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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
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Results for extrajudicial executions
17 results foundAuthor: Open Society Institute Title: Criminal Force: Torture, Abuse, and Extrajudicial Killings by the Nigeria Police Force Summary: Personnel of the Nigeria Police Force routinely carry out summary executions of persons accused or suspected of armed robbery and other offenses, rely on torture as a principal means of investigation, and maintain designated torture chambers, instruments, and personnel in most police stations. Nigeria's government has previously acknowledged this problem and promised to address it. The evidence in this report shows that far from doing so, police abuse has become quite entrenched and is now well accepted as perhaps the only tool of policing. Details: New York: Open Society Institute, 2010. 129p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: Nigeria URL: Shelf Number: 118573 Keywords: Extrajudicial ExecutionsPolice (Nigeria)Police Use of Force (Nigeria)Torture (Nigeria) |
Author: Jamaicans for Justice Title: Killing Impunity: Fatal Police Shootings and Extrajudicial Executions in Jamaica: 2005-2007 Summary: This report updates prior studies on the practice of fatal police shootings and extrajudicial executions in Jamaica, as well as the pattern of impunity that feeds it. In addition to providing the latest empirical evidence on police killings, we examine the recent functioning of the authorities, mechanisms, and procedures charged under Jamaican law with ensuring that police who exceed their legal mandate in the use of lethal force are held accountable. Details: Kingston, Jamaica: Jamaicans for Justice; Washington, DC: International Human Rights Clinic, George Washington University Law School, 2008. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 13, 2010 at: http://www.jamaicansforjustice.org/docs/08063025G0.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Jamaica URL: http://www.jamaicansforjustice.org/docs/08063025G0.pdf Shelf Number: 119943 Keywords: Extrajudicial ExecutionsPolice CorruptionPolice MisconductPolice Use of Force |
Author: Alffram, Henrik Title: “Crossfire”: Continued Human Rights Abuses by Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion Summary: Set up as an elite crime fighting force drawn from the military and police, Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has routinely engaged in extrajudicial killings and torture of people in custody and claiming falsely that they died during an exchange of fire. According to RAB’s own figures, the force has gunned down well over 600 alleged criminals since 2004. “Crossfire:” Continued Human Rights Abuses by Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion documents the ongoing human rights violations perpetrated by RAB officers in and around Dhaka after the current Awami League-led government came to power. It builds on the 2006 Human Rights Watch report, Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Torture and Extrajudicial Killings by Bangladesh’s Elite Security Force. Created by the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), RAB was heavily criticized by the Awami League while in opposition. However, after the Awami League took office in January 2009 the killings have continued and no RAB officer has been prosecuted. Government officials have even justified or denied RAB’s abuses. Though there may be some within the system urging reform and accountability, RAB continues to operate with impunity. The Bangladesh government should follow through on its commitments and ensure that there are prompt, impartial, and independent investigations into torture and deaths in the custody of RAB. The government should prosecute all former and current members of RAB, of whatever rank, who are found to be responsible for human rights violations. Human Rights Watch calls upon foreign governments and international organizations to refuse to work with RAB in law enforcement or counter-terror operations until the force ceases its use of torture and extrajudicial executions, promotes transparency, and pursues accountability for violations of human rights. Details: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2011. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2011 at: http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2011/05/10/crossfire-0 Year: 2011 Country: Bangladesh URL: http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2011/05/10/crossfire-0 Shelf Number: 121726 Keywords: Deaths in CustodyExtrajudicial ExecutionsHuman Rights (Bangladesh)Torture |
Author: Silva, Romesh, Jasmine Marwaha & Jeff Klingner, Title: Violent Deaths and Enforced Disappearances During the Counterinsurgency in Punjab, India Romesh Silva Jasmine Marwaha Jeff Klingner A Preliminary Quantitative Analysis Summary: This report analyzes reported fatal violence across Punjab during a period of conflict from 1984 to 1995. This preliminary, descriptive statistical analysis uses systematic and verifiable quantitative research to interrogate the Indian government’s portrayal of the Punjab counterinsurgency as a successful campaign with isolated human rights violations. The empirical findings indicate that the intensification of coordinated counterinsurgency operations in the early 1990s was accompanied by a shift in state violence from targeted enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions to large-scale and systematic lethal human rights violations, accompanied by mass “illegal cremations.” Details: Palo Alto, CA: Benetech's Human Rights Data Analysis Group; Fremont, CA: Ensaaf, Inc., 2009. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 20, 2011 at: http://www.ensaaf.org/publications/reports/descriptiveanalysis/ Year: 2009 Country: India URL: http://www.ensaaf.org/publications/reports/descriptiveanalysis/ Shelf Number: 121774 Keywords: DisappearancesExtrajudicial ExecutionsHuman Rights (India)TerrorismViolence |
Author: United Nations. General Assembly. Human Rights Council Title: Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Summary: In States in which the death penalty continues to be used, international law imposes stringent requirements that must be met for it not to be regarded as unlawful. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur considers the problem of error and the use of military tribunals in the context of fair trial requirements. He also examines the constraint that the death penalty may be imposed only for the most serious crimes: those involving intentional killing. Lastly, he considers the issues of collaboration and complicity, in addition to transparency in respect of the use of the death penalty. Details: Vienna: United Nations, 2012. 25p. Source: United Nations Report A/67/275: Internet Resource: Accessed November 3, 2012 at http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N12/457/80/PDF/N1245780.pdf?OpenElement Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N12/457/80/PDF/N1245780.pdf?OpenElement Shelf Number: 126861 Keywords: Administration of JusticeCapital PunishmentCriminal Justice ReformDeath PenaltyExtrajudicial ExecutionsHuman Rights |
Author: Amnesty International Title: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence Summary: Since 2009, acts of violence by the Islamist armed group known as Boko Haram have been carried out across northern and central Nigeria with increasing sophistication and deadliness. Nigeria’s security forces have perpetrated serious human rights violations in their response – including enforced disappearance, extrajudicial executions, house burning and unlawful detention. at the same time, the Nigerian government has failed to adequately prevent or investigate the attacks or to bring perpetrators to justice. This cycle of attacks and counter-attacks has been marked by unlawful violence on both sides, with devastating consequences for the human rights of the people trapped in the middle. They live in considerable fear and insecurity, unprotected from attacks by Boko Haram and facing human rights violations at the hands of the very state security forces mandated with their protection. This report presents research gathered by Amnesty International during visits to Nigeria between February and July 2012. it details human rights abuses and violations in northern and central Nigeria and includes testimonies from survivors and victims’ families. The report sets out key recommendations for the Nigerian government to ensure that human rights violations are not perpetrated by its security forces in the name of national security. it urges the government of Nigeria to fulfil its duty to take measures to prevent and protect civilians from attack and to investigate all such crimes, and to bring to justice those responsible. Details: London: Amnesty International, 2012. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 5, 2012 at: http://allafrica.com/view/resource/main/main/id/00050475.html Year: 2012 Country: Nigeria URL: http://allafrica.com/view/resource/main/main/id/00050475.html Shelf Number: 126877 Keywords: Extrajudicial ExecutionsHuman RightsSecurity ForcesViolence ( Nigeria)Violent Crime |
Author: Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. Every 36 Hours Campaign Title: Operation Ghetto Storm: 2012 Annual Report on the Extrajudicial Killings of 313 Black People by Police, Security Guards and Vigilantes Summary: The facts presented in Operation Ghetto Storm: 2012 Annual Report on the Extrajudicial Killing of Black People present us with a deeper understanding of the utter disregard held for Black life within the United States. Operation Ghetto Storm is a window offering a cold, hard, and fact‐based view into the thinking and practice of a government and a society that will spare no cost to control the lives of Black people. What Operation Ghetto Storm reveals is that the practice of executing Black people without pretense of a trial, jury, or judge is an integral part of the governments current overall strategy of containing the Black community in a state of perpetual colonial subjugation and exploitation. Details: Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, 2013. 130p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 28, 2013 at: www.mxgm.org Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 129441 Keywords: BiasExtrajudicial ExecutionsHomicidesRace/Ethnicity (U.S.)Racial ProfilingVigilantism |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: State of Fear: Arbitrary Arrests, Torture, and Killings Summary: Gambia's human rights record is among the worst in African. Since taking power over two decades ago, President Yaya Jammeh has ruthlessly suppressed dissent, shutdown virtually all independent media, and has routinely cracked down on journalists, opposition members, rights activists, student leaders, religious leaders, relatives of alleged coup plotters, and civil servants. Since 2014 when the Jammeh administration introduced anti-gay legislation which imposes a life sentence for a series of new "aggravated homosexuality" offenses, state security forces have targeted lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people with a wave of arrests and detentions. State of Fear, based on two research trips to Senegal and Gambia and more than 60 interviews, including with victims, witnesses and perpetrators of abuses, documents numerous violations allegedly perpetrated by Gambia's security forces, intelligence agents and a paramilitary group. These include extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary arrests and detentions. Many of these violations appear to be used by the authorities to instill fear in the population, which, together with a judicial system lacking independence, prevents victims and family members from seeking justice. The government has systematically failed to protect its own citizens and neglected to hold accountable those responsible for serious abuses. Human Rights Watch calls on the government of Gambia to urgently investigate and prosecute perpetrators of human rights abuses, disarm and disband paramilitary groups, and ensure security forces respect the due process rights of all individuals. The government should also implement key recommendations from both the United Nations Human Rights Council's 20th Universal Periodic Review of Gambia and the 2015 reports of the UN Special Rapporteurs on torture and on extrajudicial executions. Details: New York: HRW, 2015. 