African nations divided over Bashir genocide charge

July 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KAMPALA, July 25 (Reuters) – African countries are divided about whether they should arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on suspicion of genocide, diplomats at a summit told Reuters on Sunday.

Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Darfur last year. This month the court added genocide to the charges, accusing him of orchestrating murders, rapes, and torture in the troubled western region.

A draft of a resolution to be passed at the African Union (AU) meeting in Ugandan capital Kampala, seen by Reuters on Saturday, contained two contentious clauses that have triggered horse-trading behind the scenes at the event.

But both paragraphs were removed after arguments that went on until 3 a.m. on Sunday, AU and Western diplomats said.

The first clause advised African countries not to arrest Bashir if he visited their nations — even if they had signed up to the ICC as 30 African countries have.

“(The AU) reiterates its decision that AU member states shall not cooperate with the ICC in the arrest and surrender of President Bashir,” the paragraph said.

The second deleted clause attacked prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

“BASHIR DIVIDING US”

“Those two parts caused a big fight between the delegates,” an African diplomat, who was at the meeting, told Reuters. “Bashir is dividing us.”

The latest draft resolution also “rejects for the moment” a request by the ICC to open an “Africa liaison office” in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, diplomats said.

Some African leaders say the court is obsessed with prosecuting Africans and ignores war criminals on other continents.

AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping has said the decision to prosecute Bashir has undermined peace efforts in Sudan.

AU summits have been marked by fights over issues such as Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s “United States of Africa” plan and the ICC.

The rows often pit northern and western states — rallied by Gaddafi — against a group of countries seen by analysts as close Western allies and usually helmed by South Africa.

“South Africa, Ghana and Botswana led the argument that the clauses should be removed,” a Western diplomat, who had seen the altered draft, told Reuters.

“Libya, Eritrea, Egypt and some other countries who have not signed up to the ICC fought strongly against that but they lost out in the end.”

Bashir went to Chad this week in defiance of his arrest warrant on his first visit to a full ICC member since he was charged. The court said Chad should arrest Bashir, but Chad said after Bashir’s arrival that it had no intention to do that.

The defiant leader returned to his capital Khartoum untouched. The final AU resolution on the ICC is expected to be agreed by heads of state on Tuesday. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Clarke)

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No consensus in CPI(M) Polit Bureau on political review draft

June 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Jun 6 (PTI) The CPI(M) Polit Bureau today appeared to have failed to reach a consensus on a draft of their review on political decisions taken after 2007 Party Congress and decided to meet again next month to finalise it. The two-day meeting of the top party leaders, which ended here today, discussed the outline of the draft resolution which will be presented at the extended meeting of the Central Committee in Vijayawada scheduled in August.

“No, no. We have not reached on a consensus.

That is why there is one more meeting. There are differences on the implementation of political line adopted in the last Party Congress,” a senior CPI(M) leader said when asked about the deliberations in the two-day meeting.

The Polit Bureau will meet again on July three and four to finalise the draft which will be presented before the Central Committee which will discuss it for three days from July 21. The extended Central Committee meeting is being held as CPI(M) decided to postpone the Party Congress, which was to be held this year, due to upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal.

Sources said there were intense discussions on the decisions taken by the party leadership with regard to aligning with non-BJP, non-Congress parties like Samajwadi Party, BSP and others during the past three years. There were also discussions on the strategy adopted during cut motions and its fall out, they said.

However, the leaders were unanimous in backing the decision to withdraw support to UPA government on Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008. “There were no opposition to the decision to withdraw support to UPA either in Polit Bureau or Central Committee.

But there were discussions on other issues on which decisions were taken after the Party Congress. That was reviewed.

We discussed these problems,” senior Polit Bureau member M K Pandhe told reporters here. Another Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said there was one round of discussions on the document to be presented in Vijayawada.

“The Polit Bureau discussed the outline of a draft document for the extended meeting of the Central Committee to be held in August. The PB will meet next month to finalise the draft to be presented to the Central Committee,” he said.

On the Bengal civic polls, party leaders said a preliminary report was presented in the meeting. “The West Bengal state committee will conduct a review of the election on the basis of which necessary political and organisational steps can be taken to win back the confidence of those sections of the people which have moved away from the party,” Yechury said.

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U.N. human rights body to debate Gaza aid ship raid

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – The U.N. Human Rights Council will debate on Tuesday Israel’s raid on a Gaza aid ship flotilla, at the urging of Arab and other Islamic states, a United Nations spokeswoman said.

World

A draft resolution sponsored by Pakistan and Sudan alongside the Palestinians “condemns in the strongest terms possible the outrageous attack by the Israeli forces” and says independent investigators should be sent to review possible violations of international law related to the incident.

The non-binding resolution also calls on Israel to ensure that food, fuel and medical assistance reaches the Gaza Strip.

Claire Kaplun, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based Council, said the discussion would start at 1300 GMT and last three hours.

Earlier on Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council issued a formal statement condemning the acts that caused deaths of civilians during the Israeli operation against the flotilla and called for an impartial investigation.

The Human Rights Council discussion could put more pressure on Israel about the military interception.

But the 47-member body has long been accused of singling out Israel while going easy on other rights abusers, eroding the influence of its past resolutions which have condemned Israel’s actions in occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories.

The United States, a key Israeli ally, currently holds a seat on the Human Rights Council.

On Monday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for an independent inquiry and urged the lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

“We need to establish exactly what happened. However, nothing can justify the appalling outcome of this operation, which reportedly took place in international waters,” she said in a statement. (Reporting by Laura MacInnis; editing by David Stamp)

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Reuters Summit – Iran will overcome sanctions – Libya

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(For other news from the Reuters Global Energy Summit, click http://www.reuters.com/summit/GlobalEnergy10?pid=500)

Fresh sanctions on Iran will create difficulties but the Islamic Republic will be able to live with them, Libya’s top oil official told the Reuters Global Energy Summit on Wednesday.

The United States has said Russia and China, Iran’s allies, had agreed to a draft resolution that would expand U.N. sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt nuclear enrichment. Tehran has said its nuclear work is peaceful.

“It will create difficulties but it is not going to kill them,” Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation, said. “We had sanctions for 20 years. What did it do to us? Not very much.”

Sanctions on Libya were lifted in 2004 after Tripoli renounced banned weapons programmes and agreed to pay compensation to the families of those killed in the 1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

The draft sanctions on Iran, which have also been backed by Britain, France and Germany, will hit Iran’s banking and other industries. They include international inspection of vessels suspected of carrying cargo related to Iran’s nuclear or missile programmes.

“I don’t think this is a prudent policy,” he said, urging diplomacy. “Countries can live through difficulties,” he added.

Ghanem said he did not believe Iran, a fellow OPEC member, would be subject to sanctions on its oil exports.

“If you embargo oil exports from Iran you are taking 3 million or 3.7 million barrels a day from the market. That will lead to an immense increase in the price of oil,” he said. “They are cutting their own noses.”

Iran has been storing more crude oil on tankers at sea in recent weeks which trade sources said was related to lower sales of the country’s sour crude. There has been speculation that fear of sanctions was having an impact on buyers.

Ghanem said he did not see an increase in demand “on other crude” which would indicate “any pulling out” on Iranian crude.

Iran is the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter and oil exports are the country’s key revenue earner. Other exports include commodities such as pistachio nuts.

“They are going to sanction pistachios first because they need more oil than pistachios,” Ghanem joked.

For a Reuters Insider interview with Ghanem, click http://link.reuters.com/qef56k

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U.S. sees sanctions by May; Iran lobbies against West

April 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday he expects new sanctions on Iran by May as Tehran began lobbying the U.N. Security Council to oppose new steps against the Islamic Republic over its atomic plans.

Biden issued the latest U.S. warning to Iran, locked in a standoff with the West over a nuclear program Tehran insists is entirely peaceful, in an appearance on ABC television’s “The View” talk show.

“Everyone from the Israeli prime minister straight through to the British prime minister to the president of Russia, everyone agrees the next step we should take is the U.N. sanction route,” Biden said.

