North America & Oceania

El Salvador Judge to Reopen 1981 El Mozote Massacre Case

by Portia K. Skenandore-Wheelock
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR – Judge Jorge Guzman Urquilla in El Salvador has accepted a request filed by Dr. Maria Julia Hernandez Legal Defense agency, the Center for Justice and International Law, and the Association to Promote Human Rights of El Mozote to reopen one of the worst massacres to occur during the country’s civil war in the village of El Mozote.

A memorial for the victims of the 1981 massacre. (Photo courtesy of Deutsche Welle)
A memorial for the victims of the 1981 massacre. (Photo courtesy of Deutsche Welle)

At least 500 people were killed by the army within three days in December 1981, according to a postwar UN truth commission. Victims’ rights advocates say the number of those killed is much more, closer to 1,000. El Mozote villagers were mostly evangelical Christians that were trying to remain neutral in the war but soldiers suspected them of sympathizing with the rebels and attacked. The army dumped many of the bodies in a small church and burned them. The UN truth commission report found Col. Domingo Monterrosa, commander of the Atlacatl battalion, operations chief Col. Armando Azmitia, and six other officers responsible. In 1984 Monterrosa and Azmitia died when a bomb went off in their helicopter. The US government had trained the Atlacatl battalion that was involved in the killings. The army and the US initially denied that any massacre had taken place, but human rights advocate Ovidio Mauricio has said, “the forensic evidence…is overwhelming” and that in just one grave forensic experts found “136 skeletons of girls and boys, with an average age of six years.”

The Supreme Court ruling in July declaring El Salvador’s amnesty law unconstitutional has former military men and the current government, which grew out of the rebel Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, concerned that those involved on both sides of the conflict could face prosecution and the decision could create social conflicts. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that El Salvador should pay reparations to the victims and in 2012 the government accepted the ruling and apologized for the massacre.

For further information, please see:

BBC – El Salvador Judge Reopens El Mozote Massacre Investigation – 2 October 2016

Deutsche Welle – El Salvador to Reopen Prove Into 1981 Massacre – 2 October 2016

The Guardian – El Salvador Judge Reopens Case of 1981 Massacre at El Mozote – 1 October 2016

The News Tribune – Judge Orders Reopening of El Salvador Military Massacre Case – 1 October 2016

Telesur – Salvadoran Judge Reopens Investigation of El Mozote Massacre – 2 October 2016

 

UN to Discuss Report on US Police Killings of Black Americans

by Portia K. Skenandore-Wheelock
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

UNITED STATES — The United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent has released their final report based on a visit to the United States in January. A five-member group chaired by Filipino law professor Ricardo A. Sunga III made the trip to evaluate the human rights situation of African Americans. The report concludes that “Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching” during the 19th and 20th centuries and calls on the government to do more to protect its citizens. The Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization, reported in 2015 that 3,959 black people were killed in lynchings between 1877 and 1950.

The report has been released while two days of protests and a riot over the shooting of Keith Scott are taking place in Charlotte, North Carolina. Last Friday another incident occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma where an officer fatally shot an unarmed black man.

A UN Report on the state of the human rights of African Americans in the US has been released while demonstrations against police brutality take place in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of AFP)

The report states, “the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent. Impunity for state violence has resulted in the current human rights crisis and must be addressed as a matter of urgency.” The UN group says these killings go unpunished due to a number of factors. The initial investigations are often conducted by the police departments where the alleged perpetrators are employed, prosecutors have wide discretion over the charges, and the use of force is only subject to domestic standards, not to international standards.

The UN group recommends that the US create a national system to track excessive use of force and killings by law enforcement officials, end racial profiling, and have federal and state laws that recognize the negative impact of enslavement and racial injustice. The report finds education accompanied by acts of reconciliation key to improving race relations and the trust between African Americans and law enforcement officials. The report is being debated at the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.

For further information, please see:

Mint Press News – UN: Police Killings of Black Men Are Modern-Day Lynchings – 24 September 2016

PressTV – US Police Killings Redolent of Lynching: Report – 23 September 2016

Reuters – U.S. Police Killings Reminiscent of Lynching, U.N. Group Says – 23 September 2016

RT – Police Killings of Black People Reminiscent of Lynchings – UN Working Group – 23 September 2016

 

Mexico’s Chief Criminal Investigator Resigns After Mishandling 43 Missing Students Case

by Portia K. Skenandore-Wheelock
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO — Chief of the Criminal Investigation Agency Tomás Zerón de Lucio resigned his position on Wednesday, without citing a reason for stepping down.

