MALDIVES - UN Human Rights Committee calls for widespread institutional reform in the Maldives.

The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has urged the Maldives to guarantee citizens’ right to democracy, permit freedom of religion, reform the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), abolish flogging and the death penalty, and deal with human trafficking, among other recommendations.

The  Committee has issued concluding observations regarding the Maldives’ commitment to universal human rights, following the country’s defence of its record in Geneva on July 12-13.

The Maldivian delegation to the UNHRC was headed by Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel, a former Justice Minister during the 30 year rule of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and co-author of a pamphlet entitled ‘President Nasheed’s devious plot to destroy the Islamic faith of Maldivians’, published in January 2012.

Dr Jameel was accompanied by State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dunya Maumoon – Gayoom’s daughter – as well as the Maldives’ Permanent Representative in Geneva, Iruthisham Adam.

MORE: http://minivannews.com/politics/un-human-rights-committee-calls-for-widespread-institutional-reform-in-the-maldives-41253

Countries under review - INDIA.

Each year, 48 countries are reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review; 16 in each of the three annual sessions of the UPR Working Group. Amnesty International regularly contributes information for country reviews and suggests action to strengthen the protection of human rights in the countries under review.

Below is the schedule of reviews by year and session. By clicking on a country tab, you can view the information submitted by Amnesty International and recommendations made to the countries under review to address human rights challenges.

INDIA: http://www.amnesty.org/en/united-nations/universal-periodic-review/countries-under-review/second-cycle-india

Nepal: Prosecute, Don’t Promote, Notorious Army Officer.

Military Adds Insult to Injury for Victims by Ignoring Allegations
Nepal’s government should investigate, not promote an Army colonel implicated in dozens of cases of enforced disappearance and torture, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International said today. The Nepal army should adopt a policy of not promoting anyone accused of human rights abuses until the allegations are investigated in an independent and transparent manner.
The Nepal Army has reportedly recommended Colonel Raju Basnet for promotion to the rank of Brigadier General. Colonel Basnet commanded the Bhairabnath Battalion in 2003, when systematic enforced disappearances and torture are alleged to have been committed by forces under his command at the battalion’s Kathmandu barracks, according to investigations by the UN and the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal (NHRC). In June 2007, Nepal ’s Supreme Court ordered an independent investigation and prosecution of these crimes. That order includes allegations that Colonel Basnet himself committed acts of torture. 
“The allegations against Colonel Basnet, his superiors, and those under his command in 2003 are very serious and backed by substantial and consistent evidence reported by the UN and Nepal’s own national human rights commission,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.  “Not only has the Nepali army refused to prosecute or dismiss officers responsible for atrocities during the civil war, it is now adding insult to injury by promoting a notorious officer to the rank of general.”
At least 13,000 people were killed in Nepal’s decade long conflict between government forces and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) combatants. The fighting ended with a 2006 peace agreement consolidating a series of committments to human rights. However, the government has yet to take steps to identify and prosecute those responsible for human rights violations during the fighting.
A May 2006 report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights alleged that the Bhairabnath Battalion was implicated in at least 49 cases of enforced disappearances and torture, and urged a full investigation.  The UN agency investigated allegations of violations by the army at the Maharajgunj barracks in Kathmandu in 2003 after hundreds of people were arrested on suspicion of being linked to the Maoists. In early 2007, an independent report by the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal echoed these findings.
On June 1, 2007, the Supreme Court ordered the executive and legislature to, as a high priority, take measures required for a full and independent inquiry as a basis for criminal investigations and prosecutions. To date however, that the government has not taken such action.
“There is strong evidence that most of those held in the Maharajgunj Barracks in 2003 and 2004 were subject to torture or other inhumane treatment,” said Polly Truscott, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director.  “This includes weeks and months, blindfolded, in secret detention, with their hands tied behind their backs.”
When OHCHR sought information about the 49 people who disappeared in army custody, the Bhairabnath battalion denied all knowledge. Officials admitted to the detention of 137 people at that time, but said that they were all either released or transferred. The 49 missing were not included in the army list. OHCHR said it had “consistent, credible and corroborated testimony of victims and witnesses” that these people were last seen in army custody at Maharajganj.
Many of those reported alive by other detainees in the Maharajgunj Barracks have not been heard from again.  Further enforced disappearances, secret detentions, torture, and other ill-treatment are credibly reported as having occurred at the Battallion’s Maharajgunj Barracks well into 2004.
“Many Nepalis had hoped the OHCHR report back in May 2006 would lead to the release of at least some of the “disappeared”,” stated Sam Zarifi, ICJ Asia-Pacific director.  “Sadly, the families suffering from these and other alleged conflict-era crimes have received little respect for their rights from either side in the conflict.  The Nepali Government needs to fulfill its duty to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for these crimes.”
International principles applicable in Nepal require the removal or suspension of those suspected   of human rights violations and crimes under international law, pending completion of full investigations, with full respect for the due process rights of the suspects. (Article 16 of the United Nations Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and Principles 3(b) and 15 respectively of the United Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions and the Principles on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment).

