By UN Watch ——Bio and Archives--May 31, 2013
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31 May 2013 Dear UNHRC President Remigiusz Achilles Henczel, Dear High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, UN Watch is shocked by the Turkish riot police action in the early hours of this morning, when they fired tear gas canisters and used water cannons to violently crush a peaceful sit-in by hundreds of people trying to prevent trees from being uprooted at an Istanbul park, causing the injury of at least 12 people. We urge you to call for an Urgent Debate of the UN Human Rights Council, when it reconvenes on Monday to begin consideration next week of human rights situations that require the Council’s attention. While Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler announced that authorities would investigate, this pledge appears inadequate, insufficient, and insincere, given that he simultaneously defended the crackdown, saying officers were “carrying out their duties” against an “illegal occupation” of the park. We are alarmed by reports that at least two people—including a journalist—were hit in the head by tear gas canisters. Two opposition legislators were among several hospitalized after being affected by the gas. According to credible reports, the injured journalist, Ahmet Sik, and others were deliberately targeted by police. A Reuters photographer was also injured. Excellencies, today’s police brutality in Istanbul is only the latest in a series of aggressive and illegal measures cracking down on peaceful protests, with Turkish police routinely resorting to excessive and disproportionate force in breach of the international human rights covenants and commitments to which Turkey is a signatory. We urge you to take action and thereby uphold the Council’s obligation to promote and protect universal human rights. Sincerely, Hillel Neuer Executive Director
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UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).