Action Alerts
The Nakba – Commemorating 60 Years of Ethnic Cleansing
May 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the Nakba “the Castrophe,” when in 1948, more than 60% of Palestinians were forcibly removed from their lands to create the Israeli state. More than 500 villages and towns were destroyed, and community leaders and civilians were executed. This event created one of world’s largest refugee populations. The Nakba continues today as Palestinians are subjected to land confiscations, home demolitions, being trapped behind the apartheid wall and crippling collective punishment on their lives and economy.
ACLA strongly urges its friends and colleagues to write letters to municipal, provincial and federal politicians urging them not to attend ‘Israel at 60’ events, and to submit letters to newspapers to remind them of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. For more information please visit the following websites or visit the Events page to find out about upcoming Nakba events:
Omar Khadr
ACLA joins human rights organizations and the legal community in calling for the Canadian government to act on behalf of Omar Khadr, a young Canadian being held at Guantanamo Bay. Khadr was fifteen years old and seriously wounded when he was captured by US military forces in Afghanistan. Now 21 years old, Khadr is the only Western national left in Guantanamo.
In detention, Khadr has had his basic human rights denied, been subjected to coercive interrogation methods, and dubious allegations regarding his time in Afghanistan. Despite having charges dismissed twice and the military commission process that tries non-US citizens deemed unlawful by the US Supreme Court, charges have been reinstated against Khadr and a new trial is underway.
The military commission is extremely troublesome for a number of reasons. Unlawful combatants are not afforded the protections of civilians or prisoners of war. Evidence obtained through torture and other problematic investigative techniques is admitted. The detainees are deprived of their right to due process such as confidential access to their legal counsel and the right to full answer and defence.
ACLA calls on the Canadian government to take immediate action to ensure Omar Khadr's return to Canada and to pressure the American government uphold the rules of international humanitarian law. |
