Photo by Eva Marie UZCATEGUI / AFP The Spanish colonization of Cuba lasted for nearly 400 years, subjecting the Cuban population to oppressive labor practices, land expropriation, and forced assimilation. Cubans fought three wars for independence between 1868 and 1898 during which the Spanish colonial government imposed a “Reconcentration Policy” that forced one-third of the Cuban population into concentration camps. In these camps, famine and disease led to the deaths of over 250,000 Cubans.  The Spanish-American War of 1898 freed Cuba from Spain but U.S. business took control. After the 1959 Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro founded a one-party communist state. It has ruled with unchecked repression ever since. Army and police target any public opposition by human rights groups, unions, journalists, and non-governmental associations. From 2010 to 2012, detentions of political opponents rose almost threefold. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the United States placed an embargo on Cuba that is still in effect. The embargo places restrictions on trade and travel, severely impacting the Cuban population. Restrictions have harmed UN development programs, agricultural assistance, and access to medical technology and equipment.  President Diaz-Canal has claimed that the embargo is “genocidal.” In 2003 the Castro regime began a massive crackdown on dissent known as the Black Spring where 75 journalists, activists, and other political dissidents were arrested and sentenced to up to 28 years in Cuba's prisons. It was not until 2011 that the last of them were released. Upset with living conditions and restrictions on civil liberties, Cubans took to the streets in July of 2021— the nation's largest anti-government demonstrations since 1994. President Diaz-Canel ordered security forces to violently attack protesters, many of whom were arrested, subjecting over 5,000 peaceful demonstrators to detention. Detainees were denied legal representation and access to medical care, and were subjected to sleep deprivation, beatings, and torture. Making up an estimated 62% of the country's population, Afro-Cubans are disproportionately arrested by police. Despite communist doctrines, they remain severely disadvantaged by economic inequality. Protests against racism are outlawed, and civil rights activists are detained or forced into exile. The Cuban government controls most of the telecommunications infrastructure including the internet and news, which allows it to monitor and control access to information. During the July 2021 protests, the Cuban government shut down the internet to repress dissent. The government passed additional censorship laws such as Decree-Law 35 which bans the spread of what the government classifies as “false news” or content that “incites mobilizations.” Those caught violating the law are labeled "cyberterrorists" and are either arrested or suspended from accessing online services. President Biden has increased restrictions in response to Cuba's record of human rights violations — all denied by the Cuban government. On November 3rd, 2022, 185 member nations of the UN General Assembly again voted to condemn America’s embargo on Cuba. Due to Cuba's continuing persecution of political dissidents and Cuban government denial: Genocide Watch considers Cuba to be at Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 8: Persecution, and Stage 10: Denial. Genocide Watch recommends that: Psiphon Inc. and other companies dedicated to evading censorship should expand efforts to improve Cuban’s access to independent media and the free internet. The Biden Administration should resume the Obama administration's efforts to negotiate with Cuba for an end to political repression and release of all political prisoners in return for full relations with Cuba. The U.S. should immediately end travel restrictions and export and import restrictions on Cuba. The U.S. should end its isolation of Cuba and encourage US - Cuban business and civil society relations.

Yesterday, US District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed the Hindu American Foundation’s lawsuit against Hindus for Human Rights co-founders Sunita Viswanath and Raju Rajagopal and 3 other US activists who have spoken out against the Hindutva political ideology of Hindu nationalism. This is a huge win for all of us who believe in religious pluralism, civil rights, and human rights! In May 2021, the Hindu American Foundation filed a lawsuit against Sunita, Raju, and 3 other defendants, with baseless accusations of "defamation and conspiracy to defame" HAF. Why did HAF sue two fellow Hindus, one Muslim, one Christian, and one university professor? This was a scare tactic intended to silence individuals and organizations who are bravely standing up to the rising force of Hindu nationalism–in the United States, India, and across the Indian diaspora. Instead, HAF's plan backfired in a spectacular fashion. In a remarkable judgment, the court dismissed HAF’s lawsuit using forceful language: "HAF fails to plausibly plead that any statement made by any defendant is verifiably false." "Plaintiff’s jurisdictional discovery request … amounts to a fishing expedition, is speculative, and is not made in good faith" "Accordingly, this court finds that HAF fails to plead actual malice and thus fails to state a claim of defamation against all Defendants." This lawsuit is proof that groups like the Hindu American Foundation do not represent all Hindu Americans. We were not scared into silence, and we are deeply grateful to our pro-bono lawyers at Ballard Spahr for standing with us. This dharmayuddha, or fight for justice, is not over. [Genocide Watch note: The Alliance Against Genocide expelled the Hindu American Foundation when it sued Hindus for Human Rights. The expulsion was not only due to HAF's baseless lawsuit, but also HAF's knowing misrepresentations when HAF applied for membership in the Alliance Against Genocide. HAF claimed that it does not support the Modi regime in India or the hateful anti-Muslim doctrines of Hindutva. In fact the HAF is a propagandist for Modi and HAF actively promotes anti-Muslim Hindutva hatred in the United States.]

