– Israeli forces unlawfully attacked a residential building in Gaza on October 31, 2023, absent any apparent military target, killing at least 106 civilians, including 54 children.
– Scores of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza since October 7 have caused thousands of civilian casualties, underscoring the greater risk of unlawful attacks from explosive weapons in populated areas.
– Governments should suspend arms transfers to Israel, support the International Criminal Court investigation in Palestine, and impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for laws-of-war violations.
Archiv: Human Rights Watch (organization)
Israel strike that killed 106 people in Gaza ‘apparent war crime’: Probe
(04.04.2024)
The inquiry was based on testimonies from 16 people the group spoke to between January and March, satellite images, dozens of photographs and videos from the site, as well as those shared on social media, the international rights group said on Thursday as it released the findings of its investigation.
It called on governments to suspend weapons transfers to Israel and support the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) investigation in Palestine, saying the attack was among the “deadliest single incidents for civilians” since Israel’s war on Gaza started in October.
Israel: Starvation Used as Weapon of War in Gaza
International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, prohibits the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provides that intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies” is a war crime. Criminal intent does not require the attacker’s admission but can also be inferred from the totality of the circumstances of the military campaign.
In addition, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza, as well as its more than 16-year closure, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a war crime. As the occupying power in Gaza under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel has the duty to ensure that the civilian population gets food and medical supplies.
Human Rights Watch says Israel is using starvation as a weapon in Gaza.
The group said Israel’s actions could constitute a war crime.
It cited statements by senior Israeli leaders to support its claim that depriving Gazans of necessities was a policy implemented by the country’s armed forces.
Human Rights Watch: Israel Starving Gaza Civilians as a Method of Warfare
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday accused Israel of intentionally starving the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, citing comments from high-ranking officials and interviews with displaced Palestinian people. According HRW using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, goes against international humanitarian law and constitutes collective punishment. The group charged that as the occupying power in Gaza, Israel is responsible for the population getting food and medical supplies.
Gaza: Unlawful Israeli Hospital Strikes Worsen Health Crisis
– The Israeli military’s repeated, apparently unlawful attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and transport are further destroying Gaza’s healthcare system and should be investigated as war crimes.
– Concerns about disproportionate attacks are magnified for hospitals. Even the threat of an attack or minor damage can have massive life-or-death implications for patients and caregivers.
– The Israeli government should end attacks on hospitals. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the ICC should investigate.
U.S. Knew About Migrant Killings by Saudi Forces Earlier Than Previously Disclosed
(Sept. 1, 2023)
The State Department said U.S. diplomats in Saudi Arabia had first heard reports of a dramatic increase in lethal violence against migrants and asylum seekers by that nation’s border forces in the summer of last year and had immediately asked officials at “high levels” of the Saudi government to investigate.
The department made the disclosure in a statement on Thursday night to The New York Times in response to questions posed early this week about the U.S. government’s knowledge of the reported violence and its working relationship with Saudi Arabia’s border forces.
„They Fired on Us Like Rain“: Saudi Arabian Mass Killings of Ethiopian Migrants at the Yemen-Saudi Border
(21.08.2023)
Saudi border guards have killed at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023. Human Rights Watch research indicates that, at time of writing, the killings are continuing. Saudi border guards have used explosive weapons and shot people at close range, including women and children, in a pattern that is widespread and systematic. If committed as part of a Saudi government policy to murder migrants, these killings would be a crime against humanity. In some instances, Saudi border guards first asked survivors in which limb of their body they preferred to be shot, before shooting them at close range. Saudi border guards also fired explosive weapons at migrants who had just been released from temporary Saudi detention and were attempting to flee back to Yemen.
U.S. presses Saudi Arabia on reported migrant massacres
(Updated August 31, 2023 at 6:22 p.m.)
The United States has voiced public concern about the reports of violence against civilians, which circulated among diplomats and U.N. officials for more than a year before being thrust into wider public view, and called for a Saudi investigation.
U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic conversations, say they are also pushing the Saudis to identify the units who, according to eyewitnesses and victims, used mortars, small-arms fire and close-range executions to kill hundreds or possibly thousands of people, many of them women and children.
„They Fired on Us Like Rain“: Saudi Arabian Mass Killings of Ethiopian Migrants at the Yemen-Saudi Border
Saudi border guards have killed at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023. Human Rights Watch research indicates that, at time of writing, the killings are continuing. Saudi border guards have used explosive weapons and shot people at close range, including women and children, in a pattern that is widespread and systematic. If committed as part of a Saudi government policy to murder migrants, these killings would be a crime against humanity. In some instances, Saudi border guards first asked survivors in which limb of their body they preferred to be shot, before shooting them at close range. Saudi border guards also fired explosive weapons at migrants who had just been released from temporary Saudi detention and were attempting to flee back to Yemen.
Hundreds of migrants killed by Saudi border guards – report
Migrants have told the BBC they had limbs severed by gunfire and saw bodies left on the trails.
Saudi Arabia has previously rejected allegations of systematic killings.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, titled They Fired On Us Like Rain, contains graphic testimony from migrants who say they were shot at and sometimes targeted with explosive weapons by Saudi police and soldiers on Yemen‘s rugged northern border with Saudi Arabia.
Report: US Will Provide Ukraine Cluster Bombs as Part of New Weapons Package
The Associated Press reported Thursday that the Biden administration has decided to arm Ukraine with cluster bombs and will announce the munitions as part of a new $800 million arms package. The news comes after Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report that said Ukraine has killed its own citizens using the munitions.
China’s Techno-Authoritarianism Has Gone Global
(April 8, 2021)
To much of the rest of the world, however, this competition is little more than evil versus evil. The U.S. government has also practiced mass surveillance; big U.S. technology companies have adopted a surveillance-based business model, exploiting people’s data in the name of free service; and the Five Eyes, an intelligence coalition comprised of the United States and Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, has sought to undermine encryption by pressuring companies to give governments backdoor access to all digital communications. In this dismal global race to the digital bottom, the biggest losers are ordinary technology users all over the world.
Burkina Faso: Army Linked to Massacre of 156 Civilians
African Union, United Nations Should Press for Credible, Independent Inquiry
French FM warns Israel of ‚risk of apartheid‘
The official‘s rhetoric echoes recent reports by the Israeli B‘Tselem rights group, as well as by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization, both of which accused Israel of subjecting Palestinians to a multi-tiered regime of discrimination not unlike the racist system of governance that held sway in South Africa between 1948 and 1991.
How Human Rights Watch Whitewashed a Right-Wing Massacre in Bolivia
(20.11.2019)
While some may be surprised by its response to the Bolivia crisis, Human Rights Watch’s support for a U.S.-backed right-wing coup is no aberration.
Krieg in Afghanistan: Krieg gegen Zivilisten
Obwohl die Einheiten nominell dem afghanischen Geheimdienst NDS angehören, sitzt ihr direkter Befehlshaber in Washington. Ihre Mitglieder wurden laut Bericht größtenteils von der CIA angeworben, geschult, ausgerüstet und beaufsichtigt. Zudem gingen die Einsätze oftmals mit Luftangriffen einher, die von den USA selbst durchgeführt wurden.
“They’ve Shot Many Like This”: Abusive Night Raids by CIA-Backed Afghan Strike Forces
Afghan paramilitaryforces nominally belong to the Afghan National Directorate of Security(NDS), the country’s primary intelligence agency. However, these forces do not fall under the ordinary chain of command within the NDS, nor under normal Afghan or US military chains of command.They largely have beenrecruited, trained, equipped,and overseen by the CIA. They often have US special forces personnel deployed alongside them during kill-or-capture operations; these US forces, primarily Army Rangers,have been seconded to the CIA.Afghanparamilitary strike forces generally carry out operations with USlogistical support andare dependent on US intelligence and surveillance for targeting.
CIA-backed Afghan troops ‚committed war crimes‘: report
Forces conducted night raids, in which they dragged people out of their homes without prior warning. Among the allegations are claims they targeted medical staff who treated militants in contested or Taliban-controlled areas, and summarily executed or „forcibly disappeared“ people in custody.
Moreover, the troops „seem to have unlawfully targeted civilians because of mistaken identity, poor intelligence, or political rivalries in the locality“.
Sri Lanka must have foreign judges in war crime investigation: HRW
(17. Februar 2017)
Sri Lanka must employ international judges and prosecutors to ensure accountability during trials of those responsible for alleged war crimes against mostly Tamils, Human Rights Watch Australia‘s director Elaine Pearson told SBS News.
Ms Pearson‘s call, which echoes a recommendation in a 2015 UN Human Rights Council report of the OHCHR investigation of Sri Lanka, comes as Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesingh this week visited Canberra.
Uruguay verwahrt sich gegen Vorhaltungen von Human Rights Watch
Der in einem ungewöhnlich anmaßendem Ton gehaltene offene Brief von HRW an die Regierung des Sozialdemokraten Tábare Vázquez beklagt, dass Uruguay, das „in der Vergangenheit ein Verbündeter beim Schutz und der Förderung der Menschenrechte bei den Vereinten Nationen war“, sich der Initiative noch nicht angeschlossen habe. Vivanco rät, „Uruguay sollte nicht zu der schrumpfenden Gruppe von Staaten gehören, die immer noch bereit sind, das Maduro-Regime blind zu verteidigen.“
HRW: Israel attempting to shut down human rights record criticism
In a joint statement on Wednesday, 15 Israeli human rights groups condemned Israel‘s decision to expel Shakir.