Special Criminal Court Delivers Judgment Photo: Proceedings at the Special Criminal Court in May 2022 during its first trial. © 2022 Special Criminal Court. UPDATE: On October 31, the court convicted Issa Sallet Adoum, Ousman Yaouba, and Tahir Mahamat of the 3R rebel group for war crimes and crimes against humanity in May 2019 in the villages of Koundjili and Lemouna, northwest Central African Republic. “Today’s conviction sends a strong signal that those who commit the worst crimes in the Central African Republic can be held to account, even after so many years of widespread impunity,” said Elise Keppler, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch. The verdict is a milestone for the victims, including those who bravely testified, some traveling to the country’s capital for the first time in their lives to do so, and communities that have been terrorized during the country’s conflicts.” (Nairobi) – The Special Criminal Court in the Central African Republic issued its first verdict on October 31, 2022, an important step in justice efforts addressing atrocities committed in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Issa Sallet Adoum, Ousman Yaouba, and Tahir Mahamat, alleged members of the “3R” rebel group, stood trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, accused of being responsible for atrocities committed in May 2019 in the villages of Koundjili and Lemouna, northwest Central African Republic. “The people in the Central African Republic have long experienced brutal, widespread atrocities with impunity,” said Elise Keppler, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch. "The Special Criminal Court’s upcoming verdict in its first trial spotlights the importance of investing in justice efforts for victims of the crimes.” Human Rights Watch documented the attacks by the 3R rebel group on civilians in the villages of Koundjili and Lemouna, and the town of Bohong in July 2019. During the attacks people were tied up and executed. About 46 civilians were killed and the communities were pillaged. The attack came three months after the 3R group and 13 other armed groups signed a peace accord. The Special Criminal Court (SCC), which became operational in 2018, is a novel court, staffed by both international and national judges and prosecutors. It benefits from extensive assistance by the United Nations and international donors, including the United States and the European Union. The court is based in the country’s capital, Bangui, and has authority to try grave crimes committed during successive armed conflicts in the Central African Republic since 2003. The court’s first trial began on April 19, 2022, though it immediately went on a one week recess when defense lawyers did not appear due to concerns around their fees. The lawyers returned to court on April 25 and requested further time to prepare for trial while discussions of fees continued. The trial resumed on May 16 and continued through June, during which time the judges heard testimony from about three dozen witnesses. Most witnesses testified in person but in some cases where a witness was unable to travel to the court, their testimony was presented in writing, with the defendants given an opportunity to respond to it. Approximately a half dozen witnesses testified in closed session given the sensitivity of their testimony related to sexual violence. Some victims joined the case as civil parties and were represented by lawyers, and some of these civil parties were also witnesses. After a recess, closing arguments took place in August. During the trial, lawyers representing the victims highlighted concerns for the security of those who testified in open court. Security remains an ongoing concern given that much of the Central African Republic is under the control of armed groups. Trial sessions were broadcasted on the radio in French and local languages. In person outreach activities did not occur with the communities most affected by the crimes, due in part to a fuel crisis and difficulties related to overall insecurity in the country. Staffing and resources remain a challenge for the court, magnified by its insecure funding and complex partnership with the UN. A psychologist on contract to support witnesses was unavailable during much of the trial. No legal adviser was available to support the judges, especially to conduct research, although an adviser is being recruited, court staff have said. A new fee structure for lawyers was issued on June 14, following discussions between court staff, donors, and lawyers, which provided for an increase in fees and resources for transport and administrative needs. In a positive development, three other people suspected of offenses have been arrested in the last month. Firmin Junior Danboy and Vianney Semndiro, who have been army officers, are facing charges of alleged crimes against humanity committed in a military detention center in Bossembélé between 2009 and 2013. And a former Seleka general Abdel Kader Khalil is facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. All efforts should be made to ensure that all fugitives are in the dock, Human Rights Watch said. This follows the surprise release of a sitting minister, Hassan Bouba, by local police in November 2021 after his SCC arrest. Bouba remains at liberty. The court has yet to announce when a second trial will start, though more than a dozen cases are under judicial investigation, according to court staff. Judicial investigation is the stage that precedes trial, evidence permitting. The court is also conducting investigations in tandem with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which currently has four suspects in custody on charges of crimes committed in the Central African Republic, three of whom are on trial. The ICC can play an important role in pursuing cases involving more senior leadership, while the Special Court seeks to conduct trials in a wider set of cases in country, alongside cases by the ordinary courts. The Special Criminal Court and ICC can cooperate and support each other to advance the delivery of justice, Human Rights Watch said. “The Special Criminal Court is a novel effort to deliver much lauded, but rarely delivered, accountability for atrocities in the national courts in the country where the crimes were committed,” Keppler said. “The court’s ability to prosecute cases, protect witnesses, arrest suspects, and work in coordination with the ICC should be closely watched and strongly supported to promote justice for victims in the Central African Republic and elsewhere where such courts may be useful.” © 2022 Human Rights Watch

By: Nicola Smith 'A good clubbing is exactly what the wolves and crazy dogs need,' the poster says with an illustration of American, South Korean and Japanese soldier caricatures being smashed with a club CREDIT: Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images. Revival of state messaging to 'wipe the US off the face of the earth' reflects deteriorating relations. North Korea has resumed propaganda depicting graphic violence against the United States and its military four years after removing it from public display to reinforce a temporary diplomatic détente with Washington. Poster art showing missile strikes against the US mainland and North Korean soldiers slaughtering American and South Korean troops are once again on sale in Pyongyang, reported NK News this week. The revival of state messaging to “wipe the US off the face of the earth” reflects deteriorating relations since the collapse of nuclear disarmament talks in 2019 and spiralling tensions on the Korean Peninsula as Pyongyang ramps up missile testing to unprecedented levels and refuses to come back to the table. In 2018, as a gesture of goodwill, North Korea hid anti-US propaganda from view and focused state propaganda slogans on economic goals to improve living standards in pariah state. However, it is believed that while material denouncing the US is now back on sale, the propaganda is not yet being displayed to the wider public on billboards. © Telegraph Media Group Limited 2022 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/11/north-korea-resumes-anti-us-propaganda-depicting-graphic-violence/

UK investigation to examine human rights abuses in Kazakhstan Commission to focus on detention of journalist and political leader Zhanbolat Mamai after nationwide protests Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor Wed 2 Nov 2022 11.03 EDT Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev requested Russian support for a violent crackdown on protests earlier this year. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images The state of human rights in the vast, mineral-rich central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, including the continued detention of opposition leaders, is to be formally examined by senior UK parliamentarians including the former director of public prosecutions Lord MacDonald. He will lead an independent investigation into the detention and treatment of Zhanbolat Mamai, the leader of the unregistered opposition Democratic party in Kazakhstan. Mamai has been detained since February 2022 over his role in nationwide protests over steep rises in fuel prices that were seen as the most serious dissent in the central Asian republic since Kazakhstan was granted independence from Russia 30 years ago. The country has a 7,500km border with Russia, a considerable border with China, and is also being courted by European powers, especially Germany. A crackdown after the protests led to more than 200 deaths in an event that came to be known as “Bloody January”. During a visit to Kazakhstan this week, the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, underlined the growing European interest in the country’s strategic importance, as well as its potential for hydrogen. She said: “Russia’s war against Ukraine is causing all the successor states of the Soviet Union to wonder whether they too might sometime face a challenge to their sovereignty”. In her visit to Astana, she said “sustainable growth was only possible in the context of human rights being guaranteed”, adding that Kazakhstan was on the path to reform. However, numerous human rights groups have called for Mamai’s release, and the UK investigation is a sign that civil society is taking a growing interest in the political direction of the country. Lord MacDonald has written to the Kazakh government to seek an explanation for Mamai’s continued detention, and has already opened a dialogue with officials about the possibility of a visit. The commission has reportedly been told that some of the more serious charges against Mamai may be dropped. The letter was originally sent jointly by the Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell and Labour MP Rushanara Ali but Mitchell was subsequently asked to join the UK government as aid minister and is to be replaced on the commission. Lord MacDonald told a press conference in London: “We are approaching the issue with an open mind”, adding: “We shall take a legal, rational and serious approach, all of which is justified by the gravity of the issues we have been asked to address.” At the time of the January unrest, the Kazakh president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, denounced the protesters as terrorists and authorised a shoot to kill policy for anyone that did not surrender to state forces. As many as 10,000 were detained, mainly in the capital, Astana. Russian troops operating under the banner of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation were sent to Astana to protect government buildings and, in the words of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, prevent foreign-inspired “colour revolutions”. The country has presidential elections on 22 November, where Tokayev will seek a second term and face one opponent. Parliamentary elections are due next year, but many opposition parties cannot register. Tokayev’s critics say that, in his address to the UN general assembly in September, he confirmed his country’s allegiance to the UN charter, but does little to abide by its true values. Mamai has previously been arrested for his journalism, and claims he was beaten severely in prison. In 2017, he was banned from journalism for three years. The central Asian republic never held an internal inquiry into the events that led to the protests or the way they were handled, partly due to the fact they may have revealed an internal power struggle inside the government. At a recent press conference, Mamai’s lawyer, Yemar Kenzhebayev, said his client had been charged with a series of offences under the country’s constitution, including using mass media to distribute false information. A prominent Kazakh human rights lawyer, Yevgeniy Zhovtis, said the January protests spread from dissent about price rises to more general political demands including the release of political prisoners and stronger civil freedoms. He said some of the protests turned violent, leading to 229 deaths, including 19 law enforcement officers. But Zhovtis pointed out laws in the country have effectively banned the registration of opposition parties and targeted individuals by barring them from political activity or arbitrary detention. He described Kazakhstan as “an imitation democracy”. The Kazak embassy informallytold the inquiry officials that the threshold for political parties to be registered was being lowered. © 2022 Guardian News & Media Ltd. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/02/uk-investigation-to-examine-human-rights-abuses-in-kazakhstan

Friends of twice jailed human rights activist call for independent inquiry after body found in damaged wetsuit at Base G beach, Jayapura. Tributes have been paid to West Papuan independence campaigner Filep Karma. Photograph: Kate Lamb/The Guardian The human rights campaigner Filep Karma – one of West Papua’s most famous former political prisoners – has been found dead on a beach in Jayapura, sparking calls for a full and independent inquiry into his death. Twice jailed for raising the West Papuan Morning Star flag banned by Indonesia, 63-year-old Karma was one of the most prominent and influential campaigners for West Papuan independence. Police confirmed a body had been found at Base G Beach, a picturesque and popular beach near Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, but would not confirm it was Karma. “It is true that a body was found by a resident on the beach at Base G, suspected to be Filep Karma, but to be sure, the police are still waiting for confirmation from his family,” Adjunct Commissioner Yahya Rumra of North Jayapura police told Antara News. Karma’s family members subsequently confirmed his death, saying he drowned in a diving accident. The exiled interim president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Benny Wenda, said he mourned for his colleague and was deeply concerned by the manner of his death. Wenda said 16 Papuan leaders, many aged in their 40s and 50s, had died “in mysterious circumstances” since 2020. “The big question is this: how did Filep die? We know he drowned while surfing, despite being a skilled diver. We know that there were four Indonesians with him when he died, but we don’t know if any of them have given testimony.” Wenda paid tribute to Karma, describing him as a leader who stood for “justice, democracy, for peace and non-violent resistance”. “His experience of Indonesian brutality never daunted him. He continued to lead the struggle for liberation, whether in prison or in the streets. For West Papuans, Filep was equivalent to Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King. The history of our struggle lived within him.” Originally from Biak Island and the son of a prominent local politician, Karma studied in Java and worked as a civil servant in the Indonesian government before becoming an outspoken advocate for West Papuan human rights and political self-determination. Karma was shot in the leg during the Biak massacre in 1998 – when scores of West Papuan independence demonstrators were killed by Indonesian security forces – and was later jailed for raising the Morning Star flag, a symbol of West Papuan independence outlawed by Indonesia. He was released two years later. He was again jailed for “treason” for raising the flag in 2004, serving 11 years of a 15-year sentence. His body was found at about 7am on Wednesday on Base G beach. Karma was a master diver with decades of experience: his body was found wearing his diving wetsuit, but the suit reportedly had significant damage. The executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, described Karma as an inspirational and unafraid leader. “We urge the ranks of law enforcement and human rights institutions to investigate the cause of the death of the deceased,” Hamid said. “This investigation is important to answer whether there are indications of criminal acts or human rights violations behind the death of the deceased, because many vocal activists in Papua have become targets of violence.” © 2022 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

By: Moki Edwin Kindzeka A group of women take shelter under a tree a the Bogo IDP camp in Maroua, Cameroon, April 28, 2022. CAMPO, CAMEROON — Cameroon says Equatorial Guinea has deported several hundred Cameroonians, some of whom say they were fleeing terrorist and rebel attacks at home. The government of Equatorial Guinea says the deportees were economic migrants and is planning to deport 7,000 Cameroonians in all by the end of the year. Scores of Cameroonians applauded Monday while welcoming back at least 200 of their citizens who were deported. But the well-wishers are not happy with Equatorial Guinea’s actions. Civilians shouted that by deporting Cameroonians, the oil-rich country is being indifferent to people who have rendered services as mechanics, electricians, bricklayers, miners and other types of workers. Nguenang Rigobert, one of the deported Cameroonians, says he lost his teaching job in Equatorial Guinea. Nguenang says he, like many Cameroonians in Equatorial Guinea, are victims of what he calls the Cameroon government's lack of interest in the plight of its citizens outside the country. He says Cameroon should have negotiated for Equatorial Guinea to give Cameroonians more time to acquire resident and work permits. Nguenang said several dozen of the deported Cameroonians fled their country in part because of its ongoing separatist crisis. Others left because of Boko Haram terrorism in the north. Some deportees said they were tortured and their property looted in Equatorial Guinea. Others said they spent several nights in detention centers and were freed after agreeing to return to Cameroon unconditionally. Nouhou Bello, the most senior Cameroon government official in Ocean, the administrative unit where Campo is located, says President Paul Biya asked him to receive the deported civilians and make sure they travel to their towns and villages in peace. Bello says Cameroonians who have arrived in Campo since Friday have confirmed to government officials that they were in the neighboring state illegally. He says some of the deportees told officials their visas had expired while others acknowledged lacking travel documents when they went to Equatorial Guinea. Bello called on Cameroonians staying in Equatorial Guinea illegally to return home or risk being locked up. Earlier in October, the government of Equatorial Guinea said it would embark on a mass deportation of people living illegally in its territory. Officials said insecurity has mounted due to an influx of about 30,000 economic migrants within the past three years. Equatorial Guinea accused job-seeking youths, especially from Cameroon and Nigeria, of harassment, theft and armed banditry. Essomba Innocent is an economic analyst at the National University of Equatorial Guinea. He says in January 2020, the country signaled that it did not want illegal economic migrants in its territory and laid the foundation stone for construction of a border wall with Cameroon. Essomba says in June 2020, Equatorial Guinea agreed to pause the construction of the controversial wall after Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Central African Republic agreed to voluntarily repatriate their citizens living in Equatorial Guinea illegally. He says people who are being deported should not ask the government of Equatorial Guinea for compensation for goods they acquired when their stay was illegal. Equatorial Guinea is a tiny central African nation of around 1.5 million people. The International Monetary Fund reports that the nation took in approximately $45 billion in oil revenues between 2000 and 2013, catapulting it from one of the world’s poorest countries to the one with the highest per capita income on the African continent. https://www.voanews.com/a/cameroon-hundreds-of-its-citizens-deported-from-equatorial-guinea-/6812930.html © 2022 VOA News

The national flag of Tajikistan in Dushanbe, May 2011. OLGA TUTUBALINA / ASSOCIATED PRESS (Source: here) Genocide Watch is issuing a Genocide Watch for Tajikistan. Ethnic Pamirs in the autonomous oblast of Gorno-Badakhshan are facing increased surveillance, persecution, and detention at the hands of the Tajik government. The Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) comprises the entire eastern portion of Tajikistan. While GBAO comprises 45% of Tajik territory it only holds 3% of the population. Most of the GBAO population are Pamirs, an ethnic group that is linguistically and culturally distinct from the rest of the Tajik population. Most of the population of Tajikistan are ethnic Tajiks, speak Tajik (a variety of Persian) and practice Sunni Islam. The Pamirs speak a language closer to Pashto and Balochi and adhere to the Nizari sect of Shia Islam, which looks to the Aga Khan as its spiritual leader. Tajikistan is currently led by Emomali Rahmon, who has been President since the independence of Tajikistan from the Soviet Union in 1994. Rahmon has ruled Tajikistan with an iron grip by suppressing opposition, setting up a cult of personality, and creating a corrupt bureaucracy staffed by his family and sycophants. Rahmon came to power following the Tajik Civil War (1992-1997) which pitted the former Tajik Communist party against the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), which was an alliance of liberal reformers and Islamist forces. The former Communists prevailed. The civil war killed upwards of 150,000 people and displaced over 1.5 million. The UTO had strong support among the Pamirs in GBAO, which is a contributing factor to their ongoing persecution in the region. On May 21, 2022, Tajik police killed four people in the city of Khorugh, the administrative center for Gorno-Badakhshan. Following the killings, civilian protests broke out and the police headquarters in Khorugh was burned down. Tajik security forces began a brutal crackdown in the region and killed a least a dozen protestors. The Tajik government is also accused of abducting Pamir activists in Moscow and flying them back for detention in Tajikistan. Tajikistan typically goes unmentioned in global news reporting. While events in GBAO have not reached the stage of civil war, the situation remains precarious. Exacerbating the unrest, the Tajik economy is in serious jeopardy due to the coronavirus and the war in Ukraine. Over 25% of the Tajik economy is supported by remittances from migrant workers in Russia, and the recent collapse of the Russian economy has created severe vulnerability for Tajikistan. The ongoing crisis in neighboring Afghanistan and succession issues concerning the eventual end of Rahmon’s dictatorship also pose potential risks to both the Pamir minorities and Tajik dissidents. Genocide Watch considers Tajikistan to be at Stage 6: Polarization and Stage 8: Persecution. Genocide Watch recommends: The European Union, the United States, and NATO should be more attentive to the persecution of Pamirs in Tajikistan and the potential for civil war. The EU and US should consider providing relief to Central Asian economies when issuing new sanctions against the Russian Federation. The United Nations should consider reestablishing the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) which was discontinued in 1997.

