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Nobel Prize Winner Says Obama Should Cancel Argentina Visit
By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel has called for Obama to cancel his visit to Argentina, scheduled for 24 March. Esquivel is just the latest in a series of prominent Argentines, including the president of the Madres de Plazo de Mayo Hebe de Bonafini to criticize the timing of the visit.
24 March of this year marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup, which led to a seven year dictatorship. The dictatorship lasted from 1976 to 1983, and about 30,000 people were killed or disappeared during that time period.
The date is a public holiday in Argentina known as the Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice. Events are held each year to commemorate the victims of the dictatorship.
Esquivel won the Nobel Prize in 1980 for his defense of human rights in Argentina. Obama and Esquivel have been in communication regarding human rights issues in the past.
Esquivel does not oppose to Obama visiting the country, only the timing of the visit. “I think it’s great (for Obama to come) . . . The question is when and how.” He says he plans to publish an open letter regarding the matter in the upcoming days.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri says the visit “signifies a recognition of a change that has taken place in Argentina, towards good relations with the world, relations which must be mature, intelligent and mutually beneficial.” Argentina is, according to Macri “aligned with the United States in defending human rights in the region.”
President Macri has met with several human rights organizations in Argentina to assure them that Obama’s visit will not take away from the commemoration of the day, but they are still opposed to the visit.
Noah Mamet, the U.S. ambassador to Argentina, said the date of the visit was set in order to combine the visit with Obama’s historic trip to Cuba, planned for 21-22 March.
For more information, please see:
The Argentina Independent – US President Barack Obama to Visit Argentina – 19 February 2016
Agence France-Presse – Obama visit shows Argentina mending ties: Macri to AFP – 22 February 2016
Associated Press – Argentine Nobel Prize Winner to Obama: Don’t visit March 24 – 3 March 2016
TeleSur – Nobel Peace Prize Tells Obama to Cancel Trip to Argentina – 3 March 2016
Venezuela High Court Ruling Sparks Protest
By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela – Students in San Cristobal engaged in protests and clashed with police on Wednesday. The movement followed Tuesday’s Venezuelan Supreme Court ruling that the opposition-controlled National Assembly could not review Court appointments.
The ruling specified that the National Assembly’s power of review was limited to the executive and does not extend to the judiciary. The Court said that any attempt by the Assembly to remove Supreme Court justices or review the appointments would be “overstepping [their] authority.”
13 Supreme Court nominations and 21 alternates were pushed through by outgoing lawmakers following the historical December 7th elections, where the socialist party lost for the first time in 17 years. The appointments were meant to fill spots created by judges that retired early. The current opposition-controlled National Assembly have cited the openings as evidence that judges were forced to retire.
The Supreme Court is known for ruling in support of Maduro and his government’s policies, frustrating the National Assembly’s attempts to curb Maduro’s power. The Court has not ruled against Venezuela’s executive branch since Hugo Chavez won the presidency in 1999. Last month, the Court overturned the National Assembly’s decision to veto Maduro’s declaration of emergency powers in response to the worsening economic environment.
In response to the ruling, students from Catholic University took to the streets in San Cristobal, allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails and petrol bombs. Demonstrators wearing masks painted in the colors of the Venezuelan flag set up roadblocks in the city. San Cristobal was the site of the start of a series of anti-government protests in 2014 which left 43 people on both sides dead.
The National Asssembly has devised a three-part plan to oust Maduro and his supporters from power in the executive branch. Simultaneously, the Assembly will pursue a presidential recall referendum, a constitutional amendment to shorten presidential terms, and a campaign for Maduro’s resignation. Observers expect the opposition to formally announce the plan soon.
For more information, please see:
Agence France-Presse – Venezuelan opposition delays announcing plan to oust Maduro – 3 March 2016
Agence France-Presse – Venezuelan students clash with police over court ruling – 3 March 2016
Associated Press – Venezuela Opposition Picks Strategy to Oust President – 3 March 2016
BBC – Venezuela students protest against Supreme Court ruling – 3 March 2016
Reuters – Venezuelan opposition hones in on strategy to end Maduro’s rule – 3 March 2016
Tibetan Monk Sets Himself on Fire in Protest of Chinese Rule
By Christine Khamis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
A Tibetan monk named Kalsang Wangdu set himself on fire in China’s Sichuan Province this week as an act of protest against Chinese rule. Mr. Kalsang was only 18 years old. This was the first act of self-immolation to take place in China since August.
Mr. Kalsang set himself on fire outside of his monastery on Monday, which is located in Kardze Prefecture, a common site for protests against China’s rule. Free Tibet, an organization that campaigns for Tibet’s freedom from China, reports that Mr. Kalsang called for Tibet’s independence while burning himself. Onlookers poured water on Mr. Kalsang, but he later died while on the way to a hospital.
Tibetans living in the Kardze region are known for their sense of Tibetan identity and for their frequent protests against China’s rule. News from the region is hard to obtain, and local law enforcement in the area are instructed to stay quiet about acts of self-immolation.
The Chinese government has consistently cracked down on the Tibetans since its invasion of Tibet in 1950. During uprisings beginning in March 1959, the Dalai Lama fled from China to India. Every year since then, Chinese authorities fears protests among Tibetans to commemorate the March anniversary of the uprising.
For decades, Tibetans have resisted China’s rule. Over 140 Tibetans have protested by self-immolation since 2009. During 2009, Tibetan uprisings gained intensity, with protestors calling for freedom and the return of the exiled Dalai Lama. Most of them have been monks like Mr. Kalsang, but other individuals have also committed acts of self-immolation.
A Tibetan woman was detained on Tuesday for walking around with a portrait of the Dalai Lama. China has banned images of the Dalai Lama, who it blames for Tibetan’s protests and self-immolations, throughout the country. The Dalai Lama has stated that he is against all forms of violence.
For more information, please see:
The New York Times – Protesting Chinese Rule, Tibetan Monk Dies After Setting Himself Ablaze – 3 March 2016
Radio Free Asia – Tibetan Monk Burns to Death in Kardze Protest – 3 March 2016
Time – Tibetan Monk in China Said to Self-Immolate in Independence Protest – 3 March 2016
South China Morning Post – Tibetan Monk Calls Out for Independence, Sets Himself on Fire in Western China to Protest Beijing’s Rule: Report – 2 March 2016
Syria Justice Accountability Centre: Deaths in Secrecy, the Plight of Syrian Detainees
The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) recently released a report on the systematic abuses and deaths of detainees in Syria. The report used 621 interviews and considerable documentary material to expose a staggering number of international law violations regarding the treatment of detainees by all parties to the Syrian conflict. The Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) summarized the report’s findings into the following four conclusions:
1. All parties to the conflict have committed violations against detainees, but the Syrian government’s violations are more systematic and on a larger scale than other groups.
Although the Syrian government has consistently denied the HRC and other international human rights monitoring organizations unfettered access to its territory, eyewitness accounts and documentary evidence strongly suggest that tens of thousands of people are detained by the government at any one time. The HRC report notes that, since March 2011, a countrywide pattern emerged in which civilians, mainly males above the age of 15, were arbitrarily arrested and detained by the government. According to former detainees, prisoners in State run detention facilities are often subject to beatings, torture, and inhumane living conditions, regularly being denied access to clean food, water, or medical attention. Over 200 of the 621 former detainees interviewed for this report witnessed one or more deaths in custody as a result of ill treatment.
The report also found that anti-government groups, Jabhat al-Nusra, and ISIS have subjected detainees to serious abuses, including torture and summary executions. However, the number of detainees held by these groups is believed to be much lower than the number held by the Syrian government. Additionally, unlike the Syrian government, the report found no institutionalized or consistent practice of mass arrests and arbitrary detention, torture, and killing of detained civilians by anti-government groups. Less documentation is available for Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS; nevertheless, in a recent article, SJAC argued that ISIS has brutal detention practices which seem to have developed into standardized procedures.
2. Syrian state institutions have failed to respect their obligations under international and national law.
Customary international law, which applies to all nations, prohibits enforced disappearance, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, murder, torture, rape, and the conviction or sentencing of a person without a fair trial. Summary and extrajudicial executions or killings are also prohibited, regardless of detainees’ status or alleged offenses. According to the HRC report:
“Through its widespread conduct of mass arrests, arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance, victimising the general civilian population living in restive areas and persons otherwise perceived to be in opposition to the Government, and the ensuing ill treatment and killing of those detained, Government forces have engaged in the multiple commissions of crimes, amounting to a systematic and widespread attack against a civilian population.”
The Syrian government’s treatment of detainees is also in violation of the Syrian Constitution, which prohibits torture, provides due process guarantees, and outlaws arbitrary detention. State institutions have repeatedly failed to investigate violations of human rights in State run detention facilities. By the same token, Syria’s criminal justice system has systematically failed to uphold human rights standards — the consistent denial of habeas corpus to the issuance of death penalties without due process to the overly broad interpretation of criminal provisions to deny citizens their rights and freedoms.
3. Even though the violations are happening in secret, there are large numbers of victims.
Unlike barrel bombs and public beheadings that are filmed and posted online, deaths in custody occur in secrecy. Despite these abuses not being as visible as other types of violations, they have had a devastating impact on Syrian society, with many people losing loved ones and little to no information provided for closure regarding their fate. For the most part, the government has failed to provide cause of death, documentation, access to remains, or information to victims’ next of kin. In cases where relatives of the deceased are provided a death certificate, the cause of death is commonly listed as “heart attack.” Due to the secrecy around many of these deaths, there has been little to no international or political discourse on the issue.
4. There is a need for international action and accountability.
The UN Security Council issued Resolution 2191 in 2014 which demanded an end to all practices of executions, extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearance, and other violations of international law by all parties involved in the Syria conflict. To date, no party has taken sufficient measures to respect or implement this resolution. Moreover, the Syrian government has consistently denied international organizations and commissions unrestricted access to its territory. Immediate access to all detention facilities is needed so international observers can monitor and record human rights violations. SJAC recently helped draft a statement that advocates for this and other transitional justice mechanisms in Syria.
The HRC report also emphasizes that “Accountability for these and other crimes must form part of any political solution.” Accountability requires high quality documentation that can corroborate information that the UN has already collected. It can also add to the number of former detainees interviewed. In addition to assigning culpability, proper documentation can be used to acknowledge and provide redress to individuals who were arbitrarily detained and tortured.
Through its documentation efforts in Syria and neighboring countries, SJAC is committed to interviewing victims of torture and former detainees according to the Do No Harm principle, but the large number of cases of abuse requires the efforts of many individuals and groups working together to expose these atrocities. SJAC will continue to help provide human rights defenders with resources and advice on documentation best practices to ensure that human rights violations are comprehensively documented and preserved so that they may be used in transitional justice and peace building efforts.
For more information and to provide feedback, please email SJAC at info@syriaaccountability.org.