Articles On Mercy Ships

Why is the UN Secretary General trying to Scupper latest Flotilla Plans for Gaza?

(LONDON) - "Intercepting the Mavi Marmara on the high seas ... was clearly unlawful." The United Nations said so.

It’s in the report of the fact-finding mission set up by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks a year ago on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance to Gaza, during which nine people were killed and many others injured.

Contrary to international law

Reporting in September 2010, the mission was satisfied that the blockade was inflicting disproportionate damage upon the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and that as such the interception could not be justified and therefore has to be considered illegal...

The mission considers that one of the principal motives behind the imposition of the blockade was a desire to punish the people of the Gaza Strip for having elected Hamas. The combination of this motive and the effect of the restrictions on the Gaza Strip leave no doubt that Israel’s actions and policies amount to collective punishment as defined by international law... No case can be made for the legality of the interception and the mission therefore finds that the interception was illegal.

And that wasn’t all. the mission considered that the naval blockade was implemented in support of the overall closure regime.

As such, it was part of a single disproportionate measure of armed conflict and as such cannot itself be found proportionate. Furthermore, the closure regime is considered by the mission to constitute collective punishment of the people living in the Gaza Strip and thus to be illegal and contrary to Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The action of the Israel Defence Force in intercepting the Mavi Marmara on the high seas was "clearly unlawful" and could not be justified even under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations (the right of self-defence).

Pack your bags, Mr Ban

So just what did the secretary-general of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon, think he was doing last week when he attempted to scupper the latest humanitarian effort by sending a letter to governments around the Mediterranean calling on them to use their influence to discourage any more flotillas such as the one due to sail towards the end of June, which he says "carry the potential to escalate into violent conflict"?

St. Mary's nurse sets sail on Mercy Ship | sail, sets, ship ...

Give Mercy:

Construction workers, nurses, doctors or teachers, they all have a spot in Mercy Ships volunteering program.

Volunteer positions onboard a Mercy Ship range from two weeks to two years, and participants must raise their own funds.

Those who can’t set sail with Mercy Ship can make tax-deductible donations. A gift of $25 could buy five Bibles for recovering patients, while a $10,000 gift could help equip a clinic in Africa or buy a four-wheel-drive vehicle to transport patients.

For more information on giving or volunteering, visit MercyShips.org.

VICTORVILLE • It’s a country made famous for all the wrong reasons.

Sierra Leone is rich in natural resources but was named the eighth poorest nation in the world, a conflict depicted in the 2006 film “Blood Diamond.”

The West African nation was also the setting for 2007’s “A Long Way Gone,” a nonfiction account of a child soldier caught up in the country’s decade-long civil war.

But docked for 10 months in an Atlantic port, off the coast of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, the 498-foot ship Africa Mercy is bringing hope and healing to the welcoming people of this impoverished nation.

“The heartbeat of this mission is our love for God,” said Judy Mabutas, a nurse from Victorville who spent a month onboard the floating hospital.

Africa Mercy is operated by Mercy Ship, a nonprofit Christian charity that travels to a new needy country each year providing free medical relief, training and other community resources.

Mabutas, who works in critical care at St. Mary Medical Center, served on Africa Mercy during the month of May. The petite 44-year-old nursed patients back to health after life-changing surgeries to remove disfiguring tumors or repair cleft lip palates, amputate infected legs or treat painful hernias.

“We saw 15 to 18 patients each day,” Mabutas said, with some coming from as far as Togo for treatment. “They had so much emotion, so much elation. They were just so thankful to God.”

To read more about the Mercy Ship, see the full story in Sunday's Press Dispatch. Get complete stories every day with the "exactly as printed" Daily Press E-edition, only $5 per month! Click here to try it free for 7 days. To subscribe to the Daily Press in print or online, call (760) 241-7755, 1-800-553-2006 or click here .

Mercy ships

Holocaust and genocide studies

Unfulfilled promise, rescue and resettlement of Jewish refugee children in the United States, 1934-1945

The Rotarian

JAMA., The Journal of the American Medical Association