Photo: © 2022 Ghanaian Times Burkina Faso’s army has given civilians two weeks to evacuate vast areas in northern and southeastern regions of the country in advance of military operations against rebel fighters. The military evacuation order follows a major attack by rebels on June 11 that left at least 100 civilians dead and displaced thousands more. The West African country’s army this week ordered civilians to leave two large “military interest zones” to protect them, but did not specify how long they would have to evacuate or where they should go. One of the military zones was a rural area of approximately 2,000sq kilometers (772sq miles), bordering Mali in the northern province of Soum. The other military zone covered about 11,000sq km (4247sq miles) on the southern border with Benin, which also served as a national park. “A delay of 14 days will be accorded to residents to join safer zones,” army spokesperson, Yves Didier Bamouni, said at a news briefing on Friday. “It is very important to be able to distinguish friends from enemies,” he said, without providing further details. Authorities in Burkina Faso were said to control just 60 percent of the country, and the remaining territory was outside state control, a mediator from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said last week, noting the country was facing a “security, humanitarian, political and socioeconomic” crisis. Reuters was not able to determine how many people resided in the areas earmarked for evacuation, though military sources said the government would provide support to the displaced. The government did not immediately respond to queries. Burkina Faso has been battling rebel fighters active in the region, some with links to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), since 2015. The fighting has displaced more than 1.85 million people in Burkina Faso alone and has killed thousands across the Sahel. The army on Friday also announced a three-month ban on certain brands of motorbikes and motorised tricycles across parts of eight regions. The rule was meant to help the army distinguish civilians from rebels, who were known to travel and carry out attacks on motorbikes. Timeline for the upcoming military operation was yet to be given. © 2022 Ghanaian Times

Edited by: Sonia Phalnikar Recent high-profile cases of women being killed in Jordan and Egypt for rejecting marriage proposals have sparked widespread anger about femicides and fueled a growing debate about women's rights and safety. Egyptian protesters hold placards and shout slogans during a demonstration in Cairo against sexual harassment and violence, in a February 12, 2013 file photo. KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/GETTY Basma, who studies at Cairo's Mansoura University, still hasn't come to terms with the shock murder of a fellow student 10 days ago near the campus. "I am still terrified and so far, I am not able to leave my home," the 27-year-old, who didn't want to give her full name, fearing retribution, told DW. On June 20, 21-year-old Egyptian student Naira A. was killed by a man whose marriage proposal she rejected. CCTV footage and smartphone videos of at least a dozen witnesses show 27-year-old Mohamed A. stabbing Naira A. with a knife in broad daylight until bystanders intervened and detained him till the police arrived. The Mansoura Criminal Court found Mohamed A. guilty of "premediated murder" and sentenced him to death. The court has now referred the case to Egypt's Grand Mufti, Egypt's top theological authority, who is to give his legal opinion on the indicated death penalty in the next few days. Chances are high that the verdict will be confirmed, as Mohamed A. has already confessed to killing Naira A. for being rejected after a marriage proposal. The case has sparked an outpouring of anger across Egypt and on social media, with users demanding justice and decrying incidents of femicide in the Arab world. The killing also points to an upsurge in femicide and violence against women in Egypt. "While the harassment of women in public places has received national attention in recent years, domestic abuse remains largely hidden from view and primarily untouched by policies and programs," Habiba Abdelaal, an expert on women's rights, told DW. That is reinforced by a report by the Egyptian Edraak Foundation for Development and Equality from February this year. It states that Egypt has witnessed a "notable rise" in gender-based violence with 813 cases of violence against women and girls in 2021, compared to 415 in 2020. 'Violence is endemic' "Violence against women is endemic in Egypt and the Middle East," Abdelaal said. For her, it is obvious that "Naira's killing was not an isolated incident and it won't be the last," she added. And yet, the fact that Naira A's case is still in the spotlight after some ten days, is rare. The reason is another killing which took place three days later in Jordan. In a case that had chilling parallels, Jordanian nursing student Iman R. was shot dead at the University of Applied Sciences near the capital, Amman by a man who had wanted to marry her but was rejected. The only difference to the killing of Naira in Cairo was that Iman's attacker managed to escape before he was tracked down and shot himself. As of now, more details remain in the dark as Jordanian authorities have issued a gag order on the case. "Such crimes base on underestimating and bullying women, as well as the perception that men are always right," Ghada Saba, Jordanian filmmaker and human rights activist, told DW. That could be one of the reasons why these two cases of femicide have stirred up an increasingly heated debate on social media about women's rights and their freedom to choose or reject a potential partner. 'Safety is an essential right' "The social conversation proves that we are not only lacking enforcement of laws and policies, but we are also facing a society that constantly blames the victim, especially if that victim is a woman, and that can be seen from people's comments on Naira's murder," Abdelaal told DW. Lawyer and founder of the Centre for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance, Azza Soliman agrees. It has become obvious that the public is increasingly "defaming women", she told DW. In turn, she fears that violence against women could be soon considered normal. However, for Egyptian women's activist Lobna Darwish, the recent murders and the ongoing debates are a wake-up call. For her, it is clear that if Egypt doesn't address violence against women soon, "we will not be able to spread the social message saying that women's protection from violence and the right to live in safety is an essential right, is a basic right that cannot be threatened outside or inside their home," Darwish told DW. In Naira A's case, for example, Darwish said that the family had thrice tried to obtain a restraining order against the man who would go on to kill her. "So, she went through the legal steps, she went to the police station, filed the report that was supposed to get a restraining order, but it did not take place," Darwish said, adding that "it's very sad that we have to get to the point where we see a live video of a woman being killed in midday on the street before things change." Meanwhile, women's activists across the Middle East have called for a transregional strike on July 6 in response to the latest murders. For now, Basma, the student in Cairo remains deeply worried about returning to university. "We could see the same scene repeated, and every girl who rejects a man will fear that she may be killed like Naira," she said. © 2022 Deutsche Welle Link to Article: https://www.dw.com/en/femicides-in-egypt-jordan-spark-anger-calls-for-change/a-62331757

By Olzhas Auyezov and Mark Trevelyan A view shows a truck which was burnt during protests in Nukus, capital of the northwestern Karakalpakstan region, Uzbekistan July 3, 2022. KUN.UZ/Handout via REUTERS Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said on Sunday there were casualties among civilians and law enforcement officers after rare protests in the Central Asian country, and an exiled opposition politician said at least five people had been killed. Separately, a local government official told an Uzbek news website that thousands of people have been hospitalised. In a statement posted online, Mirziyoyev said rioters had carried out "destructive actions" in the city of Nukus, capital of the northwestern Karakalpakstan region, by throwing stones, starting fires and attacking police. "Unfortunately there are victims among civilians and law enforcement officers," he said. The statement did not specify the number and nature of the casualties. Sultanbek Ziyayev, the head of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, told news website Daryo.uz that hospitals in Nukus were full of patients who had been wounded when protesters clashed with security forces. "Thousands of wounded have been hospitalised and are being treated," he said, according to the website. Photographs from Nukus published on Sunday by another news website, Kun.uz, showed street barricades, burned trucks and a heavy military presence including armoured personnel carriers. Videos shared on social media showed at least two severely wounded people being carried by their arms and legs. One was bleeding from the abdomen, while the other was screaming. Another showed a young man crouching by an apparently lifeless body in the street, screaming "A man is dying" and then running for cover as shots rang out. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the videos. An exiled opposition politician, Pulat Ahunov, told Reuters that, based on contacts with local sources and video evidence, at least five people had been killed. He said there were unconfirmed reports of dozens more dead. Ahunov said people were unable to move around and obtain more information because of a state of emergency imposed by the authorities. Uzbekistan is a tightly controlled former Soviet republic where the government clamps down hard on any form of dissent. It was the second outbreak of unrest in Central Asia this year, after Kazakhstan crushed mass protests in January and Russia and other former Soviet republics sent in troops to help the authorities restore order. The protests in Uzbekistan were prompted by planned constitutional changes that would have stripped Karakalpakstan of its autonomous status. In an about-turn, the president dropped those plans on Saturday. Ahunov, chairman of the opposition Berlik party, told Reuters from Sweden that he condemned the use of lethal force. "The authorities, from the start, should have opted for dialogue and negotiations," he said. He said he feared the potential for the situation to escalate into an ethnic conflict between Uzbeks and Karakalpaks, a minority group with their own language. Authorities had called a public meeting for Tuesday to discuss the situation, he added. Kazakhstan said it was concerned by the events in Uzbekistan and welcomed moves by the authorities to stabilise the situation. Steve Swerdlow, Associate Professor of Human Rights at the University of Southern California and an expert on the region, said Uzbekistan should engage as transparently as possible in declaring casualties and the use of force and over the longer term look at what concerns were at the heart of the protests. Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty and Mark Trevelyan in London, Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Alexandra Hudson © 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved.

Tanzania pushes ahead with controversial campaign to evict Maasai people By Geoffrey York (Africa Bureau Chief) & Robert Bociaga First published July 1, 2022 A Maasai man arrives home with his cows in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania, in March. (ROBERT BOCIAGA/THE GLOBE AND MAIL) In defiance of international protests, the Tanzanian government is pushing ahead with a crackdown on Maasai cattle-herding people who have resisted efforts to evict them from a planned wildlife reserve that will allegedly become a private hunting ground near the world-famous Serengeti National Park. Tanzanian authorities are targeting Maasai leaders with accusations of murder and illegal immigration as the government intensifies its campaign to demarcate the reserve and relocate thousands of traditional herders. Security forces have detained dozens of Maasai people in recent weeks. International groups ranging from Amnesty International to United Nations experts have criticized the Tanzanian government’s handling of the issue, with Amnesty denouncing the eviction campaign as an illegal act of shocking brutality. Opponents say the traditional Maasai land is likely to be taken over by wealthy hunters from the Middle East. The land has been leased as a hunting block by a company from the United Arab Emirates. When security forces began erecting markers on the borders of the planned 1,500-square-kilometre wildlife reserve on June 10, they fired tear gas at Maasai protesters who had gathered at the site in Loliondo region, near the Kenyan border. In the ensuing violence, at least 30 Maasai were injured and a policeman was allegedly killed by an arrow. Several hundred Maasai fled to Kenya for refuge or medical treatment. Since then, authorities have arrested 23 Maasai on murder charges and announced a 10-day hunt for “illegal immigrants” – their term for Maasai who have crossed the Kenyan border. They have already begun relocating hundreds of Maasai people away from the demarcated zone, in what the government describes as a voluntary process. The dispute has emerged as a key test for the balance between wildlife and humans in the broader Serengeti region. The Serengeti is renowned for its annual wildebeest migration, a dramatic spectacle that attracts tourists from around the world, but the surrounding region is home to tens of thousands of Maasai who see it as their ancestral land. There are 14 villages in Loliondo alone, along with thousands of cattle and other farm animals. A similar dispute between the Maasai and the government has been escalating in the Ngorongoro conservation area, a volcanic crater and UNESCO World Heritage site that attracts thousands of antelope, buffalo, rhinos and other animals. In total, more than 165,000 Maasai could be affected by the relocation plan in the two regions. They have turned to international groups for support. More than 3.2 million people worldwide have signed online petitions in defence of the Maasai cause. “The government is waging a war against the Maasai,” said Denis Oleshangai, a Maasai lawyer and activist in Tanzania. “They are attacked with guns and tear gas, but they still believe in a peaceful resolution,” he said. “The Maasai have an attachment to their land, so the attempt to remove them is a crime against humanity. Land is their entire life. They depend on pastures.” The latest violence on June 10 has sparked global outrage. Photos and videos on social media showed Maasai fleeing from tear gas and displaying gruesome wounds that they suffered from the police attacks. Tanzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told the country’s parliament that the images on social media were misleading. He denied that anyone was attacked or forcibly expelled. Supporters of the Maasai were “inciting conflict” and seeking to tarnish the government’s reputation with false photos and videos, he said. But human-rights groups have found evidence to corroborate the reports of police attacks. Amnesty International, citing two eyewitnesses, said the Tanzanian security forces shot at the Maasai protesters with live ammunition and tear gas, inflicting injuries on 30 people. In addition, police have detained dozens of Maasai people without any charges, including political leaders and activists, and some have been held in unknown locations, Amnesty said in a recent report. The evictions – the fourth such attempt since 2009 – could jeopardize the Maasai way of life, Amnesty said. “The Tanzanian authorities should never have allocated this area to a private business without first consulting the Maasai community, whose livelihoods depend on their ancestral land,” it said. The murder charges, meanwhile, are absurd because half of the accused were already in police custody on other charges at the time when the policeman was killed, lawyers say. “These are political charges,” said Paul Kisabo, a Tanzanian lawyer for the Maasai. “All local leaders in Loliondo are under detention. The aim is to intimidate them and the villages.” Other groups criticizing the Tanzania government’s tactics against the Maasai have included the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a group of more than 250 scientists, and a group of nine UN human-rights experts. “Evictions in the name of conservation will undermine conservation efforts and Tanzania’s tourism potential,” the scientists said in an open letter. In 2018, the East African Court of Justice issued an order prohibiting the Tanzanian government from evicting the Maasai until the conclusion of a case brought by the Maasai against the government. A much-anticipated ruling on that case was scheduled to be handed down on June 22, but at the last minute the court postponed it to September. Maasai leaders say the delay was strange and unexplained. © Copyright 2022 The Globe and Mail Inc.

29 June 2022 GENEVA (29 July 2022) – The human rights situation in Belarus continues to deteriorate dangerously, engulfing the country in a climate of fear and arbitrary rule, a UN expert warned today. Presenting her annual report to the Human Rights Council, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, Anaïs Marin, detailed a policy of systematically tightening legislation that restricts civil and political rights by Belarusian authorities. The independent expert highlighted the country’s constitutional referendum of 27 February 2022 as one recent example of the trend. She said the process lacked transparency and openness, and the vote had been marred by serious violations and could not be considered free and fair. “The reform initiated through this referendum amounts to strengthening and systematising the obstacles to the realisation of human rights by Belarusian citizens,” Marin said. Concurrently, the Criminal Code had been amended to further restrict the freedoms of peaceful assembly, association, and expression, the expert said. “I am gravely concerned about arbitrary application of legislation that is already restrictive.” Contrary to the Constitutional provision about the application of capital punishment “as an exceptional punishment for particularly serious crimes”, the Criminal Code amendments had broadened the scope of the death penalty to include “planning” or “attempting” to commit terrorist acts, Marin said. “I am extremely worried that broad and vague definitions of “terrorist acts” could be interpreted to include acts aimed at the legitimate exercise of fundamental rights,” she said. In her report, the Special Rapporteur documents the legislation, policies and practices that have led to a virtual annihilation of independent non-governmental organisations, media, and cultural organisations. According to the report, the legitimate and critically important work of human rights defenders and lawyers was also being hampered by constant judicial or other forms of harassment by the authorities. “The shrinking of civic space has seen an unprecedented acceleration as a result of a systematic and deliberate policy to eradicate all actual or perceived challenge to the incumbent government,” the Special Rapporteur said. She called on the international community to extend support and effective human rights protection to Belarusian nationals compelled to leave their country due to repression and intimidation by the State. “Systemic human rights violations and impunity for those crimes have engulfed Belarus in a climate of arbitrariness and fear,” the UN expert said. She urged Belarusian authorities to immediately halt systematic human rights violations and called for prompt and independent investigations to provide justice and remedies to victims and hold perpetrators of abuses accountable. The Special Rapporteur said the Belarusian government must show political will to provide human rights-based solutions to the country’s most pressing problems. “While the world’s attention is focused on many crisis situations around the world, I am convinced that the human rights situation in Belarus must not be relegated to the background,” she said. © OHCHR 1996-2022

South Ossetian Officials Sought for War Crimes Exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.© 2021 AP Photo/Peter Dejong June 30, 2022 4:10PM EDT (Tbilisi) – Arrest warrants issued on June 30, 2022, by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed during the 2008 conflict between Georgia and Russia are the first public results of the court’s six-year investigation, Human Rights Watch said today. ICC judges approved the prosecutor’s application for warrants for three members of the de facto South Ossetia administration on charges of unlawful confinement, torture, inhuman treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, hostage taking, and unlawful transfer. In August 2008, an international armed conflict took place between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia that has very close ties with Russia. The conflict cost hundreds of lives on both sides, forcibly displaced tens of thousands of civilians, and caused extensive damage to civilian property. The ICC prosecutor opened an investigation into the Georgia situation in January 2016. “The 2008 conflict over South Ossetia took a terrible toll on civilians, many of whom continue to pay the price,” said Rachel Denber, deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch. “The ICC warrants are an important step, which has been a long time coming, to hold individuals implicated in the campaign of violence that forced nearly 20,000 ethnic Georgians from their homes to account.” The three warrants are for: Mikhail Mayramovich Mindzaev, de factointernal affairs minister of the South Ossetia administration until at least October 31, 2008; Gamlet Guchmazov, head of the de facto Preliminary Detention Facility of South Ossetia at the time of the conflict; and David Georgiyevich Sanakoev, de facto ombudsman of South Ossetia at the time of the conflict. The prosecutor’s application also included information on the alleged responsibility of Vyacheslav Borisov, a major general in the Russian armed forces and a deputy commander in Russia’s airborne forces, now deceased. Human Rights Watch research found that during the conflict, over a period of weeks after Georgian forces withdrew from South Ossetia on August 10, the Russian-backed South Ossetian forces deliberately and systematically destroyed ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia that had been administered by the Georgian government. The forces looted, beat, threatened, and unlawfully detained numerous ethnic Georgian civilians, and killed several, on the basis of the residents’ ethnicity and imputed political affiliations. The express purpose was to force those who remained to leave, and to ensure that no former residents would return. From this, Human Rights Watch concluded that South Ossetian forces attempted to ethnically cleanse these villages. Human Rights Watch also documented indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks by Georgian and Russian forces during the conflict, which may have amounted to violations of the laws of war. This included indiscriminate attacks by Georgian forces on South Ossetia through their extensive use of multiple rocket-launching systems in civilian areas. In a number of instances, Russian forces used indiscriminate aerial, artillery, and tank fire strikes, killing and wounding many civilians. Hundreds of people from all sides were killed. Human Rights Watch also found that as an occupying power, Russia overwhelmingly failed in its duty under international law to ensure public order and safety in areas under its effective control. Russian forces were implicated in the looting and destruction, either as passive bystanders, active participants, or by providing militias with transportation into villages. The ICC has jurisdiction over crimes committed on the territory of member countries, like Georgia, regardless of the nationality of those who committed the crimes. As a matter of international law, South Ossetia is a part of Georgian territory. This means that the ICC’s jurisdiction over crimes in Georgia extends to crimes for which Russian nationals bear responsibility in South Ossetia though Russia has not joined the ICC. The ICC prosecutor has indicated that the suspects are believed to be currently in territory controlled by South Ossetia or Russian authorities. Since Georgia is an ICC member, Georgia’s authorities are obligated to cooperate with the ICC, while Russian authorities are not bound by this same obligation. As at least two of the three people subject to warrants hold Russian nationality, this can be expected to intensify the difficulty of their being brought into custody. In absentia trials are not permitted at the ICC, and all ICC members should work to see that the suspects are arrested, Human Rights Watch said. It is unclear whether the ICC prosecutor’s office is pursuing cases beyond those related to the three arrest warrants. In its 2022 program budget, the Office of the Prosecutor indicated that it plans to conclude the Georgia investigation: “The Office is aiming to conclude the investigation phase, resulting in either pretrial activities or wrap up the investigation.” The ICC’s Trust Fund for Victims, which is mandated to provide psychosocial – mental health –, medical, and material assistance to communities affected by crimes under investigation at the court, is scheduled to start an assistance program in Georgia during the first half of 2022. The program will last three years and was approved in 2020 following years of advocacy by nongovernmental organizations calling attention to the needs of victims. Delays in setting up an ICC presence in Georgia, the limited public results of the investigation, and the politically charged nature of the 2008 conflict, along with the continued, contested status of South Ossetia have contributed to limited public awareness about the court in the territory effected. The ICC’s Registry, together with the Office of the Prosecutor, will need to accelerate their efforts to explain the arrest warrants and provide neutral information about the court’s work. “Almost 14 years after the South Ossetia conflict, people are still waiting for justice for abuses by all sides,” Denber said. “Victims of serious crimes are entitled to see those responsible held to account and fair, credible prosecutions will be important to building respect for a rules-based order over the longer-term.” © 2022 Human Rights Watch

By News Desk |June 30, 2022 Human rights activist Arsalan Khan, who was forcibly picked up from his house in Karachi by Rangers personnel, before being released amid social media outrage, has gone on a hunger strike until he gets justice from the the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) governments. Announcing on Twitter that he is locking himself up in his house with his family, and going on a hunger strike, he said he will not call it off until he gets justice from both the PPP led Sindh government, as well as the PML-N led federal government. He said that in the event something happens to him or his family, he has submitted his case to Allah, and said goodbye to everyone. Arsalan Khan was picked up from his house by Rangers personnel at 4:30 AM on Friday, and was taken to an unknown place. A Sindh Rangers spokesperson said that Arsalan was picked up based on a tip from an intelligence agency. The agency claimed that Arsalan had ‘links with a terrorist organization’. “During the interrogation, it was revealed that the accused had received financial assistance from a terrorist organisation. However, he was released after being warned to cooperate in the investigation in the future,” said the statement by the spokesperson. After being released, he tweeted that he was back home and thanked everyone for praying for him. In another tweet he clarified that he was not a traitor and wanted to live and die in Pakistan. He then said that his career had been ruined because of this allegation [of treason], and asked who would hire him now, and how was he supposed to raise his kids. Following this, he announced his hunger strike. Upon criticism from some users who said that he shouldn’t force his kids and his family to go on a hunger strike with him, he clarified that only he was on the strike, and that his family was just locked up in their house with him. He clarified that it was the duty of the Sindh government and the Interior Ministry to protect him and give him justice, and that he won’t call off the hunger strike till they give him the justice he seeks. Source: https://www.thefridaytimes.com/2022/06/30/activist-arsalan-khan-goes-on-hunger-strike-against-govt-to-protest-recent-abduction/ © 2022 All Rights Reserved.

Senior journalist Ayaz Amir is seen in his car after the assault. — Pictures via Twitter Senior journalist Ayaz Amir was assaulted by "unidentified men" in Lahore on Friday night, he said in a statement to Dunya News. A visibly distressed Amir, with bruises on his face, said his car was intercepted by a vehicle as he left his office after recording his television show for Dunya News, where he works as a senior analyst. "A man wearing a face mask emerged from the vehicle and collared my driver. "As I questioned the man, a couple of other men also arrived by my side, opened the door of my car and unleashed blows to my face, and dragged me out of the vehicle," Amir said. He said the men also resorted to assaulting him on the road. Since it was a crowded road, people began gathering, he said, adding that the attackers then made off with his mobile phone and wallet. Pictures circulating on Twitter showed the journalist sitting in a car with his shirt torn. The incident comes just a day after Amir delivered a speech at a seminar, which was also attended by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, organised by the Islamabad High Court Bar Association on the topic ‘Regime Change and its Fallout on Pakistan’. In his speech, parts of which went viral on social media and were widely shared by senior journalists as well, Amir criticised the role of the country's military establishment while also pointing out mistakes committed by Imran Khan during his reign as the country's prime minister. Immediately after reports of the attack on Amir were shared on Twitter, Imran strongly condemned the "violence" against the senior journalist. "Pakistan is descending into the worst kind of fascism with violence and fake FIRs against journalists, opposition politicians and citizens. When the state loses all moral authority it resorts to violence," the PTI chairman said in a tweet. Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz took notice of the assault and sought a report from the inspector general of the Punjab police. In a statement, he said the attackers would be arrested and dealt with soon. "The incident is highly condemnable. The dispensation of justice in the case will be ensured," the chief minister added. Condemnations and calls for immediate action Journalists, lawyers, activists, politicians and members of the civil society strongly condemned the attack on Amir. PTI's Andleeb Abbas said the assault was "truly a pathetic attempt to crush the truth." Without naming anyone, she said, "It's absolutely obvious that neutrality is desperate and would go to any lengths." Veteran journalist Mazhar Abbas also called out the attack on Amir, saying "this is unacceptable". Senior journalist Kamran Khan said it was "better to ban freedom of speech through a state decree than beating into silence those exercising the right to free speech enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan." He said the attack on Amir was "utterly reprehensible". Terming the incident "highly condemnable", journalist Mansoor Ali Khan said arresting the attackers should be the highest priority of this government. "Shameful how voices are being silenced in this era," he added. Journalist Amir Mateen said the attack on Amir was "deplorable", adding "this didn’t happen even during martial laws." He called upon Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to "dare ask somebody to stop this". "It's a new low," said journalist Rauf Klasra. Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1697668/outrage-after-reports-of-attack-on-senior-journalist-ayaz-amir-in-lahore Copyright © 2022, Dawn