89p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2015 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/gambia0915_4up.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Africa URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/gambia0915_4up.pdf Shelf Number: 136806 Keywords: Arbitrary ArrestsExtrajudicial ExecutionsHuman Rights AbusesParamilitary GroupsTorture |
Author: Amnesty International Title: 'Punished for Daesh's Crime': Displaced Iraqis Abused by Militias and Government Forces Summary: Paramilitary militias and government forces in Iraq have committed serious human rights violations, including war crimes, by torturing, arbitrarily detaining, forcibly disappearing and extrajudicially executing thousands of civilians who have escaped areas controlled by the armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS), said Amnesty International in a new report published today. The report 'Punished for Daesh's crimes': Displaced Iraqis abused by militias and government forces exposes the terrifying backlash against civilians fleeing IS-held territory, raising alarm about the risk of mass violations as the military operation to recapture the IS-held city of Mosul gets underway. The report is based on interviews with more than 470 former detainees, witnesses and relatives of those killed, disappeared or detained, as well as officials, activists, humanitarian workers and others. After escaping the horrors of war and tyranny of IS, Sunni Arabs in Iraq are facing brutal revenge attacks at the hands of militias and government forces, and are being punished for crimes committed by the group," said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. "Iraq is currently facing very real and deadly security threats from IS, but there can be no justification for extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture or arbitrary detention. "As the battle to retake Mosul begins, it is crucial that the Iraqi authorities take steps to ensure these appalling abuses do not happen again. States supporting military efforts to combat IS in Iraq must demonstrate they will not continue to turn a blind eye to violations." The report highlights widespread revenge attacks and discrimination faced by Sunni Arabs suspected of being complicit in IS crimes or supporting the group. Many were displaced during major military operations in 2016 across the country, including in Falluja and surrounding areas (in the governorate of Anbar), al-Sharqat (Salah al-Din governorate), Hawija (Kirkuk governorate) and around Mosul (Ninewa governorate). The predominantly Shi’a militias involved in abuses, known as the Popular Mobilization Units, have long been backed by the Iraqi authorities, which have provided them with financial support and weapons. They were officially designated part of the Iraqi forces in February 2016. The government's responsibility for these violations cannot be ignored and states supporting or participating in the ongoing military effort to combat IS in Iraq should have rigorous checks in place to ensure that any support or equipment they provide does not contribute to abuses. Mass abductions, killings and torture Amnesty International's research reveals that war crimes and other gross human rights violations were committed by predominantly Sh'ia militias, and possibly government forces, during operations to retake Falluja and surrounding areas from IS in May and June 2016. In one shocking incident at least 12 men and four boys from the Jumaila tribe who fled al-Sijir, north of Falluja, were extrajudicially executed after they handed themselves in to men wearing military and federal police uniforms on 30 May. Men and older boys were separated from the women and younger children before being lined up and shot dead. At least 73 other men and older boys from the same tribe were seized a few days earlier and are still missing. Details: London: AI, 2016. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2016 at: http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/punished_for_daeshs_crimes.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Iraq URL: http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/punished_for_daeshs_crimes.pdf Shelf Number: 145773 Keywords: Extrajudicial ExecutionsHuman Rights AbusesISISIslamic StateMilitiasTorture |
Author: Amnesty International Title: "If You Are Poor, You Are Killed": Extrajudicial executions in the Philippines' "War on Drugs" Summary: Since President Duterte took office in June 2016, there has been a campaign of violence against alleged drug offenders. More than 7,000 people have been killed, roughly one-third during formal police operations and the rest by unknown shooters. Based on 110 interviews and the documentation of 33 cases, this report shows that many drug-related killings are extrajudicial executions that directly implicate the police. The report also describes how the "war on drugs" has targeted the poor disproportionately. It reveals how at least some unknown shooters are assassins paid by police officers Details: London: AI, 2017. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 15, 2017 at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa35/5517/2017/en/ Year: 2017 Country: Philippines URL: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa35/5517/2017/en/ Shelf Number: 145790 Keywords: Drug OffendersExtrajudicial ExecutionsHuman Rights AbusesPolice BrutalityWar on Drugs |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: "License to Kill" : Philippine Police Killings in Duterte's "War on Drugs" Summary: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's "war on drugs" has produced a campaign of unlawful killings by Philippine National Police personnel and unidentified "vigilantes" that has resulted in the deaths of more than 7,000 suspected drug users and dealers since July 1, 2016. Duterte's public endorsement of the campaign implicates him and other senior figures in possible incitement to violence, instigation of murder and in command responsibility for crimes against humanity. "License to Kill": Philippine Police Killings in Duterte’s “War on Drugs,” is based on several dozen interviews with family members of victims of police killings, witnesses, journalists and human rights activists. The report exposes the falsehood of official police reports that invariably assert self-defense to justify unlawful police killings. Instead, police routinely carry out extrajudicial killings of drug suspects and then cover-up those crimes. In several instances Human Rights Watch investigated, suspects in police custody were later found dead and classified by police as "found bodies," casting doubt on government assertions that most killings have been committed by vigilantes or rival drug gangs. The report also documents the lack of a cohesive approach by the Philippines’ allies, including the United States, Japan and the European Union, to pressure the government to stop these killings and to bring the perpetrators to justice. The report calls for Duterte to publicly denounce extrajudicial killings and press for the investigation and prosecution of police and other officials implicated in such abuses. In addition, the United Nations should launch an independent international investigation into the killings. Finally, the report urges foreign donors to immediately suspend any assistance or weapons sales to the police until the "drug war" killings end and meaningful investigations into those killings are underway. Details: New York: HRW, 2017. 134p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed march 2, 2017 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/philippines0317_web_1.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Philippines URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/philippines0317_web_1.pdf Shelf Number: 141291 Keywords: Deadly ForceDrug EnforcementExtrajudicial ExecutionsPolice Use of ForceVigilantesWar on Drugs |
Author: McPherson, Ella Title: ICTs and Human Rights Practice Summary: In 2010, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, received a horrifying video from the UK’s Channel 4 that seemed to document the summary execution of Tamil prisoners by Sri Lankan soldiers. This anonymous video, shot on a mobile phone, was an extended version of a video that Heyns' predecessor, Philip Alston, had previously evaluated. If true, the video would be evidence of a grave violation of the right to life – evidence that could not have existed prior to the advent of video-enabled mobile phones. After receiving the first, shorter version of the video, Alston wrote the Sri Lankan government indicating that the footage warranted an independent investigation. In response, the Sri Lankan government claimed the video had been fabricated, citing analysis it commissioned from audio, video, ballistics, and forensic pathology experts. In turn, Alston also engaged experts, who instead found that the contents of the video indicated authenticity. Heyns gave the extended video to the same experts for review; by examining the footage for indications of editing and the details of the incidents recorded, these experts again concluded that the video depicted real executions. Heyns then reported these findings to the United Nations Human Rights Council, calling on the Sri Lankan Government to investigate the executions. This pioneering case, which demonstrated both the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for expanding the documentation of human rights violations and the problem of verification this expansion poses, was an impetus for this report. ICTs are unsettling human rights practices across the board, including the key practices of preventing human rights violations, fact-finding cases of violations, and advocating for the amelioration of individual cases as well as for the promotion of a broader culture of human rights. Given the pace of innovation in the development and use of ICTs, our understanding of their impact on human rights often lags. Understanding this impact is crucial not just because of the opportunities ICTs create for human rights – which we can think of as affordances, or what ICTs allow their users to do. It is also crucial – due to the 'double-edged' nature of technology – because of the risks. Information and communication technology is a catchall category that refers to the hardware and software that facilitate the production, storage, transmission, and reception of digital information. The aim of this report, targeted at both practitioners and researchers, is to provide a snapshot of current initiatives and trends at the intersection of ICTs and human rights practices. Based on a review of primary materials documenting these initiatives and trends as well as on interviews with human rights defenders (HRDs), this report examines three key human rights practices in turn. In prevention, the use of ICTs includes their deployment to protect HRDs, to deter violations through police body-worn cameras, and for conflict prevention and early warning systems. These three uses address hotspots of right to life violations. They also create new security and privacy risks. In fact-finding, ICTs support both spontaneous and solicited civilian witnessing. ICTs facilitate fact-finders’ evaluation of human rights information for evidence – but they also complicate it because of the volume and verification challenges of social media information. Although generating robust evidence is a requirement of all human rights fact-finding, it is particularly relevant for cases involving the violation of the right to life, as one of the major challenges in this area is perpetrators’ refutation of allegations of violations. In terms of advocacy, ICTs provide new opportunities for reaching publics and advocacy targets. Because of social media’s particular characteristics and cultures, however, their use may jeopardize the visibility of particular categories of human rights information as well as the reputations of human rights organizations. Looking at opportunities and risks for human rights practices in the field is key for understanding how using ICTs can impact work to secure the right to life and other human rights. These opportunities and risks are not, however, distributed evenly. Their distribution is inflected by digital divides with respect to access to ICTs as well as with respect to digital literacy, or knowledge about how to use ICTs. These digital divides, as well as the nature of the opportunities and risks that the use of ICTs generates, are in turn influenced by ICTs' political economy, namely the power relations in which the use of particular ICTs are embedded. The conclusion of this report recommends that academics and practitioners take an approach to understanding ICTs and human rights practice that encompasses these aspects as a way to foreground the human rights concerns of redressing power abuses and enabling pluralism in the research, design, and deployment of these ICTs. Details: Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge, Centre of Governance and Human Rights, 2015. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 3, 2017 at: http://www.cghr.polis.cam.ac.uk/research-themes/human-rights-in-the-digital-age-1/ICTS_and_Human_Rights_Practice Year: 2015 Country: International URL: http://www.cghr.polis.cam.ac.uk/research-themes/human-rights-in-the-digital-age-1/ICTS_and_Human_Rights_Practice Shelf Number: 141319 Keywords: Arbitrary ExecutionsCommunication TechnologyExtrajudicial ExecutionsHuman Rights AbusesInformation Technology |
Author: Probert, Thomas, ed. Title: Unlawful Killings in Africa: a study prepared for the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Summary: This study presents the work of a Research Team convened by the Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR) at the University of Cambridge. This team was tasked with surveying events and reporting from the African continent germane to the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, a mandate focused upon violations of the right to life contrary to international law. This mandate, together with the framing of the right to life itself, establishes a category of violations that will here be referred to as "unlawful killings". While there are many organisations monitoring and reporting on killings both globally and with particular African focus, most do so with the objective frame of reference of violence. The purpose of this report is to narrow that focus to the (international) legal frame of unlawful killing. This is undertaken with a view to increasing attention to the right to life, but also as a means of assisting the Special Rapporteur in prioritisation over the coming years. Since the international human rights framework, of which this mandate is part, speaks primarily to states or state-like actors and not to private individuals—the category of unlawful killings does not include every act of killing, however illegal in domestic law. However this is not to say that the international legal definition of an unlawful killing cannot accommodate killings which are not perpetrated by a state actor. The state’s dual obligation both to respect and to protect the right to life places certain types of killing by non-state actors within the scope of the mandate and therefore of this study. Unlawful Killings in Africa draws attention to the fact that both the level of state control (both direct and indirect) over the act of killing and the scale of the incidence of the killing can be relevant to determining whether that loss of life can be regarded from within the international human rights system. Details: Cambridge, UK: Centre of Governance and Human Rights, University of Cambridge, 2014. 268p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 3, 2017 at: http://www.cghr.polis.cam.ac.uk/research-themes/right_to_life/unlawful_killings_in_africa/unlawful_killings_report/pdf Year: 2014 Country: Africa URL: http://www.cghr.polis.cam.ac.uk/research-themes/right_to_life/unlawful_killings_in_africa/unlawful_killings_report/pdf Shelf Number: 141320 Keywords: Arbitrary Executions Extrajudicial ExecutionsHomicidesHuman Rights AbusesVigilantism |
Author: Sander, Gen Title: The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2017 Summary: Our Global Overview series monitors the death penalty for drugs in law and practice worldwide, and also considers critical developments on the issue. Since being launched in 2007, Harm Reduction International's death penalty work has been the leading global resource on the issue of the death penalty for drug offences. Among the key findings from the 2017 Global Overview report: At least 33 countries and territories prescribe the death penalty for drug offences in law. At least nine countries still have the death penalty for drug offences as a mandatory sanction, although three of these (Brunei Darussalam, Laos and Myanmar) are abolitionist in practice. Malaysia removed the mandatory sentence for drug offences in November 2017. Between January 2015 and December 2017, at least 1,320 people are known to have been executed for drug-related offences - 718 in 2015; 325 in 2016; and 280 in 2017. These estimates do not include China, as reliable figures continue to be unavailable for the country. Taking China out of the equation due to a lack of data, Iran has been the world's top executioner for drug offences by far, with at least 1,176 executions carried out since January 2015. That amounts to nearly 90% of all known drug-related executions during that period. Between 2015 and 2017, executions for drug offences took place in at least five countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Singapore. The report also reveals a critical tension: the situation is at once improving and deteriorating. On the one hand, recent positive developments provide a glimmer of hope that the tide could finally be shifting. At the national level, executions for drug offences have been steadily declining in High Application States since 2015, and important legal and policy changes have taken place in several countries, including Iran, Thailand and Malaysia. At the international level, political support for the abolition of the death penalty for drug offences is also gaining considerable momentum. The 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs failed to reach consensus on the death penalty for drug offences, but 73 countries expressed strong support for abolition, proving that the issue is firmly on the radar of the global community. On the other hand, these signs of progress are being overshadowed by the surge in extrajudicial executions of people accused of using or selling drugs in the Philippines. Worrying signs that Indonesia may be adopting a similar violent response, and the explicit support for President Duterte's 'war on drugs' expressed by other countries in the region and beyond, raise serious concerns about whether we are seeing a new trend which could normalise the killing of people for drugs and undo years of steady progress. Details: London: Harm Reduction International, 2018. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2018 at: https://www.hri.global/files/2018/03/06/HRI-Death-Penalty-Report-2018.pdf Year: 2018 Country: International URL: https://www.hri.global/files/2018/03/06/HRI-Death-Penalty-Report-2018.pdf Shelf Number: 149719 Keywords: Capital Punishment Death Penalty Drug Dealers Drug Offenders Drug Trafficking Extrajudicial Executions |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: "Good Cops Are Afraid": The Toll of Unchecked Police Violence in Rio de Janeiro Summary: Since the release of Lethal Force in 2009, Rio de Janeiro has pursued several ambitious and innovative policies aimed at improving the effectiveness and professionalism of its police. These include the UPP program discussed in chapter 4, as well as the System of Goals and Results Tracking (Sistema de Metas e Acompanhamento de Resultados), a program that entails compiling and monitoring crime statistics, setting crime reduction targets for each policing district (Area Integrada de Seguranca Publica, AISP), and providing monetary rewards in the form of bonuses to all police officers in areas that meet those targets. These initiatives may have significantly contributed to the decrease in police killings- along with overall homicides-between 2009 and 2013.247 However, their impact has been severely undercut by the state's failure to address one of the main factors responsible for perpetuating the unlawful use of lethal force by police: impunity. The decrease in police killings came to a halt in 2013, and the numbers have since begun to climb dramatically, increasing by more than 50 percent in the past two years.248 Several state institutions share responsibility for this ongoing impunity, including the military police for failing to ensure that its officers preserve the evidence that investigators need to determine the lawfulness of police killings, and the civil police for failing to conduct proper investigations. Ultimate responsibility for this failure, however, lies squarely with the Attorney General's Office, for failing to exercise its oversight authority of the police with appropriate vigor, failing to conduct its own investigations of police killings, and failing to prosecute cases where evidence was available to do so. Details: New York: HRW, 2016. 118p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed October 9, 2018 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/brazil0716web_1.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Brazil URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/brazil0716web_1.pdf Shelf Number: 152862 Keywords: Extrajudicial ExecutionsHomicidesLethal ForcePolice Deadly ForcePolice Violence |
Author: Girelli, Giada Title: The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2018 Summary: The death penalty for drug offences is a clear violation of international human rights law. Numerous international authorities and legal scholars have reaffirmed this point, including the UN Human Rights Committee as recently as 2018. Since Harm Reduction International began monitoring the use of this abhorrent practice in 2007, annual implementation of the death penalty for drug offences has fluctuated markedly. Over 4,000 people were executed globally for these offences between 2008 and 2018, with executions hitting a peak above 750 in 2015 (excluding China and Vietnam, where these figures are a state secret). Notably, 2018 figures show a significant downward trend, with known executions falling below 100 globally. While executions are falling, thousands of people remain on death row for drug