(MEHR IRAN)
|
Resolution Title: Request for Commemoration Day for
the Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Conscience Who Were Executed or
Massacred By Their Governments Sponsor name: MEHR Iran Region:
Southern Region, Group 663,10/2/02 Resolution: WHEREAS
"… AI never loses sight of the fact that these principles are important
because of their impact on the real lives and personal tragedies of the victims
of the human rights violations… The first battle is the battle to preserve the
individual identity of the victim. A victim is not a statistic or a sociological
category. A victim is a human being. And every human being has the right to the
elemental human dignity of being named. The second battle is the battle against forgetting. The
suffering of victims must be acknowledged and given its due importance. There
can be no justice while the perpetrators are allowed to ignore or deny what they
have done. The third battle is the battle for compassion for all victims of
human rights violations…" [1] WHEREAS
the vision (and mission) of Amnesty is of
a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights
standards.
WHEREAS in pursuit of this vision, Amnesty International's mission is to
undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of
the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and
expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to
promote all human rights. [2] WHEREAS
the slogan of Amnesty International is, ''The candle
burns not for us, but for all those whom we failed to rescue from prison, who
were shot on the way to prison, who were tortured, who were kidnapped, who
'disappeared'. That's what the candle is for....''[4]
WHEREAS
there is no remembrance day by Amnesty International, United Nations or other
human rights watch groups to commemorate those political prisoners and prisoners
of conscience who have lost their lives because of kidnapping, torture,
execution and massacre (Attachment #1). THEREFORE BE
IT RESOLVED that Amnesty International dedicates a day to remembrance of the
political prisoners, prisoners of conscience and all other victims of human
rights abuses whom we, and humanity as a whole, have failed to rescue because
they were executed, massacred, murdered, or kidnapped and killed,
and request the United Nations to add this day to its official calendar. BE IT
FURTHER RESOLVED that Amnesty International, in consultation with other
international organizations, decides the most suitable day for such a
remembrance. If no particular day is preferred by these organizations, this
resolution recommends Background: This
resolution requests that the Amnesty International set aside a specific day to
remember those who have lost their lives due to politically motivated torture
and execution. Other days to
remember victims of human rights already exist, including International Day of
Support for Victims of Torture (June 26th), International Day of the
“Disappeared” (August 30th), and International Human Rights Day
(December 10th). These
days are often helpful in organizing campaigns since they are observed annually.
This is especially true if the commemoration day has international support, as
do the UN days mentioned above. They
are also useful for attracting media attention to a particular human rights
issue. The day
requested by this resolution differs from the dates that already exist since it
would specifically recognize those POCs and political prisoners who have been
killed by their governments. Such a
day is not currently observed by Amnesty International or the United Nations.
In
particular, the resolution suggests September 1st as the day of
remembrance, although the wording would allow another date to be chosen by the
international movement. This date was chosen by the author because in the summer
of 1988, the Islamic Regime of Iran killed more than 3,000 political prisoners.
Amnesty international was the first organization to report on what has been
called “The Massacre of 1988”. Recently,
Iranian organizations in Europe and in the United States (based on the
initiative of the Mission for Establishment of Human Rights in Iran (MEHR) )
have discussed dedicating a day of remembrance of the catastrophe. The groups
have proposed September 1st as the commemoration date since most of
the executions were carried out between July and October of 1988.
After a few informal observations of the day in Iran, and considering the
fact that September 1st was already chosen by some groups, September
1st came to be accepted by all and was formally declared
to be the day of remembrance. This
resolution asks to expand this existing commemoration of The Massacre of 1988 into an international day of remembrance for
political prisoners and prisoners of conscience killed by their governments.
Attachment #1: List
of UN Decades and UN days/weeks International
Decades and Years 1990s
International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction 2001-2010
International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of
the World Annual
Days and Weeks 8
March - United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace (Human Rights of Women Web Page) 5
December - International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development ©
Copyright 1996 - 2001 Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights http://www.unhchr.ch/html/eve2000.htm
|
MEHR
P.O. Box 2037
P.V.P., CA 90275
Tel: (310) 377-4590
Fax: (310) 377-3103
E-mail:
mehr@mehr.org
