http://ownme.msk.ru Сервис свежайших превью новостей правительства США Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:20:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/sentence-reduced-for-us-conscientious-objector/ http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/sentence-reduced-for-us-conscientious-objector/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:32:01 +0000 aron 15401 at http://www.amnesty.org
At his court martial on 14 August 2009, Travis Bishop was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for going absent without leave, suspension of two-thirds of his salary and a bad conduct discharge.

Lt General Robert Cone, commanding general of Fort Hood in Texas, approved the sentence reduction on 4 February after considering Travis Bishop's clemency application. His lawyer estimates that he should now be released in late March, taking his good behaviour into account.

Travis Bishop has asked his lawyer to relay this message to the many people who have written letters of support, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to everyone who wrote letters and supported me! This is amazing and unprecedented."

Following Travis Bishop's sentencing, the prison's military authorities received hundreds of letters appealing for his release. His lawyer has personally thanked Amnesty International members "for all of your help on this case. I think the letters may have made the difference. It is extremely rare to get this much time reduced from a sentence".

Travis Bishop has served in the US army since 2004. He was deployed to Iraq from August 2006 to October 2007. According to his lawyer, he had doubts about taking part in military action since then, but it was only in February 2009, when his unit was ordered to deploy to Afghanistan, that he considered refusing to go.

In the period before he was due to be deployed, Travis Bishop’s religious convictions became stronger, and led him to conclude that he could no longer participate in any war.

Travis Bishop's sentence was imposed even though the US army was still considering his application for conscientious objector status.

In a statement made at the court-martial, Travis Bishop explained that he discovered he could apply for this status only days before his scheduled deployment to Afghanistan. He went absent without leave on the day of his deployment to give himself "time to prepare for my [conscientious objector] application process".

He was away from his unit for about a week, during which he drafted his application and sought legal advice. He returned voluntarily, and on his return to the unit he submitted his application.

Amnesty International considers Travis Bishop to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for his conscientious objection to participate in war.

The organization has recognized as prisoners of conscience a number of US soldiers refusing to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan because of their conscientious objection.

They include Camilo Mejía, who was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for his objection to the armed conflict in Iraq in 2004, and Abdullah Webster, who refused to participate in the same war due to his religious beliefs and was sentenced the same year to 14 months’ imprisonment.

Another, Kevin Benderman, was sentenced in 2005 to 15 months imprisonment after he refused to redeploy to Iraq because of abuses he allegedly witnessed there.

Agustin Aguayo was sentenced in 2007 to eight months' imprisonment for his refusal to participate in the armed conflict in Iraq. All four have since been released.

Some of these conscientious objectors have been court-martialled and sentenced despite pending applications for conscientious objector status; others were imprisoned after their applications were turned down on the basis that they were objecting to particular wars rather than to war in general.]]> http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/sentence-reduced-for-us-conscientious-objector/feed/ 0 http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/afganistan-ne-dolzhny-ostavit-beznakazannymi-voennye-prestupniki/ http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/afganistan-ne-dolzhny-ostavit-beznakazannymi-voennye-prestupniki/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:56:20 +0000 aron 15343 at http://www.amnesty.org
Amnesty International has called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan Parliament to immediately suspend controversial legislation that will give immunity from prosecution for serious violations of human rights, including war crimes and crimes against humanity committed, in the past 30 years.

The legislation, the "National Stability and Reconciliation" bill, was passed by both houses of the Afghan Parliament in early 2007 and published in the official Gazette in November 2008 but, unusually, it was not publicly divulged until January 2010.   

Amnesty International and other human rights organizations, including the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), believe that this law is an attempt to provide legal cover for ongoing impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations, including the Taleban.

"The backers of this 'Impunity Bill' should note that they cannot simply legislate away the history of gross human rights violations and war crimes committed in Afghanistan over the past three decades. Nor can they silence the consistent demands of the Afghan people for justice and accountability," said Sam Zarifi, director of Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific programme.

"There are real doubts about the legal validity of this 'Impunity Bill', as no national legislation can immunize perpetrators of international crimes. Furthermore, President Karzai never signed this bill, and it was only divulged to the public almost two years after Parliament voted on it."

Under this legislation, people who committed serious human rights violations and violations of the laws of war, including massacres, widespread enforced disappearances, and systematic use of torture, rape, public executions and other forms of ill-treatment would be immune to criminal prosecution if they pledge cooperation with the Afghan government.

"The record of the past eight years has been crystal clear: attempts to accommodate human rights abusers have only led to a deterioration of security and an erosion of the government's legitimacy. Many of the people facing accusations of human rights abuses in the past are now in prominent government posts, facing new charges of engaging in human rights violations," Sam Zarifi said.

Under the provisions of this legislation, Taleban figures who agree to cooperate with the Afghan government would also be immune to prosecution. The Afghan government and its international supporters identified reconciliation with the Taleban as a priority during the London conference in January 2010.

"Short term expediency in the form of reconciliation with the Taleban should not trump the rights of the Afghan people, and in particular Afghan women and girls, who have suffered greatly under the Taleban’s repressive strictures. The Taleban have had a record of terrible human rights abuses, both when they ruled Afghanistan, and now in the areas they control. They should be held to account for their actions, not be granted official impunity," Sam Zarifi said.

"The Afghan people have time and again signalled that they want a government that protects and provides their human rights and that imposes the rule of law. This legislation is simply an effort to pervert the course of justice under the faulty guise of providing security."]]> http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/afganistan-ne-dolzhny-ostavit-beznakazannymi-voennye-prestupniki/feed/ 0 http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/prava-cheloveka-v-afganistane-dolzhny-byt-garantirovany-vo-vremya-peregovorov-talibov/ http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/prava-cheloveka-v-afganistane-dolzhny-byt-garantirovany-vo-vremya-peregovorov-talibov/#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:52:20 +0000 aron 15160 at http://www.amnesty.org
Human rights, including women's rights, must not be traded away or compromised during any reconciliation talks with the Taleban in Afghanistan, Amnesty International said on the eve of a London conference set to discuss deteriorating security conditions in the country.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, other leaders and foreign ministers are to discuss security arrangements in Afghanistan for the next two years, including reconciliation programmes to reintegrate so-called moderate elements of Taleban.

"Any discussions with the Taleban must include clear commitments that they will respect and promote the rights of the Afghan people," said Sam Zarifi, director of Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific programme.

"The Taleban established a terrible record of violating human rights during their rule and they have done nothing since then to indicate they will act differently if they return to power."

"The policymakers gathered in London this week have to show that they will not sacrifice the well-being of the Afghan people at the altar of political and military expediency."

Similar deals with the Taleban in neighbouring Pakistan led to increased human rights violations in areas under Taleban control and a significant escalation in conflict and insecurity.

The Afghan government and insurgent groups must both adhere to Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights law and domestic law, Amnesty International said.

The Taleban and other insurgent groups in Afghanistan have shown little regard for human rights and the laws of war, deliberately targeting civilians, launching indiscriminate suicide attacks in which civilians are killed and engaging in the wholesale destruction of girls’ education.

According to UN figures, the Taleban were responsible for two thirds of the more than 2400 civilian casualties in Afghanistan last year, the bloodiest year yet since the fall of the Taleban.

In areas under their control, the Taleban have severely curtailed the rights of girls and women,  including the denial of education, employment, freedom of movement and political participation and representation.

Afghan civil society groups, in particular women's groups, have voiced serious alarms about the prospect of ceding any type of political control to the Taleban.

"Diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict are a positive step forward," said Sam Zarifi, "but the rights of the Afghan people must never be negotiated away.

"It is our experience that peace without justice or human rights is not real peace and could ultimately lead to further conflict."]]> http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/prava-cheloveka-v-afganistane-dolzhny-byt-garantirovany-vo-vremya-peregovorov-talibov/feed/ 0