The Observatory - Newsletter n° 43

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July - August - September 2007

2006 ANNUAL REPORT - Publication of the Spanish version

July 12, 2007 - Press release

July 17, 2007 - Joint press release

July 26, 2007 - Joint press release

On July 12, 2007, the Observatory published the Spanish version of its 2006 Annual Report, which was officially launched on March 14, 2007 and which deals with the cases of over 1,300 human rights defenders repressed as well as with obstacles to freedom of association in about 90 countries.

On the occasion of the publication of this Spanish version of the report, a press conference was held in Bogotá (Colombia) and press releases were issued jointly with OMCT and FIDH member or partner organisations in Guatemala and Mexico in order to, inter alia, highlight the situation of human rights defenders in these countries.

In Guatemala, where acts of reprisals against defenders constantly increased in 2006, 136 attacks against them were further recorded in the course of the first six months of 2007. Defenders of economic, social and cultural rights were particularly targeted. It is also to be feared that the number of these particularly violent attacks increase in the run-up of the September 2007 general elections.

In Mexico, where the Observatory dealt with 46 cases of violations against defenders in 2006, the most vulnerable (workers, women, minorities, landless populations, indigenous communities and their children) seem to be particularly targeted. 2007 witnesses the tendency to strengthen restrictive legislative frameworks against fundamental freedoms, and to repress social movements. In addition, the actions of the defenders are regularly criminalised and discredited.

2006 ANNUAL REPORT - Publication in Russian of the part on “Europe and the CIS”

July 26, 2007 - Press release

While the situation of human rights defenders and freedom of association is increasingly deteriorating in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Observatory published on July 26, 2007 the Russian version of the part of its 2006 Annual Report devoted to this region. To that extent, two press conferences were organised, respectively in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, in the presence of the Russian civil society.

Indeed, 2006 witnessed the confirmation of strong tendencies of repression aimed at reducing - sometimes drastically - the capacity of independent civil society to operate in several countries in Europe and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The strategies used by these States, in particular in several CIS member States (Belarus, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) were aimed primarily at making national laws more restrictive in relation to freedom of association, thus making it easier to control independent civil society, which was frequently considered as a threat to the maintenance of ruling powers.

Freedoms of assembly and peaceful gathering were also flouted in many countries (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Uzbekistan). In addition, freedom of expression remained in 2006 the most common reason invoked for repressing human rights defenders in the region, particularly when denouncing the lack of democracy or freedoms, fighting discrimination or even denouncing corruption or torture.

Human rights defenders were still subjected to serious retaliation as a result of their activities. Defenders were further subjected to acts of torture and ill-treatments (Belarus, Russian Federation, Turkey, Uzbekistan), sometimes leading to death (Turkmenistan). They were also victims of death threats (Moldova, Russian Federation), smear campaigns (Azerbaijan, Greece, Kyrgyzstan), judicial proceedings and arbitrary arrests or detentions (Russian Federation, Turkey, Uzbekistan), or constraints upon their freedom of movement (Azerbaijan, Belarus).

ARGENTINA - Armed robbery / Harassment

July 16, 2007 - ARG 004 / 0707 / OBS 078

On June 26, 2007, around 8.00 p.m., two armed persons entered the premises of the Committee for the Defence of Health, Professional Ethics and Human Rights (Comité de Defensa de la Salud, la Ética Profesional y los Derechos Humanos - CODESEDH), in Buenos Aires. A computer containing evidence and archives related to an ongoing trial against dictatorship was stolen, together with a videotape and various personal belongings.

In addition, on July 2, 2007, swastikas were painted on the walls of the Centre of the Human Rights Professionals (Centro de Profesionales por los Derechos Humanos - CEPRODH), similar to these represented in the Saint-Cross Church, where the founders of the Mothers of the May Square Movement (Madres de Plaza de Mayo) had been illegally confined during the dictatorship.

BELARUS - Obstacles to the freedom of association

August 31, 2007 - Press release

On August 28, 2007, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus refused to re-register the Human Rights Centre “Viasna”, in violation of the Communication n°1296/2004 of the United Nations Human Rights Committee issued on July 24, 2007. The Minister concluded that “the Charter of the association [did] not comply with the Law on Public Associations”, on the grounds that [it did] not contain concrete goals (which could imply the possibility for the association to develop subversive activities), that the information provided on some of the members of the association was mistaken and that 20 founders out of 69 had been charged with criminal offences, five of them being convicted.

On July 23, 2007, Viasna had submitted a re-registration request to the Ministry of Justice, which had to reply within a month.

On October 28, 2003, Viasna had been closed down by order of the Supreme Court at the demand of the Ministry of Justice, in a context of massive violation of the right to freedom of association [1].

BURMA - Arbitrary detentions / Sentencing / Ill-treatments August 9, 2007 - MMR 001 / 0807 / OBS 090

On July 24, 2007, the Henzeda Township Court sentenced Messrs. Ko Myint Naing (also known as Myint Hlaing), Ko Kyaw Lwin, U Hla Shien, U Mya Sein, U Win and U Myint, six members of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP), to four to eight years’ imprisonment for “intent to cause public disturbance” under the Criminal Procedure Code of Myanmar [2].

