Web pages about "Brazil"

BRIEFING Brazil: Land activists renewed target of criminal justice system

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:49:21 +0100

Amnesty International is concerned by attempts to criminalise land activists by elements within Brazil’s criminal justice system, undermining their fight for agrarian reform and violating their fundamental human rights.

These concerns follow a series of fabricated judicial measures against land activists in a number of states. In Rio Grande do Sul prosecutors and military police have targeted the Landless Workers Movement (MST) with spurious criminal charges and irregular and abusive land evictions. In the state of Pará land activists have been put at risk by legally unsound court rulings intended to undermine their work, while those who threaten and kill them continue to go unpunished.

“Brazil’s agrarian boom must not occur at the expense of the rights of the most vulnerable or those defending them,” said Tim Cahill, Brazil researcher at Amnesty International.

“The Brazilian federal and state authorities have the duty to protect the rights of all Brazilians, including the right to adequate housing, food and water.”

In Rio Grande do Sul, state and federal prosecutors, with the support of the military police, have embarked on a campaign with the stated aim of declaring the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST - landless workers movement) illegal. The campaign has been characterised by the use of criminal charges against MST members, questionable legal challenges and irregular evictions of MST camps.

State military police and public prosecutors in Rio Grande do Sul have made repeated unsubstantiated allegations against the MST, accusing it of being, among other things, a criminal gang, a paramilitary organisation and of being a threat to national security. However, no credible evidence has been provided to back these allegations. Furthermore, a previous federal police investigation into similar accusations by landowners against the MST found no evidence to substantiate them.

Evictions of MST camps, although done on the basis of judicial orders, have often been carried out through the use of excessive force in violation of the minimum standards of the right to adequate housing and not to be subjected to forced eviction (as set out in Art. 11.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ICESCR). The State has also failed to take all the appropriate measures to ensure that evicted families are not rendered homeless or vulnerable to the violation of other human rights and to ensure that adequate alternative housing or access to productive land is available (Standard set out in para 16 of CESCR General Comment 7).

On 17 June military police evicted a number of MST families who had camped for three years on land ceded to them by local landowners in the municipality of Carazinho. Police officers forced several families to leave their camp and destroyed crops, homes, a school, a church and a crèche as well as scattering livestock. The families have been forced to camp on the side of a major road.

In the Amazonian state of Pará, on 12 June, a federal court sentenced José Batista Gonçalves Afonso, a lawyer for the Catholic Church’s Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), to two years and five months in jail. He was accused of orchestrating an MST occupation of a government building and holding officials against their will, though he was inside the building negotiating with said officials at the time it was invaded.

All others charged in the case were fined or sentenced to community service. Only in the case of José Batista was this overturned for a prison sentence, even though the judge recognised in his ruling that the lawyer had no control over the demonstrators. This has increased suspicion that the ruling was intended to undermine the work of human rights defenders in the state. He is presently appealing this in liberty.

The last few months have seen several other incidents which also highlight the pressure placed on those fighting for the rights of landless peoples across Brazil. In May a court in the state of Pará overturned the conviction of a farmer accused of ordering the murder of Sister Dorothy Stang, an outspoken defender of the environment and the landless. A number of leading judicial experts and members of the federal government questioned the legal basis for the ruling.

During the same month, landless families in the state of Paraná were attacked by hired gunmen who used a specially modified armoured lorry. A number of these gunmen, employees of private security company NF Segurança, were already charged for their involvement in the murder of an MST leader at a farm owned by the multinational Syngenta, in October 2007. Over a year after, a federal police investigation found that the staff and directors had committed a number of irregularities. NF Segurança continues to act as a security company as a regulatory federal police body and federal prosecutors have failed to follow up on these allegations.

END/

Brazil: Freedom of expression under threat - para-police torture reporters

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:34:53 +0100

Press freedom and the protection of human rights is being jeopardised by the brutal actions of criminal gangs made up of off-duty police officers in Rio de Janeiro, said Amnesty International, as reports emerged of the kidnap and torture of a team of reporters by a para-policing group, known locally as milicias.

“Amnesty International welcomes the assurance by State Secretary of Public Security José Beltrame that investigations will be carried out into these horrific crimes. Those responsible have to be held accountable for these abuses and steps have to be taken urgently to dismantle the milicias," said Tim Cahill, Amnesty International’s researcher on Brazil.

“So far, the Rio de Janeiro government has fallen far short of its responsibility to combat these criminal para-policing groups. This reinforces their sense of legitimacy.”

On 14 May in the community of Batan, Rio de Janeiro, three staff from the local daily newspaper O Dia, and a resident, were held and tortured for several hours by members of the local milicia. Batan is one of several communities where control has been wrested from drug gangs by these criminal para-policing groups.

The three members of O Dia, two men and one woman, were living under cover in Batan to investigate the actions of the milicias.

“The torture they suffered and the courage they showed, has served to finally decimate the myth, perpetuated by certain politicians and media pundits, that the milicias are providing effective protection against crime and violence,” said Tim Cahill.

“The work of journalists is essential in bringing to light the human rights violations suffered by the most vulnerable communities in Rio de Janeiro and around the world.”

Background Information
The milicias consist of off-duty police officers and firemen. Many favela residents have described how they control communities with violence, while extorting money for the provision of security, as well as gas, transport, cable TV and other services. They are accused of wielding political power by guaranteeing, through intimidation, votes for certain state deputies.

Though they have existed in Rio de Janeiro for some time, their sudden expansion dates back to December 2006, when over 100 favelas were invaded by milicia groups. There appears to be little doubt that the growth of these groups can be attributed to decades of public security policy based on negligence, human rights violations and impunity of perpetrators, allowing criminal and corrupt police officers to thrive at the cost of those working tirelessly to serve the community.

The policy of hardline policing, defended only last week by Governor Sergio Cabral, based on high numbers of killings and military-style operations, has been proved to be seriously flawed. In his recent summary report presented to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions stated that the governor’s strategy has been, “politically driven and amounts to policing by opinion poll,” stressing that it is “counterproductive”.

The state government has persistently sought to defend its lack of action against militias through legal technicalities and operational excuses, while justifying the discriminatory and repressive operations against drug factions. Neither has provided the security that millions of favela residents desperately crave as communities across Rio de Janeiro continues to be dominated by drug factions and milicias.

Video: Brazilian women's lives shattered

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:35:53 +0100

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In May 2006 the people São Paulo witnessed a massive display of organized violence, as the notorious criminal gang, the PCC, took to the streets. Across the state more than 400 people were killed in little over a week, many by masked men linked to police or criminal gangs. Few if any of these cases have ever been investigated.

These clips are about the hidden victims. About the women who are left to pick up pieces when their fathers, brothers and sons are gunned down.

Dona Maria, Debora, Nalva and Vera are just a handful of women amongst thousands who are forced to live, bring up their children, and fight for justice against a backdrop of criminal and police violence. Without profound reforms these women will be forced to continue picking up the pieces.

Brazil: Women's lives shattered by public security crisis in shanty-towns

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:20:17 +0100

In a new report published today, Amnesty International revealed the untold stories of women who are forced to live, bring up their children and fight for justice in Brazil’s lawless shanty-towns.

“The reality for women in Brazil’s slums is catastrophic. They are the hidden victims of the criminal and police violence that has engulfed their communities for decades,” said Tim Cahill, Brazil researcher at Amnesty International.

The Brazilian state is virtually absent in marginalized communities and often the only contact people have with the government is via sporadic, militarised police incursions.

Though the federal government has launched a new project which promises to attend to the decades of neglect that have contributed to this reality, little has been done to analyse and address the specific needs of women living in these communities.

“Far from providing protection, the police often subject women to illegal searches by male officers, abusive and discriminatory language and intimidation, especially when they attempt to intervene to protect a relative,” said Tim Cahill.

