Embassy of the United States

Human Rights

Human Rights Abuse Archive

GLOBAL REPORT ON TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. February 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 292 pages]
The report provides new information, based on data gathered from 155 countries. It offers the first global assessment of the scope of human trafficking and what is being done to fight it. The report includes an overview of trafficking patterns, legal steps taken in response, and country-specific information on reported cases. The most common form of human trafficking, 79%, is sexual exploitation. Surprisingly, in 30% of the countries which provided information on the gender of traffickers, women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labor (18%).
[Note: contains copyrighted material]

AA09055
SILENT SERVANTS (Asia-Pacific Defense Forum, vol. 33, no. 3, Third Quarter 2008, pp. 44-51)
Available online
Trafficking in people is the modern-day form of slavery, the world’s third most profitable organized crime which principally targets women and children, and one of the fastest-growing criminal activities. Trafficking victims are typically defrauded or coerced into the sex services industries or into situations where their labor is exploited. Traffickers often rely on the confiscation of travel documents to exercise control over a victim. Between 600,000-800,000 people annually are transported across borders worldwide, including 14,500-17,500 persons into the United States alone. The U.S. is committed to putting an end to human trafficking; the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP) provides the tools to combat trafficking in persons and assists in the coordination of anti-trafficking efforts, and its annual Trafficking in Persons Report serves as the primary diplomatic tool through which the U.S. Government encourages partnership and increased determination in the fight against human trafficking. Another effort is the U.N. Convention against Transnational Crime, adopted by the UN General Assembly during its Millennium Meeting in November 2000 and considered the first serious attempt by the international community to answer the global challenge of transnational organized crime with a global response in the form of international law.

CRISIS WITHOUT LIMITS: HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN CONSEQUENCES OF POLITICAL REPRESSION IN ZIMBABWE. Human Rights Watch. January 22, 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 38 pages]
Zimbabwe is in a humanitarian crisis that is the result of a political crisis. A cholera epidemic has, as of January 12, 2009, left over 39,000 people infected and at least 2,000 dead, with the disease spreading to neighboring countries. The country is experiencing the sharpest rise in infant mortality in its history, and maternal mortality rates have tripled since the mid-90s. Repeated political interference in the work of humanitarian agencies hampers international efforts to help tackle these multiple crises.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]

AA09003
Emmerson, Donald K. ASEAN’S “BLACK SWANS” (Journal of Democracy, Vol. 19, No. 3, July 2008, pp. 70-84)
Available online
Following the brutal suppression of Burmese pro-democracy demonstrators in fall 2007, ASEAN issued a statement expressing “revulsion” and urged a “transition to democracy” in the country. But the organization’s apparently newfound human rights legitimacy was soon dashed after the Burmese junta successfully prevented the U.N. special envoy to Burma from briefing EAS leaders at its 40th anniversary summit in November 2007 and the organization adopted a charter that watered down reformist pro-democracy elements. The author, head of the Southeast Asia Forum at Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, argues that ASEAN’s tradition of non-interference in the affairs of its member states, particularly with regard to democracy and human rights, can be modified only as the balance of its membership swings more on the side of “free” countries. “Too few countries are democratic enough for their leaders to exert effective pressure on the association to liberalize,” he writes. The organization must also seize upon unexpected “black swan” opportunities such as financial, political and natural crises to broaden its agenda.

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Jaeger, John GENOCIDE RESOURCES: 2000 TO THE PRESENT (Choice, vol. 46, no. 3, November 2008, pp. 435-436, 438-445)
Available on request
In this bibliographic essay, the author, a reference librarian at Dallas Baptist University, notes that the twentieth century witnessed more loss of life through genocide than any previous century, and numerically more genocides occurred then. The 1948 U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as an act "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." The literature on genocide has grown significantly since 2000 for a wide range of scholars and educators, allowing for a multidisciplinary analysis of the topic. Among the categories the author discusses are Armenian genocide; the Holocaust, which continues to generate a small publishing industry to such an extent that no single volume can give complete coverage; and the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. The article also mentions discussions of genocide by eyewitnesses and in newspapers, genocide and religion, why genocides occur, and what can be done to avoid future genocides. There is also a list of web resources.

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Scocca, Tom TRUE OR FALSE: CHINA IS FIT TO PLAY HOST (New York Times Magazine, August 3, 2008, pp. 17-21)
Full Text [HTML format]

Perhaps the most watched, and controversial, event of 2008 is the Olympic Games in Beijing. Along with thousands of athletes, proponents of very different causes will also be competing for the world’s attention, among them advocates for human rights, open media, and environmental quality in China. The author cites the many critics of China’s environmental and human-rights record, who believe that China should never have been allowed to host the Olympics; but he notes that some previous Olympic host countries have perpetrated similar abuses. In addressing the charge that China will abandon its efforts to keep the air clean in Beijing after the Games are over, Scocca writes that preparations for the Olympics “are like tidying your house in a hurry before company comes over -- this is not the way you live every day” -– but it could be “you are showing them how you would live, if things were different.”

“They Beat Me Like a Dog”: Political Persecution of Opposition Activists and Supporters in Zimbabwe. [Human Rights Watch]. Web posted August 12, 2008.
Full Text [PDF format, 22 pages]

The report is based on eyewitness accounts from newly elected MDC Members of Parliament (MPs), councilors, activists, perceived MDC supporters and others to demonstrate the serious nature of abuses committed by ZANU-PF supporters and government-backed youth militia and “war veterans” in the weeks leading up to the June 27 presidential runoff. These abuses include killings, beatings, abductions and torture.
The government has made little effort to dismantle the torture camps and bases that it established in the immediate aftermath of the March 29 elections. The continued existence of these camps and armed ZANU-PF supporters raises the possibility of further violence and highlights the precarious nature of the human rights situation in the country.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED: ZIMBABWEANS SEEKING REFUGE IN SOUTH AFRICA. Human Rights Watch. June 19, 2008.
Full Text [PDF format, 119 pages]

Since 2005 an estimated one to 1.5 million Zimbabweans have fled across the border into South Africa, the region’s economic power. They have run from persecution and from economic destitution as the Zimbabwean economy collapses. Recent refugees fleeing the brutal crackdown on political opponents of President Robert Mugabe in the aftermath of the March 2008 Zimbabwean elections are the latest wave. Due to South Africa’s asylum system and deportation practices, many of the tens of thousands that have applied for asylum are at constant risk of being unlawfully returned. Many of the ones remaining are mistreated by police, abused and exploited by employers.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT.
Department of State. June 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 295 pages]

Millions of men, women, and children around the world will have their lives ruined by human traffickers. This form of modern-day slavery shocks the conscience of every civilized nation. The 2008 annual report is the most comprehensive to date, covering 170 countries. It brings to account each nation’s efforts to discover the perpetrators, prosecute the criminals, protect the victims, and ultimately abolish the egregious crime of human trafficking. The report is a key tool in the efforts to abolish human trafficking, by raising awareness, offering clear recommendations to combat these crimes, and offering advice and aid from the United States.

WORST OF THE WORST: THE WORLD'S MOST REPRESSIVE SOCIETIES 2008.
Freedom House. May 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 124 pages]

Worst of the Worst examines civil liberties and political rights in 17 countries and three territories. Increased corruption and controls on nongovernmental organizations placed Chad on a list of the world’s most repressive societies for the first time. Chad replaced Côte d’Ivoire, which saw an improvement in its status after a 2007 peace agreement brought ruling party and rebel leaders into a coalition government. On the other hand, Chad’s status declined as the government diverted oil revenues away from poverty alleviation toward security and sought to limit the activities of nongovernmental organizations, including the World Food Programme.

[Note: contains copyrighted material.]

WALKING ON THIN ICE -- CONTROL, INTIMIDATION, AND HARASSMENT OF LAWYERS IN CHINA.
Human Rights Watch. Web posted April 30, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 146 pages]

The development of a strong, independent legal profession in China is critical to the promotion and protection of human rights. Over the past two decades, the Chinese Communist Party has officially embraced the rule of law as a key part of its agenda to reform the way the country is governed. Importing entire pieces of Western-style legal institutions, the CCP is in the process of establishing a modern court system and has established hundreds of law schools to train legal professionals. It has publicized through constant propaganda campaigns the idea that common citizens have basic rights, elevated the concept of the “rule of law” to constitutional status, and recognized the validity of human rights norms with a new constitutional clause stipulating that “the state respects and protect human rights.” Yet lawyers often face violence, intimidation, threats, surveillance, harassment, arbitrary detention, prosecution, and suspension or disbarment from practicing law for pursuing their profession. This report examines the current state of affairs with regard to lawyers in China.

[Note: contains copyrighted material.]

A DECADE OF SUFFERING IN ZIMBABWE.
Center for Global Liberty & Prosperity, CATO Institute. David Coltart. March 24, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 24 pages]

Just days before the Zimbabwe’s presidential and parliamentary elections, Coltart looks at Mugabe’s rule in the past decade. He finds Mugabe and his supporters responsible for an economic meltdown that has turned one of Africa’s most prosperous countries into a country with one of the lowest life expectancies in the world. He believes half a million Zimbabweans may have died already due to HIV/AIDS, poverty and malnutrition. In addition, there is no freedom of speech or assembly and the state has used violence to eliminate its opponents. Coltart hopes for a new government that would work to heal Zimbabwe and her people.

Finnegan, William THE COUNTERTRAFFICKERS: RESCUING THE VICTIMS OF THE GLOBAL SEX TRADE (New Yorker, May 5, 2008)
Full Text [html format]

Human trafficking is now the third most lucrative criminal enterprise in the world, after weapons and narcotics, according to the United Nations. Finnegan focuses on the work of the International Organization for Migration in Moldova, the poorest country in Europe. More than a quarter of its economically active population is working outside the country. Finnegan also looks at Dubai, which he describes as the “quintessential destination” in the world of human trafficking.

Skinner, Benjamin E. A WORLD ENSLAVED (Foreign Policy, March/April 2008, pp 62-67)
Full Text

Slavery at its all time worst? Can we admit the massive scope of the problem? How can we then attack slavery in all its forms and empower slaves to help free themselves? As Skinner concludes, "Until governments define slavery in appropriately concise terms, prosecute the crime aggressively in all its forms, and encourage groups that empower slaves to free themselves, millions more will remain in bondage. And our collective promise of abolition will continue to mean nothing at all."

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS: U.S. POLICY AND ISSUES FOR CONGRESS.
Clare Ribando Seelke. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. January 10, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 56 pages]

Trafficking in people for prostitution and forced labor is one of the most prolific areas of international criminal activity and is of significant concern to the United States and the international community. The overwhelming majority of those trafficked are women and children. Official U.S. estimates are that some 2 to 4 million people are trafficked annually. Congress currently is considering several bills that address various aspects of the problem.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: RENEWED CRISIS IN NORTH KIVU.
Human Rights Watch. Web posted October 22, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 92 pages]

[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]

People in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo have endured years of armed conflicts, civilian attacks, child-soldier recruitments, and displacement of thousands of people. The Congolese government, backed by the international community, has tried several short-term solutions. Realizing that a wider conflict was possible, UN leaders, the U.S., the U.K., France, Belgium, and South Africa worked to find a political solution. This report documents the costs of past conflicts for the people of North Kivu and estimates the potential damage to the region if war resumes.

TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN NEPAL: A LOOK AT THE INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF TRUTH COMMISSIONS. USIPeace Briefing, U.S. Institute of Peace. September 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 10 pages]

Nepal’s government has prepared a Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act (TRC), which was the most prominent commitment made during the peace process ending Nepal’s 10-year civil war. In response for more information and practices on transitional justice or the procedures of confronting the legacy of past crimes committed during an armed conflict, the U.S. Institute of Peace organized a series of roundtable discussions to explore options that have been used by other countries. This Briefing provides background information on Nepal’s conflict, an update on the ongoing transitional justice process, and a summary of the discussions and the current TRC law.

ATTORNEY GENERAL’S ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON U.S. GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS FISCAL YEAR 2006. U.S. Department of Justice. May 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 102 pages]

“Human trafficking is an offense against human dignity, a crime in which human beings, many of them teenagers and young children, are bought and sold and often sexually abused by violent criminals.” Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is a widespread form of slavery. The centerpiece of the U.S. government’s efforts to eliminate TIP is the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) that increased protection, prosecution, and prevention. All U.S. agencies are committed to providing victims with access to the services and benefits provided by TVPA, and non-citizen trafficking victims also have access to these “benefits and services from which they might otherwise be barred.”

VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING AND VIOLENCE PROTECTION ACT OF 2000: TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT: 2007. Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Democracy and Global Affairs, U.S. Department of State. Web posted June 12, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 240 pages]

“The Department of State is required by law to submit a Report each year to the U.S. Congress on foreign governments’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons.” This is the seventh annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. It is intended to raise awareness, to highlight efforts by the international community, and to encourage foreign governments to take action against TIP.

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Grodsky, Brian PRODUCING TRUTH: THE POLITICS OF INVESTIGATING PAST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN POST-COMMUNIST STATES (World Affairs, vol. 169, no. 3, Winter 2007, pp. 125-133)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library

Using case studies from Poland, Serbia, and Uzbekistan, the author, professor of political science at the University of Maryland, illustrates how ruling elites use truth commissions to transform national identity by creating new “foundation myths” which, conveniently, rediscover history in ways that add to their own power. In Poland, former Solidarity dissidents controlled the process, and faced opposition from Communists, who still held key ministries and a sizable parliamentary bloc. Initially opposed, Serbia’s President Kostunica launched a process to placate The Hague, but controlled the process to gain favor with his political base. Uzbekistan faced the curious position of investigating Soviet-era crimes, which were attributed to foreign occupation from Russia while actively committing new abuses of its own. The author argues that the political processes at play warrant more academic study.

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT 2007. Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Department of State. June 12, 2007
Full text

The Department of State is required by law to submit a Report each year to the U.S. Congress on foreign governments' efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. This Report is the seventh annual TIP Report. It is intended to raise global awareness, to highlight efforts of the international community, and to encourage foreign governments to take effective actions to counter all forms of trafficking in persons.

The TIP Report is the most comprehensive worldwide report on the efforts of governments to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons. This Report covers the period April 2006 through March 2007. It includes those countries that have been determined to be countries of origin, transit, or destination for a significant number of victims of severe forms of trafficking. The 2007 TIP Report represents an updated, global look at the nature and scope of modern-day slavery and the broad range of actions being taken by governments around the world to confront and eliminate it.

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MANY RIGHTS, SOME WRONG; AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
(Economist, Vol. 382, Iss. 8521, March 24, 2007; p. 76)
View article on ProQuest (password required)

The venerable human-rights organization Amnesty International (AI) has gradually expanded it s mission from protecting individual political dissidents and prisoners of conscience to demanding broadly defined economic rights. This expansion “chimes well with the visceral opposition to American foreign policy, and to globalization, that exists in many parts of the world” but arguably reduces AI’s overall effectiveness. Autonomous regional AI chapters seemingly play to the political preferences of their members; in Columbia, AI opposes a proposed law reducing sentences imposed on right-wing paramilitaries but remains silent on similar proposals regarding left-wing guerillas. The organization’s annual report devotes more pages to alleged human-rights abuses in Britain and America than in Belarus and Saudi Arabia.

AA07100
Chen, Matthew. CHINESE NATIONAL OIL COMPANIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS
(Orbis, vol. 51, no. 1, Winter 2007, pp. 41-54)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library

China, in its race to meet its growing energy demand, is contributing to massive human rights abuses in Sudan and Burma, is entering into dangerous alliances with Iran and Venezuela, straining Sino-American relations, and is undermining international security by blocking multilateral crisis management efforts. The author calls on the international community to develop a comprehensive strategy to encourage “corporate social responsibility” in China’s state-owned energy companies to engage with international producers’ groups and human-rights oriented NGOs. By doing so, the international community can avoid a race to the bottom when it comes to turning a blind eye to dangerous and abusive regimes and help work toward reducing instability in energy-rich states.

DARFUR AND BEYOND: WHAT IS NEEDED TO PREVENT MASS ATROCITIES. Lee Feinstein. CSR No. 22, Council on Foreign Relations. January 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 62 pages]

A year ago the 191 members of the United Nations endorsed a principle of “responsibility to protect” which means that the “mass atrocities that take place in one state are the concern of all states.” The author maintains that it is important for the new secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, to set clear mandates to implement this principle.

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Kapstein, Ethan B. THE NEW GLOBAL SLAVE TRADE
(Foreign Affairs, vol. 85, no. 6, November/December 2006, pp. 103-115)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library

Human slavery may be more widespread in the 21st century than ever in the past, says Kapstein, Professor of Sustainable Development at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, and a visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development, in Washington, D.C. In June 2006, the U.S. government estimated that some 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders each year. Slavers enjoy huge profits -- about $10,000 per person -- and face fewer risks and penalties than do narcotics traffickers. Human trafficking is corrosive, Kapstein says, because “the same people who engage in human trafficking also contribute to the deepening criminalization of the world economy overall.” Advanced industrial states denounce slavery, but they have failed to take much action to address the issue, Kapstein says. “The problem is one of political will, not capability,” he says. Kapstein calls for tougher law enforcement, tougher penalties, and strong cooperative efforts among nations to sanction those countries that currently turn a blind eye toward human trafficking

THIRD REPORT OF THE PROSECUTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT TO THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL PURSUANT TO UNSCR 1593 (2005) [DARFUR]. International Criminal Court (ICC), Office of the Prosecutor. June 14, 2006.
Download [pdf format, 11 pages]

The investigation team in the Office of the Prosecutor (the Office) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has collated information relating to alleged crimes in Darfur, Sudan into a Darfur Crime Database. The analysis of the data, relating to the period October 2002 - May 2006, shows significant variations in the crime patterns reflective of the different phases of the conflict, with violence escalating between October 2002 - April 2003 and peaking during the period April 2003 - April 2005.

The Office has so far documented (from public and non-public sources) thousands of alleged direct killings of civilians by parties to the conflict. The available information indicates that these killings include a significant number of large scale massacres, with hundreds of victims in each incident. The Office has selected several of these incidents for further investigation and analysis.

In addition to direct killings, there is a significant amount of information indicating that thousands of civilians have died since 2003 as a consequence of the conditions of life resulting from the conflict and the ensuing displacement. These include a lack of shelter and basic necessities for survival as a result of the destruction of homes, food stocks, and the looting of property and livestock, as well as obstacles to the provision of life-saving humanitarian assistance. This type of 'slow death' has particularly affected the most vulnerable groups, including children, the elderly and the sick.

The Office has also registered hundreds of alleged cases of rape. This is likely to be indicative of a practice that was endemic among some groups involved in the conflict and in relation to which there are indications of significant under-reporting. The Office has interviewed a number of victims of alleged rapes and has commissioned further expert studies in this area.

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS [TIP] REPORT: 2006. United States Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. June 2006.
Table of Contents [sections in html format, various pagings]

Full Report [pdf format, 295 pages]

This is the Department of State's sixth annual report on the modern-day slave trade, a murky business that ensnares 800,000 people. The report arranges countries into three tiers depending on their degree of complicity in trafficking. Country reports describe what efforts have been made by each country to prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and prevent further occurrences. Assessing each government's anti-trafficking efforts involves a two-step process:

• Step One: Determining whether or not there is a significant number of victims. The Department determines whether a country is "a country of origin, transit, or destination for a significant number of victims of severe forms of trafficking," generally on the order of 100 or more victims -- the same threshold applied in previous reports. Some countries, for which such information was not available, are not given tier ratings, but are included in the Special Case section, since they did exhibit indications of trafficking.
• Step Two: Tier placement. The Department places each country included in the 2006 TIP Report into one of the four lists, described here as tiers, mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). This placement is based more on the extent of government action to combat trafficking, rather than the size of the problem, important though that is. The Department first evaluates whether the government fully complies with the TVPA's minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking [detailed on p. 288]. Governments that do so are placed in Tier 1. For other governments, the Department considers whether they made significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance. Governments that are making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards are placed in Tier 2. Governments that do not fully comply with the minimum standards, and are not making significant efforts to do so, are placed in Tier 3. Finally, the Special Watch List criteria are considered and, if applicable, Tier 2 countries are placed on the Tier 2 Watch List.

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS: GLOBAL PATTERNS. United Nations, Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). April 2006
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In summary fashion, this report reviews basic trends in the worldwide trafficking of persons. Even though all human trafficking cases have their individual characteristics, most follow the same pattern: people are abducted or recruited in the country of origin, transferred through transit regions and then exploited in the destination country. If, at some stage, the exploitation of the victim is interrupted or ended, they can be rescued as victims of trafficking in persons, and it is possible they might receive support in the country of destination. Either immediately or at some later point, victims might be repatriated to their origin country; in some cases, relocated in a third country; or, as unfortunately too often still happens, are deported from destination or transit countries as illegal migrants.

The report identifies 127 countries of origin, 98 transit countries and 137 destination countries. It shows that global efforts to combat trafficking are being hampered by a lack of accurate data, reflecting the unwillingness of some countries to acknowledge that the problem affects them.

SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY: THE U.S. RECORD 2005 - 2006. United States Department of State. Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. April 2006.
View the report on the publisher's site

The Supporting Human Rights and Democracy report is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State in compliance with Section 665 of P.L. 107-228, the FY 03 Foreign Relations Authorization Act, which requires the Department to report on actions taken by the U.S. Government to encourage respect for human rights. This fourth annual submission complements the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2005, and takes the next step, moving from highlighting abuses to publicizing the actions and programs the United States has employed to end those abuses. Unlike the 196 Country Reports, Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2005-2006 highlights U.S. efforts to promote human rights and democracy in only 95 countries and entities - those facing the most serious human rights challenges. References to Hong Kong and Tibet have been incorporated into the China report. To make this report consistent with the criteria in the legislation, this year's report also deletes a number of countries: Albania, Argentina, and Macedonia.

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Keefe, Patrick Radden THE SNAKEHEAD: THE CRIMINAL ODYSSEY OF CHINATOWN'S SISTER PING (New Yorker, April 24, 2006, pg. 68-85)
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Illegal migration from China to the U.S. burst into public view in 1993 with the wreck of the tramp steamer Golden Venture; at least ten people died. This was not an isolated incident but part of a large human smuggling business run by "snakehead" Ping Jia, known in the U.S. as Sister Ping. The article details the nearly twenty year saga of Chinese criminal networks, operating in the U.S. and in China, that illegally transport people, at great personal risk, hardship, and expense, from China to the United States. Today Sister Ping is serving a 35-year prison sentence, and several of her associates are dead, murdered by rival gang members. There is, however, "no evidence to indicate that the total number of [Chinese migrants] entering the country illegally has diminished in the years since the Golden Venture incident."

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Totten, Samuel THE UNITED NATIONS AND GENOCIDE (Society, Vol. 42, No. 4, May/June 2005, pp. 6-13)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library

Totten, a University of Arkansas education professor and author of several books on teaching about genocide, describes the UN's history of intervention and prevention of genocide over the past 50 plus years, and notes that the record is dismal. UN peacekeeping forces were uncertain of their mission and hampered by rules, and victims of genocide were at the mercy of perpetrators with no interest in making peace. "The establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was considered a low-cost, low-risk way to signal that the Western states were not indifferent to Bosnian suffering." Totten believes that the ICTY and a similar UN tribunal in Rwanda have been successful in establishing precedents for future war crimes convictions. Totten describes UN efforts for a genocide early-warning system and proposals to make the UN more effective in addressing potential or actual genocides. He wonders about the efficacy and sincerity of UN efforts in light of its failures.

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Campbell, Kenneth J. THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL STATES IN ADDRESSING CASES OF GENOCIDE (Human Rights Review, Vol. 5, No. 4, July-September 2004, pp. 32-45)
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Campbell, a University of Delaware political science professor, describes international legal obligations and the particular obligations of Western countries (the United States, Britain and France) to stop genocide. Commissions after the tragedies of Rwanda and Kosovo have argued that the international obligations to protect victims from genocide trump state claims to the right of non-intervention in their internal matters. Campbell argues that genocide scholars need to translate theories of preventing genocide into effective policy and recommends employing suppressive force in stopping genocide. A good annotated bibliography of the topic is also included.

TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE - 2004: FOCUS ON PREVENTION.
Barbara Limanowska. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). March 31, 2005.
Download the document [pdf format, 356 pages]

Note: Contains copyrighted material.

This report examines the efforts of governments, international and local NGOs in South Eastern Europe to prevent human trafficking, raise awareness and assist victims. It looks at the situation in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania and Serbia and Montenegro (including the UN administered province of Kosovo). The authors find that anti-trafficking measures are still dominated by repressive measures to prevent migration, prostitution and organized crime. Their research leads them to conclude that the root causes of human trafficking are not being adequately addressed in the region.

The report examines two seemingly contradictory scenarios. In the first, trafficking in the region is decreasing, as there has been a significant reduction in the number of victims assisted. In the other, trafficking is not declining at all, but has simply become less visible, with victims unwilling to seek assistance for fear of repatriation, deportation and stigmatization. The report notes programs that are already in place to prevent trafficking and to assist victims, and outlines the future steps that need to be taken to minimize this problem.

REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON DARFUR TO THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL.
United Nations, International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur. January 25, 2005.
Download the document [pdf format, 176 pages]

This report by a United Nations-appointed commission of inquiry into whether genocide has occurred in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region has found that the Government and Janjaweed militia are responsible for crimes under international law and strongly recommends referring the dossier to the International Criminal Court (ICC). While concluding that the Government has not pursued a policy of genocide, the Commission found that Government forces and militias "conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement."

SUDAN: WHO WILL ANSWER FOR THE CRIMES?
Amnesty International (AI). January 18, 2005.
Download the document [pdf format, 24 pages]

This report stresses that the right of victims and their families to truth and justice is an essential element of the process of reconciliation and peace in Sudan. For peace between Northern and Southern Sudan to last and to end human rights violations against civilians currently under siege in Darfur, those responsible for the worst crimes under international law must be brought to justice.

The authors of the report argue that in order to ensure an end to impunity for the worst crimes committed in conflicts in the Sudan, the UN Security Council must refer the situation in the country, including Darfur, to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The UN Security Council has repeatedly emphasized concern at the failure of Sudan to end impunity and must now act to remain coherent. The International Criminal Court would, however, only try a handful of those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report urges the UN Security Council and the international community to support a comprehensive reform of the Sudanese justice system so as to enable it to bring to justice perpetrators of serious crimes under international human rights and humanitarian law.

NIGERIA: ARE HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE PIPELINE?
Amnesty International (AI). November 9, 2004.
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This report charges that the human rights of individuals and communities have been abused as a result of practices of some transnational corporations (TNCs) and violated by the inactions and actions of the Nigerian Federal Government in the Niger Delta. It also includes three cases highlighting issues such as non-inclusive consultation processes and the failure to clean up oil spills, involving the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC) and the Nigerian Agip Oil Corporation (NAOC). The cases concern the right to seek, receive and impart information, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to a general satisfactory environment and the right to an effective legal remedy and redress.

AI says that as a result of the Nigerian government's failure to provide essential services, oil companies have, for many years, funded corporate social responsibility projects (roads, clinics, schools, transport and other infrastructure) in communities near to their operations. Although some of these projects have worked well and delivered needed services, others have in some circumstances been far from adequate and even non-existent. Some communities that do not receive the same benefits as communities that neighbor oil operations and those left out of the development plans of TNCs, in some cases develop a sense of grievance. Communities see companies in some cases as operating arbitrarily on land without due or adequate consultation.

Such grievances, says this report, are one of several reasons for the escalating violence, which according to conflict experts and security analysts, left over a thousand deaths in the Niger Delta in 2003. Amnesty International's calculations based on local and international media reports, show that the number of people killed in the Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa States in 2004 up to and including incidents in late August, could be in the region of 670.

U.N. CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE (CAT): OVERVIEW AND APPLICATION TO INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES. [RL32438]
Michael John Garcia. Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. June 16, 2004.
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The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) requires signatory parties to take measures to end torture within their territorial jurisdiction and to criminalize all acts of torture. CAT generally defines torture as the infliction of severe physical and/or mental suffering committed under the color of law. CAT allows for no circumstances or emergencies where torture could be permitted.

The United States ratified CAT, subject to certain declarations, reservations, and understandings, including that the Convention was not self-executing and therefore required domestic implementing legislation to be enforced by U.S. courts. In order to ensure U.S. compliance with CAT obligations to criminalize all acts of torture, the United States enacted sections 2340 and 2340A of the United States Criminal Code, which prohibit torture occurring "outside the United States" (torture occurring inside the United States was already prohibited under several federal and state statutes of general application prohibiting acts such as assault, battery, and murder).

This report concludes that: "It does not appear that sections 2340 and 2340A would cover acts of torture committed at U.S. facilities abroad if those acts were committed by or against U.S. nationals. Section 2340 defines 'United States' to include areas covered under U.S. special and maritime jurisdiction, such as military facilities and other buildings in foreign States used for U.S. governmental purposes when a U.S. national is the offender or victim of an offense. Accordingly, sections 2340 and 2340A would generally appear not to apply to cases of torture that might occur in such facilities, because they are not 'outside the United States' for purposes of U.S. law. A number of separate federal statutes would nevertheless prohibit harsh mistreatment occurring at such facilities; a detailed discussion of these laws can be found in CRS Report RL32395

, U.S. Treatment of Prisoners in Iraq: Selected Legal Issues.

Assuming for the purposes of discussion that a U.S. body had to review a harsh interrogation method to determine whether it constituted torture under either CAT or applicable U.S. law, it might examine international jurisprudence as to whether certain interrogation methods constituted torture. A reviewing body might examine decisions made by both the European Court of Human Rights and the Committee against Torture, the monitoring body of CAT, which have examined interrogation methods including the use of such tactics as sleep deprivation, 'hooding' of detained individuals, and subjecting detainees to loud noise to determine whether such acts constituted torture. Although these decisions are not binding precedent for the United States, they may inform deliberations here."

ZIMBABWE. POWER AND HUNGER - VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHT TO FOOD.
Amnesty International (AI). October 15, 2004.
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This report examines a number of Zimbabwean government policies and provides analyses of how their implementation has resulted in the violation of basic rights. According to AI, these violations include the controversial "fast track land reform programme", and the operations of the government-controlled Grain Marketing Board (GMB). As a result of the way in which the land reform program has been implemented agriculture has been disrupted, fertile land has gone unplanted and thousands of agricultural jobs have been lost. All this has come at a time when poverty and food insecurity meant millions of people in Zimbabwe have had to depend on food aid.

The report also criticizes the government's response to the food crisis in Zimbabwe. The authors charge that the near-monopoly of the state-controlled Grain Marketing Board (GMB) on trade in and distribution of maize -- the staple food for millions of people in Zimbabwe -- has been used by the government to control food supplies and to manippulate food for political purposes. Amnesty is further concerned about potential further violations of the rights to adequate food and freedom from hunger in the context of the 2005 elections, given the GMB's history of discriminatory distribution of grain it controls and the pattern of abuse of access to food at times of elections over the past two years.

GIVING MEANING TO "NEVER AGAIN": SEEKING AN EFFECTIVE RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS IN DARFUR AND BEYOND.
Cheryl O. Igiri and Princeton N. Lyman. Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). September 27, 2004.
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According to this new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) report, the tragically slow global response to the tragedies in Darfur shows that the international community still lacks the capacity to deal effectively with humanitarian crises. The report calls for urgent deployment of international forces to guard refugee camps. Among the report's additional recommendations for Darfur:

• The U.S. government must be prepared to be flexible. "The United States must therefore signal its readiness to hold back on punitive actions if a serious political process begins."
• "Disarming the janjaweed should not be the first order of business, as it is in the current U.N. Security Council resolutions, simply because it is beyond the capacity or will of the Sudanese government outside of the prospects of a broader political agreement. It is better to focus on stopping the attacks and increasing aid than insisting on what is not now feasible."
• The African Union has a critical role to play. The United States and Europe must "work more closely with, and provide more support to, the African Union. This includes diplomatic support in continuing, or when necessary, restarting negotiations under AU auspices, and logistical and financial support for the deployment of African monitors and peacekeepers."

DOCUMENTING ATROCITIES IN DARFUR.
United States Department of State. September 9, 2004.
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This assessment highlights incidents and atrocities that have led to the displacement of large portions of Darfur's non-Arabs. The non-Arab population of Darfur continues to suffer from crimes against humanity. A review of 1,136 interviews shows a consistent pattern of atrocities, suggesting close coordination between Sudanese government forces and Arab militia elements, commonly known as the Jingaweit (Janjaweed).

Respondents reported ethnic tensions in the region had risen over the past few years. For example, markets in which non-Arabs and Arabs had previously interacted have become segregated, and almost all villages are now said to be ethnically homogenous. According to many of the interviewees, GOS soldiers and Jingaweit attacked villages because of their non-Arab populations; men of fighting age have been abducted, executed, or both; and women and girls have been abducted and raped.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND SLAVERY: ARE THE WORLD'S NATIONS DOING ENOUGH TO STAMP IT OUT?
CQ Researcher, March 26, 2004
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This Congressional Quarterly issue focuses on providing a comprehensive overview of human trafficking worldwide. Main issues are listed as follows:

• does buying slaves in order to free them solve the problem?
• Is the Trafficking Victims Protection Act tough enough?
• Should most forms of child labor be eliminated?

Articles include discussions on the historical background of slavery, the current situation on global human trafficking, slavery and forced labor. The impact of globalization is examined, concluding that as living standards improve, so attracting victims will become more difficult. Includes statistical data, webliography and bibliography.

AA04283
Power, Samantha DYING IN DARFUR (The New Yorker, August 30, 2004, pp. 56-73)
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First-person interviews with victims, soldiers, and local, national and international leaders make this a vivid and harrowing account of the humanitarian disaster in Darfur, Sudan. The article traces the long history of armed conflict in Sudan, the current rebellion in Darfur, and the role of the Sudanese government in arming and supporting the local militiamen who are wreaking havoc in that troubled region. Descriptive writing on an epic scale coupled with intrepid reporting make a gripping and disturbing account of the conflict that has killed 50,000 Darfurians and displaced a million and half more.

PERU: THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION - A FIRST STEP TOWARDS A COUNTRY WITHOUT INJUSTICE.
Amnesty International (AI). August 26, 2004.
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In this report Amnesty International (AI) urges the Peruvian government to establish a National Human Rights Plan comprising concrete measures to ensure truth, justice and reparation and to eliminate impunity and discrimination in the country. Authorities must periodically review legislation to ensure that discrimination on the basis of race, sexual orientation or ethnic group is not being promoted and to improve legislative effectiveness in eliminating such discrimination. According to AI, the Plan must also include measures to promote and guarantee respect for economic, social and cultural rights -- including the right to the highest level of health, the right to freely chosen or accepted work, the right to education, annd the right of all people to an adequate standard of living in terms of food, clothing and housing.

According to Peru's Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Comisión de Verdad y Reconciliación -- CVR), almost 24,000 people died or "disappeared" during Peru's internal armed conflict. Most were indigenous or peasant faarmers, living in a situation of poverty or extreme poverty. The CVR also concluded that racial and gender discrimination had contributed to the fact that these violations were committed with impunity for years, and not denounced by the general public.

DARFUR: RAPE AS A WEAPON OF WAR: SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
Amnesty International (AI). July 19, 2004.
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According to this new report from Amnesty International, girls as young as eight are being raped in Darfur, Sudan, and used as sex slaves. The mass rapes ongoing in Darfur are war crimes and crimes against humanity, asserts AI, but the international community is doing very little to stop it. Despite the regional and international focus on Darfur and promises by the Sudanese government to disarm the Janjawid militia there is still no protection for women and girls.

The report, based on hundreds of testimonies, reveals how women and girls are being raped, abducted and forced into sexual slavery by the Janjawid. In almost all attacks on villages recorded by Amnesty International, members of the government's army were either directly involved or were witnesses.

This creates far reaching economic and social consequences which make them vulnerable to further human rights abuses. Displacement has also made women and girls more vulnerable and has led to an increase in the number of early marriages as parents attempt to use marriage as a means of protecting their daughters.

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION DECLARING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, SUDAN. (S. CON. RES. 133)
United States Congress, 108th Congress, Second Session. July 22, 2004.
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This Senate Concurrent Resolution was passed by the House, then considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent in the Senate. It declares that the atrocities taking place in Darfur constitute "genocide" and demands further actions from the United Nations to stop the suffering.