Abuse against Migrant Workers Takes Center Stage in Saudi Arabia…Again

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A Saudi court on Sunday issued a three year prison sentence to a female employer of an Indonesian maid.  Reports indicate that the ruling may be the first time in the country’s history that a punishment has been handed down to a Saudi citizen for abusing a migrant worker.  The employer was found guilty under a new law issued by the Kingdom to fight human trafficking.   Observers contend that Sunday’s ruling is a small step in the right direction for a country which continues to face international pressure to secure rights and protections for migrant workers. 

Indonesian Migrant Worker Beaten by Saudi Employer (Photo Courtesy of The Telegraph)
Indonesian Migrant Worker Beaten by Saudi Employer (Photo Courtesy of The Telegraph)

The maid, 23, suffered internal bleeding and broken bones after she was severely beaten and burned by her employer.   This latest case of abuse against migrant workers has sparked international condemnation for a problem which has been prevalent in the Middle East in recent months.  Migrant workers continue to be subjected to poor treatment, abuse, arrest and deportations throughout the region.  A comprehensive report published by Human Rights Watch last year found that migrant workers who suffer abuse at the hands of their employers are likely to suffer emotional trauma and substantial psychological effects.   The report indicates that such abuse may also contribute to forced labor and human trafficking. 

While the ruling appears to be a small win for rights activists, both sides are appealing the ruling.  Indonesian officials have declared the sentence to be unsatisfactory.  Didi Wahyudi, the head of citizen protection services at the Indonesian Consulate in Jeddah stated that “[t]he punishment is not strict enough, it’s a very light punishment.” Other’s however, appear to embrace the ruling with an optimistic view towards the future.  The Saudi daily newspaper, Arab News, reported that the case “may become something of a watershed.”  The government in Riyadh has kept its distance in the controversy, failing to comment about the court’s decision.  Although the Saudi government is unlikely to announce any significant change in its policies towards migrant workers in the near future, Sunday’s ruling may be a starting point to guaranteeing greater rights and legal protections for migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.

For more information, please see:

BNO News – Indonesia to Appeal Sentence in Saudi Arabia Tortured Migrant Worker Case – Jan. 13, 2011

Adnkronos International – Non-govt Groups Fundraise to Repatriate Migrants Stranded in Saudi Arabia – Jan. 12, 2011

CNN World – Woman Gets Three Years for Abusing Indonesian Maid – Jan. 12, 2011

People’s Daily Online – Indonesia Files Appeal on Tortured Migrant Worker Case in Saudi Arabia – Jan. 12, 2011

Environmental Suit Against Chevron Continues in Ecuador

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

QUITO, Ecuador—Locked in a lawsuit over their allegedly environmentally unsound oil practices, Chevron Corp. has now turned up the heat against their legal opponents.  Chevron has subpoenaed and published numerous documents privately exchanged between members of the plaintiffs’ legal team.  The documents include emails and letters, and even a diary.  Also released are cut scenes from a documentary about the case.

Outtakes being used from the documentary “Crude” include a scene of plaintiffs’ attorney Steven Donziger saying that Ecuadoran judges respond better to fear than the law.  Donziger goes on to say that any judge ruling against the plaintiffs might not be killed by angry Ecuadorans, but “[the judge will think] he will be [killed] . . . which is just as good.”

Although Chevron thinks that their line of documents and film scenes add up to fraud and misconduct by the plaintiffs’ legal team, the team’s spokesperson explained:  “The comments were all born out of a frustration with Chevron’s efforts to undermine the trial in Ecuador.  The real fraud in this case is Chevron’s intentional contamination of the rain forest and its efforts, now on display in the United States, to cover it up.”

In 2003, a class action lawsuit was brought against Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron in 2001.  The lawsuit was brought in Ecuador by claimants alleging that the company contaminated the land where it was performing oil operations.  The claimants believed that the environmental pollution increased cancer rates and other medical issues in those who lived in the area.  After judicial inspections of the region, an independent expert in 2008 recommended that the court demand Chevron pay $27 billion as compensation for their activities.

The initial judge in the case recused himself after allegations were made about judicial misconduct; the current judge has intimated that a verdict may be expected sometime this year.

This present chapter in the lawsuit is preceded by a history dating back to a similar lawsuit filed against Texaco in 1993.  Texaco drilled for oil in an Ecuadoran rain forest from 1964 until 1992, unloading a petroleum and water mix into pits near the oil wells.

For more information, please see:

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre-Case profile: Texaco/Chevron lawsuits (re Ecuador)-12 January 2011

Westlaw News & Insight-Film outtakes steal stage in Chevron Ecuador case-11 January 2011

San Francisco Chronicle-Chevron tries to use foe’s words against them-29 December 2010

Update: Congolese Soldiers Charged and Arrested for New Year’s Day Mass Rape

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch, Africa

Congolese Soldiers (Photo Courtesy of ABCNews.com)

KINSHASA, DR Congo- Government soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) have been accused of the New Year’s Day mass rape in Fizi of over a dozen women.  The coordinated attack also left many more injured and included the looting and burning of several town homes and businesses.  A spokesperson for the military, Vianney Kazarama, has confirmed that eight soldiers have been arrested in connection with the attack.  Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has stated that thirty-six individuals were treated for rape at the Fizi hospital and the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) clinic in Fizi.  U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said that among the suspects in custody, all are government soldiers and at least one is a ranking officer.
Rape as a weapon of war has been prevalent in DR Congo and under-reporting makes it difficult to track.  Of the almost 16,000 cases of war rape reported in 2008, 65% of those were children, most of them girls.  Unmarried women who are raped face being ostracized in their communities and are seen as undesirable for marriage.  Married women who are raped are routinely abandoned or divorced by their husbands.
This attack highlights a pattern of rape and looting by soldiers in DR Congo.  Last month, a Congolese military commander was ‘blacklisted’ by a U.N. Security Council committee for orchestrating mass rapes in the eastern regions of the country.  Several months prior, during the summer, hundreds were raped by Rwandan Hutu rebel forces and the Congolese troops who were fighting them.  Nicholas Kristoff, New York Times Reporter on human rights violations in Africa and Asia, has said of the human rights violations occurring in DR Congo, “…no humanitarian crisis generates so little attention per million corpses, or such a pathetic international response.”

For more information, please see;

AFP– DRCongo Troops Blamed For Rapes, Looting in Sud-Kivu– 12 Jan., 2011

Reuters Africa- Congo Soldiers Held Over Alleged Rapes, Looting- U.N.– 12 Jan., 2011

AllAfrica.com- Rape.  Re-rape.  Gang Rape.  But, Really, Who Cares?– 12 Jan., 2011

CUBAN EXILE AND FORMER CIA OPERATIVE FACES PERJURY CHARGES AMID TERRORIST ACCUSATIONS

By Erica Laster                                                                                                                  Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
 
HOUSTON, United States – Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative and Cuban exile Luis Posada Carilles is set to go on trial this week in Texas. The United States has charged Posada with perjury and immigration fraud for lying to immigration officials and has been accused of orchestrating terrorist attacks on commercial airlines, tourist attractions and the attempted assassination of Fidel Castro. Posada has been recognized by Fidel Castro as “the most dangerous terrorist in the Western hemisphere.”
  
Cuban community members protest Posadas innocence near an El Paso courthouse. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press
Cuban community members protest Posada's innocence near an El Paso courthouse. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

Originally trained by the CIA as an explosives expert, Posada has been the target of federal investigations for attacks dating back 30 years. Unable to indict Posada on terrorist charges, some believe the perjury counts are similar to Al Capone indictment on tax evasion.

Posada enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1963 at the behest of the C.I.A., training in demolition, intelligence and propoganda before quitting after one year to become a paid C.I.A. operative in 1965. Quickly finding more lucrative positions, Posada associated himself with the Venezuelan intelligence service from 1967-1974 before starting a private security agency. Arrested in 1976 for the bombing of a commercial Cuban airliner, he remained in a Venezuelan prison until his escape in 1985, again serving the United States government.

