"SPECIAL EDITION" NEW YORK POST from The Yes Men on Vimeo.
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Showing posts with label UN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UN. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
New York Post Reacts Angrily to Environmental Stunt
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Sudan President Kneels to God, Crushing the Poor in the Process
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's expulsion of thirteen international aid agencies working in the country - as retaliation for the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court - is a contemporary example of a long tradition of tyrants invoking God's name in justification of the oppression of the poor - a tradition that includes Medieval Europe's anti-semitism and South Africa's apartheid laws.
In rejecting the authoity of the Court, the unelected President, who came to power in a military coup twenty years ago, announced to a large and enthusiatic crowd of supporters that "We will remain firm and never bow to anyone except the Almighty God."
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has warned that more than 2.2 million Sudanese face the risk of starvation and disease if the aid agencies are expelled. The thirteen international aid agencies have been working in a varity of projects, including healthcare, education and agriculture (picture from Oxfam).
In rejecting the authoity of the Court, the unelected President, who came to power in a military coup twenty years ago, announced to a large and enthusiatic crowd of supporters that "We will remain firm and never bow to anyone except the Almighty God."
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has warned that more than 2.2 million Sudanese face the risk of starvation and disease if the aid agencies are expelled. The thirteen international aid agencies have been working in a varity of projects, including healthcare, education and agriculture (picture from Oxfam).
According to the United Nations, meanwhile, some 300,000 people have died in Darfur since the conflict started in 2003. More than two million have been displaced.
- five counts of crimes against humanity: murder ; extermination ; forcible transfer ; torture ; rape
- two counts of war crimes: intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population; pillaging
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Cluster Bombs - Why the World Needs the Ban
News that Sri Lanka's last functioning hospital in the country's northern war zone has been hit by cluster bombs is a grim reminder of why the world needs to implement the treaty signed in Dublin last year banning the production, transfer, stockpiling and use of cluster munitions.
Reports of the bombing of the hospital in the area of Puthukkudiyiruppu were communicated by U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss who said that despite the earlier evacuation of the hospital, 15 U.N. staff members and 81 members of their families were apparently trapped in the immediate area, which is one of the last regions of Sri Lanka to remain under control of the Tamil Tigers movement. Tamil fighters have been fighting for an independent homeland in the north of Sri Lanka for over 25 years. Casualty figures for this latest attack are currently unknown.
Disputed video footage from an alleged earlier cluster bomb attack in Sri Lanka appears to show fragments of munitions with cyrillic markings, indicating a possible Russian source to the cluster bombs allegedly owned by the Sri Lankan military.
The 2008 Dublin agreement was signed by 111 countries despite the absence at the conference of the major producers of cluster bombs - the United States, China, Russia, Israel, India and Pakistan.
Cluster bombs scatter smaller munitions across a wide area on impact, causing widespread destruction. Such weapons also cause a long-term danger to civilians, especially children, who may pick up unexploded bomblets by mistake.
The government of Sri Lanka publicaly denies using cluster munitions in its long campaign against the Tamil seperatist movement. Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Reports of the bombing of the hospital in the area of Puthukkudiyiruppu were communicated by U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss who said that despite the earlier evacuation of the hospital, 15 U.N. staff members and 81 members of their families were apparently trapped in the immediate area, which is one of the last regions of Sri Lanka to remain under control of the Tamil Tigers movement. Tamil fighters have been fighting for an independent homeland in the north of Sri Lanka for over 25 years. Casualty figures for this latest attack are currently unknown.
Disputed video footage from an alleged earlier cluster bomb attack in Sri Lanka appears to show fragments of munitions with cyrillic markings, indicating a possible Russian source to the cluster bombs allegedly owned by the Sri Lankan military.
The 2008 Dublin agreement was signed by 111 countries despite the absence at the conference of the major producers of cluster bombs - the United States, China, Russia, Israel, India and Pakistan.
Cluster bombs scatter smaller munitions across a wide area on impact, causing widespread destruction. Such weapons also cause a long-term danger to civilians, especially children, who may pick up unexploded bomblets by mistake.
The government of Sri Lanka publicaly denies using cluster munitions in its long campaign against the Tamil seperatist movement. Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Gaddafi - Head of African Union?
Diplomatic sources in Egypt are quoted as saying that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has been elected by member states as the head of the African Union who have been meeting this weekend in Addis Ababa.
If true, the news is a significant achievement for Libya's head of state, who came to power in a military coup in 1969 and is the world's longest-standing head of government. As reported on this blog, the Colonel has been making efforts in recent years to reintegrate Libya into the international community following years of diplomatic isolation and UN sanctions. These efforts included hosting African tribal chiefs in Libya last summer, a gathering which included the acclamation of Colonel Gaddafi as "king of kings".
The African Union's aims include accelerating "the political and socio-economic integration of the continent" while Colonel Gaddafi himself has advocated the introduction of a common African currency. The Colonel is clearly not an Afro-skeptic.
If true, the news is a significant achievement for Libya's head of state, who came to power in a military coup in 1969 and is the world's longest-standing head of government. As reported on this blog, the Colonel has been making efforts in recent years to reintegrate Libya into the international community following years of diplomatic isolation and UN sanctions. These efforts included hosting African tribal chiefs in Libya last summer, a gathering which included the acclamation of Colonel Gaddafi as "king of kings".
The African Union's aims include accelerating "the political and socio-economic integration of the continent" while Colonel Gaddafi himself has advocated the introduction of a common African currency. The Colonel is clearly not an Afro-skeptic.
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Friday, January 30, 2009
War Crime Evidence Against Rumsfeld?
The UN has an "obligation" to investigate whether government officals serving under the Bush administration ordered torture, says United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak.
Former Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld is a particular focus of attention: "In our report that we sent to the United Nations, we made it clear that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld clearly authorized torture methods and he was told at that time by Alberto Mora, the legal council of the Navy, ‘Mr. Secretary, what you are actual ordering here amounts to torture.’ So, there we have the clear evidence that Mr. Rumsfeld knew what he was doing but, nevertheless, he ordered torture.”
A cross party Senate report released in December found Rumsfeld and other top administration officials responsible for abuse of Guantanamo detainees in US custody. It said Rumsfeld authorized harsh interrogation techniques on December 2, 2002 at Guantanamo Bay.
Source: CNN
Source: CNN
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Somali Pirates - Stop Paying Ransoms
The Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has called on shipping companies and insurance companies to stop paying ransoms to Somali pirates.
Executive Director of UNODC Antonio Maria Costa made the appeal alongside proposals for "ship riders" from neighbouring nations to be placed on warships operating off the horn of Africa. The task of these local law enforcement officers would be to formally arrest pirates apprehended by international navies and escort them to their home country to stand trial.
"Pirates can not be keel-hauled or forced to walk the plank, nor should they be dumped off the Somali coast", said Costa, "they need to be brought to justice". The UNODC Director suggested that countries such as Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania and Yemen could supply officers who, subject to international agreement, could be placed on board the European, American and Indian naval vessals currently patrolling the waters off Somalia, from where local organised gangs have been attacking and capturing ever larger ships and demanding payments in return for the crew, ship and cargoes.
Similar patterns of regional cooperation have sucessfully reduced piracy in the Straits of Malacca, near Indonesia, and have also been used to apprehended and charge drug traffickers in the Carribean in recent years.
The UN proposal comes on the back of an International Conference on Piracy around Somalia which took place on December 11th in Nasirobi.
Executive Director of UNODC Antonio Maria Costa made the appeal alongside proposals for "ship riders" from neighbouring nations to be placed on warships operating off the horn of Africa. The task of these local law enforcement officers would be to formally arrest pirates apprehended by international navies and escort them to their home country to stand trial.
"Pirates can not be keel-hauled or forced to walk the plank, nor should they be dumped off the Somali coast", said Costa, "they need to be brought to justice". The UNODC Director suggested that countries such as Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania and Yemen could supply officers who, subject to international agreement, could be placed on board the European, American and Indian naval vessals currently patrolling the waters off Somalia, from where local organised gangs have been attacking and capturing ever larger ships and demanding payments in return for the crew, ship and cargoes.
Similar patterns of regional cooperation have sucessfully reduced piracy in the Straits of Malacca, near Indonesia, and have also been used to apprehended and charge drug traffickers in the Carribean in recent years.
The UN proposal comes on the back of an International Conference on Piracy around Somalia which took place on December 11th in Nasirobi.
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Friday, December 05, 2008
USA and Zimbabwe
What, you may wonder, do the world's only super power and the imploding nation of Zimbabwe have in common?
The answer is that they were, on October 31st, the only two nations at the United Nations to vote against a motion to begin work towards an internationally binding Arms Trade Treaty.
The answer is that they were, on October 31st, the only two nations at the United Nations to vote against a motion to begin work towards an internationally binding Arms Trade Treaty.
147 nations voted in favour of beginning the process of framing such a legally binding treaty. and two voted against at the General Assembly in New York City.
The Control Arms Campaign, which supports such a treaty, contains more background to this issue and why it matters that international agreement is reached in trying to limit the flow of weapons around the world. Many such arms, as a result of legal loopholes, make their way into conflict zones around the world, extending their scope and deepening their impact, particularly in Africa and Latin America.
Let's hope that the incoming adminstration seeks more positive allies than the regime of Robert Mugabe when considering its foreign policy options in the coming years.
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Biofuels Back in the News
News from the biofuel world this week:
- The UN announces that Indonesia is leading the world in deforestation at a rate of 1.9 million hectares per year. This is in the context of the government's commitment to allow 6 million hectares of land to be cultivated for palm oil production - a prime component in biofuels.
- In a separate report, the UN Food and Agriculture Agency has called for an urgent review of international policies and subsidies for biofuels, claiming that they are contributing significantly to rising food prices and food shortages in poor countries. "The report finds that while biofuels will offset only a modest share of fossil energy use over the next decade they will have much bigger impacts on agriculture and food security," it said in its annual State of Food and Agriculture report.
- Unilever, the food and consumer goods group (whose products include Signal Toothpaste, Hellman's, Knorr and Flora) has publicly expressed its support for the scrapping of compulsory biofuel targets and subsidies - the first such call from a major international corporation.
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Drug Use Taking Hold in Saudi Arabia
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has named Saudi Arabia as having the middle east's largest number of users of illegal amphetamines.
Seizures of the stimulant Captagon (or counterfeit versions) in the Kingdom rose from 291 kgs in 2000 to over 12 tons in 2006, a development which the UNODC has described as a "dramatic and unprecedented increase."
Use of amphetamines is most common among those in their early 20s. Some use it as a stimulant to help with mental alertness during university exams; others acquire a deeper dependence on the drug, which in its inhaled or injected forms can create symptoms similar to cocaine.
It is believed that most of the drugs currently available in Saudi Arabia - which has the death penalty for drug trafficking - originate in Turkey or Bulgaria and are transported overland via Syria and Jordan.
Seizures of the stimulant Captagon (or counterfeit versions) in the Kingdom rose from 291 kgs in 2000 to over 12 tons in 2006, a development which the UNODC has described as a "dramatic and unprecedented increase."
Use of amphetamines is most common among those in their early 20s. Some use it as a stimulant to help with mental alertness during university exams; others acquire a deeper dependence on the drug, which in its inhaled or injected forms can create symptoms similar to cocaine.
It is believed that most of the drugs currently available in Saudi Arabia - which has the death penalty for drug trafficking - originate in Turkey or Bulgaria and are transported overland via Syria and Jordan.
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Kosovo - Not Yet a Done Deal
News that the EU has delayed its planned police mission to Kosovo suggests that rocky times lie ahead for Europe's newest country.
Once the mandate for the UN mission in Kosoko (UNMIK) ended in mid-June, the EU was due to take responsibility for providing a police service to help stabilise the republic during its transition to independence.
Having threatened to use its veto in the UN to stop the EU initiative, Russia has effectively blocked the establishment of the EU police force in Kosovo. The result will be months of uncertainty, during which Serbia, from whom Kosovo succeeded in February of this year, will continue to attempt to derail the emergence of a fully-fledged Kosovon state. Russia backs Serbia in its rejection of Kosovon independence.
Meanwhile, Serbia continues to try and consolidate its position over districts in northern Kosovo (which boarder Serbia and have Serb majorities.) Leposavic, Zvecan and Zubin Potok have had little input from UNMIK and, in the absence of a Kosovon or European police force, are vulnerable to Serbian annexation, a move which the US says they "absolutely oppose."
The Kosovon government, meanwhile, has come under criticism for its failure to secure sufficient recognition by other nations to be granted a place at the UN general Assembly. 97 is the number of endorsements required. So far, less than 50 countries have formerly recognised the Republic of Kosovo. Recent countries to do so include Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Once the mandate for the UN mission in Kosoko (UNMIK) ended in mid-June, the EU was due to take responsibility for providing a police service to help stabilise the republic during its transition to independence.
Having threatened to use its veto in the UN to stop the EU initiative, Russia has effectively blocked the establishment of the EU police force in Kosovo. The result will be months of uncertainty, during which Serbia, from whom Kosovo succeeded in February of this year, will continue to attempt to derail the emergence of a fully-fledged Kosovon state. Russia backs Serbia in its rejection of Kosovon independence.
Meanwhile, Serbia continues to try and consolidate its position over districts in northern Kosovo (which boarder Serbia and have Serb majorities.) Leposavic, Zvecan and Zubin Potok have had little input from UNMIK and, in the absence of a Kosovon or European police force, are vulnerable to Serbian annexation, a move which the US says they "absolutely oppose."
The Kosovon government, meanwhile, has come under criticism for its failure to secure sufficient recognition by other nations to be granted a place at the UN general Assembly. 97 is the number of endorsements required. So far, less than 50 countries have formerly recognised the Republic of Kosovo. Recent countries to do so include Sierra Leone and Liberia.
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)