August/September 2006
U.S./Israel/Lebanon: HRW Helps Block Cluster Munitions Transfer
After Human Rights Watch issued a press release on Israel's use of cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon and sent a letter to the U.S. National Security Advisor, the U.S. State Department blocked the transfer to Israel of 1,300 artillery rockets containing more than 800,000 cluster bomblets. Less than two weeks later, the State Department also announced it would launch an investigation into whether Israel had inappropriately used U.S.-made cluster munitions in Lebanon. Most recently, following a U.N. assessment of bombed areas in Lebanon, the United Nation's top humanitarian official denounced Israel's increased use of cluster bombs in the last 72 hours of the conflict as "completely immoral." Human Rights Watch was the first organization to break the story of Israel's cluster munitions attacks in populated areas—offering evidence and eyewitness accounts of a strike on a Lebanese village that killed one and wounded at least twelve civilians, including seven children. As Human Rights Watch has demonstrated in dozens of reports over the years, cluster munitions pose a serious risk to civilians. In addition to being an indiscriminate weapon, their high failure rate results in large numbers of explosive duds that injure and kill civilians long after an attack is over. We will continue our strong advocacy against the use of indiscriminate weapons like cluster munitions in the Middle East and around the world. Read More.
Russia: Top Rights Court Holds Russia Responsible for "Disappearance"
In a landmark decision, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia was responsible for the "disappearance" and subsequent killing of a Chechen man in February 2000. Human Rights Watch first documented the case in mid-2000 and has since repeatedly brought it to the attention of the authorities. In 2001, together with a British barrister, we helped the victim's mother bring a claim to the European Court of Human Rights, which in July ruled unanimously in her favor. Although there are more than two hundred cases from Chechnya pending before the court, the majority of which concern "disappearances," this is the court's first ever ruling on a Chechen "disappearance." Enforced disappearances have been the hallmark abuse of the conflict in Chechnya, with an estimated three to five thousand people disappeared over the last seven years at the hands of Russian or pro-Moscow Chechen troops. Over the course of the conflict, Human Rights Watch has documented hundreds of enforced disappearances and characterized them as crimes against humanity under international law. Going forward, we will use the court's ruling to press the Russian government and the international community to take effective steps to stop enforced disappearances and bring perpetrators to justice.
Read More.
Afghanistan: UNICEF and Education Ministry Launch Needed Protections for Schools
Just weeks after Human Rights Watch released a report on ongoing attacks on education in Afghanistan, UNICEF issued a strong statement condemning the attacks and, along with the Afghan Ministry of Education and others, set up a task force to increase protection for Afghan teachers, students, and schools and to respond rapidly to incidents of violence. The task force's mandate includes many of our report's key recommendations, including improved monitoring of attacks, support for community mobilization, and rebuilding of damaged infrastructure. Human Rights Watch's report is based on research from several field missions to Afghanistan, where we found that escalating attacks by the Taliban and other armed groups were shutting down schools and depriving yet another Afghan generation of an education. Schools for girls have been hit particularly hard, threatening to undo advances in girls' education since the Taliban's ouster in 2001. On August 8, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Education condemned the attacks and issued an appeal that they be stopped. Human Rights Watch will continue to engage with the press to raise international awareness of our findings and recommendations. We will also conduct advocacy with the Afghan and U.S. governments, NATO, and other relevant international organizations to urge better protection for the welfare and security of ordinary Afghans. Read More.
Putin Stifles NGOs in Russia
In the International Herald Tribune, Associate Director Carroll Bogert describes her meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticizes his administration's recent crackdown on civil society.
Israeli Attacks on Civilians Unlawful
Writing in the Jerusalem Post, Executive Director Kenneth Roth answers questions about Israeli bombing in populated areas of Lebanon.
Four-Year Ceasefire Collapses in Sri LankaAsia Division Researcher Meenakshi Ganguly speaks out in the
New Statesman against escalating violence between the Tamil Tigers and government forces, arguing that these recent hostilities threaten the return of the civil war that plagued the country for twenty years.
International Community Must Intervene in Darfur
In the Moscow Times, Africa Division Deputy Director Georgette Gagnon calls on the international community to support strong measures by the Security Council against Sudan, such as tougher and broader sanctions and an expanded arms embargo, if the government continues to block the deployment of a U.N. force.
U.S. Government Moves to Legalize Detainee AbuseTerrorism and Counter-Terrorism Program Senior Researcher John Sifton, writing in
Slate, denounces the Bush Administration's efforts to pass legislation to immunize government personnel for abuses—many of which it authorized itself—against detainees at Guantanamo, in Afghanistan, and in Iraq.
