WAR CRIMES

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DEFINITIONS (from Radio Works America):

War Crimes - According to the International Criminal Court, war crimes include grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other serious violations of the laws and customs that can be applied in international armed conflict, and in armed conflict "not of an international character", as listed in the Statute, when they are committed as part of a plan or policy or on a large scale. These may include, but are not limited to:

1. Violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular murder as well as cruel treatment such as torture, mutilation or any form of corporal punishment
2. Collective punishments
3. Taking of hostages
4. Acts of terrorism
5. Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, rape, enforced prostitution and any form of indecent assault
6. Pillage
7. The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples
8. Threats to commit any of the foregoing acts.

Crimes against humanity - According to the International Criminal Court, crimes against humanity include crimes such as the extermination of civilians, enslavement, torture, rape, forced pregnancy, deportation, persecution on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or gender grounds, and enforced disappearances—but only when they are part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population. The "widespread or systematic" qualification for crimes against humanity is very important, as it provides a higher threshold and differentiates it from random acts of violence—such as rape, murder, or even torture—that could be carried out, perhaps even by soldiers in uniform, but which may not actually qualify as crimes against humanity.

Genocide - According to the International Criminal Court, genocide is defined as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Ethnic Cleansing - Literal translation of the Serbo-Croatian/Croato-Serbian term 'etnicko ciscenje', which was used in mass media reports as early as 1981. The term derived its current meaning during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, probably as part of military vocabulary. It was most often used in the final phase of combat, to describe taking total control of the conquered territory. According to the U.S. State Department, ethnic cleansing generally entails the systematic and forced removal of members of an ethnic group from their communities to change the ethnic composition of a region. It includes:

1. Forced expulsions
2. Looting and Burning
3. Detentions
4. Summary Execution
5. Rape
6. Violations of Medical Neutrality
7. Identity Cleansing

RECENT AND CURRENT HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS:

RUSSIA

On December 6th the de-capitated body of a 20 year old foreign aid worker was found in Russia, bringing international attention to the growing violence occuring against foreigners from Russian extremist groups. The Moscow Human Rights Bureau - a non-governmental organisation - says that 74 people were killed, and 340 injured, in racist attacks in Russia last year. The first week of December 2008 a racist gang was found guilty of 20 murders and 12 attempted murders.

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CONGO

Conflict and humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo have taken the lives of 5.4 million people since 1988 and continue to leave as many as 45,000 dead every month, according to a 2008 mortality survey released by the International Rescue Committee. The latest round of violence in the Congo has displaced between 300,000 and 500,000 people and left thousands raped and severely injured, both physically and emotionally.


The armed conflict in the DRC is acknowledged as the deadliest war in Africa ever recorded and is regarded as one of the cruelest conflict zones for women and girls in recent history. Through-out the conflict, tens of thousands of women and girls have been raped, sexually assaulted, attacked and abducted.

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VIDEO: TRAILER FOR THE GREATEST SILENCE DOCUMENTARY

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AFGHANISTAN

Thirty humanitarian workers have been killed so far in 2008 – twice as many as last year, and 80 have been kidnapped. The World Food Programme has lost more than US$ 840,000 worth of food in attacks on food convoys entering Afghanistan. Twenty five attacks have been carried out in 2008 alone.

Afghanistan has been at war since 1978. Since the Taliban became a military and political force in late 1994, women and girls in Afghanistan have become almost invisible. In 1996, the University of Kabul reportedly had several thousand women students while thousands of professional women were employed. Since the Taliban takeover, women are not allowed to attend school and others have been forced to leave their jobs. The Taliban have forbidden women from working outside the home, except in limited circumstances in the medical field. The 30,000 widows in Kabul and others elsewhere in the country have been hit the hardest because they are the sole providers for their families. Girls are prohibited from attending school. Womens and girls access to medical services has been drastically cut back. Women are treated by female doctors and the number of female doctors has been greatly reduced. It is also dangerous for women to leave their homes. One mother in Farah reportedly was shot by the Taliban for going out in public to take her baby to a doctor. The child was in serious condition and needed immediate medical attention. Women have been beaten on the street if an inch of their ankle shows under their burqa. They have been beaten if they make noise when they walk. According to one report, a women struggling with two small children and groceries in her arms was reportedly beaten by the Taliban with a car antenna because she had let her face covering slip. The Taliban require that windows in houses that have female living in them be painted over. Many children are in danger of being shot every day as they go to school.

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IRAQ

Because of ongoing violence in Iraq, more than two million Iraqis remain refugees and live in dangerous circumstances inside the country.

