A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR
2016, a year for action
Dear friends,
2015 ended on a high note, with three new cases won before international human rights protection bodies – bringing TRIAL to a total of 64 cases won and over 300 victims helped.
With each victory impunity loses ground, and victims of international crimes finally get closer to justice. It is for them we work tirelessly from Geneva, Sarajevo, Bujumbura, Bukavu, Kathmandu, etc. We could not accomplish our mission without your support, for which I wish to thank you sincerely.
Many challenges will arise in 2016: the situations in Burundi and the DRC are more critical than ever; torturers and executioners commit their crimes in all impunity and thousands of victims still have no access to justice.
This year, let us put our forces together to give the word justice its full weight.
Philip Grant, TRIAL director
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Human Rights Committee recognises government responsibility in new torture case
In yet another landmark decision, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) has recognised the responsibility of the Nepalese government in the case of Mr Ang Dorje Sherpa, litigated by TRIAL. It is the first time the HRC rendered a decision on gross human rights violations which occurred in the aftermath of the conflict.
Sherpa, a trek carrier and cook, was arrested and tortured on 18July 2007. He was kept in inhumane conditions, being denied food and water. On the following day, he was released and never faced any charges.
In its decision, the HRC requires Nepal to:
- Investigate the case and prosecute the perpetrators
- Provide reparations, including medical care, to Sherpa and his family
- Criminalize torture, as it is currently only considered a civil offense
- Inform the public of the decision
TRIAL welcomes this decision and urges the government to take concrete measures towards the HRC’s requirements. In the past, Nepal has consistently ignored HRC decisions.
Read more about the Sherpa case
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DRC
Family of human rights defender seeks justice
Pascal Kabungulu, a prominent Congolese human rights defender, was murdered on 31 July 2005. Ten years later, his family hopes for justice to finally prevail.
Kabungulu was killed by soldiers in his own house. He had previously been the object of numerous threats for his denunciation of corruption in South Kivu. His family, also under threat, fled the country mere days after his murder. Kabungulu’s widow, Déborah Kitumaini, and their six children have now found refuge in Canada.
Déborah Kitumaini has tried for years to seek justice, to no avail. On 8 February, with the support of TRIAL and the Canadian Centre for International Justice, she filed a complaint before the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
This case is representative of the impunity in the DRC and the danger human rights defenders are exposed to today. In the current context, it sends a strong message to Congolese authorities.
Read more on the Kabungulu case (in French)
Read the interview of Déborah Kitumaini
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BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Families of missing people deserve to know the truth
Around 30’000 people went missing during the conflict in BiH – almost a third of total casualties. Two decades after the war, their families still hope to find out the truth about their loved ones.
Nine members of the Ribic family were killed by Serb paramilitaries in 1992. Aged eight at the time the crimes occurred, Zijo was shot and thrown into a pit with his parents and siblings. He miraculously survived, and has been desperate ever since to find out what happened to his family. On 17 January, after years of inquiries, he buried the remains of his four sisters, aged four to thirteen when they were murdered. He is still looking for his three missing siblings.
Although several new mass graves have been found in the last years, 8’000 people are still missing in BiH. In 2012, an estimated 3’000 human remains across the country were still unidentified. Samples collection operations have therefore been organised, the preliminary phase of which should be finished in 2016.
In BiH, TRIAL provides legal help to the families of missing individuals and closely cooperates with victims' associations. The organisation welcomes the government’s efforts to unearth the truth about the war and urges it to further acknowledge the victims’ need for justice and act accordingly.
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Worsening crisis triggers international response
As the situation in Burundi continues to deteriorate and new patterns of violations emerge, the international community is increasing its efforts to find a peaceful exit to the crisis.
The situation further worsened in the last weeks, with the discovery of mass graves and a sharp increase of enforced disappearances and torture cases. In December alone, 29 new cases of torture have been documented, as well as 42 new cases of ill treatment. A new trend of sexual violence by security forces is also spreading rapidly. According to the UN High Commissionner for Human Rights, this crisis increasingly seems to have an ethnical dimension.
On 21 January, the UN Security Council Ambassadors arrived in Bujumbura, hoping to improve political dialogue and to consider the deployment of a peacekeeping mission.
Notwithstanding the deteriorating situation, TRIAL continues its fight against impunity in Burundi. For the protection of both victims and human rights defenders, it operates under a strict confidentiality policy.
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“Renew the hope of victims”
This month, TRIAL launches a new training cycle for Congolese lawyers, in collaboration with the Bukavu Bar Association. The first training cycle in 2015 was highly successful.
Over the year, six lawyers from the South-Kivu province will receive a training on case referrals to international human rights protection bodies. In order to durably reinforce their capacities, they will learn useful techniques to defend their fellow countrymen at the national, regional and international levels.
“For the last 20 years I have been defending victims, and I saw many of my cases blocked before national jurisdictions. I often thought I had reached the limits of my capacities, but now the referral to international bodies will allow me to renew the hope of victims”, says Sylvestre Bisimwa, lawyer at the Bukavu Bar Association and the International Criminal Court.
The 15 lawyers trained in 2015 will join the sessions as trainers and mentors to the new participants, thereby creating the foundations of a human rights defenders community in a region where violations remain widespread.
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