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Annual Report 2009 Investigating War Crimes Pursuing Justice Preparing Tomorrow’S Advocates Promoting Accountability for 15 Years

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Annual Report 2009 Investigating War Crimes Pursuing Justice Preparing Tomorrow’S Advocates Promoting Accountability for 15 Years ANNUAL REPORT 2009 INVESTIGATING WAR CRIMES PURSUING JUSTICE PREPARING TOMORROW’S ADVOCATES PROMOTING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR 15 YEARS IN THIS REPORT: Survey on Justice and the Khmer Rouge Trials in Cambodia Focusing on Vulnerable Populations Using Technology to Advance Human Rights Human Rights Center 15th Anniversary Retrospective 2009 ANNUAL REPORT OUR MISSION The Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley is an independent research center that applies scientific methods and innovative technologies to promote human rights and international humanitarian law worldwide. Based on our research, we develop and recommend specific policy measures to protect vulnerable populations. We provide students and advocates with the skills and tools to document violations of human rights and to turn this information into effective action. HISTORY Founded in 1994, the Human Rights Center focuses on emerging human rights issues in the United States and other countries. Over the past 15 years the Human Rights Center has docu- mented war crimes in Iraq, Rwanda, Congo, Uganda, Cambodia, and the former Yugoslavia; investigated human trafficking in the United States; assessed Burma’s crumbling health system; used DNA technology to support reunification of Salvadoran families; and examined treatment of detainees at the U.S. detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Our research findings have been presented to the United Nations, the U.S. Congress, and the International Criminal Court. Our evidence-based reports have been used to prosecute war criminals, draft legislation, brief journalists, and bring human rights abuses to the attention of the public. Human Rights Center staff members teach at UC Berkeley, mentor students through the UC Human Rights Fellowship Program, and convene conferences and panels on timely issues with leading experts and advocates. HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER STAFF 2008-2009 ERIC STOVER PHUONG PHAM Faculty Director Director of Research Adjunct Professor of Law and Public Health RACHEL SHIGEKANE CAMILLE CRITTENDEN Director of Programs Executive Director PATRICK VINCK MICHELLE Arevalo-CARPENTER Director, Initiative for Vulnerable Populations Graduate Student Researcher REBEKAH WHITE MELISSA CARNAY Office Coordinator Program Representative SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOWS RITA GABER Richard Pierre Claude Graduate Student Researcher Sarah Warshauer Freedman BARBARA GROB Vincent Iacopino Director of Communications and Outreach Andrew Moss Gilles Peress VERONICA GUZMAN Harvey Weinstein Graduate Student Researcher HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER FELLOWS NEIL HENDRICK Patrick Ball Mobile Technology Specialist Mychelle Balthazard LIZA JIMENEZ Karl Schoenberger Administrative Assistant David Tuller FROM THE DIRECTORS This year marks the 15th anniversary of the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center. The 2009 Annual Report highlights many facets of our work in the past year and traces the Center’s impact over the past 15 years. It also pays tribute to the activists, faculty, and students who have worked with us to support communities affected by war, mass atrocities, and social upheaval. The past year has been a busy one. The Human Rights Center published several major reports including two large-scale population studies of public attitudes about justice, accountability, and social reconstruction in Cambodia and the East- ern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC report, released with the International Center for Transitional Justice, helped shape international debate about peace and justice in the wake of Thomas Lubanga’s arrest on war crimes charges. The Cambodia report examined public perceptions of the of the work of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, which was established in 2007 to try leaders of the Khmer Rouge. With the International Human Rights Law Clinic, the Human Rights Center also published “Guantánamo and Its Aftermath: U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices and Their Impact on Former Detainees,” the first in-depth look at the capture, imprisonment, and release of 62 former detainees. The report calls on the Obama administration to establish an independent commission to investigate abuses in the U.S. “war on terror.” 