9 January 2015
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
Rupert Colville
Location: Geneva
Subjects: (1) Yemen (2) South Sudan (3) Cuba (in response to
a question)
_________________________________
(1) Yemen
A press release will be issued shortly on the troubling
situation in Yemen where deepening insecurity and violence are wreaking a
terrible toll on civilians. The past few weeks have seen a succession of bomb
attacks that have claimed dozens of lives.
These are wanton acts of indiscriminate violence and utterly
deplorable, yet, perhaps because of the violence engulfing so many other
countries, relatively little attention is being paid to the situation. We are
urging more attention to be paid to the plight of the Yemenis. We also call on
all parties in Yemen to renounce the use of violence to avoid further loss of
innocent lives and take concrete steps towards the immediate and effective
implementation of the peace and partnership agreement.
(2) South Sudan
Earlier this morning, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)
issued a detailed report compiled by its Human Rights Division on the mass
killings last April in the towns of Bentiu and Bor. According to the report, at
least 353 civilians were killed, and another 250 were wounded, in the two
attacks. The victims were, the report says, deliberately targeted on the basis
of their ethnicity, nationality or perceived support for one or other of the
parties to the conflict.
On 15 April, at least 287 civilians were killed at a mosque
in the Kalibalek area of Bentiu by opposition forces after they regained
control of the Unity State capital. Many of the victims were Sudanese traders
and their families who were targeted on the basis of their Darfuri origin. On
the same day, at least 19 civilians were killed at the Bentiu Civil Hospital.
Two days later, on the morning of 17 April, a large group of
men arrived at the UNMISS compound outside Bor, in Jonglei State, to demand the
expulsion of youths of Nuer ethnicity from the Mission’s
protection-of-civilians site. The mob then forced its way into the protection
site and went on a rampage of killing, looting and abductions of internally
displaced people (IDPs) sheltering there.
At least 47 IDPs died in the attack, and the report states there are
reasonable grounds to believe that the attack was planned in advance.
Since then, fighting has persisted, particularly in Unity
and the northern part of Jonglei -- the two states where the incidents
described in the report took place – albeit not on the same scale of the April
attacks in Bor and Bentiu – with accompanying gross violations of human rights
and international humanitarian law, by both sides, including extrajudicial
killings, enforced disappearances and sexual violence. The fighting continues to take a terrible
toll on civilians, particularly women and children, who have borne the brunt of
the violence. Over 1.9 million people remain displaced, with other States in
the region hosting nearly 500,000 South Sudanese.
Accountability is a big issue. There has been no
accountability for the mass atrocities, human rights violations and abuses that
have caused the death of tens of thousands of people in South Sudan. For
example, nearly nine months after the attacks in Bentiu and Bor took place, no
perpetrator has been held accountable by either the Government of South Sudan
or the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army In Opposition for the two
large-scale killings described in the report.
We are also concerned at the lack of progress in the peace
process, and there is a real risk the fighting will continue. There is an
urgent need to conclude a peace deal,
respect the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, and ensure no amnesties are
granted for serious violations. Without
peace, famine still remains a possibility in 2015.
The UNMISS report can be viewed at:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/SS/UNMISS_HRDJanuary2015.pdf
(3) Cuba (in response to a question about the release of
political prisoners)
We understand from media reports yesterday and overnight
that at least nine political prisoners have been released by the Cuban
authorities, reportedly as part of the recent US-Cuba agreement. We understand
that at least some of them may have been released conditionally, which means
that they have to report to the authorities regularly. We do not know what
other conditions may have been imposed for their release. As far as we are
aware, the Cuban authorities have not made any statements with regard to these
releases, so the details are not yet clear.
We welcome these releases and hope that they will pave the
way for an environment where freedom of expression and association may
flourish. One issue OHCHR has been particularly concerned about over recent
years – and which has come very much back into focus in the past few weeks --
is the short-term detention of political opponents, human rights activists and
members of civil society organisations.
Over the past four years, OHCHR has received numerous
reports of such detentions, without warrants, especially in advance of certain
meetings and events, apparently in order to prevent specific people from
participating. These detentions can last a few hours, a few days and sometimes
longer, and then people are usually released without charges. A number of UN
Special Procedures have engaged with the Cuban authorities on the issue of
these. Sources in Cuba have put the number of these detentions to well over
8,000 in 2014 alone, although we have not been able to verify the number
independently.
The latest such detentions occurred on 30 December 2014
when, according to media reports, dozens of people were arrested before they
could participate in a performance at the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana by
Tania Bruguera, a well-known Cuban artist. The protest had not been authorised
by the authorities. Ms. Brugeura and others were subsequently released, but she
was detained on two further occasions over the following days and finally
released last Friday. We urge the authorities to stop this practice which
clearly impinges on invididuals’ human rights, and appears to be little more
than a form of intimidation or harassment.
ENDS
For more information or media requests, please contact
Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or Liz Throssell (+41
22 917 9466 / ethrossell@ohchr.org)
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