Newsgroup: it.discussioni.litigi
Titolo: Torture

Torture and ill-treatment by state agents, often against members of
ethnic minorities or foreigners, continued to be rife in Europe. The
attacks of 11 September were used by many governments to take
measures, in the name of strengthening national security, which
resulted in human rights violations and further restrictions on the
rights to freedom of expression, association and fair trial, as well
as the rights of asylum-seekers. 
The human rights situation deteriorated in Macedonia as fighting
escalated between Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian armed
groups in the first part of the year. Indiscriminate killings of
civilians by the security forces were reported, while the ethnic
Albanian armed group, the National Liberation Army (NLA), was accused
of kidnapping and ill-treating civilians. Over 140,000 people were
displaced between March and August, mainly from villages which fell
under NLA control.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina tens of thousands of potential returnees were
unable to return to their homes since they lacked physical security
and suffered discrimination in access to employment, education and
social welfare. Proceedings continued at the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (Tribunal), but investigations and
prosecutions of war crimes and other human rights violations in
domestic courts in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo were few, progressed
slowly and in some cases failed to meet international standards for
fair trial. Co-operation with the Tribunal improved in Croatia but the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia failed to pass a law on cooperation
with the Tribunal by the end of the year. In June the Serbian
authorities transferred former President Slobodan Milosevic to the
Tribunal's custody. However, many other indicted suspects remained at
large and often in positions of power. 
Both the Chechen and the Russian armed forces continued to commit
serious human rights abuses and to breach international humanitarian
law. Violations committed by Russian forces included arbitrary
detention in secret detention centres and in pits in the ground,
torture and ill-treatment, "disappearances" and extra-judicial
executions. Chechen forces attacked civilians working in the local
administration in Chechnya, failed to take steps to minimize civilian
casualties during attacks and ill-treated and unlawfully killed
captured Russian soldiers. Elsewhere in the Russian Federation there
were continuing reports of torture and ill-treatment in police custody
and of cruel, inhuman and degrading prison conditions.
The United Kingdom was the only country in Europe to deploy under-18s
into armed conflict situations. In 2001, under-18s were deployed to
Macedonia and during the military intervention in Afghanistan. 
Torture and ill-treatment were documented in a large number of
European countries including Albania, Georgia, Lithuania, Romania and
Spain. In Turkey torture and ill-treatment of men, women and children
was widespread and systematic, mainly occurring in police and
gendarmerie stations during the days immediately after arrest.
Thousands of prisoners in "F-type" prisons were held in conditions of
prolonged isolation which could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment.
Members of ethnic minorities and foreigners, including asylum-seekers,
were subjected to racist-related abuse and ill-treatment in many
countries in Western Europe including Austria, Belgium, Finland,
France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland . Police ill-treatmed
Roma, and in some cases failed to protect them from abuse in Bulgaria,
Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia and the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia.
Amnesty International remained concerned about the excessive use of
force by security forces during demonstrations . Such incidents were
reported in Italy, Spain and Sweden. In Italy there were reports that
law enforcement officers used excessive force during large street
demonstrations in Brescia, Naples and Genoa, subjecting numerous
peaceful demonstrators to gratuitous assault. In July 2001 one Italian
protester was shot dead by a law enforcement officer during
anti-globalization demonstrations in Genoa. Three demonstrators were
wounded by the police during a demonstration in Gothenburg, Sweden in
June 2001.
People with mental disabilities placed in state institutions for
indefinite care in Bulgaria, were housed in dilapidated quarters with
extremely poor standards of hygiene. They were sometimes subjected to
cruel forms of restraint and seclusion. In some homes the lack of
adequate medical care, heating and food appeared to contribute to
deaths. 
In the United Kingdom new security legislation, in the wake of the 11
September attacks in the USA, opened the door to human rights
violations. The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 was passed
in December after less than a month of parliamentary and public
scrutiny. It allows the Secretary of State to order indefinite
administrative detention, without charge or trial and without recourse
to judicial review, of any non-UK national deemed a "suspected
international terrorist and national security risk" on the basis of
secret evidence. 
In Bosnia-Herzegovina at least a dozen people suspected of acts of
"terrorism" were detained incommunicado and without charge by SFOR.
Most of these detentions took place in the aftermath of the 11
September attacks in the USA. 
Members of the Uighur population throughout Central Asia were
increasingly accused of sympathizing with, and even supporting, banned
Islamist opposition movements. Uighurs had been frequently arbitrarily
arrested, tortured and ill-treated by the authorities in Central Asia,
including Kazakstan, and forcibly deported to China, where they faced
ill-treatment, torture and the death penalty. There was concern that
Uzbekistan might further clamp down on the country's internal
opposition after the attacks of 11 September. In Kyrgyzstan detentions
of suspected members of banned Islamic organizations increased and
ethnic tensions exacerbated. Tajikistan continued to keep its borders
closed to those fleeing fighting in Afghanistan.
In some countries asylum-seekers were forcibly returned after their
asylum claims had been rejected in an unfair procedure. This was the
case in Sweden when two Egyptian men were forcibly returned despite
concerns that they would be at grave risk of torture and unfair trial
in Egypt. In October, police from Bosnia-Herzegovina reportedly
deported two dual Bosnian-Egyptian nationals to Egypt without formal
extradition proceedings.
In June 2001, following Belgium's first trial based on universal
jurisdiction, four Rwandese nationals, resident in Belgium, were
convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for war crimes committed in
the context of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. At the end of the year
criminal complaints in the context of this legislation had been lodged
with Belgian courts against leaders and members of past and present
administrations in over 15 foreign states. 
Despite this progress in the fight against impunity, Italy refused to
implement an international warrant for the arrest of a Rwandese
national resident in Italy wanted on charges of genocide and crimes
against humanity.
-- 
"giro su 
autistici.org
 ma non sono socievole con tutti" (Bakunin)
http://www.gianlucabove.com

On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 15:48:03 +0100, in alt.2600  VisconteDimezzato®
mumbled thusly.... :
<snip>
Yeah yeah, were all as bad as each other, just somne of us have more
air power.
Whats with everyone,  whats with all the war/terror stuff today ?
--
/------------------------------------------------------------\
|         George Cespuglio scopa i maiali !!!!               |
\------------------------------------------------------------/


Just who gave the Belgians universal jurisdiction over anything?
Pete
Due to economic restraints, the light at the end of the tunnel will be
turned off until further notice.