A coalition of 76 non-governmental organizations has called for the Human Rights Committee to ask the Liberian government to bring proceedings for the international crimes committed during the two civil wars. The request should be relayed to Liberia during its appearance before the Committee on 9 and 10 July 2018.
Since the end of the second bloody conflict that tore Liberia apart until 2003, the only verdicts for the atrocities committed during the war have been pronounced outside the Liberian territory, in both Europe and the United States. During the 14 years that the two civil wars in Liberia lasted, the country was bled dry by summary executions, massacres, rapes and other forms of sexual violence, mutilations, torture, and the conscription of child soldiers.
TRIAL International has joined a coalition of NGOs requesting that the Liberian government introduces the judiciary necessary to prosecute the authors of these crimes in the country where they were committed. The solution involves creating a war crimes tribunal habilitated to prosecute former warlords and able to hold fair and credible trials.
Semka Agic was repeatedly raped during the war in the former Yugoslavia. She tells of her decade-long quest for justice, the endless procedural delays, and her feeling of victory when her aggressor was finally convicted.
Fourteen NGOs, including TRIAL International, have denounced Ali Mamluk’s official visit to Rome in February 2018. The former head of the Syrian intelligence services is suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In February 2018, the Head of the Syrian intelligence services, Ali Mamluk, met with senior security officials in Italy, the Minister of the Interior, Marco Minniti, and the Head of Italian intelligence services, Alberto Manenti. Yet Ali Mamluk is being investigated for crimes against humanity and war crimes in several countries, in Europe and beyond.
The NGO European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) submitted a complaint to the European Commission against the Italian government, on the grounds that travel restrictions imposed by the EU on Ali Mamluk have clearly been flouted.
More generally, the Council of Europe requires Member States to prevent those responsible for the violent repression against the civilian population in Syria from entering their territory. As the ECCHR points out, general Ali Mamluk, given his rank, cannot ignore the arbitrary arrests, forced detentions, and acts of torture committed in Syria since 2011.
TRIAL International has joined other civil society organizations to request the opening of proceedings against the Italian government with the European Commission. Senior officials of the Syrian regime must be prosecuted for their crimes, and not officially meet an EU Member State in the sole interests of its intelligence services.
Victims Seek Justice for 2005 Killings Linked to Ex-President Jammeh
Two Togolese have recently been discovered to be among about 50 West African migrants massacred in 2005 by a paramilitary unit controlled by former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International said today. The victims’ families said that the Togolese government should support efforts in Ghana to investigate and prosecute the case.
In July 2005, the Togolese nationals, Yawovi Agbogbo and Kossi Odeyi, left Senegal on board a motorized canoe with several dozen Ghanaians as well as Nigerians, Senegalese, Ivorians, and one Gambian, with a view to reaching Europe. Three days later, Agbogbo called his family to say that they had been arrested in Gambia, but they never heard from him again.
“We believe Yawovi Agbogbo and Kossi Odeyi were among those murdered along with the Ghanaians by a death squad taking orders from former President Jammeh,” said Reed Brody, counsel at Human Rights Watch. “We hope Togo’s government will support efforts in Ghana to bring their killers to justice.”
A report published on May 16, 2018 by Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International, revealed that the migrants were killed after being detained by Jammeh’s closest associates in the army, the navy, and the police. Some victims were cut up with machetes and axes and others were shot. The groups based their report on interviews with 30 Gambian former security officials, including 11 officers directly involved in the incident.
Following the publication of the report, several families of the Ghanaian victims called for justice for their relatives. Agbogbo’s family, after hearing information on the report on Radio France Internationale, also came forward.
“In July 2005, Yawovi had told me he was going to leave for Europe in a boat,” said Nestor Womeno, Yawovi Agbogbo’s brother. “Three days after that conversation, he called me from Gambia to tell me they had been arrested and were in a police station.” Womeno has not heard from his brother since. He later found out he had been killed, but said he did not know the circumstances until the report was published.
Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International found that on July 22, 2005, the anniversary of Jammeh’s taking power in the Gambia in 1994, the Gambian navy arrested the migrants and accused them of being mercenaries involved in a coup attempt.
Among the group of about 50 migrants, only Martin Kyere, a Ghanaian, is known to have survived. In February 2018, he told Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International that he managed to escape just before other migrants were apparently murdered: “I thought, ‘We’re going to die.’ But as the truck went deeper into the forest, I was able to get my hands free. I jumped out from the pickup and started to run into the forest. The soldiers shot toward me but I was able to hide. I then heard shots from the pickup and the cry, in Twi [Ghanaian language], ‘God save us!’”
Despite efforts by Ghana, whose nationals made up the greatest number of victims – about 40 – as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations to investigate the case, no arrests were made while Jammeh was in power.
A joint ECOWAS and UN report, which was never made public, concluded that the Gambian government was not “directly or indirectly complicit” in the killings and forced disappearances but that “rogue elements” in the Gambian security services, “acting on their own,” were responsible.
The evidence disclosed in Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International’s investigations, however, shows that those responsible for these murders were not “rogue elements” but the “Junglers,” a paramilitary unit operating under Jammeh’s orders.
In Ghana, Kyere, the victims’ families, and several human rights organizations have called on the government to investigate based on this new evidence and to ensure that Jammeh is extradited to Ghana for trial. In response, Ghana’s information minister, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, announced on May 28 that the Justice and Foreign Affairs Ministries were considering the Ghanaian victims’ request as well as the legal and diplomatic implications.
The two Togolese families added their voices to the appeal for prosecution of those responsible for these killings and said that Togo should support efforts for Ghana to investigate the crime. “We are calling for justice for our brother and compensation to enable us to support his two orphans’ education,” said Anani Aduro, the brother of Kossi Odeyi.
“Togo, which lost two of its citizens in the massacre, has a real role to play in this case” said Bénédict De Moerloose, head of criminal law and investigations for TRIAL International. “Togo will be able to support Ghana in uncovering the truth about these crimes. Togo will thus be able to participate in a justice effort of paramount importance.”
Jammeh’s 22-year rule in Gambia was marked by widespread abuses, including forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and arbitrary detention. He sought exile in Equatorial Guinea in January 2017 after losing the December 2016 presidential election to Adama Barrow.
Following Jammeh’s departure, Gambian and international human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International, opened the “Campaign to Bring Yahya Jammeh and his Accomplices to Justice” (#Jammeh2Justice) in October 2017. The campaign calls for the prosecution of the former president and others who bear the greatest responsibility for his government’s crimes, in compliance with international fair trial standards.
President Barrow has suggested that he would seek Jammeh’s extradition from Equatorial Guinea if the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, which is expected to begin work in Gambia in the next few months, recommends prosecuting the former president. However, the government, as well as international activists and experts, believe that the political, institutional and security conditions do not yet exist in Gambia for a fair trial of Jammeh that would contribute to the stability of the country and the region.
President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea has been more reticent. After saying in January that he would “analyze [any extradition request] with [his] lawyers,” a week later he said he wanted to protect Yahya Jammeh “to ensure that the other heads of state who have to leave power do not fear for subsequent harassment.”
The UN Convention against Torture, which Equatorial Guinea has ratified, requires a country in whose territory a torture suspect is found to refer the case for investigation or extradite that person.
On this international day, in support of victims of torture, TRIAL International would like to pay tribute to a victim it supported for almost 15 years in the quest for justice.
Discover the testimony of Abdennacer Naït Liman, a political refugee in Switzerland, as well as a victim and survivor of 40 days of detention and torture at the hands of the Tunisian authorities in 1992.
For her two raped daughters, Divine overcame her fears and testified in the courtroom: “We were pushed down and told we were lying, but we kept our head high. Little by little I felt my fear leaving me.”
The conviction of Eshetu Alemu last December for war crimes has brought to light the opportunities offered to victims of grave crimes by international justice. However, the latter can only be efficient if sufficient means are allocated to it. Valérie Paulet, expert on universal jurisdiction, examines the situation.
What message does Eshetu Alemu’s conviction convey, decades after the events?
Valérie Paulet: Firstly, that it is never too late! As shown by the scenes of jubilation during Hissène Habré’s conviction in 2017, time doesn’t erase the trauma experienced by the victims. Eshetu Alemu’s case is also proof that with necessary means and genuine independence, the prosecutors from “war crimes units” can accomplish an outstanding job.
Cases of universal jurisdiction and extraterritorial are complex. The research of evidence is made difficult by the time that has passed, by the fact that the crimes have been committed abroad, but also because of diplomatic obstacles. Therein lies all the interest of specialized units. They consist of professionals capable of overcoming the said difficulties and demonstrating remarkable relentlessness.
We can only regret that the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) doesn’t follow this example in all the cases that it handles. The merger of the “judicial assistance” department and the “war crimes” unit in 2015 is problematic, in terms of resource allocation for instance. Nevertheless, certain declarations from the OAG, like the referral for trial of two Liberian and Gambian cases concerning war crimes and crimes against humanity respectively, are encouraging.
In which way did the atrocities committed by Eshetu Alemu pertain to universal competence?
V.P.: Universal competence is most commonly invoked for crimes of torture, crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide. In this case, Eshetu Alemu was accused of participating in the “Red Terror” that raged in Ethiopia from the end of the 1970s.
He was convicted of participating in massacres, acts of torture and supervising the illegal detention, in inhumane and degrading conditions, of more than 300 people. These facts were described by the Dutch prosecutor as war crimes and by the Ethiopian prosecutor as crimes against humanity. In this respect, the offences committed by Eshetu Alemu fall within the scope of universal competence.
However, it must be stated that Eshetu Alemu acquired the Dutch nationality in the 1990s. Thus, the Netherlands and its jurisdictions were competent to judge him on the grounds of his nationality, and not by virtue of the principle of universal competence.
Who are the critics of universal competence?
V.P.: Universal jurisdiction is a stone in the shoes of diplomats. It can make relationships between States tense, as was the case between France and Morocco when a French judge summoned the Moroccan head of intelligence to appear.
But in democracy, justice must be independent and can therefore not be used as an instrument of negotiation. Universal jurisdiction is a last resort for thousands of victims who cannot obtain justice in their country. It prevents countries from becoming a refuge or a safe haven for war criminals.
Recognizing the need for good collaboration, TRIAL International partners with civil society actors to develop a toolbox to fight impunity for sexual violence more efficiently.
On 19 June, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, TRIAL International brought together representatives of approximately 30 organizations active in the fight against impunity for sexual violence. This meeting marked the beginning of a process that will lead to the creation of a toolbox. What will this toolbox contain, and who will use it? TRIAL International Director Philip Grant provides some answers.
What was the idea behind the creation of this toolbox?
Philip Grant: In the trials it was involved in, be it in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or elsewhere, TRIAL International has measured what an important role civil society could play: assisting to victims, pushing the authorities to open investigations, strengthening the capacity of lawyers, sometimes documenting crimes and finding suspects, or integrating the question of reparations in the context of trials to come.
No single organization can master these very broad skills cannot alone. It is therefore essential to be able to collaborate, exchange, implement strategies in a coordinated way to make the current procedures more effective, or to open new avenues. The existing ones are already so few that we cannot afford to be ineffective or to make mistakes.
Concretely, what will the toolbox contain?
P. G.: Many things! This is obviously not a toolbox in the physical sense, but a collection of technological apps, techniques or best practices to increase the effectiveness of the actors who would use it. How to document the crimes committed and safeguard the evidence in a secure manner? The toolbox meets this need. Do the lawyers who will defend the victims need support, training? Of what kind? The toolbox will answer these questions.
On the long run, perhaps it will also meet needs such as the provision of DNA analysis kits to incriminate the perpetrators, a technique to trace back an identified suspect taking refuge abroad or a directory to find forensic scientists willing to volunteer their time.
Sexual violence in conflict is extremely widespread. Do you honestly think this initiative can have an impact?
P.G.: We believe that change will only come one case, one trial at a time. By increasing our skills and our efficiency, these trials will become more and more numerous. Take the DRC in the last twelve months: through the work of TRIAL International and its partners, five soldiers or members of armed groups have been convicted. These decisions have a concrete impact for victims of sexual violence in the DRC: because some of them have obtained justice, others are slowly regaining hope. We have several other upcoming trials. If the toolbox can eventually replicate this type of success for one, five or even ten different contexts, then yes, this initiative will prove to be of great success.
Held captive by a warlord, Gloria went through hell: beating, starvation, sexual slavery. When she was set free, she faced judgment and mistrust from her family. So when her aggressor faced trial, she seized the occasion to finally tell her story.
On 12 June, the appeal trial of Kavumu Case began in Bukavu (DRC). The case relates to the rape of 40 girls for fetishist purposes and had shocked international public opinion.
By the end of 2017, the first instance judgment found 11 individuals guilty of crimes against humanity. TRIAL International had actively participated in the documentation of the crimes and closely collaborated with the victims’ lawyers.
An appeal as close as possible to the crimes
The Military High Court, which will examine the case, will exceptionally take place in Bukavu, the provincial capital of South Kivu. A very positive decision for the victims, as the judges will therefore be as close as possible to the crime’s location, the evidence and their testimonies. The Court will also examine three more cases TRIAL International has been working on in South Kivu: Musenyi, Mutarule and Marocain.
“It is rare that the High Military Court sits outside of the capital Kinshasa” explains Guy Mushiata, Human Rights Coordinator for TRIAL International. “It demonstrates that hearing the victims is paramount to the authorities are determined to hear the victims. After having been silenced for so long, they deserve those exceptional measures.”
TRIAL International expects that the hearings will unfold in the full respect of all the parties’ procedural rights, and that justice will be served for the victims.
In fifteen years of existence, TRIAL International has acquired an expertise in legal responses to sexual violence. Aware of the importance of good collaboration, the NGO has partnered with other civil society actors to gather practical tools for the assistance of victims.
For its fifteenth anniversary, TRIAL International is organizing a high-level event on the topic of conflict-related sexual violence. Many actors of this field will gather in Geneva on 18 and 19 June – the International day for the elimination of conflict-related sexual violence – to focus on the advances these organizations have conquered. The objective is to compile their experience and share concrete solutions.
“It is probably the first time that these NGOs, which have developed cutting-edge techniques or IT apps, show such willingness to collaborate. Each one will bring a piece of the puzzle to move forward, patiently and professionally, the fight against impunity for conflict-related sexual violence”, enthuses Philip Grant, Director of TRIAL International.
EXPERTS WILL PRESENT THEIR VICTORIES
The public event on 18 June will offer a panorama of the advances victims of conflict-related sexual violence have enjoyed in their access to justice. The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner to Human Rights Kate Gilmore and the Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations, Ambassador Valentin Zellweger, will deliver keynote speeches.
The evening will continue with a round-table of experts in the field, such as international jurist Céline Bardet, founder and President of the NGO We are not Weapons of War; British lawyer Ingrid Eliott MBE, who is a member of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative Team of Experts ; Maxine Marcus, Director of the Transitional Justice Clinic and Specialist in Prosecution and Investigation of Conflict-related Sexual Violence; and Daniele Perissi, Legal Advisor and Head of TRIAL International’s program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The round-table will be moderated by Manon Schick, Director of Amnesty International’s Swiss Section. Finally, testimonies of sexual violence victims will be screened, as well as an address by Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege, “the man who mends women” and Pramila Patten, United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
WORKSHOPS TOWARDS CONCRETE SOLUTIONS
On 19 June, a series of workshops will bring together over 30 organizations active in the prosecution of sexual violence perpetrators. They will present the practical, tried-and-tested tools they have developed, which will later be compiled in a toolbox, conceived as a best practices manual for civil society organizations.
For Philip Grant, it should “support local initiatives against impunity for these crimes by reinforcing local actors’ documenting, investigative or security, for instance through the elaboration of legal strategies and trainings.”
SPONSORS AND PARTNERS
The event is sponsored, among others, by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Republic and Canton of Geneva, the City of Geneva, the Cottier Donzé Foundation, the Barbour Foundation, the Geneva Bar Association and the LALIVE practice.
The Swiss Federal Criminal Court (FCC) has overturned a decision of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to dismiss the case of former Algerian minister Khaled Nezzar, who is suspected of war crimes. In a landmark 50-page decision, the FCC rules that an armed conflict did exist in Algeria in the early 1990s and that General Nezzar was aware of the countless crimes committed under his command. Consequently, the case is referred back the OAG, who will have to resume the investigation.
Was there an armed conflict in Algeria before 1994? By answering in the negative in January 2017, the OAG had closed the investigation into General Khaled Nezzar, the former Algerian Minister of Defence, suspected of war crimes during his time in office. According to the OAG, without an armed conflict, there cannot be any war crimes; without war crimes, there cannot be any prosecution.
The FCC overruled the OAG. Following a detailed legal reasoning, it concluded that “the requirement of a non-international armed conflict in Algeria between January 1992 and January 1994 is fulfilled”. The Court judged that the crimes were indeed committed in the context of such a conflict, and that the former minister could therefore face charges of war crimes, and even potentially charges of crimes against humanity.
For Bénédict De Moerloose, Head of TRIAL International’s Investigations and Criminal Law Division, “this historic decision now forces the OAG to address the issue of Khaled Nezzar’s personal responsibility. Especially as the Court affirmed that he could not have ignored the abuses committed by his subordinates.”
Indeed, according to the FCC, “there is no doubt that [Khaled Nezzar] was aware of the acts committed under his orders”. Extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and acts of torture, the list of abuses is long. The description of some of these acts is chilling: beatings with sticks, wire and belts, nail pulling, cigarette burns, etc. According to the FCC, the widespread and systematic nature of such acts could qualify as crimes against humanity.
“The OAG’s arguments were fully dismissed,” according to Pierre Bayenet, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers who appealed against the dismissal. “In five years of investigation and after hearing dozens of witnesses without ever raising the issue of the existence of an armed conflict, the decision to shut down the case was just incomprehensible.”
“It is an immense relief for the victims who finally see their suffering recognized,” said Damien Chervaz, the other lawyer defending the plaintiffs. “The OAG must now resume the investigation and quickly decide if Khaled Nezzar should stand trial.”
The Nezzar case at a glance
Khaled Nezzar was Minister of Defence and a member of the High Council of State in Algeria from 1992 to 1994. In October 2011, following the filing of a criminal complaint by TRIAL International, he was taken into custody and questioned in Switzerland. Khaled Nezzar was suspected of having authorized or incited his subordinates to commit acts of torture, murder, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and other acts constituting war crimes. He was released in exchange of a promise to comply with subsequent court summons.
Context
The “Black Decade” in Algeria (1992-2000) is believed to have resulted in some 200,000 deaths or disappearances. Human rights violations were widespread in the country and the use of torture was systematic. As head of the army and de facto leader of the regime, Khaled Nezzar was in charge of troops who committed countless abuses. Those crimes were left unpunished. Nobody has ever been prosecuted in Algeria, let alone convicted for those crimes.
Chronology of the case
19 October 2011: Khaled Nezzar is reported to be present in Switzerland. TRIAL International files a criminal complaint with the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (OAG), which opens an investigation.
20 October 2011: Khaled Nezzar is taken into custody and questioned by the OAG until 21 October, before being released in exchange of the promise to participate in subsequent proceedings.
January 2012: Khaled Nezzar files an appeal against the opening of the investigation, arguing that his position as Minister of Defence at the time protected him from criminal prosecution in Switzerland.
31 July 2012: The Swiss Federal Criminal Court (FCC) issues a landmark decision following the appeal and rejects Khaled Nezzar’s claim, considering that immunity cannot be invoked for crimes under international law (war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide).
2011 to 2016: Five victims file complaints and sixteen people are heard in the proceedings.
16 to 18 November 2016: The OAG hears Khaled Nezzar once again.
4 January 2017: The OAG dismisses the case.
16 January 2017: The plaintiffs file an appeal before the FCC against the dismissal order.
6 June 2018: The FCC overturns the decision of the OAG, which must now resume the investigation.
Twenty years behind bars for the rape of two minors: the judgment given in March 2017 by a Court in Bukavu – in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – against a policeman shows that sexual violence will not go unpunished. Two years earlier, a soldier was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for the rape of two women in the same area. “Thanks to the work conducted by TRIAL International and other civil society actors, victims of sexual violence stand a better chance at obtaining justice”, says Lucie Canal, legal officer at TRIAL International.
Although sexual violence is committed by all parties to the conflict, it is often ignored or minimized. Convicting perpetrators of such crimes – in particular if these are committed during the exercise of official functions – sends a strong message: wearing a uniform is no guarantee of impunity.
To date, TRIAL International has been able to ensure that no fewer than 19 cases, involving 232 victims, were brought to justice. Five of these cases have led to a conviction for international crimes, either for sexual slavery or for rape as a crime against humanity. It is worth noting that TRIAL and its partners increasingly resort to new technologies in their documentation and litigation work. The organization has also trained 155 lawyers, prosecutors and human rights defenders to use innovative tools and techniques when documenting and prosecuting sexual and gender-based crimes.
In Bosnia Herzegovina (BiH), TRIAL International’s work has led to the conviction of ten former soldiers for rapes committed between 1992 and 1995. In one of these cases, the Court of BiH ordered in 2015 that the victim, a minor at the time of the events, be provided with compensation.
PRACTICAL TOOLS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Despite the progressive development of international jurisprudence related to sexual violence, the deterrent effect remains weak and those crimes still constitute a common practice. According to TRIAL International, collaboration between all actors involved in the fight against impunity needs to be reinforced.
On 18 and 19 June, TRIAL International will be hosting an event, during which civil society organizations will present the tools they use to gather evidence, ensure the traceability of multimedia’s content, submit cases before national and international jurisdictions… Those tools, developed and tested by TRIAL International’s partners, will then be gathered in a toolbox designed for human rights defenders.
This toolbox will contain innovative legal strategies, mobile applications for the collection of evidence, guidelines for a more effective use of forensic evidence or for better data protection… Pooling such a large spectrum of tools will enable civil society actors to better support vicitms in their quest for justice.
In November 2017, the TRIAL International team undertook a fact-finding mission in Rwanda. The goal was to identify cases of sexual violence committed in Burundi during the crisis that erupted in April 2015.
The TRIAL team spoke to 41 victims, including 28 women and 13 men. Three victims were minors at the time of the events; the youngest was 11 and the oldest 53 years old.
Similar facts
Most of the crimes documented were committed between April and December 2015 and bear similarities depending on the victim’s sex:
Women were generally at their home when they suffered repeated rapes, often accompanied by insults, threats, and beatings.
Men usually suffered abuse following their arrest: during questioning or in a detention facility, whether official or not. They were all subject to similar methods of torture of a sexual nature.
In most cases, victims were targeted due to suspected or proven opposition to the regime. As such, they were attacked on account of their political activism, due to their participation in protests against a third term, for their family’s political opinions, because they lived in so-called “challenging” neighborhoods, or due to suspected links with armed opposition groups.
Without fail, the crimes were committed by state agents or individuals under their authority. In most cases, the atrocities suffered were the result of coordinated actions between the Imbonerakure (the youth wing of the ruling party) and members of defense and security forces, namely police officers, the national intelligence service (SNR), or the army.
Reports to denounce the abuse
TRIAL International decided to make the voice of survivors of sexual violence heard among key actors of the international community by presenting to them the results of the fact-finding mission.
Reports tailored to the mandates of the organizations contacted were therefore submitted to the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the Special Rapporteur on Rights of Women in Africa, and other experts in sexual and gender-based violence.
“Sexual violence is too often underdocumented and underreported because there is still a great taboo around the subject. Thanks to these reports, we hope to raise awareness and encourage the international community to be more committed to helping such victims,” concludes Pamela Capizzi, head of Burundi program, “it is time to put an end to abuse and the impunity of the responsible.”
TRIAL International’s activity report for 2017 is hosted on its own website.
TRIAL International already started its metamorphosis in 2016 during the launch of its new identity. And now, the organization takes on a new internal project: organizational development that will enable it to cement its rapid growth in the past few years.
In 2003, one year and after its inception, TRIAL International (which was then named TRIAL – Track Impunity Always), consisted of 95 members, none of which were paid employees. It currently has more than 30 employees on fixed-term contracts in 7 different countries and several thousand members.
The need to restructure in order to tackle current and future challenges has gradually become more evident. And it is naturally that a process of internal development started in the end of 2017.
“As an organization of the civil society, we should always work towards more efficiency and sustainability”, explains Philip Grant, Director of TRIAL International. “It goes with our legal expertise, but also with an optimization of our work habits.”
A collective and consultative approach
The organizational development will provide clearer roles for each stakeholder and enhance collaboration between a cross section of programs. The internal expertise, for example regarding sexual violence and investigation techniques, will be therefore better exploited. This expertise will also be accessible to external actors, as TRIAL seeks to develop around her a network of NGOs working in the same field.
The process earns its legitimacy in what made TRIAL’s strength until now: a fully-fledged commitment from its staff, in Geneva as in the field. All the employees are therefore actors of the process, which aspire to be as transparent and consultative as possible. A steering group and thematic sub group ensure that all employees are apprised and represented.
Specialized partners in civil society actors
To accompany its transition, TRIAL International benefits from the support of its expert partners: : in part from the PeaceNexus Foundation, which provides advice and expertise to actors working to consolidate peace and finances such pursuits, and from Philanthropy Advisors on the other hand, a consultancy firm in the humanitarian field.
“This organizational development will enable us to work more efficiently, and to better serve the victims that we represent. It is a pledge of maturity and credibility for the organization that we can rejoice in”, concludes Philip Grant.
The members of TRIAL International are invited to its General Assembly, thereby contributing to shaping the organization’s future.
The 2018 General Assembly will take place on Wednesday 23 May from 6:30pm in Geneva.
Venue
Maison des Associations – Room Zazi Sadou (basement)
15, rue des Savoises
1205 – Geneva
Violence and repression have been on the rise, casting a dark shadow on the referendum’s outcome.
On 17 May 2018, Burundian citizens have voted in favor of a Constitutional reform. The current president, Pierre Nkurunziza, will now be able to run for two new seven-year-terms – allowing him to stay in power until 2034.
Unchecked vote yield unsurprising outcome
There was little doubt about the referendum’s outcome. All dissenting voices, from human rights defenders to the media, have been increasingly muzzled ahead of the 17 May. The clampdown culminated with the suspension of the BBC and Voice of America. No international observer has been deployed in the country to monitor the vote.
“Burundi has increasingly isolated itself in the recent years” said Pamela Capizzi, head of TRIAL International’s Burundi program. “The authorities’ clampdown comes as no surprise, but it remains extremely worrying that mass abuse may be happening unimpeded and unmonitored.”
A “CAMPAIGN OF TERROR”
Since the adoption of the draft revision of the Burundian constitution, international and local human rights organizations have denounced a “campaign of terror” led by the government, pressuring the population to vote in favor of the constitutional amendment.
Indeed, a wave of violence has been observed in the run-up to the vote. The list of victims of assassinations, enforced disappearances, torture and arbitrary arrests has soared.
A PERSISTING CRISIS
Despite the end of the 2006 civil war that killed more than 300,000 citizens, serious human rights violations are still being recorded. Burundi had indeed been in crisis during the 2010 election period.
The Burundian constitution allowing the president to accumulate only two terms, the candidacy of Pierre Nkurunziza for a third in 2015 had led to a new crisis accompanied by major violence and repression. At the end of 2016, Burundi became the first country to leave the ICC.
IMPUNITY AS A COMMON BOND
The current crisis in Burundi resonates with the crises of its neighboring countries, notably the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In both countries, the current Presidents want to stay in power at all costs.
“The political crisis also persists in DRC, says Daniele Perissi, head of DRC program, impunity remains widespread and a profound change must take place on all levels to allow a return to calm.”
Between eastern DRC suffering from growing insecurity linked to the electoral context and the political crisis in Burundi, on both sides of the border, the civilian population remains the first victim of violence.
A paramilitary unit controlled by then-Gambian president Yahya Jammeh summarily executed more than 50 Ghanaian, Nigerian, and other West African migrants in July 2005, Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International said today.
Interviews with 30 former Gambian officials, including 11 officers directly involved in the incident, reveal that the migrants, who were bound for Europe but were suspected of being mercenaries intent on overthrowing Jammeh, were murdered after having been detained by Jammeh’s closest deputies in the army, navy, and police forces. The witnesses identified the “Junglers,” a notorious unit that took its orders directly from Jammeh, as those who carried out the killings.
“The West African migrants weren’t murdered by rogue elements, but by a paramilitary death squad taking orders from President Jammeh,” said Reed Brody, counsel at Human Rights Watch. “Jammeh’s subordinates then destroyed key evidence to prevent international investigators from learning the truth.”
Martin Kyere, the sole known Ghanaian survivor; the families of the disappeared; the family of Saul N’dow, another Ghanaian killed under Jammeh; and Ghanaian human rights organizations on May 16, 2018, called on the Ghanaian government to investigate the new evidence and potentially seek Jammeh’s extradition and prosecution in Ghana.
Jammeh’s 22-year rule was marked by widespread abuses, including forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and arbitrary detention. He sought exile in Equatorial Guinea in January 2017 after losing the December 2016 presidential election to Adama Barrow.
The insiders interviewed by TRIAL International and Human Rights Watch include some of the highest-ranking security commanders in the Gambian government at the time, as well as several officials present at the arrest, detention, and transfer of the migrants, a Jungler who witnessed the killings, and two who participated in a subsequent cover-up. Another Jungler who witnessed the killings was interviewed on the radio.
They said that the migrants – including some 44 Ghanaians and several Nigerians – were arrested in July 2005 at a beach where they had landed, then transferred to the Gambian Naval Headquarters in Banjul, the capital. They were detained there in the presence of the inspector general of police, the director general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the chief of the defense staff, and the commander of the National Guards. At least two of them were in telephone contact with Jammeh during the operation. The head and several members of the paramilitary Junglers were also there.
The officials divided the migrants into groups and then turned them over to the Junglers. Over one week, the Junglers summarily executed them near Banjul and along the Senegal-Gambia border near Jammeh’s hometown of Kanilai.
Kyere was detained in a Banjul police station, then driven into the forest. In February 2018, he explained to Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International how he escaped, just before other migrants were apparently killed.
“We were in the back of a pickup truck,” he said. “One man complained that the wires binding us were too tight and a soldier with a cutlass sliced him on the shoulder, cutting his arm, which bled profusely. It was then that I thought, ‘We’re going to die.’ But as the truck went deeper into the forest, I was able to get my hands free. I jumped out from the pickup and started to run into the forest. The soldiers shot toward me but I was able to hide. I then heard shots from the pickup and the cry, in Twi [Ghanaian language], ‘God save us!’”
Kyere helped the Ghanaian authorities identify many of the dead and travelled around Ghana to locate their families and promote efforts to seek justice.
Despite measures in ensuing years by Ghana as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations (UN) to investigate the case, no arrests have ever been made.
The Bulletin of the UN Department of Public Affairs said that an ECOWAS/UN report, never made public, concluded that the Gambian government was not “directly or indirectly complicit” in the deaths and disappearances but rather that “rogue elements” in Gambia’s security services “acting on their own” were probably responsible.
The new evidence makes clear, however, that those responsible for the killings were the Junglers, who were not rogue elements, but a disciplined unit operating under Jammeh.
In October 2017, Gambian and international rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, and TRIAL International, launched the “Campaign to Bring Yahya Jammeh and his Accomplices to Justice” (#Jammeh2Justice), which calls for prosecuting Jammeh and others who bear the greatest responsibility for his government’s crimes under international fair trial standards.
President Barrow of The Gambia has suggested that he would seek Jammeh’s extradition from Equatorial Guinea if his prosecution was recommended by the country’s Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, which is expected to begin work in the next few months with an initial two-year mandate. The government and international activists and academics have said that the political, institutional and security conditions do not yet exist in The Gambia for a fair trial of Yahya Jammeh which would contribute to Gambia’s stability.
President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea said in January that he would “analyze [any extradition request] with [his] lawyers.” A week later, however, he said “we have to protect him [Jammeh], we have to respect him as a former African head of state, because that is what is going to ensure that the other heads of state of Africa who have to leave power do not fear for subsequent harassment.”
Ghanaian groups noted that the UN Convention against Torture, which Equatorial Guinea has ratified, requires a country in whose territory a torture suspect is found to refer the case for investigation or extradite that person.
“Our investigation has enabled us to get closer to the truth about this horrible massacre,” said Benedict De Moerloose, head of Criminal Law and Investigations for TRIAL International. “The time has now come to deliver justice for the victims and their families.”
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