Leading Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, has had his prison term cut from three to two years. Rajab has been imprisoned since August, on charges of organizing illegal gatherings and inciting violence. The activist's lawyer was demanding his release. The uprising in Bahrain has been on-going for almost two years now, with the Shia majority demanding democratic reform from the Sunni ruling family. RT talks to geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
D.R. Congo: US Legislators Seek Action on Rwanda for Supporting of DR Congo Rebels
December 11, 2012
CAPITOL HILL — A number of U.S. lawmakers
are calling on the Obama administration to take tougher action on
Rwanda for supporting the M23 rebels who are terrorizing civilians in
the eastern Congo. The Africa, Global Health and Human Rights
Subcommittee held a hearing on the eastern Congo crisis Tuesday.
U.S. Ambassador Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary, the Bureau of African Affairs at the State Department, testified about how serious the situation is for residents of eastern Congo since M23 rebels rebelled against the government and took control of the eastern region in April.
"The security and humanitarian situation in the Congo is the most volatile in Africa today," Carson said.
Carson said five million people have died in inter-ethnic violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1997. Carson said there is a credible body of evidence from the United Nations and other sources that the Rwandan government is aiding the M23 rebels, and called on Rwanda to cease any such support.
Subcommittee chairman Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, said successive U.S. administrations have neglected to take a tough stand on Rwanda, due to U.S. regret about not stopping the genocide there in 1994.
"We must overcome our regret over what happened 18 years ago. As an NGO letter to President Obama points out, the United States is not out of step with our European allies, who have cut aid to Rwanda because of their interference in the DRC," Smith said.
His Republican colleague, Congressman Tom Marino of Pennsylvania, was even more forceful in his criticism, asking Carson how long the Obama administration was going to try to negotiate with the leaders of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda while civilians continue to be killed.
"How many people have to die before you stop the negotiations and get serious about this?," Marino said.
Carson said that the U.S. government has to be patient and to continue to press the involved governments to see reason and to put an end to the violence. He stressed that the United States has taken action.
"We cut off our foreign military financing to the Rwandan government, one of the first such public acts by any government," Carsons said.
Analysts say they fear it will be hard to get a peace deal in talks scheduled between Congolese President Joseph Kabila and the M23 rebels, and that more civilians will die or be displaced.
U.S. Ambassador Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary, the Bureau of African Affairs at the State Department, testified about how serious the situation is for residents of eastern Congo since M23 rebels rebelled against the government and took control of the eastern region in April.
"The security and humanitarian situation in the Congo is the most volatile in Africa today," Carson said.
Carson said five million people have died in inter-ethnic violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1997. Carson said there is a credible body of evidence from the United Nations and other sources that the Rwandan government is aiding the M23 rebels, and called on Rwanda to cease any such support.
Subcommittee chairman Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, said successive U.S. administrations have neglected to take a tough stand on Rwanda, due to U.S. regret about not stopping the genocide there in 1994.
"We must overcome our regret over what happened 18 years ago. As an NGO letter to President Obama points out, the United States is not out of step with our European allies, who have cut aid to Rwanda because of their interference in the DRC," Smith said.
His Republican colleague, Congressman Tom Marino of Pennsylvania, was even more forceful in his criticism, asking Carson how long the Obama administration was going to try to negotiate with the leaders of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda while civilians continue to be killed.
"How many people have to die before you stop the negotiations and get serious about this?," Marino said.
Carson said that the U.S. government has to be patient and to continue to press the involved governments to see reason and to put an end to the violence. He stressed that the United States has taken action.
"We cut off our foreign military financing to the Rwandan government, one of the first such public acts by any government," Carsons said.
Analysts say they fear it will be hard to get a peace deal in talks scheduled between Congolese President Joseph Kabila and the M23 rebels, and that more civilians will die or be displaced.
Iran: Vice Pres - Iran is ready to create world network of Muslim scientists
Tehran, Dec 12, IRNA – Vice-President in Science and Technology Affairs said Iran is ready to create world network of Muslim scientists in collaboration with other Islamic countries.
Speaking in the closing ceremony of the international meeting of 'University Professors and Islamic Awakening' in Tehran on Tuesday evening, Nasrin Sultankhah said Iran can create world network of scientists of Muslim and developing countries to organize Muslim countries scientific efforts.
She continued that the network, like 'doctors without border', can work without any ethnic or national dependence or financial expectations to share knowledge with deprived societies.
The VP also said there is a plan to award international prize of 'Great Prophet' to the best scientists of Islamic world in the future, adding that the president has approved the plan.
She said that the biennial prize will be awarded to the best scientists of Islamic world and developing countries in the field of technology.
The VP said that promotion of Muslim states need formation of strong scientific movements and in this way scientists and elites should move first.
Montenegro: Europe’s Shame - Konik Camp for Roma in Montenegro
Source: Open Society Foundations
There are many critical obstacles for Roma in Montenegro: there are no provisions for Roma from Kosovo to effectively access public education; the housing situation continues to get worse with people living in tents, containers, and barracks without basic housing infrastructure; there is basic access to healthcare but little else. Roma from Kosovo are not entitled to register with the local employment agency as jobseekers and so are not entitled to use its services. Practically, Roma from Kosovo have no rights in Montenegro to formal employment, forcing them to accept unregistered jobs.
In Konik, all of these issues are at their most acute.
There are three options for the people of Konik. One, full local integration, or in other words, enjoyment of the same rights and freedoms under international and domestic law as others; two, voluntary and sustainable return to Kosovo, where competent authorities, both Kosovar and Montenegrin, must have the primary duty and responsibility to establish conditions, as well as provide the means, which will allow Roma from Kosovo to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes; or three, moving to third countries.
However, recent policy conditionality by the European Union toward Montenegro regarding Kosovar Roma has been ineffective.
For 2012-13, the European Union has committed tens of millions of Euros for Roma from Kosovo living in Montenegro. But residents of the Konik refugee camp do not expect much from this money. They have seen the same pattern over the last 13 years where lots of money comes in their name, but their situation is getting worse because of the ways this money is spent.
When I spoke to the Crisis Council they told me they do not need humanitarian aid anymore. They admit that this aid is necessary because of their children, because of the urgent need to survive the winter, but they are sure that humanitarian aid will not provide long-term solutions in Konik. What they need is an organized voice to be able to articulate their demands and organize constant pressure to fight for a better situation in the camp.
Be assured there is plenty of outside effort being put into ensuring that the Council—and the Roma they represent—keep their mouths shut. However, they are still determined to fight—as they said, they don’t have anything to lose. They have already lost everything. Their simple demand in the next period is to participate in decision making in all related bodies and processes which concern them in order to be able to influence all related decisions.
Kosovo Roma activists and organizations from the camp have been used by different institutions and international organizations as clients but not as partners. At best, they have been used as field workers and “spies” for central or top-down control and division among the residents of the camp. Presently, no single Kosovo Roma NGO has been a partner of any institution or international organization in Konik.
Because of these reasons, conflict will escalate in Konik as will more and more organized pressure. And this is exactly what they need more than ever—transformational leadership, organized membership and a voice in public life. Konik's Roma should not be kept in silence any more.
What’s happening in Konik camp?
For 13 years the Roma living in the camp at Konik have been displaced. They fled the civil war in Kosovo and are still without a permanent solution or a clear legal status. Upon their arrival in Montenegro during the Kosovo conflict (1999–2000), Roma from Kosovo were granted the status of “displaced persons” since both Kosovo and Montenegro were part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at that time. Despite the subsequent independence of Montenegro in 2006 and of Kosovo in March 2008, Roma from Kosovo still hold the status of displaced persons, depriving them of their basic rights, such as the right to work.There are many critical obstacles for Roma in Montenegro: there are no provisions for Roma from Kosovo to effectively access public education; the housing situation continues to get worse with people living in tents, containers, and barracks without basic housing infrastructure; there is basic access to healthcare but little else. Roma from Kosovo are not entitled to register with the local employment agency as jobseekers and so are not entitled to use its services. Practically, Roma from Kosovo have no rights in Montenegro to formal employment, forcing them to accept unregistered jobs.
In Konik, all of these issues are at their most acute.
There are three options for the people of Konik. One, full local integration, or in other words, enjoyment of the same rights and freedoms under international and domestic law as others; two, voluntary and sustainable return to Kosovo, where competent authorities, both Kosovar and Montenegrin, must have the primary duty and responsibility to establish conditions, as well as provide the means, which will allow Roma from Kosovo to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes; or three, moving to third countries.
How is the European Union involved in finding a solution?
The European Union has a vital role in achieving, through the Process of Stabilization and Association, as its name suggests, the elimination of the consequences of the war and the establishment of long-term and sustainable stability in the region.However, recent policy conditionality by the European Union toward Montenegro regarding Kosovar Roma has been ineffective.
For 2012-13, the European Union has committed tens of millions of Euros for Roma from Kosovo living in Montenegro. But residents of the Konik refugee camp do not expect much from this money. They have seen the same pattern over the last 13 years where lots of money comes in their name, but their situation is getting worse because of the ways this money is spent.
Can you tell me more about the Kosovo Roma Crisis Council, the real leadership, as you describe them, of Konik?
The Crisis Council is made up ten genuinely representative residents of Konik. Their purpose is to generate and articulate the demands of the local residents, both for immediate and more strategic solutionsWhen I spoke to the Crisis Council they told me they do not need humanitarian aid anymore. They admit that this aid is necessary because of their children, because of the urgent need to survive the winter, but they are sure that humanitarian aid will not provide long-term solutions in Konik. What they need is an organized voice to be able to articulate their demands and organize constant pressure to fight for a better situation in the camp.
Be assured there is plenty of outside effort being put into ensuring that the Council—and the Roma they represent—keep their mouths shut. However, they are still determined to fight—as they said, they don’t have anything to lose. They have already lost everything. Their simple demand in the next period is to participate in decision making in all related bodies and processes which concern them in order to be able to influence all related decisions.
How much closer is the Kosovo Roma Crisis Council to achieving participation in the decisions made about them?
The council has been incredibly active. They have about 1,000 signatures on a petition that they are preparing to submit to the European Commission in Montenegro. They have organized plenty of meetings with residents of the camp, building the leadership and their constituency. They are already getting lots of reaction from the government and broader society. But the Council is also aware of a new reality they will have to deal with. By being involved more and more, capacity issues arise and there is a risk of being silenced by being overwhelmed. The Council must now decide how they retain the ability to be vocal opposition and resist being folded into the existing bureaucracy.And what do you think the people of Konik need now, more than ever?
Roma in Konik know that international and local organizations as well as the government have been, and are getting, a lot of money for addressing issues concerning them, but in 13 years they have almost never been asked to take an active role in projects undertaken in their name.Kosovo Roma activists and organizations from the camp have been used by different institutions and international organizations as clients but not as partners. At best, they have been used as field workers and “spies” for central or top-down control and division among the residents of the camp. Presently, no single Kosovo Roma NGO has been a partner of any institution or international organization in Konik.
Because of these reasons, conflict will escalate in Konik as will more and more organized pressure. And this is exactly what they need more than ever—transformational leadership, organized membership and a voice in public life. Konik's Roma should not be kept in silence any more.
Slavery: Mauritania - The story of Moulkheir Mint Yarba
Moulkheir Mint Yarba escaped from slavery in 2010. She was born into slavery and never knew her parents. “I think my master killed them,” she told IRIN, though they may have been enslaved to other families. Yarba was repeatedly beaten and raped by her master, bearing seven children by him, one of which her owners killed, she says, to punish her. In 2007 just after the law was passed, Yarba was passed on to another family, who continued to beat her and her children, and raped her daughter. Her daughter fell pregnant by her master who then forcibly aborted the pregnancy.
Yarba’s brother learned of her whereabouts and informed SOS Esclaves, who drove to the location, and called on the local police to intervene. They did, freeing Yarba and all of her children though their owner tried to stop them.
Life is easier now for Yarba. She used to wake at 4am to start her chores and look after the animals, and she highly values her freedom. The Commission for Human Rights helps pay for her children’s education, the family’s medical expenses, basic food needs and rent, while SOS Esclaves has trained her to sew and dye clothes to raise a little income. But deep scars remain, and her daughter, who suffered severe beating and rape from a young age, remains visibly traumatized. “I want to put all of this history behind me,” said her daughter.
Yarba’s dream now is to see her children succeed. “My dream is for my children to grow up and do well so they can look after me,” she told IRIN.
Pakistan: Muslims seek lost harmony in Pakistan
by Daud Malik
11 December 2012
Islamabad, Pakistan - Shortly after a bomb went off in Dera Ismael Khan, a city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on 23 November killing seven people, Hasan Zaidi desperately attempted to call home from Rawalpindi to check on his family’s safety. It was the first month of the Islamic calendar, Muharram, when Muslims, especially Shia Muslims, mourn the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Hussein through public processions and assemblies.
With cell phone services suspended to thwart terror attacks, it was several hours before Zaidi learnt everybody was safe. This came as a big relief for a man who lost 22 members of his extended family in a 2008 sectarian suicide attack in his native town on the west bank of the Indus River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This event highlights the sectarian tensions that exist in Pakistan, with Muslims targeting Muslims. Shia and Sunni Muslim sects have different interpretations of Islam’s early political history and there have been periods of relative calm and harmony as well as times of mistrust and violence.
According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal, 425 people have been killed in 149 incidents of sectarian violence this year alone in Pakistan.
Sectarian violence has turned Zaidi’s life upside down. His parents are not ready to leave their ancestral town in Dera Ismael Khan and live with him in Rawalpindi. And Zaidi has not returned to his hometown, a six-hour drive from Rawalpindi, since 2007 because of such violence.
However, Zaidi remembers a time when the first month of the Islamic calendar used to be peaceful and when everybody took part in holiday celebrations and commemorations. His father’s Sunni friends would visit his home to attend prayer ceremonies. “In those days it was normal to say prayers in each other’s mosques and commemoration halls”.
Zaidi is not the only one to recall the days of sectarian and social harmony. Noted Pakistani journalist, Wusatullah Khan, in a recent column on the BBC Urdu website remembers how his mother, father and grandmother observed the first ten days of Muharram with their Shia neighbours – planning together, cooking stew with meat and lentils and listening to sermons remembering the battle at Karbala where Hussain was killed. His satirical piece shows what was considered normal conduct by all sects, may be considered “appalling deviations” in today’s polarised atmosphere.
Zaidi says the sectarian violence over the last 20 years has taken its toll on social harmony and an imperceptible divide has become palpable. “We are reluctant to talk and find a way out of this madness.”
Admitting that the two decades of sectarian violence have succeeded in creating a social spilt, Mazhar Arif, executive director of Society for Alternative Media and Research (Samar), argues that not all has been lost. “The important thing to remember is that sectarian violence has not changed into sectarian riots because social bonds are still intact.” For example, in Multan, a city in southern Punjab, processions during Muharram are still attended by both Sunnis and Shias who believe the differences between them are not too acute to overcome.
Such examples show that despite extremist propaganda to the contrary, the majority of the people do aspire to live a peaceful life with each other as they have been doing throughout history, discounting short spells of violence.
Naeem Malik, an academic living in Rawalpindi, thinks sectarian differences have been exploited throughout history. At the same time, he says the two sects with all their differences have lived together peacefully. “We have to embrace diversity and plurality.”
