Vietnam: Barriers to maternal healthcare for Vietnam's ethnic minorities

H'Mong women in a market in Cao Bang province

The birth rate in rapidly developing Vietnam has dropped in recent years while maternal health and antenatal standards have risen – albeit only for the dominant ethnic groups. Ethnic minorities mostly still give birth at home, without a healthcare worker or midwife, specialists say.

Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups, with the Kinh comprising more than 80 percent of the population of 85.8 million, according to government figures. They are the dominant ethnic group. A few others, such as the Tay and Hoa (ethnic Chinese), have similar standards of living and education.

But most other ethnic minorities - more than eight million people - live mostly in the mountainous and remote areas, and are economically disadvantaged. The poverty rate is 69.3 percent, compared with 23.11 percent for the majority Kinh and Chinese ethnic groups, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Maternal mortality rates vary widely across the country. In Cao Bang province, with a 98 percent ethnic minority population, there are 411 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, according to UNICEF. In Binh Duong province, near Ho Chi Minh City, the rate is less than one-tenth of that.

H’Mong struggles

Minorities such as the H’Mong mostly still give birth at home, and are far less likely to access healthcare, especially antenatal care, health specialists say.

The H’Mong, who make up less than 1 percent of the population, have much lower standards of living, and are often confined to remote areas, in the mountains.

Women “don’t know how to recognize problems and this may lead to obstetric emergencies”, said Nguyen Van Hai, manager of the Save Newborn Lives project at Save the Children.

Barriers to care cited by experts include a lack of confidence when it comes to accessing and dealing with the healthcare system and health workers, and poor fluency in Vietnamese.

In addition, H’Mong women traditionally give birth at home with their husbands or with traditional birth assistants (TBAs), who lack formal training.

The cost of healthcare is also prohibitive, including the US$10 to give birth at a health centre. “For ethnic minority groups, it's too much,” said Hai.

Hoa Binh leads the way

Since 2001, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has been working with local government in Hoa Binh province, 80km south of Hanoi, to improve the use of antenatal services among H’Mong communities.

UNFPA officials say visits by H’Mong women to two commune-level health centres have increased since 2001, and there has not been a maternal death since 2003.

Tran Thi Tuyet Minh, a government doctor who works with UNFPA, said 65 percent of her patients now are H’Mong or another minority, against 8-10 percent in 2001.

“Hoa Binh province achieved some results. However, we must try more,” she told IRIN.

The rise in attendance of H’Mong women at one commune-level health centre is partly thanks to one of the midwives being ethnic H’Mong. Patients are more apt to trust her as they share a culture and, more importantly, language. Many H’Mong girls do not complete middle school, or even attend primary school for more than a year or two. Poor education and lack of fluency in Vietnamese keep them confined to the house and fields.

“If it [the commune-level health centre] is run in a city way, rural people won’t go,” said Duong Van Dat, national programme officer with UNFPA’s reproductive health unit in Hanoi. “It must be culturally adapted to needs.”

The Hoa Binh programme is still something of a pilot project, but Dat said there were hopes the lessons learned could be replicated and applied to other areas, even though it is near the capital and far northern mountainous areas, such as Ha Giang and Cao Bang province, might provide different challenges.

Disclaimer:This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States.
Photo: Copyright IRIN

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Indigenous Peoples: Native American tribe creates prized baskets

Native Americans in the United States have been weaving baskets for centuries. Archeologists have discovered baskets that are thousands of years old. They were used to hold food and other supplies, and for sacred rituals. But many baskets made today are for decoration. The Tohono O'odham in (the southwest state of) Arizona live on the second largest reservation in the U.S. They weave baskets that are prized for their quality.

Rose Martin has inherited a family tradition. "My mother's the one who taught me how to do basketry when I was about 10 years old and gave me that gift to weave," she said.

She and other weavers on the Tohono O'odham reservation in Arizona create some of the best Native American baskets. The intricate, tightly woven baskets feature the colors of plants and grasses in the region.

Rose has won awards for her baskets. She weaves in the same style as her ancestors who lived in the desert and harvested fruit and vegetables.

Some of her baskets have traditional designs, while others contain original patterns.

"And I put a butterfly on here because I feel everything that a woman does is always so beautiful," she explains.

Rose begins by weaving grasses into a round base, called a spoke. Then she fills in the sides of the basket with different weaves and patterns.

Before that, she goes to her garden and gathers devil's claw, a plant she weaves into her baskets. Devil's Claw and other plants used in basket making were once plentiful on the reservation. But now they are hard to find. So Rose goes to homes outside the reservation where she can pick a plant called bear grass for free.

"I just go up to the resident, and I ask if I can gather bear grass. They say 'Sure, why not, I've been trying to get rid of those weeds.' So I pick it and practically clean their yard," Martin said.

Basket weaving for the Tohono O'odham is more than art. There's a shortage of jobs on the reservation, so it's a way for people to support themselves.

Rose says she will sell the basket she's weaving for more than $100 and the larger, more elaborate baskets may bring in more than $1,000.

Rose has 10 grown children and says the money was especially important when they were young. "I weave at night and what I make was to pay for baby food or whatever," she said.

Her baskets are sold at this cultural center on the reservation. Rose's daughter Clovia works at the center and says the traditional Man in the Maze design is popular. "It's a way of life to us. From the center is when you are in the womb," she states, "And as you are going out, it is the way of life, your struggles, and what you have to go through in life. And when you pass on, you go to our creator."

To Rose, basket weaving is a way to preserve the culture and traditions of the Tohono O'odham. She hopes Clovia and her 6 other daughters will follow in her footsteps.

"To keep basketry alive, and I hope they carry it on for my great grandchildren too," Martin said.

By Deborah Block
Published with the permission of Voice of America

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Balkans: Almost 15 years since Bosnian war ended, but debate over what exactly happened is far from over

Its almost fifteen years since the Bosnian war ended, but the debate over what exactly happened is far from over.

The ethnic conflict claimed thousands of lives - and determining just how many is the subject of heated debate among survivors on both sides. As RTs Paula Slier reports, there's little sign of reconciliation in sight.

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Security: War on terror - or war on human rights?

The world is becoming unsafer by the day. Before the end of November, half a billion new terrorists will be added to the list kept by the US government.

On November 30, one day before the Lisbon Treaty is scheduled to take effect, the ministers of justice of the EU's 27 member states will sign yet another security agreement with the US. It is supposed to be an essential weapon in the global “War on Terror” the US claims to be fighting.

Under the new agreement, the US government will get access to all the banking data of all Europeans. This means that from December 2009, every single financial transaction done by every single European banking customer will come under the scrutiny of the US authorities. Henceforth, whenever the US government suspects a European “citizen” of supporting terrorism, it can request all his or her banking data, including all bank statements as well as any and all personal data connected with the account.

No doubt, many people will fail to see much harm in this, because “they have nothing to hide.” But such an attitude is based on the assumption the US is governed by benign, rational individuals, controlled by an elaborate system of checks and balances.

In fact, this is obviously not the case. If any conclusion can be drawn from recent history, it is that the US government does not act benignly, neither towards it own citizens nor to those of other nations. Especially not toward those of other nations, one should say. US policies are vindictive, vicious, ruthless, deceitful, destructive and murderous. Since the end of World War II, the number of people killed worldwide by the US government, directly or indirectly, runs in the millions. It is safe to say the US government finds itself in the same league as the Nazis and the Stalinists. And don't let anybody retort that the millions of victims of US violence have died to make the word safe for democracy, or that their deaths were somehow necessary or inevitable or some such nonsense.

Today, under the very eyes of an indifferent world, hundreds of innocent Afghans, Pakistanis and Iraqis are being slaughtered every day by US bullets, bombs and missiles, just like during the 1960s and 70s every day hundreds were being killed directly or indirectly by US violence in Indochina and Latin America.

Within a few weeks, US authorities will gain full access to some of the most private data of all inhabitants of the European Union and this should be cause for alarm. After all, from a moral point of view the EU leadership (and of the 27 member states) is just as evil and corrupt as the US government.

With the list of organizations that the US whimsically qualifies as terrorist constantly growing, the likelihood of a European “citizen” making a donation to such a group likewise increases. By the same token, the list of individuals the US has been putting on terrorist lists already runs in the millions. In fact, by employing the usual mix of lies, cajoling, blackmail and bullying in order to impose its paranoid rules on air traffic worldwide, the US government has already turned every airline passenger into a terrorist suspect.

Anybody who believes this is normal or acceptable should do some serious soul searching.

Heaven knows how the US has managed to persuade the Europeans to go along and sign the newest agreement. It is a mystery why the Europeans should have lent a willing ear at all to the US fairy tales about terrorism, because it means they will be sacrificing their sovereignty, or rather, what remains of it.

The only explanations one could possibly offer is that European politicians have no idea who they are dealing with, and are weak kneed. Or they are being blackmailed. There is no other logical explanation why European nations, some of them proud states with a long history of fiercely defending their sovereignty, would sign away their sovereign rights and hand them to a rogue state like the US.

Given that under previous agreements, European governments have already approved extraditing their own citizens to the US and given that all European governments collaborate with the secret CIA rendition flights taking kidnapped individuals to US-controlled or operated torture centers all over the world, all Europeans will soon be fair game.

The true purpose of the entire “War on Terror” can only be to terrorize peaceful, law-abiding citizens and to browbeat them in order to impose harmful legislation. For thousands of years governments have had to face underground opposition, some of it well-organized and with a propensity to violence. The best way to counter such a threat is to go about it in utter secrecy. Mind you, secret services are supposed to do their work in secret, so that no one will notice. Indeed that is what they have been doing throughout history in most of the world, especially in democratic countries. However, the US and its acolytes have been bombarding the world on a daily basis with alarmist fairy tales for almost a decade now. According to all official US reports, the increase of terrorism outpaces any efforts to combat it. However, despite having the biggest military and security budgets in history, with unlimited technological resources at its disposal and a staggering panoply of legal controls on every single activity by every single citizen, the US still claims to be losing the struggle.

This is clearly a lie. Because, whenever nations are losing a war, they will publicly deny this in the most emphatic manner. Conversely, when nations are claiming for years on end that they are losing, it has got to be be a lie. Therefore it can be safely said the “War on Terror” is a hoax.

The danger of the new agreement between the US and the EU is that nobody will know if what he or she is doing may land him in a US jail or in some distant torture center. Suppose you sympathize with a European group giving aid to the civilian victims of NATO bombing campaigns in Afghanistan. You buy a T-shirt for 20 Euros and you forget about it. Then the US government puts the group (whose T-shirt you are wearing) on the list of terror organizations and requests its banking details. As soon as the US government gets these, it has the names of everyone who has ever made donations to the group. Then your name appears and together with all the other names coming up, it is put on the terror suspect list. In the eyes of the US government, you have become a supporter of terrorism and an enemy of the (US) state. Now, nothing stands in the way of your being extradited to the US by your own (European) government. If you are lucky, that is. If not, you may end up in the worldwide US Gulag. You may get kidnapped and put on a rendition flight to a dungeon in Uzbekistan or some other hell hole, where you will be tortured in the most horrible way. Neither your government nor the European Commission will lift a finger to prevent this.

You can be sure this sort of thing is going to happen. Not systematically, but it will inevitably. Soon, rumors will start circulating, and fear will come to dominate the everyday lives of all EU citizens.

However there may be a lighter side to it all. Since your government no longer protects your life and liberty, but on the contrary has betrayed you and given the US (with its abysmal human rights record) the right to prosecute you on trumped up and false charges, you are no longer bound by any obligations to your government. It could mean, for instance, you now have sound legal grounds to stop paying taxes.

You have in fact been turned into a terrorist and an outlaw and you may thank the EU Commission and your national government for that. However, it may be a consolation to realize you are not alone. All the other 500 million inhabitants of the EU have become terrorists just like you.

Hans Vogel
Pravda ru

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Egypt: Egypt's poor face being buried alive

Amnesty International - The Egyptian authorities must take immediate and inclusive steps to protect Cairo's poorest inhabitants living in "unsafe areas" where they are at risk from rockslides and other dangers, Amnesty International said in a new report released on Tuesday.

"Thousands of Egypt's poor are trapped by poverty and neglect that could ultimately end in their deaths," said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa programme.

"The government must urgently address the risks faced by those living in areas designated as 'unsafe' and find solutions by consulting with those directly affected."

Amnesty International's report, Buried Alive; Trapped by Poverty and Neglect in Cairo's Informal Settlements, castigates the Egyptian authorities for failing to take effective steps to protect the residents of Al-Duwayqa, an informal settlement in Manshiyet Nasser in east Cairo, from the fatal rockslide that hit on 6 September 2008.

The report calls on the Egyptian authorities to alleviate the threats to lives in the 26 "unsafe areas" in Greater Cairo, and to protect the residents' rights to health and adequate housing. Even though the risk of a rockslide was well known, the government did not evacuate the impoverished residents before the 2008 disaster.

The authorities say 107 people were killed and 58 injured in the Al-Duwayqa rockslide, but survivors say the toll of casualties was higher and report that many family members are still missing. An official investigation into the rockslide disaster has yet to produce any findings.

"Denied an effective voice and largely ignored by those in power, many residents of Al-Duwayqa, and other 'unsafe areas' continue to live in fear on precarious hillsides or under high voltage power lines because they have nowhere else to go," said Malcolm Smart

Amnesty International called on the Egyptian authorities to investigate thoroughly the reasons why the Al-Duwayqa tragedy was not averted and to take the necessary steps to ensure that there can be no repetition.

"The government must develop a comprehensive programme of action to address the risks faced by those living in 'unsafe areas' and to uphold their rights to life, health and adequate housing," said Malcolm Smart. "In doing so, they must seek the active participation of the affected communities, and they must be prepared to provide temporary housing promptly to people needing to be evacuated because of immediate risks, as well as permanent housing."

After the rockslide, the Egyptian authorities moved quickly to identify other danger areas nearby. They demolished more than one thousand threatened homes and, within a month, rehoused more than 1,750 families - though without giving them legal tenure and leaving them liable to future eviction.

Other families were left homeless and the allocation of housing discriminated against women who were divorced or living apart from their husbands.

Some families were forcibly evicted from Al-Duwayqa and others from Establ Antar, an informal settlement in south Cairo. These evictions were mostly carried out in breach of procedural protections required under international human rights law, often with little warning and backed up by the presence of security forces.

Families from Establ Antar were relocated to a remote area in 6 October City, west of Giza, far from their places of work and were given no legal security of tenure.

"Slum dwellers describe a life characterized by deprivation, neglect, insecurity and the constant threat of forcible eviction," said Malcolm Smart. "The state must guarantee their right to adequate housing and put an end to forced evictions."

Twenty-six areas in Greater Cairo have been identified as "unsafe" by a government master plan to develop the city by 2050, but there appears to have been little or no consultation with the communities that will be affected. Residents of "unsafe areas" face a double threat: lack of safety and possible forced eviction.

"The tragedy in Al-Duwayqa was a disaster waiting to happen. And that was well known," said Malcolm Smart. "More could - more should - have been done to avert it and to prevent the loss of life."

"The Egyptian authorities owe it to both the victims and those who survived that awful morning, just as they owe it to others at risk, to ensure that there is no repetition and that the tragedy of Al-Duwayqa is not played out again in any of Cairo's other 'unsafe areas'. Egypt's poor should not have to live any longer with the threat of being buried alive."

Over a billion people throughout the world live in slums, and this number is increasing. As part of its Demand Dignity campaign, launched in May this year, Amnesty International is calling for governments globally to provide adequate housing for its residents.

Amnesty International's Demand Dignity campaign aims to end the human rights violations that drive and deepen global poverty. The campaign is mobilizing people all over the world to demand that governments, corporations and others who have power, listen to the voices of those living in poverty and recognise and protect their rights.

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Zimbabwe: Lawyers take to the streets to protest increasing intimidation

The Zimbabwean reports scores of lawyers gathered in Harare on Monday to protest the increasing intimidation tactics being used by the state against them, as they try to defend various human rights activists in the country.

