UNHRC Extends Human Rights Expert’s Mandate in Sudan

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KHARTOUM, Sudan – The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted Friday to extend the mandate of Mohamed Chande Othman, a human rights expert and observer, in Sudan.   The Council extended the mandate by a margin of seven votes despite opposition from a number of African nations who favored terminating the mandate.  19 nations ultimately voted against renewal.  In accordance with Saturday’s resolution, Mr. Othman will remain in Sudan for an additional year to monitor the human rights situation in the country.

UNHRC extends Othmans mission in Sudan (Photo Courtesy of AFP)
UNHRC extends Othman's mission in Sudan (Photo Courtesy of AFP)

Mr. Othman, a justice on Tanzania’s court of appeals, reported last September that he was concerned that the military crackdown in Sudan has resulted in numerous human rights violations.   The expert noted that rights violations in the country “represent a serious setback” for development in the country.   The UNHRC renewed Mr. Othman’s mandate just as Sudan gears up for a referendum which could be a catalyst for an independent South Sudan.  Mr. Othman stated “[i]t is essential that authorities uphold human rights principles as a way of ensuring a peaceful and credible referendum.”

The government of Sudan however, objected to UNHRC’s decision.  Government officials contend that the country’s human rights record is good when compared to other countries and accused European nations of having a double standard when it comes to human rights.   A representative of the Arab League also blasted Friday’s vote, arguing that the extension was the result of Western pressure and done for political reasons.

The government’s comments are hardly reassuring.   Militants have accused the government of ethnic cleansing as it seeks to subdue rebels throughout the country.  The Sudan Liberation Army, on Friday, alleged that Sudanese forces killed 27 civilians in its latest week-long assault in the region.  The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants against Sudan’s president Omar Hassan al-Bashir for committing genocide and war crimes.

Although an intensive investigation into the government’s campaign against the rebels in Sudan will be necessary to determine the extent of human rights violations in the country, it is clear that the government will continue its aggressive assertion of force and is willing to accept collateral civilian casualties until peace is established.   As recently as last month, Mr. Othman urged the U.N. to initiate an investigation into attacks against civilians by Sudanese forces.  Since 2003 over 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million displaced as a result of the fighting.

For more information, please see:

Reuters Africa – Darfur Rebels Say Sudan Army Raids Kill 27 – 2 Oct. 2010

Sudan Tribune – U.N. Rights Expert’s Mandate in Sudan Extended Despite Arab and African Objections – 2 Oct. 2010

Agence France Presse – U.N. Rights Council Keeps Sudan Under Scrutiny – 1 Oct. 2010

Associated Press – U.N. Expert Urges Probe of Recent Attacks in Darfur – 14 Sept. 2010

Death Toll Rises as Clashes in Somalia Continue

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Mogadishu, Somalia – Fighting erupted again today in Mogadishu as Somali forces, backed by African Union peacekeepers, sought to reassert control over the capital.   At least seven people were killed in the clashes when a shell fired by Somali forces hit a bus.  In addition to the rising death toll, the latest U.N. report indicates that over 12,000 Somalis have fled Mogadishu over the last month. 

A man dies in the back of his truck after being shot during clashes (Photo Courtesy of The Hindu)
A man dies in the back of his truck after being shot during clashes (Photo Courtesy of The Hindu)

Islamic militants have been able maintain their foothold in Mogadishu and surrounding cities and have dug in for a tough fight to repel government forces.  Roughly 7,500 African Union peacekeepers have been committed to the country to support the ill equipped Somali forces.   The AU is currently investigating a plan to increase its troop presence in Somalia to 20,000 peacekeepers.

This added support however, has not deterred new recruits from joining the ranks of Al-Shabaab.  New reports have found that Al-Shabaab has been able to attract a significant amount of foreign fighters to join their ranks by offering them money to fight.  Fighters are said to receive $250 per month in exchange for their services fighting the Somali government.   At least two dozen Americans have gone to Somalia to fight with militant groups. 

The United States has sought to expand its engagement in Somali by increasing ties with the semi-autonomous regions in the country in order to stem the flow of recruits to Al-Shabaab.  The government hopes it can leverage friendly relations with the leaders of these regions to maintain stability in the country.  The U.S. currently provides political and military support to the government in its fight to neutralize Islamic militants.   Some analysts claim that the U.S. is also responsible for the Thursday’s mysterious helicopter attack against a group of militants. 

As if matters weren’t bad enough, another development is creating additional pressures on the government to defeat the militants.  Merger talks between Hizbul Islam, a group fighting alongside Al-Shabaab, and the al-Qaeda affiliated group, are in their final stages.   Despite a current standstill in negotiations, it is likely that the two groups will reach a final unification agreement.  Leaders of both groups reaffirmed their joint commitment against the government and those who support it.   In July, Al-Shabaab took responsibility for an attack in Uganda which killed over 75 people.  The attack was said to be retaliation for Uganda’s decision to join the AU peacekeeping force.    

For more information, please see:

The Tripoli Post – US Boosts Ties with Break-Away Somalia Regions – 3 Oct. 2010

The Hindu – Clashes in Somalia Leave Seven Dead – 2 Oct. 2010

Sunday Vision – Somalia Al-Shabaab Paid $250 to Die – 2 Oct. 2010

Reuters Africa – Somali Rebel Merger Talks Halt But Will Go On – 29 Sept. 2010

Guatemala Gets Long-Overdue Apology for U.S. Unethical Experiments

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

WASHINGTON, DC – President Obama apologized this week for what many consider the most infamous example of unethical medical research in history.  From 1946-1948, American public health doctors deliberately infected hundreds of Guatemalans with venereal diseases so that the doctors could test the effectiveness of penicillin.

The experiment exposed as many as 700 Guatemalan prisoners, mental health patients and soldiers to these diseases.  Records indicate that the United States actually paid for infected prostitutes to sleep with Guatemalan prisoners in an effort to spread the diseases.  If that did not work, some prisoners had the bacteria introduced to open wounds on their bodies.

It has taken the United States more than 60 years to apologize for the horrific treatment of these Guatemalans.  Although many feel that it is likely more form than function, the U.S. State Department has assured that an investigation will be conducted on the matter.

Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom, who just recently learned of the experiments via a telephone call from Secretary of State Clinton, called them “hair-raising” and “crimes against humanity.” His government said it would cooperate with the American investigation and would also perform an independent investigation of their own.

Professor Reverby, a Wellesley College Professor who is credited with bringing these experiments to public attention with a recent paper, said that the United States Public Health Service “was deeply interested in whether penicillin could be used to prevent, not just cure, early syphilis infection, whether better blood tests for the disease could be established, what dosages of penicillin actually cured infection, and to understand the process of re-infection after cures.”

While many would like to believe that the U.S. discontinued the experiment after only two years because of the ethical and humanitarian considerations, the evidence simply does not support such a finding.  More likely, the project was halted after “medical gossip” began to accumulate and because penicillin, which was quite costly, was being used at an exorbitant rate.

Dr. Mark Siegler, director of the Maclean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago’s Medical School, said that “[the project is] appalling — that, at the same time as the United States was prosecuting Nazi doctors for crimes against humanity, the U.S. government was supporting research that placed human subjects at enormous risk.”

Dr. Siegler also stated that the Guatemala experiment was worse than the famous Tuskegee trials that infected African-Americans living in Alabama with syphilis because many of those subjects were infected by natural means, while many of the Guatemalan subjects were infected by inhumane and almost tortuous means.

Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect is that U.S. Public Health Service was entirely aware of the ethical violations at play here, and consciously disregarded them.

For more information, please see:

USA News Week – U.S. Expresses Regret Over Infecting Guatemalans for STD Tests – 2 October 2010

CNN – Studies Show “Dark Chapter” of Medical Research – 1 October 2010

Latin American Herald Tribune – U.S. Apologizes to Guatemala for Syphilis Experiments – 1 October 2010

The New York Times – U.S. Apologizes for Syphilis Tests in Guatemala – 1 October 2010

Slave-Like Conditions Found on Fishing Boats Supplying Europe

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – Workers are suffering slave-like conditions on illegal fishing boats supplying fish and seafood to the European market, according to a report published Thursday by the London-based group Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).  The report “All at Sea – The Abuse of Human Rights Aboard Illegal Fishing Vessels” follows an investigation by EJF spanning four years.

Living quarters on illegal fishing vessel often about a meter high (Photo Courtesy of EJF)
Living quarters on illegal fishing vessels are often about a meter high. (Photo Courtesy of Environmental Justice Foundation)

EJF investigated fishing trawlers operating off the coast of Sierra Leone and Guinea.  The boats have official European Union numbers, which means they are licensed to sell to the European market.  The biggest landing point for fish from west African waters is Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, which senior EU officials have criticized for its slack inspection procedure.

The official European Union numbers carried by the boats also mean that those vessels should have passed strict hygiene standards.  However, the EJF report alleges that extremely unhealthy and hazardous conditions exist on board many of the vessels they investigated.

The report claims that the “worst cases meet the International Labour Organization definition of forced labor, including physical confinement, compulsion, retention of identity documents, and non-payment of wages.”  The report goes on to detail conditions where crew members have been “punched, beaten with metal rods, deprived of sleep, imprisoned without food or water, and forced to continue working after injury; the worst cases of violence include murder.”

Some workers are forced to work in areas sorting fish with no ventilation and temperatures well over 100 ˚F.  Photographs and video show living quarters where the ceiling is less than a meter high, or where wooden structures are perched precariously on deck in danger of “being washed over the side.”

EJF alleges that workers are drawn from rural areas of countries like Vietnam or the Philippines, as well as locals, with the promise of higher wages than they could earn at home.  It’s only when they get to the boat that they find those promises never materialize – usually after their passports have been taken away.

The report details one case of a vessel fishing illegally in Sierra Leonean waters,  where “[local] crew members had been picked up in Freetown and taken on without contracts and were not given cash payment.  Instead they were paid in boxes of frozen ‘trash’ fish, which is the bycatch rejected by the European market.

EJF did not originally intend to investigate human rights abuses, but rather focus on illegal fishing practices.

Duncan Copeland,  an EJF investigator, said, “We didn’t set out to look at human rights but rather to tackle the illegal fishing that’s decimating fish stocks, but having been on board we have seen conditions that unquestionably meet the UN official definition of forced labour or modern-day slavery.”

For more information, please see:

MSNBC – Report finds slave-like conditions on fishing vessels – 30 September 2010

GUARDIAN UK – Modern-day slavery: horrific conditions on board ships catching fish for Europe – 30 September 2010

AOL NEWS – Slavery Found on Fishing Boats Supplying Europe – 30 September 2010

EJF – EJF Releases New Report – 30 September 2010

Suu Kyi, Myanmar Political Prisoner

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

RANGOON, Union of Myanmar – The anticipated release of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, scheduled for November 13, has placed the Burmese government under International pressure.  Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won in a landslide election success in Myanmar in 1990, but the military junta overruled the results.  

Aung San Suu Kyis supporters rally at Burmas embassy in Tokyo yesterday
Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters rally at Burma's embassy in Tokyo yesterday

Suu Kyi, has become the icon of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement and remains the military government’s most well-known opposition.  Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. Critics say the coming elections aim to create a disguise of democracy. The regime recently passed a law that made her ineligible to stand in the November 7 election because of her court conviction, due to a bizarre incident in which an American swam to her lakeside home.

The November poll is part of the junta’s long-announced “roadmap to democracy”, but critics have dismissed it as a sham designed to keep the military in power.

The country needs to show the world that its November elections are credible by releasing Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this week.

“The regime has repeatedly claimed it intended to release her on various dates over the years and has then failed to follow through on its commitment to release her.  So, ultimately, I don’t tend to follow what they say, but rather what they do,” said attorney Jared Genser, who is based in Washington.

Mr. Ban said after Monday’s meeting, that the ministers had reiterated the need for the election process to be “more inclusive, participatory and transparent”.

Nyan Win, the foreign minister, rejected international condemnation on Tuesday, insisting that the junta is committed to a “free and fair” vote.

But, uncertainty continues to mount over whether the military regime will actually release the 65-year-old human rights and democratic activist, known reverently among Myanmar’s people as “The Lady”, will remain until the moment she appears in public.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) was forcibly disbanded in May, under the new and prohibitive election laws.

Government hurdles to opposition candidates include a fee of $500 per candidate, the equivalent of several months’ pay, for the majority of the Burmese people.

The National Democratic Force (NDF), a breakaway opposition party, is among those planning to contest the vote, a decision that put it at odds with Suu Kyi.

A Myanmar analyst based in Thailand said any release would come with conditions and that Suu Kyi “won’t be free to go out”.  “It’s a military dictatorship. No matter what the legal background of the issue, if they don’t want to release her, she won’t be released,” Aung Naing Oo said.

Along with promises to release Suu Kyi, the government, this week, moved to quash what it views as attempts to undermine the vote.

For more information, please see:

CNN World – Lawyers skeptical about Myanmar releasing Suu Kyi – 1 October 2010

Al Jazerra English – Suu Kyi to be ‘freed’ after polls – 1 October 2010

BBC – UN chief call for ‘inclusive’ Burma election – 27 September 2010