Amnesty International News & Updates Feed

Impunity and injustice are legacy of deadly July riots in Mongolia

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:19:51 +0000

The Government of Mongolia has failed to effectively respond to human rights abuses that took place during the July 2008 riot in Sukhbaatar Square, Ulaanbaatar, and its aftermath, leaving a legacy of impunity and injustice, Amnesty International said in a report released on Friday.

Amnesty International’s report describes how hundreds of people were taken to police detention centres where they were held in over-crowded cells without food or water for up to 72 hours during the riots. Police beat detainees while they were in custody and during interrogations to extract “confessions”.

Over 700 people were arrested and over 100 more in the weeks following, for suspected offences committed during the riot.

One year on from the riot, the scope of the investigation conducted remains limited. Allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in detention, and excessive and unnecessary use of force by police have largely been ignored.

“Investigations into allegations of human rights violations have been delayed, ignored or inadequately investigated”, said Roseann Rife, Asia-Pacific Deputy Programme Director at Amnesty International.

“A year on from the riot and there is no accountability on the part of authorities and no justice for the victims.”

Procedures for prosecution of ten police officers and four senior police officials suspected of using and authorizing the use of live ammunition during the riot was stalled by the defendants and their lawyers for over seven months until early November 2009. The case file is now being read by the families of the victims and their lawyers.

“There has been a failure on the part of the Mongolian government to seriously investigate allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of those held in detention following the riot or to prosecute those suspected of carrying out and ordering the use of live ammunition,” said Roseann Rife.

Mongolia has failed to comply with its international obligations which require them to take a range of legislative, judicial, administrative and other measures to prevent human rights violations and bring those responsible to justice and ensure victims receive reparations in line with international standards.

The secrecy surrounding the operations of police and other law enforcement agencies is further damaging their reputation leading to mistrust and fear. Such sentiments will persist as long as the authorities fail to take concrete steps to conduct independent investigations and prosecute any alleged perpetrators of offences involving human rights violations, and implement reforms to ensure non-repetition.

Background
Amnesty International calls on the Mongolian government to:

Ensure that the Special Investigation Unit of the State General Prosecutors’ Office is provided adequate funding and support to enable it to carry out prompt, independent, impartial and thorough investigations into allegations of offences involving human rights violations against officials and that procedures are in place to ensure that parties involved in the investigation are not able to stall or otherwise delay procedures unreasonably and prevent cases being prosecuted.

Ensure that any complaints or reports of human rights violations are investigated promptly, independently, impartially and thoroughly, and that those suspected of related offences are prosecuted. Investigations should be conducted by personnel who are competent, impartial and independent of the alleged perpetrators and the agency they serve.

Initiate a review of regulations, policy, and training to ensure that the practices of the police, including the use of force, in policing demonstrations are consistent with international human rights standards, including the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms.

Establish effective mechanisms to receive complaints, provide timely and accessible information on the progress of cases, and ensure that any person wishing to submit a complaint against law enforcement officials is not in any way obstructed from doing so. Where a complaint is rejected as inadmissible, the complainant should be given clear and detailed reasons for the decision, in writing, and information on appeals mechanisms and alternative avenues of recourse.

Ensure that victims of crimes committed by law enforcement officials have access to an effective remedy and receive adequate reparation, including compensation, restitution, rehabilitation, and guarantees of non-repetition in accordance with international standards.

On 1 July 2008 thousands of people protested at Sukhbaatar Square amid allegations of widespread election fraud. The riot was unexpected and unexpectedly violent. At least nine people were shot by the police, four fatally, and a fifth person died allegedly from smoke inhalation.

The Government called the country’s first state of emergency since transitioning to a democratic system of government in 1990 for four days from midnight 2 July, 2008.

Allegations of police killings in Guatemala must be investigated

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:44:14 +0000

Amnesty International has condemned the failure of the Guatemalan authorities to thoroughly investigate extra-judicial killings in which police officers have been implicated.

In a report released on Tuesday, Amnesty International says that killings by police officers, often of young people who have either a criminal record or are suspected of involvement in crime, continue to be reported.

"Despite repeated reports and investigations by local and international human rights organizations the problem of police involvement in extra-judicial killings continues," said Kerrie Howard, deputy director of the Americas Programme at Amnesty International.

"The Guatemalan authorities must take seriously these allegations and investigate effectively and thoroughly".

