Domestic Workers Exploited and Abused in Kuwait

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait – Domestic workers in Kuwait are facing abuse and prosecution reported Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday.  Domestic migrant workers have been forced to work long hours, are deprived of wages and are often subject to physical and sexual abuse.  Last year domestic workers filed over 10,000 complaints of abuse with their embassies however; HRW notes that this represents only a percentage of all cases of abuse.   Of these 10,000 cases, roughly 950 claims alleged that workers were raped and sexually harassed by their employers. 

Domestic workers compose one-third of the 1.81 million foreign workers in Kuwait.  Rights observers contend that there is a lack of legal protection for migrant domestic workers who face abuse and wage restrictions from employers.   Laws limiting the hours a person may be legally obligated to work during a single day do not apply to migrant workers.  One Sri Lankan worker reports that she was forced to work more than 18 hours a day for a period of 10 months without receiving pay.  She now lives in a small government run shelter and is dependent on social services. 

Human rights groups say that the government is to blame.  In Kuwait, migrant domestic workers, under a sponsorship program (kafala), are bonded to their employers.  This makes it possible for employers to exercise complete control over workers during the course of employment without any recourse for employees.  Workers may not change jobs without the permission of their employers and those who attempt to leave an abusive environment are subject to indefinite detention and criminal penalties. A representative of HRW stated “If abused or exploited workers try to escape or complain the law makes it easy for employers to charge them with ‘absconding’ and get them deported.”

Rights groups have called for the abolition of the sponsorship system.   The government stated that it plans to abolish this system by February of next year and replace it with a government-administered recruitment program.   The government however, has been unable to elaborate on whether any additional protections would be afforded to migrant domestic workers under the new system. 

For more information, please see:

Arab Times – Some Employers Take Advantage of Weak Legal Protection – 7 Oct. 2010

Daily Mirror – Domestic Workers in Kuwait at Risk? – 7 Oct. 2010

Jakarta Post – Kuwait: For Abused Domestic Workers, Nowhere to Turn – 7 Oct. 2010

Agence France Presse – Abuse of Maids in Kuwait Rising: HRW – 6 Oct. 2010

Mapuche Prisoners End Hunger Strike

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America 

Chileans Protest Detainment of Mapuche Prisoners (photo courtesy of revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com)
Chileans Protest Detainment of Mapuche Prisoners (photo courtesy of revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com)

 SANTIAGO, Chile – Close to thirty jailed Mapuche Indians have ended a hunger strike that lasted almost three months.  The strike was in response to a dictator-era anti-terror law that allows the government to hold prisoners for up to two years without formal charges and permits citizens to be tried by military tribunals.

Ricardo Ezzati, the archbishop in charge of mediating the situation, claims that the Mapuche peoples and the Chilean government have reached an agreement after representatives for the two sides met on two separate occasions. 

The government has proactively sought to reform the archaic anti-terror law and, in addition to the legal reform, has decided to withdraw the charges against the Mapuche under the anti-terror law. 

The news was met with great joy by family members of the imprisoned Indians.  However, the Mapuche hunger-strikers will not be completelyacquitted as they will still be charged with crimes under the common criminal code, albeit lesser ones.  

An attempt to negotiate an end to the hunger strike had failed recently when the Indians were unable to secure assurances that the anti-terror law would not be applied in their cases.  However, a meeting Thursday between several relatives of the jailed Mapuches and Chilean Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter at La Moneda presidential palace facilitated the resumption of the talks.

In addition to demanding the end of the anti-terror law, the hunger strikers are calling for the demilitarization of the poor southern region of Araucania, which is home 650,000 Mapuche people.

There are ten Mapuche prisoners who have refused to end their hunger strike.  Undersecretary of the Presidency Claudio Alvarado, who represented the government in talks with the prisoners’ family, said he hopes that the rest of the prisoners will follow suit and end their strikes soon.

The Mapuche hunger strike is the latest scuffle between the indigenous peoples and the Chilean government in a long and sometimes violent campaign by members of the Mapuche for the return of their lands to alleviate their poverty.

The Mapuche Indians are one of Chile’s original peoples, but were pushed into the country’s south only to lose those lands later to timber companies and other wealthy landowners.

For more information, please see:

Inside Costa Rica – Chile: End of Mapuche Hunger Strike – 3 October 2010

Associated Press – Chilean Archbishop: Most Mapuche prisoners end hunger strike after lengthy negotiations – 2 October 2010

Latin American Herald Tribune – Mapuches End Hunger Strike after Agreement with Chile Government – 2 October 2010

Syria Issues Arrest Warrants in case relating to Hariri Assassination

By Alyxandra Stanczak
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Jamil al-Sayyed, former Lebanese general, at an interview in 2009. Photo courtesy of hurriyetdailynews.com.
Jamil al-Sayyed, former Lebanese general, at an interview in 2009. Photo courtesy of hurriyetdailynews.com.

BERUIT, Lebanon – Rafik Hariri, former Prime Minister of Lebanon, was assassinated when his motorcade was hit by a suicide bomber in 2005. After the incident, four pro-Syrian officers were detained and held without charges. In 2009, the officers were released due to lack of evidence. Among the officers was ex-Lebanese general Jamil al-Sayyed.  Al-Sayyed brought a case in Syrian courts against people he believed misled the investigation of Hariri’s assassination which resulted in his four-year imprisonment.

Al-Sayyed is a Shiite ex-Lebanese general who is backed by Hezbollah. Although a primarily Lebanese group, Hezbollah receives a lot of support from Syria and Iran.

This past Sunday, a Syrian judge issued arrest warrants for thirty-three people of interest in the case who have been ignoring court summons. Al-Sayyed brought the suit in Syria, citing distrust in Lebanon’s judiciary. It is unlikely that the arrest warrants will be executed outside of Syria.

Among those issued arrest warrants are senior Lebanese judges and international officials.

When the initial investigation of the suicide bombing occurred, western-backed parties in Lebanon believed that Syria and Hezbollah were responsible for the attack. This claim was denied by both parties. The allegation has since been denied by Saad Hariri, current Lebanese Prime Minister and son of Rafik Hariri. Saad Hariri was quoted as saying the allegation arose from political motivations.

Al-Sayyed maintains he brought the case, of which the issuance of arrest warrants was necessary, because at least six of the defendants in his case are Syrian. Additionally, he maintains the Lebanese judiciary as well as the U.N. backed tribunal, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, refused to look at his case of false witnesses.

For more information, please see:

Daily Star – Syria’s warrants add to the chaos – 5 October 2010

People’s Daily Online – Lebanese PM says Syria’s arrest warrants over Hariri’s killing disappointing – 5 October 2010

Al Jazeera – Syria orders arrests in Hariri case – 4 October 2010

Jerusalem Post – Lawyer: Syria posts arrests warrants in Hariri case – 4 October 2010

Associated Press – Syria posts arrests warrants in Hariri case – 3 October 2010

Capital Punishment Eligibility in the United States Questioned Amid Human Rights Concerns

By Erica Laster

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

WASHINGTON, United States – In the past 20 years, the United States has killed over 1,000 people in its execution chambers under the death penalty.  Georgia’s execution of a man with inadequate representation as well as Virginia’s execution of a woman with borderline mental retardation have cast a spotlight on the enduring practice of capital punishment.  The implications of human rights violations have left many in the legal field, legislature and human rights coalitions in doubt over its practicality, effectiveness and Constitutionality.

Is Capital Punishment Becoming an Archaic and Inhumane Practice? Photo Courtesy of Greatdebate2008.com.
Is Capital Punishment Becoming an Archaic and Inhumane Practice? Photo Courtesy of Greatdebate2008.com.

Brandon Rhodes, a former Georgia inmate, was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and organic brain damage.  Rhodes became the 40th execution this year in the state of Georgia for a crime committed at the age of 18, despite a suicide which left him wholly incompetent.  One medical expert declared that Rhodes was “actively disassociating, losing his grip on reality.”  Six days after the attempt, Rhodes was put to death by lethal injection on September 27, 2010. 

Similarly, a Virginia woman was sentenced to death after being convicted of being the “mastermind” behind the murders of her husband and stepson in 2002.  Assessed as having “borderline mental retardation,” Lewis became the first woman executed in nearly 100 years in Virginia on September 23, 2010.   Lewis confessed to planning both murders for money, for which she hired her lover and a second gunmen who carried out her wishes. 

Despite their convictions for these crimes, Amnesty International and various Human Rights groups have condemned the United States for their practice of utilizing capital punishment.  Both the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church and the ARC of Virginia, advocates for the mentally disabled, petitioned for a reduction in Lewis’ sentence to life in prison without success.

In its report to the United Nations, the United States defended its stance on the death penalty indicating that subject to procedural safeguards, the death penalty may be imposed on those who commit heinous crimes.  This echoes the United States Supreme Court’s indication that “capital punishment must be limited to those offenders who commit a narrow category of the most serious crimes and whose extreme culpability makes them the most deserving of execution.”

Amnesty International argues that despite the abolition of the death penalty in 139 countries, selection of individuals for capital punishment in the United States is little more than a lottery where race, politics, lack of representation and jury composition affect the outcome.

For More Information Please Visit:  

CNN – Georgia Death Row Inmate Denied High Court Review – 4 October 2010

Washington Post – Virginia Executes Teresa Lewis for Role in Slayings of Husband, Stepson in 2002 – 23 September 2010

Amnesty International – USA: Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading: 40th Execution of the Year Approaches – 24 September 2010

Amnesty Internatinoal – USA: Death Penalty Still A Part of the “American Experiment,” Still Wrong – 22 September 2010

One Killed In Papua After Clashing With Indonesia Police

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch, Oceania

TIMIKA, Indonesia – One man was killed and at least three injured in a clash between Indonesian police and dozens of locals on Monday. The incident occurred over a security check dispute in the restive province of Papua, an official said.

Stationed Police at an airport in Wamena district had wanted to check two bags that were “suspected to contain suspicious items” arriving from Jayapura district but were refused permission by these individuals, according to Wachyono, provincial police spokesman.

“They (the locals) then attacked police with sharp objects and stones. In that situation, police had to open fire,” he said.

Three policemen were injured by flying stones, he added.

“Police wanted to check those bags because several times, we’ve found evidence that ammunition and weapons had been sent through Wamena,” Wachyono said.

As a result, three people were arrested for allegedly attacking the police, he added.

However, Papuan tribal representative Dominikus Sorabut, from the Papuan Customary Council, said the locals were members of the council’s security body and the bags had contained berets.

He alleged that one of the group members was killed and two others injured after police shot at them, but police denied the charge and said an autopsy needs to be carried out to determine the cause of death.

This incident is one of series of violent clashes in recent months between Indonesia police and local population whose anger and distrust against the government are escalating. Just last month, police killed two men and wounded a woman after a dispute over a traffic accident got out of control in West Papua province.

Indonesia’s police are widely accused of violating and abusing the basic rights of indigenous Melanesians in Papua, where a low-level insurgency has simmered for decades.

As a result of the growing concern over instability in this region, the United States has called for Indonesia to move forward on autonomy in its Papua region and emphasized that it would not overlook human rights violations.

Representative Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment, called on Indonesia to end violence and resolve the internal problems in West Papua during a hearing on West Papua issue on September 22, 2010.

Faleomavaega said that the people of West Papua have suffered for a long period of time at the hands of Indonesia’s brutal military and police forces, and many experts suggest that West Papuans have been subjected to genocide.

“Whether or not genocide has taken place, one thing is clear. Indonesia’s military has committed indisputable crimes against humanity through the murder, torture and rape of more than 100,000 West Papuans,” the Chairman added.

For more information, please see:

The Jakarta Globe – One Killed in Papua Clash with Indonesian Police – 4 October 2010

Radio New Zealand – US Calls On Indonesia To Advance Papua Autonomy – 3 October 2010

China.Org – Indonesia urged to end violence in West Papua – 28 September 2010