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Update

The Israeli Army (IDF) this week concluded that its forces had committed no violations during the recent Gaza military offensive. Most shocking to me was the claim that "no phosphorus munitions were used on built-up areas". I recently spent a whole week with the members of our Gaza mission team, who entered Gaza a few hours before Israel's halt of attacks. They found hundreds of white phosphorus-wedges in residential areas all over Gaza. To learn more about White Phosphorus from a guy who actually used it, check out the video clip. Following are excerpts of statements from human rights groups…

April 24, 2009

Update

(As originally posted on Daily Kos) Let’s be clear, calls to allow the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to conduct its own investigation into the abuses committed in secret CIA detention centers are little more than an attempt to play out the clock by freezing judicial investigations in until the 8 year statute of limitations on Anti-Torture Act crimes starts to render them moot from the spring of 2010 onwards. The Select Committee has had plenty of time to complete its own investigations. Indeed, senior members of the committee, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were briefed on the adoption of…

April 24, 2009

Update

President Obama gingerly retreated Tuesday from his resistance to a Congressionally-authorized commission of inquiry to investigate US detention and interrogation practices.  During a photo-op with the King of Jordan, he acknowledged that it is up to Congress and the Attorney General, respectively, to decide whether to authorize a special investigatory commission, or initiate a criminal investigation of torture allegations.  The President moved closer to what Amnesty and other NGOs have long been advocating -- namely, not a commission composed of members of Congress, but a truly independent body consisting of internationally-recognized experts with no partisan affiliation. Amnesty has called for a commission to be composed…

April 23, 2009

Update

The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister said today that since Monday, over 100,000 civilians had fled the remaining area controlled by the Tamil Tigers and crossed into government-held territory, and that only 15-20,000 civilians were still left in the Tiger-held area (which had earlier been designated by the government as a "no-fire zone" but scarcely merits that title now).  The Minister also said that the Tigers had suffered "massive casualties" during the army's offensive against them.  He claimed that any civilian casualties had been caused solely by the Tigers.  He dismissed calls for international monitors in the conflict area. I found the implications…

April 23, 2009

Update

Today, please send Twitter messages supporting Amnesty International to actor Hugh Jackman @RealHughJackman.  The actor is asking fans to help him choose a charity worthy of his $100,000 donation and we hope you agree that Amnesty’s work to defend human rights and protect lives should be it. "The more passion shown for your charity the better! Get the support of your friends and teach them the importance of giving" wrote Jackman on Twitter. < p style="text-align: left;"> 2.2 million people around the world already show their passion by fighting with Amnesty to free prisoners of conscience, abolish the death penalty,…

April 23, 2009

Update

A day after my last post, what's the situation of the estimated 100,000 civilians trapped in the war zone in northeastern Sri Lanka?  AI stated today that more than 4,500 civilians have died in the fighting in recent days, with hundreds of civilian casualties reported on Monday alone.  The International Committee of the Red Cross said today that the situation for the civilians trapped in the government-designated "no-fire zone" (which is the last remaining area controlled by the opposition Tamil Tigers) was "nothing short of catastrophic."  Not only are the civilians being killed or wounded by every rocket or mortar fired, but they…

April 22, 2009

Update

As originally posted on the Daily Kos In advance of talks with Zimbabwe's finance minister Tendai Biti next weekend in Washington DC, the World Banks Robert Zoellick shared his assessment of the situation: Zimbabwe is at a very sensitive point and we want it succeed. But that is going to require steps by all of the members of the Zimbabwe's institutions to restore democracy, restore human rights. Reading these statements I remembered a recent chat with Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Executive Director Frank Donaghue who was in Zimbabwe a few months ago. His explanations and PHR's report leave no…

April 22, 2009

Update

As originally posted on the Daily Kos The former Head of the CIA, General Michael Hayden, has publicly stated his concern that America’s allies will be reluctant to work with American intelligence agencies following the release of the OLC memos by the Obama administration. One wonders where he has been for the past five years. America's allies began to express concern about working closely with US intelligence agencies almost from the moment that details of America’s treatment of war on terror detainees began leaking out. In 2005 the Italian authorities initiated a criminal investigation into the CIA-led extraordinary rendition of…

April 22, 2009

Update

Watch Yolanda Foster comment on the concerns for civilians still caught up in the fighting in Sri Lanka: » English » Tamil Amnesty International is calling for the Sri Lankan government to extend a humanitarian truce, allowing aid to be received by families who are experiencing heavy shelling, who are unable to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones from within combat areas and who are liable to be killed on their way to receiving medical help.

April 22, 2009

Update

Recent satellite images from the UN agency UNOSAT offer a glimpse of the drama currently unfolding in Sri Lanka. As the images show, IDPs that arrived in late February and early March were forced to set up their tents in areas previously avoided by fleeing civilians. They sought shelter on wetlands prone to flooding and along the beach within 200 meters of the coastline. Now they are caught up in the fighting.  Alertnet just put out a useful Q & A on the current sitation of civilians suffering in Sri Lanka's civil war. I can only repeat what our Sri Lanka…

April 22, 2009

Update

Human Rights Watch (HRW) this week released a report detailing the unlawful killings and torture of Palestinians by Hamas during the recent Gaza conflict. This report confirms Amnesty’s own findings, published in February, of instances where Hamas murdered and tortured Palestinians. They accused the victims of "collaborating" with Israel, or the victims were members of opposing Palestinian parties, including Fatah. The HRW report provides a more in depth analysis of the situation. The report claims that Hamas forces and masked gunmen alleged to be members of Hamas extra-judicially executed more than 30 people since December and injured dozens more by…

April 22, 2009

Update

Today I was out around different areas of the Reservation visiting various Aunties and other women elders who participated in the Maze of Injustice report research almost three years ago now. I'm disappointed because we are not able to visit everyone. There is so much flooding and flooding warnings as a result of 12 foot high snow drifts that some areas of the Reservation are inaccessible. The whole Tribal Nation of Standing Rock has been identified as a disaster zone. Many officers from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have been visiting throughout the week and going on tours of flood damage with various members of Tribal Council--it has…

April 22, 2009