Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Atrocity Alert: Myanmar, Syria and Central African Republic

Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting and updating situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.

Myanmar

Since the start of a counter-insurgency operation in Rakhine state on 9 October 2016, the Myanmar government has been perpetrating attacks against the Rohingya community that may amount to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. On 3 February the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report based upon interviews with Rohingya asylum seekers, detailing widespread and systematic attacks, including extrajudicial and summary executions, disappearances and torture. Of the 101 women interviewed by OHCHR, 52 reported having personally been raped or subjected to other forms of sexual violence. Human Rights Watch reinforced this evidence on 6 February, reporting that government forces had committed coordinated and systematic rape and other sexual violence against Rohingya women and girls. Both reports indicate that women and girls were targeted because of their ethnicity and religion. On 6 February the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, stated that ongoing violations against civilians may be a “precursor of other egregious international crimes.”

UNHCR

Syria

On 7 February Amnesty International released a report detailing allegations of a calculated and systematic campaign of abuse and extrajudicial killings by the Syrian government in Saydnaya prison, outside Damascus, between 2011 and 2015. As many as 13,000 prisoners, mostly civilian opponents of the government, were secretly hanged, while thousands more have died due to torture and starvation. According to the report, every week groups of up to 50 prisoners were hanged following a 1-3 minute trial that took place at the Military Field Courts. According to interviews with former prison guards and administrators, bodies were then buried in mass graves on the outskirts of Damascus. The widespread mass executions are part of an ongoing and systematic campaign of crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Syrian government.

Central African Republic

After nearly four years of conflict and despite a UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSCA) with a robust protection of civilians mandate and more than 12,000 troops and police, civilians in the Central African Republic (CAR) continue to suffer as a result of fighting between shifting alliances of armed groups. In Ouaka prefecture the Popular Front for the Renaissance of CAR (FPRC), a predominately ethnic Goula armed group, has entered an alliance with the Patriotic Movement for CAR (MPC), in an attempt to expel the Union for Peace in the Central Africa (UPC), a predominately Fulani group, from Bambari. According to the UN Special Representatives for CAR and for Central Africa, the clashes have killed civilians and caused widespread displacement. MINUSCA has drawn a “red line” along the Bakala-Ippy axis, which prevents the FPRC/MPC from going south towards Bambari, and the UPC from going north towards Bria and Mbrés.

Meanwhile, in Ouham-Pendé, the rebel group Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation (3R) attacked the town of Bocaranga on 2 February. The group continues to clash with anti-balaka militias in the region, and recent fighting has displaced around 9,000 people.

According to the UN Secretary-General’s latest report on MINUSCA, since the end of September 2016, an estimated 287 civilians were killed “due to clashes between armed groups and a resurgence in criminality.”

UN Photos

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Arrest Warrant Issued for Peruvian ex-President Alejandro Toledo

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Lima, PERU—The Peruvian attorney general has issued an arrest warrant for the former president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, on charges of laundering assets. Prosecutors are accusing the former president of accepting $20 million in bribes from the Brazilian construction company, Odebrecht.

Ex-President of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, is accused of obtaining millions in bribes. (Courtesy of The New York Times)
Ex-President of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, is accused of obtaining millions in bribes. (Courtesy of The New York Times)

Prosecutors claim that Mr. Toledo accepted bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for infrastructure contracts. These contracts included the right to build a highway extending from Brazil to Peru. It is believed that Mr. Toledo obtained the payments through Peruvian-Israeli businessman Josef Maiman, who is also being investigated. The Peruvian attorney general, Pablo Sánchez, has requested for the “precautionary imprisonment” of Mr. Toledo for 18 months during the investigation. Currently, Mr. Toledo is in Paris, France and has told the media he is innocent of the accusations. He stated, “Say when, how and where and in what bank they’ve given me $20 million.” Mr. Toledo is set to travel to Stanford where he is a visiting scholar but is willing to travel to Peru as long as he is given a fair trial.

Odebrecht has been involved in similar scandals in the region that involved the Brazilian government and the administration of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In addition, the CEO of Odebrecht was sentenced to 19 years of prison for corruption and money laundering charges. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Odebrecht had created a department within its company dedicated to bribing international government officials in exchange for public works contracts.

Mr. Toledo was president of Peru from 2001 to 2006 and rose to power after protests toppled his predecessor, Alberto K. Fujimori, who is currently serving time in prison.

For more information, please see:

ABC News—Peru Attorney General Seeks Arrest of Ex-President Toledo—7 February 2017.

New York Times—Corruption Scandal Ensnares Leaders of Peru and Colombia—7 February 2017.

Wall Street Journal—Peru Seeks Detention of Ex-President Alejandro Toledo—7 February 2017.

BBC—Peru’s ex-President Alejandro Toledo Denies Taking Bribes—6 February 2017.

Ten-Year-Old Iraqi Girl Killed by ISIS Torture Device

by Yesim Usluca
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A new group of female-only “ISIS police” have been administering a new torture technique in which women are “ripped to death with ‘metal jaws’” if they violate the strict rules set by the group. Upon breaking one of the rules set forth by the brigade, a ten-year-old Iraqi girl bled to death after being “bitten” by a poison-lined medieval torture device.

The al-Khansaa have been administering torture to women who violate the strict morality laws set forth by ISIS (Photo courtesy of Daily Mail)

 

The Iraqi girl, Faten, allegedly stepped over the threshold of her home while cleaning. Per the strict rules imposed by ISIS fundamentalists in Mosul, women are not permitted to leave their homes by themselves. In response, the al-Khansaa brigade, ISIS’ female “morality police,” approached Faten’s mother to ask whether punishment should be administered to her or her daughter. Thinking the punishment would be in the form of a bite delivered by a person, Faten’s mother elected to have her daughter take the penalty instead of herself. Her mother, however, was not aware that the punishment would be administered by a medieval torture device, lined with poison.

The device is described as a “clamp with four ends as sharp as knives, like teeth, which can pierce the skin from both sides when pressed down.” While administering the punishment, the device tore the girl’s flesh in various places. After receiving the “bite,” Faten bled to death from the wounds before the poison could take effect.

The al-Khansaa brigade acts as a religious law enforcer, in which they punish females who violate the strict moral rules set forth by ISIS, including breastfeeding outside, not wearing black socks, wearing high heels, or lifting a full-face veil.

The women of Al-Khansaa have been administering brutal punishment all over Mosul. A woman reportedly died from injuries she sustained after being punished for “slightly” lifting her veil to examine merchandise at a market. She was immediately ordered to sit on the ground by the al-Khansaa and received thirty lashings. A woman who witnessed the death cried out against having to wear a hijab and face veil by stating “[i]t’s like I’m getting into a bag and it’s closed on me so I can’t even breathe . . . .”

For more information, please see:

Daily Mail—Iraqi girl, 10, is ‘bitten to death’ with medieval torture device by female ISIS fanatics after her mother was asked to choose if she or the child would be punished for stepping outside their house—7 February 2017

The Sun—Sick ISIS female jihadis ‘bite Iraqi girl, 10, to death’ with medieval torture device as punishment for stepping outside her house—7 February 2017

Express—Iraqi girl, 10, ‘bitten to death’ for stepping outside house in horror ISIS torture—7 February 2017

Mirror—Mother’s horror after ISIS female fighters tear daughter to death with metal jaws—7 February 2017

Daily Star—ISIS unleash lady jihadi BITING BRIGADE armed with ‘metal jaws’ to tear women to death—7 February 2017

Concerns Over China’s Labor Practices

By: Nicole Hoerold
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– China, the world’s biggest manufacturing powerhouse, has never had a strong reputation for its working conditions. China is able to offer competitive prices because it’s manufacturers cut back on other expenses, like worker’s benefits and quality work spaces.

Chinese couriers stand by a pile of packages out for delivery. Photo courtesy of: NY Times
Chinese couriers stand by a pile of packages out for delivery. Photo courtesy of: NY Times

China’s courier services have recently drawn attention in the international media. The world’s largest market for package delivery employs largely unskilled workers, and the job can be low-paying and difficult. Labor activists and legal experts are concerned that many couriers face harsh working conditions and unmanageable hours of employment. Almost one quarter of Beijing’s couriers work more than 12 hours each day, seven days a week, according to a survey conducted by Beijing Jiaotong University.

Most couriers make between $300 and $600 each month, a salary roughly equal to wages earned in China’s migrant factories. Chinese workers lack the right to organize their own worker’s unions. Instead, collective representation of workers falls under the sole authority of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, an organization of officials appointed by China’s communist party. This poses the concern that individuals have no remedy for grievances like low wages and poor working conditions.

Recently, China has showed some interest in expanding investments in Africa. Currently, China relies on Africa to supply a constant influx of natural resources to sustain its massive manufacturing industry. China, in turn, sells its manufactured products back to African states, builds infrastructure, and provides foreign direct investments. Critics of China’s policies in Africa are concerned that China is establishing itself as a colonial power. Human rights organizations are paying close attention to ensure that China’s labor practices, specifically the sate’s tendency to neglect labor rights, doesn’t carry over into the African labor sector.

For more information, please see:

New York Times – For Couriers, China’s E-Commerce Boom Can Be a Tough Road – 31 January, 2017

World Politics Review – China’s Complicated History With Workers’ Rights – 25 January, 2017

Harvard Political Review – China’s Investment in Africa: The New Colonialism? – 3 February, 2017

Financial Times – China labour unrest spreads to ‘new economy’ – 1 February, 2017