Impunity Watch: North America

Human Trafficking Cases Result in No Convictions in Canadian Courts

By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

VANCOUVER, Canada - A recent report by a law professor at the University of British Columbia has found 31 documented cases of international human trafficking in Canada over a two-year period with no convictions.  Four of those cases involved children. Human rights activists have called the federal and provincial governments to do more to help victims and bring their traffickers to justice.

Typically, the victims of the human trafficking are women brought to Canada to work in the sex trade or forced labor. The top four source countries for victims were Romania, the Philippines, Moldova and China.  Few cases are referred by local police or the Canada Border Services Agency.

Services for trafficking victims vary widely across Canada. British Columbia has set up a government office and Alberta funds a non-governmental organization to oversee support for victims. Other provinces, such as Ontario and Quebec, do not have any official coordinated approach.

The law report indicates that the federal government has failed to create a national strategy to combat human trafficking.

In 2006, the federal government started issuing temporary residence permits to allow victims of trafficking to stay in Canada and access health care, counseling and other programs while they recover and decide whether to apply for immigration status or return to their home countries.

However, victims in many parts of Canada still have few places to turn.

For more information, please see:

AOL Canada - Human trafficking a growing problem in Canada, B.C. expert says - 28 October 2008

The Canadian Press - Research finds 31 human trafficking cases over two years, no convictions - 28 October 2008

Metro - Conference targets human trafficking - 29 October 2008

The Province - China the worst for human trafficking - 29 October 2008

UPDATE: Chuckie Taylor Convicted on United States Torture Charges

MIAMI, United States - Charles “Chuckie” Taylor Jr. has been found guilty on one count of torture, one count of conspiracy to commit torture and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.

Chuckie Taylor’s indictment was based on a 1994 United States law stating “those accused of committing tortuous acts overseas can be tried in United States federal court.” 

Taylor was accused of facilitating the abduction, torture and killing of individuals when he was the Anti-Terrorist Unit of Liberia. 

On January 8, 2009, Taylor will face up to a life sentence at his sentencing hearing.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Ex-Liberian president’s son convicted of torture – 30 October 2008

Impunity Watch – Charles Taylor’s Son on Trail in US for Torture in Liberia – 28 September 2008

Two Senior Anti-Narcotic Agents Were Arrested for Assisting an Organized Drug Ring

By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico - Two senior officials in Mexico's leading anti-narcotics agency have been arrested on charges they acted as informants for a drug cartel in return for millions of dollars. They exchanged secret information and details of operations against the Beltran Leyva one of Mexico’s largest criminal organization.

The officials and three lower-level agents, all from the attorney general's organized crime unit, worked for several years for the Beltran Leyva narcotics group.  The arrested officials were unit's chief of investigations and the chief prosecutor of the Beltran Leyva organization itself. As well another 35 prosecutors and support staff were fired for alleged corruption.

The two men had received between $150,000 and up to $450,000 a month for informing the Beltran Leyva drug gang about police operations including safe house raids and arrest targets.  The two officials are now in prison and some 30 other members of the anti-drug unit known as SIEDO have been fired.

Cartels spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on bribes. They have frequently accused police and other officials of being in the pocket of their rivals.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection also arrested a senior Mexican immigration official on Sunday at the Arizona border, accusing him of smuggling marijuana.  And in another related incident, U.S. authorities are investigating reports that a worker at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City passed secret information to a drug cartel.

Despite President’s Calderon’s efforts drug violence continues to worsen. With low wages, shoddy equipment and rising insecurity the task to end the drug war has become nearly impossible. Meanwhile, the drug war has caused more than 3,725 deaths. 

