Crime

"Short term enteral feeding in NICU *The optimal care is for all babies to receive breast milk only. This addresses those infants who do not need IV fluids and whose mothers have not established a breast milk supply. *In general, IV infusions should not be started if there are no medical indications for IV fluids (such as respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia etc.) *Babies who need feeding should be given what mother's breast milk is available and always receive mother's breast milk in preference to formula. Be sure to check that no breast milk is available before considering infant formula. *If they require additional feeds, infants should then be started on term infant formula, after discussion with their mother/father. In such discussions, parents should be informed that there are few - if any - adverse effects of formula used short term in this way in a neonatal unit. *For a baby who is already on an IV infusion, it is reasonable to continue the infusion for a short time if mother's milk supply is being established and there is a reasonable expectation that she will be producing enough breast milk with in a day or so. This time period needs to be judged against the ease of IV access and the condition of the baby. Babies should not have IVs re-inserted solely because no breast milk is available. *Smaller preterm infants will often have a medical indication for ongoing IV fluids and in them it is desirable to increase the oral fluids slowly. The pace of increase of oral fluids can usually be matched to the increase in the availability of expressed breast milk. *Mothers should be advised and helped with expressing. NICU staff should discuss expressing as soon as possible. It is accepted that the role of initially helping with expressing lies with postnatal ward staff. NICU staff should support mothers' expression of breast milk. *Nasogastric feeding rather than bottle or cup feeding is advantageous for ex-premature babies. Term babies who do not have problems with hypoglycaemia can usually transition directly from IV fluids to breast feeds. Alternatively, bottle or tube feeds may be used for larger infants. *NICU does not provide hydrolysed formula unless there is a clinical indication (other than a history of allergy). If there is a very strong family history of allergy, hydrolysed formula may be supplied on an individual basis. Parents may supply their own formula (hydrolysed or non-cow's milk preparations) if they wish."

"In State ex rel. Schuetzle v. Vogel, 537 N.W.2d 358, 360-61 (N.D.1995), the Supreme Court of North Dakota determined that the state could force-feed and administer insulin to a diabetic prisoner who refused to eat or take medicine. Finding that the prisoner attempted this to "manipulate the system and ... blackmail ... prison officials"; (internal quotation marks omitted) id., at 360; the court ruled that "the state's interest in orderly prison administration is the controlling factor here...." Id., at 361. This issue has arisen in federal cases in the specific context of civil contemnors trying to circumvent the judicial process. A civil contemnor being held for refusing to testify before a grand jury went on a hunger strike for political and religious reasons. In re Grand Jury Subpoena John Doe v. United States, 150 F.3d 170, 171 (2d Cir.1998) (per curiam). In a very brief opinion, the court held that "the district court's force-feeding order ... does not violate a hunger-striking prisoner's constitutional rights.... Although Doe, as a civil contemnor, has been convicted of no crime, the institution where he is housed is still responsible for his care while incarcerated. Other compelling governmental interests, such as the preservation of life, prevention of suicide, and enforcement of prison security, order, and discipline, outweigh the constitutional rights asserted by Doe in the circumstances of this case." Id., at 172. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has also addressed this issue in the context of a civil contemnor, focusing on preventing the contemnor from undermining the judicial process. In re Sanchez, 577 F.Supp. 7 (S.D.N.Y.1983). The court held that "Sanchez is, by his own admission, attempting to bring maximum pressure to bear upon the Judge who will ultimately rule upon his motion to vacate the contempt order. Moreover, the prolongation of this hunger strike will soon render Mr. Sanchez physically or mentally incapable of testifying before the grand jury, thereby rendering further coercive sanctions futile. In one sense, therefore, Mr. Sanchez is attempting to escape from prison and to frustrate the lawful authority of the courts. This is a purpose that we cannot condone." Id., at 9."

"In contrast, three courts have decided that the state has no right to force-feed an inmate. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed a trial court's decision to deny the state's petition to force-feed a hunger striking inmate. Zant v. Prevatte, 248 Ga. 832, 286 S.E.2d 715 (1982). In so doing, the court considered that "[the inmate] is not mentally incompetent, nor does he have dependents who rely on him for a means of livelihood. The issue of religious freedom is not present. Under these circumstances, we hold that [the inmate], by virtue of his right of privacy, can refuse to allow intrusions on his person, even though calculated to preserve his life. The State has not shown such a compelling interest in preserving [the inmate's] life, as would override his right to refuse medical treatment." Id., at 834, 286 S.E.2d 715. The state did not claim any of the traditional factors except a duty to preserve the inmate's health and life. In 1993, the Supreme Court of California determined that the state had no authority to interfere with an inmate's hunger strike. Thor v. Superior Court, supra, 5 Cal.4th 725, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. The court's holding specified that "under California law a competent, informed adult has a fundamental right of self-determination to refuse or demand the withdrawal of medical treatment of any form irrespective of the personal consequences." Id., at 732, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. The court further stated that "[u]nder the facts of this case, we further conclude that in the absence of evidence demonstrating a threat to institutional security or public safety, prison officials, including medical personnel, have no affirmative duty to administer such treatment and may not deny a person incarcerated in state prison this freedom of choice." Id."

"Thor involved a prison physician petitioning the court to allow him to force-feed a quadriplegic patient who had decided to die. Id. The court considered four state interests: preserving life; preventing suicide; maintaining the integrity of the medical profession; and protecting innocent third parties. Id., at 737, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. Finally, the court considered how this would affect orderly administration of the prison system. Id., at 744, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. In considering the first four factors, the court, noted that this patient was quadriplegic and serving a life sentence; the patient's decision to refuse medical treatment was an informed decision, and there were no other persons involved in this decision. Id., at 743-44, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. Finally, the state had presented no evidence on the effect this would have on administration of the prison system. Id., at 745, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. The third case prohibiting state interference with a prisoner's hunger strike is from Florida. The inmate went on a hunger strike to protest his transfer to a different prison and to protest the lodging of complaints against a prison chaplain. Singletary v. Costello, 665 So.2d 1099, 1101 (Fla.App.1996). The court first recognized a strong interest in the inmate's rights to privacy and to refuse medical treatment. Id., at 1104. The court then weighed the state's interests in preserving life, preventing suicide, protecting third parties, maintaining the ethics of the medical profession, and maintaining order in the prison. Id., at 1105. On the facts of the case, the court stated that "although the state interest in the preservation of life is powerful, in and of itself, it will not foreclose a competent person from declining life-sustaining medical treatment.... This is because the life that the state is seeking to protect is the life of the same person who has competently decided to [forgo] the medical intervention." (Citation omitted.) Id., at 1109. The court found it important, also, that the prisoner had expressly stated that he did not want to die, meaning that the state's interest in preventing suicide was not implicated. Id. Finally, no evidence was offered on the other factors; therefore, the court denied the state's petition."

"Edward Blanchette, an internist, is the clinical director for the department. He has examined the defendant from a physical aspect and has been monitoring his condition since the end of last September. He reviews the defendant's medical records thrice weekly and has met with him twice. The defendant has been taking only liquids, those being water, some juice and some milk. Although the defendant is adequately hydrated, he is taking insufficient calories to sustain himself. The defendant has already suffered muscle wasting and anemia but, by taking some milk, has slowed the speed of his deterioration. Blanchette testified that as of January 14, the defendant could cause himself serious physical damage within one month, and be in dire straits. Risks include the possibility of heart arrhythmia due to electrolyte imbalance, a life threatening situation. A sustained hunger strike will lead to kidney and liver failure, and eventually to death. Blanchette opined that the timing of such deterioration is not subject to precise calculation by a physician or fine-tuning by an inmate. He stated that it is unusual for an inmate to engage in a protracted hunger strike, such as the defendant's. Brian K. Murphy, deputy commissioner of operations for the department, who is responsible for supervision of all inmates and is a career department employee, testified as to the impact of a hunger strike on the inmate population. Murphy has risen, in twenty-six and one-half years, from a correctional officer to his present position, always with direct supervision of inmates. He became aware of the defendant's hunger strike last September and has been following it since, including meeting with the defendant. The department has taken no disciplinary action of any kind against the defendant for his hunger strike. On more than twenty past occasions, Murphy has had to deal with hunger strikes. He is adamant that there are no secrete in prisons, that inmates rely on the department to intervene to protect inmates from self-harm and that the defendant's death from a hunger strike could cause unrest, including demonstrations and physical violence. There is also the risk of copycat hunger strikes to manipulate the prison system, should the defendant's hunger strike continue."

"This case presents the question of whether the state may force-feed an inmate engaged in a hunger strike. There appears to be no recorded Connecticut decision on point.[1] The plaintiff, Theresa C. Lantz, is the current commissioner (commissioner) of the department of correction (department). The defendant, William B. Coleman, is a sentenced prisoner, under the care of the department. He was convicted, after a jury trial, of sexual assault in a spousal relationship and unlawful restraint in the first degree. In May, 2005, he was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment, execution suspended after eight years. His maximum discharge date is December 30, 2012."

"On January 9, 2008, the plaintiff filed a verified complaint, seeking both a temporary and permanent injunction to allow the department to force-feed the defendant. On January 14 and 23, 2008, the court held an evidentiary hearing on the application for a temporary injunction. At the conclusion of the evidence, the court heard oral argument from counsel for each party and, because of the exigent circumstances, issued an order orally. The court issued a temporary injunction authorizing the department to provide the defendant with intravenous fluids or nasogastric feeding and other necessary health care measures, even by means of reasonable force, and enjoining the defendant from interfering with same. The court's findings and reasoning were deferred to this subsequent written decision."

"Nasogastric/Orogastric Tube Placement Indications: * Pre-term: immature suck swallow reflex * Neurological disease: impaired sucking reflex * Respiratory support: increased tachypnea with risk of aspiration * Gastric decompression * NEC * Abdominal surgery"

"Ducate has experience with hunger strikes, and ending them, on six occasions in Texas. She indicated that the preferred means of feeding an inmate on a hunger strike is to sedate the prisoner, insert a nasogastric tube into his stomach, via the nose and throat, and then pipe nourishing liquid directly into the stomach. It is not a medically difficult procedure, and, in her experience, inmates who are so fed begin to eat normally soon thereafter. On the basis of her experience with hunger strikes in Texas, she believes that such incidents have a serious and detrimental effect on the other inmates. In her experience, inmates look to the department for their care and would be shocked if an inmate was allowed to kill himself without intervention. She adds that a hunger strike has a detrimental impact on prison safety and security. In this case, where the defendant is in the infirmary full-time, it leads directly to mentally ill prisoners being transferred to other facilities, away from treatment teams familiar with them, because this inmate is taking an otherwise available bed for his self-induced hunger strike."

"It is critical that relevant eating disorder services prioritise the use of psychological interventions, and alternatives to CNF interventions under manual restraint where practically possible, given the highly distressing impact this practice may have on both nursing staff and patients. This can include offering a range of psychological interventions (e.g., art, family, individual and group therapy, etc) and dietary choices to patients (e.g., diverse food types, liquid supplements, etc), with such options frequently being re-communicated to patients who refuse them. The provision of staff training in communication and trauma-informed approaches may help nursing staff develop improved therapeutic relationships with patients (Maguire & Taylor, 2019), which in turn may have an impact on patients’ receptiveness towards staff support, their willingness to accept dietary intake, and in turn, their recovery from AN (Sly et al., 2013). CNF interventions under manual restraint should only be used as a last resort after exhaustive unsuccessful attempts have been made to offer oral dietary intake to patients, and there is a clinical need for feeding. This is particularly important for patients who present with ongoing refusal of significant dietary intake, where there may be a risk of the habitual use of manual restraint for CNF as a first resort intervention rather than a last resort. The findings of this study can be used as a useful source of information for relevant eating disorder services, to illustrate the potential adverse physical, psychological and interpersonal challenges that administering manual restraint for CNF of patients with AN, could pose to their nursing staff. The findings from this study could also be used as a reference for manual restraint for CNF training programmes to highlight the challenges this practice may pose to trainees."

"The participants in this study were recruited from a single inpatient eating disorder service in the UK, meaning that their experiences are likely to have been specific to this service. Caution is thus needed when transferring the findings of this study to other inpatient eating disorder settings. Further research exploring the phenomenon of CNF under manual restraint within different inpatient eating disorder services would be valuable in clarifying the extent to which the experience described in this study is common. The first author [MK] had lived experience of administering manual restraint for CNF of patients with AN, and conducted all interviews and performed data analysis. Although he maintained a descriptive phenomenological stance throughout, kept a reflexive diary, and made revisions to the analysis following discussions with [JM] and [NS] who both had no lived experience of manual restraint, his lived experience is likely to have had some influence on the analysis. However, we employed member checking to improve credibility, and all our participants expressed that the analysis had accurately captured their experiences. Notwithstanding, it may be beneficial for future research exploring staff’s experiences of CNF under manual restraint to be conducted by researchers who do not have lived experience of this practice, in order to reduce potential bias. The participants in this study were nursing assistants and thus were not registered nurses. Consideration thus needs to be taken into account of how this participant group may differ to registered nurses, for example, in their training, experience, duties and levels of responsibility. Although the majority of our participants were educated to degree or masters level in related subjects such as Psychology and Biology, and were supervised by registered mental health nurses (so it is likely that they possessed adequate clinical knowledge and skills), the aforementioned points still need to be taken into consideration when transferring the findings of this study to other inpatient eating disorder settings. Participants all volunteered to participate in this study. Therefore, they were self-selected. Consequently, the participants may have potentially represented those who were more vocal or those with more negative or positive experiences. This needs to be taken into consideration when interpreting the findings of this study."

"To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore nursing assistants’ experiences of administering manual restraint for CNF of patients with AN, and makes a substantial contribution to the limited literature on this practice. The findings highlight that the use of manual restraint for CNF of young persons with AN is a highly physically and emotionally distressing practice for nursing assistants. It is therefore important that sufficient supervision, support and training is made available to staff working in these settings."

"In light of the findings of this study, it is crucial that eating disorder services providing CNF under manual restraint sufficiently support their frontline nursing staff. Support can include the implementation of policies ensuring that manual restraints are spread out fairly between nursing staff, so that the same staff members are not repeatedly involved in manual restraint incidents. Support can also include, access to adequate manual restraint training and refresher training, access to adequately sized and ventilated ward areas/rooms for administering manual restraint for CNF, and access to sufficient supervision, post-restraint debriefing, reflective sessions, and talking therapy. Under the close working between psychiatrists, physicians and anaesthetists, it would also be reasonable for relevant eating disorder services to consider the supplementary risk-assessed use of chemical restraint (e.g., oral and parenteral benzodiazepines and oral olanzapine) and mechanical restraint (e.g., restraining belts and soft cuffs) in extreme cases where patients present with ongoing extreme levels of physical aggression and resistance to staff during manual restraints for CNF (Ridley & Leitch, 2019; Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2012, 2014). The aforementioned points are particularly important given the risk of burnout, compassion fatigue and physical injury which may lead to high staff turnover and sickness, and poor standards of care if left unresolved."

"Eating disorder services that provide CNF under manual restraint as an intervention need to ensure that their frontline nursing staff have access to sufficient support, supervision and training at a minimum, given the adverse physical and psychological staff outcomes that may result from this practice. Such eating disorder services also need to have policies in place that ensure that manual restraints for CNF procedures are spread out fairly amongst staff, especially in services in which this intervention is frequently used."

"Nasogastric tubes should be used preferentially except under conditions below where orogastric tubes may need to be placed: *Nasal prong CPAP *Choanal atresia *Respiratory distress respirations >60bpm grunting recession *Babies with an oxygen requirement *Nasal trauma *Cranio-facial anomalies"

"The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore nursing assistants’ experiences of administering manual restraint for CNF of young persons with AN. The findings paint a physically and emotionally distressing picture of the participants’ experiences and provide valuable insight into the experience of applying manual restraint for CNF of patients with AN. It is clear from the analysis that administering manual restraint for CNF of young persons with AN was a distressing practice for nursing assistants. The practice elicited numerous unpleasant emotions including anxiety, guilt and anger, and a small number of participants described becoming emotionally sensitised to the practice over time. Although the majority of participants expressed becoming emotionally desensitised to the manual restraint procedure, their accounts were often contradictory, suggesting that they had not necessarily become desensitised to the practice. These findings are in line with that of previous studies of staff’s manual restraint experiences in both child and adolescent, and adult consumer settings, which have also highlighted the experience of distress and numerous unpleasant emotions as a result of administering manual restraint (e.g., Bigwood & Crowe, 2008; Bonner et al., 2002; Chapman et al., 2016; Lombart et al., 2019; Sequeira & Halstead, 2004; Steckley & Kendrick, 2008; Svendsen et al., 2017; Wilson et al., 2017). It is not surprising that the theme “Importance of coping” was extracted from the analysis, given the illustrated adverse physical and psychological staff consequences that could result from applying manual restraint for CNF of young persons. The majority of nursing assistants described consciously detaching themselves from manual restraint incidents as a means of coping with the distress it elicited. Detaching oneself appeared to serve a protective function for participants, somewhat safeguarding them against the experience of distressing emotions; this is in line with the findings of previous studies in both child and adolescent, and adult consumer settings which have highlighted how some staff “switch off” their feelings or “temporarily suspend” their ability to empathise with patients during manual restraint incidents (Lombart et al., 2019; Sequeira & Halstead, 2004). Talking with colleagues and young persons who were further in their recovery were also cited by nursing assistants as coping strategies. These strategies appeared to help nursing assistants regulate their emotions through humour (e.g., “banter”), and through cathartic processes (e.g., “venting out”). Staff participants from previous studies of manual restraint within adult mental health settings have similarly highlighted the importance of colleague support in coping with restraint use (Bigwood & Crowe, 2008; Bonner et al., 2002; Sequeira & Halstead, 2004). However, this finding has not been explicitly reflected in studies within child and adolescent settings (e.g., Lombart et al., 2019; Steckley & Kendrick, 2008; Svendsen et al., 2017)."

"WASHINGTON -- The US military said yesterday that a long-running hunger strike among detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison underwent a very significant increase" starting on Christmas Day, more than doubling the number of prisoners who are protesting their indefinite detention without trial by refusing to eat. A bloc of 46 prisoners began refusing meals on Dec. 25, the military said, bringing the total number of participants in the hunger strike to 84. A spokesman at the base said yesterday that 32 of the longer-term strikers have been hospitalized and are being force-fed through nasal tubes and the rest are under close medical observation. The numbers had more or less stayed at the same levels -- in the mid to high 30s -- for several weeks," said Army Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Martin, a spokesman for the prison. Then we had this very significant increase in the number of hunger strikers all of a sudden.""

"Early histories of the suffrage movement present a more sympathetic picture of prison life than many subsequent accounts. Metcalfe, for example, writing in 1917, speaks of the “scenes of horror which had taken place in Holloway and other prisons ... in the unavailing effort to govern women against their consent”. However, it is the history written by the constitutional suffragist, Ray Strachey, a member of the NUWSS and hostile to the WSPU, that became the influential text. Strachey blames the WSPU women themselves for the treatment they received... Unwilling to acknowledge the hunger strike as a political tool, Strachey comments how the suffragettes, once in prison, ceased to be militant and created a number of protests including the refusal to eat food. “Forcible feeding was tried in vain”, she continues; “the prisoners struggled so violently against it that the process became actually dangerous, and the prison officials were obliged to let them starve till they came to the edge of physical collapse, and then to let them go”. In spite of the severe pain and damage to health which the process involved, “scores of suffragettes adopted it ... The officials tried everything they could think of in vain ...”. This picture of irrational women, deliberately seeking their own torture was eagerly seized upon by male historians who sought to ridicule the WSPU and its politics. George Dangerfield’s The Strange Death of Liberal England, first published in 1935, discusses the suffragette movement as... a form of “pre-war lesbianism” of “daring ladies”... Dangerfield too presents the suffragettes as fanatical women who chose the hardships of prison life in a sado-masochistic way ... “How can one avoid the thought”, he questions, “that they sought these sufferings with an enraptured, a positively unhealthy pleasure?” If the victim does not resist, “forcible feeding is no more than extremely unpleasant. But the suffragettes were determined to resist”. In view of the fact that Dangerfield’s account contained no footnotes whatsoever to primary sources to support his claims, it is incredulous that his analysis was received so enthusiastically and became so influential. The Times and Tribune, for example, hailed it as “brilliant”... Thus the scene of the drama is set and the props are changed only with slight variations. Roger Fulford in 1957... mocked their prison experiences, claiming that solitary confinement in prison was “not always unwelcome to adults”. Furthermore, although “forcible feeding is a disgusting topic ... it was not dangerous ... [It] is of course a familiar form of treatment in lunatic asylums”. While Andrew Rosen is much more sympathetic to the women prisoners, he too, in a matter of fact way speaks of how forcible feeding involved mouths being prised open, lacerations, phlegm, vomiting, pain in various organs, loss of weight “and so on”..."

"By far the most prevalent finding in this study concerned the adverse physical outcomes that pervaded nursing assistants’ experiences of administering manual restraint for CNF of young persons with AN. Nursing assistants were subjected to frequent physical aggression by some young persons, they sustained physical injuries from being physically abused and from executing manual restraints, and they were often physically exhausted from applying manual restraint, typically multiple times during each shift. These findings are in line with previous studies of manual restraint within adult consumer settings which have highlighted the commonality of staff injuries during manual restraint use (Chapman et al., 2016; Lancaster et al., 2008; Southcott & Howard, 2007; Wilson et al., 2017), the physical exhaustion associated with administering manual restraint (Hawkins et al., 2005), and the patient physical aggression staff may be subjected to during manual restraint incidents (Wilson et al., 2017). However, with the exception of one study which reported staff physical exhaustion (Lombart et al., 2019), these findings have not been reflected in previous studies of manual restraint within child and adolescent settings. An important finding in this study concerned the interpersonal challenges that the majority of nursing assistants reported experiencing including staff conflict, and feelings of pressure and responsibility. In almost all cases, the former and latter experiences were associated with manual restraint performance, that is, the nursing assistants’ effectiveness at executing their designated manual restraint positions. Although these findings have not been explicitly reflected in previous studies of staff manual restraint experience, two of the participant extracts in one study within an adult mental health setting, were illustrative of the feelings of pressure and responsibility described by participants in this study (e.g., “they were all there watching, and I am thinking Oh God, have I done this right”; Bigwood & Crowe, 2008, p. 219)."

"Dec. 30, 2005 – At least 46 people held at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba detention camp joined a disputed number of fellow detainees already refusing food in protest of their indefinite detention last week, the Department of Defense said in a statement yesterday. The announcement puts the official number of prisoners still fasting at 84. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and other humanitarian groups maintain that the real number of detainees refusing food could be much higher, a contention that is impossible to verify because the prison facility is closed to nearly all visitors. Two months after the hunger strike began, CCR and other detainee lawyers put the number who have been involved in the fast at over 200. But the military told The NewStandard that the number topped off at 131 and had dropped to about 26 in October. In a recent statement released by the Southern Command, the military said the number of participants fluctuated with the anniversary of the September 11 attacks and with the arrival of detainee lawyers, possibly accounting for the discrepancies between the two sides. "This technique [hunger striking] is consistent with Al-Qaeda training and reflects detainee attempts to elicit media attention and bring pressure on the United States government to release them," the statement added. The new hunger strikers refused food on Christmas day, according to the military, and joined a five-month fast kept up by detainees to draw attention to what they, human rights groups and their lawyers say are inhumane conditions outlawed by international accords and domestic law. The renewed strike comes amid accusations from the United Nations that long-term hunger striking detainees have been treated cruelly. According to UN torture investigator Manfred Nowak, prison guards and doctors involved in force-feeding some of the prisoners did so with particular zealousness, causing an unspecified number to bleed and vomit. Nowak was among the investigators who had previously turned down an invitation to visit the camp, citing access restrictions imposed by the US. Thirty-two hunger strikers have been hospitalized and force-fed through nasal tubes, a prison camp spokesperson told the Boston Globe. In late October, US District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the Defense Department to notify the lawyers of prisoners it intends to force-feed before doing so."

"Six weeks into his hunger strike, Israel's parliament passed a law permitting the force-feeding of prisoners in order to keep them alive. Allan might have become a test case for the law, but doctors made it clear they would not participate, calling it unethical medical treatment. "It's like rape," says Yoel Donshin, a retired anesthesiologist and a member of Physicians for Human Rights. "You will ask a physician to rape a patient for treatment? This is unacceptable." Donshin doesn't believe Israeli politicians who supported the law want to save the lives of prisoners. "They do not care for the welfare of the prisoners," he says. "They just want him not to become a symbol or martyr.""

"The truth of the matter is that there was a massive vacuum left in rural safety when the commando system was disbanded under the then minister of defence, Lekota, and we were told there was going to be a new system, but his new system never arrived"

"I have asked Secretary of State to closely study the South African land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers"

"We believe there are important reasons why the US should take a stance on what is happening in South Africa"

"There is a very clear upward variance in farm attacks and farm murders after high-profile incidents of hate speech"

"Our analysis of five incidents of hate speech from high political leaders against farmers indicated that farm murders in the months following these incidents increased by an average of 74.8%"

"There is a climate in which violence towards farmers is being romanticized by politicians"

"There are no killings of white farmers in South Africa"

"I do think on the information that I've seen, people do need help, and they need help from a civilized country like ours"

"The farmers live in fear, because being a farmer in South Africa is the most dangerous occupation in the world"

"Every time I read of a cruel farm attack, my genes rebel, my memory cells kick in and I feel angry and despondent"

"If you look at the footage and read the stories,you hear the accounts, it's a horrific circumstance they face"

"We need for these officers to be specially trained to work in hotspot areas. We find many times that court cases are often thrown out because of poor (police) investigations"

"Kill the boer (farmer)"

"A farmer has 4.5 times more chance of being murdered in South Africa, than an average South African. That means a farmer is three times more likely to be murdered in South Africa than a police officer in this country. So farmers have by far the most dangerous job of all people in this country, at the moment. We cannot allow this to continue the way it is"

"I’ll be so bold to take what they have left. The cry of “Talbot” serves me for a sword; For I have loaden me with many spoils, Using no other weapon but his name."

"Our greedy seamen rummage every hold, Smile on the booty of each wealthier chest; And, as the priests who with their gods make bold, Take what they like, and sacrifice the rest."

"We may as bootless spend our vain command Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil As send precepts to the leviathan To come ashore."

"Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage, And purchase friends, and give to courtesans, Still revelling like lords till all be gone."

"What does torture have in common with genocide, slavery and wars of aggression? They are all “jus cogens.” That’s Latin for “higher law” or “compelling law.” This means that under international law, no country can ever pass a law that allows torture. There can be no immunity from criminal liability for violation of a “jus cogens” prohibition. The United States has always prohibited torture — in our Constitution, laws, executive orders, judicial decisions and treaties. When we ratify a treaty, it becomes part of US law under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture,” [the United Nations] Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the US ratified, states unequivocally: Torture is considered a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, also ratified by the United States. Geneva classifies grave breaches as war crimes. The US War Crimes Act and 18 USC, sections 818 and 3231, punish torture, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and inhuman, humiliating or degrading treatment. And the Torture Statute criminalizes the commission, attempt, or conspiracy to commit torture outside the United States."

"Despite the promises made after World War II to eliminate the commission of atrocities, crimes against humanity persist with horrifying ubiquity. Yet the absence of a consistent definition and uniform interpretation of crimes against humanity has made it difficult to establish the theory underlying such crimes and to prosecute them in particular cases. In the 1990s, several ad hoc international criminal tribunals were established to respond to the commission of atrocity crimes, including crimes against humanity, in specific regions of the world in conflict. Building on this legacy, in 1998 a new institution—the International Criminal Court (ICC) — was established to take up the task..."

"UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect works to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity....Crimes against humanity have not yet been codified in a dedicated treaty of international law, unlike genocide and war crimes, although there are efforts to do so. Despite this, the prohibition of crimes against humanity, similar to the prohibition of genocide, has been considered a peremptory norm of international law, from which no derogation is permitted and which is applicable to all States."

"Recently, hundreds of PBS stations around the United States were scheduled to broadcast a powerful new Frontline documentary: One Day in Gaza. But viewers tuning in found that it had been replaced... The documentary was to be aired on the one-year anniversary of events that took place on May 14, 2018 [in the Gaza Strip near the Gaza-Israel border] when tens of thousands of men, women, and children in Gaza gathered with the intention of deploying the tactics Gandhi had used in freeing India from British control... Palestinians months earlier had announced their plan for a mass, peaceful demonstration in which Gazans would march for an end to Israel’s crippling 12-year blockade and, especially, for their right to return to homes stolen by Israel... Palestinians’ right to return to their homes and ancestral land is well established in international law. Israel had responded by immediately deploying a hundred snipers. In the first seven weekly marches, Israeli forces killed about 50 of the marchers and injured over 7,000. During the 8th march on May 14, the day depicted in the film, Israeli forces killed 60 more and shot 1,000 – an average of one person every 30 seconds."

