Taylor Denied More Allegations in Court

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Charles Taylor remains on the stand in the International Criminal Court (ICC) defending his actions during the Sierra Leonean civil war.  He continues to defend himself against the allegations that he armed and supported Sierra Leonean rebels who killed and mutilated thousands.

This week Taylor denied allegations that he ordered an attack by Sierra Leonean rebels on Guinea to oust President Lansana Conte in 2000.

“No I did not, no I did not,” he said.  “We were being attacked by LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy) from Guinea but I was equally busy with other issues that were not war-like.  It was in my best interest to attack Guinea but why not use Liberians for that?”

Taylor also denied having any knowledge of a planned rebel attack on Sierra Leone in 1991 and called those allegations “lies.”  He was responding to allegations brought in 2008 by a prosecution witness who said that Taylor took part in a plan with the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) rebels to invade Sierra Leone.

“It’s a lie,” said Taylor responding to the witness’ account that he saw Taylor and RUF leader Foday Sankoh together in Voinjama, Liberia making plans to attack Sierra Leone.  “I had not even gone from Kakata to Gbangha and so I would not have moved to Voinjama.  There is no way you can get to Voinjama except you go through Gbangha.”  He added, “May be he saw a ghost of someone looking like Charles Taylor, its all a lie.”

Allegations that Taylor gave Sankoh $20,000 as payment for safekeeping diamonds have also been denied.

“If I wanted to send money for Sankoh, I would have done so through the Liberian Foreign Minister who was in Lome,”Taylor said.  “It would have been a good gesture just like Eyadema (former Togolese President) and Obasanjo (former Nigerian President) did give him money, but I did not.”

The trial will resume on Tuesday, as the ICC will be observing a holiday on Monday.

For more information, please see:

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Taylor Denies Giving Money to Rebel Leader or Safekeeping Diamonds – 24 September 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – ‘I Did Not Know of Any Prior Plans for the Invasion of Sierra Leone in 1991,” Taylor Says – 23 September 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Taylor Did Not Order the RUF to Attack Guinea – 22 September 2009

Fiji Prime Minister Stands Ground Refusing to Restore Democracy

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Yesterday, Fiji’s Interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, addressed the United Nations in New York in the wake of the European Union’s decision to extend its trade sanctions on Fiji until March 2010.  The international community has urged Fiji’s government to rethink its position.

The EU refuses to provide Fiji with any development aid until it demonstrates a commitment to return to a democratic state. This aid was aimed at improving Fiji’s economy by assisting, for one, the sugar industry.  Poverty levels in Fiji’s rural communities continue to rise, and its people are extremely discontented.

According to a professor from the School of Economics at the University of the South Pacific, Wadan Narsey, the EU’s decision is indicative of the international community’s increasing concern about the situation in Fiji.

“For the European Union to say that they are going to continue with these sanctions for another six months ought to be taken very seriously by this military government that they have got to rethink their strategy forward,” Narsey said.

Fiji’s government refuses to hold elections until 2014.  This timeline is unacceptable, according to Kamalesh Sharma, the Secretary General for the Commonwealth of Nations, who met with Prime Minister Bainimarama in New York on September 25th.

Sharma also reiterated the Commonwealth members’ disapproval of the human rights situation in Fiji.  He further stated that the Government should rescind the Public Emergency Regulation, an act extending a broad range of powers to the government, including the power to censor the media.  The pair was unable to reach an agreement.

On September 26th, Bainimarama addressed the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly international community.  He plans to put a new constitution into place by September 13th.  “The basis for the new constitution will be the ideals and principles formulated by the People’s Charter for Change and Progress, a document prepared following widespread consultation with, and input from, the people of Fiji”.

The Prime Minister claims that Fiji’s history shows a great deal of “mismanagement, corruption and nepotism”.   He requested that the international community have patience as Fiji attempts to overcome its past.

He further expressed his disappointment with the UN’s decision to exclude Fiji troops from participating in peacekeeping operations.  Although he did not explicitly mention Australia or New Zealand, it is no secret that these countries are Fiji’s strongest critics.

In December 2006 Bainimarama staged the fourth coup in Fiji since 1987. The Commonwealth suspended Fiji’s membership on September 1.
For more information, please see:
Fiji Village – PM calls for patience and understanding – 27 September 2009

Radio New Zealand News – No agreement between Commonwealth and Fiji – 27 September 2009

TVNZ – Fiji urged to change election plans – 27 September 2009

Xinhua News – Fiji asks critics to have patience during the reform period – 27 September 2009

ABC News – Bainimarama to address UN General Assembly – 26 September 2009

The Associated Press – Fiji stung by exclusion from new UN peacekeeping – 26 September 2009

UN News Centre – At UN, Fijian regime asks critics to have patience during reform period – 26 September 2009

Radio New Zealand International – Fiji regime urged to rethink its stance as EU sanctions continue – 25 September 2009

Abuse of Children’s Human Rights in South Korea

By Megan E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea-A report by the South Korean government’s Ministry of Labour, confirmed that 131 buildings in Sungdong-Gu, Seoul were condemned and slated for removal of asbestos. Parents of local children who attended a nearby nursery school were not informed the operation was underway or the asbestos health threat.

According to a report by World Health Organization(WHO), asbestos has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as carcinogenic to humans. It is reported that asbestos-containing materials are still in place in many buildings and exposure continues during maintenance, alteration, removal and demolition. Asbestos can lead to development of cancer which may stay latent for decades. While many developing countries have been banning asbestos since the early 1990s, the government of Korea banned it only in 2009. As most of the current buildings contain asbestos, their demolition exposes residents and workers to asbestos.

