Former Nazi Soldier Convicted for Killing Dutch Civilians

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany – On Tuesday March 23, the trial of an ex-Nazi soldier accused of war crimes ended in the maximum conviction of life in prison.

A trial court in Aachen, Germany (near Bonn) convicted Heinrich Boere, now 88 years old, to life in prison for killing three Dutch civilians in 1944.

Mr. Boere killed the civilians, including two Dutch business owners, in response to an attack on Nazi soldiers by Dutch resistance fighters. Prosecutors demonstrated that Mr. Boere willingly joined the infamous Feldmeijer death squad in 1940 after Nazi forces took over the Netherlands.

During the trial, which began in October 2009, Mr. Boere admitted to killing the civilians, but insisted that he was forced to follow orders from Nazi leaders in carrying out the murders. Mr. Boere was quoted by the press as saying: “I always regarded these assignments as military orders which I had to carry out.”

Presiding Judge Gerd Nohl scolded the killings, describing them as “murders that could hardly be outdone in terms of baseness and cowardice.”

Mr. Boere has been stateless since being stripped of his citizenship by the Netherlands in the 1950’s.

Tuesday’s verdict was not the first time Mr. Boere was convicted and sentenced for the murders. A Dutch court in 1949 found Mr. Boere guilty. He was then sentenced to death, but the penalty was commuted to life in prison. But Mr. Boere fled the Netherlands from his POW camp.

Mr. Boere has lived in Germany since. An attempt by the Netherlands to extradite Mr. Boere in the early 1980’s was denied when a German court determined that he had a potential German citizenship claim because he was born in Aachen.

Mr. Boere’s attorneys have said they will appeal the decision, pressing to dismiss the conviction because it did not comply with EU due process regulations. In the mean time, doctors will examine Mr. Boere to determine whether he is medically fit to serve a prison term.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Former Nazi SS member convicted of Dutch murders – 23 March 2010

JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY – Former SS soldier sentenced to life – 23 March 2010

NEW YORK TIMES – Ex-Nazi Guilty in Wartime Murders – 23 March 2010

Mass Grave Unearthed During Construction of Hotel in East Timor

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

DILI, East Timor – A number of bodies were unearthed from the construction site of a luxury hotel seven miles outside of Dili.

A Singaporean company began construction on the foundation of a five-star, beach front hotel when, last month, workers uncovered nine bodies on the site.  Experts believe they are East Timorese freedom fighters who were blindfolded and buried in a mass grave during the early years of the Indonesian occupation.  When they were uncovered, not only were all the bodies wearing what appeared to be remnants of blindfolds, but two of the bodies also had Portuguese military uniforms.

In 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor, which had been a Portuguese colony for more than 400 years.  It occupied East Timor until 1999, when it achieved its independence.  This twenty-four year period was a particularly brutal one in East Timor’s history.

During the occupation, freedom fighters wore the military uniforms and later on also used stolen Indonesian equipment.

A professor of international studies at Deakin University in Australia also believes that the bodies are those of freedom fighters who had been captured by the Indonesian army (also known as TNI), brought to Dili for interrogation, and then executed.  TNI would only bury such individuals if they had been executed.  On the other hand, freedom fighters who died in combat were often hung from trees to deter locals from taking up arms.

East Timor has appointed a government commission, which is responsible for searching for victims of the period in which Indonesia occupied the nation.

A representative of the government commission, Gregorio Saldanha, called the nine “heroes of our country”.  The commission continues to search for additional victims.

An estimated 180,000 individuals died during Indonesia’s occupation. After Indonesia left East Timor, many unmarked graves were unearthed, including a mass grave holding eighteen individuals at Dili’s airport runway.  Archeologists continue to search the area for more unmarked graves.

Hotel construction has been postponed due to archeological work on the site.

For more information please see:
Daily Commercial News – Bodies found during building of hotel in East Timor – 23 March 2010 http://dcnonl.com/article/id38072

The Age – Mass grave halts Timor hotel work – 14 March 2010 http://www.theage.com.au/world/mass-grave-halts-timor-hotel-work-20100313-q52c.html

Associated Press – Grave likely holds East Timorese freedom fighters -12 March 2010 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hIiPYCqSMHJerbFKlj-ofEEO5KNQD9ED2H180

Unsafe Water Kills More Than War

By Kylie M Tsudama

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

(Source:AFP)
(Source:AFP)

NEW YORK, United States – On World Water Day, the United Nations is highlighting the importance of water safety.  This year, the Day’s theme focuses on “Clean Water for a Healthy World.”

According to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in his message commemorating World Water Day, more people die from unsafe water than from violence, including war.

“These deaths are an affront to our common humanity, and undermine the efforts of many countries to achieve their developmental potential,” said the Secretary General.  “Our growing population’s need for water for food, raw materials and energy is increasingly competing with nature’s own demands for water to sustain already imperilled ecosystems and the services on which we depend.”

He added, “Day after day, we pour millions of tons of untreated sewage and industrial and agricultural wastes into the world’s water systems.  Clean water has become scarce and will become even scarcer with the onset of climate change.”

On March 20, scientists, policy-makers, and others gathered in Nairobi, Kenya to kick off a three-day celebration and discuss water safety.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that 39% of the population in West and Central Africa (more than 155 million people) have no access to potable water, an increase of nearly 30 million people from 1990 to 2008.

By 2015, countries were supposed to reach 75% drinking water coverage.  While West and Central Africa’s coverage has improved from 49% in 1990 to 61% in 2008, six countried still have less than 50% coverage: Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Mauritania, and Sierra Leone.

Complete lack of access to sanitation to the 291 million people in West and Central Africa was also noted as a particular area of concern, having “the highest under-five mortality rate of all developing regions at 169 deaths per 1,000 live births.”

According to United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “Access to reliable supplies of clean water is a matter of human security.  It’s also a matter of national security.”

She recognized that the Nile River Basin is largely affected by poverty and conflict, endangering 180 million people across 10 East African countries.

“Cooperative management of the basin’s water resources could increase growth — increase it enough to pull many of these countries out of poverty and provide a foundation for greater regional stability,” said Clinton.

Africa’s Sahel region is affected by drought.  On Thursday, nine countries from the region will meet in Chad to discuss water management and protection against food shortages.  Additionally, the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal) is focusing on creating a global coalition on managing water.

“Human activity over the past 50 years is responsible for unprecedented pollution, and the quality of the world’s water resources is increasingly challenged,” said Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP).  “It may seem like an overwhelming challenge but there are enough solutions where human ingenuity allied to technology and investments in nature’s purification systems – such as wetlands, forests and mangroves – can deliver clean water for a healthy world.”

The UN named the International Decade for Action of 2005-2015 as “Water for Life,” recognizing that all its “developmental goals, including material and shild health and life expectancy, women’s empowerment, food security, sustainable development and climate change adaptation and mitigation” rely on clean water.

“Without water, there will be no prospects for achieving all MDGs (Millenium Development Goals),” said Sha Zukang, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

For more information, please see:

Xinhua – UN Highlights Water Safety on World Water Day – 23 March 2010

AFP – More Deaths From Unsafe Water Than From War: UN – 22 March 2010

UN News Centre – Unsafe Water Kills More People Than War, Ban Says on World Day – 22 March 2010

UN OSSG – Secretary-General’s Message on World Water Day – 22 March 2010

Over 200,000 March on America for Immigration Reform

By Brenda Lopez Romero
Impunity Watch Reporter – North America desk

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Sunday April 21, 2010 historically witnessed over 200,000 supporters pack the National Mall to demand Comprehensive Immigration Reform and passage of the DREAM Act.  The activists urged for legalization for undocumented immigration this year.

The main chat common in Spanish for activism, “Yes we can,” also the campaign slogan for President Obama, at times drowned out the speakers.

This rally marks the return of immigration advocacy after immigration reform was defeated in 2007.  The immigrant community has endures tough law enforcement, raids, and targeted violence, in addition to racial profiling and discrimination.

The advocates and marchers both called for Obama to step up and keep his promise to lead the way to immigration reform in 2010.  The massive marchers fell silent to hear the televised message by Obama addressing the rally and his commitment to move an immigration bill.  “I have always pledged to be your partner as we work to fix our broken immigration system, and that’s a commitment that I reaffirm today,” Mr. Obama said.  He also said he supported an immigration bill presented last week by Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

Afterwards, Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, a Democrat from New York who is the chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus stated they expect immigration legislation sooner rather than later, because “every day without reform is a day when 12 million hard-working immigrants must live in the shadow of fear,” said.  She also reminded politicians and Obama not to “forget that in the last presidential election 10 million Hispanics came out to vote [and] that you will not forget which side of this debate they stood on.”  The advocated chant agreed and chanted “Now is the time.”

Multiple African-American civil right leaders also spoke at the event. Speakers included the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Benjamin T. Jealous, president of the N.A.A.C.P; Cornel West, a Princeton scholar, and Marc H. Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans and the president of the National Urban League to echo their community’s support for immigration reform

All agreed this is the new Civil Rights Movement of our time.

For more information, please see:

Huffington Post – 200,000 Is Just the Beginning – 22 March 2010

New York Times – At Rally, Call for Urgency on Immigration Reform – 22 March 2010

Washington Post – Broad coalition packs Mall to urge overhaul of immigration laws – 22 March 2010

Clashes in Senegal

By Kylie M Tsudama

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ZIGUINCHOR, Senegal – An attack on separatist rebels on Sunday night left one dead and five injured.  More recent fighting left three dead and nine more wounded.

Government soldiers are fighting with Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC) in the southern part of the country in Casamance province.

“When advancing our forces came under enemy fire and we lost a man.  Five others were wounded, including two seriously,” said an unnamed military officer.

The Senegalese army has been just south of Ziguinchor, Casamance’s main city, for several days raiding MFDC bases trying to clear them out.  Last week, two government soldiers were killed.

“We are continuing our operations,” said Colonel Ousmane Sar, army spokesman.  “[Rebels] are hanging on to their ground at all costs.  [As] long as there is resistance, we will continue to clear the area.”

On Monday morning, new fighting broke out about 110 miles east of Ziguinchor near the border of Guinea-Bissau.

“This morning, [the military] learned of the presence of armed elements in the area,” said a military source.  “Soldiers in place in Sareyoba went to the area to check.  The [rebels] opened fire on them and they responded.  There was an exchange of fire but calm quickly returned.”

When Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade came into power ten years ago, he promised that the Casamance rebellion would be resolved in “100 days.”  Last week, Wade said he was talking to some separatist rebels “who want peace.”

The separatist movement has been divided since Father Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, the MFDC leader, died in January 2007.

Clashes between the government forces and the separatist rebels have increased in the last six months, despite a 2004 peace accord, and at least fifteen soldiers have been killed by rebels in that time.

For more information, please see:

Africasia – Clashes Intensify Between Senegal Army, Separatists – 22 March 2010

VOA – Senegalese Army Tries to Sweep Out Rebel Bases in Casamance – 22 March 2010

Africasia – Senegalese Soldier Killed in Attack on Separatist Rebels – 21 March 2010