By Graeme Reid LGBT-rights supporter waves an amalgamation of the Canadian and rainbow flags in front of the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa, 1999. In 2017, Canadian government condemned Ramzen Kadyrov’s purge of gay men in Chechnya and announced that nearly 30 victims of the purge have been safely resettled. © 1999 Reuters "Take them to Canada," Chechen despot Ramzan Kadyrov said when renewing his cynical vow to rid the North Caucasus territory of gay people. This week, the Canadian government announced that nearly 30 victims of the anti-gay purge in Chechnya have been safely resettled. Canada deserves praise for standing up – in word and deed – to Kadyrov's gruesome purge by publicly condemning his actions, pressing the Russian government to intervene, and now providing safe haven in Canada to individuals who were stranded in Russia, at risk from Chechen security forces and even their own families. The Canadian group, Rainbow Railroad, provided safe passage for these men out of Russia where they were under the temporary care of the Russian LGBT network. It is a humanitarian gesture that echoes the words of Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to the Canadian Parliament in June. She observed: "It is our role to provide refuge to the persecuted and downtrodden, to the extent that we are able." At that time, plans were already under way to provide sanctuary to gay men fleeing arbitrary arrest and torture in Chechnya. In the same speech, Ms. Freeland noted the U.S. abdication of its traditional role defending the postwar liberal order, and asserted Canada's role in defending it. Just two days later, on June 8, Canada joined Chile as co-chair of the Equal Rights Coalition, a global network of LGBT friendly states. LGBT and intersex organizations around the world need supportive states, like those in the Equal Rights Coalition, to provide moral and material support, monitor and report on human-rights abuses, condemn discrimination, follow court cases, provide meeting spaces, mediate with hostile governments and do the heavy lifting at international forums where LGBTI issues are hotly debated. Much of this work is already undertaken by the missions of LGBTI friendly states around the world. As co-chair of the Equal Rights Coalition, Canada is well-placed to play a more proactive role on the international stage. Canada has taken significant steps domestically – apologizing for past mistreatment, committing to expunge criminal records, creating a non-binary gender option on passportsand passing legislation to protect transgender people from discrimination. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Randy Boissonnault as special adviser on LGBT issues, although his international reach is curtailed by a huge portfolio, weighted toward domestic policies. Within the Commonwealth, where 36 of 52 member states still criminalize same-sex activity, Canada supported the recent accreditation of the Commonwealth Equality Network, an umbrella group of LGBTI organizations from 39 countries – the first LGBTI advocacy group to receive such status, which will allow it to participate in next year's Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London. Canada's leadership comes at a critical time, when the U.S. – which exercised significant international leadership on LGBT issues under the Obama administration – has lost much of its moral authority. In contrast to the Obama administration's "gay rights are human rights" foreign-policy doctrine, bolstered by domestic progress including military reform, marriage equality and the expansion of federal employment protections, the Trump administration has backtracked: implementing a transgender military service ban, arguing that federal employment protections do not bar discrimination against LGBT people and appointing staunch homophobes to key government positions. In her speech, Ms. Freeland said: "It is our role to set a standard for how states should treat women, gays and lesbians, transgender people, racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious minorities and of course Indigenous people." Canada is well-placed to take on this mantle, following well-established best practice, including quiet diplomacy, building bridges with allies and neutral states, supporting the work of civil-society organizations and advocating for the rights of LGBT people. The resettlement of the Chechen refugees represents a concrete example of standard-setting. In order to ensure the safety, equality and dignity of LGBT people throughout the world, Canada should continue to stand firmly for their rights both at home and abroad. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________(c) 2017 Human Rights Watch

By Felix Horne “Wako” fled Ethiopia for Kenya in 2012, after his release from prison. He had been locked up for two years after campaigning for the Oromo People’s Congress, an opposition party that has often been targeted by the government. In Kenya, he hoped to be safe. But six months later Ethiopian officials kidnapped him in Nairobi and brought him to Ethiopia’s notorious Ziway prison, where he was mistreated and tortured, before being released. He fled to Kenya a second time. When I spoke to him in Kenya, he said he planned to travel overland to South Africa. He hoped for better safety there. Human Rights Watch has documented numerous cases of harassment and threats against Ethiopian asylum seekers in Kenya and elsewhere since 2010. In a recent letter to the Kenyan police, to which they have not responded, we describe how asylum seekers were assaulted, detained, and interrogated before Ethiopian officials in Nairobi, and forced to return to Ethiopia. Many also received threatening phone calls and text messages from Kenyan and Ethiopian phone numbers. In private, some Kenyan police told us that Ethiopian Embassy officials in Nairobi have offered them cash to arrest Ethiopians. Ethiopian refugees said Ethiopian officials tried to recruit them to inform on others, promising land, protection, money, and resettlement to the US or elsewhere. Threats to fleeing Ethiopians are not limited to Kenya. Community leaders, social media activists, opposition politicians, and refugee protection workers have been harassed in other countries. Human Rights Watch has documented abductions of Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers from Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti, and elsewhere. High-profile opposition figures with foreign citizenship have also been handed to Ethiopian authorities without a legal process, including a British citizen detained in Yemen, a Norwegian citizen in South Sudan, and a Somali national handed over last month by Somalia’s government. In Somaliland, we recently spoke to 10 asylum seekers who were forced back to Ethiopia during one of the frequent roundups of Oromo in Somaliland. Eight said they were tortured upon their return to Ethiopia. Many described harassment from Ethiopian consular officials and indifference from the UN refugee agency. All this creates a climate of fear and mistrust amongst Ethiopian refugees, preventing them from living normal lives, going to working or even applying for asylum. The UN refugee agency and host countries should work harder to ensure Ethiopians fleeing torture and persecution can safely access asylum processes and be safe from the long reach of Ethiopian officials. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Human Rights Watch

By Farida Deif Officials tour a government compound destroyed by recent Saudi-led air strikes in the northwestern city of Saada, Yemen September 3, 2017. © 2017 Reuters At the most recent session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Canada joined a core group of countries calling for an international commission of inquiry into abuses in the armed conflict in Yemen. It was a courageous decision by any measure. Canada has lucrative arms deals with Saudi Arabia – which for the past two and a half years has been leading a coalition responsible for scores of unlawful airstrikes in Yemen – making it an unlikely partner in this effort. But, the Trudeau government has shown this week that being a global leader on civilian protection means not letting immediate interests get in the way of your core values. The need for an independent mechanism to address the gravity of violations in Yemen cannot be overstated. Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, some amounting to war crimes, have killed thousands of civilians and hit schools, hospitals, markets, and homes. The Houthi-Saleh forces whom the coalition is fighting have committed numerous abuses, too, including recruiting and deploying child soldiers and indiscriminately shelling civilian areas. Parties to the conflict are using banned weapons like cluster munitions and landmines that may endanger Yemeni civilians for years to come. The coalition’s pledges to credibly investigate these abuses itself and to minimize civilian harm have repeatedly proven hollow. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has blocked at the UN any sort of independent inquiry that would ultimately scrutinize not only its own actions, but those of opposing forces. With the Human Rights Council having failed to act in 2015 and 2016, war crimes continued and Yemen became the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Countries like Canada that joined this week’s effort to establish a commission of inquiry recognize the need to put an end to the paralysis of UN member states on Yemen. Canada would increase its credibility if it suspended arms sales to the Saudis. In her June address outlining Canada’s foreign policy priorities, Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said that when countries like the United States fail in their global leadership role, it “puts into sharper focus the need for the rest of us to set our own clear and sovereign course.” By supporting this critically important inquiry into abuses in Yemen and seeing it to fruition, Canada is doing exactly that. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Human Rights Watch

By Graeme Reid People hold posters depicting victims of homophobic violence at a public event in St. Petersburg. ©2013 Mads Nissen/Panos In April, news broke of a widespread anti-gay purge in Chechnya; in September, gay men and transgender women were rounded up in Azerbaijan; and in October reports emerged of a registry of gay men and lesbians compiled by authorities in Tajikistan. How might we understand these disparate events as part of a trend in these three former Soviet Union countries? The regional leaders’ rhetoric and their modus operandi show that these events are linked by a discourse on “traditional values” that situates LGBT people as the aberrant “other.” The idea of a timeless, unchanging tradition is particularly powerful in these times of social uncertainty, political instability, and economic pressure. This chain of events began in earnest in 2013 with Russia’s federal “propaganda law,” banning the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors.” The law had a chilling effect on freedom of expression. Violence with impunity against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia spiked. The propaganda law doesn’t ban sexual relations between members of the same sex. Rather it targets all media and public activities that “try to portray homosexuality as normal behavior.” Similar propaganda-style legislation has been discussed in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine, leading to an increase in public discourse on “traditional values” as a way to sabotage the rights of LGBT people throughout the region. The echoes of “traditional values” rhetoric can be heard of course much further afield including in Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Uganda. Russia is not directly responsible for this proliferation of laws outlawing the promotion of homosexuality, or for the renewed zeal for using existing morality laws against LGBT people, such as in Egypt. But Russia has positioned itself as the champion of traditional values, both domestically and internationally. Russia and Egypt have long led the charge against the advance of the rights of LGBT people at the United Nations, focusing their efforts on “traditional values” and “family values”’ and opposing any mention of sexual orientation, gender identity, or even gender. “Traditional values” is the staple language of Russia’s alliance with countries from the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Africa Group at the United Nations. The rights of LGBT people are the wedge issue used to undermine the universality of human rights and to position Russia in opposition to the West on the global stage. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, used this approach in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2014: "A number of countries have recently seen a sudden and sometimes rather aggressive rise in the activities of those who support ultra-liberal ideas, advocating permissiveness and hedonism and demanding a revision of norms of morality and ethics shared by all world religions.” Lavrov articulated a powerful rhetorical divide in which the world is split between decadent modernity and wholesome tradition. It has served its purpose well, as a clever shorthand against human rights. It is in this geo-political context that the words and actions of leaders in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Chechnya, a region within Russia, need to be understood. In April, news broke that security forces in Chechnya had been systematically rounding up gay men, torturing them, forcing them to reveal the names of others, and finally releasing them beaten and bruised to their families in a shaming ritual that encouraged so-called “honor-killings,” This is what Alvi Karimov, spokesperson for Chechnya’s strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov, had to say at the time. “If there were such people [gays] in Chechnya, law enforcement agencies wouldn’t need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning.” In other words, gay people are erased from Chechnya – they do not exist and if they did it would be such an aberration that their own families would get rid of them. Kadyrov said a few weeks later, “These [homosexual relations] are not traditional things; they are psychiatrically abnormal things. We don’t understand them.” Here Kadyrov situated homosexuals outside the parameters of culture and tradition. Magomed Selimkhanov, State Duma deputy of Chechnya, told the media around the same time: “In Chechnya, there are no gays, so there is no attitude toward them. Personally, I think they belong two meters under the ground.” Elimination is the logical progression of the rhetoric that situates LGBT people outside the parameters of the social order. In Azerbaijan, notwithstanding that homosexual conduct was decriminalized in 2000, authorities rounded up at least 83 of men beginning mid-September, and, like their Chechen counterparts, tortured them, including using electroshocks, and forced them to reveal the names of others. Unlike in Chechnya, authorities did not deny that gay men in Baku were rounded up in official raids. They justified the raids on social and public health grounds. Ehsan Zahidov, spokesman for the Internal Affairs Ministry, said in a September interview with EurasiaNet.org that police were responding to complaints from residents in Baku that gay men were visible on the streets. He is quoted as saying: “People complain that such people walk around us, walk in our streets, and sit in our cafés. ‘These are people who do not fit our nation, our state, our mentality, please take action against them.’” This is the familiar politics of exclusion that underpins the “traditional values” rhetoric. It characterizes sexual and gender minorities as outgroups and hence convenient scapegoats. LGBT identities, rhetorically linked to modernity and globalization, can readily be blamed for social ills and the perceived erosion of the moral order. This has dangerous consequences for LGBT people in the region. The Azerbaijan spokesman’s explanation echoes the language of social cleansing used by Chechen leader to justify the brutal purge there. Government officials have also justified the Baku raids in the language of public health, claiming that the gay men arrested were tested for sexually transmitted diseases. And public health is the justification for the “registry” reportedly compiled by authorities in Tajikistan of 367 citizens presumed to be gay or lesbian. Details were unveiled by the newspaper Zakonnost, published by Tajikistan’s state prosecutor, which said that they “put on a register due to their vulnerability in society and for their safety and to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.” The registry appeared in the context of a worsening homophobia in Tajikistan. While homosexuality has been de-criminalized there since 1998, LGBT groups have described to us a consistent pattern in which law enforcement targets people perceived as gay or lesbian for detention, ill-treatment, and extortion, threatening to out them to their families, employers and wider community. Zakonnost’ reported that a working group set up last year produced the registry based on two state operations beginning in 2016, entitled “Morality” and “Purge.” The connection between the idea of public health, and a contaminated social body is not hard to see in that terminology. This is a classic recipe for a moral panic – a vulnerable minority is blamed for social ills. If that group can be isolated and purged, so the perverse logic goes, then all will be well. LGBT people are certainly not the first to be persecuted following this logic. But through a persistent rhetoric, powerfully promoted by Russia and its allies, LGBT people have come to embody all that is antithetical to so-called “traditional values.” And when that rhetoric lays the groundwork for ostracizing LGBT people, it takes little to tip the balance against their basic security—raids, round-ups, and purges are the violent consequence of political homophobia. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________- (c) 2017 Human Rights Watch

By Ewelina U. Ochab On November 10, 2020, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia have signed an agreement to end military conflict. However, as Baroness Caroline Cox, Peer at the U.K. House of Lords who recently traveled to the region, reports, “Serious concerns nevertheless remain, with reports emerging of brutality inflicted on military and civilian prisoners, including torture and beheadings, with claims that equivalent brutalities have been perpetrated by jihadists who receive payment for every Armenian beheaded.” At the end of September 2020, media outlets reported on the escalation of a conflict (between Armenia and Azerbaijan) in Nagorno-Karabakh, the territory of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), a de facto independent state with an Armenian ethnic majority. While both sides deny any wrongdoing and blame each other for the escalation, some of the recent information sheds further light on the situation and raises concerns. For example, on October 5, 2020, the Telegraph reported that it saw evidence that Azerbaijan has been dropping cluster munitions in civilian areas. On October 8, 2020, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of deliberately targeting a historic cathedral in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Holy Savior Cathedral in Shusha city. Furthermore, Turkey has allegedly played a role in supporting the Azerbaijani aggression, significantly affecting the nature of the conflict. Another report suggests that Azerbaijan is using phosphorus weapons that have chemical weapons elements. The recent clashes have displaced half of Nagorno-Karabakh's population, ca. 70,000 people. In light of the emerging evidence, Genocide Watch , a non-governmental organization led by Gregory Stanton , a world-renowned genocide expert, issued a Genocide Emergency Alert due to Azerbaijan’s aggression. According to Genocide Watch “Although a paper ceasefire was signed on October 15, 2020, Azerbaijani forces are still attempting to capture new territory. Azerbaijan uses laser-guided drones from Turkey, Russia, and Israel to attack Artsakh’s defenders, who are mostly Artsakh civilian volunteers. Azerbaijan is using Syrian mercenaries. Azerbaijan’s political ally, Turkey, provides air support for Azerbaijani forces, sparking fears that Turkey will resume the Armenian Genocide of 1915 - 1922.” As Genocide Watch further adds “Azerbaijan denies displaced Armenians the right to return to Azerbaijan and forbids a person of Armenian heritage from entering Azerbaijan’s territory. If Azerbaijan retakes control of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), it could forcibly deport all Armenians in Artsakh to Armenia. Forced displacement is a crime against humanity. The Azerbaijani government under Ilham Aliyev denies its past and current violence against Armenians. Aliyev is also a denier of the 1915 Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire. The Azerbaijani government promotes hate speech and encourages violence against Armenians.” Genocide Watch identified several early warnings of genocide and issued a statement that it considers Azerbaijan to be engaging in “Stage 8: Persecution’ and ‘Stage 10: Denial” of the Ten Stages of Genocide. However, shortly afterward, Genocide Watch updated this to “Stage 9: Extermination” and “Stage 10: Denial.” The warning of genocide was followed by several recommendations to address the atrocities. A similar genocide warning was issued by several experts and members of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. As they emphasized “history, from the Armenian genocide to the last three decades of conflict, as well as current political statements, economic policies, sentiments of the societies and military actions by the Azerbaijani and Turkish leadership should warn us that genocide of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, and perhaps even Armenia, is a very real possibility. All of this proves that Armenians can face slaughter if any Armenian territory is occupied, consequently recognizing of the independence of the Republic of Artsakh is the way to save Armenians of Artsakh from extermination now or in the near future.” Despite the recent ceasefire, the warnings from experts should not be disregarded. Armenians were let down over 100 years ago, they cannot be let down yet again. We do not have to wait until bodies are on the streets. The time for action is now. Forbes © 2020

What happened to the promise of Never Again? Time and time again, the promise is repeated following new mass atrocities, yet it is never fulfilled. It is a promise that will shame us for generations to come. Our children and their children will ask us: what did we do when the Yazidis and Christians were slaughtered by Daesh? What did we do when the Burmese military were killing the Rohingyas in Myanmar? What did we do when millions of Uyghur were forced into so-called re-education camps that would strip them of their religion, culture, identity? What did we do when Uyghur women were subjected to forced sterilizations and forced abortions? By Ewelina U. Ochab The coffins of the victims of Srebrenica massacre are seen in the old battery factory, in Potocari on July 10, 2020, ahead of the mass burial of 9 victims on the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in Potocari Memorial Center, Bosnia and Herzegovina. More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed after Bosnian Serb forces attacked the UN "safe area" of Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch troops tasked with acting as international peacekeepers. (Photo credit: Samır Jordamovic/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES What did we do? At times, we have taken symbolic steps to address the atrocities. But our actions are always too little and too late. Indeed, we have failed again and again to prevent the atrocities from recurring. The International Court of Justice affirms that the duty to prevent genocide, under Article II of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention), “and the corresponding duty to act arise at the instant that the State learns of, or should normally have learned of, the existence of a serious risk that genocide will be committed.” What does that mean? It means that states should monitor the situation, identify the early warning signs and risk factors of genocide, assess the situation, determine that atrocities have occurred (or are ongoing), inform their responses and act upon such determinations. However, states are not equipped to do so. As a result, they always act too slow and too late. Their responses are always inadequate to make a difference to the lives of the victims targeted for annihilation. Over the years, as atrocities have become more frequent, our response has become weaker. As our response weakens, we are telling the perpetrators exactly what they want to hear – that they can get away with genocide. Impunity begets further crime. If we do not address it now, we will undoubtedly see more and more genocidal atrocities. On December 9, as we mark the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime , we need to remind