Palestinians Reject Israel’s Temporary Freeze Offer

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – An offer by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a ten-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank has been widely rejected by Palestinian lawmakers.

 

Prime Minister Netanyahu made the offer official after it was approved by his security cabinet on November 25. Netanyahu said that the move was a “very big step towards peace,” and said that he hoped the Palestinians and leaders from the Arab nations would take similar meaningful steps.

 

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat quickly discounted Netanyahu’s characterization of the offer, instead calling it “propaganda.” Erekat said he believed the offer was aimed more at appeasing the Americans, rather than the Palestinians. The administration of American President Barack Obama has put pressure on Netanyahu’s government to make a serious effort to restart peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Peace talks broke off at the start of the military action between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip between December 2008 and January 2009.

 

Hannah Ashwari, a member of the Palestinian legislative council, also denounced the Israeli announcement, saying the freeze would not actually stop settlement construction in Palestinian territories. The Israeli temporary freeze would not include construction projects that have already begun, nor any construction in East Jerusalem. Palestinians hope to make East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state.

 

“If you accept the fact that Jerusalem is excluded it means you have tacitly accepted that Jerusalem has been annexed by Israel,” said Ashwari.

 

The proposed settlement freeze has also drawn intense criticism from right-wing Jews in Israel. During a meeting for the ruling Likud party on November 28, many rank-and-file members lambasted the decision, blaming the Obama Administration, whom they see has forcing Netanyahu to halt settlement construction. One member called the Obama Administration “the worst regime there ever was for the State of Israel,” another said the settlement freeze was a “disgrace.”

 

Under the 2003 Middle East peace plan known as the Roadmap, Israel agreed to stop all settlement construction, while the Palestinians agreed to dismantle militant groups.

 

For more information, please see:

 

Ha’aretz – Likudniks Blast “Enemy of the Jews” Obama Over Settlement Freeze – 29 November 2009

 

Ma’an News Agency – Fayyad: World Should Demand Full Settlement Freeze – 29 November 2009

 

Palestinian News Agency – Palestinians Shun Israeli Settlement Restriction – 28 November 2009

 

Al Jazeera – Palestinians Reject Israeli Offer – 26 November 2009

 

Christian Science Monitor – Israel Settlement Freeze: Benjamin Netanyahu Promises 10-Month Halt, Angering Allies – 25 November 2009

Lebanese Women Subjected to Violence

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon-According to Amal Ftoumi, media coordinator with the Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women (LCRVAW), women in Lebanon find themselves largely unprotected from domestic violence.  In fact, some studies estimate that up to ninety percent of women in Lebanon are subject to some form of violence.  Ftoumi fears that few of the women dare to speak up even though they may be facing serious situations of physical abuse.

Ftoumi notes that the hurdles facing women who seek help against violence are enormous.  As she has said, “Society does not approve of women complaining about their husbands.  It is a woman’s job to be there for her husband, which makes it very difficult for women to stand up to abuse.”  Furthermore, many feel that a woman’s chances of receiving fair treatment in a court case are very remote.  Under Lebanese law, domestic violence cases are to be dealt with by one of the country’s religious courts.  Nonetheless, as Ftoumi contends, most, if not all of the country’s courts, rule in favor of men.

According to Zoya Rouhana, the director of an organization that stands against the exploitation of women, “Domestic law is treated in the same way as violence on the street.  It does not take into consideration that the woman has to go back to the one who attacked her in the first place.”  In addition, Rouhana notes that many women are afraid to take their case to court out of fear that they will lose their children.  It is fairly common that Lebanese courts give custody of the children to the husband.  To counteract this, Rouhana says that many women choose to keep silent about the violence even if that means enduring life with their abusive husbands.

On December 2, the Lebanese Parliament is scheduled to hold a session and discuss the possibility of creating a special court to deal with cases of domestic violence.  Additionally, another fundamental change being sought by the parliament is the specific naming of domestic violence as a crime in Lebanese law.

For more information, please see:

Daily Times- Day for End to Violence Against Women Marked– 25 November 2009

The Daily Star- Drive to Protect Women Picks Up Momentum– 25 November 2009

The Daily Star- Lebanese Women Bereft of Protection– 25 November 2009

Mining Company Sued for Human Rights Abuse in Peru

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LONDON, United Kingdom-The high court in London is going to hear testimony from subsistence farmers from Peru who claim that they were detained and severely tortured after a protest at a British-owned mine. The multi-million pound suit was filed against Monterrico Metals for damages arising from the alleged torture.

The allegations of torture stem from a protest in 2005. By law mine construction is allowed only with consent of two-thirds of the local population. Local farmers were protesting because construction began without local consent. Protesters were confronted by police at the mine.

Under the direction of mine managers, the police fired teargas at protesters. Twenty-eight of the protesters say that they were detained, hooded with hands tied behind their backs, beaten with sticks, and whipped. Detainees claim that noxious substances were sprayed in their faces before they were hooded, beaten with sticks and whipped. Two of the protesters were women who say they were sexually assaulted and threatened with rape.

Three protesters were shot and wounded by police, and the protesters claim one of those shot was left to bleed to death at the mine site. A postmortem examination found that he took about thirty-six hours to die.

A journalist who was apprehended with the protesters was given photographs of the arrest that were taken by a Monterrico supervisor. The photographs show bloodied protesters with their hands bound other show groups of blindfolded or hooded protesters being removed from police property. Some of the photographs show grinning police officers waving the female protesters’ underwear. Melanio Garcia, a protester is photographed in one picture alive, though severely injured and then in another photograph he is shown dead thirty hours later.

Richard Meeran, a lawyer with Leigh Day, the London law firm bringing the case, has obtained an injunction freezing five million pounds of Monterrico’s assets in the UK.

Monterrico claims that the arrests occurred because a protester shot a police officer. All claims of abuse are said to be “without merit.” Monterrico further says that it had no control over the police operation. However, lawyers for the protesters have taken statements from eyewitnesses alleging that the mine’s manager was directing the police, and say that two of the corporation’s executives had been in the area shortly before and after the police operation.

Monterrico is building Peru’s second largest copper mine at Rio Blanco in the Northwestern region of Peru. Monterrico has been in conflict with local farmers since its arrival in the region in 2001. The mining concession covers 18,858 acres, much of it covered by forest that collects rainwater and feeds it into rivers flowing into the agricultural basins below. Farmers and environmentalists fear that mining would lead to pollution and depletion of rivers, damage eco-systems, and endanger farmlands.

For more information, please see:

Telegraph-Claims Police Tortured Peruvian Protesters Outside British-Owned Mine-19 October 2009

The Guardian-Abuse Claims Against Peru Police Guarding British Firm Monterrico-18 October 2009

The Guardian-British Mining Company Faces Damages Claim After Allegations of Torture in Peru-18 October 2009

New Compensation Opportunity for Pinochet’s Victims

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO,Chile-President Michelle Bachelet created a new agency this week to protect human rights in Chile. A special committee from the institution will investigate claims for compensation based on Pinochet-era abuses.

The National Human Rights Institute will be able to recommend charges in cases where human rights are found to have been violated. Leaders of the National Human Rights Institute can be removed only by the Supreme Court, giving the institute “considerable independence.”

An official tally estimates that over 28,000 people suffered under the Pinochet government. In 2003, thousands of people received government compensation after proving they or their relatives went missing, were executed, or tortured under the Pinochet regime. Those who failed in their claims will now have a second chance to prove their case.

The agency will be given six months to build on the work of the 2003 investigative efforts. It is unclear whether torturers will be publicly identified, something that victims and their families have lobbied for. Furthermore, under the new law, victims have no right to effect prosecutions- only to seek compensation.

Estimates of Pinochet-era abuses include 3,197 political killings by the government. Of those, 1,192 people were disappeared, less than eight percent located or identified after twenty years of democracy.

President Bachelet stated that Chile needs the agency to defend its democratic institutions and prevent a repeat of Chile’s “painful history.”  Batchulet stated that the goal is to “promote a culture of peace and education about human rights principles in present and future generations.”

For more information, please see:

Brunei News-New Claims of Compensation Arise from Pinochet Era-24 November 2009

Taiwan News-Chile Creates Human Rights Watchdog Agency-24 November 2009

Radio Netherlands-Pinochet’s Victims Get Second Chance to Claim-24 November 2009

Temporary Camps For Those Displaced in Burkina Faso Floods Are Set to Expire

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The Burkina Faso government says thousands of flood-displaced families have till November 30th to leave temporary camps that were set up throughout the capital Ouagadougou.

In September severe flooding in Ouagadougou claimed more than 14 lives and left over 150,000 people homeless. Over 10 inches of rainfall was reported on the capital city, the heaviest 12-hour period since 1953. In reaction to the floods, the government, along with the UN and aid agencies, set up temporary housing throughout the capital for those left homeless.

“It will be difficult to leave and relocate at this point,” said Jean Baptiste Bambara, one of some 14,000 displaced people the UN estimates are living at the 18 sites. “Many people do not have homes to go to and living with relatives would place too great a burden.”

The government has designated 15,000 plots of land where displaced families are to relocate, and will give cash and materials to help people rent or build homes, according to officials. “Naturally the deadline will not be the same [for those without any options],” said Housing and Urbanism Minister Vincent Dabilgou. But he said people can live in tents at the new designated sites as they await construction of new homes.

The government is to provide 50,000 CFA francs (US$114) to those who were renting and 280,000 CFA francs in money and building materials to people who lost their own houses to the flooding.

Displaced resident Bambara echoed many other displaced people in saying that the amounts are insufficient. “Many flood victims do not work; the government must help us with more money.”

The government says the project as planned will require about 8 billion CFA francs ($18 million). The money is coming from the government as well as private and public donors to a national fund set up to help flood victims.

The World Food Programme will provide food aid to people upon their departure from the camps, Annalisa Conte, WFP head in Burkina Faso, told IRIN. “We will give a ration that will cover two months of their food needs – cereals, beans, vegetable oil, sugar and fortified food blend for the children.”

Burkina Faso is a landlocked West African country considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world and is ranked 174 of 177 according to the Human Development Index. Burkina Faso has almost half of its population under the poverty line. For every 3.4 children, one will die by the age of 10. These alarming figures have been exacerbated due to the effects of September’s floods.

For more information, please see:

IRIN – Coping With Urban Flood-Displaced – 26 November 2009

Lawrentian – Speaker Brings the Reality of Poverty in Burkina Faso to LU – 13 November 2009

PRNewswire- Barcelona FC Inaugurates a New XICS in Burkina Faso to Offer Comprehensive Attention to More Than 100 Children – 16 November 2009

Reliefweb – IDB Delivers First Batch of Emergency Relief to Flood Victims in Burkina Faso – 09 November 2009