PHA-Exchange> Health NOW! Campaign update August 27, 2004

[Wim De Ceukelaire]

Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike [en]
[en] Over 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners are currently participating
in a hunger strike to protest their detention conditions and treatment by
Israeli prison authorities including the withholding or delaying medical
treatment and the provision of medication to sick detainees. Please refer to
the websites of Addameer (Prisoners' Support and Human Rights Association)
and the Families of Palestinian Political Prisoners Committee for more
information. Physicians for Human Rights Israel has more background on
violations against medical rights in custody.

 Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israeli Prisons Begin Hunger Strike
(2004-08-15)

 Los Presos Políticos Palestinos de las Prisiones Israelíes Inician una
Huelga de Hambre (2004-08-15)

 Palestinian prisoners demands are humanitarian not political (2004-08-16)

 Prisoners on hunger strike to be denied medical attention (2004-08-19)


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U.S. medical personnel accomplice to torture [en]
[en] In an article in this week's issue of The Lancet bioethicist Steven H.
Miles condemns the complicity of U.S. military medical personnel in torture
of prisoners and other human rights violations. Citing military documents,
eyewitness accounts and news reports, Miles says medical personnel were
involved in a range of violations including falsification of death
certificates, tampering with Iraqi corpses and in one instance, reviving a
man brutalized into unconsciousness so that soldiers could resume a torture
regime. Last month, the New England Journal of Medicine, another medical
journal, already carried an article citing evidence that U.S. doctors,
nurses, and medics have been complicit in torture and other illegal
procedures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. Both reports call for a
wider investigation in the topic. The Lancet's lead editorial argues that
human rights have become a casualty in the desperate attempt to get results
in the war against terrorism. The prestigious journal concludes:

  Health-care workers should now break their silence. Those who were
involved in or witnessed ill-treatment need to give a full and accurate
account of events at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Those who are still in
positions where dual commitments prevent them from putting the rights of
their patients above other interests, should protest loudly and refuse
cooperation with authorities. The wider non-military medical community
should unite in support of their colleagues and condemn torture and inhumane
and degrading practices against detainees.
 Call for Full Enquiry Into Role of Medical Staff at Abu Ghraib (2004-08-21)

 Top Brass to Evade Abu Ghraib Punishment; Medics Involved in Torture
(2004-08-20)

 Hippocratic Oath AWOL at Military Prisons (2004-08-23)


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Genocide in Najaf [en]
[en] The offensives of US occupation forces in Najaf are classified as a
genocide by international law experts. The city’s top health official talked
about "a real catastrophe" for local health services. Ambulances are
prevented from reaching the injured, US troops have turned the city’s
best-equipped hospital into a base of operations and are indiscriminately
firing machine guns and rockets into civilian neighborhoods according to
reports.

 With the Red Cross in Najaf and Kufa (2004-08-27)

 More Reports of U.S. War Crimes in Najaf as Major Assault Looms
(2004-08-11)

 US Offensive In Najaf 'Genocide': Law Experts (2004-08-13)

 IRAQ: Najaf residents flee fighting as aid agencies move in (2004-08-11)

 IRAQ: Hospital in Najaf remains closed (2004-07-15)


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MSF Pulls out of Afghanistan [en]
[en] Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) decided to pull out of Afghanistan
because of the worsening security situation after 5 of its staff were killed
on June 2. Aid agencies, including MSF, blame the occupying forces for
linking humanitarian aid with military objectives, thus endangering the
lives of aid workers.

 MSF Pulls out of Afghanistan (2004-07-28)

 Coalition forces endanger humanitarian action in Afghanistan (2004-06-05)

 Aid as a weapon in the 'war on terror' (2004-06-10)

 L’aide comme arme dans la « guerre contre le terrorisme » (2004-06-10)

 Afghanistan: US, UK Subverting Relief Aid - Agencies (2004-08-03)

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