Canada Cuts Diplomatic Ties with Iran to Protect Human Rights

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

OTTAWA, Canada — Citing Iran’s record of alleged human rights abuses, the Canadian government severed diplomatic ties with the Middle Eastern country on Friday.

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird has called Iran world’s worst violators of human rights. (Photo Courtesy of The Toronto Sun)

Canada closed its embassy in Tehran and ordered all Iranian diplomats to leave Ottawa.  Other reasons for the decision included Iran’s support of the Syrian regime and its disputed nuclear program.

“[Iran] is among the world’s worst violators of human rights, and it shelters and materially supports terrorist groups, said a spokesperson for John Baird, the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister.  Baird has called Iran the “most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today.”

The move formally puts Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism under Canada’s Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act.  A press release from Baird’s office indicated that Canadian diplomats in Tehran were no longer safe, also prompting Canada’s decision to close its embassy.

Not long after Canada announced its decision, Iran closed its embassy in Ottawa.  Embassy Newspaper, a Canadian foreign policy newsweekly, reported that closure signs were posted on the front doors within 30 minutes.  A small crowd also gathered outside the closed Iranian embassy after they reported had come for consular services.

“Several told Embassy they were concerned about their next steps, and several said they had family in Iran on their mind,” the newsweekly reported on its website.  “One man expressed anger at the two governments that they couldn’t come to terms.”

Human rights activists were quick to praise Canada’s move.

“This needed to happen,” activist Shabnam Assadoliahi told the Toronto Sun.  He had been lobbying the Canadian government to cut ties with Iran.

Israel also applauded Canada’s decision, calling it a model for other countries to follow.

“Iran is a threat to global peace and security,” said Israeli Ambassador Miriam Ziv.  “Prime Minister [Stephen] Harper’s leadership serves as an example to the international community of the bold and moral measures needed to set clear red lines for Iran.”

Canada’s decision also came amid claims that Iranian officials in Ottawa were trying to infiltrate the Iranian community in Canada in efforts to stifle opposition to the Middle Eastern regime.

The relationship between Ottawa and Tehran had worsened since a Canadian photojournalist died in an Iranian prison in 2003.  Since then, Canada has imposed sanctions on Iran, but many political observers have called the closure of embassies as the worst point in the relationship in years.  That has caused some to worry about the fate of Canadians on death row in Iran.

For further information, please see:

Embassy Newspaper — ‘Upset and Scared’: Iranian Community in Shock as Canada Expels Diplomats, Shuts Down Embassy in Tehran — 8 September 2012

The Guardian — Canada Cuts Diplomatic Ties with Iran — 7 September 2012

The Toronto Star — Canada Closes Iran Embassy, Expels Remaining Iranian Diplomats — 7 September 2012

The Toronto Sun — Iranian Human Rights Activist Lauds Fed’s Decision to Close Embassy — 7 September 2012

European Court of Human Rights Hears Religious Discrimination Cases

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STRASBOURG, France – The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) heard four religious workplace discrimination cases on Tuesday, September 4, 2012.  The four applicants, all British Christians who lost separate employment tribunals in the United Kingdom, alleged that they were discriminated against in their workplace due to their religious beliefs.  The ECtHR, reserving judgment for a date to be determined, is expected to render a landmark decision.

Nadia Eweida with the silver cross necklace that she was told breached uniform code. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

The British Christians claimed that their employers violated articles nine and fourteen of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibit religious discrimination while protecting “freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”  However, the British government argued that these rights are only protected in the private sphere, not the workplace.

Shirley Chaplin and Nadia Eweida’s cases arose out of their desire to each wear a Christian cross at work.  However, Chaplin, a former nurse, was told that, despite having worn her cross for 30 years around the hospital wards, the necklace was a safety risk.  She was offered a desk job.  Eweida, an airways check-in worker, was asked to conceal her cross necklace according to airways uniform policy.  Instead she went home without pay and did not return until the policy was changed.

Lillian Ladele was a marriage registrar.  After civil partnerships became legal in the U.K. in 2004, Ladele would not conduct them.  Initially, she was permitted to trade civil partnerships with other registrars.  However, her employment rules changed, curtailing this flexibility; Ladele also felt pushed to choose between her faith and employment.  An employment tribunal ruled for her on the grounds of harassment; but this decision was reversed.

Gary McFarlane was a marriage counselor and church elder who was dismissed for gross misconduct after expressing concern to his employer that if he was asked to give advice to a homosexual couple, he might not be able to do so.

The applicants brought their cases before the ECtHR after various hearings before employment tribunals, the British Employment Appeal Tribunal and, in one case, the Court of Appeal.   Each desires roughly the same thing: the accommodation of their faith in the workplace.

McFarlane explained: “There should be allowances taken into account whereby individuals like me can actually avoid having to contradict their very strongly-held Christian principles.”

The National Secular Society, which intervened to argue alongside the British government, disagrees with this desire for further religious accommodations.  NSS Executive Director, Keith Porteous Wood said: “Any further accommodation of religious conscience in UK equality law would create a damaging hierarchy of rights, with religion trumping all. Any change to the law to increase religious accommodation stands the risk of seriously undermining UK equality law. . . .

“[O]ccasionally there may be limited circumstances where the State and private employers will be justified in restricting the display of religious symbols, or indeed, expressions of non-belief, in the interests of protecting the rights of fellow employees, users of public services, and private customers.”

Yet, Andrew Marsh, campaign director at religious group Christian Concern, expressed that the four could have been accommodated without harm.  He asserted “The crucial question in these cases is this: could these four individuals have been reasonably accommodated and their Christian faith respected, without detriment or damage to the rights of others – and the answer to that question is clearly yes.

“Each of them could have been reasonably accommodated without there ever being any danger of risk, significant risk to others or indeed of anyone who is entitled to a service being denied that service.”

For further information, please see:

International Herald Tribune – Christians Claim Workplace Discrimination in Landmark Case – 5 September 2012

Press Association – Faith Case Battle in Strasbourg – 5 September 2012

BBC News – Christians Take ‘Beliefs’ Fight to European Court of Human Rights – 4 September 201

BBC News – Why are Four Christians Accusing Their Employers of Discrimination? – 4 September 2012

National Secular Society – NSS Intervene in Landmark Cases at European Court of Human Rights – 2 September 2012

Chilean Army Anti-gay Memo Condemned

By Margaret Janelle R. Hutchinson
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – Chile’s top ranked government officials are appalled by the language of a recently exposed internal army document, which implies that homosexuals, poor people, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other groups are not morally fit to serve in the Chilean Army. Rights advocates are calling for the forced retirement of General Cristián Chateau who signed the offending memo.

General Cristián Chateau signed the discriminatory document, but says it’s all a misunderstanding. (Photo courtesy publimetro)

The exposure of the leaked document, distributed internally on February 22, 2012, comes on the heels of Chile’s first-ever anti-discrimination law, passed in July of this year.

On Friday, Chile Vice President Rodrigo Hinzpeter condemned the document, which surfaced on Thursday, as “very serious and completely unjustified.”

“The document is completely off base from the current reality of our country and should be immediately adjusted to the norms of our anti-discrimination law, which President Sebastian Piñera’s administration enacted a few months ago,” Hinzpeter said.

The document advocated for prioritizing the recruitment of “citizens of more appropriate moral and intellectual capacities,” and excluding “those with physical or mental health problems, the poor, criminals, drug users, homosexuals, conscientious objectors and Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Many militaries around the world have standards of physical and mental health that must be met in order to serve.  It is the suggestion of categorical exclusion of entire classes of individuals that has Chile up in arms.

Army Commander in Chief Juan Miguel Fuente-Alba condemned any systematic discrimination in the ranks and apologized for the document.

“As Commander in Chief of the army I categorically reject any document, provision, regulation or internal instructions that arbitrarily discriminate against any person or member of an institution,”

“I sincerely apologize to anyone who might have felt affected by such unfortunate language from an internal army document,” Fuente-Alba said.

“It must be guaranteed that there is no discrimination,” Fuente-Alba told the press on Friday. “And I have set the deadline of 10 a.m. Monday for all documents and similar forms to be revised. It must be clear that the Army belongs to all Chileans.”

Defense Minister Andres Allemand added that such ideas are completely opposed to government policy, and said he’s asked for a full military review of the matter to eliminate any such guidance.

The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh) said the army’s response has so far been “insufficient.”

“Today we are calling on the defense minister to remove Gen. Chateau from his post,” Rolando Jiménez, president of Movilh, said before the Ministry of Defense on Friday. “It cannot be possible for someone with such a level of classism and homophobia to be in charge of a military unit as important as the army’s first division.”

“And today we have to learn from this violent situation and these lessons are for a proactive policy from every branch of the armed forces and in particular the army and the defense ministry,” Jiménez added.

Movilh has called for the immediate resignation of the commander of the army’s first division, Cristián Chateau who signed the document.

Chateau told La Nación that the document was “already abolished” and “currently not valid anymore due to the recently imposed anti-discrimination law.”

“The meaning of the document was to exclude the obligation of having to join the military service if homosexuals and other mentioned groups did not wish to,” he said.

No reports yet as to whether Chateau will resign or face disciplinary action.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Uproar over Chile army discrimination – 8 September 2012

Bio Bio Nacional – Instructivo del Ejército recomienda no admitir a homosexuales, pobres y testigos de Jehová – 7 September 2012

Movilh Website – Movilh espera que investigación del Ejército termine con destitución de comandante homófobo – 7 September 2012

Santiago Times – Document suggests homosexual exclusion in Chilean army – 7 September 2012

The Washington Post – Chile criticizes army chief who says gays, poor people, Jehovah’s Witnesses are morally unfit – 7 September 2012

SAMSUNG HIT WITH ALLEGATIONS OF LABOR ABUSES IN CHINESE FACTORIES

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – New York based China Labour Watch (CLW) uncovered evidence of potential labor abuses in Chinese factories owned by South Korean electronics giant Samsung.

