By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States Of America – According to a recently published report by Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee, during the Bush administration the CIA misled congress as it conducted interrogations of terror suspects that were far more brutal than what was publicly conveyed. Among the revelations of the report were that President George W. Bush was not briefed by the CIA about the details of the interrogations, which began post 9/11 until 2006. The report also indicates that after being briefed Bush expressed his concern and discomfort about a detainee who was “chained to the ceiling, [and] forced to soil himself.”

The report finds that at least 119 detainees went though the CIA detention program and at least 26 were held without information to justify their detention. The report states that the techniques used were “deeply flawed,” poorly managed and most times the result of fabricated information. Some of the egregious instances of torture in the report include a detainee chained to a wall, standing, for 17 days, sleep deprivation for extended periods of time, ice water baths, and force feedings. It has been clear since 2009, that the Obama administration released details regarding how investigators used waterboarding. The reports says that such techniques “were not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees.”

The central claim of the report is that the CIA methods of interrogation did not produce information that was necessary to save lives that was no available by some other means. The long awaited study went through more than six million CIA comments The report has reignited the partisan divide over combating terrorism. Many democrats have argues that the tactics used by the CIA conflict with American values. On the other hand, CIA Director John Brennan issued a statement that challenged several conclusions of the report. Also, former senior intelligence officials have launched a website, CIASavedLives.com, that attempts to refute the findings.

Brennan has issued a statement that the CIA has learned from its mistakes, but maintained his claim that the idea that the agency systematically misled top government officials about its tactics. The agency says that the conclusions of the report contain too many flaws to be held as an official record of the program.

For more information, please see the following:

BLOOMBERG- CIA Misled Bush, Congress On Interrogation Tactics, Report Finds – 9 Dec. 2014.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Terror and Torture, In Hindsight – 9 Dec. 2014.

CNN – Senate Report: CIA Misled Public On Torture – 9 Dec. 2014.

REUTERS – CIA Tortured, Misled, U.S. Report Finds, Drawing Calls For Action– 9 Dec. 2014.

By Lyndsey Kelly

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America – A series of hearings that many expect will ease the blanket ban on gay men donating blood is set to begin this week. A U.S. advisory panel recommended for the first time in 31 years, that a ban preventing gay and bisexual men from donating blood be partially ended. Such a reformation will put the United States’ policies in line with other countries.

The nation’s current policy bars men who have had sex with other men anytime since 1977 from giving blood in the United States. This policy dates back to the AIDS crisis in 1983, due to concerns that the virus could be transmitted through blood transfusions. According to the FDA’s website, the risk of getting HIV from a blood transfusion is about 1 per 2 million units of blood transfused. Groups such as the American Red Cross say that the risk of HIV transmission in this manner is infinitesimal in many cases, and does not justify a full ban on blood donations by gay men. If the current ban was to be completely eliminated, which does not seem likely at this point in time, 360,600 men would probably donate approximately 615,300 pints of blood a year. This would then aid 1.8 million people, according to a study done in September by the University of California.

On Thursday, the HHS Advisory Committee on Blood & Tissue Safety & Availability will hear results from studies on how MSM might respond to a change in blood-donation rules and current risks of transfusion-transmitted viral infections. Doctors and advocated who advise the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services voted 16-2 on 29 November, suggesting that men who have had sex with other men should be able to donate blood only after being abstinent for one year. This will compensate for the 11-day window that current HIV tests have in which the virus cannot be detected.

While there is an agreement among experts that the current policy needs to be addressed, there is no consensus on how to change it. Recommendations of various advisory committees will be considered by a group of advisors to the Food and Drug Administration on 2 December. However, the FDA is not compelled to follow the recommendations.

For more information, please see the following:

BLOOMBERG – Blood Donations By Gay Men Gain Support In U.S. Panel Vote – 13 Nov. 2014.

FOX NEWS – FDA to Weigh Lifting Ban on Gay Men Donating Blood – 28 November 2014.

WASHINGTON POST –Government could Ear 31-Year-Old Ban On Blood Donations From Gay Men – 29 Nov. 2014.

WASHINGTON TIMES – Gay Blood –Donor Ban Under Review – 12 November 2014.

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America – The St. Louis area braced for more protests on Tuesday after a grand jury found that probable cause did not exist to bring criminal charges against a police officer who fatally shot an unarmed African-American teenager, three months ago in Ferguson, Missouri. The St. Louis County prosecutor, Robert McCulloch, announced the decision by the grand jury Monday night. McCulloch said that Officer Wilson could have been indicted on charges ranging from first-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.

Activist leaders spent weeks training protestors in non-violent civil disobedience. However, when word of the grand jury’s decision set off a wave of anger and protests with hundreds of citizens gathering outside the Ferguson Police Department. Approximately a dozen buildings burned and police fired tear gas and flash-bang canisters at protestors. Demonstrators chanted and threw objects at police officers, which were dressed in riot gear and stood in a line. Throughout the night the situation intensified as protests blocked traffic on Interstate 44 where police shot another man earlier this fall.

The rioting started despite calls for calm from government officials ranging from Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to President Barack Obama. The police in Ferguson ended up making at least 61 arrests on charges ranging from unlawful assembly to unlawful possession of a firearm and arson.

News about he grand jury’s decision spread nationwide with smaller spontaneous rallies in support of Brown’s family occurring throughout the country. Although no serious injuries were reported from any of the protests, the rioting was said to be much worse than the disturbances that erupted in the immediate aftermath of the shooting of Michael Brown.

For more information, please see the following:

CNN – Streets of Ferguson Smolder After Grand Jury Decides Not to Indict Officer – 25 Nov. 2014.

NEW YORK TIMES – Protests Flare After Ferguson Police Officer is Not Indicted – 24 Nov. 2014.

REUTERS – St. Louis suburb Smolders After Racially Charged Riots – 25 Nov. 2014.

TORONTO SUN – Ferguson Erupts After Officer Not Charged in Teen’s Shooting – 24. Nov. 2014.

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

WASHINGTON DC, United States of America – In a major PR move Philip Morris International, which sells Marlboro among other leading cigarette brands, announced that it will begin buying US-grown tobacco exclusively through third-party leaf supply companies, rather than directly from tobacco farmers in what the company says is an effort to combat child labor, which has become a major problem on U.S. tobacco farms. Despite its stated commitment to end child labor practices on Tobacco farms, known to cause devastating illnesses linked to nicotine exposure, the company continues to target children in its international advertisements.

Human Rights Watch in a May 2014 report found that, like smokers, children working on tobacco farms in the United States are exposed to toxic, addictive and highly carcinogenic chemicals like nicotine and toxic pesticides as well as extreme heat, and other dangers. Most of the children interviewed for the report stated that they were experiencing troubling symptoms including nausea, vomiting, headaches, or dizziness while working – symptoms that are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning.

“Philip Morris International’s new purchasing model means thousands of US tobacco farms will now need to meet higher child labor standards that should protect children from the most dangerous work in tobacco farming,” said Margaret Wurth, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Philip Morris International should carefully monitor suppliers to ensure they know the rules and follow them.” Human Rights Watch has urged Tobacco companies to ban children under the age of 18 from working in tobacco supply chains where their risk of exposure is high. “All tobacco companies should do more to protect children from the hazards of tobacco farming,” Wurth said. “Each company should adopt policies to prohibit children under 18 from doing hazardous work, including all work that involves direct contact with tobacco.”

While Philip Morris has been praised for taking the step to limit child labor in the United States the company still targets children in advertisement used in its overseas markets, particularly in the growing Asian markets where legal restrictions on tobacco production, sale and advertiments are few and far between. A report issued March 12, 2014, by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other international public health organizations including Alliance for the Control of Tobacco Use Brazil, Corporate Accountability International, Framework Convention Alliance, InterAmerican Heart Foundation, and Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance. Stated that how Philip Morris International’s ‘Be Marlboro’ marketing campaign uses themes and images that appeal almost exclusively to youth.  The company has expanded the campaign to more than 50 countries despite being banned by a German court and fined in Brazil for targeting teens and sparking similar concerns in other countries.

Smoking in western countries has been on a steady decline over the past several decades since the 1964 Surgeon Generals Report on Smoking and Health was published in the Untied Sates sparking a steady stream of restrictions on smoking and tobacco advertising in several countries. Companies like Philip morose have begun targeting developing nations for new smokers, once again adopting the practice of targeting youth in the hopes of getting children addicted for life and ensuring the industries survival. Philip Morris claims its ads do not target teens. However the ad campaign clearly targets the millennial generation and its younger counterparts.  Jesse Bragg, Corporate Accountability International’s press secretary, said the “Be Marlboro” campaign, which employs coercive slogans urging consumers to “be” like the young-adult actors depicted in the ads, is the same coercive and subliminal advertisement method used to attract kids to Philip Morris for decades. “This is just an updated 21st-century version of the Marlboro Man in a lot of ways, built for a global market as opposed to a U.S. market,” he said.

For more information please see:

Human Rights Watch – US: Tobacco Giant’s Move Could Reduce Child Labor – 5 November 2014

Philip Morris International – Press Release – 5 November 2014

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids – Despite Outrage, Philip Morris International Expands Global “Be Marlboro” Campaign – 15 July 2014

International Business Times – Philip Morris International (PM) Wants Millennial Smokers, But Health Advocates Say Marlboro Ads Target Teenagers – 5 March 2014