June, 01 2010, 03:07pm EDT
NGOs Gathered in Kampala Call for End to Impunity Crisis Following Israeli Attack on Aid Convoy
We, the undersigned organisations gathered in Kampala at the
International Criminal Court (ICC) Review Conference, are shocked by
Israel's killing and injury of civilians carrying humanitarian supplies
to Gaza. We wish to express our sorrow regarding the loss of life and
call on the international community to immediately take all appropriate
measures in response to this unacceptable violence.
WASHINGTON
We, the undersigned organisations gathered in Kampala at the
International Criminal Court (ICC) Review Conference, are shocked by
Israel's killing and injury of civilians carrying humanitarian supplies
to Gaza. We wish to express our sorrow regarding the loss of life and
call on the international community to immediately take all appropriate
measures in response to this unacceptable violence.
On 31 May 2010 Israeli forces opened fire against an international
aid convoy seeking to bring humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip;
more than 700 unarmed activists from over 40 countries were on board the
8-ship flotilla. The attack occurred in international waters and
resulted in the killing of at least 9 persons and the injury of a
further 60.
aid convoy seeking to bring humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip;
more than 700 unarmed activists from over 40 countries were on board the
8-ship flotilla. The attack occurred in international waters and
resulted in the killing of at least 9 persons and the injury of a
further 60.
The entire population of the Gaza Strip is subjected to an illegal
closure imposed by Israel as a form of collective punishment, resulting
in a scandalous, wholly preventable humanitarian crisis. As noted by the
United Nations, Israel currently allows only one-quarter of the
necessary supplies into Gaza. The aid convoy was carrying 10,000 tonnes
of humanitarian goods, including medicines, basic education and
reconstruction materials.
closure imposed by Israel as a form of collective punishment, resulting
in a scandalous, wholly preventable humanitarian crisis. As noted by the
United Nations, Israel currently allows only one-quarter of the
necessary supplies into Gaza. The aid convoy was carrying 10,000 tonnes
of humanitarian goods, including medicines, basic education and
reconstruction materials.
This tragedy is the result of the prolonged impunity granted to
Israel by the international community, despite Israel's documented,
persistent disregard for international and humanitarian law in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and its violation of fundamental
human rights, including the right to life. Many of these violations also
entail criminal responsibility; however, so far no concrete action has
been taken and impunity is a long standing feature of Israel's illegal
occupation policy.
Israel by the international community, despite Israel's documented,
persistent disregard for international and humanitarian law in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and its violation of fundamental
human rights, including the right to life. Many of these violations also
entail criminal responsibility; however, so far no concrete action has
been taken and impunity is a long standing feature of Israel's illegal
occupation policy.
As noted by the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, the
"prolonged situation of impunity has created a justice crisis in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory that warrants action." It is a self
evident truth that law becomes meaningless if not enforced.
"prolonged situation of impunity has created a justice crisis in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory that warrants action." It is a self
evident truth that law becomes meaningless if not enforced.
The conflict in Israel-Palestine extends beyond its territorial
boundaries and must be regarded as a matter of concern to the entire
international community. The consequences of continued impunity,
occurring under the glare of the world's media, have widespread global
implications, undermining faith in international justice and its ability
to protect civilians. No State should be allowed to act above the law.
boundaries and must be regarded as a matter of concern to the entire
international community. The consequences of continued impunity,
occurring under the glare of the world's media, have widespread global
implications, undermining faith in international justice and its ability
to protect civilians. No State should be allowed to act above the law.
While this tragedy takes place, the first Review Conference of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) opens in Kampala, Uganda. On this
historic occasion the entire international community, at the presence of
UN higher authorities, is celebrating international justice's most
important achievement. The Court is the result of over 50 years of
struggle to enforce international law through accountability; it was
celebrated as the means to uphold the rule of law, to move from war to
law.
International Criminal Court (ICC) opens in Kampala, Uganda. On this
historic occasion the entire international community, at the presence of
UN higher authorities, is celebrating international justice's most
important achievement. The Court is the result of over 50 years of
struggle to enforce international law through accountability; it was
celebrated as the means to uphold the rule of law, to move from war to
law.
Through the ICC the international community aims to put an end to
impunity for the gravest crimes. Speaking at the opening of the ICC
Review Conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and ICC Prosecutor
Louis-Moreno Ocampo, stated that 'no one is beyond reach': perpetrators
of international crimes must be held to account, regardless of their
rank or nationality. International crimes must no go unpunished.
impunity for the gravest crimes. Speaking at the opening of the ICC
Review Conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and ICC Prosecutor
Louis-Moreno Ocampo, stated that 'no one is beyond reach': perpetrators
of international crimes must be held to account, regardless of their
rank or nationality. International crimes must no go unpunished.
Speaking from the venue of the Conference in Kampala the UN
Secretary General strongly condemned Israel's attack on the humanitarian
flottilla to Gaza. States delegates declared themselves shocked and
outraged by the killings. Everybody urged for a strong reaction at the
international level. The UN Security Council immediately called an
emergency session on the incident.
Secretary General strongly condemned Israel's attack on the humanitarian
flottilla to Gaza. States delegates declared themselves shocked and
outraged by the killings. Everybody urged for a strong reaction at the
international level. The UN Security Council immediately called an
emergency session on the incident.
Our international legal order has all the instruments at disposal
to ensure that these declarations do not remain - once again - dead
words sadly condemned to fade on paper.
to ensure that these declarations do not remain - once again - dead
words sadly condemned to fade on paper.
For more than one and a half year, following Israel's military
attack on Gaza of December 2008-January 2009, the ICC Prosecutor has
been closely monitoring the events in the OPT and examining the
possibility of opening an investigation into the situation. The UN
Security Council can accelerate the process and refer the situation to
the Court, triggering its jurisdiction regardless of the territoriality
and nationality links. The ICC Review Conference is a unique opportunity
for the international community to take a concrete step towards
upholding the rule of law.
attack on Gaza of December 2008-January 2009, the ICC Prosecutor has
been closely monitoring the events in the OPT and examining the
possibility of opening an investigation into the situation. The UN
Security Council can accelerate the process and refer the situation to
the Court, triggering its jurisdiction regardless of the territoriality
and nationality links. The ICC Review Conference is a unique opportunity
for the international community to take a concrete step towards
upholding the rule of law.
We want Kampala to be remembered as the place where justice
triumphed over politics.
triumphed over politics.
Therefore, the undersigned organizations call for the illegal
closure of the Gaza Strip to be immediately lifted and urge:
closure of the Gaza Strip to be immediately lifted and urge:
- The ICC Prosecutor to make an urgent determination regarding the
opening of an investigation into the situation in the OPT. - The UN Secretary General: to urgently address the UN Security
Council with respect to the ongoing impunity crisis in Israel and the
OPT in order to engage all appropriate international mechanisms. - The UN Security Council: to refer the situation to the ICC.
- All States Parties to the ICC: to take all appropriate measure,
at the diplomatic and legal levels, to uphold the rule of law in the OPT - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: to urgently visit the
Gaza Strip. - Israel to comply with their international legal obligation and
cooperate with investigative authority.
Signatories:
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH)
Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR, USA)
Turkish Coalition for the ICC
Track Impunity Always (TRIAL)
Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists
Gender Justice Initiative
Fondazione Internazionale Lelio Basso (Italy)
Cairo Institute for Human Rights
University College Dublin, (Ireland)
Africa Freedom of Information Centre
Uganda Joint Christian Council
Human Rights Network - Uganda
Uganda Women and Children Organisation (UWCO)
Hope After Rape (HAR, Uganda)
Disabled Women's Network & Resource Organisation in Uganda
(DWMRO)
(DWMRO)
Cameroon Coalition for Human Rights
Iranian Islamic Human Rights Commission
Kituo Cha Sheria (Kenya)
Coalition for Justice and Accountability (Sierra Leone)
Colombian Comission of Jurists
Network Movement for Democracy Human Rights (NMDHR, Sierra Leone)
Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights
Indonesian Civil Society Coalition for the ICC (ICSLCC)
Ligue pour la Paix et les Droits de l'Homme (LIPADHO, DRC)
Synergie des ONG's Congolaise pour les Victimes (SYCOVI, DRC)
Femme pour la Paix, le Developpement et les Droit de l'Homme (DRC)
Sierra Leone Coalition for the ICC
Association Espanola De Derecho International De Derechos Humanos
(AEDIDH)
(AEDIDH)
Justice Without Frontiers
Lebanese Centre for International Law and Human Rights
La Coalition Marocain Pour La Cour Penal Internationale
Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
(212) 614-6464LATEST NEWS
US 'Imperial Anxieties' Mount Over China-Brokered Iran-Saudi Arabia Diplomatic Deal
One American intelligence expert urged the U.S. to maintain friendly relations with "barbarous, but long-standing allies" in the Middle East lest China fill the vacuum.
