Teenager Beaten at Camp for Web Addicts

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Pu Liang, a 14-year old, is in critical condition after being repeatedly beaten at a boot camp in southwest China for Internet addicts.  This comes less than three weeks after a 15-year old was beaten to death at another military-like camp.

Pu is reported to be suffering from kidney failure, which resulted from repeated beatings at the camp where he was being held in solitary confinement.  The boy’s father was quoted in a Chinese newspaper saying, “My son was severely injured after he was beaten three times by the counselor and other students.  All injuries were done by people in the camp.”

The family had paid the camp where Pu was being held 5,000 yuan, which is approximately $730, to treat Pu’s online computer game addiction.  Children at these camps go through rigorous physical exercises and are taught to appreciate other pastimes. 

Wu Yongjing, the man who set up the camp, said, “Physical punishment is an effective way to educate children.”  He further admitted that children are sometimes beaten at his camp.  The camp has been closed and the principal has been arrested.

China internet addiction Internet users in China (Source: BBC)

China has the most Internet users in the world, totaling almost 300 million, and many parents place their children in boot camps to treat their Internet “addiction.”  However, the treatment for Internet addiction remains controversial in China because the rules pertaining to this area are not uniform. 

An expert on Internet addiction at Beijing’s Military General Hospital, Tao Ran, said while “only hospitals and doctors with proper qualifications should provide treatment,” parents send their children to these military-like camps, which are not run by qualified professionals.  Tao added, “Internet addiction is treatable…80[%] of the patients can get away from the addiction.”

China’s Minister of Health has no plans to register or monitor these boot camps.  However, the Chinese officials did ban electro-shock therapy to treat Internet addiction after abuses were reported at Internet addiction camps.

For more information, please see:

AFP – New China web addict attack: state media – 19 August 2009

BBC – China web addict ‘beaten’ at camp – 19 August 2009

CNN – China probe of abuse at Web addiction camp – 19 August 2009

North and South Sudan Sign New Peace Deal

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

JUBA, Sudan – North and South Sudan signed a deal on Wednesday to implement many of the disputed and neglected items in the 2005 peace accord, therefore making the continuation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement more feasible.

The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ended Sudan’s 22-year civil war, the longest war on the African continent.  This new signed deal will help bolster the 2005 CPA and will result in better cooperation and stronger relations that will hopefully result in a brighter future for Sudan.

The document they signed is the result of months of negotiations between the two sides.  Their hard work has come up with fresh impetus to implement the remaining key issues of the peace deal.  This new agreement covers key areas that both sides will work together on, including upcoming elections (next April), peace efforts in the war-torn region of Darfur, demarcating the north and south border, and power sharing.

This “action plan” witnessed by the United States special envoy Scott Gration, sets out a framework for resolving any of the outstanding issues in the north-south conflict.

Regardless of the recent deal, two major issues still exist where the two sides are divided, although both “remain to be fully worked out,” says Gration.  The bottom line is, this deal does not completely erase the ongoing religious, ethnic, and ideological difference over which the war was fought, it only helps to reduce the violence.

The two major issues are the independence referendum for the south, which is due in 2011, and the disputed census seen as key to the 2010 elections.

Next, Gration will ravel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to resume talks with the leadership of the Darfuri armed movements on unification efforts in support of the to Doha peace process.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Sudan Ex-Foes Sign Deal to Bolseter Peace Accord – 19 August 2009

BBC – Sudanese Foes Sign New Peace Deal – 19 August 2009

Reuters – North, South Sudan Agree on Peace Deal Elements – 19 August 2009

America.gov – Envoy Gration Takes Peace Mission to Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt – 18 August 2009

Update: Taylor Trial Continues as Defense Continues to Present its Case

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Last week Charles Taylor testified that he negotiated the release of UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone.  He also denied having control over Liberians who traveled to Sierra Leone during its 11-year civil war.

These Liberians migrated to Sierra Leone after Taylor came into power.  They joined either the Special Task Force, which was a group of Liberians aiding the Sierra Leonean army, or the RUF, the Liberian rebel group called the Revolutionary United Front.  Taylor denied having any power over them saying he would not have been able to punish them for any crimes committed in Sierra Leone.

“How do you punish someone when he is not under your control?  You can only be responsible for people under your direct command.  Nobody can say that Taylor ordered me to do X, Y, or Z.  I did not have contact with them and there was no control over them.  I did not help them in any way,” Taylor said.

Taylor maintains that the United States and Britain were misinformed when they alleged that he supported RUF rebels and supplied them with arms and ammunition and provided a safe haven in Liberia for rebels.  He said the two countries were “after him.”

During testimony Taylor provided a detailed timeline which would show Sierra Leone and the international community that he wanted peace in Sierra Leone and was not supporting the RUF rebels.

Taylor admitted to actively participating in efforts to get President Tejan Kabbah and RUF leader Foday Sankoh into peace negotiations but denied doing it for Sankoh’s benefit.

“My plan to bring peace to Sierra Leone was not for Foday Sankoh but for the people of Sierra Leone.  This has never been for Sankoh but for Sierra Leone.  I was in a hurry to do something for my people in Liberia and this cannot move ahead without peace in Sierra Leone.  If there is no peace in Sierra Leone, there will be no peace in Liberia,” he said.

Taylor claims he encouraged Sankoh to change the RUF into a political machine, saying, “Stop the war, go into politics, drop the gun and go into politics.  You can’t go into politics with a gun in your hand.”

RUF ‘Salute Report’ from Sam Bockarie to Foday Sankoh makes no mention of help from Taylor.

For more information, please see:

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – RUF Salute Report Made no Mention of Help Received From Charles Taylor – 13 August 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – “My Interest in Sierra Leone was for Peace for the People, Not Foday Sankoh,” Taylor Says – 12 August 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Charles Taylor Expelled RUF Collaborators From Liberia; Gives a Chronology of Steps He Took to Bring Peace to Sierra Leone – 11 August 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Taylor Did Not Have Control Over Liberians Who Travelled to Sierra Leone, Blames West for Mis-Information – 10 August 2009

Impunity Watch – Update: Charles Taylor Trial – 10 August 2009

Brazil and U.S. Conspired to Overthrow Democratically Elected Chilean President

By Mario A. Flores
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The National Security Archive in Washington, D.C. published declassified White House secret memos showing that Brazil and the United States discussed plans to overthrow or destabilize Chilean President Salvador Allende in a 1971 meeting.

According to the formerly secret documents that reveal a deeper collaboration than previously known between the United States and Brazil, President Nixon discussed with Brazilian military regime-era President Médici a cooperative effort to overthrow the democratically elected Chilean administration.

Nixon, at a meeting in the Oval Office on Dec. 9, 1971, said he was willing to offer Brazil the assistance, monetary or otherwise, it might need to rid South America of leftist governments, the White House memorandum of the meeting shows.

The United States and Brazil, Nixon told Médici, “must try and prevent new Allendes and Castros and try where possible to reverse these trends.”

The records released also reveal that Brazil was involved in the Uruguayan election fraud of 1971 with consent from the United States.

Nixon saw Brazil’s military government as a critical partner in the region. “There were many things that Brazil as a South American country could do that the U.S. could not,” Nixon told his Brazilian counterpart, according to the memos.

Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst at the National Security Archives, noted that “a hidden chapter of collaborative intervention to overthrow the government of Chile” was now emerging from the declassified documentation. “Brazil’s archives are the missing link,” he said, calling on President Ignacio Lula da Silva to open Brazil’s military archives on the past. “The full history of intervention in South America in the 1970s cannot be told without access to Brazilian documents.”

Eventually, a CIA-supported coup, led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, toppled the Allende government in Chile in 1973.

The daughter of Salvador Allende requested that Brazil open any secret archives that could shed light on any role it played in the 1973 overthrow of her father’s administration.

“It seems to me Brazil owes an explanation, if not an apology, to Chile in the form of a full historical reckoning of its role in the overthrow of Allende and the advent of Pinochet,” Kornbluh said.

For more information, please see:

The Washington Post – Allende seeks Brazil documents on ’73 Chile coup – 18 August 2009

The New York Times – Chile: Allende’s Daughter Seeks Secret Records About Coup – 18 August 2009

The New York Times – Memos Show Nixon’s Bid to Enlist Brazil in a Coup – 16 August 2009

National Security Archive at George Washington University – Brazil Conspired with U.S. to Overthrow Allende – 16 August 2009

Human Rights Watch Calls for Iraq to Act to Protect Homosexuals

By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On August 17, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report titled “They Want Us Exterminated: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation, and Gender in Iraq” which details the attacks that gay men in Iraq have suffered in recent months.

According to the report, militias in Iraq are persecuting gay men, torturing and killing them.  Although there have been reports about attacks by several small militias, HRW believes that most of the attacks are being perpetrated by the Mahdi Army, a militia led by Moqtada al-Sadr.  To support this claim, HRW cites the facts that the attacks seem centered around Sadr City, a slum in Baghdad that is named after al-Sadr’s martyred father.  

Moreover, Sadrist Mosques and officials of the Mahdi Army have been spreading warnings about the “third sex,” a derogatory term for homosexuals in Iraq.  According to the report, men have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered for something small, such as wearing a tight shirt, tight jeans, or a certain hairstyle – fashions claimed to be worn by the “third sex.”  HRW describes the situation as “social cleansing.”

According to HRW, hundreds of men have been killed in the last few months.  A hospital employee interviewed by HRW after he fled Iraq described the stories he was receiving from colleagues, “a fellow doctor-a colleague, a classmate of mine, who works at al-Kindi hospital-told me over the phone that more were killed yesterday. Four were brought in with their genitals cut off. And some were brought in, not dead, with glue in their anuses.”  The report explains that injecting glue into the anuses of suspected gay men has become a common form of torture, and men who suffer its effects are brought into hospitals almost daily.

HRW explains that the most astounding aspect of the situation is the lack of action to stop the killings.  According to the report, government officials actually participate in the persecution.  The report details the story of a man in Baghdad who ran safe-houses for gay men who had been disowned by their families.  He told HRW that officials for the Ministry of the Interior has arrested him, tortured and raped him, and finally he was freed when he bribed one of the guards.  According to HRW, ministry members take these actions claiming that they are within the law, punishing those who have participated in “indecent acts.”

The report concludes by calling on the Iraqi government to take action s to stop the persecution of gay men.  HRW reminds Iraq of their international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which require states to provide for the rights to Life and Security (Article 9), to Protection against Torture, and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (Articles 7 & 11), and to Non-Discrimination and Fundamental Rights (Articles 26, 17, 19, and 21).   They ask the government to publicly condemn such action and to prosecute those responsible.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Gay Men Attacked, Executed in Iraq, Rights Group Says – 17 August 2009

Human Rights Watch – Iraq: Stop Killings for Homosexual Conduct – 17 August 2009

Human Rights Watch – “They Want Us Exterminated”: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq – 17 August 2009

USA Today – Rights Group Reports Anti-Gay Death Squads at Work in Iraq – 17 August 2009

The Washington Post – Gay Men Targeted In Iraq, Report Says – 17 August 2009