Fiji Defends Its Human Rights Record, Responds to Critics

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji responded to criticism of its human rights council at a United Nations conference in Geneva.

Several countries have expressed concern for the situation in Fiji, in particular the actions taken by the interim government in regard to human rights.

The UN review panel, which included New Zealand and Australia, claimed that Fiji misrepresented its human rights record, while Fiji, on the other hand, stated that its accusers have also been criticized for human rights violations.

Fiji claimed that it had accurately portrayed its domestic situation to the UN Human Rights Council.

Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, Fiji’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, stated that “these sorts of criticism are not reserved for Fiji” at these conferences.

Fiji’s delegation at the UN council meeting was led by Peceli Vocea, who is also Fiji’s permanent representative to the European Union.

Vocea spoke positively about Fiji and the interim government’s plans for the future, welcoming the UN’s recommendations for improving human rights.

“Fiji will employ the outcome of this process as a benchmark for future human rights reporting and express the commitment that in areas found wanting, it will be improved upon in future reviews.”

The representative stated that Fiji would continue with its “roadmap for democracy”. He also claimed that former President Josefa Iloilo, who was in office at the time Fiji’s Constitution was annulled, called for elections by September 2014 at the latest.

Further, Vocea indicated that discussions about a new constitution would begin by September 2012 and that Fiji would have a new constitution the following year.

He also told the UN council that although Fijians have a right to freedom of speech, the government placed “limits” on the media in light of national security interests. Vocea also noted that the Public Emergency Regulations implemented by the interim government are not permanent and will soon be lifted.

Various reports indicate that interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama intends to retire as military commander after Fiji holds elections in 2014. However, a spokesman for the Prime Minister stated this is not the case and that Bainimarama would run for the position if the people wanted him to do so.

For more information please see:
Radio Australia News – Fiji replies to UN rights accusers – 12 February 2010

Radio Australia – Fiji PM will not stand down as military commander – 12 February 2010

Radio New Zealand International – Fiji promises improvements in human rights – 12 February 2010

Sydney Morning Herald – Fiji dismisses pressure for elections – 11 February 2010

Police Violence in Rio Slums

Photo Courtesy of AP
Photo Courtesy of AP

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

RIO DE JANIERO, Brazil-Brazil’s police are being criticized for their response to a violent incident in a slum that left eight people dead. During a routine patrol in the city’s northern zone the police called in reinforcements after they came under fire.

The police response led to what is considered to be one of the worst outbreaks of violence since October, when drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter. Forty people were killed in the police response. Brazil’s bid for the 2016 Olympics was accepted just one week later.

The state governor ordered a police crackdown on gangs in the slums in mid-2007. Officers are accused of heavy handed tactics and of fueling the violence by forming off-duty vigilante squads that extort slum residents. The United Nations and human rights groups criticized Brazil’s aggressive policing.

Three people are killed in Brazil’s slums each day on average. Officials defend their methods, arguing that they are going up against heavily armed gangs with assault rifles, grenades, and even anti-aircraft weapons.  Last week, police found the body of the leader of a local non-profit organization that offers young people living in the slum theater training. Fred Pinheiro’s throat was slit and he had been missing for two days.

In the past nine years, 10,216 people have been killed in police clashes in Rio. The majority took place in the city’s nine hundred and eighty slums.

For more information, please see:

AP-Shootout in Rio Slum Ahead of Carnival; 8 Dead-11 February 2010

The Washington Post-Eight Killed in Pre-Carnival Violence-11 February 2010

AFP-Eight Dead in Police Clash with Drug Gang in Rio Slang: Officials-11 February 2010

Dissident in China is Denied Appeal

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – One of China’s best known and well-respected democracy advocates, Liu Xiabo, was turned down again by a court in Beijing in an appeal after being sentenced to eleven years in prison.

Human Rights advocates have spoken out that the Beijing Municipal Higher People’s Court convicted Liu, and sentenced him with an unusually harsh sentence. Many believe that he received such a sentence because he not only played a key role in organizing Charter 08 – a petition for political freedom and an end to the ruling Communist party’s monopoly of power. The online petition has garnered thousands of signatures since it was released just over a year ago. Many believe, however, that Liu’s status as a scholar and his academic background are the real reasons he was convicted of “inciting subversion of state power,” say human rights activists. 

According to Amnesty International, several Beijing human rights activists were placed under surveillance following the decision on Liu’s appeal. “By upholding the verdict, the court missed an opportunity to right the wrong,” said Roseann Rife, the deputy director for Asia and the Pacific at Amnesty International. “His harsh sentence is a stark reminder to the Chinese people and the world that there is still no freedom of expression or independent judiciary in China.”

Human Rights activists, however, are not the only voices speaking out against the decision, Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., United States ambassador to China, uttered his concerns. Huntsman denounced Liu’s verdict, stating, “We believe that he should not have been sentenced in the first place and should be released immediately.”

About twenty other foreign diplomats showed their support for Liu by appearing outside the court. A statement from the European Union declared that the decision “is entirely incompatible with his right to freedom of expression.”

The denial of Liu’s appeal is not the only hard-line decision recently issued by Chinese officials. In the same week, one human rights activist in Sichuan was sentenced to five years in jail for having publicly blamed the earthquake deaths of thousands of children on shoddily built schools, another who had helped distraught parents planning to sue the authorities had his appeal against a three-year prison term turned down, and a young factory worker who said he had joined a banned political party because he did not like the Communist party’s abuse of power was found guilty of subversion by a court in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen and sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Many fear the string of convictions and harsh sentencing to continue for activists, but human rights advocates are speaking out and attempting to reform China’s severe treatment.

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Chinese Court Denies Appeal by Jailed Activist  – 12 February 2010

Wall Street Journal – China Sentences Earthquake Activist – 10 February 2010

The Guardian – Chinese dissident’s appeal rejected – 11 February 2010

Karadzic Appeal for New Attorney Denied by ICTY

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) denied Radovan Karadzic’s appeal of a court-ordered appointment of an attorney to defend him in his impending war crimes case.

Mr. Karadzic, the former leader of Bosnian Serbs, requested that the ICTY, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal sitting in The Hague, allow him to replace his British court-appointed attorney, Richard Harvey, with a lawyer of his own “heritage and language”. Mr. Harvey became Mr. Karadzic’s attorney in November 2009 when Karadzic boycotted court proceedings and insisted on defending himself.

Mr. Karadzic alleged that he had the right to “legal assistance of his own choosing” under the Statute of the ICTY Article 21(4)(d) and under ICTY case law.

The ITCY, in a written opinion, dismissed the appeal “in its entirety” noting that “[t]he right to self-represent[ation] is not absolute and may be subject to certain limitations.” As such, Mr. Karadzic’s “persistent obstructive behaviour has made it necessary, in the interests of justice, to limit his right to self-representation by assigning counsel to represent his interests.”

Mr. Karazdic’s trial will resume on March 1, assuming no more appeal delays occur, in order to give Mr. Harvey ample time to prepare a defense. The ITCY wants to strictly comply with this trial date so as to avoid a repeat of the situation surrounding former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s trial. Mr. Milosevic died in his jail cell during the fourth year of his extended trial.

When it resumes, Mr. Karadzic will face eleven charges of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity for his role in the wars in Bosnia of the early 1990’s. Karadzic will likely face life in prison, especially if convicted of these crimes, which include a major role in the Srebrenica massacre that left 7,000 Bosnian Muslims dead.

According to Jurist, Mr. Karadzic’s trial will be the ITCY’s last.

For more inforation, please see:

BBC – Karadzic lawyer appeal rejected by ICTY – 12 February 2010

JURIST – ICTY dismisses Karadzic appeal of court-appointed lawyer – 12 February 2010

REUTERS – War crimes court rejects Karadzic appeal on lawyer – 12 February 2010

UN Accuses Japan of Violating Activists’ Human Rights

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW YORK, United States – According to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Japanese government has violated a series of human rights by detaining Greenpeace activists who uncovered corruption in the Japanese’s government’s whaling program.

While investing corruption allegations regarding Japan’s whaling program, two Japanese men, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, learned that although the program is referred to as a “scientific research,” boxes of whale meat were being shipped to whaling crews’ homes and then sold for personal profit.

Sato and Suzuki reported the embezzlement to the Japanese authorities.  Soon afterwards, the two men were arrested for theft and trespassing and were detained for a month.  Their trial is set to begin next Monday, and both men face up to ten years in prison.

The UN claims that the detention violates international covenants on human rights.  The UNHRC concluded that “[t]he rights of these two environmental activists not to be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty…freedom of…expression…as well as their right to engage in peaceful activities without intimidation and harassment has not been respected by the [Japanese] [j]ustice system.”

Specifically, UNHRC stated that Articles 18, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Articles 18 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political (ICCP) rights have been violated.  Japan is a party to both the UDHR and the ICCP.

Sato and Suzuki were detained without charge for 23 days, denied access to a lawyer, and interrogated for up to 12 hours a day while being tied to a chair.

Head of Greenpeace, Kumi Naidoo, said that the Japanese prime minister should order a re-examination of the allegations made against Suzuki and Sato.

Sato said, “We were investigating the corruption in the whaling industry that is funded by taxpayer’s money.  So we wanted to show the real face of the whaling industry, how corrupt this industry is, to the Japanese public.”

The stakes are high for both Sato and Suzuki being that Japan has a 99.8% conviction rates for criminal cases.  However, their lawyer said that they do have a strong argument since research activities done by NGO members based on whistleblower evidence are given the same degree of freedom and rights as activities done by investigative journalists.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Anti-whaling activists to front court – 8 February 2010

Common Dreams – United Nations: Japanese Authorities Breached Human Rights of Greenpeace Anti-Whaling Activists – 9 February 2010

The Huffington Post – UN: Japanese Authorities Breached Human Rights of Greenpeace Anti-Whaling Activists – 8 February 2010

TreeHugger – UN Says Japan Violated Anti-Whaling Activist’s Human Rights – 10 February 2010