Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2006

• Indonesia's take over, abuse of East Timor helped along by Australia's fear, betrayal
• Madrid airport bombing suspends ceasefire agreement between Spain, Basque separatists
• Shattered Arctic ice shelf creates massive new island, scientists rethink global warming effects
• Is US/Israel military strike on Iran in the tea leaves for 2007?
• Child prostitution a global epidemic
• Political enemies force to share power in Ukraine
• No longer a death sentence, AIDS has many South African insurers reevaluating coverage
• South American frontier a human trafficker's paradise
• 2006 deadliest year in a decade for reporters
• Texan stages pig races in protest of mosque construction next to his property

How fearful Australia deserted East Timor

Tony Stephens

JUST three months after Indonesia invaded East Timor 30 years ago, the Australian government of the prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, was covertly supporting the tiny colony's complete integration into its giant neighbour, according to cabinet documents from 1976, released today. The 1976 cabinet papers, released under the rule that keeps them secret for 30 years, show that while the foreign minister, Andrew Peacock, was saying publicly Indonesian forces should withdraw and there should be a genuine act of self-determination, Australia's defence chiefs were taking a realpolitik view. A defence committee report of February 5 noted that although Indonesia was unlikely to take military action against Australia or Papua New Guinea, "Indonesia is a power with long-term potential for a significant assault against Australia".The report went on: "Attempts to deny Indonesia its objective and to secure its co-operation in a military withdrawal from East Timor and in a genuine act of self-determination are therefore likely to meet intractable political and practical difficulties and ultimately to prove futile." Paradoxically, more than two decades years later, in 1998, a member of that original Coalition ministry, the Prime Minister, John Howard, was a key player in ensuring East Timor gained independence in a referendum. Sydney Morning Herald (12/31)

Spain suspends dialogue efforts after ETA bombs airport

MADRID - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Saturday suspended moves towards a dialogue with Basque separatist organization ETA after the group said it carried out a car bomb blast at Madrid's Barajas airport. Five out of 19 people slightly hurt in the blast required hospital treatment while fears grew for the safety of two Ecuadorian men reported missing.Both were understood to have been asleep in vehicles inside the terminal that was hit by some 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of explosives. The explosion, which ended the "permanent ceasefire" ETA called on March 22, came as a blow to Zapatero, who had for months tried to open a dialogue between his government and Basque radicals seeking independence for the northern Basque region. "I have ordered the suspension of all initiatives linked to developing talks with ETA", Zapatero said after interrupting a family holiday to return to the Spanish capital. ABS-CBN (Philippines) (12/31)

Arctic ice shelf shatters, creates an island

A giant ice shelf broke free from Canada's remote Arctic 16 months ago, but no one was on hand to witness the creation of 55-million-square-foot, free-floating island of ice. Later, scientists using satellite images realized the mass of ice broke clear from the coast of Ellesmer Island, about 497 miles (800 kilometers) south of the North Pole. Laurie Weir, who monitors ice conditions for the Canadian Ice Service, was poring over satellite images in 2005 when she saw the Ayles Ice Shelf had split and separated. Weir notified Luke Copland, head of the new global ice lab at the University of Ottawa, who decided to find out what happened. Using U.S. and Canadian satellite images, as well as data from seismic monitors, Copland found the ice shelf collapsed in the early afternoon of Aug. 13, 2005. "What surprised us was how quickly it happened," Copland said. "It's pretty alarming. Even 10 years ago scientists assumed that when global warming changes occur that it would happen gradually so that perhaps we expected these ice shelves just to melt away quite slowly, but the big surprise is that for one they are going, but secondly that when they do go, they just go suddenly, it's all at once, in a span of an hour." People's Daily Online/Xinhua (12/31)

The Risks, Perils and Potential Disasters of 2007

Patrick Seale, Al-Hayat

Although peering into the fog of the future is always a hazardous business, it would not be rash to say that, of all the potential man-made catastrophes that might afflict the world this coming year, for sheer destructiveness none would surpass an American/Israeli attack on Iran. Is such an attack probable, or even possible? Regrettably, it is. In the current confrontation with Iran, the military option remains very much on the table. In both the U.S. and Israel, the same military planners, political lobbyists and armchair strategists that pressed America to attack Iraq are now urging it to strike Iran - and for much the same reasons. These reasons may be briefly summarized as the need to control the Middle East's oil resources and deny them to potential rivals, such as China; the wish to demonstrate to friend and foe alike America's unique ability to project military power across the globe; and, last but not least, Israel's determination to maintain its supremacy over any regional challenger, especially one as recklessly provocative as Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. To be effective, an American/Israeli strike against Iran would have to destroy not only its nuclear facilities but also its ability to hit back, that is to say its entire military-industrial complex. The attack would have to be so devastating as to rob Iran of the will and the means to retaliate. This could take weeks of air and missiles attacks and, because of the size of the country and the dispersal of its military assets, would be exceedingly difficult to achieve. It seems more than likely that, if attacked, Iran will, one way or another, manage to strike back - against U.S. troops in Iraq, against Israel, and against U.S. bases and U.S. allies in the Gulf. Dar Al Hayat (Lebanon) (12/31)

Child prostitution becomes global problem, with Russia no exception

Southeast Asia is thought to be the hotbed of child prostitution. According to UNICEF, more than one million children in Asia including Thailand, Philippines, and India, have been sold to brothels or street pimps for sexual exploitation. In the meantime, ECPAT (Ending Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking), a nongovernmental organization, argues that the number of children involved in prostitution is much higher. ECPAT estimates indicate that 20% of 20 million of children in India alone are part of the commercial sexual exploitation network. According to ECPAT, about 100 thousand children are forced into child prostitution in Taiwan. Child prostitutes are in demand in other counties too. Venezuela has around 40 thousand underage prostitutes; there are approximately 25 thousands prostitutes aged 12 to 17 in the Dominican Republic; Peru has about 500 thousand child prostitutes, another 500 thousand child prostitutes are in Brazil; Canada has 200 thousand child prostitutes. From 300 thousand to 600 thousand of 2 million prostitutes in the USA are children and teenagers under 18. Most of them are under the category of street prostitutes. The above statistics clearly indicate that child prostitution has become a global problem. As for Russia, it is hard to come up with accurate numbers regarding child prostitution. The numbers do vary depending on the definition of the phenomenon, measuring instruments, and a current government policy. One can only make a judgment by putting together pieces of information reported in different cities and regions of Russia. For example, the Moscow police said that more than 1,000 children had been involved in prostitution activities in 1993. According to data released by the police of the Seaside Region, child prostitutes accounted for 25% of all prostitutes taken into custody in 2000. The proportion increased to around 27% in 2001. Pravda (Russia) (12/31)

Government Chaos Dashing Hopes of New Beginning

By Walter Mayr

The hero and antihero of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution are now sharing power in Kiev. The political trench warfare between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is shattering the Ukrainian people's dreams of a new beginning and moral rebirth. In Ukraine, questions about the future invariably entail an excursion into the past. It's a journey that passes through electronic security gates in the Kiev building that houses the Ukrainian cabinet, into a Soviet-made elevator and up to the seventh floor -- where courtiers whisper, petitioners wait patiently and a padded door opens silently. The prime minister approaches from the depths of the room. "Hello," says Viktor Yanukovych. For a moment it seems as though time had stood still here. Yanukovych was prime minister once before when the so-called Orange Revolution broke out and hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of Kiev, shivering in the cold, singing and waving orange flags -- in an effort that eventually brought down Yanukovych's corrupt regime. It happened two years ago. Yanukovych was the principal target of popular fury when crowds took to the streets to demonstrate against election fraud and nepotism, against corruption and the regime's failure to investigate contract killings of its opponents. Ukrainians were demonstrating against everything for which they believed the policies of President Leonid Kuchma and his would-be successor Yanukovych stood for. Der Spiegel (Germany) (12/31)

Aids causes life insurers to take stock

Mariette le Roux Cape Town, South Africa

As Aids continues to reap a grim toll among South Africans in their prime, life insurers are being forced to re-evaluate the products and services they offer. "HIV is not a death sentence anymore," said David Patient, among the first to take out life cover with new company AllLife, which caters exclusively for HIV-positive people traditionally shunned by long-term insurers. "Thanks to improved access to ARV [antiretroviral treatment], HIV today is a manageable disease like diabetes. HIV-positive people who adhere to their drug regimen should have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years." Few companies provided life cover to people with HIV, and those that did charge excessive premiums, said Patient.This meant thousands could not get a home loan, provide financially for loved ones after their death or borrow money to start a business. AllLife co-founder and managing director Ross Beerman said the time has come for a change in the long-term insurance industry. "Our clients are investing in their future -- buying a house, starting a business, furthering their studies," he told Agence France-Presse. "People are accessing financial-service products they were not able to before. They are investing in themselves." South Africa has the world's second heaviest caseload of HIV/Aids, with about 5,5-million in a population of 47-million infected. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (12/31)

Latin America's secret slave trade

Oliver Balch reports from the triple frontier of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, where humans have become the most sought-after contraband.

Guardian Unlimited

Sit by the swimming pool of the exclusive Iguazú Jungle hotel and you can watch the "contrabandistas" emerging from the undergrowth. All day, an army of smugglers can be seen passing along the mountainous path that separates Argentina from Brazil. Locals know it as the "pique". It is just one of a dozen or more unofficial crossing points on the so-called triple frontier, the name given to the porous border area where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet. Everything from fake branded clothing to Class A drugs are ferried back and forth along these clandestine routes. The list of contraband goods now also extends to human beings.The human-trafficking business is estimated to be worth over £10bn a year, making it the world's third most profitable criminal activity after drug-smuggling and gun-running. Many of those trafficked through the triple frontier are destined for the illegal labour market in Brazil or Argentina. The trade in babies for adoption is also widely reported. But a large proportion end up as sex workers. Many end up in brothels across the region, although a high number are destined for the triple frontier's own thriving sex industry. Children are particularly vulnerable to human traffickers. Charities working with at-risk children in the border region estimate that as many as 3,500 young people could be involved. Argentina Star (12/31)

2006 a deadly year for journalists

CBC News

This past year was the deadliest for journalists in more than a decade, according to media watchdog Reporters without Borders.The Paris-based group said in its annual report released Sunday that at least 81 reporters were killed while on duty in more than 20 countries in 2006. That compares with 63 who died on the job the previous year. Another 32 people working alongside journalists, including translators, drivers and technicians, were killed, compared with five in 2005. For the fourth year running, Iraq claimed the highest number of deaths involving journalists — 39 — most of them Iraqis. The second-most dangerous place for reporters in 2006 was Mexico, with nine deaths, followed by the Philippines, with six. Reporters without Borders said it was the worst year for journalists since 1994, when 103 reporters died on the job, almost half of them during the genocide in Rwanda. CBC (12/31)

Mosque plans trigger neighbor's pig races

KATY, Texas (AP) -- A man unhappy with an Islamic association's plans to build a mosque next to his property has staged pig races as a protest during afternoon prayers. Craig Baker, 46, sold merchandise and grilled sausages Friday for about 100 people who showed up in heavy rain. He insisted he wasn't trying to offend anyone with the pigs, which are forbidden from the Muslim diet. "I am just defending my rights and my property," Baker said. "They totally disrespected me and my family." Muslims don't hate pigs, they just don't eat them, said engineer Kamel Fotouh, president of the 500-member Katy Islamic Association in this Houston suburb. "I don't care if he races, roasts or slaughters pigs," said Yousef Allam, a spokesman for the group. The dispute began when the association asked Baker to remove his cattle from its newly bought land. The association plans to build a mosque, community center, athletic facilities and a school. Baker agreed to move his cattle but thought the Muslims also wanted him off the land his family has lived on for more than 100 years.Earlier this month, Baker conceded that the Muslims probably aren't after his land, but he said he had to go through with the pig races because "I would be like a total idiot if I didn't. I'd be the laughingstock now because I've gone too far." All the same, Baker plans to continue the weekly pig races until interest dwindles. The association never meant to imply it wanted Baker to move, Allam said. "If we somehow communicated that to him, then we apologize," he said. Resident Susan Canavespe said the pig racing wasn't mean-spirited -- "It's just Texas-spirited." CNN (12/31)

posted by Dave Carroll @ 12/31/2006 04:34:00 PM