ourselves of the very duties we promised to fulfill. On this day in 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Genocide Convention, the first document that defined genocide and imposed obligations on states to prevent genocide and punish the perpetrators. The Genocide Convention was to signify our commitment to the promise of “Never Again.” However, as states have full discretion in relation to how they fulfill their duties, the Genocide Convention is too weak to stand against the powers that bring about genocidal atrocities. This does not mean that nothing can be done. Indeed, states have been more proactive in exploring approaches that move away from the vicious circle of failed responses, regret and promises. Among others, British Parliamentarians, as a part of the Trade Bill, are proposing a judicial domestic mechanism for genocide determination that then would be used to revoke international bilateral trade agreements with the state perpetrating genocide. As it is currently proposed, the mechanism would have a very limited use. However, a similar and much more comprehensive mechanism has been proposed by Lord Alton of Liverpool with his Private Member’s Bill, the Genocide Determination Bill. According to the Bill, the High Court of England and Wales could make the determination of genocide at which point the Secretary of State would be under a duty to take steps towards engaging international bodies, including the UN Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court or to establish an ad-hoc tribunal. Unfortunately, the bill is at very early stages and it is very unlikely that it would become law during this session of the U.K. Parliament. However, this is the type of legislative initiative that we need to add teeth to the Genocide Convention and to give us a chance to prevent yet another genocide. And prevent we must. © 2020 Forbes

By Ewelina U. Ochab Published by Forbes on Febrary 16, 2021. Internally Displaced People (IDP), fleeing from violence in the Metekel zone in Western Ethiopia. (AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES) In recent months reports have emerged highlighting the deteriorating situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The ongoing armed conflict began on November 4, 2020, when “Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered the Ethiopian Defense Forces (EDF) to militarily engage with the Tigray Regional Paramilitary Police and militia loyal to the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) in what he stated was a response to multiple attacks by the Tigray security forces on the EDF North Command base in Mekelle and other military camps in Tigray Region.” A few days later, on November 9, 2020, evidence of the mass killing of several hundred people, mainly Amharans, in the western Tigray town of Mai Kadra, began to emerge. Subsequent weeks have seen reports of thousands killed, including civilians, and thousands fleeing to Sudan. In December 2020, the U.N. alleged violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including the deliberate targeting of civilians, extrajudicial killings and widespread looting. It did not start there and did not end there. Months before the atrocities, human rights organizations were sounding the alarms of atrocities to come. At the end of August 2020, Genocide Watch issued a genocide warning for Ethiopia “due to the government’s inaction to stop ethnically motivated violence between Oromo, Amhara, Tigrayan and Gedeo peoples.” In October 2020, Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, warned about the high risk of further atrocities: “The multiple conflicts currently roiling Ethiopia and the willingness of antagonists to use violence against civilian populations indicates a risk of further atrocities. As more separatist actors and armed groups take advantage of unrest spreading to further regions of Ethiopia, state security could again target civilians. Leaders in the Tigray region have already defied the central government by conducting regional elections in advance of the delayed national elections, now slated for 2021. The armed youth-led mobs who targeted and killed Oromo and Amhara community members in July have not faced justice. Resentment directed at the Abiy administration from the Oromo opposition is only growing.” Recent reports suggest that the situation is not getting better either. At the end of January 2021, U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, reported on serious allegations of sexual violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, including a high number of alleged rapes in the capital, Mekelle. As Patten states: “There are disturbing reports of individuals allegedly forced to rape members of their own family, under threats of imminent violence. Some women have also reportedly been forced by military elements to have sex in exchange for basic commodities, while medical centers have indicated an increase in the demand for emergency contraception and testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) which is often an indicator of sexual violence in conflict. In addition, there are increasing reports of sexual violence against women and girls in a number of refugee camps.” These allegations require urgent investigation and accountability. Patten called upon the parties involved in Tigray region hostilities to commit to a zero-tolerance policy for crimes of sexual violence. She further called on the Government of Ethiopia to exercise its due diligence obligations to “protect all civilians from sexual and other violence, regardless of their ethnic origin and those displaced by conflict, and to promptly allow for an independent inquiry into all allegations of sexual and other forms of violence, to establish the facts and hold perpetrators accountable, provide redress to victims, and prevent further grave violations.” Furthermore, all those affected by the atrocities require urgent medical and other assistance. This is particularly challenging due to the lack of access to the region. “Immediate medical and psychosocial assistance must be accompanied by protection measures, to ensure that those who have been forced from their homes due to violence are not placed at further risk of sexual violence within the camps. This includes the more than 5,000 Eritrean refugees in and around the area of Shire living in dire conditions, many of them reportedly sleeping in an open field with no water or food, as well as the more than 59,000 Ethiopians who have fled the country into neighboring Sudan.” Reports of atrocities in the Tigray region require urgent attention. While Ethiopia’s government has been suggesting that the Tigray region has “ returned to normalcy ”, Ethiopia’s Minister for Women has now confirmed that rape has occurred “ conclusively and without a doubt .” The question is now whether the government will hold its own soldiers accountable for these atrocities. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. © 2021 Forbes Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

