By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria-A twin car bombing attack on near Syria’s northern city of Aleppo occurred Sunday morning.  The attack was led by Al Qaeda and targeted and killed their rival leader of the Islamic brigade.

The attack occurred on the cuff of rebel fighting throughout the Syrian civil war, as government forces continue the intense bombarding of opposition-held areas.  Syrian aircrafts bombed buildings, which buried people underneath rubble near the Bab Neirab area.

The series of military aircraft droppings of explosives over rebel-held areas on Saturday killed dozens, including one attack that killed 34 people in al-Bab.  Activists have claimed the bombings have driven Syrian forces into the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo.

The twin suicide bombing that killed the military leader of a rebel group also resulted in the death of 26 other people.  The attack targeted the Tawheed Brigades and killed Commander Adnan Bakkour.

Al-Qaeda also killed another prominent commander, Abu Hussein al-Dik of the Suqour al-Sham, further proving that key headquarters, strategic checkpoints, and senior influential commanders were being targeted.

On Saturday, a Lebanese extremist group claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing in a Shi’ite town that killed at least three people.  This attack was also linked to the Syrian civil war.

The bombing occurred in the northeast town of Hermel and was claimed to punish the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah, which fights with the forces of Syria President Bashar Assad.  It is the third bombing that the Nusra Front in Lebanon has claimed responsibility.

Also on Sunday, a video was posted to social networks showing a Sunni fighter beheading another man and children and adults gathered to watch.

The video shows adults cheering as the fighter cuts the other man’s head off with a small knife.  The man’s hands are tied and it was unclear if he was alive during the beheading.  Photos of the body and severed head were also posted to a separate Instagram account by a supporter of al Qaeda.

For more information, please see the following:

Al Jazeera-Al-Qaeda fighters kill Syrian rebel leaders-2 February 2014

CBS News-Al Qaeda in Syria kills rival rebel leader-2 February 2014

Hindu-Al-Qaeda fighters kill rival rebel leader in Aleppo-2 February 2014

Los Angeles Times-Al Qaeda-linked rebel leader reported killed in Syria-2 February 2014

 

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East

DOHA, Qatar – Organizers of the 2022 FIFA World Cup have been given a tight deadline by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to explain what is being done to improve working conditions for migrant labourers working on the construction process for various buildings associated with the World Cup. FIFA is demanding that The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy in Qatar Provide the organization with “detailed report” by February 12 with “information on specific steps” being taken to improve conditions faced by migrant works, who make up the majority of the construction workforce in Qatar.

Concerns over the working conditions of migrant workers, who are often subjected to near slave-like conditions, in Qatar was reported extensively in a report by Amnesty International last year.

FIFA as initially criticized for failing to adequately address the concerns over Qatar’s history of worker abuses. However, after the report was made public FIFA president Sepp Blatter publicly described the situation as “unacceptable” and raised during a visit to Doha last November.

FIFA plans to use the report to prepare for the hearing on the matter of workers’ rights in the Arab emirate at the European Parliament in Brussels on 13 February 2014. In a press release FIFA announced that “the application of international norms of behaviour is a FIFA principle and part of all of FIFA’s activities, and is expected from all hosts of its events.” Doctor Theo Zwanziger, who was appointed by FIFA to spearhead efforts to address the issue of labour rights in Qatar associated with the World Cup, has held several meetings with human rights and labour organisations including Amnesty International and the ILO, in order to strengthen the dialogue between various interest groups and to reach a sanctioned approach.

According to Zwanziger FIFA is “currently in the middle of an intensive process, which is exclusively aimed at improving the situation of workers in Qatar.” A complete report will be delivered to the FIFA Executive Committee at its meeting on 20 and 21 March. Zwanziger stated that clear rules and an outlined process will be needed in order to “build trust and ensure that the situation, which is unacceptable at the moment, improves in a sustainable manner.”

The choice of Qatar as the host nation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup has been criticized since the organization made the decision to allow the Arab state to host the games. Concerns about the health risks associated with acute summer temperatures in Qatar has led FIFA to delay the competition to the winter. The origination has also been criticized by several human rights organizations and activist for choosing Qatar to host the games despite its long history of Labour rights abuses.

FIFA has stated that it ”firmly believes in the power of the World Cup in triggering positive social change in Qatar, including improving the labour rights and conditions of migrant workers.”

What is clear is that the decision to host world’s most popular sporting event in Qatar has brought the issue of migrant rights and labour conditions in Qatar into the public eye.

For more information please see:

CNN International – Qatar Set Deadline by FIFA over Conditions For Migrant Workers – 31 January 2014

Fédération Internationale De Football Association – FIFA Requests Update On Working Conditions In Qatar – 31 January 2014

Bloomberg – FIFA Demands Report from Qatar on World Cup Construction Deaths – 30 January 2014

The Guardian – Qatar World Cup: FIFA Demands Update on Efforts to Improve Worker Conditions – 30 January 2014

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria-On Thursday, a food convoy entered the besieged Syrian Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp.  Dozens have died within the camp due to food and medicine shortages, declared the United Nations.

“1,028 food rations had been delivered to the camp south of Damascus, in a modest launch of the rescue operation.  Each ration is enough to keep a family of eight going for 10 days,” stated UN Palestinian refugee agency spokesman Chris Gunness.

“We hope to continue and increase substantially the amount of aid being delivered because the numbers of those needing assistance is in the tens of thousands, including 18,000 Palestinians, among them women and children,” stated Gunness.

Initial deliveries into the camp have been reported as “chaotic scenes” while the food was being distributed.  The last delivery of food occurred on January 21, when the UN Palestinian refugee agency sent in 138 food parcels.

SANA, the Syrian state news agency, also reported on the aid distribution.  “New food aid has entered Yarmuk camp, with the application of a peaceful, popular initiative supported by the Syrian government to alleviate the suffering of the residents surrounded in the camp, taken hostage by armed terrorist groups,” it said.

Hostilities have been steadily growing in the Yarmuk camp as at least 86 people have died in recent months due to starvation or lack of medical care.

The camp is principally controlled by rebel forces and surrounded by a siege since June, making it nearly impossible to get food and medicine into the camp or for residents to leave.  Many residents have reported eating grass, cats, and dogs in order to survive.

At the outset, the camp began as a place for Palestinian refugees, but has since developed into an active district, housing nearly 150,000 Palestinians, as well as numerous Syrians.  However, now only an estimated 18,000 Palestinians remain in the camp, which has been destroyed by fighting.

With the present of the aid, many are hoping that conditions will improve.  “We are encouraged by the delivery of this aid and the cooperation of the parties on the ground,” stated Gunness.

For more information, please see the following: 

Al Jazeera-Chaos as food aid enters Syria’s Yarmouk camp-30 January 2014

Daily Star-Food aid enters Syria’s besieged Yarmuk camp-30 January 2014

Haaretz-Food supplies enter Palestinian camp in Syria-30 January 2014

Naharnet-Food Aid Enters Syria’s Besieged Yarmouk Camp-30 January 2014

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East

Sanaa, Yemen – Yemen’s National Dialogue Conference has agreed on a document that will become the basis for the State’s new Constitution. This document is the final product of months of discussions between national factions in Yemen. President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi reported that all factions taking part in the dialogue have “made painful concessions.”

The agreement is expected to lead to the creation of several semi-autonomous regions within Yemen essentially creating a new era of Yemini federalism in the hopes of granting representation to disenfranchised fractions within the country.

Last night, Ahmed Mohammed al-Jarwan, the President of the Arab Parliament, congratulated the Yemeni people for the creation of the dialogue document which represented ten months of discussion and debate by members of the National Dialogue Conference. He said, “the Yemeni people has proved through their delegates from all spectra in the NDC that the national will is stronger than all wills, and has given a successful example of the constructive national dialogue.”

He called on all Yemeni people to continue to work according to the spirit of the national dialogue represented by this document  by putting the necessary mechanisms into action in order to create a final document in order to lead the Yemeni people though a successful transfusion to a new Yemeni state.

While the agreement represents a major step towards continued dialog and cooperation in Yemen the agreement has not come without costs. On January 21^st, the day the conference conducted ten months of dialog, gunmen assassinated Ahmed Sharaf el-Din, a lawyer for a group representing the Houthis, a group in Northern Yemen. Shortly after the assassination a car belonging to, Abdulwahab al-Ansi, secretary-general of the Islah party, and the main Islamist group in Yemen was blown up. Thankfully Abdulwahab al-Ansi was not in his car.

The Houthis are a group of Zaidi Shia Muslims located in the northern regions of the country. The group is named for its late leader and launched a six-year rebellion against the central government in 2004. The conflict left thousands of people dead in the country’s northern region. Ahmed Sharaf al-Din, a law professor, was assassinated as he drove from his home in the capital to the hotel where the Dialogue was held. He was the second represented of the Houthi envoy to be killed.

The Houthis have controlled the province of Saada since the uprising of 2011. Since gaining control of the region, they have faced conflicts with thousands of Sunni Islamist tribesmen.

Despite the apparent success of the Dialogue process human rights organizations have remained critical of the progress made in Yemen, a country where widespread abuses of Human Rights, including cases of forced marriages of young children made famous by a viral video created by a young Yemini girl last year.

Human Rights Watch called on Yemen’s government to create a commission of inquiry into serious human rights violations by the previous government which it argues should lead to the prosecution of human rights abuses. In 2012 the country’s parliament granted impunity from prosecution to Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former President who had enjoyed power for 33 years, and several of his top aides.

In a statement Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director for Human Rights Watch said “The government needs to address the past, both to provide justice for the victims and to make sure the abuses stop once and for all. For two years the Hadi administration has ignored the demands for justice from people harmed by the Saleh government.”

For More Information please see:

Human Rights Watch – Yemen: Two Years On, No Accountability – 27 January 2014

Al Jazeera – Yemeni Factions Hold National Dialogue – 26 January 2014

Yemen News Agency – President of Arab Parliament Congratulates Yemenis on NDC’s Document – 27 January 2014

The Economist – Yemen’s Conference: No Proper End – 25 January 2014

United States Department Of State – Conclusion of National Dialogue In Yemen – 25 January 2014

BBC News – Yemen’s National Dialogue Conference Concludes With Agreement – 21 January 2014