Highlights of Visit from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

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Dear friend,

“Human rights are the only meaningful rampart against barbarity.”

With these words, the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, called for a renewed focus on protecting human rights during a speech he gave last week at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Essentially, if I may boil down a massive topic into one sentence, states must be willing to protect the human rights of their people, and people must be able to hold the state responsible.”

Watch a short video about the High Commissioner’s visit to the Museum.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein

WATCH THE VIDEO

Zeid delivered the speech at the Museum during his first official visit to the United States as High Commissioner—a role he assumed in September 2014—and at a time of expanding violence and extremism. He urged the international community not to give in to the “dark allure of hatred” but rather to “strengthen our ethics, our clarity and openness of thought, and our moral courage.”

The High Commissioner’s emphasis on education, on early warning to prevent crises from escalating, and on learning from the past to improve the future aligns with many aspects of our work at the Center for the Prevention of Genocide.

We were honored to host him for this major policy address, which serves as a call to action—when the world desperately needs to hear it—to prevent genocide and promote human dignity.

Sincerely,

Cameron Hudson
Director, Center for the Prevention of Genocide

Bill Browder’s Red Notice Hits New York Times Best-Seller List in First Week

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

Bill Browder’s Red Notice Hits New York Times Best-Seller List in First Week

12 February 2015 – Bill Browder’s new book: ‘Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice’ has become an instant best-seller, according to the list published weekly by the New York Times.

‘Red Notice’ features at number 11 on the New York Times bestseller list in the first week of sales since its release on February 3rd in the US. The New York Times rankings reflect sales reported by vendors offering a wide range of general interest titles, including independent book retailers; national, regional and local chains; online and multimedia entertainment retailers; supermarkets, university, gift and discount department stores; and newsstands.

‘Red Notice’ is a story about how Bill Browder went from being the largest portfolio investor in Russia to one of the most outspoken human rights activists in the West calling out the kleptocratic nature of the Putin’s regime.

“Everyone in the west needs to know this story,” said William Browder.

‘Red Notice’ has received over 30 5-star reviews on amazon which include the following feedback from readers:

  • “Once I started reading, I could not put it down. An eye opener.”

  • “I’ve lost a lot of sleep this week staying up late reading this story, which I only heard of quite by chance when I saw Bill Browder on The Daily Show.”
  • “I ordered the book for the Kindle on my Surface. That was last friday. It’s Tuesday and I’m done with the book. WOW.”
  • “A well written, heart felt true story of finance, personal growth, courage, and danger that is so shocking that it expunges any drops of political naivety that the reader might still cling to about life in Russia if Putin is challenged.”
  • “Delivered in an easy conversational style, this book makes you feel as though it is being told by friend. Mr. Browder’s analogy of Russian business being like a prison culture seems apt.”

To learn more, visit the ‘Red Notice’ website: http://billbrowder.com

For more information, please contact:

Magnitsky Justice Campaign

Jordan’s Vengeance against ISIS Sets Bad Precedent for Syria

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United States and Royal Jordanian air forces conducting exercises over the Dead Sea in Jordan (Photo Credit: US Air Force)

Earlier this month, the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) burned the captured Jordanian pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh alive, filmed his execution with cinematic levels of production, and released the video worldwide. The brutality of the act was shocking, even for ISIS, and drew immediate outrage from all members of the international community. In Jordan, calls for vengeance were swift. Demonstrators throughout the country demanded retribution and the spokesman for the Jordanian Armed Forces vowed that al-Kasasbeh’s “blood will not be shed in vain.”

Within hours, Jordan executed two prisoners convicted of terrorism and promised that the response “will [continue to] be strong, decisive and swift.” Jordanian courts had sentenced one prisoner to death in 2005, and the other in 2007, so both were awaiting execution on death row. However, their hasty executions hours after the video was released and the language of high-level Jordanian officials confirm that revenge was a primary motivation for the executions and the subsequent air strikes against ISIS targets.

In an armed conflict, detainees must be protected from murder, torture, and other forms of cruel or degrading treatment. Thus, ISIS’s murder of al-Kasasbeh was a clear violation of international law and dignity. However, the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) is wary of the precedent that Jordan’s response may set for Syria going forward. While justice will be an important aspect of the reconciliation process in Syria, it must comprise processes that conform to and promote the rule of law rather than act on blood lust or in vengeful retaliation. Some members of the anti-ISIS coalition have lauded Jordan’s decisive actions, and the United States denied any wrongdoing on the part of Jordan’s leaders. Statements such as those by the United States and others overlook how Jordan’s reaction has affected perceptions among Syrians who are closely following these events.

Regionally, governments have set bad examples for how to implement justice processes, and Jordan’s recent behavior is just the latest demonstration of a poor response to extremism. In the Middle East, countless instances of judiciaries’ institutional corruption and their failures to adhere to consistent processes have created the perception that the people must take justice into their own hands, otherwise the perpetrator will escape justice. Even before Jordan’s hastily-staged executions, some Syrians viewed a Muammar Qaddafi-style, on-the-spot execution as preferable to a corrupt process whereby a former leader escapes punishment, as was the case in Egypt.

Jordan’s response to ISIS,therefore, may only affirm Syrians’ desire for revenge. Shortly after the video was released, Syrian Kurds, who have been battling ISIS in Kobane, promised to carry out revenge attacks “on behalf of the martyr al-Kasasbeh.” Many others, including al-Kasasbeh’s father, have demanded revenge. While such sentiments might be understandable, the immediate executions and increased bombing campaign as a method of vengeance show the state bending to these desires.When a state punishes violators responsible for crimes, one of its primary purposes and duties is to enforce retribution on behalf of the victims through formal mechanisms governed by clear standards and laws. These processes require that criminals be punished for only their own crimes and not for the crimes of others and that a government not  succumb to its own sense of injury and/or that of its people. Now that Jordan has demonstrated that its system can be used for vengeance, what will stop other Jordanians or Syrians from demanding revenge executions of their own?

As Syria’s conflict continues with no resolution in sight, patience for transitional justice is fading. A recent SJAC study to be released on February 19th indicates growing anger and a hardening resolve for an all-or-nothing fight to the finish when compared to Syrians surveyed last year. With supporters of sides in the Syrian conflict increasingly desirous of revenge and retribution against the other, the likelihood of effective transitional justice processes could be put at risk. By documenting crimes perpetrated by all parties and conducting outreach to Syrians and the international community on transitional justice processes, SJAC promotes measured and transparent responses to ISIS, opposition, and regime atrocities that will lay the groundwork for long term stability and impartiality in Syria.

For more information and to provide feedback please email SJAC at info@syriaaccountability.org. To attend the launch event for SJAC’s report on Syrian perspectives on local ceasefires, RSVPwith Eventbrite.

Regime Bombings Pushing Syrian Hospitals beyond Breaking Point

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – Attacks carried out by the Syrian Air Force against rebel-held areas east of Damascus have pushed poorly equipped hospitals and doctors beyond capacity to treated the wounded Doctors without Borders said on Wednesday. In the besieged Eastern Ghouta area, “the number of patients treated in the hospitals we support has gone beyond breaking point,” said Dr. Bart Janssens, director of operations the French charity, Medicines Sans frontiers, Doctors without Borders (MSF). “The number of requests for medical supplies has shot up,” he added. MSF reported the regime airstrikes two medical facilities on 5 February forcing both staff and patients to evacuate. “One nurse was killed on his way to work in a hospital on 8 February,” the international NGO reported, adding that hundreds of wounded people have been treated at MSF-supported medical facilities in Eastern Ghouta in recent weeks as regime airstrikes continue.

Fighters loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad ride on military vehicles and tanks after regaining control of Deir al-Adas, a town south of Damascus February 10, 2015. (Photo courtesy of Reuters UK)

Medicines Sans Frontiers has highlighted the changes of providing medical assistance to civilians living under horrific conditions in Syria stating that it is sometimes nearly impossible to provide aid; “it is almost a mission impossible in view of the blockades and road blocks. If we are lucky we will get there, but the process will take a long time and tremendous effort. The same goes for donations. We are hardly able to receive any donations because of the siege. Some hospitals in the region have shared with us some of their limited stock, but there is not really enough to go around. We can hardly imagine how we could cope should a similar emergency occur again, the agency said.” Doctors without borders has criticized the international community’s failure to adequately respond to the critical medical situation in Syria, saying “the world has been watching for years. The medical situation, and the general living conditions, are beyond any red lines, and alarm bells have been vainly ringing for a long time.”

