AT RANDOM

(This beautiful write up is contributed by  Miss Parinita Hazarika. Parinita is a Asstt. Professor at Dibrugarh university institute of engineering n technology. My heartiest thanks to Parinita) 

Human Rights violation has been a major topic of debate and discussion since ages and here, you won’t find any elaboration on my part on the various rights and acts meant for human rights protection. For, the Constitution of India illustrates them much better theoretically but unfortunately the practitioners of such rights and duties are very few in number.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Here,I, as the dual resident of two beautiful towns namely Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, in Assam would like to paint a life-like picture with words on different issues related to the topic, somewhat! Kindly don't cross- examine me as I’m not a seasoned writer of the first class order,yet I would like to point out some facts candidly and in good sense,not meant to hurt anybody! God forbid! Also I get diverted a lot. Pardon me! And I’m not being Aamir Khan; I do not even stand a flimsy chance, hats off to him! (Versatile actor and a praise-worthy person must admit!)
                                 
On the extreme  opposite side of The Junction Mall and The United Bank of India in Dibrugarh, you’ll find a small time yet famous restaurant (for us of course!) which goes by the name of Mogambo(Not another sick  joke from  Mr India, please!). The Chicken Handi Biryani they serve there is out of this world, you all know about it, come on! If you would by chance raise your eyes from your scrumptious savouries, just outside the place you will find a wrinkled, scrawny kind of a man sitting by the pavement, beaten by age, grief, pain and hunger! Yes, right! He’s an old beggar, with a torn blanket, oversized baggy shirt and pants and a shaggy hat filled with some measly coins at times. Common monotonous description of a beggar, isn’t it? And yes, he stinks of the worst.......!! Yet, when he gazes with eyes full of hope, it feels like the end of the world! People throw money into his hat at times. Heaven knows if it’s enough to maintain his daily livelihood! Drifting off now......somewhat....once I handed him five hundred bucks out of true misery and sympathy, on the sly when my dearest friends were busy buying tickets for a fantastic movie. However, one of my dearest friend’s was spying (on the sly), and after that what happened at home base is another long, gory and violent story!!!!Yet, it was a bright day for me; the big, toothy smile on my Satan-like face showed it all, though my dearest friends looked like angry birds!! Of late however, I do not have the faintest notion as to where he has disappeared. Heaven bless the old beggar!

Next in line, comes an old, crazy woman in Tinsukia-yes, a beggar again; only she’s a bit delirious, keeps talking to herself. Sometimes she may be found near the Paradise cinema hall (it’s nothing like heaven, don’t get me wrong!), and at times near the old railway station in the all time favourite A.T.road (for shoppers!).Her garbs are quite unique and interesting-wears a blouse and a tattered skirt, and wraps layers of polythene sheets around herself, collected by her from the garbage heaps(no, it’s not  the current trend of fashion guys!).Generally,            she eats leftovers from the filthy garbage heaps or stares at the sweetmeats displayed in the’ seductive’ showcases of the nearby hotels thereby blabbing to herself and probably this way, she  satisfies her hunger at times(got to try it, only I won’t blab because I would be busy drooling!).Observing the wrinkled contours of her face, Phil Collin’s famous rendering, “Another day in Paradise...,”comes to the mind at times; don’t worry I’m not providing background scores! Just wondering what would have happened if your or my mother or grandmother would have been in that position?? Pardon me for drifting off again......!

Once, near a well-reputed electronic equipments laden outlet in Dibrugarh, near Thana Chariali (no, it’s not the name of a person, it’s a road), I and all the denizens of that shop saw some miserable faces, smeared in mud and grime-(no guys, not guerrillas in camouflage but yes, everyday urchins from the ill-reputed untouchable colonies), staring from the Saint Gobain branded windows outside, at a LCD screen as a popular bollywood flick was being displayed to a customer. The moment the assistants saw them, all hell broke loose! There was awful cursing and swearing, baneful waving of arms and legs, even better than a Tony Jaa or a Jet Li movie! (Must copy next time I encounter an intruder!).Although the urchins escaped, one little urchin remained to view the wonders of the idiot box...he was caught by the ears and thrown off like a hand grenade and I could clearly hear the words ‘thieves...brats..’, under the heavy- whistling breath of the assistant.Allright, you are doing your job men! But, does staring at a LCD screen outside a shop make you a thief or a brat unless you are watching or thinking of something vile??What about the kids of those customers who touch everything inside a shop like those C.I.D. officers, even break things and escape with a smile and a pat on the heads from an over-acting shopkeeper and a rich (yet cursing, in mind) parent? No offence, but freedom is not your or my father’s sole prized possession!  Excuse me, violent display of emotions...! Next time when I’m window-shopping, if by any god damn chance you happen to call me a thief, I’ll release my temper on you like those brave heart sons of electronic appliances! Beware!!

In Tinsukia, more than in Dibrugarh, you will find small time mobile tea-stalls as it is more of a commercial area rather than Dibrugarh. And who are the propagators of this thriving business in and around the varied flea- ridden, flies -dogs-cows’ infested yet busy and colourful market-place??Yes, you are right-the all time favourite ‘Chotus’ or ‘Puwalis’ (and yet we talk of prohibition of child labour!). But if any true son of Mother India views the residences of these little souls, their hearts would melt like a candle! Most of these chotus reside by the sides of the pavement; rain or sun, hail or storm they huddle together and face the elements thereby crossing the perils of the night(me thinks of Ulysses!). The same can be said about some of the part time newspaper delivery boys, some of the runny- nosed, frizzed-haired rag pickers, some miserable urchins who run hither and thither inside local trains at rest (thereby stepping on your Jimmy Choos ,Fendi or Kolhapuri chappals!Pardon me,o lord!)...lets continue...and then begging for alms when the train moves, some scrawny glint eyed small urchins (again!) near the movie halls or theatres etc etc. And I fear to think of those poor and vulnerable girls and women who become easy prey to pimps and ravenous beasts at night! I’m not talking about prostitutes here, for many of them it’s their sole source of livelihood. None of us bother to think as to what forces people whom  we have named whores to sell themselves like goods; what about all those girls who are molested and who lead lives of pure hell afterwards.. Why bother?? So let’s continue cursing them and many others-‘shameless slut bitches’, ’son of a bitch’, ’fucking bastard,’ ‘darn shity rascals and assholes’ etc (No offence but now a days if you do not use the word ‘fuck’ in every sentence, you speak, you’ll be called an illiterate goon or uncivilized, and I must not forget to wash my mouth with soap and water. Over-acting? Okay!).

You must be thinking,’ this madcap has never ever been to other places than Tinsukia and Dibrugarh’.Allright then, let me tell you that once during the winter when I was on a trip to Shillong (in the wee hours of the morning when even the rooster hates to wake up!), I found a group of young boys in rags by the roadside, nestling cosily by the fire, wrapped in thin blankets. I have never ever experienced such a blissful sight other than in the readymade movies. At times as such when we dream of designer cardigans and ‘pashminas’, they show us the real value of life shredding our luxuriant materialistic dreams to itty-bitty pieces. However, people, kindly do not shed your attractive attires and scare the animals for the sake of fashion! This happens in case of both the sexes now a days; therefore it becomes immensely difficult to differentiate between the well to do and the downtrodden! Why in the name of Mother Earth do you all want to be Salman Khans or Sunny Leones??(Slip of the tongue, excuse me!)... Leave them alone; be who you are, take pride in your culture! Being modern in outlook is not bad; being modern and broad minded in the mindset is much better! Pardon me for the diversion again!

Only by donning a Being Human t-shirt or by shedding some tears while watching Aamir Khan’s television show, one does not become a philanthropist. He or she needs to contribute practically from heart and soul for the betterment of the society and I believe that I’m doing my bit in my own way. I also have faith that you all can do your part quite well from home base itself for the greater good of the society, in your own special little ways; after all charity begins at home...

So the next time any ‘chotu’wipes the windshields of your...say...Sedan or Lamborghini (yes sir, I’m dreaming), and your wife or girlfriend happens to notice a teensy-weensy spot, do not scold the poor guy. Rather, praise him for the neat job and hand him out an extra buck to make his day. Remember like you and I, he is contributing something on a daily basis for the family. The next time the delivery boy brings the newspaper a little bit late, do not screw his nerves up using nasty angry words; be patient and ask him the reason of being late. And if you are (feeling) kind, you may invite him to tea and ask his whereabouts. It does not hurt if you help a sick and dismayed being, lying by the road by volunteering to take him or her to the nearby hospital (Fine, I know you are not Gandhi or a Mother Teresa! I’m just asking you to try!)  When the house-maid breaks a plate or a cup, do not shout as if it’s the end of the world. Patience again, you shall find a lot of up-to-date crockery in the market place. She is probably tensed due to work-load or maybe her husband’s or child’s ailment or constant warning from the landlord to vacate the house. Reasons might be a thousand and one, but if you lend her a helping hand, if you invite her children to your kid’s birthday party, if you add something extra occasionally to her wages, if you treat her like a good friend I guarantee you shall not win the Noble prize for peace but eternal love which will create immense happiness in your heart (and you’ll never lose your maid!).And that little girl, who helps you in the house, let her dream and play for sometime; let her study in a school; go and buy her a chocolate...! My best friend during my childhood was the little maid from the nearby house, who could climb nearly every tree in and around the housing colony! Now coming back to the present, you may at times tear yourselves away from the social networking sites, video games, iPhones-iPads and spend some quality time with your grandparents or you may visit an orphanage or a home for the elderly people... And do not throw away your old clothes, toys, appliances; collect them and donate these articles to the less fortunate; whether they are flood or earthquake victims, victims of war or people from the rehab centre does not matter; what matters is that you are the possessor of a beautiful mind and heart. And most important, do not avoid that molested girl in your locality like some fatal disease, do not look at her as if she is some animal from the zoo; her soul has been scratched by a devil (or devils) but you are not a devil. Show her some respect, give her some space, make her your sister or your best friend, make her feel like she’s the most beautiful woman in the world; only then, the poor being would be able to raise herself and face the world once again. People who harbour abject notions on womanhood are the most vicious animals lurking on the planet Earth (more than the tigers who make their presence felt in the capital sometimes!). Therefore treat all with dignity and respect; whether you are a man or a woman, whether you belong to the elite section or the low class, of which community  you are a member of, does not matter at all, everybody deserves it (except hardcore  villains responsible for destroying faith in humanity). Stop speculating about your neighbour’s daughter-with whom did she elope and why? You have not been invited by any Akhtar or Hirani to pen down the script of their next movie! Try bursting your bloated egos, tear off the masks and open your hearts, learn valuable lessons from the downtrodden and the unfortunate... and try making your selfish lives less complicated; after all you have not been invited for auditions for the lead role in Mission Impossible- 5!!

I’m not going to tire you anymore with my deranged ravings; but whatever has been stated above is all true...taking place in every nook and corner of the country! I’m not going to hand out sermons now, all of us possess common sense except souls inside an asylum, leave them alone! But it’s high time for people like us dominated by some crass and incomprehensible values of ultra modernism, to think on our own, to feel through our hearts and to do something benevolent rather than acting like comatose patients! All of us possess the ability to rectify and refine the deteriorating moral standard of the society by repairing our own sense of values and thereby providing lasting examples to the society.

Violation and Protection of human rights is a huge and endless topic and here I have touched (barely) some aspects only related to the topic. Yet, all of us possess the ability to ponder over such issues and to make special individual contribution of our own. Come on, no one is going to make fun of your efforts and if any one does so, pay no heed to the futile blood sucking parasite of the society, and do your bit in silence with dignity. Make your lives worthwhile to paint at least one beautiful smile on the heavenly face of a miserable little orphan or the wrinkled visage of an ancient abandoned demented soul..

                    Miss Parinita Hazarika,

(A simple and sane person on the planet Earth)

Pic Source: :http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-32579719/stock-photo-cartoon-beggar.html

Syria: Sexual Assault in Detention

Security Forces Also Attacked Women and Girls in Raids on Homes

JUNE 15, 2012

(New York) – Syrian government forces have used sexual violence to torture men, women, and boys detained during the current conflict. Witnesses and victims also told Human Rights Watch that soldiers and pro-government armed militias have sexually abused women and girls as young as 12 during home raids and military sweeps of residential areas.


Human Rights Watch interviewed 10 former detainees, including two women, who described being sexually abused or witnessing sexual abuse in detention, including rape, penetration with objects, sexual groping, prolonged forced nudity, and electroshock and beatings to genitalia.Many of the former detainees told Human Rights Watch that they were imprisoned because of their political activism, including for attending protests. In other cases, the reason for the detention was unclear but detainees suffered the same abusive tactics.


“Syrian security forces have used sexual violence to humiliate and degrade detainees with complete impunity,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The assaults are not limited to detention facilities – government forces and pro-government shabiha militia members have also sexually assaulted women and girls during home raids and residential sweeps.”


Human Rights Watch documented over 20 specific incidents of sexual assault, five of which involved more than one victim, that took place between March 2011 and March 2012 across Syria, including in Daraa, Homs, Idlib, Damascus, and Latakia governorates. The majority of cases were from Homs governorate. Interviewees described a range of sexual abuse by Syrian security forces, the army, and pro-government armed militias referred to locally as shabiha.


Human Rights Watch interviewed eight Syrian victims of sexual violence, including four women, and more than twenty-five other people with a knowledge of sexual abuse – former detainees, defectors from the Syrian security forces and the army, first responders and assistance providers, women’s rights activists, and family members.