The media and the authorities have frequently referred to these extra-judicial killings as "social cleansing", taking the law into their own hands to "rid" society of people they suspect involved in criminal activity.

Guatemalan officials are failing to investigate these killings. Amnesty International has asked that the authorities fulfil their obligations under international human rights law to protect the right to life and to bringing to justice those responsible for violating this right.

Guatemala has a very high level of violent crime, yet has a very low conviction rate. It is estimated that 98 per cent of homicides go unresolved in Guatemala.

Amnesty International has received frequent reports of individuals who came into contact with the police and were then never seen alive again. The bodies of the victims, some as young as 13, were mostly discovered in vacant lots or on rubbish tips with their hands tied behind their backs, strangled or with multiple gun shot wounds inflicted at close range.

Investigations into the cases often take many months to begin, by which time much of the evidence which could be used to identify the perpetrators is lost.

Amnesty International said it believes that to date, there has been no serious initiative to hold those responsible for these serious human rights violations to account.

Amnesty International called on the Guatemalan president to guarantee an end to extra-judicial killings and to bring to justice those responsible for these crimes.

Post-election Iran violations among worst in 20 years

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:23:55 +0000

Human rights violations in Iran are now as bad as at any time in the past 20 years, Amnesty International has said in a new report on the aftermath of last June’s presidential election.

"The Iranian leadership must ensure that the many allegations of torture, including rape, unlawful killings and other abuses are fully and independently investigated," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

"Members of militias and officials who have committed violations must also be promptly held to account and on no account should any one be executed".

Amnesty International has called on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to allow two key UN human rights experts to visit Iran to help conduct an investigation.

"The Supreme Leader should order the government to invite in UN Special Rapporteurs on torture and on summary and arbitrary executions to help ensure that investigations are both rigorous and independent," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

"To date, the investigations announced by various Iranian authorities seem to have been more concerned with covering up abuses than getting at the truth."

The report, Iran: Election contested, repression compounded describes patterns of abuse before, during and, particularly, after the June election, when the authorities deployed the Basij militia and Revolutionary Guards to suppress mass protests against its disputed outcome.

It includes testimonies from individuals who were detained during the protests, some of whom have since been forced to flee the country.

One former detainee says he was held at the notorious Kahrizak detention centre for some 58 days, being held in a shipping container throughout, and only allowed to contact his family after 43 days.

During interrogation, he was told that his son had been detained and would be raped if he did not "confess" and he was then beaten with a baton until he lost consciousness. He said there were more than 70 other detainees held in the container with him.

Another former detainee, Ali Kheradnejad, says he saw Amir Javadifar, a student, with his clothes ripped and his forehead bloody and later learned that he had died in detention, apparently as a result of torture or other ill-treatment. He then decided to speak out, whatever the risks.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said: "The authorities must show that they have turned the page on the abuses committed this summer. They must now ensure that the policing of protests conforms fully to international standards on law enforcement, and keep the Basij and other strong arm forces off the street."

"Anyone who is arrested or detained must be protected from torture or other ill-treatment, prisoners of conscience must be released and those convicted after unfair trials – including the 'show trials' which made a mockery of justice – must have their cases reviewed, or be released. All death sentences should be commuted, and others not yet tried must receive fair trials."

The crackdown on protest has continued as dozens of student activists were detained and others banned from study in the three weeks leading to Iran's national student day on 7 December, when over 200 were arrested during demonstrations that were met with beatings and tear gas by security forces.

The level of investigations that the government has held so far generally appear to have been intended more to conceal than to expose the truth.

Iranian authorities have established two bodies to investigate the post-election crisis, including the treatment of detainees - a parliamentary committee and a three-person judicial committee.

Full details of the mandate and powers of both bodies have not been disclosed, and the parliamentary committee’s findings have not been made public.

Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions have requested entry into Iran and are waiting to hear back from authorities.

"The onus is on the authorities to address the widespread human rights violations that occurred during the unrest in an open, transparent and accountable manner," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Official figures say 36 people were killed in post-election violence. The opposition puts the figure at over 70.

At least 4,000 people were arrested across Iran after the elections. At the time of writing of the report, up to 200 remain in jail, some arrested after the initial unrest died down.

Nigerian police 'kill at will'

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:56:31 +0000

Amnesty International exposed the shocking level of unlawful police killings in Nigeria in a new report released on Wednesday.

