Syrian Revolution Digest – Friday 16 November 2012

Thank You, Revolution!

Syrian Revolution Digest – November 16, 2012 

This Revolution has opened up our eyes and minds. We can SEE clearly now: the hypocrisy of East, West, North and South has been totally exposed. Ideological interests and sectarian belongings trump humanitarian considerations any given time – we suspected as much, but now we KNOW. Resistance ideology and its global sympathizers, the responsibility to protect and its advocates: lies and liars all. But we still have few more illusions to shed before we are completely free. Long Live the Revolution. Goodbye long-cherished illusions.  

Today’s Death Toll: 122  (including 4 women and 3 children)
35 in Damascus and Suburbs
32 in Aleppo (most in Bustan Qasr)
15 in Idlib, 8 in Daraa
8 in Hama
6 in Raqqa
6 in Deir Ezzor
5 in Homs
3 in Banyas
3 in Lattakia
1 in Quneitra

Points of Random Shelling: 186
76 by artillery
99 by mortars
26 by missiles
8 areas in Syria were targeted by the regime’s warplanes

Clashes: 87

Developments: Rebels shot down 2 warplanes in Damascus Suburbs (in Hammouria and Deir Assafeer), and attacked a tank convoy heading to Bowaida. Rebels also prevented several attempts to storm, Rastan in Homs Province, as well as few suburbs in Eastern Ghoutah Region (LCC).

 

News

UK: European Nations to Debate Syria Arms Embargo France has already raised the possibility of sending “defensive weapons” to Syria’s rebels. “We must not militarize the conflict … but it’s obviously unacceptable that there are liberated zones and they’re bombed” by Assad’s regime, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday in an interview with RTL radio. However, a senior EU official said if an arms embargo against Syria was restructured to allow arms to go to rebels but not to the regime, it would be very difficult to police. For that reason, the EU is unlikely to change the embargo, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of standing EU rules.

SYRIA: Turkey opens up to international aid in camps For months, Turkey insisted to the outside world that it could handle the refugee influx on its own. Initially, it was not alone in thinking the Syrian crisis would be a short-lived event, with refugees staying a few weeks, or months at the most, before returning home. But 20 months, 115,000 refugees and US$235 million of Turkish government spending later, observers say Turkey is realizing its approach is unsustainable.

More Syria officers, soldiers and families defect to Turkey

UN protests to Syria over Golan Heights attacks

 

Special Reports

Where Syria’s opposition groups get their rockets (+video)
With few weapons flowing to the rebels fighting the Syrian regime, homemade rockets, mortars, and hand grenades have become increasingly used in the fight.

Surgery in Syria, Part 1: Building An Operating Theater In A Cave
British surgeon Paul McMaster recently returned from Syria, where he treated the wounded first in an operating theater set up in a cave and then on a farm. Though McMaster has experience working in war zones, in Syria he found a “more oppressive type of danger.” Here, he reflects on his experiences.

Mapping Syria’s armed opposition: A sketch of rebel units, leaders and organizations.

 

Video Highlights

An aerial raid on Deir Al-Assafeir, Damascus Suburbs http://youtu.be/RTSCAqv9aKA The MiG was soon brought down by rebels, these are its remains, as well as the bodies of the pilots http://youtu.be/Dz33oUub6SI ,http://youtu.be/0qlQ5nnb2-M Meanwhile, Saba is pounded http://youtu.be/t0ULuIKKWVU ,http://youtu.be/QLoEcbFlKAU , http://youtu.be/qyJVqXgpU0o Hamouriyeh was also poundedhttp://youtu.be/KLhHs9lnjUo And Arbeen http://youtu.be/ZcTntJ_ij04 And Kafar Batna http://youtu.be/6JDIYfGCbOA

The pounding of Jobar Neighborhood in Damascus City continues http://youtu.be/xXqarfHpIvg

An aerial raid on Taftanaz, Idlib Province http://youtu.be/hYxVCtGvfBM Another raid on Marrat Al-Noumanhttp://youtu.be/ZIX1Z8N5zwI

Expecting Mothers Wait in Hospital Lines out the Door to Give Birth

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, The Philippines – Pregnant mothers endure poor medical care in crowded hospitals in Manila as the debate over a new reproductive health care bill rages on in the Philippine legislature.

Filipino Mothers and their newborns. (Photo Courtesy of ABC Radio Australia)

At the Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, 171 pregnant mothers share less than 100 beds in the overflowing maternity ward.  Many more expecting mothers wait in lines outside on the street, some sleeping on the sidewalk.

The hospital staff will not grant these expecting mothers admission until the absolute last moment, when they are ready to give birth.  After they give birth, the mothers are allowed to spend a maximum of 48 hours in the maternity ward for recovery; most of them sleep two to a bed due to the overcrowding.

Most of the women who seek the services at Fabella Memorial Hospital are working class or destitute and cannot afford the luxury of giving birth at a private hospital.  Fabella accepts the pregnant women which other hospitals reject and charge 3,000 pesos (roughly $70 USD) for a regular birth.

However, most women who come to Fabella cannot afford to pay the 3,000 pesos, so the hospital renders their services for as little as 100 pesos (roughly $2.40 USD) in some extreme cases.  The hospital averages about 60 deliveries per day, and during peak seasons, will see as many as 80 deliveries in one day.

Due to Catholicism being the predominate religion in the Philippines, many of the women have never had any sex or reproductive health education.  Contraception is also rarely utilized because many of the women cannot afford it or are morally opposed to it because of religious beliefs.

The proposed reproductive health bill is slated to address the lack of sex and reproductive health education and inaccessibility of contraceptives.  The legislation has been backed by President Benigno S. Aquino III, but has been met with serious opposition from the Roman Catholic Church.

The Philippines has one of the fattest growing populations in the entire world with an estimated birth rate of roughly 25 out of 1000 people, compared to roughly 14 out of 1000 people in the U.S.  The new reproductive health care legislation will implement family planning services in hopes of bringing the out of control birth rate down.

Government proponents of the reproductive health care bill hope to distribute reproductive health care services throughout the country and offer better access to contraceptives.  The Bill also hopes to spread, more importantly, knowledge regarding sex and reproductive health, against the wishes of the Roman Catholic Church, in hopes that the education will lead to more informed decisions about family planning.

For further information, please see:

The Philippine Star – Gov’t focused on sin tax, leaves RH, FOI to lawmakers – 12 November 2012

The New York Times – Manila Hospital, No Stranger to Stork, Awaits Reproductive Health Bill’s Fate – 9 November 2012

ABC Radio Australia – Philippine lawmakers confident of health bill approval – 7 November 2012

The Inquirer – Lawmakers, civil society groups urge House to put into vote revised RH bill – 7 November 2012

Reuters – Philippines defies church to push family planning – 2 October 2012

New law Punishes Those who are Criticial of the Government on the Internet

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Never before has an amendment restricted internet freedom in the United Arab Emirates like the most recent federal decree has. Not only does the law forbid copyright infringement, pornography, and gambling, but it also punishes those who criticize the nation’s rulers online.

The new amendment to the Emirati media law punishes those who criticize the government with imprisonment or deportation. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

Anyone who publishes news, photographs, information, or caricatures that “pose threats to the security of the state and to its highest interests or violate its public order” may face sanctions such as deportation or a multi-year jail sentence. Such interests of the state include defending the Constitution, laws, rulers, and religion of Islam from criticism. Additionally, one who attempts to organize an unauthrotized demonstration online can also face jail time or deportation.

The minimum jail sentence for a crime under this law will be a three-year term. The jail sentences will be enforced against citizens of the United Arab Emirates. Those who are foreign nationals and are convicted under this law will be deported.

Such policies are not rare in the Middle East. Similar policies restricting and punishing those who exercise their international right to freedom of expression, by criticizing the government, exist in countries like Iran, Qatar, Bahrain, Tunisia, and many others.

While the United Arab Emirates do not normally experience the regular uprisings and protests that some of its neighbors do, it has nonetheless detained sixty advocates since March. These individuals are believed to be connected to al-Islah, an advocacy group dedicated to Islamic tenets that is made up of students and human rights lawyers.

One prominent human rights activist who has been punished by the Emirati government for his outspoken blogging has been Ahmed Mansoor. Mansoor managed a website uaehewar.net that criticized government officials, and was a member of the Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa Advisory Committee.

Mansoor was sentenced to a three-year prison term but was pardoned after just seven months after engaging in a sixteen day hunger strike. Since being released, Mansoor claims he has been subject to physical attacks, defamation, death threats, and illegal government hacking of his computer and e-mail account. Mansoor’s passport was also confiscated so that he could not leave the country.

Middle East director at Human Rights Watch Sarah Leah Whitson finds it, “hard to dissociate the verbal and physical attacks against Mansoor from the government’s widespread campaign of intimidation, fear and arrests against all of the country’s reform activists.”

She added that, “[i]t’s becoming clear that anyone who exercises their right to free speech and criticizes the status quo faces an uncertain future in the UAE.”

Mansoor refuses to be affected by the new law. “The only limits that I put to myself are the ethical limits. . .I believe free speech is the prerequisite for any development to happen in any place and any country, and I’m driven totally by my passion and my love to this country,” said Mansoor.

For further information, please see:

International Business Times – United Arab Emirates Clamps Down on the Internet Freedom. . .Before it’s a Problem – 14 November 2012

BBC – UAE Places Restrictions on Online Dissent – 13 November 2012

Free Speech Debate – Ahmed Mansoor on Blogging his way into a UAE Prison – 18 October 2012

Human Rights Watch – UAE: Investigate Attacks on Rights Defender – 3 October 2012

DRC Death Toll Exceeds 200 According UN Report

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch, Africa

 KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Over 200 civilians, including children, were arbitrarily killed by various rebel groups in the eastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) says a UN report published on Wednesday.

Nyatura militia combatants at an army camp in the North Kivu province. (Photo courtesy of N. Long, VOA)

In a news release from the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO), the Geneva-based organization stated that “at least 264 civilians, including 83 children, were arbitrarily executed by armed groups in more than 75 attacks on villages between April and September this year.”

On a six-mission operation, the UNJHRO investigators conducted more than 160 interviews with victims and witnesses where they also found evidence of what UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay described as “the most serious [human rights violations] we have seen in recent times in the DRC.”

The investigators found out that most of the victims of these reported atrocities were hacked to death with machetes. Other victims were burnt alive in their homes at the southern town of Masisi in the North Kivu province.

However, the UNJHRO pointed out that the actual number of killings could be considerably higher than the statistics published in the report. According to the UN agency, the UNJHRO investigators experienced “security concerns” that prevented them from probing other reported violations.

“The ethnic dimension of the attacks is of particular concern in eastern DRC where tensions over the past 15 years, while fundamentally rooted in competition over land and natural resources, have resulted in cycles of violence committed along ethnic lines,” explained the report.

The main suspects of these attacks are the Raia Mutomboki and the Nyatura.

The Raia Mutomboki is a homeland defense militia whose aim is to cleanse the region of Hutus and Kinyarwanda speakers. Reports show that it has also seized the North Kivu villagers it purports to be protecting, using them as porters.
On the other hand, the Nyatura — an ethnic Hutu militia who took part in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda — have usually targeted people from the Tembo community.

The UNJHRO report also uncovered several cases of sexual violence involving the rape of 12 women. Other human rights violations mentioned in the report included mass forced displacement, large-scale looting, and destruction of private property.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for DRC and head of MONUSCO, Roger Meece, expressed his concern about the likelihood that the the security situation in the country could worsen, noting a “significant increase” in human rights violations throughout the Kivus this year.

“The risk of intensification of this ethnically charged conflict is real, and gives rise to serious concerns for peace and for the security of civilians in the region,” he said.

Meanwhile, High Commissioner Navi Pillay urged the Congolese government to “take immediate measures to protect civilian populations and to combat the persistent impunity which only serves to embolden the killers.” The High Commissioner also expressed the willingness of the UN to offer support to the DRC’s recently launched judicial investigation into the human rights violations, saying that these “must lead to the prosecution of those responsible for these acts and ensure justice for the victims.”

 

For further information, please see:

Afrika.no – Congo-Kinshasa: Evidence of hundreds arbitrary killings in the east this year, UN says – 16 November 2012

United Press International – DRC vows to repel M23 – 16 November 2012

AFP – Mass slaughter of civilians, children in DR Congo: UN – 15 November 2012

All Africa – Congo-Kinshasa: UN Report Finds Evidence of Arbitrary Killings in Eastern DR Congo, Prompts Calls for Action – 14 November 2012

 

Breaking News: Magnitsky Act Passes in the U.S. House of Representatives With Congressional Intent to Make the List Public

Press Release
Hermitage Capital

16 November 2012 – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (365 in favour, 43 against).

The U.S. House of Representatives. (Photo Courtesy of AFP Photo/Getty Images)

The bill creates targeted sanctions for the officials involved in the case of Sergei Magnitsky as well as other gross human rights abuse in Russia.

Speaking before the vote, U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern, the original sponsor of the bill, and Co-Chair of Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, stated the understanding of “the Congressional intent” to make public the list of sanctioned individuals. Congressman McGovern noted that the congressional intent is to make use of a classified annex only in cases of national security interest. His understanding was shared by other speakers on the floor.

The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry promised a “tough” response, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Ryabkov.

U.S. Congressman Smith speaking before the vote said: “All howls from Kremlin show we are on to something here.” Congressman Smith stated it was important that Russian officials be held accountable for “the crimes against their own countrymen”. The bill is a clear statement that “murderers and torturers are not welcome here,” said Congressman Smith on the House floor.

Russian human rights activists welcome the bill. Leader of the For Human Rights movement Lev Ponomaryev told Interfax news agency: “I am sure that the Magnitsky Act is necessary.” According to him, if the USA passes the law, this would encourage the Russian authorities to fully investigate Magnitsky’s death.

“Sooner or later, they will have to resolve this problem in Russia. Whether this issue will be addressed immediately after the USA passes the law, I do not know. Nevertheless, the adoption of the law in the USA will be a step in the right direction,” the activist said, according to Interfax.

To become a law,  the bill has to be voted by the Senate and signed by US President.

The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act imposes assets freezes and visa bans on those who was responsible for the detention, abuse or death of Sergei Magnitsky, financially benefitted from his detention or abuse, concealed their legal liability, or was involved in the criminal conspiracy uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, as well on those responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture and gross violations of human rights of whistle-blowers and activists.

Within 120 days of enactment, the Act requires the Departments of State and Treasury to compile, publish, and report on a list of these persons. Listed persons would be ineligible for entry into the United States, have any existing visas revoked, and have their financial assets frozen.

The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act points out that no officials have been brought to trial for Magnitsky’s “false arrest or for the crime he had uncovered,”  notes “the impunity since his death of state officials he testified against for their involvement in corruption and the carrying out of his repressive persecution,” and says:

“The systematic abuse of Sergei Magnitsky, including his repressive arrest and torture in custody by officers of the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation that Mr. Magnitsky had implicated in the embezzlement of funds from the Russian Treasury and the misappropriation of 3 companies from his client, reflects how deeply the protection of human rights is affected by corruption.”

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital
Tel:                    +44 207 440 17 77
Email:               info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:           http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:            @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:    http://hermitagecap.livejournal.com/