Yazidi survivors of ISIS captivity hold a candle-lighting ceremony for the Yazidi New Year. Photograph by Andrea DiCenzo BERLIN, April 10 (Reuters) - German police have arrested an Iraqi couple alleged to be Islamic State members, on suspicion of genocide and crimes against humanity for enslaving two Yazidi girls, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. Twana H. S. and Asia R. A., whose surnames were not released under German privacy law, were arrested on Tuesday for their treatment of the girls between 2015 and 2017 in Iraq and Syria. Prosecutors said the girls were physically abused, repeatedly raped and banned from practicing their religion. The couple handed the girls to other IS members before leaving Syria in November 2017, said prosecutors in a statement. "All of this served the organisation's objective to destroy the Yazidi religion," they added. German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to prosecute crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world to bring such cases to trial. In a landmark ruling in 2021, a German court sentenced a former IS member to life in prison for being involved in genocide and crimes against humanity against Yazidis. Two years later, German lawmakers recognised crimes committed by IS militants against Yazidis in Iraq in 2014 as genocide. The jihadist group killed thousands of Yazidis, enslaved 7,000 Yazidi women and girls and displaced most of the 550,000-strong community from their ancestral home in northern Iraq. The Yazidis are an ancient religious minority in eastern Syria and northwest Iraq that Islamic State targeted for their faith that combines elements of Zoroastrian, Christian, Manichean, Jewish and Muslim beliefs. © 2024 Reuters. All rights reserved

Dr. Denis Mukwege, the founder of Panzi Hospital in South Kivu, Congo, has been treating women for more than two decades for their ob-gyn needs, including rape by fighters in the region. Until recently, he and the hospital were provided limited security by United Nations peacekeepers, but that may end as they exit South Kivu soon. PANZI HOSPITAL/INSTAGRAM By Ilgin Yorulmaz April 9, 2024 For nearly 26 years, Dr. Denis Mukwege, a politically outspoken gynecologist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been running a renowned hospital in a turbulent war zone over mineral resources in the country’s east to heal thousands of women raped by roving armed militias. Until recently, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo, called Monusco, had maintained security around the hospital perimeter and “le docteur miracle” — “the miracle doctor,” as the 69-year-old’s patients at the Panzi Hospital call him. But there’s only so much even Dr. Mukwege, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, can do when contending with forces beyond his control. The hospital was established in 1999 by Dr. Mukwege, when it was initially expected to serve pregnant women in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu Province in eastern Congo. Yet the doctor soon started dealing with the daunting task of helping survivors of extreme sexual violence. But its future security could be at risk. Monusco is slowly withdrawing, starting with South Kivu Province, where the hospital is located. (It is also where the doctor grew up.) The withdrawal is scheduled to be done by the end of April, the UN says, following a request by the Congolese government for the mission’s total exit from the country by the end of 2024. Yet escalating fighting among militias and the Congolese military in eastern Congo, including the UN-sanctioned armed group M23, whose actions have led to mass civilian displacement, are driving deep instability in the region after a period of relative calm, according to the UN and a range of human rights advocates and other experts. Supporters of the Panzi Hospital and Dr. Mukwege, an ordained pastor who shared his Nobel Peace Prize with the fellow activist and rape survivor Nadia Murad, escaped an assassination attempt in 2012, possibly for speaking against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Dr. Mukwege’s backers are concerned about his safety and that of the hospital as Monusco leaves South Kivu. They are calling for the UN Security Council to do more to safeguard Dr. Mukwege’s crucial medical care there. Therese Svensson, the spokesperson for PMU InterLife, the Swedish Pentecostal Churches’ aid organization, which built the Panzi Hospital in 1999 and has been its long-term partner, said by email: “If Dr Mukwege’s voice and the many voices of survivors of sexual violence are silenced or restricted due to the loss of protection against him as a person, it would be devastating.” Payal Shah, an international human rights lawyer and expert on conflict-related sexual violence who oversees the Congo for the Physicians for Human Rights nongovernmental organization, also said in an email to PassBlue: “Survivors desperately need more robust humanitarian assistance and access to medical care. We urge the international community to take urgent steps to empower and support documentation and accountability for grave human rights abuses committed by various actors in the DRC.” At a press conference in 2019 held at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, in Tokyo, Dr. Mukwege described how his hospital started dealing with sexually abused women. “The first victim that came to my hospital was a woman who had been raped by seven people,” he said, speaking as part of a world tour to raise awareness of the problem. “As if this wasn’t enough, they then shot her in the genitals. It was the first time for me to see such a barbaric act.” There were times, he added, when he was performing as many as 10 restorative operations a day on the victims. Over the years, his hospital has become one of the largest medical institutions providing medical care for women in eastern and central Africa. It has treated more than 70,000 survivors of sexual violence and 85,000 women with complex gynecological injuries, while also serving as the general hospital for over 400,000 people in the region, according to its website. A rehabilitation and training center is also attached to the hospital, called Maison Dorcas. After patients are discharged from the hospital, they can recover at the center while learning job training skills. They also meet with lawyers at the center or at a legal clinic nearby. Dr. Mukwege openly criticizes the armed groups that have gang-raped women in the hills of eastern Congo in the fight over natural resources and continue to use sexual violence as a weapon of war. He also rails against the Congolese government for not doing enough to identify and prosecute the alleged perpetrators of the crimes and, like independent experts reporting to the Security Council, accuses the Rwandan government for deliberately creating chaos in Congo. Neither Dr. Mukwege nor the hospital answered emails for a comment. The hospital was founded in 1999, serving pregnant women in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu Province in eastern Congo. But soon Dr. Mukwege started dealing with the daunting task of helping survivors of extreme sexual violence in the region. IG/PANZI HOSPITAL On Feb. 28, 2024, Bintou Keita, the UN special representative who also heads Monusco, handed over the mission’s Kamaniola base, in South Kivu, about 31 miles from the hospital, to the Congolese government. UN military and police personnel are set to fully withdraw from South Kivu by the end of April, Keita said in a press briefing on March 27, and civilian personnel by the end of June. A Security Council resolution authorized the withdrawal from South Kivu in December 2023. Kamaniola was the first of the 14 UN bases across the province to be evacuated by Monusco, along with 400 civil, 2,000 military and 180 police personnel from the UN. In an open letter to the Security Council, dated March 5, 2024, Dr. Mukwege said that Congo is still far from where “the threat posed by national and foreign armed groups has been reduced to a level that can be managed by the Congolese security and defense forces.” Recognizing that a phased withdrawal of Monusco has been planned since 2020, as mandated by Council Resolution 2556, “to date, none of the [18 milestones for “minimum necessary conditions”] for a responsible and sustainable withdrawal of the Mission . . . have been met,” Dr. Mukwege wrote. He argued that before the presidential elections, which were held in December 2023, when Félix Tshisekedi was re-elected, Congolese people’s “frustration at MONUSCO’s ineffectiveness in fulfilling its mandate to protect civilians” was “largely exacerbated by populist rhetoric from politicians in the pre-electoral period. . . .” He added that “combined with disinformation campaigns directed against the international community