6 January 2010 - CRIN Children and Armed Conflict 136
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
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MSF: Top Ten Humanitarian Crises of 2009 [publication]
[NEW YORK, 21 December 2009] - Civilians attacked, bombed, and cut off from aid in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), along with stagnant funding for treating HIV and AIDS and ongoing neglect of other diseases, were among the worst emergencies in 2009, the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported in its annual list of the "Top Ten" humanitarian crises.
Continuing crises in north and south Sudan, along with the failure of the international community to finally combat childhood malnutrition were also included on this year’s list. The list is drawn from MSF’s operational activities in close to 70 countries, where the organisation’s medical teams witnessed some of the worst humanitarian conditions.
View the Top Ten Humanitarian Crises of 2009. Click here.
Dominant trends
Three distinct patterns dominated in 2009: governments blocked lifesaving assistance to trapped populations, including in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Sudan, where aid groups-including some MSF teams-were expelled from Darfur; respect for civilian safety and neutral humanitarian action further eroded, such as in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, DRC, and Somalia, where people-and in some cases aid workers-were either indiscriminately or directly attacked; people suffering from a host of largely ignored diseases were again neglected by the international community, and those living with HIV and AIDS saw their chances of receiving life extending therapy further diminished.
“There is no question that civilians are increasingly victimised in conflicts and further cut off from lifesaving assistance, often deliberately,” said MSF International Council President Dr. Christophe Fournier. “In places like Sri Lanka and Yemen, where armed conflicts raged in 2009, aid groups were either blocked from accessing those in need or forced out because they too came under fire. This unacceptable dynamic is becoming the norm. Our teams on the ground are witnessing the very tangible human consequences of these crises directly, either in war zones or in the AIDS and nutrition clinics in which they work,” he said. We’re therefore compelled and obligated to speak out.”
In Sri Lanka, tens of thousands of civilians were trapped with no aid and limited medical care as government forces battled Tamil Tiger rebels in the spring. Aid groups, including MSF, were banned from entering the conflict zone. In Somalia, civilians continued to bear the brunt of a vicious civil war. More than 200,000 people fled the capital, Mogadishu, in just the first few months of 2009 and aid workers were increasingly targeted – at least 42 relief workers have been killed since 2008, including three MSF staff.
In Yemen, civilian and hospitals were heavily affected by fighting in the Saada region in the north of the country as government forces fought rebels. The fighting forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and compelled MSF to close the only hospital serving an entire district after it was shelled. And in a glaring case of abuse of humanitarian action for military gain, civilians gathered with their children at MSF vaccination sites in North Kivu, DRC in October, came under attack by government forces. The attack threatened to severely undermine the trust necessary to carry out independent medical humanitarian work in conflict settings.
In Pakistan, where tens of thousands fled fighting, hospitals were struck by mortar fire and two MSF workers were killed in Swat Valley, where the organisation ultimately suspended its operations due to the violence there.
On the medical front, years of success in increasing treatment for the numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS was threatened with punishment in 2009. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) announced plans to reduce or limit funding.
“Just when more and more people were accessing crucial medicines and medical experts were acknowledging the need to put people on treatment sooner, patients will be turned away from clinics because the funding just won’t be there,” said Dr. Fournier. “The timing could not be worse.”
The neglect also extends to childhood malnutrition, a treatable disease that is the underlying cause of up to half of the annual ten million preventable deaths of children under five each year. Global leaders gathered at the World Food Summit in Rome in 2009 failed to commit to combating the disease, which groups like MSF have shown can be prevented and treated by providing growing children with proper foods that meet their nutritional requirements.
Right now, international assistance to fight malnutrition amounts $350 million dollars, while the World Bank estimates $11.2 billion is required to adequately combat the disease in 36 high burden countries. Additionally, most food assistance is made up of costly and inefficient in-kind donations containing products of poor nutritional value that must be shipped overseas. Resources could be better spent on obtaining nutritionally appropriated foods closer to their source.
Other diseases, such as Chagas, kala azar, sleeping sickness, and Buruli ulcer continue to be neglected, with very few new commitments to expanding access to available treatment or carrying out research for much needed newer and more effective drugs.
“The tremendous resources devoted to the H1N1 pandemic in developed countries illustrates the response capacity for global health threats when the political will exists,” said Dr. Fournier. “Regrettably, we fail to see the same commitments made to combat diseases claiming millions of more lives each year.”
For more information, contact:
Médecins sans Frontières
Rue de Lausanne 78, CP 116 - 1211- Geneva 21, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 (22) 849 84 84; Fax: + 41 (22) 849 84 88
Website: www.msf.org
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=21490
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THAILAND: Hmong refugee deportation breaches law [news]
[BANGKOK, 28 December 2009] - Thailand has breached international law by forcing 158 recognised Hmong refugees, mainly children, back to Laos along with thousands of asylum-seekers, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
The group, which had been held in a detention centre in the border town of Nong Khai for three years, was sent back Monday despite offers of resettlement in third countries because of their fears of persecution in Laos.
"We would express our dismay that they have gone ahead with the group of 158 people in Nong Khai who had been recognised as refugees by the UNHCR," said the agency's spokeswoman Ariane Rummery, adding that almost 90 were children.
"The forcible return of refugees to their country of origin is a violation of international customary law. It's a departure from Thailand's longstanding humanitarian practice as a major country of asylum in the region and that's a very grave example internationally," she told AFP.
Thai army Lieutenant General Niphat Thonglek said the group left "voluntarily" on Monday night along with more than 4,000 Hmong asylum-seekers from another camp in northern Phetchabun province.
Members of the larger group expelled on Monday claimed they faced persecution in communist Laos for fighting alongside US forces in the Vietnam War.
But Thailand said they were economic migrants and did not allow the UNHCR to assess if any were political refugees.
However the 158 Hmong in Nong Khai were properly screened by the UNHCR and found to be refugees in need of protection. But Thailand said they must return to Laos before they can take up offers of resettlement in Western countries.
"The Thai government has told UNHCR that it had received assurances from Laos that the group of 158 recognised refugees will be allowed to be resettled in third countries after their return to Laos," said Rummery.
"We certainly hope Thailand remains engaged in the issue to ensure that these can take place."
Niphat said the larger group from Phetchabun had been taken to the central province of Bolikhamsay, while the Hmong from Nong Khai were transported to the Lao capital Vientiane.
"The Lao government pledges to take care of them well while waiting for third countries to contact and take them," he said.
But a Western diplomat in Bangkok told AFP they had "much more ambiguous" signals directly from officials in Laos.
[Source: AFP]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=21499&flag=news
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TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION: Justice for Liberia [memorandum]
In December 2009, Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) issued its final report detailing its findings on the causes and impact of that country's social turmoil between 1979 and 2003. The TRC's report represents a major undertaking on the part of the commission to expose the abuses committed against civilians during Liberia's two devastating armed conflicts, which lasted from 1989 to 1996 and 1999 to 2003.
One of the key recommendations included in the final report is the establishment of an internationalised domestic criminal court to ensure justice for the worst crimes committed. Human Rights Watch fully supports the use of a hybrid international-national accountability mechanism to hold perpetrators of past crimes in Liberia to account. Prosecutions for serious crimes in violation of international law-including war crimes and crimes against humanity-are crucial to ensuring redress for the countless victims of Liberia's brutal armed conflicts. Liberian citizens were subjected to horrific abuses, including summary execution and numerous large-scale massacres, widespread and systematic rape and other forms of sexual violence, mutilation and torture, and large-scale forced conscription and use of child combatants. The violence blighted the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, displaced almost half the population, and virtually destroyed the country's infrastructure. Prosecutions are vital to building respect for the rule of law, especially in a society like Liberia that has been devastated by conflict, thus making justice an important component to establishing sustainable peace.
Human Rights Watch believes it is essential for the Liberian government and the international community to take prompt steps to ensure that prosecutions for serious past crimes committed in Liberia are conducted, and that such proceedings are carried out in accordance with international standards. Toward that end, this memorandum analyses the strengths and shortcomings of the TRC's proposal for an Extraordinary Criminal Court for Liberia (ECCL) and makes recommendations aimed at ensuring the fairness, effectiveness, and legitimacy of any criminal proceedings. Consistent with this memorandum's focus on the ECCL proposal, it does not cover wider strengths and weaknesses of the TRC's analysis, conclusions, and recommendations that are unrelated to that proposal.
In summary, we believe that the TRC's proposal has many elements that can contribute to fair and effective trials. These include: international and Liberian judges working together to try cases with a majority of internationally-appointed judges serving on each judicial panel; a combination of international and Liberian staff working in the prosecutor's office; a commitment to witness protection; and plans to conduct outreach to local communities about trials. At the same time, the proposal has a number of significant weaknesses. These include: the recommendation that certain individuals who cooperated with the TRC not be prosecuted; failure to focus on those perpetrators most responsible for serious crimes; no requirement that the judges' bench will have sufficient criminal trial experience; the prosecutor is not appointed by international actors; international crimes and modes of individual criminal liability are not fully defined; a number of crucial fair trial protections are not explicitly provided for; individuals may be excluded from working at the ECCL on the basis of a public perception of involvement in abuses or supporting the conflict; and the death penalty is available as a punishment for some crimes. These weaknesses must be addressed if Liberia's efforts to address serious past crimes are to be fair, effective, and consistent with international standards.
For more information, contact:
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor
New York, NY 10118-3299, USA
Tel: + 1 212 216 1837
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.hrw.org
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=21500
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SRI LANKA: Independent Human Rights Committee to issue report
[WASHINGTON, 30 December 2009] - The President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has extended by four months an independent investigation into allegations made by the U.S. State Department, in a paper entitled 'Report to Congress on Incidents During the Recent Conflict in Sri Lanka.' The extension will allow the committee to thoroughly investigate and respond to all allegations in the report to Congress, as well as advise the government on the action to be taken on the recent query by Mr. Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur regarding remarks by the country's former army chief Sarath Fonseka.
The Committee was established in November 2009 by President Rajapaksa to investigate allegations in the report, including the use by LTTE (Liberation Tamil Tigers Eelam) terrorist organisation of children in armed conflict, harm brought to civilians during the war, the killing of captives seeking to surrender, disappearances and a lack of humanitarian conditions.
According to the report, incidents occurred in the final days of a 26-year-long war between Government forces and the LTTE, a group officially viewed by the United States as a terrorist organisation since 1997 and been declared by the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee as "one of the world's deadliest terrorist groups."
This independent committee is part of a broader set of proactive measures and statements by the Government of Sri Lanka aimed at solidifying Sri Lanka's pursuit of the highest standard of international human rights.
"The country of Sri Lanka has moved past the terror of war, and begun a period of reconciliation and national rebirth for all of its people," said President Rajapaksa. "However it is important to look into all of these allegations and this extension of the deadline to report back will provide the independent review panel with sufficient time to investigate all allegations." According to President Rajapaksa's decree, the investigation is an "independent and comprehensive study into such allegations is necessary in the national interest."
As outlined in President's decree, the committee will report on the following matters:
- The descriptions, background of persons who have been directly referred to in the said Report and the nature of the allegation.
- The circumstances that may have led to or resulted in references being made in the said Report to those persons referred to in paragraph 2.
- The nature, propriety and efficacy of the contents of the said Report.
- The appropriate measures that should be taken in accordance with the laws of Sri Lanka, with regard to the contents and findings in the said Report inclusive of specific recommendations with regard to the specific allegations.
- Any other recommendations considered by the aforesaid Committee as being relevant consequent to its study.
President Rajapaksa had originally requested the initial report with findings and recommendations on December 31, 2009. It will now report in April 2010.
[Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=21498
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UN: Ugandan rebel attacks may have been war crimes [news]
[21 December 2009] - The UN has reported that the Ugandan-based Lord's Resistance Army killed, mutilated and raped villagers in Sudan and Congo in 2008 and 2009 in what may have been crimes against humanity.
The rebels killed at least 1,200 people and abducted 1,400, including children and women, in northeastern Congo from September last year to June, said a report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
A separate report by the UN's rights office said that, in at least 27 attacks on villages in southern Sudan, the Lord's Resistance Army killed more than 80 civilians and kidnapped many others to use as child soldiers, sex slaves and spies.
The report called the attacks in Sudan, which it said took place between December 2008 and March 2009, deliberate and brutal.
Both reports were based on hundreds of interviews with survivors and several field trips to the remote areas by UN employees, said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
One survivor in Sudan told UN employees that he found the mutilated body of a fellow villager.
"The villager's leg had been chopped off, his jaws had been dislocated and his teeth had been pulled out," the report said.
The rebels frequently cross into Congo and Sudan and are notorious for mutilating and murdering civilians and kidnapping children to use as fighters.
Survivors in Sudan told UN investigators that armed Lord's Resistance Army rebels arrived in groups of between five and 20, and attacked people with axes, bayonets, hoes, knives and machetes known as "pangas." They reserved the use of firearms for those who tried to flee, the report said.
"The LRA attacks may amount to crimes against humanity," it said.
The report on Congo said thousands of homes, dozens of shops, hospitals, churches and at least thirty schools were looted and set on fire in various parts of Orientale Province. Villagers were mutilated, tortured and raped, the report said.
The widespread abuses may have been war crimes and crimes against humanity, it said.
The Lord's Resistance Army has been fighting the Ugandan government for over 20 years, accusing it of discriminating against the country's northern tribes.
The Ugandan military, along with forces from Congo and southern Sudan, launched a joint operation against Lord's Resistance Army rebels in Congo from December 2008 to March 2009. The offensive came after rebel leader Joseph Kony failed to turn up last year to sign a peace agreement.
Kony and other top Lord's Resistance Army members are accused by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Kony is still at large, as are many of his commanders, although the rebels have splintered into several smaller groups.
In some attacks, the Congolese army helped the Lord's Resistance Army, the report said, adding that the country's security forces terrorised some of those who fled.
People faced "harassment, extortion, rape and summary executions committed by the Congolese security forces," the report said.
[Source: AFP]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=21466
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
UN Security Council: Update on reform
Member States met on 8-9 December 2009 for the fourth round of negotiations to reform the UN Security Council. They discussed previously tabled proposals for reform. The group will reconvene in mid-January.
http://www.reformtheun.org/index.php/eupdate/5332
Country updates: CRIN's country pages
The latest news on child rights and the security situation in Yemen will be made available here as we receive it.
See also information on children and armed conflict in Afghanistan, Colombia, Congo (Democratic Republic of), Iraq, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uganda (northern) among other countries.
To contribute information on children and armed conflict, contact [email protected]
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