Anti-terrorist laws backfire in India
One year after India passed a tough anti-terrorism act, government officials and critics are aware that the act has become a useful weapon of state governments in quelling insurgencies and in political tussles. Critics say The Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) is draconian and is being used against innocent people and politicians, including mass arrests of government supporters, protesters, and Muslims in states where they are the minority — one of which sparked an anti-Muslim pogrom that left 2,000 people dead and 150,000 homeless. The federal government says it is helpless since law and order is a state subject and the implementation of POTA has been left to provincial governments. A former member of the elite India Administration Service says the blatant misuse of the POTA could “sound the death knell for freedom, civil rights, and human dignity.” The government is considering amendments to the act to safeguard against misuse. Any amendment bill must be put forth by the opposition, because the ruling BJP party is loathe to admit on record that the worst fears of rights activists and its political opponents have actually come true. (IPS)

Jakarta ex-army chief indicted
East Timor has indicted Indonesia’s former military chief General Wiranto with crimes against humanity for his role in violence surrounding the fledgling nation’s 1999 vote for independence. He denies any wrongdoing and is even a potential candidate for the next presidential election. Six other military officials and the former Indonesian Governor of East Timor were also named in the indictment. The accused face counts of murder, deportation, and persecution of pro-independence supporters, 1,000 of whom died.
The United Nations is assisting the prosecution process, although the indictments have been issued by East Timor’s chief prosecutor. Jakarta has refused to hand the men over, saying, “The court in East Timor is not an international tribunal,” and cannot “reach whoever is beyond its jurisdiction.” Indonesia has set up its own human rights court. Although none of the top officials involved in the violence have been charged, arrest warrants are being forwarded to the Attorney-General’s office and Interpol, which could be served if those indicted try to leave the country. The UN has charged nearly 150 people over violence in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony invaded by Indonesia in 1975. The UN ran the half-island territory after the 1999 violence until it became an independent nation in May 2002. (BBC)

French activist farmer gets prison time
Militant French farmer Jose Bove faces a 10-month prison term after an appeals court decided last week to revoke part of a suspended sentence handed down for destroying genetically modified crops. It is not clear when he will begin his sentence. Bove’s lawyer said he will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights and suggested French President Jacque Chirac should pardon Bove, who is a leading member of the Farmers’ Confederation, a militant group that campaigns against globalization and other issues. He shot to fame after leading a group of protesters who dismantled a McDonalds under construction near his sheep farm in Millau in 1999. he served some of his 61-day sentence for that crime before benefiting from a sweeping presidential pardon — a Bastille Day tradition. (AP)

‘Human shields’ may be considered combatants
A senior US defense officer said last week that foreigners who have gone to Baghdad to volunteer as “human shields” at key Iraqi sites might be considered combatants rather than civilians. The volunteers arrived in Baghdad earlier last month and have begun to take their places at Iraqi installations in the hope of warding off attacks from any US-led war against Saddam Hussein’s regime. The US official, speaking under condition of anonymity, told reporters, “I’m not a legal expert, but you certainly could argue that since they’re working in the service of the Iraqi government, they may in fact have crossed the line between combatant and noncombatant.” The head of the US central command said, “We’ll do our best to avoid noncombatant casualties, and, I will tell you, we will not be 100 percent successful.” (Reuters)

Peru pipeline endangering lives of indigenous groups
Six environmental watchdog groups, including Rainforest Action Network, Environmental Defense, and Friends of the Earth International, maintain that the sponsors of the $1.4 billion Camisea Gas Project — Pluspetrol of Argentina and Texas-based Hunt Oil — were forcibly “contacting groups living in voluntary isolation” in violation of internationally recognized rights of indigenous people. The groups demand funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the US Export-Import Bank (EIB) be withheld from the sponsors whose imported workers are seriously threatening the health — with potentially fatal foreign diseases — and well-being of indigenous people in a 1.1 million acre reserve, believed to number between 1,000 and 2,000. Under US law, the EIB cannot fund environmentally destructive projects while the IDB must also oppose loans that violate policies designed to protect the environment of indigenous peoples. The US groups and Peruvian indigenous representatives say they will urge lawmakers to oppose funding to the banking institutions if they provide support for the Camisea project. (OneWorld.net)

Shield idea attacked in Australia
A federal government plan for a “son of star wars” missile shield for Australia is an $80 billion waste of money, according to the opposition. Prime Minister John Howard accused the labor party of being irresponsible for opposing any involvement with the so-called national missile defense system. The opposition leader said it would cost $8 billion a year to maintain the futuristic shield — almost the entire national defense budget. China and France also reacted swiftly to the proposal, warning of a regional arms race. A satellite ground station near Alice Springs already plays a crucial early missile warning role for the US. In the wake of North Korean missile tests, the government is using the shield idea to keep the spotlight on “rogue states.” North Korea has no capacity to fire a missile on Australia but the government believes it is working on one. The Australian Defense Minister would not rule out US missiles being based in Australia as part of the “shield.” (Telegraph On-Line)

Sexual rights for African women face many barriers
Last month, close to 200 people from Africa and around the world converged in Johannesburg, South Africa to attend the African Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Conference. It was the first in Africa to solely address women’s sexual rights. The goal was to help create a coordinated agenda on sexual and reproductive health and rights for the region. The lack of sexual rights leaves women vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, which is decimating much of Africa, especially women and young girls. Women are also vulnerable to sexual abuse during armed conflict with many human rights violations perpetrated against women classified as sexual rights violations. Sexual rights for women were first recognized internationally at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. There, governments recognized a woman’s rights as an autonomous being — especially regarding her sexual and reproductive health — and that men and women should be equal in society and in sexual relations and their consequences.
(Digital Freedom Network)

Human casualties of war in Burundi
In Burundi’s eastern province of Ruyigi, where fighting rages between the army and the country’s largest rebel group, a shelter for child victims of AIDS is overwhelmed by the arrival of newborns rescued from combat zones. The mothers of the malnourished babies have either died in childbirth or were killed trying to flee the fighting. Rebels have been looting property and livestock; gang rapes of women by uniformed men have increased. The army denies any involvement with these acts. People also accuse the army of repressing those suspected of “supporting” of the rebels. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says none of the humanitarian actors has had access to the area for over a month now. The total number of displaced persons is still unknown, but masses of people are fleeing farther into the hills. Civilians believe things will settle down once a scheduled food distribution to the rebels begins. (Africa Online Ltd.)

Former Chilean secret police chiefs indicted for murder
It took Chilean courts 29 years to indict five former heads of DINA, the secret police of the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, for the 1974 murder of former army chief Gen. Carlos Prats. Prats, the head of the Chilean army under the socialist government of Salvador Allende (1970-1973) — who was overthrown by Pinochet — was living in exile in neighboring Argentina when a car bomb killed him and his wife. He was seen as a threat because he could have potentially led a military uprising against Pinochet. DINA is blamed in government reports for most of the 3,000 deaths and disappearances of opponents of the dictatorship. The five have been charged with criminal conspiracy and aggravated homicide. Human Rights Watch termed the indictment “an important victory for justice.” (IPS)

New law to give Bangladesh army impunity
Last week, the Bangladesh parliament passed the controversial Joint Drive Indemnity Bill, giving the army immunity against legal action by civil courts for human rights violations committed during their 87 day country-wide anti-terror crackdown. During “Operation Clean Heart,” the crime rate dropped sharply but the army received flak for 44 deaths and more than 100,000 suspects maimed in custody. Under the new law, army men blamed for deaths, cruelty, and torture would be tried only by military courts in accordance with armed forces law.
Opposition parties in parliament raised black flags and staged a walkout after the bill was passed. An opposition leader stated, “We cannot be party to the enactment of a law which undermines the citizen’s fundamental right to protest.” According to the executive director of a Bangladesh rights organization, “The army’s practice of conducting raids, mass arrests, arbitrary detention, or interrogation in unknown places and without the presence of magistrates and defense lawyers is a contravention of fundamental rights enshrined in the country’s Constitution and Criminal Procedure Code.” (OneWorld.net)

Non-aligned nations struggling to make their voices heard
The threat of a new form of colonialism in the age of globalization was a common thread that ran through the 13th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which ended Feb. 25. While its 116 member countries make up two-thirds of the world, they do not have the same economic and political clout as the big powers have.
An informal meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) was convened on Wednesday by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to discuss the impending war on Iraq and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. Everyone agreed on finding ways to stop the killings of Palestinians by Israeli troops and to oppose a US-led attack on Iraq, but were unable to reach consensus on a method.
Another dilemma faced by NAM is that its members consist of many US allies as well as some of the poorest countries in the world, some of which can be swayed by offers of aid and other financial incentives from the rich countries. This issue was raised not only by Mahathir, but Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and even Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who warned that “the trend will only advance injustice.”
Senior political commentator Abdullah Ahmad noted that NAM’s deliberations here were influenced by one major concern — how the group can remain relevant in an international political environment where there is one superpower and where the gaps between rich and poor countries are widening.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said at the end of the summit, “If we do not unite or if NAM is not there, they [rich countries] will take us one by one, and kill us off.” (IPS)

back to top