OMNI NEWSLETTER ON HUMAN
RIGHTS #3, March 24, 2013, Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace and
Justice. (#1 June 8, 2008;#2 Feb. 5, 2012)
Here is the link to all OMNI newsletters:
http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/ See OMNI’s newsletters on bill of Rights Day, Civil
Liberties, Drones, Guantanamo ,
Human Rights Day, War on Terror, Torture, and related subjects.
For a knowledge-based peace, justice, and
ecology movement and an informed citizenry as the foundation for change. Informed
citizens demanding a constitutional democracy.
CONTENTS of #1 June
8, 2008
I.
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (UDHR) 60TH
ANNIVERSARY
Human Rights Organizations
II.
USA
and HUMAN RIGHTS
US Withdraws from UN Human Rights
Council
US Exceptionalism
US and Habeas Corpus
[For remaining contents go to
www.omnicenter.org]
Death Penalty: ABA
Death Penalty: NWA, John Threet
Human Rights Week 2008 at UA
Graffiti Prosecutions
Contents #2
Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute’s newsletter, Human Rights Now!
Human Rights Treaties = US Law
US Mercenaries
Sexual Abuse
Moyn, Human Rights in
History
CEDAW
Right to Die Film on Jack Kevorkian
US in UN Human Rights Council 2010
Accountability Improving Globally
Human Rights Education
Contents of
#3 March 24, 2013
Local ACLU Human Rights
Forum
Amnesty International
Universal Rights and
Realities
Chomsky, Others Did It Not
Us
Kathryn Sikkink, Human
Rights Prosecutions
Large Scale Interventions
Universal Rights
Bricmont, Humanitarian
Imperialism
Murdering Human Rights
Advocates in the Philippines
From: William Schreckhise
Date: Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at
8:23 PM
Subject: ACLU Forum on
National Security and Civil Liberties
To: wschreckhise@gmail.com
A forum on national security and
civil liberties was held Saturday, March 10, 2012, at 1:30
at Temple Shalom, sponsored by the local chapter of the Arkansas ACLU. .
Former Congressman Asa Hutchinson was one of the forum's participants. PUBLIC FORUM NATIONAL SECURITY AND CIVIL
LIBERTIES SATURDAY, 1:30 TEMPLE
Amnesty International USA
·
NEWS
·
EVENTS
·
BLOG
·
RESEARCH
·
STORE
·
OUR WORK
·
DONATE
·
ABOUT US
·
A CHILD SOLDIER SPEAKS
Former child soldier, now rapper, on why we need a strong
Arms Trade Treaty.
NEXT#MAKE OBAMA SIGN
·
#MAKE OBAMA e action on Twitter to
support a strong global Arms Trade Treaty.
NEXTHORROR IN SYRIA
·
IN SYRIAr millions in Syria
ACT
LOCALLY
FIND A GROUP OR EVENT
NEAR YOU.
·
Defend
human rights for all.
·
Fight
bad guys with
every dollar.
·
Stop
arming human rights abusers.
Human Rights Updates
·
VICTORY
Maryland Abolishes the Death Penalty!
18 down, 32 to go! Maryland
·
EVENT
Human Rights Conference
Join us for Amnesty's 2013 Human Rights Conference and
Annual General Meeting (AGM). We'll expand our collective knowledge March 22-24
in Washington , DC
·
FEATURED
ACTION
Drones and the Law
Urge
the U.S.
Faces of Human Rights
Malala Yousafzai
14-year-old Malala Yousufzai was shot by
Taliban gunmen for bravely speaking out for the rights of girls to receive an
education.
TAKE ACTION
TAKE ACTION
Connect with Us
Human Rights Now
THE AMNESTY USA
Why The New Investigation Into North Korean Human Rights
Violations Matters
A milestone for
international justice: The UN Human Rights Council established a Commission of
Inquiry to investigate North Korean human rights violations.
Shop Amnesty
Shop for humanity.
Shop with a purpose.