Mar 11, 2023
While advocates of peace and a multipolar world order welcomed Friday's China-brokered agreement reestablishing diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, U.S. press, pundits, and politicians expressed what one observer called "imperial anxieties" over the deal and growing Chinese influence in a region dominated by the United States for decades.
The deal struck between the two countries—which are fighting a proxy war in Yemen—to normalize relations after seven years of severance was hailed by Wang Yi, China's top diplomat, as "a victory of dialogue and peace."
The three nations said in a joint statement that the agreement is an "affirmation of the respect for the sovereignty of states and non-interference in internal affairs."
"The U.S. encourages war while China pushes the opposite."
Iran and Saudi Arabia "also expressed their appreciation and gratitude to the leadership and government of the People's Republic of China for hosting and sponsoring the talks, and the efforts it placed towards its success," the statement said.
United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric thanked China for its role in the deal, asserting in a statement that "good neighborly relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are essential for the stability of the Gulf region."
Amy Hawthorne, deputy director for research at the Project on Middle East Democracy, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group, toldThe New York Times that "China's prestigious accomplishment vaults it into a new league diplomatically and outshines anything the U.S. has been able to achieve in the region since [President Joe] Biden came to office."
Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C., called the deal a sign of "a battle of narratives for the future of the international order."
CNN's Tamara Qiblawi called the agreement "the start of a new era, with China front and center."
Meanwhile, Ahmed Aboudouh, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, another D.C. think tank, wrote that "China just left the U.S. with a bloody nose in the Gulf."
At the Carnegie Endowment, yet another think tank located in the nation's capital, senior fellow Aaron David Miller tweeted that the deal "boosts Beijing and legitimizes Tehran. It's a middle finger to Biden and a practical calculation of Saudi interests"
Some observers compared U.S. and Chinese policies and actions in the Middle East.
"The U.S. is supporting one side and suppressing the other, while China is trying to make both parties move closer," Wu Xinbo, dean of international studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, told the Times. "It is a different diplomatic paradigm."
Murtaza Hussein, a reporter for The Intercept,tweeted that the fact that the agreement "was mediated by China as a trusted outside party shows shortcomings of belligerent U.S. approach to the region."
While cautiously welcoming the agreement, Biden administration officials expressed skepticism that Iran would live up to its end of the bargain.
"This is not a regime that typically does honor its word, so we hope that they do," White House National Security Council Strategic Coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Friday—apparently without any sense of irony over the fact that the United States unilaterally abrogated the Iran nuclear deal during the Trump administration.
Kirby added that the Biden administration would "like to see this war in Yemen end," but he did not acknowledge U.S. support for the Saudi-led intervention in a civil war that's directly or indirectly killed nearly 400,000 people since 2014, according to United Nations humanitarian officials.
U.S relations with Saudi Arabia have been strained during the tenure of President Joe Biden. While Biden—who once vowed to make the repressive kingdom a "pariah" over the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi—has been willing to tolerate Saudi human rights abuses and war crimes, the president has expressed anger and frustration over the monarchy's decision to reduce oil production amid soaring U.S. gasoline prices and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Nevertheless, the Biden administration is currently trying to broker a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel following the Trump administration's mediation of the Abraham Accords, a series of diplomatic normalization agreements between Israel and erstwhile enemies the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The United States, which played a key role in overthrowing Iran's progressive government in a 1953 coup, has not had diplomatic relations with Tehran since shortly after the current Islamist regime overthrew the U.S.-backed monarchy that ruled with a brutal hand for 25 years following the coup.
Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative in the Middle East Programs for the Atlantic Council, urged the U.S. to maintain friendly relations with brutal dictatorships in the region in order to prevent Chinese hegemony there.
Panikoff wrote in an Atlantic Council analysis:
We may now be seeing the emergence of China's political role in the region and it should be a warning to U.S. policymakers: Leave the Middle East and abandon ties with sometimes frustrating, even barbarous, but long-standing allies, and you'll simply be leaving a vacuum for China to fill. And make no mistake, a China-dominated Middle East would fundamentally undermine U.S. commercial, energy, and national security.
Other observers also worried about China's rising power in the Middle East and beyond.
New York Times China correspondent David Pierson wrote Saturday that China's role in the Iran-Saudi Arabia rapprochement shows Chinese President Xi Jinping's "ambition of offering an alternative to a U.S.-led world order."
According to Pierson:
The vision Mr. Xi has laid out is one that wrests power from Washington in favor of multilateralism and so-called noninterference, a word that China uses to argue that nations should not meddle in each other's internal affairs, by criticizing human rights abuses, for example.
The Saudi-Iran agreement reflects this vision. China's engagement in the region has for years been rooted in delivering mutual economic benefits and shunning Western ideals of liberalism that have complicated Washington’s ability to expand its presence in the Gulf.
Pierson noted Xi's Global Security Initiative, which seeks to promote "peaceful coexistence" in a multipolar world that eschews "unilateralism, bloc confrontation, and hegemonism" like U.S. invasions and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
"Some analysts say the initiative is essentially a bid to advance Chinese interests by displacing Washington as the world's policeman," wrote Pierson. "The plan calls for respect of countries' 'indivisible security,' a Soviet term used to argue against U.S.-led alliances on China's periphery."
The U.S. has attacked, invaded, or occupied more than 20 countries since 1950. During that same period, China has invaded two countries—India and Vietnam.
"The Chinese, who for years played only a secondary role in the region, have suddenly transformed themselves into the new power player."
New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker also published an article Saturday about how the "China-brokered deal upends Mideast diplomacy and challenges [the] U.S."
"The Americans, who have been the central actors in the Middle East for the past three-quarters of a century, almost always the ones in the room where it happened, now find themselves on the sidelines during a moment of significant change," fretted Baker. "The Chinese, who for years played only a secondary role in the region, have suddenly transformed themselves into the new power player."
Some experts asserted that more peace in the Middle East would be a good thing, no matter who brokers it.
"While many in Washington will view China's emerging role as mediator in the Middle East as a threat, the reality is that a more stable Middle East where the Iranians and Saudis aren't at each other's throats also benefits the United States," tweeted Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
"Unfortunately, the U.S. has adopted an approach to the region that has disabled it from becoming a credible mediator," he lamented. "Too often, Washington takes sides in conflicts and becomes a co-belligerent—as in Yemen—which then reduces its ability to play the role of peacemaker."
"Washington should avoid a scenario where regional players view America as an entrenched warmaker and China as a flexible peacemaker," Parsi cautioned.
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Denying Reports, White House Says 'No Final Decision' Yet on Willow Project
"Anyone who says there has been a final decision is wrong," said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, refuting media reports that the $8 billion "ticking carbon bomb" in Alaska would be imminently approved.
Mar 11, 2023
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday denied reports that U.S. President Joe Biden would imminently approve the Willow Project, saying "no final decisions" have been made on the highly controversial $8 billion ConocoPhillips oil drilling endeavor in northern Alaska slammed by critics as a "climate catastrophe."
"Anyone who says there has been a final decision is wrong," Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday evening after outlets including Bloomberg, CNN, and The New York Timesreported that the Biden administration would green-light what would be the single-largest oil operation in the United States.
"President Biden is delivering on the most aggressive climate agenda of any U.S. president in history and spurring an unprecedented expansion of clean energy," the White House spokesperson added.
Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—who supports the project—told the Times that she had not received notification of its approval.
"We are not celebrating yet, not with this White House," she said.
Climate campaigners, Indigenous groups, environmentalists, dozens of Democratic U.S. lawmakers, and others are vehemently opposed to what many have called a "ticking carbon bomb" and a "climate catastrophe."
The Biden administration's own assessment of the project acknowledges that it "would likely incur spills," and the Interior Department has expressed "substantial concerns" about the proposal.
According to the Sierra Club:
Willow is sited in a vast Arctic landscape that provides critical habitat for birds from all over the world as well as animals like the caribou that subsistence hunters rely on to feed their families and communities. Native communities, like Nuiquset, are already dealing with the consequences of oil development in the region, including deteriorating air quality and a spike in respiratory disorders. Last year, a well in Conoco's Alpine Field blew out, spewing methane into the air and endangering residents of Nuiquset. These risks are already here, and Willow only makes them worse.
On Friday, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore called the proposed project "recklessly irresponsible," adding that "we must end the expansion of oil, gas, and coal and embrace the abundant climate solutions at our fingertips."
Len Montgomery, public lands campaign director at Environment America, told Common Dreams via email that "we need our leaders to think long-term. Clean energy, not oil, is our future."
"Allowing a brand new Arctic oil project to break ground in one of our most sensitive ecosystems would be short-sighted," Montgomery argued. "This project will exacerbate climate change and will directly harm caribou and polar bears. We are inspired by the outpouring of opposition against this project from across the country and we will continue our efforts to prevent the chillers, the ice roads, and the well pads from ever encroaching on this pristine area."
Quannah Chasinghorse—a Han Gwich'In and Sicangu/Oglala Lakota land protector, climate justice activist, and fashion model from Eagle Village, Alaska and the tribes of South Dakota—wrote in a CNNopinion article Friday that "ConocoPhillips has claimed that the Willow Project could create thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent ones, along with needed oil, but at what cost?"
"We must change the narrative that the land serves us and only exists so that we can extract resources from it."
"Make no mistake, it will not only be local communities, or even Alaskans, who will feel the negative climate impacts of this project," she continued. "According to an analysis from the Center for American Progress, developing and burning oil from the Willow Project would produce up to 287 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over the next 30 years. That's equal to the annual emissions of 76 coal power plants—a third of all coal plants in the United States."
"We must change the narrative that the land serves us and only exists so that we can extract resources from it," Chasinghorse asserted. "My elders tell me that if we take care of the land, the land will take care of us. We cannot live without healthy land. Not just us Gwich'in. All of us, everywhere"
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"Republicans have already made clear they're on the side of the 1 Percenters and big corporations by trying to shield rich tax cheats and endangering Social Security and Medicare with deficit-busting tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations," said one expert. "The contrast couldn't be sharper."
Mar 10, 2023
While far-right Republicans continue threatening to blow up the global economy unless Congress makes cuts to popular social programs, progressive taxation experts are celebrating U.S. President Joe Biden's latest push to invest in "widespread prosperity" by raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations.
As part of his fiscal year 2024 budget blueprint unveiled Thursday, Biden calls for a 25% minimum tax on the wealthiest 0.01%; reforms to ensure high-income individuals pay their fair share into the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund; and repealing 2017 tax cuts and restoring the top tax rate of 39.6% for people making over $400,000 a year.
Along with pushing for raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%—which is still far below the 35% rate that was in place prior to Republicans' 2017 tax overhaul—the president advocates expanding the child tax credit while eliminating tax subsidies for cryptocurrency transactions, fossil fuel companies, and real estate.
Biden also "proposes to reform the international tax system to reduce the incentives to book profits in low-tax jurisdictions, stop corporate inversions to tax havens, and raise the tax rate on U.S. multinationals' foreign earnings from 10.5% to 21%," according to a White House fact sheet.
Although many of these proposals are unlikely to go anywhere due to the GOP-controlled U.S. House and divided Senate, Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens said Friday that "it's great to see President Biden leading the charge to increase taxes on billionaires, crack down on stock buybacks by massive corporations, and prevent the wealthiest Americans from cheating on their taxes and avoiding paying what they owe."
"The tax policies laid out in this budget are fair, popular, and long overdue," she declared. "The next time someone claims that we can't afford to protect Social Security and Medicare for future generations—or that we need to cut popular investments in education, healthcare, housing, or clean energy—show them President Bident's latest budget proposal and ask them why they care so much about protecting the ultrawealthy from paying their fair share."
According to Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy executive director Amy Hanauer, "President Biden's budget proposal presents a bold vision for what tax justice should look like in America."
"The provisions would raise substantial revenue, fund important priorities, and increase tax fairness," she stressed. "The revenue raisers are laser-focused on taxing very wealthy individuals and corporations, and the budget would reduce the deficit while easing costs for American families, particularly for middle and low-income parents."
Americans for Tax Fairness executive director Frank Clemente asserted Thursday that "President Biden's budget plainly shows whose side he's on: working families struggling with the high cost of healthcare, childcare, housing and more—not the wealthy elite and their big corporations rolling in dough and dodging their fair share of taxes."
"Republicans have already made clear they're on the side of the 1 Percenters and big corporations by trying to shield rich tax cheats and endangering Social Security and Medicare with deficit-busting tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations," Clemente added. "The contrast couldn't be sharper."
As Common Dreams reported earlier Friday, the House Freedom Caucus said its 45 members would "consider voting" to raise the U.S. debt limit if their colleagues in Congress abandon some of Biden's key economic priorities, slash hundreds of billions of dollars in social spending, and restrict federal agencies' future budgets.
Responding on Twitter, Biden said that "extreme MAGA House Republicans are showing us what they value: tax breaks for the rich."
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