Document - Open Letter from Amnesty International's Secretary General to European Union leaders on human rights crisis in Israel and the Occupied Territories

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Media Advisory

AI Index: MDE 15/096/2006 (Public)

News Service No: 318

10 December 2006

Embargo Date: 10 December 200600:01GMT

Open Letter from Amnesty International's Secretary General to European Union leaders on human rights crisis in Israel and the Occupied Territories

Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan today called on European Union Heads of State and Government to urgently address the downward spiral of human rights abuses in Israel and the Occupied Territories.

In an open letter published on International Human Rights Day and ahead of next week's meeting of the European Council (15 December), Irene Khan made a series of concrete recomendations including the deployment of international human rights monitors to the region.

Irene Khan is currently leading an Amnesty International mission to Israel and the Occupied Territories during which she has discussed human rights concerns with government officials and members of civil society. The letter's recommendations are elaborated on in a briefing also published today, Israel and the Occupied Territories - Road to nowhere.

Amnesty International's recommendations include:

1. Deployment of an effective international human rights monitoring mechanism;

2. The investigation and and prosecution through the excercise of universal jurisdiction of those responsible for crimes under international law;

3. Immediate halting of the sale or transfer of weapons to all parties in the conflict;

4. Concrete provisions to ensure the removal of Israeli settlements from the Occupied Territories, the dismantling of the fence/wall inside the West Bank, ending the closures and in the long term a fair solution to the refugee question.

For a copy of the open letter please see: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde150952006

For the briefing, Israel and the Occupied Territories - Road to nowhere, please see: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde150932006

For further information or to arrange an interview with Irene Khan, please call:

In Israel and the Occupied Territories: Eliane Drakopoulos on mobile +44 7778 472 109 or mobile: +972 (0)547 781 691 or Judit Arenas on mobile + 44 7778 472 188

Israeli media representatives please contact: Udi Gilad on mobile +972 54 4660300

In London, James Dyson on + 44 207 413 5831 or mobile + 44 7795 628 367

Public Document

****************************************

For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566

Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org

For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org