PHA-Exchange> PRESS RELEASE: "TRY THE US AND ISRAELI ARMIES FOR WAR CRIMES" says the People's Health Movement. (People's Health Movement)

Fri May 28 10:38:44 PDT 2004

For media enquiries:   During WHA: Geneva +41 78 876 5437 or +33 660 839 448 :

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People's Health Movement

"TRY THE US AND ISRAELI ARMIES FOR WAR CRIMES" says the People's Health Movement.

"They are the biggest obstruction for peace and health".

Geneva, 20th th May 2004: Echoing the growing public opposition against the ongoing and illegal occupation and inhumane treatment of the prisoners of war in Iraq and the continuing attacks in Occupied Territories of Palestine, the People's Health Movement called on the International Community and the World Health Organisation to take necessary steps to "act".

"The occupying forces have turned Iraq into a concentration camp" said Unnikrishnan of the People's Health Movement. He was referring to the inhumane torture techniques that the occupying forces have been using on Iraqi prisoners of war. "The inhumane treatment and torture is not limited Abu Ghraib prison alone, the whole country has been turned into a prison.  It is happening in the streets. This assault on humanity is a blatant violation of International Humanitarian Laws and Geneva conventions" he said. 

US led occupying forces have been shooting at ambulances, occupying hospitals, and preventing people from medical care.

"This utter disregard for human lives and disrespect for international humanitarian laws is the most difficult block in achieving health and peace in Iraq and Palestine" said Andreas Wulf of the People's Health Movement.  

Iraqi doctors have been giving a blow by blow account of the atrocities of the occupying forces that has been systematically targeting hospitals, ambulances and often civilians.

The Special Rapporteur on the right to health of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Paul Hunt, has called for an independent and impartial enquiry into the reports on attacks on hospitals and ambulances and harassment of the civilian people in Fallujah.  

While the condemnation is growing worldwide on the inhumane and degrading treatment of the Prisoners and ordinary Iraqis in the hands of the US led occupying forces, the health system in Iraq is struggling to cope with the ever increasing work load. "International community made lots of commitments at Madrid. But this is yet to become a reality" said the Health Minister of Iraq during the World Health Assembly. 

"Between the 28th of September 2000 and the 22nd of October 2003, 82 Palestinians died due to Israeli prevention of medical treatment (soldiers prevented them from travelling to health services, or health staff from reaching them)  - 27 were children and 17 were newborns" Jihad Mashal of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC). "In the same period there were 52 cases of women giving birth at checkpoints" he added.

Jihad Mashal, who was expected in Geneva for the World Health Assembly, is not able to participate as the UPMRC clinic in the Al Yasemina neighbourhood (in the Old City of Nablus) was badly damaged in the helicopter shellings by the Israeli military recently. Recent weeks have seen a manifold increase in targeted attacks on hospitals, ambulances apart from the detention and stopping the free movement of medical personnel for health care work. 

 Consider the facts:

1.       In the first two weeks of May 2004, demolition of residential buildings in Gaza has left 2,197 people homeless.

Destruction of property as a general security measure is prohibited under the International Humanitarian Law (Geneva convention Article 53, Fourth Geneva convention). 

2.       On 18th May (when the World Health Assembly was underway in Geneva), ongoing Israeli raids in Rafah resulted in the death of another 19 Palestinians, including two children (of 13 and 16 years). They were shot in the head. 

Indiscriminate attacks and attacks on children and civilians are an assault on the collective conscience of the humanity.

3.       According to UPMRC, between the 28th of September 2000 and the 5th May 2004, the Israeli occupation forces killed a total of  3020 Palestinians. Of this, 12.4% were children under the age of 15 years; and 60.1% were killed with live ammunition. 21.4% were injured in the head and neck. During the same period about 47,000 Palestinians were injured. Of this, about 2,500 will be permanently disabled, 500 of whom are children. 

'Health-now! No to war no to WTO !' (www.health-now.org) - the flagship campaign of the People's Health Movement and its collaborating networks and agencies-have been highlighting the worsening plight of the civilians and health systems in Iraq and Palestine. The campaign is aimed to generate public opinion and put pressure on authorities to end the war, militarization and occupation as well as to ensure the respect of Geneva conventions by the occupying forces.

People's Health Movement called for trying the US and Israeli armed forces for the war crimes and the atrocities they are committing in Iraq and Occupied Territories of Palestine.

Maria Hamlin Zuniga                                                                Ravi Narayan

PHM- Latin America                                                                PHM- Secretariat coordinator

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Networks
      Asian Community Health Action Network (ACHAN); Consumers International-Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (CIROAP); Dag Hammarskjold Foundation (DHF); Gonoshasthaya Kendra, (GK);  Health Action International (HAI) - Asia-Pacific - HAIAP; International People's Health Council (IPHC); Third World Network (TWN); Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR)

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