All posts tagged: abuses

Court in Central African Republic seeks arrest of former President Bozizé for human rights abuses

Court in Central African Republic seeks arrest of former President Bozizé for human rights abuses

Published by skeptic

Former Central African Republic President Francois Bozize arrives in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR), on January, 27, 2020. FLORENT VERGNES / AFP An internationally backed court in the Central African Republic issued an international arrest warrant Tuesday, April 30, for the country’s exiled former President François Bozizé for human rights abuses from 2009 to 2013, a spokesperson said. The Special Criminal Court was set up in the capital, Bangui, to try war crimes and other human rights abuses committed during the coups and violence that the country has experienced since 2003. Bozizé currently lives in exile in Guinea Bissau, where that country’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló told the Associated Press that he had not received any request from Bangui about the arrest warrant and that the country’s laws do not allow for extradition. Ibrahim Nour, whose father was tortured and killed in the infamous Bossembélé prison, welcomed the arrest warrant. “Justice may be slow, but it will eventually catch up with the executioners. That’s why I welcome the arrest warrant for the men who killed …

US finds five Israeli units responsible for rights abuses in the West Bank | Israel War on Gaza News

US finds five Israeli units responsible for rights abuses in the West Bank | Israel War on Gaza News

Published by Sam

All units still eligible for US military aid, Washington says after it identifies abuses committed before Gaza war. The United States has found five units of Israel’s security forces responsible for gross violations of human rights. The Department of State announced the findings on Monday, noting that it is the first time Washington has reached such a conclusion about Israeli forces. However, it added that none of the units has been barred from receiving US military aid. Human rights groups have reported abuses by Israeli units, including extrajudicial killings, torture and other physical abuse, most of them committed against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The incidents in question did not take place in Gaza and occurred before the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said. However, he added that “remediation” at four of the units has now put Israel in compliance with US law prohibiting military assistance to security units that commit abuses and have not been brought to justice. “Four of these units have effectively …

UN-led panel aims to tackle abuses linked to mining for ‘critical minerals’ | Mining

UN-led panel aims to tackle abuses linked to mining for ‘critical minerals’ | Mining

Published by skeptic

A UN-led panel of nearly 100 countries is to draw up new guidelines to prevent some of the environmental damage and human rights abuses associated with mining for “critical minerals”. Mining for some of the key raw materials used in low-carbon technology, such as solar panels and electric vehicles, has been associated with human rights abuses, child labour and violence, as well as grave environmental damage. Cobalt mining, for instance, has led to an upsurge in illegal labour and human rights violations, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Copper mining has also led to severe pollution and environmental damage in some regions. The global supply chain for other critical minerals, such as the rare earths needed for renewable energy production, is also increasingly a matter of concern for governments as they shift their economies to a low-carbon footing. António Guterres, the secretary general of the UN, has gathered a panel of developed and developing countries with interests in the extraction and consumption of critical minerals with instructions to draw up a set of …

US set to impose sanctions on Israeli military unit over abuses: Report | Israel War on Gaza News

US set to impose sanctions on Israeli military unit over abuses: Report | Israel War on Gaza News

Published by Sam

Israeli prime minister says he will fight any sanctions targeting Israeli military units for alleged rights violations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would fight against any sanctions being imposed on Israeli military units for alleged rights violations, after a United States media outlet reported that Washington was planning such a step. The US-based Axios news site on Saturday reported that Washington was planning to impose sanctions on Israel’s Netzah Yehuda battalion, which has operated in the occupied West Bank, though the Israeli military said it was not aware of any such measures. Israeli media also identified the unit expected to be targeted as Netzah Yehuda – an infantry battalion founded roughly a quarter of a century ago to incorporate ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the military. On Friday, the US announced a new series of sanctions linked to Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, in the latest sign of growing US frustration with the policies of Netanyahu, whose coalition government relies on settler parties. “If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on …

US To Sanction Entire IDF Battalion Over Alleged Human Rights Abuses

US To Sanction Entire IDF Battalion Over Alleged Human Rights Abuses

Published by skeptic

Axios is reporting what marks an unexpected and unprecedented development in US-Israel relations: the Biden administration will in the coming days announce sanctions against an entire battalion of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Three US officials told the outlet that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will unveil the punitive measures against the IDF’s “Netzah Yehuda” battalion for its allegedly committing human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank. It is an ultra orthodox brigade founded in 1999 in coordination with rabbis who sought to allow easier entry into the military of a religious community which typically rejects national service. Soldiers of the Neztah Yehuda Battalion in training. Source: Flash90 The controversial battalion has also served in Gaza Strip operations, as well as in the north of Israel. The Times of Israel has highlighted, “The battalion has been at the center of several controversies in the past connected to right-wing extremism and violence against Palestinians, notably including the 2022 death of Omar As’ad, a 78-year-old Palestinian-American who died after being detained, handcuffed, blindfolded, and later abandoned …

Peru archbishop who sued 2 journalists over reports on abuses, financial corruption resigns early

Peru archbishop who sued 2 journalists over reports on abuses, financial corruption resigns early

