|
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|
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Search for Issue: "The war on terrorism" returned 115 records. |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 14 October 2005 |
| > |
Justice for Jean - Shoot first: ask questions later? |
| > |
Campaign launched for Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead by London Police in July 2005 |
| > |
website
|
| > |
www.justice4jean.org |
| |
| > |
demonstrations 14 October 2005 |
| > |
March for Peace & Liberty |
| > |
Stop the War Coalition with CND and MAB have called a national demonstration for Peace & Liberty |
| > |
London Saturday 24th September
|
| > |
leaflet,
Stop the war coalition
|
| |
| > |
publications/research 19 October 2005 |
| > |
Journalism, civil liberties and the war on terrorism |
| > |
includes an analysis of current policy developments as well as a survey of 20 selected countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin Amercia, the Middle East and the USA.
|
| > |
May 2005
|
| > |
Full-text,
Statewatch website
|
| > |
International Federation of Journalists and Statewatch |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 22 October 2005 |
| > |
International Campaign Against Mass Surveillance (ICAMS) |
| > |
ICAMS was launched on April 20 2005 in London, Manila, Ottawa and Washington with the support of almost one hundred groups from around the world. The ICAMS report, "The Emergence Of A Global Infrastructure For Mass Registration And Surveillance", was published with the launch of the campaign. |
| > |
ICAMS website,
the ICAMS report
|
| > |
ICAMS |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 24 October 2005 |
| > |
WAR ON REFUGEES: Justice - not deportation and torture |
| > |
Refugee rights are under attack as never before. The rhetoric of the "war on terrorism" links asylum seekers to terrorism with dangerous consequences for community relations. |
| > |
House of Commons, London 2 November, 7pm
|
| > |
The refugee project website
|
| > |
The Refugee Project |
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation |
| > |
Launched in 1963, the Foundation was established to carry forward Russell's work for peace, human rights and social justice |
| > |
UK
|
| > |
website
|
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
Bürgerrechte & Polizei/CILIP |
| > |
Covers civil liberties and policing and is based at the Free University of Berlin, founded in 1975 |
| > |
Germany
|
| > |
CILIP website
|
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) |
| > |
Group campaigning against laws based on a pretext of counter-terrorism |
| > |
UK
|
| > |
CAMPACC website
|
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
Equipo Nizkor |
| > |
International human rights organisation |
| > |
Latin America
|
| > |
website
|
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (EALDH) |
| > |
A democratic confederation of diverse national associations of democratic lawyers |
| > |
Europe
|
| > |
EALDH website
|
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
European Race Audit |
| > |
Part of the Institute of Race Relations, based in London, founded in 1956 |
| > |
UK
|
| > |
IRR website
|
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
Hellenic League for Human Rights |
| > |
Founded in 1953 |
| > |
Greece
|
| > |
website
|
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
Humanistische Union |
| > |
Founded in 1961, Germany's oldest civil liberties organisation |
| > |
Germany
|
| > |
website
|
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
Radio Nizkor |
| > |
Europe's frst human rights radio station |
| > |
Spain
|
| > |
website
|
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
Statewatch |
| > |
Monitoring the state and civil liberties in Europe |
| > |
UK
|
| > |
Statewatch website
|
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 11 November 2005 |
| > |
VD Amok |
| > |
Anti-militarist and conscientious objectors organization that works closely together with the peace movement |
| > |
Holland
|
| > |
website
|
| |
| > |
publications/research 11 November 2005 |
| > |
Balancing security and democracy. The politics of biometric identification in the EU |
| > |
European University Institute working paper |
| > |
October 2005
|
| > |
Full-text,
EUI website
|
| > |
Angela Liberatore |
| |
| > |
publications/research 21 November 2005 |
| > |
The authoritarian within: Reflections on power, knowldge and resistance |
| > |
Phil Scraton, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Queen’s University, Belfast, 9 June 2005 |
| > |
July 2005
|
| > |
full-text
|
| > |
Phil Scraton |
| |
| > |
demonstrations 21 November 2005 |
| > |
Don’t turn a blind eye to torture |
| > |
Torture is repugnant, abhorrent and immoral.
The UK Government is seeking agreements to return people to
countries known to use torture. Agreements have been signed
with Jordan and Libya and are being sought with Algeria and
other countries. They are not worth the paper they are written on.
The law is clear. States must never torture people and must never send people to countries where they might be tortured. Assemble at 1pm
Demonstration from 1.30-2.30pm, please wear black. |
| > |
London 27 November 2005
|
| > |
Amnesty website
|
| > |
Amnesty International |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 21 November 2005 |
| > |
Save Omar - Justice for Omar Deghayes |
| > |
Along with an estimated 210 other detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Omar is on hunger strike asking for enforcement of the Geneva Conventions. |
| > |
Save Omar website,
Cage prisoners website
|
| > |
Save Omar campaign |
| |
| > |
publications/research 21 November 2005 |
| > |
Iran: Krieg oder Frieden? [Iran: war or peace?] |
| > |
There are increasing fears that the tensions around the Iranian nuclear programme could escalate. In the current public sphere it is often claimed that only Iran is at fault. However, even if Iran does not stop its uranium enrichment programme, she violates "neither against the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, nor against the Paris Agreement with the EU". |
| > |
September 2005
|
| > |
More information
|
| > |
Grundrechtekomitee |
| |
| > |
publications/research 21 November 2005 |
| > |
Terror Australis:
Security, Australia and the 'War on Terror' Discourse |
| > |
Since September 11, 2001 there has been an intense normalising practice in place with regard to Australian security. From changes in airport security procedures to the ASIO home raids that took place across Sydney, Melbourne and Perth in October and November 2002, it is argued that there must be 'a further lowering of the risk tolerance threshold'. This essay critically assesses how social and political life in Australia has become reconceptualized to include the imminent possibilities of terrorism, the need for eternal vigilance and the acceptance that certain sacrifices need to be made to protect the greater community. |
| > |
November 2005
|
| > |
Full-text
|
| > |
Katrina Lee Koo, Borderlands Journal, Vol 4(1), 2005. |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 06 December 2005 |
| > |
Open Letter to the European Parliament on Data Retention |
| > |
Tomorrow is the dealine for amendments to the European
Parliament's report on the EU proposals for the mandatory data
retention of all telehone and internet usage records by service
providers. As drafted, the proposals and the EP's report mean that
all traffic data would wil have to be kept for two years for law
enforcement purposes. A coalition of civil society groups has
written to MEPs urging them to reject proposals. |
| > |
Open letter
|
| > |
Privacy International, EDRI and others |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 15 December 2005 |
| > |
Order and Violence: Delimiting Control - CALL FOR PAPERS - British-Irish Section of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control - Easter Conference, Hull 2006 |
| > |
The ‘war on terror’ and threats to civil liberties - State and anti-state terror; Privatization and ‘othering’ of state violence -- The politics of mass incarceration: Ideologies of violence and control; ‘Ironies of social control’: evoking ‘evil’; Acculturation to the ‘new realities’: contemporary ‘truth’ telling games; Conscientious objectors and civil disobedience; Ideologies and identities -- Violence and control in everyday life: ‘Gender’, ‘race’ and violence; Cultural criminology: a new approach or an under-theorised melting-pot?; Cultures of behavioural control in the UK: from the cradle to the grave. Please send abstracts to: a.ward@hull.ac.uk and/or abeckmann@lincoln.ac.uk
|
| > |
Hull, UK 19-21 April 2006
|
| > |
European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 15 December 2005 |
| > |
Open letter to Mr. A. Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus
Amendments to the Criminal Code /Serious infringements to freedom of association and expression |
| > |
On 8 December 2005, the Belarusian Criminal Code was amended. Human rights groups warn these amendments constitute violations of international and regional standards of freedom of expression and association. Civil liberties groups fear that human rights defenders be particularly targeted, since most independent human rights NGOs were forbidden during the past three years. The partitipation in "mass activities" is also criminalised and "people suspected of terrorism or vandalism may be detained for ten days before being charged". |
| > |
Open letter
|
| > |
International Federation for Human Rights |
| |
| > |
links to ECLN groups 19 December 2005 |
| > |
Privacy International |
| > |
PI is a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations |
| > |
December 2005
|
| > |
PI website
|
| |
| > |
demonstrations 03 January 2006 |
| > |
Justice for the British Residents in Guantanamo Bay - Bring them home - Support the Hunger Strikers - Shut down all illegal US jails |
| > |
Assemble 12 noon, Tothill Street, London (nearest tube St James Park). March via Downing Street to the American Embassy in Grovesnor Square. |
| > |
London, UK 21 January 2006
|
| > |
Save Omar website
|
| > |
The Save Omar Deghayes campaign, The Birmingham Guantanamo Campaign, The Manchester Guantanamo and Belmarsh Campaign |
| |
| > |
publications/research 04 January 2006 |
| > |
Art, Truth & Politics |
| > |
Nobel lecture |
| > |
December 2005
|
| > |
Lecture,
haroldpinter.org
|
| > |
Harold Pinter |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 05 January 2006 |
| > |
ACLU Calls for Investigation Into President’s Illegal Surveillance of U.S. Citizens |
| > |
The ACLU is running a series of adverts as part of its call for a special counsel to be appointed to determine whether President Bush violated federal wiretapping laws by authorizing illegal surveillance. The two that have run already compare George W. Bush to Richard M. Nixon. |
| > |
ACLU adverts
|
| > |
American Civil Liberties Union |
| |
| > |
publications/research 09 January 2006 |
| > |
Damning documentary evidence unveiled. Dissident bloggers in coordinated exposé of UK government lies over torture. |
| > |
"With Tony Blair and Jack Straw cornered on extraordinary rendition, the UK government is particularly anxious to suppress all evidence of our complicity in obtaining intelligence extracted by foreign torturers. The Foreign Office is now seeking to block publication of Craig Murray's forthcoming book, which documents his time as Ambassador to Uzbekistan. The Foreign Office has demanded that Craig Murray remove all references to two especially damning British government documents, indicating that our government was knowingly receiving information extracted by the Uzbeks through torture, and return every copy that he has in his possession. Craig Murray is refusing to do this. Instead, the documents have been published on blogs all around the world. |
| > |
29 December 2005
|
| > |
Murray documents,
craigmurray.org.uk
|
| > |
Craig Murray |
| |
| > |
publications/research 23 January 2006 |
| > |
Human Rights Watch World Report 2006 |
| > |
The Human Rights Watch World Report 2006 contains information on human rights developments in more than 60 countries in 2005. |
| > |
January 2006
|
| > |
HRW World Report 2006
|
| > |
Human Rights Watch |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 23 January 2006 |
| > |
Bloody Sunday Programme 2006 |
| > |
34 years after the day internationally regarded as the watershed in the militarisation of the conflict in the North of Ireland, the verdict of the second British inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday is imminent. The programme of events includes debates, reflection and memorial - culminating in the annual Bloody Sunday commemorative march on 29 January. |
| > |
Derry, Ireland (North) 18-29 January 2006
|
| > |
Programme (pdf)
|
| > |
Bloody Sunday Centre |
| |
| > |
publications/research 23 January 2006 |
| > |
People's Actions for Human Security in Asia and Europe |
| > |
The ASEM People's Forum 5 was held in Hanoi from September 6-9, 2004 under the general theme "People's Actions for Human Security in Asia and Europe". This book is composed of different sections from the Forum: speeches at the Opening and Closing sessions; reports and presentations at the conferences and workshops; presentation at the "Meeting Vietnam Forum", the Final Statement of the Forum and feedback on the Forum |
| > |
January 2006
|
| > |
Online book,
TNI: alternative regionalisms
|
| > |
Asem People's Forum 5 / Transnational Institute (TNI) |
| |
| > |
publications/research 21 February 2006 |
| > |
Freedom of speech is not an absolute: an interview with A. Sivanandan |
| > |
YS: What is your analysis of the controversy surrounding the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad? ... AS: Europe holds that freedom of speech is the very basis of western democracy and cannot therefore be compromised or watered down. It is an absolute. But that is a fallacy. No freedom is an absolute. Every freedom carries with it its own responsibility... |
| > |
13 February 2006
|
| > |
Interview
|
| > |
Yohan Shanmugaratnam, IRRnews |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 01 March 2006 |
| > |
Turning the tables on the state - achieving human and social rights in the 21st century |
| > |
Chair: Corinna Lotz, secretary AWTW; Speakers: Bill Bowring, Professor of Human Rights & International Law, London
Metropolitan University; John McDonnell MP, chair of the Campaign Group of Socialist MPs; Saleh Mamon, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities; Glenn Rikowski, School of Education, Northampton University; Paul Feldman, co-author of A World to Win; Plus speaker from NO2ID |
| > |
Diorama Arts Centre D2, Regents Place, London NW1 11 March 2006
|
| > |
Registration
|
| > |
A World to Win sponsored conference |
| |
| > |
publications/research 01 March 2006 |
| > |
Human rights: a broken promise |
| > |
Since 11 September 2001, the UK authorities have passed a series of new laws, even though the UK already had some of the toughest “anti-terrorism” laws in Europe. These laws contain sweeping provisions that contravene human rights law, and their implementation has led to serious abuses of human rights. |
| > |
23 February 2006
|
| > |
AI report
|
| > |
Amnesty International |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 01 March 2006 |
| > |
Is it time to repeal the antiterrorism laws? |
| > |
Speakers: Michael Mansfield QC from Tooks Chambers and Gareth Pierce from Birnberg Pierce Solicitors,
Solicitor for Moazzam Begg |
| > |
Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2 9th March 2006
|
| > |
Flyer
|
| > |
Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers in association with Tooks Chambers |
| |
| > |
demonstrations 10 March 2006 |
| > |
International Demos and Protests Against the Invasion of Iraq |
| > |
On March 20 2003, George Bush, Tony Blair and Jose Marie Aznar launched the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Three years later the occupation is a blight on the conscience of the world.
All over the globe plans are being made for protests in March 2006 to mark the anniversary of the start of the war and to call for its rapid end. Demonstrations have been organised in more than 40 European cities. |
| > |
Europe-wide 18-20 March 2006
|
| > |
www.march-in-march.org - International Anti-War Mobilisation
|
| > |
Stop the war |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 10 March 2006 |
| > |
Crime, Justice and Surveillance |
| > |
In the UK the last decade has seen an unprecedented deployment of surveillance technologies and
practices in the name of crime control. Drug testing, electronic monitoring, intelligence led policing
initiatives, DNA testing and video monitoring have all expanded rapidly. These developments are not
unique to the UK, and this conference seeks to explore the British experience in the context of
developments in Europe and beyond and to consider the social, political and legal issues that arise
from the expansion of surveillance. The conference is inter-disciplinary with contributions from
sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, criminologists, socio-legal scholars, historians, and social
scientists researching surveillance practices and technologies. |
| > |
Sheffield, UK 5-6 April 2006
|
| > |
Conference flyer,
Surveillance-and-society.org
|
| > |
Sheffield Centre for Criminological Research & Surveillance and society |
| |
| > |
publications/research 10 March 2006 |
| > |
Extraordinary Rendition |
| > |
New Issue (No.89) of The Spokesman - contents: Art, Truth and Politics (Harold Pinter, Nobel Prize Lecture); Precedents for Torture (Naomi Klein); Rendition is Abduction (Johan Steyn
interviewed by Jon Snow); "US does not Condone" (Condeleezza Rice, Andrew Tyrie MP),
Extraordinary Rendition (Ken Coates); Who Fooled America? (Lawrence Wilkerson); American Prisoners in Europe (Human Rights, Watch Council of Europe); Plus Case Studies: Maher Arar's story and others |
| > |
2006
|
| > |
Editorial and full contents
|
| > |
The Spokesman |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 10 March 2006 |
| > |
CAMPACC 5TH Anniversary benefit event |
| > |
MARK THOMAS - Comedian;
SOFIA BUCHUCK - Peruvian musician; DOUBLE NEGATIVE - Rappers; NAWROZ ORAMAR - Kurdish singer; ODYSSEY - International songs; KURDISH DANCE GROUP |
| > |
Kurdish Communty Centre, 11 Portland Gardens, London N4 17 March 2006
|
| > |
Flyer,
CAMPACC website
|
| > |
Campaign Against Criminalising Communities |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 10 March 2006 |
| > |
Documents confiscated and criminal charges raised against Danish association ‘Oproer’ (Rebellion/uproar) |
| > |
Police authorities have ordered the removal of the international appeal for solidarity with proscripted organisations from the association ‘Rebellion’ from the web sites of a Danish parliamentary party, a left daily newspaper and a socialist youth group. ‘Rebellion’ is charged with transferring approximately 14000 Euro to the resistance movements FARC (Colombia) and PFLP (Palestine) in October 2004. The second charge concerns a statement on Danish television on 1 August 2005 by a spokesperson for ‘Rebellion’, Patrick Mac Manus, announcing that the association was in the process of collecting further funds in support of organisations on the EU 'terrorist list', and that it had issued an international appeal to democratic and solidarity organisations in the European Union urging them to similarly challenge national anti-terrorist legislation and the EU 'terrorist list'. Both charges have been raised personally aginst the spokesperson, Patrick Mac Manus, and not against the association as such. |
| > |
Statement,
Oproer website,
Statewatch "terrorist lists" website
|
| > |
Oproer |
| |
| > |
publications/research 17 March 2006 |
| > |
The Road to Guantanamo |
| > |
The Road to Guantanamo is a feature-length factual drama based on first hand interviews with the Tipton Three, the three male British prisoners released in the spring of last year from Guantanamo Bay. |
| > |
UK 2006
|
| > |
More information/download movie (from Tiscali)
|
| > |
Michael Winterbottom (Director) |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 26 March 2006 |
| > |
The Regulation of migration, asylum and movement in the "new Europe" - call for papers |
| > |
The impact of the 2004 Madrid and 2005 London bombings brought a new
and fiercely regulatory extension to the movement of people in the context of
the ‘war on terror’. Other events, such as the assassination of the film director
Van Gogh in the Netherlands or the riots at the suburbs of Paris, brought up
new questions about immigration policies and models of integration in Europe.
Ironically, these policies and models have consolidated at the very time that
the European Union is going through unprecedented expansion to include
member states from the former Eastern bloc. In turn, expansion has revived
theoretical and political debates about ‘old’ and ‘new’ immigration and modes
of social control or conflict. |
| > |
Corinth, Peloponnese, Greece 31 August - 3 September 2006
|
| > |
Call for papers
|
| > |
34th Annual Conference of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 31 March 2006 |
| > |
5th Annual Stop the War Conference |
| > |
The conference will debate resolutions and elect Stop the War's national Steering Committee. In addition there will be a number of workshops covering topics including: Iraq Today: Towards Democracy of Civil War?; Why Iran is Under Threat?; Where Now for Palestine?; Latin America – the Next Target?; The Forgotten Wars in Africa; Civil Liberties and Guantanamo; Islamophobia and the Anti-War Movement; Military Families Against the War. Only Stop the War local and affiliated groups (which have re-affiliated) will be able to send delegates. |
| > |
Friends House, Euston Road, London 10 June 2006
|
| > |
Stop the war - get involved
|
| > |
Stop the War Coalition |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 18 April 2006 |
| > |
European Civil Liberties Network call for civil liberties and democratic standards |
| > |
You are invited to show your support for the work of the ECLN and the defence of civil liberties and democratic standards in Europe. To register your support, simply enter your details below. We'll then send a confirmation e-mail to verify your details. Once you've confirmed your details, we'll then add you to our list of supporters (your e-mail address will not be displayed). |
| > |
Add your support
|
| > |
European Civil Liberties Network |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 18 April 2006 |
| > |
Torture & ‘Security’ Agencies in the ‘War on Terror’ |
| > |
Recent revelations and allegations about extra-ordinary rendition suggest complicity
by European governments in ‘torture flights’. Such involvement has precedents in
British and American foreign policy, dating back to their involvement in Afghanistan
and the former Yugoslavia. Today the problem goes far beyond torture flights:
‘security’ agencies in Europe have a broader complicity in global torture through
cooperation with repressive regimes, e.g. by exchanging information on dissidents,
deporting them to torture, using the consequent ‘information’ to intern or prosecute individuals in Europe, etc. In some cases these agencies are targeting movements
which were previously encouraged as means to counter Left or nationalist politics,
before the ‘blow-back’ led to violent attacks in Europe. |
| > |
Garden Court Chambers, london 22 April 2006
|
| > |
Invitation
|
| > |
Human Rights & Social Justice Research Institute & others |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 18 April 2006 |
| > |
OSCE International NGO Conference |
| > |
Workshops: Security Concept OSCE; Human Trafficking; Small Arms; Racism (TBC); Kosovo; Drugs trafficking and use; Kaukasus; Dialogue among religions; Fight against Terrorism and Respect for Human Rights; Future of the OSCE. |
| > |
Palace d’Egmont, Brussels 16-17 May 2006
|
| > |
Conference website and programme etc.
|
| > |
OSCE NGO |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 20 April 2006 |
| > |
Athens 2006 - 4th European Social Forum (ESF) |
| > |
The European Social Forum (ESF) is an open space where civil society groups and movements opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism, but engaged in building a society centered on the human person, come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas democratically, to formulate proposals, to share their experiences freely and to network for effective action.
Previous editions of the ESF were held in Firenze in 2002, Paris in 2003 and London in 2004 and this year the ESF will be in Athens.
|
| > |
Athens, Greece 4-7 May 2006
|
| > |
ESF website,
ESF website (eng),
ESF website (fr),
ESF website (ger),
ESF website (sp),
ESF website (it),
Network against Policies of Security & Repression
|
| > |
European Social Forum |
| |
| > |
publications/research 20 April 2006 |
| > |
Enemy Combatant: A British Muslim's Journey to Guantanamo and Back |
| > |
Moazzam Begg was one of the president's "bad people". He has now emerged from three years' incarceration - without rights - to describe how a middle-class Muslim from Birmingham, who was educated at a Jewish school, came to be abducted by the US in Pakistan, transported to Afghanistan and eventually held in solitary confinement in Guantanamo. His tortuous journey brought him into contact with a motley crew of fellow detainees, guards, interrogators and officials, often vividly depicted. The humour and warmth are striking against the background of the treatment to which he was subjected and the punishment (and even killing) of others, to which he was witness. |
| > |
March 2004
|
| > |
Extract (from Open democracy),
Review (Phillipe Sands, Guardian),
Order (Amazon)
|
| > |
Moazzam Begg and Victoria Brittain, Free Press |
| |
| > |
publications/research 25 April 2006 |
| > |
Arming Big Brother
The EU’s Security Research Programme |
| > |
The European Union is preparing to spend up to €1 billion per year on new ‘research’ into surveillance and control technologies, according to Arming Big Brother, a new report by the Transnational Institute (TNI) and Statewatch. “Arms industry lobbying is leading to the creation of a powerful new internal security-industrial complex,” says Ben Hayes, author of the report. Arming Big Brother lifts the lid on the secretive committees and arms industry lobbying that led to the creation of the European Security Research Programme (ESRP). |
| > |
April 2006
|
| > |
Press release,
Full-text of report
|
| > |
Statewatch & Transnational Institute |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 02 May 2006 |
| > |
International conference on the privatization of war |
| > |
The sessions will focus on the growing engagement of private military and security companies (PMCs/PSCs) in today's armed conflicts. Leading specialists, university experts and the representatives of PMCs/PSCs will discuss the origins of the private provision of military services, current situation in this field and the legal consequences. |
| > |
Warsaw, Poland 27-28 April 2006
|
| > |
ICRC calendar of events,
conference website
|
| > |
ICRC Regional Delegation for Central Europe and the Polish Institute of International Affairs |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 08 May 2006 |
| > |
Homeland and Border Security: Securing Our Future |
| > |
"This event is aimed at the entire community working towards safeguarding the UK against organised crime, cybercrime and terrorism of all kinds." The conference is supported/sponsored by a host of private companies involved in the private security industry. |
| > |
QEII Conference Centre, London 4 July 2006
|
| > |
Conference website
|
| > |
GovNet events |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 15 May 2006 |
| > |
Civil liberties monitoring project for the world-championship |
| > |
The Cologne-based Grundrechtekomitee has initiated a monitoring project for infringement of basic rights and civil liberties at the world championship, and is asking citizens and football fans to pass on their relevant experiences, to be compiled in a report. You can mail info@grundrechtekomitee.de, if you know of demonstrations being banned with the reasoning they represent a security risk for the championship, or know of control and police measures implemented in public spaces, if you see soldiers taking on police functions, or if you have been affected by repressive measures yourself, as a football fan, for example. |
| > |
Komitee für Grundrechte und Demokratie,
Background article (in German)
|
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 19 May 2006 |
| > |
Torture is un-American |
| > |
Petition to Condoleezza Rice: "Torture. Government kidnapping. Indefinite detention... These are not ideas we associate with the United States of America. They do not represent who we are as Americans. By promoting and condoning these practices in our military and intelligence forces, your administration has broken faith with the American values of freedom and fairness..." |
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ACLU petition
|
| > |
ACLU |
| |
| > |
publications/research 19 May 2006 |
| > |
Statewatch observatory on "rendition" |
| > |
The Observatory includes extensive documentation with the full-text of 173 documents submitted so far to the ongoing European Parliament inquiry (TDIP) into these matters - many of them published for the first time. Among the documents are detailed submissions on the inquiries in Italy (the Milan abduction), Spain (rendition flights), Canada (the Meher Arar public inquiry) and Ireland (the use of Shannon airport) as well as submissions from 26 national parliaments in Europe. Also included are reports issued by the European Parliament, Council of Europe and NGOs. |
| > |
May 2006
|
| > |
Statewatch observatory
|
| > |
Statewatch |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 20 May 2006 |
| > |
RESOLUTION ON THE THREATS OF AGRESSION AGAINST IRAN from IADL |
| > |
IADL, in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council [ECOSOC], at the meeting of its Bureau at Havana on April 11 and 12, 2006 expressed serious concern on the threats of aggression against Iran and resolved to oppose any attempt or threat to use military force against Iran to settle what is being called as " the Iranian nuclear crises ". IADL condemns the threats of military aggression against Iran expressed by members of the Bush administration. |
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IADL,
Resolution
|
| > |
International Association Democratic Lawyers |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 21 May 2006 |
| > |
Dutch Social Forum |
| > |
Following the World Social Forum and the European Social Forum, the Dutch Social Forum is an open meeting place for the exchange of ideas, the creation and the strengthening of networks and a breeding ground for action. The DSF aims to unite as many people as possible who want to work on a different world, and a different Holland. |
| > |
Nijmegen. 21/05/2006
|
| > |
DSF website
|
| |
| > |
publications/research 21 May 2006 |
| > |
WM 2006: Die Welt ueberwacht von Freunden. (World Cup 2006: the world put under surveillance by friends) |
| > |
This excellent edition of the German language journal published by the the police and civil liberties watchdog Buergerrecht & Polizei/CILIP, focuses on security measures and police cooperation implemented prior to, during and after the world cup. Contains overview and analysis of police powers and surveillance methods and critical football fans report on the repression they face, amongst others. Non-theme articles include an analysis of the current trials taking place in Genoa, dealing with the 2001 summit violence, and how Morocco is taking on the role of a police assistant in Ceuta and Melilla. |
| > |
Berlin 01/04/2006
|
| > |
CILIP,
Order details,
English summaries
|
| > |
CILIP |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 31 May 2006 |
| > |
The uses and abuses of intelligence in the global war on terror |
| > |
Speaker: David Rose (investigative journalist and author of Guantanamo: America¹s War on Human Rights). Chair: Frances Webber (Immigration barrister, Garden Court Chambers). The seminar will be a discussion not a debate aimed at facilitating a genuine exchange of views and ideas between speakers and participants. |
| > |
London 1pm, Monday 5 June
|
| > |
Institute of Race Relations events
|
| > |
IRR lunchtime seminars |
| |
| > |
publications/research 31 May 2006 |
| > |
The state of the world's human rights |
| > |
2005 was defined by hope wrestling against the duplicity, double speak and failed promises of governments... |
| > |
May 2006
|
| > |
Report
|
| > |
Amnesty International Annual Report |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 03 June 2006 |
| > |
National Guantanamo Coalition Website |
| > |
A new website to campaign for the end of detention without trial and the closure of Guantanamo Bay has been created by the Birmingham Guantanamo Campaign, Justice for Omar Deghayes Campaign (Brighton), London Guantanamo Campaign and the Manchester Guantanamo & Belmarsh Campaign. |
| > |
Campaign website
|
| > |
various UK campaigns |
| |
| > |
demonstrations 08 June 2006 |
| > |
Emergency Demonstration: Breaking the Spider¹s Web
- End torture flights; Properly investigate the allegations |
| > |
Liberty is demanding an independent inquiry into UK assistance with CIA "torture flights" in light of the damning Council of Europe report released
on the 7th June. The report concludes that CIA flights carrying terror suspects likely to face torture have been given access to UK airspace and airports. It states that there is a "spider's web" of rendition flights spun
across the globe by the CIA. Since November 2005, Liberty has warned the Government that the UK will
breach domestic and international law if CIA ³extraordinary rendition flights have been allowed to land and re-fuel in Britain. In response to the
new findings, Liberty and Reprieve are holding an emergency demonstration to
demand an end to torture flights on 25 June, the eve of the United Nations
Day Against Torture. Please wear black... |
| > |
United States Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London, W1 Sunday 25th June, 12 noon
|
| > |
Liberty: rendition,
CoE report,
CoE ''spider’s web'' map
|
| > |
Liberty |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 29 June 2006 |
| > |
IRR lunchtime seminars |
| > |
The final three seminars in the series: Monday 10 July: ASYLUM LAW: CREEPING CRIMINALISATION; Monday 17 July: THE EURABIAN NIGHTMARE; Monday 31 July: THE NEED FOR MEDICAL JUSTICE: OBTAINING EFFECTIVE
HEALTHCARE FOR DETAINED ASYLUM SEEKERS. The seminars will be held on Mondays at the IRR. They will start
promptly at 1pm and end at 2.15pm. Seats are limited so please book your place by phone (020 7837 0041) or email (info@irr.org.uk) if you wish to attend
a seminar or if there are other people that you think should be invited to
participate. |
| > |
London July 2006
|
| > |
IRR website
|
| > |
Institute of Race Relations |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 29 June 2006 |
| > |
Racism, Liberty and the War on Terror |
| > |
How should we respond to the attacks on our civil rights, refugee rights and our multicultural society - carried out in the name of national security? Join leading campaigners, lawyers and thinkers in debating how we can defend our liberties and our communities... Panel discussions: The impact of anti-terror powers in the UK; The attack on multiculturalism; Detention and incarceration; Combating racial violence; Civil liberties: the racial dimension; Liberty and the global war on terror; Campaigning against deportations; Defending international conventions |
| > |
Conway Hall, Central London 16 September 2006
|
| > |
Programme and booking information
|
| > |
Institute of Race Relations |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 02 July 2006 |
| > |
Call to abolish secret service after renewed civil liberties scandal |
| > |
This open letter by three main German civil liberties organisations (see below) renews the long-standing civil society demand to abolish the German secret service (Verfassungsschutz) on grounds of its inherent unconstitutionality. This recent campaign is triggered by yet again another scandal uncovering illegal spying operations by the German service against socially active individuals, this time targeting university professor Peter Grottian, active in the Berlin social forum and victim of surveillance for the last three years. This press release provides background information on the spying scandal and the undemocratic and unconstitutional working methods of the regional secret service of Berlin, and calls for the abolition of all regional and the national secret services, which have no legitimacy in a democracy. |
| > |
Press release,
Komitee für Grundrechte und Demokratie e.V.,
Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein e.V.,
Humanistische Union
|
| > |
German civil liberties coalition |
| |
| > |
demonstrations 07 August 2006 |
| > |
Emergency protest and petition: end the criminalization of the Kurds; no to UK Ban on Kongra-gel |
| > |
The recent decision by the British government to add the Kurdish organisation KONGRA-GEL to the list of banned organisations under Anti-Terrorism Act 2006 represents a further step in criminalising the Kurdish community in Europe. |
| > |
Downing Street, London 9 August 2006, 5.30-7pm
|
| > |
CAMPACC website & petition
|
| > |
Mark Thomas, Kurdish Federation UK and CAMPACC |
| |
| > |
publications/research 12 August 2006 |
| > |
Dossier I: Der Iran Konflikt |
| > |
The German Peace Network 'Kooperation für den Frieden' is monitoring political developments around the Iran conflict around nuclear enrichment and informs about the actual background to the developments. It reports that Iran is acting within its international obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, gives a geographical overview of US military bases in the Middle East, puts the current danger of war into historical context of occupations of Iran and its current context of other conflicts and clashes of interest in the region. This information leaflet is intended to form the basis for an informed campaign against the danger of war on Iran. |
| > |
April 2006
|
| > |
Home page and background information,
Download brochure (German)
|
| > |
Kooperation für den Frieden |
| |
| > |
publications/research 12 August 2006 |
| > |
Die alternativen der Friedensbewegung zum militärischen Konfliktaustrag [The alternatives of the peace movement to military conflict management] |
| > |
The German Peace Network Kooperation für den Frieden, which is also monitoring political developments around the Iran conflict around nuclear enrichment, has initiated a Monitoring Project in January 2005 entitled Civil Conflict Resolution - Violence and War Prevention, by which it informs civil society about alternatives to violent conflict management and is trying to work towards a broadly based (international) peace moment that offers real solutions to international conflicts and does away with the myth of humanitarian interventions. |
| > |
March 2006
|
| > |
Home page & background information,
Download brochure (German)
|
| > |
Kooperation für den Frieden |
| |
| > |
publications/research 12 August 2006 |
| > |
Informationen |
| > |
This monthly newsletter of the German civil liberties organisation includes a survey of the world cup and the infringement of civil rights it brought about: excessive data collection, systematic surveillance, preventative arrests, repressive police tactics and the planned increase of law enforcement powers are highlighted. |
| > |
July 2006
|
| > |
Download newsletter,
Home page
|
| > |
Komitee für Grundrechte und Demokratie |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 24 August 2006 |
| > |
Appeal to the European Governments and the European Union - Don't tolerate Aggression, War Crimes and Human Rights Violations in Lebanon, Palestine and Israel |
| > |
urges European governments and the EU to take steps to end the bloodshed in the Middle East |
| > |
EALDH appeal
|
| > |
European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights |
| |
| > |
publications/research 02 September 2006 |
| > |
Conference proceedings: Freedom from Nuclear Weapons through Legal Accountability and Good Faith |
| > |
This conference took place on 6-7 July 2006 in the European Parliament. It marked the tenth anniversary of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons. It was organised by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), Abolition 2000 Europe, the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), and the International Peace Bureau (IPB). It was sponsored by MEPs Gisela Kallenbach and Caroline Lucas on behalf of the Green/EFA Group in the European Parliament. |
| > |
Brussels August 2006
|
| > |
Speeches (audio files),
Radio Nizkor
|
| > |
Radio Nizkor |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 03 October 2006 |
| > |
Copenhagen International Conference: Anti-terrorism legislation, political rights and international solidarity |
| > |
Sessions: Legal, political and social aspects of the ‘war on terror’; Witnesses: Colombia, Palestine. Resistance, ‘terrorist lists’ and the ‘global war on terror’. Workshops: Middle Eastern and Latin American experiences and the ‘war on terror’; Political movements, civil rights initiatives, communities and political rights in the EU. |
| > |
Peter Ipsens Allé, Copenhagen 18 November 2006
|
| > |
Agenda,
Oprør website
|
| > |
Oprør/Rebellion |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 03 October 2006 |
| > |
PUBLIC HEARINGS INTO THE BARRON REPORT ON THE BOMBING OF KAY’S TAVERN, DUNDALK ON 19th DECEMBER 1975 |
| > |
Public hearings before the Irish parliamentary Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights will commence tomorrow, Tuesday, 26th September on the above report. As well as the bombing of Dundalk, that of Castleblayney, Dublin Airport, the railway line at Baronrath Bridge, Co. Kildare, the Miami Showband murders, the gun and bomb attack at Donnelly’s Bar, Silverbridge and several other atrocities in which collusion is suspected, will be included. |
| > |
Dublin, Ireland 26 September 2006
|
| > |
Testimonies online,
Justice for the forgotten website
|
| > |
Justice for the forgotten |
| |
| > |
publications/research 03 October 2006 |
| > |
Behatokia Bulletin |
| > |
Contents include: editor of Basque newspaper arrested and held incommunicado; Amnesty International says human rights must play a central role in peace talks; Basque ombudsman criticises regional government's interior affairs department for concealing evidence;freedom of speech. |
| > |
August 2006
|
| > |
Behatokia bulletin,
(pdf version),
Basque Observatory for Human Rights
|
| > |
Basque Observatory for Human Rights |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 03 October 2006 |
| > |
Amnesty International UK appeal: Risk of torture if returned to Algeria |
| > |
On 24 August the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) dismissed the appeal of an Algerian man against his deportation on national security grounds. If returned, he is likely to be taken into the custody of Algeria’s “Military Security”, an intelligence agency officially known as the Department for Information and Security (DRS). It specializes in interrogating people thought to possess information about terrorist activities, and is widely known to practice torture and other ill-treatment. The risk of torture faced by individuals who are arrested by the DRS has been extensively documented by AI. Please write, calling on the UK authorities not to return “Y” to Algeria. Urge them to rescind the deportation order against him and release him immediately, unless he is charged with a recognizably criminal offence and given a prompt and fair trial. |
| > |
Appeal
|
| > |
Amnesty International - Worldwide Appeal |
| |
| > |
publications/research 03 October 2006 |
| > |
Esculca bulletin, n.14 |
| > |
Esculca's bulletin looks at the legal situation of migrant women employed as housemaids in conditions of "modern slavery", focuses on freedom of information and access to documents, analyses abuses in the war on terror with special emphasis on renditions and the philosophical framework behind illegal practices, and provides a round-up of civil liberties issues in Galicia. |
| > |
Galicia September 2006
|
| > |
Esculca bulletin,
Esculca
|
| > |
Esculca, Observatório para a Defensa dos Direitos e Liberdades |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 04 October 2006 |
| > |
People’s Vision - Building Solidarity
across Asia and
Europe: TOWARDS A
JUST, EQUAL AND SUSTAINABLE WORLD |
| > |
The AEPF is a forum for NGOs and civil society groups that are non-state and non-corporate. It aims to bring the voice of the civil society in the official Asia Europe Summit, ASEM, and to create alternatives to its neoliberalistic agenda. AEPF 6 was held on 3rd - 6th September 2006 in Paasitorni Conference Center in Helsinki, Finland. |
| > |
Declaration,
AEPF website
|
| > |
Final Declaration of the Asia-Europe People’s Forum 6 |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 19 October 2006 |
| > |
Ottawa Principles on
Anti-terrorism and Human Rights |
| > |
In June 2006, experts on human rights and terrorism met in their individual capacities at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada to develop the following Principles on Anti-terrorism and Human Rights. They shared a common view that the preservation of human rights – not least the right to life – is the central motivator of anti-terrorism. They also believed that human rights constitute an elemental and immutable constraint on how anti-terrorism is conducted. The struggle for collective security must not be an assault on the individual’s life, liberty and security of the person. This document is the product of their deliberations. |
| > |
The Ottawa Principles,
Human Rights of Anti-Terrorism Colloquium, Ottawa
|
| > |
University of Ottawa colloqium |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 19 October 2006 |
| > |
Oorlog & Vrede [War & peace]: International anti-war conference |
| > |
The conference will discuss the Dutch role in the "war on terror" in the light of upcoming elections (22 November 2006) and the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine
|
| > |
Amsterdam 29 October 2006
|
| > |
Details
|
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 19 October 2006 |
| > |
UK Extradition Act - Commons Vote, October 2006 |
| > |
At last parliament has decided to pencil a day to vote on the Extradition Act. Please write / email your MP to urge them to support both amendments to the UK-US Extradition Act 2003 (prima facie evidence and forum) when the Police and Justice Bill returns to the Commons on 24th October 2006. Here is a simple 2 step guide to help you through the lobbying process... |
| > |
Contact your MP
|
| > |
No to Extradition Campaign |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 20 October 2006 |
| > |
Reclaiming Our Rights |
| > |
The government has been attacking our basic democratic rights through unjust principles: a presumption of guilt, punishment without trial, and pre-emptive restraints on liberty. These principles link diverse measures and pretexts. Through ASBOs the definition of ‘anti-social behaviour’ has been broadened to prohibit activities which would not otherwise be illegal, even to criminalise individuals who contravene an ASBO. ‘Anti-stalker’ laws have been used to prohibit and criminalise political protest against companies. Having broadened the definition of terrorism, ‘anti-terror’ laws are used to deter, suppress and criminalise political activities. |
| > |
London Metropolitan University 2 December 2006
|
| > |
Programme
|
| > |
CAMPACC, Institute for Human Rights and Social Justice (London Metropolitan University) and others |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 23 October 2006 |
| > |
Open letter opposing Islamophobia |
| > |
There has been a recent increase in racist hysteria directed against Muslims. We deplore Jack Straw’s remarks concerning the veil worn in public by some Muslim women. His intervention, the bullying attacks of John Reid and other Ministers, and stories in some sections of the media, are designed to isolate and demonise British Muslims. The result has been violence against, and intimidation of, Muslim people.
We express our solidarity with all people in Britain of the Muslim faith, affirm their right to dress as they please and live their lives in peace and security.
