K E R A L A M O N I T O R . C O M N E W S B U R E A U
India Kuwait Extradition Treaty Ratified
Arab World Should Pursue Democratization, U.N. Report Says
Dec 11: Arab leaders should embrace democracy in order to fight poverty and improve education and health in their countries, according to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals Report for the Arab Region, released yesterday. The study, which examined the eight Millennium Development Goals as they relate to the Arab world, said the region had made little or no progress toward halving poverty and hunger by 2015, and that it was far from meeting the goal of primary education for all children. While there had been improvements in some countries toward gender equality, the report added, many countries were seriously lagging in that respect. More
Some Afghan Women Say Rights Worse Now Than Under Taliban
Dec 11: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, a women's rights organization that remained active during the Taliban's rule in the country, issued a statement yesterday saying the current regime has surpassed its predecessors in violating human and women's rights. More
World Bank Urged To Stop Financing Oil, Coal Projects
Dec 11: Investments in oil, mining and gas projects by the World Bank and other international financial institutions are having irreversible social and environmental impacts in developing countries, a report released today by Friends of the Earth International says. More
UNICEF Outlines Lack Of Education For Girls Worldwide
Geneva Dec 11: As more than 10,000 delegates at the World Summit on the Information Society today were pondering how to bring the wealth and power of technology to poor countries, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy took the podium to call attention to a more fundamental and enduring problem: the lack of equal education for girls. More
Britain Introduces Spam Law to control unsolicited mail
UN News
Climate Change To Increase Incidence Of Diseases, WHO Warns
Dec 11: Climate change is likely to increase the incidence of diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and malnutrition around the world, the World Health Organization says in a new study released today during the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Milan.
According to Climate Change and Human Health - Risks and Responses, which presents the most recent available scientific data on the issue, climate change is responsible for 2.4 percent of all cases of diarrhea worldwide and for 2 percent of all cases of malaria. In 2000 alone it was responsible for 150,000 deaths overall (WHO release, Dec. 11).
Moreover, the study says, if global temperatures increase by up to 3 degrees Celsius, several hundred million more people will be exposed to malaria yearly.
Scientists also estimate that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow, by 2030 the risk of diarrhea will be up to 10 percent higher than currently.
In addition, the study says that India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Vietnam face a "significant increase" of malnutrition cases because the predictable monsoons those countries depend on to grow rice are imperiled because of constant climate change (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo! News, Dec. 11).
The report was co-authored by the U.N. Environment Program, the World Meteorological Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (WHO release).
Eight Countries Win Grants For Vaccination Programs
Dec 11: The Board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization has approved $15 million in performance-based grants for Azerbaijan, Ghana, Mali, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Tajikistan for having increased immunization rates over the past three years, the organization announced today.
Under the program, countries apply for GAVI grants by submitting long-term strategies to vaccinate more children against preventable diseases. The grants are good for three years of investments in the countries' immunization programs, and if the countries show they have successfully reached more children, they receive grants for a fourth year.
Ten other countries involved in the program - Armenia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Haiti, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique and Sao Tome - failed to qualify for an additional year of funding.
"Those countries that do not qualify for the performance-based payments in 2004 have already received technical and strategic support so that the problems in their systems can be fixed so that more children will have access to vaccines," GAVI Executive Secretary Tore Godal said.
The GAVI was launched in 2000 and has as partners the World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the vaccine industry, public health institutions, and nongovernmental organizations (GAVI release, Dec. 11).
UNICEF Outlines Lack Of Education For Girls Worldwide
Geneva Dec 11: As more than 10,000 delegates at the World Summit on the Information Society today were pondering how to bring the wealth and power of technology to poor countries, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy took the podium to call attention to a more fundamental and enduring problem: the lack of equal education for girls.
"The Internet certainly has the potential to change people's lives, but it won't change their lives if they can't read," Bellamy told reporters. "Let me share with you what I consider to be an astounding fact in 2003: there are still more than 120 million kids out of school. Most of them are girls."
The U.N. agency today released its flagship report, State of the World's Children 2004, with an emphasis on the issue of girls' education. An estimated 9 million more girls than boys are excluded from the world's classrooms, a disparity that is linked to high rates of child mortality and HIV/AIDS. The report also suggests that uneducated girls are at higher risk of poverty and exploitation.Conversely, Bellamy said, educated girls are better prepared to keep - or lead - themselves and their children out of poverty.
"An educated girl grows up to become a woman who is better able to care for herself, her family, her community," Bellamy said. "There is simply no other investment that pays as many dividends as education, especially girls' education."
Reasons for keeping girls out of school range from economic - poor families often cannot pay school fees or afford to lose the income brought in by a working child - to cultural. Abid Ali, a 14-year-old Boy Scout from Pakistan, told reporters he had gone from door to door in his neighborhood telling people about the importance of educating girls only to find that a primary school teacher nearby was not sending his 10-year-old daughter to school.
Shamim Cairo Atwine, 15, said the main barrier to her schooling in Kampala, Uganda, was money. "Life is not a smooth road always. There must be some problems here and there," she said. "Mostly the problem is funds. Sometimes you do not always have the money for materials, but if you just wait something will come when the time is ripe."
A year ago UNICEF launched the "25 by 2005" project, targeting the 25 countries with the greatest gender gap in education as part of an effort to achieve gender parity by 2005, one of the Millennium Development Goals. Some of the "25 by 2005" programs have seen extraordinary progress. In Burkina Faso, according to UNICEF country representative Joan French, girls' enrollment in primary school leaped 48 percent when the government eliminated school fees and told teachers not to turn any child away from the classroom for any reason.
The agency's Afghanistan representative, Sharad Sapra, mentioned that country's spring 2002 back-to-school drive as a model for what UNICEF can achieve. The 60-day campaign to distribute textbooks and set up temporary classrooms drew 3 million children on the first day of school, double the number expected. Today, 4 million Afghan children are in school, 1 million of them girls. Afghanistan still faces serious difficulties in obtaining education for all girls, Sapra said - there have been two dozen attacks or threats against schools for educating girls, and another 1 million girls remain out of school today.
Bellamy warned that success or failure in achieving classroom gender parity by 2005 could be a bellwether for the future. "As the first Millennium Development Goal to come due, it's a test of our ability to meet these goals," she said."We don't need a revolution. We just need to take responsibility," she said.
By Traci Hukill
U.N. WireSome Afghan Women Say Rights Worse Now Than Under Taliban
Dec 11: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, a women's rights organization that remained active during the Taliban's rule in the country, issued a statement yesterday saying the current regime has surpassed its predecessors in violating human and women's rights.
"After the Taliban's demolition (two years ago), their fascist brothers were installed into power for the second time and these religious fascist jihadis act in a more bloody and heinous way than their Taliban brethren," the statement said. RAWA distributed copies outside U.N. offices in Islamabad, Pakistan, to mark Human Rights Day.
RAWA says numerous rapes, forced marriages and incidents of self-immolation and suicides by women have occurred under the transitional government, which is dominated by the former anti-Taliban Northern Alliance forces. RAWA accused regional warlords and leaders such as Abdul Rashid Dostum, Atta Mohammad and Ismail Khan of perpetrating gross abuses against women.
The Taliban banned women from classrooms and the workplace and forced them to wear burqas, all-covering cloaks, during rarely permitted appearances in public (Agence France-Presse, Dec. 10).
Conference Examines Obstetric Fistula In Bangladesh
Dec 11: More than 400,000 women suffer from obstetric fistula in Bangladesh, according to a study released Tuesday at the South Asia Conference for the Prevention and Treatment of Obstetric Fistula in Dhaka.
The three-day meeting, organized by the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), is the first regional conference on fistula in South Asia (Xinhua News Agency, Dec. 10).
In cooperation with UNFPA, the government of Bangladesh plans to set up a National Fistula Center at Dhaka Medical College Hospital to help address the health problem, which medical experts said was aggravated by poverty, women's poor status in society and lack of education, preventing them from getting services to prevent or cure the condition. The disease renders mothers incapable of controlling their bladders or bowels after difficult childbirth (Dhaka Independent, Dec. 10).
UNFPA has recently brought experts from Australia and Ethiopia to Bangladesh to train doctors and nurses in treating fistula (Xinhua).
World Bank Urged To Stop Financing Oil, Coal Projects
Dec 11: Investments in oil, mining and gas projects by the World Bank and other international financial institutions are having irreversible social and environmental impacts in developing countries, a report released today by Friends of the Earth International says.
The report, Hands Off: Why International Financial Institutions Should Stop Drilling, Piping and Mining, analyzes 11 case studies describing the effects of large-scale mining projects funded by international financial institutions. It was released at the opening of a three-day meeting of the World Bank's independent Extractive Industries Review, taking place in Lisbon.
According to Janneke Bruil of Friends of the Earth International, "It is very significant that the harmful and dangerous effects of investments in oil, mining and gas are acknowledged by the World Bank, whose investments are supposed to alleviate poverty."
Among the recommendations given by the organization and other participants in the review is that the bank must stop financing coal and oil projects in developing countries, as well as protect the human rights of the local population, who should consent to any project prior to its beginning.
The report will be officially presented to World Bank President James Wolfensohn at the end of this month. The bank will decide whether to follow recommendations from the EIR in March (Friends of the Earth International release, Dec. 11).
In related news, the World Bank announced Tuesday its formal endorsement of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, launched in September 2002 by British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
The initiative would create a transparent process in which institutions and civil society would have access to information regarding the amount and destination of revenues from oil, gas and mining companies to the countries.
"We believe this step will both underscore and expand the leadership role that the Bank Group has had in fostering transparency, ensuring accountability, and contributing to sustainable development impact," said Rashad Kaldany, director of the World Bank's Oil, Gas, Mining, and Chemicals Department (World Bank release, Dec. 9).
2003 Bill For Climate-Change Disasters Put At $60 Billion
Dec 11: Natural disasters caused by climate change have cost the world more than $60 billion this year, up from about $55 billion last year, says a report released yesterday by the U.N. Environment Program's Finance Initiative during the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Milan.
According to the report, compiled by insurance firm Munich Re, Europe's extreme summer heat wave was the biggest climate event of the year, costing more than $10 billion in agricultural losses and killing around 20,000 people.
The floods in the Huai and Yangtze Rivers in China between July and September were the second most costly events, with losses estimated at around $8 billion. Tornados in the United States in April and May accounted for the biggest insured losses - over $3 billion.
"We will have to get used to the fact that extreme summers, like the one we had in Europe this year, are to be expected more frequently in the future and that they will become more or less the norm by the middle of the century," said Thomas Loster, head of the UNEP Finance Initiative's climate change working group and Munich Re's head of weather/climate risks research.
UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer added that, "Climate change is not a prognosis, it is a reality that is, and will increasingly bring human suffering and economic hardship."
Toepfer welcomed the $400 million in pledges made in Milan to help developing nations cope with the impact of climate change (UNEP release, Dec. 10).
Despite the numbers presented in the study, some officials gathered in Milan said they still doubt the impact of global warming, BBC Online reports today.
"I'm becoming more and more convinced ... that global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people and the world," U.S. Senator and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works James Inhofe told a conference briefing.
According to BBC Online, Inhofe's view is shared by many in the U.S. Congress (BBC Online, Dec. 11).
Yesterday, the Inuit people of Canada and Alaska announced in Milan that they are launching a human rights case against the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, saying that the country is violating the people's human rights by not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and refusing to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Inuit, which means "people," is the generic name given to indigenous people of the Arctic. Its populations include Canadian Inuit, Alaska's Inupiat and Yupik people and the Russian Yupik.
"We are already bearing the brunt of climate change - without our snow and ice our way of life goes," said Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the chairwoman of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, which represents 155,000 people. "We have lived in harmony with our surroundings for millennia, but that is being taken away from us."
Under the campaign, the Inuit people are asking the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to rule against the U.S. government, saying it is violating their human rights. Although the commission has no power to enforce any action, the campaigners believe the case will embarrass the U.S. government and educate the U.S. public.
"Most people have lost contact with the natural world," said Watt-Cloutier. "They even think global warming has benefits, like wearing a T-shirt in November, but we know the planet is melting and with it our vibrant culture, our way of life. We are an endangered species, too" (Paul Brown, London Guardian, Dec. 11).
Arab World Should Pursue Democratization, U.N. Report Says
Dec 11: Arab leaders should embrace democracy in order to fight poverty and improve education and health in their countries, according to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals Report for the Arab Region, released yesterday.
The study, which examined the eight Millennium Development Goals as they relate to the Arab world, said the region had made little or no progress toward halving poverty and hunger by 2015, and that it was far from meeting the goal of primary education for all children. While there had been improvements in some countries toward gender equality, the report added, many countries were seriously lagging in that respect.
To achieve the targets, the report advised "national and regional stability, democratization and decentralization, and peace and security." It also said governments should address management of resources, particularly water, gaps between rural and urban development and the lack of an infrastructure to combat HIV/AIDS.
"Although it might be off track today, the [Arab] region can recover the lost ground by pursuing the right initiatives - national, regional and international, " a summary of the document said (Al-Jazeera.net, Dec. 11).
Civil Society Groups Issue Their Own Declaration At Info Summit
Geneva Dec 11: Civil society groups at the World Summit on the Information Society today signaled their intent to shape debate on the global digital divide by releasing their own declaration a day before the official version, forged by nearly 200 country representatives over the course of two years, is to be signed.
The civil society declaration, "Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs," emphasizes social justice and human rights. It contains specific articles on poverty eradication, gender justice, freedom of expression, indigenous people's rights, workers' rights, cultural diversity and the need to safeguard certain knowledge in the public domain.
"At the heart of our vision of information and communication societies is the human being," the declaration begins. "The dignity and rights of all peoples and each person must be promoted, respected, protected and affirmed. Redressing the inexcusable gulf between levels of development and between opulence and extreme poverty must therefore be our prime concern."
Some conference attendees view the declaration as an answer to the official summit Declaration of Principles and a vindication of concerns that went ignored in the process of creating the official document. Yesterday the Civil Society Secretariat released a statement saying nongovernmental organization representatives were "repeatedly excluded by governments from working groups and plenaries leading to their declaration, 'Building the Information Society.'"
Earlier today, Union Network International General Secretary Philip Jennings expressed disappointment with the official version. "We think this summit has missed a great opportunity," he said. "There is only a derisory reference to workers' rights."
Among its many provisions, the civil society declaration specifically provides for the right for online workers to form and join trade unions. It also calls for a revision of patent laws. "Drugs that could save millions of lives are denied to disease sufferers because pharmaceutical companies that hold the patents resist making them available to those countries that cannot pay high prices," the declaration says. "Copyright periods have been extended again and again, making them practically indefinite and defeating their original purpose."
Neither document, the official summit declaration nor the civil society version, is legally binding, but such international declarations - the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an example - serve as benchmarks for governmental comportment and are often invoked in grievances.
Asked if the civil society declaration was competing with the official document, spokeswoman Sally Burch responded, "This is what we wanted to say all along, but which was not heard."
By Traci Hukill
U.N. WireInformation Summit Stirs Debate Over Democracy, Press Freedom
Geneva Dec 11: While the inclusiveness of the Internet's global reach has lent a festival-like flavor to the World Summit on the Information Society, the seriousness of the underlying issues being addressed here also has made the summit a crucible for debate.
One panel on democracy and information and communications technologies erupted into debate yesterday over the selection of Tunisia as the site for the second phase of the two-part summit in November 2005. Tunisian human-rights activists decried the decision, charging that the nation regularly controls citizens' Internet use and freedom of expression.That view is echoed on the streets of Geneva, where spray-painted messages claim that Tunisia practices torture of its people.
The panel - moderated by European Parliament member Marco Cappato, a member of the Italian Radical Party - in many ways reflected broader summit discussion about the procedures at the rather formalistic U.N. event. Attendees were subjected to arduous pre-registration procedures weeks in advance and face heavy security at all times, with machine-gun bearing soldiers patrolling the area. Cappato criticized the Tunisian government but said he does not oppose its selection, instead seeing the summit as an opportunity to open the society.
Nitin Desai, a special adviser to the U.N. secretary general on the summit, said yesterday, "We are happy this summit is not just a summit about technology." It is a summit about democracy and freedom of expression, he said.
Also yesterday, the International Federation of Journalists, which represents 500,000-plus journalists in more than 100 countries, repeated calls for a debate about media globalization. "We fear that this much-trumpeted summit could end up with a commitment to existing international policy and apart from a few banalities, not much else," a federation statement said.
In particular, the federation said, the summit failed to address directly the problem of media concentration, or to defend public broadcasting and the need for enhanced protections of authors' rights.
The federation expressed satisfaction with the inclusion by negotiators of language in summit documents affirming adherence to provisions in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, through any medium.A provision in the summit declaration reaffirms another portion of that declaration. It says everyone should be able to pursue the free and full development of their personalities, subject only to limitations determined by law. The provision also states that those rights and freedoms may not be exercised contrary to U.N. principles.
Some government representatives of more closed societies, such as China, had opposed the imposition of U.N. rules for media freedom, sources said. A declaration provision calls for media freedom but says it must be in conformity with national laws.
There was some concern that the language would allow controlling governments to continue their practice, but a negotiator pointed out that nothing in the declaration is legally binding, so national laws remain unaffected anyway.By William New
U.N. WireInformation Summit Highlights Progress In Internet's Evolution
Geneva Dec 11: While the World Summit on the Information Society addresses lofty political issues, it also calls attention to the technical side of the Internet. The summit here this week is a showcase for how the Internet has progressed, with leading technology companies from around the world in force in the exhibition halls and on panels.
The Universal Postal Union, a specialized U.N. agency based in Berne, Switzerland, highlighted an international standard for an electronic postmark. The service applies a seal with time and date to an electronic document. It validates digital signatures and stores and archives data needed to support a potential court challenge, the union said.
The electronic postmark is already in use in Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Portugal and the United States.
The summit is also a place for discussion about the technical aspects of technology. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the Geneva-based body where the World Wide Web was born, has played a prominent role in the side events.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the Web while a researcher at CERN in 1990, held a ceremony with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday. The two sent e-mail to schoolchildren in 80 countries from the original computer on which Berners-Lee wrote the Web software.
"At that time, no one - not even Tim - could have dreamt that within a few years the Internet would connect millions of people all over the world in the blink of an eye," the e-mail message said. Countries on an electronic map lit up quickly as the message was received.
"This event should encourage all of us to remain connected and stay in touch with each other," Annan said as the message was sent.
Berners-Lee stressed the importance of the continuance of organizations such as CERN, which encourage innovative thinking. "I just had to put a few things together" to make the Web, he said.
Annan also joined Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to send a "message to the world," an invitation to the next International Telecommunication Union Africa regional meeting to be held in Egypt in May.
A conference at CERN Tuesday on the role of science in the information society tackled policy issues related to the scientific community. "Technology itself does not ensure the successful use and application of digital data," said Santiago Borrero, secretary-general of the Pan American Institute for Geography and History. "Information technology, infrastructure and connectivity do not necessarily equate to information access and a real bridging of the digital divide."
