Somali children suffer famine now, but suffer war always

Children are facing death in Somalia now because of the famine gripping the country. Amnesty International reminds us today that  danger is not new for those children. In the war that continuously wages in the country, children are often recruited to fight on the front-lines.

From Reuters Alert Net, writer Katie Nguyen relays the statement from Amnesty.

"As a child in Somalia, you risk death all the time: you can be killed, recruited and sent to the frontline, punished by al Shabaab because you are caught listening to music or 'wearing the wrong clothes', be forced to fend for yourself because you have lost your parents or even die because you don't have access to adequate medical care," Michelle Kagari, Amnesty's deputy director for Africa, said in a statement.

"This is a never-ending conflict where children are experiencing unimaginable horrors on a daily basis," she added. "They risk becoming a lost generation if the world continues to ignore the war crimes affecting so many of them."

Amnesty blamed both government forces and Islamist groups for recruiting child soldiers, a practice that has increased since fighting escalated in 2006.

Fear of recruitment was increasingly being cited by Somali refugees as a reason for fleeing the country, according to the report which is based on interviews with refugees in Kenya and Djibouti in 2009 and in Kenya in 2010 – before drought in Somalia reached emergency levels.

It said al Shabaab were sending children to recruit other children to its ranks, as well as luring them with promises of phones and money. The group were also using threats, raids on schools and abductions to bolster their numbers.

Children were also being trained to handle firearms, grenades and improvised explosive devices, Amnesty said.

Children conscripted by poverty in Chad

From IRIN, a story about child soldiers in the country of Chad. A new report from Amnesty International finds that a some of the children are abducted away from their families in order to fight.

“My father is old. At home we did not have enough for everyone, so I wanted to better our situation and join the army to help my family and my mother... After one year with the armed group FSR [Front for the Salvation of the Republic], I became commander of a group of 50 fighters. Maybe I was made the commander because I am literate; I could write and read. Then I had to join the government forces when our commander... decided to join the Chadian government.”

Mahamane, 13, was among dozens of minors interviewed by Amnesty International for a new report, who had joined the Chadian army and armed opposition groups in the east. The report found that 80 percent of the estimated 7,000-10,000 child soldiers recruited in Chad are associated with armed groups, while the remaining 20 percent are involved with the country’s armed forces. These UN estimates also indicate that they may have been used as combatants.

The legal minimum age for voluntary recruitment is 18, with compulsory conscription at 20.

“Some have been abducted and forcibly recruited. Others have joined up to avenge the death of family members or the pillage of cattle, or simply to escape poverty and the lack of education or job opportunities,” states the report. According to Amnesty, children are paid a one-off 10,000-250,000 CFA francs (US$20-$500) by recruiters. In refugee and displaced people’s camps, unemployed teenagers just out of primary school are most at risk, while in villages, children from poor backgrounds or whose family members are in the army or armed groups are likely to be recruited. In some cases, recruiters send children already in their ranks with cigarettes, money or nice clothes to camps to lure other children into joining.

The main reasons for children to join up are poverty and a lack of educational opportunities. The report identifies eastern Chad as one of the most impoverished regions of the country, “largely because of its harsh environment, decades of neglect by the authorities and now widespread insecurity”. Chadian law requires that both primary and secondary education be free of charge for all children (and mandatory to age 14), but the scarcity of schools and teachers in the region leaves most children without many options.

Recruitment is also a way for children to escape attacks on their villages by armed militia groups. Army commanders have been reportedly calling on the Dadjo community living in Chad’s Dar Sila region to send their children to the army as a way of protecting the community, states Amnesty.

Christian Mukosa, a researcher for Amnesty International’s Africa Programme, told IRIN that recruitment of children was not something new, but little had changed in recent years. “In 2007, UNICEF [UN Children’s Fund] evaluated that between 7,000 and 10,000 children were associated with armed groups, but by 2010, less than 900 were released from these forces and groups. This suggests that thousands of children remain in the hands of their recruiters. It was reported by the UN that 13 percent of children released from the armed forces and groups in 2007 and 2008 came from Chad’s National Army [ANT].”

A highly volatile political situation in the east of the country near the Sudanese border and the recent withdrawal of UN forces under the Chadian government’s directive in 2010 may have exacerbated the problem.

In October 2007, the Chadian government adopted a national programme for the release, transitional support and reintegration of children associated with armed forces and groups, but efforts to implement the plan have faced difficulties. The country is also party to international agreements, including the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that countries must take steps to ensure than children under the age of 15 do not take part in hostilities.

According to Amnesty, the main obstacles to implementing these commitments are “a lack of will by political and military officials to engage in the process”. There have been no prosecutions for child recruitment. Instead, says the report, “many of those suspected of recruiting children have been offered senior government posts, perpetuating impunity at the highest levels of government”. In 2006, the government signed a peace accord with the rebel group FUC (United Front for Democratic Change), extending an amnesty to all combatants and appointing some of its members to government.

Dingemadji Carlos, director of studies, legislation and litigation within the Ministry for Human Rights and the Promotion of Liberties, told IRIN that “the amnesty accorded to ex-rebels is the price we must pay for reconciliation and it is necessary for bringing about peace and stability”. He said the country became a theatre of civil war and external aggressions right after independence, and conflict continued to the present day.

Since 2003, eastern Chad has been involved with Sudan’s conflict in Darfur and militia groups from Sudan linked to rebel forces in the east have orchestrated attacks on civilian populations within Chad’s borders. A five-year proxy war between Chad and Sudan ended in January 2010 with a rapprochement, but the Chadian government continued to clash with rebel forces in the east.

Carlos remains adamant that continuing insecurity in the east will not hamper government efforts to abide by its commitments. “We must wait from now until June for the next legislation to be enacted in order for the implementation of the code of protection for children to start again. The government has already submitted the bill to the Supreme Court for a judicial review.” He added that the government was elaborating a plan of action with the UN to help re-integrate children that have been demobilized from the ranks of armed groups and provide increased access to education.

“The government has launched an ambitious training programme for teachers of basic education as part of its policy on education in Chad. Twenty percent of the budget has been set aside for education,” he said.

So far, demobilized children remain vulnerable to re-recruitment even after they return home. While long-term efforts such as increasing stability in the east and implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child are imperative, Amnesty’s Mukosa suggests that resources be allocated to short-term measures. “There are things that the government can do in a short time such as building schools, appointing teachers, and creating youth and training centres,” he said.

Cote d'Ivoire battle moves to the capitol

Military forces loyal to Cote d'Ivoire election winner Alassane Ouattara are advancing on the capitol Abidjan. Once there, a heavy violent battle will begin between them and the forces behind Laurent Gbagbo. The Ivory Coast President Gbagbo lost an election last fall but has been fighting to stay in power ever since. The armed actions of the two political leaders have caused a massive humanitarian crisis in the country. The crisis will only get worse when fighting begins in the capital city as many residents will be in harms way.

Reuters is reporting that the African Union has finally called on Laurent Gbagbo to step down. It does appear he will have to be forced out in bloody fashion as he has thus far not stepped away peacefully.

The best update on the humanitarian angle of the story comes again from Amnesty international. The human rights organization is calling on the international community to protect the people in the capitol city.

“Abidjan is on the brink of a human right catastrophe and total chaos,” said Salvatore Saguès, Amnesty International’s researcher on West Africa.

“Côte d’Ivoire is facing a major humanitarian crisis. The parties to the conflict must immediately stop targeting the civilian population,” said Salvatore Saguès. “The international community must take immediate steps to protect the civilian population.”

Since the beginning of the week, the Republican Forces loyal to internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara have launched a general offensive against the forces loyal to outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power.

As the Republican Forces advance in the west and in the centre of the country, violence has escalated.

A recent flashpoint has been in the town of Guiglo, 600 km west of Abidjan, where sources have told Amnesty International that uncontrolled armed elements loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, including Liberian mercenaries, burned and looted houses, and shot and wounded several civilians yesterday.

“The escalation of this conflict, and increased reliance on mercenaries and untrained recruits, means there is a huge and immediate risk of massive human rights violations in the coming days as the Republican Forces advance on Abidjan,” said Salvatore Saguès.

On 19 March, Gbagbo's minister for youth Charles Blé Goudé, called on Gbagbo’s Young Patriot movement members to volunteer as militiamen to ‘liberate’ the country. The Young Patriots have announced that they have recruited 20,000 soldiers.

Amnesty International has also received reports of retribution attacks against civilians committed by both sides in the western town of Duékoué.

Local sources have told Amnesty International’s delegation currently in Côte d’Ivoire that dead bodies are still lying in the streets of Duékoué, and tens of thousands of civilians are still sheltering in the Catholic Mission without adequate food, water, sanitation and medical care.

On 29 March, the Republican Forces killed civilian Jean Louana, election campaign director of one of the current ministers appointed by Laurent Gbagbo. They also shot down a Pastor of an evangelical church along with eight members of his congregation.

Cote d'Ivoire civilians caught in fighting

Amnesty International is calling on United Nations Peacekeepers to protect 10,000 refugees in the west of Cote d'Ivoire. The large group of refugees are only three kilometers away from heavy fighting and are without protection.

Amnesty fears that the refugees could be caught in between the fighting. In January forty civilians were killed and many women raped when fighting began between troops supporting two political leaders.

President Laurent Gbagbo lost an election in October but doesn't want to concede power to internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara. Both sides have amassed armies in an effort to control the nation.

From Amnesty International, this statement helps to give us some much needed information on the crisis in Cote d'Iviore.

As many as 10,000 civilians are sheltering in the mission in the town of Duékoué, after fleeing fierce battles yesterday between forces supporting the internationally recognized elected President Alassane Ouattara and militiamen loyal to outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo.

“The UNOCI mandate in Côte d’Ivoire requires the peacekeepers to protect civilians at imminent threat of physical violence. They must act immediately to prevent further bloodshed,” said Veronique Aubert, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Africa.

“The UNOCI camp is only about 3 km away from Duékoué and we are urging them to use all means necessary to protect civilians against the violence taking place on their own doorstep.”

The situation in the west of Côte d’Ivoire has been volatile since the November 2010 contested presidential elections. All parties to the conflict have committed serious human rights violations including unlawful killings and rape and sexual violence against women.

Witnesses have told Amnesty International’s delegation currently in Côte d’Ivoire that yesterday, forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara took partial or total control of Duékoué and Daloa, two towns located in the heart of the western cocoa belt.

Sources said electricity in Duékoué has also been cut, apparently as a result of the fighting, depriving people in the area of water.

Overnight links for December 28th include missions project in Sierra Leone, Cambodia's dependence on foreign aid, and Amnesty's 50th

Many groups in the Dallas, Texas area teamed together to create a medical facility in Sierra Leone. Writer Leigh Munsil of the Dallas Morning News says that Hope Center also provides educational facilities for the unemployed.


Cambodia has taken big strides in reducing the number HIV positive people within its borders. The country is on track to meeting the Millennium Development Goal for cutting AIDS in half. However, a new study warns that Cambodia's dependence on foreign aid might hurt future gains against the disease. From the IPS, writer Marwaan Macan-Markar details the new report.

Amnesty International will soon be marking their 50th anniversary. Writer Sir John Tusa of the BBC tells us how the organization's focus has changed over the years, resulting in what the writer terms as a "mid life crisis" for Amnesty.

Amnesty warns of forced evictions in Nigeria

Amnesty International is warning of forced evictions in Nigeria that could leave over 200,000 people homeless. Nigeria's government plans to raze slums in the oil-rich area of the Niger delta. The slums are located on river and waterfronts. The government instead has plans to develop those areas with shopping malls and parks.

From Amnesty International, this press release gives the warning about what might happen to the people who already live in the eviction areas.

Plans for urban development of waterfront areas in the Rivers State capital of Port Harcourt, Nigeria are being developed at the expense of making more than 200,000 people homeless, warns Amnesty International in a new report released today [28 Oct].

The plans include a theme park, a shopping mall and a hotel. Already thousands have been forced from their homes to make way for an eight-screen cinema complex.

Amnesty International’s new report ‘Just move them’ : forced evictions in Port Harcourt, Nigeria urges the authorities to suspend the planned demolitions and to ensure that evictions are carried out in accordance with international human rights law. This includes providing adequate alternative housing.

Amnesty International’s Africa Deputy Programme Director, Tawanda Hondora said:

“These planned demolitions are likely to plunge hundreds of thousands of Nigeria’s most vulnerable citizens further into poverty. The government should halt the waterfront evictions until they ensure they comply with international human rights standards.”

The Rivers State government claims the demolition of the homes on the waterfront is necessary to implement the Greater Port Harcourt Master Plan, an urban renewal project launched in 2009. The development of the waterfront promenade is a central feature of the Master Plan - which encompasses the whole city - but full details have not been made public.

Amnesty is urging the Nigerian authorities to undertake a genuine public consultation on the Greater Port Harcourt Master Plan and ensure that it complies with international standards.

On 28 August 2009, Njemanze, a waterfront settlement, was demolished as part of the urban renewal plan. It is estimated that over 13,000 people lost their homes and, in many cases, their possessions and livelihoods after being forcibly evicted without adequate notice. One year on, many still have nowhere to live.

Chidi Ekiyor, 15 years old, has been sleeping under a flyover since the demolition of the house he shared with his aunt in Njemanze. Chidi told Amnesty International that he has been arrested five times since he lost his home. Most nights he and the other boys are harassed by police or older boys who steal their money or beat them.

Tawanda Hondora continued:

“None of the affected communities have been adequately consulted about these urban renewal plans and this has resulted in a great deal of uncertainty and insecurity. The government must make every effort to identify alternatives to evictions, using them only as a last resort.”

Charity Roberts is a primary school teacher who lives in a property marked for demolition. She told Amnesty International:

“Cash is the problem. Right now people don’t even have enough to eat. How will they relocate? There are some people [whose livelihood depends on] the waterside [fishing etc]. What would they do?”

The Rivers State government claims to have undertaken a buy-out scheme, purchasing all the properties on the waterfront and paying owners a replacement value for them. Under this scheme however, tenants, who make up the vast majority of the waterside population, are completely ignored and can claim no entitlements. House owners who do not want to sell their houses are also given no alternative.

Tawanda Hondora said:

“Nigeria has put in place legislation to protect tenants from unscrupulous landlords. It is hypocritical to say the least that once the state government itself becomes a landlord, it flouts its own rules.”

Amnesty International is also concerned about the excessive use of force, including the unlawful use of firearms, displayed by security forces while undertaking forced evictions.

Notes to Editors:

In 2007, South Africa based-Arcus GIBB was contracted to develop a ‘master plan’ for Port Harcourt to guide the development of the city for the next 50 years. The plan was launched in April 2009 and encompasses the whole city and some surrounding areas. The “development of the waterfront promenade” is a central feature. The Port Harcourt Master Plan has not been made publically available.

A full copy of ‘Just move them’: forced evictions in Port Harcourt, Nigeria is available upon request.

Amnesty calls on governments to be held accountable

Amnesty International has released the latest installment of their annual "The State of the World's Human Rights." This year Amnesty is calling on governments to held accountable for human rights abuses. Further, they say that governments must be held into account for not pulling their people out of poverty, not improving access to health care and education, and not meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

From Reuters Alert Net, writer Katie Nguyen recieved some quotes from Amnesty. Alert Net also has this companion piece that gathers some of the statistics in the report.

"Rights to food, education, health and housing are out of their reach, and they cannot claim them due to the non-existent, corrupt or discriminatory justice systems," Amnesty's interim secretary-general Claudio Cordone wrote in the report.

"This is shown by mass forced evictions of people from their homes, whether in African countries such as Angola, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, or the Roma in European countries such as Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania and Serbia. The result: the poor are driven deeper into poverty."

Adding its voice to concerns about the ability of countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were drawn up in 2000 by 189 heads of state, Amnesty said governments were falling far short of the targets and that new thinking was needed.

It said to stand a better chance of meeting the targets for eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases and providing access to affordable essential medicines, the targets should be based on legal commitments governments have made to meet basic human rights.

"When it comes to the Millennium Development Goals we see that the rights that are embedded in those goals are still not really enforceable," Cordone told AlertNet in an interview.

"So, for example, you cannot go to court in most parts of the world to say 'I've been kicked out of my house, I've been evicted wrongfully, I need compensation'."

Aborigine poverty in Australia compared to torture

A leader of Amnesty International spoke out about aborigine poverty in Australia. Irene Khan compared the poverty to torture and called on Australia's government to end what she called "discriminatory" practices.

From the Sydney Morning Herald, this AAP story recorded Khan's comments.

The poverty experienced by many Aborigines is as morally reprehensible as torture and must be eradicated, Amnesty International secretary-general Irene Khan says.

In Australia for a week-long visit, Ms Khan has also called on the Rudd government to end the discriminatory measures of the Northern Territory intervention into remote indigenous communities.

They were "stigmatising and disempowering an already marginalised people", she said.

Ms Khan visited Aboriginal homeland communities in central Australia before addressing the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

The poverty she saw northeast of Alice Springs reminded her of a third world country, she said in a statement.

"That indigenous peoples experience human rights violations on a continent of such privilege is not merely disheartening, it is morally outrageous," she said.

"The moral imperative to eradicate such poverty is no less an imperative on government than to eliminate torture."

Ms Khan, the first woman, first Asian and first Muslim to head the world's largest human rights organisation, also blasted federal Labor for continuing the former Howard government's interventionist policies.

She was particularly scathing of the compulsory quarantining of welfare payments and suggested there was a "real risk" Labor could squander an opportunity to change direction.

"The blunt force of the intervention's heavy-handed one-size-fits-all approach cannot deliver the desired results," Ms Khan said.

"The government will not secure the long-term protection of women and children unless there is an integrated human rights solution that empowers peoples and engages them to take responsibility for the solutions."

The Racial Discrimination Act was suspended in the Northern Territory to allow the intervention's more controversial measures to be introduced.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has vowed to reinstate the act and will introduce the relevant legislation into federal parliament within days.

But Ms Khan warned Labor needed to do so "in line with Australia's international obligations not to discriminate against indigenous peoples".

Video: Life in Kenya's largest slum, Kibera

This video from Amnesty International introduces us to a few women living in Kenya's largest slum, Kibera. Life can be very hard for the women of the slums, this video shows the poverty there as well as human rights violations.

Amnesty report calls the Niger Delta a "resource curse"

Amnesty International has released a report that talks about the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The Niger Delta is rich with oil, and only a few people get rich from the oil.

However, wastes from the oil production has caused contamination of the area's water and soil. Many in Delta region have not seen any benefits in their lives from the sale of the oil.

The poverty and resentment have spawned violent groups who sabotage the oil production, only leading to more pollution. The militia groups cause oil spills, waste dumping, and set fires to wells.

From Canada com, this AFP tells us more about the Amnesty report on Nigeria.

In a report released Tuesday, Amnesty described the situation in the Niger Delta, home to 31 million people, as a "human rights tragedy" which has fuelled anger and conflict.

"People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with, and wash in polluted water; they eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins -- if they are lucky enough to still be able to find fish," said the report.

Farmland in the region, one of the most important wetlands on earth, is being destroyed by oil spills.

"After oil spills the air they breathe reeks of oil, gas and other pollutants; they complain of breathing problems, skin lesions and other health problems, but their concerns are not taken seriously," the report added.

Amnesty blames both the government and multi-national oil giants for the rights abuses in the south of Africa's most populous country.

"Their poverty, and its contrast with the wealth generated by oil, has become one of the world's starkest and most disturbing examples of the resource curse," the report said.

Amnesty International says the rights of the poor have eroded

Amnesty International released their annual report on the state of human rights today. The report claims that the global economic recession has further eroded human rights.

Amnesty points to a couple of ways where the recession has eroded rights. First, in the protests over food prices where governments turned violent on their own people. Second, through the governments spending packages that have helped businesses and banks but not the poor.

From IPS, writer Sanjay Suri gathers some quotes from the Amnesty report.

"The economic crisis is aggravating pre-existing human rights problems such as marginalisation of indigenous peoples, the situation of forced evictions of slum dwellers, and the issue of refugees and migrants," she told IPS in an interview.

"The economic crisis is also throwing up new problems," she said. "We have seen over the last year people turning out on the streets to protest in 17 countries, and when that happened, governments, particularly those of an authoritarian bent, turned on those demonstrations in very harsh ways.

"We have seen people killed in Tunisia, in Cameroon, we have seen the police use excessive force in other places like Egypt, Mali, Senegal. We are seeing more repression coming out of the recession."

Apart from the crackdown on people hit by the recession, Khan said, "some very important human rights problems are not getting the attention and the resources they need. I'm talking about issues like violence against women, and also talking about issues like armed conflicts in Darfur or Somalia or the Congo or Afghanistan or Pakistan."

Governments, she said, "are investing in putting the market straight again. But the market is not going to address human rights problems. When you are going in with an economic recovery package, if you only focus on putting businesses back on their feet, and in putting banks straight, then you miss out on the poor people, and if you don't tackle poverty, then you are not going to have a sustainable economic recovery plan."

The World Bank, she said, had talked about 53 million people being pushed back into poverty as a result of the recession. "Last year the food crisis affected 150 million or so people. That means that all the progress that has been made over the past decade has been wiped away."