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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
NEWS FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
AI Bulletin Vol 5, No. 14, 12 July 2002
AI Index: ACT 84/014/2002
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Summary
* AI reports & statements: Bosnia-Heregovina, Israel/OT/PA,
Southern Africa
* Further news: Africa - OAU-AU / Algeria - killings / El
Salvador/USA - HR prosecution / India - killings / Kenya - FGM;
AIDS medication / Mexico - sexual violence/HR inquiry / Myanmar -
oil company / Nigeria - adultery prosecutions / South Africa -
court ruling on AIDS / UK - refugee doctors; plastic bullets /
USA - Penry case; death penalty; ethics.
* Conferences: The Mental Health Needs of Refugees, UK, 2 October
2002; Non-discrimination and minority rights, Finland 25-29
November 2002.
* Publications
Amnesty International reports & statements
Bosnia-Herzegovina: AI believes that the unresolved fate of those
missing in Srebrenica remains one of the major human rights issues to
be addressed in Bosnia-Herzegovina. See the press release:
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/EUR630112002
Israel/OT/PA. Amnesty International has called for an end to
Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians. See press release:
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/MDE151042002 and the report:
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE020032002
See also the report from the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_2123000/2123663.st
m and AP in the Washington Post (12 July):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58116-2002Jul11.html
Southern Africa. New reports by AI address the issue of policing in
southern Africa. See: press release
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/AFR030082002; report:
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/AFR030042002 ; appeal
leaflets: http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/AFR030052002
This is a small selection of Amnesty International reports and
statements. For a comprehensive overview, please check Amnesty
International's website: http://www.amnesty.org/
Further news
Africa - end of OAU. The Organization of African Unity (OAU), created
in 1963, has been replaced by the new African Union
(http://www.africa-union.org/). See BBC (9 July)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1426000/1426236.stm
; see also AP in the Boston Globe (10 July)
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/191/nation/Hopes_cynicism_greet_birth_of_A
frican_Union+.shtml. Human Rights Watch suggested (10 July) that human
rights should be high on the AU's agenda:
http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/07/africanunion0710.htm
Algeria - killings continue. The Economist (11 July) reports that the
conflict in Algeria is far from over -- some 800 people have already
been killed this year, it says. See:
http://www.economist.co.uk/world/africa/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1224647
El Salvador/USA - HR prosecution. The former defense minister of El
Salvador, Jose Guillermo Garcia, testified in a US federal court in
Florida on 11 July that he had no knowledge two decades ago that
people were tortured in his country. For the Chicago Tribune report
(12 July) visit:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0207120284jul12.story?col
l=chi%2Dnewsnationworld%2Dhed
(requires free registration).
India - Gujarat killings. The medical profession is alleged to have
failed to behave ethically in the context of the recent Gujarat
killings, reports the Hindu (5 July):
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/07/05/stories/2002070507390300.htm
Kenya - FGM. "Just four months after Kenya made it illegal to
circumcise girls, one can still take a daughter or sister for the
operation and earn Sh1,000 from the government for it" reports the
Daily Nation (5 July).
http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/Supplements/weekend/12072002/sto
ry1.htm
Kenya - AIDS medication. The Kenyan government has introduced an
amendment to Kenyan patent law which makes it virtually impossible
for any Kenyan to import generic Aids drugs, according to the East
African (1 July).
http://www.nationaudio.com/News/EastAfrican/08072002/Regional/Regional22.hml
Mexico - sexual violence. In Mexico, rape victims face widespread
cultural bias in pursuit of justice, reports the Washington Post (30
June):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2420-2002Jun29.html
Mexico - human rights inquiry. The former president of Mexico, Luis
Echeverria, was questioned about student killings during his
presidency (1970-76) according to the Christian Science Monitor (5
July) http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0705/p06s02-woam.html
Myanmar - oil company held to account. An American oil company is
being brought to court for alleged human rights abuses in Myanmar,
suggesting that in future firms must carefully consider the behaviour
of their partners, writes the Far Eastern Economic Review (2 July).
http://www.feer.com/articles/2002/0207_11/p014region.html
Nigeria - adultery prosecutions. In northern Nigeria, Amina Lawal is
on trial for "adultery". She faces the death penalty if convicted
reports the BBC (8 July).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_2115000/2115278.stm.
According to the Nigerian Daily Trust newspaper (9 July) the
hearing was deferred until August.
http://www.mtrustonline.com/dailytrust/katsina09072002.htm. Other
cases are in progress.
South Africa - court ruling on HIV. The Constitutional Court ordered
the government to stop blocking the universal provision of an
anti-AIDS drug to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the
disease. See CNN report (5 July)
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/07/05/safrica.aids.reut/index.html
UK - refugee doctors. The annual BMA conference was told that refugee
doctors' talents are being wasted in the UK. See BBC online (30
June):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/health/2002/bma_conference/newsid_
2072000/2072501.stm
UK - plastic bullets. The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) has urged
that police use plastic bullets rather than live ammunition in
policing. See the BBC report (11 July):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/england/newsid_2122000/2122015.stm. The
annual report of the PCA is available at:
http://www.pca.gov.uk/news/2002report.htm
USA: Texas - Penry. On 3 July a jury sentenced Johnny Paul Penry to
death for the third time for a murder committed 23 years ago. His
previous death sentence was vacated after the US Supreme Court ruled
on 4 June 2001 that the jury in his case had received flawed
instructions about how to take his mental retardation into account.
The Penry case is the first to be resolved after the US Supreme Court
ruling that executing the mentally retarded was unconstitutional. See
reports: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1482512 ;
http://www.wfaa.com/latestnews/stories/070402dntexpenry.3a7a5.html ;
http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/07/05/death.penalty.retarded.ap/index.html ;
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-crime-retarded.html
(free registration required)
Also AI press release: USA: Basic instinct - another milestone in the
ugly history of the death penalty (4 July)
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/AMR511112002
USA - death penalty (again). Bruce Shapiro discusses the Supreme
Court decision in Atkins v Virginia. 'Rethinking the death penalty'
(Nation, 22 July cover date)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020722&s=shapiro
See also the commentary on the death penalty by Christopher Hitchens
in the same issue:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020722&s=hitchens
USA - ethics. Doctors are reluctant to forcibly administer
anti-psychotic medication to render an accused fit for trial
according to the San Francisco Chronicle (9 July)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/07/09
/BA194797.DTL
Conferences/courses
UK: The Mental Health Needs of Refugees: A One-Day Conference, 2
October 2002, London, UK. This one-day conference is intended for
mental health and social care professionals who work with refugees or
who have an interest in working with refugees. It will also be
relevant to those who run services for refugees. It will be focused
on day to day practice, led by people who work routinely in this area
in a well-established specialist NHS Centre. The conference is
organized by the Traumatic Stress Clinic, Camden and Islington Mental
Health and Social Care Trust, 73 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PL,
UK. More information can be obtained from Dr Stuart Turner, fax: +44
20 7530 3677, e-mail: webmaster@traumaclinic.org.uk or by visiting
the following web-page: http://www.traumaclinic.org.uk/refconf1.html
Finland: Non-Discrimination and Minority Rights, 25 - 29 November
2002, Turku/Åbo, Finland. This one-week intensive course is meant to
give a systematic picture of the norms on non-discrimination and
minority rights within the UN, the Council of Europe, the EU and OSCE
contexts. For further information see:
http://www.abo.fi/instut/imr/courses_discr_info.htm or contact:
Institute for Human Rights Åbo Akademi University (att: Ms Johanna
Bondas), Gezeliusgatan 2, FIN-20500 Turku/Åbo, Finland, Tel:
+358-2-215 4713, Fax: +358-2-215 4699, E- mailto:
johanna.bondas@abo.fi.
Publications
International Commission of Jurists. The ICJ has published a manual
on trial observation (28 June). The manual can be downloaded in PDF
format here: http://www.icj.org/download/trial_observation_manual.pdf. For
details about obtaining the manual in printed form contact:
International Commission of Jurists, P.O Box 216 - 81A, avenue de
Chatelaine, CH - 1219 Chatelaine/Geneva, Switzerland, Fax : +41 22
979 38 01 , email: publications@icj.org. (For AI's Fair Trial
Manual click here for details:
http://web.amnesty.org/80256770002C7290/0/57CDDC0A0BA1B5208025677500492B9A
and here to access it online:
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/fairtrial/fairtria.htm)
See also:
Birmingham L. Detaining dangerous people with mental disorders. BMJ
2002;325:2-3. Text at: http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7354/2
Dahl S. Human rights abuses against women. European Psychiatry 2002
May;17 Suppl 1:53.
Kanninen K, Punamaki RL, Qouta S.. The relation of appraisal, coping
efforts, and of acuteness trauma to PTS symptoms among former
political prisoners. Trauma Stress 2002 Jun;15(3):245-53. Abstract:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=12092917&dopt=Abstract
Murphy D, Ndegwa D, Kanani A, Rojas-Jaimes C, Webster A. Mental
health of refugees in inner-London. Psychiatric Bulletin 2002, 26:
222-224. http://pb.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/26/6/222
(available online for subscribers only).
Richters A. When ethics, healthcare, and human rights conflict:
mental healthcare for asylum seekers. Cambridge Quarterly of
Healthcare Ethics 2002, 11:304-318
Riquelme H (ed.). Die Belagerung des Gedächtnisses. Leben und
Arbeiten von Psychologen unter den Militärdiktaturen Südamerikas.
[The siege of memory. The life and work of psychologists under the
military dictatorships of South America] Bonn, 2001 (ISBN
3-931589-45-5)
Silove D. The asylum debacle in Australia: a challenge for
psychiatry. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry June
2002 ; 36 (3): 290. Abstract available at:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/servlet/useragent?func=synergy&synergyActio
n=showAbstract&doi=10.1046/j.1440-1614.2002.01036.x. Subscribers can access
the document at:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/servlet/useragent?func=synergy&synergyActio
n=showFullText&doi=10.1046/j.1440-1614.2002.01036.x
Tribe R. Mental health of refugees and asylum-seekers. Advances in
Psychiatric Treatment 2002; 8: 240-247. Journal subscribers can
access this article at:
http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/8/4/240.
(See also: Commentary by Derek Summerfield, Adv Psychiatr Treat 2002
8: 247-248.
Weinstein HM, Stover E. Asylum Evaluations—The Physician's
Dilemma. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 2002, 11:303-304.
Zinkler M, Priebe S. Detention of the mentally ill in Europe - a
review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica July 2002; 106:3-8. Abstract:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=12100342&dopt=Abstract
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