I’ve Got My Pencil Out Mr.Obama So Lets Talk Human Rights, NOW
The Fact that Mr. Obama is now in Talks with Human Rights Groups; reminds us that many serious question still remain. What About Darfur, Afghanistan and Gitmo.. Mr. President ?
A First meeting with and deciding to re enter the UN Human Rights Council is Good; but there is much more to be done. We Need to see your words come to life on Gitmo; and as well on the Terrorism Trials for the Bush Gang.
for those who want to do something, we’ve included a printable Human Rights Word Search as the final image in this post. please print it out, and find the words that mean something to you. circle them, and then mail the completed puzzle to your President - so that he knows we are through Playing Games on Human Rights. it’s Time to Get Busy.
WE Know it’s Tricky Thursday, But Now is not the time to slack off Mr President – Its Time for Human Rights ACTION NOW
Dear RE,
Ironically, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council has a reputation for allowing some of the world’s worst human rights abusers to become its members and set its agenda. But international human rights will continue to flounder unless someone starts to take these rights seriously.
| Support the Obama Administration’s Decision to Join the UN Human Rights Council » |
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| It’s time for the UN Human Rights Council to improve its credibility. Support new leadership and a new era for international human rights today! |
Support President Obama’s decision to reengage with the UN Human Rights Council »
Recently, the Obama Administration demonstrated its commitment to reforming the global human rights body by running for – and winning – a seat on the Council. The move reverses the confrontational approach of the Bush Administration, which refused to participate in the Council’s work.
The United States’ record on human rights is far from perfect, but it certainly is a positive step that President Obama believes that more diplomatic engagement by the United States – not less – is necessary to strengthen the Council’s important work.
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Thanks for taking action!
Natasha |
Obama Huddles With Human Rights Groups Before Security Speech
Under heavy criticism for a series of decisions on national security that resembled, for some, those of the Bush years, President Barack Obama hosted a lengthy meeting on Wednesday with the leaders of several key human rights and civil liberties groups.
Addressed were the topics that promise to be front and center during the President’s major foreign policy speech scheduled for Thursday.
According to an attendee, Obama expressed frustration with Congress’ decision to remove funding for the closure of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The president declared that his hands were tied in some ways regarding the use of reformed military tribunals, though he pledged to try as many detainees as possible in Article III federal courts.
Hours after the meeting, the Associated Press reported that the administration plans to send Ahmed Ghailani, a top al-Qaida suspect held at Guantanamo Bay, to New York to face trial. Ghailani will be the first detainee held at GItmo to be brought to the United States, and the first to face trial in a civilian criminal court.
Speaking to human rights officials on Wednesday, the president also left the door open for the future release of detainee abuse photos, saying that his administration’s current opposition to the release was dictated by immediate concern over the complications it could cause to America’s mission in Afghanistan.
More broadly, Obama said he was determined to build a new structure for executive oversight that would last beyond his presidency, preempting the problems he currently confronts from happening again.
“We talked a lot about the framework in which he is operating, and he talked about his strong desire to reestablish a system under which the executive is not exercising unfettered authority,” said Elisa Massimino, CEO of Human Rights First and an attendee at the Wednesday affair. “One of the chief differences between him and his predecessor was that he didn’t think he ought to be making these decisions in an ad-hoc, unaccountable way. And so he said that, in thinking through this, he was focused on how his successor might operate.”
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Massimino detailed what she described as a “lively and detailed and serious” discussion on some of the days most vexing national security issues. Over the course of roughly an hour and fifteen minutes, Obama, along with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Attorney General Eric Holder, advisers Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod, foreign policy hand Dennis McDonough, and counter-terrorism chief John Brennan, held court with a group of academics, as well as officials with the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, and the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Asked to attend the meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the group came prepared with what Massimino described as “some pointed pushback and questions” on a variety of topics. The president, she added, spoke for roughly fifteen minutes before opening up the forum for questions.
“It was really a back and forth discussion,” said Massimino. “It was not, one side makes a presentation and the other side listens and takes notes. It was really probing.”
There was much to probe. According to Massimino, Obama had “two baskets of issues he wanted to talk about: one was Guantanamo and all of the things pertaining to closing it. And the other was transparency.”
On Gitmo, Massimino said, the President “emphasized that he was in this for the long game. He said he realized that you can’t change people’s misperceptions overnight, that they have had eight long years of a steady dose of fear and a lack of leadership and that is not something that you wave a magic wand and make it go away.”
As for the criticism of Senate Republicans, who suggest that moving terrorism suspects to America would be tantamount to releasing them on the streets, Massimino recalled Obama’s remarks as being relatively brief. He dismissed it, she said, “as really an unfounded fear that is being fanned by people who are seeking political advantage.”
While acknowledging that she did not have verbatim quotes from the president, Massimino nevertheless relayed some of the remarks he made on other key foreign policy topics. On the administration’s decision to reverse course and oppose the release of photos depicting abuse of terrorist suspects, she said that Obama brought it up without being prompted. “He raised it,” she said. “We didn’t have to ask.”
“He said that he became convinced that the particular timing of what we were dealing with in Afghanistan right now made this a particularly bad time to release those photos,” she explained. “And he said that we should not conclude from his decision right now that those photos will not end up getting released. There are many ways that might happen. The court might order it. Circumstances might change the balance of consideration that would weigh in favor of transparency, which he reiterated would be his default position.”
On his decision to maintain and improve the use of military tribunals to try terrorist suspects, Obama, she said, “seemed to imply that some of the circumstances of capture of some of the people of Guantanomo would lend themselves to trial in a military commission.” He reiterated, she added, that “despite the announcement of military commissions on Friday, his strong preference was that we use Article III courts…”
Taking place in the West Wing, the meeting was a chance for the president and some of those most disappointed by his recent policies to come to grips with the contentious events in recent weeks. While contending that the president’s recent declarations on the aforementioned issues do not constitute a change in policy, the White House has clearly begun the process of cooling the political flames. Wednesday’s meeting will be followed by a major speech Thursday addressing these very same topics.
Asked whether the president had pacified some of the concerns she brought to the White House on Wednesday, Massimino said that she was pleased with the opportunity for engagement. Beyond that, she still registered concerns.
“I think that many of us were disappointed by the announcement about the military commissions and wondered what the reasoning was behind that. And to be honest, I am still wondering having been in this meeting today. I don’t think that this fits the overall framework that the president had articulated about using our values to reinforce a counter terrorism strategy against al Qaeda.”
An email to the White House for clarification or comment was not immediately returned.
The move is a rebuke to President Obama’s plan to close the camp by January 2010
The US Senate has overwhelmingly rejected plans to transfer detainees out of Guantanamo Bay and refused funding to close down the prison camp.
Senators voted by 90-6 to block the transfer of 240 inmates, also stalling a request for $80m (£51m).
Correspondents say it is a rebuke to President Barack Obama’s plans to close down the camp by January 2010.
The White House said Mr Obama would not make any decision that “imperils the safety of the American people”.
The president had not decided where some of the detainees would be sent and a presidential commission was studying the issue, press secretary Robert Gibbs added.
In other developments
• FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress detainees might “support terrorism” in the US if allowed to go free
• A federal judge said the US could continue to hold some prisoners at Guantanamo indefinitely without any charges
Constituency concern
The Senate decision to block a war funding bill meant for the camp followed a similar decision by the House of Representatives.
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 The American people don’t want these men walking the streets of America’s neighbourhoods  John Thune
Republican senator  |
Democrats and Republicans each argue that there needs to be a better plan for closing Guantanamo, situated on US territory on the island of Cuba.
The detention centre was established after the 9/11 attacks by the then President, George W Bush.
Obama administration officials insist the deadline for closing the camp will be met but many legislators say they need further convincing of White House plans to move many of the detainees on to the US mainland.
“The American people don’t want these men walking the streets of America’s neighbourhoods,” Republican Senator John Thune said.
“The American people don’t want these detainees held at a military base or federal prison in their backyard, either.”
The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said the White House needed a credible plan for closing the base.
“Once it has one, we’ll consider closing Guantanamo, but not a second sooner,” he said.
Democratic leaders say they will reconsider providing the requested funds once the White House has drawn up more detailed plans.
Funding issue
Most Democrats support Mr Obama’s commitment to close Guantanamo Bay, but realise that agreeing to fund an ill-prepared process would provide fodder for the Republican opposition, says the BBC’s James Coomarasamy in Washington.
The new setback follows Mr Obama’s decision to revive the military tribunal system for some Guantanamo detainees.
In one of his first acts on taking office, he halted the Bush-era military commissions, saying the US was entering a new era of respecting human rights.
Introducing new safeguards for detainees, he said he had supported their use as one avenue to try detainees and in 2006 had voted in favour of them.
Under extra safeguards for detainees, there will be
- A ban on evidence obtained by harsh interrogation
- Restrictions on hearsay evidence
- More leeway for detainees to choose their own lawyers
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