Women who fight for justice on behalf of their sons or husbands end up on the frontline, facing further threats and harassment from the police.

“In the absence of the state, drug lords and gang leaders are the law in most shanty towns. They dispense punishment and protection and use women as trophies or bargaining tools,” said Tim Cahill.

Used as “mules” or as decoys by drug gangs, women are seen as disposable by criminals and corrupt police officers alike.

Amnesty International heard stories of women having their heads shaven for infidelity, and being forced to provide sexual favours for the payment of debts. Growing numbers are ending up in Brazil’s overcrowded, unsanitary prison system, subject to physical and psychological abuse – and in some cases rape.

The knock-on effects of crime and violence reverberate through entire communities, severely affecting the provision of basic services, such as healthcare and education. If local clinics fall within the territory of a rival gang, women can be forced to travel miles to see a doctor. Maternity services, crèches and schools can be closed for long periods because of police operations or criminal violence. Healthcare workers and teachers are often too scared to work in crime-blighted neighbourhoods.

Women in poor communities face incredible stress. As one said: “I live doped up. Take that diazepam to sleep. Because if I’m lucid I can’t sleep for the fear. Doped, I grab my daughter, throw myself on the floor to protect myself from the shooting, and sleep all night. If my daughter loses her dummy, she’s going to cry all night because once it’s eight o’clock I’m not leaving the house for anything.”

“The state violates the rights of these women in three ways. It supports policing practices that lead to killings, perpetuates a system that ensures access to justice is extremely difficult if not impossible, and condemns them to intense hardship,” said Tim Cahill.

The Brazilian state has introduced some positive initiatives, including strengthening the protection of women suffering from domestic violence through the introduction of the Maria da Penha law, which is yet to be fully implemented.

Far-reaching, long-term policies aimed at improving the lives of women living in marginalized communities are urgently needed to tackle violence against women. As a first step, Amnesty International called on the Brazilian federal government to integrate the needs of women into the new public security plan, the National Public Security and Citizenship Programme (Programa Nacional de Segurança Pública com Cidadania, PRONASCI).

Background information
This report is based on interviews with women in six states – Bahia, Sergipe, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul – carried out between 2006 and 2007.

For a copy of "Picking up the pieces – Women’s experience of urban violence in Brazil", please see: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR19/001/2008/en

Brazilian women's lives shattered

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:54:40 +0100

Women in Brazil are finding themselves left to pick up the pieces following criminal and police violence in shanty-towns.

Stories of urban violence in Brazil tend to focus on young men. Though men make up the bulk of the victims and perpetrators, the stories of women who are forced to live, bring up their children and fight for justice in Brazil’s lawless shanty-towns, are often ignored.

Brazilian cities have long suffered high levels of both criminal and police violence. Some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in Brazil are often dominated by drug gangs. The government’s response has been a series of ever more confrontational crack-downs, involving police operations which target not just criminal gangs, but entire communities.

Backdrop of violence
Women in these communities live in a climate of constant insecurity. Far from providing protection, the police often subject women to illegal searches by male officers and abusive and discriminatory language and intimidation, especially when they attempt to intervene to protect a relative.

Women who fight for justice on behalf of their sons or husbands end up on the frontline of change, facing further threats and harassment. One woman told Amnesty International, “We can’t go on living under these conditions. We live in fear."

Women are also at risk from drug chiefs and gang leaders. They dispense punishment and protection and use women as trophies or bargaining tools. Growing numbers of women are becoming involved in the drug trade. Many of these women end up in Brazil’s overcrowded, unsanitary prison system, subject to physical and psychological abuse – and in some cases rape.

Impact
The knock-on effects of crime and violence reverberate through entire communities, severely affecting the provision of basic services, such as healthcare and education. If local clinics fall within the territory of a rival gang, women can be forced to travel miles to see a doctor. Maternity services, crèches and schools can be closed for long periods because of police operations or criminal violence. Healthcare workers and teachers are often too scared to work in crime-blighted neighbourhoods.