The full extent of sexual violence in and outside of detention facilities remains unknown, Human Rights Watch said. The stigma in Syria surrounding sexual violence makes victims reluctant to report abuse. Survivors also may face dangers when they make crimes public, and researchers have had limited access to the country to document abuses. In many cases interviewees told Human Rights Watch that victims did not want their families or others in the community to know about the assault because of fear or shame. In one case, a female rape victim who was willing to be interviewed was not permitted by her husband to speak to Human Rights Watch.


Even when they may wish to seek help, Syrian survivors of sexual assault have limited access to medical or psychological treatment and other services in Syria. Survivors who have fled to neighboring countries also face obstacles in seeking treatment, including limited service options and inability to access services that are available because of social taboos surrounding sexual abuse, families restricting their movement, and the fear of being subjected to so-called “honor” crimes.


It is critical that survivors of sexual assault have access to emergency medical services, legal assistance, and social support to address injuries caused by the assault; prevent pregnancy, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections; and to collect evidence to support prosecution of perpetrators, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch called on the Syrian government, countries hosting Syrian refugees, and donors to ensure that survivors have information about relevant health and psychosocial services, including that they should be accessed on an urgent basis, as well as facilitate victims’ access to them through safe and confidential mechanisms.


Human Rights Watch does not have evidence that high-ranking officers commanded their troops to commit sexual violence during home searches, ground operations, or in detention. However, information received by Human Rights Watch, including from army and security force defectors, indicates that no action has been taken to investigate or punish government forces and shabiha who commit acts of sexual violence or to prevent them from committing such acts in the future.


Many of the reported assaults were in circumstances in which commanding officers knew or should have known the crimes were taking place – for example, assaults committed on an apparently regular basis in detention centers under the full control of particular commanders.


Sexual Abuse in DetentionDetention facilities where male and female detainees have reported sexual torture include Military Intelligence Branch 248 and Branch 235 (known as “Palestine Branch”) in Damascus; the Military Intelligence facilities in Jisr al-Shughur, Idlib, and Homs; the Political Security branch in Latakia; the Air Force Intelligence branches in Mezze, Latakia, and Homs; and the Idlib Central Prison.


Salim (all names have been changed to protect the identities of the interviewees), a soldier who was detained in June 2011 while on leave at the Air Force Intelligence branch in Latakia, was questioned about his brother’s and father’s roles in demonstrations. He told Human Rights Watch:

They started torturing me here (gesturing toward his genitalia) [with the electricity]. They were also beating me and there was a guard behind me turning the electricity on. I passed out. They were beating me and shocking me. The interrogator was beating me with a cable over my whole body. I still didn’t have any clothes on … they asked me every thirty minutes if I would confess.

While a number of female detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they were not sexually abused in detention, others reported that they were subjected to sexual abuse and other torture. One was Sabah, who was detained in the Military Intelligence facility in Jisr al-Shughur, Idlib in November 2011.

“They took my abaya off,” she said. “I was wearing jeans and a tee-shirt underneath, and a guard tied my hands behind my back ... He grabbed my breasts … I said, ‘Beat me, shoot me, but don’t put your hand on me.’ … He came to grab my breasts again and I pushed him ... Then he grabbed me by the chest and threw me against the wall. I fell and he started beating me with a stick. On the knee and on the ankle. My ankle was also broken [along with my hand]…”

At least two male former detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch also reported hearing women’s screams – in the Air Force Intelligence and Military Intelligence branches in Homs, and an ad hocshabiha facility in Latakia. Human Rights Watch does not have further confirmation that women were actually held and sexually tortured in these facilities.

All former detainees who described sexual abuse said they had received no medical or psychological treatment in prison for the sexual abuse. Only one of the 10 former detainees interviewed about sexual abuse in detention said she received medical treatment after her release. All of the former detainees interviewed have left Syria.

Sexual Abuse During Home Raids and Ground Operations
Human Rights Watch spoke to two women sexually assaulted in their homes and six other witnesses, including two male family members, with knowledge of sexual assaults against women and girls.

In five of these cases all of the interviewees described the attackers as shabiha. Descriptions and characterizations of shabiha forces varied, but in four out of five cases witnesses described them as armed men in civilian clothing operating alongside Syrian government forces, though official forces were not always present during the sexual assaults.

Maha, from Daraa, told Human Rights Watch that in February 2012 Syrian government forces andshabiha raided her house looking for her husband. She said that a member of the shabiha assaulted her and that a member of the army threatened her with rape if he did not turn himself in. She said:

They broke the door – it is just a regular wood door – and came in… They said to me, “Where is your husband?” I said, “I don’t know. He left a long time ago.” Then the one standing next to me came at me. He tore my shirt and started grabbing my breasts … The one who grabbed me looked like shabiha. He was wearing civilian clothes … The person in charge was outside. Someone came in and said, “The officer said to tell her that if he doesn’t turn himself in that she will see worse than this”… [This person] was wearing plain green military clothes. He was clearly from the army.

Four army and security force defectors also told Human Rights Watch about incidents – five in all – that they were aware of or received information about in which government forces sexually assaulted women during home raids or detained women to sexually assault them. Three of these defectors described incidents in which women were taken to another location and sexually assaulted.

Walid, an army defector from Hafiz al-Nizam (riot police), told Human Rights Watch that officers bragged about raping women during home raids in Daraa: “[One officer] joked that during that house raid, ‘When I fucked the woman, she made a lot of noise because I must have pleased her so much.’”

Another defector, Toufiq, who belonged to a security force mudahama (raid) unit told Human Rights Watch that a friend in his unit admitted to having participated in a gang rape of two women detained during a home raid in November 2011 in Homs. He saw video on his friend’s cellphone that confirmed the gang rape.

Human Rights Watch also spoke to a first responder who worked in Homs and seven assistance providers outside of Syria who described their work with sexual assault survivors and who discussed the availability of assistance.

Human Rights Watch called on the Syrian government to end all use of or tolerance of sexual violence by its forces or by shabiha under its command or control, and to investigate and punish those responsible. Human Rights Watch also urged the United Nations Security Council to demand that the Syrian government grant the UN Human Rights Council-mandated Commission of Inquiry unrestricted access to all parts of Syria, especially detention centers, so that the commission can investigate all allegations of human rights violations.

The Syrian government should also give the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Annan plan, unrestricted access to all places of detention to monitor abuses. The mission should include among its personnel people trained to identify gender-based violence and other gender-specific human rights violations.

Human Rights Watch also reiterated its call to the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and urged other countries to join the calls for accountability by supporting a referral to the ICC as the forum most capable of effectively investigating and prosecuting those bearing the greatest responsibility for abuses in Syria.

