January, 16 2009, 09:35am EDT
ACLU Calls On International Bodies To Intervene In Case Of Alleged Child Soldier At Guantanamo
Obama Administration Should Immediately Halt Military Commissions Proceedings Against Omar Khadr And Mohammed Jawad
NEW YORK
The
American Civil Liberties Union called upon the U.N. Committee on the
Rights of the Child and the U.N. Special Representative for Children
and Armed Conflict to intervene in the case of Omar Khadr, the
22-year-old Canadian national slated to be tried by military commission
at Guantanamo for war crimes allegedly committed when he was 15. If
Khadr's trial goes forward as scheduled on January 26, the United
States will be the first western nation in recent years to hold a war
crimes trial for crimes allegedly committed by a child.
In letters delivered yesterday, the
ACLU urged the Committee (UNCRC) and the Special Representative to
issue public statements calling on President-elect Obama to suspend
Omar Khadr's trial and reminding the U.S. of its obligations under the
Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict,
ratified by the U.S. in 2002, which guarantees certain protections for
former child soldiers.
According to the letter to the
UNCRC, "while such a public statement is an exceptional measure for the
Committee to adopt, it is warranted by the urgent circumstances. If the
trial of Omar Khadr goes forward, it would establish dangerous
precedent for the United States and the entire world."
The ACLU has also called on the U.S.
to suspend proceedings against Mohammed Jawad, another Guantanamo
detainee facing a military commission trial for crimes allegedly
committed when he was 16 or 17. The ACLU is representing Jawad in a
habeas corpus challenge to his unlawful detention.
Last May, the UNCRC, which oversees
compliance with the Optional Protocol, criticized the United States'
treatment and military prosecutions of children held at Guantanamo and
called on the U.S. government to treat children in its custody in
accordance with international juvenile justice standards.
The full text of the ACLU letter to the UNCRC is below and online at: www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/nationalsecurity/38360res20090115.html
The ACLU letter to the U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict is available online at: www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/nationalsecurity/38359res20090115.html
A video calling on President Obama
to bring the United States into compliance with treaties it has signed
regarding the treatment of juveniles who have been recruited or used in
armed conflict, and highlighting the Khadr and Jawad cases, is here: blog.aclu.org/2009/01/14/obamas-child-soldiers/
January 15, 2009
Ms. Yanghee Lee
Chairperson, Committee on the Rights of the Child
United Nations Office at Geneva, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
CH 1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Dear Ms. Lee,
We write to you regarding Omar
Khadr, the 22-year-old Canadian national slated to be tried by military
commission at Guantanamo for crimes allegedly committed when he was
aged 15. If the trial, now scheduled for January 26, 2009, is allowed
to go forward, Omar Khadr will become the first person in recent years
to be tried by any western nation for war crimes allegedly committed as
a child.
We respectfully request that the
Committee on the Rights of the Child promptly issue a public statement
to the United States about the impending trial of Omar Khadr, reminding
the State Party of its obligations under the Optional Protocol on the
Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. While such a public
statement is an exceptional measure for the Committee to adopt, it is
warranted by the urgent circumstances. If the trial of Omar Khadr goes
forward, it would establish dangerous precedent for the United States
and the entire world.
Numerous human rights and children's
rights organizations have recently called upon the U.S. government to
suspend Omar Khadr's trial, and a public statement by the Committee
would reinforce these efforts. This week, the American Civil Liberties
Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First,
and the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers submitted the
attached letter, calling on President-elect Barack Obama to drop the
military commission charges against Omar Khadr. A similar joint letter
was submitted this week by the Juvenile Law Center and over 350
children's and human rights scholars, advocates, and professionals who
work with youth [https://www.jlc.org/files/khadr/Letter_to_Obama.doc].
Both coalition letters also called upon the United States to suspend
proceedings against another juvenile detainee facing trial by military
commission, Mohammed Jawad, an Afghan who is charged with attempted
murder for acts allegedly committed when he was either 16 or 17 years
old.
At the conclusion of the periodic
review of U.S. compliance with the OPAC, in June the Committee
expressed concern that children who were recruited or used in armed
conflict have been charged with war crimes and subject to prosecution
by military commissions, without due account of their status as
children. A public reiteration of the Committee's concerns and
recommendations is clearly warranted at this time.
We hope that you will act quickly on
this matter in the interest of protecting the human rights of children
recruited or used in armed conflict.
Sincerely,
Jamil Dakwar
Director, Human Rights Program
American Civil Liberties Union
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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Critics Blast 'Reckless and Impossible' Bid to Start Operating Mountain Valley Pipeline
"The time to build more dirty and dangerous pipelines is over," said one environmental campaigner.
Apr 23, 2024
Environmental defenders on Tuesday ripped the company behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline for asking the federal government—on Earth Day—for permission to start sending methane gas through the 303-mile conduit despite a worsening climate emergency caused largely by burning fossil fuels.
Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
"In a manner typical of its ongoing disrespect for the environment, Mountain Valley Pipeline marked Earth Day by asking FERC for authorization to place its dangerous, unnecessary pipeline into service in late May," said Jessica Sims, the Virginia field coordinator for Appalachian Voices.
"MVP brazenly asks for this authorization while simultaneously notifying FERC that the company has completed less than two-thirds of the project to final restoration and with the mere promise that it will notify the commission when it fully complies with the requirements of a consent decree it entered into with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last fall," she continued.
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Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition—which called MVP's request "reckless and impossible"—said in a statement that "we are watching our worst nightmare unfold in real-time: The reckless MVP is barreling towards completion."
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Appalachian Voices noted that MVP's request comes days before pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream is set to release its 2024 first-quarter earnings information on April 30.
MVP is set to traverse much of Virginia and West Virginia, with the Southgate extension running into North Carolina. Outgoing U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and other pipeline proponents fought to include expedited construction of the project in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans last year.
On Monday, climate and environmental defenders also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging FERC's approval of the MVP's planned Southgate extension, contending that the project is so different from original plans that the government's previous assent is now irrelevant.
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David Sligh, conservation director at Wild Virginia, said: "Approving the Southgate project is irresponsible. This project will pose the same kinds of threats of damage to the environment and the people along its path as we have seen caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline during the last six years."
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Others renewed warnings about the dangers MVP poses to wildlife.
"The endangered bats, fish, mussels, and plants in this boondoggle's path of destruction deserve to be protected from killing and habitat destruction by a project that never received proper approvals in the first place," Center for Biological Diversity attorney Perrin de Jong said. "Our organization will continue fighting this terrible idea to the bitter end."
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Apr 23, 2024
U.S. workers' rights advocates and groups celebrated on Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to approve a ban on most noncompete clauses, which Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khansaid "keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism."
"The FTC's final rule to ban noncompetes will ensure Americans have the freedom to pursue a new job, start a new business, or bring a new idea to market," Khan added, pointing to the commission's estimates that the policy could mean another $524 for the average worker, over 8,500 new startups, and 17,000 to 29,000 more patents each year.
As Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Heidi Shierholz explained, "Noncompete agreements are employment provisions that ban workers at one company from working for, or starting, a competing business within a certain period of time after leaving a job."
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has suggested it plans to file a lawsuit that, as The American Prospectdetailed, "could more broadly threaten the rulemaking authority the FTC cited when proposing to ban noncompetes."
Already, the tax services and software provider Ryan has filed a legal challenge in federal court in Texas, arguing that the FTC is unconstitutionally structured.
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Morgan Harper, director of policy and advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project, praised the FTC for "listening to the comments of thousands of entrepreneurs and workers of all income levels across industries" and finalizing a rule that "is a clear-cut win."
Demand Progress' Emily Peterson-Cassin similarly commended the commission "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
While such agreements are common across various industries, Teófilo Reyes, chief of staff at the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, said that "many restaurant workers have been stuck at their job, earning as low as $2.13 per hour, because of the noncompete clause that they agreed to have in their contract."
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Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) executive director Mike Pierce pointed out that the FTC on Tuesday "recognized the harmful role debt plays in the workplace, including the growing use of training repayment agreement provisions, or TRAPs, and took action to outlaw TRAPs and all other employer-driven debt that serve the same functions as noncompete agreements."
Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director at Open Markets Institute, highlighted that the addition came after his group, SBPC, and others submitted comments on the "significant gap" in the commission's initial January 2023 proposal, and also welcomed that "the final rule prohibits both conventional noncompete clauses and newfangled versions like TRAPs."
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One plaintiffs' attorney said the ruling "makes our democracy better and ensures that North Carolina is not able to unjustly criminalize innocent individuals with felony convictions who are valued members of our society."
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Democracy defenders on Tuesday hailed a ruling from a U.S. federal judge striking down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction.
In Monday's decision, U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs—an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama—sided with the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute and Action NC, who argued that the 1877 law discriminated against Black people.
"The challenged statute was enacted with discriminatory intent, has not been cleansed of its discriminatory taint, and continues to disproportionately impact Black voters," Biggs wrote in her 25-page ruling.
Therefore, according to the judge, the 1877 law violates the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause.
"We are ecstatic that the court found in our favor and struck down this racially discriminatory law that has been arbitrarily enforced over time," Action NC executive director Pat McCoy said in a statement. "We will now be able to help more people become civically engaged without fear of prosecution for innocent mistakes. Democracy truly won today!"
Voting rights tracker Democracy Docket noted that Monday's ruling "does not have any bearing on North Carolina's strict felony disenfranchisement law, which denies the right to vote for those with felony convictions who remain on probation, parole, or a suspended sentence—often leaving individuals without voting rights for many years after release from incarceration."
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"It also makes our democracy better and ensures that North Carolina is not able to unjustly criminalize innocent individuals with felony convictions who are valued members of our society, specifically Black voters who were the target of this law," Brown added.
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As similar battles play out in other states, Democratic U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont in December introduced legislation to end former felon disenfranchisement in federal elections and guarantee incarcerated people the right to vote.
Currently, only Maine, Vermont, and the District of Columbia allow all incarcerated people to vote behind bars.
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