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	Human Rights Video Hub launched by Tina Gongsakdi WITNESS / Global Voices Online USA   WITNESS is pleased to announce the launch of the Human Rights Video Hub Pilot, in collaboration with Global Voices Online. The Human Rights Video Hub Pilot is the first initiative of its kind – a curated forum that amplifies and gives context to human rights-related video footage uploaded to the Internet by concerned citizens around the world.   Each week, you’ll find links to new footage and topics. Currently, Human Rights Video Hub Pilot editor Sameer Padania has posts on cell phones capturing police excesses in Malaysia; the foiling of government censorship of video of protests in China.   The Pilot is an extension of WITNESS’ ongoing work to bring awareness of human rights issues to a broader audience, with a focus on harnessing the potential of technological advances to educate and inspire action to end human rights abuses.   This initiative is the first step in the development of a more participatory media site that will be launched in Summer 2007. Visit the related web page
	U.S. Secret Prisons at odds with Democracy: OSCE by Reuters /AP   Sep 21, 2006   U.S. secret prisons at odds with democracy: OSCE, by Howard Goller and Paul Holmes. (Reuters)   The United States cannot spread democracy and detain terrorism suspects in secret prisons at the same time, the head of the world"s largest regional security grouping said on Wednesday.   "It"s about the rule of law and this is a very clear infringement of the rule of law," OSCE Chairman-in-Office Karel De Gucht said when asked about the prisons acknowledged by President Bush.   The Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has 56 participating states, including the United States, with goals that include preventing conflict, managing crises and supporting the spread of democracy.   "You cannot spread democracy and deny the basic principles of democracy," De Gucht, who is also Belgian foreign minister, said in New York where he was meeting U.S. and other officials during the U.N. General Assembly.   Two weeks ago, Bush acknowledged the CIA had interrogated dozens of suspects at secret locations outside the United States. He denied they were tortured. Human rights groups say incommunicado detention often leads to abuse.   "Whatever smart legal people may tell about this, about an extra-territorial affect of American law, about whether or not the Geneva Conventions protect terrorists and all that kind of thing, ... the basic element in it is that this is not respectful of law," De Gucht said.   He defended an OSCE decision to send an observer mission to U.S. congressional elections in November, brushing aside criticism from some American conservatives who say observers are unnecessary in a proven democracy.   "I think it"s an excellent use of the means of the OSCE actually," De Gucht said.   "If you want to have strong arguments vis a vis the ... participating states east of Vienna, you should also have monitoring west of Vienna.   "I know there is some criticism about this in the U.S. but I think that"s a mistake, you know. It"s strengthening our case in the OSCE that we say, "Look we are democratic, just come and see."   De Gucht welcomed what he said was a growing recognition by the United States that it should not try to pursue foreign policy alone. "They are realizing that unilateralism is not going to make necessarily a better world," he said.   15 September 2006   EU Urges US to Follow Law on Detainees, by Constant Brand. (The Associated Press)   Brussels, Belgium - The European Union on Friday called on the United States to respect international law in its handling of terror suspects after President Bush acknowledged his country had operated secret prisons abroad.   "We reiterate that in combating terrorism, human rights and human standards have to be maintained," said Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, speaking on behalf of the 25 EU foreign ministers. "We acknowledge the intention of the US administration to treat all detainees in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention."   Tuomioja"s statement was the first formal joint reaction by the 25-nation bloc to Bush"s disclosure last week that the CIA had operated controversial detention centers, some of which were believed by human rights groups to have been located in eastern Europe.   The EU appeal for Washington not to ignore international treaties on prisoners of war came as Bush is pushing Congress to back new rules for interrogating and prosecuting terrorism suspects.   Bush"s measure would allow classified evidence to be withheld from defendants in terror trials and the use of coerced testimony.   The plan also revises an existing US law that interprets American obligations under the Geneva Conventions - the international treaty that sets the standard for treatment of war prisoners - so that harsh interrogations of detainees would not be questioned in court.   The Supreme Court earlier this year struck down Bush"s current arrangement for trying detainees held at the US Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.   Bush"s acknowledgment last week also increased pressure on European governments to come clean on whether they were cooperating with the US or knew that the CIA was using airports in Europe to transfer detainees.   "The existence of secret detention facilities where detained persons are kept in a legal vacuum is not in conformity with international humanitarian law and international criminal law," Tuomioja said Friday.   Tuomioja did not clarify whether any of the 25 EU member states were involved in running CIA secret prisons. He said only that the EU was committed to combating terrorism "using all legal means and instruments available."
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