Learning about human rights violations and other instances of government impunity is now available through smartphone. Impunity Watch, the first global, law student-run blog to monitor instances of impunity, has launched its first official mobile application in the Android Marketplace, available January 25, with its Apple Store version available soon. Impunity Watch is managed by Syracuse University College of Law student reporters who constantly monitor human rights news around the world.
“The app allows users to read news from all over the world,” says Laura E. Hirahara, a third-year law student and technical director for Impunity Watch. “As the first law journal app, it allows readers to interact with the website and receive instant updates on human rights issues on their phone.”
Impunity Watch, which was founded by Syracuse University College of Law Professor David M. Crane L’80, the former chief prosecutor of the Special Court to Sierra Leone, offers readers an exclusive online format that provides uncensored online dialogue that sorts issues of impunity by global regions and a separate area that allows posting of academic or formal papers on the issues of impunity.
Don’t have a smartphone? Don’t worry, even though you still haven’t entered 2012, you can still follow Impunity Watch on Twitter and Facebook, or visit our website to sign up for our RSS Feed or have daily news headlines sent to your email.
NAIROBI, Kenya – In the wake of Monday’s confirmation of charges for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, two high-ranking officials in the Kenyan government resigned from their positions Thursday. Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura both decided to step down was pressure on them mounted. Kenyatta, who is also a presidential candidate this year, will remain in the government in his other role as Deputy Prime Minister.
The reasons for their decisions were not stated. After the ICC made its announcement, members of the Orange Democratic Movement called for both men to be fired from their posts. As part of the commission that investigated the post-election violence of 2007-2008 for which they are accused of inciting, an agreement was struck regarding the effects of allegations on members of the government.
“The parties shall ensure that any person holding public office or any public servant charged with a criminal offence related to 2008 post-election violence shall be suspended from duty until the matter is fully adjudicated upon,” it states.
It adds: “The parties shall ensure that any person convicted of a post-election violence offence is barred from holding any public office or contesting any electoral position.”
Kenyatta has not yet stated whether he would end his campaign. But according to Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo, the allegations should preclude Kenyatta and MP William Ruto, who also faces charges, from continuing their presidential runs.
“It is just impunity because you can’t take a court of law for granted and we don’t know what the court will say,” Kilonzo said during the launch of the East African Centre for Human Rights.
Nairobi Metropolitan Minister Njeru Githae will take Kenyatta’s place as Finance Minister. Internal Security Permanent Secretary Francis Kimemia is the acting Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet.
by Emilee Gaebler Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BRASÍLIA, Brazil – This past Sunday, January 22, at 6 am, residents of the Pinheirinho slum were awakened by the police and forcibly evicted from their homes. The police used rubber bullets, tear gas and were in full riot gear. They were backed up by armored vehicles and two helicopters.
Police catalogue and remove furniture in the Pinheirinho slum. (Photo courtesy of BBC)
Following the physical actions by the police, the government cut electricity, gas and telephone lines for the area. The area was also blocked off and residents were unable to return. The slum, which is located about 60 miles east of São Paulo, had roughly 5,500 residents.
Small battles between police and residents also occurred. Residents threw rocks and sticks at the troops, set up make-shift barricades and set cars on fire. About 30 arrests were made, multiple minor injuries were reported and at least one serious injury resulted from a rubber bullet shot.
The Pinheirinho slum was established in 2004, when people began to occupy the land that a bankrupt company had owned. Residents of the settlement built homes, churches, schools and stores on the land over the past eight years.
Recently, legal negotiations were underway to ensure that this type of eviction did not occur. There was a proposal that the land be purchased by the federal government and kept as a low-income housing area so as to legalize the established settlement.
Amnesty International states that the police action violates a previous agreement that no evictions would occur while a peaceful solution was sought. Brazilian officials claim that the action was legal as the slum was established by illegal squatters who have no land rights.
The residents of Pinheirinho have been forced into a variety of emergency housing situations. Some are staying with family and friends. Another 350 families have been forced to take shelter in a school gymnasium with inadequate sanitation.
Since Sunday, a few residents have been permitted back onto the land to gather small belongings. The police have also been cataloguing and removing furniture to return it to its rightful owners.
Disputes over the legality of this action have emerged. Amnesty International and other land movement groups in Brazil like Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) protest the eviction and its effects, noting that now thousands of families are homeless.
“What is happening in Pinheirinho is part of an unfortunate pattern of forced evictions in Brazil. As the country booms, tens of thousands of poor families are being removed to make way for infrastructure and private development projects, without receiving adequate protection and alternative housing. The Brazilian authorities… must actively engage with the residents to find a long-term solution that suits their needs — not temporary spaces in shelters which split up families,” said Atila Roque, director of Amnesty International, Brazil.
