Tag: UN

  • No Justice for Rape Victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina

    No Justice for Rape Victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina

    a3Amnesty International: No Justice for Rape Victims

    22 July 2009  Amnesty International calls on to the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina to open an investigation into allegations of rape committed by the Lukic cousins in Visegrad.

    Following the conviction for crimes in Visegrad, which saw Milan Lukic sentenced to life in prison, and Sredoje Lukic to 30 years, Amnesty International has called on the State Prosecution to open an investigation into allegations of rape committed by the two cousins in this part of Eastern Bosnia.

    “The conviction of Milan and Sredoje Lukic for war crimes and crimes against humanity brings justice for the killing of scores of people during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina but ignores the suffering of victims of sexual violence. Amnesty International deeply regrets that the Prosecutor failed to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity of sexual violence, including rape”, said an Amnesty International press release titled “No justice for rape victims”.

    On July 20, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Milan and Sredoje Lukic of murder, persecution, extermination, and torture – committed between 1992 and 1994 in the Visegrad area.

    The Prosecution charged that Milan Lukic was leader of the paramilitary group known as the “Beli Orlovi” (White Eagles) or “Osvetnici” (Avengers), while Sredoje was a policeman in Visegrad, and a member of the “Beli Orlovi” group. 

    For years, Visegrad victims have called on the Hague Prosecution to indict Milan Lukic for numerous rapes committed in this city, among other places, in “Vilina Vlas” hotel. (See: Visegrad Rape Victimes Say Their Cries Go Unheard).

    “The raped women of Visegrad deserve justice too. Those responsible for these crimes should also be held to account. Over a decade after the war, these women are forced to live with the memories of their suffering without being able to receive acknowledgement and compensation”, said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.

    During the reading of the Lukic cousins’ verdict, Judge Patrick Robinson said there had been “many pieces of evidence pertaining to other crimes which include rape”, however, since the Lukic cousins were not indicted for those crimes, “the Chamber did not determine their guilt for them”.

    “The evidence shows that a group of about 70 Bosniak civilians were brought by a group of armed Serbs to the house of Jusuf Memic, where they were robbed while being threatened by armed men. Women were stripped to their bare skin. After that they took several women, who upon return said they were raped. The evidence indicates that Milan Lukic was in the house of Jusuf Memic and took things from victims. He was armed, while people were being stripped bare. He participated in taking women from the house, who, as they said, were raped”, said Robinson.

    Amnesty International notes that credible evidence of the abduction of young women who were subsequently held and subjected to rape and other crimes of sexual violence at the Vilina Vlas hotel near Vi?egrad has been gathered by the Tribunal and the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina which points to the alleged responsibility of the Lukic cousins for rape and other crimes of sexual violence.

    “A number of non-governmental organizations have also documented testimonies of victims who allege that they were raped by members of paramilitary groups under Milan Lukic’s command. Amnesty International in 1993 documented two cases in which girls reported that they had been raped in Vilina Vlas hotel, allegedly by members of the White Eagles”, the statement says.

    A UN report on rapes in BiH committed in 1994 describes “Vilina Vlas” as one of the places where rapes took place, and states that it was a detention center for women, where girls younger then 14 were held.

    BIRN

  • Turkey appoints new representative to UN

    Turkey appoints new representative to UN

    Baki Ilkin was Turkey’s former permanent representative to the UN. Saturday, 04 July 2009 10:15 Turkey has appointed a new representative to the United Nations (UN).

    ertugrul-apakan

    Turkey appointed Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ertugrul Apakan as its new permanent representative to the UN on June 29.

    The concerned decree was published on Saturday’s Official Gazette.

    Baki Ilkin was Turkey’s former permanent representative to the UN. He represented Turkey in the UN for the past four and a half years, and retired on July 1.

  • Turkey’s Davutoglu leaves for US

    Turkey’s Davutoglu leaves for US

    Turkish FM Davutoglu left for the United States on Saturday.

    Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu left for the United States on Saturday.

    He will attend a meeting on the Middle East at UN Security Council in New York.

    In his first visit to the US as a foreign minister, Davutoglu will hold official talks in New York.

    Davutoglu is expected to hold official talks in UN on Monday.

    He will be back to Turkey on Tuesday. The details of Foreign Minister Davutoglu’s visit is due today.

    AA

    Source:  www.worldbulletin.net, 09 May 2009

  • UN report condemns Israel over Gaza war

    UN report condemns Israel over Gaza war

    tolA United Nations investigation yesterday accused Israel of “reckless disregard” for human life in using white phosphorus munitions that killed and injured Palestinians sheltering in a UN school during the Gaza war.

    The four-man UN panel, led by Ian Martin, a former head of Amnesty International, confirmed that smoke projectiles containing white phosphoros had twice struck UN premises, causing two deaths.

    The UN board had a limited mandate to investigate the nine worst attacks on UN premises and vehicles during the war earlier this year.

    It found the Israel Defence Forces responsible for seven of those attacks, including one it described as a “direct and intentional strike into UN premises” that killed three young men at a UN school in Asma.

    The UN panel blamed “a Palestinian faction, most likely Hamas” for one attack using a homemade Qassam rocket on a UN warehouse at the Karni crossing, saying the rocket was probably aimed at Israel but fell short. It was unable to establish responsibility for the ninth incident.

    In the highly publicised case of the shelling of the UN’s Jabalia school on January 6, panel-members demanded that Israel apologise for falsely claiming that it was responding to Hamas mortar fire when it attacked, killing up to 40 people in the vicinity and injuring seven people inside.

    Israel also wrongly claimed Hamas had fired from a UN field office it hit with artillery fire, the panel said.

    “These allegations were untrue, continued to be made after it ought to have been known that they were untrue, and were not adequately withdrawn and publicly regretted,” the panel said.

    The UN panel documented Israel’s use of white phosphoros munitions that hit the UN compound in Gaza City and the UN’s Beit Lahia school.

    Two children, aged 5 and 7, were killed by shards of projectile casings at the Beit Lahia school on January 5 and smoke from the burning white phosphorus injured others.

    “The firing by the IDF of projectiles containing white phosphorus in such close promixity to the school as to cause the death of two young children and serious injuries to others, as well as property damage, was highly negligent and amounted to reckless disregard for the lives and safety of those sheltering in the school,” an unclassifed 28-page summary of the 184-page report said.

    Israel’s deputy UN Ambassador, Daniel Carmon, called the report “biased” and “one-sided”.

    Source:  www.timesonline.co.uk, May 6, 2009

  • Good News From Mozambique

    Good News From Mozambique

    The balance and imbalance experiences that affected the world in the last century, seems to maintain its effect in the future as it is doing at the moment. The impressions and the observations we obtained reveal that after a time, the impressions carried on in the “Black Continent” had exploded and the native people wanted to present a way out and to do something about this.

    Mozambique is a mistreated country which had his share of the colonialism like the other African countries. We know that Portugal is also active in that geography of which Europe profit every inch. Portugal kept his effect up for a long time until the Mozambicans drove them away from this region 30 years ago.

    In the county governed with capitalist economic system, all the balances that would be useful for Portugal were ready. But all the development plans disappeared when the native people drove them away. The communist system which tried hard to rule the country after the capitalism managed to continue ruling even by force. Occident who didn’t have his profits lost, caused to the civil war in the country. The conflicts between the government and the people came to an end with efforts of Anglican Church to bring together the representatives of the people and the governments. The country obtained nothing more than harm at the end of the civil war. At the end of that agreement the campaign, “collecting weapons from people”, was started and until that time 600.000 weapons has been able to collected. When we look at the weapons collected it surprises us that they come from Russia, England, and USA. Shortly, it can be called a civil war supported outwardly. A tableau of the people who doesn’t know for what they fight and who obtained the greatest harm.

    The development of the country becomes slowly. Having harm more than a profit of the communism is also a factor to this. This system wasn’t accepted in this area because of the fact that the people have a mentality that consists of a leader and forming group. And the government is being effected by the collapse lived in 1991. After that the commerce of the country has been brought to a moderate atmosphere. One of the biggest postwar problems of Mozambique in which a person working in an average job earns 40 $, is the sweeping of the mines in the north region. Mine Research Commission states that the mine maps belonging to that time are lost and extensive mine researches are stopped because the attention of worldly public opinion is attracted to Iraq and Afghanistan. Henceforth, there, the mortal weapons are used to make a work of art. Messages on the useless of these weapons are being given to the people. The authorities, who say that even for the children imitation weapons shouldn’t be bought, state that people can go forward if they take their lesson from the history. Today, even in British Museum the work of art called “the Life Tree” that the people made from the weapons takes part. In the country in which ideological fixed ideas will disappear in time, in some of the streets the names of the ex-communist-leaders take part. But people’s longing to democracy and endeavoring for realizing this makes us happy.

    Fishing has the greatest part for people’s making their life. In Mozambique which is a port country, a small Turkish educator group takes part. We don’t have any economical activity there yet. We want to keep our expansionist policy up there too and we thank to Sezai Kara and the other Turks who represent us there after Ottoman. The main after all is the conflict between people and systems has continued during centuries. The thing that changes the movement of happenings: exterior forces, methods that the people applied, geographical features and events lived. Today Africa is changing and becoming conscious. It is enough that it is set free. External effects having lasted too many years wore them out but they believe that they will have the required strength for rising. It is enough at least. These people lived under slavery for centuries but the ones who have lived under slavery for too many years, haven’t wanted to rise and who misses the times under slavery astonish us.

    These are the situations rooting from unconsciousness. The ones who have gained the consciousness are being assimilated to the other ways. The only thing to do is to remind the past and to supply national consciousness. To state that the dialogue is more important than the conflict.

    Mehmet Fatih ÖZTARSU

  • UN security council debates Gaza – VIDEO

    UN security council debates Gaza – VIDEO

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2009/jan/07/un-security-council

    The UN security council meets in New York following the deaths of 40 people in attacks on two schools