By Graeme Reid A homeless youth from the LGBT community sits in the sewer where he lives in Kingston, Jamaica. (C) 2014 Human Rights Watch © 2014 Human Rights Watch Jamaica’s Sexual Offences Act (2009) is past due for review and, earlier this month, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck signaled that the crime of rape needs to be redefined in the law. He asked legal experts to come up with a “perfect definition.” The law currently defines rape as nonconsensual penetration of a vagina by a penis – a narrow definition that fails to protect male victims of rape and female victims of non-vaginal rape or vaginal penetration with an object or body part other than a penis. The law perpetuates an anomaly of Jamaica’s “buggery” laws, first promulgated by British colonial authorities in 1864. Jamaica’s Offences Against the Person Act, Section 76, includes “the abominable crime of buggery,” punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years, with hard labor. The law draws no distinction between consensual and nonconsensual intercourse – anal sex was regarded as intrinsically nonconsensual. In this respect, Jamaica’s laws are not unique. Vaguely defined sodomy laws are ubiquitous remnants of British colonial rule. Colonial lawmakers drew no distinction when it came to sex “against the order of nature” with any “man, woman or animal” or between consent and force. When Jamaica’s Sexual Offences Act was last revised in 2009, this narrow definition of rape remained. Human Rights Watch reports show that the “buggery laws” contribute to a hostile climate in which discrimination and violence are rife. The distorted origins of the law, which conflated consensual and forced anal sex, means that men and women are unfairly treated for consensual sex and inadequately protected against sexual violence. The Justice Ministry should amend the Sexual Offences Act to remove gender specific definitions of sexual intercourse and rape, and to include oral rape and other forms of penetration. Punishment should not be determined by the sex, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity of the rapist or victim. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Human Rights Watch

A placard shows a picture of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini during a protest against her death, in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 28, 2022. Markus Schreiber/AP By Eve Brennan and Jomana Karadsheh CNN — Iran’s “repression of peaceful protests” and “institutional discrimination against women and girls” has led to human rights violations, some of which amount to “crimes against humanity,” according to a United Nations’ report. Such violations and crimes include “extrajudicial and unlawful killings and murder, unnecessary and disproportionate use of force, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, torture, rape, enforced disappearances, and gender persecution,” the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a  press release  Friday. It cited a report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, a task force set up by the UN Human Rights Council to look at claims of deteriorating human rights conditions in Iran. The report said these violations came about in the context of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini in September 2022 after she was arrested for allegedly not observing Iran’s mandatory hijab law. She became the face of women calling for greater rights and freedoms curtailed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Protests erupted across Iran again in September last year on the first anniversary of her death. The mission said it found that physical violence while in custody of the morality police , a unit dedicated to enforcing strict dress codes for women, such as wearing the compulsory headscarf, led to Mahsa Amini’s “unlawful death.” “Rather than investigating this unlawful death promptly, effectively, and thoroughly – as required under international human rights law – the government actively obfuscated the truth, and denied justice,” the UN press release read. In a government crackdown against the country-wide protests, Iran mobilized “the entire security apparatus of the state to repress” protesters, the UN Office said, adding that as many as 551 protesters are thought to have been killed by security forces, among them at least 49 women and 68 children. The UN Fact-Finding Mission found evidence that forces used “unnecessary and disproportionate force” resulting in “unlawful killing and injuries of protesters,” the UN Office said, citing “a pattern of extensive injuries to protesters’ eyes,” which  CNN had previously reported on.  A  CNN report  in November 2022 also found that Iran’s security forces used rape to quell protests in the country. The UN report found that state authorities at the highest levels “encouraged, sanctioned and endorsed human rights violations through statements justifying the acts and conduct of the security forces.” Authorities in Iran have also obstructed repatriation efforts of victims and their families, the UN said the mission found, adding that victims face a justice system lacking “independence, transparency and accountability.” Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission Sara Hossain urged Iran’s government to stop repressing peaceful protesters, particularly women and girls. “These acts form part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Iran, namely against women, girls, boys and men who have demanded freedom, equality, dignity and accountability,” she said, according to the OHCHR. © 2024 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved.

By Areeba Falak A family from the Rohingya community is pictured inside their shack at a camp in Delhi on Thursday. REUTERS Rehman, 46, came to India three years ago, fleeing the largest human rights crisis of Myanmar, the country where he was born, but which does not recognise him as its citizen because Rehman is one among thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have sought refuge in India over the past few years. A resident of the slums in Kalindi Kunj, Delhi, Rehman said, “Life can be unimaginably difficult if you do not have a country to call your own. I am not much educated, but how difficult is it to understand that since I am living, I must have been born someplace on this Earth. Wherever I was born, that should be my birthplace and I should have the right to live there.” Since Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju told Parliament two weeks ago that “the government has issued detailed instructions for deportation of illegal foreign nationals, including Rohingyas,” and that there were around “40,000 Rohingyas living illegally in the country”, speculation has been rife. Design Your Own 2017 Honda Civic Coupe Get in-depth information, including reviews, pricing, features and photos on KBB.com. Explaining the seriousness of the issue, Priya Ravichandran, a scholar at Takshashila Institute, said, “It is serious for two reasons, one, ‘do nothing’ was a critical part of India’s policy when it came to handling refugees from neighbouring countries. This gave India a moral high ground without upsetting the balance of power in the neighbourhood. India’s dependence on Myanmar for its ‘Act East policy’ meant that the issue of violence against the Rohingyas, or India’s providing safe haven for these people, were never part of any discussion. The question of deporting them now means these will have to be discussed, not just with Myanmar, but with Bangladesh too. The deportation statement also raises the question of what India plans to do with other illegal immigrants.” Explaining India’s security apprehensions, A.B. Mahapatra, director, CASS-India, said, “The exact number of Rohingyas in India is turning out to be controversial. Rough estimates from various sources point to approximately 80,000 Rohingyas. This is why India is not ignoring the issue because we know better from our past experiences in Assam and Maharashtra.” Mahapatra pointed out how after the 1971 war, Assam was flooded with refugees from Bangladesh that resulted in local people becoming minorities in their own home by 1985. Maharashtra, too, had faced trouble due to the influx of Bangladeshi refugees. Resistance from Jammu has also added to the Indian government’s concerns. Priya Ravichandran said, “There have been issues raised, specifically in Jammu, of how the influx of the Rohingya people has resulted in demographic changes in areas. There is always a cost to hosting refugees. India’s lack of a coherent policy and loopholes in the system, which grants illegal refugees ID cards, Aadhaar, and facilities to vote in elections, have been exploited by politicians. Citizens end up having to compete with illegal migrants for jobs in the informal sector, and housing. There is also the issue of wages being driven down by refugees.” The Rohingyas are largely living in Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Rajasthan. In Jammu, the Rohingya refugees have faced severe criticism and public protests against them by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Kashmir National Panthers Party. In February 2017, a petition had been filed in the state high court seeking the Rohingyas’ deportation, arguing that “there had been a sharp increase in illegal migrants from Burma and Bangladesh”. Priya Ravichandran added, “India’s open door policy for the persecuted people in the region, and the image of the country as a safe haven for people fleeing violence and loss will come undone. It is highly likely that this deportation exercise will be used as an excuse for India to properly formulate a refugee policy, and define norms and procedures for migrants into the country.” The international human rights and NGO community has not taken the announcement lightly and has largely criticised India’s stand, with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemning the government’s decision. Only 16,500 Rohingyas living in India are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and this means that tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees are unregistered. Minister Rijiju told Reuters news agency, “They [UNHCR] are doing it, we can’t stop them from registering. But we are not signatory to the accord on refugees.” He added: “As far as we are concerned, they are all illegal immigrants. They have no basis to live here. Anybody who is an illegal migrant will be deported.” The Rohingyas are denied citizenship in Myanmar, despite claiming roots that go back centuries. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have fled their homes since the first bout of violence started in 2012. Thousands of Rohingyas were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh after Myanmar security forces launched a crackdown in the wake of a deadly attack late last year. Many of them crossed the border into India. Others have also fled to southeast Asia, often on rickety boats run by people-smuggling gangs. Though Myanmar has agreed to provide refuge to Rohingyas living in India, their condition is proper documentation of all the people who will be sent across the border which is ongoing and is expected to be finished by September this year. Mahapatra said, “In the backdrop of the recent terror attacks that took place in Myanmar, India’s security concern is legitimate. Investigation has revealed that some Rohingyas had been influenced by ISIS and were included in Myanmar’s recent terror attack. Our four states share borders with Myanmar and deportation can cause trouble on our borders and needs to be conducted efficiently. The best way is to allow Rohingyas living in India to participate instead of cornering them.” Reflecting on the uncertainty surrounding the future of Rohingyas in India, Haleema, a Rohingya refugee, said, “As much as Myanmar is our home, we cannot return unless we know we will be safe there. India is a good place. We feel safe here and there are opportunities and freedom to educate our kids and earn a livelihood. We don’t know what to expect even if we go back home.” Adil, a 27-year-old refugee living in Kalindi Kunj, said, “Myanmar is home. We have roots there. But the violence that people have witnessed in Myanmar has left us in fear and trauma. If we have access to better education, our future in any country will be better than our past.” _____________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) Sunday Guardian Live