The current attacks on Muslims are rooted in the disastrous 'war on terror', of which this government has been such a prominent supporter. This war has made Britain more vulnerable, not less, to terrorist attack.
If the government is concerned about improving the cohesion of our communities, let it first abandon its support for the foreign policy of the US administration, including the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. |
| > |
Download or sign letter
|
| > |
Stop the War Coalition |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 23 October 2006 |
| > |
Islamophobia and the War on Terror |
| > |
How are the attacks on Muslims linked to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? How can the anti-war movement counter those attacks in its continuing campaign to end the Bush/Blair wars? |
| > |
Camden Centre Judd Street London WC1H Saturday 18 November 10.00am - 5.30pm
|
| > |
Stop the War
|
| > |
Stop the War Coalition |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 04 January 2007 |
| > |
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS (AUDIO FILES): CIA flights, extraordinary renditions, secret prisons. American policy and European complicity |
| > |
Proceedings from conference organised by Nordic Green Left and United Left Groups in the European Parliament and Rifondazione Comunista, Italy. [Convegno dal titolo "Voli della Cia, extraordinary renditions, carceri segrete. Strategia americana e complicità europea"; audio files in Italian, German and English] |
| > |
Milan 16 December 2006
|
| > |
Audio files
|
| > |
RadioRadicale.it |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 10 January 2007 |
| > |
Request for convicting Rumsfeld et al. for war crimes |
| > |
On 14 November 2006, four Iraqi torture victims lodged a criminal complaint with the “Generalbundesanwalt” in Karlsruhe, Germany. The criminal complaint is a request for the German Federal Prosecutor to open an investigation and, ultimately, a criminal prosecution that will look into the responsibility of high-ranking U.S. officials for authorizing war crimes in the context of the so-called “War on Terror.” The complaint is brought on behalf of 12 torture victims – 12 Iraqi citizens who were held at Abu Ghraib prison and one Guantánamo detainee – and is being filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Republican Attorneys' Association (RAV) and others, all represented by Berlin Attorney Wolfgang Kaleck. |
| > |
Background info on CCR website,
RAV,
Trial Watch
|
| > |
CCR, RAV |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 12 January 2007 |
| > |
World Social Forum 2007 |
| > |
The 7th World Social Forum (WSF) will be held from 20 until 25 January 2007 at the Moi International Sports Center Kasarani, Nairobi and is expected to host up to 150,000 delegates from all over the world. Over 1,000 activities will take place in the 106 spaces provided at the venue. Rallying around the call of Another World Is Possible, the World Social Forum has placed social justice, international solidarity, gender equality, peace and defence of the environment on the agenda of the world’s peoples. From its modest origins in Porto Alegre in the year 2001, to Mumbai, Bamako, Caracas, Karachi and now Nairobi, the forces and the contingents of the World Social Forum have collectively expanded the democratic spaces of those seeking concrete, sustainable and progressive alternatives to neo-liberalism and imperialist globalisation. |
| > |
Nairobi 20/01/2007
|
| > |
WSF website
|
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 09 February 2007 |
| > |
Autonomy: Fencing in Freedoms on the Electronic Frontier |
| > |
We are moving to a world of ubiquitous surveillance, faster than anyone could have imagined. More ominously, the computers that take charge of the world, aptly foretold in Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, are here. Meet Hal, your new cell phone, that will decide when it will turn itself on and on off, and when it will report your geographical location to the authorities. Meet Hal, your new refrigerator that reorders the food as it expires…or not, depending on what your health care provider stipulates. Meet Hal, the robot that is looking after your mother in her assisted living apartment, nagging her to take her pills, monitoring her blood sugar, her caloric intake, and her mood swings. Meet Hal, the resource manager that operates on behalf of your utility company to ensure you do not over-consume. Meet Hal, the friendly update manager who takes over your computer to make sure you have the latest anti-virus protection, the latest digital rights management software to ensure you only do what you are allowed to do with the music you buy. Who is in control of this new world? |
| > |
Montreal, Canada 1-4 May 2007
|
| > |
CFP2007 website
|
| > |
Computers, Freedom and Privacy - CFP2007 |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 09 February 2007 |
| > |
Human Rights and Human Wrongs |
| > |
Critical Legal Studies and Practice; Palestine and Israel; War on Terror and Civil Liberties; Controlling Damage to the Environment; Personal Injuries and Compensation Culture;
The Human Rights Act; Immigration and Asylum;
Racism and Islamaphobia; Criminal Justice System;
Capitalism-has it a future?; and many others |
| > |
Kent University, Canterbury, UK 24-25 February 2007,
|
| > |
Conference flyer
|
| > |
National Critical Lawyers’ Group Conference 2007 |
| |
| > |
campaigns/open letters 16 February 2007 |
| > |
Demonstration against the new Dal Molin US military base in Vicenza |
| > |
A national demonstration against the construction of the new “Dal Molin” US military base in Vicenza, which would join the city’s other US military base, Camp Ederle, has been called for 17 February 2007. Several months of actions, a demonstration by tens of thousands on 2 December 2006, and strong opposition by the local population, as well as a change of government, whose programme stated that “any action which has a strong impact on the territory will always be taken respecting the opinion of the local populations” have failed to stop the plans. Vicenza has also been granted the questionable “honour” of being the seat of the European Gendarmerie Force. |
| > |
Appello, no alla nuova base Dal Molin a Vicenza,
Appeal for a national demonstration in Vicenza on 17 February 2007,
French version,
Spanish version,
German version,
Blog of the "permanent watch" in Vicenza,
Altravicenza,
No dal Molin
|
| > |
Presidio permanente contro il Dal Molin |
| |
| > |
publications/research 24 May 2007 |
| > |
UK: racism and the state 2007 |
| > |
On 16 September 2006, the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) held a unique conference in London on ‘Racism, Liberty and the War on Terror’, attended by over 250 participants, including human rights activists, community workers, lawyers, students, radical academics and solidarity groups. The April 2007 edition of the IRR journal Race & Class features extracts from the pioneering conference, including speeches and talks by Gareth Peirce, A. Sivanandan, Salma Yaqoob, Tony Bunyan, David Rose, Victoria Brittain and Herman Ouseley. Together with a range of other contributors from community organisations around the UK, they dissect the recent media attacks on multiculturalism and document the impact of the ‘war on terror’, both on local communities and internationally. |
| > |
April 2007
|
| > |
Institute of Race Relations
|
| > |
Race & Class - conference special |
| |
| > |
meetings/conferences 24 May 2007 |
| > |
Guantanamo Bay –
Close it down now |
| > |
Speakers: Moazzam Begg, captured in Pakistan and imprisoned by the
US government on Guantanamo for over three years, author
Enemy Combatant, an account of his experiences at Guantanamo
Sadat Sayeed, barrister,
Garden Court Chambers,
Visiting Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights, New York |
| > |
South Bank University London 24 May 2007
|
| > |
Flyer,
Haldane Society
|
| > |
Haldane Society Human Rights Lecture Series |
| |
| > |
publications/research 24 May 2007 |
| > |
TAKING LIBERTIES |
| > |
Film on "The shocking truth about how our fundamental personal freedoms have been gradually eroded by Tony Blair’s government... TAKING LIBERTIES uncovers the stories the government don’t want you to hear – so ridiculous you will laugh, so ultimately terrifying you will want to take action. Grannies arrested under the Serious Organised Crime Act; young sisters detained for 36 hours for a peaceful protest; an RAF war veteran arrested for wearing an ‘Bollocks to Blair’ T-shirt. Ordinary law-abiding citizens being punished for exercising their ‘rights’ – rights that have been fought for over centuries, and which seem to have been extinguished in a decade. Irreverent but revelatory, outrageous but true... |
| > |
Released in Cinemas on June 8th 2007
|
| > |
Tralier,
Taking Liberties website
|
| > |
Revolver Group |
| |
| > |
publications/research 27 May 2007 |
| > |
Ilegalización de candidaturas electolares en Euskal Herria |
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Critical report that analyses the illegalisation of candidatures to run in local elections in the Basque Country on 27 May 2007. The candidatures are ASB (Abertzale Sozialisten Batasuna), which was deemed to be a party born under the auspices of Batasuna (illegalised by the Ley de Partidos), whereas many of the electoral lists of ANV-EAE (Acción Nacionalista Vasca –Eusko Abertzale Ekintza) were deemed to have been "contaminated" or "infiltrated" by Batasuna members. A detailed description of the judicial process of illegalisation deems that the decisions "have a scarce legal quality... are inspired by political determinations... and contravene the right of active suffrage", depriving Basques the chance to vote for an option that is deep-rooted in society. |
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Euskal Herria (Basque Country) May 2007
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Ilegalización de candidaturas electolares en Euskal Herria,
Candidatures declared illegal in the Basque Country,
Euskal Herria Watch
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EHwatch |
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publications/research 27 May 2007 |
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La Tortura en el Estado español en el año 2006 |
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The 2006 annual report on torture in the Spanish state was presented in Santiago de Compostela on 12 May 2007. It features details of 610 reports of torture arising from 266 different situations in 2006, and a follow-up of claims from previous years (over 4,000 in five years), and details from reports produced by international bodies that criticise the persistence of this problem in Spain. It features a breakdown of where the reported events took place (led by Catalunya and Galicia), the police bodies responsible for the violations, and the social groups that were on the receiving end of violent actions (led by trade unionists and members of social movements). A report on torture in Galicia was also published. |
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Santiago de Compostela 12 May 2007
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Coordinadora press statement and report,
Coordinadora para la Prevención de la Tortura,
2006 report on torture in Galicia
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Coordinadora para la Prevención de la Tortura |
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campaigns/open letters 29 May 2007 |
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LEGAL EMERGENCY SERVICE AT THE G8 SUMMIT 2007 |
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On the occasion of the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, extensive restrictions of fundamental rights as well as civil rights and liberties are to be feared. The federal government and the police already conjure up violent conflicts in the run-up to the summit. Doing this, they aim at preventing legitimate and many-voiced protests on the spot or at least to intimidate and criminalise the protesters. The fundamental rights of freedom of opinion and freedom of assembly will have to be defended in the court room, but also on the streets and during meetings and demonstrations. For these purposes, the Republican Attorneys' Association (RAV) together with local associations of criminal defence lawyers and committees of inquiry organise a legal emergency service in the run-up to and during the G8 summit. For the duration of three weeks, an office will be established in Rostock that will ensure on-site counselling and legal protection in cases of arrests, restrictions of the freedom of assembly, bullying at the arrival etc. The telephone number of the Legal Team during the G8 summit is: 0049 (0)3820 4768111. Anybody in need of legal help during the summit is advised to call here, the information will be then transmitted to the lawyers. Please communicate the number.
