ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives: Weekly Report 91–92 (April 27, 2016 – May 10, 2016)

ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives Weekly Report 91–92 (April 27, 2016 – May 10, 2016)

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AUTHORS

Michael D. Danti, Amr al-Azm, Allison Cuneo, Susan Penacho, Bijan Rouhani, Marina Gabriel, Kyra Kaercher, and Jamie O’Connell

Download Report 91–92

Key points from this report:
  • New photographs show damage to Abu Bakr al-Sidiq Mosque in Dumeir, Rif Dimashq Governorate (ASOR CHI Incident Report SHI 16-0045 UPDATE).
  • Aerial bombardment and clashes between armed groups damaged eight mosques in Aleppo, Aleppo Governorate (ASOR CHI Incident Report SHI 16-0060).
  • An alleged SARG airstrike reportedly damaged the Iman Mosque in Deir ez-Zor, Deir ez-Zor Governorate (ASOR CHI Incident Report SHI 16-0061).
  • Alleged SARG airstrikes damage the Idlib Museum, Al-Jawari Mosque, and Omari Mosque in Idlib, Idlib Governorate (ASOR CHI Incident Report SHI 16-0062).
  • Alleged SARG airstrikes damaged Al-Ma’aara Museum in Ma’arat al-Numan, Idlib Governorate (ASOR CHI Incident Report SHI 16-0063). The Day After Heritage Protection Initiative has produced two reports on the damage and subsequent cleanup of the museum.
  • Alleged SARG airstrike damaged Sheikh Shuayab Mosque in Binnish, Idlib Governorate (ASOR CHI Incident Report SHI 16-0064).
  • New satellite imagery confirms that ISIL militants have leveled several gates of Nineveh in Mosul, Ninawa Governorate (ASOR CHI Incident Report IHI 16-0010 UPDATE).
  • New satellite imagery shows ongoing damage to the site of Nineveh, including the ongoing looting and destruction of the Southwest Palace of Sennacherib in Mosul, Ninawa Governorate (ASOR CHI Incident Report IHI 16-0013).

* This report is based on research conducted by the “Syria Preservation Initiative: Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria.” Weekly reports reflect reporting from a variety of sources and may contain unverified material. As such, they should be treated as preliminary and subject to change.

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Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Atrocity Alert: Iraq, World Humanitarian Summit

Atrocity Alert, No.  6 No Images? Click here

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.

© UNHCR/Sebastian Rich

Iraq

On 23 May Iraqi Security Forces began a major offensive to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). While the government instructed thousands of civilians remaining in Fallujah to leave and promised safe passage, ISIL has prevented most people from doing so. Civilians have been trapped in the city and suffering from acute shortages of food and medicine, with no access to humanitarian aid, since December 2015.

With more than 60 million people around the world displaced by conflict, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened the World Humanitarian Summit from 23 to 24 May in Istanbul, Turkey. The Summit brought together delegates from more than 170 countries, as well as intergovernmental organizations and leaders within civil society, to discuss an “Agenda for Humanity.”

UN and humanitarian partners are currently responding to four “Level-3” emergencies – the most severe humanitarian crises – in Iraq, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen. In each of these situations, as well as many others, the world is witnessing widespread and systematic mass atrocity crimes. As UN Deputy-Secretary-General Jan Eliasson noted in his opening remarks to a High-Level Roundtable at the Summit, “International humanitarian and human rights law are under assault… More than 150 years of achievements to protect the most vulnerable during conflict are unraveling. The Geneva Conventions seem to have been forgotten.”

During the Summit, Global Centre Executive Director Dr. Simon Adams moderated a side event, “Security Council Action in the Service of Humanity,” hosted by the Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein, and also spoke at a number of other sessions.

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Eurojust: First EU Day Against Impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes: EU is not a safe haven for perpetrators of atrocious crimes

The Hague, 23 May 2016

The first annual EU Day Against Impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes took place today in The Hague, under the Netherlands EU Presidency. The event was hosted by Eurojust, and organised in cooperation with the European Commission and the Network for investigation and prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Commenting on the day, the Netherlands Minister of Security and Justice stated that ‘the EU is no safe haven for perpetrators of atrocious crimes’.

The objective of this initiative is to raise awareness of the most heinous crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The EU Day Against Impunity is also intended to promote national investigations and prosecutions, to

• recognise the common efforts of the EU Member States and the European Union in enforcing international criminal law,
• address the position and participation of victims in criminal proceedings for these crimes,
• reinvigorate a Europe-wide commitment to the continuing fight against impunity for these crimes.

The Netherlands Minister of Security and Justice, H.E. Mr Ard van der Steur, stated:

It is primarily the responsibility of states to investigate and prosecute alleged perpetrators of core international crimes. International criminal courts and tribunals are often set up as courts of last resort, and are not able to prosecute ALL violations of international criminal law.

The Minister further underlined that ‘the EU does not want to be a safe haven for perpetrators of atrocious crimes.’

The Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Ms Věra Jourová, stated:

The European Commission has made support to victims of crime a priority. Victims in criminal proceedings conducted in the European Union enjoy a wide range of rights under European law, regardless of their nationality or place of residence. Together with the Member States, the European Union has been striving for consistency between the European Union’s internal and external policies in relation to the fight against serious international crimes. Close and swift cooperation between national judicial and law enforcement authorities matter greatly. At the EU level, Eurojust and Europol play a crucial role in this respect.

Eurojust’s President, Ms Michèle Coninsx, stated:

Experience shows that the investigation and prosecution of international crimes, such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, require cooperation between states. A single state is not able to efficiently and successfully prosecute perpetrators of these heinous crimes. A common EU justice response is vital to ensure that the European Union is no safe haven for criminals. The need for intensified cooperation with third States and partners becomes clear when fighting impunity.

Background

The 1 607 closed and 1 339 ongoing core international crime cases in the Member States demonstrate that the fight against impunity is a reality and current challenge faced by national authorities.

For interviews and further information, please contact:
Eurojust
Ulf Bergström, Head of Communications and External Relations
Tel: +31 70 412 5508
Mobile: +31 646 764 209
E-mail: media@eurojust.europa.eu
Matevž Pezdirc, Head of Genocide Network Secretariat
Tel: +31 70 412 5514
Mobile: +31 646 595 095
E-mail: GenocideNetworkSecretariat@eurojust.europa.eu
Netherlands Ministry of Security and Justice
Karen Temmink, Spokesperson
Tel: +31 625 657 676
E-mail: k.temmink3@minvenj.nl
Melanie Voin, Press Contact for Commissioner Jourová
Tel: +32 (0)2 29 58659
Mobile: +32 (0)460 758 659
E-mail: Melanie.VOIN1@ec.europa.eu

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Atrocity Alert: Iraq, World Humanitarian Summit

Atrocity Alert, No.  6 No Images? Click here

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.

© UNHCR/Sebastian Rich

Iraq

On 23 May Iraqi Security Forces began a major offensive to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). While the government instructed thousands of civilians remaining in Fallujah to leave and promised safe passage, ISIL has prevented most people from doing so. Civilians have been trapped in the city and suffering from acute shortages of food and medicine, with no access to humanitarian aid, since December 2015.

With more than 60 million people around the world displaced by conflict, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened the World Humanitarian Summit from 23 to 24 May in Istanbul, Turkey. The Summit brought together delegates from more than 170 countries, as well as intergovernmental organizations and leaders within civil society, to discuss an “Agenda for Humanity.”

UN and humanitarian partners are currently responding to four “Level-3” emergencies – the most severe humanitarian crises – in Iraq, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen. In each of these situations, as well as many others, the world is witnessing widespread and systematic mass atrocity crimes. As UN Deputy-Secretary-General Jan Eliasson noted in his opening remarks to a High-Level Roundtable at the Summit, “International humanitarian and human rights law are under assault… More than 150 years of achievements to protect the most vulnerable during conflict are unraveling. The Geneva Conventions seem to have been forgotten.”

During the Summit, Global Centre Executive Director Dr. Simon Adams moderated a side event, “Security Council Action in the Service of Humanity,” hosted by the Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein, and also spoke at a number of other sessions.

Connect With Us

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky: Russian Investigative Authorities Reject William Browder’s Complaint Against General Prosecutor Chaika

25 May 2016 – The Russian Investigative Committee has rejected William Browder’s criminal complaint against Russian General Prosecutor Yuri Chaika. The complaint asked the Russian authorities to investigate Chaika for making knowingly false accusations of triple homicide against William Browder in a December 2015 letter Chaika published in the Russian newspaper “Kommersant.” In that article, Chaika accused Browder of murdering three Russian citizens.

“Chaika shouldn’t be allowed to abuse his position and make such wild and knowingly false statements against me purely to seek revenge for his false assumption that I was involved in exposing the abuse and corruption of his office,” said William Browder, author of the New-York Times best-seller “Red Notice. How I Became Putin’s No 1 Enemy.“

Chaika’s Kommersant letter also blamed William Browder for financing and backing the YouTubeexpose of corruption and criminality involving Chaika’s sons prepared by Russian anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny.

  1. Ustyugov, an official in the Russian Investigative Committee, issued the rejection to William Browder’s complaint, stating there were “no grounds to register this application as a crime report and conduct a probe into it.”

The Russian Investigative Committee’s official who prepared the refusal was officer Marina Lomonosova, who previously was in charge of investigating the death of Sergei Magnitsky in Russian police custody.

Judge Artur Karpov of Basmanny District Court of Moscow agreed with the Investigative Committee’s inaction, saying “there were no reasons to distrust the documents provided by the criminal prosecution bodies.”

Moscow district city Judge Artur Karpov has previously refused complaints from Sergei Magnitsky’s mother seeking an investigation of her son’s torture and murder in detention. He also sanctioned arrests of Bolotnaya Square protesters and the house arrest of Alexei Navalny.

For more information, please contact:

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

www.billbrowder.com

https://twitter.com/Billbrowder