Niger Junta Face a Choice on Democracy

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NIAMEY, Niger – United States, African Union, and United Nations want Niger’s military junta to act quickly on pledges to restore democracy, saying sanctions could be lifted following moves to establish civilian rule.

During Thursday’s military coup, President Mamadou Tandja was taken into custody and the government was dissolved.  Because of this, the African Union imposed sanctions on Niger and demanded that they return to constitutional rule.

Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary General condemned the coup and appealed for the respect for human rights.

Colonel Goukoye Abdul Karimou, a junta spokesman, said that the situation was “under control” and that there was no “single voice of dissension” in the West African State.

“We are taking care of [Tandja] – remember he is one of our elder soldiers,” he said.

He also reassured reporters that most of the cabinet ministers captured along with the president had been released and returned home.  The three who remain captured will be freed in a couple of days.

The coup took place on Thursday when troops stormed the palace during a cabinet meeting seizing Mr. Tandja and his ministers before announcing that they were suspending the constitution and dissolving all state institutions.

Those supporting the coup call themselves the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD).  This coalition is made up of political parties, trade unions and human rights groups formed last year to protest against the constitutional changes.

The leaders of this council promised to turn Niger into an example of “democracy and good governance” and to save its people from “poverty, deception and corruption.”

The United States said it believed the coup had been triggered by Mr. Tandja’s actions late August, when he held a controversial referendum to abolish term limits on the presidency.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State William Fitzgerald said that the US position is clear:  they have to show as soon as possible that they are genuinely seeking to restore the constitution and move to a return to democratic and civilian rule.

Even though the African Union and regional group ECOWAS have condemned the takeover by force, there have been few kind words for Tanjda who’s rule was controversial and subject to sanction.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Niger Demonstrators Celebrate Coup – 20 February 2010

BBC – African Union Suspends Niger After Military Coup – 20 February 2010

National Post – Niger Coup Serves as Wake-Up Call – 20 February 2010

Reuters – US Says Niger Junta Faces Choice on Democracy – 20 February 2010

Reuters – Niger Opposition Rally Pressures Junta for Elections – 20 February 2010

Police Officer Beats Indian Woman

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

AMETHI, India – Multiple television channels broadcast a clip of a policeman beat a woman. The officer was suspended after millions viewed recorded attack.

Photograph of Sangeeta Kumar. Image courtesy of BBC World News.

Footage of the incident shows a policeman slapping a woman and pushing her to the ground, after which he punched and kicked her. The officer, Kailashnath Dwivedi of the Musafirkhana police station, claims he did it to force a confession after Sangeeta Kumar was accused of murdering her husband, Deepak Kumar. Correspondents say that the beating highlights the widespread problem of police brutality in India.

The woman, a member of the low-caste Dalit community, is accused of murdering her husband, whose strangulated body was found in their house on Tuesday. The footage appears to show an inspector assaulting the 26-year-old woman outside their home.

The woman was rounded up after some time and allegedly confessed to the crime, reported official, Satyendra Veer Singh. Despite the confession, Inspector Kailash Nath Dubey, however, beat her up while a second, subordinate female officer looked on. Condemning the incident, Singh said, “This kind of behaviour was really uncalled for. The lady had already confessed to the crime that she had murdered her husband….There was absolutely no need of beating up this lady so mercilessly.”

Singh went on to say that, “It was total brutality on part of the inspector. Finding him guilty, we have put him under suspension. A departmental inquiry is on. We will take necessary action against him.”

Subsequent to Singh’s announcement, a statement was issued addressing the gravity of the incident, and stated that the government has decided to terminate Dwivedi’s services, and would take immediate effect.

According to Indian law, there are strict guidelines on the arrest of a woman. A woman suspect can only be handled by a woman police officer and male policemen are not allowed to touch her. A policewoman has to be present at all times, including during interrogations. But most of these guidelines are regularly flouted by policemen in India.

Human rights activists are “appalled by this brutal attack on a woman.”


For more information, please see:

BBC World News – Indian policeman suspended over beating video – 18 February 2010

The Times of India – Inspector sacked for beating up Dalit woman – 18 February 2010

The Indian Express – Inspector suspended for thrashing woman before media – 17 February 2010

Press Trust of India – Cong slams Mayawati for police atrocity on Dalit woman -18 February 2010

School Accused of Spying on Student at Home

By Stephen Kopko

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

PENNSYLVANIA, United States – This week a student and his parents filed a lawsuit against a school district in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The student claims that employees of the Lower Merion School District spied on him at his home through a school-issued laptop computer. The student attends Harriton High School which is part of the Lower Merion School District.

The lawsuit stems from the school district’s policy of issuing each one of its students a laptop computer. All two thousand three hundred students in the school district receive laptops to conduct school work. Cameras and microphone systems are some of the features the laptops offer. The devices can be turned on through remote-activation software by people other than the user. The software can then relate information from the computer to outside parties.

The student claims that the software was used improperly by the school district. In November of 2009, he was accused of using his school-issued computer improperly by a school administrator. The administrator told him that he had an improper photograph on his computer. The school district did not inform students or their parents that they could activate the camera or recording device while the computer was at a student’s home.

In defense, the school district stated that it only used remote activation to locate missing laptops. The school district admitted to activating forty-two students’ cameras over a fourteen month period for that purpose. Subsequently, the school district has suspended its ability to remotely activate the laptops.

Privacy advocates, students, and parents were disturbed by the school district’s policy. They were fearful of placing such a powerful tool in the hands of school administrators. Parents and students argued that school officials had the ability to watch and find students and parents in potentially embarrassing situations.

