Human Rights Watch // Current

added
17 days ago

Human Rights Watch Launches Photo Exhibit Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold

* At Lincoln Center's Furman Gallery during the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival - June 12-25 (New York) -... more

ras_menelik
added this

Roxana Saberi is Free!

Almost 28,000 activists signed the Care2 petition urging the Iranian government to free Roxana Saberi, and these signatures made a... more

stopnoise
added this

British Foreign Office accused

British Foreign Office accused of hindering human rights lawyers in Gaza Strip 23.04.09 - 10:21 • War crimes... more

Highr0ller
added this

WA Cutting $800 Million From Public-School Funding

I really hope this does not pass... it's common sense that larger class size means less individual attention and less... more

ninthstate
added this

Colorado House Abolishes Death Penalty By One Vote

From the article...>The Colorado House of Representatives has voted by the narrowest of margins to abolish the death penalty,... more

ninthstate
added this

OBAMA GO to U.N. and vote on Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
by Ilan Pappe

ISBN: 1851685553
ISBN-13: 9781851685554
Format: Paperback, 320pp
Publisher: National Book Network
Pub. Date: September 2007

Synopsis
In this controversial new book, a prominent Israeli historian at Haifa University revisits the formative period of the State of Israel. Decisively debunking the myth that the Palestinian population left of their own accord during the War of Independence, he offers archival evidence to demonstrate that a central plank in Israel's founding ideology was the forcible removal of the indigenous population. This book is a passionate plea to acknowledge the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 as the root cause of the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict.
Publishers Weekly
In his latest work, renowned Israeli author and academic Pappe (A History of Modern Palestine) does not mince words, doing Jimmy Carter one better (or worse, depending on one's point of view) by accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, beginning in the 1948 war for independence and continuing through the present. Focusing primarily on Plan D (Dalet, in Hebrew), conceived on March 10, 1948, Pappe demonstrates how ethnic cleansing was not a circumstance of war, but rather a deliberate goal of combat for early Israeli military units organized by David Ben-Gurion, whom Pappe labels the "architect of ethnic cleansing." The forced expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians between 1948 and 1949, Pappe argues, was part of a long-standing Zionist plan to manufacture an ethnically pure Jewish state. Framing his argument with accepted international and U.N. definitions of ethnic cleansing, Pappe follows with an excruciatingly detailed account of Israeli military involvement in the demolition and depopulation of hundreds of villages, and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Arab inhabitants. An accessible, learned resource, this volume provides important insights into the historical antecedents of today's conflict, but its conclusions will not be easy for everyone to stomach: Pappe argues that the ethnic cleansing of Palestine continues today, and calls for the unconditional return of all Palestinian refugees and an end to the Israeli occupation. Without question, Pappe's account will provoke ire from many readers; importantly, it will spark discussion as well. (Jan.)Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe ISBN: 1851685553 ISBN-13: 9781851685554 Format: Paperback, 320pp Publisher:... more

Highr0ller
added this

1 response

added
3 months ago

"Earth Peace" produced by Renaissance KID age 11

'Earth Peace' is about taking care of our Human Rights to be able to live on Terra (our earth) also its an introduction... more

renaissancekid
added this

0 responses

added
4 months ago

Israeli use of phosphorus 'a crime'

A report by an international rights group has said that Israel's use of white phosphorus during its recent offensive on the... more

covelogibbs
added this

3 responses

added
5 months ago

Genocide expert dies in US crash

The court trying alleged perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide has expressed its shock at the death in an air crash of a top expert... more

ras_menelik
added this

1 response

added
5 months ago

Myanmar's unwanted boat people

While the Thai authorities continue to face allegations of abuse of Muslim Rohingya migrants, the policy of rejecting and... more

Jonathonish
added this

0 responses

added
6 months ago

Video shows proof of phosphorous bombs in Gaza - Illegal and a war crime!

This is an outrage but will Israel ever finally be brought infront of an international court for its war crimes and now this???

Video showing injuries consistent with the use of white phosporous shells has been filmed inside hospitals treating Palestinian wounded in Gaza City.

Contact with the shell remnants causes severe burns, sometimes burning the skin to the bone, consistent with descriptions by Ahmed Almi, an Egyptian doctor at the al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. Almi said the entire body of one victim was burned within an hour. It was the first time he had seen the effects of what he called a "chemical weapon".

The Israeli military has denied using white phosphorus during the assault on Gaza, but aid agencies say they have no doubt it has been used. "It is an absolute certainty," said Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. He had seen Israeli artillery fire white phosphorous shells at Gaza City, Garlasco said.

The shells burst in the air, billowing white smoke before dropping the phosphorous shell. Garlasco said each shell contains more than 100 incendiary rounds, which ignite and pump out smoke for about 10 minutes. Severe respiratory problems can result in anyone exposed to the smoke and burning chemical particles that rain down over an area the size of a football pitch.

Human Rights Watch compares the use of white phosphorous shells over Gaza to the impact of cluster munitions, which scatter "bomblets" over a wide area. Children may kick and play with a lump of phosphorus, stirring up the embers and producing more fire and smoke.

The use of white phosphorus as a weapon – as opposed to its use as an obscurant and infrared blocking smoke screen – is banned by the UN's third convention on conventional weapons, which covers the use of incendiary devices. Though Israel is not a signatory to the convention, its military manuals reflect the convention's restrictions on using white phosphorus.

Israel initially claimed that it was not using white phosphorus. It later explained that shells being loaded for a howitzer, identified from photographs as phosphorous rounds, were empty "quiet" shells used for target marking. However, images of exploding shells and showering burning fragments are now acknowledged by independent observers as having been phosphorus.

At the centre of the controversy is the way white phosphorous air burst shells have been used in heavily built-up urban areas, with an overwhelmingly civilian population. The M825A1 rounds, which are the kind identified as being fired by Israeli forces, are made primarily for use as a smokescreen in a way that limits their effect as an incendiary weapon, experts say. Neil Gibson, a technical adviser to Jane's Missiles and Rockets magazine, said the shells did not produce high-velocity burning fragments like conventional white phosphorous weapons once did.

Instead, he said, they produced a "series of large slower burning wedges which fall from the sky". The wedges would then ignite spontaneously in the air and fall to the ground, burning for five or 10 minutes, he said.This is an outrage but will Israel ever finally be brought infront of an international court for its war crimes and now this???... more

matadormedia
added this

25 responses

added
7 months ago

Who Violates Human Rights?

Get Educated about the situation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJERdv0UmN4

sayit
added this

0 responses

added
7 months ago

Feinstein and Wyden conflicting views on torture

Time constraints prevented me yesterday from writing about Dianne Feinstein's comments concerning torture in yesterday's... more

dirtyemowords
added this

0 responses

added
7 months ago

The high cost of Free Trade

President Bush is using his final days in office to push through a free trade agreement with Colombia that would reward one of the... more

dirtyemowords
added this

2 responses

added
9 months ago

Somalia is world's 'most ignored tragedy'

Lobby group Human Rights Watch is calling the ongoing conflict in Somalia the world's "most ignored tragedy." In a... more

abbym0308
added this

18 responses

added
10 months ago

Brad e Angelina per i diritti umani

Eco cultura e società. Non contenti dei 2 milioni di dollari donati la scorsa settimana al Global Health Committee per la... more

yeslife
added this

1 response

added
10 months ago

Iran accounts for most juvenile executions

Iran has executed 26 juvenile offenders since the start of 2005, accounting for the vast majority of people under age 18 executed around the world, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

The New York-based group said Iran was one of five countries known to have executed juveniles since January 2005. Saudi Arabia and Sudan each executed two juveniles, and Pakistan and Yemen, one.

"We are only five states away from a complete ban on the juvenile death penalty," said Clarisa Bencomo, Middle East children's rights researcher for Human Rights Watch. "These few holdouts should abandon this barbaric practice so that no one ever again is executed for a crime committed as a child."

The report said in Pakistan, Yemen and Sudan the execution of people under 18 was outlawed, but because birth registration levels were low young offenders can have trouble proving their age and are often treated as adults.

"In Iran and Saudi Arabia ... these sentences are the result of deliberate state policies to retain the juvenile death penalty, combined with criminal justice systems that fail to provide children with fundamental protections against unfair trials," the report said.

It said Iran executed eight juvenile offenders in 2007. So far in 2008, it executed at least six juvenile offenders and more than 130 others are under sentence of death, it said.

"Judges can impose the death penalty in capital cases if the defendant has attained 'majority,' defined in Iranian law as 9 years for girls and 15 years for boys," it said.

In Saudi Arabia, the report said judges have discretion to impose the death penalty on children from puberty or 15 years, whichever comes first. Two juveniles were among at least 158 people executed in 2007 in Saudi Arabia, it said.

"Even states that still execute juvenile offenders acknowledge that such executions are wrong," said Bencomo. "But changes in law and practice need to be faster."

Human Rights Watch called on U.N. member states to ask U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to issue a report on compliance with the international ban on the juvenile death penalty.
Iran has executed 26 juvenile offenders since the start of 2005, accounting for the vast majority of people under age 18 executed... more

GeoffNI
added this

11 responses

added
10 months ago

Five women beaten and buried alive in Pakistan 'honour killing'

Pakistan ordered an inquiry yesterday into how five women were buried alive in an "honour killing". Three suspects were arrested as condemnation of the outrage spread across the country.

The atrocity took place six weeks ago in a remote region of the vast and restive province of Baluchistan. Three teenage girls named as Hameeda, Raheema and Fauzia, attempted to marry men of their own choosing, and were then reportedly kidnapped by armed local tribesmen along with two older women.

According to human rights groups and local reports, the five women were driven away to a desert area by men belonging to the Umrani tribe. The three teenage girls were hauled out, beaten and shot. Injured, but still alive, they were thrown into a ditch. When the two older women, aged 45 and 38, protested at what was happening, they were subjected to the same treatment. "All five women were connected," said Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch.

The killings have been defended by politicians from Baluchistan. Reacting to a female colleague's attempt to raise the issue in parliament, Israrullah Zehri said such acts were part of a "centuries-old tradition" and he would "continue to defend them".

Questions have been raised about the involvement of local politicians in the incident. The Asian Human Rights Commission said that the brother of a provincial minister was "allegedly" among the tribesmen. "There is a political connection, but it is not certain what," added Mr Hasan of Human Rights Watch.

Iqbal Haider of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission said the two senators should be removed from parliament. "They are as obscurantist as the Taliban ... these men have violated the constitution," he said.

Mr Haider added that the government had been slow to react. "I referred this matter to the federal government on 16 August. They have only reacted now. Why did it take so long for there to be an arrest? Where was the condemnation for so long? Why has there been no post-mortem yet?"

Details of the incident have only emerged over recent days after the local media began to draw attention to human rights groups' reports.

Yesterday, as women's rights protesters gathered outside parliament and government buildings in the major cities of Lahore and Karachi, the Sindh provincial assembly unanimously passed a resolution condemning the killings as "a heinous crime against humanity".Pakistan ordered an inquiry yesterday into how five women were buried alive in an "honour killing". Three suspects were... more