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Question & Answer Series: Eritrea & Ethiopia: Large-scale Expulsions of Population Groups and Other Human Rights Violations in Connection with the Ethiopian-Eritrean Conflict, 1998-2000
This document explores the background of the Ethiopian- Eritrean Conflict, the "ethnic" question, the 1993 referendum on Eritrean independence, the removal of people of Eritrean origin or heritage from Ethiopia, the citizenship status of person expelled from Ethiopia and those remaining in Ethiopia, and the removal of Ethiopians from Eritrea.
INS Resource Information Center
Byrne, Hugh
2002-01
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Perspective Series: Chinese State Birth Planning in the 1990s and Beyond
This document is broken up into eight chapter and appendices. "Chapter One provides an overview of program policy and enforcement. […]. Chapter Two outlines the politics of resistance to the birth planning policy and the human costs of state birth planning. […].Chapter Three delineates continuity and change in Chinese birth policy in the 1990s. […].Chapter Four reports national population change and program performance in the 1990s, according to the program's own measures and data. […].Chapter Five outlines the program's administrative organization, public involvement, and legislative basis. […].Chapter Seven canvasses provincial population change and program performance in the 1990s. […].Chapter Eight focuses on the coastal province of Fujian, home to a large proportion of asylum applicants. […].The first Appendix contains a Glossary that defines special terms used by the Chinese program and by this Report. […].The third Appendix translates the 1991 Fujian Birth Planning Regulations. […]. The fourth Appendix presents a set of tables providing quantitative data about Fujian."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
Greenhalgh, Susan; Winckler, Edwin A.
2001-09-28
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Perspective Series: Honduras Update on Human Rights Conditions
"After decades of right-wing military rule, the Honduran armed forces finally gave way to elected civilian rule in 1982. However, over the next decade, the military maintained its status as the most powerful institution in the country. It retained control of the national police force, and it continued to enjoy high levels of institutional autonomy and unaccountability, as well as impunity with regard to violations of human rights. After the return to civilian rule, the military also expanded its constellation of business interests, making the armed forces by the early 1990s one of Honduras' ten largest corporations. Meanwhile, elected civilian governments remained weak and riddled with corruption, and it was not until the mid-1990s under President Carlos Roberto Reina that the inordinate power of the military began to be curtailed. In 1997, the national police--a paramilitary force called the Fuerza de Seguridad Pública (FUSEP), Public Security Force, which had been under the control of the military--was transferred to civilian authority. In 1998, a new Ministry of Security headed by a civilian was established to oversee all police operations. Also that year, the Honduran Congress amended the constitution to establish civilian control over the 12,000-member armed forces through a civilian Minister of Defense. In January 1999, the government of President Carlos Flores Facussé, elected in November 1997, named Edgardo Dumas, a lawyer and businessman, the first civilian Minister of Defense in nearly five decades and only the third in the nation's 178-year history."
INS Resource Information Center
Payne, Douglas
2000-09
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Question & Answer Series Mexico: Update on Treatment of Homosexuals
"Machista ideals of manly appearance and behavior contribute to extreme prejudices against effeminate men, and often to violence against them. The Roman Catholic teaching that homosexuality is a sin further contributes to intolerance, and is seen by many to provide moral sanction for mistreatment. To live an undisturbed gay or lesbian lifestyle in most of Mexico, one has to hide it. As the influence of foreign cultures--especially the United States--grows in Mexico, attitudes are beginning to change. That is especially true in the bigger cities, where education and access to foreigners and foreign news media are greatest. But change continues to be slow in the hinterlands, and even in the big cities discomfort with change often leads to backlashes. The poor are most vulnerable, for several reasons. One is that they tend to live in the most tradition-bound neighborhoods. Another is that crowding allows them little privacy. And a third is that their scarce resources provide little cushioning from the outside world. At the extremes of vulnerability are poor effeminate men. Their lack of education and marketable skills, to say nothing of barriers to entry in many professions, frequently drive them to become transvestite prostitutes, exposing them to the most severe levels of prejudice, hatred, and--in many cases-- violence. Another group that is highly vulnerable are persons who are HIV-positive. For all but the most prosperous Mexicans, access to effective health care, including anti-retroviral drugs, depends on participation in payroll insurance plans."
