August 23, 2012
- As Syrian conflict continues, rise in abductions in Lebanon prompt worry for residents
- Health advocates call for reform of Brazil drug law after sharp rise in incarceration
- SEC finalizes rules on conflict minerals from Africa, disclosure of foreign spending by oil and mining companies
- In Montreal, students call for end to fee hikes and anti-protest laws ahead of Quebec elections
HEADLINES
Bahraini judge vacates one conviction of activist Nabeel Rajab
Bahraini activist Nabeel Rajab will not see jail time for posting criticisms of the government on Twitter. Today a court threw out his conviction. But still, Rajab, who is the founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, is serving a three year sentence for another conviction relating to his work as a leader in the protest movement. During the hearing, Rajab complained of being tortured physically and psychologically and kept in solitary confinement. His wife said he was taken out of the room by police as he yelled about his treatment in prison. The court reportedly agreed to reexamine his other conviction as well.
Chilean high school students occupy schools across the country
Chilean students are back on the offensive fighting for free and high quality public education. High school students have been occupying schools in Santiago and other cities since last Thursday. Today, the high school student’s association is holding a national strike and rallies all around the country. FSRN’s Catalina Jaramillo reports.
Pablo Zepeda has been sleeping at his school for the past week. He is 17 years old and vice president of the student union of the emblematic Chilean school Instituto Nacional. “This is the most effective form of protest. We don’t have any more to do because the people don’t hear us.” This Monday, a police bus entered Zepeda’s school and arrested more than a hundred students. The next day the students occupied the school again. This scene has been repeated at several high schools in Santiago and other cities this week. As part of today’s strike, more than 20 rallies are happening across the country. The students say the government is not giving them any answers, so they will continue to fight. University students have also been occupying Universidad de Chile since last Thursday. They are supporting the high school association strike today, and have their own rally set for next Tuesday. Catalina Jaramillo, FSRN, Chile.
France relaxes work restrictions for Roma
After two weeks of criticism for a series of camp clearings and expulsions that left dozens of Roma families homeless, the Socialist government of French president François Hollande says it will relax rules that restrict Roma from working in France. FSRN’s Liam Moriarty has more.
Several hundred Roma were cleared out of illegal encampments earlier this month near Lille, Lyons and Paris. More than two hundred were sent back to Romania. Others – including families with children – were simply turned out to roam the streets in search of other shelter. Roma rights groups said Hollande had broken a campaign promise to deal more humanely with the Roma than his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy’s large-scale expulsions and clearings of camps triggered a threat of legal action from the European Commission, which said the policy violated European laws. Under Hollande’s newly-announced policy, the government will remove a tax on employers who hire citizens of Romania and Bulgaria, and the list of occupations in which people from those countries may work will be expanded. Speaking through an interpreter, European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly says the new announcement marks an important step forward. But, he says … “These words have to be followed by action, so that there is a real impact on the everyday life of Roma people living in France.” The government says clearings of what it calls “unsafe” Roma camps will continue in cooperation with local authorities, who face complaints from residents about unsanitary conditions and crime. Liam Moriarty, FSRN, Normandy, France.
Nuclear activists finally get meeting with Japanese PM
Nuclear activists in Japan sat down with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda Wednesday for the first time since organizing in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Large protests have been happening regularly outside the Prime Minister’s office for months, calling for two recently-restarted nuclear reactors to be shuttered once again. International media report Noda did not consent to shutting down the reactors, or keeping the others offline. This comes as officials announced the discovery of two fish off the coast of the Fukushima power plant containing an extreme level of radioactive cesium. The levels are reported to be 258-times the limit deemed safe by the government. Anti-nuclear groups are calling for another large protest outside the PM’s office tomorrow.
Judge allows eminent domain in Texas Keystone pipeline challenge
In a 15 word ruling emailed from his iPhone, Lamar County, Texas Judge Bill Harris moved the Keystone XL Pipeline one step closer to completion. FSRN’s Andrew Oxford reports from San Antonio.
The judge granted TransCanada the right of eminent domain on a piece of North Texas land owned by farmer Julia Trigg Crawford. Crawford took TransCanada to court when the Calgary-based corporation invoked the right of eminent domain to condemn private property in the path of the controversial pipeline. She argued that construction infringed on her property rights and endangered Caddo Indian artifacts on her land. “Americans shouldn’t have to give up their land for a foreign export pipeline.” Jane Kleeb leads the group Bold Nebraska which organizes landowners against the Keystone XL. “Eminent domain is definitely a tool that TransCanada has been using from day one. Obviously, a lot of these folks think they don’t have the ability to go up against a multimillion dollar company and so feel so forced to sign especially when politicians say they love the project.” While pipeline developers can use eminent domain if constructing a “common carrier” pipeline open to many different oil companies, Crawford argued Keystone XL is a private project that should be required to negotiate rights-of-way with land owners. Andrew Oxford, FSRN, San Antonio.
FEATURES
As Syrian conflict continues, rise in abductions in Lebanon prompt worry for residents
Hundreds of residents in Damascus are taking refuge in schools and mosques after fighting intensified in the city today. Government forces launched assaults on the area with tanks and helicopters and opposition forces responded with gunfire, according to residents. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 100 people have been killed today across the country, bringing the number to 300 since Wednesday.
Clashes also continued in Aleppo, Daraa, Homs and elsewhere. The violence comes as UN monitors left the country after their presence failed to stem the fighting. The international mandate expires this week.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said Wednesday that diplomats would still push for a political solution.
“I think for the United Nations to accept that a conflict continues and leads to tremendous suffering and we should wait until that conflict is ended by military means is not dignified. It is not in line with what we should do. So the struggle for peaceful settlements has to continue, and it also has to continue in the case of Syria.”
According to the UN, more than one million Syrians have been driven from their homes by the conflict and the number of refugees in nearby countries — including Jordan, Iraq and Turkey — is fast approaching 200,000. At one camp in Jordan, 60 percent of those arriving were children.
In Lebanon, the crisis has prompted abductions and disappearances. Dozens remain missing after the powerful Moqdad clan kidnapped around 40 Syrians and at least one Turk. The kidnappings are a retaliation following an abduction of a family member in Syria by the opposition Free Syrian Army, or FSA. In May, FSA fighters also abducted 11 Lebanese Shia pilgrims in the Syrian town of Aleppo. Although some have been released, the tit for tat kidnappings set a dangerous precedent and have intensified the tensions in Lebanon. FSRN’s Zak Brophy reports from Beirut.
Health advocates call for reform of Brazil drug law after sharp rise in incarceration
Advocates calling for reforms to the drug policies in Mexico and the US are crossing through Texas today. The Trans-border Caravan for Peace and Justice passed through Laredo yesterday and is headed next to San Antonio Houston and New Orleans. The campaign is calling attention to the drug war in Mexico that has killed more than 60,000 and displaced and disappeared tens of thousands more. Participants want the US and Mexican governments to end practices that they say have led to a rise in organized crime and incarceration. Calls for reform on drug policy are also taking shape in other countries throughout Latin America. In Brazil, religious leaders, health advocates and law enforcement groups have met in the capital this week to outline changes to a 2006 drug law in the country that they say has led to mass incarceration and had a heavy toll on poor, urban residents. Since the law took effect, the number of people put in prison for possessing drugs has doubled, to about 120,000. Many are first time offenders, according to the Brazilian Commission on Drugs and Democracy. For more we’re joined by Rubem César Fernandes, executive secretary with the Brazilian Commission, one of the groups calling for reform.
SEC finalizes rules on conflict minerals from Africa, disclosure of foreign spending by oil and mining companies
In Washington, the Securities and Exchange Commission finalized two key anti-corruption measures from the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. US oil and mining companies will now have to report their payments to foreign governments, and electronics companies who use so-called “conflict minerals” from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surrounding African nations must investigate their supply chain and report their findings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. But some human rights advocates say the rules don’t go far enough, and a lawsuit from powerful corporate interests could derail their implementation. FSRN’s Alice Ollstein reports.
As Syrian conflict continues, rise in abductions in Lebanon prompt worry for residents
Hundreds of residents in Damascus are taking refuge in schools and mosques after fighting intensified in the city today. Government forces launched assaults on the area with tanks and helicopters and opposition forces responded with gunfire, according to residents. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 100 people have been killed today across the country, bringing the number to 300 since Wednesday.
Clashes also continued in Aleppo, Daraa, Homs and elsewhere. The violence comes as UN monitors left the country after their presence failed to stem the fighting. The international mandate expires this week.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said Wednesday that diplomats would still push for a political solution.
“I think for the United Nations to accept that a conflict continues and leads to tremendous suffering and we should wait until that conflict is ended by military means is not dignified. It is not in line with what we should do. So the struggle for peaceful settlements has to continue, and it also has to continue in the case of Syria.”
According to the UN, more than one million Syrians have been driven from their homes by the conflict and the number of refugees in nearby countries — including Jordan, Iraq and Turkey — is fast approaching 200,000. At one camp in Jordan, 60 percent of those arriving were children.
In Lebanon, the crisis has prompted abductions and disappearances. Dozens remain missing after the powerful Moqdad clan kidnapped around 40 Syrians and at least one Turk. The kidnappings are a retaliation following an abduction of a family member in Syria by the opposition Free Syrian Army, or FSA. In May, FSA fighters also abducted 11 Lebanese Shia pilgrims in the Syrian town of Aleppo. Although some have been released, the tit for tat kidnappings set a dangerous precedent and have intensified the tensions in Lebanon. FSRN’s Zak Brophy reports from Beirut.
Health advocates call for reform of Brazil drug law after sharp rise in incarceration
Advocates calling for reforms to the drug policies in Mexico and the US are crossing through Texas today. The Trans-border Caravan for Peace and Justice passed through Laredo yesterday and is headed next to San Antonio Houston and New Orleans. The campaign is calling attention to the drug war in Mexico that has killed more than 60,000 and displaced and disappeared tens of thousands more. Participants want the US and Mexican governments to end practices that they say have led to a rise in organized crime and incarceration. Calls for reform on drug policy are also taking shape in other countries throughout Latin America. In Brazil, religious leaders, health advocates and law enforcement groups have met in the capital this week to outline changes to a 2006 drug law in the country that they say has led to mass incarceration and had a heavy toll on poor, urban residents. Since the law took effect, the number of people put in prison for possessing drugs has doubled, to about 120,000. Many are first time offenders, according to the Brazilian Commission on Drugs and Democracy. For more we’re joined by Rubem César Fernandes, executive secretary with the Brazilian Commission, one of the groups calling for reform.
SEC finalizes rules on conflict minerals from Africa, disclosure of foreign spending by oil and mining companies
In Washington, the Securities and Exchange Commission finalized two key anti-corruption measures from the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. US oil and mining companies will now have to report their payments to foreign governments, and electronics companies who use so-called “conflict minerals” from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surrounding African nations must investigate their supply chain and report their findings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. But some human rights advocates say the rules don’t go far enough, and a lawsuit from powerful corporate interests could derail their implementation. FSRN’s Alice Ollstein reports.
In Montreal, students call for end to fee hikes and anti-protest laws ahead of Quebec elections
As the government of Quebec, Canada prepares for elections in early September, students continue to pressure elected leaders to roll back fee hikes and anti-protest laws. Thousands of students and their allies marched in Montreal Wednesday and many remain on strike. FSRN’s Lillian Boctor has more.
