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HAFEZ ABU SAEDA SELECTED TO REPRESENT FIDH AT THE ARAB LEAGUE
Hafez Abu Saeda, Secretary General of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) has been elected as the delegate of the Federation Internationale des ligues des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH) at the Arab League, made responsible for Iraqi affairs and appointed co-ordinator for the Gulf and Saudi Arabian region. Raji as-Sowarani, Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, has been made Deputy President of FIDH for a term of 3 years while Shireen Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and human rights activist is responsible for women's rights on the international plane. These appointments were made on the 5th March during the closing ceremony of the 35th FIDH Congress on "democratizing globalization" held in Quito, Ecuador.
On a different note Congress participants decided to strip the Law Foundation of FIDH membership, and accepted Ramallah's Al-Haq Institute as a new member.
Participants demanded the immediate cessation of Israel's construction of its separation wall and of its violations of Palestinian rights. FIDH's General Assembly issued a special resolution on the wall and the Palestinian-Israeli struggle which had been proposed by Raji as-Sowarani. In this decision Assembly members condemned Israel's systematic occupation of Gaza and the West Bank including Jerusalem which began in 1967. They described the torture and killing of Palestinian civilians and Israel's arbitrary attacks on towns and villages which it carries out in pursuance of its "transfer" policy as constituting war crimes against the Palestinian people and a violation of their human dignity.
Congress delegates announced that Israel's intention in building the wall is to contain large areas of occupied Palestinian land - it will appropriate approximately 58% of Palestinian land in the West Bank including Jerusalem and Jewish settlements. This will inevitably deprive the Palestinian people of their rights to self-determination and an independent Palestinian state. The wall constituting a flagrant violation of international law and human rights, delegates demanded that the International Court of Justice deliver a clear verdict on its legality. They condemned the United States' position on this matter.
Participants demanded that European states take practical legal measures to apply pressure on Israel as occurred during the Apartheid regime in South Africa, and that they implement Article 2 of the European-Israeli Partnership.
FIDH, created in Paris during the 1920s upon an initiative of the French and German Confederations of Human Rights, has today become one of the largest human rights organizations. It counts some 123 human rights groups as members from every corner of the globe including 18 groups from the Arab region.
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