Excess Casualty Hospital Survey: Fill & Download for Free

http://english.gov.cn/archive/publications/2016/04/14/content_281475327578479.htmThe State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China published a report titled “Human Rights Record of the United States in 2015” on April 14.Following is the full text of the report:Human Rights Record of the United States in 2015State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of ChinaApril 2016ForewordOn April 13 local time, the State Department of the United States released its country reports on human rights practices. It made comments on the human rights situation in many countries once again while being tight-lipped about its own terrible human rights record and showing not a bit of intention to reflect on it. In 2015, the United States saw no improvement in its existent human rights issues, but reported numerous new problems. Since the U.S. government refuses to hold up a mirror to look at itself, it has to be done with other people’s help.The following facts about the U.S. human rights situation in 2015 are supported by irrefutable records.-- The use of guns was out of control in the United States, which severely threatened citizens’ right of life. The frequent occurrence of shooting incidents was the deepest impression left to the world concerning the United States in 2015. There were a total of 51,675 gun violence incidents in the United States in 2015 as of December 28, leaving 13,136 killed and 26,493 injured.-- Citizens’ personal security could not be guaranteed with the excessive use of violence by police. Police shot dead 965 people last year as of December 24, and the abuse of power by the police did not result in discipline. “Justice for Freddie” protests were staged in Baltimore, demonstrators in Chicago took to the street to demand justice in the death of Laquan MacDonald, and protesters in Minneapolis camped outside a police precinct after Jamar Clark was shot dead by police.-- The prison system in the United States was plagued by corruption and severely violated inmates’ human rights. The guards in a prison in Florida scalded a mentally-ill inmate Darren Rainey to death in hot shower. The guards in Lowell Correctional Institution, the nation’s largest women’s prison, pressured hundreds of female inmates to barter sex for basic necessities and a shield from abuse, and 57 inmates have died in this prison over the past 10 years.-- Money politics and clan politics were prevailing and the political rights of the citizens were not safeguarded effectively. Companies and individuals were able to donate an unlimited size to super Political Action Committees (super PACs) to influence the presidential election. In this way, corporations could use money to sway politics and reap tremendous returns. There were comments that the political system of the United States had been subverted to be a tool that provided returns to major political donors. Family pedigree had become a primary factor for U.S. politics, with a few families and behind-the-scenes interest groups influencing the election using funds. The popular will was abducted by factionalism in the United States, because the interests involved in election made it unable for the Democratic Party and the Republican Party to coordinate on and work out policies that were in line with the popular will.-- The lingering problems in U.S. society posed challenges for the country to fulfill its duty of safeguarding the economic and social rights of U.S. citizens. In 2014, there were 46.7 million people in poverty in the United States. Every year, at least 48.1 million people were classed as “food insecure.” In 2015, more than 560,000 people nationwide were homeless. Seventy-nine percent of Americans believed it was more common for people to fall out of the middle class than rise up to it. There were still 33 million people in the United States with no healthcare insurance, and 44 million private-sector workers, about 40 percent of the total, did not have access to paid sick leaves.-- Racial conflict was severe in the United States, with race relations at their worst in nearly two decades. Sixty-one percent of Americans characterized race relations in the United States as “bad.” Law enforcement and justice fields were heavily affected by racial discrimination, with 88 percent of African-Americans believing they were treated unfairly by police, and 68 percent of African-Americans believing the American criminal justice system was racially biased. Whites had 12 times the wealth of blacks and nearly 10 times more than Hispanics. It was said that the American dream remained out of reach for many African-American and Hispanic families.-- The situation for American women was deteriorating and children were living in worrisome environment. In 2014, women in the United States were paid 79 cents for every dollar paid to men. The percentage of women in poverty increased from 12.1 percent to 14.5 percent over the past decade. The United Nations’ International Labor Organization said that the United States was the only industrialized nation with no overall law for cash benefits provided to women during maternity leave. A total of 23 percent of undergraduate women said they were victims of non-consensual sexual contact. There were at least two school shootings a month in 2015 and almost two children were killed every week in unintentional shootings. About a quarter of the teenagers above 15 years old who died of injuries in the United States were killed in gun-related incidents. About 17.4 million children under the age of 18 were being raised without a father and 45 percent lived below the poverty line. About one fifth of all U.S. children lived in food-insecure households.-- The United States still brazenly and brutally violated human rights in other countries, treating citizens from other countries like dirt. Air strikes launched by the United States in Iraq and Syria killed thousands of civilians. The United States also conducted drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen indiscriminately, causing hundreds of civilian deaths. On October 3, 2015, the U.S. military bombed a hospital operated by “Doctors Without Borders” in the city of Kunduz in Afghanistan, in which 42 people were killed. Defying international condemnation, the United States still did not close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, which had been running for 14 years and still locked up nearly 100 people who had been under arbitrary detention for years without trial.I. Wanton Infringement on Civil RightsCivil rights were wantonly infringed upon in the United States in 2015 with rampant gun-related crimes, excessive use of force by police, severe corruption in prisons and frequent occurrence of illegal eavesdropping on personal information.Citizen’s life and property security were threatened by violent crimes. According to the report “Crime in the United States” released by the FBI in 2015, an estimated 1,165,383 violent crimes occurred nationwide in 2014, of which 14,249 were murders, 84,041 were rapes, 325,802 robberies and 741,291 aggravated assaults. Nationwide, there were an estimated 8,277,829 property crimes, with the victims of such crimes suffering losses calculated at an estimated 14.3 billion U.S. dollars. The statistics showed the estimated rate of violent crime was 365.5 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants, and the property crime rate was 2,596.1 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants (Welcome to FBI.gov). Many cities in the United States saw large jumps in crime during the first half of 2015: the murder rate rose 48 percent and 59 percent compared to the same period of the previous year in Baltimore and St. Louis, respectively, said an article carried by the Economist website on December 1, 2015 (www.economist.com, December 1, 2015). James Howell of the U.S. National Gang Center pointed out that in the past five years the United States had seen an 8 percent increase in the number of gangs, an 11 percent increase in members and a 23 percent increase in gang-related homicides (http://www.usnews.com, March 6, 2015).Citizen’s right of life could not be guaranteed with the rampant use of guns. Statistics showed that there were more than 300 million guns in the United States which had a population of more than 300 million. Over the past decade, more than 4 million U.S. citizens became victims of assaults, robberies and other gun-related crimes. According to a toll report by the Gun Violence Archive, there were a total of 51,675 gun violence incidents in the United States last year as of December 28, including 329 mass shootings. Altogether 13,136 were killed and 26,493 injured (Gun Violence Archive, December 28, 2015). According to the report “Crime in the United States” released by the FBI in 2015, firearms were used in 67.9 percent of the nation’s murders, 40.3 percent of robberies, and 22.5 percent of aggravated assaults in 2014 (Welcome to FBI.gov).Excessive use of violence by police gravely violated human rights. Excessive use of violence by police during law enforcement had resulted in a large number of civilian casualties. Police shot dead 965 people last year as of December 24, according to data posted on The Washington Post website (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, December 24, 2015). Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man, died while in police custody in Baltimore. His death, reportedly a result of violence by the police, sparked “Justice for Freddie” protests (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, December 22, 2015). Outraged that it took too long to charge a Chicago police officer in African-American Laquan MacDonald’s shooting death, demonstrators took to the street to demand justice in his death. The police officer had a history of 20 complaints before he gunned down the 17-year-old, but none resulted in discipline (CNN - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News, November 26, 2015). According to a report by the NBC News on November 19, 2015, protesters camped outside a police precinct in Minneapolis after African-American Jamar Clark, 24, was shot dead when he was already under police control. The demonstrations turned violent later (NBC TV Network - Shows, Episodes, Schedule, November 19, 2015).The government infringed on citizens’ privacy by illegally eavesdropping personal information. According to a report carried by the website of The Washington Post on December 1, 2015, the FBI used special authority to compel Internet firms to hand over user information, including full browsing histories, without court approvals (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, December 1, 2015). According to a report released by the Pew Research Center on May 29, 2015, a majority of Americans opposed the government collecting bulk data on its citizens, two-thirds believed there weren’t adequate limits on what types of data could be collected, 61 percent said they had become less confident that the programs were serving the public interests, 54 percent of Americans disapproved of the U.S. government’s collection of telephone and Internet data as part of anti-terrorism efforts, and 74 percent said they should not give up privacy and freedom for the sake of safety. Most said it was important to control who could get their information (93 percent), as well as what information about them was collected (90 percent) (Nonpartisan, non-advocacy public opinion polling and demographic research, May 29, 2015).Prison guards wantonly trampled on prisoners’ human rights. According to a serial report on the website of the Miami Herald in December 2015, Lowell Correctional Institution, the nation’s largest women’s prison, was haunted by corruption, torment and sex abuse. The guards took hundreds of female inmates as whores and pressured them to barter sex for basic necessities, a shield from abuse or awards. In the past 10 years 57 inmates died in the prison, not accounting those who make it to hospital (South Florida Breaking News, Sports & Crime, December 12, 13 and 16, 2015). The Washington Post reported on its website on May 13, 2015 that a guard in the Fairfax County jail killed a mentally ill woman, Natasha McKenna, with a Taser stun gun (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, May 13, 2015). The Fox News reported on its website on April 9, 2015 that guards in a prison in Florida was accused of abusing and even killing inmates. In one case, a mentally-ill inmate Darren Rainey was forced to take a shower for two hours with the water reportedly rigged to a scalding 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite his calls for help, no one came. He reportedly died after his skin was partially burned off his body (http://www.foxnews.com, April 9, 2015).II. Political Rights Not SafeguardedIn 2015, money politics and clan politics went from bad to worse in the nation where voters found it hard to express their real volition and there was discrimination against belief in political life. In addition, citizens’ right to information was further suppressed. Unsurprisingly, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said that “the U.S. is no longer a democracy” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com, August 3, 2015).Money politics revealed the hypocrisy in democracy. Although the laws of the United States put a lid on the size of individual donations to presidential candidates, there is no limit for such contributions to super PACs by individuals and corporations. The USA Today reported on April 10, 2015 that the allies of at least 11 White House hopefuls had launched committees to raise unlimited money to back their campaigns (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, April 10, 2015). The presidential candidates and the super PACs raised about $ 380 million in only half a year. More than 60 donations were worth more than 1 million U.S. dollars each, accounting for about one third of the total contributions. Half of the amount came from those who donated more than $100,000 and the combined fund of the top 67 donors was more than three times that of 508,000 donors with least contributions (http://www.aol.com, August 1; http://www.politico.com, August 1). According to a report of the Zerohedge, between 2007 and 2012, 200 of America’s most politically active corporations spent a combined $5.8 billion on federal lobbying and campaign contributions. What they gave paled compared to what those same corporations got: $4.4 trillion in federal business and support. Put that in context, the sum represented two thirds of what individual taxpayers paid into the federal treasury. For every dollar spent on influencing politics, the nation’s most politically active corporations received 760 U.S. dollars from the government (http://www.zerohedge.com, March 16, 2015). Jimmy Carter said that with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or being elected president, the U.S. political system was subverted to be a payoff to major contributors (http://www.huffingtonpost.com, August 3, 2015). The role money played in politics was also indicated in the U.S. President’s State of the Union Address for 2016, which said a handful of families and hidden interests were exercising influence on elections via their funds.Clan politics was driving U.S. government elections. Among the candidates for the 2016 presidential election, more than one candidate was obviously related to clan politics. The New York Times concluded through big data analysis that advantages from father generation played a role in politics obviously. The chance for the son of a U.S. president to become president was 1.4 million times higher than his peers. Meanwhile the chance for a governor’s son to be elected governor was 6,000 times higher than ordinary people. In addition, the chance for the son of a senator to be a senator like his father was also 8,500 times higher than ordinary U.S. men (http://www.nytimes.com, March 22, 2015). The Washington Post reported on January 16, 2015 that since the beginning of the Republic, 8.7 percent of its members of Congress were closely related to someone who had served in the body. The report continued to point out that a smell of heirship could be detected in the U.S. presidential election since the possible slate of candidates would include the son of a governor and presidential candidate, the son of a congressman and presidential candidate, the wife of a president and the brother of a president, son of a president and grandson of a senator (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, January 16, 2015).Discrimination against beliefs led to unfairness in political life. Not believing in God could be the biggest disadvantage while running for a post in public office. It was difficult for those who were not Christians to win elections and for those who did not have a religious belief, the chance to win elections was slimmer. In a May 2014 Pew Research survey, atheism was the most disqualifying factor for a potential presidential candidate, according to a report posted on the website of The Washington Post on September 22, 2015. More than half of those surveyed said they would be less likely to vote for someone who did not believe in God. And another Pew poll in July 2014 found that of all religion-related groups, atheists and Muslims were viewed the most negatively by Americans (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, September 22, 2015).Citizens’ electoral rights were further limited. According to an article on the website of the U.S. News and World Report on August 4, 2015, since 2010, a total of 21 states had adopted new laws to limit the exercise of suffrage. Some states shortened the time for early voting, while others limited the number of documents identifying one as a lawful voter. A total of 14 states will carry out fresh measures to limit the exercise of suffrage for the first time in 2016 presidential election. The voting rights were hit by the vicious competition between the two parties. One Democratic candidate accused GOP presidential candidates of having “systematically and deliberately” tried to keep millions of Americans from voting so as to win the election (http://www.usnews.com, August 4, 2015). A USA Today report, which was published on its website on March 20, 2015, said the nation had its lowest midterm-election voter turnout in 2014 since the early 1940s. The average turnout across the United States was 37 percent, with a low of 28.8 percent recorded in Indiana (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, March 20, 2015).It was difficult for voters to express their real will. The Christian Science Monitor carried a report on its website on December 13, 2015 that the two-party system forced the voters to take side. Most voters cast ballots for a party not because they supported the party but out of fear and worry over the other one (http://www.csmonitor.com, December 13, 2015). It was said in the U.S. President’s State of the Union Address for 2016 that the practice of drawing congressional districts led to the situation where “politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around.” It went on to say that “the rancor and suspicion between parties has gotten worse instead of better.”Citizens’ right to information was hampered by the government. According to a report by The Associated Press on March 13, 2015, authorities were undermining the laws that were supposed to guarantee citizens’ right to information and the systems created to give citizens information about their government. In addition, it was getting harder to use public records to hold government officials accountable (http://www.ap.org, March 13, 2015). An article on the website of the CNN reported on February 13, 2015 that journalists and news supervision authorities had continually slammed the current U.S. administration as one of the least transparent. At least 15 journalists were arrested in Ferguson protests (CNN - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News, February 13, 2015).III. Economic and Social Rights under ChallengeIn 2015, no substantial progress concerning the economic and social rights of U.S. citizens were made. Workers carried out mass strikes to claim their rights at work. Food-insecure and homeless populations remained huge. Many U.S. people suffered from poor health.The rights of laborers at work were not effectively protected. On October 6, 2015, Al Jazeera America reported that about 40 percent of private-sector workers, or 44 million people in America, did not have access to paid sick leave. Large scale strikes in many industries were reported. In February 2015, workers at nine oil refineries in California, Texas, Kentucky and Washington states carried out strikes, protesting onerous overtime, unsafe staffing levels and dangerous conditions (http://america.aljazeera.com, February 2, October 6, 2015). In April, the same year, fast food workers walked off the job in 230 cities, staging a strike aimed at a minimum wage of 15 U.S. dollars. In November, they walked out in hundreds of cities for the same reason. About 2,000 workers at seven major U.S. airports went on strike in November to protest low wages (http://thinkprogress.org, April 15, 2015; USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, November 10, November 19, 2015).There was huge income gap between the rich and the poor. In the United States, 3.1 percent of income earned annually went to the poorest 20 percent of people, while 51.4 percent was earned by the richest 20 percent (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, October 10, 2015). Official data showed that 46.7 million people were living in poverty in 2014. (http://www.census.gov). In Delaware, the percentage of people living below the federal poverty line in 2014 was 12.5 percent, creeping up from 11.7 percent in 2013. Nearly a quarter of residents of Wilmington, Delaware lived below the poverty line. The poverty rate for children was around 20 percent. U.S. people were pessimistic about the prospects of social and economic instability. Seventy-nine percent of Americans believed it was more common for people to fall out of the middle class than rise up to it (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, June 9, November 23, 2015).There was a large food-insecure population in the United States. According to a report published on the Guardian website on November 26, 2015, government statistics suggested that between 2008 and 2014 at least 48.1 million people a year were classed as “food insecure”, including 19.2 percent of all households with children, meaning they could not always afford to eat balanced meals (http://www.theguardian.com, November 26, 2015). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that each year, 48 million people suffered from a foodborne illness, resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths (http://www.pewtrusts.org, December 4, 2015). Approximately one fifth of all U.S. children lived in food-insecure households, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (http://america.aljazeera.com, October 8, 2015).Hundreds of thousands of U.S. people were homeless. A report published on the USA Today website on June 9, 2015 said housing prices had skyrocketed in the United States in recent years, while income levels remained stagnant. Fifty-five percent of Americans had made more financial sacrifice to afford their housing. According to a report by the National Association of Realtors, the gap between rental costs and household income had been widening to unsustainable levels (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, June 9, July 31, 2015). A study by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found that more than 560,000 people were homeless in the United States as of November 18, 2015. About one fourth of them were children under the age of 18 (http://www.hud.gov). In New York City, there were 59,568 homeless people, including 14,361 homeless families with 23,858 homeless children, sleeping each night in municipal shelters in October 2015, 86 percent higher than the number in 2005. People living on streets had no access to toilets or showers (http://www.pewtrusts.org, November 11, 2015). In recent years, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland and the state of Hawaii have all recently declared emergencies over the rise of homelessness (http://www.presstv.ir, November 20, 2015).Human right to health of U.S. people was not fully protected. According to a report of the Institute for Policy Innovation released on September 18, 2015, there were still 33 million people in the United States uninsured, although U.S. Congress had passed the healthcare reform bill in 2010, promising to establish a universal healthcare system (http://www.ipi.org, September 18, 2015). The United States was reported to have the worst medical care system and the highest number of infant mortalities out of 11 developed countries (http://borgenproject.org, August 23, 2015). There were more than 6,200 places nationwide with a shortage of primary care physicians (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, December 12, 2015). Today, more than 1.2 million people in the United States were HIV-positive. About one in eight of those infected were unaware of their status (CNN - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News, December 9, 2015). There was a significant difference between the health conditions of the rich and the poor. According to an AFP report on October 14, 2015, in Brooklyn’s poorest neighborhood of Brownsville, New York City, nearly 40 percent of its citizens lived below the federal poverty level. Brownsville suffered more than twice the rates of new HIV diagnoses in New York City. Its people died 11 years earlier than those living around Manhattan’s financial district. (AFP, October 14, 2015).Case fatality rate due to drug overdose set new record high. According to a CDC report, drug overdose was the leading cause of diseases in the United States. The death rate from drug overdose more than doubled from 6.0 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 13.8 in 2013. More than 47,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2014, an increase of 3,018 from 2013. Heroin poses the biggest issue among all forms of drug overdose. In 2013, deaths from heroin-related overdose exceeded 8,200, nearly quadrupling that of 2002. In 2014, the number surged to 10,574. Increasing number of young people and females took heroin. Compared with figures in the period from 2002 to 2004, the number of young heroin addicts aged between 18 and 25 in 2011-2013 period increased by 109 percent, while female users doubled (http://www.cdc.gov, October 16, December 29, 2015; http://www.usnews.com, December 18, 2015).IV. Racial Discrimination Worse Than EverIn 2015, racial relations in the United States kept deteriorating. Law enforcement and justice fields were heavily influenced by racial discrimination, and race-based hate crimes occurred occasionally. Anti-Muslim remarks caused a great clamor, and minority races were unable to change their vulnerable status in economic and social lives.Americans’ view of race relations was at a two-decade low. A poll jointly released by the CBS News and The New York Times on May 4, 2015 showed that 61 percent of Americans characterized race relations in the United States as “bad,” including a majority of white and black respondents. The figure was the highest since 1992 (http://newyork.cbslocal.com, May 4, 2015). A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll in December 2015 showed that only 34 percent of Americans believe race relations in the United States were fairly good or very good, down from a high of 77 percent in January 2009 (http://blogs.wsj.com, December 16, 2015). A survey released in November 2015 by the Public Religion Research Institute in the United States showed that 35 percent of Americans believed racial tensions were a major concern in their own communities, jumping 18 percentage points from 2012 (public http://religion.org, November 17, 2015). Figures released in August 2015 by Pew Research Center showed that 50 percent of Americans said that racism was a big problem in the U.S. society; 60 percent Americans said the country needed to continue making changes to achieve racial equality, up 14 percentage points from a year ago (http://www.people-press.org, August 5, 2015).Cases of African-Americans being killed by police occurred repeatedly. On November 15, 2015, the 24-year-old African-American Jamar Clark was shot dead by white police officers. The fatal shooting occurred when two police officers were trying to arrest him. Witnesses said that Clark was handcuffed when he was shot in the head. The civil rights organization “Black Lives Matter” organized protests in multiple cities across the country. In a Facebook post, Black Lives Matter activists noted “the era of white supremacist terrorism against people of color across the U.S.,” (http://www.theatlantic.com, November 18, 2015; http://www.mprnews.org, November 20, 2015; http://www.huffingtonpost.com, November 24, 2015) On April 12, 2015, as 25-year-old African-American Freddie Gray was being arrested, police handcuffed him and had knees on his back and his head. Gray was dragged and thrown into the back of a police van with his face down. Gray requested medical attention while being transported in the van but the request was denied. Gray lapsed into a coma following the journey on April 12 and died a week later in a hospital. He died of a severe spinal cord injury. The incident sparked large-scale protests in Baltimore. The protests turned violent on April 27, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. It was the second time in six months that a state called out the National Guard to enforce order after a white police officer killed a black teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson in 2014. The New York Times said that Gray had become the nation’s latest symbol of police brutality in an April 28 story. (CNN - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News, April 29, 2015; http://www.bbc.com, May 5, 2015; http://baltimore.cbslocal.com, April 27, 2015; http://www.nytimes.com, April 27 and 28, 2015) According to The Washington Post website, police fatally shot 965 people in 2015 as of December 24, 2015, including 36 unarmed African-Americans (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, December 24, 2015). The CBS News-New York Times poll released on May 4, 2015 showed that 79 percent of African-Americans believed police were more likely to use deadly force against a black person than against a white person, and black respondents were more likely than white respondents to believe their local police made them feel anxious rather than safe (http://newyork.cbslocal.com, May 4, 2015). According to a poll released by the National Bar Association in the United States, 88 percent of blacks believed black people were treated unfairly by police, compared with 59 percent of whites who shared that view (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, September 9, 2015).Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system was severe. A Gallup survey in 2015 showed that 68 percent of African-Americans believed the American criminal justice system was racially biased, while 37 percent of whites said the same (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, June 18, 2015). According to a survey released by the Public Religion Research Institute, 51 percent of Americans disagreed that blacks and other minorities received equal treatment as whites in the criminal justice system, and 78 percent of black Americans disagreed that blacks and other minorities received equal treatment to whites in the criminal justice system (http://publicreligion.org, May 7, 2015). Prosecutors intentionally struck black people from juries in trials of black defendants. In the South, the practice for prosecutors to strike jurors based on race remained common (http://www.newyorker.com, June 5, 2015).Race-related hate crimes occurred occasionally. Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, shot dead three Muslim students near the University of North Carolina on February 10, 2015. Hicks had frequently posted messages critical of various religions on the Internet (http://indianexpress.com, June 5, 2015). On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, opened fire and killed nine people, including a pastor, at an African-American church in Charleston in South Carolina. According to witnesses, Roof told the victims, “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country, and you have to go (http://www.cbsnews.com, June 17, 2015; http://www.bbc.com, June 19, 2015).”Anti-Muslim remarks caused a great clamor. The Guardian reported on November 19, 2015 that a Republican presidential candidate made public comments, saying that he would consider warrantless searches of Muslims and increased surveillance of mosques, and that he would not rule out tracking Muslim Americans in a database or giving them “a special form of identification that noted their religion (http://www.theguardian.com, November 19, 2015).” On December 7, the presidential candidate made a statement calling for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States (The Economist - World News, Politics, Economics, Business & Finance, December 8, 2015).” In recent years, Americans’ view on Islam became more and more negative. According to a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, 56 percent of Americans said that the values of Islam were “at odds” with America’s values and way of life, and 76 percent of Republicans were especially likely to have the same opinion (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, November 17, 2015). The Human Rights Committee remained concerned about the practice of racial profiling and surveillance by law enforcement officials targeting certain ethnic minorities, notably Muslims (http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org).Minority races were in a dire situation. According to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, the unemployment rates in November 2015 were 4.3 percent for whites, 9.4 percent for blacks and 6.4 percent for Hispanics. The unemployment rate for blacks more than doubled that for whites, and the figure for Hispanics was 50 percent higher than that for whites (http://www.bls.gov). The unemployment rate for black college graduates was roughly equal to the rate for white Americans with associate degrees (http://huffingtonpost.com, December 18, 2015). A third of Iowa’s black households earned less than 20,000 U.S. dollars annually, compared with 8 percent of white households. More than one fifth of white households in Iowa earned 100,000 U.S. dollars or more in a year, but only eight percent of black households did (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, October 31, 2015). Approximately 57 percent of New York City homeless shelter residents were African-American, 31 percent were Latino, 8 percent were white (http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org, March 18, 2015). According to a CNN report on February 18, 2015, financial inequality was pervading the country and it was getting worse. Whites had 12 times the wealth of blacks and nearly 10 times more than Hispanics. “The American dream remains out of reach for many African-American and Hispanic families.” (http://money.cnn.com, February 18, 2015) The documentary Seeking Asylum by African-American Darnell Walker triggered heated responses after debuting online, chronicling the plight of black Americans who no longer felt safe in the United States due to rampant police brutality and were looking to settle elsewhere. Miles Marshall Lewis, who moved to France in 2004 from the United States, published his book “No Country for Black Men” in 2014, a response to the wave of police killings targeting blacks (http://www.thedailybeast.com, November 11, 2015).V. Missing Rights for Women and ChildrenRights of women and children were grossly violated in the United States in 2015. Women were facing serious workplace discrimination, domestic violence and sexual violation and children were under the threats of arms, abuse, poverty and police violence.Women were facing worsening situation of inferior social status. On December 11, 2015, the United Nations Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice delivered a statement after a mission to the United States and pointed out the missing rights and protections such as universal paid maternity leave, accessible reproductive healthcare and equal opportunity in standing for political election for the country’s women. In the United States, women fell behind international standards as regards their public and political representation, their economic and social rights and their health and safety protections. Women’s average representation in state legislatures was 24.9 percent. This rate placed the country at only the 72nd in global ranking. The gender wage gap was 21 percent. The percentage of women in poverty increased over the past decade, from 12.1 percent to 14.5 percent, with a higher rate of poverty than men. Poor and immigrant women faced severe barriers in accessing sexual and reproductive health services. Women faced fatal consequences of lack of gun control, in particular in cases of domestic violence. The statement also expressed concerns over violence against women in detention as well as the alarming high rates of violence against Native-American women (http://www.ohchr.org, December 11, 2015).Women were suffering workplace discrimination. A report released by the U.S. Census Bureau in September 2015 revealed that women in the U.S. were paid 79 cents for every dollar paid to men in 2014, amounting to a yearly wage gap of 10,762 U.S. dollars between full-time working men and women (http://www.census.gov). The United Nations’ International Labour Organization said in 2014 that out of the 185 countries and territories with available data, the United States was the only industrialized nation with no overall law for cash benefits provided to women during maternity leave (http://abcnews.go.com, May 6, 2015). A report at the website of the Los Angeles Times on May 6, 2015 said that white men had a 42 percent advantage over white women when it came to being promoted to the executive level in U.S. tech companies, but that paled in comparison to the 260 percent advantage they had to Asian women (http://www.latimes.com, May 6, 2015).Women fell victim to various forms of sex harassments and sex assaults. A survey released by the Association of American Universities in September 2015 indicated that 23 percent of undergraduate women said they were victims of non-consensual sexual contact and that 20 percent of students said sexual assault and misconduct was very or extremely problematic on their own campus (http://www.latimes.com, September 21, 2015; Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, September 1/September 21, 2015). According to a report at the USA Today website on August 17, 2015, a total of 37 percent of women said they had experienced some kind of online harassment. A total of 54 percent of Hispanics and 51 percent of African Americans said they had experienced online harassment. Also, women were more likely to be targets of serious cases in which they were stalked and sexually harassed (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, August 17, 2015). Another article at the USA Today website on December 11, 2015 reported that Daniel Holtzclaw, a former Oklahoma City police officer, was convicted of sexually assaulting women he preyed upon in a low-income neighborhood he patrolled. He was convicted of 18 counts connected to eight women, all of whom were black (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, December 11, 2015).Children were under the threats of guns. According to statistics from the Gun Violence Archive website, as of December 28, 2015, gun-related incidents that year left 682 children under the age of 11 and 2,640 children aged between 12 and 17 killed or injured (Gun Violence Archive, December 28, 2015). The RT America reported at its website on October 10, 2015 that the number of U.S. school shootings that year climbed to 52. There were at least two school shootings a month in 2015 (http://www.rt.com, October 10, 2015). A report at the website of the USA Today on January 21, 2015 said that almost two children were killed every week in unintentional shootings, and nearly two thirds of these unintended deaths took place in a home or vehicle that belonged to the victim’s family (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, January 22, 2015). More than a quarter of the teenagers -- 15 years old and up -- who died of injuries in the United States were killed in gun-related incidents, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (http://www.theatlantic.com, January 12, 2015).Poor health and living conditions for children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the rate of newborns with syphilis jumped 38 percent between 2012 and 2014 to its highest level in more than a decade (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, November 12, 2015). A survey said that one in five drug abusers in some treatment programs in the United States received their first taste of these illegal substances from their parents, usually before the age of 18 (http://abcnews.go.com, August 24, 2015). According to U.S. Census Bureau, about 17.4 million children under the age of 18 were being raised without a father and 45 percent lived below the poverty line (http://singlemotherguide.com, June 1, 2015). About 6 percent of New York City’s African-American population under 18 years old and nearly 3 percent Latino children utilized New York City shelters because of homelessness (http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org, March 19, 2015). The USA Today website reported on August 15, 2015 that 47 percent of rural Hispanic babies were born poor, compared to 41 percent of Hispanic babies in urban areas. Hispanics babies born in rural enclaves were more likely to be impoverished and it was harder for them to receive help from federal and state programs, such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. “These babies are starting behind the starting line.” (USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com, August 15, 2015)Children were suffering abuse. A report at the website of The Washington Post on January 1, 2015 said that among the young children killed in the D.C. region, the majority was killed by a parent or guardian (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, January 1, 2015). The Miami Herald website on March 10, 2015 reported that one in three girls and one in five boys would become a victim of child sexual abuse in Florida before they turned 18. Such experience would have serious negative impact on their future lives. On average, each victim of child sexual abuse would lose 250,000 U.S. dollars in earnings throughout his or her lifetime because of the abuse. Fifty percent of victims had below-average grades (South Florida Breaking News, Sports & Crime, March 10, 2015).African-American children fell victim to police violence. The CNN website on June 10, 2015 reported that a video went viral online showing violence by a white police officer of the Police Department in McKinney, Texas, against a 14-year-old African-American girl. The officer, called to a community swimming pool party after complaints, cursed at several black teenagers and yanked the girl wearing only a bikini to the ground. He also pointed his gun at the teenagers. The white witness who shot the video said there was no doubt race was a factor in how police responded. This incident triggered some public protests (CNN - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News, June 10, 2015). On October 26, 2015, a video that showed Ben Fields, a white school resource officer at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina, manhandling an African-American school girl drew intense criticism. The officer grabbed the girl, who used her cell phone during class, by the neck, flipped her over and dragged her across the floor. Fields in 2013 was named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit that claimed he “unfairly and recklessly targets African-American students.” The U.S. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People criticized that such violence “doesn’t affect white students”. Victoria Middleton, the executive director for the South Carolina branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that regardless of the reason for the officer’s actions, such egregious use of force - against young people who were sitting in their classrooms - was outrageous. “School should be a place to learn and grow, not a place to be brutalized.” (http://abcnews.go.com, October 28, 2015)VI. Gross Violations of Human Rights in Other CountriesIn 2015, the United States continued to trample on human rights in other countries, causing tremendous civilian casualties. Its overseas monitoring projects infringed on the privacy of citizens of other countries while torture scandals at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp continued. Up to date, the United States has not ratified some core human rights conventions of the United Nations and voted against some important human rights resolutions.Air strikes caused a large number of civilian casualties. According to Airwars, a project aimed at tracking air strikes in the Middle East, the United States had repeatedly organized coalition forces to launch air strikes against military forces in Iraq and Syria since August 8, 2014. As of December 6, 2015, the United States launched 3,965 air strikes in Iraq and 2,823 in Syria, causing an estimated number of civilian deaths between 1,695 and 2,239 (http://www.airwars.org). The Syrian government called U.S.-led coalition air strikes an “act of aggression” (http://www.independent.co.uk, December 7, 2015). On October 3, 2015, a hospital run by aid group “Doctors Without Borders” in the city of Kunduz in Afghanistan was under a bombing that continued for half an hour. Many patients who were unable to move were killed on site, while some staff of the aid group were shot at from the air while fleeing the hospital. A total of 42 people were killed in the air strike, with some bodies charred beyond recognition (http://www.sputniknews.com, December 12, 2015; http://www.abcnews.go.com, October 5, 2015).A frequent use of drones claimed many innocent lives. According to an October 15, 2015 report run by Daily Mail website, when carrying out drone assassinations, the U.S. military used “phone data alone” -- a limited way of guaranteeing a kill. During Operation Haymaker, a campaign in northeastern Afghanistan which ran between January 2012 and February 2013, some 219 people were killed by drones but just 35 were the intended targets. During another five-month stretch of the operation, a staggering 90 percent of those killed were not the intended target. Despite this all the deaths were labeled EKIA, or “enemy killed in action.” (http://www.dailymail.co.uk, October 15, 2015). A report posted on April 24, 2015 by The Washington Post on its website said a study, which documented 415 strikes in Pakistan and Yemen since the September 11, 2001 attacks, put the total number of killed civilians between 423 and 962 (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, April 24, 2015). The abuse of drone strikes not only drew widespread criticism from international community, but also incurred strong doubt from U.S. scholars. The Washington Post posted an article on March 20, 2015, introducing to its readers two books on drones - Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins, by Andrew Cockburn, and A Theory of the Drones, by Gregoire Chamayou. Cockburn sees America’s killer drone policy as “the culmination of a historical pattern of lies, deception and greed in the deployment of lethal military force around the world” and as “a continuation of previous U.S. assassination policy.” Failing miserably to achieve the country’s stated goal of enhanced security, the policy simultaneously undermined the democratic process, Cockburn writes, noting that “assassination by robot is bound to inspire rather than curtail extremism.” According to Chamayou and Cockburn, killer drone exposes the trend toward a new -- and “inhumane form of warfare.” “With drone warfare, there is no victory, just perpetual elimination.” (Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines, March 20, 2015).Abuse of cruel torture trampled on human rights. A report by the U.S. Senate on the study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s detention and interrogation program found that the CIA’s use of brutal interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, long-term solitary confinement, slamming prisoners’ heads into walls, lashing and death threat, were in serious violation of U.S. law (http://www.intelligence.senate.gov). While according to some witnesses, the CIA torture went far beyond the Senate report had disclosed. Majid Khan, a Guantánamo Bay detainee-turned government cooperating witness, said interrogators poured ice water on his genitals, twice videotaped him naked and repeatedly touched his “private parts”. At one point, Khan said, his feet and lower legs were placed in tall boot-like metal cuffs that dug into his flesh and immobilized his legs. The guards also stripped him naked, hung him from a wooden beam for three days and provided him with water but no food. All the above torture details that Khan had undergone were not included in the Senate report (http://www.theguardian.com, June 2, 2015). On January 11, 2016, human rights experts, including the UN special rapporteurs on torture Juan E. Mendez; on human rights and counterterrorism, Ben Emmerson; on independence of the judiciary, Monica Pinto; Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Seong-Phil Hong; and the director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Michael Georg Link, together called on the U.S. Government to promptly close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, 14 years after the detention center became operational. The experts recalled in the letter that close to 100 detainees still languished in Guantánamo after years of arbitrary detention without trial (http://www.un.org, January 11, 2016).The United States spied on leaders from other countries. The BBC reported on April 30, 2015 that the U.S. National Security Agency, by working with other secret services, has long monitored on European leaders (http://www.bbc.com, April 30, 2015). The Independent reported on June 24, 2015 that the United States had bugged the phones of three French presidents and many other senior French officials, for which a French government spokesman said was “unacceptable” (http://www.independent.co.uk, June 24, 2015). Facing criticism from its allies, the U.S. government continued to monitor some leaders in the name of “national security purpose” (http://www.theguardian.com, December 30, 2015).Though the United States repeatedly vowed to defend “human rights,” it still has not ratified core human rights conventions of the UN, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The United States is the only country that is yet to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The United States also takes an uncooperative attitude towards international human rights issues. It often kept stalling or turned a deaf ear to criticisms leveled by the UN Human Rights Council special sessions and High Commissioners for Human Rights. On September 28, 2015 when the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution related to development right, the United States, as always, voted against it (http://www.un.org).

First published in the June 2007 (No 126) issue of Ton Talk, the magazine of the Ton Class Association, and subsequently in the November 2007 (Vol 95 No 4) issue of the Naval Review.)INTRODUCTIONThe handful of Royal Navy personnel involved in Minewarfare, Diving and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD - more familiarly known as Bomb & Mine Disposal) during Operation CORPORATE, the Falkland Islands campaign in 1982, and its aftermath, was awarded a total of one Distinguished Service Order (DSO), three Distinguished Service Crosses (DSCs), one Distinguished Service Medal (DSM), one Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM), one British Empire Medal (BEM), six Mentions in Despatches (MIDs) and at least seven Commander-in-Chief’s Commendations for Brave Conduct. One Minewarfare & Clearance Diving Officer (MCDO) was appointed an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) and three MCDOs were appointed Members of the British Empire (MBE) for their achievements. It is therefore surprising that the list of participating units on the Falklands Memorial outside Port Stanley fails to mention either of the two main Portsmouth-based Fleet Clearance Diving Teams (FCDTs 1 and 3 but up to five FCDTs were active) although it does include the Army’s field postal unit and the RAF’s mobile meteorological unit. Of further note, Sir Lawrence Freedman’s Official History of the Falklands Campaign says little about the activities of the Fleet Clearance Diving Teams or the minesweeping trawlers of the specially formed 11th Mine Countermeasures (MCM) Squadron that swept 10 of the 21 deadly moored mines laid by the Argentinians in the approaches to Port Stanley. I have brought these omissions to Sir Lawrence's attention in the hope that he will set the record straight sometime in the future.Throughout the Falklands campaign, the members of the FCDTs lived and worked in atrocious conditions. Performing most of their bomb disposal and repair work at night during lulls in the air raids, they slept in cramped spaces in odd nooks of ships or ashore in damp, makeshift shelters. Much of their diving was conducted in dark fetid compartments surrounded by jagged steel edges, explosive debris and freezing water contaminated by oil, battery acid and raw sewage. They also turned their hands to acting as mechanics, welders, cutters, riggers, first aiders, stretcher bearers, nurses and mortuary attendants, as well as organising the odd entertainment for fellow servicemen. Early on, the members of the FCDTs surrendered all their spare clothing to the survivors of SIR GALAHAD and other bombed ships so they soon looked a piratical bunch. When he first heard about the bomb disposal work conducted by the Fleet Clearance Diving Teams in the Falklands, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fieldhouse GCB, GBE, the then Commander-in-Chief Fleet, said in wonderment to the Fleet Minewarfare & Clearance Diving Officer (Lt Cdr J H 'Hamish' LOUDON MBE RN), “Who are these people and where do we get them from?”The ships’ companies of the five minesweeping trawlers comprising the rapidly formed 11th Mine Countermeasures (MCM) Squadron also had it tough. They endured rough weather, unreliable machinery and lack of proper self-defence armament, communications and navigation systems. Sailing to and fro on their various often clandestine missions carrying stores and personnel in the dark, with radar switched off and all lights extinguished for security, they frequently ran the risk of being rammed or fired on by both enemy and friendly forces. Apart from acting as guinea pigs in channels suspected of being mined and landing Special Forces raiding parties, they swept 10 of the 21 deadly moored mines laid by the Argentinians in the approaches to Port Stanley; the other mines had either broken adrift and floated away or failed to deploy properly. Astonishingly, the relatively junior officer who welded the makeshift squadron together as an effective force, led it 8,000 miles south, supervised its hazardous operations and then brought it home again four months later without its ships or men sustaining a single casualty received no public recognition for his feat.CHRONOLOGYWhen the Task Force was being prepared it was realised that, in the event of hostilities, clearance divers would be required to conduct Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Battle Damage Assessment (BDA), Battle Damage Repair (BDR) and underwater reconnaissance in potential landing areas. It was also recognised that minesweeping would be required if the Argentinians laid sea mines in critical areas off the coast. To coordinate such operations, MCDO Lt Cdr (later Cdr) Chris MEATYARD was appointed to the staff of Commodore Amphibious Warfare (COMAW – Cdre Michael CLAPP CB, RN). On 5 April 1982, Chris and his small MCM staff embarked in HMS FEARLESS and departed Portsmouth with other elements of the Task Force. Later on, he and his team were transferred to HMS INTREPID but he was soon recalled to FEARLESS because the Commodore needed his specialist advice ‘on tap’.On 25 April 1982, the Agentinian garrison at Grytviken on South Georgia surrendered. The same day, the Agentinian submarine ARA SANTA FE, severely damaged by depth charges from HMS ANTRIM’s Wessex helicopter (Lt (now Rear Admiral) Chris PARRY CBE, son of the late MCDOA member Cdr John PARRY OBE RN), beached herself in Grytviken harbour. MCDO Lt (later Lt Cdr) David 'Doc' O’CONNELL MBE RN, embarked in HMS ENDURANCE, led a five-man team of ships’ divers which spent three weeks clearing hazardous explosives and other materials from the submarine before re-floating her so she could safely be towed out to sea and sunk. He was subsequently appointed an MBE.Minesweeping trawlers of the11th MCM Squadron at GibraltarThe elderly Ton class coastal mine countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) in service at the time were unsuited for the long passage and heavy seas expected in the South Atlantic. The first two of the new Hunt Class MCMVs were not yet operational so it was decided to requisition five deep sea trawlers from Hull and fit them with rudimentary minesweeping equipment. These vessels were commissioned into the Royal Navy and crewed mostly by the ships' companies of Ton Class MCMVs based at Rosyth: CORDELLA (HMS UPTON); FARNELLA (HMS WOTTON); JUNELLA (HMS BICKINGTON); NORTHELLA (HMS SOBERTON); and PICT (HMS BILDESTON). Originally, PICT was to be used solely as a stores ship. However, to minimise loss should ships be lost, stores were distributed evenly among the squadron allowing her to be utiised as a fully-fledged minesweeper too. The group was designated the 11th MCM Squadron and sailed from Portland on 27 April 1982 with MCDO Lt Cdr Martyn HOLLOWAY as Senior Officer in HMS CORDELLA. HMS PICT's conversion delayed her departure such that she joined the squadron on 30 April while 150 miles west of the Portuguese coast.RAF Hercules C-130 re-supplying 11th MCM Squadron at seaOn 11 May 1982 at Ascension Island, FCDT 1 (led by MCDO Lt Cdr Brian DUTTON DSO, QGM, with FCPO(D) Michael 'Mick' FELLOWS MBE, DSC, BEM* as his 2 I/C) and FCDT 3 (led by MCDO Lt (later Lt Cdr) Nigel ‘Bernie’ BRUEN MBE, DSC with CPO(D) Graham ‘Piggy’ TROTTER DSM as his 2 I/C) arrived in an RAF C130 Hercules aircraft to join the Task Force. The 11th MCM Squadron arrived at Ascension Island for fuel and met up briefly with FCDT 3 which had planned to embark in the ships but was ordered to passage with RFA SIR BEDIVERE instead.On 12 May at Ascension Island, FCDT 1 embarked in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary landing ship RFA SIR TRISTRAM and FCDT 3 embarked in the landing ship RFA SIR BEDIVERE.On 13 May, the 11th MCM