On March 17, the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations heard testimony on the State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004.
Chair Christopher Smith (R-NJ) stated that the Country Reports are “among the most important work” of the Department of State. Addressing the tragedy of Darfur, Rep. Smith said, “Despite a declaration by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell in September of 2004 that genocide had been committed against the people of Darfur, government and government-supported militias known as ‘janjaweed’ continued their attacks on civilian targets.” He added that “rape is increasingly used as a weapon of war” in the Great Lakes region of Africa, which includes the Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda. Rep. Smith denounced China’s abuses of human rights, pointing out that “women in China continued to be subjected to forced abortions and forced sterilization.” He noted, “According to the State Department’s 2003 report, one consequence of ‘the country’s birth limitation policies’ is that 56 percent of the world’s female suicides occur in China, which is five times the world average and approximately 500 suicides by women per day. This year, that language has been watered down to note there exists an ‘especially high’ female suicide rate.” Rep. Smith said he was “upset” that the State Department “this year has decided not to offer a resolution condemning China’s record on human rights at the UN Commission on Human Rights.”
Referring to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights as the foundation of global human rights, Ranking Member Donald Payne (D-NJ) emphasized the need to focus on hunger and poverty, as well as unfair trade practices which exacerbate these conditions. According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Rep. Payne said, hunger and malnutrition are the number one health risks. He noted that “the U.S. is the largest donor to the WFP,” but insisted that “we should be doing something more.” Rep. Payne affirmed that “women should have the same rights as men,” adding that women should have equal wages and be able to “make their own decisions.”
Explaining that the 2004 Country Reports “covers 196 countries, ranging from the stoutest defenders to the worst violators of human rights,” State Department Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Michael Kozak highlighted human rights around the world. He noted some successes for women and their families: in Afghanistan, over 3.2 million women voted for the first time in the recent presidential election; in Saudi Arabia, a government-sponsored conference on women’s rights was held; and in China, parents may now provide religious education for their minor children under 18. Nevertheless, Mr. Kozak said, serious violations remain. “Despite Sudan’s repeated commitments to refrain from further violence in Darfur, atrocities continued…Government forces along with Jinjaweed militia routinely killed, raped, injured, and displaced civilians.” He stressed that violence against civilians in Darfur is “part of a deliberate government policy.” Mr. Kozak condemned the rape of prisoners in Burma, the “coercive” birth limitation policy of China, and violence against women and children in Saudi Arabia. He also cited the Great Lakes region of Central Africa as an area where “rape increasingly is used as a weapon of war.”
Testifying on behalf of Global Grassroots, Brian Steidle, who served as a military observer in Darfur from September 2004 to February 2005, stated, “Atrocities of the most hideous nature are occurring today in Darfur. Every day we saw villages of up to 20,000 inhabitants burned to the ground with nothing left but ash frames. In my team’s area of operation, which was South Darfur, I estimate that nearly 75 percent of the villages had been decimated by the beginning of February. We witnessed scores of dead bodies providing evidence of torture arms bound, ears cut off, eyes plucked out, males castrated and left to bleed to death, children beaten to a pulp, people locked in their huts before being burned alive and apparent executions. We would interview women who had been gang raped during attacks and others that had been raped in their huts within the confines of the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps. Many children had been killed or violently injured and many others ended up missing never to be seen again.” Asserting that “the atrocities committed in Darfur are the direct result of a Government of Sudan military operation in collaboration with the ‘Janjaweed’ Arab militias,” Mr. Steidle urged the establishment of “a no-fly zone throughout Darfur,” weapons sanctions, and “greater international support and an expanded mandate for the African Union.”
While commending the State Department for its honesty and fairness, Human Rights Watch Washington Advocacy Director Tom Malinsowski observed: “The ultimate test of the human rights reports lies in what happens after the day they are published. How is the administration using their findings the other 364 days of the year? Is it applying the tools Congress has given it to combat the problems described in the reports?” Though Mr. Malinowski labeled China as the country “where the most fundamental freedoms are denied,” the situation in Darfur was the focus of his testimony. “Exactly nothing has changed,” he said. “The most the world has been able to muster for the people of Darfur is a small force of only 2,000 troops who have a mandate to observe crimes, but not to stop them.” Mr. Malinowski proposed that a military force “with the size and authority to protect civilians” be put in place, that sanctions be imposed on those who commit atrocities, and “aerial bombardment by the Sudanese air force” be stopped.
The testimony of Amnesty International (AI) Campaigns Director Adotei Akwei focused on women’s rights in Africa, where, he said, “the statistics measuring discrimination and gender-based violence inflicted upon women, either in conflict and post-conflict situations or within their families and communities” are “staggering.” Mr. Akwei cited numerous human rights violations against women, including:
Mr. Akwei said that AI “has initiated a multi-year campaign focused on stopping violence against women,” adding that AI supports U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. He also stressed the need for medical care for all victims of conflicts, and “in particular for survivors of gender-based violence.”
