Egypt will keep pushing for Gaza peace, aid: PM    EGX ends week in green on Wednesday, July 23    Kibing Group plans $685m solar glass plant in Egypt's Sokhna – SCZONE chair    Remittances from Egyptians abroad surge 70% YoY in July–May: CBE    Sudan's ambassador to Egypt holds reconstruction talks on with Arab League    Egypt's current account gap narrows, but overall BoP records deficit    Egypt hosts international neurosurgery conference to drive medical innovation    Egypt, India discuss expanding industrial, investment partnerships    World Bank proposes Egypt join new global health initiative    Egypt's EDA discusses Johnson & Johnson's plans to expand investment in local pharmaceutical sector    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Egypt welcomes 25-nation statement urging end to Gaza war    Egypt, Senegal sign pharma MoU to unify regulatory standards    Famine kills more Gaza children as Israel tightens siege amid global outrage    Kuwait's Crown Prince, Egyptian minister discuss strengthening cooperation    Egyptian Drug Authority discusses plans for joint pharmaceutical plant in Zambia    Egypt's FM seeks deeper economic, security ties on five-nation West Africa tour    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt, Somalia discuss closer environmental cooperation    Egypt foils terrorist plot, kills two militants linked to Hasm group    Giza Pyramids' interior lighting updated with new LED system    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Korea Culture Week in Egypt to blend K-Pop with traditional arts    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



WWW World
Published in Daily News Egypt on 13 - 05 - 2006


You are being watchedwww.hrw.org
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is younger, smaller and somewhat more militant than Amnesty International. Established in 1978 as Helsinki Watch to monitor the compliance of Soviet bloc countries with the human rights provisions of the landmark Helsinki Accords, it grew to cover other areas of the world, and acquired its current name and mandate in 1988.
The largest human rights organization based in the United States, HRW investigates abuses wherever they may occur and publishes its finding in scores of reports which receive extensive media coverage and generate considerable pressure upon the offending parties. Among its achievements: It successfully led an international effort to adopt a treaty banning the use of child soldiers and raising the minimum age for participation in armed conflict to 18. It has supplied extensive evidence to the war crime tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and played a key role in the legal action against former dictator Augusto Pinochet in London, which marked an important step toward establishing the principle that even former heads of state can be held accountable for human rights violations. The "Pinochet precedent, as it came to be known, holds that dictators who block their prosecution at home can be tried anywhere in the world.
Like Amnesty International, HRW prides itself on its independence. Its financing comes from individual donors and private foundations. Reflecting its geographic base, many of its campaigns take up American causes and there is a campaign for the distribution of condoms in prison to prevent the spread of the AIDS virus, and another to stop violence against gay students in U.S. schools, and yet another to end the "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and unlawful incarceration of terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay or other places of detention overseas. Other campaigns take up causes overseas by targeting their U.S. connection: In one recent effort, visitors to the HRW Web site were urged to ask the Chairman of Caterpillar Inc. to stop the sales of bulldozers to the Israeli army as long as the machines were used to destroy Palestinian homes.
But HRW is a truly international organization, and it does not mince words when it comes to particularly heinous abuses. Regarding Egypt, for instance, it notes that the doctors at the Forensic Medical Authority conveniently ignore the scars of torture on arrested gay men and even humiliate them further with abusive rectal exams. Visitors are asked to write the World Health Organization and the World Medical Association and urge them to condemn this practice. The related reports in this instance are numerous and specific. Particularly detailed is the story of "Khaled, who was in his fourth year of college when he was picked up by a detachment of the Cairo Vice Squad. Khaled was taken along with other suspects to the Azbakeyya police station where they were beaten with sticks and whips and forced to sign arrest reports which mentioned that they had been engaging in homosexual activity. Khaled believed that he had been turned in by an informant. Vice Squad officers also cruise nightclubs where gays are known to congregate, or troll cyberspace for visitors to gay dating sites.
Some stories, however, have happy endings. In December 2005, a police force nearly 4,000 strong surrounded an encampment of Sudanese refugees who had been demonstrating outside the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since September 29 seeking to be relocated to other countries. Twenty persons reportedly died when the police fired water cannons into the crowd then beat the protesters indiscriminately. HRW publicized the event worldwide, demanding an independent investigation into the use of force by the police. Eventually, the Egyptian government bowed to the pressure and rescinded its decision to deport the protesters back to Sudan, where they faced torture and even death.
The Stain of Painwww.irct.org
It's not only dictatorial Third World regimes that engage in torture as we have all seen those pictures from the Abu Ghraib prison. American soldiers bringing democracy to the Middle East at the point of a gun can be just as brutal as the henchmen of any police state. Luckily, there are organizations like the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT). The IRCT is based in Denmark and has two objectives. One is the treatment and rehabilitation of torture victims by medical professionals, and the other is the prevention of torture. Torturers should not operate with impunity, and there should be a legal mechanism whereby they face some serious consequences for their actions, which include compensation for the victims. And in this respect, the most recent object of the IRCT's attention has been none other than . the United States. On February 17, 2006, the IRCT offered to send a medical team to examine all prisoners at Guantánamo Bay with the aim of establishing whether they had been tortured. The Bush administration has ignored the request, and has consistently denied allegations of abuse at Guantánamo.
The IRCT has a worldwide network of affiliates, which include the El Nadim Center for the Psychological Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence in Egypt.
Readers interested in following the situation at Guantánamo Bay should visit the Guantánamobile Project at guantanamobile.org.


Clic here to read the story from its source.