“The Nigerian police are responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings every year,” said Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme.

“Police don’t only kill people by shooting them; they also torture them to death, often while they are in detention.”

“The majority of the cases go un-investigated and the police officers responsible go unpunished. The families of the victims usually get no justice or redress. Most never even find out what happened to their loved ones.”

Police frequently claim that the victims of shootings were ‘armed robbers’ killed in ‘shoot-outs’ with the police or while trying to escape custody. These claims are often highly implausible.

Fifteen-year-old Emmanuel Egbo was killed by a police officer in Enugu in September 2008. According to witnesses, he was playing with other children in front of his uncle’s house when three police officers came up to them. One officer pulled out a gun and shot the boy, claiming he was an armed robber. He was unarmed.

In August 2009, his family discovered his body had disappeared from the mortuary. As of November 2009, the body is still missing.

Amnesty International said that some police officers see the killings of ‘armed robbers’ in detention as acceptable practice.

In June 2009, the organization visited the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) detention centre in Abuja, which is located in a disused abattoir outside the city.

Suspects are held in a vast warehouse previously used for slaughtering cattle. Chains are still hanging from the ceiling. When Amnesty International delegates visited the building, about 15 people were held in cells. Amnesty International delegates counted at least 30 empty bullet cases scattered on the ground.

Unofficially, a policeman told Amnesty International that many “armed robbers” are taken there and shot.

Amnesty International said that one of the main problems is ‘Nigeria Police Force Order 237’ under which police officers are allowed to shoot suspects and detainees who attempt to escape or avoid arrest – whether or not they pose a threat to life.

“Force Order 237 is so impermissibly broad. It simply gives police officers permission to shoot people. It is against international standards, and is being abused by police officers to commit, justify and cover up illegal killings,” said Erwin van der Borght.

“The government must repeal Force Order 237 and publicly announce that the use of lethal force is only allowed when strictly unavoidable to protect life. This simple step could make a big difference to the number of unlawful police killings we are seeing in Nigeria.”

Enforced disappearances in Nigeria are rife. Typically, in the first days or weeks following arrest, families are allowed to visit their relatives in detention. Later on, police tell them their loved ones have been “transferred to Abuja”. Other times, they simply deny any knowledge of their whereabouts.

The Nigerian government says that they do not condone extrajudicial killings. But they are not doing enough to stop them and bring the police perpetrators to justice. Even on the rare occasions when police officers implicated in an unlawful killing are prosecuted, they are often released on bail or escape custody. Some are simply transferred to other states.

“Ending unlawful killings and enforced disappearances by the police will require serious legal reform and commitment and support from the Nigerian police force,” said Erwin van der Borght. “The Nigerian Police Force must introduce a new code of conduct throughout its chain of command – from the very top to the bottom. If not, the cycle of violence will simply continue.”

Mexican civilian authorities must investigate pattern of serious abuses by military

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:54:07 +0000

New evidence of serious human rights violations carried out during military operations to combat organized crime and drug cartels in Mexico has been unveiled in a report published by Amnesty International.

“There is a disturbing pattern of crimes committed by the military in their security operations, abuse that is being denied and ignored by both the civilian and the military authorities in Mexico,” said Kerrie Howard, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Americas programme.

In its report, Mexico: Human rights violations by the military, Amnesty International accuses the authorities of failing to fully probe allegations of abuses committed by the military, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial and unlawful killings, torture, ill treatment and arbitrary detentions.

By the end of June 2009, almost 2,000 complaints of abuse by the military had been received by the National Human Rights Commission in Mexico since the start of 2008. Only 367 were received in 2007 and 182 in 2006.

Amnesty International believes that this information does not fully reflect the extent of abuses being carried out but that it is indicative of a growing trend of abuses.

A human rights organization in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, told Amnesty International they had received 70 complaints involving arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment by the military between January 2008 and September 2009. But only 21 individuals lodged legal complaints. The rest feared that threats against them would transform into attacks.

“The cases that we have been able to investigate are truly shocking. But what is more shocking is that we know that this is only the tip of the iceberg. We are able to go into specific detail on a number of cases whilst the government continues to deny that there are cases of human rights abuses that need to be investigated,” said Kerrie Howard.

Amnesty International’s report goes into detail on five cases of serious human rights violations committed by the military against 35 individuals between October 2008 and August 2009 in the states of Chihuahua,Tamaulipas and Baja California.

On 21 October 2008, witnesses saw 31 year-old Saúl Becerra Reyes and five other men arrested by soldiers in a car-wash in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua state.

Five days later, the five men arrested with Saúl were transferred from a military base to the Federal Attorney General’s Office and charged with drug and firearm offences. Saul’s detention was never acknowledged and he was never seen alive again.

Several official complaints were made about Saúl ‘s disappearance but none led to an effective investigation by the authorities. Despite a petition from a federal judge, civilian and military authorities repeatedly denied knowledge of Saul’s whereabouts.

Saúl’s body was found in March 2009. His death certificate said he died one day after his detention of a cerebral hemorrhage from head trauma. The authorities carried out no further autopsy.
The federal judge closed the case and passed it to the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office to be investigated as an ordinary murder with no reference to evidence of military involvement.

“Mexico is facing a major public security crisis and the government has a clear responsibility to combat organized crime and drug cartels by all legal means,” said Kerrie Howard.

“This is a difficult and dangerous job, but the severity of a crisis should not be used as a pretext for turning a blind eye when abuses are committed.”

Amnesty International also complained that the few cases of military abuse that are taken forward are dealt with in virtually closed military courts where victims and their relatives have no access to information or status on which they can challenge judicial or court proceedings.

The lack of independence and impartiality of military prosecutors and courts has repeatedly resulted in the denial of justice to victims and impunity for perpetrators.

“The abuses we have seen contribute to the deterioration of the security situation in Mexico,” said Kerrie Howard.

“By failing to take action to prevent and punish serious human rights violations the Mexican government could be seen to be complicit in these crimes.”

Amnesty International urged the Mexican authorities to recognize the seriousness and scale of the reports of human rights abuses committed by members of the military as well as the level of complicity of civilian authorities in covering up these abuses and to make the issue a government priority.

The government must take immediate steps to ensure prompt and impartial investigations by the civilian authorities so those responsible are brought before the civilian courts and victims receive reparations.

Victims of Peru Amazon violence deserve justice without discrimination

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:06:33 +0000

The Peruvian authorities must conduct fair and impartial investigations into the deaths of all those killed during violence at a road blockade led by Amazon Indigenous peoples in June, Amnesty International said in a new report.

The organisation urged full investigations into the deaths of 10 Indigenous and local people, alongside those already underway into the killings of 23 police officers during the incident.

At least 200 people were also injured on 5 June after police intervened to end a peaceful protest by thousands of people over the use of land and resources on a road near Bagua in northern Peru.

“Measures must be taken to bring all the alleged perpetrators of these serious abuses to justice and provide reparation to all the victims”, said Guadalupe Marengo, Deputy Americas Director at Amnesty International.

Thousands of Indigenous people had been peacefully blockading the road for over 50 days in protest against new legislation which they claim poses a threat to their livelihood.

The report, Peru: Bagua six months on reveals that while protesters have been detained and charged in connection with the deaths of the police, none of those suspected of involvement in deaths and injuries of protesters have so far been charged

Indigenous leaders have also faced intimidation and harassment from the authorities.

“Harassment and intimidation of Indigenous leaders has to stop and the right of Indigenous Peoples to free, prior and informed consent on any decision which could affect their right to land and resources must be guaranteed”, said Guadalupe Marengo.

During its investigation, Amnesty International spoke to witnesses and relatives of those killed, who revealed new details about the eruption of violence.

One of the individuals that Amnesty International spoke to was Violeta Piitug Wampush, the widow of Felipe Sabio César Sánchez, an Indigenous leader from the small Indigenous community of Wawás and a reporter for a local radio station.

He was shot dead on his way out of Bagua’s hospital, where he had gone to report on Indigenous people killed and injured that day.

“Just as they are acknowledging the police officers [who died on 5 June] as servants of the state, they should acknowledge [my] husband too … [he] fell in defence of the Amazon territory” she told Amnesty International.

Eleven of the 23 police officers were killed while they were held hostage by Indigenous protesters and the whereabouts of one police officer remain unknown.

Flor de María Vásquez, the wife of Comandante Miguel Antón Montenegro Castillo, one of the police officers killed on 5 June, is still waiting for answers to why the police didn’t send more reinforcements to help them.

“This is a situation that could have been avoided beforehand, they could have rescued them, they could have saved them. Why didn’t they get there? That’s the explanation that they haven’t given us,” she told Amnesty International.

In July 2009 Amnesty International visited the towns of Bagua, Bagua Grande, and some of the Indigenous communities who took part in the road blockade and protests.

Amnesty International interviewed relatives of those who died, including relatives of police officers who were killed, as well as protestors, detainees and eye witnesses, and Indigenous and community leaders.

Commonwealth leaders must focus on Sri Lanka crisis

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:27:58 +0000

Amnesty International has called on Commonwealth leaders to press the Sri Lankan government about the plight of the displaced.

The organization made the call in an open letter to heads of government attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago this week.

The UK government said on Friday that it will oppose Sri Lanka hosting the next Commonwealth summit because of concerns over its conduct in the conflict and its treatment of refugees.

At least 130,000 people displaced by war and living in government camps in northern Sri Lanka are being denied their basic human rights, including liberty and freedom of movement.

Amnesty International has a global campaign, Unlock the Camps, calling on the Sri Lankan government to end its policy of forcibly confining people to camps, which amounts to arbitrary detention.

In recent weeks the government has speeded up releases from the camps. Amnesty International has welcomed the Sri Lankan government's recent promise to lift any restrictions on movement of at least 130,000 people still unlawfully detained by 1 December.

However, amid reports of some re-arrests following releases from the camps, the organization has called on the Sri Lankan authorities to abide by the principles of international humanitarian law and ensure that displaced people are supported to make voluntary and informed decisions about their future.

The open letter also asked Commonwealth leaders to support calls for greater accountability for abuses of human rights and humanitarian law suffered by Sri Lankan civilians.

Yemeni women face violence and discrimination

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:15:44 +0000

Women in Yemen face systemic discrimination and endemic violence with devastating consequences for their lives, Amnesty International said in a campaign report on Wednesday.

Their rights are routinely violated because Yemeni laws as well as tribal and customary practices treat them as second class citizens.

Women are not free to marry who they want and some are forced to marry when they are children, sometimes as young as eight.

The practice was highlighted last Friday, 20 November, by the UN Committee against Torture, which expressed its concern at the “legality” of early marriages of girls, calling it “inhuman and degrading treatment”.

Once married, a woman must obey her husband and obtain his permission just to leave the house.

Women are valued as half the worth of men when they testify in court or when their families are compensated if they are murdered.

They are also denied equal treatment when it comes to inheritance and are often denied it completely.

Women are dealt with more harshly than men when accused of “immoral” acts, and men are treated leniently when they murder female relatives in “honour killings”.

Such discriminatory laws and practices encourage and facilitate violence against women, which is rife in the home and in society at large.

Despite this, recent years have seen some positive developments for women’s rights, such as the creation of the quasigovernmental National Women’s Committee (NWC) in 1996 and the appointment in 2001 of a minister of state for human rights, which was upgraded to ministerial level in 2003.

The government has also engaged with intergovernmental bodies and reported to the UN committee overseeing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, to which Yemen is a party.

Most significantly, women themselves have helped to create a vibrant civil society, and women’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have achieved some success in some campaigns for reforms. In 2009, for example, the government repealed Article 3(1) of the 1990 Nationality Law to allow children born to a Yemeni mother and a non-Yemeni father to qualify for Yemeni nationality.

However, other reforms are urgently needed. Amnesty International is calling for an end to discriminatory laws and violence against women, adding its voice to the demand of women in Yemen for full and equal access to their human rights.

Women face abuse in Tajikistan

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:22:27 +0000

The authorities in Tajikistan must properly prosecute violence against women as a criminal offence, Amnesty International said in a report published on Tuesday.

Violence is not just a family affair: Women face abuse in Tajikistan, documents the physical, psychological and sexual abuse women face in the family and urges the authorities to address it as the crime it is and not to dismiss it as a "private family matter".

"Women in Tajikistan are beaten, abused, and raped in the family but the authorities tend to reflect the societal attitude of blaming the woman for domestic violence. They see their primary role as mediator, to preserve the family rather than protect the woman and to safeguard their rights," said Andrea Strasser-Camagni, Amnesty International's expert on Tajikistan.

