December, 12 2008, 09:56am EDT
Rwanda Tribunal Should Pursue Justice for RPF Crimes
Failure to Act Risks Undermining Court’s Legacy
WASHINGTON
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda's (ICTR) prosecutor's failure to date to bring cases against Rwandan Patriotic Front officers responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1994 genocide risks undermining the court's legacy, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 12, 2008, ICTR Prosecutor Hassan Jallow will brief the Security Council, which is finalizing plans to close the court.
The ICTR is mandated to prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda in 1994. However, unlike the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which has prosecuted crimes committed by all parties to the conflict, the ICTR has thus far prosecuted only persons charged with committing genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
Against the backdrop of the genocide, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which has since become the country's governing party, killed thousands of civilians, in the process committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"The tribunal has not prosecuted even one of the serious Rwandan Patriotic Front crimes from 1994," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program. "This glaring omission means delivering one-sided justice and risks tarnishing the important work that the court has done to date."
RPF crimes have been well-documented, including by a United Nations Commission of Experts, which concluded that the group had "perpetrated serious breaches of international humanitarian law" and "crimes against humanity." The Field Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as well as Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) documented the RPF's violations of international humanitarian law. Recently, cases have been opened against its leaders in Spain and France.
The prosecutor for the ICTR referred one RPF case to Rwandan national courts involving the killings of 15 civilians, including high officials of the Catholic Church, in June 1994. In October, the Military Court of Kigali acquitted two senior officers for the crimes while two more junior officers who had pleaded guilty to the crimes were given reduced sentences of eight years on grounds that the crimes were not premeditated. The Rwandan prosecutor has appealed the decision to a higher Rwandan court. After the officers' arrest, the ICTR prosecutor indicated that he would reassert jurisdiction over the case if the trial did not meet international standards, but he is refraining from comment while the decision is on appeal.
In the meantime, the ICTR's trial chambers have in three cases refused to transfer trials for genocide to the courts in Rwanda, citing fair trial concerns, including the ability to secure and protect witnesses.
"The concerns about fair trials expressed by the tribunal are even more pronounced for Rwandan Patriotic Front cases," said Dicker.
The ICTR is currently scheduled to finalize trials by the end of 2009. Unless the Security Council grants an extension, it will be difficult to bring RPF cases before the court.
"The doors seem to be closing with the mandate of the court unfulfilled," said Dicker. "The victims of the RPF crimes also deserve justice. Failure to bring these cases before the court will call into question the impartiality and independence of the ICTR."
Human Rights Watch raised its concerns in a letter to the ICTR prosecutor today.
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
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Investigation Reveals Global Collagen Demand Driving Deforestation, Right Abuses in Brazil
"Did you sprinkle a little collagen in your smoothie this morning? Might be worth looking into where it came from," said one reporter.
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Global demand for collagen—touted as an anti-aging "wonder product"—is driving deforestation and abuses against Indigenous people in Brazil, an investigation published Monday revealed.
The investigation—which involved numerous media outlets and organizations including the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), the Pulitzer Center's Rainforest Investigations Network, the Center for Climate Crime Analysis, ITV, O Joio e O Trigo, and The Guardian—is the first to link bovine collagen with tropical forest loss and violence against Indigenous people, according to its collaborators.
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The publication also cast doubt on claims made by collagen promoters.
The Guardian reports:
While there are studies suggesting taking collagen orally can improve joint and skin health, Harvard School of Public Health cautions potential conflicts of interest exist as most if not all of the research is either funded by the industry or carried out by scientists affiliated with it.
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Nestlé responded to the report by stating it has contacted its collagen supplier to look into the investigation's claims, while assuring it is working to "ensure its products are deforestation-free by 2025."
Vital Proteins told its buyers after TBIJ contacted them for comment that it would "end sourcing from the Amazon region effective immediately."
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\u201c\ud83d\udea8REVEALED: #Nestl\u00e9 brand sells collagen linked to deforestation and invasion of Indigenous lands in Brazil. \n\n@pulitzercenter RIN Fellow @lilimendonca, @ZukerFabio & @Andrew_Wasley report for @TBIJ. Read here \ud83d\udc49 https://t.co/z0kxMJFnO8 \n\n\u2795 \ud83e\uddf5 1/5\u201d— Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN) (@Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN)) 1678111914
As Mendonça, Wasley, and Zuker noted:
With sales of beef, leather, and collagen booming, more and more forest has been felled and replaced by pastures in recent years, with land often seized illegally. Virtual impunity for land-grabbing during the [former President Jair] Bolsonaro government also fueled attacks on traditional communities. In 2021, the third year of his presidency, there were 305 invasions of Indigenous lands. This is three times more than the 2018 figures reported by the Catholic Church's Indigenous Missionary Council.
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Disability rights advocates were joined by labor leaders, progressive politicians, and other advocates for justice on Monday in mourning the death of influential activist Judy Heumann, who began decades of advocacy work fighting for employment as a teacher and was credited with paving the way for numerous federal laws to protect people with disabilities. She was 75 and died on March 4.
Known as the "mother of the disability rights movement," Heumann's first experience with advocacy work came in 1970 after she was denied employment at a New York City public school, with the school citing her "paralysis of both lower extremities" as the reason and saying she would not be able to evacuate students and herself in case of a fire.
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Seven years later Heumann led more than 100 people in San Francisco in joining nationwide protests to demand that President Jimmy Carter's health, education, and welfare secretary, James Califano, implement a crucial statute within the 1973 Rehabilitation Act.
The law had been signed by President Richard Nixon and included Section 504, which prohibited institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating against disabled people. Califano delayed implementing the provision and failed to meet a deadline—April 4, 1977—set by disability rights advocates. The next day Heumann led a sit-in at a government office which turned into a weekslong occupation, culminating in Califano signing Section 504 on April 28. According toThe New York Times, Heumann's action was the "longest nonviolent occupation of a federal building in American history."
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\u201cutterly heartbroken to hear about the passing of disability rights activist judy heumann. what an incomparable loss of a woman who deserves to be celebrated and mourned in equal measure by us all \ud83d\udc94\u201d— lucy (@lucy) 1677994873
Section 504 paved the way for the Americans With Disabilities Act, which extended protections to the private sector.
"Judy's impact is vast," said the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. "Each action she took built on the one before it. In her early life, she learned perseverance and patience from witnessing her mother's ongoing advocacy to have her go to school with her non-disabled peers... Those years of segregation sparked her thinking about disability and identity."
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, noted that Heumann's work was instrumental in securing the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, then known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, in 1975.
\u201cStudents & families everywhere have lost a true friend & tireless advocate. Judy Heumann won NEA\u2019s Friend of Education award for her pioneering work in disability justice, making landmark legislation like IDEA & the ADA reality. Her legacy lives on in all who strive for equity.\u201d— Becky Pringle (@Becky Pringle) 1678118399
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