Arrests of people suspected of committing gross human rights violations in Iraq have been carried out consistently since 2004. The U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein on December 14, 2003. Saddam Hussein was charged with the premeditated murder, torture and forced expulsion and disappearance of the residents of Dujail, a Shia Muslim town, after rebels there made an attempt to assassinate him in 1982. On November 5, 2006, he was convicted of charges related to the executions of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites suspected of planning an assassination attempt against him, and was sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam was executed on December 30, 2006.

Since then, civilians were once again the targets of attacks by Sunni and Shia armed groups across the country, though the number of attacks went down following the US and Iraqi security offensive. Many attacks appeared to be intended to cause the greatest possible civilian casualties and spread fear, and often occur in marketplaces, schools, and places of worship. Bombings in a Shia area of Tel Afar in March killed some 150 people. It was followed by revenge killings of dozens of Sunnis by Shia policemen. Suicide truck bombings targeting minority Yazidis near Sinjar killed 500 people, the worst single attack since 2003.

According to press accounts, US arrests of children allegedly involved in insurgent activities rose from an average of 25 per month to 100 per month in 2007, with over 800 children held at Camp Cropper by mid-September. In August the US opened Dar al-Hikmah, a non-residential facility intended to provide 600 detainees ages 11-17 with education services pending release or transfer to Iraqi custody. Officials have said children would be subject to the same detention review process as adults, which does not guarantee detainees access to lawyers when presenting their cases.

Violence against women and girls in Iraq continues to be a serious problem, with members of insurgent groups and militias, soldiers, and police among the perpetrators. Even in high-profile cases involving police or security forces, prosecutions are rare.

Violence within the family also continues to be a serious issue. In 2007, UNAMI officials recorded 40 alleged “honor” crimes in the Kurdish region alone within a three-month period.

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MUMBAI

Mumbai has suffered several bombings in the past 10 years. On 6 December 2002, a bomb placed under a seat of an empty bus exploded near Ghatkopar station in Mumbai. 2 people were killed and 28 were injured. On 27 January 2003, a bomb placed on a bicycle exploded - the bomb killed 1 and injured 25. On 13 March 2003, a bomb exploded in a train compartment, as the train was entering the Mulund station in Mumbai. 10 people were killed and 70 were injured. On 28 July 2003, a bomb placed under a seat of a bus killed 4 people and injured 32. On 25 August 2003, two blasts in South Mumbai - one near the Gateway of India and the other at Zaveri Bazaar in Kalbadevi occurred. At least 44 people were killed and 150 injured.

There were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks across Mumbai in November 2008. The attacks, carried out by armed men using automatic weapons and grenades, began on 26 November 2008 and ended on 29 November 2008. At least 173 people were killed and at least 308 were injured in the attacks.

Eight of the main attacks occurred in South Mumbai, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus,the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, the Orthodox Jewish-owned Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building behind St. Xavier's College. There was also an explosion at the Mazagaon docks in Mumbai's port area, and a taxi blast at Vile Parle.

By the morning of November 28, all sites except for the Taj Mahal Palace had been secured by Mumbai Police and security forces. The Taj Mahal was secured the next day.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir was the only terrorist who was captured alive. He revealed that the attackers were members of Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Pakistan-based militant organization, considered a terrorist organization by India, the United States, and the United Kingdom, among others.

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VIDEO: NOVEMBER 2008 MUMBAI ATTACKS

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ZIMBABWE

In 2007, Zimbabwe crashed into political and economic chaos as President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union—Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) intensified its stranglehold on power. In September, annnual inflation reached 8,000 percent and Zimbabweans had to struggle to meet basic needs. Currently, the government continues to severely restrict the political opposition, media, and nongovernmental organizations. Torture in police custody is common, as is the harassment and arrest of journalists and human rights defenders.add to del.icio.us Del.icio.us

In March 2007 during a prayer meeting, 50 opposition and civil society activists were arrested and brutally assaulted. Many were beaten in police custody, sustaining severe injuries including fractured skulls, broken bones and severe bruising that required hospitalization.There has been renewed international concern, but continuing divisions and lack of decisive leadership from regional powers, has done little to help improve the human rights situation in the country.

On February 21, 2007, the government imposed a three-month ban on political rallies and demonstrations in Harare. Police argued that the rallies would lead to a breakdown in law and order and political violence. The government has done little to address torture in Zimbabwe’s prisons and police cells, and such incidents are rarely investigated. Several of the journalists who tried to report on the events of March 11, 2007 and its aftermath were arrested, including independent journalist Gift Phiri, who was reportedly tortured in police custody. On the day of the March prayer meeting itself, police assaulted photojournalist Tsvangirai Mukhwazi and held him in custody for three days, even though he had the required media accreditation. Four days later, police severely beat another photographer and his brother in Glenview, Harare when they attempted to take pictures of a group of people at a shopping mall mourning the death of an opposition activist.

In August 2007, the government introduced the Interception of Communications Act. It threatens to further restrict the rights of Zimbabweans to privacy, information and expression. The law allows the government to intercept emails and monitor telephone calls, the internet and postal communications. There are serious concerns that the law could be used to target human rights activists, journalists, trade unionists, and other government critics.


In the weeks leading up to the 2008 election, MDC supporters were harassed and victimized by violent attacks. An increasingly tense climate was further heightened by several government actions, including the detention of Mutambara, Tsvangirai, and several other MDC officials and supporters, as well as several diplomats from the United Kingdom and the United States who were in the midst of investigating reports of preelection violence, the suspension of all humanitarian aid operations in the country, and statements from Mugabe implying that he would not cede power to the opposition if he lost the runoff election. As the politically motivated violence, intimidation, and rhetoric continued, on June 22 Tsvangirai announced that he was withdrawing from the election, citing the impossibility of it being free and fair in the country's current political climate. Nevertheless, the election was still held, and Mugabe was declared the winner.

The fact that the election was even held, as well as the outcome, prompted widespread international condemnation.

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LEBANON

Despite women’s active participation in all aspects of Lebanese society, discrimination still exists in personal status laws, nationality laws, and criminal laws relating to violence in the family. Current Lebanese law does not allow Lebanese women to pass nationality on to either their spouses or children. "Thousands of children in Lebanon are denied full access to education, healthcare and residency because they do not have Lebanese citizenship," reports the humanitarian news agency IRIN.

Women immigrants employed as domestic workers, most of whom come from Sri Lanka, face exploitation and abuse by employers, including excessive hours of work, nonpayment of wages, and restrictions on their liberty. Many suffer physical and sexual abuse by employers, in a climate of complete impunity for employers. According to media reports, over 200 migrant domestic workers in Lebanon reportedly committed suicide over the last four years with no real investigation of their deaths.

Hezbollah is a Shi'a Islamic political and paramilitary organisation based in Lebanon. It is a significant force in Lebanese politics, providing social services, which operate schools, hospitals, and agricultural services for thousands of Lebanese Shiites. The group is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Israel, Canada, and the Netherlands.

"Responding to critics, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies says that Hezbollah operated from civilian areas to deter the IDF (Israeli Army) and gain a propaganda advantage. The report also says that Hezbollah has been preparing for such an engagement for years, embedding its fighters and their weapons in the Shiite villages of southern Lebanon. Some cases the report documents include:

  • Guerrillas stashing weapons in hundreds of private homes and mosques, having fighters transporting missiles closely follow ambulances, and firing rockets near UN monitoring posts.
  • Hizbullah bases, weapons and ammunition stores hidden within civilian population centers in south Beirut, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
  • A truck with a multi-barreled missile launcher, presumably from Hezbollah, parking in a street, sandwiched between residential buildings
  • In a Lebanese village, rockets are seen being fired from a launcher on the back of a truck. The truck then drives a short distance and disappears inside a building.
  • Lebanese residents' comments of the activities of Hezbollah within civilian communities
  • Interrogations with Muhammad Srour, a young Hezbollah fighter, revealed:
    • He had initially received training in Iran and was undergoing further training in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley when the war broke out.
    • While transporting missiles, hidden in cloth, in and around a Lebanese village, he held a white flag.
  • Hussein Suleiman, a Hezbollah fighter, explains how he had set up a rocket-firing position on the front porch of a house on the outskirts of a Lebanese town.
  • Maher Kourani, a Hezbollah fighter, said group members had worn civilian clothes, tried never to show their weapons, and traveled in ordinary civilian cars.

From the inception of Hezbollah to the present, the elimination of the State of Israel has been one of Hezbollah's primary goals, the group has been known to use anti-Semitic rhetoric and fallacious accusations that Jews are deliberately spreading AIDS. The Hezbollah-owned and operated television station Al-Manar was criticized for airing "anti-Semitic propaganda" in the form of a television drama depicting a Jewish world domination conspiracy. Hezbollah also used antisemitic educational materials designed for 5-year-old scouts."

Hezbollah has taken responsibility for a number of attacks and kidnappings.

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Action points:

What can you do to help?

1. INFORMED PRAYER: Educate yourself regarding what is going on. Then PRAY for the people of these regions, the humanitarian efforts on the ground, as well as for our Government and the international community to act swiftly and effectively, with wisdom and resolve.

2. BE A VOICE: Write letters to the editors to your local and national media

3. BE A VOICE SOME MORE: Write, email, and/or meet with your Members of Parliament to let them know that you care about these issues and want to see Canada continue to engage and contribute more to international efforts to stop crimes against humanity.

4. GIVE: Help support organizations who are working hard to fight the effects of war crimes internationally.



Sources: Wikipedia, Amnesty Internation, Human Rights Watch, IRC, UNHRC