In various interviews with the New York times, Posada admitted to orchestrating the 1997 Havana bombings in which an Italian businessman tourist died. Posada showed no remorse despite revealing the only intent was to scare tourists in an effort to destroy Cuban tourism. “I sleep like a baby,” he stated.

In a 1998 interview with the Times, Posada stated, “The C.I.A. taught us everything – everything. They taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb trained us in acts of sabotage.” His 2000 Panamanian conviction for the attempted assasination of Fidel Castro resulted in his serving four years in prison before a pardon was issued by former President Moscoso.

While the charges the 82 year old faces in Texas do not appear to be on a level as serious as terrorism, prosecutors must prove Posada’s involvement in the terrorist attacks for a court to find him guilty of perjury.

For More Information Please Visit:

CNN – Posada, Anti-Castro Exile And Former CIA Operative, Goes On Trial – 10 January 2011

NY Times – Terror Accusations, But Perjury Charges – 9 January 2011

Washington Post – Fidel Castro’s Nemesis Goes On Trial In Texas – 10 January 2011

　
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

  

 

 

 

WWII-era Nazi Mass Grave Believed To Be Found In Austria

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

The old hospital cemetery in Hall is thought to contain 220 disabled victims killed by Nazis. Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press.
The old hospital cemetery in Hall is thought to contain 220 disabled victims killed by Nazis. Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press.

HALL, Austria – A mass grave discovered at a mental hospital in the Tyrol Province is thought to contain up to 220 disabled victims of the Nazi euthanasia program.  The remains of people buried between 1942 and 1945 were discovered while the hospital was excavating part of their land for new buildings. Construction was immediately halted to allow for an investigation and identification of the dead.  Exhumations will begin in March.

A group of historians led by Oliver Seifert recently found a map that outlines a former cemetery at the hospital.  Seifert said at a press conference, “At this stage we can’t say that all 220 people were victims of the Nazi euthanasia programme but one of the central questions we will be looking into is how they died.”

He went on to note that documents discovered recently during a reorganization of the hospital archives show that the death rate of Hall patients went up considerably towards the end of the war. Previously there had been no documentation supporting the idea that patients at the Hall hospital were murdered during the Nazi program, though it’s believed that 360 patients from Hall were taken to other institutions to be killed.

According to the Guardian UK, Christian Haring, deputy medical director of the hospital, said authorities were working on the theory that the cemetery was built at a time when the hospital in Hall was considered as a possible site for an official Nazi euthanasia center.  “It’s quite possible that the hospital cemetery was laid out in October 1942 with a view to using Hall for euthanasia,” he said.  He added that patients died in significant numbers, with 30 deaths registered in March 1945 alone.

The hospital put out a global appeal for anyone who believes their relatives might be one of the victims buried there to contact the hospital.  It also asked for possible witnesses to come forward with any information that might be useful.

“Every memory has the potential to help us in researching the history of this cemetery,” a spokesman said.

Nazi-controlled Germany annexed Austria in 1938.  In 1939, Adolph Hitler officially instituted a euthanasia program where those patients deemed “incurable” could be granted “mercy-killing.”  Midwives and doctors were required to report all newborns born with severe disabilities or hereditary diseases such as “idiocy and Down’s syndrome, microcephaly, hydrocephaly, malformations of all kinds, especially of limbs, head, and spinal column; and paralysis.”

More than 70,000 people were killed by the Nazis for being disabled during the official program, though there is evidence that German physicians continued after the official program ended in 1941, killing a total of about 275,000 disabled under the euthanasia program.

During the program, forms were sent to institutions in Germany and Austria, and when they were returned each patient had a plus or minus sign next to their name, marking them for life or death.

For more information, please see:

CNN – World War II-era Nazi mass grave thought found – 6 Jan. 2011

BBC – Nazi-era graves to be dug up in Austria – 5 Jan. 2011

SCOTSMAN NEWS  – Austria: Graves of missing Nazi eugenics victims found – 5 Jan. 2011

TELEGRAPH – Nazi-era mass grave discovered in Austria – 4 Jan. 2011

GUARDIAN – Remains in Austrian hospital graveyard may be Nazi euthanasia victims – 4 Jan. 2011