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I) Actions and Featured Articles
Welcome to Palestine: "Even Prisoners Are Allowed Visits"
What difference will it make to the lives of Palestinians in the
West Bank when the world meets their demands for freedom and
self-determination? One difference it will make: like other peoples of
the world, the Palestinians will get to decide who they can invite to
visit them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/welcome-to-palestine-even_b_1423773.html
A Contrarian Optimist View of the Upcoming Iran Nuclear Talks
When President Obama nominated global health superhero Dr. Jim Young
Kim to lead the World Bank, Harvard development economist Dani Rodrik
remarked, "It's nice to see that Obama can still surprise us." Is it
possible that Obama could pleasantly surprise us in the upcoming talks
with Iran over its nuclear program? Much of the media coverage would
suggest otherwise. Nonetheless, there are actually quite a few positive
signs we can point to.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/8456-a-contrarian-optimist-view-of-the-upcoming-iran-nuclear-talks
Juan Cole: Why Washington's Iran Policy Could Lead to Global Disaster
Economic war led by Washington (and encouraged by Israel) will not
take down the Iranian government or bring it to the bargaining table on
its knees ready to surrender its nuclear program. It might, however,
lead to actual armed conflict with incalculable consequences.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/04/12-3
II)
Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) A majority of Republicans say for the first time that the war in
Afghanistan has not been worth fighting, according to a Washington
Post-ABC News poll, the Washington Post reports. The poll findings are
likely to present a challenge for Republican front-runner Mitt Romney,
who has said that the goal in Afghanistan should be to defeat the
Taliban on the battlefield, the Post says.
2) At negotiations this week between Iran and six world powers, the U.S.
and its allies hope to make enough progress to take some of the urgency
out of the confrontation over Iran's nuclear program, the New York
Times reports. The U.S. has made clear that 20-percent-enriched uranium
and the Fordo site are matters of urgency, and Iran has hinted it may be
willing to suspend enrichment to 20 percent, at least temporarily, in
return for concessions - which may include, for instance, suspending the
EU oil embargo, scheduled to begin July 1, or even of some sanctions
against Iran's Central Bank. Reciprocal suspensions of some kind,
experts say, might be enough to buy time and get both sides to another
round of talks.
3) The White House said it was "deeply concerned" about growing
polarisation between the monarchy and the majority Shi'a community in
Bahrain and the welfare of a jailed human rights activist who has been
on a hunger strike since early February, Inter Press Service reports.
The immediate cause of the statement appeared to be a response to
growing pressure from a large number of human rights and labour groups
for Obama to intervene in the case of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, the report
says. But it also reflected increasing concern over the increase in
clashes between the kingdom's security forces and youths in
predominantly Shi'a communities, and in the absence of movement toward
serious dialogue between the government and the main opposition party,
al-Wefaq.
4) Recent claims from some economists that Jim Yong Kim, President
Obama's nominee to be head of the World Bank, is "anti-growth" are based
on a willful misreading of passages from Kim's co-edited volume "Dying
for Growth: Global Inequality and the Health of the Poor," write Paul
Farmer and John Gershman in the Washington Post. Any reasonable reading
of the book indicates that "Dying for Growth" is pro-growth, raising
questions about particular policies and patterns of growth that exclude
the great majority of people living in poverty.
5) The A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s president has sent him a toughly worded letter
saying that he should not officially certify that Colombia has done
enough to stop a decades-long series of killings of union leaders and
supporters there, the New York Times reports. Richard Trumka, the
A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s president, wrote that it would be wrong to grant such
certification because Colombia had done far too little to stop the
killings. Trumka also maintained that Colombia had not fulfilled many of
the promises it made as part of a "labor action plan" that it embraced
last April to help persuade Congress to ratify a trade accord.
6) President Obama will be on the defensive on Cuba, drug trafficking,
and immigration heading into this weekend's Summit of the Americas, with
the U.S. stubbornly clinging to positions opposed by most Latin
American and Caribbean leaders, AP reports. Leaders including Colombian
President Santos have said they will permit no more future Summits of
the Americas without Cuba's participation. Obama can also expect to be
in the minority in his opposition to Argentina's claim to the
British-controlled Malvinas Islands, AP says.
Pakistan
7) Pakistan's government and opposition joined on Thursday to
present the U.S. with a list of stringent demands, including an
immediate end to C.I.A. drone strikes, the New York Times reports. "Now
two things can happen," a Pakistani defense expert said. "If the drone
strikes continue, it will embarrass the government. The other option is
for the U.S. and Pakistan to evolve a new framework for the use of drone
aircraft."
Bahrain
8) Despite the Bahrain authorities' claims to the contrary, state
violence against those who oppose the Al Khalifa family rule continues,
and in practice, not much has changed in the country since the brutal
crackdown on anti-government protesters in February and March 2011, says
Amnesty International in a memo to journalists. In recent months, the
Bahraini authorities have become more concerned with re-building their
image and investing in public relations than with actually introducing
real human rights and political reforms in their country, Amnesty says.
Syria
9) Kofi Annan's spokesman described the cease-fire in Syria as
"relatively respected," the New York Times reports. An advance team of
up to 30 UN observers was due to be dispatched as soon as the Security
Council approved it; the full mission would reach 250 observers.
Haiti
10) A year and a half after cholera was introduced to Haiti by UN
troops, a tiny portion of the population on Thursday began getting
vaccinated against the waterborne disease that has infected more than
530,000 Haitians and killed more than 7,040, the New York Times reports.
The organizers - Partners in Health and Gheskio, which also collaborate
on H.I.V. and AIDS care - had hoped to beat the spring rains that
spread the cholera germ. But they ran into an unanticipated roadblock
and the rains have already started to drench the country, causing
flooding and a spike in cases. "It's the ethical and equitable thing to
do," said Dr. Paul Farmer, a co-founder of Partners in Health. "If
cholera had exploded in the United States like it did in Haiti,
everybody would have gotten the vaccine by now."
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Post-ABC News poll shows drop in Republican support for Afghan war
Scott Wilson and Jon Cohen, Washington Post, April 11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/post-abc-news-poll-shows-drop-in-republican-support-for-afghan-war/2012/04/11/gIQAfl5oBT_story.html
A majority of Republicans say for the first time that the war in
Afghanistan has not been worth fighting, according to a Washington
Post-ABC News poll that comes as the continuing U.S. presence in that
country is emerging as a key point of contention in the presidential
race.
The poll findings are likely to present a challenge for Republican
front-runner Mitt Romney, who has said that the goal in Afghanistan
should be to defeat the Taliban on the battlefield.
President Obama stepped back from that goal during his 2009 strategy
review and has set the end of 2014 as the departure date for all U.S.
combat forces. [Note that this statement is technically correct: any
U.S. troops which remain after 2014 will not be called "combat forces" -
JFP.]
[...]
Since the 2001 invasion, almost 2,000 U.S. troops have been killed and
more than 15,000 have been wounded in Afghanistan. [That is, according
to the Pentagon definition of "wounded" - JFP.] According to the poll,
two-thirds of Americans think the war has not been worth fighting,
equaling the most negative public assessments of the U.S. war effort in
Iraq.
[...]
But Romney, whose résumé is thin on foreign-policy experience, has criticized Obama's management of the Afghanistan war.
In particular, the former Massachusetts governor has said that he would
have listened more closely to his commanding generals, who have urged
Obama to keep troops in place longer, and not set a specific timeline
for withdrawal. Romney says that Obama's doing so has allowed the
Taliban to simply wait out the U.S. military.
[...]
For Romney's campaign, the slip in Republican support for the war could
pose political difficulties, placing him outside the majority view of
his party. For the first time, more Republicans and GOP-leaning
independents oppose the war than support it, with 55 percent saying it
has not been worth the costs.
[...]
2) At Nuclear Talks, Hopes That a New Iranian Attitude Will Reduce Tensions
Steven Erlanger, New York Times, April 12, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/world/middleeast/us-hopes-iran-nuclear-talks-will-reduce-tensions.html
Istanbul - At negotiations this week between Iran and six world powers,
the United States and its allies hope to make enough progress to take
some of the urgency out of the confrontation over Tehran's nuclear
program, to reassure Israel and to arrange a second round of talks soon.
For the first time in years, both Iran and the six powers - the United
States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - seem interested in
serious negotiations that both sides have agreed will take a "step by
step" approach and be "reciprocal." And both sides say they are coming
to the talks here in Istanbul with proposals on the nuclear issue in
discussions that may begin over dinner on Friday night and will continue
formally on Saturday. Iranian state media said Tehran's delegation
arrived in Istanbul on Friday morning.
[...]
But the context is different now. Iran has produced a much greater
quantity of enriched uranium, some of it at 20 percent purity, just a
few technical steps from bomb grade; it has placed many more centrifuges
deep inside a protected mountain at Fordo, near Qum; and it is facing
increased sanctions that are causing severe economic distress. So there
is more of a sense of urgency on both sides, with Israeli leaders
talking openly of bombing Iran's nuclear sites before it becomes too
difficult to do so.
[...]
The United States has made clear that the 20-percent-enriched uranium
and the protected Fordo site are matters of urgency, and Iran has hinted
that it may be willing to suspend enrichment to 20 percent, at least
temporarily, in return for concessions - which may include, for
instance, suspending the European Union's oil embargo, scheduled to
begin July 1, or even of some sanctions against Iran's Central Bank.
Reciprocal suspensions of some kind, experts say, might be enough to buy
time and get both sides to another round of talks.
[...]
3) White House Expresses Growing Concern Over Bahrain
Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service, Apr 11
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107399
Washington - The White House Wednesday said it was "deeply concerned"
about growing polarisation between the ruling monarchy and the majority
Shi'a community in Bahrain and the welfare of a jailed human rights
activist who has been on a hunger strike since early February.
"We continue to underscore, both to the government and citizens of
Bahrain, the importance of working together to address the underlying
causes of mistrust and to promote reconciliation," said President Barack
Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, in a written statement.
"In this respect, we note our continued concern for the well-being of
jailed activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and call on the Government of
Bahrain to consider urgently all available options to resolve his case,"
the statement said.
It added that the government should "redouble its ongoing efforts" to
implement democratic reforms recommended by an independent international
commission last November.
While the immediate cause of the statement appeared to be a response to
growing pressure from a large number of human rights and labour groups
for Obama to intervene in the case of Khawaja, it also reflected
increasing concern over the increase in violent clashes between the
kingdom's security forces and youths in predominantly Shi'a communities
in and around Manama, the capital, in the absence of movement toward
serious dialogue between the government and the main opposition party,
al-Wefaq.
Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and occupies a strategic location in the Gulf opposite southwestern Iran.
The violence has reportedly increased over the past few weeks with the
approach of next week's Formula One race on the island -against which
protestors have called for a boycott - as well as growing concerns over
Khawaja's deteriorating condition, which has become a rallying point for
both the opposition.
Seven police officers were wounded Monday when a bomb exploded as
demonstrators just outside Manama gathered to protest the authorities'
rejection of an appeal by the Danish government to release Khawaja to
its custody for medical treatment.
"The United States continues to be deeply concerned about the situation
in Bahrain, and we urge all parties to reject violence in all its
forms," the White House statement said.
"We condemn the violence directed against police and government
institutions, including recent incidents that have resulted in serious
injuries to police officers," it went on. "We also call on the police to
exercise maximum restraint, and condemn the use of excessive force and
indiscriminate use of tear gas against protestors, which has resulted in
civilian casualties."
[...]
The administration also spoke out strongly in favour of the conclusions
and recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry
(BICI) headed by a prominent international jurist, Cherif Bassiouni,
which was tasked to investigate allegations of human rights and other
abuses committed during the crackdown.
In addition to the use of excessive force by security forces which
resulted in several dozen deaths, the nearly 500-page BICI report
released in November detailed other serious abuses, including the
rounding up, detention, torture and mistreatment of hundreds of
demonstrators, the wrongful dismissal of thousands of others from
government posts and universities, and serious due process violations,
including the admission of forced confessions, committed against
defendants brought before special security courts.
Khawaja, a long-time human rights activist who had been exiled to
Denmark in the 1980s but returned to Bahrain in 2001, was himself
arrested last April on charges of trying to overthrow the monarchy and
subsequently sentenced by one of the courts criticised by the BICI to
life imprisonment two months later.
He, along with 13 other prominent opposition activists, has been named
as "prisoners of conscience" by Amnesty International which has called
repeatedly for his unconditional release.
While in prison awaiting trial, Khawaja was beaten so severely that his
jaw and skull were cracked and he has undergone several surgeries since.
To protest his continued detention, he began a hunger strike on Feb. 8,
and is now on his 64th day without eating solid food. In an open letter
to King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, he said he would continue fasting
until "freedom or death".
Reports of his deteriorating health spurred 15 civil society groups
here, including Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, the
Open Society Foundations, and the AFL-CIO labour confederation, to send
an open letter to Obama Monday in which they urged him "to publicly call
on the Government of Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release
(him) from prison".
Amnesty reiterated that call Tuesday in light of a decision by Bahrain's
Court of Cassation, which is reviewing the verdicts of Khawaja and his
13 co-defendants, to adjourn its deliberations until Apr. 23 without
setting bail. Despite concerns voiced by Danish consular officials who
have been able to visit Khawaja, the Bahraini government has insisted
that his life is not at imminent risk.
"This delay will have potentially disastrous consequences for his
health, which continues to deteriorate as a result of his hunger
strike," Amnesty said. "The authorities' single-minded determination to
persecute Abdulhadi al-Khawaja seems to override any consideration for
justice or humanity."
4) Jim Kim's humility would serve World Bank well
Paul Farmer and John Gershman, Washington Post, April 11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kims-smart-stance-on-growth/2012/04/11/gIQA6SqABT_story.html
President Obama's nomination of Jim Yong Kim to be president of the
World Bank is a powerful choice for an institution charged with
addressing some of the world's toughest challenges. Chief among these is
to help developing economies achieve sustained growth by ensuring that
its benefits are broadly shared.
Recent claims from some economists that Kim is "anti-growth" are based
on a willful misreading and selective reporting of passages from Kim's
co-edited volume "Dying for Growth: Global Inequality and the Health of
the Poor," to which we both contributed. Any reasonable reading of the
book indicates that "Dying for Growth" is pro-growth, raising questions
about particular policies and patterns of growth that exclude the great
majority of people living in poverty. Hence the double entendre in the
title.
The book must be placed in its historical context. In the 1990s, when
the book was researched and written, too many of the world's poorest had
been left behind by the growth of the global economy. The reigning view
then was that growth and globalization would more or less take care of
the poor and that inequality in particular was not an important issue.
Not all boats were lifted by unequal growth.
The book's objective was to ask questions about what types of growth and
what kinds of policies were beneficial for those struggling to lift
themselves out of poverty. The people we spoke of as "left behind" were
not a tiny minority of our planet's inhabitants but, rather, the many
families we encountered every day in our clinics and hospitals in Haiti,
Rwanda, Peru and the United States. Under-investment in basic services
for the poor - including health care, education and access to credit -
perpetuated their exclusion.
Thanks in part to Kim's trailblazing work, development approaches have
changed. As the introduction to the World Bank's 2006 World Development
Report notes, "we now have considerable evidence that equity is also
instrumental to the pursuit of long-term prosperity in aggregate terms
for society as a whole." Today there are greater investments in areas
such as health and education, which help countries grow.
Questions about inclusive growth remain important in the 21st-century
debate over development policy. In our view, these are precisely the
issues that governments and international financial institutions should
have been asking all along. And in fact, the global financial crisis and
recent upheavals known as the Arab Spring remind us how critical the
challenge of inclusive growth is.
That's why the Obama administration's nomination of Kim is nothing short
of inspired, as leaders in countries rich and poor, such as former
president Bill Clinton, Haitian President Michel Martelly, Japanese
finance minister Jun Azumi, and others, have noted.
[...]
5) A.F.L.-C.I.O. Chief Sends Obama Letter Voicing Concern About Labor Killings in Colombia
Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, April 12, 2012, 1:01 PM
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/a-f-l-c-i-o-chief-sends-criticial-letter-to-obama-on-colombia/
With President Obama scheduled to attend the Summit of the Americas in
Colombia this weekend, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s president has sent him a
toughly worded letter saying that he should not officially certify that
Colombia has done enough to stop a decades-long series of killings of
union leaders and supporters there.
Richard L. Trumka, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s president, wrote that it would be
wrong to grant such certification because Colombia had done far too
little to stop the killings. Mr. Trumka also maintained that Colombia
had not fulfilled many of the promises it made as part of a "labor
action plan" that it embraced last April to help persuade Congress to
ratify a free-trade accord.
Mr. Trumka asserted that the Colombian government had fallen short on
its commitment to prosecute and reduce impunity for those who have
murdered union supporters.
"Less than 10 percent of the nearly 3,000 cases of trade unionists
murders since 1986 have reached a conviction," Mr. Trumka wrote. "The
powers behind the crimes remain almost completely free from punishment.
None of the 29 labor activists killed in 2011 had their cases resolved
by a successful prosecution."
[...]
Labor leaders say they fear that Mr. Obama will announce at the meeting
in Colombia that he is certifying that Colombia has fulfilled its
promises under the action plan, an important step before the free-trade
agreement is officially implemented. Mr. Obama will be meeting with more
than 30 heads of state and government this weekend in the coastal city
of Cartagena.
[...]
Mr. Trumka also faulted the labor action plan for not including any
specific "objectives to reduce threats or attacks on labor leaders or
other types of human rights defenders." He also said that Colombia,
which promised to hire 200 labor inspectors, had not done enough
preventive inspections to help ensure that the labor rights of
Colombia's workers were not violated.
Mr. Trumka noted that many Colombian employers continued to subcontract
work in what he said was an illegal strategy to block unionization. He
wrote that after municipal workers in the city of Jamundí began a
unionization effort in January, the city fired 43 workers, two union
leaders received threats, and one activist, Miguel Mallama, "was gunned
down in the streets on March 25."
He also wrote that when 450 port workers in Turbo joined Colombia's port
workers' union in February, within weeks 50 of the port workers'
leaders were effectively fired.
"It is premature to declare the labor action plan a success - now is not
the time to relieve the pressure on Colombia," Mr. Trumka wrote.
"Moving too quickly toward implementation could jeopardize future
improvements for Colombian workers, undercutting efforts to secure labor
and other human rights and harming the workers of both countries."
[...]
6) Barack Obama to play defense at Summit of Americas over Cuba, drug trafficking, immigration
Associated Press, Friday, April 13, 3:50 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/barack-obama-to-play-defense-at-summit-of-americas-over-cuba-drug-trafficking-immigration/2012/04/13/gIQAneufFT_story.html
Cartagena, Colombia - Barack Obama will be on the defensive heading into
this weekend's Summit of the Americas, with the U.S. stubbornly
clinging to positions opposed by most Latin American and Caribbean
leaders as its influence in the region wanes.
The American president can expect even some of Washington's friendliest
allies to protest U.S. insistence on excluding communist Cuba from the
gathering. There will be vigorous discussion on drug legalization, which
the Obama administration opposes. And Obama can expect to be in the
minority in his opposition to Argentina's claim to the
British-controlled Falkland Islands.
Obama remains popular in Latin America, but many of his position are not.
On top of that, many of the issues Latin American leaders are looking
for answers on, such as Cuba, drug trafficking and immigration, may
prove to be contentious during a U.S. election year. Although the
popular, charismatic Obama may be able to charm the region's leaders, he
will have to convince them that the United States remains relevant to
them and their countries.
[...]
Obama can expect a lot of criticism over Cuba's exclusion, at U.S. insistence, from the summits since the first one in 1994.
Leaders including Santos have said they will permit no more future
Summits of the Americas without the communist country's participation.
Obama's administration has greatly eased family travel and remittances
to Cuba, but has not dropped the half-century U.S. embargo against the
island, nor moved to let it back into the Organization of American
States, under whose auspices the summit is organized.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa was boycotting the summit over Cuba's
exclusion, making him the only president in the region to do so.
Another major issue will be drug legalization, which the Obama
administration firmly opposes. Santos left the idea off the official
agenda but has said all possible scenarios should be explored and the
U.N. should consider them.
Meeting with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez at his request,
Obama can expect to discuss that country's claim to the Falkland Islands
after Argentina lost a war with Britain 30 years ago while trying to
seize them.
Among the 33 Western Hemisphere's leaders, there is nearly unanimous support for Argentina's position.
[...]
The U.S. isn't the only summit participant facing challenges.
The Organization of American States, composed of all the countries in
the Western Hemisphere except for Cuba, organizes the summit but has
lost much of its former clout with the end of the Cold War.
The OAS, to which the U.S. still pays 59 percent of its $81 million
annual budget, now faces competition from a hodgepodge of new regional
groupings that have emerged this century, all of them omitting the
United States and Canada. They include ALBA, a bloc proposed by
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and including Cuba; the Brazil-inspired
UNASUR, encompassing South America; and CELAC, comprising 33 countries
including Cuba.
Nonetheless, the OAS still plays a prominent role in the region by
coordinating institutions such as the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights, an important buffer against abuses that has recently come under
attack.
[...]
Pakistan
7) Pakistan Gives U.S. a List of Demands, Including an End to C.I.A. Drone Strikes
Salman Masood and Declan Walsh, New York Times, April 12, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/world/asia/pakistan-demands-an-end-to-cia-drone-strikes.html
Islamabad, Pakistan - In a rare show of unity, the government and
opposition joined on Thursday to present the United States with a list
of stringent demands, including an immediate end to C.I.A. drone
strikes, that were cast in uncompromising words but could pave the way
for a reopening of NATO supply lines through the country.
After two and a half weeks of contentious negotiations, the main parties
agreed on a four-page parliamentary resolution that, in addition to the
drone demand, called on the Obama administration to apologize for
American airstrikes in November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. It
declared that "no overt or covert operations inside Pakistan shall be
permitted" - a broad reference that could be interpreted to include all
C.I.A. operations.
But on the issue of NATO supply lines, the resolution specified only
that arms and ammunition cannot be transported through Pakistan, opening
the door to the resumed delivery of critical Afghan war supplies like
food and fuel for the first time since the November airstrikes. And in
practice, arms and ammunition were rarely, if ever, transported in
convoys through Pakistan.
[...]
A spokeswoman for the State Department, Victoria Nuland, praised the
"seriousness" of the Parliament's debate and added: "We seek a
relationship with Pakistan that is enduring, strategic and more clearly
defined. We look forward to discussing these policy recommendations."
Analysts said the resolution, which is essentially nonbinding but
establishes a framework for private talks between senior American and
Pakistani officials in the coming weeks, signals a new, more pragmatic
chapter in relations between the two countries.
"This makes it easier for the government to negotiate with the U.S.,"
said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a defense expert based in Lahore. "That is why
the government agreed to the opposition demand on drones."
Still, the demand for an "immediate cessation of drone strikes" has no
easy solution. In 2008 Parliament also demanded an end to drone strikes,
only for the C.I.A. to continue attacking Taliban and Al Qaeda targets
in the tribal belt along the Afghan border.
The Obama administration considers the operations vital to disrupting
terrorist and insurgent networks as well as protecting American troops
at war in Afghanistan. For Pakistani politicians, however, drones have
become a red-line domestic political issue because of public outrage.
The opposition, led by Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party,
agreed to back Thursday's resolution in Parliament only if it contained
unequivocal language about drones. The government agreed to the language
because it needs broad cross-party support to negotiate a reopening of
NATO supply lines - a measure that is privately considered necessary by
the political and military leadership, but which enjoys little support
among the general public.
"Now two things can happen," Mr. Askari Rizvi said. "If the drone
strikes continue, it will embarrass the government. The other option is
for the U.S. and Pakistan to evolve a new framework for the use of drone
aircraft."
[...]
Bahrain
8) Human Rights In Bahrain - Media Briefing
Amnesty International, 13 April 2012
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE11/024/2012/en/0520e0a4-3c64-4657-9779-fd7ff222824a/mde110242012en.html
The human rights crisis in Bahrain is not over. Despite the authorities'
claims to the contrary, state violence against those who oppose the Al
Khalifa family rule continues, and in practice, not much has changed in
the country since the brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters in
February and March 2011.
The Bahraini authorities have been vociferous about their intention to
introduce reforms and learn lessons from events in February and March
2011. In November 2011, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry
(BICI), set up by King Hamad bin 'Issa Al Khalifa, submitted a report of
its investigation into human rights violations committed in connection
with the anti-government protests. The report concluded that the
authorities had committed gross human rights violations with impunity,
including excessive use of force against protesters, widespread torture
and other ill-treatment of protesters, unfair trials and unlawful
killings.
So far, however, the government's response has only scratched the
surface of these issues. Reforms have been piecemeal, perhaps aiming to
appease Bahrain's international partners, and have failed to provide
real accountability and justice for the victims. Human rights violations
are continuing unabated. The government is refusing to release scores
of prisoners who are incarcerated because they called for meaningful
political reforms, and is failing to address the Shi'a majority's
deeply-seated sense of discrimination and political marginalisation,
which has exacerbated sectarian divides in the country.
In recent months, the Bahraini authorities have become more concerned
with re-building their image and investing in public relations than with
actually introducing real human rights and political reforms in their
country. Indeed, for the authorities, much is at stake. They are keen to
portray Bahrain as a stable and secure country in order to stave off
international criticism. But as the country prepares to host the Formula
1 Grand Prix on 20-22 April, after the event was cancelled last year in
response to the instability in the country, daily anti-government
protests continue to be violently suppressed by the riot police that
uses tear gas recklessly and with fatal results. Acts of violence by
some protesters against the police have also considerably increased in
the last three months.
Holding the Grand Prix in Bahrain in 2012 risks being interpreted by the
government of Bahrain as symbolizing a return to business as usual. The
international community must not turn a blind eye to the ongoing human
rights crisis in the country. The government must understand that its
half-hearted measures are not sufficient -- sustained progress on real
human rights reform remains essential.
[...]
Syria
9) Protests Follow Cease-Fire in Syria
Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, April 13, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/14/world/middleeast/syria-cease-fire-tested-by-reports-of-clashes.html
Beirut, Lebanon - Syrians by the thousands marched through the streets
of cities and towns across the country Friday, testing a tenuous,
day-old cease-fire that the United Nations struggled to shore up when
the rapid deployment of international observers snagged on Russian
objections.
There were scattered reports of deaths and arrests linked to the
demonstrations, which had been dubbed "A Revolution for all Syrians" by
local organizers nationwide.
Participants admitted to feeling somewhat tentative, sticking to back
streets to avoid the security forces, snipers and the tanks that were
used to suppress the peaceful protest movement and that remained
deployed around many central squares and major crossroads.
[...]
Activists around the country reported that some demonstrators had been
tear gassed and others beaten, along with a few reports of renewed
shelling. But the violence was far less than in recent months, when
scores were reported killed daily under the pounding of heavy weaponry.
Both the lack of international media circulating across the country and
the presence of security forces on the streets contradicted the
six-point peace plan negotiated by Kofi Annan, the special envoy of the
United Nations and the Arab League.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported eight
people killed after the demonstrations started. In addition, a
lieutenant was killed and 24 other officers and a few civilians injured
when a roadside bomb destroyed a bus in Aleppo, according to state-run
media. It also accused "armed terrorist groups"-its shorthand for all
opposition-with the assassination of a local Baath Party official near
the southern town of Dara'a and the shooting death of a brigadier
general overnight near Damascus.
Given that all 15 members of the United Nations Security Council had
endorsed Mr. Annan's six-point plan, including the deployment of United
Nations monitors, the resolution authorizing the mission had been
expected to pass easily.
But Russia, the Assad government's most important defender, objected to
an operative paragraph that would give the monitors a free hand in
conducting their work, granting them abilities like unhindered access to
anyplace in the country and the right to interview anyone without
government interference, according to Security Council diplomats.
Vitaly I. Churkin, the Russian ambassador, said he still expected a
rapid vote on the resolution, but it was unclear how quickly the
differences could be resolved. Negotiations going paragraph by paragraph
started Friday afternoon and no vote was expected until at least
Saturday, diplomats said.
An advance team of up to 30 observers, drawn from various United Nations
peacekeeping or observer missions in the region, was due to be
dispatched as soon as the Security Council approved it, said Ahmad
Fawzi, Mr. Annan's spokesman. The full mission would reach 250 observers
he said, and as is common on such missions, Syria would have ultimate
approval over the nationalities involved.
Mr. Fawzi described the cease-fire as "relatively respected."
[...]
Haiti
10) Vaccinations Begin in a Cholera-Ravaged Haiti
Deborah Sontag, New York Times, April 12, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/world/americas/vaccinations-begin-in-a-cholera-ravaged-haiti.html
A year and a half after cholera first struck Haiti, a tiny portion of
the population on Thursday began getting vaccinated against the
waterborne disease that has infected more than 530,000 Haitians and
killed more than 7,040.
Organizers of the vaccination campaign, who have been pushing to do this
since the epidemic began, cleared their final political hurdle this
week when a national bioethics committee approved their plan to use all
available doses of the cheapest cholera vaccine to immunize about 1
percent of the population.
On Thursday, tens of thousands of slum dwellers in Port-au-Prince took
their first of two doses of the oral vaccine, Shanchol; tens of
thousands of rural residents of a rice-growing community near St. Marc
will begin this weekend. The second dose will be administered in two
weeks.
The organizers - Partners in Health and Gheskio, which also collaborate
on H.I.V. and AIDS care - had hoped to beat the spring rains that spread
the cholera germ. But they ran into an unanticipated roadblock and the
rains have already started to drench the country, causing flooding and a
spike in cases.
The roadblock surfaced in March when a Haitian radio station raised
questions about the vaccination campaign, which had been approved by the
Haitian health minister last year.
The radio station asked if the campaign could be seen as a medical
experiment using poor Haitians as guinea pigs, which prompted the
bioethics committee to take up the issue.
Announcing this week that the "pilot project" would move forward, Dr.
Gabriel Timothée, director general of the Haitian Health Ministry, said,
"This is not a study, it is not a vaccine trial, it is not an
experiment."
The use of cholera vaccine in Haiti has been mired in controversy since the epidemic began in mid-October of 2010.
World health authorities initially opposed vaccination, citing cost, logistical challenges and limited vaccine supplies.
Shanchol was still under review by the World Health Organization then,
"with significant concerns in that review about safety and manufacturing
practices," said Jon Kim Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American
Health Organization.
But proponents argued that the vaccine could save lives, reduce the
caseload and buy time until long-range solutions like water and
sanitation systems could be put in place.
They called for expediting approval for Shanchol, for increasing vaccine
production by offering manufacturers purchase commitments and for using
available doses to immunize especially vulnerable people.
World health authorities eventually endorsed a trial campaign, but the
Haitian government did not want to stir political trouble by choosing
who would get the vaccine.
Time passed; a new government took power; Shanchol, which is
manufactured in India, was approved. And the small vaccination campaign
has begun, with organizers hoping that it will succeed and lead to a
broader use of the vaccine in Haiti.
"It's the ethical and equitable thing to do," said Dr. Paul Farmer, a
co-founder of Partners in Health. "If cholera had exploded in the United
States like it did in Haiti, everybody would have gotten the vaccine by
now."
