What’s Up This Week

1. Colombia – Venezuela: No Love
2. Sudan: Threat Against Election Officials
3. Upcoming This Week

Colombia and Venezuela – The Cold War Continues?
The tension between Colombia and Venezuela has once again flared with Venezuela’s government sending 15,000 troops to the border at the end of last week and publicly stating that it is preparing for war. There have been multiple causes for the recent deterioration of relations between the two governments. Most recently, the murder of two national Venezuelan guardsmen on the border allegedly by Colombian paramilitary groups resulted in the closing of two bridges connecting the two countries. Consequently, Chavez has accused the Colombian government of complacency against paramilitary groups trying to destabilize his government. In addition, the Venezuelan leader has cited last month’s military cooperation lease between the US and Colombia to give American troops more access to national military bases as the foundation for a US invasion into Venezuela. The US and Colombia have argued that the military deal will assist in the fight against drug traffickers and other insurgents. The recent violence further exacerbated the already strained relations caused by the Venezuelan arrests of supposed Colombian spies last month, the discovery of multiple bodies along the border presumed to be Colombian paramilitaries, and Colombian charges that Chavez was supplying guerilla groups with anti-tank weapons.

The Uribe government in Colombia announced on Sunday that it would solicit the aid of the UN Security Council and the Organization of American States to deal with the growing enmity with Venezuela.  While an all out war between the parties is highly unlikely, Chavez’s decision to send troops to the border could lead to an escalation in border violence.

This time, though, the increasing volatility on the border, presence of illegal armed gangs, and growing political distance between the two governments, mean the latest crisis may be tougher to solve and could spill over into more violence.
(…)
War is unlikely, but the potential for more violence on the border, ranging from an accidental troop clash to attacks from illegal armed groups, has increased.

Regarding the motives for this recent development, analysts have argued that Chavez’s move to fortify the border is a ploy to distract from increasingly divisive domestic problems.

Overheard:

Considering the threats of war enunciated by the government of Venezuela, the government of Colombia proposes going to the Organization of American States and the Security Council of the United Nations – Colombian President Alvaro Uribe 

Let’s not waste a day on our main aim: to prepare for war and to help the people prepare for war, because it is everyone’s responsibility – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

We are very much aware of recent tensions along the Venezuela and Colombia border. I certainly don’t think this is about the United States, but we certainly would encourage dialogue between Venezuela and Colombia and a peaceful resolution of the situation along their border - Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Public Affairs

Must Reads:

• Reuters Fact Box: History of tensions between Venezuela, Colombia
• Reuters: Andean “Cold War” raises risks for Colombia, Venezuela

Darfur Rebels Threaten Violence Against Poll Workers
The announcement by the Sudanese Liberation Army/Abdul Wahid (SLA/AW) to target officials in Darfur implementing a voter mobilization campaign in Darfur has emphasized concerns about violence leading up to the upcoming Sudanese elections in April 2010. A senior rebel Official Ibrahim al-Helwu recently declared that “If any of them come into our territory we will target them as soldiers ”

Recently, the same group prevented the take-off of a helicopter from the United Nation Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). UNAMID has demanded that the rebel group end its campaign to obstruct peace and security work, stating that

UNAMID strongly deplores the periodic harassment and detention of its personnel and stresses that it will not tolerate any attempts at intimidation or attacks on its personnel that are aimed at thwarting the progress of the peace process

Accusations by Sudan’s political parties of voter intimidation, fraud and other irregularities occurring during the registration process currently underway also point to the enormous potential for an escalation of violence leading up to the elections.

Must Reads:

• US Institute for Peace: Conducting Elections in Darfur: looking Ahead to Sudan’s 2009 Elections (pdf)
• Enough: Voter Registration Efforts Underway in Sudan

Upcoming

• November 11: Trial continues of Roy Bennett, a senior official Movement for Democratic Change official (Zimbabwe)
• November 13: Today in Zimbabwe: What’s really happening on the ground
• November 14: AIUSA Northeast Regional Conference in Boston
• November 14-15: AIUSA Midwest Regional Conference in Chicago
• November 16 -18: World Summit on Food Security in Rome

Human Rights Flashpoints is a weekly column about countries at risk of escalating human rights violations and is brought to you by AIUSA’s Crisis Prevention and Response  team

Zimbabwe – Political Standoff Continues
The situation remains tense in Zimbabwe after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai temporarily withdrew from the governing coalition on October 16th. Following the 10-day standoff, Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) boycotted Tuesday’s cabinet meeting since the party’s outstanding complaints with Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party have yet to be addressed. The initial catalyst for the disengagement of the MDC was the temporary detainment of one of its senior members, Roy Bennett, by government forces.  The MDC has continued its boycott on the basis that Mugabe is still not fully implementing arrangements of the Global Political Agreement, that key cabinet appointments remain unsettled and that ZANU-PF supporters and security forces have refused to halt their intimidation campaign of MDC’s lawmakers and supporters. MDC security official Edith Mashaire told IRIN about an assault attempt:

Two other men, one brandishing an AK-47 rifle and another holding a pistol, approached me and threatened to shoot me. They started assaulting me with their weapons while telling me to get into the truck

Since the break between the parties, the MDC has been soliciting support from other southern African leaders asking for their intervention in the standoff.  On Thursday, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will hold a meeting in Harare to discuss possible remedies for the political impasse. However, there is concern that if the SADC is unable find a political solution and reach agreement between the two parties, new elections will be the only viable alternative. This could in turn lead to escalations of violence similar to the violence experienced leading up to and after the June 2008 elections.

Must Reads

• IRIN: Zimbabwe: Violence spikes after MDC’s withdrawal from government
• Reuters: Analysts’ comments on the political standoff in Zimbabwe
• Amnesty International: Zimbabwe – A trail of violence after the ballot (pdf)

Upcoming

• October 26: Amnesty International releases report on Israel’s discriminatory water policies and practices towards Palestinians
• October 27: General Elections in Mozambique
• October 29: Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Harare
• October 30 – November 30: Amnesty International USA’s Southern Regional Conference

Human Rights Flashpoints is a weekly column about countries at risk of escalating human rights violations and is brought to you by AIUSA’s Crisis Prevention and Response team

The U.S. Department of State‘s Office of War Crimes Issues released its investigation into the final stage of the conflict in Sri Lanka today. Requested by Congress, the report (pdf) covers the period between January and May 2009 and consists of an overview of incidents that happened during the final stage of the conflict. It is based on a wide range of sources, including Amnesty International’s own reporting, and uses both traditional, and innovative evidence such as satellite imagery and aerial photographs.

While the report “does not reach any legal or factual conclusions”, it provides a disturbing overview of what happened in the so-called “No-Fire Zone”, looking at both the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE):

Children in armed conflict—According to reports, on numerous occasions during the January to May 2009 reporting period the LTTE took both male and female children, some as young as 12, to join LTTE cadres. 

Harm to civilians and civilian objects— (…) The GSL announced that it would observe a 48-hour ceasefire on two occasions. The stated aim of these was to allow civilians to move into areas in which they would not be subject to shelling. Incident reports suggest, however, that the GSL may have begun shelling before the end of the second 48-hour ceasefire. Reports also indicated that the LTTE forcibly prevented the escape of IDPs and used them as “human shields”.

Killing of captives or combatants seeking to surrender—A number of sources alleged that the GSL committed unlawful killings.(…)

Disappearances—According to reports, GSL forces or GSL-supported paramilitaries abducted and in some instances then killed Tamil civilians, particularly children and young men. (…)

Humanitarian conditions—Reports include instances of severe food shortages;(…)

Additionally, the report raises the issue of the Sri Lankans that are still locked up in de-facto detention camps:

With the conflict now over, more than 280,000 Sri Lankans who fled their homes in the conflict zone during or in the aftermath of the conflict are internally displaced persons (IDPs). The vast majority are still in IDP camps and are denied the freedom to leave those camps (…) The GSL has not allowed international organizations or journalists to have unrestricted access to the IDP camps, which has made it difficult to have an accurate picture of events and conditions. Some IDPs have reported that they have been unable to confirm the whereabouts of injured persons who were evacuated from the battleground and taken into custody by GSL forces.

We are continuing to campaign both on the accountability issue and the IDP crisis.

What’s Up This Week:

1. Afghanistan: Elections Run-Off
2. Angola: Humanitarian Crisis
3. Upcoming This Week

Afghanistan Elections – Take Two
On Sunday, the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) announced the results from its fraud investigations regarding the August 20th Afghanistan presidential elections.  The commission’s conclusions invalidated nearly one million votes cast as fraudulent, with 210 out of the 350 polling stations marred by fraud.  As a consequence, incumbent President Hamid Karzai’s margin of victory has diminished to below the 50% vote threshold necessary for an outright win forcing him to concede to a run-off election against opponent Abdullah Abdullah on November 7th. 

Prior to the announcement of the November 7th run-off, there were concerns that violence between Abdullah’s Tajik supporters and Karzai’s Pashtun supporters would erupt. Although Abdullah had previously stated that he would urge calm among his supporters, the apprehension that a Karzai victory would result in violence in the northern part of the country remained.  Fueling the potential for ethnic clashes, a Balkh province governor previously accused Karzai’s government of distributing weapons to northern Pashtuns in the event of post-recount conflict.  

Worries that a run-off election could be as flawed as the first presidential election linger.   More importantly, politicians have already expressed concern that the run-off election has the potential to incite violence between Pashtuns and Tajiks, potentially causing more instability and violence in the region.  There is also fear that the Taliban in Afghanistan could be strengthened by looming uncertainty with regard to the presidential elections. 

Overheard

I hope that the international community and the Afghan government and all others concerned will take every possible measure to provide security to the people so that when they vote, that vote is not called a fraud – Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan

The United Nations will do its utmost for the conduct of the second round of elections scheduled for 7 November 2009 in a free, fair, transparent and secure environment  – Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General

Must Reads

• Foreign Policy: Crunching the numbers on Karzai’s fraud 
• New York Times: Audit Finds Almost a Quarter of Afghan Vote Is Fraudulent

Angola: Humanitarian Crisis Looms

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned of a humanitarian crisis in Angola today, after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has expelled tens of thousands of people to Angola. The forced returns came in retaliation to the waves of expulsions of large numbers of Congolese from Angola since December 2008.   Tit-for-tat expulsions escalated over the last months. Since August 2009, 32,000 Angolans were being repatriated to Angola, and about 18,800 Congolese nationals were kicked out from Angola.

Following a needs assessment by UN agencies last weekend in Angola, UNHCR was ringing the alarm bells today:

According to the initial assessment, there are close to 30,000 people living in and around three overcrowded reception centres in Cuimba (11,000 people) and Mama Rosa (some 18,000 people) respectively at 30 and 8 kilometres from the DRC border. Their most pressing needs are shelter, food, medicine and sanitation facilities. The supply of clean water is insufficient. Some of the expelled drink from the nearby contaminated rivers. Among the interviewed over the weekend in one of the makeshift camps at Lendi near Cuimba which hosts around 5,800 Angolans, many families reported cases of diarrhea and vomiting. In the same camp, most of the population is sleeping in the open air.

Must Reads:

• AIUSA Blog: Angola and DRC Shoving Match Leaves Citizens With Bruises
• IRIN: ANGOLA-DRC: Humanitarian crisis now unfolding
• AFP: Deported Congolese tell of Angolan terror

Upcoming

• October 20: Center for American Progress Releases new report on Science and Human Rights: New Tools for Old Traumas. Using 21st Century Technologies to Combat Human Rights Atrocities
• October 20: U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell continues talks with Palestinian negotiators on the conditions to restart Mideast peace talks (Washington, DC)
• October 19-23: African Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa Kampala, Uganda

Human Rights Flashpoints is a weekly column about countries at risk of escalating human rights violations and is brought to you by AIUSA’s Crisis Prevention and Response  team

What’s Up This Week:

1. Sri Lanka: Humanitarian Disaster Looms
2. Pakistan: New Violence
3. Upcoming this week

Sri Lanka: Trapped Between Military and Monsoon

The quarter of a million Sri Lankans locked up in military-run internment camps are facing a humanitarian disaster with the arrival of monsoon rains. Living situations in the overcrowded camps are likely to further deteriorate in the following weeks. The camps lack even basic sanitation facilities. During previous heavy rains, water flooded the camps and forced residents to wade through overflowing sewage.

We had heavy rains about a month ago. It was hell. The ground here cannot absorb water so it just gathers. We couldn’t even walk around. The authorities have done some work to improve drainage, but I doubt it will help much.

A recent escapee from Chettikulam camp reported to Amnesty International that some women had been forced to give birth in front of strangers without privacy:

Medical staff are only available in the camps 9 to 5. People start waiting in line for medical assistance from early morning…how can you expect a lady who is pregnant to stand in a line for hours? If the war has ended, why doesn’t the government let these people out?

The situation worsened on October 5, when a main water pipeline was turned off in Menik Farm camp. The escalation of the humanitarian situation also leads to violent tensions, both within the camp residents and between residents and the military.

Overheard

I remain particularly concerned about the slow pace of identifying those in the camps who do not pose a threat to security and the lack of transparent criteria in this regard. (..) Immediate and substantial progress in restoring freedom of movement for the displaced is an imperative, if Sri Lanka is to respect the rights of its citizens and comply with its commitments and obligations under international law – Walter Kaelin, Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons

Must Reads

• Amnesty International: Displaced in Sri Lanka Trapped Between Military and Monsoon
• Human Rights Watch: Sri Lanka: Tensions Mount as Camp Conditions Deteriorate
• Alertnet: FACTBOX-Five political risks to watch in Sri Lanka
• Economist: A view framed by barbed wire

Pakistan: The fighting goes on

The situation in Pakistan has escalated with the fourth militant attack in the last week occurring yesterday in Peshawar. A Punjabi faction of the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, signaling a disturbing level of increased cooperation between militant groups to the Pakistani government and its Western allies. Other attacks included a 22 hour assault on Pakistan’s army headquarters and began with the suicide bombing of a UN aid agency. In total 119 have been killed and several injured. The group has threatened more strikes across the country in advance of the army’s plans to launch a ground offensive of the Taliban’s major base in South Waziristan.

In response to the deadly attacks, Pakistani jets have bombed the Taliban’s major base in South Waziristan and Bajaur, another tribal agency in northwest Pakistan.  

The renewed escalation of violence has increased concerns for the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. The surge in attacks has come as the Pakistani government is trying to respond to U.S. aid package conditions requiring the government to do more to control its armed forces and extremists operating within the country.

Overheard

Such attacks cannot deter us from the offensive against the militants. We will continue our fight till the death of the last terrorist – Mian Iftikhar Hussain, provincial Information Minister

Must Reads

• The Washington Post: In Pakistan, a Deadly Resurgence
• Reuters: Pakistan bombs militants in South Waziristan 
• BBC: Now or never for Waziristan push? 

Upcoming

• October 12: How to Feed the World in 2050, FAO High-Level Expert Forum
• October 13: Turkish and Armenian governments are due to complete protocols on normalizing ties between the two countries
• October 13: Trial of Roy Bennett, a senior official in Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, on terrorism charges
• October 14: Open debate in the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the recent Gaza conflict 
• October 15: Publication of Irene Khan’s (AI Secretary General) book The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights

Human Rights Flashpoints is a weekly column about countries at risk of escalating human rights violations and is brought to you by AIUSA’s Crisis Prevention and Response team

This posting is part of our Forced Evictions in Africa Series

A boy stands in a polluted water course that runs through Soweto East, one of the many villages in Kibera slum, Nairobi, Kenya. March 2009 © AI

Nairobi is the world headquarters for both the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the UN Human Settlements Program (UN Habitat), which are responsible for promoting green development, sustainable cities and adequate shelter for all. Yet these agencies’ presence hasn’t prevented the widespread pollution of the Nairobi River Basin or the growth of Kibera into the 2nd largest slum in Africa. More than one million people live in Kibera, crowded onto just 550 acres of land, most living in tin shacks without electricity or access to basic services like toilets and clean water.

The Kenyan government, UN Habitat and UNEP have developed ambitious plans to clean up the polluted Nairobi River Basin and restore its damaged ecosystem in order to improve the quality of life for city residents.  There’s only one problem: about 127,000 people have settled there. Kibera residents live in uncertainty – they hear rumors that they may be forced out of their homes near the river any day, but they don’t know when it will happen.

Benson has lived near the banks of the Nairobi River in Kibera for 15 years. He runs a small kiosk and his 7 kids attend a neighborhood school.  If the government evicts him, he will lose not only his home and all his possessions, but also his business and his children will no longer have access to education.

Benson’s fears are not unwarranted.  In recent years, more than 20,000 Nairobi residents have been forcibly evicted from their homes, often with little advance notice.  Their homes were demolished and they were left homeless, without compensation or relocation to other neighborhoods.  In July 2009, the Kenyan government evicted more than 3,000 people living Githogoro Village and destroyed their homes. Left without shelter or assistance, many were forced to sleep out in the open by the ruins.

Why doesn’t the Kenyan government come to Kibera to explain the Nairobi River Basin project to its residents, inform them of the timeline for relocation, and help them move to alternative homes in other, less environmentally sensitive areas of the city?  Isn’t that better than forcing them out and leaving them homeless without livelihoods?

Tell President Kibaki that the people of Kibera deserve dignity. The government should adopt eviction guidelines that respect human rights laws, hold genuine consultations with affected communities, identify alternatives to evictions and develop a comprehensive relocation and compensation plan.

By Ann Corbett, AIUSA Kenya Country Specialist

This posting is part of our Forced Evictions in Africa Series

Since 2000, the Nigerian government has forcibly evicted approximately two million people from their homes throughout the country. An estimated 800,000 people have been removed from their homes in Abuja alone since 2003.

A woman resident carrying her child picks up wood from the rubble of demolished houses in the Chika area of Abuja, Nigeria, 6 December 2005.(c) George Osodi

Do these statistics shock you? Sadly, the story doesn’t end here.

In April 2005, approximately 3,000 people lost their homes after the government sent in bulldozers to demolish houses, churches and medical clinics in the Makoko neighborhood of Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. Between May and July 2008 forced evictions took place on an almost weekly basis in Lagos, with some communities facing their third forced eviction.

Miriam Usman, 30, gave birth in Makoko in late April 2005, only days after the bulldozers razed the community. This is what she told Amnesty:

My baby boy is four days old. I delivered him here after my house had been demolished. Only my mother was here to help me, and the boy has not seen a doctor or nurse yet. My husband [has] run away after the bulldozers came in on Thursday. Now I spend the nights in the class rooms in the school with many other families. I have no money.

As recently as August 2009, the local government in Rivers State, in the troubled region of the Niger Delta, forcibly evicted thousands of people, to make space for a cinema complex! These people have received no adequate alternative housing, and thousands more remain at risk of similar forced eviction and destitution.

In 2006, Nigeria was named one of the three worst violators of housing rights in the world by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions. Thousands of people remain at risk of future forced evictions. The Nigeria government needs to know that we are watching and won’t stay quiet as these atrocities keep occurring.

By Juliette Rousselot, AIUSA Africa Program

This posting is part of our Forced Evictions in Africa Series

This is how a man in Chad’s capital N’Djamena described to us the destruction of his home in February 2008:

I bought this place more than 38 years ago. On 29 February, some policemen and the people from the mayor’s office came and covered the walls in paint. They told us that we had six days to leave. When we asked them why, they said we did not have the right to ask questions because it was a state of emergency. We could not get together and talk about it among ourselves, it was forbidden. The residents took their personal belongings and left. Some of them who have money will not have any difficulty in renting another house, those without money will go to their village or to Cameroon.

Together with him, 52 other people who lived in his compound lost their home. In the whole city, tens of thousands have been made homeless by their own government.

Chadian authorities are not alone in this blatant abuse of human rights and international law. Across Africa – in what can only be described as a human rights scandal – hundreds of thousands of people each year are forcibly evicted. In many cases, this means being left homeless, losing one’s possessions without compensation and being denied access to sources of clean water, food, sanitation, livelihood or education.

Today is World Habitat Day, and many organizations like UN Habitat or Habitat for Humanity are raising awareness on issues of adequate housing and shelter. This year, Amnesty International is joining them by launching today its one year campaign to end forced evictions in Africa. We are specifically calling on the governments of Angola, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe to end the practice of forced evictions and to ensure compensation for victims. While I don’t think that hard numbers can capture the amount of human suffering that is created by forced evictions, here is a brief overview of the facts:

• Angola: More than 10,000 families in Angola’s capital, Luanda, have been made homeless after being forcibly evicted from their homes since July 2001.
• Chad: During the past two years, tens of thousands in Chad’s capital N’Djamena have been left homeless after being evicted by force and having had their homes demolished by the government.
• Equatorial Guinea: About 1,000 families have been forcibly evicted from their homes to make room for roads, up-market housing and hotels and shopping centers since 2003.
• Kenya: More than half of the capital city Nairobi’s population – two million people – live in informal settlements or slums where they have no security of tenure, putting them at risk of eviction and homelessness. 
• Nigeria: More than two million people have been forcibly evicted from their homes in different parts of Nigeria since 2000.
• Zimbabwe: From May to July 2005, government security forces launched Operation Murambatsvina (Restore Order), a program of housing and informal business demolition that displaced approximately 700,000 people.

