In the wake of the disastrous climate negotiations at Rio+20, a rallying cry is growing for ecocide to be made the 5th international crime against peace! The world is beginning to see that the law of Ecocide can save us where politics has failed!
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Friday, June 29, 2012
Israel treats every Palestinian child as "potential terrorist": government-backed UK study
A new report funded and supported by the UK government that accuses Israel of violating international law with its treatment of Palestinian child detainees was launched in London by a high-profile group of human rights lawyers on Tuesday.
The report says Israel is in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on at least six counts and of the Fourth Geneva Convention on at least two counts. It lays bare the system of legal apartheid Israel maintains in Palestine.
But there is pessimism in some quarters that the report’s recommendations will be implemented. The document has been criticized as “toothless” by a prominent Palestinian human rights activist.
“Children in Military Custody” was funded and backed by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and written by an ad hoc group including a former attorney general, a former court of appeal judge and several prominent attorneys known as QCs. The delegation visited Palestine in September and met with Palestinian, Israeli and international nongovernmental organizations, British diplomats and a wide range of Israeli government and military officials.
The report details the military law Israel applies to all Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including children, and how it differs from the civilian law applied to Israeli settlers who live in the same territory. It states there it was “uncontested [by Israel] that there are major differentials between the law governing the treatment of Palestinian children and the law governing treatment of Israeli children.” More
But there is pessimism in some quarters that the report’s recommendations will be implemented. The document has been criticized as “toothless” by a prominent Palestinian human rights activist.
“Children in Military Custody” was funded and backed by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and written by an ad hoc group including a former attorney general, a former court of appeal judge and several prominent attorneys known as QCs. The delegation visited Palestine in September and met with Palestinian, Israeli and international nongovernmental organizations, British diplomats and a wide range of Israeli government and military officials.
The report details the military law Israel applies to all Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including children, and how it differs from the civilian law applied to Israeli settlers who live in the same territory. It states there it was “uncontested [by Israel] that there are major differentials between the law governing the treatment of Palestinian children and the law governing treatment of Israeli children.” More
Monday, June 25, 2012
Jimmy Carter savages US foreign policy over drone strikes
Former president calls on Washington to regain moral leadership in wake of drone strikes and targeted assassinations?
Drone strikes and targeted assassinations abroad have seen the US violating human rights in a way that "abets our enemies and alienates our friends", according to the former president Jimmy Carter.
He said America was "abandoning its role as a champion of human rights", and called on Washington to "reverse course and regain moral leadership".
At a time when popular revolutions were sweeping the globe, the US should be strengthening, not weakening, "basic rules of law and principles of justice", Carter said.
Attacks on human rights after 9/11 had been "sanctioned and escalated by bipartisan executive and legislative actions, without dissent from the general public", he said. "As a result, our country can no longer speak with moral authority on these critical issues."
Carter added: "While the country has made mistakes in the past, the widespread abuse of human rights over the last decade has been a dramatic change from the past."
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948 with US leadership, "has been invoked by human rights activists and the international community to replace most of the world's dictatorships with democracies and to promote the rule of law in domestic and global affairs," he said. More
He said America was "abandoning its role as a champion of human rights", and called on Washington to "reverse course and regain moral leadership".
Revelations that US officials were targeting people including their own citizens abroad were "only the most recent disturbing proof" of how far such violations had extended, he wrote in the New York Times.Jimmy Carter: 'America’s violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends.' Photograph: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters
At a time when popular revolutions were sweeping the globe, the US should be strengthening, not weakening, "basic rules of law and principles of justice", Carter said.
Attacks on human rights after 9/11 had been "sanctioned and escalated by bipartisan executive and legislative actions, without dissent from the general public", he said. "As a result, our country can no longer speak with moral authority on these critical issues."
Carter added: "While the country has made mistakes in the past, the widespread abuse of human rights over the last decade has been a dramatic change from the past."
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948 with US leadership, "has been invoked by human rights activists and the international community to replace most of the world's dictatorships with democracies and to promote the rule of law in domestic and global affairs," he said. More
Saturday, June 23, 2012
War crimes warning on American air strikes
GENEVA: The United States' use of drone strikes to carry out targeted killings presents a challenge to the system of international law that has endured since World War II, a United Nations investigator has said.
The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, fears the CIA-run programs in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere will encourage other states to flout long-established international human rights law.
In his strongest critique so far of drone strikes, Mr Heyns suggested some attacks may constitute war crimes.
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Addressing the conference, which was organised by the American Civil Liberties Union, a second UN rapporteur, Ben Emmerson, QC, who monitors counterterrorism, announced he would be prioritising inquiries into drone strikes. The London barrister said the issue was moving rapidly up the international agenda after China and Russia this week jointly issued a statement at the UN Human Rights Council, backed by other countries, condemning drone attacks.
If the US or any states responsible for attacks outside recognised war zones did not establish independent investigations into each killing, Mr Emmerson emphasised, then ''the UN itself should consider establishing an investigatory body''.
Addressing the same meeting, Pakistan's UN ambassador in Geneva, Zamir Akram, called for international legal action to halt the ''totally counterproductive'' US drone strikes in his country.
Mr Heyns, a South African law professor, said: ''Are we to accept major changes to the international legal system which has been in existence since World War II and survived nuclear threats?'' More
In his strongest critique so far of drone strikes, Mr Heyns suggested some attacks may constitute war crimes.
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Addressing the conference, which was organised by the American Civil Liberties Union, a second UN rapporteur, Ben Emmerson, QC, who monitors counterterrorism, announced he would be prioritising inquiries into drone strikes. The London barrister said the issue was moving rapidly up the international agenda after China and Russia this week jointly issued a statement at the UN Human Rights Council, backed by other countries, condemning drone attacks.
If the US or any states responsible for attacks outside recognised war zones did not establish independent investigations into each killing, Mr Emmerson emphasised, then ''the UN itself should consider establishing an investigatory body''.
Addressing the same meeting, Pakistan's UN ambassador in Geneva, Zamir Akram, called for international legal action to halt the ''totally counterproductive'' US drone strikes in his country.
Mr Heyns, a South African law professor, said: ''Are we to accept major changes to the international legal system which has been in existence since World War II and survived nuclear threats?'' More
Friday, June 22, 2012
Israeli soldier fires gun to terrorize nine-year-old boy
An Israeli soldier fired at a bag to terrorize a nine-year-old Palestinian after the boy was unable to open it, according to a new report.
Defence for Children International (DCI) in Palestine has published the report on Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children. The report - which covers the period of October 2002 to May 2012 – was submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on 4 June. The report presents facts about children who were killed or used as human shields as a result of the occupation. It highlights the situation of the children prosecuted in Israeli military courts or held in military detention. In addition, DCI reveals details about ill-treatment by Israeli forces and the increasing use of violence by settlers against Palestinian children.
The video above illustrates the behavior of Israeli soldiers and settlers towards Palestinian children. It was made in 2009 and tells the story of 16-year-old Jameel from occupied Hebron. Jameel testifies about his arrest by Israeli soldiers while he accompanied two electricians to his home. Jameel was beaten by the soldiers and taken blindfolded and handcuffed to a checkpoint nearby. He was forced to stand near the checkpoint while a group of 40 to 50 settlers threw stones and brutally beat him. When the soldier in command appeared, he released Jameel. However, he threatened Jameel not to talk about what had happened; otherwise he would personally kill Jameel. More
The video above illustrates the behavior of Israeli soldiers and settlers towards Palestinian children. It was made in 2009 and tells the story of 16-year-old Jameel from occupied Hebron. Jameel testifies about his arrest by Israeli soldiers while he accompanied two electricians to his home. Jameel was beaten by the soldiers and taken blindfolded and handcuffed to a checkpoint nearby. He was forced to stand near the checkpoint while a group of 40 to 50 settlers threw stones and brutally beat him. When the soldier in command appeared, he released Jameel. However, he threatened Jameel not to talk about what had happened; otherwise he would personally kill Jameel. More
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Residency Of 240.000 Palestinians Revoked By Israel Since 1967
Israeli daily, Haaretz, published a report revealing that Israel revoked the residency rights of around 240.000 Palestinians since it occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, in 1967, until the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994.
