HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
MONTHLY EMAIL UPDATE
February 2002

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IN THIS ISSUE:
> Human Rights Watch World Report 2002: Anti-Terror Campaign Cloaking Human Rights Abuse
> Guantanamo: HRW Spearheads Campaign to Respect Geneva Conventions
> Fighting Torture in Uzbekistan
> The Enron Corporation and Human Rights
> Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
> Receive HRW Information by Postal Mail
> Become a Member or Make a Contribution
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WORLD REPORT 2002: ANTI-TERROR CAMPAIGN CLOAKING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE

On January 16, Human Rights Watch released its World Report 2002. The 670-page report includes summaries of human rights events in 2001 in 66 countries as well as analyses of U.S. and European foreign policy, refugee issues, international justice, corporate social responsibility, and the weapons trade.
     The report describes how the anti-terror campaign led by the United States is inspiring opportunistic attacks on civil liberties around the world. At the same time, the campaign offers a chance to focus attention on the denial of human rights and democracy in the Middle East and Central Asia, where authoritarian governments have left millions of people with a choice between extremist politics and no politics. Many of these authoritarian governments cling to power without challenge from Western governments.
     HRW released the report with media events in Washington, London, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, and at the United Nations in New York. Worldwide coverage included articles in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Al Hayat, El Pais, El Mundo, La Reforma, El Mercurio, the Guardian, and a feature on the front page of the BBC Web site.

Read the report online at http://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/
Order the report online at http://store.yahoo.com/hrwpubs/worrep19.html

Sections of the report are also available in the following languages:
Arabic - http://www.hrw.org/arabic/mena/wr2002/index.htm
Español - http://www.hrw.org/spanish/inf_anual/2002/index.html
Français - http://www.hrw.org/french/reports/wr2k2/
Português - http://www.hrw.org/portuguese/reports/misc/brasil.html

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GUANTANAMO: HRW SPEARHEADS CAMPAIGN TO RESPECT GENEVA CONVENTIONS

On January 11, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared that captured Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters shipped to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba were "unlawful combatants" not entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions, the laws governing the rights of persons captured during armed conflict. In a letter to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, in op-eds and in extensive television, radio, and newspaper interviews around the world, Human Rights Watch noted that the Geneva Conventions dictate that all captured fighters, including "unlawful combatants," are entitled to humane treatment, including basic shelter, clothing, food and medical attention. Moreover, in case of doubt about their legal status, a competent tribunal -- not the Secretary of Defense -- must determine case by case which detainees should be considered prisoners of war. Until such a determination, the prisoners are to be accorded the rights of POWs. While Human Rights Watch believes that al-Qaeda fighter probably do not qualify for POW status, Taliban fighters probably do. Of greatest significance, POWs would be exempt from the "military commissions" proposed by President Bush, although they still could be interrogated and prosecuted in court-martial.
     Responding to the criticism, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell asked President Bush to declare that the United States is bound by the Geneva Conventions, sparking a major debate within the U.S. administration.

Find out more at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11/

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FIGHTING TORTURE IN UZBEKISTAN

On January 30, a court in Tashkent, Uzbekistan sentenced four Uzbek police officers to 20 years of imprisonment for torturing a man to death in detention. The victim, 32-year old Ravshan Haitov, died from torture just hours after police took him into custody on October 17, 2001 for alleged membership in the banned Muslim group, Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation). Authorities returned his bruised and battered corpse to his family the next day. The official cause of death was then given as a heart attack.
     In a December 2000 report on torture in Uzbekistan, Human Rights Watch documented seven deaths in custody as a result of torture. The report called on the government to institute judicial review of detentions, in order to protect detainees during their first days in custody, when they are in gravest danger of police abuse. It also called for all detainees to have unimpeded access to attorneys during the investigation and trial periods, and for courts to reject coerced testimony.
     Human Rights Watch had publicized the circumstances of Haitov's death and called for the officers involved to be held accountable. "Finally, police in Uzbekistan have been held accountable for a case of torture and death in detention," said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "Torture is a systemic problem in Uzbekistan. It should not take a death in custody to stir Uzbek courts to action. Had he been brought before a judge and given access to a lawyer, Ravshan Haitov's life might have been saved."

Read the report online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/uzbek/
Find out more about Uzbekistan at http://www.hrw.org/europe/uzbekistan.php

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THE ENRON CORPORATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS

The failure of the Enron Corporation, and its connections with U.S. government officials, has once again turned attention to the human rights abuses that plagued the Corporation's Dabhol power plant in India from 1992 to 1998. Human Rights Watch's 1999 report, "The Enron Corporation: Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Violations," documented how Enron subsidiaries paid local law enforcement officers to suppress opposition to its power plant south of Bombay. Contractors for the Dabhol Power Corporation harassed and attacked individuals opposed to the power plant. Police refused to investigate complaints and even assaulted, beat, and arrested the victims.
     Despite the reports of violence, the U.S. government, which made loan guarantees of more than $290 million to the project, had "no objection to this case on political grounds or on the basis of human rights issues."

Find out more at http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/01/enron_012302.htm
Read the report at http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/enron/

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STOP THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS

On February 12, 2002 a new international treaty banning the use of child soldiers will become reality. This treaty - the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict - prohibits the military recruitment and conscription of children under the age of eighteen, as well as their participation in armed conflict. Currently, an estimated 300,000 children under the age of eighteen are fighting in conflicts in about 40 countries around the world. Ninety-three countries have signed the protocol, and fourteen have ratified it.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

February 5-12 is National Call-In Week on Child Soldiers. The Bush administration and virtually all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee support the treaty. However, although the United States has signed the treaty, it has not yet ratified it. Help ensure that the Senate does not delay any longer. If you live in the United States, please contact your Senators and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today. Tell them not to wait any longer to ratify the Optional Protocol. For more information and contact details, please visit http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/callin.htm

If you are in the Washington DC area, please join us on February 12 from noon to 1 p.m. at the Capitol Hill Steps (east side) for a special event to push for U.S. ratification of the Child Soldiers Protocol. The event will coincide with similar events in at least twenty different countries around the world. Senators Biden, Boxer, Frist and Wellstone, as well as a representatives of the Bush administration, have been invited to make brief remarks.

If you live outside of the United States, you can help by encouraging your government ministers to ratify the Optional Protocol. You can also check out our list of priority countries that we particularly want to press to ratify. Please contact as many of them as you can. For contact details and background on these priority countries, visit http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/action/
en Français - http://www.hrw.org/french/campaigns/childsoldiers/childsoldiers.htm

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RECEIVE HRW INFORMATION BY POSTAL MAIL

If you would like to receive information about donating to Human Rights Watch by postal mail, please visit our new online form at http://www.hrw.org/donations//reqform.asp. Complete this form with your name and address and we will mail you an information package. Please allow 4-5 weeks for processing and delivery. You can also download a printable form from our Web site at http://www.hrw.org/donations//printable_form.htm. Print out this page and mail it with your gift to any of the addresses listed.

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BECOME A MEMBER OR MAKE A CONTRIBUTION

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