Radio Free Asia By Ounkeo Souksavanh for RFA Lao October 05, 2022 They were arbitrarily detained for three months for protesting against a new military camp in their village. Lao soldiers and villagers are shown in a disputed area in Vientiane's Naxaithong district, March 25, 2022 The Lao military arbitrarily detained five land dispute protesters for three months, then threatened them with further punishment if they were to talk to the media after their release, RFA has learned. In April, authorities violently detained Nang Boumy, 55, Ngad, 58, Bounthavy, 36, Khamphout, 49, and Tou Oun, 72, as they destroyed signs and argued with military personnel at a newly built camp in their village of Houay Nam Yen in Naxaithong district, north of the capital Vientiane. The five detainees were sent to a military facility in Nong Kheng, in Vientiane’s Sayathany district, where they remained until late July. The military released them, pending the court’s decision on their case, but told them to keep quiet about it. “They prohibited us from saying anything or putting anything in the news, otherwise [the five] would be jailed again,” a villager told RFA’s Lao Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “If they were to read the news, they would be able to ask us who the source is. So we kept silent and said nothing,” the villager said. The court decided their fate while they were not present, and the military relayed the decision, an eight-month sentence with the final five months suspended, when they returned to the prison on Sept. 22., sources told RFA. Their absence in court was irregular, a legal consultant, who declined to be named, told RFA. “The military committed a conflict of interest,” the consultant said. “The prosecution is very weird.” The dispute between the military and the villagers remains unsettled. Around 40 families have been living in the 25-hectare (61-acre) disputed area in Houay Nam Yen and nearby Sisawat village since 1989, the year they fled homes damaged by floods at the nearby Nam Houm Reservoir. Soldiers claiming ownership of the land began to build there within the past year. In April, after the five were detained, Naxaithong district deputy head Phouvone Phong-Latkeo said that local villagers have no right to the disputed land, because the Vientiane Agriculture and Forestry Department had handed it over to the military following the 1989 Nam Houm flood and that it was now property of the state. Rather than threatening to arrest people living in the disputed area, the military should engage with the community to find a solution, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch, told RFA. “The Lao military should be negotiating with villagers in cases of land disputes, not abusing their rights by detaining them for months just because the villagers asserted their right to farm there,” said Robertson, who called their arbitrary detention a “blatant violation of human rights.” He called for an impartial investigation into the detention of the five protesters with accountability for those responsible. “It is totally unacceptable for the military to cover up their rights violations by threatening the villagers with further harm if they reveal what happened to them,” he said. “Once again, the Lao government's complete failure to protect the land rights of the Lao people are on full display.” RFA attempted to contact the military for more information on the matter, but received no reply. Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Copyright 2022 @ Radio Free Asia

From 1960 to 1996, the Guatemalan government, with support from the United States, conducted a systematic campaign of extermination and genocide against the indigenous Mayan population, killing more than 200,000 people. While the Guatemalan government has taken steps in January 2022 to offer reparations to several women who were victims of the genocide, the majority of Mayans still seek justice, recognition, and reparations for the crimes committed by the government. However, widespread governmental corruption and pervasive discrimination against indigenous groups have hampered attempts at justice for the genocide victims and even left indigenous people vulnerable to further persecution. Legal proceedings to convict government officials who participated in the genocide have not only been slow and infrequent, but the current proceedings also show a clear bias against the indigenous Mayans. Mayan communities continue to speak their indigenous languages instead of Spanish. While Mayans make up 51% of Guatemala’s population, court proceedings are normally held in Spanish, and translators are often not provided to plaintiffs. Judicial corruption is pervasive in Guatemala and prevents effective trials. A prominent example of this was the trial of dictator General Rìos Montt, who was responsible for the killing of 170,000 Mayans during his military rule from 1982 to 1983. Montt was convicted of his crimes in 2013, but a 3-2 ruling by the Montt-appointed Constitutional Court overturned the verdict. The dissenting Justices made it clear in their opinions that overturning the conviction failed to preserve judicial impartiality. Montt’s retrial began in 2015, but he died in 2018 before the retrial could conclude. Women also face significant discrimination and persecution. Guatemala has the third highest rate of femicide in the world, with a large proportion coming from indigenous populations. This culture of violence against women, specifically indigenous women, can be linked back to the genocide in which the military used rape, mutilation, and forced abortion and sterilization in a campaign to destroy the social fabric of surviving Mayan communities. This genocidal strategy normalized rape and violence against women by involving significant portions of the male population. It reinforced Guatemala's patriarchal culture and its acceptance of violence against women. Femicide resulted in 396 women murdered between January and August of 2021, up 31.1% since 2020. The government’s historical use of violence against women as a military strategy and its continuing discrimination against women has increased femicide. In 2018, the Guatemalan Congress passed the “Life and Family Protection Law” that criminalizes abortion and allows women to be prosecuted for termination of non-viable pregnancies. In 2022, the law was expanded, creating a five-year minimum sentence for women who self-induce an abortion. Such legislation strips women of their bodily autonomy, and it continues to enforce a culture where controlling women is normalized, leading to official tolerance of domestic violence. In recent years, the LGBTQ+ community has also come under greater attack. The “Life and Family Protection Law” also prohibits same-sex marriage. It also prohibits teaching in schools about same-sex relationships. In 2021, at least 32 people were killed because of their sexual orientation or identity. By creating a legal system in which the LGBTQ+ community is ostracized, the government subjects them to further attack and persecution. Because rampant violence against women and the LGBTQ+ community has been normalized, and extreme discrimination against indigenous peoples continues, Guatemala is at Stage 3: Discrimination and Stage 8: Persecution. Lack of accountability for those who perpetrated the genocide, reversal of convictions, and an unwillingness to allow trials put Guatemala at Stage 10: Denial. Genocide Watch Recommends: The United States Government should take responsibility for its support of the Guatemalan government during the civil war and genocide and assist efforts to prosecute perpetrators. The Guatemalan government should recognize and include indigenous languages in schools and offices. The US and other governments should support activist groups like Centro Para la Acciòn Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH), which work to increase the rule of law.