Khaled Khoja, leader of the Syrian National Coalition, called on world leaders to take “immediate action” to end regime attacks on civilian populations in the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus. He issued the appeal on Thursday at a press conference held from the group’s base in neighboring Turkey. Reports say that an estimated 150 people have been killed in regime airstrikes within the last 10 days. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a human rights origination based in the United Kingdom, said it has documented at least 183 people, including 29 children, who were killed in regime airstrikes in Ghouta since the beginning of the month.

“The Assad regime’s killing of children and the elderly with rockets, barrel bombs, and toxic gases is as a crime as horrible as ISIS’s slaughtering and burning of people alive,” Khoja said. Khoja argued that Assad’s “barbaric assault” on Douma constitutes a war crime and urged the United Nations to force the Syrian leader to stop indiscriminate bombardment of rebel-held territory.

For more information please see:

ABC News – Syria Rebels Call for Help against Assad As Death Toll Rises – 12 February 2015

Al Arabiya – Syria Bombings Push Hospitals ‘Beyond Breaking Point’: MSF – 11 February 2015

Reuters UK – Syrian Air Attacks Kill Nearly 200 in Damascus Suburbs – Monitor – 11 February 2015

Medicines Sans Frontiers – Syria: Hospitals Struggle to Cope with Shelling In Besieged Areas – 10 February 2015

Three Muslim Students Killed Near North Carolina Campus

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – A shocking incident of violence against three Muslims near the campus of the University of North Carolina has generated a tense debate about why a neighbor gunned down these individuals, and whether religion played a role in the violent outburst.

Pictured above are the three victims Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha (Photo Courtesy of USA Today).

A resident of Chapel Hill called 911 on Tuesday reporting five to 10 shots fired and the sound of people screaming. Police officers responded to the report around 5:15pm, and found the three victims, all pronounced dead at the scene. The victims, all shot in the head, were identified as Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21, both of Chapel Hill, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, or Raleigh. All three victims were born United States citizens.

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, turned himself in to authorities, and has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Mr. Hicks was a devout atheist and appeared to have a deep dislike of all religion. He openly expressed his beliefs on his Facebook page. Neighbor Samantha Maness described the suspect as “very angry,” and said that Hicks often complained about noise and parking. The killings set off a debate which echoed the #blacklivesmatter campaign.

Police Spokesman Lt. Joshua Mecimore said a preliminary investigation indicated that the crime was “motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking.” However, friends and relatives of the victims insist that the incident should be viewed as a hate crime. Durham District Attorney Echols said that he couldn’t discuss a motive. When asked whether Hicks could be charged with a hate crime, he said the facts of the case are still under investigation.

On the UNC campus Wednesday night, several thousand people attended a candlelight vigil for the victims. Imam Abdulla Antepli, a Duke university Islamic leader, said he has “full trust” that law enforcement officials would determine Hicks’ motives. “The incident immediately revealed the vulnerability of the Muslim community and the image and reputation of Islam as a religion and Muslims as people in Americas society at large.”

Hicks made a brief court appearance on Wednesday morning, saying that he understood the charges. His probable cause hearing was set for March 4 and he is being held without bond.

 

For more information, please see the following:

AL JAZEERA – Three Muslim Students Killed At North Carolina Campus – 11 Feb. 2015.

NEW YORK TIMES – In Chapel Hill Shooting Of 3 Muslims, A Question of Motive – 11 Feb. 2015.

WASHINGTON POST – Three Muslims Killed In Shooting Near UNC; Police, Family Argue Over Motive – 11 Feb. 2015.

USA TODAY – Chapel Hill ‘Rocked’ By Killings Of 3 Muslim Students – 12 Feb. 2015.