Human Rigfhts Watch Weekly Digest:1-8 May 2009

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May 1st -   May 8th, 2009 South Africa: Put Rights at Center of Foreign Policy Italy/Libya: Forced Return of Migrants Violates Rights US: End Life Sentences for Youth Offenders Lebanon: A Year Later, No Accountability for Killings Tsering Zimbabwe: Drop Politically Motivated Charges Against Activists Iraq: Stop Executing Prisoners Turkmenistan: Political Prisoner Free After 14 Years An Urgent Need for UN Action on Sri Lanka A Timely, and Perfect, Mother's Day Gift China: End Quake Zone Abuses UN: Support Goldstone Investigation into Gaza War Violations Cambodia: End Threats to Opposition Lawmaker Sri Lanka: 'Boat People' Recount Horrors of No-Fire Zone Fiji: Reinstate Rule of Law Iran: Stop Imminent Juvenile Offender Executions Vietnam: End Crackdown on Labor Activists Iran: Secret Execution of Juvenile Offender UN: Remarks by UN's Congo Envoy 'Flat Wrong' This Mother's Day, don't send flowers. Send a gift to support the lives of mothers around the globe. South Africa: Put Rights at Center of Foreign Policy Zuma Should Grasp Opportunity to Break With the Recent Past (Johannesburg) - South Africa's new government should make human rights a central pillar of its foreign policy agenda, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to President-elect Jacob Zuma. Read more Italy/Libya: Forced Return of Migrants Violates Rights 227 Sent Back With No Asylum Hearing Opportunity and Facing Risk of Abuse (Agrigento, Sicily) - The forcible return of 227 migrants to Libya on May 6, 2009 by the Italian coast guard violated their right to seek asylum and put them at risk of inhuman and degrading treatment. Read more US: End Life Sentences for Youth Offenders New Figures Show More Youth Sentenced to Die in Prison (Washington, DC) - The US Congress should pass a proposed law to end the sentencing of youth offenders to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Read more Lebanon: A Year Later, No Accountability for Killings Justice for May 2008 Victims of Internal Fighting Key for Building Confidence in State Institutions (Beirut) - One year after the outbreak of fighting between opposition and pro-government groups that left at least 110 people dead, Lebanese authorities have yet to make public the results of their investigations into the killings of civilians. Read more Zimbabwe: Drop Politically Motivated Charges Against Activists Continued Persecution Undermines New Government's Bid for International Aid (Johannesburg) - The authorities in Zimbabwe should immediately free and drop criminal charges against 15 human rights activists and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party members who were ordered back into custody on May 5. Read more Iraq: Stop Executing Prisoners 12 Recently Hanged, UN Says 115 May Be Executed Soon (New York) - Iraq should institute an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in the aftermath of a large number of executions on May 3, 2009. Read more Turkmenistan: Political Prisoner Free After 14 Years EU Should Press for More Releases, Reviews of Past Convictions (New York) - A Turkmen political prisoner, Mukhametkuli Aymuradov, was freed on May 2, 2009 after serving 14 years in prison on trumped-up charges. Read more An Urgent Need for UN Action on Sri Lanka by Steve Crawshaw (United Nations) - More than 6,000 civilians have died in Sri Lanka in the past few months as government forces seek to end the 25-year-long war with the separatist Tamil Tigers. Read more A Timely, and Perfect, Mother's Day Gift by Marianne Mollmann Leading up to Mother's Day, the commercial world would have us believe that flowers and jewelry are the best gift a mother could receive. Yet most mothers I know (including myself) don't need roses or bracelets. Read more China: End Quake Zone Abuses Officials Still Harassing Relatives, Arresting Activists, Obstructing Media (New York) - The Chinese government should mark the first anniversary of the devastating May 12, 2008, Sichuan earthquake by offering legal redress to surviving relatives, making public all information about quake-related deaths and damages, and dropping onerous requirements for media who want to report from the area. Read more UN: Support Goldstone Investigation into Gaza War Violations UN Board of Inquiry Recommends Impartial and Comprehensive Investigation (New York) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should call on Israel and the Hamas authorities to cooperate with the investigation led by Justice Richard Goldstone into serious laws of war violations by both sides during recent fighting in Gaza. Read more Cambodia: End Threats to Opposition Lawmaker One of Parliament's Few Women Faces Criminal Defamation Suit (New York) - Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior members of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) should stop threatening to orchestrate the removal of lawmakers' parliamentary immunity in order to silence government critics. Read more Sri Lanka: 'Boat People' Recount Horrors of No-Fire Zone UN Security Council and Human Rights Council Need to Take Urgent Action (Kakinada, India) - Horrific accounts from refugees fleeing the fighting in Sri Lanka by boat show the wanton disregard for civilians of both Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Read more Fiji: Reinstate Rule of Law Repression Intensified Since April 10 Abrogation of Constitution (New York) - Fiji's interim government should immediately reinstate the Constitution, restore judges unlawfully removed from office, and withdraw government censors from newsrooms. Read more Iran: Stop Imminent Juvenile Offender Executions Executions of Amir Khaleghi and Safar Angooti Scheduled for May 6 On May 6, reliable sources in Iran informed Human Rights Watch that a stay of execution was granted for Amir Khaleghi and Safar Angooti at the last moment. Read more Vietnam: End Crackdown on Labor Activists Trade Union Leaders Harassed, Arrested, and Imprisoned (New York) - The Vietnamese government should immediately free activists who have been unlawfully imprisoned for peacefully campaigning for workers' rights. Read more Iran: Secret Execution of Juvenile Offender Authorities Failed to Notify Delara Darabi's Lawyer or Family (New York) - Iran secretly hanged a juvenile offender early today despite a flawed trial, a stay of execution and an unequivocal international ban on such executions. Read more UN: Remarks by UN's Congo Envoy 'Flat Wrong' Human Rights Watch has repeatedly condemned the atrocities committed by a group involved in the fighting in Eastern Congo. Read more