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By Joëlle Fiss Senior Associate, Fighting Discrimination Program
For many of Hungary’s 600,000 Roma, the month of February brings back dismal memories. Just after midnight on February 23, 2009, Robert Csorba and his 4-year-old-son were shot dead as they ran from their burning home in Tatárszentgyörgy, Hungary.
Other violence stuck Hungary’s Roma in 2009. There were dozens of hate crimes, many involving guns, Molotov cocktails, and severe beatings.
Four men are on trial in Budapest, accused of carrying out nine attacks between July 2008 and August 2009 that killed six Roma, including Robert Csorba and his son. In 2009 Hungarian President László Sólyom said these murders “threaten[ed] the stability of Hungary.” The authorities need to move more expeditiously to bring this trial to a close.
By Crimes Against Humanity Program Human Rights First
The Enablers. That’s the title of a strong New York Times editorial denouncing China’s and Russia’s continued support for Syria’s repressive regime.
In the two weeks since these countries vetoed the U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a peaceful transfer of power, violence against the Syrian people has escalated. While an approved resolution may not have prompted definitive action, it would have sent a powerful message.
But there are indications that criticism from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and countless human rights organizations have China rethinking its position: “What is most urgent and pressing now is to prevent war and chaos so that the Syrian people can be free from even greater suffering,” Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China said this week.
Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley went on Al Jazeera’s Inside Storyyesterday and spoke about the ongoing crackdown by the Bahraini monarchy on pro-democracy protestors.
One year after the people of Bahrain took to the streets to demand democratic reforms, Dooley notes that the United States government is falling short in condemning the abuses committed by the Bahrain regime.
Pro-democracy protestors, who continue to be attacked, are looking to the United States to stand with them. But the Obama Administration’s silence on Bahrain—along with its recent decision to supply the monarchy with military equipment—simply sends the wrong message.
Watch Brian Dooley on Al Jazeera’s Inside Story.
The facts are clear. The pro-democracy protests in Bahrain are among the Arab Spring’s largest uprisings. To retain its power, the government has responded with excessive force and international propaganda. The regime has detained more than 3,000 people since the protests began; many have been subjected to torture and abuse and have been denied lawyers and fair trials. The police responded to protests earlier this week with tear gas and sound bomb attacks.
The United States must stand with Bahraini democracy activists.
By Brian Dooley Director, Human Rights Defenders Program
When the Arab Spring hit Bahrain last year on February 14, 2011, the repressive monarchy met pro-democracy protestors with a brutal crackdown. One year later, democracy protestors are still being attacked and prosecuted for calling for an elected government.
Bahraini protestors participating in today’s anniversary events have faced tear gas and many have been arrested.
“I have no regrets that I had to pay a price for my work to promote human rights,” Al Khawaja wrote in his open letter to the Foreign Minister of Denmark, where Al Khawaja lived as a political refugee in exile from Bahrain between 1989 and 2001. “It is serious business to address issues such as corruption, inequality and discrimination in order to promote the interests of members of the ruling family, and documenting arbitrary detention and torture by the brutal National Security Apparatus.”
Human Rights First has closely monitored Al Khawaja’s case as well as similar cases brought before military courts in Bahrain. In his open letter, Al Khawaja thanked international human rights organizations, including Human Rights First, for their efforts to free him and others who have faced trumped up charges.
Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley speaks with a Bahraini pro-democracy protester after today’s rally in Manama, Bahrain. This is one of a series of rallies and marches being organized in the lead up to the anniversary of Bahrain’s democracy movement on February 14.
She reports that the police arrested protesters and beat two women on their way to the rally.
The Bahrain monarchy recently denied Brian Dooley and other international observers entry to monitor the protests surrounding the anniversary. The Kingdom also denied entry to many international journalists including Nick Kristof and Adam Ellick of the New York Times, Gregg Carlstrom of Al Jazeera, Cara Swift of the BBC and Kristen Chick of the Christian Science Monitor.
Nevertheless, Human Rights Firsts will continue to provide updates from our partners in Bahrain. Stay tuned for daily recounts of the protests.
Justice may still be out of reach for the victims of the Egyptian military’s “virginity testing,” an abusive practice targeting activists who bravely participated in the revolution. On Tuesday, during the trial of an army physician being tried for “testing” protestors, female prison wardens were called as witnesses but denied they had seen it take place. So despite the recent court-ordered ban on the practice, impunity for perpetrators continues.
Assaults on female activists in Egypt show the disconnect between the aspirations of last year’s revolution and its results. Though Mubarak was ousted, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) continues to abuse and harass women.
Egypt remains a dangerous place for female activists, who regularly face violence ranging from street harassment to rape. But they refuse to be quiet.
By Crimes Against Humanity Program Human Rights First
Last week, a little-noticed passage on mass atrocities made its way into the Director of National Intelligence’s (DNI) annual testimony to Congress. The passage reaffirmed the President’s proclamation that the prevention of mass atrocities and genocide is a core U.S. national security interest and moral responsibility, and committed the U.S. intelligence community (IC) to play a significant role in the forthcoming Atrocities Prevention Board. It tasked the IC with greater intelligence collection, analysis, and sharing efforts to forestall atrocities.
The inclusion of mass atrocities in the DNI’s “Worldwide Threat Assessment” is welcome news, particularly at a time when traditional diplomatic efforts to end widespread violence against civilians in Syria, Sudan, and Congo appear to have failed. Though not unprecedented—the threat of mass atrocities has been included in the DNI’s testimony intermittently since 2009—this year’s language suggests it will become a regular feature and, more important, a systematic focus of IC work.
By Quinn O'Keefe Senior Associate, Human Rights Defenders Program
Last summer Vice President Biden visited China and inadvertently legitimized the Chinese government’s claim that human rights are exclusively American values. He said this to a group students from Sichuan University in Chengdu:
“Maybe the biggest difference in our respective approaches are our approaches to what we refer to as human rights. I recognize that many of you in this auditorium see our advocacy of human rights as at best an intrusion, and at worst an assault on your sovereignty. I want to tell you directly that this is not our intention. Yes, for Americans there is a significant moral component to our advocacy. And we observed where we have failed, as well. But it is who our people are.”
But human rights are not something that the U.S. government imposes on other countries. Human rights are, simply, universal.
By Adam Jacobson Program Assistant, Law and Security Program
Yesterday the head of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, announced that al Shabab, the Somali Islamist terrorist group, would become a formal part of al Qaeda. As terrorism analyst Aaron Zelin pointsout, the alliance could prove beneficial to both groups, combining al Qaeda’s legitimacy and Shabab’s ability to get attention in the media.
But the merger could also affect the United States’ so-called “war on terror.” One result could be the expansion of the Obama administration’s targeted killing list to include Shabab’s American members in Somalia. The administration has already targeted al Qaeda operatives fighting alongside Shabab, but as Wired’s Spencer Ackerman writes,
One of [Shabab’s] members, Omar Hammami — who doubles as the group’s lead emcee — was born in Arkansas. If a drone strike could kill the U.S. citizen and al-Qaida propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, then a formal Shabab/Qaida merger probably puts Hammami squarely on the U.S.’ kill/capture list, if he wasn’t already.
Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley speaks with a Bahraini pro-democracy protester after today’s rally in Manama, Bahrain. This is one of a series of rallies and marches being organized in the lead up to the anniversary of Bahrain’s democracy movement on February 14.