---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 04 Nov 2000 23:35:21 -0800
From: Charlotte Utting <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [wa-afr] FW: UPDATE: New AI Campaign on Torture
----------
From: [log in to unmask]
Organization: Africa Policy Information Center
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 18:52:32 -0500
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: UPDATE: New AI Campaign on Torture
ADNA Update: 001103
Message from: Amnesty International, USA
For contact information see also:
http://www.africapolicy.org/adna
Dear ADNA members,
Following find the press release from Amnesty International
regarding the new campaign on torture. Feel free to share this
widely with your contacts.
Regards,
Vicki Ferguson
ADNA Communications Facilitator
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Press Release on New AI Campaign on Torture
Date sent: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 10:26:33 -0400
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
18 October 2000
AI Index AFR 01/003/2000 - News Service Nr. 202
Africa: Torture is rife across the region
At a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya, to mark the launch of the
Campaign against Torture in the African region, Amnesty
International said that torture is widespread across Africa from Cote
d'Ivoire to Zimbabwe.
"Torture is evident in Africa in a variety of different contexts -- in
police stations, on the street, in the home and in conflict zones.
Anyone can be a victim ? criminal suspects, innocent bystanders,
political activists, human rights defenders, women and children. No
one, no matter who they are or where they are, should be subjected
to such inhumanity," Amnesty International said.
Although police officers are responsible for upholding the law, they
are most often the torturers. Police brutality is common throughout
the region. People have died in custody as a result of torture in
many countries, from Cameroon to Equatorial Guinea.
In South Africa police continue to resort to methods of investigation
used in the apartheid era, despite the prohibition of torture in the
Constitution. Zweli Kenneth Ndlozi was taken from his home in
Soweto in September 1998 after being accused of involvement in
the theft of firearms. Two days later he was found dead hanging in a
police cell. A post mortem revealed cigarette burns and a severe
blow to his head. More than 200 deaths in custody were reported in
1998.
Not all police brutality occurs in custody. In Zambia in August 1997,
hundreds of heavily armed paramilitary police officers beat peaceful
protesters and uninvolved passers by with batons and fired tear gas
canisters. Witnesses said that two protesters were beaten to death.
Government forces and militias in situations of armed conflict often
use torture. Women are particularly vulnerable to rape as they are
seen as "spoils of war". Rebel forces have used an unprecedented
scale of mutilation and rape in nine years of armed conflict in Sierra
Leone: more than 90 per cent of women and girls abducted by rebel
forces are believed to have been raped.
Children are also the victims of torture in armed conflict. Many child
soldiers are forced to fight through torture and intimidation. In
northern Uganda the Lord's Resistance Army has abducted
thousands of boys and girls. Soon after they are seized they are
forced to take part in killing and girls are held as sexual slaves.
Although torture is illegal under international law, some forms of it
legally sanctioned under domestic law in some African countries. In
the last three years amputations have taken place in Nigeria,
Somalia and Sudan, and floggings and corporal punishment took
place in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan and Somalia.
Only 23 African countries have ratified the Convention against
Torture.
During the year-long campaign, Amnesty International will be
mobilizing its membership in Africa and throughout the world, and
working together with other organizations to change public and
official attitudes to torture. It will be calling on Africa's governments
to take real steps to prevent torture, overcome impunity and address
discrimination.
For a full copy of Amnesty International's launch report, visit
http://www.stoptorture.org
\ENDS
***
This message from Amnesty International is distributed through the
Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA).
Vicki Lynn Ferguson
Advocacy Network for Africa
Communications Facilitator
c/o Africa Policy Information Center
110 Maryland Ave, NE #509
Washington, DC 20002
Ph: 202-546-7961
Fax: 202-546-1545
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.africapolicy.org/adna
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