AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL-Public Statement

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Public Statement

AI Index: AFR 01/008/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 221
14 November 2007


The African Commission: Amnesty International's oral statement on internally displaced persons
Amnesty International welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Africa and would like to thank him for the important work he is carrying out and encourage him to continue to do so.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of our recent findings pertinent to the mandate of the Special Rapporteur.

Chad

According to recent United Nations estimates, 170,000 Chadians have been forcibly displaced within their own country due to the ongoing armed conflict. In addition, over 30,000 Chadians have sought refuge in Sudan. The internal displacement in Chad has occurred within the context of an existing humanitarian emergency created by the influxes since 2003 of more than 240, 000 Sudanese refugees into the eastern region of Chad .

Women and girls who are able to flee often lose everything -- their homes, crops and sometimes even their husbands, older relatives and children. Living for the most part in IDP sites they are depending, for their survival, on the humanitarian aid they receive. Their precarious new environment offers them little security -- indeed many are at risk of rape and similar such assaults, specifically outside the IDP sites when they go out to find firewood and other resources for their families. The alleged perpetrators of these abuses include all the armed elements operating in eastern Chad, namely Chadian and Sudanese armed opposition movements, the Sudanese militia known as the Janjawid from Darfur, and members of the Chadian national army.

In June 2007, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that in IDP sites the mortality rate was double the emergency threshold and that almost one child in five was suffering from acute malnutrition. At around the same time, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that, given the poor quality of shelter and lack of access to clean water, there was a serious risk of malaria and diarrhea epidemics.

Central African Republic (CAR)

There has been mass displacement of the population in northern Central African Republic (CAR). Tens of thousands of northern CAR citizens have fled to neighboring countries, and several hundred thousand others have been internally displaced as a result of the insecurity prevailing in the region. The people are fleeing from the armed conflict between government forces and armed political groups, as well as from armed bandits who abduct mainly children for ransom.

More than 50,000 people have fled to southern Chad and over 26,000 have crossed to Cameroon, while several thousand have fled from north-eastern CAR to Sudan. The refugees in southern Chad have limited access to healthcare and other humanitarian assistance. During their visit to refugee camps in southern Chad in May 2007, Amnesty International delegates learned that refugees were receiving only 8.4kg of maize meal flour, a few hundred grams of salt and a cupful of oil per month per person from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In many cases, refugees had to sell some of their meager supply of maize meal flour to buy vegetables to eat with the maize meal. By the start of August 2007, CAR refugees in Cameroon had no access to humanitarian assistance and were largely surviving on assistance provided by the local Cameroonian population and by selling the animals they had been able to flee with.

Over 200,000 people are internally displaced in northern CAR. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) have had to abandon their homes, food reserves and other property, which are often looted or destroyed by government soldiers, armed groups or armed bandits. The displaced people have limited access to humanitarian assistance, and succumb to exposure and lack of medical care when they try to survive in the wild.

Sudan

IDPs
In Darfur the number of IDPs continues to increase -- from the beginning of the year till the end of August 250,000 people were displaced, some for a second, third or fourth time. The Sudanese Armed Forces continues to bomb and attack civilian areas. In May and June 2007 more than 2,500 people made a 10-day trek to the Central African Republic after the government and Janjawid attacked Daffaq in South Darfur. Civilians are also displaced in attacks by the fragmented armed opposition groups on each other and also in those caused by internal fighting between different ethnic groups. Some of the worst ethnic fighting has been between Arab groups, such as the northern Rizeigat and the Tarjem, who have joined the Janjawid and been heavily armed and incorporated into paramilitary forces by the government. Darfur has become awash with arms from government and other sources and with the fragmentation of armed opposition groups, often into factions based on ethnic groups, the IDP camps are becoming militarized and divided and increasingly dangerous.

Refugees
Hundreds of Ethiopian refugees, some with refugee status confirmed by UNHCR, were rounded up in Sudan during June and July. Some had lived as refugees in Sudan since the 1970s; others arrived more recently, during the 1990s. In Ethiopia they were in danger of detention and torture; nevertheless, at least 15 of those detained in Sudan were forcibly returned to Ethiopia in September. Those forcibly returned were reportedly handed into the custody of Ethiopian security personnel and their present whereabouts are unknown.

One of those who was handed to Ethiopian security forces was Atanaw Wasie, aged 74, who suffers from chronic asthma. Atanaw Wasie was a political opponent of the Dergue who has lived in Sudan for more than 20 years. He was arrested in July in the town of Gedaref in Sudan, and forcibly returned from Sudan on 27 September. His family has searched for him and requested information on his whereabouts from the Ethiopian authorities without success. On 11 October UNHCR condemned the deportation of 15 Ethiopian refugees, and said that Khartoum had not responded to its requests for information.

The above highlighted cases require a strong and effective legal framework and implementation mechanism to ensure that governments and other members of the international community take seriously their obligations towards refugees and IDPs. Amnesty international therefore urges the African Commission to support the adoption of a new regional legal framework focusing on the rights of IDPs, based on the Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement which have already been endorsed by the African Commission.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL-Public Statement

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement

AI Index: AFR 01/007/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 221
14 November 2007


The African Commission: Amnesty International's oral statement on human rights defenders
Amnesty International is concerned about the continuing harassment, intimidation, torture and even extra-judicial killings of human rights defenders across Africa.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, it has become increasingly difficult over the past months, in particular in the East of the country, for human rights defenders to carry out their legitimate work due to threats and harassment from local authorities and from armed groups.

In Egypt, human rights organisations have been operating under the restrictive Law 84 of 2002 on associations. Many of them have been refused registration by the Ministry of Social Solidarity citing "security reasons" and lodged sometimes successfully legal proceedings before the administrative court to appeal such decision. Those whose applications are rejected and who continue to operate live in constant threat of prosecution and closure. Such restrictive measures led to the closure of the Centre for Trade Union and Workers' Services in April 2007 and the Association for Human Rights and Legal Aid in September 2007. The attack against these two leading organisations appears to be linked to their work in support of workers' rights and of victims of torture and their families. Such worrying developments happen at a time when Egyptian human rights organisations await amendments to the already restrictive Law 84 of 2002 on associations amongst fears that the authorities are seeking to further restrict and control their activities through increased administrative measures, purportedly for security reasons.

In Ethiopia, Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie are the two remaining defendants in the trial of the opposition political leaders, journalists and human rights defenders that followed the 2005 elections. They were arrested by police on 1 November 2005 and charged with "outrages against the Constitution". Both Daniel Bekele, policy manager of ActionAid in Ethiopia, and Netsanet Demissie, founder and director of the Organization of Social Justice, are human rights defenders and legal professionals who have been active in Ethiopian civil society. They have denied the charges against them, and said they had no connection with the political opposition. Amnesty International regards them as prisoners of conscience -- people who have not used or advocated violence. The verdict in their trial is due to be announced before the end of November and Amnesty International has called for their immediate and unconditional release.

In the Gambia, two Amnesty International staff members and Gambian journalist Yahya Dampha were arrested on 6 October 2007. They were released from police detention on 8 October with passports held and on the condition that they report back to the police each day until they were unconditionally released on 12 October. Amnesty International has received a formal apology from the Attorney General of The Gambia. However, soon after the Amnesty International staff left the country reports that Gambia's National Intelligence Agency were looking for Yahya Dampha forced him into hiding. Although Yahya Dampha is for the moment safe it is impossible for him to do his work and he fears for himself and his family. The arbitrary nature of the arrest highlights the challenges human rights defenders face in the Gambia and that result is a situation where human rights defenders live in fear for their life, security and freedom.

In Rwanda, long-standing human rights defender Francois-Xavier Byuma was sentenced to 19 years' imprisonment on 27 May 2007, after an unfair trial by the gacaca community court in the Bilyogo sector of Kigali. Turengere Abana, the organisation François-Xavier Byuma chairs, had looked into allegations that the judge presiding over the trial had raped a young girl. The judge therefore had a clear conflict of interest in the trial. The Appeal court decided on 18 August 2007 that the first instance verdict should stand, and the sentence of 19 years' imprisonment would remain. The court did not motivate its verdict, and gave no explanation on whether it had considered the question of impartiality of the judge in first instance. This failure by the court amounts to a gross miscarriage of justice. Amnesty International has called for a review of this case in line with international standards of fair trial.

In Somalia, Ahmed Mohamed Ali "Kiimiko" and Zakaria Mohammed Sheikh Yusuf, respectively the Chairperson and Legal Advisor of the Somali Human Rights Defenders Network (SOHRIDEN), have been investigating, documenting and reporting human rights violations and using advocacy to achieve change and respect for human rights. In recent months, both have received concrete and repeated death threats from opposition armed groups and unknown individuals, and threats and harassment from security forces of the Transitional Federal Government. These threats and attacks on their colleagues forced them to flee their country in October 2007. Amnesty International has urged all parties in the Somali conflict to end the attacks on human rights defenders and respect their work to uphold human rights.

In Zimbabwe, women human rights defenders are suffering increasing repression as they mobilise to confront the government in the face of a spiralling economic and social rights crisis. Many of these women reported being subjected to beatings and other ill-treatment while in police custody, in some cases amounting to torture. Much of the abuse has included sexist verbal abuse and derogatory accusations aimed at discrediting their character and work. Some have been detained with their children or while pregnant in deplorable conditions falling far below international human rights standards. Amnesty International has stressed that the international community must publicly condemn violations of human rights by the government of Zimbabwe, including organised violence by state actors, torture and ill-treatment, and more broadly the denial of human rights of women human rights defenders.

The above highlighted cases are but a few examples of the continuing violations of the human rights of human rights defenders in many parts of Africa. Attacks against human rights defenders violate the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and international human rights standards guaranteeing the rights to freedom of association and assembly and the rights to freedom of expression among others. According to the Kigali Declaration adopted by the African Union (AU) Ministerial Conference on Human Rights in May 2003, African governments must "take appropriate steps to implement the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in Africa."

Amnesty International calls on the African Commission to request its Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders to investigate the cases mentioned above and to report back to the Commission at its 43rd ordinary session on the steps the governments are taking to stop the abuses and on effective remedies provided to the victims.

We also call on the African Commission to adopt a resolution condemning attacks against human rights defenders in Africa and calling for the domestication and full implementation of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in Africa.