A march was held on October 24 in Bishkek against the detention of activists and politicians who oppose the transfer of Kempir-Abad to Uzbekistan. [Original article] Kyrgyzstan Country Report November 2022 Since 2005, the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan) has undergone several changes in government as a result of popular mass protests: first the Tulip Revolution in 2005, then the Second Kyrgyz Revolution in 2010, and most recently the Third Kyrgyz Revolution in 2020. The third revolution resulted in former political prisoner Sadyr Japarov being elected president and a new constitution. However, the new constitution has resulted in increased presidential power and weakening of Kyrgyzstan’s legislative body, known as the Supreme Council. Women’s rights in Kyrgyzstan are severely curtailed. Domestic violence cases are largely underreported. The state lacks effective law enforcement and the political will to address gender-based violence. Despite its suppression during the Soviet Union, the Kyrgyz custom of bride kidnapping or ala kachu for forced marriages still occurs despite its official illegality. Women have few economic rights and opportunities for growth, especially in rural areas, forcing them to be financially dependent on abusive parents, husbands, and relatives by marriage. In 2010, Kyrgyz mobs attacked ethnic Uzbeks in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad. Over 500 Uzbeks were killed, and around 250,000 displaced. Uzbeks continue to be persecuted, like prominent Uzbek activist Azimjon Askerov who was Kyrgyzstan's longest-serving political prisoner until his death in 2020, officially due to COVID-19 complications, a cause that human rights organizations and Askerov’s family dispute. Peaceful protesters, activists, and journalists in Kyrgyzstan are frequently arrested on arbitrary criminal charges. In 2022, protesters were arrested for peacefully protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine outside the Russian embassy in Bishkek and for protesting Kyrgyzstan's border demarcation agreement with Uzbekistan. These protests were explicitly banned by state order. Violations are punishable by fines and possible prison sentences. In May 2021 and September 2022, Kyrgyz forces clashed with their Tajik counterparts in a conflict over borders in the Fergana Valley, a fertile agricultural region shared by three nations. Each state blames the other for ceasefire violations, targeting of civilians, and military mobilization. Ethnic Tajiks in Kyrgyz enclaves fear discrimination and persecution. Source: CIA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Ethnic enclaves: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan Source: Wikiwand Hundreds of ethnic Uzbeks have formally changed their last names to Kyrgyz to evade discrimination. The Uzbek language has been repressed and denied official status at the public and government levels. Gender-based violence against women indicates that Kyrgyzstan is at Stage 3: Discrimination. Police violence against protesters indicates that Kyrgyzstan at Stage 3: Discrimination and Stage 6: Polarization. Ethnic violence against Tajiks and Uzbeks indicates that Kyrgyzstan at Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 6: Polarization, and Stage 8: Persecution. Genocide Watch recommends: The UN should monitor Kyrgyzstan's border crises and encourage Kyrgyzstan to establish a sustainable ceasefire with Tajikistan and an equitable border demarcation agreement with Uzbekistan. The government of Kyrgyzstan should abide by Chapter 3, Articles 37 through 39 of its 2021 constitution which guarantees the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. Kyrgyzstan should strengthen its commitment to international women’s rights treaties and legally address cultural impunity that tolerates domestic violence, with active monitoring by UN Women.

Al-Shabaab militants fly the ISIS flag in Somalia Credit: ModernDiplomacy Somalia Genocide and Famine Warning December 2022 Since the 1980s Somalia has been in constant civil war. The war has been marked by massacres by rival warlords, Al Shabaab terrorists, and Somali government forces. Between 350,000 and 1 million people have died since 1991. 2.6 million Somalis are internally displaced. 3.5 million Somalis, including 1.5 million children, face starvation. The Isaaq Genocide of 1988 - 1991 is notable. Following a rebellion in the mid-1980s in Somaliland, the dictator Siad Barre launched a genocide against the Isaaq tribe, one of the largest in Somalia. The genocide, led by Barre's son-in-law Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan, killed an estimated 200,000 people. The Isaaq Genocide was carried out with massive aerial and artillery bombardments and death squads. The genocide included mass rape and forced displacement. Barre’s forces destroyed Hargeisa, the Somaliland capital. The Isaaq Genocide was the deadliest in Somalia’s modern history, but it is largely unrecognized to this day. The Barre regime collapsed in 1991. Somaliland declared independence. A coalition led by the United States intervened in 1992 but withdrew after 18 Americans were killed in the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” incident. The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) defeated the warlords in 2006. The ICU was defeated by the internationally backed federal government in 2007. Somalia is currently paralyzed by the war between the Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabaab and the Somalia government, which is supported by the US, AU, and UN. Al-Shabaab is aligned with the Islamic State. It regularly attacks civilians in Somalia and in Kenya. An increase in civilian casualties has also resulted from massacres by clan militias. Al-Shabaab tyranny has driven many Somalis out of rural areas. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Somali_Civil_War_(2009-present).svg Many Somalis have fled to IDP camps and to Mogadishu and other cities, leaving their fields uncultivated during a five-year drought. There is a high risk of famine in the country that could affect up to 7 million people, close to half the population. Famines killed 300,000 Somalis in 1992 and 260,000 in 2011. The UN's appeal for $1.5 billion in food assistance has been only 17% fulfilled, with grain shipments from Ukraine hampered by Russia's aggression. Kenya, Ethiopia, and other east African nations maintain an African Union peacekeeping force, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), that will end its mandate in 2024. Many western humanitarian NGOs are present in Somalia as well as small western counterterrorism contingents, most notably 500 American troops. President Trump ordered US troops out of Somalia at the end of his term, but President Biden ordered them to stay. US airstrikes in support of AU and Somali forces have caused civilian casualties. The Somalia federal government is still weak. Somali security forces lack the capacity to control much of the country or drive out Al-Shabaab. They rely on foreign support to control even Mogadishu. Basic government services such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure are close to non-existent. This has allowed Al-Shabaab to set up a parallel government in many areas of the country. Somalia is at Stage 5: Organization, Stage 6: Polarization, Stage 8: Persecution, and Stage 9: Extermination. Genocide Watch recommends that: International donors should increase funding and support for Somali security and public services. Local leaders should engage in inter-clan mediation and peacebuilding efforts, and the AU, UN, US, and other nations should support their efforts. Troop contributors and international donors should renew the mandate and reinforce ATMIS. International donors should increase funding for ATMIS, particularly with pay for troop contributors. Al-Shabaab must be driven into uninhabitable parts of the country and defeated by attrition. The Somalia government should recognize its ultimate inability to win the war against Al-Shabaab militarily and explore openings for diplomacy while continuing its military campaign against the terrorists. International donors should provide massively increased food relief before another Somalia famine kills hundreds of thousands more Somalis.

AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti Volodymyr Bondar, 61, mourns next to the grave of his son Oleksandr, 32, after burying him at the cemetery in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 16, 2022. Oleksandr joined the territorial Ukrainian defenders as a co-ordinator and was killed by a gunshot by the Russian army. Staying silent protects Russia’s genocide in Ukraine The Hill December 20, 2022 BY MICHAEL HIKARI CECIRE This month, in a unanimous vote, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed Senate Resolution 713, which correctly identifies and designates Russian atrocities in Ukraine as genocide. Led by Ranking Member Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the resolution looks poised to pass the Senate, sending a clear message to the world where the United States stands during this moment of supreme moral urgency. This resolution, and its companion in the House, brings clarity and attention to Russia’s genocide in Ukraine. Every day seems to bring fresh, compounding evidence of Russia’s genocidal intent and patterns of action — mass graves and torture chambers that seem to pockmark every liberated territory; homes, schools, hospitals and kindergartens repeatedly and deliberately targeted by Russian firepower; civilians, including children and infants, kidnapped and herded into Russian so-called “filtration” concentration camps, where they are sorted for either Russification or the gulag or worse; and flagrant attacks against refugee and humanitarian convoys. If you care to look, these images repeat themselves throughout Ukraine, and it is as safe a bet as any that newly liberated areas will bear the blistering scars of this genocide. Sure enough, mass graves and torture chambers have been identified in recently liberated Mykolaiv and Kherson, including an archipelago of torture sites specifically for children. This is the apogee of depravity. The physical evidence is shocking enough, but the Russian government’s very public embrace of a campaign of terror and genocide is incredible to behold. The summer before the invasion, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin penned, by his own hand, a 7,000-word ahistorical screed denying the existence of Ukraine as a state and a nation, highlighting his eliminationist agenda for all the world to see. And ever since then, Russian government figures at every level have repeated this noxious and ridiculous denial of Ukrainian nationality, deliberately dehumanizing and mass violence-encouraging rhetoric about “denazification,” and outright, even gleeful, calls for mass killing and destruction. The official state mouthpiece, RIA Novosti, even published in April a detailed plan laying out the intended destruction of the Ukrainian nation. What is striking about this genocide is perhaps the clarity and openness by which it has been prosecuted. And the pattern of action is startlingly predictable; not just in Ukraine, but also in Russia’s past colonial wars in Syria, Georgia and Chechnya, where ethnic cleansing, deliberate and widespread targeting of civilians, torture and rape were employed widely and purposefully as rote tools of Russian warfare. So, what can we do about it? For one, we can and should give Ukraine every tool that it needs to win its war against Russia’s genocidal war of imperial conquest. The faster Russia loses — and lose it must — the faster its genocidal program is halted. But also crucially, Congress, the U.S. government, and the world must be willing to call this genocide for what it is. In June, our co-chairman, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), and Ranking Member Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) introduced House Resolution 1205, which later would be introduced in the Senate as S. Res.713. Both resolutions draw on the definition of genocide in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, to which the U.S. and Russia are both parties and which is codified in U.S. law. The bill text illustrates how, as is well documented, Russia’s actions in Ukraine exhibits both genocidal intent and pattern of action along all of the Convention’s five acts in Article 2: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. Only one must be in evidence for genocide to exist. But what can a nonbinding resolution do? In this case, speaking out is more than some mere symbol. Ukraine’s war for its homeland is being won not because of Ukrainian material superiority, but because of the justness of its cause and the morale of its people. For the United States to officially recognize the extent of Russia’s horrors is tremendously meaningful to Ukraine and Ukrainians who still, despite their victories, endure the unendurable. Around the world, such a designation also demonstrates that we do not tolerate such heinous crimes. Calling out Russia’s genocide demonstrates the gravity of the stakes not only for Ukraine and Europe, but for global peace and stability. It can marshal further support for Kyiv, help sap Moscow’s fraying relationships, and further isolate this repugnant, totalitarian regime in the Kremlin. If you stand with Russia, or stand silent, you protect genocide. And here at home, these bipartisan, bicameral resolutions can help signal to the American people the true stakes in Ukraine. That Europe’s security, and the principles that undergird it, is a bulwark for freedom around the world and under great threat by a regime that purposefully and unflinchingly engages in genocide for its own imperial, corrupt ends. It is important to emphasize, too, that the 1948 Genocide Convention is about not only punishing genocide, but preventing it, and if we are to be true to our collective commitment to “never again,” we must act now. Of course, the ongoing legal investigations remain important and authoritative. But in the interest of prevention, a political declaration and congressional action is not only justifiable but essential. Congress, particularly Reps. Cohen and Wilson in the House, and Sens. Risch and Cardin in the Senate, should be applauded for their leadership. And the Senate, particularly Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), should be credited for bringing this resolution to fruition. Hopefully the House will do the same, in this Congress or the next, inspire the whole world to speak out as well — just as we were inspired by similar legislative actions in Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic states, the Czech Republic, Canada and Ireland. Michael Hikari Cecire is a senior policy adviser at the U.S. Helsinki Commission. Follow him on Twitter @mhikaric. Copyright 2022 The Hill Tell your Members of Congress to declare Russia's actions in Ukraine a genocide New Action Item from Razom On November 26, Ukrainians around the world commemorated Holodomor Remembrance Day, remembering the millions of Ukrainians starved to death by the Soviet regime in an artificially-created famine. Today, the Ukrainian nation is once again fighting for its right to exist. S.Res. 713 and H.Res. 1205 recognize Russia's actions in Ukraine as genocide. Russia's invasion of Ukraine unambiguously meets the definition of the term genocide as defined by the Genocide Convention and reflected in U.S. law. Passing this important resolution reaffirms America's commitment to our fundamental principles and underscores the seriousness of Russia's crimes. Please email, call, or tweet your Members of Congress today and ask them to cosponsor and support this important resolution! You can take action by following the link below: https://www.votervoice.net/RAZOMFORUKRAINE/Campaigns/98795/Respond Razom and other partner organizations have also co-signed a letter supporting Senate Recognition of Russia's Genocide of Ukrainians. Russia’s policies in Ukraine undoubtedly point to genocidal intent and genocidal acts. S. Res. 713 and H. Res. 1205 reaffirm America’s commitment to our fundamental principles, underscoring the seriousness of Russia’s crimes. If we do not recognize this invasion for what it is, we not only fail the Ukrainian people, but we neglect our security interests and our foundational values. In the letter attached below, Razom et alia urge the Committee to pass this important resolution before the conclusion of the 117th Congress. The United States must recognize and help end genocide, and not just memorialize it after the ruination and devastation of a nation. You can view the letter in full via the link below: https://www.razomforukraine.org/letter-supporting-senate-recognition-of-russias-genocide-of-ukrainians/ This action item and joint letter were shared by Razom, an organization dedicated to supporting the needs of Ukrainians on the ground and creating opportunities to amplify voices from Ukraine in conversations in the United States. The Alliance Against Genocide welcomes Razom as a new member organization dedicated to tackling genocide and other similar human rights abuses in the world today. You can learn more about the organization via the link below: https://www.razomforukraine.org/

REUTERS By: Paul Carsten, Reade Levinson, David Lewis, and Libby George REUTERS/Paul Carsten & Christopher Van Der Perre Since at least 2013, the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion program in the country’s northeast, terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants, according to dozens of witness accounts and documentation reviewed by Reuters. The abortions mostly were carried out without the person’s consent – and often without their prior knowledge, according to the witness accounts. The women and girls ranged from a few weeks to eight months pregnant, and some were as young as 12 years old, interviews and records showed. This investigation is based on interviews with 33 women and girls who say they underwent abortions while in the custody of the Nigerian Army. Just one said she freely gave consent. Reporters also interviewed five civilian healthcare workers and nine security personnel involved in the program, including soldiers and other government employees such as armed guards engaged in escorting pregnant women to abortion sites. In addition, Reuters reviewed copies of military documents and civilian hospital records describing or tallying thousands of abortion procedures. The existence of the army-run abortion program hasn’t been previously reported. The campaign relied on deception and physical force against women who were kept in military custody for days or weeks. Three soldiers and a guard said they commonly assured women, who often were debilitated from captivity in the bush, that the pills and injections given to them were to restore their health and fight diseases such as malaria. In some instances, women who resisted were beaten, caned, held at gunpoint or drugged into compliance. Others were tied or pinned down, as abortion drugs were inserted inside them, said a guard and a health worker. Women and girls are trapped in a titanic struggle in northeast Nigeria between the federal government and Islamist extremists – a war that has raged for 13 years. At least 300,000 people have died since the conflict began, some due to violence, many more from starvation and disease, according to the United Nations and human rights groups. The northeast, a region of semi-arid savannahs, thick forest and floodplains, once was known as the breadbasket of the nation. But in the course of the war it has collapsed into economic devastation and widespread hunger, creating massive displacement and what the U.N. has called one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Central to the abortion program is a notion widely held within the military and among some civilians in the northeast: that the children of insurgents are predestined, by the blood in their veins, to one day take up arms against the Nigerian government and society. Four soldiers and one guard said they were told by superiors that the program was needed to destroy insurgent fighters before they could be born. “It’s just like sanitizing the society,” said a civilian health worker, one of seven people who acknowledged performing abortions under army orders. Soldiers said orders came from direct superiors on how to run and tally abortion transports, how to keep the program under wraps and where to bury any casualties. Health workers at civilian hospitals said their orders to perform abortions came from army officers. Forced abortions may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to four legal experts briefed by Reuters on its findings. Although forced abortions are not specifically criminalized under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the experts said, they could be construed as torture or other inhumane treatment and be prosecuted as such. [Genocide Watch comment: In fact, forced abortions are criminalized under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which incorporates the Genocide Convention. When intended to destroy an ethnic or religious group in whole or in part, forced abortions are acts of genocide under Article 2 (d) of the Genocide Convention: "Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group."] Most of the women Reuters interviewed said they were given no explanation for the injections and pills they received. Others, like Fati, said medics and soldiers passed off injections and pills as cures for weakness or disease. In reality, the medications were intended to terminate their pregnancies, according to documentation from hospitals and military facilities. Nigerian facilities often used misoprostol, which helps induce labor or contractions, according to the documentation reviewed by Reuters. The drug is also used to treat ulcers and post-partum hemorrhaging, and is widely available in Nigerian cities, including through unofficial abortion-drug distribution networks. Women sometimes were also given the progesterone-blocker called mifepristone, which in many countries is used in conjunction with misoprostol in medication abortions. Also given was the drug oxytocin, which is widely used during labor to stimulate contractions and safe to use when under medical supervision. Though experts say it is not recommended for abortions, it was sometimes given at military bases to trigger terminations, said two soldiers who performed the procedures. Using oxytocin to induce abortion is dangerous, several international medical experts told Reuters, particularly if it is injected intramuscularly, as soldiers involved in the Nigerian program said it was. If the drug is administered too quickly, the results can be fatal, the experts said. The medications misoprostol and mifepristone are considered safe for abortions when the standard medical protocol is used, according to the World Health Organization and other authorities. Copyright 2022 Reuters

Rhoda Ya’u Jatau, a mother of five, has been in prison for nearly seven months WASHINGTON - Today, a large coalition of religious freedom and human rights organizations, experts and practitioners released an open letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, asking him to intervene on behalf of Rhoda Ya’u Jatau, a Nigerian Christian woman imprisoned while waiting trial for blasphemy. “We respectfully urge you to intervene with the Nigerian authorities at the highest levels to secure Rhoda’s freedom,” the signatories wrote to the secretary of state. “We likewise urge you to make it clear to the Nigerian authorities your firm opposition to blasphemy laws.” Jatau, 45, was arrested in Nigeria’s Bauchi State on May 20, after she shared a video condemning the recent murder of Deborah Yakubu, a Christian university student in Nigeria who had herself been accused of blasphemy. After her arrest, a mob attacked Jatau’s Christian-majority neighborhood in the town of Katanga, burning houses and assaulting local residents. Jatau’s husband and five children have had to relocate to another city for safety. Jatau’s husband has been banned from visiting his wife in prison. The open letter comes as Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, is arriving in Washington DC for the three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. Buhari has not commented on Jatau’s case; he refused to condemn Deborah Yakubu’s murder, and said that the blasphemy accusations against her should have been handled by “the constituted authority.” While Jatau has been charged with “exciting contempt of religious creed” under the Nigerian Penal Code, Bauchi State is also one of twelve Nigerian states that has adopted shari’a law. In recent years, several Nigerians have been sentenced under the shari’a to lengthy prison sentences, or even death, for perceived insults to Islam. Despite these cases, as well as a surge in violent attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s south and Middle Belt, on November 30, the U.S. State Department once again refused to add Nigeria to the U.S.’s list of “Countries of Particular Concern” for religious freedom violations. The independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), as well as a wide range of Nigerian and international human rights groups, had called on the State Department to add Nigeria to the CPC list. USCIRF called the refusal to add Nigeria to the list “inexplicable” in light of “the State Department’s own reporting.” The letter to Blinken was organized by Christian Solidarity International (CSI) and signed by twenty-five organizations and eleven individuals, including CSI’s president Dr. John Eibner, and the Baroness Cox, an independent member of the House of Lords in the UK. Other signing organizations include ADF International, Genocide Watch, In Defense of Christians, and the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights. Commenting on the letter, CSI’s Eibner said, “Both the judicial incarceration of Rhoda and the extrajudicial lynching of Deborah for allegedly violating Islamic blasphemy laws are symptomatic of the Fulani Muslim supremacism that claims the lives, the liberty and the land of millions of Christians and other Nigerians.” “President Buhari’s visit to Washington this week is an excellent opportunity for Secretary Blinken to demonstrate the seriousness of the U.S.’s commitment to religious freedom – by intervening on Rhoda’s behalf,” Eibner concluded.

By Peter Dickinson The liberation of Kherson in early November sparked a wave of euphoria as Ukrainians celebrated a landmark victory over Vladimir Putin’s invading army. Weeks later, this celebratory mood has now given way to all-too-familiar feelings of grief and fury as the Ukrainian authorities uncover evidence of war crimes committed during the city’s eight-month Russian occupation. This grim process has already been repeated in hundreds of liberated villages, towns, and cities throughout northern and eastern Ukraine. On each occasion, retreating Russian troops have left behind a vast crime scene of mass graves, torture chambers, sexual violence, and deeply traumatized communities. Specific accounts of civilian suffering are strikingly similar from region to region, indicating that these crimes are the result of deliberate Kremlin policy rather than the rogue actions of individual Russian army units. Wherever Russia establishes control, anyone regarded as posing a potential threat to the occupation authorities is at risk of abduction. This includes elected local officials, military veterans, civil society activists, journalists, and anyone suspected of overtly pro-Ukrainian sympathies. Many victims are subjected to torture and execution. Others simply disappear. Those who avoid abduction face the threat of forced deportation to the Russian Federation. Millions of Ukrainian civilians, including thousands of children, are believed to have been deported in this manner over the past nine months. The atrocities committed by Russian troops in occupied regions of Ukraine are only one part of a wider genocidal agenda that defines the invasion unleashed by Vladimir Putin on February 24. In areas of Ukraine occupied by the Kremlin, all symbols of Ukrainian statehood have been methodically removed and a new Russian imperial identity imposed on the civilian population. Teachers have been brought in from Russia to indoctrinate Ukrainian schoolchildren, while access to the Ukrainian media has been blocked and the Ukrainian language suppressed. Putin’s intention to extinguish Ukrainian statehood and eradicate Ukrainian national identity was evident long before Russian tanks crossed the border in early 2022. His menacing statements have since been matched by the criminal actions of his army. Apologists had earlier been able to dismiss the Russian dictator’s genocidal rhetoric as mere political hyperbole, but that is no longer possible. For years prior to the current invasion, Putin publicly denied Ukraine’s right to exist and insisted Ukrainians were actually Russians (“one people”) who had been artificially and unjustly separated from the motherland. In summer 2021, he took the highly unusual and revealing step of publishing a 5000-word treatise arguing the illegitimacy of Ukrainian statehood. On the eve of the invasion, Putin lambasted today’s independent Ukrainian state as an intolerable “anti-Russia” and declared that Ukraine was an “inalienable part of Russia’s own history, culture, and spiritual space.” More recently, he has directly compared his invasion to the eighteenth century imperial conquests of Russian Czar Peter the Great and boasted that he is “returning historically Russian lands.” In late September, he illegally annexed four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces while proclaiming that they had joined the Russian Federation “forever.” Other senior Kremlin officials and regime propagandists have been even more explicit in terms of the genocidal language they have employed to champion the invasion. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently described Ukrainians as “cockroaches” while dismissing the Ukrainian nation as “mythical.” Meanwhile, on Russia’s carefully curated state TV political talk shows, calls for genocide against Ukrainians have become completely normalized. Pundits dehumanize and demonize Ukrainians while routinely questioning the existence of a separate Ukrainian nation and casually discussing the necessity of destroying the Ukrainian state. © 2022 Atlantic Council

Mamadshoeva is just one among a countless number of Pamiris subjected to arbitrary trials in recent months. Dec 12, 2022 Ulfathonim Mamadshoeva with her grandchildren (Facebook) The Supreme Court in Tajikistan has sentenced a widely respected 65-year-old journalist to 21 years in prison on charges of incitement to overthrowing the government. Ulfathonim Mamadshoeva was accused by the authorities of being a leading figure behind the political turbulence that rocked her native Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, or GBAO, earlier this year. State propaganda has previously alleged that the veteran reporter and activist hatched the purported plot, for which no credible evidence has been produced, at the behest of an unnamed foreign government. Mamadshoeva’s brother, Khursand, was last week sentenced to 18 years in prison on related charges. Her ex-husband, Kholbash Kholbashev, a former senior official in the border service, has been given a life sentence. All the trial proceedings were held behind closed doors. The only details to have filtered out have come from relatives of the defendants. Mamadshoeva is just one of a countless number of people from Tajikistan’s eastern Pamirs region to have face arbitrary arrest and summary trials over the last year over claims of involvement in pro-autonomy activism. Few of the accused have been given access to legal representation. The campaign of repression is the culmination of a violent government crackdown in the GBAO in May-June that was unleashed in response to protests. By the account of the General Prosecutor’s Office, at least 29 people were killed during security sweeps. Prosecutors later filed criminal cases against 109 Pamiri leaders and their followers. Also last week, the Supreme Court sentenced Faromuz Irgashev, a 32-year-old Pamiri lawyer who attempted without success to run in the 2020 presidential election, to 30 years in prison. When unrest first broke out in GBAO in February, Irgashev acted as an intermediary between protestors and the authorities, assisting in defusing the tensions. One result of negotiations was approval for the creation of a 44-person commission involving all sides of the unrest to investigate the root of the tensions. By May, 10 members of that commission had charges filed against them on the grounds that they had allegedly formed a criminal consortium. © 2022 EurasiaNet [original]

Why ‘liberal peacebuilding’ isn’t delivering for DR Congo’s ethnic minorities Focus on elections, investment and climate change has ignored serious threats to vulnerable Congolese groups OpenDemocracy.net 6 December 2022 Thomas Shacklock Delphin Rukumbuzi Ntanyoma Members of the Congolese diaspora at a 2019 rally in Manchester, UK, at which they expressed opposition to “Tutsi-Rwandese” in eastern DRC and called the Banyamulenge a “pseudo-Congolese tribe”. credit: Barbara Cook/Alamy Live News A cessation of hostilities in the decade-old conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was declared in November by African leaders in the Angolan capital of Luanda. The M23 rebel group, composed primarily of fighters from the country’s persecuted Tutsi ethnic minority, has been fighting the Congolese army since 2012. The group was considered defeated in 2013, but resurfaced a year ago. Two days after last month’s ceasefire, fighting resumed, indicating that the Luanda summit had failed to resolve the crisis. In fact, the summit’s entire set-up underlined the limits of the international community’s approach to DRC’s challenges – notably the way it overlooks the persecution of ethnic minorities and Indigenous people dating back to the colonial era. M23 is one of more than 100 armed groups operating and profiting from the lack of effective governance in eastern DRC (North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces) but it has managed to make international headlines more than others. The narrow focus of discussion about DRC was reinforced at the Financial Times’ Africa Summit in London in October, at which Congolese president Felix Tshisekedi discussed opportunities and challenges for investors in his country. The interview could not escape the issues of ongoing conflict in the eastern provinces, the exploitation of resources, and questions about corruption in the 2018 general elections. Tshisekedi cited M23 as a source of instability, complicating investment. The resurgence of M23 has triggered a diplomatic row between DRC and its eastern neighbour, Rwanda. The Congolese government accuses Rwanda of supporting M23, which the Rwandan government denies. But either way, when Tshisekedi refers to Rwanda or M23, he is able to tap into the populist anti-Rwanda sentiment that remains a strong force in Congolese politics. Congolese politicians have successfully framed Rwanda – which invaded what is now DRC during the Congo Wars (1996 to 2003) – as the country’s main enemy. Following the wars, Rwanda’s support for insurgents in eastern DRC reinforced prejudices against the Tutsi minority, who belong to the wider “Banyarwanda” community (groups considered to come historically from Rwanda). Another minority that has not supported Rwandan-backed insurgencies since the wars, but still remains associated with them, is the Tutsi-related Banyamulenge community of South Kivu province. The tendency for any discussion about DRC to focus on elections, investment and climate change but to overlook the fate of minorities is largely due to underreporting. Both the international media and independent human rights organisations have severely neglected these pressing issues. The role politics plays in fuelling ethnic-based polarisation shows that the issues of democracy and minority experiences are, in fact, very much interrelated. Other key topics, including economic investment and climate change, relate to minority rights. The links between conflict and the exploitation of resources are familiar in DRC. Certain approaches to sustainable development have also harmed some minorities, including the Batwa, who originally dwelt in forests. Limits of ‘liberal peacebuilding’ model One key idea tying together the seemingly separate major talking points in DRC is the ‘liberal peacebuilding’ model. In essence, this follows a simplistic logic that elections, good governance and free-market economics complement each other, bring peace and represent signs of ‘progress’ for ‘post-conflict’ countries. Climate change has also become increasingly inseparable from debates on these issues in DRC. John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate, visited DRC in October to discuss environmental challenges with Congolese partners. As in the Amazon, the rainforests in DRC need urgent protection to tackle climate change yet remain threatened with environmental destruction. Meanwhile, the country has been preparing for its next general election, due in December 2023. The US recently pledged $13m, on top of the $10.65m it has already dedicated to the country’s electoral process – though it’s not clear how US support will ensure the electoral process is fair and transparent, given the reports of corruption in the last elections in 2018. Nevertheless, during US secretary of state Antony Blinken’s tour of sub-Saharan Africa in the summer – in which he visited DRC, Rwanda and South Africa – he emphasised the US administration's continued reliance on the liberal peace model. He stressed the importance of upholding the values of democracy, openness and economic partnership. In addition to multiple criticisms of the ‘liberal peace’ model, this narrow focus reflects another problem with the way the country is viewed by the international community and media. Ever since the Congo Wars officially ended in 2003, DRC has been deemed a ‘post-conflict’ state. Notwithstanding the general pessimism towards what is happening in the eastern provinces, overall the country is seen to have the potential to make ‘progress’ – by advancing its democratic process and by becoming more open to international investment. This attitude allows threats to minorities to be ignored, revealing the extent to which violence has become the norm in eastern DRC. This normalisation of violence is a product of colonialism – the Belgian colonial authorities constructed the idea that Congo is an inherently violent place. The persecution of minorities is obscured by this legacy while also representing yet another legacy of colonial repression. Persecution of Congolese minorities For civilians from multiple communities suffering from the daily realities of violence in eastern DRC, ‘peace’ may seem like a lost cause. For the region’s most vulnerable minorities, the failure even to factor the destructive violence they face into the debate regarding DRC signals that the world has abandoned them. In South Kivu province, the view that the Banyamulenge are ‘foreign’ has culminated in a campaign that threatens them with extermination. The hostilities they face today are the result of the same historical processes that caused the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda. Like other ethnic groups in South Kivu, the Banyamulenge migrated to what later became DRC between the 16th and 18th centuries from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. During the colonial era, the Belgian authorities propagated a racialised myth portraying Banyamulenge and Tutsi pastoralists as ‘outsiders’. This divide-and-rule tactic was also employed in Rwanda, where Hutu became pitted against Tutsi. In the 1980s, the Banyamulenge lost their Congolese citizenship along with other “Banyarwanda” as the DRC state (then Zaire) resolved to kick out those believed to be of Rwandan and/or Burundian descent. In the 1990s, they were ordered by Parliament to leave the country and were singled out in massacres perpetrated by Congolese soldiers and militias, leading them to join Rwanda’s invasion of the DRC in the Congo Wars. Although citizenship was theoretically restored in 2004, the legacy of colonial-era mythology still influences the public’s perception of the community. Recently, the Banyamulenge’s security has deteriorated again. Since 2017, a coalition of ethnic-based militias, known as Mai-Mai, have targeted Banyamulenge in genocidal attacks accompanied by incitements to “exterminate” these so-called “invaders”. The militias have destroyed most of the Banyamulenge’s villages and looted their cattle, their main source of livelihood. Displaced Banyamulenge have been forced into small localities, where they can’t access their fields for farming and continue to face attacks. The Congolese national army has stood by while militias have attacked civilians. Both local sources and UN reports have confirmed a high degree of collaboration between Mai-Mai militias and Congolese soldiers. The UN peacekeeping force (MONUSCO) has also failed to prevent attacks on civilians. Similarly, in the north-eastern province of Ituri, militias have targeted the Hema community on the grounds that they are not ‘real’ Congolese, killing thousands. These attacks have yet to result in any form of international conference or debate on the experience of Congolese minorities. Another minority group, hunter-gatherer Batwa, has long faced contempt and persecution. They rely on the rainforests for their survival, and their way of life and deep connection with their environment promotes conservation. They are the Indigenous people of Central Africa. Yet, they have fallen victim to the dark side of current approaches to sustainable development in DRC. A Minority Rights Group (MRG) investigation, published earlier this year, documents systematic operations against the Batwa in a DRC national park from 2019 to 2021. Forest guards and Congolese army soldiers, supported by the German and US governments and international partners, aimed to purge Batwa from their ancestral homelands. These operations were examples of what MRG described as a more widespread “rigidly colonial conservation model” used across Africa. More dark days ahead The violence that minorities face is often fuelled by hate speech. This may be spread online, both within the DRC and in the Congolese diaspora. Hate campaigns have proliferated as access to social media has reached rural settings. Notably, anti-Tutsi and anti-Banyamulenge hate speech, which has intensified online following the resurgence of the M23 militia, is reminiscent of the rhetoric that fuelled the Rwandan and Rohingya (Myanmar) genocides. Martin Fayulu – who is widely accepted as the true winner of the 2018 elections, and Tshisekedi’s main political rival – has been explicit with his anti-minority rhetoric. Despite this, the international community and media legitimise him as a respectable public figure. Fayulu has repeatedly denied that the Banyamulenge exist as a Congolese community, and said they must return to their “home country”. He has repeated this claim in public conferences in Brussels, Paris, Quebec and Montreal. Such hate speech will likely increase ahead of next year’s general election as politicians continue to victimise minorities as a tactic to gain votes. All Congolese communities have the right to benefit from the peace, democracy, economic opportunities and environmental protection that Western powers and the international community promote. To make this possible for minorities too, colonial ideas about who belongs on Congolese soil need to be dealt with – at local, national and international level. Copyright 2022 OpenDemocracy, Thomas Shacklock, Delphin Rukumbuzi Ntanyoma

