Author Archives: Juliette Rousselot

About Juliette Rousselot

Juliette Rousselot was the International Advocacy Assistant for the Science for Human Rights (SHR) program. In this position, she provided general support to the program, as well as advocacy support for country work on SHR projects, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa and the Crisis Prevention and Response work. She holds BAs in International Relations and Communication from the University of Southern California and an MA in International Affairs from the George Washington University. A native of France, she researches conflicts and conflict resolution in sub-Saharan Africa, French security policy and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs on the continent.
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Conflict Minerals Bill Snags Another Co-Sponsor

March 26, 2010 at 3:39 PM

Today, we celebrated the addition of a new co-sponsor to the Conflict Minerals Trade Act (H.R. 4128): Republican Congressman Edward Royce, representing California’s 40th congressional district.

As we have reported before, the Conflict Minerals Trade Act is a great first step in ensuring that the flow of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo is stemmed. Conflict minerals play a large role in perpetuating conflict and human rights abuses through financing the activities of many armed groups in the region, and end up in pieces of technology you use every day, including the equipment you’re using to read these words.

Although the bill now has 30 cosponsors (in addition to Jim McDermott, the bill’s original sponsor), it is crucial to gain additional cosponsors if this life-saving bill is to make its way through Congress. Several members are in a unique position to provide strong and meaningful support to the legislation, including members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee such as Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Florida’s 18th district), Congressman Christopher H. Smith (New Jersey’s 4th district), and Congressman Mike Pence (Indiana’s 6th district).

But no member of Congress should pass up the opportunity to support this bill. And none of us should pass up the opportunity to tell them so.

You can take action online today and ask your Federal Representative to co-sponsor the Conflict Minerals Trade Act. You can also call your Representative’s DC office and use these talking points.

Standing Up for LGBT Rights in Malawi

March 23, 2010 at 11:16 AM

Back in early January, we called for the unconditional release of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, two men who were arrested after having a traditional engagement ceremony in Malawi. They were charged with “unnatural practices between males and gross public indecency” and were reportedly beaten while in custody. In Malawi, homosexual acts can carry a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. And just yesterday, the BBC reported that there will be a full trial for the two men beginning in April. The men deny the charges and will soon have to begin calling defense witnesses.

This case serves as a sad reminder of the state of LGBT rights in much of Africa. In Uganda, the debate rages on over the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that was introduced in December 2009. In Kenya, anti-gay rallies have been held and attacks have been carried out against openly gay citizens. And in Malawi, religious leaders are responding to the trial by reaffirming their stance against homosexuality. In this climate of hate, those crying out for acceptance cannot be heard.

The trial of these men, purely on the basis of their real or perceived sexual orientation, is a gross violation of their rights to freedom of conscience, expression and privacy – Véronique Aubert, Amnesty International’s Deputy Africa Director

Help us stand up and speak out against the trial of Steven and Tiwonge, and remind the Malawian government that criminalization of homosexuality and sexual identity is banned under many of the treaties Malawi has ratified, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.

Rebecca Friedrichs contributed to this blog post.

Guinea's Bloody Monday Demonstrates Need for Greater Arms Control

February 24, 2010 at 5:17 PM
Cartridge casing from a bullet, for a Kalashnikov-type assault rifle, found at Conakry stadium. Copyright Amnesty International

Cartridge casing from a bullet, for a Kalashnikov-type assault rifle, found at Conakry stadium. Copyright Amnesty International

There is no question that the September 28th, 2009, Bloody Monday massacre in Guinea was an unprecedented episode of violence and brutality by Guinea’s security forces. But let’s not forget that this was not the first time that Guinea’s military and security forces have used excessive force and acted with impunity in the past decade. In fact, the behavior of the security forces has been defined by a clear pattern of unlawful killings, extrajudicial executions, rape, arbitrary detentions, torture and grossly excessive use of force.

You did not want the military, so now we are going to teach you a lesson – member of the security forces present during the 28 September 2009 violence

Yet, as Amnesty’s new report demonstrates, a number of governments and companies have continued to finance, train and supply Guinea’s security forces, ignoring the numerous human rights violations they have committed over the years. In fact, several of the military and security units whose members were directly involved in the commission of human rights violations during Bloody Monday and in previous years had received training from states including France, China and the US. Weapons and security equipment supplied from South Africa, France and elsewhere provided the tools for the crimes perpetrated on Bloody Monday.

The decision by several states to suspend military cooperation with Guinea, including the US after the December 2008 coup and France after the September 2009 massacre, was too late. While such suspensions will certainly help minimize the capacity of the security forces to commit human rights abuses in the future, the signs were there long before December 2008 and military cooperation should have been suspended much earlier.

What the case of Guinea shows is the need for all states to adopt international standards to assess arms transfers on a case-by-case basis. This would ensure that states adequately assess the risk of exporting arms and training to countries such as Guinea and that such transfers do not facilitate serious human rights violations.

Girls' Education Under Attack in Northwestern Pakistan

February 19, 2010 at 12:55 PM

Last week, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released their “Education under Attack” report, in which they have experts discuss the incidence of politically and ideologically motivated attacks on teachers, students and school buildings throughout the world. The report includes both a case study and a country report on Pakistan, both of which paint a stark picture of the impact of the Taliban on education in northwestern Pakistan.

Young girls and men queue separately for cooked rations in Jalala camp, Pakistan, 17 May 2009. Copyright Amnesty International

Young girls and men queue separately for cooked rations in Jalala camp, Pakistan, 17 May 2009. Copyright UNHCR/H. Caux

The report tells us that between 2007 and March 2009, 108 schools were fully destroyed, an additional 64 were partially damaged, and 40,000 children, including 23,000 girls, were deprived of their education. This is occurring in the context of a ruthless campaign by the Taliban against girls’ education, which is part of a larger campaign to impose their strict social rules and norms on the people of Northwestern Pakistan. As UNESCO’s report clearly states, “The Taliban in Swat Valley, Pakistan, left no ambiguity about their intent to target girls’ education.”

As the Pakistani military celebrates the recent capture of several key Taliban leaders, it is important to remember the impact of the conflict between Taliban armed groups and the Pakistani military in the region on civilians. Clearly, the Taliban have been the cause of countless human rights abuses against civilians, including attacks on education. But any government military strategy aimed at countering the Taliban must place human rights concerns at the forefront.

February 15-19: Take Action to Stop the Flow of Conflict Minerals

February 13, 2010 at 2:22 PM
Child labourers at a cassiterite (tin oxide mineral) mine in Numbi, South Kivu, April 2009. Copyright Amnesty International

Child labourers at a cassiterite (tin oxide mineral) mine in Numbi, South Kivu, April 2009. Copyright Amnesty International

Next week, activists like you are mobilizing across the country to push the House of Representatives to move forward on an important piece of legislation: the Conflict Minerals Trade Act (H.R. 4128).

The Conflict Minerals Trade Act was introduced a few months ago by Congressman Jim McDermott to improve transparency and reduce the trade in conflict minerals coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country where millions of people have died due to an armed conflict. H.R. 4128 would greatly advance the goals of regulating and stemming the flow of conflict minerals, thereby limiting the ability of armed groups to benefit from conflict minerals and perpetuate the conflict. This bill is a great step towards reducing human rights abuses and supporting peace and security in the DRC.

The bill is currently being reviewed by the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. It is especially important for the bill to garner greater support and more co-sponsors so that it can move forward and we need your help.

There are several ways you can get involved to help Amnesty push this legislation forward. We have an online action up on our website, where you can directly email your Representative and ask them to co-sponsor the Conflict Minerals Trade Act.

You can also use these talking points and schedule an in-person meeting or a phone call with your Representative. Next week, all Representatives will be working from their districts instead of in Washington DC, so this is a perfect time to do this!

This groundbreaking bill would enable the United States to take effective action to protect the rights of the people of the DRC by ensuring that the trade in minerals does not perpetuate conflict. Join Amnesty International and other organizations including the Enough Project next week to ensure that your Congressman or Congresswoman supports the Conflict Minerals Trade Act.

On Behalf of Women and Girls in Eastern Chad: A Call for Action

January 19, 2010 at 3:21 PM
Refugees in Mile refugee camp, eastern Chad

Refugees in Mile refugee camp, eastern Chad. (c) Amnesty International

Yesterday, Reuters began reporting that the government of Chad has formally requested that the mandate for the peacekeeping mission in Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) not be renewed when it comes to an end in March. But the peacekeeping mission, known by its French acronym MINURCAT, provides much needed security for refugees and humanitarian aid workers in eastern Chad and northeastern CAR, regions which suffer from rampant insecurity and violence.

In September 2009, Amnesty International released a report on violence against refugee women in Eastern Chad. The report found that women and girls face high levels of rape and harassment on a daily basis both inside and outside the refugee camps. These findings are similar to those of other organizations, such as Physicians for Human Rights.

I remember one woman asking me if there was anywhere she could go and feel safe. I didn’t know what to answer because I don’t think there is an answer – Aid worker in Eastern Chad, in an interview with Amnesty International

In these camps, the burden of finding food and other necessities for survival falls on the shoulders of women. They must regularly leave the relative security of the camps to fetch water, travel to village markets, tend vegetable plots, and gather wood for the fire and straw for the livestock. Once outside the camps, the risk of rape, sexual assault and harassment becomes even higher. Perpetrators of the violence are rarely brought to justice and Amnesty found that even when those responsible could be identified, Chadian authorities did not follow-up with the cases. Many women who have been raped are shunned or left by their husbands, and young girls who are victims find it difficult to marry.

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UN Report Echoes NGO Analysis of September Massacre in Guinea

December 22, 2009 at 3:12 PM

Yesterday, a United Nations panel, commissioned in October to investigate the September 28th massacre in Guinea, released their report on what really happened that day. The report echoes what NGOs have been saying all along, identifying at least 156 people who died that day and at least 109 women and girls who were subjected to sexual violence, including rape, sexual mutilation or kidnap for repeated rape.

Up until now, the military junta in power in Guinea has denied these figures, saying that fewer than 60 people were killed that day and ignoring local and international NGOs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, whose investigations have shown the numbers of casualties to be much higher. But this new UN report will make it hard for them to continue denying the true horrors of that day.

The report argues that three specific people are directly responsible for the violence of September 28th: Captain Camara, the leader of the military junta; Lieutenant Aboubacar Cherif Diakite, Camara’s aide-de-camp and chief of the Presidential Guard; and another officer, Moussa Thegboro Camara. Which is ironic, since Diakite recently tried to kill Captain Camara, saying that Camara was trying to hold him responsible for the massacre.

Most importantly, the report calls for the referral of these three individuals to the International Criminal Court to be tried for crimes against humanity. Because Guinea is a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, the court’s prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo does not have to wait for a referral from the UN Security Council to open an investigation. And Ocampo already has a head start: he began a preliminary examination back in October after he received information, including pictures, about what had happened.

This report is a positive step in the quest for justice for the victims of Captain Camara’s regime. Already, the European Union has responded by increasing its sanctions on the military junta, adding to its existing arms embargo an assets freeze and an export ban on equipment that could potentially be used for state repression, as well as adding additional names to its travel ban. Hopefully, other nations will follow suit and ensure that the reign of impunity in Guinea ends now, including by supporting an ICC investigation.

Congress Moves on the 2009 Tribal Law and Order Act

December 18, 2009 at 3:22 PM

On Thursday, December 10th, the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security held a hearing to discuss the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2009, for which AIUSA was invited to submit written testimony. The bill, a close approximation of the early Senate draft of the bill, would make crucial and desperately needed reforms in tribal justice systems, helping to address the epidemic of sexual violence against Native American and Alaska Native women and girls.

Over the last few years, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) has worked to document the disconcerting realities of law enforcement in Indian Country, especially as they impact the capacity and ability to prevent and respond to sexual violence against women and girls. Our research found that Native American and Alaska Native women are more than 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the United States in general. In recent months, as both the House and Senate have made headway in pushing their respective bills through committee, it seems that Congressional leaders are finally realizing the true urgency of reforming tribal law enforcement.

Both bills would make crucial steps in ensuring justice in Indian Country. These bills mandate and create structures for improving communication, transparency, and data sharing between tribal, state, and Federal agencies, increase tribal prosecutorial authorities, expand and emphasize the importance of data collection and analysis, and call for the US Attorney General’s Office to document cases it refuses to prosecute. The bills also require training for law enforcement personnel on how to respond to domestic and sexual violent crimes and require Indian Health Services to improve services for victims of sexual assault.

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What Future for Guinea?

December 13, 2009 at 3:57 PM

Since the deadly attack on civilians by Guinea’s security forces on September 28th, 2009, Guinea is showing many signs of slowly unraveling, leading many to wonder what Guinea’s future will look like. Between interest in Guinea’s rich mineral resources, to concerns about rising ethnic and regional divisions, to theories about France’s involvement, media outlets have been rife with stories about Guinea’s political turmoil.

Of course, the failed assassination attempt on December 3rd on the leader of Guinea’s ruling military junta, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, who is still in Morocco recovering in a hospital, has dominated the headlines. And with good reason too:

Since the failed assassination attempt, General Sekouba Konate, the defense minister, has ruled Guinea, continuing the reign of terror that has characterized the junta’s rule since it took power last December. Arguing that discipline has been completely shattered and that they can “no longer let undesirable people act within our ranks,” the general is now advocating for military units to “root out the bad elements, actually eliminate them from our ranks.” If that’s not a call to fratricide, I’m not sure what is.

The situation in Guinea “risks not only destabilising the country in the long-term” but “also undermines all our efforts to consolidate peace in post-conflict countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast”. ECOWAS chief Mohammed Ibn Chambas, December 13, 2009

But despite these worrying developments, we cannot forget the victims of the September 28th tragedy. Amnesty International researchers, who just recently returned from Guinea, found that over 40 people who had attended the rally on September 28th are still missing. Dead bodies identified in photographs and film footage from that tragic day were never found at any of Conakry’s hospitals, morgues or military camps. As for the others, they were probably killed or forcibly disappeared.

So as the international community debates on ways to return Guinea to civilian rule and as Guinea’s neighbors, increasingly worried about the destabilizing effects on the entire region consider the possibility of deploying a regional peacekeeping force, we need to remember the victims of September 28th. They deserve justice.

Suicide Bomber Interrupts Graduation in Somalia

December 8, 2009 at 11:50 AM

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009: 52 students were set to graduate in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, an unprecedented number for this country which has been ravaged by conflict for decades. But the graduation ceremony was interrupted by a suicide bomber.

The death toll? 23 people. Dozens more were injured. Three members of the Transitional Federal Government were also killed, including the Ministers of Higher Education, Education and Health, indicating that the attack was most likely politically motivated.

One of the students who was graduating that day, a 23 year old future doctor, tells IRIN what happened:

I was extremely happy that after six years I was finally getting my degree; it was the happiest day of my life. I was one of the first graduates to get to the venue for the ceremony. I was there at 8am. You have no idea how hard we worked to get our degrees. There were days we could not go class because of the security situation. I had to cross roadblocks to get to the university and brave gunfire many times; therefore graduation day was an emotional day for all of us. But then, just as we were about to receive our diplomas, a huge explosion ripped through the place. For a minute I was so dazed I could not understand what was happening. Then I realized my leg was bleeding and when I looked at where my colleagues had been sitting, there was nothing but death and destruction. – Sakhaudin Ahmed

Al-Shabaab, Somalia’s most active militant group, has denied responsibility for the attack. But Somalis disagree. In the past few days, hundreds of Somalis have marched down the streets of Mogadishu to rally against al-Shabaab, in what the BBC says is an “unprecedented show of anger at the militants.” And today, residents of a town close to Mogadishu fired back at Hizbul Islam rebels, one of Somalia’s other main rebel groups, to protest the arrest of a school headmaster who had a raised a Somali flag over the school.

Regardless of who is responsible for the attack, deliberately targeting civilians constitutes a war crime and is always prohibited under international law.

The TFG has now set up an inquiry into the attack. The rest of us have to wait and see if anyone is ever brought to justice for this heinous crime.