North America & Oceania

Nicaragua’s Absolute Ban on Abortions Violates Women’s Human Rights

By Nima Nayebi

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – In November 2006, Nicaragua enacted a ban on all abortions with no exceptions, even to save a mother’s life. This position was largely adopted due to the influence of the Catholic Church, according to reports. The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights and the UN Committee against Torture have called on Nicaragua to reconsider its total ban and to consider including life-saving exceptions.

In the two years since the enactment of the law, many international groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have organized to oppose it, pointing out that it is a violation of women’s human rights and it needlessly causes death or injury to Nicaraguan women. 6,700 women are reportedly hospitalized every year due to abortion-related complications in Nicaragua. According to Ipas Central America, twelve Nicaraguan women have thus far died in childbirth where they would have lived had the 2006 law not been enacted. The country imposes criminal sanctions, including prison terms, for doctors performing abortions for women seeking them, regardless of the circumstances.

Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International stated: “The [UN] is sending a clear message to the Nicaraguan state: So long as the complete ban with no exceptions is in place, you will be in breach of your international legal obligations to protect human rights. If this complete ban were to stay, women and girls would continue to be at risk of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Such inaction would show a cruel indifference to the physical pain, psychological anguish and lack of human dignity this law causes women and girls in Nicaragua to suffer by denying and thwarting their access to essential medical treatment during pregnancy.”

Managua continues to ignore objections to this unpopular law.

Canadian Court Orders Canadian Citizen Repatriated After 6 Years of Forced Exile and Torture

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

OTTAWA, Canada – A Canadian Federal Court has ordered the Ottawa government to repatriate Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik, after six years of imprisonment in Sudan. Abdelrazik was arrested on a visit to see his sick mother in Sudan in 2003. The arrest was allegedly prompted by Canadian officials who suggested to Sudanese Officials that he was a terrorist. Abdelrazik says that he was beaten and tortured while being held.
Canada refused to issue Abdelrazik an emergency passport so he can leave Sudan, and he has been living in the lobby of the Canadian embassy for a year. Abdelrazik says that he has been interrogated by Canadian Spy Agency and FBI officials regarding connections to terrorism.

Abdelrazik denies having any connection to terrorism and Canadian intelligence officials have now confirmed that there is no information linking him to terrorism. Despite this confirmation, the conservative government has denied Abdelrazik entry into Canada because he is listed on the UN Blacklist of suspected terrorists. The Canadian government has called the situation “complex” and insists that Abdelrazik needs to get himself off of the UN Blacklist.
Solidarity activists banded together and purchased a ticket for Abdelrazik after the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs unanimously voted that he could testify on his own behalf.
The Canadian Federal Court held that the government has not properly justified its refusal to allow Abdelrazik back into Canada and that his constitutional rights are being violated. The Court stated that the government should issue Abdelrazik a passport and arrange to fly him home to Canada within thirty days.

Canada Closes International Border Crossing at Akwesasne Mohawk Nation Territory

By Karla E General
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, North America

AKWESASNE MOHAWK NATION TERRITORY – Protests by the Akwesasne Mohawks over a June 1 law that would have armed all Canadian border agents with nine millimeter handguns has resulted in the closure of the Canadian border crossing by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The border crossing is located on Cornwall Island, which is a part of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation Territory.

The CBSA evacuated all of their guards and shut down the border crossing at midnight on June 1 after an impasse on talks with the Mohawk Nation and rumor of protests at the border. Subsequently, the border crossing located on the United States side was also closed, pursuant to international protocol.

The Mohawks have asked that Canadian border agents remain unarmed, especially in light of the long history of hostilities and tensions that exist between border agents and Indigenous residents of the Mohawk territory. Hundreds of complaints have been filed with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (the Canadian Band Council), Canada Justice Department and the Canadian Human Rights Commission, but there remains to be a peaceful resolution to those claims. Many Akwesasronon (people of Akwesasne) feel that arming the Canadian agents will provoke an already-hostile situation. Former MCA Grand Chief Mike Mitchell has characterized the actions of the CBSA as a “scare tactic,” stating: “Unfortunately, both governments in the U.S. and Canada are new governments. They are not very well aware of Indigenous issues. They think one size fits all, but this is a unique situation … If the minister had appointed people to come and learn about this community, this would not have happened.” The Canadian law arming border agents violates the Mohawk Council of Akweasne Resolution No. 318, which forbids firearms to be carried by the CBSA within the territory of Akwesasne.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper refuses to back down from his federal policy of arming the Canadian border agents and Peter Van Loan, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, is in full support, stating that the gun policy will be applied to all Canadian border crossings, with no exceptions. Ron Moran, the national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, said it’s too risky to allow officers to return to the Cornwall Island post, as of Tuesday: “I don’t think there’s any reason to start risking that level of potential injury or loss of life. So, as it stands, it’s going to remain closed and that’s to the detriment primarily of the people on the Akwesasne reserve.”

A Conservative MP stated Tuesday that the CBSA is considering entering third-party mediations with Mohawk leaders to resolve the impasse.

The Canadian border agents who abandoned their post at Akwesasne have either been reassigned to other posts, are taking time off, or are taking firearms training.

El Salvador and Cuba Re-establish Full Diplomatic Ties

By Nima Nayebi

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – El Salvador and Cuba have restored full diplomatic ties on the eve of the inauguration of new leftist Salvadorian President Mauricio Funes.

El Salvador originally cut its diplomatic ties with Cuba under pressure from Washington D.C. following the Cuban Revolution 50 years ago. As his first presidential act, former President Funes, a former journalist, announced that he was restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba, making El Salvador the last Latin American country to do so.

“The government that I preside will normalize relations with all the Latin American countries; this means that we will immediately re-establish diplomatic, commercial and cultural bonds with the sister nation of Cuba,” said Funes at his inauguration. In attendance was a Cuban delegation headed by Vice-President Esteban Lazo. Also in attendance was US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

According to new Salvadorian Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez, this will be one of the main foreign policy decisions of the new government. The policy aims to facilitate trade, as well as educational, cultural, and health exchanges between the Salvadorian and Cuban peoples.

Guantanamo Detainee Refused New Lawyer After Accusations of Severe Misconduct and Infighting

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – On June 1 the first war crimes hearing under the Obama Administration took place as Canadian born terror suspect, Omar Khadr, lost his bid to fire his lawyers. Khadr, a Canadian national and only remaining westerner in Guantanamo, was shot and arrested at the age of fifteen in Afghanistan after a firefight. Khadr has been a detainee in Guantanamo Bay for the past six years. Despite Khadr’s lawyers’ argument that he was a child soldier fighting for Al Qaeda under the influence of his father, he remains accused of five war crimes, including killing a U.S. serviceman with a grenade.
Khadr’s charges have been dropped and re-filed multiple times amid uncertainty regarding the future of the court itself. A military judge ordered Khadr to appear before him after months of infighting between his Chief Defense lawyer and other counsel. Each side accused the other of severe misconduct. Khadr sought to fire both of his Pentagon-appointed lawyers, saying “Right now I can’t trust them . . . They’ve been accusing each other and pointing fingers at each other. . . I want to erase all of them.” Khadr has stated that he will only trust his Canadian Lawyers, but the military commission will only classify them as “foreign military consultants.”

A new trial date has not been set and the Obama administration has not announced whether Khadr’s case will remain in the military tribunal system. The judge made clear that switching lawyers would not guarantee Khadr any delays.

The Canadian government has refused to make a decision on repatriation of Khadr until the U.S. decides if it will drop the charges. Justice Department Lawyer Doreen Mueller has argued that the refusal to repatriate Khadr, if held to violate his rights under the Canadian Constitution, is a justifiable infringement to protect national security. Conversely, Federal Court Justice James O’Reilly ruled that Ottawa’s refusal to seek Khadr’s return violates his constitutional right to fundamental justice under Canada’s international human rights obligations. Furthermore, O’Reilly argued that the Canadian Government was complicit in Khadr’s mistreatment when federal officials questioned him in 2004, with knowledge that he was prepared for questioning using sleep deprivation. The Canadian Government contends that “mere knowledge does not equate to participation.”

Khadr stated that “It’s not the first unfairness” he is going through and that he is “expecting more unfairness.”