Individuals at Risk

Liberia experienced a devastating civil war from 1989 to 1997 and again from 1999 to 2003. During this conflict, women made up 30-40 percent of the fighting forces, while women generally make up 15-20 percent of fighting forces globally. As soldiers, many of these women faced repeated rape and demoralizing forms of violence. With record numbers of women fighting in this conflict, the UN-sponsored Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration (DDRR) failed to reach many former female fighters.

Next week, Amnesty International is bringing the film "Women of Liberia: Fighting for Peace," directed by two-time Academy Award-winner Jonathan Stack, to Washington, D.C. for a free screening at E Street Cinema Tuesday, July 29 at 7 pm. The film follows Liberian women who are ex-child soldiers, detailing the different struggles they face in the disarmament process.  

Along with the film, Amnesty is hosting three of the women featured in the documentary, and they will be on-hand at the screening to answer questions and to discuss their experiences. Director Jonathan Stack will be at the screening as well to answer questions.

One of the goals of bringing this documentary and these women to the U.S. is to encourage the passage of legislation entitled the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA).  Introduced last year, IVAWA would help to combat the struggles faced by women in conflict zones. It would enhance the capacity of the US government to develop emergency measures to respond to mass rape, including efforts to provide direct services to victims and hold perpetrators accountable, addressing many issues the DDRR process neglected.

Although UN-sponsored DDRR programs in Liberia did a better job of assisting females formerly associated with the fighting forces than other DDRR programs in other countries, women and girls still experienced significant difficulties in accessing and fully benefiting from the programs compared to men and boys.  As a result, thousands of women and girls that should have benefited did not.  Many other women and girls that did participate dropped out for reasons such as the shame and stigma of being associated, limited child care, and sexual exploitation in schools. Programs designed in post-war periods to help societies recover from conflict need to recognize and address women's unique needs.

For more information on the screening and on the status of Liberian women, visit www.amnestyusa.org/womenofliberia.

Contact Chelsea Toy at uaintern@aiusa.org for any questions.

In Sri Lanka's armed conflict between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), journalists are paying a heavy price. Ten journalists have been killed since 2006, and Tamil journalists in particular have faced forced disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture. Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam, editor of the independent news website OutreachSL, is just one of the Tamil journalists tortured by Sri Lankan authorities, and he has been sentenced to another three months in detention.        

Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam was detained by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) after he inquired about the arrest of two others, writer and publisher Vettivel Jasikaran and his wife, Valarmathi Jasikaran. TID officials have held Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam since March 7 without charge, allowing him access to his lawyer only twice. The TID has held Vettivel and Valarmathi Jasikaran since March 6, and Vettivel has been tortured on multiple occasions.

The Sri Lankan government detains these journalists under Emergency Regulations, allowing the government to hold them up to 12 months without charge. Introduced by the president, the Emergency Regulations legislated against broad-based and vaguely defined "terrorism" offenses, which have been used to silence journalists and generally suppress freedom of expression in Sri Lanka.  This is in staunch violation of Article 9 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Sri Lanka is a state party.     

Reporters Without Borders ranks Sri Lanka 156^th out of 169 countries with regards to press freedom, while Freedom House ranks Sri Lanka 139^th out of 195 countries. In 2006, Sri Lanka was classified as a "Partly Free" media environment by Freedom House, but in 2007 the country is considered "Not Free."

"Media freedom was one of the main casualties of Sri Lanka's slide into war in 2006, as increasing numbers of journalists, particularly ethnic Tamils, were targeted and media outlets faced censorship and other restrictions. Although freedom of expression is provided for in the constitution, a growing number of laws and regulations restrict this right," according to Freedom House.

The government is not alone in enforcing media censorship. The LTTE do not allow freedom of expression in areas under their control.

Please take action to demand the release of Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam and Vettivel and Valarmathi Jasikaran by clicking on each name. Demand the protection of all media workers in Sri Lanka by clicking here.

Chelsea Toy - Individuals at Risk

While Colombian military forces rescued 15 hostages last week from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), paramilitary forces associated with the same government continue to be guilty of similar abductions, death threats and harassment.

The Colombian government alleges that the paramilitary forces are in a demobilization process; however, their continued human rights violations clearly show that paramilitary groups remain extremely active. Amnesty International has released six Urgent Actions in the past month alone based around armed forces and paramilitary forces in Colombia, a country that for the past 40 years has been entrenched in internal conflict.

While FARC surely poses a threat to Colombian stability, they are not the only guilty party. Amnesty International released an Urgent Action July 8 on behalf of two men kidnapped and two others killed by the Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Nariño (Autodefensas Campesinas de Nariño, ACN) in the hamlet of San José de la Turbia, in Olaya Herrera Municipality. Peasants in the village are fleeing their homes as a result of the increasing paramilitary violence. The ACN claimed to be working with the Colombian navy.