http://www.amnesty.org/zh-hant/node/33341

MALDIVES - The spirit of Orange Day.

Orange has always known to be a powerful color: it stimulates enthusiasm, creativity and symbolises vitality with endurance. It is also said be one of the healing colors.

So what other better color than Orange to show peoples’ solidarity in the fight to end all forms of violence, abuse and discrimination inflicted on millions of women and young girls worldwide in pandemic proportions.

Available country data reveals that up to 70 per cent of women experience physical or sexual violence from men in their lifetime – the majority by husbands, intimate partners or someone they know.

Among women aged between 15 and 44, acts of violence cause more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined.  It is one the most pervasive human rights violation that is devastating millions  lives, fractures communities, and stalls development.

The violence takes many forms and occurs in almost all places – domestic violence at  home, sexual abuse of girls in schools, sexual harassment at work, rape by husbands or strangers, in refugee camps or as a tactic of war.

The Global Unite Youth Network, a group of over 40 young activists from around the world working to end gender inequality and violence against women and girls, launched its first action on Wednesday, 25 July: UNiTE Orange Day, under the UN Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women.

MORE : http://minivannews.com/politics/the-spirit-of-orange-day-41189

INDIA - A Bhopal i Giochi "speciali" contro Union Carbide.

Non sono atleti ma bambini disabili i partecipanti alla "Bhopal Special Olympics", la manifestazione indetta dai sopravvissuti alla tragedia chimica indiana del 1984 per protestare contro la Dow Chemical, sponsor dei Giochi londinesi. L'evento è stato organizzato alla vigilia dell'inaugurazione delle Olimpiadi per sottolineare gli effetti devastanti di lungo periodo sulla popolazione indiana che vive intorno alla fabbrica. Bambini con pesanti malformazioni fisiche e mentali si sono ritrovati in un campo sportivo fangoso all'ombra dell'impianto della Union Carbide dal quale quasi 30 anni fa una fuga di gas tossico uccise 8-10mila persone nei primi 3 giorni, lasciando il terreno contaminato con gravi conseguenze per le generazioni future. La multinazionale americana Dow Chemical, che ha acquisito la Union Carbide nel 2001, ha sempre respinto ogni richiesta di ulteriori risarcimenti avanzata dalle vittime, ricordando che nel 1989 la Union Carbide pagò 470 milioni di dollari allo Stato indiano per chiudere la querelle ed eventuali costi di decontaminazione spettano a Nuova Delhi. Non sono atleti ma bambini disabili i partecipanti alla "Bhopal Special Olympics", la manifestazione indetta dai sopravvissuti alla tragedia chimica indiana del 1984 per protestare contro la Dow Chemical, sponsor dei Giochi londinesi. L'evento è stato organizzato alla vigilia dell'inaugurazione delle Olimpiadi per sottolineare gli effetti devastanti di lungo periodo sulla popolazione indiana che vive intorno alla fabbrica. Bambini con pesanti malformazioni fisiche e mentali si sono ritrovati in un campo sportivo fangoso all'ombra dell'impianto della Union Carbide dal quale quasi 30 anni fa una fuga di gas tossico uccise 8-10mila persone nei primi 3 giorni, lasciando il terreno contaminato con gravi conseguenze per le generazioni future. La multinazionale americana Dow Chemical, che ha acquisito la Union Carbide nel 2001, ha sempre respinto ogni richiesta di ulteriori risarcimenti avanzata dalle vittime, ricordando che nel 1989 la Union Carbide pagò 470 milioni di dollari allo Stato indiano per chiudere la querelle ed eventuali costi di decontaminazione spettano a Nuova Delhi.

