Review of UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found Israel did not express concern about staff

_{Palestinian children who fled with their parents from their houses in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, gather in the backyard of an UNRWA school, in Sidon, Lebanon, Sept. 12, 2023. An independent review released Monday, April 22, 2024, of the neutrality of UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, has found that Israel has never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011. The review was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen of employees of the agency had participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)}

By EDITH M. LEDERER

^{Updated 7:06 PM BRT, April 22, 2024}

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — An independent review of the neutrality of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees found that Israel never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011. The review was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency known as UNRWA had participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

In a wide-ranging 48-page report released Monday, the independent panel said UNRWA has “robust” procedures to uphold the U.N. principle of neutrality, but it cited serious gaps in implementation, including staff publicly expressing political views, textbooks used in schools the agency runs with “problematic content” and staff unions disrupting operations. It makes 50 recommendations to improve UNRWA’s neutrality.

From 2017 to 2022, the report said, the annual number of allegations of neutrality being breached at UNRWA ranged from seven to 55. But between January 2022 and February 2024, U.N. investigators received 151 allegations, most related to social media posts “made public by external sources,” it said.

In a key section on the neutrality of staff, the panel, which was led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, said UNRWA shares lists of staff with host countries for its 32,000 staff, including about 13,000 in Gaza. But it said Israeli officials never expressed concern and informed panel members it did not consider the list “a screening or vetting process” but rather a procedure to register diplomats.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry informed the panel that until March 2024 the staff lists did not include Palestinian identification numbers, the report said.

Apparently based on those numbers, “Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations,” the panel said. “However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this” to the refugee agency.

Colonna stressed that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed the independent review panel to review UNRWA’s neutrality — not to investigate Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. Guterres ordered the U.N. internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, known as OIOS, to conduct a separate investigation into those Israeli allegations.

“It is a separate mission. And it is not in our mandate,” Colonna said. She also said it is not surprising that Israel did not provide evidence of its allegations to the refugee agency “because it doesn’t owe this evidence during the investigation to UNRWA but to the OIOS.”

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Monday the U,N. hopes to have an update from OIOS “in the coming days.” He said its investigators have been in contact with Israeli security services.

Israel’s allegations led to the suspension of contributions to UNRWA by the United States and more than a dozen other countries. That amounted to a pause in funding worth about $450 million, according to Monday’s report, but a number of countries have resumed contributions.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Monday called on donor countries to avoid sending money to the organization.

“The Colonna report ignores the severity of the problem, and offers cosmetic solutions that do not deal with the enormous scope of Hamas’ infiltration of UNRWA,” ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said. “This is not what a genuine and thorough review looks like. This is what an effort to avoid the problem and not address it head on looks like.”

Colonna urged the Israeli government not to discount the independent review. “Of course you will find it is insufficient, but please take it on board. Whatever we recommend, if implemented, will bring good,” she said.

The report stresses the critical importance of UNRWA, calling it “irreplaceable and indispensable to Palestinians’ human and economic development” in the absence of a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “pivotal in providing life-saving humanitarian aid and essential social services, particularly in health and education, to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.”

Dujarric welcomed this commitment to UNRWA and said the report “lays out clear recommendations, which the secretary-general accepts.” The U.N. hopes to see the return of donors as well as new donors following the report’s release, he said.

Among the recommendations are steps to tackle politicization of UNRWA staff and its staff unions. The report recommends that staff lists with ID numbers be provided to host countries, which would then tell UNRWA the results of their screening and “any red flags.”

The report also calls for stronger oversight of UNRWA’s leadership and operations, “zero-tolerance” of antisemitism or discrimination in textbooks used in its schools, and greater international involvement in supporting the agency as it addresses neutrality issues.

UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said safeguarding the agency’s neutrality is critical to its work and it is developing a plan to implement the report’s recommendations.

With Israel calling for the breakup of the agency, Lazzarini told the U.N. Security Council last week that dismantling UNRWA would deepen Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and speed up the onset of famine.

International experts have warned of imminent famine in northern Gaza and said half the territory’s 2.3 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation if the Israeli-Hamas war intensifies.

The review was conducted over nine weeks by Colonna and three Scandinavian research organizations: the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. Colonna said the group spoke with more than 200 people, including UNRWA staff in Gaza, and had direct contacts with representatives of 47 countries and organizations.

Fonte: https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-unrwa-united-nations-28a63ddef23efdc4b050b0bcbdb587ff

Ethiopia peace talks start in South Africa

By Anait Miridzhanian and Bhargav Acharya

^{A destroyed tank is seen in a field in the aftermath of fighting between the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces in Kasagita town, in Afar region, Ethiopia, February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri}

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 25 (Reuters) – The first formal peace talks aimed at ending two years of war between the Ethiopian army and forces from the country’s northern region of Tigray started in South Africa on Tuesday and will end on Sunday, the South African government said.

At stake is an opportunity to end a conflict that has killed thousands, displaced millions and left hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine in Africa’s second most populous nation, destabilising the wider Horn of Africa region.

The talks, mediated by the African Union, begin as the government has been making significant gains on the battlefield, capturing several large towns in Tigray over the past week.

The government offensive, conducted jointly with allied troops from neighbouring Eritrea, has raised fears of further harm to civilians, leading African, U.S. and European leaders and Pope Francis to call for a ceasefire and urgent talks.

The African Union said its chairman, Moussa Faki Mahamat, was “encouraged by the early demonstration of commitment to peace by the parties”, without elaborating.

South Africa “hopes the talks will proceed constructively and result in a successful outcome that leads to lasting peace for all the people of our dear sister country Ethiopia,” said Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson for President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The African Union mediation team is led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, supported by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Deputy President of South Africa Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

United Nations and the United States representatives participated as observers, the African Union said.

“We are looking very eagerly at Pretoria to the talks. That’s the only way forward,” Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told a press conference on Tuesday evening in Nairobi. “If the parties do not really engage meaningfully in a negotiated solution we’ll be in this situation forever.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the parties to engage seriously and agree an immediate truce.

“These talks represent the most promising way to achieve lasting peace and prosperity for all Ethiopians,” he said in a statement.

‘MAN MADE FAMINE’

The conflict stems from grievances dating back to the nearly three decades when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a rebel movement-turned-political party, dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition until 2018.

The party lost power at the national level after falling out with the government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed but continued to dominate its northern stronghold.

The government has accused the TPLF of seeking to restore its national dominance, which it denies, while the TPLF has accused the Abiy government of oppressing Tigrayans and over-centralising power, which it denies.

The Tigrayan delegation has said its focus at the talks in South Africa would be on an immediate cessation of hostilities, unfettered access to Tigray for humanitarian aid, and the withdrawal of Eritrean forces.

The government has said it views the talks as an opportunity to resolve the conflict and “consolidate the improvement of the situation on the ground”, apparently a reference to its military advances in Tigray.

The war has compounded other serious problems in Ethiopia including a drought, the worst in four decades, that has caused a food crisis and damaged the economy.

Earlier on Tuesday, World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is from Tigray and served as a minister in the Ethiopian government in the past, issued the latest in a series of public criticisms of the current government’s actions.

“Due to the siege in #Tigray, Ethiopia, many people have died of starvation, man made famine & lack of access to essential health care in past 2 years,” Tedros wrote on Twitter.

The Ethiopian government has denied allegations from humanitarian organisations that it was blocking them from accessing Tigray. It has accused Tedros of trying to secure arms and diplomatic backing for Tigray forces, which he denies.

(This Oct. 25 story has been corrected to clarify in paragraph 13 the sequence of events that led to the war)

Fonte: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopia-peace-talks-start-south-africa-2022-10-25/

Tens of thousands of Sudanese protest on coup anniversary, protester killed

KHARTOUM, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Sudanese protesters on Tuesday marked the first anniversary of a coup that halted the country’s transition towards democracy in the largest demonstrations since mass marches in January.

