Iraq: Stop Killings for Homosexual Conduct

The 67-page report, "‘They Want Us Exterminated': Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq," documents a wide-reaching campaign of extrajudicial executions, kidnappings, and torture of gay men that began in early 2009. The killings began in the vast Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, a stronghold of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, and spread to many cities across Iraq. Mahdi Army spokesmen have promoted fears about the "third sex" and the "feminization" of Iraq men, and suggested that militia action was the remedy. Some people told Human Rights Watch that Iraqi security forces have colluded and joined in the killing.
"Iraq's leaders are supposed to defend all Iraqis, not abandon them to armed agents of hate," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "Turning a blind eye to torture and murder threatens the rights and life of every Iraqi."

Silence and stigma surrounding sexuality and gender in Iraq make placing a precise figure on the number killed almost impossible, but indications are that hundreds of men may have died.
One man told Human Rights Watch that militiamen kidnapped and killed his partner of 10 years in April: "It was late one night, and they came to take my partner at his parents' home. Four armed men barged into the house, masked and wearing black. They asked for him by name; they insulted him and took him in front of his parents. ... He was found in the neighborhood the day after. They had thrown his corpse in the garbage. His genitals were cut off and a piece of his throat was ripped out."

The killers invade homes and pick people up in the street, witnesses and survivors said, interrogating them before murdering them to extract names of other potential victims. They practice grotesque tortures, including gluing men's anuses shut as punishment. Human Rights Watch spoke to doctors who said that hospitals and morgues have received dozens of mutilated bodies, living and dead.

"Murder and torture are no way to enforce morality," said Rasha Moumneh, Middle East and North Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "These killings point to the continuing and lethal failure of Iraq's post-occupation authorities to establish the rule of law and protect their citizens."

Consensual homosexual conduct between adults is not a criminal offense under Iraqi law. Although many militias in Iraq claim to be enforcers of Islamic law, the Human Rights Watch report also shows how the killings - committed without evidence or trial, on the basis of prejudice and whim - violate standards in Sharia law for legality, proof, and privacy.
International human rights law forbids all forms of torture and inhuman treatment and guarantees the right to life, including the right to effective state protection. In its 1994 decision in the landmark case of Toonen v. Australia, the United Nations Human Rights Committee held that the protections against unequal treatment in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) extend to sexual orientation as a protected status.

The report also documents how fears that Iraqi men's masculinity is under threat propel the killings as much as prejudices about sexuality. Many men told Human Rights Watch that their parents or brothers have threatened them with honor killings because their "unmanly" behavior threatens the reputation of the family or tribe. In a provision left over from the Saddam Hussein era, Iraqi law allows mitigated penalties for crimes committed "with honorable motives." This exception encourages gender-based violence.

Many Iraqis who fear being attacked have sought safety in surrounding countries, but those countries are no safe haven, the report says. Consensual homosexual conduct is criminalized in most of these countries, and prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity fosters violence and discrimination in all of them. Human Rights Watch urges the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), as well as governments that accept Iraqi refugees, to offer rapid resettlement to these endangered people.
Accounts from the report (all names are aliases, to protect the speakers)

"[The killers'] measuring rod to judge people is who they have sex with. It is not by their conscience, it is not by their conduct or their values, it is who they have sex with. The cheapest thing in Iraq is a human being, a human life. It is cheaper than an animal, than a pair of used-up batteries you buy on the street. Especially people like us. ... I can't believe I'm here talking to you because it's all just been repressed, repressed, repressed. For years it's been like that - if I walk down the street, I would feel everyone pointing at me. I feel as if I'm dying all the time. And now this, in the last month - I don't understand what we did to deserve this. They want us exterminated. All the violence and all this hatred: the people who are suffering from it don't deserve it."- Hamid, in Iraq, April 24, 2009

"We've been hearing about this, about gay men being killed, for more than a month. It's like background noise now, every day. The stories started spreading in February about this campaign against gay people by the Mahdi Army: everyone was talking about it, I was hearing about it from my straight friends. In a coffee shop in Karada, on the streets in Harithiya [Baghdad neighborhoods], they were talking about it. I didn't worry at first. My friends and I, we look extremely masculine, there is nothing visibly "feminine" about us. None of us ever, ever believed this would happen to us. But then at the end of March we heard on the street that 30 men had been killed already."- Idris, in Iraq, April 24, 2009

"They did many things to us, the Mahdi Army. ... They kidnapped [my partner] for six days. He will not talk about what they did to him. There were bruises on his side as if he was dragged on the street. They did things to him he can't describe, even to me. They wrote in the dust on the windshield of his car: ‘Death to the people of Lot and to collaborators.' They sent us veiled threats in text messages: ‘You are on the list.' They sent him a piece of paper in an envelope, to his home: there were three bullets wrapped in plastic, of different size. The note said, ‘Which one do you want in your heart?' ... I want to be a regular person, lead a normal life, walk around the city, drink coffee on the street. But because of who I am, I can't. There is no way out."- Mohammad, in Iraq, April 21, 2009

"At 10 a.m., [Ministry of Interior officers] cuffed my hands behind my back. Then they tied a rope around my legs, and they hung me upside down from a hook in the ceiling, from morning till sunset. I passed out. I was stripped down to my underwear while I hung upside down. They cut me down that night, but they gave me no water or food. Next day, they told me to put my clothes back on and they took me to the investigating officer. He said, ‘You like that? We're going to do that to you more and more, until you confess.' Confess to what? I asked. ‘To the work you do, to the organization you belong to, and that you are a tanta' [queen]. For days, there were severe beatings, and constant humiliation and insults. ... It was the same form of abuse every day. They beat me all over my body; when they had me hanging upside down, they used me like a punching bag. ... They used electric prods all over my body. Then they raped me. Over three days. The first day, 15 of them raped me; the second day, six; the third day, four. There was a bag on my head every time."- Nuri, on April 15 and 27, 2009

BAN WELCOMES SUMMIT BETWEEN LEADERS OF DR CONGO AND RWANDA

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed yesterday's summit between the leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, the first official bilateral meeting since the neighbouring African nations broke off official ties more than one decade ago.

DRC President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame met in the city of Goma, in eastern DRC, in their first direct talks since 1996.

"The Secretary-General commends both leaders' commitment to promote peace and stability in the Great Lakes region," according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.

He also praised the joint military offensive launched early this year against the "destabilizing and threatening presence" in eastern DRC of the notorious ethnic Hutu militia known as the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), which continues to perpetrate widespread killings and rapes of Congolese civilians.

In today's statement, Mr. Ban said he is encouraged by the two presidents' pledge to consolidate their relationship's renewal through future meetings in the capitals of their respective countries.

"Security and development go hand in hand, and the Secretary-General hopes that the normalization of the relations between the DRC and Rwanda will contribute to the well-being of the people of both countries."

Civilians are bearing the brunt of attempts to dismantle armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with the rebels carrying out vicious reprisals and some Government soldiers committing serious human rights abuses, the senior United Nations official to the country told the Security Council last month.

"We take these concerns very seriously and have addressed them with the Government at various levels," said Alan Doss, the Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of the UN mission in the DRC (MONUC).

He told the Council of the deployment of more MONUC resources and personnel to the affected provinces, such as North Kivu, continuing efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence, and increased pressure on the Government to take action against undisciplined soldiers.

MONUC has set up nearly three dozen military bases in the embattled North Kivu province, many in remote areas where operations are ongoing against the FDLR. "These bases have allowed for close monitoring of the operations and rapid intervention in a number of instances."

But Mr. Doss warned that the Mission's resources are being stretched thin as it waits for reinforcements to arrive following the Security Council's recent authorization of additional troops to deal with the strife in the DRC's east.

The FDLR has been retaliating against civilians and attacking villages in North Kivu, committing rape and other human rights abuses which have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, according to reports from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The group has been operating in eastern DRC since the end of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that left around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead.
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US LEGAL EXPERT APPOINTED AS REGISTRAR OF UN-BACKED TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON KILLINGS

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed David Tolbert of the United States as the Registrar of the United Nations-backed tribunal set up to try the perpetrators of recent political killings in Lebanon, including the February 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

Mr. Tolbert will succeed Robin Vincent at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, an independent body based in The Hague, Netherlands.

"The Secretary-General is grateful for Mr. Vincent's assistance in the establishment and commencement of the Tribunal's work," UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.

Mr. Tolbert, who will take up his duties on 26 August, has served in a number of senior capacities with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is responsible for trying those responsible for the worst crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.

He also served as the Secretary-General's Special Expert on UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials.

