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Major step forward in Paraguay's investigations into sexual slavery of girls

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:18:07 +0100

Investigations into girls subjected to sexual slavery in Paraguay during the Stroessner dictatorship have taken a major step forward thanks to one woman's testimony.

This in turn has encouraged other women to come forward and testify about their experiences of sexual slavery, giving greater weight to the Truth and Justice Commission's investigation.

Julia Ozorio Gamecho was the first woman to come forward and talk to the Commission about how she was subjected to sexual slavery by the military during the dictatorship.

The Commission is investigating thousands of human rights violations which happened while Stroessner was in office, from 1954 to 1989.

These violations include sexual violence against women. Girls as young as seven are believed to have been snatched from their homes and "groomed" to serve high ranking military officials.

Ozorio's testimony helped the Commission to confirm details about a location where girls were taken after they had been snatched from their families. There they were forcibly prepared for their sexual enslavement to high ranking members of the military.

Yudith Rolón of the Commission said: "We value and admire her courage in telling us what happened to her, events which have left her with irreparable trauma, from both the physical and psychological torture she suffered".

"She corroborated events that the Truth and Justice Commission had already been investigating. We had heard of many cases but no-one had wanted to give testimony, as she has done".

These testimonies had previously been almost impossible to collect due to fear of reprisals. Some of the officials to whom the women were enslaved are believed to still be linked to the military.

A former military official who helped Ozorio to survive while detained, also came forward to present his account of the case to the Truth and Justice Commission on Tuesday 12 August.

Ozorio's case will be included in the Commission's final report which will be presented to the government and civil society on 28 August. Her testimony will be one of over 2,000 detailing human rights violations committed during the Stroessner dictatorship.

The report will also cover the period from Paraguay's transition to democracy, to the enactment of the law that created the Commission on 6 October 2003.

Ozorio was 13 when she was snatched from her home in the town of Nueva Italia in Paraguay's central department.

She was taken by a colonel (vice-commander of the Presidential Escort Regiment) and two other soldiers. For the next two years she was held in captivity and subjected to sexual slavery by the colonel.

According to Ozorio, girls who cried a lot or who were no longer of use – for example when they reached 15 or 16 years of age and were no longer considered desirable - were sometimes killed.

Ozorio was freed by her captor because she had reached the age of 15 and he was no longer interested in her. Ozorio said her life was spared because she reminded her captor of his dead daughter. She went to Argentina to seek safety and has lived in Buenos Aires ever since.

Thirty-seven years later she returned to Paraguay to present her book, A Rose and a Thousand Soldiers (Una rosa y mil soldados), her story of what happened to her during the two years she was subjected to sexual slavery.

In the book, Ozorio writes about the night she was abducted: "He said these words to me: 'many girls have passed through here. Some left alive, others weren't so lucky'...he looked at me for a long time and said: 'you are a very pretty girl - please don't make me kill you'…

"The first night was horrible. No human words exist that can express the pain of that night...my body was covered with bruises and bite marks. A deep wound bled from my breast."

After her testimony to the Commission, Ozorio reported receiving two anonymous threatening telephone calls. The Commission has offered her protection as a result of these threats.

As well as telling her painful story and raising awareness of what she and many other young girls experienced, Ozorio now also hopes to set up a foundation to protect girls who have been victims of sexual violence.

General Stroessner came to power by overthrowing civilian president Dr Federico Chávez in 1954.

During his rule, thousands were victims of grave human rights abuses including arbitrary detentions, torture, "disappearances" and forced exile.

Some of these abuses were committed as part of Operation Condor, a plan coordinated by the military governments of the Southern Cone - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay - to eliminate their "opponents" during the 1970s and 1980s.

Stroessner died on 16 August 2006 in Brasilia, where he had been living in exile since 1989. He was 93.

Eight Bahraini nationals released

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:48:56 +0100

Eight Bahraini men were released without charge in Saudi Arabia on 12 July 2008, after over four months’ detention.

