URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
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For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
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1 February 2011
UA 16/11 - Risk of Ill-Treatment/Fear for Safety
MEXICO Guadalupe Calzada (f)
Guadalupe Calzada, who runs the migrants shelter, San Juan Diego, in Lecheria, outside the capital Mexico City, and the volunteers and migrants at the shelter, are at risk of attack and arson after a threat was made against them.
On 30 January, a Guatemalan man informed Guadalupe Calzada, who runs the irregular migrants (those without official travel documents) shelter in Lecheria, that he had been told while at work to take care by an unknown man as there were plans to burn the shelter down, murder Guatemalan migrants and kill Guadaplupe Calazada "like a dog" ("como un perro") within three days. The threat is believed to originate from people smuggler gangs operating in the area who consider the shelter a threat to their criminal activities.
Earlier the same day, Guadalupe Calzada had filed a report with police against a man who was loitering outside the shelter and who begun to shout insults at her. Police arrived and arrested the man. He was later released. Migrants rights defenders suspect the incident may be linked to the threat.
As a result of the threat, the shelter has requested protection from the municipal authorities and has presented the incident to the National Human Rights Commission.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Every year, thousands of undocumented migrants from Central America travel across Mexico in order to reach the US border. Many of them suffer beatings, kidnapping, rape and even murder. In most of the cases the attacks are carried out by criminal gangs, but officials are known to have been complicit or acquiescent in many of the attacks. By and large, the authorities fail to investigate attacks against migrants and to bring those responsible to justice.
A network of shelters, usually located near the freight railway line which migrants often use, provide humanitarian assistance to migrants and encourage them to file criminal complaints when they suffer abuses. The migrants rights defender running or volunteering these shelters frequently face threats and intimidation from criminal gangs and sometimes public officials. Those behind the threats are rarely held to account.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
-Expressing concern for the safety of Guadalupe Calzada, volunteers and migrants at the shelter in Lecheria after the threat;
-Calling for immediate protection measures to be implemented in accordance with the wishes of Guadalupe Calzada and others at risk;
-Calling for a full, prompt and impartial investigation into the threat again the shelter and for those response to be held to account;
-Reminding the authorities of their duties to guarantee that human rights defenders can carry out their work without fear of reprisals as established in the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
APPEALS TO:
Minister of the Interior
Lic. Jose Francisco Blake Mora
Secretaria de Gobernacion
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juarez
Delegacion Cuauhtemoc
Mexico D.F., C.P.06600, MEXICO
Fax: 011 55 5093 3414
Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimado
Senor Secretario
Governor of Mexico state
Enrique Pena Nieto
Lerdo Poniente Numero 300,
Primer Piso, Puerta 216,
Palacio Del Poder Ejecutivo,
Colonia Centro, CP 50000
Toluca, Estado de Mexico
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 722 2760046
Email: cnm@gem.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Governor/Estimado Gobernador
COPIES TO:
Migrants rights organization:
Dimension Pastoral de la Movilidad Humana
Email: jornalerosdpmh@hotmail.com
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
Email: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 15 March 2011.
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa23610.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on November 12, 2010. Thanks!
1 February 2011
Further information on UA 236/10 (12 November 2010) and follow-ups (24 November 2010, 23 December 2010, 25 January 2011) – Risk of Forced Eviction/Fear for safety
ISRAEL Residents of Bedouin village al-'Araqib
The Bedouin village of al-'Araqib in the Negev, southern Israel, has been destroyed yet again, following eight demolitions in 2010. The Jewish National Fund (JNF), a semi-governmental organization, has started preparations for planting a forest on the village lands.
Israeli Land Administration (ILA) personnel arrived in al-'Araqib at 8.OO am on 31 January, accompanied by at least 25 police officers in full riot gear, and members of the Green Patrol (which falls under the authority of the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority). With two bulldozers, they destroyed over 20 makeshift homes which residents had rebuilt following the last demolitions, which took place on 16 and 17 January.
After the demolitions on 31 January, JNF workers – who have been located around the village for around two weeks – began digging irrigation ditches and building terraces in preparation for extensive tree planting on the village lands. A court injunction preventing the JNF from foresting the village land expired on 23 January, although the judge strongly recommended that all parties refrain from making "inalterable" changes to the land. Despite this, the JNF are pursuing their plans with the evident support of the Israeli authorities, who have taken no steps to engage al-'Araqib's Bedouin residents in genuine consultations in order to resolve their lack of access to adequate housing.
Israeli security forces are confining al-'Araqib residents to the village cemetery, the only part of the village left intact. Here, residents try to shelter from the wind and rain, with women and children taking refuge in the small mosque. The residents have no alternative housing and still hope to remain on their land and rebuild their homes.
Three residents and one of their supporters – Haia Noach, the Director of the Negev Coexistence Forum (NCF) –appeared in court on 1 February, charged with resisting the demolitions of 16 and 17 January. Four other villagers are expecting to be charged in the near future. During these previous incidents, at least 10 people, five aged under 18 years, were injured after police fired tear gas and rubber-coated and sponge-tipped bullets, in some cases directly at residents and their supporters at close range.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The village of al-'Araqib is one of more than 40 Palestinian villages in Israel not recognized by the Israeli authorities, despite the residents' Israeli citizenship and long-established claims to their lands. Residents of these "unrecognized" villages, many of which are located in Israel's Negev desert, lack security of tenure and services including water and electricity.
Al-'Araqib village was first demolished by the authorities on 27 July 2010, when residents were forcibly evicted by more than 1,000 riot police officers, and at least 46 homes and other structures were destroyed. Thousands of olive and other trees were uprooted, destroying the villagers' livelihood, and the villagers' possessions were confiscated by the police. On 4 and 10 August, makeshift shelters that the villagers had built were demolished and buried by bulldozers, supported by a large police force in riot gear. During Ramadan, on 17 August, while the residents were fasting, the authorities demolished the village. On 12 September at dawn, dozens of police arrived again at al-'Araqib with bulldozers and destroyed newly erected tents and other structures. On 13 October the entire village was again razed, and the director of the Negev Coexistence Forum was arrested and banned from entering al-'Araqib for 10 days. On 22 November approximately 30 structures were demolished in the village and some 1,600 olive trees located 2km away from the village and belonging to relatives of al-'Araqib residents were uprooted by the Israeli authorities. On 23 December, approximately 30 makeshift structures were again demolished, and the residents' water tank was confiscated. The village was destroyed on 16 January 2011 and again the following day after villagers re-erected temporary structures overnight. At this time police used rubber bullets and tear gas against the residents and their supporters, injuring at least 10 people, and arrested 13 people for protesting the demolitions and trying to rebuild homes.
In its concluding observations in July 2010, the UN Human Rights Committee stated its concern about "allegations of forced evictions of the Bedouin population based on the Public Land Law (Expulsion of Invaders) of 1981 as amended in 2005" and about what it described as the Israeli authorities' "inadequate consideration" of the agricultural and other traditional needs of the Bedouin population of the Negev, and the difficulties that they face in accessing "health structures, education, water and electricity" due to Israeli policies. The Committee called for the Israeli authorities to "respect the Bedouin population's right to their ancestral land and their traditional livelihood based on agriculture" and to "guarantee the Bedouin population's access to health structures, education, water and electricity, irrespective of their whereabouts" in Israel. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has also expressed concern about Israel's relocation of Bedouin residents of "unrecognized" villages to towns and called for their villages to be officially recognized, and for Israel to "enhance its efforts to consult" the villagers and seek their agreement or consent in advance of any process of relocation.
Despite an apparent governmental plan to regularize the status of some of the "unrecognized" villages, it was reported in the Israeli media in early 2010 that the Interior Ministry, the Israel Land Administration (ILA) and the police had decided to triple the demolition rate of Bedouin construction in the Negev, and the marked increase in the number of demolitions and demolition orders this year accords with such reports. ILA Development Director Shlomo Zeiser told Hebrew-language media on 16 January: "we are preparing the ground for planting... and making an effort to find a final solution to what's happening in al-'Araqib".
In addition to the demolitions in al-'Araqib and other Palestinian communities inside Israel, during 2010 the Israeli authorities intensified demolitions of Palestinian homes located in the occupied West Bank. According to figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 430 Palestinian structures – homes, animal shelters, commercial structures, and water cisterns – in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, were demolished by the Israeli authorities during 2010, a 60 per cent increase in demolitions compared with 2009. These demolitions in the occupied West Bank left almost 600 Palestinians homeless, half of them children, and affected a further 14,000 people who lost parts of their homes or structures crucial to their livelihoods.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
-Urging them to put an immediate stop to the JNF foresting operations, as well as evictions and demolitions in the area, pending a resolution of relevant land claims and a solution based on genuine consultation with residents that guarantees their right to safe and adequate housing and enables them to continue their traditional livelihoods;
-Urging the Israeli authorities to ensure that residents are allowed to remain in the village and rebuild their homes pending a resolution of their land claims in the Israeli courts;
-Urging the Israeli authorities to respect the Bedouin population's right to their ancestral land and to officially recognize al-'Araqib and other "unrecognized" villages.
APPEALS TO:
Director-General of the Israel Lands Administration (ILA)
Yaron Bibi
Israel Lands Administration
6 Shamai Street
P.O. Box 2600
Jerusalem 94631,
ISRAEL
Fax: 011 972 2 620 8427
Email:natalil@mmi.gov.il
Salutation:Dear Director-General
Chairman of the JNF
Effie Stenzler
Keren Kayemet Yisrael Street
PO Box 7283, Jerusalem 91072
ISRAEL
Fax: 011 972-2-6707500
Email: efis@kkl.org.il
Salutation:Dear Chairman
COPIES TO:
Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan Street
Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Hakirya
PO Box 187, Jerusalem,
ISRAEL
Fax: 011 972 2 566 4838
Email:pm_eng@pmo.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister
Ambassador Michael Oren
Embassy of Israel
3514 International Dr. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 364 5607
Email: info@israelemb.org OR info@washington.mfa.gov.il
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 15 March 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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