Public Policy
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from public policy organizations whose goal it is to influence the debate Washington.
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Salvation Army International: Prayer Requested Following Deadly Attack in Sulawesi, Indonesia
LONDON, England, Nov. 30 -- The Salvation Army International issued the following news on Nov. 28:
WITH great sadness, The Salvation Army confirms that an attack upon the Lewono Lembantongoa Outpost, Indonesia, on Friday 27 November 2020 has claimed the lives of four members. A Salvation Army outpost is a locality in which Army work is carried out and where it is hoped a society or corps will eventually develop.
Lewono Lembantongoa is in a very rural area of Sigi Regency, Central Sulawesi, situated on the edge of the Indonesian rainforest. During the morning of 27 November, the community was
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LONDON, England, Nov. 30 -- The Salvation Army International issued the following news on Nov. 28:
WITH great sadness, The Salvation Army confirms that an attack upon the Lewono Lembantongoa Outpost, Indonesia, on Friday 27 November 2020 has claimed the lives of four members. A Salvation Army outpost is a locality in which Army work is carried out and where it is hoped a society or corps will eventually develop.
Lewono Lembantongoa is in a very rural area of Sigi Regency, Central Sulawesi, situated on the edge of the Indonesian rainforest. During the morning of 27 November, the community wassubjected to a savage attack, during which The Salvation Army's building was burned down along with six homes of members. Sadly, four members of the outpost were killed.
Major Erik Kape (Divisional Commander, East Palu) and colleague officers acted immediately to support the local leaders, coordinating with police and with government officials of the Sigi Regency and Central Sulawesi Province who are increasing protection for the villages in the area and investigating the incident.
In a press statement released across Indonesia, The Salvation Army invites all churches and religious associations - along with community members - to support each other vigilantly in these days, enhancing security through strong communication networks across the villages of the area.
Territorial Commander for Indonesia, Colonel Yusak Tampai, urges Salvationists in the region to 'remain calm but alert and careful, spreading a strong message of hope and uniting in prayer to strengthen each other'. Throughout Indonesia on Sunday 29 November, Salvationists are called to observe a three-minute silence and to pray for grieving families and congregations, asking for God's peace to be poured upon the region. Some will be gathered for public worship while others are confined to home due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Noting that The Salvation Army serves in 131 countries and that the world continues to convulse with disturbing levels of violence affecting many of its people, General Brian Peddle, international leader of The Salvation Army, denounces any such acts. 'Throughout all aspects of Salvation Army ministry and influence we work for peace,' he says.
'We find the news from Lembantongoa greatly disturbing. Our hearts go out to our people who have been victims of evil, and to the families of those whose faith have caused such harm. I call upon all Salvationists to pray for each person who has been affected, for the continuing witness of our people, and for healing in the communities. I ask our global community to join us in this prayer, and believe that as peace finds its place, evil will be defeated.
'As General, I assure our people in Indonesia of our deep love and prayers,' he concludes.
Messages of support and unity have been received from Indonesian church leaders. The Communion of Churches in Indonesia is inviting Christian families in Indonesia to light a candle at the beginning of Advent this Sunday as a symbol of the continuing hope found in Christ. The Salvation Army is a significant church presence in Indonesia, with more than 60,000 members.
The Salvation Army in Indonesia values this unity from fellow Christians and greatly welcomes prayer support from Salvationists worldwide.
[Category: Sociological]
Riverkeeper: Statement on Gov. Cuomo's Veto of Bill to Protect 41,000 Miles of NY's Headwater Streams and Creeks
OSSINING, New York, Nov. 30 -- Riverkeeper issued the following news release:
Governor Andrew Cuomo has vetoed legislation that will extend the Department of Environmental Conservation's Protection of Waters Program to class C streams intended to provide oversight to projects which may disturb stream banks or beds. Class AA, A, B and C trout streams already require permits for covered activities. Riverkeeper and our partner organizations have documented waterways across the Hudson River Estuary and New York that are misclassified, leaving our drinking water sources vulnerable to pollution. For
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OSSINING, New York, Nov. 30 -- Riverkeeper issued the following news release:
Governor Andrew Cuomo has vetoed legislation that will extend the Department of Environmental Conservation's Protection of Waters Program to class C streams intended to provide oversight to projects which may disturb stream banks or beds. Class AA, A, B and C trout streams already require permits for covered activities. Riverkeeper and our partner organizations have documented waterways across the Hudson River Estuary and New York that are misclassified, leaving our drinking water sources vulnerable to pollution. Forexample, Peekskill's water supply source, Peekskill Hollow Brook, is misclassified as an unprotected Class C waterway when it should receive the protection afforded to Class AA and A waterbodies which protect drinking water sources.
"Governor Cuomo passed up a real opportunity to safeguard tens of thousands of miles of headwater streams and creeks in New York," said Riverkeeper Legislative Advocacy Manager, Jeremy Cherson. "Half of New York's streams are vulnerable to degradation and are not protected by DEC's Protection of Waters Program, leaving them vulnerable to disturbance and destruction. This veto was a mistake, since it is cheaper to protect streams proactively than spend far more later to restore them once the damage is done. We urge the Governor to work with the legislature to protect our drinking water and fish habitat by strengthening the Protection of Waters Program."
The legislation, S5612A/A8349 is sponsored by Senator Pete Harckham and Assemblyman Sean Ryan. The legislation passed the state senate in both the 2019 and 2020 session, while passing in the Assembly in 2020.
[Category: Environment]
Human Rights Watch: Tanzania - Burundian Refugees 'Disappeared,' Tortured
NEW YORK, Kenya, Nov. 30 (TNSRes) -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:
Tanzanian authorities have gravely abused at least 18 Burundian refugees and asylum seekers since late 2019. The whereabouts of several who were forcibly disappeared remain unknown, and additional Burundians may have suffered similar abuse.
Between October 2019 and August 2020, Tanzanian police and intelligence services forcibly disappeared, tortured, and arbitrarily detained at least 11 Burundians for up to several weeks in abysmal conditions in a police station in Kibondo, Kigoma region. Three were released
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NEW YORK, Kenya, Nov. 30 (TNSRes) -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:
Tanzanian authorities have gravely abused at least 18 Burundian refugees and asylum seekers since late 2019. The whereabouts of several who were forcibly disappeared remain unknown, and additional Burundians may have suffered similar abuse.
Between October 2019 and August 2020, Tanzanian police and intelligence services forcibly disappeared, tortured, and arbitrarily detained at least 11 Burundians for up to several weeks in abysmal conditions in a police station in Kibondo, Kigoma region. Three were releasedin Tanzania, and Tanzanian authorities forcibly returned the other eight to Burundi in August, where they have been detained without charge. Tanzanian police have arrested and forcibly disappeared seven other refugees and asylum seekers since January 2020. The arrests occurred in Mtendeli and Nduta refugee camps in Kigoma region, near the border with Burundi.
"Tanzanian authorities' enforced disappearances of Burundian refugees and asylum seekers in Tanzania are heinous crimes, not least because of the anguish and suffering caused to family members, many of whom fled similar abuses in Burundi," said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The Tanzanian government should urgently and impartially investigate allegations that Burundians have been abducted, tortured, and illegally handed over to Burundian authorities, and ensure that those responsible are held to account."
More than 150,000 Burundian refugees live in camps in Tanzania, many of whom fled violence in Burundi after then-president Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a disputed third term in 2015. The Tanzanian government has been pressing the refugees to return to Burundi.
Between August and November 2020, Human Rights Watch conducted phone interviews with 23 victims of abuses, witnesses, and victims' family members. Seven other sources working in the camps who did not wish to be identified corroborated the accounts of victims and family members.
All the cases documented indicate that Tanzanian authorities were involved in the enforced disappearances. Nine of the victims said they were held incommunicado for up to several weeks at Kibondo police station and that their families were not informed of their whereabouts. Tanzanian intelligence agents or police interrogated detainees about alleged affiliation with armed groups and possession of weapons, their activities in the camp, and in some cases asked for money to release them.
The Burundians said that Tanzanian police detained them in rooms with no electricity or windows, took them to a separate building on the police station grounds, and hanged them from the ceiling by their handcuffs. Some said that police and intelligence agents gave them electric shocks, rubbed their faces and genitals with chili, and beat and whipped them. In some cases, police and intelligence officers told them they had received information from Burundian authorities about them, suggesting collusion between agents from the two countries.
A Burundian refugee who spent 23 days at Kibondo police station in July described being hung from the ceiling by his handcuffs: "We screamed as if we were being crucified.... They said they wanted one million [Tanzanian] shillings [US$430]." When he said he was unable to pay, the police accused him of discouraging refugees from returning to Burundi and of trying to destabilize Burundi. "They used bike spokes to pierce our genitals and rubbed chili on them," he said. "We ate once every three days ... they said they were going to kill us."
