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Summary: Government crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters and their civil liberties persist across the Middle East and North Africa.
Libya Reports of State violence in Libya continue to make the news. In the latest incident of attacks on children, two brothers, one aged seven and the other 13, are recovering in hospital after being shot in the face last Wednesday by fighters loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, while a third brother, also aged seven, died from a bullet wound to the head. Full story. Following the enforcement of a no-fly zone in Libya to put an end to bombing by Gaddafi’s air force, the dictator has retaliated by sending his troops into the rebel-held city of Misrata to terrorise the population with snipers. “Most of those coming into the hospital now are shot by snipers,” one doctor said. “We are afraid even to step into the street any time. You can just be shot. I've seen children shot. They come in here with arms and legs destroyed. The snipers know who they are shooting. It's terror,” he added. About 160 people have been killed in the city during the past week. Children are also among those injured. An unarmed 13-year-old boy was shot in the thigh by a sniper while going out to find food. Another boy was injured after a mortar exploded in the street. Mohammed Bashir, a 41-year-old prosecutor who lost his left leg in a mortar attack, said: “They shoot at anyone who goes out, even those with children.” More on the story. Yemen Meanwhile in Yemen, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on the government to immediately stop using force against civilians exercising their right to peaceful protest, noting that over 100 people have reportedly been killed since the demonstrations began in February. It also urged the Yemeni government to fulfil its earlier promise to set up a commission of inquiry into recent allegations of killings and abuse by security forces, including the death of over 45 people in Sana’a on the 18 March and the killing of 21 people on Monday in Taiz and Hudaida. Minority groups such as the Akhdam have also been targeted by government forces. Full story. Syria State violence against pro-democracy protesters also continues in Syria, where the number of civilians killed varies between 60 and 100, while as many as 500 have been arrested including journalists, lawyers, activists and bloggers. The protests began in the southern city of Deraa on 18 March when a group of angry locals demanded the release of 15 teenagers who had been jailed for writing anti-government graffiti. There are between 3,000 to 4,000 other political prisoners held in Syria. In response to the social unrest, the country’s President Bashar al-Assad announced last week that a committee would be set up to review the country's 48-year emergency laws. Under the state of emergency, protests are forbidden and people can be arrested without warrants and imprisoned without a trial, even under such arbitrary charges as “weakening social morale” and “opposing the goals of the revolution.” However, a similar pledge to review the emergency laws, as well as to open Syria to multi-party politics, was made in 2005, yet nothing materialised. Also, earlier in the week, Assad sacked his cabinet which he blamed for the slow pace of reform. Yet Syria’s laws are issued not by the cabinet or in parliament, but by presidential decree. More on the story. Migration As result of the conflict in the region, thousands of people have migrated. Italy has received the majority of those fleeing the violence – yet the arrival of over 18,000 people, including economic migrants fearing an economic crisis in their countries threatens to create a humanitarian crisis. On the island of Lampedusa alone, over 80 children under the age of five, mostly from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, have joined some 300 to 400 young Tunisians aged between 11 and 17. The massive influx has caught the Italian authorities unprepared, which has left many migrants in inhuman conditions. For instance, more than 250 Tunisian children have been housed for over ten days in a museum on the island, where they have slept without mattresses, pillows or blankets, and with only two bathrooms and two sinks to share among them. “Children need special protection,” says Carlotta Bellini, a child protection manager with Save the Children in Italy. “Without being formally registered, they can't leave the island. And we are concerned that some of them might run risks of exploitation.” Full story. Further Information: