Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2007

• Pro North Korea paper claims "No food shortage in NK" despite "enemy" sanctions
• Sri Lanka Air Force accused of "carpet-bombing" civilian village
• Civilian deaths in Afghanistan "too high" in 2006, NATO admits... we'll do better in 2007
• Israel Defense Minister admits launching assault on Lebanon was a "bad idea"
• War photographer finds hope in smiles of Congo "polio kids"
• New French law will make a "legal right to housing" in response to homelessness wave
• German "occupation babies" scramble to find, know Allied G.I. dads before it's too late
• Argentine women being kidnapped to serve in sex slave trade
• Canada appeals court rules children can have three parents in landmark custody suit
• Explosive FBI Guantanamo report documents personal witnessing of detainee abuse

No food crisis in North Korea: newspaper

North Korea has no serious trouble feeding its people despite heavy floods and sanctions by "enemy states" Japan and the United States, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper said, quoting an agricultural official of the North. "It is not a satisfactory production level relative to our goal, but the problem of feeding the people is in no way at a serious level," Kim Kyong-il of the North's Agricultural Ministry was quoted in the Choson Sinbo newspaper as saying. The paper is published by an association of North Korean residents in Japan with reports from Pyongyang, and is seen as carrying the official voice of the North. "Because of economic sanctions by enemy countries like the United States and Japan, there have been problems in a series of plans to modernise farming," the newspaper said. Neither the United States nor Japan has called for an end of food shipments to North Korea. Sydney Morning Herald (1/3)

Tamil Web site reports 15 civilian casualties in government `carpet-bombing' of village

DIFFERING STORIES: The Sri Lankan air force confirmed that it had carried out air raids on LTTE territory, but said that an area known to be a Sea Tiger base was the target of the bombings

AFP

COLOMBO At least 15 civilians were killed and dozens more wounded yesterday when Sri Lankan air force jets "carpet-bombed" Tamil Tiger-held territory in the north of the island, according to a pro-rebel Web site. Tamilnet.com said that the government raid against the coastal hamlet of Padahuthurai, located near Mannar, left only five out of 25 homes standing. It said at least 15 civilians, including 4 children, had been killed in the raid, and a further 30 people had been seriously wounded. No independent verification of the toll was available. A Sri Lankan air force spokesman confirmed air raids had been carried out against areas held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north and east of the island, including near Mannar, but said the target was a Sea Tiger base. "We carried out air raids on an identified Sea Tiger base north of Mannar," Group Captain Ajantha Silva said.He also said that Tamil Tiger radio communications that had been intercepted by the government indicated that the rebels had suffered serious casualties. A second air raid on LTTE territory at Vakarai in the east of the island had also been carried out, using Israeli-built Kfir jets, Silva said. Taipei Times (Taiwan) (1/3)

Killing Afghan civilians was a blunder’, admit NATO forces

KABUL: NATO acknowledged Wednesday that the number of civilians killed by its forces in Afghanistan last year was too high, but said the Western alliance was working to change that in 2007."The single thing that we have done wrong and we are striving extremely hard to improve on (in 2007) is killing innocent civilians," Brig. Richard E. Nugee, the chief spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said. Nugee said the alliance has been reviewing for several weeks measures to bring down the number of civilian casualties. However, he said NATO forces have killed far fewer civilians than the Taliban, which launched a record number of roadside and suicide bombs last year. "There is absolutely no comparison to be made," he said. "The Taliban are killing significant numbers of their own people and showing no remorse at all." International News (Pakistan) (1/3)

Halutz: War hurt Israeli deterrent ability

By Amos Harel

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said officially yesterday that he has no intention of resigning following the investigation of the war in Lebanon. Halutz acknowledged failures in the war and the fact that Israel's deterrent capability had been impaired, but claimed that part of his responsibility including leading its rehabilitation. However, Halutz also said that if the Winograd Committee demanded it, he would leave his position. Speaking at a press conference at his bureau in Tel Aviv following a two-day meeting with top IDF brass to summarize lessons learned from the war, Halutz surveyed at length the conclusions of dozens of investigative teams set up in the IDF. However when reporters began to ask about his personal responsibility for failures, Halutz adopted a belligerent tone, betraying signs of insult at the harsh criticism leveled at him by the media in recent months. I see that there are some of you who are longing for me to resign," he said, after he was asked for the third time why he does not do so. "I did not intend to tell you this today, and if you repeat the question, I won't change my answer. Asked whether staying at his post would not harm the public's faith in the IDF, he said: "I am not 'a star is born' and people don't vote for me by SMS...I have not heard my superiors call on me to resign. When they tell me that, I will respond to them." Ha'aretz (Israel) (1/3)

Hope blooms in smiles of Kinshasa polio kids

Finbarr O'Reilly

After another tense day of photographing riots, mob violence and gun battles in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) capital Kinshasa, I head not to the nearest bar, but to a dilapidated compound, home to children crippled by polio. There, among dozens of twisted bodies and withered limbs, the day's tension melts away. The 100 children at the International Polio Victims Response Committee (www.ipvrc.org) in the DRC must rank among the world's most disadvantaged. Handicapped, impoverished, often rejected or abandoned, and living in Africa's deadliest war zone, they should have little to celebrate. Instead, the lively "polio kids" offer an oasis of hope, unity and optimism in a vast country marked by despair. Despite their polio-damaged legs, wrapped in casts or makeshift braces fashioned from scrap metal, the children dance enthusiastically to loud Congolese music or challenge visitors to madcap games of soccer. Photo opportunities are everywhere -- boys playing naked in a sudden downpour, girls braiding one another's hair, older kids caring for younger ones, determined expressions as uncooperative legs are urged to take wobbly steps. On several occasions, I put down my cameras to join fast-paced impromptu soccer matches, only to be run ragged and tripped by "misplaced" crutches. "Woah, 'mondele' [white person] you must play harder," the kids taunt. After losing several times, I give up. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (1/3)

France to create 'legal right' to housing

PARIS (AFP) - The French government announced plans to create a "legal right" to housing in response to a snowballing campaign that has seen a tent city for the homeless spring up in the heart of Paris. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told a press conference a bill would be presented to the cabinet on January 17 and hopefully adopted before parliament breaks up ahead of April's presidential election. The law, if passed, would make France the second European country to guarantee the right to housing, after Scotland which adopted similar measures with its 2003 Homeless Act. President Jacques Chirac used his New Year's address to promise swift government action on a "right to housing" -- a key demand of protestors who have mounted a headline-grabbing campaign in support of France's estimated 100,000 homeless. Villepin said the government wanted the right to become legally enforceable by 2008 for "people in the most difficult situations: the homeless, but also the working poor and single women with children." "That is the time necessary to ensure that all the people concerned can be provided with decent lodgings, whether in a transitional shelter or an individual home," he said. Agence France Presse (1/3)

Children of the Enemy

By Mary Wiltenburg and Marc Widmann

In the decade after World War II, more than 100,000 babies were born to unwed German mothers and Allied soldier fathers. Most of the men left Europe without ever meeting their children. Now, many "occupation babies" are scrambling to find their fathers before it's too late. The Internet ad sounds hopeless. Seeking: A dark-haired American GI who was stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany, in February 1952. First name, Charles. Last name, unknown. The ad goes on to say that if anyone knows Charles, or if they have any other relevant information, they should contact his son. In the thrill of a postwar dance hall, Charles met a 22-year-old Bavarian named Hanna. The pair went on four or five dates, then Charles was shipped to Korea. Later that year, Hanna gave birth to a son and named him Herbert. Today, Herbert Hack is 54 years old. By day, he drives a taxi through the streets of Berlin. By night, he is consumed with painstaking paperwork: The hunt for Charles. In his modest home, photos cover the kitchen table, showing American GIs in Frankfurt in the early 1950s. A few bored faces, circled in blue, remind Hack of himself as a young man. But all have the wrong names, so the search continues. Der Spiegel (Germany) (1/3)

More Argentine women trapped in sex trade: UN

BUENOS AIRES - Working-class Argentine women are being forced into the sex trade in ever higher numbers by kidnappers, tricksters and gangsters, the United Nations said in a report published by the Argentine press on Tuesday. The International Migration Organization, a branch of the United Nations, said that corrupt police officials are a key part of the sex trade. Judges, police and other legal officers are frequently named as accomplices of the pimps. The northeast Argentine province of Misiones has the highest incidence of the trade, while in Santa Fe, Mendoza and Entre Rios, pimping groups run brothels of up to 30 women, renting them to bars and moving them frequently. While most of the women trapped in the trade are Argentines, there are also women from Paraguay, who are trafficked in via the border provinces of Misiones and Entre Rios. They are sold by their captors for as little as 100 Argentine pesos (about 33 U.S. dollars), or as much as 5,000 pesos (about 1,600 dollars). Argentina Star (1/3)

Boy can have 2 mothers and a father: Ont. appeal court

TORONTO (CP) - A court decision allowing a five-year-old Ontario boy to have three parents is drawing both praise and condemnation. The landmark ruling follows a legal battle waged by the lesbian partner of the boy's biological mother. The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled the woman is a legal parent of the boy, along with his biological mother and father. Gay rights organization Egale Canada says the ruling simply recognizes the reality of lesbian couples across Canada who are already raising children with the input of the father. But the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada says the case opens up the possibility of multiple parents, perhaps as many as five or six, for a child - and unforeseen legal headaches if those relationships fail. CANOE/CNET (Canada) (1/3)

FBI Reports Duct-Taping, 'Baptizing' at Guantanamo

By Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff WriterFBI agents witnessed possible mistreatment of the Koran at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including at least one instance in which an interrogator squatted over Islam's holy text in an apparent attempt to offend a captive, according to bureau documents released yesterday. In October 2002, a Marine captain allegedly squatted over a copy of the Koran during intensive questioning of a Muslim prisoner, who was "incensed" by the tactic, according to an FBI agent. A second agent described similar events, but it is unclear from the documents whether it was a separate case. In another incident that month, interrogators wrapped a bearded prisoner's head in duct tape "because he would not stop quoting the Koran," according to an FBI agent, the documents show. The agent, whose account was corroborated by a colleague, said that a civilian contractor laughed about the treatment and was eager to show it off. The reports amount to new and separate allegations of religiously oriented tactics used against Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. After an erroneous report of Koran abuse prompted deadly protests overseas in 2005, the U.S. military conducted an investigation that confirmed five incidents of intentional and unintentional mishandling the book at the detention facility. They acknowledged that soldiers and interrogators had kicked the Koran, had stood on it and, in one case, had inadvertently sprayed urine on a copy. Washington Post (1/3)

posted by Dave Carroll @ 1/03/2007 04:27:00 PM