Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Timor-Leste law allows amnesties for war criminals
Timor-Leste law allows amnesties for war criminals
© International Center for Transitional Justice
© Serious Crimes Investigation Team/UNMIT
28 June 2010
Amnesty International is urging Timor-Leste to close a legal loophole that is allowing war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1975-1999 Indonesian occupation to go unpunished.
Timor-Leste; Justice in the Shadow, an Amnesty International report released today on the country’s latest Penal Code, documents how the law allows amnesties that would prevent trials of people suspected of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Without a ban on such amnesties, Timor-Leste is not fulfilling its obligations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which it acceded in 2002.
“Survivors of decades of human rights violations in Timor-Leste are demanding justice and reparations, but the authorities’ routine use of amnesties, pardons and similar measures has created a culture of impunity,” said Isabelle Arradon, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Timor-Leste.
Amnesty International fears that the Timor-Leste authorities’ potential use of amnesties due to the gap in its new Penal code, will damage the young nation’s ability to develop a strong deterrent to violence, maintain an independent and trusted judiciary, and hold armed groups and security forces accountable for their actions.
People indicted and convicted by the UN Special Panels for Serious Crimes for crimes against humanity committed during Timor-Leste’s 1999 transition to nationhood, have been among those released by presidential pardons or commutation of sentences.
In 2008, militia leader Joni Marques was set free after his sentence was substantially reduced by the President. He was originally sentenced to 33 years’ imprisonment for crimes against humanity.
“The authorities in Timor-Leste are compromising on justice to seek peace – but trading away justice for such serious crimes only undermines the rule of law, and cannot resolve the trauma of the past,” said Isabelle Arradon.
In 2009, the Timor-Leste government allowed Maternus Bere, indicted by the United Nations Serious Crimes Unit, to avoid prosecution by transferring him to Indonesia before he faced trial. Bere had been a militia leader involved in massacres of civilians in 1999.
Timor-Leste: Justice in the Shadow acknowledges important steps that the country has taken to include many of its obligations under the Rome Statute into its Penal Code. However, as well as the lack of explicit ban on amnesties for crimes under international law, the Penal Code lacks provisions on co-operation with the International Criminal Court.
Amnesty International supports a long-term comprehensive plan to address impunity in Timor-Leste.
This would include the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the crimes committed under Indonesian occupation; a search for the disappeared; reparations for the thousands who suffered and the relatives of those who died; and an approach to amnesties, pardons or similar measures that does not undermine the rule of law.
In August 1999, the people of Timor-Leste (then East Timor) voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence from Indonesia in a UN-sponsored referendum. The lead-up to the polls and its aftermath were marred by crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations. Most of those suspected of such crimes are still at large in Indonesia.
Between 1974 and 1999, 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed or starved to death in Timor-Leste, according to the report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR).
Crimes against humanity and other human rights violations were most acute during the 24 years of Indonesian occupation from 1975. They included unlawful killings; enforced disappearances; arbitrary detention; torture and other ill-treatment; war crimes; sexual violence; violations of the rights of the child; and violations of economic, social and cultural rights.
The overwhelming majority of the past crimes, mostly at the hands of the Indonesian security forces and their auxiliaries, have yet to be addressed.
Timor-Leste; Justice in the Shadow, an Amnesty International report released today on the country’s latest Penal Code, documents how the law allows amnesties that would prevent trials of people suspected of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Without a ban on such amnesties, Timor-Leste is not fulfilling its obligations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which it acceded in 2002.
“Survivors of decades of human rights violations in Timor-Leste are demanding justice and reparations, but the authorities’ routine use of amnesties, pardons and similar measures has created a culture of impunity,” said Isabelle Arradon, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Timor-Leste.
Amnesty International fears that the Timor-Leste authorities’ potential use of amnesties due to the gap in its new Penal code, will damage the young nation’s ability to develop a strong deterrent to violence, maintain an independent and trusted judiciary, and hold armed groups and security forces accountable for their actions.
