PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS CURRENT HEADLINES
EU: Challenge Russia on Human Rights AbusesOfficials Must Raise Abuse Issues at Summit
(Moscow, November 23, 2006) – The deteriorating climate for human rights in Russia demands a strong European Union response at tomorrow’s EU-Russia summit, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the European Union to press Moscow to repeal invasive restrictions imposed on nongovernmental organizations and end torture and forced disappearances in Chechnya. Human Rights Watch (11/22)
OPT: Civilians Must Not Be Used to Shield Homes Against Military Attacks
(Jerusalem, November 22, 2006) – Palestinian armed groups must not endanger Palestinian civilians by encouraging them to gather in and around suspected militants’ homes targeted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Human Rights Watch said today. Calling civilians to a location that the opposing side has identified for attack is at worst human shielding, at best failing to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians from the effects of attack. Both are violations of international humanitarian law. Human Rights Watch (11/22)
China says reported HIV/AIDS cases up nearly 30 pct
22 Nov 2006 06:07:25 GMTBEIJING, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The number of reported HIV/AIDS cases in China has grown by nearly 30 per cent so far this year, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday, warning the virus seemed to be spreading from high-risk groups to the general public. The reported number of cases at the end of October had risen to 183,733, up from 144,089 at the end of last year, the Ministry said in a statement on its Web site (www.moh.gov.cn). Reuters/ AlertNet (11/22)
Study highlights baby deaths in Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa 22 November 2006 01:48 Africa's infant mortality rate of 1,16-million per year placed it on a par with England's figures in the early 20th century, according to a study released on Wednesday. "Opportunities for Africa's Newborns" said that half of these deaths occurred in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. Nigeria alone had over 255 000 newborn deaths a year. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (11/22)
Annan: UN rights council should focus on Darfur
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
The UN Human Rights Council should broaden its focus beyond the Palestinian-Israeli issue to avoid accusations it is one-sided, Kofi Annan said Tuesday. Speaking to reporters in Geneva for the last time before he steps down as secretary-general at the end of the year, Annan said the council's preoccupation with Israel's actions in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories while ignoring the situation in Darfur had caused some to wonder whether it had "a sense of fair play." The Jerusalem Post (11/21)
Lebanon Official Critical of Syria Is Assassinated
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: November 22, 2006
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 21 — Pierre Gemayel, a Lebanese cabinet minister and strong opponent of Syrian influence in Lebanon, was gunned down in his car here on Tuesday afternoon, jolting a nation already paralyzed by political conflict that threatens to topple the government. New York Times (1121)
Editorial
A Discredit to the United Nations
The old, unreformed United Nations Human Rights Commission was selective and one-sided, but occasionally managed to do some good work. That may be more than can be said for its successor body, the Human Rights Council, born earlier this year of a weak-kneed compromise from which the United States stood honorably apart. If this is the best the U.N. can do at reforming itself, it isn’t worth the effort. The council is new, but its deliberations have already fallen into a shameful pattern. When it comes to the world’s worst and most consistent human rights violators, like China, Iran, North Korea, Myanmar and Sudan, there has been a tendency to muffle words and conclusions and shift the focus from individual and political rights to broader economic and social questions. But when it comes to criticizing Israel for violations committed in a wartime context that includes armed attacks against its citizens and soldiers, the council seems to change personality, turning harshly critical and uninterested in broader contexts. New York Times (11/21)
Israel Orders Investigation of Bomb Use in Lebanon
By GREG MYRE
Published: November 21, 2006
JERUSALEM, Nov. 20 — The Israeli military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, ordered an inquiry on Monday to determine whether the armed forces had followed his orders when it used large numbers of cluster bombs during the month-long war with Hezbollah in Lebanon this summer. Several human rights groups have criticized Israel’s use of cluster bombs, saying they were dropped in or near populated areas. New York Times (11/21)
Uzbekistan blocks UN resolution criticizing rights record
EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — Uzbekistan blocked a UN resolution backed by the United States and western countries criticizing its serious human rights violations including the harassment, beating and arrest of journalists, human rights defenders and civil society activists. The General Assembly's human rights committee on Monday voted 74 to 69 with 24 abstentions in support of an Uzbek motion to take no action on the resolution. Many developing countries supported Uzbekistan, arguing that singling out specific countries for criticism of their human rights record is politically motivated and does not lead to change. Toronto Globe and Mail (11/21)
SPIRIT OF COOPERATION DOMINATES TURKIC SUMMIT
Mevlut Katik
11/20/06- The results of the November 17 summit of the leaders of Turkic-speaking nations exceeded the expectations of many diplomats and political analysts. The presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey took the first steps toward the creation of a Turkic commonwealth, giving an enthusiastic endorsement to efforts aimed at strengthening energy and security ties. The four leaders, along with Turkmenistan’s envoy to Turkey, gathered at the Turkish Mediterranean resort city of Antalya for the summit, the eighth such gathering of its kind, but the first held in five years. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Officials from Uzbekistan, who had been slated to attend, ended up boycotting the event due to a breakdown in relations with Turkey. Eurasianet (11/20)
Peru lived regional elections with violenceIt files,
DPA
(Translation from Google Translate)
Hundreds of settlers of the Peruvian district of Olaechea in the southern department of Puno destroyed electoral material in a voting center. That was the second act of violence that has occurred in the regional and municipal elections in Peru, informed the minister of Defense, Allan Wagner. “About 300 farmers burst in and destroyed ballot boxes," explained the National Office of the Electoral Process (ONPE), in coordination with the Office of the public prosecutor and the authorities, decided to close the premises and we have capitulated to the military demand”, indicated the minister. The fact is added to another incident registered in the small district of Huayanca, northern department of Ancash, where the settlers also burned the electoral material, which caused suspension of the elections in that locality. El Comercio (Ecuador) (11/20)
Nepalese panel says king must pay for deaths
November 21, 2006
KATHMANDU: Nepal's isolated King Gyanendra is responsible for the shooting and killing of pro-democracy protesters and must be punished, a panel investigating the crackdown on April's anti-monarchy protests said yesterday. The panel's findings, unprecedented in Nepal, where the king has traditionally been revered as a god, also blamed 201 politicians, royalist ministers, civil servants and army and police officers for human rights violations, abuse of authority and corruption in the bloody clampdown. Sydney Morning Herald (11/21)
Gaza suffering "massive" rights violations - U.N.
