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Posted 1:40 PM
by Mary
UN Damns 'Illegal' Iraq Detention BBC News
Friday 21 April 2006
The UN's human rights official in Iraq has said the Iraqi authorities are illegally holding thousands of people.
Gianni Magazzeni said that of the 15,000 people held under Iraqi control, little more than half were under the jurisdiction of the justice ministry.
This is the only body with the right to detain suspects for more than 72 hours.
But he said thousands were also being detained by the interior ministry and hundreds by the defence ministry, in clear breach of Iraqi law.ore than 14,000 people are also being held by US-led coalition forces in Iraq.
Mr Magazzeni said the UN believed that number was far too high and he urged the US military authorities to either charge or release them.
"We think that the 15,000 being held for 'urgent security reasons' are far too many and we are working very closely [with the coalition] to reduce that number considerably," Mr Magazzeni said.
Posted 11:07 PM
by Mary
Human trafficking is 'slavery that shames world'
By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor
Published: 24 April 2006
Almost every country in the world is affected by the scourge of human trafficking, a UN report will reveal today.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has compiled the first such study from open sources, there are 127 countries of origin, mainly developing countries, and 137 destination countries, mainly in the industrialised world.The report also highlights 98 transit countries.
"The fact that slavery - in the form of human trafficking - still exists in the 21st century shames us all," said UNODC's chief, Antonio Maria Costa.
The report, to be presented to the UN crime commission meeting in Vienna, calls for the protection of victims, particularly women and children, and for the systematic prosecution of offenders. "Traffickers are evil brokers of oppressed people whom they deliver in the hands of exploiters," Mr Costa said. "They capitalise on weak law enforcement and poor international co-operation. I am disappointed by the low rates of convictions for the perpetrators of human trafficking."
Germany, Greece and France are among about a dozen countries identified as having a "high" incidence of acting as transit countries. Ten countries are named as the top destinations for trafficking victims: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey and the US. Britain is on the "high" index of destination countries.
Human trafficking for sexual exploitation is reported more frequently than trafficking for forced labour at the global level, the report says. It calls for governments to publicise the risks to vulnerable people through information campaigns. "A main challenge is to reduce demand, whether for cheap goods manufactured in sweatshops, or for under-priced commodities produced by bonded people in farms and mines, or for services provided by sex slaves. If people are aware of the dangers of human trafficking, the chances of avoiding its consequences should be improved," Mr Costa said.
Posted 10:50 PM
by Mary
The DPI/NGO Section held its regular weekly NGO briefing on 13 April 2006 on the topic of Changing Realities: Indigenous Peoples in the next decade.
During the panel discussion German A Ortega, Minister, Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the United Nations; Marijke Velzeboer-Salcedo, Chief, Latin America and Caribbean Section, United Nations Fund for Women; Elsa Stamatopoulou, Chief, Secretariat, Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs; and Kent Lebsock, Executive Director, American Indian Law Alliance, talked about the upcoming 5th annual Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Minister Ortega stressed the importance of the Permanent Forum for indigenous peoples and called for governmental cooperation with them, also in the area of providing quality bilingual and intercultural education. He furthermore advocated for the need to create jobs and better access to technical and financial resources as the basis for sustainable development. Minister Ortega explained that there were more than 17 different ethnic groups in Ecuador, all recognized by his country’s Constitution. He also talked about some specific indigenous groups in Ecuador.
Ms. Velzeboer-Salcedo started by commending the video that was shown at the beginning of the briefing, entitled “Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations”. She talked about gender inequality within the indigenous community pointing out that women carried a greater burden because they faced double discrimination. She also stressed that women were actually key to preserving cultural diversity. An overview of the work of her agency, UNIFEM, then followed. Ms. Velzeboer-Salcedo highlighted a regional meeting of UN agencies and indigenous women held recently in Panama, with an interagency support group for women in indigenous communities as the outcome. She concluded by saying that progress for all women was progress for all.
Ms. Stamatopoulou commented on the video, saying that this was actually its first screening as it was intended primarily for UN officials, but she was pleased with the positive feedback by the audience. She talked about the Permanent Forum and stressed that there was a real movement behind the Forum, whose membership composition was unique – eight members nominated by the governments and eight by the indigenous peoples. Although there was no specific mention of the indigenous peoples in the MDGs, they embraced them as their own and wished to benefit from them. Incidentally, 2015, the target date for MDGs was also the end of the Second International Decade of the World Indigenous Peoples. In order to achieve the global, one must look at the local, which includes the indigenous community. She furthermore expressed her appreciation for the fact that the Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit included recommendations for the indigenous peoples, including the call for the adoption of the Declaration of Indigenous People. She listed the objectives of the Decade, which the General Assembly called “A decade for action and dignity”, combining the development with the human rights agenda. She also urged the international community to listen first and give advice later.
Mr. Lebsock started by addressing the audience in his native Lakota language. He briefly described the area where his peoples lived as well as the way they lived. He also found the film very uplifting and a good tool to show the indigenous communities that they were part of the international community. Mr. Lebsock went on to present the work of his organization and urged fellow NGOs to advocate with private companies and foundations to support the indigenous peoples cause. In conclusion he stressed the danger of diseases such as HIV/AIDS for indigenous communities and the importance of awareness-raising.
