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Category: Human Rights

  • Australia and Indonesia to deepen military ties after striking ‘historic’ security pact

    Anthony Albanese and Prabowo Subianto announce conclusion of treaty negotiations but reporters weren’t able to ask questions about new deal

    Australia and Indonesia have struck a new security pact that will lead to more joint military exercises and visits, prompting human rights advocates to call for safeguards.

    The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told the Indonesian defence minister and president-elect, Prabowo Subianto, in Canberra on Tuesday that there was “no more important relationship than the one between our two great nations”.

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    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Reform’s Richard Tice claimed to speak for the British public on the ECHR – people told him where to go

    According to Farage wing-man and Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice MP, the majority of the British public want to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

    Of course, it had many people on social media rolling their eyes. Because that was news to – funnily enough – the majority of the UK public.

    ECHR: Tice tearing up human rights – for the people, of course

    Human rights organisation Liberty has described how the ECHR was:

    drafted in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Holocaust in an attempt to protect the people from the State, make sure the atrocities committed would never be repeated, and safeguard fundamental rights.

    Crucially, it stated that this has:

    protected us from things like torture, killing, and slavery and assures our freedom of speech, assembly, religion, privacy and much more.

    So naturally, Reform leader Richard Tice – self-appointed spokesperson of the white working class – wants to ditch it. On behalf of them, of course:


    Because stripping away workers rights and peeling back regulations will really help poor communities capitalist parasites and their political ideologues have decimated through rampant neoliberalism and brutal austerity. Didn’t he get the Farage millionaire MP memo? That ordinary working man down the pub public relations trick needs to do a lot of extra heavy lifting right now, Ticey-boy.

    Unsurprisingly, it turned out, he doesn’t actually speak for the majority of people at all. Tice was doing what Tice does best, and talking out his arse:

    As the recent election results also showed:

    In fact, one poster highlighted a series of polls that have shown quite the opposite:

    Though, as the Canary has pointed out before, the UK is still packed with out-and-proud bigots. Specifically, a recent YouGov poll separately found that over a third of Reform voters supported the recent race riots. As we highlighted, this equated to over 1.3 million people.

    Clearly, Tice was pandering to this right-wing base. By majority then, Tice meant his little cesspit fascist bubble of Reform supporters and racist rioters:

    In reality however, alarmingly sizeable as it is, this is still a minority of the UK population.

    Once a Brexit-mongering liar…

    Some therefore pointed out Richard Tice’s ECHR proclamation would go the way of the recent race riots. In other words, Tice may as well be clamouring his guff to four blokes with a flag on racist roundabout island – the rest of us couldn’t give a toss what crock of shit comes out his lying mouth:

    We can’t possible think why the Reform UK leader might want to bamboozle the British public Brexit-style over the ECHR either. Though maybe we’ll just leave this here:

    Not that it’s stopped Tice and his slimy political ilk before however. Leave.EU anyone? Notably, the former Brexit campaign broke UK electoral law – and a certain Richard Tice was one of its two co-founders. However, one poster expressed that the ECHR is the only thing that (sometimes) stands between corporate-captured crony capitalists in Westminster and the UK public:

    Of course, it’s not simply the boon from losing free and fair elections Reform and co. could cash in on either. Tearing up climate crisis ‘red tape’, environmental regulations, and worker’s rights – nice work if you’re a fossil fuel-funded vested climate-denying scoundrel like Tice I suppose. Or more generally, a paid political-media shill for the capitalist class:

    There was one compelling reason to back the shameless grifter after all then:

    At the end of the day, the biggest question is: what has lying scumbag Richard Tice ever done for us? The answer should be obvious.

    Featured image via GB News – YouTube

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Discrimination, dialogue and diversity: 8 life lessons as an ESOL teacher

    By Roni Roseberg

    I recently retired and finally said goodbye to the classroom.

    As a teacher of ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages), I had the great privilege of working with around 75 different national and cultural groups.

    Many of my students were refugees from overseas.

    And whilst I was supporting my students with their English – including everything from beginners English to proficiency levels – I am sure that I learned more than I taught.

    It’s a career that started out quite unexpectedly, but which has since shaped my life.

    Wind back many years, Auntie Anita, my first husband’s aunt, was nagging me to visit her at work.

    She was a secretary at a public Northern California adult educational centre about ten miles from where we lived. And she though it’d be just my thing.

    I’d taught four years of high school by that time and given it up to raise a toddler. Now, I was thinking of part time work.

    “But I don’t have the right credential to teach adults,” I protested.

    It didn’t work. She persisted.

    “I can get you a temporary credential” she continued. “And you’ll have a year to get the permanent one. You’re right for the job.”

    And so, she did. My first class was at night in downtown Oakland, California.

    A cosmopolitan city if ever there was one! I had students from at least a dozen countries that first night.

    I was given very broad curriculum guidelines, and I did a lot of creative “ad lobbing” as it was my first class. It went great!

    The evening flew by, and by the end of the class everyone was smiling. I knew this was the right setting for me.

    So, I continued part time, had a second baby, and changed to a school closer to home.

    I was still teaching at night with a class full of adults who worked during the day, and though tired, came to night school, optimistic and cheery about getting ahead in American society.

    I knew then that I’d not go back to teaching high school. I proceeded to get my credential in adult education.

    My district in particular welcomed hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan.

    We also welcomed people from dozens of other countries, from Argentina to Mongolia.

    I spent the next years in urban areas teaching English as a Second Language, cultural diversity awareness in the business sector, and basic reading skills to recently released prisoners.

    I did so for a total of 40 years.

    That, coupled with early years working in Alaska, gave me a complete window on the world.

    Thanks to social media, I’m still in touch with dozens of former students, and have accepted invitations to visit them in half a dozen countries where they live.

    I consider myself very lucky indeed!

    Auntie Anita, one of the most persistent people I’ve met, harangued and dispensed lots of unwanted advice.

    But, she was on target. I was right for the job.

    Watching my students develop their English language skills was an absolute joy.

    As was, learning from them.

    Lessons learned: around the world in a classroom

    I may have been the teacher, but I really do feel that this incredible experience taught me much more.

    Here’s what I learnt!

    1. Don’t stereotype people

    Just because a person comes from a certain culture, it does not make them a spokesperson for the whole culture.

    Each person is an individual with their own experiences, views and lived experiences.

    Plus, what I also discovered is that cultural communities are very diverse.

    Not all people from the same place are alike!

    Whether from a minority of majority community, each culture is rich in language, history, culture and beliefs.

    Get to know the individual on their terms – you’ll learn a lot more.

    2. Be aware of inter-communal biases

    It goes without saying that we should welcome migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to their new home.

    And that includes: ensuring that we’re not fostering any space for racism, discrimination and exclusion.

    Negative stereotypes, scapegoating of communities and cultural biases are everywhere (no thanks to the media!).

    So, as in point #1, firstly: check yourself for conscious and unconscious biases.

    Secondly: we need to also understand, recognise and mitigate for inter-community biases and conflicts.

    No community is immune from negative biases. There are internal biases and racism with many cultures – not just our own.

    So, whatever the history (e.g. religious, ethnic, “caste-based”, gender and socio-economic difference/conflict), be ready to recognise biases and work against them. 

    3. Seeking refuge is a right not a choice

    People leave their home countries for a variety of reasons – and causes.

    Displaced by the effects of climate change, poverty, conflict, persecution (relating to one’s faith, gender or sexuality) – there are countless reasons.

    But one common denominator is this: life. To live in freedom, safety and security.

    I can safely say that after my experiences, many people who change countries usually do so out of necessity – not because they want to do so.

    Moving country is challenging in any context – some more complex and challenging than we could ever imagine.

    4. Language is fundamental

    Learning the language of anywhere you’re living is critical. It opens so many doors – economic and social, cultural.

    From accessing medical services, going to work and making new (and varied) friends – language is crucial. It really is key to integration.

    Of course, people come with vastly varied experiences and levels of education.

    Some may by fluent in the national language, others a little rusty. Some may be starting from scratch.

    Everyone has different histories and needs. And how fast people learn a new language often depends on whether they plan to stay in the new country.

    Again: each context is different.

    Language is key to integration – but it’s not the only element.

    As a society, our strength lies in our respect for diversity and ensuring equity across the board.

    5. Trauma travels with you

    The resilience of people can be astounding – including the coping skills people bring with them.

    Yet, whilst, you’re looking to the future – but the past can travel with you.

    People who come to a new country may have suffered immense hardship/trauma – and therefore struggle with conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and/or anxiety.

    For refugees and asylum seekers in particular, the affects of trauma from conflict/violence (personal loss/grief and displacement) and persecution/torture (physical, sexual, phycological abuse), require empathy, care and potentially professional support.

    When counselling someone, empathy and compassionate listening are critical.

    I however personally always try to give suggestions for concrete actions – whilst of course ensuring that my advice is informed and useful.

    Signposting may be the best advice you give.

    6. Experiences vary greatly across generations

    First generation immigrants face many challenges and hardships, including potential language gaps, financial struggles, cultural shocks and emotional trauma (see point #5).

    These challenges are usually different to that of their second-generation children (and subsequent generations).

    Children who are born in the new country or arrived at an early age generally find it easier to carve out their own sense of identity, embracing both their own native and the national culture of their parents’ adopted country.

    Parents may be determined to re-create a sense of the home culture in a new place but can become frustrated when their children will not or cannot accept that.

    As a result, their children may struggle to manage both the expectations of senior members of their family, alongside their own experiences and wants/beliefs as a second/third generation migrant/refugee.

    Of course however, every family, individual and context is different.

     7. We share more in common

    Whilst the world is so wonderfully diverse, we’re all human. And we’re actually more alike than people may think.

    Yes, we’ve got far more in common than any differences among us!

    Of course, our experiences and our upbringing all shape us, our beliefs and our view on the world.

    But, when it comes down to it, we all share the same foundations, feelings and wants of being human.

    What’s more, each of us keeps on learning and changing throughout our lives.

    Cross-cultural learning can bring not just a great sense of discovery, but also solidarity and teamwork to the classroom.

    8. A smile goes a long way

    You may speak different languages, you may have been born in different countries – or even continents – and you may be at different stages in your life…

    But I can guarantee one thing: you all welcome a friendly face!

    Smiling isn’t quite universally understood in the same way. But, a lot of people do appreciate a smile and a helping hand.

    And a smile can often go a long way at breaking the ice, easing a bit of tension or sometimes filing a bit of silence.

    And that’s what it’s all about really: supporting one another together.

    Individuals and communities have different life-experiences, traditions and needs. And that’s great!

    We are richer in our diversity and we can all learn from one another. We have so much in common.

    We don’t need to all be the same in each and every way. We just need to share a sense of common citizenship, unity, respect and equality.

    Ultimately: we are stronger together.

    So, in increasingly turbulent times, let this be our reminder: let’s come together, remember what we have in common and learn from one another.

    Because love trumps hate every time.  

    Featured image: Freepik

    This post was originally published on Voice of Salam.

  • Slow the growth, save the world? Why declining birth rates need not mean an end to prosperity

    Political leaders fret about the ‘fertility crisis’. That’s nonsense, experts say. There’s a desperate need for population shrinkage

    “We’re taking things from the people of the future now,” Mary Heath says from the kitchen where she’s drying seeds to plant. The climate activist is talking about Earth Overshoot Day, the ominous annual milestone that marks when humanity has consumed more from the Earth than the Earth can replenish in a year.

    Globally, the deficit started on 1 August, meaning we are “using nature 1.7 times faster than our planet’s ecosystems can regenerate”.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Israel Is Holding Thousands of Palestinians Captive — Including Children

    In October 2023, Fadiah Barghouti’s home in Ramallah was raided by Israeli forces. Soldiers broke down her door and smashed everything that they could get their hands on. They were searching for her son Basel, whom they beat along with her other son, saying they would all “pay the price for supporting Hamas.” It was a claim Barghouti was familiar with: Her husband Mahmoud is currently being held…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Fijian journalists use talanoa and tradition to find their voice

    By Matilda Yates, Queensland University of Technology

    “From a white perspective it is journalism but for us, it is actually storytelling,” says Fiji student journalist Viliame Tawanakoro.

    “In the Pacific, we call it talanoa, it hasn’t changed the gist of journalism, but it has actually helped journalism as a whole because we have a way of disseminating information.”

    Fijians use storytelling or talanoa to communicate “information or a message from one village to another”, explains Tawanakoro, and that storytelling practices guides how he writes journalistic stories.

    “Storytelling is about having a conversation, so you can have an understanding of what you are trying to pursue,” Tawanakoro says.

    David Robie’s research, conducted while he was Auckland University of Technology’s Pacific Media Centre director and published in his book Don’t Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific, highlights the power of talanoa as a tool for effective reporting of the Pacific region with “context and nuance”.

    However, Dr Robie notes the “dilemmas of cross-cultural reporting” in Fiji.

    Fijian journalists face a cultural and potentially even a moral conflict, according to Fiji journalist Seona Smiles in the foreward to The Pacific Journalist: A Practical Guide.

    ‘Deep-rooted beliefs’
    “Deep-rooted beliefs in South Pacific societies about respect for authority could translate into a lack of accountability and transparency on behalf of the powerful,” Smiles notes.

    Fiji student journalist Brittany Nawaqatabu echoes this internal conflict as a young journalist who was “brought up not to ask too many questions” — especially to elder iTaukei.

    “It’s always that battle between culture and having to get your job done and having to manoeuvre the situation and knowing when to put yourself out there and when to know where culture comes in,” Nawaqatabu says.

    Managers and leaders in Fiji news media need deep awareness of cultural norms and protocols.

    Editor of Islands Business Samantha Magick expresses the importance of hiring a diverse staff so that the correct journalist can be sent to cover what may be a culturally sensitive story.

    “I unwittingly assigned someone to cover a traditional ceremony and I didn’t realise that their status within that community actually made it very difficult for them to do that,” she says.

    In exploring journalism in the Pacific, Dick Rooney and his Divine Word University colleagues found that a Western understanding of journalism cannot be transplanted “into a society which has very different societal needs”.

    ‘More complexity’
    Practising journalism in Fiji is like practising journalism in a small town “but with a lot more complexity”, Magick says.

    She finds “the degree of separation isn’t six it’s like two”, meaning that it is a vital consideration of editors to ensure no conflict exists with the journalists and the community they are being sent to.

    It is “incumbent on an editor to understand” the cultural norms and expectations that may be imposed on a journalist on an assignment and to ensure they have a “diverse newsroom of all ethnicities, not just the iTaukei but also the Indo-Fijian,” Magick says.

    Nawaqatabu expands on one Fijian cultural norm in which “women are expected to not speak”.

    As the Fijian news media and society modernise, and more diverse information becomes available, Fijian women in particular have found a voice through journalism.

    “Pursuing journalism gives us that voice to cover stories that mean a lot to us, and the country as a whole, to communicate that voice that we didn’t initially have in the previous generation,” Nawaqatabu says.

    Tawanakoro concurs with this sentiment. “Women have found a voice and are more vocal about what they want,” he says.

    The intersection of tradition, culture and journalism in Fiji will continue, but Tawanakoro says journalists can operate effectively if they understand culture and protocols.

    “As a journalist, you have to acknowledge there is a tradition, there is a culture if you respect the culture, the tradition, the vanua (earth, region, spot, place-to-be or come from) they will respect you.”

    Matilda Yates is a student journalist from the Queensland University of Technology who travelled to Fiji with the support of the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan Mobility Programme. This article is republished by Asia Pacific Report in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN), QUT and The University of the South Pacific.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Brown’s ‘backflip’ over Japanese nuclear wastewater dump poses challenge for Forum

    COMMENTARY: By Brittany Nawaqatabu in Suva

    Regional leaders will gather later this month in Tonga for the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in Tonga and high on the agenda will be Japan’s dumping of
    treated nuclear wastewater in the Pacific Ocean.

    A week ago on the 6 August 2024, the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing of
    Hiroshima in 1945 and the 39th anniversary of the Treaty of Rarotonga opening for signatures in 1985 were marked.

    As the world and region remembered the horrors of nuclear weapons and stand in solidarity, there is still work to be done.

    • READ MORE: Other nuclear wastewater in Pacific reports

    Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has stated that Japan’s discharge of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean does not breach the Rarotonga Treaty which established a Nuclear-Free Zone in the South Pacific.

    Civil society groups have been calling for Japan to stop the dumping in the Pacific Ocean, but Brown, who is also the chair of the Pacific Islands Forum and represents a country
    associated by name with the Rarotonga Treaty, has backtracked on both the efforts of PIFS and his own previous calls against it.

    Brown stated during the recent 10th Pacific Alliance Leaders Meeting (PALM10) meeting in
    Tokyo that Pacific Island Leaders stressed the importance of transparency and scientific evidence to ensure that Japan’s actions did not harm the environment or public health.

    But he also defended Japan, saying that the wastewater, treated using the Advanced Liquid
    Processing System (ALPS) to remove most radioactive materials except tritium, met the
    standard set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

    Harmful isotopes removed
    “No, the water has been treated to remove harmful isotopes, so it’s well within the standard guidelines as outlined by the global authority on nuclear matters, the IAEA,” Brown said in an Islands Business article.

    “Japan is complying with these guidelines in its discharge of wastewater into the ocean.”

    The Cook Islands has consistently benefited from Japanese development grants. In 2021, Japan funded through the Asian Development Bank $2 million grant from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan.

    Together with $500,000 of in-kind contribution from the government of the Cook Islands, the grant funded the Supporting Safe Recovery of Travel and Tourism Project.

    Just this year Japan provided grants for the Puaikura Volunteer Fire Brigade Association totaling US$132,680 and a further US$53,925 for Aitutaki’s Vaitau School.

    Long-term consequences
    In 2023, Prime Minister Brown said it placed a special obligation on Pacific Island States because of ’the long-term consequences for Pacific peoples’ health, environment and human rights.

    Pacific states, he said, had a legal obligation “to prevent the dumping of radioactive wastes and other radioactive matter by anyone” and “to not . . .  assist or encourage the dumping by anyone of radioactive wastes and other radioactive matter at sea anywhere within the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone.

    “Our people do not have anything to gain from Japan’s plan but have much at risk for
    generations to come.”

    The Pacific Islands Forum went on further to state then that the issue was an “issue of significant transboundary and intergenerational harm”.

    The Rarotonga Treaty, a Cold War-era agreement, prohibits nuclear weapons testing and
    deployment in the region, but it does not specifically address the discharge of the treated
    nuclear wastewater.

    Pacific civil society organisations continue to condemn Japan’s dumping of nuclear-treated
    wastewater. Of its planned 1.3 million tonnes of nuclear-treated wastewater, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has conducted seven sets of dumping into the Pacific Ocean and was due to commence the eighth between August 7-25.

    Regardless of the recommendations provided by the Pacific Island Forum’s special panel of
    experts and civil society calls to stop Japan and for PIF Leaders to suspend Japan’s dialogue
    partner status, the PIF Chair Mark Brown has ignored concerns by stating his support for
    Japan’s nuclear wastewater dumping plans.

    Contradiction of treaty
    This decision is being viewed by the international community as a contradiction of the Treaty of Rarotonga that symbolises a genuine collaborative endeavour from the Pacific region, born out of 10 years of dedication from Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, the Cook Islands, and various other nations, all working together to establish a nuclear-free zone in the South Pacific. Treaty Ratification

    Bedi Racule, a nuclear justice advocate said the Treaty of Rarotonga preamble had one of the most powerful statements in any treaty ever. It is the member states’ promise for a nuclear free Pacific.

    “The spirit of the Treaty is to protect the abundance and the beauty of the islands for future
    generations,” Racule said.

    She continued to state that it was vital to ensure that the technical aspects of the Treaty and the text from the preamble is visualised.

    “We need to consistently look at this Treaty because of the ongoing nuclear threats that are
    happening”.

    Racule said the Treaty did not address the modern issues being faced like nuclear waste dumping, and stressed that there was a dire need to increase the solidarity and the
    universalisation of the Treaty.

    “There is quite a large portion of the Pacific that is not signed onto the Treaty. There’s still work within the Treaty that needs to be ratified.

    “It’s almost like a check mark that’s there but it’s not being attended to.”

    The Pacific islands Forum meets on August 26-30.

    Brittany Nawaqatabu is assistant media and communications officer of the Suva-based Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG). 

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘Enforced disappearances’ send a chill through Kenya’s protests

    Dozens are reported as having gone missing since demonstrations began, and some have turned up dead

    One mid-morning in June, Emmanuel Kamau prepared to leave his home for work as a bus conductor in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

    It was the second week of nationwide protests against proposed tax increases, and demonstrations were expected to disrupt the transport network. But as a casual worker who got jobs on an irregular basis, the 24-year-old decided to take a chance to try to earn some money to put food on the table.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • ‘Enforced disappearances’ send a chill through Kenya’s protests

    Dozens are reported as having gone missing since demonstrations began, and some have turned up dead

    One mid-morning in June, Emmanuel Kamau prepared to leave his home for work as a bus conductor in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

    It was the second week of nationwide protests against proposed tax increases, and demonstrations were expected to disrupt the transport network. But as a casual worker who got jobs on an irregular basis, the 24-year-old decided to take a chance to try to earn some money to put food on the table.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Hundreds of cases of femicide recorded in Afghanistan since Taliban takeover are ‘tip of the iceberg’

    Analysis on third anniversary of seizure of power finds regime officials implicated in more than half of reported incidents of gender-based violence

    The 300-plus reported cases of Afghan women being killed by men since the Taliban seized power are just “the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to the true scale of gender-based violence in Afghanistan, according to new data analysis.

    Open-source investigators at the Centre of Information Resilience’s Afghan Witness project combed through social media and news sites to record 332 reported cases of femicide since the Taliban took Kabul on 15 August 2021.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Big Oil Is Spewing Disinformation to Slow Climate Action, Warns UN

    un fossil fuels
    5 Mins Read

    The UN has stated that misinformation by fossil fuel companies is slowing down the energy transition and global efforts to tackle climate change.

    A “massive” misinformation and disinformation campaign by Big Oil is impeding climate action and the shift towards green energy, the UN has warned.

    Climate policies are becoming a target of far-right attacks in countries across the globe. But rather than being a reflection of public perception, this is due to fossil fuel companies’ “backlash” against climate mitigation efforts, according to Selwin Hart, the assistant secretary-general of the UN’s Climate Action Team.

    Efforts to disseminate misleading information are aimed at delaying emission reduction policies. “There is this prevailing narrative – and a lot of it is being pushed by the fossil fuel industry and their enablers – that climate action is too difficult, it’s too expensive,” Hart, a climate advisor to UN secretary-general António Guterres, said in an interview with the Guardian.

    “It is absolutely critical that leaders, and all of us, push back and explain to people the value of climate action, but also the consequences of climate inaction,” he added.

    The policy battles for and against fossil fuels

    fossil fuel survey
    Courtesy: UNDP

    Hart’s comments come two months after the UN Development Programme conducted the largest-ever survey on climate change – covering more than 73,000 people from 77 countries – and found that 72% of people want their governments to quickly move away from fossil fuels. In fact, majorities in 85% of the countries want a rapid shift towards renewable energy, including in most petrostates.

    A transition away from fossil fuels was highlighted in the Global Stocktake document at COP28, though this was short of the complete phaseout that many had called for. It explains why less than half (49%) of respondents believed their nations were doing enough to tackle the climate crisis.

    While far-right gains have dominated elections in some areas like the EU, other parts of the world have seen green parties and policies become more prominent. For example, in the US, 23% of Congress members were found to be climate deniers, and Donald Trump has promised to “drill, baby, drill” if reelected in November, even as the country faces some of its most lethal heatwaves and home insurance becomes increasingly hard to attain.

    “This is directly due to the climate crisis, and directly due to the use of fossil fuels,” Hart told the Guardian. “Ordinary people are having to pay the price of a climate crisis while the fossil fuel industry continues to reap excess profits and still receives massive government subsidies.”

    denmark carbon tax agriculture
    Denmark will soon tax cattle farmers for their carbon emissions | Courtesy: Økonomiministeriet/X

    But then there are nations like Denmark, whose government has become the first to implement a carbon tax on meat and dairy production, a policy that would have once been considered radical. “This should alert political leaders – those that are ambitious are not only on the right side of history, they’re on the side of their people as well,” the UN official suggested.

    “Climate appears to be dropping down the list of priorities of leaders,” he added. “But we really need leaders now to deliver maximum ambition. And we need maximum cooperation. Unfortunately, we are not seeing that at the moment.”

    NDCs must consult climate-vulnerable populations

    In May, a survey of 380 scientists from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change revealed that nearly three-quarters blamed a lack of political will behind the failure to address the climate crisis. Meanwhile, 60% ascribed it to vested corporate interests, such as those of the fossil fuel industry, the world’s largest polluter.

    Most of these experts (94%) believe the world will miss the goal to limit post-industrial temperature rises to 1.5°C by 2100, as outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement. In fact, more respondents said we’ll see a rise of 4°C than those who feel we can meet the 1.5°C target – and 77% expect temperatures to increase by at least 2.5°C, leaving the world vulnerable to catastrophic and irreversible damage.

    The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last year found national climate action plans to be insufficient, noting that they don’t show the required “rapid downward trend” when it comes to cutting emissions.

    unfccc report
    Courtesy: UNFCCC

    Hart concurred, stating that “we’re still not seeing the level of ambition or action that the world desperately needs”. This is why the UN is calling on countries to set out clear policy plans and their impacts on climate action in the next update to their nationally determined contributions, due in 2025.

    These need to be “as consultative as possible so that whole segments of society – young people, women, children, workers – will be able to provide their perspective on how the transition should be planned and well-managed, and how it will be financed”, explained Hart.

    This is important considering that developing countries, mostly in the Global South, disproportionately face the worst impacts of climate change. Despite low-income nations accounting for just 0.4% global consumption-based carbon emissions, 91% of all deaths related to extreme weather occur in developing countries, according to the UN.

    Poorly designed policies can unfairly hurt vulnerable populations, Hart said. “Each country will really need to ensure its transition is well planned to minimise the impact on people and vulnerable populations, because a lot of the so-called pushback comes when there’s a perception that the costs on poor and vulnerable persons are being disproportionately felt.”

    In June, Guterres called on countries and media companies to ban fossil fuel advertising. Always an outspoken critic of Big Oil, he called businesses in this sector the “godfathers of climate chaos”, which have “shamelessly greenwashed” and “sought to delay climate action”.

    The post Big Oil Is Spewing Disinformation to Slow Climate Action, Warns UN appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Online abusers ‘shaming, silencing’ Fiji women journalists, say researchers

    By Brooklyn Self, Queensland University of Technology

    Gendered online violence is silencing women journalists in Fiji, says Pacific media scholar Dr Shailendra Singh.

    The harmful trend involves unwanted private messages, hateful language and threats to reputation, often from anonymous sources.

    The visibility of women journalists has made them frequent targets, while perpetrators can harness popular online platforms to shame or embarrass them in the public eye.

    Dr Singh has dedicated extensive research to this dangerous phenomenon, including a 2022 study with Geraldine Panapasa and other colleagues from The University of South Pacific and Fiji Women’s Rights Movement.

    The research found 83 percent of female Fijian journalists who completed their survey had experienced online harassment.

    Significantly, the women journalists reported changes to their journalistic practice because of abuse, such as self-censoring their content or avoiding certain sources or stories.

    The report on Prevalence and Impact of Sexual Harassment on Female Journalists
    The report on Prevalence and Impact of Sexual Harassment on Female Journalists found most of Fiji’s women journalists changed their reporting or social media habits because of online violence. Image: Shailendra Singh and Geraldine Panapasa/USP

    “The aim is to embarrass female journalists into silence, or punish them for writing a report that someone did not like,” Dr Singh says.

    The researchers said the valuable role of the Fourth Estate in protecting the public interest makes harassment of journalists a critical concern.

    Eliminating the problem will need further action, as 40 per cent of the women journalists who responded said their employers had no systems in place for dealing with online violence.

    Islands Business magazine manager Samantha Magick says her staff can come to her for support, but even so, harassment adds another barrier to attracting and keeping journalists in the industry.

    “We’re competing with marketing, or competing with UN agencies that will snap up a great young communications officer after they’ve done a year in a newsroom, and pay them a lot more,” she says.

    “The people who stick with the profession are either super passionate about it and willing to sacrifice certain things or are in a position where it can be viable for them.”

    Fiji adopted its Online Safety Act in 2018, which bans harmful online communications and appoints the Online Safety Commission to investigate offences.

    Fiji TV news editor Felix Chaudhary says journalists often do not report online abuse because of a lack of faith or awareness around reporting procedures.

    “You can have the best laws, but if you aren’t able to enforce the law or have reporting mechanisms in place, then the laws are useless because they’re not going to serve their purpose,” he says.

    The Pacific Media Conference 2024 lineup
    A Pacific Media Conference 2024 lineup last month when online abuse and harassment was widely discussed by journalists and academics . . . Professor David Robie (clockwise from top left), Nalini Singh, Professor Emily Drew, Professor Cherian George, Irene Liu, conference chair Associate Professor Shailendra Singh and Indira Stewart. Image: USP Wansolwara

    Until these mechanisms are developed, media employers should build a zero-tolerance workplace culture and establish their own protocols to deal with online violence, Chaudhary says.

    “You get very clear from the beginning that you will not tolerate any form of harassment – abuse, verbal, written online,” he says. “So it’s very clear from the get-go that kind of behaviour is not accepted.”

    There is a growing body of data to suggest women’s online safety is a critical concern across Fiji, with research from the Online Safety Commission revealing that 61.44 per cent of women in Fiji experienced cyberbullying in 2023.

    Chaudhary says the online harassment of women journalists reflects ongoing issues for women that stem from the explosion of internet use in Fiji.

    “Facebook, Twitter and Instagram gave people open territory to abuse anyone and everyone at will, whenever they wanted to.

    “I think there should have been a lot of education on social media etiquette, what’s acceptable and what’s not,” he says.

    • Fijians can directly report online violence on social media platforms or lodge a complaint with the Fiji Online Safety Commission: https://osc.com.fj/

    Brooklyn Self is a student journalist from the Queensland University of Technology who travelled to Fiji with the support of the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan Mobility Programme. This article is republished by Asia Pacific Report in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN), QUT and The University of the South Pacific.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • From Papua to Gaza, military occupation leads to ‘ecocide’ – climate catastrophe

    Environmental destruction is not an unintended side effect, but a primary objective in colonial wars of occupation.

    By David Whyte and Samira Homerang Saunders

    Many in the international community are finally coming to accept that the earth’s ecosystem can no longer bear the weight of military occupation.

    Most have reached this inevitable conclusion, clearly articulated in the environmental movement’s latest slogan “No Climate Justice on Occupied Land”, in light of the horrors we have witnessed in Gaza since October 7.

    While the correlation between military occupation and climate sustainability may be a recent discovery for those living their lives in relative peace and security, people living under occupation, and thus constant threat of military violence, have always known any guided missile strike or aerial bombardment campaign by an occupying military is not only an attack on those being targeted but also their land’s ability to sustain life.

    A recent hearing on “State and Environmental Violence in West Papua” under the jurisdiction of the Rome-based Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT), for example, heard that Indonesia’s military occupation, spanning more than seven decades, has facilitated a “slow genocide” of the Papuan people through not only political repression and violence, but also the gradual decimation of the forest area — one of the largest and most biodiverse on the planet — that sustains them.

    West Papua hosts one of the largest copper and gold mines in the world, is the site of a major BP liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, and is the fastest-expanding area of palm oil and biofuel plantation in Indonesia.

    All of these industries leave ecological dead zones in their wake, and every single one of them is secured by military occupation.

    At the PPT hearing, prominent Papuan lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy spoke of the connection between human suffering in West Papua and the exploitation of the region’s natural resources.

    Shot and wounded
    Just one week later, he was shot and wounded by an unknown assailant. The PPT Secretariat noted that the attack came after the lawyer depicted “the past and current violence committed against the defenceless civil population and the environment in the region”.

    What happened to Warinussy reinforced yet again the indivisibility of military occupation and environmental violence.

    In total, militaries around the world account for almost 5.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions annually — more than the aviation and shipping industries combined.

    Our colleagues at Queen Mary University of London recently concluded that emissions from the first 120 days of this latest round of slaughter in Gaza alone were greater than the annual emissions of 26 individual countries; emissions from rebuilding Gaza will be higher than the annual emissions of more than 135 countries, equating them to those of Sweden and Portugal.

    But even these shocking statistics fail to shed sufficient light on the deep connection between military violence and environmental violence. War and occupation’s impact on the climate is not merely a side effect or unfortunate consequence.

    We must not reduce our analysis of what is going on in Gaza, for example, to a dualism of consequences: the killing of people on one side and the effect on “the environment” on the other.

    Inseparable from impact on nature
    In reality, the impact on the people is inseparable from the impact on nature. The genocide in Gaza is also an ecocide — as is almost always the case with military campaigns.

    In the Vietnam War, the use of toxic chemicals, including Agent Orange, was part of a deliberate strategy to eliminate any capacity for agricultural production, and thus force the people off their land and into “strategic hamlets”.

    Forests, used by the Vietcong as cover, were also cut by the US military to reduce the population’s capacity for resistance. The anti-war activist and international lawyer Richard Falk coined the phrase “ecocide” to describe this.

    In different ways, this is what all military operations do: they tactically reduce or completely eliminate the capacity of the “enemy” population to live sustainably and to retain autonomy over its own water and food supplies.

    Since 2014, the bulldozing of Palestinian homes and other essential infrastructure by the Israeli occupation forces has been complemented by chemical warfare, with herbicides aerially sprayed by the Israeli military destroying entire swaths of arable land in Gaza.

    In other words, Gaza has been subjected to an “ecocide” strategy almost identical to the one used in Vietnam since long before October 7.

    The occupying military force has been working to reduce, and eventually completely eliminate, the Palestinian population’s capacity to live sustainably in Gaza for many years. Since October 7, it has been waging a war to make Gaza completely unliveable.

    50% of Gaza farms wiped out
    As researchers at Forensic Architecture have concluded, at least 50 percent of farmland and orchards in Gaza are now completely wiped out. Many ancient olive groves have also been destroyed. Fields of crops have been uprooted using tanks, tractors and other vehicles.

    Widespread aerial bombardment reduced the Gaza Strip’s greenhouse production facilities to rubble. All this was done not by mistake, but in a deliberate effort to leave the land unable to sustain life.

    The wholesale destruction of the water supply and sanitation facilities and the ongoing threat of starvation across the Gaza Strip are also not unwanted consequences, but deliberate tactics of war. The Israeli military has weaponised food and water access in its unrelenting assault on the population of Gaza.

    Of course, none of this is new to Palestinians there, or indeed in the West Bank. Israel has been using these same tactics to sustain its occupation, pressure Palestinians into leaving their lands, and expand its illegal settlement enterprise for many years.

    Since October 7, it has merely intensified its efforts. It is now working with unprecedented urgency to eradicate the little capacity the occupied Palestinian territory has left in it to sustain Palestinian life.

    Just as is the case with the occupation of Papua, environmental destruction is not an unintended side effect but a primary objective of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The immediate damage military occupation inflicts on the affected population is never separate from the long-term damage it inflicts on the planet.

    For this reason, it would be a mistake to try and separate the genocide from the ecocide in Gaza, or anywhere else for that matter.

    Anyone interested in putting an end to human suffering now, and preventing climate catastrophe in the future, should oppose all wars of occupation, and all forms of militarism that help fuel them.

    David Whyte is professor of climate justice at Queen Mary University of London and director of the Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice. Samira Homerang Saunders is research officer at the Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice, Queen Mary University.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Jonathan Cook: Israel is in a death spiral – who will it take down with it?

    Israel’s zealots are ignoring the pleas of the top brass. They want to widen the circle of war, whatever the consequences.

    ANALYSIS: By Jonathan Cook in Middle East Eye

    There should be nothing surprising about the revelation that troops at Sde Teiman, a detention camp set up by Israel in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, are routinely using rape as a weapon of torture against Palestinian inmates.

    Last month, nine soldiers from a prison unit, Force 100, were arrested for gang-raping a Palestinian inmate with a sharp object. He had to be hospitalised with his injuries.

    At least 53 prisoners are known to have died in Israeli detention, presumed in most cases to be either through torture or following the denial of access to medical care. No investigations have been carried out by Israel and no arrests have been made.

    Why should it be of any surprise that Israel’s self-proclaimed “most moral army in the world” uses torture and rape against Palestinians? It would be truly surprising if this was not happening.

    After all, this is the same military that for 10 months has used starvation as a weapon of war against the 2.3 million people of Gaza, half of them children.

    It is the same military that since October has laid waste to all of Gaza’s hospitals, as well as destroying almost all of its schools and 70 percent of its homes. It is the same military that is known to have killed over that period at least 40,000 Palestinians, with a further 21,000 children missing.

    It is the same military currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court in the world.

    No red lines
    If there are no red lines for Israel when it comes to brutalising Palestinian civilians trapped inside Gaza, why would there be any red lines for those kidnapped off its streets and dragged into its dungeons?

    I documented some of the horrors unfolding in Sde Teiman in these pages back in May.

    Months ago, the Israeli media began publishing testimonies from whistleblowing guards and doctors detailing the depraved conditions there.

    The International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied access to the detention camp, leaving it entirely unmonitored.

    The United Nations published a report on July 31 into the conditions in which some 9400 captive Palestinians have been held since last October. Most have been cut off from the outside world, and the reason for their seizure and imprisonment was never provided.

    The report concludes that “appalling acts” of torture and abuse are taking place at all of Israel’s detention centres, including sexual violence, waterboarding and attacks with dogs.

    The authors note “forced nudity of both men and women; beatings while naked, including on the genitals; electrocution of the genitals and anus; being forced to undergo repeated humiliating strip searches; widespread sexual slurs and threats of rape; and the inappropriate touching of women by both male and female soldiers”.

    There are, according to the investigation, “consistent reports” of Israeli security forces “inserting objects into detainees’ anuses”.

    Children sexually abused
    Last month, Save the Children found that many hundreds of Palestinian children had been imprisoned in Israel, where they faced starvation and sexual abuse.

    And this week B’Tselem, Israel’s main human rights group monitoring the occupation, produced a report — titled “Welcome to Hell” — which included the testimonies of dozens of Palestinians who had emerged from what it called “inhuman conditions”. Most had never been charged with an offence.

    It concluded that the abuses at Sde Teiman were “just the tip of the iceberg”. All of Israel’s detention centres formed “a network of torture camps for Palestinians” in which “every inmate is intentionally condemned to severe, relentless pain and suffering”. It added that this was “an organised, declared policy of the Israeli prison authorities”.

    Tal Steiner, head of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, which has long campaigned against the systematic torture of Palestinian detainees, wrote last week that Sde Teiman “was a place where the most horrible torture we had ever seen was occurring”.

    In short, it has been an open secret in Israel that torture and sexual assault are routine at Sde Teiman.

    The abuse is so horrifying that last month Israel’s High Court ordered officials to explain why they were operating outside Israel’s own laws governing the internment of “unlawful combatants”.

    The surprise is not that sexual violence is being inflicted on Palestinian captives. It is that Israel’s top brass ever imagined the arrest of Israeli soldiers for raping a Palestinian would pass muster with the public.

    Toxic can of worms
    Instead, by making the arrests, the army opened a toxic can of worms.

    The arrests provoked a massive backlash from soldiers, politicians, Israeli media, and large sections of the Israeli public.

    Rioters, led by members of the Israeli Parliament, broke into Sde Teiman. An even larger group, including members of Force 100, tried to invade a military base, Beit Lid, where the soldiers were being held in an attempt to free them.

    The police, under the control of Itamar Ben Gvir, a settler leader with openly fascist leanings, delayed arriving to break up the protests. Ben Gvir has called for Palestinian prisoners to be summarily executed — or killed with “a shot to the head” — to save on the costs of holding them.

    No one was arrested over what amounted to a mutiny as well as a major breach of security.

    Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, helped whip up popular indignation, denouncing the arrests and describing the Force 100 soldiers as “heroic warriors”.

    Other prominent cabinet ministers echoed him.

    Three soldiers freed
    Already, three of the soldiers have been freed, and more will likely follow.

    The consensus in Israel is that any abuse, including rape, is permitted against the thousands of Palestinians who have been seized by Israel in recent months — including women, children and many hundreds of medical personnel.

    That consensus is the same one that thinks it fine to bomb Palestinian women and children in Gaza, destroy their homes and starve them.

    Such depraved attitudes are not new. They draw on ideological convictions and legal precedents that developed through decades of Israel’s illegal occupation. Israeli society has completely normalised the idea that Palestinians are less than human and that any and every abuse of them is allowed.

    Hamas’s attack on October 7 simply brought the long-standing moral corruption at the core of Israeli society more obviously out into the open.

    In 2016, for example, the Israeli military appointed Colonel Eyal Karim as its chief rabbi, even after he had declared Palestinians to be “animals” and had approved the rape of Palestinian women in the interest of boosting soldiers’ morale.

    Religious extremists, let us note, increasingly predominate among combat troops.

    Compensation suit dismissed
    In 2015, Israel’s Supreme Court dismissed a compensation suit from a Lebanese prisoner that his lawyers submitted after he was released in a prisoner swap. Mustafa Dirani had been raped with a baton 15 years earlier in a secret jail known as Facility 1391.

    Despite Dirani’s claim being supported by a medical assessment from the time made by an Israeli military doctor, the court ruled that anyone engaged in an armed conflict with Israel could not make a claim against the Israeli state.

    Meanwhile, human and legal rights groups have regularly reported cases of Israeli soldiers and police raping and sexually assaulting Palestinians, including children.

    A clear message was sent to Israeli soldiers over many decades that, just as the genocidal murder of Palestinians is considered warranted and “lawful”, the torture and rape of Palestinians held in captivity is considered warranted and “lawful” too.

    Understandably, there was indignation that the long-established “rules” — that any and every atrocity is permitted — appeared suddenly and arbitrarily to have been changed.

    The biggest question is this: why did the Israeli military’s top legal adviser approve opening an investigation into the Force 100 soldiers — and why now?

    The answer is obvious. Israel’s commanders are in panic after a spate of setbacks in the international legal arena.

    ‘Plausible’ Gaza genocide
    The ICJ, sometimes referred to as the World Court, has put Israel on trial for committing what it considers a “plausible” genocide in Gaza.

    Separately, it concluded last month that Israel’s 57-year occupation is illegal and a form of aggression against the Palestinian people. Gaza never stopped being under occupation, the judges ruled, despite claims from its apologists, including Western governments, to the contrary.

    Significantly, that means Palestinians have a legal right to resist their occupation. Or, to put it another way, they have an immutable right to self-defence against their Israeli occupiers, while Israel has no such right against the Palestinians it illegally occupies.

    Israel is not in “armed conflict” with the Palestinian people. It is brutally occupying and oppressing them.

    Israel must immediately end the occupation to regain such a right of self-defence — something it demonstrably has no intention to do.

    Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ICJ’s sister court, is actively seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes.

    The various cases reinforce each other. The World Court’s decisions are making it ever harder for the ICC to drag its feet in issuing and expanding the circle of arrest warrants.

    Countervailing pressures
    Both courts are now under enormous, countervailing pressures.

    On the one side, massive external pressure is being exerted on the ICJ and ICC from states such as the US, Britain and Germany that are prepared to see the genocide in Gaza continue.

    And on the other, the judges themselves are fully aware of what is at stake if they fail to act.

    The longer they delay, the more they discredit international law and their own role as arbiters of that law. That will give even more leeway for other states to claim that inaction by the courts has set a precedent for their own right to commit war crimes.

    International law, the entire rationale for the ICJ and ICC’s existence, stands on a precipice. Israel’s genocide threatens to bring it all crashing down.

    Israel’s top brass stand in the middle of that fight.

    They are confident that Washington will block at the UN Security Council any effort to enforce the ICJ rulings against them — either a future one on genocide in Gaza or the existing one on their illegal occupation.

    No US veto at ICC
    But arrest warrants from the ICC are a different matter. Washington has no such veto. All states signed up to the ICC’s Rome Statute – that is, most of the West, minus the US — will be obligated to arrest Israeli officials who step on their soil and to hand them over to The Hague.

    Israel and the US had been hoping to use technicalities to delay the issuing of the arrest warrants for as long as possible. Most significantly, they recruited the UK, which has signed the Rome Statute, to do their dirty work.

    It looked like the new UK government under Keir Starmer would continue where its predecessor left off by tying up the court in lengthy and obscure legal debates about the continuing applicability of the long-dead, 30-year-old Oslo Accords.

    A former human rights lawyer, Starmer has repeatedly backed Israel’s “plausible” genocide, even arguing that the starvation of Gaza’s population, including its children, could be justified as “self-defence” — an idea entirely alien to international law, which treats it as collective punishment and a war crime.

    But now with a secure parliamentary majority, even Starmer appears to be baulking at being seen as helping Netanyahu personally avoid arrest for war crimes.

    The UK government announced late last month that it would drop Britain’s legal objections at the ICC.

    That has suddenly left both Netanyahu and the Israeli military command starkly exposed — which is the reason they felt compelled to approve the arrest of the Force 100 soldiers.

    Top prass pretexts
    Under a rule known as “complementarity”, Israeli officials might be able to avoid war crimes trials at The Hague if they can demonstrate that Israel is able and willing to prosecute war crimes itself. That would avert the need for the ICC to step in and fulfil its mandate.

    The Israeli top brass hoped they could feed a few lowly soldiers to the Israeli courts and drag out the trials for years. In the meantime, Washington would have the pretext it needed to bully the ICC into dropping the case for arrests on the grounds that Israel was already doing the job of prosecuting war crimes.

    The patent problem with this strategy is that the ICC isn’t primarily interested in a few grunts being prosecuted in Israel as war criminals, even assuming the trials ever take place.

    At issue is the military strategy that has allowed Israel to bomb Gaza into the Stone Age. At issue is a political culture that has made starving 2.3 million people seem normal.

    At issue is a religious and nationalistic fervour long cultivated in the army that now encourages soldiers to execute Palestinian children by shooting them in the head and chest, as a US doctor who volunteered in Gaza has testified.

    At issue is a military hierarchy that turns a blind eye to soldiers raping and sexually abusing Palestinian captives, including children.

    The buck stops not with a handful of soldiers in Force 100. It stops with the Israeli government and military leaders. They are at the top of a command chain that has authorised war crimes in Gaza for the past 10 months – and before that, for decades across the occupied territories.

    What is at stake
    This is why observers have totally underestimated what is at stake with the rulings of the ICC and ICJ.

    These judgments against Israel are forcing out into the light of day for proper scrutiny a state of affairs that has been quietly accepted by the West for decades. Should Israel have the right to operate as an apartheid regime that systematically engages in ethnic cleansing and the murder of Palestinians?

    A direct answer is needed from each Western capital. There is nowhere left to hide. Western states are being presented with a stark choice: either openly back Israeli apartheid and genocide, or for the first time withdraw support.

    The Israeli far-right, which now dominates both politically and in the army’s combat ranks, cares about none of this. It is immune to pressure. It is willing to go it alone.

    As the Israeli media has been warning for some time, sections of the army are effectively now turning into militias that follow their own rules.

    Israel’s military commanders, on the other hand, are starting to understand the trap they have set for themselves. They have long cultivated fascistic zealotry among ground troops needed to dehumanise and better oppress Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. But the war crimes proudly being live-streamed by their units now leave them exposed to the legal consequences.

    Israel’s international isolation means a place one day for them in the dock at The Hague.

    Israeli society’s demons exposed
    The ICC and ICJ rulings are not just bringing Israeli society’s demons out into the open, or those of a complicit Western political and media class.

    The international legal order is gradually cornering Israel’s war machine, forcing it to turn in on itself. The interests of the Israeli military command are now fundamentally opposed to those of the rank and file and the political leadership.

    The result, as military expert Yagil Levy has long warned, will be an increasing breakdown of discipline, as the attempts to arrest Force 100 soldiers demonstrated all too clearly.

    The Israeli military juggernaut cannot be easily or quickly turned around.

    The military command is reported to be furiously trying to push Netanyahu into agreeing on a hostage deal to bring about a ceasefire — not because it cares about the welfare of Palestinian civilians, or the hostages, but because the longer this “plausible” genocide continues, the bigger chance the generals will end up at The Hague.

    Israel’s zealots are ignoring the pleas of the top brass. They want not only to continue the drive to eliminate the Palestinian people but to widen the circle of war, whatever the consequences.

    That included the reckless, incendiary move last month to assassinate Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran — a provocation with one aim only: to undermine the moderates in Hamas and Tehran.

    If, as seems certain, Israel’s commanders are unwilling or incapable of reining in these excesses, then the World Court will find it impossible to ignore the charge of genocide against Israel and the ICC will be compelled to issue arrest warrants against more of the military leadership.

    A logic has been created in which evil feeds on evil in a death spiral. The question is how much more carnage and misery can Israel spread on the way down.

    Jonathan Cook is a writer, journalist and self-appointed media critic and author of many books about Palestine. Winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. Republished from the author’s blog with permission.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘Fierce repression’ of Venezuela election protests must end, UN rights team says

    Human rights investigators say ‘escalating’ crackdown has seen 23 deaths and over 100 children and teens detained

    United Nations human rights investigators have urged Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, to halt the “fierce repression” being perpetrated by his security forces after last month’s allegedly stolen presidential election.

    In a statement published two weeks after the 28 July vote, the UN’s fact-finding mission to Venezuela condemned Maduro’s “escalating” crackdown, during which more than 100 children and teens have been detained. The UN investigators said they had recorded 23 deaths, the vast majority caused by gunfire and nearly all young men.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Fiji’s Rabuka ‘will apologise’ to Melanesian leaders over failure to visit West Papua

    By Lice Movono and Stephen Dziedzic of ABC Pacific Beat

    Fiji’s Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, says he will “apologise” to fellow Melanesian leaders later this month after failing to secure agreement from Indonesia to visit its restive West Papua province.

