Ethiopian Women Allegedly Coerced to Take Oral Contraception

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—Ethiopian women who have immigrated to Israel are allegedly being subjected to coerced long-term birth control. The contraceptive, Depo Provera, is given by injection and must be given every three months. Many doctors consider this method to be a last resort since the drug is known to have many uncomfortable side effects including severe headaches and abdominal pains.

Ethiopian women arrive in Israel along with their children. (Photo Courtesy of The Times of Israel)

These women, known as Falash Mura, who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia just eight years ago told an Israeli Educational Television reporter that they were forced to receive these injections as a condition to allowing their immigration. The women also claimed that representatives from the Israeli Joint Distribution Committee as well as the Health Ministry coerced them by telling that raising large families in Israel is quite difficult. They also, allegedly said that if these women have too many children, it would be hard for them (the women) to find work to support them and that many landlords would refuse to rent apartments or homes to such large families.

The Falash Mura women further claimed that they were told that they must take certain vaccinations if they desired to continue to receive medical care from the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and continue with their plans to immigrate. One of these women told the television show Vacuum that she had been receiving the injections for over four years without being warned by doctors that the medicine may be dangerous for those taking it.

In the past ten years 50,000 Ethiopian Jews immigrated to Israel. In this time frame, the birthrate of this group has dropped by 50 percent.

In investigating these claims, a hidden camera was installed in an Israeli health clinic. The video revealed an Ethiopian woman being advised by a nurse that the injection is given only to Ethiopian women. The nurse was recorded saying, “It’s given primarily to Ethiopian women, because they forget, they don’t understand, and it’s hard to explain to them so it’s best that they receive a shot once every three months…basically they don’t understand anything.”

The government and Israeli authorities denied all of these allegations. David Yaso, the director of the Immigration Ministry’s Ethiopian Department noted that no women were ever told that they were forbidden to have large families in Israel. He also said that none of them were coerced into taking contraceptive shots against their will.

Professor Daniel Seidman, the chairman of the Israel Society for Contraception and Sexual Health, offered two explanations for the drop in the Ethiopian birth rate. He said that either the women are not better educated and are looking to have careers and not quite as many children, or they now recognize that with limited finances, they cannot afford to have very large families.

A member of the ADC also noted that “the medical team does not intervene directly or indirectly with economic aid and the Joint is not involved” in these types of procedures.

 

For further information, please see:

FailedMessiah.com – Forced Sterilizations? Ethiopian Women Claim the JDC and the Israel Health Ministry Forced Them to Take Sterilization Shots – 9 December 2012

Haaretz – Why is the Birth Rate in Israel’s Ethiopian Community Declining? – 9 December 2012

The Times of Israel – Ethiopian Women Claim Israel Forced Them to Use Birth Control Before Letting Them Immigrate – 9 December 2012

Topix.com – Israel Subjecting Ethiopian Women to Long Term Birth Control – 7 January 2010

Extensive Police Corruption Uncovered In Rio

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil -Following London and South Africa, Brazil is set to take the world wide spot light as they are slated to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. But while London and Johannesburg questioned their infrastructure, Rio de Janeiro is worried about their police. Authorities wrapping up a year long investigation have ordered the arrest of over 60 officers stationed in the Brazilian paradise for accepting bribes related to drug trafficking.

Brazilian mounted police patrol in wake of Operation Purification. (Photo Courtesy of NY Times)

The allure of bribery is easy to see. Underpaid, officers can supplement their meager paychecks by looking the other way. According to the investigation, an officer could receive approximately $1,200 while patrolling certain areas.

Police Force Commander Erir Ribeiro commanded “We can no longer accept the humiliation of deviant conduct practiced by a few.” Their effort in Operation Purification was intended to ensure the security and restore lost legitimacy to Rio De Janeiro infamous corrupt police force. In a quick sweep, a   total of Operation Purification arrested a total of 63 police officers and 11 drug traffickers were brought into custody and currently await trial. Another 2 Police officers and 7 alleged drug traffickers currently have warrants out for them. All arrested officers were members of the same police battalion in Duque de Caxias, located within Rio de Janeiro’s police jurisdiction.

Charges against these officers range from accepting monthly bribes from the Red Command, one of Rio’s most influential and dangerous drug organizations, to racketeering, weapon smuggling, kidnapping  and extortion from kidnapping drug dealers and ransoming them back.

Operation Purification is just the latest in Brazil’s attempt to clean up the country before the international community shines its spot light on the Latin American paradise. In early October, police raided the slums of Rio de Janeiro in an attempt to seize weapons and arrest those involved. However they announced their raid to the community days in advance. While police claim that this reduces violence, the effectiveness of the strategy leaves quite a bit to be desired, with critics noting that this official police practice simply gives criminals a chance to escape.

Earlier this week the heads of the Sao Paulo police force were fired after the bloodiest week in the cities recent history. As drug violence continues to run rampant throughout the country many are convinced that only drastic change will make them ready for the international limelight.

Public Security Secretary expects at the very least those arrested during Operation Purification will be expelled from the force.

For further information, please see:

Atlanta Black Star – Dozens Of Brazilian Police Arrested For Corruption And Drug Trafficking – 5 December 2012

CNN – Brazil: Dozens Of Police Officers Arrested, Accused Of Taking Bribes – 5 December 2012

Belfast Telegraph – Brazil Police Held In Graft Probe – 4 December 2012

New York Times – What’s Killing Brazil’s Police? – 1 December 2012

Associated Press – Heads Of Police Force Replaced In Brazil’s Largest City – 27 November 2012

15 African Countries Ratify Treaty for Internally Displaced Persons

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda – On Thursday, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Africa took effect in 15 African countries. The first of its kind, this treaty is a legally binding instrument that compels states to protect and assist IDPs within the African region.

A camp for internally displaced persons in Kabo, Central African Republic. (Photo courtesy of Think Africa Press/Pierre Holtz)

While refugees are given special status under international law since 1951, IDP’s haven’t been provided any such protection and assistance in spite of the fact that there are at least twice as many IDP’s in the world as refugees. Thus, sometime in 2009, the African Union conceived this treaty, otherwise known as the Kampala Convention, with the aim to provide standards for the protection of people from arbitrary displacement as well as the protection of IDPs while they are displaced. The Kampala Convention also aims to offer durable solutions for displacement.

According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, nearly 10 million people are internally displaced across Africa. These individuals make up one third of the world’s internally displaced population. Most of them were forced to leave their villages to escape increasing famine and continuing violence resulting from ethnic wars and other brutal conflicts in countries like Congo, Burundi, and Uganda.

In the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, when the rebel group M23 took over Goma last month,
some 300,000 local residents were displaced. According to Sebastian Albuja, IDMC’s Head of Africa Development, when M23 raided an internally displaced persons camp, the Kanyarucinya camp, around 50,000 people were forced to flee within a few hours.

With the ratification of the Kampala Convention, members of the AU hope to put an end to what Albuja describes as a “cycle of violence and displacement”. Bruce Mokaya Orina of the International Committee of the Red Cross said the treaty actually “represents a significant step forward in the protection and assistance of internally displaced people” across Africa since it will be “potentially binding on all African countries – a quarter of world’s states.”

The Kampala Convention builds on international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as well as the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, promoting and strengthening regional and national measures to prevent, mitigate, prohibit, and eliminate the root causes of internal displacement. It sets out the rules and standards that determine the responsibilities of the African Union, multinational companies and private security actors in handling IDP cases.

37 of 53 countries in the AU have signed the convention, but have not yet ratified it. Among them are South Africa and the DRC.

 

For further information, please see:

Associated Press – African treaty to aid the displaced takes effect – 7 December 2012

Daily Maverick – Internally displaced people: An African solution to a huge African problem – 6 December 2012

Fox News – African treaty to aid the internally displaced comes into force 2 years after it was adopted – 6 December 2012

Think Africa Press – The Kampala Convention Enters Into Force Tomorrow – 5 December 2012

Russia Attempts to Ban Book on Chechen War Crimes

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia – A book on Chechen war crimes, co-authored and edited by Russian-Chechen human rights activist Stanislav Dmitrievsky, may be banned by the Russian government as “extremist.”

Stanislav Dmitrievsky’s monograph on human rights crimes in Chechnya may be banned by Russian authorities. (Photo Courtesy of RFE/RL)

On November 28, 2012, Dmitrievsky received an official summons to appear before the Dzerzhinsk City Court in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia on December 6 for a ban hearing.  The summons did not include the prosecutor’s claim; therefore, what portions of the book have been labeled as “extreme” are unknown.

However, the summons did indicate that the petition to ban the book was based on a federal law “on countering extremist activities.”  Human Rights Watch (HRW) has characterized the case as “part of the growing misuse of anti-extremism legislation against civil society activists” and suggests that this application of the law is in violation of Russia’s legal obligations to respect and protect freedom of expression under article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Dmitrievsky’s book is a 1,200-page monograph entitled International Tribunal for Chechnya. Prospects of Bringing to Justice Individuals Suspected of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity During the Armed Conflict in the Chechen Republic.  700 print copies were originally published in July 2009 and it was made the independent news website Novaya Gazeta.

HRW describes the book as “a detailed analysis of the violations by all parties during the conflict in Chechnya from the standpoint of international criminal law.”  The main argument is described as “emphasiz[ing] the chain of command and responsibility of top Russian leadership.”

Attempts to ban the book in 2009 failed for lack of sufficient grounds to open a criminal inquiry.  However, if the court decides to ban the book this time, copies will be removed from stores and liberties, and digital versions will be deleted from websites.

