Courtesy of the International Committee of the Red Cross
This month the ICRC announced three awardees of the prestigious Florence Nightingale Medal, given in honor of their exceptional courage and devotion in caring for the victims of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti. Click to learn more and meet these individuals.
Also, the Regional Delegation for the United States and Canada welcomes the ICRC’s new executive management team, led by Director-General Yves Daccord. Read on to learn more about the people who will guide the ICRC for at least the next four years. We also share some insight into Mr. Daccord’s thinking about the future in a short interview.
Next, in response to a reader’s inquiry, they look at the question of diversity at the ICRC. Did you know that while the ICRC was once an organization staffed exclusively by Swiss nationals, today their staff members represent more than 128 nationalities?
And lastly, they share the latest ICRC video that encourages you to “become part of the action.” Watch it and find out more. It is available on the website as well as on YouTube.
By Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
Iraqi Soldiers inspecting the scene of a suicide attack in western Baghdad, where at least forty-three people, mainly Awakening Movement members, were killed. (Photo by Khalid Mohammed, Courtesy of the AP)
BAGHDAD, Iraq – On Sunday, at least forty-seven people were killed in two coordinated suicide attacks. The first occurred as the victims were waiting in line to get paid by the Iraqi government at an army office in western Baghdad, and the second occurred in al Qaim, a city in the Anbar Province in western Iraq. Most of those killed in the attacks were Sahwa militiamen, members of what is often called the Awakening movement. The Awakening movement is made up of former Sunni insurgents who joined with the United States and Iraqi forces to fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq—a shift in allegiance that many see as a key turning point in the direction of the war.
The recent attacks are part of an increase in what appear to be revenge attacks against members of the Awakening movement and their families, largely carried out by elements of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The attacks are generally viewed as payback for what has been viewed by many as a significant role played by the Awakening movement in fighting al-Qaeda throughout central Iraq.
The Awakening movement complains that the Shiite-led Iraqi government, which they allege has always viewed them with suspicion, neglects them and also fails to protect them and their families from revenge attacks. They claim that the government has failed to fulfill its promises to integrate twenty percent of the roughly ninety-two thousand Awakening members in the regular security forces, to find jobs for others, and to keep paying their salaries on time—the victims of the most recent attacks reportedly had not been paid in five months, and it is reported that the monthly salaries of Awakening members have been cut from the three hundred dollars when they were under United States leadership, to one hundred dollars under Iraqi government control.
According to the Awakening commander of Baghdad’s Radwaniya district, “The [Iraqi] army has good relations with us and is cooperative, but there is no support from the government.” He further claimed, “I used to command 1,240 men, each one an important part of a security net, and now I command 400 only. The rest have become either porters or cleaners or are simply paid a monthly salary and stay at home.” The poor treatment by the government is cited as the reason many people leave both the Awakening and their new low-level jobs in civil ministries. Moreover, the Los Angeles Times reports that many Awakening leaders have recently been arrested for crimes they allegedly committed when they were insurgents, and that other Awakening members have been assassinated.
The Christian Science Monitor cites numerous examples of such assassinations: In December, two roadside bombs in December killed two Awakening commanders; in March, men broke into the house of a Awakening militiaman, shooting him and his wife; in June, an Awakening member’s house was blown up on the outskirts of Fallujah; last month, gunmen raided the home of a man who belonged to a tribe that has been vocal in its anti-Al Qaeda views, killing five of his family members; and just last week, an Awakening leader was brutally slain along with his wife and children in his South Baghdad home. There have also been frequent attacks of police officers, which have had their houses blown up and have witnessed family members being killed by gunmen.
Many Awakening members describe themselves as caught between radicals seeking revenge against them, and a government that appears just as likely to arrest them as give them their paychecks. Senior tribal leader, Sheik Ali Hatem Sulaiman, who is associated with the Awakening movement, said on Al Arabiya television, “The sons of the Awakening are paying with their blood . . . We haven’t seen the government, politicians or the Americans finding a solution to this problem.”
By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania
NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga—Two teenagers in Tonga have been spared a whipping sentence that would have given each six lashes with a rod. The Court of Appeal overturned the sentence this week on the grounds that it would be considered “cruel and unusual.”
Timote Fangupo and Penisimani Fa’aoa, both now 17, were first imprisoned for crimes they committed when they were 15. They served time for housebreaking and theft, and escaped from prison three times.
The whipping sentences, accompanied by a 13-year prison term, were set late last year by Justice Shuster, a British Commonwealth High Court Judge who had been appointed to Tonga in 2008.
The whipping punishment had not been used in Tonga in 30 years. The Appeal Court took modern global trends into account when deciding which course to take in this case. Their judgment stated that, “interpreted in the light of international conventions and decisions of this Court it might be argued that the whipping provision is now unconstitutional.”
The Appeal Court acknowledged that international attitudes toward corporal punishment had changed over the past 20 years, saying, “A number of countries have adopted or amended constitutions to prohibit cruel and unusual punishment. Tonga has not amended its constitution.”
The Court cited the UN’s Human Rights Committee, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the European Court of Human Rights, all of which have spoken out against whipping or flogging.
Also noted by the Justices was the controversy concerning whether it is ethical for a physician to certify offenders as being fit for whipping. The judgment mentioned that medical ethics may “prevent a doctor from participating in the infliction” of such a punishment.
The Court concluded that the whipping punishment would be excessive, and that the sentencing judge had committed error by taking certain prejudicial factors into account: “There had been assaults on prison staff in ‘Eua and the burning of the prison in Tongatapu. There is no suggestion that either of the appellants had anything at all to do with either of these incidents; indeed, their offending and their imprisonment is on the island of Vava’u.”
Instead of enduring the whipping, the teenage appellants will now serve prison sentences totaling six years.
Tonga’s Human Rights and Democracy Movement congratulated the Appeal Court for overturning the sentence. The Movement’s director, Po’oi Pohiva, said, “Such punishment should no longer be seen given the international laws that uphold and promote the dignity of the human person.”
By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BRASILIA, Brazil—A conference on issues affecting women in Latin America and the Caribbean was held this week in Brazil with hopes of achieving equality between men and women. Members called on regional governments to ensure women’s autonomy and economic empowerment.
The eleventh session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean was organized by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Over 800 delegates were present, representing more than 30 nations. The theme chosen for the conference was “What kind of State? What kind of equality?”
ECLAC presented a position paper, the Brasilia Consensus, detailing past accomplishments and future challenges in the realm of gender equality. The document announced that women in Latin America and the Caribbean are burdened by a heavier overall workload than men, much of which is unpaid domestic labor. Women in the workplace are still discriminated against and receive lower wages than their male counterparts. The paper proposed a social covenant that would balance workloads more evenly between men and women and facilitate women’s access to paid jobs.
“It will not be possible to achieve equality for women in the workplace until the burden of unpaid and care work, which they have historically shouldered, has been resolved,” said ECLAC’s executive secretary, Alicia Barcena. “This calls for the establishment of a new virtuous equation that encompasses the State, the market and the family.”
ECLAC’s data from 2008 reports that 31.6% of women over age 15 —but only 10.4% of men– had no income of their own. 8.3% of women were unemployed, while only 5.7% of men were in similar circumstances.
Other goals mentioned in the Brasilia Consensus included women’s increased participation in political processes, access to new technologies, and the elimination of all violence against women. For women suffering as victims of violence, the Consensus demanded justice and free legal assistance.
Members of the conference promised solidarity with earthquake-ravaged Haiti and Chile, agreeing to aid in reconstruction and work for gender equality in those countries.
A delegation from the conference was received Wednesday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and handed the Brazilian leader a copy of the Brasilia Consensus. The same day, the new UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women was introduced.
By Tristan Simoneau Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
Photo: Cars burn during rioting in Belfast on July 12th. [Source: CNN]
BELFAST, Northern Ireland – On July 11th, riots erupted in Belfast when a Protestant march passed through areas mainly populated by Catholics. Despite the calm in the region since a 1998 peace deal, violence still often breaks out around July 12th as Catholics try to prevent marches. Known as The Twelfth, the holiday has been marred by violence and has been a continuing source of tension between Catholics and Protestants. The date marks Prince William of Orange’s victory over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The month of July is the height of the “marching season”, a six-month period in which the pro-British Protestant fraternal organization, the Orange Order, takes to the streets to celebrate the ascension of William of Orange to the British throne. The past decade has seen a gradual decrease of tension between the groups, until this year.
On the night of the 11th, twenty-seven officers were hurt, including three who were shot at close range by a man armed with a shotgun. On July 12th, the day of the march, police had to remove demonstrators who staged a sit-down protest to block the march. Rioting erupted soon afterwards and more than 50 officers were injured. There are reports that on July 13th, four to six shots were fired at police in the mainly Catholic Ardoyne district of Belfast. Many rioters also threw petrol bombs and stones, prompting police to use water cannons to deter the attacks. Now police commanders are saying that the rioting appears to be on the wane after four nights of attacks that have left more than 80 officers wounded. A Belfast deputy commander, Duncan McCausland, said rioting Wednesday night and Thursday morning involved “a substantially smaller group of people.”
Politicians have accused the Irish Republican Army of directing the violence that began Sunday night. British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the behavior of the protestors as “completely unacceptable” and praised the police for their “bravery and restraint.” Cameron said Northern Ireland’s police force is under local control and is no longer taking orders from London. The Prime Minister also stated “there is no excuse for anyone not to cooperate with the police force.”
The Chief Constable of Northern Ireland, Matt Baggot, has stated that his force is determined to bring those responsible to justice. Five arrests have been made following the violence.