offences. A number of these people are at the lowest levels of the drug trade, socio-economically vulnerable, are tried without due process and/or have inadequate legal representation. In short, it appears that the death penalty for drug offences is primarily reserved for the most marginalised in society. Other events in 2018 show that for every progressive step, there is a regressive counter-narrative. In Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, populist rhetoric against the 'threat' of the 'drugs menace' has seen leaders push for expansion or re- implementation of the death penalty, while governments in the Philippines and United States (among others) pointed to capital punishment as an essential tool to confront drug trafficking or public health emergencies. There is no evidence that the death penalty is an effective deterrent to the drug trade - in fact, according to available estimates, drug markets continue to thrive around the world, despite drug laws in almost every country being grounded in a punitive approach. In December 2018, a record 120 countries voted in favour of the Resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty at the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly, and since 2008 the number of abolitionist countries crept up from 92 to 106 in 2017. This is a positive trend, but when countered by inflammatory political rhetoric, progress is fragile at best. Governments must ground their drug laws in rights, dignity and evidence, and do away with the death penalty once and for all. The death penalty for drug offences in 2018: a snapshot -- Drug offences are punishable by death in at least 35 countries and territories worldwide. The total number of confirmed executions for drug offences (excluding China, including very limited data from Vietnam) between 2008 and 2018 is 4,366 (of which 3,975 were in Iran alone). Only four of these countries executed individuals for drug offences in 2018 (China, Iran, Singapore and Saudi Arabia). It is likely that Vietnam carried out drug-related executions, but because of state secrecy it is not possible to confirm this. At least 91 people were executed for drug offences in 2018 (excluding China and Vietnam). This represents a 68.5% decrease from 2017, a fall primarily driven by developments in Iran, where executions for drug offences fell 90% (from 221 in 2017 to 23 in 2018). Over 7,000 people are currently on death row for drug offences globally. At least 13 countries sentenced a minimum of 149 people to death for non-violent drug offences in 2018. A significant proportion of those sentenced are foreign nationals. Details: London: Harm Reduction International, 2019. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 5, 2019 at: https://www.hri.global/files/2019/02/22/HRI_DeathPenaltyReport_2019.pdf Year: 2019 Country: International URL: https://www.hri.global/files/2019/02/22/HRI_DeathPenaltyReport_2019.pdf Shelf Number: 154810 Keywords: Capital Punishment Death Penalty Drug Dealers Drug Offenders Drug Trafficking Extrajudicial Executions |
Author: Amnesty International Title: Hunger for Justice: Crimes Against Humanity in Venezuela Summary: Venezuela has been experiencing a profound human rights crisis for several years. Massive violations of civil, political, economic and social rights have been reflected in shortages of and lack of access to food and medicines, a deterioration in health services, as well as violence and political repression by the state. As a result at least 3.4 million people have been forced to flee the country since 2015. In this context, social protest became the main and most visible way in which people could respond and channel their discontent. Since 2014, there have been several cycles of mass demonstrations, interspersed with spontaneous protests to demand a range of rights. In February 2014, the first mass protests took place both against and in support of the government of Nicolas Maduro, who had come to power a year earlier. During the first months of demonstrations, Amnesty International documented the excessive use of force, torture and politically motivated arbitrary detentions and highlighted the use of derogatory language to stigmatize anti-government protesters. By the end of these protests, 43 people had been killed, including 10 public officials. A year later, the organization expressed concern at the high level of impunity in relation to possible human rights violations committed during those months. Between April and July 2017, there was a new wave of social conflict in which more than 120 people were killed, mostly at the hands of the state and groups of armed pro-government civilians ("collectives"). At least 1,958 people were injured as a result of the systematic and widespread use of excessive, and often intentionally lethal, force against protesters. In addition, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), more than 5,000 people were reported to have been detained. One year after the protests, to Amnesty International's knowledge, in only one case had judicial proceedings in relation to these deaths been opened against a member of the Bolivarian National Guard (Guardia Nacional Bolivariana, GNB). While 2018 was not characterized by mass protests, it nevertheless saw the largest number of spontaneous protests throughout the country (more than 12,000 during the year) around demands for economic and social rights, due to the serious deterioration in living standards. It was in this context that, at the beginning of 2019, thousands of people took to the streets to demand a change of government. During January, numerous demonstrations were reported, many of them in low-income areas where the demand for political change had not been so pronounced up to that point. From 21 to 25 January 2019, in a total of 12 of the country's 23 states, at least 47 people died in the context of the protests, all of them as a result of gunshot wounds. Reports indicated that, of these 47 people, at least 39 were killed by members of state forces or of third parties acting with their acquiescence during demonstrations (33 and six respectively). Eleven were reportedly victims of targeted extrajudicial executions, 24 reportedly died in the context of demonstrations and 11 reportedly during looting. According to press reports, one member of the security forces also died during these protests. During these five days, more than 900 people were arbitrarily detained in practically every state in the country. It is estimated that 770 of these arbitrary detentions took place in just one day, 23 January, the date on which demonstrations were held throughout the country. Children and teenagers were among those detained. Amnesty International has documented the policy of politically motivated repression implemented by the government of Nicolas Maduro since 2014. As part of this, between 31 January and 17 February 2019, an Amnesty International team visited Venezuela to carry out research into crimes under international law and serious human rights violations committed in the context of the protests. During this visit, a total of six extrajudicial executions were documented, three cases of excessive use of force and six arbitrary detentions, as well as cover-ups and a failure to investigate several of these violations. The 15 cases detailed in this report are representative of a broader pattern of possible human rights violations that took place in January 2019. The extrajudicial executions documented in different parts of the country illustrate a recurring pattern. In all cases, the victims were young men who were critical of the government, or perceived as such by the authorities, from low-income areas and whose participation in the protests had been visible or whose criticisms had gone viral on social media. That is, they were targeted executions based on the profile of the victims. All died as a result of gunshot wounds to the chest and were executed while in the custody of the authorities. Some were tortured before they were killed. After executing them, the authorities publicly depicted them as criminals who had died in confrontations and initiated criminal investigations for "resisting authority" ("resistencia a la autoridad"). In all six cases, the crime scene was tampered with in order to cover up the facts, as were the bodies of the victims. The police force that carried out these executions was the Bolivarian National Police (Policia Nacional Bolivariana, PNB), mainly through its Special Actions Force (Fuerzas de Acciones Especiales, FAES). Regarding the use of force, Amnesty International's research confirmed the disproportionate and unnecessary use of lethal force against demonstrators. In the documented cases, the GNB and the Bolivarian National Guard of Venezuela (Guardia Nacional Bolivariana, GNB) were identified as the bodies responsible for the deaths. For example, Alixon Pisani was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest sustained when a PNB official riding on the back of a motorcycle fired indiscriminately on a protest in Catia (Caracas). According to witnesses, the demonstrators had blocked the street with burning objects and were not armed. Only in a few cases had Molotov cocktails and stones been thrown at the security forces. The cases of detention illustrate a pattern of arbitrary mass arrests followed by ill-treatment of detainees by government forces in order to punish people for taking part in the protests. Researchers also found that judicial guarantees were flouted and that there was interference with principle of judicial independence. For example, in the cases of four teenagers (all under 18) detained in the state of Yaracuy, none was brought before a judge within the legal time limit and they were held for several days despite the absence of sufficient evidence to justify their detention. Days later, the supervising judge (juez de control) dealing with their case complained on social media that her decision regarding the minors had been the result of pressure and the death threats from the Executive branch. Finally, according to the information received from relatives and lawyers, in all the documented cases of violation of the right to life and physical integrity, the official investigations have been neither impartial or thorough and the families have received only minimal information about them. In addition, several relatives were harassed by public officials because of the victims' involvement in the protests. Analysis of these violations shows that in January 2019, multiple acts of violence were committed consistently in all states and with a high degree of coordination between the security forces at the national and state levels. The authorities right up to the highest level, including Nicolas Maduro, have at the very least tolerated such attacks. Amnesty International's research shows that these human rights violations were not random, but were part of a previously planned attack directed against a distinct part of the civilian population: government opponents, or those perceived as such by the government, who were at times specifically identified as targets by the attackers. In addition, these incidents were public and widely known; in other words, the authorities at the highest level knew what was happening. Details: London: Author, 2019. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 6, 2019 at: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AMR5302222019ENGLISH.PDF Year: 2019 Country: Venezuela URL: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AMR5302222019ENGLISH.PDF Shelf Number: 156236 Keywords: Arbitrary DetentionsExecutionsExtrajudicial ExecutionsHuman Rights AbusesProtests and DemonstrationsTortureUse of Force |