Stopping the violence
Women who spoke to Amnesty International gave very clear messages of what is needed:

a police force which protects them and their families and provides genuine security
equal access to justice, irrespective of social class;
protection so they can continue their struggle to defend human rights;
social and economic support when a relative is injured or killed by police or criminal violence.

The Brazilian state has introduced some positive initiatives, including strengthening the protection of women suffering from domestic violence. But long term policies are urgently needed to tackle the broader issues of the impact of violence on women in excluded communities.

Action needed now
The Brazilian federal government must act to integrate the needs of women into the new public security plan, the National Public Security and Citizenship Programme (Programa Nacional de Segurança Pública com Cidadania, PRONASCI)

Brazil: ‘From burning buses to caveirões’: the search for human security (Report, 2 May 2007)
Brazil: ‘They come in shooting’: Policing socially excluded communities (Report, 2 December 2005)

UN examines human rights in member countries

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:59:20 +0100

All UN member states are facing a rigorous examination of their human rights records. The inaugural session of the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) working group began on Monday.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council and, over the next four years, it will regularly review the human rights obligations and commitments of all 192 Member States. Governments themselves will carry out this regular and systematic scrutiny.

The new process will address one of the main criticisms of the Council’s predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, which was accused of considering only a small number of countries, and of often avoiding pressing situations for political reasons.

The UPR Working Group will, until 18 April, examine the human rights records of 16 countries: Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland, India, Indonesia, Morocco, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Tunisia and the UK.

This first session will be followed by two further sessions in 2008, so that 48 countries, selected by drawing lots, will have been scrutinized during the year.

An important feature of the new process is that governments of the countries under examination are expected to carry out a broad consultation among civil society. Amnesty International has lobbied energetically to ensure that all relevant voices are heard.

The organisation has submitted information on 14 of the 16 countries above and its members and supporters are working with civil society within each country to raise awareness of the new process.

Amnesty International said, in a statement issued on Monday, that this first session of the UPR Working Group will be key in setting the standard for future reviews, in terms of process as well as substance.

"Both reviewed and reviewing countries have an important role to play. Amnesty International looks to all member states to step up and help launch the UPR as an effective human rights mechanism," said Martin Macpherson, Director of the organization's International Law and Organisations Programme.

Control Arms Campaign: Tangible momentum and potential for real change

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:44:04 +0100

By Mary Robinson

On this 55th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, threats of new terrorist attacks and the dangers of weapons of mass destruction dominate the headlines.

But the real weapons of mass destruction go largely unnoticed by those of us who live far from conflict and war. Those weapons are the 639 million small arms in circulation, and at least 16 billion units of military ammunition produced every year – enough to shoot every man, woman and child on the planet twice.

Such figures on their own would mean little, if it were not for the fact that the easy availability of arms increases the incidence and impact of armed violence, and can trigger conflict and prolong wars once they break out.

During my five years as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, I spent a huge proportion of my time meeting people who had been terrorized by armed violence.

I went to Colombia and met some of those caught in the crossfire. I witnessed the same in the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Time and again, a tide of weapons fed the slaughter and kept the conflict going.

So where do the weapons used to deny people their most basic human rights come from?

According to the 2003 edition of the Small Arms Survey, 1,134 companies in at least 98 countries are involved in some aspect of small arms production. At least 30 countries are regarded as significant producers, with the United States and the Russian Federation dominating the global market. Between them, these two countries account for more than 70% of total worldwide production of civilian firearms. Russia and the US, together with the three other permanent members of the UN Security Council - France, UK and China - supply 88 per cent of the world’s arms.

As the survey points out, “The majority of countries involved in the small arms trade still fail to provide comprehensive official data on their annual arms exports and imports. A significant proportion of the global trade in small arms is conducted in secrecy, reinforcing an environment in which corruption and black markets thrive.”

The lack of data on the arms trade also makes it easy for many of the weapons traded legally to end up in the wrong hands. Almost all (80-90 percent) small arms start off in the legal sphere - they are manufactured legally and their initial trade is state-sanctioned. Yet many get into the wrong hands where they fuel conflict and abuse in the most unstable areas of the world.

Added to this significant problem, the situation has become worse since the terrible attacks in the United States on 11th September 2001. In the name of fighting a "war on terror", more arms have been supplied to regimes that have poor human rights records. Some of the recipients of increased US military aid are armed forces that have committed grave violations of human rights, and which the US state department itself has identified as being amongst the worst human rights violators.

In the year after the 11th September attacks, security assistance from the US to Uzbekistan, for example, increased by $45 million, despite the continuation of systematic human rights violations in the former Soviet state.

Several other countries, including the UK, have cleared for export increasing numbers of arms to countries in which human rights violations continue. For example, UK arms sales to Indonesia grew by 20 times from 2000 to 2002.

The displacement and deaths of millions of innocent civilians are not the only human rights consequences of such exports. Governments in countries at war are also much less able to meet long-term commitments to education, healthcare and housing - all of which are fundamental human rights.

Despite the deadly nature of the trade, there are currently no binding international laws to regulate the arms industry.

Over the last five years, the problem of the illicit proliferation of small arms has been recognized and there have been small steps towards international controls. The UN Program of Action on small arms and light weapons, adopted in July 2001, contains some positive provisions including measures to monitor progress on collection and destruction of arms. However, it does not mention human rights, makes few references to international humanitarian law, and doesn’t provide a mandate for creation of a binding law.

Responsibility for controlling the arms trade lies with all exporting and importing countries. As the world’s largest exporters of arms, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council must face up to their role in fuelling the conflicts that destroy people’s livelihoods and trap countries in a cycle of violence and poverty.

The need for strong action by Security Council members was highlighted by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his 2002 report to the Council. For example, he recommended that the Council support the development of an international weapons marking and tracing instrument and also mentioned the need to enhance transparency in armaments.

The urgently required international action, recognized by the United Nations, is the subject of a new Control Arms campaign, launched by Oxfam, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA).

The organizations have banded together to press for regulation in the form of an Arms Trade Treaty. The proposed treaty includes legally binding criteria based on existing international law, to stop the flow of arms to human rights abusers, repressive governments and criminals. Governments would be required not to sell arms where they would be used to violate human rights or international humanitarian law, at last injecting regulation into a dangerously unregulated trade.

Though the campaign was only launched two months ago, numerous governments from Macedonia to Mali, Cambodia to Costa Rica have all expressed their support for an Arms Trade Treaty. With key influential leaders such as President Lula of Brazil also backing the campaign, there is tangible momentum and potential for real change.

After World War Two, countries pledged support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in order to stop the “barbarous acts” that had outraged the world’s conscience. But atrocities continue and it is now time to control the arms fuelling these violations.

This can only be achieved by the creation of a new universal declaration – an Arms Trade Treaty.

Mary Robinson is a former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is now Honorary President of Oxfam International and heads the Ethical Globalization Initiative.

Human Rights Council elections 2008 - Brazil

Thu, 01 May 2008 12:40:49 +0100

Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are killed annually by police predominantly in situations described as “resistance followed by death”. Brazil is suffering from extreme levels of criminal violence, with exceptionally high numbers of killings.

The vast majority of homicides are concentrated in socially excluded areas, which lack effective protection from the state, condemning residents to live between criminal and police violence. Police operations – especially those in Rio de Janeiro – often result in scores of people being killed and injured.

Impunity for human rights violations continues to be a major concern for Amnesty International, including the lack of independent bodies to receive and investigate complaints and the limited protection for victims of or witnesses to human rights violations.

Severe overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions, gang violence and riots continue to blight the prison system and there are reports of widespread and systematic practice of torture and ill-treatment. Due to the lack of effective mechanisms to report, investigate and prosecute allegations of torture, many perpetrators go unpunished.

Figures released by prison officials show that 30% of all deaths in custody were as a result of homicide – six times the rate in the wider population.

Violent disputes over access to land continue between landowners and landless peasants, indigenous peoples or quilombolas (communities made up of descendents of former slaves). Private security companies or gunmen hired by landowners and multinational companies operate beyond the law and with impunity in many states. Forced evictions, often involving threats and intimidation, continue.

Delays in the process of officially registering indigenous lands have put indigenous groups at risk across Brazil. The state of Mato Grosso do Sul remains the focal point for violence against indigenous peoples, where indigenous peoples fighting for their constitutional right to ancestral lands suffer extreme social and economic deprivation while some have been threatened and killed.

Elsewhere, particularly in Mato Grosso, Roraima and Maranhão, indigenous lands are being overrun by illegal loggers, gold prospectors and ranchers, generating further violence. Lack of state protection means some indigenous territories degenerate into lawless zones.

In order to combat slave labour, an inspection unit, the Grupo Movel, was created in 1995. However, its members have been threatened, attacked or even killed. This, combined with pressure by the landowner lobby, led to the temporary suspension of the unit’s activities.

Strengthening of anti-slavery legislation has so far been resisted by a pro-landowner block in Congress.

Despite the adoption of a new constitution in Brazil in 1988, huge gaps remain between the spirit of laws to protect human rights and their implementation. Nearly five years after the beginning of the process of implementing the Rome Statute of the international Criminal Court in national legislation, the process has stalled.

Legislation is in place to create a National Human Rights Council; however, the law falls short of international standards established in the Paris Principles.

Recent Amnesty International statements and reports:

General

Amnesty International Annual Report extracts for Brazil, 2005-2007

Ratification of International Treaties

Treaty	Status	Recognition of specific competences of Treaty Bodies	Reservations/Declarations
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)	Acceded	None
Optional Protocol to the ICCPR
Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR on the death penalty
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights	Acceded
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)	Ratified		Entered
Optional Protocol to CEDAW	Ratified	Arts. 8 and 9 (inquiry procedure)
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination	Ratified	Art. 14 (individual complaints)
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)	Ratified	Art. 20 (inquiry procedure) Art. 22 (individual complaints)
Optional Protocol to CAT	Ratified
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)	Ratified
Optional Protocol to the CRC on children in armed conflict	Ratified		Entered
Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography	Ratified
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance	Signed
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court	Ratified
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees	Ratified		Entered
Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees	Acceded
The Four Geneva Conventions	Ratified
Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts	Ratified
Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts	Ratified
Protocol III to the Geneva Conventions relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem	Signed

Compliance with Reporting Obligations

Total Overdue Reports	Up to 5 years overdue	5-10 years overdue	10 years or more overdue
12	CAT: 5th periodic report CRC: 2nd, 3rd, and 4th periodic reports CRC OP AC: initial report CRC OP SC: initial report CERD: 18th, 19th, and 20th periodic reports	CAT: 3rd and 4th periodic reports	CAT: 2nd periodic report

Cooperation with the Special Procedures

Extension of a standing invitation	Outstanding visit requests (year requested)	Forthcoming visits (dates if available)	Missions carried out between May 2007 and April 2008
All Special Procedures	Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing (2007)	None	Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions (Nov. 2007)

Sources:

Compilation prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in accordance with paragraph 15(b) of the Annex to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 - advance unedited version – 31 March 2008 (A/HRC/WG.6/1/BRA/2)
Official website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/ratification/index.htm
http://www.unhchr.ch/
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/special/countryvisitsf-m.htm
Official website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – http://www.unhcr.org/protect/3c0762ea4.html
Official website of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court – http://untreaty.un.org/ENGLISH/bible/englishinternetbible/partI/chapterXVIII/treaty11.asp
Official website of the International Committee of the Red Cross – http://www.cicr.org/ihl.nsf/Pays?ReadForm