AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NEWS FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

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1 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NEWS FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AI Bulletin Vol 3, No. 15, 28 July 2000 AI Index: ACT 84/15/ To subscribe or unsubscribe from the bulletin or to contact AI please write to Visit the AI web-site: and the AI Health Professional web-site at: Contents of external sites are not the responsibility of Amnesty International. Links are provided for the convenience of readers. NOTE: Some sites may require registration or only be available to subscribers. Summary AI reports & statements: UN theme mechanisms / Sri Lanka - new emergency regulations / USA - foreign nationals on death row Death penalty: India - Call for end to death penalty / Japan - man sentenced to death / Rwanda - death sentences / USA - AMA decision, racial disparity, pregnant women; Penry International tribunals & Impunity: ICTY appeal court decision Further news: Botswana - prisons are 'death traps' / Burundi - regroupment camps / Cambodia - genocide research & prevention / China - death of hunger striker / CPT visits Turkey / Egypt - human rights defenders / Europe - police brutality / ICRC annual review / Kenya - corporal punishment; torture motion / S. Asia - new HR body / UK - genocide research & prevention; FGM / UN - children and conflict / USA - penal system Conferences: AIUSA lawyers / ICN Publications Amnesty International statements and reports The United Nation Human Rights Thematic Mechanisms 2000 (AI Index: IOR 40/02/00, July 2000) This paper updates the Amnesty International/Law Society [of England and Wales] guide entitled The United Nations Human Rights Thematic Mechanisms, (AI Index IOR 40/16/99). It reflects the mandates of the mechanisms following the 56th session of the Commission held in March and April 2000 and addresses the questions: What are the UN thematic mechanisms? Who puts them into practice and how? How can they be contacted? Sri Lanka. New Emergency Regulations - Erosion of Human Rights Protection (AI Index: ASA 37/19/00) USA. Worlds Apart. Violations of the Rights of Foreign Nationals on Death Row - Cases of Europeans (AI Index: AMR 51/101/00, July 2000) Death penalty India - Call for end to death penalty. The first national conference of the campaign against the death penalty, headed by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer took place July in New Delhi. It was attended by 110 delegates from 15 states and heard calls for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in India with a view to abolition. See the short report in the Tribune [Chandigarh] (24 July). Japan - man sentenced to death. A former member of the cult behind the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system was sentenced to death (25 July) for killing a lawyer and joining an earlier gas attack, according to a Salon report. Rwanda - death sentences. CNN reports (17 July) that courts in Rwanda have sentenced around 400 people to death since genocide trials began in the country four years ago. The report cites the organization LIPHRODHOR (Rwandan League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights) as saying that 125,000 genocide suspects remain in prison. See

2 For information about Rwandan human rights organizations see: USA - AMA decision. As reported in the last newsletter the AMA decided at its recent House of Delegates meeting not to support a moratorium on the death penalty. See the CMAJ report (CMAJ 2000;163(2):197) at: USA - racial disparity. AP reports that white defendants in federal capital cases are more likely than blacks to negotiate plea bargains that spare their lives, citing an analysis of 146 cases prosecuted since Congress reinstated capital punishment. See the AP report ("Death Sentences Highlight Racial Gap") in the Washington Post, 24 July: USA - pregnant women likely to be spared execution. Both US presidential candidates agree that pregnant women should not be executed. An "innocent child protection" bill introduced into the House of Representatives in mid-july would prohibit states from putting to death mothers-to-be, according the online magazine Salon. See: [In fact, the USA is already bound not to execute pregnant women by Article 6.5 of the ICCPR ( )]. USA - Penry. On 20 June a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Johnny Paul Penry's appeal against his death sentence by 2-1 decision. See Johnny Paul Penry versus Gary L. Johnson: online at An appeal for a rehearing before the full (en banc) circuit court was denied on 25 July. Lawyers now have 90 days to ask the US Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari (i.e. agreement by the Court to consider the merits of Penry's claims and hear oral arguments on them). Penry is mentally retarded and a landmark Supreme Court decision on his case in 1989 (Penry v. Lynaugh) ruled that mental retardation was not a bar to execution. See: AI described his case prior to his last set execution date. See AMR 51/195/99: International tribunals & impunity ICTY - Appeal Court ruling. The Appeal Court of the ICTY delivered its finding (21 July 2000) in the case of Anto Furundzija, a Bosnian Croat, who was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment on 10 December 1998 on charges of being a co-perpetrator of torture as a violation of the laws or customs of war; and eight years as an aider and abettor of outrages upon personal dignity, including rape, as a violation of the laws or customs of war. This was the Tribunal's first ruling in a case which deals exclusively with a single rape as a war crime. See the summary press release at: ; The full judgement is available at: Further news Botswana - prisons are 'death traps'. PANA reports (14 July) that the Botswana Ombudsman's report has condemned the country's prisons saying they are like death chambers because of the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and overcrowding. See: Burundi - regroupment camps. Human Rights Watch reports that despite promises to close regroupment camps, they remain open. See: Burundi - Emptying the Hills: Regroupment in Burundi, available online at: A Panafrican News Agency summary is at: AI's most recent medical action on the Burundi regroupment camps is available at: ?OpenDocument

3 Cambodia - genocide research/prevention. The Documentation Center of Cambodia is an academic research institute established in January 1995 by Yale University's Cambodian Genocide Program to facilitate training and field research in Cambodia. The Center became an autonomous Cambodian institute in January See: China - death of hunger striker. Citing human rights sources, AP report that police forcibly fed a hunger striker protesting against the crackdown on the Falun Gong sect, causing the woman to choke to death. See the South China Morning Post: (28 July) Egypt - continued detention of human rights defenders. In a statement issued 14 July seven international human rights organizations, including AI, expressed their grave concern at the Egyptian State Security Prosecution's decision to extend the detention of Saad El-Din Ibrahim, Director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo, and Nadia 'Abd al-nur, the finance director of the institution, for a further 15 days. See: For recent local press reports see Al Ahram and the Middle East Times [see also last newsletter]. Europe - police brutality. The Geneva-based Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) has summarised briefly the findings of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture on ill-treatment by police in countries of the Council of Europe. The extracted quotations from CPT reports cover the period 1990 to 31 December See: ICRC - annual review. A summary of ICRC activities for 1999 is available at: d9e?OpenDocument Kenya - corporal punishment in schools. The ban on school caning is to be enforced in Kenya according to a Daily Nation report (23 July) Kenya - torture bill rejected. A motion calling on the government to compensate Kenyans whom it is said to have persecuted for political reasons was defeated in a vote 27 July, the Daily Nation reports (28 July). [If this link does not succeed, try ] South Asia - new human rights body. A new human rights forum was established by representatives from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The forum adopted a declaration on human rights at the conclusion of its meeting on 23 July in Rajasthan. See also the comment on this development in The Hindu (24 July): Turkey - CPT visit. A delegation of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture visited Turkey between 16 to 24 July. The delegation was led by CPT members Silvia Casale, a British criminologist and President of the CPT and Andres Lehtmets, an Estonian psychiatrist. See the press release: For CPT statements and reports on Turkey see: For AI's concerns on torture in Turkey see: UK - genocide research/prevention. The Aegis Trust has been established to research the causes and prevention of genocide. See Sunday Times (London) report (23 July): The Aegis Trust home page is:

4 UK - female genital mutilation. "FGM is not conventional child abuse. The parents who put their children through this procedure honestly believe that they are doing the right thing, with 600 years of tradition behind them", says surgeon Harry Gordon. ('Concern mounts over [FGM]', BMJ 2000, 321:262): UN - children and conflict. Children and Armed Conflict. Report of the Secretary General. UN Document A/55/163-S/2000/712, 19 July Document available in PDF format. The UN press release is available at: ac fa48b?opendocument ; the Chicago Tribune article (23 July) is at: USA - penal system. The number of people on parole or probation reached a record 4.5 million in 1999, the Boston Globe reported (24 July) citing Justice Department figures announced the previous day. Adding the 1.86 million prisoners to the total means that 6.3 people in the USA are under some kind of judicial supervision. See the Globe report at: shtml Conferences AIUSA Lawyers Network: The Amnesty International USA Legal Support Network (LSN) will host a national meeting at Hastings College of Law in San Francisco on the weekend of September The theme is combating impunity. The keynote speaker is Dr Juan Mendez, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights at the University of Notre Dame Law School and a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. For details visit ICN: The 22nd Quadrennial Congress of the International Council of Nurses will take place in Copenhagen Denmark, June Information on the Congress, the program, call for abstracts and other details can be found at the congress site: Publications Andersen HS, Sestoft D, Lillebaek T, et al. A longitudinal study of prisoners on remand: psychiatric prevalence, incidence and psychopathology in solitary vs. non-solitary confinement. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2000 July;102(1): at: Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law. The inaugural issue of this journal has just been published. For subscription and contact details visit the web site below or contact the editor: Dr Fernand de Varennes, Director, Asia-Pacific Centre for Human Rights and the Prevention of Ethnic Conflict, School of Law - Murdoch University Murdoch, WA, Australia 6150, Fax: , mailto:devarenn@murdoch.edu.au type de Jong JP, Scholte WF, Koeter MWJ & Hart AAM. The prevalence of mental health problems in Rwandan and Burundese refugee camps. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 102 (3): [no link] Journal of Refugee Studies. Special issue on asylum policies in Europe. Volume 13, No.1, March Linfield, Susie. Trading Truth for Justice? Reflections on South Africa s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Boston Review, Summer issue, 2000 : (Boston Review, E53-407, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA, mailto:bostonreview@mit.edu ) MacQueen G, Santa-Barbara J. Peace building through health initiatives. BMJ 2000;321: ( 29 July )

5 For earlier papers in the same Conflict and Health series see: Summerfield D. War and mental health: a brief overview. BMJ 2000;321: (22 July) ; and two other contributions: Olvera DR, Dever RB, Earnest MA. Mental retardation and sentences for murder: comparison of two recent court cases. Mental Retardardation 2000 Jun;38(3): See abstract at: Payne DE. Vigilance is needed. CMAJ 2000;163(2):160. Discusses issue of medical involvement in deportations in Canada. The author is coordinator of the medical network of AI Canada. See: Szabo CP, Kohn R, Gordon A, Levav I, Hart GA. Ethics in the practice of psychiatry in South Africa. South African Med J 2000 May;90(5): available at: Book review: Forensic sciences: Review of A Fly for the Prosecution: How Insect Evidence Helps Solves Crimes by Lee Goff. Harvard, 225 pp. ===================================================================== This newsletter may be freely distributed in unrevised form. For free subscription contact the AI Medical Program at Amnesty International, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X 0DW, UK. (mailto:medical@amnesty.org ) AI web-site: Newsletters are archived at: