World Report 2009 Book
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WORLD REPORT 2009 EVENTS OF 2008 Copyright © 2009 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN-13: 978-1-58322-858-6 Front cover photo: A young man enters South Africa on the Zimbabwe-South Africa border. © 2007 Dirk-Jan Visser Cover and book design by Rafael Jiménez Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor Avenue des Gaulois, 7 New York, NY 10118-3299 USA 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +1 212 290 4700 Tel: + 32 (2) 732 2009 Fax: +1 212 736 1300 Fax: + 32 (2) 732 0471 [email protected] [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., 64-66 Rue de Lausanne Suite 500 1201 Geneva, Switzerland Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel: +41 22 738 0481 Tel: +1 202 612 4321 Fax: +41 22 738 1791 Fax: +1 202 612 4333 [email protected] [email protected] Poststraße 4-5 2-12 Pentonville Road, 2nd Floor 10178 Berlin, Germany London N1 9HF, UK Tel: +49 30 2593 06-10 Tel: +44 20 7713 1995 Fax: +49 30 2593 0629 Fax: +44 20 7713 1800 [email protected] [email protected] 27 Rue de Lisbonne 75008 Paris, France Tel: +33 (0) 1 43 59 55 35 Fax: +33 (0) 1 43 59 55 22 [email protected] www.hrw.org Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all. WORLD REPORT 2009 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world. Human Rights Watch began in 1978 with the founding of its Europe and Central Asia division (then known as Helsinki Watch). Today, it also includes divisions covering Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa; a United States program; thematic divisions or programs on arms, business and human rights, children’s rights, HIV/AIDS and human rights, international justice, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, refugees, terrorism/counterterrorism, and women’s rights; and an emergencies program. It maintains offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto, and Washington DC, and field presences in around a dozen more locations globally. Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH The staff includes Kenneth Roth, Executive Director; Michele Alexander, Development and Outreach Director; Clive Baldwin, Senior Legal Advisor; Carroll Bogert, Associate Director; Emma Daly, Communications Director; Ian Gorvin, Senior Program Officer; Barbara Guglielmo, Finance and Administration Director; Peggy Hicks, Global Advocacy Director; Iain Levine, Program Director; Andrew Mawson, Deputy Program Director; Suzanne Nossel, Chief Operating Officer; Dinah PoKempner, General Counsel; Aisling Reidy, Senior Legal Advisor; James Ross, Legal and Policy Director; Joseph Saunders, Deputy Program Director; and Minky Worden, Media Director. The division directors of Human Rights Watch are Brad Adams, Asia; Joseph Amon, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights; John Biaggi, International Film Festival; Peter Bouckaert, Emergencies; Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia; Richard Dicker, International Justice; David Fathi, United States; Bill Frelick, Refugees; Georgette Gagnon, Africa; Arvind Ganesan, Business and Human Rights; Liesl Gerntholtz, Women’s Rights; Steve Goose, Arms; Scott Long, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights; Joanne Mariner, Terrorism/Counterterrorism; José Miguel Vivanco, Americas; Lois Whitman, Children’s Rights; and Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa. The advocacy directors of Human Rights Watch are Steve Crawshaw, United Nations– New York; Juliette De Rivero, United Nations—Geneva; Jean-Marie Fardeau, Paris; Marianne Heuwagen, Berlin; Lotte Leicht, European Union; Tom Porteous, London; and Tom Malinowski, Washington DC. The members of the board of directors are Jane Olson, Chair, Bruce J. Klatsky, Vice Chair, Sid Sheinberg, Vice Chair, John J. Studzinski, Vice Chair, Louise Arbour, Lloyd Axworthy, Jorge Castañeda, Geoffrey Cowan, Tony Elliott, Hassan Elmasry, Michael G. Fisch, Michael E. Gellert, Richard J. Goldstone, James F. Hoge, Jr., Wendy Keys, Robert Kissane, Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Susan Manilow, Kati Marton, Linda Mason, Barry Meyer, Pat Mitchell, Joel Motley, Catherine Powell, Sigrid Rausing, Victoria Riskin, Shelley Rubin, Kevin P. Ryan, Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber, Darian W. Swig, John R. Taylor, Shibley Telhami, Catherine Zennström. Emeritus board members are Robert L. Bernstein, Founding Chair, 1979-1997, Jonathan F. Fanton, Chair, 1998-2003, Lisa Anderson, David M. Brown, William D. Carmichael, Dorothy Cullman, Adrian W. DeWind, Edith Everett, Vartan Gregorian, Alice H. Henkin, Stephen L. Kass, Marina Pinto Kaufman, Josh Mailman, Samuel K. Murumba, Peter Osnos, Kathleen Peratis, Bruce Rabb, Orville Schell, Gary Sick, and Malcolm B. Smith. WORLD REPORT 2009 Acknowledgments A compilation of this magnitude requires contribution from a large number of people, including most of the Human Rights Watch staff. The contributors were: Fred Abrahams, Pema Abrahams, Brad Adams, Paola Adriazola, Chris Albin-Lackey, Susie Alegre, Henrik Alffram, Nada Ali, Joseph Amon, Leeam Azulay-Yagev, Laurie Ball, Nadia Barhoum, Clarisa Bencomo, Andrea Berg, Helene Blary, Jackie Bornstein, Sebastian Brett, Selena Brewer, Cynthia Brown, Jane Buchanan, David Buchbinder, Maria Burnett, Elizabeth Calvin, Juliana Cano Nieto, Holly Cartner, Haleh Chahrokh, Grace Choi, Jonathan Cohen, Sara Colm, Tanya Cooper, Steve Crawshaw, Kiran D’Amico, Sara Darehshori, Jennifer Daskal, Juliette De Rivero, Farida Deif, Fernando Delgado, Rachel Denber, Alison Des Forges, Thodleen Dessources, Richard Dicker, Corinne Dufka, Andrej Dynko, Dahlia El Zein, Elizabeth Evenson, Jean-Marie Fardeau, Alice Farmer, David Fathi, Jamie Fellner, Conor Fortune, Bill Frelick, Chloë Fussell, Georgette Gagnon, Arvind Ganesan, Meenakshi Ganguly, Liesl Gerntholtz, Neela Ghoshal, Brent Giannotta, Thomas Gilchrist, Allison Gill, Sebastian Gillioz, Giorgi Gogia, Eric Goldstein, Veronika Szente Goldston, Steve Goose, Ian Gorvin, Brian Griffey, Eric Guttschuss, Julia Hall, Ali Hasan Dayan, Leslie Haskell, Angela Heimburger, Jehanne Henry, Marianne Heuwagen, Peggy Hicks, Nadim Houry, Claire Ivers, Pamela Jao, Rafael Jiménez, Tiseke Kasambala, Elise Keppler, Carolyn Kindelan, Juliane Kippenberg, Kennji Kizuka, Sonya Kleshik, Kathryn Koonce, Charu Lata Hogg, Leslie Lefkow, Lotte Leicht, Iain Levine, Maria Lisitsyna, Joseph Logan, Tanya Lokshina, Scott Long, Anna Lopriore, Tom Malinowski, Joanne Mariner, Abigail Marshak, Sarah Mathewson, David Mathieson, Veronica Matushaj, Andrew Mawson, Maria McFarland, Megan McLemore, Omid Memarian, Rikky Minyuku, Lisa Misol, Marianne Møllmann, Ashoka Mukpo, Jim Murphy, Zama Coursen Neff, Stephanie Neider, Carolyn Norris, Alison Parker, Elaine Pearson, Sasha Petrov, Sunai Phasuk, Carol Pier, Tom Porteous, McKenzie Price, Mia Psorn, Ayla Qadeer, Ben Rawlence, Meg Reber, Emina Redzic, Rachel Reid, Aisling Reidy, Meghan Rhoad, Sophie Richardson, Lisa Rimli, James Ross, Kenneth Roth, Joe Saunders, Ida Sawyer, Matthew Schaaf, Rebecca Schleifer, Kay Seok, Jeffrey Severson, Kavita Shah, Bede Sheppard, Emma Sinclair-Webb, Param-Preet Singh, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Ole Solvang, Alexandra South, Mickey Spiegel, Nik Steinberg, Joe Stork, Rania Suidan, Stacy Sullivan, Jude Sunderland, Tamara Taraciuk, Sarah Tofte, Geoff Traugh, Simone Troller, Wanda Troszczynska-van Genderen, Bill Van Esveld, Anneke Van Woudenberg, Nisha Varia, Jose Miguel Vivanco, Igor Vorontsov, Benjamin Ward, Lois Whitman, Sarah Leah Whitson, Christoph Wilcke, Daniel Wilkinson, Nicholas Wood, Kreshnik Zhega, Iwona Zielinska. Ian Gorvin edited the report with assistance from Iain Levine, Andrew Mawson, and Joe Saunders. Dahlia El Zein coordinated the editing process. Layout and production were coordinated by Grace Choi and Rafael Jiménez, with assistance from Anna Lopriore, Veronica Matushaj, and Jim Murphy. Leeam Azulay-Yagev, Jonathan Cohen, Dahlia El Zein, Conor Fortune, Chloë Fussell, Thomas Gilchrist, Brian Griffey, Carolyn Kindelan, Kennji Kizuka, Kathryn Koonce, Mignon Lamia, Abigail Marshak, Ashoka Mukpo, Stephanie Neider, McKenzie Price, and Alexandra South proofread the report. For a full list of Human Rights Watch staff, please go to our website: www.hrw.org/about/info/staff.html. WORLD REPORT 2009 Table of Contents Taking Back the Initiative from the Human Rights Spoilers 1 by Kenneth Roth Africa 33