He said there is consensus that education is necessary for development. Panelists said the exchange and use of scientific data could be a model for the rest of society, and they see as essential "open source" software whose code can be viewed and altered.
The summit declaration recognizes that "science has a central role in the development of the information society," and the action plan promotes high-speed Internet connections for all universities and research institutions.
By William New
U.N. WireItaly To Return Ancient Ethiopian Obelisk Outside FAO
Dec 11: After decades of negotiations, Italy plans to return a 1,700-year-old obelisk to the ancient Ethiopian city of Aksum, where it was seized by Fascist leader Benito Mussolini in 1937, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The obelisk had been sitting outside what is now the Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome since that time, as Italy refused to give up the treasure despite a 1947 treaty with the United Nations that mandated its return.
Only after a stepped-up lobbying campaign by the Ethiopians, following a lightning strike last year that damaged a small section of the obelisk, did the Italian government begin to budge on the issue.
Even today, some Italian politicians have said the obelisk should remain in Italy. Vittorio Sgarbi, a former undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture, said his country should hold onto the relic because Italy "had colonized Ethiopia during the years of the object's transfer, and so this really can't be considered a theft."
According to the New York Times, Italy's decision could reflect growing concern about whether countries should be permitted to keep works of art seized from other countries during war time.
"This may be a starting point, really, for returning the cultural heritages of many countries," said Mengistu Hulluka, the Ethiopian ambassador to Italy. "What has been the thinking in the past is no longer a reflection of the present."
The obelisk, which is currently being dismantled, could be in Aksum as early as this spring, the Times said (Frank Bruni, New York Times, Dec. 9).U.N. Seeks Donations For North Korea Food Aid
Dec 11: Some 2.2 million North Koreans, or 10 percent of the population, will no longer receive food rations provided by the World Food Program, which said today it has enough funding to distribute just 300,000 tons of food in the country, or 62 percent of the amount the program has requested from donors.
The 300,000 tons of food equals a ration of 300 grams of cereal per person each day and is less than half of a survival ration (James Brooke, New York Times, Dec. 11).
The WFP urged the international community to support a $171 million emergency program aimed at feeding 6.5 million of the most vulnerable people in the country.
"It is very important to have sufficient commitments promptly to prevent an erosion of the hard-won improvements in nutritional standards of recent years," said Rick Corsino, the program's director for North Korea. "Reduced donations have forced us to suspend food distributions to millions of malnourished women and children for long periods over the past two years. That trend must be reversed" (WFP release, Dec. 11).
Unless new food aid arrives, the WFP will further cut rations during winter, depriving a total of 3.5 million people of food.
According to a survey conducted last year by the WFP and UNICEF, about 41 percent of North Korean children under 7 suffer from severe malnutrition, which stunts their growth (Brooke, New York Times).
The Food and Agriculture Organization also warned today that "the consequences of not funding the FAO appeal for agricultural projects amounting to $3.5 million could be disastrous for around 1.8 million people living in rural areas" in North Korea.
According to the organization, funds are urgently needed to increase crop and vegetable production and reduce post-harvest losses.
"Increasing agricultural production could partly reduce the needs for food aid," said Michael Stapleton, the organization's program director for North Korea (FAO release, Dec. 11).
Asylum Seekers In Nauru Sew Lips In Protest Of Treatment
Dec 11: A Pakistani and eight Afghan asylum seekers detained in a camp on the Pacific island nation of Nauru, where asylum seekers are screened for possible entry into Australia, have staged a hunger strike, and four have sewn their lips together in protest of the conditions at the camp, according to a representative of Rural Australians for Refugees (Peter O'Connor, Associated Press, Dec. 10).
A spokesman from Australia's Immigration Department said the protest would not influence the government's actions. "The fact is that they are not refugees, but failed asylum seekers who could return to Afghanistan as 420 of their countrymen and women have already done. Only last week, 19 returned home voluntarily" (Janelle Miles, Australian Associated Press, Dec. 10).
Meanwhile, Australia's new opposition leader, Mark Latham, demanded the release of 188 children of asylum seekers in detention centers. AP reports that Latham said on Australian radio that the children should be allowed to live with at least one parent under supervision, but not in the camps, which are ringed by razor wire and electric fences.
The United Nations and Amnesty International have condemned such camps, where asylum seekers who attempt to come to Australia by boat are held while their applications are considered. Rioting, suicides and self-mutilation have occurred at these camps (O'Connor, AP). Asylum seekers in Australia have in the past sewn their lips in protest, refusing food (U.N. Wire, June 6, 2002).
Bosnian Serb Receives 17 Years For Srebrenica Massacre Role
Dec 11: The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia yesterday sentenced Colonel Dragan Obrenovic to 17 years for his role as commander of one of the two brigades that carried out the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, considered the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.
