"Here's How It all Came About" attempts to place my own personal situation into historical context. I am a non-violent human rights defender who participated in a demonstration against American military aid to El Salvador sponsored by CISPES (the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) and has been "targeted" ever since. I am a whistleblower who informed the New York State Special Prosecutor in 1985 about corrupt connections between my employer (the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities) and brutal police who had used electric stun-guns to torture marijuana suspects.

My former employers and their associates have subjected me to a retaliatory campaign of slander, attack with radiation, terrorism, mental torture, and more. My human rights charges against the United States, for which no remedy is available under state, federal, or international law, are set forth in my letter to Assistant Secretary of State John Shattuck (no response ever received).

For more than two decades, I have been a "non-person," deliberately anathematized by government authorities, denied the equal protection of the laws, ignored or rejected by all whom I have approached for help (see "A Nation In Denial"). I am everywhere treated with patronizing amusement or suspicion and hostility.

I have attempted three times to obtain political asylum in Europe, only to be returned three times against my will to the land that I tried to flee. "Hard Realities" presents an account of my European ordeal.

I am "hobbled" (like a recaptured slave) -- confined to a very limited range of activity. I maintain that officials of the United States and the State of New York have systematically attacked me with radiation, poisoned me with "non-lethal" chemical and biological weapons, and corrupted or intimidated my physicians to prevent accurate diagnosis and effective treatment (see "Marks of Torture"). Though permitting more mobility than in the past, my physical condition still generally confines me to my community.

In October, 2003, an ultrasound scan and an MRI with contrast are said to have revealed a mass in my right kidney described as "highly suspicious" for cancer. This may or may not be the case. Physicians have lied to me in the past, claiming that 8% lymphocytes, relative to total white blood cells, is a normal test result. Removal of my better kidney would doom me to a lifetime of dialysis, preventing any further attempt to escape from the USA. I would not consent to surgery, fearing that I might not survive. Considering other health issues -- particularly the chronic infections for which my doctors will not (or dare not) provide curative treatment -- an open biopsy would involve the same degree of danger. Whatever the "mass" is, I am treating it myself with medicinal mushrooms (Reishi, Shiitake, and Cordyceps).

I remain unable to obtain effective advocacy or the equal protection of the laws at municipal, state, federal and international levels. My complaints against Denmark and the Netherlands before the UN Human Rights Committee and the Committee Against Torture are consistently stonewalled. Despite many attempts (see my chronology of communications), I have not been able to obtain any information whatever concerning the reception, admissibility, or processing of my own communications. The word "coverup" is disgracefully appropriate.

In general, these "committees of last resort" have compiled a shameful record of nonfeasance, probable misfeasance, and possible malfeasance regarding individual complaints. My page titled "Neglected UN Human Rights Agendas", in addition to other information, includes links to the UN's own statistical tables for the HRC and the CAT. These speak for themselves.

My latest hard-copy letter to the Human Rights Committee has prompted no response.

My most recent letter to the Committee Against Torture has likewise gone unanswered.

My most recent e-mails to the UNHCHR Petitions Team and the UNHCHR Secretariat came back to me: "not listed in public Name & Address Book." I don't know whether others would get the same result.

The Human Rights Committee met in New York from 12 March to 30 March, 2007 (Session #89). No action was taken with respect to my communications. This body's next scheduled meeting (Session #90) will be in Geneva from 9 July, 2007 to 27 July, 2007. Will the Committee see that I am returned to a place of safety while I am still alive?

• To demand that the Human Rights Committee conduct a special session to deal with individual complaints.

• To demand an impartial review of all complaints found inadmissible.

• To demand that James Henry Graf's complaints against Denmark (filed in 1991) and the Netherlands (filed in 1996) be acknowledged, admitted, and processed immediately.

• To demand that the Committee, in consideration of the complainant's continued suffering and danger, CALL A HALT immediately, as its rules permit, in the case of James Henry Graf.

The Committee Against Torture met in Geneva from 30 April, 2007 to 18 May, 2007 (Session #38). CAT likewise took no action with respect to my complaint. The Committee's next scheduled meeting (Session #39) will be in Geneva from 5 November, 2007 to 23 November, 2007. Will the Committee at long last acknowledge reality and prevail upon Denmark and the Netherlands to make amends for their callous and illegal acts of refoulement?

• To demand a special session for the purpose of expeditiously processing all pending individual complaints.

• To demand an impartial review of all complaints found inadmissible.

• To demand that James Henry Graf's complaint against Denmark and the Netherlands (mailed from Denmark in 1991) receive immediate attention.

• To demand that the Committee invoke Rule 108.9, instructing Denmark and the Netherlands to "take steps to avoid a possible irreparable damage to the person or persons who claim to be victims(s) of the alleged violation."

Inquiries concerning complaints before the Human Rights Committee and the Committee Against Torture may be submitted to the Petitions Team: