Senegal’s agreement on July 24, 2012, to establish a special court to try the former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré, if swiftly implemented, could mark a turning point in the long campaign to bring him to justice, a coalition of human rights groups said today.
 

The trial before the Le Kef military Tribunalof former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and others underscores the steps that must be taken if Tunisia’s judiciary is to hold officials of the ousted regime fully and fairly accountable for human rights violations. Human Rights Watch observed the trial for killing protesters during Tunisia’s 2010-2011 uprising, which concluded on June 13, 2012, and studied parts of the 1,066-page written verdict.

For the first time, 28 countries, including Mexico, Norway, Costa Rica, France, and Germany, condemned ongoing violations in Bahrain through a joint collective declaration pronounced by Swirtzerland during a UN Human Rights Council debate. But the United States, the United Kingdom (UK), and eight other European Union (EU) states remained silent.

The sixteenth anniversary of the Abu Salim prison massacreon June 28 to 29, 2012, offers victims’ families across Libya the first chance to commemorate the 1996 tragedy without fear of government repression.

Verdicts are expected next week in the trial of former President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and his security chiefs, the first concerning the killing of protesters during Tunisia’s uprising in December 2010 and January 2011.

United Nations member states should scrutinize Bahrain’s deplorable human rights record during the country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council on May 21, 2012. The international community should push Bahrain to adopt specific measures to ensure free expression and peaceful assembly, end torture, free political prisoners, and establish credible accountability mechanisms for continuing abuses.

The Special Court indicted Taylor on March 7, 2003 on 17 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international law for his role in supporting Sierra Leonean rebel groups during that country’s armed conflict. The Taylor judgment will be a watershed moment for efforts to hold the highest-level leaders to account through a credible judicial process.

Governments at the “Friends of Syria” meeting in Tunis on February 24, 2012, should enlist the support of Russia and China to push Syria to stop its indiscriminate shelling of residential neighborhoods in the city of Homs. They should also press Syria to allow delivery of humanitarian aid and permit safe passage for all civilians who wish to leave.

The Egyptian military’s announcement on January 24, 2012, that it will lift the state of emergency except in cases of “thuggery” is an invitation to continued abuse, Alkarama and Human Rights Watch said today. The two rights groups said that the government should use the regular penal code and civilian criminal courts to address alleged criminal activity. It should also repeal Law 34, which criminalizes participation in strikes during a state of emergency.

The Syrian government should comply with all the terms of its agreement with the Arab League, Human Rights Watch said today ahead of a January 8, 2012 meeting of the Arab League to discuss its monitoring mission in Syria.

Syrian authorities have transferred perhaps hundreds of detainees to off-limits military sites to hide them from Arab League monitors now in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. The Arab League should insist on full access to all Syrian sites used for detention, consistent with its agreement with the Syrian government.

A series of bombings in Iraq on December 22, 2011, are an atrocious assault on basic human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The attacks, among the deadliest in Iraq this year, killed more than 60 people and injured 185, mainly civilians.

Libyan authorities appear to be holding Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in good physical conditions but should allow him immediate access to a lawyer.

Egypt’s military rulers should immediately order riot police to stop using excessive force against protesters and to reduce their presence in the areas surrounding Tahrir Square to a level that allows for the maintenance of security while permitting free assembly. Riot police and military officers have shot live ammunition and rubber bullets into the crowd, beaten protesters and otherwise used excessive force in the demonstrations that began in Cairo on November 19, 2011, according to numerous accounts from witnesses.

The newly-appointed Israeli military commander in the West Bank should end the military’s hands-off approach to settler attacks against Palestinians and Palestinian property. The new commander should end the use of excessive force by security forces against Palestinians responding to settler attacks.