These next two emails are from Amnesty International, are invitations to take a look at Dafur situation and to demonstrate in Downing Street against Pakistan dictator Musharraf. I prefer to pass them on as they came, so you can have a look at those links by yourself. (Note by Wet_ahuizote)Picture is from Oaxaca's Struggle,...
============= email No. 1 Hello, What with the violence and political turbulence in Kenya escalating, attention has definitely faded from the crisis in Darfur. But that doesn’t mean that things in that part of Sudan have improved. Actually Amnesty International would argue that the conflict situation has got worse in 2007. Aid workers had their vehicles hijacked and some have been beaten up or even killed, while hundreds of thousands of ordinary Darfuris were forced to leave their homes and live in IDP camps. Women and girls remain very vulnerable to rape and sexual attack by armed forces. Tomorrow (Tuesday 22 Jan) Amnesty is publishing a new report drawing attention to concerns around the level of insecurity for men, women and children living in those camps. It’s a strong report revealing that the camps are awash with guns and other weapons; boys are being recruited into armed forces and women and girls who dare to step out of the camp to collect firewood are very vulnerable to sexual attack. The press release has more information on this – should be up on this site first thing tomorrow: www.amnesty.org.uk/news You should be able to read the full report tomorrow via this link: www.amnesty.org.uk/crisis - check it out on Tuesday Frankly this isn’t promising news, especially as Amnesty has been involved in so many global ‘Days for Darfur’ trying to draw attention to this crisis. Click through to the video on this page, that will give you an idea: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6604555.stm Although there’s a new UN-AU hybrid force in place, its efforts are being hampered by the Sudanese government’s obstructive tactics and the lack of logistical support and appropriate equipment from the international community. Last year the US section of Amnesty International set up a compelling website which gives you a bird’s eye view of the destruction caused in Darfur. When you get a chance, go to http://www.eyesondarfur.org/ for more info on this. It would be great if you could blog about this, as we need to do everything we can to keep this issue high up on the agenda. Thanks so much for your help. That’s all for now but hopefully we’ll be in touch again soon Bye for now
======Email No. 2 Hi there- It’s all go on Pakistan. President Musharraf arrives on these shores tomorrow (Friday) and is due to meet Gordon Brown on Monday. And then there are the elections scheduled in Pakistan on 18 February. The likelihood of those elections being free and fair elections looks pretty unlikely at the moment. During the recent State of Emergency, Musharraf dismissed most of the senior judges and replaced them all with his cronies. He’s also been responsible for detaining without trial thousands of lawyers, journalists and human rights activists. Tomorrow, we’re issuing a press release condemning Musharraf’s actions and stating our belief that Pakistan is on the brink of “political catastropheâ€. The press release should be up on the Amnesty site first thing: www.amnesty.org.uk/news/ It goes into more detail about the wide range of human rights violations that are ongoing there and also what we’re calling for. We could really do with these issues being spread far and wide, so it would be great if you could blog on this. In the meantime, details of our concerns can be found here http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/europe-must-call-musharraf-account-20080121. Then on Saturday (26th January), Amnesty is taking to the streets with a demonstration outside Downing Street. The event is being led by lawyers in support of their colleagues in Pakistan and starts at noon. Feel free to spread the word and do come along if you can. Thanks in advance - until next time,
