Poor Conditions Lead to Third Prison Riot in One Week

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Brazils prisons are alarmingly overcrowded. (Photo courtesy of LAHT)
Brazil's prisons are alarmingly overcrowded. (Photo courtesy of LAHT)

IRANDUBA, Brazil—On Sunday, a riot in a jail became the third prison riot in a week in Brazil.  The latest riot resulted in three deaths and has sparked debate over possible human rights violations in the nation’s correctional facilities.

The most recent riot occurred in the jail of a police station in Iranduba, a city in the Amazon.  The prisoners became violent in the early hours Sunday in order to protest the poor living conditions they were subjected to.  The protesters were eventually subdued by police officers, but in the wake of the incident, three prisoners were found dead.  It is unknown how many others were wounded, and whether the deceased were killed by rioters or authorities when they moved in to regain control of the facility.

Brazil’s prisons and jails are frequently overcrowded and can lead prisoners to riot and go on organized hunger strikes.  Sunday’s violence arose after the jail became packed with 40 prisoners.  The jail was designed to hold only eight.
Police officer Geraldo Pereira de Oliveira said that, “After the riot, there were negotiations and the possibility of transferring some prisoners is being studied.”

Sunday’s deadly protest is the third of its kind this week alone in Brazil.  On Wednesday, three prisoners were killed by other prisoners in a similar riot, just 19 miles from Iranduba.  Last Monday, 18 prisoners—four of whom were decapitated–died in a riot in the penitentiary complex in Sao Luis.  A correctional officer was also injured by a gunshot wound.  The riot began when prisoners shot the guard while he was conducting an inspection, then took him and five other guards hostage.  The prisoners announced that they were protesting substandard quality of life in the institution.  The prison is currently inhabited by 4,000 prisoners—double the number that the building was constructed to hold.

In each of the three riots, experts and authorities have determined that overcrowding and unsatisfactory living conditions were the primary impetus for the melee.  In Brazilian prisons, gangs vie for control, their violence unchecked by an inadequate number of correctional officers.

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune-Third Brazil Prison Riot in a Week Leaves 3 Dead-15 November 2010

Sydney Morning Herald-Three dead in Brazil jail riot-15 November 2010

Telegraph-Brazil prison riot leaves 18 inmates dead-9 November 2010

Lashing and Deportation Punishment for Having Sex in UAE

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – The Sharjah Sharia Court in the UAE today sentenced two foreign workers to 100 lashings and deportation for having “unlawful sex.”  This incendiary ruling comes after two immigrant workers, one Filipino and one Bangladeshi, were found to have had sex out of wedlock, a crime under Sharia law.  In addition to deportation and other physical punishments, the Bangladeshi national may also be imprisoned for up to a year for committing adultery. 

Reports indicated that the Filipino worker, a housemaid, invited her boyfriend over to her sponsor’s house on numerous occasions while the family was away in order to have sex.  The two were caught after the housemaid’s sponsor saw the worker’s boyfriend sneaking out of the house.  Both workers are said to have admitted to having sex while the sponsor family was away.

Under Sharia law in the UAE, Muslim immigrants who commit adultery are lashed and deported while non-Muslims immigrants are imprisoned and then deported.  According to reports, both workers are Muslims, however, both may be subject to an additional prison sentence.  Having sex out of wedlock is illegal in the UAE.   Kissing in public is also illegal under Sharia law.

The UAE has come under fire recently for a slew of court rulings sentencing foreign workers to a variety of inhumane and disproportionate punishments for various “illegal” acts.  In August, the UPI documented 8 cases of excessive punishments.  These cases are only illustrative and account for only a portion of the harsh rulings imposed against foreigners in the UAE.  The government in Abu Dhabi has yet to comment on the result of this latest case.  However, for those countries which embrace Sharia law, today’s ruling is simply business as usual.

For more information please see:

ABC News – Couple to be Lashed for Sex Out of Wedlock – 15 Nov. 2010

Emirates 24/7 – 100 Lashes Each for Illicit Lovers – 15 Nov. 2010

UPI – Illicit Couple Sentenced to Lashing in UAE – 15 Nov. 2010

UPI – Continued Cultural Clashes in Dubai, Abu Dhabi – 12 Aug. 2010

International Commission Faces Resistance From Guatemalan Government: 1,700 top officials purged

By Erica Laster                                                                                                                      Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – “We live in a terrifying anarchy,” says Oscar Quintero, an expert psychologist discussing coping strategies.  The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, an organization supported by the United Nations was created in 2007 to eradicate contract killings, dismantle illegal security groups and root out corruption among Guatemala’s business and political elite.  The same people who have helped in the campaign are now its quarry with the head of national police and a former presidential candidate now fugitives with arrest warrants issued for their capture.

In late June 2010, the severed arms, legs and head of an unidentified woman are found at a crime scene. Photo courtesy of the Washington Post.
In late June 2010, the severed arms, legs and head of an unidentified woman are found at a crime scene. Photo courtesy of the Washington Post.

Despite a homicide rate three times the number as Mexico, the Commission is being met with great resistance from a number of top officials.  Former Vice-President Eduardo Stein has accused the commission of “going out of control,” ignoring Guatemalan law and overstepping its mandate.   Stein believes the Commission is issuing erroneous criminal charges to the government. 

Carlos Casetrana, former leader of the International Commission told the Associated Press that “all the cases we’ve brought to justice have so far ended in prison sentences for the accused.”   

Those accused of kidnapping, murder, drug trafficking received the most rapid convictions.  1700 police officers, prosecutors and judges have been purged as a result of Casetrana’s recommendations.   The arrest of “hitherto untouchable ex-military leaders,” has been praised by Human Rights First. 