It stated that more than 140.000 Palestinian residents of the West Bank and more than 100.000 residents of the Gaza Strip lost their residency rights in the period between the 1967 six-day war, until the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994.
The report also indicated that the natural growth of the Palestinian population is around %3.3, but the strict Israeli measures on border terminals, reduced the Palestinian population by more than %10, most of them were college students who studied abroad, or freelancers who travelled to several countries, including the Arab gulf.
Haaretz said that the Israeli government coordinator in the West Bank had to reveal these statistics after the Center for the Defense of the Individual filed a request in this regard under the Freedom of Information act.
The coordinator said that Israel denied entry, and revoked residency rights, of dozens of thousands of Palestinians who left the Gaza Strip for seven years, or more.
Israel also claimed that around 54.730 Palestinians did not participate in the 1981 census, while around 7.249 Palestinians did not participate in the census of 1988.
Haaretz reported that it revealed a “secret measure” practiced by Israel to prevent the return of Palestinians who travel for extended periods by stripping their residency rights especially when taking into consideration that, before the creation of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians who travel abroad had to surrender their ID cards at Israeli border terminals, and were given travel documents valid for three years.
At the end of the three years, the Palestinians were forced to renew their travel documents for one more year, and those who remain abroad for a minimum of six months after the expiration of their documents were regarded as residents who “abandoned their residency rights”. More
The report also indicated that the natural growth of the Palestinian population is around %3.3, but the strict Israeli measures on border terminals, reduced the Palestinian population by more than %10, most of them were college students who studied abroad, or freelancers who travelled to several countries, including the Arab gulf.
Haaretz said that the Israeli government coordinator in the West Bank had to reveal these statistics after the Center for the Defense of the Individual filed a request in this regard under the Freedom of Information act.
The coordinator said that Israel denied entry, and revoked residency rights, of dozens of thousands of Palestinians who left the Gaza Strip for seven years, or more.
Israel also claimed that around 54.730 Palestinians did not participate in the 1981 census, while around 7.249 Palestinians did not participate in the census of 1988.
Haaretz reported that it revealed a “secret measure” practiced by Israel to prevent the return of Palestinians who travel for extended periods by stripping their residency rights especially when taking into consideration that, before the creation of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians who travel abroad had to surrender their ID cards at Israeli border terminals, and were given travel documents valid for three years.
At the end of the three years, the Palestinians were forced to renew their travel documents for one more year, and those who remain abroad for a minimum of six months after the expiration of their documents were regarded as residents who “abandoned their residency rights”. More
Monday, June 11, 2012
Stop Al Assad Crime and massacre
- Stop Al Assad Crime and massacre - Arretez les crimes d'Al Assad
Syrian Revolution against Bachar Al Assad
الثورة السورية ضد بشار الأسد
Syrian Revolution against Bachar Al Assad
الثورة السورية ضد بشار الأسد
Friday, June 8, 2012
Palistinian Farmer spurns Israel’s cash offer, refuses to allow settlers on his land
Khalid Abdullah Yassin had a clear response for the Israeli government when it offered him a huge sum of money to lease from him the land upon which Israeli settlers had illegally built. He replied that the only compensation he would accept would be “your complete withdrawal from all Palestinian land.”
A farmer from Dura, a village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Yassin owns no more than 11 acres of land. Yet this small patch of Palestine, and what happens to it over the coming weeks, could forecast Israel’s outright contempt and blatant disregard for not only international law, but also its own.
In 1995, the villagers of Dura — already living in the shadow of the Israeli settlement of Beit El — began to notice that settlers were regularly encroaching on their land. While at first the settlers built temporary structures in which to celebrate their various festivals, the structures began to take on a more permanent nature and severely disrupted the agricultural life of the village.
In response to this creeping colonization of their land, the villagers started to demonstrate, and it was during one of these demonstrations that a young man, Khair Abd al-Hafiz Qasim, was killed — becoming the first martyr of many of this particular form of resistance to Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing. More
The high court is entirely complicit in Israel’s crimes, but its decision represents an internal contradiction to Israel’s attempt to combine the charade of a “democracy” with the continued ethnic cleansing, colonization and occupation of Palestine.
