Human Rights Council Announces Flotilla Fact-Finding Mission, Israel Rejects Mission’s Mandate

By Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

The Human Rights Council held an urgent debate on Israels flotilla raid during its last session. (Photo by Warren Popp)
The Human Rights Council held an urgent debate on Israel's flotilla raid during its last session. (Photo by Warren Popp)

GENEVA, Switzerland – On the twenty-third of July, the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Ambassador Sihasak Phuangketkeow, announced the appointment of three independent experts to an international fact-finding mission to “investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance.” The May thirty-first raid on the flotilla resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish citizens, including one with joint American citizenship, the injury of dozens of other activists, and the injury of several Israeli commandos.

The “independent international fact-finding mission” was established to implement a Human Rights Council Resolution, which was passed during an urgent debate on the Israeli raid on the second of June 2010. The Council deplored “the loss of life of innocent civilians” during the debate.

The Mission is expected to travel to Israel, Turkey, and Gaza in August to conduct their investigation, and will report their findings to the Council  during their next session, which is scheduled to begin on the twelfth of September.

In announcing the appointment of the experts to the panel, Ambassador Phuangketkeow said: “The expertise, independence and impartiality of the members of the mission will be devoted to clarifying the events which took place that day and their legality. We call upon all parties to fully cooperate with the mission and hope that this mission will contribute to peace in the region and justice for the victims.”

While Israel has not officially responded to the Council’s request for cooperation with the mission, as expected, Israel did not respond favourably to the announcement of the mission’s formation. A senior Israeli official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, “This panel of experts is not intending to look for the truth but to satisfy the non-democratic countries which control the Human Rights Council, who have an automatic anti-Israeli majority.” This is a common criticism of the Council voiced by observers and non-governmental organizations.

The Jerusalem Post quotes the IDF Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi as saying, “My personal opinion is that more probes into the flotilla are out of line.”

The Israeli military recently completed its own internal investigation into the probe, finding that the killings of activists were justified, but admitting that the Israel Defence Force (IDF) made some mistakes in their preparation for the raid. In addition to the military investigation, Israel has set up a panel, the Tirkel Committee, to investigate the incident, and to decide whether the raid was in compliance with international law.

It has also been reported that Israel is seriously considering cooperating with the work of an international panel proposed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which will include both Turkish and Israeli participation. Israel has reportedly been in consultations with the Secretary-General over the panel’s composition, and has stipulated that, in return for its cooperation, the panel should begin its work only after the Tirkel Committee completes its work, and that the panel’s findings should take precedence over all other international probes into the raid.

The Christian Science Monitor claims, “Beyond the flotilla affair, Israel wants to court the UN chief as a way of limiting the influence of the international body’s Human Rights council.” The Monitor quotes an Israeli government official as saying, “You have to distinguish between the two.” “The human rights council makes no pretense to be objective. It has a persistent and consistent anti-Israel obsession…. The same cannot be said of the secretary general. In Israel we hold him in the highest esteem.”
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The three independent experts on the newly appointed Human Rights Council fact-minding mission are, Judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, Queen’s Counsel (Trinidad and Tobago), who served as a Judge of the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2007; Sir Desmond de Silva, Queen’s Counsel (United Kingdom), who served as Chief Prosecutor of the UN backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2005 at the level of an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations; and Mary Shanthi Dairiam (Malaysia), who was a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women from 2005 to 2008, and has been serving on the Gender Equality Task Force of the United Nations Development Programme since 2007.

For more information, please see:

The Christian Science Monitor – Israel Signals New Cooperation with UN Over Gaza Flotilla – 26 July 2010

AFP – Israel Slams UN Council’s Gaza Flotilla Probe – 25 July 2010

Jerusalem Post – Gaza Flotilla Probes are Out of Line – 25 July 2010

Al Arabiya News – UN Forum Names Team to Probe Israel Ship Raid – 23 July 2010

Arab News – UN Names Team to Probe Israel’s Ship Raid – 23 July 2010

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Press Release: United Nations Human Rights Council Panel to Investigate Israeli Raid on Gaza Flotilla Established – 23 July 2010

Argentina: Senate Approves Bill Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage

By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – On July 15th, the Argentinian Senate approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.  Gay rights supporters prevailed with a 33-27 majority after 14 hours of debate.  The decision was announced to hundreds of supporters waiting outside the Senate.

The bill became law when President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, a gay rights supporter, signed it on July 21st.  “Today we are a society that is a little more egalitarian than last week,” Fernandez said at the signing.

Approximately 70% of Argentinians support same-sex marriage.  However, as in other cultures, Argentina remains divided on the issue.  The Examiner reports that while opponents of the bill proposed a “union bill” as a compromise, it omitted several rights that were provided by the Senate bill.

The Associate Press stated that the “union bill” would have limited rights, including the right to adopt children or pursue in-vitro fertilization.  It added that civil servants could unilaterally object to registering homosexual couples in a same-sex union.

The new bill grants same-sex couples the full legal protections and responsibilities given to heterosexual couples in marriage.  Those rights include the ability to inherit property and to jointly adopt children.

Mexico City was the first region in South America to legalize same-sex marriages. Argentina may be the second, but it is the first country to do so.  Argentina’s first gay marriage is scheduled for August 13 between two partners who have lived together for 34 years.  Mexico City has promised the couple a free honeymoon to Mexico.

The Catholic Church is a major voice of opposition.  ABC reports that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio called gay marriage in Argentina “a loss for everyone,” saying “children need to have the right to be raised and educated by a father and a mother.

The passing of the bill has worsened the Fernandez administration’s already strained relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.

For more information, please see:

Time – International Gay Marriage – 22 July 2010

Associated Press – Argentina’s Gay Marriage Law Signed by President – 21 July 2010

ABC – Mexico City Promises a Free Honeymoon to Argentina’s First Married Gay Couple –  17 July 2010

The Examiner – Argentina’s Senate Passes Historic Same-Sex Marriage Bill – 16 July 2010

Duch Found Guilty: War Crimes Day of Reckoning

David L. Chaplin II

Impunity Watch Reporter; Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch has been found guilty of crimes against humanity by Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes tribunal. Duch, 67, whose full name is Kaing Guek Eav, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The man who ran a notorious torture prison where more than 14,000 people died during the Khmer Rouge regime was found guilty of war crimes Monday and sentenced to 35 years in prison — with 5 years taken off that sentence for time served.  The verdict against Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, also convicted him of crimes against humanity, murder and torture.  Duch ran Tuol Sleng prison, where “enemies” of the Khmer Rouge regime were sent.

At least 1.7 million people — nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population — died under the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime from execution, disease, starvation and overwork, according to the Documentation Center of Cambodia.  But prosecutors said the former maths teacher ordered the use of brutal torture methods to extract “confessions” from detainees – including pulling out toenails and administering electric shocks – and approved all the executions.

A meticulous record-keeper, Duch built up a huge archive of photos, confessions and other evidence documenting those held at Tuol Sleng.

Despite acknowledging the role he played at Tuol Sleng, codenamed “S-21”, he insisted that he had only been following orders from his superiors, and on the trial’s final day in November shocked many by asking to be acquitted.

Wearing a blue shirt, the former Khmer Rouge jailer looked pensive and slumped in his chair as proceedings were held behind a floor-to-ceiling bullet-proof screen which separated the public gallery from the rest of the court.

“I can’t accept this,” Saodi Ouch, 46, told the Associated Press news agency. “My family died… my older sister, my older brother. I’m the only one left.”

Some said they wanted a tougher sentence. “There is no justice. I wanted life imprisonment for Duch,” said Hong Sovath, whose father was killed in Tuol Sleng. Many called the War crimes tribunal efforts a “shame” and “slap in the face” to survivors.

The group’s top leader, “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, died in 1998.  The other Khmer Rouge leaders awaiting trial are “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, the minister of social affairs.

For more information, please see:

CNN World – Khmer Rouger survivors angry over Duch jail sentence – 26 July 2010

Al Jazeera – Khmer Rouge prison chief convicted – 26 July 2010

BBC – Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch found guilty – 26 July 2010

Venezuela Agency Aims to Silence Critics

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

President Chavez at the presidential palace Wednesday.
President Chavez at the presidential palace Wednesday. Photo courtesy of The Associated Press.

CARACAS, Venezuela—Public debate in Venezuela is again in jeopardy after the creation of a new governmental office.  The office, formed by controversial President Hugo Chavez, may silence opposition in a country already stifled under censorship.

The Center for Situational Studies of the Nation (Centro de Estudio Situacional de la Nacion) emerged after Chavez issued a presidential decree on June 1 of this year.  The Center was given a high degree of discretion and can limit public dissemination of “information, facts or circumstance[s]” that it determines should be “reserved, classified or of limited release.”

The Center, a part of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, has been given the power to “compile, process and analyze” information from governmental entities and civil society  “regarding any aspect of national interest.”

Chavez recently launched criminal investigations into human rights organizations working in the country and accused such groups of being funded by the United States.  Any information considered capable of compromising “the security and defense of the nation” will now be subject to criminal prosecution under the Venezuelan National Security Law.

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, has been critical of the Center.  The group’s director of the Americas, Jose Miguel Vivanco, called attention to Venezuela’s official efforts to silence critics and human rights defenders.  He said that Chavez “has created a new tool for controlling public debate in Venezuela.  The new decree would allow the president to block the discussion of topics that are inconvenient for his government, blatantly violating the rights of expression and to information, which are at the heart of a democratic society.”

Human Rights Watch believes that the Center may lead to more restrictive legislation.  A broad clause in Chavez’s decree states that laws or other norms determined by the government may grant the Center even more expansive powers to block information sharing.  The American Convention on Human Rights, of which Venezuela is a party, prohibits censorship of this kind.

Chavez has shut down several independent media outlets, and recently took control of the last remaining opposition TV station, Globovision.  He now has plans to disrupt Vale TV, a Catholic channel which the Archdiocese of Caracas has operated since 1998.  “I have ordered a review [into Vale TV] so that we can repossess the channel and put it at the service of the nation,” Chavez said.  Vale TV, a non-profit station, issued a statement saying “editorial independence” and “plurality” is at stake.

For more information, please see:

UPI-Human Rights Watch: Venezuela government office muzzling critics-23 July 2010

CNA-Venezuelan president aims to shut down Catholic television channel-23 July 2010

AP-Rights Group Criticizes New Venezuela Info Office-22 July 2010

The Western Star-Rights group concerned about new Venezuela gov’t agency that will monitor information-21 July 2010

U.S. resumes ties with Indonesian military group known for human rights abuses

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

Indonesian soldiers welcome U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who announced that the U.S. was lifting a ban on engagement with special Indonesian military forces.
Indonesian soldiers welcome U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who announced that the U.S. was lifting a ban on engagement with special Indonesian military forces. (Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles Times.)

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The U.S. military has decided to lift a decade-long ban on engagement with Indonesia’s Komanda Pasukan Khusus (Kopassas), a special forces unit that has been accused of humans rights abuses.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, during a visit to Jakarta on Thursday, said after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that a limited program of engagement with the group would be permitted after the Obama administration concluded that the group has demonstrated a commitment to human rights.

“I was pleased to be able to tell the president that as a result of Indonesian military reforms over the past decade, the ongoing professionalization of the [Indonesian armed forces], and recent actions taken by the ministry of defense to address human rights issues,” Gates told reporters after meeting with Yudhoyono, “the United States will begin a gradual, limited program of security cooperation activities with the Indonesian army special forces.”

Yudhoyono promised that Indonesian Military (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, or TNI) reforms would continue and that there would be no repeat of the abuses that once took place.

According to Human Rights Watch, Kopassus members have engaged in serious human rights abuses, including carrying out abductions, forming deadly militia forces in East Timor in 1999, engaging in arbitrary detention of civilians in Papua, and abducting and killing Papuan activist and leader Theys H. Eluay in 2001.

The U.S. government severed all aid to the Indonesian military in 1999 because of the widespread human rights violations.

Human rights groups have expressed concern with the recent decision.

“The Obama administration has just failed a key test. This is not the way to encourage reform with a military that has yet to demonstrate a genuine commitment to accountability for serious human rights abuses. This decision rewards Kopassus for its intransigence over abuses and effectively betrays those in Indonesia who have fought for decades for accountability and justice,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, in response to Thursday’s decision.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Gates that outlined recommendations on how to approach continued engagement with the Indonesian military, urging the Obama administration to focus on a relationship that would both protect human rights in Indonesia and further national security objectives in the United States. However, as the letter noted, “without the necessary reforms in place, such assistance may facilitate continued violations of human rights in Indonesia and reinforce impunity.” The letter detailed past and recent human rights violations.

The decision comes in the development of the U.S.’s attempt to strengthen ties with Indonesia. President Obama has planned two trips to Indonesia this year. Both had to be cancelled in the wake of important domestic events: the health care reform bill and the Gulf oil spill.

Pentagon officials have indicated that the relationship will develop slowly, and that no cash aid will be delivered. Gates noted that members of Congress had been briefed on the decision and response was positive.

Indonesian officials also welcomed the announcement. “This is a positive start,” said Djoko Suyanto, Indonesia’s commander-in-chief, adding, “we will prepare ourselves.”

For more information, please see:

Asia Sentinel – Kopassus Reinstatement Stirs Outrage – 23 July 2010

Jakarta Post – Kopassus officially off US military embargo – 23 July 2010

Los Angeles Times – U.S. to resume aid to controversial Indonesian army unit – 23 July 2010

Washington Post – U.S. to end ban on Indonesia’s special forces, angering human rights groups – 23 July 2010

CNN – U.S. to resume ties with once-notorious Indonesian military unit – 22 July 2010

Department of Defense – Gates Seeks Stronger Military Ties With Indonesia – 22 July 2010

Human Rights Watch – Indonesia: US Resumes Military Assistance to Abusive Force – 22 July 2010

Human Rights Watch – Letter to US Department of Defense Regarding US Military Assistance to Indonesia – 4 February 2010