When told he could remain in detention in Tanzania or be transferred to Burundian authorities, he pleaded with them to let him return to Burundi. He and seven other Burundians who were returned in August have been detained since then in Muramvya and Bubanza prisons in Burundi. They said Burundian national intelligence agents briefly presented them before a judicial official in August, without any lawyers present, who repeated the Tanzanian authorities' accusations of attempting to destabilize Burundi before ordering their transfer to prison. None of the detainees have seen a judge or been formally charged since.
In the cases of the seven other refugees and asylum seekers arrested by the police, family members said they had received no response from police officers in the camps when they asked where their loved ones were. Some of them have also contacted the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
In response to Human Rights Watch's request for information on these allegations, UNHCR said it was deeply concerned over reports of disappearances of refugees in Tanzania and had repeatedly expressed these concerns with the Tanzanian authorities both orally and in writing, requesting a full investigation and providing a written report to the government. UNHCR wrote: "After multiple inquiries, the government informed UNHCR in August that a high-level investigation was underway. We have not been informed of any results regarding this investigation. We continue to raise this issue with the government as a matter of urgency." UNHCR concluded: "The physical security of refugees is the responsibility of the country hosting them and to that end UNHCR calls for the Tanzanian authorities to take all the necessary measures to ensure the security of Burundian refugees, in line with their international obligations."
Human Rights Watch sent letters on October 26 providing information about the documented cases and queries about investigations to Tanzania's director of public prosecutions, director of refugee services at the Ministry of Home Affairs, and inspector general of police. On November 18, Human Rights Watch wrote to the Burundian foreign affairs and justice ministers to request information on the eight Burundians who are currently detained in Muramvya and Bubanza prisons. Human Rights Watch has not received any responses.
Tanzania's transfer of detained Burundian refugees and asylum seekers to Burundi without basic due process violates the international legal prohibition against refoulement, the forcible return of anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture, or other ill-treatment, or a threat to their life.
In Burundi, serious human rights violations against real or perceived opposition supporters, including returning refugees, put them at risk, Human Rights Watch said. A UN Human Rights Council-mandated Commission of Inquiry reported in September that serious human rights violations have persisted in Burundi since 2019. The commission found that some returnees continued to face hostility from local officials and the ruling party's youth wing, the Imbonerakure, and that "[r]eturnees have sometimes been victims of serious violations that have forced them to go back into exile."
"We are concerned that the Burundians who have been disappeared face a fate like those already unlawfully returned to Burundi, or worse," Segun said. "Tanzanian authorities should make every effort to locate these people, notify their families, and provide them with the basic rights due to refugees the world over."
Burundian Refugees in Tanzania
Tanzania has hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees over the past few decades and offered citizenship to tens of thousands who had been in the country since 1972. However, the country also has a troubling history of forced returns and in 2017 revoked prima facie status - which had recognized refugee status based simply on nationality - for Burundian refugees. Since 2018, many Burundian asylum seekers have encountered obstacles to registration.
As of October 31, 2020, over 150,000 Burundian refugees were in three camps - Nduta, Nyarugusu, and Mtendeli - in Tanzania's Kigoma region near the Burundi border. Many fled Burundi after then-president Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a disputed third term in 2015 triggered a widespread human rights crisis.
Between September 2017 and September 2020, almost 100,000 Burundians returned from Tanzania to Burundi under an agreement among Burundi, Tanzania, and the UNHCR, which is to conduct detailed interviews with refugees to ensure they are leaving Tanzania voluntarily. UNHCR has reiterated since 2019, and most recently in September 2020, that it "does not promote returns to Burundi" but will continue to facilitate "informed voluntary" repatriations. It has noted that "Tanzania plans to facilitate the repatriation of 20,000 Burundian refugees between September and December 2020."
In March 2018, Tanzania and Burundi agreed to repatriate 2,000 Burundians a week, and an August 2019 agreement between Tanzania and Burundi announced that all the refugees were "to return to their country of origin whether voluntarily or not" by December 31 of that year.
A Human Rights Watch report (https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/12/12/tanzania-burundians-pressured-leaving) in December 2019 found that the fear of violence, arbitrary arrest, and deportation was driving many Burundian refugees and asylum seekers in Tanzania out of the country. Tanzanian officials specifically targeted parts of the Burundian refugee population whose insecure legal status and lack of access to aid made them particularly vulnerable to coerced return to Burundi. Human Rights Watch concluded that Tanzanian authorities made it difficult for UNHCR to properly check whether the decisions of hundreds of refugees to return to Burundi was voluntary.
