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United Nations Security Council Views Horrific Photographs of Syrians Killed By the Assad Regime
By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
United Nations Headquarters, United Nations – Horrific images of deceased Syrian detainees killed by the Assad regime as a result of torture and severe malnutrition during the county’s civil war were presented at the United Nations Tuesday. The images were among some 55,000 photographs taken by a Syrian police photographer known as Caesar and smuggled out of Syria, the images document some of the most horrific crimes committed by the Assad regime including torture. The United Nations Security Council spent more than two hours viewing the photographs on Tuesday Morning. The photographs were shown to the Council in an effort by France to refer the Syrian Case to the International Criminal Court.
The United States Ambassador tot eh United Nations, Samantha Power, responded to the images after she saw them at a closed meeting of the U.N. Security Council, “The gruesome images of corpses bearing marks of starvation, strangulation and beatings and today’s chilling briefing indicate that the Assad regime has carried out systematic, widespread and industrial killing.” She also said that; “nobody who sees these images will ever be the same. The perpetrators of these monstrous crimes must be held accountable, and the international community must unite in the face of such horrors.”
While working at a military hospital from September 2011 to August 2013, Caesar photographed the bodies of detainees from three regime detention centers in the Damascus area. His smuggled photographs were passed over to the Syrian National Movement, which is backed by Qatar. Ten of the 55,000 photographs of roughly 11,000 Syrians tortured by the Assad regime were released to the public in a study called the Caesar report. The study was funded by the Gulf state of Qatar, a major supporter of the Syrian opposition.
Two of the report’s authors, David Crane, chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and founder of Impunity Watch, and Doctor Stuart Hamilton, a British forensic pathologist briefed the Council on Tuesday. Crane stated that the photographs document evidence of killing on an industrial scale by the Assad regime. He stressed that rebel forces are also “committing international crimes” in Syria. “We’re well beyond a good-guy, bad-guy scenario here,” he said, pointing out that human beings are killing one another “at a scale that has not been seen since Rwand
Tuesday’s briefing came a day after The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned the treatment of detained persons saying that “in armed conflict, torture constitutes a war crime. When it is used in a systematic or widespread manner, which is almost certainly the case in Syria, it also amounts to a crime against humanity.” She continued “I urge the Government and armed opposition groups in Syria to immediately halt the use of torture and ill-treatment, and to release all those who have been arbitrarily detained in conditions that clearly breach international human rights standards. Those detained must be treated humanely.”
The comments come as her office issued a paper containing detailed testimony from victims and witnesses, describing systematic patterns of torture and ill-treatment against individuals in Government facilities, as well as documenting reports of torture by other armed groups.
For the Caesar Report please see:
For further information please see:
BBC World News – Syria Crisis: ‘Torture’ Photos Shown To UN Security Council – 15 April 2014
Fox News – Horror of Syria’s War Displayed At Un – 15 April 2014
The Guardian – Syrian Torture Images to Be Examined By UN Security Council – 15 April 2014
The New York Times – At U.N., A Grim Viewing of Alleged Syrian Torture – 15 April 2014
United Nations News Centre – UN Rights Chief Condemns Rampant Use of Torture By Syrian Forces, Opposition Groups – 14 April 2014
India’s High Court Recognizes Transgender as a ‘Third Gender Category’
By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
NEW DELHI, India– India’s top court announced Tuesday in a landmark verdict that transgender rights are human rights. The decision stated that people can identify themselves as a third gender on any official documents.
The Supreme Court directed the federal and state governments to include transgendered people in all welfare programs for the poor, including education, health care and jobs to help them overcome social and economic challenges. Before the decision, transgendered Indians could only identify themselves as male or female in all official documents.
The decision was praised for giving relief to the approximately 3 million Indians who identify as transgender.
The Court proclaimed that it was the right of every human being to choose their gender, and acknowledged a grant of rights to those who identify themselves as neither male nor female.
“All documents will now have a third category marked ‘transgender.’ This verdict has come as a great relief for all of us. Today I am proud to be an Indian,” said Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a transgender activist who, along with a legal agency, had petitioned the Court.
The Court’s decision will apply to individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex, and to those who merely present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.
“The spirit of the (Indian) Constitution is to provide equal opportunity to every citizen to grow and attain their potential, irrespective of caste, religion or gender,” the Court said in its order.
The Supreme Court specified its ruling would only apply to transgender people but not to gays, lesbians or bisexuals. India’s LGBT communities have been protesting the Court’s recent decision to reinstate a colonial-era law banning homosexual intercourse, which they say will make them vulnerable to police harassment.
The Court also ordered the government to put in place public awareness campaigns to reduce the social stigma that has developed around transgender people.
Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan told the Court that the “recognition of transgender (people) as a third gender is not a social or medical issue but a human rights issue.”
“Transgenders are citizens of this country and are entitled to education and all other rights,” he said.
The Court ruled that transgender people have the same right to adopt children as other Indians.
The Court said any person who underwent surgery to change his or her sex would be entitled to be legally recognized as belonging to the gender of their choice.
The Supreme Court also ordered state governments to construct separate public toilets for transgender people and create health departments to take care of transgender medical services.
Recently, India’s Election Commission for the first time allowed a third gender choice — “other” — on voter registration forms. The change was made in time for the national elections being held in phases through May 12.
Nearly 28,000 voters have registered themselves in that category.
For more information, please see:
Hindustan Times– Supreme Court recognises transgender as third gender— 15 April 2014
ABC News–India’s Top Court Recognizes Third Gender Category— 15 April 2014
BBC News–India court recognises transgender people as third gender— 15 April 2014
Time–Men, Women and ‘Hijras’: India Recognizes Third Gender— 15 April 2014
Anti-Austerity Demonstration In Rome Leads To Violent Clashes With Police
by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
ROME, Italy – A protest in the streets of Rome turned violent on Saturday as police attempted to break up thousands of demonstrators, leaving several people injured.
The protest, which was regarding recent austerity measures by the newly elected government, grew out of control after demonstrators began to throw eggs and oranges at government buildings. The demonstrators then began throwing objects at police, and officers attempted to scatter the protest by marching towards the crowd and disseminating tear gas.
Many protestors ran away immediately, while six people were taken into custody by police. Several people were left injured after the clashes with police, and one protester lost his hand after a firecracker exploded prematurely in his hand. The Rome prosecutor’s office is also conducting an investigation after a video has been released of an undercover police officer stomping on a woman at the protest.
The demonstration was composed of thousands of workers, students, and unemployed citizens. Reports from protest organizers indicated that the protest drew 15,000 people. The protest was intended to be centered around Italy’s high cost of housing and high unemployment rates. A major topic was also the newly-elected Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s plan to reform labor laws. Renzi plans to attempt to reform labor laws which would make it easier for companies to hire, and consequently fire, employees. Some protestors were discussing issues from the previous administration, however most were focused on Renzi’s plan.
“So far Italians seem cautiously optimistic about Renzi’s proposed tax cuts, but two months in the job, he has faced the anger of those who oppose his drive for reforms,” stated one reporter.
Federico Bicerni, the youth head of the Italian Marxist Leninist Party stated, “They are reducing democracy. Renzi’s labor reforms will worsen the situation for workers without job security, hitting young people when they are already struggling. The rage of the people in the squares today is justified.”
Prime Minister Renzi was elected in February, and has swiftly put forth an economic reform plan that will cut public spending by a little over six billion American dollars. Italy’s unemployment rate reached a record 13 percent in February, and Renzi has stated that the new economic plan is a “precondition for economic recovery.”
Renzi is aiming to equalize the economy, and speaking to the plan last week, he stated, “there are those who have taken much, too much over the years, and it is time they give some back.”
For more information, please see:
Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata – Probe Opened After Policeman Filmed Stomping On Woman – 14 April 2014
Al Jazeera – Anti-Austerity Protest In Italy Turns Violent – 13 April 2014
EuroNews – Italy Anti-Austerity Protest Ends In Violent Clashes – 12 April 2014
ReutersUK – Thousands March In Paris, Rome Against Austerity, Economic Reforms – 12 April 2014
Travel Ban Prevents Palestinian Olympian from Competing in The Palestine Marathon in the West Bank
By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
GAZA CITY, Palestine – The politics of the Israeli-Palestinian crises has prevented an athlete who has represented his country at more than 40 international contents, including the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, from competing in one of his home countries largest running events.
Nader al-Masri began competing as a long distance runner in 1999, he first competed at an international level in Belfast, Northern Ireland and went on to compete in more than 40 international competitions across Europe, Asia and the Arab World. He represented Palestine at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, where he ran 5,000 meters in 14 minutes, 41 seconds. He has won two marathons in his home country, both in Gaza, where he has competed in marathons spanning the coastline of the Gaza Strip. However, as a result of political tensions he has been unable to compete in races in the West Bank.
The Israel government has barred 30 runners, including Nader al-Masri, from leaving the Gaza Strip to participate in The Palestine Marathon in Bethlehem, Palestinian officials said last Tuesday. The decision highlights the real life effects of Israel’s tight restriction on Palestinian travel in and out of the Gaza territory.
Human rights activist argue these restrictions on travel amount to collective punishment, punishing to people of Gaza for the actions of the Hamas organizations, which controls the coastal strip. Some further criticizes the restrictions claiming travel bans are an attempt to sever ties between Gaza and the West Bank, both territories are claimed by Palestinian to be a part of the emerging Palestinian state.
The Egyptian govern has also restricted Palestinian travel from Gaza to Egypt, which share a common border since Hamas took power in the territory in 2007. These restrictions have led to a virtual halt of all exports in and out of Gaza, including much needed fuel for electricity, and has left most of the territories 1.7 million residence unable to travel abroad or visit the rest of Palestine.
The Palestinian Olympic Committee said it had requested that the Israel Government issues travel permits for the 30 runners so that they could leave Gaza and attend the second annual international marathon in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Friday. Itidal al-Mugrabi, a senior official in the committee, said all requests were denied last month. She said the Bethlehem event, which also included shorter races, was expected to draw some 700 runners from Europe in addition to Palestinian athletes.
After being denied a permit allowing home to leave Gaza, Masri approached the Israeli rights group Gisha, which appealed the decision to Israel’s Supreme Court.
The judges ruled Tuesday that they could not intervene in the defense minister’s policy considerations, but suggested the military should consider more exemptions from the travel ban, including exemptions for athletes.
Masri said of the decision; “I’m very sad because I couldn’t take part in this race.” He added, “I want everyone to know that I’ve represented Palestine in over 50 events and I don’t know why the Israelis refused to allow me to take part. So many foreigners and Arabs are taking part in it.”
The Palestine Marathon went forward and was held under the banner “Right to Movement” in order to highlight obstacles to freedom of movement placed on Palestine living in the occupied territories by the Israeli government. More than 3,000 Athletes took part in the event.
The travel restrictions continue to have a devastating effect on the day to day lives of Palestinians, not only have the bans created shortages of basic supplies and utilities but the bans have prevented Palestinian from visiting friends and family living outside of Gaza or from participating in events located outside of the territory. In addition to the recent bans on athletes leaving the Gaza Strip 36 young musicians who requested to leave Gaza for a weeklong music competition in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem were permission to leave Gaza, organizers said.
For more information please see:
Al Jazeera – Nader Al-Masri, the Missing Palestinian – 11 April 2014
Al Jazeera – Thousands Take Part in Palestine Marathon – 11 April 2014
International Middle East Media Center – Thousands Run the Palestine Marathon in Bethlehem – 11 April 2014
The New York Times – Mideast Tensions Sideline a Gazan Marathon Runner – 10 April 2014
CCTV News – Israel stops Olympic runner from leaving Gaza ahead of West Bank marathon – 08 April 2014
The Washington Post – Israel bars Palestinian Olympian from leaving Gaza – 08 April 2014