Squadron sailed from Ascension Island for South Georgia and SIR TRISTRAM and SIR BEDIVERE sailed for the Falklands.Soon after the arrival of Task Force advance elements in San Carlos Water, the clearance divers found themselves in the thick of it. On the afternoon of 21 May, FCPO(D) FELLOWS, LS(D) SEWELL and AB(D) PULLAN of FCDT 1 were called upon to deal with an unexploded Agentinian 1,000 lb bomb in the County Class destroyer HMS ANTRIM. The bomb had passed through the Sea Slug missile magazine and lodged in the heads (toilets). The fuze had been damaged so any attempt to render the bomb safe was useless. While still under air attack and with considerable difficulty, the clearance divers and ship’s staff carefully manoeuvred the bomb through a hole cut in the flight deck and lowered it into deep water.In the meantime, the Type 21 frigate HMS ARDENT was bombed and sunk and the Leander Class frigate HMS ARGONAUT reported two unexploded bombs on board; one forward in the Seacat missile magazine and one aft in the boiler room. As ARGONAUT’s Officer of the Watch, Lt Peter MORGAN RN had already saved the ship once by letting go an anchor to stop her running at full speed towards the shore with her rudders jammed owing to bomb damage. As the Ship’s Diving Officer, he also led his men in surveying and making temporary repairs to the bomb damage in the flooded forward magazine, diving on two occasions in the knowledge that there was an unexploded bomb in the compartment. He was later awarded the DSC.On the morning of 23 May, an Army Royal Engineers team removed the fuze from the bomb in ARGONAUT’s boiler room and it was ditched by the ship’s company. Lt Cdr MEATYARD conducted his own diving survey of ARGONAUT’s flooded Seacat magazine but shortly afterwards, the Type 21 frigate HMS ANTELOPE arrived in the anchorage with two unexploded bombs on board. Tragically, attempts to render these safe by the Royal Engineers bomb disposal team using a rocket-propelled fuze extractor resulted in the death of Staff Sergeant James Prescott (posthumously awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal) and severe injuries to Warrant Officer (later Capt) John Phillips (subsequently awarded the DSC). ANTELOPE was wracked by a series of massive explosions and started to burn from end to end, her lightweight aluminium structure melting in the intense heat.Capt John Phillips DSC RE with the author at the UK DefenceAcademy at Shrivenham in April 2014On 24 May, ANTELOPE broke in half and sank after burning throughout the night. RFAs SIR GALAHAD and SIR LANCELOT both reported unexploded bombs on board and Lt Cdr BRUEN carried out surveys of both ships. The bomb in SIR GALAHAD had entered her hull on the port side, punched its way through several compartments picking up an aluminium bulkhead on the way, and ended up in her battery charging room wrapped in torn steel and surrounded by smashed carboys of acid. The bomb in SIR LANCELOT had come to rest underneath a companion ladder leading from the recreation space to the officers’ accommodation on the deck above. It was positioned with its nose up at an angle of 45 degrees beneath the lowest treads of the stairs in the ship’s tiny film store.On 25 May, RFA FORT AUSTIN reported suspicious underwater noises and members of FCDT 1 and FCDT 3 searched the ships’ hulls of all RFAs in the area to ensure that no explosive devices had been planted. Other members of FCDT 3, supported by technical staff from HMS FEARLESS, started to clear the way for the removal of the bomb from SIR LANCELOT but the operation to remove the bomb from SIR GALAHAD had to be curtailed because FCDT 3 had to move themselves and all their equipment to INTREPID because SIR BEDIVERE, their accommodation ship, was suddenly forced to depart San Carlos Water.On 26 May, the 11th MCM Squadron arrived at South Georgia and various high value ships such as the QE2 packed with the men of 5 Brigade, vital stores and ammunition began arriving from 28 May. It was vital to transfer these essential supplies for the re-supply of the Falklands into the CANBERRA, NORLAND and the various RFAs that shuttled between South Georgia, the Task Force at sea, and the bridgehead at San Carlos. The trawler minesweepers worked tirelessly day after day transferring troops, stores and ammunition in atrocious Antarctic weather with wind speeds in excess of 100 knots, on occasions for several days, before heading on towards the Falklands.HMS Cordella and HMS Northella alongsideQE2 at Grytviken, South GeorgiaTroops of 5 Brigade being cross-decked between ships at South Georgiaby a trawler of the 11th MCM SquadronHMS Cordella and HMS Junella alongside QE2at South Georgia with Canberra in backgroundAlso on 26 May, members of FCDT 1 completed the clearance of ordnance from the vicinity of the bomb in ARGONAUT’s Seacat magazine. This had been patched and pumped out but still required a route to be cut and lifting gear to be fitted before the bomb could be removed safely. FCDT 3 had removed the unexploded bomb from SIR GALAHAD during the night and lowered it into an inflatable Gemini dinghy filled with boxes of corn flakes and two Board of Trade lifejackets; they then towed the Gemini away and sank it in deep water. FCDT3 then commenced clearing the area surrounding the bomb on board SIR LANCELOT, in the meantime moving their belongings from HMS INTREPID to a new shore base at Ajax Bay.S(D) Stan Bowles and LS(D) Dave Southwell ofFCDT 1 with 1,000 lb bomb in HMS ArgonautDuring 27 May, progress was made in cutting out two of three access holes for the extraction of ARGONAUT’s remaining unexploded bomb. Repairs to SIR GALAHAD continued while members of FCDT 3 secured and padded the unexploded bomb in SIR LANCELOT.Early on 28 May, Lt Cdr DUTTON (FCDT 1) and his team removed the remaining unexploded bomb from ARGONAUT. FCDT 3 investigated three unexploded bombs in Ajax Bay and countermined one bomb found on the shoreline. They also built a sand bag wall to protect the field hospital from two adjacent unexploded bombs then bivouacked between the blast wall and the hospital to provide reassurance to its patients and staff. Other members of FCDT 3 recommenced clearing access to the unexploded bomb on board SIR LANCELOT.Bernie Bruen (wearing beret) with membersof FCDT 3 in the Falklands 1982On the morning of 29 May, CPO(D) TROTTER (FCDT 3) and his team removed the unexploded bomb from SIR LANCELOT after a lengthy operation which required considerable cutting and rigging. CPO(D) TROTTER was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM).Between 31 May and 2 June, MCDO Lt Cdr Iain 'Bruce' MACKAY RN, accompanied by CPO(MW) 'Bill' HALEY, LS(MW) P C STRIDE and LS(MW) J S CARTER, commanded one of two Landing Craft Vehicles & Personnel (HMS INTREPID’s LCVPs T5 and T6) towing the hurriedly developed Assault Minesweeping System Mk 1 to confirm the Port Salvador approach channel and the length of Teal Inlet were clear of mines prior to amphibious landings. Lt Cdr MACKAY was subsequently awarded a Mention in Despatches.During the night of 4 June, members of FCDT 1 conducted a covert underwater search of Bluff Cove inlet for obstacles or mines that could hazard an amphibious landing.On 8 June, the Type 12 frigate HMS PLYMOUTH was struck by four bombs, none of which exploded. WO(D) FELLOWS and other members of FCDT 1 de-fuzed two unexploded bombs in her mortar magazine and removed damaged volatile Seacat missiles from her launchers. RFA SIR TRISTRAM was also bombed and severely damaged at Fitzroy Cove. She was abandoned while FCDT 3 conducted a search for unexploded bombs (UXB).FCDT 3's LS(D) 'Tommo' Thompson, AB(D) 'Whisky' Walkerand AB(D) 'Jock' Rebecca on the surviving bridge wingof RFA SIR TRISTRAMDuring the night of 10 June, HMS PICT (Lt Cdr David GARWOOD RN), (sister ship of the GAUL that had sunk in unknown circumstances while fishing) was tasked with HMS CORDELLA (Lt Cdr Martyn HOLLOWAY RN) in support to influence sweep Berkeley Sound. Their objective was to clear an area for ships that would provide naval gunfire support for the final stages of the assault on Stanley. HMS PICT was the only ship available that had the special sweep system necessary. Transferring all non-essential crew to HMS CORDELLA at sea at the entrance to Berkeley Sound, HMS PICT began sweeping but the risk increased markedly early in the operation when the influence sweep failed. Clearly PICT was not built as a minesweeper and any breach in the hull would have resulted in the ship's rapid sinking. Undeterred, knowing the importance of the mission, and in the knowledge that the Task Force Commander had accepted the risk of loss of a trawler, HMS PICT's Commanding Officer decided to turn his ship into a guinea pig. HMS PICT was made as noisy as possible by running all machinery at various speeds and revving up the main engine while completing the required number of runs through the area. Fortunately no mines were found, HMS CORDELLA transferred the remaining crew back to HMS PICT and Lt Cdr GARWOOD was subsequently awarded a Mention in Despatches.During the nights of 12, 13 and 14 June, CORDELLA, PICT and JUNELLA conducted covert operations re-supplying SAS and SBS teams deployed variously along the coast.On 14 June, the Agentinian forces occupying the Falklands surrendered.AFTERMATHBetween 23 June and 4 July, when the weather allowed, the minesweeping trawlers of the 11th MCM Squadron swept the enemy minefields at the entrance to Port Stanley. They bagged 10 of the 21 deadly moored mines laid by the Argentinians, the other mines having broken adrift and floated away or failed to deploy from their sinkers properly. CORDELLA did not sweep any mines as she was always out in front using her sweeps to protect the other ships and hopefully in safe water. PICT, next in line swept three mines. One of these nearly struck NORTHELLA which had to manoeuvre hurriedly to avoid it. NORTHELLA swept two of her own, JUNELLA four, and FARNELLA one mine. Another of PICT's mines was recovered on 26 June by Lt Cdr Nigel 'Bernie' Bruen, assisted in a Gemini dinghy by CPO(MW) 'Tex' Marshall and LS(MW) Nick Smith of JUNELLA. JUNELLA then towed the mine into Fitzroy Sound where LS(D) Anthony ‘Tommo’ Thompson helped beach it on a pallet and it was made safe by Lt Cdr Bruen, assisted by CPO(D) Graham ‘Piggy’ Trotter, CPO(MW) Marshall and LS(D) Thompson, for shipping back to the UK for analysis. This mine, normally on display in the mining hall of the Minewarfare Training Element at the Maritime Warfare School at HMS Collingwood, was exhibited at the Imperial War Museum as part of the 'Falklands 25' exhibition in 2007.Martyn Holloway with recovered Agentinianmine at the Imperial War MuseumIn early July 1982, the Hunt Class minehunters HMS BRECON and HMS LEDBURY arrived in theatre and confirmed by sonar that all poised mines had been cleared. Further utilising their submersibles and divers, the two mine hunters then located and disposed of remaining married mine failures and mine sinkers.Between 13 October 1982 and 2 January 1983, a Royal Navy saturation diving team led by MCDO Lt Cdr (later Cdr) Mike KOONER RN (CO MV STENA SEASPREAD and OIC Naval Party 2002) recovered sensitive items from the wreck of the Type 42 destroyer HMS COVENTRY, sunk by Agentinian bombs 10 miles north of Pebble Island. At the request of COVENTRY’s Commanding Officer, Captain David HART DYKE LVO, RN, the divers also recovered his ceremonial sword and telescope, now on display in the RN Museum in Portsmouth, and the cross of nails from Coventry Cathedral, presented in 1978 when the ship was commissioned. Lt Cdr KOONER was subsequently appointed an MBE and PO(D) Michael 'Harry' Harrison was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM).KEY PERSONNELCinCFleetLt Cdr James Hutcheon ‘Hamish’ LOUDON MBE RN (Fleet MCDO)COMAWLt Cdr Christopher George Brandon 'Chris’ MEATYARD RN (COMAW SMCDO)Lt Alex MANNING RNCPO(MW) Derek RIDLEYLS(MW) P C STRIDELS(MW) J S CARTERHMS