While the demolition occurred in Sungdong-Gu, an area designated to be re-developed, 120 children, all under the age of five, continued to go to school while surrounding buildings underwent asbestos removal. The children were exposed to the toxic matter for seven months. Many children began to experience sicknesses, such as skin inflammation, coughs, phlegm, pneumonia, conjunctivitis. Once parents learned that asbestos was being removed, they made visits to the Seoul City administration, the Sungdong-Gu administration and the Ministry of Labour to make a civil appeal, however, their effort were thwarted by officials who brushed their concern aside. According to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), various government authorities continuously avoided calls from parents as they tried to investigate the situation.

After attempting to get an affirmative response as to what was being done at the construction site, civilians began conducting independently commissioned tests. Civilians used the Citizen’s Institute for Environmental Studies and the Institute of Specialized Analysis for Asbestos (ISAA) to test the area, and seven tests have been conducted since April. ISAA, which is authorized by the Ministry of Labour, concluded that nine out of eighteen sites investigated had levels of asbestos beyond the standard – including the area around the nursery school

Consequently, part of the demolition has been stopped, and in May, officials promised to have the school re-located. As of September 15, no steps to relocate the school had yet been taken. The local administration refused to acknowledge the ISAA investigations, and continues to maintain that the levels of asbestos in the area were safe, and presently only one demolition site has been stopped in the Wang-ship-li area after intense pressure from parents and environmental groups continued. Parents still express concern over the remaining demolition as those sites are still near the unmoved school where the children continue to attend.

For more information, please see:

Asian Human Rights Commission – South Korean Government Violated 120 Children’s Human Rights – September 25, 2009

World Trade Organization – Elimination of Asbestos Related Diseases 

Global Post – The Deadly Air They Breathed – July 24, 2009 

Freed Prisoners tell stories of torture

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

Burma– Around the various jails in Burma, about 120 political prisoners have been released, as part of the Burmese military regime’s amnesty granted to 7,114 prisoners, on humanitarian grounds.  However, many of the detainees have given reports of torture that they experienced during interrogation. The physical and mental injuries caused during this time period were either not adequately or not treated at all during their time in prison, causing some of them lifelong damage. 

Ko Myo Yan Naung Thein, a technical institute student, was assaulted and taken from a March during September 2007.  While in Sittwe Prison, Thein reportedly suffered injuries to his nerves during torture under interrogation and did not get adequate treatment. He said “I was blind folded and was taken somewhere.  As soon as I reached the interrogation centre, they all started kicking me.” He is now unable to walk.  

Ko Moe Kyaw Thu, a former student leader had been imprisoned since 1992.  In an interview with Radio Free Asia (RFA) he said that after his arrest he was taken to Rangoon where a military intelligence unit hooded and repeatedly assaulted him, denied him water and refused access to restrooms. Thu stated “ I was kept in a closed dark room. Sometimes, the prison authorities slapped and tortured me without asking any questions.  But sometimes they questioned me the whole night without giving me any food.”  In addition he also stated that he was often tied and given electric shocks.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has stated that cases of ill-treatment in the prisons across Burma are wide-spread but the situation has worsened since 2005 when the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)’s prison visits were halted.  Between 1999 and 2005, the ICRC carried out regular visits to detainees in prisons and labor camps, but suspended it because of the government’s failure to respect its internationally-recognized conditions.

The AHRC is calling for the ICRC prison visits to be implemented, noting there is no reason for the government of Burma to object to the visits since the agency is bound by confidentiality and the visits cost nothing to the government.

For information, please see:

Asian Human Rights Commission- Burma: Released prisoners tell stories of torture; ICRC role needed– 24 September 2009

Mizzima- ICRC should revisit Burmese Jails: AHRC– 25 September 2009

Human Right Watch- Burma: Surge in Political Prisoners– 16 September 2009

Former Head of Truth and Reconciliation Commission Threatened in Peru

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru – Dr. Salomón Lerner Febres, former president of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been the victim of intensified threats and harassment in recent days.  Peru’s National Coordinator for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch are calling on the Peruvian government to investigate the threats and ensure Lerner’s safety.

On September 5, 2009, Lerner reported that his dogs were poisoned and died at his home in Lima.  This week, he received anonymous phone calls at his house and at his office at the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights at the Catholic University of Peru.  The caller left a message saying, “What we did to your dogs, we will do to you.”

Peru’s Ombudsman, Beatriz Merino, stated that she is in “complete solidarity” with Lerner.  She said that the threats should be strongly denounced by the state because they demonstrate an intolerance of advocacy for human rights and democracy.

Lerner has been the victim of threats and harassment since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its report in 2003. In addition to presiding over the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Lerner is the vice president of a high level commission creating a Museum of Memory, which will focus on human rights abuses in Peru.  That commission is headed by renowned writer Mario Vargas Llosa.

Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2001 to investigate massacres, forced disappearances, terrorist attacks, and violence against women committed in the 1980s and 1990s by the Peruvian government and two rebel groups. The commission held meetings, collected testimonies, and did forensic investigations. It also made recommendations for reparations and institutional reforms.  An estimated 69,280 people were killed during that period.  The formal work of the commission ended with the 2003 publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report.

The Americas director of Human Rights Watch stated that “this is still a delicate time for human rights defenders in Peru, given the longstanding lack of action to stem abuse.”  He called the conviction of former President Alberto Fujimori a “fragile gain”, saying that “the government needs to show clearly that harassment and threats against human rights defenders are not permissible.”

For more information, please see:

Derechos Humanos Peru – Solidaridad Con Salomon Lerner – 25 September 2009

El Comerio – La Defensoría Exhortó a Interior Dar Protección a Salomón Lerner – 25 September 2009

Human Rights Watch – Peru: Investigate Threats Against Rights Defender – 25 September 2009

Los Andes – Salomón Lerner, Ex Presidente de la CVR Recibe Amenazas– 25 September 2009