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	Clear and firm political will crucial to prevent enforced disappearances by United Nations News   May 2013   United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Member States to join an international treaty aimed at eliminating enforced disappearances and stop impunity for this scourge.   “We must clarify the cases of disappeared persons, provide reparations to victims and bring perpetrators to justice,” Mr. Ban said last night at the opening of a new photo exhibit at United Nations Headquarters in New York entitled “Absences.”   The exhibit pays tribute to people who disappeared as a result of States suppressing legitimate demands concerning issues such as democracy, freedom of expression or freedom of religion. The victims include the “desaparecidos” of the military government that ruled Argentina in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.   Among those attending the launch were the mothers and grandmothers of some of the desaparecidos featured in the exhibit. Mr. Ban urged Member States to answer the call of these relatives and ratify the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and “act on its provisions.”   The Convention, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2006 and entered into force four years later, has the support of 38 countries.   Enforced disappearance is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State.   Mr. Ban recalled his visit two years ago to the Space for Memory and for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights in Buenos Aires, Argentina.   “I was deeply moved to see the chambers where thousands of people were arrested, tortured and disappeared,” he told the audience. “I said that all societies experiencing such tragedies must embrace truth and restore historical memory.”   Turning to the exhibit, he said that the photographs “bring us closer to the past so that we can draw lessons for the present and prevent these crimes in the future.”   Dec. 2012   Clear and firm political will crucial to prevent enforced disappearances say UN experts   A group of independent United Nations experts today called for clear and firm political will to prevent enforced disappearances, which continue to persist around the world 20 years after the adoption of a declaration aimed at eliminating this heinous practice.   The Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 1992, states that “any act of enforced disappearance is an offence to human dignity,” and it condemns such actions “as a grave and flagrant violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”   “With the Declaration the unutterable is uttered, the unimaginable is described, and the remedy for the evil is outlined,” the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances stated in a news release from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).   The Group recalled that the Declaration enabled the international community to officially declare enforced disappearance as a heinous crime placing persons outside the protection of the law and recognise the specificity of the suffering inflicted on the families of the disappeared.   “Thanks to the impact of the Declaration, progress has been made in these 20 years. Reparations have been paid, truth commissions established, trials carried out and memorials built,” it stated.   “Nevertheless,” it added, “we regret that the concern expressed by the General Assembly 20 years ago is still valid today, as enforced disappearances continue to occur in several countries across the globe, notably in situations of conflict or internal unrest or as a tool to fight terrorism or organised crime.”   The Group was established in 1980 by the UN Commission on Human Rights – the predecessor to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council – to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives. It seeks to establish a channel of communication between the families and the Governments concerned to ensure cases are investigated.   The Group also called for more focus to be put on measures preventing enforced disappearances, including keeping accessible and updated registries of detainees at all places of deprivation of liberty; guaranteeing access to appropriate information and to all such places for relatives as well as lawyers; and bringing arrested persons promptly before a judicial authority.   “Today we also want to remember all victims of enforced disappearance and pay tribute to the courage of those who help them, amid many difficulties, in their struggle to determine the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones,” the Group noted.   “Families and civil society’s organizations dealing with the issue of enforced disappearance should be strengthened and supported as well as protected against ill-treatment, intimidation or reprisal.”   Essential to preventing and terminating enforced disappearance is a clear and firm political will, stressed the experts.   “States should do more to get rid of this plague and finally render enforced disappearance a crime of the past,” they stated. “More efforts should be made to achieve truth, justice and reparations for the victims and to break the cycle of impunity that too often surrounds this crime.”   The experts called on all States to renew their commitments to the principles of the Declaration, and take immediate action to demonstrate their resolve against the “shameful” practice of enforced disappearance, including signing and ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance.   At its most recent session in Geneva, the Group reviewed more than 400 cases of enforced disappearances spanning 31 nations. 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	Corporations Cozy Up to Judges by Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap and Sabina Khan Move to Amend, The Campaign to End Corporate Personhood USA   May 2013   If you were a corporation and wanted to influence government for your own benefit, choosing to persuade judges is a far easier task (and less expensive) than persuading Congress or the White House. Although, Monsanto recently made headlines when they partnered with Senator Roy Blunt to sneak protections for the GMO industry into a recently passed appropriations act, success like this is hard earned in the legislature. Now Monsanto faces what will be a highly publicized repeal effort.   The ability to persuade Judges has immediate benefits. Say, for instance, that your negligence accidentally results in an oil-rig blowing up, killing several workers onboard, and dumping millions of barrels of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s much more expedient to have a judge use creative interpretation of existing law to find in your favor during the consequential lawsuits. It would just be awkward to pursue new legislation to save your tail after the incident had already occurred. Risk adverse corporate giants either recognize the benefits of having courts side with them in these situations, or they are simply big supporters of educating our judges.   According to a recent investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, “conservative foundations, multinational oil companies and a prescription drug maker were the most frequent sponsors of more than 100 expense-paid educational seminars attended by federal judges over a 4 1/2-year period.” About 185 federal judges participated in these “educational” events which were sponsored by multinational corporations such as ExxonMobil, Pfizer and BP.   These seminars are clearly designed to encourage judicial principles that would benefit the sponsors. According to the investigators, Justice Carl A. Barbier happens to have attended at least one of these conferences in 2009, which was sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, Shell Oil Company, and Exxon Mobil Corporation. Barbier has since dismissed a wrongful death case against Exxon and now finds himself presiding over the BP Deepwater Horizon cases. In an ongoing trial, it is up to him to determine whether or not BP is grossly negligent and liable for tens of billions of dollars in Clean Water Act damages.   Sponsoring seminars and conferences are not the only ways that profiteers have found a way to interact with the judiciary. Pennsylvania Judges Mark Ciavarilla Jr. and Michael Conahan are respectively serving 28 year and 18 year prison sentences after being accused of accepting millions of dollars from the private prison industry and subsequently handing out harsh juvenile sentences to fill their cells.   Corporate influence has been growing within our government for many years, along with policies that have upwardly redistributed greater portions of the nation’s treasure and resources to the already wealthy. Through judicial ruling, corporations have attained “legal personhood” and the same inherent rights that are endowed upon people. They have used those rights to insert themselves into our electoral and legislative processes, and have found in the judiciary another pathway to ensure their interests are served.   Perhaps the silver lining to the corporate storm cloud, which brought us the economic crash of 2008, is that most Americans have awakened to the fact that our democracy is suffering under the weight of corporate personhood. Many of them are making efforts to reverse the trend. One way people are making a difference is by volunteering with Move to Amend, The Campaign to End Corporate Personhood. Visit the related web page
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