The human rights activist has had difficulty with Russian authorities in the past.  He has been convicted of fomenting national hatred for publishing articles by Chechen separatist leaders in 2006 and sentenced to nine days of administrative arrest for disobeying police orders during a protest rally in March 2012.  He has also been targeted due to his work.  A brick was thrown through in his apartment window in 2008, and earlier this year, the Group of Free People in Nizhny Novgorod, with which he works, was the subject of an arson attack.

In early November, the apartments of his family and eldest daughter were attacked.  While Dmitrievsky was away in Sweden, two men attacked his apartment at 4:30 in the morning, waking his wife and teenage daughter. The men, armed with hammers, wore hooded jackets, face masks, and gloves; broke the apartment windows; poured cement into the door lock so his family could not leave; and ripped out security cameras.  The lock on the apartment door of Dmitrievsky’s eldest daughter was similarly manipulated the same night.

Police arrived at Dmitrievsky’s apartment 40 minutes later and refused to call an investigator.  Investigators were finally called two hours later.  The investigations results so far have been inconclusive.

The HRW director of the Europe and Central Asia division, Hugh Williamson, has said: “Dmitrievsky’s book is based on meticulous desk research and is an important source of information on the Chechen conflict. The authorities’ efforts to ban the book as “extremist” have no basis in international human rights law and seem aimed at punishing Dmitrievsky for his human rights work.”

Williamson concludes that the attempt to ban Dmitrievsky’s book is symptomatic of the Russian government’s recent moves to suppress human rights and civil society type organizations.  “There has been an unprecedented crackdown on civil society in the past six months, and this seems to have sent the authorities a signal that it’s all right to go after Dmitrievsky with a new zeal. In the past, he clearly demonstrated that he wouldn’t be intimidated into silence by arrests and attacks, so now they’re trying to silence him by banning his monograph, which Dmitrievsky considers his life’s work.”

For further information, please see:

RFE/RL – Tenacious Russian Activist Girds For Yet Another Battle – 4 December 2012

Human Rights Watch – Russia: Stop Efforts to Ban Human Rights Book – 3 December 2012

Human Rights Watch — Russia: Investigate Attack on Rights Group – 7 November 2012

HRO in English – Attack on the Apartment of Stanislav Dmitrievsky – 6 November 2012

Charles Taylor Appeals Hearing Postponed

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – The Special Court for Sierra Leone postponed the appeals hearing in the case of former Liberian president Charles Taylor. The hearing was supposed to take place this week, but judges of the Special Court announced that it has now been moved to next year, January 22.

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was convicted of serious crimes including rape, murder, and destruction of civilian property on April 26, 2012.(Photo courtesy of Times Live/Gallo Images)

A possible reason for the postponement of Taylor’s appeals hearing is inadequate funding. According to recent press releases from the UN, the Special Court for Sierra Leone only has enough money alloted until the end of October 2012 since it never had a fixed annual budget from the government. By November this year, it will have to depend on pledges and contributions from countries like the United States, Switzerland, and Ireland to continue its work for a month.

If the Special Court will not be able to resolve its financial crisis, human rights groups and international organizations fear that Taylor’s appeal might be compromised. In a recent phone interview, the Special Court’s registrar, Binta Mansaray, said, “it [the appeals] will be affected, definitely, if the money doesn’t come through.”

Mariana Goetz, deputy director of programs at the London-based human rights and torture survivors advocacy organization REDRESS, expressed the same concern on the issue saying that the lack of funds could affect the prosecutor’s and defense counsel’s ability to prepare their teams despite the fact that the appeals briefs for both sides have already been filed and replies are due by the end of October. The lawyers have yet to present the grounds for their appeals in court. The appeals judgment will then follow next fall.

Much is at stake in an unprecedented case like Taylor’s. “It is the first time a head of state is convicted for 11 counts of international crimes, including rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence,” Goetz said in an interview. “This case, as well as others . . .  are slowly ensuring that violence against women in the conflict contexts are not laughed off in patriarchal societies as private acts.”

Without the necessary funds, the victims of Charles Taylor will have to wait for justice from the Special Court when the appeals case is finally over. “If we don’t get that funding we can’t fulfill the promises that we make to the people of Sierra Leone,” the Special Court’s president, Justice Shireen Avis Fisher, told the media.

Last week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon appealed to the Security Council for $14 million to fund Charles Taylor’s appeal. According to him, the unavailability of funds greatly affect the development of good governance in the region. “As I have said before, the legacy of the Special Court and the progress that has been made towards ensuring accountability and restoring peace and security in Sierra Leone and the region would be at risk,” the UN Secretary said.

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa – Sierra Leone: Taylor Appeals Hearing Postponed – 7 December 2012

Swit Salone – Sierra Leone Special Court is Broke – 6 December 2012

All Africa – Liberia: Appeals Hearing in Taylor Case Postponed – 5 December 2012

Times Live – Former Liberian president Taylor should be a “free man” – judge – 25 November 2012

WeNews – World Court Struggles to Finish Mass Rape Cases – 21 November 2012

All Africa – Liberia: 45 Legal Errors Identify in Taylor’s Verdict – 9 November 2012