The President of the Tribunal, which began its operations in early March, is Antonio Cassese of Italy. Daniel Bellemare, a Canadian prosecutor and former head of the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) into the murders, serves as the court's Prosecutor.
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FORMER CHADIAN LEADER TO REMAIN IN SENEGAL PENDING FINAL RULING BY UN COURT

FORMER CHADIAN LEADER TO REMAIN IN SENEGAL PENDING FINAL RULING BY UN COURT
New York, May 28 2009 2:00PM
The United Nations International Court of Justice (<"http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=2&case=144&PHPSESSID=66df0eb20403f92383dc3ea447d6af5c">ICJ) today issued an <"http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/144/15149.pdf">order leaving former Chadian president Hissène Habré in the custody of Senegal, where he is under house arrest for alleged war crimes.

Belgium lodged a request to the ICJ in February to bar Mr. Habré, who has been accused in a Senegalese court of massive human rights abuses committed by his regime during the 1990s, from leaving Senegal while his trial is pending.

It had also sought to have him extradited to face charges in Belgium, citing among other things procedural delays in Senegal's handling of the case. For its part, Senegal had asked the Court to dismiss the Belgian filing, saying its judiciary is competent to carry out the prosecution.

In its order, the ICJ found that "there does not exist, in the circumstances of the present case, any urgency to justify" Belgium's bid.

However, the Court also stressed that today's order leaves unaffected Belgium's right to pursue the case should new facts emerge.

In addition, Senegal has given assurances it would not allow Mr. Habré, who has been living in house arrest for nearly 20 years, to leave the country pending a final ICJ ruling on the matter, noted the Court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Mr. Habré ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990, when he was overthrown and went into exile in Senegal, and it is alleged that during his rule thousands of Chadians were tortured and unlawful killings and other serious human rights violations took place.

Although he was charged in February 2000 by a lower court in Senegal's capital, Dakar, an appeals court later ruled that Senegalese courts did not have the legal competence to try such cases if they were perpetrated in another country.

But then in April 2008, Senegal's National Assembly adopted an amendment to the constitution that together with previous changes allowed the country's legal system to deal with such cases.
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RECENT GUINEA-BISSAU KILLINGS UNDERSCORE URGENT NEED FOR REFORM, SAYS BAN

Last month's assassinations of Guinea-Bissau's president and his chief of staff have highlighted the need for the West African nation's justice, defence and security sectors to be reformed, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a new report.

President João Bernardo Vieira and his Chief of General Staff, General Batista Tagme Na Waie, were killed in early March.

This past November, renegade military elements attacked the residence of Mr. Vieira but he survived the attack, which occurred just one week after legislative elections were staged in a peaceful and orderly manner.

In the report made public today, the Secretary-General reiterates his call for a "credible and transparent process of investigation" into the incidents.

He also calls on the country to maintain the rule of law while simultaneously protecting the rights of defendants and ensuring that they receive a fair hearing.

The West African country has struggled to combat drug trafficking and organized crime, and also to sustain economic growth and political stability amid a series of civil conflicts, coups d'état and uprisings in recent decades.

Interim President Raimundo Pereira has pledged to organize presidential elections in 60 days, and Mr. Ban appeals to the international community as a whole "to not abandon the country at this critical moment and to provide technical and financial assistance."

Last November's elections have shown how Guinea-Bissau's people "voted for hope and improvement in their daily lives," he writes. The instability over the past ten years "has been a major stumbling block to peace and development, and has resulted in the squandering of opportunities for recovery," he adds.

The report calls on all political actors to "put aside political ambition" and cooperate in finding solutions to meet the needs of the country's people.

In a related development, Mr. Ban's Special Representative in Guinea-Bissau, Joseph Mutaboba, condemned the 30 March attack on Francisco Fadul, the President of the Audit Court, at his home by uniformed armed men, apparently in connection with critical statements he made on the radio the previous day.

The envoy also spoke out against the illegal arrest late last month – and apparent mistreatment in custody – of a lawyer by the armed forces.

"The Constitution of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau enshrines the right of all citizens to exercise freedom of expression without impediment, limitation or any form of censure," Mr. Mutaboba said in a press statement, calling on national authorities to ensure respect for the rule of law and human rights, both of which are the "cornerstone of a healthy democracy."

Guinea-Bissau is one of a handful of States on the agenda of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, which aims to help post-conflict countries avoid sliding back into war or chaos.
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