“Stop advertising on Twitter,” urges Katie Alsop of The RINJ Foundation, a global human rights group which has repeatedly warned the American social media platform popularized by American authoritarian president Donald Trump and other authoritarian leaders.
“Twitter Inc. joined a global campaign against human rights defenders which has seen hundreds die or seriously injured,” says Katie Alsop.
The group complains that, “By not removing Donald Trump’s tweet as requested, which is a ‘call to arms’ for armed extremists to attack human rights defenders, Twitter Inc. is also attacking human rights defenders. Countries where human rights defenders are summarily murdered have one more claim to impunity, thanks to Twitter Inc. The RINJ Foundation is asking its 3 million members to stop all advertising in Twitter and to boycott all brands that advertise in Twitter and to seek all legal and extra legal remedies to end this anti-human rights conduct. Exploiting human rights for financial profit will no longer be tolerated. RINJ.org/twitterboycott.”
FPM.news Feature by Sharon Santiago
“The latest brouhaha is over Trump Twitter attacks on American Human Rights Defender, Martin Gugino, who on 4 June 2020 was seen in a video that went viral around the world as he was being beaten down by Buffalo police and left laying on the concrete bleeding from the ears and out cold as cops marched over him”, says Monique Deslauriers, a Nurses Without Borders member from Calais, Maine who interviewed a nursing colleague, friend of Mr. Gugino’s late sister.
“Mr. Guigino is now undergoing therapy for a brain injury,” she added. He has been hospitalized since 4 June.
American authoritarian President Donald Trump who has been fighting against the Black Lives Matter movement with threats of military crackdowns against American cities has apparently taken the side of police in Buffalo and has tried to marginalize Mr. Martin Gugino as an antifascist demonstrator.
But according to witnesses, including Martin Gugino’s personal friend, Keith Giles of the Buffalo area if New York State, the truth is quite the opposite. Mr. Gugino is by all accounts a bona fide human rights defender who brings food to the hungry and fights for the rights of the homeless.
“Mr. Gugino is well known and loved in his Buffalo, N.Y. communities,” says Ms. Deslauriers.
“He was demonstrating on 4 June with the Black Lives Matter movement in Buffalo against the murder of the late George Floyd when he was struck down.”
Read: Trump violently attacks a human rights defender putting America in a hole.
White House announced that US President Donald Trump had issued an executive order authorizing sanctions against ICC officials who are investigating potential war crimes committed by US soldiers in Afghanistan. “As US authoritarian President attacks Human Rights Defenders, Twitter platform explodes in popularity and profit as a vehicle for the attacks,” says rights group RINJ. Authoritarian leaders are decimating the safety of women and children around the world says the group. Photo Credit: International Criminal Court. Photo Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine
Human Rights Defender Martin Gugino’s friend, Keith Giles, has made a video condemning Trump attacks against Human Rights Defender Mr. Gugino (75).
Mr. Martin Gugino (75) was seen in a video and on the front pages of American newspapers being struck by at least one male police officer in heavy combat gear or riot gear pushing the man to the ground where he then lay with blood coming from his ear.
Yesterday Mr. Gugino’s lawyer, Ms. Kelly Zarcone, reportedly said that “As heartbreaking as it is, his brain is injured and he is well aware of that now.”
By not removing Donald Trump’s tweet which is a ‘call to arms’ for armed extremists to attack human rights defenders, Twitter is also attacking human rights defenders. Countries where human rights defenders are summarily murdered have one more claim to impunity, thanks to Twitter. The RINJ Foundation is asking its 3 million members to stop all advertising in Twitter and to boycott all brands that advertise in Twitter. RINJ.org/twitterboycott Photo Credit: Courtesy The RINJ Foundation
75 Year old Martin Gugino recovering in hospital from police inflicted head injuries is now the latest Victim of Donald Trump’s Twitter Violence. Photo Credit: Left frame-> Mark Colville of the Religion News Serviice and right frame -> Justin Norman / Shrieking Tree — Photo Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine
Trump attack on American Human Rights Defenders is part of his global campaign against human rights.
- The United States has vacated the International Criminal Court.
- Blocked ICC officials from the United States and
- Has vacated the United Nations Human Rights Commission because America has numerous serious violations under global review, including mass murder.
“The International Criminal Court expresses profound regret at the announcement of further threats and coercive actions, including financial measures, against the Court and its officials, made earlier today by the Government of the United States”, the ICC said in a statement released also in Thursday.
Ten global figures have already released a recorded statement condemning the United States Actions against Human Rights defenders.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2020
EXECUTIVE ORDER
– – – – – – –
BLOCKING PROPERTY OF CERTAIN PERSONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,
I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that the situation with respect to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its illegitimate assertions of jurisdiction over personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including the ICC Prosecutor’s investigation into actions allegedly committed by United States military, intelligence, and other personnel in or relating to Afghanistan, threatens to subject current and former United States Government and allied officials to harassment, abuse, and possible arrest. These actions on the part of the ICC, in turn, threaten to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and impede the critical national security and foreign policy work of United States Government and allied officials, and thereby threaten the national security and foreign policy of the United States. The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, has never accepted ICC jurisdiction over its personnel, and has consistently
rejected ICC assertions of jurisdiction over United States personnel. Furthermore, in 2002, the United States Congress enacted the American Service-Members’ Protection Act (22 U.S.C. 7421 et seq.) which rejected the ICC’s overbroad, non-consensual assertions of jurisdiction. The United States remains committed to accountability and to the peaceful cultivation of international order, but the ICC and parties to the Rome Statute must respect the decisions of the United States and other countries not to subject their personnel to the ICC’s jurisdiction, consistent with their respective sovereign prerogatives. The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions, which may include the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members. The entry of such aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States and
denying them entry will further demonstrate the resolve of the United States in opposing the ICC’s overreach by seeking to exercise jurisdiction over personnel of the United States and our allies, as well as personnel of countries that are not parties to the Rome Statute or have not otherwise consented to ICC jurisdiction.
I therefore determine that any attempt by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any United States personnel without the consent of the United States, or of personnel of countries that are United States allies and who are not parties to the Rome Statute or have not otherwise consented to ICC jurisdiction, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat. I hereby determine and order:
Section 1. (a) All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person, of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:
(i) any foreign person determined by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General:
(A) to have directly engaged in any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any United States personnel without the consent of the United States;
(B) to have directly engaged in any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any personnel of a country that is an ally of the United States without the consent of that country’s government;
(C) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, any activity described in subsection (a)(i)(A) or (a)(i)(B) of this section or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; or
(D) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.
(b) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the date of this order.
Sec. 2. I hereby determine that the making of donations of the types of articles specified in section 203(b)(2) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)(2)) by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to section 1(a) of this order would seriously impair my ability to deal with the national emergency declared in this order, and I hereby prohibit such donations as provided by section 1(a) of this order.
Sec. 3. The prohibitions in section 1(a) of this order include:
(a) the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to section 1(a) of this order; and
(b) the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.
Sec. 4. The unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens determined to meet one or more of the criteria in section 1(a) of this order, as well as immediate family members of such aliens, or aliens determined by the Secretary of State to be employed by, or acting as an agent of, the ICC, would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and the entry of such persons into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, is hereby suspended, except where the Secretary of State determines that the entry of the person into the United States would not be contrary to the interests of the United States, including when the Secretary so determines, based on a recommendation of the Attorney General, that the person’s entry would further important United States law enforcement objectives. In exercising this responsibility, the Secretary of State shall consult the Secretary of Homeland Security on matters related to admissibility or inadmissibility
within the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security. Such persons shall be treated as persons covered by section 1 of Proclamation 8693 of July 24, 2011 (Suspension of Entry of Aliens Subject to United Nations Security Council Travel Bans and International Emergency Economic Powers Act Sanctions). The Secretary of State shall have the responsibility for implementing this section pursuant to such conditions and procedures as the Secretary has established or may establish pursuant to Proclamation 8693.
Sec. 5. (a) Any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
Sec. 6. Nothing in this order shall prohibit transactions for the conduct of the official business of the Federal Government by employees, grantees, or contractors thereof.
Sec. 7. For the purposes of this order:
(a) the term “person” means an individual or entity;
(b) the term “entity” means a government or instrumentality of such government, partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization, including an international organization;
(c) the term “United States person” means any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any person in the United States;
(d) the term “United States personnel” means any current or former members of the Armed Forces of the United States, any current or former elected or appointed official of the United States Government, and any other person currently or formerly employed by or working on behalf of the United States Government;
(e) the term “personnel of a country that is an ally of the United States” means any current or former military personnel, current or former elected or appointed official, or other person currently or formerly employed by or working on behalf of a government of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member country or a “major non-NATO ally”, as that term is defined by section 2013(7) of the American Service-Members’ Protection Act (22 U.S.C. 7432(7)); and
(f) the term “immediate family member” means spouses and children.
Sec. 8. For those persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, I find that because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures to be taken pursuant to section 1 of this order would render those measures ineffectual. I therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing the national emergency declared in this order, there need be no prior notice of a listing or determination made pursuant to section 1 of this order.
Sec. 9. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including adopting rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to me by IEEPA as may be necessary to implement this order. The Secretary of the Treasury may, consistent with applicable law, redelegate any of these functions within the Department of the Treasury. All departments and agencies of the United States shall take all appropriate measures within their authority to implement this order.
Sec. 10. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to submit recurring and final reports to the Congress on the national emergency declared in this order, consistent with section 401(c) of the NEA (50 U.S.C. 1641(c)) and section 204(c) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1703(c)).
Sec. 11. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
June 11, 2020.
International Criminal Court Responds to Trump’s Despotic Attack
Statement issued June 11. 2020
The International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”) expresses profound regret at the announcement of further threats and coercive actions, including financial measures, against the Court and its officials, made earlier today by the Government of the United States.
The ICC stands firmly by its staff and officials and remains unwavering in its commitment to discharging, independently and impartially, the mandate bestowed upon it by the Rome Statute and the States that are party to it.
These are the latest in a series of unprecedented attacks on the ICC, an independent international judicial institution, as well as on the Rome Statute system of international criminal justice, which reflects the commitment and cooperation of the ICC’s 123 States Parties, representing all regions of the world.
These attacks constitute an escalation and an unacceptable attempt to interfere with the rule of law and the Court’s judicial proceedings. They are announced with the declared aim of influencing the actions of ICC officials in the context of the Court’s independent and objective investigations and impartial judicial proceedings.
An attack on the ICC also represents an attack against the interests of victims of atrocity crimes, for many of whom the Court represents the last hope for justice.
As it continues to meet its mandated responsibilities, the Court relies on the staunch support and cooperation of its States Parties. The Court wishes to recall, in this context, yesterday’s joint statement from the ten ICC States Parties members of the UN Security Council, reconfirming their “unwavering support for the Court as an independent and impartial judicial institution,” as well as the press statement issued earlier today by the President of the Assembly of States Parties.