UNHRC set to debate West Bank settlement report
| JPost | Israel News
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/UNHRC-set-to-debate-West-Bank-settlement-report-306788
Council to discuss multiple resolutions filed against Israel after report concludes Israel could be culpable for building beyond the pre-1967 lines before the ICC; UN likely to call on Israel to halt all settlement activity.
Nosedive: Chinese shopkeeper cover story a new low for South African journalism, by KEVIN BLOOM & RICHARD POPLAK - Daily Maverick
http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-10-30-nosedive-chinese-shopkeeper-cover-story-a-new-low-for-so
#Afrique_du_sud : une critique intéressante (et marrante) d’un article idiot jouant sur la “peur du petit commerçant chinois”.
the striking thing about Chinese shop owners is their very disassociation from Beijing, or any formal business network in mainland China.
Latvia’s ‘aliens’ | minorities in focus
http://minorityrights.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/latvias-aliens
Latvia’s citizenship policy, which assigns almost a third of Latvian Russians non-citizen/alien status, prohibits non-citizens from taking part in many aspects of society, such as seeking employment, travelling abroad, or voting during national elections. Even though the Latvian government ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities on 6 June 2005, there is still a considerable part of the Russian population who cannot freely participate in Latvian economic, political and cultural life.
[...]Being born into a Russian family from Latvia myself, I have been granted citizenship through my father, whereas my mother was a non-citizen until 2006. My uncle and my grandmother are still non-citizens. I asked my grandmother how it feels.
‘It is heartbreaking and unfair. It is like you have been born into a family and they don’t accept you as their child. The state, the government, and society is the family, and we, non-citizens, are unwanted and alienated children.’
Rebels and Syrian Government Trade Blame for Attack on Broadcaster
►http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/world/middleeast/syrian-pro-government-television-station-attacked.html
Those difficulties were illustrated Wednesday in findings by a panel from the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, which is investigating rights violations in Syria. The panel said it was unable to determine conclusively who was responsible for the May 25 massacre of 108 civilians in the western region of Houla, but “considers that forces loyal to the government may have been responsible for many of the deaths.”
While the investigators accused government forces of committing violations on “an alarming scale” in recent months, they also found that both sides had carried out summary executions. And they determined that the nature of the conflict had changed, escalating significantly despite Mr. Annan’s peace entreaties.
[…]
The commission said it had also received many reports of summary executions by antigovernment rebels, foreign fighters and people suspected of being informers or collaborators.
A Free Syrian Army soldier told the panel that captured soldiers from the Alawite sect, from which Mr. Assad draws strong support, are usually executed immediately, while soldiers from other sects are given the option of joining the opposition.
The commission drew attention to the plight of children caught in the conflict and the use of sexual violence against men, women and children, particularly by pro-government forces.
Des meurtres injustifiés : l’ONU demande aux Etats-Unis de justifier les attaques de drones par RT
http://www.legrandsoir.info/des-meurtres-injustifies-l-onu-demande-aux-etats-unis-de-justifier-les
Un enquêteur de l’ONU a demandé à Washington de justifier l’augmentation de l’utilisation de drones militaires pour perpétrer des assassinats ciblés. Il dit que les attaques de drones qui ôtent la vie à beaucoup d’innocents, pourraient violer le droit international.
L’armée étasunienne et la CIA utilisent des #drones en Afghanistan, Pakistan, Irak, Yémen et Somalie. Washington doit clarifier la base légale de sa politique d’assassiner des leaders et des membres présumés des Talibans et d’Al Qaeda au lieu d’essayer de les capturer selon un rapport de Christof Heyns, le rapporteur spécial des exécutions sommaires, extrajudiciaires, ou arbitraires. Ce rapport de 28 pages adressé au Conseil des droits humains de l’ONU a été publié en avant-première du débat de cet organisme sur le sujet à Genève.
