Amnesty Int'l and gulags, Colombia, Iraq, homosexuality
Amnesty International seems to be shedding some of its excessive caution as of late, describing the U.S. overseas prison network as a "gulag" and calling upon foreign countries to investigate, prosecute, and arrest U.S. officials like Rumsfeld and Tenet for violating the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against Torture.
Below are some excerpts from the regional overview of the Americas from Amnesty's 2005 Annual Report
The 'war on terror' and the 'war on drugs' increasingly merged, and dominated US relations with Latin America and the Caribbean. Following the US elections in November, the Bush administration encouraged governments in the region to give a greater role to the military in public order and internal security operations. The blurring of military and police roles resulted in governments such as those in Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Paraguay deploying military forces to deal with crime and social unrest.
The US doubled the ceiling on the number of US personnel deployed in Colombia in counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics operations. The Colombian government in turn persisted in redefining the country’s 40-year internal conflict as part of the international 'war on terror.'
...
Further evidence of spill-over from Colombia’s internal war was seen in neighbouring countries. Frequent border skirmishes were reported in Venezuela and Ecuador, where the number of Colombians seeking refuge grew.
...
In Colombia, against all the evidence, charges were withdrawn against former General Rito Alejo del Río, indicted for forming illegal paramilitary groups responsible for human rights violations in the 1990s.
The USA continued to pressure governments throughout the region to sign unlawful immunity agreements shielding US personnel from surrender to the International Criminal Court. Of 12 countries that had refused to sign, 10 had some military aid suspended as a result. In November the US Congress threatened to cut off development aid to countries that refused to sign.
...
Women and girls remained at serious risk of human rights violations across the Americas. The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women – which marked its 10th anniversary – had received more ratifications than any other treaty on human rights in the region. Only Canada and the USA had failed to ratify. However, its provisions were largely ignored by governments across the region, and gender-related violence against women remained endemic in the home and the community.
...
In Colombia, all parties to the conflict subjected women and girls to sexual violence, including rape and genital mutilation. They were targeted to sow terror, wreak revenge on adversaries and accumulate 'trophies of war.'
...
Women’s rights activists were acclaimed in Colombia for their work for thousands of innocent victims of conflict and for the meaningful involvement of women in peace negotiations and the political process.
...
Activists working locally on rural poverty and development, often in isolated areas, and journalists covering issues such as corruption were killed in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.
Juan Cole points out that it is probable that, for a given period of time, more (probably many more) civilians are dying under U.S. occuppied Iraq than under Saddam.
Cole also cites a summary of a United Nations survey, stating that currently "Nearly one-fourth of Iraqi children aged between six months and five years are chronically malnourished." In addition, "researchers found that diarrhea killed two out of every 10 children before the 1991 U.S.-led Gulf War against Saddam Hussein and four in 10 after the war."
He also brough my attention to a Knight Ridder report that found, in Cole's words "that US troops were responsible for twice as many Iraqi deaths as the guerrillas themselves over a four-month period" in the summer of 2004.
The International Herald Tribune reports today (June 3, 2005, "For Fruit Flies, Gene Shift Tilts Sex Orientation," ELISABETH ROSENTHAL) on a scientific study published today in the journal Cell:
"We have shown that a single gene in the fruit fly is sufficient to determine all aspects of the flies' sexual orientation and behavior," said the paper's lead author, Dr. Barry Dickson, senior scientist at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
...
The results are certain to prove influential in debates about whether genes or environment determine who we are, how we act and, especially, our sexual orientation, although it is not clear now if there is a similar master sexual gene for humans.
Dr. Michael Weiss, chairman of the department of biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University said that "Hopefully this will take the discussion about sexual preferences out of the realm of morality and put it in the realm of science." Indeed.
Below are some excerpts from the regional overview of the Americas from Amnesty's 2005 Annual Report
The 'war on terror' and the 'war on drugs' increasingly merged, and dominated US relations with Latin America and the Caribbean. Following the US elections in November, the Bush administration encouraged governments in the region to give a greater role to the military in public order and internal security operations. The blurring of military and police roles resulted in governments such as those in Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Paraguay deploying military forces to deal with crime and social unrest.
The US doubled the ceiling on the number of US personnel deployed in Colombia in counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics operations. The Colombian government in turn persisted in redefining the country’s 40-year internal conflict as part of the international 'war on terror.'
...
Further evidence of spill-over from Colombia’s internal war was seen in neighbouring countries. Frequent border skirmishes were reported in Venezuela and Ecuador, where the number of Colombians seeking refuge grew.
...
In Colombia, against all the evidence, charges were withdrawn against former General Rito Alejo del Río, indicted for forming illegal paramilitary groups responsible for human rights violations in the 1990s.
The USA continued to pressure governments throughout the region to sign unlawful immunity agreements shielding US personnel from surrender to the International Criminal Court. Of 12 countries that had refused to sign, 10 had some military aid suspended as a result. In November the US Congress threatened to cut off development aid to countries that refused to sign.
...
Women and girls remained at serious risk of human rights violations across the Americas. The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women – which marked its 10th anniversary – had received more ratifications than any other treaty on human rights in the region. Only Canada and the USA had failed to ratify. However, its provisions were largely ignored by governments across the region, and gender-related violence against women remained endemic in the home and the community.
...
In Colombia, all parties to the conflict subjected women and girls to sexual violence, including rape and genital mutilation. They were targeted to sow terror, wreak revenge on adversaries and accumulate 'trophies of war.'
...
Women’s rights activists were acclaimed in Colombia for their work for thousands of innocent victims of conflict and for the meaningful involvement of women in peace negotiations and the political process.
...
Activists working locally on rural poverty and development, often in isolated areas, and journalists covering issues such as corruption were killed in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.
Juan Cole points out that it is probable that, for a given period of time, more (probably many more) civilians are dying under U.S. occuppied Iraq than under Saddam.
Cole also cites a summary of a United Nations survey, stating that currently "Nearly one-fourth of Iraqi children aged between six months and five years are chronically malnourished." In addition, "researchers found that diarrhea killed two out of every 10 children before the 1991 U.S.-led Gulf War against Saddam Hussein and four in 10 after the war."
He also brough my attention to a Knight Ridder report that found, in Cole's words "that US troops were responsible for twice as many Iraqi deaths as the guerrillas themselves over a four-month period" in the summer of 2004.
The International Herald Tribune reports today (June 3, 2005, "For Fruit Flies, Gene Shift Tilts Sex Orientation," ELISABETH ROSENTHAL) on a scientific study published today in the journal Cell:
"We have shown that a single gene in the fruit fly is sufficient to determine all aspects of the flies' sexual orientation and behavior," said the paper's lead author, Dr. Barry Dickson, senior scientist at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
...
The results are certain to prove influential in debates about whether genes or environment determine who we are, how we act and, especially, our sexual orientation, although it is not clear now if there is a similar master sexual gene for humans.
Dr. Michael Weiss, chairman of the department of biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University said that "Hopefully this will take the discussion about sexual preferences out of the realm of morality and put it in the realm of science." Indeed.
posted by Steve Fake at 6/04/2005 01:07:00 AM
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