Maghrib & Libya WESTERN SAHARA Human rights overview DISPUTED - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Maghrib & Libya

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WESTERN SAHARA

DISPUTED SOVEREIGNTY

◼ 1884- Berlin conference. Spain gains colonial control. ◼ 1940s- Discovery of large phosphate deposits (Drury) ◼ Early 1970s- Polisario founded in opposition to Spanish colonial presence ◼ November 1975- “Green march.” King Hassan II calls for Moroccans to settle/incorporate Western Sahara. Over 300,000 Moroccans enter Western Sahara uncontested by Spain ◼ International Court of Justice ruled that neither Mauritania nor Morocco had legitimate claims to territory ◼ 1976- Spain leaves Morocco without holding referendum. ◼ 1978- Mauritania drops claims to territory ◼ 1980-87 Morocco constructs wall partitioning occupied west from Polisario controlled east. [RSC]

HISTORY OF CONFLICT

MOROCCAN WALL

◼ Morocco backed by France and US. Polisario backed by Algeria, Libya, USSR. ◼ 1988 UN brokered cease fire ◼ 1991 MINURSO formed to hold referendum (only UN mission without human rights component) [HRW] ◼ Over 70 non-european countries have diplomatic relations w/ SADR [RSC] ◼ Second longest refugee crisis (after Palestinian) estimates range between 90,000-165,000 refugees in Algeria [HRW] [RSC]

MORE BACKGROUND

DISPLACED SAHRAWI

◼ Polisario policy/international perception of camps as “ideal”[RSC] normalizes refugee camps ◼ Polisario accused of limits on speech [HRW] ◼ Malnutrition in refugee camps (improved since 1999) [RSC] ◼ Morocco limits press, freedom of speech, right to assemble.[HRW] [AI] [KC] ◼ Moroccan justice system: persecution of activists [HRW] [AI] [KC] ◼ Moroccan police/military abuse in occupied territory [HRW] [AI] [KC] ◼ Moroccan security forces accused of torture [HRW] [AI] [KC]

ISSUES

2010 -- GDEIM IZIK PROTEST CAMP

◼ [RSC]: Refugee Studies Center. “Protracted Sahrawi displacement” 2011 ◼ (Drury): “Global Futures and Government Towns: Phosphates and the Production of Western Sahara as a Space of Contention” 2013 ◼ [KC] RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights – “Accounts of human rights abuses persist in wake of November unrest.” 2011 ◼ [AI] refers to an Amnesty International report from 2014 ◼ [HRW] refers to a Human Rights Watch report from 2014

SOURCES

Al Maghrib

Freedom from Monarchical Rule with Equitable Political Representation

Monarchical Living versus Mud Houses

Disparity in Living Conditions

Prison Abuse Trials

Abuses of Undocumented Migrants

Child Domestic Servitude

Womens Rights Violations over Conflicts with Shari’a Law

West Sahara Violations over Disputed Land

Tunisia

Basic Info:

• Tunisian Republic
• Population: 10.7 million
• Ethnic groups: Arab 98%, French

Berber

• Language: Arabic (Official)
• Religion: Muslim 99.1% (Sunni), 1%

Christian, Jewish

• Independence from France: 1956

Before the Arab Spring

• Homogeneous society
• Urbanized country
• Market-oriented

economy since 1956

• exports
• FDI
• tourism
• Investment in

education

• Outstanding rights for

women

• Secular state

What led to the uprisings?

Strict one-party state too much power in one hand Corruption no opportunities for others

Major Human Rights Issues

• Freedom of expression
• Torture and ill-treatment
• Poor detention conditions
• Lack of judicial independence
• Poor administration of justice

Freedom of expression

“Freedom of opinion, expression, press,publication, assembly and association are guaranteed and exercised according to the conditions set forth by the law.” http://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/12/16/tunisia-s- repressive-laws-0

• Press Code vs. Penal Code

Torture

• New government ratified the Convention against

Torture and Punishment but it is still widely used for for detention and interrogation

• More file complaints but judges do little to pursue

these issues

• On-site interviews with prisoners

Detention Center & Prison Conditions

• No legal counseling
• Insufficient food
• Bad sanitary conditions
• Overcrowded cells
• No medical facility
• Forced confessions

Judicial independence

• New constitution guarantees independence
• BUT the president appoint judges
• Use of military court for human rights

violations

Algeria

• 39.2 Million People
• Arab-Berber 99%, European less than

1%

• Predominantly Sunni Muslim
• Small portions (around 1%) of

Christian, Jewish, Baha’i minorities.

• 1962 Independence from France.

Background

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2om_F2uaCxA
• History of corrupt elections

○ Civil War

• State of Emergency 1992-2011

Key Actors

• Abdelaziz Bouteflika (National Liberation Front)
• National Rally for Democracy
• Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
• Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO)
• Berber Community

Government Oppression

• Security
• Freedom of Expression

○ Press, Association, Assembly ■ April 18th, 2014 ■ Al-Atlas TV Station ■ Algerian Blogger

• Unemployment

○ 10,000 joined to protest lack of jobs in Sahara town in oil rich regions where jobs exist but are not being offered. Protests were eventually broken up violently. (March 2013).

• Food Security, Water security, Judicial Law

Terrorism

AQIM (Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb)

• Amenas Gas plant
• French murders (Sept 2014, June 2013)
• Consistent accounts of kidnapping and bombings.

Refugees

90,000 Western Saharan Sahrawi, mostly living in Algerian-sponsored camps in the southwestern Algerian town of Tindouf.

• Nearly four decades
• Harsh conditions
• Slavery
• Little to no job security
• Inability to settle outside of the camps
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCNDTo_iVt8

Berber-Arab Conflict

Berbers have been focused on linguistic and cultural recognition in Arab- dominated states. Both have also called for greater democratization within a secular framework.

• March 22, 2014
• Historical
• Non-recognition

Women’s Rights

• Gender based violence.
• Divorce and Child Rights
• Rape
• Sexism/General Equality

Libya

Overview

• Gained independence from Italy

in 1943

• Ethnicity: 97% Berber and Arab
• Language: Islam
• Population: 6.2 million and

Immigrants make up about 12%

• f the population
• Libya’s economy is structured

primarily around the nation’s energy sector, which generates about 95% of exports

The 2014 Crisis

General Khalifa Haftar who launched the anti- Islamist operation on May 16, 2014. A large majority of the fighting occurred in Tripoli and Benghazi

The 2014 Crisis

• At the beginning of the year, the General National Congress (GNC) governed the

state since June 2013. The Islamist GNC voted to enforce sharia law at the end of

• 2013. General Khalifa Haftar ordered the GNC to dissolve, but he was ignored, so

forces loyal to him launched a large-scale offensive against Islamic armed groups in Benghazi

• The elections in June appointed a council to replace GNC by a landslide, so

Islamist politicians launched

• Since July 13, 2014, militias and armed groups have launched indiscriminate

attacks in urban areas of the capital with disregard for civilians and civilian objects

• People were forced to seek protection in safer parts of Libya or across

international borders Operation Libya Dawn to seize the airport

2014 Crisis Continued

• Fired into crowded civilian areas hitting mosques, hospitals, and homes which

caused shortages in electricity, water, food, fuel, and medical supplies.

• In October - Derna was taken over by ISIL militants
• On 6 November, the supreme court in Tripoli, controlled by the Islamists, declared

the Council of Deputies dissolved. The Council of Deputies rejected this ruling as made "under threat" and remains the internationally recognized elected parliament.

Abuses of the Law in the 2014 Crisis

• The toppling of long-term leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 led to a power vacuum and

instability with no authority in full control.

• In the absence of law and order, and after over 3 years of no accountability, individuals,

paramilitaries, and militias are imposing “self-justice” according to their own standards

• f beliefs --> legal void.
• Transitional authorities have been unwilling or unable to rein in the 100s of militias

formed during and after the 2011 conflict. They are killing people, making arbitrary arrests, torturing detainees and forcible displacement and terrorizing entire communities

• -> reckless (killing/maiming bystanders).

○ Act above the law, committing crimes without fear of punishment

• UNHCR est. – 287,000 people were displaced within and around Tripoli and Benghazi

as of October 10, 2014. 100,000 people have fled to neighboring countries

Migration and Forced Labor

• Libya is a destination and transit country for men and women from sub-Saharan

Africa are often subjected to forced labor while en route to Europe

• Guards in migrant detention centers under Libyan government control have tortured

migrants and asylum seekers as well as massive overcrowding, dire sanitation conditions and lack of adequate medical care in 8/9 centers. Libya’s coast guard, which received EU and Italian support intercepts or rescues hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers each week as they head to Italy in smugglers’ boats and detains them pending deportation ○ The migrations are run by human traffickers who are ill-equipped for the journey.

Migration Cont.

• Before the current

conflict, migrant workers made up almost a third of the population. The conflict provoked a mass exodus of migrants

Abuses Against Support for Gaddafi

• As of May 2012: Thousands of detainees continue to be held across Libya on

suspicion of having fought for or supported the former government. Many are not formally accused of crimes.

• In addition to taking captive individual suspects, armed militias target entire

communities accused of having supported al-Gaddafi forces and committed crimes during the conflict.

Torture and State Abuses

• The Danish Institute against Torture paints a devastating picture of the human

consequences of the regionalism, tribalism and factionalism ○ A fifth of households (20%) had a family member who had disappeared, 11% reported having a household member arrested and 5% reported that one had been killed, researchers found. ○ Of those arrested, 46% reported beatings, 20% positional torture or suspensions and 16% suffocation. Between 3% and 5% reported having suffered sexual, thermal or electrical torture.

Women’s Rights

• A fatwa in March 2013 by Libya’s grand mufti stipulated that women can attend

university only if it is gender segregated calling for women to dress according to Islamic traditions to counter the dangers of “mixing” between the genders.

• Most of the harassment and attacks on women by militias and individuals go

unreported

• In April of 2014, the Ministry of Social Affairs suspended issuing marriage

licenses for Libyan women marrying foreigners after a call by Grand Mufti al- Sadeq al-Ghariana to avoid spreading “other” religions in Libya.

Power Vacuum

• Building an effective judicial system and

establishing the rule of law is paramount for Libya to break out of the cycle of violence, human rights abuses and impunity, and to provide justice and redress for victims.

• Armed militias that control the eastern

city of Derna are terrorizing residents through summary executions, public floggings, and other violent abuses. They are taking place in the absence of state authorities and the rule of law. (Human Rights Watch)

• Libyan authorities have failed to conduct

investigations, or prosecute those responsible for any of the unlawful killings since 2011, fostering a culture of impunity that has fueled further abuses, Human Rights Watch said.