Human Rights Brief

Volume 14 | Issue 3 Article 9

2007 International Legal Updates Natalie Huls American University Washington College of Law

Art Steele American University Washington College of Law

Mihir Mankad American University Washington College of Law

Huwaida Arraf American University Washington College of Law

Courtney Nicolaisen American University Washington College of Law

See next page for additional authors

Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, and the International Law Commons

Recommended Citation Huls, Natalie, Art Steele, Mihir Mankad, Huwaida Arraf, Courtney Nicolaisen, and Miya Saika Chen. "International Legal Updates." Human Rights Brief 14, no. 3 (2007): 38-44.

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INTERNATIONAL LEGAL UPDATES

Latin America also questioned the interior minister and top profit after inflation rose and the value of the police officials on the failure of the police to bolívar, Venezuela’s currency, plunged in black Police Corruption in Guatemala protect the four officers and whether death market training. In response to the failure of The February killing of three Salvadoran squads exist inside the police force. vendors to comply with price controls, President Chávez threatened to jail grocery congressmen, and the subsequent deaths of Although human rights experts and oppo- store owners and nationalize their businesses. the four Guatemalan police officers who con- sition forces assert that groups of officers have fessed to the murders, exposed the rampant formed death squads, Erwin Sperisen, the The government also vaguely threatened police corruption that continues to plague national police chief, denies that the force newspapers that publish unofficial currency Guatemala. All three congressmen were mem- harbors death squads. Sperisen does acknowl- rates. In February, the bolívar was officially bers of El Salvador’s ruling party, ARENA, edge corruption among his officers, but about 2150 to the dollar, while unofficial including Eduardo D’Aubuisson, son of blames the corruption on his inability to rates quoted the bolívar at about 4400 to the Roberto D’Aubuisson, the party’s founder. purge the nineteen thousand-member force of dollar. Further pressure on the currency The elder D’Aubuisson is widely accepted as officers who came from police forces trained comes from capital flight as rich Venezuelans the central figure behind the assassination of in torture and assassination for counterinsur- try to take money out of the country because Archbishop Oscar Romero and the death gency efforts during the civil war in the 1980s. of fears that President Chávez will nationalize squads that terrorized El Salvador during its more private companies. 12-year civil war. The three congressmen were The exposure of corruption in the police headed to a meeting of the Central American force also put pressure on President Óscar The decrease in value of the bolívar also Parliament when the four police officers way- Berger, who, during his campaign four years affects food shortages because imported food, laid, and later executed them. During their ago, promised he would clean up corruption fertilizers, and agricultural equipment are confessions, the police officers claimed they in Guatemala. However, the Guatemalan gov- now more expensive. Although Venezuela has thought the congressmen were Colombian ernment has repeatedly stressed the need to some of South America’s most fertile farm- drug dealers, although there is still specula- allow the International Commission against land, Venezuela still imports more than half tion over whether the killings were politically Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). CICIG is a its food. Domestic food production also suf- motivated. The chief of the Salvadoran police United Nations backed independent body fers because new managers of recently expro- force said that he believes the three politicians that would investigate high-level government priated farms and ranches must reorganize and their driver were killed by mistake, and corruption. Both Guatemalan authorities and operations. The expropriations were part of that the assassins were tricked into believing human rights activists claim CICIG is President Chávez’s effort to empower state- they were targeting drug traffickers by those Guatemala’s only hope for uncovering the full financed cooperatives. extent of death squad operations in the coun- who had hired them. Authorities sent the Though economic meltdown in Venezuela try and for finally prosecuting high-level offi- police officers to a maximum security prison. is not imminent, economists say that soaring cials responsible for the crimes. Four days later, the officers were dead. public spending is overheating its economy, According to the police and the interior and generating imbalances in the distribution Impact of Price Controls of products. According to Francisco minister, rioting gang members killed the four in Venezuela officers. According to inmates, the inmates Rodríguez, a former chief economist at rioted only after the killings because they Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s eco- Venezuela’s National Assembly, there are com- feared they would become scapegoats, and nomic polices seem destined to create future petent people in the government who know they wanted to tell their side of the story to economic harm, while already infringing on that President Chávez must lower spending. reporters and Guatemala’s human rights human rights. After a debilitating strike by oil However, few people in positions of power are organizations. The inmates further explained workers in 2003, the government significantly willing to risk telling President Chávez what that a group of heavily armed men in military strengthened price controls. Ever since, the he needs to hear to defeat the inflation and garb charged through seven locked doors country has faced sporadic food shortages. the food shortage. without interference from the guards before However, in recent weeks, shortages of basic executing the four police officers. foods have led to panicked reactions by some Global Warming Threatens federal officials. Peruvian Water Supplies Regardless of what actually happened inside the prison, human rights officials and Supermarket shelves are full of imports, Peru’s Cordillera Blanca (“White Guatemalan authorities