Without foreign support and assistance, the human rights violations of the past eight years would not have been possible. Today's column gives some examples of this abusive collaboration. Among the dozens of countries that supported abusive U.S. counterterrorism efforts are Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Indonesia and Jordan.
Egypt
The Egyptian authorities worked closely with the CIA on renditions, both arresting suspects in Egypt and handing them over to the CIA, and accepting rendered prisoners for detention and interrogation. Prisoners who were rendered to Egypt by the CIA post-9/11 include Abd al-Hamid al-Fakhiri (better known as Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi). The majority of the suspects rendered to Egypt were Egyptian nationals who remained in Egypt for long-term detention. However, other prisoners—such as Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi (Libyan), Mamdouh Habib (Australian), and Hafez Saad Iqbal Madni (Pakistani)—were non-Egyptians who were apparently sent to Egypt to be interrogated; after some weeks or months there, they were returned to U.S. custody.
One of the first post 9/11 cases of rendition to Egypt was that of Ahmad 'Agiza and Muhammad al-Zari, who were transferred from Sweden to Egypt on December 18, 2001. The two were held in incommunicado detention for five weeks before their families were allowed to visit them.
There is considerable evidence to show that Egyptian security agents tortured the men during this period. A confidential Swedish government memorandum detailing the men's first visit by embassy officials includes allegations from the men that they were repeatedly beaten by prison guards, denied necessary medication, blindfolded during interrogations, and were threatened with reprisals against family members if they did not cooperate during interrogations.
The men also made serious allegations of torture to family members and their Egyptian and Swedish lawyers. According to 'Agiza's mother, he told her that he was subject to repeated beatings and electric shocks, after which a cream was applied (to minimize evidence of the burns), and that he was at one point left chained and blindfolded for 10 days, during which he urinated and defecated on himself. He also alleged that he was made to lick food off of the prison floor.
Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi was rendered to Egypt by the CIA in early 2002. While under torture, he "admitted" that Saddam Hussein had trained al Qaeda in chemical and biological weapons, information was later used in Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations justifying the invasion of Iraq.
ABC News reported that they obtained a CIA cable describing a CIA debriefing of al-Libi, in which al-Libi described the circumstances of his purported confession. Al-Libi told the CIA that the Egyptian interrogators told him that they wanted information about al-Qaeda's connections with Iraq, a subject "about which [al-Libi] said he knew nothing and had difficulty even coming up with a story."
Describing the treatment that led to al-Libi's statements about Iraqi-al-Qaeda links, the cable continues:
Al Libi indicated that his interrogators did not like his responses and then "placed him in a small box approximately 50cm x 50cm [20 inches x 20 inches]." He claimed he was held in the box for approximately 17 hours. When he was let out of the box, al Libi claims that he was given a last opportunity to "tell the truth." When al Libi did not satisfy the interrogator, al Libi claimed that "he was knocked over with an arm thrust across his chest and he fell on his back." Al Libi told CIA debriefers that he then "was punched for 15 minutes."
Former detainees Hafez Qari Mohamed Saad Iqbal Madni, Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr (aka Abu Omar), and Mamdouh Habib have all told similarly graphic stories of torture and abuse.
Read More At Counterpunch
Thursday, April 2, 2009
A Year Without a Mexican: The Debilitating Loss of Economic Lifeblood
For years, there were rumors that the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant at the edge of town was under scrutiny by immigration authorities. Later that morning, Brackett's wife called with confirmation: She'd spotted two helicopters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in jackets and flak vests down by the slaughterhouse.
Brackett quickly drove to the hulking plant, which had been cordoned off by scores of ICE agents, state troopers, and sheriff's deputies. The authorities soon began to emerge from the building escorting workers, hundreds in all, and many in shackles. Mostly Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants, they were loaded onto white buses emblazoned with the Homeland Security logo, and taken away for detention and trial.
The 389 arrests eliminated more than one-third of the meatpacker's workforce and nearly one-fifth of the town's population. It also prompted an exodus of hundreds more Hispanic residents who were either afraid of being targeted or simply opted to escape the town's inevitable tailspin. Postville's businesses began to suffer almost immediately. Even the Wal-Mart in Decorah, a half-hour away, called Postville mayor Robert Penrod with concerns about the economic impact.
Read More At AlterNet
Brackett quickly drove to the hulking plant, which had been cordoned off by scores of ICE agents, state troopers, and sheriff's deputies. The authorities soon began to emerge from the building escorting workers, hundreds in all, and many in shackles. Mostly Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants, they were loaded onto white buses emblazoned with the Homeland Security logo, and taken away for detention and trial.
The 389 arrests eliminated more than one-third of the meatpacker's workforce and nearly one-fifth of the town's population. It also prompted an exodus of hundreds more Hispanic residents who were either afraid of being targeted or simply opted to escape the town's inevitable tailspin. Postville's businesses began to suffer almost immediately. Even the Wal-Mart in Decorah, a half-hour away, called Postville mayor Robert Penrod with concerns about the economic impact.
Read More At AlterNet
Khmer Rouge Custodial Torture Exposed
On a recent morning, tourists who visited a former high school in this city, turned into an infamous torture chamber during the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge regime in the mid-1970s, were in for a surprise – the presence of a man who lived to tell the tale.
The tourists got to listen to Chum Mey, now 78 years, who was among the 11 people who came out alive from the four buildings that were turned into the Tuol Sleng prison, or S-21. At least 12,380 people imprisoned here, including children, were tortured and killed.
Chum Mey’s account of the sufferings that male and female prisoners endured within Tuol Sleng helped bring alive the scenes the visitors encountered when walking through the three floors of each of the grey-walled buildings, their window grills encrusted with rust and sections wrapped in barbed wire.
Read More At IPS
The tourists got to listen to Chum Mey, now 78 years, who was among the 11 people who came out alive from the four buildings that were turned into the Tuol Sleng prison, or S-21. At least 12,380 people imprisoned here, including children, were tortured and killed.
Chum Mey’s account of the sufferings that male and female prisoners endured within Tuol Sleng helped bring alive the scenes the visitors encountered when walking through the three floors of each of the grey-walled buildings, their window grills encrusted with rust and sections wrapped in barbed wire.
Read More At IPS
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Lawmakers Debate Establishing “Truth Commission” on Bush Admin Torture, Rendition and Domestic Spying
On Capitol Hill, debate has begun over forming a truth commission to shed light on the Bush administration’s secret polices on detention, interrogation and domestic spying. A hearing on the issue was held Wednesday, two days after the Obama administration released a series of once-secret Bush administration Justice Department memos that authorized President Bush to deploy the military to carry out raids inside the United States.Saturday, March 28, 2009
Gender Savagery in Guatemala
Nightmarish crimes against women have been occurring with horrifying frequency in Guatemala. In the last seven years, over 3,200 Guatemalan women have been abducted and murdered, with many of them raped, tortured, and mutilated in the doing. The number of victims has shown a striking increase in the last few years with some six hundred murdered in 2006 alone.
The victims often are from low-income families deracinated from their rural homesteads during the civil war and forced to crowd into Guatemala City and other urban areas in search of work. We might recall Guatemala’s horrid history of violence. From 1962 to 1996, a popular insurgency was defeated by that deranged murder machine known as the Guatemalan Army, trained, advised, financed, and equipped by the United States. A United Nations-sponsored Truth Commission in 1999 characterized much of the counterinsurgency as a genocide against the Mayan people, a holocaust that left 626 villages destroyed, approximately 200,000 people dead or disappeared, including many labor union leaders, student leaders, journalists, and clergy. Hundreds of thousands more were either displaced internally or forced to flee the country.
Those years of untrammeled massacres provide some context for the current wave of femicide sweeping the country. The 1996 peace accords officially declared an end to the butchery but the war against women continues albeit in more piecemeal fashion. Guatemalan women are enduring the whiplash of decades of dehumanizing violence---boosted by the same kind of deep-seated sexism and gender-specific crimes (rape) that are perpetrated in many societies around the world.
Independent investigators charge that the vast majority of present-day atrocities against women have been committed by current or former members of the Guatemalan intelligence services. Having escaped prosecution for human rights violations during the internal war, these trained killers are now members of private security forces or police and paramilitary units that have been strongly implicated in the crimes of the last seven years.
Read More At Global Research
The victims often are from low-income families deracinated from their rural homesteads during the civil war and forced to crowd into Guatemala City and other urban areas in search of work. We might recall Guatemala’s horrid history of violence. From 1962 to 1996, a popular insurgency was defeated by that deranged murder machine known as the Guatemalan Army, trained, advised, financed, and equipped by the United States. A United Nations-sponsored Truth Commission in 1999 characterized much of the counterinsurgency as a genocide against the Mayan people, a holocaust that left 626 villages destroyed, approximately 200,000 people dead or disappeared, including many labor union leaders, student leaders, journalists, and clergy. Hundreds of thousands more were either displaced internally or forced to flee the country.
Those years of untrammeled massacres provide some context for the current wave of femicide sweeping the country. The 1996 peace accords officially declared an end to the butchery but the war against women continues albeit in more piecemeal fashion. Guatemalan women are enduring the whiplash of decades of dehumanizing violence---boosted by the same kind of deep-seated sexism and gender-specific crimes (rape) that are perpetrated in many societies around the world.
Independent investigators charge that the vast majority of present-day atrocities against women have been committed by current or former members of the Guatemalan intelligence services. Having escaped prosecution for human rights violations during the internal war, these trained killers are now members of private security forces or police and paramilitary units that have been strongly implicated in the crimes of the last seven years.
Read More At Global Research
The Refugee Crisis: The Pain and Suffering of the Iraqi People
One Story
Our interlocutor is an Iraqi refugee who knows first hand how badly things have gone wrong. To save herself, she managed to make it out of the Iraq, first to Jordan, then the United States. For our contact's safety and the safety of her family, still at the mercy of unknown and unknowable death squads, she will remain nameless. She can tell you, though, that she is educated with a university degree in linguistics and a certificate as an English translator. She is Arab, she is Muslim, she is the daughter of a Sunni and a Shii.
After the American invasion and occupation of Iraq, our contact told us that it was a common practice for mysterious people to turn up at the doors of Iraqi houses and "ask" the inhabitants to leave. Then, typically, a strange family would move in, taking ownership and control of the original owner's effects. No one knew who these people were, no one knew who had done the asking. In fact, no one wanted to know, it was far too dangerous to ask awkward questions. The police or what was left of the authorities, once the Americans and their Coalition Provisional Government had dissolved the civil power, simply stood by and did nothing to help those forced out of their homes.
These involuntary "donors" became the Displaced. They had to stay in Iraq because they had no money to leave the country, they had no funds to bribe local officials in nearby Jordan to permit their entry if they did. They were not allowed to work in Jordan because they could not get permanent residence, although, if you had the equivalent of US$150,000 to put at the disposal of the Jordanian government, you could stay in the Hashemite Kingdom.
If, somehow, you got to Jordan, you couldn't afford a place to live because you were not allowed to work. And you also couldn't afford medicine or a doctor. Our interlocutor, reliant on saved funds, was sick for two months because she didn't have the equivalent of US$40 for antibiotic injections. She recovered only when an Iraqi doctor in Jordan managed to get some medicine from the local hospital for her.
If you, like our translator, made it to Jordan, you had to leave every three months to renew your temporary residence. This exposed you to murder, rape, and other violence along the road during the 10-hour trip to Iraq. Unlike I-95 in the United States, this thoroughfare was laid out in the middle of nowhere. The return was equally bad, with the traveler still a moving target. And, at the Jordanian frontier, there was an added flip: the border guards demanded a US$500 bribe to admit you. If you were fortunate and had the money, all you usually had to contend with was harsh looks by the men with the keys to the Kingdom. If, like our interlocutor, you were unfortunate, you could be sent back with no explanation to try again, making a fruitless 20-hour round-trip. She endured this three times. On some occasions, if Fortuna smiled, you could pay the bribe in US$100 installments--on top of what you shelled out for food and rent.
Our contact did this for two and a half years.
Read More At Global Research
Our interlocutor is an Iraqi refugee who knows first hand how badly things have gone wrong. To save herself, she managed to make it out of the Iraq, first to Jordan, then the United States. For our contact's safety and the safety of her family, still at the mercy of unknown and unknowable death squads, she will remain nameless. She can tell you, though, that she is educated with a university degree in linguistics and a certificate as an English translator. She is Arab, she is Muslim, she is the daughter of a Sunni and a Shii.
After the American invasion and occupation of Iraq, our contact told us that it was a common practice for mysterious people to turn up at the doors of Iraqi houses and "ask" the inhabitants to leave. Then, typically, a strange family would move in, taking ownership and control of the original owner's effects. No one knew who these people were, no one knew who had done the asking. In fact, no one wanted to know, it was far too dangerous to ask awkward questions. The police or what was left of the authorities, once the Americans and their Coalition Provisional Government had dissolved the civil power, simply stood by and did nothing to help those forced out of their homes.
These involuntary "donors" became the Displaced. They had to stay in Iraq because they had no money to leave the country, they had no funds to bribe local officials in nearby Jordan to permit their entry if they did. They were not allowed to work in Jordan because they could not get permanent residence, although, if you had the equivalent of US$150,000 to put at the disposal of the Jordanian government, you could stay in the Hashemite Kingdom.
If, somehow, you got to Jordan, you couldn't afford a place to live because you were not allowed to work. And you also couldn't afford medicine or a doctor. Our interlocutor, reliant on saved funds, was sick for two months because she didn't have the equivalent of US$40 for antibiotic injections. She recovered only when an Iraqi doctor in Jordan managed to get some medicine from the local hospital for her.
If you, like our translator, made it to Jordan, you had to leave every three months to renew your temporary residence. This exposed you to murder, rape, and other violence along the road during the 10-hour trip to Iraq. Unlike I-95 in the United States, this thoroughfare was laid out in the middle of nowhere. The return was equally bad, with the traveler still a moving target. And, at the Jordanian frontier, there was an added flip: the border guards demanded a US$500 bribe to admit you. If you were fortunate and had the money, all you usually had to contend with was harsh looks by the men with the keys to the Kingdom. If, like our interlocutor, you were unfortunate, you could be sent back with no explanation to try again, making a fruitless 20-hour round-trip. She endured this three times. On some occasions, if Fortuna smiled, you could pay the bribe in US$100 installments--on top of what you shelled out for food and rent.
Our contact did this for two and a half years.
Read More At Global Research
US Criticised Over Immigrant Rights
Amnesty International has said tens of thousands of people are being held in US immigration jails without receiving a hearing to determine whether their detentions are warranted. About 30,000 immigrants are held on an average day, the rights group said in a report released on Wednesday, triple the number in custody a decade ago."America should be outraged by the scale of human rights abuses occurring within its own borders," said Larry Cox, director of Amnesty International USA.
Amnesty said more than 300,000 people are detained by US immigration officials each year, including asylum seekers, torture survivors, victims of human trafficking, legal permanent residents and the parents of US citizens.
"The United States has long been a country of immigrants, and whether they have been here five years or five generations, their human rights are to be respected."
Read More At Al Jazeera
Morocco Clamps Down on Shiites, Gays in Newly Launched 'Morality Campaign'
The Moroccan government has begun a clampdown on what it sees as threats to the kingdom's religious and moral foundations, with Shiite Islam and gays particularly targeted. "At stake is the image of the state," Mohammad Darif, an expert on Islamic movements in Morocco, told AFP.
"The authorities are seeking to prove that they are still the guarantors of the religious and moral values" of the country.
Government sources say there is a counter-attack against press articles calling for greater tolerance of homosexuality. Newspapers report that about 20 gays were recently arrested in the center of the country.
A French feminist organization was earlier this year refused permission to open a branch in Morocco. Fouzia Assouli, a women's rights campaigner, said the new emphasis on moral values was linked to local polls due to take place in June.
Read More At the Daily Star
"The authorities are seeking to prove that they are still the guarantors of the religious and moral values" of the country.
Government sources say there is a counter-attack against press articles calling for greater tolerance of homosexuality. Newspapers report that about 20 gays were recently arrested in the center of the country.
A French feminist organization was earlier this year refused permission to open a branch in Morocco. Fouzia Assouli, a women's rights campaigner, said the new emphasis on moral values was linked to local polls due to take place in June.
Read More At the Daily Star
One in Three Japanese Wives Abused
One in three married Japanese women have been physically or mentally abused by their husbands, according to a government survey on domestic violence released Tuesday. Of the victims over a third said they were injured or suffered mental harm, while more than 13 percent said they feared for their lives, the poll by the Cabinet Office found.
The survey of 1,675 women found that 42 percent of victims said they wanted to get divorced but would not, with many saying they hoped the violence would not be repeated and others worried about making ends meet alone.
More than 13 percent of the women polled said they had experienced violence from their boyfriends when they were in their teens or 20s - with almost half of these victims injured or suffering mental harm.
Read More At AsiaOne News
The survey of 1,675 women found that 42 percent of victims said they wanted to get divorced but would not, with many saying they hoped the violence would not be repeated and others worried about making ends meet alone.
More than 13 percent of the women polled said they had experienced violence from their boyfriends when they were in their teens or 20s - with almost half of these victims injured or suffering mental harm.
Read More At AsiaOne News
Spanish judge accuses six top Bush officials of torture
Criminal proceedings have begun in Spain against six senior officials in the Bush administration for the use of torture against detainees in Guantánamo Bay. Baltasar Garzón, the counter-terrorism judge whose prosecution of General Augusto Pinochet led to his arrest in Britain in 1998, has referred the case to the chief prosecutor before deciding whether to proceed.
The case is bound to threaten Spain's relations with the new administration in Washington, but Gonzalo Boyé, one of the four lawyers who wrote the lawsuit, said the prosecutor would have little choice under Spanish law but to approve the prosecution."It will be against the law not to go ahead."
The officials named in the case include the most senior legal minds in the Bush administration. They are: Alberto Gonzales, a former White House counsel and attorney general; David Addington, former vice-president Dick Cheney's chief of staff; Douglas Feith, who was under-secretary of defence; William Haynes, formerly the Pentagon's general counsel; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who were both senior justice department legal advisers.
Court documents say that, without their legal advice in a series of internal administration memos, "it would have been impossible to structure a legal framework that supported what happened [in Guantánamo]".
Read More At the Guardian
The case is bound to threaten Spain's relations with the new administration in Washington, but Gonzalo Boyé, one of the four lawyers who wrote the lawsuit, said the prosecutor would have little choice under Spanish law but to approve the prosecution."It will be against the law not to go ahead."
The officials named in the case include the most senior legal minds in the Bush administration. They are: Alberto Gonzales, a former White House counsel and attorney general; David Addington, former vice-president Dick Cheney's chief of staff; Douglas Feith, who was under-secretary of defence; William Haynes, formerly the Pentagon's general counsel; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who were both senior justice department legal advisers.
Court documents say that, without their legal advice in a series of internal administration memos, "it would have been impossible to structure a legal framework that supported what happened [in Guantánamo]".
Read More At the Guardian
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Refugees From Mexico Drug War Flee to US
As a drug war rages throughout Mexico and along its northern border, an increasing number of Mexicans are crossing into the United States to flee the killings, extortion and kidnappings that have plagued places like Juárez and Tijuana.Unlike the traditional job-seeking migrants, whose numbers have dropped in part due to the slumping US economy and increased border enforcement, this new migrant class comprises business owners, executives and other professionals who choose safety in the United States--even if it means detention--over freedom in their own country.
The drug war, which has claimed nearly 10,000 lives in a little more than two years-- more than 1,600 in Juárez in the last year alone--is a central component. But where most of those gruesome killings--including beheadings and mutilated bodies dumped in mass graves--involve criminals killing other criminals, rivals' family members or police, a dark, secondary shadow of lawlessness is enveloping innocent men, women and children who are fleeing for their lives.
Read More At The Nation
Detainee Offered Freedom for Silence on Torture
A British court ruled Monday that U.S. authorities had asked a Guantanamo Bay detainee to drop allegations of torture in exchange for his freedom.A ruling by two British High Court judges said the U.S. offered Binyam Mohamed a plea bargain deal in October. Mohamed refused the deal and the U.S. dropped all charges against him later last year.
Mohamed is an Ethiopian who moved to Britain when he was a teenager. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and claims he was tortured both there and in Morocco. He was transferred to Guantanamo in 2004. He was finally returned to Britain in late February 2009, with no charges against him.He is suing the British government, charging that its intelligence services were complicit with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in facilitating his "extraordinary rendition" and torture while in custody.The court said the plea bargain also asked Mohamed to plead guilty to two charges and agree not to speak publicly about his ordeal.
Zachary Katznelson, legal director of Reprieve, a legal action charity that has represented Mohamed for four years, told IPS, "In Binyam Mohamed's case, the United States clearly prized secrecy over justice. It simply did not want the truth to get out."
Discrimination Because of Sexual Orientation
The Human Council at its midday meeting today held a general debate on follow-up to and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.
In the general debate on follow-up to and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Work, speakers said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted 16 years ago offered a comprehensive framework that addressed a range of issues related to the promotion and protection of human rights. The Council should continue to address the issue of discrimination because of sexual orientation. A number of speakers welcomed the joint statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity which was delivered at the General Assembly last December by 66 States from all United Nations regional groups. Other speakers raised concerns about migration policies that endangered the enjoyment of human rights of migrants and their children. Some said that the existing international order continued to be led by selectivity, economic and political exploitation. One third of the world's population still continued to live in abject poverty. The roots of the current crises could only be addressed if the policies and strategies put in place were participatory and took into account inequalities and discrimination.
Another issue raised was how the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action could help promulgate the rights of children and women. The World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 was an important milestone in the path towards the achievement of higher standards of human rights globally, and since the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and the Programme of Action considerable progress had been made in the promotion and protection of human rights. However, the international community was now faced with new challenges including the global financial and economic crises, unstable food prices and climate change. Despite progress, the enjoyment of human rights remained a distant reality for many. Legislative measures did not suffice when those standards were not implemented and remedies to address human rights violations were not available.
Speakers representing national human rights institutions said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action were particularly important for national human rights institutions. The Declaration and Programme of Action affirmed their constructive role in the promotion and protection of human rights at the national level and called on Member States to establish and strengthen independent and effective national human rights institutions in line with the relevant international standards. One of the fundamental principles enshrined in the Paris Principles was the guarantee of independence of these institutions.
Speaking in the general debate were Czech Republic on behalf of the European Union, Chile on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Russian Federation, Kuwait, Morocco, Austria, Turkey, Iran, United States, Denmark on behalf of Sweden, Norway and Finland, Algeria and Colombia.
The following national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations also took the floor: International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human rights, National Human Rights Commission of Korea, European Group of National Human Rights Institutions, Independence of National Human Rights Institutions, International Federation of University Women, European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association of Europe, Arab commission for Human Rights, Centrist Democratic International, International Humanist and Ethical Union, Indian Council of South America and Union de l'Action Feminine.
The Council today is holding back-to-back meetings from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. When it meets at 3 p.m. this afternoon, it will hold a general debate on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance, including follow-up and implementation of the Durban Review Declaration and Programme of Action. At the beginning of the meeting, it will hear presentations of the reports of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, and the Ad Hoc Committee on Complementary Standards.
Documents on Follow-up and Implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
The report of the Secretary-General on regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights (A/HRC/10/41) is not available.
The report of the Secretary-General on National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (A/HRC/10/54) covers the period from January to December 2008, and contains information on the activities undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in relation to national human rights institutions; measures taken by Governments and institutions in this regard; partnership initiatives with United Nations agencies and other international and regional organizations; and cooperation between national human rights institutions and international human rights mechanisms to promote and protect human rights. Specifically, the report highlights the main achievements, challenges and priorities for the Office of the High Commissioner at the national level, where efforts span from encouraging preliminary steps in the establishment of national human rights institutions to supporting their ongoing longevity and effectiveness in fulfilling their mandate. It also discusses the role played by the Office in facilitating cooperation between those institutions and summarizes key activities conducted in this regard. Information regarding the work of national human rights institutions in respect of specific thematic issues, such as conflict prevention and the prevention of torture, is also included.
The report of the Secretary General on Process currently utilized by the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights to accredit national institutions compliant with the Paris Principles (A/HRC/10/55) outlines progress achieved since the previous report on the accreditation of national human rights institutions to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/7/70) and should be read in conjunction with the report of the Secretary General on national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (A/HRC/10/54), which includes, inter alia, information on ways and means of enhancing the participation of the said institutions in the work of the Council.
The note by the Secretariat on integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system (A/HRC/10/63) informs the Council that, in order to allow for all Government responses to be considered and to ensure its translation, the High Commissioner's report on this topic will be submitted to the Council at its eleventh session.
General Debate on Follow-up and Implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
VERONIKA STROMSIKOVA (Czech Republic), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna 16 years ago, offered a comprehensive framework that addressed a range of issues related to the promotion and protection of human rights which continued to require their common attention. The European Union supported the continuing efforts of the High Commissioner, Special Procedures and treaty bodies to implement the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, saying that the Human Rights Council had a special responsibility to ensure the implementation of the Declaration by addressing challenges and ongoing denials of human rights.
It was in that context that the European Union wanted to affirm the joint statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity delivered to the General Assembly on 18 December on behalf of 67 States from all geographic regions. With the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action principles in mind, the European Union called upon the Council to continue to address the issue of discrimination because of sexual orientation and reiterated the request of the Norwegian joint statement of 2006 that the President of the Council provide a special opportunity for a more in-depth discussion of that important human rights issue.
CARLOS PORTALES (Chile), speaking on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, said that the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries continued to be concerned about certain migration policies recently adopted, as the new directive approved by the European parliament, and other measures in countries of origin, transit and destination, that endangered the enjoyment of human rights of migrants and their children. They supported the appeal by the High Commissioner made at this session. The Group rejected the measures that sanctioned undocumented migrants and those that assisted them. Those policies aimed at sanctioning undocumented migrants had been inefficient and opened the door for further exploitation. Human rights were universal and therefore their observance did not depend on nationality or migratory status. The Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries rejected any criminalization of migrants that entered the country illegally and said that detention should be minimal. The world had to remember that migrants often wanted to carry out work that the citizens of the country were no more willing to carry out. Also, migration often presented a solution to demographic problems.
MARGHOOB SALEEM BUTT (Pakistan), speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, said the international community had covered a long distance to achieve the landmark of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. This achievement was built on several past milestones including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Charter, the two International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and a number of related instruments. It served as a normative bridge between all relevant international instruments.
While the galaxy of instruments that had been negotiated so far affirmed the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all the human rights, in reality the existing international order continued to be led by selectivity, economic and political exploitation. The known ratios of one-third of the world's population living in abject poverty, and twenty thousand people dying every day from hunger, poverty and preventable diseases had been further aggravated by the ongoing food and financial crises. However, arbitrary solutions proposed were directed to help those who were least affected. The High Commissioner for Human Rights rightly stated that it was important to recognize that the roots of the current crises could only be addressed if the policies and strategies put in place were participatory, took into account existing inequalities and discrimination, and provided for sound and viable accountability mechanisms.
KAMAPRADIPTA ISNOMO (Indonesia) said that Indonesia was especially concerned about the impact of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action on promulgating the rights of the child, as that was a predominant concern of the Government. At the national level, Indonesia had established several laws aimed at assuring the rights of children, including regarding education, and a law on child protection, which guaranteed the protection of children against ill-treatment and violence and provided severe penalties if violated.
Indonesia also wished to warmly welcome the work of the Convention on the Rights of the Child Panel that had been undertaken in collaboration with the Council as part of the preparation for the forthcoming anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Indonesia felt that that anniversary was a major milestone and a cause for celebration, given that much had been achieved since the Convention had first been adopted in November 1989. It was also important to touch upon the vital role that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action had in guaranteeing the rights of women. Indonesia hoped that by not only promoting the indivisible and inalienable rights of women in the political, cultural and economic spheres, but also by empowering them, they could go a long way towards consistently assuring their rights in the long term.
CARLOS PORTALES (Chile) said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action recognized and affirmed that all human rights originated in the dignity and worth of a human being which was the central subject of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. Chile reaffirmed that it was first and foremost the responsibility of all States to promote and protect human rights. The recognition of the fundamental human rights and the fact that it was the most important duty for the States to protect them stemmed from what was called ius gentium. It was when international law strayed from such concepts and became laws serving an interest that the international community saw great violations and atrocities against humanity. The judge of the International Court of Justice had rightly said that rights holders were human, made of flesh, bone and soul. The human being should be the protagonist of human rights. Each State individually had a responsibility to prevent the violation of human rights and had a duty to react when violations of human rights occurred. The international community needed to assist States in their aim to protect human rights. This was the main responsibility of States; it was not simply a concession but an obligation and the foundation of human rights. This should provide inspiration to the Human Rights Council.
SEBASTIAN ROSALES (Argentina) reaffirmed the principles of universality, interrelation, and interdependence of human rights and the principle of non-discrimination contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. This implicated that all persons were entitled to fundamental liberties. Argentina considered to be particularly important that the promotion and the struggle against all forms of discrimination without any distinction based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political opinion, property or ethnicity was in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with Article 2 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights as part of the fight against discrimination. Argentina was committed to continue to combat discrimination and in particular discrimination against persons based on their sexual orientation. As part of their national efforts taken, Argentina established a National Institute for Discrimination and a National Plan of Action in this context. On 18 December 2008, Argentina had the honor to take the floor in the General Assembly on behalf of other Member States and groups to speak about human rights on the grounds of sexual orientation. The text established as a result called for ensuring human rights despite one's sexual orientation.
EVGENY USTINOV (Russian Federation) said that the doctrine of human rights had a long history and had evolved with the changing world, taking into account tragedies that had faced mankind, such as the Second World War. One of the most important results of that war had been the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.
Achieving the objectives contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action could only be possible through constructive dialogue, taking into account national and cultural specificities, without applying double standards. However, those specificities were often ignored, and human rights instruments were used as a tool of political pressure. As a result, human rights were losing their potential as a tool for establishing dialogue between civilizations and reaching understanding between peoples. Therefore, it was necessary to ensure a synergy between human rights and traditional values and through that to strengthen respect for human rights, as provided for in the Vienna Declaration. To do that, the good will and painstaking efforts of all – States, non-governmental organizations and civil society – would be needed.
ABRAR ALMEIAN (Kuwait) said that concerning women and their integration in the work of the United Nations, Kuwait had tried to upgrade all its rights. Islam attached great importance to women and their rights. Kuwait had acceded to various conventions, particularly those concerning women. Women had also joined the military corps. Kuwait was fully aware of the consequences of armed conflict on women. Kuwait wanted to overcome the obstacles for the full implementation of measures concerning the rights of women.
OMAR HILALE (Morocco) said that the commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action was an important step in the field of human rights. Human rights should be indivisible and interrelated and should not privilege any one group. The threat to human rights had been reflected in different international instruments. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action warned of any restrictive interpretation of human rights and any measure that could compromise the territorial integrity. It was regrettable that many statements already heard aimed to undermine those principles. The resolutions of the United Nations had evolved and or been cancelled and this illustrated the normative nature of the United Nations system. Those resolutions had been evolving and had the main objective to maintain the territorial integrity of a country and countries should not use this selectively.
CHRISTINA KOKKINAKIS (Austria) observed that last year they had celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the fifteenth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. Austria reiterated the importance it attached to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, as providing a sound basis and framework for the promotion and protection of human rights. Fifteen years after its adoption, considerable progress had been made, in particular by strengthening the United Nations machinery in the field of human rights. The establishment of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and its expansion and consolidation in the field was one of the special success stories of that development. Despite those and other significant progress, the enjoyment of human rights remained a distant reality for many. Legislative measures did not suffice when those standards were not implemented and remedies to address human rights violations were not available.
On the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration, Austria had organized an international expert conference entitled "Global standards, local action" last August in Vienna. The conference had brought together a broad representation of the global human rights community in order to assess progress made in implementation of the Declaration, identify main challenges and, above all, formulate a set of recommendations on how to bridge the gap between existing standards and their implementation. One part of those recommendations dealt with United Nations human rights mechanisms and their effectiveness for people on the ground. The publication of the conference had been finalized and Austria was now able to provide it to all delegations, in the hope that the recommendations therein could contribute to their efforts to improve implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and all other international standards in their daily work.
FAITH ULUSOY (Turkey) said that the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 was an important milestone in the path towards the achievement of higher standards of human rights globally. The Conference recognized that the activities of the United Nations in the field of human rights should be rationalized and enhanced in order to strengthen the United Nations machinery in this field and to further the objectives of universal respect for and observance of international human rights standards. In that respect, the establishment of the Human Rights Council, the review of existing mechanisms and the introduction of new mechanisms, in particular the Universal Periodic Review had been significant achievements. They should be able to use them with a result-oriented approach while ensuring their coherence and complementarity. Since the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and the Programme of Action, considerable progress had been made in the promotion and protection of human rights. The international community was now faced however, with new challenges including the global financial and economic crisis, unstable food prices and climate change.
ASADOLLAH ESHRAGH(Iran) said the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action was the outcome of the World Conference in 1993 and had contributed to human rights around the world. Human rights were indivisible and interrelated. The international community must deal with human rights on the same footing and the same emphasis. Iran was of the view that the high goals contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action required efforts at both the national and international level. They also required the promotion of dialogue and cooperation between the international communities at all levels. Furthermore, the promotion of human rights education was of paramount importance as stipulated in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and required concrete action. Iran initiative a series of human rights dialogues to enhance common understanding on human rights. In 2007 the Government of Iran organized a ministerial level meeting to this effect. Another important initiative taken by Islamic countries in this respect was establishing 5 August as the Islamic Human Rights Day to commemorate Islamic human rights and dignity.
KRISTEN MCGEENEY (United States) noted that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted in 1993, was a vision for the implementation of universal human rights that still challenged the world in 2009. One of the most striking statements in it was the recognition and affirmation that "all human rights derived from the dignity and worth inherent in the human person and that the human person was the central subject of human rights and fundamental freedoms".
The United States was concerned by encroachments on the universally agreed principle that it was individual human beings who held rights and freedoms and who deserved protection. The concept of "defamation of religions" sought to protect religions rather than individuals and some were now trying to expand references to "incitement to religious hatred" to include protection of religion. Those concepts unfortunately carried with them calls to restrict fundamental freedoms that exacerbated the misunderstandings and ignorance that led to intolerance. The United States looked forward to working with Council members to find common ground on which to fight religious intolerance and to promote respect for all religious traditions in a manner that also promoted human rights and fundamental freedoms.
ARNOLD SKUBSTED, (Denmark), in a joint statement with Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland, said that they commended the historic joint declaration on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity that was presented in the General Assembly in the December last year, when 66 States from all regions of the world reaffirmed the fundamental principle, expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and international human rights conventions, that all human beings were born free and equal in dignity and rights and that the principle of non-discrimination required that human rights applied equally to every human being regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Nordic countries highly appreciated that others had recently aligned themselves with the Declaration. It was widely recognized that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was forbidden.
CHIBIHI BOUALEM (Algeria) said the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action some 15 years ago at the World Conference on Human Rights was a historic step in favour of the promotion of all human rights without selectivity. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action also established the framework for civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and enshrined the universality, interdependence and indivisibility of those rights. Algeria was committed to the exercise of this right by all people under colonial rule. Algeria urged the Council to ensure that this objectivity was applied. As far as women's rights were concerned, and the equality between men and women, Algeria at the national level had taken measures to ensure that its legislation was in line with Article 18 of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and in December 2008 it conducted a constitutional review to remove obstacles that hindered the participation of women in political and social life, and guaranteed their enjoyment of fundamental human rights. Algeria said it had also removed its reservation against Article 2 on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
ALMA VIVIANA PEREZ GOMEZ (Colombia) said Colombia wished to restate the principle of the universality of human rights and the relevance of that principle in the fight against all forms of discrimination. In that spirit, Colombia associated itself with the joint Declaration on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity made last December in the General Assembly. With regard to its commitment to the fight against all forms of discrimination, Colombia reiterated its intention to implement the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review process, as well as the voluntary commitments it had undertaken in that context, in particular those referring to these particular topics, as a demonstration of Colombia's commitment to protect human rights for all its citizens. Among progress achieved in Colombia was the decision handed down by the Supreme Court this year for full protections for same-sex unions. It further reaffirmed its will to carry out campaigns in order to build a society of tolerance for all.
Mr. WOO, of International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, appreciated the support expressed by the Secretary General on the enhancement of the national human rights institutions cooperation at regional levels, and regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights. National human rights institutions were increasing their role and participation in existing regional mechanisms and continued to play an active role in promoting the establishment of new regional arrangements. The International Coordinating Committee welcomed the recent Human Rights Council activities on regional arrangements and looked forward to continuous collaboration on such initiatives. It also expressed its appreciation for the support by the Secretary-General, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and its National Institutions Unit in relation to the International Coordinating Committee accreditation procedure.
BYUNG HOON OH, of National Human Rights Commission of Korea, said the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action called for the strengthening of cooperation between national institutions for the protection and promotion of human rights. It was widely agreed that national human rights institutions had a key role to play in the strengthening of Member State capacity, and it was the view of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea that this role could be greatly enhanced by increased cooperation among national human rights institutions as well as greater participation in United Nations human rights mechanisms. The Seoul Guidelines represented an important contribution to the enhancement of international cooperation on human rights. All national human rights institutions should increase their efforts at international cooperation and take full advantage of the opportunities now available for their greater participation in the proceedings of the Human Rights Council.
KIRSTEN ROBERT, of the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions, said they strongly believed that education in and for human rights was an essential element in the right to education. The World Programme on Human Rights Education, the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education and related programmes provided a number of guidelines for standard practice. Recognizing that action at the national level was critical to success, the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions believed that national action plans in this respect were of great importance. While the first phase of the World Programme on Human Rights Education had covered primary and secondary education, the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions looked forward to the expansion of the programme in further phases to other areas, including training.
ALEX ASATASHURILI, of National Human Rights Institutions of Mexico, on behalf Independence of National Human Rights Institutions, said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action was particularly important for national human rights institutions. It affirmed their constructive role in the promotion and protection of human rights at the national level and called on Member States to establish and strengthen independent and effective national human rights institutions in line with the relevant international standards. One of the fundamental principles enshrined in the Paris Principles was the guarantee of independence. This was reflected in freedom from executive interference in the organization of the national human rights institutions, its functional autonomy and the requirements of adequate funding to ensure the smooth conduct of its activities. The organization expressed deep concern regarding recent threats to the independence of national human rights institutions.
CONCHITA PONCINI, of International Federation of University Women, on behalf of severals NGOs1, said over a century, women's conferences had followed each other, and the Beijing Conference was the world's biggest conference for women, and the United Nations should keep this momentum, working to ensure equality. As a new financial crisis hit the world, the economics of gender remained ignored. In recent financial crises, women had shown economic ability, able to find smart and effective business models. Many women worked for their families to survive in Africa, and introduction of equal treatment on parental leave had allowed them to have families and work. The United Nations should continue to support the work of the women's organizations.
JOHN FISHER, of European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, on behalf of severals NGOs2 said that while the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action affirmed the principles of universality and non-discrimination, many people continued to be denied their rights solely because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. At this session of the Council alone, Special Rapporteurs had identified numerous human rights violations on those grounds, including arrests, death threats, violent attacks, violations of freedoms of expression and assembly, raids on homes and offices and torture. They therefore welcomed the joint statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, delivered at the General Assembly last December by 66 States from all United Nations regional groups, and the recent announcement by the United States that it was willing to join the growing cross-regional support.
ABDEL WAHAB HANI, of Arab Commission for Human Rights, said regarding treaty bodies, the Arab Commission for Human Rights had already stressed earlier the importance to be vigilant as to political nomination. The Arab Commission called upon States not to nominate candidates that held political posts. Today there was a new generation of human rights and a new generation of violations. One such new phenomenon was detention centers for foreigners, many violations occurred in such centers. The Arab Commission suggested that the Council should have a special session on this issue or establish a special mechanism.
AABADILA SEMLALI, of Centrist Democratic International, said States had a duty to fulfil, respect, protect and implement, but there were countries that ignored these obligations, and snatched children away from their families and committed other violations, putting people into military camps without the consent of their families, sent off to act as cannon fodder in fratricidal wars. Non-State actors were involved in this. The only thing that was implemented by countries such as Algeria was covering the sequestered populations, hiding behind the phrase of self-determination. Self-determination did not mean separatism. There should be fulfilment and enjoyment of their human rights of those in the Tinduf camps.
SOPHIE ETSKINE, of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, said that, in the context of integrating human rights of women throughout the United Nations system, the International Humanist and Ethical Union wanted to highlighted two areas in which women were particularly disadvantaged. The first was the plight of women classed as "untouchables". In India, for example, such women, known as Dalits, suffered systematic discrimination and abuse – as women, as untouchable and from poverty. Indian Dalit girls and women numbered more than 80 million and many thousands of them suffered daily violence and abuse at the hands of men – both family members and members of the upper castes. The second point concerned the difficulties of Muslim women. According to media reports from Saudi Arabia, a 75-year-old Syrian woman, had been sentenced to 40 lashes, fourth months' imprisonment and deportation from the Kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house. Subjecting a 75-year-old woman to forty lashes was an abuse of human rights under article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. They could understand why some States wished for silence in the Council with regard to any mention that such punishments were carried out under religious laws.
RONALD BARNES, of Indian Council of South America, said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action fully recognized the right to self-determination. The States that had signed this Declaration clearly stated that this right was a human right. The Indian Council of South America asked India why it had stated in an earlier debate that the Advisory Committee's proposal was not in compliance with its mandate. A General Assembly resolution also said to give special attention to the right to self-determination. The Indian Council of South America called upon India to carefully examine its position and on States to take up this issue at the next session.
SAADANI MAALAININE, of Union de l'Action Féminine, said the protection and promotion of fundamental freedoms and human rights should be considered a key objective of the international community, particularly the right of women and children to enjoy a decent life with no discrimination or abuse. The human rights of children should be a key rule under international law. All forms of discrimination and related intolerance should be eradicated. In the Tinduf camps, women and children were suffering from the denial of their rights, tortured, and subject to forced labour. Many children were manipulated for political ends, and there was a great deal of suffering. Humanitarian aid was improperly diverted.
In the general debate on follow-up to and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Work, speakers said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted 16 years ago offered a comprehensive framework that addressed a range of issues related to the promotion and protection of human rights. The Council should continue to address the issue of discrimination because of sexual orientation. A number of speakers welcomed the joint statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity which was delivered at the General Assembly last December by 66 States from all United Nations regional groups. Other speakers raised concerns about migration policies that endangered the enjoyment of human rights of migrants and their children. Some said that the existing international order continued to be led by selectivity, economic and political exploitation. One third of the world's population still continued to live in abject poverty. The roots of the current crises could only be addressed if the policies and strategies put in place were participatory and took into account inequalities and discrimination.
Another issue raised was how the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action could help promulgate the rights of children and women. The World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 was an important milestone in the path towards the achievement of higher standards of human rights globally, and since the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and the Programme of Action considerable progress had been made in the promotion and protection of human rights. However, the international community was now faced with new challenges including the global financial and economic crises, unstable food prices and climate change. Despite progress, the enjoyment of human rights remained a distant reality for many. Legislative measures did not suffice when those standards were not implemented and remedies to address human rights violations were not available.
Speakers representing national human rights institutions said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action were particularly important for national human rights institutions. The Declaration and Programme of Action affirmed their constructive role in the promotion and protection of human rights at the national level and called on Member States to establish and strengthen independent and effective national human rights institutions in line with the relevant international standards. One of the fundamental principles enshrined in the Paris Principles was the guarantee of independence of these institutions.
Speaking in the general debate were Czech Republic on behalf of the European Union, Chile on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Russian Federation, Kuwait, Morocco, Austria, Turkey, Iran, United States, Denmark on behalf of Sweden, Norway and Finland, Algeria and Colombia.
The following national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations also took the floor: International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human rights, National Human Rights Commission of Korea, European Group of National Human Rights Institutions, Independence of National Human Rights Institutions, International Federation of University Women, European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association of Europe, Arab commission for Human Rights, Centrist Democratic International, International Humanist and Ethical Union, Indian Council of South America and Union de l'Action Feminine.
The Council today is holding back-to-back meetings from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. When it meets at 3 p.m. this afternoon, it will hold a general debate on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance, including follow-up and implementation of the Durban Review Declaration and Programme of Action. At the beginning of the meeting, it will hear presentations of the reports of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, and the Ad Hoc Committee on Complementary Standards.
Documents on Follow-up and Implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
The report of the Secretary-General on regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights (A/HRC/10/41) is not available.
The report of the Secretary-General on National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (A/HRC/10/54) covers the period from January to December 2008, and contains information on the activities undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in relation to national human rights institutions; measures taken by Governments and institutions in this regard; partnership initiatives with United Nations agencies and other international and regional organizations; and cooperation between national human rights institutions and international human rights mechanisms to promote and protect human rights. Specifically, the report highlights the main achievements, challenges and priorities for the Office of the High Commissioner at the national level, where efforts span from encouraging preliminary steps in the establishment of national human rights institutions to supporting their ongoing longevity and effectiveness in fulfilling their mandate. It also discusses the role played by the Office in facilitating cooperation between those institutions and summarizes key activities conducted in this regard. Information regarding the work of national human rights institutions in respect of specific thematic issues, such as conflict prevention and the prevention of torture, is also included.
The report of the Secretary General on Process currently utilized by the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights to accredit national institutions compliant with the Paris Principles (A/HRC/10/55) outlines progress achieved since the previous report on the accreditation of national human rights institutions to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/7/70) and should be read in conjunction with the report of the Secretary General on national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (A/HRC/10/54), which includes, inter alia, information on ways and means of enhancing the participation of the said institutions in the work of the Council.
The note by the Secretariat on integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system (A/HRC/10/63) informs the Council that, in order to allow for all Government responses to be considered and to ensure its translation, the High Commissioner's report on this topic will be submitted to the Council at its eleventh session.
General Debate on Follow-up and Implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
VERONIKA STROMSIKOVA (Czech Republic), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna 16 years ago, offered a comprehensive framework that addressed a range of issues related to the promotion and protection of human rights which continued to require their common attention. The European Union supported the continuing efforts of the High Commissioner, Special Procedures and treaty bodies to implement the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, saying that the Human Rights Council had a special responsibility to ensure the implementation of the Declaration by addressing challenges and ongoing denials of human rights.
It was in that context that the European Union wanted to affirm the joint statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity delivered to the General Assembly on 18 December on behalf of 67 States from all geographic regions. With the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action principles in mind, the European Union called upon the Council to continue to address the issue of discrimination because of sexual orientation and reiterated the request of the Norwegian joint statement of 2006 that the President of the Council provide a special opportunity for a more in-depth discussion of that important human rights issue.
CARLOS PORTALES (Chile), speaking on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, said that the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries continued to be concerned about certain migration policies recently adopted, as the new directive approved by the European parliament, and other measures in countries of origin, transit and destination, that endangered the enjoyment of human rights of migrants and their children. They supported the appeal by the High Commissioner made at this session. The Group rejected the measures that sanctioned undocumented migrants and those that assisted them. Those policies aimed at sanctioning undocumented migrants had been inefficient and opened the door for further exploitation. Human rights were universal and therefore their observance did not depend on nationality or migratory status. The Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries rejected any criminalization of migrants that entered the country illegally and said that detention should be minimal. The world had to remember that migrants often wanted to carry out work that the citizens of the country were no more willing to carry out. Also, migration often presented a solution to demographic problems.
MARGHOOB SALEEM BUTT (Pakistan), speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, said the international community had covered a long distance to achieve the landmark of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. This achievement was built on several past milestones including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Charter, the two International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and a number of related instruments. It served as a normative bridge between all relevant international instruments.
While the galaxy of instruments that had been negotiated so far affirmed the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all the human rights, in reality the existing international order continued to be led by selectivity, economic and political exploitation. The known ratios of one-third of the world's population living in abject poverty, and twenty thousand people dying every day from hunger, poverty and preventable diseases had been further aggravated by the ongoing food and financial crises. However, arbitrary solutions proposed were directed to help those who were least affected. The High Commissioner for Human Rights rightly stated that it was important to recognize that the roots of the current crises could only be addressed if the policies and strategies put in place were participatory, took into account existing inequalities and discrimination, and provided for sound and viable accountability mechanisms.
KAMAPRADIPTA ISNOMO (Indonesia) said that Indonesia was especially concerned about the impact of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action on promulgating the rights of the child, as that was a predominant concern of the Government. At the national level, Indonesia had established several laws aimed at assuring the rights of children, including regarding education, and a law on child protection, which guaranteed the protection of children against ill-treatment and violence and provided severe penalties if violated.
Indonesia also wished to warmly welcome the work of the Convention on the Rights of the Child Panel that had been undertaken in collaboration with the Council as part of the preparation for the forthcoming anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Indonesia felt that that anniversary was a major milestone and a cause for celebration, given that much had been achieved since the Convention had first been adopted in November 1989. It was also important to touch upon the vital role that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action had in guaranteeing the rights of women. Indonesia hoped that by not only promoting the indivisible and inalienable rights of women in the political, cultural and economic spheres, but also by empowering them, they could go a long way towards consistently assuring their rights in the long term.
CARLOS PORTALES (Chile) said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action recognized and affirmed that all human rights originated in the dignity and worth of a human being which was the central subject of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. Chile reaffirmed that it was first and foremost the responsibility of all States to promote and protect human rights. The recognition of the fundamental human rights and the fact that it was the most important duty for the States to protect them stemmed from what was called ius gentium. It was when international law strayed from such concepts and became laws serving an interest that the international community saw great violations and atrocities against humanity. The judge of the International Court of Justice had rightly said that rights holders were human, made of flesh, bone and soul. The human being should be the protagonist of human rights. Each State individually had a responsibility to prevent the violation of human rights and had a duty to react when violations of human rights occurred. The international community needed to assist States in their aim to protect human rights. This was the main responsibility of States; it was not simply a concession but an obligation and the foundation of human rights. This should provide inspiration to the Human Rights Council.
SEBASTIAN ROSALES (Argentina) reaffirmed the principles of universality, interrelation, and interdependence of human rights and the principle of non-discrimination contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. This implicated that all persons were entitled to fundamental liberties. Argentina considered to be particularly important that the promotion and the struggle against all forms of discrimination without any distinction based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political opinion, property or ethnicity was in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with Article 2 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights as part of the fight against discrimination. Argentina was committed to continue to combat discrimination and in particular discrimination against persons based on their sexual orientation. As part of their national efforts taken, Argentina established a National Institute for Discrimination and a National Plan of Action in this context. On 18 December 2008, Argentina had the honor to take the floor in the General Assembly on behalf of other Member States and groups to speak about human rights on the grounds of sexual orientation. The text established as a result called for ensuring human rights despite one's sexual orientation.
EVGENY USTINOV (Russian Federation) said that the doctrine of human rights had a long history and had evolved with the changing world, taking into account tragedies that had faced mankind, such as the Second World War. One of the most important results of that war had been the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.
Achieving the objectives contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action could only be possible through constructive dialogue, taking into account national and cultural specificities, without applying double standards. However, those specificities were often ignored, and human rights instruments were used as a tool of political pressure. As a result, human rights were losing their potential as a tool for establishing dialogue between civilizations and reaching understanding between peoples. Therefore, it was necessary to ensure a synergy between human rights and traditional values and through that to strengthen respect for human rights, as provided for in the Vienna Declaration. To do that, the good will and painstaking efforts of all – States, non-governmental organizations and civil society – would be needed.
ABRAR ALMEIAN (Kuwait) said that concerning women and their integration in the work of the United Nations, Kuwait had tried to upgrade all its rights. Islam attached great importance to women and their rights. Kuwait had acceded to various conventions, particularly those concerning women. Women had also joined the military corps. Kuwait was fully aware of the consequences of armed conflict on women. Kuwait wanted to overcome the obstacles for the full implementation of measures concerning the rights of women.
OMAR HILALE (Morocco) said that the commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action was an important step in the field of human rights. Human rights should be indivisible and interrelated and should not privilege any one group. The threat to human rights had been reflected in different international instruments. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action warned of any restrictive interpretation of human rights and any measure that could compromise the territorial integrity. It was regrettable that many statements already heard aimed to undermine those principles. The resolutions of the United Nations had evolved and or been cancelled and this illustrated the normative nature of the United Nations system. Those resolutions had been evolving and had the main objective to maintain the territorial integrity of a country and countries should not use this selectively.
CHRISTINA KOKKINAKIS (Austria) observed that last year they had celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the fifteenth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. Austria reiterated the importance it attached to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, as providing a sound basis and framework for the promotion and protection of human rights. Fifteen years after its adoption, considerable progress had been made, in particular by strengthening the United Nations machinery in the field of human rights. The establishment of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and its expansion and consolidation in the field was one of the special success stories of that development. Despite those and other significant progress, the enjoyment of human rights remained a distant reality for many. Legislative measures did not suffice when those standards were not implemented and remedies to address human rights violations were not available.
On the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration, Austria had organized an international expert conference entitled "Global standards, local action" last August in Vienna. The conference had brought together a broad representation of the global human rights community in order to assess progress made in implementation of the Declaration, identify main challenges and, above all, formulate a set of recommendations on how to bridge the gap between existing standards and their implementation. One part of those recommendations dealt with United Nations human rights mechanisms and their effectiveness for people on the ground. The publication of the conference had been finalized and Austria was now able to provide it to all delegations, in the hope that the recommendations therein could contribute to their efforts to improve implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and all other international standards in their daily work.
FAITH ULUSOY (Turkey) said that the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 was an important milestone in the path towards the achievement of higher standards of human rights globally. The Conference recognized that the activities of the United Nations in the field of human rights should be rationalized and enhanced in order to strengthen the United Nations machinery in this field and to further the objectives of universal respect for and observance of international human rights standards. In that respect, the establishment of the Human Rights Council, the review of existing mechanisms and the introduction of new mechanisms, in particular the Universal Periodic Review had been significant achievements. They should be able to use them with a result-oriented approach while ensuring their coherence and complementarity. Since the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and the Programme of Action, considerable progress had been made in the promotion and protection of human rights. The international community was now faced however, with new challenges including the global financial and economic crisis, unstable food prices and climate change.
ASADOLLAH ESHRAGH(Iran) said the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action was the outcome of the World Conference in 1993 and had contributed to human rights around the world. Human rights were indivisible and interrelated. The international community must deal with human rights on the same footing and the same emphasis. Iran was of the view that the high goals contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action required efforts at both the national and international level. They also required the promotion of dialogue and cooperation between the international communities at all levels. Furthermore, the promotion of human rights education was of paramount importance as stipulated in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and required concrete action. Iran initiative a series of human rights dialogues to enhance common understanding on human rights. In 2007 the Government of Iran organized a ministerial level meeting to this effect. Another important initiative taken by Islamic countries in this respect was establishing 5 August as the Islamic Human Rights Day to commemorate Islamic human rights and dignity.
KRISTEN MCGEENEY (United States) noted that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted in 1993, was a vision for the implementation of universal human rights that still challenged the world in 2009. One of the most striking statements in it was the recognition and affirmation that "all human rights derived from the dignity and worth inherent in the human person and that the human person was the central subject of human rights and fundamental freedoms".
The United States was concerned by encroachments on the universally agreed principle that it was individual human beings who held rights and freedoms and who deserved protection. The concept of "defamation of religions" sought to protect religions rather than individuals and some were now trying to expand references to "incitement to religious hatred" to include protection of religion. Those concepts unfortunately carried with them calls to restrict fundamental freedoms that exacerbated the misunderstandings and ignorance that led to intolerance. The United States looked forward to working with Council members to find common ground on which to fight religious intolerance and to promote respect for all religious traditions in a manner that also promoted human rights and fundamental freedoms.
ARNOLD SKUBSTED, (Denmark), in a joint statement with Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland, said that they commended the historic joint declaration on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity that was presented in the General Assembly in the December last year, when 66 States from all regions of the world reaffirmed the fundamental principle, expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and international human rights conventions, that all human beings were born free and equal in dignity and rights and that the principle of non-discrimination required that human rights applied equally to every human being regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Nordic countries highly appreciated that others had recently aligned themselves with the Declaration. It was widely recognized that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was forbidden.
CHIBIHI BOUALEM (Algeria) said the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action some 15 years ago at the World Conference on Human Rights was a historic step in favour of the promotion of all human rights without selectivity. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action also established the framework for civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and enshrined the universality, interdependence and indivisibility of those rights. Algeria was committed to the exercise of this right by all people under colonial rule. Algeria urged the Council to ensure that this objectivity was applied. As far as women's rights were concerned, and the equality between men and women, Algeria at the national level had taken measures to ensure that its legislation was in line with Article 18 of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and in December 2008 it conducted a constitutional review to remove obstacles that hindered the participation of women in political and social life, and guaranteed their enjoyment of fundamental human rights. Algeria said it had also removed its reservation against Article 2 on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
ALMA VIVIANA PEREZ GOMEZ (Colombia) said Colombia wished to restate the principle of the universality of human rights and the relevance of that principle in the fight against all forms of discrimination. In that spirit, Colombia associated itself with the joint Declaration on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity made last December in the General Assembly. With regard to its commitment to the fight against all forms of discrimination, Colombia reiterated its intention to implement the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review process, as well as the voluntary commitments it had undertaken in that context, in particular those referring to these particular topics, as a demonstration of Colombia's commitment to protect human rights for all its citizens. Among progress achieved in Colombia was the decision handed down by the Supreme Court this year for full protections for same-sex unions. It further reaffirmed its will to carry out campaigns in order to build a society of tolerance for all.
Mr. WOO, of International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, appreciated the support expressed by the Secretary General on the enhancement of the national human rights institutions cooperation at regional levels, and regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights. National human rights institutions were increasing their role and participation in existing regional mechanisms and continued to play an active role in promoting the establishment of new regional arrangements. The International Coordinating Committee welcomed the recent Human Rights Council activities on regional arrangements and looked forward to continuous collaboration on such initiatives. It also expressed its appreciation for the support by the Secretary-General, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and its National Institutions Unit in relation to the International Coordinating Committee accreditation procedure.
BYUNG HOON OH, of National Human Rights Commission of Korea, said the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action called for the strengthening of cooperation between national institutions for the protection and promotion of human rights. It was widely agreed that national human rights institutions had a key role to play in the strengthening of Member State capacity, and it was the view of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea that this role could be greatly enhanced by increased cooperation among national human rights institutions as well as greater participation in United Nations human rights mechanisms. The Seoul Guidelines represented an important contribution to the enhancement of international cooperation on human rights. All national human rights institutions should increase their efforts at international cooperation and take full advantage of the opportunities now available for their greater participation in the proceedings of the Human Rights Council.
KIRSTEN ROBERT, of the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions, said they strongly believed that education in and for human rights was an essential element in the right to education. The World Programme on Human Rights Education, the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education and related programmes provided a number of guidelines for standard practice. Recognizing that action at the national level was critical to success, the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions believed that national action plans in this respect were of great importance. While the first phase of the World Programme on Human Rights Education had covered primary and secondary education, the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions looked forward to the expansion of the programme in further phases to other areas, including training.
ALEX ASATASHURILI, of National Human Rights Institutions of Mexico, on behalf Independence of National Human Rights Institutions, said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action was particularly important for national human rights institutions. It affirmed their constructive role in the promotion and protection of human rights at the national level and called on Member States to establish and strengthen independent and effective national human rights institutions in line with the relevant international standards. One of the fundamental principles enshrined in the Paris Principles was the guarantee of independence. This was reflected in freedom from executive interference in the organization of the national human rights institutions, its functional autonomy and the requirements of adequate funding to ensure the smooth conduct of its activities. The organization expressed deep concern regarding recent threats to the independence of national human rights institutions.
CONCHITA PONCINI, of International Federation of University Women, on behalf of severals NGOs1, said over a century, women's conferences had followed each other, and the Beijing Conference was the world's biggest conference for women, and the United Nations should keep this momentum, working to ensure equality. As a new financial crisis hit the world, the economics of gender remained ignored. In recent financial crises, women had shown economic ability, able to find smart and effective business models. Many women worked for their families to survive in Africa, and introduction of equal treatment on parental leave had allowed them to have families and work. The United Nations should continue to support the work of the women's organizations.
JOHN FISHER, of European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, on behalf of severals NGOs2 said that while the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action affirmed the principles of universality and non-discrimination, many people continued to be denied their rights solely because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. At this session of the Council alone, Special Rapporteurs had identified numerous human rights violations on those grounds, including arrests, death threats, violent attacks, violations of freedoms of expression and assembly, raids on homes and offices and torture. They therefore welcomed the joint statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, delivered at the General Assembly last December by 66 States from all United Nations regional groups, and the recent announcement by the United States that it was willing to join the growing cross-regional support.
ABDEL WAHAB HANI, of Arab Commission for Human Rights, said regarding treaty bodies, the Arab Commission for Human Rights had already stressed earlier the importance to be vigilant as to political nomination. The Arab Commission called upon States not to nominate candidates that held political posts. Today there was a new generation of human rights and a new generation of violations. One such new phenomenon was detention centers for foreigners, many violations occurred in such centers. The Arab Commission suggested that the Council should have a special session on this issue or establish a special mechanism.
AABADILA SEMLALI, of Centrist Democratic International, said States had a duty to fulfil, respect, protect and implement, but there were countries that ignored these obligations, and snatched children away from their families and committed other violations, putting people into military camps without the consent of their families, sent off to act as cannon fodder in fratricidal wars. Non-State actors were involved in this. The only thing that was implemented by countries such as Algeria was covering the sequestered populations, hiding behind the phrase of self-determination. Self-determination did not mean separatism. There should be fulfilment and enjoyment of their human rights of those in the Tinduf camps.
SOPHIE ETSKINE, of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, said that, in the context of integrating human rights of women throughout the United Nations system, the International Humanist and Ethical Union wanted to highlighted two areas in which women were particularly disadvantaged. The first was the plight of women classed as "untouchables". In India, for example, such women, known as Dalits, suffered systematic discrimination and abuse – as women, as untouchable and from poverty. Indian Dalit girls and women numbered more than 80 million and many thousands of them suffered daily violence and abuse at the hands of men – both family members and members of the upper castes. The second point concerned the difficulties of Muslim women. According to media reports from Saudi Arabia, a 75-year-old Syrian woman, had been sentenced to 40 lashes, fourth months' imprisonment and deportation from the Kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house. Subjecting a 75-year-old woman to forty lashes was an abuse of human rights under article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. They could understand why some States wished for silence in the Council with regard to any mention that such punishments were carried out under religious laws.
RONALD BARNES, of Indian Council of South America, said that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action fully recognized the right to self-determination. The States that had signed this Declaration clearly stated that this right was a human right. The Indian Council of South America asked India why it had stated in an earlier debate that the Advisory Committee's proposal was not in compliance with its mandate. A General Assembly resolution also said to give special attention to the right to self-determination. The Indian Council of South America called upon India to carefully examine its position and on States to take up this issue at the next session.
SAADANI MAALAININE, of Union de l'Action Féminine, said the protection and promotion of fundamental freedoms and human rights should be considered a key objective of the international community, particularly the right of women and children to enjoy a decent life with no discrimination or abuse. The human rights of children should be a key rule under international law. All forms of discrimination and related intolerance should be eradicated. In the Tinduf camps, women and children were suffering from the denial of their rights, tortured, and subject to forced labour. Many children were manipulated for political ends, and there was a great deal of suffering. Humanitarian aid was improperly diverted.
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1Joint statement: International Federation of University Women; International Federation of Business and Professional Women; Women's International Zionist Organization; World Federation for Mental Health; Women's World Summit Foundation; International Alliance of Women; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; Federation of Associations of Former International Civil Servants, Soka Gakkai International; Worldwide Organization for Women; Federación de Asociaciones de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos; Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University; United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society; Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas; Zonta International; International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse; Pan Pacific and South East Asia Women's Association, Femmes Africa Solidarité; Women's Federation for World Peace International; Organisation pour la communication en Afrique et de promotion de la coopération économique internationale (OCAPROCE International); and Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices affecting the Health of Women and Children.
2Joint statement: European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association; Canadian HIV/Aids Legal Network; Danish National Organisation for Gay Men and Lesbians; Public Services International; Swedish Federation of Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender Rights; and Federatie Van Netherlandse Verenigingen Tot Integratie Van Homoseksualiteit Coc Nederland.
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For use of the information media; not an official record
A Search For Asylum And Peace Of Mind
Eduardo's mind is a puzzle: Since he fled a civil war in his native Guatemala more than a decade ago, he has been trying to piece it back together.
Although the war ended with a peace treaty in 1996, the battle still rages inside him. He has nightmares from a childhood witnessing government soldiers torturing and killing relatives and others in his Mayan tribe.
"I am always nervous. I do not have many friends, and I never open the door when I am alone. I think they are coming for me," said Eduardo, who is 27 and does not want his full name used because he is awaiting a response on his asylum claim.
Read More At Boston.com
Although the war ended with a peace treaty in 1996, the battle still rages inside him. He has nightmares from a childhood witnessing government soldiers torturing and killing relatives and others in his Mayan tribe.
"I am always nervous. I do not have many friends, and I never open the door when I am alone. I think they are coming for me," said Eduardo, who is 27 and does not want his full name used because he is awaiting a response on his asylum claim.
Read More At Boston.com
US Signs UN's Declaration to Decriminalize Homosexuality
The Obama administration on Wednesday formally endorsed a U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality, a measure that former President George W. Bush had refused to sign.
The move was the administration's latest in reversing Bush-era decisions that have been heavily criticized by human rights and other groups. The United States was the only western nation not to sign onto the declaration when it came up at the U.N. General Assembly in December.
Read More At the Associated Press
The move was the administration's latest in reversing Bush-era decisions that have been heavily criticized by human rights and other groups. The United States was the only western nation not to sign onto the declaration when it came up at the U.N. General Assembly in December.
Read More At the Associated Press
Obama Moves to Protect Rumsfeld in Torture Case
When he was a candidate for president, Barack Obama spoke forcefully in favor of granting habeas corpus rights to terror suspects. But now that he is president, he is taking a less-principled approach. In a brief filed Thursday, Justice Department lawyers contended that even though the Supreme Court ruled that Guantánamo detainees do have habeas corpus rights, these rights do not apply to four former detainees suing former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Read More At AllGov
Read More At AllGov
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Sent back by Britain. Executed in Darfur.
Failed asylum-seeker followed home from airport and shot by Sudan security officials.
A failed asylum-seeker who returned to Darfur under a government repatriation scheme has been murdered by Sudanese security officers after they followed him home from the airport in Khartoum, The Independent has learnt.
Adam Osman Mohammed, 32, was gunned down in his home in front of his wife and four-year-old son just days after arriving in his village in south Darfur.
The case is to be used by asylum campaigners to counter Home Office attempts to lift the ban on the removal and deportation to Sudan of failed asylum-seekers. Next month, government lawyers are expected to go to court to argue that it is safe to return as many as 3,000 people to Khartoum.
Read More At the Independent
A failed asylum-seeker who returned to Darfur under a government repatriation scheme has been murdered by Sudanese security officers after they followed him home from the airport in Khartoum, The Independent has learnt.
Adam Osman Mohammed, 32, was gunned down in his home in front of his wife and four-year-old son just days after arriving in his village in south Darfur.
The case is to be used by asylum campaigners to counter Home Office attempts to lift the ban on the removal and deportation to Sudan of failed asylum-seekers. Next month, government lawyers are expected to go to court to argue that it is safe to return as many as 3,000 people to Khartoum.
Read More At the Independent
Monday, March 16, 2009
US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites
ON a bright sunny day two years ago, President George W. Bush strode into the East Room of the White House and informed the world that the United States had created a dark and secret universe to hold and interrogate captured terrorists.
“In addition to the terrorists held at Guantánamo,” the president said, “a small number of suspected terrorist leaders and operatives captured during the war have been held and questioned outside the United States, in a separate program operated by the Central Intelligence Agency.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross was allowed to interview the captives and these interviews were compiled into a confidential document that has now been exposed. Beginning with the chapter headings on its contents page — “suffocation by water,” “prolonged stress standing,” “beatings by use of a collar,” “confinement in a box” — the document makes compelling and chilling reading. The stories recounted in its fewer than 50 pages lead inexorably to this unequivocal conclusion, which, given its source, has the power of a legal determination: “The allegations of ill treatment of the detainees indicate that, in many cases, the ill treatment to which they were subjected while held in the C.I.A. program, either singly or in combination, constituted torture."
Read More At the New York Times
“In addition to the terrorists held at Guantánamo,” the president said, “a small number of suspected terrorist leaders and operatives captured during the war have been held and questioned outside the United States, in a separate program operated by the Central Intelligence Agency.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross was allowed to interview the captives and these interviews were compiled into a confidential document that has now been exposed. Beginning with the chapter headings on its contents page — “suffocation by water,” “prolonged stress standing,” “beatings by use of a collar,” “confinement in a box” — the document makes compelling and chilling reading. The stories recounted in its fewer than 50 pages lead inexorably to this unequivocal conclusion, which, given its source, has the power of a legal determination: “The allegations of ill treatment of the detainees indicate that, in many cases, the ill treatment to which they were subjected while held in the C.I.A. program, either singly or in combination, constituted torture."
Read More At the New York Times
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Mexican Army Accused Of Abuse In Juarez
In the Mexican border city of Juarez, thousands of army troops have taken over control of the local police force in an effort to win back the city's streets from violent drug cartels.
But Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson, the ombudsman for the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission, says the military shouldn't be in charge of security in Juarez. And he says the first wave of soldiers who arrived a year ago have tortured and even killed criminal suspects.
"We have registered 160 cases of abuse committed by the military here in Ciudad Juarez," Hickerson says. "And the majority of those cases were of torture." Hickerson says that when the soldiers arrived more than a year ago, the new troops tried to quickly gather intelligence on the local cartels by beating information out of suspects.
Read More At NPR
But Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson, the ombudsman for the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission, says the military shouldn't be in charge of security in Juarez. And he says the first wave of soldiers who arrived a year ago have tortured and even killed criminal suspects.
"We have registered 160 cases of abuse committed by the military here in Ciudad Juarez," Hickerson says. "And the majority of those cases were of torture." Hickerson says that when the soldiers arrived more than a year ago, the new troops tried to quickly gather intelligence on the local cartels by beating information out of suspects.
Read More At NPR
Serbian Court Jails 13 For 1991 War Massacre
Serbia's war crimes court jailed 13 former Serb paramilitaries on Thursday for the 1991 massacre of 200 Croats, among the atrocities of the wars that broke up Yugoslavia.
Local commander Miroljub Vujovic and six other defendants were sentenced at a retrial to 20 years each in jail. Six others were imprisoned for between five and 15 years.
The Ovcara massacre took place when the Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army overran the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in November 1991 after a siege lasting months.
The verdict said that Serbian paramilitaries, led by Vujovic, took Croatian prisoners of war in small groups to the Ovcara pig farm, where they were mown down with machine guns."Those still moving were finished off with pistols," the verdict said.
Read More At Reuters
Local commander Miroljub Vujovic and six other defendants were sentenced at a retrial to 20 years each in jail. Six others were imprisoned for between five and 15 years.
The Ovcara massacre took place when the Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army overran the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in November 1991 after a siege lasting months.
The verdict said that Serbian paramilitaries, led by Vujovic, took Croatian prisoners of war in small groups to the Ovcara pig farm, where they were mown down with machine guns."Those still moving were finished off with pistols," the verdict said.
Read More At Reuters
Life As A failed Asylum Seeker
Ahmed (not his real name) has thick, black hair swept back and a jacket that looks too thin in the biting cold of the late afternoon.Arriving from Turkey, he has been in Denmark for a long time, but doesn't want to say how long.
His father was a member of the Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK), a group fighting to create a separate Kurdish homeland. But he was killed by Turkish army special forces. Ahmed was then served his conscription papers for the Turkish army, but he didn't want anything to do with the people who had killed his father.
Worried he too might be killed, Ahmed fled, first to Germany, then on to Denmark. He applied for asylum and waited three years for a decision. His lawyer argued his life was at risk because of his family connections and that he simply couldn't return. The Danish panel listened carefully, and then ruled against him. At the asylum centre, he waited and wondered when they would come to deport him.At that point, Ahmed decided he could not let that happen, and so he disappeared. He walked out of the camp and became a "ghost".
Read More At Al Jazeera
His father was a member of the Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK), a group fighting to create a separate Kurdish homeland. But he was killed by Turkish army special forces. Ahmed was then served his conscription papers for the Turkish army, but he didn't want anything to do with the people who had killed his father.
Worried he too might be killed, Ahmed fled, first to Germany, then on to Denmark. He applied for asylum and waited three years for a decision. His lawyer argued his life was at risk because of his family connections and that he simply couldn't return. The Danish panel listened carefully, and then ruled against him. At the asylum centre, he waited and wondered when they would come to deport him.At that point, Ahmed decided he could not let that happen, and so he disappeared. He walked out of the camp and became a "ghost".
Read More At Al Jazeera
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Sex Attacks Blight Lives of Haitian Girls
The government of Haiti is being urged to take action to stop the wave of sexual violence that is blighting the lives of young women in one of the world's poorest nations.
An online petition has been launched by Amnesty International to protest at Haiti's high incidence of rape, often of young girls by gangs of armed men, that was first highlighted in 2006 when UN workers discovered that up to half of the women living in the capital Port-au-Prince's vast slums had been the victims of rape.
Since then the government, which only made rape a crime in 2005, has taken little or no action to hunt down the offenders, among whom are said to be police officers.Filmmaker Xanthe Hinchey met several victims forced into hiding after their attacks because of the risk of being killed. Nahomey, now 21, told how she was raped in the street: "It was a policeman and a civilian. Now they say they will kill me because they are in prison." Another girl, 17-year-old Jina, is now pregnant after being raped by three men.
Watch the Accompanying Video at The Guardian
An online petition has been launched by Amnesty International to protest at Haiti's high incidence of rape, often of young girls by gangs of armed men, that was first highlighted in 2006 when UN workers discovered that up to half of the women living in the capital Port-au-Prince's vast slums had been the victims of rape.
Since then the government, which only made rape a crime in 2005, has taken little or no action to hunt down the offenders, among whom are said to be police officers.Filmmaker Xanthe Hinchey met several victims forced into hiding after their attacks because of the risk of being killed. Nahomey, now 21, told how she was raped in the street: "It was a policeman and a civilian. Now they say they will kill me because they are in prison." Another girl, 17-year-old Jina, is now pregnant after being raped by three men.
Watch the Accompanying Video at The Guardian
Mideast: Where Every Day is A Woman's Day
BET SAHOUR, West Bank, Mar 8 (IPS) - We've been warned she's a "harsh case". Hesitantly she enters, a withdrawn smile hidden behind glasses and a canopy of thick black hair. Impassively, she tells her life story - as if it's about someone else entirely: She's 19. Since seven, she's been sexually assaulted by "an influential family relative.
Last year, she heard two younger sisters suffered the same ordeal. But, they were now married, whereas she remained at home, alone in her helplessness. Two months ago, she left, "not knowing where to go." Finally, she found a haven within the ochre walls of this new complex on a Bethlehem hillside looking down on the rugged Judean desert - the Mehwar Centre for the Protection and the Empowerment of Families and Women.
At this centre every day is a woman's day, every week a woman's week. Mehwar means 'the core' in Arabic. The centre shelters Palestinian women and their children seeking refuge from difficult domestic circumstances within the conditions that typify Palestinian reality.
Shelters are usually secret places. We choose instead to send a strong message: this is an open space, not only for victimised women, but also for their community. Violence should not be a secret. It must be dealt with." Mehwar is the first Palestinian centre providing integrative answers to domestic violence. At the centre they not only protect physically and sexually abused women, they seek "to empower" them to play a defining role in society.
