Items related to "Human Security Gateway: Human Rights". Sat, 17 May 2008 0:30:31 +0000 Sat, 17 May 2008 0:30:31 +0000 robert_hartfiel@sfu.ca (Robert Hartfiel) Fri, 16 May 2008 13:24:09 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24407 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24407 The public images of war focus almost exclusively on young men – armed forces, suicide bombers, young men throwing stones at soldiers. The fact that girls remain invisible casts a long shadow on their involvement in war, particularly as the changing nature of war and conflict means that increasingly, civilians are affected as war is played out closer to people’s homes. The numbers of civilians killed or injured in war has risen astronomically in the last century. There are now more than 200 million girls living in countries that are either at risk of, in the midst of or emerging from armed conflict but rarely do we hear stories of how they experience war. SOURCE: Plan International Plan International Thu, 15 May 2008 15:33:44 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24391 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24391 In the past three years the authorities in the Netherlands have introduced a series of measures with the stated aim of better integrating its migrant population. The two key measures are integration tests–one administered in the Netherlands that most foreign residents must take, and another that must be passed by would-be family migrants from some countries before they can join spouses or family members in the Netherlands. The policies were adopted during a period of heightened public concern about the impact that migrant communities have on social cohesion, with a particular criticism of the supposed lack of integration among Moroccan and Turkish migrant communities. SOURCE: Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch Thu, 15 May 2008 12:22:33 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24381 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24381 To understand the reasons for the relative failures of the transition to democracy, the formation of a law-based state and the establishment of respect for human rights in the independent states of Central Asia today, as well as the role of the international community, one has to assess, first of all, the dynamics of the political process in this region of the world. In large part, the origins of the current weakness of democratic processes are the result of developments during the final decades of Soviet power. By the early 1990s, there arose a situation in which the ruling authorities Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), ruling authorities, realising the necessity of reform but at the same time wishing to retain power, initiated a set of reforms that employed democratic phraseology but which aimed first of all at protecting the interests of the ruling group. In this context, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the reduction of the CPSU’s power, on the other hand and the beginning of independence for the former republics of the Soviet Union on the other hand resulted in a certain liberalisation of both public opinion and social institutions. SOURCE: Centre for European Policy Studies Centre for European Policy Studies Thu, 15 May 2008 11:26:43 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24378 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24378 Recent abuses committed by military personnel in war zones and violent conflicts the world over reemphasize the central importance of the law of armed conflict—the law of war—for the protection of combatants, prisoners, and noncombatants alike, and cultural and religious landmarks. At their most basic level, the laws of war promote and protect many of the values intrinsic to human life and dignity. Every country has an obligation to provide training to ensure that their military personnel understand and can adhere to the law of armed conflict. Under the Geneva Conventions, states are explicitly required to “include the study [of the law of armed conflict] in their programmes of military . . . instruction, so that the principles thereof may become known to all their armed forces.” Yet not all countries currently include law of war training as part of their regular military training or offer it in any form. Although this shortcoming sometimes results from a lack of motivation or a simple disregard for the Geneva Conventions, in most countries this lack of law of war training stems primarily from an absence of knowledge and opportunity. SOURCE: United States Institute of Peace United States Institute of Peace Thu, 15 May 2008 11:00:51 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24377 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24377 The problem of killings is a significant one in Afghanistan. In the past four months, hundreds of civilians have been killed. They have died from bombs, missiles, explosive devices, police fire, beheadings and domestic violence. Those responsible include the police, militia groups, the Taliban and other anti-government elements, and the international forces. In the absence of urgent action by all parties, the months and years ahead will see many more civilians killed unlawfully. The message of my report is that a great many of these deaths can be readily avoided. SOURCE: United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights Thu, 15 May 2008 09:06:18 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24375 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24375 The Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (Optional Protocol) is meant to safeguard the rights of children under 18 from military recruitment and deployment to war, and to guarantee basic protections to former child soldiers, whether they are seeking refugee protection in the United States or are in U.S. custody for alleged crimes. The U.S. Senate ratified the Optional Protocol in December 2002. By signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the U.S. bound itself to comply with the obligations contained in the Optional Protocol. The Optional Protocol provides that the absolute minimum age for voluntary recruitment is 16 years old. It also instructs countries to set their own minimum age by submitting a binding declaration, and the United States entered a binding declaration raising this minimum age to 17. Therefore, recruitment of youth ages 16 and under is categorically disallowed in the United States. SOURCE: American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union Wed, 14 May 2008 17:08:59 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24373 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24373 L'asile, en tant qu’institution offrant une protection aux individus persécutés dans leur États d’origine, est par nature un sujet à dimension internationale. Il semble donc normal que cette institution fasse l’objet d’un processus d’harmonisation à l’échelle européenne, dont la mise en oeuvre débute dans les années 80 et s’accélère depuis le Traité d’Amsterdam. Si cet objectif de communautarisation est omniprésent sur l’agenda de l’Union européenne, c’est que ses États font face à un défi de taille : celui de la gestion des frontières extérieures d’une Europe à 15 puis à 25, et ce à travers l’objectif d’une Europe « ouverte et sûre ». Si l’objectif est ambitieux, il n’en est pas moins risqué pour la protection des demandeurs d’asile, dont l’accès au territoire se fait toujours plus restrictif sous couvert de la lutte contre les menaces actuelles : l’immigration illégale et le terrorisme. SOURCE: Programme paix et sécurité internationales, Université Laval Programme paix et sécurité internationales, Université Laval Wed, 14 May 2008 12:10:29 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24348 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24348 Le gouvernement ouzbek continue les persécutions contre les personnes qu’il soupçonne d’avoir un lien avec les troubles de mai 2005 à Andijan, affirme Human Rights Watch dans un nouveau rapport publié aujourd’hui. Le rapport de 45 pages, « Saving its Secrets: Government Repression in Andijan » (« Des secrets bien gardés : La répression gouvernementale à Andijan »), documente les pressions intenses exercées par le gouvernement à l’encontre des personnes ayant participé aux manifestations d’Andijan, des familles de réfugiés qui ont fui l’Ouzbékistan à la suite des violences d’Andijan, et des réfugiés qui sont revenus en Ouzbékistan. Les interrogatoires, la surveillance constante, l’ostracisme et les menaces ont continué à engendrer de nouveaux réfugiés d’Andijan. Certains de ces réfugiés fuient pour la deuxième fois depuis le 13 mai 2005, date à laquelle les forces de sécurité gouvernementales ont massacré des centaines de personnes en tentant de réprimer les manifestations antigouvernementales faisant suite à une attaque armée contre la ville. SOURCE: Human Rights Watch - Défendre les droits humains à travers le monde Human Rights Watch - Défendre les droits humains à travers le monde Wed, 14 May 2008 12:05:49 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24346 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24346 Cette année marque un tournant pour le programme d’aide du Canada et l’agence canadienne chargée du développement international. Il y aura une réorientation majeure pour donner suite aux attentes des Canadiens et des Canadiennes, qui réclament un programme d’aide efficace qui donne des résultats concrets. J’ai moi-même été témoin des résultats que nos ressources ont permis d’accomplir, résultats qui ont eu pour effet de soulager les moins fortunés par la promotion des droits de la personne, de la liberté, de la démocratie et de la primauté du droit – en appui aux politiques du gouvernement du Canada. Néanmoins, je crois que nous pouvons accomplir davantage en ciblant davantage nos efforts et en renforçant l’efficacité, l’innovation et la reddition de comptes. Le présent rapport met en lumière l’engagement que nous avons pris à l’égard des Canadiens et des Canadiennes, soit accroître l’efficacité de notre action, et les principales mesures que nous prendrons en 2008-2009. La tâche ne sera pas simple et exigera des décisions difficiles et une bonne capacité d’adaptation. L’amélioration de l’efficacité de notre aide internationale est tributaire du soutien de tous. Les réformes envisagées appuient notre objectif central, soit réduire la pauvreté, encourager le respect des droits de la personne et intensifier le développement durable dans les pays et les régions prioritaires. Nous sommes toujours déterminés à étayer la reconstruction et le développement de l’Afghanistan, pays bénéficiaire de notre plus important programme d’aide, d’une valeur de 1,2 milliard de dollars sur dix ans. Nous allons aussi redynamiser notre relation avec les Amériques en visant des objectifs clés, soit promouvoir les valeurs démocratiques fondamentales, bâtir la prospérité et relever de nouveaux défis en matière de sécurité. Enfin, le Canada respectera l’engagement qu’il a pris au Sommet du G8, c’est-à-dire doubler l’aide à l’Afrique grâce à un investissement qui totalisera 2,1 milliards de dollars au cours du présent exercice financier. Nous continuerons de mettre à profit l’expertise reconnue du Canada dans les domaines suivants : la réforme du secteur public, la formation technique et professionnelle, l’égalité entre les femmes et les hommes, le développement du secteur privé, l’environnement, la santé et l’éducation de base. Nous allons également jouer un rôle de chef de file en matière de programmes novateurs. Ces interventions et les nombreuses autres initiatives de l’Agence canadienne de développement international (ACDI) en matière de réduction de la pauvreté et de développement durable sont décrites dans le Rapport sur les plans et les priorités de 2008-2009, que je dépose à l’attention du Parlement du Canada. -- L’honorable Beverley J. Oda, C.P., députée Ministre de la Coopération international SOURCE: Agence canadienne de développement international Agence canadienne de développement international Wed, 14 May 2008 11:48:27 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24340 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24340 Dans ce numéro : Etat des lieux sur les droits de l’enfant en RD Congo P. 1 La problématique réinsertion des ESF-GA P. 1 Défis à relever pour les membres de la Coalition en RDC P.2 La résolution 1612 du Conseil de Sécurité de l’ONU en RDC P.2 Processus DDR Enfant– 3me phase P.3 Rappel des engagement de PARIS sur les enfants soldats P.3 Plaidons tous pour une justice Contre ceux qui violent les droits des en RDC Campagne Main Rouge a Uvira P.3 SOURCE: Coalition Pour Mettre Fin à L’Utilisation d’Enfants Soldats, Uvira, RDC Coalition Pour Mettre Fin à L’Utilisation d’Enfants Soldats, Uvira, RDC Wed, 14 May 2008 11:08:23 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24336 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24336 Né en 1954 à Jérusalem, Moustapha Barghouti est médecin, formé dans les universités de Moscou, Jérusalem et Stanford. Il est secrétaire général d’Al-Mubadara (Initiative nationale palestinienne, INP), une organisation politique laïque. Il a été ministre de l’information dans le gouvernement palestinien d’union nationale constitué en 2007 après les élections législatives. Il fut aussi, en 2006, candidat à l’élection présidentielle. Il obtint un tiers des voix et se classa en seconde position, derrière le président actuel de l’Autorité palestinienne, M. Mahmoud Abbas. Leader de la principale organisation de Résistance de masse qui s’appuie sur la force de la non-violence, le Dr Barghouti a pour modèle de référence Gandhi, le père de l’indépendance de l’Inde, obtenue contre les Britanniques au moyen d’une stratégie de non-violence. Au sein d’une société palestinienne malmenée par six décennies de conflits, lasse de la corruption du Fatah et méfiante à l’égard du fondamentalisme religieux du Hamas, le soutien populaire, en particulier des couches laïques, aux thèses d’Al Mubadara se renforce sans cesse. SOURCE: Le Monde Diplomatique Le Monde Diplomatique Wed, 14 May 2008 11:00:46 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24334 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24334 This report outlines one offensive conducted by the Burma Army against the Karen people in northern Karen State, eastern Burma. It also provides an insight into other means by which the dictators attempt to control and exploit the population in the ethnic areas and provides an analysis of Burma Army strategy and tactics and how the ethnic resistance counters these. It describes the situation of the internally displaced people (IDPs) and makes recommendations for action. Finally, it tells the story of a people living on the edge of survival who have not given up and need help. The slow but unrelenting attacks and building of new camps seem to be driven by a plan to dominate,chase out or crush any people in these areas. This was the largest offensive in Karen State since 1997. It began in earnest in February 2006, with troops from over fifty battalions attacking through the rainy season, and the construction of 7 new main camps and 26 smaller support camps. The Burma Army is now planning the construction of two new roads that, when completed, will cut the northern Karen State into quarters. SOURCE: Free Burma Rangers Free Burma Rangers Wed, 14 May 2008 10:30:40 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24333 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24333 The Sudanese conception of citizenship differs from the Western understanding of it. In Sudan and the Middle East generally, there is a sharp distinction between a person’s “public” rights regulating for example political rights and the “private” rights regulating civil rights such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, maintenance and financial custody of children, and alimony. In Sudan, the “private” civil rights are the legal domain of the religious and tribal communities. Research on gender in the Middle East claim that religiously anchored “private” civil rights systematically discriminate women. SOURCE: Chr. Michelsen Institute Chr. Michelsen Institute Tue, 13 May 2008 12:16:32 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24324 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24324 It has been three years since Uzbek government forces killed hundreds of unarmed protesters in the eastern city of Andijan on May 13, 2005, following an attack by armed men. Yet even today the government continues vigorously to seek out and persecute anyone it deems to have a connection to or information about the Andijan events. This is particularly true for many of the relatives of hundreds of persons who fled to Kyrgyzstan in the immediate aftermath of the massacre and were later resettled in third countries, as well as those who fled but later returned to Andijan. These groups remain under intense government pressure. They have been subjected to interrogations, constant surveillance, ostracism, and in at least one case an overt threat to life. As a result, three years after the massacre, government persecution continues to generate new refugees from Andijan. SOURCE: Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch Tue, 13 May 2008 11:53:52 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24322 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24322 This article presents a theory of obligation in the context of humanitarianism. Its foundational assumption is that there exists a moral imperative to assist the structurally dispossessed and functionally abused. It builds particularly on the cross-disciplinary work (both academic and applied) of anthropologists, but also of political scientists, sociologists, human rights specialists, and others. The links between human rights and humanitarianism are stressed, while suggesting principles that can guide humanitarian organizations as they serve those in need. Humanitarianism is defined as “crossing a boundary;” risk usually is encountered by the service provider as scarce resources are used to help the vulnerable. Obligation is defined, in part, as “what one should do.” A theory emerges as the “morally possible” and the “materially possible” intersect. Notions of human dignity are shown not to be appropriate in orienting the real-world work of humanitarians; notions of fairness are more appropriate as humanitarian work is organized and implemented. “Pragmatic humanitarianism” occurs as principled guidelines and achievable actions merge, and as non-neutral stances are taken as (for example) refugees are assisted. Humanitarian aid is shown to be fundamentally a moral relationship based on the obligation of “those who have” to address the felt needs of “those who have not.” Examples from Bosnia are featured. SOURCE: Journal of Humanitarian Assistance Journal of Humanitarian Assistance Tue, 13 May 2008 11:48:30 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24321 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24321 On 13 October 2005, the International Criminal Court unsealed warrants of arrest for five senior leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) for the forced conscription of children and other war crimes in northern Uganda. We compiled a database of 25,231 children and youth who had been registered by receptions centers in northern Uganda after their return from the LRA. Most of the LRA returnees were thirteen to eighteen years old (37 percent) and nineteen to thirty years old (24 percent). Twenty-four percent of the LRA returnees were female and 76 percent were male. The average length of abduction was 342 days, and the median number of days of abduction was ninety-two days. Among women aged nineteen to thirty years old, the average length of abduction was four and one half years. At the multivariate level, gender, age, and the interaction between them were associated with length of captivity (F-Statistic = 229.8, p-value = 0.0001). Using triangulation methods, we estimate the LRA abducted 54,000 to 75,000 people, including 25,000 to 38,000 children, into their ranks between 1986 and 2006. SOURCE: Human Rights Quarterly Human Rights Quarterly Tue, 13 May 2008 11:47:12 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24320 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24320 Although there are compelling reasons not to define the struggle against mega-terrorism as a "war," for purposes of moral evaluation of defensive measures, Just War standards provide an essential second line of defense for human rights norms as well as a counsel of strategic prudence. Taking the sum of its policies in the wake of 9/11 it is evident that the Bush administration has failed to satisfy those standards even as it continues the effort of the American Right, launched during the administration of Ronald Reagan, to appropriate human rights for their purposes. SOURCE: Human Rights Quarterly Human Rights Quarterly Mon, 12 May 2008 15:56:34 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24314 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24314 The Uzbek government continues to persecute people it believes have any connection with the May 2005 unrest in Andijan, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. The 45-page report, “Saving its Secrets: Government Repression in Andijan,” documents intense government pressure on people who participated in the Andijan protests, families of refugees who fled Uzbekistan in the aftermath of the Andijan violence, and refugees who returned to Uzbekistan. Interrogations, constant surveillance, ostracism, and threats continued to generate new refugees from Andijan. Some of the refugees are fleeing for the second time since May 13, 2005, when government security forces massacred hundreds in an attempt to quell anti-government protests that followed an armed attack on the city. SOURCE: Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch Mon, 12 May 2008 14:10:54 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24308 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24308 On May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis swept through Burma’s delta region, devastating a country that was already on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. The death toll is likely to mount to over 70,000, and as many as two million people have been displaced from their homes. There are alarming reports of entire villages destroyed, their populations missing. The international community must rally around a UN-led response to the crisis, set aside political disputes with the government of Burma, and begin preparing for not only immediate assistance, but also medium- and long-term stabilization and reconstruction plans. Burma was ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world before Nargis hit. (See Burma: A New Way Forward). Though comprehensive assessments in the aftermath of the cyclone have yet to get underway, the delays in response are raising fears of cholera, malaria, malnutrition, and even starvation in isolated parts of the delta. SOURCE: Refugees International Refugees International Mon, 12 May 2008 13:36:20 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24303 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24303 The brutality of the Khartoum regime's military actions in the Darfur region of western Sudan continually forces a question that seems to have no morally intelligible answer: Is there no act of civilian destruction so cruel, so savage, that the international community will finally respond vigorously and unambiguously? On May 4, at about 4 p.m., a school was bombed in the village of Shegeg Karo in North Darfur; one classroom was destroyed, killing six students and injuring others. The village marketplace was also bombed, killing several people and destroying most of the shops in this vestige of a shattered agricultural economy. SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor // Reeves, Eric Christian Science Monitor // Reeves, Eric Mon, 12 May 