Zerón was in charge of investigating the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, a radical teaching college, who have not been seen since September 2014. Zerón has been heavily criticized for his handling of the case and parents of the students have been vocal in their complaints. The government has said the students were arrested by municipal police in Guerrero state in the town of Iguala on September 26, 2014 and handed over to a drug trafficking gang. The government asserts that the gang killed the students and incinerated their bodies at a garbage dumpsite. Lab results proving this type of incineration impossible were released a day before Zerón’s resignation.

A contentious investigation into the disappearance of 43 students that occurred nearly two years ago has failed to uncover answers. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

Two independent international investigations have dismissed the government’s claims. Zerón’s handling of the crime scene has been under investigation since April after a report made by a panel of foreign investigators and legal experts. Information had been revealed with video and image evidence that Zerón had visited the site of the alleged incineration with one of the accused gang members a day before crime scene evidence was found. Zerón failed to note this visit in any of the official records.

Families of the students held a press conference Thursday in response to Zerón’s resignation. They are critical of his appointment to another high-level government job on President Peña Nieto’s National Security Council. “Instead of punishing him they have given him a prize. It doesn’t change anything. We are going to continue taking to the streets to demand the return of our children alive, and to demand the truth,” said Hilda Hernández, a mother of one of the missing students. The families have been preparing a protest for September 26, the second anniversary of the students’ abduction.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Mexico Missing Students Inquiry Boss Quits – 15 September 2016

New York Times – Top Investigator in Case of Missing Students in Mexico Resigns – 14 September 2016

PanAm Post – Lead Investigator in Mexican Student Massacre Steps Down – 15 September 2016

Vice News – Mexico’s Botched Investigation of 43 Missing Students Leads Chief Investigator to Resign – 15 September 2016

 

US Prisoners Launch a Nation-wide Strike in Protest of “Prison Slavery”

by Portia K. Skenandore-Wheelock
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

UNITED STATES — On Friday prisoners in 40 prisons in at least 24 states went on a coordinated strike, refusing to do their assigned jobs, and are demanding an “end to prison slavery.” This is one of the largest prison strikes attempted in decades. The date of the start of the strike coincides with the 45th anniversary of the 1971 Attica prison uprising. The Industrial Workers of the World’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) and the Free Alabama Movement organized and announced the strike in a statement, “Slavery is alive and well in the prison system, but by the end of this year, it won’t be anymore. This call goes directly to the slaves themselves.”

Prisoners in states across the US went on strike Friday to protest the exploitation of their cheap, and sometimes even free, labor. (Photo courtesy of the Independent)

As state budgets have been cut the over 2 million prisoners in the United States have been a source of cheap, and in some states free, labor. New work programs have prisoners repairing public plumbing, doing underwater welding, cleaning up roadkill, and maintaining public spaces. Prisoners’ jobs also go beyond public works and services. Corporations, such as Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Victoria’s Secret, McDonald’s, IBM, and AT&T, have tapped into prison labor by making deals with both private and public prisons. Prisoner laborers make 12 to 40 cents per hour yet the annual dollar value of their work output is estimated to run in the billions. “We want people to understand the economics of the prison system. It’s not about crime and punishment. It’s about money,” says Melvin Brooks-Ray, founder of the Free Alabama Movement and an inmate for 17 years.

Since labor law does not consider prisoners employees, they are not allowed to unionize. IWOC is trying to change that and encourages prisoners to join without charging union dues. IWOC’s site says, “You cannot change this situation through a grievance process that doesn’t work…or through courts that are clearly against you…or through petitions to lawmakers who don’t care about you because you don’t vote…or through hunger strikes against prison officials who want you to starve…or through letters to newspapers who have ignored this situation for decades.”

Prisoners in different states have other demands beyond fair wages for their work, such as an end to long-term solitary confinement policies, poor healthcare, poor quality of food, violent attacks, overcrowding, fairer parole policies, and reinstating educational courses for high school diplomas. “Different prisoners have different goals and aims, it’s looking like it’s going to be a state-by-state thing,” said Brianna Peril, co-chair of IWOC and a former prisoner. In response to these non-violent strikes, many prisons are engaging in lockdowns and barring prisoners’ access to communication.

For further information, please see:

Democracy Now! – Nationwide Prison Strike Launches in 24 States and 40 Facilities Over Conditions & Forced Labor – 9 September 2016

The Guardian – Inmates Strike in Prisons Nationwide Over ‘Slave Labor’ Working Conditions – 9 September 2016

The Independent – Inmates Launch Massive Nationwide Strike to Protest ‘Modern Slavery’ in US Prison System – 9 September 2016

Vice News – Prisoners all Over the US are on strike for ‘an end to prison slavery’ – 9 September 2016

Wired – How to Organize the Largest US Prison Strike Ever…From Inside Prison – 9 September 2016

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Requests an Injunction to Stop Dakota Access Pipeline Construction

by Portia K. Skenandore-Wheelock
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

CANNONBALL, N.D. — The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has sought a preliminary injunction to stop the construction of a $3.7billion pipeline until their lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is heard. The judge, James A. Boasberg of United States District Court, wanted more time to determine whether the Corps failed to follow federal laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act, in its environmental review of the pipeline project. A ruling on the injunction is expected September 9.

The pipeline spans over 1,100 miles over four states and is the first to bring Bakken shale in North Dakota directly to refineries in the Gulf Coast. Dakota Access is the group of firms behind the pipeline, which is led by Energy Transfer Partners. Supporters of the pipeline say this will be a more cost-effective way to transport the shale to the Gulf and assert it is safer than using roads and railways.

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have been protesting the construction since April in order to protect their burial sites, sacred land, and the Tribe’s main water supply. There are now three distinct camps, the original Sacred Stone Spirit camp, the main Seven Council camp on the north side of the Cannonball River, and the Rosebud camp across the river. The main camp was established last spring to fight the construction of the pipeline that is expected to travel under the Missouri River on treaty lands a half of a mile from the Standing Rock reservation. Other Tribes and Nations have joined the camp in solidarity to protect the water and advocate for treaty rights. Accounts of the number of people at the camps vary from 1,000 to 3,000 over the last few weeks. A part of the camp traveled to Washington, D.C. to fill the court room and demonstrate outside the courthouse.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have confirmed that Energy Transfer Partners does not have a written easement to build the pipeline on Corps property. In July the Corps issued Section 408 permission, which allows the easement to be written, but the easement itself is still under review. The Department of the Interior, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Environmental Protection Agency objected to the Corps permission. Corps spokesman Larry Janis discussed current construction saying, “They can’t build the project by accessing corps property from west to east across Lake Oahe.” The lack of an easement became clear in the federal district court case. “Everybody thought they had it, this is really important information,” said attorney Carolyn Raffensperger, one of four attorneys volunteering their legal services to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and individuals that may get arrested in the protests.

A group of those protesting the Dakota Access pipeline left the camp to take their message to Washington, D.C.. (Photo courtesy of the New York Times)

Amnesty International and United Nations observers have been making visits to the camp. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the International Treaty Council have appealed to the United Nations by submitting an urgent action communication to four U.N. human rights special rapporteurs on the grounds that the tribe’s water supply is directly threatened by construction of the pipeline. The appeal states, “We specifically request that the United States Government impose an immediate moratorium on all pipeline construction until the treaty rights and human rights of the Standing Rock Tribe can be ensured and their free, prior and informed consent is obtained.” The Dakota Access pipeline allegedly violates the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples including the “right to health, right to water and subsistence, threats against sacred sites including burial grounds, Treaty Rights, cultural and ceremonial practices, free prior and informed consent, traditional lands and resources including water, productive capacity of the environment, and self-determination.”

The appeal also asserts environmental racism in the Corps’ decision to relocate the pipeline from north of Bismarck due to concerns of the impact on the city’s water supply without concern for the impact on the Tribe’s main water supply. The Corp has also issued permits to dig through burial grounds that are protected by protocols established by the National Historic Preservation Act that the Tribe alleges are not being followed.

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple declared a state of emergency which allows for resources to be mobilized through the State Emergency Operations Plan and helps state and local agencies with more funding for public safety. Some residents are questioning the use of resources to protect Energy Transfer Partners. North Dakota Highway Patrol troopers and other agencies are manning a police barricade that stops and reroutes those going to the reservation but gives access to those north of the reservation. Private security has also been employed, including the recent use of dogs and pepper spray.

In addition to easement issues and potential human rights violations, residents in other states impacted by the pipeline have also filed suit. In Iowa, farmers are suing the government asserting that Dakota Access LLC is illegally using eminent domain to gain rights of way onto their land.

For further information, please see:

The Bismarck Tribune – Corps Says Pipeline Still Needs Water-Crossing Easement – 25 August 2016

Indian Country Today Media Network – Dakota Access Pipeline: Standing Rock Sioux Issue Urgent Appeal to United Nations Human Rights Officials – 20 August 2016

Inside Climate News – Native American Pipeline Protest Halts Construction in N. Dakota – 19 August 2016

Los Angeles Times – With Echoes of Wounded Knee, Tribes Mount Prairie Occupation to Block North Dakota Pipeline – 27 August 2016

New York Times – North Dakota Oil Pipeline Battle: Who’s Fighting and Why – 26 August 2016

Reuters – Celebrities Join Native American Pipeline Protest in Washington, DC – 24 August 2016