One of the Commission’s biggest accomplishments was the purging of Guatemala’s Pavon prison farm.  The purpose behind Pavon was a rehabilitation center for inmates where prisoners could tend livestock and grow vegetables.  It instead became a feudal state where inmates had access to prostitutes, internet, video games, drugs and fast food.   The largest prison in the state, officers swarmed the prison on September 25, 2006, retaking it from inmates running a cocaine lab from its premises.

Today, nearly half the countries territory of 14 million is controlled by drug cartel and other criminals.  Civilians face dangers in even the safest of government addresses.

For More Information Please Visit:

The Guardian – Bars, Brothels, And A Regime of Terror – 30 September 2006

Washington Post – U.N. Backed Investigators Shake Up Guatemala – 14 November 2010

CNN – U.N. Names Anti-Impunity Chief For Guatemala – 30 June 2010

Guatemala Times – UN Expert Calls For Drastic Change In Global Drug Control Policy – 25 October 2010

Somali Refugees Face Poor Living Conditions in Kenya Camp

Refugee shelter flooded in Dadaab, Kenya; Photo Courtesy MSF
Refugee shelter flooded in Dadaab, Kenya; Photo Courtesy MSF

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
DADAAB, Kenya- As heavy rains flood the refugee camps in Dadaab groups are calling upon Kenya to reach an agreement with the UN and Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to provide more assistance. The refugee camp, originally built for 90,000, now houses over 300,000 residents, most of them from neighboring Somalia where constant violence has pushed people into the Kenya camps for the past 20 years. Each month, thousands more make the trip across the Kenya border. Resources like fuel, food and shelter are not meeting the demands of this growing population. Joke Van Peteghem, MSF’s mission director in Kenya stated earlier this week, “We are at a dead end. [. . .] We call on the Kenyan authorities and aid actors to immediately facilitate their [the refugees] relocation to suitable accommodation.”

Many see Kenya’s reluctance to accommodate this refugee population as a contributing factor to its deteriorating condition. The camp has been in existence for twenty years and some of its residents are third generation camp inhabitants whose grandparents came to Kenya in the early 1990’s. “There is a tendency to see refugee camps as warehouses for storing unused people; we need to treat them as normal people. There are children living here whose parents have never seen Somalia. Can we really say these people are foreigners?” said Richard Acland, a senior coordinator for the United Nations in Dadaab. Many in the camp do not have the necessary papers to travel past the camps into Kenya proper, leaving them in a sort of limbo without the protection or resources of any government.

Other problems plague the camps resulting from the drawn out conflict in Somalia. Human Rights Watch has documented the recruitment of child soldiers in the camps. Somali groups, like the insurgent force Shabab, enter the camps promising high pay and UN support. In 2009, Kenyan officials were accused with helping these recruitment efforts and in the last two weeks, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said Kenya is forcing refugees back into Somalia in violation of international law. The latest incident includes a group of over 8,000 Somalis, mostly women, children and the elderly, who had already crossed the border into Kenya. As the rains continue to flood new portions of the camp and more refugees arrive, many question how to provide even the most basic of resources to Dadaab’s inhabitants.

For more information, please see;

CNN– At Least 700 Families Living Outside Kenya Refugee Camp Face Peril– 12, Nov. 2010

MSF- Kenya: Assistance Urgently Needed for Vulnerable Somali Refugees– 12, Nov. 2010

NYT- Somalia’s Wars Swell Refugee Camp in Kenya– 11, Nov. 2010

Reuters Africa- Kenya Illegally Forcing Refugees Back to Somalia: UNCHR– 3, Nov. 2010

Colombia Has Highest Number Of Displaced People In The World

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Family of displaced Colombians (photo courtesy of Brookings)
Family of displaced Colombians (photo courtesy of Brookings)

BUENAVENTURA, Colombia – The Colombian NGO Consultancy for Human Rights (CODHES) reports that  Colombia is the country with the highest number of displaced people in the world, based on figures from a report published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to the UNHCR report, approximately 3.7 million Colombian citizens have been displaced from their homes in the last five decades due to increasing violence from rebel groups, such as the FARC.

Jorge Rojas, Director of CODHES, stated “[t]he number of uprooted people in Colombia is higher than those in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”  Ecuador and Venezuela were named as two countries that received the highest portion of displaced Colombians.

According to the report, about 600,000 Colombians live in Ecuador. The Ecuadorian government claims that that have spent $40 million in the past three years to address the displaced population.

The Colombian Government is receiving harsh criticism for their handling of the news.  Initially, Colombia rejected reports that the country had the highest number of displaced peoples.  According to Acción Social, the presidential agency in charge of displacement, the statements and figures contained in the report are “untrue”.  Acción Social also claims that global data on displacement and refugees cannot be used to compare displacement between countries because there are multiple ways to calculate displacement.

According to Colombia Reports, an independent news organization, the true purpose of the report was not to establish a definitive figure on displaced people, but rather to highlight the gravity of an often overlooked humanitarian crisis, a claim that dulls Acción Social’s claim that research methodology acts to unfairly skew the figures.  Colombia Reports goes on to point out that although high-intensity warfare is a “thing of the past” in Colombia, the UNHCR report illustrates that the country is experiencing a humanitarian disaster of “epic proportions”.

Colombia Reports also claims that Acción Social’s response is indicative of a much larger “national attitude of worrying too much about the country’s image and too little about its concrete problems.”

For more information, please see:

Pravda.ru – Colombia has the Highest Number of Displaced People in the World – 12 November 2010

Colombia Reports – Displacement is a Human Tragedy, not a Publicity Crisis – 11 November 2010

Colombia Reports – Colombia Rejects U.N. Report on Refugee Figures – 10 November 2010

Momento 24 – Colombia Displaces and Ecuador Receives Refugees by Violence – 9 November 2010