In 1995, the villagers of Dura — already living in the shadow of the Israeli settlement of Beit El — began to notice that settlers were regularly encroaching on their land. While at first the settlers built temporary structures in which to celebrate their various festivals, the structures began to take on a more permanent nature and severely disrupted the agricultural life of the village.
In response to this creeping colonization of their land, the villagers started to demonstrate, and it was during one of these demonstrations that a young man, Khair Abd al-Hafiz Qasim, was killed — becoming the first martyr of many of this particular form of resistance to Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing. More
Thursday, June 7, 2012
US drone attacks in Pakistan: UN backs probe into civilian casualties
ISLAMABAD: The UN human rights chief on Thursday called for a UN investigation into US drone strikes in Pakistan, questioning their legality and saying they kill innocent civilians.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay made the remarks at the end of a four-day visit to the country, where US drone strikes have on average targeted militants once every four days under US President Barack Obama.
Islamabad is understood to have approved the strikes on al Qaeda and Taliban targets in the past. But the government has become increasingly energetic in its public opposition as relations with Washington have nosedived.
“I see the indiscriminate killings and injuries of civilians in any circumstances as human rights violations.”
“I see the indiscriminate killings and injuries of civilians in any circumstances as human rights violations.”
The UN human rights chief provided no statistics but called for an investigation into civilian casualties, which she said were difficult to track.
“Because these attacks are indiscriminate it is very, very difficult to track the numbers of people who have been killed,” she said.
“I suggested to the government that they invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Summary or Arbitrary Executions and he will be able to investigate some of the incidents.”
She said UN chief Ban Ki-moon had urged states to be “more transparent” about circumstances in which drones are used and take necessary precautions to ensure that the attacks involving drones comply with applicable international law. More
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay made the remarks at the end of a four-day visit to the country, where US drone strikes have on average targeted militants once every four days under US President Barack Obama.
Islamabad is understood to have approved the strikes on al Qaeda and Taliban targets in the past. But the government has become increasingly energetic in its public opposition as relations with Washington have nosedived.
“I see the indiscriminate killings and injuries of civilians in any circumstances as human rights violations.”
Drone attacks do raise serious questions about compliance with international law,” Pillay told a news conference in Islamabad.
“The principle of distinction and proportionality and ensuring accountability for any failure to comply with international law is also difficult when drone attacks are conducted outside the military chain of command and beyond effective and transparent mechanisms of civilian or military control,” she said.
She said the attacks violate human rights.“I see the indiscriminate killings and injuries of civilians in any circumstances as human rights violations.”
The UN human rights chief provided no statistics but called for an investigation into civilian casualties, which she said were difficult to track.
“Because these attacks are indiscriminate it is very, very difficult to track the numbers of people who have been killed,” she said.
“I suggested to the government that they invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Summary or Arbitrary Executions and he will be able to investigate some of the incidents.”
She said UN chief Ban Ki-moon had urged states to be “more transparent” about circumstances in which drones are used and take necessary precautions to ensure that the attacks involving drones comply with applicable international law. More
Monday, June 4, 2012
Settlers Burn Lands Planted With Wheat Near Hebron
A number of fundamentalist Israeli settlers burnt, on Monday morning, Palestinian farmlands planed with wheat, east of Yatta city, near the southern West bank city of Hebron
Coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Yatta, Rateb Al-Jabour, reported that the burnt lands are located in Shu’ab Al-Batem, and belong to resident Khaled Mousa An-Najjar.
The Maan News Agency reported that, in 2002, Al-Jabour was shot and seriously injured by settler fire and was hospitalized for three months.
He voiced an appeal to Human Rights groups to intervene and act of stopping the escalating attacks carried out by extremist settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories, including in occupied East Jerusalem.
In numerous and escalating attacks, settlers burnt Palestinian farmlands, orchards, cut and uprooted olive orchards in addition to flooding farmlands with waste-water. [sewage] More
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