Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Prevent Mass Atrocities

During 2015 states, civil society and the UN took stock of the progress made in operationalizing the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) over the decade since it was first adopted at the UN World Summit in 2005. While practitioners noted the normative and institutional progress towards protecting populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, critical gaps remain in our collective response to the risk of mass atrocity crimes. As security challenges around the world evolve, we need to continue discussing how to address these threats in innovative ways.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, in partnership with the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, convened a workshop during December 2015 on Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Prevent Mass Atrocities in Johannesburg, South Africa. The interactive workshop brought together practitioners from the Global South – including from the emerging powers of India, South Africa and Brazil – to highlight mechanisms for enhancing South-South cooperation in implementing R2P.
The following outcome document highlights the challenges in implementation identified by participants and provides recommendations for strengthening South-South cooperation on mass atrocity prevention.
The document is accessible on our website via the following link: Ten Years of the Responsibility to Protect: Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Prevent Mass Atrocities.

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky:Crane 1 of 1 French TV Station ARTE Permanently Cancels Nekrasov’s Anti-Magnitsky Propaganda Film

French TV Sta­tion ARTE Per­ma­nently Can­cels Nekrasov’s Anti-Magnitsky Pro­pa­ganda Film

 

9 May 2016 – The French TV sta­tion, ARTE, has per­ma­nently can­celled the anti-Magnitsky pro­pa­ganda film by Russ­ian film­maker Andrei Nekrasov.

 

French lawyer Safya Ako­rri who rep­re­sents the widow of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, and William Brow­der, the leader of the inter­na­tional jus­tice cam­paign for Sergei Mag­nit­sky, wrote to ARTE, sub­mit­ting a list of false alle­ga­tions made in Nekrasov’s film and pre­sent­ing the evi­dence of their falsity.

 

ARTE has since can­celled the show sched­uled for release on 3 May 2016 and offi­cially informed their lawyers that they had no inten­tion to show it at any point in the future.

 

ARTE’s deci­sion fol­lows the deci­sion at the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment on 27 April 2016 not to air the Nekrasov’s film for sim­i­lar rea­sons. The screen­ing of Nekrasov’s film was sched­uled as a per­sonal ini­tia­tive of Nekrasov’s girl­friend, Heidi Hau­tala, a mem­ber of the Euro­pean par­lia­ment from the Green Party in Finland.

 

Speak­ing about the deci­sion by ARTE to can­cel the film, William Brow­der, leader of Mag­nit­sky jus­tice cam­paign, said:

 

“There are many peo­ple who wish to avoid fac­ing jus­tice for Magnitsky’s death and the crimes he exposed by try­ing to destroy his mem­ory and legacy. It is our duty to make sure this doesn’t hap­pen.”

 

Andrei Nekrasov’s film on Sergei Mag­nit­sky was pre­pared for release on ARTE’s Euro­pean cul­tural chan­nel on May 3, 2016 ignor­ing the fact that Sergei Magnitsky’s mother did not con­sent to the use of video footage of her.

 

“We are out­raged that Mr. Nekrasov pre­tended that he sym­pa­thized with our grief,” said Nataliya Magnitskaya.

 

Nekrasov’s film, which claims to be a “doc­u­men­tary”, con­tains numer­ous false alle­ga­tions against Sergei Mag­nit­sky, which had been reviewed and refuted by inde­pen­dent Russ­ian and inter­na­tional bod­ies, includ­ing the Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly of the Coun­cil of Europe, com­pris­ing del­e­gates from 47 states, the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment, theUS Depart­ment, and the US Con­gress, among others.

 

The let­ter from Magnitsky’s mother and widow denounced any form of dis­tri­b­u­tion of Nekrasov’s film which, they believe, used com­pro­mised meth­ods char­ac­ter­is­tic of Krem­lin pro­pa­ganda films:

 

“Mr. Nekrasov is not unique, such mis­lead­ing movies and pro­grams are demon­strated in Rus­sia on a reg­u­lar basis to drag Sergei Magnitsky’s name through the mud and to jus­tify the per­sons respon­si­ble for his death. Direc­tors use frag­ments of inter­views which are often taken by deceit, sin­gle sen­tences or even words are taken out of the con­text of the doc­u­ments, cer­tain phrases are turned inside out and acquire the oppo­site mean­ing, frag­ments of speeches are com­bined in a way nec­es­sary to manip­u­la­tive indi­vid­u­als, accord­ing to the order.”

 

When the Mag­nit­sky fam­ily learned about Nekrasov’s film, they issued a let­ter of protest against this lat­est anti-Magnitsky pro­pa­ganda ini­tia­tive. The Mag­nit­sky fam­ily said:

 

“We think that the film by Andrei Nekrasov, which is based on his con­coc­tions but not on the doc­u­ments  and facts, degrades the dig­nity of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, degrades the deceased per­son who is unable to defend himself.”

 

“This movie is made in the inter­ests of those who are scared of the truth uncov­ered by Sergei Magnitsky,”

said Magnitsky’s mother and widow.

 

Fol­low­ing the rev­e­la­tion of Nekrasov’s turn-around on Mag­nit­sky case, ques­tions have been raised as to what could explain it.

 

Andrei Nekrasov was pre­vi­ously known for films, includ­ing about poi­son­ing of Alexan­der Litvi­nenko, which were pro­duced by his wife, Olga Kon­skaya, who passed away in Ger­many in 2009. Andrei Nekrasov’s pub­lic stance on Putin’s Rus­sia changed since at least March 2014 — the time of Pres­i­dent Putin’s inva­sion in Ukraine.

 

In Andrei Nekrasov’s blog post of 21 March 2014 avail­able on the web­site of ‘Echo of Moscow,’ Russ­ian radio sta­tion, he expressed a strong anti-American sen­ti­ment, jus­ti­fy­ing Putin’s actions, saying:

 

“Why Amer­ica (and allies) can vio­late inter­na­tional law, and Rus­sia — not? Amer­i­cans and Co vio­late it, and this is not Kremlin-Kiselev’s pro­pa­ganda, it is a fact rec­og­nized by the inter­na­tional community;”

 

“Putin con­trols the imag­i­na­tion of the peo­ple, and this is not the result of him “usurp­ing power…;”

 

“In the opin­ion of aggrieved Rus­sians, Crimea is not sub­ject to Budapest memorandum.”

 

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

Syrian Network for Human Rights: Hama Prison 2016 on the pace of Sidnaya Prison 2008

Fears threats the life of 762 detainees in the Hama Central Prison

Hama Prison 2016

I. Introduction and the Executive Summary:
Hama Central Prison have witnessed several protests by the inside prisoners since 2013. The Governmental Forces detain nearly 762 prisoners from different governorates, such as: Hama, Al Raqqa, and Damascus countryside. The prison is an official civilian detention center located in the eastern area of Hamah city. The detainees’ files are subjected to the court of “Combating Terrorism” in Damascus, in the first place, then the Military Court and the court of the military field.

This protest “stubbornness” is considered as the third one the detainees do in Hama Central prison, in protest against the unfair death sentences provisions issued against them by the anti-terrorism court and the court of the military field in one hand, and the governmental forces and the transfer of convicts to Sidnaya Military Prison on the other hand. We have published earlier a report entitled “The Anti-terrorism Court” issued verdicts against 56 detainees in Hama Central Prison, Amongst 15 death sentences). The Syrian authorities after the end of second protest punished all the prisoners who participated, through transferring them to prisons that are far from their areas such as Tartous Central Prison, because the conditions of detention are worse, and it is difficult for their families to visit the detainees. We mentioned in a previous report about the detainees’ strike (Political Prisoners in Tartous Central Prison on Hunger Strike For their. 13th day so far)

SNHR managed to contact a number of prisoners inside the prison; all the people we talked to them expressed their fear from the governmental forces breaking into the prison for punishment and retaliation; we will do mention in this report only two scenarios due to the similarity of the stories of the detainees.
We recorded the death of one detainee infected with cancer because of the refusal of the prison administration to let him receive treatment. That happened on 5 May 2016, which marks the fourth day of protest inside the prison.

Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Young Film Directors Highlight the People of Zaatari

WEEKLY UPDATE
May 7, 2016
Dear Readers,Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply newsletter. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments about Syria and the Syrians in order to bring you valuable news and analysis. But first, here is a brief overview of what happened this week:

In Syria this week, world powers pushed a series of temporary local cease-fires into place amid renewed diplomatic efforts to revive the nationwide truce.A 48-hour cease-fire arranged by the U.S. and Russia went into effect early Wednesday morning in the divided city of Aleppo, after nearly two weeks of heavy government airstrikes and rebel shelling that killed at least 300 people – mostly civilians. And although the length and the start date of the truce was unclear, it seemed to have initially reduced levels of violence in the area.But late Thursday evening, a camp for internally displaced civilians in an area of northern Idlib controlled by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front was directly hit by at least two airstrikes, killing 28 civilians – including women and children – and wounding some 50 others.Fighting raged on Thursday and Friday in Aleppo’s southern countryside between pro-government forces and al-Qaida affiliated rebels, leaving more than 70 militants dead.After 24 hours of clashes, al-Nusra Front and allied Islamists fighting under the banner of Jaish al-Fatah (the Army of Conquest) seized the strategic village of Khan Touman, just six miles southwest of Aleppo city.Earlier in the week, temporary local truces were announced in Damascus and in the coastal province of Latakia, a “freeze” that quickly fell apart in areas around the capital after the deal was allowed to expire. Shortly after the freeze ended on Thursday morning, 22 government airstrikes hit the town of Deir al-Asafir in the besieged rebel stronghold of Eastern Ghouta.In other news, inmates in the government-run Hama prison – most of whom are political prisoners – have been rioting since Monday in protest of mistreatment, in demand of “basic rights,” and in opposition of a transfer of prisoners to the Sednaya prison just outside of Damascus, where organizations like Human Rights Watch have reported the practices of torture and political killings to be commonplace.The Hama prison is now completely surrounded by pro-government forces, leaving the inmates inside where they’ve allegedly taken several guards captive, including the head of the prison.The nearby Ajnad al-Sham rebel group, a Damascus-based alliance of several Islamist rebel groups, said it was ready to shell government militias in towns surrounding the prison in response to the mistreatment of inmates. Ajnad al-Sham said the inmates were demanding “basic rights,” including the right to trial.In a statement released on Monday night, the rebel group claimed the government had threatened to “storm the prison and execute all the prisoners without a trial.And in eastern Hama province, militants fighting with ISIS seized the region’s largest gas field on Thursday from government control, killing nearly 30 pro-government fighters and seizing heavy weaponry.Weekly Highlights:

Young Film Directors Highlight the People of Zaatari

Following refugee families and an aid worker fighting to keep the camp running, a new film produced by two young filmmakers and backed by Daily Show star Jon Stewart allows viewers to experience what it’s like to live in Zaatari in Jordan, the largest camp for Syrian refugees.
Zaatari refugee camp near the Syrian border in Jordan. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Obama ‘Complicit’ in Aleppo Civilian Deaths: Activists

Twitter users have condemned President Obama’s failure to safeguard civilians in Aleppo after the U.S. leader ruled out a plan to create “safe zones” in the divided city as government airstrikes and fighting with rebels rage on.
A Syrian woman holds a sign during a protest in front of the United Nations headquarters in Beirut on May 1, 2016, against Syrian President Assad’s airstrikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Protests in Solidarity with Aleppo Spread Worldwide

On the strength of one Facebook post, Syrian activists have inspired global demonstrations to highlight the plight of civilians under attack from government shelling and airstrikes in Aleppo since mid-April.
A female demonstrator holds a red placard that reads “Save Aleppo” during a solidarity protest for civilians in Aleppo on April 30 in Beirut. (Syria Deeply/Zuhour Mahmoud)

More Recent Stories to Look Out for at Syria Deeply:

Find our new reporting and analysis every weekday at www.newsdeeply.com/syria.
You can reach our team with any comments or suggestions at info@newsdeeply.org.

Top image: Refugees from Syria hold placards during a demonstration in the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on May 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Global Centre for the Responsibilty to Protect: Statement on Recent Airstrikes Targeting Displaced Civilians and Hospitals in Syria

6 May 2016
Web Version

Statement on Recent Airstrikes Targeting Displaced Civilians and Hospitals in Syria

The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect is appalled by the 5 May airstrike on a displacement camp in Sarmada, Idlib that killed at least 30 civilians. If proven to be deliberate, this attack not only demonstrates an unconscionable disregard for civilian lives, but is also a war crime. Bombing defenseless civilians represents an obscene violation of the most basic tenets of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.

Yesterday’s attack follows a 27 April targeted bombing of Al-Quds hospital in Aleppo by the Syrian government. The airstrike, which killed at least 50 people, was followed by the unanimous adoption on 3 May of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, condemning attacks on medical and humanitarian workers in situations of armed conflict.

The Al-Quds and Sarmada bombings – targeting hospitals and displacement camps for civilians who are fleeing the conflict – exhibit the unimaginable cruelty of Syria’s civil war. A formal cessation of hostilities, brokered by the United States and Russia, began on 27 February and helped decrease levels of violence across the country. These recent attacks and the government’s offensive against Aleppo represent a dangerous re-escalation of the conflict.

The Syrian government is currently besieging Aleppo, threatening humanitarian access to over 900,000 desperately vulnerable people. Médecins Sans Frontières claims that there have been at least 300 airstrikes on Aleppo since 21 April, including on the Al-Quds hospital. An armed rebel group also fired a rocket at the Al-Dabit hospital in Aleppo on 3 May, killing at least 19 staff and patients, including children.

Syrians have faced over five years of intolerable suffering in a civil war where all parties to the conflict have blatantly disregarded the laws of war and the sanctity of human life. The government, with direct military support from international allies, continues to cause the greatest number of civilian casualties and is manifestly failing to uphold its Responsibility to Protect.

Yesterday’s airstrike on the Sarmada displacement camp shows that UN Security Council resolutions are meaningless if not backed up by measures aimed at holding perpetrators accountable. The latest attacks in Sarmada and Aleppo must catalyze the world into action. All diplomatic efforts must now be made to save the cessation of hostilities, ensure unimpeded humanitarian access, and restart the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva before it is too late. They must also ensure that those responsible for Al-Quds, Sarmada and other attacks on civilians face justice. International law and our common humanity demand nothing less.