Human Rights Watch called on international nongovernmental organizations, humanitarian assistance providers, the United Nations, and local organizations to develop, expand, and improve access to medical, psychological, social, and legal assistance to Syrian male and female victims of sexual abuse inside and outside of the country. Assistance providers should, in accordance with the UN Guidelines for Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings, ensure that survivors have information about and access to this package of services. In accordance with the Annan plan the Syrian government should also grant humanitarian assistance providers access to “all areas affected by the fighting” so that they can provide assistance to those affected by sexual violence.

“The international community urgently needs to address the human rights violations going on in Syria,” Whitson said. “The Security Council should send a strong signal to the Assad government that they will be held accountable for sexual violence and other human rights violations – by referring the situation to the ICC.”

Evidence on Sexual Abuse in DetentionSalim, the soldier who was arrested in June 2011 while on leave and questioned about his brother and father, told Human Rights Watch in a face-to-face interview:

[T]hey took me downstairs, two sets of stairs with a turn. Each 15 steps … I couldn’t see and my hands were tied [I was naked]. We were in the interrogation room. They were beating me for the first hour with their hands. Then they used a wood baton. I didn’t confess. The interrogator said, “Bring me the electricity.”…The guard brought two electric prongs. He put one in my mouth, on my tooth. Then he started turning it on and off quickly. He did this seven or eight times. I felt, that’s it. I am not going to leave this branch. Then they started asking, “Will you confess now?” I said I had nothing to confess to.

They removed the electricity from my tooth and put it on my knees. Here they used the electricity the longest. It is still marked. They would put it on for a long time and then take it off ... They started torturing me here (gesturing toward his genitalia) [with the electricity]. They were also beating me and there was a guard behind me turning the electricity on. I passed out. They were beating me and shocking me. The interrogator was beating me with a cable over my whole body. I still didn’t have any clothes on … They asked me every thirty minutes if I would confess. I said no. At a point they said, “We will kill you,” and I said, “Ok, ok, kill me. Death is better than the torture you are putting me through.” ... When he shocks you the electricity hits your whole body. I was there for hours. They had to carry me on a mattress to the cell. I couldn’t walk after that.

Khalil, who was detained in Idlib governorate in late June 2011 and spent about two months in several detention places, including about one month in the Idlib Central Prison, told Human Rights Watch in a face-to-face interview that when he was detained there:

They forced me to undress. Then they started squeezing my fingers with pliers. They used a stapler to put nails in my fingers, chest, and ears. I was only allowed to take them out if I spoke. The nails in the ears were the most painful. They used two wires hooked up to a car battery to give me electric shocks. They used electric stun-guns on my genitals twice. I thought I would never see my family again. They tortured me like this three times over three days.

Amer, a man from a town in Idlib governorate, described to Human Rights Watch in a face-to-face interview how he was tortured during his 42-day detention in the Political Security Branch in Latakia:

They undressed me, tied my hands behind my back, and hit me on my private parts. They clipped my hands to a metal pipe and lifted me so that my feet hardly touched the floor. They kept me like that for two days. When they released me I couldn’t stand, my feet were completely swollen. I then spent five days in a single cell with six other people. After that 15 officers took me to a separate room. They were cursing my mother and sister and threatened to rape me. They put me on a flying carpet – I was lying on my back, tied to a board, and they lifted my head and legs. All this time I was undressed. They wrapped wires around my penis and turned on the electricity. I could just hear it buzzing. They did this maybe five times for about 10 seconds. I passed out. When I regained consciousness they were pushing my legs and hands into a tire. My entire body was blue from beatings.

Hussein, who was detained in Daraa at the end of April 2011 after he was shot in both legs and then held in Military Intelligence Branch 248 in Damascus told Human Rights Watch:

When I arrived at Branch 248 I was screaming from pain because my legs were broken [from gunshot injuries]. They laid me down in an underground corridor. After five minutes five guys came and started to beat me. I was still blindfolded, but I was able to see a bit under the blindfold. They punched me in the face so I started bleeding from the nose. They left me alone when I pretended to be unconscious. Afterwards another guy came and smacked my head into the ground. Finally an officer came. They wanted to transfer me to a cell, but there was no room for anybody with broken legs so they transferred me to Hospital 601 instead. After six days in the hospital they took me back to 248. In the cell, two guards held my legs apart and beat me in the groin.

Nour, who was detained in February 2012 at a checkpoint in Homs and held for approximately two-and-a-half months in the “Palestine Branch” told Human Rights Watch that while in detention she and three other women who were held with her were repeatedly raped. Nour said that she suffered from amnesia as a result of her detention, however Human Rights Watch could not independently verify her condition. Nour, who has left the country, told Human Rights Watch that she could not remember her life before she was detained. She could not recall information such as her name, her age, or whether she was married and had children. She said:

The earliest thing I remember is being stopped at a checkpoint in Homs. I thought I was going to be detained but the soldiers there took me to an apartment where there were other girls … I was there for two or three days and then they took me to Damascus to the Palestine Branch. They held me there for two-and-a-half to three months. There were three other women there … They had a schedule. They would take turns with us. More than one man would rape you. It wasn’t every day, but it was regular….

Sabah, who was detained in the Military Intelligence facility in Jisr al-Shughur, Idlib in November 2011, told Human Rights Watch in a face-to-face interview that she had participated in demonstrations and prepared food and drink for demonstrators. She said that when she was detained she was beaten and groped:

The director asked me why I was going to demonstrations … I didn’t lie. He asked what I said in demonstrations and I told him … Then he slapped me. I will not forget it. He told the boys to come take me … they took me to a closed room. There were boxes in it. It was like a storage room. There were also broken chairs and other things. They took my abaya off. I was wearing jeans and a tee-shirt underneath, and a guard tied my hands behind my back. I said, “A dog like you doesn’t have a right to do anything [to touch me] …” He grabbed my breasts. [Eventually] he let my arms untie. I said, “Beat me, shoot me, but don’t put your hand on me.” … He came to grab my breasts again and I pushed him ... When I pushed him he fell on the boxes. Then he grabbed me by the chest and threw me against the wall. I fell and he started beating me with a stick. On the knee and on the ankle. My ankle was also broken [along with my hand]…

Former detainees also told Human Rights Watch that they had witnessed sexual abuse when they were in detention. Salim, the soldier arrested in June 2011, told Human Rights Watch that while he was detained in the Political Security branch in Latakia, a Brigadier General told him that he had to confess. Salim said:

He [the Brigadier General] told the guard to take my blindfold off. He wanted me to see with my own eyes how the other detainees were being tortured. He showed me the detainees. Two were being tortured. The interrogator and the guards were with me. He told me we will do this to you if you don’t confess. They were putting them [the two detainees] on coke bottles. He told me their crime was going to demonstrations. They looked 24 or 25 years old. For five minutes they showed me this, their making them sit on the coke bottles. I put death in my mind. They took me to the end of the corridor to an empty room. Here they blindfolded me again. There were two guards and an interrogator with me in the room. They put me on my knees and started beating me on my back with a steel cable.

At least three adult male former detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch confirmed the presence and sexual abuse of adult women and male children in detention facilities across Syria. Samih, who had been held in the Political Security branch in Latakia, told Human Rights Watch in a face-to-face interview that children were subjected to worse treatment than adults, including rape, specifically because they were children:

We were 70 to 75 people in a group cell that was three by three meters…. There were 15 and 16-year-old kids in the cell with us, six or seven of them with their fingernails pulled, their faces beaten. They treat the kids even worse than the adults. There is torture, but there is also rape for the boys. We would see them when the guards brought them back to the cell. It’s indescribable. You can’t talk about it. One boy came into the cell bleeding from behind. He couldn’t walk. It was something they just did to the boys. We would cry for them.

Malik, a 28-year-old from Latakia who told Human Rights Watch that he took part in demonstrations, said in a face-to-face interview that he was detained in late March 2011 in Latakia in an ad hoc facility run by shabiha where female detainees were sexually assaulted:

There were 35 of us in my cell. We were all there because of participation in demonstrations. There were no children … and no women, but you could hear the sound of women screaming. They were on the floor above us. They were being sexually assaulted, screaming, and yelling. We could hear the guards talking to them. We would cry listening to them…

Wissam, who was detained for several months in a number of facilities and released in November 2011, also told Human Rights Watch that he heard women being sexually assaulted while in detention:

They [the female detainees] were in a cell next to us … This was in both the Air Force Intelligence branch and Military Intelligence branch in Homs … From the noise it seemed to be a lot of women. We would hear that all day … Some of them were detained because their husbands or brothers were wanted … When the guards were screaming at them we would hear them say, “Let your son [who they wanted] come and get you,” or, “Let your brother come and set you free.” They would respond with crying, saying, “I have nothing to do with it. I didn’t do anything.”

Evidence on Sexual Abuse During Home Raids and Ground Operations in Residential Areas

Maha, from Daraa, who described how government forces and shabiha raided her house looking for her husband, said that they assaulted her and threatened her with rape if he did not turn himself in:

We were sleeping, me and my girls all in one bed. I have five girls. They are aged from 12 years to nine months. They broke the door, it is just a regular wood door, and came in. The first room you enter in our house is where we were sleeping. I got out of bed and they said to me, “Where is your husband.” I said, “I don’t know. He left a long time ago.” Then the one standing next to me came at me. He tore my shirt and started grabbing my breasts. My chest was completely exposed and I started to scream. Each one of them had a gun with him. The one who grabbed me looked like shabiha. He was wearing civilian clothes. When he did this the others were searching the house … The person in charge was outside. Someone came in and said, “the officer said to tell her that if he doesn’t turn himself in that she will see worse than this.” When he said this I feared rape … [This person] was wearing plain green military clothes. He was clearly from the army.

Wafa, who lived with her family in Hayy Ashera, Homs told Human Rights Watch in a face-to-face interview that a soldier tried to rape her while her husband hid during a home raid on March 8, 2012:

Two [soldiers] came into my house and … asked me where my husband was. They were wearing camouflage. They had vests that were full of weapons, knives, bullets, etc ... I told them there were no armed people in the house and that my husband was traveling. I started to show them around the house – we had nothing to hide. One of them … grabbed me when I went to open the pantry door. He grabbed my arm, and grabbed me by the side. I was afraid that if I screamed, my husband would hear from his hiding place [just outside the house] and would come up, but I did make some noise, and the other soldier heard me. He yelled, “Hey, leave her alone! Go out to the sitting area!” I thought if I made a noise we were all done for. He was trying to push me into the bedroom, and I was trying to pull myself back into the corridor … We fled three days later.

Suha from al Qusayr, Homs, also told Human Rights Watch in a face-to-face interview that the Syrian army raided her house a number of times during arrest operations. During one of these raids, she saidshabiha raped her 28-year-old neighbor whose house was also raided:

I heard her screaming [when my house was being searched] and went to her house [after the army left]. She was hysterical, and we talked. She told me one attacked her. The other two were at the door. She resisted him. When he was done he let the other two in. They took her hijab off. Her face was cut and bleeding when I saw her. She was hysterical. Blood was coming down her face. When the army left she went to her family’s house. There are no communications so I don’t know what happened after that. Her two kids were sitting in the corner [during the attack].

Selma, from Karm al-Zeitoun, Homs told Human Rights Watch in a face-to-face interview that she heard her neighbors being raped while hiding in her apartment in March 2012. She told Human Rights Watch that her family members had already fled the area and that she had returned home to pack clothing for her children when she realized she could no longer flee because the army and shabiha had entered her neighborhood:

I saw the security forces and the shabiha and I went into the house [and hid] ... My neighbor has girls. I heard her say to them, “Don’t let out a noise.” Our apartments are wall-to-wall ... They [the shabiha] came to our building … The door to my house was open still [as I left it when I was packing]. From my hiding place I could hear that someone came in and said “This one is empty, there is no one here”… They knocked on my neighbor’s door … One of them said, “Open or we will shoot.” She did not open the door and they shot at it … When they went in one said, “Why are you not opening the door?” She was saying, “Oh God, God forbid, don’t come close to me.” She said, “I will kiss your feet but don’t come near us”… The girls were protesting. I could hear them saying not to grab the mother and she was just saying, “Don’t touch my daughters.” I could hear one girl fighting with one of them. He was saying, “Oh, you are going to scratch me too?” She pushed him and he shot her in the head. She was the oldest. 20 years old … They grabbed the youngest. She was 12. You could hear her say, “Don’t take my clothes off.” The mother said, “This girl is 12.” The youngest, I saw her [later], her sweater was torn, all the way down the front. They raped her and they raped the two others … The other girls were 16 and 18 … I waited, hiding after they left. I didn’t move for one hour or so until the thuwar (revolutionaries) came ... The girls had closed the door to their house and were crying … I knocked on their door and said, “I am your neighbor let me in.” The scene on the inside was unreal. The 12 year old was lying on the ground, blood to her knees. I told them to get up, that this happened against their will. More than one person had raped the 12 year old. I heard them from my hiding place, saying, “Come on, enough, my turn.” She was torn the length of a forefinger. I will never go back there. It comes to me. I see it in my dreams and I just cry.

In a face-to-face interview Mansour, from Baba Amr, Homs told Human Rights Watch that when the army invaded in March 2012 that he knew from listening to her screams that his neighbor was sexually assaulted in her home by shabiha. In tears, he said:

Ten of them went into the house … Her screaming filled the air. Afterward they killed her in the street. They took her out into the street with her kids. She has three boys and two girls. They were all killed … we could see and hear the screaming from where we were … You hear a woman screaming and there is nothing you can do to help.

