February, 17 2010, 11:55am EDT
End Persecution of Human Rights Defenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Urges Amnesty International
WASHINGTON
Amnesty International today
called on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to protect
human rights defenders, who continue to be arbitrarily detained by security
agencies and subjected to an alarming number of death threats.
In its briefing Human Rights Defenders under attack in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Amnesty International documents the persecution
faced by eight prominent human rights defenders in the DRC, harassment
the organization fears will intensify in the build-up to 2011 presidential
and national elections. Congolese human rights defenders have told Amnesty
International that harassment and arrests directed toward them have increased
sharply throughout 2009, reports echoed by U.N. observers in the country.
"The government of the DRC must uphold the right to freedom of expression
and ensure that Congolese human rights defenders are protected from threats,
arbitrary arrests and assault," said Andrew Philip, Amnesty International's
DRC researcher. "Many human rights defenders are detained simply because
they speak out on behalf of others."
Golden Misabiko, head of the Katanga branch of a national human rights
organization, was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) in
July 2009 after his organization published a report alleging that government
security officials were involved in illegal mining of highly radioactive
uranium and other minerals from the Shinkolobwe mine, in the Katanga province.
Following detention for almost a month, Misabiko was convicted and sentenced
to one year in prison with eight months' suspended after being found guilty
of "publication of false information," a conviction that his lawyers
are seeking to overturn. Misabiko suffered severe stomach pains, persistent
vomiting and psychological trauma brought on by the appalling conditions
of detention, where he was forced to pay the guards to sleep outside on
a piece of cardboard to avoid an overcrowded and dirty cell.
Robert Ilunga, a community advocate and head of a human rights NGO in Kinshasa,
was arrested by the ANR and held incommunicado for nine days in September
2009 after the NGO issued a press release denouncing harsh working conditions
endured by workers at a gravel-making company in Kasangulu, in the province
of Bas-Congo.
The ANR, in particular, frequently arrests, detains and intimidates human
rights workers in the DRC. Amnesty International receives regular reports
of torture and other ill-treatment taking place in ANR detention facilities.
"Human rights defenders in the DRC play a crucial role in drawing attention
to human rights abuses, but intensifying harassment makes it increasingly
difficult for them to carry out this important work," said Andrew Philip.
Leaders of four human rights organizations based in the south-eastern city
of Lubumbashi, Katanga province, received anonymous and increasingly sinister
SMS messages since mid-September, when they led a local campaign in support
of Misabiko during his detention.
"I do not know how much longer I can bear the stress and mental suffering
caused by these threats, but every day I resist the temptation to just
return to normal life with my family, because I refuse to be intimidated
into stopping my work," a human rights defender told Amnesty International.
One of the four human rights leaders who campaigned for Misabiko, Gregoire
Mulamba, was abducted on October 18, 2009, on his way home from work. The
taxi that was supposed to take him home diverted from the usual route and
as Mulamba challenged the driver, one of the passengers pushed a gun into
his ribs and blindfolded him. Stopping after 20 minutes, Mulamba feared
he would be killed, but was instead dumped in a cemetery on the outskirts
of Lubumbashi.
The other three leaders, Timothee Mbuya, Emmanuel Umpula and Dominique
Munongo, fled Lubumbashi at the end of September 2009, fearing for their
lives. All three returned to the city in October to continue their human
rights work, despite an escalating stream of death threats.
A number of states expressed concern over the situation of human rights
defenders in the DRC and made recommendations to the DRC government during
the U.N.'s Universal Periodic Review of the DRC that took place in Geneva
in December 2009.
The DRC has since indicated that it supports the UPR recommendations to
"take further measures to protect the rights of human rights defenders...";
to "ensure that crimes and violations against human rights defenders and
journalists are effectively investigated and prosecuted" and to "adopt
an effective legal framework for the protection of human rights activists
in line with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders."
Amnesty International urges the government to make these changes in law
and practice promptly.
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
(212) 807-8400LATEST NEWS
'The Opposite of Leadership': US Vetoes Palestine's UN Membership
Palestine's permanent observer at the United Nations said the resolution's failure "will not break our will, and it will not defeat our determination."
Apr 18, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday used the country's veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block Palestine's bid to become a full member of the U.N.
While 12 nations voted in favor of Palestinian membership and two abstained, the United States is one of five countries—along with China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom—who have veto authority at the Security Council.
Since Israel launched what the International Court of Justice has said is a "plausibly" genocidal assault of the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas-led October attack, the Biden administration has blocked three cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council. Under mounting global pressure, the U.S. finally abstained last month, allowing a cease-fire measure to pass.
In the lead-up to Thursday's vote, the Biden administration was pressuring other countries to oppose the Palestinian Authority's renewed membership effort so it could possibly avoid a veto, according to leaked cables obtained by The Intercept.
"Take a moment to ponder how isolated Biden has made the U.S.," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, after the veto. "Biden lobbied Japan, South Korea, and Ecuador HARD to oppose the Palestine resolution so that the U.S. wouldn't have to veto. They refused. So Biden cast his fourth veto in seven months (!!) This is the opposite of leadership."
In addition to the nations Parsi highlighted, Algeria, China, France, Guyana, Malta, Mozambique, Russia, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia voted for giving Palestine full U.N. membership while Switzerland and the United Kingdom abstained.