Explore Our Work
·
FEATURED
ACTION
Free
Pussy Riot
Send
your urgent message to Russian authorities now to stop the criminal persecution
of Pussy Riot and protect free expression!
·
URGENT
CASE
Free or Retry Albert Woodfox of the "Angola 3"
Woodfox has spent nearly 41 years in solitary, but his
conviction has again been overturned. Act now to make sure Louisiana
·
MUSIC
FOR AMNESTY
Chimes of Freedom
All profits from Chimes of Freedom, a 4-CD album featuring
76 newly recorded Bob Dylan songs, benefit Amnesty International's human rights
work.
·
EVENT
Human Rights
Conference
Join us for Amnesty's 2013 Human Rights
Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM). We'll expand our collective
knowledge March 22-24 in Washington ,
DC
Amnesty
International. Action for
Human Rights. Hope for
Humanity.
·
RSS
·
Facebook
·
Twitter
·
Home
·
Site Map
·
Help
·
© 2013 Amnesty International USA
·
5 Penn Plaza, New York ,
NY 10001
·
212.807.8400
Argentina begins prosecution of
military-era human rights abuses
Tue
Mar 12, 2013 12:14 pm (PDT) . Posted by:
* ³This is a huge step to achieve the truth internationally,² says
Atilio
Borón, an Argentine political scientist who studies social movements and
democracy. Human rights have become a cornerstone of Argentine politics
since Néstor Kirchner, the predecessor and late husband of current President
Cristina Kirchner, overturned impunity laws.
Borón, an Argentine political scientist who studies social movements and
democracy. Human rights have become a cornerstone of Argentine politics
since Néstor Kirchner, the predecessor and late husband of current President
Cristina Kirchner, overturned impunity laws.
* Eyes Wide Open (2010)
Jonathan Gilbert, Christian Science Monitor / MinnPost
Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Steve Clemens
In 1980, a young, left-wing Argentine militant named Horacio Campiglia was
abducted in Rio de Janeiro and then taken to a military base in Buenos
Aires, never to be heard from again.
In the southern cone, Mr. Campiglia's story is a familiar one he is one of
tens of thousands of dissidents who were "disappeared" abducted and
murdered by military dictatorships in the region in the 1970s and 1980s.
Now, the former government officials responsible for those disappearances
are being put on the stand for the first time.
Full story...
http://evergreenedigest.org/argentina-begins-prosecution-military-era-human-
rights-abuses
Related:
Eyes Wide Open (2010), Democratic Underground
http://evergreenedigest.org/eyes-wide-open-2010
After 500 years of exploitation and repression, Latin America is at a
turning point in its history: a series of socialist leaders has come to
power. Can they satisfy their peoples' hunger for change?
Jonathan Gilbert, Christian Science Monitor / MinnPost
Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Steve Clemens
In 1980, a young, left-wing Argentine militant named Horacio Campiglia was
abducted in Rio de Janeiro and then taken to a military base in Buenos
Aires, never to be heard from again.
In the southern cone, Mr. Campiglia's story is a familiar one he is one of
tens of thousands of dissidents who were "disappeared" abducted and
murdered by military dictatorships in the region in the 1970s and 1980s.
Now, the former government officials responsible for those disappearances
are being put on the stand for the first time.
Full story...
http://evergreenedigest.org/argentina-begins-prosecution-military-era-human-
rights-abuses
Related:
Eyes Wide Open (2010), Democratic Underground
http://evergreenedigest.org/eyes-wide-open-2010
After 500 years of exploitation and repression, Latin America is at a
turning point in its history: a series of socialist leaders has come to
power. Can they satisfy their peoples' hunger for change?
·
ABOUT
·
LIBRARY
·
RESEARCH
Promoting Social Justice and Human Dignity
The Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies
advances social justice and human dignity in an interdisciplinary fashion
through active involvement of faculty, students, and community in research and
teaching.
About the Center
The Center builds on Lehman
College ’s unique history: the drafting
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights began at Lehman College Lehman College New York
The Center emphasizes intrinsic linkages
between human rights and peace. Not merely the absence of war or conflict,
human security necessitates community building, safety, promotion of tolerance,
environmental sustainability, expanded life chances, freedom of expression,
movement and association, and equal access to resources across gender, ethnic,
class, national, and other socio-economic divides.
Events
The Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies
hosts a rich program of human rights events for both the Lehman community and
the broader public throughout the year. Recent events include:
·
Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies
Spring 2012 Conference
East Dining Room
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Time: 2:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Last modified: Apr 17, 2012
Spotlight
·
o
MADRE
My new op-ed on Rios Montt Trial and President Otto Perez
Molina's denial of genocide "Genocide is not an 'Armed
Confrontation'"
|
Inbox
|
x
|
|
 2:27 PM (28 minutes ago) |
|
|
|
|
||||
Dear Friends,
The historic
Rios Montt genocide trial began on Tuesday, March 19 in Guatemala City despite
every move you can imagine (including defense lawyers abandoning Rios Montt) to
try to delay the trial.
I am sending
you links to an op-ed I wrote entitled "El genocidio no es una
confrontacion armado" for El Faro which has just been published by Plaza
Publica in Guatemala
NPR did a nice piece that you
can link to here:
For
ongoing trial summaries, commentary and analysis, see a new Website launched by
the Open Society Justice Initiative in partnership with the National Security
Archive, the International
Center
http://www.riosmontt-trial.org/
http://www.riosmontt-trial.org/
And, last but
not least, you can read about the first day of the trial in the attached
documents written by the Association for Justice and Reconciliation AJR
Center for Human Rights Legal Action
CALDH-- the two NGOs who
have been instrumental in moving the case forward and are representing the
victims as querrellantes adhesivos - lawyers working with the prosecutors to
prosecute the case on behalf of the victims.
Please
circulate widely.
Many thanks,
Center
for Human Rights & Peace Studies
Professor of Anthropology Lehman College
& the Graduate
Center
“Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham
Universal Rights Down
to Earth
A path-blazing lesson on how to reconcile lofty
human rights ambitions with political and cultural realities.More
*Action:
Arming human rights abusers in Bahrain
Under current U.S. law as interpreted by the Obama
Administration, the U.S. US
"Somebody
Else's Atrocities"
By Noam Chomsky, Nation of Change, posted June 7, 2012
IDEAL ILLUSIONS: How the U.S.
From the Cold War
to the War on Terror, a historian and foreign-policy analyst charts the rise of
human rights and the U.S.
---------- Forwarded message
----------
The Justice Cascade
How Human Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics
The Norton Series in World Politics
Acclaimed scholar Kathryn Sikkink examines the important and controversial new trend of holding political leaders criminally accountable for human rights violations. Sikkink tells how international courts originated in domestic courts and developed in the 1990s, leading up to the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002.Grawemeyer Award winner Kathryn Sikkink offers a landmark argument for human rights prosecutions as a powerful political tool. She shows how, in just three decades, state leaders in Latin America, Europe, and
Drawing on extensive research and illuminating personal experience, Sikkink reveals how the stunning emergence of human rights prosecutions has come about; what effect it has had on democracy, conflict, and repression; and what it means for leaders and citizens everywhere, from Uruguay to the United States. The Justice Cascade is a vital read for anyone interested in the future of world politics and human rights. Rev. The Nation (March 19, 2012) by Samuel Moyn (author of The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History).
INTERVENTIONS
Best-selling author Rory Stewart and political economist Gerald Knaus examine the impact of large-scale interventions, from
1.
A Nation of Enemies
"This will stand as the definitive work on Chile
under Pinochet for many years to come."-Library
JournalMore
OBAMA
ADMINISTRATION’S EXTRAJUDICIAL PUNISHMENT
DEMAND
OBAMA’S memos justifying the targeted execution of U.S.
Dear Dick,
President Obama feels your Constitutional right to
"due process" can be what ever secret process he makes up.
Yesterday, US Attorney General Eric Holder reiterated
the administration's support for their controversial program of secretly
targeting US citizens for execution without notifying them of the accusations
against them, officially charging them with a crime or offering them the
opportunity to respond. Since the whole world is a battlefield in the vague
'war on terror,' the only due process afforded to someone who has been
targeted for extrajudicial execution is a secret 'review' by the executive
branch.
Just as the public demanded the release of the Bush
Administration's Torture Memos to expose the ludicrous rationale behind their
secret torture program, we too must demand to know the legal rationale for a
program that allows our president to unilaterally choose to deprive someone
of life and liberty - without the victim even being charged with a crime.
Holder's speech was a cheap attempt to feign
transparency without actually releasing the legal memos that define the
administration's execution policy.1 We need your help to demand
the Obama administration release these memos immediately. Can you please sign
our petition demanding the Obama administration release the Execution Memos?
The administration's refusal to even outline this
non-judicial 'due process' that allows US citizens to be secretly put on a
kill list is beyond troubling to say the least.
As Salon writer Glenn Greenwald put it: "the
'process' which Eric Holder yesterday argued constitutes "due
process" as required by the Fifth Amendment before the government can
deprive of someone of their life: the President and his underlings are your
accuser, your judge, your jury and your executioner all wrapped up in one,
acting in total secrecy and without your even knowing that he's accused you
and sentenced you to death, and you have no opportunity even to know about, let
alone confront and address, his accusations; is that not enough due process
for you?"2
The ACLU, New York Times and others have been suing the
Obama administration for months in hopes of securing the release of the
Execution Memos, but as one of the least-transparent administrations in
recent history, they have repeatedly blocked their release.3
If left unchallenged, this secretive program could
continue to expand under Obama and future presidents, and further erode
This is a serious and dangerous precedent, and anyone
who took issue with the Bush Torture Memos should be even more concerned
about this latest power grab by the president. I hope you'll join us in
fighting to release these memos.
Deepest Thanks,
Brian Sonenstein
Director of Online Activism, Firedoglake.com
1. Holder's Regressive Defense of Targeted Killings, Kevin
Gosztola, FDL's Dissenter, 3/6/2012.
2. Attorney General Holder defends execution without charges, Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com, 3/6/2012. 3. The Worst Administration on FOIA, Kevin Gosztola, FDL's Dissenter, 3/5/2012.
Firedoglake's
community of 350,000 activists is supported by small donations from people
like you.
Can you chip in to keep us strong? Click here to contribute. |
|
Progressive
Our BIGGEST discount ever
1
512
More
about...
|
Details
Humanitarian Imperialism: Using Human
Rights to Sell War
by
Paperback, 176 pages
ISBN: 1-58367-147-1
ISBN: 1-58367-147-1
Since the
end of the Cold War, the idea of human rights has been made into a
justification for intervention by the world’s leading economic and military
powers—above all, the United
States Yugoslavia to Afghanistan
to Iraq
Jean Bricmont’s Humanitarian Imperialism is
both a historical account of this development and a powerful political and
moral critique. It seeks to restore the critique of imperialism to its rightful
place in the defense of human rights. It describes the leading role of the United States
Timely, topical, and rigorously argued, Jean Bricmont’s book establishes a firm basis for resistance to
global war with no end in sight.
In this stimulating
book, Jean Bricmont effectively deconstructs ‘humanitarian interventionism’ and
makes a good case that leftists who support it are the ‘useful idiots’ of
imperialism. He also provides a broader critique of the Western left and offers
a number of constructive suggestions. This insightful book is chock full of
enlightening case studies and provocative arguments. —Edward S. Herman, Professor Emeritus of Finance
Wharton School ,
University of Pennsylvania
Jean
Bricmont’s provocative and carefully argued book deserves to be widely read and
debated in the progressive, ecological, peace, and human rights movements. It
may not be the last word on this subject but the issues Bricmont raises cannot
be ignored.
Dick: See OMNI Newsletters on Arab Spring uprisings
and Western interventions.
December 8, 2012
For reference:
Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general (017-3162831)
International concern for rights defenders in the Philippines
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) raised the alarm on the continuing human
rights violations in the country under the Aquino
government, particularly cases of extrajudicial killings of human rights
defenders.
OMCT noted “the attacks on human rights defenders in a
climate of pervasive impunity” especially those fighting for their land rights
and the protection of the environment. “A climate of pervasive and systematic
impunity is at the heart of this alarming situation,” said the OMCT
delegation in a statement.
The OMCT conducted a mission in the Philippines on November 11 to 17,
2012, to investigate the situation of rights defenders. Two members of OMCT General Assembly, Ms.
Vrinda Grover, a prominent human rights lawyer (India ), and Ms. Claudia Samayoa,
Coordinator of the Unit for Protection of Human Rights Defenders of Guatemala,
led the mission. They met with leaders and network of Karapatan, indigenous
peoples, farmers groups, lawyers, faith-based organisations, as well as
government officials, foreign embassies and representatives of a transnational
mining company in Manila and Mindanao .
The OMCT mission statement particularly cited the indigenous
peoples who are “at risk in areas where conflict over land and natural
resources has been aggravated by activities of national and transnational
companies engaged in acquisition of land for mining and/or agro-industry.”
More than 70 farmer and indigenous peoples leaders and
environmental advocates are currently in Metro Manila, the ManiLakbayan, to
call the government’s attention for the same issues raised by the OMCT mission.
“The ancestral rights of indigenous people over land and
natural resources are being brazenly violated often through the use of private
security guards, paramilitary and the military. Indigenous human rights
defenders resisting peacefully the violations and asserting their lawful and
ancestral claims face extrajudicial killings, vilification and threats,” said
the OMCT.
The OMCT initial mission report noted the recent killing of
indigenous leader Juvy Capion and her two minor children on October 18, 2012,
in Tampakan, by members of the 27th Infantry Battalion of the Philippines Armed
Forces, saying that it “exemplify the dangerous and violent conditions in the
area sought for gold – copper mining by Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) and
transnational company Xstrata.”
The relatives of Juvy Capion, led by sister-in-law Erita
Capion, are among the ManiLakbayan delegates who arrived in Metro Manila on
Nov. 30 for a series of activities and protest actions to call the government’s
attention to the killings due to counterinsurgency operations of Oplan
Bayanihan, and also to quell people’s protests against large-scale mining.
The OMCT mission did not fail to notice the presence and
activities of “legalized paramilitary groups such as the Citizen Armed Force
Geographical Unit (CAFGU) and the Investment Defense Unit, as well as the large
scale possession and availability of dangerous arms and weapons, are
contributing to the climate of impunity for human rights violations including
the attacks on human rights defenders.”
The OMCT has taken to task the Aquino government to
“demonstrate its intent to respect and protect the rights of those that
continue to struggle for human rights even in a climate of stigma and fear,”
adding that “plethora of laws and institutional mechanisms, purportedly for
advancement of human rights, does not inspire confidence, as in their actual
working and practices those in position of political, economic and military
power continue to enjoy impunity.”
Among the recommendations of the mission emphasized the
“role of command responsibility in Government and among forces in the security
sector should also be diligently scrutinized in the perpetuation of impunity.”
*Attached is a copy of the complete press statement of the
international factfinding missions of the OMCT and FIDH with their preliminary
recommendations.
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
2nd Flr. Erythrina Bldg., #1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts.,
Central District
Diliman, Quezon
City , PHILIPPINES
Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146
Web: http://www.karapatan.org
KARAPATAN is an
alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and
committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the
defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human
rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training
and campaign.
END OMNI HUMAN RIGHTS
NEWSLETTER #3
1 comment:
wooww amazing,,, i like your posting,,
Post a Comment