1 In April the Human Rights Center and UCB Chancellor Robert Birgeneau welcomed Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to campus for the keynote address in the MacArthur Symposium on International Justice. President Sirleaf, the first female President in Africa, received the Berkeley Medal, the University’s highest honor, and a standing ovation from more than 450 people in attendance at the International House. The Human Rights Fellowship Program continues to offer graduate students a rare opportunity to conduct extended fieldwork, and this year 20 Fellows from five UC campuses traveled around the world. Their areas of interest include climate change and forced migration in the Maldives, access to water in Central America, threats to journalistic freedom in Mexico, gender-based asylum claims among Guatemalan women in San Francisco, and U.S. counter-terrorism strategies and resettlement policies among former Guantánamo detainees. We offer our sincere thanks and appreciation to all of our friends and colleagues who contributed their time, expertise, and financial support to the work of the Human Rights Center. We look forward to a continued partnership as we rise up to meet the challenges of the next 15 years. Eric Stover Camille Crittenden Faculty Director Executive Director 2009 ANNUAL REPORT HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY PROMOTING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR 15 YEARS “ The HRC’s engagement in defense of human rights is imaginative, fearless, and relevant, harnessing the academic and journalistic disciplines to maximum effect as they cast a strong light into the blackest holes of the earth. They do definitive work, and I marvel at how they accomplish so much with so few people.” — Roy Gutman, Foreign Editor, McClatchy Newspapers The Human Rights Center was founded in 1994 crimes against humanity, and war crimes continue with generous support from The Sandler Family unabated as the International Criminal Court tries Supporting Foundation. Then and now, the Human to bring those responsible for these atrocities to Rights Center uses the knowledge and skills of the justice. Meanwhile, the credibility of the United law, public health, public policy, humanities, journal- States as a champion of human rights and the rule ism, and the sciences to support the work of human of law has been severely undermined by torture and rights defenders worldwide. other coercive tactics in our own “war on terror.” Originally a project of the Doreen B. Townsend Establishing a clear record of war crimes and their Center for the Humanities at UC Berkeley, the effect on post-war communities, often many years Human Rights Center was eventually housed in later, is a daunting task. Successfully prosecuting the Institute for International Studies and later as even the most notorious war criminals has proved 2 a research unit in International and Area Studies. challenging. But efforts to combat impunity and Faculty Director Eric Stover was recruited from promote accountability have gained considerable Physicians for Human Rights to lead the Center ground in the past 15 years. More people today are in 1995 and has shaped its programs ever since. learning about the norms of international humani- tarian law and helping to expose abuses worldwide. At HRC’s founding, few could have predicted the Even in countries with severely repressive regimes, changes in technology, warfare, population migra- journalists, activists, and aid workers have developed tion, the environment, and global economy happen- creative ways to advance human rights, often at great ing today and their effects on populations across personal risk. This report examines and honors the globe, for good and bad. We have seen prejudice some of these initiatives. and fear, aided by disinformation and propoganda, fuel horrific violations of human rights. Genocide, “ There’s no better example of Berkeley’s mission, values and excellence coming together to tackle the most difficult and pressing problems facing humankind. Being involved in the work of the Human Rights Center—or simply learning about it—is profoundly inspiring to faculty and students alike. The Law School is involved not only for reasons of substance and passion, but also because we want to share the bragging rights.” —Christopher Edley, Dean, UC Berkeley, School of Law HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER UNIVerSITY OF CalIFornIA BerKeleY FOCUSING ON VULNERABLE POPULATIONS “ An epidemiological framework helps human rights investigators examine patterns of abuse in large populations over time and offer solid evidence of violations of international humanitarian law.” — Harvey Weinstein, Senior Research Fellow, Human Rights Center, Co-Editor, International Journal of Transitional Justice • Photojournalist Gilles Peress has taught highly- acclaimed courses on photography at the Human Rights Center and worked closely with Faculty Director Eric Stover on books and articles about war crimes. • The Payson Center for International Development at Tulane University was our key partner in estab- lishing the Initiative for Vulnerable Populations and facilitating collaborative work with Phuong Pham and Patrick Vinck, now with the Human Rights Center. Human Rights Center staff, from left: Phuong Pham, Patrick • The UC Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center, Vink, Eric Stover and Camille Crittenden. directed by David Cohen,
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