• US republican proposed bill to recognise Baluchistan's right to self-determination

    Feb 20

    Republican, Dana Rohrabacher, introduced a bill recognising Baluchi nation's right to self-determination last week.

    The bill stated that the Baluchi nation “have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country; and  they should be afforded the opportunity to choose their own status.”

    Rohrabacher said,

    “The Baluchi, like other nations of people, have an innate right to  self-determination,”

    “The political and ethnic discrimination they suffer is tragic and made more so because America is financing and selling arms to their oppressors in Islamabad.”

    There have been increasing calls to recognise the Baluch nation's right to independnece. In December last year, M. Chris Mason, a retired diplomat and a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in Washington DC, argued that,

     

     

    “The permanent solution to the Pakistan problem … lies in 20th-century history. ... The answer to the current Pakistani train wreck is to continue this natural process [of Bangladesh gaining independence from Pakistan] by recognizing Baluchistan’s legitimate claim to independence.”
  • Sexual violence as a weapon of war destroys 'fabric of society'

    Writing in the Huffington Post, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallstrom, condemned sexual violence as a weapon of war and pledged to "push for an end to impunity and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice".

    See here for article in full.

    Extracts reproduced below:

    "Of particular concern is the fact that many of the reported cases of sexual violence seem to have been perpetrated by national security forces -- the very same people who have a mandate to protect their own citizens. Whereas the uniform should symbolize security, discipline and public service, in too many places it instead represents rape, pillage and terror."

    "Another concern is the use of sexual violence, or the threat thereof, as a tool of political repression in the context of elections and civil unrest."

    "Conflict-related sexual violence is used by political and military leaders to achieve political, military and economic ends, destroying the very fabric of society. It is a silent, cheap and effective weapon with serious and long-lasting effects, affecting both the individual and the chances of building a sustainable peace. There is a lingering myth that rape is inevitable in times of war. But if sexual violence can be planned, it can be punished; if it can be commanded, it can be condemned."

    "Impunity remains a major concern in many countries. That is why I have made fighting impunity for crimes of conflict-related sexual violence a priority."

    "Much still remains to be done in the fight against rape as a tactic of war. With the help of the Security Council, I will continue to push for an end to impunity and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice. In this fight, I count on the Security Council's willingness to be prepared to use all means available."

  • 18-year-old Tibetan monk dies after self immolation
    The London-based International Campaign for Tibet has stated that a monk has died after setting himself alight in protest, at a monastery in South West China.

    The monk, 18-year-old Nangdrol, has raised the number of Tibetans who have self immolated to at least 21 in the past year alone, as protests against the Chinese government’s control over the Tibetan regions continue to grow.

    Chinese armed forces have cut off access to the Tibetan areas making independent reports almost impossible to verify, but it is known that security forces maintain a high presence in the area and monks are being forced to undergo “political re-education”.

    The latest self immolation comes as reports emerged of high profile Tibetan writer,  Gangkye Drubpa Kyab being arrested by security forces on Saturday, as the Chinese government looks to crack down on the protests.

    Earlier this week the Chinese Vic President Xi Jinping visited the US, where senior officials raised concerns regarding human rights in the country with Senator John McCain, the Republican party’s 2008 Presidential candidate discussing the growing wave of self-immolations.

    See our earlier posts:

    Twentieth Tibetan self-immolation reported (09 Feb 2012)

    Clashes in Tibet after self-immolation (14 Jan 2012)

    2 more Tibetans self immolate in China (09 Jan 2012)

    Cultural genocide fans self-immolations – Dalai Lama (07 Nov 2011)

  • War crimes complaint filed against British Government

    A complaint against the British Government has been filed by legal charity Reprieve in regards to the failure of the government to secure the release of a Pakistani man, held in Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.

    Yunus Rahmatullah was captured by British forces in 20054 and was then handed to the US military who have held him without charges ever since.

    Last December three judges ruled that Rahmatullah should be freed but on Monday appeal judges cancelled the release order after being told that American authorities were not going to "play ball" and British ministers had "reached the end of the road".

    The legal team representing the Foreign Office said the US is not prepared to transfer Rahmatullah and had no obligation to do so under international law.

    In a letter to the Metropolitan police commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, Rahmatullah's lawyers at the legal charity Reprieve said that he and another man were severely abused in Iraq before being taken out of the country, in breach of the Geneva Conventions.

    "The evidence that certain war crimes were committed also seems beyond dispute," they wrote.

  • Iran stops selling oil to UK and France

    The Iranian oil ministry announced on Sunday it has stopped all sales of crude oil to British and French companies.

    A spokesman was quoted on the ministry’s website as saying:

    "Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped … we will sell our oil to new customers. We have our own customers … The replacements for these companies have been considered by Iran."

    The announcement came after threats earlier this week to stop oil supplies to other countries in Europe.

    Tehran is thought to attempt to pre-empt sanctions by the EU, stopping all imports of oil from the country from 1 July.

    Iran is facing increasing pressure and sanctions due to its continued enrichment of uranium, which the US and the EU believe to be an attempt to build nuclear warheads.

    Iran relies on crude sales for 80% of its exports revenue.

    Iran denies State TV reports of ending EU exports - 15 Feb 2012

    Iran threatens EU with sanctions - 29 Jan 2012

  • China urges end to Syria violence

    A Chinese envoy on a visit to Syria has called on all sides to end the violence.

    Zhai Jun has expressed Chinese support for the government’s plan to hold a referendum on the constitution on February 26.

    However, the opposition has called for a boycott of the referendum and rejected the plans for as long as violence was still ongoing.

    "The position of China is to call on the government, the opposition and the rebels to halt acts of violence immediately." said Zhai Jun.

    "We hope that the referendum on a new constitution as well as the forthcoming parliamentary elections pass off calmly."

    Mr Zhai said he hoped "calm [can] be restored as quickly as possibly, as that serves the interests of the Syrian people".

    One of the leading opposition groups, the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, said it was "impossible for us to take part in this referendum before a stop to the violence and killings".

    China was one of 12 countries, including Russia and Iran, which voted against a resolution, calling for an end to violence, passed by the UN General Assembly earlier this week.

    137 countries supported the resolution while 17 countries, including Sri Lanka, abstained.

  • Australia adopts resolution confirming Srebrenica genocide

    The Australian parliament adopted a resolution Saturday, confirming the judgement of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, that the massacre of over 8000 Bosnian muslims in Srebenica in 1995, was a genocide.

    The US, Canada, and European Union countries, have already adopted such a resolution.

  • Le Pen charged for 'condoning war crimes' - France

    The founder of France's far-right, National Front part, Le Pen, was found guilty of condoning war crimes on Thursday, and given a suspended jail sentence of three months and a fine.

    In 2005, Le Pen had remarked that the Nazi occupation of France during the second world war, “not been particularly inhumane, even if there were blunders.”

  • Serbs reject Albanian rule in Kosovo

    A referendum by ethnic Serbs in the north of Kosovo have rejected rule by the Kosovo authority in Pristina.
    Kosovo Serb election officials said 99.7% of voters rejected rule by the ethnic Albanian majority.

    Serbs in the north of Kosovo have obstructed attempts by the Kosovo government to establish authority in the region and have rejected attempts by NATO forces to implement law and order.

    The Kosovo government denonunced the referendum saying it "does not produce any legally and politically binding effect and as such is not valid".

    Serbian President Boris Tadic was also critical of the referendum, saying it was harmful to Serbia’s interest.

    Kosovo and Serbia reach border deal - 04 Dec 2011

    NATO demolishes barricades in Kosovo amid Serb protests - 21 Oct 2011

  • Mladic genocide trial pushed back until May
    The trial of the former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic has been delayed until May 14th to allow the defence team more time to prepare and analyse thousands of pages of evidence.

    The UN backed war crimes court had initially planned to the case of Mladic, nicknamed the “Butch of Bosnia”, on the 27th of March. The 68-year-old defendant faces 11 charges of war crimes and two counts of genocide, for his role in Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

    In December the number of crimes in the indictment against Mladic was reduced from 196 to 106 due to Mladic’s ailing health.

    He is being charged with responsibility for acts committed in the siege of Sarajevo and the infamous Srebenica massacre, which claimed the lives of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in just five days. Evidence from 410 witnesses has been collected, with 158 expected to testify in court against Mladic, which will be used alongside 28,000 exhibits.

    See our earlier posts:

    Judge hails Mladic arrest, hopes same for Sri Lanka and Syria leaders (03 June 2011)

    One step closer to justice (29 May 2011)
  • Iran denies State TV reports of ending EU exports

    The Iranian oil ministry has denied state media reports claiming it has ended exports to various EU countries in response to an EU oil embargo.

    Press TV, an Iranian channel recently banned in the UK by Ofcom, claimed exports to the Netherlands, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain were cancelled.

    The EU imposed an oil embargo on Iran last month, but it will only come into effect in July, due to the reliance of several EU states on Iranian oil.

    Oil prices rose after Press TV’s report, but the European Commission said it would not make a difference as member states were already switching suppliers.

    "Oil is something you can get on the international markets, and Saudi Arabia said they would increase their production," a spokeswoman for EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, told the AFP news agency.

    Iran threatens EU with sanctions - 29 Jan 2012

  • Britain pushes initiative to gather evidence of Syrian crimes
    “On top of this, we must end any illusion the regime has that it can act with impunity in Syria. There is no doubt that mass murder is being committed. Some 6,000 people have already been sacrificed to the regime's brutal determination to cling to power. Those carrying out these crimes may well think that they will get away with it.

    However that is what Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, the architects of the blood-soaked siege of Sarajevo, probably thought; or Slobodan Milosevic when he presided over ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Bosnia; or Charles Taylor when he committed his crimes in Sierra Leone. They were wrong: all have gone on ultimately to face international justice.

    Those ordering the siege of Homs, the shelling of Idlib and the torture of Syrian children need to be put on notice that their crimes will come to light, and that they should stop these actions now.

    Part of this must be to record the testimony and evidence of those who are fleeing Syria or suffering on the ground.

    We will be sending British experts to the region in the coming days and weeks to help gather evidence and document human rights violations, working with NGOs already carrying out such work. We must help ensure that atrocities in Syria are documented to an international evidential standard suitable for local and international courts.

    In conflicts of the past there was no systematic collection of evidence against those who committed heinous crimes. This has made prosecutions harder to mount, and longer and more costly when they take place. Often witnesses are required to testify many years after the event. Our work will be designed to support that process now.

    The world must send a clear message to the Syrian regime that those who commit atrocities will be held to account, and those taking part in them now should urgently reconsider their actions.

    There is a chance of saving Homs and its people from the fate endured by cities like Sarajevo in the 1990s.”
    -    British Foreign Secretary William Hague writing in The Sunday Telegraph. See his full piece here.
  • Protesters take to streets of Bahrain one year on

    Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Bahrain's capital, Manama, to mark the one-year anniversary of pro-democracy uprisings.

    Protesters gathered around Pearl Square, now commonly referred to as 'Freedom Square', the epicentre of last year's demonstrations, and vowed to fight on. 

    Riot police and security forces tried to curtail the protests using tear gas, after the government warned of a zero-tolerance approach to any such anti-government activity.

    Over 60 people are believed to have died since the protests started and there have been numerous accounts of protesters being tortured by Bahraini security forces. 

    The spokesperson for the US State Department, Victoria Nuland, urged the Bahraini leaders to “exercise restraint and operate within the rule of law and international judicial standards”.

  • China will not protect Syrian regime – Prime Minister

    The Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has told reporters that China will not protect Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.

    The statement, which marks a significant change in tone since vetoing a UN resolution condemning the crackdown on opposition activists, is thought to be a move designed to limit damage after widespread criticism of its perceived protection of the Syrian state.

    Mr Jiabao addressed reporters after talks with EU officials in Beijing.

    Speaking alongside European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, Jiabao insisted China was committed to a peaceful solution in Syria.

    "What is most urgent and pressing now is to prevent war and chaos so that the Syrian people will be freed from greater sufferings," he said.

    "This accords with the fundamental interests of the Syrian people and also will contribute to the peace and stability of the entire Middle East region.

    "To achieve this objective, China supports all efforts consistent with the UN charter purposes and principles, and we are ready to strengthen communication with all parties in Syria and the international community and continue to play a constructive role.

    "China will absolutely not protect any party, including the government of Syria."

    Russia and China veto resolution on Syria - 04 Feb 2012

    ‘A supremely pragmatic actor’ - 17 Jan 2011

  • EU approves aid package to Burma

    An EU official has announced the approval of a $128m aid package for Burma to develop the country’s infrastructure, in a sign of further easing of sanctions placed on the state.

    Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the package would be for improving the country’s health, education and basic infrastructure.

    Piebalgs suggested that more sanctions will be lifted if elections, scheduled to be held in April, are free and fair.

    "There is concern [on the government side] that they've made reforms, they released political prisoners, they opened up, but the sanctions are still in place," Mr Piebalgs said.

    "Now it's very clear that the watershed is elections in April. If it goes as expected and is free and fair, then everyone would expect the easing of sanctions to continue."

    The opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest last year, is standing for a seat in parliament.

    "The president mentioned a lot about Aung San Suu Kyi and it was all positive. That was unexpected," Mr Piebalgs said.

    "He said she was extremely important in the country and her participation in the political process was crucial. That's a very positive sign."

    Aung San Suu Kyi candidacy accepted for elections - 06 Feb 2012

    Burmese military intensify fighting in Kachin region - 19 Jan 2012

    Myanmar agrees ceasefire with Karen rebels - 13 Jan 2012

    US hails dramatic change in Burma as Kachin complain of atrocities - 11 Oct 2012

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