African Commonwealth Human Rights Weekly Update (18/06 - 01/07/2011)

The Gambia

Wednesday 29/06: Bloggers demand to know the fate of Chief Manneh

A number of foreign bloggers including those at Gambian Affairs are demanding to know about the fate of the Chief Manneh, a Daily Observer journalist who was last seen nearly five years ago on the 6 July 2006. Manneh was picked up by plain clothes Gambian security personnel from his office.

Journalists are regularly beaten, harassed and arrested for publishing articles that are critical of President Jammeh. Earlier in June Dr Amadou Scattered Janneh, a former Minister of Information and Communication, was charged with treason for allegedly distributing anti-Jammeh materials which demanded an end to the authoritarian rule of the president.

The case of Manneh has received much international attention. Senator Richard Durbin brought it to the attention of the US Senate in July 2008 whilst Amnesty International considers Manneh to be a prisoner of conscience and have been calling for his immediate release.

An ECOWAS court in 2008 ruled that Manneh should be released and that the Gambian authorities compensate him $100,000. Over three years on Gambia has yet to comply with these demands.

Nigeria

Wednesday 29/06: Night curfew in Abuja after Boko Haram Attacks

Nigeria’s capital is under a curfew in the wake of attacks by the bombings carried out by the Boko Haram. The city's administration said that parks and gardens that admit children should close at six p.m. whilst night clubs, beer halls, snooker clubs and cinemas should close by 10 p.m. The city also banned parking of vehicles on roads where most government offices are located.

Boko Haram is an organisation aims to establish an Islamic government in Nigeria. In the last few weeks it has carried out a number of bombings in northern Nigeria including a deadly an attack on the national police station in Abuja.

Commenting on The Boko Haram, General Ihejirika said, "Several unpatriotic Nigerians are aiding and abetting Boko Haram. That is why they thrive. Their aim is to intimidate people into exposing them. That is why they operate the way they do". (source AllAfrica.com)

Swaziland

Tuesday 28/06: No Bail out yet for Swaziland

South Africa denied reports on that it had approved a $1.2 billion bailout loan for Swaziland. CHRI has long being following events in the country and sent an official statement to the Commonwealth Secretariat in May about the country’s handling of protests.

Commenting on the speculated bailout the South African Treasury said: “While the South African government is in receipt of a loan request from Swaziland, as confirmed last week, no loan has been agreed to or granted to Swaziland” (Source Reuters)  

African Commonwealth Human Rights Weekly Update (28/06 - 03/06/2011)

Kenya

31/06/2011 – Kenya plans to appeal ICC decision

Kenya has declared its intention to appeal the decision of the International Criminal Court which rejected their request that trials of six men accused of crimes against humanity be held in Kenya’s national court.

The ICC ruled that the application did not contain sufficient evidence that the government could deliver justice locally, stating that it ‘did not provide concrete evidence of ongoing proceedings before national judges, against the same persons suspected of committing crimes falling under the ICC's jurisdiction.’

Kenya had earlier challenged the jurisdiction of the ICC, saying its own authorities would investigate and prosecute the cases on Kenyan soil.

Mozambique

01/06/2011 - Free weekly newspaper marks its third year

@Verdade, (truth, in Portuguese) is an extraordinary newspaper. With an aim of increasing access to information, it is distributed free of charge in Maputo and four other towns to people who could otherwise not afford to buy a newspaper.

‘@Verdade was designed and set out to be a tool for development,' says Erik Charas, the papers founder and developer. ‘The development of the citizen, the human being who is entitled to be an active participant of their country's economy simply by being informed. By being able to take or make informed decisions. By being able to speak and be heard. By being allowed to dream, to want and to do. And to change things.’

And three years on, signs show that the newspaper is working as an agent for change in a country that continues on its road to recovery following a sixteen year civil war. A study by Paul Collier, Jenny C Aker and Pedro C Vicente about the 2009 national elections found that access to @Verdade had increased political participation by 10%.

Nigeria

02/06/2011 – Nigerian police raid ‘baby farm’

An alleged ‘baby farm’ in the southern city of Aba was raided by Nigeria police this week. Thirty two pregnant girls, mostly of school age, were found locked up at the Cross Foundation clinic. Their babies were to be sold for illegal adoption or for use in ritual witchcraft.

Human trafficking is the third most common crime in Nigeria after financial fraud and drug trafficking. The UN estimates that at least ten children a day are sold across the country. Traffickers are seldom caught.

The police carried out similar raids on such clinics in neighbouring Enugu state in 2008.

Rwanda

02/06/2011 – Rwanda disputes claims of repressing free speech

This week saw the publication of an Amnesty International report stating that the genocide ideology and sectarianism laws enacted in Rwanda following the 1994 genocide have been used to stifle free speech and political opposition. The report stated that the policies are overly vague, broad and are being used by the government to punish journalists, human rights workers and political opposition.

Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama stated that Rwanda is already in the process of reviewing the policies. The government has labelled the report ‘inaccurate’ and ‘highly partisan’.

Uganda Link

I just discovered this piece by the BBC’s Will Ross. It gives a nice context to the ongoing unrest in Uganda. Link: Would Uganda's Museveni recognise his former self?

It is interesting to note that the Commonwealth is yet to comment on the conduct of police in Uganda. As I argued in my article about Swaziland, it is about time that a statement is made by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

African Commonwealth Human Rights Weekly Update (30/04 - 06/05/2011)

Ghana

Sunday 01/05: Right to Information:  CHRI took part in the May Day celebrations at Independence Square in Accra. CHRI and other memebrs of The Coalition on the Right to Information called upon parliament to finally pass Right to Information (RTI) Bill which has been tabled since 2002. The Bill is currently awaiting regional consultations.

The UN holds that “freedom of information is a fundamental human right and the touchstone for all freedoms”. Disclosure of information creates a conductive environment for a functioning democracy as it allows individuals to understand the governance of their affairs in areas such as food, housing, health care and education.

Ghanaians have a constitutional right to information which was guaranteed under Article 21 of the 1992 Constitution. Nonetheless 19 years after the advent of the fourth republic Ghanian citizens still have no mechanism to access government records. The RTI bill is designed to finally make right to information a practical reality in Ghana. For further information on the Right to Information click here.

                                                   CHRI activists pictured below

Rwanda

Wednesday 04/05: War Crimes Trial:     The trial of two Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) leaders accused of masterminding atrocities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo started in Stuttgart in Germany.  Ignace Murwanashyaka and his deputy Straton Musoni are both Rwandan Hutus living in Germany. They are accused of ordering militias to commit mass murder and rape in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between January 2008 and the date of their arrest in November 2009.

The FDLR was established by Hutu exiles (many of them the perpetrators of the genocide of 800,000 Tutsis), who fled to the DRC after the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front won the 1994 civil war.  The FDLR’s political leadership is largely based in Europe whilst its military arm operates in the Kivu area of the DRC.  It is believed to make millions of dollars a year from extortion and mining activities.

The trial comes under a new law which allows the prosecution of foreigners for crimes committed outside Germany. Senior public prosecutor Christian Ritscher said "We have a long list of attacks on the civilian population, killings, people shot because they were not co-operating with the FDLR, women gang raped, rape as a means of armed fight, as means of civil war"

Rwanda has been a member of the Commonwealth since 2009. See the CHRI report about Rwanda’s application by clicking here.


Uganda

Tuesday 03/05: Human Rights Campaigner Honoured:   The Matin Ennals Awards for Human Rights Defenders, a prestigious international human rights prize, has named its 2011 winner as Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, the Ugandan founder and Executive Director of Freedom and Roam Uganda, a lesbian, gay and transgender (LGBT) human rights organization.

Kasha was chosen for her courage to appear publically and speak about LGBT issues despite being previously harassed, threatened and even attacked by people for appearing in the media. On the 26th January 2011 one of her colleagues, gay activist David Kato, was murdered following the publication of a “gay list” by the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone. Kasha Jacqueline’s name also appears on this list.

The Chairman of the Jury of the Awards, Hans Thoolen, describes the laureate as “an exceptional woman of a rare courage, fighting under death threat for human dignity and the rights of homosexuals and marginalised people in Africa”..

Wednesday 04/05: Right to Assembly:  300 lawyers gathered in Kampala to protest about the recent handling of protest by the police and the treatment of opposition leader Kizza Besigye. All of the lawyers were dressed in black to mourn the death of the rule of law.

Uganda Law Society’s President Bruce Kyerere gave a petition to the chief justice and said "We condemn the indiscriminate beating of protesters, including some senior and respectable members of society, the indiscriminate shooting of peaceful protesters and the firing of tear gas in schools and hospitals." (BBC World Service)

The Law Society's memebers will be on strike until next week.

Meanwhile Anne Mugisha, a top official in Besigye's Forum For Democratic Change party, said that Besigye's eyesight was improving after it was damaged by pepper spray used by the police when he was arrested in last Thursday’s walk to work protests.   

African Commonwealth Human Rights Weekly Update (23/04 - 29/04/2011)

Malawi

Wednesday 27/04: Freedom of Expression: The British High Commissioner, Mr Cochrane-Dyet has been expelled from Malawi after he described President Bingu wa Mutharika as "becoming ever more autocratic and intolerant of criticism" in a leaked cable.

Since its election in 2004, the government of Bingu wa Mutharika has been criticised for harassing opposition and human rights campaigners. Mr Cochrane-Dyet said that civil society organisers were scared to campaign after receiving threatening phone calls.

Malawi has been party International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights since 1993 which guarantees the right to hold opinions without interference the right to freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly .

Mozambique

Tuesday 26/04: Protest: A Commission of Inquiry set up by the Mozambican Interior Ministry to investigate the brutal attack by members of the riot police on unarmed security guards who were demonstrating against their employer, Group Four Securicor (G4S) on the 6^th of April, has reached the preliminary conclusion that they "acted in bad faith in the use of excessive force”.

Riot police were filmed repeatedly beating unarmed protesters with truncheons. The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials states that "Law enforcement officials, in carrying out their duty, shall, as far as possible, apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force". This basic principle was not adhered to by Mozambican riot police.   See the video below...

Sierra Leone

Wednesday 27/04: Celebration of Independence: Sierra Leone Marked its 50^th anniversary of independence from Britain. The president Koroma called on Sierra Leone to draw upon the lessons of the past.

Nine years ago the Country emerged from an eleven year civil war that killed 50,000 people. Since the end of the war Sierra has shown tentative signs that it is beginning to turn a corner. It has been particularly encouraging that the 2007 elections have been conducted in a free and fair manner. Former president Kabbah stepped down after serving a maximum two terms and Koroma successfully defeated the incumbent Vice President Solomon Berewa. Sierra Leone is due to go for presidential elections again in 2012.

Uganda

Thursday  28/04: Arbitrary Arrest: For the third week running Kizza Besigye was detained by the police for attempting another walk to work protest. Beigye is being denied his freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly.