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Category: Justice

  • Israel has ‘unleashed hell and destruction’ in Gaza genocide, says Amnesty investigation

    Asia Pacific Report

    Amnesty International’s research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, the organisation has revealed in a landmark new investigative report.

    The 294-page report documents how, during its military offensive launched in the wake of the deadly Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel has “unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity”.

    This 14-month military offensive was launched in the wake of the deadly Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

    An Amnesty International statement made along with releasing the investigation says that the Aotearoa New Zealand government “can and should take action”, for example:

    • Publicly recognise that Israeli authorities are committing the crime of genocide and commit to strong and sustained international action;
    • Ban imports from illegal settlements as well as investment in companies connected to maintaining the occupation; and
    • Do everything possible to facilitate Palestinian people seeking refuge to come to Aotearoa New Zealand and receive support.

    Lisa Woods, advocacy and movement building director at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, said: “This research and report demonstrate that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.

    “It’s not enough to say ‘never again’. The New Zealand government has to publicly call this what it is — genocide.

    “We’re asking the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister to show leadership. New Zealand has a responsibility to act.”

    Ban illegal settlement products
    Woods said that in addition to acknowledging that this was genocide, the New Zealand government must ban products from the illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory — “and open the doors to Palestinians who are desperately seeking refuge.”

    Agnès Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, said about the new report:

    "You feel like you are subhuman" - the Amnesty International genocide report
    “You feel like you are subhuman” – the Amnesty International genocide report. Image: AI screenshot APR

    “These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.

    “Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them.

    “Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now.”

    Callamard said that states that continued to transfer arms to Israel at this time must know they are “violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of becoming complicit in genocide”.

    She said that all states with influence over Israel, particularly key arms suppliers like the US and Germany — but also other EU member states, the UK and others — must act now to bring Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end.

    Population facing starvation
    Over the past two months the crisis has grown particularly acute in the North Gaza governorate, where a besieged population is facing starvation, displacement and annihilation amid relentless bombardment and suffocating restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid, Callamard said.

    “Our research reveals that, for months, Israel has persisted in committing genocidal acts, fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza,” she said.

    “It continued to do so in defiance of countless warnings about the catastrophic humanitarian situation and of legally binding decisions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Israel to take immediate measures to enable the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.

    “Israel has repeatedly argued that its actions in Gaza are lawful and can be justified by its military goal to eradicate Hamas. But genocidal intent can co-exist alongside military goals and does not need to be Israel’s sole intent.”

    Amnesty International said in its statement that it had examined Israel’s acts in Gaza closely and in their totality, taking into account their recurrence and simultaneous occurrence, and both their immediate impact and their cumulative and mutually reinforcing consequences.

    The organisation considered the scale and severity of the casualties and destruction over time. It also analysed public statements by officials, finding that prohibited acts were often announced or called for in the first place by high-level officials in charge of the war efforts.

    “Taking into account  the pre-existing context of dispossession, apartheid and unlawful military occupation in which these acts have been committed, we could find only one reasonable conclusion: Israel’s intent is the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, whether in parallel with, or as a means to achieve, its military goal of destroying Hamas,” Callamard said.

    Atrocities ‘can never justify Israel’s genocide’
    “The atrocity crimes committed on 7 October 2023 by Hamas and other armed groups against Israelis and victims of other nationalities, including deliberate mass killings and hostage-taking, can never justify Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

    According to the statement, international jurisprudence recognises that the perpetrator does not need to succeed in their attempts to destroy the protected group, either in whole or in part, for genocide to have been committed.

    The commission of prohibited acts with the intent to destroy the group, as such, was sufficient.

    The report examines in detail Israel’s violations in Gaza over nine months between 7 October 2023 and early July 2024.

    Amnesty International interviewed 212 people, including Palestinian victims and witnesses, local authorities in Gaza, healthcare workers, conducted fieldwork and analysed an extensive range of visual and digital evidence, including satellite imagery.

    It also analysed statements by senior Israeli government and military officials, and official Israeli bodies.

    On multiple occasions, the organisation shared its findings with the Israeli authorities but had received no substantive response at the time of publication.

    Unprecedented scale and magnitude
    The organisation said Israel’s actions following Hamas’s deadly attacks on 7 October 2023 had brought Gaza’s population to the brink of collapse.

    Its brutal military offensive had killed more than [44,000] Palestinians, including more than 13,300 children, and wounded or injured more than 97,000 others by 7 October 2024, many of them in direct or deliberately indiscriminate attacks, often wiping out entire multigenerational families.

    Israel had caused unprecedented destruction, which experts say occurred at a level and speed not seen in any other conflict in the 21st century, levelling entire cities and destroying critical infrastructure, agricultural land and cultural and religious sites, Amnesty International said.

    It thereby rendered large swathes of Gaza uninhabitable.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • How Jeton Anjain planned the Rongelap evacuation – new Rainbow Warrior podcast series

    REVIEW: By Giff Johnson in Majuro

    As a prelude to the 40th anniversary of the evacuation of Rongelap Islanders to Mejatto Island in Kwajalein in 1985, Radio New Zealand and ABC Radio Australia have produced a six-part podcast series that details the Rongelap story — in the context of The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior, the name of the series.

    It is narrated by journalist James Nokise, and includes story telling from Rongelap Islanders as well as those who know about what became the last voyage of Greenpeace’s flagship.

    It features a good deal of narrative around the late Rongelap Nitijela Member Jeton Anjain, the architect of the evacuation in 1985. For those who know the story of the 1954 Bravo hydrogen bomb test at Bikini, some of the narrative will be repetitive.

    The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior podcast series logo
    The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior podcast series logo. Image: ABC/RNZ

    But the podcast offers some insight that may well be unknown to many. For example, the podcast lays to rest the unfounded US government criticism at the time that Greenpeace engineered the evacuation, manipulating unsuspecting islanders to leave Rongelap.

    Through commentary of those in the room when the idea was hatched, this was Jeton’s vision and plan — the Rainbow Warrior was a vehicle that could assist in making it happen.

    The narrator describes Jeton’s ongoing disbelief over repeated US government assurances of Rongelap’s safety. Indeed, though not a focus of the RNZ/ABC podcast, it was Rongelap’s self-evacuation that forced the US Congress to fund independent radiological studies of Rongelap Atoll that showed — surprise, surprise — that living on the atoll posed health risks and led to the US Congress establishing a $45 million Rongelap Resettlement Trust Fund.

    Questions about the safety of the entirety of Rongelap Atoll linger today, bolstered by non-US government studies that have, over the past several years, pointed out a range of ongoing radiation contamination concerns.

    The RNZ/ABC podcast dives into the 1954 Bravo hydrogen bomb test fallout exposure on Rongelap, their subsequent evacuation to Kwajalein, and later to Ejit Island for three years. It details their US-sponsored return in 1957 to Rongelap, one of the most radioactive locations in the world — by US government scientists’ own admission.

    The narrative, that includes multiple interviews with people in the Marshall Islands, takes the listener through the experience Rongelap people have had since Bravo, including health problems and life in exile. It narrates possibly the first detailed piece of history about Jeton Anjain, the Rongelap leader who died of cancer in 1993, eight years after Rongelap people left their home atoll.

    The podcast takes the listener into a room in Seattle, Washington, in 1984, where Greenpeace International leader Steve Sawyer met for the first time with Jeton and heard his plea for help to relocate Rongelap people using the Rainbow Warrior. The actual move from Rongelap to Mejatto in May 1985 — described in David Robie’s 1986 book Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior — is narrated through interviews and historical research.

    Rongelap Islanders on board the Rainbow Warrior bound for Mejatto in May 1985. Image: © 1985 David Robie/Eyes Of Fire

    The final episode of the podcast is heavily focused on the final leg of the Rainbow Warrior’s Pacific tour — a voyage cut short by French secret agents who bombed the Warrior while it was tied to the wharf in Auckland harbor, killing one crew member, Fernando Pereira.

    It was Fernando’s photographs of the Rongelap evacuation that brought that chapter in the history of the Marshall Islands to life.

    The Warrior was stopping to refuel and re-provision in Auckland prior to heading to the French nuclear testing zone in Moruroa Atoll. But that plan was quite literally bombed by the French government in one of the darkest moments of Pacific colonial history.

    The six-part series is on YouTube and can be found by searching The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior.

    Scientists conduct radiological surveys of nuclear test fallout
    A related story in this week’s edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.

    Columbia University scientists have conducted a series of radiological surveys of nuclear test fallout in the northern Marshall Islands over the past nearly 10 years.

    “Considerable contamination remains,” wrote scientists Hart Rapaport and Ivana Nikolić Hughes in the Scientific American in 2022. “On islands such as Bikini, the average background gamma radiation is double the maximum value stipulated by an agreement between the governments of the Marshall Islands and the US, even without taking into account other exposure pathways.

    “Our findings, based on gathered data, run contrary to the Department of Energy’s. One conclusion is clear: absent a renewed effort to clean radiation from Bikini, families forced from their homes may not be able to safely return until the radiation naturally diminishes over decades and centuries.”

    They also raised concern about the level of strontium-90 present in various islands from which they have taken soil and other samples. They point out that US government studies do not address strontium-90.

    This radionuclide “can cause leukemia and bone and bone marrow cancer and has long been a source of health concerns at nuclear disasters such as Chernobyl and Fukushima,” Rapaport and Hughes said.

    “Despite this, the US government’s published data don’t speak to the presence of this dangerous nuclear isotope.”

    Their studies have found “consistently high values” of strontium-90 in northern atolls.

    “Although detecting this radioisotope in sediment does not neatly translate into contamination in soil or food, the finding suggests the possibility of danger to ecosystems and people,” they state. “More than that, cleaning up strontium 90 and other contaminants in the Marshall Islands is possible.”

    The Columbia scientists’ recommendations for action are straightforward: “Congress should appropriate funds, and a research agency, such as the National Science Foundation, should initiate a call for proposals to fund independent research with three aims.

    “We must first further understand the current radiological conditions across the Marshall Islands; second, explore new technologies and methods already in use for future cleanup activity; and, third, train Marshallese scientists, such as those working with the nation’s National Nuclear Commission, to rebuild trust on this issue.”

    Giff Johnson is editor of the Marshall Islands Journal. His review of the Rainbow Warrior podcast series was first published by the Journal and is republished here with permission.

  • Jailed at 10, Sheltered at 16: The Double Standards of Growing Up in Australia

    This post was originally published on IndigenousX.

  • Nelson City Council joins NZ local bodies voting to sanction Israel

    Asia Pacific Report

    New Zealand’s Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) has congratulated the Nelson City Council on its vote today to boycott companies which trade with illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.

    The city council (pop. 58,000) — New Zealand’s 15th-largest city — became the latest local body to change its procurement policy to exclude companies identified by the UN Human Rights Council as being complicit in the building and maintenance of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

    “Nelson City Council is taking action while our national government is looking the other way”, PSNA chair John Minto said in a statement.

    “It is [Prime Minister] Christopher Luxon who should be ending all New Zealand dealings with companies involved in the illegal Israeli settlements.

    “Instead, our government is cowardly complicit with Israeli war crimes.”

    It is a war crime to move citizens onto land illegally occupied as Israel is doing.

    Nelson City Council joins Environment Canterbury and the Christchurch City Council — New Zealand’s second largest city — which both adopted this policy earlier this year.  Other local bodies are believed to be following.

    “We also congratulate local Palestine solidarity activists in Nelson who have organised and battled so well for this historic win today. They are the heroes behind this decision,”minto said.

    Minto said following the move by Nelson city representatives, “we are renewing our call for the government to act”.

    He again called for the government to:

    • Ban all imports from the illegal Israeli settlements;
    • Direct the Superfund, Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and Kiwisaver providers to end their investments in all Israeli companies and other companies supporting the illegal Israeli settlements; and
    • Direct New Zealand government agencies to end procurement of goods or services from all Israeli companies and other companies supporting the illegal Israeli settlements.


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • UK prison expansion has been delayed – so maybe STOP LOCKING PEACEFUL PROTESTERS UP?

    The UK’s prison system expansion programme has effectively been delayed thanks to the Tories. That’s the conclusion of a new, government-backed report. However, when the system is sending Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action activists to jail, as well as incarcerating people for tiny offenses and detaining people as so-called IPPs – is it any wonder?

    The NAO report: damning for the UK prison system

    HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is the executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) responsible for managing the prison service in England and Wales. The NAO last reported on the prison estate in 2020. It concluded that HMPPS was failing to meet its aims of providing a safe, secure and decent prison estate.

    HMPPS was also facing a significant challenge to meet its commitment to deliver 13,400 additional prison places. The NAO highlighted that MoJ and HMPPS needed to resist taking a reactive approach to capacity pressures and to instead work with HM Treasury produce a long-term strategy to deliver a prison estate fit for purpose.

    Since then, MoJ has increased the scale of its prison expansion plans from 13,400 to 20,000 additional places by the mid-2020s in response to projected increases in demand. HMPPS is delivering the additional places through a portfolio of prison capacity programmes (prison expansion portfolio), which includes a mix of building new prisons, expanding and refurbishing existing prisons, and installing temporary accommodation.

    HMPPS has delivered 6,518 additional places between 2020 and September 2024, 278 of which are from additional crowding at four private prisons. Despite this, the prison estate has been operating at close to full capacity since autumn 2022, with many prisons severely crowded.

    If prisons reach full capacity, there would be significant impacts on the wider criminal justice system. For example, courts would not be able to try cases where suspects may be given prison sentences. MoJ and HMPPS have had to implement various emergency measures, such as releasing prisoners early, to ensure that the criminal justice system continues to function.

    Damning for the Tories

    However, the NAO slammed what has happened since then – largely thanks to the Tories.

    The current crisis in the prison estate is a consequence of previous governments’ failure to align criminal justice policies with funding for the prison estate, leading to reactive solutions which represent poor value for money. Policies such as introducing tougher sentences and increasing the number of police officers led to steep increases in expected demand for prison places. However, years of under-investment in maintaining the prison estate put MoJ and HMPPS in a weak position to respond to these increases.

    HMPPS has therefore taken a reactive and expensive approach focused on building new places urgently at increased cost. Until there is greater coherence between the government’s wider policy agenda and funding for its prison estate, the current crisis position will not represent value for money.

    HMPPS’s expansion plan was unrealistic and was not prioritised by the government, with resulting delays that have exacerbated the current crisis. MoJ’s central projection scenario shows demand for spaces exceeding capacity by 12,400 places by the end of 2027, even if current expansion projects are delivered to revised timelines.

    Of course, when you lock up minor criminals on top of having successive out-of-control Tory governments – then this is what happens.

    Stop locking people up in prison?

    Instead of incarcerating people for small ‘offenses’, maybe government should consider alternatives.

    Prison is an expensive response to minor offenses. Housing, feeding, and providing healthcare for inmates place a significant financial burden on public funds Studies show that alternative approaches, such as community service, probation, or fines, are far less costly while still holding offenders accountable. Redirecting resources from incarceration to rehabilitation programs or public services can yield greater societal benefits.

    Prisons often expose individuals to an environment that fosters criminal behavior rather than deterring it. Minor offenders may interact with hardened criminals, leading to increased recidivism. Additionally, incarceration can disrupt employment, education, and family ties, leaving offenders worse off and less likely to reintegrate successfully into society upon release.

    Research indicates that marginalised and racialised communities are disproportionately affected by incarceration for minor offenses. This perpetuates systemic inequalities and undermines trust in the justice system. Alternatives to prison can reduce these disparities and promote fairness.

    Alternatives to incarceration, such as restorative justice programs, community service, and electronic monitoring, have shown promise in reducing recidivism rates and addressing the root causes of criminal behavior. These approaches focus on rehabilitation and making amends, fostering a more constructive resolution for offenders, victims, and society.

    The UK prison system expansion: stop that, too

    Overall, though, if government actually addressed the main driver of what the state calls ‘criminality’ – that is, rampant inequality, capitalism, and a society built on greed and envy – then maybe the need for prisons would evaporate altogether?

    However, until such time then we have to work with what we have.

    Sending individuals who commit minor offenses to prison often creates more problems than it solves. By focusing on alternative approaches that prioritise accountability, fairness, and rehabilitation, the justice system can promote public safety while reducing costs and inequities.

    Reforming the approach to minor offenses is a crucial step toward a more effective and equitable criminal justice system. Oh, and so is ending the incarceration of peaceful protesters like those from Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action, too.

    Featured image via Andy Aitchison

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • This year, Arab-American political power came to the fore over Gaza

    ANALYSIS: By Rami G Khouri

    One of the major political developments in the United States that has got little attention in the wake of the Democrats’ astounding loss in the November 5 elections is the success of Arab American political organising.

    A new generation of political activists has emerged that has earned representation in unprecedented numbers and impact for the 3.5-million-strong Arab-American community in elected and appointed political offices.

    It also put Arab Americans on the electoral map for the first time by launching the Uncommitted movement during the Democratic primaries and making a foreign policy issue — Israel’s genocide in Gaza — a national moral issue.

    The Democratic Party underestimated the power of this new generation and the intensity of citizen anger, which cost it dearly in the election.

    What happened in the Arab American community is a vintage all-American tale. They, like other communities, started their pursuit of political impact as a low-profile immigrant group who became dynamic citizens after political developments threatened their wellbeing and motivated them to take action.

    Arab American mobilisation traces its beginnings to small-scale participation in Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns for the Democratic Party. Jackson was the first serious presidential candidate to include Arab Americans as Democratic Party convention delegates, part of his Rainbow Coalition of:

    “the white, the Hispanic, the Black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the Native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay, and the disabled [who] make up the American quilt”.

    His campaign gave momentum to voter registration drives within the Arab American community, which continued in the following three decades.

    Impact on outcomes
    By 2020, nearly 90 percent of Arab Americans were registered to vote. By 2024, the Arab American voter block — in its expansive coalition with other groups — had grown large enough to impact on outcomes in critical swing states, especially Michigan and Pennsylvania.

    The attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent backlash motivated Arab Americans even more to engage in meaningful politics. Many members of the community refused to live in fear, trying to avoid the intimidation and smears that had long kept their parents and grandparents subdued and quiescent politically.

    As Omar Kurdi, founder of Arab Americans of Cleveland, told me, “We were no longer silent because we saw the dangers to us of being quiet and politically inactive. We refused to live in fear of politics.

    “Since then, we have been proud, confident, and active in public. We no longer accept crumbs, but want our share of the pie, and we understand now how we can work for that.”

    As a result, over the past two decades, Arab Americans have entered the public sphere and politics at all levels: from local, city, and county positions to state and federal ones.

    Elected officials say they succeeded because their constituents knew and trusted them. Candidates who won state and national congressional seats — like Rashida Tlaib in Michigan — inspired hundreds of younger Arab Americans to enter the political fray.

    Successful experiences in city politics educated newcomers on how they could impact decision-making, improve their own lives, and serve the entire community. They mastered locally the basics of politics, one Ohio activist told me, “like lobbying, bringing pressure, protesting, educating the public, achieving consensus, and creating coalitions based on shared values, problems, and goals”.

    Coalesced into Uncommitted movement
    All of this momentum, built up over the years, coalesced into the Uncommitted movement in 2024. As the Biden administration unconditionally supported Israel to carry out genocidal violence in Palestine and Lebanon, Arab-American activists moved to use their newfound leverage as voters in electoral politics.

    They joined like-minded social justice activists from other groups that mainstream political parties had long taken for granted — including Muslim Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, youth, progressive Jews, churches, and unions — and sent a strong message during the primaries that they would not support Biden’s re-election bid unless he changed his position on Gaza.

    The campaign hoped that tens of thousands of voters in the primaries would send the Democrats a big message by voting “uncommitted”, but in fact, hundreds of thousands of Democrats did so across half a dozen critical states.

    These numbers were enough to send 30 Uncommitted delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August, where they could lobby their colleagues to shape the party’s national platform.

    One activist involved in the process told me they convinced 320 of the other 5,000 delegates to support their demand for a party commitment to a Gaza ceasefire and arms embargo on Israel — not enough to change the party position, but enough to prove that working from inside the political system over time could move things in a better direction.

    Intergenerational support and motivation were big factors in the success of the Uncommitted movement. Arab American Institute Executive Director Maya Berry, who has been involved in such activities for three decades, told me that Arab Americans were always in political positions, but in small numbers, so they had little impact.

    However, they learned how the system works and provided valuable insights when the time came this year to act. She mentioned Abbas Alawiyeh as an example, who co-chairs the Uncommitted National Movement and worked as a congressional staffer for many years.

    Defeat hotly debated
    The Uncommitted movement’s precise contribution to the Democratic Party’s defeat is hotly debated right now. One activist told me the movement “placed Arab Americans at the centre of Democratic Party politics, led the progressives, helped Harris lose in swing states, and nationally brought attention to Gaza, divestment, and moral issues in ways we had never been able to do previously.”

    All this occurs in uncharted territory, with no clarity if Arab Americans can influence both the Democratic and Republican parties who might now compete for their vote.

    One Arab-American activist in his 30s added, “We are liberated from the Democrats who took us for granted, and we Arab Americans are now a swing vote officially.”

    Other activists I spoke to thought the election experience could set the stage for a larger movement to counter the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, though that would require conquering the next hurdle of establishing Political Action Committees (PACs) and raising substantial funds.

    That is a future possibility.

    For now, it is important to recognise that a national-level Arab-American political effort has been born from the fires and devastation of the US-Israeli genocide in Palestine and Lebanon. Whether it can improve the wellbeing of Arab Americans and all Americans will be revealed in the years ahead.

    Dr Rami G Khouri is a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut and a nonresident senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington. He is a journalist and book author with 50 years of experience covering the Middle East. This article was first published by Al Jazeera.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Climate justice: Action groups livid over Australia’s submission at ICJ

    ABC Pacific

    Australia’s government is being condemned by climate action groups for discouraging the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from ruling in favour of a court action brought by Vanuatu to determine legal consequences for states that fail to meet fossil reduction commitments.

    In its submission before the ICJ at The Hague yesterday, Australia argued that climate action obligations under any legal framework should not extend beyond the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

    It has prompted a backlash, with Greenpeace accusing Australia’s government of undermining the court case.

    “I’m very disappointed,” said Vepaiamele Trief, a Ni-Van Save the Children Next Generation Youth Ambassador, who is present at The Hague.

    “To go to the ICJ and completely go against what we are striving for, is very sad to see.

    “As a close neighbour of the Pacific Islands, Australia has a duty to support us.”

    RNZ Pacific reports Vanuatu’s special envoy to climate change says their case to the ICJ is based on the argument that those harming the climate are breaking international law.

    Special Envoy Ralph Regenvanu told RNZ Morning Report they are not just talking about countries breaking climate law.

    Republished from ABC Pacific Beat with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Police Raid Pro-Palestine Students’ Home in FBI-Led Graffiti Investigation

    In the early morning hours of November 7, more than 12 police officers showed up outside at an address in Springfield, Virginia, knocked, broke down the door, and raided the family home of two Palestinian American students at George Mason University.

    University and Fairfax County police refused to show the family the warrant. One Fairfax County detective with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force — cross-designated as a local and federal agent — was also present. The family and Mason faculty supporting them, however, believe they know what the FBI-led investigation was about: the young family members’ pro-Palestine activism.

    Two of the Palestinian American family’s daughters attend George Mason. One is an undergraduate student and the co-president of Mason’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. The other is in a master’s program at Mason and a former president of the school’s SJP chapter. 

    “These students haven’t been accused of a criminal, civil, or student conduct violation, yet they have been banned from campus.”

    The authorities told the family the raid was related to a spray-paint vandalism incident at George Mason’s campus in August — part of the widespread campus protests related to Israel’s war on Gaza. In September, the university police department put out flyers offering a $2,000 reward for information about the incident. 

    In short order, the school’s SJP chapter was suspended. Soon after, George Mason Police Chief Carl Rowan Jr. served the sisters with criminal trespass notices barring them from campus for four years — meaning that they can no longer continue their education.  

    “I’m worried for our students and I’m concerned for our schools,” said Ben Manski, the SJP chapter’s faculty adviser. “There are still no allegations and no charges that I’m aware of. Without those, we can’t have due process, we don’t know what is behind these actions, and we can’t know whether the public interest is being served or harmed.”

    Dr. Alexander Monea, an associate professor of English at George Mason, questioned the school’s disciplinary process.

    “These students haven’t been accused of a criminal, civil, or student conduct violation,” Monea said, “yet they have been banned from campus for four years, effectively expelling them from the university.”

    “An Extension of State Power”

    The severe moves against the family and the school’s SJP chapter are part of the latest wave of the crackdown against campus Palestine solidarity protests. As Israel’s war and demonstrations against it have dragged into a second year, the repression of Gaza protests continues to derail students’ education and ensnare them in disciplinary and court proceedings over activism on campus. 

    Police in Philadelphia conducted a similar raid in October, The Intercept reported, when authorities descended on the home of student leaders in the University of Pennsylvania’s pro-Palestine movement.

    George Mason spokesperson Paola Duran declined to answer questions about the raid. “The university has no comment on matters of ongoing criminal investigations,” Duran said in a statement to The Intercept. 

    Fairfax County Police Department’s public affairs office told The Intercept the department only assisted with the case and that George Mason University and the FBI were the lead investigators and directed questions to them. FBI Washington field office spokesperson Lira Gallagher said the agency could not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation and directed questions to George Mason police. The Fairfax County Attorney and George Mason police did not respond to requests for comment. 

    Police used excessive violence in the raid in response to paint on the floor, said Bassam Haddad, a member of the George Mason faculty. 

    “Universities and university administrators have become an extension of state power, and we have now seen it firsthand in this case of a violent raid into the students’ home without any material evidence whatsoever,” said Haddad, a founding director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program at George Mason and an associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government.

    “When they do things like this, it really does impact an entire community and an entire demographic at our school.”

    It was not lost on George Mason students that the crackdown seemed to target the large number of Arab and Muslim students at the school. 

    “This repression has really been built up against multiple organizations on campus, especially with SJP, but really with any pro-Palestinian leaning organizations,” said a student representative of the George Mason University Coalition for Palestine, a campus organization, who asked for anonymity to avoid retaliation. “GMU has a huge Arab and Muslim population. When they do things like this, it really does impact an entire community and an entire demographic at our school.” 

    “This honestly has just been an attack, not only on Palestinian organizers and the movement in general, but also on free speech as well.”

    SJP Suspension

    When police arrived at the household last month, they forced the family to gather in the living room while they searched the house, according to two people familiar with the matter. Some family members were eventually released to attend work, but the rest remained while police conducted their six-hour search.

    Police seized electronics from the residence, including phones and laptops, but made no arrests. At one point, police found antique firearms legally registered to the family’s son, a Mason alum and volunteer deputy chief firefighter. 

    Following the raid, authorities brought charges against the son related to the firearms. He litigated the charges and a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge dismissed them two weeks later. 

    “As a faculty senator, my colleagues asked me to raise a question to President Gregory Washington about the students’ family home being raided during a faculty senate meeting,” said Monea, the English professor. “He declined to share any information with the faculty senate at that time.”

    Mason administrators sent an email to the SJP president the day after the raid announcing that the SJP chapter had been placed under an interim suspension. Since the daughter who currently leads SJP had her computer seized, however, she did not see the email until the following week. 

    No other SJP members nor Manski, the group’s faculty adviser, were made aware of the suspension until later last month. They finally found out when SJP members were told that a scheduled panel with the school chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had been canceled due to the suspension. 

    The raid is part of the school’s increasing hostility toward activism against the war in Gaza, said Haddad, the faculty member supporting student activists. George Mason’s Board of Visitors — the school’s governing body — includes two appointments by Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin who currently work at the Heritage Foundation, which has called on the FBI to investigate campus protests against the war on Gaza. 

    “Have we become like the Soviet Union that we have been supposedly criticizing for decades, and now we continue to use as an example of overstretched power, corrupt power, and repressive and tyrannical power?” Haddad said. “Is this what we have become?”

    The post Police Raid Pro-Palestine Students’ Home in FBI-Led Graffiti Investigation appeared first on The Intercept.

    This post was originally published on The Intercept.

  • Police Raid Pro-Palestine Students’ Home in FBI-Led Graffiti Investigation

    In the early morning hours of November 7, more than 12 police officers showed up outside at an address in Springfield, Virginia, knocked, broke down the door, and raided the family home of two Palestinian American students at George Mason University.

    University and Fairfax County police refused to show the family the warrant. One Fairfax County detective with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force — cross-designated as a local and federal agent — was also present. The family and Mason faculty supporting them, however, believe they know what the FBI-led investigation was about: the young family members’ pro-Palestine activism.

    Two of the Palestinian American family’s daughters attend George Mason. One is an undergraduate student and the co-president of Mason’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. The other is in a master’s program at Mason and a former president of the school’s SJP chapter. 

    “These students haven’t been accused of a criminal, civil, or student conduct violation, yet they have been banned from campus.”

    The authorities told the family the raid was related to a spray-paint vandalism incident at George Mason’s campus in August — part of the widespread campus protests related to Israel’s war on Gaza. In September, the university police department put out flyers offering a $2,000 reward for information about the incident. 

    In short order, the school’s SJP chapter was suspended. Soon after, George Mason Police Chief Carl Rowan Jr. served the sisters with criminal trespass notices barring them from campus for four years — meaning that they can no longer continue their education.  

    “I’m worried for our students and I’m concerned for our schools,” said Ben Manski, the SJP chapter’s faculty adviser. “There are still no allegations and no charges that I’m aware of. Without those, we can’t have due process, we don’t know what is behind these actions, and we can’t know whether the public interest is being served or harmed.”

    Dr. Alexander Monea, an associate professor of English at George Mason, questioned the school’s disciplinary process.

    “These students haven’t been accused of a criminal, civil, or student conduct violation,” Monea said, “yet they have been banned from campus for four years, effectively expelling them from the university.”

    “An Extension of State Power”

    The severe moves against the family and the school’s SJP chapter are part of the latest wave of the crackdown against campus Palestine solidarity protests. As Israel’s war and demonstrations against it have dragged into a second year, the repression of Gaza protests continues to derail students’ education and ensnare them in disciplinary and court proceedings over activism on campus. 

    Police in Philadelphia conducted a similar raid in October, The Intercept reported, when authorities descended on the home of student leaders in the University of Pennsylvania’s pro-Palestine movement.

    George Mason spokesperson Paola Duran declined to answer questions about the raid. “The university has no comment on matters of ongoing criminal investigations,” Duran said in a statement to The Intercept. 

    Fairfax County Police Department’s public affairs office told The Intercept the department only assisted with the case and that George Mason University and the FBI were the lead investigators and directed questions to them. FBI Washington field office spokesperson Lira Gallagher said the agency could not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation and directed questions to George Mason police. The Fairfax County Attorney and George Mason police did not respond to requests for comment. 

    Police used excessive violence in the raid in response to paint on the floor, said Bassam Haddad, a member of the George Mason faculty. 

    “Universities and university administrators have become an extension of state power, and we have now seen it firsthand in this case of a violent raid into the students’ home without any material evidence whatsoever,” said Haddad, a founding director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program at George Mason and an associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government.

    “When they do things like this, it really does impact an entire community and an entire demographic at our school.”

    It was not lost on George Mason students that the crackdown seemed to target the large number of Arab and Muslim students at the school. 

    “This repression has really been built up against multiple organizations on campus, especially with SJP, but really with any pro-Palestinian leaning organizations,” said a student representative of the George Mason University Coalition for Palestine, a campus organization, who asked for anonymity to avoid retaliation. “GMU has a huge Arab and Muslim population. When they do things like this, it really does impact an entire community and an entire demographic at our school.” 

    “This honestly has just been an attack, not only on Palestinian organizers and the movement in general, but also on free speech as well.”

    SJP Suspension

    When police arrived at the household last month, they forced the family to gather in the living room while they searched the house, according to two people familiar with the matter. Some family members were eventually released to attend work, but the rest remained while police conducted their six-hour search.

    Police seized electronics from the residence, including phones and laptops, but made no arrests. At one point, police found antique firearms legally registered to the family’s son, a Mason alum and volunteer deputy chief firefighter. 

    Following the raid, authorities brought charges against the son related to the firearms. He litigated the charges and a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge dismissed them two weeks later. 

    “As a faculty senator, my colleagues asked me to raise a question to President Gregory Washington about the students’ family home being raided during a faculty senate meeting,” said Monea, the English professor. “He declined to share any information with the faculty senate at that time.”

    Mason administrators sent an email to the SJP president the day after the raid announcing that the SJP chapter had been placed under an interim suspension. Since the daughter who currently leads SJP had her computer seized, however, she did not see the email until the following week. 

    No other SJP members nor Manski, the group’s faculty adviser, were made aware of the suspension until later last month. They finally found out when SJP members were told that a scheduled panel with the school chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had been canceled due to the suspension. 

    The raid is part of the school’s increasing hostility toward activism against the war in Gaza, said Haddad, the faculty member supporting student activists. George Mason’s Board of Visitors — the school’s governing body — includes two appointments by Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin who currently work at the Heritage Foundation, which has called on the FBI to investigate campus protests against the war on Gaza. 

    “Have we become like the Soviet Union that we have been supposedly criticizing for decades, and now we continue to use as an example of overstretched power, corrupt power, and repressive and tyrannical power?” Haddad said. “Is this what we have become?”

    The post Police Raid Pro-Palestine Students’ Home in FBI-Led Graffiti Investigation appeared first on The Intercept.

    This post was originally published on The Intercept.

  • Vanuatu’s landmark case at ICJ seeks to hold polluting nations responsible for climate change

    RNZ Pacific

    Vanuatu’s special envoy to climate change says their case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is based on the argument that those harming the climate are breaking international law.

    The case seeks an advisory opinion from the court on the legal responsibilities of countries in relation to climate change, and dozens of countries are making oral submissions.

    Hearings started in The Hague with Vanuatu — the Pacific island nation that initiated the effort to obtain a legal opinion — yesterday.

    Vanuatu’s Special Envoy for Climate Change and Environment  Ralph Regenvanu told RNZ Morning Report they are not just talking about countries breaking climate law.

    He outlined their argument as: “This conduct — to do emissions which cause harm to the climate system, which harms other countries — is in fact a breach of international law, is unlawful, and the countries who do that should face legal consequences.”

    He said they were wanting a line in the sand, even though any ruling from the court will be non-binding.

    “We’re hoping for a new benchmark in international law which basically says if you pollute with cumulative global greenhouse gas emissions, you cause climate change, then you are in breach of international law,” he said.

    “I think it will help clarify, for us, the UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) process negotiations for example.”

    Regenvanu said COP29 in Baku was frustrating, with high-emitting states still doing fossil fuel production and the development of new oil and coal fields.

    He said a ruling from the ICJ, though non-binding, will clearly say that “international law says you cannot do this”.

    “So at least we’ll have something, sort of a line in the sand.”

    Oral submissions to the court are expected to take two weeks.

    Another Pacific climate change activist says at the moment there are no consequences for countries failing to meet their climate goals.

    Pacific Community (SPC) director of climate change Coral Pasisi said a strong legal opinion from the ICJ might be able to hold polluting countries accountable for failing to reach their targets.

    The court will decide on two questions:

    • What are the obligations of states under international law to protect the climate and environment from greenhouse gas emissions?
    • What are the legal consequences for states that have caused significant harm to the climate and environment?

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

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Three Teachers Tried to Give Palestinian Students a Safe Haven — and It Cost Them Their Jobs

    Mohammed, a middle school student in Philadelphia, puts on his “Free Gaza” bracelet as routinely as he brushes his teeth. He often wears a keffiyeh around his shoulders, despite, he said, being told at school to take it off.

    “He’s so sure about who he is and what he wants to represent, he doesn’t care,” said Mariam, his mother.

    Like many young Palestinian students across the country, Mohammed, who like his mother asked to use a pseudonym for fear of reprisals, has grown more political over the last year. His grandmother lives in the West Bank, and two of his cousins were killed by the Israeli military, part of the civilian death toll of Israel’s war on Gaza.

    In November 2023, Mohammed’s English teacher at Philadelphia’s Baldi Middle School, Caroline Yang, and two other seventh grade teachers, Emily Antrilli and Jordan Kardasz, sensed Mohammed and other Muslim and Palestinian students needed a safe place to express themselves. Yang opened her classroom after school. The war was around a month old, and emotions were running high on all sides.

    “They don’t want us to be loud. They don’t want us to be anything.”

    The students decided to make posters. One listed names of Palestinian children killed by Israeli soldiers. Another showed a dove between Israeli and Palestinian flags. Some of the posters were adorned with slogans like “End apartheid,” “This is not war, this is genocide,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Some of the posters contained red handprints; other handprints showed the red, white, green, and black of the Palestinian flag.

    The teachers put up the signs, along with a Palestinian flag, in the school’s commons on November 17, 2023. The new display would accompany the flags of over 30 other nations, including Israel’s. Within an hour, before classes began, the school removed them, according to the teachers and a principal’s report obtained by The Intercept.

    Soon, the posters would become the flashpoint in allegations and recriminations that included accusations of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim bias, as well as antisemitism. By the time the dust settled with the end of the school year last summer, the fallout had hit students and teachers alike. Some parents decided to pull students from the school. The three teachers had all left their jobs — and decided to file a federal civil rights complaint.

    “Silencing. Erasure,” said Mariam, Mohammed’s mother, who was considering pulling both children from Baldi but ultimately kept them enrolled. “They don’t want us to be loud. They don’t want us to be anything.”

    Posters made by students at Baldi Middle School, as shown in photographs from an Unsatisfactory Incident form filed about one of the teachers, Caroline Yang. Photos: Philadelphia School District

    Strife in Schools

    Across the country, students and educators who have advocated for Palestinians have faced censorship and professional repercussions. The Council on American Islamic Relations, the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, is suing a Maryland school district for allegedly placing three teachers on administrative leave for supporting Palestinian rights. Last October, two Minnesota public high school students were suspended for chanting “from the river to the sea.”

    In Philadelphia schools, Israel’s war on Gaza had already sparked a furor. Protests erupted after a student podcast was censored by the district, and ad hoc groups have formed to make demands about Palestinian rights from the school system. The district has since suspended the teacher who assigned the censored project and who faced allegations of bias against supporters of Israel. District parents have since petitioned for her reinstatement and questioned the district’s motives.

    As for Yang, Antrilli, and Kardasz, the teachers at Baldi, school district communications officer Christina Clark said Philadelphia schools seek to create inclusive learning environments in the full knowledge that their actions will shape students’ lives, but would not comment on personnel matters. Baldi’s principal, Bianca Gillis, did not respond to The Intercept’s multiple requests for comment. In a report summarizing multiple disciplinary hearings, Gillis wrote that the posters and flag caused staff pain and “had a negative and profound impact on Israeli and non Israeli staff.”

    “I would not be able to sit right with myself if, as a teacher, I didn’t do anything while a genocide is happening.”

    “We encourage all of us, staff, community members, and stakeholders of all kinds, to be the role models they deserve,” Clark wrote in a statement to The Intercept. She said the district has held two student forums to allow dialogue between the communities involved. The district has also partnered with the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education for workshops with district and school leaders “to increase understanding of antisemitism and Islamophobia.”

    For the teachers, however, facilitating the posters was more than just a nod to inclusivity.

    “With that many Palestinian students in our school,” Yang said, “I would not be able to sit right with myself if, as a teacher, I didn’t do anything while a genocide is happening.”

    The Backlash

    A month after the posters and flag were put up and taken down, the principal recommended that the district suspend the teachers without pay for five days and transfer them to different schools. The subsequent investigation, concluded in April, confirmed the disciplinary measures, though by the time the process was over, the recommendation for Kardasz’s transfer had been rescinded.

    In May, with a month left in the school year, district officials ordered the teachers to stop teaching and work from home. Before the suspensions could be imposed, all three teachers resigned. None of them felt that they could be good teachers under the circumstances.

    The exterior of Baldi Middle School in the Bustleton neighborhood in Philadelphia, PA., on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. Hannah Yoon
    Jordan Kardasz , a teacher at Baldi Middle School, wears a watermelon pin in support of Palestine in Philadelphia, PA., on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. Hannah Yoon
    Top/Left: The exterior of Baldi Middle School in Philadelphia on May 8, 2024. Bottom/Right: Baldi teacher Jordan Kardasz wears a watermelon pin in support of Palestine on May 8, 2024. Photos: Hannah Yoon

    The punishments were related to allegations that the teachers disobeyed an order to stay neutral on the war in Gaza, violated an administrative directive to email suggestions on ways to support the school community to the principal, broke three district policies, and created a “hostile work environment” for other staff members, according to disciplinary reports obtained by The Intercept. Other teachers, the report said, were afraid of “continued antisemitism” at work.

    “Your actions indicate a select group of teachers exclusively, intentionally and purposefully discussing, planning and engaging students in an activity that was not discussed or approved with the administration of Baldi school and undermined efforts to address a serious and difficult issue for students and staff,” Gillis wrote in a disciplinary report.

    When they were ordered to work from home, the teachers were told not to discuss the matter with other colleagues or students.

    “My thought process was that it would start a conversation,” said Yang. “I never thought that it would lead to the backlash that it did.”

    In response, the teachers, who were all in their first year at Baldi, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging that the school discriminated against Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students, infringed on students’ First Amendment-protected speech, and disciplined the teachers for their support of Palestinian students and Palestinian human rights.

    “I want teachers who are going through something similar, who feel silenced at their schools, to know it’s not just them,” said Yang. “The district needs to protect teachers’ right to teach and talk about Palestine, not leave it up to each principal’s will.”

    The federal complaint also alleged that the school rescinded accommodations for Muslim students to make an afternoon prayer during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Mohammed and other Muslim students said they had not been allowed to carry out the time-specific prayer. Clark, the district spokesperson, told The Intercept that students can pray during school hours, but prayer should not be held during instructional time to minimize “academic interruption.”

    The civil rights complaint and students interviewed by The Intercept, including Mohammed, have also alleged that educators told them to remove their keffiyehs, the checkered Palestinian scarves. (Clark said that Baldi students “may wear keffiyehs on dress down days and during the regular school day.”)

    The Department of Education is evaluating the complaint and has not yet made a determination on whether it will open an investigation into the district, according to an attorney who helped the teachers file the complaint.

    Censoring Student Speech

    In Philadelphia schools, Arabic is the fifth-most spoken language, according to the district, with a large number of Arab students residing in northeast Philadelphia, where Mohammed lives.

    At Baldi, the school has instituted “healing circles” led by the district’s diversity, equity, and inclusion office, with students responding overwhelmingly to a school survey that they feel safe and supported, according to the report from Gillis, the Baldi principal.

    In October, however, the school’s assistant principal directed teachers to stay “neutral” on Gaza, according to the teachers. And in November 2023, during an all-staff meeting, Gillis gave a verbal directive that teachers must email her if they have suggestions for ways to support students. The teachers hung the posters and flag despite that order — followed by the response from other faculty members described in internal reports.

    Sisters stand next to each other at a park in Philadelphia, PA., on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. Hannah Yoon
    Student A at their home in Philadelphia, PA., on Sunday June 9 2024. Hannah Yoon
    Top/Left: Sisters stand next to each other at a park in Philadelphia on June 11, 2024. Bottom/Right: A student at their home in Philadelphia on June 9, 2024. Photos: Hannah Yoon

    “Staff members shared concerns of being safe in our building and that the Jewish community felt discriminated against, marginalized and hated,” says one of the disciplinary reports obtained by The Intercept. “Tears were shed in Principal Gillis’ office over the fear of continued Antisemitism.”

    The lawyer who helped the teachers file their federal complaint said the school’s actions appeared to be an attempt to punish teachers for facilitating students’ speech.

    “I think they’re trying to find a way to censor student speech without running afoul of the law,” said Noelia Rivera-Calderón, an education civil rights attorney and member of Palestine Legal Attorney Network.

    The teachers said a double standard is at work on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Philadelphia schools. They pointed to the Israeli flag in the commons and another one in Baldi’s main office, next to Italian and American flags. And neutrality is a facade, they said: In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the teachers allege the school had pro-Ukrainian student art on a hallway bulletin board.

    In May, Gillis stated that any signage, writing, or clothing that supported “’only one country’ created an unsafe environment, specifically noting that any sign of Palestine was unsafe for Jewish students,” according to the federal complaint.

    None of the other displays stirred the sort of controversy or discipline that has erupted over the Palestinian flag and posters. The OCR complaint alleges that disciplinary meetings “made clear that Baldi administration’s concerns with the posters were not procedural but due to their pro-Palestine content.”

    “The punishment is not because we hung up posters, the punishment is not because we didn’t have parents’ permission after school, they’re going to say that that’s what it is,” said Kardasz, one of the teachers. “But the punishment is the fact that these posters are pro-Palestinian, they are anti-genocide, they are anti-violence towards Palestinian people.”

    “The kids who made the posters believed in a free Palestine before they even knew who the three of us were,” Kardasz said. “They found teachers who they felt comfortable saying that to.”

    When Mohammed’s mother Mariam found out about the posters, she said she was ecstatic. She said, “Because that meant that somebody was recognizing them for who they are.”

    “Am I Ever Going to See Ms. Yang Again?”

    One Baldi student involved in making the posters told The Intercept that a school official had told the student to remove their keffiyeh, they said, because it violated the school uniform.

    In contrast, the student said being in Yang’s classroom in November and making posters instilled a sense of pride, “because I knew there were people who stood with us.”

    “I thought it was the best we could do to show our solidarity,” said the student, whose mother requested they remain anonymous. “Since you’re still a middle schooler, you can’t do much.”

    The student’s mother took her kids out of Baldi and placed them in a private school.

    “Having Ms. Yang there just made me feel at peace, like someone cares about Palestinian life,” the mother said. “And the fact that they kicked her out for doing that just made me feel like it’s just not a place I want my kids to be.”

    Antrilli, who’s lived in Philadelphia for seven years, is now teaching at a charter school across the river in Camden, New Jersey. That decision wasn’t easy.

    “I was ready to have my career with this district,” said Antrilli, who had been in her first year at Baldi. “The district will just keep going the way that it’s going, and it’s going to lose teachers like us who really want to help these kids, and these kids have to still go into these schools and feel this way every day.”

    Kardasz, for her part, is teaching at a community college in the Philadelphia suburbs. As for Yang, she isn’t sure if she will return to teaching at all.

    Sitting in his living room this past June, Mohammed posed a question to his mother: “Am I ever going to see Ms. Yang again?”

    The post Three Teachers Tried to Give Palestinian Students a Safe Haven — and It Cost Them Their Jobs appeared first on The Intercept.

    This post was originally published on The Intercept.

  • Luxon says Israeli PM would be arrested if he visits New Zealand

    Asia Pacific Report

    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has told a media conference Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he entered New Zealand

    “We support the ICC [the International Criminal Court],” Luxon said yesterday.

    “We believe in the international rules-based system, we support the ICC, and we would be obligated to do so.”

    The NZ prime minister’s comments followed the ICC announcing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 13-month war on the besieged Gaza Strip that has killed more than 44,000 people — mostly women and children.

    Netanyahu and Gallant are now fugitives from global justice after the ICC issued the arrest warrants against them.

    Although Israel — and the US — does not recognise the authority of the ICC, the highest international criminal court, and Netanyahu and Gallant will not turn themselves in, the pair’s world has got a lot smaller.

    The Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, includes 124 state parties across six continents.

    Legally bound
    Under the statute, countries that are part of the ICC are legally bound to enforce its arrest warrants, according to international human rights lawyer Jonathan Kuttab.

    “The law operates on the basis of a presumption that people will obey it. That’s how all laws are created,” Kuttab told Al Jazeera.

    “You expect everybody to respect the law. Those who don’t respect the law are themselves violating the law.”

    He added that there were early signs that countries would not ignore the court’s decision.

    Many of Israel’s allies — including several European Union countries — have committed to enforcing the arrest warrants.

    The ICC was set up in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression when member states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves. It is based in The Hague in the Netherlands.

    The case at the ICC is separate from another legal battle Israel is waging at the top UN court, the International Court of Justice, in which South Africa accuses Israel of genocide, an allegation Israeli leaders deny.

    Here is a list of the countries where Netanyahu and Gallant could be detained after the ICC’s decision.

    A total of 124 countries are state parties to the Rome Statute
    A total of 124 countries are state parties to the Rome Statute, which founded the International Criminal Court. They include 29 nations from the Americas: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Map: CC AJ Lab

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • These Tech Firms Won’t Tell Us If They Will Help Trump Deport Immigrants

    President-elect Donald Trump vows to start his second term with the immediate mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. Like everything else, deportations of the 21st century are an increasingly data-centric undertaking, tapping vast pools of personal information sold by a litany of companies. The Intercept asked more than three dozen companies in the data business if they’ll help; only four were willing to comment.

    While details of the plan have varied, Trump’s intention is clear. He plans to use federal immigration police and perhaps the military to force millions of immigrants out of the United States in an operation the president-elect says has “no price tag.” While the country braces for the possibility of immigrants forcibly rounded up and deported, much of the undertaking will likely remain invisible — the domain of software analysis and database searches of unregulated personal data.

    Related

    LexisNexis Is Selling Your Personal Data to ICE So It Can Try to Predict Crimes

    Regardless of immigration status, it is nearly impossible to exist today without creating a trail of records. DMV visits, electricity bills, cellphone subscriptions, bankruptcy proceedings, credit history, and other staples of modern life all wind up ingested and repackaged for sale by data companies. Information like this has helped inform deportation proceedings under both Republican and Democratic leadership.

    In 2021, The Intercept reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement paid LexisNexis nearly $17 million to access its database of personal information, which the company says includes 10,000 different data points spanning hundreds of millions of people in the United States. Within just seven months, according to documents reviewed by The Intercept, ICE had searched this database over 1.2 million times.

    Similar uses of unregulated private data have become commonplace for immigration and border authorities. In 2020, Protocol and the Wall Street Journal reported on the extensive use of location and other personal data gleaned from smartphone apps by companies like Gravy Analytics and Venntel and resold to ICE and Customs and Border Protection. ICE “has used the data to help identify immigrants who were later arrested,” according to sources who spoke to the Journal.

    Analytic software sold by Palantir has been instrumental to ICE’s deportation efforts; reporting by The Intercept showed the company’s tools were used in a 2017 operation targeting unaccompanied minors and their families.

    Last year, Motherboard reported CBP had purchased access to Babel Street software that “lets a user input a piece of information about a target—their name, email address, or telephone number—and receive a bevy of data in return,” including “social media posts, linked IP address, employment history, and unique advertising identifiers associated with their mobile phone.”

    To see whether corporate America will support Trump’s promised anti-immigrant operation, The Intercept reached out to data and technology companies that hold immense quantities of personal information or sell analytic software useful to an agency like ICE. The list includes obscure data brokers that glean intimate personal details from advertising streams, mainstream cellular phone providers, household-name social networks, predictive policing firms, and more.

    The list is by no means exhaustive. Private firms that quietly collect and sell personal data that could be of use to immigration authorities are innumerable and ever-growing. Some of these companies, like Meta, may not directly sell personal records to third-party customers in the manner of LexisNexis but could be asked to aid in immigration enforcement if presented with a legal request. At times, social media companies have opted to fight such requests they consider overly broad or invasive.

    In 2016, as Trump prepared to begin his first term, The Intercept asked nine major tech firms whether they would help build a nationwide “Muslim registry,” as he had pledged during his campaign. Initially, only one — Twitter — even responded (the answer was no). Eventually, Facebook (as Meta was then known), Apple, Microsoft, and Google stated on the record that they too would not help build a computerized list of Muslims. The country now faces the prospect of another nationally polarizing MAGA campaign pledge, again with horrific civil liberties implications, and again requiring the aid or at least cooperation of one or many technology firms.

    As in 2016, The Intercept posed the same question to each company, and requested a yes or no response: Would your company provide the Trump administration with data or other technical services to help facilitate mass deportation operations, either voluntarily, in response to a legal request, or via a paid contract?

    This is how they responded.

    CompanyIndustryComment
    AirsageLocation data brokerNo response
    Anomaly SixGeolocational surveillanceNo response
    AppleConsumer technologyNo response
    ApprissData brokerNo response
    AT&TTelecomNo response
    AcxiomData brokerNo response
    Babel StreetGeolocational surveillanceNo response
    Booz AllenGovernment technology contractorNo response
    ClearviewFacial recognitionNo response
    ComplementicsData brokerNo response
    CoreLogicData brokerNo response
    DataminrSocial media surveillanceNo response
    Digital EnvoyData brokerNo response
    EquifaxCredit agency/data brokerNo response
    ExperianCredit agency/data brokerNo response
    Flock SafetySurveillance“As I’m sure you’re aware, our mission is to eliminate crime, and build a safer future. However, we don’t create the laws. We operate in CA, a sanctuary state, and our customers follow the enforcement rules of the state. In contrast, we also operate in TX, which is not a sanctuary state, and our customers follow the enforcement rules of the state. At the end of the day, we support the Constitution and the democratically-elected governing bodies having the right to enact laws at the will of the people.”

    When asked again if Flock would engage in a contract pertaining to mass deportations, spokesperson Josh Thomas replied, “We don’t entertain hypotheticals.”
    Fog Data ScienceGeolocational surveillanceNo response
    GoogleInternet/consumer technologyNo response
    Gravy AnalyticsLocation data brokerNo response
    IBMEnterprise/consumer technologyNo response
    InnovisCredit agency/data brokerNo response
    InrixLocation data brokerNo response
    LexisNexisData broker“LexisNexis Risk Solutions provides tools that support the lawful protection of society and the enforcement of the rule of law. Our tools are designed to be used in compliance with all applicable laws and do not single out individuals based on immigration status. We are committed to ensuring that our solutions are used responsibly and ethically, in alignment with established legal standards to promote safety and security within a democracy.”

    When asked if this answer constituted a hypothetical “yes,” LexisNexis Risk Solutions spokesperson Jennifer Richman did not comment further.
    MetaSocial mediaMeta acknowledged receipt of The Intercept’s inquiry but did not provide a response.
    MicrosoftInternet/enterprise/ consumer technologyNo response
    Near/AziraLocation data broker“No. Azira has been expressly built to help business leaders make smart business decisions based on consumer behavior data. The company’s solutions are not designed nor intended for use in law enforcement. Based on Azira’s policies and practices around personal data protection as well as clear restrictions around sensitive locations and applicable privacy regulations, Azira data is not lawfully permitted to be utilized in this scenario.”
    OracleEnterprise technologyNo response
    OutlogicLocation data brokerNo response
    PalantirData analytics“We don’t have a comment.”
    PeregrinePredictive policingNo response
    SafegraphLocation data brokerNo response
    T-MobileTelecomNo response
    Thomson Reuters ClearData broker“Our investigative solutions do not contain data about a person’s immigration or employment eligibility status. They are not designed for use for mass illegal immigration inquiries or for deporting non-criminal undocumented persons and non-citizens. Various agencies within DHS engage Thomson Reuters to support their investigations, such as to address child exploitation, human trafficking, narcotics smuggling, national security and public safety cases, organized crime, and transnational gang activity.”

    When asked if, even though the company’s products are not designed for “mass illegal immigration inquiries,” said services would ever be allowed for such a use, company spokesperson Samina Ansari said, “We don’t comment on speculation.”
    TransUnionCredit agency/data brokerNo response
    VenntelLocation data brokerNo response
    VerasetLocation data brokerNo response
    VeriskData brokerNo response
    VerizonTelecomNo response
    XSocial mediaNo response

    The post These Tech Firms Won’t Tell Us If They Will Help Trump Deport Immigrants appeared first on The Intercept.

    This post was originally published on The Intercept.

  • There are TWO trials of Palestine Action activists this week that need YOUR support

    In Manchester, two Palestine Action trials take place this week for defendants who have plead ‘not guilty’ for their actions at the sites of Israel’s arms trade and their facilitators. They appear in court to state that Israel’s largest arms firm, Elbit Systems, is guilty: those resisting genocide are not.

    Palestine Action: in the dock for saving lives

    On Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 December, one Palestine Action activist will stand trial in Manchester Magistrates Court for a 2023 action in which they occupied the overhang of the Deansgate offices of Fisher German.

    Fisher German were, at the time, landlords for the Elbit’s Staffordshire drone engine factory, UAV Engines – known to export arms components to Israel. Fisher German have since publicly cut ties with UAV Engines and Elbit after the months-long campaign of disruption.

    As part of an ongoing campaign against those complicit in Elbit’s business-of-bloodshed, Palestine Action has targeted Fisher German dozens of times.

    The real estate company was first targeted back in 2021 – with an occupation of the roof of their Birmingham offices (Vine Property Management in Harborne) which also saw the site covered in paint. Three activists were eventually found not guilty in court of the resulting charges.

    These same offices were then hit with five covert actions over 2022, with activists breaking windows and dousing the property in red paint, marking it with a symbol of the blood shed by the company’s Israeli business partners:

    Palestine Action

    Fisher German temporarily abandoned the Birmingham premises in August 2022.

    Similar actions took place at Fisher German offices across the country throughout the two year campaign. Most recently in 2023, a single activist occupied the roof of the entrance to Fisher German’s Manchester offices, which had also been occupied by a coalition of trade unionists, who also demanded that Fisher German cut ties with Israel’s largest arms company:

    It is this activist which is facing trial this week.

    ‘The accuser, not the accused’

    Then, from Wednesday 4 to Friday 6 December, that same activist and one other will appear in Minshull Street Crown Court charged with criminal damage and aggravated trespass in relation to an action at the Elbit Systems ‘Ferranti’ factory in Oldham, Greater Manchester in February 2021.

    As the Canary reported at the time, protesters from Palestine Action and Extinction Rebellion, armed with banners and red paint, said their early-morning raid on the Israeli-owned Elbit Ferranti factory in Oldham, Greater Manchester, is because they “will not accept an economy based on devastation, occupation and war”:

    After relentless direct action at the site, the Elbit Ferranti factory – which formerly produced imaging technology for Israel’s drones – has been shut down for good since 2022.

    The two activists facing trial at Minshull Street have had all defences ruled out by the judge – meaning that they will not be permitted to speak on Palestine, Elbit Systems, the genocide in Gaza, or any of the substantive reasons why their action proved necessary.

    Regardless, Palestine Action said in a statement that:

    they appear in the court as the accuser, not the accused, in the knowledge that Elbit System’s criminal enterprise will not last in Britain.

    Featured image and additional images via Palestine Action

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Wenda calls for West Papuan unity in the face of Jakarta’s renewed ‘colonial grip’

    Asia Pacific Report

    An exiled West Papuan leader has called for unity among his people in the face of a renewed “colonial grip” of Indonesia’s new president.

    President Prabowo Subianto, who took office last month, “is a deep concern for all West Papuans”, said Benny Wenda of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

    Speaking at the Oxford Green Fair yesterday — Morning Star flag-raising day — ULMWP’s interim president said Prabowo had already “sent thousands of additional troops to West Papua” and restarted the illegal settlement programme that had marginalised Papuans and made them a minority in their own land.

    “He is continuing to destroy our land to create the biggest deforestation project in the history of the world. This network of sugarcane and rice plantations is as big as Wales.

    “But we cannot panic. The threat from [President] Prabowo shows that unity and direction is more important than ever.

    Indonesia doesn’t fear a divided movement. They do fear the ULMWP, because they know we are the most serious and direct challenge to their colonial grip.”

    Here is the text of the speech that Wenda gave while opening the Oxford Green Fair at Oxford Town Hall:

    Wenda’s speech
    December 1st is the day the West Papuan nation was born.

    On this day 63 years ago, the New Guinea Council raised the Morning Star across West Papua for the first time.

    We sang our national anthem and announced our Parliament, in a ceremony recognised by Australia, the UK, France, and the Netherlands, our former coloniser. But our new state was quickly stolen from us by Indonesian colonialism.

    ULMWP's Benny Wenda speaking on West Papua while opening the Oxford Green Fair
    ULMWP’s Benny Wenda speaking on West Papua while opening the Oxford Green Fair on flag-raising day in the United Kingdom. Image: ULMWP

    This day is important to all West Papuans. While we remember all those we have lost in the struggle, we also celebrate our continued resistance to Indonesian colonialism.

    On this day in 2020, we announced the formation of the Provisional Government of West Papua. Since then, we have built up our strength on the ground. We now have a constitution, a cabinet, a Green State Vision, and seven executives representing the seven customary regions of West Papua.

    Most importantly, we have a people’s mandate. The 2023 ULMWP Congress was first ever democratic election in the history. Over 5000 West Papuans gathered in Jayapura to choose their leaders and take ownership of their movement. This was a huge sacrifice for those on the ground. But it was necessary to show that we are implementing democracy before we have achieved independence.

    The outcome of this historic event was the clarification and confirmation of our roadmap by the people. Our three agendas have been endorsed by Congress: full membership of the MSG [Melanesian Spearhead Group], a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visit to West Papua, and a resolution at the UN General Assembly. Through our Congress, we place the West Papuan struggle directly in the hands of the people. Whenever our moment comes, the ULMWP will be ready to seize it.

    Differing views
    I want to remind the world that internal division is an inevitable part of any revolution. No national struggle has avoided it. In any democratic country or movement, there will be differing views and approaches.

    But the ULMWP and our constitution is the only way to achieve our goal of liberation. We are demonstrating to Indonesia that we are not separatists, bending this way and that way: we are a government-in-waiting representing the unified will of our people. Through the provisional government we are reclaiming our sovereignty. And as a government, we are ready to engage with the world. We are ready to engage with Indonesia as full members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, and we believe we will achieve this crucial goal in 2024.

    The importance of unity is also reflected in the ULMWP’s approach to West Papuan history. As enshrined in our constitution, the ULMWP recognises all previous declarations as legitimate and historic moments in our struggle. This does not just include 1961, but also the OPM Independence Declaration 1971, the 14-star declaration of West Melanesia in 1988, the Papuan People’s Congress in 2000, and the Third West Papuan Congress in 2011.

    All these announcements represent an absolute rejection of Indonesian colonialism. The spirit of Merdeka is in all of them.

    The new Indonesian President, Prabowo Subianto, is a deep concern for all West Papuans. He has already sent thousands of additional troops to West Papua and restarted the illegal settlement programme that has marginalised us and made us a minority in our own land. He is continuing to destroy our land to create the biggest deforestation project in the history of the world. This network of sugarcane and rice plantations is as big as Wales.

    But we cannot panic. The threat from Prabowo shows that unity and direction is more important than ever. Indonesia doesn’t fear a divided movement. They do fear the ULMWP, because they know we are the most serious and direct challenge to their colonial grip.

    I therefore call on all West Papuans, whether in the cities, the bush, the refugee camps or in exile, to unite behind the ULMWP Provisional Government. We work towards this agenda at every opportunity. We continue to pressure on United Nations and the international community to review the fraudulent ‘Act of No Choice’, and to uphold my people’s legal and moral right to choose our own destiny.

    I also call on all our solidarity groups to respect our Congress and our people’s mandate. The democratic right of the people of West Papua needs to be acknowledged.

    What does amnesty mean?
    Prabowo has also mentioned an amnesty for West Papuan political prisoners. What does this amnesty mean? Does amnesty mean I can return to West Papua and lead the struggle from inside? All West Papuans support independence; all West Papuans want to raise the Morning Star; all West Papuans want to be free from colonial rule.

    But pro-independence actions of any kind are illegal in West Papua. If we raise our flag or talk about self-determination, we are beaten, arrested or jailed. The whole world saw what happened to Defianus Kogoya in April. He was tortured, stabbed, and kicked in a barrel full of bloody water. If the offer of amnesty is real, it must involve releasing all West Papuan political prisoners. It must involve allowing us to peacefully struggle for our freedom without the threat of imprisonment.

    Despite Prabowo’s election, this has been a year of progress for our struggle. The Pacific Islands Forum reaffirmed their call for a UN Human Rights Visit to West Papua. This is not just our demand – more than 100 nations have now insisted on this important visit. We have built vital new links across the world, including through our ULMWP delegation at the UN General Assembly.

    Through the creation of the West Papua People’s Liberation Front (GR-PWP), our struggle on the ground has reached new heights. Thank you and congratulations to the GR-PWP Administration for your work.

    Thank you also to the KNPB and the Alliance of Papuan Students, you are vital elements in our fight for self-determination and are acknowledged in our Congress resolutions. You carry the spirit of Merdeka with you.

    I invite all solidarity organisations, including Indonesian solidarity, around the world to preserve our unity by respecting our constitution and Congress. To Indonesian settlers living in our ancestral land, please respect our struggle for self-determination. I also ask that all our military wings unite under the constitution and respect the democratic Congress resolutions.

    I invite all West Papuans – living in the bush, in exile, in refugee camps, in the cities or villages – to unite behind your constitution. We are stronger together.

    Thank you to Vanuatu
    A special thank you to Vanuatu government and people, who are our most consistent and strongest supporters. Thank you to Fiji, Kanaky, PNG, Solomon Islands, and to Pacific Islands Forum and MSG for reaffirming your support for a UN visit. Thank you to the International Lawyers for West Papua and the International Parliamentarians for West Papua.

    I hope you will continue to support the West Papuan struggle for self-determination. This is a moral obligation for all Pacific people. Thank you to all religious leaders, and particularly the Pacific Council of Churches and the West Papua Council of Churches, for your consistent support and prayers.

    Thank you to all the solidarity groups in the Pacific who are tirelessly supporting the campaign, and in Europe, Australia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

    I also give thanks to the West Papua Legislative Council, Buchtar Tabuni and Bazoka Logo, to the Judicative Council and to Prime Minister Edison Waromi. Your work to build our capacity on the ground is incredible and essential to all our achievements. You have pushed forwards all our recent milestones, our Congress, our constitution, government, cabinet, and vision.

    Together, we are proving to the world and to Indonesia that we are ready to govern our own affairs.

    To the people of West Papua, stay strong and determined. Independence is coming. One day soon we will walk our mountains and rivers without fear of Indonesian soldiers. The Morning Star will fly freely alongside other independent countries of the Pacific.

    Until then, stay focused and have courage. The struggle is long but we will win. Your ancestors are with you.

  • The world’s biggest climate case begins in The Hague

    The world’s biggest climate case begins at The Hague in the Netherlands today. Oral arguments will be heard by the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, which will consider what obligations United Nations member states have under international law to protect the planet from greenhouse gas emissions for future generations.

    The case begins less than two weeks after negotiations collapsed at the United Nations’ annual international climate conference, COP29, in Azerbaijan, resulting in a climate finance agreement that’s been widely criticized as inadequate. It also marks the end of the hottest year on record, punctuated by numerous extreme weather events including deadly floods and hurricanes driven by climate change.

    “The stakes are not high, they’re devastatingly high,” said Julian Aguon, an attorney representing Vanuatu, the Pacific country leading the case. “It’s an opportunity to finally bring the promise of climate justice closer within reach.” 

    The ICJ was established after World War II as a judicial mechanism for mitigating conflicts between United Nations member states and continues to arbitrate disputes issuing advisory opinions interpreting and clarifying international law. Such opinions are non-binding, but are still meaningful because they clarify binding law, such as the meaning of international treaties including the 2015 Paris Agreement that sought to cap the severity of global warming. In 1994, a judgment from the court on war between Libya and Chad over disputed territory prompted Libya to withdraw from Chad, and helped lead to a peace agreement. 

    But the court’s rulings are not always effective. Earlier this year, the ICJ ruled that Israel should end its occupation of the Palestinian territories immediately and make reparations to affected peoples. The occupation has continued, illustrating the limits of the ICJ’s power. In addition, big polluters like China and the U.S. have rejected the court’s compulsory jurisdiction, and so a ruling may apply to them more narrowly.

    The court will now decide what if any legal consequences such countries should face for contributing to climate change, both from what they’ve done and what they haven’t done. That could include affirming that big polluters have a legal obligation to pay reparations.

    The campaign to bring the case to the ICJ was initiated in 2019 by 27 law students at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. It has now grown to be the largest case in the 77-year history of the ICJ and will consist of oral arguments from 98 countries and 12 international nongovernmental organizations.

    In order to get on the ICJ’s docket, the students who began the case first had to convince Vanuatu’s government to back their campaign for an advisory opinion, then get other Pacific states on board by bringing the issue before the Pacific Forum, the premier diplomatic body in the Oceanic region. 

    The pandemic in 2020 interrupted their campaign, preventing the youth from traveling to United Nations’ climate conferences to advocate for their agenda. But the group moved online and managed to drum up support from Pacific island states, Caribbean nations, countries in Africa and Latin America, and dozens more. Slowly the group built enough diplomatic support to get on the agenda at the U.N. General Assembly, and later, built such a widespread backing that the Assembly approved the resolution calling for an ICJ advisory opinion on climate change by consensus.

    “How the law is shaped from here on depends on this moment, depends on the ICJ,” said Vidal Prashad, one of the student campaigners based in Fiji. “We have the opportunity to leave behind a more capable international legal regime than we inherited.” 

    Ahead of this week’s oral arguments, young people have continued their campaigning, helping to collect witness testimonies from Indigenous Pacific peoples on how they’re currently being harmed by rising seas and climate change-fueled extreme weather events. They are also helping the governments who plan to present at the ICJ to craft their arguments and ensure they put forth the strongest, most progressive case. Prashad flew from Fiji to The Hague, where the youth’s five-year grassroots effort is finally reaching its conclusion. 

    Joie Chowdhury, a senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law, which has provided legal support for the case, said a favorable ruling from ICJ would help climate activists hold polluting countries accountable. Youth activists could cite the ruling in future climate litigation against their governments. Politicians could use the ICJ’s opinion to push for sanctions against countries who fail to comply, and diplomats could point to the document as a minimum standard in next year’s global climate change negotiations. “Failure to comply with legal consequences in the face of such devastating climate harm, that’s not just being in contravention of the law, it’s unconscionable,” Chowdhury said. 

    She noted that a lot of countries talk big about climate action, but this week’s oral arguments could illuminate what big polluters really think about the idea of being legally liable for their greenhouse gas emissions, something that could provide more clarity on what the barriers to climate action are. And even if it’s not in large countries’ interest to put up money for climate reparations, it is in their interest to appear to respect the treaties that they’ve already agreed to, which the ICJ ruling could help clarify. 

    “Climate justice is about accountability,” Chowdhury said. “Climate harm has been done, there was knowledge about this, and there must be redress for frontline communities. And for this court to really clarify that there is a right to remedy and reparation for climate harm, that is really important.”

    “It will have moral weight,” said Arnold Kiel Loughman, the attorney general of Vanuatu, who plans to address the court. “We are doing this for the benefit of the global community.”

    Climate change witness testimonials from across the Pacific underscore the cost of doing nothing. One village in Papua New Guinea has been forced to move four times due to sea level rise, and is in the midst of its fifth and final relocation. “I say final, because there are simply no more inland (places) to go,” Aguon said. 

    Such climate impacts have been existential for Indigenous Pacific peoples whose cultures are intimately connected to the food they grow, the waters they fish, and the lands they call home.

    “We have so much to lose,” said Prashad from the University of the South Pacific. “Whole countries are standing to lose their whole identities.”

    This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The world’s biggest climate case begins in The Hague on Dec 2, 2024.

    This post was originally published on Grist.

  • ICJ to begin hearings in landmark Pacific climate change case started by students

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Doug Dingwall of ABC Pacific

    A landmark case that began in a Pacific classroom and could change the course of future climate talks is about to be heard in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

    The court will begin hearings involving a record number of countries in The Hague, in the Netherlands, today.

    Its 15 judges have been asked, for the first time, to give an opinion about the obligations of nations to prevent climate change — and the consequences for them if they fail.

    The court’s findings could bolster the cases of nations taking legal action against big polluters failing to reduce emissions, experts say.

    They could also strengthen the hand of Pacific Island nations in future climate change negotiations like COP.

    Vanuatu, one of the world’s most natural disaster-prone nations, is leading the charge in the international court.

    The road to the ICJ — nicknamed the “World Court” — started five years ago when a group of University of the South Pacific law students studying in Vanuatu began discussing how they could help bring about climate action.

    “This case is really another example of Pacific Island countries being global leaders on the climate crisis,” Dr Wesley Morgan, a research associate with UNSW’s Institute for Climate Risk and Response, said.

    “It’s an amazing David and Goliath moment.”

    The UN's top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), is housed in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands.
    Environmental advocates and lawyers from around the world will come to the International Court of Justice for the court case. Image: CC BY-SA 4.0/ Velvet

    Meanwhile, experts say the Pacific will be watching Australia’s testimony today closely.

    So what is the court case about exactly, and how did it get to this point?

    From classroom to World Court
    Cynthia Houniuhi, from Solomon Islands, remembers clearly the class discussion where it all began.

    Students at the University of the South Pacific’s campus in Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, turned their minds to the biggest issue faced by their home countries.

    While their communities were dealing with sea level rise and intense cyclones, there was an apparent international “deadlock” on climate change action, Houniuhi said.

    And each new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change painted a bleak picture of their futures.

    “These things are real to us,” Hounhiuhi said. “And we cannot accept that . . .  fate in the IPCC report.

    “[We’re] not accepting that there’s nothing we can do.”

    Their lecturer tasked them with finding a legal avenue for action. He challenged them to be ambitious. And he told them to take it out of their classroom to their national leaders.

    So the students settled on an idea: Ask the World Court to issue an advisory opinion on the obligations of states to protect the climate against greenhouse gas emissions.

    “That’s what resonated to us,” Houniuhi, now president of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, said.

    Ngadeli village in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands, is threatened by sea level rise.
    Students were motivated to take action after seeing how sea level rise had affected communities across the Pacific. Image: Britt Basel/RNZ Pacific

    They sent out letters to Pacific Island governments asking for support and Vanuatu’s then-Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu agreed to meet with the students.

    Vanuatu took up the cause and built a coalition of countries pushing the UN General Assembly to send the matter to its main judicial body, the International Court of Justice, for an advisory opinion.

    In March last year, they succeeded when the UN nations unanimously adopted the resolution to refer the case — a historic first for the UN General Assembly.

    World leaders, activists and other influential voices have gathered at UNHQ for the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
    Speakers at the UN General Assembly hailed the decision to send the case to the International Court of Justice as a milestone in a decades-long struggle for climate justice. Image: X/@UN

    It was a decision celebrated with a parade on the streets of Port Vila.

    Australian National University professor in international law Dr Donald Rothwell said Pacific nations had already overcome their biggest challenge in building enough support for the case to be heard.

    “From the perspective of Vanuatu and the small island and other states who brought these proceedings, this is quite a momentous occasion, if only because these states rarely have appeared before the International Court of Justice,” he said.

    “This is the first occasion where they’ve really had the ability to raise these issues in the World Court, and that in itself will attract an enormous amount of global attention and raise awareness.”

    Dr Sue Farran, a professor of comparative law at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, said getting the case before the ICJ was also part of achieving climate justice.

    “It’s recognition that certain peoples have suffered more than others as a result of climate change,” she said.

    “And justice means addressing wrongs where people have been harmed.”

    A game changer on climate?
    Nearly 100 countries will speak over two weeks of hearings — an unprecedented number, Professor Rothwell said.

    Each has only a short, 30-minute slot to make their argument.

    The court will decide on two questions: What are the obligations of states under international law to protect the climate and environment from greenhouse gas emissions?

    And, what are the legal consequences for states that have caused significant harm to the climate and environment?

    Vanuatu will open the hearings with its testimony.

    Regenvanu, now Vanuatu’s special envoy on climate change, said the case was timely in light of the last COP meeting, where financial commitments from rich, polluting nations fell short of the mark for Pacific Islands that needed funding to deal with climate change.

    Ralph Regenvanu, leader of the opposition in Vanuatu.
    Vanuatu’s climate change envoy Ralph Regenvanu said the ICJ case was about climate justice. Image: Hilaire Bule/RNZ Pacific

    For a nation hit with three cyclones last year — and where natural disaster-struck schools have spent months teaching primary students in hot UNICEF tents – the stakes are high in climate negotiations.

    “We just graduated from being a least-developed country a few years ago,” Regenvanu said.

    “We don’t have the financial capacity to build back better, build back quicker, respond and recover quicker.

    “We need the resources that other countries were able to attain and become rich through fossil fuel development that caused this crisis we are now facing.

    “That’s why we’re appearing before the ICJ. We want justice in terms of allowing us to have the same capacity to respond quickly after catastrophic events.”

    He said the advisory opinion would stop unnecessary debates that bog down climate negotiations, by offering legal clarity on the obligations of states on climate change.

    Cyclone Lola damage West Ambrym, on Ambrym island in Vanuatu
    Three cyclones struck Vanuatu in 2023, including Tropical Cyclone Lola, which damaged buildings on Ambrym Island. Image: Sam Tasso/RNZ Pacific

    It will also help define controversial terms, such as “climate finance” — which developing nations argue should not include loans.

    And while the court’s advisory opinion will be non-binding, it also has the potential to influence climate change litigation around the world.

    Dr Rothwell said much would depend on how the court answered the case’s second question – on the consequences for states that failed to take climate action.

    He said an opinion that favoured small island nations, like in the Pacific Islands, would let them pursue legal action with more certainty.

    “That could possibly open up a battleground for major international litigation into the future, subject to how the [International Court of Justice] answers that question,” he said.

    Regenvanu said Vanuatu was already looking at options it could take once the court issues its advisory opinion.

    “Basically all options are on the table from litigation on one extreme, to much clearer negotiation tactics, based on what the advisory opinion says, at the forthcoming couple of COPs.”

    ‘This is hope’
    Vanuatu brought the case to the ICJ with the support of a core group of 18 countries, including New Zealand, Germany, Bangladesh and Singapore.

    Australia, which co-sponsored the UN resolution sending the case to the ICJ, will also speak at today’s hearings.

    “Many will be watching closely, but Vanuatu will be watching more closely than anyone, having led this process,” Dr Morgan said.

    A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said Australia had engaged consistently with the court proceedings, reflecting its support for the Pacific’s commitment to strengthening global climate action.

    Some countries have expressed misgivings about taking the case to the ICJ.

    The United States’ representative at the General Assembly last year argued diplomacy was a better way to address climate change.

    And over the two weeks of court hearings this month, it’s expected nations contributing most to greenhouse gases will argue for a narrow reading of their responsibilities to address climate change under international law — one that minimises their obligations.

    Other nations will argue that human rights laws and other international agreements — like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — give these nations larger obligations to prevent climate change.

    Professor Rothwell said it was hard to predict what conclusion the World Court would reach — and he expected the advisory opinion would not arrive until as late as October next year.

    “When we’re looking at 15 judges, when we’re looking at a wide range of legal treaties and conventions upon which the court is being asked to address these questions, it’s really difficult to speculate at this point,” he said.

    “We’ll very much just have to wait and see what the outcome is.”

    There’s the chance the judges will be split, or they will not issue a strong advisory opinion.

    But Regenvanu is drawing hope from a recent finding in a similar case at the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, which found countries are obliged to protect the oceans from climate change impacts.

    “It’s given us a great deal of validation that what we will get out of the ICJ will be favourable,” he said.

    For Houniuhi, the long journey from the Port Vila classroom five years ago is about to lead finally to the Peace Palace in The Hague, where the ICJ will have its hearings.

    Houniuhi said the case would let her and her fellow students have their experiences of climate change reflected at the highest level.

    But for her, the court case has another important role.

    “This is hope for our people.”

    Republished from ABC Pacific with permission and RNZ Pacific under a community partnership.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Kanak pro-independence leader Christian Téin to remain in mainland French jail

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    Pro-independence Kanak leader Christian Téin will remain in a mainland French jail for the time being, a Court of Appeal has ruled in Nouméa.

    This followed an earlier ruling on October 22 from the Court of Cassation, which is tasked to rule on possible procedural mistakes in earlier judgments.

    The Court of Cassation found some flaws in the procedure that justified the case being heard again by a Court of Appeal.

    Téin’s lawyer, Pierre Ortet, confirmed his client’s detention in a mainland prison (Mulhouse jail, north-eastern France) has been maintained as a result of the latest Court of Appeal hearing behind closed doors in Nouméa on Friday.

    But he also told local media he now intends to bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights, as well as United Nations’ human rights mechanisms — especially on the circumstances that surrounded Téin’s transfer to France on 23 June 2024 on board a specially-chartered plane four days after his arrest in Nouméa on June 19.

    Nouméa Public Prosecutor Yves Dupas told local media in an interview on Friday that in this case the next step should happen “some time in January”, when a criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation is expected to deliver another ruling.

    Reacting to recent comments made by pro-independence party Union Calédonienne, which maintains Téin is a political prisoner, Dupas said Téin and others facing similar charges “are still presumed innocent”, but “are not political prisoners, they have not been held in relation to a political motive”.

    Alleged crimes
    The alleged crimes, he said, were “crimes and delicts related to organised crime”.

    The seven charges include complicity as part of murder attempts, theft involving the use of weapons and conspiracy in view of the preparation of acts of organised crimes.

    Téin’s defence maintains it was never his client’s intention to commit such crimes.

    Christian Téin is the head of a “Field Action Coordinating Cell” (CCAT), a group created late in 2023 by the largest and oldest pro-independence party Union Calédonienne.

    From October 2023 onward, the CCAT organised marches and demonstrations that later degenerated — starting May 13 — into insurrectional riots, arson and looting, causing 13 deaths and an estimated 2.2 billion euros (NZ$3.9 billion) in material damage, mainly in the Greater Nouméa area.

    “The judicial inquiry aims at establishing every responsibility, especially at the level of ‘order givers’,” Dupas told local Radio Rythme Bleu on Friday.

    He confirmed six persons were still being detained in several jails of mainland France, including Téin.

    3 released under ‘judicial control’
    Three others have been released under judiciary control with an obligation to remain in mainland France.

    “You see, the manifestation of truth requires time. Justice requires serenity, it’s very important”, he commented.

    Late August, Téin was also chosen as president of the pro-independence umbrella FLNKS at its congress.

    The August 2024 Congress was also marked by the non-attendance of two other main pillars of the movement, UPM and PALIKA, which have since confirmed their intention to distance themselves from FLNKS.

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


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

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • 16 Just Stop Oil prisoners will have their appeals heard ALL AT ONCE in unprecedented case

    It was confirmed on Saturday 30 November that the Court of Appeal will conduct an extraordinary mass hearing of 16 Just Stop Oil political prisoners, arising from four separate cases, who received combined prison sentences of over 41 years for peaceful protest. The hearing has been listed for 29 and 30 January 2025 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

    Just Stop Oil appeal hearings are a landmark case

    The four cases, all involving actions by nonviolent civil resistance group Just Stop Oil, include the following:

    • The Whole Truth Five – Roger Hallam (5yrs), Cressida Gethin (4yrs), Louise Lancaster (4yrs), Daniel Shaw (4yrs), and Lucia Whittaker De Abreu (4yrs) received record breaking prison sentences for planning nonviolent disruption on the M25, to stop the granting of new oil and gas licences:

    Just Stop Oil Whole Truth Five

    • M25 Gantries – George Simonson (2yrs), Theresa Higginson (2yrs), Paul Bell (22 months), Gaie Delap (20 months), and Paul Sousek (20 months) participated in that same action, by climbing onto gantries over the M25.
    • Navigator Tunnellers – Larch Maxey (3yrs), Chris Bennett (18 months), Samuel Johnson (18 months), and Joe Howlett (15 months) occupied tunnels dug under the road leading to the Navigator Oil Terminal in Thurrock, Essex.
    • Sunflowers – Phoebe Plummer (2yrs) and Anna Holland (20 months) threw soup on the glass protecting Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting:

    While the actions in these cases are markedly different from one another, they are united by being nonviolent and taken in an attempt to save lives, as well as by the disproportionate sentences imposed.

    Where’s Walney?

    These came after disgraced John Woodcock (‘Lord Walney’), an oil and arms industry lobbyist falsely presented to the public as an ‘independent’ Government adviser, called for groups such as Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action to be treated as equivalent to serious organised criminals.

    Since then an unprecedented sentencing inflation has taken hold, despite Britain’s prisons crisis, with multiple peaceful protestors jailed for longer than if they had committed violent or sexual offences. The practice is at odds with Britain’s history and international practice and has been condemned by the United Nations and other international observers [7].

    The appeals against all four sets of jail sentences will be heard by a full session of the Court of Appeal, led by Lady Justice Carr (the Lady Chief Justice).

    Points of appeal will include whether a conscientious motivation should be treated as mitigation, and whether throwing soup on glass should be sentenced as an act of violence, if it caused some damage to the frame.

    The outcome will be a defining moment for the right to protest in Britain, with far reaching consequences for our basic democratic rights and freedoms.

    Just Stop Oil sentences violate basic human rights, says UN

    Lex Korte, spokesperson for the Free Political Prisoners campaign, said:

    A subset of judges have responded all too eagerly to the call from the disgraced Lord Walney, the arms and oil industry lobbyist, to jail peaceful climate campaigners for longer than if they’d committed serious crimes of sexual violence.

    This would be insane at any time, let alone in the midst of climate breakdown and Britain’s prisons crisis. It is corruption designed to shield from accountability the fossil fuel industry, which has systematically suppressed from the public the scientific evidence about the catastrophic impacts of their deadly businesses.

    As the UN has made clear, these sentences violate basic principles of human rights, democratic freedoms and international law. What’s at stake in this hearing is not just the freedom of some courageous individuals. It’s the credibility of the British legal system and the lifeblood of democracy itself.

    The demands of the Free Political Prisoners campaign are:

    • To put a stop to the role of arms and oil industry lobbyists, such as Lord Walney, in drafting laws that criminalise those who expose the violence and lies of those industries.
    • To ensure that everyone who has taken reasonable and proportionate measures to prevent mass loss of life has the opportunity to properly present that as a defence to criminal charges
    • To end the jailing of people for taking peaceful action to protect life and to uphold international law.

    A ‘chilling response to legitimate protest’

    James Skeet, spokesperson for Just Stop Oil, noted:

    We’ve passed the 1.5 degree threshold that was supposed to keep us safe, as governments continue to serve the oil and gas lobby, whilst locking up young people for trying to preserve their chance of a future. In years to come, people will question the priorities of our judiciary, and will ask ‘who were actually the real criminals’?

    Tim Lancaster, political prisoner family member, said:

    Prison is a poor solution for most problems but it is a chilling response to legitimate protest. Good people should not be imprisoned for raising the alarm about climate change. Organising and participating in peaceful protest, when Sunak broke the law by selling oil licences, should not result in lengthy prison sentence. I welcome the decision to hear these appeals together and the opportunity it provides to right this wrong and to treat these brave, principled people with kindness and respect.

    Featured image supplied

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Protesters condemn Fiji ‘complicity, silence’ over Israel’s Gaza genocide

    Asia Pacific Report

    A Fiji solidarity group for the Palestinians has accused the Rabuka-led coalition government of “complicity” in Israel’s genocide and relentless war in Gaza that has killed more than 44,000 people — mostly women and children — over the past year.

    The Fijians4Palestine have called on the Fiji government to “uphold the principles of peace, justice, and human rights that our nation cherishes”.

    “We urge our leaders to use their diplomatic channels to advocate for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, to support international efforts in providing humanitarian aid to the affected regions, and to publicly express solidarity with the Palestinian people, reflecting the sentiments of many Fijians,” the movement said in a statement  marking the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

    The group said it was “ashamed that the Fiji government continues to vote for the genocide and occupation of Palestinians”.

    It said that it expected the Fiji government to enforce arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

    The Fijians4Palestine group’s statement said:

    It has been over one year since Israel began its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

    Over the past year, Israeli attacks have killed more than 44,000 Palestinians living in Gaza, equal to 1 out of every 55 people living there.

    At least 16,756 children have been killed, the highest number of children recorded in a single year of conflict over the past two decades. More than 17,000 children have lost one or both parents.

    At least 97,303 people are injured in Gaza — equal to one in 23 people.

    According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, every day 10 children lose one or both legs, with operations and amputations conducted with little or no anaesthesia due to Israel’s ongoing siege.

    In addition to the killed and injured, more than 10,000 people are feared buried under the rubble.

    A Fiji protester with a "Your silence kills" placard
    A Fiji protester with a “Your silence kills” placard rebuking the Fiji government for its stance on Israeli’s war on Gaza. Image: FWCC

    With few tools to remove rubble and rescue those trapped beneath concrete, volunteers and civil defence workers rely on their bare hands.

    We, the #Fijians4Palestine Solidarity Network join the global voices demanding a permanent ceasefire and an end to the violence. We express our unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people.

    The Palestinian struggle is not just a regional issue; it is a testament to the resilience of a people who, despite facing impossible odds, continue to fight for their right to exist, freedom, and dignity. Their struggle resonates with all who believe in justice, equality, and the fundamental rights of every human being.

    Families torn apart
    The images of destruction, the stories of families torn apart, and the cries of children caught in the crossfire are heart-wrenching. These are not mere statistics or distant news stories; these are real people with hopes, dreams, and aspirations, much like us.

    As Fijians, we have always prided ourselves on our commitment to peace, unity, and humanity. Our rich cultural heritage and shared values teach us the importance of standing up for what is right, even when it is not popular or convenient.

    Today, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, not out of political allegiance but out of a shared belief in humanity, justice, and the inalienable human rights of every individual.

    We unequivocally condemn the State of Israel for its actions that amount to war crimes, genocide, and apartheid against the Palestinian people. The deliberate targeting of civilians, the disproportionate use of force, and the destruction of essential infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, are in clear violation of international humanitarian law.

    The intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group is evident. The continuous displacement of Palestinians, the destruction of their homes, and the systematic erasure of their history and culture are indicative of genocidal intent.

    The State of Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, characterised by racial segregation, discrimination, and domination, amount to apartheid as defined under international law.

    Oppressive regime
    The construction of settlements, the separation wall, and the system of checkpoints are manifestations of this oppressive regime. Palestinians are subjected to different laws, regulations, and treatments based on their ethnicity, clearly violating the principle of equality.

    We call upon the Fiji government to uphold the principles of peace, justice, and human rights that our nation cherishes. We urge our leaders to use their diplomatic channels to advocate for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, to support international efforts in providing humanitarian aid to the affected regions, and to publicly express solidarity with the Palestinian people, reflecting the sentiments of many Fijians.

    We are ashamed that the Fiji government continues to vote for the genocide and occupation of Palestinians. We expect our government to enforce arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

    The silence of the Fiji government is complicity, and history will not forgive their inaction.

    Our solidarity with the Palestinian people is a testament to our shared humanity. We believe in a world where diversity, is treated with dignity and respect. We dream of a future where children in Gaza can play without fear, where families can live without the shadow of war, and where the Palestinian people can finally enjoy the peace and freedom they so rightly deserve.

    There can be no peace without justice, and we stand in unity with all people and territories struggling for self-determination and freedom from occupation.

    The Pacific cannot be an Ocean of Peace without freedom and self determination in Palestine, West Papua, Kanaky and all oppressed territories.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Tjibaou’s party unveils plan for New Caledonia’s future ‘independence’

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    New Caledonia’s largest pro-independence party, the Union Calédonienne (UC), has unveiled the main outcome of its congress last weekend, including its plans for the French Pacific territory’s political future.

    Speaking at a news conference on Thursday in Nouméa, the party’s newly-elected executive bureau, now headed by Emmanuel Tjibaou, debriefed the media about the main resolutions made during its congress.

    One of the motions was specifically concerning a timeframe for New Caledonia’s road to independence.

    Tjibaou said UC now envisaged that one of the milestones on this road to sovereignty would be the signing of a “Kanaky Agreement”, at the latest on 24 September 2025 — a highly symbolic date as this was the day of France’s annexation of New Caledonia in 1853.

    ‘Kanaky Agreement’ by 24 September 2025?
    This, he said, would mark the beginning of a five-year “transition period” from “2025 to 2030” that would be concluded by New Caledonia becoming fully sovereign under a status yet to be defined.

    Several wordings have recently been advanced by stakeholders from around the political spectrum.

    Depending on the pro-independence and pro-France sympathies, these have varied from “shared sovereignty”, “independence in partnership”, “independence-association” and, more recently, from the also divided pro-France loyalists camp, an “internal federalism” (Le Rassemblement-LR party) or a “territorial federation” (Les Loyalistes).

    Charismatic pro-independence leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, Emmanuel’s father who was assassinated in 1989, was known for being an advocate of a relativist approach to the term “independence”, to which he usually preferred to adjunct the pragmatic term “inter-dependence”.

    Jean Marie Tjibaou
    Founding FLNKS leader Jean Marie Tjibaou in Kanaky New Caledonia in 1985 . . . assassinated four years later. Image: David Robie/Café Pacific

    Negotiations between all political parties and the French State are expected to begin in the next few weeks.

    The talks (between pro-independence, anti-independence parties and the French State) are scheduled in such a way that all parties manage to reach a comprehensive and inclusive political agreement no later than March 2025.

    The talks had completely stalled after the pro-indeoendence riots broke out on 13 May 2024.

    Over the past three years, following three referendums (2018, 2020, 2021, the latter being strongly challenged by the pro-independence side) on the question of independence (all yielding a majority in favour of New Caledonia remaining part of France), there had been several attempts to hold inclusive talks in order to discuss New Caledonia’s political future.

    But UC and other parties (including pro-France and pro-independence) did not manage to sit at the same table.

    Speaking to journalists, Emmanuel Tjibaou confirmed that under its new leadership, UC was now willing to return to the negotiating table.

    He said “May 13 has stopped our advances in those exchanges” but “now is the time to build the road to full sovereignty”.

    Back to the negotiating table
    In the footsteps of those expected negotiations, heavy campaigning will follow to prepare for crucial provincial elections to be held no later than November 2025.

    The five years of “transition” (2025-2030), would be used to transfer the remaining “regal” powers from France as well as putting in place “a political, financial and international” framework, accompanied by the French State, Tjibaou elaborated.

    And after the transitional period, UC’s president said a new phase of talks could start to put in place what he terms “interdependence conventions on some of the ‘regal’ — main — powers” (defence, law and order, foreign affairs, currency).

    Tjibaou said this project could resemble a sort of independence in partnership, a “shared sovereignty”, a concept that was strongly suggested early November 2024 by visiting French Senate President Gérard Larcher.

    But Tjibaou said there was a difference in the sense that those discussions on sharing would only take place once all the powers have been transferred from France.

    “You can only share sovereignty if you have obtained it first”, he told local media.

    One of the other resolutions from its congress held last weekend in the small village of Mia (Canala) was to reiterate its call to liberate Christian Téin, appointed president of the FLNKS (Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front) in absentia late August, even though he is currently imprisoned in Mulhouse (north-east of France) pending his trial.

    Allegations over May riots
    He is alleged to have been involved in the organisation of the demonstrations that degenerated into the May 13 riots, arson, looting and a deadly toll of 13 people, several hundred injured and material damage estimated at some 2.2 billion euros (NZ$3.9 billion).

    Tjibaou also said that within a currently divided pro-independence movement, he hoped that a reunification process and “clarification” would be possible with other components of FLNKS, namely the Progressist Union in Melanesia (UPM) and the Kanak Liberation Party (PALIKA).

    Since August 2024, both UPM and PALIKA have de facto withdrawn with FLNKS’s political bureau, saying they no longer recognised themselves in the way the movement had radicalised.

    In 1988, after half a decade of a quasi civil war, Jean-Marie Tjibaou signed the Matignon-Oudinot agreements with New Caledonia’s pro-France and anti-independence leader Jacques Lafleur.

    The third signatory was the French State.

    One year later, in 1989, Tjibaou was shot dead by a hard-line pro-independence militant.

    His son Emmanuel was aged 13 at the time.

    ‘Common destiny’
    In 1998, a new agreement, the Nouméa Accord, was signed, with a focus on increased autonomy, the notions of “common destiny” and a local “citizenship” and a gradual transfer of powers from France.

    After the three referendums held between 2018 and 2021, the Nouméa Accord prescribed that if there had been three referendums rejecting independence, then political stakeholders should “meet to examine the situation thus generated”.

    On Thursday, Union Calédonienne also stressed that the Nouméa Accord remained the founding document of all future political discussions.

    “We are sticking to the Nouméa Accord because it is this document that brings us to the elements of accession to sovereignty”.

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

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Gallic Stubbornness: France, Netanyahu and the ICC Arrest Warrants

    The comity of nations, at least when it comes to international humanitarian law, took a rather curious turn with the announcement by France that it would regard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s immunity as unimpeachable even before an arrest warrant approved by the International Criminal Court.  This view was expressed despite France claiming to be a strong proponent of the ICC and international law.

    On November 27, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot had mooted the point on Franceinfo radio that France, while being “very committed to international justice and will apply international law based on its obligations to cooperate with the ICC” had to still consider the limits of the Court’s own statute, which “deals with questions of immunities for certain leaders.”  Giving himself room to exit a potential legal tangle, he merely left it up to “the judicial authorities to decide”.

    The central reason for not cooperating with the ICC on this point centres on the play of Articles 27 and 98 of the Rome Statute.  The former makes it clear that, “Immunities or special procedural rules which may attach to the official capacity of a person […] shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction.”  The provisions of the latter prevent the Court from proceeding with a request for surrender or assistance requiring the requested State “to act inconsistently with its obligations under international law with respect to the State or diplomatic immunity of a person or property of a third State” unless cooperation had been obtained from that third state for a waiver of the immunity.

    A statement from France’s Foreign Minister merely served to show that the warrant’s effectualness should be gauged by whether Israel was a member of the Rome Statute, an interpretation as disingenuous as it was inaccurate.  “A state cannot be held to act in a way that is incompatible with its obligations in terms of international law with regards to immunities granted to states which are not party to the ICC.”  It followed that Netanyahu and his ministers had the necessary immunities “and must be taken into consideration should the ICC ask us to arrest them and hand them over.”

    Rather shoddy lip service to a proud legal and political tradition supposedly shared by Israel and France follows.  Both shared a “long-standing friendship”.  Both were “democracies committed to the rule of law”.  Both showed “respect for a professional and independent justice system”.  These were remarkable observations, given the provisional measures and opinions issued by the International Court of Justice about Israel’s operations in the Gaza Strip and, more broadly, the Occupied Territories.

    These include the genuine risk that genocide is taking place in Gaza (the case begun by South Africa is ongoing), the deprivation of necessities, instances of famine and starvation, and the illegal status of the settlements that involve laws and practices of dispossession and separation constituting racial discrimination and apartheid. And what are we to make of Netanyahu’s authoritarian attack on Israel’s judicial system itself, intended to give more free rein to executive power?

    The French approach waters down the effect of the warrants by effectively rejecting ICC jurisdiction over Israel’s officials and commanders, despite the court’s own finding that it had jurisdiction by virtue of Israel’s operations on Palestinian territory and the accession to the Rome Treaty by the Palestinians.  This did not impress the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its French member organisation, the Ligue des droits de l’Homme (LDH), which emphasised the importance of Article 27.  Suspicion about the effectiveness of international law, according to Nathalie Tehio, President of the LDH, “dangerously undermines it at a time when it is urgently needed.”

    Relevantly, Tehio noted that no arguments of any equivalent immunity had ever been raised regarding the ICC warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite Russia not being a party to the Rome Statute.  This revealed a “double standard” that damaged France’s reputation, “particularly in relation to the countries of the South.”

    Other countries in the European Union are also flirting with the idea that arresting Netanyahu would simply not be advisable, adopting various slippery arguments.  Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani rather missed the point in suggesting that the warrant was not feasible as the Israeli PM would “never go to a country where he can be arrested.”  (His colleague, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, disagreed.)  With this muddled reading of international justice, Tajani went on to declare that arresting Netanyahu was “unfeasible, at least as long as he is prime minister.”  A closer reading of the Rome Statute would have put Tajani’s dim doubts to rest.

    The issue of executing warrants for high-ranking leaders and commanders accused of violating international humanitarian law comes down to sometimes tawdry political calculation over diligent legal observance.  France has merely confirmed this state of affairs, following previous approaches taken by Mongolia (towards Putin) and South Africa (towards Omar al-Bashir).  Having been one of the key negotiating parties behind the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that commenced on November 27, Emmanuel Macron and his diplomatic team will not miss out on posterity’s calling.  As the ministry statement promises, “France intends to continue to work in close collaboration with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli authorities to achieve peace and security in the Middle East.”

    The post Gallic Stubbornness: France, Netanyahu and the ICC Arrest Warrants first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Upsurge of post-riots violence against women in New Caledonia, says advocate

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    Figures for violence against women in New Caledonia have increased due to the post-riots crisis, according to local NGO SOS Violences president Anne-Marie Mestre.

    Mestre has told local news media that the recent upsurge was mainly due to the riots over independence that broke out on May 13, which resulted in a rising number of jobless people due to the destruction by arson and looting of more 600 businesses.

    She stressed that all ethnic communities in New Caledonia were affected by domestic violence and that the trend existed even before the riots-triggered crisis.

    New Caledonia’s domestic violence statistics are 2.5 times higher than in mainland France.

    In 2023, 3012 cases were reported in the French Pacific territory, a staggering increase of some 91 percent compared to 2019, the French Auditor-General’s office reported in its latest survey published in April 2024.

    New Caledonia’s curfew extended to December 2
    Meanwhile, New Caledonia’s curfew introduced after the rioting remains in place until December 2, according to the latest advisory from the French High Commission.

    The restrictions still include the curfew per se from midnight to 5am, and most notably the ban on transportation, possession and sale of firearms and ammunition.

    Public meetings remain banned in the Greater Nouméa Area and will be maintained until December 20, when the ban will be re-assessed with a possible relaxation just before Christmas.

    Although opening hours for the sale of alcohol have now returned to normal, the authorised quantity per person per day remains controlled — up to four litres of beer (under 10 percent alcohol), or two litres of wine (10 to 22 percent), or one litre of spirits (above 22 percent).

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

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Fiji police have ‘patriarchal mindset’, lack training over gender violence, says Ali

    By Nacanieli Tuilevuka in Suva

    Some police officers are unable to effectively investigate cases of gender-based violence, claims Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre coordinator Shamima Ali.

    Ali said many officers lacked the training and knowledge to properly handle such cases, leading to significant challenges for victims seeking justice.

    “There is a lack of training that used to happen in Fiji before 2006, and we are facing this as a huge challenge,” Ali said.

    While speaking on issues of officers refusing to take statements of domestic violence victims, she said some officers refused to acknowledge cases of gender-based violence, despite the laws in place.

    “There are some officers who do not respond to it, and at times, the justice system does not support the interests of women.”

    She said if authorities did their job, men would be a bit more scared.

    “There’s a reluctance to address domestic violence because of the patriarchal mindset, and this attitude often comes from within the force itself.”

    In response, Police Commissioner Juki Fong Chew said the actions of a few were not representative of the way the organisation perceived cases of gender-based violence.

    “We have disciplinary measures in place to deal with officers as claimed by Ms Ali, and we encourage the sharing of information so that the officers can be dealt with,” he said.

    Fong Chew said these issues could be addressed promptly.

    Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Biden Has “Pardoned” Eight Turkeys. Will He Spare the Lives of 40 Human Beings?

    Five days after Orlando Hall was executed in November 2020 in the federal death chamber, Donald Trump appeared in the White House Rose Garden for the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon ceremony. The enormous white birds, Corn and Cob, stood ridiculously as Trump wished them a “very long, happy, and memorable life.” At the Special Confinement Unit inside the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, men on death row watched news coverage on TV.

    It felt like a sick joke. “He could have used his pardon/clemency powers to spare any one of the five human beings facing imminent execution,” one man later wrote to me. But the executions that had started that summer showed no signs of slowing down. Some who had watched their neighbors taken to die over the previous months still dared to hope that the next man, Brandon Bernard, might be spared. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” one of them wrote a week later. “Perhaps President Trump will show an uncharacteristic display of humanity.”

    But there would be no such display. By the time Joe Biden arrived in the Oval Office in 2021, 13 people had been killed in the federal death chamber. It was an unprecedented killing spree – more executions over six months than over the previous 10 presidential administrations combined.

    Collectively, the 12 men and one woman executed in Terre Haute had been convicted of heinous crimes. But they also revealed the ugly face of the federal death penalty, which is wrongly assumed to apply only to terrorists or mass murderers – the ultimate “worst of the worst.” Most were human beings whose lives had been indelibly shaped by childhood abuse and neglect. Many had lawyers who disastrously failed them. Others had an intellectual disability or severe mental illness. More than one swore he was innocent; another was executed despite playing a marginal role in the crime that sent him to die. One man was executed over the loud objections of the victim’s family.

    The executions were pushed through lawlessly, in the first year of the Covid pandemic, long before a vaccine was available. Prison staff, attorneys, journalists, a spiritual adviser, and the condemned men themselves contracted the virus as the executions went on – an emblem of Trump’s recklessness, chaos, and cruelty.

    But in truth, the executions were also the result of a long bipartisan project, much of it led by Biden himself. It was not just that Democrats were responsible for dramatically expanding the federal death penalty, although that is certainly true. Of the 13 people executed by Trump, 10 had previously filed a clemency application to the Obama administration. His refusal to act set them up for execution.

    “We’re dealing with a very different world this time.”

    Now a growing chorus of people is urging Biden not to make the same mistake. “We’re dealing with a very different world this time,” said veteran death penalty lawyer Ruth Friedman, head of the Federal Capital Habeas Project. “People know this is a possibility because they see what has played out.”

    The Cost of Doing Nothing

    With just 54 days before he leaves the White House, Biden’s window for using his clemency power is rapidly closing. A majority of the 40 people on federal death row have filed requests for their death sentences to be commuted to life. While the Justice Department’s Office of the U.S. Pardon Attorney processes applications and makes recommendations, the president can also unilaterally grant clemency to whomever he sees fit.

    Hundreds of advocacy organizations, from the ACLU to the Catholic Mobilizing Network, have called on Biden to grant mass commutations to everyone on federal death row. The abolitionist group Death Penalty Action, which protested each execution in Terre Haute, is urging Biden to demolish the death house as well. The flurry of letters and petitions cite reasons ranging from persistent evidence of racial bias — the majority of those on federal death row are people of color — to a lack of evidence that the death penalty deters crime. Public support for the death penalty has also steadily dropped for years; at the time of Trump’s execution spree, it had reached historic lows. The well-documented risk of executing innocent people is at least one explanation.

    Biden, of course, knows all of this. When he ran for president on an anti-death penalty platform in 2020, his plan for criminal justice reform cited death row exonerations as one reason he would fight to pass legislation to end the federal death penalty. Those under a federal death sentence “should instead serve life sentences without probation or parole,” it said. Many are simply asking Biden to make good on this vow.

    The only way to guarantee that Trump is unable to push through another execution spree is to commute the sentences of those who remain.

    But the most pressing reason for Biden to act is the cost of doing nothing. There is no reason to doubt that Trump will continue what he started on his way out of the White House. Along with his repeated vows to expand the death penalty, the roadmap laid out in Project 2025 includes “finality” for the remaining 40 people on federal death row. The only way to guarantee that Trump is unable to push through another execution spree is to commute the sentences of those who remain.

    Sister Barbara Battista, right, tolls a bell before a minute of silence during the protest of the execution of Orlando Hall on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020 across the street from the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind. At left is attorney Ashley Kincaid-Eve. A federal judge halted the scheduled execution Thursday of Orlando Hall, a man convicted of kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old Texas girl, bludgeoning her with a shovel and burying her alive. ( Joseph C. Garza/The Tribune-Star via AP)
    Sister Barbara Battista, right, tolls a bell before a minute of silence during the protest of the execution of Orlando Hall on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, across the street from the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind. Photo: Joseph C. Garza/The Tribune-Star via AP

    “You Are Playing a Part in This”

    Four years before the Trump administration executed him around Thanksgiving, Orlando Hall had appealed to President Barack Obama for clemency. When I met his partner Shanyce Matthews weeks after his execution, she told me her family had been thrilled when Obama won the 2008 election. Although he supported the death penalty, she found herself hopeful that Hall might stand a chance to have his sentence commuted.

    She knew it was a long shot. There was no denying that Hall’s crime was horrific. In 1994, he and a group of men abducted, raped, and murdered a 16-year-old girl named Lisa René in Arlington, Texas — part of a botched drug operation that spiraled violently out of control. Hall became one of the first men sentenced to die under the 1994 crime bill.

    Nonetheless, there were serious problems with his case. Hall, who was Black, was convicted and sentenced to die by an all-white jury who remained unaware of critical elements of his life story. Like so many people who end up on death row, Hall had survived harrowing childhood trauma. Case records included sworn declarations from family and neighbors who described alcoholism, domestic violence, and deprivation – a local pastor remembered one of Hall’s siblings asking if he and his wife would be willing to adopt her. Such evidence can make the difference between life and death in a capital trial. But Hall’s attorneys failed to fully investigate and present this side of their client’s life.

    Hall changed during his 25 years on death row. His children described him as a caring and supportive father and grandfather. A longtime pen pal described his love of reading and his expressions of deep remorse. One of his lawyers later wrote that she would have given him a room in her house if she’d ever had the chance.

    Matthews, who had known Hall since they were children, saw the change up close. He forged a strong relationship with their son and supported her work as a community organizer. “He believed in me,” she said.

    Matthews witnessed the execution. Apart from the horror of watching Hall murdered by lethal injection, she was struck by the forced attempt at normalcy by the Bureau of Prison staff, who made polite small talk as they escorted her to watch him die. Matthews refused to play along. “They said, ‘Is there anything we can do for you?’ And I said, ‘You can let him go.’ ‘Oh, unfortunately we’re not the people who make that decision.’”

    Hall’s execution implicated every one of them, she said. “You are playing a part in this… What is going to happen when you have to stand and answer for the things that you participated in?”

    No Time To Waste

    On Monday, Biden stood in the White House Rose Garden as he has for the past three years, accompanied by a pair of turkeys named Peach and Blossom. He recited the names of previous turkeys he’d pardoned — a total of eight overall — then joked about Peach and Blossom’s favorite songs, which ostensibly include Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.”

    “Well fellas, your prayer’s gonna be answered today,” Biden said. He then “pardoned” the birds “based on your temperament and your commitment to being productive members of society.”

    They are asking for Biden to follow through on what he claimed to believe before he won the presidency.

    In Terre Haute, some of the same men who watched the ceremony on TV in 2020 once again face the prospect of their own execution. They are not asking for a pardon. They are not even asking for forgiveness for their crimes. They are asking to be spared the torture of being strapped to a gurney and killed in front of gawking strangers. They are asking for a chance to spare their loved ones the trauma of their execution. And they are asking for Biden to follow through on what he claimed to believe before he won the presidency.

    There is no time to waste. As Matthews told me four years ago, “I think we have to start yelling about it, because to me what’s happening is we’re waiting until these guys get a date. And then the time moves so fast.”

    The post Biden Has “Pardoned” Eight Turkeys. Will He Spare the Lives of 40 Human Beings? appeared first on The Intercept.

    This post was originally published on The Intercept.

  • BREAKING: four Insulate Britain activists NOT GUILTY after judge allows truth to be told in court

    Four Insulate Britain supporters have been acquitted at Woolwich Crown Court for actions taken during Insulate Britain’s 2021 campaign of nonviolent civil resistance demanding the UK government insulate Britain’s cold and leaky homes; a campaign that was later called prescient by a number of commentators.

    Insulate Britain: not guilty and speaking truth to power

    Emily Brocklebank, Ruth Cook, Ana Heyatawin and Iain Webb were on trial before Judge Grout for common law public nuisance for participating in a roadblock on 27 September 2021 at M25, J14, near Heathrow.

    After a six day trial, the 12 person jury took only an hour to return a unanimous verdict of not guilty.

    In a marked contrast to earlier Insulate Britain public nuisance trials under Judge Silas Reid, Judge Grout allowed defendants to speak about the climate crisis in their closing speeches.

    They were allowed to describe their motivations for taking action with Insulate Britain, to talk about their concerns for their families in the light of expected climate impacts, the poor state of Britain’s housing stock and the fact that civil resistance is necessary when successive governments have failed to prepare for what is coming.

    In her closing speech, Ruth Cook, a grandmother and director of a small training company from Somerset said:

    You have heard that I am a Quaker. The essential thing about Quakers is that they are known for speaking truth to power.

    She went on to talk about her fears about climate breakdown, her previous experience working for a charity in providing food aid to refugees in Greece and about the recent flooding across England and Wales.

    She posed the question of what will happen to Woolwich and the surrounding areas when the Thames Barrier is no longer sufficient to protect against rising water levels? Ruth had been late to the proceedings on Monday because of travel disruption caused by the extensive flooding across England and Wales, including her hometown.

    Threatening all of us

    In his closing speech, Iain Webb explained that the climate crisis threatens all of humanity and likened the government’s response to that of a fire brigade attending a house fire and doing nothing. He said:

    Throughout history people have taken action knowing that the odds were stacked against them but they did anyway because it was the right thing to do… 2023 was the hottest recorded year in our lives and sadly it will be the coldest year we will know going forward as the crisis only will get worse. This is why we were on the road and we will continue to do the right thing and raise the alarm.

    Following the verdict, Ruth said:

    I am incredibly proud of what Insulate Britain achieved – taking to the streets day after day, knowing we risked being remanded in custody. Our aim was to shame the government into addressing the climate crisis by insulating our homes. The UK has the worst housing stock in Europe, leading to thousands of preventable deaths from cold and damp, as well as forcing people to choose between eating and heating.

    At 72 years old, I was a law-abiding citizen until September 2021. Insulate Britain – its demands, the people I met, and the trust we shared in taking action together—showed me that nonviolent civil resistance was the only way to ensure our voices were heard.

    Ana Heyatawin, a grandmother and Samaritan from Somerset said:

    Truth and reconciliation are the tasks at hand, and the time is now. I have the privilege to speak the truth and honour my conscience. What greater purpose could there be than striving to save our children?

    In the 23 Insulate Britain jury trials for public nuisance charges to date, four trials have resulted in a hung jury, three trials have resulted in acquittals, thirteen have resulted in a guilty verdict and three have been deferred. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has applied for retrials in three cases where the jury failed to reach a majority verdict.

    The CPS has chosen to summon a total of 56 supporters to answer at least 201 charges of public nuisance across some 45 jury trials, with trials planned up to June 2025. These trials have been heard across Inner London, Hove, Lewes, Reading, and Woolwich Crown Courts.

    Featured image via Insulate Britain

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Arrest Warrants from The Hague

    The slow, often grinding machinery of international law has just received a push along with the issuing of three arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court. They are for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and, rather incongruously, Hamas figure Mohammed Deif.  The last issue is somewhat odd given claims by Israel that he was killed in an airstrike in July, though Hamas has never confirmed nor denied the fate of the man also known as Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.

    The issue of the warrants was the culmination of a request on May 20 by the ICC prosecutor to a Pre-Trial Chamber of the court to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and three senior Hamas officials.  Two have been withdrawn, given the confirmed killings of both Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh.

    On November 21, the three-judge panel of Pre-Trial Chamber I unanimously rejected Israel’s assertion that the ICC lacked jurisdiction over the Situation in the State of Palestine in general and over Israeli nationals more specifically, “as the Court can exercise its jurisdiction on the basis of the territorial jurisdiction of Palestine.”  The Chamber also rejected Israel’s request that the Prosecution provide a new notification of an initiation of investigation into its authorities under the ICC Statute, given that the parameters of the investigation had not essentially changed.  Nor had Israel pursued a request for deferral of the investigation when given the chance in 2021.

    The arrest warrants, issued in accordance with the law of international armed conflict, remain the most telling aspect of the determinations.  Despite being classified as “secret”, the Chamber deemed it important to release some degree of detail on what they entail.  Accordingly, it found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bore criminal responsibility as “co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”. There were also reasonable grounds to believe that both figures bore “criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”

    The ghoulish picture of alleged conduct is sketched with chilling detail.  The alleged crimes against humanity against the civilian population in Gaza were deemed to be widespread and systematic.  It was reasonable to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant had, with intent and knowledge, deprived the population of Gaza of such necessities to survival as food, water, medicine, medical supplies, fuel and electricity “from at least” October 8, 2023 to May 20, 2024.  This finding was easy to reach, largely because humanitarian aid had been impeded and restricted without evident military necessity or justification under international humanitarian law.  When decisions to allow or increase humanitarian aid into Gaza were made, these were conditional.

    The warrant for Deif, as chief commander of the military wing of Hamas (the al-Qassam Brigades) was issued because the chamber found “reasonable grounds” to believe he had allegedly been responsible for various crimes against humanity (murder, extermination, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence) and traditional war crimes. It remains to be seen whether that can be executed appropriately, given the likelihood that Deif is no longer alive.

    International law remains a curious creature, one of mixed shape and uneven maturity. Being based on the mutual, grudging acknowledgment of conventions between countries, its success, or failure, depends on mutual observance.  ICC warrants to arrest international figures have been issued with varying results, with signatory states of the Rome Statute making their own decisions whether to execute them.  Political interests can rear a nasty head, blowing off legally minded types keen to see judicial proceedings pursued by member states.

    When an ICC warrant was issued against Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023 over the alleged directing of attacks on civilians in Ukraine and the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation, the spectacle of such a figure being hauled off to The Hague was simply too much for countries keen to engage with the Kremlin.  Putin, for instance, was assured by Mongolia on a state visit this year that he would not be arrested, despite the country being a party to the ICC.

    More caution was exercised by Putin regarding the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg in 2023, probably due to such experiences as those of former Sudanese president, Omar Al-Bashir.  Despite being the subject of ICC arrest warrants in 2009 and 2010, the defiant leader, wanted for a string of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians in Darfur, tested the waters by visiting South Africa in 2015 for an African Union summit.  His presence, however, interested the judicial authorities, who ordered him to stay in South Africa while consideration was given to his potential arrest.

    Bashir’s exit was prompt, leading to a ruling the following year by the South African Court of Appeal that the failure by the authorities to arrest him was unlawful.  A Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC also found that the warrant should have been executed as part of South Africa’s obligations, and the Sudanese leader could not rightly have claimed immunity from arrest during his visit.

    The warrants against the Israeli figures will have some practical effects.  Gallant and Netanyahu will think twice before travelling to member states of the Rome Statute, though such states will naturally reach their own decisions on the issue.  But while it is hard to see these men being carted off to proceedings in The Hague bar exceptional circumstances, the warrants have provided a fillip for civil society groups in Israel.

    The indomitable efforts of the non-profit B’Tselem organisation called the ICC efforts “a chance for us, Israelis, to realize what we should have understood long ago: that upholding a regime of supremacy, violence and oppression necessarily involves crimes and severe violation of human rights.”  Unfortunately for the starving and dying in Gaza, the pity of war will not, at least at this time, halt before any stern judicial eye, especially one cast from an international court.

    The post Arrest Warrants from The Hague first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Biden Made “Record Time” on Worker Protections for Heat. Trump Could Quickly Stamp Them Out.

    Most regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration go unnoticed, but this one caught the public’s attention. 

    As the Northern Hemisphere suffered through another hottest summer on record, OSHA issued draft rules meant to protect workers from extreme heat.

    The rules are three years in the making, so far, but are likely to stall out within days after January 20. Worker advocates expect the rule to be placed in cold storage once Donald Trump takes power. 

    “OSHA doesn’t have many friends on the Hill these days. Nobody goes to bat for them.”

    It will be another example of how, in the face of hostile courts, ambivalence within their own party, and a rulemaking process designed to fail, Democratic administrations claiming the mantle of worker rights have fallen short on rebuilding worker power.

    Time and again, said James Goodwin, policy director at the Center for Progressive Reform, sympathetic administrations have nonetheless taken years to issue new worker safety rules.

    “OSHA is just such a politically reviled agency that you can hardly fault them for being just this cautious,” Goodwin said. “With unions being so weak, OSHA doesn’t have many friends on the Hill these days. Nobody goes to bat for them.”

    Dying From Heat

    Twenty years ago, a worker named Asunción Valdivia collapsed in a California field after more than 10 hours of picking grapes in the heat. His death later that day was a sign of things to come.

    Reliable statistics are elusive, but dozens to perhaps hundreds or thousands of American workers die every year from exposure to excessive heat.

    Aware that human-caused climate change is making the situation worse, the Biden administration followed state worker protection agencies in floating a heat protection rule in August 2021.

    For employers in certain sectors such as construction, maritime, and agriculture, the rule would require employers to craft plans for extreme heat, including providing drinking water and break areas, and above a 90-degree heat index, mandatory rest breaks.

    “If ever there was an OSHA rule to really capture the public’s attention, this is it.”

    The rule had rare public appeal, Goodwin said. More and more people are aware of companies exposing workers to brutal temperatures — like the Amazon warehouse a decade ago that had a private ambulance on standby during a heat wave.

    “If ever there was an OSHA rule to really capture the public’s attention, this is it,” he said. “We’re all familiar with these huge Amazon warehouses and stuff. It’s easy to appeal to the public’s moral imagination with this rule.”

    The rule could protect the millions of workers in private industry who do not have protection at the state level. In creating the rule, however, the Biden administration had to follow a labyrinthine federal process.

    “Record Time”

    To put the regulation into effect, the Biden administration had to shepherd the rule through an advance notice of rulemaking, a comment period, a virtual stakeholder meeting, a working group, a small business review panel, and an advisory committee.

    Some steps apply to all federal agencies, while others such as the small business panel have been applied only to agencies like OSHA that are particularly reviled by Republican-majority Congresses. 

    In the case of the heat rule, the process consumed nearly three years.

    In July, OSHA published a more than 1,000-page draft version of the rule. Comments on the proposed rule are due by the end of December, which normally would lead to another round of public hearings before a final rule.

    “They could probably have had a final rule out by 2026, if an administration was very focused on doing that,” said Rebecca Reindel, director of occupational safety and health for the labor federation AFL-CIO.

    Instead, the U.S. is getting Trump. Most likely, the next administration will simply halt work on the heat rule, according to Jordan Barab, who served as the deputy assistant secretary of labor for OSHA under Barack Obama.

    “The easiest thing and probably most likely thing to happen is they won’t work on it for four years,” Barab said.

    Barab spoke before Trump announced his selection of Lori Chavez-DeRemer as the next secretary of labor, a position that oversees OSHA. The Republican representative from Oregon was one of the few Republicans in Congress to support efforts to make union organizing easier. Labor advocates believe she represents a wild card in the traditional Republican tendency to roll back worker safety rules, as Trump did in his first term.

    Goodwin, however, said he expects little progress to be made on worker safety rules.

    “Chavez-DeRemer — like every other Trump nominee — has been brought in to serve as a transmission belt for translating conservative ideology into on-the-ground reality — not to bring her independent judgment to bear,” Goodwin said in an email. “And that means the heat rule would go.”

    Republican administrations have generally tried to slash OSHA’s budget even further below the current level, which hypothetically would allow OSHA to visit every workplace in the U.S. once every 186 years, according to the AFL-CIO.

    The staffing declines hit not only inspections, but also the offices responsible for crafting new rules such as the heat exposure standard.

    If a more worker-friendly administration takes power in 2029, it could take the heat rule off the shelf and continue work, Reindel said. If that happens, it would continue a pattern of major worker safety rules grinding through the process for at least two Democratic administrations.

    One major rule, on silica dust, took 45 years to go into effect. Barab said that compared to other rules, the heat standard was actually proceeding quickly.

    “Had we had another Democratic administration to work on it, it might have been finished a couple years from now,” Barab said. “So five years, to do a major standard like that would have been pretty much record time for OSHA these days.”

    “I don’t know what the hell OSHA can do right now that would survive judicial review.”

    Goodwin said he believes that Democratic administrations are cautious about passing OSHA rules too quickly because they could be tossed out by a judiciary increasingly hostile to worker rights on the slimmest pretext.

    For that reason, he saw little reason for OSHA to try and pass a final heat exposure rule in the few weeks before Trump takes office.

    “I don’t know what the hell OSHA can do right now that would survive judicial review, with this current judiciary,” Goodwin said. “Maybe there’s an argument to be made for just ‘flood the zone,’ but the huge disparity in advocacy power between those who are fighting on behalf of workers and those who are fighting on behalf of management, I am not sure that flooding the zone even works.”

    Reforms Go Nowhere

    The glacial progress on the heat rule took place against a larger backdrop of a Biden administration that was friendly toward labor unions, but failed to get some of their highest priorities through Congress.

    Without unions, advocates say, workers are far less likely to report safety violations. Senate Democrats never fully coalesced around labor’s top goal, a bill that would have made organizing labor unions easier. That meant that while the bill passed the House when Democrats controlled the lower chamber in 2021, it never got past the Senate filibuster.

    Another bill more narrowly targeted at improving OSHA’s ability to crack down on safety violations got less momentum than the organizing bill, even under a fully Democratic Congress.

    Stymied at the federal level, workers have turned to labor agencies in Democratic states to protect them. Five states have passed rules guaranteeing workers to water, rest, and shade. 

    For the next four years, the states may be the only place where workers can find relief, Reindel said.

    “Big business and corporate interests and billionaires have really pushed back on OSHA trying to protect workers and workplaces,” Reindel said. “We need to be very concerned about what that means for the state of this agency and for its ability to protect workers from dangerous working conditions.”

    The post Biden Made “Record Time” on Worker Protections for Heat. Trump Could Quickly Stamp Them Out. appeared first on The Intercept.

    This post was originally published on The Intercept.

  • The Spycops Inquiry is facing a huge reputational test this week

    This week the Undercover Policing Inquiry – the so-called Spycops Inquiry – will hear shocking, long-awaited, evidence from three women who were targeted for relationships by two of the most notorious undercover police officers from the Special Demonstration Squad. It will be a test of the inquiry process – showing whether it can regain any credibility.

    Spycops Inquiry: a week of damning evidence

    On Tuesday 26 November, Belinda Harvey will give her evidence – primarily about how she was targeted for a long-term relationship by notorious Spycop Bob Lambert (cover name Bob Robinson). Belinda had no connection to activism, yet will talk about how the direction of her life was steered and de-railed by Lambert, whose ‘exit’ strategy from his deployment, and his relationship with Belinda was cruel – severely damaging Belinda in the process:

    On Wednesday 27 November, Helen Steel will give her account of how she was targeted for years of intrusive reporting by Bob Lambert. In the past weeks evidence has been accumulating that Lambert fabricated and embellished his reports. Helen’s evidence will be crucial to exposing fabrications in his ‘intelligence’ reporting, highlighting how the Inquiry is treading dangerous ground if it takes the officers’ accounts at face value.

    Helen was also targeted for a two-year relationship by officer John Dines (cover name John Barker) at a time when she was embroiled in the longest libel trial in British legal history – known as the McLibel trial. Dines did all he could to damage Helen’s reputation and her personally, and has refused to give live evidence to the Inquiry.

    Disappointingly, the Inquiry refuses to compel Dines, even refusing to read his witness statement into evidence.

    On Thursday 28 November we will hear evidence from ‘Jacqui’ about how Bob Lambert targeted her for a relationship that ended with the birth of their child. Lambert abandoned them both when his deployment ended. It was only when his child, known publicly as ‘TBS,’ was 26 years of age that he found out who his father really was.

    Lambert giving evidence

    Lambert himself will give evidence between 2-5 December 2024. This will be a decisive moment for the Inquiry in how they handle evidence from an officer who has been thoroughly discredited by the ‘targets’ of his infiltration.

    Of course, the stories of the abuse these women suffered at the hands of Lambert have been some of the most shocking of the entire Spycops revelations. So, the week will be a test of the inquiry – to see whether it can pull itself back from so far being unfit for purpose, to being something meaningful.

    Featured image via Police Spies Out Of Lives

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Supporters out in force as more Palestine Action activists imprisoned on bogus terrorism charges

    At Westminster Magistrates Court, eight more Palestine Action activists have been remanded to prison – after being raided and arrested after an action against Israel’s Elbit arms factory in Filton, Bristol, on 6 August. In an appeal at the Crown Court they will apply for bail – ahead of a trial in November 2025.

    All eight, as with ten others charged in August, face criminal – not terror – charges, despite having been arrested and interrogated under Terrorism Act powers deployed to deny them their rights.

    Palestine Action: more Elbit Filton activist remanded to prison

    People came out and rallied in support of the Palestine Action Filton activists:

    Palestine Action Filton Elbit

    All eighteen are political prisoners, subjected to abuses of power and process by Counter Terrorism Policing South East and other police forces – for alleged acts of resistance against complicity in genocide. In August, activists drove a van into and dismantled the Filton, Bristol research hub of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms company, causing £1m in damages against products including quadcopters.

    Despite their repression, they are said to be faring well, smiling in the court in front of a packed public gallery – steadfast in the knowledge that they have been imprisoned by a state acting out of its deep complicity in Israel’s genocidal campaign.

    They have all been charged with aggravated burglary and criminal damage, while six have also been charged with violent disorder – none charged under the terror laws which police have abused against them.

    They continue to be investigated through Counter-Terrorism Policing investigatory powers, with rights experts having expressed alarm over these powers being deprive Palestine Action activists of the legal protections that should be afforded to them.

    Severe restrictions

    Those imprisoned for over a hundred days so far have been subjected to arbitrary and severe restrictions, including being denied reading materials, religious practice, medical privacy, and being prohibited to communicate with other prisoners:

    From 5am on Tuesday 19 November, police raids broke down doors and detained the eight, along with others detained and not charged. The individuals and their families had property destroyed in police raids, with many family members unable to return to their homes since Monday.

    At Westminster Magistrates Court and at the Hammersmith and Newbury police stations where activists were being held, hundreds have mobilised in solidarity with the Palestine Action political prisoners:

    Featured image and additional images via Guy Smallman

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.