Thursday April 23, 2009 (Bulletin No. 101)

Rwanda: Remembers 1994 genocide

In order to remember the killing of 800,000 people within 100 days in 1994, Rwanda is having a week of mourning. Ceremonies were held in the capital Kigali, and in Nyanza, where more than 5,000 people were slaughtered. At a stadium in Kigali, thousands of candles spelt out the word "hope" in three languages.BBC quoted the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as saying that ‘preventing future genocide was "a collective responsibility"..However Rwanda has taken a very dim view of the relative inaction of the UN in this whole episode.

Sri Lanka: Great concerns on civilian casualties

On 8 April 2009 John Holmes under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Evergency Relief Coordinator wrote in The Guardian that "time is running out for the thousands of civilians trapped in northern Sri Lanka amid the ongoing conflict between Government forces and Tamil rebels". He further said that "The Sri Lankan military has pushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) into an area so small that any shooting or shelling inevitably causes casualties among the 150,000 to 190,000 civilians trapped in the same zone" and stresses that "Civilians trapped by the fighting must be allowed a free choice of whether to leave or stay. It was been reported that hundreds of civilians were been killed every day.BBC reported that on 8 April 2009 22 people died and nearly 283 injured when a mother and child clinic came under attack by the Sri Lankan army fired shells. An ICRC staff member was also killed in the attack.About the 65000 people who came out of the LTTE control area have been sent to the camps set up by the Sri Lankan military in Vavuniya . The concern is about the independent aid workers having access to the needy and their ability to assess the situation.There is an urgent need for the supplies and aid workers to immediately reach the wounded and malnourished civilians before it is too late. The government of Sri Lanka however rejecting the international call for a ceasefire claims that it would only allow the LTTE to regroup and the killings of civilian are progressively increasing with no end in sight.

Holmes, speaking to reporters at the UN yesterday, confirmed that he had had talks with the LTTE over the past few weeks seeking the release of civilians trapped in the Safe Zone. "I have had some contact with the LTTE. Not with those with actually on the ground but with those outside the area to make the point clear that they should not hold people against their will," he said. Homes further said the LTTE has responded by saying they are not holding people against their will and that these are people who went there voluntarily and have been there for many years and that the people themselves are not keen to leave.

Holmes further said the ousting of Norway by Sri Lanka was not a helpful step and added that the move however does not stop Norway from having talks with the LTTE.

Kenya: Human Rights defenders are intimidated

On 6 April 2009 United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions said that Kenyan law enforcement agencies have used systematic intimidation campaign against the individual human rights monitors in order to inflict fear. The campaign includes the members of civil society being targeted, their family members threatened by telephone calls and family members of those who defenders have been visited ant threatened. Last month, Oscar Kamau Kingara, founder of the Oscar Foundation Free Legal Aid Clinic, along with a co-worker, was gunned down in Nairobi, one week after meeting with Mr. Alston. The Government has accused the Oscar Foundation of having close links to a criminal gang, the Mungiki.

DR Congo: Increase in violence by Rebels and Army

Human Rights Watch on 8 April 2009 raised concerns regarding killing of 180 civilians and raping of 90 women in the volatile North and South Kivu provinces of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwandan rebel forces, government army soldiers and their allies since late January 2009.

On 9 April 2009 the United Nations Security Council while welcoming last month's peace accord and the progress made so far in the disarmament, demobilization, repatriation, resettlement and reintegration (DDRRR) programme condemned the Hutu militia called the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) which have not taken part to do so. Human Rights Watch also stated that the Congolese army had also been implicated in numerous rapes. In March, Congolese soldiers raped at least 21 women and girls in southern Masisi and northern Kalehe territories. Many of the victims were violently gang raped while the soldiers were on looting sprees.

Further the UN Security Council also stated its grave concerns regarding "the ongoing uprooting of civilians and massive violations of human rights, especially of reports of widespread sexual violence and continued recruitment of children into armed groups, calling for an end to impunity for the perpetrators". Since January about 250,000 people have fled their homes, adding to hundreds of thousands of others who fled earlier waves of violence."Protection of civilians can only be taken seriously if known human rights abusers are removed from the ranks of the Congolese army," said Van Woudenberg.

Austria: Racism among police and justice system

The non-white Austrians are more suspected for committing crimes and suffer ill-treatment by police. The chances for a non-white Austrian to get justice are very low. Amnesty International in a report published on 9 April 2009 stated that "Austria's police and justice system are plagued by racism". According to the report "Criminal statistics for 2006 reveal that while 898 complaints were filed with the Office of the Public Prosecution, only 20 cases were brought before courts". For example, a police officer who alleged to have beaten a Polish man when he tried to resolve a dispute among a group of Polish people was set free without any charges. Article 2 (1) of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, asserts that:

States Parties condemn racial discrimination and undertake to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and promoting understanding among all races, and, to this end: (a) Each State Party undertakes to engage in no act or practice of racial discrimination against persons, groups of persons or institutions and to en sure that all public authorities and public institutions, national and local, shall act in conformity with this obligation

As a party to the Convention, Austria is obliged by the above article.

Further according to John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s researcher for Austria, "It is high time that political leaders and senior police officials acknowledge the existence of racism in the police force. Public confidence in the police cannot be maintained if police officers who are known to have committed serious human rights violations remain in office".

Peru: The ex-president convicted for human rights violations

The New York Times reported that on 7 April 2009 "a three judge panel of Peru’s Supreme Court convicted former president Alberto K Fujimori of human rights abuses and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.The abuses included the killing of 25 people by a military death squad created by Mr. Fujimori in the early 1990s as the country was locked in a bloody conflict with Maoist rebels".

During his period from 1990 to 2000 more than 70,000 people were killed in the war with the Maoist guerrillas, known as the Shining Path, and the smaller Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. He also faces the two additional trials for corruption.