July, 09 2013, 04:10pm EDT
ACLU of Florida Responds to DOJ Findings of Miami Police's Excessive Use of Force
Federal investigation began in 2011 following series of fatal police shootings killing 7 black suspects over 8-month period
MIAMI
Today, the United States Department of Justice released the findings of an investigation into the City of Miami Police Department concluding that the department has engaged in a pattern of excessive use of force, including the use of deadly force, in a series of fatal police shootings.
The following statement may be attributed to Howard Simon, Executive Director, ACLU of Florida:
The findings of the investigation mean that the weight of the United States government now backs the allegations that groups like the ACLU have been saying about the Miami Police Department. We are not surprised that the Department of Justice found that there is a pattern of excessive use of force. But as significant as these findings are, ultimately, someone needs to be held responsible for the deaths and the violation of constitutional rights.
We need to recognize the limited role of this investigation: it was a civil investigation, not criminal; it investigated the pattern and practices of the Police Department, not the conduct of any named police officers. People's rights have been violated and lives have been unjustly taken. Now that the groundwork has been laid by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, we expect a follow-up investigation into the conduct of Miami Police Department officers who were responsible. Finding out whether there are officers who can be held responsible is necessary if the people's trust in the police who are sworn to protect them is going to be restored.
The following statement may be attributed to Jeanne Baker, Chair of the Police Practices Committee of the Greater Miami Chapter of the ACLU of Florida:
The findings of this investigation are a crucial step in restoring the community's trust in its police department, but it is far from the final step. Credit goes to Mayor Tomas Regalado who, along with Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and other community groups like the ACLU, called for an investigation into his own city's police department. The Justice Department was able to arrive at conclusions that the city's internal mechanisms - including the Civilian Investigative Panel - have proven inadequate to find: that the City of Miami Police Department has been violating the Constitutional rights of its citizens. The U.S. Department of Justice did what our own Civilian Investigative Panel could have and should have done - investigate the policies and practices of the police department that led to the fatal shootings of Miami citizens.
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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US Abstains as UN Security Council Demands 'Immediate Cease-Fire' in Gaza
"This resolution must be implemented," said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. "Failure would be unforgivable."
Mar 25, 2024
The U.S. on Monday declined to veto but still abstained from a United Nations Security Council on Monday to adopt a resolution demanding an "immediate cease-fire for the month of Ramadan" in the embattled Gaza Strip, a move that came amid an ongoing Israeli genocide in which more than 114,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and hundreds of thousands of others are starving.
The Security Council voted 14-0, with the U.S. abstaining, to approve a resolution for the cessation of hostilities during the Muslim holy month after member states overcame a sticking point over the removal of the word "permanent" from an earlier draft version. Instead, the resolution calls for an "immediate" cease-fire.
The U.S. had vetoed three of the previous four cease-fire resolutions.
"This resolution must be implemented," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said following Monday's vote. "Failure would be unforgivable."
As the U.N. Newsexplained:
The resolution is a bare-bones call for a cease-fire during the month of Ramadan, which began on March 11. It also demands the return of about 130 hostages seized in Israel and held in Gaza and emphasizes the urgent need to allow ample lifesaving aid to reach a starving population in the besieged enclave.
The demand to end hostilities has so far eluded the council following the Israeli forces' invasion of Gaza in October after Hamas attacks left almost 1,200 dead and 240 taken hostage.
Since then, Israel's daily bombardment alongside its near-total blockade of water, electricity, and lifesaving aid has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health ministry there, where a recent U.N.-backed report showed an imminent famine unfolding.
Palestinians—especially children—are starving to death in Gaza. Hospitals are under attack, with Israeli forces reportedly executing large numbers of people inside al-Shifa Hospital.
Meanwhile, the approximately 1.5 milllion Palestinians in the southern city of Rafah—most of them refugees forcibly displaced from other parts of Gaza—are bracing for an anticipated ground invasion, which Israeli leaders say will proceed despite a warning from U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris that such an operation would have "consequences."
Monday's vote followed intense negotiations over the measure introduced by 10 non-permanent Security Council members—Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea, and Switzerland.
The United States—which, despite growing frustration over genocidal atrocities, still arms Israel—brushed off a threat from far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a planned visit to Washigton by a high-level Israeli delegation if the U.S. did not veto the resolution.
The Associated Pressreported Netanyahu followed through with his threat and canceled the trip.
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"By preventing UNRWA to fulfill its mandate in Gaza, the clock will tick faster toward famine and many more will die of hunger, dehydration, and lack of shelter," UNRWA's commissioner-general said.
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Israel will no longer permit the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to drive convoys bearing food aid into northern Gaza, even as the area is on the brink of famine.
Israeli officials informed the U.N. of the new restrictions on Sunday, prompting outrage and dire warnings from U.N. officials and other human rights advocates.
"By preventing UNRWA to fulfill its mandate in Gaza, the clock will tick faster toward famine and many more will die of hunger, dehydration, and lack of shelter," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini posted on social media. "This cannot happen, it would only stain our collective humanity."
"I have urged Israel to lift all impediments on aid to Gaza. Now this—MORE impediments."
In his response, Lazzarini said that UNRWA was the largest organization operating in Gaza with the greatest capability to distribute aid.
"This is outrageous and makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine," Lazzarini said. "These restrictions must be lifted."
The news comes as medical workers and international aid organizations have sounded the alarm about famine in Gaza. At least 23 children in northern Gaza have already died from starvation or dehydration, and one-third of children under two years old suffer from acute malnutrition, according to the United Nations' International Children's Emergency Fund. A new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report published on March 18 found that famine was "imminent" in Gaza's northern governorates and likely to begin "anytime" between the report's publication and May. In the northern governorates, where around 300,000 live, almost two-thirds of households endured at least 10 days and nights when they did not eat at all in the last 30 days.
"Blocking UNRWA from delivering food is in fact denying starving people the ability to survive," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media. "This decision must be urgently reversed. The levels of hunger are acute. All efforts to deliver food should not only be permitted but there should be an immediate acceleration of food deliveries."
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths also called for Israel's decision to be "revoked."
"I have urged Israel to lift all impediments on aid to Gaza. Now this—MORE impediments," Griffiths posted on social media, calling UNRWA the "beating heart of the humanitarian response in Gaza."
UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma toldBBC World on Monday that a quarter of a million people in the north rely on UNRWA food aid, yet the agency has not been able to deliver to them in two months. An attempt on February 5 had to turn back after the Israeli Navy fired on an aid convoy even as it traveled along a pre-approved route.
Touma told BBC World that more than 1 million people in Gaza now live in UNRWA shelters.
"They lost everything, and they need everything," Touma said.
Touma added that the most important commodity people in Gaza need is food, but they also need "safety, and they need protection, above all, and a cease-fire, which is very, very much overdue."
The U.N. Security Council finally succeeded in passing a resolution on Monday calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the release of all hostages as the U.S. abstained from the vote.
Outside the U.N., former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said on social media that the food aid decision showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "starvation strategy at work," as well as his "vendetta against Palestinian refugees."
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"This would be a death sentence for thousands," Ward said on social media. "They cannot be allowed to do this."
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"the days of these tech giants exploiting monopoly positions in different markets are over," said one expert.
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The European Commission signaled Monday that it has no intention of waiting for powerful tech companies to change their practices in order to comply with a landmark anti-monopoly law passed by the European Union earlier this month, as officials informed Apple, Facebook parent company Meta, and Google parent company Alphabet that they were being investigated for potential violations.
"The law is the law," Thierry Breton, E.U. commissioner for internal market, told reporters at a press conference in Brussels announcing the probe. "We can't just sit around and wait."
The commission told the tech giants it is investigating whether Apple and Alphabet are complying with the Digital Markets Act's (DMA) measure requiring companies to allow users to be directed to offers available outside the firms' own app stores. The two companies may be imposing "various restrictions and limitations" on users to unfairly favor their own stores, including by charging fees to prevent apps from promoting offers outside the Apple and Google app stores.
The commission is investigating Meta's practice of allowing users to pay a monthly fee for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram, which allow them to avoid having their personal data used for ad-targeting.
"The commission is concerned that the binary choice imposed by Meta's 'pay or consent' model may not provide a real alternative in case users do not consent, thereby not achieving the objective of preventing the accumulation of personal data by gatekeepers," said the European Commission.
Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the commission, said in Brussels that the companies have announced some steps to comply with the DMA, which took effect on March 7, but that some of the measures "fail to achieve their objectives and fall short of expectations."
Compliance "is something that we take very seriously," said Vestager.
The DMA identifies Alphabet, Apple, and Meta as three of six digital "gatekeepers" that are required to end anti-competition practices. New regulations require the companies to allow third parties to operate with the gatekeepers' own services, allow business users to access the data they generate when using the companies' platforms, allow users to un-install any pre-installed software or app if they choose to, and treat their own services and products equally to those offered by third parties.
The commission has 12 months to complete the investigations and could fine the multibillion-dollar companies up to 10% of their global revenue if they find them to be in violation of the DMA.
John O'Brennan, professor of European politics at Maynooth University in Ireland, said the investigation signals that "the days of these tech giants exploiting monopoly positions in different markets are over."
The E.U. fined Apple $1.8 billion earlier this month for suppressing competition from rival music streaming apps such as Spotify. The company is also under scrutiny in the U.S., with the Department of Justice joining 16 states last week in filing a lawsuit accusing Apple of illegally monopolizing the smartphone market.
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