Justice Eludes Children in Armed Conflict
By Lisa Schlein
Originally published on Voice of America 29 Sept 2011
Millions of children are victims of armed conflict. Many are killed, maimed, raped and psychologically traumatized for their whole lives. Many children are recruited to fight for governments and rebel groups. They are forced to commit atrocities and are often prosecuted for these crimes. A United Nations Study, called Children and Justice During and in the Aftermath of Armed Conflict, examines how children caught in wars can seek justice for the violations they have suffered and examines the extent to which children should be held accountable for crimes they have committed. A panel of experts met at U.N. offices in Geneva to discuss these issues.
Fear
The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina broke out in 1992. The siege of the capital, Sarajevo, lasted nearly four years. Almost 10,000 people were killed, including 1,500 children.
The U.N. Ambassador from Bosnia, Emina Keco-Isakovic, is haunted by these memories. She relives the anguish experienced by her son during this period.
“When the cannon firing was starting over the city, it was really every evening,” she said. “My 10-year-old son asked me whether he would have died that night. And, every night I answered ‘no, no, you shall not die,’ I said and touched him and held him while he was falling asleep. All children from besieged Sarajevo, still suffer from trauma in the form of waiting to die.”
Justice
While the study says children should be permitted to seek reparations for violation of their rights, Keco-Isakovic says the children of Sarajevo have never received justice commensurate with the crimes committed against them.
“When you kill a European in a car accident, you get 10 years in prison,” said Keco-Isakovic. “When you kill thousands of people in Balkans, Asia, Africa – you are in prison five, six years. The explanation-good behavior, the age and you are out.”
Messeh Kamara was a child during Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war.
“What I am here to do is to represent the voices of the millions of children whose voice go unheard, who we cannot see in this small room,” said Kamara. “But, they are out there suffering from conflict.”
Children unheard
Kamara lost his parents. He learned to survive and eventually became a child-activist for children’s rights. He is now 24 years old and studying to become an international human rights lawyer.
He says it was most important for him and other children who lived through this brutal war to see those who created this havoc brought to justice.
“I was 11,” said Kamara. “I was thrown into a conflict I did not cause to happen, but I suffered the most. So for justice and accountability to us is very important. But, it is also mostly important when our rights are given back to us. Remember, what they did was they stole our rights from us and when they stole something from someone, it is most important that you return what they stole.”
Punishment
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is seen at the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam, Netherlands (File Photo – August 5, 2010).
Kamara regards the trials of suspected war criminals at the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the war crimes trial of former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, at the International Criminal Court at The Hague as very important. He says they are giving the children and young adults in Sierra Leone a sense of hope that justice will be done.
While children undeniably are victims of war, the U.N. study notes some children also are involved in committing crimes.
Radhika Coomaraswamy is Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and lead author of the study. She says children who are abducted and forced to commit atrocities by their military commanders should not be prosecuted and judged in the same manner as adults. She notes under international law, the recruitment and use of children under the age of 15 in hostilities is a war crime.
“We would prefer a process of, what we call, diversion, which is that children are diverted away from the judicial and prosecutorial system into some alternative mechanism, which can be either a truth and reconciliation commission, truth-telling, restorative justice or some kind of rehabilitation process,” she said. “And, what we are saying is if they have to be prosecuted, then it must be the absolutely last resort.”
The study notes countries increasingly are arresting and detaining children associated with armed groups on the grounds they are a threat to national security or because they have participated in hostility.
It contends children held in administrative detention during armed conflict are particularly vulnerable. It says few are granted access to lawyers or are given reasons why they are being detained.
The study argues states should not use administrative detention for children under 15 and detention conditions should comply with international standards and judicial guarantees. It says the United Nations should be allowed to monitor child detention centers.
First U.S.-Born Citizen is Targeted and Eliminated in the War on Terror
By Adom M. Cooper
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
SANAA, Yemen–Yemen’s defense ministry reported that Anwar al-Awlaki, a prevalent and controversial imam allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, was killed on Friday 30 September along with four other individuals. Tribal sources reported to the AFP news agency that al-Awlaki was killed early on Friday in an air raid that crushed two vehicles travelling through an al-Qaeda stronghold in central Yemen.
The 40- year-old U.S.-born al-Awlaki was a father of five children. Government officials reported that al-Awlaki was targeted 8km (approximately 4.97 miles) from the town of Khashef in the province of al-Jawf. Khasef is located just 140km (approximately 86.99 miles) from the capital of Yemen, Sanaa.
Another U.S. citizen, Samir Kahn, was also killed in the air raid. Kahn was the co-editor of al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine, a specialist in computer programming, and was also wanted by the American and Yemeni authorities.
U.S. President Barack Obama said the killing of al-Awlaki was a “significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat al-Qaeda and its affiliates.”
“[A]l-Awlaki repeatedly called on individuals in the United States and around the globe to kill innocent men, women, and children to advance a murderous agenda.”
The aircraft that carried out the mission to eliminate al-Awlaki was probably American, according to tribal sources. American aircraft had been patrolling the skies over Marib, a central Yemeni province, for the past several days.
Al-Awlaki had been targeted for quite some time. In May 2011, a U.S. drone aircraft targeted him but missed its mark. In July 2010, the Obama Administration placed al-Awlaki on its list of terrorism supporters, freezing his financial assets and banning any transactions made with him. On 24 December 2010, the Yemeni defense ministry had announced his death, saying that he had been killed in an air attack, only to admit later that he was still alive.
Hakim al-Masmari, the editor-in-chief of the Yemeni Post, shared these sentiments with Al-Jazeera about the targeting of al-Awlaki.
“He has been a target of US drones at least three times. The Yemeni government will face a lot of criticism, especially in the south, for allowing US drones to attack Yemeni civilians. But it will not be a blow to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula from any perspective. We don’t feel they will suffer because al-Awlaki did not have any real role in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).”
U.S. President Obama’s counterterrorism advisor John Brennan has directly accused al-Awlaki of having links with Major Nidal Hassan. Hassan is suspected of shooting dead 13 people at Fort Hood military base in Texas in November 2009. Hassan is set to face a trial in a military court on 5 March 2012.
Also, according to Brennan, al-Awlaki may have had contact with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian student accused of attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound aircraft on Christmas 2009. In a video posted on websites in May 2010 by AQAP, al-Awlaki urged Muslims serving in the U.S. military to follow Hassan’s example and defended Abdulmutallab’s actions.
While the death of al-Awlaki may be considered a U.S. victory in the War on Terror, the legality of the action has not been settled at all.
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which had previously brought a challenge in federal court to the legality of the authorization to initially target al-Awlaki in Yemen, condemned the killing and called into question the existence of such practices. The organization’s media office released the following statement on 30 September, the same day the killing was reported.
“The assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki by American drone attacks is the latest of many affronts to domestic and international law. The targeted assassination program that started under President Bush and expanded under the Obama Administration essentially grants the executive the power to kill any U.S. citizen deemed a threat, without any judicial oversight, or any of the rights afforded by our Constitution. If we allow such gross overreaches of power to continue, we are setting the stage for increasing erosions of civil liberties and the rule of the law. ”
In addition, Pardiss Kebriaei, a CCR senior staff attorney, shared these words in addition to the general statement.
“In dismissing our complaint, the district court noted that there were nonetheless ‘disturbing questions’ raised by the authority being asserted by the United States. There certainly are disturbing questions that need to be asked again, and answered by the U.S. government about the circumstances of the killing and the legal standard that governed it.”
The news of al-Awlaki’s death comes amongst daily reports of new violence in Yemen. The impoverished Arabian Peninsula country has witnessed demonstrators staging protests, demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. President Saleh has been in power since 1978.
For more information, please see:
Ahram – Killing of American in Yemen Raises Legal Questions – 1 October 2011
BBC – Anwar al-Awlaki Killing Sparks US Travel Alert – 1 October 2011
The Guardian – How US Tracked Anwar al-Awlaki to His Death in Yemen – 1 October 2011
Al-Jazeera – Anwar al-Awlaki Killed in Yemen – 30 September 2011
Washington Post – Anwar al-Aulaqi, U.S.-Born Cleric Linked to al-Qaeda, Killed in Yemen – 30 September 2011
Center for Constitutional Rights – CCR Condemns Targeted Assassination of U.S. Citizen Anwar Al-Awlaki – 30 September 2011
NYT – Two-Year Manhunt Led to Killing of Awlaki in Yemen – 30 September 2011
Independent Candidates Facing Harassment and Detention in China
By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BEIJING, China – Activists who attempted to register as independent candidates in district legislative elections, which are generally dominated by the Communist party, are being held under house arrest and detained by Chinese authorities.
Reportedly, dozens of activists across China have filed applications to campaign despite receiving official warnings that there is “no such thing” as an independent candidate in China. As of Friday, there were thirteen candidates who had been detained for several hours after meeting to discuss the upcoming election in Beijing.
Although the capital generally has only a few independent representatives, Li Fan of the World and China Institute Think tank estimates that there are now tens of thousands independent candidates prompting unease among the Communist Party. Li attributes this increase to an awareness of civic rights, an increasingly worse relationship between the government and citizens, and social networking that allows for information to be transferred quickly.
Han Ying, who planned to run for election for the National People’s Congress, described her inability to pursue political office when she explained that, “[t]here are a lot of plainclothes officers near my house, and the police come to my home everyday to stop me from campaigning and to stop me from meeting with journalists.” Han also stated that barriers had been set by the police to prevent journalists from approaching her and that they took her cell phone away when she attempted to make a phone call.
Ye Qingchun, another independent candidate, was held at her home by authorities who intended to prevent her from campaigning in the elections.
In addition, three other potential candidates were detained and given fifteen days detention for “obstructing public servants in the course of their duties.”
Other candidates have reported being detained until after the polls were closed, having their name excluded from the ballot, enduring threats against them self and their family, having their business investigated and being told that males were not allowed to campaign against the communist party.
As a result of government opposition to independent candidates, some were forced to resort to refusing donations and avoiding public campaigning opportunities in order to avoid conflict with Chinese authorities.
The election for the People’s Congress, the lowest level of China’s parliamentary system, seats delegates to represent the townships and urban districts across the country. Elections for the People’s Congress are conducted every five years and are the only elections in which citizen’s can directly vote for their legislatures.
Chinese law allows anyone over the age of eighteen years old to be an independent candidate if they are endorsed by at least ten people although elections are tightly controlled by Communist Party officials who choreograph the outcome of elections.
For more information, please see:
Radio Free Asia – Election Candidates Held in Beijing – 30 September 2011
CNN – Independent Candidates Test China’s Election Experiment – 23 September 2011
NTD Television – China’s Independent Candidates Face Detention, Harassment – 20 September 2011
The Guardian – China’s Boom in ‘Citizen Candidates’ Sparks Backlash – 19 September 2011
Non-Profit Organization Calls for Reform Against Child Sex Tourists
By Alexandra Halsey-Storch
Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, Europe
MADRID, Spain — The United Nations World Tourism Organization held its annual Congress on Ethics and Tourism last week in Madrid, Spain with the stated purpose to encourage countries to “intensify efforts to place ethics at the core of tourism development.” While the tourism industry brings opportunities for jobs, economic growth and social power, it also brings “challenges that can’t be ignored.” Perhaps the biggest challenge the industry faces, in countries around the world, is the challenge to determine the means by which officials may eradicate the very pervasive, yet clandestine and often ignored, phenomenon of child sex tourism.