R.A., 16, bears the scars of his torture by Islamic State militants after they overran his village near Pemba, Mozambique, a few years ago. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) PEMBA, Mozambique — The boy’s scars streak under his ears and circle his neck, dark razor marks left by the Islamic State militants who overran his village. The fighters tried to recruit him. When he refused, the torture began. He was 13. But the boy’s deepest trauma surfaces when he talks about what happened to his uncle. His eyes dim and his voice gets low, almost disappearing in the breeze. “They beheaded my uncle that day, along with others,” recalled R.A., who is now 16 and living in a refugee camp. “He was begging for help, but I could do nothing. I was too scared. I could hear the machete striking him. I could hear his screams.” In northern Mozambique, one of the Islamic State’s newest branches is fueling a brutal insurgency that has raged out of sight in small villages and remote forests since late 2017. Women are kidnapped and kept as sex slaves, boys are forced to become child soldiers, beheadings are weapons of terror. The conflict has claimed about 4,000 lives; nearly 1 million people have fled their homes, separating countless families. Victims shared their stories with The Washington Post on the condition that they be identified only by their first names, and, in R.A.’s case, by his initials, because his first name is uncommon. They still live in fear of the militants. The violence and instability also threaten one of the world’s most lucrative deposits of natural gas. As Russia’s war in Ukraine drives up gas prices, fueling fears of scarcity across Europe, northern Mozambique’s reserves of liquefied natural gas, or LNG — the third largest in Africa — are viewed as vital. Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, the U.S. government approved nearly $6 billion in loans and risk insurance to help get Mozambique’s nascent natural gas industry off the ground. American and European oil and gas companies, including ExxonMobil and French giant TotalEnergies, have multibillion-dollar projects in the resource-rich province of Cabo Delgado, in the country’s far north. But the five-year-old Islamist insurgency there has halted most production. The U.S. and European governments are trying to help Mozambican forces fight the militants — and get the gas flowing. “They have completely stopped LNG operations from moving forward,” said a U.S. Embassy official in the capital, Maputo, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation freely. “There certainly is a new urgency for LNG with Ukraine.” Africa has become a new frontier for Islamist militant groups in recent years, with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State spreading rapidly across the continent. Though the groups still claim global aspirations, they are engaged here in local conflicts, capitalizing on weak governments and exploiting old grievances and inequities. Al-Qaeda and Islamic State are on the rise in Africa Last year, the State Department designated the Islamic State of Mozambique, or ISIS-Mozambique, as a foreign terrorist organization, though the group is believed to have fewer than 500 fighters. The United States also imposed sanctions on the group’s leader, Abu Yasir Hassan, though it’s unclear whether he is still in charge, or is even still alive. The Pentagon’s Africa Command is training Mozambican troops to improve their counterterrorism capabilities. The European Union is spending $89 million to train and equip 11 rapid-reaction units of the Mozambican army, in part because Portuguese and Italian oil companies also operate here alongside TotalEnergies. The militants “are in a key area, so their influence has been quite large,” the U.S. official said. “In order to create terror, you don’t need that many people.” ISIS-Mozambique has always been small in relative terms, but the weakness of the Mozambican armed forces allowed the group to make rapid gains in recent years, seizing towns and cities, and exacting a terrible toll on communities across the north. R.A. said the militants beheaded his uncle and other men in his village for not disclosing the positions of Mozambican forces. After the executions, two fighters beat him with the butts of their rifles as he sat in the sun, hands tied. When he refused to take up arms for them, he said, they brought out the razor blade. “I was tortured for two hours,” recalled R.A., who is tall and slim, and wore cutoff blue jean shorts and red slippers. As he spoke, his words slowed and his eyes drifted to the ground. R.A.’s ordeal could not be independently verified, but similar claims were made by other victims interviewed by The Post in northern Mozambique last month, and corroborated by accounts from aid workers and community activists. The Post also reviewed graphic social media footage showing the aftermath of militant attacks in the region. When the extremists tired of torturing him, R.A. said, he was forced to walk several hours to their jungle base, the blood still running down his chest. The roots of the rebellion The insurgency began in October 2017, fueled by a complex and combustible mix of poverty, inequality and Islamist radicalization. In Cabo Delgado, residents have long felt politically and economically isolated, even after natural gas and minerals were discovered here. “This is first and foremost a rebellion of local youth who have been frustrated and marginalized, the fishermen and local miners who saw their businesses extinguished,” said Dino Mahtani, former deputy Africa director for the International Crisis Group (ICG). The economic exclusion dovetailed with growing Islamist extremism in the region. “The war came from outside,” said Sheikh Nasrullahi Dula, a leader of Mozambique’s Muslim community, pointing to ultraconservative clerics from Kenya and Tanzania who started madrassas here in 2010 that began to radicalize young men in Muslim-majority Cabo Delgado. “They taught the opposite of what we preached. They taught that women were nothing and the government is not to be respected.” Militant local youths began to denounce more moderate religious leaders like Dula and pushed to ban alcohol and stop women from working. Their resentment grew as elites drawn from President Filipe Nyusi’s Makonde ethnic group secured business deals in the province at the expense of the Mwani and Makua ethnic minorities, the ICG said in a report last year. The ethnic tensions have simmered since the Portuguese colonial era. As militants overrun Mozambique oil town, fears rise of ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ Local discontent deepened with the discovery of ruby and gas deposits. The government cleared many residents off their lands to make room for foreign concessions. Prices for rents and commodities soared. The extremists “found a very fertile place to recruit unemployed, frustrated youth,” said João Feijó, a Mozambican sociologist who has studied the roots of the war. In early 2017, the government sent police to eject thousands of artisanal miners from a commercial ruby mine. The police “burned houses, they raped women and men. They beat, they tortured,” Feijó said. “Suddenly, they broke all these possibilities for the youth to get some earnings. But they didn’t provide an alternative.” The Mozambican president’s office, the Defense Ministry, Cabo Delgado’s governor and other local officials did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment or interviews. When the uprising began months later, some of the first militant recruits were miners, according to Western diplomats and analysts. By 2018, the Islamic State had embraced the militants, who now counted Tanzanians and other foreigners among their ranks, including defectors from al-Qaeda affiliates in East Africa, analysts said. Some Tanzanians are now leaders while the lower-level militants are largely Mozambicans, primarily Mwani and Makua youths. It remains unclear how strong ISIS-Mozambique’s ties are to the central Islamic State leadership in Syria and Iraq. The militants here carry the trademark black Islamic State flag and pledged allegiance to the terrorist network two years ago. On social media and in its online magazine, Islamic State leaders have lauded recent attacks in Mozambique, including some targeting Christians. “There is communication going back and forth,” the U.S. Embassy official said. “It is probably a more independent ISIS branch than others, but the links are real enough for us to declare it.” Military personnel from Botswana arrive in Pemba, Mozambique, on Aug. 31 to assist the local military in the fight against the Islamic State. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) An international fight In 2019, desperate to stem the insurgency, the Mozambican government hired mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, which is run by an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the infamous private military, which is now fighting in Ukraine and a slew of other African countries, departed several months later after suffering heavy casualties, according to Western diplomats and analysts. Mozambique then turned to Rwanda and several southern African nations, whose forces entered the conflict last year. Regional leaders fear the violence could spill over into their countries and further destabilize the coast of East Africa, which is already plagued by other terrorist groups. Russian mercenaries have landed in West Africa, pushing Putin’s goals as Kremlin is increasingly isolated The joint African forces — better trained and equipped than their Mozambican counterparts — have pushed ISIS-Mozambique out of the northern cities and towns they seized last year, including Palma, the epicenter of natural gas exploration. But the insurgents have expanded to new areas, including the province’s southern districts near the regional capital, Pemba, and have even conducted raids into Tanzania. They use guerrilla tactics, hiding within local communities or in the vast forests of Cabo Delgado, an area the size of South Carolina. In small groups, numbering no more than 10 fighters, they have staged a steady stream of hit-and-run attacks since May, when Islamic State leaders declared ISIS-Mozambique to be an autonomous branch operating in its own “province.” “Right now, it is absolutely impossible for them to control a big city, populations, or even seize a little bit of land for more than 24 hours,” said Brig. Gen. Nuno Lemos Pires, until recently the European Union’s mission force commander in charge of training Mozambican army units. “That said, it doesn’t mean that things are under control.” On a visit to Mozambique last month, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, announced $15 million in new funding for the joint African forces, just days after Islamist militants beheaded six civilians and killed an Italian nun in Nampula province. Borrell said the attacks are “a stark reminder that the fight against terrorism is not over and that, unhappily, it is spreading.” The violence has prevented aid organizations from assisting the tens of thousands of people who have fled their homes in recent months. Nearly 60 percent of the displaced are children. Scores of health clinics and schools are closed or destroyed. More than a million people are facing hunger, according to the United Nations. “The situation is still volatile,” said Phipps Campira, operations director for Save the Children. “The sporadic attacks are destabilizing our efforts to reach out to displaced people.” Compounding matters, the international focus on Ukraine has caused shortfalls in assistance here, as in other parts of the world. Donors have provided less than 60 percent of the $388 million sought by the United Nations this year, according to U.N. data, making it hard to help even those who have reached camps in safer areas. “Some days, they go without food,” Campira said. Ulenca, 22, makes her way home in Pemba on Sept. 1. Islamist militants took her captive in 2020 and forced her to marry a fighter. She escaped in May. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) A long trail of terror When the militants overran the city of Mocímboa da Praia in 2020, they arrived at Ulenca’s door. At gunpoint, they forced her and two female cousins into a car and took them to a base, where they joined other kidnapped girls and women. They were later separated and taken to other bases, she remembers. Ulenca never saw her cousins again. After a three-day walk, she arrived at the second base. Thirty other women were there, and it soon became clear why. Ulenca said she was handed over to a 24-year-old Tanzanian, whose nom de guerre was Fawzani. Ulenca, who was 20 at the time, was to become his “wife.” That night, when she refused to have sex, Fawzani beat her with a bamboo stick and raped her. “All the fighters were raping the women,” said Ulenca, now 22, her voice cracking. “After every rape, I prayed to God to stop my suffering and to get me back home and find my family.” She lived at the base for two years. The fighters were mostly Mozambican, but the leaders were from Tanzania, she recalled. Many spoke Swahili, which she understood, as well as local languages. There were other foreigners, too. Most of the fighters carried AK-47 rifles, Ulenca said. They carried out military drills every day and built deep trenches to take cover from helicopter assaults. Many fighters wore stolen Mozambican army uniforms. “They would say ‘Islam is the only religion. We want to establish an Islamic state,’ ” she recalled some fighters telling her. An Islamist insurgency in Mozambique is gaining ground — and showing a strong allegiance to the Islamic State Ulenca said she witnessed more than 10 executions, including those of several women. Some had refused to fight. Others had tried to escape. The women were shot in the back of the head. The men were beheaded. “Everyone on the base was forced to watch,” Ulenca said. “It was a lesson to others not to commit mistakes.” Two other women held at different bases said they witnessed similar atrocities. Islamist militants forced Ana, pictured here with her children in a village near Pemba on Sept. 2, to watch her husband’s beheading. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) Ana, 25, was forced to watch her husband’s beheading with her two small daughters. The only reason she wasn’t raped, she said, was because the fighters thought she had gone mad. International forces may have arrested the momentum of the militants, but their brutality continues. Most people on the ground say there is no military solution to the conflict. The United States and the European Union are spending millions to help develop Cabo Delgado — building schools and creating jobs to prevent young men from joining the militants. Under international pressure, the Mozambican government approved a reconstruction plan, tacitly acknowledging that its neglect contributed to the insurgency. “Are the root causes of everything that has happened solved? Of course not,” Pires said. “That is a huge step that we still have to fight for for a long, long time.” The victims will carry their trauma forever. Children as young as 11 beheaded by Mozambique militants, aid group says When R.A. reached the jungle base, he said, he was tied up and beaten again. His tormentors were not much older than him. Most carried guns and machetes. On the third day, by his count, as the militants took a nap, two other abducted boys loosened the ropes around their wrists and freed R.A. as well. “As we ran, we were always looking back to see if they were chasing us,” he remembered. Ulenca escaped in May. By then, the militants had lost ground. During a bombing raid, she and another woman managed to get away. They walked for 17 hours until they reached a Mozambican army position, she said. Ana and her girls fled in April while they went to fetch wood. Ancha, now 5, hardly remembers what happened to her dad. But Amina, who is 8, can’t forget. “They killed my father,” she said in a shy voice. “I still think about it when I sleep.” R.A., who was tortured by his Islamist captors, is now 16 and lives in a refugee camp. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) Estacio Valoi contributed to this report. Sudarsan Raghavan is a correspondent at large for the Washington Post. He has reported from more than 65 nations on four continents. He has been based in Baghdad, Kabul, Cairo, Johannesburg, Madrid and Nairobi. He has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the 2011 Arab revolutions, as well as 17 African wars. Copyright 2022 The Washington Post

October 2022 Supporters of Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr help injured protesters during clashes with anti-riot forces near the office of the prime minister in Baghdad on August 29, 2022 [Ahmed Jalil/EPA] Citizens of Iraq have suffered from decades of war, genocide, brutal dictatorship, and political instability. Iraq remains divided by deep religious and ethnic schisms. Iraq’s corrupt government has continuously failed to meet the needs of Iraqi people, leading to protests with demands for a new government. Iraq’s security forces, The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) and Iranian backed militias have targeted local activists, killing 475 journalists since 2003. In 2019 anti-government protests, Iraqi security forces responded to protestors with live ammunition and excessive use of force, killing 359 protestors and injuring 6,894 in 7 months. The Iraqi government has not compensated the families of the victims or investigated the perpetrators. 19,000 people have been detained for having ties to ISIS but no charges have been filed or trials held against many of them. Iraqi courts have dismissed medical reports showing evidence of torture-extracted confessions and sentenced many detainees to death. Over 4000 prisoners are on death row. The UN has reported that the ISIS trials are unfair and has urged an end to mass executions. ISIS remains a threat, with an estimate of 10,000 ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria. There has been an increase in ISIS attacks in Iraq, with 371 attacks from mid-2021 to early 2022. The ISIS genocide of the Yazidi people has left 200,000 Yazidi people still displaced in Iraq. Both ISIS and Iraqi government forces have targeted ethnic minorities in Iraq, such as Armenians, Assyrians, Turkmen, Christians, Shabak, Kakai and Mandeans. There is a lack of security for ethnic minorities. Many remain in displaced persons camps in Kurdistan and elsewhere. Discrimination and dehumanization of women and LGBTQ+ individuals is common. Men are legally entitled to beat their wives and are immune from prosecution for sexual assault if they marry their victims. Women are subjected to honor killings, with 45 victims in 2021 and 11 women by March of 2022 in Kurdistan alone. Gangs attack, torture, rape and kill LGBTQ+ individuals, and these crimes are met with silence from the government. As of July 2022, a law is even being proposed to criminalize homosexuality in Iraq. Genocide Watch considers Iraq to be at the stages of Organization (5), Polarization (6), and Persecution (8) of journalists and human rights advocates due to arrests, torture, and murders. Due to culturally accepted honor killings, domestic violence, and threats to LGBTQ+ persons, Iraq is at stages Discrimination (3), Dehumanization (4), and Persecution (8) in its treatment of women and LGBTQ+ individuals. Genocide Watch recommends that: The UN, US, and European Union should invest heavily in resettling and supporting Yazidi and Christian survivors of the ISIS genocide. The UN should appoint a special representative with full staff to search for all 2,700 missing Yazidi people. Iraq’s government and the KRG should hold perpetrators of the assaults on 2019 protesters accountable. Iraq should work with UNESCO and UNHCHR to develop protection measures for human rights advocates. Iraqi legislators should criminalize domestic violence and work with the UN Development Funds for Women (UNIFEM) to develop safe shelters for women. Iraq should outlaw discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Judges in Iraq should enforce anti-torture laws and exclude trial evidence obtained through torture. The Iraq parliament should amend the Anti-Terrorism Law to make use of UNITAD case files an extenuating circumstance under Article 5 so that death sentences must be commuted to imprisonment.

Burundian Army General Leonard Ngendakumana, who backed a failed coup in May and a deputy to the leader of the aborted uprising, speaks during a Reuters interview in the outskirts of Kampala Uganda, July 9, 2015 (© REUTERS/James Akena) BUJUMBURA - The European Union said on Tuesday it had lifted sanctions on three officials from Burundi, including the prime minister, as it engages in ongoing dialogue with authorities about improving the country's human rights record. "The European Union (EU) has reviewed its restrictive measures in view of the situation in Burundi and has decided... to delist three individuals," it said in a statement. Those freed from sanctions were Gervais Ndirakobuca, Burundi's prime minister who assumed office last month, Godefroid Bizimana, a senior adviser in the president's office, and Leonard Ngendakumana, a former senior military official. In 2015, the EU imposed travel curbs and asset freezes on several Burundian officials after accusing them of engaging in activities undermining democracy ahead of the disputed re-election that year of then-president Pierre Nkurunziza. Nkurunziza died in 2020 and was replaced by President Evariste Ndayishimiye. The EU in the statement said it was still in dialogue with Burundian authorities on improving governance and rule of law. "The EU is seriously concerned that major challenges remain unaddressed and unresolved," the bloc said. It asked Bujumbura to boost efforts to improve protection of political and civil rights, release political prisoners, facilitate the return of refugees and ensure the independence of the judiciary. The central African nation of 11 million people is one of the world's poorest, and its politics over the years have been marked by widespread human rights violations including killings, disappearances, torture and gang rape of alleged government opponents, according to the United Nations. © 2022 Reuters.

The Islamic State announced the largest number of operations it has so far carried out in the span of two months in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor, which is under the control of Kurdish forces in northeast Syria. People take part in a funeral in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on Feb. 2, 2022, for Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters killed in clashes during a jailbreak attempt by Islamic State fighters at the Ghwayran prison in the province. - AFP via Getty Images ALEPPO, Syria — In the weekly issue of the Islamic State's (IS) al-Nabaa newspaper on Oct. 7, IS announced that its cells carried out 59 military operations in the span of 68 days, from Aug. 1 through Oct. 5. The operations caused the death of 103 members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and 19 soldiers of the Syrian government forces, according to al-Nabaa. Deir ez-Zor province in eastern Syria had the largest share of IS operations in the past two months with 30 attacks, including shootings, explosive devices, ambushes and two car bombs, which caused the destruction of 34 military vehicles across the province, according to IS’ newspaper. Zain al-Akaidi, a journalist based in the Kurdish-controlled Deir ez-Zor countryside, told Al-Monitor that “IS focused its attacks on Kurdish areas in the Deir ez-Zor countryside.” “This is because of several reasons, mainly the weak security services of the Kurds and the rampant corruption and violations within Deir ez-Zor’s military council of the SDF headed by Ahmad al-Khabil,” he said. “This is not to mention the widespread presence of IS cells in several locations in Deir ez-Zor, which is open to the Syrian desert. Also, IS operatives move around easily in the area as they are supported by local tribes that provide the group’s members with protection and support to keep targeting the SDF," Akaidi added. IS' Oct. 7 announcement came in the aftermath of the killing of one of the group’s fighters in a US drone strike in the village of Hammam al-Turkman in northeast Syria on Oct. 10. Earlier on Oct. 6, the US military announced the killing of three IS officials in separate operations in northeast Syria. “The recent US-led coalition’s operations that targeted prominent IS leaders were meant to limit the group’s activities, but they didn't bring them to a halt. IS cells, notably in the Deir ez-Zor countryside, are capable of finding new replacements for their leaders who were considered the masterminds behind the group’s activities,” Akaidi said. Anas Shawakh, a researcher at the Istanbul-based Jusoor Center for Studies, told Al-Monitor, “The announced number of attacks and operations bears several indications. IS is trying to convey a message that it has avenged its partisans in the al-Hol camp, which was [recently] subject to a security campaign launched by the SDF in cooperation with the US-led coalition.” “IS also wants to say that the group is still strong and its cells continue to be active despite the killing of their leaders. It was also noted that the group used car bombs over the past two months, which is an indication of the ease and escalation of its activities, with its members moving easily and intensifying threats against the Kurdish forces,” Shawakh added. After the end of the group’s effective control in Syria in March 2019, IS remnant fighters sought refuge in the Syrian desert, which extends between the provinces of As-Suwayda and Deir ez-Zor on the border with Iraq, while large numbers of cells remained spread in separate areas. Link to article: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/10/islamic-state-claims-over-125-people-killed-syrian-operations-2-months © 2021 Al-Monitor, LLC. All rights reserved.