Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 2007

• March on Guantanamo planned by U.S. Activists next week with Cuban approval
• Chinese government urges all to be open to media rather than trying to control them
• Indian 'bar girl' enter politics to protest ban on their profession
• Israel air carrier succumbs to ban pressures of ultra-orthodox, ends Sabbath flights
• Arab youth more sexually active, AIDS aware than publicly perceived, Saudi study shows
• Chinese abducted in Nigeria receive full support from their government in search
• English Muslim found guilty of inciting race hate
• Spain says bombing by Basque separatist must end before peace process can resume
• Hostage held for six years in Colombian jungle freed after daring raid
• Katrina Gulf Coast victims still waiting for rebuilding help find solution in modular homes

US activists plan Guantanamo jail protest

By Anthony Boadle

HAVANA - A group of US and other peace activists including Cindy Sheehan plan to march to the gates of the US Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba on January 11 to protest against abuses at the prison camp for terrorism suspects, organisers said today.The protest in Cuba is part of planned international protests against the prison camp next week, five years after it opened with the first detainees flown in from the US-led war in Afghanistan that followed the September 11 attacks. The group of 15 marchers will include former detainee Asif Iqbal, a British citizen who was released after two years with no charges, and relatives of current prisoner Omar Deghayes, a British resident. Sheehan, whose son was killed in the Iraq war, has become a well-known peace activist in the United States. Cuba's Communist government -- which has long condemned the prison camp run by its political enemy the United States -- has said the protesters can march to the Cuban security fence surrounding the US base, said Matt Daloisio, spokesman for Witness Against Torture. New Zealand Herald (1/6)

'Serve the media, not manage them'

Government officials are being urged to fully cooperate with foreign journalists, who are flooding in to quench the thirst for information on China with the Beijing Olympics round the corner. Compared to the longstanding practice of "managing the media", governments at various levels are preparing to serve, instead of shying away from, journalists, following a new regulation which took effect on Monday. The message was delivered by Wang Guoqing, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office, the chief information office of the Chinese Cabinet. "In the relationship between government and the media, we are promoting a shift from managing the press to serving it, treating reporters as 'clients'," Wang told China Daily. From this year, government information offices throughout the country are implementing a reporters' assistance project, designed to help international media by compiling information about the people and places they may want to cover, and providing logistics services, he said. The idea is to have each region come up with a general handbook for overseas reporters and produce special pamphlets for any projects that are of interest to journalists, he said. The project also requires foreign affairs departments at the provincial or local level to ease the way for the anticipated influx of overseas reporters by producing info DVDs, interpreters, travel tips and other logistical support, Wang said. The official said his office requires government spokespersons as well as other officials to release "timely, accurate and newsworthy" information to reporters, try their best to be accessible and not deny interview requests. People's Daily Online (1/6)

Bar girls to contest Mumbai civic polls

MUMBAI: Out-of-work bar dancers have decided to contest upcoming elections to the city council in a bid to fight the ban on dance bars and to be empowered politically. The former bar girls said they would contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls slated for February 1, either by aligning with a political party or as independent candidates. Of the 227 seats in BMC, they intend to contest in around 50-52. In 2005, the Maharashtra government implemented a ban on dance bars across the state saying that they corrupted youth and spread prostitution and crime. The aftermath of the ban witnessed an exodus of the estimated 75,000 bar girls to other states and even abroad to find work. According to media reports, many of the women now wait tables, dance at parties, or have turned to prostitution to survive. Some have committed suicide. "We have lost a lot of time begging and pleading for our rights. It is time now that we too assert ourselves politically," Manjit Singh Sethi, president of the Fight for Rights of Bar Owner's Association said. Times of India (1/6)

El Al: We are not surrendering to ultra-Orthodox pressure

By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent In an interviewed with Haaretz on Saturday, an El Al excecutive said the company is not 'surrendering to the Haredim' and will maintain its current policy barring flights on Shabbat and holidays except in emergency situations. The statement came a day after El Al CEO Haim Romano and attorney Yaakov Weinrot, representing the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical committee for Shabbat, signed a deal to end a dispute over Shabbat flights. The agreement signals an end to an unofficial boycott of El Al, which has led to losses of about NIS 1 million a day, according to an official at Israel's national carrier. The agreement stipulates that El Al will appoint a rabbi to rule on instances of a perceived need for flights on Shabbat. El Al has also committed to adhere to its general policy of not flying on Shabbat. The rabbi, Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, is described in the agreement as an "adviser," and El Al noted that he will not have veto power. However, if the airline does not heed his ruling, it will be considered in violation of the agreement itself. Ha'aretz (1/6)

Survey Provides Insight Into AIDS Awareness Among Youth

Maha Akeel, Arab News

JEDDAH, 6 January 2007 — A pilot study released in December reveals interesting views and habits by a sample of Saudi young men on a taboo topic that is somewhat counter to the perceived reality. In conservative Saudi society, speaking about sex publicly is uncomfortable let alone speaking about sexually transmitted infections, especially the ones caused by the HIV virus that leads to AIDS. An economics professor at King Abdul Aziz University conducted a survey of male university students aged between 19 and 23 on their knowledge and attitude toward AIDS and their evaluation of its social and economic effects. Although the sample is small, 147, their honest answers might indicate more sexual activity among youths than society recognizes and which require honest attention. “The Jeddah male student community, with colleagues and acquaintances, is a sexually active group,” said Omar Al-Murshedi regarding the results of his study that he plans to expand including a larger number of subjects. “We should not neglect this group despite its high awareness of the issue (of AIDS) whether in terms of education, prevention, treatment and care, financially and psychologically.” The majority of the students (61 percent) said they believe the social perception of the disease negatively affects feeling of sympathy for AIDS patients. The same number attributed this negative perception to the view that AIDS is God’s wrath for immoral behavior. Views that AIDS patients are perverts, gays or cheating spouses were the reason cited by 39 percent of those surveyed for the stigma associated with AIDS. Arab News (Saudi Arabia) (1/6)

China looks to free Nigeria abductees

Beijing, China- China on Saturday ordered its Foreign Ministry and its embassy in Nigeria to "give all their efforts" to free five Chinese telecommunications workers taken hostage a day earlier in the African nation. "China's leaders attach the highest importance to this," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao said in a statement released on Saturday. "President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have ordered the Foreign Ministry and China's embassy in Nigeria to find a way to ensure the lives and safety of the abductees and give all their efforts to save them." The five workers were abducted in Nigeria's oil-rich yet unrest-plagued southern Niger Delta by unidentified armed men.No group or individual has yet claimed responsibility. The Chinese spokesperson said relevant Chinese officials were "actively cooperating" with their Nigerian counterparts in the effort to secure the release of the workers. Media reports quoted China's Nigeria ambassador Xu Jianguo as saying the abductees were employees of Sichuan Telecommunications Company. More than 60 foreigners, mostly oil workers, were kidnapped last year by armed separatists in the delta region, who demand that a greater share of the region's oil revenue be given to its ethnic Ijaw people. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (1/6)

Man guilty of inciting race hate

By Shenai Raif

A Birmingham man was found guilty yesterday of calling for the murder of American and Danish people during a demonstration in London. Umran Javed, 27, was said to have been one of the leaders of the demonstration against the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. He was recorded on video by police who filmed the protest. He was found guilty of soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred, and was remanded in custody for sentencing in April. There were shouts of protest from the public gallery as the verdicts were returned. David Perry QC, for the prosecution, told the court that Javed used a loudhailer to address about 40 people outside the Danish embassy in Knightsbridge on 3 February last year. He was seen to have shouted: " Bomb, bomb Denmark. Bomb, bomb USA." Mr Perry said: "He addressed the crowd in terms which encouraged killing and incited racial hatred ... He said disbelievers would pay a heavy price ... and said Denmark would pay with blood." Javed told his audience to take lessons from the murder of a Dutch film director and the slaughter of Jews. Independent (United Kingdom) (1/6)

