English
ItalianoCampaigning for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, Democracy, the Rule of Law and International Justice
26 Nov 2014 - NPWJ News Digest on international criminal justice
Articles
UN: Nearly half of Syria population needs aid
By Al Jazeera, 26 Nov 2014
More than 12 million Syrians need assistance because of increasing violence and deteriorating conditions in the country, up from 10.8 million in July, UN Humanitarian chief has said. Half of the country's 22 million population have fled their homes with more than seven million displaced internaly and three millions crossing over to neighbouring countries. "This is the largest number of people displaced from conflict in the world," Valerie Amos, the UN chief, said on Tuesday. Speaking at the UN Security Council, Amos painted a grim picture of the situation with economy contracting by 40 percent since the start of the conflict, three quarters of the population living in poverty and a 50 percent drop in school attendance. But Amos told the Council that the delivery of aid from Turkey and Jordan to rebel-held areas in the war-torn country without the government approval was making a difference. She urged the council to extend the authorisation for cross-border aid, which expires in January. "I hope that this council will renew the provisions in resolution 2165," Amos said. Government airstrikes. A UN report this month said that ten requests by the World Health Organization to deliver aid since October had gone unanswered by the Bashar al-Assad government. Also on Tuesday, Syrian government air strikes on the ISIL-held city of Raqqa killed at least 90 people, activists have said. About 125 more people were reported to have been injured in the air raids, which targeted a number of residential districts in the northern city. The majority of the dead and injured are believed to be civilians, including women and children.
Read More
Hong Kong protests: Policemen arrested over beating
By BBC News, 26 Nov 2014
Seven Hong Kong policemen have been arrested in connection with the beating of a pro-democracy protester. A police statement said the officers, who had already been suspended, were detained on suspicion of "assault resulting in grievous body harm". The incident took place on 15 October amid clashes while police cleared an underpass by the Admiralty camp. Civic Party protester Ken Tsang was filmed being led away in handcuffs and beaten for several minutes. Local TV network TVB later aired footage of his assault, and Mr Tsang's lawyer said that the beatings had continued after he was taken to a police station. The authorities immediately moved to suspend the officers and launched an investigation shortly after the clip was aired.On Wednesday, a police spokesman said they had not delayed investigations into the case, and that Mr Tsang had promised to show up to identify his assailants, but failed to do so. The spokesman called on Mr Tsang to "assist the police in investigations as soon as possible". The police also rejected previous criticism of their handling of the case, saying that their investigations had consistently followed the procedures for complaints against police officers. "If any other officer is suspected of illegal behaviour, the police will investigate impartially and not show favouritism," said the spokesman. Police used pepper spray and batons on 15 October to remove protesters from Lung Wo Road, arresting 45 people who had resisted the action.
Read More
Turkmenistan: The Dozens of ‘Disappeared’
By Human Rights Watch, 26 Nov 2014
Dozens of people have been forcibly disappeared in Turkmenistan, some for more than a decade, Human Rights Watch said in a video released today. The government of Turkmenistan should immediately inform the relatives of the disappeared of their fate and whereabouts and allow them access to their loved ones. Many of the disappeared were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in connection with the alleged assassination attempt against then-President Saparmurat Niyazov on November 25, 2002. “It’s been 12 years of silence and repression,” said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Turkmen government needs to come clean about where these people are and indeed whether they are dead or alive.” In the video, Sapar Yklymov tells Human Rights Watch that he has had no news whatsoever of his three brothers since their arrest shortly after the November 25, 2002 incident. His brothers, Yklym, Aman, and Oraz, were sentenced, respectively, to life, 20 years, and 19 years in prison following show trials at which they had no effective legal representation. “I need to know where my husband is,” Tatyana Shikmuradova says in the video. Her husband, former Turkmen Foreign Minister Boris Shikhmuradov, was arrested, tried, and sentenced to 25 years in prison in a five-day span in December 2002 in connection with the November 25 events. Despite her many letters to the Turkmen authorities, Shikhmuradova has received no information about her husband and has never been permitted to correspond with or visit him. Others forcibly disappeared after their arrest in connection with the 2002 events include Tagandurdy Khallyev, the former speaker of parliament and dean of Turkmenistan’s main law school, and Batyr Berdyev, the former ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Both were arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Families of the disappeared have had no official information about the fate, whereabouts, or health of their loved ones since their arrest and trial. The authorities have allowed neither correspondence nor visits. The international Prove They Are Alive! campaign, initiated by human rights groups including Human Rights Watch, has documented how, in a form of collective punishment, the authorities have arrested the relatives of several of the disappeared prisoners, had them fired from jobs, confiscated their property, or denied them permission to travel abroad.
Read More
U.N. Report Shows an Increase in Trafficking of Children
By The New York Times, 24 Nov 2014
One in three human trafficking victims is a child, most victims are female, and traffickers operate with wide impunity, the United Nations said Monday in a report on modern-day slavery. The 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, produced by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, also found that the proportion of children among victims appeared to be rising. Its first report, in 2012, said the proportion had been closer to one in four. In some regions, like Africa and the Middle East, the new report said, two out of three victims are children. The office, based in Vienna, was authorized by the General Assembly in 2010 to collect information and publish a global report on trafficking every two years. Other indicators in the 2014 report pointed to growth in the buying and selling of humans despite laws passed in an increasing number of countries to toughen penalties. The report was issued against the backdrop of resilient rage over child trafficking, fueled by the mass abduction of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls seven months ago by Islamist militants, who brazenly declared they had sold the girls as slaves and brides in forced marriages. The militant group, Boko Haram, showed further contempt for the international anger over the mass abduction by seizing more young women last month. While sexual exploitation remains the predominant reason for trafficking, victims are also increasingly being used for forced labor, the United Nations report said.