News

Human Traffickers Abandoning Their Cargo At Sea

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – The fight against illegal immigration in the United States has forced human traffickers into the sea. One new shocking twist has led to a dangerous trend as human traffickers have begun abandoning poor migrant works at sea, at the mercy of the sea and the slim hope that either the U.S. coast guard or Mexican navy picks them up.

A shocking new trend has emerged as human traffickers have began abandoning their cargo at sea. (Photo courtesy of Fox News Latino)

In the past decade the United States has taken to tightening the security across the land border, doubling the number of Border Patrol agents and building hundreds of miles of fences and barriers in order to combat the stem of illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Illegal human traffickers and drug traffickers have remained consistent with their attempts to continuing their illegal importation, and have increasingly taken to the seas. However smuggling hundreds of migrant workers at a dock or abandoned beach is complicated and dangerous as an operation, leaving a high chance of being discovered, leading to another option, abandoning the cargo at sea.

With traffickers demanding high operating fees beforehand, there is little reason for them to finish the operation. At sea, they will feign engine trouble or radio trouble and force the migrants on to small boats without food or radios and tell them that they will return for them, without any intention of doing so. The Mexican navy has in the past months found an average of 10-12 boats of the coast of Baja California with wayward seafarers presumably abandoned by the smugglers.

With estimates of upwards of 300,000 migrants smuggled into the United States each year, the trend of sea smuggling is a shocking one. In order to battle this new frontier, it is likely that the coast guards and border patrols will likely need increased resources in order to watch the high seas. But either way, sources have indicated that there is likely going to be a “Dramatic increase now in drowning and other kinds of water fatalities and other kinds of danger associated with crossing in the water.”

The problem has become so perverse that Mexican maritime authorities have issued a warning “Do not allow yourself to be fooled and put your life at risk by leaving it in the hands of people without scruples whose only goal is obtaining money without caring about the lives of other human beings.”

One survivor indicated that she agreed to pay $12,000 to be smuggled via boat into the United States. She was found abandoned in a 31-foot vessel in the New Port harbor.

For more information, please see:

Fox News Latino – Smugglers Abandoning Migrants At Sea, Mexico Says – 30 April 2013

CNN – Mexico: Traffickers Abandoning Immigrants At Sea – 29 April 2013

UNODC – Migrant Smuggling – 1 January 2012

CNN – Mexican Smugglers Use Pacific As New Route – 23 September 2009

 

Gambian Journalists Clash with Government

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BANJUL, Gambia – Last Friday, Gambian journalists and activists demanded the government to stop harassing them. They clamored against the increasing number of arbitrary arrests and detention of the administration’s critics.

President Yahya Jammeh has remained in power since 1994. (Photo courtesy of The London Evening Post)

Reports say that the crackdown on alleged critics of the government has become more severe over the past few years. Security agencies such as the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) have been strictly monitoring the press and detaining anyone who published reports criticizing the government.

Five months ago, the NIA imprisoned an imam, Baba Leigh, for describing the government’s decision to execute nine death row inmates as “un-Islamic”.

Joined by other activists, Hamat Bah of the opposition National Reconciliation Party (NRP) cried out for the imam’s release, reminding the administration of the unconstitutionality of Leigh’s arrest.

According to the Gambia Press Union (GPU), by depriving its citizens their right to voice their opinion and be informed, the government effectively tarnishes the image of the country. It also “retards professionalism and overall development of the media,” said GPU President Emil Touray.

“The banning of journalist Binta Bah of the Daily News from covering a court proceedings, deportation of BBC journalist Thomas Fessy, the summary closure of Teranga FM, Daily News and Standard newspaper in addition to arrests of journalists Babucarr Ceesay, Abubacarr Saidykhan and Abdoulie John are clear indications that media freedom is deteriorating in this country,” Touray stressed out. He also added that the executive should continue to investigate the murder of Deyda Hydara, co- publisher’s of The Point newspaper and the disappearance of Chief Ebrima Manneh of the Daily Observer. According to Touray, there remains a need “to expand the democratic space in the country.”

However, the government released a statement the other day denying any such claims of abuse. Reacting to a case study by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) about human rights, which included the Gambia, President Jammeh’s administration called the allegations of harassment a “blackmailing” tactic.

“All the issues highlighted in the FCO report on the death penalty, detentions, censure of newspapers and radio stations, the sanctioning of voices intent on social destabilization are soon remedied by consultation, collaboration and support to practitioners in the development of self-regulatory organisms and improved standards rather than the apparently more desired effect of the all-out blackmailing of the government of the Gambia while the abundant signs of progress and growth in the conditions of the people are ignored by the media and some others who are supposed to be partners in our development,” the statement said.

 

For further information, please see:

AfriqueJet – Medias: Gambian government urged to stop harassing journalists – 4 May 2013

All Africa – Gambia: Authorities Debunk UK Human Rights Abuse Claim – 3 May 2013

The Blade – Gambian activists want imam released – 3 May 2013

Yahoo News – Activists call for release of imam in Gambia – 1 May 2013

Ghana Bans Traditional Killing of Disabled Children

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ACCRA, Ghana – Seven communities in the Upper Eastern region of Ghana have officially decided to end the traditional practice of killing “spirit children” on Saturday.

David, formerly a ‘spirit’ child, is among those who were accused of being possessed by evil spirits. (Photo courtesy of The Guardian)

“Spirit children” are usually those who were born with physical disabilities, believed to have been possessed by evil spirits, or thought to cause the family bad luck. Babies labeled as such were then brought to “concoction men” who would give the young ones poisonous herbs to kill them and prevent them from bringing misfortune to their families.

Beginning Saturday, these “concoction men” will have new roles. Because of the ban on the killing of “spirit children”, the “concoction men” of the towns of Kandiga, Manyoro, Mirigu, Nabango, Natugnia, Sirigu and Yua, will now be working with disabled children to promote their rights. Now addressed as “life promoters”, they are tasked to visit various schools and communities to make residents aware of the lives and rights of children with disabilities. However, before they can assume this new role, they have to register themselves under the National Health Insurance – who will also reward them: four goats, a bicycle each and food for turning over a new leaf.

The proclamation to prohibit the practice once and for all is reportedly the result of 12 years of intensive education against infanticide by child rights group Afrikids Ghana. Nicholas Kumah, the organization’s director, attributed the success of Afrikids’ advocacy with the communities’ realization that there is a need to change the local mindset. After more than a decade of rescuing and resettling families of over 67 children affected by the spirit-child phenomenon, involved community leaders finally saw the importance of protecting children especially those with deformities.

“One major achievement is how one child, Paul Apowida, who was accused of being a spirit child and was given infanticide, fought for his life and survived. Today, Apowida is a rifleman in the British Army,” Kumah said. “What this means is that if anyone is caught in the act of accusing a child of being a spirit child and administering infanticide to that child, he will be made to face the full rigours of the law,” he further explained.

Speaking on behalf of the chiefs and people of the seven communities, the Paramount Chief of Kandiga, Naba Henry Amenga-Etego, said that the “spirit children” were “victims” of a “demonizing practice”. “We have lived with this practice for many years but it is a joy that we did not remain in this belief but did all we could to bring an end to it. No child should suffer any form of abuse as a result of whatever circumstances he or she is born with. . . . We will allow the law to deal with anybody who still goes ahead to engage in the practice,” Amenga-Etego added.

 

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Ghanaians ban ‘spirit child’ killing – 29 April 2013

Ghana Business News – Seven communities abolish practice of killing infants with deformities – 29 April 2013

Global Post – ‘Spirit children’ killings banned in 7 Ghana communities – 29 April 2013

GhanaWeb – Killing of ‘spirit children’ abolished in Upper East Region – 28 April 2013

 

Canadian Guantanamo Convict to Appeal

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

OTTAWA, Canada — Omar Khadr is appealing his conviction for killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan more than a decade ago, but Canadian officials say that an overturn will not automatically guarantee his freedom.

Canadian-born Omar Khadr, now 26, plans to appeal his war crimes convictions for the murder of U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Speer in Afghanistan in 2002. (Photo Courtesy of Sun News)

Khadr, now 26, spent 10 years in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay following his arrest in Afghanistan as a 15-year-old in 2002.  In 2010, he confessed to five war crimes before a military tribunal, including the murder of U.S. Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer, an army medic, during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan.

Last September, Khadr was repatriated in Canada to a high-security prison as part of a plea deal that included an eight-year sentence and a waiver of his right to appeal.

But Khadr and his attorneys say that the court that convicted him had no jurisdiction to do so, and they want his terror convictions overturned.

“You can’t make a crime a crime retroactively,” lawyer David Frakt told the Global News.  Frakt, who has represented prominent Guantanamo detainees in the past, believes Khadr has good odds that two of his convictions will be overturned.

But reversing the murder conviction in violation of the law of war might stand no chance.  When Khadr pled guilty, the agreement outlined his killing Sgt. Speer.  To overturn that, Khadr’s attorneys would have to argue that the entire plea deal is invalid, as well as everything that resulted from it.

“It’s all about keeping Omar’s options in a difficult political climate,” Khadr’s Canadian lawyer, Dennis Edney, told the Global News.  “If successful, Omar Khadr will finally be free and able to put to rest our government’s descriptors of him as a ware criminal and a terrorist.  This is a common misconception that needs to be corrected.”

Canadian authorities insist, however, that even if Khadr’s convictions are overturned in the United States, the Parole Board of Canada will decide what ultimately happens to him.

“Omar Khadr is a convicted terrorist,” said Julie Carmichael, an aide to Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, in a statement emailed to the Globe and Mail.  “He pleaded guilty to the murder of Christopher Speer, an American Army medic.  Decisions related to his future will be made by the Parole Board of Canada.”

Since being transferred to Canada from Guantanamo last fall, Khadr has been held at Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security prison in Bath, Ontario.  He will be eligible for a parole hearing this summer.  At least one Canadian member of parliament is upset by the appeal.

“While this individual attempts to take back his own words and recant his guilty plea, he is simply re-victimizing the family of Sgt. Speer,” Toronto Member of Parliament Roxanne James told the Commons on Monday.

The appeal, which Khadr’s American lawyer, Sam Morrison, said would be filed “as soon as possible,” will be heard in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

“[U]ltimately it can go to the Supreme Court,” legal expert Jeffrey Addicott told Sun News.  Addicott, who has advised the U.S. government on Guantanamo-related cases, is director of the Center for Terrorism Law in San Antonio, Texas.

“[W]e’re talking a period of years before anything will be resolved one way or the other,” he added, saying that Khadr’s appeal is unlikely to succeed.  “In my opinion, this appeal is dead on arrival.  He didn’t have the standing to engage in combat.  Therefore, if you kill another person, it’s murder.”

For further information, please see:

Global News — Omar Khadr May Win Appeal, But No Ticket Out of Prison — 30 April 2013

Sun News — Khadr ‘Re-Victimizing’ Murdered Medic’s Family, Says Tory MP — 29 April 2013

AFP — Canadian-Born Guantanamo Convict Plans Appeal: Report — 28 April 2013

Globe and Mail — Omar Khadr’s Freedom in Ottawa’s Hands Despite U.S. Appeal, Safety Minister Insists — 28 April 2013

France Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage and Sparks Opposition

By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PARIS, France – Last week, the National Assembly of France approved the same-sex marriage bill by a vote of 331-225. This bill, which also allows couples adoption rights, made France the 14th nation in the world and ninth in Europe to pass such a law.

French lawmakers respond to protestors who tried to disrupt the final vote. (Photo Courtesy of TIME)

The French Parliament passed the “Marriage for All” bill, which affords homosexual couples identical rights to marriage and adoption that were previously limited to heterosexual unions.

Christiane Taubira, Socialist Justice Minister and author of the bill, stated, “It’s a generous law, and a law of equality. We believe the first weddings will be beautiful and that they’ll bring a breeze of joy, and that those who are opposed to them today will surely be confounded when they are overcome with the happiness of the newlyweds and the families.”

However, opponents to same-sex marriage blamed the legislation for distorting “time-honored definitions of marriage and endangering children by permitting gay and lesbian couples to adopt”.

Many high-profile groups promised to continue legal challenges to block the law’s application.

Frigide Barjot, a comedian who uses her stage name, told her supporters, “We are going to show them that this is not over. I solemnly ask the president to hold a referendum on the subject.”

Claire Baron, a mother of two, stated she “will oppose the bill until the end.” She continued, “I’ll keep going to the protests, I don’t give in. The bill is not effective yet, the president of the Republic must listen to our voices. We are here to defend family values. Children need a mom and a dad.”

Just hours before votes were casted, thousands of police gathered outside the National Assembly building to prepare for the protestors on the streets who started forming days leading up to the vote. In addition, thousands of police who were armed with water cannon were organized near parliament to deal with any repeat of the violence seen in previous demonstrations.

Inside the National Assembly chamber, two opponents tried to hold up a protesting banner, however, they were shortly ejected.

Socialist President, Francois Hollande, made this same-sex bill his top social reform goal. He is expected to sign the bill once it clears constitutional challenges. Although opponents of the measure will try to argue that marriage is a constitutional matter, the council is unlikely to block the new law.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Same-Sex Marriage: French Parliament Approves New Law – 23 April 2013

The Huffington Post – France Legalizes Gay Marriage After Harsh Debate, Violent Protests – 23 April 2013

International Business Times – France Legalizes Gay Marriage, Becomes 14th Nation to Do So – 23 April 2013

Time World – France Legalizes Gay Marriage Despite Vocal and Angry Opposition – 23 April 2013