"Del dolor a la verdad y a la reconciliación es el nombre de este especial de Hechos del Callejón que hoy les presentamos. Presidentes y miembros de ocho Comisiones de la Verdad, la Reconciliación y la Reparación de América y Centroamérica, África y Asia, así como expertos en el tema, escribieron sobre los principales retos y problemas que enfrentaron comisiones en diferentes partes del mundo.
Cada una de ellas intentó, con mayor o menor éxito, descubrir la verdad en pasados que avergüenzan; impulsar la reconciliación así se hablara de rencores de más de 30 años; promover un nuevo orden moral, político y militar y generar los mecanismos, desde pedagógicos hasta políticos, para evitar que la historia de violencia volviera a repetirse.
Algunas lograron su objetivo, mientras que otras siguen siendo cuestionadas porque no tuvieron la independencia que se esperaba, porque generaron más expectativas que resultados o porque excluyeron de sus investigaciones a responsables de numerosas violaciones. Pero más allá de sus éxitos o fracasos, todas, de distinta manera, llegaron a una misma conclusión: “Nunca más”.
Esperamos que este especial de Hechos del Callejón aporte al conocimiento y a la reflexión en Colombia sobre las posibles salidas en busca de la verdad y la reconciliación."
http://indh.pnud.org.co/index_.plx?f=1164903304
El pasado 15 de noviembre presentamos el balance sexenal "DERECHOS INCUMPLIDOS, VIOLACIONES LEGALIZADAS: LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS EN EL SEXENIO 2000-2006"
La grave situación de pobreza en la que vive más de la mitad de la población en México y la impunidad que priva en el país son dos cuestiones fundamentales en donde se advierte la sistemática violación a los derechos humanos de la sociedad mexicana, a pesar de las acciones vistosas que promovió en el campo de los derechos humanos este sexenio de la alternancia, donde el discurso de los derechos humanos fue una de sus principales divisas. Hoy observamos y denunciamos que muchas de las violaciones sistemáticas asientan en herramientas normativas su legalidad.
El balance lo pueden consultar en: http://www.centroprodh.org.mx/
Agradeceremos mucho sus comentarios sobre el balance.
Saludos cordiales
Tania Tamara
http://www.comunidadesegura.org/files/active/0/InformeAnual2005_coalico.pdf
Durante los últimos años, la Coalición
contra la vinculación de niños, niñas y
jóvenes al conflicto armado en Colombia
(la Coalición Colombia), viene realizando
un seguimiento a diferentes aspectos
de la política pública y la situación de
derechos humanos de la niñez en Colombia,
dentro de los cuales se destacan
las acciones que las partes del conflicto
realizan y afectan a la población
infantil, y las medidas gubernamentales
y legislativas que se relacionadas con la
situación de ésta.
Vietnam: Street Children at Risk Before APEC Summit
Police Roundups in Hanoi Land Children in Harsh Detention Centers
http://hrw.org/reports/2006/vietnam1106/
(New York, November 13, 2006) – Government roundup campaigns to clear Hanoi’s streets of “wanderers” and “vagrants” are landing street children in detention centers, where some are beaten and subject to other forms of abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
" Vietnamese authorities need to protect street children from abuse, not condemn them to further harm by throwing them into detention centers. "
Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch is concerned that street children are particularly vulnerable to arrest now, as the Vietnamese government attempts to present its best face for this week’s meetings in Hanoi of world leaders, including US President George Bush, for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
The Taskforce on Middle East Anthropology is pleased to announce a practical handbook for those facing politically motivated infringements on their teaching or scholarship:
* * * * * * *
Academic Freedom and Professional Responsibility after 9/11:
A Handbook for Scholars and Teachers
* * * * * * *
Attempts to undermine professors' abilities to teach and do research are increasingly directed at scholars who seek to provide a contextualized and critical view of recent international developments and their interaction with US foreign policies and practices.
This handbook provides an overview of the range and nature of recent challenges to academic freedom and professional responsibility. It provides concrete suggestions for how to respond to such attacks and to avoid them in the first place. Utilizing research on institutions and interviews with academics, it considers the potentials and limitations of internal university structures, professional organizations, legal recourse, and media outlets. Finally, it contains useful pedagogical tools for dealing with difficulties in the classroom, and an informative bibliography of recent writings on academic freedom.
Please email us at taskforcehandbook@gmail.com if you would like to receive a free copy of the handbook.
Researched and written by: Tom Abowd, Fida Adely, Lori Allen, Laura Bier, Amahl Bishara, Christine Cuk, Rochelle Davis, Ilana Feldman, Rhoda Kanaaneh, Laurie King, Katayoun Sadeghi, & Jessica Winegar.
The Taskforce on Middle East Anthropology was founded in 2002. We are a group of anthropologists working to preserve a space for open discussion on the Middle East.
OMCT Publishes First Volume of the OMCT Handbook Series
Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights:
A Practitioner’s Handbook
by Uğur Erdal & Hasan Bakırcı
with a Preface by Sir Nigel Rodley
OMCT 2006 / ISBN 2-88477-110-7 / 374 pp / paperback / 40€
with Companion CD-Rom (in English & Russian)
The Book
This Practitioner’s Handbook is a publication of OMCT’s State Compliance Programme. Its purpose is to provide practical advice to persons wishing to bring a case to the European Court of Human Rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. As such, the Handbook contains an accessible but comprehensive treatment of the procedure and practice of the European Court, as well as a detailed analysis of the Court’s jurisprudence in the area of torture and ill-treatment. Because this is an article-specific book, all areas of substance and procedure are discussed in the specific context of the Court’s Article 3 jurisprudence and special emphasis has been placed on providing strategic litigation advice in relation to matters which may pose particular challenges to Article 3 litigants. The Court’s evidential rules, and in particular, the “establishment of facts” and the shifting of the burden of proof in ill-treatment cases, are given careful attention. The meaning and scope of the terms “torture” and “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” are dealt with extensively, as is the Court’s practice in the area of interim measures, friendly settlement, and just satisfaction. Reference materials such as the Court’s Practice Directions, the Rules of Court, pleadings submitted in precedent cases, a model application and introductory letter based on hypothetical ill-treatment scenarios, have been included in the appendices and Textboxes.
This book will shortly be available in French, Russian and Turkish.
Adalah Submits “The Accused” and Demands Investigation into “Mahash” for Breach of Trust and Damaging Public Confidence
"The Accused" Full Report (Hebrew)
http://www.adalah.org/features/october2000/accused-f.pdf
Summary of the Report (English)
http://www.adalah.org/features/october2000/accused-s-en.pdf
This month, Adalah published its report “The Accused,” which addresses the failures of the law enforcement authorities – first and foremost the Ministry of Justice’s Police Investigation Unit (“Mahash”) – in investigating the killings of 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel and the injury of hundreds of others during the October 2000 protest demonstrations. In response, the Attorney General (AG) argued that Adalah's submission of an independent report instead of an official appeal to him is inappropriate. As is well-known, however, the body nominated by the AG to re-examine Mahash's report of September 2005 is under the authority of the State Attorney, Eran Shendar, who was the Director of Mahash in October 2000 and after. Immediately after the publication of Mahash's report, the AG and Shendar held a press conference at which they expressed their full support for Mahash. In our correspond- ence with the AG on behalf of the families of the October 2000 victims, Adalah argued that the establishment of a re-examination body subordinate to the State Attorney not only violates the principle that 'justice must be seen to be done' but also constitutes an extreme conflict of interest. It also violates the families' right to due process and to a neutral and independent instance of appeal. Despite all Adalah's correspondence, the AG has to date taken no measure to grant the families an appropriate and fair appeal process.