INS Resource Information Center
Reding, Andrew
2000-05
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Perspective Series: Human Rights in Guatemala since the Signing of the Peace Accords
"Almost two years after the signing of peace accords ending a 36-year civil war, the human rights situation in Guatemala remained ambiguous and precarious despite major achievements in demobilizing the armed forces--both government and insurgent--that caused an estimated 200,000 deaths and disappearances during the war, and forced more than a million persons to flee their homes. On the one hand, President Alvaro Arzú Irigoyen, who began his term of office with a purge of military officers and a commitment to achieve peace, has taken important steps to dismantle key elements of the military's network of terror. At its peak, that network consisted of almost a million men in arms, and, according to a report published by the Archdiocesan Human Rights Office, was responsible for the vast majority of the killings.1 The military commissioners and civil patrols have been phased out, the Mobile Military Police disbanded, and the army cut back by one-third. At the same time, the guerrillas have disarmed and have converted their insurgency into a democratic political party that is preparing to take part in free elections. Despite these important achievements, human rights continue to be violated with impunity. Human rights workers, journalists, union organizers, indigenous rights activists, street children, homosexuals, and women, among others, continue to face death threats and physical violence, including murder."
INS Resource Information Center
Reding, Andrew
2000-04
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Question and Answer Series: Guatemala: Hardship Considerations
"Guatemala is the second most densely populated country in Latin America, after neighboring El Salvador. According to the CIA World Factbook, it has about 12.3 million people (July 1999 estimate) living on 108,430 square kilometers, an area slightly smaller than Tennessee. That translates to 114 inhabitants per square kilometer, or 295 inhabitants per square mile. Guatemalan society is characterized by extreme social and economic inequality. According to a 1998 study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), Latin America has the greatest disparities in income distribution in the world. In gauging the relative levels of disparity in Latin America, the IADB study found that Guatemala was among the countries with the very highest levels of inequality. It had a Gini index of 59.6 percent, second only to Brazil (60.1 percent). Globally, it ranks third, after Sierra Leone (62.9 percent) and Brazil. According to the IADB, inequality has serious consequences. Were Latin America to have levels of inequality comparable to Southeast Asia, poverty would be a fifth of what it actually is. Greater inequality also undermines acceptance of democracy. The Central American country with the lowest Gini index, Costa Rica (47.0 percent), has by far the highest level of acceptance of democracy (83 percent, versus 48 percent in Guatemala).3 Since the IADB has identified gaps in education as the primary cause of inequality, this issue is explored further in the section on education."
INS Resource Information Center
Reding, Andrew
2000-01
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Question and Answer Series: El Salvador Hardship Considerations
"El Salvador is the most densely populated country in Latin America, with about 5.8 million people living in an area roughly the size of Massachusetts. Its society is characterized by extreme social and economic inequality. According to a 1998 study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), Latin America has the greatest disparities in income distribution in the world. In gauging the relative levels of disparity among Latin American countries, the IADB study found that El Salvador fell about midway between Brazil, the country with highest level of inequality, and Uruguay, the country with the lowest. The Human Development Index (HDI) produced by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) provides a broad assessment of relative levels of development in the world. The HDI considers three basic dimensions--longevity, knowledge and standard of living--and measures life expectancy, educational attainment and literacy, and income. In the 1999 HDI, El Salvador rated 107th out of 174 countries, while the United States rated third, Costa Rica 45th, Honduras 114th, and Nicaragua 121st. Overall, countries fall into one of three categories--high, medium and low development. At number 107, El Salvador is near the low end of medium development. According to a UNDP study of El Salvador published in 1997, there are significant disparities in levels of development between the country's fourteen administrative departments. Only two of the country's departments, San Salvador and La Libertad, have a higher HDI rating than the national average. The twelve others have lower HDI ratings, with the lowest ratings found in the most rural departments."
INS Resource Information Center
Payne, Douglas
2000-01
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Question and Answer Series: Honduras: Hardship Considerations
"Prior to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Mitch in late October and early November 1998, Honduras, with a population of about 6.2 million people, was one of the poorest and most unequal countries in Latin America. As a result of the storm, social, economic and environmental conditions worsened substantially throughout the national territory. International aid needed for the enormous task of rebuilding was slow in coming, and the debt-strapped Honduran government appeared to have difficulty in establishing mechanisms for making proper and effective use of it. Preparatory to the conference on hurricane aid for Central America held in Stockholm on May 25-28, 1999, the government developed a five-year plan for reconstruction, with costs estimated at around $4 billion. In Stockholm, donor countries and international financial institutions promised to provide up to $3 billion in various forms of assistance to Honduras over the course of four years. However, as of mid-June 1999, it had yet to be determined when the aid package would fully come on line or how Honduras would absorb it. Meanwhile, with the start of another rainy season and renewed flooding in May, and the potential threat of another hurricane with the approach of summer, most Hondurans remained in a day-to-day struggle merely to subsist."
INS Resource Information Center
Payne, Douglas
1999-09
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Perspective Series: Human Rights Conditions in Cuba since the Papal Visit
"The visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba on January 21-25, 1998 opened new, though limited, space for the Cuban Catholic Church. However, the Cuban government of President Fidel Castro did not heed the Pope's call for democratic change. Since then, Castro has disregarded similar pleas from Canada, the European Union and members of the Organization of American States, and a year after the Pope's visit Cuba remained under the totalitarian control of a one-party Communist state. […].Heightened repression continued into 1999 with renewed waves of detentions and, in March, with the convictions and sentencing of four of Cuba's most prominent dissidents on charges of 'sedition,' as described later in this section and in Section XII. As the trial approached, at least 100 dissidents, including human rights activists and independent journalists, were temporarily detained or placed under house arrest in an evident attempt to prevent them from campaigning on behalf of those being tried, or from attending or reporting on the proceedings. Cuban human rights monitors said that it was from 482 to 381. However, another 79 prisoners were presumed to have been incarcerated for political reasons, while 16 detained on evidently political grounds were still awaiting trial."
INS Resource Information Center
Payne, Douglas
1999-03
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Question and Answer Series: El Salvador: Re-Emergence of 'Social Cleansing' Death Squads
"From December 1998 through January 1999 there were at least a dozen extrajudicial killings which pointed to a resurgence of activities by paramilitary death squads that target marginalized social sectors. All of those killed were members of maras, youth gangs, and the modus operandi was very similar to the spate of 'social cleansing' executions carried out by the Sombra Negra, Black Shadow, organization in 1994-1995. Amid the recent wave of killings, public threats against gang members were issued by two previously unknown organizations: the Grupo de Exterminio, Extermination Group, and La Voz del Pueblo, The Voice of the People. Salvadoran police officials suggested that the killings were the result of internecine gang warfare. But a public prosecutor who worked on the Sombra Negra case, as well as Salvadoran human rights organizations and the Catholic church, were convinced that the murders had been carried out by one or more armed clandestine groups. Youth gangs themselves alleged that members of the Policía Nacional Civil (PNC), National Civilian Police, were involved, as had been the case with Sombra Negra, but as of early March 1999 there was no evidence of that."
INS Resource Information Center
Payne, Douglas
1999-03
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Perspective Series: Cuba: Systematic Repression of Dissent
"This report has been written to address the information needs and issues of concern to U.S. Asylum Officers. [...]. As described in chapters II-VII of this report, Cuba is a one-party Communist state, in which every Cuban is subject to a totalitarian system of political and social control. That system is institutionalized and given legal framework by the 1976 Constitution and the Penal Code, which together outlaw virtually any form of political or civic activity outside the purview of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). Anyone deemed by the regime to be in opposition to it is regarded as a 'counterrevolutionary' and an 'enemy,' and is therefore at risk of punishment. The judicial system is constitutionally subordinated to the executive and legislative branches and under the control of the PCC. That leaves Cubans with no recourse before the unlimited powers of the state, which has 'zero tolerance for the growth of civil society'1 and systematically violates the rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly, privacy and due process of law."
INS Resource Information Center
Payne, Douglas
1998-12
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Question and Answer Series: Peru Shining Path Actions in 1998: Summation and Partial Chronology
"As indicated by data compiled from Peruvian news sources by the Lima-based Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH), the decline in activities by Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) has continued in 1998. However, despite this decline, Shining Path has manifested that it maintains the capacity to orchestrate activities in several departments throughout the country, including Lima. In the first nine months of 1998, there were 223 actions by armed groups in Peru, compared with 460 in all of 1997, indicating a decline in 1998 of about 33 percent on an annualized basis. Of the 223 actions, 168 were known to be carried out or were claimed by Shining Path and 13 by remnants of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), while in 42 actions the perpetrators were unknown. In actions involving violent attacks, the great majority of which involved Shining Path, there were a total of 73 deaths and 34 wounded, about 80 percent of which casualties were incurred among civilians, police and soldiers. In 1997 the total of dead and wounded was 200, indicating a decline in 1998 of about 30 percent on an annualized basis. In the coastal department of Lima, which includes the nation's capital, there were 122 guerrilla actions in 1997, resulting in 13 deaths and 22 wounded among civilians, police and soldiers, but no recorded losses among insurgents."
INS Resource Information Center
Payne, Douglas
1998-11
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Question and Answer Series: Sierra Leone Political, Military, and Human Rights Chronology: 1991-1997
"This Question and Answer Series paper briefly examines the significant players and provides a chronological overview of the political, military, and human rights developments in Sierra Leone which span the period between 1991 and the end of 1997. Internal strife has been a constant in Sierra Leone since early 1991 when the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) began a guerrilla campaign to end the 23 year one-party rule by the All People's Congress (APC). In April 1992, the APC was ousted from power in a military coup led by Captain Valentine Strasser and junior army officers who protested poor pay and working conditions within the Republic of Sierra Leone Military Force (RSLMF). Captain Strasser's government, known as the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC), existed for nearly four years. The NPRC administration's unwillingness to enter into negotiations with the RUF led to an intensification of the rebels' campaign, and in 1994 the NPRC government declared a 'total war' on the RUF as the insurgency spread to the northern part of the country. During 1996 local hunters known as Kamajors began forming themselves into local civil defense forces to fight against the RUF. Democratic elections held in March 1996 brought Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) into the presidency in September 1996. A military coup was staged in May 1997, by junior army officers led by Major Johnny Paul Koroma, under the banner of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). The AFRC welcomed the RUF into an alliance with them."
INS Resource Information Center
1998-04
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Question & Answer Series: Mexico: Treatment of Homosexuals
"Despite deep-seated problems with prejudice and discrimination, the past two years have seen progress in the treatment of homosexuals in Mexico.1 In the first half of this decade, more than two dozen male homosexuals were murdered. Most were transvestites. Most of the murders occurred in the southeastern state of Chiapas. Other murders occurred in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and the states of Nayarit and Chihuahua. In virtually all cases, there was evidence of police involvement, complicity, or indifference. Since mid-1995, however, the situation has improved. In the wake of protests from human rights organizations, increased international exposure, and changes in local government, there have been no further reports that homosexuals have been murdered with the apparent complicity or tolerance of government authorities. It is, however, difficult to determine to what extent homosexuals are being subjected to non-lethal forms of violence, such as beating, torture, and rape. There have been few reports of such abuses in the mass media. Similarly, there have been few complaints filed with human rights organizations. There have been even fewer reports of abuses against lesbians. Given the stigma associated with homosexuality, the paucity of such reports may reflect a reluctance on the part of victims to call attention to themselves. Yet if such abuses were really widespread, examples would inevitably come to the attention of sympathetic media and human rights organizations, many of which maintain ties with homosexual groups. In the absence of more complete information, it is reasonable to conjecture that such abuses do occur, though there is little evidence that they are systematic."
INS Resource Information Center
Reding, Andrew
1998-04
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Perspective Series: Guatemala: Democracy and Human Rights
"This paper has been particularly written to address the information needs and issues of concern to U.S. Asylum Officers and other Immigration Officers. […].Despite these historic developments, Guatemala still has a long way to go to create a society and polity capable of safeguarding the most basic human rights of its citizens. That is particularly true of its historically oppressed indigenous majority. Well over a hundred thousand Mayan peasants perished in the civil war, almost all at the hands of the armed forces, who frequently massacred entire villages. Though the war has receded, the racism that fed its savagery has not. As documented in this report, incidents of discrimination and violence directed at members of indigenous ethnic groups continue to be widespread."
INS Resource Information Center
Reding, Andrew
1997-06
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Question and Answer Series: India: Political and Human Rights Developments in the Punjab
"Several developments in the Punjab are noted in the sources consulted for this response. These include: the February 1997 State Assembly elections in Punjab which included the participation of all but the more radical of the Sikh separatists; the rejection in the election of Sikh parties with more extreme separatist stances; the reforms underway in the police and judiciary, and the related attention at the Federal level to these reforms including from the Home Ministry, the Supreme Court and the National Human Rights Commission; the open 'storefront' activity of human rights groups in the Punjab; the prosecution of police accused of past abuses and the simple lack of threat posed by all but the most violent Sikh activists whose movement has otherwise been driven underground and abroad, and the subsequent focus by police on only those most radical militants. Another significant theme is the high level of fraud reported by both Canadian and U.S. immigration officials among Sikh applicants for immigrant visas who were investigated as dependents of asylees."
