News

UN Report Says 479 Civilians Killed by Drones in Pakistan

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

NEW YORK CITY, New York – Ben Emmerson, a UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, publicized findings of his report Friday which announced that at least 479 civilians have been killed by drone strikes in Pakistan since 2004.  The report’s release came ahead of a General Assembly debate schedule for October 25.

Under the Obama Administration, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become a principle method for killing suspected militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

The report, which Emmerson began research on in January, involved interviews with local US elements in Pakistan.  Emmerson said that the CIA’s involvement in the drone program has created “an almost insurmountable obstacle to transparency.”  The report emphasizes that national security considerations are an unacceptable justification for withholding data on civilian casualties.

While Emmerson notes that a number of international legal issues relating to drone use need to be resolved, he believes that there is a place for their use within humanitarian law.  BBC News reports that Emmerson’s fear with drones is that lack of consensus on how to use them in armed conflict could become increasingly dangerous.

Emmerson’s report has no binding authority; however, the UN Human Rights Council will use the report in determining whether the US has committed human rights violations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen.

Human rights concerns aside, the use of drones is unlikely to decline in the near future. Already China has begun training with drones for use in armed conflicts, and Japan is looking to acquire drones by 2015.

Emmerson expects the expanding role of drones as a policing tool will lead states to prefer targeting enemies under war parameters over capturing them.

“The expansive use of armed drones by the first states to acquire them, if not challenged, can do structural damage to the cornerstones of international security and set precedents that undermine the protection of life across the globe in the longer term,” Emmerson’s report said.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – UN investigator presses US to publish drone attack data – 18 October 2013

Asahi Shimbun – Almost 500 civilians killed in drone attacks, U.N. study finds – 19 October 2013

Chicago Tribune – Pakistan tells U.N. at least 400 civilians killed by drone strikes – 19 October 2013

International Business Times – Drone Attacks In Pakistan Killed 400 Civilians In Last 10 Years; UN Investigator Urges US To Declassify Data – 19 October 2013

Reuters – Pakistan tells U.N. at least 400 civilians killed by drone strikes – 19 October 2013

Protests near Piazza San Giovanni Turn Violent Despite Organizers’ Peaceful Intentions

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ROME, Italy – Italy’s planned peaceful protests turned violent as extremists attended, prepared for a clash with police.

Demonstrations turn violent as extremists throw bottles, flares, and thunder flashes. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

On 18 October 2013, a transport strike led to an overnight demonstration at the Piazza San Giovanni, in the city centre. Despite grievances, the demonstrators were allegedly in good spirit.

By 19 October, thousands protested throughout Rome’s streets over several issues, including the government’s austerity program and the proposed high speed rail line linking Lyon, France with Turin.

“We are protesting a one-way austerity that is bringing the country to its knees,” said Piero Bernocchi from Italy’s Cobas trade union group. “And it hasn’t achieved what it was meant to by bringing down debt. Meanwhile politicians continue with their privileges.”

Italy’s two-year recession has pushed unemployment to record-breaking heights, shut down thousands of businesses, and forced much of the younger generation to emigrate. Youth unemployment is at 40.1%.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s 2014 budget has been viewed as insufficient to ease the current tax burden placed on workers.

Originally, organizers hoped 20,000 would appear for a peaceful protest. While organizers estimated 70,000 to have attended, police put estimates closer to 50,000. Among the demonstrators, nearly 400 immigrants expressed support for asylum-seekers, many of whom have died at sea during their trip from North Africa.

“This protest is to demand basic rights: a job paying a wage, and housing,” said Matteo, a 20-year-old student from the eastern Marche region. “All the most downtrodden people are here to protest, unemployed people, students, immigrants, workers without job security.”

One protester apparently looking for a clash said, “We are not assuming it is going to happen, but we need them because the situation in the country is very serious.”

During the lead-up to demonstrations, police discovered five French members of the “Black Block” movement. According to authorities, the group provoked much unrest throughout Europe in past years; and two of the five were under investigation in France for terrorist activity.

At least 100 wearing hoods and motorcycle helmets attacked the Italian Economic Ministry. Demonstrators in masks threw eggs, bottles, flares, and thunder flashes at a police line guarding the building. As police charged the crowd, demonstrators beat their plastic shields with sticks and poles, and set fire to a trash bin.

Police detained the 15 most violent people after confiscating baseball bats, helmets, teargas, rocks, and a knife. Also, police defused a large firework with a bullet in it.

