Flame Issue 3 2013

SRI LANKA: SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS ISSUE 3 / 2013

IN THIS ISSUE > KENYA - WHERE LOVE IS A CRIME > SATELLITE IMAGES CONFIRM SYRIA’S DEVASTATION > BEATRIZ’S RIGHT TO LIVE

EDITORIAL

RIGHT NOW NZ IS PUNCHING WELL BELOW ITS WEIGHT. I’m not told the name of the well-dressed, 30-something-yearold man I’m introduced to in Bangkok, and I know not to ask.

He shows me the outside of his red Myanmar passport. It wouldn’t seem worth much to me – there aren’t many countries a Myanmar passport will get you into, but he holds it like gold dust.

It’s hard to place a value on belonging to a country – any country – until you meet people who don’t. The fact that this man even has a passport is surprising, as he is Rohingya, an ethnic minority group in Myanmar that has been described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted in the world.

He’s actually one of the lucky ones. He had a successful business until death threats forced him to abandon it. So he has some choices – unlike all those who have fled by boat hoping to make it to Thailand or Bangladesh. Many never did.

But listen to what his choices are. He can overstay his visitor visa to Thailand, but he could not legally work and he and his family would spend the rest of their lives in fear of arrest or deportation back to Myanmar. He can return to Myanmar from where he fled just a week before and risk the lives of his family.

Or he can go to Indonesia as a visitor and risk getting on a boat to Australia. So I’m not really surprised that he’s planning on taking the Australia boat option.

CONTENTS 3

Kenya - Where Love Is A Crime

4

Sri Lanka: Searching for Answers

6

Sri Lanka: Tell the Truth

7

Egypt: Struggle for Equality

10

Syria's Devastation

11

Amnesty Briefs

12

My Body, My Rights

CONTACT DETAILS Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, PO Box 5300, Wellesley St, Auckland, 1141 0800 AMNESTY (0800 266 378)

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CHAIRPERSON: Helen Shorthouse EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Grant Bayldon EDITOR: Anita Harvey

Send all your comments and suggestions to: theflame@amnesty.org.nz

ART DIRECTION + DESIGN: We Love Inc www.weloveinc.com

WWW.AMNESTY.ORG.NZ

COVER IMAGE: Pathma outside his house in Auckland, New Zealand. © Amnesty International/Rachel Banfield

I try to warn him of the dangers of the crossing – that many people drown and that even if his family makes it, they would face years of offshore detention before the Australian government would even begin to process their asylum claim.

Not much of a choice really. He shrugs his shoulders and both our eyes mist up.

This was in early July; if I met this man now, what I would need to tell him is that even that choice has been taken away.

If he decides to risk the dangerous boat journey he won’t ever find himself one day resettled in Australia. Because in July the Australian Government announced that they will refuse to resettle asylum seekers who arrive by boat. Instead they will be permanently deported to Papua New Guinea, a country where people already face significant human rights issues.

I wanted to tell him that New Zealand was a choice, because it’s a country where he wouldn’t face death and persecution simply for the ethnic group he was born into.

But I didn’t, because his chances of ever getting accepted into New Zealand on our refugee programme are slim. We like to think we’re doing our bit, but the sad fact is that while the quality of our refugee resettlement programme is very good, our total intake of refugees and asylum seekers each year is small – tiny really – by world standards.

Each year New Zealand takes 750 people from the United Nations refugee programme, as well as accepting on average 150 asylum seekers who claim protection once they arrive here.

In comparison, Australia accepts a total of 20,000 refugees each year and is seeking to increase it to 27,000. That’s already five times as many per capita as New Zealand.

When we think of our small effort on the world stage, the recent calls to double our refugee quota are modest to say the least. We don’t want the issue to become a political football in New Zealand like it has in Australia and yes, we’d need a corresponding increase in the support required to resettle refugees well. But right now we’re punching well below our weight.

New Zealand should be stepping up and making a genuine commitment to participating in a regional solution - part of which is increasing the New Zealand quota and the resources that go along with that. And if ever there were a time for this to happen, it’s now. Worldwide the number of people who have fled their homes as a result of conflict and persecution, according to the United Nations, is the highest since the mid1990s.

The spirit of Kiwi generosity and hospitality shown by Hamilton in welcoming the Afghan interpreters and their families recently should remind us that it’s time to do our bit and increase the quota.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND

LGBTI Attacked by strangers on a bus for holding your partner’s hand.

Expelled from school or beaten up for acting “too masculine”.

Leaving a party to be told by the police: “We think you’re gay – pay up or we’ll charge you for being drunk and disorderly.

WHERE LOVE IS A CRIME PORTRAIT OF THREE ‘CRIMINALS’ Meet Denis, George and Mary − three criminals in the eye of Kenyan law.

But really, they are human rights activists who have been targeted for being open about their sexual orientation.

Discrimination is an everyday reality if, like Denis, George and Mary − you live in Kenya and happen to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI).

In Kenya, and in other parts of SubSaharan Africa, people are harassed, marginalised, discriminated against and attacked because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. People working to protect the rights of LGBTI people also put themselves at risk on a daily basis.

Kenya is one of 38 African countries where same-sex conduct is a crime by law. This sends a message that discrimination is acceptable, that harassing or intimidating someone because of who they are is OK, and that human rights do not apply to LGBTI people. Change and recognition for LGBTI people is taking place around the world. It is time for African states to join the chorus and protect, not persecute their people.

Read more -> http://amn.st/1drjnbQ

GEORGE, 22, is an activist with Out in Kenya

DENIS, 26, is a gay activist based in Nairobi.

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Pictured: Mary and her partner Images © Pete Muller

MARY, 30, is a volunteer for LGBTI rights group

SRI LANKA

SRI LANKA

SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS

By Anita Harvey

Images © Amnesty International/Rachel Banfield

It’s a sunny winter’s day when Pathma and his wife open their door to my colleagues and me in Mt Albert, Auckland. They welcome us warmly, bring tea and cake, ask if we found the place ok.

Their house, home, is like any other, comfortable couches, their daughter who is five, smiles down on us from pictures hanging on the walls.

Pathma came to New Zealand in 2002 through the UNHCR programme, but not before he’d spent 11 years in limbo in Malaysia and suffered unimaginable terror in his own country, Sri Lanka.

There are other pictures too, family portraits, I can see the resemblance. They are however different from usual family portraits. These are pictures from identity cards, blown up, placed in a frame.

As the conflict intensified in the late 1980s Pathma’s family sent him away from the east to Colombo, believing that there he would be safer. But in 1990 after walking his brother to the train station Pathma was shot, in the head, through his knee and in his lower back, suspected of being a Tamil Tiger. Somehow he survived.

“My parents,” Pathma says.

Both now deceased he tells us. Like all of his family, deceased or missing.

Pathma is from Batticaloa, in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, he’s a refugee and he’s Tamil.

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And behind the tea and colourful couches of this New Zealand home is human suffering and a desperate search for answers, for truth. It’s a suffering that becomes all too apparent as Pathma sits down and tells us his story.

He begins in English, but it’s slow, his English isn’t great, so he switches to Tamil and their friend Daya translates.

And while I can’t understand what he’s saying until she translates it, I can hear and see the emotion, the anger, the sadness and the frustration.

Sri Lanka suffered 26 years of civil war between government forces and the opposition Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Atrocities were committed by both sides of the conflict.

Pathma leans forward and shows us the scars on the side of his head; he pulls up his shirt and points out the long scar on his back. He then produces a weathered hospital card detailing his injuries, in case the scars aren’t proof enough.

But the terror didn’t end then, in fact it was only just beginning. His wounds branded him and soon after he was released from hospital he was arrested under suspicion of taking part in the conflict.

For three days he was held in the police station, given only water. In the evenings he was taken into a room with 15 police officers who would tie his hands behind his back and string him up over a bar so he was suspended

SRI LANKA

in the air. Then they would torture him; beating him repeatedly in his still healing wound on his leg with a rubber pipe filled with cement. His knee never fully recovered and still today he is unable to stand for long periods of time.

One officer continued to push his finger into a small wound on Pathma’s throat, all the time interrogating him; he pushed and pushed until Pathma’s blood spurted on his face. Pathma shows us the scar that now runs almost the length of his neck.

Eventually Pathma managed to bribe his way out of the police station and later out of the country, fleeing to Singapore and then Malaysia where he was given refugee status.

The fate of his family was not so lucky. During this time, fighting had escalated in the east of the country and Pathma’s family, along with the rest of their village and people from the 24 villages surrounding them, had moved into East University, which had been turned into a refugee camp.

One day the army arrived at the camp with six buses, they rounded up some of the men, lawyers, doctors, businessmen.

“So many Tamil people have been killed. I want to know why,” Pathma says.

As the director of the camp begged them to stop, some 150-200 men were pushed onto the buses and taken away.

Pathma’s brother was one of them. They have never been seen again.

“Is it because our skin is dark?”

Pathma shows us a missing person report, lodged with the police by his brother’s wife.

For Pathma and his family, the suffering isn’t over yet, even though the war has ended and they are safe here in New Zealand.

“Are we not human beings?”

“The international community should have saved us.”

No one has been held accountable for what happened during the war, for the alleged crimes against humanity. There has been no justice. And the abuses continue. People continue to disappear for speaking out, people are still missing and their families continue to search for them.

Pathma’s wife says that all she wants is for her people to have happy lives, free lives with all their rights intact.

“That’s all I’m asking,” she says.

Excerpt – Name: Kadiah.S, age 34, Sri Lankan Tamil, Hindu Religion. Profession: Business. Height 5 feet 6 inches, Colour: Tan, Hairstyle: side parted hair. He was wearing a whitecoloured sarong and brown- coloured shirt with stripes when he was seen last.

In 1993 Amnesty International highlighted the ‘disappeared’ in a statement. Within the statement was a long list of names, Pathma’s brother is there, number four on the list. Pathma tells us his sister was so upset by her brother’s disappearance she became mentally unwell.

“She began to throw stones at army trucks, so they shot her dead,” Pathma says.

When he was finally accepted into New Zealand Pathma says it was “like I was flying in the sky.”

New Zealand was a new chapter in his life, but while it brought personal freedom it did not bring peace. The whole time Pathma is telling us his story, he remains composed, animated even as he tells us the miraculous story of his escape, angry when he talks about the disappearance of his brother.

But more than that he feels that he’s failed his daughter, failed to give her the happy existence she deserves, because at times the suffering has been too much and while they’re alive, they’re not living, not really.

“From 1983, when I was 10 years old, my heart began to hurt.”

“It hasn’t stopped yet.”

“Why did it start and where does it end?” she asks.

They both want their country to return to happier times.

“I want to take my daughter to see my village, take her to the paddy fields, to meet my relatives,” she says.

But they also want the world to start listening.

In 2009 when the war entered its final stages, the violence escalated and as many as 40,000 innocent civilians lost their lives, Pathma felt so helpless at being so far away that he went on hunger strike in Aotea Square in Auckland. For 22 days he sat there in protest at the massacre occurring in his country.

“We were like stray dogs begging, begging for people to listen and help our people,” Pathma says.

But no one did listen. He hopes they will now.

“I want to tell my story, what else can I do,” he says.

"I want my story to be brought to the attention of the world, so that people know what’s happening, that I suffered, others suffered and that this should never happen again, the suffering needs to end”.

Help us tell Pathma’s story. Take Action now and call on the Sri Lankan Government to Tell the Truth - http://amn.st/143LPwZ

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It’s not until he points to the picture of his daughter on the wall that his strong veneer breaks and the tears roll down his face. His daughter isn’t growing up surrounded by extended family, she won’t know their country, their home, the sense of community Pathma remembers so well from his own childhood.

We haven’t named Pathma's wife, nor does her face appear in any of the photographs. That’s because she fears that if she speaks out her brother and sister who remain in Sri Lanka will suffer. It’s a fear that she says is so great she can’t put into words. But her voice portrays her suffering and desperation for things to change.

SRI LANKA

SRI LANKA TELL THE TRUTH “ We will write to authorities in Sri Lanka and raise awareness of Prageeth’s story, for as long as it takes to get an honest answer.”

Louisa Palairet

“ ...after the film showing, (I) felt moved to dash off a letter to my local MP and leaders of all our political parties – I cut the Queen in on the action as well.”

As Sri Lanka prepares to host a meeting of Commonwealth leaders and then become chair of the Commonwealth, Amnesty supporters worldwide are pressing their governments to call Sri Lanka to account for past and present abuses. Here, we spoke to activists around New Zealand about why this issue matters.

“The Tamils have lived in Sri Lanka for 2,000 years – they are Sri Lankans and nothing less” Himali McInnes

Richard Green Louisa Palairet counts herself lucky that from the safety of her home in Hawke’s Bay, she can take action on behalf of others, without fear of persecution.

It’s something she’s been doing since she joined her local Amnesty International group in 1978. This year, the group has taken up the case of journalist and government critic Prageeth Eknaligoda, who disappeared on 24 January 2010.

Although outraged that a country with a human rights record like Sri Lanka’s has been allowed to host November’s meeting of Commonwealth leaders, Louisa believes we can use it to our advantage.

For long-time Amnesty member Richard Green, it was a film screening of Callum Macrae’s No Fire Zone in Auckland in June that spurred him to action. He was so outraged by the film, which documents abuses committed at the end of the war in Sri Lanka that he immediately took up his pen.

“I knew that there’d been atrocities in Sri Lanka,” he said, “but the obvious attacks on civilians and hospitals is just horrific. No leader who is involved in such abuse should be allowed to get away with it.”

“Amnesty should see this as an opportunity – to take the question of human rights to the fore and stand up and make some noise,” she said.

In his letters, Richard encouraged all leaders – including Commonwealth head Queen Elizabeth II – to watch the film and to demand a full, international and impartial inquiry into the crimes committed by both sides of the conflict.

Lucky escape

Common humanity

Nirupa George was four years old when she left Sri Lanka with her family in 1983, fleeing the pogrom that killed hundreds of Tamils and which many say marked the beginning of the country’s civil war. “We were lucky to escape and still be alive,” said Nirupa.

Himali McInnes left Sri Lanka when she was just a year old.

She has lived in New Zealand for the past 20 years while travelling periodically to Sri Lanka, and worked there for the UN between 2007-2009.

She now lives in Auckland, where she has been working as a refugee lawyer for the past two years, but she continues to monitor events in Sri Lanka closely.

“We need to keep the conversation about Sri Lanka going. The minute that stops, the issue is lost.”

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Letter to the Queen

One pressing concern is the approaching Commonwealth meeting, which she strongly believes shouldn’t be held in Sri Lanka because of past and current atrocities there.

It’s a point echoed by Rahwa Adhanom, a university student in Auckland, who came to New Zealand from Sudan with her Ethiopian family in 1998. "It would be a great disservice to human rights if we were to see an event of this scale being hosted by a nation with a paralysing history, and a government that continues to shrug its shoulders," she said.

Her main concern is that the Tamil community in Sri Lanka do not enjoy the same rights as she would as a member of the majority Sinhalese. “I worked in the north-east of the country and saw first hand the plight of many Tamil civilians,” she said.

“I was often struck by our common humanity – the fact that we all want a better life for ourselves and our families.”

Like so many of the activists who spoke to us here, Himali’s hopes for Sri Lanka are clear: “It would be incredible one day to say that Sri Lanka is a country where ALL its citizens can be guaranteed their basic human rights, have the freedom to voice their concerns in public, be allowed to participate in the democratic election of its leaders, and expect transparency and justice from its government.”

The Commonwealth meeting could be one step towards that future if its leaders take a stand and urge Sri Lanka to come clean about the abuses that, so far, it has made great efforts to hide. Take Action: http://amn.st/143LPwZ

EGYPT’S STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY

EGYPT

As millions of people flooded to the streets of Cairo over the past few months, Amnesty researcher Diana Eltahawy has been on the ground documenting abuses – one of the main concerns: violence and sexual assaults against women.

While millions of protesters took to Egypt’s streets again in June and July, and the world focused on the political fallout, many women and girls were sexually assaulted by mobs in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

While the authorities stood by and did nothing, activists and volunteers from Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault (OpAntiSH) and Tahrir Bodyguard, another Egyptian anti-sexual harassment group, worked to rescue women from attacks. Their hotlines did not stop ringing into the early hours of the morning.

I STAND WITH THE WOMEN OF EGYPT

Testimony points to a horrific and now familiar chain of events: tens if not hundreds of men surrounding their victims, tearing off their clothes and veils, unzipping trousers, groping breasts and backsides, and using sticks, blades and other weapons.

As sexual assaults on women protesters continued amid the political turmoil in Egypt, youth around New Zealand took a stand this August and joined Amnesty’s calls to Egypt’s political leaders to clearly condemn sexual violence and bring attackers to justice.

On 30 June, 46 violent sexual attacks against women were reported by OpAntiSH. Another 17 attacks were reported the next day, including against elderly women and girls as young as seven. We believe the real numbers could be much higher.

From Orewa to Waitaki, and from Tauranga to Wellington, students took part in Freedom Challenge – Amnesty’s annual week of student activism, by getting creative with the theme: Chalk Like An Egyptian.

Intervening to stop attacks came at great personal risk. Many volunteers were beaten and assaulted. One reportedly suffered concussion after a heavy blow to the head, while others needed stitches.

At Aorere College in Auckland the students started their own uprising to raise awareness of the issue. Tasi Nofoaiga, student group leader at the school said, "because we are free, we can support these women by doing our own protest to raise awareness on what other women have to go through.”

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister quickly condemned similar attacks, promising new legislation. The National Council of Women sent a draft law on violence against women to the President and the Prime Minister in mid-June. But nothing seems to have changed.

And actions speak louder than words. In March, seven survivors of sexual assaults during Tahrir Square protests in November 2012 and January 2013 lodged a complaint with Egypt`s public prosecution. Investigations started, but have since stalled.

Nobody has been held to account.

This dismissive attitude only reinforces the deep-seated discrimination and attitudes that blame women for the attacks they suffer and put their lives at risk. Whatever happens next in Egypt, a long road lies ahead in the struggle for equality.

In Wellington the Victoria University Amnesty group organised a gig with some local musicians to raise awareness for women’s rights in Egypt. “The time is ripe to get behind some truly inspirational women's rights activists who are standing up for their rights in Egypt,” said the group’s co-coordinator Chennoah Walford.

TAKE ACTION for the women of Egypt - http://amn.st/1f1kM7c

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A lawyer working on the case told us that a prosecutor described the case as “not a priority” given the other more “serious crimes” he had to investigate.

The students at Tauranga Girls’ College put students in a cage to symbolise the mistreatment of women and the transgression of their human rights. "The college has long supported the promotion of human rights, and our Amnesty group focused on petitioning for woman in Egypt whose human rights have been abused and calling for justice to be served on the perpetrators," said Don Wallis, Coordinator of the school’s student group.

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TAKE ACTION

WHO

#1

RAGIHAR MANOHARAN WHAT

STUDENT KILLED IN SRI LANKA

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND 20-year-old Ragihar Manoharan was among five Tamil students (now known as “the Trinco Five”) killed by Sri Lankan security forces in Trincomalee on 2 January 2006.

The students had been chatting by the seafront when a grenade thrown at them from a passing vehicle exploded. Approximately 15 uniformed officers appeared, believed to be commandos from the Special Task Force (STF), a police counter-terrorism unit. The officers put the injured students into their jeep, beat them with rifle butts and then pushed them out onto the road where they shot them dead.

Recent reports that 12 STF officers have been arrested in relation to the killings are no guarantee of a meaningful investigation.

The same 12 men were arrested in 2006 but soon released again, supposedly due to lack of evidence.

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WHAT CAN YOU DO

PLEASE WRITE Call on the President of Sri Lanka to ensure that an independent and effective investigation is carried out into the killing of Ragihar Manoharan and the other four students. Ask that those responsible are brought to justice. Remind him that the family of Ragihar Manoharan deserve to know the truth about what happened to their son.

Send appeals to: President Mahinda Rajapaksa Presidential Secretariat Colombo 1 Sri Lanka Fax: 0094 11 244 6657 Salutation: His Excellency the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa

TAKE ACTION

#2

#3 © Private

WHO

CHEN ZHENPING

WHAT

FALUN GONG PRACTITIONER IMPRISONED & TORTURED IN CHINA

BACKGROUND Falun Gong practitioner, Chen Zhenping, was detained in August 2008 for “using a heretical organisation to subvert the law”. She is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence. Repeated attempts by her lawyer to visit her since her detention have all been blocked by the authorities. Her family has not been able to see her since March 2009.

She has been subjected to regular beatings, been forcibly injected with drugs and given electric shocks on sensitive parts of her body. She remains at serious risk of further torture or ill-treatment.

WHAT CAN YOU DO

PLEASE WRITE Call on the President of the People’s Republic of China to release Chen Zhenping immediately and unconditionally, as she has been imprisoned solely on the basis of her religious beliefs. Call on him to ensure Chen Zhenping is not subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in prison, is allowed access to legal assistance of her choosing and members of her family. Urge him to ensure that Chen Zhenping is allowed an independent medical assessment and access to medical treatment that she may require.

Send appeals to: President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping 習近平 The State Council General Office 2 Fuyoujie Xichengqu Beijingshi 100017 People's Republic of China

Salutation: Your Excellency Please use Chinese characters for Chen Zhenping's name in your letters: 陈真萍

WHO

WHAT

NGUYEN BLOGGER AND ACTIVIST TIENTRUNG ARRESTED IN VIET NAM BACKGROUND Nguyen TienTrung is a peaceful democracy activist and blogger. He was arrested at his parents’ house in Viet Nam on 7 July 2009 and in 2010 was tried for attempting to “overthrow the people’s administration”.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison and three years house arrest on release. Nguyen TienTrung is a prisoner of conscience, sentenced to long imprisonment for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and association. Amnesty calling for his immediate and unconditional release.

WHAT CAN YOU DO

PLEASE WRITE Call on President Truong Tan Sang and express concern at the harsh sentence imposed on Nguyen TienTrung. Call for his immediate and unconditional release and urge the authorities to end the harassment and imprisonment of peaceful advocates for political, social and economic change.

Send appeals to: President Truong Tan Sang Office of the President President Residence Ba Dinh District Ha Noi Viet Nam Fax: + 84 4 3733 5256 Salutation: Dear President

It’s Trung’s birthday on 16 September so send a message of solidarity Nguyen TienTrung Trai Tam Giam B34, Bo Cong An 237 Nguyen Van Cu, Quan 1 TP Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam

Nguyen Thi Minh Tam (family) 6/1 Nguyen Canh Di F4, Quan Tan Binh, TP Ho Chi Minh Viet Nam

09 FLAME ISSUE 31 / 2013

Fax: +86 10 6238 1025 Email: gov@govonline.cn

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© DigitalGlobe/Atrium/Analysis by AAAS

SYRIA

“ Yousef, 7, Mohammed, 5, Ali, 2, Hamza, 12, Zahra, 10, Husna, 8, Fatima, 10, Ahmad, 7, Abdel Karim, 2, Hassan, 18 months…..Why did they bomb here? … There were only civilians here. Our quarter was full of life, children playing everywhere. Now we are all dead, even those of us who are alive are dead inside, we have all been buried under this rubble.”

Sara al-Wawi, who lost some 20 relatives in an air strike in the al-Marje’s area of Aleppo on 18 March 2013 telling Amnesty International about some of the children killed in the attack.

In August new satellite images of Aleppo, Syria emerged showing evidence of the utter devastation of the city.

Before images show rows of tightly packed houses. After images show whole blocks reduced to rubble.

It’s the most recent evidence of how the protracted conflict in Syria is resulting in massive human rights violations against the civilian population – the people of Syria, who are bearing the brunt of the spiralling violence, displacement, and humanitarian crisis.