On December 3, the Tanzanian home affairs minister, Kangi Lugola, denied that the government was "expelling" refugees, and said the Tanzanian and Burundian authorities "merely mobilize, to encourage those who are ready to return on their own accord, to go back."
Burundian authorities repeatedly spoke of the need for refugees to return from exile prior to and after the May 2020 elections. In a speech during his swearing-in ceremony, President Evariste Ndayishimiye said: "We call on all Burundians who wish to return to their nation to come back." Yet in the same speech, he also threatened countries that support "Burundians who indulge in sabotage," most likely referring to refugees who fled the country due to their political or human rights activism. Ndayishimiye's first foreign visit as president took place near the Burundian border in Kigoma, Tanzania, in September.
The 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1969 African Refugee Convention prohibit refoulement, the return of refugees in any manner whatsoever to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened. UNHCR says that refoulement occurs not only when a government directly rejects or expels a refugee, but also when indirect pressure is so intense that it leads people to believe they have no option but to return to a country where they face a serious risk of harm. The prohibition on forced return also applies to asylum seekers not yet formally recognized as refugees.
In view of the sensitivity around the status of Burundian refugees in Tanzania, Human Rights Watch has withheld identifying information for fear of reprisals against victims and their relatives.
Arrests, Enforced Disappearances in the Camps
Most of the enforced disappearances Human Rights Watch documented followed a similar pattern. Police arrive at the victim's house between midnight and 3 a.m., saying in Swahili: "Musihofu, musihofu, sisi ni polisi" ("Don't be afraid, we are police"). Many said the men were dressed in green Tanzanian police uniforms but did not present an arrest warrant. Two victims of disappearances and two family members of victims identified police commanders from Nduta and Mtendeli camps as taking part in the operation.
The wife of a 42-year-old refugee living in Nduta camp said that her husband was arrested in February 2020:
They came and broke down the door. When they entered the house, they said, "We are the police" and asked for our telephone.... I begged them to let my husband get dressed as they handcuffed him.... In the morning, we went to see the police that guards the camp. They told us that no police came into the camp last night. It's as if all the security forces are working together.
Her neighbor confirmed the account.
Another refugee's wife, whose husband was arrested in July in Mtendeli camp, said that she heard voices of men near her house at around 2 a.m.: "They broke down the window to our bedroom and flashed a flashlight in our faces. They spoke in Swahili and said, 'We are the police, don't be afraid, open the door.'" After her husband opened the door, she said, "They asked for our phones and handcuffed my husband. They were policemen dressed in green uniforms; one of them had a gun. I recognized one of them - he was among the policemen that protect the camp."
When she asked the camp's police about her husband's whereabouts the next day, she found five other women there in the same situation: "When we asked them where our husbands were, they said they were not there and that they did not know anything.... To this day, I haven't seen him again."
Six family members who inquired about their loved ones' whereabouts said police denied they had the victims in custody. None of the family members of the seven currently missing refugees and asylum seekers have been able to locate them.
In one case, a victim's wife said she was threatened for asking about her husband: "After several attempts, I went again to Nduta camp's police ... but this time they said: 'If you keep bothering us with your husband's situation, we'll take to you where he is.' Since that day, I haven't asked about him, because I don't know if they killed him and will kill me, too."
Under international law, an enforced disappearance occurs when state agents, or people or groups acting with government authorization, support, or acquiescence, deprive a person of liberty and then refuse to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or conceal the person's fate or whereabouts.
An enforced disappearance continues as long as the disappeared person remains missing, and information about their fate or whereabouts has not been provided. It also has multiple victims. Those close to a disappeared person suffer anguish from not knowing what happened to them, which amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment.
They may also be further treated in an inhuman and degrading manner by authorities who fail to investigate or provide information on the person's whereabouts or fate. These aspects make enforced disappearances a particularly pernicious violation, and highlight the seriousness with which the authorities should take their obligations to prevent and remedy the crime.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which Tanzania ratified in 1984, prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other ill-treatment, and other abuses that make up enforced disappearance. Tanzania is among the few countries that has not ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ("Convention against Torture").
Tanzania has also not ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. However, the absolute prohibition on torture and enforced disappearance are part of customary international law and are included as crimes in the Statute of the International Criminal Court. Under international law, torture and enforced disappearance are crimes subject to universal jurisdiction, meaning any country may prosecute them irrespective of where the crimes took place or the nationality of those responsible or the victim.
Abuses at Kibondo Police Station
Human Rights Watch interviewed nine Burundians who had been forcibly disappeared and who said that they had been taken to Kibondo police station, approximately 11 kilometers from Nduta camp and 25 kilometers from Mtendeli camp.
They said they were detained for up to several weeks between October 2019 and August 2020. Some were initially held at their camp's police post, and all described passing through Kibondo police station, where they were held in a dark, windowless room. The interrogations took place in a separate building on the same compound.
One Burundian said:
When we arrived at the police station that night, we were put in a small room [that] didn't have windows or electricity. There was no water or toilets. We just had a bucket. We rarely ate, and we were tortured. They beat us in another house [on the compound] nearby. They passed a rope between our handcuffed hands and suspended us. I don't know how much time I spent up there. The pain was beyond what I could bear.
"In this house, there are sticks from which people are suspended," said a 32-year-old Burundian detained at the police station from October to November 2019. "They also use electric shocks as a torture method in this house." Police and intelligence agents accused him of carrying weapons and attempting to destabilize the Burundi government:
I denied these accusations, so they told me to take off all my clothes. They handcuffed my feet to my hands and suspended me, and then whipped me using the inner tube [of a bicycle]. I was beaten with sticks.... They hit me wherever they wanted, all over my body.... I screamed in vain, they had no pity.... since I didn't tell them what they wanted to hear, they hung me up over and over again... I was suffering so much I begged them to kill me - I don't know how long they beat me.
One Burundian, who was arrested by the camp's police officers and taken to Kibondo police station in November 2019 for two weeks, said policemen accused him of having weapons and tortured him repeatedly:
They dipped a stick with cotton wool at the end in a glass full of chili and inserted it into my anus. When I still denied having weapons, they poured chili all over my eyes and my body.... I continued to say I didn't have weapons, so they connected two electric cables to my chest. It was excruciating.
Another person, who was released after two weeks at Kibondo police station in March 2020, said:
During this whole period, I was given food twice. The other Tanzanian detainees gave us a little bit of food that they got from their family. I saw another refugee called "Gervais" [a pseudonym]. He told me he had been detained there for four days without food. He told me his wife's name, and when I was released, I informed her that I had seen him. He was often severely beaten, naked. He was bleeding all over his body. One day he was removed from the cell and I never saw him again.
Human Rights Watch confirmed the account with Gervais' wife, who said policemen took her husband away at 3 a.m. on March 12 in Nduta camp. She said she reported his disappearance to the camp's police, who told her no policemen had come into the camp that night: "They said they would do an investigation, but I never heard anything from them again."
Collaboration Between Burundian and Tanzanian Authorities
Eight Burundian refugees and asylum seekers were arrested in Nduta and Mtendeli camps between late July and early August and detained incommunicado for up to several weeks at Kibondo police station, then handed over to Burundian intelligence officers at the border in August. Six of them said Tanzanian national intelligence and police abused them and asked for one million Tanzanian shillings ($430) to free them. Unable to pay, the men said they were given the choice of returning to Burundi or dying in detention.
A Burundian said that after being held 23 days at Kibondo police station:
[T]hey put us in a car, hands tied and faces covered, and took eight of us to the border, where [Burundian] security agents were waiting for us. We had not seen a judge yet.... At the border, we heard one Tanzanian police officer say to the Burundians, "Keep this a secret; let's leave quickly so that Immigration doesn't find us here." ...
After 30 minutes in the car [with the Burundians], we were screaming in pain because the ropes tying our hands together were hurting us. They removed them, but kept our eyes covered. We spent eight days at the national intelligence service's office in Bujumbura, where we were interrogated. They made us sign a paper and promised us we would be freed, but instead they sent us all to prison.
Out of the group of eight who were forcibly returned to Burundi in violation of the international legal prohibition against refoulement, four are in Bubanza prison and four in Muramvya prison.
Two other Burundians who were detained at Kibondo police station also said that during interrogations, Tanzanian intelligence agents told them that Burundian intelligence had passed on information about them. One person who was later released in Tanzania, said that he was interrogated about his former military service in Burundi:
They already knew I was from the military, even though I hadn't told them.... I said I didn't have weapons, but they said that they will kill me, and if they don't, they will take me to Burundi.... When they released me, they said that if the government of Burundi needs me, they will come find me.
Recommendations
The Tanzanian government should:
Immediately release or bring before a judge anyone who has been forcibly disappeared and ensure that any further detention strictly complies with international human rights law;
Ensure that the authorities reply promptly to any outstanding inquiries from families of people who have disappeared or are missing, providing all known information on their whereabouts or fate and on steps being taken to acquire such information if not readily available;
Direct regional and national authorities to investigate all reported enforced disappearances, to make their findings public, and to appropriately prosecute anyone involved in enforced disappearances;
Issue a written directive instructing all relevant government officials and state security forces to immediately cease all abuses against registered or undocumented Burundians, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture, extortion, and refoulement to Burundi;
Ratify the core international human rights treaties, notably the Convention against Torture, and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance;
Inform UNHCR immediately of the arrest and detention of any Burundian refugees and asylum seekers and the reasons for their arrest, and allow UNHCR access to all refugees and asylum seekers prior to initiating any expulsion or return proceedings, to properly verify that their decision to return to Burundi is voluntary.
The Burundian government should:
Immediately release or bring before a judge all refugees and asylum seekers detained after being transferred to Burundi and ensure that any further detention strictly complies with international human rights law. No one should be detained unless charged with a criminal offense, pretrial custody is necessary, and other due process and fair trial rights are respected;
Investigate and hold to account intelligence agents responsible for the illegal transfer and arbitrary detention of Burundian refugees and asylum seekers;
Cease any cooperation with Tanzania in the unlawful return of Burundian refugees and asylum seekers, and protect those who choose to voluntarily return from any retaliation.
UNHCR should publicly state that Tanzania's forced return of the Burundian refugees and asylum seekers in the documented cases constitutes refoulement, in violation of the Refugee Convention, and it should urge the Tanzanian authorities to cease all forced or coerced returns.
The East African Community, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, and the African Union should publicly urge Tanzania to investigate reports of enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and torture, and not directly or indirectly forcibly return asylum seekers or refugees.
[Category: International]
Human Rights Watch: IMF - Demand Transparency for Egypt Military's Firms
NEW YORK, Nov. 30 (TNSRep) -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should demand the Egyptian government disclose financial information about military-owned businesses as part of required reporting on state-owned enterprises, before releasing the next tranche of funding under an ongoing loan program, Human Rights Watch, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and the Freedom Initiative said today in a letter to the IMF Board.
The financial dealings of businesses owned by military agencies, which mainly produce civilian goods, are completely
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NEW YORK, Nov. 30 (TNSRep) -- Human Rights Watch issued the following news release:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should demand the Egyptian government disclose financial information about military-owned businesses as part of required reporting on state-owned enterprises, before releasing the next tranche of funding under an ongoing loan program, Human Rights Watch, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and the Freedom Initiative said today in a letter to the IMF Board.
The financial dealings of businesses owned by military agencies, which mainly produce civilian goods, are completelyshrouded from public view, making them ripe for corruption and undermining civilian oversight of the funding for Egypt's military, which is responsible for serious abuses.
"Since 2016, the IMF has approved $20 billion of lending to Egypt, with an ostensible goal of bringing much-needed reform to the government's opaque financial dealings," said Sarah Saadoun, senior business and human rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "During that time, the increasingly expanding military businesses have continued to operate in secrecy, while the IMF has given military-owned businesses an effective pass on its transparency requirements."
In September 2020, the IMF approved a $5.2 billion Stand-By Arrangement to Egypt, to be paid out in three tranches over a 12-month period. The loan comes on the heels of a $2.77 billion emergency loan approved in May, and at the end of a three-year $12 billion program that was approved in 2016. One of the three objectives of the current program is to "implement key structural reforms to strengthen transparency, governance, and competition," building on the 2016 loan program.
On November 19, IMF staff completed their review of the government's compliance with terms of the loan, before disbursing the next payment, including a requirement to publish a report on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) "with complete detailed financial information disclosure for FY2018/19 on all SOEs." The review noted no problems with the report published by the Egyptian government even though that report does not appear to include any of the dozens of mega companies owned by the Defense and Military Production Ministries, which are the main entities that oversee military-owned businesses.
The IMF Board should insist that Egyptian authorities include military-owned businesses in all transparency requirements that apply to SOEs, the human rights groups said in the letter.
Egypt's military has emerged since the 1980s as a significant and growing economic actor, spanning several civilian sectors as diverse as infrastructure, imports, chemical manufacturing, and production of food and household appliances. But since the military takeover in 2013, the expansion of military businesses has been unprecedented. Although the military economy "captures a disproportionate share of public revenues," it operates in near total secrecy, most likely masking "inefficiencies and hidden losses," according to a comprehensive 2019 report (http://www.mof.gov.eg/Arabic/%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%86%20%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%87/Pages/Financial_performance_report15-16_18-19.aspx) published by the Carnegie Middle East Center. The military most likely uses thousands of young men as unpaid labor through the country's mandatory conscription system, according to over a dozen interviews Human Rights Watch conducted with former conscripts and experts.
The Carnegie Middle East Center report noted that "[t]he bulk of the formal military economic sector does not fall within the remit of Egypt's audit and anticorruption agencies, whether de jure or de facto." However, "anecdotal evidence, insider accounts, and public revelations ... indicate extensive and routinized corruption within at least those parts of the defense sector concerned with procurement and supply, licensing civilian functions of any kind, and public contracting and services."
In 2018, the IMF adopted guidelines on improving its approach to stemming corruption, seeking to correct its past reliance on euphemisms, or avoiding the subject altogether. The new approach expects IMF staff to "candidly" address corruption in member countries, and condition lending on governance reform where warranted.
Yet, the Stand-By Arrangement approved in August does not explicitly reference the military's growing role in the economy, or the risk of corruption and mismanagement due to a lack of oversight- repeating a flagrant omission in the 2016 program. It also does not include reforms critical to eliminating corruption, such as restoring the independence of Egypt's Central Auditing Agency.
At the same time, countering the pernicious growth of the military's economic activities is clearly central to both IMF programs. Like the current program, the one approved in 2016 had the objective of "strengthening competition, improving governance, limiting the scope for corruption, and reducing the role of the state;" and included specific requirements to erode the military's competitive advantage, such as related to land use. Publication of financial information about state-owned enterprises, included under both programs, is also a key requirement to advance this goal.
However, the IMF allowed the Egyptian government to exclude military-owned businesses from the SOE report it prepared under the previous program, and it appears ready to do so again. The IMF Board should not allow any repeat of this omission, the organizations said.
Transparency and accountability in military-owned businesses are key to addressing corruption and mismanagement, which squander precious public resources that could otherwise be invested in securing rights such as health care, housing, food, and social protection. The economic crisis brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, heightens the need to curtail corruption and wasteful spending to maximize state support for those in need.
This is especially true for the IMF in Egypt, since the country's 32 million people - a third of the total population - who live below the official poverty line, were already reeling from IMF-driven reforms. Conditions under the 2016 program precipitated a rise in cost of living that increased poverty and made it even harder for people to afford food and other necessities.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has articulated a vision for rebuilding economies to be fairer, and fighting inequality in a way that includes "zero-tolerance of corruption." The IMF has a heightened responsibility to include and strictly enforce measures to fight elite corruption in countries where IMF-led reforms have burdened the rights of people experiencing poverty, the organizations said.
Public oversight over the military's economic activities is also critical for maintaining civilian control, and holding military officials accountable for abuses. In a report on Indonesia, Human Rights Watch research has found that "the more a military's revenue and spending are outside civilian government control, and the more funds it raises itself, the harder it is for civil authorities to engage in meaningful oversight of the military."
Human Rights Watch and other groups have extensively documented abuses by the Egyptian military, as well as the government's unwillingness to hold those involved accountable.
"The IMF has asked tens of millions of financially struggling Egyptians to accept painful reforms for the sake of balancing the government's budget," Saadoun said. "If the IMF really wants to ensure these reforms are meaningful and sustainable, the least it could do is take seriously its commitment to fight corruption among the country's elite, including its military."
[Category: International]
Foundation for Excellence in Education: Statement From Gov. Bush on Expanded Educational Opportunities in Ohio
TALLAHASSEE, Florida, Nov. 30 -- The Foundation for Excellence in Education issued the following statement on Nov. 28:
Governor Jeb Bush, Founder and Chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), released the following statement on the signing of Senate Bill 89, which redesigns Ohio's EdChoice Scholarship Program. The bill will allow approximately 50 percent of students in Ohio to qualify for a scholarship to find an educational opportunity that meets their needs by expanding the income eligibility level.
"Governor Mike DeWine continues to empower working-class families
... Show Full Article
TALLAHASSEE, Florida, Nov. 30 -- The Foundation for Excellence in Education issued the following statement on Nov. 28:
Governor Jeb Bush, Founder and Chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), released the following statement on the signing of Senate Bill 89, which redesigns Ohio's EdChoice Scholarship Program. The bill will allow approximately 50 percent of students in Ohio to qualify for a scholarship to find an educational opportunity that meets their needs by expanding the income eligibility level.
"Governor Mike DeWine continues to empower working-class familiesand underserved communities with educational opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach.
"I applaud his leadership in improving Ohio's EdChoice Scholarship Program to help more students with the greatest needs. Every scholarship means a better future for children across the state.
"I thank Governor DeWine, Senate President Larry Obhof, Senator Matt Huffman and House Speaker Bob Cupp for their continued dedication to improving the lives of Ohio students."
[Category: Education]
Dauphin Island Sea Lab: Necropsy Complete, Samples Sent for Analysis
DAUPHIN ISLAND, Alabama, Nov. 30 (TNSRes) -- Dauphin Island Sea Lab issued the following news on Nov. 28:
Thursday 26 to Friday 27 Nov, DISL Biologists and collaborators from Gulf World Marine Institute, the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge, and the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies completed the necropsy of a sperm whale that first stranded last week in Mobile Bay.
The whale was a 33.5 feet long young male. The cause of stranding was not immediately determinable on gross necropsy. Samples have been sent for additional analyses such as bacterial, viral, or fungal infectIons, histology, and toxicology,
... Show Full Article
DAUPHIN ISLAND, Alabama, Nov. 30 (TNSRes) -- Dauphin Island Sea Lab issued the following news on Nov. 28:
Thursday 26 to Friday 27 Nov, DISL Biologists and collaborators from Gulf World Marine Institute, the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge, and the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies completed the necropsy of a sperm whale that first stranded last week in Mobile Bay.
The whale was a 33.5 feet long young male. The cause of stranding was not immediately determinable on gross necropsy. Samples have been sent for additional analyses such as bacterial, viral, or fungal infectIons, histology, and toxicology,among others.
More information will be shared as results are available.
Sunday addition: Thank you to everyone for the insightful questions. We will do our best to answer as many as possible.
1. How long can the analysis take?
It usually takes a few weeks to receive results and sometimes longer depending on the tests.
2. Where do the samples go?
Some analyses are analyzed at DISL and in collaboration with local analytical facilities. Other samples are sent to expert analytical facilities around the country.
3. What will the samples tell researchers?
The samples will provide the same types of information your doctor receives when they test you for illness. For example, blood samples can tell us about organ function, inflammatory and infectious processes, nutritional health, and more. Histology can also tell us about disease processes, and we test for a variety of common bacterial and viral infections and possible toxin or contaminant exposure among other diagnostics.
4. What was in the stomach?
There was little content in the stomach but some remains of squid (beaks) and crustacean shell pieces (possibly crab shells). These prey are known in the sperm whale diet.
5. What will happen with the whale's body?
Following necropsy, the whale carcass was buried at a NOAA-approved, secure location.
[Category: Environment]
American Human Rights Council Stands With the Palestinian People
DEARBORN, Michigan, Nov. 30 -- The American Human Rights Council issued the following news release:
The American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) joins the international community and peace-loving people across the world in observing and honoring November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestine People.
The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is a day set by the UN General Assembly resolution number (32/40 B) on 1977 observing November 29 as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. It is generally held on November 29 each year to
... Show Full Article
DEARBORN, Michigan, Nov. 30 -- The American Human Rights Council issued the following news release:
The American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) joins the international community and peace-loving people across the world in observing and honoring November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestine People.
The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is a day set by the UN General Assembly resolution number (32/40 B) on 1977 observing November 29 as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. It is generally held on November 29 each year tomark the anniversary of UN Resolution number 181, the resolution on the partition of Palestine that was adopted on November 29, 1947.
Despite the massive military imbalance between Israel and the Palestinians, and the unlimited support from the Trump administration, Israel has not been able to dictate to the Palestinians a settlement of the conflict on its own oppressive terms. We hold, as many around the world realize, that there is no military solution to the conflict. Unless Israel recognizes the rights of the Palestinians, we don't see an end to the conflict.
This year's International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People takes place at a time of turmoil. There is a siege on Gaza and ongoing military attacks, thousands of Palestinian political prisoners including children, ongoing theft of Palestinian land and other abuses and transgressions. Despite all the challenges, the Palestinians have refused to cave in to oppressive demands of capitulation fraudulently presented as the "Deal of the Century."
"On this day we remember that the conflict is ongoing and that the Palestinian people remain undefeated," said Imad Hamad, AHRC Executive Director. "Peace requires justice with its foundation being international law and UN resolutions," added Hamad. "On this day we remember that the Palestinian people are not alone in their struggle for freedom and justice," concluded Hamad.
[Category: International]
