dated 27 April 2001, she indicated her interest in visiting Egypt and hopes that the Government will give positive consideration to this request.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA Communication sent
162. On 11 May 2001, the Special Representative transmitted an allegation to the effect that the right of association of human rights defenders in Equatorial Guinea was seriously restricted. According to the information received, a law passed in 1999 regulating the activities of NGOs and defining their possible areas of work, makes no reference to the promotion and protection of human rights. As a consequence, some people consider that any organization which aims to promote or protect human rights is engaging in illegal activities. Furthermore, the Special Representative has been informed that human rights organizations that have applied for legal recognition are still waiting for their case to be considered by the authorities. Such applications reportedly date back to 1994. It has also been reported that as a consequence of the authorities' denial of authorization to establish human rights organizations, any defence of human rights can and is only performed exclusively by opposition parties. The Special Representative is concerned that these factors do not allow for an open dialogue within the civil society on human rights issues.
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Observations
163. No reply from the Government has been received so far.
ETHIOPIA Communications sent
164. On 17 May 2001, the Special Representative sent jointly with the Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention an urgent appeal concerning Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, member of the executive committee and former Secretary-General of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), and Dr. Berhanu Nega, the President of the non-governmental Ethiopian Economic Association and supporter of EHRCO, who were reportedly detained by the police on 8 May 2001 in Addis Ababa and held without charge in Makalawi State Prison. According to the information received, both were accused of "inciting students to violence" during a meeting that was hosted by Addis Ababa University
on 8 April 2001. The authorities alleged that this meeting led to student protests in Addis Ababa a month earlier, while the information received indicates that the topic of discussion at the meeting was human rights and academic freedom. Furthermore, it has been reported that, on the morning of 8 May 2001, the offices of EHRCO in Addis Ababa were placed under guard by armed police officers, which made it impossible for the staff to carry out their work and which intimidated visitors. It was reported that when the staff of EHRCO came to the offices on 9 May 2001, the police informed them that the offices were shut.
165. On 18 September 2001, the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, sent an urgent appeal regarding the Ethiopian Women Law Association (EWLA) based in Addis Ababa, which was reportedly forced to suspend its activities on 31 August 2001. It has been reported that, on 3 September 2001, EWLA received a decision from the Ministry of Justice which mentioned that EWLA "has been found out acting beyond its mandate and the Code of Conduct Guidelines" and "is hereby suspended as
of 30 August 2001 until further notice". It was alleged that this decision was connected to demonstrations organized by EWLA, in February 2001, in front of the office of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the Parliament, in which some 1,000 women protested violence against women, calling for stricter laws against rape and sexual abuse and more effective law enforcement. According to the information received, another factor leading to the Government's decision was the involvement of EWLA in a recent case concerning a girl, Hermela Wosenyeleh, who was reportedly continually harassed by a young man and could not get adequate police protection. According to the information received, as a result of the suspension, all the activities of EWLA have been suspended and some 50 of its employees have had to be laid off. All the
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casework carried out by EWLA lawyers in the courts has reportedly been interrupted. It has been further reported that four girls under the care of the association and for whom it was paying school fees have interrupted their education because its bank account has been frozen.
Communications received
166. By letter dated 25 May 2001, the Government informed the Special Representative that Professor Mesfin Woldemariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega were under police custody in connection with their suspected incitement of the Addis Ababa University students to violent action. The Government stated that the Federal Police had undertaken a thorough investigation and had discovered that Professor Mesfin Woldemariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega had made inflammatory statements inciting the students to violent action at a meeting held on 8 April 2001. According to the Government, the police had asserted that they had solid evidence that the meeting had led the students to take violent mob action, starting on the day after the meeting and resulting in the destruction of government and private property, the death of 31 individuals and injury
to 253 persons. The Federal Police had detained Professor Mesfin Woldemariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega on a court warrant on 8 May 2001 and brought them before the 5th Criminal Division of the Federal High Court on 9 May 2001. The Government informed the Special Representative that the Federal High Court had refused their release on bail in order to give the Federal Police more time to investigate. The Government added that the offices of EHRCO were searched under a court order in relation to the suspected involvement of Professor Mesfin Woldemariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega in the instigation of the mob action. According to the Government, upon the appeal of EHRCO, the order was clarified by the Federal High Court on 12 May 2001, to the effect that the search and seizure were restricted to material evidence incriminating the two suspects of the act of instigating the students to take violent action. The Government assured the Special Representative that no employee of the office or any visitor had been harassed or intimidated.
Observations
167. The Special Representative thanked the Government for its reply to her communication dated 17 May 2001. The Special Representative had also been informed that on 17 October 2001 the Ministry of Justice lifted the suspension imposed on EWLA. The Special Representative also welcomed the release on bail on 5 June 2001 of Professor Mesfin Woldemariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega. The Special Representative, remained concerned, however, with regard to the situation of the two human rights defenders and about the charges on which they await trial.
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GEORGIA Communication sent
168. On 9 May 2001, the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, sent an urgent appeal concerning
Ms. Nana Kakabadze, the director of Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights, a human rights NGO working on prison conditions in Georgia. It has been reported that, on 4 May 2001, Mr. Demiko Devnozashvili, chief of Isolation Ward No. 5, a pre-trial detention facility in Tbilisi, called Ms. Nana Kakabadze and threatened to "extinguish her physically". It has been reported that this situation is connected to the publication on 3 May 2001 of an interview with Ms. Nana Kakabadze in the newspaper "Alia" in which she criticized the overcrowding in Isolation Ward No. 5 in Tbilisi.
Observations
169. The Special Representative regrets that at the time of the finalization of this report the Government had not transmitted any reply to her communication.
GUATEMALA Communications sent
170. On 8 December 2000, the Special Representative transmitted allegations regarding the following cases.
171. According to the information received, on 1 August 2000, Mr. Celso Balan Argueta, a representative for Centro de Action Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH) was reportedly detained, robbed, drugged and left unconscious by two unidentified men. He was reportedly interrogated for several hours about the exhumation of the mass grave of the victims of murders at Chipastor, Chimaltenango and, in particular, about the process of identifying those responsible for these murders. It has been alleged that Mr. Balan's attackers are linked to those responsible for the murders at Chipastor and that the orders to attack him or to commit the murders may have come from army personnel at the Chimaltenango military base.
172. It has been reported that, on 4 September 2000, heavily armed men raided the offices of two human rights organizations, Familiares de Detenidos y Desaparecidos de Guatemala (FAMDEGUA) and Hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y la Impunidad (HIJOS) in Guatemala City and assaulted the staff of both organizations. It has also been reported that the
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assailants stayed for an hour, threatening staff members with death. The assailants reportedly stole the organizations' computers containing records of human rights cases under investigation, other office equipment and a vehicle. It has been alleged that this act of intimidation was committed by members of the Guatemalan armed forces and that military intelligence agencies were also involved.
173. According to information received, on 24 October 2000 five armed men entered the office of Asociacion Mujer Vamos Adelante (AMVA), an organization working for the promotion of women's rights and against violence against women. It has been reported that 15 women were reportedly forced into a room and locked in it, and that the attackers subsequently raped a young woman before leaving. Computers and documents were also stolen.
174. On 24 January 2001, the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, sent an urgent appeal regarding Mr. Mynor Melga, a high-profile human rights lawyer working for the Oficina de Derechos Humanos del Arzobispado de Guatemala (ODHAG), who has reportedly received death threats. On 22 December 2000, two unidentified armed men called at Mr. Mynor Melga's home. Mr. Melga was ordered to the bathroom at gunpoint. The two men told his wife and his two sons that this was only a warning. It has been reported that the incident happened only two days after Mynor Melga publicly announced that ODHAG was preparing to charge retired General Efrain Rios Montt with genocide.
175. On 21 March 2001, the Special Representative sent an urgent appeal concerning a group of unidentified men who, on 12 March 2001, reportedly raided the offices of the
Centro de Estudios, Information y Bases para la Action Social (СЕШ AS), stealing equipment, including the organization's computers. This act of harassment is the third incident suffered by the organization since February 2000. It has been reported that CEIBAS lodged a complaint before the Tribunales de Justicia, the Public Prosecutor, the Procuraduria de los Derechos Humanos and the National Civil Police.
176. On 10 May 2001, the Special Representative, together with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions sent an urgent appeal regarding
Mr. Urias Bautista Orozco, chief of the Human Rights Procurator's Auxiliary Office (PDH) in the department of Solola, as well as other members of the organization, who reportedly received threatening phone calls warning them to stop investigating the killing of Mr. Teodoro Saloj Panjoj, who had been taking part in a demonstration about land reform. The police had apparently refused to pursue the person responsible for the killing. Since then workers at the office have reportedly been intimidated repeatedly by police and others have
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received threatening phone calls. According to the information received, the PDH workers
were being intimidated because they tried to publicize their findings in the case of
Mr. Teodoro Saloj Panjoj and because they are still acting as mediators in the land disputes.
177. On 15 May 2001, the Special Representative sent an urgent appeal regarding
Ms. Aura Elean Farfan and Mr. Luis Aldana, members of the Association of the Familiares de Detenidos y Desaparecidos de Guatemala (FAMDEGUA). Both were reportedly abducted on 4 May 2001 by two armed men who took control of their car and drove off. They were reportedly threatened that they would be killed if they screamed or sought to attract help. Their identity documents were reportedly inspected and they were questioned about their work and about FAMDEGUA. Some 45 minutes later, the two unidentified men released Ms. Aura Elean Farfan and Mr. Luis Aldana in a different part of the city and drove away in the FAMDEGUA car. On 8 December 2000, the Special Representative transmitted an allegation to the Government about the raid on the offices shared by FAMDEGUA and HIJOS on 4 September 2000 by unidentified armed men.
178. On 31 July 2001, the Special Representative transmitted a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions regarding
Mr. Anselmo Roldan, president of the Asociacion Justicia y Reconciliation (AJR), and also president and legal representative of the Asociacion de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos del Area Ixcan (ADDHAI). Mr. Roldan was reportedly attacked on 22 July 2001 with a knife by a male resident of the Cuarto Pueblo community, Playa Grande, Ixcan. The attacker had reportedly repeatedly threatened Mr. Roldan and other witnesses who are filing lawsuits against Guatemalan military officers for genocide during the civil war. According to the information received, the attacker fled to a nearby house belonging to members of the ruling Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG) party, which is led by retired General Rios Montt, the current president of Congress. No order for the attacker's arrest has been issued, despite Mr. Roldan reporting the incident to the authorities, including the police and the local State prosecutor's office, on the day of the attack. Members of the AJR have reported other incidents, including surveillance by soldiers dressed in civilian clothes, threats and attempts to break into the homes of the family members of witnesses.
179. On 15 August 2001, the Special Representative transmitted an allegation letter jointly with the Special Rapporteur on torture on the basis of new information received regarding the case of Mr. Celso Balan, which was already transmitted on 8 December 2000. According to the source, on 1 August 2000, unknown men drove Mr. Celso Balan to the office of Centro de Action Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH), where he was allegedly beaten and the office searched. Mr. Celso Balan was forced to swallow a sedative and lost consciousness. He was found two days
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later in the local cemetery. The ill-treatment had allegedly caused him neuralgic, physical, psychological and emotional problems for which he has been under treatment. According to the doctors, the sedative could have caused paralysis and death.
180. On 30 August 2001, the Special Representative transmitted an urgent appeal concerning Mr. Fernando Rafael Bances Escobar, an activist of the organization "Colectivo Gay-Lesbico" and a member of the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca. On 19 August 2001, Mr. Fernando Rafael Bances Escobar and his friends Juan Luis Telon and Franz Alvaro were reportedly intercepted by a national civil police officer who asked him the reasons why they were laughing at him. The policeman backed up by other officers reportedly threw
Mr. Fernando Rafael Bances Escobar on the ground and hit him. Afterwards, they checked his identity card and left. According to the information received, these facts were reported to the Oficina de Responsibilidad Profesional of the National Civil Police and Mr. Bances Escobar was examined by a forensic doctor, who certified his injuries. It was further reported that no action was taken by the police to identify those responsible for the violation. This incident was allegedly connected with the activities of Mr. Fernando Rafael Bances Escobar for the Colectivo Gay-Lesbico and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca party.