News

Thousands of War Crimes Documents from WWII Put Online

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

UNITED NATIONS – The International Criminal Court made over 2,200 documents of the United Nations War Crimes Commission available online in early July following an agreement with the United Nations.

The records include meeting minutes from the Commission. (Photo courtesy of The Himalayan Times).

The unrestricted records, which document thousands of cases against accused World War II criminals in Europe and Asia, are available to academics, researchers, lawyers and activists for the first time since the events themselves.

British academic Dan Plesch, who had been pushing for greater access to the archive for years, spurred the transfer of the documents to an online database.

Plesch, a researcher at the U.N. archive in New York, gave a guest lecture on the War Crimes Commission at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, in March 2012. Hans Bevers, the head of the prosecutor’s research office, told Plesch that the ICC might be interested in obtaining the archive and Plesch put him in touch with the U.N. office that manages the archives.

“Our goal is to make available as widely as possible open archives of the organization. The collaboration with ICC adds to the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal the historical record in international criminal justice,” said U.N. chief archivist Bridget Sisk.

The War Crimes Commission was established in October 1943 by 17 allied nations to issue lists of alleged war criminals and examine the charges against them and try to assure their arrest and trial.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said putting the unrestricted part of the archive online “will greatly enhance the availability of these materials to those engaged in research into the development of international criminal law, as well as to researchers from other academic disciplines.”

The International Criminal Court said more than 2,240 documents, totaling 22,184 pages, with search data for each document, have been added to the ICC Legal Tools Database.

The documents added to the archive relate to more than 10,000 cases.

“These files contain details of many charges of crimes that are not being prosecuted extensively today, including rape and forced prostitution, and crimes by ordinary soldiers,” Plesch said.

In 1949, the U.N. Secretariat drew up rules making the archive available only to governments on a confidential basis. In 1987, limited access was granted only to researchers and historians.

Plesch continues to seek access for researchers to the still- restricted sections of the files, which he said contain some 30,000 sets of pre-trial documents submitted to the commission by national and military tribunals to judge whether a given case should be pursued.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Over 2,220 World War II Documents Now Online – 3 August 2013

The Himalayan Times – Over 2,200 World War II Documents Now Online – 3 August 2013

The Huffington Post – Over 2,200 World War II Documents Now Online – 3 August 2013

Military News – UN Puts 2,200 World War II Documents Online – 3 August 2013

 

Kenyan Hostages Freed by al-Shabab

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Two Kenyan hostages abducted by Somalia’s al-Shabab in January 2012 were released to their families on Thursday.

Al-Shabab still stages frequent attacks in Mogadishu (photo courtesy of AFP)

Yesse Mule and Fredrick Wainana were abducted from Gerille, Kenya by the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab group.  They were seized three months after Kenya troops entered Somalia to fight al-Shabab.  They were moved to 19 different locations while being chained and blindfolded throughout the captivity.

Mr. Mule and Mr. Wainan, both government officials, were captured during an attack by about 100 al-Shabab fighters on a police camp in Gerille, a town on the Kenya-Somalia border.

“It was one of the worst moments. You are not sure about your life. You don’t know what will happen in the next second or minute.”  Mr. Mule told BBC.

Mr. Mule was the Wajir County district officer and Mr. Wainana a government clerk.  “We will continue to support them, including counselling them to ensure they get back to their normal life,” Interior Secretary Joseph ole Lenku told Capital News. “Once all that is done, we will post them to work at a station of their choice.”

Efforts to bring the two men back earlier had failed.  The militia stood their ground, however, demanding Muslim prisoners in Kenya be released.

While the two men were brought from location to location, Mr. Mule told BBC that at each location “Every room within a house is a cell. You are blindfolded and chained.  Both hands are padlocked to your legs.”

Kidnapping is a tactic used by militants to make a point or to publicize their activities.  Victims have been held captive for months or even years.  Some victims never make it back alive.  Al-Shabab has taken numerous foreign hostages throughout the years.

Kenya did not pay the ransom for the two men’s release.  Instead, al-Shabab handed them over to a group of traditional elders who negotiated their release.

The two men state they are not afraid to return to their jobs; however, the government has given them the option to transfer to a different region.

 

For more information, please visit:

Latin Business Today — Two Kenyan hostages released by al-Shabab — 2 August 2013

Metro News — Two Kenyan hostages released by al-Shabab — 2 August 2013

BBC News — Somalia’s al-Shabab frees Kenya’s Mule and Wainana — 1 August 2013

All Africa — Kenya: Al-Shabaab Releases Two Kenyan Hostages — 31 July 2013

Capital News — Kenyan officials abducted by Shabaab in 2012 freed — 30 July 2013

 

 

 

UN Special Investigator Says Chile Should Stop Using Anti-Terrorism Law Against Mapuche Indians

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – A senior United Nations investigator has urged Chile’s government to stop using anti-terrorism law against the country’s Mapuche Indians who are fighting to recover their ancestral land.

Mapuche Indians from the Temucuicui Autonoma community , 9 Feb 2013
Anti-terrorism law has been used against the Mapuche for more than 10 years. (Photo Courtesy of The Associated Press)

The Mapuche Indians make up 9% of the Chilean population. They live in rural communities and suffer from high levels of poverty.

Ben Emmerson, the U.N.’s special investigator on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, said a long-running dispute over land rights could boil over into serious violence and disorder at any moment unless urgent action is taken. He says the situation is “volatile” in the southern regions of Araucania and Bio Bio, where most Mapuche live.

Chile’s anti-terrorism law, drafted by General Augusto Pinochet in 1984 is one of the harshest in the Chilean statute book. It doubles the sentences for some offenses and allows for the conviction of defendants on the basis of testimony from anonymous witnesses.

Human rights groups say the law is abusive because it allows for suspects to be held in isolation without charge and for the use of secret witnesses and telephone taps.

“The anti-terrorist legislation has been used in a way that discriminates against the Mapuche. It has been applied in a confusing and arbitrary way, which has turned into a real injustice that has impaired the right to a fair trial, and it has been perceived as stigmatizing and delegitimizing of the Mapuche territorial demands and protests,” Emmerson said.

Mapuche prisoners have staged lengthy hunger strikes to protest the anti-terror law and what they regard as excessive police violence during raids on Mapuche communities. Other forms of protest have ranged from marches, occupation of public buildings, and setting up roads blocks.

“The preliminary conclusions of the U.N. official go along with what we’ve been saying: that there’s no terrorism and that this is a disproportionate law that only creates more tensions,” said Aucan Huilcaman, a Mapuche leader. “If Chile really wants to show its democratic side it must recognize the Mapuche people,” Huilcaman added.

There was no immediate response from Chile’s government.

The Mapuche conflict has been going on for years in the south, with sporadic outbursts of violence. In January of this year, a group of attackers set fire to a house belonging to an elderly couple whose family had a history of poor relations with the Mapuche neighbors. The couple died in the blaze. Their deaths shocked Chileans and raised questions about the inability of President Sebastian Pinera’s government to meet the demands of Chile’s largest indigenous group.

Emmerson said Chile’s government should come up with a strategy to solve the dispute, speed up the return of land and recognize the country’s largest indigenous community under the constitution.

For more information please see:

ABC News – UN: Chile Should Solve Land Dispute With Mapuche – 31 July 2013

CNN Chile – Relator de la ONU sobre Ley Antiterrorista: “Ha sido aplicada en una forma que es ilógica, discriminatoria y contraproducente” – 30 July 2013

El Universal – Relator de ONU advierte a Chile riesgo del conflicto mapuche – 30 July 2013

BBC – UN criticises Chile for using terror law on Mapuche – 30 July 2013

Fox News – UN official says Chile should stop using anti-terrorism law against Mapuche in land dispute – 30 July 2013

Israeli Cabinet Expands Government Subsidies to Illegal West Bank Settlements Just Days after the Resumption of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – The Israeli cabinet voted on Sunday to expand its list of West Bank settlements eligible for government subsidies. The vote came just days after the resumption of the long-halted peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.

Israel cabinet expands government subsidy eligibility to West Bank Settlement amidst the resumption of peace talks with Palestinian Officials. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The Cabinet voted to expand the number of communities included on its “national priority map,” a list of poor communities prioritized to receive housing subsidies and other government benefits. The list includes 91 settlements in the occupied West Bank region, up from 85 on the 2012 version of the map.

Many of the West Bank settlements included on the list would most likely be required to evacuate if the current peace talks result in an agreement between the Israeli and Palestinian governments.

Until recently, three of the settlements added to the list, Rehelim, Sansana and Bruchin were classified as “illegal outposts”, meaning they were constructed without the approval of the Israeli government. However, the Israeli government retroactively legalized them by normalizing their last year though a cabinet vote. They are now recognized by the Israeli government and eligible for government funding.

The Palestinian Authority seeks to reclaim lands captured by Israel in 1967, in the hopes of establishing a state that will include the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, with Israel’s borders returning to the pre-1967 lines. Since 1967, the Israeli government has allowed the construction of dozens of settlements on Palestinian lands. The settlements have been deemed illegal under international law by most of the international community. These settlements are now home to roughly 560,000 Israelis.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official stated that she believes the cabinet’s action “will have a destructive impact” on the peace process. She believes that the vote affirmed suspicions felt by many Palestinians about the Israeli government’s motivations for agreeing to participate in the peace negations. She argued, “[t]his is exactly what Israel wants. Have a process for its own sake, and at the same time have a free hand to destroy the objective of the process.”

Four Israeli ministers abstained from voting on this issue, including Amir Pertz, the current  Environment Minister and former Minister of Defense from 2006-2007, said of the vote, “I don’t think it is the time diplomatically, or from a socioeconomic point of view, to include new settlements that until recently were illegal.”

Mark Regev, a spokesperson for the Israeli government, pointed out that the list voted on by cabinet is only a list of communities eligible to receive funding and that the Israeli government would have to grant additional approval for any subsidies to settlements to be dispersed.

The vote can be viewed as an attempt to shore up support for the coalition government in communities added to the subsidies list. Likud, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s party has historically supported settlements. Some of the settlements added to the subsidy list are political strongholds of the Jewish Home Party, one of the member parties of the governing coalition. It is opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian State.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Israel expands West Bank settlement subsidies – 4 August 2013

Jerusalem Post – Despite peace talks, cabinet approves preferential status for settlements – 4 August 2013

Jewish Telegraphic Agency – West Bank settlements join Israel’s list of national priority communities – 4 August 2013

Reuters – Israel puts 91 Jewish settlements on priority spending list – 4 August 2013

Wall Street Journal – Israel Expands Settlements Eligible for Subsidies – 4 August 2013

 

 

Attack on Indian Consulate in Afghanistan Leaves 12 Dead

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India– Insurgents attacked an Indian consulate in Afghanistan’s eastern capital Jalalbabad on Saturday morning. Twelve people were killed, reinforcing growing fear that a regional struggle will soon erupt as foreign troops pull out of the country.

Outside the site of a suicide attack that tore through the Indian consulate at Jalalbabad, Afghanistan. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

Twenty-three were wounded after checkpoint guards stopped three men in a car as they approached the consulate in Jalalbabad. Two of the men jumped out of the car and opened fire on the guards, while the third detonated multiple explosives. No Indian officials were killed, though the blast badly damaged a mosque and dozens of homes and small shops nearby according to a statement issued by the office of the governor of Nangarhar province, Gul Agha Sherzai.

India condemned the attack and, without naming any country or group, blamed outside forces.

“This attack has once again highlighted that the main threat to Afghanistan’s security and stability stems from terrorism and the terror machine that continues to operate from beyond its borders,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

Arch-rivals India and Pakistan have long vied for power and influence in Afghanistan. Many see the struggle intensifying as more international forces are pulled out of the region by the end of next year. Afghans fear that the absence of NATO-led foreign forces could lead to another round of bloody external interference and turmoil in the impoverished and violence-racked country.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, seen as close to India, is strongly opposed to the Taliban, who some say is supported by elements of the Pakistani state, in particular its powerful intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The Taliban, which openly promotes armed opposition to Karzai’s Western-backed government, denied responsibility for Saturday’s attack on the Indian consulate close to Pakistan’s border. Nevertheless, Afghan sources identified the three attackers as “Pakistani nationals”.

Attacks on the Indian embassy in Kabul -two during 2008 and 2009 that killed more than 50 people together – led to accusations by Karzai that Pakistan was attempting to obliterate India-Afghanistan relations. He gave no evidence for his assertion, and Pakistan denied its truth.

Victim’s of Saturday’s attack included eight children, and several women. Many people had gathered outside of the consulate to apply for visas when the attack occurred. An additional 23 people were injured; however, Afghan reports have dubbed the attack a “failure”.

 

For more information, please see:

Reuters — Attack on Indian mission in Afghanistan raises specter of regional struggle — 3 August 2013

BBC — Afghan attack targets Indian Mission — 3 August 2013

Indian Express — Blast at Indian consulate in Afghanistan kills 12 — 4 August 2013

Bloomberg — Suicide Attack on India Consulate in Afghanistan as Ties Deepen — 4 August 2013

The Guardian — Indian consulate in Afghanistan attacked by suicide bombers — 3 August 2013