    At last year’s Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meeting in Cook Islands, the Melanesian Spearhead Group appointed Rabuka and PNG Prime Minister James Marape as the region’s “special envoys” on West Papua.

    Several Pacific officials and advocacy groups have expressed anguish over alleged human rights abuses committed by Indonesian forces in West Papua, where an indigenous pro-independence struggle has simmered for decades.

    Rabuka and Marape have been trying to organise a visit to West Papua for more than nine months now.

    But in an exclusive interview with the ABC’s Pacific Beat, Rabuka said conversations on the trip were still “ongoing” and blamed Indonesia’s presidential elections in February for the delay.

    “Unfortunately, we couldn’t go . . .  Indonesia was going through elections. In two months’ time, they will have a new substantive president in place in the palace. Hopefully we can still move forward with that,” he said.

    “But in the meantime, James Marape and I will have to apologise to our Melanesian counterparts on the side of the Forum Island leaders meeting in Tonga, and say we have not been able to go on that mission.”

    Pacific pressing for independent visit
    Pacific nations have been pressing Indonesia to allow representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct an independent visit to Papua.

    A UN Human Rights committee report released in May found there were “systematic reports” of both torture and extrajudicial killings of indigenous Papuans in the province.

    But Indonesia usually rejects any criticism of its human rights record in West Papua, saying events in the province are a purely internal affair.

    Rabuka said he was “still committed” to the visit and would like to make the trip after incoming Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto takes power in October.

    The Fiji prime minister made the comments ahead of a 10-day trip to China, with Rabuka saying he would travel to a number of Chinese provinces to see how the emerging great power had pulled millions of people out of poverty.

    He praised Beijing’s development record, but also indicated Fiji would not turn to China for loans or budget support.

    “As we take our governments and peoples forward, the people themselves must understand that we cannot borrow to become embroiled in debt servicing later on,” he said.

    “People must understand that we can only live within our means, and our means are determined by our own productivity, our own GDP.”

    Rabuka is expected to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing towards the end of his trip, at the beginning of next week.

    Delegation to visit New Caledonia
    After his trip to China, the prime minister will take part in a high level Pacific delegation to Kanaky New Caledonia, which was rocked by widespread rioting and violence earlier this year.

    While several Pacific nations have been pressing France to make fresh commitments towards decolonisation in the wake of a contentious final vote on independence back in 2021, Rabuka said the Pacific wanted to help different political groups within the territory to find common ground.

    “We will just have to convince the leaders, the local group leaders that rebuilding is very difficult after a spate of violent activities and events,” he said.

    Rabuka gave strong backing to a plan to overhaul Pacific policing which Australia has been pushing hard ahead of the PIF leaders meeting in Tonga at the end of this month.

    Senior Solomon Islands official Collin Beck took to social media last week to publicly criticise the initiative, suggesting that its backers were trying to “steamroll” any opposition at Pacific regional meetings.

    Rabuka said the social media post was “unfortunate” and suggested that Solomon Islands or other Pacific nations could simply opt out of the initiative if they didn’t approve of it.

    “When it comes to sovereignty, it is a sovereign state that makes the decision,” he said.

    Republished with permission from ABC Pacific Beat.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • NZ Herald’s disclosure obligation to readers: Why are we waiting?

    COMMENTARY: By Gavin Ellis

    The New Zealand Herald and its publisher are failing to follow a golden rule: Engage with readers when they question your actions.

    The Herald is currently confronted by two controversies. The first is its decision to use artificial intelligence to write editorials. The second is its decision to publish a highly divisive advertising wrap-around paid for by the lobby group Hobson’s Pledge.

    In neither case has the newspaper or its owner NZME offered an explanation that justifies its decisions. Indeed, it has given little insight into what its decision-making processes were on either matter.

    Following RNZ’s revelations over The Herald’s use of iterative AI to write editorials, The Herald’s reaction was to simply say it did not apply sufficient “journalistic rigour” and that it would be calling a meeting of all editorial staff to discuss AI policy.

    This commentary last week posed a series of questions relating to the processes that went into the publication of those editorials. If they were answered at the staff meeting, neither I nor The Herald’s other readers are any the wiser.

    Staff were left in absolutely no doubt that what went on at that meeting was confidential and Herald staff I have spoken to have scrupulously observed that obligation not to disclose what occurred. NZME declined to comment to other media that enquired about the meeting (the fact it was taking place had been publicly disclosed).

    Instead, several days later the company used its customary conduit, editor-at-large Shayne Currie’s Media Insider column, to ensure the narrative remained positive.

    Review of protocols
    Currie disclosed some of what was discussed at the meeting (I guess he had a waiver on confidentiality) and said The Herald “will review and further tighten artificial intelligence protocols”. He did not, however disclose the mood of the newsroom in reaction to the news that editorials had been written by AI, choosing instead to merely report editor-in-chief Murray Kirkness “addressing concerns from staff”.

    Kirkness apparently told the meeting critical issues were “the level of human oversight, that the publication was transparent with readers, and that policies were continually reviewed and updated”.

    The controversial New Zealand Herald wrap-around advertisement last Wednesday
    The controversial New Zealand Herald wrap-around advertisement last Wednesday . . . the newspaper was immediately condemned for publishing it with Māori journalists expressing “profound shock and dismay”. Image: NZH screenshot APR

    None of that told readers how or why the editorials came to be robotically written in the first place, nor why the publication had failed to be transparent with readers. It certainly did not reveal whether the editor-in-chief had been taken to task by staff who, in private correspondence before the meeting, had expressed their dismay.

    The Herald’s current statement on its use of artificial intelligence includes no requirement for public disclosure of its use on any story. The only requirement for disclosure is when AI generated images are used on features or opinion pieces: “When we do this, we will acknowledge this in the image caption or credit.”

    I get the impression all other use of AI by The Herald is covered by its general statement that, yes, it does employ artificial intelligence. That disclosure is in a statement that you will find at the very bottom of The Herald website. You’ll find it here.

    Initially I went looking for it on the mobile app, then the app on my iPad. I gave up. I assume it’s there somewhere.

    NZME is doing the right thing by reviewing its policy, but it should not wait until that review is completed — and the current AI statement on the website presumably replaced — before offering adequate explanations and assurances to its readers.

    Fundamental principles
    There are fundamental principles here that do not require prolonged analysis. Editorials are the opinion of the newspaper — not iterative content — and must be written by designated staff overseen by the most senior editor on duty. Transparency is paramount and stories created by artificial intelligence should carry a disclosure, just as stories from non-Herald sources carry a credit line.

    Stuff’s Code of Practice is clear: “Any content (written, visual or audio) generated or substantially generated using generative AI will be transparently labelled outlining the nature of AI use, including the tool used.” It should be clear, too, to The Herald and its readers.

    Assurances can and should be given now.

    The Hobson’s Pledge advertisement that wrapped last Wednesday’s Herald is a different issue but, again, one the publisher has not handled well. It followed a government announcement that it disagrees with the Court of Appeal’s interpretation in a case defining the customary interests of iwi in the eastern Bay of Plenty, and it intends to change the Marine and Coastal Areas Act to set the bar higher for claims. The advertisement painted a picture of wholesale Māori “ownership” of the foreshore if the law did not change.

    The Herald was immediately condemned for publishing the wrap-around, with Māori journalists expressing “profound shock and dismay”, Te Pāti Māori saying it “will no longer engage” with the newspaper, and social media posts calling for boycott.

    The response from NZME was a statement that the company was “keenly aware of its obligations as a publisher and broadcaster, including in respect of legislation and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) codes”.

    “Advertising responsibility sits with NZME’s commercial team and is separate to NZ Herald editorial.

    “The content is a paid ad from an independent advertiser and is clearly labelled as so.

    “There are thousands of ads placed across our platforms every week and publishing an ad is in no way NZME’s endorsement of the advertised message, products, services or other.

    “We’re reviewing our processes and policies around advocacy advertising.”

    Answer to obvious questions?
    All true (although in my day as editor I had responsibility for all published content), but that does not answer some obvious questions, the most important of which is whether it passed tests devised to deal with the thorny issue of advocacy advertising.

    Last night The Herald announced — again through Shayne Currie — that it had rejected a second advocacy advertisement that Hobson’s Pledge had tried to place with the newspaper. As to why, it again said no more than “we are reviewing our policies and processes”. There was no expression of the reasons, in the meantime, the ad had been rejected.

    The right to free expression is guaranteed by the Bill of Rights Act. That right, however, is not unlimited and judgment needs to be exercised in determining the boundaries in individual cases.

    The Advertising Standards Authority has acknowledged advocacy advertising presents some of the greatest challenges facing its complaints procedures. Before they reach the complaints stage (and the Hobson’s Pledge advertisement is apparently the subject of a number already), the same challenges face the publications asked to publish them.

    For that reason, the ASA has issued a fulsome guidance note on advocacy advertising. You can read the guidance here.

    This was a wrap-around of The Herald, meaning that, although it was clearly labelled as a paid advertisement, it sat directly beneath the paper’s own masthead, which is more significant than if it had been carried on an inside page. The connection with the masthead means even greater care needs to be taken by the publisher in determining whether to accept the advertisement for publication or not.

    The question NZME has yet to answer is whether it subjected the material to all of the tests set out in the ASA guidance note. If it did so and all the tests were passed by the first advertisement, there is a compelling free speech argument for its publication.

    Disclosure statement
    A decision to publish in such circumstances would benefit immensely from a disclosure statement from the editor (the custodian of the masthead) attesting to all of the steps that had been taken in judging fitness for publication. Similarly, readers should be informed whether the same tests had been applied in rejecting a second advertisement and how it differed from the one judged fit for publication.

    The guidance note sets out a list of points against which an advocacy advertisement should be weighed:

    • It must be clearly identified as an advertisement
    • It must clearly state the identity and position of the advertiser
    • Opinion must be clearly distinguishable from factual information
    • Factual information must be able to be substantiated
    • Any combination of opinion and fact must be justifiable
    • It must not contain anything that is indecent, or exploitative, or degrading or likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence, or give rise to hostility, contempt, abuse, or ridicule
    • Heed must be taken of the likely consumer takeout of the advertisement (in other words, whether there is there a contextual justification)

    The guidelines also deal with the weight given to academic studies, the status of the organisation placing the advocacy advertisement, and the use of such advertising by official bodies.

    I am making no judgement on the Hobson’s Pledge advertisements. If the first had been subjected to those tests by The Herald and had satisfactorily passed each of them, NZME could (and should) have informed readers of the fact.

    If the advertisement had failed any of the tests, the company would have had legitimate and defensible reasons for rejecting it. It presumably has those solid grounds for rejecting the second advertisement.

    Obviously contentious
    The published wrap-around’s subject matter was so obviously contentious that The Herald should have gone to some lengths in the same edition to explain its decision to run it. Assuming the application of the ASA guidelines determined that it could be published, readers should have been informed of that fact.

    Instead, they were given a bland statement of NZME’s awareness of standards, and little more in the announcement of the rejection of the second.

    Given the likelihood of adverse reaction from some quarters to publication, the first advertisement should also have been a statement from the publisher justifying publication, perhaps as a matter of free expression in which all sides of an issue should be allowed to be aired because, in the words of John Milton’s Areopagitica, “in a free and open encounter” truth would prevail.

    Similarly, last night it should have explained why the second iteration should not be subjected to that “free and open encounter”. In doing so, it might have invoked Stanley Fish’s essay There’s no such thing as free speech, and it’s a good thing, too in which he discusses the way in which free speech is, in fact, a space we carve out. It acknowledges that some forms of speech “will be heard as (quite literally) intolerable” and sit outside that space.

    Dr Gavin Ellis holds a PhD in political studies. He is a media consultant and researcher. A former editor-in-chief of The New Zealand Herald, he has a background in journalism and communications — covering both editorial and management roles — that spans more than half a century. Dr Ellis publishes the website knightlyviews.com where this commentary was first published and it is republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Rightwing oafs’ apesh*ttery over the Magna Carta ISN’T even parody

    Perhaps people of the far-flung future will look back on the old-fangled times of Twitter-turned-X and wonder was 12 August 2024 the day the gammon-peasants of Britain-web finally signed away their bigot-hive minds to the right-wing ‘GBeebies‘ bourgeoisie? That is, if the wranglings on this bygone hell-scroll about the Magna Carta are anything to go by.

    However, if history is written by the victors, it won’t be the insufferable political commentator Alex Armstrong whose story goes down in infamy. At least not by today’s reckoning. Monday 12 August 2024, the good people of X roundly eviscerated his latest trash take.

    Magna Carta: biting the dust, or merely gathering it?

    It all began when Armstrong dusted off the dusty annals of a repeatedly debunked right-wing trope:

    In fairness to the guy, he can count. It was indeed over 800 years ago. However, as the Secret Barrister pointed out, it was also that long ago that it was relevant:

    But maybe we’ll let him off for his historical sleight. After all, it’s almost as long ago that Armstrong was too – oh no hang on, he was never relevant. More to the point, people on X highlighted that the Magna Carta was also completely irrelevant to courts sentencing the far-right criminals from the recent race riots:

    Admittedly, the Magna Carta’s almost immediate demise in 1215 wasn’t quite the end of it. Some right-wingers seized on this. Specifically, it was purportedly reconfirmed 32 to 42 times between the 13th and 15th centuries. What swiftly followed though was a live re-enactment of the Bayeux Tapestry – if the fascists gammons were Harold getting pierced in the eye:

    I know, wrong century, but when did the true course of history matter to the right-wingers clamouring on X? Largely, the original artifact was by barons, for barons. That is, if you weren’t landed, or aristocratic gentry, the charter meant squat:

    It sure as hell isn’t protecting any working-class communities now from elite, wealthy forces today. Whereas, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that the right-wingers are so keen to do away with, is:

    Law of the land

    In fact, the final vestiges of the Magna Carta in law today comes in just three small passages. Clause 1 protects the freedom of the English Church. Clause 9 governs the “ancient liberties” of the City of London. The final one, clause 39 stipulates the right to due process under the law. Before any Reform goons giddily “gotcha” me, this says that:

    No free man shall be arrested, or imprisoned, or deprived of his property, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor shall we go against him or send against him, unless by legal judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land.

    As it happens, parading on violent, racist, Islamophobic pogroms is going against the laws of the land.

    Anachronism and massive wanker misinterpretation aside, Starmer also hasn’t changed said laws:

    But we thought the right-wing loved a good book-burning:

    Of course, that’s how easy it is to rewrite history to any fucking story you want. It’s also this very anachronism and twisting of facts that has let frothing at the mouth ‘free speech warriors’ run riot – quite literally – across this not-so green and pleasant land. Because when it comes down to it, they invariably mean the freedom to hate, discriminate, harm, and oppress marginalised communities.

    Oh wait, my mistake too. The dunder-headed apes losing their collective minds doesn’t quite happen until the Musk monkey-brain implant takeover of 2033. You know who I mean by that – and it’s not humanity’s closest species cousin.

    If there’s one thing about the 12 August historians will never forget, it’s that creepy as fuck AI painting of Keir Starmer. The rest – Armstrong, Farage, and his rancid ilk – should be consigned to the dustbin of history. But not before we kick their racist, fascist asses, and the capitalist establishment they represent into yesteryear, and leave them there to wither.

    Feature image via X – Alex Armstrong/Wikimedia – Clem Rutter/Youtube – GB News/the Canary

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • UN experts call for justice for Tunisian human rights defender Sihem Bensedrine

    UN experts called on the Tunisian authorities to respect the right to judicial guarantees and judicial protection of Sihem Bensedrine, who was arrested on 1 August 2024.

    “In a context marked by the suppression of numerous dissenting voices, the arrest of Ms Bensedrine raises serious concerns about the respect of the right to freedom of opinion and expression in Tunisia and has a chilling effect on journalists, human rights defenders and civil society in general,” the experts said.

    https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/5A2E5622-80B0-425E-A2AE-2703983126B4

    Bensedrine is the former President of the Truth and Dignity Commission (TVD) which documented the crimes committed under previous regimes, and a journalist who has long denounced human rights violations in the country.

    Since 2021, she has been involved in a judicial investigation into the alleged falsification of a chapter in the TVD´s final report regarding corruption in the banking system. The independent human rights experts have already held discussions with the Tunisian government concerning this investigation.

    “This arrest could amount to judicial harassment of Ms Bensedrine for work she has undertaken as President of the Truth and Dignity Commission,” the experts said. “It appears to be aimed at discrediting information contained in the Commission’s report, which could give rise to legal proceedings against alleged perpetrators of corruption under the previous regimes.”

    The Special Rapporteurs urged Tunisia to uphold its obligation to protect members of commissions of enquiry into gross human rights violations from defamation and civil or criminal proceedings brought against them because of their work, or the content of their reports.

    “We call for strict respect for Ms Bensedrine’s right to judicial guarantees, including the right to a fair trial by due process, impartiality and independence, and for an end to abusive proceedings and reprisals against her.”

    The experts: Bernard Duhaime, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence; Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression; Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

    https://www.miragenews.com/un-experts-demand-justice-for-tunisian-rights-1292532/

    https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/08/un-experts-call-justice-tunisian-human-rights-defender

    https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/12/tunisia-hollows-out-its-media-landscape-ahead-elections

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Philippine court strikes down order to shut online news site Rappler

    By Gerard Carreon in Manila

    An appeals court has struck down a 2018 government order that sought to shut down Rappler, an online Philippine news site celebrated for its critical coverage of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs” that left thousands dead.

    The Court of Appeals (CA) Special 7th Division, in a ruling on July 23 but publicly released on Friday, ordered the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to “restore the Certificate of Incorporation of Rappler Inc. and Rappler Holdings Corp. in its records and system.”

    The court stated that all issuances and actions relating to “[Rappler’s] illegal revocation” must be withdrawn.

    Rappler and its chief executive, Nobel Peace prize laureate Maria Ressa, faced years-long legal battles after drawing condemnation from Duterte for the outlet’s critical reporting of the deadly drug war.

    “This court decision, the latest in a string of court victories for Rappler, is a much-needed reminder that the mission of journalism can thrive even in the line of fire: to speak truth to power, to hold the line, to build a better world,” the online news portal said in a statement.

    “It’s a vindication after a tortuous eight years of harassment. The CA was unequivocal in its rejection of the SEC’s 2018 shutdown order, declaring it ‘illegal’ and a ‘grave abuse of discretion’,” it said.

    Philippine court voids order to shut down online news site Rappler
    Standing in front of her news organisation’s logo, Rappler chief executive Maria Ressa speaks to reporters at the office in suburban Pasig city on Friday. Image: Gerard Carreon/BenarNews

    Rappler’s business certificate was revoked in January 2018 after the SEC claimed the news website was partly owned by foreign entities Omidyar Network, founded by eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar and North Base Media, owned and founded by a group of journalists advocating free press.

    Foreign ownership prohibited
    The SEC took issue with Philippine depository receipts issued by Rappler to the two foreign groups. The Philippine Constitution prohibits foreign ownership of media sites.

    Omidyar subsequently donated its shares to Rappler’s Filipino managers. The CA then asked the corporate regulator to restudy its ruling because the issue had been resolved. However, the SEC upheld its order before Duterte ended his term.

    Rappler continued to operate while the website appealed the order.


    Philippine media freedom – Rappler wins new court ruling.   Video: Al Jazeera

    In its decision, the CA said Rappler is “currently wholly owned and managed by Filipinos, in compliance with the constitutional mandate.”

    In 2021, Ressa won the Nobel Peace Prize for shining a light on thousands of extrajudicial killings under Duterte, who is being investigated by the International Criminal Court.

    The Philippines ranks among the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists.

    At least 199 media workers have been killed in the Philippines since the restoration of democracy in 1986, according to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

    That figure includes the 32 journalists and media workers murdered in one incident in 2009, the Ampatuan massacre in Mindanao described as the world’s biggest single-day attack on the working press.

    Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Used with the permission of BenarNews.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Oleg Orlov: the veteran dissident who accepted jail to ‘show there is resistance inside Russia’

    The trenchant critic of Putin was released this month, but says he saw captivity as an integral part of his campaign

    For many people, if they had recently turned 70 and were faced with the prospect of a long stint in a Russian prison, their first instinct would be to dash to the airport and escape the country as quickly as possible. Oleg Orlov, one of Russia’s most experienced and respected human rights advocates, had that opportunity but never considered it an option.

    Orlov, whose organisation, Memorial, won the Nobel peace prize in 2022, remained in the country after being accused of “discrediting the Russian army” for his commentary on the war in Ukraine. In February this year, he was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Brown, Rabuka and Manele to lead Pacific mission to New Caledonia

    By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Suva

    The high-level Pacific mission to New Caledonia will be a three person-led delegation and it is still expected to happen prior to the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders (PIF) Meeting in Tonga on August 26, says PIF chair Mark Brown.

    Brown, who is also the Cook Islands Prime Minister, made the comment at the PIF Foreign Ministers Meeting on Friday following French President Emmanuel Macron approving the mission.

    “It’s important that everyone can assess the situation together with [France],” the French Ambassador to the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan, told RNZ Pacific on Friday.

    Brown said Tonga’s Prime Minister, Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, may not be on the trip “because of pending obligations in preparation for the leaders meeting”.

    “In which case the incoming troika member, Prime Minister of Solomon Islands [Jeremiah Menele], would be the next person,” he said.

    “It will be a three-person delegation that will be leading the delegation to New Caledonia and the expectation is it will be done before the leaders meeting at the end of this month.”

    Brown and Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will both be on the mission.

    ‘Sensitive political dimensions’
    “The Forum is very mindful of the nature of the relationship that New Caledonia as a member of the Forum has, but also France’s relationship with New Caledonia currently as a territory of France.

    “There are some sensitive political dimensions that must be taken into account, but we feel that our sentiments as a Forum, firstly, is to try and reduce the incidents of violence that has taken place over the last few months and also to call for dialogue as the way forward.”

    He said the decision around timing of the trip is up to the troika members — current chair, previous chair and incoming chair.

    Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters prior to the announcement from France, said it was still to be worked out what role New Zealand would play on the New Caledonia mission.

    “We are seriously concerned to ensure that the long-term outcome is a peaceful solution but also where the economics of New Caledonia is sustained, that’s important,” he said.

    Peters said he expected that over time there would be more than one delegation sent to New Caledonia.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ rallies protest over Israeli killings of children as world condemns latest school ‘bloody massacre’

    Asia Pacific Report

    Speakers at a large rally in the heart of New Zealand’s largest city today strongly condemned Israel’s indiscriminate killing of Palestinian children in its 10-month genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

    The 2000-strong rally was replicated in “Stop the war on children” protests across New Zealand this weekend.

    Ironically, the demonstrations came as world leaders and humanitarian organisations condemned the latest atrocity by the Israeli military.

    An Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City has killed more than 100 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian officials who expect the death toll to rise.

    Almost 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war on Gaza, more than 15,000 of them chidren, and at least 92,002 have been wounded.

    While the Israeli military claimed in a statement that its air force on Saturday struck a “command and control centre” that “served as a hideout for Hamas terrorists and commanders” at the al-Tabin school.

    However, it did not provide evidence and claimed it had taken steps to reduce the risk of harming civilians while questioning the accuracy of the reported death toll.

    “There has been no evidence to back up the claims made by the Israeli military over the last 10 months when targeting civilian infrastructure and densely populated areas that are filled with displaced Palestinians,” reports Hamdah Salhut of Al Jazeera.

    “Right after the Gaza City school was struck with three air strikes by the Israeli army, the military released a statement claiming that they were targeting Hamas operatives inside both the school and the mosque.

    The Israeli carnage at Gaza's al-Tabin school
    The Israeli carnage at Gaza’s al-Tabin school . . . world condemnation. Image: AJ screenshot APR

    “They say that they use precise munitions in order to minimise the civilian damage and death, that this was an intelligence-based attack carried out in coordination with the Shin Bet, the internal security agency.

    ‘Pictures show different story’
    “But pictures show a different story. The sources on the ground, the medics and the Civil Defence workers who are picking up body parts of Palestinians that have been blown to pieces tell a different story.

    “We also heard from an Israeli army spokesperson in English who said that the military is denying the fact that more than 100 Palestinians were killed, based on Israeli military intelligence, which again was not provided.”

    Al Jazeera has been banned by the Israeli government from reporting or broadcasting within Israel. It is reporting the Israeli side of the war from Amman, capital of the neighbouring state of Jordan.

    Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Israel’s attack went against “all humanitarian values” and was “an indication of the Israeli government’s attempt to block [peace] efforts and postpone them”.

    It added that “the absence of a decisive international stance to restrain Israeli aggression and compel it to respect international law and stop its aggression against Gaza” was resulting in “unprecedented killings, deaths and human catastrophe”.

    Five Israeli attacks on Gaza schools this week
    Five Israeli attacks on Gaza schools this week . . . at least 179 people killed and 154 wounded or missing. Graphic: Al Jazeera CC (creative commons) 10 August 2024

    Other reactions to the attack include:

    Qatar
    Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the attack constituted a “horrific massacre and a brutal crime against defenceless civilians”.

    It called for an independent UN fact-finding mission to investigate attacks on shelters for displaced Palestinians in Gaza and demanded that the international community oblige Israel to ensure their protection and uphold international law.

    Qatar, Egypt and the United States are the mediators between Israel and Gaza and have called for a new round of ceasefire negotiations for Thursday as fears grow of a broader conflict involving Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

    Auckland "Stop The War on Children" protesters in Te Komititanga Square
    Auckland “Stop The War on Children” protesters in Te Komititanga Square today. Image: David Robie/APR

    Hamas
    “The massacre at al-Tabin school in the Daraj neighbourhood in central Gaza City is a horrific crime that constitutes a dangerous escalation,” said the movement that governs the Gaza Strip.

    Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Palestinian group’s political bureau, said there were no armed men at the school.

    Hamas said in its statement that Israel’s claims of the school being used as the group’s command centre were “excuses to target civilians, schools, hospitals, and refugee tents, all of which are false pretexts and expose lies to justify its crimes”.

    “We call on our Arab and Islamic countries and the international community to fulfill their responsibilities and take urgent action to stop these massacres and halt the escalating Zionist aggression against our people and defenseless citizens,” the statement said.

    Ismail al-Thawabta, the director-general of Gaza’s Government Media Office, called on the international community and UN Security Council “to pressure Israel to end this cascading bloodbath among our people, namely innocent women and children”.

    Fatah
    Fatah, the rival Palestinian faction that last month signed a “national unity” agreement with Hamas, said the attack was a “heinous bloody massacre” that represented the “peak of terrorism and criminality”.

    “Committing these massacres confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt its efforts to exterminate our people through the policy of cumulative killing and mass massacres that make living consciences tremble,” it said in a statement.

    A distraught Gazan mother wails for her family killed
    A distraught Gazan mother wails for her family killed in an Israeli attack on al-Tabin school killing at least 100 people people. Image: AJ screenshot APR

    Iran
    Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, said the Israeli government’s goal was to thwart ceasefire negotiations and continue the war.

    Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Israel had again shown it was not committed to international law as he condemned the attack as genocide and a war crime.

    He urged immediate action from the UN Security Council and said Israel’s actions in Gaza were a threat to international peace and security.

    Protesters at the "Stop the War on Children" rally in Auckland
    Protesters at the “Stop the War on Children” rally in Auckland’s Te Komititanga Square today. Image: David Robie/APR

    Egypt
    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Israel’s “deliberate killing” of unarmed Palestinians showed it lacked the political will to end the war in Gaza.

    In a statement cited by the state-run Middle East News Agency, it accused Israel of repeatedly committing “large-scale crimes” against “unarmed civilians” whenever there was an international push for a ceasefire.

    It said such attacks reflected “an unprecedented disregard” for international law.

    Saudi Arabia
    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it denounced the attack in the “strongest terms” and stressed that “mass massacres” in the enclave “need to stop”.

    Gaza is “experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe due to the ongoing violations of international law”, the ministry said.

    Lebanon
    The strike offered clear evidence of the Israeli government’s disregard for international humanitarian law and its intention to prolong the war and expand its scope, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

    It called on the international community to take a unified stance and stressed that stopping the war in Gaza is necessary to prevent an escalation in the region.

    Turkey
    “Israel has committed a new crime against humanity by massacring more than a hundred civilians who had taken refuge in a school,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said.

    It accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting “to sabotage ceasefire negotiations”.

    UNRWA
    Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, called for an end to the “horrors unfolding under our watch”.

    “We cannot let the unbearable become a new norm,” he wrote on X.

    “The more recurrent, the more we lose our collective humanity,” he said, reiterating his call for a “ceasefire now”.

    Gaza civil defence workers and community volunteers trying to save lives
    Gaza civil defence workers and community volunteers trying to save lives after the Israeli bombing of the al-Tabin school in Gaza City. Image: AJ screenshot APR

    Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
    The strike was “an extension of the brutal massacres and genocide committed by the Israeli occupation for more than ten months in the Gaza Strip”, the OIC said.

    It called on the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to oblige Israel to respect its obligations as an occupying power under international law and provide protection to the Palestinian people.

    European Union
    The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said he was “horrified” by the images of the attack, adding that at least 10 schools had been targeted in the past week.

    “There’s no justification for these massacres,” he said.

    UN rapporteur
    Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, condemned the world’s “indifference” to mass bloodshed in Gaza.

    “Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one ‘safe zone’ at the time. With US and European weapons,” Albanese posted on X.

    “May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective inability to protect them, honouring the most basic meaning of international law.”

    Save the Children
    Tamer Kirolos, a regional director for the United Kingdom-based charity, called it the “deadliest attack on a school since last October”.

    “It is devastating to see the toll this has taken, including so many children and people at the school for dawn prayers,” Kirolos said, adding that “children make up around 40 percent of the population and of people killed and injured since October” in the enclave.

    “Civilians, children, must be protected. An immediate definitive ceasefire is the only foreseeable way that will happen.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Bangladeshi journalists hopeful for return to press freedom as Hasina era ends

    Reporters cautiously optimistic as interim government takes over after years of intimation and censorship under outgoing prime minister

    Bangladeshi journalists are hoping the resignation of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina will bring an era of censorship and fear to an end, as they prepare to hold a new interim government to account.

    Arrests, abuse and forced disappearances at the hands of Bangladesh’s security forces have loomed over journalists for most of Hasina’s 15-year rule, preventing them from routine reporting for fear of writing anything that could be perceived as embarrassing for the government.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Macron gives Pacific mission to Kanaky New Caledonia green light, says diplomat

    By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific presenter/Bulletin editor

    France has approved a high-level Pacific “fact-finding mission” to New Caledonia to gather information from all sides involved in the ongoing crisis.

    “We are welcoming a mission of the troika for a fact-finding mission in New Caledonia before the [Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting],” the French Ambassador to the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan, told RNZ Pacific in an exclusive interview today.

    “I gave a letter to the [PIF] Secretary-General Baron Waqa and Prime Minister Mark Brown, the chair.

    READ MORE

    “It’s a good idea. It’s important that everyone can assess the situation together with [France].”

    She said it was important that dialogue continued.

    “We repeat the fact that these riots were conducted by a handful of people who contest democratic, transparent and fair processes, and that the French state has restored security, and is rebuilding and organising the reconstruction [of New Caledonia]. ”

    Forum leaders wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron last month, requesting to send a Forum Ministerial Committee to Nouméa to gather information from all sides involved in the ongoing crisis.

    The confirmation comes as the Forum foreign ministers are meeting in Suva, ahead of the 53rd PIF Leaders Summit on Tonga at the end of the month.

    ‘We are family’
    Melanesian Spearhead Group chairperson and Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai backs independence for New Caledonia through a democratic process.

    “It’s a concern … and we decided to have a mission into New Caledonia to talk to the both sides,” Salwai said.

    It has been almost three months since violence broke out in the French territory, killing 10 people, and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage to the economy.

    Salwai told RNZ Pacific he had supported the independence of Melanesian countries for a long time.

    “It’s not only a [PIF] member and neighbour, but we are family,” Salwai said.

    “We are also for a long time Vanuatu support independence of Melanesian countries.

    “We’re not going to interfere in the politics in France, but politically and morally, we support the independence of New Caledonia. Of course, it has to go through democratic process like a referendum, they are the ones to decide.”

    Pacific leaders want to send a high-level Pacific mission to Nouméa before the end of the month.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian human rights groups seek independent probe of NZ pilot’s death in Papua

    By Victor Mambor in Jayapura and Pizaro Gozali Idrus in Jakarta

    Indonesian human rights groups have called for an independent investigation into the death of a New Zealand helicopter pilot in a remote part of Papua province earlier this week.

    The pilot, identified as Glen Malcolm Conning, was reportedly killed by an armed group shortly after landing in Alama district in Mimika regency on Monday.

    Amnesty International Indonesia’s executive director, Usman Hamid, described the killing as a serious violation of humanitarian law and called for an independent probe into the death.

    “We urge the Indonesian authorities to immediately investigate this crime to bring the perpetrators to justice, including starting with a forensic examination and autopsy of the victim’s body,” he said.

    “The protection of civilians is a fundamental principle that must always be upheld, and the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians is unacceptable,” Usman told BenarNews in a statement.

    The Papuan independence fighters and security forces are blaming each other for the attack and have provided conflicting accounts of what happened on the airstrip.

    Indonesian rights groups want independent probe of New Zealand pilot’s death in Papua
    A photograph of New Zealand helicopter pilot Glen Malcolm Conning, who worked for PT Intan Angkasa Air Services, in front of his coffin at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Indonesia, on August 7. Image: Antara Foto/Muhammad Iqbal

    The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) — the military wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) — ​​has denied it was responsible.

    Suspicions of ‘orchestrated murder’
    In a statement, a spokesman, Sebby Sambom said: “We suspect that the murder of the New Zealand helicopter pilot was orchestrated by the Indonesian military and police themselves.”

    He alleged that the killing was intended to undermine efforts to negotiate the release of another New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, who has been held by the rebel group since February last year.

    He said photos showing the pilot’s body and the helicopter without apparent signs of burns contradicted the police’s claims that they were burned.

    The photos, which Sambom sent to BenarNews, appear to depict Conning’s body collapsed in his helicopter’s seat, with his left arm bearing a deep gash.

    Four passengers who Indonesian authorities said were indigenous Papuans, including a child and baby, were unharmed.

    Police said the attackers ambushed the helicopter, forcibly removed the occupants, and subsequently executed Conning. They said in a statement that the pilot’s body was burned along with the helicopter.

    Responding to the rebel group’s accusations, Bayu Suseno, spokesperson for a counter-insurgency task force in Papua comprising police and soldiers, insisted that the resistance fighters were responsible for the pilot’s death.

    “The armed criminal group often justify their crimes, including killing civilians, migrants, and indigenous Papuans working as healthcare workers, teachers, motorcycle taxi drivers, and the New Zealand pilot, by accusing them of being spies,” he told BenarNews.

    No response over contradictions
    He did not respond to a question about the photos that appear to contradict his earlier claim that Conning’s body was burned with the helicopter.

    Sambom said on Monday that if Conning was killed by independence fighters, it was because he should not have been in a conflict zone.

    “Anyone who ignores this does so at their own risk. What was the New Zealander doing there? We consider him a spy,” he said.

    Bayu said another New Zealand pilot, Geoffrey Foster, witnessed the aftermath of the attack.

    Foster approached Conning’s helicopter and saw scattered bags and the pilot slumped in his seat covered in blood, prompting him to take off again without landing, Bayu said.

    Executive director of the Papua Justice and Human Integrity Foundation Theo Hesegem expressed concern and condolences for the shooting of the pilot and supported efforts for an independent investigation into the incident.

    “There must be an independent investigation team and it must be an integrated team from Indonesia and New Zealand,” he told BenarNews .

    Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM, condemned the attack and said such acts undermined efforts to bring peace to Papua.

    ‘Ensure civilian safety’
    “Komnas HAM asks the government and security forces to ensure the safety of civilians in Papua,” said the commission’s chairperson Atnike Nova Sigiro in a statement on Wednesday.

    The perpetrators of the attack must be brought to justice, Komnas HAM said.

    The attack is the latest by an armed group on aviation personnel in the province where Papuan independence fighters have waged a low-level struggle against Indonesian rule since the 1960s.

    Another New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, was abducted by insurgents from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) 18 months ago and remains in captivity.

    Mehrtens was seized by the fighters on February 7 in the central highlands of Papua. The rebels burned the small Susi Air plane he was piloting and released the Papuan passengers.

    While his captors have released videos showing him alive, negotiations to free him have stalled. The group’s demands include independence for the Melanesian region they refer to as West Papua.

    Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Published with the permission of BenarNews.

  • Advocate slams NZ snub of Nagasaki peace tribute as ‘outrageous’

    By Mick Hall

    A leading peace campaigner is calling Aotearoa New Zealand’s decision to stay away from a peace event in Nagasaki paying tribute to victims of the Japanese city’s 1945 nuclear bombing “outrageous”.

    Former trade union leader Robert Reid said New Zealand could have acted as a strong independent Pacific voice by attending today’s peace gathering, held annually on August 9 to commemorate the estimated 70,000 people killed in a US nuclear attack on the Japanese city at the end of World War II.

    “New Zealand has missed an opportunity to demarcate itself from the cheerleaders of the Gaza genocide, from the US and the UK and other Western countries, and in a way has turned its back on Japan, which was an ally with us in the anti-nuclear position that New Zealand has held for many years,” the former Unite president said.

    His comments come after a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) spokesperson confirmed to In Context neither New Zealand’s ambassador to Japan Hamish Hooper nor any other consulate official would be attending the peace ceremony, stressing the move was due to “resourcing” and unrelated to a boycott by Western nations following the city’s decision not to invite Israel.

    The US and its Western allies are staying away from the peace ceremony because Nagasaki’s Mayor Shiro Suzuki declined to send an invitation to Israel to attend, over events in the Middle East and to avoid protests against the war in Gaza at the event.

    In a statement a Mfat spokesperson said: “The New Zealand government will not be represented at the commemorations at Nagasaki on 9 August 2024. This decision reflects limited resourcing of the Embassy in Tokyo, and is not associated with attendance of other countries.”

    However, it is understood New Zealand was represented at a commemoration event at head of mission level in Hiroshima last Tuesday. Nagasaki is located south of Hiroshima and a journey three-and-a-half hours by train.

    Cancelled last year
    The Nagasaki commemoration was cancelled last year due to a typhoon warning. New Zealand had been represented at both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki events in recent years, at head of mission level in 2022 and 2021.

    It only attended the Hiroshima commemoration in 2020, a period when covid-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions were widespread.

    New Zealand’s absence comes after envoys of the US, Canada, Germany, France, the UK and other Western nations sent a letter to Nagasaki organisers expressing concern over the city not inviting Israel.

    The letter, dated July 19, warned that if Israel was excluded, “it would become difficult for us to have high-level participation” in the event as it would “result in placing Israel on the same level as countries such as Russia and Belarus,” both having been excluded from the ceremony since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

    In a statement on July 31 outlining the reasons for excluding Israel, Suzuki said officials feared protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza would take away the ceremony’s solemnity.

    He added that he made the decision based on “various developments in the international community in response to the ongoing situation in the Middle East”.

    ICJ ruled Israel as apartheid state
    An International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on July 19 ruled Israel’s occupation of Palestine illegal and that Israel was administering a system of apartheid through discriminatory laws and policies. Apartheid is a crime against humanity.

    In a 14-1 ruling, the ICJ directed Israel to immediately cease all settlement activity, evacuate settlers from occupied Palestinian territories, and pay reparations to Palestinians. It also voted 12-3 that UN states not render aid or assistance to Israel to continue the illegal occupation.

    On July 30, the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner said in light of the ruling: “States must immediately review all diplomatic, political, and economic ties with Israel, inclusive of business and finance, pension funds, academia and charities.”

    There were protests on Wednesday following a decision by the Hiroshima municipality to allow Israeli representation at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park event the day before, while not inviting a Palestinian envoy on the basis that the occupied country was not a United Nations member and that Japan did not recognise it as a state.

    “I understand New Zealand is not calling its absence a boycott, but just that it’s too busy, but it has attended in the past,” Read said.

    “I think we’re just playing with words here. This was a chance for New Zealand to stand with the people of Palestine, to stand with the Japanese people, who have had bombs dropped on them and they have perhaps taken a weak way out by not attending.”

    The Disarmament and Security Centre Aotearoa is holding a Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemoration event on Sunday, August 11, at Christchurch’s Botanic Gardens.

    Virtual centre
    The non-profit organisation is a virtual centre connecting disarmament experts, lawyers, political scientists, academics, teachers, students and disarmament proponents.

    Its spokesperson, Dr Marcus Coll, said he was shocked New Zealand would not be attending the Nagasaki event this year.

    “These sorts of things should never be about resources because it’s the symbolism of it that is so important and actually showing solidarity with the victims of Nagasaki,” he said.

    “In the Pacific region especially, we’ve really felt the effects of nuclear testing throughout the decades and then in Japan, there still are a lot of the survivors and their families are affected because of the intergenerational effects.”

    Dr Coll spent seven years studying and working in Japan. His doctoral research involved interviewing and researching survivors of the atomic bombings, as well as indigenous rights activists, religious and military leaders, peace campaigners, and others who were instrumental in shaping New Zealand’s nuclear free identity.

    He said Japan’s survivors had expressed awe at a small country in the Pacific taking a strong stand against nuclear weapons.

    “New Zealand has really been a kind of a beacon of hope for a lot of those people,” he said.

    Nuclear-free legacy
    New Zealand became a nuclear-free country in 1987, with a Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act that effectively banned US nuclear vessels from its waters.

    It led to New Zealand being frozen out of the ANZUS security treaty and allowed the country to develop a more independent policy engagement with the Pacific and the rest of the world.

    “That came from the government level as well,” Dr Coll said.

    “It was a groundswell from the public, which changed our policy, but governments of all stripes up until recently have really not contested that legacy and actually been kind of proud of it.

    “It really is something that sets us apart, especially internationally and we’re respected for it . . . So, it seems like a real let down that our own government can’t even show up.”

    Dr Coll said New Zealand had nurtured a significant link with Nagasaki, being the last place to suffer a nuclear attack in warfare.

    “Our former director used to go to Nagasaki. She had very strong connections with the mayor there. There’s actually a sculpture in the Nagasaki Peace Park, given to the city on behalf of New Zealand cities and the New Zealand government back in 2000s, forging that strong connection.

    “It’s called the Korowai of Peace. Phil Goff as foreign minister, the New Zealand ambassador and other civil society people were there . . .  This decision I suspect is a kind of PR and not to attend is a blow to our heritage of promoting disarmament and being anti-nuclear.”

    The US envoy to Japan Rahm Emanuel is expected to attend a peace ceremony at the Zojoji Temple in Tokyo on Friday instead.

    Nagasaki was bombed by the United States on August 9, 1945, after Hiroshima had been hit by atomic bomb on August 6. The two attacks at the end of World War II killed up to 250,000 people. Japan surrendered on August 15.

    Republished from Mick Hall In Context with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • “Welcome to hell”: inside Israel’s prisons – podcast

    Palestinian prisoners have spoken of sexual assault and starvation in Israeli jails. Bethan McKernan reports

    Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, has presided over a transformation of the country’s prison system. The human rights group B’Tselem has described the jails as “torture camps” where abuse is systemic.

    The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Bethan McKernan, has spoken to some former prisoners about their experience.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Jonathan Cook: Nothing’s changed since 1948 – except now Israel’s excuses don’t work

    We have been lied to for decades about the creation of Israel. It was born in sin, and it continues to live in sin, writes Jonathan Cook.

    COMMENTARY: By Jonathan Cook

    The headline above, about yet another Israeli operation to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians in the tiny, besieged and utterly destroyed enclave of Gaza, was published in yesterday’s Middle East Eye.

    When I began studying Israeli history more than a quarter of a century ago, people claiming to be experts proffered plenty of excuses to explain why Israelis should not be held responsible for the 1948 ethnic cleansing of some 750,000 Palestinians from their homes — what Palestinians call their Nakba, or Catastrophe.

    1. I was told most Israelis were not involved and knew nothing of the war crimes carried out against the Palestinians during Israel’s establishment.

    2. I was told that those Israelis who did take part in war crimes, like Operation Broom to expel Palestinians from their homeland, did so only because they were traumatised by their experiences in Europe. In the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, these Israelis assumed that, were the Jewish people to survive, they had no alternative but to drive out the Palestinians en masse.

    3. From others, I was told that no ethnic cleansing had taken place. The Palestinians had simply fled at the first sign of conflict because they had no real historical attachment to the land.

    4. Or I was told that the Palestinians’ displacement was an unfortunate consequence of a violent war in which Israeli leaders had the best interests of Palestinians at heart. The Palestinians hadn’t left because of Israeli violence but because they has been ordered to do so by Arab leaders in the region. In fact, the story went, Israel had pleaded with many of the 750,000 refugees to come home afterwards, but those same Arab leaders stubbornly blocked their return.

    Every one of these claims was nonsense, directly contradicted by all the documentary evidence.

    That should be even clearer today, as Israel continues the ethnic cleansing and slaughter of the Palestinian people more than 75 years on.

    1. Every Israeli knows exactly what is going on in Gaza – after all, their children-soldiers keep posting videos online showing the latest crimes they have committed, from blowing up mosques and hospitals to shooting randomly into homes. Polls show all but a small minority of Israelis approve of the savagery that has killed many tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children. A third of them think Israel needs to go further in its barbarity.Today, Israeli TV shows host debates about how much pain soldiers should be allowed to inflict by raping their Palestinian captives. Don’t believe me? Watch this from Israel’s Channel 12:

    2. If the existential fears of Israelis and Jews still require the murder, rape and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians three-quarters of a century on from the Holocaust, then we need to treat that trauma as the problem – and refuse to indulge it any longer.

    3. The people of Gaza are fleeing their homes — or at least the small number who still have homes not bombed to ruins — not because they lack an attachment to Palestine. They are fleeing from one part of the cage Israel has created for them to another part of it for one reason alone: because all of them — men, women and children — are terrified of being slaughtered by an Israeli military, at best, indifferent to their suffering and their fate.

    4. No serious case can be made today that Israel is carrying out any of its crimes in Gaza — from bombing civilians to starving them — with regret, or that its leaders seek the best for the Palestinian population. Israel is on trial for genocide at the world’s highest court precisely because the judges there suspect it has the very worst intentions possible towards the Palestinian people.

    We have been lied to for decades about the creation of Israel. It was always a settler colonial project.

    And like other settler colonial projects — from the US and Australia to South Africa and Algeria — it always viewed the native people as inferior, as non-human, as animals, and was bent on their elimination.

    What is so obviously true today was true then too, at Israel’s birth. Israel was born in sin, and it continues to live in sin.

    We in the West abetted its crimes in 1948, and we’re still abetting them today. Nothing has changed, except the excuses no longer work.

    Jonathan Cook is a writer, journalist and self-appointed media critic and author of many books about Palestine. Winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. Republished from the author’s blog with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Israeli journalist goes on TV, calls for rape of Palestinians to be official policy

    Israeli journalist Yehuda Schlesinger called for the institutionalised rape of Palestinian detainees on Israel’s Channel 12. He went unchallenged.

    “There are no innocent people” in Gaza

    Responding to a question about footage and accounts of Israeli soldiers and guards raping Palestinians, Schlesinger said:

    The only problem I have is that it’s not a regulated policy of the state to abuse the detainees because, first of all, they deserve it, and it’s great revenge… maybe it will serve as a deterrent.

    Speaking again to Channel 12 in April, Schlesinger said “there are no innocent people” in Gaza and that they “deserve a hard agonising death”.

    And on 24 October, Schlesinger posted on X:

    There are no innocents in Gaza. There are no ordinary citizens in Gaza. Every adult was trained to kill. Every woman is a monster. Every boy aspires to be a martyr. Every baby will grow up to be a terrorist. Wipe out, kill, destroy, destroy.

    For Israel, is rape a weapon?

    With regard to a question on video evidence of Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian, US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that it “ought to be investigated fully by the government of Israel”.

    But there are issues with Israel investigating itself. Former US state department official John Paul told CNN in December:

    I was part of the human rights vetting process for arms going to Israel, and a charity called Defense for Children International – Palestine drew our attention at the State Department to the sexual assault, actually the rape, of a 13-year-old boy that occurred in an Israeli prison in the Moskobiyyeh

    We examined these allegations, we believe they were credible, we put them… to the government of Israel. And you know what happened the next day? The IDF went into the DCIP offices and removed all their computers and declared them a terrorist entity.

    The boy was actually 15. Paul resigned from the state department in October over the continued “provision of lethal arms to Israel”.

    Israel: many reports of rape

    According to reports from witnesses and victims, the sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees borders on the routine. In late July, the UN reported Israel subjected detainees to sexual abuse and ill-treatment and that they “received consistent reports of [Israeli] personnel inserting objects into detainees’ anuses”.

    Israeli human rights organisation B’tselem has also reported numerous accounts of the “attempted anal rape of a Palestinian detainee”.

    B’tselem further stated:

    The witnesses described blows to the genitals and other body parts of naked prisoners; the use of metal tools and batons to cause genital pain; the photographing of naked prisoners; penises being grabbed; and strip-searches
    for the sake of humiliation and degradation. The testimonies also reveal cases of gang sexual violence and assault committed by a group of prison guards or soldiers

    Rather than condemning the sexual violence, Israeli government ministers and protestors have demonstrated against soldiers facing punishment for an alleged gang rape.

    The call for ‘revenge rape’ is no doubt partly spurred on by widespread corporate media reports that Hamas committed mass rape on 7 October. But a UN inquiry, which looked at forensic reports and witnesses, found no evidence that Hamas raped anybody during the attack.

    “Astounding”

    On social media, people reacted to the reports of abuse:


    Others reacted to the discussion with Israeli journalist Schlesinger on Channel 12:


    Featured image via B.M. – X

    By James Wright

    This post was originally published on Canary.