Oklahoma has the opportunity to save a life on April 8, 2010 and it is our responsibility to take action to prevent another state killing.  Richard Smith was convicted of murder in 1987, and now has been on death row for more than half of his life.  Not only do six jurors from his trial now oppose his execution, but so does a brother of the victim. 

Similar to many other death penalty cases, Richard Smith was not given an adequate defense.  His lawyer presented almost no evidence, and no expert testimony.  He did not begin investigating until seven to ten days before the date of trial, and he failed to present evidence of Smith’s past abuse as a child, addiction problems, psychological problems, brain injury, and borderline intelligence. 

If the jury at the time of the trial had heard this evidence, the outcome of Smith’s case could have been significantly different.  The six jurors who now oppose his execution exemplify the very reason why we should act in the name of justice.  Due to Smith’s poor representation in trial, we must act to commute the death sentence of Richard Smith.

Executive clemency is in place so that justice can be upheld even when the courts drop the ball.  In the case of Mr. Smith, powerful mitigating evidence was never heard by a jury.  Justice would not be served by executing Richard Smith under these circumstances.  The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board should recommend that Governor Brad Henry commute this death sentence, and Governor Henry should accept that recommendation.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the US Refugee Act of 1980, a bipartisan bill that made concrete the US government’s commitment to people fleeing persecution and human rights violations.

There are more than 40 million refugees and other displaced people in the world and this number is neither a temporary problem nor the random product of chance events. It is the predictable consequence of human rights crises, the result of decisions made by individuals who wield power over other people’s lives.

From the resettlement of the Vietnamese boat people and refugees fleeing the former Soviet Union, to today’s Iraqi and Bhutanese refugees, the refugee resettlement program has been an enduring symbol of the US government’s commitment to protect those who flee persecution.

Unfortunately, in the 30 years since passage of the Refugee Act, US law, policy and practice has often ignored the rights of asylum seekers inside the US. The Refugee Protection Act of 2010, introduced by Senator Leahy (D-VT) and his colleagues this week, goes a long way toward restoring US respect and protection for the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers and others on the move by addressing dire US immigration detention conditions, protecting victims of terrorism from being defined as terrorists, requiring non-discriminatory interdiction policies, and providing protection for stateless people in the US.

One of the cruelest ironies for people seeking protection in the US – many of whom have been detained and tortured at home – is that they are subject to mandatory detention as soon as they request “safety” here. Despite the fact that this law is in direct violation of obligations under the Refugee Convention, the US continues to use detention as a means to deter refugees from seeking asylum or to encourage them to abandon their asylum applications.

If passed, the Refugee Act of 2010 will make critical changes to US immigration law consistent with international obligations and the language and intent of the 1980 Refugee Act. For example, it will ensure that all asylum seekers who have passed a “credible fear” interview will be immediately considered for release from detention.

Senator Leahy’s bill includes other key safeguards for the human rights of detained refugees and asylum seekers. The bill establishes a nation-wide, secure “alternatives to detention” program, which will reduce the unnecessary and undue detention of asylum seekers and immigrants who pose no threat. In addition, the bill makes minimum standards of humane treatment in detention enforceable by law. These provisions will ensure protection of the basic human rights and human dignity of those seeking a new life in the US.

Amnesty International USA applauds the efforts of Senator Leahy and his colleagues to pass legislation repositioning the US as a champion of refugee rights in the 21st century, and urges all members of Congress to support this act.

- Sung In Marshall contributed to this blog

I found myself on the steps of the courthouse with other Amnesty International members. We were holding signs that read “Immigrant Rights Are Human Rights!” and holding our heads even higher. I was proud to be there. But I was prouder of the students making history by walking 1,500 miles for immigrants’ rights. And Atlanta was just one stop along their crucial march for legal recognition, the Trail of Dreams 2010.

Carlos Roa, Juan Rodriguez, Felipe Matos, Gaby Pacheco, photo credit: Joeff Davis/www.Joeff.com

The Trail of Dreams is a trail of hope. It is headed by young people, Felipe, Gaby, Carlos, and Juan, who may lack legal recognition in the US, but carry their human rights. It is a 1,500 mile walk from Miami to Washington D.C to raise awareness about broken US immigration laws and to demand fair and humane immigration law and policy. It is a journey for these students, two of them undocumented, in their fight for rights.

The students walking represent the thousands of young immigrants who were brought to this country in their childhoods by parents who were trying to provide them with a better life. Many live in daily fear of arrest and deportation and have spent their entire lives hiding, understanding that they are considered ‘illegal’ human beings by some lawmakers and media pundits.

Every day in America, hundreds of thousands of young immigrants are unable to fully participate in society. They attend school, play sports and achieve good grades, but are prohibited from receiving any benefits such as in-state tuition to universities they dreamed of attending because they do not have lawful status. Worse, current immigration law provides no avenues for the vast majority of these students to legalize their status, no matter how well they do in school or how much they contribute to their communities.

On February 27th, Felipe, Gaby, Carlos, and Juan arrived in the city of Atlanta after traveling almost 700 miles by foot. Amnesty International members, including Atlanta local group 75, were there to greet them and celebrate their arrival. AIUSA members helped plan the welcome party with our coalition partners such as GALEO and GLAHR. About 150 people marched with the walkers for two miles to the welcome party. On the following Wednesday, AIUSA participated in an action planned by the four students to express concern about the implementation of the “287(g) program” across the country, including in Gwinnett County near Atlanta, Georgia.

The 287(g) program deputizes local law enforcement officers to act as immigration authorities and enforce federal immigration laws. Since the fall of 2009, when the law was implemented in Gwinnett County, some 900 immigrants have been identified for possible deportation proceedings and immigrants in the community have expressed an increased fear of engaging with local police, even when they are victims of crime.

Attempting to meet with the County Sheriff, Butch Conway, the four students entered the Gwinnett County courthouse. Due to their undocumented status, some of the students risked arrest and deportation by reaching out to the sheriff, but they went forward anyway. While the sheriff was not available that day, a representative of his office did meet with them and listened to the students’ concerns. No arrests took place.

They walk because they have human rights just like you and me.

They walk because they are not in hiding anymore.

They walk because no human being is “illegal”.

They walk because they too have a dream.

Ashley Rhymer is a Guest Contributor.

This past week in Mexico, eight journalists have been kidnapped (of which 2 have been released alive and one dead) in Reynosa and three people have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez who have connections to the US Consulate. The perpetrators of these murders may have been involved with the ongoing battle between rival drug trafficking organizations. Violence against journalists has been a persistent problem in Mexico, where this year three journalists have been confirmed killed by the authorities, twelve journalists were killed in 2009, and 60 have been killed since 2000. The most recent kidnappings in Reynosa and the trend of violence against reporters has caused Ciro Gómez Leyva, the news director at Milenio, to write an angry column, saying “journalism is dead in Reynosa”.

Not only is it dangerous to report on the drug war in Mexico, it is dangerous to organize or advocate for human rights. In the 2009 State Department Report on Human Rights Practices in Mexico, the arbitrary and unlawful deprivation of human life was noted as a major human rights problem. One alarming case, that of Raúl Lucas Lucía and Manuel Ponce Rosas, was included in the Human Rights Report and featured in Amnesty International’s recent report called “Standing up for Justice and Dignity: Human Rights Defenders in Mexico”. These men were human rights defenders who worked with the Future of Mixtecos Indigenous Peoples group who advocate for economic and social rights regarding indigenous Me’ phaa (Tlapaneca) and the Na savi (Mixteca) people. After being assaulted by plain clothed police officers and kidnapped in the town of Ayutla de los Libres in Guerrero state at a public ceremony, their families were notified with a threatening text message of their disappearance. Several days later their injured bodies were found in Tecoanapa, Guerrero State, a 30-minute drive from Ayutla de los Libres. An investigation was opened but at the end of 2009, is still pending.

This case is emblematic of the larger problem of targeting human rights defenders which is illustrated in an Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) report. The report documented 128 attacks including 10 killings against human rights defenders from 2006 to August 2009.

The State Department Report on Human Rights noted that journalists fear revenge from police authorities and drug traffickers and that affects what they report. The news “blackouts” also have human rights implications because often that is how defenders raise awareness on abuses they encounter.

Human rights perpetrators tend to benefit from silence, and without the media reporting for fear of retribution, human rights violations could go undetected and unpunished. President Calderon’s administration needs to adopt the recommendations outlined in the Amnesty International report and the OHCHR report which are:

• Prompt and impartial criminal investigations of the perpetrators;
• The recognition of the legitimacy of defending human rights;
• The acceptance of peaceful protest as a means of political expression; and
• Equal access to the judicial system to victims of abuses.

Aaron Barnard-Luce contributed to this blog post

Women prepare food in the Embera Katío community in Aguasal, Chocó Department, Colombia

The indigenous community of Colombia is in serious danger of extinction if their human rights continue to be ignored and violated.  Amnesty International’s new report details a startling increase in attacks against indigenous peoples across the country leaving many communities struggling for survival.

According to the National Indigenous Organization of America, 114 men, women and indigenous children were killed and thousands were forcibly displaced in 2009. Among other violations against indigenous peoples are forced disappearances, threats, physical abuse of women, the recruitment of child soldiers, and the persecution of indigenous leaders.

These injustices threaten the very existence of such communities and it is imperative that the Colombian government respond. The Minister of Colombia, Valencia Cossio, recently stated, “The report [of Amnesty International] erroneously assumed that ‘internal armed conflict’ and ‘paramilitaries’ are to blame for the violence, and they do not face the fact that indigenous communities have been displaced and killed by the FARC and emerging criminal groups. ”

However, Human Rights Watch has continued to document great tolerance by the military for paramilitary atrocities. According to Human Rights Watch, the phrase “sixth division” is a common phrase in Colombia when referring to paramilitary groups in the country. At its most wrenching, there is collaboration between the military and paramilitaries of Colombia that according to Human Rights Watch includes:

• communication via radios, cellular phones and beepers, intelligence sharing, including the names of suspected guerrilla collaborators, sharing of fighters, including active duty soldiers serving in paramilitary units and the paramilitary commanders lodging on military bases;

• distribution of vehicles, including army trucks to transport paramilitary fighters;

• coordination of army roadblocks, which routinely let heavily-armed paramilitary pass;

• and payments made by the paramilitaries to military officers for their support

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) delivered several precautionary measures designed to protect the various interest groups in Colombia. A report in 2002, noted that “about 160 men dressed in military uniform, using AUC armbands, entered the Urada Indian reservation, and threatened the community, saying: “Either you join us or you go. The next stop will be the communities of Puerto Lleras and Pueblo Nuevo, we will be getting rid of these communities, either you join us or you leave; you must cultivate palm and coca, if not,  you leave. ”

The indigenous peoples of Colombia are at particular risk of forced displacement because they live in areas of intense military activity and rich in biodiversity, minerals and oil.

The laws and conventions that Colombia is a party of, protects the rights of Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples specifically protects their collective rights. Moreover, Colombia ratified the American Convention in 1973, making it legally binding to protect the rights of every person in its country.

Not to say that the Colombian government is doing nothing to protect its indigenous communities, but the actions are not sufficient, consistent or effective, and in some cases are reverted by “the actions promoted by the military-paramilitary alliance.”

We need real answers and actions that take into account the established rights of these people, and so it is essential that the government take effective measures to identify, investigate and punish government officials who tolerate or assist anyone who commits these atrocities. It is important to fight against any group that threatens the rights of civilians, whether guerrillas, paramilitaries, successors, or security forces. International humanitarian law seeks to protect these people. It is the duty of the Colombian state and it will not be substituted!

By Sandy Perez, Amnesty International

Last Friday, Amnesty International launched Deadly Delivery, the new report highlighting the shocking rates of preventable maternal deaths in the United States. The media has been paying attention.

On Wednesday, viewers of Good Morning America saw our researcher Nan Strauss talk about Caesarian sections in the United States. Jennifer Block wrote an article about the report at Time.com, and Colum Lynch at the Washington Post cited our report and quoted Amnesty Executive Director Larry Cox in an article on maternal mortality worldwide. CNN picked up the story as well, with an article that detailed Amnesty’s call to action, and included comments from supportive health care professionals around the country. The Guardian, one of the UK’s leading dailies, ran an article on Friday highlighting Amnesty’s role in calling out the violations of women’s human rights in the United States. State media outlets are running the story too, particularly in states that are hard-hit by the maternal health care crisis (like Louisiana) . Here at Human Rights Now, we kicked off coverage with a post from Alicia Yamin, a world expert on maternal mortality and human rights and a special adviser to our Demand Dignity Campaign.

If you haven’t already, make sure to take action and call on Secretary Sebelius to create an Office of Maternal Health to safeguard women’s right to safe childbirth in the United States!

Demand Dignity intern Mona Luxion contributed to this post.

Supporters rally for Yusak and Filep in front of the White House. © AIUSA

Just this week, our Individuals at Risk team received a special message from Yusak Pakage and Filep Karma – two prisoners of conscience in jail for peacefully raising a flag – from their prison cells in Indonesia. Here’s what they wrote:

Since our being sentenced to prison, Amnesty International has opposed our being imprisoned for legitimately exercising our right to freedom of expression. We wish to express our appreciation for Amnesty’s advocacy.  

We will continue fighting for Filep and Yusak until they are freed and their rights restored.

President Obama is taking a trip to Indonesia in less than a week, and we want him to carry a message of freedom and hope to Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage. That’s why this past weekend, scores of Amnesty activists and supporters braved torrential rain to rally in front of the White House with flags, banners, and posters asking President Obama not to forget human rights and these two Prisoners of Conscience when he meets with Indonesian President Yudhoyono. Speakers from East Timorese Action Network (ETAN) joined us in calling for their immediate and unconditional release. It was indeed a powerful show of solidarity and our determination to secure the release of both Filep and Yusak!

President Obama spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia and this trip marks a special opportunity to forge an understanding between the two countries based on human rights. But this can only happen if President Obama commits to speaking up for those who were punished for speaking out.

If you weren’t at the rally, it’s not too late to help Filep and Yusak. Call on President Obama to pressure the Indonesian government to release Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage. 

Or if you have the time, call the White House comment line: 1-202-456-1111 (TTY/TDD 202-456-6213). Or if you have trouble getting through, call the White House switchboard: 1-202-456-1414 and ask to be connected to the comment line.

Emadeddin Baghi

Now that spring is in the air, most of us (at least those in the northern hemisphere) eagerly look forward to the end of dreary winter and the new life and beauty that nature will soon bring forth. For Iranians, the first day of spring is especially important; it is the occasion of Nowruz or “new day”, the most joyous holiday of the year. Nowruz is thought to be a very ancient tradition; some scholars believe that the 2,500-year-old monumental reliefs at Takht-e Jamshid (Persepolis) depict vassals bearing Nowruz gifts for the Achaemenid king Darius. Nowruz is now celebrated by all ethnic groups in Iran, by Kurds in several countries, and by many others in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and elsewhere. Iranians typically take several days off and celebrate by visiting with family and friends, and with the tradition of the Haft Sin or seven S’s—a table laid out with an elaborate display including seven items beginning with the Persian letter Sin (the equivalent of the English s) that represent spring.

Sadly, many Iranians will not be able to celebrate Nowruz with their loved ones because they are languishing in prison. Even before the disputed June 12 presidential elections, Iran’s detention facilities were packed with prisoners of conscience, but since then the prisons are overflowing; many of Iran’s leading opposition politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, student leaders and women’s rights activists—if they have not fled the country—are now behind bars.

So at this time of renewal and hope, we want to remember our friends who are imprisoned in Iran. That is why Amnesty International is urging people to take part in its special Nowruz action. Last year, we selected three recipients of our Nowruz action. Sadly, all three are still in prison. This year, we have expanded the action to seven cases, in honor of the tradition of the Haft Sin. We are urging activists to send Nowruz greetings to: imprisoned labor rights activist and head of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Drivers Union Mansour Ossanlu; seven leaders of the Baha’i community who face serious charges that could carry the death penalty; journalist and human rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari; noted author, death penalty opponent and Martin Ennals Human Rights Defender award recipient Emadeddin Baghi; women’s and Kurdish rights activist Ronak Safarzadeh; internationally recognized HIV/AIDS researchers Kamiar and Arash Alaei; and Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh. Please take some time to send these courageous human rights defenders a card letting them know they are not forgotten.

By Gerardo Ducos, Amnesty International delegate on mission in Port-au-Prince Haiti

Two months after the earthquake, thousands in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere still await a first glimpse of humanitarian aid. In the four makeshift camps we visited during our first days in Haiti, life is a daily struggle and conditions are dire to say the least. People are without water, food, sanitation or shelter. Resilience and solidarity with each other are the only things these camp-dwellers can rely on.

A canal clogged with garbage in the Cité Soleil camp

There are camps everywhere. Every single open space, on public or private land, is occupied by hundreds or thousands of people. They are sheltered mostly under sheets and towels, in tents, under tarpaulins or, for the most industrious, in structures of recycled wood and tin.

In the camps we visited in Cité Soleil, Delmas and Champ-de-Mars, local committees have been created, improvising and taking charge of basic camp management tasks: coordination, security during the night, registration of families, activities for children, digging latrines or demarcation of common space. However, women’s participation and representation in the committees is limited.

That said, most women are out and about in the streets of Port-au-Prince selling goods and trying to earn what they can to feed their families. At some distribution points, other women are patiently forming orderly queues to receive rice or other items from humanitarian organizations under the watchful eye of the heavily armed US soldiers or UN blue helmets.

The destruction in the city is vast and most of the government institutions have collapsed or are damaged beyond use. The authorities, like thousands of other Haitians, are literally camping and working off the road.

The Port-au-Prince police station is located a few hundred meters from what was the Presidential Palace and overlooks Champ-de-Mars, one of the city’s open spaces – now occupied by more than 12,000 people.

This police station hosts one of the few units set up to respond to violence against women. It so now reduced to a dusty table on the pavement and is manned during the day only. Since the earthquake, several pages of a log book have been filled with complaints of sexual abuse and violence from women and girls, while in the camp on Champ-de-Mars, just across the road.

The day we visited the police station, a male officer on duty at the table unwillingly counted for us the number of cases registered in the log book: 52 cases of physical and sexual violence since the earthquake.

He said that many victims were minors, aged between 11 and 16, and that most of the assaults took place at night. Although he knew where to refer victims for medical attention after a sexual assault, he was unable to explain why, on the previous night, a mother seeking police assistance in the attempted rape of her 17-year-old daughter by four young men, was told that the police could not do anything and that the security in the camps was the responsibility of the President of the Republic. Quite a blow for the population’s confidence in the police…

Life begins among the rubble
Wilson, a baby boy, was born the night before our second visit to Cité Soleil, a makeshift camp of 272 families. The mother gave birth in the most unsanitary conditions imaginable: on the dirt, a few metres away from a canal of stagnant and putrid water, clogged with garbage and covered with flies and mosquitoes.

Another woman from the camp assisted Wilson’s mother in what was described to us as a difficult delivery, without clean water, towels or sterile tools to cut the cord.

The one-day-old Wilson rested calmly in his mother’s arms, unperturbed by our presence and the swarm of mosquitoes that invaded the space under bedsheets tied up with strings. That’s the home where he was born. This improvised shelter provided little more than some shade, with no protection at all against other hazards. It leaves three children and their widowed mother exposed to the rain and the recurrent flooding in Cité Soleil and vulnerable to infectious diseases.

The rainy season looms and all the people we talked to fear the worst. Shelter is what they need and what they ask for. That is their priority.

Update: Juan Cole, a blogger on the Middle East and South Asia has a good analysis of this bombing.

Suicide bombings are human rights violations.

Normally I don’t cover Pakistan (I cover India, Bangladesh and the Maldives for Amnesty USA).  But, I just want to do a quick post here to condemn unequivocally the wanton killing of innocent civilians in Lahore, Pakistan today.  Suicide bombings that kill or injure civilians are human rights violations and must be condemned.

Lahore is the cultural capital of Pakistan and it has been subjected to repeated suicide bombings by folks who apparently think that killing innocent civilians can be a justified response to the war that they are fighting in Waziristan against Pakistani and US soldiers.  It’s not. Here is a description of the scene from the BBC World Service:

“I sensed real danger and started running. There were scenes of destruction in nearby restaurants and shops.

“There were broken chairs and tables and other items lying everywhere on the ground.”

Another eyewitness, Afzal Awan, said he had seen wounded people with limbs missing lying in pools of blood.

“I saw smoke rising everywhere,” he told reporters. “A lot of people were crying.”

Exactly what do these people have to do with the operations going on in the northwestern part of the country?  Nothing.  They are innocent civilians, women, children and men going about their lives.  The world must condemn these mass murders unequivocally.  Nothing can justify it.