Thursday, April 30, 2009

Obama Uses the "T-Word"

At last night's press conference, President Obama said the practice of waterboarding is torture.

"What I have said, and I will repeat, is that waterboarding violates our ideals and our values," Mr. Obama said. "I do believe that it is torture. I do not think that is just my opinion; that is the opinion of many who have examined the topic. And that is why I put an end to these practices."


President Obama also referred to a post by Andrew Sullivan titled "Churchill vs. Cheney." He said:

"I was struck by an article that I was reading the other day talking about the fact that the British during World War II, when London was being bombed to smithereens, had 200 or so detainees. And Churchill said, 'We don't torture,' when the entire British -- all of the British people were being subjected to unimaginable risk and threat."


Sullivan re-posted it today. A quote:

"As Britain's very survival hung in the balance, as women and children were being killed on a daily basis and London turned into rubble, Churchill nonetheless knew that embracing torture was the equivalent of surrender to the barbarism he was fighting."

Gaza Still Awaiting Aid

None of the pledged $4.5 billion in aid has been able to get to the Gaza strip because of border restrictions.

International donors pledged the aid money in March to help the Palestinian economy and rebuild Gaza after a three-week Israeli military offensive.

But John Ging, head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, said Gaza had still not benefited from any of the aid because of restrictions on the flow of goods into the territory.

"There is no prospect of recovery or reconstruction until we can get access for construction materials," Ging said.


Since Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in a 2007 civil war with Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction, Israel has tightened its blockade of the 30-mile (45-km) strip in an effort to weaken Hamas's hold on power.

Egypt has also restricted crossings at its border with Gaza.

China Releases “The National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010)”

China's New UN Plan Won't Delude Its Human Rights Lawyers:

On the same day that Mr. Cheng [an attorney who defended a Falun Gong adherent] was beaten by public officials, China released “The National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010).” The document is an attempt to respond to criticism by the world human rights community and to show that China's communist leaders are now serious about taking action to improve human and civil rights.

Beating up attorneys and jailing them is not unusual police conduct in China. The AsianNews report notes that there has been an increase in intimidation and violence against the brave lawyers who defend human rights.

The plan says nothing about ending the monopoly of one-party rule in China. Instead, it muddles the concept of human and civil rights by speaking of subsistence rights and economic rights in a socialist state run by the Chinese Communist Party. It doesn’t discuss the fundamental freedoms that the civilized world cherishes—freedom of speech, freedom to practice one’s religion, freedom from arbitrary arrest, independent courts, equal justice under the law, and so on.

Aid to Burmese Cyclone Victims Falls Short

As the one-year anniversary of Cyclone Nargis approaches, the needs of victims are still not being met.

David Verboom, regional head of the European Commission's European Humanitarian Aid department, said Thursday that Burma's political situation undermines international donor support.

"It is clear the political environment of course is a hindrance for many donors to contribute ... that is quite clear," he said.

Burma's military government was accused of restricting international aid right after the cyclone. Only intervention from the United Nations and regional governments led the government to give aid workers access to the hardest-hit areas.

"From the international community side it is fair to say that support has been limited. Much more could have been done," he said.

Verboom notes that international aid after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 totaled $12 billion. After Nargis, in which a similar number of people died, only about $300 million was given.

Roxana Saberi on Hunger Strike

Secretary Clinton calls for the release of the jailed Iranian-American journalist.

Anti-Torture March in DC

Going on right now:

Protesters gathered at the Capitol on Thursday morning before proceeding to a park facing the White House for a rally.

They say they are protesting detention policies in the United States and what they call the government's refusal to prosecute torture.

The Latest on the Elections in India


The third phase of the month-long elections took place on Thursday. This phase included Kashmir and Mumbai so security concerns were high. There were also higher tensions in Gujarat; the Indian Supreme Court just ordered a new investigation into the 2002 communal riots. The Court specifically ordered the investigation of Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. Modi is a member of the Hindu-nationalist BJP and has been accused in a petition filed by the widow of a murdered Muslim politician. (The Atlantic recently did a feature on Modi.)

From AFP's story:
In Kashmir, all eyes were on the number of voters. A strong turnout would deal a blow to separatist groups who have called for a poll boycott to reinforce opposition to Indian rule in the Muslim-majority region.
"Security is the only issue. It's the only reason people are stepping out to vote, especially in this area. We have seen it, we have felt it and we know all about it," Chintan Sakariya told AFP after voting in south Mumbai.

But national security is not a priority issue everywhere, with the bulk of India's 714 million voters likely to cast their ballots on local issues or according to their caste and religion.

Among other states voting Thursday were parts of impoverished Bihar and populous Uttar Pradesh in the north, Gujarat in the west, the southern rural state of Karnataka, and leftist-dominated West Bengal in the east.

(Photo from BBC News. More pictures from the third phase of the Indian election are available here.)

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

UN Security Council to Review MINURSO's Mandate

Monika Kalra Varma, of the RFK Center for Human Rights (here in DC) has a post about the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara at the Huffington Post. The UN Security Council will be reviewing its mandate this week.

Every contemporary United Nations peacekeeping mission on the ground today has a mandate to protect human rights, except one, the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Without direct authorization from the UN Security Council, MINURSO cannot monitor or report on the human rights situation in Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa. As a result, the Sahrawi people continue to suffer from human rights abuses with no recourse or relief.


Why then does MINURSO continue to operate as the only contemporary U.N. peacekeeping mission without a human rights component? With Morocco's rise as an important ally in Western efforts to thwart terrorism, its human rights record and disregard for international rule of law has been conveniently overlooked by permanent members of the Security Council. Furthermore, Morocco has informed the international community that the inclusion of a human rights component in the MINURSO mandate would be tantamount to endorsing the Polisario. Morocco's successful politicization of the situation is not difficult to see. What is confounding is the U.N. Security Council's determination to passively acquiesce to such politics in the face of this true human rights problem - and, especially because MINURSO is the only contemporary Mission in the world where it has chosen to do so.

Obama's First 100 Days

Joel Charny, Vice President for Policy at Refugees International, evaluates President Obama's first 100 days from a humanitarian perspective. He applauds Obama's changes in message and tone, requests for supplemental funding and his plan to submit an FY 10 foreign affairs budget that includes full US funding for multilateral peace keeping obligations (rather than submitting an inadequate request and making up the difference with supplemental funding requests, as the Bush Administration did).

He notes that appointments to humanitarian positions have been remarkably slow when compared with other appointments. For instance, USAID still does not have an administrator.

Strangely Appropriate

(Via Andrew Sullivan)

This is totally unrelated, but thanks to Dickens' URL, you can get to this blog by clicking:

http://dickensurl.com/48aa/I_only_ask_to_be_free_The_butterflies_are_free_

Mankind_will_surely_not_deny_to_Harold_Skimpole_what_it_concedes
_to_the_butterflies

The quote is:
"I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny Harold Skimpole what it concedes to butterflies!"
Bleak House

No Cease-Fire in Sri Lanka

From Voice of America:

Sri Lanka is again rebuffing diplomatic calls for an immediate halt to its final assault against Tamil rebels, on a sliver of northeastern coastline.

The government contends a pause to military action would only benefit the remaining several hundred hold-outs from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, whose whereabouts are unknown.

Spanish Judge to Continue Investigation into Bush Adminstration Torture Policy

Today, Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón announced that an inquiry into the Bush administration’s torture policy will proceed as a formal criminal investigation.

Scott Horton writes:

The procedural history of the case is somewhat complicated. On March 17, a Spanish human rights organization, the Association for the Dignity of Prisoners (Asociación pro dignidad de los presos y presas de España), filed a criminal complaint asking the court to begin a criminal investigation into the role that six Bush administration lawyers played in the introduction of a torture regime at Guantánamo. The complaint cited Chapter III of Title XXIV of the Spanish Criminal Code, which addresses crimes against prisoners and protected persons during an armed conflict, which implements Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Named as targets were former attorney general Alberto Gonzales, former chief of staff to the vice president David Addington, former general counsel of the Department of Defense William J. Haynes II, former Under-Secretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith, former assistant attorney general and current federal judge Jay Bybee and former deputy assistant attorney general and now professor of law at the University of California at Berkeley John Yoo.
Spanish lawyers close to the case tell me that under applicable Spanish law, the Obama administration has the power to bring the proceedings in Spain against former Bush administration officials to a standstill. “All it has to do is launch its own criminal investigation through the Justice Department,” said one lawyer working on the case, “that would immediately stop the case in Spain.”

The Middle Class War on Democracy

From the Foreign Policy website:
The Bourgeois Revolution By Joshua Kurlantzick

"For years, political theorists have argued that developing a healthy middle class is the key to any country's democratization. To paraphrase the late political scientist Samuel Huntington: Economic growth and industrialization usually lead to the creation of a middle class. As its members become wealthier and more educated, the middle class turns increasingly vocal, demanding more rights to protect its economic gains.

But over the past decade, the antidemocratic behavior of the middle class in many countries has threatened to undermine this conventional wisdom. Although many developing countries have created trappings of democracy, such as regular elections, they often failed to build strong institutions, including independent courts, impartial election monitoring, and a truly free press and civil society.

The middle class's newfound disdain for democracy is counterintuitive. After all, as political and economic freedoms increase, its members often prosper because they are allowed more freedom to do business. But, paradoxically, as democracy gets stronger and the middle class grows richer, it can realize it has more to lose than gain from a real enfranchisement of society.

Soon after acquiring democracy, urban middle classes often grasp the frustrating reality that political change costs them power. Outnumbered at the ballot box, the middle class cannot stop populists such as Thaksin or Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Once the middle class realizes it cannot stop the elected tyrants, it also comes to another, shattering realization: If urban elites can no longer control elections, all of their privileges -- social, economic, cultural -- could be threatened."