People indicted and convicted by the UN Special Panels for Serious Crimes for crimes against humanity committed during Timor-Leste’s 1999 transition to nationhood, have been among those released by presidential pardons or commutation of sentences.
In 2008, militia leader Joni Marques was set free after his sentence was substantially reduced by the President. He was originally sentenced to 33 years’ imprisonment for crimes against humanity.
“The authorities in Timor-Leste are compromising on justice to seek peace – but trading away justice for such serious crimes only undermines the rule of law, and cannot resolve the trauma of the past,” said Isabelle Arradon.
In 2009, the Timor-Leste government allowed Maternus Bere, indicted by the United Nations Serious Crimes Unit, to avoid prosecution by transferring him to Indonesia before he faced trial. Bere had been a militia leader involved in massacres of civilians in 1999.
Timor-Leste: Justice in the Shadow acknowledges important steps that the country has taken to include many of its obligations under the Rome Statute into its Penal Code. However, as well as the lack of explicit ban on amnesties for crimes under international law, the Penal Code lacks provisions on co-operation with the International Criminal Court.
Amnesty International supports a long-term comprehensive plan to address impunity in Timor-Leste.
This would include the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the crimes committed under Indonesian occupation; a search for the disappeared; reparations for the thousands who suffered and the relatives of those who died; and an approach to amnesties, pardons or similar measures that does not undermine the rule of law.
In August 1999, the people of Timor-Leste (then East Timor) voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence from Indonesia in a UN-sponsored referendum. The lead-up to the polls and its aftermath were marred by crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations. Most of those suspected of such crimes are still at large in Indonesia.
Between 1974 and 1999, 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed or starved to death in Timor-Leste, according to the report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR).
Crimes against humanity and other human rights violations were most acute during the 24 years of Indonesian occupation from 1975. They included unlawful killings; enforced disappearances; arbitrary detention; torture and other ill-treatment; war crimes; sexual violence; violations of the rights of the child; and violations of economic, social and cultural rights.
The overwhelming majority of the past crimes, mostly at the hands of the Indonesian security forces and their auxiliaries, have yet to be addressed.
Timor-Leste: International Criminal Court: Justice in the shadow
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Index Number: ASA 57/001/2010Date Published: 28 June 2010
On 6 September 2002, Timor-Leste acceded to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute). Nearly seven years after becoming a state party, Timor-Leste implemented into its 2009 Penal its complementarity obligations under the Rome Statute. In this report, Amnesty International provides a legal analysis of Timor-Leste's 2009 Penal Code and the extent to which it has incorporated complementarity provisions under the Rome Statute and implemented other international criminal law, or failed to do so.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Court ruling casts doubt on Japanese compensation for forced mobilization
| Japan has argued that the money is “symbolic consolation money,” while Korea says the money is woefully insufficient considering the rise in inflation A court ruling has cast doubt on the constitutionality of wages payments that were not received from the Japanese government and companies by Koreans dragged overseas during the colonial era based on a “1 Yen-2,000 Won” exchange rate. The court has called it insufficient compensation considering the rise of inflation. Each time there has been controversy over the size of the payment, the Japanese government has claimed that the money is not “compensation,” but “symbolic consolation money.” On Friday, Seoul Administrative Court decided to accept a petition submitted by a Mrs. Shin (78), the widow of Kim Hong-jun, a conscripted laborer of Japan’s forced mobilization, to review the constitutionality of a law designed to support victims of Japan’s forced mobilization overseas around the time of the Pacific War. The petition claims the law violates the constitutional guarantee of property rights. Paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the law reads, “The state shall pay the victims or their bereaved families their unpaid wages based on a rate of 2,000 Won to the yen.” Accordingly, the committee that handles support for the victims last year decided to pay Shin 540,000 Won ($449), or 2,000 Won for every yen of her husband’s 270 yen in unpaid wages. Shin filed to cancel the disposition and filed for a review of the constitutionality of the law. It its decision, the bench decided that first, in the 1965 treaty between Korea and Japan, victims of unpaid wages were excluded from compensation. Second, that they had taken into consideration that this money was paid for the first time following the treaty by the state, which has the duty to pay compensation. Third, the 1 Yen-2,000 Won was decided on prices and exchange rates in 1975 according to civilian compensation. Fourth, between 1945 and 2000, consumer prices in South Korea have increased 93,000-fold, and the money should be viewed as compensation, and it is therefore difficult to view 1 yen-2,000 won as fair compensation.
Lawyer Choi Bong-tae, who handled the case, said a wage of 99 Yen at that time could buy two cows, and the price of cows has increased 140,000-fold since then. Meanwhile, wages not received from the Japanese government or companies by Korean victims of the forced mobilization total 364.6 million yen. Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr] |
Govt gives martyr status to 1626 people killed during insurgency
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 18:56
The government has declared1626 people killed during the Maoist conflict as martyrs.
A cabinet meeting took the decision to this effect on Wednesday.
Nepali Congress, UML and some other parties had been demanding that those killed by the Maoists during the insurgency be declared martyrs and their families be compensated.
Previous Maoist-led government had also declared 7000 people, most of them its cadres killed by the state forces, as martyrs.
In another decision, the cabinet meeting decided to transfer cabinet secretary Dhruba Sharma to the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction.
Likewise, the cabinet also decided to hold a ministerial conference of mountainous countries in Kathmandu from September 27 to 28, as per the decision of the cabinet meeting held at the Everest base camp. nepalnews.com
http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/1-top-story/7035-govt-gives-martyr-status-to-1626-people-killed-during-insurgency.html
The government has declared1626 people killed during the Maoist conflict as martyrs.
A cabinet meeting took the decision to this effect on Wednesday.
Nepali Congress, UML and some other parties had been demanding that those killed by the Maoists during the insurgency be declared martyrs and their families be compensated.
Previous Maoist-led government had also declared 7000 people, most of them its cadres killed by the state forces, as martyrs.
In another decision, the cabinet meeting decided to transfer cabinet secretary Dhruba Sharma to the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction.
Likewise, the cabinet also decided to hold a ministerial conference of mountainous countries in Kathmandu from September 27 to 28, as per the decision of the cabinet meeting held at the Everest base camp. nepalnews.com
http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/1-top-story/7035-govt-gives-martyr-status-to-1626-people-killed-during-insurgency.html
Nepal ratifies UN convention on intangible cultural heritage
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 09:27
Nepal has ratified a United Nations convention designed to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, such as folklore, oral traditions, social rituals and the performing arts.
Issuing a press statement Tuesday, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) congratulated Nepal on becoming the 125th State Party to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
By ratifying the Convention, the Nepalese Government commits itself, at the international level, to safeguard the rich and diverse living heritage of the country, UNESCO mentioned in its statement.
“This is a great step as it demonstrates the Government’s commitment to preserve and promote the diverse living heritage of the people of Nepal, where cultural heritage is largely cultural practice, and where cultural practice means cultural identity,” said Axel Plathe, UNESCO’s representative in Nepal.
The main purposes of the convention, which was adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2003, are to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, to ensure respect for it, to raise awareness about its importance and of mutual appreciation, and to provide for international cooperation and assistance in those fields.
Ratifying governments recognize that cultural heritage is not limited to material manifestations, such as monuments and objects, but must be extended to the traditions and living expressions inherited from ancestors.
It binds governments to acknowledge their roles in international cooperation and responsibilities towards implementing the provisions of the Convention through adoption of necessary legislative, regulatory and other appropriate measures.nepalnews.com
http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/2-political/7016-nepal-ratifies-un-convention-on-intangible-cultural-heritage.html
Nepal has ratified a United Nations convention designed to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, such as folklore, oral traditions, social rituals and the performing arts.
Issuing a press statement Tuesday, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) congratulated Nepal on becoming the 125th State Party to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
By ratifying the Convention, the Nepalese Government commits itself, at the international level, to safeguard the rich and diverse living heritage of the country, UNESCO mentioned in its statement.
“This is a great step as it demonstrates the Government’s commitment to preserve and promote the diverse living heritage of the people of Nepal, where cultural heritage is largely cultural practice, and where cultural practice means cultural identity,” said Axel Plathe, UNESCO’s representative in Nepal.
The main purposes of the convention, which was adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2003, are to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, to ensure respect for it, to raise awareness about its importance and of mutual appreciation, and to provide for international cooperation and assistance in those fields.
Ratifying governments recognize that cultural heritage is not limited to material manifestations, such as monuments and objects, but must be extended to the traditions and living expressions inherited from ancestors.
It binds governments to acknowledge their roles in international cooperation and responsibilities towards implementing the provisions of the Convention through adoption of necessary legislative, regulatory and other appropriate measures.nepalnews.com
http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/2-political/7016-nepal-ratifies-un-convention-on-intangible-cultural-heritage.html
Nepal tribes to raise own flag in Geneva
KATHMANDU -- The world will be watching from this week as the United Nation`s human rights body evaluates Nepal`s unelected palace government but many of this nation`s indigenous people will have one eye focused on a separate meeting.
The Commission on Human Rights is expected to gauge the steps taken by the regime of King Gyanendra to improve human rights since the 2005 session. There, member nations decided to install a rights office in the capital Kathmandu to monitor violations that increased after the monarch seized power Feb. 1, 2005.
The commission inGeneva will base its analysis on an extra-long report prepared by Nepal
"The government and other human rights organisations are submitting reports but they are excluding violating against indigenous people so we are raising these issues," says Shankar Limbu, president of the Lawyers Association for the Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP).
Nepal recognises 59 such "nationalities" that it says make up 37 percent of the 25 million people in this small South Asian nation but others estimate the groups could account for as much as half of Nepal`s people.
Squeezed between Asian giantsChina and India , Nepal
"There are a large number of indigenous people being killed and abducted; some are used as human shields. None of the human rights groups are raising this issue," said Limbu in the small LAHURNIP meeting room Friday evening, where a half-dozen members worked to finish the report a stone`s throw away from the parliament whose doors were locked in 2002.
They will send the paper to the UN`s special rapporteur for the rights of indigenous peoples, who will submit it to a special session of the six-week-long Commission that opens Monday.
The impoverished mid-western hills from where the Maoists emerged with their homemade guns and pressure-cooker bombs a decade ago are home to a large indigenous population, which is said to comprise a disproportionate fraction of rebel forces (6,000-7,000 full-time fighters and 20,000-25,000 militia, according to 2005 army estimates).
Rebel leaders (few of them indigenous) have carefully couched their discourse in the language of liberation for tribal peoples, along with freedom for women and Dalits (so-called untouchables) from the Hindu-dominated state. A half-dozen or so forces that fight in the name of various indigenous groups have been born from the rebellion but their motivations, aims and links to the Maoists are unclear.
In his report, the U.N. office`s Martin said "Nepal
There is "greater international concern (overNepal
For LAHURNIP, the international community is "very important", says Limbu. "The government doesn`t listen to the Nepali public very much so the international voice can have an impact. That`s why we`re submitting this report."
Many other human rights groups are expected to attend the Commission meeting to pressure members to take stronger action against the king`s government.
Late in 2005 theNepal
It accused the authorities, andNepal
One of LAHURNIP`s aims is for the government to ratify the ILO`s Convention 169, an international law that calls on states to promote and protect the rights of indigenous people. "If the government ratifies this, the indigenous people will be included in the decision-making process. They will have to be consulted before the government takes any step that affects them," says Limbu.
Even the development process itself sometimes penalises indigenous groups, he adds. In recent years, for example, the Department of Forestry has passed control of tracts of land to community forest users groups, "banning Sherpa communities from grazing their animals there. So they are compelled to take their animals toTibet
While various past governments have taken steps to improve the lives of indigenous peoples, LAHURNIP argues that such provisions, like providing mother tongue education, should be entrenched in law as rights so that they cannot be easily removed.
Nepal Kathmandu Valley
Newar National Forum President Malla K Sundar told IPS that people heeded the call because it was presented as a step toward gaining Newari rights. Equal language and religious rights as well as self-rule top the community`s demands, he added.
