Archive for October, 2012

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23/10/2012

“Liberated” Libya at War

Human Wrongs Watch

Libyan army forces have launched a full-scale assault against the small town of Bani Walid, reportedly accusing it of being controlled by supporters of the former dictator Muammar al-Qadhafi, who was overthrown in 2011 after decades of autocratic rule.

**Map: Coloured in blue are the states that were involved in implementing the no-fly zone over Libya (coloured in green). Auhtor: BlankMap-World6.svg: Canuckguy (talk) and many others.

Located some 170 kilometres south of the capital, Tripoli, Bani Walid was one of the last to fall to rebels groups during last year’s conflict, and some are said to consider it a shelter for regime loyalists and criminal gangs. Fierce fighting has reportedly raged in the town over recent days.

On 22 October, the United Nations Secretary-General voiced alarm by the fighting in and around Bani Walid, and in particular the reports indicating growing civilian casualties due to indiscriminate shelling, according to his spokesperson.

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18/10/2012

After Two Lost Decades, Japan Went to Sleep

Human Wrongs Watch

By Roberto Savio*

Tokyo, October 2012. – In the 1980s, Japan was the dragon of the world. All cutting edge technology – cars, gadgets, cameras, medical equipment and new management systems – came from Japan. Then the country started to slow down, and it basically went to sleep.

**’Bullet Train’ at Tokyo Station | Photo: BradBeattie at en.wikipedia

However, its levels of production and financial reserves were still sufficiently high that decline at the global level did not matter much for the average citizen.

Of course, Sony was substituted by Apple and it is now China that has the image of the dragon, having surpassed Japan as the second largest economy in the world, but the quality of life for the Japanese citizen was certainly better than that in almost all other countries.

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18/10/2012

Up to 80 Percent of People Killed by U.S. Drones, ‘Innocent Civilians’ – Pakistan

By RT* – The absolute majority of the people killed by American UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicle, drones] in Pakistan are innocent civilians, claims Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik. If given the drone technology, Pakistan would do a better job, he argued earlier.

© UNHCR/H.Caux

­Malik revealed that according to Islamabad’s calculations, the number of drone attacks in recent years totaled 336, of 96 of which were launched from Afghanistan.

There are no exact statistics on the number of people killed in drone strikes in Pakistan. Estimates vary from about 2,500 to over 3,000 victims. As many as 174 of them were reportedly children.

The latest US study claimed that only 2 per cent of drone strike casualties in Pakistan are top militants.

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18/10/2012

Eradication of Sexual Violence in Conflict ‘Not Mission Impossible’

Human Wrongs Watch

The elimination of sexual violence in conflict is not impossible, a United Nations senior official said on 18 October, stressing that to fully eradicate this scourge there needs to be a stronger political will from governments as well as adequate legal frameworks in place to prosecute perpetrators.

**Rape victims at the Panzi hospital in Bukavu, DR Congo | UN

“As daunting as the road ahead is, I do not think eradicating sexual violence in conflict is a mission impossible,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Bangura, told reporters in Geneva.

“We have the tools to combat this scourge, but we need the political will to implement the relevant Security Council resolutions and a commitment from governments to enforce them,” she added.

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18/10/2012

Middle East, North of Africa Major Human Rights Challenge for ‘Many Years to Come’

Human Wrongs Watch

The Middle East and North Africa will continue to present major human rights challenges – and opportunities – for “many years to come,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said, stressing in particular the need to do more to end the ongoing conflict in Syria.

**A Syrian mother and her son, refugees in Lebanon.© UNHCR/S.Malkawi.

“The situation in Syria is quite simply dire,” said Pillay. “With no end in sight, and no solutions within easy grasp, we are in danger of becoming inured to the horrors that Syrian civilians are suffering day in and day out. But we cannot simply shrug and turn away.”

Speaking at a news conference in Geneva on 18 October, Pillay said that the situation is likely to descend into an all-out sectarian conflict, as the international community remains divided on how to end the crisis, which began as an uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad 20 months ago and has left more than 20,000 people dead and another 2.5 million in need of humanitarian aid.

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18/10/2012

Yet Another Global Strategy for ‘The Future We Want’

Human Wrongs Watch

The UN launched on 18 October an ambitious new global strategy “to combat unprecedented levels of biodiversity loss” that calls  for “significant” increases in biodiversity investments in 100 countries,” while at the same time aiming to foster economic growth and create jobs in addition to protecting endangered species and habitats.

A great deal of work is occurring to preserve the natural characteristics of Hopetoun Falls, Australia while continuing to allow visitor access | Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0 | Diliff

Entitled ‘The Future We Want: Biodiversity and Ecosystems – Driving Sustainable Development,’ the strategy will see the UN Development Programme (UNDP) work with national governments to protect biodiversity and manage ecosystems across 1.4 billion hectares of land and bodies of water, the agency said in a news release.

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18/10/2012

Greece: Teenage Migrants Trapped, Abused

By IRIN*, Athens/Lesbos – By early evening, Alexandra Park in central Athens starts to fill up with young, male migrants. They gather on benches, and some even kick a ball around, but they are not here for recreation – this is where they sleep, hoping their numbers will provide some protection from sexual predation and racist attacks.

**Photo: Kristy Siegfried/IRIN. Ibrahim Jafari in the Athens park where he sleeps

“I wait until everyone leaves, and then at 12 or 1 I can go to sleep. Then, when it gets light at 6, I wake up again,” said Ibrahim Jafari, a 17-year-old migrant whose journey to this park started on a hillside in Afghanistan over two years ago.

Jafari had been supporting his disabled father by working as a shepherd for his uncle. One day, he was accompanied to the fields by his uncle’s son, who fell and fatally knocked his head on a rock.

Convinced he would be blamed for the accident, Jafari fled to Iran, where he worked as a casual labourer. In constant fear of being arrested and deported back to Afghanistan, he saved enough money – about US$2,000, to pay smugglers to get him to Greece.

Jafari has never attended school and cannot read or write. He knew only that Greece was part of Europe, and to his mind, Europe meant jobs and the possibility of a better life.

Smugglers capitalize on such ignorance about Greece, where the economic crisis has bred high levels of unemployment and a deep resentment of the hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants who have arrived in the country in recent years.

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18/10/2012

Libya: Death of a Dictator – New Proof of Mass Killings

Beirut – New evidence collected by Human Rights Watch implicates Misrata-based militias in the apparent execution of dozens of detainees following the capture and death of Muammar Gaddafi one year ago. The Libyan authorities have failed to carry out their pledge to investigate the death of Gaddafi, Libya’s former dictator, his son Mutassim, and dozens of others in rebel custody.

**Bodies of apparent execution victims found at the Mahari Hotel in Sirte on October 22, 2011, the day after the final battle with the Gaddafi convoy. © 2011 Peter Bouckaert/Human Rights Watch

The 50-page report, “Death of a Dictator: Bloody Vengeance in Sirte,”details the final hours of Muammar Gaddafi’s life and the circumstances under which he was killed.

It presents evidence that Misrata-based militias captured and disarmed members of the Gaddafi convoy and, after bringing them under their total control, subjected them to brutal beatings.

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17/10/2012

A World Day Also for the Poor: ‘End the Violence of Extreme Poverty’ … Please!

Human Wrongs Watch

With inequalities growing dramatically both within and between countries over the last 10 years, the UN marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October. This year’s theme, ‘Ending the Violence of Extreme Poverty: Promoting Empowerment and Building Peace,’ highlights the link between poverty and social unrest. Meanwhile, more than one billion people live in extreme poverty, living on less than $1 a day.

A woman and her children collect firewood and paper for baking bread in Ezbet Abd Rabbo, Gaza. Photo: Shareef Sarhan

“Poverty is easy to denounce but difficult to combat,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day. “Those suffering from hunger, want and indignity need more than sympathetic words; they need concrete support.”

Ban stressed that during times of economic austerity it is even more crucial to put policies in place that will protect the most vulnerable.

“As governments struggle to balance budgets, funding for anti-poverty measures is under threat. But this is precisely the time to provide the poor with access to social services, income security, decent work and social protection,” he said.

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17/10/2012

‘One Dollar Invested in Youth Skills Can Pay Back Fifteen-fold in Economic Growth’ – UN

Human Wrongs Watch

Just as new data reveal that aid decreased for the first time in 2011, the tenth Education for All Global Monitoring Report shows that every $1 invested in education and youth skills in developing countries generates $10-$15 in economic growth, according to a UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report*.

© UNESCO/Jon Yamamoto – A young employee working at a family-owned bakery in Paris, France

“Around 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty if all students in poor countries had basic reading skills. The need for investing in these skills is just as urgent in rich countries. In some European nations, one in five young people drop out before reaching upper secondary school.”

The 2012 EFA Global Monitoring Report calls on donors to sustain support to education to ensure that it prepares young people adequately for work. The Report calculates that it would cost $8 billion – less than half the cost of the 2012 Olympic Games – to send all young people to lower secondary school in poor countries to learn vital skills for work, UNESCO adds.

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