Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

• Recruitment of child soldiers must be halted by Nepalese Maoist, demands rights group
• North Korea to face mass starvation without food program funds, UN claims
• White House pandemic health program receives backing from Dem congress
• Serbian war crime suspects urged to surrender by UN chief Ban
• Darfur rebels, Sudan government continue recruitment of child soldiers
• Civilians killed in crossfire between Haiti gangs, UN peacekeepers
• Afghan legislature's vote for Taliban amnesty decried by rights groups
• Global warming 'unequivocal' says leading climatology report
• Cuban airliner bomber walking free betrays contradiction of Bush terrorism policy
• Texas first U.S. state to require cervical cancer vaccination for middle school girls

Nepal: Maoists Should Release Child Soldiers

Recruitment Continues Despite Peace Agreement

(New York, February 1, 2007) – Nepal's Maoist armed forces should immediately begin releasing the thousands of child soldiers in their ranks and cease recruiting more children, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The new 72-page report, "Children in the Ranks: The Maoists' Use of Child Soldiers in Nepal," describes how the Maoists have continued using child soldiers, and even recruited more children, despite signing a Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the Nepali government on November 21. The peace agreement commits both sides to stop recruiting child soldiers. The report, which is based on interviews with former child soldiers and Nepali and international monitors, documents how children as young as 14 served on the front lines, received weapons training, and carried out crucial military and logistical support duties for the Maoists. "The Maoists should let the children go," said Sam Zarifi, Asia research director at Human Rights Watch. "The peace agreement explicitly forbids the use of child soldiers, and complying with this will be a key test of the Maoists' good faith to uphold the accord." Nepali and international observers believe that up to 4,500 Maoist soldiers were under 18 when they were recruited to fight in a decade-long civil war that has claimed more than 13,000 lives. Human Rights Watch (2/3)

N. Korean Food Program Needs Funds to Continue to 2009, UN Says

By Emma O'Brien, Bloomberg

The United Nations program to feed about a quarter of North Korea's 24 million people needs funds to operate until 2009, after countries such as the U.S. ended or reduced their support, the head of the World Food Program said. ``We only have 16 percent of the funds needed to do our work in North Korea over the next two years,'' James T. Morris said late yesterday in Wellington, New Zealand. ``The U.S. used to be our largest donor in North Korea, but we haven't received any money from them for the past 8 to 9 months.'' More than 1 million people died in North Korea during the 1990s as a result of famine caused by drought, floods and economic mismanagement. North Korea's international isolation deepened last October when the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions after the communist country tested its first nuclear bomb. The North Korea government said in 2005 it no longer needed the UN program that aimed to feed about 6.5 million people because it succeeded in harvesting enough grain. Floods last year reduced grain production by an estimated 90,000 metric tons, almost one-fifth of the minimum harvest needed to feed the population, the WFP said at the time. ``I am very concerned about the situation in North Korea,'' Morris said, as the country's crop deficit is forecast to be 1 million tons this year. ``We are not able to do our job unless there is additional support to provide food.'' Bloomberg (2/3)

Bush Gets Aid of Democrats in Fighting Pandemics

By CELIA W. DUGGER

At a time of intensifying conflict between President Bush and Democrats in Congress over the Iraq war, the Democratic-led House acted this week to rescue another of Mr. Bush’s international priorities: the global fight against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, diseases that kill millions of Africans each year. That Democrats stepped in to champion Mr. Bush’s signature global health undertakings suggests the deepening of political support for foreign aid programs, especially those that quickly demonstrate they can save hundreds of thousands of lives. It also bucks a historical pattern of declining support for foreign assistance when control of Congress and the White House is divided between Democrats and Republicans.“We’re in a different world now,” said Representative Nita M. Lowey, Democrat of New York, who heads the appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign aid. “This is the first time since Sept. 11 we’ve had a power split in Washington, and there’s a growing recognition among the public and policy makers that foreign assistance is critical to stability around the world.” The administration’s drive for a rapid strengthening of programs to prevent and treat AIDS and malaria had been caught in limbo. The departing Republican-led Congress had failed to pass spending bills to finance most federal agencies this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, including those that administer foreign aid. But the new Democratic leadership agreed this week to give the administration $4.5 billion this year to combat the big three global pandemics, $500 million more than the president himself had requested and over $1 billion more than if the undertakings had been required to continue at the previous year’s spending levels. New York Times (2/3)

U.N. chief urges Mladic, Karadzic to surrender

By Alexandra Hudson, Reuters

THE HAGUE- New U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged Bosnian Serb genocide suspects Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic to surrender to the U.N. war crimes tribunal as the court comes under pressure to wrap up its work by 2010. The U.N. secretary-general, visiting the international courts in The Hague on Thursday, said the fugitives, indicted for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, should surrender in their own interests and that of international peace and security. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) must complete all trials by 2008, and any appeals by 2010, but it is without its two top suspects. It has not yet been decided whether the court's mandate should be extended if former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic and his army commander Mladic, believed to be hiding in Serbia, are eventually captured, or whether they should be tried elsewhere. A Bosnian newspaper, citing an intelligence sources, said on Thursday Karadzic was hiding in Russia. Russian authorities said they had not issued entry documents to Karadzic.Prosecutors have stressed Belgrade has failed to cooperate fully with the court. "I know that there is some sense of frustration for not being able to complete what they are mandated to do because of non-cooperation and non-availability of those people indicted," Ban told journalists at the court. The ICTY, set up by the U.N. Security Council in 1993, is coming under increasing scrutiny because of its high running costs, and prosecutors fear international pressure on Serbia to hand over Mladic and Karadzic is waning. Reuters (2/3)

SUDAN: Conscription of children, sexual abuse unabated in Darfur - UN envoy

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KHARTOUM, 2 Feb 2007 (IRIN) - Boys in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region are increasingly at risk of being recruited into armed groups, while sexual violence against girls is unabated, despite growing official awareness, a top United Nations envoy said on Thursday. Following visits to Darfur and the South Sudanese capital of Juba and meetings with top Sudanese government representatives, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, told reporters in Khartoum that while Sudanese officials have made promises to reduce threats to children, little progress has been seen on the ground. "There is recognition in Sudan at the official level of the problems of child recruitment and sexual violence," Coomaraswamy said. "[Sudan] has agreed to frameworks and they have agreed to commitments. However, we are concerned that there's not enough implementation and that the results are not showing on the ground." Children are being increasingly recruited by both rebel factions and the Sudanese army, she said. "Independent monitors have pointed out to us through verified data that child recruitment is increasing in Darfur and that all parties to the conflict engage in child recruitment," Coomaraswamy said. The UN envoy said she was pleased to have secured agreements by rebels and the government to allow UN audits of military encampments to ensure no children are present. Coomaraswamy said that child recruitment in southern Sudan was on the wane, following the signing in 2005 of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and former rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to end 21 years of war. IRIN News (2/3)

Civilians caught in crossfire during Port-au-Prince raids

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

The head of the UN mission to Haiti has publicly acknowledged international peacekeepers carrying out anti-kidnapping raids into the poorest parts of the city have to do more to avoid civilian casualties. His comments come after a series of raids in the capital, Port-au-Prince, in which witnesses said a number of innocent bystanders were either killed or wounded by peacekeepers. "We have to improve, we have to be all the time learning from this," said Ambassador Edmond Mulet, head of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (Minustah). "We have learned lessons every time we have [had] these actions." Mr. Mulet made his comments to The Independent following a presentation in Washington in which the envoy outlined some of the multitude of problems facing Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere and where 70 per cent of the population survive on less than $2 a day. The envoy denied reports that UN peacekeepers had fired from helicopters, hindered Red Cross volunteers or used "heavy munitions" in the raids on December 22, December 28 and January 5. But during his presentation this week at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) he admitted: "There has been collateral damage. Definitely." It is unclear how many people were killed in the December 22 raid in the densely-populated slum areas of Cite Soleil when several hundred Brazilian UN soldiers launched a pre-dawn raid aimed at capturing known gang leaders. Mr. Mulet said around 12 or 13 people were killed, of which 10 were known gang members; other unconfirmed reports have put the death toll higher. A number of people were also injured. Independent (United Kingdom) (2/3)

Afghan amnesty vote angers UN

Declan Walsh

Islamabad- The Afghan parliament has approved an amnesty for warlords and others accused of war crimes, possibly including the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar. The vote drew sharp criticism from human rights groups, the United Nations and some parliamentarians who insist that the perpetrators of rape, murder and other atrocities must be brought to justice. "This is not a law, this is about more power for the mujahideen. Millions of Afghans will be unhappy," said Shukria Barakzai, a parliamentarian who stormed out of the Wolesi Jirga, or lower house, in protest. The resolution called for national reconciliation and criticised human rights reports that "name and shame" alleged war criminals. But analysts said it does not have the force of law, which would require the consent of the upper house and President Hamid Karzai. Syed Mustafa Kazmi, who voted in favour, said the vote would foster unity. But the UN said: "No one has the right to forgive those responsible for human rights violations, other than the victims." Guardian (United Kingdom) (2/3)

Science Panel Calls Global Warming ‘Unequivocal’

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL and ANDREW C. REVKIN

PARIS, Feb. 2 — In a grim and powerful assessment of the future of the planet, the leading international network of climate scientists has concluded for the first time that global warming is “unequivocal” and that human activity is the main driver, “very likely” causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950. They said the world was in for centuries of climbing temperatures, rising seas and shifting weather patterns — unavoidable results of the buildup of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. But their report, released here on Friday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said warming and its harmful consequences could be substantially blunted by prompt action. While the report provided scant new evidence of a climate apocalypse now, and while it expressly avoided recommending courses of action, officials from the United Nations agencies that created the panel in 1988 said it spoke of the urgent need to limit looming and momentous risks. “In our daily lives we all respond urgently to dangers that are much less likely than climate change to affect the future of our children,” said Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, which administers the panel along with the World Meteorological Organization. “Feb. 2 will be remembered as the date when uncertainty was removed as to whether humans had anything to do with climate change on this planet,” he went on. “The evidence is on the table.” New York Times (2/3)

Bomb Resonates With Diplomats, Not With the Bomber

By SIMON ROMERO

THERE are not many places where a man convicted in the bombing of a commercial airliner that killed 73 people can be found roaming the streets. This city, home to Freddy Lugo, is one of them. Mr. Lugo, like an uneasy memory from the cold war, is tucked away here, obscure to most of his countrymen but not completely forgotten. He was one of two men sentenced to 20 years in prison for placing explosives on a DC-8 jetliner flown by Cubana Airlines in 1976. The plane blew up in the sky above Barbados, killing everyone on board, including two dozen members of Cuba’s national fencing team and a 9-year-old Guyanese girl. That explosion, considered the first act of midair terrorism in the Americas, poisons relations between Havana and Washington to this day. Mr. Lugo, 65, who was released in 1993 after 17 years in prison, has tried to put the past behind him. “I have a tranquil life now,” he said in a rare 90-minute interview, his eyes darting around him, at a bakery cafe near his home. “I have a clean conscience.” But the past has a way of catching up with him. There is the occasional journalist to contend with, and glimmers of recognition from among the many Cubans who live here. As many Americans would recognize Mohamed Atta if he were alive and walking the streets of New York, to Venezuelans, Mr. Lugo’s face is haunting. A new book on the Cubana bombing, called “Terrorist of the Bush Family,” by two Venezuelan journalists, Alexis Rosas and Ernesto Villegas, has not helped either. The book has become a best seller since its release here last November. It has focused new attention on the bombing and the request by Venezuela for Washington to extradite the Cuban exile accused of masterminding the bombing, Luis Posada Carriles, to face terrorism charges here. So far the Bush administration has refused, and Mr. Posada Carriles, 78, a naturalized Venezuelan citizen who sneaked into the United States in 2005, currently sits in a jail in southern New Mexico on immigration charges. New York Times (2/3)

Texas Is First to Require Cancer Shots for Schoolgirls

By RALPH BLUMENTHAL

HOUSTON — Texas on Friday became the first state to require all 11- and 12-year-old girls entering the sixth grade to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. Averting a potentially divisive debate in the Legislature, Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, signed an executive order mandating shots of the Merck vaccine Gardasil as protection against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, starting in September 2008. Mr. Perry’s action, praised by health advocates, caught many by surprise in a largely conservative state where sexual politics is often a battleground. “I had no idea; I was absolutely caught off guard,” said Representative Jessica Farrar, Democrat of Houston, who sponsored a bill to require the vaccinations starting this September. “Normally, the governor does not take things like this upon himself, although I’m glad he did.” Under the order, girls and women from 9 to 21 eligible for public assistance could get free shots immediately. The governor’s office said parents could opt out of the school program “for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs.” “Requiring young girls to get vaccinated before they come into contact with HPV is responsible health and fiscal policy that has the potential to significantly reduce cases of cervical cancer and mitigate future medical costs,” said Mr. Perry, who was re-elected to his second full term last November. HPV, affecting 20 million people nationally, including one in four 15-to-24-year-olds, is the nation’s most common sexually transmitted disease. Texas has the second-highest number of women with cervical cancer, with nearly 400 deaths last year, the governor’s statement noted. New York Times (2/3)