February, 19 2010, 03:36pm EDT
UN Security Council: Better Shelter, Security Needed for Haiti Victims
Urgent Action Still Needed on Safe Camp Sites for Those Made Homeless by Quake
NEW YORK
The United Nations Security Council should make improving the quality and security of camps for displaced victims of Haiti's devastating earthquake a top priority, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to the Council's member states. The Security Council is being briefed today on the humanitarian situation in Haiti by the UN emergency relief coordinator, John Holmes, and the head of the Peacekeeping Department, Alain Le Roy.
Human Rights Watch completed a field investigation in Haiti on February 12, 2010, and drew the attention of Security Council members to areas it believes deserve urgent action. The team visited 15 of the largest camps for displaced persons in Port-au-Prince and Jacmel (housing 5,000 to 35,000 people each), and interviewed over 150 camp residents, local officials, and staff of international relief agencies and UN bodies, as well as local activists and representatives of non-governmental organizations.
"Despite all the relief efforts, hundreds of thousands of Haitians remain in desperate need," said Anna Neistat, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch, who led the investigative team in Haiti. "The Haitian government urgently needs to do all it can lawfully to make sites available for camps for displaced and homeless persons."
Despite the large-scale international effort to help the victims, the majority of the 1.2 million people left homeless by the earthquake continue to be in desperate need of vital assistance and protection. Human Rights Watch said it is concerned about the slow pace of efforts to acquire land needed to allow relief agencies to establish camp sites that meet international standards.
Without rapid action to provide the land on which new camps can be established, the squalid and unsafe conditions experienced by hundreds of thousands of quake survivors could become deadly as rainy season begins. The current camps also lack security, leaving their residents - in particular women and girls - at risk of violence.
Human Rights Watch has called for the following actions:
- Prompt and meaningful steps by the Haitian government to lawfully acquire suitable plots of land for the establishment of new camps that meet international standards, including ensuring that the titles for the allocated land are legally valid;
- Provision of a security presence and patrolling at camp sites;
- Implementation of measures to reduce women's vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence, in particular at large camp sites. Such measures could include constructing shelters that would provide women a certain degree of privacy, ensuring a security presence at camp sites, access for women to safe and hygienic sanitation facilities, and ensuring that women have access to accurate information about various forms of assistance;
- Further monitoring and evaluation of food distribution strategies to ensure that the food assistance reaches the most vulnerable groups, including women, children, and people living with disabilities at camp sites;
- Suspension by all UN member states of involuntary returns of Haitian migrants to Haiti until such time as conditions conducive to sustainable returns in safety and dignity are established.
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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'We're Calling for Justice': Allies Slam Trial for El Salvador Water Defenders
Ahead of proceedings next week, an international coalition continues to back a call to "drop the baseless charges against the Santa Marta Five."
Mar 25, 2024
Nine organizations from around the world on Monday renewed calls for El Salvador's government to drop "politically motivated charges" against the "Santa Marta Five" as the well-known water defenders prepared to stand trial beginning April 3.
Miguel Ángel Gámez, Alejandro Laínez García, Pedro Antonio Rivas Laínez, Teodoro Antonio Pacheco, and Saúl Agustín Rivas Ortega were arrested in January 2023 and accused of murdering an alleged military informant during a civil war over three decades ago. Rights groups worldwide have repeatedly highlighted that not only has the Salvadoran government failed to produce any proof of their guilt, but also the five men should be covered under a 1992 amnesty law related to the war.
"In the spirit of Saint Óscar Romero, these community leaders have embodied the legacy of the preferential option for the poor in their fight for justice and for the well-being of their communities," Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) senior adviser John Cavanagh said Monday, a day after the 44th anniversary of Romero's assassination in San Salvador.
"Now, we're calling for justice for the Santa Marta Five as they face politically motivated charges and attempts to silence their movement," added Cavanagh, whose group gave its 2009 Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award to the National Roundtable on Metals Mining, a coalition the arrested water defenders helped build.
"We recognize the historic and heroic struggle of the community of Santa Marta to build a better future for the most marginalized populations."
The Santa Marta Five, who were released to house arrest in September, helped pass a 2017 legislative ban on metal mining in El Salvador. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who was reelected last month, has reportedly been considering reversing the prohibition in response to economic issues resulting from his policies.
"The Santa Marta Five water defenders were part of an emblematic fight to protect their land and waters from Canadian gold mining and ban metal mining," declared Viviana Herrera, Latin America program coordinator at MiningWatch Canada. "However, as in other countries in the region, their environmental struggle has come at an immense cost for them and their communities."
Chris Aylward, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said that "we recognize the historic and heroic struggle of the community of Santa Marta to build a better future for the most marginalized populations, one where universal rights are guaranteed, including to health and water for all."
Acknowledging the global movement that has rallied behind the Santa Marta Five, the United Church of Canada's Christie Neufeldt vowed to keep pushing "for the charges to be dropped and to accompany their work to protect the ban on metals mining."
Along with the Canadian groups and IPS, the coalition supporting the five men includes the Central American Alliance on Mining, Pax Christi International, the SHARE Foundation, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and the Washington Ethical Society (WES).
“The Washington Ethical Society has a long history with the communities of El Rodeo and Santa Marta. We partnered with ADES in an eight-year process to build a potable water system for the community," noted Ross Wells, co-chair of WES's sister community program in El Salvador. "Antonio Pacheco, director of ADES and one of the arrested water defenders, was instrumental in making this project possible."
"WES members met with him every year for 12 years. Like the other members of the Santa Marta Five, Antonio was arrested and jailed for political reasons. These men fought hard to protect the waters of El Salvador from the ravages of metallic mining," he continued. "To help prop up an imploding economy, the current regime is making moves to reintroduce mining against the will of the people."
Wells also pointed out that the Santa Marta Five are among the tens of thousands of people arrested under El Salvador's state of exception, which began in March 2022 and has provoked intense condemnation from rights groups that have documented sweeping abuse by security forces, including arbitrary detention without due process.
"WES stands with the people of Santa Marta, in working for a just El Salvador, where human rights and the rule of law are respected," he said. "We pledge to continue fighting with others in the international community to protect the existing law against mining and drop the baseless charges against the Santa Marta Five."
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US Abstains as UN Security Council Demands 'Immediate Cease-Fire' in Gaza
"This resolution must be implemented," said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. "Failure would be unforgivable."
Mar 25, 2024
The U.S. on Monday declined to veto but still abstained from a United Nations Security Council on Monday to adopt a resolution demanding an "immediate cease-fire for the month of Ramadan" in the embattled Gaza Strip, a move that came amid an ongoing Israeli genocide in which more than 114,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and hundreds of thousands of others are starving.
The Security Council voted 14-0, with the U.S. abstaining, to approve a resolution for the cessation of hostilities during the Muslim holy month after member states overcame a sticking point over the removal of the word "permanent" from an earlier draft version. Instead, the resolution calls for an "immediate" cease-fire.
"Humanity prevails. Humanity always prevails," Palestine's U.N. mission said on social media following the vote. "Today's historic vote by the Security Council for a #ceasefire and an end to Israel's crimes is a first step towards justice. The resolution is binding."
The U.S. had vetoed three of the previous four cease-fire resolutions.
"This resolution must be implemented," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said following Monday's vote. "Failure would be unforgivable."
As the U.N. Newsexplained:
The resolution is a bare-bones call for a cease-fire during the month of Ramadan, which began on March 11. It also demands the return of about 130 hostages seized in Israel and held in Gaza and emphasizes the urgent need to allow ample lifesaving aid to reach a starving population in the besieged enclave.
The demand to end hostilities has so far eluded the council following the Israeli forces' invasion of Gaza in October after Hamas attacks left almost 1,200 dead and 240 taken hostage.
Since then, Israel's daily bombardment alongside its near-total blockade of water, electricity, and lifesaving aid has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health ministry there, where a recent U.N.-backed report showed an imminent famine unfolding.
Palestinians—especially children—are starving to death in Gaza. Hospitals are under attack, with Israeli forces reportedly executing large numbers of people inside al-Shifa Hospital.
Meanwhile, the approximately 1.5 million Palestinians in the southern city of Rafah—most of them refugees forcibly displaced from other parts of Gaza—are bracing for an anticipated ground invasion, which Israeli leaders say will proceed despite a warning from U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris that such an operation would have "consequences."
Monday's vote followed intense negotiations over the measure introduced by 10 non-permanent Security Council members—Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea, and Switzerland.
According to Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, the vote on the resolution was delayed 20 minutes as the United States "pushed to include condemnation of Hamas in the text."
"This is despite the fact that the U.S. has VETOED previous resolutions that clearly condemned Hamas," Parsi wrote on social media.
Parsi said:
America's abstention in today's U.N. vote marks a real shift by [President Joe] Biden—this is the first time we've seen his administration's rhetorical shift in favor of a cease-fire translate into political action.
There's no question that all of the domestic pressure on the Biden administration to stop blocking a cease-fire is having an impact. The pressure is working—without it, Biden likely would've vetoed today' resolution. Yet, while Biden is no longer standing in the way of a cease-fire, this is hardly the same thing as helping to bring about a cease-fire. America must do much more to bring an end to this war.
Politically, today's vote will certainly increase pressure on Washington to help implement an immediate cease-fire. Will the Biden administration continue to sell Israel arms, even if Israel refuses the UNSC's call for a cease-fire?