While most protestors sought a peaceful protest over austerity and low wages and the environment, extremists came prepared for anything. In case of violence, shops were shuttered and Rome authorities deployed approximately 3500 police.

For further information, please see:

Euronews – Thousands Protest in Rome over Austerity Measures – October 19, 2013

Reuters – Italian Anti-Austerity Protesters Clash with Police – October 19, 2013

Telegraph – Protests in Rome Turn Violent as Demonstrators Attack Economy Ministry – October 19, 2013

Gazzetta del Sud – Five French “Block Block” Militants Stopped in Rome – October 18, 2013

New Documents Detail Charles Taylor’s Life in Prison

By Erica L Smith
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MONROVIA, Liberia — Charles Taylor, former dictator of Liberia, was transferred to British custody Tuesday. The transfer comes just a day after the release of documents detailing his life behind bars in The Hague and his desire to serve out his prison term in Rwanda.

Charles Taylor (Photo courtesy of The Telegraph)

“Charles Ghankay Taylor… was transferred today (Tuesday)  from the Netherlands and the custody of the Special Court to the United Kingdom, where he will serve the remainder of his 50-year sentence,” the UN’s Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)’s Freetown office said in a statement.

Taylor is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison after his conviction and 50 year sentence for arming rebel groups during the Liberian Civil War was upheld by the SCSL last week. Taylor supported the Revolutionary United Front rebels in exchange for “blood diamonds.”  The rebel group became well know for widespread killings and amputations during the 11 year conflict.

Taylor wished to serve his sentence out in Rwanda because he fears for his safety in British custody. Taylor and his defense team argue that there are numerous individuals of Sierra Leonean background in British detention and Taylor fears they may attack him because of his association with “horrendous atrocities.” The defense team points to the case of Radislav Krstic, a Bosnian Serb war criminal, who was attacked three times while in British custody in 2010.

Taylor also wanted to be imprisoned in Rwanda so that his family would be able to visit him. Taylor believes that the higher costs and visa complications facing Liberians traveling to the U.K. will make it impossible for him to see his family.

“The consequence of these factors is that if I am incarcerated in the United Kingdom some family members will see me much less than if I were to serve my sentence in Rwanda. Many of my children would not be able to see me at all,” Taylor said.

Taylor is reported to have 15 children, five of whom are under the age of 10.

The documents further reveal that Taylor remained on good terms with his guards and is outspoken when he believes his living conditions are not satisfactory.

“Mr. Taylor does not take part in creative lessons, but takes the opportunity to regularly enjoy fresh air and tries to keep himself as fit as the regime will allow,” a May 2012 profile prepared by Paddy Craig, the chief custody officer at the International Criminal Court detention center reads.

Taylor also enjoyed playing tennis while incarcerated in The Hague.

For more information, please see:

Nigerian Tribune — War crimes: Charles Taylor secretly sent to UK jail — 16 October 2013

BBC News — Liberia’s Charles Taylor transferred to UK — 15 October 2013

IOL News — Taylor wants to serve time in Rwanda — 15 October 2013

ABC News — Documents Detail Charles Taylor’s Life Behind Bars — 14 October 2013

 

 

Global Slavery Index Ranks Haiti Second

By Brandon Cottrell 
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – According to the Global Slavery Index, released Thursday by the Walk Free Foundation, an anti-slavery charity, Haiti ranks among the countries with the highest prevalence of slavery.  Of the 162 countries ranked by the Index, Haiti had the second highest proportion of slaves, behind Mauritania, a western African nation.

This map shows the percentage of the population of countries based on the Global Slavery Index; 2.1% of Haiti’s population is enslaved (Photo Courtesy Washington Post)

In addition, the top ten countries on the Global Slavery Index account for three quarters of the 29.8 million people currently living in slavery.  India, which has a slave population of over 14 million people, has the greatest slave population.

The United States came in 134th, with an estimated slave population of 60 thousand.

Kevin Bales, one of the authors of the Index, when asked why slavery continues to persist, said that, “the reasons varied from country to country, but one constant was that it remained a hidden problem.”  He hopes that that the Index will provide “a bit of a wake up call” to the world’s governments.

The Index used reports from governments and non-profit organizations, as well as statistical estimates in making its determinations and considered a range of practices including forced labor, bonded labor, human trafficking, forced marriages, and the use of children in the military.  It draws on over ten years of research and claims to contain the most authoritative data on slavery conditions.