are exploring the cor- but often empty of basic stables. Government Mountain Range”) is turning brown. The dis- ruption in the police force, including the exis- officials blame the shortages on producers, appearing glaciers are one of the casualties of tence of death squads and connections with intermediaries, and grocers. Indeed, some ven- global warming, and endanger future water drug trafficking. Authorities already forced dors are hoarding items such as sugar and meat supplies to Peru’s arid coast. The Andes one assistant police chief to resign and sus- because they are unwilling to sell the goods at Mountains in Peru have lost at least twenty- pended another. The Guatemalan Congress official prices. However, vendors explain the two percent of their glacier area since 1970, price controls prevent them from making a and the rate is only accelerating. Published by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College38 of Law, 2007 1 Human Rights Brief, Vol. 14, Iss. 3 [2007], Art. 9 Peru’s glaciers feed the rivers that bring didates in congressional and municipal elec- tions must urge the governments of water to the sprawling cities and shantytowns tions for women. Zimbabwe and South Africa to facilitate legal on the dry Pacific coast. About two-thirds of migration policies. Peru’s twenty-seven million people live on the Africa coast, which has only 1.8 percent of Peru’s No Justice for Rape Victims water supply. The glaciers also serve agricul- South African Migrant workers In Africa ture and hydroelectric plants responsible for Face Abuse Due to a plethora of civil wars in the past generating seventy percent of Peru’s power. Migrant workers in South Africa often decade in Africa, hundreds of thousands of Although the rush of melted water could face abuse from South African officials women have been victims of rape and sexual boost the country’s hydroelectric energy, envi- involved in arrest and deportation. This abuse assault, often times committed by combatant ronmentalists do not think the water rush will generally consists of basic labor rights viola- forces. Possibly more devastating than last beyond 2050. tions and assault, and has also extended to wartime abuses are those of post-conflict peri- More immediate impacts of the glacial monetary extortion. ods when women continue to suffer abuse melt are felt by farmers who depend entirely during a time ideally reserved for healing, or Because of South Africa’s vibrant econ- on the glacial runoff from the Cordillera when governments fail to bring perpetrators omy, many workers from neighboring coun- Blanca during the dry season, and on rainfall to justice. These circumstances have affected tries migrate there. In particular, Zimbabwe’s during the wet season. Unfortunately, rainfall women in numerous African countries, state of political and economic deterioration during the last four years has been below aver- including Liberia and the Democratic has influenced four million Zimbabweans to age. Farmers and farm workers say there is Republic of Congo. seek work in South Africa and many much less water now than there was before, Mozambicans have stayed in South Africa Although the Liberian government imple- and continued water shortages will mean since fleeing Mozambique’s civil war in the mented the Truth and Reconciliation fewer jobs and nothing to eat. 1980s. Zimbabweans and Mozambicans com- Commission to address abuses committed pose the majority of foreign migrant workers. during Liberia’s civil war, the government has Women’s Rights Advance in Chile Despite the lucrative draw, undocumented made no formal plans for providing repara- President Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s first workers in South Africa suffer abuses when tions to the hundreds of thousands of victims female president, has succeeded in advancing arrested, detained, and deported. The condi- of rape, torture, and sexual violence. President women’s rights during her first year in office. tions the workers face violate the South Johnson-Sirleaf has expressed a commitment Chile is a socially conservative country that African Immigration Act of 2002 and South to address past human rights violations, but flatly bans abortion and only legalized divorce Africa’s international obligations under the her administration has yet to follow through in 2004. However, President Bachelet has suc- UN International Covenant on Civil and with its promises. The government has taken ceeded in promoting several important initia- Political Rights, which it ratified in 1998. few steps to investigate and document rape tives for women. and sexual abuse during the civil war, which This situation presents a unique problem lasted from 1989 through 2003. As a result, Among these revolutionary laws is the of abuses by public officials and employers, the perpetrators remain at large and the vic- right for women to breast feed at work and which violate both human rights, and tims receive neither justice nor reparations to stiffened penalties for men who fail to pay employment and labor rights laws. The claims rebuild their lives. alimony. Chile also established hundreds of against public officials allege that during nurseries nationwide, as well as domestic vio- deportation, police assault and extort money In the Democratic Republic of Congo, lence shelters for women and children. from deportees and have even thrown them justice was not served in the case of Bitondo Furthermore, equal numbers of women and out of moving trains. A 28-year old Nymba, a 56-year old woman who died as a men now hold top administrative jobs, Zimbabwean explained that when she crossed result of injuries she suffered when govern- including in President Bachelet’s cabinet. over the Limpopo River, she was stopped by ment soldiers attacked and raped her in May Women were also finally allowed to enter South African soldiers who put a gun to her 2005. After the incident, Nyumba was taken Chile’s naval academy. President Bachelet chest and made her lay on the ground. to the hospital where after one operation, enacted by presidential decree a law allowing Migrant workers allege that employers abuse doctors suspended further treatment because girls as young as fourteen to get free morning- their basic entitlements by paying less than Nyumba’s family could not afford it. After after contraceptive pills. minimum wage, denying sick leave, and mak- receiving international humanitarian aid, the ing unlawful deductions. doctors resumed treatment; however, due to Not all of these advances proceeded the lack of treatment at an earlier stage smoothly. For example, some mayors refuse to Human rights organizations have called Nyumba died from an infection. Two soldiers allow their city health services to distribute on the South African Police Service and were arrested in August 2005 in connection the morning-after pill. However, President Department of Home Affairs to ensure that with the rape but were released a few weeks Bachelet continues to promote women’s correct procedures for arrest, detention, and later without explanation. rights, with the goal of increasing jobs for deportation, established in the immigration women and increasing the participation of laws, are consistently followed by state offi- The UN Convention on the Elimination women in the Chilean Congress. Currently, cials. They have also suggested that the of All Forms of Discrimination against women only hold twelve percent of congres- Zimbabwean and Mozambican governments Women (CEDAW) expressly requires states sional seats, and President Bachelet is prepar- improve the protection of migrant workers by parties to “take all appropriate measures to ing a bill that would require political parties increasing cooperation with other labor-send- eliminate discrimination against women by to reserve thirty percent of their slate of can- ing countries. Finally, international organiza- any person, organization or enterprise.” http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/vol14/iss3/9 39 2 Huls et al.: International Legal Updates International human rights organizations Scores of similar attacks across Africa ICERD. These include discrimination in land have called on the governments of both coun- prompted the African Commission to pass a distribution and ownership, inequity in access tries to develop and carry out action plans to resolution on freedom of expression last to public services, restrictions on family reuni- bring perpetrators of sexual violence to jus- November. fication for Palestinian Arabs, and the mainte- tice. A suggested action plan would include nance of separate Arab and Jewish ‘sectors’ Meanwhile, the international community an independent judicial body to conduct within Israel. Stressing the fundamental prin- managed to feign shock over these allegations. prompt investigations into past and current ciple of “equality in the right to return to one’s With an expected lack of action on the part of rape incidents and hold perpetrators account- country and in the possession of property,” the international community, the role of the able for their crimes. the CERD report expressed concern with African Union and the African Commission Israel’s denial of the right of many Palestinians has become all the more central to addressing to return and repossess their land in Israel, African Commission Seriously concerns in Africa. With the economic and criticized Israel’s forced relocation of inhabi- Concerned About Deteriorating political situation in Zimbabwe slowly spiral- tants of unrecognized Bedouin villages, and Freedom of Expression In ing out of control, the mere pleadings and urged Israel to revoke the 2003 Citizenship Zimbabwe censures of the African Commission have and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order), The already infirm grasp of human rights continued to be fruitless. The ability for the which prohibits residents of the OPT to live and general legal order in Zimbabwe is rap- African Commission to handle this new with spouses in Israel. The Committee also idly deteriorating. Recent weeks have seen human rights crisis, both as an investigative pointed to a general tolerance for hate speech increasing amounts of civil unrest because of body and the newly formed African Court of against the Arab minority in Israel, noting cripplingly high inflation rates, which have Human Rights, as its judicial organ, will serve that “the Attorney General has adopted a caused extreme economic hardship. as a barometer for the future protection of restrained policy in relation to prosecutions Moreover, in his efforts to retain singular human rights on the continent. against politicians, government officials, and authority, President Mugabe has cracked other public figures for hate speech against down on political opposition using strong- Middle East the Arab minority.” armed tactics. The Committee called on Israel to address In 2005 the Zimbabwean government UN Committee Documents Racism the absence of any provision for equality or destroyed huge swaths of urban slums (report- in Israel prohibition of discrimination in its Basic Law, edly 700,000 people were left homeless), The UN Committee on the Elimination which serves as Israel’s Bill of Rights. It also again eliciting international condemnation, of Racial Discrimination recently criticized called on Israel to ensure that its definition as including a United Nations report that called Israel for institutionalized discrimination, a Jewish state “not result in any systemic dis- the situation a “grave humanitarian crisis.” both within Israel and in the Occupied tinction, exclusion, restriction or preference Since then the crisis has only worsened. In Palestinian Territories. based on race, colour, descent or ethnic origin response to the attacks on and expulsion of During its seventieth session, held from in the enjoyment of human rights.” African and foreign journalists in the country, 19 February—9 March 2007, the UN According to the Arab Association for Human Pansy Tlakula, the Special Rapporteur on Committee on the Elimination of Racial Rights, Israel’s definition of itself as a Jewish Freedom of Expression of the African Discrimination (CERD or Committee) con- state has created a “legal framework” for Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, sidered the tenth to thirteenth periodic “institutional discrimination” against its non- sent a letter to President Mugabe appealing reports of Israel concerning its compliance Jewish population. On March 1, just days that he “desist from wanton arrest and torture with the International Convention on the before the publication of the CERD report, of journalists.” The letter was sent after the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Adalah (an independent civil rights organiza- Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA- Discrimination (ICERD). The Committee tion serving the Arab population in Israel) Zimbabwe) and the Media Monitoring expressed serious concerns with Israeli laws issued “The Democratic Constitution,” a Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) both com- and practices that discriminate against Israel’s constitutional proposal urging Israel to aban- plained about the severe assaults or Tsvangirai Palestinian Arab citizens, and against don its Jewish identification and adopt a non- Mukwazhi and Tendai Musiyu by Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian preferential system to achieve a democratic, Zimbabwean police after their arrest while Territories (OPT). Israel’s reports, which bilingual, and multicultural state. covering the heated protests by the Mugabe were more than five years late, excluded refer- opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his Addressing Israel’s administration of the ence to the OPT and the Golan Heights, as group, Movement for Democratic Change. OPT, the Committee called upon Israel to Israel refuses to acknowledge that the ICERD Tlakula met with Mukwazhi while in the dismantle the Wall it is constructing in and applies to these areas. The Committee criti- country and said that he had sustained serious around the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as cized this position, stating categorically that injuries and his property had been confis- was ordered by the International Court of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories cated. Justice in its July 9, 2004 Advisory Opinion. should “enjoy full rights under the The Committee’s other recommendations Scores of journalist report that they been Convention without discrimination based on included calling for an end to Israel’s discrim- arrested and tortured by the Zimbabwean citizenship and national origin.” inatory system of permits, checkpoints, clo- authorities. Mugabe claims to be pursuing a The Committee’s report highlighted sures and restricted roads that deny peaceful resolution, but his continuingly numerous Israeli policies and practices toward Palestinians their human rights “to freedom of harsh actions contract his verbal assurances. its Palestinian Arab citizens that violate the movement, family life, work, education and

Published by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College40 of Law, 2007 3 Human Rights Brief, Vol. 14, Iss. 3 [2007], Art. 9 health”; an end to laws that discriminate De Silva informed HRW that financial present a defense, and prisoners suffer physi- against Palestinians, particularly in access to desperation drove him to armed robbery. He cal abuse and remain incarcerated beyond the water resources; and an end to the demolition had arrived in Saudi Arabia in November expiration of their sentences. of Palestinian homes and respect for property 2003 to work pursuant to a contract that stip- rights of Palestinians. Furthermore, the ulated monthly wages of 400 Saudi Riyals Suspect Constitutional Committee called upon Israel to protect (US $115), but his employer only paid him Amendments in Egypt Palestinians from violence by Israeli settlers, 250 Riyals, the cost of monthly lodging. He On March 27, 2007, Egypt passed 34 particularly in Hebron, and to ensure that and the other three men, Victor Corea, amendments to its constitution following a attacks by settlers “are investigated in a Sanath Pushpakumara, and Sharmila public referendum. Although opposition par- prompt, transparent and independent man- Sangeeth, were arrested in March 2004 and ties boycotted the vote, and international ner, are prosecuted and sentenced, and that convicted of armed robbery by an Islamic human rights organizations warned of the loss avenues for redress are offered to the victims.” court. Although all four were reportedly of fundamental rights and freedoms, the ini- armed, only one of the defendants, Corea, Amnesty International (AI) was among tiative reportedly received over 75 percent of had caused physical injury, shooting two the many non-governmental organizations the popular vote. Official turnout, however, shopkeepers during the robbery. According to that submitted a brief on Israel’s practices to was only 25 percent, with independent organ- information given by De Silva to HRW, both the CERD. Most notably, AI highlighted izations and media outlets estimating it as low victims recovered from their wounds. One of increasing barriers to entry to the OPT for as five percent. In addition to the low voter the victims told the judge in a civil trial that Palestinians, spouses of Palestinians, and for- turnout, the Egyptian Organization for he did not seek damages and even asked for eign nationals seeking to work or conduct Human Rights (EOHR) protested govern- clemency for the four Sri Lankans after learn- business in the OPT. ment practices that it claimed “negatively ing that they had been sentenced to death in affected the will of the voters.” These their criminal trial. Executions in Saudi Arabia included “mass voting” (busing public Saudi Arabia’s chief judge, Salih al- employees to polling stations), automatic On February 19, 2007, Saudi Arabia Luhaidan, told HRW that it is against Islam marking of ballot cards in favor of passing the beheaded four Sri Lankan migrant workers to issue a written verdict to those sentenced to amendments, bribing, and pro-amendment convicted of armed robbery, and ordered their death or to inform them of the time of their banners inside balloting stations. Finally, as a bodies to be publicly displayed, according to a execution. HRW reported that De Silva did result of the Egyptian Parliament’s recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). not know he was to be executed within one adoption of the amendments on March 19, HRW accused Saudi Arabia of denying the Sri week when they spoke to him on February the public had less than a week to consider the Lankans basic human rights and called on the 12, and at the time was even hopeful that he initiatives before the public referendum, rais- Saudi government to immediately halt all exe- could obtain clemency. ing suspicions that many voters lacked a thor- cutions and retry persons convicted in trials ough understanding of the amendments’ that do not meet minimum standards of jus- According to a July 2004 report by HRW, implications. tice. “The execution of these four migrants, “Bad Dreams — Exploitation and abuse of who had been badly beaten and locked up for migrant workers in Saudi Arabia,” foreign Calling the proposed constitutional years without access to lawyers, is a travesty of nationals account for 67 percent of the work- amendments, “the greatest erosion of human justice,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle force and hold 90 to 95 percent of private-sec- rights in 26 years,” Amnesty International East and North Africa director at HRW. tor jobs in the kingdom. The overwhelming (AI) warned that they paved the way for a new majority are poorly paid and heavily indebted anti-terrorism law that would entrench exist- One of the four Sri Lankans, Ranjith de due to the exorbitant fees charged by recruit- ing practices like arbitrary arrest and torture, Silva, spoke with HRW by telephone one ing agencies. Moreover, migrant workers are both of which violate individual human rights week before his execution. According to De often paid far lower salaries than promised and and Egypt’s international human rights obli- Silva, he was severely beaten on the back, subjected to long working hours — up to 12 gations. AI expressed particular concern with never told that he could face the death penalty hours or more daily without overtime. Salaries the proposed amendment to Article 179 of for his offence, and was not informed that he can go unpaid for months but workers do not the Constitution, cautioning that it would had a right to a lawyer or a right not to complain for fear of summary dismissal. “give sweeping powers of arrest to the police, incriminate himself. He also stated that after grant broad authority to monitor private the conviction, he and his co-defendants did In December 2006, HRW made a four- communications and allow the Egyptian pres- not know how to conduct an appeal. HRW week, fact-finding trip to Saudi Arabia to ident to bypass ordinary courts and refer peo- reports that the Saudi justice system “failed to research a number of human rights issues. ple suspected of terrorism to military and spe- ensure that these four Sri Lankans had the HRW found that labor abuses are still perva- cial courts, in which they would be unlikely to basic safeguards required for anyone at risk of sive in the country. In addition, the Saudi receive fair trials.” the death penalty.” In addition to a closed government has yet to put into practice laws hearing, a non-transparent process, and no passed in 2000-2002 to protect the rights of The Muslim Brotherhood and other adequate means for their defense, the defen- criminal defendants. As a result, thousands opposition groups claimed that the amend- dants did not have a meaningful right to are detained without trial, charge, or access to ment package, while billed as a political appeal their verdicts, a right guaranteed to counsel for months and even years. reform initiative, is really just an effort to defendants sentenced to death under interna- Additionally, judicial procedures remain strengthen the Mubarak government’s hold tional law. largely closed to the public, criminal defen- on power, including the attempt to secure dants are not afforded a fair opportunity to succession by Mubarak’s son Gamal. Among http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/vol14/iss3/9 41 4 Huls et al.: International Legal Updates other things, the amendments prevent inde- bodies. Subsequent to a Security Council independence movements of South Ossetia pendent candidates from standing for the endorsement, the comprehensive plan and Abkhazia in Georgia, and Transnistria in presidency and ban all political activity based includes a 120-day transition period during Moldova. on religious conviction. The latter is viewed as which UNMIK would continue to exercise a direct attempt to weaken or deligitimize the control of the province. The Kosovo assembly Victims Appeal Decision Not to Muslim Brotherhood. would then work with an EU civilian repre- Prosecute Uzbek Minister in sentative to approve a new constitution dur- Germany ing a nine-month period, at the end of which Europe and Central Asia Eight victims of Uzbek abuses appealed Serbia would be required to hold general and Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s decision not local elections. Security Council Reviews Plan to open a crimes against humanity investiga- for an Independent Kosovo Many felt that the negotiations in Vienna tion against former Uzbek Internal Minister In a report under consideration by the ended in an impasse. Seeing Kosovo as Zokir Almatov. Four of those appealing are UN Security Council, Martti Ahtisaari, the Serbia’s historic heartland, Serbian President victims of general widespread torture that Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Boris Tadic called parting with the province occurred in Uzbek prisons and pre-trial future status of Kosovo, states that supervised “unbearable.” The Serbian leadership found detention facilities under Almatov’s watch. independence is the only viable option for the loss of up to 15 percent of its territory par- The other four were among the estimated Kosovo. The Secretary-General expressed full ticularly deplorable. Serbia’s nationalist Prime 5,000 unarmed protesters — demonstrating support for Ahtisaari’s report given to the Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned that against the jailing of local men on charges of President of the Security Council on March approving the plan would set “the most dan- “Islamic extremism” — upon whom Uzbek 26. The UN Interim Administration Mission gerous precedent in the history of the UN,” forces open-fired during the 2005 Andijan in Kosovo (UNMIK) has governed the encouraging other independence-minded Massacre. Uzbek officials claim less than 200 province since 1999 when NATO air strikes regions to seek independence. He made it deaths in the incident, which was also under on Belgrade ended a Serbian repression of clear, however, that his government refrains the command of Almatov, although inde- Albanian separatists. from using force. At the same time, Kosovo pendent sources, such as the Institute for War President Fatmir Sejdiu emphasized that and Peace Reporting and the Turkish Weekly In March negotiations were held in eventual independence was the only accept- place the number of casualties as high as Vienna bringing together Serbia, the Kosovo able outcome. 4,500. government, the Contact Group — the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, It is clear that if a solution is not reached Almatov was granted permission on France, Italy, and Russia, UNMIK, and soon, violence may break out in the region. “humanitarian grounds” to have a life-saving NATO, to debate Mr. Ahtisaari’s plan, which Mr. Ahtisaari believes that a sustainable solu- operation in Germany in 2005 despite an EU aims to address the needs of Kosovo’s multi- tion is of “vital importance” to regional peace visa ban on all senior Uzbek officials who ethnic society where Albanians outnumber and stability, and EU Enlargement refuse to accept an independent international Serbs and other ethnic groups nine to one. It Commissioner Olli Rehn stated that a inquiry into the Andijan Massacre. In includes a constitution protecting the rights Security Council impasse would trigger “the December 2005, the eight victims submitted of all — including culture, language, educa- risk of instability and even chaos in the a complaint against Almatov and eleven other tion, and symbols — as well as granting rep- Balkans.” Members of the Ethnic Albanian Uzbek government officials for crimes against resentation for non-Albanians in key public group, Vetevendosje — meaning self-determi- humanity under Germany’s universal jurisdic- institutions and providing that certain laws nation — protest the plan because it falls tion laws. In March 2006, former German may only be enacted if a majority of the short of their desire for an independent state. Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm decided not to Kosovo non-Albanian legislature members The group has emerged as the focal point for pursue the investigation, noting the low like- agree. It further calls for wide-ranging decen- ethnic Albanian frustrations in Kosovo, and lihood of success given Uzbekistan’s reluc- tralization, creating six new or significantly its numbers have been growing as uncertainty tance to cooperate in an investigation. Nehm’s expanded Kosovo Serb majority municipali- continues. Two protesters died in February in report relied upon information submitted by ties created with clear lines of responsibility the capital Pristina after being shot with rub- the Uzbek government, which claims to be between local and central institutions and giv- ber bullets by UN police. working to combat torture. Without inde- ing the Serb community a high degree of con- pendent access to detention and prison facili- Although no date has been set, and it is trol over issues such as health care, higher ties, however, no mechanism exists to verify not yet clear that the plan will be approved, education, and financial matters, including these claims. the Security Council plans to vote this April accepting transparent funding from Serbia. or May. Russia, Serbia’s traditional ally, previ- Nehm’s decision was later upheld by cur- While both sides interpreted the plan as ously indicated that it will oppose any plan rent Federal Prosecutor Monika Harms. providing international community-super- not backed by Belgrade. Yet Russia’s foreign Organizations that assisted the victims have vised independence, the plan does not specif- minister Sergei Lavrov has made recent com- argued that a successful investigation could be ically mention independence, likely to avoid ments that indicate a willingness to negotiate, carried out despite Uzbekistan’s lack of coop- angering Serbia and losing support of its allies leading observers to believe that Russia will eration by interviewing victims and witnesses on the Security Council. Instead, it refers to not exercise its Security Council veto power. living outside Uzbekistan and former UN Kosovo’s right to govern itself and conclude President Putin has warned that Kosovo’s Special Rapporteur on Torture Theovan international peace agreements, including its independence would set a precedent for other Boven who issued a 2003 report documenting ability to gain membership in international “frozen conflicts,” referring to Russian-backed systematic torture in Uzbekistan.

Published by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College42 of Law, 2007 5 Human Rights Brief, Vol. 14, Iss. 3 [2007], Art. 9 The victims’ appeal was submitted in late bers called for the resignations of Dosaev and Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims, January to the Higher Regional Court in local officials, saying that “they are equally accounting for eight of the nineteen million Stuttgart. The appeal emphasizes that because guilty for the slow and tortuous deaths of chil- people in Xinjiang province, which borders Germany has incorporated the International dren.” However, local officials maintain that eight separate countries. Though members of Criminal Court statute into its domestic law low medical salaries — for example, doctors’ the Taliban have been captured in Xinjiang, — which has never been used since its adop- salaries start at $175 per month — are a con- human rights groups accuse China of using tion five years ago — and is a signatory to the sequence of insufficient allocation of govern- the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to further crim- UN Convention against Torture, it is obli- ment funds to the Shymkent area. inalize and repress its Muslim population, gated to arrest Almatov and begin investiga- especially in Xinjiang, and blur the distinc- In response to the outbreak, President tions based on the evidence available. Because tion between religious extremism and reli- Nursultan Nazarbayev dismissed the health Germany is a leader in creating accountability gious freedom. Despite religious freedom minister and the regional governor in mechanisms for the most serious crimes under being guaranteed in the Chinese Shymkent, and the government has begun to international law, the prosecutors’ decisions Constitution, few Uighurs are at liberty to conduct broad inspections of medical facili- have been heavily criticized by outside legal practice their faith as they would like. For ties nationwide. This outbreak comes just experts. example, the curriculum of the Islam College months after the government adopted a in Urümqi must be approved by China’s national strategy on HIV/AIDS to run Communist Party and may not be taught in HIV Outbreak in Kazakhstan through 2010, at which point the government the Uighur language. Students must also Highlights Need for Reform has pledged to shoulder 50 percent of the attend political education camps where the The trial of 21 medical workers responsi- costs for those living with HIV/AIDS. authorities dictate which version of the Koran ble for the death of eight toddlers and the UNAIDS, a joint UN program combating should be used. infection of 92 children and 12 mothers with AIDS, notes that less than 20 percent of those HIV began in January and is expected to take with HIV receive antiretroviral drugs in Some Uighurs are eager to re-establish an several months. The workers deny criminal Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, during 2005 the independent Islamic nation, and Xinjiang has charges of professional recklessness, corrup- number of people in Kazakhstan living with suffered periodic separatist violence that tion, and the illegal sale of blood. If guilty, AIDS rose by twenty percent. China is keen to suppress. In 1950 Uighurs they face a maximum sentence of five years. were 94 percent of the province’s population; but China since has flooded the province with These deaths appear to be part of a deeply Asia Han Chinese by investing heavily in its “Go corrupt health care system in Kazakhstan. West” policies to redevelop the province. As a After an abnormally large number of HIV China: Religious Persecution of result, Uighurs are now less than half of the cases were detected in a group of infants in Uighurs in Xinjiang Province population. Uighurs are linguistically and cul- September 2006, the Kazakhstan government In early February, Chinese government turally isolated, and the new jobs are given to asked the U.S.-based Center for Disease officials executed ethnic Uighur Muslim Han Chinese settlers. Fear is pervasive in Control and Prevention (CDC) to investi- activist Ismail Semed in Urümqi, the capital Xinjiang; Uighur men and women have been gate. The CDC concluded that the problem of the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang imprisoned for simply speaking to foreign stemmed from blood transfusion, likely province. Semed was executed by a bullet journalists. According to a joint report by through several hospitals in the city of through the heart. His charges stemmed from Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in Shymkent that have repeatedly used insani- allegations that he was a founding member of China, “People from the Uighur community tary medical equipment and unsafe blood and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which are very much at risk of being arrested, blood products. Prosecutors allege that med- the United States, the United Nations, and detained, tortured or sentenced to labor ical staff gave blood transfusions to extort China designated as a terrorist organization in camps for anything the government equates money, usually $20 per transfusion. By law, 2002. Before his trial, Semed had been to separatist feelings,” such as holding reli- Kazakhstan’s hospitals are prohibited from deported from Pakistan where he had fled gious activities and disseminating peaceful charging patients for blood and medicine. after serving two jail terms for alleged involve- religious and cultural messages. The system- CDC’s Central Asia office notes that these ment in a violent uprising in 1990. He was atic repression of religion in Xinjiang ranges transfusions are not based on medical evi- sentenced to death in 2005 after being found from the closing of mosques to executions dence; rather medical workers exploit local guilty of attempting to “split the mother- and the detention of thousands of people, beliefs concerning the cure-all aspect of blood land.” Human rights groups condemned the mostly for illegal religious activities, every to supplement their low salaries. For example, case as marred by lack of evidence, a flawed year, the report claims. an eight-month-old child received 24 blood trial, and a coerced confession. Chinese transfusions to “boost his immunity.” authorities refused to confirm the details of Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent Uighur exile Semed’s case, but a spokeswoman for the from Xinjiang, President of the Uighur The outbreak has resulted in a blame Urümqi Intermediate People’s Court told American Association, and a member of the game amongst local officials and the central reporters that a group of people had been exe- World Uighur Congress, condemned Semed’s government. Kazakhstan’s Health Minister cuted in Urümqi that day. Amnesty execution as unjust. Kadeer was once Yerbolat Dosaev maintains that fault rests International, Human Rights Watch, and appointed to a seat on one of China’s highest with local officials who have refused to pro- other human rights groups accused the consultative bodies. But she was imprisoned vide sufficient funds to the health care system Chinese government of exaggerating the for five years for allegedly endangering and, at the same time, allow endemic corrup- threat of violence to crackdown on move- national security by sending newspaper clip- tion to persist. Meanwhile, parliament mem- ments committed to freedom of religion. pings on the treatment of the Uighur commu- http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/vol14/iss3/9 43 6 Huls et al.: International Legal Updates nity to her husband, former political prisoner detainees were hooded, gagged, strangled, Afghanistan, where he was questioned about Sidik Rouzi, who had fled China for the beaten with blunt objects, and subjected to ties to terrorist groups and beaten by U.S. United States. While in prison Kadeer wit- sleep deprivation and extreme environmental officers. He was apparently subjected to nessed the torture and harassment of many conditions. Suspects were detained without extraordinary rendition, the practice of taking innocent Uighurs, and was not allowed to legal authority and held without access to foreign nationals to third states for interroga- read, write, or speak to others in the prison or their families or the legal system. tion because, according to the U.S. govern- even a lawyer. ment, these states’ interrogation practices are In one instance in December 2002, the not accountable to U.S. laws. Secretary of According to a local Uighur, the war on U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division State Condoleezza Rice has called the govern- terror has become a war on Islam. “They’re recommended that 28 U.S. soldiers be ment’s rendition program “a vital tool in com- punishing people for their religious beliefs,” charged in connection with the beating death bating transnational terrorism.” In his com- he said. “Uighur people are not terrorists. of two prisoners at the U.S. airbase at Bagram. plaint, Masri maintained that the CIA They don’t want to be terrorists. They’re Autopsies found “blunt force injuries” on the violated the U.S. Constitution and interna- peaceful people.” bodies of two detainees, Mullah Habibullah tional law, but the court dismissed the case and a taxi driver known as Dilawar. By the claiming that hearing it would put national end of 2004, only one soldier had been Detainee Deaths in Afghanistan: security secrets at risk. Failures of U.S. Accountability charged—with assault, maltreatment, and dereliction of duty. Human rights advocates assert that U.S. On February 13, a U.S. federal court sen- forces are, at a minimum, obligated to treat tenced David Passaro to eight-and-a-half years Another death in custody was investigated detainees in accordance with international in prison for the beating death of Abdul Wali in September 2004 by the UN, the office of humanitarian law principles under the in June 2003. Passaro, a U.S. Central the Attorney General of the Afghan National Geneva Conventions. Despite repeated calls Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor, was sta- Army, and the Crimes of War project. Jamal by international human rights organizations tioned with U.S. military forces at a post on Naseer, a soldier in the Afghan National for independent investigations of deaths in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He had Army, was killed after he and seven other sol- custody and reports of torture by U.S. forces, ordered military guards to keep Wali, an diers were mistakenly arrested and severely investigations have been conducted under the Afghan farmer suspected of involvement in beaten by U.S. officers. The Army Criminal auspices of the U.S. Department of Defense. rocket attacks on a military post, from sleep- Investigative Command opened an investiga- Requests for access to detainees by the UN, ing, and to deny him food and water. He also tion of the case in May 2004. In January the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights forced Wali to endure over 48 hours of inter- 2007, Special Operations Command released Commission, and other non-governmental rogation and brutal beatings. Wali continued a statement that two soldiers would receive bodies continue to be refused. “The failure to to deny any role in the rocket attacks until his administrative reprimands but would not face investigate senior U.S. officials for their role death on his fourth day in custody. courts-martial. in authorizing detainee abuse is not for lack of The Passaro case is similar to many other Human rights organizations point out evidence but for lack of political will,” said a cases of alleged abuse by U.S. officers in that United States, Afghanistan, European Human Rights Watch Research Director. Afghanistan. Human rights advocates high- Union, and other efforts to implement the Human rights advocates urge that only an light that Passaro’s sentence was a singular 2006 Afghanistan Compact to rebuild and independent prosecutor can mount credible exception to an otherwise deficient record of stabilize Afghanistan have failed to improve investigations into detainee abuse issues, and accountability. The United States has neither basic security. In 2006, more than 4,400 the U.S. Congress should press the current investigated nor prosecuted most of the Afghans died in conflict-related violence, administration to appoint one. HRB numerous cases of detainee abuse and killings twice as many as in 2005 and more than in in Afghanistan that implicate U.S. military any other year since the United States helped Natalie Huls, a J.D. candidate at the Washington personnel. The failure of accountability in oust the Taliban in 2001. The UN estimated College of Law, covers Latin America for the Human Afghanistan is particularly notable because a that the armed conflict displaced about Rights Brief. military unit involved in interrogations in 80,000 people in Afghanistan. According to Art Steele, a J.D. candidate at the Washington College Afghanistan in 2002 was later sent to Iraq and Human Rights Watch Asia, “Security is the of Law, covers Africa for the Human Rights Brief. later carried out the infamous abuses that first pillar of the compact, but … life is so Mihir Mankad, a J.D. candidate at the Washington took place at Abu Ghraib prison. dangerous that many Afghans are unable to College of Law, contributed to African Commission go to school, get health care, or take goods to Seriously Concerned About Deteriorating Freedom No officers were held accountable for market.” of Expression In Zimbabwe for the Human Rights killings or torture evidenced in autopsy and Brief. death reports of detainees held in U.S. facili- The U.S. military continues to operate in Huwaida Arraf, a J.D. candidate at the Washington ties in Afghanistan. Many of these detainees Afghanistan without a legal framework such College of Law, covers the Middle East for the died during interrogations. The U.S. as a Status of Forces Agreement with the Human Rights Brief. Department of Defense released the docu- Afghan government, and to detain hundreds ments in 2005 in response to a Freedom of of Afghans without any legal process. Courtney Nicolaisen, a J.D. candidate at the Washington College of Law, covers Europe and Information Act request filed by the Furthermore, in March 2007, the U.S. Court Central Asia for the Human Rights Brief. American Civil Liberties Union, the Center of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dismissed a for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for case filed by Khaled el-Masri, a German citi- Miya Saika Chen, a J.D. candidate at the Washington College of Law, covers Asia for the Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense, zen of Lebanese descent who was allegedly Human Rights Brief. and Veterans for Peace. The documents show first detained in Macedonia and then flown to Published by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College44 of Law, 2007 7