Charles R. Davis Sep 14, 2023, 12:17 PM EDT A child is wrapped in a blanket as Ukrainian refugees cross the border into Poland from Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, eastern Poland. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP via Getty Images The International Criminal Court on Thursday formally opened an office in Kyiv. ICC investigators are gathering evidence of alleged Russian war crimes, including child abduction. The office is a "pivotal" move toward "restoring justice," Ukraine's top prosecutor said. War crimes investigators opened an office in Kyiv on Thursday to investigate allegations that Russia has been abducting children. A top Ukrainian official described the move as a "pivotal" step toward achieving justice. . The International Criminal Court in March announced that it was issuing an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, declaring that he is "allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation" of children from occupied areas of Ukraine. Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of having deported or forcibly displaced more than 19,500 children, a claim bolstered by independent investigations. Russia has admitted taking minors from Ukraine — and having them adopted by Russian families — but insists it has done so for their own safety. The Geneva Conventions generally prohibit the forcible transfer of civilians from occupied regions to the occupier's own territory. On Thursday, the head of the ICC, Krim A. A. Khan, was in Kyiv to mark the opening of the new office following the signing of a cooperation agreement in March, under which Ukraine will share evidence it has gathered of possible Russian war crimes. It is one of just a handful of offices that the ICC operates around the globe. Andriy Kostin, Ukraine's top prosecutor, welcomed the move. "Today marks a pivotal stride in our journey towards restoring justice," Kostin wrote in a post on social media, saying Ukraine would provide access to witnesses and alleged crime scenes. "We are doing our utmost to ensure that the ICC experts can see the aftermath of the aggressor's crimes with their own eyes and draw their independent conclusions." Copyright © 2023 Insider Inc. All rights reserved.

September 12, 2023 / Oliver Griffin, Reuters Colombia's Environment Minister Susana Muhamad speaks during an interview with Reuters at the COP27 climate summit in Red Sea resort at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 12, 2022. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/ Acquire Licensing Rights BOGOTA, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Colombia was the deadliest country for environmentalists in 2022, with at least 60 environmental and land rights defenders killed there, British advocacy group Global Witness said in a report on Tuesday. Global Witness found at least 177 environmentalists were killed globally last year. Latin America accounted for 88% of the deadly attacks. "In Colombia and elsewhere, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, small-scale farmers, and environmental activists were viciously targeted," Laura Furones, senior adviser to Global Witness' Land and Environmental Defenders Campaign, said during a virtual press conference. The findings returned Colombia to the top of the list of deadliest countries for environmentalists after killings declined in 2021 compared to 2019 and 2020. Since coming to power in August last year, the government of leftist President Gustavo Petro has pledged to step up attempts to halt such violence. "It's really a shameful statistic for the country," Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said in a video message. The findings will be frustrating for Petro's administration, which passed a law ratifying the Escazu agreement on environmental protection in October last year. The agreement, adopted in the eponymous Escazu region of Costa Rica in March 2018, includes provisions to protect environmentalists, among others. The law has not yet been approved by Colombia's Constitutional Court. "The ratification of the Escazu agreement by the Constitutional Court is fundamental," Muhamad said. "It would support us a lot in the necessity of protecting environmental defenders." A deadline for the Constitutional Court to analyze the law is suspended while it waits to receive evidence, which it requested in August, a spokesperson said. Brazil and Mexico were the second and third most deadly countries for environmentalists in 2022, the report found, with at least 34 and 31 killings respectively. The only two countries not from Latin America to be included in the 10 most dangerous for environmentalists were the Philippines and Indonesia, Global Witness said. © 2023 Reuters. All rights reserved

Over the course of a harrowing four months in India's sensitive border state of Manipur, the once-coexisting communities of Meitei and Kuki have descended into a state of irreparable enmity. The violence erupted on May 3 and continues. By Yaqut Ali File photo of violence in Manipur. Photo: Twitter@MangteC New Delhi: It has been four months since violence erupted between the Kuki and Meitei communities in Manipur, which claimed the lives of around 200 people and left more than 70,000 people displaced. The violence has resulted in extensive damage to religious institutions, long hours of digital blackout and overcrowded relief camps, but a lack of effective government response. The Wire has compiled data from various sources to provide a concise overview of the crisis. Duration of internet shutdown since May 3: 3,050+ hours A digital blackout lasting over 3,050 hours has severely disrupted information sharing, education and online classes. The number of lives lost: 200+ in the past 4 months According to reports, more than 200 people have died, out of which 45 deaths occurred due to lack of medical care in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi. The number of people forcibly displaced due to the violence: 70,000+ At least 10,000 children have been staying in relief camps. These relief camps are overcrowded and are experiencing food shortages, as most people are heavily reliant on rice and lentils. They need volunteer help. For instance, a relief camp in Naorem Birahari College houses more than 300 people. The government provides them with 400 grams of food daily, which is insufficient. Moreover, although the government has promised to provide temporary houses to the displaced people, only a few have been built. Long summer vacations for three months The continuing violence has extended summer vacations to three months. On June 1, Union home minister Amit Shah had promised to formulate a plan for online education; however, it is still to be seen when these promises will be fulfilled. Nearly 50 students of NIT Manipur had been demanding that classes be held online and also raised this issue with their dean, but didn’t get any response from him. The number of arms looted from police armouries: 4,000+ Reports say 4,000 weapons and 50,000 rounds of ammunition had been looted from the police and state armoury. The number of active gun licences: 35,117 (the highest in the Northeast region) A Right to Information query by The Wire revealed that firearm licenses under the N. Biren Singh government were the maximum issued in the Northeast region, before the violence began. The active number of gun licences stand at 35,117, up from 26,836 in December 2016. The number of churches destroyed: 500+ Government data shows that over 220 churches have been destroyed. If we take United Christian Forum’s data, it exceeds 500. Christian bodies claim that over 350 churches were destroyed. Notably, there were no church attacks in Manipur before the May 2023 violence. A petition claims that 642 places of worship were demolished. PM Modi broke silence after 78 days The prime minister spoke about the Manipur violence on July 20, 2023, for only 36 seconds, after a shocking video of naked women being paraded by a mob went viral. The video raised numerous questions regarding the impact of the violence on women and the role of the police. The number of rallies held in Karnataka campaign amid Manipur violence: 19 While campaigning in Karnataka, Prime Minister Modi held 19 rallies and six road shows. The last rally was held on May 8, 2023. Meanwhile, in Manipur, chief minister Biren Singh informed the media that 60 people died, 231 were injured, and 1,700 houses were burned. The number of Zero FIRs: 11,414 There have been 11,414 Zero FIRs, out of which 6,621 were converted to regular FIRs, and 4,766 were original FIRs filed within their original jurisdiction. The cases of property destruction: 4,694 At least 4,694 cases of property destruction have been reported during the ethnic violence in the state. The duration of the one-day Manipur session: 11 minutes The one-day session of the Manipur assembly lasted just 11 minutes on August 29, 2023. The state’s 10 Kuki MLAs, including two cabinet ministers, did not attend the session. The number of Kuki families in the state’s capital, Imphal: 0 No Kuki families are currently living in the state capital, Imphal. After the violence escalated, Kuki families left Imphal, and Meitei families left Churachandpur. However, a few Kuki families still residing in Imphal’s New Lambulane area were forcefully evacuated by the central and state forces on the night of September 2, 2023. The number of governments in Manipur: 2 The BJP argues that the concept of “double-engine” involves having two engines or two governments, one at the state level and one at the capital, to aid in the governance process. © The Wire 2023

Hundreds of Aboriginal children likely buried in unmarked graves at three WA missions Exclusive: More than 740 First Nations people, the majority of them very young, are believed to have been buried with no record at Moore River, Carrolup and New Norcia By Sarah Collard and Lorena Allam The Benedictine monastic town of New Norcia. A Guardian Australia investigation has found hundreds of Aboriginal children are likely buried in unmarked graves at three former WA missions. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian As many as 400 Aboriginal children and babies are likely to have been buried in unmarked graves at three former Western Australian missions, the vast majority of them interred after dying when five or under, a Guardian Australia investigation can reveal. Spanning decades, more than 740 First Nations people, the majority of them very young, were most likely buried with no record at just three church and government-run missions in the state: Moore River, Carrolup and New Norcia. Guardian Australia has spent the past year investigating missions and institutions in Western Australia where children taken from their families were incarcerated as part of the Stolen Generations. Up until the 1970s, Indigenous children were taken to institutions and reserves as part of government assimilation policies, sometimes with adults. Unsanitary, overcrowded and bleak conditions contributed to the deaths of hundreds. First Nations people at the Carrolup Native Settlement, near Katanning, circa 1951. Photograph: Wiki Commons The Guardian’s investigation examined public records, including WA births, deaths and marriages records, state library and public cemetery records and contemporary media reports. Hundreds of people, mostly young children, babies and stillborns, were recorded as dying at Moore River, New Norcia and Carrolup. However, there are no official records of burial for those individuals and no marked graves that correspond with those numbers. Survivors of the missions now want this to change. Some are calling for suspected burial sites to be excavated with bodies identified and the remains repatriated to their communities, while others want the graves to be honoured with proper recognition. At New Norcia the Guardian found 312 people who were recorded in Western Australian registers as dying from the 1900s through to the 1950s but who have no burial or cemetery record. Of those, 178 were babies or children. A statue in the monastic town of New Norcia. The head of the Benedictine monastery says the number of inmates lying in unmarked graves is ‘highly concerning’. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian The cemetery at New Norcia. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian The New Norcia mission operated under the control of Spanish Benedictine monks and nuns from 1848 until 1974 with Aboriginal families and children living there during this period. When Guardian Australia approached Abbot John Herbert, the head of the Benedictine monastery, he said the investigation and the number of New Norcia inmates lying in unmarked graves were “highly concerning”. He said a project was under way to go through mission records and registers, and so far they had identified 19 unmarked graves with unknown occupants and 31 graves marked with only a white cross. There were three unmarked graves with known occupants. “I’m very concerned,” he said. “This is a historical thing that we’ve had to deal with but I can assure you we’re committed to finding out as much as we can.” Herbert admitted the true number of unmarked graves may never be known. “Much of it we don’t know, which is the biggest problem. Many of the graves, we don’t know the history behind them and that’s what we’re trying to work on.” He said that in light of the investigation, he would support ground-penetrating radar scans at New Norcia. “If the government supported it, that would be a good idea. [GPR scans] might reveal some of these things that we don’t know.” “It’s about acknowledging, it’s about apologising. We talk about healing and reconciliation, and these are steps working towards that.” At least 51 men, women and children are recorded as dying at Carrolup between 1915 and 1949. It is likely that 28 of those buried in unmarked graves are children, babies and stillborns. Their names are not found on any of the three local cemetery registers in the nearest town Katanning or the shire districts. The former Carrolup/Marribank Aboriginal mission. It is likely that 28 of those buried in unmarked graves are children, babies and stillborns. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian The stone church at Carrolup circa 1916. Photograph: State Library of Western Australia In 2007, Carrolup was registered as a historical site and listed as having an “unknown number of burials”. There are also several instances of children whose deaths made headlines in contemporary media reports but whose burials are not found in cemetery records or burial registers. In 2018, the WA government and the state library commemorated the 100th centenary of the Moore River Native Settlement, unveiling a remembrance wall, honouring the names of 374 men, women and children who died and are buried in unmarked graves at the cemetery. Names of people buried at Moore River/Mogumber mission on the memorial wall at Moore River cemetery. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian The Noongar man Howard Riley has several generations of his family buried somewhere at Moore River. Riley is calling for greater recognition of the “hundreds” who remain unmarked. “My grandfather’s three sisters and two brothers are buried here. There were eight of them taken away, and only two walked out (of Moore River),” Uncle Howard told Guardian Australia. Howard Riley looking for burial markers at Moore River/Mogumber mission, where he has family buried. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian Dallas Phillips, a survivor of New Norcia, has long campaigned for the recognition of unmarked graves and for the current monastery to be more transparent about its history. “They should let people from the outside go in and view their records … let the records be shown,” Aunty Dallas said. Guardian Australia’s investigation in Western Australia comes as it has also revealed possible “clandestine” burials discovered through ground-penetrating radar at the former site of Kinchela Boys Home, near Kempsey in New South Wales. The revelation has sparked calls from the federal government for an investigation and a meeting with the NSW government. The WA government declined to answer questions about whether it would commit funding to ground penetrating radar scans on former mission sites but said in a statement it was committed to supporting and helping Aboriginal people uncover their history and heritage including strategies important to “truth-telling and healing as a foundation for improving the lives of Aboriginal West Australians”. For information and support in Australia call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for a crisis support line for Indigenous Australians; or call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978 and Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 © 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies.

Map of Artsakh with Azerbaijan's blockade of Lachin corridor. Credit: Armenian Assembly of America The Lemkin Institute has published a 126-page Report on Risk Factors and Indicators of the crime of Genocide in the Republic of Artsakh: Applying the UN Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes to the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, which, using the UN Framework, documents in detail threats of genocide against Armenians in the South Caucasus posed by the regime of President Ilham Aliyev in Azerbaijan. The Framework further allows us to measure where we are in the genocidal process. The Report concludes that the crime of genocide may already be taking place in the form of the 9-month blockade of the territory of Artsakh, which is both “Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” and “[d]eliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (paragraphs II.b. and II.c. of the 1948 Genocide Convention). Azerbaijan’s crimes conform to Patterns 5 (Gross human rights violations + mass cultural destruction), 6 (Man-made famine/”Genocide by Attrition”), 7 (Environmental despoliation /”Ecocide” and land alienation), and 9 (Denial and/or prevention of identity) of the Lemkin Institute’s Ten Patterns of Genocide and seem to be headed towards patterns 1 (Gender-neutral mass murder characterized by gendered atrocity) and/or 2 (Mass murder of ‘battle-aged men’ + atrocities against women and children). A particular feature of this report is its documentation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s very public commitment to rid the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) of any remnant of the autonomous historical and cultural community known as the Armenians of Artsakh, or Artsakhsis. His public speeches, the Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin Corridor, repeated breaches of the Tripartite Ceasefire Statement of November 2020, and the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in areas of Artsakh under Azerbaijani occupation appear to show the special intent to commit genocide. Moreover, his threats extend to large territories within the Republic of Armenia, including the southern Syunik province and the capital city of Yerevan. The deep implication of eliminationist anti-Armenian hate within the Aliyev regime and Azerbaijani institutions of government leads us to conclude that Azerbaijan is a genocidal state. This fact must be addressed before there can be any peace in the region. Although there has been recent news that Azerbaijan has lifted the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, which links Artsakh to the outside world, this promise has yet to materialize. Azerbaijan seems to be buying time with the international community until it is ready to invade Artsakh and parts of the recognized sovereign state of Armenia. There is in fact alarming evidence that President Aliyev may be planning a military assault on Artsakh in the very near future. On 16 August 2023, President Aliyev signed a new decree ordering all eligible citizens 18 years of age or older to report for military service between 1 October and 31 October 2023. Furthermore, Azerbaijan is firing almost daily on the Gegharkunik Province of the Republic of Armenia with small arms and mortars and has moved and concentrated its forces along the entire line of contact with Artsakh. A military assault on Artsakh could lead to the mass murder stage of genocide. It would almost assuredly result in the forced displacement of Armenians from Artsakh and the widespread commission of genocidal atrocities, reflecting those committed in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020 and subsequent hostilities. If the Armenians of Artsakh were to be displaced, it would not only create an enormous movement of refugees en masse that could further destabilize the region and possibly draw in regional and global powers, but also it would result in the genocidal destruction of a people, as the Artsakhs Armenians would lose their distinct identity as Artsakhsis, an identity that has been forged through centuries—millennia—of independent cultural flourishing in their mountains and valleys. It is critical that we prevent war and genocide in the South Caucasus and demand an independent commission to study grievances on all sides and set the stage for a judicious resolution to the legitimate self-determination claims of Artsakh Armenians. Please contact your heads of state to let them know that you oppose any further support for Azerbaijan from your government (if applicable) and other international actors. Armenians should not be forced to negotiate with a regime that has publicly stated that it seeks to rid them from the South Caucasus. What is needed is forceful diplomacy to draw Azerbaijan back from its genocidal plans.

By David B. Moore Opposition supporters calling for free and fair elections outside the offices of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission in Harare in 2018. Jeksai Njikizana/AFP via Getty Images. Few were surprised as, near midnight on 26 August, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced incumbent president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s reelection in yet another of Zimbabwe’s tendentious contests. His inauguration on 4 September sanctified his return to power. Fewer still were shocked when South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, attended Mnangagwa’s inauguration regardless of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) election observation team’s critical report and the absence of most of his peers from the SADC and the African Union. Mnangagwa gained 52.6% of the 4,561,221 votes cast. Nelson Chamisa, head of the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), garnered 1,967,343 or 44%. Zanu-PF’s 136 of parliament’s 210 seats is just under the two-thirds needed to change the constitution. I’ve observed and written about all Zimbabwe’s elections since 2000, when Zanu-PF first faced strong opposition from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) under Morgan Tsvangirai. My book Mugabe’s Legacy: Coups, Conspiracies, and the Conceits of Power in Zimbabwe covers nearly 50 years of Zanu-PF’s propensity to gain power by any means - even genocide. This election displayed many of these patterns. However, each election has registered variations as Zimbabwe hovers between open democracy and fully shut authoritarianism. Zanu-PF’s score, with contemporary variants, ranges from pre- and post-election intimidation to electoral “management” and playing off its regional neighbours. The CCC and civil society choirs also shift their tone in response: from outright rejection and court challenges to pleas for reruns and transitional governments. Long-term, immediate and post-election intimidation The post-2017 coup period foreshadowed many of Zanu-PF’s contemporary strategies. First was the soldiers killing at least six demonstrators (and bystanders) just after the mid-2018 elections. In January 2019, a “stayaway” kicked in just after Mnangagwa announced a 150% increase in fuel prices. Planned chaos ensued as riots, looting and protests were encouraged by a multitude of unidentified forces. More than 17 people were killed. As many women were raped. Nearly 1,800 other bodily violations ensued amid mass trials and convictions. Since then, Zanu-PF has reminded many people not to engage in opposition. By mid-2020 the targets moved towards women in the MDC. The case of CCC activist Moreblessing Ali’s murder in May 2022 indicates a new variant on “silent murder”. Ali’s brother, Washington, a long-time MDC-CCC activist in the UK, gained the help of CCC MP and lawyer Job Sikhala to publicise his sister’s murder. Sikhala has been imprisoned since his campaign on behalf of Ali. I examine this horrific assassination in the next issue of the journal Transformation. It illustrates how the move towards land-baron-led gangsterism in Harare connects with Zanu-PF hierarchies of power. The August 2023 pre-election murder by stoning of CCC activist Tinashe Chitsunge indicated this sort of politics running wild. After the election, demonstrators and soldiers did not encounter each other en masse: no shootings. However, residents visiting pubs in “high density suburbs” encountered rough treatment from unidentified people with guns and brand-new uniforms. Later, Glen Norah councillor Womberaishe Nhende and fellow activist Sonele Mukuhlani were left naked after their abduction, whipping and injection with poison on 3 September. Their lawyers, Douglas Coltart and Tapiwa Muchineripi, were arrested when visiting them in hospital. The well-funded “Forever Associates of Zimbabwe” (FAZ) earned its keep by intimidating folks during the pre-election phases. FAZ is a Zanu-PF mix of semi-intellectuals and aspirant entrepreneurs. They are Mnangagwa enthusiasts needing connections to the Zanu-PF state. They ran illegal “exit polls” at the stations. FAZ’s members, purportedly paid by the Central Intelligence Organisation, kept their promise to “dominate and saturate the environment while denying the same to opponents” – including those within Zanu-PF during its primary nomination contests. Judicial and electoral ‘management’ The clouds over liberal horizons darkened further in the legal spheres of repression. The “Patriotic Act”, passed ahead of the elections, makes too much opposition-talk with foreigners treasonous. The still unsigned amendment to the Private Voluntary Organisations Bill promises to end all hints of civil society support for opposition parties. The gerrymandered delimitation exercise remapped mostly urban constituencies so they stretch to peri-urban and nearly rural areas. Zanu-PF hoped the majority would thus support it, as in the countryside. This tactic linked well to election day’s improprieties. Up to 75 urban polling stations experienced unexpected and unprecedented shortages of ballot papers. This caused long and uncertain waits. Some stations extended voting to the next day. In Glenview, a Harare suburb, hundreds of poor voters walked kilometres to vote by 7am. They waited – peacefully, fortunately – eight hours for the ballot papers. At other stations, night-time voting added to voters’ roll problems due to the hasty delimitation exercise that left many in the wrong constituency. They were advised to find the correct one. Where voting continued to 24 August, how many returned? The V11 forms Widespread concerns about the V11 forms came on top of worries about the thousands of people giving up on the lost ballot papers. These sheets are posted on the outside walls of the 12,000 polling stations. They show all the votes. They are meant to enable anyone to keep score at the first polling stage. Then the official counting moves on to ward, constituency, and provincial counting centres, and finally to the national “command centre” where the presidential vote is tallied and announced. Suspicion runs rampant about what happens at the links in this chain. Election NGOs and other organisations were collecting and tabulating images of the V11 forms for digital release. Too late: Zanu-PF conducted on-the-night raids as they were at work. As the Institute for Security Studies’ southern Africa programme head Piers Pigou noted in conversation with me, if the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was worried about the election’s legitimacy, the V11 forms would have been on its website immediately. But they are not there – or anywhere. Regional responses, CCC plans and democracy’s future As noted, the election observers’ reports do not paint a pretty picture of the election. The Citizens Coalition for Change hoped to exploit the split between the SADC observers and their SADC masters. But the SADC’s council of elders seems unable to help the CCC’s plans to arrange a rerun guided by an international committee. South Africa’s enthusiasm for its neighbour gives little solace to northern democrats. Given Zimbabwe’s courts’ past biases on the legality of elections, the CCC did not bother taking the judicial route. Mnangagwa’s inauguration has put all those plans to rest. No reruns. No new versions of government of “national unity”, modelled after the disputed, violence-marred 2008 contest, or transitional councils. At most, the election observers’ reports portend further critique. The Zimbabwean democratic forces have to think again, and harder, about ways to a better future. In sum, if Zimbabwe’s 2023 election foreshadows future battles between authoritarianism and liberal democracy, the former has gained the upper hand. Zanu-PF’S iron fist remains, with a velvet coating, albeit fraying. As a woman overheard discussing this election observed, the only hope may be Zanu-PF destroying itself as it almost did in 2017. © 2010–2023, The Conversation US, Inc.

By Carlotta Gall Ukrainian investigators in a makeshift prison and torture chamber in the bottom floor of an office building, in Kherson, Ukraine, in November. Lynsey Addario for The New York Times. Torture perpetrated by Russian officers against Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war has reached such a level that it is clearly a systematic, state-endorsed policy, a United Nations expert on torture said Saturday. Witnesses shared accounts that were credible, said Alice Jill Edwards, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture, and that confirmed a consistent pattern of torture, including rape and beatings, in different detention facilities under Russian occupation and among Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian forces. She spoke in an interview on Saturday as she wrapped up a seven-day visit to Ukraine. “This is not random, aberrant behavior,” Ms. Edwards said. “This is orchestrated as part of state policy to intimidate, instill fear or punish to extract information and confessions.” Her comments were one of the strongest condemnations implicating the Russian leadership by an independent expert since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. She said she had reached out to Russian authorities at least seven times since receiving her mandate a year ago, drawing attention to the behavior of its troops and personnel in its detention facilities, but had received no response. Moscow has denied it practices torture, she said, but its refusal to address the issue, and the accumulating cases, amounted to tacit approval of its use. “Russian authorities have failed so far to send a directive to their soldiers and the military command informing them that torture and such types of detentions and interrogations are not acceptable,” she said. “They deny they do it, but show me the military directive where torture is prohibited.” Moscow had failed to respond even to her recent offer to visit and report on the conditions of Russian prisoners of war held in Ukraine, she added. An Australian lawyer and academic, Ms. Edwards said she had twice been obliged to postpone visits to Ukraine for security reasons, but the buildup of evidence had made a visit in person imperative. Last week she made public details of four individuals who had told her they were tortured while detained under Russian occupation in the region of Izium in northeastern Ukraine last year. Ukraine has opened 103,000 general cases for prosecution related to the conflict, she said. Of hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia and released in exchanges, Ukrainian officials have said 90 percent suffered torture, including sexual violence, she said. “The scale is neither random nor incidental,” she said. Former prisoners of war held by Russia suffered a dangerous level of weight loss from starvation during their detention, she said. One former prisoner told her he had lost 40 kilograms — almost 90 pounds — during incarceration, and his hair had turned gray. Some described fellow prisoners dying in custody from beatings or poor conditions. She also met a woman who described suffering two heart attacks while in detention after enduring torture and being forced to watch her son being tortured. “This was so distressing to her that she was ready to sign any document that there was,” Ms. Edwards recounted. Even after signing a confession, the woman was held for an additional 300 days, she added. “There is a structure to it,” she concluded. “Someone is supervising it, someone is perpetrating it, and someone is interrogating and has this role to do that.” Ms. Edwards is well known for her work on sexual violence, in particular during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and for her breakthrough legal argument, now accepted globally, that rape and sexual violence are forms of torture and persecution. Yet she expressed frustration that during her visit she was not able to advance far with cases of sexual violence against women in the Ukrainian conflict. Relatively few Ukrainian women have come forward to prosecutors with complaints of sexual torture or crimes, she said. Especially in rural areas, women suffer from the stigma of sexual abuse and are deterred by the added threat of accusation of collaboration. At least one rape victim has been charged with collaboration, she said. Men, who also suffered sexual torture in detention, have come forward in larger numbers, she said. There is evidence that it is a larger problem for women. One nonprofit organization found increased demand for the morning-after pill from women in areas that were recaptured from Russian forces, she said. Ms. Edwards said that the coercive environment of the conflict zone was enough to establish lack of consent in cases of sexual violence. But she added that Ukraine needed more female investigators and more training in investigation and interviewing techniques to establish rapport and allow women to open up. “Women and men need to feel safe that this is something they can speak about,” she said, “and of course necessarily get all the treatment they need and get the help to be able to recover from it.” © 2023 The New York Times Company

Slobodan Milošević and Serbian propagandists invented "ethnic cleansing" to cover up and deny genocide. "Ethnic Cleansing" is a Euphemism Used for Genocide Denial by Dr. Gregory H. Stanton Founding President Genocide Watch “Ethnic cleansing” is a term invented by Slobodan Milošević and Serbian propagandists as a euphemism for forced deportation and genocide. It is history's most successful euphemism used for genocide denial. Milošević is laughing from his grave. "Ethnic cleansing" has become the dominant term used to describe genocidal crimes without using the word, "Genocide." It has invaded the legal lexicon, statements by the United Nations, reporting in the press, policy making by governments, and even judgments by the International Court of Justice. “Ethnic cleansing” in common usage means forced deportation. But unlike the crime against humanity of deportation or forcible transfer of population, and the crime of genocide, it is not a term that appears in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It has no legal meaning in international law. There is no treaty outlawing it. Ethnic cleansing is not even a crime. No national legal codes prohibit it. No prosecutor can charge anyone for committing it. The term is a license for impunity. Because Article 1 of the Genocide Convention implies the obligation to act to prevent genocide, avoiding use of the term “genocide” has the same practical outcome as genocide denial. Policy makers who use the term “ethnic cleansing”—like genocide deniers—are absolved of their duty to prevent genocide. "Ethnic cleansing" has become the dominant euphemism used to deny genocide. Since the Serbo-Croatian term “ethnic cleansing” was first used by the Western press in 1992, it has become the dominant term used by the press, governments, U.N. lawyers, and even by human rights groups for both forced deportation, and also for genocidal massacres. William Safire prophetically warned that the term "ethnic cleansing...is likely to be with us for a while." The term "ethnic cleansing" was first applied to the crimes against humanity and genocide in Bosnia - Herzogovina. The world press and U.S. called the massacres “ethnic cleansing” from 1991 until 1995. Does it make any practical difference if crimes are called “genocide” rather than “ethnic cleansing?” The answer is a resounding yes. In 2007, three epidemiologists (Rony Blum, Shira Sagi, and Elihu Richter) and I conducted a study of the political effect of using the words “ethnic cleansing” rather than "genocide" during four recent genocides: Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Darfur. Researchers counted the number of times the terms “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” were used in The New York Times, U.N. press releases, major law journals, and statements by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch from 1990 through 2005. We published our findings in the European Journal of Public Health as "'Ethnic Cleansing Bleaches the Atrocities of Genocide." Our study came to three conclusions: 1. Use of the terms "ethnic cleansing" or "genocide" has no relationship to the number of people who have been killed. In 1994, U.S. State Department lawyers would not permit the mass murders in Rwanda to be called "genocide" for three months while over 500,000 people were massacred. 8000 men killed at Srebrenica in 1995 was ruled “genocide” by the ICTY. But over 100,000 Bosnian Muslims killed from 1992 to 1995 by Bosnian Serb forces with the direct support of Serbia was not sufficient evidence for the International Court of Justice to find that Serbia had violated the Genocide Convention. In Kosovo in 1999, lawyers quarreled over whether 10,000 Kosovar Albanians killed should be called "ethnic cleansing" or "genocide." Many peace activists protested that any intervention should be authorized by the U.N. Security Council, in spite of a certain veto by Russia. In Darfur, a U.N. Commission of Inquiry led by Judge Antonio Cassese ruled that over 50,000 killed in Darfur (now over 400,000) was insufficient evidence of intent by the government of Sudan to accuse it of genocide. 2. Choice of whether atrocities are called "ethnic cleansing" or "crimes against humanity" instead of “genocide" is determined by willingness to take forceful action to stop the killing. When the terms “ethnic cleansing” or "crimes against humanity" are used, it indicates unwillingness to take forceful action to stop the crimes. The term "genocide" is avoided because the decision against the use of force has already been made. For three months in 1994, lawyers in the State Department led by Joan Donoghue, George Taft, Ted Borek, and David Stewart, ordered that the word “genocide” should not be used to describe the massacres in Rwanda due to "insufficient proof of intent." Instead, the State Department's spokesperson, Christine Shelly infamously told reporters that “acts of genocide” was the formulation approved by State Department lawyers. Could the U.S., U.K., France, and U.N. have acted to stop or substantially reduce the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda? Within a week, France and Belgium sent in over a thousand troops to evacuate their citizens and even their pets. But none of these European powers would risk a single life to save Rwandan human beings. The U.S. had thousands of U.S. Marines on ships just off the coast of East Africa when the Rwandan genocide began on April 7, 1994. The ships carried large helicopters and other aircraft that could have airlifted thousands of U.S. Marines into Rwanda within weeks. [This capability was Top Secret until U.S. records were recently declassified. But I knew this in 1994 because I worked in the State Department and had Top Secret Codeword clearance.] This fact is still ignored by apologists for American failure to intervene like Alan Kuperman in "The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention: Genocide in Rwanda," a book refuted by Alison Des Forges of Human Rights Watch and by Gregory Stanton in "Could the Rwandan Genocide Have Been Prevented?" The U.S. Peacekeeping Task Force (Susan Rice, George Ward, and Sarah Sewell, with resistance from Prudence Bushnell) recommended withdrawal of UNAMIR rather than risk getting the U.S. involved in "another Somalia." The U.S., joined by the U.K., led the U.N. Security Council to vote on April 21, 1994, to withdraw over 2000 UNAMIR troops, rather than send in reinforcements to stop the genocide, as requested by General Roméo Dallaire, the UNAMIR commander. From 1992 to 1995 in Bosnia, Yasushi Akashi, the pacifist head of the U.N. mission refused to authorize UNPROFOR bombing of Serb forces, or even counterattacks against Serb snipers who murdered Bosnians going to market in Sarajevo. In 1999 in Kosovo over ten thousand Kosovars were killed by Serb militias and hundreds of thousands were driven out of their homes. The U.S. publicly announced it would not send U.S. troops to stop the Serbian Army's occupation of Kosovo. In Darfur in 2004, U.N. Security Council Resolutions called on the government of Sudan to prevent Janjaweed militias from murdering tens of thousands of Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa people and destroying over 400 of their villages, in full knowledge that the Sudanese government armed and financed the militias and used the Sudanese Air Force to bomb the villages. 3. It was not until the term “genocide” was applied to the crimes that force was used to stop them. Recognition of the "genocide" in Rwanda only occurred three months into the massacres. But recognition of “genocide” came too late. In June 1994, the U.N. Security Council re-authorized sending in U.N. peacekeepers. By July 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front had defeated the genocidal Rwandan army, Presidential Guard, and Hutu militias. By that time 800,000 Rwandans had already been slaughtered. On July 11–13, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces under Radko Mladić murdered 8000 Bosnian men from Srebrenica. That crime provoked a NATO conference on July 21, 1995, during which the mass murders were finally called “genocide.” NATO bombing of Serb forces began on August 30, 1995. The bombing brought Serbia to Dayton to agree to a ceasefire, division of Bosnia, and a NATO peacekeeping operation. The Bosnian civil war came to an end. Kosovo was called “ethnic cleansing” until U.S. War Crimes Ambassador David Scheffer noted “indicators of genocide” on April 7, 1999. His statement was followed within a week by bombing of Belgrade, which brought Serb surrender and NATO occupation of Kosovo. NATO peacekeepers are still in Kosovo. Use of the term "genocide" is necessary but not sufficient to motivate forceful action to stop it. After a careful empirical survey of evidence of genocide among Darfur refugees, on September 9, 2004, Secretary of State Colin Powell declared, “Genocide has occurred and may still be occurring in Darfur.... We believe the evidence corroborates the specific intent of the perpetrators to destroy ‘a group in whole or in part.’” Unfortunately, Secretary Powell also said, “However, no new action is dictated by this determination.” The U.N. resisted the American finding and refused to invoke the G-Word: “genocide.” The U.N. appointed its own Commission of Inquiry, led by Antonio Cassese, who as President of the ICTY never handed down a conviction for genocide. Insiders report that even before his Commission left for Sudan, Cassese told them it was unlikely that it could find evidence of genocidal intent by the Sudanese government. The Commission detailed many “crimes against humanity” in Darfur, but it refused to call them “genocide.” All that followed were ineffective increases in a joint U.N./African Union monitoring force without a mandate to fight the Janjaweed and Sudanese military forces that massacred Darfuris and forcibly displaced them. To this day there has been no forceful intervention by U.N., NATO, or African Union troops to stop the genocide. The Darfur genocide continues to this day. Genocide denial has resulted in continuing genocide. Since our 2007 study of the effects of use of the terms "ethnic cleansing" or "genocide," several other genocides have occurred that illustrate how the euphemism "ethnic cleansing" is used to deny genocide. ISIS Genocide Against Yazidis, Christians, Shi'a Muslims, and other religious minorities ISIS provided another example of the importance of calling genocide by its proper name. For two years, the press, the U.S. State Department, the European Union, human rights groups, and the U.N. refused to call the ISIS crimes “genocide,” except for the massacres against the Yazidi. Even the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum denied that Christians and Shi’a Muslims were also victims of genocide. In 2015, Genocide Watch, the Hudson Institute, the Knights of Columbus, Catholic University, and Congressional staff from both parties formed the Genocide Working Group in Washington, DC. The group drafted resolutions that were introduced in Congress and in the European Parliament declaring that ISIS was committing genocide against the Yazidis, Christians, Shi’a Muslims and other religious groups. The resolution passed unanimously in the United States Congress and nearly unanimously in the European Parliament. U.S. Secretary of State Kerry overruled his legal advisors and declared that ISIS was committing genocide. The U.S. and coalition response was immediate. Military action against ISIS was intensified. ISIS was militarily defeated in Iraq and Syria. Laws were passed to support resettlement of the victims of ISIS in Iraq. Myanmar's genocide against the Rohingya Genocide is precisely what the Myanmar government and supporting militias have committed against the Rohingya since 2012. Myanmar committed both forced displacement [“ethnic cleansing”] and genocide. The crimes often go together. Genocidal massacres are used to terrorize a victim group into fleeing. Over 700,000 Rohingya fled into Bangladesh in 2017 to escape systematic massacres by the Myanmar army that killed at least 10,000 Rohingya and burned over 400 Rohingya villages to the ground. Yet the so-called “international community” (which exists only in popular imaginations) still avoids using the word “genocide.” The UN, press, human rights groups, and many governments still call the Myanmar Army's aggression, genocidal massacres, and forced deportation against the Rohingya “ethnic cleansing.” Since 2012, the term “ethnic cleansing” has been the dominant term used for the Rohingya genocide in articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, the Guardian, in statements by United Nations officials, in statements by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. and in statements by the U.S. State Department. Why do certain groups insist on using the euphemism "ethnic cleansing" to deny that "genocide" is underway or has occurred? “Ethnic cleansing” is used by the press because reporters consider genocide a legal word that can only be validly used by lawyers. Members of the press are reluctant to use legal terms they are unsure about. Diplomats speak of “ethnic cleansing” rather than genocide to avoid offending other diplomats or U.N. member states, and to avoid implying that their nation or the U.N. has a duty to take preventive action. Lawyers are reluctant to use the word “genocide” for several reasons: Lawyers have gutted the word “genocide” of its preventive effect by insisting on judicial standards of proof of specific intent beyond a reasonable doubt rather than a prosecutor’s preponderance of the evidence. Lawyers sometimes think that statements by the perpetrator are necessary to prove specific intent. But the only thing “specific” about specific intent is that the intent must be to destroy a group. As in ordinary criminal law, perpetrators seldom announce their intentions. Actions are the normal way to prove intent. A systematic campaign of killings and destruction should be enough proof of the specific intent to destroy a group, in whole or in part. British Foreign Office, E.U., and U.N. lawyers even claim that only a court can invoke the word “genocide.” This view is profoundly wrong. It ignores the very name of the International Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Courts judge cases after genocide is over—too late for prevention. Following Schabas, legal advisors to governments and tribunals argue that it is equally damning to call the crimes "ethnic cleansing,” “atrocities,” or “crimes against humanity.” Prison sentences for crimes against humanity in international tribunals have been equal to sentences for genocide. Therefore, charging perpetrators with “crimes against humanity” is as effective as charging them with “genocide.” Such reasoning may apply in trials of individual perpetrators after a genocide is over. But it gives policy makers an easy way out so they can deny their nations' legal duty to prevent genocide. Lawyers for human rights groups like Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International avoid using the word genocide because they share Schabas’ narrow view of genocidal intent and because they usually oppose military intervention to prevent genocide. They seldom use the word until after a genocide is over. Some lawyers like Schabas and lawyers at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yad Vashem, Human Rights Watch, and elsewhere avoid using the word “genocide” because they do not want to de-value its special application to the Holocaust. They limit use of the word to genocides “in whole,” where the intent is to destroy a whole group. Schabas refuses to apply the word “genocide” to most genocides “in part.” Schabas denies that genocide occurred in Cambodia, Darfur, the Holodomor, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and other genocides "in part," even though these are considered genocides by most other genocide scholars. On April 20, 2021, writing with Jeffrey Sachs, Schabas also denied that the word “genocide” should be applied to the Chinese crimes against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Policy makers who do not want their nations to be involved in forceful military action avoid using the word “genocide.” They often even oppose deployment of U.N. peacekeeping forces with strong enough mandates and rules of engagement to aggressively protect civilians against genocidal militias and armies. This is a dominant reason that the State Department's Office of the Legal Advisor and the British Foreign Office avoid the word "Genocide." Raphael Lemkin invented the word “genocide” because "extermination" or "barbarism" did not express the horror of the Armenian Genocide or the Holocaust. He meant it to apply to partial genocides as well as genocides intended to destroy "in whole." Genocide consists of acts of genocide intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Genocidal massacres are acts of genocide. Conclusions; “Genocide” is a more powerful word than “ethnic cleansing.” When the term “genocide” is used instead of “ethnic cleansing,” use of force to stop it becomes possible. When the crimes are called “ethnic cleansing” or “crimes against humanity,” it is an indicator of lack of political will to use force to stop them. "Ethnic cleansing" is a term used to avoid forceful action to prevent genocide. Since 2000, the term “atrocities” (which also has no status in international law) has become another euphemism that indicates the absence of political will to take forceful action to stop genocide. The term "ethnic cleansing" is a euphemism used for genocide denial. "Ethnic cleansing" should be expunged from the legal and journalistic lexicon.

There have been 525 attacks against Christians in India in the first eight months of 2023. This year will likely excede the record violence set in 2022 and in 2021. By Jahnavi Sen Photo: SHAKEEL AHAMMED/Unsplash New Delhi: On Thursday, September 7, the United Christian Forum (UCF) – a civil society organisation focused on Christian issues, based in Delhi – released a stunning statistic: there have been 525 attacks against Christians in India just in the first eight months of 2023. If this trend were to continue, this would prove to be one of the most violent and difficult years the Christian community in India has ever seen, breaking the recent record set by 2022, and 2021 before that. Vigilante violence against Muslims and Dalits has been accompanied by a sharp rise in attacks against Christians in India in recent years, often managing to escape the headlines. The numbers for this year are likely to be particularly high, given the violence in Manipur – where hundreds of churches have been destroyed in the last four months. A petition in the Supreme Court puts the figure of places of worship destroyed at 642. The Archbishop of Imphal in June said 249 churches were destroyed in just 36 hours. The UCF data does not include incidents from Manipur. “All these incidents of violence are by mob violence led by so called vigilante groups of particular faith who are allegedly receiving support from people in power,” the UCF said in a press release. According to the 2011 Census, Christians make up about 2.3% of India’s population. The Evangelical Fellowship of India, which was founded in 1951, describes itself as an alliance of evangelical Christians in the country. “Its membership includes over 54 protestant denominations and related congregations (over 65,000 Churches), over 200 Church related mission agencies and organizations and thousands of individual members,” the organisation said in a 2018 report. Over the years, EFI has been collecting data from across the country on attacks faced by Christian community – in the form of violence, attacks on churches or prayers meetings, harassment of those following their faith, ostracisation and limiting access to community resources, and false allegations, particularly those pertaining to ‘forced conversions’. The National Crime Records Bureau does not collect disaggregated data on attacks against Christians. NCRB data also makes the heavily contested claim that riots have declined in India and the situation is more peaceful in recent years. A massive jump in number of attacks In the 11 years between 2012 and 2022, the number of incidents recorded have gone up four times. The first big jump was in 2016, when the EFI report detailed 247 incidents. This number continued to rise in the next few years. The next jump was in 2021, which saw 505 incidents recorded. This rose further to 599 in 2022. State-specific patterns have also undergone a change. The number of incidents in Uttar Pradesh, for instance, has seen a sharp increase, going from 18 in 2014 to 50 in 2017. In March 2017, then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and head of the Gorakhnath math, Adityanath, who is open about his hardline Hindutva politics, took over as the state’s chief minister. By 2018, the number of incidents against Christians recorded by the EFI in the state had gone up to 132. After small dips in 2019 and 2020, it was back up to 129 incidents in 2021. Another state which has seen a large number of attacks over the years is Tamil Nadu. Here, according to the EFI, anti-Christian violence often overlaps with casteist violence, and “victims largely come from the so called lower castes in villages where the dominant groups object to prayer houses and even the entry of missionaries”. In the most recent data for 2023 released by UCF, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Haryana have reported the highest number of incidents against Christians. The attacks against Christians are not occurring in a vacuum – and the rise in the number of such incidents coincides with the rise in Hindu nationalism and different forms of violence against minorities by both state and non-state actors. Statements on minorities by ruling party leaders or those holding high office seem to have been a force-multiplier and led to more impunity. “We have seen increasing communal tensions in India, fanned by hate speeches from political leaders promoting a majoritarian Hindu ideology, that incite violence,” Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, told The Wire. “While Hindus have the right to practice their faith, that should not include undermining and attacking fellow Indians who might follow another religion or belief. Instead, some Hindu groups, that believe they enjoy the protection and patronage of the ruling BJP, have targeted Muslims and Christians, their places of worship, and even their livelihood.” One of the most infamous attacks faced by Christians in India was the killing of Graham Staines and his two young sons – one 10 and the other seven years old – in early 1999, in Odisha’s Keonjhar district. Staines was an Australian Christian missionary. The other incident that is often remembered for its scale and brutality is the violence at Kandhamal in Odisha in 2008, which left close to 100 people dead and tens of thousands displaced. While these extreme incidents may have caught the headlines, more everyday forms of brutality and violence against the community continue, the EFI annual reports detail. In many instances they record, no police FIR was filed – in some cases despite a complaint being made. In other situations, the victims do not want to take the cases forward. “Most cases go unreported either because the victim is terrified or the police, especially in the northern states, just turn a blind eye and refuse to record the mandatory First Information Report,” the EFI noted in a 2017 report. “Most of the time, FIRs are filed against the victims of violence, while the perpetrators are allowed to go scot-free,” A.C. Michael, national convenor of the UCF, told The Wire. “Otherwise the police usually tries to pacify the victims, saying if you file a case then they [the attackers] may become more aggressive, and then your life will be more dangerous.” Most victims of such violence are in villages, he added, and so out of fear they themselves are also unwilling to file an FIR. While the word ‘church’ usually creates the imagination of a large structure, that is not how most Christians in India pray, journalist and rights activist John Dayal, who has played a role in drafting some of EFI’s reports, told The Wire. In fact, particularly in rural areas, the most common form is a home church – where prayers are offered within a private residence (perhaps of a pastor) or in small, makeshift setups. Given that they are often open structures, these home churches are highly vulnerable – and the most victimized, Dayal said. Such churches have faced numerous attacks over the years, mostly from right-wing Hindu groups. Similarly, prayer meetings being held in pastors’ or other individuals’ homes also become targets of disruption, with EFI reports recording numerous instances where mobs have barged in on such gatherings. Even larger churches have not been spared – and there have been cases where the government’s role in protecting religious freedom has been questionable. A 400-year-old church in Diu, for instance, was recently targeted for acquisition by the Daman administration in order to ‘beautify’ a football field, before protests and petitions seem to have stalled the plans for the time being. ‘False cases’ The hesitation in approaching the police is perhaps further explained when looking at the incidents detailed in the EFI reports. Pastors and other practicing Christians – as well as Christian schools and other organisations – are regularly accused of being involved in ‘forced conversion’ activities by right-wing Hindu groups like the Bajrang Dal. This accusation –without evidence – is used as a pretext for mob attacks, both on individuals and on churches. The police, in several cases, respond by filing charges against the victims of the violence rather than the perpetrators. This has been a documented outcome of anti-conversion laws that a number of BJP state governments have brought in, though other laws too are misused to harass Christians, according to EFI. In its 2023 annual report, the bipartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) once again asked the US government to designate India as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ when it comes to religious freedom. In addition to highlighting anti-minority statements from ruling politicians and numerous incidents of physical violence, the Commission specifically noted the impact of anti-conversion laws. “These laws are not limited to instances of coercion, and they contain broad and vague language that can be used to target voluntary religious conversions. Common features of these laws include prohibitions on conversions, requirements to notify the government of one’s intent to convert, and burden-shifting provisions that presume an accused individual is guilty,” the report noted. “These laws carry penalties of hefty fines and imprisonment and disproportionately target Christians and Muslims. Increasingly, anti-conversion laws are used to prevent interfaith marriages or relationships, including so-called “Love Jihads,” a derogatory term that targets Muslims and refers to conversions occurring in the context of interfaith marriages.” Pastors are routinely arrested on forced conversion and other charges, the EFI reports point out, and are faced with an unsympathetic – and sometimes even violent – police force. “Just this year, 520 Christians – pastors and others – have been arrested in false cases,” A.C. Michael, national convenor of the UCF, told The Wire. “But in all these cases, there is no complainant saying ‘I was forcefully converted’. It is a third party which comes and says people are being converted. Where are all these invisible converted people? If Christians are so busy converting everyone, why is their share of the population the same in census after census? Who has been forced? Nobody seems to be asking that question, people just want to make allegations.” This is also a question Michael has raised in the Supreme Court, in a petition challenging anti-conversion laws. The same bench is also hearing petitions against ‘wrongful’ conversion. In response to Michael’s petition, the Union government has claimed that attacks are being “fabricated”. The police too is helpless, he said, as they are under pressure from certain groups as well as their political bosses to file cases against pastors and other Christian religious leaders. “No police in the country works free, they’re all controlled and they only want to work for the bosses,” Michael told The Wire. This attitude – where stringent laws are used to persecute minorities but not those accused of violence against them – “undermines the rule of law”, Ganguly told The Wire. “It is extremely important that political leaders, and in particular the prime minister, who enjoys tremendous approval among communities, publicly and repeatedly condemn communal attacks by government supporters,” Ganguly said. “The authorities should end bias in prosecutions. Many government supporters seem to evade arrest in the event that cases are even filed are filed against them, their bail pleas are seldom opposed, and worse, even those convicted of serious crimes like gang rape and murder have been pardoned. On the other hand, government critics and religious minorities are not just arrested, but face charges under draconian laws, denied bail, and often even have to endure summary justice such as the demolition of their properties. Prejudice in the justice system undermines rule of law,” she continued. The silence of government authorities? This is not a new concern, and one that has been pointed out by members of the Christian community to those in the highest positions of power for some time now. Most recently, on April 13, a Christian delegation met President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The delegates had given the president a memorandum and discussed rising incidents of violent attacks on the community, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Soon after, on April 21, Michael, who was a part of the delegation that met Murmu, had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi too, talking about the injustices inflicted on the Christian community using anti-conversion laws, attacks on minority schools and the continuing marginalisation of Dalit Christians. Michael’s letter to Modi, which asks the prime minister not to let anybody try to diminish the diversity and vibrancy of India, came soon after Modi had made a much-publicised trip to Delhi’s Sacred Heart Cathedral on Easter. Despite this show of solidarity, Modi has had nothing to say to Michael’s concerns, expressed one month later. “The letter went from the PMO to several ministries and finally to the National Commission for Minorities,” Michael told The Wire. “The NCM has now given us a date, September 21, to meet them regarding the letter.” While the BJP may think they are politically and electorally significant in parts of the country, visits like the ones Modi has made to churches, the last one on Easter in New Delhi, do little to help the community, Michael said, since impunity for those perpetrating violence continues. The prime minister’s silence on these matters is felt deeply – and his decision to speak up could have made a significant difference, experts believe. Several human rights organisations have also pointed out the problems that are created when countries that promise to uphold religious freedom do not bring up the situation in India – and instead can be seen celebrating Modi. Such criticisms were seen during Modi’s recent visits to the US and France. Critics underscored the need for Western governments to differentiate between celebrating Modi and celebrating and showing respect for India. © The Wire 2023

Burning building bombed by Myanmar airforce. Credit: Free Burma Rangers The Country That Bombs Its Own People The New York Times July 31, 2023 By Haley Willis and Weiyi Cai Visual evidence, data and interviews show that the Myanmar military’s campaign of terror, which began after a coup sparked widespread resistance, is getting worse. Displaced residents in Myanmar had just returned to their village to get more rice when a military jet flew overhead, a survivor said. Video captures the airstrike, which killed four people. No target appears to be off limits for the military, which has made attacking civilian structures central to its war against opposition groups. The New York Times verified videos and photographs, analyzed data and satellite imagery and interviewed residents. The evidence shows that brutality against civilians is escalating. Internet shutdowns and digital surveillance prevent much information from trickling beyond Myanmar’s borders. But behind the veil of secrecy, the military is carrying out a devastating and indiscriminate campaign of violence. Even for a country long notorious for military abuses, the violence and humanitarian crisis now are unprecedented, many experts say. Myanmar has experienced nearly continuous conflict since its independence in 1948. The country’s military holds unusual power, ruling for decades and often using force to squelch opposition. Its genocidal forced displacement campaign against Rohingya Muslims in 2017 set off one of the largest refugee crises in history, prompting an international outcry. [Comment: Genocide Watch refuses to use the term "ethnic cleansing" a term invented by Slobodan Milošević used to deny genocide.] Then in 2021, the military staged a coup after an election, and protesters soon filled the streets. When demonstrators were met with a violent crackdown, the opposition’s National Unity Government, led by ousted politicians and activists, established an armed resistance force. The opposition and its allied forces now effectively control large swaths of the country. As they have gained ground, the military has resorted to increasing air attacks — many of which hit civilians. Data shows that there were nearly twice as many military airstrikes reported in April, May and June as in the first three months of the year. Visuals analyzed by The Times and witness accounts reveal what that escalation looks like on the ground — and how attacks against civilians play an essential role in the military’s strategy. The military’s strategy is to punish the civilian population for any perceived support of the opposition, said Anthony Davis, an analyst for the Janes group of military publications and an expert on the Myanmar military. “It’s about burning villages, bombing villages and forcing the civilian population out of villages,” Mr. Davis said. Some of those tactics were once used against the Rohingya population in Rakhine State. Back then, the junta displaced around one million people. Since the February 2021 coup, 1.5 million people have been displaced, according to a report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on June 28. Local organizations have estimated the number to be significantly higher. The United Nations High Commissioner also reported that at least 3,452 people had been killed by the military and its allies since the coup. “Until the military dictatorship is overthrown, we remain haunted by the uncertainty of which day our lives may be extinguished,” said U Maung Maung, 25, who was injured while fleeing an airstrike in February. “Almost every day, our village endured bombings” Opposition forces are now effectively in control of half Myanmar’s land. With the fighting no longer limited to pockets of the country, the military is woefully undermanned on the ground, said Mr. Davis, the Janes analyst. “It’s not just, We’re fighting in Rakhine or we’re fighting in Kachin. What you’ve got now is the military on the back foot increasingly having to fight almost everywhere.” The military is using jets supplied by China and Russia and relies on a fuel supply chain that experts say should be hit with stronger sanctions to rein in the attacks. “As long as the Myanmar military continues to be allowed to get access to aviation fuel, we are only going to see more and more civilian suffering,” said Nang Sein, the Myanmar researcher at Amnesty International. While opposition groups have expanded their arsenal of light weaponry, their only airpower is small drones rigged to drop homemade munitions. These drones have been increasingly used to target military posts and troops. Resistance forces, too, have been accused of abuses during the conflict. But the indiscriminate nature of the air campaign, and its widespread impact on civilians, is unique to the military. In some of its most brazen attacks, the military has launched airstrikes on public events seen as affiliated with the opposition — including the opening of an administrative center in the Sagaing region and a concert for the anniversary of an independence group in Kachin State. Source: The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) Data as of June 30, 2023 On Oct. 23, 2022, an airstrike hit an outdoor concert. On April 11, the military bombed a large gathering in Pazigyi Village, killing more than 150 people. A drone attack on a military barrack in June 2022 reportedly killed 15 soldiers. Data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, which collects information on conflicts around the world, shows that airstrikes have become more frequent throughout the conflict. Over 40 military strikes were reported in June alone — more than any other month this year. Altogether, 2023 has had a monthly average of 30 airstrikes, the highest for any year of the conflict so far. Most of the airstrikes take place in opposition-held areas. In some cases, these strikes are called in by ground forces to counter specific opposition attacks on army posts. But much more often, they are indiscriminate, which means that civilians bear the brunt of the violence. Mr. Davis estimated that at least 85 percent of deaths from the strikes were civilian. “Right now, air power is very largely about punishment,” he said. “Its direct military impact is pretty minimal.” The strikes come at all hours of the day, some as early as 4 a.m. “The military wants to send a message that you either stay on our side or you are our enemy,” said Ms. Nang, the Amnesty International researcher. The military has been carrying out airstrikes more frequently 2021 Average 8 strikes per month. The military was mainly striking resistance fighters and base camps. From November 2021, more and more airstrikes were causing civilian harm. 2022 26 strikes per month 2023 30 strikes per month Source: The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) Data as of June 30, 2023. Visual evidence verified by The Times shows that strikes have hit schools, hospitals and places of worship. In several cases, local residents said that there had been no resistance fighters present in their village, though there was no way to confirm this. On June 27, a military jet struck a monastery in the village of Nyaung Kone. One resident, U Zaw Htwe, said that a monk and nine other civilians had been killed. Images from the scene show the monastery destroyed. Other photographs show damage to a high school and to a hospital in the Sagaing region after an airstrike on Feb. 23. “The primary focus of the assault that day was the hospital,” said Mr. Maung Maung, the resident who was injured. Hospital, school, and church destroyed by Myanmar air force bombing. Credit: Free Burma Rangers And nine people, including four children, were killed in what witnesses said was a military airstrike on March 30 in the village of Khuafo, in Thantlang Township. Video shows extensive destruction in the village. Ngun Hoi, 40, was seriously injured in the airstrike. She remains bedridden in a hospital after having a steel rod inserted in her leg. Mrs. Ngun Hoi has fled attacks by the military multiple times since the coup, a common experience in Myanmar. Daw Ta Ma Gyi Hospital. Credit: Free Burma Rangers “I served as an employee at a hospital in Thantlang,” she said. “Unfortunately, the Myanmar military burned our home there, compelling me to seek refuge in Khuafo village — where fate had an airstrike in store for me.” Nine people, including children, were killed in what witnesses described as an airstrike in Thantlang Township. Credit: SalaiTial Hram Ling “They perished in the flames” The burning of villages, like Mrs. Ngun Hoi’s former home, is another tactic long used by the military to break the will of the opposition. As with the air campaign, the military has recently escalated its scorched-earth campaign. Drone footage captures the military in the act of burning down Let Htoke Taw village in the southern Sagaing region. Credit: Khit Thit, Myanmar Witness An armed man walks out of one of the homes. Moments later, it goes up in flames. A satellite image captured on May 6 confirms the date of the attack. Fires raging in several parts of the village are visible. Credit: Planet Labs When fighter jets or helicopters are involved, attacks can be easily attributed to government forces. But responsibility for fires is often much more difficult to prove. The video of the soldier leaving the house, first analyzed and shared with The Times by the nongovernmental organization Myanmar Witness, is rare evidence of troops in the act. Mr. Davis, who reviewed the footage, said there was no doubt that this was state security forces at work. “The helmets, the distinctive way many of them shoulder their rifles and the military discipline and organization at some moments make that entirely clear,” he said. Daw Thein Htay, whose home was burned in the attack, said that soldiers had threatened to incinerate the village unless residents disclosed the location of an opposition leader. “When we said we did not know, they set our village on fire,” she said. Fires like this are most concentrated in the opposition stronghold of Sagaing; some villages have been burned repeatedly. Mrs. Thein Htay said that the villagers in Let Htoke Taw were warned of a repeat attack if they dared to reconstruct their homes. A recent analysis by Myanmar Witness found an alarming increase in fires, with nearly six times as many identified in December 2022 as in December 2021. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in July that around 60,000 civilian structures had been burned since the start of the coup. Satellite imagery reveals the extent of the destruction wrought by fires in Myanmar. Between May 25 and June 1 alone, The Times identified at least seven clearly burned villages spread across three states. Four were captured in satellite imagery while burning. Ma Gyi Sauk on May 25 Source: Planet Labs The destruction of food storage facilities and livestock has also been a common tactic in the military’s offensive. Photographs shared by Myanmar Witness show the burning of grain piles and of a rice storage facility in mid-November in Paung Hle Kone in the Sagaing region. Source: Khin-U Township News via Facebook One resident, U Maung Tun Sein, said that Paung Hle Kone was just one of several villages in the area where the military had destroyed rice storage facilities that week. Civilians across the country have died in the raids and widespread burning. “Even as we sought refuge in the jungle while our homes were torched, we remained in hiding because the soldiers of the army pursued us,” Mr. Maung Tun Sein said. “Their objective was not solely to destroy houses but to inflict harm upon the inhabitants as well.” Some vulnerable groups, like the elderly, are not able to flee at all. On March 25 in Sagaing’s Son Kone village, over 150 homes were burned to the ground. Six of the seven people killed in the fire were 70 or older, a resident said. “When the soldiers arrived at the village, seven elderly individuals who were unable to flee sought refuge in their homes,” recounted U Sein Myint, a survivor of the attack. “Tragically, the military set their houses ablaze, leaving them with no means of escape. The elderly residents met a horrifying fate as they perished in the flames.” Nearly everyone who spoke to The Times said they lived in constant fear. Even outside the most active conflict zones, the military carries out extensive monitoring to suppress support for the opposition. Any hint of resistance can lead to arrest. “In Myanmar, people die every day because the army kills them, but we don't even dare to change our profile picture on Facebook to a black screen as a sign of mourning,” said U Thet Swe, a businessman in Yangon. “We are living in such a situation that we do not dare to mourn the death of our own citizens.” Nearly 200 homes were burned to the ground in Son Kone village in the Sagaing region. Citizen journalist To view videos go to: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/31/world/asia/myanmar-military.html?searchResultPosition=1 sources: Free Burma Rangers; Khit Thit Media via Facebook; Kantarawaddy Times via YouTube; Planet Labs Additional production by Agnes Chang and Aaron Byrd. Richard C. Paddock and John Ismay contributed reporting. Copyright 2023 The New York Times Company

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing Nagorno-Karabakh: Update Date: Wednesday, September 6, 2023 - 1:00pm Location: 2200 Rayburn House Office Building Click here to watch the hearing live. Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the ongoing blockade of the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, released his personal Expert Opinion on August 7, stating that “there is a reasonable basis to believe that a Genocide is being committed against Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023” and emphasizing that under the Genocide Conventions all states have a “duty to prevent” genocide. At the hearing Mr. Ocampo will present his Expert Opinion on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. David Phillips will testify on facts relevant to gathering the intent of the government of Azerbaijan, including as available on the web page “Atrocities Artsakh.” Chaired by: Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) Co-Chair, TLHRC Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) Co-Chair, TLHRC Witnesses Luis Moreno Ocampo, Former Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (2003-2012) David L. Phillips, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, and Director of Columbia University’s Artsakh Atrocities Project. *Witnesses may be added. Click here for additional information about the hearing.

The mural depicts a map that reflects core civilisational claim of India’s Hindu Right when it comes to South Asia. June 13, 2023 By Rhea Mogul, CNN A new mural on display in India’s new $110 million Parliament has become an unlikely target of ire among its South Asian neighbors, with Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh seeking an explanation from New Delhi. The mural depicts a map of an ancient Indian civilization encompassing what is today Pakistan in the north and Bangladesh and Nepal in the east. The mural inside India's new Parliament building. Speaking to reporters earlier this month, the spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi, said it portrays the ancient Ashoka Empire and symbolizes “the idea of responsible and people-oriented governance that (King Ashoka) adopted and propagated.” But to some politicians from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it appears to represent a vision of the future – of “Akhand Bharat,” an “Undivided India” that would merge the modern-day country with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. “The resolve is clear. Akhand Bharat,” tweeted Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi alongside a photograph of the map. “Akhand Bharat in (the) New Parliament. It represents our powerful and self reliant India,” tweeted BJP lawmaker Manoj Kotak. To India’s neighbors, “Akhand Bharat” is an incendiary, neo-imperialist concept – one that has long been associated with the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an ideological organization that heavily influences the BJP, and which believesin “Hindutva,” the idea that India should become the “Home of the Hindus.” Earlier this month, Pakistan said it was “appalled by the statements” made about the mural. “The gratuitous assertion of ‘Akhand Bharat’ is a manifestation of a revisionist and expansionist mindset that seeks to subjugate the identity and culture of not only India’s neighboring countries but also its own religious minorities,” said foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch. Nepali politicians also chimed in. “If a country like India – that sees itself as an ancient and strong country, and as a model of democracy – puts Nepali territories in its map and hangs the map in parliament, it cannot be called fair,” opposition leader KP Sharma Oli said, accordingto The Kathmandu Post. Nepal’s former prime minister, Baburam Bhattarai, warned the map may stoke an “unnecessary and harmful diplomatic row.” And last week, Bangladesh asked New Delhi to clarify the situation. “Anger is being expressed from various quarters over the map,” said Shahriar Alam, its junior minister for foreign affairs. Answering a question about the backlash last week, India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the issue had already been clarified by India, and it was “not political.” While India has dismissed their concerns, analysts say calls by BJP politicians to embrace “Akhand Bharat” are dangerous. They say such appeals embolden extremist groups and are bad news for a constitutionally secular democracy, where about 80% of the 1.4 billion population is Hindu and 14% Muslim. “Many BJP leaders are increasingly making statements to placate the most hardcore elements of their party, without realizing how that might play out overseas,” said Salil Tripathi, a writer based in New York. “These politicians and leaders act as if the world isn’t listening. It keeps the cauldron hot, but it is a dangerous game.” Controversial ceremony The mural was not the only thing turning heads when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the parliament on May 28. Similarly controversial was the ceremony itself, steeped in Hindu religious symbolism, which critics felt jarred with the supposedly secular nature of Indian government affairs. It also took place on the birthday of the late Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the man widely considered to have developed the Hindutva ideology and one of the first proponents of Akhand Bharat. A leader of the right-wing Hindu Mahasabha group, Savarkar is revered by Modi and the BJP, who credit him with leading India to its freedom from British colonial rule. Indian home minister Amit Shah pictured alongside a garlanded photo of Savarkar on April 21, 2017 in Mumbai, India. But critics say it is wrong to honor his birthday, given his stance toward Muslims. The Hindu Mahasabha’s website says if it takes power, it will not hesitate to “force” the migration of India’s Muslims to Pakistan. While the group’s ideas are decades old, it appears more bold about them now. In December 2021, some extremists from the group called for a genocide against Muslims to “protect” India. Sushant Singh, a senior fellow with the Centre for Policy Research think tank, said groups felt emboldened to make such brazen calls for violence because they “believe that they have the backing of the state.” “That is because the state clearly believes in their ideology and articulates that ideology,” he added. Nervous neighbors While the BJP does not openly describe itself as Hindu nationalist, critics say such leanings are given away by legislation that favors Hindus and the rhetoric of some of its leading figures. One of the BJP’s most controversial moves came in 2019 when it revoked the semi-autonomous status of the Muslim-majority region of Indian-administered Kashmir, bringing it under the direct control of New Delhi. Muslim women hold placards during a demonstration after educational institutes in Karnataka denied entry to students for wearing hijabs, in Bangalore on February 7, 2022. India said the move was aimed at ending separatism and terrorism it alleged was aided by Pakistan. Critics said the move was aimed at encouraging Hindus to settle there. Skepticism over New Delhi’s motives was fueled by India’s Home Minister Amit Shah when he said the revocation had partially achieved the dream of Akhand Bharat – a sentiment echoed by other right-wing politicians. “We have to see the dream of Akhand Bharat in this lifetime and it has started with (this),” said deputy chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis. Kashmiri boys hold a banner during a protest against the revoke of controversial Article 370 by Indian government in Srinagar while curfew continues on the fifth day in Kashmir, India on August 09, 2019. Experts say such rhetoric has made India’s neighbors nervous. “The tragedy is that with this kind of narrative coming from India, it only enforces the Pakistan army’s view that there is a threat,” said Pakistani historian Ayesha Jalal. Fahd Humayun, an assistant professor of political science at Tufts University, warned statements like these can “impact the national security calculus” of neighboring states. He added: “In practical terms, the worry is (these comments) build on a brand of Hindu nationalism which has clear expansionist tendencies.” © 2023 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.