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Colombia opens first border shelter
By: Emily Green
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
CUCUTA, Colombia – Colombia’s government has opened its first shelter for Venezuelan refugees. As the economic crisis in Venezuela continues to spiral out of control, refugees pour across the border in search of help.
Colombia built this shelter to curb the growing number of homeless Venezuelans. The facility, administered by the Red Cross, opened on Saturday, February 3, near the border city of Cucuta. It is expected to provide up to 48 hours of shelter for 120 people each day. It is designated as a temporary shelter meant for refugees who have a destination elsewhere, but need a place to stay while traveling. Priority will be given to pregnant mothers, the elderly, and minors who entered the country legally.
Local authorities stress that the shelter is only meant for those who entered the country legally and will be moving on to other locations. Mayor Pepe Ruiz said, “This is not going to be a shelter where we are going to house all the people that are in the street.” He added, “This a center of attention for people who are en route, who rest there while they get transport. I don’t agree that they should stick around there, or this will become a big mess.”
As one of the main crossing points for Venezuelans, the city of Cucuta has been under severe stress. The mass migration comes in such large waves that many are left sleeping on the streets. Hundreds of people are stranded and starving, and crime has increased as gangs recruit and take advantage of the migrants’ desperation.
Approximately 35,000 Venezuelans cross into Colombia each day. Many of them settle with relatives while others come to acquire the food or medicine they lack back home. In an effort to regulate the flow of migrants, immigration authorities have begun arresting and deporting those that entered illegally. Just last week, 130 Venezuelans who were sleeping on outdoor basketball courts were deported. Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin told reporters, “We are being as generous as possible with the Venezuelans’ situation, but there must be order.”
The United Nations has offered to assist local authorities with the overwhelming amounts of refugees. However, some worry that the creation of UN camps would encourage even more people to flee. Colombia’s inspector general, General Fernando Carrillo, admitted that they had been negligent in their emergency preparation. He explained, “We haven’t been strategic. We have been negligent in the control of the border because there have been many isolated efforts, but no integrated approach to the problem.”
While the number of migrants continues to grow, other countries such as the United States and Brazil are considering sending aid to Colombia.
For more information, please see:
Bloomberg – As Venezuelans Flee, Refugee Camp Springs Up Across Border – 5 February 2018
Latina – Colombia Opens First Shelter for Venezuela Refugees – 5 February 2018
Colombia Opens Border Shelter for Venezuelans Fleeing Crisis – 3 February 2018
EU’s Top Court Condemns ‘Gay Testing’ of Asylum Seekers
By Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
LUXEMBOURG – The European Union’s top court issued a ruling requiring Hungary to reconsider the case of a Nigerian man whose asylum application was denied after psychological tests could not determine his sexual orientation.
Officials in Hungary administered improper psychological tests, “namely the ‘Draw-A-Person-In-The-Rain’ test and the Rorschach and Szondi tests,” on an unidentified Nigerian man seeking refuge in the country, according to the ruling. The man was seeking asylum due to feared persecution he faced in Nigeria on account of his sexuality.
In April 2015, the man, known as “F”, applied for asylum in Hungary. He was then subjected to several psychological assessment tests that were allegedly used to determined his sexuality. At the conclusion of the tests, the psychologist determined the results of the tests were inconclusive and the man’s asylum application was rejected.
Same-sex marriage is prohibited in Nigeria. According to polls conducted in the country, 90% of citizens support a continued ban on same-sex relationships. Homosexual acts are illegal in most African countries.
The EU ruled in 2013 that asylum could be granted to those who were jailed because of their sexual orientation.
The European Union’s top court found that the tests amounted to “a disproportionate interference in the private life of the asylum seekers.”
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights reports that hundreds of asylum seekers seeking refuge in European Union are homosexuals fearing persecution in Africa, the Middle East and Chechnya.
In a similar case in the Netherlands in 2014, the EU ruled that sexuality tests there violated the rights of asylum seekers.
The Court allows countries to seek expert opinions in assessing “the facts and circumstances relating to the declared sexual orientation of an applicant” but mandates that the procedures respect the EU Charter’s guaranteed fundamental human rights. Additionally, authorities may not base decisions on expert opinion alone and expert opinions must be considered as non-binding.
The use of psychological tests has been criticized for their intrusion into “the most intimate aspects of life”, according to the judgment. In 2010, authorities in the Czech Republic were criticized for their use of pornography in psychological tests.
The ruling has been called an “important step against one of the many problems and humiliations LGBT refugees still face in many EU member states” by Katrin Hugendubel, Advocacy Director for ILGA-Europe, a human rights advocacy organization in Europe.
The ruling is binding in the 28 member states of the EU.
For more information, please see:
BBC News – Asylum Seekers Must not be Forced to Take ‘gay’ Tests – 25 January 2018
Newsweek – ‘Gay Tests’ for Refugees in Europe Should be Banned, Says Court – 25 January 2018
NPR – EU Court Rejects ‘Gay Test’ for Asylum Seekers – 25 January 2018
Reuters – EU Court Bars ‘Gay Test’ for Asylum Seekers – 25 January 2018
David Crane on the Charles Taylor Case
Courtesy of YouTube and the Robert H. Jackson Center
Poland’s Holocaust Bill Stirs International Condemnation
By Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
WARSAW, Poland – A controversial new Holocaust speech bill that would impose jail terms for individuals suggesting Poland was complicit in the Holocaust is drawing international condemnation.
In a 57-23 vote and two abstentions, the Polish Parliament passed the measure on Thursday, February 1, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The law must be signed by President Andrzej Duda before becoming law.
If passed, the law will impose at a minimum fines and at a maximum three-year prison sentences for individuals who mention phrases like “Polish death camps.”
The legislation specifically states that “whoever accuses, publicly and against the facts, the Polish nation, or the Polish state, of being responsible or complicit in the Nazi crimes committed by the Third German Reich … shall be subject to a fine or a penalty of imprisonment of up to three years”.
Poland was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in 1939. Death camps built by Germans were operated on Polish land. Three million Polish Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
Under mounting international pressure, President Duda has agreed to review the bill to determine whether he will sign it, but has stated that “we, as a state, as a nation, have a right to defend ourselves from an evident slander, an evident falsification of historical truth, which, in this case, for us is a slap in the face.”
Congress has urged Polish officials not to pass the bill, stating concerns that the bill will inhibit freedom of speech and threaten Poland’s international relationships.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister called the law “baseless; I strongly oppose it,” in a statement released on Saturday. “One cannot change history, and the Holocaust cannot be denied.”
International organizations such as Israel’s Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles have also condemned the legislation.
The bill has resulted in a resurgence of anti-Semitism in the country. Anti-Semitic comments on social media in Poland have increased, with minority groups calling on President Duda to “counteract all forms of xenophobia, intolerance and antisemitism.”
A number of Polish artists, journalists and politicians have signed an open letter calling for the bill’s repeal.
The pending legislation has been in preparation for more than a year. President Duda has three weeks to decide whether to pass the law.
For more information, please see:
ABC News – Minority Groups in Poland Decry Aggression, Anti-Semitism – 4 February 2018
BBC News – Poland’s Senate Passes Controversial Holocaust Bill – 1 February 2018
The New York Times – Poland’s Holocaust Blame Bill – 29 January 2018
The New York Times – Poland Tries to Curb Holocaust Speech, and Israel Puts up a Fight
Reuters – Pressure Mounts on Poland to Back Away From Holocaust Bill – 3 February 2018