by those with an interest in prolonging the chaos in the DRC in order to continue plundering its strategic mineral wealth,” that led to President Tshisekedi “to call for an ‘accelerated’ withdrawal of MONUSCO as early as 2022, and for a complete disengagement plan by 2024.” (Dr. Mukwege also ran for president in the 2023 election.) On March 27, Keita briefed the Security Council on the withdrawal progress from Congo. She noted outstanding problems in the country, including “the large number of cases of gender-based violence and sexual exploitation,” and that in January alone, 10,400 such cases were recorded nationwide. In response to Keita’s remarks in the Council, James Kariuki, Britain’s deputy envoy to the UN, said that Monusco’s withdrawal from South Kivu “leaves a security vacuum.” He encouraged the UN to continue to share “its honest assessment of the withdrawal process with the Council to inform our decision-making.” On the same day, Keita told reporters that Dr. Mukwege lost his status as a humanitarian worker after he announced that he was running for president of the Congo last year and campaigned from October 2023 through the December 2023 elections. During that time, he and the hospital were no longer entitled to the full protection provided by Monusco that they enjoyed in the past, Keita said, because the mission needed to level the playing field of protection for all presidential candidates. During that fall period, Monusco agreed with Dr. Mukwege and the Security Council for a “special arrangement,” Keita added, to offer him security as he campaigned only when he was inside the Panzi hospital as well as its perimeter. Otherwise, the hospital relies on private security, Keita said, noting, “So far, this is where we are.” When reached via LinkedIn, Ndèye Khady, the spokesperson for Monusco, elaborated in a message: “Continued protection [of Dr. Mukwege] would violate the UN’s principle of impartiality in its relations with political actors. Dr Mukwege has benefited from UN protection since 2014 in his capacity of human rights defender who had been threatened due to his dedication to protect civilians. However, Dr. Mukwege cannot continue receiving such protection as an active political figure.” Dr. Mukwege came in sixth in the December 2023 election, with President Tshisekedi winning a second term, despite allegations of irregularities and logistical problems, according to international sources. The doctor is believed to have returned to work at the hospital since losing the election. In March, he became a member of The Elders, the institute of eminent global leaders founded by Nelson Mandela, working for peace and justice. Khady did not answer an additional email from PassBlue asking if Dr. Mukwege is entitled to full Monusco protection now that he is a humanitarian again. It is also unclear if Monusco will continue its “perimeter” security of the hospital and the doctor when he is inside it after the mission leaves South Kivu. In eastern Congo, a staggering number of sexual violence cases, including against children, that is reported to humanitarian organizations are a direct result of the displacement and the intensifying conflict. During a visit to the Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, last year, Pramila Patten, the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, noted that Unicef even reports “an upsurge in sexual violence against children, with victims as young as 3 years old being sexually abused.” When asked recently by PassBlue about the possible effect of Monusco’s withdrawal on Panzi and Dr. Mukwege, Patten said in an email that “all service providers in eastern DRC, including Panzi Hospital, would have to contend with and plan and prepare for the impact of MONUSCO’s withdrawal and for a reduced security umbrella in terms of delivering services.” Governments, she added, “must take ownership of the fight to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence, with the support of UN agencies, civil society actors and community and religious leaders.” This article was updated to correct that the Security Council authorized the withdrawal of Monusco from South Kivu and not the entire country. The Council has yet to pronounce on a full withdrawal and its timeline. © 2024 – PassBlue

View on Genocide Watch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenocideWatch/videos/961902842209521 View on Facebook of Embassy of Bangladesh, Brussels: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/aKtGnat5MAtbm14e/?mibextid=ox5AEW

The former president has tried to stoke fear around immigration and border security throughout his 2024 campaign, as he has done in the past. Former President Donald J. Trump held an event in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Tuesday, where he repeatedly used inflammatory language to criticize President Biden’s immigration policies.Credit...Nic Antaya for The New York Times By Michael Gold and Anjali Huynh Michael Gold reported from Green Bay, Wis., and Anjali Huynh from Grand Rapids, Mich. April 2, 2024 Former President Donald J. Trump again cast President Biden’s immigration record in violent and ominous terms on Tuesday, accusing him in two speeches in battleground states of creating a “border blood bath” and once more using dehumanizing language to describe some migrants entering the country illegally. In a speech in Grand Rapids, Mich., Mr. Trump, flanked by law enforcement officers, reiterated his baseless claim that other countries were sending “prisoners, murderers, drug dealers, mental patients and terrorists, the worst they have” to the United States. Immigration officials have said that most of the people crossing the border are members of vulnerable families escaping poverty and violence. Mr. Trump also used his speech, which lasted roughly 45 minutes, to defend his use of dehumanizing language to refer to immigrants accused of crimes. After referring to the man who the authorities say killed a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia in February, Mr. Trump said: “Democrats said please don’t call them ‘animals.’ I said, no, they’re not humans, they’re animals.” Mr. Trump drew attention last month when, while discussing the U.S. auto industry, he predicted a “blood bath for the country” should he lose in November. After critics accused him of stoking violence, Mr. Trump and his allies pointed back to Mr. Biden, insisting he was responsible for a “blood bath” because of his immigration policies. The former president has repeatedly criticized Mr. Biden, accusing him of maintaining lax border security that he blames for violent crime, though available data does not support the idea that migrants are contributing to increases in crime. Mr. Trump’s campaign appears to be trying to turn “blood bath” into a catchphrase, essentially trolling his critics and shifting the focus to Mr. Biden. On Tuesday, the Republican National Committee, which the Trump campaign now effectively controls, introduced a website, BidenBloodbath.com, that mirrors Mr. Trump’s argument that Mr. Biden is responsible for an “invasion” at the United States’ border with Mexico. The site highlights a number of violent crimes in which undocumented immigrants have been accused. But his remarks in Michigan and at a rally later in Green Bay, Wis., also demonstrated how the former president has tried to stoke fears around immigration and border security in the 2024 election, a tactic he used effectively in 2016. Republicans have been eager to keep the issue at the top of voters’ minds in a bid to chip away at Mr. Biden’s support. “This is country-changing, it’s country-threatening, and it’s country-wrecking,” Mr. Trump said in Michigan of migrants crossing the southern border. “They have wrecked our country.” Democrats have pushed back against that framing. Ahead of Mr. Trump’s visit, the Democratic National Committee put up billboards near Grand Rapids referring to a bipartisan border bill that fell apart in the Senate after Mr. Trump pressed Republicans to block it. The billboards claimed that “Donald Trump broke the border” and that the former president wanted only “chaos, not solutions.” Mr. Trump’s speeches in both states were his first campaign events after a weekslong break from the trail, during which he raised money, contended with legal issues and blasted his political and legal opponents on social media. Mr. Trump has seized on high-profile crimes involving immigrants to try to make inroads in key battleground states, including Michigan and Wisconsin, connecting the influx of migrants at the southern border to states hundreds of miles away. On Tuesday, he said that “once peaceful suburban Michigan” was coming “under an invasion” and spoke of the recent killing of Ruby Garcia, who was found dead on the side of a highway in Grand Rapids last month. The authorities have said that Ms. Garcia was dating the man accused of killing her, who entered the country illegally as a child and was deported to Mexico in 2020. Michigan Democrats blasted Mr. Trump’s references to Ms. Garcia in remarks before his appearance. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan, said Mr. Trump was “exploiting” Ms. Garcia’s death and called his response “shameful.” And while Mr. Trump said in Michigan that he had spoken with some of Ms. Garcia’s family, her sister told a local television station that Mr. Trump “did not speak with us.” Ahead of Mr. Trump’s speech in Michigan, his campaign handed out packets to reporters that highlighted other people who the campaign said had been affected by crimes involving undocumented immigrants. They included Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student whose death has become a flashpoint among Republicans. The authorities say Ms. Riley was killed by a Venezuelan migrant who had entered the country illegally. Pete Hoekstra, the chair of the Michigan Republican Party, said that “it’s clear immigration and the economy are going to dominate the debate here in Michigan.” He added that he believed voters in the state “look at what’s happening on the border, and it’s hard for them to believe exactly what they’re seeing, that there’s no rule of law.” Both Michigan and Wisconsin were part of the so-called blue wall that Democrats had counted on for two decades before the 2016 race, when Mr. Trump won over working-class white voters who are key parts of the electorate in both states. Mr. Biden won both states in 2020, although Mr. Trump falsely claimed during his rally in Wisconsin, which held its presidential primaries on Tuesday, that he had won there “by a lot” and insisted that the election had been stolen from him. Democrats also won governors’ races in both states in 2018 and defended their seats in 2022, in part by making protecting abortion access central to their races. The party continued its efforts on Tuesday to make abortion rights a key campaign issue. Though Mr. Biden did not hold public campaign events, his campaign seized on a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court on Monday that allowed the state’s six-week abortion ban but also put abortion access on the ballot there this fall. There is little indication that Mr. Biden will devote significant time and resources to competing in Florida. But his campaign released a television ad that it plans to run in battleground states — including Michigan and Wisconsin — that attacked Mr. Trump for statements claiming credit for the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. A senior adviser to the Trump campaign, Brian Hughes, addressed the ruling in Florida, saying in a statement that Mr. Trump supports states’ rights and thinks “voters should have the last word.” Mr. Trump did not mention abortion, or his role in appointing three of the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe, at either event. But after his remarks in Michigan, he responded to a reporter’s question about the Florida ruling by saying that his campaign would “be making a statement next week” on abortion. A spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, Aida Ross, said in a statement: “We don’t need to wait until next week to know where Donald Trump stands on abortion — he has been peddling the same anti-choice extremism for years.” Reid J. Epstein contributed reporting from Washington. © 2024 The New York Times Company

The law, which includes the death penalty as a punishment in some cases, has been strongly condemned, including by the United States. The five-judge panel of Uganda’s Constitutional Court at a hearing in Kampala, the capital, on Wednesday. “The upshot of our judgment is that this petition substantially fails,” one judge said. Credit...Hajarah Nalwadda/Associated Press By Abdi Latif Dahir Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya April 3, 2024 Uganda’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday largely upheld a sweeping anti-gay law that President Yoweri Museveni signed last year, undermining the efforts of activists and rights groups to abolish legislation that drew worldwide condemnation and strained the East African nation’s relationship with the West. The legislation, which was signed into law by Mr. Museveni in May, calls for life imprisonment for anyone who engages in gay sex. Anyone who tries to have same-sex relations could face up to a decade in prison. Uganda has faced international consequences for passing the law, with the World Bank suspending all new funding and the United States imposing sanctions and visa restrictions on top Ugandan officials. But the law was popular in Uganda, a landlocked nation of over 48 million people, where religious and political leaders frequently inveigh against homosexuality. The fallout for Uganda will be watched closely in other African countries where anti-gay sentiment is on the rise and anti-gay legislation is under consideration, including in Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania and South Sudan. In February, Ghana’s Parliament passed an anti-gay law, but the country’s president said that he would not sign it until the Supreme Court ruled on its constitutionality. In Uganda, the five-judge bench said the law violated several key rights granted in the country’s Constitution, including the right to health and privacy. They also struck down sections of the law that criminalized failing to report homosexual acts, allowing any premises to be used to commit homosexuality or giving someone a “terminal illness” through gay sex. But in their 200-page judgment, the judges largely rejected the request to quash the law. “We decline to nullify the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 in its entirety, neither will we grant a permanent injunction against its enforcement,” Richard Buteera, one of the judges, said in a reading of the judgment’s summary to a packed courtroom. He added, “The upshot of our judgment is that this petition substantially fails.” Ahead of the court’s ruling, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda had remained publicly defiant.Credit...Abubaker Lubowa/Reuters Frank Mugisha, a prominent gay rights activist and one of the petitioners, said that they would appeal the Constitutional Court’s decision to the Supreme Court. “I am very sad,” Mr. Mugisha said in a telephone interview. “The judges have been swayed by the propaganda from the anti-gay movement who kept saying that this is in the public interest and refuting all the arguments that we made that relate to the Constitution and international obligations.” The law in Uganda decrees the death penalty for anyone convicted of “aggravated homosexuality,” a sweeping term defined as acts of same-sex relations with minors or disabled people, those carried out under threat or while someone is unconscious. Even being accused of what the law refers to as “attempted aggravated homosexuality” carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years. Passage of the law — which also imposes harsh fines on organizations convicted of promoting homosexuality — alarmed human rights advocates, who said it would give new impetus for the introduction of equivalent draconian laws in other African nations. Uganda is among the African countries that already ban gay sex, but the new law creates additional offenses and prescribes far more punitive penalties. The United Nations, along with local and international human rights groups, said that the law conflicted with Uganda’s Constitution and that it would most likely be used to harass and intimidate its L.G.B.T.Q. population. Protesting the Ugandan anti-homosexuality law in Pretoria, South Africa, last year. The battle over the law in Uganda has been closely watched in other African countries. Credit...Alet Pretorius/Reuters The ratification of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, as the law is officially known, renewed scrutiny of the government of Mr. Museveni, who has ruled Uganda with a tight grip for almost four decades. Mr. Museveni, his son — whom he recently appointed as head of the army — and other top members of his government have been accused of detaining, beating, torturing and disappearing critics and opposition members. The law was first introduced in March last year by a lawmaker who said that homosexuality was becoming pervasive and threatening the sanctity of the Ugandan family. Some legislators also claimed that their constituents had notified them of alleged plans to promote and recruit schoolchildren into homosexuality — accusations that rights groups said were false. Anti-gay sentiment is prevalent among Muslim and Christian lawmakers and religious leaders from both faiths. They say that homosexuality is a Western import, and they held rallies to show support for the law before it passed. A few weeks after it was introduced in Parliament, the law was quickly passed with only two lawmakers opposing it. Activists, academics and human rights lawyers who challenged the law in court said it contravened not only Uganda’s Constitution, which guarantees freedom from discrimination, but also international treaties, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. They also argued that Parliament passed the law too quickly, with not enough time allowed for public participation — arguments the judgments rejected in their decision. Human rights groups said that since the law was introduced and passed, L.G.B.T.Q. Ugandans have faced intensive violence and harassment. Activists and community members listening to the proceedings at the Constitutional Court in Kampala, Uganda, on Wednesday.Credit...Isaac Kasamani/EPA, via Shutterstock Convening for Equality, a coalition of human rights groups in Uganda, has documented hundreds of rights violations and abuses, including arrests and forced anal examinations. Gay and transgender Ugandans have also been evicted from their homes and beaten up by family members — forcing many to flee to neighboring countries like Kenya. The law’s passage brought swift repercussions for Uganda, too. Health experts also worried the law would hinder medical access for gay people, especially those seeking H.I.V. testing, prevention and treatment. The United States said it would restrict visas for current and former Ugandan officials who were believed to be responsible for enacting the anti-gay policy. The Biden administration also issued a business advisory for Uganda and removed the country from a special program that allows African products duty-free access to the United States. The World Bank, citing the anti-gay law, also said in August it would halt all future funding to Uganda. The economic pressures continued to pile on, with foreign travelers and investors staying away from Uganda. Ahead of the ruling, Mr. Museveni remained publicly defiant, but analysts and diplomats said he privately worried about his country’s being labeled an outcast, and the devastating economic repercussions it was causing. On Wednesday, members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community said the court’s judgment would not only amplify the government’s antagonism toward gay people but also deepen the animosity they face from members of the public. The court’s decision opens a “Pandora’s box” that will push the lives of gay Ugandans “further more into darkness,” said Steven Kabuye, a gay rights advocate who fled to Canada after he was stabbed in January in an attack that activists said was spurred by homophobia linked to the law. “I feel very disappointed but not surprised,” Mr. Kabuye said in a telephone interview. © 2024 The New York Times Company

Terrorist Gang Leaders Extorted US$10 Million from Zamfara Farmers in 2023 TruthNigeria March 30, 2024 By Luka Binniyat and Mike Odeh James Bandit kingpin Dogo Gide, courtesy of FB. Gang Leaders Control ‘Vassal’ territories Where Farmers Pay for Privilege to Plant and Harvest Farmers in the 14 counties of Zamfara State are serving up as much as $10 million a year to criminal gangs in so-called rents that are extortion payments to gang leaders, a TruthNigeria investigation has concluded. The informal survey of farmers in the counties, known as Local Governance Areas, builds upon the study by the Switzerland-based   Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime in 2022. Nigerian federal law-enforcement agencies have largely overlooked the new trend of land confiscation and have focused their energies on shutting down kidnap-for ransom gangs, which yield less profit for the criminal groups. Farmers large and small have become vassals, who face heavy “fines” if they do not pay “rents” before they access their farms to cultivate and before harvesting their crops, according to farmers speaking to TruthNigeria. Failure to pay attracts brutal penalties including the burning down of villages or kidnapping of family members. For example, on November 24, 2024, scores of gunmen led by an infamous bandit leaders called “Damina,” invaded 6 communities in Maru county of Zamfara State and killed 3 after the villagers failed to settle a N200 million Naira [equivalent to $200,000] tax imposed on them. Map of Zamfara State with Gusau County in Orange. Courtesy of Research Gate. Communities typically raise money for the terrorist-bandits by selling cash crops, since most of their livestock already has been rustled by the gangs. TruthNigeria made extensive investigation into the number of farmers that paid taxes to bandits, county-to-county, and the quantity of crops that they had to sell to raise the cash imposed in them for 2023. Approximately 12,000 head of households in the 14 counties paid the equivalent of US$10 million dollars (N15,76 4 billion Naira) to cultivate and harvest various crops on 23,673 hectares of farmlands in 2023. The farmers paid partly in cash but for the most part in shares of grain or vegetables.  Individuals and communities were taxed based on how the terrorists rated them, according to interviews with farmers. Two farmers from the county of Tsafe paid more than N1.12 billion (US $705,000) dollars to Hassan Makera, the leader of one terrorist gang, before they could cultivate their farms and harvest the farms in 2023, the farmers told TruthNigeria. Mohammed Isa Sungawa of Sungawa village said he and other farmers paid over N1.5 million for each family head by selling much of their crops to the bandits so that they wouldn’t get attacked. Table Showing Number of Local Government Areas, Cultivates Areas, Numbers of Farmers, Quantity and Total Amounts of Crops Paid as Compulsory Taxes to Bandits Gangs in Zamfara State For 2023. “In our village of Sungawa, we were taxed N1.5million per household before we could go and cultivate our land and to harvest our crops during the harvesting season,” Sungawa said. “Again, during the harvesting season, the terrorists would come to our farms and count what we have harvested. If you harvested 10 bags of beans, they would take 7 bags and go,” he added with bitterness. “Failure to pay the taxes imposed on us would result in either death or burning down of our farmlands and village,” Sungawa said. Apart from Sungawa Village, the following villages of Sabon Fegin Baza, Rakyabu, Tsageru, Langa Langa and Biya Biki and many others paid N1.2 million each household to Hassan Makera so that farmers could visit their farms, he added. “We have paid hundreds of millions to these terrorists since January 2023 and this year too to the bandits,” he said. Agricultural Production Falls Sungawa farmers in Maru county plant mainly Guinea Corn, and Soya bean, according to Gambo Abubakar, a part-time farmer, told TruthNigeria. Before the era of banditry began in 2019, a small-time farmer could cultivate about 15-50 (50kg) bags of Soya Beans and Millet. “We could sell about 14 bags and keep the rest for family feeding, but when there was need, we would sell more bags to pay school fees and hospital bills,” Abubakar said. However, with the coming of banditry, most farmers have relocated to safer areas such as Gusau or Kaduna State, whereas poor farmers hardly get up 15 bags to use or sell for themselves. Due to hyperinflation and criminal violence, prices of grains have gone up in the state. Federal officials rarely cite banditry, terrorism, and land control by criminal gangs as a major driver of growing food insecurity in the nation, although criminal control of land undoubtedly plays a large role. A 50 kg bag of Maize is now N40,000 (US$27 dollars), while Soya Bean is now N42,000 (US$28 dollars,  Guinea corn now cost N3800 (US$ 26 dollars), Millet is now N44,000 (US$ 29 dollars)  and a bag of rice is N88,000 (US$58). According to a survey of by Truth Nigeria, a 50 kg bag of maize was below N35,000 (US$23 dollars) in 2023. Similarly, prices for millet, soya beans and rice all rose sharply as a result of a combination of factors of which less access to farmlands resulting from the violent crimes against villagers across most parts of Northern Nigeria stands most prominent. Most Nigerian workers do not earn more than $127 a month, according to Techpoint Africa.. Small-plot Zamfara farmers typically earn between $66 and $200 a month, according to sources consulted by TruthNigeria. From this amount, the criminals take a large share. Transactions with Terrorist Gangs over Rents Villagers surveyed said that  that before the start of the planting season, they would send people known to have good rapport with the terrorists to negotiate the amounts to be paid. “In Matangari, Anka Local Government Area (county), before the commencement of planting, we will ask those who we know as informants for the terrorists to meet with them and ask them how much to pay before we start farming,” said a farmer who does not want his name mentioned. “At times, we send the relatives of the bandits to them for negotiation on how much to pay, because we know them, and we know the implication of disobeying them,” he said. Mohammed Dahiru Bungudu a 35-year old farmer in Bungudu county Northwest of Gusau, capital of Zamfara, told Truth Nigeria that his village of Ruwunji and their neighboring villages of Kadafka and Kwatakrshi have about 1,500 farming households  who are mainly engaged in peasant farming of millet, groundnuts and soybeans. However, due to persistent extortion, many of the farmers have fled the county this year. “At the beginning of each farming season since 2019 the bandit leader would send messages to our communities demanding that we pay an amount of money, say N3 million per village.  However, village elders would plead through their emissaries, and the money would be reduced to N1.6 million (US$1,060 dollars) and N2 million (US$1,333 dollars),” he said. According to him, any village that was unable to pay the fines would be looted and burned and several people kidnapped. Afterwards, many of the farmers fled to safer areas in neighboring Sokoto and Katsina states. As a result, farming dropped drastically, he said. Terrorists Make More Money by Farming Land Than through Kidnapping Terrorist-bandits today make more money by imposing taxes than they once did through abductions, according to Global Initiative. In addition, the criminals increasingly are doing farming themselves. The same was recorded by TruthNigeria reporters who studied the long-term battle between the Ansaru insurgency and bandit terrorists in the ungoverned spaces of Western Kaduna in 2022. The Ansaru insurgents lost out to the gang of the late Dogo Gide, whose gang members cultivated large swaths of land in Western Kaduna. Luka Binniyat and Mike Odeh James are veteran conflict reporters for TruthNigeria based in the Kaduna metropolis. Copyright 2024 TruthNigeria

Rohingya activists call for more control of aid money USAID says there’s not much money left for the 1.2 million refugees after their $10 monthly food ration. Rohingya refugees collect drinking water at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh, Sept. 29, 2022. Credit Munir uz zaman/AFP Thursday, March 28 three eloquent Rohingya advocates spoke truth to power. Lucky Karim, Yasmin Ullah of Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, and Reza Uddin of ARAKAN ROHINGYA UNION spoke at the Congressional briefing on the hashtag#Rohingya organized by International Campaign for the Rohingya, Campaign for a New Myanmar, and Emgage. Read the Radio Free Asia account by Alex Willemyns of this briefing and dialogue with Peter Young of USAID Asia, Patrick Greenwalt of United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Simon Billenness of International Campaign for the Rohingya, Daniel Sullivan of Refugees International, and Dr. Gregory H Stanton of Genocide Watch. https://lnkd.in/eq_nJUMB By Alex Willemyns for Radio Free Asia March 28, 2024 Rohingya Muslim activists representing fellow refugees forced out of Myanmar and into “prison-like” camps in Bangladesh said in Washington on Thursday that foreign aid to the camps would go further if some of it was given directly to refugee-run groups. But a representative of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, said little money was left over after aid cuts that currently see the refugees provided with only $10 worth of food a month. About 90% of the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh struggled to have “acceptable food consumption” late last year, according to the World Food Programme, when their monthly ration of food was bumped up from about $8 to about $10 per person. Speaking at an event on Capitol Hill to mark two years since the United States labelled Myanmar’s atrocities in 2017 against the Rohingya a “genocide,” the activists said aid was not always spent in ways most helpful for the Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar. “There are ways to do it effectively,” said Yasmin Ullah, a Canada-based rights activist born in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and the director of the Rohingya Maiyafuinor Collaborative Network. Yasmin Ullah of the Rohingya community is interviewed outside the International Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Jan. 23, 2020. (Peter Dejong/AP) The activist said her group had raised $20,000 through crowdfunding to be disbursed by refugee-run groups in the camp to improve livelihoods there. But she noted global aid flows were far larger. “We know our issues. We know how and where to put this money. We can run with $10,000 farther than any other humanitarian groups can,” she said. “We are asking for aid to be utilized and to directly go to refugee-led initiatives and refugee-led organizations.” Unsolved problems Aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh has dwindled, with less than two-thirds of the approximately $850 million in annual aid requested by aid agencies in the country being fulfilled, a U.N. report said. Lucky Karim, a Rohingya refugee who resettled in the U.S. state of Illinois in 2022 and now works with the International Campaign for the Rohingya, said that any international aid sent to help people in the camps “means a lot to us as refugees” and was appreciated. But she questioned why the hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into the camps each year were not improving conditions. “It’s not about how many years the U.S. has been supporting Rohingya,” Karim said. “What are you guys able to solve?” “Did you solve the labor issue? Did you solve the sexual and domestic and the other violence in the camps? Did you solve the human trafficking issue? Did you figure out the security risks at the camp? Did you figure out and identify the gangs and the nonstate actors in the camp at night?” she said. “Those are the only questions we have.” Requests for more help, she added, were “not just about increasing funding,” with many Rohingyas understanding funds are limited. “When it comes to the funding issue, when I talked to USAID, for example, they're like, ‘Oh no Lucky, we have other places in war, like Gaza, for example, and Ukraine, for example,’” Karim recounted, noting there were “many other cases coming up every few years.” Like Ullah, she said some aid could be spent more effectively. “The amount of funding you're sending to Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar and elsewhere should go to the right people at the right time to the needed situations,” she said. “How do you ensure it without Rohingya’s involvement in the decision-making process?” Limited funds Peter Young, the USAID director for South and Central Asia, told the event that the United States had sent more than $1.9 billion in aid to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh since the 2017 genocide. Brothers Mohammed Akter, 8, and Mohammed Harun, 10, pose for a photograph on the floor of their burned shelter after a fire damaged thousands of shelters at the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, March 25, 2021. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters) But he acknowledged the global aid being made available “is not sufficient to meet the needs of people” in the refugee camps. What was once a $12 monthly food ration to the refugees, he explained, was cut to just $8 last year before the eventual bump back to $10. At the end of the day, he said, aid groups were left grappling with the fact they have few funds left after disbursing those meager rations. “We certainly agree with – as Lucky said – the importance of working with and through the Rohingya community,” Young said. “We do make sure our projects that are implemented there are staffed by Rohingya there [or] developed in consultation with community leaders.” “At the same time, if you do the math, $10 a month for a million people consumes our entire budget pretty quickly,” he said. “So the bandwidth that we have to do other programming besides food is limited.” One of the first priorities for the refugee camps outside of food would be “durable shelters,” Young said, due to both the propensity of the camps to be hit by devastating disasters and the “understanding that there will be a lot of people there for some time into the future.” But for the Rohingya activists, that’s only a start. Karim, the Illinois-based refugee, said little will change in the camps until Rohingyas are given some decision-making powers – and “not just coming to D.C. every six months” for forums on Capitol Hill. “You take a bunch of notes, you leave us, you forget us,” the activist said. “We want a specific seat at the table.” Edited by Malcolm Foster.

False Narratives vs. Reality: Debunking Azerbaijani State Propaganda Since 2020 Please download the PowerPoint presentation or the PDF document to read the report. Introduction On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan began what it called an “anti-terrorist campaign” and started shelling Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). Azerbaijani forces killed at least 200 people and left over 400 people wounded. Left with little hope for survival if they stayed in Artsakh, over 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region to seek safety in Armenia. This episode of forced displacement came after Artsakhtsi Armenians suffered months of starvation under the Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor. Why is Azerbaijan referring to its attacks on Artsakh as an “anti-terrorist campaign?” The answer is that Azerbaijani propaganda uses the term “terrorists” to dehumanize all Armenians, including ordinary civilians. According to Freedom House, Azerbaijan is ranked as a “Not Free” society. On a scale of 0-6 points — with 0 being the worst and 6 being the best — Azerbaijan ranks as a 1 in terms of upholding the rights to freedom of expression and press freedom. In 2012, a once-celebrated Azerbaijani author named Akram Aylisli wrote a book titled Stone Dreams. His novel tells the story of an Azerbaijani man who grapples with the violence that his Armenian neighbors face. The contents of Stone Dreams angered the Azerbaijani government because it portrayed Armenians in a more humanizing light. As a result, Aylisli’s books were publicly burned and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev removed Aylisli’s title as the “People’s Writer.” Azerbaijani propaganda spreads its influence outside the country. The BBC, for example, broadcasted a film titled Wonders of Azerbaijan that received support and funding by Azerbaijan and British Petroleum (BP). The film downplayed the human rights violations of the Aliyev dictatorship. One Israeli writer even expressed her support for Azerbaijan’s September 2023 shelling campaign, explaining that the country’s actions are justifiable because Azerbaijan has a right to “reclaim” land that belongs to the country. Her account reveals the danger that Azerbaijani propaganda presents for the safety of the Armenian people. Azerbaijan has violent plans for the future. By 2026, it plans to “re-settle” 140,000 Azerbaijanis into abandoned Armenian homes in Artsakh. Armenian cultural heritage sites located in Artsakh, such as the famous “We are Our Mountains” statue, are slated for destruction. It is imperative for policymakers and human rights leaders to take a stand against the destruction of Armenian life and culture. That starts with learning to separate propaganda from reality.

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Atrocities Mount in Sudan as War Spirals, U.N. Says The New York Times Feb. 24, 2024 Rape, killing, torture: A stark report offers new evidence of horrific abuses carried out by Sudan’s military and its enemy, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Refugees from the fighting in Sudan line up to board a barge in Renk, South Sudan. A United Nations report documents horrors by both warring sides. Credit...Joao Silva/The New York Times By Nick Cumming-Bruce and Declan Walsh Bombs that struck houses, markets and bus stations across Sudan, often killing dozens of civilians at once. Ethnic rampages, accompanied by rape and looting, that killed thousands in the western region of Darfur. And a video clip, verified by United Nations officials, that shows Sudanese soldiers parading through the streets of a major city, triumphantly brandishing the decapitated heads of students who were killed on the basis of their ethnicity. The horrors of Sudan’s spiraling civil war are laid out in graphic detail in a new United Nations report that draws on satellite imagery, photos, videos and interviews with over 300 victims and witnesses, to present the stark human toll from 10 months of fighting. Many probable war crimes have occurred as part of the grinding battle for control of Sudan, one of the largest countries in Africa, which started with clashes between the country’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, the report by the U.N.’s human rights body found. The fight started as a power struggle between the leaders of the military, which dominated Sudan for decades, and the R.S.F., which comes mainly from Darfur. But it quickly escalated into a nationwide conflict with catastrophic consequences for Sudan’s 46 million people. Both sides have committed indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Women and children have been raped or gang raped. Recruitment of child soldiers is common. Foreign powers, including the United Arab Emirates and Iran, have stepped in to back one side or the other, sending sophisticated weapons, including armed drones, to the battlefield, which accelerated the tempo of fighting and increased the already high risks to civilians. American- and Saudi-led diplomatic efforts to broker even a modest cease-fire have come to nothing. Fighting between two military factions has thrown Sudan into chaos, with plans for a transition to a civilian-led democracy now in shambles. And the brutality has become more open. The students who were decapitated in the city of El-Obeid, in central Sudan, were apparently butchered on the assumption that they backed the Rapid Support Forces, a Nairobi-based spokesman for the U. N. human rights office, Seif Manango, told reporters. Sudan’s military said that it was investigating the video, denouncing its content as “shocking,” and promising to bring any perpetrators to account. Despite the growing evidence of atrocities — and warnings from aid groups that parts of Sudan are heading toward famine — the international focus on conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine has largely eclipsed the crisis in Sudan. A health worker measures the circumference of a Sudanese child’s arm at the clinic of a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, South Sudan, in February.Credit...Luis Tato/Agence France-Presse — Getty A United Nations appeal for $2.7 billion in humanitarian funding for Sudan has yielded less than 4 percent of those funds — $97 million — forcing the U.N. to dig into its emergency reserve to meet the most urgent food and shelter needs. Sudan’s war has forced eight million people from their homes, creating one of the world’s largest displacement crises. Nearly 1.5 million refugees have fled into neighboring countries, especially South Sudan, Chad and Egypt. About 80 percent of hospitals in conflict-affected areas have closed, the World Health Organization said. Yet even as the weak die of starvation, attacks on aid convoys have obstructed aid deliveries, and impunity reigns. Despite accounts of “death, suffering and despair” since the war in Sudan began, there is “no end in sight” to the abuses of civilians, the U.N. human rights chief, Volker Turk, said in a statement. The U.N. report found that both sides have detained civilians, including women and children, often torturing those they suspected of collaborating with their enemies. But it said the great majority of sexual assaults appeared to have been carried out by the Rapid Support Forces and affiliated militias, and cited one incident in which a victim was detained and gang raped over 35 days by R.S.F. forces. The report said that other victims were killed trying to prevent the fighters from assaulting their family members, and that members of ethnic African groups were especially targeted by R.S.F.-linked fighters from ethnic Arab backgrounds. At least 14,600 people have been killed in the conflict, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a nonprofit that collects data about conflicts, although the actual toll is almost certainly much higher because of the difficulty of collecting data in a war zone. In a report submitted to the U.N. Security Council last month, obtained by The Times, U.N. investigators estimated that as many as 15,000 people were killed during just one assault by the R.S.F. and allied forces on the Darfuri city of Geneina in November. In response to the R.S.F. advance, the Sudanese military has dropped crude barrel bombs on homes and camps in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, frequently killing dozens of civilians at once. The evidence of widespread atrocities comes as the course of the war has taken several dramatic turns in recent months, amid growing evidence of foreign interference. Refugees from the war in Sudan carry their belongings while boarding a boat in Renk, South Sudan. Both sides have committed indiscriminate attacks on civilians, a United Nations report found. Credit...Luis Tato/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The Emirates have been covertly supplying the Rapid Support Forces with armed drones, surface-to-air missiles and other sophisticated weapons since last summer, according to United Nations investigators and diplomats, helping the Sudanese group capture a string of major cities in Darfur, as well as the key city of Wad Madani, south of Khartoum, in December. Shock at the fall of Wad Madani prompted the Sudanese military to go back on the offensive, launching a major drive to recapture from the R.S.F. parts of Omdurman, a city across the Nile from Khartoum. In that battle, the army has reclaimed some territory, one of its first major victories since the war started, although it has had to turn to Iran to obtain armed drones to boost its campaign — a potential source of tension with the military’s other backer, Egypt, whose military support appears to have waned in recent months. The army effort in Omdurman was also boosted by the arrival of Darfuri rebel groups that once fought Sudan’s army but now are allied with the force in fighting against the R.S.F., their mutual enemy. Space for peace talks appears to be shrinking. American- and Saudi-led efforts to broker even a modest cease-fire through talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah proved futile. The American ambassador to Sudan, John Godfrey, who helped lead those talks, said on Friday that he was stepping down. No replacement has been announced amid reports that the State Department will soon name a special envoy for Sudan. On Friday, a State Department spokesman condemned a decision by the Sudanese military to prohibit relief aid from crossing into R.S.F.-controlled territory from Chad, as well as the R.S.F. looting of aid deliveries and harassment of humanitarian workers. The leader of the R.S.F., Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, appeared to be taking a victory lap in late December and early January, when he toured six African nations aboard an Emirati jet, shaking hands with powerful leaders, including South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and Kenya’s President William Ruto. In recent weeks, representatives from the warring parties have held back-channel talks in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain, with support from the Emirates and Egypt, according to diplomats and news reports. But those talks have yielded little so far. In February a senior Sudanese general, Shams al-Din Kabbashi, suggested that peace efforts had reached an impasse. While Sudan’s military “carries an olive branch next to the gun,” it would not engage in political talks until “the military file is closed,” he said in a speech. “We will fight, we will fight, we will fight.” Nick Cumming-Bruce reported from Geneva, and Declan Walsh from Nairobi, Kenya. Nick Cumming-Bruce reports from Geneva, covering the United Nations, human rights and international humanitarian organizations. Previously he was the Southeast Asia reporter for The Guardian for 20 years and the Bangkok bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal Asia. More about Nick Cumming-Bruce Declan Walsh covers Africa for The Times from a base in Nairobi, Kenya. He previously reported from Cairo and Islamabad, Pakistan. More about Declan Walsh A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 25, 2024, Section A, Page 5 of the New York edition with the headline: Atrocities Rise in Sudan By Two Warring Forces. Violence in Sudan ·       What to Know: Two generals — one backed by Sudan’s army, the other by a powerful paramilitary group — have been vying for power in the African country in a conflict that began in April. Millions of Sudanese people have fled, but many are stuck in war zones struggling to survive. ·       A Watershed Moment: The swift takeover of a major city in Sudan’s agricultural breadbasket by the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group backing one of the two vying generals, has cast doubt on the might of Sudan’s regular military. Darfur: The Rapid Support Forces have scored a succession of sweeping victories over Sudan’s army in the sprawling region in the west of Sudan. Those gains have come at the cost of brutal ethnic violence. Leaving Everything Behind: Thanasis Pagoulatos led his family business, Khartoum’s oldest inn, through decades of tumult. Sudan’s latest breakdown proved too much. Copyright 2024 The New York Times Company

Genocide Watch Recommendations 2024 Genocide Emergencies and Warnings Genocide Emergencies Renewed genocide in Darfur and Sudan - The U.N. Security Council or General Assembly should apply the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Principles and authorize a U.N. Peacekeeping Force with a mandate to stop attacks against civilians by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)and Sudanese Armed Forces. - Both Generals Hemedti and Burhan should be charged and tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. - The genocidal RSF must be defeated, disbanded, and disarmed. The Sudanese Armed Forces must be replaced by a disciplined, multi-ethnic police force with international accountability. - Omar Al-Bashir must be extradited from a Sudanese military prison to the ICC to face trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. Jihadist genocide of Christians in Nigeria - The U.N. and Nigerian government should establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate attacks on civilians and report to the Nigerian government and U.N. Human Rights Council. - The Nigerian Army and police should establish a Strike Force, trained by international counter-terrorism experts, to investigate and arrest leaders of Boko Haram, ISWAP, and Fulani jihadists. - Nigerian religious leaders should form a network of monitors to provide warnings of attacks. - The U.N., E.U., and U.N. should support Nigerian police to protect civilians targeted by Islamist extremists. - The Nigerian government should implement land use management plans to reduce competition for resources between farmers and Fulani herders. Russian genocide in Ukraine - Russia must withdraw its forces and stop its attacks on Ukraine. - The U.S. and NATO must supply Ukraine with battle tanks, artillery, drones, and ample ammunition to defeat Russia and drive Russian forces out of Ukraine. - The U.S. and NATO should supply Ukraine with cruise missiles and jets to destroy Russian missile and air bases inside occupied Ukraine and inside Russia. - Vladimir Putin must be overthrown as President of Russia. - Putin's imperialist aggression against Ukraine must be stopped and rolled back. - The U.S. and NATO should abandon their gradualist approach and fully support Ukraine’s defence. - Russian assets in European and U.S. banks should be seized and used to pay for Ukraine's defence. Slow genocide of Hazara Shias in Afghanistan - The U.S. and E.U. should release funds from Afghan assets to support U.N. World Food Program relief. - The Taliban government should be recognized only when it stops murdering Hazaras and former government employees, when women are allowed to return to their jobs, and girls are allowed to return to their schools. - The U.N. Assistance Mission (UNAMA) mandate of March 2023 (UNSC resolution 2678), accompanied by UNSC resolution 2679 mandating human rights monitoring, with quarterly reports to the U.N. Secretary General and to the U.N. Security Council should be fully implemented. - Hazaras should be accorded preferential asylum status in the U.S., Canada, and the E.U. Assad regime and Turkish genocides in Syria - U.S. forces and Kurdish forces should be supported in resisting Turkish and Syrian attacks against Kurds, Armenians, Christians, and other minorities in Northern Syria and Iraq. - Turkey must be warned not to attack Kurds, Christians, Armenians, and Ezidis. - Turkey’s demand for a “buffer zone” inside northern Syria must be rejected. - NATO should suspend Turkey's membership if it further invades Northern Syria and Iraq. Genocide in North Korea - The United Nations Human Rights Council should condemn the DPRK in its regular Universal Periodic Reviews, and strongly support the U.N. Special Rapporteur on North Korea. - U.N. member states should demand that North Korea submit reports on the measures it has taken to comply with the human rights treaties to which the DPRK is a party. - U.N. members should support the South Korean government's protection of North Korean escapees. - U.N. members should support South Korean efforts to undermine the Kim communist monarchy in the DPRK, and bring about its peaceful internal overthrow. Genocides of ethnic minorities in Myanmar - ASEAN should scrap its failed 5-Point Consensus, which legitimizes the Tatmadaw’s rule. - ASEAN should recognize the National Unity Government (N.U.G.) as the legitimate government of Myanmar. - The Tatmadaw must be defeated and overthrown by the National Unity Government. - The N.U.G. must release Aung San Suu Kyi and other detained officials, end the state of emergency, hold elections, and install a democratically elected Myanmar government. - Rohingyas must be recognized immediately as citizens of Myanmar. - Rohingyas should return to Myanmar only if they are guaranteed safety by a strong international force. - Persecution of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and India: - Bangladesh should allow the Rohingyas living in Bangladesh access to education, health care, freedom of movement, and employment. - Bangladesh authorities must stop pressuring Rohingyas to return to Myanmar. - India should halt its deportations of Rohingyas to Myanmar. - Bangladesh should become an Intervening Party in the ICJ’s Gambia v Myanmar case. - The U.S. and E.U. should donate much more financial support to assist Rohingya refugees. Chinese genocide of Uyghur Muslims - The U.S., E.U., and U.N should embargo imports of goods produced by Uyghur forced labor. - The U.S. should outlaw investments in Chinese companies that use Uyghur forced labor. - The U.S. and E.U. must ban export of technology (AI, facial recognition) used in the Uyghur genocide. - The U.S. and E.U. should reduce their dependence on Chinese products. - U.N. members should ensure that Uyghurs receive fair adjudication of asylum requests. - The U.S. and E.U. should support resistance groups to overthrow Chinese Communist Party tyranny. Hamas genocide of Israelis; Israeli war crimes and genocide in Gaza - Israel and Hamas should agree on a permanent cease fire to end their war. - All israeli hostages held by Hamas must be released immediately. - Israel must immediately end its blockade of goods, food, and medicines to Gaza. - Israeli and Palestinian Authority leaders must relaunch direct talks to resolve their conflicts based on the national, political, and human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians. - Palestinian leaders and Arab states must recognize Israel's legitimate existence as a nation. - Israel must halt expansion of settlements and dispossession of Palestinians in the West Bank. - 7 October 2023 Hamas genocidists and war criminals should be prosecuted in Israeli courts. - Israeli courts should prosecute Israeli leaders and IDF soldiers who committed war crimes in Gaza. - The United States should condition its annual $4 billion in military aid and weapons sales to Israel on full Israeli adherence to a ceasefire, lifting of the blockade on Gaza, an end to Israeli bombing of Gaza, and adherence to strict rules of engagement to protect civilians. Genocide in Ethiopia - Ethnicity-based genocidal massacres of Tigrayans, Amhara, Anuak. Ogadeni, Somalis and other ethnic groups by Ethiopian Defense Forces and ethnic militias must stop. - Eritrean forces must leave Tigray immediately and stop their massacres of Tigrayans. - Journalists, civil society, and relief organizations must be granted access to all of Ethiopia. Genocide in Democratic Republic of Congo - Neighboring countries, including Rwanda, must stop their support for M-23 militias. - The U.N. Peacekeeping Operation (MONUSCO) should be reinforced, not withdrawn from DRC. - The African Union should prepare forces to intervene to stop the coming war and genocide. - NATO countries should be ready to give financial and logistical support to AU forces. - The U.S. and E.U. should ensure safe delivery of humanitarian aid in Eastern D.R.C. Genocide Warnings Warning of Azerbaijani invasion in Syunik province, Armenia - The E.U. and NATO must warn Azerbaijan to stop its aggression against Armenia. - They should warn Azerbaijan that if it invades the Syunik province of Armenia to establish a route to Nakhichevan and Turkey, the E.U. will cut off Azerbaijan’s oil and gas exports. - A neutral force should deploy at the Line of Contact to deter war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. - World leaders must condemn hate speech and genocide denial by the Aliyev regime. Warning of genocide in India - The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues should investigate India's discrimination against Muslims and report to the U.N. Human Rights Council. - The Indian Supreme Court should appoint an Independent Commission to investigate the Anti- Muslim pogroms of 2020 as well as continuing anti-Muslim lynchings. - Indian Army and police who have committed crimes in Kashmir should be prosecuted. - Prime Minister Modi should order BJP leaders to stop inciting anti-Muslim violence. - Universities must support Indian academics in resisting BJP attacks on academic freedom. - Journalists around the world should resist BJP attacks on India’s free press. - World political and religious leaders should support religious freedom in India and oppose BJP attempts to turn India into a Hindu nationalist state. Warning of genocide in Pakistan - Pakistan should end arbitrary arrests and torture and repeal the death penalty. - Pakistan must repeal its law against blasphemy, which includes the death penalty. - Pakistan must protect all places of worship and religiously affiliated schools, hospitals, and civic organizations, from sectarian or religiously motivated violence; - Pakistan must remove legal impediments to Ahmadis exercising their right to vote; - Pakistan’s media must ban "jihadist" hate speech inciting violence against religious groups; - Pakistan must respect international refugee law and stop deporting Afghan refugees. Warning of genocide in Iran - World leaders should condemn Iran's use of lethal force against women’s rights protesters. - Iran’s missile attacks against Iraq and Pakistan must be condemned by the U.N. - Iran’s support for Houthi, Hamas, and Hezbollah terrorists must be stopped and countered. - No further release of frozen Iranian funds should be granted, even to free hostages. - Iranian leaders who order aggression, torture, execution of protesters, and terrorist attacks should be referred to the ICC by the U.N. Security Council for charges, arrest, and prosecution. - Evidence against police who target religious minorities and enforce dress codes for women should be collected for their prosecution after the Ayatollahs’ regime is overthrown. Warning of Iranian-backed terrorism by Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon - Stop Iranian support for Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping. - Intercept ships and planes carrying Iranian weapons to Houthis in Yemen. - Destroy Houthi missile batteries and drone bases used to attack Red Sea ships. - Intercept and stop Iranian financial and arms support for Hezbollah in Lebanon.