The phenomenon of forced evictions in Africa is a massive scandal that should be stopped immediately. As long as governments can force people from their homes without being held accountable, thousands of people remain at risk of forced evictions and of being stripped of their dignity.

PS: To see shocking satellite images of housing demolitions in Chad and Zimbabwe, check out our new Science for Human Rights website.

On Monday, September 28^th, 2009, Guinea’s security forces opened fire on 50,000 demonstrators, killing over 150 people and injuring more than 1,200 in the capital, Conakry. The protesters were asking for the leader of Guinea’s military junta, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, to step down after he suggested he would be running in the upcoming presidential elections. Capt. Camara took over in a military coup in December 2008 after the death of longtime president Lansana Conte.

According to several sources, the attacks were organized by army officers and supervised by members of the Presidential Guard. Witnesses also told Amnesty International that several women were publicly raped by the soldiers and that some of the demonstrators, including women, had been arrested during the demonstration and were still being held by the security forces.

This is what one demonstrator told Amnesty:

The soldiers ripped the skirts off the women, leaving them naked. They hit them with truncheons and Kalashnikovs. I saw two soldiers throw a woman on to the ground and publicly rape her in view of the demonstrators. I was afraid.

This is not the first time Guinea’s security forces have been accused of using indiscriminate forces against civilians. Just last year, during protests against the rising cost of basic commodities, at least five people were killed and 20 were injured as security forces turned against the protestors.

In 2007, a Commission of Inquiry was set up by the government to investigate grave human rights violations committed in 2006 and 2007, a commission which has yet to conduct any investigations and is continually hampered by a lack of political will to let it do its job. This is why Amnesty is asking for an international commission of inquiry to look into this new wave of human rights violations to ensure justice for all of the victims.  

Both the United Nations and the US government have condemned the actions of the Guinean security forces. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has even asked for an independent Commission of Inquiry. But given the lack of political will in Guinea to support commissions of inquiry in the past, it is absolutely necessary for the international community to ensure that an international commission of inquiry is implemented as soon as possible.

For more information on the situation in Guinea:

• Amnesty International’s 2009 Report on Guinea
• International Crisis Group’s Guinea Page
• IRIN’s latest Report on Guinea

Juliette Rousselot contributed to this blog post

Yesterday, the EU published its final report detailing international law violations that occurred during the Georgia-Russia war in August last year and its aftermath.  This report highlighted many of the original findings detailed in Amnesty International’s November 2008 report (pdf). The AI report expressed concern for both parties’ use of indiscriminate force against civilians and the use of inappropriate and inaccurate weaponry in largely civilian areas. It also documented extensive looting, arson and violent attacks directed towards Georgian-majority villages in South Ossetia by South Ossetian forces, paramilitary groups and privately armed individuals. The findings of the AI report relied on research gathered from four fact finding missions and the analysis of satellite imagery provided by AIUSA’s Science for Human Rights project .

Some of the findings of the new EU Report include:

• The shelling of Tskhinvali (the South Ossetian capital) by the Georgian armed forces during the night of 7 to 8 August 2008 was not justifiable under international law and marked the beginning of the conflict
• Russia violated international law by recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations and by distributing international passports within those areas.
• Russian forces were guilty of turning a blind eye to ethnic cleansing practiced against ethnic Georgians in South Ossetia both during the war and after the August 2008 conflict ended
• Russia’s repeated accusations that Georgia committed genocide were also found to be false
• While Russia’s initial actions in fighting back against attacks in South Ossetia were justified, the level of force used to push back into Georgia “went far beyond the reasonable limits of defense” and was “in violation of international law”.

The refugee crisis in the region remains since Russia is still refusing to allow ethnic Georgian refugees to return to their homes in South Ossetia  Furthermore, the EU report concludes that the risk of renewed violence remains.