Group 133's Electronic Newsletter for March 2008 =============================================== Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 The Northeast Regional Office is still undergoing rennovations. Our monthly meeting will be in a special location: Physicians for Human Rights Office 2 Arrow Street, Suite 301 (Near Harvard Square), Cambridge, MA 02138 =============================================== THE STATUTE OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Adopted by the 25th International Council Meeting, Dakar, Senegal, August 17-25, 2001 VISION AND MISSION Amnesty International's vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. In pursuit of this vision, Amnesty International's mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights. CORE VALUES Amnesty International forms a global community of human rights defenders with the principles of international solidarity, effective action for the individual victim, global coverage, the universality and indivisibility of human rights, impartiality and independence, and democracy and mutual respect. =============================================== CALENDAR *Tuesday, March 11th: Group 133 Monthly Meeting, 7pm Physicians for Human Rights Office, 2 Arrow Street, Suite 301, Cambridge =============================================== GROUP CONTACTS (NOTE: To avoid potential spamming, your newsletter editor has replaced searchable parts of email addresses with words.) Group Co-Coordinators: Kelly Turley, kellyturley-AT-excite-DOT-com Rick Roth, roth-AT-igc.apc-DOT-org Newsletter Editor: Tamara Jenkins, 617-267-7262, tamara_ann_jenkins-AT-yahoo-DOT-com Refugee Action Team Coordinator: Eric Aronson, 617-512-7526, eric-AT-amnesty133-DOT-org Urgent Action Letter Coordinator: Kirsten Burt, kirsten.burt-AT-comcast-dot-net Tabling Coordinator and New Member Coordinator: Becky Ticotsky, rticotsky-AT-wesleyan-DOT-edu Treasurer: Tina Huang, tinalhuang-AT-gmail-DOT-com Secretary: Tamara Jenkins, 617-267-7262, tamara_ann_jenkins-AT-yahoo-DOT-com For questions about the following issues, please contact these individuals: Tibet Actions: Rick Roth, roth-AT-igc.apc-DOT-org Death Penalty Actions: Molly Johnson,mollykj-AT-email-DOT-com or dp-AT-amnesty133-DOT-org Stop Violence Against Women Campaign Kelly Turley, kellyturley-AT-excite-DOT-com Amnesty International USA Northeast Regional Office 58 Day St, Davis Square Somerville, MA 02144 617-623-0202 aiusane@aiusa.org www.amnesty133.org Available Positions: * Tibet Action Team Coordinator * Death Penalty Abolition Team Coordinator * Human Rights & the Environment Coordinator * Media Coordinator * Communications Coordinator * Tabling Coordinator * Web Site Coordinator =============================================== Please join us for the March meeting of Amnesty International Group 133 ! Tuesday, March 11, 2008 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. ** Special Location: Physicians for Human Rights Office 2 Arrow Street, Suite 301 (Near Harvard Square), Cambridge, MA 02138 ** Agenda   •    Letter Writing* •    Introductions and Amnesty Mandate •   Special Presentation: The Lives of the Restaveks: Child Slavery in Haiti- Carmen Russell. The nation of Haiti became the first country to legally outlaw slavery when former slaves overthrew their French masters in 1804. However, an estimated 300,000 children continue to work as indentured servants - known as Restaveks - even today. Last summer, Carmen Russell went to Haiti to report on one of the world's biggest child slave systems in the world. Carmen's work appeared on MSNBC.com and PBS's Foreign Exchange, which he will present at the meeting. He will include a slideshow detailing the current environment of the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. •   Get on the Bus for Human Rights 2008 Updates •   Brief Action Team/Campaign Updates •   Past and Future Events As with our February meeting, our March meeting will be held at the Physicians for Human Rights Office. Special thanks to Danielle Fox for once again making the arrangements for us.  The meeting will be on the third floor, in the conference room. (Signs will be posted to help you find us!) ============================================== QUOTES “Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.” --Paulo Freire ============================================== GROUP 133 ANNOUNCEMENTS This is a reminder that anyone who wants to take the Boston buses to NYC for GOTB needs to pay by March 25.   After that, we cannot guarantee someone a spot.  Please communicate this to anyone you've been in touch with or plan to approach about taking the Boston bus.  Direct any registration questions you have to Tina at tinalhuang@gmail.com.  =============================================== REFUGEE ACTION TEAM For information on participating in human rights activism concerning refugees and immigrants, contact Eric at 617-512-7526. URGENT ACTION: PROTECT REFUGEES ON EGYPT-ISRAEL BORDER: This month’s action asks the Egyptian government to protect refugees crossing into Israel, and seeks an investigation into recent killings near the Israeli border of refugees from Sudan, Eritrea and Ivory Coast. Your letters can make a difference. REFUGEE ACTION TEAM MEMBER FACES DEPORTATION, POSSIBLE TORTURE AND DEATH: Refugee Action Team member FRANK ENWONWU, a Nigerian asylum-seeker, was detained by US immigration authorities in 1999. Despite legal assistance from Group 133 member ANTHONY PELINO and other top lawyers, he has been issued a final order of removal. (Withholding of removal, granted in the important case Enwonwu v. Chertoff, was nullified by passage of the REAL ID Act, which stripped federal district courts of jurisdiction in cases of refugees seeking asylum.) If forcibly returned to Nigeria, he would be in extreme danger of torture and/or execution by organized crime syndicates, which include high-ranking soldiers and probably members of the government. Frank and his son, Brian (a US citizen), are now homeless, and Frank’s wrist was allegedly broken by guards at Boston’s South Bay jail. Eric has contacted Congressman Capuano’s office about this case. Since Frank has sole custody of his son, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services is also reportedly intervening to try to block Frank’s deportation. We took up a collection for Frank at February’s monthly meeting, which Eric gave to him. We are now