Talal, a taxi driver from Homs told Human Rights Watch in a face-to-face interview that shabihaapparently raped and killed a woman in her apartment in the Karm el Zeitoun neighborhood in Homs in April 2012. A close relative had called Talal, asking him to pick him up because his building had been attacked during the night. When he entered his relative’s apartment building, Talal noticed that the door to the apartment below his relative’s was open. When he and his relative entered the apartment they found a woman and a small child in the bedroom, both dead, apparently killed by knife wounds to the neck. Talal said the woman was naked from the waist down and had bruises on her thighs. His relative, who had hid in the attic during the night, said that he had seen the shabiha enter the building and that he had heard screams from the woman’s apartment.

Khalid also described to Human Rights Watch the sexual violence that accompanied the mass displacement following the Syrian army’s entry into the Baba Amr district of Homs in early March 2012:

One of my relatives – she is married with two kids – told me about how she was raped … After her house was shelled she left with her husband and two kids to live with neighbors. When they were there, the army came in and arrested the men, and only women and children were left … She said that 15 minutes later some army soldiers dressed as civilians came into the neighbor’s house where she was and put her and the other women there in the living room of the house. One of the soldiers took her, and put her in a room with a guard … She resisted him and he beat her. She showed me her hands. I saw her seven to eight days later. Her hands were still bruised. She tried to stop him, to beat him with her hands and legs but he said he would kill her two kids if she didn’t give in … [She said] he was dressed in military gear ... After that she fled from Baba Amr to al Qusayr. I saw her here. Her husband is still detained.

Yousef told Human Rights Watch that he watched soldiers from the security forces rape his wife during a military operation in Daraa on June 25, 2011. He said about 25 security agents and shabiha entered his house in the afternoon during house-to-house searches in the city. When the security forces had finished searching the house some left, leaving seven inside.

“They had handcuffed me and three of them were surrounding me,” he said. “Three others grabbed my wife and tore off her clothes and then the last guy raped her. They were all cursing and insulting us. There was nothing I could do to stop them. Then they took off the handcuffs and left.”

Security force and army defectors interviewed by Human Rights Watch face-to-face confirmed that women were sexually assaulted during home raids or detained during home raids so they could be assaulted.

Ghassan, a sergeant who defected from Brigade 18, Battalion 627, told Human Rights Watch that on the night of February 18, 2012, he was stationed at a small military camp outside of Zabadani, a town near Damascus, when a young woman, who may have been a minor, was brought to the camp and, he believes, raped by a captain when he forced her into an armored vehicle and held here there for two hours:

Some men wearing civilian clothes – I think they were intelligence or shabiha – came to the camp in a grey van with a girl around 16 to 19 wearing an abaya but her face was showing and her hands were handcuffed. They handed her to a captain at about 2:30 in the morning, who took her inside an armored vehicle. She was crying and screaming. I suspect she was arrested during one of the home raids in the area. I saw and heard this from about 150 meters away. The captain and the woman stayed in the tank until about 4:30 a.m. [when] a black van came and seven men dressed in black took the girl away.

Ahmed, an army defector from Division 10, Brigade 85, Battalion 37, also told Human Rights Watch that that in the second half of February 2012 a woman in Zabadani had been raped by a commander:

During the second part of February, at our camp, I heard members of the Hafiz al-Nizam (riot police) … say that they raided a house with no men [in Zabadani]. They said they took out a young woman after blindfolding her and covering her mouth so that she couldn’t speak or scream and put her in a vehicle. She was sent to a commander to be raped offsite.

Other defectors told Human Rights Watch that fellow officers bragged about raping women during home raids. Walid, the defector from Hafiz al-Nizam (riot police), told Human Rights Watch that other officers told him they had raped women during home raids in Daraa when they found women alone:

Last July I heard … [a Major from the Brigade] boasting about raping a woman. He was describing an incident that happened in the days or weeks before. He joked that during that house raid, “When I fucked the woman, she made a lot of noise because I must have pleased her so much.” A colleague responded, “You are not as clever as me, when I have sex with one of these women, I bind their mouths so that they don’t make any sounds. I don’t want people listening in.”

Toufiq, the defector who belonged to a security force mudahama (raid) unit, told Human Rights Watch that a friend in his unit admitted to having participated in a gang rape of two women during a home raid in November 2011 in Homs. He saw video on his friend’s cellphone that confirmed the gang rape.

He told me that the young women were taken to a military base and raped for two consecutive nights before they were released ... the men demanded that the two sisters have sex with them at the base but they protested that they were virgins and begged to keep their virginity. He told me that they threatened the women by brandishing a weapon, after which they complied … On the first clip of the video, I saw the two women being pulled by their hair from their homes and taken into vehicles. In another video, I heard one of the men speaking to the women while they were at the base. He said, “If you don’t have sex with us, I am going to kill you.” I saw both women crying, pleading with the men to let them go home. Some of the five men held one of the women down, one pulled her hair while another ripped off her clothes and then they proceeded to rape her. The second woman was raped as well and I saw the rape on the video. The women were held in the same room. In total I saw five men and recognized all of them but I can’t give their names especially since one of them is a good friend.

Limited Services for Sexual Violence VictimsSyrian survivors of sexual assault are reluctant to report sexual violence and seek treatment because of rampant stigma and the fear of reprisals by the attackers. Even if they seek help, survivors in Syria have limited access to medical or psychological treatment and other services due to a dearth of resources and inadequate mechanisms to facilitate and ensure access to appropriate health and other services. One Syrian women’s rights activist, Leila, told Human Rights Watch that she and her friends have tried to fill the service gap for women and girls by providing underground medical services, including abortion services, and safe shelter in Syria.

In May 2012, Leila said that her group had supported a family of three women, including two teenage girls, ages 14 and 21, after 10shabiha gang raped them in Homs during a home raid. The husband was killed trying to protect them. Leila told Human Rights Watch that they assisted the family after they relocated to a different city in Syria by finding them shelter, providing them with money, and assisting the 14-year-old girl in getting treatment for a sexually transmitted infection contracted during the attack. The mother and girls have not been able to get any psychological support.

Farah, a woman from Homs with medical training, also told Human Rights Watch in a face-to-face interview about the limited services she and others working in field hospitals in Homs were able to provide to female rape victims. She told Human Rights Watch that she cared for the injured during Syrian government ground operations in Hayy Ashera, Karm al-Zeitoun, and Nazheen, Homs in March 2012 and that through this work she had encountered a number of female rape victims, including children, some of whom had been killed. She said the services they were able to provide were limited to giving victims stitches if their genital skin was torn from the attack, providing them with aspirin, and helping them stop their bleeding. Describing the military operation in Hayy Ashera she said,

There were around seven girls [who were brought to] … the field hospital that had been killed. Some of them had been stabbed. You could see the knife marks. If they resisted they were beaten, you could see the marks. They were not wearing clothes on the bottom half, and above they were torn … There were five girls that came that were alive, that had been raped … They were blue and bruised … You could tell from their wounds that they were raped, most of them were girls (virgins) not women so it was obvious, they had blood running down their legs. We would give them a shot … to stop the bleeding and I would sew them up below [if their skin was torn]. I gave one three stiches, another four stiches. One girl was cut from front to back … I used six stiches to sew her together.

Farah also said that she saw six or seven young women and girls in a field hospital in Nazheen, Homs, after the military operation there in March and that she treated three teenage sisters, whose ages she approximated at 14, 16, and 18, who had been raped in their house in Karm al-Zeitoun in March 2012 after the army invaded.

Syrian women who have fled to neighboring countries also face obstacles in seeking treatment, even if services are available. In Jordan, a humanitarian assistance provider working with Syrian refugees told Human Rights Watch that her group is prepared to provide services to survivors of sexual abuse but that no victims have come forward. She said that barriers to assistance included social taboos surrounding sexual abuse and the fear of being subjected to honor crimes. She noted that there was also a need to build capacity to meet the needs of male sexual abuse survivors, who require different services and expertise.

A representative from a local women’s rights nongovernmental organization working with Syrian female rape victims in Jordan told Human Rights Watch in a face-to- face interview that some women seeking their services had to do so secretly, without telling their families. The representative said that the local group could not provide statistics on the numbers of rape survivors they were seeing but that in her field office in Ramtha, near the border with Syria, she had seen cases since February or March 2012 and that they were able to provide assistance to the victims. She noted that the numbers of those seeking assistance varied, saying, “One week you may get several cases and then a month may go by and you won’t see any.”

The Lebanese Council to Resist Violence against Woman told Human Rights Watch that their ability to provide assistance to sexual abuse survivors in Tripoli, Lebanon depended on funding. The Council’s president said, “We will provide [Syrian sexual assault] victims with social, medical and legal services …[but] unfortunately, if we don’t have enough funding we will not be able to continue with the program.”

Four community leaders in Lebanon who provide assistance to Syrian refugees separately told Human Rights Watch that no services were available to victims of sexual abuse in the Bekaa region, where there is a concentration of Syrian refugees. Human Rights Watch interviewed Sheikh Ayman from the Al Azhar Institue in Majdal Anjar, Lebanon, who is working to register and distribute aid to Syrian refugees in the Bekaa. He said: “We heard about two women who were raped in Syria but of course nobody will talk about it. There are no organizations working on the issue in the Bekaa.” Others who said there were no organizations working on the issue in the area included the mayor of Majdel Anjar, Anwar Hamzeh.

Source:http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/06/15/syria-sexual-assault-detention

Ontario amends Human Rights Code to extend protections to transgender people

BY KEITH LESLIE, CANADIAN PRESS JUNE 13, 2012

TORONTO — Ontario’s Human Rights Code was updated Wednesday for the first time since the 1980s to extend protections to transgender people, something Manitoba was expected to do Thursday.

Members of all three parties in Ontario’s legislature voted to amend the code to add the terms “gender identity” and “gender expression” to prevent discrimination against transgender people.

It was the first change to the code since it was amended to add the words “sexual orientation” to protect gays and lesbians.

New Democrat Cheri DiNovo, who tried for six years to amend the code with three previous private member’s bills, called the vote historic, and said it would prevent discrimination against transgender people looking for a job or a place to live.

“A long time coming, but it’s a very good day,” a beaming DiNovo told reporters after the vote.

“There’s a whole host of things that will be opened up for trans people because of this, and really this recognizes them simply as humans, with all the rights of every other human in Ontario.”

A similar amendment to Manitoba’s Human Rights Code to include gender identity was expected to pass into law Thursday.

The Ontario legislation was called Toby’s Act, in honour of the late musician Toby Dancer, who led the choir at the Toronto United Church where DiNovo was a minister before she became a member of provincial parliament.

A large percentage of transgender people attempt suicide and nearly half live below the poverty line, which DiNovo said shows they are a marginalized and vulnerable community in need of the same protections from discrimination as everyone else.

Liberal Yasir Naqvi, a co-sponsor of the all-party bill, said politicians thought they had covered all the bases when they amended the code in the 1980s to protect homosexuals.

“We thought at that time that by just adding “sexual orientation” we were covering all kinds of people, but we recognized soon after that was not the case, that we had excluded members of the trans community,” Naqvi told the legislature during third reading debate.

“Today, we’re taking that very important historic step forward by adding gender identity and gender expression ... so that no human being is left outside the scope, the protection, of the Ontario Human Rights Code.”

Deputy Progressive Conservative Leader Christine Elliott, the other co-sponsor, said DiNovo’s persistence on the issue helped persuade her colleagues about the need to protect transgender people.

“We have been educated in this process, and we have a much deeper understanding of some of the things that people in the trans community go through,” Elliott told the legislature.

“That’s why we’re here today, to make sure that we amend our Human Rights Code to properly reflect the need to protect the rights of everyone in our society, and that’s what this is all about.”

DiNovo credited the fact Ontario now has a minority government that makes it easier to get opposition bills brought forward for debate for her success in finally getting Toby’s Act passed into law.

“This shows minority government working as I think the electorate wants it to work, which is to work together,” she said.

Ontario is the first major jurisdiction in North America to provide human rights protections for transgender people. The Northwest Territories passed a similar bill, and DiNovo expects other provinces and American states to soon follow suit.

“The reality is this is very exciting, and I’m already getting calls from New York state, from North Carolina, so hopefully it starts a wave of moves across jurisdictions for trans,” said DiNovo.

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Source:http://www.canada.com/news/Ontario+amends+Human+Rights+Code+extend+protections+transgender+people/6776765/story.html

Activists say 53 killed yesterday- (11 June 2012)

Daily News Brief

11 June 2012

Local Coordination Committees (LCC) in Syria said 53 people died across Syria yesterday, including 5 children and 3 women. 26 were killed in Homs, 7 in Idlib, and 6 in Lattakia. 96 deaths were reported Saturday.

In Dara’a’s Daeel, Inkel, Hirak and Kafar Shams districts, heavy gunfire and shelling was reported by government forces, the LCC said. In Aleppo’s Hayyan, Kafar Karmein, Atareb, Kafar Aleppo, Kabeesa, Ibyen and Jeena districts, many were killed and homes destroyed by government shelling yesterday.

The Homs districts of Ghanto and Khaldieh were heavily shelled yesterday, LCC claimed. Lebanese paper Al-Hayat confirmed this, adding that the city of Rastan was under heavy shelling. More than 500 rockets and mortar were launched on the town since Saturday, Al-Hayat said.

Beirut’s Daily Star reported that activists said the Syrian army used artillery, mortars and rockets in Homs, in one of the biggest bombardments since a failed UN-mandated cease-fire in April.

Syrian forces also hit opposition strongholds in the towns of Quseir, Talbiseh and Rastan in central Syria in a renewed push to regain rebel-held areas, the paper reported.

In Talbiseh yesterday, rebel forces attacked and captured a military base, with a colonel and several officers defecting to the opposition, Free Syrian Army representatives and activists told the Daily Star.

And in Deir ez-Zor’s Baserah district the village of Rez was shelled “by tanks and anti-aircraft” weapons, the LCC said.

Security forces, stormed a “terrorist group” hideout in Yelda town in Damascus countryside and seized explosive devices and toxic materials, SANA reported.

An “armed terrorist group” sabotaged a power transmission station in the city of Homs, SANA said. And an “armed terrorist group” today attacked a military unit at al-Ghanto town in Homs countryside.

Al-Wattan, a Damascus daily, said that “armed terrorist groups” tried last Friday to enter Damascus from several directions, but the result was a “disastrous failure” by the Syrian Free Army, many of whom were killed, wounded or detained.

SANA said the bodies of 22 security personnel were laid to rest yesterday.

Armed groups yesterday fired a mortar shell at the Syrian Cabinet building in Damascus, Al-Adounia TV reported yesterday. Details are not clear but media sources said the shell came from al-Razi orchards, the scene of recent clashes between rebels and government forces. Witnesses apparently said that UN observers visited the site.

Opposition Syrian National Council elects new leader

Abdulbaset Sayda was elected yesterday in Istanbul as the chairman of the Syrian National Council, replacing Burhan Ghalioun, the BBC reported. Sieda, born in 1956, said at a press conference that he will do his best to unify various opposition groups.

Speaking yesterday, Sayda told reporters he wanted to reform and restructure the Syrian National Council, the BBC said. “We are entering a sensitive phase. The regime is on its last legs. The multiplying massacres and shellings show that it is struggling," he said.

Russia clarifies arms sales to Syria

Russia was completing its air defense contracts with Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on June 9, Russian media agency RIA Novosti reported. Lavrov said that “Russia is not supplying any arms that can be used against protesters.”

Lavrov said that in contrast to Moscow “our US colleagues are supplying countries of the Persian Gulf region with the very type of arms that could be used against peaceful demonstrators."

Activists say 14,100 killed since March 2011

The London-based Syrian Observatory for human rights said yesterday that 14,100 people have died in the Syria uprising: 9862 civilians, 783 army defectors, and 3470 army and security force personnel. “Shabiha” militias are not included. 3000 people have died since the April 12 ceasefire.

Source:http://www.syria-today.com/index.php/component/content/article/748-daily-news-brief/20649-11-june-2012 For more informatin refer to http://www.syria-today.com

WHAT IS GENOCIDE?

THE TERM "GENOCIDE"

The term "genocide" did not exist before 1944. It is a very specific term, referring to violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group. Human rights, as laid out in the US Bill of Rights or the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, concern the rights of individuals.

In 1944, a Polish-Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) sought to describe Nazi policies of systematic murder, including the destruction of the European Jews. He formed the word "genocide" by combining geno-, from the Greek word for race or tribe, with -cide, from the Latin word for killing. In proposing this new term, Lemkin had in mind "a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves." The next year, theInternational Military Tribunal held at Nuremberg, Germany,charged top Nazis with "crimes against humanity." The word “genocide” was included in the indictment, but as a descriptive, not legal, term.

THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE

On December 9, 1948, in the shadow of the Holocaust and in no small part due to the tireless efforts of Lemkin himself, the United Nations approved the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This convention establishes "genocide” as an international crime, which signatory nations “undertake to prevent and punish.” It defines genocide as:

[G]enocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

While many cases of group-targeted violence have occurred throughout history and even since the Convention came into effect, the legal and international development of the term is concentrated into two distinct historical periods: the time from the coining of the term until its acceptance as international law (1944-1948) and the time of its activation with the establishment of international criminal tribunals to prosecute the crime of genocide (1991-1998). Preventing genocide, the other major obligation of the convention, remains a challenge that nations and individuals continue to face.

"This article is taken from the website of 'United States Holocaust Memorial Museum" for detail information on Genocide Studies you can refer to http://www.ushmm.org

Human Rights Watch: Liberia Militias Attacking Ivorian Villages

Groups who supported former president have killed at least 40 civilians, says human rights group

Laura Burke Associated Press

June 07, 2012

ACCRA, Ghana(AP) -- Armed groups in Liberia who supported Ivory Coast's former president have killed at least 40 civilians in cross-border raids into Ivory Coast since July and are recruiting children as young as 14 into their ranks, a human rights group said Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch says the armed men, most of whom fought for Ivory Coast's former president and flooded over the border to Liberia following his arrest, carried out at least four attacks targeting ethnic groups who support Ivory Coast's current president, Alassane Ouattara.

Ivory Coast was brought to the brink of civil war when former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power to Ouattara in a 2010 election. The U.N. estimates at least 3,000 people were killed in the six months of violence that followed. Gbagbo was arrested with the help of U.N. and French forces in April 2011, and is now facing charges of war crimes at The Hague.

Both sides handed out weapons and recruited young men to fight during the conflict. Several thousand Liberian mercenaries joined the fight, the vast majority for Gbagbo's side, Human Rights Watch says. Following Gbagbo's arrest, many of the mercenaries and militiamen who fought for him fled across the porous border into Liberia's forests, or clandestinely, into its refugee camps.

The New York-based rights group says the Liberian government has failed to respond to the presence of armed groups on the border or to the recruitment of child soldiers.

``Rather than uphold its responsibility to prosecute or extradite those involved in international crimes, Liberian authorities have stood by as many of these same people recruit child soldiers and carry out deadly cross-border attacks,'' said Matt Wells, West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.

There was no immediate reaction to the report by the Liberian government, though Ivory Coast deputy defense minister Paul Koffi Koffi said the Ivorian and Liberian authorities are collaborating to prevent further attacks.

``We're working with the Liberians and we have reinforced patrols along the border,'' Koffi Koffi said. He said there was a joint military program in place, but that it was secretive and he could not provide details.

Human Rights Watch said it had documented armed groups recruiting Liberian children and residents of several Liberian border towns also described seeing children at a training camp for fighters. A 17-year-old boy told the group he led a unit that included other children and that they had participated in cross-border attacks.

The rights group says the government is also responsible for releasing ``war criminals'' from prison. In April, Liberian authorities released Isaac Chegbo on bail, a mercenary better known as ``Bob Marley'' for his long dreadlocks. Chegbo is accused of leading massacres in Ivory Coast last year that left more than 120 people dead.

News Courtesy:http://theskanner.com/article/Human-Rights-Watch-Liberia-Militias-Attacking-Ivorian-Villages-2012-06-07