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| Ccalling for a suspension of the Association Agreement with Israel. | Date: 11-04-2002 |
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The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network calls for a suspension of the Association Agreement with Israel To the Foreign Ministers of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership To the European Commission To the European Parliament To the Participants in the EuroMed Civil Forum, Valencia, 12-14 April, 2002. Press Statement in the wake of the EuroMed Civil Forum in Valencia, April 12-14, 2002. For more than a week the state of Israel has led a total war against the Palestinian people which comprises extremely high casualties, shooting at ambulances, shelling of refugee camps, mass arrests, closures and curfews, attacks on holy places, and destruction of institutional and civil society infrastructure. These attacks can in no way be justified or condoned. All attacks against civilians on both sides are unforgivable acts against our fellow world citizens and attacks against the principles of human decency, human dignity and human rights. Therefore, in the wake of the opening of the EuroMed Civil Forum in Valencia, April 12-14, 2002, and in the context of the founding principles of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (as outlined in the Barcelona Declaration and Article 2 of the Association Agreements re-affirming respect for human rights as the basis of all international relations), the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network calls upon the states of the region to act for an immediate and complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories in compliance with the relevant UN resolutions and international humanitarian law and to act for an effective, independent international presence in the Occupied Territories aimed indiscriminately at protecting the life of civilians. It calls on the EU to show its clear support to the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, to resist occupation and discrimination in accordance with international law. The EMHRN welcomes the position taken by the EU parliament in its resolution on the Middle East adopted yesterday, 10.4.2002 and urges the EU governments to safeguard the credibility of its human rights commitment and its adherence to international humanitarian law, as well as to the principles upon which the Barcelona Process is founded, by suspending the Association Agreement with Israel until it complies with its international obligations under humanitarian law. For further information please contact: Marc Schade-Poulsen, Executive Director / Marit Floe Joergensen, Information Officer Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network, Wilders Plads 8 H, DK-1403 Copenhagen K, Denmark Tel: +45-32 69 89 12 / Fax: +45-32 69 89 01 E-mail: info@euromedrights.net |
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