Brazilian authorities claim that they are going to move all residents to a tract of land, roughly 0.4 square miles large, to “re-integrate” them into society. They also claim to be in the process of allocating them new homes and helping with food and transportation needs.
By Brittney Hodnik Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
OTTAWA, Canada – Leon Mugesera lost his 16-year battle to stay in Canada on Monday, 23 January 2012. Mugesera has been charged with crimes against humanity, by encouraging and promoting the Rwanda genocide. Canadian authorities ruled that he would be deported, and returned to Rwanda as soon as possible. A federal government official told BBC News that Canada “will remove him as quickly as legally possible.”
Mugesera is charged with crimes against humanity, encouraging the genocide of Hutu and Tutsi peoples. (Image Courtesy of The Canadian Press/CTV Montreal)
In 1992, Mugesera was a member of Rwanda’s ruling Hutu party, the MRND, according to BBC News. In his capacity, he gave a speech to more than 1,000 party members, encouraging them to kill Tutsis and throw their bodies in the river. The ensuing two years resulted in mass killings between the Hutus and Tutsis.
Mugesera allegedly referred to Tutsis as “cockroaches that should be exterminated.” Over the two year period, somewhere between 800,000 and 1 million Hutus and Tutsis perished.
According to the Montreal Gazette, Mugesera arrived in Canada in 1993 with his wife and five children. In 1996, he was ordered deported for failing to reveal on his application that he may have been involved in crimes against humanity. He fears torture or death if he is returned to Rwanda, according to The Times Colonist.
Finally, on 12 January 2012, the Canadian courts officially deported him. The Montreal Gazette reports that his lawyers sought a stay, and eventually lost in the Federal Court of Canada. However, Mugesera and his lawyers appealed to the United Nations Committee against Torture.
The UN Committee requested that Canada hold off on the deportation until it could review the case. However, authorities argued that the provincial court did not have the jurisdiction to rule on immigration cases, according to CTV News; rather the matter was solely the province of the federal court.
Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo is praising Canada saying that it “did the right thing.” Further, as CTV Montreal reports, “Leon Mugesera’s deportation, while decades past due, is welcome news for a people committed to healing and justice,” said Mushikiwabo.
The Canadian government based its decision to deport, taking into consideration diplomatic assurances that Mugesera would be safe to return to Rwanda. According to The Montreal Gazette, “The Canadian government has denied there’s minimal risk because it’s received diplomatic assurances.” Mugesera’s lawyer argues that the “Rwandan government is run by organized crime,” and he fears for his client’s wellbeing, according to The Montreal Gazette.
Mushikiwabo wrote on Twitter and news sources confirm that Mugesera had left the country and he was on his way to Kigali, Rwanda.
BEIJING, China – On the first day of the Chinese New Year security forces opened fire on Tibetan protesters yesterday killing one protester and injuring thirty-two others. This has been a contentious month between government officials and Tibetan protesters.
Norpa Yonten was killed in Luhuo yesterday (Photo Courtesy of BBC)
Four monks have already committed suicide by setting themselves on fire this month in protest of the government. With the most recent self-immolation just last week the total amount of monks killing themselves by fire has risen to sixteen over the past twelve months.
Two different accounts exist of what led to the violence. The first account, given by three Tibetan monks, explained that thousands of people marched to the local police station yesterday morning to call for religious freedom and to protest local corruption. Then around two o’clock in the afternoon police began firing at the crowd from windows of the police station.
The second account, from Xinhua (China’s official news agency), stated that dozens of people gathered outside a bus station after a man put up posters claiming a monk would set himself on fire there. Then at 2 p.m. the crowd of protestors began attacking the local police station with clubs and stones. Xinhua confirmed that one protestor was killed following the confrontation and five police officers were injured.
Free Tibet identified the killed protestor as forty-nine year old Norpa Yonten. The International Campaign for Tibet, a rights group based in Washington, said that he was the brother of a reincarnated lama.
Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet, said in a telephone interview with the New York Times, that three people were killed in the protest yesterday and forty-nine people had received treatment for injuries at monk-operated clinics.
Tibetans are afraid to go to government-run hospitals for fear that they will be questioned by authorities about the conditions surrounding their injuries.
The self-declared Tibetan parliament-in-exile in India, says the protestors demanded return of their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, reports BBC.
The Chinese government has classified Tibetans who engage in self-immolation or extreme protest techniques as terrorists and has accused the Dalai Lama of encouraging such activities.
Anticipating further protests due to New Year celebrations and the fourth anniversary of violent protests in March of 2008 the Chinese government has banned all foreigners from travelling to Tibet from February 20 to March 31.