Paramilitary groups, who the Colombian government claims are demobilizing, are causing widespread fear in a country already ravaged by conflict. Last month, the paramilitary group United Black Eagles of Colombia (Águilas Negras Unidas de Colombia) threatened the lives of trade unionists and human rights defenders because the paramilitary group falsely believes these activists are involved in guerilla activity. The Black Eagles also threatened the lives of members of a pacifist youth group. Another paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense groups of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC) threatened to kill journalists working at a Colombian radio station after the broadcasters participated in a pro-human rights forum.

The presence of the various paramilitary groups in Colombia is representative of the violence and devastation occurring in the war-torn country. In 2005, the U.S. contributed $600 million towards Colombian military aid. Unfortunately, paramilitary forces may receive assistance from this Colombian military aid. Moreover, the number of internally displaced people in Colombia (2 million - 4 million) rivals only that of Sudan (6 million), according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

With peaceful Colombians constantly at risk of abduction and others who have already disappeared, it is of dire necessity that action be taken. Please reference UA 167/08, UA 179/08, UA 180/08, UA 186/08, UA 188/08 and UA 196/08.

Chelsea Toy - Urgent Action Network

On 4 July 2008, Amnesty International issued an updated Urgent Action on behalf of Indonesian convicted criminal Achmad Suradji, in an attempt to save him from imminent execution. 

In 1998, Indonesia sentenced Achmad Suradji to death for killing 42 women.  Indonesian authorities say Suradji buried each woman around his property after drinking her saliva, to increase the magical powers he held as a traditional sorcerer.  Acting on advice from the ghost of his dead father who appeared to him nine years earlier in a dream, Suradji reportedly had plans to kill 70 women. 

Amnesty International is fighting to save Suradji's life.  Last year, an Indonesian senior court ruled that the death penalty did not contradict the Indonesian Constitution's guarantee of the right to life.  With the self-proclaimed go-ahead to execute, authorities plan to execute five death row inmates this month - and Suradji is the first set to die. 

What does it mean to ask a nation's citizens to support a witch doctor who offered to provide women with spiritual advice and assistance, when we know that 42 of those women never left his premises?  When the crime being discussed constitutes one of Indonesia's worst killing sprees?  This case demonstrates with extreme clarity Amnesty's position that any premature ending of a human life violates the most fundamental of all human rights - even and especially when we talk about the life of a convicted criminal.  Commuting Suradji's death sentence is perhaps the most decisive way to stand up for the universal right to life, to support the right to life of someone who has brought such despair to others.

Indonesia executes its criminals by firing squad and has legalized the death penalty for offenses related to drug trafficking in addition to murder.  Read more about Amnesty's groundwork for death penalty opposition as well as more information specific to the death penalty in Indonesia in Amnesty International's briefing on the death penalty in Indonesia. 

Marissa Brodney - Urgent Action Network

Denmark is preparing to deport four Iraqi men convicted of criminal offenses to Iraq, where they will face torture, ill-treatment or death at the hands of any one of the dangerous armed groups roaming the country. All four men had become legal residents of Denmark. Danish authorities are also attempting to reach an agreement with Iraqi officials to deport another 364 rejected Iraqi asylum-seekers.

With 4.7 million people displaced in the years since the invasion of Iraq, the situation in Denmark highlights the international community's negligent response to the plight of these refugees.

"Governments have done little or nothing to help Iraqi refugees, failing in their moral, political and legal duty to share responsibility for them...Instead, apathy and rhetoric have been the overwhelming response to one of the worst refugee crises in the world," Amnesty International said in a recently released report on the plight of Iraqi refugees.

Traditionally, Denmark had been kinder to Iraqi refugees than many other countries. When Danish troops pulled out of Iraq in 2007, they brought with them 370 Iraqi interpreters, drivers and support staff that assisted their troops.

Unfortunately now Denmark has been struck with anti-immigration sentiment that has caused them to shift their policies. These policies, however, violate the various international treaties against sending asylum-seekers, refugees or rejected-asylum seekers back to countries where they would face a risk of human rights violations.

The "little or nothing" that Amnesty International is talking about in its recent report partly refers to the United States, which has allowed less than 5,000 Iraqis to enter the U.S. in the past five years. Those 5,000 are provided with about $400 a month for four months, plus $100 in food stamps, according to a recent article in The New York Times.

Approximately 2 million Iraqis now live as refugees in Jordan or Syria, where they are met with hostility and often live in hiding. Children of refugees rarely receive education and are often left on the streets to beg or are forced into child labor.

To take action to prevent the deportation of the four Iraqi men in Denmark, please take part in this Urgent Action.

Chelsea Toy - Urgent Action Network