Canada Agrees to Spend Millions on First Nations Groups, Talks Continue

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

OTTAWA, Canada — The Canadian government pledged to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in addressing at least some of the demands by First Nations communities, which have protested for better treatment.

Canadian leaders promise more talks with First Nations leaders after ongoing aboriginal protests demanding protection of rights and better living conditions on native reserves. (Photo Courtesy of CBC News)

Talks between Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a group of native chiefs ended Friday, leading to a promise to spend C$330.8 million during the next two years to improve water systems on aboriginal lands.  The government also promised further “high-level dialogue.”

“Our Government is committed to addressing water and wastewater issues on reserves to ensure that First Nations communities have access to safe drinking water,” said Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan in a statement.

The government’s pledge will improve water systems in more than 50 First Nations communities on reservations where complaints target poor infrastructure and housing.

Since November 2012, natives have held protests in a movement called “Idle No More,” which quickly spread.  The demonstrations are aimed at attacking a proposed legislative budget bill called “Bill C-45,” which would change the Navigable Protection Act and the Indian Act, leading many to believe it would breach aboriginal treaty rights.

Native leaders have demanded more federal money, a greater say over what happens to resources on their land, and more respect from the federal government.  Protestors have held demonstrations in a movement called “Idle No More” since November.  At times, the protests have blocked roads and included hunger strikes, including the liquid-only diet of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence since December 11.

Prior to Friday’s talks, native groups warned that the protest was large enough to hurt Canada’s national economy unless the government addressed natives’ deplorable living conditions and high jobless rates.

“We have the warriors that are standing up now, that are willing to go that far,” Grand Chief Derek Nepinak from Manitoba said on Thursday before the talks.  “We’re not here to make requests; we’re here to demand attention.

“We have had enough,” Nepinak added.  “Our young people have had enough.  Our women have had enough.  We have nothing else to lose.”

Aboriginal leaders claimed that the federal government has ignored treaties signed with British settlers and explorers that granted their people rights over their territory.

Canada has 1.2 million natives and more than 600 indigenous reserves dating back to 1763.  The Canadian government spends roughly C$11 billion every year on its aboriginal population, but many reserves are plagued by poverty.  Living conditions on the reservations are low, and some communities have high rates of addiction, unemployment, and suicide.

For further information, please see:

Reuters — Canada Pledges Better Water for Aboriginals Amid Blockade Threat — 13 January 2013

CBC News — Idle No More Protests Go on After PM Meets AFN Leaders — 12 January 2013

BBC News — Canada Native Meeting Ends with Pledge of Further Talks — 11 January 2013

PressTV — Canada Chief Warns of Native Retaliation — 11 January 2013

Forced Sterilization of Transgender People Ends in Sweden

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Known for extremely gay-friendly attitudes, Sweden has hidden a dark secret: a 1972 law required transgender people who desired to legally update their gender to first be divorced and sterilized through sex reassignment surgery.

(Photo Courtesy of The Local)

However, in December, the Stockholm Administrative Court of Appeal found the 1972 law to be discriminatory against transgender people, to have failed to respect civil liberties as guaranteed by the constitution, and to be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case was brought before the court by the Swedish Board of Health on behalf of an unidentified plaintiff who wanted to change his sex, but refused sterilization.

Under the 1972 law, a person who wants to change sex legally must be infertile.  This resulted in the practice of requiring transgender applicants to undergo surgery and sterilization.  Because of the law, some transgender people in Sweden chose to wait to legally change their sex on official documents, despite the difficulty and public embarrassment this may cause, in order to have their own biological children.

“I know at least one man in Sweden who lives fully as a man but has kept his womb because he wanted children and it’s very problematic for him to still legally be defined as a woman,” said Ulrika Westerlund, president of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL).  “It is a violation of human rights to force a person to have surgery that they do not need or want in order to have your gender legally recognized,” she said.

Swedish actress Aleksa Lundberg, who made the transition when she was 18 and has stared in a one one-woman show called “Infestus” chronicling her experiences, said “I believed I had to give up every vestige of being male to complete the process.  I cried and shouted for joy when that final piece of paper dropped in the mailbox telling me that I was now legally a woman.”  It was only several years later that Lundberg began to realize she had also lost her right to reproduce.  “We are not even allowed to freeze sperm. I am today fully incapable of having my own children,” says Lundberg.

Nova Colliander, a transgender woman who underwent the surgery described her experience as “an assault, a rape.  The state gave an ultimatum I had to accept.  The alternative was to die, so strongly I felt this. I do not know how many wills I wrote as a child.” [Translated with Google]

The court’s ruling preempts legislative action which would have ended the sterilization requirement in July 2013.  Early last year, the Swedish parliament began to move towards repealing the law, and adopted the July 2013 ban in autumn.  The move followed international outrage, including the hand-delivered a petition with nearly 80,000 signatures from LGBT organization All Out to the Swedish prime minister in January, after the Christian Democrat Party initially blocked initial moves to strike down the law.

Praising the ruling, Ulrika Westerlund and RFSL also note that many sterilized under the 1972 law have hopes of compensation from the government.  It is possible lawmakers will adopt a law granting reparations, of which Westerlund says 200,000 kronor ($31,000) per person would be a “fair sum.”  If not, RFSL will file a lawsuit.  Between 80 and 90 sterilized sex change patients have already approached RFSL to discuss seeking damages.

It is estimated that about 50 sex changes take place each year in Sweden (population 9 million).  The surgeries are covered under state-funded health care.  In the forty years between 1972 and 2011, 865 people made an official request for a sex change operation, with roughly 500 undergoing the surgery.

Sweden has a history of eugenic sterilization.  Between 1934 and 1976, an estimated 63,000 people, mostly women, were sterilized due to mental disability, epilepsy, or alleged social problems.  In 2000, the government granted reparations of 175,000 kronor to identified victims.

The policy of requiring sex reassignment surgery before recognizing a legally changed gender is not unique to Sweden.  Sixteen other countries in the European Union, including France, the Netherlands, and Australia have a similar requirement.  So too do many U.S. states.  Only recently have Italy and Germany overturned their forced sterilization laws.

Nova Colliander has tried to make sense of why it has taken so long for the sterilization requirement to be overturned.  “Being transgender is considered embarrassing and unimportant in society. They would rather hide us, it’s hard to even talk about us. Therefore, it has taken time”

For further information, please see:

The Local – Sweden to Stop Sex Change Sterilization – 11 January 2013

Think Progress – Sweden Ends Forced Sterilization of Transgender People – 11 January 2013

SvD – Könsbytare Stämmer Staten – 10 January 2013

Mother Jones – Sweden Moves to End Forced Sterilization of Transgender People – 24 February 2012

Mother Jones – Forced Sterilization for Transgender People in Sweden – 25 January 2012

Huffinton Post – Aleksa Lundberg, Swedish Transgender Actress, Mourns Forced Sterilization – 3 November 2011

The Local – Sweden to Reflect on Eugenics Past – 21 December 2005

Brazil To Force Drug Treatment On Users In Cracklands

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Please See:

BRASILIA, Brazil – In the mid-morning air they emerge, staggering and glassy eyed, no real sense of direction as they shamble in dirty clothes. This is a “crackland” in Brazil, a gathering of hundreds of users of the narcotic ‘crack’ the cocaine derivative that plunged the United States in the 1990’s into a crisis that fueled today’s modern drug war. Now in Brazil something similar is happening, but wider and less hidden. Daily, hundreds of users gather in these ‘cracklands’ to openly use and sell drugs, either oblivious to the police watching or uninterested, another black eye on the South American country still reeling from the escalation in violence and murders in Sao Paulo.

Crack use has become painfully public in many Brazilian slums. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

Considered to be the world’s top consumer of crack cocaine with over a million users, Brazil says it’s ready to crack down on the crack epidemic. Before the World Cup arrives in 2014, officials have pledged to clean up the streets, and that means violent sweeps by Brazilian police officers.

The sometimes violent sweeps reignited debate as to whether or not there are better ways to clean up the Brazilian streets. Early January 10 a ten-year old addict was living in a ‘crackland’ when police arrived and scattered the mass of addicts. The boy was already a casualty of the cruel drug, his father dead and his mother an addict he left home days before to consume crack in the makeshift shanty towns. His older brother found him, but was unable to convince him to return home. During the raid he was trampled by the fleeing addicts, with his name added to the list of casualties claimed by the drug.

But sweeps and dismantling of these makeshift areas are not a permanent solution, and to continue in its fight against the addicts of the city Sao Paulo, officials and police will begin rounding up addicts and forcing them into treatment centers, with their consent or without. Rio de Janeiro and a few other cities have already been doing this with minors, a program heavily criticized by Human Rights Organizations. The plan set to be enforced is not said to be widespread however. Justice Secretary of Sao Paulo, Elois de Sousa stated that “These are extreme cases, and we cannot just let people die,” explaining that the forced treatment program will only be used for the worst cases, and for individuals whose requested they be brought in and cleaned up.

For further information, please see:

France 24 – Sao Paluo To Force Treatment On Crack Addicts – 11 January 2013

Reuters – Boy’s Death Highlights Brazil’s Raids On “Cracklands” – 10 January 2013

NPR – Brazil’s Drug Epidemic: Welcome To ‘Crackland’ – 1 January 2013

Huffington Post – Crack In Brazil: Authorities Debate Treatment Options For Crack Epidemic – 30 December 2012

Congolese Rebels Declare Unilateral Ceasefire

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, DR Congo—The Congolese M23 rebels have recently declared a unilateral ceasefire (on Tuesday January 8, 2013) with the government. This announcement boosted the hope for an end to the nine-month revolt against the Congolese government. Francois Rucogoza, the rebels’ executive secretary told Ugandan journalists, “We’ve been for peace…Today we are declaring that we are in a ceasefire.” “Even if the government refuses to sign a ceasefire agreement we will continue with the negotiations,” he added.

The M23 executive secretary announces its unilateral ceasefire, the group now awaits a response from the government. (Photo Courtesy of New Vision)

Jean-Marie Runiga, the head of the rebels’ political wing gave a slightly different opinion saying, “If President Kabmila refuses to sign the ceasefire deal we will to him in the language he understands better which is war. We will not participate in any form of talks with him if he does not agree to peace.”

Last month an attempt was made to come to an agreement between the government and the rebels, but this attempt failed. Up to 800,000 people in the DR Congo have been displaced as a result of the rebels taking up arms against the government in May of last year.

However, the M23 has accused the government of failing to honor a peace deal that would integrate the rebels into the army. The group later broadened its stated goals to include the “liberation” of all of the DR Congo as well as the removal of the country’s President Joseph Kabila. The group also claims that they would like to improve living conditions for the people living in the eastern region of the DR Congo. The United Nations says, on the other hand, says that the group is supported by Rwanda, which has been very heavily involved with its Congolese neighbors since the people held responsible for Rwanda’s genocide left in 1994.

Peace talks began between the rebels and the government in November of last year, after the regional Heads of State and Government International Conference on the Great Lakes Region met in Kampala to discuss and seek solutions to the security situation affecting the eastern DR Congo.

The leader of the M23 is wanted by the International Criminal Court as prosecutors have accused him of using child soldiers. The United Nations also noted that he is in control of several mines located in the east region of the country. A lot now hangs in the balance as the country awaits the government’s response to the M23’s declaration of a ceasefire.

 

For further information, please see:

New Vision – M23 Rebels Declare Unilateral Ceasefire – 9 January 2013

Standard Digital News – DR Congo’s M23 Rebels Declare Unilateral Ceasefire – 9 January 2013

AlertNet – Congo Rebels Declare Ceasefire Before Peace Talks – 8 January 2013

CRI English – Congo Rebels Demand Government Sign Ceasefire – 5 January 2013

Rebels React to French Intervention in Northern Mali

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali – Malian rebel groups Ansar Dine and AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) have threatened France that its military intervention in Northern Mali could endanger the lives of its people.

The Mujao, an extremist group occupying northern Mali, who claimed responsibility for kidnapping a French citizen last November. (Photo courtesy of RFI/AFP/Issouf Sanogo)

They urged France to reconsider its military support to the Malian Army to avoid any harm to French hostages and other French citizens.

“There are consequences, not only for French hostages, but also for all French citizens, wherever they find themselves in the Muslim world,” said Sanda Ould Boumama, Ansar Dine’s spokesperson. “The hostages are facing death.”

AQIM posted a video online where its spokesperson, Abdallah Al-Chinguetti, gave a similar warning to France: “Stop your assault against us or you are digging your own sons’ graves.”

Since April last year, the Malian government had been asking for urgent military assistance from France to regain territories captured by several insurgent groups in the north. On Friday, French President Francois Hollande announced that France will help its former colony in west Africa. On the same day, France sent air strikes to Konna which allowed the Malian Army to drive the rebel convoy out of the city.

“Terrorists should know that France will always be there when the rights of a people – those of Mali who want to live freely and in a democracy – are threatened,” President Hollande said. According to him, the French military operation in Mali, named “Operation Serval”, would last “as long as necessary” mainly because “Mali’s very existence as a state was under threat” with insurgent groups trying to turn Mali into a “terrorist” state.

President Hollande added that the French military intervention complied with international law and had been agreed with by Malian interim President Dioncounda Traore.

Although Operation Serval had been successful in regaining control of several territories in a matter of days, it was not without casualties. A French pilot was killed on Friday when his helicopter was shot down near the town of Mopti. Hours later, a French hostage being held by extremist groups in Somalia was executed which further highlighted France’s conflict with such groups in Africa.

The French Foreign Ministry has since raised its security alert to red – the highest level, advising the 6,000 French citizens staying in Mali to leave the country. It has also extended the red alert on neighboring countries such as Mauritania and Niger.

Meanwhile, interim Malian President Traore declared a state of emergency on Friday. He also cancelled a long-planned official trip to Paris on Wednesday because of the ongoing conflict in his country.

 

For further information, please see:

BBC News – French soldier killed and hostage feared dead in Somalia – 12 January 2013

Huffington Post – France’s Mali Operation: Troops Make Progress Against Islamist Rebels – 12 January 2013

Reuters – France bombs Mali rebels, African States Ready Troops – 12 January 2013

Reuters – Mali intervention will put French citizens at risk: Islamists – 12 January 2013

RTE News – Over 100 rebels killed after French Air Strikes on Mali – 12 January 2013

Times Live – Mali war escalates with French intervention – 12 January 2013

RFI – Mali’s islamist Mujao group claims kidnapping of French citizen – 22 November 2012