EnduranceLt David Charles Winston ‘Doc’ O’CONNELL MBE RNFCDT 1Lt Cdr Brian DUTTON DSO, QGM, RN (OIC)FCPO(D) Michael FELLOWS MBE, DSC, BEM (2 I/C)CPO(D) W ‘Bill’ BAUCKHAMCPO(D) Brian T ‘Ben’ GUNNELLLS(D) C W ‘Billy’ EVERNDENLS(D) Lester GEOFFREYSLS(D) A P ‘Tony’ GROOMLS(D) Ian MILNE LS(D) ‘Nobby' NOBLELS(D) Garry J ‘Jan’ SEWELLLS(D) David W ‘Saggy’ SOUTHWELLLS(D) David ‘Wilkie’ WILKINSONAB(D) Nigel M PULLANAB(D) Billy SMARTAB(D) J W 'George' SHARPS(D) W G 'Stan' BOWLESS(D) D BARRETTFCDT 2FCPO(D) John DADD BEM (OIC)CPO(D) Carl MASSEYCPO(D) Barry 'Blondie' LIMBRICK BEMPOMA Keith PAGELS(D) Graham 'Tug' WILSON MBELS(D) Martin JENRICKLS(D) Ray SUCKLINGLS(D) 'Biff' DAVISLS(D) Chris DAVIDLS(D) Dickie DABERLS(D) 'Freebie' BEANAB(D) Paul 'Yorky' TUDORAB(D) 'Nick' NICHOLFCDT 3 (NP 1890)Lt Cdr Nigel ‘Bernie’ BRUEN MBE, DSC, RN (OIC)CPO(D) Graham Michael ‘Piggy’ TROTTER DSM (2 I/C)CMEA(L) David FOX (Technical Support)LS(D) Alan ‘Charlie’ CHAPMANLS(D) P M ‘Phil’ KEARNS LS(D)Charles Anthony ‘Charlie’ SMITHARDLS(D) Anthony Savour ‘Tommo’ THOMPSONAB(D ‘Taff’ HURLEYAB(D) ‘Buster’ MOTTRAMAB(D) ‘Jock’ REBECCAAB(D) ‘Taff’ REESAB(D) ‘Whisky’ WALKERAB(D) David ‘John Boy’ WALTONAB(D) G R ‘Jock’ WEIRAB(D) M A ‘Wheels’ WHEELERS(D) ‘Joe’ GOFTONS(D) ‘Rex’ TURNBULLSpecial Mine Evaluation Liaison Team(NP 1880 embarked in HMS Intrepid)Lt Cdr Iain Bruce MACKAY RN (OIC)CPO(MW) Brian ‘Bill’ HALEY11th MCM SquadronLt Cdr Martyn HOLLOWAY RN (CO HMS CORDELLA and Senior Officer 11th MCM Sqn)Lt (later Cdr RAN) Allan RANKIN RN (Squadron Operations Officer)Lt Cdr David Gordon GARWOOD RN (CO HMS PICT)Lt Cdr Jeremy P S GREENOP RN (CO HMS NORTHELLA)Lt Cdr Mark ROWLEDGE RN (CO HMS JUNELLA)Lt Robert ‘Bob’ J BISHOP RN (CO HMS FARNELLA)Falklands Liberation Memorial showing ships of 11thMCM Squadron (section enlarged for clarity)Postscript: In August 2007, MCDOA member Brian Dutton sent me photos showing that FCDT 1 and 3 had been added to the units listed on the Falklands Liberation Memorial at Port Stanley. In February 2012, Sukey Cameron MBE, the London representative of the Falkland Islands Government, provided a photo showing the addition of FCDT 2 in 2007/8. Unfortunately, the teams are shown as '1 FCDT', '2 FCDT' and '3 FCDT' instead of 'FCDT 1', 'FCDT 2' and 'FCDT 3' respectively but at least their contributions have now been acknowledged.Falklands Liberation Memorial showing the addition of the FCDTsThe Revised and Updated Edition of Volume II of Sir Lawrence Freedman's Official History of the Falklands Campaign was released in October 2007. In his introduction, Sir Lawrence states with regard to his previous work:"...I am sure it was galling for those who had been neglected in earlier studies and reports to find that this omission was continued. An example of this is the Fleet Clearance Diving Teams whose role I am now pleased to acknowledge."At long last, it looks as though the record is being set straight.Post Postscript: This Ministerial Statement to the House of Lords was published in Hansard on 29 June 2014. Its Annex contained this passage:"South Atlantic The qualifying period for the award of the South Atlantic Medal without the Rosette will be extended from 12 July to 21 October 1982. The original decision to end the qualifying period on 12 July 1982 was taken too hastily: those who served beyond that date experienced both risk and rigour until the airfield at Mount Pleasant was completed on 21 October. The qualifying period for the award of the South Atlantic Medal without the Rosette will be extended from 12 July to 21 October 1982. The original decision to end the qualifying period on 12 July 1982 was taken too hastily: those who served beyond that date experienced both risk and rigour until the airfield at Mount Pleasant was completed on 21 October."The islands had been liberated on 14 June but this statement brought into entitlement members of the ships' companies of HMS Brecon (CO & CTU Cdr (later Cdre CBE) Peter Fish RN), HMS Ledbury (MCDOA member Lt Cdr (later Cdr OBE) Tony Rose RN) and the older RMS St Helena who didn't arrive off the Falklands until early July 1982. MCDOA member Dougie MacDonald was the TU's SOO.The following was then published on the Veterans UK website:Changes to Ministry Of Defence Medals and Clasps following Sir John Holmes’s Independent ReviewExisting Medals/Clasps that are to be awarded under revised qualifying criteriaSouth AtlanticThe qualifying period for the award of the South Atlantic Medal without the Rosette will be extended from 12 July to 21 October 1982, when the airfield at Mount Pleasant was completed. Applications for the South Atlantic Medal, under the new time extension, will be accepted from 1 October 2014 onwards. The awards will begin to be despatched towards the end of that month. Applications will be dealt with in date order.MOD Medal Application Form

The Constitution as amended in 2005 provides for freedom of religion and the right to practice, choose, or change religious belief. It recognizes "the exclusive mission of the Armenian Church as a national church in the spiritual life, development of the national culture, and preservation of the national identity of the people of Armenia." The law places some restrictions on the religious freedom of religious groups other than the Armenian Church. The Law on Freedom of Conscience establishes the separation of church and state but it grants the Armenian Church official status as the national church.they are not western nor secular in any sense.armenia is a theocracy. CountriesAfghanistanAlgeriaAngolaArgentinaArmeniaAustraliaAzerbaijanBahrainBangladeshBelarusBoliviaBosnia and HerzegovinaBrazilBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCentral African RepublicChileChinaColombiaCubaDemocratic Republic of CongoEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaEuropean UnionFranceGeorgiaGermanyGreeceGuatemalaGuineaHaitiHondurasHungaryIndiaIndonesiaIranIraqIsrael and PalestineItalyJapanJordanKazakhstanKenyaKuwaitKyrgyzstanLebanonLibyaMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMauritaniaMexicoMorocco/Western SaharaMozambiqueMyanmarNepalNicaraguaNigeriaNorth KoreaOmanPakistanPapua New GuineaPeruPhilippinesPolandQatarRussiaRwandaSaudi ArabiaSerbia/KosovoSingaporeSomaliaSouth AfricaSouth KoreaSouth SudanSpainSri LankaSudanSyriaTajikistanThailandTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited StatesUzbekistanVenezuelaVietnamYemenZimbabweLANGUAGESDonate to Defend Human RightsPrimary State -- Select One -- Alabama Alaska Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming N/A Primary Country United States United Kingdom Canada Afghanistan Åland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine, State of Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Réunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islandshttps://donate.hrw.org/page/15328/donate/1?promo_id=1000ArmeniaEvents of 2020A man walks past a shop damaged in an attack by Azerbaijani forces on Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh. October 31, 2020.© 2020 AP PhotoAVAILABLE INKeynoteBiden’s Challenge: Redeeming a US Role for Human Rights | World Report 2021After four years of a president who was indifferent and often hostile to human rights, the November 2020 election of Joe Biden to the presidency of the United States provides an opportunity for a fundamental change of course. Donald Trump was a disaster for human rights. At home, he flouted legal obligations that allow people fearing for their lives to seek refuge, ripped migrant children from their parents, empowered white supremacists, acted to undermine the democratic process, and fomented hatred against racial and religious minorities. He also closed his eyes to systemic racism in policing, removed legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, revoked environmental protections for clean air and water, and sought to undermine the right to health , especially for sexual and reproductive health and older people. Abroad, he cozied up to one friendly autocrat after another at the expense of their abused populations, promoted the sale of weapons to governments implicated in war crimes, and attacked or withdrew from key international initiatives to defend human rights , promote international justice , advance public health , and forestall climate change . This destructive combination eroded the credibility of the US government even when it did speak out against abuses. Condemnations of Venezuela , Cuba , or Iran rang hollow when parallel praise was bestowed on Russia , Egypt , Saudi Arabia , or Israel . Support for religious freedom abroad was undermined by Islamophobic policy at home. The Trump administration did impose targeted sanctions and other punishments on the Chinese government and corporate entities for their involvement in human rights violations, but its own weak record on human rights, its evident mixed motives in criticizing Beijing, and Trump’s scapegoating of China for his own pandemic failings left these interventions anything but principled, making working with allies difficult. Yet it would be naive to treat a Biden presidency as a panacea. In recent decades, the arrival of each new White House resident has brought wild oscillations in US human rights policy. George W. Bush’s “ global war on terror ,” with its systematic torture and Guantanamo detentions without charge, was an earlier nadir. Barack Obama rejected important parts of it, although he maintained and even expanded such elements as unlawful drone attacks, intrusive surveillance, and arms sales to unsavory autocrats. Policy reversals, both at home and abroad, have become regular features in Washington. Global leaders seeking to uphold human rights understandably ask whether they can rely on the US government. Even if Biden substantially improves the US record, the deep political divisions in the United States mean there is little to prevent the election of another US president with Trump’s disdain for human rights in four or eight years. Yet that reality should be cause for resolve rather than despair. As the Trump administration largely abhttps://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/bidens-challengeKenneth RothExecutive DirectorEssaysAddressing the Climate Crisis in Times of Pandemic | World Report 2021By Katharina Rallhttps://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/essay/addressing-climate-crisis-in-pandemicAs More Climate Chaos Looms, Slashing Fossil Fuels Is KeyFrom Flight Logs to Homeschooling, Human Rights Watch Grapples with Covid’s Challenges | World Report 2021By Hugh Williamsonhttps://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/essay/hrw-grapples-with-covids-challengesAs Online Gender-Based Violence Booms, Governments Drag Their Feet | World Report 2021By Heather Barrhttps://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/essay/online-gender-based-violence-booms-governments-drag-feetLockdown in Chains | World Report 2021By Kriti Sharma and Shantha Rau Barriga  Long before the Covid-19 pandemic grounded much of the world, lockdown, confinement, violence, and isolation was the daily reality for hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities around the world.https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/essay/lockdown-in-chainsThe Other Pandemic: Fighting Inequality as We Beat Back Covid | World Report 2021By Lena Simet and Komala Ramachandra and Sarah Saadounhttps://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/essay/fighting-inequality-as-we-beat-back-covidPoverty, Pandemic, Police Violence: Ongoing Crises Demand the US Address Pervasive Racism | World Report 2021By John Raphling and Nicole Austin-Hilleryhttps://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/essay/poverty-pandemic-police-violence-in-usRethinking Asylum on a Warming Planet | World Report 2021By Bill Frelickhttps://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/essay/rethinking-asylum-on-warming-planetThe Covid-19 pandemic and later renewed hostilities over Nagorno-Karabakh dominated events in Armenia. A Russia-brokered truce ended six weeks of fighting on November 10, with Armenia ceding control over several territories to Azerbaijan and without defining the political status of Nagorno-Karabakh. All parties to the conflict committed violations of international humanitarian law. Armenian forces carried out attacks using banned cluster munitions.The military defeat prompted a sharp political crisis in Armenia with opposition to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan demanding his resignation.In March, the government responded to the pandemic with a state of emergency that lasted for nearly six months and involved restrictions on privacy rights and freedom of movement and assembly. Domestic violence, discrimination against people with disabilities, and violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity persisted.Conflict over Nagorno-KarabakhOn September 27, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive that escalated fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the de-facto authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh. Tens of thousands of people evacuated Nagorno-Karabakh mainly to Armenia in response to the fighting. Russia deployed peacekeeping forces to oversee the ceasefire it negotiated.Warring parties committed violations of international humanitarian law (See the Azerbaijan chapter for violations by Azerbaijani forces), that unlawfully harmed civilians. During the fighting, Armenian forces carried out indiscriminate attacks, launching unguided artillery rockets, and firing heavy artillery shells and ballistic missiles on population centers, including in some places where there were no evident military targets, causing civilian deaths and injuries.The Armenian military also used banned cluster munitions in populated areas, resulting in dozens of civilian casualties. Cluster munitions have been banned because of their widespread indiscriminate effect and long-lasting danger to civilians.Covid-19Armenia confirmed its first Covid-19 case on March 1. On March 16, the government declared a state of emergency and extended it five times, ending it on September 11. In March, parliament passed amendments requiring telecommunications companies to provide authorities with phone records for all of their customers in order to facilitate tracking of people exposed to the virus.For months, authorities refused to reveal information on the group of people in charge of the tracking system, saying that it was developed by volunteer programmers, free of charge; their names were eventually revealed without information about their affiliations. Authorities suspended the data-tracking after the state of emergency ended.In September, the government replaced the state of emergency with a special regime until January 11, which allows the national government to impose national or local lockdowns, and restrictions on gatherings and protests, without announcing a state of emergency.Around four thousand children were impacted by school closures. A rapid analysis of 3,000 families by World Vision Armenia showed that nearly 14 percent of school-age children in those households did not attend online classes. Nearly 80 percent of children lacked equipment and an internet connection.According to Armenian Helsinki Committee, which monitored around 30 protests and rallies during the state of emergency, the police response varied considerably. In some cases, police did not intervene; in other cases, police terminated assemblies with fewer than five participants, including single-person protests, even when the protest participants wore masks and observed social distancing.Accountability for Law Enforcement AbuseIn April, the government approved a strategy and action plan for police reform for 2020-2022. The plan includes re-establishing an Interior Ministry and increasing parliamentary oversight over police. The reforms also envisage creation of a new patrol police and granting police investigative powers.Meanwhile, investigations into past abuses by law enforcement remain incomplete. Investigations into police violence during the protests in 2016 resumed in 2019, but no charges were filed.In January, authorities brought charges against one policeman involved in the violent dispersal of protests in 2015 and suspended investigations into the remainder of the incidents from the 2015 protests. In July, authorities also suspended the investigation into police conduct during the summer 2018 protests. In both cases, authorities claimed they were unable to identify alleged perpetrators.Environment and Human RightsDespite Covid-19-related restrictions, protests against plans to restart construction on the Amulsar gold mine continued throughout the year. Protesters are concerned with the mine’s potential environmental and health impacts. Protests escalated towards the end of July, when private security personnel hired by the mining company removed makeshift cabins used by the protesters and replaced them with booths to be used by the security company. The escalation led to clashes with police. On August 4, police arrested more than 10 people, including protesters and security personnel. Several protesters accused the police of using excessive force in detaining protesters.On August 6 and 10, protesters in Yerevan, observing social distancing, staged single person-pickets in support of the Amulsar protests. Police briefly detained them, citing Covid-19 restrictions. Among those detained were human rights defenders Nina Karapetyants, Zaruhi Hovhannisyan, and Ara Gharagyozyan. On August 6, authorities also banned a bicycle rally in support of the Amulsar protests, detaining several bikers. Police pressed misdemeanor disobedience charges and released all detainees within hours. Authorities did not interfere with further protests in support of Amulsar days later.Violence against Women and ChildrenMedia and civil society groups publicized several brutal cases of domestic violence, including a killing in March in Gyumri, when a man beat his female domestic partner to death. He also injured her 13-year-old daughter, who spent months in a hospital recovering from the assault. The man is awaiting trial on manslaughter and other charges. Domestic violence is neither a stand-alone felony nor an aggravating criminal circumstance in the criminal code.According to official data, during the first half of 2020, authorities investigated 395 criminal domestic violence cases. They brought charges against 196 people and sent 62 cases to courts.Coronavirus-related measures further jeopardized the security of domestic violence survivors. The Women’s Support center, a nongovernmental organization, reported in June that calls to their hotline were 50 percent higher than during the same period last year. However, it also noted that many women experiencing abuse may not have been able to reach out for help during lockdowns.Armenia has only two shelters for domestic violence survivors, run by the Women’s Rights Center, with total capacity for 17 to 20 people. During the pandemic-related lockdown, the government did not take targeted measures to ensure victims of domestic violence could access shelters.Reinforcement of traditional gender roles in some case put their health and life in danger during the pandemic. In one case, a 66-year-old woman died of complications from Covid-19 after doctors said her husband repeatedly refused testing and treatment for her.Armenian law does not effectively protect survivors of domestic violence, jeopardizing their lives and well-being. The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) had not yet been sent to parliament for ratification. The government signed the convention in 2018.Disability RightsAuthorities remained committed to ending institutionalization of children with disabilities. During the pandemic, they continued to transform some residential institutions for children into community centers and to support family-based care. Nevertheless, many children with disabilities remain segregated in specialized orphanages.In April, the government approved the 2020-2023 Comprehensive Program and Action Plan on Fulfillment of the Right to Live in a Family and Harmonious Development of the Child. The program features an alternative care service network, including specialized services for children with disabilities.Armenia plans to guarantee inclusive education by 2025, whereby children with and without disabilities study together in community schools. Due to the pandemic, schools shifted to remote education in March, but largely reopened in September. According to one survey, more than half of the children with disabilities in Armenia only partially participated in remote classes. For some children, remote education increased accessibility of classes. But for others, it created additional barriers, due in part to lack of guidelines on providing inclusive education through remote education, as well as lack of support—called reasonable accommodations—necessary for inclusion, including assistive devices, hearing aids, books in braille, or other adjustments.For several months, due to strict lockdown measures, community support service centers were closed, cutting children with disabilities off from such services as rehabilitation and therapy. The services restored partially as the authorities eased lockdown rules. According to authorities, the state largely continued to provide social services and food assistance to children and people with disabilities throughout the lockdown.Adults with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities can be deprived of legal capacity, or the right to make decisions, and Armenia lacks supported decision-making mechanisms. A bill on rights of people with disabilities, which is to replace the outdated 1993 law and contains significant improvements, has not yet been introduced in the parliament.Authorities approved and introduced to parliament a bill to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which would allow victims in Armenia access to an individual complaint mechanism for alleged violations of the convention.Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI)Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people continue to face harassment, discrimination, and violence. The criminal code does not recognize homophobia and transphobia as aggravating criminal circumstances in hate crimes. Public debate around the ratification of the Istanbul Convention descended into hateful and derogatory speech against LGBT people by some public officials, who suggested incorrectly that the convention aims to promote LGBT “propaganda” and to legitimize same-sex marriage.PINK Armenia, an LGBT rights group, documented 12 incidents of physical attacks based on sexual orientation or gender identity from January through July 2020, and 10 cases of threats and calls for physical and psychological violence. Police dismissed five of the twelve attack reports filed by victims, claiming absence of a crime, and suspended three cases, due to reconciliation of the parties.In August, the Court of Appeal ruled there had not been a proper investigation into a violent homophobic attack in 2018 against a group of LGBT activists, which left at least six activists injured. The court ordered a re-investigation.Fear of discrimination and public disclosure of their sexual orientation and humiliation prevent many LGBT people from reporting crimes. Openly gay men fear for their physical security in the military, and some seek exemption from obligatory military service. In one case, after a young man disclosed his sexual orientation during the investigation into his alleged draft evasion, the information was passed to a local official, who outed him to his family, urging his brother to “restrain him” for bringing shame to the family.armenia is performing worse in respect of democracy and human rights.