A Voice for the Voiceless

U.S. Upgrades Colombia’s Human Rights Assessment Despite Concerns

By Mario A. Flores
Special Features Editor, Impunity Watch Journal

BOGOTA, Colombia — The United States has quietly made the legal certification this week that Colombia’s human rights record has improved in spite of reports alleging that serious abuses and impunity for illegal activity in the Latin American nation persist.

This certification will allow Colombia to access $32 million that Washington has withheld as part of a $545 million package that the U.S. government is to provide Colombia this fiscal year under the State Foreign Operations Appropriations Act. The funds are meant to fight gangs and drug smugglers.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Colombia has “made significant efforts to increase the security of its people and to promote respect for human rights by its Armed Forces,” which justify the determination that the nation meets the legal certification criteria on human rights and paramilitary groups.

According to Kelly, factors that led to the upgraded finding are reforms and training that have resulted in respect for human rights by most of the Armed Forces coupled with significant advances in investigating and prosecuting human rights cases over the past few years.

Kelly described “several disquieting challenges” where Colombia must still make progress, including allegations of soldiers involved in extrajudicial killings — which the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions described as “systematic”–, illegal surveillance by the government’s security agency, and the ability of the Prosecutor General’s Office to conduct thorough and independent investigations that result in accountability.

The Attorney General’s Office is said to be investigating cases involving more than 1,700 alleged victims in recent years.

Colombian officials insist they are trying to stamp out human rights abuses, but critics say abuses remain widespread in the country, where the government has been battling the left-wing guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for years.

Ongoing anti-union violence, with the offenders rarely brought to justice, led the International Trade Union Confederation to say that Colombia is the deadliest country in the world for labor rights activists.

According to Human Rights Watch, there has also been an increased activity of new armed groups linked to paramilitaries. These groups engage in threats, targeted killings, and forced displacement of civilians, very much like the paramilitary groups of old that are supposedly demobilized.

The media and civil society have reported that there has been a recent rise in forced displacement partly as a result of the activities of these new paramilitary groups. Last year, more than 380,000 persons were internally displaced, according to Human Rights Watch.

Maria McFarland, senior Americas researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that the U.S. decision was disappointing and that Colombia’s government had responded to abuse allegations only after intense pressure.

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – U.S. Upgrades Colombia’s Human Rights Score – 11 September 2009

The Washington Post – US certifies Colombia’s rights record – 11 September 2009

Department of State – Determination and Certification of Colombian Government and Armed Forces with Respect to Human Rights Related Conditions

Human Rights Watch – Colombia: Obama Should Press Uribe on Rights – 26 June 2009

Charles Taylor Still on Stand Defending His Actions

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Charles Taylor is still on the stand in front of the Special Court for Sierra Leone defending himself against allegations that he aided Sierra Leonean rebels during the country’s 11-year war.

On Monday Taylor continued to deny any affiliation between his National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and the Revolutionary United Front’s (RUF) Foday Sankoh saying that if any agreement were made, the prosecution would have produced evidence of such.

“I had no pact with RUF leader Foday Sankoh for mutual assistance.  That could not have been necessary.  There has been no evidence in this court about Sankoh being involved in the conflict in Liberia or commanding an NPFL post.  There was no such thing because I did not know him at this time,” Taylor said.  He added, “There has been no evidence in this court about Sankoh being involved in the conflict in Liberia or commanding an NPFL post.”

He also denied having any knowledge of “Operation No Living Thing.”  During the prosecution’s case a witness testified that Taylor participated in the operation that ordered the deaths of anything that was living.

“I did not instruct anybody to launch such an operation.  I had no control over anybody in Sierra Leone.  There is no way that I would be in control or even in any type of situation of this sort when throughout the revolution in Liberia we never had these kinds of atrocities, so this is impossible,” he said.

Taylor also denied having anything to do with a witness’ claim that he was involved in an organized plan to destabilize West Africa saying, “There was no such thing like this that occurred.”

Taylor’s trial continues on Monday.

For more information, please see:

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Taylor Did Not Order the Assassination of Sam Bockarie – 10 September 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Taylor Refuses Testimony of Key Prosecution Witness; Says He Did Not Plan to Destabilize West Africa – 09 September 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – “I Was Not Aware of RUF’s Operation No Living Thing,” Taylor Says – 08 September 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Taylor Did Not Have Any Pact with RUF Leader Foday Sankoh for Mutual Assistance, He Says – 07 September 2009

Impunity Watch – Update: Trial for Charles Taylor Still in Progress – 27 August 2009

Japanese Inmates Driven to Insanity

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TOKYO, Japan – Amnesty International published findings that Japan’s practice of informing inmates of their execution only a few hours before they take place have caused death row prisoners to become mentally ill.  The Japanese government is now under pressure to abolish their capital punishment system.

Kate Allen of Amnesty said, “The mental anguish of not knowing whether each day is to be your last day on Earth is terrible…[b]ut Japan’s justice system…sees fit to bury its death row prisoners in the most punitive regime of silence, isolation and a sheer non-existence imaginable.”  She urged the Japanese government to “[r]ather than persist[ing] with a shameful capital punishment system, [they] should immediately impose a moratorium on all further executions” because being informed only a few hours before execution is “utterly cruel.”

Japanese prisoners Japanese prisoners.  Courtesy of Getty Images.

Japanese death row prisoners are held in isolation, and they are not allowed to speak to other inmates.  In addition, prisoners on death row are not allowed to move around except for the weekly exercise sessions and must remain seated in their cells.  Visitations from family and attorneys can end in as little as five minutes.  Consequently, many inmates become delusional and suffer from mental illnesses.

Amnesty’s report highlighted the case of Iwao Hakamada, former professional boxer, who has been on death row for 41 years.  He is considered to have been the longest condemned death row prisoner in the world.  A psychiatrist who met Hakamada diagnosed him with “institutional psychosis.”

32 men were executed between January 2006 and January 2009 in Japan.  17 of the 32 executed inmates were older than 60.  Five were in their 70’s, which made them the oldest executed prisoners in the world.  Japan currently has 102 prisoners on death row.

International human rights standards forbid imposing capital punishment on the mentally ill.  The Japanese criminal procedure code also states that executions should be halted if a person receives the death sentence and is mentally insane. 

However, the death penalty has had wide support in Japan, where conviction rate for criminals is 99%. 

For more information, please see:

BBC – Japan death row ‘breeds insanity’ – 10 September 2009

Guardian – Prisoners driven insane on Japan’s death row, says Amnesty – 10 September 2009

Huffington Post – Amnesty International: Japan Must Stop Executing Mentally Ill Prisoners –11 September 2009

Government Inflicts Heavy Casualties on Rebel Forces in Northern Yemen as Humanitarian Crisis Looms

Government Inflicts Heavy Casualties on Rebel Forces in Northern Yemen as Humanitarian Crisis Looms

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’ADA, Yemen – Armed conflicts continue in Northern Yemen as Yemeni government forces engage rebel groups in the mountainous province of Sa’ada.  Regional sources claim that seventeen members of the Houthi rebel group were killed in the skirmish, which occurred in response rebel attacks in several regions. Furthermore, it has been reported that Yemeni government forces have inflicted heavy losses to the rebellion elements and destroyed several hideouts.

The government claims that the rebels are trying to impose religious Shia law. However, the rebels assert that the government is corrupt and has carried out airstrikes against villages in the region killing civilians. International Humanitarian Law requires warring parties at all times to distinguish between civilians and combatants, both the Government forces and Houthi rebels have pledged to do so. If the rebel’s assertions are true, the Government may be violating their pledge.

Moreover, a larger humanitarian crisis looms at Al-Mazraq refugee camp, located ten miles from the fighting near the Saudi Arabian border, where thousands of refugees have been displaced as a result of the fighting. Aid groups have stressed the possibility of humanitarian crisis, as the intense fighting has prevented aid groups from entering the region. Possible consequences of prevented access include lack of food to refugees and inadequate or nonfunctioning health facilities. Many of the refugees have been turned down at the border of Saudi Arabia while attempting to flee the conflict.

The United Nations (UN) is attempting to put together a cross border aid operation from inside Saudi Arabia. Although the UN has launched a $23 million dollar “flash aide” appeal to assist the approximately 150,000 displaced persons, as of now no funds have been received for the initiative. Currently the UN has been using emergency funds from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has approved a $2.5 million loan pending responses for the previous $23 million appeal. As of September 8, the refugees have received 170 metric tons of food delivered to camps in towns Hajjag and Sa’ada.

For more information, please see:

Saba News Agency – Armed Forces Cause Rebellion Elements Heavy Losses – 12 September 2009

Al Jazeera – ‘Heavy Losses’ in Yemen Fighting – 11 September 2009

UN News Centre – Yemen: UN Appeal Remains Unfunded As Thousands Flee Fighting Through Desert – 11 September 2009

BBC – Yemen Claims Success Over Rebels – 10 September 2009

Human Rights Watch – Armed Conflict in Northern Yemen – 28 August 2009

UN Found Possible War Crimes in DR Congo

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

GENEVA, Switzerland – On Wednesday the UN human rights chief announced that army and rebel troops committed “possible war crimes and crimes against humanity” in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).

“The information that has been gathered points very strongly to war crimes and crimes against humanity but you need a judicial body to determine whether or not the acts committed are war crimes under international law,” said head of Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Africa, Scott Campbell.

During the conflict between Nord and Sud-Kivu from October to November 2008, two reports indicate that there were 12 arbitrary killings and around 70 rapes committed by government troops.  In a report compiled jointly with the UN Mission in Congo, MONUC, it is said that the killings were not committed in crossfire, but that the victims “were arbitrarily executed, often inside their houses, after fighting had stopped.”

“Impunity is the norm,” Campbell said. “Rape and sexual violence are daily occurrences.”

The UN urged the necessity of reforming the DR Congo’s security and judicial systems saying the “two reports on a series of human rights abuses, including possible war crimes and crimes against humanity… underscored the urgent need for the DRC government and the international community to institute fundamental reforms to the country’s security and judicial systems.”

The International Criminal Court has issued four arrest warrants for Congolese militiamen.

The High Commissioner said that “concrete and immediate action to hold perpetrators accountable, particularly since sexual violence continues to take place on a daily basis,” will be enforced by a zero-tolerance policy.

For more information, please see:

AFP – DR Congo Army, Rebels Committed ‘Possible War Crimes’ : UN – 09 September 2009

Reuters – U.N. Rights Chief Sees Possible War Crimes in Congo – 09 September 2009

UN News Centre – UN Reports Point to Possible War Crimes in Eastern DR Congo – 09 September 2009

VOA – UN Sees Possible War Crimes in Eastern Congo – 09 September 2009