INS Resource Information Center
1997-06
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Perspective Series: Mexico Democracy and Human Rights
"This paper has been particularly written to address the information needs and issues of concern to U.S. Asylum Officers and other Immigration Officers." This paper addresses Mexico political history, the 1994 election, the structure of the government, president Zedillo's reforms, constitutional guarantees, security forces, corruption and impunity, electoral fraud, and more.
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
Reding, Andrew
1995-07
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Profile Series Peru: Human Rights and Political Developments through December 1994
"Peru is a country experiencing profound economic and political transition. Of the calamities that may befall a nation, Peru has suffered a disproportionate share over the past fifteen years, falling victim to a cycle of political upheaval and economic disruption. More than half of the population suffers extreme poverty. Fourteen years of political violence have taken over 20,000 lives, caused billions of dollars in material damage, and displaced more than half a million people. A cholera epidemic has killed thousands of Peruvians since 1991. Peru has been labeled one of the poorest and most violent nations in South America. Since 1980, successive Peruvian governments have fought a brutal war againsSt endero Luminoso (Shining Path), a violent, self-proclaimed Marxist movement which seeks to overthrow the government. In the course of the conflict, both the guerrillas and government security forces have committed grave violations of human rights. Sendero has employed both targeted and indiscriminate violence to terrorize the government and the population. Despite the September 1992 capture of Sendero's leader, Abimael Guzmán, the guerrillas continue to carry out attacks, though at a significantly reduced level. […], Nevertheless, disturbing levels of violence persist, with the government demonstrating greater willingness to sacrifice the rights to due process and civil liberties of citizens -- and to tolerate abuses committed against them by security forces -- in order to advance its military and related political objectives. Despite these apparent improvements, Peruvians continue to suffer one of the worst situations of political violence in the hemisphere."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1995-06
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Profile Series China: Family Planning Policy and Practice in the People's Republic of China
"China's family planning program represents one of the world's most comprehensive and controversial efforts to achieve rapid population stabilization. China experts differ in their assessment of the extent of coercion in the family planning program. There is general agreement, however, on the use of coercion in parts of China, including Fujian province. A recent informal review of asylum applications by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor reported that approximately 75 per cent of Chinese asylum seekers come from Fujian Province. In view of this, available information pertaining specifically to the family planning program in Fujian Province has been included in this report."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1995-05
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Profile Series Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Human Rights Since 1990
"At present, the primary groups at risk in the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia1 are ethnic minorities. The most serious abuses reported have been against ethnic Albanians, and Bosnians and other refugees fleeing the armed conflict in former Yugoslavia who are in transit through Macedonia. Romas (Gypsies), ethnic Turks and ethnic Serbs also may face difficulties, depending on individual circumstances. Although ethnic Albanians actively participate in the political process and presently are represented in the National Assembly, they face serious discrimination in their access to political representation (notably dilution and limitation of their voting rights). They also face police brutality and repression by government officials, are under-represented in the civil service, have limited access to education, and are restricted in the right to use their native language. Substantial ethnic prejudice and a growing sense of nationalism among ethnic Macedonians are exacerbating existing problems for ethnic Albanians. So too is the increasing influx of ethnic Albanian refugees from the Serbian province of Kosovo, and Macedonia's fear that if Serbian repression in Kosovo escalates, ethnic Albanian refugees will flood Macedonia. February 1995 clashes between ethnic Albanians and police (with one death and numerous injuries) over the opening of an Albanian-language university, and over the detention of proposed officials of that University, have raised the possibility of rapidly escalating ethnic tensions. At first, refugees from Bosnia and other parts of the former Yugoslavia were welcomed in Macedonia in substantial numbers. However, the resulting economic and social pressures soon caused the government to place a moratorium on new entries, and to seek resettlement of the refugees to other nations. At least three major public demonstrations against these refugees have taken place, causing many to flee Macedonia and seek asylum elsewhere."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1995-02
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Profile Series Ethiopia: Update on Political Conditions
"The Transitional Government of Ethiopia (dominated by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front [EPRDF], which in turn is largely controlled by the Tigrean People's Liberation Front [TPLF]) has now been in power for over three years. The Resource Information Center published a report in early 1993 which focused on the status of 'Amharas' (a term that was broadly defined to encompass not just the Amhara ethnic group, but also a larger category of Ethiopians who are Amhara-speakers; former employees of the Amhara-dominated governments of Mengistu Haile Mariam or Haile Selassie; students, professors, and others in the educated elite who formed the core of organized ideological opposition to the Mengistu government; or even merely sympathizers with the concept of a centralized, rather than federated, Ethiopian state). As stated in that paper, the focus was chosen not because Amharas or 'centrists' are, or are not, at greater risk in Ethiopia than other groups (such as Oromos, Somalis and Afars), but because most Ethiopian claims for asylum in the United States are from applicants who describe themselves as Amhara or whose claims reflect their 'centrist' political opposition to the current government's decision to accept Eritrea's independence and to grant various ethnic groups considerable regional autonomy. This report is intended to serve as an update to the earlier report, and most questions about the history or interrelationships of the groups discussed in this report may be answered by referring to the earlier document. This report also includes some general information about other ethnic opposition groups, but in less detail."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1994-12
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Profile Series: Uzbekistan: Political Conditions in the Post-Soviet Era
"Unlike most of the former Soviet republics, in which governments have become more democratic and less able to control societal opposition, Uzbekistan's political structure and its level of governmental repression and control remain virtually unchanged from the Soviet era. Uzbekistan's president, Islam Karimov, was elected in the Soviet period. The ruling National Democratic Party automatically incorporated all members of the Uzbek Communist Party in its membership when it was created as a successor to the Communist Party. The Karimov government is extremely intolerant toward the opposition parties which were formed in the glasnost period preceding the collapse of the Soviet Union. The press is now rigidly censored. Human, civil and ethnic rights are abridged and restored solely at the whim of the government. Almost all of the opposition parties and movements formed before Uzbek independence have been banned, while human rights organizations have been harassed, their leaders jailed and convicted, often on unlikely criminal charges such as drug trafficking or assaulting a security officer. Individuals are more free now to practice religion than during the Soviet era -- as long as the government perceives their religious beliefs and practices to be apolitical. […]. Moreover, the Uzbek government actively represses those religious movements which are involved in, or perceived as involved in, political issues. […]. In summary, although the high level of repression in Uzbekistan affects most residents, those at greatest risk are those who either are involved in political opposition to the government (through secular ideological parties, human rights groups, or ethnic- or religious-based movements), or who are perceived by the government as being engaged in political opposition."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1994-09
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Profile Series Russia: the Status of Jews in the Post-Soviet Era
"The status of Jews in Russia in the post-Soviet era is complex. The collapse of the Soviet Union has created new opportunities for Jews to practice their religion and culture. The kind of officially organized, state-sponsored discrimination that characterized the Soviet and tsarist eras, has virtually disappeared. Yet the climate of political and economic uncertainty in Russia has permitted the growth of anti-Semitism among individuals, parties, and organizations. Of equal importance, it is not always clear that the government is able -- or willing -- to take action against those who harass or physically attack Jews. For historical reasons, most Jews, like their Russian counterparts, are reluctant to report incidents of harassment or violence to government officials. Many police and lower level bureaucrats retained from the Soviet era have not received retraining in human rights or respect for the rule of law. […]. Although Jews who are religious, political or cultural activists may be more likely to be the targets of such attacks, Jews who have no known activist affiliations can also be at risk. Claims from Russian Jews must be assessed primarily on the basis of nationality, although religion and imputed political opinion (pro-democracy or anti-communism) may also be facets of the claim. Acts of harassment and violence against Jews are still sporadic in the post-Soviet era, but no-one is automatically at risk, or automatically safe from potential persecution: each case must be determined on a careful assessment of the applicant's own situation (and of those similarly situated, such as relatives, colleagues, friends, neighbors, etc.)."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1994-09
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Profile Series: Kazakhstan: Political Conditions in the Post-Soviet Era
"The country has become more polarized as many of the ethnic Russians and Russian speakers living in the Kazakh-majority southern region of the country are either relocating to the north (dominated by ethnic Russians), or are leaving Kazakhstan altogether. At present, however, tensions, discrimination, and political manipulations have not escalated into outright repression or violence against Russian speakers as a group. The government seems to discourage ethnic-based supremacist groups -- both Russian and Kazakh -- from both legitimate and illegitimate or violent activities. However, the situation is too volatile to predict with any certainty whether the government will maintain a mildly repressive but relatively peaceful status quo, or will either increase its level of repression or lose its ability to dampen potential opposition. It should also be noted that one exception to the generalization that ethnic tensions have not resulted in societal violence is the status of Russian-speaking Jews. From the late 1980s to the present, there have been credible reports of sporadic violent attacks by societal groups or individuals on Russian-speaking Jews. This report will focus almost entirely on the status of Russian speakers in Kazakhstan. This focus was not chosen because Russian speakers necessarily are (or are not) at greater risk of discrimination or harassment in Kazakhstan, but because they represent the overwhelming majority of applicants for asylum from Kazakhstan in the United States. The focus on Russian speakers should not be construed as a judgement [sic] of the relative merits of the cases of Russian speakers or other potential applicants for asylum."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1994-09
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Alert Series: Women: Female Genital Mutilation
This document discusses female genital mutilation and its influence on refugee and asylum status. "The World Health Organization estimates that over eighty million infants, adolescents, and women have been subjected to female genital mutilation. These mutilations continue to be performed in more than thirty countries in Africa (including parts of Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan) and Asia (including parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Oman, South Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates), as well as among immigrant communities in other countries."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1994-07
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Alert Series: Liberia: Disintegration of the Liberian Nation since the 1989 Civil War
"In December 1989, a small group of Liberian rebels crossed the border from Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) into Liberia's Nimba County, sparking off a civil war that would eventually lead to the overthrow of President Samuel Kanyon Doe. Although many Liberians were glad to see Doe's repressive regime removed, no group that emerged from the civil war was powerful enough to replace the Doe government. As a result, the Republic of Liberia was plunged into a state of chaos from which it has yet to emerge. In the meantime, Liberia has effectively ceased to exist as a nation. Despite a cease-fire agreement signed in Bamako, Mali, in 1990, the civil war never really ended, and with the escalation of violence that began in August 1992 it seemed as if even the limited peace Liberia possessed had been completely shattered. The re-emergence of overt civil war threatened to return Liberia to the state of terror and brutality that prompted Africa Watch monitors to call Liberia a 'human rights disaster.'1 In July 1993, the parties involved returned to Geneva for yet another round of peace talks, resulting in the signing of a new agreement in Cotonou, Benin, on July 25, 1993. The agreement provides for a cease-fire beginning on August 1, to be followed by the formation of a transitional government in September and the holding of elections in February 1994."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1993-11
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Profile Series: Pakistan
This profile gives a current overview (1993) of Pakistan and discusses the following groups: the Ahmadi Community, the People's Party of Pakistan, the Mohajirs, Women, and Religious Minorities.
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1993-11
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Alert Series: Tajikistan Political Conditions in the Post-Soviet Era
This document offers a summary of the present condition in Tajikistan, a brief history of the country, Tajikistan's independence from the Soviet Union, information on human rights in Tajikistan including: "The Tajik Constitution, The Language Law, Religion: The Role Of Islam, The Effects Of The Civil War, Ethnic Groups At Risk: The Status of Tajiks, [and] Ethnic Groups At Risk: The Status Of Non-Tajik Ethnic Groups."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1993-09
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Alert Series: Kyrgyzstan: Political Conditions in the Post-Soviet Era
"Kyrgyzstan emerged from the breakup of the Soviet Union with the makings of a multiparty democratic political system already in place. The President of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, was elected democratically (although he ran unopposed), and since his election has championed efforts to democratize Kyrgyz society. Bishkek, the capital, has been the site of human rights congresses and meetings, and governmental organizations such as the United States Department of State and the Helsinki Commission have found that Kyrgyzstan has the best record on human rights and respect for ethnic minorities in Central Asia. A number of political parties have been organized, including a renascent Communist Party, and all are permitted to publish newspapers and hold meetings unimpeded by state interference. Freedom of religion has also been established, with Christians, Jews, Muslims, and even Hare Krishnas able to practice their religions and to disseminate their views without restriction. The only limitation placed on religious activities is that religions cannot organize their own political parties. Thus, the Islamic Renewal Party, which has a presence in most other Central Asian republics, is banned in Kyrgyzstan."
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1993-09
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Profile Series: Haiti
This document from the Immigration and Naturalization Services provides an indepth profile of the political struggle in Haiti. The profile gives a historical background from 1492 until 1993. The profile discusses government and military structure in Haiti. The profile describes which groups are at risk for repression and abuse and looks to the future for a political solution to ongoing struggles in Haiti.
United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS Resource Information Center
1993-08