In Haiti 2.1% of the population, or 1 of every 48 people, are enslaved.  Most of the slaves, however, are children.  One in ten children are “trapped” in a system of child labor and are referred to as “restavecs.”  They serve families that they are sent to and are generally responsible for preparing meals, fetching water from wells, cleaning, doing laundry and emptying bedpans.  Generally, they sleep on the floor, are up at dawn and are often subject to physical and sexual abuse.  Many run away but according to the report they are often “trafficked into forced begging and commercial sexual exploitation.”

The Walk Free Foundation represents Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s commitment to preventing global slavery.  Other global leaders such as former U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates are involved in the Foundation.

Clinton acknowledged that the study was not perfect but she hopes that it “urge[s] leaders around the world to view this index as a call to action, and to stay focused on the work of responding to this crimes.”

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Mauritania, Haiti Top New Global Slavery Index – 16 October 2013

CNN – India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria On Slavery’s List Of Shame, Says Report – 17 October 2013

USA Today – Mauritania, Haiti Top New Global Slavery Index – 17 October 2013

Washington Post – Worldviews – 17 October 2013

Egypt Unlawfully Detaining and Deporting Hundreds Of Syrian Refugees: Amnesty International Says

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt–Amnesty International has accused the Egypt government of unlawfully detaining and deporting hundreds of Syrian refugees, including women and children, who had fled their homes to escape the violence in Syria. .

Refugees housed in an overcrowd cell demonstrating unlawful detention of Syrian refugees in Egypt. (Photo Courtesy of Amnesty International)

The Syrian civil war has uprooted approximately 7 million people since the uprising began in March 2011. More than 100,000 Syrians have been killed since the start of the conflict and more than 2 million Syrians have fled their homes and sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

Quoting UNHCR, the United Nations agency for refugees, Amnesty said 946 people had been arrested by Egypt while attempting the crossing, and that 724 remained in detention. According to Amnesty the Egyptian navy has intercepted around 13 boats in the Mediterranean carrying refugees from Syria. The refugees were attempting to reach and seek refuge in Europe. According to Amnesty International 12 people drowned after a boat carrying Syrian refugees capsized off the cost of Alexandria.

Sherif Elsayed Ali, Amnesty’s head of refugee and migrants’ rights, said in a statement on Thursday that; “Instead of offering vital help and support to refugees from Syria, the Egyptian authorities are arresting and deporting them, flouting human rights standards.” He said the Egyptian state had failed to “meet its international obligations to protect even the most vulnerable refugees.”

Refugees detained by Egyptian forces must decide between accepting deportation or accepting prolonged, indefinite and unlawful detention in Egypt. Lawyers told Amnesty International that in at least two instances refugees were collectively deported back to Damascus, Syria, which would constitute a violation of international law, Non-refoulement prohibits the deportation of persecuted persons back to the state that is violating their human rights. “Sending refugees back to a bloody conflict zone is a serious violation of international law. Refugees who have fled are at an obvious risk of human rights abuses,” said Sherif Elsayed Ali.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Amnesty International’s report was “inaccurate and does not reflect the reality of [Syrians’] situation in the country” and said “There is no policy of deportation of our Syrian brothers and the vast majority of them live in peace.” However Egypt has recently began to require Syrians and other foreign nationals to acquire visas from Egyptian consulates aboard before entering the country.

The Egyptian media has accused Syrian refugees of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and has even accused refuges of being involved in the violence that occurred after President Mohamed Morsi was removed from power in Egypt. Popular media outlasts have accused Syrian refugees of attacking Egyptian civilians and security forces and of participating in the Rabaa El Adawiya and Al-Nahda sit-ins, which began in June and were brutally broken up by Egyptian authorities on August 14.

The anti-Syrian refugee propaganda heard over Egyptian airwaves is being felt by Egyptian refugees in the streets of Egypt’s cities; one Syrian refugee, whose family is living in a neighbourhood of 6 October City, outside Cairo, said her children cannot play outside anymore because “they are cursed by the other kids, told really bad words.”

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Egypt Accused of Unlawfully Detaining Syrians – 17 October 2013

Amnesty International – Egypt: End Deplorable Detention And Deportation Of Refugees From Syria – 17 October 2013

Amnesty International – We Cannot Live Here Anymore’: Refugees From Syria In Egypt – 17 October 2013

Huffington Post – Egypt Unlawfully Detains Syrian Refugees, Including Children, Amnesty International Says – 17 October 2013