December 2007
UN Creates Post to Combat Violence Against Children
After many years of sustained advocacy by Human Rights Watch and other groups, the United Nations voted on November 27 to establish a special representative to the secretary-general on violence against children. The new post is significant because it provides high-level international leadership to confront this global problem. Human Rights Watch has written extensively about violence against children, and more than 25 of our reports and other documents were cited in a groundbreaking 2006 UN report that recommended, as we did, the appointment of a special representative on the issue. We served as co-chair of a global network of NGOs that pushed the UN to take action. The network developed a petition and collected the signatures of more than 1,000 NGOs from 134 countries endorsing the special representative and other measures to help end violence against children. Going forward, we will identify possible candidates to suggest for the post and will work closely with that person once appointed. Read More.
Jordan Closes Camp for Palestinians, Iranians Fleeing Iraq
In early November, after years of Human Rights Watch investigations and advocacy, Jordan closed the Ruweishid camp, which was located in the desolate eastern reaches of Jordan and was home to several hundred Palestinian and Iranian Kurdish refugees fleeing Iraq. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) resettled the inhabitants of the camp to countries outside the region. We first exposed the poor conditions in Ruweishid in 2003. We released two reports in 2006 documenting the conditions at Ruweishid; one focused on the precarious plight of Palestinians and the other discussed the Iranian Kurds. We showed how the camp was unfit for long-term accommodation, and put pressure on UNHCR and policymakers to resettle its inhabitants to third countries. Although Ruweishid's closure is a step forward, Jordan and Syria's borders remain closed to Palestinians fleeing Iraq, more than 2,000 Palestinians are still stranded in camps near the Syrian border, and more than 13,000 Palestinians are living in Baghdad at extreme risk. A group of about 200 Iranian Kurds remains stranded in the no-man's land between Iraq and Jordan. Human Rights Watch will continue to press Iraq's neighbors and the international community to provide protection and resettlement for these vulnerable populations. Read More.
Egyptian Police Officers Sentenced to Prison for Abuse
On November 5, a Cairo court sentenced police Capt. Islam Nabih and Reda Fathi, a noncommissioned officer, to three years in prison for sexually assaulting `Imad al-Kabir, a microbus driver from the Giza neighborhood of Bulaq al-Dakrur, while he was in police custody in January 2006. Human Rights Watch documented al-Kabir's case and campaigned heavily on his behalf. Our statements resulted in increased media attention and helped create pressure to prosecute the officers. Human Rights Watch also attended the trial of the officers who tortured him. Going forward, we will continue to urge Egyptian authorities to change their penal code to incorporate international definitions of torture and to reform laws that permit incommunicado detention, a practice that makes it easy to mistreat suspects with impunity and has enabled torture to become commonplace. Read More.
Iran Suspends Sentences for Activist, Youth
Following advocacy by Human Rights Watch, the head of Iran's Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahrudi, suspended the sentence of a jailed women's rights activist on November 10. The activist, Delaram Ali, was detained in 2006 after participating in a peaceful demonstration for women's rights. We released a press statement that drew attention to her case, and we were the only organization specifically calling for her two-and-a-half year sentence to be suspended. In a separate case, we publicly raised the plight of a 20-year-old who was sentenced to death in May based on questionable evidence for a crime supposedly committed when he was 13 years old, despite retractions from his accusers during the trial. On November 17, the head of Iran's judiciary stayed the execution pending review of his case. Read More.
UK Should Stop Aid to Musharraf's Pakistan
In the Guardian Unlimited, London Director Tom Porteous writes that General Musharraf's military government has exacerbated violent extremism in Pakistan and argues that the UK should cut off economic and military aid until there is a return to civilian rule.
Impose Sanctions on Burma
In the South China Morning Post, Children's Rights Advocacy Director Jo Becker writes that the Security Council should impose targeted sanctions on Burma, including arms embargoes, in response to its widespread recruitment and use of child soldiers.
Mukasey Must Disavow Abusive InterrogationExecutive Director Kenneth Roth, in the
Huffington Post, argues that senators should have insisted that Michael Mukasey declare "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" to be universally prohibited, even in CIA detention centers, before voting to confirm him as attorney general.
South Korea Must Raise Abuses in the North
In the Wall Street Journal, North and South Korea Researcher Kay Seok writes that discussion of human rights was conspicuously absent during the second-ever inter-Korea summit in October, and urges South Korea to lead efforts to pressure its neighbor to reform.
UK Should Reject Extended Pre-Charge Detention
In Britain's Tribune, Ben Ward, associate director for Europe and Central Asia, writes that the British government should shelve its efforts to extend further the time that terrorism suspects can be detained without charge, already the longest in the European Union, and ensure that counterterrorism measures respect human rights.