The United States—which, despite growing frustration over genocidal atrocities, still arms Israel—brushed off a threat from far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a planned visit to Washigton by a high-level Israeli delegation if the U.S. did not veto the resolution.
The Associated Pressreported Netanyahu followed through with his threat and canceled the trip.
Human rights defenders welcomed Monday's vote.
"Israel needs to immediately respond to the U.N. Security Council resolution adopted today by facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid, ending its starvation of Gaza's population, and halting unlawful attacks," Louis Charbonneau, director of Human Rights Watch's U.N. program, said in a statement.
"Palestinian armed groups should immediately release all civilians held hostage," he added. "The U.S. and other countries should use their leverage to end atrocities by suspending arms transfers to Israel."
In the United States, progressive lawmakers also welcomed the resolution's adoption.
"The U.N. Security Council just passed a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, the release of all hostages, and full humanitarian access," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who has been criticized by the left for his earlier failure to call for a cease-fire. "The U.S. must push all parties to honor this cease-fire and rush massive humanitarian aid into Gaza to feed starving people."
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) praised the Biden administration's "significant change" in policy after three previous vetoes.
"Grassroots activism is making the difference," he added. "Moral positions that just a few weeks ago were described as fringe are starting to be vindicated."
Meanwhile, the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) said it was "disappointed" by the Biden administration's veto, which the group said "fails to acknowledge that Hamas is to blame for ongoing hostilities and could stop the fighting by surrendering and releasing all the hostages."
In response, Jewish Voice for Peace Action asserted: "AIPAC will not accept anything less than complete and unquestioning amplification of Israeli military's talking points. They are fueling every part of this genocide."
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'Death Sentence for Thousands': Israel Bars UNRWA Food Aid to Northern Gaza
"By preventing UNRWA to fulfill its mandate in Gaza, the clock will tick faster toward famine and many more will die of hunger, dehydration, and lack of shelter," UNRWA's commissioner-general said.
Mar 25, 2024
Israel will no longer permit the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to drive convoys bearing food aid into northern Gaza, even as the area is on the brink of famine.
Israeli officials informed the U.N. of the new restrictions on Sunday, prompting outrage and dire warnings from U.N. officials and other human rights advocates.
"By preventing UNRWA to fulfill its mandate in Gaza, the clock will tick faster toward famine and many more will die of hunger, dehydration, and lack of shelter," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini posted on social media. "This cannot happen, it would only stain our collective humanity."
"I have urged Israel to lift all impediments on aid to Gaza. Now this—MORE impediments."
In his response, Lazzarini said that UNRWA was the largest organization operating in Gaza with the greatest capability to distribute aid.
"This is outrageous and makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine," Lazzarini said. "These restrictions must be lifted."
The news comes as medical workers and international aid organizations have sounded the alarm about famine in Gaza. At least 23 children in northern Gaza have already died from starvation or dehydration, and one-third of children under two years old suffer from acute malnutrition, according to the United Nations' International Children's Emergency Fund. A new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report published on March 18 found that famine was "imminent" in Gaza's northern governorates and likely to begin "anytime" between the report's publication and May. In the northern governorates, where around 300,000 live, almost two-thirds of households endured at least 10 days and nights when they did not eat at all in the last 30 days.
"Blocking UNRWA from delivering food is in fact denying starving people the ability to survive," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media. "This decision must be urgently reversed. The levels of hunger are acute. All efforts to deliver food should not only be permitted but there should be an immediate acceleration of food deliveries."
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths also called for Israel's decision to be "revoked."
"I have urged Israel to lift all impediments on aid to Gaza. Now this—MORE impediments," Griffiths posted on social media, calling UNRWA the "beating heart of the humanitarian response in Gaza."
UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma toldBBC World on Monday that a quarter of a million people in the north rely on UNRWA food aid, yet the agency has not been able to deliver to them in two months. An attempt on February 5 had to turn back after the Israeli Navy fired on an aid convoy even as it traveled along a pre-approved route.
Touma told BBC World that more than 1 million people in Gaza now live in UNRWA shelters.
"They lost everything, and they need everything," Touma said.
Touma added that the most important commodity people in Gaza need is food, but they also need "safety, and they need protection, above all, and a cease-fire, which is very, very much overdue."
The U.N. Security Council finally succeeded in passing a resolution on Monday calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the release of all hostages as the U.S. abstained from the vote.
Outside the U.N., former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said on social media that the food aid decision showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "starvation strategy at work," as well as his "vendetta against Palestinian refugees."
CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians Melanie Ward also decried Israel's decision to permanently block UNRWA convoys from the north.
"This would be a death sentence for thousands," Ward said on social media. "They cannot be allowed to do this."
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