June 2006
Colombia: Improved Demobilization Law Holds Paramilitaries Accountable
In a landmark decision, the Constitutional Court of Colombia overturned the worst provisions of a demobilization law that granted grossly reduced sentences to paramilitary groups responsible for human rights atrocities, without even requiring them to confess their crimes. During the debate over the law's drafting, as well as after its passage in July 2005, Human Rights Watch spoke out against the serious problems in the law and the demobilization process. The Court's recent decision, as per our recommendations, will require paramilitaries to admit their crimes and pay real reparations to their victims in order to receive reduced sentences.
Abuses by guerrillas and paramilitary groups in Colombia's forty-year internal armed conflict have forced millions of civilians to flee their homes. Despite the supposed demobilization of over 30,000 paramilitary troops, these groups continue to recruit new members and regularly commit serious abuses, funding their activities largely through drug trafficking. Human Rights Watch will continue to press the Colombian government, as well as its international donors—including the United States—to aggressively implement the demobilization law, in full compliance with the Constitutional Court's decision.
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East Timor: Government Allows Investigation of Police Violence
Just weeks after Human Rights Watch released a report on torture and mistreatment by police in East Timor, the country's foreign minister wrote to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, inviting experts—including the U.N. special rapporteur on torture—to visit East Timor to investigate the charges of widespread human rights violations made in our report. Human Rights Watch has documented torture, arbitrary detention, and excessive force by the East Timorese police and urged the government to hold perpetrators accountable. We are one of the only organizations to call attention to this pressing issue. Although the National Police Service of East Timor (Policia Nacional de Timor-Leste, PNTL) has had full responsibility for the country's thirteen districts since January 2004, it has not had adequate training or resources to maintain law and order in a manner consistent with international human rights standards. In advance of any U.N. investigation that may result from the minister's recent letter, we will meet with U.N. representatives and East Timorese government officials to advocate for improved monitoring of police activity.
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United States: Committee against Torture Denounces U.S. Practices
The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) issued a strong critique of the United States' record on torture, which included calling for the closure of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. The Committee is the first international body to hold the Bush administration accountable for its torture record since the fight against terrorism began. Human Rights Watch provided the Committee with research and information demonstrating that, despite the U.S. government's continued claims to the contrary, it clearly engages in a number of practices that violate its CAT treaty obligations. We highlighted in particular the incommunicado detention of detainees in secret prisons, the failure to hold U.S. personnel accountable up the chain of command for abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the rendition of detainees to countries with known records of torture. Prior to and during the CAT hearings, Human Rights Watch met with Committee members to present our findings and respond to Committee members' questions. Encouraged by the Committee's firm censure of the United States, we will press the Bush administration to review the Committee's conclusions and institute its recommendations. Read More.
E.U. Stalls Justice for Charles Taylor
In European Voice, International Justice Program Counsel Elise Keppler calls on the countries of the European Union to agree to imprison former Liberian President Charles Taylor if he is convicted on war crimes charges. The Dutch government has insisted on this as a precondition for Taylor's transfer to the Hague where he will stand trial.
New Wave of Political Repression in Egypt
In the Daily Star, Sarah-Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa division director, condemns the Egyptian government for backtracking on previous measures upholding political rights and urges the global business community to criticize President Mubarak for sanctioning abuses against peaceful dissenters.
An Orwellian Aftermath to Slaughter in UzbekistanIn the
New Statesman, London Director Steve Crawshaw denounces the Uzbek government's continued efforts to conceal its responsibility for last year's slaughter of hundreds of unarmed demonstrators in Andijan and to brutally silence those who have come forward with true accounts of the massacre.
Tenuous Steps Toward Peace in Nepal
In the wake of King Gyanendra's abdication, Asia Director Brad Adams describes in Foreign Affairs new opportunities for political reform and a potential end to the decade-long civil war in Nepal.
North Korean Government Risks Famine
North Korea researcher Kay Seok reports in the International Herald Tribune on recent North Korean policy changes—including banning emergency food aid from the World Food Programme—that will exacerbate existing food shortages among the most vulnerable sectors of the population.