2008 11:05:02 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24283 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24283 While survivors of the deadly cyclone in the Irrawaddy Delta and coastal regions of Burma struggle for survival, and the international community struggles through the obstruction and mismanagement of the SPDC to assist them, villagers in many areas of Karen State continue to be the target of the Junta's brutal policy of terror and oppression. The Burma Army has launched numerous attacks against villagers and IDP populations throughout northern Karen State. Hundreds have been displaced, villages and homes have been burned down and villagers killed as the Burma Army has stepped up its efforts to terrorize villagers into hiding in Toungoo District. Hundreds have also fled in Nyaunglebin and Papun Districts as the Burma Army mortars villages, captures and kills villagers, and continues to expand its network of military camps into the farms and villages of the local Karen people. SOURCE: Free Burma Rangers Free Burma Rangers Fri, 09 May 2008 11:50:14 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24278 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24278 When Burmese troops opened fire on unarmed demonstrators here last September, marking the violent culmination of weeks of pro-democracy protests, the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) had 30 undercover reporters on the streets. Despite the military government’s strict coverage bans, the journalists used the Internet to transmit news reports and images to DVB, which disseminated the information globally. The reporting, some of which was rebroadcast by major international media outlets such as CNN and Al-Jazeera, provided the world with disturbing and iconic images of the unrest, which came to be known as the Saffron Revolution. Burmese authorities, seeing these uncensored pictures leak through their tightly controlled borders, shut down the Internet altogether at the height of their brutal crackdown, which resulted in the detentions of nearly 3,000 people and the deaths of at least 31 others. SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists Committee to Protect Journalists Fri, 09 May 2008 11:32:29 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24277 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24277 Through the long struggle against HIV, it has become clear that human rights are central to effective national responses to HIV. Where human rights are not protected, people are more vulnerable to HIV infection. Where the human rights of HIV-positive people are not protected, they suffer stigma and discrimination, become ill, become unable to support themselves and their families, and if not provided treatment, they die. Where rates of HIV prevalence are high and treatment is lacking, whole communities are devastated by the impact of the virus. Between 1981 and 2007, some 65 million people became infected with HIV and some 25 million died of AIDS. HIV has spread to every country in the world and, in the hardest-hit countries, it is undoing most of the development gains of the past 50 years. SOURCE: The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS Fri, 09 May 2008 11:12:36 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24271 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24271 This case study uses the analytical lens of human security to conduct a retrospective analysis of the conflict and humanitarian crisis of the last ten years (1991-2001) in Angola. This study develops a set of indicators to measure rising instability that might be effective for predicting conflict or crises in other settings. The close analysis of the situation in Angola also illustrates how an ex ante human security assessment might have improved the international community’s interpretation and possible response to the shifting conditions on the ground over the last decade of civil war. SOURCE: United States Agency for International Development // Complex Emergency Response Transition Initiative United States Agency for International Development // Complex Emergency Response Transition Initiative Thu, 08 May 2008 16:33:09 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24257 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24257 Valérie Niquet a présenté l’année 2008 comme une année cruciale pour la Chine, marquée par deux événements d’ampleur, les Jeux Olympiques (dont les dirigeants ont fait une priorité politique) et le 30e anniversaire des réformes de Deng Xiaoping. Leur organisation a été confiée au même homme, le vice-président Xi Jinping, héritier probable de Hu Jintao en 2012. Un autre événement de grande importance, éclipsé par les événements survenus au Tibet, a été la tenue au mois de mars de la 11e Assemblée Populaire Nationale (APN) au cours de laquelle le mot d’ordre a été la stabilité. L’oratrice s’est alors proposé de dresser un tableau de la situation politique actuelle de la Chine, en perspective des échéances de 2008. SOURCE: Institut français des relations internationales Institut français des relations internationales Thu, 08 May 2008 16:22:03 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24255 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24255 Alors même que la ville méridionale chinoise de Shenzen servait de cadre à une reprise du “dialogue” entre des représentants du gouvernement de la République Populaire de Chine et des émissaires de sa Sainteté le Dalaï Lama, icône du peuple tibétain, que le Président chinois Hu Jintao mettait en ordre ses dossiers bilatéraux avant de s’envoler (mardi 6 mai) pour un déplacement « historique » dans l’archipel nippon, un puissant cyclone se dirigeait depuis la baie du Bengale vers le sud-ouest de la Birmanie. Ses rafales de vent destructrices (jusqu’à 240 km/h) frappèrent samedi et dimanche de larges pans du territoire, semant du delta de l’Irrawaddy à la capitale commerciale Yangon, chaos, drame et désolation. Alors que le bilan des disparus demeure provisoire, les victimes du cyclone Nargis se compteraient déjà par dizaines de milliers : au bas mot 15 000 morts et 30 000 disparus ; bien davantage, selon le propos de divers observateurs (cf. ministre thaïlandais des Affaires étrangères), redoutant que cet état des lieux ne s’alourdisse considérablement dès lors que l’accès à diverses zones jusqu’alors impénétrables deviendra possible. Une tragédie nationale comme le pays n’en a pas connu. La pire qu’ait souffert l’Asie depuis le tsunami de décembre 2004 (180 000 morts). SOURCE: Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques Thu, 08 May 2008 10:38:45 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24234 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24234 Although disasters are quick to strike, their consequences can be long to remedy and can linger on for months and years. The extent to which their effects increase inherent inequalities in life and society is to a significant extent a question of how governments and humanitarian actors integrate human rights into their disaster preparedness and response. To promote and facilitate a rights-based approach to disaster relief, the InterAgency Standing Committee (IASC) adopted Operational Guidelines on Protecting Persons in Natural Disasters in June 2006. This Pilot Manual has been drafted to accompany the Operational Guidelines. It intends to help people in the field to understand the human rights dimensions of their work in disaster response while giving them practical examples and operational steps about how some of these seemingly abstract concepts may be implemented. SOURCE: Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement Wed, 07 May 2008 17:23:48 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24231 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24231 La FIDH et son organisation affiliée, la Ligue mozambicaine des droits humains (LMDH), publient conjointement un rapport issu d’une mission internationale d’enquête effectuée au Mozambique du 11 au 18 mars 2007. Le rapport