The men had travelled from Bahrain to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and were arrested by security forces when they arrived on 28 February. Their families had no contact with them and were not aware of their exact whereabouts for weeks.

The eight men are teachers Sayyid Ahmad ‘Alawi, Majeed al-Ghasra, Muhammad ‘Abdullah al-Mu’man, ‘Abbas Ahmad Ibrahim, ‘Isa ‘Abdul-Hassan Ahmad, Muhammad Hassan ‘Ali Marhoun, and Ibrahim Marzam al-Haddad, and engineer Muhammad Mahdi Khalil. They were held in solitary confinement throughout their detention, without charge or trial.

Amnesty International welcomes their release and their return home. However, the Saudi Arabian authorities continue to hold detainees incommunicado, and torture and otherwise ill-treat them.

In 2007, the Ministry of Interior announced that there were at least 3,000 alleged political opponents then being held without charge or trial. The Ministry was reported to have disclosed that it detained 9,000 people between 2003 and 2007 as part of the “war on terror”.

Syrian prisoner of conscience freed

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:24:25 +0100

The Syrian authorities unexpectedly released Dr. Aref Dalilah on Thursday following a presidential amnesty. Dalilah is the former Dean of the Faculty of Economics of Aleppo University and was a well known prisoner of conscience in Syria.

Amnesty International has welcomed the release, noting that it is long overdue and hopes it will be followed by the release of all other prisoners of conscience in Syria.

Dalilah was arrested in September 2001 and convicted by the State Security Court of "attempting to change the constitution by illegal means" in July 2002. He served seven years of a 10-year sentence, much of it spent in solitary confinement in the political wing of ‘Adra prison, Damascus.

It is thought likely that Dalilah's release was related to his health, which deteriorated alarmingly while he was in prison.

He has suffered from a blood clot in his lung, deep-vein thrombosis, swelling of the heart and diabetes. He had a stroke in May 2006, losing some of the feeling on the left side of his body.

Dalilah has not been informed of any conditions on his release or restrictions he may face if seeking to travel outside the country for treatment.

Following his release, Dalilah said, "I am thankful for all the efforts made by everyone at Amnesty International and all those who took part in actions on my behalf. We are united in the struggle for the causes of justice and democracy. This struggle is still ongoing."

Out of the ten prominent individuals detained for their roles in the so-called "Damascus Spring", Dalilah received the longest sentence. The “Damascus Spring” describes the brief period of increased tolerance from the authorities for freedom of expression and pro-reform activities that followed Bashar al-Assad’s inauguration as President in July 2000.

However, Dalilah's release does not quite close the chapter of the Damascus Spring detentions. Kamal Labwani and Habib Saleh, two former prisoners of the Damascus Spring released before Dalilah, have been re-arrested. Labwani was sentenced to 15 years for his pro-democracy activities and Saleh is currently being tried for publishing political articles on the Internet. Hundreds of other political prisoners remain detained in Syria, including many prisoners of conscience.

Tunisian journalist freed

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:40:52 +0100

Slim Boukhdir was released on Monday, 21 July, and informed that he had been granted a conditional release by the Minister of Justice. He was not given any further explanation.

His release is apparently conditional on his “good behaviour”; if convicted of a similar crime he has been told he would have to serve out the rest of his sentence.

Slim Boukhdir was arrested on 26 November 2007 and charged with "insulting a public officer during the performance of his duties", "breaching public morality" and "refusing to show his identity card." He was sentenced to one year in prison on 4 December in a trial held in the city of Sfax that was observed by Amnesty International. His trial was unfair and Amnesty International considered him a prisoner of conscience and campaigned for his release.

Amnesty International described the sentence as "another attempt by the authorities to stifle peaceful criticism” and said that it appeared intended to send a “chilling signal” to independent voices that criticism of the government’s policies and actions or of President Ben Ali or his family would not be tolerated.

Slim Boukhdir wrote mainly for Arabic-language media such as the London-based daily newspaper Al Quds Al-Araby and Al-Arabiya.net. In May 2007, he received anonymous telephone death threats, which he believed came from security officers, after he gave an interview to the London-based satellite TV channel al-Hiwar (Dialogue). He said in the interview that a relative of President Ben Ali should take responsibility for a stampede at a concert which he had arranged, in which seven people died.

Amnesty International, while welcoming the release, called on the Tunisian authorities to allow journalists to work free from harassment, interference or fear of imprisonment and protect freedom of expression in accordance with its international obligations.

UK Ministry of Defence agrees to compensate Iraqi torture victims

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:14:34 +0100

The family of an Iraqi hotel receptionist who died after being tortured over a period of 36 hours while detained by UK troops in Basra, Iraq, will be paid compensation by the UK Ministry of Defence.

Almost £3 million will be paid in recognition of the grave human rights violations to which he, and others detained at the same time as him, were subjected by members of the UK armed forces.

Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old father of two, died in September 2003. A post-mortem examination revealed 93 separate injuries on his body. A number of Iraqis detained at around the same time as him were also tortured and ill-treated.

It was announced on Thursday, 10 July, that the amount of compensation paid will total £2.83 million ($5.59 million), to be divided between the family of Baha Mousa and nine other men who were detained alongside him.

According to the lawyers who acted for him in the compensation claim, Baha Mousa’s father, Colonel Daoud Mousa, a former colonel in the Iraqi police force, said about the compensation award: “The death of my son is with me every day of my life. Today’s settlement will ease a little of that pain and will go some way to enabling his children and my grandchildren to rebuild their lives.”

Amnesty International said that it considers that this award of compensation is a necessary, although extremely belated, acknowledgement of the grave human rights violations to which Baha Mousa and those detained alongside him were subjected, and a step towards making reparation for those violations.

Amnesty International has been campaigning for the UK to hold a genuinely full, independent, impartial and thorough investigation into all of the circumstances of the torture and death of Baha Mousa, and the torture of other Iraqi nationals held alongside him.

In May 2008 the Ministry of Defence finally announced that a public inquiry would be held. The terms of reference of the inquiry are yet to be announced, but it has been confirmed that it will be held within the framework of the Inquiries Act 2005.

Amnesty International has long considered that any inquiry held under this legislation into an allegation of serious human rights violations will not be independent enough from the government for the inquiry to meet the standards required by international human rights law.

Economic, social and cultural rights strengthened

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:39:50 +0100

The United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted a new legal instrument to strengthen the protection of economic, social and cultural rights.

The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was adopted at the council’s session on Wednesday 18 June.

The Optional Protocol will provide the opportunity for individuals seeking a remedy for violations of economic, social and cultural rights to have their complaints adjudicated by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights.

It would be used to help in such cases as the exclusion of Romani children from education in many European countries, to the violation of housing rights in a number of African countries.

Amnesty International welcomed the Optional Protocol as an “historic moment in the quest for ensuring access to justice for victims of human rights violations.

“Violations of economic, social and cultural rights, including rights to adequate housing, food, water and sanitation, as well as the rights to health and education, are felt most frequently and most severely by marginalised groups and people living in poverty.”

With the adoption of the Optional Protocol, the United Nations has taken a significant step towards achieving the promise of the UDHR to give greater effect to the right to a remedy for violations of economic, social and cultural rights.

While welcoming the development, Amnesty International said “the Optional Protocol could, and should, have been a stronger instrument, which built more closely on the experience of existing communications’ mechanisms.

The organization called the agreed text “an honourable compromise that should serve as a catalyst for the development of effective remedies for violations of economic, social and cultural rights”

Amnesty International also called on the all members of the UN to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the UDHR with the adoption of the Optional Protocol, in its current form, by the General Assembly on the 10 December 2008.

Activist released in Uzbekistan

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:05:53 +0100

Uzbekistani human rights defender Mutabar Tadzhibaeva, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2006, was unexpectedly released on Monday, 2 June.

The prisoner of conscience, who won the 2008 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders last month, was driven to her home in Margilan and reunited with her family. Tadzhibaeva passed her thanks to NGOs including Amnesty International, which had campaigned for her release.

"I spent 900 days on a "torture island"; 700 of those days I spent in solitary confinement," she revealed. "I endured only because of the support of people who were concerned about my fate. Only this gave me strength. I want to thank them for not forgetting those nearest and dearest to me - that knowledge helped me remain determined."

Mutabar Tadzhibaeva was detained on 7 October 2005, on the eve of an international conference on human rights defenders in Dublin, Ireland, which she was due to attend. She had come under increasing pressure from the authorities for her human rights activities, including for speaking out about the government's crackdown on human rights activities since the May 2005 mass killings in Andizhan.

On 6 March 2007, she was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. She faced 13 economic and political charges, including "membership of an illegal organization" and "using funds from Western governments to prepare or distribute materials containing a threat to public order and security".

According to Mutabar Tadzhibaeva's oldest brother, she did not know that she was being released, but instead thought she was being taken for medical tests to a hospital in Tashkent. Mutabar's brother told the independent uznews.net website that his sister looked pale and had lost weight, but that emotionally she was fine.

Tadzhibaeva's release was hailed by her colleagues, with human rights activists citing the release as the result of international pressure. The remaining six years of her eight-year sentence have been commuted to a three-year suspended sentence.

Russian authorities ruled responsible for Chechen women's disappearance

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:35:30 +0100

In a ruling made on 29 May 2008, the European Court of Human Rights has found the Russian authorities responsible for the May 2003 enforced disappearance of two young Chechen women, Aminat Dugaeva and Kurbika Zinabdieva.

“The Court’s ruling is a step forward in the search for justice for Aminat, Kurbika and their families. We will continue to campaign on their behalf and urge the Russian authorities to ensure that the women’s disappearance is fully investigated and that those responsible are brought to justice,” said Nicola Duckworth of Amnesty International.

The women, members of the same family, were abducted on the night of 16 May 2003 from Kurbika’s home in Ulus-Kert, Chechnya, by a group of 20 men wearing blue uniforms and balaclavas.

Aminat was only 15 years old at the time. Kurbika, who suffered from a brain tumour and epilepsy, needed constant care. Their families have had no news of them since.

In its decision of 29 May, Gekhayeva and others v. Russia, the European Court of Human Rights strongly supported the family’s allegation that the abductors were in fact Russian servicemen. The Court also criticised the Russian authorities for their failure to provide documents about the investigation into the case.

The European Court found that the official investigation, launched in 2003, has been incomplete and inadequate. It was suspended from June 2004 to August 2006 and so far has failed to identify those responsible for the women’s disappearance.

As a result, the Court found the Russian authorities to be in grave violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, concluding that:

There had been a violation of the right to life, given that the women had to be presumed dead following their unacknowledged detention by Russian servicemen and that the authorities had not justified the use of lethal force by their agents.
The unacknowledged detention of Aminat and Kurbika violated their right to liberty and security.
The Russian authorities’ handling of complaints by the victims’ families constituted inhuman treatment, given the stress and anguish they had suffered.

The Court also concluded that the Russian authorities had failed to carry out an effective criminal investigation. Serious shortcomings included the authorities’ initial refusal to open a criminal investigation and the suspension of the investigation for more than two years.

Cluster munitions treaty agreed in Dublin

Fri, 30 May 2008 11:18:48 +0100

110 states agreed a provisional text for a historic new Convention on Cluster Munitions, which is a treaty to ban the "Use, Production and Transfer of Cluster Munitions", in Dublin on Wednesday.

The agreement was reached after worldwide civil society campaigning and several international conferences of governments and NGOs, which started in Oslo in February 2007 and finished on Friday after ten days of intense negotiation in Dublin under Irish government leadership.

The provisional treaty text will be formally adopted in Dublin on Friday 30 May 2008 and opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008. As soon as the formal adoption takes place, over 100 participating states - including many NATO allies such as the UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Belgium – will be committed to ending the use of these indiscriminate weapons. The treaty will become legally binding once 30 states have ratified it.

Amnesty International has joined with our CMC (Cluster Munition Coalition) campaign partners and allies across the world in welcoming this landmark agreement that will set new international legal standards on the prohibition of indiscriminate weapons and the protection of civilians in and after armed conflict.

Amnesty International believes that, while the new treaty is not perfect, it will enable states to significantly reduce the risks of civilian deaths and injuries in conflict and post-conflict situations.

Amnesty International has for several years helped expose the effects of cluster bombing, for example in Iraq and Lebanon, and has been an active member of the CMC since 2007. Several Amnesty International sections – especially AI Norway, AI Peru, AI New Zealand, AI Austria and AI Ireland - have played a part in the “Oslo Process” meetings, while many sections have lobbied their home governments. This included in producer states, such as AI Belgium, AI France, AI UK and AI USA. An Amnesty International delegation of experts also participated in the conference in Dublin.

Significantly, the text of the treaty enforces a categorical ban on cluster munitions. Despite stockpiler nations initially trying to protect their own stockpiles, no transition period and no exceptions are allowed.

Moreover, the text on humanitarian assistance for victims and affected communities, as well as obligations of affected countries and donors on clearance of contaminated land, go beyond what was agreed in the landmine treaty and build on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

However, the controversial new provision in the treaty on joint military operations with states that refuse to join the treaty is disappointing. Nevertheless, campaigners are insisting that the treaty must be interpreted to prohibit foreign stockpiling and intentional assistance with use of the weapons.

Cluster munitions are weapons that open in mid-air and randomly scatter dozens or hundreds of individual submunitions (or “bomblets”) over a large area. Cluster munitions pose severe risks to civilians’ lives and livelihoods both at the time of their use and after hostilities have ended. This is due to the wide-area effect of cluster munitions and the large number of sub-munitions they leave unexploded. Unexploded sub-munitions have a long-term impact. They cause human rights violations and hinder humanitarian assistance, peace operations, post-conflict reconstruction and development efforts. Unless practical international steps are taken, the hazards to civilians from cluster munitions will increase as cluster munitions continue to proliferate and the numbers being used rise globally.

Pakistan ratifies key UN human rights treaty

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:24:14 +0100

Pakistan has ratified a key UN human rights treaty and signed two others.

“Becoming a state party to UN human rights conventions is a key step to ensuring human rights are respected, protected and realized for all in Pakistan in line with international standards,” said Amnesty International.

The organization has called on the Pakistani authorities to grasp this opportunity and address the pressing human rights problems in the country.

When presenting its candidature for the elections of the Human Rights Council in April 2006, Pakistan committed itself to early ratification of core human rights treaties.

On 17 April 2008, Pakistan moved to uphold this pledge, ratifying the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and signing both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).

Amnesty International has repeatedly, over many years, urged Pakistan to ratify these and other UN human rights treaties.

Amnesty International has called upon the Government of Pakistan to promptly ratify the ICCPR and the UNCAT and enact implementing legislation to ensure that the three treaties become part of Pakistan’s domestic law. It should also ratify all other human rights treaties and their optional protocols, as well as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and give full effect to international human rights treaties in policy and practice.

Amnesty International has also urged the new Pakistan authorities to release, or else disclose, the fate and whereabouts of all victims of enforced disappearance; to end all secret, incommunicado and administrative detentions; to end all torture and other ill-treatment and repeal all laws which carry cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments; and to declare a moratorium on all death sentences and commute the death sentences of the over 7000 people currently on death row.