Workers file into the Suzhou Samsung factory. (Photo Courtesy of The Hankyoreh)

The factories under investigation are located in Huizhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Shandong, and Suzhou.  Some of the abuses cited were long working hours in poor conditions and the hiring of children under the age of 18.  The CLW’s report cited that workers worked over 100 hours of overtime per month, stood for 12 or more hours per day, were subjected to potentially unsafe working environments, and were verbally and physically abused.

Workers were allegedly not allowed to use holidays or sick days.  Some workers reported that they went to work sick because management would dock three days of pay if they attempted to use a sick day.  Others reported that they had gone 21 days without a single day off.  During the peak seasons, workers reported that they would work at least four or five hours of overtime per day on top of their regular work schedules.  One plant under investigation reportedly has a base salary of $250 per month for factory workers.

Management has also been accused of manufacturing fake identification cards for underage workers for them to appear older so they could work at the factories.  The underage workers with forged IDs perform the same tasks as adults on assembly lines with no safeguards or special workplace considerations for children.  It is legal in China to employ workers between the ages of 16-18, however, workers as young as 14 and 15 were allegedly seen on the assembly lines of Samsung’s factories.  These young workers are subjected to the same overtime schedules as adults.  Adults can work two to three shifts amounting to 12 or more hours per day.

Labor abuses perpetrated by technology firms have recently come to light since the slew of suicides at a factory owned by Foxconn, a major electronics supplier for Apple.  Foxconn has recently responded to the tragic suicides by cutting working hours and improving factory safety for workers.  China Labour Watch has also been investigating factories that make products for tech firms including HP, Dell, and Microsoft.

Samsung has denied all allegations of labor abuses at their Chinese factories.  Since the allegations of labor abuse, Samsung has broadened inspections on suppliers such as the Chinese factories that are currently under fire for potential labor abuses.  Spokespersons for Samsung have communicated that they perform frequent checks of their factories.  The company also has a zero tolerance policy in regards to child labor, and they were allegedly unaware of the underage hiring practices in their factories.  They have yet to agree to investigations by independent third parties.

For further information, please see:

BBC – Samsung faces fresh claims on Chinese factory workers – 6 September 2012

Bloomberg – Samsung Abuses Workers at Its China Plants, Labor Group Says – 5 September 2012

The Hankyoreh – Samsung found abusing underage workers in China – 5 September 2012

ShanghaiDaily – Samsung responds to under-age claims – 4 September 2012

Mozambique’s Human Rights Commission Takes Office

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

 MAPUTO, Mozambique – After 2 years since its creation in 2009, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) finally takes office as its first commissioners were sworn in by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Wednesday, September 5, 2012.

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza swore in the members of the National Human Rights Commission. (Photo courtesy of Club of Mozambique)

The CNDH is the first independent oversight body of its kind in Mozambique. It consists of 11 members chosen as follows according to law: three are elected by the political parties who hold seats in the Assembly, four are chosen by civil society, three are appointed by the Prime Minister, and one is chosen by the Mozambique Bar Association.

The ruling Frelimo Party and the main opposition party Renamo chose the three Assembly CNDH members. Two were elected by Frelimo, namely, Aminuddin Mohamad, a prominent imam in the country, and Alberto Viegas, a distinguished expert in educational and cultural matters in the northern province of Nampula. Renamo, on the other hand, elected Eduardo Namburete, the previous Renamo parliamentary deputy from 2004 to 2009.

Civil society groups chose Farida Mamad, Amilcar da Paz Andela, Maria Hunguana and Anastacio Nhomela; while the Prime Minister appointed Augusto Zacarias, Luis Nahe and Dalmazia Cossa. Augusto Zacarias shall serve as deputy chair of the Commission.

The Mozambique Bar Association, meanwhile, appointed Custodio Duma, a notable human rights lawyer, as the chairperson of the Commission.

During his speech at the ceremony, President Guebuza reminded the newly sworn in members that they have major role to play in upholding respect for the constitution and for the fundamental rights of citizens. “We should be fully aware that this fight can only be waged effectively, when each of us contributes, and we unite our efforts, convinced that poverty has its weakness and can be overcome in this country of heroes”, he said.

President Guebuza also added that launching the CNDH was an important step in building the democratic rule of law and in improving the constitutional principles of Mozambique.

The National Human Rights Commission is the highest human rights oversight body in the country. It derives its mandate from the Mozambique Constitution. It has the power to investigate alleged human rights violations, including summoning public officers to answer questions, and to issue recommendations on human rights matters.

Reports show that the planned priority areas for the CNDH include: addressing cases of torture and violence by law enforcement agencies, corruption in the judiciary, the rights of prisoners and detainees, alternative sentencing, outstanding ratifications of international human rights instruments, access to water, food, sanitation, education and healthcare, and strengthening of civil society.

 

For further information, please see:

AllAfrica – Mozambique: Giant Leap for Human Rights in Mozambique – 6 September 2012

AllAfrica – Mozambique: Human Rights Commission Takes Office – 5 September 2012

UK in Mozambique – Human Rights Commission created in Mozambique – 3 May 2012

Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa – Human Rights Commission in Mozambique – 15 April 2012

United Nations Development Programme – Mozambique to adopt a new mechanism to protect human rights – 16 September 2010