U.S. State Department Places Four Middle Eastern Countries on ‘Worst’ List for Human Trafficking

By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – United States Department of State (State Dept.) released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) for 2009 on June 16.  It is the ninth TIP Report created by the State Dept. in their efforts to reduce human trafficking.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that the report “sheds light on the faces of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem,” and that she hoped that the U.S. will be seen as a partner when working towards elimination of human trafficking.   However, the report has not been well received by several Middle Eastern countries that were placed in the ‘worst’ category in the report.

The report creates four categories to define a country’s progress towards compliance with the Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act (TVPA).  Tier 1 countries – those considered to be in complete compliance with the TVPA – are mostly Western, developed countries, including most European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand.   Tier 2 countries – those who are not in compliance but are considered to be making significant progress towards compliance – are most of the remaining Western nations, and is the largest group of countries in the report.  Tier 2 Watch List Countries differ from Tier 2 countries in that the U.S. considers these countries to be losing ground in their progress, or the U.S. has found the number of persons trafficked in these countries to be numerous.  Finally, Tier 3 countries are those who are not in compliance with the TVPA and who appear to be making no progress towards compliance. 

Most Middle Eastern Countries were placed within the Tier 2 Watch List, although four Middle Eastern nations – Iran, Syria, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia – were placed in Tier 3.  Many countries have yet to make an official statement in response to the report. However, human rights groups throughout Bahrain, which was placed on the Tier 2 Watch List, have put out a “Trafficking Battle Call,” asking Bahrain to take steps towards compliance with the TVPA. 

Other countries have not had such a positive response.  Kuwaiti National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi made a statement on June 18 harshly criticizing the United States for placing Kuwait in Tier 3.  “I have repeatedly said that Kuwait is not a country of angels but what hurts me is that the United States thinks itself to be a country of angels,” al-Khorafi explained to reporters when asked to comment on the report.  He went on to say that he believed the report falsely depicted Kuwait, stating that the U.S. “is not the world’s police and not a guardian of the world and if it wants to be so it should make sure that the information it gathers is true.”  Countries that have been placed in the Tier 3 category could face economic sanctions, and be barred from any trade not related to humanitarian aid. 

For more information, please see:

Gulf Daily News – Trafficking Clamp Underway – 21 June 2009

Kuwait Times – Khorafi, MPs Blast US over Trafficking Report – 18 June 2009

Time – Human Trafficking Rises in Recession – 18 June 2009

Jerusalem Post – Four Countries ‘Blacklisted’ by US – 17 June 2009

AFP – Malaysia, Six African States Listed for Human Trafficking – 17 June 2009

U.S. Department of State – Trafficking In Persons Report 2009

West Papuan Dancers Highlight Indonesian Human Rights Violations

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

MANOKWARI, West Papua – A dance troop from West Papua performed at Stonehenge in Britain to draw attention to the human rights violations in the Papua region.

The British Council of Druids invited the Mambesak troupe and a West Papuan activist, Benny Wenda, to partake in the Summer Solstice celebrations. The celebration attracted a record breaking 36,500 people.

The Mambesak troupe consists of four semi-nude dancers, who according to the Times Online, danced through the night and ended with a performance at sunrise. The West Papuan dancers came to Britain to highlight what they believe is the Indonesian government’s history of persecuting people from the Papua region and denying them their independance.

Rollo Maughfling, head of the British Council of Druids Archdruid, spoke to the crowds at Stonehenge, informing them of Papua’s history of human rights violations and encouraging listeners to actively support West Papuan efforts in gaining independence from Indonesia.

Separatist protests and demonstrations for independence have long marked Papua’s history. Once a Dutch colony on New Guinea’s western end, Papua became Indonesia’s largest province in 1969. Violence erupted in 2003 after President Megawati Sukarnoputri separated Papua into three provinces: Central Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya Tengah), Papua (or East Irian Jaya, Irian Jaya Timur), and West Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya Barat).

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – West Papuans push their cause at Stonehenge event–  22 June 2009

Radio New Zealand International – 11 Papuans jailed in Indonesia for separatist activities – 09 January 2009

Two Palestinian Journalists Jailed for Violating Israeli Censorship Laws

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

EAST JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – An Israeli District Court has sentenced two Palestinian journalists to two months in jail and six months of probation for reporting on the Israeli ground invasion in January 2009.  The pair was accused of violating Israel’s censorship laws, though some supporters of the journalists allege they were jailed because they work for an Iranian television station.

Khodr Shahine, a correspondent for Iran’s Arabic language station Al-Alam, and Mohammed Sarhan, a producer for Al-Alam, were accused of reporting on the military invasion nearly two hours before the Israeli government cleared the operation for press coverage on January 3. 

Israel rarely enforces its censorship laws, even though all accredited journalists have to sign a censorship form that requires them to clear any sensitive security information with a military censor before releasing that information.  The laws were widely ignored during Israel’s 2006 campaign in Lebanon, though no journalists were prosecuted.  The fact that Shahine and Sarhan’s sentencing came down in the same week that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in Iran has fueled suspicions that the pair’s imprisonment was actually motivated by Israeli-Iranian political tensions.

Reporters Without Borders condemned Israel’s imprisonment of the Palestinian journalists as inextricably tied to Ahmadinejad’s reelection.

“Journalists should not be hostages to geopolitical developments,” read a statement from the press freedom organization.

Fares Sarafandy, the Al-Alam bureau chief in Ramallah, said Shahine and Sarhan were just doing their jobs.

“They reported what they saw, namely that tanks were beginning to move,” said Sarafandy.  “They didn’t say the invasion had started.  At heart, this issue is about Israel and Iran.”

For more information, please see:

The National – Israel Jails Two TV Journalists – 18 June 2009

Reporters Without Borders – Palestinian Journalists Working for Iranian TV Station Get Two Months in Jail from Israeli Court – 16 June 2009

World Bulletin – Israel Jails Palestinian Journalists for Gaza Invasion Report – 16 June 2009

Ha’aretz – Two East Jerusalem Journalists Jailed for Reporting for Iran – 15 June 2009

Ma’an News Agency – Palestinian Journalists Jailed for Violating Censorship During Gaza Invasion – 14 June 2009

Hate Fever: Arizona Anti-Immigration Activists Arrested for Killings Aimed at Getting Their Way

By Nima Nayebi

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Europe
ARRIVACA, United States – Shawna Forde, an outspoken anti-immigration activist, has be arrested in connection with the 30th May home invasion killings of Raul Flores and his daughter. Forde, 41, and two fellow members of her Minuteman American Defense group (MAD), stand charged with “two counts of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree burglary and one count of aggravated assault,” according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona. The killings are said to have been premeditated and designed to steal money and drugs to fund MAD. According to her family, Forde had discussed using robbery as a fund-raising strategy for her anti-immigration group, but Forde denies this allegation. The Green Valley News and Sun reports that she stated: “No, I did not do it.” Forde’s mother, Rena Caudle, who lives in California, said she was not surprised to hear of her daughter’s arrest. Forde visited Caudle before going to Arizona, telling her she planned to stage home invasions.

The victims, Raul Flores, 29, and his daughter, nine-year-old Brisenia, were killed when armed intruders invaded their home. Brisenia’s mother, who traded gun-fire with the suspects, survived the attack, but required hospitalization due to gun shot wounds. Authorities said the threesome dressed as Border Patrol Officers and broke into the Flores’ home, looking for money or drugs to sell. The Pima Count Sheriff’s office revealed that Flores had been connected to Mexican drug cartels, and that the US Drug Enforcement Agency knew this. According to police, the intruders intended to kill the Flores’ other daughter, but failed to locate her in the residence.  According to Dawn Barkman, the Sheriff’s Spokesperson, Forde “was the ringleader of this group and of this attack. She made the order for Bush to go in and shoot these individuals. She’s just truly an evil person to do something like this.”

Forde’s group, MAD, claims that they conduct surveillance and investigations aimed at curtailing illegal immigration and drug-smuggling into the United States. According to the group’s website, “MAD is not responsible for the independent actions or the private agenda by Shawna Forde and her cohorts…. Shawna acted totally on her own person [sic] agenda and has caused a lot of pain embarrassment and humiliation to the total Minuteman movement and fellow members of MAD. MAD will cooperate totally and fully with any and all Law Enforcement agencies and the appropriate judicial system to bring this most terrifying event to a close.” Chris Simcox, the founder of the original Minuteman group, said, “We knew that Shawna Forde was not just an unsavory character but pretty unbalanced as well.”

In the past few weeks, a white supremacist allegedly killed a black guard at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and anti-abortion activist allegedly killed a Kansas doctor who performed abortions.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors hate groups through its “Intelligence Project,” estimates that the number of hate groups in the US has risen 54% since 2000. The increase has been fueled partly by the opposition to Hispanic immigration and the election of Mr. Barack Obama, America’s first black president.

Forde had been active in MAD for several years, but prior to heading to Arizona for another season of border patrolling, she e-mailed supporters, telling them: “I will stay the course and lead in this fight with every once [sic] of strength and conviction I have…. It is time for Americans to lock and load.”

Indonesian Government Delays Release of Five Detained Australians Till Next Week

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A supporter of the five Australians being detained in Papua for the last nine months, says the Indonesian government is delaying their release until next week.

The “Merauke Five,” as the five Australian detainees have been called, were arrested last September after they were caught flying their small aircraft over Papua without the requisite visas or flight clearance.

The Five were expected to be released over the weekend, but their lawyers fear that the Indonesian government may raise “further hurdles” before granting their release.

“There was a belief that the Indonesian government might not sign off on the Supreme Court decision, that they might not allow them to leave but I think that was more a misunderstanding. That seems to have been cleared. The pilot, (William) Scott-Bloxham, has taken the plane up for a test run for about fifteen minutes yesterday and that was fine. The plane’s ready to go. They’re ready to go. They’re just nervous about something going wrong,” Mark Bousen, editor of Torres Strait News, said.

Bousen said, however, that despite the delay, the Indonesian government is eager to release the five Australians, and put the matter behind them.

“A lot of the paperwork has been cleared now. They’re just waiting on the odd bit now. It seems that everyone’s been very co-operative: the Indonesian officials, the Australian bureaucracy at long last seem to be very proactive – they are very keen to have this case resolved and there seems to be a sense of co-operation between the two governments to have the five home as soon as possible,” Bousen said.

Bousen expects that the Five will be released by Monday.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Supporters of five Australians in Papua fear hurdles will delay return home – 19 June 2009

Radio New Zealand International – Australians’ release from Papua delayed until next week – 19 June 2009