The new analysis – one of the most comprehensive satellite image analyses of an active conflict zone to date – shows alarming trends in how the conflict is being fought: with utter disregard for the rules of international humanitarian law, causing extensive destruction, death, and displacement. The analysis was produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in collaboration with the Science for Human Rights programme of Amnesty International.

Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Adviser recently returned from Aleppo and has been able to match the devastation revealed in the images with what she saw on the ground.

“Aleppo has been utterly devastated, its people fleeing in huge numbers,” said Donatella, who has spent prolonged periods of time investigating human rights violations on the ground in Syria.

One year ago, on 6 August, 2012, Amnesty released satellite imagery of Aleppo and surrounding areas in response to an escalation in fighting and reports of an impending offensive.

Amnesty warned of grave risk to civilians and called on all parties to strictly adhere to humanitarian law.

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“The risk cited one year ago regarding the devastating consequences of turning what was Syria’s most populous city into a battlefield has become reality,” said Donatella.

The images leave little question as to a significant cause for the staggering displacement of half of the city’s population: a campaign of indiscriminate air bombardment by government forces, which have also reduced entire areas to rubble and killed and maimed countless civilians.

Donatella has crossed the border into northern Syria more than 10 times since April 2012, exposing abuses and documenting escalating war crimes including extrajudicial executions, summary executions, indiscriminate bombings of civilian areas, the use of banned weapons, and the killing of large numbers of children.

On her most recent trip she not only visited Aleppo but headed out to Deir Ezzour, a town in eastern Syria, where no human rights organisations have visited and very few journalists have been to since the conflict began.

There she found a town devastated. The only way in and out is by crossing a bridge, which comes under regular fire from government snipers. Within hours of Donatella's arrival in the town, during a visit to the local hospital, a young man who had been shot in the head while crossing the bridge was rushed in and pronounced dead.

It’s been two and a half years since the conflict in Syria began.

Across the country, almost six million Syrians have been forced from their homes – 4.25 million are displaced within Syria itself. The United Nations has confirmed that over 100,000 people have been killed.

When will it end?

What will happen next?

They’re questions that the whole world would like to see answered. But more than that they’re questions the people of Syria need answered.

Whatever the answers may be, the steps that must be taken are clear – the international community must act decisively to end this conflict. The situation must be referred to the International Criminal Court, UN and international humanitarian organisations must be allowed access to those in need in the country and all neighbouring countries must keep their borders open at all times. Amnesty International knows it has repeated these calls endlessly but they remain critical to help the people of Syria.

Help us end the horror in Syria - http://amn.st/140wddR

AMNESTY BRIEFS

CAMPAIGN UPDATES Arms Trade Treaty The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was opened for signature at the United Nations on 3 June 2013, following its adoption on 2 April 2013. Currently 83 countries have signed the ATT. However only four countries - Nigeria, Antigua & Barbuda, Iceland and Guyana - have ratified the Treaty, meaning they have committed to undertake the obligations under a treaty.

For the ATT to enter into force, we need to get at least 50 countries to ratify it.

Amnesty will continue to work behind the scenes to encourage countries to ratify the ATT as soon as possible.

Make Our Rights Law Thank you to everyone who made submissions to the Constitutional Review. In total, we posted over 430 submissions calling for our rights to be respected, protected and fulfilled, to the Constitutional Review Panel.

Amnesty’s Kapiti Coast Group worked their ovens hard while preparing submissions. Baking gingerbread men with a hole in their tummy - representing the "missing guts" or the empty belly of the children and also the "gutless laws" in this country - has indeed proved to be a winning formula! “We thought that doing something which would attract people's interest had the most chance of getting them involved in the conversation,” said Wickham Pack, the group’s coordinator. In total the group sent off 23 submissions to the constitutional review.

We’ll keep you updated with more information and next steps for the Make Our Rights Law campaign as it comes to hand. www.amnesty.org.nz/makerightslaw Wickham with her gingerbread submissions.

Leap to Freedom Do you consider yourself an adrenaline junkie? Or do you think you could use a little more excitement? Take the ultimate jump to freedom on Sunday 13 October and help us Protect the Human.

Help us to raise money by signing up to climb and then bungy jump from the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Or if you don’t fancy the action you can sponsor one of our fearless fundraisers.

Want to be part of the Leap to Freedom?

Simply head to www.givealittle.co.nz/ event/leaptofreedom and sign up by clicking FUNDRAISE. Go through the Give A Little registration process, set up your profile then share the link with all your friends, family and colleagues and watch the donations roll in. Then flick us an email to let us know you’ve joined the team.

Or you can sponsor any of the participants by visiting http://www. givealittle.co.nz/event/leaptofreedom and clicking on FUNDRAISERS. Join Team Amnesty and Take a Leap to Freedom.

Date: Sunday 13 October 2013 @ 2.30pm, Auckland Bridge Climb & Bungy Jump. Contact: events@amnesty.org.nz

Rocky Horror Picture Show Auckland’s North Shore Group are hosting a fun-filled fundraiser at the Victoria Cinema in Devonport on Saturday 26 October. Join us for a screening of cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Dress up is not compulsory but highly encouraged!

Amnesty has lost a great friend and wonderful benefactor with the passing of Reverend Alex Watson on 15 August, 2013.

Alex was famous in Christchurch as “the Amnesty man”. He had a sign outside his house promoting Amnesty's aims and aspirations, and up until recently his double garage was home to Amnesty campaigning and promotional material to the virtual exclusion of the family car.

He was awarded a Dove Award in 2002 for has extraordinary lifetime of activism, which continued through until earlier this year. From Amnesty speaker to Freedom Week coordinator, letter writer to protest organiser and participant, Alex brought a humble but passionate approach to his activism.

Alex’s strong faith anchored his life, and that same faith in the power of the individual to make the world a better place was the anchor for Amnesty in the city for many years.

Our condolences to his widow Sheena and the entire Watson clan.

With us for the night will be the creator of the original show, writer of the screenplay, star of the movie and Amnesty supporter Mr Richard O’Brien.

He will be on hand before the movie to answer all your pressing Rocky Horror questions.

The Vic Cinema, Victoria Road, Devonport, Saturday 26 October 2013 @7.15pm.

11 011 FLAME FLAME ISSUE 31 / 2013

What better way to celebrate our freedom of expression? Get your glad rags on and join us for a chorus or two of the Time Warp. Tickets cost $30 (price includes a complimentary glass of wine) and will be on sale through http://www.eventfinder. co.nz/ very soon.

MY BODY BEATRIZ’S MY RIGHTS RIGHT TO LIVE After an agonizing 14 week wait, Beatriz, a 22-year-old pregnant mother in El Salvador, was finally given the life-saving treatment she needed. Suffering from a number of health conditions, she would likely have died if she had carried her pregnancy to term. Beatriz was given a caesarean section in El Salvador. The baby, as predicted, did not survive.

Beatriz’s story attracted worldwide attention as people took to the streets and online to call on the El Savadorian authorities to save Beatriz’s life.

Here is Beatriz’ letter to everyone who supported her: San Salvador, 10 June 2013 To my friends from the ColectivoFeminista and everywhere else, I want to thank you for having supported me all the way, and without you I think I wouldn’t have been able to stand being in the hospital.

I also want to thank you for all the actions you took for my life. This situation has been very difficult and without your support I wouldn’t have been able to get through it. I hope my example serves so that other women won’t have to go through what I suffered.

And I’m very happy because now I’m going to be with my son and with my family again.

Well, that’s all that I wanted to say, and with these words of thanks I will sign off, Best wishes, Beatriz

Amnesty stressed that while Beatriz’s survival and recovery were positive news, this case should never have happened in the first place.

It was an act of unimaginable cruelty as Beatriz was made to wait and suffer for weeks on end while authorities debated to treat her, she didn’t know if she would survive another day of the pregnancy and was forced to campaign to save her own life and health.

We are humbled by Beatriz's bravery.

No woman should be denied life saving medical treatment.

My body, my rights.

For more information on Amnesty International’s work on sexual and reproductive health rights, check out www.amnesty.org.nz/mybodymyrights