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	Thousands of women have been killed over the last 2 decades after being denounced as witches by Kizito Makoye Thomson Reuters Foundation Tanzania   July 31, 2017   Five women accused of being witches and murdered by a mob last week were among some 80 people killed each month in Tanzania this year by vigilantes taking the law into their own hands, a report said Monday.   Thousands of elderly Tanzanian women have been strangled, knifed to death and burned alive over the last two decades after being denounced as witches.   The report published by the Dar es Salaam-based rights group Legal and Human Rights Centre showed 479 deaths related to mob justice reported in Tanzania from January to June this year, including women accused of witchcraft.   Helen Kijo-Bisimba, the centre''s executive director, said human rights abuses had risen in the past year, which she blamed partly on restrictions on freedoms following President John Magufuli''s order to ban political activities until 2020.   Belief in witchcraft in the East African country dates back centuries as a way of explaining common misfortunes like death, failed harvests and infertility.   According to the report, most of the lynching incidents happened in the main city and commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, and in Mbeya region in the southern highlands where superstitious beliefs are strongly held.   "While 117 deaths have been reported to have occurred in Dar (this year), Mbeya sits second with 33 people lynched followed by Mara with 28 deaths and Geita with 26 deaths," she said at the report''s launch in Dar es Salaam.   The report comes a week after police in the western Tabora region launched a hunt for the suspected killers of five women in Undomo village. The women were accused of being witches, beaten to death and their bodies burned, police said.   Wilbroad Mtafungwa, Tabora regional police commander, said vigilante killings related to witchcraft were on the rise in the region.   "We have launched a manhunt and so far several suspects have been arrested, but the investigations are on-going," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.   Human rights groups have condemned the rising wave of "witch killings" and complained there have been few prosecutions - causing anxiety among elderly women living in rural villages.   "Such incidents must be strongly condemned. We still need to educate people who harbour outdated beliefs to think that women are always behind witchcraft," Bisimba told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at the launch. Visit the related web page
	Failure to criminalize enforced disappearance a major obstacle to justice in South Asia by International Commission of Jurists   Aug. 2017   South Asian states can only address the tens of thousands of cases of enforced disappearances by recognizing enforced disappearance as a serious crime in domestic law, said the ICJ in a new report.   On the eve of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the ICJ 58-page report No more ‘missing persons’: the criminalization of enforced disappearance in South Asia analyzes States’ obligations to ensure that enforced disappearance constitutes a distinct, autonomous crime under national law.   It also provides an overview of the practice of enforced disappearance, focusing specifically on the status of the criminalization of the practice, in five South Asian countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.   For each State, the report briefly examines the national context in which enforced disappearances are reported, the existing legal framework, the role of the courts; and the international commitments and responses to recommendations concerning criminalization.   “It is alarming that despite the region having some of the highest numbers of reported cases of disappearances in the world, enforced disappearance is not presently a distinct crime in any South Asian country,” said Frederick Rawski, ICJ’s Asia Director.   “This shows the lack of political will to hold perpetrators to account and complete apathy towards victims and their right to truth, justice and reparation,” he added.   In Nepal and Sri Lanka, draft legislation to criminalize enforced disappearance is under consideration.   Though the initiatives are welcome, the draft bills in both countries are flawed and require substantial improvements to meet international standards.   In the absence of a clear national legal framework specifically criminalizing enforced disappearance, unacknowledged detentions by law enforcement agencies are often treated by national authorities as “missing persons” cases.   On the rare occasions where criminal complaints are registered against alleged perpetrators, complainants are forced to categorize the crime as “abduction”, “kidnapping” or “unlawful confinement”.   These categories do not recognize the complexity and the particularly serious nature of enforced disappearance, and often do not provide for penalties commensurate to the gravity of the crime.   They also fail to recognize as victims relatives of the “disappeared” person and others suffering harm as a result of the enforced disappearance, as required under international law.   “Like torture and extrajudicial execution, enforced disappearance is a gross human rights violation and a crime under international law,” said Rawski.   “South Asian States must recognize that they have an obligation to criminalize the practice with penalties commensurate with the seriousness of the crime–filing “missing” person” complaints in cases of disappearance is not enough, and in fact, it trivializes the gravity of the crime,” he added.   Other barriers to bringing perpetrators to account are also similar across South Asian countries: military and intelligence agencies have extensive and unaccountable powers, including for arrest and detention, often in the name of “national security”; members of law enforcement and security forces enjoy broad legal immunities, shielding them from prosecution; and military courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed by members of the military, even where these crimes are human rights violations, and proceedings before such courts are compromised by their lack of independence and impartiality.   Victims’ groups, lawyers, and activists who work on enforced disappearance also face security risks including attacks, harassment, surveillance, and intimidation.   A comprehensive set of reforms, both in law and policy, is required to end the entrenched impunity for enforced disappearances in the region – criminalizing the practice would be a significant first step, said the ICJ.   http://www.icj.org/failure-to-criminalize-enforced-disappearance-a-major-obstacle-to-justice-in-south-asia-new-icj-report/ http://www.icj.org/myanmar-rakhine-state-crisis-demands-full-government-commitment-to-protecting-human-rights-of-all/ http://www.icj.org/egypt-repeal-draconian-ngo-law-and-protect-the-right-to-freedom-of-association/ http://www.icj.org/category/news/press-releases/ Visit the related web page
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