De kendte danske torturbekæmpere, læge Inge Genefke og prof. dr.med. Bent Sørensen, er blevet anmodet af den israelske organisation Læger for Menneskerettigheder (Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, PHR-I) om at bistå med snarest at sende en fact-finding mission til Gaza.
Missionen skal i samarbejde med palæstinensiske menneskeretsorganisationer indsamle dokumentation efter det israelske angreb på Gaza og de nu flere end 500 dræbte, skriver ATSF-fonden i en pressemeddelelse mandag.
Gennem fonden Anti Tortur Support Foundation, ATSF, har Inge Genfke og Bent Sørensen besluttet at bakke op om initiativet ved bl.a. at få danske og internationale retsmedicinere til at indgå i det internationale team på fem til ni eksperter.
“Det er meget vigtigt, at internationale uafhængige eksperter straks rejser til Gaza for så hurtigt som muligt at dokumentere omfang og årsag til de mange dræbte og sårede civile, hvilke våben, der er er anvendt under angrebet og angrebets følger for folkesundheden, dels for at identificere hjælpebehovet, dels med henblik på en senere retsforfølgning”, siger leder af ATSF, Bent Sørensen.
“Vi håber samtidig, at en sådan fact-finding mission kan bidrage til bl.a. den internationale undersøgelseskommission, som den danske udenrigsminister Martin Lidegaard (R) har bebudet han vil tage initiativ til”, tilføjer Bent Sørensen, der er mangeårigt medlem af FNs anti-torturkomite.
Under Israels angreb på Gaza i 2008-09 støttede ATSF et tilsvarende initiativ, hvor bl.a. den danske retsmediciner professor Jørgen Lange Thomsen, Syddansk Universitets Retsmedicinske Institut, var med i undersøgelsen af israelske krænkelser af den humanitære folkeret, bl.a. brug af hvid fosfor i tæt befolkede byområder.
ATSF har opfordret det Internationale Rehabiliteringsråd for Torturofre, IRCT, og Dignity – tidl. det danske Rehabiliteringscenter for Torturofre, RCT, til at støtte initiativet.
Yderligere oplysninger hos:
Tue Magnussen mobil 23 35 10 88 eller ATSF ved Bent Sørensen tlf. 45 80 10 20
DOKUMENT
Urgent call for medical experts for a fact-finding mission in Gaza.
http://www.medact.org/news/urgent-call-medical-experts-fact-finding-mission-gaza/
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) and its partners Medact (UK) and Medico International (Germany) are seeking medical experts for an urgent independent fact-finding mission to travel as soon as possible into Gaza for collection of evidence regarding:
Causes of injuries and of deaths with relation to types of arms used
Attacks on medical facilities and teams
Evacuation of the wounded and the dead
Impact of the attack on the health system
Impact of the attack on public health issues
Other medically-related violations
Medical experts are sought in the following fields:
Forensic pathology and forensic medicine
Medical response to crisis, emergency medicine, trauma
Public health
Health and human rights
PHR-I will facilitate the mission together with a Palestinian human rights organisation based in Gaza, as soon as it is safe to enter the Gaza Strip. The organisations will coordinate meetings between experts and with medical organisations, hospitals and individuals in Gaza.
Preparatory meetings will be held before entry into the Gaza Strip and a debriefing will be held after. Experts will be asked to keep records and write a report, which will then be edited and collated into a single report by PHR-Israel. Travel and accommodation costs will be paid by PHR-Israel.
Please contact Miri Weingarten, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, at [email protected] , with a CV and a letter explaining the relevance of your expertise to the mission and any relevant experience.
Background from PHR-Israel
Information collected by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and civil society in the Gaza Strip suggests that the current attack on the Gaza Strip, the third in six years, has featured a repetition of past violations of International Humanitarian Law by the Israeli military forces and the Government of Israel.
Past attempts to bring about adequate investigations, accountability and justice for the victims have failed so far. It remains to civil society to bring evidence of violations to the public at large and to demand accountability.
Violations have been recorded relating to illegal attacks on civilians, medical personnel and medical facilities, delays in evacuation of the sick and wounded to medical care, and use of indiscriminate weapons in densely populated areas.
The attacks on infrastructure and the overload on the Gaza healthcare system have also raised grave concerns regarding public health.
Proposed response
PHR-Israel and its partners in the Gaza Strip wish to facilitate an urgent fact-finding mission of independent medical experts that will collect and analyse evidence concerning the following:
– Causes of injuries and of deaths with relation to types of arms used
– Attacks on medical facilities and teams
– Evacuation of the wounded and the dead
– Impact of the attack on the health system and on broader public health issues
– Other medically-related violations
To this purpose we are issuing an international call for medical experts in the following fields:
– Forensic Medicine
– Medical response to crisis regions, human rights and health
– Emergency medicine/trauma
– Public health
The coverage of all the topics above is contingent upon finding the appropriate experts.
The delegation will consist of 5-9 participants. The product of the fact-finding mission will be a published factual report including medical evidence and analysis, narrative and photos. The report will be signed personally by the authors – all independent international experts.
Analysis regarding human rights, health rights, medical ethics and IHL will be provided additionally by PHR-Israel and its partners with the assistance of relevant experts.
This will be the second such report published by PHR-Israel. For a detailed methodology and aims of the mission please see pp 5-8 of our previous fact finding mission report, published jointly with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society in April 2009: http://www.pmrs.ps/userfiles/20100531171612.pdf
For the biographies and qualifications of the previous experts please see p3 of the report.
So far Medact (UK) and Medico International (Germany) are partnering with this project. More partners may be added.
Please note that it is our position that the independence of the experts is essential.