ETA bomb marks 'full stop' in peace process: Spanish PM

MADRID (AFP) - In his strongest comments since a deadly ETA bombing a week ago, Spain's prime minister said that the blast marked a "full stop" in efforts to negotiate a lasting peace in the Basque region. His remarks came after King Juan Carlos called for Spaniards to stand united in the face of terrorism as the capital marked a day of mourning. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose left-wing government launched efforts to negotiate a lasting peace in March 2006 after an ETA ceasefire, had previously stopped short of saying the blast had destroyed his efforts. Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said on Tuesday that ETA "broke off, liquidated, finished the peace process" with the blast, but Zapatero himself had appeared to keep the door open. Immediately after the bombing, Zapatero said only that he was "suspending" peace efforts, adding on Thursday that he was more determined than ever to see the process through. This drew protests from the conservative opposition Popular Party (PP), scenting a chance to return to power after losing to the socialists in 2004 and a consistent opponent of the latest peace process.But on Saturday, Zapatero was clearer, saying the bomb, which killed two Ecuadorans in ETA's first deadly attack since May 2003, marked a "full stop." Agence France Presse (1/6)

Colombia: 6-Year Hostage Flees Rebels

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fernando Araújo, who was the minister of economic development when he was kidnapped by the country’s main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, on Dec. 5, 2000, emerged from captivity and said he fled Sunday after government troops attacked the guerrilla camp where he was being held. Mr. Araújo, 51, then walked through the mountainous jungle for five days. President Álvaro Uribe said that an informant’s tip led the military to the camp and that Mr. Araújo’s family had agreed to the raid. A marine and six guerrillas died in the battle. Mr. Araújo said he was the only hostage at the camp and knew nothing about the fate of 60 other political prisoners, some held for a decade. Other hostages include three Americans and a former presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt. New York Times (1/6)

Katrina Victims Find a Solution: Modular House

By LESLIE EATON

PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. — Of the hundreds of houses swept away by Hurricane Katrina in this small Gulf Coast town, only a fraction have been replaced. The price of building materials has skyrocketed, and the services of even mediocre contractors can be hard to come by. But on East North Street recently, a swarm of workmen put the final touches on Gwen and Rudy Cardreon’s new home, a tan ranch house that sprang up, on 11-foot piling, in a matter of days. Constructed in three pieces in a factory hundreds of miles away, the house came equipped with carpets, curtains, even ceiling fans, but looks as if it were custom built in the Cardreons’ yard. “Isn’t it gorgeous?” Mrs. Cardreon exclaimed, standing in her new kitchen as construction workers hammered on the wooden staircase outside. Before the August 2005 hurricane, so-called modular houses like the Cardreons’ were almost unknown in Mississippi, where houses tended to be the traditional “stick built” on site or mobile homes. Modulars have been popular until now mainly in Northern states with short building seasons and high labor costs. But since the storm, modular houses, which range from simple shotgun-style cottages to fancy minimansions, are starting to appear across the Gulf Coast, as public officials and private citizens search for ways to speed the slow pace of recovery and begin experimenting with new forms of shelter. Modular houses have a number of advantages over conventionally built houses, their advocates said. For example, once they are delivered, modular homes can sometimes be completed in days, rather than months. They are relatively easy to perch up on stilts to comply with flood zone rules. They require less local labor in a region where there is more than enough construction work to go around. Some are less expensive than conventional houses — they range from $50,000 to $500,000 — and manufacturers say some can withstand 160-mile-an-hour winds. New York Times (1/6)

posted by Dave Carroll @ 1/06/2007 03:17:00 PM