Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Hitch's Thought For The Day: Jan 22, 2013
Many fine and noble sentiments are said and written about poverty - mostly by the well off
Israel: 'Netanyahu is not Israel, majority wants two-state solution'
Israelis are making their way to the ballots to vote in the parliamentary election where current PM Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to win a third term in office. Victory for the rightist candidate would galvanize the Israeli leadership's opposition to Palestinian statehood and push forward settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Full results are due to be announced on Wednesday morning.
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Canada: Taking Action on the 'Windsor Hum'
SOURCE Canadian Consulate General
On behalf of Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird , Bob Dechert , Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, today visited Windsor, Ontario, to announce the launch of a study to identify the cause of the so-called "Windsor Hum"—the recurring vibration and noise that have been disturbing people in the area for almost two years.
"Our government takes this issue seriously and is following up on its commitment to find a solution that works for the people of Windsor. Promise made, promise kept," said Parliamentary Secretary Dechert.
Acting on a recommendation from the International Joint Commission, the Government of Canada is funding the study to try to identify the source of the Hum. The study, to be conducted jointly by scientists at the University of Windsor and Western University, will be a key step in developing a possible solution.
"Our government will continue to work with the people of Windsor and others to hopefully pinpoint the source of the Windsor Hum," said Dechert. "We want to protect citizens' quality of life. To get a solution, we first need to find the source. This study is a step in the right direction."
"I would also like to thank Jeff Watson , Member of Parliament for Essex, for his tireless efforts to get this matter resolved," added Dechert.
Turkey: Denying Prisoners Medical Access as Disciplining Tool?
Originally published by EurasiaNet.org
Turkey: Denying Prisoners Medical Access as Disciplining Tool?
by Justin Vela EurasiaNet.org
Democratic Turkey may at times be touted as a model for the Middle East to follow, but, when it comes to Turkish prisons, there is little that ranks as exemplary, rights watchdogs say.
Since 2001, Turkey's prison population has increased by a whopping 124 percent, and stood at 124,677 prisoners as of October 2012, according to national prison administration data cited by the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS), a British research institute. Not all are convicted criminals; many are detainees awaiting trial.
Official data puts the occupancy rate at 88.4 percent at 373 prisons across Turkey, according to the ICPS.
International observers and representatives of non-governmental organizations say they do not have regular access to Turkish prisons. Thus, it is hard for them to evaluate prison conditions, according to Emma Sinclair-Web, an Istanbul-based researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
Healthcare has emerged as an “endemic” problem, she added. "The procedures for getting them [sick prisoners] out of prison and into the hospital is very slow … and even contributes to the deterioration of their condition at times," Sinclair-Web said.
Turkey in September concluded a nearly four-year, 4.2-million-euro (roughly $5.5 million) prison-reform project, funded by the Council of Europe and the European Union. The initiative focused largely on the training of prison staff, including 450 prison healthcare workers, but its concrete effect on prison healthcare has not been examined.
At first glance, it would not appear to be large. In early November, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, citing Ankara’s international obligations, called on Turkey to provide prisoners with “timely access to adequate health services.” It termed Turkish prisons “overcrowded,” and called on the government to construct new facilities.
An Ankara University political science doctoral student, who has extensively studied the country’s prison system, argues that maintaining “fear” is a major reason for the lack of reform. "The purpose of imprisonment is to change ideas," said Eren Buğlalılar. The authorities do not have motivation to create "good prisons because [they think] people would not change.”
While they heatedly insist that they do not imprison people simply for having different viewpoints, representatives of the Justice and Development Party-led government do not often comment on the prison issue. Repeated attempts by EurasiaNet.org to contact the Ministry of Justice’s General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses for comment about conditions in Turkey’s prisons were not successful.
A 30-year-old woman released recently from Ankara’s Sincan Prison echoes the observations of Sinclair-Webb about prison life. Nuriye Gulmen, a university research assistant, spent three and a half months in “small-group isolation” with two other detainees on charges of belonging to the militant left-wing Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front. She was released for lack of evidence.
Gulmen, who described relatively spartan living conditions, claims that prison officials did not give her cellmate any medicine when she began to have an allergic reaction that made her body swell. But they allowed her to see a doctor. "They [said] ‘We ordered the drugs. It will come tomorrow,’” she related. “But it didn't and days passed.”
A proposed bill before the Turkish parliament would authorize the release of sick prisoners, but Turkish Medical Association President Ozdemir Aktan notes that many of those kept in prisons have not yet been sentenced and, so, cannot be released. The Turkish Medical Association has proposed that the legislation cover detainees and those awaiting sentencing as well, he said.
Turkish prisons themselves remain “by no means close to European standards,” Atkan added.
Editor's note: Justin Vela is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.
Turkey: Denying Prisoners Medical Access as Disciplining Tool?
by Justin Vela EurasiaNet.org
Democratic Turkey may at times be touted as a model for the Middle East to follow, but, when it comes to Turkish prisons, there is little that ranks as exemplary, rights watchdogs say.
Since 2001, Turkey's prison population has increased by a whopping 124 percent, and stood at 124,677 prisoners as of October 2012, according to national prison administration data cited by the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS), a British research institute. Not all are convicted criminals; many are detainees awaiting trial.
Official data puts the occupancy rate at 88.4 percent at 373 prisons across Turkey, according to the ICPS.
International observers and representatives of non-governmental organizations say they do not have regular access to Turkish prisons. Thus, it is hard for them to evaluate prison conditions, according to Emma Sinclair-Web, an Istanbul-based researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
Healthcare has emerged as an “endemic” problem, she added. "The procedures for getting them [sick prisoners] out of prison and into the hospital is very slow … and even contributes to the deterioration of their condition at times," Sinclair-Web said.
Turkey in September concluded a nearly four-year, 4.2-million-euro (roughly $5.5 million) prison-reform project, funded by the Council of Europe and the European Union. The initiative focused largely on the training of prison staff, including 450 prison healthcare workers, but its concrete effect on prison healthcare has not been examined.
At first glance, it would not appear to be large. In early November, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, citing Ankara’s international obligations, called on Turkey to provide prisoners with “timely access to adequate health services.” It termed Turkish prisons “overcrowded,” and called on the government to construct new facilities.
An Ankara University political science doctoral student, who has extensively studied the country’s prison system, argues that maintaining “fear” is a major reason for the lack of reform. "The purpose of imprisonment is to change ideas," said Eren Buğlalılar. The authorities do not have motivation to create "good prisons because [they think] people would not change.”
While they heatedly insist that they do not imprison people simply for having different viewpoints, representatives of the Justice and Development Party-led government do not often comment on the prison issue. Repeated attempts by EurasiaNet.org to contact the Ministry of Justice’s General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses for comment about conditions in Turkey’s prisons were not successful.
A 30-year-old woman released recently from Ankara’s Sincan Prison echoes the observations of Sinclair-Webb about prison life. Nuriye Gulmen, a university research assistant, spent three and a half months in “small-group isolation” with two other detainees on charges of belonging to the militant left-wing Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front. She was released for lack of evidence.
Gulmen, who described relatively spartan living conditions, claims that prison officials did not give her cellmate any medicine when she began to have an allergic reaction that made her body swell. But they allowed her to see a doctor. "They [said] ‘We ordered the drugs. It will come tomorrow,’” she related. “But it didn't and days passed.”
A proposed bill before the Turkish parliament would authorize the release of sick prisoners, but Turkish Medical Association President Ozdemir Aktan notes that many of those kept in prisons have not yet been sentenced and, so, cannot be released. The Turkish Medical Association has proposed that the legislation cover detainees and those awaiting sentencing as well, he said.
Turkish prisons themselves remain “by no means close to European standards,” Atkan added.
Editor's note: Justin Vela is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.
Iran: Joint Iran-Pakistan gas project excluded from western sanctions
Islamabad, Jan 22, IRNA – Parliamentary Affairs Consultant of Federal Pakistan Government Foreign Minister Palwa Sha Khan said here Monday imposed sanctions on Iran gas and oil by EU and US do not include joint Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.
According to IRNA, local sources further quoted Palwa Sha Khan as saying Monday evening in a meeting with members of National Pakistan Government, 'Despite the imposed sanctions against Iran, negotiations regarding the project for transferring Iran's natural gas to Pakistan have had good progress.
Referring to the holding of meetings for providing the required budget for completing the project, he said, 'During the course of the past year we have had meetings with the Iranian officials regarding the provision of the budget for this project and solving the financial problems.'
Addressing the Pakistani Parliament members, Khan said that the Pakistani government has reached noticeable results in talks with the Iranian side regarding providing the required budget for this project.
The Parliamentary Affairs Consultant of Federal Pakistan Government Foreign Minister added, 'We have signed the agreement for buying and the contract for construction of the part of the pipeline which lies inside Pakistan's soil, as well.
The joint Iran-Pakistan gas contract was signed between the two countries' officials in the year 2010 and according to it was agreed that the Iranian gas would be transferred to Pakistan from Iran's Asalouyeh Port in Bushehr province to Bawab Sha Port in southern Pakistan.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, too, said at the parliamentary session, 'The Iranian officials have proposed to establish a new boarder market at Irtan-Pakistan boarder.
Addressing the MP, Ms. Khar said, 'Pakistan has acted responsibly in case of the emerged boarder tensions with India and has asked for peaceful solving of the issues with India regarding numerous violations of the ceasefire at the Line of Control (LOC) at disputed Kashmir region.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar says Iran and Pakistan have made progress in building a multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline, despite illegal US-engineered sanctions.
Addressing a National Assembly session on Monday, the Pakistani minister added that Islamabad faced a “huge challenge” to fund the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline.
She emphasized that Pakistan required USD1.5 billion to build the 781-kilometer pipeline needed for the implementation of the project on its soil.
The foreign minister stated that her country is holding talks with Tehran to find ways to “solve the financial constraints.”
The pipeline, projected to cost about USD 1.2-1.5 billion, would enable the export of 21.5 million cubic meters of Iran’s natural gas to Pakistan on a daily basis.
Iran has already built more than 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its soil.
The Express Tribune reported on January 10 that Iran and Pakistan have devised a plan to finance the gas pipeline on Pakistan’s side without the need for Islamabad to transfer funds to Tehran.
The report came a day after the board of directors of the Pakistani Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS) announced that Tehran will grant a USD500-million loan to Tehran-based Tadbir Energy Development Group.
In the first phase, Iran will lend USD250 million and extend the assistance later to USD500 million.
The proposal will be submitted to the Economic Coordination Committee of Pakistan’s Cabinet for approval.
Sudan: Government of Sudan and JEM resume peace negotiations in Doha
Source: UN-AU Mission in Darfur
Amid optimism and determination, peace negotiations between the Government of Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement Sudan were launched on 20 January in Doha, under the auspices of Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmed Bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, and the Acting Joint Special Representative of UNAMID and Joint Chief Mediator a.i. Ms. Aichatou Mindaoudou.
Negotiation teams, respectively led by Amin Hassan Omer, State Minister and Head of the Darfur Follow-Up Office, and General Arko Suleiman Dahiya, Vice-President of JEM Sudan, vowed to spare no effort to reach a peaceful settlement on the basis of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD).
“Both parties came to Doha with a sincere and strong desire to reach a settlement that would put an end to the suffering of the people of Darfur,” said Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister. He also emphasized that the DDPD is the outcome of two and half years of negotiations, broad dialogue and inclusive consultations with the major parties to the Darfur conflict, all Darfur stakeholders and international partners, with strong technical support from UNAMID.
Ms. Mindaoudou commended both parties for having kept their promise to return to negotiations on the basis of the DDPD. “The African Union, the United Nations and other national and international actors stand ready to assist the parties, and to support successful negotiations,” she stated, urging delegations to seize this opportunity to soon reach agreement and give peace a chance in Darfur.
On 22 October 2012, representatives from the Government of Sudan and JEM Sudan signed a declaration affirming their commitment to the peace process, the immediate cessation of hostilities and the resumption of negotiations to achieve a comprehensive conflict settlement on the basis of the Doha Document.
Along with the Government of Qatar, UNAMID has been heavily involved in mediation efforts in the Darfur conflict. On 10-14 January 2013, the African Union-United Nations Joint Mediation Support Team organized a workshop for the JEM delegation to enlighten 36 JEM future negotiators on the provisions of the DDPD and negotiation skills.
As it continues to engage in mediation with other hold-out movements that have expressed their interest in joining the peace process on the basis of the DDPD, UNAMID urges all non-signatory movements to lay down arms and join the peace process.
Amid optimism and determination, peace negotiations between the Government of Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement Sudan were launched on 20 January in Doha, under the auspices of Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmed Bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, and the Acting Joint Special Representative of UNAMID and Joint Chief Mediator a.i. Ms. Aichatou Mindaoudou.
Negotiation teams, respectively led by Amin Hassan Omer, State Minister and Head of the Darfur Follow-Up Office, and General Arko Suleiman Dahiya, Vice-President of JEM Sudan, vowed to spare no effort to reach a peaceful settlement on the basis of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD).
“Both parties came to Doha with a sincere and strong desire to reach a settlement that would put an end to the suffering of the people of Darfur,” said Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister. He also emphasized that the DDPD is the outcome of two and half years of negotiations, broad dialogue and inclusive consultations with the major parties to the Darfur conflict, all Darfur stakeholders and international partners, with strong technical support from UNAMID.
Ms. Mindaoudou commended both parties for having kept their promise to return to negotiations on the basis of the DDPD. “The African Union, the United Nations and other national and international actors stand ready to assist the parties, and to support successful negotiations,” she stated, urging delegations to seize this opportunity to soon reach agreement and give peace a chance in Darfur.
On 22 October 2012, representatives from the Government of Sudan and JEM Sudan signed a declaration affirming their commitment to the peace process, the immediate cessation of hostilities and the resumption of negotiations to achieve a comprehensive conflict settlement on the basis of the Doha Document.
Along with the Government of Qatar, UNAMID has been heavily involved in mediation efforts in the Darfur conflict. On 10-14 January 2013, the African Union-United Nations Joint Mediation Support Team organized a workshop for the JEM delegation to enlighten 36 JEM future negotiators on the provisions of the DDPD and negotiation skills.
As it continues to engage in mediation with other hold-out movements that have expressed their interest in joining the peace process on the basis of the DDPD, UNAMID urges all non-signatory movements to lay down arms and join the peace process.
Venezuela: The Consequences of a Delayed Transition
Source: ISN
Venezuela's Supreme Court recently decided to allow
Hugo Chavez to remain the country's president without being sworn into
office. Given the controversy it aroused, Stratfor considers what impact
the Court's decision might have on Venezuela's domestic politics and
global energy security.
Summary
An ambiguous period is about to begin in Venezuela. Just one day before President Hugo Chavez was to be inaugurated, the country's Supreme Court ruled that because the ailing leader is an incumbent, an inauguration is merely a formality. The Supreme Court ruling means Chavez's fourth consecutive term has effectively begun and Nicolas Maduro will continue as both the vice president and the acting president.
Without domestic or external pressure forcing a transition, Chavez's inner circle now may take its time before calling new elections. The ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, commonly known by its Spanish acronym, PSUV, may use this time to address pressing economic issues and to further consolidate support behind a successor, or a team of successors, before risking a democratic transition. But the delay is also a sign of weakness, signaling that the unity of the ruling party might be tenuous. The longer the party waits to begin the transition, the more precarious Venezuela's economic, political and social situation will become, and instability in Venezuela would have a huge impact throughout the region and in global energy markets. At the same time, a haphazard transition in which the country's economic challenges and the ruling party's internal problems are not addressed could be even more problematic.
Analysis
The run-up to the inauguration was perhaps the opposition's last opportunity to force a transition on its own terms, but with minimal domestic and international support, it was unable to do so. Because the stakes are so high in Venezuela, all of the regional actors, including the United States, Colombia and Brazil, have ignored the Venezuelan opposition's charges that the ruling party violated the constitution, preferring continuity to a potential crisis.
Without an external sponsor, Venezuela's opposition is weak and authority rests with Chavez's inner circle. However, the PSUV's decision to delay the transition suggests that it might be weaker and more divided than expected. The party could need more time to resolve several outstanding issues, especially the balance of power among politicians weakened by Chavez's removal from the political scene.
Venezuela is facing an economic crisis unless serious reforms are enacted. The bolivar is overvalued and the country's fiscal deficit is worsening. Both of these issues are contentious and, if not handled carefully, they could affect Venezuelans and potentially stir up social unrest. Fearing a devaluation, the value of the U.S. dollar has increased fourfold against the bolivar on the black market since Chavez's health deteriorated in December. Estimates are that the government needs $1.5 billion monthly to maintain the bolivar at its current exchange rate. Without an adjustment, Venezuela's access to foreign currencies will continue to plummet, and without access to dollars, Venezuela will be unable to afford its import bill. If that happens, food imports, which have skyrocketed over the past two years, would become increasingly scarce. Already reports have emerged indicating that it is becoming difficult to import food because of low dollar availability. Given the rate of economic decline, if the transition period lasts more than several months, the ruling elite may be forced to devalue before elections.
