April 2007

• Thailand: Authorities Launch Inquiry into “Disappearances”
  
• United Arab Emirates: Government Implements Human Rights Watch Recommendations
  
• Yogyakarta Principles Advance LGBT Rights
  
• Bahrain: Jailed Activists Freed Following Human Rights Watch Objections
  

In response to Human Rights Watch’s report on enforced disappearances in Thailand, Assistant National Police Chief Lt.Gen. Adul Saengsingkaew announced on March 20 that the Royal Thai Police had set up an inquiry into the “disappearances” we documented. On March 21, Prime Minister Gen. Surayud Chulanont confirmed government support for a parallel investigation by the Justice Ministry’s Department of Special Investigation. On March 22, the National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC) took long-awaited steps toward pressing charges against a senior police officer implicated in torture and “disappearance” cases documented by Human Rights Watch. And on March 23 the Royal Thai Police transferred two senior officers suspected of involvement in the abduction and “disappearance” of a prominent human rights lawyer, whose case we had also documented, to inactive posts. Encouraged by these groundbreaking steps, Human Rights Watch will continue to publicize the findings of our report and press the Thai government and the international community to take further action to end the culture of impunity surrounding “disappearances” in Thailand. Read more

In the months following Human Rights Watch’s groundbreaking report on abuses against migrant workers in the UAE, the government has made significant progress toward its stated commitment to reform, instituting a new labor law, requiring employers to pay for workers’ health care and recruiting fees, and adding 2,000 inspectors to improve work site monitoring. These changes follow many of the recommendations from our report. Over the last year, Human Rights Watch has spoken out against routine human rights violations in the UAE’s migrant labor-dominated construction industry, drawing international attention to the issue and making it impossible for the government to continue to turn a blind eye to the workers’ plight. Just last month, after we published a new report critiquing the recently-released draft labor law, the government responded with a statement committing to additional reforms including a ban on recruiting agencies that charge fees and a minimum wage requirement for construction workers. Read more

The “Yogyakarta Principles”—a set of comprehensive guidelines on sexual orientation, gender identity, and human rights—were launched at the end of last month, signaling a landmark advance in the struggle for basic rights as well as gender equality. Human Rights Watch was part of a secretariat supporting the work of the 29 international experts who developed the principles. The resulting document, named after the city in Indonesia where it was adopted, sets legal standards for how governments and other actors should end violence, abuse, and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The launch of the Principles represents an opportunity to spark awareness of abuses against LGBT people, frame the widening debate over those abuses in terms of human rights, and press governments and international organizations to encode basic protections in law and policy. Read more.

After Human Rights Watch and local organizations denounced the detention of two political activists in Bahrain, Mohamed Sa`id al-Sahlawi and Husain `Abd al-`Aziz al-Hibshi were freed and granted a royal pardon on February 25, 2007. The men had been arrested, tried, and sentenced to prison terms by a Lower Criminal Court for possessing leaflets calling for peaceful political change, despite protections of free expression in the Bahraini constitution. Human Rights Watch has pressed the Bahraini government on numerous occasions to end the persistent harassment of human rights advocates. We continue to advocate on behalf of Bahraini activists and grassroots organizations in the hope that they may one day operate without fear of government retaliation. Read more

“War” Rhetoric Justifies Terrorism
Washington Advocacy Director Tom Malinowski argues in The Washington Post that Bush’s decision to apply the rhetoric of “war” and “enemy combatants” to terrorism has made it possible for terrorists to view themselves as soldiers rather than criminals.

Freedom of Speech Threatened in Russia
In The Guardian, Moscow Office Director Alison Gill highlights increasing attacks on journalists and attempts to muffle free speech in Russia, including the recent suspicious death of a news correspondent who fell from a window in his apartment.

Sri Lanka Needs UN Mission
In The Daily Mirror, Senior Legal Advisor James Ross debunks objections to the establishment of an international human rights monitoring mission in Sri Lanka, contending that it would in fact help reverse the deterioration in the human rights situation.

Political Witch Hunt in Nigeria
Nigeria consultant Ben Rawlence and Nigeria researcher Chris Albin-Lackey, writing in The Guardian, criticize the Nigerian presidency for threatening the legitimacy of this month’s national elections by appearing to use corruption allegations selectively to disqualify political opponents.

Prisons Shouldn’t be Mental Wards
In The Boston Herald, US Program Director Jamie Fellner denounces the states that still allow mentally-ill prisoners to be put in solitary confinement and argues for alternatives to their being incarcerated at all.

EU Should Condemn Syrian Abuses
In The Guardian Unlimited, Syria/Lebanon researcher Nadim Houry called on EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in advance of his meeting Syrian President al-Assad not to focus only on regional issues, but to also raise Syria’s deplorable human rights record.

North Korean Crackdown on Border Crossing
North Korea researcher Kay Seok, writing in The Washington Post, exposes North Korea’s harsh treatment of its citizens who cross the border to China to find food or earn money to feed their families