Child sex tourism is an industry that accommodates individuals who travel specifically for the purpose of engaging in sexual activities with children; however, within this context, the people who exploit children for sex are not necessarily pedophiles. More often, they can be described as “situational child sex tourists – “someone who abuses children by way of experimentation or through the anonymity and impunity afforded by being a tourist.” He or she does not have an exclusive sexual inclination for children.” This phenomenon span the globe, and can be found in increasing numbers in Eastern Europe, Latin America, South Africa and East Asia.
The statistics to date indicate that three to five million people travel each year with the sole purpose of exploiting young children for sexual advantages, and while the numbers range, it is estimated that 1.2 – 3 million children are trafficked each year throughout the world for the purpose of child sex tourism. Of these children, 80-90% are girls. Some suggest that these numbers are severely underreported and are actually far greater.
In 1997, the non-profit organization End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) spearheaded, developed and wrote the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children From Sexual Exploitation in Travel & Tourism in an effort to thwart child sex tourism. The Code lays out six main principles for companies and associations of the tourism, travel and transport industry to adopt and follow. Eighty members and seventy countries have adopted the Code since 1998.
Since its inception, ECPAT has worked tirelessly to encourage more tourism counterparts to sign and adhere to the Code. They explain that vulnerable children are procured and channeled through commercial sex rings. Customers—mainly men—perpetuate the market simply by continuing to use children for sexual gratification. This market is virtually uninhibited as a result of corruption, collusion, lax law enforcement personnel, and a set of laws that are inadequate and/or absent.
While most customers are men, ECPAT has said that society at large is responsible for allowing this abuse to continue: family members, the business sector, service providers, customers, community leaders and government officials, all contribute to the exploitation through indifference to and ignorance of the harmful consequences suffered by children. Additionally, the desperation of poverty combined with a cultural and historically entrenched conception of children as economic commodities further perpetuates this business.
Child sex tourism in Eastern Europe, in particular, is a violent, criminal network dating back to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The dangerous nature of the industry in Eastern Europe has made it particularly difficult for ECPAT workers to successfully intervene.
In 2005, Cathrin Schauer, a social worker and nurse who works at a nongovernmental organization on the German-Czech border providing health and social services to prostitutes, gathered evidence of 500 children fallen prey to the child sex tourism industry. In her book, Children Walk the Streets, she says that parents and relatives act as pimps. For a couple of euros or a piece of candy for an older sibling, a mother will prostitute her three-year-old. Fifteen-year-old “Antonin” (the names in the book have been changed as safety precautions) says, “When the Germans ask for younger children, I bring them my six-year-old brother.”
As recent as April 2011, ECPAT and 30 other children’s rights organizations submitted a letter to the United Nations arguing that Sweden continues to fail to take appropriate measures in combating child sex tourism.
On Thursday, ECPAT, in collaboration with The Body Shop, submitted a petition with 7 million signatures to the United Nations—perhaps the largest petition the UN has ever received. The petition urges the UN to take action to stop the sex trafficking of children. “Offenders have been [and continue] operating with impunity,” said Kathleen Speake, executive director of ECPAT International, “and child victims are often criminalized or abandoned without care options;” however, the petition has already generated “unprecedented change,” by motivating the world to call for change and prompting 14 countries to adopt new legislation pertaining to child sex trafficking.
For more information, please visit:
The Irish Times — Don’t Let Child Abuse Travel – 24 September 2011
SOS Children’s Villages Canada – Tourism Industry Endorses Code of Conduct – 20 September 2011
World Tourism Organiztion UNWTO – Congress on Ethics and Tourism Opens With Calls to Place Ethics at the Core of Tourism Development – 15 September 2011
ECPAT International — Europe and CIS – September 2011
ECPAT International – Largest Ever Human Rights Petition to European Commission Calls for Action to Stop Sex Trafficking of Children – 28 June 2011
Child Protection in Europe – Childs Rights Group Slams Sweden on Sex Crimes – 13 April 2011
ECPAT International – ECPAT International: Report of the World Congress III Against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents – September 2009