A Voice for the Voiceless

Child Bride’s Divorce Sparks Discussion of Women’s, Children’s Rights

By Nykoel Dinardo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Photo: Nujood Ali and her attorney Shada Nasser, Courtesy of CNN InternationalImage_nasser_and_ali

SANA’A, Yemen – On September 16, ten-year old Nujood Ali returned to school as a second-grader. Although her actions may not sound unusual, Nujood Ali has become a role model and example for women’s rights activists in the Middle East and her return to school is seen as a major step towards gender equality.  Ali has become the focus of international attention because she filed for divorce in April against her 30 year-old husband, Faez Ali Thamer, and won.

In Yemen, Ali was the first child bride granted a permanent divorce by the court.  Her father arranged her marriage in February.  When asked why he married his daughter at the age of ten, he explained that two of her sisters had been kidnapped and forcibly married.  He believed that, by arranging her marriage, he was protecting her from a similar fate.

Less than a month after Nujood Ali was granted a divorce, nine-year old Arwa Abdu Muhammad appeared a hospital in Sana’a.  She complained that her husband had been beating and sexually assaulting her for eight months.  These two cases have generated a lot of media coverage and brought attention to the risks of child marriage.

Some consider child marriage to be a part of Islamic culture and conservatives often cite the fact that the Prophet Muhammad married his favorite wife when she was nine to support it.  Nonetheless, it has been a hot topic among human rights groups.  The United Nations Population Fund has a section dedicated to Child Marriage as a Form of Gender-Based Violence.  It explains that those married at a young age face high risk of health problems commonly associated with early sexual activity and childbirth.

In Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Human Rights Commission has been pushing for new laws to increase the minimum age for marriage to 17 years.  However, in Yemen, despite laws setting the minimum marriage age to 15 – girls are often married younger.  In an interview with CNN, Ali said that she hopes that her actions make “people listen and think to not marry girls so young.”

Shada Nasser, a women’s rights advocate in Yemen and Ali’s lawyer, said that since the press coverage of Ali’s divorce she’s been contacted by several child brides.  Nasser said that she plans on doing everything she can to help them.

For more information, please see:

Baltimore Sun – Yemen Divorcee Reclaims Childhood –  28 September 2008

CNN International – Helping Child Brides Break Free – 25 September 2008

Jerusalem Post – Ending Child Marriage in Saudi Arabia – 10 September 2008

New York Times – Tiny Voices Defy Child Marriage in Yemen – 29 June 2008

United Nation’s Population Fund – Forms of Gender-Based Violence and Their Consequences

New Zealand PM Calls on Fiji to Establish a Legitimate Government

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand’s prime minister has announced that Fiji must establish a legitimate government committed to reform before relations with Fiji can be mended.

“The return of a legitimate government committed to advancing a process of reform and national reconciliation would allow us to start down the road of normalization and reconciliation,” said New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark.

Clark believes Fiji’s path to progress should start with the Pacific Islands Forum proposals held in Niue in August. Specifically, Clark suggests that Fiji’s interim government should strive to avoid isolation from the other Pacific communities.

While Clark admits that establishing a successful dialogue between stakeholders in Fiji would be difficult, she also is hopeful that “given goodwill and commitment on all sides, an inclusive and independent political dialogue process could generate outcomes acceptable to all.”

Despite many difficulties facing Fiji’s return to democratic rule, Clark has observed “widespread willingness” among leaders to find solutions, implement reform, and, most of all ,arrive at a reconciliation.

For more information, please see:
Fiji Village – Clark Calls On Fiji To Engage – 01 October 2008

Fiji Daily Post – Fiji -NZ relations depend on legitimate govt: Clark – 01 October 2008

Religious Freedom in China, North Korea and Myanmar

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

The annual U.S. State Department report on religious freedom heavily criticizes Asian governments’ religion record.  The report says that China’s repression of religious groups intensified during the last year, citing Beijing’s crackdown on Tibetan Buddhists, and its harassment of Christians and members of the Falun Gong as evidence.  The Chinese government undertook a “patriotic education campaign,” which required monks and nuns to sign statements personally denouncing the Dalai Lama. The State Department also found that over the past year, Chinese officials detained and interrogated several foreigners about their religious activities. Officials alleged that the foreigners had engaged in “illegal religious activities,” forcing the cancellation of their visas.

In North Korea, the report said, “genuine religious freedom does not exist.”  According to the report, North Korea government deals harshly with those who engage in religious practices considered unacceptable by the regime. Religious and human rights groups outside the country report that members of underground churches are beaten, arrested, tortured, or killed because of their religious beliefs.  They estimate that 150,000 to 200,000 people are held in political prison camps in remote areas of North Korea, some for religious reasons.  Refugees and defectors who have been in prison said that prisoners held because of their religious beliefs generally are treated worse than other inmates.

The report also condemned Myanmar’s military Junta for restricting spiritual activities and abusing its citizens’ rights.  In Myanmar, “the government continued to infiltrate and monitor activities of virtually all organizations, including religious ones. Christians faced restrictions and Muslims suffered violence and close monitoring,” the report said.  Recently, an independent US group is carrying out unprecedented studies to determine whether Myanmar’s military rulers, accused of rampant human rights abuses, have committed international crimes.

For more information, please see:

AFP – US group studies potential war crimes by Myanmar military – 1 October 2008

BBC – ‘China repression grows’, says US – 19 September 2008

CNN – U.S.: Chinese targeted religious groups before Olympics – 19 September 2008

International Herald Tribune – US criticizes Asian governments’ religion record – 20 September 2008

U.S. Department of State – 2008 Report on International Religious Freedom – 19 September 2008

Voice of America – North Korea Religious Persecution – 30 September 2008

Voice of America – US Religious Freedom Report Faults North Korea, Eritrea, Iran – 19 September 2008

UNHRC Fails to Appoint Special Rapporteur for Turkmenistan

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan – The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted against appointing a special rapporteur for Turkmenistan, disappointing several human rights organizations.

Former Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov was known for his reclusive, authoritarian policies and dismal human rights record. According to many experts, the situation in has changed little under the new administration.

The reason for the voting against a special rapporteur was unclear since the vote was taken behind closed doors. The UNHRC declined to explain the vote, citing the vote’s confidential nature. However, Turkmenistan will undergo review again in December along with all other member countries.

Sebastien Gillioz of Human Rights Watch commented, “All UN members will be reviewed, and in December it’s time for Turkmenistan, among others, to be reviewed. It’s a public process, it’s a political process, and a set of recommendations will be adopted after that review. In addition, the special rapporteur on freedom of religion, who visited the country a few weeks ago, will deliver her report in March. So there is a lot of pressure now on Turkmenistan, and that’s a positive outcome for us.”

Leonid Komarovsky, a former Russian journalist and U.S. Citizen, spent five months in a Turkmenistan prison after being accused of plotting to assassinate Niyazov in 2002. He alleges he was drugged and beaten while in prison. He was released from custody after pressure from Washington.

Komarovsky commented on the recent vote, “Unfortunately, nothing has changed for my friends in Turkmenistan. Their situation remains awful. The election of a new president has not brought any changes. The current regime is as abominable as the previous one and continues to brutalize the Turkmen people. Such a regime has no right to exist.”

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Tribune – No Special Rapporteur for Turkmenistan23 September 2008

Human Rights Tribune – A Special Rapporteur for Turkmenistan – 18 September 2008

Radio Free – UN Human Rights Council Fails to Appoint Turkmen Envoy – 30 September 2008

Olmert: Return Occupied Territories for Peace

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East
 
WEST JERUSALEM, Israel – On September 29, Yedioth Aharonoth, Israel’s largest newspaper, published a farewell interview with the now interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.  In the interview, Olmert stated that “We have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, the meaning of which is that in practice we will withdraw from almost all the territories, if not all the territories.”  In addition, in order to reach a peace agreement with Syria, Israel will have to withdraw from the Golan Heights.

The most controversial element of Olmert’s statement is that a final peace agreement will require Israeli withdrawal from East Jerusalem.  Official Israeli policy regarding East Jerusalem is that it is a part of Israel and that Jerusalem is the “eternal and unified capital” of Israel.  Olmert argues that maintaining sovereignty over an undivided Jerusalem would involve bringing 270,000 Palestinians inside Israel’s security barrier. 

“A decision has to be made,” said Olmert. “This decision is difficult, terrible, a decision that contradicts our natural instincts, our innermost desires, our collective memories, the prayers of the Jewish people for 2,000 years.”

Olmert’s comments in his farewell interview surprised many as he has long opposed any territorial concessions to the Palestinians.  According to Olmert, he was “not prepared to look at reality in all of its depth.”  While this is the first time Olmert has stated these thoughts publicly, “his Palestinian negotiations partners have heard this before, as have the Americans and the Europeans,” said Mark Regev, Olmert’s spokesman. 

Response from both the right and left wings of Israeli politics was swift.  Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the rightwing Yisrael Beiteinu party, denounced the prime minister’s comments as “insanity.”  Lieberman continued by stating that Olmert was “endangering the existence of the State of Israel irresponsibly.”

Leftwing politicians criticized Mr Olmert for speaking his mind at a time when he had lost the power and credibility to make the territorial concessions he talked about.  Aluf Benn, of Ha’aretz, characterized the comments as “too little, too late.”

Despite recently resigning as Prime Minister, Olmert remains the interim Prime Minister and, in theory, will continue peace negotiations while awaiting the new government.  However, since Olmert is a lame-duck Prime Minister, some analysts believe that a final peace agreement will not occur in his remaining months.  Rather, his comments are to prepare the Israeli public for a possible peace agreement under his successor.

For more information, please see:

Financial Times – Olmert Calls for Return of “Almost All” Territory – 29 September 2008

Guardian – Ian Black: Ehud Olmert’s Valedictory Jewish New Year Message is Worth Listening To – 29 September 2008

Ha’aretz – ANALYSIS: Olmert’s Epiphany is Too Little, Too Late – 29 September 2008

Jerusalem Post – Olmert: We Must Leave Most of W. Bank – 29 September 2008

New York Times – Olmert Says Israel Should Pull Out of West Bank – 29 September 2008

Voice of America – Olmert Says Israel Must Withdraw From “Almost All” of Occupied Territories – 29 September 2008