AIH PROTESTS AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS' BREACHES IN UNITED STATES

ZAGREB, Oct 25 (Hina) - Amnesty International Croatia (AIH) on Monday staged a peaceful rally, in front of the premises of the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb, protesting against the violations of human rights in the United States. Protesters handed over to embassy staff a request with a petition that Washington ratify an agreement on the ban on the production and usage of land mines. AIH commenced this campaign a year ago with delivering a petition against sentencing persons under age to death, and we shall complete it with the requests that the United States ratify the agreement on land mines ban, said Ines Bulic, AIH co-ordinator for campaigns, adding that the petition in favour of the ratification would be forwarded to U.S. President Bill Clinton. A score of protesters were carrying banners with a slogan "Violations of Human Rights in the Heart of Democracy," and a list of names of seventy odd juveniles sentenced to death in the United States who are awaiting execution. Bulic said the United States, one of the biggest manufacturers and exporters of land mines in the world, is among few countries such as Russia and China, which have not signed the agreement on land mines ban so far. The petition on this matter includes 2,000 signatures collected in Zagreb in the last week. The treaty on the land mines ban was signed by 122 countries in Ottawa in December 1997. An AIH leader, Edin Tuzlak, said each request of AIH representatives to meet U.S. Ambassador William Montgomery in order to acquaint him with documents on human rights' breaches in his country, has been either rejected or ignored. The Croatian branch of Amnesty International organised Monday's protest on the occasion of the completion of a one-year campaign of Amnesty International against violations of human rights in the United States. (hina) mm ms