rebels fire artillery at Donetsk Sergey Prokofiev International Airport. Fighting between pro-Russian rebels and pro-Kiev armed forces in Eastern Ukraine has steadily been increasing since the cease-fire began over two months ago, building up to Russia’s re-entrance into Ukraine yesterday. (Photo courtesy of CNN)

Earlier this week reports from Western nations claimed that Russia was amassing troops and military equipment on the Russian side of the Ukrainian border. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has shown “deep concern” about the new reports coming out of Ukraine, a concern that several nearby countries likely share. This increased aggression would be a direct violation of the ceasefire agreed to on September 5, would undermine the legitimacy of this truce and future possible truces, and would further worry many nations that border Russia and who have seen Russian aggression increase dramatically over the past month.

Prior to this alleged incursion and the gathering of troops along the Ukrainian border this week, Russia has also shown serious aggression towards other countries recently. There have been many flyovers of Russian military aircraft over the Baltics, Scandinavian countries, and even as far as Portugal, Canada, and Alaska. Russia abducted an Estonian border agent in Estonia and a Lithuanian fishing boat in international waters. Russia is also suspected of having sent a submarine into a Swedish bay, although that remains unconfirmed.

Fighting between pro-Russian rebels and Kiev militants has been steadily increasing over the past month over an airport in Donetsk, and over the past 24 hours alone five soldiers were killed. Andrei Purgin, the deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, told a Russian news service that Ukraine launched an “all-out war” on rebel militias. Elections on Sunday in Donetsk and Luhansk to put pro-Russian rebels into political positions have also been deemed by Kiev as violations of the truce agreements.

More than 4,000 lives have already been lost this year as a result of fighting in Ukraine, many of whom were lost during increased fighting the last time Russia came into Ukraine. There is no telling how bad things could get if confirmed that Russia has indeed returned to fight in Eastern Ukraine.

For more information, please see:

ABC – Ukraine Accuses Russia of Sending Dozens of Tanks – 7 November 2014

Washington Post – Ukraine accuses Russia of major cross-border incursion to aid separatists – 7 November 2014

BBC – Ukraine crisis: Tanks ‘cross border’ from Russia – 7 November 2014

Irish Times – Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks to support rebels – 7 November 2014

Deutsche Welle – Kyiv: 32 tanks enter Ukraine from Russia – 7 November 2014

 

Continued Russian Air Incursions are Becoming Increasingly Threatening

By Kyle Herda

Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LISBON, Portugal – Russian jets, bombers, and fueling planes continue to violate the airspaces of many NATO countries, and the severity of the violations is increasing in number and intensity.

A Russian TU-95 bomber after being intercepted by the RAF. (Photo courtesy of Business Insider)

On October 21, 2014, a Russian Ilyushin-20, a spy plane, flew for about a minute in Estonian airspace before fighters from Denmark, Portugal, and Sweden intercepted. On October 28, 2014, seven Russian combat aircraft flew over the Baltic Sea and were initially intercepted by German fighters near Finland. Instead of turning back, the Russian aircraft pushed further, and were additionally intercepted by Danish, Swedish, and Finnish aircraft.

On October 29, 19 Russian aircraft in 3 separate formations were intercepted over the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and North Sea leading a chase into the Atlantic Ocean. Portuguese fighter jets intercepted seven Russian jets over the Baltic Sea, and at the same time Turkish fighters intercepted two Russian bombers and two Russian fighter jets over the Black Sea. Later that day, eight Russian aircraft were initially intercepted by English RAF over the North Sea, at which point some of the Russian aircraft returned to Russia but two bombers pushed towards the Atlantic. The final two bombers were once again intercepted over the Atlantic by Portuguese aircraft.

Reports also came out recently about a simulated Russian attack in June 2014 of the Danish island Bornholm. This simulated attack occurred while 90,000 people were attending a political festival, and the Russian aircraft were equipped with live missiles. On March 29, 2013, a similar run was performed with two Tu-22M3 Backfire Russian heavy bombers and four SU-27 Flanker fighter jets around Sweden.

U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, the supreme allied commander in Europe, has called the more recent Russian incursions “a larger, more complex formation of aircraft carrying out a little deeper, … more provocative flight path.” Breedlove believes that these incursions have been a message from Russia to NATO that Russia is “a great power”.

As long as these incursions continue, and especially the more intense flight patterns and flight paths, relations with NATO and countries around the world will remain low with Russia and becoming increasingly pressed.

For more information, please see:

Business Insider – Here Are The ‘Complex’ Russian Air Incursions That NATO Is So Concerned About – 3 November 2014

Reuters – NATO commander: Russia’s incursions in European airspace ‘more provocative’ – 3 November 2014

The Examiner – World War 3 trial run: Russia simulates attack on Denmark, stimulates war fears – 2 November 2014

The Inquisitr – World War 3: Russia Simulated Attack On Denmark, Could Be Preparing European Invasion – 31 October 2014

 

Apartheid in Israel? New public transportation ban on Palestinian travelers

By Ashley Repp

News Desk Reporter- Middle East

Bethlehem, Israel/Palestine-

Israel transportation authority announced that beginning this month, Palestinians with work permits will be banned from using the public transportation that settlers use from the West Bank to Israel proper. This announcement received mixed reviews, with many claiming that this move to segregated buses is racist and demonstrative of apartheid.

Segregated busses
Palestinians wait in line for buses at a security check point in the West Bank (photo courtesy of RT)

Israeli authorities reported that the new bus scheme was implemented in order to allay the fears of Israeli settlers, many of whom reported that they do not want to share buses with Palestinians for security reasons.  Many rights groups argue that the bus ban is simply an excuse to segregate non-Jews from Jews, and that Israel has been moving in the direction of segregated buses since March 2013, when it introduced a Palestinianonly bus for those traveling on work permits.

Although Israeli authorities initially asserted that they cannot, and would not, prohibit Palestinians with Israeli work permits from riding public buses with Israelis, they did submit that Palestinians would be strongly encouraged to ride the buses designated for their use. Israeli rights groups pushed back against this, and pointed to reports logged by an Israeli group that records checkpoint incidents. In one, soldiers ordered Palestinians off of a bus and told them to walk 2.5 kilometers to the nest checkpoint. When and older man spoke up, a soldier told him that he should take a “private van,” and that the Palestinians are not allowed on that highway and on public transportation.

Many are concerned that the segregated buses will be an opportunity to further reduce contact between Palestinians and Israelis, and is a step towards apartheid. Israel had long avoided serious accusations of apartheid because of the lack of “petty” apartheid, which would include separate cafes, streets, highways, and buses. Those within Israel (not those in the occupied territories), are technically, under Israeli law, allowed to use any and all facilities. Though there are many reports of Arab-Israelis being excluded from particular places, under the letter of the law, such actions are discriminatory. Those in the occupied territories face much heavier restrictions. The establishment of a Palestinian ban on buses in response to security concerns of settlers, is concerning, and suggests that the claim of security concerns, is being used as a catch-all reason to discriminate.

Pursuant to the apartheid argument, in March 2013, Zahava Gal-On, leader of the Meretz party, demanded that the segregated bus line be discontinued immediately, contending that the bus did nothing but demonstrate the incompatibility of democracy and occupation. Now, Israeli Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, is calling the segregated buses racist and representative of apartheid, and she simply will not stand for it. With tensions already running high in Israel and the occupied territories, the new ban could easily exacerbate the situation.

 

For more information, please visit:

International Business Times- Palestinians banned from Israeli public transport system in the West Bank– 26 Oct., 2014

RT- ‘This is apartheid!’ Israeli minister blasts bus segregation for Palestinians– 1 Nov., 2014

Voice of America- In Israel, Palestinian bus ban slammed as racist– 30 Oct., 2014

Al Jazeera- Israel launches segregated bus service– 4 Mar., 2013

Christian Pakistani Woman Sentenced to Death Appeals the Case to the Highest Court

By Hojin Choi

Impunity Watch Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Asia Bibi, a Christian Pakistani woman, is taking her blasphemy case to the highest court of Pakistan. She was sentenced to death in 2010 for allegedly making derogatory expressions about the name of the Prophet Mohammed while having an argument with her Muslim co-workers. An intermediate level court rejected her appeal and upheld the decision.

Bibi is a mother of five and a resident of Punjab province in Pakistan. In 2009, she had an argument with her fellow workers. According to her, the workers refused to drink water in a bucket because she was not Muslim and because she had touched the bucket of water. She was arrested and accused under the blasphemy law which can impose death or life imprisonment according to Pakistan’s penal code. She had been jailed more than a year and sentenced to hang. In 2010, the Lahore High Court upheld the decision.

Bibi’s attorney, Naeem Shakir, told CNN that “there is no concrete evidence against Asia Bibi, and the courts are only relying on the statement of those two women, [the fellow workers.]” The attorney expected the Supreme Court’s relief for Bibi.

Daughters of Asia Bibi standing in front of their house with a photo of the mother (Reuters)

The blasphemy law has been the center of a huge controversy domestically and internationally in the wake of Bibi’s case. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI officially requested Bibi’s release. A group of human rights activists filed a petition to the U.N. Human Rights Council for her. Human Rights Watch pointed out that the law largely targets religious minorities in Pakistan and it is often manipulated to interfere with personal disputes. In fact, Bibi has been insisting that her fellow workers falsely incriminated her based on lies because they simply did not like her.

Amnesty International described her case as “a grave injustice.” The spokesperson said that she “should never have been convicted in the first place.” Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia Pacific Director, David Griffiths, added “those who speak out against the laws face terrible reprisals. However, the blasphemy laws violate international law and must be repealed or reformed immediately . . .”

There have been additional victims related to Bibi’s case. Shabaz Bhatti, who was Pakistan’s Minister of Minority Affairs, had investigated Bibi’s case and concluded that her charges were based on personal and religious enmity followed by a recommendation to release her. Bhatti also held a position against the blasphemy law. In 2011, she was assassinated by the Taliban as “a message to all of those who are against Pakistan’s blasphemy law.” Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province where Bibi is from, was killed by gun-shots from one of his own security guards. Accordingly, Taseer had opposed the blasphemy law and supported Bibi’s release.

Shakir, Bibi’s attorney, also expressed concerns about his own safety. During her trial, there were dozens of people who were against Bibi, and he did “feel threatened” even in the court.

Protesters demanding release of Asia Bibi (Reuters)

Spokesperson of Pakistan’s Presidential Office, Farahnaz Ispahani, delivered an opinion that Pakistan remains committed to protecting religious minorities. “Pakistan is a nation of many faiths and religions, and all Pakistanis, no matter what their religion, are equal under the law,” he said. He added that the president will issue a pardon “if necessary” after carefully examining the Bibi’s case. However, two prominent Muslim leaders of Pakistan threatened to call nationwide protests if the president pardons Bibi, “if the president pardons [her], we will raise our voices across the country until he is forced to take his decision back.”

For more information please see:

CNN – Pakistan president urged not to pardon Christian woman – 24 November 2010

CNN – Condemned Christian woman to take blasphemy case to top Pakistani court – 20 October 2014

Amnesty International – Pakistan: Upholding blasphemy death sentence against Christian woman ‘a grave injustice’ – 16 October 2014

Newsweek – Christian Pakistani Women Sentenced to Death Will Take Case to Highest Court – 23 October 2014