The Program of Activities: (in Arabic)
1-
Tuesday 19/06/2007
A press conference about the 26th of June, torture and the activities schedule of Khiam Rehabilitation Center.
Time: 11:00 a.m
Location: Lebanese Press House
2- Friday 22/06/2007
Opening of the “House of the Lebanese Detainee” that has destroyed by occupation forces in July 2007 aggression. The House has been rebuilt and furnished and equipped by CDR. On the occasion, we will organize a day for free medical assistance in collaboration with a number of doctors.
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Location: The House of the Lebanese Detainee, Deir Seryen.
3- Monday 25/06/2007 (Funded by the European Union)
A workshop entitled “The Lebanese Laws Provisions and their conformity with the UN Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”.
Lawyers, doctors, researchers and prominent figures of the media.
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Location: Hotel Cavalier
The workshop is funded by the European Union
4- Tuesday 26/06/2007
Launch of 3 projects about “Torture Monitoring and Prevention” funded by the European Union and implemented by
Khiam Rehabilitation Center, Restart and Alef, in collaboration with the EU delegation in Lebanon.
Time: 11:00 a.m
Location: EU delegation in Lebanon
5- Tuesday 26/06/2007
Several Sit-ins in solidarity with the Detainees and the Disappeared:
- A sit in in the tent of mothers of Lebanese Detainees in Syrian Prisons facing the UN House to launch the report “The Mothers Break the Silence”.
- A sit-in in front of Zaghle former detention center in Hasbaya at 11:00 a.m
- A sit-in in front of the memorial of UNIFIL martyrs in Tyre at 11:00 p.m.
- A day of entertainment activities for the children refugees from Nahr el Bared
Speech by Mohammed Safa, Secretary General of
Khiam Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture,
on the occasion of the 26th of June
UN International Day In Support of Victims Torture (in
Arabic)
Like every year, Khiam Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture, celebrates in collaboration with Civil Society Groups in the cadre of the International Campaign organized by IRCT, the 26th of June, the UN international day against torture, and in support of its victims.
June 26 reminds us of the thousands of detainees staying at the darkness of prisons, receiving the ugliest kinds ever of physical and psychological torture.
June 26 is a scream for solidarity with all the victims of torture and their families around the world and with the martyrs who passed out in the prisons of oppression in defense for freedom and equality.
June 26 comes this year 20 years after the UN convention against torture had seen the light.
144 country states signed the convention and 51 refrained from signing until this very day. Nevertheless torture is being widely practiced under the pretext of security measures and war against terrorism.
Prohibiting torture is an absolute rule, and can not be justified by pretext such as “emergency crisis” or war or “fighting terrorism” or “organized crime” or because of “National security”. Torture is banned in all times and conditions and the International law does not recognize such things as “the right of committing torture “at any time or place, had it been at war or at peace or anything between these two phases. This applies also on the so called campaign against international torture.
Torture is an international crime against humanity. It does not fall by the passage of time and states must prohibit torture and ban it in their national legislations and make a comprehensive revision for local laws and their conformity with UN convention against torture and never acknowledge “immunity” or “amnesty”, in cases related to torture and crimes of obligatory disappearance.
It is the duty of governments and International community to offer medical, psychological, social, and legal support to the victims of torture in order to rehabilitate them and mend the harm they have been subject to and give them fair and sufficient material and moral compensation.
In Lebanon we celebrate the 26th of June while our country is still under a terrorist war since October 2004 until the assassination of martyr Walid Eido and his son and 8 other martyrs on the 13th of June 2007. Moreover, the break out of Nahr El Bared war between the Lebanese army and the so called “Fateh Al Islam” and the criminal explosions followed it did nothing, but increased the dangers of the terrorist war against the unity and integrity of Lebanon.
War against terrorism and the multiple assassination crimes and attempts to undermine the Lebanese national peace, is a legitimate defense but violations against human rights and practicing torture against prisoners and endangering citizens lives can not be justified or accepted.
Respect to human rights should be the fundamental rule and terrorism can not be justified ever against the most horrific terrorists.
War against terrorism must not be faced by terrorism and torture and humiliation to the human dignity.
The international experience proved the failure of war against terrorism because international standards for human rights were not respected.
Especially that detention camps such as Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and torturing the detainees while depriving them of their humanity does not make terrorist groups weaker.
On the contrary, it makes them stronger.
Here comes the 26th of June after the International Court for the assassination of prime minister Rafic Hariri since the 10th of June 2007.
Ratifying the International Court for the assassination of prime minister Rafic Hariri is a historical step towards justice and the punishment of criminals. The effects of this Tribunal will not be limited to Lebanon only. It’s foundation will be the beginning of a new phase in the Arab region, and the beginning of an era of accountability and un-punishment.
We greet the tribunal and we claim the extension of its authorities until it includes all the crimes of assassination and obligatory disappearance since 1975, until now.
The ratification of the International Tribunal should be the introduction to a new phase in the history of Lebanon as for the punishment of criminals and strengthening the civil peace process and the Lebanese National Integrity.
Torture is not prisons and whips and physical and moral pains only. The economic, and political conditions and driving the Lebanese to poverty and putting the country on the verge of sinking in to religious and sectarian turmoil in addition to dismantling the social ties among all
the Lebanese is torture and a violation to human rights. The only difference is that the executioner in this case is not a policeman nor a prison guard nor an official employer.
The executioner in this case is the mulling political rank with all its wings and sectarian affiliations that transformed Lebanon into a big prison surrounded by sectarian and religious wires.
Our appeal to ban torture and fight against torture in Lebanon is also an appeal to ban sectarianism and fight against it and punish those who commit sectarian mobilization and consider them as criminals against humanity.
On this occasion we ask for putting an end to political detention without trial and stop torture against the detainees in the centers of arrest.
We ask the Lebanese authorities to take categorical measures to stop racist practices against the Syrian and foreign workers in Lebanon. We also ask for the ratification of civil and human rights for the Palestinian refugees, especially that otherwise the Palestinian camps will turn into a fertile ground for terrorist groups.
Moreover, we ask the government and the parliament to in corporate the convention Against Torture within the Lebanese National Law and modernize the laws in conformity with the convention. We claim the Lebanese parliament to sign the optional protocol related to the UN convention Against Torture and form a national body that includes the civil society institutions and which mission is monitoring the Lebanese prisons and the centers of detention and regular inspection and make a follow-up for the complaints and investigate the various violations.
We remember 12 thousand Arab detainees in Israeli Prisons kept against all the international laws.
On the 26th of June we ask the international community and international organizations to organize the widest solidarity campaign with the prisoners of conscience and opinion, in Arab prisons. We ask for an end to the policy of political detention and allow international organization to have an access to these prisons and the detainees. Khiam Rehabilitation Center, in solidarity with the victims of torture, writers, journalists, members of syndicates and activists in the field of human rights in the Arab world and in the world, offers a TV spot entitled “NO TORTURE”. This TV spot is meant to be a scream against those who commit torture in order to sew them, and close isolation and detention camps. A poster also has been produced in the cadre of the project “medical, psychological and social assistance to victims of
torture” funded by the European Union within the framework of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human rights. On this occasion, we thank the European Union for funding KRC project, we thank also the UN Voluntary Fund for victims of torture, OAK, IRCT and all the institutions that fund rehabilitation projects for victims of torture.
On the 26th of June, we remember all the victims of torture and isolation and the detainees and their families all over the world.
We greet all the activists in the field of human rights and all those who fight torture for the principles of justice, freedom and equality.
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