North America & Oceania

Transgender Abuse Condoned in Honduras?

By Nima Nayebi

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras – Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Honduras to end an epidemic of violence against transgender people in that country. HRW has also called on the Honduran government to repeal certain “public morality” and “public scandal” laws that give police the power to abuse their authority.

HRW’s new report chronicles rapes, beatings, extortion, and the arbitrary detention of transgender people by Honduran authorities. Approximately 17 transgender people have been killed since 2004, including the high profile murder of transgender rights activist Cynthia Nicole Moreno this past 9 January.

Nicole Moreno, 32, a member of Colectivo Violeta, was shot four times by three men who were never identified. Her killing was reportedly linked to her activism in the area of transgender rights.

On 9 May, two men beat Barbára Paola, a worker for an LGBT organization, but neither was identified or apprehended. Transgender people report being raped and beaten by police in Honduras. The HRW report also identifies incidents where police have stood by and watched transgender abuse without pursuing the perpetrators.

Honduras has stated that it is committed to ending violence against its LGBT community. In June of last year it voiced support for the Organization of American States (OAS) “Resolution on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity.” HRW states that these public statements have not been translated into “local action.”

A photo essay on the struggle for transgender rights in Honduras is available from HRW.

Free Speech Debated as Canadian Human Rights Commission Regulates Hate Speech on Internet

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

OTTAWA, Canada – Canada’s Human Rights Commission presented a special report to the Canadian Parliament in which it asserted a continued need for the commission to regulate hate speech on the internet.  The report expressly opposed a suggestion to relegate the policing of internet hate speech to the criminal code.

The new report has several proposals for changes to section 13, the hate speech provision of the Canadian Human Rights Act.  These include a clear, legal definition of hate speech, repealing the $10,000 fine the commission can impose for hate speech, and an allowance to award legal costs in some cases.

The Chief Commissioner argued that the flexibility in the “dual approach” of the Human Rights Act and the criminal code provide an effective resolution to internet hate claims.  While the criminal code is intended to punish those who engage in hate speech, the Human Rights Commission focuses on removing hate speech from the internet. Proponents further argued that hate speech can be very dangerous on the internet because it has the capability of spreading undetected without constant attention.

Conversely, some experts are opposed to the broad provisions in the Human Rights Act.  Individuals like law school professor Richard Moon contend that the broad nature of the Act may end up limiting free speech.  Others contended that the new report suggests tinkering of a system that is in need of an overhaul.

Debate about section 13 heated up after a Muslim group filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against Maclean’s magazine in 2007.  The complaint was dismissed after an investigation.  Opponents cite to this example as evidence that very little action is actually taken under section 13 and to suggest that it should be used for extreme hate cases only.

The Commons Committee will consider the new report as it considers the future of section 13 this fall.  The text of the report is available here.

Nicaragua Grant Asylum to Peruvian Indigenous Leader

By Nima Nayebi

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Alberto Pinzango – Photo: Correo HuanucoMANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaragua has granted asylum to exiled Peruvian Indian political leader Alberto Pizango, after he requested shelter at the Nicaraguan Embassy in Peru earlier this week.
The Peruvian government has accused Pizango, and indigenous political leader, of instigating a series of clashes in the Amazon that left at least 33 dead. He is wanted for sedition, conspiracy and rebellion.

Tomas Borge, the Nicaraguan ambassador to Peru stated: “Our only choice, keeping in mind the spirit of solidarity that [Nicaraguan] President Daniel Ortega has [with] those thought to be politically persecuted, was to grant political asylum to Mr. Alberto Pizango. We have no other choice and no other alternative than to grant Pizango asylum since this is a strictly political case and this is a person being politically persecuted.”

The controversy arose when the Peruvian government passed Decree 1090, a law that indigenous people contend undermines their control over ancestral lands by empowering Lima to grant mining, logging and drilling permits without consulting area residents. The plans would also effectively ease environmental and developmental restrictions in the area.

In protest, indigenous people blocked main arteries of traffic and shut down a crude oil pipeline that traverses the Amazon and ends in Peru’s north coast. Police forcefully removed protesters from a highway last Friday, triggering an outbreak of violence between Peruvian authorities and the indigenous population. Peru maintains that 24 police officers and nine protesters died during the clash, while indigenous groups claim that 30 to 40 protesters were killed by police.

Government Negligence Cause of Fire in Low Cost Day Care Facility, Forty-Four Children Dead

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

HERMOSILLO, Mexico – The Sonora State Attorney General says that negligence was the cause of a day care fire that claimed the lives of forty-four children on June 5th. The private facility was leased by the government to provide people with low-cost day care. 173 children attended day care in the 1,612 square feet converted warehouse in an industrial area.

While a record of safety inspection, dated May 26, indicates that the day care had fire extinguishers and an exit with signs leading to it, witnesses say no fire alarms or sprinklers went off. Authorities cite the lack of emergency doors, fake ceilings, bad electrical installations, and highly toxic products as causes of the fire. Rescuers had to break through walls to rescue children. The Director of the Social Security Institute in Mexico is looking into why the day care passed the safety inspection.
On Monday, state and federal officials promised to investigate thoroughly, without regard to the day care owners’ family and political ties. One of the owners is related to Mexican First Lady Margarita Zavala and her husband is a top public-works official in the Sonoran government. The husband of the other owner is also a highly ranked state official.

The fire raises concern about the safety standards at more than 1,500 government sponsored low-cost day care centers in Mexico. At least 200,000 children are cared for in these facilities. Twenty-two survivors remain in critical condition. The Social Security Institute, the agency responsible for the day care facilities has agreed to pay the survivors’ health costs for life.

Threatened and Censored Professor Files Complaint With Human Rights Commission in Mexico

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SINALOA, Mexico – Florencio Posadas Segura, a professor at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, UAS) was censored and threatened after commenting via radio that new rules regarding the succession in the rector’s position had “not passed democratic and academic tests.” Professor Segura spoke on the morning program, “A Primera Voz”, which airs on a University Radio Station.
Professor Segura’s comments resulted in a harsh reprimand by the university rector, who allegedly ordered Victor Hugo Aguilar Gaxiola, the radio show’s host not to allow Professor Segura back on the air. Professor Segura claims that the Host also told him to “Be careful, you never know when a car could run you over”. Professor Segura promptly filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (Comisíon Estatal de Derechos Humanos) because he fears for his life. He expressed indignation at the actions censuring his rights to self expression.
CENCOS (National Center for Social Communication) and IFEX ( International Freedom of Expression Exchange)  have called on the rector of the University and the directors  of the Radio Station to reconsider their actions and put measures in place to allow for Professor Segura to freely express himself.
Professor Segura has been a commentator on Radio UAS for 10 years. He is a professor and investigator in the UAS Social and Economic Investigations Unit (Instituto de Investigaciones Economicas y Sociales). He holds a doctorate in social sciences from the Metropolitan Autonomous University.