1) Syria: Dissident Riad Seif Arrested
Amnesty International reports that on January 28, 2008, Syrian dissident, former parliamentarian, and long-time human rights advocate, Riad Seif, was arrested for attending a meeting of pro-democracy opposition groups. Seif, who was released from prison only two years ago after a five-year sentence for organizing pro-democracy meetings, is 61 years old and in very poor health. Many believe that sending Seif to prison is tantamount to sentencing him to death.
Amnesty International considers Seif to be a prisoner of conscience, and is calling for his immediate and unconditional release. Seif and 10 other Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change (DDDNC ) detainees are facing trial on charges of "weakening national sentiments" (under Article 285 of the Syrian Penal Code), "broadcasting false or exaggerated news which would affect the morale of the country" (Article 286), joining an "organization formed with the purpose of changing the financial or social status of the state" (Article 306), "inciting sectarian strife" (Article 307), and "joining a secret association" (Article 327).
In the late 1990s, as a parliamentarian, Seif focused on issues of transparency and corruption, eventually exposing corruption in the Syrian regime's inner circle. He then also began establishing organizations dedicated to increasing civic consciousness. One such organization was the Friends of Civil Society Forum. In 1999, the regime denied the forum a license, a prerequisite for large gatherings in the repressive state, but Seif nevertheless convened the group and its better known successor organization, the National Dialogue Forum. In 2000, Seif's pro-democracy political reform activities increased with more meetings and forums, and plans to establish a political party called the Social Peace Movement Party. In February 2001, Seif was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and arrested.
Amnesty International recommends that concerned individuals please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, Arabic, French or your own language:
- calling for the immediate release of Seif, and for all charges against him to be dropped, as they appear to be based solely on his peaceful exercise of his right to express his beliefs, as
granted by the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Syria is a state party;
- calling for Seif to be allowed to travel abroad immediately so that he can obtain necessary medical treatment;
- calling on the Syrian authorities to fulfill their obligation to ensure that Seif enjoys the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as set out in Article 12 of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR);
- urging the Syrian authorities to implement measures laid out in the UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which allow for "the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels."
Appeals should be sent to:
President
His Excellency Bashar al-Assad
Presidential Palace
al-Rashid Street
Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic
Fax: + 963 11 332 3410
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Health
His Excellency Dr Maher al-Husami
Ministry of Health
Majlis ash-Sha?b
Damascus
Syrian Arab Republic
Fax : +963 11 3311114
E-mail: health-min@net.sy
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Justice
His Excellency Muhammad al-Ghafari
Ministry of Justice
Al-Nasr Street, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic
Fax: +963 11 666 2460
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Foreign Affairs
His Excellency Walid Mu?allim
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
al-Rashid Street
Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic
Fax: + 963 11 3327620
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of Syria accredited to your country.
For more information from Amnesty International, go to:
www.amnesty.org/fr/alfresco_asset/31e75601-cf5b-11dc-8648-4760f58735f5/mde240052008eng.pdf
For more information from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, go to:
www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC06.php?CID=1131
2) Kenya: Civil Society Organizations Work towards Peace
The recent deadly riots that have spread throughout Kenya following the country?s disputed December 27, 2007 presidential election have generated a growing number of responses from civil society organizations unified in their efforts to bring an end to the violence. In an open letter to Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, the Ugandan-based Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) pleads for the help of these leaders in managing the crisis. In particular, FHRI urges both to unequivocally denounce the use of violence in all its forms; to give the Kofi Annan initiative a chance; to listen to all world leaders, mediators, human rights defenders and ordinary Kenyans; and to keep all options open with respect to holding new elections. Moreover, in a statement, the World Movement?s Africa network, the African Democracy Forum (ADF) maintains that the outbreak of violence is being used to justify the curtailment of fundamental freedoms and human rights. The ADF asserts that the violence in Kenya includes not only the disorganized protests of Kenyan citizens responding to the recent elections, but also actions undertaken by reactivated organized militias and Kenya?s police and military force. The ADF statement urges Kenyan political leaders to remain restrained in their messages to supporters; calls on Kenyan leaders to institute a Neutral Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission to address current injustices incurred by Kenyan citizens; requests increased international humanitarian assistance; and recommends that the government of Kenya ratify the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
Representatives of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) were in Kenya on January 22-23, 2008 to meet with leaders of political parties and civil society representatives to discuss the local political and humanitarian crisis. According to its statement, NIMD believes that the current conflict in Kenya is not ethnic but political, and maintains that the structural solution to the conflict lies in reforming the political and electoral system to prevent one group from ever again gaining absolute power. According to NIMD, mediation attempts by Kofi Annan and other former presidents from Africa currently represent the best hope of resolving the conflict.
To read the open letter by FHRI, go to: www.wmd.org/documents/Feb08demnews3a.pdf
To read the statement by ADF, go to: www.wmd.org/documents/Feb08demnews3b.pdf
To read the statement by NIMD, go to: www.nimd.org/default.aspx?menuid=14&type=newsitem&contentid=474&special
3) Somali: Human Rights Group Condemns Murder of the Journalist
On January 28, 2008, Hassan Kafi Hared, a journalist working for the Somali National News Agency (SONNA) and gedonet.com, was killed when a remote-controlled mine exploded in the city of Kismayu, Somalia. According to a statement released by the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net), Hared's death, following the murder of at least eight other journalists in 2007, continues a dangerous trend in Somalia. EHAHRD-Net maintains that these murders exacerbate the problems of an already impoverished media that regularly denies the Somali population of their right to information. EHAHRD-Net urges a series of reforms, appealing to the new Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein to implement his promise to ensure freedom of expression in Somalia.
Go to: www.yorku.ca/crs/AHRDP/index.html
4) Macedonia: South East Europe Media Organization Calls for Investigation into Attack on the Journalist
On the night of January 25, 2008, Goran Gavrilov, a journalist and General Manager of a private radio station network with national coverage in Macedonia, was brutally attacked in front of his home in Stip, eastern Macedonia. The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)?a network of editors, media executives, and journalists from South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI)?strongly condemns this attack, maintaining that every threat against a journalist in Macedonia is a threat against the fundamental principle of freedom of expression in the country. SEEMO has called for a full investigation by Macedonian authorities into this incident.
Go to: www.seemo.org
5) Iran: Women?s Rights Activist Summoned to Court
The Women?s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP) reports that on February 22, 2008, Parvin Ardalan, an Iranian women?s rights activist, writer, and journalist, was summoned to court in Iran. Authorities issuing the summons did not provide information as to why she was being called before the court. Ardalan is a founding member of the "One Million Signatures Campaign"?the objective of which is to pressure the Iranian government, through the collection of signatures, to end discriminatory laws against women in Iran. Ardalan?s summons follows a number of recent arrests of women's rights activists by Iranian authorities, including women who were collecting signatures as part of the "One Million Signatures Campaign." At present, no specific law exists in Iran criminalizing the collection of signatures. The women arrested have been officially charged with "propaganda against the state."
For more information, go to: www.learningpartnership.org/en/advocacy/alerts/iranwomenarrests0307
For a previous alert regarding the One Million Signatures Campaign, go to: www.wmd.org/democracynews/dec07.html#1
6) Azerbaijan: Journalist Attacked
On February 22, 20-year-old Azerbaijani journalist Agil Khalilov was attacked and beaten when participants in an illegal land sale spotted him trying to film them with a video camera. Khalilov works for the opposition newspaper, AZADLIG. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Khalilov's assailants broke one of his fingers, tried to strangle him, and grabbed his camera and documents. Passers-by who came to Khalilov's aid said his assailants included local government representatives and a ministry official. AZADLIG has long been the target of harassment. Its editor, Ganimat Zahidov, is currently being held on charges of "aggravated hooliganism." His brother, Sakit Zahidov, a reporter for the newspaper, was sentenced on October 4, 2006 to three years in prison for possession of drugs for personal consumption although prosecutors failed to demonstrate that he in fact committed this crime.
The Baku-based Institute of Peace and Democracy (IPD), a participating organization in the World Movement for Democracy, has prepared a report about the physical attacks and crimes committed against journalists from March 2005 to March 2007. In light of recent events, IPD is now collecting information for the past year. IPD invites journalists who have been assaulted in the last year and their attorneys to send information about employees the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Public Prosecutor's Office who were involved in investigations of the crimes committed against the journalists. Journalists can email their information to ipd@online.az or send their information via fax to +99 412 494 1458.
For more information about the attack on Khalilov, go to: www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25898
For more information on the current state of media freedom in Azerbaijan, go to: www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25485
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News on projects, issues and experiences; articles and reports; news of events and information on groups and organizations, from people working on youth activism and democracy issues.
Please remember, we do not monitor groups, and do not wish to censor material. We hope the information here is truthful, but we expect that participants reading this information will try to gather as much information as they can about these groups and current affairs.
1) Project: International School of Human Rights and Democracy (NIS)
The International School of Human Rights and Democracy (ISHRD) is a joint program of a number of human rights and civil organizations (the International Youth Human Rights Movement, Moscow Helsinki Group, Kiev Center of Civil Freedoms, Free University) aimed at educating human rights defenders and civil activists from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Moldova and other countries in perspective. The School is suggested to become an educational and resource centre for young activists in the issues of Human Rights, advocacy, democracy, etc.)
The program was launched in February 2008 by two educational events that took place in Kiev and Moscow.
On February 4-5 the International Students' School of Human Rights took place at the Kiev University. It was organized by the "Debate Academy", Youth Human Rights Movement - Ukraine and Kiev Student Parliament. It was attended by participants from Ukraine and Belarus and conducted by the trainers from Russia and Ukraine.
The program included a theoretic part: introduction into the conception of Human Rights and the main mechanisms of their defense, description of the so-called 9 and half steps for public interests defending, as well as a practical part: the participants worked out their projects for students' interests defending.
On February 13-23 the Winter School of Human Rights was organized in Moscow by the Moscow Helsinki Group with the participation of the International Youth Human Rights Movement.
More than 30 of young human rights defenders and civil activists from different regions of Russia and the NIS learned from leading experts in different spheres of Human Rights defense.
There were serious discussions on different technologies of defense for concrete people whose rights were violated by the authorities. The sections devoted to the legal mechanisms for human rights defenders, such as the European Court of Human Rights, national judicial and extrajudicial mechanisms, work with Office of the Public Prosecutor, work with the Ombudsman took the most part of the School. Sufficient attention was paid to the public-legal mechanisms of public interests' defense such as monitoring, negotiations, informational actions, public actions were also studied.
Future events of the ISHRD that are already planned are the two study sessions in Ukraine for young people from Eastern European countries: one in spring 2008 on Human Rights for young advocates and Human Rights defenders and another one in autumn 2008 for young civil and political activists on Human Rights and democracy issues as well.
More information: inthrschool [at] hrworld.ru
2) Report: Talks about the Past as Talks about the Future (Germany)
On February 8-11 the international conference "Remembrance as Adherence to Peace, Democracy and Human Rights" was conducted in Dresden (Germany). The conference was organized by a number of organizations, including "Kulturburo Zachsen" and Dresden municipality.
The conference was dedicated to the anniversary of Dresden large-scale bombardment in the end of World War II. From February 13 to 14, 1945 the city centre was entirely destroyed as a result of a series of British and American aviation air strikes. The number of victims is between 25 and 40 thousands. This date is used by the neo-Nazi to blame the Allies in the "German Holocaust".
Academics form different universities of Europe presented their reports to the participants. Also working groups were functioning which consisted of civil activists, human rights defenders and artists.
The conference participants, among them the representatives of the international Youth Human Rights Movement, discussed such issues as the mechanism of remembrance functioning, modern revisionism which, for example, reveals in attempts of speaking about the "German Holocaust" and denial of the Jewish Holocaust.
Just after the conference, on February 16, a mass meeting of neo-Nazi (5-6 thousands) was held in Dresden. The German citizens' response could be seen on large banners: "It's our common fault".
3) Project: Youth United for Peace, Friendship, and Understanding among all Nations (USA)
Bill Kupec, a retired high school principal from New York, who has served for a number of years as an intercultural leader in his community, initiated the development of an intercultural program YUPFUN (Youth United for Peace, Friendship, and Understanding among all Nations), that is supposed to involve newly formed youth groups in 34 countries. Groups representing their home countries will be paired, as partners, with youth groups in foreign countries. The goal of the newly formed organization is to have youth actually involved in deliberations and decision-making at local, national, and international level meetings. Partner groups will exchange information gained from these meetings creating an awareness and an understanding of the life style of people of another culture. In the process they will receive invaluable experience as future leaders.
Now the initiator is seeking National Group Leaders to assist him with the planning.
For more information, please, contact Bill Kupec, peopamb [at] optonline.net.
4) News: Freedom to Andrey Kim! (Belarus)
On February 16 the international action of solidarity with Belarusian civil activist Andrey Kim and other political prisoners in Belarus took place in Moscow, Minsk and Kiev.
Andrey Kim who is a participant of the Belarusian organization "Initiative" was detained during a peaceful protest action on January 21. After 10 days of administrative arrest he was transferred to prison as a criminal suspect. The prosecution insists that Andrey kicked a policeman and hurt him. His right to meet mother was denied, and his attorney had to sign the obligation not to disclose the circumstances of the case. All the court proceedings are closed.
Human rights defenders and civil activists, Andrey's colleagues, think that he is persecuted for expressing his opinion and his active civil stand. Formerly Andrey organized and supported solidarity actions with political prisoners in Belarus.
The participants of the actions demand to discharge Andrey and not to use political prisoners as "hostages in trade with Europe".
On February 26 Andrey Kim celebrated his 22nd birthday in imprisonment.
The international Youth Human Rights Movement launched a solidarity campaign with Andrey Kim on February 18.
5) Project: Help Build Democracy (Togo)
To better implement the national program on youth involvement in politics in Togo, 1TSE, an association that trains for citizenship and citizen involvement in the city affairs for real democracy, urges all people and organizations which would like to share experiences and finance their activities to get in touch with them through this e-mail address: togoethnies [at] yahoo.fr for further discussions and to receive the project for study.
Check out WYMD's Resource Page
for toolkits, guides, and more articles.
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1) Castro resigns as Cuban president (The Guardian)
February 19, 2008
Fidel Castro today announced his retirement as the Cuban head of state, 49 years after seizing power in an armed revolution.
The US and UK welcomed the move as a chance for Cuba to begin moving towards democracy, although Washington said it was unlikely to remove its long-standing trade embargo, even without Castro in charge.
The 81-year-old leader - who handed interim power to his brother, Raúl, after undergoing surgery in July 2006 - said in a letter, published on the site of the official state newspaper, Granma: "I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept ... the position of president of council of state and commander in chief."
Raúl Castro, 76, is considered the most likely candidate to be appointed as the new president by the Cuban parliament.
Fidel Castro had not appeared in public for almost 19 months after being hit by an undisclosed illness, believed to be intestinal.
His retirement brings down the curtain on a political career that spanned the cold war, CIA assassination attempts and the demise of Soviet communism.
He has outlasted nine US presidents, spending longer in power than any leader who was not a monarch.
Word of his retirement spread slowly on Cuba, with state-run radio only carrying the news at around 5am local time (10.00 GMT) - several hours after his resignation statement was posted on the internet.
"It is like losing a father," Luis Conte, an elderly Cuban man, told the Associated Press.
The US president, George Bush, said Castro's resignation marked a potential opportunity for Cuba's 11.2 million people.
"The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy," Bush told reporters during a visit to Rwanda.
The US president's comments were backed Downing Street. A spokesman for the prime minister, Gordon Brown, said: "Our position on Cuba is a long-standing one, which is that we have always sought to encourage a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba.
"Anything which encourages progress down that path is something we would welcome."
However, it appears unlikely that Cuba will see any loosening of the four-decade US economic embargo - which has severely constricted the Cuban econony - soon.
"I can't imagine that happening any time soon," the US deputy secretary of state, John Negroponte, said when asked whether Washington would lift the embargo.
Although Castro has stepped down as president, he remains a member of parliament and is likely to be elected to the 31-strong council of state.
He will also retain his powerful post as the first secretary of Cuba's Communist party.
A new parliament, elected in January, will meet on Sunday. In turn, it will elect a new president in March - just as the US goes through the process of choosing its own presidential candidates.
Raúl Castro was second in the Cuban power structure, serving as the defence minister until taking over from his brother in July 2006.
However, it had always been felt that his role would be temporary, with a younger person taking over in the long term. One of the current favourites for the position is Carlos Lage, the 56-year old vice president.
Lage, a paediatrician by profession, has risen to prominence in recent months after overseeing economic changes in Cuba. These have included negotiations over oil from Venezuela, whose president, Hugo Chávez, is Castro's strongest international supporter.
Read the full article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/19/cuba
Visit The Guardian website:
http://www.guardian.co.uk
2) Kosovo Is Recognized but Rebuked by Others (The New York Times)
February 19, 2008
Kosovo won the recognition of the United States and its biggest Western European allies on Monday, while earning rebukes and rejections from Serbia, Russia and a disparate mix of states the world over who face their own separatist movements at home.
One day after the tiny Balkan province declared its independence, the world had its chance to choose sides. While some countries had made their decisions months in advance, that did not diminish the drama of whether a newly birthed nation would be welcomed into the fold or rejected.
Major European powers, including France, Germany and Britain, along with the United States, officially recognized Kosovo, even as officials took pains to point out that it should not serve as an invitation or precedent for other groups hoping to declare independence. That is because one of the biggest unknowns remains whether Kosovo?s declaration could rekindle conflicts elsewhere, including in ethnically divided Bosnia.
As a result, the reverberations were felt from Russian-backed enclaves in Georgia to the Taiwan Strait. Spain, a member of the European Union and one of the countries with soldiers in the NATO force in Kosovo, refused its recognition. Yet Turkey, despite its history of conflict with Kurdish separatists, chose to support Kosovo's independence.
In a letter to Kosovo's president, Fatmir Sejdiu, President Bush wrote: "On behalf of the American people, I hereby recognize Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state. I congratulate you and Kosovo's citizens for having taken this important step in your democratic and national development."
In an apparently conciliatory gesture, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in her own statement, "The United States takes this opportunity to reaffirm our friendship with Serbia, an ally during two world wars."
But Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica of Serbia, which has regarded Kosovo as its heartland since medieval times, vowed that Serbia would never recognize the "false state." Mr. Kostunica recalled Serbia?s ambassador to Washington, news agencies reported. The State Department had no comment on those reports on Monday evening.
At the United Nations, Boris Tadic, Serbia's president, told the Security Council that the declaration of independence "annuls international law, tramples upon justice and enthrones injustice." He asked that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon direct the United Nations mission chief in Kosovo to declare the action "null and void" and to dissolve the Kosovo Assembly, which adopted the declaration on Sunday.
Addressing the Council before Mr. Tadic spoke, Mr. Ban said the United Nations administration, approved by the Council in 1999, would continue to run Kosovo until a formal transition could be arranged.
European foreign ministers meeting in Brussels appeared to reach a minimal common position, acknowledging that Kosovo had declared independence and allowing those nations that wanted to recognize it formally to do so.
Bernard Kouchner, France?s foreign minister, said the declaration was "a victory for common sense," and pointed to what he hoped would be future reconciliation between Serbia and Kosovo. "I don't know at what date, in which year, but Kosovo and Serbia will be together in the European Union," he said.
However, the foreign minister of Spain, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, told reporters that the declaration did not respect international law and that Spain would not recognize Kosovo. "The government of Spain will not recognize the unilateral act proclaimed yesterday by the Assembly of Kosovo," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Among European Union members, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia have also been reluctant to recognize Kosovo.
Diplomatic recognition is more than just a popularity contest for Kosovo, a desperately poor, predominantly Muslim landlocked territory of two million people. It needs the help and support of international institutions if it expects to improve its dire economic condition. A United Nations protectorate since 1999, it is policed by 16,000 NATO troops and has an unemployment rate of around 60 percent and an average monthly wage of $250.
Read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/world/europe/19kosovo.html
Visit The New York Times website:
http://www.nytimes.com
3) Musharraf safe as opposition, falls short of majority (International Herald Tribune)
February 20, 2008
Despite the strong protest vote against President Pervez Musharraf and his party in parliamentary elections Monday, the Pakistan People's Party, which won the most seats, said it would not move against him since it does not have the two-thirds majority needed to impeach him or change the Constitution.
"Musharraf is our problem," said Ahmad Mukhtar, who successfully contested a seat against the powerful ally of Musharraf, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussein. "Today we don't have the two-thirds majority," he added. "It is very difficult to talk about impeachment."
The Pakistan People's Party does not have a majority on its own and will have to enter a coalition to form a government. It is holding discussions with the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which won the second-largest number of seats in Parliament. Between them, with the reserved seats allocated for women added, the two parties will have the necessary simple majority to form a government and nominate a prime minister.
But to go beyond that would mean bringing smaller parties into the coalition or some independents, said Rehman Malik, a senior party official. "It depends how strong we are in coalition," he said of any move against Musharraf.
Musharraf dismissed calls for him to resign. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he was asked if he would resign or retire after the election results. "No, not yet," he was quoted saying. "We have to move forward in a way that we bring about a stable democratic government to Pakistan." He said that he would work "with any party and any coalition because that is in the interest of Pakistan."
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the slain leader Benazir Bhutto who now leads her Pakistan People's Party, ruled out working with any members of the former government at a news conference Tuesday.
But Malik said that most of the senior members of the pro-Musharraf party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, had lost their seats in the election, and those who had won seats in Parliament were not so strongly affiliated to the party and were acceptable. Some had already sent messages saying that they wanted to work with the Pakistan People's Party, he said. He said it would take the party three or four more days of talks to work out a coalition.
Sharif and Zardari were due to meet Thursday in Islamabad to discuss an alliance. Pakistan People's Party officials say a coalition between the two would be the strongest and most preferable combination. One compelling reason is that Sharif's party is the strongest in the important province of Punjab and will likely form the government there. Any government that does not have the Punjab government on board is intrinsically unstable, the officials said.
Yet the two parties have different positions on Musharraf and on the man who has most threatened Musharraf's position as president, the deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Sharif has made it clear that he will not work with Musharraf, and he has called for the former general to resign. But Zardari has not taken a clear stand on the issue. He has not called for his resignation, nor has he ruled out working with Musharraf.
The two parties drew up a Charter for Democracy last year in which they pledged to undo many of the constitutional changes passed under Musharraf and previous military regimes, including an article that allows the president to dismiss Parliament and the government.
Musharraf also passed a law that banned anyone from serving as prime minister for a third term, which was clearly aimed at Sharif and the late Bhutto, both of whom have served two terms as prime minister.
International election observers said Wednesday that the election had not met international standards, mainly because of the seriously flawed pre-election environment, in particular the period of emergency rule in November, that favored the government candidates.
Yet they said the election still proved to be a competitive race - voters were able to express their will despite the difficult environment - and it produced a result that has been broadly accepted by the population.
Read the full article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/20/asia/pakistan.php
Visit International Herald Tribune website:
http://www.iht.com
4) Deal offers fresh hope to Kenya (BBC News)
February 28, 2008
Many Kenyans had feared the imminent outbreak of renewed violence when peace talks were suspended on Monday but instead there is now fresh hope after the two rival leaders agreed to share power.
Both President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga gave ground under massive international pressure and the intervention of African Union Chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
They unveiled a deal that is intended to steer the country towards much-needed reconciliation after allegations of rigging in last December's elections.
However, as chief mediator Kofi Annan said: "The journey is far from over. In fact it is only beginning."
A peaceful destination will only be reached only if Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga show the political will.
After such a bitter dispute, which has cost 1,500 lives, trust between the two men has been in short supply - this is why it took more than a month of tortuous talks for them to reach a deal.
This will not be the first time that the two leaders have formed a joint government - they did it in 2002 but it lasted barely three years before they fell out.
While Mr Odinga looks set to take up the new post of prime minister, it is not clear who prevails in the event of a disagreement between him and President Kibaki.
If the deal is strong enough to overcome that hurdle, the new optimism will prove well-founded.
All eyes in a country that has been mourning for the past two months now turn to parliament, where MPs convene next Thursday to vote for the National Accord and Reconciliation Act that will usher in these changes.
The first challenge facing the two leaders once the act is operational is to appoint a new cabinet, whose members will be shared out equally.
The violence has left deep ethnic divisions and a new cabinet must be named with a regional balance to appease communities that felt left out in the last administration.
Apart from the regional balance, Kenyans are eager to see the parties merge their policies and deliver an equal share of national resources.
Economic disparities lie behind much of the ethnic tension which exploded into violence after the disputed election.
One major policy difference is that of decentralising power and therefore wealth.
This was a key campaign pledge of Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) but not Mr Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU).
The coalition partners now have to marry these and other areas of disagreement.
President Kibaki is credited with steering economic growth in his first term in office but corruption thrived within his administration, drawing much criticism from foreign diplomats.
This is yet another hurdle for the new coalition - both sides include people linked with corruption scandals in the past.
Many doubt if the leaders will have the courage to sacrifice them and inject fresh blood into the administration since it is clear some of those tainted by scandal helped fund the campaigns and remain very influential.
Read the full article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7269769.stm
Visit BBC News website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk
5) Armenia pressures opponents, arrests 30 for riots (Reuters)
March 4, 2008
Armenian police have arrested 30 opposition activists for starting a riot which killed eight people, the Prosecutor-General said on Tuesday, in a clampdown on opponents during a state of emergency.
The ex-Soviet state's top military commander also said he needed the emergency laws to ensure stability but opposition leaders accused the authorities of abusing their powers.
"Thirty people have been detained for provoking mass disturbances on March 1, not obeying the police and violent actions against policemen," the Prosecutor-General's office said in a statement.
Police had already arrested a handful of prominent opposition figures - for allegedly plotting a coup or hoarding firearms - during daily mass demonstrations against a Feb. 19 presidential election.
The protesters accuse Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan of rigging an election last month in which he officially won 53 percent of the vote and his main rival, former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, won 21.5 percent.
Armenia's current President and Sarksyan's ally, Robert Kocharyan, ordered the army onto the streets of Yerevan and imposed emergency laws during riots on Saturday - the worst civil violence since Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Now armed soldiers loiter on Yerevan's street corners and armoured personnel carriers stand in the main square imposing the military's control and ready to counter any demonstrators.
"The situation in Yerevan is fully under control," General Seyran Ohanyan, the chief of Armenia's general military staff, told a news conference.
"If it's needed, we'll help police to guarantee public order."
Armenia is an ancient Christian state on the fringes of the Caucasus, an unstable transit route for oil between the Caspian Sea and Europe.
Envoys from Europe, the United States and the Vatican have flown to Armenia since the state of emergency to talk to the government and opposition leaders who say the laws are an abuse of the authorities' powers.
"This is a terror which goes to a different level," Arman Musinyan, Ter-Petrosyan's spokesman said.
Also on Tuesday parliament discussed stripping four opposition members of parliament, accused of provoking violence, of their immunity from prosecution.
Read the full article:
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USL0491466620080304
Visit Reuters website:
http://www.reuters.com
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1) Conference "Giving a stronger voice to civil society in the European Union neighbourhood", Brdo (Slovenia), April 2, 2008
The Conference on the role of civil society in the European neighbourhood - particularly the Eastern European partners of the European Neighbourhood Policy and countries which are part of the accession process - is well placed in the context of the Slovenian Presidency and its priorities: Western Balkans, European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Policy.
Organised under the auspices of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency, the conference provides an excellent opportunity for civil society to send a political message to the EU regarding the need to develop a coherent and coordinated strategy for sustainable civil society development beyond EU borders. This event is part of a process (ITS Advocacy Campaign) to launch a debate at EU and national levels on creating sustainable partnership relations between civil society actors, the EU and national authorities.
For more information please visit: http://www.ecas.org.
2) UNITED conference "Get Educated, Fight Racism!", Stockholm (Sweden), May 27 - June 1, 2008
Education has a key role to play in eradicating racism and valuing diversity and it is a responsibility for all educational establishments, including those with few or no ethnic minority pupils. Promoting racial equality demands a whole school approach and commitment from all those who are involved in the life and work of their school.
That's why UNITED for Intercultural Action together with a number of partner organizations invite you to attend the conference in Stockholm on May 2008, so you can be a part of putting an agenda into place to address this problem.
The conference is planned for ± 70 participants (living in Europe) who represent (inter) national anti-racist, anti-fascist, refugee, human rights and minority rights organizations. Active grass-roots groups from all over Europe are also invited. Participation is rotated from one conference to another. Priority will be given to nominations from young delegates (under 30 years old) with a minority background. Preference is given to those organizations that actively take part in UNITED campaigns. Participants should act as multipliers, spreading the information to as many people as possible. We will try to reach an equal balance of female/male participants and a good geographical distribution. Each organisation can nominate only ONE delegate.
The working methods used at the conference include plenary sessions, working groups, lectures, political cafés, presentations, debates, intercultural 'games', information market, cultural activities, open forum.
Deadline for nominations is March 25, 2008.
For more information please visit: http://www.unitedagainstracism.org.
3) Summer Institute on Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Santa Cruz and La Paz (Bolivia), June-July 2008
The Alliance for Conflict Transformation (ACT), in partnership with Nur University announces the Summer Institute on Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution (IPCR). The course is an intensive 4-week, 6-graduate credit residential programme for English speaking professionals; graduate and upper-level undergraduate students intended to build the capacity of current and future professionals in a variety of fields to make a critical difference in furthering peaceful relations in the world. The course will provide an overview of the theory and practice of conflict resolution and peacebuilding with a focus on providing concrete skills participants can use in the field.
For more information please visit: http://www.conflicttransformation.org.
4) International Summer Academy on Human Security, Graz (Austria), July 20-30, 2008
The International Summer Academy on Human Security is part of the HUMSEC project (www.humsec.eu) and will be held in the Human Rights City of Graz.
The project is designed to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between transnational terrorist and criminal organizations in the peace-building process of the Western Balkan region. Through the organisation of an annual summer academy, the HUMSEC network aims to bring the scientific discourse closer to civil society, to strengthen democratic principles and to raise awareness by means of human rights education and education for democratic citizenship of the threats that transnational terrorist and criminal organizations bring for the peace-building and reconstruction process in the Western Balkan region.
The summer academy is designed as ten-day-course for postgraduate students, young professionals, young researchers and representatives of NGOs whose work agenda focuses on the topics of terrorism, organized crime and peacebuilding. Special focus will be made on the selection of participants from South Eastern and Eastern Europe. Full or partial scholarships will be available in limited numbers (the list of eligible countries is available at www.summeracademy.etc-graz.at).
Deadline for applications is April 15, 2008.
For more information please visit: http://www.summeracademy.etc-graz.at.
5) WITNESS Video Advocacy Institute (VAI), Montreal (Canada), July 19 - August 2, 2008
The WITNESS Video Advocacy Institute, the first of its kind, is an innovative program that trains human rights defenders to successfully integrate video advocacy into their social change campaigns.
The 2008 VAI will be held in association with Concordia University's Communications Studies Program and Documentary Centre in Montreal, Canada from July 19 - August 2, 2008.
This intensive and participatory training program will provide an immersive introduction in video advocacy for a group of 25-30 dedicated human rights advocates from across the globe working on some of the most challenging human rights issues facing our world today.
Deadline for applications: March 2, 2008
For more information please visit: http://www.witness.org/vai.
6) WYSE International Leadership Programme 2008, Lucca (Italy), August 10-21, 2008
The International Leadership Programme is a 12-day residential programme, which promotes visionary leadership with awareness and provides education that respects diversity of political, religious, and social views.
It takes the form of a 12 day intensive training, where participants from many different cultures, religions and socio-economic backgrounds come together to form an international learning community. WYSE is for people who care about what's happening in the world and are willing to do what they can to make a positive difference. The programme provides an opportunity to experiment with new models, creating a holistic view of the world we live in that is underpinned by the need for shared values and an awareness of our ultimate interconnection.
The cost of the programme is £770 (British Pounds). This cost is a subsidised rate and includes full board, accommodation, and tuition expenses. A limited amount of bursaries are available upon application.
Deadline for applications: May 15, 2008.
For more information please visit: http://www.wyse-ngo.org/events/
7) People to People International Global Youth Forum, Denver (USA), November 12-16, 2008
The 2008 PTPI GYF will be held in Denver, Colorado, USA, for young people ages 13-18 from around the world to explore various perspectives and skills while also experiencing other diverse peoples and cultures.
A variety of dynamic speakers, interactive workshops and rewarding activities highlight this unique youth conference, which is devoted to key components of the PTPI mission: international understanding, education, leadership and humanitarianism.
For more information, please visit: http://www.ptpi.org/programs/GYF.aspx.
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