"The traditional Tajik family values, reinforced after the break-up of the Soviet Union, impose further discrimination on women by narrowing their identity to that of wife and mother, or pushing them into the lowest paid sector of the job market."

"By writing off violence against women as a family affair the authorities in Tajikistan are shirking their responsibility to a large part of the population. They are allowing perpetrators of such crimes to act with impunity and, ultimately, denying women their human rights."

Violence against women, and especially in the family, is widespread in Tajikistan. One-third to one-half of women have regularly been subjected to physical, psychological or sexual violence at the hands of their husbands or their in-laws.

Often, Tajik women are economically dependent on their husband's family. They have told Amnesty International that upon setting foot in the in-law's home after marriage they may be subjected to harsh treatment not only from their husbands, but also from their in-laws, and in particular from their mothers-in-law who themselves may have been abused as young brides.

"Women are being treated as servants or as the in-laws' family property. They have no one to turn to as the policy of the authorities is to urge reconciliation which de facto reinforces their position of inferiority. This experience of violence and humiliation in the family makes many women to turn to suicide," Andrea Strasser-Camagni said.

There are insufficient services to protect the survivors of domestic violence, and most of these are provided by internationally funded local non-governmental organizations. The police, judiciary and medical staff are not sufficiently trained to deal with cases of domestic violence.

Education is a key factor in developing girls' empowerment and providing an escape route from violence and poverty. However, girls drop out early from schools; instead, they enter into early and often unregistered or polygamous marriages, all of which increase their dependency on their husbands.

Initial measures undertaken by the Tajikistani government to combat domestic violence have proved largely insufficient.

Although Tajikistan has ratified relevant international human rights treaties, it is falling short of its international obligation to protect and fulfil women's rights.

Amnesty International has called upon the Tajikistani authorities to:

prevent and prosecute violence against women in the family through the introduction of an effective domestic law and nationwide support services;
carry out a nationwide public awareness campaign in order to address the unlawful practices of unregistered, polygamous, and early marriages;
remove all barriers to girls' education and address the root causes of girls dropping out of education.

Haiti government must eradicate child slavery

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:43:34 +0000

Authorities in Haiti must enact legislation to protect children working as domestic help in conditions that amount to slavery, said Amnesty International ahead of Universal Children’s Day.

Amnesty International launched a campaign on Wednesday to press the government in Haiti to enact measures to protect child domestic workers from abuse, ill-treatment and exploitation.

Many Haitian families, too poor to support their children, are forced to send them to work as domestic help. The children -- most of them girls -- end up working long hours cleaning, cooking, fetching water for the whole household and looking after other children in the family.

“Most child domestic workers in Haiti live as virtual slaves,” said Gerardo Ducos, Haiti researcher at Amnesty International. “They work in inhuman conditions, suffering violence and abuse by their hosts, only for a plate of food.”

UNICEF estimated that there were as many as 100,000 girl domestic workers in Haiti in 2007.

Trapped in a situation of total dependence, many girls are compelled to put up with violence and sexual abuse. Some flee the employer or host family and live on the streets where they may have no option but to sell their bodies for sex in order to survive.

15-year-old Régina told Amnesty International that when she was 10, she was sent to work as a domestic servant, but she ran away because the beatings became unbearable. She spent the next four years at Foyer Maurice Sixto, a shelter for children who have been domestic workers. During that time she was able to go to school. When she turned 14, Régina went back home, were she suffered further abuse.

“Girls in Haiti are trapped in a spiral of poverty and violence,” said Gerardo Ducos. ”The eradication of this modern form of slavery is the only way to protect the rights of thousands of children."

Haitian laws do not provide a protective framework for children.

In 2003, the Law for the prohibition and elimination of all kind of abuses, violence and inhuman treatment of children came into force. This law removed a chapter of the Labor Code that regulated the work of children in domestic service but failed to ban the practice of children in domestic service.

The Code had prohibited the “employment” of children under 12 as domestic workers and had provided guarantees that those aged over 15 would receive a salary for their work. The Code required foster families, among other things, to request authorization from the Institute of Social Welfare and Research if they wished to employ a child as domestic worker.

“Ahead of Universal Children’s Day, Haiti should step up its commitment to the protection of girl domestic workers and take concrete steps to improve their situation,” said Gerardo Ducos.

Appeal for action

Protect girls in domestic labour in Haiti