Human Rights Watch urges monitoring of compliance with sanctions

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday called on the United Nations Security Council to extend the arms embargo on Liberia to all rebel groups and closely monitor the compliance of the Guinean government with that embargo. The Guinean government's close relationship with Liberian rebel groups was posing a serious threat to refugees' security and protection in Guinea, HRW said in a new report: 'Liberian Refugees in Guinea: Refoulement, Militarization of Camps, and other Protection Concerns'. The report was released to coincide with a Security Council discussion on Monday on sanctions imposed on the Liberian government because of its support for rebels in Sierra Leone. According to HRW, hundreds of Liberians seeking asylum in Guinea were being forced back to Liberia to join the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), as fighters or to work for LURD as porters. "Refugees have been threatened and intimidated," Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the HRW's Africa Division, said. "The LURD have engaged in forced military recruitment of men and young boys among the refugees, and have abducted adolescent girls for sex, then returned them to the camp. This is not acceptable: the civilian nature of all refugee camps must be preserved, and camp residents must be safe," he said. Refugees told HRW that LURD members operated freely and openly within Guinea. They said Guinean military near the border stopped refugees and ordered some of them back to Liberia. Often, the Guinean soldiers physically handed refugees over to LURD commanders, the organisation said. "The Guinean government is clearly violating international human rights law in its treatment of these refugees," Takirambudde said. "On top of that, Guinean authorities are facilitating human rights abuses by the Liberian rebels." International human rights law prohibits the return or refoulement of people to situations where their life or freedom would be threatened, HRW noted. Researchers were particularly alarmed by the situation in Kouankan refugee camp, Guinea's largest. They said LURD combatants - often uniformed and sometimes armed - were able to move freely in and out of the camp, and in some cases were reported to be residing there. Guinean military officials who controlled the only entry point to the camp were clearly aware of the movements of LURD members, but were doing nothing to prevent them, HRW said. It said that within the last two weeks, it had received credible reports of some Liberian refugees leaving Kouankan and seeking safety in refugee camps in Sierra Leone. In the areas of Koyama and Fassankoni in southern Guinea, refugees were not being forced back to Liberia, but were facing a range of other abuses, including arbitrary arrest and detention by the military or police on unsubstantiated charges of fighting for the Liberian government. Several male refugees who were detained were ill-treated by the Guinean military or police, HRW said. They were not seriously questioned about any criminal offence and, in most cases, were able to secure their release after bribing Guinean officials. The organisation also called on the Guinean government to allow unrestricted access to border areas to staff of humanitarian agencies. "Government authorities have often blocked access on the grounds that the areas are too dangerous," it said.