The UN would like the White House to please explain all the #drone killings | Death and Taxes
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/184803/the-un-would-like-the-white-house-to-please-explain-all-the-drone-
UN investigator Christof Heyns issued a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of a debate it’s scheduled to have later today, in which he called on the US to please explain the rash of drone killings which have escalated under President Obama, killing civilians along the way.
Reuters reports: “Citing figures from the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, he said U.S. drone strikes killed at least 957 people in Pakistan in 2010 alone. Thousands have been killed in 300 drone strikes there since 2004, 20 percent of whom are believed to be civilians.”
UN Watch Brings Syrian Victim to Take on Assad Regime
www.youtube.com
UN Watch speech to June 1, 2012 emergency session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, delivered by Hadeel Kouki, 20-year-old Syrian activist, brutall...
On ne va pas se gêner: U.S. pressing UN Human Rights Commissioner to put off West Bank settlements probe
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/u-s-pressing-un-human-rights-commissioner-to-put-off-west-bank-settlements-
The Obama administration is trying to delay the establishment of a panel appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
U.S. Middle East envoy David Hale met in Bern last week with UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay and asked her not to advance the matter in the near future.
#Apartheid en #Israël, par Barbara Hogan « Ndifuna Ukwazi
http://www.nu.org.za/?p=512
Echoes of South Africa’s struggle are deafening
In the occupied Palestinian territory today, when a Palestinian protester is arrested together with an Israeli comrade, each faces a different kind of justice.
UN Shares Responsibility in Famine, Experts Say
http://allafrica.com/stories/201108110296.html
Major Western donor countries have bailed out their banks to the tune of billions of dollars, while drastically cutting down on development aid, and especially emergency assistance, he said.
In consequence, Ziegler said, the WFP is having to refuse help to refugees arriving at the camps. The WFP simply lacks the money to help the number of people in need.
Tens of thousands of people have likely died since April, the expert said. According to the WFP, 11 million people are in urgent need of food.
In the circumstances, a declaration from the U.N. Human Rights Council might stir some consciences and prompt people to act. It would at least force countries - officially committed to protecting the human right to food - to pay their contributions to the WFP, Ziegler hoped.
Palestine Campaigners Claim #BDS Success as Edinburgh Council Rejects Veolia
http://jnoubiyeh.com/2010/12/palestine-campaigners-claim-bds-success.html
A pro-Palestinian pressure group claimed success last week after Edinburgh Council rejected an attempt by a controversial firm to take over a range of public services in the city.
Et quelle est cette « controversial firm » ?
Veolia had been shortlisted to take over environmental services contracts, including refuse collection and street cleaning, but a Council report published Friday indicated that the firm is no longer being considered. This latest blow for Veolia comes on top of similar multi-billion pound losses around the world, and is likely to add to the pressure on the firm to cease providing waste and transport services to Israel’s illegal settlements in Palestine, including the construction of a tramway that the United Nations Human Rights Council deems, “in clear violation of international law”. The line is set to link Israel with some of its illegal settlements.
Épatant.
En revanche, il serait encore plus épatant que la ville renonce purement et simplement à privatiser ses services publics municipaux. Parce que là, certes c’est bien de soutenir les Palestiniens, mais il reste la décision de filer la gestion de services (le budget des services municipaux avoisinant le milliard de livres par an) au secteur privé (ce qui n’est bon pour personne) :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jul/16/edinburgh-considers-bin-collection-privatisation
“My instinct is that outsourcing sounds like a bad idea,” said David Griffin, owner of the Elvis Shakespeare book and record store on Leith Walk. “I don’t understand why the people in the refuse department can’t just do the job themselves. I don’t see any reason to outsource because some private companies will only want to make a profit.”
[...]
“This is going to affect 25% of the workforce of the council,” he said. “That will range from bin men to the reception staff at the city chambers. There is a whole range of council services up for grabs here ... I think if we detailed what this was to the public they would see this as privatisation, and that’s not popular in Scotland.”
[...]
“It is not just from the union’s perspective. It is looking at money being taken out of the city. It will have an impact on services and it will also have an impact on the city’s businesses if people aren’t employed here.”