“I believe you will see a sanction regime coming out by the end of this month, beginning of next month,” he said. Asked if Israel might attack Iran’s nuclear facilities without consulting Washington, Biden said Israel had agreed to wait and see what the impact of new U.N. sanctions would be.

As closed-door negotiations continue on a draft resolution for the U.N. Security Council, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki heads to Vienna and other capitals to lobby council members to oppose any new U.N. sanctions.

If negotiations on a fourth round of U.N. punitive measures against Tehran run past May, the U.S. House of Representatives has declared Congress should finalize legislation to impose new unilateral U.S. sanctions on Iran by the end of next month — whether or not the Security Council has acted.

The 403-11 vote signaled growing impatience on Capitol Hill with efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration and its allies to get a fourth round of U.N. sanctions to pressure Iran to curb a nuclear program the West fears is aimed at making a bomb.

Diplomats from the five permanent Security Council members — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — and Germany are meeting nearly every day in New York to revise a U.S.-drafted sanctions proposal that Moscow and Beijing would like to see watered down, Western diplomats say.

The proposed U.S. congressional measures are much tougher than those included in the U.N. draft proposal, agreed upon with Britain, France and Germany over a month ago before Washington passed it on to Russia and China for comment.

U.N. SANCTIONS TALKS COULD DRAG ON

The majority of U.S. lawmakers from both political parties are ready now to block Iran’s vital gasoline imports by imposing sanctions on its gasoline suppliers, a tough measure also favored by Israel. Both the House and the Senate passed legislation months ago to do this.

The U.S. draft for the 15-nation Security Council proposes some new curbs on Iranian banking, a full arms embargo, tougher measures against Iranian shipping, moves against members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and firms they control and a ban on new investments in Iran’s energy sector.

But the U.N. draft does not seek to block imports or exports of oil or gas products to or from Iran — measures that Russia and China have made clear they could not support.

Western diplomats familiar with the U.N. talks say the six powers are far from agreement on a draft to present to the full council and expect negotiations to drag on until June.

Diplomats said China proposed cutting some of the measures from the U.S. draft. Both Russia and energy-hungry China have close trade ties with Iran and fought hard to dilute three previous rounds of U.N. sanctions before voting for them.

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, told Reuters in Tehran that Foreign Minister Mottaki would soon “meet and discuss with representatives of (council) member countries” the sanctions issue. Diplomats said Tehran was launching a lobbying campaign to avoid new sanctions.

Mottaki’s first stop will be Austria, which is on the council until the end of this year and also the seat of the U.N. nuclear watchdog. He is expected to meet with senior Austrian officials on Sunday, as well as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano.

Mottaki met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu earlier this week in Tehran. Davutoglu told reporters his country, which is also on the Security Council and has made clear it would have trouble supporting new sanctions on Iran, was ready to help resolve Tehran’s standoff with the West.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in Harare for talks with Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, a visit Mugabe’s opponents condemned as a meeting of despots.

Zimbabwean state media said Ahmadinejad’s visit was part of a drive to boost ties between nations at odds with the West.

The U.S. unilateral measures under discussion in Congress could make life difficult for countries trading with Iran.

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that 41 foreign firms had commercial activity in Iran’s oil, natural gas and petrochemical sectors from 2005 to 2009.

Separately, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards successfully deployed a new speed boat on Thursday that is capable of destroying enemy ships in war games in a waterway crucial for global oil supplies, Iranian media reported.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell in Washington, Louis Charbonneau in New York, Sylvia Westall in Vienna, Parisa Hafezi in Tehran, Marius Bosch in Harare; writing by Louis Charbonneau; editing by Todd Eastham)

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UN Security Council begins discussion on North Korea sanctions

May 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

UN Security Council begins discussion on North Korea sanctionsNew York – UN Security Council members Tuesday began to discuss a draft resolution containing measures against North Korea for testing a nuclear device in defiance of international constraints.

But when pressed to be more specific, the council president, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, said simply that negotiations had started without providing any new information about which countries attended and where they were held.

North Korea detonated a nuclear device on Monday, which registered on seismic stations around the world at least 4.5, stronger than Pyongyang’s previous nuclear test in
2006.

The council on Monday swiftly agreed to strongly condemn the test and to begin drafting new measures aimed at preventing North Korea from gaining the technology to develop its nuclear programme any further.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang responded to the worldwide condemnation, including criticism from Iran, by test-firing missiles.

While UN diplomats in New York discussed the draft resolution, the United States called for tough measures against Pyongyang.

“We want a resolution that provides a strong response from the Security Council to this provocation of North Korea,” said State Department deputy spokesman Ian Kelly in Washington.

He termed the short-range missile tests which followed the nuclear test “a provocation”, but declined to go into detail about what a new UN resolution would contain.

“Our patience obviously is not indefinite, but we feel the door does remain open, that we are ready to engage,” Kelly said, urging North Korea to make the right choice and “engage constructively” to resolve the problem of its nuclear programme.

When North Korea exploded its first nuclear device in October, 2006, the council imposed wide-ranging sanctions, which included an embargo on military equipment including tanks, combat aircraft, warships, missiles and missile guides

The sanctions since 2006 failed to deter North Korea’s resolve to build its nuclear programme and ballistic missiles.

UN members were asked in 2006 not to sell or transfer directly or indirectly materials, equipment and technology that could be used by North Korea to build ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction.

North Korea was asked to “abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.” The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna was asked to verify compliance.

The council in 2006 also demanded the Pyongyang government stop further nuclear testing and launching of ballistic missile.

Governments were asked to take legal steps to immediately freeze funds, financial assets and resources that belonged to North Korea.

The council imposed a ban on travel by North Korean officials who were responsible for the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Cargo ships suspected of transporting illicit nuclear or weapons of mass destruction to and from North Korea can be inspected by governments under the US-led 2003 Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).(dpa)

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Western states want Sri Lanka to grant aid groups access

May 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Western states want Sri Lanka to grant aid groups access Geneva – A draft declaration was tabled Monday at the United Nations Human Rights Council by a group of Western nations calling on Sri Lanka’s government to cooperate with aid agencies and care for minorities.

The text was drafted by Switzerland, ahead of Tuesday’s special session at the council on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, following the cessation of hostilities there, after 26 years of civil war.

Some 80,000 to 100,000 people are estimated by the UN to have been killed during the conflict.

Since the end of 2008, when the government’s forces stepped up a campaign to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels (LTTE), estimates have placed the civilian death toll at at at least 7,000.

Rebels are accused of not allowing civilians to escape while the government is said to have used heavy weaponry in densely populated civilian areas.

Over 280,000 people are currently internally displaced, living mainly in a large refugee camp run by the Sri Lankan military.

Aid groups, including the UN agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, have been denied full access to the camp.

The Western text calls for Sri Lanka to fulfil its pledge to return 80 per cent of the displaced to their homes by the end of the year.

“The special session is an excellent opportunity for Sri Lanka to address the post-conflict situation in the right way,” advocacy group Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

“Although the fighting has stopped, the humanitarian situation is still alarming and real improvements are needed now,” the advocacy group said.

The Western text, which had the support of a dozen members of the 47 states on the council, would go up against a resolution tabled last week by Sri Lanka itself, which called for the proteection of its own sovereignty.

That draft resolution also asks the council to commend the work of the Sri Lankan government on the displaced.

Neither text called for an independent commission inquiry into war crimes allegations, as UN rights experts had recommended. European foreign ministers also recently backed such a commission.

The session was called for last week by Germany with the backing of 16 other council members. Several of the original backers of the session, mostly Latin American countries, did not sign onto the draft declaration tabled Monday.(dpa)

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Malay Indian body asks govt. not to support Lanka’s ‘non-interference’ draft

May 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Kuala Lumpur, May 24 (ANI): Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) president Seri S. Samy Vellu has said the Malaysian government should not support a draft resolution put forth by Sri Lanka at the United Nations.

The draft tabled by Sri Lanka calls the member nations not to interfere in its internal matters.

“Tamils in Malaysia constitute 1.4 million of 1.8 million Indians in the country. As such, their feelings have to be respected. There has to be a war tribunal in Sri Lanka to bring those people who perpetrated crimes against the Tamil community in their war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,” The New Straits Times quoted Vellu, as saying.

According to reports, Malaysia was among the few countries which backed the Sri Lanka’s non-interference policy.

The draft is being backed by 12 countries such as India, China, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bolivia, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay supported the calls West countries for an independent inquiry into possible war crimes.

Pillay had said that the small region might have become a ‘killing field’.

However, amid severe criticism, Sri Lanka decided to table its draft before the UN Human Rights Council stating the ‘principle of non-interference’ in internal matters and respect for its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. (ANI)

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Sri Lanka wants UN rights council to praise its efforts

May 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Geneva – A draft resolution praising the government of Sri Lanka was submitted to the United Nations Friday ahead of next week’s special Human Rights Council session on the Asian country and its recently ended armed conflict with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The draft text was tabled by Sri Lanka itself, with the backing of 12 members of the council, including China, India, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

It commends the Sri Lankan government’s handling of internally displaced people (IDPs) and its cooperation with UN humanitarian agencies. The draft also praises the “liberation” of Sri Lankan citizens, using the government’s language.

Earlier Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported aid groups were still being denied unimpeded access to the largest displaced persons camp, housing most of the 272,000 IDPs.

As a result, most services to the people were suspended, OCHA said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it has only been given partial access.

An ICRC official in Geneva said the “priority issue” for the organization was to gain “full access” to the camps.

The special session will take place on Tuesday at the UN in Geneva.

It was called for earlier this week by Germany on behalf of 17 members of the rights council, including the European Union members, Canada, Switzerland and Argentina.

Council rules require that a special session have the backing of one-third of the 47 member-states.

A draft text being written by Switzerland, which was not finalized or submitted to the UN, deplored “the significant loss of human lives and suffering,” and calls on the government to cooperate with aid agencies.

The text, obtained by the German Press Agency dpa, also said the countries were “gravely concerned by violations of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law committed during the armed conflict in Sri Lanka and their impact on the civilian population especially women, children and vulnerable groups.”

The text did not call for an independent commission of inquiry rather opting for the Sri Lankan government to investigate allegations of abuse.

One European diplomat said the EU wanted to call for an independent commission, but it was unable to gather enough signatures for such language.

Realizing that, the Europeans tried to draft a text that would garner a consensus in the council, the diplomat said, but early reaction to the language indicated it would not pass during a vote.

Several UN rights experts and the High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, have called for an independent investigation into possible war crimes committed by both parties to the conflict.

The Sri Lankan army has been accused of using heavy weaponry in a crowded civilian area.

The LTTE, as the Tigers are also known, were accused of holding civilians inside the conflict zone against their will, and firing at them if they tried to escape.

At least 7,000 people, or even 8,000, are estimated to have been killed in the fighting since the end of last year.

The government refused to allow journalists access to the conflict zone and also kept aid agencies out, making independent assessments difficult.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was expected to arrive in Sri Lanka later Friday. He has made pleas to the Sri Lankan government to grant his humanitarian staff full access to civilians.

A Sri Lankan diplomat told delegates at an informal meeting on Friday that he would fight the Western-backed text. (dpa)

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US to boycott UN’s anti-racism conference

April 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr. 19 (ANI): The Obama administration has decided to boycott a UN racism conference beginning on Monday, criticizing the language used for Israel and the West in the meeting’s final document.

US State Department Spokesman Robert Wood announced that despite improvements from an earlier draft, the changes in the final text do not address US concerns about anti-Israel and anti-Western bias.

The administration had lobbied hard for more revisions so that it could participate.

The Israel and Canada are not attending over concerns about a possible repeat of verbal attacks on the Jewish state.

The five-day meeting to be held in Geneva is intended to evaluate progress toward goals set by the first such conference in 2001.

During that meeting, the United States and Israel walked out midway through the conference over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for criticism and which likened Zionism – the movement to establish a Jewish state in the Holy Land – to racism.

Many of the same issues are now re-emerging in this latest meeting of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

The European Union has not decided on whether to attend the meeting or boycott it over Islamic nations’ demands to condemn Israel.

“We have made clear that we cannot tolerate it if this anti-racism conference is turned into an accusatory event, a one-sided event against the state of Israel,” said Thomas Steg, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel and denied the Holocaust, plans to speak as the conference opens.

However, Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel is among the many prominent defenders of Israel who will be present. (ANI)

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U.N. council rushes to respond to North Korea launch

April 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Demonstrators hold placards during a protest rally against a plan to build a U.S. missile… Enlarge Photo Demonstrators hold placards during a protest rally against a plan to build a U.S. missile… Slideshow: World in pictures – April 5

Sun, Apr 5 11:06 PM

Diplomats on the U.N. Security Council scrambled on Sunday to respond to North Korea’s rocket launch, with Washington calling for “strong” action and China and Russia appealing for calm.

The 15-nation council was scheduled to hold emergency closed-door consultations from 3 p.m. EDT/1900 GMT to discuss North Korea’s firing on Sunday of a long-range rocket.

The United States, Japan and South Korea say the launch violated council resolutions banning the firing of ballistic missiles by Pyongyang, which has tested a nuclear device and is in stalled six-party talks about ending its nuclear program.

“The United States’ view is this is serious, it’s a violation and it merits an appropriately strong United Nations response,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told the ABC program “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

“The U.S. is working very closely with Japan and we will be in consultation with our partners inside the council, trying to get the most appropriate and strong response we can possibly get.”

North Korea, a reclusive and impoverished communist state, said the rocket carried a satellite that was now in orbit, transmitting revolutionary songs as it circled the Earth.

But both the U.S. military and South Korea said it had failed to enter orbit.

VETO POWER

Council diplomats said China and Russia had made clear they would use their veto powers to block any resolution imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang.

As a result, Washington and Tokyo planned to draft a resolution demanding stricter enforcement of an existing arms embargo and financial sanctions.

The diplomats said they did not expect the Americans and Japanese would have a draft resolution ready by the time council members gathered on Sunday.

South Korea said the rocket launch was “reckless” and Japan said it was “extremely regrettable.” U.N. diplomats said Japan’s U.N. Ambassador Yukio Takasu demanded an emergency Security Council meeting minutes after the rocket was fired.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement that called for a “balanced approach and caution.” China, the closest North Korea has to a major ally, also called for calm and restraint.

Council diplomats said there was a flurry of phone calls and meetings before the afternoon council meeting as the U.S., Japanese and allied delegations consulted on a strategy to persuade Russia and China that strong condemnation of North Korea’s behavior and tough action were needed.

Japan and the United States say the launch violated Security Council resolution 1718, which it passed unanimously in response to North Korea’s October 2006 nuclear test. That resolution banned Pyongyang from launching ballistic missiles or carrying out further nuclear tests.

But diplomats said Russia and China have expressed doubts about whether the launch would qualify as a violation of 1718 if it is confirmed that the rocket carried a satellite.

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In Cairo: Egyptian free expression resolution causes UN stir

March 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Cairo – A confrontation over freedom of expression is brewing in the UN Human Rights Council after Egypt began circulating a draft resolution that Western countries and human-rights groups fear could circumscribe free speech.

Egypt began passing a resolution Friday among delegations from the 47 countries currently serving on the UN Human Rights Council that reportedly calls for further “limitations” on speech that could be construed as defaming religions.

Canada has for years sponsored UN resolutions upholding freedom of expression that have found ready support from other Western countries. These resolutions, while non-binding, help inform international human-rights law.

The draft resolution has not yet been made public, but according to reports Saturday in the Canadian press, Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Marius Grinius “complained forcefully” to his Egyptian counterpart after the Egyptian draft was distributed.

Human-rights groups have repeatedly criticized Egypt’s record on free expression. They now say they fear the new resolution could resemble previous Egyptian attempts to exempt speech that adherents to a religion find offensive from speech protected by human-rights treaties.

“Be concerned, be very concerned, any time a government with Egypt’s sorry record on freedom of expression attempts to set the parameters for free speech for the rest of the world,” Joe Stork, associate Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Saturday.