The protesters faced heavy tear gas and stun grenades as they marched towards the presidential palace in Khartoum and in Omdurman across the Nile, Reuters reporters said.

They dispersed before sundown, reaching around 1 km from the palace, following a similar pattern to the series of anti-coup protests over the past 12 months. Internet services were blocked until after 6 p.m., monitoring group Netblocks said.

One person was killed in Omdurman when they were run over by a truck belonging to security forces, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, aligned with the protest movement, said, becoming the 119th person to be killed in the demonstrations.

The military takeover halted Sudan’s transition to democracy following the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir in 2019, and plunged an economy already in crisis further into turmoil. Foreign donors quickly suspended funding and the currency tumbled, and the government hiked taxes spurring numerous strikes.

A year on, Sudan’s military leaders have not appointed a prime minister, while Islamists loyal to Bashir who were purged from the civil service have returned. Bashir remains in jail pending trial on charges he denies related to the coup that brought him to power in 1989 and the early 2000s war in Darfur.

Tribal violence has broken out across the country, including in Blue Nile state over the past week, where up to 250 were killed, according to the United Nations.

The generals, who say they will give up power when a government is in place, are engaged in negotiations with the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition that had been sharing power before the coup. Many protesters reject the talks.

On Tuesday, they burnt tyres on main roads, chanting “power belongs to the people, the military belongs in the barracks”, Reuters reporters said.

There was no immediate response to requests for comment on the protests from government officials. Sudanese police said they had fired tear gas and water cannon at people they said were “armed, trained forces in military formations” and requested special dispensation to deal with them.

“Even though they blocked the internet and closed the bridges, we will keep putting pressure on the military until they step aside,” said Salah Abdallah, a 21-year-old university student, who said he was against the deal.

Footage circulated on social media from other protests in cities including Bahri, Atbara, El Fasher, Port Sudan and Madani. Reuters could not immediately verify the images.

NEGOTIATIONS

The resistance committees that have sustained the anti-military movement with regular protests have mostly rejected negotiations with the military, criticising them as dealings of the elite, and demand that its leaders be brought to justice over the killings of protesters and other violations.

The FFC last week presented its vision for a civilian-led authority to lead a transition to an election.

A leader of the group told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, the negotiations were going well. He said differences that remained, on issues of transitional justice and security sector reform, “could be overcome”.

“The biggest roadblock is the Islamists who are trying to create crises and an atmosphere that is not conductive to finding a solution,” he said, particularly those who remain a significant presence in the military and security services.

Islamist leaders loyal to Bashir, who are not involved in the negotiations, have rejected the possibility of a deal with the FFC as exclusionary and say it does not represent the majority of the country.

In a statement, the United States, Britain, European Union and other Western countries said they “stand ready to help Sudan unlock its economic potential after a return to a credible civilian transition”.

Fonte: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/internet-services-blocked-sudan-ahead-coup-anniversary-protests-2022-10-25/

WHO’s Tedros says narrow window to ‘prevent genocide’ in Ethiopia

_{Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) speaks following his re-election during the 75th World Health Assembly at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse}

NAIROBI, Oct 19 (Reuters) – World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday there was a “very narrow window now to prevent genocide” in his home region of Tigray in northern Ethiopia.

Tedros, who previously served as Ethiopia’s health minister and foreign affairs minister, has been sharply critical of Ethiopian authorities throughout the two-year war.

The government has, in turn, accused him of trying to procure arms and diplomatic backing for rebel forces – charges he has denied.

In his sharpest comments on the war yet, Tedros told reporters in Geneva that food and healthcare were being used as weapons of war in Tigray, which is largely cut off from the outside world.

“There’s no other situation globally in which 6 million people have been kept under siege for almost two years,” Tedros said. “There is a very narrow window now to prevent genocide.”

Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu, Redwan Hussein, the national security advisor to the prime minister, and the prime minister’s spokesperson Billene Seyoum did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Ethiopian government has repeatedly denied blocking humanitarian supplies to Tigray or targeting civilians. The conflict has killed thousands, displaced millions and left hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine.

Ethiopian forces and their allies have captured several towns in Tigray this week, raising fears that the advancing soldiers will commit abuses against civilians.

A joint investigation by the United Nations and Ethiopia’s state-appointed human rights commission last year found that all sides fighting in the Tigray war committed violations that may amount to war crimes.

Ethiopia’s government said this week that its forces respect human rights.

The Tigray conflict is rooted in long-running rivalries between regional power blocs over control of Ethiopia as a whole and in deep disagreements over how power should be balanced between federal and regional authorities.

Ethiopian authorities have previously accused Tedros of supporting Tigray forces, without providing evidence.

“Yes, I’m from Tigray, and yes, this affects me personally. I don’t pretend it doesn’t,” Tedros said on Wednesday.

“I have many relatives in some of the most affected areas. But my job is to draw the world’s attention to crises that threaten the health of people wherever they are.”

Fonte: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/whos-tedros-says-narrow-window-prevent-genocide-ethiopia-2022-10-19/

Ethiopia, Tigray head invited to peace talks in South Africa

By CARA ANNA

_{FILE – In this image from video, Tigray’s regional president Debretsion Gebremichael speaks during an interview in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia on July 7, 2021. The leader of Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the federal government have been invited to peace talks in South Africa in early October 2022 as part of a pan-African effort, according to a letter seen Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022 by The Associated Press. (AP Photo)}

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The leader of Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the federal government have been invited to peace talks in South Africa this weekend as part of a pan-African effort to end one of the world’s most overlooked wars, according to a letter seen Wednesday by The Associated Press.

If Debretsion Gebremichael attends the proposed talks between the Tigray and Ethiopian sides, it will be the highest-level effort yet to end the two-year war that has killed thousands of people from conflict and starvation.

Ethiopia’s government has accepted the invitation, national security adviser Redwan Hussein said. In a separate statement, the government called it “consistent with the Ethiopian government’s prior positions” that talks be mediated by the AU and be held without preconditions. The statement, however, does not give details about who might attend.

A diplomat in Addis Ababa said the African Union was still waiting for a response from the Tigray side. The spokesman for the Tigray forces, Getachew Reda, could not immediately be reached. Another member of the Tigray negotiation team, Tsadkan Gebretensae, told a U.S. think tank last week that “we have agreed on an African-led process, but that should not be carte blanche for the AU to impose what should be a peace process.”

The diplomat in Addis Ababa also said representatives from the European Union, the United Nations and the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development are expected to attend the talks as observers in support of the AU’s mediation team. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The letter from the chair of the AU Commission says the AU-convened talks would be “aimed at laying the foundation for a structured and sustained mediation” between the two sides toward a “durable resolution of the conflict.”

The AU letter says the talks would be facilitated by AU special envoy and former Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo with the support of former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

The talks come more than a month after fighting in Tigray renewed following months of relative calm. Forces from neighboring Eritrea, allied with Ethiopia’s government, are again joining the fighting in what Tigray forces have described as a large-scale offensive.

On Tuesday, an airstrike hit the Tigray town of Adi Daero where displaced people were sheltering, a humanitarian worker who visited the site afterward told the AP. They described the scene as “total carnage” and said health workers reported more than 50 people killed. The worker spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The Tigray region has been largely cut off from the world since the war began in November 2020, with more than 5 million people without basic services including electricity, phone, internet and banking. Medicines have run desperately low. On Thursday, the U.N. said trapped staffers were finally able to rotate out of the region for the first time since the fighting renewed.

The fighting also has spilled over into Ethiopia’s neighboring regions of Amara and Afar as Tigray forces have tried to pressure the government, putting hundreds of thousands of other civilians at risk.

United Nations-based investigators have said all sides have committed abuses.

Tsadkan, the Tigray negotiation team member, said last week that Tigray representatives had met three times with Ethiopian authorities — in Djibouti and Seychelles — and he thanked the United States government for organizing the meetings, which he said produced a “clear proposal for a cessation of hostilities.” But after that, he asserted, the Tigray side was “betrayed.” He didn’t give details.

The Tigray authorities seek unfettered access for humanitarian aid, the resumption of basic services, respect for constitutional boundary arrangements and the withdrawal of foreign forces, Tsadkan said.

The Tigray authorities “will accept whatever comes out” of an impartial, agreed-upon peace process, he said. He didn’t immediately respond to questions Wednesday.

Fonte: https://apnews.com/article/africa-south-kenya-ethiopia-abiy-ahmed-111e5606197359d5e8160d6f78cd032b

Brasil é condenado por Corte Interamericana em caso de morte de ativista

_{Vista do Palácio do Planalto, em Brasília}

Jamil Chade

Colunista do UOL

04/10/2022 20h08

O estado brasileiro foi condenado nesta terça-feira pela Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos e considerado como responsável pela violação dos direitos à verdade, à proteção e integridade da família de um defensor de direitos humanos. O processo marca uma resposta a 40 anos de impunidade.

Segundo a sentença, o que se registrou foi uma “grave falência” do Estado nas investigações sobre a morte violenta de Gabriel Sales Pimenta, “e pela situação de absoluta impunidade em que se encontra o homicídio na atualidade”.

A Corte em San José concluiu que o Brasil “não cumpriu sua obrigação de atuar com a devida diligência reforçada na investigação do homicídio”. Para especialistas, a sentença é histórica, ao tratar de um caso de assassinato de um ativista de direitos humanos e o papel do estado em sua proteção.

Gabriel Sales Pimenta era um jovem de 27 anos no momento de sua morte. Em 1980, ele passou a atuar como advogado do Sindicato de Trabalhadores Rurais de Marabá (“STR”) e foi representante da Comissão Pastoral da Terra. Como advogado, ele atuou na defesa dos direitos dos trabalhadores rurais.

“Em 18 de julho de 1982, como consequência de seu trabalho como defensor de direitos humanos, Gabriel Sales Pimenta recebeu três disparos de arma de fogo quando saía de um bar com amigos na cidade de Marabá, no sul do Pará, e morreu instantaneamente”, apontou a Corte.

Três homens foram identificados como os supostos autores do homicídio. “Em agosto de 1983, o Ministério Público ofereceu a denúncia penal contra as pessoas anteriormente indicadas como autores do delito de homicídio qualificado. Em novembro de 1999, o Ministério Público solicitou a extinção da responsabilidade penal de um dos acusados, em virtude de sua morte, a qual foi decretada pelo juiz em exercício, em agosto de 2000, juntamente com a improcedência da denúncia contra outro suspeito, por falta de provas”.

Com um único réu, um julgamento foi marcado para 2002. Mas ele jamais ocorreu, já que o suspeito não havia sido localizado.

Foi só em 2006 que a Polícia Federal conseguiu cumprir a ordem de prisão preventiva. Mas, em 10 de abril de 2006, os advogados do acusado impetraram um habeas corpus perante o Tribunal de Justiça do Pará, com o intuito de solicitar que se decretasse a prisão domiciliária ou a extinção da responsabilidade penal com base na prescrição. O Ministério Público também se manifestou a favor de que fosse decretada a prescrição, o que foi atendido pelas Câmaras Criminais Reunidas do Tribunal de Justiça do Pará.

Novo processo

Mas a família da vítima não cedeu. Em 2007, Rafael Sales Pimenta, irmão de Gabriel Sales Pimenta, apresentou uma reclamação por excesso de prazo no processo penal, perante o Conselho Nacional de Justiça, alegando a morosidade em sua tramitação. Mas sua reclamação foi arquivada.

Uma outra tentativa foi feita no Estado do Pará por danos morais resultantes da demora na tramitação do processo penal e a conseguinte impunidade do homicídio. Mas o recurso foi negado.

Para a Corte Interamericana, portanto, os estados têm um dever reforçado de devida diligência quanto à investigação do ocorrido.

“A Corte Interamericana, ao analisar os fatos do caso, estabeleceu que há falências graves que refletem uma absoluta falta de devida diligência do Brasil em processar e sancionar os responsáveis pelo homicídio de Gabriel Sales Pimenta e esclarecer as circunstâncias deste, apesar da identificação de três suspeitos e da existência de duas testemunhas oculares e de outros meios de prova que se encontravam à disposição das autoridades estatais desde o início”, disse.

Além disso, a Corte concluiu que o caso está inserido em um contexto de “impunidade estrutural relacionado a ameaças, homicídios e outras violações de direitos humanos contra os trabalhadores rurais e seus defensores no Estado do Pará”.

Segundo a sentença, a negligência dos operadores judiciais na tramitação do processo penal, que permitiu a ocorrência da prescrição, foi o “fator determinante para que o caso permanecesse em uma situação de absoluta impunidade”.

Condenação e medidas

Diante dessas conclusões, a Corte ordenou diversas medidas de reparação:

(i) criar um grupo de trabalho com a finalidade de identificar as causas e circunstâncias geradoras da impunidade e elaborar linhas de ação que permitam superá-las;

(ii) (publicar o resumo oficial da Sentença no Diário Oficial da União, no Diário Oficial do Estado do Pará e em um jornal de grande circulação nacional, assim como a Sentença, na íntegra, no sítio web do Governo Federal, do Ministério Público e do Poder Judiciário do Estado do Pará;

(iii) realizar um ato público de reconhecimento de responsabilidade internacional em relação com os fatos do presente caso;

(iv) criar um espaço público de memória na cidade de Belo Horizonte, no qual seja valorizado, protegido e resguardado o ativismo das pessoas defensoras de direitos humanos no Brasil, entre eles o de Gabriel Sales Pimenta;

(v) criar e implementar um protocolo para a investigação dos delitos cometidos contra pessoas defensoras de direitos humanos;

(vi) revisar e adequar seus mecanismos existentes, em particular o Programa de Proteção aos Defensores de Direitos Humanos, Comunicadores e Ambientalistas, nos âmbitos federal e estadual, para que seja previsto e regulamentado através de uma lei ordinária e tenha em consideração os riscos inerentes à atividade de defesa dos direitos humanos; e

(vii) pagar as quantias fixadas na Sentença a título de dano material, imaterial, custas e gastos.

Mensagem de apoio à democracia

Segundo a sentença, porém, a mensagem da decisão e do caso vai muito além da família da vítima. Na decisão, a Corte destacou que o trabalho das defensoras e defensores de direitos humanos é “fundamental para o fortalecimento da democracia e do Estado de Direito”.

O documento ainda fala na necessidade de erradicar a impunidade relacionada a atos de violência cometidos contra pessoas defensoras de direitos humanos, “pois resulta um elemento fundamental para garantir que possam realizar livremente o seu trabalho em um ambiente seguro”.

Na avaliação da Corte, a violência contra ativistas tem um “efeito amedrontador, especialmente quando os crimes permanecem impunes”.

A esse respeito, a sentença reiterou que as ameaças e os atentados à integridade e à vida dos defensores de direitos humanos e a impunidade dos responsáveis por estes fatos são “particularmente graves porque têm um efeito não apenas individual, mas também coletivo, na medida em que a sociedade se vê impedida de conhecer a verdade sobre a situação de respeito ou de violação dos direitos das pessoas sob a jurisdição de um determinado Estado”.

Decisão “histórica”

Helena Rocha, codiretora do programa para o Brasil e Cone Sul do CEJIL, organização que levou o caso à Corte, afirmou que “a sentença confirma o que vários órgãos internacionais têm afirmando sobre o grave cenário de violência sistemática contra pessoas defensoras de direitos humanos no Brasil e atribui ao Estado uma responsabilidade agravada de protegê-las e de investigar qualquer ato ou ameaça que venha a ser sofrido por elas”. “Para isso é fundamental desenvolver instrumentos de enfrentamento à impunidade estrutural de esses casos e promover políticas públicas efetivas para sua proteção”, disse.

José Batista, advogado da CPT em Marabá, considerou que a sentença tem um “peso histórico e um valor simbólico muito grande para os camponeses e sus lideranças, que fazem a luta pelo acesso e premência na terra no Brasil”.

Para eles, após mais de 40 anos de impunidade, a justiça por Gabriel Pimenta começou a ser feita. “Contudo, ainda há muito caminho a percorrer, pois a proteção a pessoas defensoras de direitos humanos só pode ser efetivada com o fortalecimento de políticas públicas adequadas como as que foram ordenadas pela Corte no caso concreto. A luta de Gabriel Pimenta é constante e de todas e todos nós”, afirmam.

O irmão do Gabriel, Rafael Pimenta, concluiu que a condenação “foi um marco muito importante na luta pela defesa dos defensores de direitos humanos”. “Gabriel era um advogado de direitos humanos, um advogado dos trabalhadores sem terra e da população desassistida pelo Estado brasileiro. É uma vitória do Gabriel, é uma vitória dos direitos humanos e é uma vitória do povo brasileiro”, completou.

Fonte: https://noticias.uol.com.br/colunas/jamil-chade/2022/10/04/brasil-e-condenado-por-corte-interamericana-em-caso-de-morte-de-ativista.htm

Kenyan lawyer in ICC case linked to new president found dead

_{Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru appears before a pre-trial chamber, via video-link from the ICC detention center, before facing charges against him of bribing and threatening prosecution witnesses in the case against Kenya’s recently elected President William Ruto, which was ultimately dropped amid allegations of witness interference, at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands on Nov. 6, 2020. Kenyan police say that Gicheru was found dead at his home late Monday, Sept. 26, 2022 though it was not immediately clear how he died. (International Criminal Court via AP)}

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police say a Kenyan lawyer facing charges at the International Criminal Court of bribing and threatening prosecution witnesses in a past ICC case against Kenya’s recently elected president has been found dead.

Paul Gicheru had pleaded not guilty earlier this year to all eight counts of interfering with witnesses in the case against William Ruto, who had been charged with involvement in violence after Kenya’s 2007 election that left more than 1,000 people dead.

A police report seen by The Associated Press said the family of the 50-year-old Gicheru found him unconscious at his home Monday night. “The body was found lying on the back, clean, casually dressed and no saliva or blood on any body opening,” the report says, noting that “the deceased is a known diabetic and high blood pressure patient.”

The police report noted that Gicheru’s 20-year-old son, who told his mother that Gicheru “had taken something,” was later found with “froth” coming from his mouth and difficulty breathing. He was in stable condition at a local hospital, the report said. It was not clear what happened.

In comments to reporters, family lawyer John Khaminwa said the family had described Gicheru as stressed in the hours before his death. “He was not himself,” Khaminwa said. The family intends to bring in pathologists to “look at his internal organs and other things,” he said.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission said it was “concerned with the shocking news of the untimely death” and urged a swift and conclusive investigation.

The charges against Ruto and others, including previous President Uhuru Kenyatta, were dropped in 2016 when the case fell apart amid allegations of witness interference. Ruto denied the allegations against him. The court’s decision to drop the case specified that it did “not preclude new prosecution in the future.”

Ruto was chairing his first Cabinet meeting on Tuesday after being sworn in on Sept. 13 following a narrow election win.

ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said he could not comment on Gicheru’s case but only on the procedure to be followed: “If there is information about the death of an accused, a confirmation of this information should be submitted to the (trial) chamber and then the chamber issues a decision ending the case.”

Judges are currently considering their verdicts in the case. No date had been set for a hearing to deliver the judgment.

Fonte: https://apnews.com/article/africa-elections-presidential-kenya-international-criminal-court-4a66339a9e2a8180de61d12608eeb8ea