By: Hannah Gabbard Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Several groups have filed a complaint against the Black First Land First (BLF) group at the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for hate speech.
Collapsed walkway at Hoërskool Driehoek. Photo Courtesy of Christa Eybers.
On Monday, February 4th, 2019 the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus (FFP) filed their complaint. They were later joined by the Congress for the People (COPE). All three groups have condemned the comments made by BLF spokesperson Lindsay Maasdorp after a walkway collapsed at the Hoërskool Driehoek school in Vanderbijlpark. This event resulted in the deaths of three students.
After the walkway collapsed, Maasdorp tweeted that the deaths of the students should be celebrated. Maasdorp also supported derogatory comments made on Facebook by other users. In response to Maasdorp’s tweets, COPE stated that the BLF’s intent is to “drive our country into a civil war.” Maasdorp has previously been criticized for his social media posts.
SAHRC recently announced that they were going to hold the municipal government accountable for the walkway collapse. The Commission specifically stated that they would conduct a human rights audit for the school’s infrastructure.
By: Hannah Gabbard Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
ABUJA, Nigeria – On January 14th, 2019 terrorist organization Boko Haram attacked Rann in northeast Nigeria. 76,000 civilians living in Rann were internally displaced due to the conflict with Boko Haram.
Burial procession after Boko Haram attack in Nigeria. Photo Courtesy of Audu Marte.
In the attack over 100 structures were destroyed or damaged by fires that burnt south and west parts of the city. Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International in Nigeria, stated that he believed the attack may constitute a war crime as civilians in the city were intentionally targeted.
Internally displaced civilians living in Rann were dependant on aid agencies for necessities such as food and health services. Since the attack the humanitarian services have no ability to reach those still living in Rann.
72 hours after the attack about 9,000 civilians moved towards the Cameroon border. Many arrived in Bodo, Cameroon, seven kilometers from Rann, where Medicins Sans Frontieres was available with health services. Cameroon authorities forced many refugees to return to Nigeria. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Nigeria has begun to appeal to Cameroon not to send refugees back to Nigeria.
Attacks by Boko Haram have increased as the Presidential election in February nears. Current Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking a second term.
By: Zoe Whitehouse Impunity Watch Reporter, Latin America
MEXICO CITY, Mexico — A state tribunal court in Querétaro, Mexico has overturned a sixteen-year prison conviction for Dafne McPherson, a woman accused of inducing her own abortion. The reviewing court has found the evidence presented by prosecutors was unreliable.
Dafne McPherson leaving the tribunal court in Querétaro. Photo Courtesy of El Heraldo de Mexico.
In early 2015, McPherson felt a sharp pain in her abdomen while working at a Liverpool department store in San Juan del Río. At the time, McPherson was unaware that she was pregnant. Rather, she believed that her weight gain and infrequent periods were symptoms of her hypothyroidism.
McPherson then went into labor in a department store bathroom and sought medical assistance. However, private security guards at the department store refused to call a Red Cross ambulance, leading McPherson to wait for a private ambulance. The attending paramedics noted that she had fainted and had experienced extreme blood loss when they arrived.
While Mexico City outlawed the criminalization of abortion in 2007, conservative Mexican states are still filing criminal charges against women who miscarry or experience complications during childbirth. On September 2, 2015, police detained McPherson.
Prosecutors had alleged that McPherson intentionally induced her abortion and suffocated the baby when attempting to flush infant down the toilet.
McPherson’s initial case was fraught with defense issues. Her family members state McPherson’s first attorney charged for legal services but failed to develop a defense or trial strategy. Immediately prior to trial, the lower court disqualified her second attorney because he had not prepared for a newly implemented judicial system. The court then assigned a public defender at the last minute. However, the attorney failed to call witnesses, to offer exculpatory evidence, and to object to the prosecutor’s characterization of McPherson’s acts as doing something “not even a dog would do.”
As a result, Dafne McPherson was convicted of homicide and sentenced to a sixteen-year prison term in 2016.
29-Year-Old Dafne McPherson. Photo Courtesy of El Heraldo de Mexico.
Aureliano Hernández, McPherson’s appellate attorney, had introduced evidence that the infant’s death was caused by inadequate facilities and a lack of medical attorney. Attorney Hernández had stated that the baby fell into the toilet because McPherson had fainted from extreme blood loss.
The tribunal court overturned McPherson’s conviction. The twenty-nine-year-old mother has returned home to her seven-year-old daughter, Lia.
YANGON, Myanmar — Two Reuters journalists imprisoned under Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act filed an appeal Friday with the Supreme Court to overturn their convictions.
Reuters journalist Wa Lone is escorted by police as he leaves court Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, outside Yangon, Myanmar. (2018 AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been in prison for over a year now. The pair were arrested on December 12, 2017 and charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, a colonial-era law that punishes the distribution or publication of documents that may be “useful to the enemy.”
Prosecutors claim that the two obtained important and secret state documents relating to a military campaign in Rakhine State by the Myanmar army. Since 2016, over 680,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the area amidst genocide. The United Nations has opened up an investigation into the crisis, calling it “ethnic cleansing.”
Lone and Soe Oo, reporters for the Reuters news agency, had been investigating a mass grave in the city of Inn Din. They claim that they were framed by police, who handed them documents, and then arrested them for possession.
On January 11, 2019, an appellate judge upheld the original conviction of 7 years in prison for hard labor. This appeal claims that lower court rulings involved errors in judicial procedure. Khin Maung Zaw, counsel for the journalists, said the lower courts did not properly evaluate witness testimony. Observers at the trial described testimony of the prosecution as vague and contradictory. However, one police officer who testified for the prosecution admitted that the two journalists were indeed the target of a sting operation.
The case has caught the attention of human rights and free speech advocacy groups around the world. Concerns about the status of press freedom in Myanmar are growing, with 43 journalists arrested wince 2015.
By: Brianna Ferrante
Impunity Watch Reporter, North American Desk
The State department has ceased communications on all new and outstanding inquiries from special rapporteurs at the United Nations’ Human Rights Council.
Human Rights Council meeting. Photo Courtesy of The United Nations.
Special rapporteurs are a network of independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. The specialized division is tasked with acting as global monitors of human rights and war crimes around the world.
The most pertinent challenge facing the group is non-compliance with its investigatory processes by governments. In addition, persistent lack of resources coupled with weak measures that have little to no viable implementation methods further frustrate the the group’s objective. With a multitude of variables beyond its control, the special rapporteurs operation in this capacity is highly dependent on the influence of nations that demonstrate cooperation.
The United States has not responded to any UN requests for compliance on investigations into potential human rights abuses since May 7, 2018. There are currently 13 outstanding, unanswered investigation requests. The majority of these investigations are in relation to migrants at southern border.
The final May 7th correspondence occurred about a month and a half before Trump Administration formally announced it had withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
A January 14th report from the Human Rights Watch as part of its annual review contained its most recent “List of Issues” regarding the United States. The report was primarily focused on the country’s mass incarceration and disproportionate sentencing, along with proposed recommendations and additional past recommendations that had been on the same issue.
The continual denial of cooperation places the US among the likes of nations such as North Korea, who has traditionally denied any cooperation with UN investigations into its conduct.
According to a 2010 study by the Brookings Institute, America’s place in the global system yields immense influence over other nations, which makes its public non-compliance with the UN’s human rights efforts particularly problematic. While the nation serves as a catalyst for advancing human rights when its administration is readily and willing to comply with the council’s inquiries, continual refusal to do say establishes a precedent that could result in other nation’s following suit.
