WORLDREPORT | 2012

EVENTS OF 2011
H U M A N
R I G H T S
W A T C H
H U M A N
R I G H T S
W A T C H
WORLD REPORT
2012
EVENTS OF 2011
Copyright 2012 Human Rights Watch
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN-13: 978-1-60980-389-6
Front cover photo: Egypt Fatma, 16, joins a pro-democracy protest in Tahrir Square,
Cairo, on February 8, 2011. President Hosni Mubarak resigned on February 11.
2011 Yuri Kozyrev/NOOR for Time Magazine
Back cover photo: Kenya Women widowed by clashes between the insurgent Sabaot
Land Defence Force and Kenyan government in 2006-2008 have formed a collective to
support one another in the aftermath of their husbands disappearances and deaths.
2011 Brent Stirton/Getty Images for Human Rights Watch
Cover and book design by Rafael Jimnez
www.hrw.org
Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the
human rights of people around the world.
We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination,
to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane
conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice.
We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold
abusers accountable.
We challenge governments and those who hold power to end
abusive practices and respect international human rights law.
We enlist the public and the international community to
support the cause of human rights for all.
WORLD REPORT 2012
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Human Rights Watch is one of the worlds leading independent
organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights.
By focusing international attention where human rights are violated,
we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their
crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted
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rights abuse. For over 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked
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change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people
around the world.
Human Rights Watch began in 1978 with the founding of its Europe
and Central Asia division (then known as Helsinki Watch). Today, it also
includes divisions covering Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
The staff includes Kenneth Roth, Executive Director; Michele Alexander, Deputy Executive
Director, Development and Global Initiatives; Carroll Bogert, Deputy Executive Director,
External Relations; Jan Egeland, Deputy Executive Director, Europe; Iain Levine,
Deputy Executive Director, Program; Chuck Lustig, Deputy Executive Director, Operations;
Walid Ayoub, Information Technology Director; Pierre Bairin, Media Director; Clive Baldwin,
Senior Legal Advisor; Emma Daly, Communications Director; Alan Feldstein, Associate General
Counsel; Barbara Guglielmo, Acting Operations Director; Peggy Hicks, Global Advocacy
Director; Dinah PoKempner, General Counsel; Aisling Reidy, Senior Legal Advisor; James Ross,
Legal and Policy Director; Joe Saunders, Deputy Program Director; Frances Sinha,
Global Human Resources Director; and Minky Worden, Director of Global Initiatives.
The division directors of Human Rights Watch are Brad Adams, Asia; Joseph Amon, Health and
Human Rights; Daniel Bekele, Africa; John Biaggi, International Film Festival; Peter Bouckaert,
Emergencies; Richard Dicker, International Justice; Bill Frelick, Refugees; Arvind Ganesan,
Business and Human Rights; Liesl Gerntholtz, Womens Rights; Steve Goose, Arms;
Alison Parker, United States; Graeme Reid, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights;
Jos Miguel Vivanco, Americas; Lois Whitman, Childrens Rights; and Sarah Leah Whitson,
Middle East and North Africa; and Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia.
The advocacy directors of Human Rights Watch are Philippe Bolopion, United Nations
New York; Juliette De Rivero, United NationsGeneva; Kanae Doi, Japan; Jean-Marie Fardeau,
Paris; Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia; Lotte Leicht, European Union; Tom Malinowski,
Washington DC; and Wenzel Michalski, Berlin.
The members of the board of directors are James F. Hoge, Chair; Susan Manilow, Vice Chair;
Joel Motley, Vice Chair; Sid Sheinberg, Vice Chair; John J. Studzinski, Vice Chair;
Hassan Elmasry, Treasurer; Bruce Rabb, Secretary; Karen Ackman; Jorge Castaeda;
Tony Elliott; Michael G. Fisch; Michael E. Gellert; Hina Jilani; Betsy Karel; Wendy Keys;
Robert Kissane; Oki Matsumoto; Barry Meyer; Pat Mitchell; Aoife OBrien; Joan R. Platt;
Amy Rao; Neil Rimer; Victoria Riskin; Amy L. Robbins; Shelley Rubin; Kevin P. Ryan;
Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber; Javier Solana; Siri Stolt-Nielsen; Darian W. Swig; John R. Taylor;
Marie Warburg; and Catherine Zennstrm.
Emeritus board members are Robert L. Bernstein, Founding Chair, 1979-1997;
Jonathan F. Fanton, Chair, 1998-2003; Jane Olson, 2004-2010; Lisa Anderson; David M. Brown;
William D. Carmichael; Vartan Gregorian; Alice H. Henkin; Stephen L. Kass;
Marina Pinto Kaufman; Bruce Klatsky; Joanne Leedom-Ackerman; Josh Mailman;
Samuel K. Murumba; Peter Osnos; Kathleen Peratis; Bruce Rabb; Sigrid Rausing;
Orville Schell; Gary Sick; and Malcolm B. Smith.
WORLD REPORT 2012
Tnstt or Conttnts
Time to Abandon Autocrats and Embrace Rights
The International Response to the Arab Spring 1
by Kenneth Roth
Before the Arab Spring, the Unseen Thaw 22
by Eric Goldstein
After the Fall
Hopes and Lessons 20 Years after the Collapse of the Soviet Union 29
By Rachel Denber
Europes Own Human Rights Crisis 41
By Benjamin Ward
From Paternalism to Dignity
Respecting the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 51
By Shantha Rau Barriga
A Landmark Victory for Domestic Workers
New Convention Establishes First Global Labor Standards
for Millions of Women and Girls 60
By Nisha Varia and Jo Becker
Photo Essay: UPRISING
Photographs from the Arab Spring 69
Africa 85
Angola 86
Burundi 91
Cte dIvoire 97
Democratic Republic of Congo 104
Equatorial Guinea 110
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Eritrea 116
Ethiopia 121
Guinea 126
Kenya 132
Malawi 139
Nigeria 143
Rwanda 150
Somalia 158
South Africa 165
South Sudan 173
Sudan (North) 179
Swaziland 186
Uganda 190
Zimbabwe 197
Americas 205
Argentina 206
Bolivia 211
Brazil 216
Chile 223
Colombia 228
Cuba 236
Ecuador 242
Guatemala 247
Haiti 253
Honduras 259
Mexico 265
Peru 273
Venezuela 278
WORLD REPORT 2012
Asia 287
Afghanistan 288
Bangladesh 294
Burma 300
Cambodia 307
China 314
India 328
Indonesia 334
Malaysia 341
Nepal 347
North Korea 356
Pakistan 362
Papua New Guinea 370
The Philippines 376
Singapore 383
Sri Lanka 388
Thailand 394
Vietnam 401
Europe and Central Asia 411
Armenia 412
Azerbaijan 418
Belarus 424
Bosnia and Herzegovina 431
Croatia 436
European Union 441
Georgia 459
Kazakhstan 466
Kyrgyzstan 472
Russia 479
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Serbia 488
Tajikistan 498
Turkey 503
Turkmenistan 510
Ukraine 516
Uzbekistan 522
Middle East and North Africa 529
Algeria 530
Bahrain 535
Egypt 545
Iran 553
Iraq 560
Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories 567
Jordan 578
Kuwait 584
Lebanon 589
Libya 595
Morocco and Western Sahara 602
Oman 609
Qatar 613
Saudi Arabia 617
Syria 624
Tunisia 632
United Arab Emirates 639
Yemen 644
United States 653
2011 Human Rights Watch Publications 667
Sat Lnnkn
The aftermath of Sri Lankas quarter century-long civil war, which ended in May
2009 with the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),
continued to dominate events in 2011. In April United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon released a report by a panel of experts that concluded that both
government forces and the LTTE conducted military operations with flagrant
disregard for the protection, rights, welfare and lives of civilians and failed to
respect the norms of international law. The panel recommended the establish-
ment of an international investigative mechanism. Sri Lankan officials respond-
ed by vilifying the report and the panel members.
The government has failed to conduct credible investigations into alleged war
crimes by security forces, dismissing the overwhelming body of evidence as
LTTE propaganda. The governments Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation
Commission (LLRC), characterized as a national accountability mechanism, is
deeply flawed, does not meet international standards for such commissions,
and has failed to systematically inquire into alleged abuses.
In August the government allowed emergency regulations in place for nearly
three decades to lapse, but overbroad detention powers remained in place
under other laws and new regulations. Several thousand detainees continue to
be held without trial, in violation of international law.
Accountability
Sri Lanka has made no progress toward justice for the extensive laws of war
violations committed by both sides during the long civil war, including the gov-
ernments indiscriminate shelling of civilians and the LTTEs use of thousands
of civilians as human shields in the final months of the conflict. Since the war
ended the government has not launched a single credible investigation into
alleged abuses. The lack of investigation was especially conspicuous with
regard to several incidents featured in a June 2011 program on the British televi-
sion station Channel 4, showing gruesome images of what appear to be sum-
mary executions of captured and bound combatants. Incredibly, the govern-
WORLD REPORT 2012
388
ment repeatedly has dismissed the footage as fabricated despite several inde-
pendent expert reports finding it authentic.
In May the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry held an international conference in
Colombo, the capital, on defeating terrorism that gave scant attention to gov-
ernment abuses. In August the Defense Ministry issued its own report, conced-
ing for the first time that government forces caused civilian deaths in the final
months of the conflict, but taking no responsibility for laws of war violations
and concluding peremptorily without further investigation that the deaths were
the unfortunate collateral damage of war.
Impunity for serious violations also continues for older cases. Despite strong
evidence of involvement by government forces in the execution-style slayings of
17 aid workers and five students in separate incidents in 2006, government
inquiries continue to languish and no one has been arrested for the crimes.
The government has repeatedly extended the deadline for the LLRC. The LLRCs
mandate focuses on the breakdown of the 2002 ceasefire between the govern-
ment and the LTTE, and does not explicitly require it to investigate alleged war
crimes during the conflict. The LLRC heard testimony but undertook no investi-
gations into such allegations. The LLRC was due to submit its report to
President Mahinda Rajapaksa on November 15. The government has stated that
the report will be made public but has not indicated when it will do so. The gov-
ernment has not acted on the LLRCs preliminary recommendations.
Torture, Enforced Disappearances, and Arbitrary Detention
While the government allowed longstanding emergency regulations to lapse in
August, it failed to rescind other legislation granting police and other security
forces overbroad detention powers and it adopted new regulations that in effect
continue several of the emergency provisions. The president continues to issue
monthly decrees granting the armed forces search and detention powers.
Despite the end of the formal state of emergency, the government also contin-
ues to hold several thousand people initially detained under the emergency
regulations. Many have been held for years without trial, in violation of interna-
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tional law. The government has so far refused to even publish lists of those
detained.
The government has gradually released many, but not all, of the more than
11,000 suspected LTTE members detained at the end of the war and sent to so-
called rehabilitation centers. The government denied detainees important due
process guarantees, such as access to legal counsel, and thousands spent two
years or more in detention. There are reports that some people released from
the rehabilitation centers were harassed by security forces after they returned
home.
In 2011, new reports of disappearances and abductions in the north and the
east emerged, some linked to political parties and others to criminal gangs. The
government has lifted its restriction on travel to parts of the north, although it
maintains a very high security presence. Violence, including sexual assault, by
so-called grease devils, some of whom could allegedly be traced to military
camps, highlighted insecurity in the north and east.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act gives police broad powers over suspects in cus-
tody. Sri Lanka has a long history of torture by the police forces, at times result-
ing in death.
Civil Society and Opposition Members
Free expression remained under assault in 2011. Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan,
editor of a Jaffna-based newspaper, was beaten with iron bars by a group of
unidentified youths in late July. He was severely injured and required hospital-
ization. In July a team of Radio Netherlands journalists were harassed by police
and later robbed and attacked at gunpoint by a gang in a white van, a notorious
symbol of terror in Sri Lanka. Lal Wickrematunge, chairman of the Sunday
Leader and brother of Lasantha Wickrematunge (who was gunned down in
2009), received a phone call from President Rajapaksa in response to an article
on high-level corruption in which the president said to Wickrematunge, You
are writing lies, outrageous lies! You can attack me politically, but if you attack
me personally, I will know how to attack you personally too.
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390
There have been no further developments regarding the killing of Lasantha
Wickrematunge or the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda, a contributor to
Lanka e-news, who has been missing since January 24, 2010.
Members and supporters of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), campaigning
ahead of local elections in Jaffna in June, were attacked by army personnel
wielding rods, batons, and sticks. Among the injured were TNA members and
police officers assigned to provide security to the parliamentarians. The results
of an investigation into the incident ordered by the secretary of defense are not
known.
In November the government blocked at least six news websites claiming that
they had maligned the character of the president and other top government
officials.
Reconciliation Efforts
Reconciliation efforts, meant to address longstanding grievances of the ethnic
Tamil population, have been slow at best. Local elections in March, July, and
October further consolidated the hold of Rajapaksas ruling alliance, although
the TNA garnered significant victories in the north. The TNA and the government
have been in negotiations to deal with, among other matters, devolution of
powers to the provinces, a key issue underpinning the civil war. The talks have
been rife with tension, with the TNA accusing the government of deceitful and
facetious behavior, and the government accusing the TNA of issuing LTTE-type
ultimatums as a result of its electoral victory in the north. The TNA left talks
with the government in August but has since returned.
In September the TNA reacted angrily to government statements at the UN
Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, saying government claims that reconcil-
iation efforts have been predicated on building trust and amity between the
communities is not supported by the experience of the Tamil people.
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Internally Displaced Persons
The vast majority of the nearly 300,000 civilians illegally confined in military-
controlled detention centers after the war have moved out of the centers back
into communities, although not necessarily into their original homes. About
110,000 persons still live with host families or in camps and several thousand
are not able to return because their home areas have not been demined. The
government has still not granted international demining agencies access to
several areas.
Key International Actors
Pressure on accountability from key international actors mounted following the
April release of a damning panel report commissioned by the UN secretary-gen-
eral. Several countriesincluding Britain, Canada, Australia, and the United
Statescalled on Sri Lanka to investigate the allegations contained in the
report. The European Parliament adopted a resolution in May urging Sri Lanka
to immediately investigate the allegations and the European Union to support
further efforts to strengthen the accountability process in Sri Lanka and to sup-
port the UN report. Even India, which had largely stayed silent on alleged
abuses in Sri Lanka, added to the pressure in May when it called for investiga-
tions. Also in May the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbi-
trary executions called on the government to investigate textbook examples of
extrajudicial executions in Sri Lanka following a review of evidence related to
government execution of prisoners.
In September UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon submitted the panel report on
the war to the president of the HRC and, acting on one of the reports recom-
mendations, announced that the UN would undertake a separate inquiry into
the its own actions in Sri Lanka during the final months of the war.
While several countries called for accountability for laws of war violations dur-
ing the September HRC session, the Council failed to act following Bans trans-
mission of the panel report and has not yet taken steps towards establishing an
international accountability mechanism, the main recommendation in the
report.
WORLD REPORT 2012
392
Several governments indicated that they will support an international accounta-
bility mechanism if the LLRC report fails to properly address accountability
issues. US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake said during a trip to Sri
Lanka in September that unless there is a full, credible, and independent
accounting, there will be pressure for some sort of alternative mechanism.
The UK has likewise said that it will support the international community in
revisiting all options unless the Sri Lankan government demonstrates progress
by the end of 2011.
US legislation restricts military aid to Sri Lanka, subject to strict conditions
regarding progress on accountability and human rights.
At a Commonwealth summit in October, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper called for a boycott of a planned Commonwealth heads of government
summit in Sri Lanka in 2013, should Sri Lanka fail to improve its human rights
record by that time.
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HUMAN RI GHTS WATCH
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H U M A N
R I G H T S
W A T C H
This 22nd annual World Report summarizes human rights conditions in more than
90 countries and territories worldwide in 2011. It reflects extensive investigative work
that Human Rights Watch staff has undertaken during the year, often in close partnership
with domestic human rights activists.
The introductory essay examines the Arab Spring, which has created an extraordinary
opportunity for change. The global community has a responsibility to help the long-
suppressed people of the region seize control of their destiny from often-brutal
authoritarian rulers. Standing firmly with people as they demand their legitimate rights
is the best way to stop the bloodshed, while principled insistence on respect for rights is
the best way to help these popular movements avoid intolerance, lawlessness, and
summary revenge once in power.
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Front cover: Egypt Fatma, 16, joins a pro-democracy protest in Tahrir
Square, Cairo, on February 8, 2011. Mubarak resigned on February 11.
2011 Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for Time Magazine
Back cover: Kenya A collective of women, widowed by the 2006-2008
clashes between the insurgent Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) and the
Kenyan government, have bonded together to support one another in the
aftermath of their husbands' disappearances and deaths.
2011 Brent Stirton/Reportage for Human Rights Watch
Cover Design by Rafael Jimnez
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