met en exergue le fait que si l’on peut saluer les efforts d’harmonisation du droit interne mozambicain avec les dispositions régionales et internationales de protection des droits des femmes ratifiées par le Mozambique, il existe encore des lacunes législatives et de nombreuses pratiques illégales qui engendrent de graves discriminations à l’égard des femmes. SOURCE: Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme Wed, 07 May 2008 15:37:38 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24227 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24227 D’innombrables familles de personnes disparues dans un conflit armé ou après des violences internes sont confrontées à l’incertitude quant au sort de leurs proches. Il reste beaucoup à faire pour répondre à ce problème douloureux et pour aider les familles à surmonter l’épreuve. SOURCE: Comité International de la Croix-Rouge Comité International de la Croix-Rouge Wed, 07 May 2008 12:30:36 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24214 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24214 At the end of 2002, whilst Congolese civilians, especially in the province of Ituri, continued to be subjected to grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the course of attacks by rebel groups and the Congolese army, the parties to the conflict met in Pretoria (South Africa) to negotiate the “Global and Inclusive Agreement” (Pretoria Agreement). The Pretoria Agreement, adopted on 17 December 2002, was intended to pave the way to a period of “democratic transition”, based on the following components: adoption of a ceasefire; creation of a unified national army; ending the intervention of foreign forces on Congolese territory; respect for human rights; and the organisation of free and democratic elections. SOURCE: International Federation of Human Rights International Federation of Human Rights Wed, 07 May 2008 12:17:29 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24211 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24211 The Armed Forced of the Philippines (AFP) and armed groups have been fighting for decades on the territory of the Philippines. Those armed groups include a variety of movements: the so-called “leftist” groups advocating for national democracy and economic and social rights (the New People’s Army – NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines); secessionist groups calling for the independence of Mindanao – the Southern island of the country (the Moro National Liberation Front – MNLF, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front – MILF); and groups with unclear objective which appeared more recently (Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah, Rajah Solaiman Movement). Some of these groups are considered as terrorist organizations. Tensions between armed groups and the Philippine government are not a new phenomenon; but the international context in the aftermath of September 9/11 combined with the close relation between the USA and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) has encouraged the latter to take additional measures to fight against terrorism. SOURCE: International Fact-finding Mission // the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates // the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims International Fact-finding Mission // the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates // the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims Wed, 07 May 2008 12:16:36 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24210 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24210 Ces dernières années, les hôpitaux publics du Burundi ont maintenu en détention des centaines de patients qui étaient dans l’incapacité de régler leur facture. Les patients étaient habituellement détenus pendant plusieurs semaines ou plusieurs mois, et dans un cas pendant plus d’un an. Ils étaient gardés par le personnel de sécurité, dans les services de l’hôpital ou dans un local séparé. Ceux qui n’avaient pas d’argent étaient souvent affamés s’ils n’étaient pas nourris par la charité des autres. Certains étaient obligés de libérer leurs lits pour les patients qui avaient les moyens de payer et devaient dormir par terre. Souvent, si la facture atteignait un certain montant, les plus pauvres ne recevaient plus aucun traitement, même s’ils avaient besoin de soins supplémentaires, incluant les soins post-opératoires élémentaires comme l’enlèvement des points de suture après une césarienne. SOURCE: Human Rights Watch - Défendre les droits humains à travers le monde Human Rights Watch - Défendre les droits humains à travers le monde Wed, 07 May 2008 11:41:24 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24204 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24204 Years after Secretary Rumsfeld described the GTMO detainees as the ‘worst of the worst’, we can now conclude, as one of our witnesses states, that many are more accurately described as “the unluckiest of the unlucky.” For its crucial to understand that a majority of the detainees were the victims of a bounty system that made them easy prey for local thugs who seized an opportunity to make a quick buck. Remember that only 5% of the inmates were captured by American forces. The rest were primarily purchased from Afghanis and Pakistanis. The fact that mistakes are made in the fog of war is understandable and, as in any human endeavor, are to be expected. But -- once discovered -- acknowledge them and fix them. Design a system that allows redress -– that embraces the rule of law in full measure – and that shows the world that American justice is not afraid of the truth but rather seeks the truth – however embarrassing. SOURCE: United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight Wed, 07 May 2008 11:40:16 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24203 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24203 My name is Emi MacLean and I am a Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, or CCR. CCR is a forty-year old litigation and education organization dedicated to advancing and protecting the Constitution and international human rights. We have been representing the men detained at Guantánamo since the prison opened in 2002. Through litigation and advocacy, we have been engaged in efforts to close Guantánamo and restore the rule of law. In the past six years, we have seen two Supreme Court decisions call for habeas hearings to proceed in federal court for the prisoners at Guantánamo – allowing them that most basic right, to challenge the legality of their detention in a fair hearing. Yet there have been 500 men released from Guantánamo, and 275 who remain – and not a single one has had a fair hearing. Only one Guantánamo prisoner has been convicted – and only then on a plea agreement negotiated by political actors to secure his release. And day by day, the military commission process intended to try a very small number of the Guantánamo prisoners is losing any semblance of legitimacy. Indeed, just last week, the former military commission chief prosecutor testified of behalf of a defendant. SOURCE: United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight Wed, 07 May 2008 11:38:35 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24202 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24202 Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting me to speak to the Subcommittee today about my client, Oybek Jamoldinivich Jabbarov, an Uzbek national who is being unlawfully detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. My client is one of approximately 30 detainees who represent “Guantánamo’s refugees.” These are detainees who have been cleared for release by the U.S. government -- for some, years ago, yet they remain imprisoned at Guantánamo because they come from “high-risk” countries where there is a potential danger of persecution or torture should they be forcibly returned, and no country, other than Albania, has been willing to accept these refugees from Guantánamo for resettlement. Indeed, the United States has already transferred detainees from Guantánamo to high-risk countries despite credible individualized fears of persecution or torture upon their repatriation. My client is one of these refugees, who fears repatriation to his native Uzbekistan. Oybek’s 6-year long imprisonment at the hands of the U.S. government is a tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now 30 years old, Oybek and his pregnant wife, infant son, and elderly mother were living with other Uzbek refugees in northern Afghanistan in 2001 when fighting broke out between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. Oybek was not captured on the battlefield, nor was he armed. Instead, he accepted a ride from a group of Northern Alliance soldiers he met at a roadside teahouse who said they would give him a ride to Mazar-e-Sharif. Unfortunately, instead of driving him to Mazar-e-Sharif, the soldiers took Oybek to Bagram Air Base where they handed him over to U.S. forces, undoubtedly in exchange for a sizable bounty. In a desperately poor, war-torn country, Oybek was an easy mark for soldiers responding to leaflets dropped throughout Afghanistan by the U.S. military offering thousands of dollars in cash rewards to anyone who turned over a Taliban or foreign fighter. SOURCE: United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight Wed, 07 May 2008 11:37:02 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24201 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24201 My name is Stephen H. Oleskey and I am a partner at the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. I have been a member of the Massachusetts Bar since 1968 and am also admitted in New York and New Hampshire. I previously served as Massachusetts Deputy Attorney General and Chief of that office’s Public Protection Bureau. My practice generally focuses on complex civil litigation. By way of background to today’s testimony, my experience in the critical matter before this Committee arises from my role as co-lead counsel and pro bono advocate for six Guantanamo detainees in the period since July 2004, following the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in the Rasul and Hamdi cases. Our clients, Algerians by birth, were working and living with their wives and children in Bosnia and Herzegovina—an American ally—when, at the demand of the United States, they were arrested by Bosnian police in October 2001. Relying on statements by representatives of the United States that our clients were suspected of planning terrorist acts in Bosnia, the men’s homes and offices were thoroughly searched and examined. After a ninety-day investigation, and based on the recommendation of the Bosnian prosecutor, the Bosnian Supreme Court ordered in January 2002 that all six men be released for lack of evidence. This decision came the same day as a binding order by the Human Rights Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina instructing the Bosnian government to take all necessary steps to prevent our clients from being taken out of the country. Nevertheless, as our clients were about to leave the Central Jail in Sarajevo, the Bosnian executive turned them over to the U.S. military forces resident in Bosnia as part of the international peace-keeping mission. In a harrowing 30-hour trip in which they were stripped naked, subjected to an invasive medical exam, short shackled by their hands and wrists, blinded and deafened by sensory deprivation helmets, and verbally and physically abused, the men were flown to the just-opened Camp Delta facility at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they have been held since January 20, 2002. Our clients have now been detained for nearly six and one-third years without charge much less trial, and without being shown any of the evidence against them. SOURCE: United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight Wed, 07 May 2008 11:34:44 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24200 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24200 My name is Elizabeth Gilson. I am a lawyer practicing in New Haven, Connecticut. I represent two men imprisoned by the U.S. Government at Guantánamo Bay since 2002, without any charges or a hearing. My clients are brothers, Uighur refugees from China. They are among 17 Uighurs held at Guantánamo. The Uighurs are a Turkic Muslim minority group in far-west China. Their homeland, East Turkistan, was annexed by the Chinese Communist Government in 1949 and re-named the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The Uighur people have been, and continue to be, brutally oppressed by the Chinese Government. The oppression of the Uighur people, and the state-sponsored mass-migration of millions of ethnic Han Chinese into the Uighur homeland, has led to ethnic tensions and to a Uighur nationalist movement, much to the displeasure of the Chinese Government. Chinese officials allege that Uighurs carried out “terrorist operations” by using “literary means” and “arts and literature” to “distort historical facts.” Uighurs were accused of “taking advantage of art and literature to tout the products of opposition to the people and to the masses and of advocating ethnic splittist thinking.” SOURCE: United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight Wed, 07 May 2008 11:33:59 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24199 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24199 Dans le monde, 100 à 140 millions de femmes ont subi une mutilation sexuelle. Habitant principalement en Afrique sub-saharienne, 5 % vivent dans les pays européens d’immigration africaine ainsi qu’en Amérique du Nord. Dans les pays d’origine, la situation varie, certains pays pratiquant massivement l’excision, comme la Guinée, où 96 % des femmes sont excisées, et d’autres, presque pas, comme le Niger, où seulement 2 % des femmes le sont. L’excision est par ailleurs en recul dans ces pays. La France compterait en 2004 autour de 50 000 femmes adultes excisées. Une enquête est en préparation pour mieux connaître les conséquences de ces mutilations afin d’améliorer la prise en charge sanitaire de ce problème. SOURCE: Institut national d'études démographiques Institut national d'études démographiques Wed, 07 May 2008 11:25:37 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24197 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24197 The nature of our enemy in the war on terror has created many difficult and unique problems for the United States. Al Qaeda and its jihadist allies are not controlled by any particular state or government. Indeed, they reject the nation-state and any kind of “international” law as organizing principles. They do not recognize, accept or implement the law of armed conflict. They do not have a regular and transparent command structure. They do not wear uniforms, carry their arms openly, or distinguish themselves from the surrounding civilian population in any other manner. They do not obey the laws and customs of war in their operations. Because of these purposeful decisions made by the enemy, it has been far more difficult than in conventional conflicts for the United States to identify their forces with certainty. That, of course, is exactly why guerillas and others engaged in “asymmetrical warfare” – especially those operating among and preying upon the civilian population – organize themselves as irregulars. The lawful armed forces of states, by contrast, do mark themselves out from the civilian population, and this is one of the key criteria they must meet, under the laws and customs of war, in order to achieve the status of “lawful” or “privileged” combatants. Such lawful combatants, when acting under the authority of a sovereign state, are not subject to prosecution for their violent acts – so long as they otherwise operate in accordance with the applicable laws of armed conflict – and are also entitled to the various rights and privileges of honorable prisoners of war upon defeat or capture. SOURCE: United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight United States House of Representatives // Committee on Foreign Affairs // Subcommitee on International Organization, Human Rights and Oversight Wed, 07 May 2008 11:05:00 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24192 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24192 L’expression « mutilations sexuelles féminines » (on parle aussi d’« excision » et de « mutilation génitale féminine/excision ») désigne toutes les interventions aboutissant à une ablation partielle ou totale des organes génitaux externes de la femme et/ou toute autre lésion des organes génitaux féminins pratiquée à des fins non thérapeutiques. On estime à 100 à 140 millions le nombre des filles et des femmes qui ont subi ces mutilations dans le monde et, chaque année, trois millions de filles sont susceptibles de subir le même sort. La pratique de ces mutilations sexuelles féminines existe partout dans le monde, mais elle est plus fréquente dans les régions occidentales, orientales et nord-orientales de l’Afrique, dans certains pays d’Asie et du Moyen Orient, et parmi certaines communautés immigrantes d’Amérique du Nord et d’Europe. Les mutilations sexuelles féminines n’ont aucun avantage connu pour la santé. Au contraire, on sait qu’elles sont préjudiciables à bien des égards aux filles et aux femmes. En premier lieu et avant tout, elles sont douloureuses et traumatisantes. L’ablation de tissus génitaux normaux et sains entrave le fonctionnement naturel de l’organisme et a diverses conséquences immédiates ou plus durables sur la santé. Ainsi, les enfants nés de femmes ayant subi ces mutilations sexuelles féminines sont exposés à un risque plus élevé de décès néonatal par comparaison aux enfants nés de femmes n’ayant pas subi ces mutilations. Les communautés qui pratiquent les mutilations sexuelles féminines invoquent un ensemble de raisons sociales et religieuses pour justifier la poursuite de la pratique. Du point de vue des droits de l’homme, cette pratique est le reflet d’une inégalité entre les sexes profondément enracinée, et constitue une forme extrême de discrimination à l’encontre des femmes. Les mutilations sexuelles féminines sont presque toujours pratiquées sur des mineures et constituent par conséquent une violation des droits de l’enfant. Cette pratique viole également les droits à la santé, à la sécurité et à l’intégrité physique de la personne, le droit à être protégé contre la torture et les traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants, et le droit à la vie lorsque l’intervention entraîne la mort. Des décennies de travaux de prévention entrepris par les communautés locales, les gouvernements et les organisations nationales et internationales ont contribué à une réduction de la prévalence des mutilations sexuelles féminines dans certaines régions. Les communautés qui ont eu recours à un processus de prise de décision collectif ont été en mesure d’abandonner cette pratique. De fait, si les communautés pratiquant les interventions décident elles-mêmes d’abandonner les mutilations sexuelles féminines, la pratique peut être éliminée très rapidement. Plusieurs gouvernements ont promulgué des lois interdisant la pratique et, lorsque ces lois ont été complétées par une éducation tenant compte des sensibilités culturelles et par des activités de sensibilisation du public, la pratique a diminué. Les organisations nationales et internationales ont joué un rôle essentiel en se faisant les défenseurs de l’abolition de la pratique et en obtenant des données qui confirment ses conséquences néfastes. La Déclaration solennelle sur l’égalité entre les sexes en Afrique de l’Union africaine et son Protocole à la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples relatif aux droits de la femme en Afrique représentent ainsi une contribution majeure à la promotion de l’égalité des sexes et à l’élimination des mutilations sexuelles féminines. SOURCE: Organisation mondiale de la santé Organisation mondiale de la santé Wed, 07 May 2008 10:55:58 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24188 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24188 Généralités: Les données fiables sur les conséquences obstétricales des mutilations génitales féminines sont rares. L’étude porte sur les effets des différents types de mutilations sur le devenir obstétrical des femmes. Méthodes: 28 393 femmes se présentant pour une naissance unique entre novembre 2001 et mars 2003 dans 28 centres d’obstétrique au Burkina Faso, au Ghana, au Kenya, au Nigéria, au Sénégal et au Soudan, ont été examinées avant l’accouchement pour vérifier si elles avaient subi des mutilations ou pas, et ont été classées selon le système de l’OMS : mutilation de type I, excision du prépuce, avec ou sans excision partielle ou totale du clitoris ; mutilation de type II, excision du clitoris, avec excision partielle ou totale des petites lèvres ; mutilation de type III, excision partielle ou totale des organes génitaux externes et suture ou rétrécissement de l’orifice vaginal (infibulation). Des informations prospectives sur les facteurs démographiques, sanitaires et génésiques ont été recueillies. Les participantes et leurs nouveau-nés ont été suivis jusqu’à la sortie de la mère de l’hôpital. Interprétation: Les femmes qui ont subi des mutilations génitales féminines ont une probabilité nettement plus élevée de complications obstétricales que celles qui n’en ont pas subi. Il semble aussi que le risque augmente avec l’ampleur de la mutilation. SOURCE: Organisation mondiale de la santé Organisation mondiale de la santé Wed, 07 May 2008 10:42:58 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24187 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24187 There are approximately 50 detainees at Guantánamo from “high-risk” countries where there is a very real danger of persecution or torture should they be forcibly returned, or who are unable to return to their home countries because they are stateless.* In 2008, none have been charged or tried after more than six years of imprisonment, and virtually all remain in solitary confinement at a “supermaximum” security prison intended to be outside the rule of law. What follows are short profiles of seven refugees who remain at Guantánamo today. Detainees who fear return include some detainees from Algeria, China, Jordan, Libya, the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Russia, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan. SOURCE: Center for Constitutional Rights Center for Constitutional Rights Wed, 07 May 2008 10:11:35 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24183 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24183 Le 16 février 2003, au lendemain de la plus grande mobilisation pacifiste connue à ce jour, le New York Times titrait en première qu’il existait maintenant un véritable contrepouvoir à l’hégémonie américaine, celui de la société civile mondiale. Bien qu’il soit difficile de soutenir une telle thèse ce contrepouvoir reste immensément diffus et hétérogène il n’en reste pas moins qu’il existe aujourd’hui une variété d’acteurs nonétatiques qui prennent position souvent quotidiennement sur une vaste série d’enjeux qui affectent autant les pays du Nord que ceux du Sud. Parmi ces acteurs, trois grands ensembles, les organisations non gouvernementales internationales (ONG), les réseaux de militants et les mouvements sociaux transnationaux sont particulièrement importants autant par leur capacité de mobilisation que par les liens qu’ils créent à travers les frontières et la compréhension commune qu’ils apportent des grandes problématiques de l’heure, l’environnement, la pauvreté, la souveraineté alimentaire, la condition féminine, les droits de la personne et évidemment, la paix (Caouette 2007). SOURCE: Groupe d'Étude et de Recherches sur la Sécurité Internationale Groupe d'Étude et de Recherches sur la Sécurité Internationale Wed, 07 May 2008 09:15:43 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24175 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24175 Entre le 19 et le 27 août 2007, une première manifestation est orga nisée à Rangoon par deux mouvements d’opposition birmans : la Ligue Nationale pour la Démocratie (LND), le principal parti d’opposition dont la secrétaire générale est Mme Aung San Suu Kyi (Prix Nobel de la Paix en 1991 et assignée à résidence depuis 2003) et le mouvement Génération 88, groupe informe d’anciens étudiants ayant participé au grand soulèvement de l’été 1988 dont la répression brutale a fait quelque trois mille morts. SOURCE: Programme Paix et sécurité internationales - Université Laval Programme Paix et sécurité internationales - Université Laval Wed, 07 May 2008 09:09:51 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24174 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24174 To assess the Council’s performance, we focused on its most meaningful human rights actions. By meaningful, we mean resolutions and motions that were widely considered among HRC stakeholders to be important and were treated as such by members through their statements and actions. Resolutions on technical issues and those that passed by consensus and without significant debate were not considered meaningful for the purposes of our evaluation. The most important class of resolutions for diplomats and human rights activists has always been the “name and shame” votes where a specific country is censured. Out of more than 190 UN member states, the Council’s predecessor body each year typically censured only five or six. The power of such denunciations in the world of human rights and the arena of international relations cannot, therefore, be underestimated. Large and small states alike exert considerable diplomatic efforts to avoid censure. SOURCE: UN Watch UN Watch Tue, 06 May 2008 12:10:12 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24163 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24163 Freedom House has prepared this overview report as a companion to our annual survey on the state of global political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World. We are publishing this report to assist policymakers, human rights organizations, democracy advocates, and others who are working to advance freedom around the world. We also hope that the report will be useful to the work of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The reports are excerpted from Freedom in the World 2008, which surveys the state of freedom in 193 countries and 15 select territories. The ratings and accompanying essays are based on events from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2007. The 17 countries and 3 territories profiled in this report are drawn from the total of 43 countries and 8 territories that are considered to be Not Free and whose citizens endure systematic and pervasive human rights violations. SOURCE: Freedom House Freedom House Tue, 06 May 2008 11:24:38 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24158 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24158 In January 2002 Fiji presented its first ever country report to the United Nations committee charged with monitoring compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). One of the most controversial sections of the report addressed the use of the practice of bulubulu, or village reconciliation, in cases of rape. During the public presentation of the report in New York City by Fiji’s Assistant Minister for Women, the nuances of bulubulu as a sociolegal practice in postcolonial Fiji were obscured within what quickly became complicated layers of political miscommunication, the imperatives of a surging Fijian nationalism, and, as always, the politicization of culture. On the one hand, the CEDAW committee, though staffed by members from a range of different countries, was required by its UN mandate to fulfill a fairly simple task: to decide whether individual countries were taking the requirements of CEDAW seriously, as measured by national selfassessments of violence against women and official responses to this violence. But on the other hand, because CEDAW expresses both the conceptual and practical constraints of universal human rights discourse, the UN committee was prevented from considering the social contexts within which bulubulu functions in Fiji. To open up the possibility that CEDAW’s requirements for defining, preventing, and redressing violence against women were contingent upon their correspondence with circumstance, tradition, or instrumental efficacy would be to deracinate CEDAW, to destroy its potential as one key component in a still-emergent international human rights system. SOURCE: The Human Rights Institute // University of Connecticut The Human Rights Institute // University of Connecticut Tue, 06 May 2008 09:44:43 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24147 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24147 The Kingdom of Bahrain is the first Arab country to have all its detainees released from Guantanamo. They were released as the result of a diplomatic and security agreement between the Bahraini and American authorities, but in reality this would have not taken place without the activity and continued pressure exerted by institutions of civil society, human rights organizations, the US law firm representing Bahraini detainees, a popular movement, and the parliament. The Bahraini detainees were released on a batch basis; three were returned in November 2005, and the other three were returned individually in October 2006 and July and August 2007. SOURCE: Bahrain Center for Human Rights Bahrain Center for Human Rights Tue, 06 May 2008 09:30:52 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24146 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24146 Amnesty International is deeply concerned about ongoing human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict in Somalia, specifically torture and other ill-treatment, rape, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detention, and attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Some 6,000 civilians were reportedly killed in fighting in the capital Mogadishu and across southern and central Somalia in 2007, and over 600,000 Somali civilians were internally displaced from and around Mogadishu. In addition, an estimated 335,000 Somali refugees fled Somalia in 2007, despite enormous obstacles to their movement, including Kenya’s closure of its border with Somalia, armed combatants and bandits on the roads, and perilous travel across the Gulf of Aden. Somali civilians suffered violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the conflict areas of southern and central Somalia, on the roads as they fled conflict areas, and in camps and settlements to which they fled. UNICEF announced on 14 February 2008 that some 90,000 children could die in Somalia in the next few months due to a lack of adequate funding for nutrition, water and sanitation programmes. SOURCE: Amnesty International Amnesty International Tue, 06 May 2008 08:17:54 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24145 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=24145 Long before launching the global “war on terror,” the United States launched what it called the “war on drugs,” a law enforcement and crime control effort targeting its own people. Ostensibly color-blind, the US drug war has been and continues to be waged overwhelmingly against black Americans. Although white Americans constitute the large majority of drug offenders, African American communities continue as the principal “fronts” in this unjust effort. Defenders of the current anti-drug efforts claim they want to protect poor minority communities from addiction as well as the disorder, nuisance, and violence that can accompany drug dealing. But the choice of imprisonment as the primary anti-drug strategy, and the effect of this policy on neighborhoods, evokes the infamous phrase from the Vietnam War, “it became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it.” SOURCE: Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch