The report with the above mentioned title has been published on the web page of Swedish Doctors for Human Rights. Among other things, the report mentions the Phoenix programme, carried out during the Vietnam war. The other day, we could read also read an article about special forces, connecting that past with present activities. We wish torture was something of the past, but unfortunately it is not. For example, the Afghan government has earlier ordered special forces to leave a province, after receiving reports about torture and disappearance of Afghan civilians. Democracy Now, Rolling Stone and many others have reported about torture in Afghanistan, and we know that is not the only place where this is happening. We wish these were isolated mistakes, but it is too systematic for that. Looking at the total picture, a more appropriate label seems to be crimes against humanity.

According to the Aspen Institute’s Agent Orange in Vietnam Program, chemicals used by the US military during the war continues to have harmful impacts in Vietnam today. There are many testimonies about the horrors of the war and even about the lies that were used to motivate it, including the false flag Tonkin Gulf incident. However, what lacks is responsibility for many of the war crimes — see for example Jonathan Schnell’s article on war and accountability.

Instead of demanding accountability, many countries are today working closer with the US military than ever before. For example, the Swedish government now welcomes US warplanes on their territorry, including the B-52, known for devastating Vietnam. The fact that only a few small parties in the Swedish parliament are critical against this, illustrates that many others today ignore the atrocities of the Vietnam war or too simply dismiss them as mistakes.

It is more clear than ever, that we still need to remember Vietnam.

Civil Rights Defenders and Svenska PEN invite you to a seminar where Thomas Drake, Daniel Ellsberg and Jesselyn Radack will talk about the importance of whistleblowers, how they are treated and what states and the international community need to do to improve their protection. The seminar will be held on 5 June in Stockholm. Read more on the web page of Civil Rights Defenders, where you can also find the address to sign up.

The seminar will be broadcasted live on Bambuser and should also be also available to view afterwards. See the Bambuser channel of Civil Rights Defenders.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement is getting closer to completion through a mechanism called fast track. UN experts say TPP and fast track threaten human rights. There is special reason to be concerned if you are a citizen of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the USA or Vietnam. To protest against TPP, see stopthesecrecy.net and stopfasttracknow.org.

Join the international week to support whistleblowing on the 1-7 June 2015! See standupfortruth.org and contact us att info@accoun.org if you also wish to create/attend an event in or near Sweden.

Watch Al Jazeera’s show online

Read about the new report on extenisve human rights violations in Western Sahara, which is also called Africa’s last colony. Today it is also reported that UN seeks to step up Western Sahara negotiations. It is about time, to say the least,

Shocking new evidence of execution-style killings by pro-Russian armed groups in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, illustrates the urgent need for an investigation into the escalating human rights and humanitarian crisis in the area, said Amnesty International today. See press release.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch has also reported on the rising civilan death toll in eastern Ukraine.

Read the report from Human Rights Watch

A prosecutor, who sent an innocent man to death row, now seeks redemption.

A retired executioner said taking the job was the “biggest mistake I ever made.”

Read about the conversion of some who have operated the machinery of death