Lesotho

Parliamentary polls were held in Lesotho on 17 February, 2007. The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) won 61 of the 80 constituency seats that went to polls. Elections were earlier slated for May, but the Parliament was dissolved in November 2006 to pave the way for early polls. The opposition has alleged that polls were proponed in order to stop defections from the LCD. The last legislative elections were held in 2002. The Commonwealth Expert Team in its report to the Commonwealth Secretary General have stated that conditions existed for free and fair elections in spite of the ‘politically charged atmosphere’ and were transparent even though there were some irregularities.

Maldives

There were widespread protests in Maldives after the discovery of an alleged torture victim’s dead body floating in a Male harbour. Hussein Salah’s body was discovered in Western Harbour, near the Atolwehi police station, in the early hours of 15 April. Salah, a construction worker, was arrested on 9 April on drugs-related charges. Police claim that he was released on 13 April. His family has claimed that they did not have any contact with him after 12 April.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the major opposition group in the Maldives, has claimed that there are eye-witness reports that Salah was in detention on 14 April. The MDP had claimed that Salah was beaten to death while in custody. Police issued a media release on 15 April saying that Salah’s body had been found and that there were ‘no major visible injuries’.

After sustained protests, the body was flown to Sri Lanka for a medical examination. However an independent autopsy ruled out torture and had stated that man had actually drowned. Please also note CHRI’s media Release “Injuries as visible as police misconduct –Dead body of suspect discovered floating in Male harbour” is also available in the ‘What’s New section on our website.

Zimbabwe

The country’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change and his supporters were assaulted and arrested at a banned prayer rally in early March drawing international condemnation from United States, United Nations and the European Union. South Africa was quick to condemn the action and asked Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to ‘respect the rights of citizens, including opposition leaders’1. The country is in political turmoil with growing social and economic crisis exacerbated by international sanctions. In a summit of the 14 southern African nations held in end March in Tanzania, the meeting called on the west to drop sanctions against Zimbabwe and also mandated South African President to foster dialogue between President Mugabe and the opposition. President Mugabe has ruled the country for the last 27 years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6448559.stm

Conference on NHRI’s

A three day Commonwealth conference on National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) was organised by the Human Rights Unit of the Commonwealth Secretariat at the end of February in London, United Kingdom. The objective of the conference was on building the capacity of National Human Rights Institutions and to promote the network of NHRIs in the Commonwealth. The forum brought together 40 participants from international organisations including the UN and national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in Commonwealth countries. Speaking at the conference, the Secretary-General Don McKinnon emphasised that the important feature of NHRIs was ‘independence’ and felt that they are ‘part of the way in which member countries can uphold the Commonwealth’s fundamental political values’. Only 35 countries in the Commonwealth have NHRIs in place, either in the form of commissions or offices of ombudsmen.

Source: http://www.thecommonwealth.org/news/160512/260207expertsdiscuss.htm

Sri Lanka

Violence continues to escalate in Sri Lanka. Both the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) engaged in violent attacks and blamed each other for abuse of civilians, causing civilian casualties and using civilians as human shields. The government continued to conduct aerial bombardments in the North and the East. On 26 March, the LTTE for the first time conducted an aerial bombardment on the main government air force base near the country’s only international airport. After unveiling its new air wing, the rebel group conducted a second aerial attack on a government air force base in the North on 23 April. As the government and the rebels increased their levels of violent confrontation, hundreds and thousands of people continued to be displaced in the North and the East. Estimates indicate that 500,000 people may be displaced in Sri Lanka at the moment.

Reports also indicate that media freedom in Sri Lanka is in an alarmingly dire state. It was reported that Tamil media in particular has been sabotaged by both the government and the LTTE. However, additional reports indicate that the government may also be clamping down on Sinhala media which is critical of the government. While the government and the LTTE engaged in a fierce propaganda war, recent reports from various news groups indicate that it is impossible to know the real ground situation anymore due the impossibility of independent verification of facts. As the war intensifies the government, faced with an alarming rise in its war budget has been contemplating foreign tenders to develop possible offshore oil fields. Indian, Chinese and American companies are expected to be possible investors. On the other hand several states continue to supply arms to the government amid calls by international bodies to halt the war. Recently International groups remained critical of government investigations into the 2006 killing of 17 humanitarian workers. In this regard many have pointed the finger of suspicion at the military, a charge that the government denied. Following international pressure the government formed a Commission of Inquiry to look into allegations of human rights violations. Various groups have remained critical of the ability of the international group to monitor the Commission. Human rights groups have been vigorously pressing for an independent UN human rights monitoring mission for Sri Lanka, a demand that the government has been unhappy with.