A Voice for the Voiceless

Legitimacy of the ICC Strengthened By Enforcement Agreements with Belgium, Denmark, and Finland

By Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KAMPALA, Uganda – On June 1, 2010, Belgium, Denmark, and Finland signed agreements with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to enforce tribunal judges sentences of imprisonment.  The signing ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of Belgium, the Under-Secretary for legal affairs in the Danish Foreign Ministry, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Under-Secretary for Legal Affairs in the Danish Foreign Ministry.

The ICC President with representatives of Belgium, Denmark and Finland
Photo: The ICC President with representatives of Belgium, Denmark, and Finland [Source: AP]

These agreements raise the number of countries that are willing to detain people convicted by the ICC to five after Austria and the United Kingdom signed similar agreements in 2005 and 2007 respectively.  During the signing ceremony the President of the ICC, Judge San-Hyun Song, stated that “having sufficient options in place to ensure the enforcement of judicially ordered sentences is an important element in the overall credibility of the judicial process at the ICC.”

The Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is ongoing in Kampala, Uganda from 31 May to 11 June.  States that are currently parties to the ICC Rome Statute (ICC’s founding treaty), as well as observer states, international organizations, and NGOs are meeting to discuss amendments to the Statute as well as its impact to date.  Sentences of imprisonment, in accordance with Chapter X of the Rome Statute, shall be enforced by States which have declared to the Court their willingness to accept sentenced persons.

The ICC may enter into bilateral arrangements with States  to regulate the acceptance of persons sentenced by the Court.   According to the Statute, in deciding in which of the consenting States a person should serve its sentence, the ICC takes into consideration circumstances such as the application of standards governing the treatment of prisoners and the views and nationality of the sentenced person.  When the ICC has made a decision it notifies the State with information regarding the prisoner’s nationality, his or her medical status, the sentence and the final judgment.  The prisoner is then delivered to the territory of the State.

The ICC is the first permanent, treaty based, international criminal court.  The ICC is based in The Hague in the Netherlands tries people accused of the most serious international offences involving crimes against humanity such as genocide.  Currently, investigations are ongoing in five nations including Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Kenya.  Four suspects are currently in the court’s custody while two trials are underway before the ICC Trial Chambers.

For more information, please see:

HAGUE JUSTICE PORTAL – The ICC has entered into Agreements with Belgium, Denmark, and Finland to Enforce Sentences – 2 June 2010

FRONTIER INDIA – The ICC Sings Enforcement Agreements with Belgium, Denmark, and Finland – 1 June 2010

UN NEWS CENTER – European Trio Agree to Enforce Jail Terms Imposed by ICC – 1 June 2010

Papua New Guinea Government Struggles to Combat Cholera Outbreak

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor-News

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea- A cholera outbreak, which started in August of 2009 appears to be getting worse. There have been over 600 cases reported since August and reports of the disease are no longer only appearing in rural areas. There have been reports of the disease in the capital city of Port Moresby.

The government declared a public health emergency in August after there were reports that public funds to fight the disease were “dried up.”  The spread of the disease to urban areas has been linked to sanitation problems.

A health expert told Radio News Australia that in “the urban areas you’ve got a lot of settlement areas, low income settlement areas, and also enclaves of squatter settlements and these are generally not well serviced with good quality water and sanitation standards.”

When asked about government preparedness for such an outbreak, the government stressed that Papua New Guinea has “very limited resources within its health care sector . . . they generally have a high burden of health related issues, things like malaria, TB, HIV Aids etc . . . when diseases like this come along, they really have to divert resources from those areas to deal.”

Government officials are calling for multi-sector collaboration to combat the disease aggressively.

For more information, please see:

Top News-Cholera Outbreak in Papua New Guinea’s Capital Port Moresby-4 June 2010

Radio News Australia-Death Toll Rises from PNG Cholera Epidemic-3 June 2010

Radio News Australia-Poor Sanitation and Water Quality Fuelling-3 June 2010

Impartial Investigation Urged in Murder of Activist Floribert Chebeya

Floribert Chebeya, courtesy of www.rtbf.be
Floribert Chebeya, courtesy of www.rtbf.be

By Celeste Little
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo– Floribert Chebeya, a prominent Congolese human rights activist, was found dead in his car, in the Mont Ngafula area of Kinshasa, on Tuesday. He was forty seven. Chebeya sent a text message to his wife stating that he was at police headquarters for a meeting he had scheduled with the national police chief, John Numbi, but they had “not been able to meet.” His driver, Fidele Bazana, is still missing.

Chebeya had written to the police chief regarding the improvement of detention conditions in prisons and had received a letter acknowledging his concerns. On June 1st, the police called Chebeya to invite him to meet with Numbi. Chebeya left his office at 5 p.m. to attend the meeting, called his wife to let her know he was on his way and sent the text message to say they hadn’t been able to meet at 8 p.m. After 9 p.m. all communication from Chebeya ceased. The scheduled meeting never occurred, according to the police and members of Chebeya’s organization, the Voice of Voicelessness.

Chebeya founded the Voice of the Voiceless in 1983. The organization was based in Kinshasa and was one of the most renowned human rights organizations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Chebeya fought against illegal arrest, unjustified detention and corruption. He had been subject to threats, surveillance, and police abuse for over twenty years because of the radical opinion he held.  The DRC has been preparing to celebrate 50 years of independence from Belgium and though Cheyeba received an invitation to festivities that were being held by Belgian king, Albert II, he refused to attend. He denounced the celebration, saying that “this was not a time for parades but an opportunity to discuss the social ills still facing the country,” according to Thomas Fessy for BBC News.

A senior UN investigator who spoke to BBC believes that the circumstances surrounding Chebeya’s death, “strongly suggest official responsibility.” On Thursday, members of Chebeya’s family were allowed access to his body at the main morgue in Kinshasa. They were only allowed to see his face because the rest of his body was covered by a sheet that they were not allowed to remove, said Fessy. Dolly Ibefo, one of Chebeya’s collegues from the Voice of Voicelessness, said that when he viewed the body, he noticed blood in Chebeya’s ears, nose and mouth. Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, claims that. “the Chebeya family’s very limited access to his body and conflicting statements about the cause of death raise serious concerns about what really happened. These irregularities indicate there may already be an attempt to cover up the truth.”

Her concerns regarding this case are not unfounded because this isn’t the first time a human rights activist or journalist has been murdered for his opinion. In November of 2005, journalist Franck Ngyke and his wife, Helene Mpaka, were murdered outside their home in Kinshasa. On July 31, 2005, human rights activist Pascal Kabungulu Kimembi, was shot and killed in his home in Bukavu, in eastern Congo. In June 2007 and November 2008, respectively, two radio journalists from Radio Okapi, Serge Maheshe and Didace Namujimbo were also killed in Bukavu.

Organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have been joined by the United Nations, the European Union and France in investigating Chebeya’s death to insure that the investigation and trial of his murder is not handled in the same way as it was in each of these killings.  The government of the DRC has not officially responded to Chebeya’s death, but has called for an inquiry into it.

For more information, please see:

AFP-Driver of murdered DRC rights activist missing–4 June 2010

BBC News- UN calls for DR Congo probe into activist’s death– 4 June 2010

Human Rights Watch- DR Congo: Prominent Human Rights Defender Killed– 3 June 2010

U.S. Kills Civilians in Drone Strikes over Pakistan and Afghanistan

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

WAZIRSTAN, Afghanistan – Nine people were killed one Friday night when a suspected U.S. drone struck North Waziristan, near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, according local officials.  The dead consisted of two children, two women and five men, Pakistani intelligence and administrative officials said.  Investigators from the US military have found that “inaccurate and unprofessional” reporting by US operators of a drone was behind a missile strike that killed 23 Afghan civilians in February.”

US crew faulted for drone deaths

(Image courtesy of apakistannews.com)

Four American officers – two described as senior – received formal reprimands over the incident.  Ge.neral Stanley McChrystal, the top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, called for the Air Force to investigate the actions of the crew involved in the incident.  “Our most important mission here is to protect the Afghan people,” he told reporters.  McChrystal had apologized to Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, shortly after the attack.

“Inadvertently killing or injuring civilians is heartbreaking and undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will do all we can to regain that trust.”

Because the drone strikes kill innocent civilians and bystanders along with leaders from far away, they “infuriate the Muslim male”, said Addicott, thus making them more willing to join the movement. The men in Pakistan’s tribal region “view Americans as cowards and weasels”, he added.

The UN says at least 2,412 civilians were killed in the Afghan conflict in 2009 – a 14 per cent increase over the previous year.  Nato and Afghan government forces were responsible for 25 per cent of the deaths and of those, about 60 per cent were due to airstrikes, the UN said in a report published in January.

While using drones to attack what amounts to military targets might not be strictly illegal under existing laws of war, Alston says, because such practices “make it easier to kill without risk to a state’s forces, policymakers and commanders will be tempted to interpret the legal limitations on who can be killed, and under what circumstances, too expansively.” Moreover, Alston says, “Because [drone] operators are based thousands of miles away from the battlefield and undertake operations entirely through computer screens and remote audio feed, there is a risk of developing a ‘PlayStation’ mentality to killing.” Alston recommends that governments should also make public “the number of civilians collaterally killed in a targeted killing operation, and the measures in place to prevent such casualties.”

For more information, please see:

CNN World News – 9 killed in suspected U.S. drone strike in Pakistan – 22 May 2010

IPS News – CIA Drone Operators Oppose Strikes as Helping al Qaeda – 3 June 2010

Al Jazeera English – US crew faulted for drone deaths – 30 May 2010

Image Courtesy of A Pakistan News

‘Operation Condor’ Torture Garage Trial Opens in Argentina

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Five Argentine ex-military officials have gone to trial, accused of human rights abuses and the deaths of 65 people under a clandestine co-operative by several South American dictatorships. Operation Condor, which operated between 1976 and 1983, was an effort to eliminate dissidents seeking refuge in neighboring countries.  There are hopes that the trial will bring to light the secrets of the notorious Automotores Orletti torture center, one of many similar prisons used by the military dictatorship.

The Automotores Orletti, nicknamed “the garden” by the military, appeared as an auto-body shop in a popular middle-class neighborhood of Buenos Aires.  But behind its metal garage door, bound, blindfolded prisoners were held alongside car parts and engines that ran to mask their screams.  Prisoners were interrogated and tortured, given electrical shocks and submerged headfirst in water.

Rodolfo Yanzon, a human rights attorney representing the plaintiffs, said, “This trial is even more important since the clandestine center was used by intelligence services of other Latin American countries, and people from those countries were detained there.”  Among the 200-plus people held at Automotores Orletti were Argentines, Uruguayans, Chileans, Paraguayans, Bolivians and Cubans.  John Dinges, author of “The Condor Years,” estimated that only 10 percent of them survived.  Dinges explained that Orletti “was the place that housed the international prisoners, those who were detained using the international network of Condor.”

A prosecutor described what took place in the secret prison as “calculated and planned and amounted to a death sentence.”  The center was shut down after two Mexicans escaped, grabbing a firearm and firing at guards.  In 2008, the center was converted into a museum.

Those charged on Thursday were Raul Guglielminetti, Ruben Visuara, Eduardo Cabanillas, Nestor Guillamondegui, Honorio Martinez Ruiz, and Eduardo Ruffo.  They were charged with illegal detention, torture and the killing of 65 people.  Guillamondegui was excused from the trial because of bad health.  Court officials said his health would be monitored to determine if he would face trial later.

Operation Condor was a coordinated repression by South American dictatorships against left-wing activists.  Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay all participated.  Rights activists say that between 1976 and 1983, 30,000 people were killed or disappeared under the Argentine dictatorship.

The trial, expected to last months, reflects Argentina’s effort to resolve crimes of the 1976-1983 military junta.

For more information, please see:

BBC-New ‘Operation Condor’ trial starts in Argentina – 4 June 2010

AP-Argentina court opens dirty war torture garage trial – 3 June 2010

Nine MSN-Argentines face trial for Condor deaths – 3 June 2010