Euro-Med Meeting: No Middle-East Peace Without Human Rights

EU MEDITERRANEAN MINISTERIAL MEETING:

NO MIDDLE EAST PEACE WITHOUT HUMAN RIGHTS

INVESTIGATE WHAT HAPPENED AT JENIN

As the European Union prepares for Monday’s summit meeting in Valencia with its Mediterranean Partners which include Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Amnesty International sends an urgent plea to all participants to put respect for human rights and humanitarian law back at the heart of any Middle-East peace process.

Amnesty International calls on the EU-Mediterranean meeting to back the organisation’s call for an immediate United Nations-led investigation into the alleged human rights abuses that took place in the Jenin refugee camp within the past 12 days. Amnesty International currently has its own investigative team in Jenin.  

A leading forensic pathologist in the team, Professor Derrick Pounder of Dundee University, who has examined several bodies in the Jenin hospital, has already reported that “a number of cases raise suspicions.”

“What has allegedly happened at Jenin dramatically reinforces Amnesty International’s message on the Middle East – respect for human rights and humanitarian law is the only viable path towards lasting peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis”, said Dick Oosting, Director of Amnesty International’s EU Office.

No security without human rights

With the “global fight against terrorism” on the agenda at Valencia, Amnesty International’s Memorandum to the meeting underlines the lesson of the failed peace process: that any measures agreed to combat “terrorism” and to enhance security must respect and protect the human rights of all people in the respective territories, and must be in strict compliance with international human rights standards and humanitarian law.

In this context, and as the EU prepares to sign an EU-Algeria Association Agreement on the fringes of the Valencia meeting, Amnesty International will on Friday 19 April release a special report on the situation in Algeria which shows how the Algerian authorities are using the ”counter-terrorism” argument to justify continuing massive human rights violations. Amnesty International urges the EU and Algeria to use the human rights clause of the Agreement to tackle the ongoing human rights crisis in Algeria.

For more information:

  • Click to view: ALGERIA: When token gestures are not enough:human rights and the Algeria-EU accord.
  • JENIN: For more information on Amnesty International’s investigation team in the Jenin Refugee camp, contact Kamal Samari in London on 44-20-74135831.

Amnesty International EU Office (Brussels)

Tel: 32-2-5021499

Fax: 32-2-5025686

Email: [email protected]