Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2007

• Health care in Zimbabwe, once the best in Africa, on the brink of collapse
• U.S. climate agency finally officially admits that humans are impacting environment
• Resolution condemning Myanmar's political oppression introduced in UN by U.S.
• Cuba human rights no better under Raul than Fidel, groups declare
• Despite court victory, Australian state premier denies aboriginal land claim
• Japanese politico's visit to North Korea "undesirable" to government
• Lebanese demand to know who is not cooperating in UN Hariri assassination probe
• 3/4 million Americans are homeless, new study, first in decade, reveals
• Neo-nazis in crosshairs of new German anti-racism program
• Pope praises democracy in Latin America but chides "dictatorship of relativism"

Zimbabwe's health sector faces collapse

Fanuel Jongwe

Harare, Zimbabwe- The doctor at the Parirenyatwa hospital shakes his head in despair as he issues his diagnosis of Zimbabwe's health service: "The system has literally collapsed and we are losing lives unnecessarily." Once renowned throughout Southern Africa for its standards of treatment, the collapse of the health service has mirrored the financial crisis in Zimbabwe. A seven-year recession which led to inflation passing the 1 000% mark last year means state hospitals lack the means to pay for even the most basic drugs such as anti-inflammatory painkillers and pills to battle hypertension. "It's so painful when you have to tell a patient there is nothing more you can do to help them even though they are in agony," said the doctor at the Parirenyatwa in Harare, the country's biggest hospital. "We often resort to bush medicine where we do trial and error and use combinations of the few drugs that are available to bring temporary relief to the patients," he added on condition of anonymity. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (1/10)

Agency Affirms Human Influence on Climate

By ANDREW C. REVKIN

President Bush has said it. A lot of government scientists have said it. But until yesterday, it appeared that no news release on annual climate trends out of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the Bush White House had said unequivocally that a buildup of greenhouse gases was helping warm the climate. The statement came in a release that said 2006 was the warmest year for the 48 contiguous states since regular temperature records began in 1895. It surpassed the previous champion, 1998, a year heated up by a powerful episode of the periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean by El Niño. Last year, another El Niño developed, but this time a long-term warming trend from human activities was said to be involved as well. “A contributing factor to the unusually warm temperatures throughout 2006 also is the long-term warming trend, which has been linked to increases in greenhouse gases,” the release said, emphasizing that the relative contributions of El Niño and the human influence were not known. A link between greenhouse gases and climate change was also made in a December news conference by Dirk Kempthorne, the secretary of the interior, as that agency proposed listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. New York Times (1/10)

U.S. voices growing concerns about Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States introduced a U.N. resolution Tuesday calling the deteriorating situation in Myanmar a serious risk to regional peace and urging the country's military government to release all political prisoners and take speedy steps toward democracy. Washington faces an uphill struggle in winning Security Council approval of the draft because of opposition from China and Russia, both veto-wielding council members. The council decided to put Myanmar on its agenda on Sept. 15 over objections from Beijing and Moscow. "We think that it's not a proper issue to discuss in the Security Council," said Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin. "That's why we voted against putting it on the agenda of the Security Council." China's deputy U.N. ambassador Liu Zhenmin echoed this view, saying the council should confine itself to other issues which clearly threaten international peace and security. "We don't think that any action taken by this council will be conducive to promote any solution of the Myanmar issue," he said. Indonesia and South Africa — both new Security Council members — voiced similar objections. The draft resolution would express the council's "grave concern that the overall situation in Myanmar has deteriorated and poses serious risks to peace and security in the region." It would also support appeals by Undersecretary-General Ibrahim Gambari to the government last year to release all political prisoners, open its political process to all political parties, stop hostilities against ethnic minorities and allow unhindered humanitarian access. USA Today (1/10)

Report: Human rights not improved under Raul Castro

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Respect for human rights has not improved in Cuba under interim leader Raul Castro, though the number of Cubans jailed for political reasons has fallen to 283, the country's main rights watchdog said Tuesday. Cuba remains the nation in the Western Hemisphere with the most political prisoners in proportion to its population, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said in its year-end report. The group, illegal but tolerated by Cuba's communist government, expects the civil liberties situation, from freedom of association and information to the right to travel and self-employment, to remain unchanged or deteriorate further because no reforms are in sight. "The provisional team designated by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro has done nothing to improve fundamental rights," said the commission, led by veteran rights activist Elizardo Sanchez. "Cuba's government continues to violate each and every civil, political and economic right," it said.Castro, 80, was forced to hand over the reins of government to his brother, Raul, 75, after emergency surgery for intestinal bleeding in late July. He has not appeared in public since. Castro's one-party state has long faced international criticism for suppressing dissent and locking up critics. Barring a "political miracle" short-term prospects for human rights are negative and there is little internal pressure on the ruling bureaucracy to change its policies, the commission's report said. CNN/Reuters (1/10)

Native title claim talks

ACTING Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has directed key bureaucrats to meet the Githabul people in an effort to resolve a native title dispute over land on the northern side of the Queensland-NSW border. Under a deal with NSW, revealed by The Australian last week, the Githabul are to be granted native title over 6000sqkm of land in NSW on the border with Queensland, but Queensland has denied the existence of native title over the adjoining area, which is part of the tribal lands but divided by the state boundary. Both states were supplied with the same five expert studies to support the claim, but NSW accepted the studies while Queensland did not. Ms Bligh said she had asked the director-general of the Department of Natural Resources and Water to meet the Githabul people and their lawyers as soon as possible. The Australian (1/10)

Yamasaki's Pyongyang trip draws flak

By HIROKO NAKATA, Staff writer

The trip to Pyongyang by Taku Yamasaki, former vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, runs counter to sanctions Japan placed on North Korea after its October nuclear test, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated Tuesday. Yamasaki arrived in Pyongyang in the afternoon aboard an Air Koryo flight from Beijing, according to the North Korean airline's Beijing office.The trip comes amid a stalemate in international efforts to end North Korea's nuclear threat. "Japan is now putting pressure on North Korea to take a sincere step (to curb) its nuclear weapons and missile development as well as (resolve) its abduction (of Japanese citizens). We want (Yamasaki) to realize this," Abe told reporters. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki also told a news conference: "We think it undesirable that a Diet member who represents the public visits North Korea, since we decided that public servants should refrain from taking a trip there and we have asked people to abide by this." Yamasaki is the first senior lawmaker to travel to North Korea since Abe took office in September. Japan Times (1/10)

The Lebanese deserve to know who is not cooperating with the Hariri probe

Editorial

The special panel appointed by the United Nations to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has been touted by its supporters as a custodian of the truth, and many Lebanese are relying on the probe to help deepen and strengthen the roots of their country's fragile sovereignty. Critics fear that the process has already been hijacked for political ends and that the purview of the international tribunal to try suspects in the killing will be to carry out targeted prosecutions aimed at producing certain results on the Lebanese political scene and in the wider Middle East. On lead investigator Serge Brammertz's watch, the panel has strived to avoid the appearance of a rush to judgment, a wise policy given the approach of his predecessor, Detlev Mehlis. A glaring inconsistency has emerged, though, which threatens to undermine the integrity of the entire enterprise - and therefore to deny the Lebanese a key component of their maturation into a full-fledged nation-state. Brammertz's most recent report indicated that 10 countries have not cooperated with the probe. Russia has launched an initiative to reveal the names of those 10 states, but Britain, France, the United States and other Security Council members have resisted. The Lebanese deserve to know the truth about who is assisting the investigation and who is slowing or obstructing it. Identifying non-cooperative countries is about more than just naming and shaming them: It is also about preserving the investigation's credibility. There is a need to at least maintain an appearance of impartiality. Each and every report has included a public assessment of Syria's cooperation. In his latest update, for example, Brammertz wrote that Syria's cooperation "remains timely and efficient." But why would the probe only publicly evaluate Syria's level of cooperation - especially when it acknowledges that others have been less forthcoming? Daily Star (Lebanon) (1/10)

Study: 744,000 Are Homeless in U.S.

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER , Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - There were 744,000 homeless people in the United States in 2005, according to the first national estimate in a decade. A little more than half were living in shelters, and nearly a quarter were chronically homeless, according to the report Wednesday by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, an advocacy group. A majority of the homeless were single adults, but about 41 percent were in families, the report said. The group compiled data collected by the Department of Housing and Urban Development from service providers throughout the country. It is the first national study on the number of homeless people since 1996. That study came up with a wide range for America's homeless population: between 444,000 and 842,000. Counting people without permanent addresses, especially those living on the street, is an inexact process. But the new study is expected to provide a baseline to help measure progress on the issue. ``Having this data brings all of us another step closer to understanding the scope and nature of homelessness in America, and establishing this baseline is an extremely challenging task,'' HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said. ``Understanding homelessness is a necessary step to addressing it successfully.'' The Guardian (United Kingdom) (1/10)

New German Program against Neo-Nazis

Right-wing violence in Germany has been on the rise in recent years. Now, the government in Berlin wants to do something about it.

A new program aims at strengthening democratic values in the country. The news on the right-extremist front in Germany has not been good lately. A rising number of attacks, increasing numbers of youths attracted to neo-Nazi groups, and success for the far right at the polls have all raised concerns. In response, the government in Berlin this week stepped up its fight against right-wing extremism by launching a campaign for diversity this week which will be funded with €19 million. The program, named somewhat clumsily the "Youth for Diversity, Tolerance, Democracy -- Against Right-Wing Extremism, Racism and Anti-Semitism," is meant to send a "clear signal to extremists who want to undermine the values of our society", says Gerd Hoofe, a senior official in the federal ministry for family. The program will initially fund projects run by 24 local councils and eight independent foundations but will take in another 66 applicants over the next weeks. It is an extension of the government's "Youth for Tolerance and Democracy" program, which ended last November. Its goal is to prevent right-wing extremism through local action and the promotion of cultural diversity. Der Spiegel (Germany) (1/10)

Pontiff Attentive to Poverty, Democracy in Latin America

Calls Residents to Become "Architects of Their Own Development"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 8, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The struggle against poverty and in favor of democracy are the two great challenges that Benedict XVI perceives in Latin America at the beginning of 2007. The Pope expressed this today to the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, reminding them that next May he will travel to Brazil to attend the 5th General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean. In his analysis of the Latin American situation, the Holy Father said that "the improvement in certain economic indicators, the commitment to combat drug-trafficking and corruption, the various processes of integration, the efforts to improve access to education, to fight unemployment and to reduce inequalities in the distribution of revenues -- these are all signs to be viewed with satisfaction." "If these developments are consolidated, they will be able to make a decisive contribution to overcoming the poverty that afflicts vast sectors of the population and to increasing the stability of institutions," he said. Referring to the fact that, between Nov. 2005 and Dec. 2006, elections took place in 11 countries of Latin America, the Pontiff underlined "that democracy is called to take into account the aspirations of the citizens as a whole, and to promote increasing respect for all the components of society, according to the principles of solidarity, subsidiarity and justice." Benedict XVI added: "The practice of democracy must not be allowed to turn into the dictatorship of relativism, by proposing anthropological models incompatible with the nature and dignity of the human person." Argentina Star (1/10)

posted by Dave Carroll @ 1/10/2007 04:52:00 PM