Hamas Leader Advocating Peace in Cairo

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt– Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal spoke in Egypt on Tuesday, giving conditions on which the peace process between Israel and Palestine can succeed after a conference with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.  Meshaal stressed the need for disputes between factions to cease, specifically, the security forces of Fatah need to stop their raids against Hamas in the West Bank. Additionally, immediate action to create and implement a two state solution must be taken.

Exiled Meshaal resides in Damascus in  Syria. Meshaal referred to conflicts on the West Bank,  as the biggest hurdle in the peace process for Israel and Palestine. He cited last week’s violent attacks which killed nine Palestinians, four security officers of President Mahmoud Abbas and one civilian as an example of these conflicts.

Meshaal found the speech that President Obama gave in Cairo last week “encouraging.” However, Meshaal is concerned that these words need to be followed with action in the form of true continued pressure from the United States for an Israeli and Palestinian peace process, or there will not be any progress. Meshaal welcomes Obama’s contact with Hamas as the first American contact since President Carter.

Egypt is also putting the pressure on Hamas and Israel to come up with a viable two- state solution. Particularly, Egypt is putting the pressure on the different Palestinian factions, like Hamas and Fatah, to “bridge divisions” by July 7, so that the Palestinian state could hold elections in 2010.

Meshaal thinks that if the violence between Fatah and Hamas could stop then there would be a real chance for the peace process to succeed. Meshaal expressed his approval of a two- state solution that would use the 1967 borders to delineate the two states. He also expressed Hamas’s willingness to be involved in the peace process.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Hamas: Fatah Raids Disrupting Talks– 10 June 2009

BBC News- Hamas ‘Will Not Obstruct’ 1967 Borders Deal – 10 June 2009

Xinhua- Meshaal in Cairo to Defuse Tension Between Hamas-Fatah– 10 June 2009

Reuters- Raids Hamper Palestinian Reconciliation- Hamas – 9 June 2009

Voice of America- Hamas Leader Meshaal in Egypt for Reconciliation Talks– 9 June 2009

Government Negligence Cause of Fire in Low Cost Day Care Facility, Forty-Four Children Dead

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

HERMOSILLO, Mexico – The Sonora State Attorney General says that negligence was the cause of a day care fire that claimed the lives of forty-four children on June 5th. The private facility was leased by the government to provide people with low-cost day care. 173 children attended day care in the 1,612 square feet converted warehouse in an industrial area.

While a record of safety inspection, dated May 26, indicates that the day care had fire extinguishers and an exit with signs leading to it, witnesses say no fire alarms or sprinklers went off. Authorities cite the lack of emergency doors, fake ceilings, bad electrical installations, and highly toxic products as causes of the fire. Rescuers had to break through walls to rescue children. The Director of the Social Security Institute in Mexico is looking into why the day care passed the safety inspection.
On Monday, state and federal officials promised to investigate thoroughly, without regard to the day care owners’ family and political ties. One of the owners is related to Mexican First Lady Margarita Zavala and her husband is a top public-works official in the Sonoran government. The husband of the other owner is also a highly ranked state official.

The fire raises concern about the safety standards at more than 1,500 government sponsored low-cost day care centers in Mexico. At least 200,000 children are cared for in these facilities. Twenty-two survivors remain in critical condition. The Social Security Institute, the agency responsible for the day care facilities has agreed to pay the survivors’ health costs for life.

Largest Influx of Refugees Crossing Thai-Myanmar Border

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – Almost 3,000 ethnic Karen of Myanmar, mostly women and children, have fled to neighboring Thailand after the Myanmar army launched another offensive attack last week. This attack led to the largest exodus from Karen State since the Myanmar government began its attacks in 1997.

In the recent years, Karen forces have weakened due partly to divisions within its ranks.  David Thaw, the spokesman for Karen National Union (KNU), said they do not have any information regarding Karen casualties of the recent attacks, and one of the camps inside Myanmar, which sheltered internal refugees, has been abandoned.

The KNU has been fighting for autonomy from Myanmar’s military government for the past 60 years, and it is one of the longest running insurgencies in the world.  Around 100,000 Karens have already sought refuge in Thailand after fleeing the counterinsurgency, and about half a million Karens have been internally displaced inside Myanmar.

Thai-burma border
Karen refugees seeking shelter in Thailand (Source: AP)

According to Amnesty International, this ongoing offensive includes widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by the Myanmar government, including displacement of refugees, unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, imposition of forced labor, and unlawful forms of punishment.

When the tensions heightened in the recent days, Thai troops were deployed to the Thai-Myanmar border to prevent a spillover of the fighting between the Karen people and Myanmar’s government.  The Thai army is also in contact with international aid agencies to provide relief for the Karen refugees.  The United Nations, along with other aid agencies, is continuing to deliver aid to the border and is setting up temporary shelters.

The Myanmar government has refused to comment regarding this situation.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – MYANMAR ETHNIC GROUP FACES CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY – 5 June 2009

BBC – Burma’s Karen flee army offensive – 8 June 2009

MSNBC – 4,000 Karen flee fighting in Myanmar – 9 June 2009

Reuters – Nearly 1,800 Karen flee Myanmar fighting – Thailand – 8 June 2009

U.S. Protests North Korea’s Punishment of 2 Journalists

By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

WASHINGTON, U.S. – The U.S. government and several human rights groups have started protesting after North Korea’s highest court sentenced two American journalists to 12 years of hard labor.

The two journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were detained by North Korean soldiers at the Chinese border in March. They were charged with illegally entering North Korea and with “hostile acts.”

There are conflicting reports emerging regarding the stories the journalists were working on. Laura Ling’s sister, Lisa Ling, told ABC television that the journalists had been working on a story regarding the trafficking of North Korean women into China, while other reports suggest they had been reporting on North Korean refugees who had fled North Korea.

The White House has also expressed its sentiment on the issue, and President Obama has been “deeply concerned” by the sentencing. Statements from the White House say that the U.S. is “engaged through all possible channels to secure their release.”

Groups such as Amnesty International have also been criticizing North Korea’s judicial and penal system by highlighting the fact that the journalists have had “no access to lawyers, no due process, no transparency.” They have gone on to call the North Korean judicial system an “instrument of supression than of justice.” Needless to say, the sentencing is the latest development in the strained American-North Korean relationship.

The Obama administration has reached out to the governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, who helped released American citizens imprisoned in North Korea in the past. However, Governor Richardson added that “talk of an envoy is premature because what first has to happen is a framework for negotiations on a potential humanitarian release. What we would try to see would be some kind of political pardon.”

Governor Richardson also noted that North Korea had not filed espionage charges against the journalists as many had assumed might happen and this was a positive sign.

Needless to say the plight of the two journalists has garnered substantial media attention, and the attention of the government and several human rights agencies. According to Governor Richardson there are some positive developments that can be utilized as stepping stones. However, let’s hope the U.S. government can work towards the journalists speedy release since several international reports strongly suggest that detainees at the labor camps are subject to hunger, brutal beatings, and inhumane workloads.

According to the four minute conversation Laura Ling had with her sister, the only thing that could help them would be if the “two countries communicate.”

For more information, please see:

NY Times – U.S. Protests North Korea’s Punishment of two Journalists – June 8, 2009

AP – Will U.S. Send Envoy after North Korea Jails Reporters? – June 8, 2009

Straits Times – Reporters Get Hard Labor – June 8, 2009

Threatened and Censored Professor Files Complaint With Human Rights Commission in Mexico

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SINALOA, Mexico – Florencio Posadas Segura, a professor at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, UAS) was censored and threatened after commenting via radio that new rules regarding the succession in the rector’s position had “not passed democratic and academic tests.” Professor Segura spoke on the morning program, “A Primera Voz”, which airs on a University Radio Station.
Professor Segura’s comments resulted in a harsh reprimand by the university rector, who allegedly ordered Victor Hugo Aguilar Gaxiola, the radio show’s host not to allow Professor Segura back on the air. Professor Segura claims that the Host also told him to “Be careful, you never know when a car could run you over”. Professor Segura promptly filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (Comisíon Estatal de Derechos Humanos) because he fears for his life. He expressed indignation at the actions censuring his rights to self expression.
CENCOS (National Center for Social Communication) and IFEX ( International Freedom of Expression Exchange)  have called on the rector of the University and the directors  of the Radio Station to reconsider their actions and put measures in place to allow for Professor Segura to freely express himself.
Professor Segura has been a commentator on Radio UAS for 10 years. He is a professor and investigator in the UAS Social and Economic Investigations Unit (Instituto de Investigaciones Economicas y Sociales). He holds a doctorate in social sciences from the Metropolitan Autonomous University.