Group 133's Electronic Newsletter for June 2008 =============================================== Next Meeting: Tuesday, June 10, 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, June 10th: 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 JUNE MEETING OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL GROUP 133 ! Tuesday, June 10, 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: Human Rights in Chechnya and Russia- Eliza Moussaeva and Jane Lezina. Eliza Moussaeva and Evgenia (Jane) Lezina both are Sakharov Fellows at Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. A long-time friend of Group 133, Eliza received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Moscow Pedagogical University. She is a human rights researcher at Memorial in Ingushetia and Chechnya, and expert for the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights in Vienna. Her work has focused on the War on Terror in the Russian Federation and other countries, preventive counterterrorism measures outside the Russian Federation, the mechanisms of a state's observance of human rights, and domestic and international standards. Jane received her MA in Political Science from the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. She is enrolled in the Political Systems and Institutional Change Program at the Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies in Italy, working on her dissertation, "Strategies of Overcoming a Totalitarian System," and is gathering material for civics, political culture, and civil society courses in Russia. • Get on the Bus for Human Rights: Starting a Year-Round Action Team- Anna Phelan. Forging ahead to start preparations for next April's Get on the Bus (GOTB) event, a small group of 133 members have already met to begin the initial planning. We need your help so that we can continue to grow and improve this event! Anna will lead us in a discussion about GOTB, and talk to us about upcoming events, activities, and roles related to Get on the Bus. • Brief Action Team/Campaign Updates • Past and Future Events Our June meeting will be held at the Physicians for Human Rights Office. Special thanks to Danielle Fox for once again making the arrangements for us. Please click on the address above for a map of 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge. The meeting will be on the third floor, in the conference room. Please e-mail me if you will be able to volunteer to bring refreshments to this meeting. ============================================== QUOTES "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal." - President Bush, in an interview with Politico and Yahoo! News on May 13 "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California." - Hillary Clinton on May 23, on why she was staying in the race against Barack Obama ============================================== GROUP 133 ANNOUNCEMENTS REM TOUR Fri 06/13/08   REM at Mansfield, MA  Tweeter Center For The Perf. Arts.   We have permission to have an AI info/action table during the upcoming REM tour. Dates, cites below We are allowed up to FOUR volunteers I need full name and emails of all volunteers. Arrival time is ~ 1 hour before doors open to the public Spots are filled on first-come, first-served basis. More details to those who volunteer. If you are not available, please forward this on to others in the area who may be available. Many thanks angie hougas AI Concert Liaison hougasa@execpc.com www.rhythmnrights.com =============================================== REFUGEE ACTION TEAM For information on participating in human rights activism concerning refugees and immigrants, contact Eric at 617-512-7526. URGENT ACTION: HELP PROTECT MIGRANTS IN MEXICO: This month’s action concerns Central and South American migrants who were raped and beaten by Mexican officials on a train bound for the United States. It also concerns IRENEO MUJICA ZARATE, a photographer/migrant rights activist who has been threatened and harassed since he reported on the above incident. Please send letters and help protect these people. UPDATE ON REFUGEE ACTION TEAM MEMBER FRANK ENWONWU: Refugee Action Team member FRANK ENWONWU, a Nigerian asylum-seeker, has been issued a final order of removal, and faces possible torture and/or execution by organized crime syndicates if he is forcibly returned to Nigeria. Frank and his son, Brian (a US citizen), are staying in a homeless shelter. Frank has filed a motion to reopen with the Board of Immigration Appeals, and therefore has a temporary stay of removal. There has been no word yet from the BIA. Despite a lack of interest in this case on the part of Senator Kerry’s staff, Eric has continued to push for a meeting. MIGRANTS FLEE SOUTH AFRICA AFTER XENOPHOBIC KILLINGS: At least 56 African migrants were killed in a wave of xenophobic attacks in May, in South African cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban (www.independent.co.uk). According to government officials, over 30,000 foreigners were displaced, including migrants from Zimbabwe, Somalia, Malawi and Mozambique. However, according to the South African Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, approximately 100,000 Africans may have been driven from their homes (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7420708.stm). There were incidents reported of beatings, shootings, stabbings, lynchings and migrants being burned alive. There were also many reports of looting of shops owned by foreigners. There are around three million Zimbabweans in South Africa, and many arrived to escape human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. There is widespread resentment toward foreigners in South Africa, who have been blamed for crime and are often seen as rivals for scarce jobs. More than 20,000 migrants returned to Mozambique following the violence, and some 30,000 migrants from Zimbabwe fled to Zambia, Botswana or Mozambique. A government spokesman said the violence appeared to be well planned and orchestrated, and was quick to blame individuals connected to the former apartheid regime. Scores of arrests have been made, and President Thabo Mbeki mobilized the National Defence Force for the first time since apartheid ended in 1994. However, many criticized Mbeki for waiting two weeks before speaking publicly about the crisis. Meanwhile, thousands marched in Johannesburg on May 24 to protest the violence (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080524/wl_nm/safrica_violence_dc). SENATE PROBES GUANTANAMO; FORCED DRUG INJECTIONS ALLEGED: In the wake of recent disclosures by former military prosecutors, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Senate Democrats announced in May their intention to question Bush Administration officials about alleged mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo (http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/22/headlines#9). Specifically, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Immigration and Customs Enforcement head Julie Myers were targeted for questioning, regarding recent reports of detainee deaths and forcible injections of psychotropic drugs. According to the Washington Post, 83 detained immigrants have died in the past five years – many under questionable circumstances. Turkish citizen MURAT KURNAZ testified before the House Foreign Affairs Oversight Subcommittee on May 20 that he was subjected to religious and sexual humiliation during the five years he was held in solitary confinement at Guantanamo Bay. http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/05/8305_murat_kurnaz_de.html). He said he was tortured there by “waterboarding” and through electric wires attached to his feet, starved, chained to a ceiling for days, and also injected with drugs. According to documents obtained by his attorneys, US officials had determined soon after his arrest that he was innocent, but he was detained at Guantanamo anyway. He says he was asked to sign a confession that he participated in an attempted suicide bombing in 2003, even though he was imprisoned then and the alleged incident turned out to have been fabricated by interrogators. Subcommittee chair William Delahunt (D-MA) stated: “America's adherence to the rule of law... and American values [have been] ignored. The treatment of these detainees—both in Gitmo and elsewhere—has been appalling.” Following allegations of the forcible injection of psychotropic drugs (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/21/AR2008042103399.html), Physicians for Human Rights (http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/news-2008-04-22.html) called for Congressional and criminal investigations, labeling use of such drugs to facilitate interrogation a violation of the Helsinki Declaration and the Nuremburg Code. In May, a 2003 Justice Department memo (from attorney John Yoo) surfaced that justified the use of mind-altering drugs in the interrogation of prisoners. BERLUSCONI INITIATES IMMIGRATION CURBS DESPITE E.U. OBJECTIONS, AS “ETHNIC CLEANSING” OF ROMA MIGRANTS BEGINS IN ITALY: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative cabinet met for the first time on May 21 and announced a new series of measures to clamp down on undocumented immigrants (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/22/italy1). The measures, which are particularly aimed at Italy’s 50,000 Roma (or “gypsy”) immigrants from Romania, would criminalize unauthorized entry into Italy. They would also authorize local authorities to investigate the living conditions of migrants from other EU nations before granting them resident status. Romanian gypsies, who tend to live in large encampments, have been blamed for much of the crime in Italy. The cabinet called for the imprisonment of adults who force children to beg, and for the immediate confiscation of property leased to undocumented immigrants; this may cause hundreds of thousands of migrants to become homeless. New measures making it easier to deport foreigners in Italy convicted of crimes may bring the government into conflict with that of the European Union, whose laws provide for freedom of movement within the EU. The Italian authorities are grappling with a backlog of 729,000 applications for legal residence, and it has stepped up actual deportations of those without legal status. The police have already begun a series of raids on Roma encampments, and vigilantes recently burned down a Roma camp in Naples, in what may be seen as the start of “ethnic cleansing” of Romanian gypsies in Italy. =============================================== Almir. Mariano Francisco Saynez Mendoza Secretario de Marina, Secretaría de Marina Eje 2 Ote. Tramo Heroica Escuela Naval Militar, 861 Col. Los Cipreses, Del. Coyoacán México D.F., C.P. 04830 MÉXICO Fax: 011 52 55 5624 6365 Dear Minister: I am writing in order to express my concern about the safety of Ireneo Mujica Zarate, a 37-year old photographer and migrant rights activist, who has reportedly been threatened and harassed because of his work on behalf of migrants. According to Amnesty International, Señor Mujica’s life may be in danger because he is a key witness for investigations into the ill-treatment of migrants in Mexico. He has been interviewed by the Navy, the National Human Rights Commission and the Instituto Nacional de Migración (INAMI) concerning an incident he witnessed on 31 March 2008, during a joint operation by agents of the Mexican Navy and INAMI in Oaxaca state. In that incident, a group of irregular Central and South American migrants were allegedly beaten on board a train traveling toward the United States. Photographs taken by Mujica reportedly show two of the migrants being raped. I respectfully request that you initiate a full, prompt and impartial investigation into the intimidation of Ireneo Mujica on 14 April in Arriaga, Chiapas state, and also into the operation carried out by INAMI and the Navy on 31 March, including the detention of Ireneo Mujica and the allegations of beatings and possible rape of migrants. I urge you to take appropriate protection measures to guarantee Ireneo Mujica’s safety so he can carry out his legitimate activities. I would like to remind you that the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties recognizes the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders and their right to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals. Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Sincerely, Copies to: Lic. Cecilia Romero Castillo Comisionada del Instituto Nacional de Migración Instituto Nacional de Migración Calle Homero 1832, Col. Los Morales, Del. Miguel México D.F., C.P. 11510 MÉXICO Fax: 011 52 55 5557 9865 Lic. Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana Procurador General de la República Embassy of Mexico Procuraduría General de la República 1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Av. Paseo de la Reforma nº 211-213, Piso 16 Washington DC 20006 Col. Cuauhtémoc, Delegación Cuauhtémoc Fax: 1 202 728 1698 México D.F., C.P. 06500 Email: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx MÉXICO Fax: 011 52 55 5346 0908 Sin Fronteras, Puebla #153 Col. Roma México D.F., 06700 MÉXICO