North America & Oceania

Australia Stands by Plan to Reopen Offshore Detention Centers for Asylum-Seekers

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Sunday that the decision to send asylum-seekers to detention centers on Pacific Islands rather than letting them on Australian soil could result in saved lives.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the controversial plan to send asylum-seekers to reopened detention centers on Pacific islands could result in saved lives. (Photo Courtesy of Bloomberg Businessweek)

Australian leaders announced last week that they plan to reopen the camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, a move critics called regressive.  The asylum-seekers would remain in the detention centers while their immigration cases are processed.

“Yes, this is a tough policy,” Gillard told Sky News.  “I understand for many people that it’s hard for them, that it’s emotionally hard for them.”

Gillard said the move could result in preventing lives from being lost at sea.  According to a report released last week by a former Australian Defense Force chief, nearly 1,000 asylum-seekers have drowned in the waters between Indonesia and Australia in the last decade.  More than 60 percent of them have drowned in the last three years.  These numbers helped prompt the policy change.

“We stood on a policy of not having offshore processing, but we’re seeing large numbers of people losing their lives at sea because they are enticed by people smugglers,” Gillard told Sky News, admitting that she compromised her position “in the nation’s interest.”

“We’ve got to be very clear with asylum-seekers that they will get no advantage by having paid a people smuggler,” she added.  Gillard said people could wait in the island camps for “an extended period of time,” but she would not say how long that might be.

But many have expressed concerns about the change, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.  Navi Pillay said there is no evidence the effort would dissuade asylum seekers and could even lead to human rights violations.

“[Australian leaders must] break an ingrained political habit of demonizing migrants and asylum-seekers,” he said.

In fact, people smugglers have already adopted a new effort to counter Australia’s changed policy.  The West Australian reported that smugglers are telling asylum-seekers that Nauru is “just another Christmas Island,” in reference to Nauru being just a different stop on the path to be resettled in Australia.

The West Australian said Nauru and Manus Island processed 1,637 people between 2001 and 2008, the vast majority of whom were resettled in Australia or New Zealand.

Since Parliament approved the policy change last week, 10 boats of asylum-seekers have arrived.  These are just the latest in what has been a record year of immigrants attempting to reach Australia, mostly from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, and Iraq.  The centers at Manus and Nauru can hold up to 600 and 1,500 people, respectively.

For its part, Nauru has indicated it wants to exert some level of control over the process.  According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the island country’s foreign minister, Kieren Keke, told the Sunday Age that “his country would have ‘no problem’ with giving journalists access to report the stories and conditions of asylum seekers in its care who wanted to speak publicly.”

For further information, please see:

News.com.au — Australia out of Reach for Resettled Refugees — 21 August 2012

The West Australian — People Smugglers Using New Sales Pitch — 21 August 2012

Bloomberg Businessweek — Gillard Says Australia Asylum Policy Change in National Interest — 19 August 2012

The Daily News — Australia Defends ‘Tough’ Asylum-Seeker Policy — 19 August 2012

The Sydney Morning Herald — Nauru Demands Rights, Freedom for Asylum Seekers — 19 August 2012

Religious Leaders Call on Mississippi Church to Reject Racism

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

JACKSON, Mississippi — Southern Baptist leaders said Monday that a Mississippi church was wrong to prevent a black couple from getting married at the church earlier this month, and called on the church to reject racism.

Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson were forced to relocate their wedding just days before the ceremony after some members of the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, near Jackson, Miss., complained complained about the black couple having a wedding there. (Photo Courtesy of Black America Web)

Directors of the Mississippi Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention said in keeping with the Baptist tradition, the congregation needs to “chart its own course.”

“Our entire country, and especially here in Mississippi, has been on a long journey for right rational relationships,” read a statement from Jim Futral, the executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention board.  “Mississippi Baptists both reject racial discrimination and at the same time respect the autonomy of our local churches to deal with difficulties and disagreements under the lordship of Jesus.”

Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson found out days before their July 21 nuptials that some members of the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, near Jackson, complained about the black couple having a wedding there.  The church’s pastor, Rev. Stan Weatherford, married the couple at nearby church in an effort to make peace and avoid conflict.

“I didn’t want to have a controversy within the church, and I didn’t want a controversy to affect the wedding of Charles and Te’Andrea,” Weatherford said in an interview with the Huffington Post.  “I wanted to make sure their wedding day was a special day.”

Charles Wilson has said members of the congregation, nevertheless, have threatened to fire the pastor.

But some churchgoers denied that the story being played out in the media is fully accurate.  They said it has caused hardship.

“There’s a lot of people in the church that are suffering inner turmoil over this issue, said church member Ralph Miley in an interview with WAPT News.

The Jackson television station also reported on the congregation’s frustration, with one woman swinging her purse at one of the station’s reporters before entering the church for Sunday morning services.

Other congregants acknowledge the pastor was trying to do the right thing.

“He was trying to gain time to deal with racism among the few members of our church who created this situation,” said retired Southern Baptist pastor Robert Mack to WAPT News.

The state and national church leaders also said Monday they are praying for the church and are ready to help, if needed.

“We are all saddened when any sin, including the sin of racism, rears its head,” said Southern Baptist Convention spokesperson Sing Oldham.  “Part of our gospel is that we are being redeemed.  We are flawed, failed creatures, and redemption is a process.”

So far, the church has not contacted state officials for any assistance.

A community rally for racial unity was planned in Crystal Springs for Monday evening.

For further information, please see:

The Clarion-Ledger — Southern Baptists: Mississippi Church Wrong to Reject Black Couple’s Wedding — 30 July 2012

WAPT News — Baptist Bodies Call on Church to Reject Racism — 30 July 2012

The Washington Post — State and National Baptist Leaders Ask Church that Turned Down Black Wedding to Reject Racism — 30 July 2012

USA Today — Baptist Groups: Miss. Church Wrong to Not Marry Black Couple — 29 July 2012

WAPT News — Members Speak out on Crystal Springs Church Controversy — 29 July 2012

The Huffington Post — Black Couple says Racism Forced Wedding Relocation — 28 July 2012

New Motions in Challenge to Lawyer Access Rules at Guantanamo

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, United States — In a motion filed this week, the U.S. Justice Department requested just one federal judge decide which rules apply to lawyers representing suspects being held at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Justice Department filed a motion this week in a case over whether Guantanamo detainees can have continued access to counsel after losing habeas. (Photo Courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor)

Government lawyers asked for Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to be the decider in a growing dispute between the government and defense lawyers.

The issue is whether detainees who have lost their one-shot habeas cases can have continued access to their counsel.

“Respondents request that the instant Motions for Counsel Access be referred to a single judge for a coordinated ruling on the counsel-access issue that will govern in these and all other Guantanamo Bay habeas cases,” the motion stated.

According to Politico, Guantanamo leaders have tried “to unilaterally impose rules for lawyers’ visits to Guantanamo when no court proceedings are pending.  Lawyers for some inmates have complained that they should continue to be covered by orders issued by judges in Washington.  They argue that prisoners are free to file successive petitions for release, so the visits are directly tied to potential litigation.”

The filing stems from a case in which Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail, a Yemeni national detained at Guantanamo, was told he no longer had the right to see his counsel after losing his habeas petition.  An email from the Justice Department to Ismail’s lawyer reportedly said Ismail could only meet his lawyer if the lawyer signed a new “memorandum of understanding.”  Ismail’s lawyer, David Remes, described that new MOU as giving the government “absolute authority over access to counsel.”

According to Scotusblog, Remes challenged the new MOU earlier this month in federal court.

“As long as [Ismail] is detained, he retains the right to pursue any available legal avenues to obtain his release,” Remes argued, according to court papers.

As Scotusblog put it, those other avenues include “the right to file a new or amended habeas challenge, or to file a formal motion to have his case reopened in District Court.”

But this new legal challenge is not the only complaint defense lawyers have raised regarding the system for terror suspects detained at Guantanamo.

Just last week, lawyers for Saudi defendant Abd al Rahim al Nashiri alleged that the military official in charge of the tribunal attempted to rig the Guantanamo court to deliver the death sentence.  Nashiri is charged in connection with planning the al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen in 2000, killing 17 sailors and injuring dozens more.

The defense accused retired Vice Admiral Bruce MacDonald of “unprecedented bureaucratic meddling” in instructing the judge how to carry out jury selection, something normally left to the judge alone.

The instructions would result in a jury panel “that numerically favors a death sentence,” said Lieutenant Commander Stephen Reyes, a lawyer for Nashiri.

For further information, please see:

Lawfare — On Continued Counsel Access at Gitmo and the Government’s Filing — 27 July 2012

Politico — Feds: Single Judge Should Rule on Rules for Lawyers at Guantanamo — 26 July 2012

Reuters — Defense Lawyers say Guantanamo Court Rigged to Deliver Death Sentence — 19 July 2012

The Christian Science Monitor — Guantanamo Judge Refuses to Step Aside — 17 July 2012

Scotusblog — Are “Boumediene Rights” Expiring? — 13 July 2012

Mexican Protesters Decry Election Results as Fraudulent

By: Stuart Smith
Impunity Watch, North America Deck

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – On July 22, 2012, thousands of protesters marched through the center of Mexico City to protest the official result of the country’s recent presidential election, which declared Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Enrique Pena Nieto Mexico’s presumptive President-elect.

Protesters in Reforma Avenue, Mexico City. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

According to Xinhua News, protesters, organized by “Yo soy 132” (I am 132), a student movement, and supported by runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, took to the streets Sunday expressing their outrage at the result of the July 1 election with banners decrying the “imposition” of the PRI’s Nieto on Mexico and chanting slogans such as “Pena Out” and “Fraud, Fraud.”

The protest began when thousands of demonstrators rallied outside Los Pinos, Mexican President’s official residence and office, who then marched down the capital’s main avenue, Paseo de la Reforma, to the city’s square. Reuters reported that Mexican officials estimated as many as 30,000 protesters took part in the rally. Yet, despite the large crowd, authorities said the protest was peaceful.

Nieto and the PRI are accused of buying votes and arranging favorable media coverage from Televisa, one of Mexico’s main television networks, reported BBC News. In an interview with Reuters, Luis Martinez, a 25-year-old engineering student from Mexico City, said, “the people have woken up. The people realize that the PRI violated the elections.” Echoing similar sentiment, marcher Marlem Munoz told Fox News, “Mexico didn’t vote for fraud. Mexico wants a country that is honest and democratic. What happened in the elections was a total mockery directed at the Mexican people.”

However, the PRI denied the charges, countering that Lopez Obrador is attempting to “disqualify the entire electoral process with lies.” Televisa, also, denied accepting money in exchange for positive coverage.

Yet, despite these denials, the PRI has a history of employing fraud to win elections. The PRI’s 71-year rule, reported Reuters, which ended in 2000, was marred by allegations of corruption, vote-rigging, and violent repression of dissent.

Lopez Obrador is currently seeking to nullify the election result at the federal election tribunal. Last week, Obrador and opposition parties presented to the tribunal evidence which, they claim, shows that the PRI purchased votes with money earned from drug trafficking activities.

The election tribunal has until September 6, when the final vote count must be certified and an official President-elect must be declared, to rule on the challenge. The President will then be sworn in on December 1.

For further information, please see:

Xinhua News – Thousands march in Mexico City to protest election results – 23 July 2012

Reuters UK – Thousands march in Mexico to protest Pena Nieto win – 23 July 2012

BBC News – Mexicans in new protest at Pena Nieto election victory – 22 July 2012

Fox News – Thousands turn out to march against election results in Mexico – 22 July 2012

 

Jamaica Promises Harsher Penalties for Child Sex Abusers

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaican leaders want tougher punishments for people who sexually abuse children.

Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller says tougher sanctions are coming for child abusers. (Photo Courtesy of Go Jamaica)

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller told the People’s National Party Women’s Movement conference this week that Justice Minister Mark Golding is looking at ways to strengthen child abuse laws.

“What you need to do is stop it,” Miller said.  “A woman represents motherhood.  A woman is now prime minister of Jamaica.  Stop it.”

The comments came after government figures showed more than 1,000 reports of sexual abuse against children through April of this year, according to the Jamaica Observer.  Between 2007 and 2011, more than 7,200 cases were reported.

Recent United Nations studies indicated only a handful of child sex abuse cases in the Caribbean and Latin America lead to convictions.  Marcelo Suarzo, the UN Populations Fund regional director, said it is unclear if the problem is with the laws or enforcement of the laws.

“What I am sure of is that impunity is the worst solution to sexual violence,” Suarzo said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, adding that only two percent of reported cases in the region result in justice.

A school-based study conducted by the U.S. Agency for International Development in 2007 showed that one in three Jamaican girls between the ages of 10 and 15 experiences her first sexual encounter by force.  Roughly 12 percent of young girls reported having sexual intercourse before they turned 15 years old.

“The issue needs an integrated response,” Suarzo told the Observer.  “We need to strengthen our policies, make the appropriate investments and work closely to identify cases to ensure an integrated response from all the systems that are in charge of the application of justice.”

It appears the dialogue may already be having some effect.  Not only has there been a spike in the number of reported cases of child sex abuse, but there also has been a number of high-profile prosecutions.

On Friday, a former commandant of Jamaica’s Special Constabulary Force will be sentenced after he was convicted earlier this month on two counts of indecent assault on a minor.  The jury acquitted Harold Crooks, however, of carnal abuse since he and the teenage girl had sexual intercourse after she turned 16, Jamaica’s age of consent.

Earlier this month, a Kingston doctor was charged with four counts of committing sexual offenses against two teenage girls.  A report by a Jamaican police watchdog group called the Constabulary Communication Network alleged that Dr. Rakesh Thomas lured the girls, ages 14 and 15, to his office several times to engage in sexual grooming, touching, and intercourse.

And in June, a Jamaican national was sentenced in U.S. federal court to 18 months in prison for sexually abusing a minor on the cruise ship where he worked.  According to his plea agreement, Fabian Palmer befriended the 14-year-old girl and had sexual intercourse with her during a cruise last December.

At a recent meeting with Jamaica Observer editors and reporters, Jamaica’s UNICEF representative said more incidents are being reported to police “because [people] are realizing that silence is violence.”

Still, Robert Fuderich said the effort to stop the violence cannot stop there.

“There needs to be zero-tolerance,” he said.

For further information, please see:

Go Jamaica — Portia says Tougher Penalties Coming for Child Abusers — 16 July 2012

Jamaica Observer — Too Much Impunity for Sex Offenders, Says UN Official — 6 July 2012

Jamaica Observer — Former Police Commandant Found Guilty on Sex Charge — 5 July 2012

Stabroek News — Jamaican Doctor Charged with Sex Offences Against Girls — 2 July 2012

San Francisco Chronicle — Cruise Ship Worker Sentenced for Abusing Minor — 29 June 2012