Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES (12/20)

• Australia party leader to lead anti-apartheid campaign on behalf of aborigines
• South Korea, U.S. launch task force to attack human trafficking of Korean women to U.S. brothels
• Bangladesh migrants passionate about roots
• British author leads artist boycott against Israel to end apartheid
• Wave of worldwide democracy not being heralded by U.S. and U.K. leaders
• Darfur killings continue despite pressure on Sudan government to stop
• South Africa apartheid fighter, accused criminal stands good shot at presidency
• Corruption of former Irish Prime Minister devalued democracy
• Polish lawmakers push to make Jesus "King"
• Court ordered FEMA Aid may come too late for most vulnerable Katrina victims
• Burma landmines kill civilian, threaten harvests

Australia party leader Mundine pledges justice crusade at Palm Island rally

Cosima Marriner

THE federal president of the Labor Party, Warren Mundine, vowed to start an anti-apartheid style campaign to ensure justice for Aboriginal people after the Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, again refused to order a review of the death in custody of the Palm Island man Mulrunji Doomadgee. Mr Beattie visited Palm Island yesterday to address the community, who are outraged by the Director of Public Prosecutions' decision last week not to charge Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley over the death. The decision is at odds with the coroner's findings that the officer caused the injuries that killed Mr Doomadgee in 2004. Mr Doomadgee's family refused to meet Mr Beattie yesterday, after it became clear he was not going to order the ruling be reviewed. The Doomadgees are still considering their legal options, including seeking a judicial review from the Supreme Court. Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) (12/20)

U.S., Korea to combat trafficking

Hoping to crack down on trafficking rings that smuggle South Korean women to brothels in the United States, the two countries announced yesterday they will launch a joint task force, the police here said yesterday. The National Police Agency said it has agreed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to set up the ad hoc body. "We had working-level talks with FBI officials in Washington, including Thomas Fuentes, the special agent in charge of the Office of International Operations," the police said. "And we reached an agreement last Tuesday in Washington." The two agencies have agreed to take measures to combat passport forgeries and alterations as well as control illegal immigration, they said. The South Korean police will dispatch officers to Washington early next year, the police said. The two countries also agreed to strengthen cooperation on other international crimes, such as drug trafficking. "Human trafficking is one of the reasons that South Korea was not able to meet the criteria for the U.S. visa waiver program this year," the officials at the police agency said. Nearly 5,000 South Korean sex workers are believed to be working in approximately 1,000 brothels disguised as acupuncture shops, massage parlors and saunas in the United States, according to South Korean government reports.(JoonAng Daily) (Korea) (12/20)

Migrants' passion to hold on to their roots

Shahiduzzaman Khan, News Analysis In recent years migration has made its way steadily to the top of the international affairs agenda. The issue has also been prioritised by most of the governments because the number of those from the underdeveloped countries who migrate for better economic prospects has grown immensely over the last few decades. But the sending countries of such migrants usually fail to ensure their security in the host countries and safe return. During recent war in Lebanon, nearly 10,000 Bangladeshi migrants were stranded in that country. The sending country could offer no help. After strenuous efforts, the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) could manage to rescue 150 of them and send them back to Bangladesh. Against this backdrop, Bangladesh should raise the issue of finding out a strategy for emergency evacuation support of overseas workers in the event of need in the international fora. Several governments have already requested the IOM to create an Emergency Evacuation Fund which would allow the stakeholders, including governments and the United Nations (UN) partners to provide vulnerable migrants with food, medical, and transit shelter. But regrettably, Bangladesh is yet to make a formal request to the Geneva-based body for establishing the fund. Financial Express (Bangladesh) (12/20)

UK writer urges Brits to join Israel boycott

By JONNY PAUL

LONDON- A respected British writer and artist has called for a cultural boycott of Israel. In a letter to the Guardian newspaper on Friday, John Berger calls on writers and artists to undertake a boycott, saying it "could be a factor in Israeli policy changing." The Guardian also dedicated a quarter of a page article in the paper's national news section on Friday to the boycott call, which was signed by 95 others, including musician Brian Eno and writer Arundhati Roy. Berger, a Booker Prize winner, calls for artists to decline being published by mainstream Israeli publishers. The letter accuses Israel of killing children, land grabbing and breaching UN resolutions. The letter says: "There is a fragile cease-fire in Lebanon, albeit daily violated by Israeli over-flights. Meanwhile the day-to-day brutality of the Israeli army in Gaza and the West Bank continues. Ten Palestinians are killed for every Israeli death; more than 200, many of them children, have been killed since the summer. UN resolutions are flouted, human rights violated as Palestinian land is stolen, houses demolished and crops destroyed." It also compares Israel to the apartheid regime in South Africa. It says: "Meanwhile, western governments refer to Israel's legitimate right of self-defense, and continue to supply weaponry. The challenge of apartheid was fought better. The non-violent international response to apartheid was a campaign of boycott, divestment and UN-imposed sanctions which enabled the regime to change without bloodshed." Jerusalem Post (12/20)

True democracy is back to fight the liars

By: George Galloway

The Bush/Blair “great war for democracy” has just suffered a serious reversal thanks to a sudden outbreak of, well, democracy. It’s left headline writers on both sides of the Atlantic terribly confused. You only needed to glance at events in Beirut at the start of this month to have some sympathy with their plight. There were hundreds of thousands of Lebanese on the streets, mobilised outside of the state structures and in protest at a government that has lost whatever scintilla of credibility it might once have possessed. Thousands of protesters camped out in the centre of the city. Everywhere there were Lebanese flags. The air was thick with energetic chants and impassioned speeches. Yet, at the time of writing, no PR hack at the U.S. State Department had came up with a snappy epithet to describe this manifestation of popular power; you know the kind of thing – something like “Cedar Revolution”. Al Jazeera (12/20)

SUDAN: Probes, Pressure Failing to Stop Darfur Killings

Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - Though pleased with the progress made in the International Criminal Court's (ICC) investigation of war crimes in Darfur, Sudan, rights groups say urgent action is required to end the impunity surrounding those responsible for the killings of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Many prominent rights groups, including the London-based Amnesty International and the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said they welcomed the ICC prosecutor's report to the U.N. Security Council Thursday, but said his success still depends on how Khartoum is dealt with by the world community. "We would like to see the prosecutor moving forward," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Programme at the New York-based Human Rights Watch. "We don't expect the Sudanese government has the political will to carry out meaningful prosecution." In response to the ICC investigation, which was mandated by a Security Council resolution in March 2005, the Sudanese government is currently carrying out its own probe into the killings of civilians in Darfur. Inter Press Service News agency (Africa) (12/20)

A Veteran Apartheid Fighter Divides South Africa

By Thilo Thielke and Jan PuhlJacob Zuma, the deputy president of the African National Congress has avoided conviction in two legal proceedings. He remains a free man, but his moral standing has taken a hit. Despite all this, he still has an excellent shot at becoming South Africa's next president. Jacob Zuma lives in the well-to-do Johannesburg suburb of Forest Town. Guards patrol the high stone wall surrounding the compound, where red and white bushes bloom and the lawn is neatly trimmed like a golf course. The interior of the villa is just as luxurious: there is white marble, a bulging upholstered three-piece suite, and bombastic oil paintings of the man of the house hanging on the walls. A beautiful smiling woman in a bathrobe floats along the gallery in the first floor. Zuma, who is a Zulu, has at least four wives and ten children. Der Spiegel (Germany) (12/20)

Haughey's secret bribes 'devalued Irish democracy'

By David McKittrick, Ireland Correspondent

The secret acceptance by the former Irish prime minister Charles Haughey of millions of pounds from business figures "can only be said to have devalued the quality of a modern democracy," according to a report. The report, compiled by a Dublin judge in the face of years of obstruction by the late prime minister, could hardly have been more critical of the most controversial Irish politician of the last century. Painstakingly assembled by a tribunal over nine years, the report lays bare a breathtaking pattern of behaviour in which Mr Haughey accepted millions from big business during a lengthy career which saw him hold Ireland's most senior political office on several occasions. It confirmed that Mr Haughey, who died in June, plundered thousands from a fund set up to finance a life-saving operation for Brian Lenihan, who for decades was his closest political associate and a personal friend. Independent (United Kingdom) (12/20)

Some Polish MPs want Jesus as their king

Warsaw - Some Polish lawmakers want to make Jesus the honorary king of their overwhelmingly Catholic country, Rzeczpospolita daily newspaper reported on Wednesday. The idea has gained popularity since being mooted by a member of the ruling Law and Justice party last spring before a visit by Pope Benedict. Deputy Artur Gorski said some of his colleagues "were praying in the parliamentary chapel for (Jesus') coronation." So far, 46 deputies in the 460-seat sejm, or lower house, back the idea, Rzeczpospolita said. And more would support the move if Poland's clergy gave their blessing. If the motion becomes law, Jesus would join a Virgin Mary icon that was made honorary queen of Poland in the 17th century after she was believed to have helped turn the tide in a battle with Sweden. Argentina Star (12./20)

KATRINA AFTERMATH

Ordered last month to restore housing aid to evacuees, FEMA still working on how, help may not arrive in time for some

By LORI RODRIGUEZ, Houston Chronicle

Martha Randolph, an ailing Katrina evacuee who has run out of the federal money that paid rent on her southwest Houston apartment, has to wait a little longer to find out whether a court ruling will give her a last-minute reprieve from eviction. A federal judge has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to restore the housing assistance to Randolph and as many as 3,500 other evacuees in the Houston area. But it will still take at least a few days of bureaucratic wrangling to set up the process."Meanwhile, we have community organizers combing through calls from people who believe that they are eligible and could be potential beneficiaries of this lawsuit," said Ginnie Goldman, the head Texas organizer for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform. As a result of a lawsuit filed by the Houston chapter of ACORN, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington has ordered FEMA to resume rent payments for thousands of evacuees who have been evicted or are on the brink of it. Houston Chronicle (12/20)

Burma: Landmines Kill, Maim and Starve Civilian

Civilians Forced to Serve as Human Minesweepers

(New York, December 20, 2006) – The widespread use of landmines by the Burmese army against civilians to terrorize them and hamper the annual harvest season should cease, Human Rights Watch said today. The Burmese government is the only government in the world that has used antipersonnel mines on a regular basis throughout 2006. Villagers and relief workers told Human Rights Watch that since the start of the harvest season in November, Burmese army soldiers have been laying increasing numbers of antipersonnel landmines in front of houses, around rice fields, and along trails leading to fields in order to deter civilians from harvesting their crops. They believe this has caused an alarming rise in civilian casualties in Mon township and the rest of northern Karen state. Human Rights Watch has grave concerns over the safety of civilians in conflict zones and their deteriorating food security as a result of widespread landmine use by the Burmese army. Human Rights Watch (12/20)

posted by Dave Carroll @ 12/20/2006 01:54:00 PM