PRESS STATEMENT: Arrest of Mister Parwiz Khalili, journalist for the Afghanistan War Victim Voices Project (AWVV.org). Mister Parwiz Khalili was arrested by the Taliban. Mister Khalili’s profile: My name is Mohammad Parwiz Khalili, born on March 6, 1991. I have a bachelor's degree in law and political science and a master's degree in international relations. After the Taliban's rule over Afghanistan, I opposed the inhumane policies of the Taliban. I conducted more than 170 interviews from inside Afghanistan, and I wrote dozens of research articles on the cases of genocide, the war crime of forced displacement, and the brutal behavior of the Taliban. All of my campaigns and activities caused the Taliban to officially issue a letter of my arrest a few months ago. Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Taliban administration, confirmed the publication of this letter.’’ We request the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany, the Netherlands and the United States of America, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and the spokesperson of the International Criminal Court at The Hague to investigate and help us to secure the safety and wellbeing of Mister Khalili. The AWVV.org contacted the Taliban leadership for a response. At the moment they state that they do not know where mister Khalili is. We know he was arrested by the Taliban and we hope that their communication network will find him soon. We are counting on their cooperation. The AWVV.org is prepared to guide mister Khalili and his family out of Afghanistan if the Taliban do not wish him to stay in Afghanistan anymore. We hope that this solution is an acceptable solution for the Taliban leadership. We also hope the international community is willing to help us out on these matters. According to Mrs. Khalili, Mr. Khalili is in custody at Directorate of 40 Intelligence in Kabul Mister Halili's press appearances: https://youtu.be/jCzGtYiE7js https://youtu.be/o4NfIJcX-08 https://youtu.be/usijYjUrslk https://youtu.be/hOoiRCqYfLI https://youtu.be/-m4aM55-nsY https://youtu.be/bpYsfWWkypM https://youtu.be/o3Vl1gFkp8Q https://youtu.be/9N_zBgZEy4M https://youtu.be/RXJZdHNwax

Bombing of Daraa, Syria credit: The New York Times Syria Country Report December 2022 The Assad regime has committed genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against the Syrian people. In 2022, the United Nations (UN) estimated death toll was 306,000 civilians during the 11 year-long Syrian civil war. Security forces have killed from 13,000 - 30,000 people in torture and extermination prisons. The UN reports the regime has detained over 132,000 prisoners, including 1,024 in 2022. Assad denies Syria has any political prisoners. The Assad regime was responsible for 98% of the 336 verified incidents of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. These chemical attacks killed more than 1,510 people and maimed 12,000. The Syrian and Russian air forces have bombed numerous civilian schools and hospitals. They conducted at least 58 "double tap" bombing attacks that target medical teams responding to first strikes. The Assad regime blocks UN aid deliveries to rebel-occupied cities. Syrian rebel forces include both terrorist and non-terrorist organizations. In Idlib, Al Qaeda affiliates arrested 57 individuals in 2021 and summarily executed many of their captives. The Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (TFSA) has detained and tortured 8,590 people in secret prisons in Turkish-controlled areas. The TFSA drove Kurds and Yazidis out of Afrin in 2018 and desecrated sacred Yazidi sites. Murder in Syria by State Security police is never punished. Credit: Agence France Presse Not all crimes against humanity are committed by the Assad regime. The U.S-backed military of the Kurdish Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (ANNES), the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has detained, disappeared, tortured, or killed 3,000 civilians for criticizing the SDF. Children are kidnapped for enlistment, with 537 verified cases by 2021. The SDF controls the displaced persons camp al-Hol for ISIS detainees, where people cannot leave without permission. In 2021, 79 people were killed at the al-Hol camp. The SDF separates children from their mothers and transfers children to “re-education” camps because of "potential ISIS radicalization.” Foreign nations are contributing to the prolonged humanitarian crises in Syria. Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel fight proxy wars against each other in Syria. Russia has conducted 1,418 airstrikes targeting civilians and civilian structures since 2015. In July 2022, Russia vetoed the extension of cross border aid, only allowing for six months of aid that 4.1 million Syrians in rebel-held areas depend on. The U.S has conducted air and drone strikes in Syria that have resulted in dozens of civilian casualities. Turkey regularly launches strikes in Syria to “neutralize terrorists” yet most of the victims are Kurdish civilians. Turkey's invasion of northern Syria in 2019 killed thousands of Kurds. In July 2022, Turkey told the U.S to remove US troops from northern Syria. Turkey is sending military reinforcements to Northern Syria for another invasion. Genocide Watch considers Syria to be at Stage 9: Extermination and Stage 10: Denial of the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed by the Assad regime, Russia and Turkey. Genocide Watch Recommends: · The U.S should reinforce, not withdraw, its remaining troops in northern Syria. · If Turkey expands its invasion of Northern Syria, Turkey should be suspended from NATO. · The European Union (EU) should offer Syrian refugees the same protection it has given Ukrainian refugees. Ukrainian refugees have permission to stay in the EU for one year and can enter the labor market. · The UN Security Council should call for reopening the border crossings that Russia eliminated for UN aid. · The UN Human Rights Council and ICRC should acquire the names and reasons for arrest and demand the release of prisoners in President Assad’s torture and extermination prisons. · The UN General Assembly should establish a special tribunal to try Syrians who have committed crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. Nations with universal jurisdiction should also try them. · The UN and Assad’s allies Russia, Iran, and China should demand that Syria cooperate with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and destroy all Syrian chemical weapons. · The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs should strengthen protection of humanitarian aid deliveries in Syria, and ensure aid is not blocked from reaching rebel held cities.