The United States Supreme Court has previously held that privacy in ones home is a protected right. Therefore, the government needs to have reasonable suspicion or probable cause in order to search a person’s home. Justice Scalia wrote in a 2001 opinion that the Supreme Court has traditionally found that a government’s intrusion into a person’s privacy “draws a firm line at the entrance to the house.” In that case, the Supreme Court found that a police department’s use of infrared technology to detect marijuana within a person’s home was unconstitutional.

The FBI and the local district attorney also have started investigations against the school district. Both law enforcement agencies will investigate whether the school district broke any wiretap or computer intrusion laws.

For more information, please see:

Washington Post – Official: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case – 19 February 2010

MSNBC – Suit: School spied on student via webcams – 18 February 2010

Philadelphia Daily News – Lower Merion School District sued for cyber spying on students – 18 February 2010

Stateless North Korean Children in China

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DANDONG, China – Korean children are being left to fend for themselves in China where they are not afforded any protection as stateless children.

Some children are left behind in China when their North Korean mothers who defected to China are forced to repatriate to North Korea when caught by the Chinese authorities.  Other children are abandoned by mothers who defected to China and then have fled to South Korea to start a new life away from hunger and oppression.

According to aid workers, there are about 2,000 “defector orphans” in China.  In addition to these children, there is an estimated 10,000-20,000 “stateless orphans.”

“Stateless orphans” are children born between North Korean women who defected to China and then married Chinese men but were subsequently deported back to North Korea.

Stateless orphans do not have official Chinese registration paperwork; therefore, these orphans cannot receive education.  Late registration fee for children without paper is about $750, three times the monthly salary of average Chinese worker.

Support groups from various countries have found schools for ethnic Korean-Chinese children and have paid the registration fee for some children. 

Some children are fortunate enough to live with foster parents.  Despite Chinese laws forbidding taking in a stranger’s child as one’s own, a couple near the North Korea-China border who wished to remain anonymous have taken in some “stateless orphans.”

Another caretaker, Kim Hey-young, said that the children are in a “terrible state of neglect and malnutrition” when they first arrive at foster homes. 

Some children have also been subject to abuse.  One child, whose North Korean mother was taken away by the authorities, was then tortured by her alcoholic Korean-Chinese father.

In addition to the impact on the children of North Korean mothers who defect, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea also pointed out the flight of female North Korean defectors.

The Committee reported that North Korean women who are trafficked to China are usually trafficked into forced marriages.  Many North Korean women flee North Korea to escape famine but after being “sold” to Chinese men, these women have to endure backbreaking labor, physical assault, and sexual abuse.

Under UN’s refugee convention, China should not force defectors back to North Korea where they will face punishment and torture.

 
For more information, please see:

One Free Korea – Benefit Concert for Stateless Orphans in China – 21 January 2010

One Free Korea – China’s Loathesome Treatment of North Korean Children – 14 February 2010

Radio Free Asia – Korean Children Left n China – 12 February 2010

Czech Republic Outlaws Political Party

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – The highest court in the Czech Republic banned a right-wing political party this week, allegedly to protect Czech democracy. This is the first time that a party has been banned in the country for reasons other than financial irregularities since the country broke away from Slovakia in 1993.

The Czech Republic’s Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) outlawed the Workers’ Party on Wednesday February 17 based on factual findings that indicated a history of using racist and xenophobic language and related violence.

The Court felt that, specifically, homophobic and anti-Semitic language and a checkered history of violence towards gypsy groups constituted a were indicative  threat to Czech democracy.  The Court also linked the Workers’ Party to neo-Nazi and other white supremacy groups. Judge Vojtech Simicek rationalized the decision “as a preventive one”, necessary “to maintain the constitutional and democratic order in the future.”

In 2008, the government unsuccessfully attempted to ban the Worker’s Party, but a trial court dismissed the government’s petition.

For sure, the Workers’ Party has a history of “overzealous” protesting. In particular,  the Workers’ Party has often been involved with organizing and staging anti-gypsy communities in close proximity to Roma communities. These events, according to various press accounts, “typically” end in violence.

For example, in November 2008, 500 or more Worker’s Party members protested in the town of Litvinov. When the group attempted to march on a Roma suburb, some 1,000 riot police were called to diffuse the situation. Seven police and seven demonstrators were injured as a result.

The Workers’ Party has already launched an effort to appeal the decision. Workers’ Party leader Tomas Vandas says that the result was entirely political and designed to exclude the Party from national elections in May, calling the timing “highly suspicious”.

Mr. Vandas also disputed links to neo-Naziism or white supremacy, claiming there is “absolutely nothing” in the Party’s manifesto that indicates these extreme views.

Workers’ Party officials said that even if an appeal does not succeed, the Party will dissolve and regroup under a different name. Mr. Vandas suggested that the Party may now be called the Affiliated Workers’ Social Justice Party.

The Workers’ Party is normally unsuccessful in gaining a significant share of votes in Czech elections. For example, in 2008, only 1% of the electorate voted for Worker’s Party.

Nonetheless, political commentators and human rights group are worried that the NSS ruling will give the government precedent to dismantle other anti-establishment political parties, like the Communist Party which won 14 percent of the vote in 2009 elections.

For more information, please see:

EU OBSERVER – Czech court bans far-right Workers Party – 19 February 2010

BBC – Far-right Czech Workers’ Party to challenge court ban – 18 February 2010

NEW YORK TIMES – Czech Court Bans Far-Right Party – 18 February 2010

PRAGUE POST – Despite ban, Workers Party vows to go on – 17 February 2010