Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES SUNDAY, JANUARY 14. 2007

• One child soldier's story
• Participants in East Timor genocide may receive amnesty with truth, reconciliation
• Myanmar UN resolution to free political prisoners blocked, decision defended by China
• Israeli soldiers obligated to intervene in abuses against Palestinian civilians, rights group insists
• U.S. will not muster Arab support against Iran, foreign ministry declares
  Solidarity hero Walesa joins in condemnation of Polish priests who spied for communists
• Connecticut toymaker profits from "gallows humor" with Saddam execution doll
• Justice delayed as Nazi officers get life imprisonment in Italy 60 years after war
• Mexico's Calderon wages war on drug cartels
• $32 million collection of Dr. King's papers go on display in Atlanta

The Making, and Unmaking, of a Child Soldier

By ISHMAEL BEAH

Sometimes I feel that living in New York City, having a good family and friends, and just being alive is a dream, that perhaps this second life of mine isn’t really happening. Whenever I speak at the United Nations, Unicef or elsewhere to raise awareness of the continual and rampant recruitment of children in wars around the world, I come to realize that I still do not fully understand how I could have possibly survived the civil war in my country, Sierra Leone. Most of my friends, after meeting the woman whom I think of as my new mother, a Brooklyn-born white Jewish-American, assume that I was either adopted at a very young age or that my mother married an African man. They would never imagine that I was 17 when I came to live with her and that I had been a child soldier and participated in one of the most brutal wars in recent history. In early 1993, when I was 12, I was separated from my family as the Sierra Leone civil war, which began two years earlier, came into my life. The rebel army, known as the Revolutionary United Front (R.U.F.), attacked my town in the southern part of the country. I ran away, along paths and roads that were littered with dead bodies, some mutilated in ways so horrible that looking at them left a permanent scar on my memory. I ran for days, weeks and months, and I couldn’t believe that the simple and precious world I had known, where nights were celebrated with storytelling and dancing and mornings greeted with the singing of birds and cock crows, was now a place where only guns spoke and sometimes it seemed even the sun hesitated to shine. After I discovered that my parents and two brothers had been killed, I felt even more lost and worthless in a world that had become pregnant with fear and suspicion as neighbor turned against neighbor and child against parent. Surviving each passing minute was nothing short of a miracle. After almost a year of running, I, along with some friends I met along the way, arrived at an army base in the southeastern region. We thought we were now safe; little did we know what lay ahead. New York Times (1/14)

Apology and truth may earn amnesty

Lindsay Murdoch in JakartaA JOINT Indonesian-East Timorese commission will recommend amnesties for people responsible for atrocities in East Timor in 1999 if they admit their involvement and apologise to their victims.The Commission of Truth and Friendship will invite 70 people, including senior Indonesian military officers and political leaders from both countries. They will be expected to say what they know about the atrocities at hearings in Indonesia and East Timor over the next six months. People who refuse the invitation or are not considered by the commission to have told the truth will not be recommended for amnesties from the East Timorese and Indonesian governments. More than 1200 people were killed, most of East Timor's infrastructure was destroyed and more than 250,000 people were forced into refugee camps in Indonesian West Timor after the East Timorese voted for independence in a United Nations-supervised ballot in August 1999. The UN blamed militia gangs directed by Indonesia's military for atrocities that included rape, torture and mass executions. The militia commander Eurico Guterres is the only person serving a jail term in Indonesia for involvement in the violence despite demands by the former UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, and human rights groups that the perpetrators be brought to justice. Sydney Morning Herald (1/14)

China defends its Myanmar UN veto

AFP, CEBU, PHILIPPINES

China's foreign minister yesterday defended the decision to veto a UN Security Council resolution on Myanmar that would have called on the regime to free all political prisoners. China and Russia blocked the US-sponsored measure in the council's first double veto for nearly 20 years, hampering Washington's efforts to press Myanmar's military junta over its human rights record."China's position is completely in accordance with the UN charter's spirit," Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in the Philippines, which is also being attended by Myanmar. "It is in the interest of international peace and regional stability. It is in the people's interest," Li said. "If you read the UN charter, you would know why China voted this way." He did not elaborate but China's UN ambassador said after the vote that the situation in Myanmar did "not represent a threat to international peace" -- one of the charter's standards for council action. "China believes there's no need for the UN Security Council to get involved," Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said. Myanmar has kept Nobel Peace Prize-winner and democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for much of the last two decades.Her opposition political party won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to govern. Many of her supporters remain behind bars.The US has accused the regime of torturing, raping and executing its own people, waging war on minorities and looking the other way while drug and human trafficking grows. Myanmar has repeatedly proved a thorny issue for members of ASEAN, who are meeting this weekend in a resort in Cebu. It has been slow to implement a pledged "road map" to democracy, and ASEAN countries have been debating the creation of their own charter -- which would allow them more sway over the internal affairs of member nations. Student activists were set to hold a candlelight vigil outside the ASEAN gala banquet yesterday evening in Cebu to call for democracy in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962. The UN estimate there are 1,100 political prisoners in Myanmar. Taipei Times (Taiwan) (1/14)

