January/February 2007
Iraq: Increased UN Aid for Refugees
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on January 8 that it would double the amount of aid it will request in 2007 for Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons. In November Human Rights Watch released a major report highlighting abuses against Iraqi refugees, focusing on Jordan where they are regarded as illegal immigrants and face the daily threat of arrest, fines, and deportation. Our report brought this previously ignored issue to the fore, catapulting the plight of the Iraqi refugee population to the top of the agenda during President Bush's visit to Jordan's capital in late November. The subsequent wave of international attention paved the way for the UNHCR's recent appeal to increase aid to displaced Iraqis, to recognize them as refugees, and to call for an international conference on Iraqi displacement. The US Senate also held a hearing during which Bush Administration officials were admonished to provide more support for Iraqi refugees. Most recently, the Jordanian government issued a statement publicly supporting the proposed international conference and promising to conduct its own assessment of Iraqi refugees in Jordan. Read More.
US/Liberia: Chuckie Taylor Indicted for Torture
On December 6 the US Department of Justice took a major step in bringing its first-ever criminal charges for torture committed outside the United States against Charles "Chuckie" Taylor, Jr. The son of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor and a Boston-born US citizen, Chuckie Taylor is implicated in abuses committed while he served as the commander of an elite pro-government military unit in Liberia. After Taylor was taken into US custody when he tried to enter Miami in March, Human Rights Watch pressed for him to be investigated under never-before-applied US federal laws that make it a crime to commit torture and war crimes abroad. We also submitted a memorandum to the Department of Justice detailing Taylor's serious crimes. Chuckie Taylor's unit is alleged to have committed torture, including various violent assaults, beating people to death, rape, and burning civilians alive. These first-ever charges for torture committed abroad are a crucial first step by the US government to ensure long-awaited justice for the victims of Taylor's crimes. Read More.
Norway: Movement Toward International Cluster Munitions Ban
On February 22-23 the government of Norway and some three dozen other governments—as well as Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental organizations—will launch a process aimed at developing an international treaty prohibiting the use of cluster munitions, an indiscriminate weapon that causes harm to civilians. In 1999 Human Rights Watch was the first NGO to call for a moratorium on the use of cluster munitions and in 2003 we helped found the Cluster Munition Coalition. Human Rights Watch's research and advocacy, and its leadership role among NGOs, is widely credited as having been vital to the progress made on this issue thus far. Most recently, we drew attention to the transfer of cluster munitions from the United States to Israel and influenced US policy on future transfers. We were also the first to document Hezbollah's use of cluster munitions in Northern Israel. The forthcoming Norwegian initiative represents a watershed moment in the development of a new and critical international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions.
Read More.
Sudan: Bid for AU Presidency Rejected
For the past two years, Human Rights Watch has advocated to block Sudan's ascension to the African Union (AU) presidency. On January 29 Sudan withdrew its bid for the presidency, despite being slated to occupy the post after being passed over for it last year. Ghana was instead named to the chairmanship. In advance of January's AU summit, Human Rights Watch joined a number of governments and a host of NGOs in calling on AU members to reject Sudan's bid to lead the AU on the grounds that Khartoum has continued to engage in attacks on civilians, support abusive militias, and allow impunity for war crimes in Darfur. Sudan had previously vied for the AU presidency the year before, but was rejected following similar protests from Human Rights Watch and others. Sudan's failure to secure the chairmanship yet again reflects the international community's growing insistence that Khartoum take action to end the crisis in Darfur. Such pressure needs to yield concrete results, including a bolstered international peacekeeping force in the region, targeted sanctions against key Sudanese leaders, and ultimately, improved protections for the vulnerable civilian population. Read More.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Arrests in Case Raised by Human Rights Watch
After Human Rights Watch issued a statement on the abduction and "disappearance" of civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN launched an investigation that unearthed a mass grave with the bodies of more than 30 victims and subsequently arrested 14 soldiers in connection with the killings. In conjunction with Justice Plus, a Congolese human rights organization, Human Rights Watch worked to raise the profile of this atrocity through our press release and direct advocacy with UN representatives and senior officials in the Congolese army. Our efforts together with colleagues helped expose the truth of the massacre and led to arrests, which remain lamentably rare in the long history of abuses committed in Congo by the army and rebel groups alike. Together with Justice Plus we will now follow the case, which came to court in late December 2006, pressing for justice for the victims and their families.
Read More.
EU Needs Stronger Stance on Human Rights
Executive Director Kenneth Roth, writing in The Financial Times, exposes the European Union's failure to live up to its potential to act as a strong voice for human rights in Europe and worldwide. This criticism was also the central argument of Roth's introduction to Human Rights Watch's 2007 World Report.
New UN Secretary-General Must Prioritize Human Rights
In the International Herald Tribune, UN Advocacy Director Steve Crawshaw calls on Ban Ki-moon in his new post as UN Secretary-General to take concrete action against global human rights abuses in Darfur, Congo, and with the Human Rights Council.
Japan Must Translate Rhetoric into ActionSophie Richardson, Asia Division deputy director, argues in the
Japan Times that despite recently stated commitments to human rights, the Japanese government can and must do more to promote human rights in countries including North Korea, Burma, Uzbekistan, and Japan itself.
Hussein Trial Deeply Flawed
In the Guardian, Richard Dicker, International Justice Program director, critiques the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein and two other former Iraqi officials, maintaining that serious flaws in the process rendered the verdict unsound.
Broken Ceasefire in Sri Lanka
Senior Legal Advisor James Ross describes in Foreign Policy in Focus how renewed hostilities between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have spawned humanitarian crises in many areas of Sri Lanka.
Prospects for Reform in Cuba
Americas Division Director José Miguel Vivanco, writing in The Financial Times, urges the United States and other governments in the region to take the lead in pressing Cuba to implement political reforms following Castro's imminent death.
