Lawyers Confront War Crimes Against Libya

This tribunal will set the tone for the Millions March in Harlem against the war on Libya on August 13th. These are very serious times with critical issues facing Africans around the world.

[Global: Africa]
 
As the August 13th Millions March in Harlem against the attack on Africa and African people draws near, prominent legal minds have come together to hold a forum. The “War Crimes and other Violations of International Law against Africans” forum will be held on Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at the Harlem State Office Bldg Gallery at 163 West 125th Street at 6:30 PM.

This forum will be the first step towards an International Peoples Tribunal to prosecute the United States, NATO, and collaborating western interests.

The expert legal panel includes: the renowned international Attorney Lennox Hinds, a founder of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, former Counsel for the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the African National Congress, and board member of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Attorney Hinds currently teaches in the Criminal Justice Program at Rutgers University in New Jersey and is a founding partner in the law firm of Stevens, Hinds and White in Harlem.

International human right Attorney Roger Wareham has spearheaded major human rights interventions in the United Nations Human Rights Council on behalf of African people on the Continent and the Diaspora for the past 20 years. Wareham was a principal organizer in the NGO community of the UN World Conference against Racism in Durban South Africa, 2001. The Durban Conference proclaimed the Trans Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity for which reparations are due.

Wareham stated, “This tribunal will set the tone for the Millions March in Harlem on August 13th. These are very serious times with critical issues facing Africans around the world. We must address the Western campaign to recolonize Africa. We must organize to end the attack on Africans everywhere. The relentless bombing of Libya’s civilians and attempt to murder Col Gaddafi are unconscionable and speak to imperialist greed and contempt for African humanity. The imposition of illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe is directly related to President Mugabe’s land reform program that has returned the arable lands in that country back to its indigenous African population.”

“The global economic crises have pushed western powers to military ventures to control the vast wealth of Africa and force regime change of African leaders who act in the interest of independent African development. Colonel Gaddafi is a principal leader in the quest for a United States of Africa. President Mugabe has set the precedent for self determination and African control of their own resources.

“Here in the United States, and particularly in Bloomberg’s New York City  we are under attack in every facet of our lives. Massive unemployment, inadequate housing, healthcare and education, police harassment via arbitrary stop- and- frisk operations of Black men, the prison industrial complex, the list goes on and on. These issues will be addressed in this important tribunal against the attack on African people,” Wareham concluded.

Attorney King Downing, former National Coordinator of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Campaign Against Racial Profiling. Mr. Downing was also a lead organizer for the Jena 6 of Jena, Louisiana, where a noose was hung from a tree that Black youths stood under on a hot, sunny day. Racist white youths had declared it a “Whites only” tree. A subsequent school fight sent six Black youths to prison.

Attorney Jeanne Mirer, President of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, member of the National Lawyers Guild for 40 years and currently co-chair of the NLG International Committee. She is in the private practice of law specializing in employment and labor rights with the firm of Eisner & Mirer PC.

For more information on the July 27th War Crimes and other Violations of International Law against Africans Forum and the August 13th Millions March In Harlem, call (718) 398-1766.

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