A Voice for the Voiceless

Fiji Law Society Raided

By Angela Marie Watkins
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Over the weekend, the offices of the Fiji Law Society were raided, files were removed, and the Society’s president was informed that the government will take over licensing lawyers and the handling of any complaints, including its own against the lawyers.

Society president, Dorsami Naidu, told Radio New Zealand the new chief registrar, Ana Rokomokoti, and men in plain clothes demanded entry to the society’s Suva offices. They then took confidential files relating to complaints against law society members, and the chief registrar told staff a decree had been issued effectively deregulating the society. The society was told it would no longer be in charge of licensing lawyers, and membership would no longer be compulsory.

One staff member was threatened with arrest.

The raid follows the military regime’s reappointment of judges last Friday, six weeks after firing them all.

Those reinstated included two High Court justices who previously ruled that the military’s 2006 coup was legal.

All practicing certificates will expire on June 30.

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – New Zealand Law Society – New Zealand Law Society says Fiji’s regime further threatening independence of legal system – 25 May 2009

The New Zealand Herald – Law Society says Fiji raid ‘serious development’ – 25 May 2009

The New Lawyer – Fiji law society attack angers Aus lawyers – 25 May 2009

Evidence of Human Rights Abuses Uncovered in Northern Burma

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KACHIN, Burma – Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) found new evidence of human rights violations in Burma.  CSW said they heard horrifying, first-hand testimonies of rape, religious discrimination, land confiscation, and human trafficking of ethnic minorities in Kachin State of northern Burma.

Benedict Rogers, CSW’s East Asia Team Leader, said ethnic Kachin people, especially women, live in constant fear of the Burmese soldiers, yet no one dares to intervene.  Rogers also said that despite the ceasefire between the ruling junta and the Kachin Independent Organization, people of Kachin continue to suffer severe restriction, discrimination, and military impunity.

Burma

Villagers fleeing Burma Army troops (Source: AP)

CSW report included an account of a local pastor who was forced by the Burmese military to make a speech at a public rally denouncing human rights campaigners and claiming complete religious freedom.  Furthermore, CSW spoke with a 21-year old student who was raped and strangled by Burma Army soldiers.  The rape victim did file a complaint and requested investigation, but no action was ever taken.  She merely received 100,000 Kyats for medical care, a rice bag, and cooking oil.

“Many rape cases in Kachin State go unreported because victims are afraid and [too] ashamed to report it. There are many more cases we don’t know about,” said Rogers. He added, “No women are safe in Kachin State.”

Kachin Development Networking Group’s Chairman Awng Wa, who works inside Burma, described the current situation by stating that, “You can hear of rape cases everywhere, if there is a military camp set up.  But no one dares to complain because they are afraid that it could create… more repression.”  The Chairman further added, “Land confiscation and forced labor are common too.”

According to Rogers, the Kachin people feel forgotten by the international community.  He said, “It is time that their voices are heard, and that the international community responded to the political, social, humanitarian and environmental disaster in northern…Burma.”
For more information, please see:

Chinland Guardian – CSW: Chin and Kachin Face Brutalities in Burma – 25 May 2009

The Christian Post – CSW Uncovers More Evidence of Human Rights Abuses in Burma – 25 May 2009

Christian Today – SCW uncovers more evidence of human rights abuses in Burma – 25 May 2009

Mizzima News – Junta violations severe in Northern Burma: CSW – 25 May 2009

Demolitions of Palestinian Homes in Jerusalem Continue

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – Despite calls from the United Nations for demolitions of Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem to cease, the city continues to demolish what it calls “illegally developed” homes. The deputy mayor, Naomi Tsur, says that all residents of Jerusalem are being treated equally. Tsur insists that all homes built without permit are being destroyed, regardless of their being in east or west Jerusalem.

The Israeli police pounded on the doors and entered homes as if they were executing a raid. One resident was told that she had five minutes to don her scarf, collect her valuables, and get out of the house. One thousand illegally built homes in Jerusalem have been marked for demolition so far this year. Israeli based NGO B’Tselem estimates that that number could double in the next few months.

Amidst the rubble of her home a Palestinian girl gets food from her fridge. Her home in east Jerusalem was demolished on April 22. Image Courtesy of Tara Todraswhitehill/AP
Iw picture memorial day
Many Palestinians whose homes have been demolished admit that they built their home without a permit. Permits are difficult to get, because there is only a limited percentage of land that Palestinians are allowed to build on, and most of this land is already being used. Out of the seventy square kilometers that constitute the west bank and east Jerusalem that were annexed by Israel, only thirteen percent is zoned for Palestinian construction.

