PALESTINA/IZRAEL:
B'Tselem: Kept in the Dark - Treatment of Palestinian Detainees in the Petah Tikva Interrogation Facility of the Israel Security Agency
In the interrogation rooms, the detainees were kept bound to a chair fixed to the floor, preventing nearly all movement. At times, the detainees were kept in this position continuously for hours, with only short food and toilet breaks. In some cases, they were held in the room in this position without being interrogated, and with no interrogator present. Thirteen of the detainees reported sleep deprivation during interrogation lasting over 24 hours. Some detainees were interrogated continuously for a stretch of several days, with only short sleep breaks. The detainees reported the conditions in both the cell and the interrogation room damaged their ability to sleep, even when sleep was not interrupted. Thirty-six percent of the detainees reported that interrogators cursed and verbally abused them; 56 percent reported they were threatened by interrogators, including threats of violence. Ten percent reported being threatened with a “military interrogation,” a vague expression, understood to mean extremely violent measures. In 2007, the state undertook to desist using this expression, following the previous joint report of HaMoked and B'Tselem. Eleven of the detainees surveyed reported that the interrogators used physical violence against them. Many reported that the interrogators used family members as a means of pressure: In one case, a 63-year-old widow was brought to the facility, apparently so that her incarcerated relatives could see her in detention. She was released without charge two days later. 42 percent of the detainees were still held in the facility a week or longer after their interrogation ended and in the conditions described, some of them for a month or longer. The treatment of detainees, as revealed in the report, is consistent with an interrogation doctrine that seeks to break the will of the detainee by inducing shock and anxiety, completely removing him from his normal life, and subjecting him to extreme deprivation of sensory stimuli, movement, and human contact. Added to these is the induced enfeebling of the detainee by means of sleep deprivation, food reduction, exposure to temperature extremes, and causing pain, mainly through forced stiff postures. This doctrine appeared in the CIA interrogation manuals of the 1960s and 1980s, used as guides to interrogators operating in Latin American dictatorships. According to the manuals, these methods result in the mental regression of the detainee, who becomes putty in the interrogator's hands. The treatment of detainees as described in this report receives the backing of state officials in various forms. Regarding ISA abuse, since 2001, 645 complaints have have been made to the Ministry of Justice concerning Israel Security Agency interrogators. Not one complaint has resulted in the opening of a criminal investigation. Regarding violence by soldiers during arrest, the official Israeli position is that such violence is forbidden. However, despite extensive documentation, the practice is still prevalent, and it seems the soldiers receive mixed messages from their commanders, to say the least. The measures depicted in the report constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and in some cases constitute torture. All are prohibited, absolutely and without exception. International law unequivocally stipulates that no state of emergency may be invoked to justify such acts.
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B'Tselem & HaMoked: Without Trial - Administrative Detention of Palestinians by Israel and the Internment of Unlawful Combatants Law
Detention without trial is the most extreme measure that an occupying state may use against residents of the occupied territory. It is solely intended for the most extreme cases, and only where the detainee poses a personal threat, and no measure causing lesser harm to the person is available to prevent that threat. Yet Israel makes extensive use of this measure, in breach of international humanitarian law. Israel holds hundreds of Palestinians in prolonged detention based on undisclosed suspicions, without informing them what these suspicions are, without giving them an opportunity to defend themselves, and without notifying them when they will be released. The military-court judges play a decisive role in denying the right of detainees to defend themselves. The judges do not fulfill their duty to protect the detainees, who are unable to refute the allegations against them. Supreme Court justices have indeed established rules that appear to be intended to limit the use of administrative detention, but have failed to question the fact that the entire legal system relating to administrative detention is based on privileged evidence, accepting it as a basic assumption. The absence of effective judicial review facilitates the use of administrative detention as an easy substitute for a criminal proceeding when the prosecution prefers not to expose evidence.
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B'Tselem: Foul Play - Neglect of Wastewater Treatment in the West Bank
Official sources estimate the amount of wastewater flowing in the West Bank – from the settlements, from Jerusalem, and from Palestinian communities – at 91 million cubic meters [mcm] a year. They also estimate that the average daily per capita amount of wastewater produced by settlements is more than twice the amount produced by Palestinian communities. Despite the dangers inherent to wastewater flowing freely, the vast majority of wastewater in the West Bank is not treated. This neglect is the subject of this report. The first chapter discusses neglect regarding treatment of wastewater from settlements and from Jerusalem channeled east. The second chapter deals with the neglect of wastewater from Palestinian communities and delays in establishing treatment solutions. The third chapter presents three illustrations of how settlements pollute nearby Palestinian water sources and farmland. The fourth chapter details Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law, as the occupying state, to ensure the needs of the civilian population in the occupied territory and to care for their welfare, which includes preventing the pollution of water sources.
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Walled Horizons English- Narrated by Roger Waters (Pink Floyd founding member) Part 1 (video)
Walled Horizons English- Narrated by Roger Waters (Pink Floyd founding member) Part 2 (video)
HRVATSKA:
26.06.12. Otvorena skloništa!
Udruga Prijatelji životinja zahvaljuje ministru poljoprivrede Tihomiru Jakovini što je ispunio svoje obećanje o otvaranju skloništa te očekuje i ispunjenje ostalih obećanja - sankcioniranje svih odgovornih u ovoj aferi za nepopravljivu štetu nanesenu životinjama, građanima i skloništima, hitnu reformu veterinarske inspekcije i osnivanje inspekcije za zaštitu životinja te ukidanje odredbe Zakona o zaštiti životinja koja omogućuje ubijanje životinja u skloništima nakon 60 dana. ... Udruge za zaštitu životinja svjesne su važnosti zaštite ljudi i životinja od bjesnoće, no u ovom slučaju nije bilo opasnosti za ljudsko zdravlje, što potvrđuje i aljkavo postupanje veterinarske inspekcije, koja je površno dezinficirala domove ljudi čije je pse usmrtila ili ih uopće nije dezinficirala. Očito je da mjere suzbijanja bjesnoće treba provoditi na temelju potvrđenih činjenica, a ne pretpostavki, i treba ih provoditi u suradnji sa skloništima, udrugama i građanima, karantenom i testiranjima, a ne nepotrebnim ubijanjima. Autoritativan i nasilnički način na koji je inspekcija ulazila u domove ljudi i usmrćivala njihove životinjske članove obitelji pred njihovim očima ili ih odvozeći sa sobom, sramotan je i u civiliziranome svijetu neviđen primjer kršenja zakonskih propisa i ljudskih prava koji ne smije proći nekažnjeno. Time je učinjena ogromna šteta skloništima, građanima, životinjama, Gradu Zagrebu, ali i samom Ministarstvu. Nakon ove afere, u slučaju pojave bjesnoće i realne opasnosti od obolijevanja, ljudi će iz straha od inspekcije skrivati životinje, što nije u interesu niti ljudi niti životinja. Inspektori trebaju biti svjesni da se problemi rješavaju suradnjom s građanima i humanim razumnim odlukama, a ne metodama neprimjerenima 21. stoljeću i etički razvijenome društvu.
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Žrtve veterinarske inspekcije (slike)
Obrana Jadrankamena
Radnici Jadrankamena počeli su davno, kada je podnesena prva kaznena prijava protiv Orešara. Desetljeće i pol kasnije ta prijava još uvijek u ladici čeka zastaru. Hrvatskom pravnom sustavu rješavanje pitanja pronevjere više od 33 milijuna kuna nije toliko hitno koliko rješavanje pitanja neposlušnih radnika kad osporavaju sumnjivi stečaj, pokrenut na zahtjev uprave. Vlast se sad žuri stvar privesti kraju, čak i po cijenu slobode onih koji joj se protive. Sindikalci Jadrankamena više su puta privođeni, načelnik Mario Kaštelan (koji je otvorenim pismom pozvao Pučišćane da ne izlaze na referendum o njegovoj smjeni) sa suprugom i zaštitarima vulgarno i verbalno napada sve koji su na strani radnika, a jedan od gorih, ako ne i najgori čin u novijoj hrvatskoj povijesti bio je policijski desant na Pučišća, izvršen 3. svibnja 2012., kad je dvjestotinjak specijalaca uz primjenu sile odvuklo sve koji su tadašnjem stečajnom upravitelju Ivi Bućanu priječili ulazak u zgradu uprave Jadrankamena. ... Radnici su žrtve klasnog fašizma bili i u devedesetima, kad je krenula privatizacija. Radeći za crkavicu, prodaja dionica činila se kao logičan potez koji su mnogi danas zažalili, ne samo u Jadrankamenu. Gubitkom udjela u vlasništvu izgubili su pravo na sudjelovanje u odlučivanju pa nisu ni mogli spriječiti dekadenciju pučiškog starca. Danas su opet osiromašeni, ali ovaj put prodati mogu samo zemlju koju su naslijedili od svojih (antičkih) predaka, ako je uopće imaju. Kao da priča nije dovoljno zanimljiva, uključuju se i inozemni kupci, i to ruski tajkuni, jedan od kojih je prošli tjedan pronađen mrtav u Bračkom kanalu. Načelnik Kaštelan ne krije svoje veze s Leonidom Gartom: navodno je zbog odlaska na pogreb odgodio općinsku skupštinu na kojoj se trebalo raspravljati i o Jadrankamenu. U devedesetima, mnogi su se Pušišćani na prvoj liniji fronta borili za svoju zemlju, a danas se opet osjećaju kao vojnici. Ipak, danas su svjesni represivnog aparata i ne smeta im što su gerila. Svjesni su i snage svoje ujedinjenosti pa se svako jutro nalaze na plenumima na kojima zajedno odlučuju što dalje. Promptne reakcije vlasti na minorne prekršaje svjedoče koliko je radnička borba ozbiljna i važna. Represije ne bi bilo da Pučišćani ne predstavljaju problem korumpiranoj eliti. Oni koji se bore protiv kriminala trpaju se u zatvor, mjestom od niti 1500 stanovnika kruže policijske marice, a atmosferu straha probija tek tračak svjetla suradnje. Iako imaju međusobnih razmirica, radnici su fokusirani na zajednički problem, uništenje Jadrankamena, koji mogu riješiti samo ako ostanu udruženi. Vlast ih svim silama zato pokušava razjediniti, ali time, srećom, postiže samo suprotan učinak.
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Žrtve su predugo čekale (video)