Venezuela's leaders have two options: They can either devalue the bolivar or divert public funds away from social spending and toward supporting the value of the currency by making foreign exchange more readily available. Decision-makers could also soften the blowback and put off the date of addressing the country's distortionary economic policies by borrowing from abroad. China, which enjoys a highly advantageous economic relationship with Venezuela, has offered to step in and provide an $8 billion line of credit to help avoid an economic crisis. Since social spending is unlikely to be lowered if an election is imminent, the inner circle may devalue the currency and borrow from abroad but continue spending, which would temporarily relieve but not solve the country's economic problems.
Devaluations have happened in the past and, though risky, they can be managed somewhat. While the government would have preferred to devalue after, not before, the election, it may have no choice. The worst-case scenario for the ruling party would be an economic crisis during an election. As a result, it may prefer to enact moderate, piecemeal economic reforms before initiating any transition.
Another factor that could explain why the ruling elite might try to delay the transition is a lack of unity within the military, the party, the energy sector and among economic policymakers. In broad strokes, Diosdado Cabello represents the military, Nicolas Maduro represents the party, Minister of Economy and Finance Jorge Giordani represents the economy and Rafael Ramirez represents the energy sector. The opposition is weak, and the PSUV could capitalize on the momentum generated by the recent presidential and gubernatorial elections and the sympathy generated by Chavez's illness. However, without full unity and support, even a weak opposition would have a better chance against a divided PSUV. As a result, it is in the inner circle's interests to delay the transition until cohesion is ironclad.
The difficulty will be that the longer the party waits, the harder it will become to hold the various factions together, assuming the economic situation continues to worsen as it has over the past few years. Although Chavez handpicked Maduro, the vice president will need to take decisive action to shore up his position or else his rule will be tenuous. Each inner circle faction will be reading the other factions' moves and working to protect its own interests in the post-Chavez political environment. This political jockeying may create a shaky transition period.
The next few months will be defined by competition and negotiation between the various groups within the PSUV. If they can confidently call for elections, Maduro likely will win and assume uncontested control over the country for the next six years. Maduro would have an official mandate and would attempt to keep things afloat as his predecessor did. However, if Chavez's inner circle fails to unify behind a single leader, all of the decisions needed to keep the country's economy functional -- currency manipulation, decreased social spending and keeping state energy firm Petroleos de Venezuela stable -- will become more difficult. Chavez is leaving behind weak institutions since he relied on his persona to get things done. Thus, it is no surprise that a unified and smooth transition has proved difficult to accomplish.
Azerbaijan: Council of Europe urged to address Azerbaijan's human rights record
IFEX
Source: ARTICLE 19
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) - 21 January 2013 - The International Partnership Group, coordinated by ARTICLE 19, along with Amnesty International, several Azerbaijani NGOs and other international organisations urge the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to make a strong call for Azerbaijan to improve its deteriorating human rights record. On Wednesday 23 January, the vote on two crucial resolutions on Azerbaijan will be an opportunity for the Assembly to show its genuine commitment to its human rights principles.
The first resolution proposes recommendations regarding the honouring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, as a member state of the Council of Europe and state party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The recommendations are drawn from a report by PACE Rapporteurs for Azerbaijan, Joseph Debono Grech and Pedro Agramunt, prepared following country visits in April and November 2012. The report assesses the extent to which Azerbaijan has adhered to commitments made in 2001 and expresses a 'growing concern with regard to rule of law and respect for human rights' and calls for the 'full implementation' of basic freedoms including the right to freedom of expression (Article 10 ECHR), and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association (Article 11 ECHR).
The second resolution focuses on the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, based on a 2012 report prepared by Rapporteur Christoph Strässer, which identified more than 80 cases. The recommendations in that report were adopted by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human rights in June 2012 and calls upon Azerbaijan to speedily resolve the cases on Mr Strässer's list, and take measures to ensure no future cases of political imprisonment. After his appointment in 2009, Strässer was continuously denied a visa by the Azerbaijani government for three years. This prevented him from entering the country to carry out the necessary research to effectively carry out his mandate. The refusal to cooperate with the special mandate seriously undermined the work of the Rapporteur and also the credibility of the Assembly as the deliberative and driving force of the Council of Europe. It also reflects contempt for Council of Europe mechanisms and a worrying development that non-compliance by member states does not carry any real consequences.
We the undersigned organisations believe the adoption of these resolutions is an essential step in ensuring Azerbaijan complies with its commitments and obligations as a member of the Council of Europe, as well as under other international human rights instruments to which Azerbaijan is party. It is also critical for the credibility of PACE. The issues highlighted below demonstrate the violations of basic human rights that persist in Azerbaijan and which the authorities need to address urgently:
Arrests and detention of Journalists, Bloggers and Human Rights Defenders:
Although Azerbaijan is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression, the Azerbaijani authorities have failed to respect this commitment. Journalists, bloggers and activists often find themselves facing a wide range of spurious charges after voicing opinions critical of or unfavourable to the authorities. While the 26 December 2012 pardoning of a number of prisoners identified in Mr Strässer's report is to be welcomed, many remain in detention on questionable charges, including journalists Avaz Zeynalli, Hilal Mammadov, Vugar Gonagov, Zaur Guliyev, Faramaz Allahverdiyev (Novruzoglu), Fuad Huseynov, Nijat Aliyev, Araz Guliyev and human rights defender Ilham Amiraslanov. In addition, hooliganism charges remain against multimedia journalist Mehman Huseynov, human rights defender Ogtay Gulaliyev and youth activist Dayanat Babayev who face the threat of jail time if prosecuted.
The use of presidential pardons does not restore justice to those convicted on arbitrary or politically motivated charges, nor does it address more fundamental flaws in the judicial system that delivered their verdicts. Indeed, the lack of independence in the judiciary was also highlighted by the Co-Rapporteurs for Azerbaijan in their report as being of 'serious concern'.
• We support Rapporteur Strässer's resolution to speedily solve the cases listed in his report and call upon PACE to adopt the resolution on political prisoners in an effort to ensure those convicted in breach of fair trial principles are immediately released or retried.
• We further urge the members of PACE to support the resolution's call on the Azerbaijani government to immediately release all journalists, bloggers and human rights defenders unjustly imprisoned, to drop all outstanding charges, and to refrain from using similar measures to unjustly persecute others in the future.
Attacks and harassment against journalists:
Journalists also continue to be regularly threatened, assaulted or harassed in Azerbaijan, while carrying out, or in retaliation for, their work and there has been impunity of the perpetrators of these actions. There have been no serious investigations and no prosecutions brought in relation to more than 200 physical attacks against journalists since 2005, including into the murders of the editor Elmar Huseynov in March 2005 and writer and journalist Rafiq Tagi in November 2011. The Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) reported 11 attacks against journalists and 16 further incidents of “on the job” violence against journalists in 2011, a trend which did not appear to improve in 2012. In April 2012, reporter Idrak Abbasov was brutally beaten and other colleagues were attacked as they documented the demolition of houses by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). Abbasov, who was left unconscious by the attack, was hospitalised with severe injuries to his chest and face. To date no-one has been charged in connection with this attack.
As recently as 12 January 2013, at a protest in Baku city centre, up to ten journalists were reportedly subject to mistreatment by police. They included IRFS chairman Emin Huseynov, who was pushed to the ground by a police officer resulting in him hitting his head on a stone, while he was taking photographs and clearly wearing a press jacket.
In March 2012, one of Azerbaijan's most known independent journalists Khadija Ismayilova, who has published investigations into high-level corruption in Azerbaijan, was the subject of a vicious smear campaign. Cameras were illegally planted in Ismayilova's bedroom and footage taken of her having sex with her boyfriend. After Ismayilova was sent stills of the footage with a note instructing her to 'behave or be defamed', she went public stating she refused to be blackmailed. One week later, a one-minute clip of the film was placed online and at the same time several defamatory articles appeared in newspapers loyal to the authorities. Despite Ismayilova's own investigations that uncovered possible leads, the official investigation has still not produced any results as to the perpetrators.
• We urge PACE to adopt the resolution on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, which calls on the authorities to effectively investigate the murders of Elmar Huseynov and Rafiq Tagi as well as all cases of beatings reported by journalists, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
• We encourage PACE to continue to closely monitor and report on developments in Azerbaijan with a view to ensuring that Azerbaijani authorities investigate all cases of pressure, threats, smear campaigns, violence or other types of harassment against journalists in an independent, transparent and timely manner.
Crackdown on Freedom of Expression Online:
With the lack of a free and independent broadcast media, increasing restrictions on independent print media, and restrictions on citizens' ability to freely express their views through protest actions, the internet remains a key realm for freedom of expression. However, it has become increasingly encroached upon with the Azerbaijani government periodically blocking websites featuring opposition views and monitoring the internet use of protest leaders. Many of the journalists, bloggers and activists charged or arrested appear to have been targeted by the authorities because they have expressed critical political views online. Faramaz Allahverdiyev (Novruzoglu), for example, was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison on 2 August 2012 after being accused of using Facebook to call upon people to riot ahead of 11 March 2011 and charged with appealing for mass disorder and violence against citizens.
Two other journalists, Vugar Gonagov and Zaur Guliyev, remain in pre-trial detention after being arrested on 13 March 2012 and charged with inciting mass disorder. They were accused of provoking the riots that broke out in the northern city of Guba after they allegedly posted online a video of the regional governor making derogatory remarks about local citizens. Thousands of protesters subsequently demonstrated in Guba on 1 March 2012 demanding the governor's resignation.
• We call on PACE to adopt the resolution on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, which urges the government to create the proper conditions for journalists to carry out their work and refrain from any kind of pressure; and end practices of prosecution of journalists or others who express critical opinions.
• Furthermore we urge Azerbaijan to ensure respect for the right to freedom expression, both online and offline, and refrain from targeting social media users who express opinions critical of the authorities or use the Internet to call for or organise peaceful protests.
Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly:
Over the last few years a number of protests have resulted in the arrest or administrative detention of protesters, particularly during the run-up to the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Baku in May 2012. In the weeks before and after the competition more than 70 people were detained during peaceful protests with both participants and journalists covering the demonstrations beaten as police used excessive force to disperse the crowds.
There is a de-facto blanket ban on political protests in Baku city centre, with no public gatherings permitted there by the authorities since early 2006, leaving people who wish to exercise their right to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly little choice but to participate in unsanctioned protests. New legislation, introduced in November 2012, severely restricts the right to freedom and association by increasing the punishments for people involved in unauthorised protests. Changes to the Administrative Code law came into effect on 01 January 2013 and have increased fines from between 7 and 12 EUR to between 480 and 1,050 EUR for participants and between 1,400 and 2,900 EUR for organisers. The amendments to the Criminal Code also increase the maximum fine for participating in unsanctioned public gatherings from 955 EUR to 7600 EUR.
On 12 January 2012, a protest was held in the centre of Baku, in reaction to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of an army cadet. More than twenty men were subsequently charged and fined various amounts ranging from 290 to 580 EUR.
• We call on PACE to adopt the resolution on the honouring obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, which calls on the government to respect freedom of peaceful assembly and refrain from using disproportionate force against peaceful protesters.
• We also call on PACE to urge the Azerbaijani authorities to revise the repressive amendments to the Freedom of Assembly law and allow their citizens to hold peaceful protests in Baku city centre.
Torture and other ill-treatment
Torture and other ill-treatment remain widespread, while allegations of such treatment are rarely investigated effectively, which contributes to a climate of impunity.
Several activists detained at and after the protests in March and April 2011, as well as following the dispersal of protests in March, April and October 2012, have complained of ill-treatment during their arrest and while in police custody. To date, none of these allegations has been investigated effectively.
• We call on PACE to adopt the resolution on honouring obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, which calls on the country to conduct a prompt, effective, and impartial investigation into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of detained activists and ensure that those found responsible are brought to justice in accordance with international obligations and fair trial standards.
Defamation:
Defamation remains a criminal offence in Azerbaijan, carrying a penalty of up to three years' imprisonment. Although criminal defamation provisions no longer lead to prison sentences as frequently as in previous years, they are still in use. The mere existence of these provisions has a serious chilling effect on freedom of expression in Azerbaijan, instilling fear among journalists and contributing to the widespread self-censorship. Civil defamation provisions are more frequently used, and are often abused to negatively affect the ability of independent media outlets to operate. Many civil defamation cases are filed by public officials.
• We call on Azerbaijan to decriminalise defamation and to ensure that civil defamation provisions can be only used in line with international standards.
In addition we call upon the PACE to:
• Review implementation of the recommendations made in Resolution 1750 (2010) on the functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan and urge immediate action to address shortcomings; and
• Call on the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to intensify efforts to ensure Azerbaijan's immediate and full implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
Recommendations in summary:
We call on PACE to:
1. Adopt the resolution on political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
2. Adopt the resolution on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan.
We also call for PACE to:
3. Continue to closely monitor and report on developments in Azerbaijan with a view to ensuring that Azerbaijani authorities investigate all cases of violence or other types of harassment against journalists in an independent, transparent and timely manner. Urge the Azerbaijani authorities to revise the repressive amendments to the Freedom of Assembly law and allow their citizens to hold peaceful protests in Baku city centre.
4. Intensify efforts to ensure Azerbaijan's immediate and full implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
We call on Azerbaijan to:
5. Decriminalise defamation and to ensure that civil defamation provisions can be only used in line with international standards.
6. Review the implementation of the recommendations made in Resolution 1750 (2010) on the functioning of democratic institutions and take immediate action to address shortcomings.
7. Respect the right to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly, both online and offline, and refrain from targeting social media users who express opinions critical of the authorities or use the Internet to call for or organise protests.
8. Conduct prompt, effective, and impartial investigations into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment and ensure that those found responsible are brought to justice in accordance with international obligations and fair trial standards.
International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan
• ARTICLE 19
• Committee to Protect Journalists
• Freedom House
• Freedom Now
• Index on Censorship
• International Media Support
• Human Rights House Foundation
• Human Rights Watch
• Norwegian Helsinki Committee
• Media Diversity Institute
• Media Legal Defence Initiative
• Reporters Without Borders
• World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
Supported by
• Amnesty International
• Center for National and International Studies (Azerbaijan)
• Human Rights Center for Azerbaijan
• Human Rights Club
• Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS)
• International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)
• Media Rights Institute
• People in Need
Source: ARTICLE 19
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) - 21 January 2013 - The International Partnership Group, coordinated by ARTICLE 19, along with Amnesty International, several Azerbaijani NGOs and other international organisations urge the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to make a strong call for Azerbaijan to improve its deteriorating human rights record. On Wednesday 23 January, the vote on two crucial resolutions on Azerbaijan will be an opportunity for the Assembly to show its genuine commitment to its human rights principles.
The first resolution proposes recommendations regarding the honouring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, as a member state of the Council of Europe and state party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The recommendations are drawn from a report by PACE Rapporteurs for Azerbaijan, Joseph Debono Grech and Pedro Agramunt, prepared following country visits in April and November 2012. The report assesses the extent to which Azerbaijan has adhered to commitments made in 2001 and expresses a 'growing concern with regard to rule of law and respect for human rights' and calls for the 'full implementation' of basic freedoms including the right to freedom of expression (Article 10 ECHR), and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association (Article 11 ECHR).
The second resolution focuses on the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, based on a 2012 report prepared by Rapporteur Christoph Strässer, which identified more than 80 cases. The recommendations in that report were adopted by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human rights in June 2012 and calls upon Azerbaijan to speedily resolve the cases on Mr Strässer's list, and take measures to ensure no future cases of political imprisonment. After his appointment in 2009, Strässer was continuously denied a visa by the Azerbaijani government for three years. This prevented him from entering the country to carry out the necessary research to effectively carry out his mandate. The refusal to cooperate with the special mandate seriously undermined the work of the Rapporteur and also the credibility of the Assembly as the deliberative and driving force of the Council of Europe. It also reflects contempt for Council of Europe mechanisms and a worrying development that non-compliance by member states does not carry any real consequences.
We the undersigned organisations believe the adoption of these resolutions is an essential step in ensuring Azerbaijan complies with its commitments and obligations as a member of the Council of Europe, as well as under other international human rights instruments to which Azerbaijan is party. It is also critical for the credibility of PACE. The issues highlighted below demonstrate the violations of basic human rights that persist in Azerbaijan and which the authorities need to address urgently:
Arrests and detention of Journalists, Bloggers and Human Rights Defenders:
Although Azerbaijan is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression, the Azerbaijani authorities have failed to respect this commitment. Journalists, bloggers and activists often find themselves facing a wide range of spurious charges after voicing opinions critical of or unfavourable to the authorities. While the 26 December 2012 pardoning of a number of prisoners identified in Mr Strässer's report is to be welcomed, many remain in detention on questionable charges, including journalists Avaz Zeynalli, Hilal Mammadov, Vugar Gonagov, Zaur Guliyev, Faramaz Allahverdiyev (Novruzoglu), Fuad Huseynov, Nijat Aliyev, Araz Guliyev and human rights defender Ilham Amiraslanov. In addition, hooliganism charges remain against multimedia journalist Mehman Huseynov, human rights defender Ogtay Gulaliyev and youth activist Dayanat Babayev who face the threat of jail time if prosecuted.
The use of presidential pardons does not restore justice to those convicted on arbitrary or politically motivated charges, nor does it address more fundamental flaws in the judicial system that delivered their verdicts. Indeed, the lack of independence in the judiciary was also highlighted by the Co-Rapporteurs for Azerbaijan in their report as being of 'serious concern'.
• We support Rapporteur Strässer's resolution to speedily solve the cases listed in his report and call upon PACE to adopt the resolution on political prisoners in an effort to ensure those convicted in breach of fair trial principles are immediately released or retried.
• We further urge the members of PACE to support the resolution's call on the Azerbaijani government to immediately release all journalists, bloggers and human rights defenders unjustly imprisoned, to drop all outstanding charges, and to refrain from using similar measures to unjustly persecute others in the future.
Attacks and harassment against journalists:
Journalists also continue to be regularly threatened, assaulted or harassed in Azerbaijan, while carrying out, or in retaliation for, their work and there has been impunity of the perpetrators of these actions. There have been no serious investigations and no prosecutions brought in relation to more than 200 physical attacks against journalists since 2005, including into the murders of the editor Elmar Huseynov in March 2005 and writer and journalist Rafiq Tagi in November 2011. The Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) reported 11 attacks against journalists and 16 further incidents of “on the job” violence against journalists in 2011, a trend which did not appear to improve in 2012. In April 2012, reporter Idrak Abbasov was brutally beaten and other colleagues were attacked as they documented the demolition of houses by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). Abbasov, who was left unconscious by the attack, was hospitalised with severe injuries to his chest and face. To date no-one has been charged in connection with this attack.
As recently as 12 January 2013, at a protest in Baku city centre, up to ten journalists were reportedly subject to mistreatment by police. They included IRFS chairman Emin Huseynov, who was pushed to the ground by a police officer resulting in him hitting his head on a stone, while he was taking photographs and clearly wearing a press jacket.
In March 2012, one of Azerbaijan's most known independent journalists Khadija Ismayilova, who has published investigations into high-level corruption in Azerbaijan, was the subject of a vicious smear campaign. Cameras were illegally planted in Ismayilova's bedroom and footage taken of her having sex with her boyfriend. After Ismayilova was sent stills of the footage with a note instructing her to 'behave or be defamed', she went public stating she refused to be blackmailed. One week later, a one-minute clip of the film was placed online and at the same time several defamatory articles appeared in newspapers loyal to the authorities. Despite Ismayilova's own investigations that uncovered possible leads, the official investigation has still not produced any results as to the perpetrators.
• We urge PACE to adopt the resolution on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, which calls on the authorities to effectively investigate the murders of Elmar Huseynov and Rafiq Tagi as well as all cases of beatings reported by journalists, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
• We encourage PACE to continue to closely monitor and report on developments in Azerbaijan with a view to ensuring that Azerbaijani authorities investigate all cases of pressure, threats, smear campaigns, violence or other types of harassment against journalists in an independent, transparent and timely manner.
Crackdown on Freedom of Expression Online:
With the lack of a free and independent broadcast media, increasing restrictions on independent print media, and restrictions on citizens' ability to freely express their views through protest actions, the internet remains a key realm for freedom of expression. However, it has become increasingly encroached upon with the Azerbaijani government periodically blocking websites featuring opposition views and monitoring the internet use of protest leaders. Many of the journalists, bloggers and activists charged or arrested appear to have been targeted by the authorities because they have expressed critical political views online. Faramaz Allahverdiyev (Novruzoglu), for example, was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison on 2 August 2012 after being accused of using Facebook to call upon people to riot ahead of 11 March 2011 and charged with appealing for mass disorder and violence against citizens.
Two other journalists, Vugar Gonagov and Zaur Guliyev, remain in pre-trial detention after being arrested on 13 March 2012 and charged with inciting mass disorder. They were accused of provoking the riots that broke out in the northern city of Guba after they allegedly posted online a video of the regional governor making derogatory remarks about local citizens. Thousands of protesters subsequently demonstrated in Guba on 1 March 2012 demanding the governor's resignation.
• We call on PACE to adopt the resolution on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, which urges the government to create the proper conditions for journalists to carry out their work and refrain from any kind of pressure; and end practices of prosecution of journalists or others who express critical opinions.
• Furthermore we urge Azerbaijan to ensure respect for the right to freedom expression, both online and offline, and refrain from targeting social media users who express opinions critical of the authorities or use the Internet to call for or organise peaceful protests.
Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly:
Over the last few years a number of protests have resulted in the arrest or administrative detention of protesters, particularly during the run-up to the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Baku in May 2012. In the weeks before and after the competition more than 70 people were detained during peaceful protests with both participants and journalists covering the demonstrations beaten as police used excessive force to disperse the crowds.
There is a de-facto blanket ban on political protests in Baku city centre, with no public gatherings permitted there by the authorities since early 2006, leaving people who wish to exercise their right to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly little choice but to participate in unsanctioned protests. New legislation, introduced in November 2012, severely restricts the right to freedom and association by increasing the punishments for people involved in unauthorised protests. Changes to the Administrative Code law came into effect on 01 January 2013 and have increased fines from between 7 and 12 EUR to between 480 and 1,050 EUR for participants and between 1,400 and 2,900 EUR for organisers. The amendments to the Criminal Code also increase the maximum fine for participating in unsanctioned public gatherings from 955 EUR to 7600 EUR.
On 12 January 2012, a protest was held in the centre of Baku, in reaction to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of an army cadet. More than twenty men were subsequently charged and fined various amounts ranging from 290 to 580 EUR.
• We call on PACE to adopt the resolution on the honouring obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, which calls on the government to respect freedom of peaceful assembly and refrain from using disproportionate force against peaceful protesters.
• We also call on PACE to urge the Azerbaijani authorities to revise the repressive amendments to the Freedom of Assembly law and allow their citizens to hold peaceful protests in Baku city centre.
Torture and other ill-treatment
Torture and other ill-treatment remain widespread, while allegations of such treatment are rarely investigated effectively, which contributes to a climate of impunity.
Several activists detained at and after the protests in March and April 2011, as well as following the dispersal of protests in March, April and October 2012, have complained of ill-treatment during their arrest and while in police custody. To date, none of these allegations has been investigated effectively.
• We call on PACE to adopt the resolution on honouring obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, which calls on the country to conduct a prompt, effective, and impartial investigation into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of detained activists and ensure that those found responsible are brought to justice in accordance with international obligations and fair trial standards.
Defamation:
Defamation remains a criminal offence in Azerbaijan, carrying a penalty of up to three years' imprisonment. Although criminal defamation provisions no longer lead to prison sentences as frequently as in previous years, they are still in use. The mere existence of these provisions has a serious chilling effect on freedom of expression in Azerbaijan, instilling fear among journalists and contributing to the widespread self-censorship. Civil defamation provisions are more frequently used, and are often abused to negatively affect the ability of independent media outlets to operate. Many civil defamation cases are filed by public officials.
• We call on Azerbaijan to decriminalise defamation and to ensure that civil defamation provisions can be only used in line with international standards.
In addition we call upon the PACE to:
• Review implementation of the recommendations made in Resolution 1750 (2010) on the functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan and urge immediate action to address shortcomings; and
• Call on the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to intensify efforts to ensure Azerbaijan's immediate and full implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
Recommendations in summary:
We call on PACE to:
1. Adopt the resolution on political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
2. Adopt the resolution on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan.
We also call for PACE to:
3. Continue to closely monitor and report on developments in Azerbaijan with a view to ensuring that Azerbaijani authorities investigate all cases of violence or other types of harassment against journalists in an independent, transparent and timely manner. Urge the Azerbaijani authorities to revise the repressive amendments to the Freedom of Assembly law and allow their citizens to hold peaceful protests in Baku city centre.
4. Intensify efforts to ensure Azerbaijan's immediate and full implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
We call on Azerbaijan to:
5. Decriminalise defamation and to ensure that civil defamation provisions can be only used in line with international standards.
6. Review the implementation of the recommendations made in Resolution 1750 (2010) on the functioning of democratic institutions and take immediate action to address shortcomings.
7. Respect the right to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly, both online and offline, and refrain from targeting social media users who express opinions critical of the authorities or use the Internet to call for or organise protests.
8. Conduct prompt, effective, and impartial investigations into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment and ensure that those found responsible are brought to justice in accordance with international obligations and fair trial standards.
International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan
• ARTICLE 19
• Committee to Protect Journalists
• Freedom House
• Freedom Now
• Index on Censorship
• International Media Support
• Human Rights House Foundation
• Human Rights Watch
• Norwegian Helsinki Committee
• Media Diversity Institute
• Media Legal Defence Initiative
• Reporters Without Borders
• World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
Supported by
• Amnesty International
• Center for National and International Studies (Azerbaijan)
• Human Rights Center for Azerbaijan
• Human Rights Club
• Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS)
• International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)
• Media Rights Institute
• People in Need
Syria: Syrians Ferry Needed Goods From Iraq
The on-going conflict in Syria has led to chronic fuel and food shortages. Thousands of desperate Syrians are carrying goods across an unofficial border crossing opened by the semi-autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq. Sebastian Meyer reports from the Iraq-Syria border.
Youth: World’s youth facing worsening unemployment
In its annual Global Employment Trends report, released today, the International Labour Organization (ILO) notes that despite the positive trend of falling unemployment over the past two years, the number of unemployed worldwide rose by 4.2 million in 2012 with gloomy expectations of a further increase in 2013.
“An uncertain economic outlook, and the inadequacy of policy to counter this, has weakened aggregate demand, holding back investment and hiring,” Guy Ryder, the ILO Director-General, announced in a news release accompanying the report.
“This has prolonged the labour market slump in many countries, lowering job creation and increasing unemployment duration even in some countries that previously had low unemployment and dynamic labour markets,” he added.
In particular, the report singles out the impact of the global unemployment crisis – already afflicting over 197 million people worldwide – on the world’s youth, who risk losing vital professional and social skills as the length of their joblessness continues to grow.
“Many of the new jobs require skills that jobseekers do not have,” Mr. Ryder confirmed.
According to the ILO, some 35 per cent of unemployed youth in advanced economies have been out of a job for six months or longer – an absence which directly impacts their long-term career prospects as their skills deteriorate. Others, meanwhile, get discouraged and leave the labour market altogether.
With almost 74 million people in the 15 to 24 age group unemployed around the world, translating into a 12.4 per cent unemployment rate for this subset, job prospects for the world’s younger workers are looking increasingly bleak, says the report.
The UN official pointed out that regional differences in youth unemployment were likely to be marked, with the situation expected to improve slightly over the next five years in the developed economies while emerging economies in Eastern Europe, East and South-East Asia and the Middle East would continue to see rising joblessness among its young labour force.
He added, however, that it was incumbent on international policy-makers to find a coordinated response to reversing the problem and urged governments to establish coordinated retraining activities to help young people bridge the skills gap caused by extended bouts of joblessness.
“The global nature of the crisis means countries cannot resolve its impact individually and with domestic measures only,” declared the ILO Director-General.
The report specifically calls on policy-makers to engage in three areas crucial to employment generation, including injections of public investment into job-creating initiatives while private funding remains shy; addressing rising labour market mismatch problems through retraining and re-skilling programmes; and focussing action on youth joblessness.
“The high uncertainty, which is holding off investments and job creation, will not recede if countries come up with conflicting solutions,” cautioned Mr. Ryder. “The costs of inactivity, of allowing long-term unemployment to grow and young people to disconnect further from society, would be far higher.”
Eritrea: The 'Arab Spring' Arrives in Eritrea
BRUSSELS (IDN) - Arab Spring has arrived in the Horn of Africa. Young people have been campaigning for the last year, inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt, phoning households in the country that has been in the grip of its leader Isaias Afewerki since independence from neighbouring Ethiopia in 1991.
The young campaigners were asking citizens to stay home on Friday afternoons to protest against the dictatorship. The country has been in clutch of fear, while journalists, church leaders, writers, politicians and ordinary citizens have been locked up in jails. The country even scores below North Korea in terms of press freedom.
Since Monday, January 21, a mutiny has gripped the country as some hundred soldiers occupied the Ministry of Information, and subsequently the airport and the Central Bank. The newsreader read out that a constitution would be introduced and that political prisoners would be released.
The mutiny follows in the aftermath of high officials deserting the 66-year old leader, the latest being the feared Minister of Information, Ali Abdu, who recently sought political asylum in Canada. The coup seems to meet little resistance; local diplomats reported that shops were open and that everything was quiet in the streets. Telephone lines were open. So far it looks like a smooth transition.
Eritrea became independent in 1991 after a 30-year war against Ethiopia, but in 1998 war broke out again between the two countries. In 2001, just a day after 9/11 several critics of President Afewerki were locked up, they were never released and never brought into a court room. A prominent prisoner is Dawit Isac, a journalist – writer whose release has been demanded by a worldwide campaign. Following the crack-down those who had the means to leave the country left.
In recent years the population impoverished further and drought and hunger drove many to flee, despite a shoot-to-kill policy at the border. Human traffickers made use of the vulnerability of these refugees, as they were sold on and ended up in torture camps in the Sinai desert. Torture included burning, hanging, whipping and rape while ransoms were demanded of up to US$ 50.000. Relatives collecting the ransoms for the hostages would sell all their belongings, but could never be sure that they would see their relative alive again.
The UN and independent research concluded that the government of Eritrea itself was complicit with the human trafficking. The population has become increasingly desperate. It is therefore not a surprise that a transition is now being forced. Afewerki spent most of his time abroad as he is reportedly ill. His archenemy Meles, President of Ethiopia, died in 2012 in a hospital in Brussels.
Question
The question is, will the coup succeed? It is likely that it will. Firstly, Eritreans are not likely to oppose a transition, as they have suffered economic collapse and drought in recent years. Secondly, Afewerki has no friends among its neighbours, who are in fact likely to quietly support a transition. Moreover, the U.S. and the 27-nation European Union (EU) have become increasingly irritated with the support of Afewerki to Al Shabaab in Somalia and to the piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Eritrea is a very strategic military location that is certainly of interest to the West.
In the unlikely event that the claim for a transition is contested by factions of the military the international community will demand that Eritrea implements the constitution, frees political prisoners and establishes a transitional government with broad representation. And hence our view that the Arab Spring has finally reached the Horn of Africa, throwing its shadow further into the African continent.
*Prof. Dr. Mirjam van Reisen, professor International Social Responsibility at the Tilburg University, is author of 'Human Trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees between life and death', Wolf Legal Publishers, 2012. She is founding director of the Europe External Policy Advisors (EEPA) in Brussels and member of the International Commission on Eritrean Refugees (ICER). IDN
Viewpoints reflect opinions of respective writers, which are not necessarily shared by the InDepthNews editorial board. [IDN-InDepthNews – January 21, 2013]
Italy: Summary Returns to Greece Violate Rights
Source: Human Rights Watch
Unaccompanied Children, Asylum Seekers Should Not Be Turned Away
(Rome) – Italy is summarily returning unaccompanied migrant children and adult asylum seekers to Greece, where they face a dysfunctional asylum system and abusive detention conditions, Human Rights Watch said in a report published today. Stowaways on ferries from Greece, including children as young as 13, are sent back by Italian authorities within hours without adequate consideration of their particular needs as children or their desire to apply for asylum.
The 45-page report, “Turned Away: Summary Returns of Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Adult Asylum Seekers from Italy to Greece,” documents the failure of Italian border police at the Adriatic ports of Ancona, Bari, Brindisi, and Venice to screen adequately for people in need of protection, in violation of Italy’s legal obligations. Human Rights Watch interviewed 29 children and adults who were summarily returned to Greece from Italian ports, 20 of them in 2012.
“Every year hundreds of people risk life and limb hiding in or under trucks and cars on ferries crossing the Adriatic Sea,” said Judith Sunderland, senior Western Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Too often Italy sends them straight back to Greece despite appalling conditions and treatment there.”
Placed in the custody of the captains of commercial ferries, adults and children alike are confined on board ships during the return journey to Greece in places such as makeshift holding cells or engine rooms and sometimes denied adequate food.
Back in Greece, unaccompanied children and asylum seekers, like all migrants, are vulnerable to law enforcement abuse, degrading conditions of detention, and a hostile environment marked by xenophobic violence, Human Rights Watch said. Ali M., an Afghan boy who was 15 when he was returned from Italy to Igoumenitsa, Greece, in March 2012, said Greek police took him to a detention facility outside the port and detained him for over two weeks with unrelated adults in squalid conditions without adequate food.
Italian and international law prohibit the removal of unaccompanied children without a determination that it is in their best interest. Yet, Human Rights Watch met with 13 children ages 13 to 17 who had been summarily returned to Greece. None of them were given access to a guardian or social services, as required by Italian and international law.
Although Italian government policy is to give an individual who claims to be a child the benefit of the doubt, Human Rights Watch research indicates that this policy is not being followed. Only one of the children interviewed had any kind of age determination examination, in his case a wrist x-ray. Ali M., for example, was returned without an age determination: “I told them I was 15, they didn’t listen. They put me in the ticket office and then on the boat.”
Best practices require a multi-disciplinary approach to evaluating age and that any medical testing be non-intrusive. Access to a guardian and social services and proper age assessments can only be carried out when children are admitted to the country.
“Most of those we met were Afghan boys fleeing danger, conflict, and poverty,” said Alice Farmer, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Italy needs to take responsibility for providing them the special protection to which they are entitled as children.”
Sending adult migrants back to Greece without giving them the opportunity to lodge asylum claims also violates national and international obligations. While Italy has the right to enforce its immigration laws, asylum seekers must be allowed to exercise the right to lodge asylum claims, and no one returned should be exposed to risks of torture or ill-treatment.
Overwhelming evidence of chronic problems with Greece’s asylum system and detention conditions has led to landmark European court rulings barring returns to that country under the Dublin II Regulation, which generally requires the first EU country of entry to process an asylum claim. Numerous EU countries have suspended transfers of asylum seekers to Greece as a result.
Italy has not suspended Dublin transfers to Greece but claims to assess the risk of rights violations when considering whether to do so. But its summary returns from the ports contradict this policy.
Most people interviewed said they had not had a chance to express their desire to apply for asylum, while five said their pleas to do so were ignored by port police officers. According to Bari border police, only 12 out of almost 900 migrants detected at the port between January 2011 and June 2012 were allowed to remain in Italy.
“Some asylum seekers may not want to apply for asylum in Italy, even if given the chance, because they are convinced that their prospects for protection and integration are better in other European countries,” Sunderland said. “But those who do want to apply for asylum should not be turned away.”
Nongovernmental organizations with contracts to provide services and information to migrants detected at the ports do not have systematic access to them, leaving decisions about who is allowed to remain in Italy in the hands of border police. None of those interviewed had been given access to nongovernmental groups or information about their rights and about applying for asylum. Only seven had been assisted by an interpreter.
“The whole point of authorizing nongovernmental groups to provide services at the ports is to ensure that migrants’ rights are respected,” Sunderland said. “But they can’t do their job if they don’t have access to all arriving migrants, and those in need are falling through the cracks.”
The European Court of Human Rights is expected to issue a judgment soon in the case of Sharife and Others v. Italy and Greece involving the 2009 summary return of 25 adults and 10 children who contend that the return violated their right to life and to protection against torture or ill-treatment, and to an effective remedy. The Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, Nils Muižnieks, and the UN special rapporteur on the rights of migrants, François Crépeau, have both urged Italy to refrain from summary returns to Greece.
Human Rights Watch recommended a number of changes in Italy’s procedures, including:
Unaccompanied Children, Asylum Seekers Should Not Be Turned Away
(Rome) – Italy is summarily returning unaccompanied migrant children and adult asylum seekers to Greece, where they face a dysfunctional asylum system and abusive detention conditions, Human Rights Watch said in a report published today. Stowaways on ferries from Greece, including children as young as 13, are sent back by Italian authorities within hours without adequate consideration of their particular needs as children or their desire to apply for asylum.
The 45-page report, “Turned Away: Summary Returns of Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Adult Asylum Seekers from Italy to Greece,” documents the failure of Italian border police at the Adriatic ports of Ancona, Bari, Brindisi, and Venice to screen adequately for people in need of protection, in violation of Italy’s legal obligations. Human Rights Watch interviewed 29 children and adults who were summarily returned to Greece from Italian ports, 20 of them in 2012.
“Every year hundreds of people risk life and limb hiding in or under trucks and cars on ferries crossing the Adriatic Sea,” said Judith Sunderland, senior Western Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Too often Italy sends them straight back to Greece despite appalling conditions and treatment there.”
Placed in the custody of the captains of commercial ferries, adults and children alike are confined on board ships during the return journey to Greece in places such as makeshift holding cells or engine rooms and sometimes denied adequate food.
Back in Greece, unaccompanied children and asylum seekers, like all migrants, are vulnerable to law enforcement abuse, degrading conditions of detention, and a hostile environment marked by xenophobic violence, Human Rights Watch said. Ali M., an Afghan boy who was 15 when he was returned from Italy to Igoumenitsa, Greece, in March 2012, said Greek police took him to a detention facility outside the port and detained him for over two weeks with unrelated adults in squalid conditions without adequate food.
Italian and international law prohibit the removal of unaccompanied children without a determination that it is in their best interest. Yet, Human Rights Watch met with 13 children ages 13 to 17 who had been summarily returned to Greece. None of them were given access to a guardian or social services, as required by Italian and international law.
Although Italian government policy is to give an individual who claims to be a child the benefit of the doubt, Human Rights Watch research indicates that this policy is not being followed. Only one of the children interviewed had any kind of age determination examination, in his case a wrist x-ray. Ali M., for example, was returned without an age determination: “I told them I was 15, they didn’t listen. They put me in the ticket office and then on the boat.”
Best practices require a multi-disciplinary approach to evaluating age and that any medical testing be non-intrusive. Access to a guardian and social services and proper age assessments can only be carried out when children are admitted to the country.
“Most of those we met were Afghan boys fleeing danger, conflict, and poverty,” said Alice Farmer, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Italy needs to take responsibility for providing them the special protection to which they are entitled as children.”
Sending adult migrants back to Greece without giving them the opportunity to lodge asylum claims also violates national and international obligations. While Italy has the right to enforce its immigration laws, asylum seekers must be allowed to exercise the right to lodge asylum claims, and no one returned should be exposed to risks of torture or ill-treatment.
Overwhelming evidence of chronic problems with Greece’s asylum system and detention conditions has led to landmark European court rulings barring returns to that country under the Dublin II Regulation, which generally requires the first EU country of entry to process an asylum claim. Numerous EU countries have suspended transfers of asylum seekers to Greece as a result.
Italy has not suspended Dublin transfers to Greece but claims to assess the risk of rights violations when considering whether to do so. But its summary returns from the ports contradict this policy.
Most people interviewed said they had not had a chance to express their desire to apply for asylum, while five said their pleas to do so were ignored by port police officers. According to Bari border police, only 12 out of almost 900 migrants detected at the port between January 2011 and June 2012 were allowed to remain in Italy.
“Some asylum seekers may not want to apply for asylum in Italy, even if given the chance, because they are convinced that their prospects for protection and integration are better in other European countries,” Sunderland said. “But those who do want to apply for asylum should not be turned away.”
Nongovernmental organizations with contracts to provide services and information to migrants detected at the ports do not have systematic access to them, leaving decisions about who is allowed to remain in Italy in the hands of border police. None of those interviewed had been given access to nongovernmental groups or information about their rights and about applying for asylum. Only seven had been assisted by an interpreter.
“The whole point of authorizing nongovernmental groups to provide services at the ports is to ensure that migrants’ rights are respected,” Sunderland said. “But they can’t do their job if they don’t have access to all arriving migrants, and those in need are falling through the cracks.”
The European Court of Human Rights is expected to issue a judgment soon in the case of Sharife and Others v. Italy and Greece involving the 2009 summary return of 25 adults and 10 children who contend that the return violated their right to life and to protection against torture or ill-treatment, and to an effective remedy. The Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, Nils Muižnieks, and the UN special rapporteur on the rights of migrants, François Crépeau, have both urged Italy to refrain from summary returns to Greece.
Human Rights Watch recommended a number of changes in Italy’s procedures, including:
- Suspend immediately the summary returns to Greece;
- Permit those reaching Italy who claim to be unaccompanied children, without exception, to stay and benefit from the specific protections guaranteed under Italian law, pending a properly conducted age determination;
- Properly screen adults to identify those with special vulnerabilities and those who wish to apply for asylum or otherwise have protection needs;
- Provide full access to all arrivals for authorized nongovernmental organizations so they can provide legal and humanitarian assistance;
- Provide ferry companies with clear guidelines for shipmasters on humane and safe treatment of stowaways when discovered on board and during returns to Greece.
Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s Muslim IDPs 25 years on
Source: IRIN
COLOMBO, 21 January 2013 (IRIN) - Almost three years after the Sri Lankan government looked into resettling up to 100,000 Muslims displaced from the country’s north during the 1983-2009 civil war, thousands of Muslim families still find themselves in limbo, without the means to return to their former homes.
Despite a time lapse of almost 25 years, Abdul Malik still remembers the announcement Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE - separatist rebels fighting for an independent ethnic Tamil state in the north) made on 29 October 1990: All Muslims in Jaffna Peninsula, which included the capital of the war-hit Northern Province (Jaffna), had 24 hours to leave or face forced expulsion and death.
“It was horrible, there were only three [Muslim] families living in the area where we lived. We just left the place we knew as home overnight,” said Malik who is now a religious `Moulavi’ leader at a small mosque in the northwestern district of Puttalam, where most Muslim families relocated.
Why were they expelled?
While the country’s Muslims from the Tamil-dominated north speak Tamil, they are not generally considered ethnically Tamil by Sri Lankans - of all ethnicities - on account of their religion (most Sri Lankan Tamils are Hindus or Christians). The expulsion of Muslims, who made up 5 percent of Northern Province’s population before 1990, followed the emergence of a new national Muslim political party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. LTTE leaders feared the new party undermined LTTE’s goal of a mono-ethnic Tamil state. The few Sinhalese who used to live in Jaffna city were forced out years before Muslims.
LTTE, which at the time controlled most of Jaffna Peninsula, made sure fleeing Muslims did not take with them any household items, furniture, or even land deeds in some cases. Each person could not carry more than US$2.25.
The 30 October 1990 mass flight was the largest forced eviction of Muslims during Sri Lanka’s civil war. Researchers estimate close to 75,000 Muslims were forced from their homes during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Where are they now?
Most resettled in northwestern Puttalam District, which already had a sizeable Muslim population. Their number has now swelled to 250,000, according to Colombo-based NGO Law and Society Trust, as well as the Citizens Commission on the Expulsion of Muslims from Northern Province by LTTE in October 1990.
Formed in 2008 the Commission is a collective of Muslim civic groups campaigning for the rights of displaced Muslims.
Almost a quarter of a century after their flight and 44 months since the end of the conflict in May 2009, most are still living in what was intended to be temporary relocation sites.
“They really don’t want to go back if there is no guarantee of jobs and housing. So far there is no such guarantee,” said Abdul Matheen, a community leader working with displaced Muslims in Puttalam.
Researchers and experts told IRIN that resettling people displaced for years was more complicated than resettling those displaced for a short time.
“They tend to take longer to return and will attempt to rebuild their houses and livelihoods before shifting their entire family [back to their original villages],” said Mirak Raheem, a researcher with local NGO Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA).
Raheem, who specializes in displacement, told IRIN that most displaced Muslims were wary of leaving their current residence because they lacked the means to resettle. “They have lived for so long in displacement and tried to build a life there, they may opt to settle there. This is especially true for the generation borne and brought up in displacement.”
What support are they getting?
There are no current government or NGO-supported programmes to facilitate resettlement of displaced Muslims.
The November 2011 report by the government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which looked into the conduct of the war, noted “the treatment given to the Muslim community of the Northern Province has led them to believe that they are at the bottom of the list of priorities of the government, INGOs [international NGOs] and NGOs and the donor community”.
Assistance targeting displaced Muslims has been scant; one rare case is the US$34 million World Bank funded Puttalam Housing Project, completed in 2011,which provided 4,460 houses to internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Have Muslims registered to return?
In mid-2010 almost all displaced Muslims registered to return in order to qualify for six months of government-supported rations for returnees, according to Farzana Haniffa, editor of The Quest for Redemption: The Story of the Northern Muslims.
But few actually made the return journey.
Haniffa, who teaches at Colombo University, told IRIN it was up to the government to support the return of Muslim IDPs, most of whom have a closer linguistic affinity to the north. “They speak Tamil, while in Puttalam the working language is Sinhalese.”
Are there any local tensions?
In Puttalam, most displaced Muslims continue living off odd-jobs. Decent jobs, especially for youths, are scarce. Malik told IRIN that even after almost 25 years in Puttalam, he still felt alien. “I know that we are still looked upon as second class citizens here.”
Matheen, the Puttalam community worker, said dwindling water and land resources, as well as scant jobs, have heightened tensions between Puttalam’s native population and Muslim arrivals.
CPA’s Raheem told IRIN that if there were enough jobs, schooling, housing and health care in the north, many of the displaced would return. But jobs and housing reconstruction have lagged far behind needs in the former northern war zone.
What about reintegration and reconciliation?
The LLRC report acknowledged Muslims IDPs have been living in “dire conditions” for more than two decades and have had trouble integrating. Muslim IDPs interviewed by the Commission reported not being recognized as IDPs. In addition, they said they were “short-changed” in peace negotiations: their request to participate as an independent delegation was not honoured.
The Commission concluded that Muslims IDPs remain one of the “key post-conflict challenges” with a “significant impact” on reconciliation prospects.
“The Commission is of the view that durable solutions should be found to address this long-standing IDP issue concerning the Muslims evicted from the North, which contains the seeds of disharmony and dissension if it remains unaddressed.”
LRA: Joseph Kony’s Bodyguard Killed in CAR
Source: Voice of America
Hilary Heuler
KAMPALA — The chief bodyguard to warlord Joseph Kony has been killed by the Ugandan army in the Central African Republic, according to the Uganda military.
The head of security for Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony was killed in a military operation Friday, according to the Ugandan Ministry of Defense.
Kony’s rebel Lord's Resistance Army waged a bloody insurgency in northern Uganda for 20 years, before moving into neighboring countries in 2006. Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
He and small bands of LRA fighters have been moving between the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Kony’s chief bodyguard was a man known as Brigadier Binani. He was also in charge of supplying child soldiers, says defense spokesman Felix Kulayigye.
“He had been in charge of gathering food and collecting abducted children for Joseph Kony,” said Kulayigye.
Although no one knows for sure where Kony is hiding, Kulayigye says finding Binani means Ugandan forces are on the right track.
“It is a big accomplishment. Once you get the chief bodyguard of the leader himself it means you are quite near. [And] two, it means that the intelligence being collected is good, and the collection methods are good as well,” added Kulayigye.
In 2011, the hunt for Kony was given a boost when U.S. President Barack Obama sent a group of U.S. special forces to Uganda to help track him down. Kulayigye says with Binani dead and LRA fighters defecting, the noose around Kony is tightening.
“In addition to these ones who were killed and captured, a number of children and former abductees had been escaping," said Kulayigye. "So sooner or later the man either will commit suicide or will be captured or killed in action.”
Last week, President Obama announced a cash reward would be offered for tips leading to Kony’s capture. At the moment, Kony is thought to be hiding out somewhere near the border of the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
Hilary Heuler
KAMPALA — The chief bodyguard to warlord Joseph Kony has been killed by the Ugandan army in the Central African Republic, according to the Uganda military.
The head of security for Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony was killed in a military operation Friday, according to the Ugandan Ministry of Defense.
Kony’s rebel Lord's Resistance Army waged a bloody insurgency in northern Uganda for 20 years, before moving into neighboring countries in 2006. Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
He and small bands of LRA fighters have been moving between the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Kony’s chief bodyguard was a man known as Brigadier Binani. He was also in charge of supplying child soldiers, says defense spokesman Felix Kulayigye.
“He had been in charge of gathering food and collecting abducted children for Joseph Kony,” said Kulayigye.
Although no one knows for sure where Kony is hiding, Kulayigye says finding Binani means Ugandan forces are on the right track.
“It is a big accomplishment. Once you get the chief bodyguard of the leader himself it means you are quite near. [And] two, it means that the intelligence being collected is good, and the collection methods are good as well,” added Kulayigye.
In 2011, the hunt for Kony was given a boost when U.S. President Barack Obama sent a group of U.S. special forces to Uganda to help track him down. Kulayigye says with Binani dead and LRA fighters defecting, the noose around Kony is tightening.
“In addition to these ones who were killed and captured, a number of children and former abductees had been escaping," said Kulayigye. "So sooner or later the man either will commit suicide or will be captured or killed in action.”
Last week, President Obama announced a cash reward would be offered for tips leading to Kony’s capture. At the moment, Kony is thought to be hiding out somewhere near the border of the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
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