 

Foto: http://multimedia.lastampa.it/multimedia/nel-mondo/lstp/166141/

PAKISTAN - PPP stops execution of death penalty in Sindh .

By Z Ali

Ayaz Soomro, announced that there will be no execution of death penalties in the province’s prisons. PHOTO: APP/FILE 

HYDERABAD:  The Sindh law and prisons minister, Ayaz Soomro, announced that there will be no execution of death penalties in the province’s prisons at least until the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government completes its term in March, 2013.

The minister made this categorical statement on Wednesday at a press conference in the DIG Prisons office.

A de facto moratorium on capital punishment has been in place since 2008 when the PPP assumed power. However, Soomro’s statement came as a reassurance for the concerns voiced during a recent European Union (EU) delegation visit which expected legal cover against the death penalty.

Pakistan has been struggling to win the Generalised System of Preferences Plus status, known as GSP Plus, from the EU which allows developing countries to export duty-free goods to members of the EU from 2014.

Jean Lambert, during his visit to Islamabad last week with the EU delegation, made it clear that the GSP Plus was also a human rights instrument in addition to trade.

Soomro said that President Asif Ali Zardari had sought recommendations from all the departments of law on the issue of death penalty. “We [Sindh province] suggested that the death penalty should be converted into life imprisonment.”

According to him, hundreds of death row inmates await appeals against their conviction which have been pending hearing in the higher courts. In his oblique criticism of the judiciary, Soomro advised the judges to not only take up the high-profile political cases but also pay attention to those cases which deal with prisoners who have been languishing in jail without conviction.

Central Jail riots

The minister condemned the July 13 violence, during which an under-trial prisoner was killed and dozens were injured. But he stuck to the version of the jail police who hold the inmates responsible. “I endorse the assertion of DIG Jails [Gulzar Channa] that the prisoners had attempted a jailbreak otherwise why would they try to break the walls with hammers, shovels and other tools.”

Nevertheless, as a tacit acknowledgement of the wardens’ role in triggering the riots, Soomro said that an inquiry of the head constables and Chakkar Amaldar was being carried out. “They will face disciplinary action if they are found guilty.”

The truth behind the violent incident remains elusive as both the sides, prisoners and police, blame each other. Rumours surfaced that a fight broke out when a contractor refused to pay wage to a prisoner who was doing construction work.

There were also accusations that the situation boiled up when the prisoner Sajid Khaskheli was killed.

A judicial inquiry into the jail incident, ordered by the Sindh High Court, was concluded but findings have not been made public so far.

Local Government

According to Soomro, the coalition partners have agreed on a system under which metropolitan corporations, headed by the mayors and deputy mayors, will function in Sindh.

They will be based in the four divisions – Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana. “We [PPP] are still hearing out the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s point of view and they are listening to ours.” He reiterated his criticism over the 2001 LG system, attributing it to a “military dictator who spent billions of rupees to invent failed system of governance”.

 http://tribune.com.pk/story/412956/ppp-stops-execution-of-death-penalty-in-sindh/

SRI LANKA - Time to End Arbitrary Detention.

Right now, hundreds of people are languishing in detention in Sri Lanka.  They haven’t been convicted of any crime; indeed, they haven’t even been charged with any crime.  Their detentions violate international law.  Many of them are tortured while in custody.  Some detainees have been killed.

More than three years after the end of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war, security laws enacted to combat armed opposition groups continue to be used against outspoken, peaceful critics, including journalists, and others.

No one has been held accountable for these crimes. Impunity for human rights violations is the norm in Sri Lanka.

MORE: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/asia/time-to-end-arbitrary-detention-in-sri-lanka/