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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH --- ---- On June 28, Serbian authorities transferred Slobodan Milosevic, the
former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to The Hague to
stand trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia. ---- On July 3, 2001, Uzbek human rights defender Ismail Adylov was released
from prison after serving two years of a six-year sentence for
anti-state activities. His case was featured in our March 2000 report,
"Leaving No Witnesses: Uzbekistan's Campaign against Rights Defenders."
Our advocacy efforts on Uzbekistan during the past two years focused
heavily on Adylov's case and that of his colleague, Mahbuba Kosymova,
who was released in December 2000. The release of both activists was due
primarily to pressure from the U.S. State Department and Department of
Defense following an intense push by Human Rights Watch to convince them
to insist on the release of the defenders as a precondition for
Uzbekistan's certification under the Cooperative Threat Reduction
program. ---- In December 2000, Human Rights Watch released a memorandum to the
government of Greece on conditions of detention for migrants awaiting
deportation in the Alexandras Avenue detention center in Athens. Based
primarily on an article in the Greek daily Ta Nea detailing our findings
and submissions to the U.N., the Athens public prosecutor initiated an
investigation into conditions for foreigners in the Alexandras center to
determine whether the Greek police should be charged for the abusive
treatment. The journalist who wrote the Ta Nea article and her editor
have both testified in the investigation and have credited Human Rights
Watch's reporting. ----- On June 15, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 379-0 to condemn
Beijing's continued detention of Chinese-born academics who are U.S.
citizens or residents and called for their immediate release. The
measure also called on President Bush to appoint a personal, special
envoy to go to Beijing to intervene on these cases at the highest levels
-- one of HRW's key recommendations. HRW has been meeting with White
House staff and members of Congress to persuade the Bush administration
to apply pressure on China. The Washington director of HRW's Asia
division, Mike Jendrzejczyk, testified at a House hearing on the
detention of the China scholars which was broadcast on C-SPAN and
covered prominently in the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. The issue
came up again at a June 27 Senate confirmation hearing on the new US
ambassador to China. On July 3, MSNBC reported that China was "setting
the stage for the release of [the] scholars. But the move to free the
scholars will come after full-scale court proceedings that will likely
find them guilty as charged." ----- Conducting research on the death penalty in Oklahoma, HRW learned that an Oklahoma hospital was supplying the drugs for lethal injections in the state. After we sent a letter to the hospital, the current management, which was unaware of the sales, decided that it was unethical to assist the executions and informed the Oklahoma Department of Corrections that it would no longer supply the drugs. On June 4, 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Johnny Paul Penry, ruling that the jurors had received constitutionally flawed instructions about how to take his mental retardation into account. This was the second time the court set aside Penry's death sentence because of inadequate jury instructions. In the first case, in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution permitted the execution of mentally retarded offenders, but required jurors to be able to give full consideration of retardation as a mitigating factor. An op-ed on the Penry case by HRW associate counsel Jamie Fellner was published in the November 9, 2000 issue of the Chicago Tribune. A letter to then Governor Bush requesting clemency for Penry was sent on November 13, 2000. These and HRW's March 2001 report on the death penalty and offenders with mental retardation can be found online at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/deathpenalty ----- CONFLICT IN MACEDONIA From May 17 to June 7, HRW researchers Peter Bouckaert and Fred Abrahams conducted an emergency investigation into violations of international humanitarian law in the Macedonian conflict. Returning from the field, they visited Washington to brief U.S. administration and congressional officials on their findings. HRW press releases on the situation and streaming audio excerpts of interviews with the researchers can be found online at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/macedonia COLOMBIA: DIARY OF A HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INVESTIGATION Photos and excerpts from HRW researcher Robin Kirk's field diary describe the terrible human cost of the conflict in Colombia and the Colombian government's failure to break the link between the Colombia military and the paramilitary. Read it online at http://www.hrw.org/americas/colombia/diary HRW AT MOBY'S AREA:ONE Recording artist Moby has invited Human Rights Watch to participate in his Area:One music festival which is touring the U.S. this summer. In addition to Moby, who will be making his only concert appearances of the year, the lineup of artists includes Outkast, Incubus, New Order, Nelly Furtado, Paul Oakenfold, The Orb, Carl Cox, The Roots, and Rinocerose. Human Rights Watch will be staffing a tent at selected dates featuring actions for young people and information about our work. Concert dates, venues, and ticket information can be found at http://www.hrw.org/community/moby.htm -------- Indonesia's crackdown on the Papuan independence movement is diminishing
prospects for peace. A broad civilian independence movement has emerged
alongside a decades-old armed insurgency in Indonesia's easternmost
province. Indonesian security forces increasingly have responded with
force, imprisoning civilian leaders and terrorizing villagers. The
result is more violence. The government of Kenya is failing to care for millions of children who
have been orphaned by AIDS or whose family members suffer from the
disease. Released on the eve on the U.N. conference on AIDS, "In the
Shadow of Death: HIV/AIDS and Children's Rights in Kenya" focuses on
Kenya as an illustrative case of a phenomenon that affects much of
Africa. The government of Kenya has moved aggressively in recent weeks
to address HIV/AIDS through better access to drugs and condoms, but has
done little to protect the human rights of children orphaned by the
epidemic. On June 12 the international Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers released the "Global Report on Child Soldiers 2001," the most comprehensive study to date of the use of child soldiers. The report provides new details on military recruitment by government armed forces, civil militia, paramilitaries, and non-state armed groups in 180 countries. More than half a million children are recruited into government forces and armed groups in more than 87 countries. At least 300,000 of these children are actively fighting in 41 countries. HRW is a member of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and Jo Becker, children's rights advocacy director for HRW, is its chairperson. Read the report online at http://www.child-soldiers.org On June 11, HRW released "Uprooting the Rural Poor in Rwanda" which
details how the government of Rwanda's resettlement policy violates the
rights of tens of thousands of its citizens by forcing them into
government-created villages. "Stifling Dissent: the Human Rights Consequences of Inter-Factional
Struggle in Iran" traces the conservative backlash that followed the
reformers' landslide victory in the February 2000 parliamentary
elections and calls for fundamental changes to bring Iran's policies and
practices in conformity with its obligations under international law.
The report was featured prominently on the BBC's Farsi Web site. -------- Your contribution to Human Rights Watch will allow us to continue to investigate human rights abuses in more than 70 countries and to generate pressure to end them. HRW does not accept financial support from any government or government agency. Every investigation we undertake, every advocacy campaign we embark on, and every report we produce is funded solely by generous contributions from private individuals and foundations. To find out more about membership, or to make a donation online, by phone or postal mail visit http://www.hrw.org/donations/ |
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