"At their debate, Biden confronted Sanders about his praise for Fidel Castro’s literacy campaign after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Sanders replied that he opposed authoritarian governments but “it is incorrect to say they never do anything positive.” He cited China’s reduction in poverty... Biden said it’s one thing to occasionally mention something positive a country has done, but, he added, “the idea of praising a country that is violating human rights…” It is unlikely Biden was referring to the United States, whose officials are being investigated by the International Criminal Court for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the “war on terror.”"

"[Fatou]Bensouda (the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor since June 2012) found the alleged crimes by the CIA and U.S. military “were not the abuses of a few isolated individuals,” but were “part of approved interrogation techniques in an attempt to extract ‘actionable intelligence’ from detainees.” ... The Pretrial Chamber agreed with Bensouda that there were reasonable grounds to believe that, pursuant to a U.S. policy, members of the CIA had committed war crimes. They included torture and cruel treatment, and outrages upon personal dignity, as well as rape and other forms of sexual violence against those held in detention facilities in the territory of States Parties to the Rome Statute, including Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania."

"After the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) found a reasonable basis to believe that U.S. military and CIA leaders committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, Team Trump threatened to ban ICC judges and prosecutors from the U.S. and warned it would impose economic sanctions on the Court if it launched an investigation..."

"A war crimes complaint has been filed against President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump adviser Jared Kushner in the International Criminal Court (ICC).... The complaint, filed by Middlesex University law professor William Schabas on June 30 on behalf of four Palestinians who live in the West Bank, states “there is credible evidence” that Trump, Netanyahu and Kushner “are complicit in acts that may amount to war crimes relating to the transfer of populations into occupied territory and the annexation of the sovereign territory of the State of Palestine.” Under article 15 of the ICC’s Rome Statute, any individual, group or organization can bring a complaint to the Office of the Prosecutor. ... Schabas’ complaint comes on the heels of unusual moves last month from the Trump administration, which declared a “national emergency” in June in an effort to shield U.S. and Israeli officials from ICC accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity."

"The truly distinguishing element of crimes against humanity is the fact that they are part of a State plan or policy rather than that they are widespread or systematic... crimes against humanity were originally designed to capture crimes of State that went unpunished precisely because the State was complicit in them. It was a way of addressing State crimes, and not perverse individuals."

"The story starts March 18, 2019, in a big Air Force combat operations center in Al Udeid in Qatar. And there we have, it almost looks like mission command for NASA. You have banks of computers, big screens, all of them watching the air war against the Islamic State... on this day, a lot of people in the command center are watching a drone that was flying up overhead. Now, what they saw was a field that was just littered with a tangle of cars and makeshift tents of debris of the leftovers from weeks of combat. But also within there was a lot of people. And the drone hovered over and focused in on a group of women and children who had found refuge down by the river against a steep sand bank. The drone, it lingered for several minutes, slowly circling with its cameras focused on these folks, either sleeping or just laying down low to take cover from whatever combat might be coming. And the people in the operation center were calmly watching this when, suddenly... an American F-15 attack jet came right through and dropped a large bomb dead center into this group of women and children... killing nearly all of them."

"In the last days of the battle against the Islamic State in Syria, when members of the once-fierce caliphate were cornered in a dirt field next to a town called Baghuz, a U.S. military drone circled high overhead, hunting for military targets. But it saw only a large crowd of women and children huddled against a river bank. Without warning, an American F-15E attack jet streaked across the drone’s high-definition field of vision and dropped a 500-pound bomb on the crowd, swallowing it in a shuddering blast. As the smoke cleared, a few people stumbled away in search of cover. Then a jet tracking them dropped one 2,000-pound bomb, then another, killing most of the survivors....a legal officer flagged the strike as a possible war crime that required an investigation. But at nearly every step, the military made moves that concealed the catastrophic strike. The death toll was downplayed... Reports were delayed, sanitized and classified. The Defense Department’s independent inspector general began an inquiry, but the report containing its findings was stalled and stripped of any mention of the strike. United States-led coalition forces bulldozed the blast site... Civilian observers who came to the area of the strike the next day described finding piles of dead women and children."