Violence in the Indian state of Manipur has put India’s Christian minority on the edge. Two days of violence against Christians in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur has left an indeterminate number of Christians dead. Thousands more have been displaced as a result of the unrest fueled by Hindu nationalism. Churches have been vandalised or burned down. The victims' needs are being assessed by CSI's local partner. The attacks began on May 3, with incidents reported in the Imphal Valley and Churachandpur. The attackers are members of the predominantly Hindu Meitei ethnic community, which has long clashed with Christians over land ownership and the government's affirmative action policies, which are intended to assist the most socially disadvantaged groups. On May 4, unconfirmed reports stated that at least 15 Christians had been killed and that houses and churches had been damaged, destroyed, or burned in 27 villages. Despite the state government imposing a curfew in the affected areas and suspending internet access on May 4, mobs continued to attack Christians. "Christians are being attacked in the presence of state police and commandos," a local source told CSI. “It doesn’t seem as if there’s a curfew, as mobs can be seen roaming the streets. All of my family members and friends have fled to the forest.” Thousands evacuated It is difficult to accurately assess the full extent of the damage inflicted on the Christian community due to the ongoing suspension of telecommunication services in Manipur, which borders Myanmar. By the late evening of May 4, the intensity and frequency of the attacks had decreased after military personnel were deployed to the affected areas and police were given shoot-at-sight orders. Thousands of people were reportedly evacuated to safer locations by military personnel. “The pogrom we were fearing didn’t happen,” the source said the following morning, adding, however, that tensions prevailed and some minor incidents were still being reported. According to some media reports, members of the Meitei community have also been attacked. Call for peace The United Christian Forum of North East India has appealed for peace. “As a Christian organization, we believe in the value of human life and the importance of respecting the dignity of every individual,” the forum said in a statement. “We call on all members of society to refrain from engaging in violent acts and to instead engage in peaceful dialogue to address their concerns.” Explaining the background to the violence, the source said the Meiteis primarily inhabit the Imphal Valley, while the Christians, who are from various tribal communities, reside in the hills that surround it. Although Hindus and Christians each comprise approximately 42 percent of the state's population, the Meiteis have held sway over political and economic life. Unequal treatment The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the state election in 2017 at a time when Christians were struggling for equality. Since his appointment, the state's Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has been promoting an “anti-tribal agenda,” the local source added, pointing out that Singh reclassified the majority of tribal settlements as reserved forests. As a result, those who live there were effectively labeled illegal immigrants. The tribal communities had been living in the forests for generations. Singh also reportedly ordered the demolition of churches in the state capital of Imphal, alleging they were built on government land. The government’s policies seem to be strategically aimed at economically weakening the tribal population while bolstering the Meiteis, the source said. Special rights for Meitei The Manipur High Court ordered the state government to respond to the Meitei community's request for tribal status in April, which would grant the Meitei community special protections such as reserved parliamentary and state legislature seats, affirmative action in education and employment, and property protection. The unrest began on May 3, following a rally organised by a tribal student group, which was held to protest the demand by the Meiteis for legal recognition as a tribal group. According to reports, the protest was marred by violence. Soon after, reports surfaced of Meitei attacks on Christians that were indiscriminately lethal. Following such widespread violence, it is critical to deliver justice to the victims and ensure that the state prevents such incidents from occurring again, according to CSI's local partner. "This will be the focal point of our intervention," they stated. Copyright (C) 2023 Christian Solidarity International - USA. All rights reserved.

Syrian refugees fear normalization with Assad. Because it means they will have to return—and not by choice. by Arwa Damon for Atlantic Council Syrian children play above an informal refugee camp in the village of Arsal, in northeast Lebanon [Tessa Fox/Al Jazeera] “We would always hear talk about how Lebanon would start forcing Syrians to go back,” Safa, a twenty-year-old Syrian refugee in Lebanon, tells me. “But we never took it all that seriously. Not until now. Now it’s a rollercoaster.” The news of the Arab League bringing Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad back into its fold after a decade of civil war has exacerbated a constant, almost paralyzing fear that Syrian refugees have felt for years. No one who lived through this era can forget the barrel bombs indiscriminately raining hell down on civilian neighborhoods; the roar of Syrian and Russian fighter jets bombing schools and hospitals; the massacres of entire families—including children slaughtered for no apparent reason other than evil itself—and the months-long sieges of neighborhoods that left populations so hungry they ate grass. But it would seem that it’s now in the interest of Arab League nations to move past these crimes. They argue that Assad’s isolation did little to alter his behavior and that re-opening communication is the best way to tackle the threat of terrorism, the growing drug trade flowing through Syria, and the headache caused by Syrian refugees. After all, if Syria is no longer a pariah state in the eyes of Arab nations, then surely its citizens can return. It’s a prospect that terrifies Syrians who fled. They fear that this “normalization” of ties between the Arab League and Syria will boost the narrative that “Syria is safe now,” giving further justification to governments, politicians, and citizens of countries who have wanted to rid themselves of their Syrian refugee population for years. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 5.5 million Syrian refugees live in its neighboring countries. This does not count those who fled and made it to Europe, where many countries would like to—and in some cases have already—sent them back home. The “Syrians can go back home” narrative is nothing new—it has been parroted for years. This action by the Arab League will potentially give any country wanting to deport Syrians the smokescreen it needs to justify its actions. Safa is a university student who has lived as a Syrian refugee in Lebanon longer than she has lived in her homeland. As a child, she lived with the fear of being forced to go back home. As a young adult, it now permeates every aspect of her existence, growing by the day, and launching her into a constant state of anxiety. “It’s crazy what is happening now,” she laments. “Imagine, they have a curfew for us now. As Syrians, we’re not allowed outside after 7 pm in my village in the south. They say it’s for the security of the Lebanese.” The Lebanese army has been carrying out increasing raids across the country in areas inhabited by Syrian refugees, detaining and deporting hundreds, according to Amnesty International and other rights organizations. Individuals detained are dumped straight into the hands of Syrian authorities, where enough are reportedly arbitrarily detained, forcibly conscripted, or just disappeared that it sends waves of fear through the refugee population. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has already cited a “decline in intense military tension in many areas” in Syria, as he called on the international community to facilitate a new approach to rid Lebanon of Syrian refugees, whether it be sending Syrians back home or to a third country. Lebanon has been increasingly scapegoating its refugee population, leading to a stunning increase in aggression and hatred. Safa and her family live in fear within their own home. They recently moved towns and were visited by the Lebanese security forces, who informed them that they must register with all their documents or be deported immediately. It’s not just fear of the possibility of deportation, even though their papers are in order. It’s the hatred that serves as an equally strong driver of the fear: “How secure is my life here?” It permeates every aspect of Safa’s life to the point that her insides clench each time she steps outside. She’s a university student working after class to help support her studies and her ten-person family. “Our neighbors, even my friends at school, my boss at work, you feel their hatred of Syrians,” she explains. “They say things like, ‘Oh, you came, and now you’re leeching off of us. Go back to your country. Half of you are thieves.’” Anti-Syrian refugee sentiment has been snowballing lately, especially in the two countries that host the largest number of refugees: Lebanon—where Safa lives—and Turkey—where the refugee crisis is in the top three concerns driving voters in Turkey’s razor-thin presidential elections, which are going to a run-off scheduled for May 28. “I cried, I cried, and I asked my father about all of this.” Weam, a twenty-seven-year-old Syrian woman living in Turkey, explains to me. “First, it was Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and even Turkey is talking about it.” The Assad regime killed Weam’s brother, uncle, and grandfather. She can’t erase the memory of seeing her brother’s lifeless body in an ambulance on her laptop; of knowing, at that moment, that she would never get a chance to say goodbye. Weam will never forget the way that her family found her grandfather’s scorched corpse after regime forces burned down his home, knowing that he was still inside. “I am angry, frustrated,” Weam says, her voice shaking with emotion. “Twelve years of fighting, being displaced within Syria and outside of Syria. All of this, just to be erased, to go back to normal ties?” The pain is coupled with the uncertainty of the fate of those she loves. Weam is among the Syrians who successfully pursued a path to citizenship in Turkey. Her sisters are still waiting. “They are terrified,” Weam says. “They are just waiting to see what will happen after the elections.” Weam is unsure who to vote for or if she should even vote at all. “Safe repatriation” of Syria’s more than 3.5 million refugees in Turkey is the rhetoric swirling around and is an openly-stated pledge of the opposition candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. But it’s worth remembering that talks were started with the Syrian regime by the government of the incumbent, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Add to that Syria’s ascension into the Arab League, and the argument of “Syria is safe, people can go back home” takes on a new life no matter who wins. “Me as a Syrian, I have no hope in the Arab League,” Malik, a thirty-year-old Syrian refugee in Turkey, who has been waiting for his citizenship to go through, explains. “I was more upset by the rapprochement between Syria and Turkey. And, now, if it’s the party that says it supports refugees that wins, there will be a backlash against us, and they will have to do something. And if it’s the party that wants to kick us out, they will have to demonstrate that they are doing that. We don’t know how it’s going to materialize.” For many, going back to Syria is a non-starter. Safa’s family, for example, is seriously considering having her take the deadly journey to Libya and then to Italy. It’s not something she wants to do, but her family is pressuring her to try, thinking that it might lead to a chain of events that will allow them better and safer prospects. Safety for those who fled is not just defined by whether bombs and bullets are falling. Much more terrifying than that is the fear of disappearance; fear of regime forces that arrive in the dead of the night to whisk someone away; fear of being stopped at a checkpoint and disappearing only to languish in Assad’s prisons; fear of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person only to be recuperated by loved ones as a corpse; fear of all of the factors that were the drivers of the revolution in the first place. None of that has changed. It’s why Syrians who fled endure the misery of being in Lebanon. It’s why internally-displaced Syrians stay in a tent rather than return to their cities and towns. It’s why Syrians in Jordan would rather live in limbo than return. And it’s why Syrians in Turkey will suffer the blatant racism, aggression, and politicization of their plight. No global power, no politician, no population has ever really understood what it is to be a Syrian refugee. Their life and suffering is merely rhetoric to be manipulated. What better way to manipulate the Syrian refugee “crisis”—to justify sending Syrians back home—than to be able to point to the Arab League’s acceptance of Assad and say, “But, look, things are going back to normal, relations are normalizing, things are fine. You can all go back home.” © 2023 Atlantic Council

RAPPORT SUR LES ATTAQUES CONTRE LES BANYAMULENGE DANS LES HAUTS ET MOYENS PLATEAUX DU SUD-KIVU EN REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO REPORT ON ATTACKS AGAINST THE BANYAMULENGE IN THE HAUTS & MOYENS PLATEAUX OF SOUTH KIVU IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO Innocent Nteziryayo Version française initialement publiée le 20 février 2023 Mise à jour de la version française publiée le 17 mai 2023 English translation published May 17, 2023 Displaced Banyamulenge civilians gather in Minembwe to mourn the deaths of two women and one man who were decapitated in a neighborhood 2-3km from Minembwe Centre on April 18, 2020. — Delphin Rukumbuzi Ntanyoma Nous avons documenté cette tragédie pour la mémoire des victimes. Il faut rappeler l'objectif poursuivi par cette étude qui est celui de faire connaitre l'extermination des Banyamulenge. Cette extermination se fait de manière systématique avec la complicité et l'implication du pouvoir et des forces de sécurité loin des médias de ce monde. Au moment de la rédaction du présent rapport, les situations de sécurité et les conditions humanitaires de la communauté Banyamulenge dans les hauts et moyens plateaux des territoires d’Uvira, de Fizi et de Mwenga en République démocratique du Congo demeurent totalement dangereuses. Les Banyamulenge ont été victimes de violations graves du droit international humanitaire et du droit international des droits de l’homme, notamment des assassinats, meurtres, viols, arrestations arbitraires, enlèvements et des déplacements forcés à l’intérieur du pays tout comme à l’extérieur. Les Banyamulenge déplacés à l'intérieur du pays se sont déplacés principalement vers les régions de Minembwe, Bibogobogo et Kahololo suite à de nombreuses attaques de ces dernières années. Bien que la mission de maintien de la paix des Nations Unies (MONUSCO) ait installé une base dans cette zone dans le but de protéger les civils, les Mai-Mai ont continué à encercler et à attaquer les Banyamulenge dans les hauts et moyens plateaux des territoires d’Uvira, de Fizi et de Mwenga en provenance de plusieurs directions. Ils les ont également assiégé dans tous les axes, créant des difficultés pour les Banyamulenge d'accéder aux champs pour se nourrir et recevoir de l'aide humanitaire. We have documented this tragedy in memory of the victims. The objective of this study is to document the extermination of the Banyamulenge. This mass killing has been carried out systematically with the complicit involvement of the government and the security forces far from the media. At the time of writing this report, the security and humanitarian situation of the Banyamulenge community in the Hauts Plateaux (highlands) of Uvira, Fizi and Mwenga territories in the Democratic Republic of Congo remains highly precarious. The Banyamulenge have been victims of several violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including assassinations, killings, rapes, arbitrary arrests, abductions and forced displacement within and outside the country. The internally displaced Banyamulenge have mainly moved to the Minembwe, Bibogobogo and Kahololo regions following numerous attacks in recent years. Although the United Nations peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) is based in this area to protect civilians, the Mai-Mai have continued to surround and attack the Banyamulenge in the highlands of Uvira, Fizi and Mwenga territories from several directions. They have also besieged all areas, creating difficulties for the Banyamulenge trying to access the fields for food and humanitarian assistance. NB: This report has been produced by an external researcher and activist and is not an official Genocide Watch publication. It does not represent research conducted internally and directly by Genocide Watch staff. Genocide Watch supports and promotes efforts by other actors to investigate, document, and bring attention to the plight of persecuted communities such as the Banyamulenge of DR Congo. The report has been reviewed by several academics, and it may be subject to further updates. Télécharger les rapports ici / Download the reports here : Hundreds of villages have been burned and destroyed in Minembwe territory in the highlands of South Kivu. — Delphin Rukumbuzi Ntanyoma Innocent Nteziryayo is a founding and active member of Collectif des Avocats des Parties Civiles, a group acting in support of victims of human rights violations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and representing them in judicial processes. He is the coordinator of the Gatumba Justice Project, advocating for justice on behalf of Gatumba genocide survivors. He also formerly worked as a public prosecutor in Rwanda. As an advocate, he is interested in justice for human rights violations against minority communities. Innocent Nteziryayo holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and Anthropology with Gender Studies from the University of Hull in the UK (2016-2019). He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from ILPD in Rwanda (2009) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from UNILAK, in Rwanda (2003-2007).

Azerbaijani blockade of Lachin Corridor, only land route to Nagorno-Karabakh, Photo: Resul Rehimov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images 16 May 2023 Today, the Save Karabakh Coalition called on Ignazio Cassis, the head of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, to use Switzerland’s presidency of the UN Security Council to help the besieged people of Nagorno Karabakh. For over five months - since December 12 - this region, home to an ancient community of 120,000 Armenian Christians, has been under siege by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has blocked off the region from all air or land transport, and cut its electricity and gas lines. Azerbaijani snipers regularly attack Armenian farmers trying to grow food locally. Food, fuel, and medical supplies in Nagorno Karabakh have dwindled to dangerous lows because of the blockade, and many prominent observers have warned that a humanitarian crisis is imminent. On December 19, a group of ten human rights organizations issued a collective Genocide Warning for Nagorno Karabakh, due to Azerbaijan’s blockade and the exterminationist rhetoric directed at Armenian Christians by Azerbaijan’s leaders. In an open letter to Cassis, the Save Karabakh Coalition called on him to “use the few weeks remaining in [his] Presidency of the UN Security Council to guide through a resolution” to “protect the vulnerable Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh” and recognize their right to self-determination. In February, the Coalition’s letter noted, the Foreign Affairs Committee of Switzerland’s Council of States adopted a resolution calling on Switzerland to work at the UN Security Council for a resolution that would force an end to the blockade and provide for an international humanitarian airlift to Nagorno Karabakh. The Coalition urged Cassis to use the Foreign Affairs Committee’s resolution as a “policy framework” for action at the UN Security Council. Switzerland was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the first time in 2023. It holds the presidency of the council for the month of May. The Save Karabakh Coalition was launched in January in response to Azerbaijan’s deadly blockade of the Nagorno Karabakh. The following members of the coalition signed the letter to Federal Councillor Cassis: Christian Solidarity International (whose worldwide headquarters are in Zürich), the Baroness Caroline Cox and Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust in the United Kingdom, and in the United States, Genocide Watch, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, In Defense of Christians, the Philos Project, American Friends of Kurdistan, the Hellenic American Leadership Council, the Armenian Assembly of America, the Armenian National Committee of America, the Armenian Bar Association, Justin Murff of the Anglican Office for Government and International Affairs, David L. Phillips of Columbia University, and Sheila Paylan, an international human rights lawyer. Contact: Joel Veldkamp | joel.veldkamp@csi-int.org

May 2023 Smoke rises above buildings in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, following an Israeli strike on May 12, 2023. (Said Khatib/AFP) Jews, Muslims, and Christians have lived together in what is now Israel and Palestine for centuries. Following the Holocaust, millions of Jews settled in Israel to establish their own nation-state with the right of self-defense. Israelis and Palestinians have been in an ongoing conflict since the UN recognized the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 as a Jewish homeland. Most Arab countries refused to recognize the legitimacy of Israel's creation. They have launched several wars to destroy Israel since 1948. Following its victories in the wars against it, Israel took effective control in 1967 of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights. Thousands of Israeli settlers have built settlements in these occupied territories in contravention of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." The settlers have an ideology akin to the American doctrine of Manifest Destiny, believing that God gave Jews the right to settle in the ancient lands of Judah and Israel.This ideology is supported by Likud, the party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The ideology is used to justify the crime against humanity of forced displacement. Most Palestinians still reject the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish homeland, citing Palestinian habitation in what is now Israel and Palestine for nearly 2000 years since Romans drove many Jews into exile. Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Iran, and many Arab countries have expressed genocidal intent to destroy the nation of Israel. The Hamas charter explicitly calls for the destruction of the state of Israel. Rockets from Gaza fired at Israel Credit: Reuters Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah have launched thousands of missile, rocket, and terrorist attacks on towns in Israel and settlements in the West Bank. 24 Israelis were killed inside Israel and the occupied West Bank by Palestinians in 2022, the highest number since 2014- 2015. A Palestinian gunman killed seven Israeli civilians at a synagogue in occupied East Jerusalem on January 27, 2023. Israel has responded to the attacks with walls and checkpoints, and with military force in Gaza and the Israeli occupied West Bank. In April 2023 during Ramadan, Israeli troops entered and occupied the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel justifies its use of force as legitimate self- defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Since 2008, there have been an estimated 5333 Palestinian civilian fatalities in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, over half caused by Israeli bombs and missiles. During the same period, 293 Israeli civilians died from Palestinian attacks. In 2022, the Israel Defense Forces(IDF) killed an estimated 153 Palestinians, the highest Palestinian death toll since 2005. Most fatalities occurred during military raids against suspected Palestinian militants. On January 26, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces raided the Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank in the largest raid on refugees since 2002. Prime Minister Netanyahu is committed to the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israeli-imposed restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza prevent Palestinians from living in freedom. Forced evictions in the West Bank disproportionately affect women, whose homes also serve as their places of work. In 2007, Israel and Egypt imposed a naval blockade on the 2.35 million residents of Gaza that is still in effect, preventing most trade in and out of Gaza and impoverishing Gaza's Palestinian population. Genocide Watch recognizes the situation in Israel and Palestine to be at Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 5: Organization, Stage 6: Polarization, and Stage 8: Persecution. Genocide Watch recommends: • Israeli and Palestinian 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 right to exist as a legitimate nation-state. • Hamas and Islamic Jihad must immediately stop firing rockets and armed drones into Israel. • Israel must halt the expansion of illegal settlements and dispossession of Palestinians in the West Bank. • Israeli authorities must investigate Palestinian deaths and try IDF soldiers for illegal killings. • The United States should condition its annual $4 billion in military aid and weapons sales to Israel on Israeli adherence to a ceasefire, peace talks, and a halt to new Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Country Report: Laos May 2023 Rights group members protest outside UNHCR headquarters in Geneva as the Lao delegation has a meeting to review its human rights record January 21, 2020.Photograph: By Eugene Whong/ rfa Laos is a one-party state ruled by the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, a communist party led by Thongloun Sisoulith. Freedom House ranks Laos as "Not Free." The US State Department's Human Rights Report charges Laos with persecution of state critics by police and state security forces. Laos has never fully recovered from the murders of the Lao royal family and the communist coup d'état in 1975. Laos sided with North Vietnam in the Vietnam War. It is one of the few countries still living under communism, though like China and Vietnam, it has a state capitalist economy. Between 1964 and 1973, the US dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos, nearly a ton for every person in Laos. Laos is the most heavily bombed country in history relative to the size of its population. Laos is facing severe economic distress. Government repression prevents most protests. There is very little freedom of expression. No criticism of government authorities is tolerated. Human rights defenders are killed with impunity. Enforced disappearances are common among human rights activists and journalists. In 2022, The Lao army confiscated 40 hectares of land in Houay Nam Yen village to build a military camp. Protesting villagers were arrested and imprisoned for over three months. In 2022, the Lao government expropriated 3150 hectares from a village in Oudomxay province and then leased it to a Thai corporation to build a "Smart Eco City". Villagers protested, claiming they received unfair compensation, due to corruption in the forced "sale" of the village's farmland. There is persecution of Christians in villages in northwestern Laos. Fifteen people were driven out of Mai village in Luang Namtha province when they converted to Christianity. Government relief has been denied to poor families in northern Laos unless they renounced their faith. Genocide Watch considers Laos to be at Stage 1: Classification. Lao leaders consider Christianity to be a "foreign religion," an “us versus them” classification. There is Stage 3: Discrimination against Christians and government critics. Stage 5: Organization and Stage 8 Persecution: State police and security forces persecute, arrest, and kill government critics with impunity. Genocide Watch recommends that the government of Laos should: Stop killing and imprisoning human rights activists and protesters. Release all land protesters, journalists, and human rights activists. The Vientiane Agriculture and Forestry Department should stop handing land disputes to military authorities and should refer such cases to courts for resolution. Respect the right to freedom of religion by preventing the persecution of Christians, believers in traditional religions, and other non-Buddhist faiths. Allow non-communist parties to run in elections and hold office.

Fighters in Sudan May 2023 Credit BBC Sudan Genocide Emergency May 2023 Long-standing ethnic conflicts between the Arab dominated Sudanese government and non-Arab groups have resulted in numerous genocides targeting non-Arab people in Sudan. Genocide became Sudanese state policy when the Arab supremacist Arab Gathering seized power in Khartoum in 1983. Since then, the Sudanese army and Arab militias have massacred hundreds of thousands of non-Arab people in the Nuba Mountains, Darfur, the Blue Nile, and South Sudan before it became independent. Over three million non-Arabs have been displaced. From 2003-2005, government-backed Janjaweed militias carried out systematic killings of non-Arabs and a scorched earth policy in Darfur. They forcibly displaced Fur, Massalit, and Zaghawa communities and attacked, looted, and mass raped non-Arab populations in Darfur. The Janjaweed militias killed at least 300,000 and forcibly displaced 2.5 million. A joint UN-AU peacekeeping force UNAMID was established in 2007 with the primary goal of protecting civilians. However, UNAMID became an observer mission, rather than a peacekeeping force. It failed to protect many people in IDP camps from rapes and murders by the Janjaweed. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir for crimes against humanity and war crimes in 2009, and in 2010 for charges of genocide. The Janjaweed militias became an official government force, renamed the "Rapid Support Forces" (RSF) led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemeti). Anti-government protests began in late 2018 and a military coup ousted Omar al-Bashir in 2019. UNAMID withdrew in December 2020. Although a civilian-led democracy was promised following the military coup, another military coup followed in 2021 which effectively removed civilians from government. Continuing attacks against non-Arab people in Darfur led to 420,000 people leaving their homes in 2021. In 2022, over 350,000 people were displaced in Sudan and millions of people lacked access to food and water. In December 2022, the civilian opposition, General Burhan, and Hemeti signed a "new framework" which on paper would transition the government to civilian leadership and integrate the RSF into the Sudanese Armed Forces. But Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemeti) rejected proposals to integrate his Rapid Support Forces into Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Failure to incorporate the RSF into the military and lack of cooperation between the SAF and the RSF resulted in civil war. Fighting broke out between Hemeti’s RSF and Gen. Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces on April 15, 2023. Since then, upwards of 400 civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 have been wounded. The violence has taken place predominantly in Khartoum and has displaced tens of thousands, with at least 75,000 people being internally displaced and over 100,000 fleeing to surrounding countries. The massive influx of new refugees from Sudan threatens to overwhelm neighboring countries . Countries including the US, Canada, and France have evacuated their diplomats. Uncertainty exists regarding the location of Bashir and other officials that had been imprisoned in Sudan prior to the start of the fighting. Hospitals are running out of supplies, have been directly hit by shells and gunfire, and lack electricity and medicines to continue running. The director of the UN's World Food Program (WFP) fears the conflict could result in a humanitarian crisis for all of Eastern Africa. Due to continuing massacres against non-Arab civilians, Genocide Watch considers Sudan to be at Stage 8: Persecution and Stage 9: Extermination. Genocide Watch recommends: · The UN Security Council should declare the war in Sudan is a threat to international peace and security. · The UNSC should authorize a UN Peacekeeping Force (PKO) under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. · The UNSC should call on African Union and other countries to provide thousands of troops for the PKO. · The UNSC should make the PKO an ordinary expense of the UN, obligating all UN members to pay for it. · The UNSC resolution should refer the situation in Sudan to the International Criminal Court. · The mandate of the PKO should be to end the civil war by diplomacy or force and to protect civilians. · The mandate of the PKO should include arrest of Gen. Burhan and Hemeti if they are charged by the ICC.

By El Tayeb Siddig and Nafisa Eltahir A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah KHARTOUM, May 1 (Reuters) - The United Nations warned on Monday that the conflict in Sudan could force 800,000 people to flee the country as battles between rival military factions persisted in the capital despite a supposed ceasefire. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded over 16 days of battles since disputes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into conflict on April 15. The crisis has unleashed a humanitarian disaster, damaged swathes of Khartoum, risked drawing in regional powers and reignited conflict in the Darfur region. Many fear for their lives in the power struggle between the army chief and RSF head, who shared control of the government after a 2021 coup but fell out over a planned transition to civilian rule. Both sides agreed on Sunday to extend a much-violated truce by 72 hours, and the U.N. told Reuters the rival forces may hold ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia. But air strikes and artillery rang out on Monday as smoke hung over Khartoum and neighbouring cities. U.N. official Raouf Mazou said the body's refugee agency was planning for an exodus of 815,000 people including 580,000 Sudanese as well as foreign refugees now living in the country. The country's population numbers 46 million. Some 73,000 have already left Sudan, he said. Egypt reported 40,000 Sudanese had crossed its border, and those who made the journey said conditions were arduous. Others have gone to Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia, or sailed across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia on evacuation boats. At least 528 people have been killed and 4,599 wounded, the health ministry said. The United Nations has reported a similar number of dead but believes the real toll is much higher. HARDSHIP, DANGER Foreign governments pulled out their citizens over the past week in air, sea and land operations, though several countries ended efforts. The U.S. government said on Monday that its convoys from Khartoum to the Red Sea harbour of Port Sudan evacuated more than 700 people over the weekend. Britain said it was exploring ways to provide humanitarian assistance to Sudan along with its international allies, the United Nations and aid organisations after evacuating nearly 2,200 people. Meanwhile, those Sudanese who stayed behind faced hardship and danger. "I show up to work for two or three hours then I close up because it's not safe," said Abdelbagi, a barber in Khartoum who said he had to keep working because prices were rising. People who ventured onto the streets on Monday were shocked by the transformation. "We saw dead bodies. The industrial area that was all looted. We saw people carrying TVs on their backs and big sacks looted from factories," said resident Mohamed Ezzeldin. Power and water supplies are uncertain, there is little food or fuel, most hospitals and clinics are out of service and soaring transport costs are making it ever harder to leave. The U.N. and other aid organisations have cut services, though the World Food Programme said it was resuming operations in more secure areas on Monday after staff were killed early in the war. "The scale and speed of what is unfolding in Sudan is unprecedented," said Martin Griffiths, a senior U.N. official for humanitarian and emergency relief who will visit Sudan on Tuesday. CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS Victoria, one of the tea sellers who used to dot Khartoum's streets before the fighting began, said her children are struggling to understand what is happening. "So I risk my life to try to work and if God helps me, I'll get them some food, and if he doesn't I'll keep trying. But just sitting useless doesn't help and being scared doesn't help," she said. Jamila, a woman still in Khartoum with her family, is only eating one meal a day because so little food is available. RSF troops are stationed in front of their house and refuse to leave. "The sound of fighting is in our ears all day," she said. Both sides said on Monday they were making progress without commenting directly on the ceasefire violations. The army said it had cut RSF's combat effectiveness by half and stopped it trying to reinforce its positions in the capital. The RSF said it still controls main locations of Khartoum and was itself beating back army reinforcements. Reuters could not verify either side's claims. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudan-conflict-shows-no-sign-easing-sudanese-brace-more-violence-2023-05-01/ © 2023 Reuters.