“We reject any depiction of the repeated affronts to religions and sanctities as a legitimate exercise of the freedom of expression,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit told the UN General Assembly in September.

“There are many glaring slogans in the name of which crimes have been committed against thousands and millions of people through offending them and their beliefs and faiths.”

A spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment on the resolution.

Egypt was instrumental in adding amendments to the terms of reference for the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, which require the special rapporteur to “report on instances where the abuse of the right to freedom of expression constitutes an act of racial or religious discrimination,” during the council’s seventh session in March 2008.

The special rapporteur’s terms of reference had previously required him to report only on instances where the right to freedom of expression had been abused, not on cases where the speech constituted an abuse. Such cases were previously handled by other UN bodies.

Egyptian and international human-rights groups said they feared the change could leave human-rights law open to misinterpretation.

“It’s ironic that Egypt is portraying itself as a protector of these principles of freedom of expression and religion when it imprisons people for their religious beliefs,” Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, associate Middle East director at Amnesty International, told dpa on Saturday.

Hadj-Sahraoui said the Human Rights Council’s working group on freedom of expression found last week that Cairo had “arbitrarily detained” Egyptian blogger Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman for peacefully exercising his right to free expression.

That decision was in response to a 2007 complaint that Amnesty International submitted soon after a judge in Alexandria, Egypt, sentenced the blogger to four years in prison on charges of “insulting Islam” and “insulting the president” in a series of blog posts.

“Only after President Hosni Mubarak frees the bloggers he’s imprisoned and implements the press reforms he promised years ago would it be possible to take an initiative like this seriously,” Human Rights Watch’s Joe Stork said. (dpa)

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US to skip racism summit to ease friction with Israel

March 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment

United Nations, Feb.28 (ANI): The Obama administration is unlikely to attend an upcoming U.N. conference on racism, as it is keen to ease friction with Israel.

Israel has asked the Obama administration to join its boycott of the conference, scheduled for April 20-24 in Geneva. Some Jewish groups have said they were worried that the tone of the meeting would be similar to the 2001 conclave that discussed Zionism as a form of racism.

American diplomats have been unsuccessful in trying to change the language offensive on Israel and other countries, a senior U.S. official said Friday.

The apparent decision is aimed at ensuring the success of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton first official visit to the Middle East next week.
A U.S. delegation spent the past two weeks in Geneva, where it spoke to envoys from 30 nations to try to win concessions on the draft resolution for the U.N. World Conference Against Racism, or “Durban II.”

The Americans rejected the text, saying it should not single out individual nations for censure nor affirm other elements of the document drafted at the first anti-racism summit in Durban, South Africa, in 2001.

The official said the Americans also were uneasy with a call for reparations for past slavery.

“As the document is, it cannot be salvaged,” said a State Department official, who was authorized to speak only on condition of anonymity.

Clinton leaves this weekend for the Middle East, including a stop in Israel, to discuss, among other controversial subjects, Israeli restrictions on aid to Palestinians in Gaza in the aftermath of an Israeli offensive.

“We have no hopes of changes in the essence of the coming Durban conference,” said Israeli Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog, who leads his country’s campaign against anti-Semitism.

“We’re waiting on the U.S. to take its stand, since it will inevitably affect European and other countries, and may result in them banning the meeting as well,” he said, speaking before Friday’s news.

So far, only Israel and Canada have announced they will boycott the conference. Some human rights advocates and many U.S. allies would like the U.S. to attend.

However, some European countries are skeptical about the value of a meeting that also looks at the history of slavery without shedding light on a practice that still exists.

A European diplomat told The Washington Times that governments also are concerned about adoption of a resolution banning the “defamation of religion.”

The United States and Israel hastily pulled out of the original 2001 conference, arguing that anti-Israel demonstrations made thoughtful dialogue impossible.

The new president has repeatedly said that the United States and United Nations would have a closer relationship and the clearest examples so far have involved human rights.

The Obama administration’s view seems to be that it can have more influence participating in U.N. activities than criticizing from the outside. (ANI)

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