Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES (12/16)

• Iran Islamists claim voter turn out message to west
• Clooney suggests Annan as peace envoy to Darfur
• French women taking to side line in politics
• Philippine police clamp down on prayer rally
• Executions suspended in Florida, California judge rules lethal injection unconstitutional
• Iraqi Red Crescent accuses U.S. of attacks
• UN will set up Palestinian complaint system for Israeli wall
• Thousands take to Moscow streets opposing Putin policies
• Bhutan's Wangchuck abdicating earlier than anticipated
• Nepal approves interim constitution
• EU style unity called for in South America
• Heavy security for Nigeria primaries
• Iraqi women losing ground on freedom

Iran hails elections as message to West

From correspondents in Tehran

IRAN hailed nationwide elections to local councils and a powerful clerical body as a success today and said healthy voter turnout would help the Islamic Republic confront its Western foes. Yesterday's vote was the first popularity test for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose anti-Israel rhetoric alarms many in the West, since he took office 16 months ago. Official results for the twin polls for local councils and the so-called Assembly of Experts are not expected until late today at the earliest, officials said. Unofficial opinion polls and partial results cited by some local media suggested voters backed a range of candidates, giving all political groups something to cheer but allowing none to claim outright victory. Herald Sun (Australia) (12/16)

Clooney suggests Annan serve as Darfur peace envoy

UNITED NATIONS — Oscar-winning U.S. actor George Clooney suggested Friday that outgoing U.N. chief Kofi Annan should serve as peace envoy to Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region after he leaves office at the end of the month. Clooney, who met Annan here Friday, told reporters that the proposal was made by Egypt and China, two countries which the actor recently visited as part of his campaign to raise awareness of the humanitarian tragedy in Darfur. China has close ties to the Khartoum government and is one of Sudan's biggest customers for oil. Beijing has resisted United Nations attempts to force Sudan to accept U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur. Egypt has been a key mediator in the standoff between the international community, which wants to send a robust U.N. force to Darfur, and the regime of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who has consistently rejected such plans. Japan Today (12/16)

Liberté, egalité, fraternité - but less so for women

By Susan Sachs, Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

PARIS - When Catherine Bailhache was running for a regional council seat in the Atlantic coast area of Brittany earlier this month, she asked for help from the party bosses. But the men - and the kingpins of her center-right party were men - suddenly had other things to do. She blames the macho streak in French politics. "There's a certain political culture that believes women should not get involved in politics because they have to take care of their homes and families," says Ms. Bailhache. The national symbol of France is the bare-breasted warrior-mother, Marianne, who is said to represent liberty, reason, and homeland. But, despite Ségolène Royal's recent nomination as the country's first female major-party presidential candidate, most real-life French women still find themselves on the sidelines of the political battlefield and less than equal in the corporate world. Yahoo News (12/16)

Activists irked by police impositions on Sunday rally

Leftist group Bayan on Saturday scored police impositions on Sunday’s thanksgiving prayer rally at the Rizal Park in Manila. Renato Reyes, secretary general of Bayan said, “The police and other security forces should stop scaring the people and dictating them on how they should conduct themselves during the rally. This is a people’s action.” The National Capital Region Police Office earlier banned politicians and movie personalities from coming up on stage during the vigil. Streamers and banners were also prohibited from the grounds. “There will be no political speeches and no movie personalities onstage. If they (movie stars and politicos) will insist and things get messy, we will do our thing and arrest them as per request of the organizers,” Director Reynaldo Varilla, NCRPO chief said. ABS-CBN (Philippines) (12/16)

California, Florida suspend executions

SAN FRANCISCO - Faced with grim testimony of poorly trained executioners operating in cramped, dimly lit quarters, a federal judge declared California's execution procedure unconstitutional. The state's "implementation of lethal injection is broken, but it can be fixed," U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled Friday in San Jose, extending a moratorium on executions in the nation's most populous state. The decision is the latest in a nationwide challenge to lethal injection — the preferred execution method in 37 states — and came as Florida Gov.Jeb Bush suspended all executions there after a bungled execution this week. Missouri's injection method, which is similar to California's, was declared unconstitutional last month by a federal judge. Yahoo News (12/16)

RED CRESCENT ACCUSES U.S. FORCES OF ATTACKS; Baath may come back; US Army strained

The Iraqi Red Crescent accused US forces on Friday of carrying out a spate of attacks on its offices over the last three years during operations to flush out suspected militants. Jamal Al Karbouli, vice-president of the Iraqi Red Crescent, said that in the latest incident, U.S forces had occupied and nearly destroyed its Falluja office, held staff for hours, and burned two cars clearly marked with its neutral symbol. The only Iraqi aid agency working in all 18 provinces, its 1,000 staff and 200,000 volunteers already face extremely difficult conditions because of the growing sectarian violence, he said. “The main difficulties we are facing, first of all, is the presence of MNF, the multinational forces, which sometimes gives us a hard time. They are attacking some offices and detaining some volunteers,” Karbouli told a news conference in Geneva. “The last example was about seven days ago in Falluja. We had our offices attacked by American forces, they detained the volunteers and staff more than two hours and they burned the cars and even the building which belonged to us,” he added. Arab Times (Kuwait) (12/16)

UN to register Palestinians' complaints over W. Bank fence

By Reuters

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly approved plans for a UN registry to record and process claims of damages caused by Israel's construction of its West Bank barrier.Israel rejected the move, saying it had set up a mechanism to help those harmed by the structure, which it says is to keep out suicide bombers but which Palestinians see as a land grab to preempt talks on the borders of an eventual Palestinian state. The barrier, a mix of electronic fences and walls, has been under construction since 2002 and eventually will stretch more than 400 miles, curling around Israeli settlements as it cuts deep into Palestinian lands.Ha'aretz (Israel) (12/16)

Thousands protest against Putin and his policies

By Andrew Osborn in Moscow

Thousands of demonstrators are to defy an official ban and take to Moscow's streets today to protest against President Vladimir Putin and his policies. It will be the first organised public protest of its kind in the run-up to parliamentary elections next year and a presidential vote in 2008 that will see Mr Putin step down. The protest, called "The March of Those Who Don't Agree," is being organised by a coalition of anti-Kremlin forces that includes liberal free marketers, nationalists, and radical youth movements.Organisers include former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, and Eduard Limonov, a radical nationalist whose own National Bolshevik party is officially banned. The Independent (United Kingdom) (12/16)

Bhutanese king steps down early

King Jigme Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan has abdicated to make way for his son. The king made his announcement in a royal edict read out late on Thursday at a council of ministers meeting. He had been in power for three decades and announced a year ago that he planned to step down in 2008. He did not say why he was going earlier. Bhutan becomes a parliamentary democracy under a new constitution in 2008. It is not clear when Crown Prince Jigme Kesar Namgyal will be crowned. BBC (12/16)

Interim constitution approved in Nepal

By Bijaya Acharya

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's ruling alliance and Maoist rebels on Saturday approved the draft of an interim constitution, a key step to implement their landmark peace deal ending a conflict which has killed thousands, negotiators said. The document, an interim law that paves the way for Maoists to join a provisional parliament and government, was signed by top leaders of the alliance including Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and the Maoist rebel leader Prachanda. "This is yet another major achievement for the establishment of peace in Nepal," said Bharat Mohan Adhikary, a senior leader of the Communist-UML party, the second biggest group in the seven-party coalition. Reuters (12/16)

Morales calls for EU-style unity in South America

By Eduardo GarciaCOCHABAMBA, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivia's president closed a two-day regional summit on Saturday by saying a South American community of nations modelled on the European Union could become a reality in five years. "We don't want it to take as long as with the European Union -- 50 years to create. I hope it can take us less. Three, four, five years," President Evo Morales told seven of the region's 12 presidents in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba.The leaders, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, signed a statement agreeing to "lay the cornerstone of the South American integration process." Argentina Star (12/16)

Tight security for Nigerian ruling-party primaries

Abuja, Nigeria About 10 000 security agents, including police officers, were deployed on Saturday to ensure the smooth running of presidential primaries of Nigeria's ruling party, a police spokesperson said. About 5 000 delegates of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) were to converge in Abuja to choose their presidential candidate for 2007 to succeed the incumbent Olusegun Obasanjo. With his second four-year term coming to an end, Obasanjo is constitutionally barred from standing again when Nigerians vote in April. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (12/16)

Women Lose Ground in the New Iraq

Once They Were Encouraged to Study and Work; Now Life Is 'Just Like Being in Jail'

By Nancy TrejosWashington Post Staff WriterBAGHDAD -- Browsing the shelves of a cosmetics store in the Karrada shopping district, Zahra Khalid felt giddy at the sight of Alberto shampoo and Miss Rose eye shadow, blusher and powder.Before leaving her house, she had covered her body in a billowing black abaya and wrapped a black head scarf around her thick brown hair. She had asked her brother to drive. She had done all the things that a woman living in Baghdad is supposed to do these days to avoid drawing attention to herself. It was the first time she had left home in two months. "For a woman, it's just like being in jail," she said. "I can't go anywhere." Life has become more difficult for most Iraqis since the February bombing of a Shiite Muslim mosque in Samarra sparked a rise in sectarian killings and overall lawlessness. For many women, though, it has become unbearable. Washington Post (12/16)

posted by Dave Carroll @ 12/16/2006 06:28:00 AM