seeking information on possible short-term housing for Frank and his 13-year-old son; please contact Eric if you have any leads. PRESENTATION: CHILDREN OF DARFUR: At February’s monthly meeting, Yale postdoctoral psychology fellow Dorothy M. presented results of her fascinating and courageous research in internally displaced persons camps in the Darfur region of Sudan. Among other things, she reported that large numbers of boys and girls have been sexually assaulted, that there is widespread use of child soldiers (recruited by abduction), and that the camps are still closely monitored by Janjaweed militias and therefore lack security. She also studied trauma symptoms in internally displaced children, and shared children’s stories and art with the group. For additional information on this research, contact Eric. REPORT POINTS TO SECRET GUANTÁNAMO INTERROGATION TAPES: A new Seton Hall University School of Law report, Captured on Tape, (http://law.shu.edu/news/guantanamo_reports.htm,) suggests that as many as 24,000 interrogations at Guantánamo were videotaped, and that the videotapes could potentially provide evidence of detainees being tortured. This information is based on a report by US Army Surgeon General Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley, which indicates that every interrogation at Guantánamo is videotaped. General Kiley’s report also states that interrogations at Guantánamo are “randomly monitored” by medical personnel: a fact that may indicate medical complicity in degrading treatment or torture. Although the CIA’s destruction of two interrogation tapes recently drew fire from members of Congress, this report suggests that thousands of other such tapes may secretly exist (http://law.shu.edu/administration/public_relations/press_releases/2008/guantanamo_interrogations_videotaped.htm). JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATES OWN AUTHORIZATION OF WATERBOARDING: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly launched an investigation into whether or not its own officials improperly authorized the use of “waterboarding” (controlled drowning) in detainee interrogations. The existence of the investigation was made public in response to a request by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Dick Durbin (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080222/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/torture_investigation). The investigation centers around the “Bybee memo”: a memorandum written on Aug. 1, 2002, from Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee to White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, which limited the legal definition of torture to “extreme acts” causing pain of similar intensity to that caused by organ failure or death. The CIA banned the use of waterboarding in 2006, and current Attorney General Michael Mukasey has cited that as a reason for refusing to discuss the legality of the practice. Mukasey announced in February that he would not pursue charges against CIA officials who engaged in waterboarding after being advised by the DOJ that it was legal. Also in February, Congress approved a defense authorization bill containing a provision that prohibits the CIA from using waterboarding and other interrogation techniques not included in the U.S. Army Field Manual. President Bush has threatened to veto the measure. SENATOR JOHN McCAIN voted against the legislation and encouraged President Bush to veto it. He stated: “There should be additional techniques allowed to other agencies of government…as long as they were not cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.” Apparently, Senator McCain does not consider waterboarding “cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment” (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080220/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_torture_6). =============================================== Minutes from January 2008 meeting Dorothy Morgos, Ph.D., is a Post-Doctoral Psychology Fellow at the Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center. Originally from Sudan, Dr. Morgos has conducted qualitative research on refugee children and families from Darfur. Her presentation will include children's stories and art. She spoke about her experiences interviewing refugee children. =============================================== Minister Habib Ibrahim El Adly Ministry of the Interior 25 Al-Sheikh Rihan Street Bab al-Louk, Cairo EGYPT Dear Minister: I am very concerned that three men and two women have reportedly been shot dead by Egyptian security forces (as they attempted to cross into Israel) since the beginning of 2008, and that these individuals included refugees, asylum-seekers and/or other migrants escaping persecution or conflict in their home countries. Specifically, I am concerned about the killings of Ermeniry Khasheef from the Sudan on 19 February, Mervat Mer Hatover from Eritrea on 16 February, and three migrants from Ivory Coast on 19 and 30 January. Although the military prosecutor has reportedly ordered an autopsy on Mervat Mer Hatover, no proper investigation has taken place, according to Amnesty International. I respectfully request that a thorough and impartial investigation of these killings be conducted, consistent with the United Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, that the result of such an investigation be made public and that anyone found to have used excessive or illegal force be brought to justice. I would like to respectfully remind you of Egypt’s international treaty obligations to protect migrants, and that Egypt’s security forces, including border police, are required to use lethal force only when their own lives are in immediate danger. Thank you for your attention to this very important matter. Sincerely, Address: Copies to: Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Ministry of Defense & Military Production 23 July Street Kobry el Obba, Cairo EGYPT Fax: 011 20 2 2574 7497/14 Email: nchr@nchr.org.eg Ambassador M. Nabil Fahmy Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt 3521 International Ct., NW Washington, DC 20008-2023 Fax: 1-202-244-4319 Email: embassy@egyptembassy.net Dr. Botros Botros Ghali National Council for Human Rights 1113 Corniche of the Nil-Midane Al Tahrir Specialized National Councils Building, 11th Floor EGYPT Cairo Fax: 011 202 2 2906004 Email: mod@afmic.gov.eg