Also: press information service concerning the protests: +49 (0)1577-4704760 and +49 (0)163-6195151 |
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Contact,
RAV website
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Republican Attorneys' Association (RAV) |
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publications/research 29 May 2007 |
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Fundamental Rights Report 2007 (German) |
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Since 1997, nine civil liberties and human rights organisations publish an annual human rights report on Germany, in which they test the German government’s conduct against every legally binding human rights and civil liberties provision laid down in the German Constitution. With a plethora of examples of state surveillance, infringements, discrimination and violations of High Court decisions, the year 2006 will also be known as a year in which fundamental rights were systematically violated by the authorities. The legitimate use of ‘torture’ debate, the use of emetics against foreigners, indiscriminate data collection during the world cup, the surveillance and interception of communication of civil rights activists, the electronic health card linking sensitive data between authorities, US-EU data transfers, unlawful detention and deportation to torturing states, police violence, employment bans, eroding the protection of journalists’ sources, unlawful police raids…the list of fundamental civil rights violations seems endless. The Fundamental Rights Report is written and compiled by the following organisations, which have announced the focus of the next year’s report will be the criminalisation and curtailment of G8 protests: Humanistische Union, Gustav Heinemann-Initiative, Komitee für Grundrechte und Demokratie, Bundesarbeitskreis Kritischer Juragruppen, Pro Asyl, Republikanischer Anwaltsverein, Vereinigung demokratischer Juristinnen und Juristen, Internationale Liga für Menschenrechte, Neue Richtervereinigung. |
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May 2007
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Commentary on the report,
Press release Humanistische Union,
List of Contents (German),
Order online
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“Internationale Liga für Menschenrechte” et al. |
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demonstrations 29 May 2007 |
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Antiracist G8 'action and events' calendar |
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Between 2 and 7 June, thousands of refugees, migrants and activist will protest against the G8. In this context , mass actions and information events will take place under the slogans: ‘For Global Freedom of Movement’ and ‘Equal Rights for All’. Below you find links to the 'choreography of resistance', and events calendar. CALL OUT DECEMBER 2005: "We are here, because you are destroying our countries." This central slogan of the ‘Caravan for the rights of refugees and migrants’ explicitly links capitalist destruction on the one hand to flight and migration on the other. The G8-governments - as well as the WTO, IMF and World Bank - are not only responsible for neocolonial relations of exploitation; they also increasingly rely on and further the intensification of processes of selection and exclusion in the Northern parts of the globe, the intensification of legal, social and political hierarchies. It is these and other developments - whether in the North or the South - that lead us to speak of a system of global Apartheid. [...] |
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Heiligendamm/Rostock, Germany 2-7 June 2007
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Updated events calendar,
Working Group Migration of the protest networks,
Caravan of Refugees and Migrants tours Germany
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publications/research 29 May 2007 |
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Hollanditis.Nu (Anti-militarist magazine from the Netherlands) |
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This new publication by Dutch peace and anti-militarist groups was named after the anti-nuclear protest movement of the 1980s which saw mass demonstration in Amsterdam (1981) and The Hague (1983). It is an attempt to unite the peace movement again after its demise in the 1990s during a time when consecutive wars in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan demand mass action. The publication provides information about war zones and the arms industry, aiming to work towards building a world without war and violence. Published and edited by: Haags Vredesplatform, vredesbeweging vereniging Pais, Antimilitaristies Onderzoekskollektief VD AMOK and the Dutch branch of the Women's League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). |
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May 2007
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Hollanditis.Nu Home Page (Dutch),
VD AMOK Anti-Militaristies Onderzoeks Kollektief,
The Hague Peace Platform
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Haags Vredesplatform et al. |
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campaigns/open letters 22 June 2007 |
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Giustizia per Kassim |
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Website calling for justice for rendition victim Abou Elkassim Britel, an Italian citizen of Moroccan origins who is in prison in Morocco after his arrest in Pakistan in March 2002, his subsequent rendition by the CIA to Morocco, where he was tortured and is in jail serving a sentence for terrorist activity on the basis of Italian investigations into his activities that have since been shelved. The European Parliament's TDIP commission investigating renditions criticised Italy in relation to this case, calling upon its authorities to take action to secure his release. After the government stated in parliament that it would seek Britel's release in February, it appears to be dragging their feet. |
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Giustizia per Kassim website
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Giustizia per Kassim |
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campaigns/open letters 26 June 2007 |
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Press Statement on G8 summit in Rostock |
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During the G8 summit, held in Heiligendamm from the 6th to the 8th of June 2007, a great
number of German lawyers belonging to the RAV (Association of Republican Lawyers), the
Strafverteidigervereinigung von Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (association of defence lawyers)
as well as lawyers belonging to the EDL (European Democratic Lawyers) and to the Legal
Team Europa have committed themselves to defend the fundamental rights of those who had
come from all over Europe to express their dissent. |
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EDL home page,
EDL Press statement (PDF)
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European Democratic Lawyers |
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meetings/conferences 27 June 2007 |
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Privacy Rights In A World Under Surveillance |
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A one-day workshop organized by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) in cooperation with Canadian and international civil rights and privacy organizations ahead of the 29th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Montreal. Panellists: Simon Davies – Privacy International/Ben Hayes – Statewatch/Gus Hosein –Privacy International/Allison Knight –Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)/Philippa Lawson – Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC)/Toshimaru Ogura – Toyama University, Japanese human rights and privacy activist/Katitza Rodriguez – Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility – Peru/Richard Rosenberg – Freedom of Information and Privacy Association BC (FIPA)/Jay Stanley – American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)/Barry Steinhardt –ACLU/Dr.Helen Wallace (GeneWatch-UK)/Maureen Webb – International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG). |
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Sheraton Hotel, Montreal, Canada 25 September 2007
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Details
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International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) |
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campaigns/open letters 24 August 2007 |
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German terrorist legislation criminalises academics |
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A wave of protest is growing against the arrest by German authorities of academics accused of belonging to a terror group because they engage in research on urban gentrification and are 'intellectually capable' of drafting texts claiming responsibility for arson attacks, which law enforcement apparently had difficulties deciphering. Three of the four arrested were beaten during their arrest, and all four are held under conditions severely infringing their civil rights, due to the draconian terrorist legislation provision Article 129a of the German Criminal Code. The campaign for their release set up a website detailing growing international protest by civil rights activists and the academic community. They demand the immediate release of the prisoners, the cessation of the § 129a proceedings, and the repeal of §§ 129, 129a and 129b of the German criminal code. |
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Campaign website,
Guardian article by Richard Sennett and Saskia Sassen,
Open letter by international academics to the German prosecution
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Einstellung des §129a-Verfahrens sofort! |
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publications/research 24 August 2007 |
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Racism in European elections |
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Focusing on the French presidential election and the general and provincial elections in the Netherlands, the special issue of the European Race Bulletin also covers twenty-one other countries and the European Parliament. It discusses the results of the extreme Right, the impact of anti-immigration parties, debates on citizenship, asylum and integration. Disturbing instances of debates over national values descending into McCarthyite-style witch hunts and hysteria against Muslim communities - the hijab and the building of minarets in particular - being whipped up by extreme-Right groups are also revealed. |
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July 2007
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More information on the IRR website
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Institute of Race Relations |
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campaigns/open letters 24 August 2007 |
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Internet users criticise Google's data greed and call for anonymous services |
