Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES- SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2006

• The poverty of Africa's juvenile justice system
• Chile's President Bachelet condemns Pinochet era Amnesty Law seeking human rights convictions
• Fiji chiefs urged by coup leaders to "stay out of politics"
• Both Koreas blame U.S. for breakdown in nuclear talks
• If world food output is twice the need, why are so many starving to death?
• In Mozambique, traditional and modern healers debate road map for fighting AIDS
• UN unanimously passes resolution to protect journalists covering combat
• Anglican bishop says Britain should ban the veil for Muslim women
• Madagascar president wins reelection
• Chilean Palestinians call for end to middle east violence
• Ethiopia launches air strikes on Somalia

For Young Offenders, Justice as Impoverished as Africa

By MICHAEL WINES

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Set in a wasteland of derelict buildings and furrowed alleys, the Kingtom Remand Home for young lawbreakers here was itself a dilapidated mess, until British donors renovated it in November. Now it boasts a new roof, freshly plastered walls, refurbished dorms and a coat of Kelly-green paint — all in all, a refuge far better than Freetown’s mean streets. Yet the new Kingtom houses all of four teenage inmates. Fourteen others escaped in October, mostly, the home’s matron said, because there was not enough food. Nobody stopped them because the sole guard was on his deathbed. No one was called to replace him. Across sub-Saharan Africa, where 350 million young people often subsist amid poverty, orphanhood and separation from their parents, running afoul of the law is a fact of life. So are places like the Kingtom Remand Home. Juvenile justice here is, in almost every sense, an oxymoron. This region’s nations endorse international norms for fairness and humanity, employ dedicated staff members and benefit from foreign donations, yet Africa’s juvenile-justice systems routinely, almost blithely, deliver injustice and brutality instead. New York Times (12/24)

Chile’s Leader Attacks Amnesty Law

By LARRY ROHTER

SANTIAGO, Chile, Dec. 19 — Gen. Augusto Pinochet died this month without ever being held legally accountable for human rights abuses that occurred during his dictatorship. But his subordinates are now facing a new threat: President Michelle Bachelet is pushing to invalidate an amnesty law that for nearly 30 years has exempted them from prosecution on murder and torture charges. General Pinochet originally decreed the amnesty in April 1978, four and a half years after he seized power in the coup that overthrew an elected president, Salvador Allende. According to official reports of government commissions, his dictatorship was responsible for the deaths of at least 3,200 people, the bulk of which occurred before the amnesty edict, and the torture of 28,000 more. “This government, like other democratic governments before it, maintains that the amnesty was an illegitimate decision in its origins and content, form and foundation,” Ms. Bachelet’s chief of staff, Paulina Veloso, said in an interview at the presidential palace here. “Our conviction is that it should never have been applied at all, and certainly should never be used again.” New York Times (12/24)

Chiefs urged to stay away from politics

By NANISE NAWALOWALO

The Great Council of Chiefs should stay away from politics and return to its initial role of serving the people. Party of National Unity General Secretary Meli Bogileka said the Council has self injured itself because of its involvement in politics. He said the august body could lose its identity and form if the chiefs continue to find difficulty in finding a resolution to the ongoing crisis between the military and the GCC. The Former Member of Parliament said due to the fact that respective chiefs are affiliated to respective political parties most made decisions along those political alignments. “Because of this alignment to political parties they are unable to make a decision and this could result to the military abrogating the constitution and the GCC left with no decision making powers,” he said. He said the GCC was treading on dangerous grounds because of its involvement in politics where the environment is hostile and unfavourable. “By involving themselves with politics they have opened themselves up to the political environment which allows for people to exercise their rights and speak their minds,” said Mr Bogileka.He said the GCC is a respected body looked upon by the indigenous-Fijians with reverence but they were becoming more involved with politics that it was now losing its integrity and credibility. “They have themselves to blame because most of them have align themselves to political parties that the decisions they make has made them lose their credibility and integrity because of the political alignment they have with the political parties they are affiliated to,” said Mr Bogileka. He said these political elements are a contributing factor to the mess the GCC has gotten itself into. Mr Bogileka warns that if the GCC continued to show that they could not make a solid and mature decision on the issues on the agenda, the military could easily abrogate the constitution leaving them without any decision making powers. He said it would be better for the GCC to return to serving the people and leave the political matters for the politicians to debate. Fiji Sun (12/24)

North, South Koreas blame US for impasse in nuclear talks

SEOUL, Dec 23 (Reuters): North Korea's official media Saturday placed the blame for an impasse in talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme squarely at the feet of the United States. North Korea, which faces UN sanctions for defying warnings and conducting its first nuclear test in October, remained focused at this week's talks on demands that the United States end a separate crackdown on its international banking."We clarified our will to realise denuclearisation at the talks and participated in them despite sanctions," its KCNA news agency cited the North's nuclear envoy as saying Friday. The talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States ended Friday with the envoys failing to even reach a date for the next round. Throughout the five days of talks, envoys said, North Korea dwelt on little more than the freeze on its accounts at Macau's Banco Delta Asia. Financial Express (Bangladesh) (12/24)

Hearing the grass grow

By Oscar Taffetani

One hundred thousand people die each day throughout the world because of starvation and hunger-related diseases. Yet, according to the last FAO report, current agricultural output could feed 12 billion people, about twice the population of the planet, providing each person with 2,700 calories a day. But this is not done. For that reason, when a child dies of hunger anywhere in the world, it is because he or she has been murdered. Jean Ziegler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, hits us with fist-like data. He intends to awaken humanity, which he says has been “expelled from its own history”. "Persuaded by impatient teachers,” Bertolt Brecht wrote in the mid-20th century, “the poor hear that this is the best of all worlds and that the leak in their bedroom ceiling has been foreseen by God Himself…" "Neoliberalism,” Ziegler completes in the 21st century, “pretends economic laws are natural laws, that the world market is not directed by men but rather by an invisible hand…” After enumerating in a poem all the possible kinds of doubts, Brecht emphasized one of epic contours, one that has left its mark in history: "The most beautiful of all doubts is when the weak and discouraged raise their heads and stop believing in their oppressors’ strength…" Tehran Times (Iran) (12/24)

HEALTH-MOZAMBIQUE:Healers' Practices Under the HIV Spotlight

Ruth Ansah Ayisi MAPUTO, Dec 21 (IPS) - A motley group of about 20 men and women eyed each other tentatively as they met for the first time to discuss how they could jointly fight HIV/AIDS. On one side of the table were doctors, nurses and counsellors, who had just finished a busy afternoon discussing the treatment of people living with HIV. On the other side sat traditional healers, or "cureindeiros" as they are known here, who had been bussed in by the Mozambique Red Cross, some from the rural areas. The need for these discussions has become pressing in a country where certain traditional practices not only undermine women's equality, but are also the cause of HIV infection among women. Nonetheless, the atmosphere was uneasy in May 1st Health Clinic, situated in one of the bustling suburbs in the heart of the capital, Maputo. At first nobody wanted to kick off the debate, despite the efforts of Amelia Macaringue, the vibrant facilitator from the Mozambique Red Cross. She asked, "How can you work together to prevent the spread of HIV? Do you think you can come up with a plan of action? Inter Press Service News Agency (Africa) (12/24)

UN plea to protect journalists in war zones

Agencies

United Nations: The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Saturday, urging all armies and insurgent groups to protect journalists working in war zones. New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists reported that 92 reporters have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion of the country in March 2003. Greek UN Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis said that approval of the resolution, a project initiated by Greece with support from France, "sends a clear and unambiguous message to all parties in armed conflict that journalists and media personnel must be afforded the protection accruing to them under applicable international law and international humanitarian law." It urged governments "and all other parties to an armed conflict" to do their utmost to prevent crimes against journalists, investigate any crimes that occur and bring the perpetrators to justice. Gulf News (United Arab Emirates) (12/24)

Muslim veils should be illegal in public, says bishop

By Martin Hodgson Muslim women should be banned from wearing the veil in public, the Church of England's only Asian bishop said last night. The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, called on the Government to introduce new laws obliging Muslim women to remove the veil while travelling or at work. "Given that we are facing an unprecedented security situation, legislation needs to be introduced that allows officials to remove the veil," he said. The law should cover airports, ports, Tube and train stations, and employers should have the right to demand that the veil is not worn in the workplace, the Bishop said. The comments came days after it emerged that a man wanted in connection with the murder of WPC Sharon Beshenivsky may have fled Britain disguised as a Muslim woman. Mustaf Jama is believed to have escaped detection by wearing a niqab, which covers the face except the eyes. Bishop Nazir-Ali, whose father converted from Islam to Catholicism, also said that the Muslim community needed to make greater efforts to integrate. Independent (United Kingdom) (12/24)

Madagascar confirms poll result

Madagascar's constitutional court has confirmed the victory of incumbent President Marc Ravalomanana in the 3 December election. Mr Ravalomanana gained 54.8% of the vote in the first round of the poll, securing a second five-year term. His rivals had lodged complaints with the court about the vote but election observers said the poll was fair. Mr Ravalomanana, a former dairy magnate, said he felt "optimistic" about the island nation's future. "I am very happy," Mr Ravalomanana told Agence France Presse. "This confirms our confidence with Madagascans and the international community." The court took an additional two weeks to confirm the result due to the time taken to collect the ballot boxes from the furthest regions of the island, some 1,600km (1,000 miles) long. BBC (12/24)

PALESTINIANS IN CHILE DENOUNCE MIDDLE EAST VIOLENCE

(December 23, 2006) A week of escalating violence between Palestinian political rivals Fatah and Hamas, which entered a formal ceasefire today, is reverberating fears through the Palestinian expatriate community in Chile, the largest in the world. The two groups have been at odds since a January election ousted Fatah and ceded power to Hamas. Street violence erupted last week after assassination attempts against Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar. “We are enormously affected by what is going on, because in occupied Palestinian territories people live in total poverty due to a complete lack of basic resources,” said Chilean Nancy Lolas, a deputy in the National Palestine Council. “People don’t have food, medicine, and schools have been paralyzed. They can also be moved around due to the Israeli blockade.” The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released a report indicating that one of every three Palestinian workers is unemployed, and 61 percent of homes are living under the poverty line. Santiago Times (Chile) (12/24)

Ethiopian planes bomb Somali areas: witnesses

By Hassan YareBAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Ethiopian planes dropped bombs and fired missiles on two locations in Somalia on Sunday, witnesses said, as fighting between Somali Islamists and their Ethiopian-allied rivals raged for a sixth day. There was no immediate word from Ethiopia, which has said it would make public any intention of war against the Islamists, or from the Somali interim government. Resident Abdirashid Hassan said he saw planes drop bombs on the outskirts of Baladwayne, 190 miles north of the capital Mogadishu. "The Ethiopians have started bombing," he said by telephone. Another witness, businessman Farah Osman, said two Ethiopian planes fired missiles on the outskirts of Bandiradley, 435 miles north of Mogadishu. A senior Islamist, Sheikh Mahmud Ibrahim Suley, accused the Ethiopians of using MiG warplanes and helicopters against Islamist positions. Reuters (12/24)

posted by Dave Carroll @ 12/24/2006 05:20:00 AM