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Why is Amnesty International supporting the "war on drugs"'?

Flier given out at Amnesty International event last night.

Take action (call them at number at bottom) and pass this on far and wide!

Looks like it was a successful intervention by another human rights effort that shares our extreme shock and dismay at their fronting for the Merida Initiative (aka Plan Mexico).

And pretty interesting: the government is pushing ahead with Plan Mexico and organizations like Amnesty do have a responsibility to stop this dangerous militarization plan. So very well timed.

The use of human rights discourse and the co-optation of human rights advocates by US military and police institutions in Latin America is a tried-and-true public relations strategy pioneered at the infamous School of the Americas. It is not a sign that the US wishes to reform the military or police forces they are involved with.

Why is Amnesty International supporting the “war on drugs”‘?

It is common knowledge that the “war on drugs” has been a disaster for human rights, from Colombia to Chiapas to Chicago.

Last year Amnesty International supported the first round of funding for the ‘war on drugs’ military package called the Merida Initiative (aka Plan Mexico), by putting out milquetoast statements of ‘serious concerns’, refusing to take a stand against it (let alone to mobilize us (their members)) and then declaring that ineffective “human rights safeguards”, which had failed so dramatically during the 8 years of Plan Colombia, were cause for celebration!

Bush (and the Democratic Congress) passed the first round of funding of Plan Mexico, thereby beginning the export of the same failed Colombia policy to Mexico, putting the fragile Mexican Democracy at risk by empowering its unaccountable and brutal police and military.

Why doesn’t Amnesty International take a stand? We know the ‘war on drugs’ is a human rights catastrophe!

DOMESTICALLY:

* Draconian prison sentences which disproportionately impact communities and people of color.

ABROAD:

Not much more than “Plan Columbia” needs to be said to highlight the devastating impact of the ‘war on drugs’ on human rights in target countries:

· The empowerment of an extreme right-wing governments w/death squads and unaccountable security forces as in Colombia and Mexico;
· The resulting murder with impunity of social activists, including labor, peace and indigenous rights activists;
· Between 3 and 4 million internally displaced people there too;
· Widespread fumigation, causing loss of life, livelihood, and community in Colombia.

The lines separating legal from illegal drugs is not based on scientific criterion (like demonstrable health effects) or objective standards (such as impairment or likelihood of inducing violent behavior), but rather on the arbitrary moralistic and political attitudes of elected officials and appointed bureaucrats.

We need Amnesty International to help end the ‘war on drugs’ by rallying our membership to demand evidence-based policies, based on science, not politics or ideology that result in human rights abuses. When is Amnesty International going to take a clear position for human rights and against the “war on drugs”? When will they say No! to the Merida Initiative – Plan Mexico?

Tell Amnesty to take a CLEAR stand against the Militarization of Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Call them at (212) 807-8400

For more information, visit: www.narconews.com <http://www.narconews.com>and read journalist Kristin Bricker’s excellent piece:
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission Blames Plan Mexico for APPO Arrests