Read More At IPS
Last year, she heard two younger sisters suffered the same ordeal. But, they were now married, whereas she remained at home, alone in her helplessness. Two months ago, she left, "not knowing where to go." Finally, she found a haven within the ochre walls of this new complex on a Bethlehem hillside looking down on the rugged Judean desert - the Mehwar Centre for the Protection and the Empowerment of Families and Women.
At this centre every day is a woman's day, every week a woman's week. Mehwar means 'the core' in Arabic. The centre shelters Palestinian women and their children seeking refuge from difficult domestic circumstances within the conditions that typify Palestinian reality.
Shelters are usually secret places. We choose instead to send a strong message: this is an open space, not only for victimised women, but also for their community. Violence should not be a secret. It must be dealt with." Mehwar is the first Palestinian centre providing integrative answers to domestic violence. At the centre they not only protect physically and sexually abused women, they seek "to empower" them to play a defining role in society.
Read More At IPS
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Afghan Refugees Risked Their Lives but are Frustrated by Resettlement in US
Mohammad Naseer Yasini arrived in Kansas City last month and is one of the hundreds of Iraqis and Afghans who move to the United States on a special immigrant visa after serving alongside American troops in their home countries. The visa was created specifically for those whose lives have been threatened because of their work for U.S. forces.
But many of these refugees do not feel special. They arrive here reliant on nonprofit social service agencies and become ensnared in the red tape of securing federal resettlement assistance for housing, employment and health care. They often find they cannot resume the professional careers they once held or had planned in their native countries.
What federal resettlement benefits they do receive expire in six months for Afghans and eight months for Iraqis, a small time frame to start a new life in a new country that they had risked their lives for, said Bob Carey, vice president for resettlement and migration policy for the International Rescue Committee.
Read More At CommonDreams.org
But many of these refugees do not feel special. They arrive here reliant on nonprofit social service agencies and become ensnared in the red tape of securing federal resettlement assistance for housing, employment and health care. They often find they cannot resume the professional careers they once held or had planned in their native countries.
What federal resettlement benefits they do receive expire in six months for Afghans and eight months for Iraqis, a small time frame to start a new life in a new country that they had risked their lives for, said Bob Carey, vice president for resettlement and migration policy for the International Rescue Committee.
Read More At CommonDreams.org
Friday, March 6, 2009
UN Decries Violence Against Women
The UN says at least one in three women will be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime and one in five women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape.Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, urged world leaders on Thursday to end violence against women in their countries, in a speech on the eve of International Women's Day.He called on leaders and people around the world to address what he said was a "crime against humanity".
"Violence against women is an abomination. It cannot be tolerated, in any form, in any context, in any circumstances, by any political leader or by any government," Ban told ministers from over 50 countries attending the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women, which began on March 2.
Ban recalled a young woman he met on his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who was "brutally and violently abused by four soldiers at gunpoint" in eastern Congo while fleeing fighting that destroyed her village. "She is now at the Heal Africa hospital in Goma, suffering not only from her physical injuries but from being ostracised by her village and family from a false sense of shame", he said.
Read More At Al Jazeera
"Violence against women is an abomination. It cannot be tolerated, in any form, in any context, in any circumstances, by any political leader or by any government," Ban told ministers from over 50 countries attending the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women, which began on March 2.
Ban recalled a young woman he met on his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who was "brutally and violently abused by four soldiers at gunpoint" in eastern Congo while fleeing fighting that destroyed her village. "She is now at the Heal Africa hospital in Goma, suffering not only from her physical injuries but from being ostracised by her village and family from a false sense of shame", he said.
Read More At Al Jazeera
Monday, March 2, 2009
CIA Admits 'Terror Tapes' Destroyed
The US Central Intelligence Agency has destroyed 92 tapes of interrogations of"terror" suspects, far more than previously acknowledged, the agency has said.The disclosure on Monday came in a letter filed by US government lawyers as part of a lawsuit brought by a US rights group over interrogation programmes operated under the Bush administration following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"The large number of videotapes destroyed confirms that the agency engaged in a systematic attempt to hide evidence of its illegal interrogations," Amrit Singh of the American Civil Liberities Union (ACLU) said in a statement.
Read More At Al Jazeera
"The large number of videotapes destroyed confirms that the agency engaged in a systematic attempt to hide evidence of its illegal interrogations," Amrit Singh of the American Civil Liberities Union (ACLU) said in a statement.
Read More At Al Jazeera
Saturday, February 28, 2009
US Discriminatory Immigration Policies Toward Haitians
It's a familiar story for Haitians - last in, first out for the hemisphere's poorest, least wanted, and most abused people here and at home. Most recently it was highlighted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials announcing the resumption of over 30,000 deportations to a nation reeling from poverty, repression, despair, the devastation from last summer's storms, and occupation by UN paramilitary Blue Helmets - since 2004, illegally there for the first time ever to support and enforce a coup d'etat against a democratically elected president, at the behest of Washington.
On December 9, ICE resumed deportations after halting them in September following summer storms that battered the country leaving 800,000 people without food, clean water, other essentials, and for around 70,000 their homes. ICE spokeswoman Nicole Navas announced: "We fully expected to resume deportation flights when it was safe. And we made a determination that it was appropriate to (do it now) based on the conditions on the ground....The individuals being returned have final orders of removal and the necessary travel documents" - even though advocates say things are worse in Haiti, not better, with The Miami Herald said it was "the worst humanitarian disaster (for) Haiti in 100 years"
Read More At Global Research
On December 9, ICE resumed deportations after halting them in September following summer storms that battered the country leaving 800,000 people without food, clean water, other essentials, and for around 70,000 their homes. ICE spokeswoman Nicole Navas announced: "We fully expected to resume deportation flights when it was safe. And we made a determination that it was appropriate to (do it now) based on the conditions on the ground....The individuals being returned have final orders of removal and the necessary travel documents" - even though advocates say things are worse in Haiti, not better, with The Miami Herald said it was "the worst humanitarian disaster (for) Haiti in 100 years"
Read More At Global Research
African Migrants Drown Off Yemen
At least 45 people have drowned after a boat carrying them from Somalia across the Gulf of Aden capsized in deep waters off Yemen. The boat, transporting 46 migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia, capsized on Friday night about 95km from Mukalla, a south-eastern Yemeni port, the Yemeni Interior Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
It is the second accident involving migrants off Yemen in about a week: On February 20, six African migrants drowned and 11 were reported missing and presumed dead after traffickers pushed dozens of passengers overboard in deep waters off Yemen's south-eastern coast.Smugglers forced the 52 passengers, 40 Somalis and 12 Ethiopians, into the sea after they spotted Yemeni coast guards onshore.
Read More At Al Jazeera
It is the second accident involving migrants off Yemen in about a week: On February 20, six African migrants drowned and 11 were reported missing and presumed dead after traffickers pushed dozens of passengers overboard in deep waters off Yemen's south-eastern coast.Smugglers forced the 52 passengers, 40 Somalis and 12 Ethiopians, into the sea after they spotted Yemeni coast guards onshore.
Read More At Al Jazeera
Friday, February 27, 2009
Khmer Rouge Torture Centre Survivor Talks
A child survivor of the Khmer Rouge's largest torture centre has emerged from obscurity to tell his story on the eve of a crimes against humanity trial in Cambodia. Norng Chan Phal, now a 39-year-old father of two, said he was eight when the Vietnamese stormed into Phnom Penh to end the Khmer Rouge reign of terror.He was held at the notorious S-21 prison where some 16,000 men, women and children were brutally tortured and executed.Phal came forward last week after a film from Vietnam was screened showing Vietnamese troops entering the prison, also known as Tuol Sleng. The man who ran the prison, Kaing Guek Eav, is on trial at a UN-backed tribunal. Better known as Duch, he is the first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders to stand trial for crimes against humanity. He faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and homicide while he ran the centre.
Read More At Sky News
Iraq's Queer Underground Railroad
Today in Iraq, a modern version of the underground railroad is saving the lives of gay people who are fleeing death squads. It is providing safe houses in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, and is smuggling lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to neighbouring countries, where it helps them apply for United Nations humanitarian protection.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, homophobia and the terrorisation of LGBT people has got much worse. The western invasion of Iraq in 2003 ended the Baathist dictatorship. But it also destroyed a secular state, created chaos and lawlessness and allowed the flourishing of religious fundamentalism. This campaign of terror is sanctioned by Iraq's leading Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. In 2005, he issued a fatwa urging the killing of LGBT people in the "worst, most severe way" possible.
This is the same Sistani who was praised by President Bush as a "leading moderate". The British government concurred. We hosted him in Britain for medical treatment. He was anti-Saddam, so the west backed him, even after he issued his murderous religious edicts. Although the general security situation has improved in Iraq, for LGBT people it has deteriorated sharply. Systematic assassinations of queers are being orchestrated by police and security agents in the interior ministry.
Read More At the Guardian
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, homophobia and the terrorisation of LGBT people has got much worse. The western invasion of Iraq in 2003 ended the Baathist dictatorship. But it also destroyed a secular state, created chaos and lawlessness and allowed the flourishing of religious fundamentalism. This campaign of terror is sanctioned by Iraq's leading Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. In 2005, he issued a fatwa urging the killing of LGBT people in the "worst, most severe way" possible.
This is the same Sistani who was praised by President Bush as a "leading moderate". The British government concurred. We hosted him in Britain for medical treatment. He was anti-Saddam, so the west backed him, even after he issued his murderous religious edicts. Although the general security situation has improved in Iraq, for LGBT people it has deteriorated sharply. Systematic assassinations of queers are being orchestrated by police and security agents in the interior ministry.
Read More At the Guardian
Uigher Detainees in Guantanamo Likely To Be Resettled in Washington DC
Seven years after Hozaifa Parhat was detained near Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains and sent to Guantanamo Bay, Parhat and 16 fellow Chinese Uighurs appear likely to be the first of the 245 prisoners still at the U.S. military prison in Cuba to be set free under the Obama administration.President Obama has made closing the camp a priority, and federal courts have so far ruled that the Uighur detainees present no threat to the United States.But freed to where? China is insisting that the Uighurs be sent home to face trial for separatist activities and is denouncing any other country accepting them.
"The Uighurs live primarily on the wild northwestern steppes of China in a region officially known as Xinjiang but called Turkestan by the Uighurs. Beijing has come under widespread criticism from the United States and others for its repression of rights and religious freedom there. People familiar with the talks within the administration said there was little chance the White House would agree to return the Uighurs to China, given the widespread belief that they might be tortured or executed if sent back.
Read More At LA Times
"The Uighurs live primarily on the wild northwestern steppes of China in a region officially known as Xinjiang but called Turkestan by the Uighurs. Beijing has come under widespread criticism from the United States and others for its repression of rights and religious freedom there. People familiar with the talks within the administration said there was little chance the White House would agree to return the Uighurs to China, given the widespread belief that they might be tortured or executed if sent back.
Read More At LA Times
Yoo Memos Gave Retroactive Cover
A Justice Department inquiry has found that the Bush administration’s legal opinions justifying the torture of “war on terror” detainees were hastily drafted after one prisoner was already subjected to waterboarding according to several sources familiar with the still-classified report.
The implication of the finding is that John Yoo and other lawyers for the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel violated ethical standards by collaborating with senior White House officials to create legal cover for violating anti-torture and other federal statutes after the fact, rather than providing objective advice for future actions.
As more becomes known about the genesis of those OLC opinions, the evidence increasingly points to a different reality, that Bush and his top aides essentially worked with Yoo and the OLC to fix the legal opinions around their desired policy, even to justify actions that had already occurred.
Read More At Consortium News
The implication of the finding is that John Yoo and other lawyers for the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel violated ethical standards by collaborating with senior White House officials to create legal cover for violating anti-torture and other federal statutes after the fact, rather than providing objective advice for future actions.
As more becomes known about the genesis of those OLC opinions, the evidence increasingly points to a different reality, that Bush and his top aides essentially worked with Yoo and the OLC to fix the legal opinions around their desired policy, even to justify actions that had already occurred.
Read More At Consortium News
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Cambodia genocide Trial Begins
A notorious torture centre boss went before Cambodia's genocide tribunal today for its first trial over the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime more than three decades ago.
Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who headed the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh is charged with crimes against humanity and is the first of five defendants scheduled for long-delayed trials by the UN-assisted tribunal. Duch, driven to the hearing in a bulletproof car from a nearby detention centre, intently followed the proceedings in a courtroom packed with some 500 people.
The 66-year-old is accused of committing or abetting a range of crimes including murder, torture and rape at S-21 prison formerly a school where up to 16,000 men, women and children were held and tortured, before being put to death.
Read More At The Guardian
Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who headed the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh is charged with crimes against humanity and is the first of five defendants scheduled for long-delayed trials by the UN-assisted tribunal. Duch, driven to the hearing in a bulletproof car from a nearby detention centre, intently followed the proceedings in a courtroom packed with some 500 people.
The 66-year-old is accused of committing or abetting a range of crimes including murder, torture and rape at S-21 prison formerly a school where up to 16,000 men, women and children were held and tortured, before being put to death.
Read More At The Guardian
US 'War on Terror' Eroded Rights Worldwide
Washington's "war on terror" after the Sept. 11 attacks has eroded human rights worldwide, creating lingering cynicism that the United Nations must now combat, international law experts said on Monday.
Mary Robinson, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights when al Qaeda militants flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, said the United States caused harm with some of the ways it responded.
"Seven years after 9/11 it is time to take stock and repeal abusive laws and policies," the former Irish president said, warning that harsh U.S. detentions and interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba gave a dangerous signal to other countries that could easily follow suit.
The report found that many undemocratic states have referred to U.S. counter-terrorism practices to justify their own abuses, a trend Robinson said was particularly alarming.
Read More At CommonDreams.org
Mary Robinson, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights when al Qaeda militants flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, said the United States caused harm with some of the ways it responded.
"Seven years after 9/11 it is time to take stock and repeal abusive laws and policies," the former Irish president said, warning that harsh U.S. detentions and interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba gave a dangerous signal to other countries that could easily follow suit.
The report found that many undemocratic states have referred to U.S. counter-terrorism practices to justify their own abuses, a trend Robinson said was particularly alarming.
Read More At CommonDreams.org
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Lawsuit Sheds More Light on Terror War Abuses
Three human rights groups have released documents that they say reveal close cooperation between the U.S. Defence Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in rendering terrorism suspects to secret prisons, creating 'ghost prisoners' by concealing their identities from the Red Cross, and delaying their release to counter negative publicity about their treatment at Guántanamo Bay.
Close to a thousand pages of documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and New York University's Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ). The suit, dating from 2004, seeks the disclosure of government documents relating to secret detention, extraordinary rendition, and torture.
At a press conference earlier this week, the groups revealed that the newly released documents confirm the existence of 'black site' prisons at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and in Iraq; affirm the Defence Department (DOD's) cooperation with the CIA's "ghost" detention programme; and show one case where the DOD sought to delay the release of Guantánamo prisoners who were scheduled to be sent home in order to avoid bad press.
Read More At IPS
Close to a thousand pages of documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and New York University's Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ). The suit, dating from 2004, seeks the disclosure of government documents relating to secret detention, extraordinary rendition, and torture.
At a press conference earlier this week, the groups revealed that the newly released documents confirm the existence of 'black site' prisons at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and in Iraq; affirm the Defence Department (DOD's) cooperation with the CIA's "ghost" detention programme; and show one case where the DOD sought to delay the release of Guantánamo prisoners who were scheduled to be sent home in order to avoid bad press.
Read More At IPS
Newly Declassified Defense Department Documents Indicate the Deaths of Several Captives While Interrogated by US Officials in 2002
Two newly released pages from the Church Report focused on the deaths of two prisoners at the U.S. military base in Bagram, Afghanistan. One prisoner died on Dec. 4, 2002, and another six days later.
The Church report said the interrogators allegedly went beyond authorized techniques by employing “sleep deprivation, the use of scenarios designed to convince the detainee that death or severely painful consequences are imminent for him and/or his family, and beating.” The report added that a private contractor, David Passaro, conducted an interrogation that allegedly led to another detainee death.
The ACLU, which has carried on a long legal battle to expose the Bush administration’s secret policies on detainees, released the two pages from the Church report and other documents on Wednesday, adding to an expansive body of material covering thousands of pages.
Read More At Consortium News
The Church report said the interrogators allegedly went beyond authorized techniques by employing “sleep deprivation, the use of scenarios designed to convince the detainee that death or severely painful consequences are imminent for him and/or his family, and beating.” The report added that a private contractor, David Passaro, conducted an interrogation that allegedly led to another detainee death.
The ACLU, which has carried on a long legal battle to expose the Bush administration’s secret policies on detainees, released the two pages from the Church report and other documents on Wednesday, adding to an expansive body of material covering thousands of pages.
Read More At Consortium News
Torture Account by Missing Rights Defense Lawyer Gao Zhisheng
Human Rights in China (HRIC) has received an account by rights defense lawyer Gao Zhisheng (高智晟) from a reliable source, detailing his kidnapping and torture in September 2007.
Gao was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2006 on charges of “inciting subversion” for writing a series of open letters to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao that were critical of the Chinese government’s suppression of Falun Gong. He received a five-year suspension of his prison term and was under heavy surveillance.
In September 2007, he was detained for several weeks after sending an open letter to the U.S. Congress denouncing the human rights situation in China and describing his and his family’s treatment by security forces.
Most recently, he was reported to have been forcibly taken away by more than 10 security police from his home in Shaanxi in the early morning of February 04, 2009, and has not been heard from since.HRIC received Gao’s account, “Dark Night, Dark Hood, and Kidnapping by Dark Mafia,” translated by an anonymous source. The account details violent beatings, repeated electric shocks to his genitals, and having his eyes burnt by lit cigarettes.
Read More At Human Rights in China
Gao was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2006 on charges of “inciting subversion” for writing a series of open letters to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao that were critical of the Chinese government’s suppression of Falun Gong. He received a five-year suspension of his prison term and was under heavy surveillance.
In September 2007, he was detained for several weeks after sending an open letter to the U.S. Congress denouncing the human rights situation in China and describing his and his family’s treatment by security forces.
Most recently, he was reported to have been forcibly taken away by more than 10 security police from his home in Shaanxi in the early morning of February 04, 2009, and has not been heard from since.HRIC received Gao’s account, “Dark Night, Dark Hood, and Kidnapping by Dark Mafia,” translated by an anonymous source. The account details violent beatings, repeated electric shocks to his genitals, and having his eyes burnt by lit cigarettes.
Read More At Human Rights in China
Former Gitmo Guard Recalls Abuse, Climate of Fear
Army Pvt. Brandon Neely was scared when he took Guantanamo's first shackled detainees off a bus. Told to expect vicious terrorists, he grabbed a trembling, elderly detainee and ground his face into the cement — the first of a range of humiliations he says he participated in and witnessed as the prison was opening for business.
Neely has now come forward in this final year of the detention center's existence, saying he wants to publicly air his feelings of guilt and shame about how some soldiers behaved as the military scrambled to handle the first alleged al-Qaida and Taliban members arriving at the isolated U.S. Navy base.
After the Sept. 11 attacks and the swift U.S. military response in Afghanistan, the Bush administration had little time to prepare for the hundreds of prisoners being swept up on the battlefield. The first arrivals were housed in cages that had been used for Haitian migrants almost a decade earlier.
Read More At Yahoo News
Neely has now come forward in this final year of the detention center's existence, saying he wants to publicly air his feelings of guilt and shame about how some soldiers behaved as the military scrambled to handle the first alleged al-Qaida and Taliban members arriving at the isolated U.S. Navy base.
After the Sept. 11 attacks and the swift U.S. military response in Afghanistan, the Bush administration had little time to prepare for the hundreds of prisoners being swept up on the battlefield. The first arrivals were housed in cages that had been used for Haitian migrants almost a decade earlier.
Read More At Yahoo News
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Under Obama, Same Stance on Rendition Suit
President Obama's Justice Department signaled in a San Francisco courtroom Monday that the change in administrations has not changed the government's position on secrecy and the rights of foreign prisoners - and that lawsuits by alleged victims of CIA kidnappings and torture must be dismissed on national security grounds.
Read More At SF Chronicle
Read More At SF Chronicle
Monday, February 9, 2009
UK government suppressed evidence on Binyam Mohamed Torture Because MI6 Helped His Interrogators
The Government suppressed evidence on the torture of terror suspect Binyam Mohamed because the documents reveal that MI6 helped his interrogators. Material in a CIA dossier on Mr Mohamed that was blacked out by High Court judges contained details of how British intelligence officers supplied information to his captors and contributed questions while he was brutally tortured, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
Mr Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian, was granted refugee status in Britain in 1994. He was picked up in Pakistan in 2002 on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, rendered to Morocco and Afghanistan, tortured and then sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. All terror charges against him were dropped last year.
Two High Court judges last week said they wanted to release the full contents of a CIA file on his treatment but they held back seven paragraphs of information after David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, argued that it could compromise intelligence sharing with the US.
The 25 lines edited out of the court papers contained details of how Mr Mohamed's genitals were sliced with a scalpel and other torture methods so extreme that waterboarding, the controversial technique of simulated drowning, "is very far down the list of things they did," the official said.
Read More At The Telegraph
Mr Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian, was granted refugee status in Britain in 1994. He was picked up in Pakistan in 2002 on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, rendered to Morocco and Afghanistan, tortured and then sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. All terror charges against him were dropped last year.
Two High Court judges last week said they wanted to release the full contents of a CIA file on his treatment but they held back seven paragraphs of information after David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, argued that it could compromise intelligence sharing with the US.
The 25 lines edited out of the court papers contained details of how Mr Mohamed's genitals were sliced with a scalpel and other torture methods so extreme that waterboarding, the controversial technique of simulated drowning, "is very far down the list of things they did," the official said.
Read More At The Telegraph
Immigration Crackdown Overwhelms Judges
Over the past few years, the Bush administration's immigration crackdown funded thousands more agents to arrest immigrants and hundreds more government lawyers to prosecute them.
But immigration judges — who adjudicate deportation and asylum hearings — have been left out of this expansion, and they say they're struggling under a staggering caseload.
Marks, who heads the National Association of Immigration Judges, says she can definitely feel like Lucy Ricardo on the chocolate-factory line. But with many defendants seeking refuge from persecution, the frenetic work pace is hardly a comedy.
"For some people, these are the equivalent of death penalty cases, and we are conducting these cases in a traffic court setting."
Read More At NPR
But immigration judges — who adjudicate deportation and asylum hearings — have been left out of this expansion, and they say they're struggling under a staggering caseload.
Marks, who heads the National Association of Immigration Judges, says she can definitely feel like Lucy Ricardo on the chocolate-factory line. But with many defendants seeking refuge from persecution, the frenetic work pace is hardly a comedy.
"For some people, these are the equivalent of death penalty cases, and we are conducting these cases in a traffic court setting."
Read More At NPR
Raising Awareness on War on Women in DRC
The top UN official for humanitarian affairs is traveling through the war-ravaged eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo today, where nearly 900 people have been killed and unknown numbers of women raped since the beginning of the year.
After visiting a hospital, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes expressed his shock at the large number of rapes that continue to take place. According to the United Nations, tens of thousands of women in the Congo have been brutally raped as part of the ongoing war.
Last fall, Eve Ensler worked with UNICEF to organize events in two cities in the DRC, where survivors of sexual violence publicly spoke out against violence and about their experiences for the first time. Seven women told their stories in front of community members and government and UN officials:
SURVIVOR 1: [translated] They took my husband and hit him and tied him and tortured him and took him I don’t know where. They went and killed him wherever they had taken him. And then all seven men raped me. Then the neighbors heard what happened and found me unconscious. They looked at me and saw all my insides outside of my body.
SURVIVOR 2: [translated] They started taking the clothes off my children, and I told them, “Please, excuse me, you can’t do that. Instead of raping my children while I watch, just kill me first.”
SURVIVOR 3: [translated] A woman is supposed to respected. We are not objects. Women get pregnant and breast-feed you. How come you disrespect me today in public?
SURVIVOR 4: [translated] The authorities of this country, how do you look at this rape issue and remain silent?
SURVIVOR 1: [translated] We are suffering because of rape. Rape should stop. It must stop.
SURVIVOR 5: [translated] I am speaking so that women who are hiding and others who have AIDS can come out, so they can be taught how to live.
Read More At Democracy Now!
After visiting a hospital, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes expressed his shock at the large number of rapes that continue to take place. According to the United Nations, tens of thousands of women in the Congo have been brutally raped as part of the ongoing war.
Last fall, Eve Ensler worked with UNICEF to organize events in two cities in the DRC, where survivors of sexual violence publicly spoke out against violence and about their experiences for the first time. Seven women told their stories in front of community members and government and UN officials:
SURVIVOR 1: [translated] They took my husband and hit him and tied him and tortured him and took him I don’t know where. They went and killed him wherever they had taken him. And then all seven men raped me. Then the neighbors heard what happened and found me unconscious. They looked at me and saw all my insides outside of my body.
SURVIVOR 2: [translated] They started taking the clothes off my children, and I told them, “Please, excuse me, you can’t do that. Instead of raping my children while I watch, just kill me first.”
SURVIVOR 3: [translated] A woman is supposed to respected. We are not objects. Women get pregnant and breast-feed you. How come you disrespect me today in public?
SURVIVOR 4: [translated] The authorities of this country, how do you look at this rape issue and remain silent?
SURVIVOR 1: [translated] We are suffering because of rape. Rape should stop. It must stop.
SURVIVOR 5: [translated] I am speaking so that women who are hiding and others who have AIDS can come out, so they can be taught how to live.
Read More At Democracy Now!
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