Delopmental Genocide

The 2002 paper, "An Account of the Theory of Genocide" attempts to identify types of genocide, and to fill holes in the U.N.'s Genocide Convention of 1948. The most notable omission of the convention was "politicide"--the killing of human groups because of political affiliation. In order to come up with a more comprehensive description of genocide, the paper describes five major types of genocide: Progressive (towards the 'classless' society), Reactionary (towards the 'racially pure' state or 'common marketisation' of the world), Developmental (eliminating 'backward' peoples and their economies), Retributive (taking revenge), and hegemonic (seizing and holding power.)

Developmental genocide has become an increasing threat in recent decades as the growing demands of the industrial countries for raw materials has led to an ever increasing exploitation of resources in developing countries--often on indigenous lands. Resource Rebels, by Al Gedicks, documents the destruction of indigenous peoples, their habitats, and livelihoods by mining and oil companies.

From the Brazilian rain forests to the Australian outback, mining and drilling operations have brought with them military occupation, systematic human rights abuses, mass killings, arbitrary executions, and destruction of food supply. Between 1900 and 1957, Brazil alone lost more than 80 tribes. Total native population dropped from a million to less than 200,000. Anthropologist John Bodley lays the blame on resource exploitation;

The disappearance of tribal cultures over much of the world in the past 150 years can be seen as the direct result of government policies designed to facilitate the exploitation of tribal resources for the health of industrial civilization.

Gedicks describes the process of developmental genocide;

It involves a dehumanization of those who stand in the way of the economic exploitation of valuable resources. The basic element of this process involves a degradation of the victim, implying their inferiority or worthlessness. Native communities who occupy lands containing untapped resources are frequently described as "primitive," "savages" or "obstacles." From the perspective of the "members of the culture of consumption," it follows that if another culture's resources appear to be underexploited, this is all the justification needed to take those resources.

An illustrative case study published by MiningWatch Canada details the mining operations of the Canadian company, Goldcorp. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, Goldorp has become the third largest gold producer in North America, with mines in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the United States.

In its worldwide operations, Goldcorp has run up a record of union busting, disregard of native votes against the mines, toxic waste spills, depletion of local water sources, evasion of taxes, and violent repression of dissent. Goldcorp prides itself on being a "low cost" producer, but low production costs have come with a high human cost.

Goldcorp's Alumberra mine in Argentina, one of the world's largest and lowest cost gold, silver, and copper operations, has drained local rivers, forcing people to abandon their farmlands. Numerous environmental problems have been documented, including the spillage of 21,000 kg of ammonium nitrate, clouds of powder from mine blasts, containing heavy metal pollutants that afflict populated areas, and leaks containing high levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, mercury, selenium and strontium. Mine operations have caused desertification, sickness, and the destruction of the local social and economic fabric.

At the Amapari mine in Brazil, Goldcorp received a ten year tax holiday from the government, while using its partner, Peak Gold Inc., as a "loss leader" company, allowing Goldcorp to declare an operating loss at the mine. More serious has been the crackdown on small scale, indigenous miners, garimpeiros, who mine to make their own living. In 2000, there were an estimated 700,000 garimpeiros in Brazil. Goldcorp has come into conflict with the garimpeiros in the Amapari mine. Goldcorp has not revealed what methods it has used to deal with the garimpeiros.

In Guatemala, Golldcorp's Marlin mine ran into serious opposition from the indigenous population in the region. Protests against the mine resulted in two deaths and numerous injuries. The residents of indigenous villages in Sipicapa organized a referendum using the International Labor Organization's Convention 169, which affirms the right of indigenous communities to be consulted before industrial activities take place on their land. The referendum resulted in an overwhelming rejection of the mine. Unwilling to accept the will of the people, the company filed an unconstitutionality suit as well as an appeal against the referendum. In May, 2007, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court ruled that the referendum was unconstitutional, although observers suggested that the ruling was influenced by political, economic and commercial interests.

Goldcorp's San Martin mine in Honduras has been criticized by natives as being so exploitative they have likened it to a new form of colonialism. Local environmental activists accuse the mine of drying up water resources needed for crops and villages. The mine's heap leeching techniques, in which diluted cyanide is sprayed over huge piles of quarried rock to separate the microscopic flecks of gold has resulted in the poisoning of streams and groundwater with toxic heavy metals. Since mining began nearby villages have experienced skin problems, hair loss, increasing numbers of miscarriages, and birth defects. Independent testing has confirmed the presence of dangerous levels of heavy metals in the local population, but the Honduran government has so far refused to officially release the results of the tests. The District Attorney for the Environment issued warrants against the company, claiming that the mine was a threat to the health of local inhabitants, only to have them ignored.

Although Goldcorp denies that pollution from the mine has caused these illnesses, environmental studies of Goldcorp's Marigold mine in the U.S. cast serious doubt over these claims. In November, 2006, Great Basin Mine Watch and Earthworks reported that Goldcorp's predecessor, Glamis Gold, had been caught seriously under-reporting mercury pollution from the mine. The company was forced to revise it's report of mercury releases eight thousand percent for 2003 and six thousand percent for 2002. In northern Canada, the costs of cleaning pollution from abandoned mines are expected to run over half a billion dollars, dwarfing the $150 million in royalties collected by the government.

Worse are the human rights problems that result from mining projects in developing nations. A 2005 Canadian Parliamentary Committee studied well documented cases of death threats, assassinations, toxic accidents and destruction of protected areas that mining companies have been implicated in. Although the committee recommended new laws that would hold companies accountable for these abuses, the government has yet to act.

Abuses such as these are a chronic problem around the world. Mining expert Roger Moody claims that the root cause of this intensified assault against native peoples has been a "radical shift" away from financing mining projects backed by shareholders and state enterprises toward those bankrolled by multilateral development agencies and regional banks. In 1997 alone, the World Bank Group lent $987 million for mining projects. Resistance to these projects results in increasing repression by the national governments involved. The result is a viscous circle; half of the debts in Third World states come from the purchase of weapons which are used in part to crush resistance to multinational development projects. The foreign corporations extract the wealth, leaving the local governments with little except debt and devastated environments.

Torture and Tourism in Oaxaca

Here are some first hand accounts of torture by Mexican authorities in the repression in Oaxaca, as compiled by Graham Russell of Rights Action.

TORTURE & TOURISM IN OAXACA
by Grahame Russell, info@rightsaction.org, January 2007

***
THE STUDENT OF TORTURE GETS TORTURED
(Testimony, Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, December 19, 2006)

In the city of Tlaxiaco, one victim of illegal detention and torture after another speaks to our emergency human rights delegation. Some stop in the middle of the hard parts to cry; some listening cry. Hard stories.

Cuitlahuac Santiago Mariscal, a teacher with the SNTE (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Educativos), stands before us. 'I am doing my thesis at the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) on the systemic use of torture by Mexican 'security' forces. Often, I have sat where you are [pointing at our delegation] listening to stories of abuse ., now I stand before you, a victim, to give my testimony.'

His story is similar to that of 8 other men illegally pulled off a bus one day in November by Mexican armed forces, while on their way to a legal protest. On the side of highway, they were herded at gun-point into corn fields and were beaten over their bodies and heads, with fists, feet and weapons. Forced to kneel, pistols were placed at their temples and they were told to say their last goodbyes, alone, in the corn field. The good news: no one in their group was killed that day.


'DESDE ABAJO'

Emiliano Zapata must be rolling angry in his grave, knowing that the Mexican Revolution, of the 1910 era, is long dead, constant rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding.

After the recent - and on-going - wave of brutal repression in the southern state of Oaxaca, Zapata would know that profound political and economic change is still needed throughout Mexico; Oaxaca is as urgent a starting point as anywhere.

Another global struggle 'desde abajo' (from below) is pushing its way into the consciousness of North and South America - this time in a place called Oaxaca. With a population of 3.5 million people (a majority being Indigenous and Indigenous-descendant), Oaxaca's story of racism, of inequality and greed, of protest, rebellion and State repression is also Mexico's story . and of the unjust global order.

Though the short-term focus of the protests is the ouster of the undemocratic and repressive Governor Ulises Ruiz, the movement 'desde abajo' that has come together under the umbrella of APPO (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca) is broad-based. They are working to change the historic and endemic conditions of a majority of Oaxacans: inequality and racism; an unjust, exploitative and environmentally destructive economic-development model; repression by the State and wealthy elites; and, impunity and a lack of justice and democracy.

"It is democracy for one day, every four years. If you vote, they call you a citizen. If you exercise your human rights and protest and demand change, they call you 'guerilla' fighters and delinquents." (Pedro Matias testimony, Oaxaca, December 20)

Why the Oaxacan rebellion has risen this year, as opposed to next or last, is due to factors particular to Oaxaca and Mexico. Some recommended articles are: "Indigenous Rights Groups Meet the 'Law of the Club': Barbarous Oaxaca" (by Mitchell Verter, May 14, 2005); "From Teachers' Strike Towards Dual Power: The Revolutionary Surge in Oaxaca" (by George Salzman, August 30, 2006); "Calderon Installed by Media and Military: Repression on the Menu in Mexico" (by John Ross, December 2006).

Whatever the reasons for the timing of the APPO led movement, the Oaxacan struggle needs to be known about and supported, from the most local to global levels.

TORTURE & TOURISM

From December 16-22, I joined an emergency human rights delegation to Oaxaca organized by the Oaxaca Solidarity Network and sponsored by Rights Action. On short notice, 20 Northamericans came to Oaxaca, firstly, to be an international presence and listen to testimonies of people tortured and of family members of victims of repression; and, secondly, to return home and work to bring more international attention to the brutal campaign of State terrorism and repression that is strongly backed by the incoming Federal government of President Felipe Calderon.

We listened to testimonies of torture and other atrocities, even as the government of Ulises Ruiz ordered a massive armed force presence to 'protect' the huge tourist industry.

"Along with selling its natural resources to foreign investors, the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) cabal that runs the Oaxacan government gets much of its money from its lucrative tourist industry. Ulises has been converting the governmental palace located in the Zocalo . Ulises has been turned into a commercial center, appealing to local businesses and preventing the public from petitioning the government in view of tourists. Ulises'government severely punishes anything that gets in the way of commerce or detracts from its public image." ("Barbarous Oaxaca" article, by Mitchell Verter)

If tourists continue to flock to Oaxaca, pumping millions of dollars into the hands of the government and business elites that dominate the economy, then the chances of bringing about real democracy and rule of law in Oaxaca are greatly lessened.

CALCULATED BRUTALITY

Since the recent wave of repression began in Oaxaca in June 2006, at least 20 people have been killed; 350 have been illegally detained (most having been illegally jailed and tortured); and close to 400 wounded.

A particularly brutal night of repression and terror was November 25th. Federal PFP (Policia Federal Preventativa) and State forces spread through the central Zocalo district of Oaxaca attacking anyone they found on the streets, accusing them of being members of APPO (as if this were illegal). Hundreds were illegally detained; most were physically tortured and psychologically terrorized.

During the week of our visit, much of the activism was focused on securing the release of the illegally detained political prisoners and recording the testimonies of the victims. We did as much as we could.

AN ARQUITECT WHO "ATTACKED THE P.F.P"
(Testimony, December 24; LaJornada newspaper)

In the safety of a church that is a friend to and an advocate of the poor in Oaxaca, Porfirio Dominguez Munozcano (42 years) sat quietly as we set up camera and microphone. Then he talked for 40 minutes without stop. I thought he would cry; I thought we would, but on he went. Publicly telling the truth and fighting for justice are some of the best ways of healing (partially) from torture.

Because he was in the streets of the city where he lives on November 25th, Porfirio was almost killed. "I left my house to print some documents when I saw a bunch of PFP troops running towards me and a group of people I was near. I was left unconscious with the first blow they landed on my head. Two hours later, I came to: my head was wrapped in some sort of cloth and my body and face covered in blood; I had been beaten all over."

"I was in the central Zocalo, face down on the cement with many others. Soldiers kept coming by and kicking us or striking us with the butts of their guns."

Some time later the PFP herded everyone into trucks. Porfirio was put in the back of a pickup truck, face down on the floor; others were piled up on top of him. He thinks there were 5 or 6 other detainees in the same truck, but is not sure. They were not told where there were going. "They said they were going to take us in a helicopter and throw us into the ocean. We were frightened to death, even as they continued kicking us and grinding our heads and hands with their boots."

"We arrived at the women's CERESO (Centro de Rehabilitacion) Tlacolula jail. It was 2 or 3 in the morning. There, they continued hitting and threatening us. You have to try and imagine the terror that we were feeling."

A few days later, he learned that he - like most of the illegally detained - was being charged with assaulting police, sedition, destruction of public property, and more.

The legal and penal systems are being used in Oaxaxa as part of the apparatus of repression.

Due to swollen face and severely damaged left eye, Porfirio was finally taken to the Aurelio Valdivieso hospital where he remained for 7 days under surveillance by armed forces. After having his eye operated on - his vision is mostly restored, though much of the left side of his face remains paralyzed - , he was charged Pesos7000 (US$700) and sent back to jail for another week.

December 15th, Porfirio was released. No one had been told. He was left at the entrance of the jail, on a highway 30 minutes from Oaxaca, no money and no i.d. papers. Including Pesos7000 that he had in his pocket, when knocked unconscious, along with i.d. cards, credit cards, a driver's license, etcetera, nothing has as been returned to him. He hitchhiked to the city. A kind person gave him Pesos50 and he got a taxi ride home.

He continues to pay for his own medical treatment; he has nightmares; he has lost his work; his story has been published in the media and denounced by human rights groups; no charges have been filed against anyone.

Hundreds were illegally detained, jailed, tortured and psychologically tortured in the four weeks following November 25th.

SANTA CLAUS's GIFT LIST
(LaJornada, December 23)

"Dear Santa: This Christmas, I am not asking you for toys, I am only asking for the immediate liberty of my Papi." Derwin Coache Rivera - 8-year old son of political prisoner Marcelino Coache Verano (a member of APPO) - participates in all the marches being organized by COFADAPPO (Comite de Familiares de Presos, Detenidos y Desaparecidos de Oaxaca). Marcelino was illegally detained and jailed on December 4. Derwin wants to get Papi out "from that place where he is living that is so ugly." Derwin visited his Papi in a jail in Cosalapa, Oaxaca, near the border with Veracruz. "I hugged him and we cried. I said: 'Papi, I love you very much. I don't want to be separated from you'."

WOMEN WITH "A HIGHLY DANGEROUS PROFILE"
(LaJornada, December 21)

Mercedes Cumplido Pantoja (47 years) and Ruth Cabrera Vazquez (48) were illegally detained and tortured physically and psychologically by the PFP (Policia Federal Preventiva) on November 25th. Mercedes: "They told me they were going to kill me. They touched my legs, they hit me, they spoke to me in a most vile way, they said to me 'you are going to die, you are a bitch, an idiot, an asshole. Who paid you to be in the city center? How much did they pay you'?"

Ruth: While PFP agents were hitting her, "they were saying that I was too old to be involved in such bullshit, that we had no ethical values to destroy a beautiful city like Oaxaca." After she was illegally detained by the PFP on November 25, she was put in the back of a truck with 11 women. "They threw us on the floor and took photos of us while they continued insulting us. They threatened us, not letting us know where they were taking us. . They finally took us to the CERESO (Centro de
Rehabilitacion) jail in Miahuatlan."

"I told them I had nothing to declare because I had done nothing other than help people with coca-cola and vinagre who had been asphyxiated with the tear-gas (shot by the PFP). Is this a crime?"

"My hand was really swollen and painful [from the beatings]. I asked to go to the infirmary. An hour later, they told us that we were going. I was happy, thinking they were going to liberate us, so I was surprised when I learned they were taking us to who knows where, all hand-cuffed, forced to look at the ground, like some vile and bloody delinquents."

Members of our delegation have hours of filmed and taped testimony, some of which will be reproduced and distributed on Rights Action's list-serv, and elsewhere. Listening to the many testimonies, it is easy to confuse the stories - they are systematically brutal and head-achingly repetitive. Listening, it is sometimes too sad to continue to taking notes ... "They put blankets against our bodies, before kicking us, so as not to leave marks."

"Torture is the government's preferred method of collecting information, extracting confessions, and gaining political concessions." (Yessica Sanchez Maya, Liga Mexicana de Derechos Humanos)

WEDDING INTERRUPTED
(Testimony, December 21)

In front of the women's CERESO Tlacolula jail we spoke with 19-year old Mariela who has been waiting for days to see if her boyfriend would be released. Using the legal and penal systems as part of the apparatus of repression, the authorities don't tell anyone when they are releasing the people that they have illegally detained and most probably tortured physically and psychologically.

In early November, Mariela's boyfriend came from Baja California to ask for her hand in marriage. They had planned to marry in early January; repression got in the way. Illegally detained on November 25, he was disappeared for a week - part of the terrorization tactic.

Mariela went from hospital to morgue trying to find her boyfriend. She learned that hundreds of people were detained in jails so she started visiting the jails. Finally arriving at the women's CERESO Tlacolula jail, that the government had emptied so as to fill with the political prisoners, she met other family members of the detained and disappeared; since that time they have worked together to find their loved ones and to help free all the political prisoners. They formed COFADAPPO (Comite de Familiares de Presos, Detenidos y Desaparecidos de Oaxaca).

She hopes today is the day her boyfriend will be released ... and then he will start to tell his stories.

THE 'MODUS OPERANDI' OF REPRESSION AND TERROR

The "errors and mistakes" argument is showing up in the media these days, as testimonies of torture emerge - inside Mexico and internationally. Yet, the
illegal detentions, psychological and physical torture and dozens of killings in Oaxaca, are not "errors and mistakes" committed by "bad apples" in the various security forces.

"The objective of this counter-insurgency campaign is to totally finish off with social organizations and unions and, in general, with all opposition so as to implement the economic plans of the rich sectors. . These are projects that result in poor communities losing their lands, the forced displacement of 'colonos', misery and hunger." (APPO statement, Noticias, December 20, 18A)

STATE OF FEAR & "PROTECTION" OF WHAT?

Friday, December 22: Our delegation has ended. A few of us spend the next days doing follow-up interviews. At least 1000 heavily armed forces occupy every entrance to the Zocalo center of Oaxaca. All day, thousands of Mexicans and tourists come and go, walking by the rows of armed forces and barricades blocking every entrance to the Zocalo.

APPO is having yet another march, so government forces prevent them from entering the Zocalo where most tourists go and where the reknown "Noche de los Rabanos" (Night of the Radishes) celebrations take place on December 23. APPO takes its peaceful protest in another direction, and holds a meeting with thousands - courageously strengthening their movement.

THE RE-DETENTION, RE-BEATING, RE-RELEASE OF PEDRO GARCIA
(Testimony, December 18; LaJornada)

Midday on December 18, teacher Pedro Garcia gave testimony to our delegation. On October 1st, he had been shot at, pistol-whipped, taken 'incomunicado' to the Tlacolula CERESO jail, suffered beatings, forced to sign false declarations denouncing this and that person, and the like; standard operating procedures. He was released due to activism mainly from other members of APPO.

The story of his first detention and torture were hard enough. In the middle of our meetings that same night, we got a text message: Pedro had just been re-detained, along with Florentino Lopez (APPO spokesperson) and Otalo Padilla. Pedro was re-beaten and re-tortured and later re-released.

Florentino: "[the men who detained us] said: 'we are a death squad. You now know us and now you will know what it is like to go to hell.' They kept saying they were going to kill us." Pedro, Florentino and Otalo identified Alejandro Barrita Ortiz, director of the State Policia Auxiliar Bancaria, Industrial y Commercial (PABIC) as being one of the men.

Interviewed at the inauguration of the hastily convened and widely rejected "Reform of the State" process, Governor Ulises Ruiz was asked - referring specifically to these three men - whether it was the right time to initiate this 'Reform the State' process when government forces were arbitrarily detaining and torturing people.

Ulises Ruiz: "I understand that there was no detention, there was no legal process, they were not in the procuraderia ." (Noticias, December 20, p13A). The next day, the Noticias newspaper published photos of the three men - clearly beaten in their faces.

"On the one hand, they call for "reconciliation and dialogue", on the other they continue with arbitrary detentions, assassinations and disappearances." (APPO, Noticias newspaper, December 20)

After attending the well-attended-by-high-society inauguration of the "Reform of the State" process in the Palacio del Gobierno, governor Ruiz went to the Terranova restaurant in the Zocalo, owned by the family of the Secretary of Tourism, and had coffee with business leaders. They were surrounded by a detail of heavily armed "security" forces.

One of the businessmen who attended governor Ruiz's Reform the State show was Jose Escovar, president of the COPARMEX Oaxaca business coalition. We had formally asked him to meet with our delegation, but were told by his assistant he was away from Oaxaca until early January. (Neither would the State Attorney General's Office meet with us).

SHOOT THE MESSENGER

After Iraq, Mexico has the highest levels of repression against journalists, according to the Mexican Comision Especial para dar Seguimiento a las Agresions a Periodistas y medios de Comunicaion. Over the past 6 years in Mexico, 30 journalists have been assassinated; 3 remain disappeared. Recently in Oaxaca, killer's bullets have ended the lives of Mexican Raul Marcial Perez and American Bradley Ronald Hill.

DETAINING & TORTURING CANNOT KEEP THE GOOD PEOPLE DOWN

December 23, Noche de los Rabanos: Struggling for a decent and just society is also about singing, dancing and reciting poetry. After hundreds of heavily armed forces closed the Santo Domingo park area, where APPO was going to have its alternative Noche de los Rabanos celebration, the festival was held in a smaller outdoor space - armed forces at either end of the pedestrian-only street.

After 6 months of struggle, after weeks of illegal detentions, physical and psychological torture, a thousand or more came out to celebrate. One of the
main singers and speakers was none other than the twice detained and tortured Pedro Garcia.

NO CONCLUSION - SUPPORT & GET INVOLVED

Rodrigo, Indigenous campesino from western Oaxaca - also illegally detained and beaten - told us: "We know that they can kill us at any time but we know that our struggle is just."

"If you have come to help me, please go away. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, let us work together." (Lila Watson, Indigenous activist)

"There are no magic answers, no miraculous methods to overcome the problems we face, just the familiar ones: search for understanding, education, organization, action ... and the kind of commitment that will persist despite the temptations of disillusionment, despite many failures and only limited successes, inspired by the hope of a brighter future." (Noam Chomsky)

The struggle in Oaxaca is happening right now; the reactionary repression and State terrorism is happening right now; the mainstream media cover-up (not addressing the underlying issues; obfuscating the repression) is happening right now; the wealthy sectors of Oaxaca are maintaining their long-term relations with the wealthy and powerful of Mexico, Canada and the USA right now.

Hundreds of Thousands raped in Congo Wars

The growing incidence of rape in the Congo violence has led some human rights groups to describe it as a "weapon of war" to punihs communities for their political loyalties or as a form of ethnic clensing.

In one province alone, South Kivu, about 42,000 women were treated in health clinics for serious sexual assaults last year, according to statistics collected by the human rights group, Global Rights.

Immaculee Birhaheka, head of a women's rights group in Goma, Paif, said those women who make it to hospital are just a fraction of those attacked. "It's impossible to know how many women have been raped in the war but it is hundreds of thousands," she said.

Some human rights groups are calling for the leaders of groups responsible for the tide of rape to be brought before the International Criminal Court in the Hague. One militia leader, Thomas Lubanga, founder of the Union of Congolese Patriots, went on trial before the the ICC last week for the forced recruitment of child soldiers, although his troops were also involved in the systematic rape of civilians.

UN passes resolution on Darfur

A resolution adopted today by the United Nations Security Council would deploy U.N. troops to Darfur as a first step toward protecting civilians, but ongoing Sudanese government military operations in the region highlight the urgent need to secure Khartoum’s immediate consent for an U.N. force.

Today’s resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Britain, permits a U.N. force to use all necessary means to protect civilians in Darfur and calls for a gradual transition from the under-funded and under-equipped African Union (AU) mission in Darfur, which has been unable to prevent widespread abuses against civilians, to a robust U.N. protection force. But the plan to deploy as many as 17,500 U.N. troops and as many as 3,300 civilian police is contingent on consent by the government of Sudan, which has categorically rejected calls for U.N. forces in Darfur.

Russia, a major supplier of weapons to Sudan, and China, a major consumer of Sudanese oil, both abstained in today’s vote on the resolution, which sends an extremely unhelpful signal about their lack of willingness to press Khartoum to accept U.N. troops.

After weeks of military buildups in Darfur’s three provincial capitals, Khartoum launched offensive military operations on August 28, with Sudanese troops attacking rebel-controlled villages in North Darfur and government aircraft bombarding Kulkul, north of the provincial capital El Fashir. International observers in North Darfur reported that civilians attempting to flee the attacks in Kulkul were turned back by Sudanese government troops.

The government offensive comes less than a month after Sudan circulated a proposal to send more than 10,500 troops into Darfur, in direct violation of the Darfur Peace Agreement signed in May with a Darfur rebel movement. Although the planned troop movements violated the peace agreement, the Security Council failed to condemn the Sudanese proposal, and took no action.

The U.N. reports that violence in Darfur is worse than ever despite the Darfur Peace Agreement, leading to the forcible displacement of 21,000 people since July in the state of North Darfur alone. Humanitarian access in Darfur is at its lowest level since 2004, with almost 500,000 needy civilians beyond the reach of humanitarian aid.

Guinea security force attrocities

Guinean police and security forces routinely rob, assault, torture, and even murder Guinean citizens according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

Guinea is undergoing economic turmoil and impending political transition, and there is no control over the security forces.

Police brutally torture men and boys held in police custody. The victims are individuals suspected of common crimes as well as those perceived to be government opponents. Once transferred from police custody to prison, many are left to languish for years awaiting trial in cramped, dimly lit cells where they face hunger, disease and sometimes death.

Human Rights Watch called on the Guinean government to immediately investigate and bring to justice those responsible for crimes committed by state security forces during the June 2006 nationwide strike, as well as those responsible for torture and ill-treatment of individuals in police custody.

Human Rights Watch also recommended that international donors such as France, the United States and the European Union call publicly and privately on the Guinean government to investigate and, where applicable, punish those responsible for the abuses. International donors should also support efforts by local nongovernmental organizations to increase their ability to monitor and document violations by security forces.

Ramsey Case Spotlights Child Sex Trade

The big story of the week has been the arrest of John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, in connection with the killing of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey.

Karr was arrested in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges.

In countries such as Thailand, child sexual exploitation builds on a long-standing and vast prostitution industry, and thrives where law enforcement is weak or corrupt. That sex with young teens is not a strong taboo in some Asian cultures makes fighting the problem even more difficult.

In Cambodia, There are about 33,000 child sex workers, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency. The U.S. State Department has listed Cambodia as among the world's worst nations at adequately addressing human trafficking problems, including the trade of child sex workers.

Just two months ago a Los Angeles man was deported from Thailand May after completing one-year prison sentence for molesting 15-year-old and 16-year-old boys. According to a U.S. criminal complaint, he told authorities he often paid Thai children the equivalent of $5 for two hours of sexual contact.

It appears that the killer in the Ramsey case was finally apprehended after being lured into the Asian sex trade.

Darfur Scorecard

See how your senators and congressmen score in their support of legislation to end the suffering in Darfur.

Israel/Lebanon: Indiscriminant strikes on civilians

A report by Human Rights Watch documents a systematic failure by Israelis to distinguish between combatants and civilians in their military campaign against Hezbollah. The pattern of attacks in more than 20 cases investigated by Human Rights Watch researchers in Lebanon indicates that the failures cannot be dismissed as mere accidents and cannot be blamed on wrongful Hezbollah practices. In some cases, these attacks constitute war crimes.

The pattern of attacks shows the Israeli military’s disturbing disregard for the lives of Lebanese civilians. Our research shows that Israel’s claim that Hezbollah fighters are hiding among civilians does not explain, let alone justify, Israel’s indiscriminate warfare.

"Fatal Strikes: Israel’s Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon,” analyzes almost two dozen cases of Israeli air and artillery attacks on civilian homes and vehicles. Of the 153 dead civilians named in the report, 63 are children. More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli fire since fighting began on July 12, most of them civilians.

“The pattern of attacks shows the Israeli military’s disturbing disregard for the lives of Lebanese civilians,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Our research shows that Israel’s claim that Hezbollah fighters are hiding among civilians does not explain, let alone justify, Israel’s indiscriminate warfare.”

In previous reporting, Human Rights Watch has addressed the conduct of Hezbollah forces, condemning its attacks on civilian areas as serious violations of international humanitarian law amounting to war crimes. Human Rights Watch has called on the governments of Syria and Iran to use their influence on Hezbollah to promote respect for the laws of war. In this report, it urges Hezbollah to take all feasible steps to avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas and to remove civilian persons and objects under its control from the vicinity of military objectives.