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The Arbeitskreis Vorratsdatenspeicherung (German Working Group on Data Retention), an association of civil rights campaigners, data protection activists and Internet users, sent an open letter to Google today. The group warns that Google's blanket retention of users Internet protocol addresses allows tracking every mouse click and every search made by a user for months. "The anonimisation of personally identifiable data after '18 to 24 months' as announced by Google is entirely inadequate", explains the NGO's legal expert Patrick Breyer. "According to German and European law the systematic retention of personally identifiable data on all users is prohibited." |
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More information on the campaign website
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Arbeitskreis Vorratsdatenspeicherung |
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meetings/conferences 20 September 2007 |
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Information event on Article 129a terrorist procedures in Berlin and Germany's security politics |
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At the end of July 2007, seven persons, accused of membership of a terrorist organisation, were arrested in Berlin, Germany. Three are charged with arson against army vehicles, the other four of some form of “intellectual culpability”, whereby their scientific publications critical of gentrification and security state features are used to construct a terrorist organisation. Their arrests form the current highpoint in the general criminalisation of critical science and protest movements reminiscent of the 1980s. This info-event will inform about this case but also provide information on the history of Germany’s anti-terrorist Article 129a Criminal Code and its political use, more security laws in the planning, and asks what the implications of the gradual erosion of civil liberties means for state critics today. |
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Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin, Germany. 30/09/2007, 11.00 – 13.30
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RAV,
Campaign to stop the terrorist proceedings
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Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein e.V. (RAV) |
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publications/research 12 November 2007 |
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FRONTEX-led EU Illegal Immigration Technical Mission to Libya. 28 May - 5 June 2007 |
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Frontex, the "European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union", reports on its second EU technical mission on illegal immigration to Libya between 28 May and 5 June 2007. |
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2007
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Report (PDF)
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Frontex |
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publications/research 12 November 2007 |
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»The truth may be bitter, but it must be told« The Situation of Refugees in the Aegean and the Practices of the Greek Coast Guard. |
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Asylum seekers are being sent back to Greece from Germany and other European countries without their applications for asylum having been thoroughly examined. The legal basis for this is the European Dublin II
Regulation under which the state through which the asylum seeker entered European territory is responsible for processing the asylum claim. For a large number of people, particularly those from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran
and Somalia, the escape route leads them across the Aegean into Greece. This report forms part of a series of fact-finding missions (to Spain/Morocco, Italy, Slovakia/Ukraine)
about human rights violations committed at the external borders of Europe, conducted by PRO ASYL. This report finds systematic refoulement of refugees at sea, illegal deportations and detention and inhumane detention conditions and makes a series of demands. |
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October 2007
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Report (PDF),
Pro Asyl: Information on reactions to the report
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Pro Asyl, Group of Lawyers for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants |
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campaigns/open letters 12 November 2007 |
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Campaign against the “11th European Police Congress“, 29th-30th of January 2008 in Berlin. Against a “Global Security Architecture”, for more security-critical behaviour! |
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Police investigation methods and the global security apparatus are increasingly violating basic democratic and human rights. Police and intelligence services want to attain unrestricted access to personal data and internet user profiles. The “European Police Congress”, a forum where politicians, police authorities, intelligence services, the military and the security industry meet to discuss the implementation of new measures for data collection and prosecution facilitates the increasing social control and authoritarian state tendencies within the EU. The 2008 Congress takes place under the motto “Information technology – investigation – operation”. On Tuesday, 29 January 2008, Schäuble, the German Minister of Internal Affairs, will speak at the “Forum of European Ministers of Internal Affairs”. A coalition of civil liberties and social justice groups is organising protest actions, with the aim to reach broad segments of society. This recent initiative is seen as a potential extension of already existing campaigns: against data retention, against anti-terrorist laws, the EU border agency Frontex and the repressive EU migration regime, against police racism and militarism. |
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11th European Police Congress home page,
More information about the campaign (English),
More information about the campaign (German)
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Six Hills |
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campaigns/open letters 10 March 2008 |
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Abou Elkassim Britel - libero e vivo |
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Appeal (in Italian English and French) for rendition victim Abou Elkassim Britel to be freed. He has spent years in custody since his detention on false grounds and abduction in Pakistan in 2002, followed by an unfair trial in which he was found guilty of terrorist activity after rendition to Morocco, where he had previously been released in the absence of evidence against him. The EP Committee investigating renditions called on the Italian government to intervene to free its citizen, and vows to do so have not been carried through. |
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Abou Elkassim Britel - free and alive,
Giustizia per Kassim
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Justice for Kassim campaign |
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campaigns/open letters 26 April 2008 |
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33/01 Case against Gestoras Pro Amnistia |
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Statement concerning the trial that began on 21 April 2008 against Basque prisoner support and human rights groups Gestoras Pro Amnistia and Askatasuna, in which 27 people face charges and possible sentences of up to ten years in prison for membership of a terrorist organisation (ETA). The defendants claim that the trial is the latest in a series of trials against social movements that presents them as being part of ETA, whereas they have carried out their activities lawfully and publicly for decades, arguing that it is their “tasks and goals” (including “the protection of the human rights of victims of repression” and the “erradication of torture”) that have been “criminalised”. The statement highlights irregularities in the police operations leading to the charges, the difficulty of proving or disproving claims that are “generic” and lacking the “individuality and precision that must be the basis of any criminal charges”, quotes the charge sheet detailing the serious offences of which they are accused, and presents the trial as “political”, noting that they do not expect a “fair trial” in the Audiencia Nacional, a tribunal they describe as “exceptional”. |
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33/01 Case against Gestoras Pro Amnistia (sp),
in English,
in French,
in Italian,
Document detailing the charges for the trial (Sp)
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EHwatch |
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publications/research 12 June 2008 |
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Eyes Wide Shut? The Impact of Embedded Journalism on Dutch Newspaper Coverage of Afghanistan |
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The Dutch Ministry of Defence offers journalists embedded expiditions to military operations of Dutch soldiers in Uruzgan. Under the embed policy, three journalists can travel from the Netherlands to Uruzgan every two weeks. They are hosted by the Dutch contingent and fall under the commander’s responsibility. Articles have to be submitted for review on operational security prior to publication. Dutch embedded journalists cooperate closely with the Ministry of Defence before, during and after their embed experience. Many have developed a close relationship with the military as a consequence. Embeddedness raises questions about objectivity, censorship and journalistic independence. A current research by the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies looks at embedded journalism, how it affects Dutch coverage of Afghanistan, and whether regulations for future reporting should be changed. As part of this research HCSS conducted a software-based text mining analysis on Dutch press coverage of Afghanistan. This analysis consists of two parts 1) the comparison of a sample of embedded and unembedded articles, and 2) the analysis of a sample of the complete Dutch press coverage of Afghanistan. Text analysis shows that embedded journalists write mainly about the Dutch troops and their military operational activities while unembedded reporters focus more on the socio-political situation in Afghanistan. While more journalists write about Afghanistan, the focus has narrowed, and the authors suggest that the close interaction between military and journalists may also jeopardise the independence of reporting. The report concludes that the Dutch press in general could benefit from maintaining a professional distance from the military, and finding more ways to complement embedded with unembedded reporting. |
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April 2008
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Hague Centre for Strategic Studies,
Download report
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Hague Centre for Strategic Studies |
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