Archive for December, 2014

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07/12/2014

Corruption: 'Most Bribe Payers and Takers Are from Wealthy Countries'

Human Wrongs Watch

December 2014 — Most international bribes are paid by large companies, usually with the knowledge of senior management, according to new OECD analysis of the cost of foreign bribery and corruption. According to the analysis, most bribe payers and takers are from wealthy countries.

**Image: "Caution Bribe Coming Through." March in Washington, DC, April 13, 2013, by Represent.Us | Author: Djembayz | Wikimedia Commons

**”Caution Bribe Coming Through.” March in Washington, DC, April 13, 2013, by Represent.Us | Author: Djembayz | Wikimedia Commons

Bribes in the analysed cases equalled 10.9% of the total transaction value on average, and 34.5% of the profits – equal to USD 13.8 million per bribe.

But given the complexity and concealed nature of corrupt transactions, this is without doubt the mere tip of the iceberg, says* the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which groups the 34 most industrialised countries.

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06/12/2014

Ron Paul: ‘US provoking war with Russia, could result in total destruction’

Human Wrongs Watch

6 December 2014, RT* — Former congressman Ron Paul has lashed out at the resolution the House passed against Russia, branding it “one of the worst pieces of legislation ever.” It could even pave the way for a potential war with Russia, as it was with Iraq, he warns.

**Photo: Ron Paul being interviewed the day of the New Hampshire primary in Manchester | Author: Bbsrock | Wikimedia Commons.

***Ron Paul being interviewed the day of the New Hampshire primary in Manchester | Author: Bbsrock | Wikimedia Commons.

Resolution 758 strongly condemns the actions of Russia under Vladimir Putin, for what it describes as a policy of “aggression against neighboring countries,” in a motion that describes Moscow’s political and economic domination in the region.

However, Ron Paul says the bill was nothing but “16 pages of war propaganda that should have made even neocons blush.”

Speaking to RT, Paul added that the resolution was “part of the war propaganda machine.”

“It’s this kind of stuff that stirs up trouble. I’d rather dissipate the problems and have our government tone the rhetoric down a little bit. This was terrible; this was just a very provocative resolution,” he said.

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06/12/2014

The Plebiscite

Human Wrongs Watch

By Uri Avnery*, 6 December 2014 

ISRAELIS ARE fed up with Binyamin Netanyahu. They are fed up with the government. They are fed up with all political parties. They are fed up with themselves. They are fed up.

That is the reason for the disintegration of the government this week. It did not fall because of any particular issue.

Certainly not because of irrelevant matters like peace and war, occupation, racism, democracy and nonsense like that.

Curiously enough, this has happened to Netanyahu once before. His first government disintegrated in 1999, and the whole country breathed an audible sigh of relief. Indeed, the general feeling was of liberation, as if a foreign invader had finally been expelled. Like Paris in 1944.

In 2000, In the evening after the election, when it was announced that Netanyahu had been defeated, there was an explosion of enthusiasm. Tens of thousands of delirious citizens streamed spontaneously to Tel Aviv’s central Rabin Square and cheered the savior, Ehud Barak, the leader of the Labor Party. He announced the Dawn of Another Day.

Unfortunately, Barak turned out to be a sociopath and an egomaniac, if not a megalomaniac. He missed the chance of peace at the Camp David conference and in the process almost completely destroyed the Israeli peace movement. The Right, this time under Ariel Sharon, came back. Then under Ehud Olmert. Then under Netanyahu again. And Again.

And now again?

God forbid!

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06/12/2014

Over 140 Million Girls and Women Have Undergone Some Form of Genital Mutilation — Key Facts

Human Wrongs Watch

Over 140 million girls and women have undergone some form of female genital mutilation/cutting, and if current trends continue, about 86 million additional girls be subjected to it by 2030, the UN reports*.
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Meaza was 10 when she was subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM). She now campaigns to protect other girls from this harmful practice. FGM is declining in Ethiopia and many countries around the world, but still too many girls are at risk. We must do more. Credits: UNICEF/NYHQ2009-2259/HOLT

Meaza was 10 when she was subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM). She now campaigns to protect other girls from this harmful practice. FGM is declining in Ethiopia and many countries around the world, but still too many girls are at risk. We must do more. Credits: UNICEF/NYHQ2009-2259/HOLT

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women. Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.

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06/12/2014

New Nuclear Arms Race Underway

Human Wrongs Watch

By Mark Blackwood and Paul Mitchell, 6 December 2014, WSWS*— Nearly five years ago, at the 2010 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference, the nuclear powers restated their commitment to a “diminishing role for nuclear weapons in security policies to minimize the risk that these weapons ever be used and to facilitate the process of their total elimination.”

Nuclear Missiles | Source: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear Missiles | Source: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

US President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the New START treaty, promising to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear missiles and launchers.

However, this year’s right-wing coup in Ukraine, organised by the US and European Union, followed by a campaign of sanctions and war threats against Russia, combined with the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” aimed at asserting US control over the Asia-Pacific, are provoking a new nuclear arms race.

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06/12/2014

Eric Garner, Michael Brown Cases Spark ‘Legitimate Concerns’ About US Policing – UN Rights Experts

Human Wrongs Watch

Grand jury verdicts in the United States which resulted in the decisions to not bring to trial the cases of two unarmed African-American men killed by police forces have sparked “legitimate concerns” regarding policing practices across the country, a group of United Nations human rights experts on 5 December 2014. *

Protestors in New York City demonstrate in the wake of the verdict in the case of the police shooting of Missouri teenager Michael Brown (24 November 2014). Photo: Jacques Baudrier | Source: UN News Centre.

Michael Brown, an African-American teenager from Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, an African-American man from New York City, were both killed in separate incidents by white police officers after they had reportedly surrendered.

Their deaths, and the grand jury decisions which followed them, have set off a wave of protests across the US against what many perceive to be a broader pattern of lethal police brutality directed at minorities, say the UN rights experts.

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06/12/2014

Over 30 Million People Risk Feeling the Brunt of Typhoon Hagupit as It Barrels Down on the Philippines

Human Wrongs Watch

More than 30 million people risk feeling the brunt of Typhoon Hagupit as it barrels down on the Philippines, United Nations emergency and humanitarian officials on 5 December 2014 warned as they outlined the Organization-wide preparations being made before the massive storm makes landfall this weekend.

Typhoon Hagupit, known locally as Ruby, is expected to make landfall in the Philippines 5-6 December 2014, while the country is still recovering from Super Typhoon Haiyan, which hit on 8 November 2013. Photo: OCHA/Jennifer Bose

At a press briefing in Geneva, Denis McClean, a spokesperson for the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), said the Category 5 typhoon has triggered one of the largest peace time evacuations in Philippines history, noting that the extent of the evacuation “appeared to rival” the one million people evacuated last year when Cyclone Phailin threatened India’s coastline.

As a result, he said, schools and local Government offices had been closed and evacuation centres were filling up as people were rapidly moving out of danger zones. While around 10 million residents of the Philippines are at risk of flooding, storm surges and strong winds, “more than 30 million people could feel the impact,” he added.

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06/12/2014

Cost of Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries Set to Be as High as $250-500 Billion Per Year By 2050

Human Wrongs Watch

Despite public funding of climate change adaptation measures reaching as high as $26 billion in 2012-2013, a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report issued on 5 December 2014 predicts a significant funding gap after 2020 unless new and additional finance for adaptation is made available.

The melting of ice sheets in Illulissat, Greenland, is accelerating. UN Photo/Mark Garten

The first UNEP Adaptation Gap Report finds that even if global greenhouse gas emissions are cut to the level required to keep temperature rise below 2°C, the cost of climate change adaptation in developing countries is likely to reach two to three times the previous estimates of $70-100 billion per year by 2050.*

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, The Peoples | 1 Comment »

05/12/2014

‘Turning Blind Eye Not a Solution’ to Mediterranean Migrant Crisis – UN Rights Expert

Human Wrongs Watch

The rise of migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean Sea in the last few months has resulted in a global crisis that calls for a global humanitarian response, a United Nations human rights expert on 5 December 2014 urged.

Migrants arriving on Italy’s Lampedusa Island after crossing the Mediterranean on a dilapidated boat. Photo: UNHCR/F. Noy

“This requires a new and concerted strategic approach by European States and the international community,” said François Crépeau, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, at the end of his follow-up official visit to Italy.

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | 3 Comments »

05/12/2014

Indian Ocean: UN Warns of Uptick in Clandestine Migration Despite ‘Horrific’ Dangers

Human Wrongs Watch

More people are risking their lives to cross the Indian Ocean on smuggler’s boats despite the great risks involved, including the prospect of “horrific violence,” the United Nations refugee agency on 5 December 2014 warned. 

People risking sea journeys across the Bay of Bengal often set sail at night. Photo: UNHCR/S. Alam

Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, William Spindler, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters that an estimated 54,000 people had undertaken irregular maritime journeys in the Southeast Asian region of the Indian Ocean, including some 53,000 people leaving from the Bay of Bengal towards Thailand and Malaysia.

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