The group of about 60 lawyers, dressed in their black gowns, braved the pouring rain in the capital to march to the office of Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa. The group had first attended Monday’s High Court proceedings, in support of their colleague Mordecai Mahlangu who was arrested two weeks ago on charges of interfering with the course of justice. Mahlangu was arrested after writing a letter to Attorney General Johannes Tomana, saying his client Peter Hitschmann had no evidence to offer in the treason trial against MDC Treasurer General Roy Bennett (photo).

From the High Court the lawyers marched to Chinamasa’s offices to hand over a petition, calling for an end to the ongoing harassment of lawyers and rights defenders alike.

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Gender Issues: Colombian women and girls are the resilient survivors of ongoing conflict

Refugees International (RI) - Displaced Colombian women and girls are the resilient survivors of the ongoing conflict inside the country. Frustrated by continued neglect from the authorities, displaced women's organizations successfully petitioned the Constitutional Court, which ordered the Colombian government to bring to justice perpetrators of sexual violence and devise programs attending to the protection and socio-economic needs of displaced women.

It is time for the government of Colombia to prioritize the implementation of the court orders. The U.S. government should take the opportunity of its close relationship with its Colombian counterpart to strongly encourage full compliance and provide help and resources to facilitate that task.

Policy Recommendations

- The Colombian government should fully comply with the Colombian Constitutional Court order on displaced women.

- The U.S. government should encourage its Colombian counterpart to prioritize implementation of the Constitutional Court rulings on displaced women.

- The U.S. government, together with other donors, should build the capacity of Colombia's Ombudsman Office section on women and children and strengthen the investigative capacity of the Prosecutor's Office for cases of sexual violence.

- The U.S. government, together with other donors, should support gender based violence programs that are integrated with income generation activities and sustained professional psychological support.

- USAID should develop a gender policy and require that its contractors comply with its terms. It also should support the expansion of the Casas de Justicia programs whilst improving their existing staff capacity and professionalism.

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Terrorism: Gen.Sarath Fonseka - a brilliant professional, but professionalism alone does not make a good leader

B.RAMAN See also: www.southasiaanalysis.org

The Khalistani terrorism in India and the terrorism of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka are two unique instances in the history of terrorism where the State prevailed over the terrorists without conceding their demands.

2. The threat faced by Sri Lanka was more complex and difficult to handle than the threat faced by India. Sri Lanka was confronted with a ruthless mix of a full-blown insurgency seeking territorial control and terrorism seeking to intimidate the civil society. The Khalistani terrorism was a purely terrorist movement with no mix of an insurgency.

3. The situation, which Sri Lanka faced, was similar to that faced by the US and other NATO forces and the Afghan National Army in Afghanistan. They have not yet been able to find an effective answer to the complex mix of insurgent and terrorist tactics used by the Neo Taliban.

4. It goes to the credit of the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism machinery of Sri Lanka that after having struggled against the LTTE for nearly 23 years till 2006, they were able to fashion an appropriate mix of tactics to prevail over the LTTE.

5. This mix had a number of components. The political component, which was handled by President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself, focussed on giving the security forces and the intelligence agencies the resources and capacities needed by them to prevail over the LTTE and at the same time, ensuring that the counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations of the security forces did not drive more Tamils into the arms of the LTTE.

6. The diplomatic component, which was handled by Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, ensured the diplomatic isolation of the LTTE. In fact, it was the success of the Sri Lankan diplomacy in getting the LTTE declared as a terrorist organisation by the European Union countries and in persuading the US, the EU countries and the Governments in South-East Asia to act energetically against the flow of money and weapons to the LTTE, which laid the foundation for the ultimate success of the Army on the ground.

7. If Sri Lankan diplomacy had not acted as energetically as it did in getting the sources of weapons supply to the LTTE choked off, the LTTE might not have collapsed as completely as it did.

8. It also goes to the credit of Rajapaksa and his Foreign Office that they realised the importance of India in any effective strategy to defeat the LTTE. China and Pakistan might have supplied arms and ammunition to the SL security forces, but what really helped the security forces was the assistance rendered by the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and intelligence to their SL counterparts in ensuring that the LTTE was not able to smuggle in fresh stocks of weapons from abroad. Another contribution made by the Government of India was in the handling of any political fall-out in Tamil Nadu to prevent any backlash against the Sri Lankan operations in Indian territory.

9. It is the political and diplomatic handling of the counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency campaign by Rajapaksa and his political aides such as his Foreign Minister and professional aides such as his brother Gothbaya Rajapaksa, who as the Defence Secretary was the Chief Co-ordinator, that paved the way for the ultimate success of the armed forces.

10. The Armed Forces fought bravely. The credit for working out a ground strategy, which will prevail against the LTTE, should go to Gen.Sarath Fonseka, the chief of the Army, who subsequently became the Chief of the Defence Staff after the victory over the LTTE. The victory of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces over the LTTE was even more remarkable than that of the Indian security forces over the Khalistani terrorists, who were as ruthless as the LTTE.

11. We were not able to neutralise the command and control and leadership of the Khalistani terrorists as completely as the Sri Lankan Armed Forces under the leadership of Fonseka were able to do in respect of the LTTE. In any history of counter-terrorism, the way the entire Sri Lankan counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency machinery under Rajapaksa fought against the LTTE and prevailed over it would form an important chapter.

12. In his newly-assumed post of the Chief of the Defence Staff, Fonseka would have been able to do a retrospective analysis of the entire evolution of the LTTE and the way different SL Governments had handled the threat in order to draw lessons for the future. Such an exercise would have been of immense benefit to his own country as well as to India and others who face similar problems.

13. instead of doing so, he has allowed his pique over perceived slights by the Government to get the better of him and has resigned from his post as the CDS after making a series of allegations against the Government. A perusal of his letter to Rajapaksa does not speak well of his intellectual maturity as an individual. He was a brilliant professional, but professionalism alone does not make a good leader.

14.Media reports say that he has developed political ambitions of contesting the next Presidential elections against Rajapaksa. He has every right to do so as a Sri Lankan citizen. Unfortunately, his letter to Rajapaksa does not bring out any latent political acumen in him. They only bring out his huge ego and his pique. The message which comes out of the letter is: " I am the super hero of the success against the LTTE. My role in the triumph has not been sufficiently recognised."

15. As one reads his letter, one's mind goes back to our triumph against Khalistani terrorism. The success was achieved when K.P.S.Gill was the Director-General of Police of Punjab. He has never projected himself as the super hero of the success. He is always the first to admit that the success of the Punjab Police under his leadership would not have been possible without the political leadership and guidance of Narasimha Rao as the Prime Minister and Beant Singh as the Chief Minister of Punjab, without the team work put in by the police, the armed forces, the intelligence agencies and the Foreign Office and without the co-operation of foreign intelligence agencies which gave a lot of valuable intelligence.

16. Punjab is the most important of our successes against terrorism and insurgency, but not the only one. We have had other successes in Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Kashmir.The professionals--- whether from the Armed Forces, the police or the intelligence agencies--- who were instrumental in making those successes possible, did not go around projecting themselves as super heroes. They recognised the role of others and maintained their sense of balance.

17. By failing to maintain his sense of balance and by allowing his pique to get the better of him, Fonseka has only devalued himself. The political forces in Sri Lanka which are exploiting his pique as a stick to beat Rajapaksa with are playing an unwise game. They may end up by diluting the professionalism of the SL Army. (17-11-2009)

The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai.

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Community: U.S. church group to build 50 houses in North Korea

The Fuller Center for Housing broke ground on an innovative housing project in the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea on November 11. The partnership with North Korea's Paektusan Academy of Architecture will build 50 new homes in a self-sustaining community at Osan-Ri in the Sunan District near Pyongyang.

There is a shortage of housing in North Korea caused in part by Typhoon Ewiniar, which destroyed more than 30,000 houses in July 2006. This initiative seeks to help alleviate the overcrowded housing conditions that have resulted in parts of the country.

The Paektusan Academy of Architecture will help manage the project. Professionals from the United States and North Korea will work together to develop house plans that are energy efficient and environmentally sensitive in their construction and maintenance.

David Snell, the president of The Fuller Center, traveled to Pyongyang for the groundbreaking event with LeRoy Troyer, Fuller Center board chair; Don Mosley, the founder of Jubilee Partners; and Dr. Han Park, professor of political science at the University of Georgia and an advocate of improving relations between North Korea and the United States.

"We may not change international relations by this venture, but we will provide the opportunity for Koreans and Americans to come together for good and to get to know one another as fellow travelers and trusted friends," said Snell.

The President of the Paektusan Academy said, "By building these houses together with our American friends we will begin to build trust. By building trust we can begin to make peace."

This initiative was born from conversations between Mosley and Professor Park about ways to create greater trust between Korea and the United States at the grassroots level. The project was among the last endorsed by Millard Fuller, founder of The Fuller Center for Housing and Habitat for Humanity, before his death in February. It will be funded privately by donations from the United States and Europe.

The Fuller Center for Housing is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide.

Source: The Fuller Center For Housing

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Middle East Conflict: Israel must end alleged torture of children - UN

Israel should end the blockade of Gaza, cease evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes, and ensure that the rights of children are respected and that all allegations of torture and ill-treatment are promptly investigated and perpetrators prosecuted, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an annual report released today.

“In particular, the Government of Israel should allow unimpeded access to Gaza for humanitarian aid and the non-humanitarian goods needed for the reconstruction of properties and infrastructure,” he writes in the report to the General Assembly on the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.

“Israel should also address effectively and immediately the water, sanitation and environmental crisis in Gaza,” he stressed, citing the devastating damage stemming from Israel’s military action against Hamas last winter and its blockade of many materials other than foodstuffs, medical supplies, stationery and some industrial or electrical appliances.

“Those heavy import restrictions, coupled with a near total prohibition on exports, have had a devastating effect on the Gaza economy. The blockade has also severely impaired the realization of a wide range of economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights.”

Mr. Ban says the reported ill-treatment of children includes beatings, being forced to stand or sit for long periods in extremely painful and harmful positions, in most cases with hands tied together and eyes blindfolded, threats of sexual abuse and hooding the head and face in a sack.

He cites one case documented by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in which a 14-year-old-boy from the village of Qatanna was arrested in March by soldiers after other children had thrown stones at an army vehicle. While being transferred to an Israeli military camp, soldiers slapped him several times, handcuffed and blindfolded him.

The boy stated that the handcuffs were too tight and caused him great pain and that the blindfold may have been coated in tear gas since his eyes were burning the entire time. After repeated appeals at the police station, a soldier noted the boy’s hands were turning blue and took off his handcuffs and blindfold. He was then subjected to interrogation for four hours, during which an interrogator beat his face and ears with the back of his hand, approximately 40 times.

“All parties to the conflict should abide scrupulously by their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” Mr. Ban writes in an overall recommendation, calling for all allegations to be investigated by credible, independent and transparent accountability mechanisms. “Equally crucial is upholding the right of victims to reparation.”

On the West Bank, he reiterates that the wall which Israel says it is building to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers and other attacks, should be dismantled where it is in occupied territory, in accordance with an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice.

Israel should also issue viable zoning plans and a less cumbersome process for issuing building permits in a non-discriminatory manner for all in East Jerusalem and other places in the West Bank. “Until such time, the evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes should cease,” Mr. Ban stresses. “Victims of forced evictions should also be afforded the possibility of effective redress. Punitive demolitions should cease immediately.”

In East Jerusalem alone from January to July 2009 at least 194 persons were forcibly displaced as a result of home demolitions. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in August cited “conservative estimates” of more than 1,500 pending demolition orders in East Jerusalem.

Some neighbourhoods face the prospects of mass demolitions. In the Silwan neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, some 90 houses are threatened, potentially displacing about 1,000 people. In Sheik Jarrah, an area in central East Jerusalem, 475 residents could face potential eviction as the ownership of their homes is contested by Israeli settlers.

Source: UN

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