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie addresses a press conference at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority in Myanmar, are living in refugee camps in coastal Cox’s Bazar after fleeing their villages following a military crackdown. (Associated Press) COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh — Angelina Jolie on Tuesday urged Myanmar to show a genuine commitment to ending violence and displacement in its Rakhine state, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh for safety. Jolie, a special envoy for the U.N.’s refugee agency, spoke as she visited sprawling camps in Bangladesh that are home to 1 million Rohingya refugees. More than 700,000 have arrived since August 2017, when Myanmar’s army led a violent crackdown following attacks on security posts by a Rohingya insurgent group. Jolie is visiting for three days before launching a global appeal for $920 million, chiefly to support the refugees’ needs for 2019. She met and talked with refugees, including children and rape victims. “It was deeply upsetting to meet the families who have only known persecution and statelessness their whole lives, who speak of being treated like cattle,” she told reporters at the Kutupalong refugee camp. Jolie added: “They have been denied their most basic human right: citizenship in their country of birth. And some still won’t even call the Rohingya by their rightful name.” She thanked Bangladesh for hosting the refugees despite being over populated, and urged the international community to provide more resources for the refugees. “Bangladesh is a generous country rich in culture and history, but with limited resources. And it cannot be left to shoulder the responsibility of hosting Rohingya refugees alone,” she said. Jolie said Myanmar must ensure safety for the Rohingya to return home. “They have an absolute right to return home, but only when they feel safe enough to do so voluntarily and they know that their rights will be respected,” she said. Bangladesh attempted to start repatriation of Rohingya in November last year, but the country postponed the process after no Rohingya came forward to go back voluntarily. The U.N. and other global human rights groups have said no Rohingya should be forced to return. Bangladesh authorities said they will send them back only if they are willing to go back and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged international community to put pressure on Myanmar for ensuring safety in the country for making their voluntary return possible. Most people in Buddhist-majority Myanmar do not accept that the Rohingya Muslims are a native ethnic group, viewing them as “Bengalis” who entered from Bangladesh centuries ago. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, as well as access to education and hospitals washingtonpost.com © 1996-2019 The Washington Post

By Arsene Kabore and Sam Mednick OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Suspected Islamic extremists ambushed a convoy in northern Burkina Faso on Wednesday, killing at least 30 civilians along with 17 soldiers and volunteer defense fighters, the government said. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Burkina Faso’s Sahel region, militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group are increasingly targeting security forces in the West African country. One recent attack elsewhere in the north killed 30 people including 15 soldiers and four volunteer fighters. And about a week ago, suspected extremists ambushed a group of soldiers in western Burkina Faso, killing 12 of them. The militants have demonstrated their ability to attack civilians even under military escort, said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Moroccan based organization focused on economics and policy. “This shows the level of information they have on the locations of security forces and transit routes they are going to use,” Lyammouri said. Extremist violence and the military’s response already have killed thousands and displaced some 1.3 million people. Locals say they’re scared the uptick in violence will continue spreading. “The populations of Gorgadji and Arbinda are shocked and concerned about the escalation of terrorist (attacks) against civilians in the region,” Ibrahim Kagone, a local journalist in the nearby town of Dori, told the AP by phone. The ill-equipped and undertrained army has been struggling to stem the violence and the deteriorating security is prompting unrest across the country. Widespread protests last month demanding the government take stronger action, prompted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to fire his ministers of defense and security and appoint himself minister of defense. But the opposition says the government’s reshuffling isn’t enough. “I am very sad to see that in a week there are so many deaths (and) military equipment destroyed,” said Eddie Komboigo, head of the political opposition. “Now, despite the government reorganization, I am convinced that President Roch Marc Christian Kabore has no strategy or solution to terrorism.” © Associated Press 2021