A new leak of Chinese government records reveals thousands of never-before seen mug shots of Uyghurs and other photos from inside the notorious internment camps, as well as new details of the national mass detention program. Image: Supplied photos / composite by Rocco Fazzari By Scilla Alecci May 24, 2022 Ten detainees wearing blue and yellow prison smocks sit in a basement cell, staring up at a TV that shows a speech by a local Xinjiang government official. Blue-clad guards, one holding a club about as big as a baseball bat, stand nearby. Beneath Chinese flags, several officials stroll along a brightly lit detention center corridor, like visitors at a zoo, peering down through grates into basement cells whose inhabitants are out of view. A third photograph shows what appears to be an interrogation. A young man, hands and feet shackled to what Chinese police call a “tiger chair,” faces an officer at a desk equipped with a computer, a camera and a microphone. A framed poster displaying the Chinese Communist Party’s hammer and sickle emblem leans against a wall, and a helmeted officer in full riot gear, visor down, holds a riot shield. These photos are part of the Xinjiang Police Files, an unprecedented leak of thousands of images and documents from the public security bureaus of China’s Konasheher and Tekes counties. The two counties are in Xinjiang, the majority-Muslim region in northwestern China where the national government has held hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in mass-internment camps. The leak contains the first photographs taken inside the camps and obtained by news organizations without official authorization. The photos serve as irrefutable evidence of the highly militarized nature of the camps and present a stark contrast with those, previously published, that were taken on government-organized press tours. Also included are the mug shots of more than 2,800 detainees, dazed men, women and teenagers staring blankly into a camera. Xinjiang residents’ faces also occupy one column of a spreadsheet amid thousands of rows of personal data — age, profession, hometown and other personal information — in Chinese characters. Detainees inside Tekes detention center in Xinjiang watch a televised speech by a local politician as guards watch them in 2017. Image: Xinjiang Police Files In addition to photos, the leak provides confidential government documents, including speeches by high-ranking Chinese officials outlining their plans to repress, “educate” and punish members of ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang. Among the files, too, are internal police presentations, some for training purposes, on how to search and arrest suspects, and how to use handcuffs and other equipment. One document marked “confidential” outlines surveillance measures to be put in place by Yili prefecture officers during a visit to Xinjiang by a group of European diplomats in the summer of 2018. Taken together, the photographs and documents refute the Chinese government’s claims that the camps are merely “educational centers.” The leaked records, most dating to 2017 or 2018, represent a major advance in public access to knowledge of China’s mass-detention policy and the implementation of that policy at the local level, in this case, the western prefectures of Kashgar and Yili. It’s [one] thing to know it, and another thing to see it. — researcher Adrian Zenz The Xinjiang Police Files were obtained by researcher Adrian Zenz, who shared the documents with a group of 14 news organizations, including the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Zenz, a senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, wrote a peer-reviewed academic paper based on the documents that analyzes the leaked data and compares it with publicly available information. He found, for instance, that about 23,000 people in Konasheher county, in Xinjiang’s southwestern Kashgar prefecture, or more than 12% of the adults there, were in some form of internment in 2018. The paper was published in the Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies. “The image material is stunning,” Zenz told ICIJ. “It’s really fortunate that this material can come out because it would blow away Chinese propaganda attempts” to whitewash what’s happening in Xinjiang. “It’s very touching,” he added. “It’s one thing to know it, and another thing to see it.” A young man is shackled in a “tiger chair” during what appears to be an interrogation at Tekes County Detention Centre in 2018. Image: Xinjiang Police Files The leak comes as the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, prepares to make a long-delayed visit to Xinjiang this week. A growing body of evidence documents the campaign of mass detention and forced assimilation in Xinjiang, begun under President Xi Jingping and his subordinates in 2017. The Chinese government has called the camps “vocational skills education and training centers,” but the Xinjiang Police Files and previous exposés by journalists, researchers and activists point to another conclusion. They reinforce allegations that the camps are part of a nationwide policy to promote conformity to Communist Party doctrine and majority Han cultural norms and crack down on expressions of cultural, political and religious diversity. As many as 1 million Uyghurs and members of other Turkic minorities were held in the camps in 2018, according to estimates by U.N. and U.S. officials. There is no precise estimate of the number of detainees since 2017. The Chinese government dismisses accusations of human rights violations as “fabricated lies and disinformation,” asserting that the so-called training centers are intended to improve labor skills and to alleviate poverty. The government also says that some of the measures deployed in Xinjiang are part of a campaign to combat what it calls acts of terrorism by Uyghur extremists. “Xinjiang has taken a host of decisive, robust and effective deradicalization measures,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson with the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C., told ICIJ and its media partners in an email. “The region now enjoys social stability and harmony, as well as economic development and prosperity. The local people are living a safe, happy and fulfilling life,” Liu said. “These facts,” he added, “speak volumes about the effectiveness of China’s Xinjiang policy” and “are the most powerful response to all sorts of lies and disinformation on Xinjiang.” Liu did not respond to the reporters’ specific questions about the Xinjiang Police Files. Chinese officials tour a detention center in Tekes county, Xinjiang, where inhabitants occupy basement cells. Image: Xinjiang Police Files The camps’ punitive function stands out in photographs and other information in the leak. “The people in them are being treated very much as criminalized elements,” said Michael Clarke, an adjunct professor at the Australia-China Relations Institute in Sydney, who reviewed Zenz’s report and underlying documents. In an interview with USA Today, an ICIJ media partner, Clarke said that “dribs and drabs” of visual evidence of the camps’ prison-like conditions had emerged previously. “But nothing like this,” he said. The camps’ existence and an extrajudicial program for the mass detention of minorities in Xinjiang first emerged in satellite photos and sporadic firsthand accounts of Uyghur refugees and former detainees. Witnesses also told of widespread torture, rape and forced sterilization. In 2019, the China Cables investigation by ICIJ and 17 media partners, based on classified Chinese government documents, exposed the operations manual for Xinjiang detention camps and the region’s system of mass surveillance. The revelations have prompted the United States, members of the European Union, and other Western nations to sanction Chinese officials and companies deemed to have enabled human rights violations in Xinjiang. The U.S. and other governments now officially refer to Beijing’s targeting of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities as a form of “genocide.” In 2021, the U.S. enacted a law to stop the import of goods suspected of being made using Uyghurs’ forced labor. Beijing, in turn, has levied sanctions against Zenz and others who, the government claims, “severely harm China’s sovereignty and interests and maliciously spread lies and disinformation.” CHINA CABLES As global pressure over human rights abuses in Xinjiang picks up, China remains defiant Jul 15, 2021 ANALYSIS How the world learned of China’s mass internment camps Dec 12, 2019 CHINA CABLES Exposed: China’s Operating Manuals for Mass Internment and Arrest by Algorithm Nov 24, 2019 The Xinjiang Police Files The leaked documents were created or collected when the Chinese government’s mass-detention program was at the height of its intensity. The data set’s 5,074 mug shots appear to be of area residents photographed by law enforcement authorities from January to July 2018, possibly as part of an effort to collect biometric data, according to Zenz’s review of timestamps accompanying the images. About 2,900 of those in the mug shots had been detained before their pictures were taken, and their ages ranged from 15 to 73, according to Zenz’s analysis of text files. The detainees included 15 minors. Some photos show detainees being photographed under close watch, women by female staffers in civilian clothes, men by male guards in full tactical gear. Others are just mug shots. In one, an older man, unshaved and wearing a stained sweater, looks shyly at the camera. In another, a female staffer in glasses towers over an older woman who sits in front of a light gray background and stares blankly at the camera. The Xinjiang Police Files contains more than 5,000 photos of individuals taken in 2018 at police stations or detention centers in Konasheher County, in Xinjiang, and identifying information on most of them. The data indicates that more than half of the individuals were interned or imprisoned in 2017-2018, including those pictured in the top row. The second row displays mugshots of family members of a man sentenced to more than 10 years imprisonment for “illegal study of the scriptures.” Image: Xinjiang Police Files Other images in the cache show an interior space that may have been used for so-called re-education purposes in Xinjiang’s Tekes county, Zenz’s report says. The pictures of detainees watching the televised speech by the politician and of the young man in restraints are from this batch. Some photos present chilling images of training programs. In one, three guards in full combat gear point assault rifles at a prisoner held to the ground by eight guards taking part in an anti-escape drill. In another, at least six guards in riot gear — helmets, visors, and clubs, and one with a shield — surround two prisoners who are shackled hands-to-feet and forced to squat with their hooded heads bent toward the floor. An officer bends over one prisoner and speaks into a walkie-talkie; another holds a camera beneath his flipped-up visor and takes a photograph. Chinese guards at a detention center in Tekes county in Xinjiang take part in an anti-escape drill in 2018. Image: Xinjiang Police Files There are photos in which small groups of male and female detainees in prison uniforms stand in a row, either singing or reciting something, as guards watch. Ominous speeches The leaked records contain new insights into the thinking of top security officials. Two documents, from June 2018, are transcripts of speeches given to a gathering of regional cadres by Zhao Kezhi, the head of China’s Ministry of Public Security, and Chen Quanguo, a member of the Politburo who is considered one of the architects of the security crackdowns in Xinjiang and Tibet. Leaked transcripts include a classified speech given by the head of China’s Ministry of Public Security, Zhao Kezhi, to a gathering of regional cadres on June 15, 2018, in Urumqi, Xinjiang, in which he outlines the government’s five-year strategy for the region. Image: Konasheher County PSB According to the leaked transcripts, described as “classified,” Zhao and Chen outlined the government’s five-year strategy to eradicate “extremism” and bring “long-term peace” to Xinjiang. In his remarks, Zhao indicated that in the first year, 2017, the goal was to “stabilize” the region; in the second, to “consolidate” gains and achieve “basic normalization.” The ultimate objective was “comprehensive stability” by the end of the fifth year. Chen’s speech, echoing Zhao’s, urged officials to be on the alert, continue the fight against separatists and strengthen the security of camps and prisons. He encouraged them to shoot anyone trying to attack a detention center, an aggressive approach consistent with his advice in a previous speech that guards must fire on escapees. “These separatist forces and two-faced people must be broken into pieces,” Chen told the cadres. “They do not know the power of our party.” According to Zenz, “two-faced people” refers to officials who show leniency and may not always follow the government’s orders. In 2020, the U.S. sanctioned Chen for his connection to “serious human rights abuse.” In 2021, Beijing removed Chen from the post of Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang and replaced him with Ma Xingrui, an aerospace scientist-turned-politician who pledged to maintain the government’s hard-line policies. Early this year, Beijing’s five-year program to eradicate “extremist forces” in Xinjiang came to an official end, according to the government. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, announced that the goal of bringing “stability” to the region had been achieved. The terrorism scare “is now a thing of the past,” an expert on the region told Global Times, a party newspaper. However, experts interviewed by ICIJ and its media partners said there is little evidence that the camps have been closed. Darren Byler, author of “Terror Capitalism”, a book about China’s mass detention of Uyghurs, said many people are still missing in Xinjiang. If they are not in the camps, Byler said, they may have been shifted to high-security detention facilities or prisons, or to factories where they are required to report for unpaid, forced labor. “The ‘war on terror’ is ongoing,” said Byler, an anthropologist at Simon Fraser University’s campus in Vancouver, British Columbia. “And with the shift to the prisons, there’s a kind of warehousing of the people that they think are most dangerous and cannot be released.” Mechanics of mass detention Among the most striking documents in the leak are spreadsheets containing information on about 8,000 detainees and their internment at two vocational skills education and training centers in Konasheher county. Zenz estimates that the figure would represent nearly all those held at the two camps. At least one of the camps, near Konasheher’s industrial zone, had cells for holding detainees in solitary confinement, a document indicates. Another document details security procedures that officers are told to follow when transferring detainees from a camp to a “party school training center.” Both male and female detainees are guarded by police as they stand in line, apparently to sing or recite at a detention center in Tekes County in Xinjiang, China. Image: Xinjiang Police Files According to the Student Transfer Security Plan, “students” were to be shackled and hooded, and at least two security officers were to guard each detainee. The bus convoy transporting them would be escorted to its destination by armed police. Details from the leaked photographs and documents match accounts of former Uyghur detainees interviewed by ICIJ and other news organizations and aid groups, as well as information from public records. In a document describing intake guidelines, for instance, authorities in Konasheher county divided detainees into 21 categories. Among them were people who allegedly posed a danger to China’s national security; those suspected of “religious extremism;” those returning from abroad or having some connection to a foreign country; and “husbands of women who are currently pregnant” in violation of China’s family-planning policy. The Xinjiang Police Files indicate that at least 10,000 people in Konasheher county were recommended for detention or closer examination by police using a sophisticated mass-surveillance and so-called predictive-policing program known as the Integrated Joint Operations Platform, or IJOP. A 2019 Human Rights Watch report declared that IJOP aggregates data about individuals — often without their knowledge — and flags those deemed potentially threatening or otherwise “suspicious.” According to the report, the Chinese government uses the platform to compile a massive database of intimate personal information from a range of sources. Human Rights Watch calls IJOP “China’s algorithms of repression.” One of the leaked documents indicates that among the reasons cited for detaining people from Konasheher in 2017 and 2018 was the use of a mobile file-sharing application called Zapya, or “Kuaiya” in Chinese. The document says some Zapya users were sent to a conversion-through-education program or put in prison. Other users were placed “under review,” the document says. ICIJ’s China Cables probe revealed that, since at least July 2016, officials closely monitored the use of the Zapya app on the phones of some Uyghurs and flagged them for further investigation. Officials suspected the app was used to exchange content of a religious or “extremist” nature. The Xinjiang Police Files confirm the importance of IJOP to Beijing’s strategy to control the Uyghur population. In his 2018 speech, Chen told the cadres that top party officials and government ministries “continue to support Xinjiang in upgrading the national integrated platform [IJOP] for anti-terrorism and stability maintenance to a world-class level.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJNYK6me8Bk Surveilling EU diplomats Included in the Xinjiang Police Files is a four-page confidential Chinese government document, from July 2018, outlining strict security measures to be followed during a visit by a small group of European diplomats to Xinjiang. Issued by the Yili prefecture’s public security bureau, the document orders security officers to “strictly” monitor the visitors, their contacts and “conduct at work” and to report any problems in a timely manner. ICIJ media partner Der Spiegel, a German weekly news magazine, obtained a confidential report filed by the EU delegation to China. The undated report describes the diplomats’ “unofficial visit” to the cities of Korla, Kashgar and Hotan, which took place over five days in late June and early July 2018. The purpose of the visit, the report says, was to understand “the human rights situation in Xinjiang” at a time when China was trying to control the narrative about the camps and the country’s broader counter-terrorism policy. Police officers patrolling in Kashgar, in China’s western Xinjiang region. Image: GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images The report criticized what it called the “heightened degree of surveillance and intrusive checks by local authorities.” It also said one of the diplomats had been stopped by police during a morning jog, taken to an army barracks and ordered to delete a photo of what the report described as “a nondescript building.” Despite the surveillance, the report said, the diplomats were able to confirm human rights violations, including instances of racial discrimination against the Uyghur population and restrictions on its freedom of religion and thought. The report also said the diplomats were “struck” by an overwhelming presence of police, cameras and Chinese flags and the absence of Uyghur-language merchandise and public announcements. Their report said that what China describes as its “counter-terrorism policy … will continue to be extremely problematic,” adding that “the manner in which detainees are treated will and should continue to be a preoccupation.” U.N. human rights chief Bachelet, who is expected to visit two prefectures in Xinjiang this week, is preparing a much-anticipated report on the treatment of Muslim minorities in the region. Clarke, the Australian scholar, said it’s very difficult to be optimistic about any easing of China’s repression of Uyghurs. “This architecture of repression is going to be bedded down in Xinjiang for the foreseeable future,” Clarke said. ICIJ reported this story in partnership with BBC News, Der Spiegel, USA Today, Le Monde, NHK World, YLE, Bayerischer Rundfunk, El Pais, Dagens Nyheter, Aftenposten, Mainichi Newspaper, Politiken, L’Espresso.

By Stanley Widianto, Kate Lamb Demonstrators hold a sign as they protest outside the Indonesian Parliament following a bill passed by legislators to create three new provinces in its underdeveloped region of Papua, in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana The Southeast Asian nation’s easternmost region, currently split between Papua and West Papua, will now be divided into five provinces, with the addition of South Papua, Central Papua and Highland Papua. The government says the decision will help spur development, improve public service delivery, and create more opportunities for Papuans to become civil servants in the resource-rich area that remains one of the country’s poorest regions. Tito Karnavian, Indonesia’s Home Affairs Minister, said after the vote that the primary goal of the legislation was “to accelerate development in Papua to increase the welfare of the people in Papua, especially indigenous Papuans.” But the plan has sparked protests in Papua, which has been seen a low-level independence conflict since a disputed 1969 U.N.-supervised vote brought Papua under Indonesian control. Critics fear it could wrestle more power away from an area that is home to some of the world’s biggest deposits of gold and copper. “By slicing and dicing Papua into smaller administrative units, Jakarta hopes to divide and conquer Papuan identity and resistance,” said Veronica Koman, an Indonesian human rights lawyer at Amnesty International Australia, who sees an increased risk of militarisation and violent clashes. In an interview with Reuters in April, Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) chief Timotius Murib said the legislation would lead to an influx of non-indigenous Papuans into new government posts and was brought in without sufficient consultation, a charge the government has denied. Changes to Papua’s special autonomy law last year allowed the central government to create the new provinces, prompting the MRP to claim the change undermined autonomy and to file a judicial review at the constitutional court. Indonesia’s Home Affairs Ministry said the government would abide by the court ruling. © 2022 Reuters. All Rights Reserved.

By Harut Sassounian FILE - Huge crowds of Armenian Americans march during an annual commemoration of the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, in Los Angeles, April 24, 2019. ©VOA2022 The Turkish government’s denial of the Armenian Genocide is as futile as a man who repeatedly hits his head against the wall, hoping the wall will give way. For more than a century, successive Turkish governments have done everything in their power to cover up the heinous crime of the Armenian Genocide committed by their predecessors. No Turkish leader has had the courage and honesty to admit the truth. Instead, Turkey has wasted huge sums of money to deny the undeniable. It has bribed questionable scholars and crooked politicians around the world to distort the historical facts. Ankara has published hundreds of deceptive books and made several trashy movies to cover up its crimes. Over several decades, Turkey has spent tens of millions of dollars to hire American lobbying firms to pressure the US Congress not to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. All of these efforts failed miserably. The US House of Representatives recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1975, 1984 and 2019. The US Senate unanimously recognized it in 2019. Moreover, two US Presidents acknowledged it: Pres. Ronald Reagan in a Presidential Proclamation in 1981 and Pres. Joe Biden in his commemorative statements on April 24, 2021 and 2022. The most authoritative American acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide took place on May 28, 1951, when the US government submitted an official report to the World Court, stating that the Armenian Genocide was one of the “outstanding examples of the crime of genocide.” Despite all Turkish pressures, threats and bribes, over 30 countries have formally acknowledged the Armenian Genocide. This is in addition to acknowledgments by the United Nations War Crimes Commission in 1948, the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in 1985 and the European Parliament repeatedly since 1987. Most of these acknowledgments took place at a time when the Republic of Armenia did not exist as an independent state. The Armenian Diaspora, in a David versus Goliath battle, was able to counter the denials of the powerful Turkish government, supported by its NATO allies and scores of Islamic states. All of these denialist efforts are based on the simple misconception that should the Turkish government acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, it would then be obligated to pay restitution to surviving Armenians. Regrettably, many Armenians have the same misconception. The fact is that the Turkish government is liable to pay reparations and return confiscated Armenian properties and territories, regardless of whether Turkish leaders acknowledge their guilt or not. Political statements by government leaders are of no value in a court of law. Courts deal with facts and documents. No matter how many times Turkey denies the Genocide, the Republic of Armenia has the right to take its demands for restitution and return of territories to the International Court of Justice (World Court), where only governments have such jurisdiction. After an entire century of denial, the Turkish government announced last week its latest desperate attempt to counter the facts of the Armenian Genocide by forming the TEKAR Foundation (Turkish Armenian Issue Research Foundation). This is a coalition of three Turkish groups: Educational Friends Foundation, Baskent (Capital City) Strategic Research Center, and Center for Countering Fanatic Armenian Lies. The new Foundation held its inaugural assembly on June 25. TEKAR plans to republish a Turkish denialist book written by Esat Uras (1882-1957) titled: “The Armenians in history and the Armenian question.” As a member of the Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turks), Uras played a key role in planning and executing the Armenian Genocide. His book is replete with gross misrepresentations. The Turkish Foundation also stated that it will “print Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s views, thoughts and statements on Armenians, Armenian activities and Armenian relations.” I hope the Foundation will not forget to quote from Ataturk’s interview published by the Los Angeles Examiner on August 1, 1926, in which he said: “These leftovers from the former Young Turk Party, who should have been made to account for the lives of millions of our Christian subjects, who were ruthlessly driven en masse from their homes and massacred… They have hitherto lived on plunder, robbery and bribery.” The TEKAR Foundation has 23 members on its board of trustees. The chairman of the board is Mehmet Arif Demirer, a chemical engineer, not a historian! Incomprehensibly, the board is composed of six military officers, three engineers, two economists, one gastronomist, one student and several others of miscellaneous backgrounds. It looks like the real purpose of the TEKAR Foundation is to provide jobs to Pres. Erdogan’s circle of friends. While it is a good thing that these Turks want to study the Armenian Genocide, their intention is not seeking the truth! Turkish denialists have never understood that the more they deny the Armenian Genocide and the longer they talk about it, the more the world becomes aware of the Armenian Genocide. In other words, Turkey foolishly keeps publicizing the Armenian Genocide to new generations while trying to deny it. Additionally, Turkish leaders have never understood that the sooner they acknowledge the crimes of their predecessors, the sooner they will gain the respect of international public opinion. When a Turkish leader eventually acknowledges the truth, he will be praised worldwide and may even be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. By their denials, Turkish leaders are doing a major disservice to their own reputations, not to mention the huge sums of money they are wasting at a time when the Turkish economy is bankrupt! © 2021 | The Armenian Weekly Link to Article: https://armenianweekly.com/2022/06/29/after-a-century-bankrupt-turkey-wasting-huge-sums-to-deny-armenian-genocide/

Investigators described how migrants in detention face “acts of murder, torture, rape and other inhumane acts” A flimsy rubber boat collapsed and sank off Libya's coast, leaving at least 30 people missing and feared dead This photo taken on Monday and handout on Tuesday by Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sand Frontieres, MSF) shows a rescue operation of 71 people from a rubber boat in distress, by the crew of the charity’s Geo Barents migrant rescue ship. (AFP) GENEVA/CAIRO: Migrants detained in Libya face horrific abuse, with women especially facing sexual violence, and often forced to submit to rape in exchange for food, UN investigators said Wednesday. In a fresh report, the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya reiterated that the worst crimes under international law were likely being committed in the war-ravaged country, with migrant women suffering some of the worst abuse. “The mission has reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, imprisonment, rape, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts have been committed in several places of detention in Libya since 2016,” it said. Migrants are routinely detained by authorities, human traffickers and others in Libya — a key departure point for tens of thousands of people mainly from sub-Saharan Africa hoping to reach Europe. Human traffickers have profited from the chaos that has raged since the 2011 toppling and killing of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Talks between rival Libyan governments are being held in Geneva this week over the rules for long-awaited elections, with an aim to end the chaos. The fact-finding mission report, to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next week, said it had gathered broad evidence of “the systematic use of prolonged arbitrary detention” of migrants in Libya. The investigators, who made several trips to Libya, described how migrants in detention face “acts of murder, torture, rape and other inhumane acts.” The report highlighted “sexual violence at the hands of traffickers and smugglers, often with the aim of extorting families.” “The mission has also documented cases of rape in places of detention or captivity whereby migrant women are forced to have sex in order to survive, in exchange for food or other essential items,” it said. In fact, the known risk of sexual violence is considered too great, the report said, that “some migrant women and girls get fitted with a contraceptive implant before traveling there to avoid unwanted pregnancy due to such violence.” The investigators relayed some heartbreaking stories heard from migrants in Libya. One woman, who was held in the northern town of Ajdabiya, “described how her captors demanded sex in exchange for access to water she direly needed to wash her six-month-old sick child’s soiled clothes,” the report said. “I let them rape me. I had no choice. It was for my daughter. I could not leave her like that,” she said, according to the report. The fact-finding mission, which was created by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2020, will see its mandate expire in a few days. But a group of African countries has presented a draft resolution to the council that would allow it to continue its work for another nine months. Meanwhile, a flimsy rubber boat collapsed and sank in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya’s coast, leaving at least 30 people including women and children missing and feared dead, an international charity said Wednesday. The vessel sank in the deadly central Mediterranean Sea route, said Doctors Without Borders, also known by its abbreviation MSF for the French name of the group. A rescue ship operated by MSF reached the boat, and managed to rescue dozens of other migrants including some women. A pregnant woman died on board the rescue ship, Geo Barents, it said. Among the rescued migrants from Monday’s boat sinking was a woman who lost her child in the sinking and another one who said she lost two children, the charity said. The charity has called for Italian and Maltese authorities to determine a port of safety to allow the disembarkation of survivors. * With AFP and AP © 2022 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement. Link to Article: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2113351/middle-east