Photo by: Reuters Colonized by the British in 1874, Fiji became home to over 60,000 indentured laborers transported from India to work on colonial sugarcane plantations. Even after their labor contracts expired, most Indian workers chose to remain in Fiji. Indo-Fijians now comprise 43% of the island's population, with indigenous Fijians constituting 51%. While Indo-Fijans have higher economic status, 82% of Fiji’s agricultural land is owned by the indigenous population, who are entitled to legal protections. Recently, laws amending land rights have led to large-scale demonstrations and the arrests of opposition leaders. From Independence in 1970 to 1987, the Fijian government was led by the indigenous leader Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. In 1987 a multiracial coalition headed by an indigenous Fijian, Dr. Timoci Bavadra replaced Mara. The coalition aimed to promote ethnic equality. Protests named the “Taukei Movement” erupted across the country advocating an ethnocentric policy favoring indigenous Fijians. Lieut. Col. Sitiveni Rabuka, an indigenous Fijian, initiated two consecutive military coups to restore absolute political control to the “indigenous Fijian Race.” Rabuka’s coups ousted the previous government and enacted laws to suppress the rights of Indo-Fijians. 200 people were injured in the resulting protests. There was a mass exodus of Indo-Fijians from Fiji. The percentage of Indo-Fijians living in Fiji dropped to 32%. Over 5,000 left annually. Rabuka’s military government in 1990 rewrote Fiji’s 1970 constitution to favor indigenous Fijians, ensuring their political dominance over other ethnic groups through race-based parliamentary seat requirements, changes to land policy, and amendments granting Fijian-led government branches unchecked privileges. In 1999, Mahendra Chaudhry, an Indo-Fijian, became the country’s first non-indigenous prime minister. In 2000, a group of armed ethnic Fijians led by the businessman George Speight began the nation's third coup, taking Chaudhry and 50 government officials hostage. Fijians flooded the streets in protest, looting shops and shutting down local schools, A civilian interim government was appointed that did " not accept Indo-Fijians as citizens with equal rights,” The nation faced its fourth coup in 2006. Concerned by the ongoing suppression of Indo-Fijian rights, Army Chief and Indo-Fijian Frank Bainimarama seized government control, declaring himself president. Bainimarama’s government imposed censorship measures through emergency decrees and legislation such as the Public Order Act and Media Industry Development Act, curtailing freedom of expression. Hefty charges were levied against media outlets and journalists. In 2013, Bainimarama imposed a fourth constitution that eliminated the parliament’s unelected Upper House, and the hereditary Council of Chiefs which had been criticized for granting special privileges to favored ethnic groups. Bainimarama’s party prevailed again in the 2014 and 2018 elections. Fiji’s most recent general election resulted in a parliamentary deadlock, with no party holding a majority of seats. There was widespread political unrest. A rise in ethnic violence drove the government to deploy the military to “ maintain order.” Rambuka was narrowly declared victorious, returning as prime minister for a second time, putting an end to Bainimarama’s 16 years in office. Bainimarama has publicly insulted Rambuka, and he faces criminal charges for Abuse of Office. Due to the nation’s history of ethnic division, political discrimination, and race-based nationalism, Genocide Watch considers Fiji to be at Stage 1: Classification, Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 6: Polarization, and Stage 8: Persecution Genocide Watch recommends that: Fiji should establish an independent commission to resolve land disputes and to broker land use agreements to address ethnic tensions, mass displacement, urban sprawl, and “squatter settlements.” Fiji should amend its 2013 constitution to include a Bill of Rights with explicit protections for freedom of expression, association, and assembly, including for those who criticize the government. Fiji should restructure its parliamentary boundaries and seats to proportionally represent all ethnicities. Fiji should continue its funding and support for the University of the South Pacific.

NPR By Ashley Westerman April 22, 2023 Families of victims await justice as the ICC reopens Philippines drug war probe The headquarters of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands Mike Corder/AP MANILA, Philippines — On a bright stage in a rented-out high school auditorium, Amelia Santos grieves openly before the audience. Clutching a wireless microphone, the 55-year-old from Caloocan City, an area in Metro Manila's north, recalls the day she returned home from work in September 2016 and was told her husband, Edward Narvarte, had been killed. "Somebody went to my house and told me, 'Go to your husband because he was killed, he was shot a lot of times by the police,'" she says. "When I arrived, there were police... and I saw the dead bodies of the victims, my husband was one of them." Her family has not been the same, Santos tells the audience. Her children are scared and depressed and she is alone and afraid. Authorities linked her husband to a notorious Philippine drug lord, she says — a connection Santos denies. With tears streaming down her face and her voice quivering with a mix of outrage and sadness, Santos recalls asking God, "Why? Why did this happen to us?" "I will not stop until justice has been served," she says. Santos is not alone. Almost all of the nearly 20 people onstage in this play, titled EJK Teatro, have lost a loved one to the Philippine government's so-called war on drugs — launched by former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016. Amelia Santos, 55, holds up a portrait of her late husband, Edward Navarte, during a recent performance. Santos says her husband was targeted in a 2016 extrajudicial killing by police as part of the Philippines' war on drugs. Ashley Westerman for NPR The cast of EJK Teatro poses onstage with Roman Catholic priest Flaviano Villanueva (5th from left), founder of Program Paghilom, and European Union Special Representative on Human Rights Eamon Gilmore (center) following a performance. Ashley Westerman for NPR EJK stands for extrajudicial killing. The play is part of the nonprofit Arnold Janssen Kalinga Foundation's Program Paghilom, which has been helping victims' families since 2016. Performing onstage is a sort of cathartic therapy for those who want to bring attention to critical issues in the Philippines. From inflation woes and environmental issues to the drug war and fears of a takeover by China, this eclectic performance — a nearly hour-long mix of scripted lines, unscripted monologues and lots of music and dancing — pulls no punches. The day NPR attended, human rights campaigners, victims' family members and their supporters were joined in the audience by a delegation from the European Union, including EU Special Representative on Human Rights Eamon Gilmore. The performance comes at a time when the slow wheels of justice appear to be starting to turn in the drug war. Last month, the International Criminal Court denied an appeal by the Philippine government for the court to suspend collecting evidence for its investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed during the seven-year war on drugs. The denial of this appeal, analysts say, will inevitably bring government officials into the scope of the investigation — putting current President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in a tough bind politically, as his vice president is Duterte's daughter and she is a political ally who helped him secure the nation's top office last May. The denial came two months after the ICC declared that the Philippines' own investigation into the drug war — a tactic by Duterte to slow down the ICC investigation — was not sufficient and that the court would resume the probe it attempted to launch in 2021. A relative holds the hand of Jonathan Sevilla, who was shot dead by unknown attackers, at a morgue in Malabon, Metro Manila, Philippines, March 23, 2018. Ezra Acayan/NurPhoto via Getty Images Nanette Castillo grieves next to the dead body of her son Aldrin, an alleged drug user killed by unidentified assailants, in Manila, Oct. 3, 2017. Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images Philippine officials say that some 6,200 people have died in anti-drug operations since Duterte launched the war on drugs. Human rights groups and the United Nations estimate the number could be much higher, with most killed by police or vigilantes. It is these extrajudicial killings that the ICC is looking to investigate, and now the ICC Office of the Prosecutor can move forward in collecting evidence while a second appeal to throw out the investigation entirely is pending, says Aurora Parong, co-chair of the Philippines Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Evidence, she says, includes information such as interviews and testimony from victims' families. The court will also be able to start asking the government for information, "and after they have collected all that evidence, they should be able to identify a possible suspect who will be charged," she says. Many human rights campaigners and legal experts say Duterte is the person responsible. However, obtaining evidence — such as communications between officials and police and testimony from officials — will be a challenge, given that President Marcos has said his government will not cooperate with the ICC. "I do not see what their jurisdiction is," Marcos told reporters in January. "I feel we have our police, in our judiciary a good system. We do not need any assistance from any outside entity." Analysts say this jurisdiction argument is faulty, because even though Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2018, the alleged human rights abuses of the drug war began earlier — so the ICC can still investigate them. Still, Marcos has vowed to "disengage with the ICC" and has banned its investigators from entering the country. This stance puts Marcos in a difficult spot politically as he works to both charm internationally and keep his own house in order, says Jean Encinas-Franco, a political scientist at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Since taking office in May 2022, Marcos, the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, has traveled abroad in an attempt to secure economic and security agreements – which he hopes will rehabilitate his family name following his father's peaceful 1986 ouster in what's known as the "People Power Revolution." Shanty dwellers living inside the cemetery look at bodies being buried on Jan. 24, 2017 in Manila, Philippines. Many bodies of victims of extrajudicial killings lie unclaimed in a morgue amid an upsurge in fatalities from the drug war. Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images Relatives and friends carry the coffin of Kian Loyd Delos Santos during his funeral in Caloocan, Metro Manila, Philippines, Aug. 26, 2017. Ezra Acayan/NurPhoto via Getty Images But his stance on the ICC investigation "brings back the violent history of his father," Encinas-Franco says. That violent history included torture, extrajudicial killings and the targeting of political opponents, journalists and activists. Domestically, Marcos knows he owes his presidential victory to his alliance with the Duterte family, she says — particularly Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of the former president. Riding the coattails of her father's popularity, Duterte helped Marcos secure a landslide victory last year. "I think Marcos Jr. would not want to antagonize Sara Duterte's supporters at this point in his administration," Encinas-Franco says. Both Rodrigo Duterte and the anti-drug campaign as a policy are still popular — particularly among low-income voters. And it is these ordinary Filipinos that Marcos is probably banking on, Encinas-Franco says: "I think it would be very easy for him to sort of explain in simplistic terms that the ICC is encroaching on the Philippines' sovereignty." But not all ordinary Filipinos will buy the sovereignty argument from Marcos — especially those who've been deeply affected by the war on drugs. People like Amelia Santos, who has wrapped up her performance back at the auditorium. This was her first time onstage, she says. "I wasn't able to express much after my husband died, to say everything that's inside," Santos says. "I am relieved." Like other victims' loved ones, Santos is waiting to see what justice — if any — the ICC investigation brings. Copyright 2023 @ NPR. All Rights Reserved.

CNN Story by Reuters Wed April 12, 2023 Vietnam sentences political activist to 6 years in prison for anti-state activities Vietnamese activist Nguyen Lan Thang at a cafe in Hanoi on November 27, 2013. Image : Nguyen Huy Kham/Reuters (CNN )— A Hanoi court on Wednesday sentenced a prominent Vietnamese political activist to six years in prison for conducting anti-state activities, his lawyer said, in a case that has raised international concerns over the communist country’s treatment of dissidents. Nguyen Lan Thang, 48, participated in environmental and anti-China protests, voiced support for other jailed activists, and wrote blogs about Vietnam’s sociopolitical issues, according to his social media accounts. The police said last year they arrested Thang on charges of “making, storing or distributing information, materials, documents to oppose the state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” without providing further details Thang will also be placed under house arrest for two years after he serves his sentence, said his lawyer Le Van Luan after the closed-door trial session at the People’s Court of Hanoi. Calls to the court went unanswered on Wednesday. Authorities have convicted at least 163 people since 2018 for exercising their rights to freedom of expression or association under “vague or overbroad laws that criminalize protesting or criticizing the government,” according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). “Vietnam’s authorities systematically trample on human rights by punishing brave bloggers like Nguyen Lan Thang for expressing their views about the government,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at HRW, which called for Thang’s release and for charges against him to be dropped. A delegation of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee of Human Rights during a visit to Hanoi last week expressed its “great concern at the worsening human rights situation in the country.” “The delegation called for immediate and unconditional release of all the political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Vietnam, including NGO leaders, journalists and environmental activists,” it said in a statement. Copyright 2023 @ CNN. All Rights Reserved.