by Paula Buzzi
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Thousands of indigenous Bolivians took to the streets in central La Paz yesterday to continue protesting the construction of a Brazil-funded highway through the Amazon that they say would likely destroy an indigenous preserve and encourage illegal settlements. The Bolivian government, however, maintains that the construction is essential for development and trade.
Bolivian miners protest in La Paz against a construction of a highway through the Amazon. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)
Bolivia’s Defense Minister, Cecilia Chacon, resigned on Monday in protest of a very violent police crackdown on Sunday which resulted in hundreds of arrests. On Tuesday, Interior Minister Sacha Llorenti and his deputy Marcos Farfan also resigned after disapproving the amount of force, including tear gas and truncheons, used during the break-up.
President Evo Morales, who advocated for indigenous rights and the protection of Mother Earth during his election campaign, has been heavily criticized by his indigenous and environmentalist constituents who say they feel betrayed by him.
President Morales announced on Tuesday that he has suspended the construction of the highway. According to Morales, whether the construction continues will depend on voters in the easter region of Bolivia.
On a televised speech on Wednesday, Morales called the protests a big wake-up call for his government. He asked for forgiveness from the families of the protestors for the amount of violence used and urged a meeting between the government and indigenous groups.
Jorge Lazarte, a political analyst, believes these protests mark a huge turning point in the Morales government. “There’s a split between the government and its indigenous support base that casts doubt on the government’s legitimacy,” he stated. “For the first time in recent years, we’re hearing people yell that this government should go.”
Since the police crackdown, protestors have regrouped and are planning to continue their march into La Paz this week. They reject Morales’ call for a vote.
This protest marks the second protest against Morales’ government by his own constituents in less than a year. Late last year, indigenous and environmentalists took to the streets to protest a hefty fuel hike ordered by his administration.
The first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Wangari Maathai, died late Sunday in a Nairobi hospital at the age of 71 following a battle with cancer. Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters.)
Maathai believed that a healthy environment helped improve lives by providing clean water and firewood for cooking, thereby decreasing conflict. The Kenyan organization she founded, the Green Belt Movement, planted 30 million trees in hopes of improving the chances for peace. Her triumph later inspired the United Nations to launch a worldwide campaign resulting in the planting of 11 billion trees.
Although the tree-planting campaign did not initially address issues of peace and democracy, Maathai said it became clear over time that responsible governance of the environment was not possible without democracy.
“The tree became a symbol for the democratic struggle in Kenya,” said Maathai during one of her speeches. “Citizens were mobilized to challenge widespread abuses of power, corruption and environmental mismanagement.”
Seen as a threat to the rich and powerful, Wangari Maathai was beaten, arrested and vilified for the simple act of planting a tree, a natural wonder Maathai believed, could reduce poverty and conflict. At least three times during her activist year, she was physically attacked, including being clubbed unconscious by police during a hunger strike in 1992. She also staged protests that vilified former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi, a repressive and autocratic ruler, who called her a “mad woman” who was a threat to the security of Kenya.
In the summer of 1998, the Kenyan government was giving land to political allies in a protected forest on the outskirts of Nairobi. Maathai launched a campaign to reclaim the land, ending in a confrontation with 200 hired thugs armed with machetes and bows and arrows. While trying to plant a tree, she and her cohorts were attacked with whips, clubs and stones. Maathai sustained a bloody gash to her head.
“Wangari Maathai was a force of nature. While other deployed their powers and life force to damage, degrade and extract short term profit from the environment, she used her to stand in their way, mobilize communities and to argue for conservation and sustainable development over destruction,” said Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environmental Program, for which Maathai served as an inspiration.
Various world leaders expressed their sorrow at having lost Maathai and her efforts.
“Wangari Maathai combined the protection of the environment, with the struggle for women’s rights and fight for democracy,” said Geir Lundestad, director of the Nobel Institute.
“At last count, the Green Belt Movement…had assisted women to plant more than 40 million trees,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a statement. “She understood and acted on the inextricable links between poverty, rights and environmental sustainability. One can but marvel at her foresight and the scope of her success. She was a true African heroine.”
“The values she had for justice and civil liberties and what she believed were the obligations of civil society and government,” said Vertistine Mbaya, Maathai’s colleague at the University of Nairobi. “She also demonstrated the importance of recognizing the contributions that women can make and allowing them the open space to do so.”
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said Maathai “overcame incredible obstacles to devote her life to service – service to her children, to her constituents, to the women, and indeed all the people of Kenya – and to the world as a whole.”
LONDON, United Kingdom — McCue and Partners, a British law firm, has posted a “Prosecution Kit” to guide civilians, NGOs, and governments in arresting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Kit is a dossier of evidence of human rights violations committed by Lukashenko.
Alexander Lukashenko (Photo courtesy of rfe/rl)
McCue had originally announced that it would be compiling a prosecution file for Lukashenko last March.
The firm’s website reads, “Wherever Lukashenko travels, he now faces the prospect of prosecution. The international community of nations and its organizations has so far failed to hold Lukashenko to account and to prevent further human rights abuses in Belarus. Only the E.U. and U.S. [have] managed to maintain an intermittent travel ban: lifting it when Lukashenko promises to reform only to re-impose it when he inevitably offends again. Unless Lukashenko is prepared to face justice, a de facto people’s travel ban has now been imposed by his victims and the people of Belarus. . . . Just as his victims have had to look over their shoulders in constant fear for their security and that of their families. Lukashenko now knows that wherever he goes he cannot evade justice.”
Matthew Jury, a partner at McCue, said, “Due to the current travel ban on Lukashenka traveling within Europe, there is no possibility at present of him traveling to our jurisdiction here in England. As a result, what we have done — what the people of Belarus have done — [is to make] available a prosecution file.”
He identified the file as “universally available as an open source document for download on the Internet so that private lawyers, nongovernmental organizations, or even governments can file for the arrest of Lukashenka should he travel to their jurisdictions.”
The firm also promises that “[i]f Lukashenko should travel to the U.K. we confirm that we will seek a warrant for his arrest.”
Senior partner Jason McCue stated, “Dictators and rogue regimes have evaded the law for too long. They do this through brutality and jumping through loopholes in sovereign and international law. We have developed a pragmatic solution to fill the gaps. Lukashenko and other would-be dictators around the world had better sit up and pay attention to this precedent. It is to the credit of the people of Belarus that this novel human rights tool has been developed.”
The dossier comes after Belarusian citizens who claimed they were tortured by Lukashenko’s government since the disputed Belarusian election last December approached McCue. Protests began in Belarus shortly after Lukashenko announced he won the election, securing a fourth term in office for himself. Former Belarusian opposition candidate Ales Mikhalevich was detained and compared the detention center in which he was held to a concentration camp.
Earlier this week Andrzej Poczobut, a Polish activist living in Belarus, was banned from exiting the country after allegedly defaming Lukashenko. The ban comes as the Eastern Partnership is set to convene this week in Warsaw to discuss relations with its member countries, including Belarus.
Belarusian rights group Charter’97 welcomes McCue’s efforts. “McCue & Partners represent Lukashenko’s victims, their families, and the campaign group Free Belarus Now that initiated this legal action. Heading a Belarusian/international coalition of leading lawyers, it has prepared a criminal case against him on charges of torture and hostage taking. We would like to see charges brought against Lukashenko in Belarus, but his tight control of state administrative apparatus, including the courts, precludes this from happening. However, Lukashenko has committed crimes, such as torture, that punishable under international law, meaning that any government may seek to prosecute Lukashenko upon these charges under universal jurisdiction. The people of Belarus today invite Lukashenko to submit to the universal jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales or any other E.U. country where a fair trial can be guaranteed.”
The dossier created by McCue is a relatively novel concept. “As far as we are aware, this approach hasn’t been taken before. And really, what our intent is [is] to put the power to bring [trials against] human rights abusers and those who would commit crimes against humanity into the hands of civil society rather than solely in the hands of national governments or international organizations,” Jury said. “By making this prosecution file universally available, we allow the victims themselves to decide where and when they bring a prosecution rather than leaving it in the hands of politicians and diplomats.”
Lukashenko was dubbed “Europe’s last dictator” by the United States and has faced a travel ban from the European Union since last December’s election.
“By preparing this prosecution,” McCue’s website posits, “his victims, their families and international civil society have ensured that impunity with respect to torture and electoral fraud in Europe will not stand in the 21st Century.”
by Emilee Gaebler Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BRASÍLIA, Brazil – Last week the Brazilian Congress took the first step forward in investigating the human rights abuses perpetrated during the military dictatorship which lasted from 1964 to 1985. On Wednesday they passed a bill to approve the creation of a commission to investigate these human rights abuses. The approved proposal now heads to the Senate and then to President Dilma Rousseff for approval.
Brazilian protestors in the 1970s. (Photo Courtesy of ICTJ)
The bill creates what is being called a truth commission. The duty of the commission will be to investigate and bring to light the human rights abuses that occurred during the period of several authoritarian leaders. The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) President, David Tolbert, stated that the Commission will help Brazilians to better understand a shadowed part of their history and aid in the recognition of rights for victims of abuse.
The commission would be comprised of 7 members who would be appointed by President Rousseff. The 7 members would investigate, for a period of 2 years, the torture, death, disappearances and hiding of bodies that occurred during the oppressive regimes. The military has offered their support of the commission. Their support is conditioned on the guarantee that investigations will look at both military abuses as well as abuses committed by opposition guerilla groups.
The positive aspects of the bill include the express recognition of the human rights violated at the time, investigations into disappearances of citizens to increase the possibility of discovering bodies and a comprehensive inquiry into the structures, institutions and places that lead to such systematic violation of human rights.
Critics note that there are a number of negative aspects to the bill. First, is the notable absence of an accountability mechanism. The commission will simply investigate and publish their findings at the end of the two year period. No punishment for any crimes they investigate will occur.
Linked to this concern, is the recent affirmation by the Brazilian Supreme Court that the commission will not overcome the country’s 1979 Amnesty Law. The law releases military personnel and civilians from liability for politically motivated crimes. It was originally formulated in order to give political prisoners and leaders, who were imprisoned and exiled, a way to return to the country. At the time it was largely unrecognized that it would also keep military crimes free from prosecution. In other South American nations, like Argentina, Chile and Peru, the establishment of truth commissions was the precursor to punishment of offenders and a full cycle of justice occurred.
Another concern is that the commission is too limited in scope; with only 7 members and only 2 years to investigate the crimes of 4 decades the reality is that only a cursory investigation will be possible. Roughly 500 Brazilians were killed in that period, another 150 disappeared and more than 20,000 citizens were tortured or abused.
By Carolyn Abdenour Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
CONAKRY, Guinea – On Tuesday, paramilitary police forces killed four people violently dispersing a march people attempted to join. Nineteen opposition parties organized the march. The police took control of the traffic circle and used tear gas and batons on people as they collated at September 28 Stadium, the prescribed meeting point. Ministry of Defense spokesperson Commander Aliou Diakite reported twenty-three police officers received treatment from injuries sustained by the rock-throwing activists.
Police forces disperse opposition demonstration in Conakry, Guinea. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)
Former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, who narrowly lost current President Alpha Conde in last November’s run-off election, reported one of the four dead bodies arrived at the headquarters of Union of the Democratic Forces of Guinea, his political party. The other three bodies rested at the local morgue, but the morgue denied the victims’ families access to the bodies.
Diallo called the march to protest the upcoming December parliamentary elections, which he contends the government will rig. The country should have voted for parliamentary positions six months after the presidential election, but the Independent National Electoral Commission (“CENI”) pushed them back. Diallo asserts Conde placed a close friend as head of CENI who will attempt to tamper the votes.
On Monday, Prime Minister Mohamed Said Fofana met with opposition leaders to resolve the claims. After unsuccessful negotiations, Diallo announced the march would proceed despite a governmental ban. Tuesday morning, riot police assembled at main intersections around September 28 Stadium, and they fired tear gas grenades towards people attempted to organize. After pro-opposition youth began throwing rocks at the police, witnesses report he police fired live round in the Matoto district.
Spokesperson for the opposition parties Faya Millimono reported participants received injuries from gunshots and cuts. However, General Mamadouba Toto Camara, minister of security and protection reported the security forces “do not use firearms.”
This march was the first major demonstration since last year’s elections. Many shops and petrol stations did not open for business on Tuesday for fears of violence from the march.
The protest took place on the eve of the second anniversary of the September 28 Massacre. Under the rule of Junta chief Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, 150 people died when security forces fired live rounds at the anti-juanta protestors. Mass rapes also occurred at the hands of the security forces.
Shopkeeper Souleymane Sow, a supporter of Diallo, said “What is remarkable is that the police units are using riot control tools to disperse the protesters—tear gas and night sticks, and not fire arms for the most part…It’s my opinion that the repression I’m seeing is not too violent compared to what we are used to.”