As of the beginning of August 2007, the six men remained detained and were about to lodge an appeal to the Supreme Court. No additional information could be obtained since then.

On April 17, 2007, the six men had actively took part in the organisation of a human rights education seminar. On the next day, six HRDP members who had taken part in this seminar, namely Messrs. Myint Aye, Maung Maung Lay, Tin Maung Oo, Yin Kyi, Myint Naing and Kyaw Lwin, had been violently assaulted by a group of more than 100 individuals, including members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), the civilian wing of the Burmese military government, while returning home.

Furthermore, on July 30, 2007, Mr. Ko Min Min, a human rights activist in Pyay Township (Western Bago region), was condemned to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 kyats (USD 30) by the Pyay Township Court for “giving illegal tuition classes” on human rights. Mr. Min Min was arrested on July 10, 2007, one day after he had played a leading organisational role in a human rights education session. Copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were then seized.

BURMA - Arbitrary detention / Sentences / Ill-treatment

September 13, 2007 - MMR 002 / 0907 / OBS 111

On September 7, 2007, during a trial held inside Rangoon’s Insein prison, Messrs. Thurein Aung, Kyaw Kyaw, Wai Lin, Myo Min, Kyaw Win, and Nyi Nyi Zaw, six labour rights advocates, were all found guilty of “inciting hatred or contempt for the government”, and some of them for membership in “illegal associations”. Messrs. Thurein Aung, Wai Lin, Myo Min and Kyaw Win were sentenced to 28 years prison, while Messrs. Nyi Nyi Zaw and Kyaw Kyaw were sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.

Messrs. Thurein Aung, Kyaw Kyaw, Wai Lin and Nyi Nyi Zaw had been arrested on May 1, 2007 after holding a May Day celebration and planning to discuss labour issues at the US Embassy’s American Centre. This event had immediately been cancelled subsequent to their arrests.

On May 10, 2007, Messrs. Kyaw Win and Myo Min had been arrested on their way to the Thai-Burma border in order to inform the outside world about these May Day arrests.

Subsequent to their arrest, the six activists had been held at a special interrogation centre, before being transferred to the central prison, where they had been reportedly held in separate buildings, denied visits, and also subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment. Besides, the interrogations of the six men by Burmese security agencies had reportedly focused specifically on finding links with the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB).

CAMBODIA - Assassination

July 9, 2007 - KHM 004 / 0707 / OBS 075

On July 4, 2007, Mr. Seng Sarorn, a member of the Culture and Environment Preservation Association (CEPA) and leader of the community of Sre Kor village (Stung Treng province), involved in the defence of the rights of the communities, was shot dead by an unknown person while at home with his wife.

In particular, Mr. Seng Sarorn encouraged people in his community to protest about illegal forestry and fishery, as well as about land-grabbing issues. Recently, Mr. Sarorn had also been involved in protests demanding that the company Sal Sophea Pheanich give the State’s forestry land it had illegally acquired back to the poor people of the community.

Although the provincial military police arrived on the crime scene immediately after the killing, an improper investigation seems to have been conducted, which resulted in the contamination of the crime scene.

CAMBODIA - Assault

July 31, 2007 - KHM 005 / 0707 / OBS 086

On July 23, 2007, at about 11.30 pm, four assailants throw a home-made grenade at the front door of the home of Mr. Sat Savuth, a human rights campaigner advocating land and forestry rights in Anlong Veng district’s Phat commune (Oddar Meanchey province). Mr. Savuth and his family were not injured.

In 2005, Mr. Savuth had moved to Anlong province for fear of his life. An unidentified gunman had indeed shot at him after he had criticised the government corruption in Tomring commune, Kampong Thom province. Recently, Mr. Savuth’s denunciations of illegal logging in the Tomring commune appeared in the report on Cambodia drafted by the environmental group Global Witness, entitled Cambodia’s Family Trees, the diffusion of which has been banned by the Government.

Although local authorities have pledged to properly investigate into these events, the Governor of Anlong Veng province would have dismissed the idea that the attack against Mr. Savuth was “politically motivated”, as quoted in the Cambodia Daily on July 23, 2007.

CHILE - Hunger strike / Arbitrary detention / Harassment

August 22, 2007 - CHL 001 / 0705 / OBS 056.7

On August 7, 2007, Mrs. Juana Calfunao Paillalef, lonko (traditional chief) of the “Juan Paillalef” Mapuche community in the municipality of Cunco in Temuco, started a “dry” hunger strike [3], along with her sister, Ms. Luisa Ana Calfunao, in order to draw the attention on the Mapuche people’s rights, as well as to urge the ratification by Chile of the 169 Convention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). On August 17, 2007, Mrs. Juana and Luisa Ana Calfunao decided to carry on with their hunger strike but to resume drinking.

Mrs. Juana and Luisa Ana Calfunao are currently waiting for a ruling of the Constitutional Court with respect to incidents that occurred in the Temuco Court in November 2006 [4]. They respectively face 15 and 10 years of imprisonment.

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