This page is maintained by Margarita
Lacabe. Last updated Sept. 15, 1996.
Sept. 9
(AFP) - Romania - The Romanian constitutional court cleared for the way
for former president Ion Iliescu to run for office for a third time.
The Civic Alliance and the League for the Defence of Human Rights,
together with Doina Cornea, a well-known dissident, had objected to
Iliescu's possible candidacy because the Constitution only provides for
a president to serve twice. However, the court found that the
constitution only applied to things that occured after it was
implemented in 1991.
(FDCH) - USA - Text of Clinton's statement when he presented the USA's
highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Ginetta
Sagan, who founded many chapters of Amnesty International and has been
active on behalf of human rights since she was imprisoned and totured in
Italy during World War II:
"Gianetta Sagan's name is synonymous with the fight for human
rights around the world. In World War II she paid dearly for her
dedication to the cause of freedom.
For more than a year she was imprisoned and tortured but not
broken. Instead, she devoted her life after the war to saving others
from the ordeal she had endured.
Through her tireless work with Amnesty International and her
own Aurora Foundation, she has drawn the world's attention to the plight
of prisoners of conscience and to their families.
Amnesty International has created a fund named in her honor
designed to help stop torture, and especially to stop the persecution of
women and their children.
She represents to all the triumph of the human spirit over
tyranny"
Ginetta Sagan. Ginetta Sagan has devoted her life to fighting
for the freedom of political prisoners around the world. As a young
woman in her native Italy she led hundreds of World War II refugees to
the safety of Switzerland, only to be imprisoned and tortured by
Mussolini's Black Brigade.
After a daring rescue she made her way to the United States
where she founded the first West Coast Chapter of Amnesty International
and helped build the organization into an international force on behalf
of prisoners of conscience.
For her courage in speaking out on behalf of those wrongly
imprisoned, Ginetta Sagan has earned an honored place in the hearts of
all who love liberty.
(APPLAUSE)"
(Reuters) - Peru - President Albert Fujimori announced today that he
would release 25 people next month who were falsely convicted of
terrorism. The government has admitted that up to 400 people have been
wrongly jailed, while local human rights groups such as the National
Coordinator of Human Rights put the number closer to 1,000. Human
rights groups note that most of the convictions were obtained at secret
trials using information and confessions obtained under torture and
without the possibility of a fair defense.
(Reuters) - Nigeria - A Commonwealth delegation began discussions with
the Nigerian government to allow an investigation into human rights and
the government's progress back to civilian rule. The only member of the
Commonwealth to impose sanctions as a result of the execution of Ogoni
activists, including Ken Saro-Wiwa, is Canada. Nigeria responded by
closing its embassy in Canada while claiming it was closed for economic
reasons.
(UPI) - Honduras - A human rights group said it will file criminal
charges against the commander-in-chief of the armed forces for covering
up for military personnel who are wanted in civilian courts. Although
22 members of the military have been charged with human rights
violations in the 1980s, only one has appeared before a judge.
(The Independent) - China - China has blocked access to hundreds of
Internet sites that it has deemed politically unacceptable. Sites
blocked include The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street
Journal, Amnesty International, Tibetan independence sites, and
Taiwanese and Hong Kong political associations.
(Dayton Daily News) - USA - Carol Mosely-Braun, the only African
American in the US Senate, has upset Nigerian and human rights activists
by a friendly four-day trip she made to Nigeria. During her stay in
Nigeria, she hobnobbed with General Sani Abacha, the man most
responsible for serious human rights abuses in Nigeria. She met with no
opposition or human rights leaders and when she traveled to Ogoniland,
home of Ken Saro-Wiwa, it was with the military, including the governor,
who supervised the execution of eight Ogoni activists. The trip was
condemned by Jesse Jackson, Randall Robinson, the head of TransAfrica,
and her own chief of staff, who quit over the trip. She insisted that
the trip was to pay condolences to Mrs. Abacha, who recently lost a
son. However, she didn't call on any of the families of the eight Ogoni
activists who were executed or jailed president Mashood Abiola, whose
wife was assassinated.
(CTK) - Slovakia - The Slovak Workers' Party (ZRS) and the Slovak
National Party (SNS), its coalition partner will support the
reintroduction of the death penalty in Slovakia, which had been
abolished in the former Czechoslovakia in 1989 after the collapse of the
Soviet Union. According to Miklos Duray, of the parliamentary Hungarian
Coalition, stated that Slovakia would have to leave the Council of
Europe and cancel its signature on the European Convention on Human
Rights if the death penalty was reintroduced.
(BBC) - Turkey - Human rights activists Akin Birdal and Ihsan Arslan
were released from jail today after being arrested for their attempts to
negotiate the release of Turkish soldiers from Kurdish rebels.
(BBC) - Palestine - The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the
Red Cross signed a memorandum of understand that calls for the two
organizations to cooperate in the sphere of human rights. Dr Nabil
Sha'th, Palestinian minister of planning and international cooperation,
said that the memorandum would help the PNA comply with international
human rights agreements.
(AFP) - Turkey - The European Commission of Human Rights agreed to hear
Kurdish allegations that Turkish soldiers burned down their village in
pursuit of Kurdish militants. According to the petitioners, Turkish
soldiers ordered the mayor to evacuate the town of Kelelkci in November
1992 and burned down nine houses. In April 1993, the soldiers returned
and burned the rest of the village.
Sept. 10
(Reuters) - Romania - Yesterday, Sept. 9, 1996, the Romanian parliament
confirmed homosexuality as a crime, despite please from European human
rights groups. Homosexual acts are now punishable by up to three years
in jail and up to five years if the act is committed in public. The
vote of 174 to 39 followed a heated debate. The Council of Europe has
made the removal of anti-homosexual laws one of its conditions for
Romanis to join the group of Western parliamentary democracies.
(Reuters) - USA/Peru - The US government ceased extradition proceedings
against Julian Salazar Calero, after the Peruvian government failed to
provide sufficient evidence against him. Salazar was alleged to be a
member of Shining Path, an armed opposition group in Peru. He denies
being a member of Shining Path and has requested political asylum in the
US. According to Michael Deutsch, legal director for the Centre of
Constitutional Rights, Salazar was detained when he sought asylum on May
30.
(Reuters) - USA/Burma - George David, the president of United
Technologies Corp. said yesterday that he was willing to invest in Burma
despite the US government's threat of economic sanctions against Burma
for its abuse of human rights. While he said that he personally and the
company agree with the human rights agenda, he did not believe that
sanctions were the way to bring about change.
(Reuters) - India - The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) accused
the government of the state of Jammu and Kashmir of covering up human
rights abuses by security forces. The NHRC was created by the Indian
government to address human rights concerns and under pressure from
Western nations.
(Reuters) - Hong Kong - The United Nations announced Tuesday, Sept. 10,
that it will send experts to Hong Kong to study how human rights can be
ensured after China regains control of Hong Kong in July 1997. U.N.
Human Rights Committee chairman Francisco Aguilar of Costa Rica and
Prasullachandra Bhagwati, a former chief justice of India, will leave
for Hong Kong at the end of September.
(Reuters) - Brazil - Nobel Peace Prize recipient Adolfo Perez Esquivel
joined the cause on behalf of millions of landless Brazilians by
supporting the invasion of large estates by peasants. Perez Esquivel
was visiting Brazil as president of the Service for Peace and Justice.
(IPS) - Caribbean - Leston Harewood and Vincent Murrell, who were
scheduled to die this morning, received a delay in their execution just
10 hours before they were to be killed. The government of Barbados was
forced to delay the execution pending a challenge to the
constitutionality of the hangings. Both were convicted of murder.
(GNS) - USA - The US Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill that would
deny homosexual partners to legally marry. President Clinton has
promised to sign the bill. Although no US state officially recognizes
same sex marriages, a ruling expected soon in Hawaii is expected to make
same sex marriages legal there.
Sept. 11
(Reuters) - Morocco - A spokesman for the Avant-Garde Democratic and
Socialist Party (PADS) reported that five of its members were arrested
while campaigning for a boycott of Friday's vote on constitutional
reforms near Casablanca. The party identified those arrested as as
Abdellatif Belahacen, Abdelghani Arif, Lahbib Assal, Ahmed Joudar and
Mustapha Jouabri. The Moroccan Human Rights Association reported that
six other PADS party members were arrested over the weekend in Sale, and
two others were arrested in Berkan. The Moroccan Human Rights
Association also reported that these eight were released without
explanation.
(Reuters) - Ivory Coast - La Voie reported that the Ivorian Human
Rights League has issued a criticism of a draft law that would broaden
security forces' ability to search houses.
(UPI) - El Salvador - The US denial of a visa to Salvadoran
Congresswoman Maria Marta Valladares has raised a protest from the
Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). Valladares has been
issued visas twice previously and was scheduled to attend a political
convention in New York. The visa was reportedly denied because of her
history as a guerilla leader from 1980 to 1992.
(Reuters) - Croatia - Dr. William Haglund and his team from Physicians
for Human Rights have exhumed the first body from a suspected mass grave
site in Serb-held eastern Croatia. This is the first of what is
expected to be 260 bodies. Haglund and his team are of the investigate
arm of the War Crimes Tribunal. The bodies in the mass grave near the
tiny village of Ovcara just outside Vukovar are believed to be non-Serb
civilians massacred by Yugoslav National Army (JNA) officers after they
took Vukovar in November 1991. The War Crimes Tribunal has indicted
three JNA members for their role in the massacre but Yugoslavia has
refused to hand them over.
Sept. 12
(Reuters) - Uzbekistan - For the first time, state-controlled radio
broadcast a ground-breaking interview with well-known dissident
Abdulmanob Pulatov, who took the opportunity to discuss human rights
problems in Uzbekistan. President Islam Karimov has stated that he is
committed to human rights. In the interview, Pulatov stated that there
is no freedom of the press or speech, but he believed that progress had
been made in other areas. He also stated his desire that 27 prisoners
be recognized as political prisoners without giving any details of the
cases.
(DPA) - Brazil - The state human rights commission, with support from
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, awarded about $100,000 (US) to the
families of Carlos Marighela and Carlos Lamarca, who died in police
custody in 1969 and 1972, respectively.
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe - Five convicted murdered were hanged on Friday,
bringing the number of executions this year to seven. According to
Sheriff Beatrice Donzwa, Bongani Serengwani Sithole, Smile Nkomo,
Charles Gijima Munyengwi, Emmanuel Ncube and Peter Kuyeri were hanged at
dawn.
Sept. 13
(AFP) - Guatemala - Two peasants who were convicted of raping and
killing a four-year-old girl in 1993 were executed today. Roberto
Giron, 49, and Pedro Castillo, 39, were lined up against a wall at
Canada prison near the city of Escuintla. According to a doctor on the
scene, the firing squad botched the execution and the chief of the
firing squad finished the men off with a shot at close range. The
execution, witnessed by Judge Gustavo Gaitan and about 150 journalists,
was originally scheduled for July 23 but had been delayed by appeals to
the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.
(AFP) - Asia - The ASEAN-US Business Council warned that economic
sanctions are not effective in improving human rights in Southeast Asian
countries. According to President of United Technologies Corporation,
George David, and chairman of Malaysia's Petronas, Azizan Zainal Abidin,
human rights concerns are best handled through diplomatic and bilateral
channels.
(AFP) - Indonesia - Defence Minister Edi Sudrajat has accepted that an
inquiry is possible into the September 12, 1984, massacre in the
northern Jakarta port district of Tanjung Priok. Goevrnment officials
put the death toll at 30 while others have estimated more than 100. In
an unrelated item, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and
Pacific Affairs, Winston Lord, met with government and independent
groups to discuss human rights and especially the events surrounding
rioting on July 27, 1996, in which 5 people were killed and 74 are
missing. The rioting has been followed by a crackdown on government
critics.
(AFP) - India - Six policemen were sentenced to death in Bihar for
murdering a businessman and two of his staff in the city of Ranchi in
1993. Police in Bihar, one of India's high-crime states, are often
accused of human rights abuses.
(The Times) - Brazil - Former bishop of Nova Iguacu, Monsignor Adriano
Hypolito, died on August 10 at the age of 78. His beliefs in liberation
theology led him to conflicts with the Catholic Church and the military
dictatorship that ruled Brazil for 20 years. A constant critic of the
dictatorship that brought him death threats, Monsignor Adriano Hypolito
was also a vociferous supporter of human rights and social justice.
(City News Service) - Philippines/USA - A class action suit was filed
in Los Angeles federal court to prevent assets from Ferdinand Marcos'
estate from being given to the Philippines government. The suit was
filed on behalf of 9,500 victims of human rights abuses who were awarded
$2 billion in 1994 after winning a class-action human rights lawsuit.
Two Swiss banks hold $500 million for Marcos estate, but the Philippines
government has also laid claim to the assets.
(IPS) - Southeast Asia - Raja Aziz Addrusse, president of the National
Human Rights Society of Malaysia, said in an interview that a regional
human rights watchdog is needed for Southeast Asia. Marzuki Darusman,
vice chair of Indonesia's human rights commission, and Dr. Mustafa Anuar
of the Malaysian social reform group AlIran agree that it is a good idea
and are trying to gain the attention of ASEAN, the Association of
SouthEast Asian Nations.
(Kyodo News Service) - Japan - Thirteen groups in Matsuyama sent a
letter to a local court on Friday censuring it for not providing
translation of the reasons it gave a prison term to a Thai woman.
Keawprapa Supaporn, convicted of murdering a woman in 1989, was provided
a translation of the announcement of her eight-year prison term but the
reasons for the sentence. The groups called the lack of translation a
violation of an international covenant on human rights.
(Reuters) - Canada - A Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled today that
companies do not have to provide pension benefits to partners of
homosexuals. However, the Tribunal urged the Canadian government to
change the law so that partners of homosexuals could receive benefits in
the same way that heterosexual currently receive pension benefits.
(Reuters) - Bulgaria - The Bulgarian government denied accusations made
by Human Rights Watch that it uses arbritary arrests and violence
against street children, who are mostly of Roma (Gypsy) origin. About
14,000 children are estimated to be living on the streets.
(Reuters) - China - The Inter-Parliamentary Union will hold a rare open
debate on human rights at its conference next week (Sept. 16-20).
According to Dr. Ahmed Fathy Sorour, more than 600 participants will
gather in Beijing human rights, food issues, and other international
matters.
(Reuters) - Colombia - Colombia was elected as a member of the UN Human
Rights Committee, although it has one of the worst human rights records
in the Americas. The Committee oversees goverment reports required
under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and has
significantly less power than the UN Human Rights Commission. Last
month, Colombia agreed to allow UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Jose Ayala-Lasso to open a permanent office to monitor human rights
within Colombia.
(USA Today) - Argentina - USA Today founder Al Neuharth discussed the
results of a Gallup poll in Argentina that showed the people trust the
media more than the church. At a Latin America media conference
sponsored by the Freedom Forum, he found that most journalists thought
the reason for this low regard for the church was because of its silence
(ed. note: and complicity) on human rights and democracy during
Argentina's dictatorship and "Dirty War" from 1976 to 1983.
Sept. 14
(AFP) - England - Hundreds of opponents of British laws that forbid
some sexual acts between consenting adults marched through London as
part of a third annual Sado-Masochism Parade. In 1990, three British
men were sentenced to jail after engaging in "illegal" consensual
sado-masochistic acts. The European Court of Human Rights is expected
to rule in October on the prison terms. Police raids of
sado-masochistic clubs have resulted in sixteen people being sentenced
to up to two years in prison.
(Guardian) - Australia - The Australian government's refusal to commit
to international human rights standards is threatening a plan for trade
and cooperation between the European Union and Australia. Opposition
and human rights groups have suggested that Australia's reluctance may
be due in part to its growing ties to countries with significant human
rights abuses, such as Indonesia.
(Indigo Pub.) - South Africa - European Union officials inaugurated the
European Union Foundation for Human Rights in Johannesburg on Sept. 10.
The Foundation's goals are to monitor official commission on human
rights, sexual equality, land reform, and the South Africa's auditor
general, promote non-governmental organization that work on those
issues, and improve access to justice and information in poor
communities. Frenchman Nicolas Marcoux heads the foundation.
(Reuters) - Israel - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of
Human Rights and the Environment reported that the Israeli government
will demolish the homes of 12 Palestinian families because the houses
were built without permits in the West Bank outskirts of Jerusalem.
Since signing the Oslo accord with the Palestinian Liberation
Organization in 1993, Israel has demolished 120 homes in the West Bank
and East Jerusalem.
(Reuters) - Sri Lanka - Joseph Pararajasingham, parliamentary leader of
the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), called on President Chandrika
Kumaratunga to implement the government's pledge to respect human
rights. In a letter to the President, he noted that an 18-year-old
Tamil girl, and her family who inquired as to her whereabouts after she
"disappeared," have been missing for more than a week in the northern
Jaffna town of Kaithady .
(San Diego Union Tribune) - Mexico - Tijuana residents are flocking to
the Cultural Center to see an exhibit featuring a a knee splitter,
branding irons and spiked interrogation chairs. The exhibit, entitled
"European Instruments of Torture and Capital Punishment," came to
Tijuana because of the efforts of Baja California human rights activist
Jose Luis Perez Canchola. Many of the exhibits dated back to the
Inquisition, when the Roman Catholic Church persecuted suspected
heretics. The exhibition has been in 33 cities since 1983 and was
brought to Mexico at the request of the Mexican Academy for Human
Rights. Entrance fees help pay for the exhibit and for human rights
lectures, films, and workshops for children that accompany the workshop.
(Tass) - Uzbekistan - A three-day international conference on human
rights attended by representatives from Russia, USA, Denmark, Latvia,
Lithuania, and the Netherlands, and international organizations ended
today in Tashkent.
(UPI) - Peru - U.N. special adviser on justice Dato'Param Cumaraswamy
said Saturday Sept. 14 that Peru's use of "faceless" tribunals should be
discontinued because of abuses. Cumaraswamy was on a fact-finding
mission in Peru to review the country's legal system. A report to the
UN Human Rights Commission is expected next year. Facless tribunals
were established in Peru in 1992 because judges were the targets of
assassinations by Shining Path, an armed opposition group. According to
Cumaraswamy, the tribunals deny due process to those charged and result
in innocent people being sentenced to jail terms of at least 20 years.
Cumaraswamy travels to Colombia on Sunday, Sept. 15.
(Reuters) - France - French President Jacques Chirac met with Liu
Huaqing, vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission today
despite misgivings about China's human rights record. Like many
governments, France appears willing to soft pedal human rights in hopes
of greater economic trade with China. A visit by Chinese Prime Minister
Li Peng in April 1996 was met by human rights protests.
Sept. 15
(NYT) - Chile - General Cesar Mendoza, one of the four commanders led
by Augusto Pinochet who overthrew Salvador Allende from power on Sept.
11, 1973, died Friday Sept. 13. Mendoza was forced to resign in 1985
when several of the men he commanded were implicated in the
assassination of three Communist Party members.
(WP) - Calif., USA - The Argentine government settled a lawsuit brought
by Jose Siderman in order to avoid being brought to trial in the US for
human rights abuses committed during the "Dirty War." Although details
of the settlement were not released, it is estimated to be in the
millions.
EDITOR'S NOTE: _The Flight_ by Horacio Verbitsky is now available in
English. This book, which has been a bestseller in Argentina, details
how the Argentine Navy killed many of those who disappeared. Verbitsky
wrote the book after a series of interviews with former Navy captain
Adolfo Scilingo. Scilingo shocked the Argentine military when he became
the first soldier to break its code of silence and detailed how
prisoners were drugged and thrown out of planes into the ocean. His
revelations gained worldwide attention, including an interview on the US
news program _60 Minutes_, and brought back painful memories for
Argentina.
Copyright 1996 Michael Katz-Lacabe and Margarita Lacabe. This
information may be freely distributed (and we encourage you to pass it
along) so long as it remains intact.
AFP - Agence France Presse
AI - Amnesty International
AP - Associated Press
BBC - British Broadcasting Company
CTK - Czech News Agency
DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
GNS - Gannett News Service
HRW - Human Rights Watch
IPS - Inter Press Service
LA Times- Los Angeles Times
NYT - New York Times
UPI - United Press International
WP - Washington Post
Index of HR Briefs - Human Rights
Mailing Lists - Derechos
This page is maintained by Margarita
Lacabe. Last updated Sept. 15, 1996.