Published by Sam

ROME (AP) — A Peruvian archbishop who sued two journalists over their reports about sexual abuse and alleged financial corruption in his religious movement, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, has resigned amid a Vatican investigation. Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Piura Archbishop José Eguren. At 67, he is several years shy of the normal retirement age for bishops of 75. The Vatican didn’t say why Eguren was retiring early in its brief announcement. But the Vatican last year began an in-depth investigation into alleged abuse and financial wrongdoing in the Peruvian-based Sodalitium to which Eguren belongs. The Vatican has had its eye on Sodalitium, which has chapters across South America and the U.S., for over a decade. In 2017, a report commissioned by the group’s new leadership determined that its founder, Luis Fernando Figari, sodomized his recruits and subjected them to humiliating psychological and other sexual abuses. Those abuses first came to light in 2015, thanks to reporting by Peruvian journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz. In addition to Figari’s own abuses, their reporting …

US overlooks Israeli abuses in Gaza to justify arms transfers: Advocates | Israel War on Gaza News

US overlooks Israeli abuses in Gaza to justify arms transfers: Advocates | Israel War on Gaza News

Published by Sam

Washington, DC – Israel has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, displaced more than 80 percent of the population, destroyed large parts of the territory and imposed a suffocating blockade, bringing the enclave to the verge of famine. But nearly six months into the war, the United States says it has not determined that Israel has violated international humanitarian law. Washington’s assertion, made public this week as part of an oversight process on US weapons transfers to allies, has spurred bewilderment and condemnation from human rights groups. “It’s absurd,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Democracy for the Arab World Now. “It invites global mockery and disdain to hear such a statement issued in front of the world by the Biden administration.” US laws prohibit arming countries engaged in human rights abuses. But advocates say the administration of President Joe Biden is bending the facts and denying well-documented Israeli violations to appear to be in compliance with the rules. Whitson noted that Biden himself has described Israel’s bombing of Gaza as “indiscriminate”, which would make …

11 Argentines Given Life Sentences for Dictatorship-Era Abuses

11 Argentines Given Life Sentences for Dictatorship-Era Abuses

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina —  Judges overseeing a high-profile human rights trial in Argentina convicted 11 former officials of crimes against humanity on Tuesday, in the first case to focus on the former military dictatorship’s overlooked practice of committing sexual violence against transgender women. The trial at the court in La Plata, a southern suburb of the capital, spanned nearly four years and added new details and insight to previously chronicled atrocities, deepening the nation’s understanding of its traumatic history. Transgender plaintiffs took the witness stand for the first time in a series of chilling hearings that put a spotlight both on the suffering of the transgender community and on the widespread tactic of sexual violence under the right-wing dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. Human rights groups estimate that 30,000 people suspected of opposing the military government were abducted, systematically tortured in clandestine detention centers and “disappeared” during the time. In the highly anticipated verdict, 10 defendants were sentenced to life in prison and one to 25 years in prison for their roles …

Accused of Rights Abuses, Corruption, Ugandan Parliament Speaker Misleads on US Travel Ban

Accused of Rights Abuses, Corruption, Ugandan Parliament Speaker Misleads on US Travel Ban

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In an online protest campaign run under the hashtag #UgandaParliamentExhibition, Ugandans accused Anita Among, speaker of Uganda’s National Assembly, of embezzling millions in public funds. Protest organizers shared documents leaked to journalists and human rights activists by members of parliament. The leak incudes official documents from the internal financial intelligence agency and expose the rot in parliament and other government institutions in Uganda, the activists say. One of the campaign organizers, Jimmy Ssentongo, said in a post on X that Among used private bank accounts to divert enormous amounts of government funds between April 2023 and January 2024. On March 15, lawmakers at the Ugandan parliament put other house businesses aside to discuss the online protest. Representative Theodore Ssekikubo told Among: “… this house has been engulfed in unprecedented abuse, honorable speaker. You say we debate other things on papers when the credibility of this house is under challenge. “We are having a major problem,” Ssekikubo added. “We cannot sit here as if nothing wrong has happened.” Among dismissed allegations as rumors and used derogatory …

October 7: Forensic analysis shows Hamas abuses, many false Israeli claims | Israel War on Gaza News

October 7: Forensic analysis shows Hamas abuses, many false Israeli claims | Israel War on Gaza News

Published by Sam

EXCLUSIVE Investigation draws up a list of those killed in Hamas attack, but also finds certain claims repeated by Israeli politicians untrue. Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has carried out a forensic analysis of the events of October 7, when Hamas fighters launched an incursion into Israel that has transformed the politics of the Middle East. October 7 reveals widespread human rights abuses by Hamas fighters and others who followed them through the fence from the Gaza Strip and draws up a comprehensive list of those killed. But the investigation by the I-Unit, which examined hours of footage from CCTV, dashcams, personal phones and headcams of killed Hamas fighters, has also found that many of the stories that came out in the days following the attack were false. These include claims of atrocities such as the mass killing and beheading of babies as well as allegations of widespread and systematic rape – stories that were used repeatedly by politicians in Israel and the West to justify the ferocity of the subsequent bombardment of the Gaza …