"We want self-rule for indigenous communities on their own historic lands and where they are the dominant population", not on the basis of whether they form the majority community today but based on their historic relationship with the land, said Sundar. The LAHURNIP report does not make such a demand but it does call for compensation for lands that were given to indigenous communities by royal order hundreds of years ago but nationalised by later governments. "Today, indigenous people within their homelands have no land," said Limbu.
The commission in
"The government and other human rights organisations are submitting reports but they are excluding violating against indigenous people so we are raising these issues," says Shankar Limbu, president of the Lawyers Association for the Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP).
Nepal recognises 59 such "nationalities" that it says make up 37 percent of the 25 million people in this small South Asian nation but others estimate the groups could account for as much as half of Nepal`s people.
Squeezed between Asian giants
"There are a large number of indigenous people being killed and abducted; some are used as human shields. None of the human rights groups are raising this issue," said Limbu in the small LAHURNIP meeting room Friday evening, where a half-dozen members worked to finish the report a stone`s throw away from the parliament whose doors were locked in 2002.
They will send the paper to the UN`s special rapporteur for the rights of indigenous peoples, who will submit it to a special session of the six-week-long Commission that opens Monday.
The impoverished mid-western hills from where the Maoists emerged with their homemade guns and pressure-cooker bombs a decade ago are home to a large indigenous population, which is said to comprise a disproportionate fraction of rebel forces (6,000-7,000 full-time fighters and 20,000-25,000 militia, according to 2005 army estimates).
Rebel leaders (few of them indigenous) have carefully couched their discourse in the language of liberation for tribal peoples, along with freedom for women and Dalits (so-called untouchables) from the Hindu-dominated state. A half-dozen or so forces that fight in the name of various indigenous groups have been born from the rebellion but their motivations, aims and links to the Maoists are unclear.
In his report, the U.N. office`s Martin said "
There is "greater international concern (over
For LAHURNIP, the international community is "very important", says Limbu. "The government doesn`t listen to the Nepali public very much so the international voice can have an impact. That`s why we`re submitting this report."
Many other human rights groups are expected to attend the Commission meeting to pressure members to take stronger action against the king`s government.
Late in 2005 the
It accused the authorities, and
One of LAHURNIP`s aims is for the government to ratify the ILO`s Convention 169, an international law that calls on states to promote and protect the rights of indigenous people. "If the government ratifies this, the indigenous people will be included in the decision-making process. They will have to be consulted before the government takes any step that affects them," says Limbu.
Even the development process itself sometimes penalises indigenous groups, he adds. In recent years, for example, the Department of Forestry has passed control of tracts of land to community forest users groups, "banning Sherpa communities from grazing their animals there. So they are compelled to take their animals to
While various past governments have taken steps to improve the lives of indigenous peoples, LAHURNIP argues that such provisions, like providing mother tongue education, should be entrenched in law as rights so that they cannot be easily removed.
Newar National Forum President Malla K Sundar told IPS that people heeded the call because it was presented as a step toward gaining Newari rights. Equal language and religious rights as well as self-rule top the community`s demands, he added.
"We want self-rule for indigenous communities on their own historic lands and where they are the dominant population", not on the basis of whether they form the majority community today but based on their historic relationship with the land, said Sundar. The LAHURNIP report does not make such a demand but it does call for compensation for lands that were given to indigenous communities by royal order hundreds of years ago but nationalised by later governments. "Today, indigenous people within their homelands have no land," said Limbu.
Marty Logan
Published: 19.03.2006
Published by: Magne Ove Varsi
Published: 19.03.2006
Published by: Magne Ove Varsi
Friday, June 18, 2010
UN panel on Sri Lanka civil war in place 'next week'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10346869.stm
CA inaction worries NFIN
http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/2-political/6887-ca-inaction-worries-nfin.html
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Budget meant for marginalised community diverted to home districts of influential ministers
http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/business-a-economy/6826-budget-meant-for-marginalised-community-diverted-to-home-districts-of-influential-ministers.html
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