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Croatia To Present Evidence of Genocide By Serbia At ICJ

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE – Croatia told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday that it will present its case during a hearing which will include new evidence to support their claim that Serbia committed genocide in Croatian territory from 1991 to 1995.

The hearing began at the ICJ on Monday, and is scheduled to end on April 1st. (Photo courtesy of inSerbia)

Vesna Crnic-Grotic, the head of the Croatian legal team, stated to the Court that Serbian leaders are “in denial” over a genocide carried out in the early 90’s. Croatia is bringing charges against the former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, of leading the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) to commit genocidal crimes, though they were originally supposed to protect the Yugoslavian people.

Crnic-Grotic stated that the Serbian government in Belgrade turned a blind eye to genocidal acts, and though Croatia did not accuse anyone specific for genocide, Crotia decided to formally bring charges before the ICJ.

On Monday before the Court, the Croatian legal team presented a video that depicted the 1991 violence in Vukovar, as they accused Serbia of using the JNA to eliminate Croatian people. The team stated that they will present evidence of genocidal crimes in both Lovas and Vukovar.

The President of the ICJ, Peter Tomka, summarized the history of the dispute between Croatia and Serbia for the Court. Croatia pressed genocide charges on Serbia in 1999, and Serbia filed a counter-suit in 2010. Now that the hearing has finally begun, President Tomka informed both parties which witness statements will be kept private until the end of the hearing- which April 1st.

In its counter-suit, Serbia is requesting that Croatia provide full indemnity for Serbian people from Krajina for all economic losses and damages inflicted by the genocide. The counter-suit also seeks to create legal conditions and protections for Serbs living in Croatia. The Serbian legal team will present case on March 10th.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Croatia Accuses Serbia of Genocide at UN Court – 3 March 2014

BBC News – Croatia Accuses Serbia of 1990s Genocide – 3 March 2014

inSerbia – Croatia to Present New Evidence Before ICJ – 3 March 2014

Radio Free Liberty, Radio Europe – Croatia Accuses Serbia of Genocide at ICJ – 3 March 2014

Thousands of Refugees Blocked From Receiving Food Aid in Syria

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – According to the United Nations and activists, food aid deliveries to thousands of people living in a blockaded area in southern Damascus have been cut off after a truce collapsed and fights once again broke out between Syrian rebel groups and regime forces. The Yarmouk district of Damascus is home to thousands of Palestinian refugees.

Residents of the Yarmouk district of Damascus line up in hopes of receiving food aid. (Photo courtesy the Irish Examiner)

Yarmouk is the largest of nine Palestinian camps in Syria. Since the camp’s was founded in 1957, it has evolved into a densely populated residential district, only five miles from the centre of Damascus. The camp has been home to several generations of Palestinian refugees. Before the conflict more than 160,000 Palestinian refugees lived in Yarmouk, around 18,000 Palestinian refugees remain in the district.

Chris Gunness, a spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Damascus, urged both parties to “immediately allow” delivers of food and medical aid to be resumed in order to fight the malnutrition epidemic in the area. On Monday Gunness said the United Nations “remains deeply concerned about the desperate humanitarian situation in Yarmouk, and the fact that increasing tensions and resort to armed force have disrupted its efforts to alleviate the desperate plight of civilians,” Gunness said on Monday. He urged both regime and rebel fighters to facilitate “safe and unhindered humanitarian access”

Over the course of the three year old conflict the Yarmouk area of Damascus has seen some of the worst violence in the nation’s capital. The fighting has led to severe shortages in food and medical supplies leading to severe malnutrition, illness and hunger.

Israa al-Masri, a young boy who lived in the Palestinian neighborhood of Yarmouk in Damascus, Syria was one of thousands of Syrian children to suffer from hunger in the region, he passed away from a hunger-related illness, on Jan. 11, 2014 (Photo courtesy of CBS News)

On Tuesday Filippo Grandi, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, called the extent of damages to the refugees’ homes in the Yarmouk area shocking, he said “the devastation is unbelievable. There is not one single building that I have seen that is not an empty shell by now.”

On Saturday rebel fighter claimed that Assad loyalists were sneaking weapons into Yarmouk under the pretext of the joint patrols, delaying food distribution and arresting young men waiting for food parcels from the United Nations. The next day rebels returned to the area and clashes broke out between regime and al-Nusra and other rebel fighters.

In total, the United Nations has distributed 7,708 food parcels to the Yarmouk district’s 18,000 registered Palestinian refugees. According to activist groups, there are thousands more displaced Syrians living in the district suffering from malnutrition, illness and hunger as a result of food shortages.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Thousands of People Living In Blockaded District in Southern Damascus Are Cut Off From Aid As Truce Collapses – 04 March 2014

Irish Examiner – Thousands ‘Slowly Dying’ in Yarmouk Camp – 01 March 2014

CBS News – U.N. Renews Call For Syria Regime, Rebels To Allow Aid Into Yarmouk Camp For Starving Refugees – 26 February 2014

The Guardian – Queue for Food In Syria’s Yarmouk Camp Shows Desperation Of Refugees – 26 February 2014

Brazil Forcefully Evicts Residents Ahead of World Cup

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil – Many poor people have been evicted or are facing eviction from their homes as urban renewal efforts are being launched ahead of this year’s World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Brazil Forced Evictions
Residents walk inside the Favela do Metro slum near Maracana stadium where people have been evicted and homes demolished in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo Courtesy of AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

More than 230 families were forced out of their homes in Vila Recreio II, a Rio de Janeiro slum that was demolished three years ago to make way for the Transoeste expressway connecting the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood that’ll be the main hub for the 2016 Olympics with the western outskirts of Rio.

Officials are using the events as reasons for expanded metro lines, roads, airport renovations and other works. Critics say poor residents are paying the price and estimate some 100,000 people have been evicted or face removals to make way for the projects.

“The city has become the object of the big business, the big interests behind the mega-events,” said Marcelo Chalreo, who heads the human rights commission of the Rio chapter of Brazil’s bar association. “In the name of the (sporting) events, now everything has to be pretty and nice looking,” he added.

These displaced residents were told to either accept a lump-sum compensation for their homes or walk away with nothing. According to many residents, the Brazilian government’s compensation and an apartment in a distant housing project are inadequate. The government’s compensation of just over $2,300 is not enough to cover some of the homes in many slums, where they are going upward of $50,000.

City officials have in the past acknowledged that some 15,000 families were resettled, but insist the moves were done to remove people from areas prone to deadly mudslides and had nothing do with the World Cup or Olympics. The office of Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes has said that it “is not and will not carry out any resettlements” connected to the World Cup.

However, city officials have said that for upcoming Olympic preparations, they plan to resettle 278 families living on land that’s part of the Olympic Village. Olympic organizers confirmed the removals near the Olympic village.

An advocacy group for affected slum residents, Popular Committee for the World Cup and Olympics, estimates that 100,000 have or will be moved.

“The city’s removal policy is disastrous because it’s taking these pockets of poverty and pushing them out to the furthest limits of the city, thus making vulnerable people that much vulnerable,” said Renato Cosentino, a member of the Popular Committee.

For more information please see:

RYOT — Brazil Forcefully Demolishes More Than 100,000 Homes to Make Way for the World Cup and Olympics – 28 February 2014

Think Progress – Brazil Relocates More Than 15,000 Families Ahead Of World Cup – 28 February 2014

ABC News – Critics Blast Rio’s World Cup, Olympic Evictions – 28 February 2014

Associated Press – Critics blast Rio’s World Cup, Olympic evictions – 28 February 2014

 

Venezuela Deaths Rise as Police and Opposition Activists Clash Again

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – Police and opposition demonstrators have clashed at the end of a march that gathered tens of thousands of people in Caracas on February 22. Police fired tear gas and activists hurled stones in the Altamira district where several people were injured.

Demonstrators run from police firing tear gas and rubber bullets during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, February 22, 2014. REUTERS-Jorge Silva
Demonstrators run from police firing tear gas and rubber bullets during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on February 22, 2014. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters/Jorge Silva)

Since the protests began, 10 people have died, 137 have been injured and 104 arrested, according to government figures. Demonstrators are accusing troops and pro-Maduro militants of attacking peaceful demonstrators.

A female student and a young supermarket worker were the latest fatalities from Venezuela’s political unrest. Geraldin Moreno, a 23-year old student, died in a hospital on Saturday after being shot in the face with rubber bullets as security forces broke up a protest on February 19. Santiago Enrique Pedroza, a 29 year-old man was killed late on Friday when he rode his motorcycle into a cable strung across a main road in the eastern neighborhood of Horizonte.”He was on his way home, he couldn’t see the cable because of the darkness, and it slit his throat,” Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres told state television.

Maduro reiterated that the events of the last two weeks are a coup-in-the-making backed by the United States and financed by Colombia’s ex-president Álvaro Uribe, whom Maduro accuses Leopoldo Lopez of working closely with.

Anti-government protesters have repeatedly blocked streets in the area with trash, which they sometimes set on fire. Police and National Guard troops have often used teargas to separate demonstrators.

According to locals in San Cristobal, the state-capital of Tachira, the internet remained down until Friday. In another effort to neutralize mounting tensions, the minister of energy, Rafael Ramirez, has banned fuel distribution to areas he considers “under-siege”.

Private and public TV stations in the country have given little coverage to the street protests, or even to the incarceration of Lopez, who now awaits trial in a military prison. Several members of a CNN team had their journalist accreditation revoked and left the country amid accusations of “contributing with their coverage to psychological warfare.”

Human Rights Watch has issued a statement condemning the systematic violation of personal freedom and the unlawful imprisonment of civilians.

On Friday, Maduro urged U.S. President Barack Obama to hold talks with his government and suggested the two nations restore ambassadors. “Accept the challenge and we will start a high-level dialogue and put the truth on the table,” Maduro said in a nationwide TV address.

The opposition is demanding that the president resign over rampant crime, high inflation, shortages of basic products, and what opposition members see as repression of political opponents.

The current wave of protests began on February 12. Three people were shot dead at the end of those marches in Caracas by unknown gunmen. Daily protests have been held in the capital for the past eleven days.

For more information please see:

Reuters – Venezuela deaths rise as unrest claims student and biker– 22 February 2014

BBC – Venezuelan police and opposition activists clash in Caracas – 22 February 2014

The Guardian – Venezuelans on streets again as protest leader awaits trial arrest – 22 February 2014

CNN – Venezuela’s Maduro wants talks with Obama – 21 February 2014

Moqtada al-Sadr Announces his Retirement to Public Life

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Prominent Iraqi Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced Sunday that he would be retiring from political life in Iraq in a letter to his website he announced that he would close all his political office, that he would not hold any political office in the country nor would a block represent him in the Iraqi Parliament.

al-Sadr’s image, seen as a face of the anti-occupation movement, became commonplace in Iraqi cities throughout the U.S. led occupation of Iraq. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

Al-Sadr inspired the Sadrist movement in Iraq, which gained popularity amongst Shiite groups across the country, especially amongst the Shiite urban poor. The Sadrist movement is a political movement follows the structure of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement by building on the Shiite faith, promoting military strength and populist programs in order to add to the movement political strength.

While Moktada al-Sadr holds no formal official position in the Iraqi government he continues he has become one of the most high profile figures in the country holding significant influence over politics in the country. Al-Sadr came to prominence in Iraq for his role in founding the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia group that fought against both Iraqi Sunni groups and U.S. and coalition forces following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The Mehdi Army consistently clashed with U.S. and British forces throughout the occupation’ publicly demanding an end to the occupation.  In 2008 the Mehdi Army clashed with the Iraqi army, commanded by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, resulting in the arrest of many of his followers. Ultimately the Mehdi army agreed to give up arms and disband.

Ultimately al-Sadr reached a truce with Prime Minister al-Maliki. During the 2010 national elections in Iraq al-Sadr demonstrated his influence over Iraqi politics by backing Prime Minister al-Maliki of the Islamic Dawa Party. However, al-Maliki and al-Sadr relationship has become strained since the 2010 elections with the two men becoming strong political rivals, it is unclear how al-Sadr’s withdrawal from public life will affect the Prime Ministers influence in the country.

Saad Saloom, a professor of political science at Al Mustansiriya University, based in Bagdad, argued that al-Sadr’s followers may now through their support behind al-Maliki’s Islamic Dawa Party. This could give al-Maliki a much stronger hold over Iraq’s Shiite majority populations, which may fear could further weaken the influence of the country’s Sunni minority. Saloom also argued of al-Sadr’s withdrawal from political life that it is “the first modern, unique step from a religious leader to put religion away from politics.”

Prime Minister al-Maliki will face a re-election challenge in April. While the ultimate impact of al-Sadr’s departure from public life will be for Iraq it is clear that the sudden retirement of al-Sadr will have an immediate effect on the Sadrist movement and the candidates it once backed.

For more information please see:

The New York Times – Iraqi Cleric, Exiting Politics, Urges Others to Keep Serving – 18 February 2014

Al Jazeera – Iraqi Cleric Sadr Retires From Politics – 16 February 2014

BBC News – Radical Iraqi Cleric Moqtada Sadr ‘To Retire From Politics’ – 16 February 2014

The New York Times – Iraqi Cleric Says Again He’ll Quit Politics – 16 February 2014