Obrenovic had pleaded guilty in May to crimes against humanity for his part in the killings of more than 7,000 Muslims, and agreed to cooperate with the tribunal, which is based in The Hague, in return for prosecutors dismissing a genocide charge against him (Agence France-Presse, Dec. 11).
Yesterday, presiding judge Liu Daqun of China said Obrenovic's cooperation and remorse helped to reduce his sentence, which was 10 years shorter than the tribunal imposed last week against a lower-ranking officer.
Liu also said that Obrenovic, who spent most of his days on the battlefield, "did not conceive the murder operation." The judge added, however, that Obrenovic bears responsibility for not stopping the killings and for not punishing his men afterward, and that the sentence "should not be interpreted as a dismissal of the gravity" of what happened in Srebrenica (Toby Sterling, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Dec. 11).
The New York Times reported last month that pressure from the U.N. Security Council and the United States had led the court to speed up trials and offer lighter sentences in exchange for plea bargains (U.N. Wire, Nov. 18).
Activists Receive U.N. Human Rights Awards
United Nations Dec 11: General Assembly President Julian Hunte presented awards yesterday to five human rights activists, as well as a posthumous award to Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N. special representative for Iraq who was killed with 21 other U.N. staff members in Baghdad in August.
The U.N. Human Rights Prize was established in 1966 with the first awards handed out in 1968. The prize is given every five years on Dec. 10, which is Human Rights Day.
The awardees are Enriqueta Estela Barnes de Carlotto, president of the Association of Plaza de Mayo Grandmothers of Argentina, which attempts to find children missing since the military junta of the 1970s; Deng Pufang, founder and director of the China Disabled Persons' Federation; Shulamith Koenig, director of the Peoples' Movement for Human Rights Education in the United States; Dr. Mu'min Hadidi, head of the Family Project Management Team in Jordan, which works to establish dialogue on domestic violence; and Saran Daraba Kaba of the Mano River Women's Peace Network in West Africa, an initiative of women from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea seeking to ensure that women's voices are heard in negotiations and rehabilitation in the region.
Vieira de Mello's widow, Annie Vieira de Mello, accepted the award for her husband, who was on leave from his post as U.N. high commissioner for human rights when he was killed in the bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. In a statement, Secretary General Kofi Annan said, "His death was a bitter blow to the cause of human rights."
Addressing the General Assembly before presenting the awards, Hunte said, "The inalienable right of all peoples and human beings to the full range of human rights … is today unquestionable. Those who violated such rights must know that they cannot expect to do so with impunity."
At a news conference after the ceremony, Koenig said human rights are often "a missing link" in social empowerment. "When people know they are owners of human rights, something amazing happens," she said. "Every human being knows when injustice is present, every human being wants to move away from humiliation."
Past winners include Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, former U.N. Secretary General U Thant, Eleanor Roosevelt and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
By Jim Wurst
U.N. WireSerb Policeman Testifies To Police Killings In Kosovo
Dec 11: A former Serbian policeman yesterday gave testimony in Belgrade describing the killing of 14 people, including seven children, by a Serbian reserve police unit during NATO's 1999 military campaign in Kosovo. The testimony was the first about police actions by a member of the police force since war in the Balkans ended.
Speaking at the trial of Sasa Cvjetan and Dejan Demirovic, two officers accused of participating in massacre, Goran Stoparic said he watched Cvjetan round up a group of women and children in the town of Podujevo in eastern Kosovo and heard automatic gunfire moments later. He did not see any bodies but did ask another member of the unit about what had happened. His colleague said, "They've killed them. There is nothing to see."
Contrary to this statement, five children did survive, all of whom now live in the United Kingdom. During testimony given in July, all five identified Cvjetan as having been among the killers.
Members of the unit, known as the "Scorpions," on Friday denied involvement in the killings. Stoparic said he had received threats from the unit commander over his testimony (Nicholas Wood, New York Times, Dec. 11).
"I have placed a huge target on my back now that I'm probably the main Serbian traitor," Stoparic said.
Natasa Kandic, a human rights activist with the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center, said Stoparic's testimony was "of huge importance" because it contradicts the statements of other members of the unit (Dusan Stojanovic, Associated Press, Dec. 11).
Legal Help Lacking For Trafficking Victims In Southeastern Europe
Dec 11: Victims of human trafficking lack protection and legal support when testifying against their traffickers and are often stigmatized upon their repatriation, according to a report on Southeastern Europe released today.
Trafficking in Human Beings in Southeastern Europe, issued jointly by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the United Nations and the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, said there has been a decline in the number of victims identified and assisted recently but that the decrease is due to a reluctance of women and children to come forward rather than because of more effective law enforcement. Also, there has been no real improvement in the prosecution or sentencing of traffickers.
The report recommends the adoption of a human rights approach to victim identification, protection and assistance, as well as the establishment of referral systems to ensure victims have access to appropriate support services (OSCE release, Dec. 11).
In a separate effort to combat human trafficking in southeast Europe, a senior U.N. official signed a statement against the practice at the 4th Regional Ministerial Forum of the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe Task Force on Trafficking in Human Beings. Jean-Christian Cady, the deputy special representative for the U.N. Secretary General in Kosovo (Police and Justice), said that "contrary to what is sometimes said, Kosovo is not a safe haven for organized crime and terrorism."
Cady said a coordinated approach among the region's countries would result in a more efficient strategy against organized crime (U.N. release, Dec. 10).
Two U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq; Bush In Bind On Debt Request
Dec 11: Two separate attacks yesterday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul left two U.S. soldiers dead and four wounded, the New York Times reports.
One soldier was killed by a roadside bomb, while a second died after gunfire erupted from cars driving by. In Baghdad, armed men robbed a bank and stole $800,000 in the largest bank robbery in Iraq since the looting that followed the U.S.-led capture of the capital last spring (Edward Wong, New York Times, Dec. 11).
U.S. troops working with Iraqi police have captured 41 suspects in connection with the slaughter of seven Spanish intelligence agents last month, U.S. and Spanish officials said yesterday (Agence France-Presse, Dec. 11). U.S. troops also reportedly killed a senior Fedayeen militant yesterday, Colonel Ghanem Abdul-Ghani Sultan al-Zeidi, after storming his house in Mosul (Bassem Mroue, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Dec. 11).
U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday asked leaders of France, Germany and Russia to forgive Iraq's debt, a day after the U.S. Department of Defense released a statement excluding those countries from bidding on contracts to reconstruct Iraq.
White House officials were angered by the timing and blunt tone of the Pentagon statement, the New York Times reports, although they admitted to approving the decision to limit contracts to the 63 nations that have provided political or military aid in Iraq.
When asked about the Pentagon decision, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said he would rule out any debt write-off for Iraq (Sanger/Jehl, New York Times, Dec. 11).
U.S. efforts to hand over control of that nation's security to Iraqis have also suffered a setback, U.S. Department of Defense officials said yesterday, as a third of soldiers trained so far have resigned.
It was unclear why the 250 men, trained as part of the first 700-man battalion, left their jobs, although some had complained that the starting salary was too low. Others may have feared attacks by insurgents, a Pentagon official said.
It was also unclear whether the remaining Iraqis would begin duty, the officials said (Pauline Jelinek, AP/Yahoo! News, Dec. 11).
In related news, most members of the Iraqi Governing Council would like to keep it running after the establishment of a provisional government, despite the Nov. 15 agreement signed by the council and Iraq's chief U.S. administrator, Paul Bremer, which stipulates that the council would cease to exist at that time.
Some council members have said, however, that the calls for maintaining the council have come from those fearful of losing influence or upsetting their political prospects if they must contest elections (Hamza Hendawi, AP/Yahoo! News, Dec. 11).
Monrovia Uneasy After Riots Connected With U.N. Disarmament
Dec 11: Three days of rioting in Monrovia, Liberia by former government soldiers protesting a U.N. campaign to disarm them have left 12 people dead, including two civilians, Agence France-Presse reports.
The U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) did not say whether peacekeepers exchanged fire with the soldiers, and no gunshots were heard today in the capital, which is under indefinite curfew (Terence Sesay, AFP, Dec. 11).
According to Associated Press, a U.N. military commander said an officer from Benin was shot in the leg as his troops tried to arrest militiamen (Jonathan Paye-Layleh, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 11).
Monrovia has been under siege since Sunday by fighters protesting the incentives they were offered to disarm, and U.N. peacekeepers were seen ramping up security in the city, according to AFP.
While some 1,400 former fighters lined up to hand over weapons to Bangladeshi peacekeepers at the program's launch on Sunday, others left still carrying the weapons, unimpressed by the food rations, offers of counseling, vocational training and a $300 stipend that would be handed out in installments.
UNMIL is now offering $75 to each combatant immediately upon surrendering his weapon. Fighters will receive another $75 after a three-week demobilization program and $150 will be handed to them once they are reintegrated into civilian life.
AFP also reports that transitional Parliament speaker George Dweh said the disarmament program is in crisis because it was ill-conceived to begin with. Dwey blamed U.N. special envoy Jacques Klein for his failure "to allow the heads of the warring parties to be involved in the planning stages of the (disarmament) program."
"Klein's method of disarmament is potentially dangerous and totally unacceptable," Dweh said (Sesay, AFP).
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday expressed concerns about the Monrovia disturbances since the disarmament program was launched, saying in a statement issued by a spokesman that he wished "to stress that the leaders of the armed factions are responsible for the behavior of their combatants" and called upon them to "cooperate fully with UNMIL."
Annan also urged member states to make available the troops they pledged for UNMIL so that a more secure environment can be established in Liberia (U.N. release, Dec. 10).
In other developments, a coalition of West African civil rights groups called on Nigeria to revoke asylum for former Liberian President Charles Taylor, arguing that harboring an indicted war criminal violates the Nigerian Constitution (Somini Sengupta, New York Times, Dec. 11).
Palestinian Prime Minister Warns Israel Against Annexing LandDec 11: Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia warned the Israeli government yesterday against annexing any land in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, saying that if it did, "the terror will grow."
Qureia was responding to comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday, in which Sharon said Israel may attempt to impose a border on Palestinian territories by unilaterally removing some Israeli settlements but annexing others.
Qureia told the Israeli daily Maariv that the security barrier Israel is building near the 1967 borders, which in places cuts deeply into the West Bank, would "cause a disaster."
"You cannot build a fence on our land, to cage us like chickens and hope all will be well," he said. "If you want a fence, go ahead. Build it on the (1967) Green Line. In this instance we are prepared to contribute to the building costs."
Qureia said any dismantling of Israeli settlements would be a positive step, but that if Sharon "wants to build a fence and use it to annex Palestinian land, this is unacceptable. The conflict will continue, the fire will burn, the terror will grow. No one will benefit from this" (Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Dec. 11).
Also yesterday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat attempted to thrust himself back into the dialogue, releasing a statement saying he recognizes and respects "the Jewish religion and the Jewish historical attachment to Palestine."
The New York Times called Arafat's move "a bid to restore his standing as an advocate of peace," while Israeli officials dismissed the remarks as lawyerly and deceptive.
"We accept Jewish sovereignty over the Wailing Wall and over the Jewish quarter of the Old City," Arafat's statement read. "We accept this only because we recognize and respect the Jewish religion and the Jewish historical attachment to Palestine."
The Times said the statement comes at a moment of "reassessment" for the Israelis and Palestinians, but Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, dismissed the statement, calling Arafat "a master of duplicity" who was trying to protect himself from possible expulsion by Israel (James Bennet, New York Times, Dec. 11).
In Tel Aviv today, three people were killed and 12 injured when a bomb went off at a money changer's shop in an attack that may have been linked to the Israeli underworld rather than to Palestinian terrorists. Police said the bombers may have been targeting a suspected criminal boss, Zeev Rosenstein, who had just entered the shop and was wounded in the explosion.
Rosenstein had recently been released from police custody after police concluded that accusations he had ordered the killings of some of his rivals were false.
Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleiman said the police were treating the incident "less as a terrorist attack and more as a criminal attack," but the country remained on edge for fear of Palestinian suicide bombers.
The last suicide bombing occurred Oct. 4 in a restaurant in Haifa, killing 21 people (Laurie Copans, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Dec. 11).
Donors Considering Trust Fund To Boost Palestinian Authority
International donors in Rome yesterday announced they will explore establishing a special trust fund to help alleviate a $650 million shortfall in the Palestinian Authority budget as a way of encouraging the peace process. The 14 donor provided $1.2 billion to the Palestinians last year (World Bank release, Dec. 10).
Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. envoy for the Middle East, told the gathering that the economic challenges faced by the Palestinians are enormous. Between 2000 and last year, economic losses amounted to approximately $5.4 billion. He said 60 percent of Palestinians -about 2.5 million people - are living below the poverty line (U.N. release, Dec. 10).
Bomb Attack In Lebanon Averted
In Beirut yesterday, Lebanese police say they foiled a bomb attack at the U.S. Embassy, arresting two men outside the compound, one of whom was carrying more than two pounds of explosives.
The man carrying the explosives was identified as Abed Mreish, a Lebanese in his 30s. His Palestinian taxi driver was also arrested as a possible accomplice.
Accounts differed on who stopped Mreish, with a Lebanese security official saying it was Lebanese soldiers and U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher saying it was Lebanese guards working for the U.S. Foreign Service.
The State Department had just posted a warning on its Web site urging U.S. citizens to keep a low profile when traveling in Lebanon and to avoid Palestinian refugee camps there (Hussein Dakroub, AP/Yahoo! News, Dec. 10).
U.N. Force In Lebanon Urges Restraint
The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, which monitors the Lebanese-Israeli border, called for both sides to exercise caution after Israel's Defense Force reported to the mission that it had shot and killed two men who approached the technical fence at the border, the United Nations announced yesterday. The bodies of the two men were handed over to Lebanese authorities by Israel through the peacekeeping force.
The two men were reportedly carrying hunting guns as they crossed the Blue Line. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said General Lalit Tewari, the UNIFIL commander, had expressed anguish over the incident (U.N. release II, Dec. 10).
Annan Recommends Extending Golan Heights Peacekeeping Mission
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked the U.N. Security Council to extend the mandate of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights for another six months. Both Israel and Syria have approved the proposed extension, which would take the mission through June 30. The force has monitored the area since 1974.
Annan said in a report that UNDOF is short $26 million in funding because of unpaid bills by U.N. member states (U.N. release III, Dec. 10).