Headlines for Friday, December 18, 2009

Western Sahara hunger striker allowed to return home
A Western Sahara activist is on her way back home today, after more than a month on hunger strike.  After receiving a human rights award in the US, Aminatou Haidar [attempted to reenter Western Sahara, a disputed territory controlled by Morocco.  But the Moroccan government confiscated her passport and denied her entry.  Haidar is part of a Western Sahara movement for self-determination.

Stuck at an airport on the Spanish Canary Islands, she began her hunger strike.  Before boarding a plane for Western Sahara, Haidar told reporters, "This is a triumph for international law, for human rights, for international justice and for the cause."  She says she will end her strike when she arrives home.

UK court blocks British Airway crew strike
A court in the UK has blocked an announced strike by British Airways cabin crews, saying the union vote to strike was illegal because it included former British Airways employees.  The workers intended to strike for two weeks over the December holidays, grounding planes and potentially affecting a million travelers.  The Unite union says it will reschedule a strike vote, which could allow a walkout at the beginning of 2010.

Gazans defy an Egyptian underground wall construction
Today militants on the Gaza side of the border with Egypt opened fire on Egyptian construction workers.  No injuries were reported, but the incident demonstrates the growing tensions between the two sides as initial speculation about underground border wall construction by Egypt is confirmed.  FSRN's Rami Almeghari has more.

The wall is allegedly intended to shut off underground tunnels that connect Egypt with Gaza, in an attempt to prevent smuggling of goods and commodities into the coastal territory.

The Egyptian government denies reports that the wall is being built.  But Palestinian sources in Gaza confirm that large machines have been brought to the border.  On Thursday, the Hamas-linked Shehab News Agency posted an image of the machinery.

And the International Middle East Media Center reports that the UN Relief Agency’s Karen AbuZayd confirmed construction of the wall at a speech in Cairo.  She also said the US is financially backing the project.

Gaza’s borders have been closed by Israel for more than 2 years.  As a result, the UN estimates that underground tunnels make up 60 percent of economic activity for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.  Rami Almeghari.  Free Speech Radio News.  Gaza.

Capital Punishment sentences lowest since 1970s
A new report shows 2009 saw more executions than last year, even as jurors handed down fewer death sentences.  Renee Feltz has more:

The Death Penalty Information Center's 2009 report shows jurors handed down fewer death sentences this year than in any since the punishment was reinstated in 1976.

Even so, more inmates were executed this year than last.  The increase follows a backlog from 2008, when many states imposed a moratorium while waiting for the Supreme Court to determine if lethal injection was cruel and unusual.

The high cost of the death penalty led New Mexico to abolish executions.  In 2009, Colorado, Montana, Maryland, Kansas and Connecticut all considered bills to end or restrict capital punishment.  The report also noted that nine men who had been sentenced to death were exonerated and freed over the past year.  Renee Feltz, FSRN.

30th anniversary of Convention to End Discrimination against Women
Today is the 30th anniversary of the UN’s adoption of CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.  186 countries have ratified CEDAW, but the United States still has not.  Andrew Stelzer has more.

The so-called ‘bill of rights for women’ compels participating countries to protect women against discrimination, incorporate principals of equality into their legal system and abolish laws which stand in the way.  Although not perfect, the successes of the UN treaty have often come when activists or judges use it as leverage to defend their positions during a legal battle.  The US is one of 7 countries that have not yet ratified CEDAW.

Krishanti Dharmaraj is the co-founder of the Women's Institute for Leadership Development for Human Rights, a group that lobbied the US government for years to ratify the convention.

“What CEDAW would actually do is improve existing standards within the United States for women.  Such as, women having, people having, actually, parental leave.  It would look at pay equity for women, equity in the workplace.  Ability to access mortgages and loans”

Frustrated with the lack of progress, the city of San Francisco signed onto CEDAW in 1998.  Since then, its been used in the government to push for the hiring of more women, the creation programs for young women in the juvenile justice system, and making it easier for street artists with childcare responsibilities to sell their wares.  Andrew Stelzer FSRN, San Francisco.