Amnesty: US Iraq detentions illegal

"If, as the UN resolution [1546] proclaims, occupation effectively ends with the handover, then international humanitarian law requires that all prisoners of war, detainees and internees must be released by the occupying powers."...

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/23F47D6F-2EC2-43DD-8467-665F17329B7A.htm

June 29, 2004

The documented torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib underscores the need for President Bush to rededicate the United States to the Geneva Conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that came about following World War II.

Join us in urging the Bush administration to respect and honor the legacy of U.S. leadership, sacrifice, and American values that became international law.

To support the following statement and U.S. respect for international law, SIGN THE PETITION TODAY. To take action, click on this link or paste it into your Web browser:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9257

<<"We, the undersigned citizens of the United States, affirm the international cooperation, universal humanitarian principles, and human rights law that arose from the ashes of World War II, thanks to the unprecedented national sacrifice and service of a generation of Americans.

We call upon President George W. Bush to honor that legacy by rededicating our nation to the Geneva Conventions, the Charter of the United Nations, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a framework of law that protects the lives and dignity of civilians, prisoners of war, and wounded combatants - including the Iraqi people and our men and women serving today in Iraq.">>

Thank you for your human rights work.

Online Action Center
Amnesty International USA

The fate of one of southern Africa's oldest nomadic tribes, the San or Bushmen, could be sealed when the Botswana High Court hears argument on the issue of ancestral land rights.

The court case, which commences on July 5 with an in loco inspection, could decide the future of the Gana and Gwi Bushmen communities.

Two hundred and forty-eight Bushmen and Bakgalagadi adults are taking the Botswana government, including President Festus Mogae, to court over the government's forced eviction of them and their families from their ancestral land, in what could be a test case for Bushman rights across southern Africa.

The in loco inspection is supposed to visit settlements from which the San were allegedly forcibly removed from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to settlements outside the reserve.

'Expected to become farmers overnight'

The Bushmen want the government to recognise their right to return to their land and live there without fear of further eviction, and to hunt and gather freely.

The original case of forced removal from their ancestral land was dismissed on a technicality in April 2002.

However, the Bushmen appealed and won the right to have the case re-heard on its merits.

The Botswana government had initially apparently terminated all services, including water, because it claimed that it could not afford the monthly cost of Botswana pula 55 000.

The first wave of removals took place in 1997, and most of the community has since been relocated to settlements outside the park.

In exchange for their traditional hunting-gathering existence, the Botswana government claims the San have been granted title deeds to plots, a mere 40 by 40 metres, in a conservation area - the Central Kalahari Game Reserve - about the size of Belgium.

The displaced tribesmen have also allegedly been given goats and cattle.

"People as old as 80 years and older who have been hunter-gatherers all their lives were expected to become farmers overnight", a South African spokesperson for the applicants said on Monday.

But the Botswana action has drawn strident opposition from Survival International, a British organisation supporting tribal communities and their rights to their land and to decide their own future.

The organisation has been at the forefront of an awareness campaign, organising petitions across the world against the removal of the San and even suggesting that diamond prospecting could be behind the relocation.

Survival International also accuses the Botswana authorities of harassment of the San, saying they have been "tortured, beaten up or arrested for supposedly over-hunting, or hunting without correct licenses."

The Botswana government has vehemently denied these allegations, as well as that diamond prospecting was at the root of the relocation. - Sapa

Published on the Web by IOL on 2004-06-21 15:09:01


Informant: ECOTERRA Intl.

UNICEF Alarmed

Report / UNICEF

Unsubstantiated but troubling claims that children are among the Iraqis detained under US military control have alarmed human rights organizations. Speaking from Geneva, UNICEF spokesman Damien Personnaz noted that any mistreatment, sexual abuse, exploitation or torture of children in detention is a violation of international law...

http://mailhost.groundspring.org/cgi-bin/t.pl?id=85053:740526

Cap Anamour hat über 30 Flüchtlinge aus Afrika, eventuell dem Sudan im Mittelmeer treibend gerettet. Wie ein Sprecher berichtete, scheint nun offenbar eine neue Flüchtlingswelle auf die EG zuzurollen.

Was aber die wenigsten Flüchtlinge wissen oder ahnen können, ist, dass sie es sehr schwer haben, an das europäische Festland, oder Festungsland zu kommen.

Entgegen den internationalen Bestimmungen scheinen staatliche Flottenverbände, darunter auch deutsche Marineverbände bereits auf offener See, also internationalen Gewässer die Flüchtlingsboote zur Umkehr zu zwingen, was nach Seerecht verboten ist.

Was geschieht mit den Schlauchbooten, den einfachen Holzkähnen, völlig überbesetzt, kein Trinkwassser, oft zu wenig Sprit, oder Motorschaden, und dann auf dem offenen Meer abgewiesen zu werden, oder schlimmer, umdrehen zu müssen.

Es ist oft eine Fahrt in den sicheren Tod, die Zahlen berichten von 4000 Todesfällen im Jahr, wieviele Opfer es wirklich gibt, ist unbekannt.

Wollen wir ein Europa, eine Verfassung die diesen inhumanen Umgang festschreibt? Was ist mit der christlichen Nächstenliebe, oder den Menschenrechten und dem internationalen Seerecht?

Die US Administration macht andere Fehler, im Irak, auf der Welt, wir kritisieren und vor unserer eigenen Haustüre, wo sich auch diesen Sommer wieder Millionen von Europäern mit vollgestopften Bäuchen an den Sonnenküsten des Mittelmeeres erholen, entspannen und genießen, und nicht weit entfernt verhungern, verdursten und sterben Flüchtlinge, die von unseren Beauftragten in den Tod geschickt werden!

Schreibt den EG- Abgeordneten, und auch Euren anderen politischen Vertretern, dass wir Bürger einen anderen Umgang mit Menschen und die Einhaltung internationalen Rechten fordern!

Bernd Schreiner
http://www.stoppschild.de

US Troops Admit Shooting Iraqi Civilians: American troops today admitted they routinely gun down Iraqi civilians - some of whom are entirely innocent. As distrust of the invading forces increases amongst the local population US soldiers said they have killed civilians without hesitation, shot injured opponents and abandoned them to die in agony...

http://tinyurl.com/er7l


From Information Clearing House

Amnesty International today called for the immediate appointment of a special counsel to investigate the torture and ill-treatment of prisoners in United States custody, citing leaked memoranda from the Departments of Justice and Defense as evidence that the independence of current investigations is critically compromised.

The leaked documents contain strong evidence that Bush Administration officials in both departments sought to wiggle out of prohibitions on torture contained in US law and international treaties ratified by the US, making senior officials in those departments legitimate subjects of inquiry.

"Only a special counsel can scrutinize the role of senior officials in countenancing and possibly permitting the use of torture. Current investigators report to officials tied to the attempt to permit torture, which puts the foxes in charge of determining who broke into the hen house," said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA.

The Attorney General should recognize this conflict of interest and immediately appoint a special counsel to conduct an independent investigation into the torture and ill-treatment of prisoners detained or interrogated by the United States, including whether administration officials are criminally liable for acts of torture or inhuman treatment.

Read more:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9075

Learn more about Amnesty International's concerns:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9076

Do more: What You Can Do to Stop Torture
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9015

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SIGN UP TO "DENOUNCE TORTURE"
Around the country, Amnesty International members are organizing to denounce torture. Join with others and urge the US government to take action to end abuses in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere and to hold accountable those responsible for torture.

Take action, organize an event, or attend the day of demonstration in your area. Sign up to receive periodic e-mail updates AND help us track participation. Our power is in our numbers - so make sure you're counted!

Sign up now:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9078

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SUPPORT AMNESTY'S LIFE-SAVING WORK
The crimes committed against Iraqi prisoners are un-American. Please join Amnesty International in standing up for the dignity of all people in every nation on earth. Your membership or donation today sends a message - that you abhor these crimes, stand up for justice, and believe that our nation can still serve as a beacon of liberty and hope for all.

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HUMAN RIGHTS IN BRIEF

Amnesty International is mobilizing its global membership to take action and combat homophobic violence in Jamaica, where LGBT people are at risk of verbal abuse, torture and ill-treatment at the hands of individuals and police.

Read more:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9056

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While recent international attention necessarily has been focused on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan, scant attention has been paid to the numerous incommunicado detentions, unfair trials and torture that underpin the country's lesser-known human rights crisis.

Read more:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9081

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As many as half of all Turkish women are estimated to be victims of physical violence within their families, where they are beaten, raped, or even killed or forced to commit suicide, Amnesty International has revealed in a new report, Turkey: Women Confronting Family Violence.

Read more:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9020

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GOOD NEWS! LEYLA ZANA AND THREE OTHER PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE RELEASED
Amnesty International welcomes the decision of Turkey's appeals court to release from jail prisoners of conscience Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan. Hundreds of Amnesty groups across the US and around the world campaigned intensively for the release of Zana and her colleagues.

Read more:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9083

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TAKE ACTION

A US military court sentenced Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia Castillo on May 21, 2004, to the maximum penalty of one year's imprisonment for desertion. He had refused to return to his unit in Iraq, citing moral reasons, the legality of the war and the conduct of US troops toward Iraqi civilians and prisoners. Amnesty International considers him to be a Prisoner of Conscience, imprisoned for his conscientious opposition to participating in war.

ACT NOW:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=677776&l=9084

Forward far and wide to your lists!!!

Deportation Can't Hide Thailand's Treatment of the Akha Hill Tribe

June 15, 2004

Despite the fact that the Thai Government deported me in April of this year, it does little to cover their treatment of the Akha Hill Tribe and illustrates a lack of perception of international publicity. Not that the Akha story wasn't publicized already but the forced and sudden deportation highlights the plight of the Akha to the international community.

As well, it caused a lot of Akha to realize the level of my commitment to improve their situation.

The way forward is an international campaign to increase public awareness of Thailand's disregard for International Human Rights Law and their long term genocidal campaign against the Akha.

These realities were made blatantly clear in the just released Thai Human Rights Journal with two articles about my work with the Akha people, one entitled the "Akha Genocide".

The seizure of the farm lands of Hooh Yoh Akha in Chiangrai Province illustrates this point and galvanizes the resistance against Thai government policy.

As well, in America and other parts of the world, where Thai restaurants are popular, most people are naive about Thailand, have never heard of the Akha Hill Tribe, and are shocked that such an abusive situation has been able to hide in the closet for so long, that American diplomats know of the situation and say nothing.

Read more....?
And of course the initial Thai Government response to a suddenly new form of bad publicity about the "wonderful land of smile" is to promise "dialogue" and then not answer emails!

Not worried, with plenty of time on my hands, my efforts are methodical to inform the world about Thai Government policy and why requirements must be attatched to all agreements, cooperation and aid to the country of Thailand.

Where will people buy their shrimp and rice? Who will fill the flights of Thai Airways?

Burma which does not do near as well as Thailand in covering up its human rights problems, has been radically effected by campaigns against anyone doing business in Burma. Why should not the shoe be on the other foot it fits so well, the country which masters "constructive engagement", Thailand?

Considering that only 20,000 of the 70,000 Akha in Thailand have Thai ID cards, the ease with which Thais can come and live or go to school in the US if they have enough money must be challenged!

When Thailand was recovering from the failure of corrupt banks and the subsequent collapse of the baht, Thai students studying in the US were allowed to get green cards so that they could work in order to compensate for the currency exchange rate differences.

I must ask how Thailand has ever offered such generosity to the Akha, most of whom have no cards of any kind?

In the aftermath of the Drug War rampage of 2003 in which more than 2274 people were ruthlessly murdered by the Thai Government it is little wonder that Thailand no longer sits on the UN Human Rights Commission.

What restrictions will be passed against an Army that uses weapons bought or given from the US, such as M-16's, to bash the faces of hill tribe men? (Please go to http://www.akha.org/content-cat-10.html)

Will Humvees continue to be supplied by the US Government to a country which is using them to run over rice lands stripped from the Akha people such as at Hooh Yoh Akha in Ampur Mae Fah Luang, Chiangrai Province?
( http://www.akha.org/upload/hoohyoh/hoohyoh.htm )

Will millions of American tax payer dollars continue to go to the Thai Government so that they can continue to murder the hill tribe?

Such connections to any other CEO Dictatorship would lead to an outcry in Congress or Parliaments. Yet on the Bush watch an unprecedented human rights disaster has occurred around the world.

The American missionaries who procure, abuse and exploit Akha children will be fought at their base of support, the ax laid to the roots of the tree, exposing their practices and the realities to American Church congregations who support them.

Rather than repent of the abuses of American Indians, the American missionaries have taken their scourge to a similar people in the far away mountains of northern Thailand and Burma, to places from which the flow of heroin, missionaries with/and CIA drug trafficking can not be sorted out, to conduct the busy work of looking like they were spreading the gospel. Considering the gospel is oft referred to as the good news, we wonder just what kind of gospel the missions are preaching?

Will Paul W. Lewis, the infamous Baptist missionary with perhaps more than one job during his time in Burma, ever stand before an Akha court and be asked about his involvement in the heroin trade?

Will the Akha get to send him to prison or take away HIS children?

Will the Akha women every be able to ask him why they were sterilized and then abandoned?

Speak up, demand justice for the Akha people, and ask yourself just what the average Akha person will be eating next time you slow down for that Thai Restaurant!

Matthew McDaniel
USA

The Akha Heritage Foundation.
http://www.akha.org Akha Heritage Site.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Akhaweeklyjournal
Discussion http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akha

PO Box 6073 Salem, OR. 97304 USA.

How many people rot in jails, prisons for no good reason. If the Justice system can screw up murder cases how much more can they screw up smaller less significant crimes? We need Justice and Prison Reform NOW! ...bdpoe

Published on Monday, June 14, 2004 by CommonDreams.org

Requiems

by Kathy Kelly

I've always liked the restful quiet of an empty classroom. Maybe this is why the large room where we wait to start mealtime duties, here at Pekin Federal Prison, feels comfortably familiar. During breaks, in the dining area, I've spent many hours reading, writing, studying Arabic, and staring out the window.

Today, looking out the window, I watched Kim LaGore crossing the compound, flanked by Ruth and Malika.

Yesterday, when I left the dish room, I sensed something was radically wrong. Clusters of women were gathered, many already puffy-eyed and tearful. "It's Kim," I was told. "Her other son just died."

On March 21st, 2004, Kim Lagore's younger son, Dustin, was killed in Iraq. He was a 19-year-old US soldier who had tried his best to stay out of combat. 72 days later, Sean, Kim's older son, age 29, died from complications following back surgery. Ruth and Malika, who also lost children while in prison, have been like guardian angels for Kim, holding and helping her through this wretched grief.

Every person in the prison camp yearns to spin a protective cocoon around her. The authorities couldn't do much. The system traps their compassion too. They allowed Kim extra phone calls and submitted a furlough request. I feel sure that they each wished for swift procedures to re-sentence Kim to home confinement during the remaining three months of her sentence. Who wouldn't want to respond humanely to a woman who has lost both of her children within three months time while forcibly separated from her relatives and her hometown community? But the system's wheels turn slowly, very slowly.

"I know many of you don't know what to say," Kim wrote on a card posted in the laundry room of our dorm. Thanking us for surrounding her with kindness, she added, "To be honest, I don't know what to say either, except that we'll make it through…"

I remember my first conversation with Kim, about three weeks after Dustin was killed. Having learned that I had been in Iraq many times and lived there during the "Shock and Awe" campaign, she came to me with his picture and an article she'd written reflecting her pain and confusion. She still has not been able to learn any details about Dustin's death other than that, after two weeks in Samarra, a city north of Baghdad, he was killed in a training accident. "I want to go with you to Iraq," said Kim. "I want to tell Iraqi parents that my son Dustin never wanted to hurt anyone. He never wanted to kill."

Kim is here for a "paper crime," - a first time offender, she was convicted of a nonviolent and "victim-less" crime. In her former job as a bail bondswoman, she had been anxious that a particular client might not return for a court date, and she insisted that he pay her in cash if she posted bond for him. A prosecutor then accused her of accepting drug money, and Kim was convicted of money laundering. Kim believed she wasn't responsible to determine how her client had raised the money.

Enron, Halliburton, Boeing and Dow Chemical CEOs adeptly cover and shield themselves from harm when accused of shady dealings. I haven't kept informed about their most recent appearances in courts, but I don't want any of them to go to jail. I do want the court of public opinion to regard peddling weapons, designing massive machines for destruction, ravaging the world's ecosystems, and poisoning our environment as criminal behavior. Would these CEOs ever refuse clients who declare foreign wars to exploit other people's resources? Would they ever insist that their clients stop making war against the biodiversity of Mother Earth? What would their thoughts be if they heard Kim's story?

June 26, 2004 is Prisoner Awareness Day in the US. We've thought of inviting our network of friends, outside the prison to observe the day by making advance agreements to completely suspend all communications with loved ones, friends, and household members for just one day. No phone calls, emails, visits, or conversations. At the end of the day, participants could write about the experience to elected representatives or local media, voicing concern over the isolating and long sentences imposed on US prisoners. The action could give a brief glimpse into the dark frustrations felt by women and men whose contact with loved ones hangs on the slimmest and most fragile of threads. Our society desperately needs the social imagining that could envision alternatives.

But for now, Kim's own words and the wordless comfort brought to her by her fellow "criminals" hold enough for a long lesson. Who are the criminals? What are the most serious crimes? And what happens when compassion dies?

Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness and three-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, began a four-month prison sentence April 7th for her actions of civil disobedience at the School of the Americas/WHISC and an ELF tower in Wisconsin.

Kathy Kelly's Prison Address:
Kathy Kelly #04971-045
FPC Pekin
PO Box 5000
Pekin, IL 61555-5000

There seem to be two common characteristics for a country to descend into barbarism. The first is the relentless human tendency to classify the world as "us" versus "them," and then to reduce "them" to sub-human status...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6309.htm