Rights group: Soldiers obligated to prevent abuse of Palestinians

By Gidon Alon and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent

The human rights group Yesh Din on Sunday lambasted Defense Minister Amir Peretz's claim that the Israel Defense Forces soldier who was on duty when a Jewish resident of Hebron allegedly hit and cursed a local Palestinian family did not have the authority to intervene in the attack. According to Michael Sfard, the group's legal adviser, IDF soldiers have all the authority needed to prevent abuse of Palestinians at the hand of settlers. Both international law and previous cabinet decisions support Sfard's position. "Soldiers can't claim that it is not within their authority to arrest Israeli citizens who are harming Palestinians or their property," Sfard wrote to Peretz. "Not only are they authorized to do so, they are obligated to do so." An amateur video recording showing Jewish resident, Yifat Alkobi, verbally and physically attacking members of the local Abu Aysha family was broadcast in the media last week. The defense minister called the attack "shameful and humiliating" but said the soldier on duty at the time did not have the authority to intervene in the event. Peretz will head a committee to conduct a root and branch investigation into Jewish and Palestinian relations in Hebron in the wake of the attack, the cabinet decided on Monday. The Palestinian family lives in a heavily defended house, designed to protect them from attacks by settlers. The film shows Alkobi preventing a female resident from leaving her home and swearing at her while an Israel Defense Forces soldier stands by doing nothing. Ha'aretz (Israel) (1/14)

U.S. cannot mobilize Arabs against Iran

Tehran Times Political Desk

TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said here on Sunday that calls for Iran-U.S. talks at this stage are meaningless and hypocritical. He made the statement in response to recent remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who had earlier declared Washington’s readiness to hold direct talks with Tehran provided that Iran halts uranium enrichment. “Iran will continue uranium enrichment in Natanz,” Hosseini told reporters at his weekly press briefing on Sunday. Hosseini said that Rice’s remarks were meant to create tension in the region, adding, “It seems that the U.S. intends to incite animosity between Iraq and neighboring countries instead of restoring peace and security to the country.” On the U.S. raid on the Iranian consulate in Irbil, Iraq, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the consulate was officially established in 1992 with the approval of both Iranian and Iraqi officials. U.S. troops stormed the Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on January 11 and arrested six people. According to the U.S. military, one of the Iranians was freed on Friday. Since the consulate’s activities were authorized by the Iraqi government, the raid was a violation of international and diplomatic regulations, Hosseini pointed out.Tehran will explore all diplomatic avenues to secure the release of the five detained Iranians but also expects Washington to prevent the repetition of such incidents and to compensate for the damage, he stated. According to Rice, U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the attack on the Iranian consulate, so it seems that the United States, unfortunately, has failed to learn lessons from the past, Hosseini said. “That is why the U.S. has ignored all analyses and decided to deploy 20,000 additional soldiers to Iraq.” Tehran Times (1/14)

Walesa joins row over priests who spied for secret police

Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor

Former Polish President Lech Walesa yesterday intervened in the escalating scandal in the country's Catholic Church over the forced resignation of Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus after revelations that he had been a spy for the communist secret police. As the church braced itself for more damaging disclosures, the hero of Solidarity joined the fray by blaming the crisis on former communist agents - threatened with the loss of their public sector jobs by the present administration - and government 'populists and demagogues'. Walesa accused the former agents of trying, in effect, to blackmail the state with the revelation. Faced by a major crisis of confidence, Poland's episcopate announced on Friday that all the country's bishops would be investigated. The Wielgus affair has also triggered fresh government initiatives to settle accounts with the communist era, including a proposal to slash the generous pensions enjoyed by retired secret police officers. The Polish church supported the pro-democracy Solidarity movement during the 1980s, inspired by Pope John Paul II. But priests had been particularly targeted by secret police recruiters and historians say that up to 10 per cent may have collaborated. The church is resigned to fresh revelations of collaboration as the country's media have been pursuing claims that other senior clergymen were once collaborators. A book by the Rev Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, to be published soon, is expected to name 39 priests, including three bishops, for collaboration with the secret police between 1944 and 1989. Some estimates have suggested that up to 15 per cent of the clergy may have been informers. Guardian (United Kingdom) (12/14)

Death in Toytown: the Saddam execution doll

BEND me, shape me, hang me. This is the Saddam Hussein execution doll, writes Maurice Chittenden.

Barbie and Ken were never like this, but a company in the United States has demonstrated its gallows humour by rushing a commemorative toy into production. The company, Herobuilders, has previously faced threats after producing a doll of Osama Bin Laden in a pink tutu. The Saddam doll was launched just as the deposed Iraqi dictator went to his gruesome end. It is for sale on the internet at £12.95. Emil Vicale, who runs the company in Connecticut, said: “We jumped the gun. The action figure comes complete with a ‘Dope on a Rope’ T-shirt and a fun noose.” The 12in figure is the latest in a series of political dolls. All have been good sellers apart from a Tony Blair action man in combat fatigues. The company was stuck with 600 of them on its shelves. Times of London (1/14)

10 former Nazi officers get life sentence in Italy

Argentina Star

A military court in northern Italy has sentenced 10 former Nazi SS officers to life in prison for the 1944 Marzabotto massacre, that left over 800 people dead. The court in La Spezia Saturday found the 10 German SS members guilty in absentia and the men, now more than 80 years old, will likely never have to serve their sentence. More than 800 people, including many women and children, were brutally murdered in the Emilia Romagna and nearby regions in autumn 1944 in retaliation for attacks by partisan rebels. It was one of the worst SS massacres on Italian soil during Germany's Third Reich under dictator Adolph Hitler, who had an alliance with Italy under dictator Benito Mussolini.Seven others charged in the case were found not guilty, the news agency Ansa reported. The court also ordered damages of 100 million euros ($129 million) to be paid to family survivors who have sued for compensation. The massacre was ordered by SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Walter Reder, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1951 in Bologna. He was released in 1985, and died in Vienna in 1991. Germany's former president Johannes Rau apologised in 2002 in Marzabotto for the war crimes. "When I think on these children and mothers, on the women and the entire families who were victims of this murder on that day, I am overcome with sadness and shame,' he had said. Argentina Star (1/14)

Calderon is mobilizing thousands of troops to crush the cartels — but will it work?

by David Taylor

It wasn't an image to inspire much confidence: Mexican soldiers entered a police station in Tijuana in January and took away the officers' weapons. The reason? To run ballistics tests to see whether police guns were used in any of the 300-plus drug-related murders in the city in 2006. Welcome to the latest chapter in Mexico's war on drug traffickers. One of the first major decisions that Felipe Calderon made after becoming the country's president on Dec. 1, 2006, was to hurl the full weight of the federal government against the drug cartels. The Tijuana police aren't crazy about losing their weapons. They went on strike for two days, saying they needed guns to do their jobs. When they did return to work, the unarmed, cruiser-bound cops were welcomed by taunts and death threats from people — presumed to be linked to the Tijuana drug cartel — who had hacked into their police radios. For the past week, soldiers with machine guns have joined them on the beat. Tijuana won't be the last city to see the army doing police work in Mexico. This week the army arrived in the resort city of Acapulco, another front in the drug war. CBC (Canada) (1/14)

Rarely Seen King Papers Go on Display

By ERRIN HAINES, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA -- The words of Martin Luther King Jr. are as inspiring today for Shirley Franklin as they were when she saw him deliver his "I Have A Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Monument in Washington in 1963. That helps make it especially important to Franklin, Atlanta's first female mayor, that his papers be returned to the city where he spent most of his life. An early draft of King's famous speech and more than 600 of his other personal documents are going on display for the first time in Atlanta on Monday, King's 78th birthday. "Atlanta is really embracing its own history by embracing Dr. King and his legacy," Franklin said. "People will see the papers and be able to relate to them and experience the movement through Dr. King's eyes and through his words." The exhibit is a glimpse at the collection of more than 10,000 King papers and books that Franklin helped privately acquire for $32 million last summer from Sotheby's auction house. The mayor pulled off the 11th-hour deal with the help of more than 50 corporate, government and private donors to give the papers to Atlanta's Morehouse College, where King graduated in 1948 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. The Atlanta History Center, where the exhibit will be open until May 13, is anticipating widespread interest of the papers. Until now, the collection has only been displayed at Sotheby's auction house in New York, both last summer and in 2003, in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, when King delivered his "Dream" speech. Sotheby's has called the collection "an unparalleled gathering of primary documents from Dr. King's most active years." "The question is often asked, 'Where is the dream coming from?'" said Elizabeth Miller, who curated the Sotheby's exhibit and helped with the smaller Atlanta exhibit. "This exhibit shows the genesis and the struggle of that internal journey." Los Angeles Times (1/14)

posted by Dave Carroll @ 1/14/2007 05:40:00 PM