While the Zimbabwean Constitution Select Committeedrafts a new constitution for the country, The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights notethat the constitution lacks transparency and, importantly, legitimacy.Zimbabwe’s planned 2012 electionmay be a long-awaited opportunity to fairly and freely elect a candidate.

The list of human rights violations during Mugabe’sprolonged presidency is extensive.  Rights groups allege torture within Zimbabwe’s prisons and widespread corruption within Mugabe’sregime.  

Yesterday, 660 people were treated for typhoidin the country’s capital. The U.N. confirms that cholera is still a danger, and that Zimbabweans are increasingly at riskfor malaria due deteriorating waste management systems.

PHR documented in 2009 the connection between Zimbabwe’scholera epidemic and the collapse of the country’s healthcare system. Thereport, Health in Ruins: A Man-Made Disaster in Zimbabweexposes the state’s failure to maintain safe water, sanitation, or afunctioning health system. PHR continues to monitor the health and human rightssituation in the country and calls on Zimbabwean authorities to adopt suggestedimprovements given during the country’s Universal Periodic Review before theHuman Rights Council last year, including investigating alleged human rightsviolations and holding perpetrators accountable.

Recently, the NC Stop Torture Nowgroup released a comprehensive report on extraordinary rendition and called upon state officialsto stop any such extraordinary rendition flights from operating at the NCJohnston County Airport. The report, prepared by professors and students at theUniversity of North Carolina School of Law, states that the CIA has beenrelying on Aero Contractors, Ltd., a North Carolina operated civil aviationcompany to transport detainees to international destinations for detention,interrogation and torture.

Extraordinary rendition flights, as they are known,are used by the CIA to transfer individuals—suspected of being terrorists—fromthe countries in which they were apprehended to CIA-run or other countries’ facilities,where they are subject to several months, if not years, of detention. Theapprehended individuals are interrogated, tortured and denied any kind ofcommunication with their relatives and legal or consular counsel.

According to the report, Aerooperated several flights at least from 2001 to 2006, in which individuals weretransferred to CIA black sites or other countries.

The report was compiledbased on declassified government documents, public records, court documents,testimony, and other public sources. The NC anti-torture group also accuses the state of North Carolina of complicity inallowing the flights to occur even in the face of evidence that individuals,such as Khaled El-Masri, were picked up, shackled, blindfolded, and hooded, andthen flown to black sites where they were waterboarded and subject toforced nudity, stress positions, and sleep deprivation. In the case of El-Masri, he was interrogatedfor several months before his interrogators realized they had a case ofmistaken identity.

PHR is particularly concerned withthe treatment of persons who are transferred to other countries for the solepurpose of coerced interrogations, as it amounts to torture and cruel, inhuman,and degrading treatment, both on the flights and in the facilities they werebrought to. Additionally, such transfersviolate the UN Convention Against Torture which not only prohibits torture andcruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment,but also prohibits participating in the transfer of individuals to places whereit’s likely they will be tortured or abused. 

Moreover, the detainees are transferred without access to due processand legal or consular counsel, are seldom informed of the charges against them,and detained for long periods of time. These are examples of indefinite detention,which has been analyzed in a recent PHR reportwhere it has been demonstrated that indefinite detention can cause severe physicaland psychological harm in healthy individuals, independent of other aspects orconditions of detention. 

Extraordinary rendition is unlawfulunder US and international law and therefore should end immediately. The NC report—breathtakingly extensive indocumenting evidence of such acts—should instigate state and federal officialsto thoroughly investigate and hold accountable both public and privateindividuals who have engaged in this illegal and immoral conduct.

War and civil unrest turn soldiers—and, often, civilians—into deliberate targets. Medical professionals have an ethical duty to provide care and treatment to those in need, without discrimination, even in times of conflict. But during conflict and civil unrest, health care professionals, facilities, and patients too often come under attack. These attacks are not a natural part of conflict, but are deliberate violations of the principle of Medical Neutrality.

This video provides a brief introduction to the principle of Medical Neutrality, its foundation in medical ethics and international law, violations of Medical Neutrality, and steps that can be taken to protect and promote the principle.

Written by:Andrea Gittleman
Produced and Narrated by: Jared Voss
Featuring: Parveen Parmar, MD, MPH, Susannah Sirkin, Richard Sollom, and Hans Hogrefe

Last week the human rights group Arakan Project released a report onchildren’s rights in Northern Arakan State, in western Burma. Arakan State ishome to about 735,000 Rohingya Muslims, one of the most oppressed ethnic minorities in Burma.

The report stated that over 40,000 Rohingya minoritychildren in Arakan State do not have Burmese (or any), citizenship, despitebeing born and having parents who live in Burma. The children’s statelessstatus, along with several other draconian laws that discriminate againstRohingya, are in fact severe human rights violations and can have direconsequences on their health.

According to the report, Rohingya children are not givenbirth certificates, and if they receive a government registration card (whichmany do not), there is no documentation of place of birth on the card, andtherefore none of these children have proof they were born in Burma. Childrenborn to parents that have not paid exorbitant fees to obtain a marriage licensedo not receive registration cards. Later in life these children cannot attendpublic schools, try to obtain travel permits, or get marriage licenses.

All Rohingya living in Burma, according to Arakan Project,are required to pay bribes to get permission to travel outside of theirvillages. Some are forced by the Army or border forces to build roads and guardand clean bases. Rohingya have been pushed off their land, and Arakan Projectestimates that only 30% of Rohingyas have access to farmland, with the restworking mostly as casual day laborers.

These kinds of human rights violations have been linked tohigh rates of child malnutrition and increased maternal and child mortality in other ethnic minority areas in Burma. Human rightsviolations in Arakan State may have similar consequences. An FAO survey in 2009found that 60% of children under 5 years old were moderately underweight andthat 27% were severely underweight. The UN reportedin 2010 that the under-5 mortality rate—the probability of a child dying beforehe or she reaches 5 years of age– in Buthidaung township, Arakan State was224/1000, higher than that of Afghanistan (at 144/1000 the country with thehighest U5M), and much higher than the Burma national average.

Exceptionally poor living conditions and governmentdiscrimination against Rohingya have caused many to flee. However, the Rohingyawho have left Arakan State have faced similarly bad conditions. PHR reported atrocious conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh in 2010, and Rohingya attemptingto flee by boat have been detained, shipwrecked, and allegedly set to drift at sea by the Thai Navy.

The history of abuses against Rohingya is continuing into 2012,despite the changes going on in other parts of Burma. The Arakan Project reporthighlights the need for the international community to maintain pressure on theBurmese government to extend the policy changes to ethnic minorities inaddition to the Burmans living in the central part of the country.

Rohingyas have a right to belong to a state, they have aright to be free from forced labor and land confiscation, and they have a rightto travel without restriction. The Burmese government should work to upholdthese rights, in addition to fulfilling the right to health, of the Rohingyasand all other ethnic peoples in Burma.

PHR welcomes the recent release of two Backpack Health Worker medics who were abducted by the Burma Army in Karen State, Burma in October of last year. The Backpack Health Worker Team is a community-based organization that provides medical care to civilians in war-torn Karen State and many other areas inside Burma.

The two medics, a male and a female, were abducted by BurmaArmy Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 212 when they were responding to anemergency case of postpartum hemorrhage. According to eyewitnesses, the medicswere unarmed and could be identified as health workers because they werecarrying medical equipment and supplies. The medics were not able to reach thepatient, who died without treatment. PHR worked with local and international partnersto press the US government to push for the medics’ release.

The abduction of the two medics is one example of systematicattacks on civilians in Karen State. Medics from Backpack and otherorganizations in Karen State have long faced threats by the Burma army—fromarrest to landmines to shoot-on-sight policies in free fire zones. In an areawhere the government not only neglects to provide healthcare, but activelyattacks civilian villages, community-based medics are the only source ofhealthcare for the civilian population. Threats to medics undermine theirability to work and create disastrous consequences for those in need of medicalcare.

The actions of LIB 212 were in clear violation of the principleof medical neutrality, which requires the protection of medical personnel from attack,interference, and intimidation. The international community should demand that theBurmese government allow civilian medics to operate unimpeded in all areas ofthe country. Medical neutrality and civilians’ right to health should bediscussed during ceasefire talks that have recently begun between the KarenNational Union and the Burmese government. Backpack Health Worker Team has lostnine medics and one birth attendant to gunfire or landmines in the last tenyears. We must ensure that they will lose no more.

Update: See the photo slideshow below from PHR's participation in the Close Guantanamo protest in Washington DC on January 11.

Today, January 11, 2012, marks the tenth year of existence of the detention center at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Ten years ago, twenty men arrived there and were held in Camp X-Ray, a temporary camp of open-air 6’x8’ cells made of chain link fence. This first group was considered so dangerous they were described by then-Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, as being willing to ''gnaw hydraulic lines…

Read more from PHR's Kristine Huskey in her guest post on IntLawGrrls.

 

PHR participates with other organizations to protest the continuation of Guantánamo.

On January 11, 2012, ten years after the first detainees werebrought to Guantánamo, demonstrations took place across the globe to protestthe continued existence of the prison camp that has come to symbolize tortureand indefinite detention. From Washington DC all the way to San Francisco,across the ocean to London, Paris,and Brussels—hundredsof protestors marched, demonstrated and chanted slogans, demanding justice forthe men at Guantánamo.

In Washington DC,at a pre-rally event at the National Press Club, former US judgeadvocate general John Hutson, stated, “It's not a rule of law unless itapplies all the time, and it's not a human right unless it applies to allpeople.”

At the main event, an estimated 500-750 people gathered in frontof the White House to call upon President Obama to keep his promise and closeGuantánamo. Several people spoke in support of closure, including TalatHamdani, a Muslim American whose son died in the attacks on World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He said, “Guantanamo is a shame—adisgrace for our nation, and we need to set the record straight by leading byexample.”

Several attorneys for the detainees also spoke, telling thecrowd that the detainees themselves were engaging in a 3-day peaceful sit-in todemonstrate solidarity with the protestors and to demand they be sent home orput on trial. 

Despite a heavy downpour of rain, the protestors marched all theway to the Supreme Court, led by 171 individuals wearing orange jumpsuits andblack hoods to represent the 171 men still remaining at Guantánamo. More than half of these were cleared for release almost two years ago by PresidentObama’s Task Force.

The procession made its way back to the White House wherethe group Witness Against Torture had set up a mock cell with a single“detainee” sitting inside.

I had the privilege of reading a poem written by aGuantánamo detainee. Perhaps Vince Warren, Executive Director of the Centerfor Constitutional Rights, said it best: “If we roll up the Constitution every time that there's a difficultfactual situation, we might as well roll up the entire democracy.”

You can support the closure of Guantánamo by signing the petition here.

On January 11, 2012, PHR joined a rally at Lafayette Park in Washington, DC, marking the ten-year "anniversary" of the US detention center at Guantánamo Bay. PHR Anti-Torture Program Director Kristine Huskey read this poem written by a Guantánamo detainee.

"SEPARATION IN THE REAL WORLD"
by Guantánamo detainee Obaidullah

Somewhere in the far corners of oceans,
In far away islands,
I was feeling so next to you
Through the dream of my Spring hopes.
Such is the decision of fate
that caused our separation
in the real world.
Give me a hand through my dream,
I am fallen into darkness.
Although I am alongside others' laughter,
I have been living ever in deep sorrows.
I am living on a great ocean's shore,
But always in shackles.
From its powerful waves
I hear the songs of its pride.
Strange accusations have deprived me of love.
Angels in the sky show me
The innocent desires of kindness,
On sacred pages they bring the good news
To hearts oppressed.

PHR and other organizations participated in a major protest against the continuation of Guantánamo Bay as a detention center on the 10th anniversary of its opening, January 11, 2012.

PHR participates in the Close Guanánamo Action, Washington DC, January 11, 2012.

When the Obama administration announced that it wouldencourage the use of prosecutorial discretion to determine which undocumentedimmigrants should be targeted for deportation, immigrants and advocates werecautiously optimistic.

For too long, the administration’s practice ofheedlessly funneling undocumented immigrants through the deportation processfor “crimes” as minor as driving without a license has torn apart families andcommunities and resulted in over one million deportations since 2009.

The prosecutorialdiscretion policy, under which officers and lawyers within US Immigration andCustoms Enforcement (ICE) were given the power to either suspend or decline toinitiate deportation proceedings against immigrants with insignificant criminalrecords and deep ties to the US, has the potential to spare hundreds ofthousands of people the pain and suffering caused by deportation.

Now, as the first batch of cases to be considered forprosecutorial discretion are making their way through the system, both thebenefits of the policy and the challenges to implementing it are coming intofocus.

In San Francisco, for example, a married gay couple recently received a letter from the Department of HomelandSecurity notifying them that Anthony John Makk, an Australian citizen whosevisa had recently expired, would be allowed to stay in the US legally to carefor Bradford Wells, his US citizen husband of nearly eight years who issuffering from severe AIDS-related illnesses.

Because the 1996 Defense ofMarriage Act bars same-sex couples like Makk and Wells from receiving the samebenefits as married opposite-sex couples, Makk was not eligible to apply forpermanent residency in the US as a result of his legal marriage to Wells. Inthis case, prosecutorial discretion will spare a truly deserving family thepain of an unnecessary separation.

But the case of Makk and Wells also highlights thechallenges faced by those seeking to be spared deportation under the policy.Makk and Wells benefited from the personal intervention of House MinorityLeader Nancy Pelosi and Senator Dianne Feinstein, and their case was championedby Immigration Equality, a leading immigrants’ rights organization focused onhelping lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender immigrants.

Needless to say, most immigrants cannot count on powerfulpoliticians to help them stay in the country. But it is encouraging to see thatthe government has begun using prosecutorial discretion to help families thatwould be severely and needlessly harmed by its overly-aggressive enforcement ofimmigration laws.

As more cases are considered for discretion in the comingmonths, let’s hope that 2012 marks a decisive turning point in the way we treatimmigrants in our country.