20 Nov 2006 11:33:05 GMT
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza, Nov 20 (Reuters) - A senior United Nations official described Gaza as suffering "massive" human rights violations during a visit to the territory on Monday and urged all sides to be bold in trying to end the violence. "The violation of human rights I think in this territory is massive," Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told reporters during a visit to Beit Hanoun, a town the Israeli army shelled earlier this month, killing 19 civilians. "The call for protection has to be answered. We cannot continue to see civilians, who are not the authors of their own misfortune, suffer to the extent of what I see." Reuters/AlertNet (11/20)
Indian boy wins world peace prize
A 14-year-old Indian boy has been awarded the International Children's Peace Prize for leading a campaign against child labour and child slavery. Om Prakash was forced to work as a farm labourer for three years. After he was rescued, Om set up a network that aims to give all children a birth certificate as a way of helping to protect them from exploitation. BBC (11/19)
House lawmakers promote colleague for U.N. post
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House Republican and Democrat, in the new spirit of bipartisanship, are urging President Bush to name defeated Republican Rep. Jim Leach to be the next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. "He is the most diplomatic politician I have ever met," Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said of Leach, a moderate from Iowa known for his professorial sweaters, his low-key, non-political approach to issues and his opposition to the war in Iraq. "I can't think of any American better qualified to represent our interests before the United Nations," said Rep. Jim Walsh, R-N.Y., who on Tuesday joined Blumenauer in circulating a letter in the House seeking support for Leach if the acting U.N. Ambassador, John Bolton, is forced to resign. USA Today (11/14)
Panic as police break up ODM prayer meeting
By Biketi Kikechi, Amos Kareithi and Allan Kisia
ODM-Kenya leaders, led by Lang’ata MP Mr Raila Odinga, were momentarily buried under plumes of stinging teargas fumes after police violently dispersed them on their way to a prayer meeting.A defiant Pastor Mike Brawan and Lang’ata MP Mr Raila Odinga arrive at Nairobi’s Kamukunji Grounds, venue of planned prayers by ODM-Kenya leaders. This was the price the politicians had to pay for attempting to defy a police order outlawing the meeting at the historic Kamukunji Grounds in Nairobi on Sunday. The police action came just hours after Internal Security minister, Mr John Michuki, warned that the Government would clamp down on politicians who incited the public to violence. The Standard (Kenya) (11/21)
Syrian Foreign Minister, in Baghdad, Calls for Timetable on U.S. Troop Withdrawal
BAGHDAD, Monday, Nov. 20 — Syria’s foreign minister said Sunday that his government was prepared to help stabilize Iraq, and during a visit here he called for a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops, saying that it would help reduce the violence. The New York Times (11/20) (Free registration)
Human Rights Watch says Saddam verdict 'questionable'
AP
Published: 20 November 2006
Human Rights Watch today said that the trial against former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in which he was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity was not carried out fairly. The US-based group said the verdict was "questionable" and the Iraqi court was not equipped to handle such a complex case. The Independent/ United Kingdom (11/20)
10 states blamed over Somalia war
Story by PATRICK NZIOKA
Publication Date: 11/20/2006
Ten countries have been accused of violating the arms embargo on war-torn Somalia by arming factions in the conflict. However, Kenya is not among the countries flouting the UN rules, the Monitoring Group on Somalia says in its latest report. The group was established by the UN Security Council to investigate, identify and make recommendations on those breaking the embargo. Its report gives details of countries and groups supplying arms, personnel and equipment to various Somali factions. Kenya Nation (11/20) (Free Registration)
posted by Dave Carroll @ 11/23/2006 01:55:00 AM
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