Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES (12/21)

• Lack of sex education leads to multiple teen abortions, UK health experts reports
• Turkmenistan President For Life is dead
• Bhutan's new king committed to Gross Domestic Happiness and democracy
• Palestinian father of 13 year old girl shot by Israeli Defense Force kept from funeral by incarceration
• Murder charges against Marines in Haditha Iraq slaying anticipated today
• Somali Islamists declare war on Ethiopia
• Castro's brother no intention to run Cuba as an imitation Fidel
• 'Dirty War' suspect won't see inside of Spanish court
• Iran's Ahmadinejad confronts reawakening of student anger and disaffection
• Italian Right-To-Die advocate has wish fulfilled as plug is pulled on his respirator
• UN general assembly adopts treaty banning secret abductions

Search for answers over multiple teenage abortions

By Andy McSmith

LONDON - More than a hundred teenage girls a month go into a hospital or clinic to have an abortion for the second time, new figures from Britain's Department of Health reveal. They include at least one girl under 18 who has had at least six abortions. The statistics on multiple abortions in England and Wales will provide fuel for those demanding a tightening up of abortion laws. They reveal that last year, 1316 girls under 18 had their second abortion, and 90 were on to their third. There were 44 women who by the end of last year had undergone eight or more abortions, 20 of whom were under the age of 30. The table, posted on the Department of Health website, obscures information on women under 30 who have had multiple abortions, to avoid the risk that a small number of teenagers could be identified. But it can be deduced from the tables that 14 women had their sixth abortion before the age of 25, and that at least one was under 18.Those who work directly with pregnant teenagers blamed the figures on poor sex education. New Zealand Herald (12/21)

Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov dies

Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov died of sudden heart failure on Thursday at the age of 66. The following is a brief profile of the central Asian country's leader. Niyazov was born in Ashgabat on Feb. 19, 1940. He was orphaned in childhood after his father was killed during World War II and his mother died in an earthquake which leveled the city in 1948. After graduating from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Polytechnic Institute in Russia in 1967, where he majored in electrical engineering, he worked at a power station near Ashgabat. Niyazov has been engaged in politics since 1970. In 1985, he was named first secretary of the central committee of the Communist Party in Turkmenistan, when it was a Soviet republic. Niyazov was elected president of an independent Turkmenistan on June 21, 1992. Niyazov's presidency was extended to 2002 for a second five-year term during a 1994 national referendum, and in 1999 he was declared president for life by the country's People's Council and parliament. Under Niyazov's rule, Turkmenistan's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 23.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, a 20.7-percent increase from 2004. Niyazov showed signs of a slight stroke in early October this year, and he later told the public that he was suffering from a heart disease. People's Daily Online/Xinhua (12/21)

Bhutan's new king committed to democracy

Biswajyoti Das (Reuters)Bhutan's new king, who ascended the throne after his father abdicated last weekend, said that he was committed to transform his kingdom into a parliamentary democracy. Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who ruled the remote Buddhist nation for over three decades, announced on Saturday he was handing over the crown to his Oxford-educated 26-year-old son, Crown Prince Jigme Kesar Namgyel, a year earlier than expected. In his first public statement as monarch late on Sunday, the new king said he was committed to his father's plan to surrender much of the monarchy's power in 2008. "Our responsibilities will always be, first and foremost, the peace and tranquility of the nation, the sovereignty and security of our country, fulfilling the vision of Gross National Happiness and strengthening the new system of democracy," Jigme Kesar Namgyel said. Hindustan Times (12/21)

Detained father of girl shot dead by IDF blocked from her funeral

By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent The father of a 14-year-old girl shot dead by Israel Defense Forces soldiers near Tul Karm on Tuesday was not allowed to attend his daughter's funeral on Wednesday. Nasser Abd al-Qadr is under arrest for entering Israel illegally and is being held in the Abu Kabir lock-up. His attorney, Rami Otman, requested that the district court allow al-Qadr to attend the funeral, but by the time the court submitted its verdict, the funeral had already started. The court said in its decision that it had to hear the state's position on the matter, but recommended that the Prisons Authority provide escorts so al-Qadr could attend his daughter's funeral, apparently without realizing that the funeral was being held in Tul Karm. Otman will submit another request on Thursday for his client to be released for the extent of the mourning period.Al-Qadr's daughter Da'ah tried to cross the separation fence near the village of Faroun adjacent to Tul Karm to visit the family's plot of land, says her mother. She was shot by Israel Defense Forces troops who said they thought she was a militant. Ha'aretz (Israel) (12/20)

US to announce Haditha charges

Agencies

Baghdad: The US military is expected to formally charge a group of Marines in relation to the killing of 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha, Iraq. It is believed that at least five men will be charged on Thursday, some with murder. The charges will come after a US investigation into the incident in which two dozen unarmed men, women and children were shot in the Iraqi town in November 2005. Few details have been made public about the charges, although a U.S. military investigation centered on a squad of Marines lead by Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich. Capt. Lucas McConnell, who was monitoring fighting in and around Haditha on the day of the incident, was also expecting to face charges. Iraqi witnesses say the Marines shot civilians in their homes to retaliate for the death of their comrade, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Haditha. Gulf News (United Arab Emirates) (12/21)

We are at war with Ethiopia, say Somali Islamists

Hassan Yare- Baidoa, Somalia

Somalia's Islamists are at war against Ethiopia, not the government, a hard-line Islamist leader said on Thursday, as fighting raged for a third day between his forces and pro-government troops. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who was speaking to the media by telephone, also accused Ethiopia of attacking the Islamists in southern Somalia. Three days of fighting with rockets, artillery and machine guns have increased fears of a devastating Horn of Africa war that could suck in rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea, who diplomats say are conducting a proxy war there.The most sustained combat so far for control of a nation in anarchy since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre follows two months of increasingly violent skirmishes along a frontline snaking across Somalia. Aweys's declaration came hours after he called the fighting around the government's encircled stronghold, Baidoa, "a small incident" and a top European Union envoy said the two sides had agreed to stop fighting and resume peace talks. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (12/21)

Raúl will not imitate 'irreplaceable' Fidel

Staff and agencies

Fidel Castro's brother has signalled he will take a different approach to leadership if he takes over permanently from the ailing Cuban dictator. However, Raúl Castro, who has been standing in for his older sibling for the past five months, insisted that Cuba's one party communist system would continue with or without the figurehead that has led it for almost half a century."Fidel is irreplaceable and I don't intend to imitate him. Those who imitate fail," Raul Castro, 75, told student federation members during a speech yesterday in Havana. He did not mention the health of his 80-year-old brother, who has not been seen in public since emergency intestinal surgery forced him to relinquish power at the end of July for the first time since Cuba's 1959 revolution.There has been widespread speculation that the dictator is gravely ill, perhaps with cancer. However, a group of US politicians visiting Cuba said yesterday they had been told he would return. "All the officials have told us that his illness is not cancer, nor is it terminal, and he will be back," Arizona congressman, Jeff Flake, the head of the US delegation, said. The Guardian (United Kingdom) (12/21)

Spain won't try 'Dirty War' officer

Big News Network (UPI)

Spain won't try a former Argentine military officer on charges of human rights abuses from the days of Argentina's dictatorship, El Pais reported Wednesday. Ricardo Cavallo has been in Spanish custody for three years, though a high court in Madrid ruled that it had no jurisdiction over him. However, Spanish officials said Argentina was welcome to apply for his extradition. Cavallo reportedly served at a detention facility in Buenos Aires during the country's 1976-1983 military regime, otherwise known as the Dirty War. Some 30,000 were killed or disappeared during that period. Argentina Star (12/21)

Iran President Facing Revival of Students’ Ire

By NAZILA FATHI

TEHRAN, Dec. 20 — As protests broke out last week at a prestigious university here, cutting short a speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Babak Zamanian could only watch from afar. He was on crutches, having been clubbed by supporters of the president and had his foot run over by a motorcycle during a less publicized student demonstration a few days earlier. But the significance of the confrontation was easy to grasp, even from a distance, said Mr. Zamanian, a leader of a student political group. The student movement, which planned the 1979 seizure of the American Embassy from the same university, Amir Kabir, is reawakening from its recent slumber and may even be spearheading a widespread resistance against Mr. Ahmadinejad. This time the catalysts were academic and personal freedom. “It is not that simple to break up a president’s speech,” said Alireza Siassirad, a former student political organizer, explaining that an event of that magnitude takes meticulous planning. “I think what happened at Amir Kabir is a very important and a dangerous sign. Students are definitely becoming active again.” The protest, punctuated by shouts of “Death to the dictator,” was the first widely publicized outcry against Mr. Ahmadinejad, one that was reflected Friday in local elections, where voters turned out in droves to vote for his opponents. New York Times (12.21)

Doctors pull plug on patient at center of right-to-life debate in Italy

ROME (CNN) -- Doctors late Wednesday shut off the respirator of a paralyzed man who asked Italy's president to support his desire to die and found himself at the center of a debate in Italy where euthanasia is illegal and considered murder. Piergiorgio Welby, 60, was pronounced dead at 11:40 p.m. after his doctor turned off the respirator he had been on for 10 years and gave him a sedative, according to a spokesman for the Radical Party which supported his bid to die. Police said Thursday they intend to question Dr. Mario Riccio about the incident, but stressed there is no investigation of the doctor and there are no plans to charge him with a crime. Italy's law on whether Riccio's action is a crime is unclear. There is a loophole under Italian law which allows patients to refuse medical treatment but does not allow for medical providers to turn off respirators and other life-support machines. And euthanasia is also forbidden by the Catholic church, which has a strong influence in Italy's culture. CNN (12/21)

U.N. adopts treaty banning countries from secretly abducting perceived enemies

The world body received reports of about 535 disappearances last year. Rights experts say they doubt the U.S. will ratify the pact.

From Reuters

UNITED NATIONS — The General Assembly adopted a treaty Wednesday that would ban nations from abducting perceived enemies and hiding them in secret prisons or killing them. The United Nations received reports of about 535 disappearances last year, many of them in Colombia, Nepal and the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya. The treaty has been under negotiation since 1992. The measure was approved by consensus and will come into force 30 days after 20 countries ratify it. The United States, accused of transferring terrorism suspects to secret jails in other countries, did not address the assembly, but rights experts said they did not expect Washington to ratify the pact. The measure offers a first definition of disappearance in international law, calling it detention, abduction or deprivation of liberty by state agents followed by a refusal to acknowledge deprivation and a placing of the disappeared outside legal protection. Los Angeles Times (12/21)

posted by Dave Carroll @ 12/21/2006 02:56:00 PM