15.05.2008_BLOGGERS UNITE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

I can’t ignore my training in Law but as a person I cannot be indifferent to any human rights violation. The day that Bloggers Unite for the Human Rights, today, I choose to write about prisoners held without charge and tortured at Guantanamo. My choice was due to the fact of knowing since British charity institution Reprieve released a report called Journey to death that Portugal was implicated in the transportation of prisoners on their way to Guantanamo Bay as USA has access to Lajes Base in the Azores. Too imagine a prison where there is no habeas corpus guarantee, where people are physically abused and tortured, where people can stay in detention for months or years without a legal process and to know that USA’s aircrafts crossed our airspace and landed in our territory on its way to such a place makes me deeply angry. Guantanamo is a legal aberration and should be closed in the name of human rights core protection and Justice. Every minute we allow this situation to linger it’s a defeat for human dignity. Every second we turn our backs on it it’s our own individual rights that become weaker. Because human rights belong to us all Guantanamo is a shame not just for USA but to every human being. Get informed, and if possible, act now.

"While the words might change from country to country and are sometimes taken for granted, human rights represent one of the universally agreed upon ideas — that all people are born with basic rights and freedoms that include life, liberty, and justice. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations."