I asking people on the listserv around the world to take action on this.
Hopefully we can get a coordinated effort going around the world next week
and I will keep you posted. In the meantime, I know this listserv has as its
members people who are interested in human rights and any action you
consider appropriate would be helpful.
There are templates of letters to use below if you wish, and a website for
more information.
Adeline
Many of you have already heard of the 5 Bulgarian nurses and 1 physician
who are facing execution on what seem to be trumped up charges in Libya in
November. Urgent action is required to protest and, hopefully prevent, this
atrocity.
Below is a letter I sent to the Canadian Prime Minister and Minster of
Foreign Affairs. I have copied in my own Member of Parliament, Aileen
Carroll. Please feel free to use any or all of the letter to send your own
letter. Letters from Canadians should continue to go to the Prime Minister
and Minister of Foreign Affairs but please substitute your own Member of
Parliament for Minister Carroll. To find the email address of your MP,
click on:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmemb/house/members/CurrentMemberList.asp?Lan
guage=E&Parl=38&Ses=1&Sect=hoccur&Order=PersonOfficialLastName
For those of you from other countries, you will know the best people to
contact to urge your government to action.
If you wish more information or wish to send your own letter to Muammar
al-Gadafi, please go to:
http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/news/2005oct/17_libya.html
I have also copied in the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, the
Canadian Nurses Association, and the International Council of Nurses. You
may wish to copy in others instead of or as well as these groups.
Adeline
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2005 8:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Cc: 'Joan Lesmond'; 'Doris Grinspun'; Deborah Tamlyn PhD (E-mail);
[log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Urgent action needed!
Right Honourable Paul Martin, Honourable Pierre Pettigrew.
Below is a copy of a letter I sent to Muammar al-Gaddafi regarding the
deplorable situation involving 5 Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian
physician who are scheduled to be executed shortly on trumped up charges.
The fact that they have been detained and tortured for all these years
violates all conventions of decency and human rights. Only a strong
response by the international community can stop this atrocity.
I urge you to act quickly to exert the strongest possible pressure on the
Libyan government to secure the release of these health care workers before
it is too late.
Adeline R. Falk-Rafael, RN, PhD
Associate Professor, Nursing
Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies
York University
4700 Keele St.
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
416-736-2100 ext 33440
Cc: Honourable Aileen Carroll, Minister of International Co-operation, MP
South Simcoe
Joan Lesmond, President of the Registered Nurses Association of
Ontario
Deborah Tamlyn, President of the Canadian Nurses Association
Judith Oulton, Executive Director, International Council of Nurses
Dear Your Excellency Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, Your Excellency Shukri
Mohamed Ghanem, Secretary of the General People's Committee, Your
Excellency Ali Omar Abu Bakr, Secretary of the General People's Committee,
and Your Excellency Abd al-Rahman Mohamed Shalgam, Secretary of the General
People's Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation:
I am writing to express my outrage at the recent death sentences handed
down to the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor who were
convicted of intentionally infecting more than 400 Libyan children with the
AIDS virus. There is strong evidence that the spread of AIDS among these
children began before these foreign workers arrived in Libya, and that
unsafe medical conditions, common in many other countries as well, was
likely the reason for the spread of the virus.
I am deeply troubled by reports that these health professionals have been
detained on trumped up charges for five years and have suffered at the
hands of Libyan authorities from horrendous forms of torture, including
electric shocks, suspension from heights by the arms, beatings, and rape.
Torture, a clear violation of international human rights law, is never an
acceptable form of punishment or interrogation, whether it be by Libyans in
regards to these health workers or by Americans in regards to Iraqi
prisoners. While these health workers are still in detention in Libya, I
urge you to ensure that they are protected from further abuse.
I implore you to release these health workers to their countries of origin.
I also strongly urge you to work with HIV/AIDS experts to identify and
address the health infrastructure problems that may exist in Libya, such as
unsafe needles, lack of sufficient sterilization, transfusions without
proper testing, and inadequate supplies and training among health
professionals. Scapegoating foreign health workers is a travesty and will
not solve these problems.
Sincerely,
Adeline Falk-Rafael, RN, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Nursing
York University
4700 Keele St.
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
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