Zaigham Khan, a development consultant with a background in journalism, agrees. Different sects may not have been as warm to each other as they have been in the past, but amid multiple Pakistani identities, Khan adds, sectarian identity has still not become the primary one – a scenario that should be avoided at all costs.
* Daud Malik is currently heading a parliamentary reforms project in Islamabad and has a background in journalism and development. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 11 December 2012, www.commongroundnews.org Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Thailand: The Evolving Conflict in the South
After a decade of separatist violence in Thailand’s Malay/Muslim-majority southern provinces, insurgent capabilities are outpacing state counter-measures that are mired in complacency and political conflict. While Bangkok claims to make a virtue of patience, more sophisticated and brutal insurgent attacks increase the death toll. Successive governments have opted to muddle through South East Asia’s most violent internal conflict, their responses hostage to outmoded conceptions of the state, bureaucratic turf battles and a bitter national-level political struggle. In 2012, a new security policy for the region acknowledged for the first time the conflict’s political nature and identified decentralisation and dialogue with militants as components of a resolution. But fulfilling this policy demands that Thai leaders depoliticise the South issue, engage with civil society, build a consensus on devolving political power and accelerate efforts toward dialogue. Dialogue and decentralisation may be difficult for Bangkok to implement, but the necessary changes could become even more challenging over time.
The intractable power struggle between supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, deposed in a 2006 coup d’état, and his opponents in the army, bureaucracy and palace has overshadowed the conflict in the South. Yet, the region remains another arena for political gamesmanship. Civilian officials there and in Bangkok have been hamstrung by the need to respect military prerogatives and have searched in vain for a formula that can tamp down the violence without committing to political reforms. Deployment of some 60,000 security forces, special security laws and billions of dollars have not achieved any appreciable decline in casualties or curbed the movement.
For the past two years, violence has largely persisted below a threshold that might have generated public pressure for new approaches. Periodically, though, spectacular attacks thrust the conflict into national consciousness. A number of these have taken place in 2012, including the 31 March coordinated car-bombs in Yala and Hat Yai. Media broadcast of closed-circuit television (CCTV) video showing an audacious daylight strike that killed four soldiers in July in Mayo District, Pattani Province, confronted the public with brutal images that challenged official assurances that the government was on the right track. As overt political turmoil in Bangkok receded, the Deep South again became a hot topic for editors, bureaucrats and politicians, but this renewed attention has not yet prompted fresh thinking or new will to tackle the problem.
The Yingluck Shinawatra administration, which came to office in August 2011, placed its hopes for progress on Police Colonel Thawee Sodsong, a Thaksin loyalist chosen to lead the reinvigorated Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC). Through determination and unstinting cash hand-outs, Thawee won a degree of personal approval within in the region. But the 31 March bombings coincided with first reports of Thaksin’s fumbled attempt to start a peace process with exiled militant leaders and allegations that the two events were linked. With Thaksin denying he talked with rebel leaders and violence and recriminations mounting, the dialogue process appeared to be back at square one. Faced with continued insurgent violence, the cabinet approved a high-level “war room” to coordinate the work of seventeen ministries with responsibilities in the Deep South. This did not blunt the bureaucratic impulse to tinker with organisational charts, however, as security officials called for re-subordination of the civilian SBPAC to the military-dominated Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC).
The contours of a political resolution to the conflict in southern Thailand have long been in the public domain, but Bangkok has been unable to commit to a comprehensive and decisive approach. A promising three-year policy issued by the National Security Council in early 2012 recognises a political dimension of the violence and codifies decentralisation and dialogue as official strategy, but its implementation is likely to be impeded by political and bureaucratic infighting. The government should reverse the militarisation of the Deep South, lift the draconian security laws and end the security forces’ impunity, all of which help stimulate the insurgency. Thai leaders should also forge a broad national consensus for bold action to resolve the conflict, including decentralisation of political power, earnest engagement with civil society and sustained efforts to cultivate a peace dialogue with the insurgency. Talking to its representatives, changing the way the Deep South is governed, delivering justice, and recognising the region’s unique culture are all elements of a comprehensive approach to reducing the violence.
As Bangkok dithers, the insurgents are growing bolder and more capable. They are conducting attacks that are attracting, if not deliberately seeking, more attention. Thailand has been fortunate that the military have considered it in their strategic interest to contain the fight within their proclaimed territory, but the violence has evolved at a pace that is starting to challenge the ability of the government to respond on its own terms. Without more creative thinking and deft action, Bangkok risks losing the initiative.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Government of Thailand:
1. Develop a unified approach to
transforming the conflict based on full implementation of the National
Security Council (NSC) Administration and Development Policy for
Southern Border Provinces, 2012-2014, by undertaking to:
a) create a cross-party consensus, possibly embodied in a national accord, that resolution of the conflict is a national priority;b) establish a durable non-partisan mechanism mandated by the prime minister’s office and including respected individuals, in and out of government, to pursue dialogue with insurgent representatives;c) commit to serious consideration of political decentralisation, consistent with the principle of a unitary state as enshrined in the constitution, with the aim of drafting legislation; andd) engage with civil society initiatives that seek to foster more representative government and peaceful conflict resolution.
2. Lift the emergency decree and martial
law in those districts where they remain in effect and, until further
reforms are feasible, rely on the Internal Security Act (ISA) instead,
ensuring that all regulations invoked are consistent with the
preservation of human rights.
3. Ensure accountability for human rights abuses committed by security forces, including past incidents.
To the Separatist Movement:
4. Acknowledge that the protracted
violence is detrimental to the well-being and development of the
population in the southernmost provinces.
5. Observe obligations of non-state armed
actors under international humanitarian law and abide by the rules of
engagement issued by the Patani United Liberation Organisation, which
prohibit attacks on civilians, displacement of the civilian population
and acts of retribution.
6. Recognise that self-determination and
maintenance of Thailand’s territorial integrity and sovereignty are
compatible and prepare to respond to initiatives by state
representatives and civil society to pursue dialogue on peaceful
conflict resolution.
To Civil Society Organisations:
7. Expand bases of popular support through
continued community outreach, while maintaining channels of
communication with officials and militants.
8. Avoid advocating preconceived political
agendas and instead inform debate on political reform and conflict
resolution by identifying and expressing popular concerns and
preferences.
Laos: Swiss NGO director expelled from Laos for criticising government
IFEX
(SEAPA/IFEX) - 11 December 2012 - The Lao People's Democratic Republic on Friday 7 December expelled an expatriate development worker for criticizing the government in a letter to donors.
Anne-Sophie Gindroz , country director of Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation in Laos, was ordered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to leave the country within 48 hours of a notice dated 7 December 2012. Gindroz, who headed the Laos unit of the international NGO supporting agricultural development, was accused of violating a Decree on International Non-Governmental Organizations obliging foreign aid workers to respect the laws of the country.
The order to expel Gindroz apparently stemmed from a 21 November letter she wrote to participants of the Round Table Implementation Meeting (RTIM) discussing official development assistance and aid effectiveness in Laos. In the said letter, Gindroz asked participants to the meeting to consider the selective participation of local and international civil society groups to the RTIM, which was held on 23 November.
Local NGOs, registered officially as 'non-profit associations' (NPAs), participated for the first time in the RTIM this year, but according to Gindroz, 'participants from civil society have been carefully selected and are not those that the NPAs had chosen themselves as representatives to speak on their behalf.' 'Only 1 of the 5 NPAs pre-selected by the MoHA [or Ministry of Home Affairs, to attend the RTIM] is in fact non-governmental,' she wrote, adding that international NGOS invited to the meetings have been 'decreasing year by year'.
Her letter also described the severe challenges faced by local and international NGOs, who face the government's 'strategy of imposing silence' because of constraints on media freedom, and the rule of law.
Gindroz said that those who raise critical voices or use the legal framework to fight for their rights are often accused of opposing the government. Gindroz's expulsion was relayed through a letter to the executive director of Helvetas in Switzerland, in which she was accused of conducting a 'prejudicial anti-Lao Government campaign'.
The MFA letter however clarified that the action was not 'being directed against Helvetas as a whole' and requested the organisation to send a new country director to continue its work.
Gindroz left the country on Saturday, 8 December.
In a letter to civil society colleagues, Gindroz said, "I have no regret about what I have said, done or written. And I will continue to have my convictions and use my freedom to defend the freedom of others."
11 December 2012
Swiss NGO director expelled from Laos for criticising government
Source: Southeast Asian Press Alliance(SEAPA/IFEX) - 11 December 2012 - The Lao People's Democratic Republic on Friday 7 December expelled an expatriate development worker for criticizing the government in a letter to donors.
Anne-Sophie Gindroz , country director of Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation in Laos, was ordered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to leave the country within 48 hours of a notice dated 7 December 2012. Gindroz, who headed the Laos unit of the international NGO supporting agricultural development, was accused of violating a Decree on International Non-Governmental Organizations obliging foreign aid workers to respect the laws of the country.
The order to expel Gindroz apparently stemmed from a 21 November letter she wrote to participants of the Round Table Implementation Meeting (RTIM) discussing official development assistance and aid effectiveness in Laos. In the said letter, Gindroz asked participants to the meeting to consider the selective participation of local and international civil society groups to the RTIM, which was held on 23 November.
Local NGOs, registered officially as 'non-profit associations' (NPAs), participated for the first time in the RTIM this year, but according to Gindroz, 'participants from civil society have been carefully selected and are not those that the NPAs had chosen themselves as representatives to speak on their behalf.' 'Only 1 of the 5 NPAs pre-selected by the MoHA [or Ministry of Home Affairs, to attend the RTIM] is in fact non-governmental,' she wrote, adding that international NGOS invited to the meetings have been 'decreasing year by year'.
Her letter also described the severe challenges faced by local and international NGOs, who face the government's 'strategy of imposing silence' because of constraints on media freedom, and the rule of law.
Gindroz said that those who raise critical voices or use the legal framework to fight for their rights are often accused of opposing the government. Gindroz's expulsion was relayed through a letter to the executive director of Helvetas in Switzerland, in which she was accused of conducting a 'prejudicial anti-Lao Government campaign'.
The MFA letter however clarified that the action was not 'being directed against Helvetas as a whole' and requested the organisation to send a new country director to continue its work.
Gindroz left the country on Saturday, 8 December.
In a letter to civil society colleagues, Gindroz said, "I have no regret about what I have said, done or written. And I will continue to have my convictions and use my freedom to defend the freedom of others."
Syria: Syrians flock to Sweden seeking refuge
Every week around 1300 refugees from Syria arrive in Sweden. And that number is steadily increasing.
Sweden has a history of generous laws for asylum seekers, but with no sign that Syria's conflict is about to end, there are
concerns that Swedish resources may become stretched.
Linda Nyberg reports from a suburb on the outskirts of Stockholm
Sweden has a history of generous laws for asylum seekers, but with no sign that Syria's conflict is about to end, there are
concerns that Swedish resources may become stretched.
Linda Nyberg reports from a suburb on the outskirts of Stockholm
Afghanistan: UN report urges greater implementation of law protecting women’s rights in Afghanistan
Enacted in 2009, Afghanistan’s Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law criminalized numerous forms of violence, including child marriage, forced marriage, the selling and buying of women for the purpose or under the pretext of marriage, the traditional practice of ba’ad which requires the giving away of a woman or a girl to settle a dispute, forced self-immolation and 17 other acts of violence including rape and physical abuse, while also specifying punishment for the perpetrators.
Nevertheless, according to the new UN study, entitled Still a Long Way to Go: Implementation of the Law on Elimination of Violence again Women in Afghanistan, the use of the three-year old law continues to remain low and is frequently hampered by “dramatic” under-reporting of violence as well as a lack of investigations into most reported incidents.
Addressing a news conference in the Afghan capital of Kabul, UNAMA’s Human Rights Director, Georgette Gagnon, suggested that the under-reporting of incidences of violence against women was not only due to cultural restraints, social norms, and taboos.
“Prevailing insecurity and weak rule of law have further hampered women’s access to formal justice institutions,” Ms. Gagnon said.
She added, however, that of the 470 reported cases of violence against women, prosecutors had filed indictments on 163 resulting in the conviction at trial of 100 cases – a 61 per cent success rate.
“This shows that in the small number of cases of violence against women that were investigated and prosecuted, use of EVAW law was more likely to result in justice for the women,” continued Ms. Gagnon.
In a statement on the launch of the report, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, Ján Kubiš, agreed. “If the advances identified in implementing the EVAW law are expanded and built upon, Afghan women can be empowered to take a more active part in peacekeeping and political life,” said Mr. Kubiš.
The 42-page report, which covered 22 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, found an increase in the number of incidents registered by police and prosecutors compared with UNAMA findings from a year ago. At the same time, it noted that insecurity and growing anti-Government activities were also dissuading women from reporting violence in volatile areas such as eastern Laghman province.
While the increase in reports of violence against women represented a positive turn of events in the Central Asian country, Ms. Gagnon told the news briefing that much work remained to be done.
“Those incidents that reach law enforcement, that actually get to the court, or receive public attention due to their egregious nature represent only the tip of the iceberg of incidents of violence against women throughout the country,” she added.
On Monday, the acting Director of the Women's Affairs Department in Laghman, Nadia Sidiqi, was shot and killed by two unidentified gunmen while on her way to work on a motorised rickshaw.
The assassination drew condemnation from the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, and the Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), Michelle Bachelet.
Addressing today’s news briefing in Kabul, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, Nicholas Haysom, said that women officials like Ms. Sidiqi were “targeted specifically for her high profile advocacy on issues of violence against women and promoting human rights.”
“UNAMA extends its condolences to the family of Najia Seddiqi and condemns such targeted killings of civilians,” said Mr. Haysom.
Security: U.S. citizens arrested for attempting to provide support to terrorists
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Alabama
MOBILE, AL—U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama and Stephen E. Richardson, Special Agent in Charge of the Mobile Division of the FBI, announced that Mohammad Abdul Rahman Abukhdair, 25, and Randy Wilson, also known as Rasheed Wilson, 25, both U.S. citizens living in Mobile, were arrested today on terrorism charges filed in the Southern District of Alabama.
A criminal complaint signed on December 10, 2012, charges Abukhdair and Wilson with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, knowing or intending that it be used in preparation for, or in carrying out a conspiracy to kill persons or damage property outside the United States. The complaint also charges Abukhdair with passport fraud. According to the complaint, the charges stem from Wilson and Abukhdair’s conspiracy to travel from the United States to Mauritania intending to prepare to wage violent jihad.
Abukhdair and Wilson were the subjects of an investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Mobile Division of the FBI. Wilson was arrested this morning in Atlanta attempting to board a flight that would ultimately take him to Morocco. Abukhdair was arrested in Augusta, Georgia, at a bus terminal. According to the complaint, Abukhdair was scheduled to fly to Morocco from outside the United States on December 13, 2012.
The complaint alleges that Wilson and Abukhdair met online in 2010. On August 27, 2011, an FBI undercover employee met Wilson, and Wilson told the FBI employee that he and Abukhdair had formulated a plan to travel together overseas for the purpose of waging violent jihad prior to Wilson meeting the FBI employee, according to the complaint. In preparation for their travel, Abukhdair applied for a new passport and falsely claimed that his previous passport had been misplaced, according to the complaint. In fact, the complaint alleges, Abukhdair was concerned that Egyptian stamps in his passport might raise suspicions and impede his travel plans.
The complaint further alleges that in July 2012, Wilson and Abukhdair also began meeting with a confidential source working for the FBI, and that Wilson and Abukhdair brought the source into their plans to travel overseas to wage violent jihad. According to the complaint, Abukhdair and Wilson planned to travel to Casablanca, Morocco, and from there to Mauritania, where they expected to be in a position to wage violent jihad in a nearby country or conflict.
U.S. Attorney Brown stated, “The top priority of the Department of Justice nationally, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office locally, is to deter, disrupt, and prevent acts of terrorism. We will continue to defend our nation against anyone who seeks to harm us by investigating and prosecuting national and international terrorist plots. The law enforcement actions of today should send a clear warning to those who would consider engaging in violent jihad, either at home or abroad, that their future is bleak: they may end up in a U.S. prison cell or a casualty on a foreign battlefield. This case should also generally serve as a reminder to all Americans to remain vigilant against terror threats. Thanks to the excellent work of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, any threat posed by these individuals has been prevented.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Richardson stated: “The efforts of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in this investigation represent our unwavering commitment to protect the United States against terrorist attacks domestically and abroad. Our resolve to protect our family, friends, neighbors, and community ensures that we work diligently using every resource available to identify, disrupt, and dismantle extremists who desire to do us harm.”
The Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Mobile Division of the FBI conducted the investigation and presented the case for prosecution to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Bodnar and Sean P. Costello and Trial Attorneys Clement McGovern and Annamartine Salick of the Department of Justice’s Counterterrorism Section are handling the prosecution of the case on behalf of the United States.
A complaint is a determination by a U.S. Magistrate Judge that there is probable cause to believe that offenses have been committed by a defendant. A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until and unless he or she is proven guilty at trial.
Southern District of Alabama
MOBILE, AL—U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama and Stephen E. Richardson, Special Agent in Charge of the Mobile Division of the FBI, announced that Mohammad Abdul Rahman Abukhdair, 25, and Randy Wilson, also known as Rasheed Wilson, 25, both U.S. citizens living in Mobile, were arrested today on terrorism charges filed in the Southern District of Alabama.
A criminal complaint signed on December 10, 2012, charges Abukhdair and Wilson with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, knowing or intending that it be used in preparation for, or in carrying out a conspiracy to kill persons or damage property outside the United States. The complaint also charges Abukhdair with passport fraud. According to the complaint, the charges stem from Wilson and Abukhdair’s conspiracy to travel from the United States to Mauritania intending to prepare to wage violent jihad.
Abukhdair and Wilson were the subjects of an investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Mobile Division of the FBI. Wilson was arrested this morning in Atlanta attempting to board a flight that would ultimately take him to Morocco. Abukhdair was arrested in Augusta, Georgia, at a bus terminal. According to the complaint, Abukhdair was scheduled to fly to Morocco from outside the United States on December 13, 2012.
The complaint alleges that Wilson and Abukhdair met online in 2010. On August 27, 2011, an FBI undercover employee met Wilson, and Wilson told the FBI employee that he and Abukhdair had formulated a plan to travel together overseas for the purpose of waging violent jihad prior to Wilson meeting the FBI employee, according to the complaint. In preparation for their travel, Abukhdair applied for a new passport and falsely claimed that his previous passport had been misplaced, according to the complaint. In fact, the complaint alleges, Abukhdair was concerned that Egyptian stamps in his passport might raise suspicions and impede his travel plans.
The complaint further alleges that in July 2012, Wilson and Abukhdair also began meeting with a confidential source working for the FBI, and that Wilson and Abukhdair brought the source into their plans to travel overseas to wage violent jihad. According to the complaint, Abukhdair and Wilson planned to travel to Casablanca, Morocco, and from there to Mauritania, where they expected to be in a position to wage violent jihad in a nearby country or conflict.
U.S. Attorney Brown stated, “The top priority of the Department of Justice nationally, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office locally, is to deter, disrupt, and prevent acts of terrorism. We will continue to defend our nation against anyone who seeks to harm us by investigating and prosecuting national and international terrorist plots. The law enforcement actions of today should send a clear warning to those who would consider engaging in violent jihad, either at home or abroad, that their future is bleak: they may end up in a U.S. prison cell or a casualty on a foreign battlefield. This case should also generally serve as a reminder to all Americans to remain vigilant against terror threats. Thanks to the excellent work of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, any threat posed by these individuals has been prevented.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Richardson stated: “The efforts of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in this investigation represent our unwavering commitment to protect the United States against terrorist attacks domestically and abroad. Our resolve to protect our family, friends, neighbors, and community ensures that we work diligently using every resource available to identify, disrupt, and dismantle extremists who desire to do us harm.”
The Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Mobile Division of the FBI conducted the investigation and presented the case for prosecution to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Bodnar and Sean P. Costello and Trial Attorneys Clement McGovern and Annamartine Salick of the Department of Justice’s Counterterrorism Section are handling the prosecution of the case on behalf of the United States.
A complaint is a determination by a U.S. Magistrate Judge that there is probable cause to believe that offenses have been committed by a defendant. A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until and unless he or she is proven guilty at trial.
Doha: The Tragic Paradox of the Doha Conference
GENEVA (IDN) - The annual UN climate conference concluded in Doha on December 8 with “low ambition” both in emission cuts by developed countries and funding for developing countries. Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted many decisions, including on the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period in which developed countries committed to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases.
Many delegates left the conference quite relieved that they had reached agreement after days of wrangling over many issues and an anxious last 24 hours that were so contentious that most people felt a collapse was imminent.
The relief was that the multilateral climate change regime has survived yet again, although there are such deep differences and distrust among developed and developing countries.
The conflict in paradigms between these two groups of countries was very evident throughout the two weeks of the Doha negotiations, and it was only papered over superficially in the final hours to avoid an open failure. But the differences will surface again when negotiations resume next year.
Avoidance of collapse was a poor measure of success. In terms of progress towards real actions to tackle the climate change crisis, the Doha conference was another lost opportunity and grossly inadequate.
The conference was held at the end of a year of record extreme events. News of typhoon in the Philippines which killed 500 and made 300,000 homeless reminded the conference participants of the reality of the climate crisis.
However, the dictates of economic competition and commercial interests unfortunately were of higher priority, especially among developed countries, which explains their low ambition in emission reduction. They also broke their promises in the legally binding UNFCCC to provide funds and transfer technology to developing countries.
The most important result in Doha was the formal adoption of the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period (2013 to 2020) to follow immediately after the first period expires on December 31, 2012.
Weak elements
However, the elements are weak. With original Kyoto Protocol Parties Russia, Japan and New Zealand having decided not to join in a second commitment period, and Canada have left the Protocol altogether, only the European Union, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, and a few others (totalling 35 developed countries and countries with economies in transition) are left to make legally binding commitments in the second period.
Also, the emission cuts these countries agreed to commit to are in aggregate only 18% by 2020 below the 1990 level, compared to the 25-40% required to restrict global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius.
A saving factor in the Kyoto Protocol decision is the “ambition mechanism” put in by developing countries, that the countries will “revisit” their original target and increase their commitments by 2014, in line with the aggregate 25-40% reduction goal.
Also, the decision severely limited the amount of credits or surplus allowances that can be used during the second period. These credits were accumulated in the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period by countries that cut their emissions more than the targeted level. According to the decision, these countries cannot use or trade most of the surplus allowances as a means to avoid current emission cuts.
The most important country affected is Russia, and on December 8 it strongly objected to the way the President of the Conference, Abdullah Hamad al-Attiyah of Qatar, bulldozed through the Kyoto Protocol decision even though it and two other countries tried to object.
Lack of funds
A second major criticism of the Doha decisions is the lack of funds to be provided to developing countries to take climate actions.
In 2010, the Conference of Parties in Cancun decided that developed countries would mobilise climate finance of US$100 billion a year starting in 2020; and that US$30 billion of fast track finance would be given in 2010-2012.
But there is a gap between 2013 and 2020. Despite the demand by developing countries that there be US$60 billion by 2015, the decision adopted on December 8 does not specify any number as a commitment. It only "encourages" countries to provide at least as much as they had in the 2010-2012 period.
The lack of a credible finance commitment led to an outcry by developing countries on the plenary floor. This lack of funds curtails their ability to undertake actions to combat climate change, especially since they have agreed in the 2010 Cancun and 2011 Durban Conferences to take on more mitigation efforts.
The Doha conference also adopted a set of decisions under its working group on long-term cooperative action under the UNFCCC. The developing countries were pleased with paragraphs on equity, unilateral trade measures, technology assessment and a vague reference to the effects of intellectual property.
However these decisions were very weak. Even then the United States registered its disagreement or reservations to these decisions, after the adoption of the text, giving a foretaste of how they will continue to object to future discussions on these issues.
International mechanism
A positive decision made in Doha was to prepare for the setting up by next year’s Conference of an "international mechanism" to help developing countries deal with loss and damage caused by climate change. This also resulted from intense negotiations.
Activities meanwhile will include an expert meeting and preparing technical papers on this issue. Developing countries hope that this programme will lead to new funds being channelled to those countries suffering from flooding, drought, sea level rise and other forms of damage linked to climate change.
The Doha conference also adopted a work plan for the new working group on the Durban Platform that was set up in December 2011. There were major fights in Doha over this, with many developing countries insisting that mention be made that the Durban Platform will operate on the basis of equity and common and differentiated responsibilities (CBDR), the operating principle of the UNFCCC.
The final text did not mention this principle, and even the reference to the June 2012 Rio Plus 20 Summit which endorsed the equity and CBDR principle was removed at the insistence of the United States.
What remained in the text was a reference that the Durban Platform’s work will be guided by the principles of the Convention. Even then, the United States in the final plenary placed a reservation that they reject the use of this phrase in the negotiations in the Durban Platform group. (The phrase is in the 2011 decision that established the working group – after the United States rejected any reference to explicit inclusion of “equity” or “CBDR” the final compromise was “under the Convention”.)
This reveals how much lacking in the spirit of international cooperation that the United States and some other developed countries have become.
They are no longer willing to assist the developing countries, and incredibly are even objecting to the principles of the Convention being applied to negotiations to set up a new agreement that will be under the Convention.
More than anything else, this shows the tragic paradox of the Doha conference. It succeeded in adopting many decisions and kept the functioning of the multilateral climate regime alive, but the actual substance of actions to save the planet from climate change was absent, as was a genuine commitment to support the developing countries.
*Martin Khor is the Executive Director of the South Centre. (Contact: director@southcentre.org) An earlier version of this article was published in The Star of December 10, 2012. [IDN-InDepthNews – December 10, 2012]
2012 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters
Image: Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, the COP18/CMP8 President, signals an end to negotiations | Credit: UNFCCC
Sudan: Civilians Describe Toll of Attacks
Source: Human Rights Watch
(Nairobi) – The Sudanese government’s indiscriminate aerial bombardment and shelling in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states has killed and injured scores of civilians since the conflict began more than a year ago, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Government forces have raided villages, burned and looted civilian property, arbitrarily detained people, and assaulted and raped women and girls.
The 39-page report, “Under Siege,” is based on five research missions to the hard-to-access rebel-held areas in the two states and to refugee camps in South Sudan. It documents the government’s indiscriminate bombing and other attacks on civilians since conflict between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) broke out in June 2011 in Southern Kordofan following disputed state elections. The report also describes the effect of Sudan’s refusal to allow humanitarian assistance into rebel-held areas. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced inside the two states, surviving on very little, while more than 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia.
“Sudan’s indiscriminate bombs are killing and maiming women, men, and children, who are running scared and going hungry,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The international community should end its silence and demand an immediate end to these abuses.”
SEE VIDEO
The United Nations, African Union (AU), League of Arab States, the European Union (EU) and its member states, along with other key countries such as the United States, China, South Africa, and Qatar, should forcefully press Sudan to end the indiscriminate bombing immediately and stop blocking access to aid. They should call on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to establish a commission of inquiry into violations by both government and rebel forces since the conflict started. Researchers have also received reports of violations by rebel forces, such as indiscriminate shelling of government-held towns, but could not access government-held areas to confirm the reports.
Those responsible for serious crimes should be held to account and subject to targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans, Human Rights Watch said.The need for accountability for mass crimes is especially pressing in Sudan, where President Omar al-Bashir; Ahmed Haroun, the Southern Kordofan governor; and Abdulraheem Mohammed Hussein, the current defense minister, are already subject to arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for atrocities committed in Darfur. The ICC prosecutor will brief the UN Security Council on progress on the court’s Darfur investigation on December 13.
Indiscriminate Bombing and Attacks
On a research mission to Blue Nile in October 2012, Human Rights Watch found evidence of indiscriminate bombing and shelling since the start of the conflict. In one example, the fragments from a bomb dropped in late 2011 hit a 17-year-old girl in the head, killing her instantly in front of her mother, Tahani Nurin.
In a shelling incident near Wadega village, west of Kormuk, a farmer saw a shell hit his neighbor, Ahmed, while farming in August: “When the shell hit, it cut Ahmed’s body into pieces. It was difficult to even identify him. We all ran away when the shelling started. And when we came back, we just found pieces of him.”
In Southern Kordofan, which Human Rights Watch also visited in late October, researchers also found evidence of indiscriminate bombing. A bombing on the Heiban market on October 2 killed one civilian and injured six others, including Huwaida Hassan, a mother of seven, who was walking to the market. The bomb fragments sliced into her belly. In another example, a bomb dropped in mid-September on a village west of Kadugli hit the farm of Fadila Tia Kofi, an elderly woman in her 70s, and blew off part of her left foot. The attack has left her unable to walk.
“I don’t know why the bombs come,” she said. “I work. I farm. But now I crawl.”
Indiscriminate bombing violates fundamental principles of the laws of war, which require warring parties to distinguish between combatants and civilians at all times, and to target only combatants and military objectives. The bombs used by Sudan are unguided and often dropped from Antonov cargo planes or high-flying jets in a manner that cannot meaningfully distinguish between soldiers and civilians. In Blue Nile in particular, Human Rights Watch found evidence of the use of barrel bombs, which are crude, improvised devices filled with nails and other jagged pieces of metal that become deadly projectiles upon impact.
Government ground forces and militia have also attacked villages without distinguishing civilians from combatants, Human Rights Watch found in both states. A 25-year-old woman and her mother-in-law, former residents of a village around Gebanit in Blue Nile, said that they had witnessed multiple attacks by Popular Defense Forces, a government militia, at various times during the conflict. In June, the militia shot at villagers while they were harvesting and the women saw them kidnap three people, including two women.
Humanitarian law prohibits targeting civilians and civilian property. Both Sudanese and rebel forces have an obligation to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians. They should warn people to leave conflict areas where they may be injured, and their soldiers should not camp or operate in civilian areas.
People with real or perceived links to the SPLM-North risk arrest in government-controlled towns. Dozens of suspected members of the party, which was formally banned in September 2011 when fighting spread to Blue Nile, are in detention in Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and elsewhere in Sudan. Sudan should immediately make their names public, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities should free all those not held on lawful grounds and ensure that those who are legally detained are not subject to ill-treatment or torture, and enjoy full due process rights.
Deepening Humanitarian Crisis
Inside the rebel-held areas visited by Human Rights Watch in both states, researchers found displaced civilian communities sheltering in the bush, or in the hills near boulders and caves, or in other places they had moved for safety. Everyone the Human Rights Watch researchers encountered was surviving on dwindling food reserves and had little or no access to clean water or basic medicines and healthcare.
Sudan has restricted movement into and out of rebel areas and continually denied access to independent humanitarian aid groups seeking to provide food and services, effectively blockading the rebel-held areas. This policy has prevented civilians from accessing medicine and other supplies and personnel, such as doctors or teachers. The clinics and schools the researchers found, some of them damaged by bombing, had been closed or abandoned.
Sudan’s bombing and refusal to allow food and aid into the states has pushed more than 200,000 people from these states into refugee camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia. But the camps’ close proximity to the border with Sudan, where conflict is ongoing, and the presence of armed soldiers from various armies in and around the camps, continue to pose threats to civilian safety. Refugee women and girls spoke of the continued threat of sexual violence.
In August, after many months of negotiations, Sudan agreed to implement the so-called “Tri-partite Proposal” negotiated by the UN, AU, and League of Arab States. The proposal, which foresees monitors by all three groups, sets out modalities for aid to reach people living in rebel-held areas. However, Sudan did not take the initial steps to carry out an assessment of humanitarian needs within the agreed time frame and now claims the agreement has expired.
“Arbitrarily denying civilians access to food and humanitarian aid during a conflict is a brutal tactic that violates international humanitarian law,” Bekele said. “Those who pursue a policy of cutting people off from food, medicine, and other aid should be held responsible, including through internationally imposed targeted sanctions.”
Background
The states of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan lie north of the border with South Sudan and have populations who largely supported the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) during Sudan’s long civil war. Conflict between Sudan and the SPLA started in Southern Kordofan in June 2011 and spread to Blue Nile in September 2011.
In both states conflict broke out amid increased tensions between Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) over security arrangements under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended the 22-year civil war.
The northern sector of the SPLM, now known as SPLM-North, contended that the peace agreement gives the parties six months to withdraw after completing popular consultations, which had not yet occurred when violence broke out. The consultations are mandated under the peace agreement so that people in both states can decide on their system of governance while remaining part of Sudan.
(Nairobi) – The Sudanese government’s indiscriminate aerial bombardment and shelling in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states has killed and injured scores of civilians since the conflict began more than a year ago, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Government forces have raided villages, burned and looted civilian property, arbitrarily detained people, and assaulted and raped women and girls.
The 39-page report, “Under Siege,” is based on five research missions to the hard-to-access rebel-held areas in the two states and to refugee camps in South Sudan. It documents the government’s indiscriminate bombing and other attacks on civilians since conflict between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) broke out in June 2011 in Southern Kordofan following disputed state elections. The report also describes the effect of Sudan’s refusal to allow humanitarian assistance into rebel-held areas. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced inside the two states, surviving on very little, while more than 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia.
“Sudan’s indiscriminate bombs are killing and maiming women, men, and children, who are running scared and going hungry,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The international community should end its silence and demand an immediate end to these abuses.”
SEE VIDEO
The United Nations, African Union (AU), League of Arab States, the European Union (EU) and its member states, along with other key countries such as the United States, China, South Africa, and Qatar, should forcefully press Sudan to end the indiscriminate bombing immediately and stop blocking access to aid. They should call on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to establish a commission of inquiry into violations by both government and rebel forces since the conflict started. Researchers have also received reports of violations by rebel forces, such as indiscriminate shelling of government-held towns, but could not access government-held areas to confirm the reports.
Those responsible for serious crimes should be held to account and subject to targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans, Human Rights Watch said.The need for accountability for mass crimes is especially pressing in Sudan, where President Omar al-Bashir; Ahmed Haroun, the Southern Kordofan governor; and Abdulraheem Mohammed Hussein, the current defense minister, are already subject to arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for atrocities committed in Darfur. The ICC prosecutor will brief the UN Security Council on progress on the court’s Darfur investigation on December 13.
Indiscriminate Bombing and Attacks
On a research mission to Blue Nile in October 2012, Human Rights Watch found evidence of indiscriminate bombing and shelling since the start of the conflict. In one example, the fragments from a bomb dropped in late 2011 hit a 17-year-old girl in the head, killing her instantly in front of her mother, Tahani Nurin.
In a shelling incident near Wadega village, west of Kormuk, a farmer saw a shell hit his neighbor, Ahmed, while farming in August: “When the shell hit, it cut Ahmed’s body into pieces. It was difficult to even identify him. We all ran away when the shelling started. And when we came back, we just found pieces of him.”
In Southern Kordofan, which Human Rights Watch also visited in late October, researchers also found evidence of indiscriminate bombing. A bombing on the Heiban market on October 2 killed one civilian and injured six others, including Huwaida Hassan, a mother of seven, who was walking to the market. The bomb fragments sliced into her belly. In another example, a bomb dropped in mid-September on a village west of Kadugli hit the farm of Fadila Tia Kofi, an elderly woman in her 70s, and blew off part of her left foot. The attack has left her unable to walk.
“I don’t know why the bombs come,” she said. “I work. I farm. But now I crawl.”
Indiscriminate bombing violates fundamental principles of the laws of war, which require warring parties to distinguish between combatants and civilians at all times, and to target only combatants and military objectives. The bombs used by Sudan are unguided and often dropped from Antonov cargo planes or high-flying jets in a manner that cannot meaningfully distinguish between soldiers and civilians. In Blue Nile in particular, Human Rights Watch found evidence of the use of barrel bombs, which are crude, improvised devices filled with nails and other jagged pieces of metal that become deadly projectiles upon impact.
Government ground forces and militia have also attacked villages without distinguishing civilians from combatants, Human Rights Watch found in both states. A 25-year-old woman and her mother-in-law, former residents of a village around Gebanit in Blue Nile, said that they had witnessed multiple attacks by Popular Defense Forces, a government militia, at various times during the conflict. In June, the militia shot at villagers while they were harvesting and the women saw them kidnap three people, including two women.
Humanitarian law prohibits targeting civilians and civilian property. Both Sudanese and rebel forces have an obligation to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians. They should warn people to leave conflict areas where they may be injured, and their soldiers should not camp or operate in civilian areas.
People with real or perceived links to the SPLM-North risk arrest in government-controlled towns. Dozens of suspected members of the party, which was formally banned in September 2011 when fighting spread to Blue Nile, are in detention in Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and elsewhere in Sudan. Sudan should immediately make their names public, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities should free all those not held on lawful grounds and ensure that those who are legally detained are not subject to ill-treatment or torture, and enjoy full due process rights.
Deepening Humanitarian Crisis
Inside the rebel-held areas visited by Human Rights Watch in both states, researchers found displaced civilian communities sheltering in the bush, or in the hills near boulders and caves, or in other places they had moved for safety. Everyone the Human Rights Watch researchers encountered was surviving on dwindling food reserves and had little or no access to clean water or basic medicines and healthcare.
Sudan has restricted movement into and out of rebel areas and continually denied access to independent humanitarian aid groups seeking to provide food and services, effectively blockading the rebel-held areas. This policy has prevented civilians from accessing medicine and other supplies and personnel, such as doctors or teachers. The clinics and schools the researchers found, some of them damaged by bombing, had been closed or abandoned.
Sudan’s bombing and refusal to allow food and aid into the states has pushed more than 200,000 people from these states into refugee camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia. But the camps’ close proximity to the border with Sudan, where conflict is ongoing, and the presence of armed soldiers from various armies in and around the camps, continue to pose threats to civilian safety. Refugee women and girls spoke of the continued threat of sexual violence.
In August, after many months of negotiations, Sudan agreed to implement the so-called “Tri-partite Proposal” negotiated by the UN, AU, and League of Arab States. The proposal, which foresees monitors by all three groups, sets out modalities for aid to reach people living in rebel-held areas. However, Sudan did not take the initial steps to carry out an assessment of humanitarian needs within the agreed time frame and now claims the agreement has expired.
“Arbitrarily denying civilians access to food and humanitarian aid during a conflict is a brutal tactic that violates international humanitarian law,” Bekele said. “Those who pursue a policy of cutting people off from food, medicine, and other aid should be held responsible, including through internationally imposed targeted sanctions.”
Background
The states of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan lie north of the border with South Sudan and have populations who largely supported the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) during Sudan’s long civil war. Conflict between Sudan and the SPLA started in Southern Kordofan in June 2011 and spread to Blue Nile in September 2011.
In both states conflict broke out amid increased tensions between Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) over security arrangements under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended the 22-year civil war.
The northern sector of the SPLM, now known as SPLM-North, contended that the peace agreement gives the parties six months to withdraw after completing popular consultations, which had not yet occurred when violence broke out. The consultations are mandated under the peace agreement so that people in both states can decide on their system of governance while remaining part of Sudan.
Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka's ethnic problem
Source: IRIN
COLOMBO, 11 December 2012 (IRIN) - Prospects to improve relations between Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese-dominated government and ethnic Tamils remain grim more than three years after the end of a civil war fought along ethnic lines, according to activists, law makers and the UN. The country’s balance of power and ethnic polarization look increasingly similar to the situation pre-dating Tamil rebels’ protracted separatist struggle, stoking concern about a return to conflict if the country does not manage its ethnic relations differently this time around.
As examples of divisive ethnic nationalism, experts point to government efforts to repeal a constitutional amendment that allows power sharing; heavy-handed governance; the lack of widespread recognition of the Tamil language; and a breakdown in rule of law. These were all past triggers for violence.
Who are the Tamils?
Tamils are a minority ethnic community living predominantly in the country’s Northern and Eastern provinces. A group of Indian Tamils live in the country’s centre; they were brought over from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu by the former British colonial power in the 18th century to work on plantations. Although this group has largely assimilated, Tamils in the north and northeast identify themselves as being a distinct ethnicity with roots in the country dating back millennia.
Tamil political leaders in these areas have gained popularity by campaigning along ethnic lines and have, until recently, called for a separate state.
There are 2.2 million Tamils in north and northeast Sri Lanka, or 11 percent of the population, while Tamil Indians in central Sri Lanka are 4 percent of the population, according to the country’s most recent census in 2011.
Who are the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam?
Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) was a rebel group that emerged in the mid-1970s; their grievances included alleged state discrimination and human rights abuses against ethnic Tamils. Their aim was the creation of an independent state carved out of the country’s northeast.
The group was famous for its suicide attacks on military and civilian targets, and, since 1997, it has been internationally classified as a terrorist organization. After killing most of LTTE’s senior leadership, the Sri Lankan government declared victory over the rebels in May 2009.
Currently, LTTE holds little influence within the country, but its ideology remains popular among hardline members of the Tamil diaspora, which is primarily located in Europe and North America.
Since 2009, the state has - officially and unofficially - clamped down on parties promoting self-determination. The Tamil leadership no longer pushes for a separate state but advocates instead for the devolution of power within the current state.
During the late stages of conflict, unidentified groups killed a number of prominent Tamil law makers, allegedly with state support, according to human rights groups. These killings, among other influences, have forced Tamil lawmakers to tone down nationalist rhetoric and adopt a more conciliatory, politically moderate tone.
State of the union
The Sinhala-dominated government does not recognize Tamil demands for self-determination.
Although previous governments have shown willingness to devolve power from the capital, Colombo, the ruling coalition party - United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) - is unlikely to grant devolution to the Tamil minority. Instead, it is trying to repeal the limited devolution granted under the 13th amendment.
The 13th amendment, signed in 1987, introduced a system of nine provincial councils designed to devolve power to areas where Tamils live. Currently, all but the council in Northern Province - the country’s only Tamil-dominant province - is operating.
Off the record, analysts say the government has delayed conducting council elections there due to fears of Tamil nationalists gaining power.The state’s official position is that “provincial-wide governance for the Northern Province poses its own unique challenges as the people in the province have not experienced elected democratic provincial representation for several years”. In the interim, governance structures “are being strengthened gradually”.
Sinhalese hardliners, represented by Jathika Hela Urumaya and National Freedom Front parties, are against any devolution that will increase Tamil power. They are campaigning for a Sinhala-dominated unitary Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, recent attacks on media stations and the killings, disappearances and harassment of prominent journalists (both Tamils and Sinhalese) have been linked to the state. The arbitrary arrest and detention of Tamil activists in the north, coupled with the thousands of Sinhalese military still posted there, have stalled peace-building and a return to normalcy, according to residents in the north.
Views on the ground
While moderate lawmakers from both ethnic groups express willingness to reconcile, they are far outnumbered by hardliners, who enjoy strong support outside of cities, especially the rural south, which is the president’s home area. Criticism of the ruling party’s human rights record and lack of progress on ethnic reconciliation has been limited to educated urbanites in Colombo, a scant percentage of the country.
Some 80 percent of Sri Lankans live in the countryside and are, generally, more concerned about rice than rights. Government subsidies have ensured a fixed price for fertilizer since 2005, and following a recent drought, authorities committed to supplying free seeds to rice farmers planting next year’s crop. The state’s agrarian programming has helped solidify rural support for Colombo, say analysts.
Moderate political thinking “has not reached the village level,” said one activist. “For an uneducated villager, speeches made by the president [Mahinda Rajapaksa] on international conspiracies make a lot of sense. Villagers hold him up as a hero and a king and believe in him like a religion.”
One view among some academics and Sinhalese hardliners is that Tamils in the diaspora, along with international NGOs, the UN and a number of governments, want to weaken Sri Lanka by dividing it.
Post-war recommendations by the government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) panel, made public one year ago, were largely unheeded by hardliners who viewed them as too “pro-Tamil.”
Risks of relapse
Analysts believe the immediate risk of backsliding into ethnic conflict is small, due largely to the near total destruction of LTTE human and military infrastructure. But Tamil and Sinhalese moderates say there is a long-term threat of repeat violence if the state does not address the Tamil grievances raised by LLRC.
The LLRC raised issues including the alleged assassination of surrendered LTTE leadership; widespread extrajudicial killings of opposition members and journalists; and continued abductions and disappearances nationwide (mostly in the north).
Yet in a November 2012 presentation to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, the government indicated that progress has been made on LLRC recommendations, including: translation of the English report into Sinhala and Tamil; resettlement of some 300,000 people displaced by fighting; demining; and rehabilitation of former fighters.
The state also approved a “plan of action” in July 2012 to examine LLRC recommendations and established a Court of Inquiry to investigate civilian casualties and alleged abuses. The army recently announced its own investigation into allegations raised by the LLRC.
Human rights activists say investigations must lead to concrete changes in Tamils’ basic rights, including civil and political freedoms.
The government has stated that boosting the economy and infrastructure in the Tamil-dominated north will be key to preventing future conflict.
Prospects for peace
“Little will change on reconciliation without a change in government,” said parliament member Jayalath Jayawardana of the United National Party, the largest opposition party, which initiated peace talks with the LTTE.
But analysts say this is unlikely given the huge support hardliners enjoyed in the 2010 elections; the president won 57 percent of the vote, and his party won 60 percent.
The next elections - final date still to be approved by the president - are expected to take place in 2015 or 2016.
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