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Indonesia: Police and military unlawfully kill almost 100 people in Papua in eight years with near total impunity

Indonesian security forces have unlawfully killed at least 95 people in little more than eight years in the restive eastern provinces of Papua and West Papua, with the overwhelming majority of perpetrators never being held to account for these crimes, Amnesty International reveals in a new report today. All but 10 of the victims were of Papuan ethnicity.

The report, “Don’t bother, just let him die”: Killing with impunity in Papua, describes how police and soldiers have shot dead peaceful independence activists and protesters, as well as dozens of other Papuans in non-political contexts, including a mentally disabled young man. Despite President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo promising to prioritise human rights in Papua, killings have shown no sign of letting up since he took office in 2014.

“Papua is one of Indonesia’s black holes for human rights. This is a region where security forces have for years been allowed to kill women, men and children, with no prospects of being held to account,” said Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director.

“Our research reveals that almost 100 people have been unlawfully killed in little more than eight years – that is about one person every month. This is a serious blot on Indonesia’s human rights record. Now is the time to change course – unlawful killings in Papua must end. This culture of impunity within the security forces must change, and those responsible for past deaths held to account.”

“Papua is one of Indonesia’s black holes for human rights. This is a region where security forces have for years been allowed to kill women, men and children, with no prospects of being held to account,”

– Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director

The report documents at least 95 deaths in 69 incidents between January 2010 and February 2018, 56 of which took place in the context of non-independence activities, while 39 others were related to peaceful political activities such as demonstrations or raising the Papuan independence flag, the Morning Star.

Despite the alarmingly high death toll, Indonesian authorities have almost completely failed to hold perpetrators to account. None of them have been tried and convicted in an independent court of law, with only a handful of cases resulting in disciplinary sanctions or trials in military tribunals.

“The pattern of police and soldiers applying the same ruthless and deadly tactics they have used against armed groups to peaceful political activists is deeply worrying. All unlawful killings violate the right to life, a human right protected by international law and Indonesia’s Constitution,” Usman Hamid said.

“There is a direct link between impunity and continued human rights violations. Each failure to investigate or bring those responsible to account reinforces the confidence of perpetrators that they are above the law, and fuels feelings of resentment and injustice in Papua.”

Accountability for unlawful killings in Papua

Family members of victims told Amnesty International that they still want to see the perpetrators of their loved ones’ deaths brought to justice.

In the 69 incidents documented in the report, not one has been subject to a criminal investigation by an institution independent of the one whose members were suspected of committing the killing.

In 25 cases, there was no investigation at all, not even an internal one. In 26 cases, the police or military claimed to have conducted internal investigations but did not make the results public.

“A failure by the state to ensure prompt, independent and efficient investigations into unlawful killings constitutes a separate human rights violation. Investigations along these lines are indispensable to ensuring justice and preventing the unlawful resort to lethal force in the future, and thus constitute an essential element of the State’s positive obligation to prevent the arbitrary deprivation of life,” Usman Hamid said.

Unlawful killings unrelated to pro-independence activities

The majority of unlawful killings documented in Amnesty International’s report occurred in the context of non-political events, unrelated to calls for independence or a referendum for freedom in Papua. These types of unlawful killings happen when the security forces deal with peaceful social protests and public disorder, when they attempt to arrest criminal suspects, or as a form of individual misconduct by security personnel.

Killings during the policing of non-political assembly and public disorder include the killing of Petrus Ayamiseba and Leo Wandagau, two protesting workers employed at the gold and copper mining company Freeport in Timika on 10 October 2011, and the shooting, without any warning, into a crowd by Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) in Deiyai District, Papua Province that killed Yulianus Pigai on 1 August 2017.

The report describes incidents of unlawful killings as a result of misconduct by security forces that took the lives of 25 people. These include soldiers’ attacks on villages in Honelama, Wamena on 6 June 2012, and the killing of Irwan Wenda, a mentally disabled Papuan man, killed by a police officer after he hit the officer using a piece of sugarcane.

Unlawful killings related to political activities

Security forces have also unlawfully killed Papuans over political activities, including the issue of independence or a referendum for Papua. This type of unlawful killing has taken place when security forces deal with peaceful political protests, particularly flag-raising ceremonies or religious gatherings on commemoration dates.

The military and the police fired shots to break up the roughly 1,000 delegates at the Third Papuan People’s Congress, a peaceful pro-independence event, killing three civilians, on 19 October 2011.

In another incident, the police and military launched a joint operation in Aimas, Sorong on 30 April 2013 to break up peaceful evening prayers held by Isak Kalaibin, a member of a pro-independence group, during which they suspected the banned Morning Star flag would be raised. After attendees at the prayers blocked and banged on the car of the Deputy Chief of the District Police with fists and sticks, security forces opened fire into the crowd and at houses in the area, killing three people and wounding five.

Meanwhile, in Wanampompi village, Yapen Islands on 1 December 2015, the police and military personnel opened fire into a crowd at a peaceful flag-raising ceremony, killing four people.

“The three cases illustrate the failure of Indonesian security forces to distinguish between armed people endangering lives and peaceful activists, and between peaceful expression of opinion and assembly and acts of physical violence. The police and military must change their approach in dealing with peaceful political activities,” said Usman Hamid.

Amnesty International’s recommendations

Amnesty International is calling on the Indonesian authorities to ensure that all unlawful killings alleged to have been committed by Indonesian security forces are investigated promptly, independently, impartially and effectively. The investigation and any prosecutions should not be limited to direct perpetrators, but also look into any involvement of commanders, irrespective of rank.

Authorities in Indonesia must take the initiative to stop unlawful killings in Papua including by issuing and enforcing human rights compliant instructions to the military and police on the use of force, and ensuring justice and reparations for the victims and their family.

It is also crucially important to review police, military or other law-enforcement officials’ tactics and the use of force and firearms during arrest, to ensure they meet international standards

Egypt: Verdicts expected for 739 defendants in grotesque mass death penalty trial

739 defendants face death penalty, including photojournalist popularly known as ‘Shawkan’
Grossly unfair trial marred by torture of defendants

The mass trial of 739 people, many facing the death penalty on charges related to participation in the al-Rabaa sit-in on 14 August 2013, is a grotesque parody of justice, Amnesty International said ahead of the verdicts expected to be handed down by a Cairo Criminal Court today.

Among the defendants is journalist and prisoner of conscience Mahmoud Abu Zeid, known as “Shawkan”, detained while working as a photojournalist documenting the protest. Amnesty International is calling for his immediate and unconditional release.

“The idea that more than 700 people could all stand trial together in one day, all facing the death penalty in what is clearly a grossly unfair trial that violates Egypt’s own constitution beggar’s belief.”

Najia Bounaim, Director of CampaignS in North Africa at Amnesty International.

“The idea that more than 700 people could all stand trial together in one day, all facing the death penalty in what is clearly a grossly unfair trial that violates Egypt’s own constitution beggar’s belief,” said Najia Bounaim, Director of Campaigns in North Africa at Amnesty International.

“This can only be described as a parody of justice; it casts a dark shadow over the integrity of Egypt’s entire system of justice, and makes a mockery of due process.”

“This can only be described as a parody of justice; it casts a dark shadow over the integrity of Egypt’s entire system of justice, and makes a mockery of due process.”

Among the 739 defendants are members of the Muslim Brotherhood, now a banned group in Egypt, facing charges of participating in unauthorised protests and other charges ranging from murder, to “incitement to break the law”, “membership of an illegal group”, “illegal gathering” and involvement in violence.

During the trial sessions, prosecutors failed to submit evidence establishing the individual responsibility of each of the 739 defendants, nor did the court insist on the need to establish such responsibility, rendering this a grossly unfair trial. Amnesty International is calling on the Egyptian authorities to release and drop the charges against all those arrested for protesting peacefully; defendants suspected of committing violent crimes must be tried in a fair trial without the possibility of the death penalty or released.

30-year-old photojournalist Shawkan has been charged with 24 offences, including murder, “illegal gathering” and other violence related charges.

Shawkan was working as a photojournalist covering the demonstration, when he was arrested. The prosecution has not presented any evidence that he was guilty of murder or any other violence. Under international human rights law, Egypt has an obligation to uphold the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, a right also guaranteed in Egypt’s constitution, and the charge of “illegal gathering should not be a criminal offence.

Shawkan has been in pre-trial detention since the dispersal of the al-Rabaa sit-in on 14 August 2013. His prolonged pretrial detention is in violation of Egypt’s own laws, which establish a maximum two-year limit on pre-trial detention.

“Shawkan has now been detained without a court verdict for almost four years, twice the legal limit under Egyptian law. This is clearly punitive and aimed at silencing others who might take part in any form of journalism or activism that threatens the Egyptian authorities,” said Najia Bounaim.

On 14 August 2013, Egyptian security forces violently dispersed sit-ins at the Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares in Cairo, leaving at least 900 people dead and thousands more injured. No member of the Egyptian security forces has been held to account for what is widely referred to as the al-Rabaa Massacre.

USA: Authorities must stop separating and locking up families

US authorities must put an immediate end to both the separation and detention of children and families who come to the US border with Mexico seeking asylum, while also immediately reuniting the thousands of families who remain separated as a result of the Trump administration’s unlawful and damaging policies, said Amnesty International.

“Despite the executive order that President Trump signed last week, thousands of frightened children are still being kept apart from their distraught parents, who have no idea when they’ll see them again. By holding kids in cages or flying them to shelters thousands of miles away, the US authorities are deliberately inflicting deep and lasting mental suffering on them in a bid to deter desperate families from seeking asylum,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

“By holding kids in cages or flying them to shelters thousands of miles away, the US authorities are deliberately inflicting deep and lasting mental suffering on them in a bid to deter desperate families from seeking asylum.”

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

“President Trump’s order to imprison children with their parents instead of separating them is just substituting one traumatic punishment with another. The US authorities must immediately release those families seeking asylum and respect their rights to apply for asylum in fair and humane conditions. No child should be taken from their parents’ arms or be made to grow up behind bars. It’s time to end the inhumane practices of family separation and detention once and for all.”

In the executive order signed on 20 June, President Trump mandated that children be incarcerated with their parents in immigration detention centres while their asylum claims are processed. To implement the order, which conflicts with US law, the government is seeking an exemption from the court-ordered Flores Settlement Agreement that mandates that children should be released from detention without delay and within no more than 20 days.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has since issued a series of statements making clear that family separations could continue for the foreseeable future, including while asylum seekers await the outcome of their requests. While authorities have announced the intent to reunite some of the already-separated families, reunifications have been few, and many families remain traumatized, separated and under threat of deportation without access to a fair and humane asylum process.

The preliminary injunction by a US federal court ordering the reunification of the thousands of forcibly separated children and parents on 26 June is a welcome development, although the Trump administration could still contest this order. Public pressure is critical to ensure that the administration does not reunify the families only to detain them and return to forcible separation while challenging the court order or in future.

Although the Trump administration only formally announced the separation of families as a deterrent measure under the “zero-tolerance policy for criminal illegal entry” on 6 April 2018, Amnesty International has found that this practice has been in use since at least the beginning of the administration, including against people who presented themselves at ports of entry to exercise their right to apply for asylum.

The DHS said on June 19 that it had separated 2,342 children from 2,206 parents at the US-Mexico border from May 5 to June 9 under the “zero-tolerance policy”. Official statistics obtained by news media suggest that thousands more families may have been separated by the US government even prior to this policy.

“The families seeking asylum are fleeing terrible violence in their home countries and simply want to raise their children in safe and humane conditions.”

“The families seeking asylum are fleeing terrible violence in their home countries and simply want to raise their children in safe and humane conditions. The idea that children can be protected by locking them up or separating them from their parents defies all sense of logic and humanity. These unbelievably cruel practices are unlawful and will leave a permanent stain on the USA’s human rights record,” added Erika Guevara-Rosas.

Amnesty International calls on the US Congress to press the DHS to reunite, as quickly as possible, those families that have been separated, put an immediate end to the forced separation of children from their parents or guardians and ensure that it does not resume.

Congress must also push the government to end the practice of detaining families that are seeking asylum, immediately release together the parents and children in detention, and reject any increase in funding for immigration detention facilities for children and families.

Accounts of forced separation

Amnesty International researchers visited the US-Mexico border in April and May 2018 to document the treatment of asylum seekers. In the majority of cases of family separations that the organization documented, the families had presented themselves lawfully at official border crossings in order to seek asylum, and US authorities offered them no justification for the separations.

In one case, a 39-year-old Brazilian woman and her seven-year-old son fled their home country after receiving repeated death threats from gang members, whom she had denounced for dealing drugs in front of her home. The gang members were collaborating daily with local police and said they would kill Maria and her son no matter where they fled to in Brazil.

Speaking to Amnesty International at an immigration detention centre in Texas, she said Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents eparated her from her son without giving any reason the day after they requested asylum at an official port of entry in March 2018.

“They told me: ‘you don’t have any rights here, and you don’t have any rights to stay with your son,’” she said, in tears. “I died at that moment. It would have been better if I had dropped dead… Not knowing where my son was, what he was doing. It was the worst feeling a mother could have. How can a mother not have the right to be with her son?”

In another case, a 63-year-old woman from Honduras told Amnesty International that gang members threatened to kill her and her 14-year-old granddaughter and burn down their home. They fled Honduras immediately, having known of others who had been killed by the gang after seeking assistance from police or moving to other parts of the country.

After more than a year in a detention centre in Texas, the woman told Amnesty International that CBP agents separated her from her granddaughter two days after they sought asylum at a port of entry in Texas:

“They didn’t tell me why they were taking her. They just told me they were going to separate her from me. If they send me back, what am I going to do? I’m going to die in Honduras,” she said. “I’m 63 years old and I just can’t take it anymore. There are days that I’m very desperate and sad. It’s been a very long time I haven’t seen my family.”

Many parents who were forcibly separated from their children showed extreme anguish, weeping uncontrollably at points while recounting their stories to Amnesty International. The organisation found in cases it documented that the forced separation of families, with the stated aim of deterring and punishing asylum seekers requesting protection at US borders, meets the definitions of torture under US and international law.

Passing of draconian laws throws Australian rights and freedoms under the bus

At the disappointing news that the Senate tonight passed the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill and the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill, Claire O’Rourke, External Affairs Director at Amnesty International Australia, said:

“In passing these draconian laws, both sides of Australian politics have thrown our rights and freedoms under the bus.

“Unbelievably, the Australian Parliament has today made it a crime for charities to expose human rights violations, and to communicate with the United Nations about those violations.

“While we welcome the amendments made to the Foreign Interest Transparency Scheme Bill, so that charities won’t have to register as foreign agents, it’s nevertheless alarming that charities can still be prosecuted under the Espionage and Foreign Interference Bill.

“We are dismayed that Australia, a country that claims to cherish its freedoms, has taken this leap towards authoritarianism.

“But we will not be silenced by the threat of prison – we will continue to hold Australia to account on its human rights record.”

Three things Eddie Mabo taught me

To celebrate Eddie Mabo’s birthday, entrepreneur and Miss NAIDOC 2018 finalist Louise O’Reilly shares the life lessons he taught her.

If you are an Australian, you have probably heard the name Eddie Mabo. Mabo Day. The Mabo Decision.

Eddie Koiki Mabo passed away in 1992, when I was five years old. He was a man that I never met and up until recently, didn’t know much about. And if you are anything like I was, you would recognise his name but that’s about it.

The Mabo Decision, which acknowledged that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have rights to land, is probably the most significant Aboriginal rights case to go through the High Court of Australia and come out victorious.

In 1992 Mabo, who was born on Murray Island in the Torres Strait in 1936, challenged the British claim – made almost 200 earlier when the British declared Australia their own – that Australia was ‘terra nullius’, meaning ‘no-man’s land’ or land that belongs to nobody.

On 3 June 1992, five months after Mabo’s passing, the High Court ruled in favour of Mabo and his fellow plaintiffs. The claim of terra nullius became a legal fiction.

“The decision that came out was that native title existed and it was up to the Aboriginal or Islander people to determine who owned what land.”

– Henry Reynolds

Land is not a possession

To me, the Western concept of land ownership is different to the Aboriginal concept of it. Similarities exist between the two, such as the right to make decisions for the land and the right to defend your land. The difference lies in the hierarchy of it.

To put it simply, a Westernised way of thinking about land is that you protect the land against, pests, disease and invasion and you use and alter the land to farm in a way to support your existence. The way Aboriginal people view land is that you protect the land against pests, disease and invasion but you farm the land in a way that is natural to that area and you use the land in a way that supports both you and the land’s continued existence.

“We do not own the land. The land owns us.”

– Yothu Yindi

For me, it is not about our right to own land, it is about our right to protect that land. Our right to ensure that land is looked after in a way that will ensure its healthy, sustainable existence. It is a deeply imprinted sense of connection and responsibility that Aboriginal people feel to the land and not about having land as a possession.

With that in mind, here are some life lessons Mabo has given me.

1) A single person can make a difference and have a profound impact in the world.

Of course, I acknowledge that Mabo had a team working with him but Mabo was the driving force behind that team. He was the person with the belief and vision to see such an important legal battle through. He managed it even though he was very disadvantaged in Australia. Even though he was part of a minority group. Even though he was receiving death threats. Even though he lived in a time where racism was entwined in everyday society and the government. He. Made. A. Difference! And 26 years after his passing, I am sitting here learning from him.

2) If my dreams of Aboriginal reconciliation, gap closing, equality and healing don’t come to fruition during my lifetime. It’s okay.

It took Mabo 10 years to have the High Court rule in his favour and he wasn’t there to see it. After all, I’m not doing this for me. I am doing this for my children and for the future generations of Australia. I believe in something so strongly. Something that is much bigger than me, so I am taking the steps to give them something better. To give them something beautiful. And I am at peace with the possibility that I may not see it in my lifetime because I know in my core that it will happen.

3) Just because something is, doesn’t mean that how it should be.

This is a motto that has been with me for some time now. Mabo has provided me with another example why this is so true. After all, he took this case to the High Court of Australia. He took something that stood as a so-called legal fact in Australia for over 200 years and had it overturned and pronounced a legal fiction. Oh, my goodness. 200+ years of people believing one thing and to have it completely discredited in 10 years is phenomenal.

Mr Mabo, I would like to pay my respects to you and your family. Thank you for standing up for something you believe in. Thank you for the lessons you taught me and for being one of the people that inspire me to follow my dreams and make a stand for what I believe in.

This post was originally published on Louise O’Reilly’s blog.

Louise O’Reilly is a writing warrior from Perth. She’s a loving mother, devoted wife and entrepreneurial blogger. Louise writes about Aboriginal social justice and self-empowerment.

Noura Hussein’s death sentence quashed in Sudan

On 26 June a Sudanese court repealed Noura Hussein’s death sentence and replaced it with a five-year prison term.

What happened?

Noura Hussein was sentenced to death on 10 May 2018. Her husband suffered fatal knife wounds during a scuffle at their home after he had attempted to force himself on her with the help of three other men. The revised sentence means she will spend five years in jail from the date of her arrest and will have to make a dia (blood money) payment.

“While the quashing of this death sentence is hugely welcome news, it must now lead to a legal review to ensure that Noura Hussein is the last person to go through this ordeal.”

– Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes

Outdated law

Noura has been held in the Omdurman Women’s Prison in Sudan since May 2017.

After fatally stabbing her husband on 3 May 2017, Noura Hussein fled to her family home, but her father handed her over to the police, who opened a case against her. A medical examination report from the fight with her husband indicated she had sustained injuries including a bite and scratches.

At her trial in July 2017, the judge applied an outdated law which did not recognise marital rape. Noura was charged under the Criminal Act (1991) and found guilty of intentional murder on 29 April 2018 at the Central Criminal Court of Omdurman.

Noura was married against her will to Abdulrahman Mohamed Hammad at the age of 16. The first marriage ceremony involved the signing a marriage contract between her father and Abdulrahman. The second part of the marriage ceremony took place in April 2017, when she was forced to move into Abdulrahman’s home upon having completed high school. When she refused to consummate the marriage, Abdulrahman invited two of his brothers and a male cousin to help him rape her. Sudanese law allows children over the age of 10 to marry.

“The Sudanese authorities must take this opportunity to start reforming the laws around child marriage, forced marriage and marital rape, so that victims are not the ones who are penalised.”

– Seif Magango

How did Amnesty respond?

Nearly 31,000 people Amnesty International Australia supporters took action calling on Sudan’s Minister of Justice to overturn the ruling. These actions brought the case into the global spotlight and shone a light on marital rape and forced marriage in Sudan. Sudanese women and women like Zaynub Afinnih led a campaign that drove over a million people, all over the world, to speak out for Noura online.

Noura’s case serves as a reminder that when we rally together and pressure governments to respect human rights, we save lives.

What next?

“While the quashing of this death sentence is hugely welcome news, it must now lead to a legal review to ensure that Noura Hussein is the last person to go through this ordeal,” said Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

“Noura Hussein was the victim of a brutal attack by her husband and five years’ imprisonment for acting in self-defence is a disproportionate punishment.

“The Sudanese authorities must take this opportunity to start reforming the laws around child marriage, forced marriage and marital rape, so that victims are not the ones who are penalised.”

Maribyrnong Council unanimously passes motion supporting community sponsorship for refugees

Maribyrnong Council last night stepped up Australia’s response to the global refugee situation by unanimously passing a motion in support of expanding and improving the Australian Government’s current refugee community sponsorship program.

“It is so fantastic to see Maribyrnong Council get behind expanding this neighbourhood-led solution to the global refugee crisis.”

Shankar Kasynathan, Refugee Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia

“It is so fantastic to see Maribyrnong Council get behind expanding this neighbourhood-led solution to the global refugee crisis,” said Shankar Kasynathan, Refugee Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia.

Community sponsorship is a model where ordinary members of the community are able to sponsor visas for refugees, who wish to begin the process of rebuilding their lives in safety in Australia.

The motion, proposed by Mayor of Maribyrnong Cuc Lam, herself a former refugee who fled to Australia from Viet Nam, calls on the Federal Government to step up and ensure that the intake of refugees under community sponsorship is above and beyond any existing humanitarian or visa quotas, and to lower the program’s prohibitive visa fees.

Maribyrnong is one of almost 150 local councils across the country that have already declared themselves Refugee Welcome Zones. Today they joined a growing number of local councils around the country that are taking their commitment to welcoming refugees in their communities one step further by showing their support for community sponsorship.

“Every day communities around Australia welcome new neighbours into their neighbourhoods. Sometimes those new neighbours are refugees and the role councils play in welcoming them so that they can rebuild their lives in safety is crucial, so it’s fantastic to see Maribyrnong Council step up with the passing of this motion.”

“Every day communities around Australia welcome new neighbours into their neighbourhoods. Sometimes those new neighbours are refugees and the role councils play in welcoming them so that they can rebuild their lives in safety is crucial, so it’s fantastic to see Maribyrnong Council step up with the passing of this motion,” said Shankar Kasynathan.

The community sponsorship model has worked successfully in Canada for almost 40 years, welcoming over 280,000 refugees through the program, in addition to its humanitarian intake.

In contrast, in Australia, the community sponsorship program is capped at only 1,000 places this year and for every privately sponsored refugee, the government takes a space away from the annual humanitarian intake of 13,500.

“We can see from Canada’s example that the kindness of neighbours can help people who have lost everything to start again. An expanded and improved community sponsorship program in Australia would allow more people seeking safety to rebuild their lives, and set up a home here where they can prosper and thrive as new arrivals,” said Shankar Kasynathan.

“We hope that councils around the country take the lead from Maribyrnong Council and also take their commitment further by adding their voices to the call for a greater community sponsorship program.”

Myanmar: Military top brass must face justice for crimes against humanity targeting Rohingya

Report names 13 officials with a key role in murder, rape and deportation of Rohingya.
Myanmar’s security forces committed nine distinct types of crimes against humanity; responsibility goes to the top of the chain of command.
Calls for accountability, including a UN Security Council referral to the ICC.

Amnesty International has gathered extensive, credible evidence implicating Myanmar’s military Commander-in-Chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and 12 other named individuals in crimes against humanity committed during the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population in northern Rakhine State.

The comprehensive report, “We Will Destroy Everything”: Military Responsibility for Crimes against Humanity in Rakhine State, Myanmar, calls for the situation in Myanmar to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation and prosecution.

“The explosion of violence – including murder, rape, torture, burning and forced starvation – perpetrated by Myanmar’s security forces in villages across northern Rakhine State was not the action of rogue soldiers or units. There is a mountain of evidence that this was part of a highly orchestrated, systematic attack on the Rohingya population,” said Matthew Wells, Senior Crisis Advisor at Amnesty International.

“Those with blood on their hands – right up the chain of command to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing – must be held to account for their role in overseeing or carrying out crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations under international law.”

Amassing the evidence

In the report, Amnesty International also names nine of the Commander-in-Chief’s subordinates in the Tatmadaw – Myanmar’s armed forces – and three in the Border Guard Police (BGP) for their roles in the ethnic cleansing campaign.

The culmination of nine months of intensive research, including in Myanmar and Bangladesh, the report is Amnesty International’s most comprehensive account yet of how the Myanmar military forced more than 702,000 women, men and children – more than 80 per cent of northern Rakhine State’s Rohingya population when the crisis started – to flee to Bangladesh after 25 August 2017.

The report provides new details about the Myanmar military’s command structure and troop deployments, as well as the security forces’ arrests, enforced disappearances and torture of Rohingya men and boys in the weeks directly before the current crisis unfolded.

It also provides the most detailed information to date about abuses by the armed group the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), before and after it launched coordinated attacks on security posts on 25 August 2017. This includes killings of people from different ethnic and religious communities in northern Rakhine State, as well as the targeted killings and abductions of suspected Rohingya informants to the authorities.

“Those with blood on their hands – right up the chain of command to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing – must be held to account for their role in overseeing or carrying out crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations under international law.”

– Matthew Wells, Senior Crisis Advisor at Amnesty International

Amnesty International has already documented in detail how the Myanmar military’s vicious response to the ARSA attacks came in the context of long-standing institutionalised discrimination and segregation amounting to apartheid and was marked by crimes under international law including murder, rape, torture, targeted large-scale burning of villages, the use of landmines, forced starvation, mass deportation and other serious human rights violations.

Based on more than 400 interviews – as well as reams of corroborating evidence, including satellite imagery, verified photographs and videos, and expert forensic and weapons analysis – the new report goes into harrowing detail about the patterns of violations committed in the military’s “clearance operations” following the ARSA attacks. It also identifies the specific military divisions or battalions involved in many of the worst atrocities. Amnesty International has documented the security forces committing nine out of the 11 types of crimes against humanity listed in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Combat troops deployed to ‘destroy everything’

The report documents how the military’s senior command put some of its fiercest fighting battalions, infamous for violations elsewhere in the country, front and centre in the operations in northern Rakhine State. This had disastrous consequences for the Rohingya population.

In the weeks leading up to 25 August, the Tatmadaw brought in battalions from the 33rd and 99th Light Infantry Divisions (LIDs), two combat divisions that Amnesty International had implicated in war crimes in Kachin and northern Shan State in late 2016 and mid-2017, as part of the ongoing internal armed conflicts there.

In some Rohingya villages, the incoming military commanders made their intentions clear from the start. Around 20 August 2017, five days before the bulk of the violence erupted, a field commander from the 33rd LID met in Chut Pyin, Rathedaung Township, with Rohingya leaders from nearby villages. According to seven people present interviewed separately by Amnesty International, the field commander threatened that if there was ARSA activity in the area, or if villagers did any “wrong,” his soldiers would shoot at the Rohingya directly, without any distinction.

A map of northern Rakhine State, indicating locations where Amnesty International documented major incidents of human rights violations © Amnesty International

Amnesty International likewise obtained an audio recording in Burmese, which it believes to be authentic, of a telephone call between a Rohingya resident of Inn Din, Maungdaw Township, and a Myanmar military officer based in the area. In the recording, the officer says, “We got an order to burn down the entire village if there is any disturbance. If you villagers aren’t living peacefully, we will destroy everything.”

The ensuing wave of violence, in which the security forces completely or partially burned several hundred Rohingya villages across northern Rakhine State, including almost every Rohingya village in Maungdaw Township, has been well-documented by Amnesty International and others. The report goes into additional detail about the widespread as well as systematic attack on the Rohingya population, including in large-scale massacres in each of the three townships – in the villages of Chut Pyin, Min Gyi and Maung Nu. Thousands of Rohingya women, men and children were murdered – bound and summarily executed; shot and killed while running away; or burned to death inside their homes – though it may never be known exactly how many lost their lives as a result of the military operation.

The security forces also raped Rohingya women and girls, both in their villages and as they fled to Bangladesh. Amnesty International interviewed 20 women and two girls who were survivors of rape, 11 of whom were gang-raped. The organisation documented rape and sexual violence in 16 different locations in all three townships of northern Rakhine State. The practice was widespread and terrorised Rohingya communities, contributing to the campaign to force them out of northern Rakhine State. Some rape victims also had their family members killed in front of them. In at least one village, security forces left rape survivors inside buildings and set them on fire.

Satellite imagery of razed Myanmar village Thit Tone Nar Gwa Son. — On 5 November 2017, imagery shows the burned village of Thit Tone Nar Gwa Son © 2018 Digital Globe, Inc. Source: USG, NextView License

Border Guard Police arrests and torture

Amid growing tensions ahead of the 25 August attacks and in the days that followed, Myanmar security forces arrested and arbitrarily detained hundreds of Rohingya men and boys from villages across northern Rakhine State. Amnesty International interviewed 23 men and two boys whom the security forces arrested and tortured or otherwise ill-treated during this period.

The Rohingya men and boys were often severely beaten during the arrest and then taken to Border Guard Police (BGP) bases, where they were held incommunicado for days or even weeks.

BGP officers tortured the detainees to extract information or to force them to confess to involvement with ARSA. Amnesty International documented in detail torture that occurred in two specific BGP bases: one in Taung Bazar, in northern Buthidaung Township; and another in Zay Di Pyin village, in Rathedaung Township. Multiple survivors of torture named BGP officers responsible for the torture at these bases.

Released detainees described torture methods that included severe beatings, burning, waterboarding and rape and other sexual violence. Several Rohingya men who were held at the Taung Bazar BGP base described having their beards burned. Rohingya men and two boys who were detained at the Zay Di Pyin BGP base described being denied food and water; beaten to the point of death; and, in many cases, having their genitals burned until they blistered.

A farmer from a village in Rathedaung Township told Amnesty International: “I was standing with my hands tied behind my head, then they pulled off my longyi [a sarong-like garment] and put a [lit] candle under my penis. [A BGP officer] was holding the candle and [his superior] was giving orders… They were saying, ‘Tell the truth or you will die’.”

Some detainees did die from torture in custody, including a 20-year-old man who was beaten to death with a wooden plank after he asked for water.

To secure their release, detainees were made to pay large bribes and to sign a document stating they had never been abused. Ten months later, the Myanmar authorities have yet to provide information about who remains in detention, where they are being held, and under what charges, if any. These detentions amount to arbitrary detention under international law.

There is a mountain of evidence that this [the explosion of violence] was part of a highly orchestrated, systematic attack on the Rohingya population.”

– Matthew Wells

Command responsibility

Amnesty International reviewed confidential documents about the Myanmar military indicating that, during military operations like those in northern Rakhine State, forces on the ground normally operate under the tight control of senior commanders. Combat division units – which committed the vast majority of crimes against the Rohingya – have strict reporting requirements as to their movements, engagements and weapons use, information that senior commanders knew or should have known.

Further, top military commanders, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, actually travelled to northern Rakhine State directly before or during the ethnic-cleansing campaign, to oversee parts of the operation.

Senior military officials knew – or should have known – that crimes against humanity were being committed, yet failed to use their command authority to prevent, stop or punish those crimes, and even attempted to whitewash the overwhelming majority of them in the aftermath. Moreover, there is sufficient evidence to require an investigation into whether some or all may have been directly involved in planning, ordering or committing murder, rape, torture and the burning of villages.

Amnesty International’s research identifies 13 individuals with key roles in crimes against humanity. The organisation is calling for all those responsible to face justice.

Time for accountability

Faced with mounting international pressure, last month the Myanmar authorities announced the establishment of an “Independent Commission of Enquiry” to investigate allegations of human rights violations. Previous government and military-led investigations into abuses in Rakhine State have only served to whitewash military atrocities.

“The international community should not be fooled by this latest attempt to shield perpetrators from accountability. Instead, it must finally put an end to the years of impunity and ensure that this dark chapter in Myanmar’s recent history is never repeated,” said Matthew Wells.

“The United Nations Security Council must stop playing politics and urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar and impose targeted financial sanctions against senior officials responsible for serious violations and crimes.

“While building international consensus and support for an ICC referral, the international community should use the UN Human Rights Council to set up a mechanism to collect and preserve evidence for use in future criminal proceedings.

“A failure to act now in light of the overwhelming body of evidence begs the question: what will it take for the international community to take justice seriously?”

Albury, Wodonga & Wagga Wagga Councils come together in support of community sponsorship for refugees

Last night Albury Council, Wodonga Council and Wagga Wagga Council marked a significant moment in Australia’s response to the global refugee situation by simultaneously passing motions in support of expanding and improving the Australian Government’s current refugee community sponsorship program.

“This is a fantastic show of support for welcoming refugees and Amnesty International is so grateful to have three councils joining together to get behind expanding this neighbourhood-led solution to the global refugee crisis.”

Shankar Kasynathan, Refugee Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia.

“This is a fantastic show of support for welcoming refugees and Amnesty International is so grateful to have three councils joining together to get behind expanding this neighbourhood-led solution to the global refugee crisis,” said Shankar Kasynathan, Refugee Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia.

Community sponsorship is a model where ordinary members of the community are able to sponsor visas for refugees, who wish to begin the process of rebuilding their lives in safety in Australia.

The Councils join a growing collection of local councils, including the City of Whittlesea and Moreland Council – in calling on the Federal Government to step up and ensure that the intake of refugees under community sponsorship must not take the places from people in need and requires an overhaul including to lower the program’s prohibitive visa fees.

Albury, Wodonga and Wagga Wagga are already part of the collective of 150 local councils across the country that have declared themselves Refugee Welcome Zones.

“Every day communities around Australia welcome new neighbours into their neighbourhoods. Sometimes those new neighbours are refugees and the role councils play in welcoming them so that they can rebuild their lives in safety is crucial, so it’s fantastic to see these councils step up with the passing of these motions.”

“Every day communities around Australia welcome new neighbours into their neighbourhoods. Sometimes those new neighbours are refugees and the role councils play in welcoming them so that they can rebuild their lives in safety is crucial, so it’s fantastic to see these councils step up with the passing of these motions,” said Shankar Kasynathan.

The community sponsorship model has worked successfully in Canada for almost 40 years, welcoming over 280,000 refugees through the program, in addition to its humanitarian intake.

“We hope that councils around the country take the lead from these three councils that stepped up last night and will take their commitment further by adding their voices to the call for a greater community sponsorship program.”

Espionage & Foreign Interference Bill could damage Australian civil society

On today’s commencement of debate in the House of Representatives on both the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2017 and the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill 2017, Amnesty International Australia’s External Affairs Director Claire O’Rourke said:

“Despite the welcome bipartisan announcement yesterday exempting charities from having to register under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme, Amnesty International remains concerned about the potential impact on our work from the other Bill in the package.”

“The Espionage and Foreign Interference Bill in its current form could wreak enormous damage to Australian civil society.

“By making it a crime to hold the Australian government to account on human rights, this Bill will help shield government from accountability. These draconian laws proposed will make Australia more like the authoritarian countries this Bill is supposed to protect us from.

“It’s outrageous that Parliament is rushing through this Bill, without properly considering the ramifications for Australian freedoms.

“This Bill must be amended to include robust exemptions for charities, so they can continue to contribute to Australian civil society without fear of criminal charges.”