For more information, please see:

Reuters - Mexico Says Senior Police Worked for Cartel - 27 October 2008

Bloomberg.com - U.S. Probing Possible Mexico Cartel Spies in Embassy - 28 October 2008

Houston Chronicle - 2 Mexico Anti-Drug Officials Linked to Cartel - 28 October 2008

Carbon Market Threatens Indigenous Peoples in Panama

By Karla E General
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, United States  - Leaders of the Ngobe and Naso Indigenous groups of Panama met with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) in Washington, DC this morning. The representatives traveled to the US to oppose the construction of four hydro-electric dams located within the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve, the ancestral homelands of the Ngobe and Naso people. The dams will flood four Ngobe villages and create impassible barriers for fish which the tribes rely upon for their livelihood, and will result in the displacement of more than 1,000 Ngobe and impairment to the livelihoods of 4,000 more.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries have the option of purchasing carbon-offset credits by engaging in certain projects in developing countries, such as hydro-electric dams. This provision in the Protocol is widely known as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The dam projects in Panama are being funded and supported primarily by the Empresas Publicas de Medellin of Colombia, the AES Corporation of the United States, and the Government of Panama. In May 2008, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues endorsed the CDM as a "good solution," even after protests by Indigenous peoples around the world.

The dams have already sparked conflict between developers and Indigenous peoples, resulting in violent clashes between the Ngobe people, local farmers, and the National Police. As a result, many Ngobe men, women and children were beaten and have been arbitrarily incarcerated. AES, the US corporation behind three of the dam projects, has also failed to obtain the informed consent of the Ngobe and Naso to obtain their land. Ngobe representative Felicio Santos said: "These dams threaten the very existence of our people. If governments in Europe and the US want to make emissions reductions, they should make them in their own countries rather than using the carbon market to impose destructive projects on communities in the developing world."

The rights of the Ngobe and Naso are being intruded upon daily as their livelihood and ability to survive is threatened. The IAHRC must intervene and support the Ngobe and Naso peoples rights to their land because the Government of Panama is unwilling to do so.

For more information, please see:

Huntington News - UN Admits Its Climate Change Program Threatens Indigenous Peoples - 29 September 2008

Center for Biological Diversity - Hydro Project Threatens Indigenous People, Biological Preserve; Human Rights Panel to Review Issue - 27 October 2008

Huntington News - Indigenous Leaders from Panama Travel to Washington to Condemn Carbon Market Solutions (CDM) - 27 October 2008

Al-Qaeda Prisoner and Lawyer Boycott Trial

By Gabrielle Meury
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba- Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, a Yemeni man accused of being Al-Qaida’s former media director, and his Pentagon-appointed lawyer refused to talk on Monday. Their boycott did not stop the military judge from beginning Guantanamo’s second war crimes trial. Al-Bahlul’s lawyer, Air Force Maj. David Frakt, said that al-Bahlul was boycotting the trial because al-Bahlul had rejected a military attorney and has been barred from representing himself. Frakt declared that he would also remain silent while in the courtroom in respect of al-Bahlul’s wishes.

Frakt even remained silent during jury selection. The pool of potential jurors consisted of 13 U.S. military officers, flown in from other U.S. bases over the weekend. More than half of the jury pool told Maj. Charles Hale, a Marine prosecutor, that they had previously served in the military commission process for former Guantanamo detainee David Hicks. Hicks wound up serving a nine-month prison sentence in Australia under a plea deal before the case went to trial. The panel of jurors selected included the military officers selected for Hick’s case. After court, Frakt  told reporters that he was disturbed that the list for al-Bahlul’s jury included jurors from Hicks’ panel. "The commissions are under such intense scrutiny," Frakt said during the news conference. "Why create such an obvious additional basis for criticism?"Guantanamo's chief prosecutor, Army Col. Lawrence Morris, said it was "very common in military justice that you will be in front of the same panel" and shrugged off the defense's concerns.

Prosecutors plan to introduce up to 31 witnesses for a trial, including Nacy interrogator Robert McFadden, who testified for prosecutors in the case of Osama bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan. Hamdan was convicted and faces a five and a half year sentence.

Al-Bahlul stated at a pretrial hearing that he wanted nothing to do with his trial, calling the military proceedings a “legal farce.” Al-Bahlul allegedly created a recruiting video glorifying al-Qaeda’s attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 American sailors in October 2000. He is also accused of arranging for lead September 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta to swear a loyalty oath to bin Laden.
The war crimes trials admit hearsay evidence and testimony obtained under harsh interrogations.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press- Guantanamo prisoner and lawyer boycott trial- 27 October 2008

AFP- Al-Qaeda propagandist goes on trial at Guantanamo- 27 October 2008

Reuters- Al-Qaeda media chief stands mute at Guantanamo- 27 October 2008

UN Human Rights Committee Denounces Nicaragua's Abortion Laws

By Karla E General
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - The Nicaraguan Government came under fire last week for their blanket ban on abortion when the United Nation's Human Rights Committee (HRC) met in Geneva.

Nicaragua's National Assembly enacted the comprehensive ban on abortion - even "therapeutic" abortions - during the 2006 presidential campaign, becoming just the third country in the world to do so (after Chile and El Salvador). The current law subjects pregnant girls and women and the healthcare professionals who assist them, with up to fourteen years in prison. Critics have denounced the policy as violating Nicaragua's obligations under international law because it threatens women's and girl's rights to life, health, equality, privacy, physical integrity, and freedom of religion and conscience: "International law prohibits bans on abortion because such restrictions deny women their basic rights to life and health. Nicaragua's abortion ban is an affront to international standards - and Nicaragua's women" - Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

The HRC is the monitoring body for the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and meets three times per year to review countries' progress in implementing the international treaty. Experts on the Committee questioned Nicaraguan representatives as they presented their third report detailing progress in implementing the ICCPR. The HRC was especially curious how Nicaragua could ban abortion if it were a secular state, a question to which the Nicaraguan delegation responded: "If the population desired to have abortion policy changed, it could be done via the political process."

Though the HRC has been criticized for overstepping its mandate and reading a right to abortion into the ICCPR (the international treaty is silent on abortion), Nicaragua's abortion laws have been subject to even greater criticism by many government officials, human rights groups, and UN agencies. The Swedish government, in opposition to Nicaragua's abortion ban, even severed aid to the Central American country earlier this year. 

For a detailed report by Human Rights Watch regarding Nicaragua's abortion ban, click here.    

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch - Nicaragua: Blanket Ban on Abortion Harms Women - 31 August 2007

Spero News - Sandinista Nicaragua Pressured on Abortion - 23 October 2008

One World - Nicaraguan President 'Repressing' Rights Groups - 24 October 2008

Khadr's Trial Delayed

By Gabrielle Meury
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba- Omar Khadr, a Canadian charged with killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, now faces trial in January after a military judge postponed the proceeding. Army Col. Patrick Parrish granted the defense’s request for a delay after they argued this week that they need more time for their medical experts to assess the prisoner. Col. Parrish had initially set the date for October; this is the second continuance. The prosecution argued against any further delay. The lead prosecutor accused Khadr’s defense lawyer of not wanting to go to trial at all, and instead looking to secure a political solution for his client by putting pressure on the Canadian government. .

The new date is set for January 26. The trial may never be heard at Guantanamo Bay because it comes six days after the next president takes office. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have pledged to close the prison. Obama has said he would abolish the military commissions under which Khadr is charged. McCain supported the Military Commission Act in 2006, so it is expected that he would continue the trials. However, McCain told a gathering in Ottawa that he would repatriate Khadr if Canada requested.

Khadr is 22 and has been in U.S. custody since he was captured in Afghanistan when he was 15. He is charged with five offenses, including “murder in violation of the laws of war” for allegedly throwing a grenade that fatally wounded U.S. soldier Christopher Speer. If convicted, he will face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press- Guantanamo trial for Canadian delayed to January- 24 October 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iQsQOHKSsEpzk6Ea0jz7fB_eT8IAD9413R6G0
Toronto Star- New delay for Khadr puts trial in doubt- 25 October 2008
http://www.thestar.com/SpecialSections/article/524493
Globe and Mail- Khadr’s trial delayed again- 25 October 2008
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081025.KHADR25/TPStory/International

BRIEF: Pakistani School Hit by Alleged United States Missile Strike

By Andrew Benfield
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, North America

WASHINGTON, United States – On October 23, 2008, a “suspected United States missile strike” hit the Pakistani village of North Waziristan.  Four missiles are said to have hit a North Waziristan religious school, killing at least eight students.

North Waziristan is a village in north-western Pakistan.  Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters use villages like North Waziristan to launch attacks in Afghanistan.  The target of the most recent missile attack was suspected to be Jalaluddin Haqqani, a fugitive Taliban leader who owns a compound in North Waziristan. 

This missile attack is one of many United States-lead attacks that have targeted the Afghanistan border region.  The increase in pilot-less missile attacks comes after “persistent United States accusations” that Pakistan is failing to “eliminate Taliban and al-Qaeda sanctuaries in the border region.” 

The attack came hours after Pakistan’s government asked President Asif Ali Zardari to “resist any incursions and invasions of the homeland.”  Specifically, the government was concerned over the United States’ continued military involvement within the Pakistani border. 

The BBC reports that approximately eighty (80) people have been “killed in a number of suspected US missile strikes in South and North Waziristan region over the past month.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – ‘US missiles’ hit Pakistan school – 23 October 2008

New York Times – Missiles Kill 8 in Pakistan Airstrike – 23 October 2008

Telegraph.co.uk – US in new missile attack on Pakistan territory – 23 October 2008

Nicaraguan Government Cracks Down on NGOs

By Karla E General
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Police raids of several non-governmental organizations conducted by the National Police of the Nicaraguan Government during the past week have sparked claims of political oppression from dissenters of President Daniel Ortega's leftist Sandinista government.

The judge-ordered raids, resulting in the confiscation of documents and computers, on a number of NGOs are part of an investigation against the groups for "crimes against the state," said Prosecutor Jose Abraham Rojas. President Ortega criticized the groups of using class conflict to advance their personal agendas: "The oligarchy thinks they have impunity.  They did before, but not anymore." The official Sandinista news media has stated that the actions of the government are a crackdown on corruption, money laundering, and other illegal activities promoted by the oligarch sectors heavily involved in the NGOs. Ortega insists that his government fully respects the freedom of the press.

Others challenge Ortega's justifications for the investigations and raids, however, including former President Arnoldo Aleman, who stated that "[a]buses against opponents of the Sandinista government are increasing and intensifying ... It's one thing to regulate non-governmental organizations and it's another to persecute them for political reasons." Political analysts have criticized Ortega's recent crackdown against political dissidents as another step in the direction of establishing a totalitarian regime by limiting political and civic participation.

Among the sixteen NGOs being investigated include the Center for Communications and Investigation (Cinco), the Autonomous Movement for Women, Forum Syd, Oxfam Great Britain, the International Republican Institute, and the Civil Coordinator, a civil society umbrella group.

So far, no formal charges have been laid.  Human rights advocates have condemned the unproven accusations by Ortega's government, saying that "searching for evidence without any clear cause is the same as trying to fabricate a crime."

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune - Police Raids of NGOs Provoke Outcry in Nicaragua - 12 October 2008

The Tico Times - Nicaraguan Government Continues Investigation of NGOs - 15 October 2008

Christian Science Monitor - In Nicaragua, Political Dissidents Targeted - 17 October 2008

Reporters Without Borders - Reporters Without Borders Writes to President Daniel Ortega About Poor State of Public Freedoms - 21 October 2008

Police Officer Arrested in Drug Related Massacre

By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico - A police officer, Antonio Ramírez Cervantes, has been arrested in connection with the execution-style killings of 24 men in a rural area outside Mexico City. Another man identified as having led the planning for the killings, runs a security company in the same state, officials said.  Cervantes allegedly kidnapped the victims and took them to the place were they were shot. 

The bodies of the men, found September 12, 2008, were found bound with duct tape and shot in the head.  Authorities believe the killings stemmed from a dispute over drug dealing territory.

The killings are one of the bloodiest massacres in the wave of drug violence sweeping Mexico. Seventeen of the victims were identified as bricklayers who had been recruited into drug dealing.

Several police officers have been indicted in drug related killings in the past few months.
Concern over the Mexican police force continued history of corruption has created difficulty for initiatives aimed at ending organized crime violence.  In June 2008, the United States granted $400 million in funds to The Merida Initiative. The pledge was designed to help Mexico in its fights against organized crime networks.  The program proved controversial with activists on both sides of the political spectrum in the United States and Mexico as some worry that the funds will go into the hands of a corrupt police force. Funds have yet to be released.

For more information, please see:

The Canadian Press - Policeman are among two suspects arrested in a Mexico massacre -17 October 2008

Los Angeles Times - Arrests made in Mexico over killing of 24 -17 October 2008

The New York Times - Mexico: 2 Suspects Arrested in Killings of 24 Men - 16 October 2008