Even changes to existing homes, like additions, are subject to Jerusalem’s strict building permit regulations. In Jerusalem’s Old City, a resident has been ordered to demolish a room of his house and to pay a 6,000 shekel fine (1,500 USD). The resident was given 45 days to comply, or he faces a three month jail term. He had already paid an 8,000 shekel fine in 2004 for building the room onto his house.

Jerusalem is allegedly stingy in their granting of building permits. Many Palestinians are denied permits if they submit applications, which discourages many other citizens from even attempting to get the proper permits. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) alleges that the building permit process and the current demolition practices are all part of a plan to remove the Palestinians from Jerusalem.

Mayor Nir Barkat’s administration denies the allegations of the ACRI, and recently announced that 13,500 additional housing units would be allowed in east Jerusalem. These additional units are not an immediate solution, only part of a city plan for the year 2030. The city has a large development plan that will allow a developer to create a large tourist complex near the Old City, and supports a group that buys Palestinian land in east Jerusalem, and relocates the Palestinians to more Arab neighborhoods.

The demolitions and restrictions on Palestinian development in Jerusalem add to the difficulties of the peace process and the proposed two state solution. With mounting pressure from the United States and world wide for peace, Israel will be under more scrutiny for its city planning measures that appear to be discriminatory in effect.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Demolitions build Jerusalem tension – 25 May 2009

Ma’an News Agency – Jerusalem Court orders Palestinian to demolish room of his home – 24 May 2009

BBC News – Jerusalem Mayor ‘stepping up demolitions’ – 19 May 2009

Christian Science Monitor – In Jerusalem, an uptick in demolition orders of Arab homes – 19 May 2009

United Nations Radio – End Palestinian demolitions in Jerusalem, UN tells Israel – 1 May 2009

100 Human Skulls Found in India

By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ALIGARH, India – Nearly 100 human skulls were found in a dried up pond in the Northern Indian city of Aligarh. The remains belonged to people whose bodies the police were unable to identify.

The discovery was made by children playing in the pond after it had dried up. The children located several skulls, after which police officials were notified. Police officials recovered approximately 98 more skulls alongside other bones and human remains. The bodies appear to have been there for at least a decade.

Local officials commented that the bodies most likely belonged to victims of road accidents, inconclusive shootings, and the like, and the police disposed off the bodies in the pond in order to avoid having to organize cremations. Aligarh city police chief, Maan Singh Chauhan, said he suspected this had been going on for two decades and many junior-rank officials could be responsible.

Several human rights groups in India are appalled at this recent discovery and have accused the police of being callous. A senior official of the Uttar Pradesh State Human Rights Organization, Asish Shukla, said “even dead bodies deserve honorable cremation after post mortem…It seems the dead bodies were just thrown in the pond, denying them the respect they deserve.”

In a region that is known to house rampant human rights violations where even the living are often accorded no respect, it comes as no surprise that the dead are treated the same.

For more information, please see:

CNN – 100 Skulls Found in Indian Pond – 25 May 2009

AOL News – Skulls Found in India – 25 May 2009

ABC News – 100 Human Skulls Found in India – 25 May 2009

Canadian Supreme Court Denies Constitutional Rights to Afghan Detainees Abroad

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

OTTAWA, Canada – The Canadian Supreme Court declined to decide if non-Canadians transferred by Canadian troops to Afghan custody should be extended constitutional rights. The rejection of the appeal application brought by Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Union effectively upheld a lower court ruling that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not protect non-Canadians abroad.

A lawyer for the two rights groups expressed disapproval of the ruling by pointing out that “just about every other democratic country has affirmed that military detainees held on foreign soil have human rights protections in their domestic courts-including the United States.” Human rights groups insist that torture of detainees in Afghanistan is “endemic,” and that Canadian soldiers should not take part in prisoner transfers if there are grounds to believe the detainees will be tortured.

Rights groups say that the potential for Canada to extend Constitutional protections abroad came when Canadian courts held that the rights of Omar Khadr, a Guantanamo detainee were violated.  However, the Federal Court of Appeals explicitly stated that the Khadr decision had no impact on the Afghan detainee case. The Court of Appeals opinion in this case cited Afghan sovereignty with respect to military affairs as a reason for their holding. The Supreme Court, by custom, did not give a reason why they refused to hear the case.

Despite the ruling, a public inquiry by the Military Police Commission into these allegations is scheduled to begin Monday in Ottawa. Rights groups remain adamant that when military police transfer captive insurgents to Afghan authorities known to torture their detainees, they fail to live up to international obligations.