After the vote, U.N. Newsreported on remarks from Riyad Mansour, a U.N. permanent observer for the state of Palestine:
"We came to the Security Council today as an important historic moment, regionally and internationally, so that we could salvage what can be saved. We place you before a historic responsibility to establish the foundations of a just and comprehensive peace in our region."
Council members were given the opportunity "to revive the hope that has been lost among our people" and to translate their commitment towards a two-state solution into firm action "that cannot be maneuvered or retracted," and the majority of council members "have risen to the level of this historic moment, and they have stood on the side of justice and freedom and hope, in line with the ethical and humanitarian and legal principles that must govern our world and in line with simple logic."
"The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will, and it will not defeat our determination," Mansour added. "We will not stop in our effort. The state of Palestine is inevitable. It is real. Perhaps they see it as far away, but we see it as near, and we are the faithful."
Parsi said that "a Western-friendly senior Global South diplomat" told him of Biden's veto: "Whatever agonizing claim the U.S. had to lead a self-appointed free world has died a very loud public death on the Security Council horseshoe tonight. YOU CAN'T LEAD IF YOU CAN'T LISTEN."
Biden, a Democrat seeking reelection in November, has faced fierce criticism in the United States and around the world for U.S. complicity in Israel's war on Gaza—which Hamas, not the Palestinian Authority, has controlled for nearly two decades. In under seven months, Israeli forces have killed 33,970 Palestinians, injured another 76,770, displaced most of the besieged enclave's 2.3 million population, devastated civilian infrastructure, and severely limited the flow of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
Israel—which already got $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid before October 7—continues to receive weapons support from the Biden administration, even as a growing chorus of critics, including some Democrats in Congress, argues that the arms transfers violate U.S. and international law.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Shameful': Columbia Greenlights Police Crackdown on Anti-War Encampment
Even after dozens of students were arrested, hundreds "rushed to take the place of their classmates" and continued the protest.
Apr 18, 2024
The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
On Thursday, police and Columbia employees took down about 50 tents that had been up for more than a day and disposed of them in trash cans and alleyways—but The New York Times reported later that "demonstrators repitched a couple of tents, and ... recovered the main signage from the encampment as well," while hundreds of students were "still gathered and chanting on the south side of the grass."
The arrests came a day after Shafik testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce about antisemitism on campus.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among the Barnard students who were suspended on Thursday for participating in the encampment protest, questioned Shafik about whether antisemitic protests have actually taken place at Columbia, prompting the president to say there have not.
"There has been a rise in targeting and harassment against anti-war protesters, because it's been pro-war and anti-war protesters is what it seems, like, correct?" asked Omar.
"Correct," replied Shafik.
On Thursday, Omar posted on social media two images of protesters at Columbia: one from the encampment this week, and one from 1968, when students protested the U.S. war in Vietnam.
New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán was among those who condemned the university's crackdown on the protests on Thursday.
"Suspending and arresting Columbia/Barnard student activists and disbanding student organizations—including Jewish students and organizations—doesn't combat antisemitism or increase safety," said Cabán. "All it does is punish and intimidate those who believe in human rights for Palestinians. Shameful."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'The Pressure Is Working': Biden Weighs Climate Emergency Declaration
Campaigners urged the president to "keep listening to the millions of young, people of color, and working-class voters who are demanding climate policy that meets the moment."
Apr 18, 2024
The youth-led Sunrise Movement on Thursday celebrated Bloombergreporting that "White House officials have renewed discussions about potentially declaring a national climate emergency."
The Wednesday revelation came just two days after six young activists were arrested outside Vice President Kamala Harris' Los Angeles, California home to increase pressure on the Biden administration to make such a declaration, which would unlock various federal powers to combat the fossil fuel-driven global crisis.
According to Bloomberg:
Top advisers to President Joe Biden have recently resumed talks about the merits of such a move, which could be used to curtail crude exports, suspend offshore drilling, and curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because a final decision has not been made.
White House advisers are divided over the idea of declaring a climate emergency, with some saying it wouldn't provide Biden with enough newfound authority to make substantial changes, the people said. Others, however, argue such an announcement would galvanize climate-minded voters.
"The pressure is working. Let's keep it up," Sunrise said on social media, highlighting some of what Biden—who claimed last year that "practically speaking," he had already declared a national climate emergency—could do with a real declaration.
Sunrise wasn't alone in welcoming the news. The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) Action said that "we've BEEN calling for a climate emergency!! Now, the White House is considering declaring one."
The group urged Biden to "keep listening to the millions of young, people of color, and working-class voters who are demanding climate policy that meets the moment."
As Biden and Harris have campaigned for reelection in November—when they are expected to face former Republican President Donald Trump, whose plan for the planet is "drill, baby, drill"—the Democrats have encountered intense pressure from campaigners including members of CPD and Sunrise to step up their climate actions.
"I'm on the frontlines raising my voice for my Black and Latine families and friends, because I know that we deserve to have affordable housing and healthcare, we deserve an administration who will fight for us, but instead of declaring a climate emergency, we are seeing Biden and Harris expand oil and gas production to record levels," 18-year-old Ariela Lara, who was arrested at Harris' house, said Monday.
Climate campaigners have praised the Biden administration for parts of the Inflation Reduction Act and a recent pause on liquefied natural gas exports but blasted the president for skipping last year's United Nations summit, continuing fossil fuel lease sales, and enabling the Mountain Valley Pipeline, Willow oil project, and construction of the nation's largest offshore oil terminal.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular