Suffering from the consequences of ethnic separatism, Sri Lanka has been embarked in ethnic conflict amongst its Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority for decades.
Following British rule in 1815, Tamils from India were shipped to Sri Lanka by the British for slave labor, while the Tamil middle class were educated to rule the colony.  After the country’s independence in 1948, the new elite took control vowing to replace the English language with Sinhalese.  Armed with new legislation to remove the Tamils from the civil services in 1970 and with the rise of  “nationalism,” the level of discrimination and anti-Tamil riots had increased both left and right.  In response, the Tamil resistance, particularly the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), insisted on an independent state in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.  The government reacted with torture, disappearances and by using chemical weapons and cluster bombs.  Likewise, the Tigers responded by committing their own crimes, implementing methods such as kidnapping and suicide bombing.  A cease-fire was reached in 2002, and continued until last year, before the government resumed the fighting.  This in effect pressured the Tamil civilians to flee from “welfare camps”, operated by the military.  Additionally, foreign aid workers are banned from entering the camps with the exception of the Red Cross, who are “‘witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe.’” The United Nation is also reporting that thousand of civilians are falling victim in the conflict zone, urging the government to end the bloodshed without further delay.
We are also experiencing the civil strife here in Canada, as Tamil Tiger protestors last Friday took the streets to encourage the Canadian and United States governments to assert pressure on the Sri Lankan government in the hopes of reaching a cease-fire and preserving the Tamil minority from execution.
Does Canada, now with the largest Tamil communities outside of Sri Lanka, have the responsibility to help put an end to the conflict?

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/15/sri-lanka-fighting-united-nations

www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=3839

Pilger, John. “Distant voices, desperate lives.” New Statesman 138.4949 (18 May 2009): 16-16.

Van de Voorde, Cécile. “Sri Lankan Terrorism: Assessing and Responding to the Threat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).” Police Practice & Research 6.2 (May 2005): 181-199.

The Taliban is a fundamentalist Islamic movement operating in Afghanistan and in the north western provinces of Pakistan. Not only have they been a threat to the security forces operating within the region, but are also responsible for denying basic rights, like the right to an education for females. The Taliban denied female education in Afghanistan during their rule. After being ousted from the country, they moved to Pakistan as an underground movement and have since adopted similar policies, spread their influence and are now resurgent in Afghanistan. This stems from the movement’s strict adherence to Islamic Sharia Law, which the Taliban is trying to impose on the regions they control. Using Sharia law as justification, the Taliban argues that females have no place in school or in the public sphere and should be confined to the private sphere, which mainly revolves around the home. In Pakistan’s northern valleys the group has closed down over 170 schools for boys and girls, and in a recent radio broadcast ordered all schools to close by mid-January or face the consequences. 20,000 students have been pulled out of school as a direct result of these orders. Schools which defy these orders face direct attacks from Taliban militias.

Attack against a female educational institution - (AP Photo/Sherin Zada - The Associated Press)

The denial of the right to an education is a direct result of the deterioration of security within these regions. The Pakistani army and police have been battling the Taliban for more than six years, but have had little luck in containing the group. A consequence of this is that law and order in southern Afghanistan and north western Pakistan has collapsed. One proposed solution was to place security forces near education facilities, but teachers feared that this would invite more attacks on schools because the security forces are one of the Taliban’s primary targets. Many citizens within Pakistan have argued against this strategy and demanded that education be open to males and females alike. Bashir Ahmed Bilour, a senior provincial official, has argued that if schools can remain open in Gaza they can certainly remain open in Pakistan.

Why should girls in these countries not have the same right to attend school and gain an education that girls in other parts of the world do? Females, like males, are entitled to every right that is outlined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in all corners of the world. Despite the presence of a NATO force in Afghanistan and over 100,000 Pakistani troops fighting the Taliban for the past seven years, civilians within this region still bear the brunt of the conflict. The situation has deteriorated so badly that in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province, where Canadian troops operate, attacks on girls attending school have made many fear even stepping outside of their homes. Increased attention to the situation and a more decisive global effort to remove the Taliban and other related groups will be necessary to allow females to acquire an education and to foster peace and stability within the region.

For further reading:

• Taliban threats close Pakistan schools
• Photos
• Acid attack on Afghan schoolgirls

The Associated Press

On January 19^th 2009 Stanislav Markov, human rights lawyer and journalist was shot dead in broad daylight in the center of Moscow, just half a mile from the Kremlin. A 25-year-old freelance journalist, Anastasia Barburova was also killed that day, while trying to chase the assassin.

Although the investigation is not completed, the motive of these murders seems to be clear. Stanislav Markov, such as Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist and human rights activists known for her opposition to the Chechen conflict and criticism of Vladimir Putin, was a victim of growing aggression against human rights defenders, civil society activists and independent journalists in Russia.

Over the past few months, victims have included many people who had connections with the conflicts in Chechnya and Ingushetia. Stanislav Markov was not different. He was representing the family of 18 – year-old Kheda Kungayeva, who was abducted, violently raped and murdered by a Russian officer Yuri Budanov in 2000 in Chechnya. The Budanov’s case was the first case of the Russian army senior officer to be convicted of human rights abuse during the Chechen conflict. Budanov was recently released from prison for a good behaviour. Stanislav Markov was fighting for former officer to be sent back to prison and had filed an appeal to the Supreme Court to block his release.

“I am being threatened; they want me to drop the Budanov case and they said if I don’t, they will kill me,”
Before the fatal day in January, Markov received death threats in text messages and phone calls. That is why many commentators do not have doubts that his death is directly connected to his professional activities.

According to the 2008 Amnesty International Report on the State of Human Rights in the World, human rights defenders in Russia are facing numerous harassments, intimidations and in some cases murders. They are repeatedly accused, by the intolerant of criticism government representatives and state-controlled media for working for foreign interests and being anti-Russian or unpatriotic. NGOs are weighed down by reporting requirements imposed by the officials. Criminal charges for using illegal software or for inciting hatred are also taken out against them.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia was responsible for enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial execution in 15 judgments related to the second Chechen conflict, which began in 1999. In many cases victims of human rights violation or their families are reluctant to lodge an application in the Court because they feel threatened by the reprisals against previous applicants.

Russia has a culture where impunity reigns and where criminals are rarely brought to justice. Even in the high-profile cases such as Anna Politkovskaya’s killing, after two years of investigation assassin or assassins remain unknown.

At the beginning of December, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Information and Communication announced that he wanted to create a “healthy environment” for bloggers. Doing this would be a huge step forward in achieving the goal of freedom of press. The government intends to succeed with the help of Google and Yahoo. They should regulate the blogging scene by stopping ‘incorrect information’ from being published. This measure is meant to reduce blogs to their original sense, being a personal diary and not a way to discuss opinions about politics. 

Though the constitution guarantees freedom of press, the Communist Party controls and censors the media. The Internet is the only media people in Vietnam can use to express political opinions not in agreement with those of the Communist Party. It is therefore especially used for this purpose. Because there is no independent judiciary, the government influences court decisions and ignores freedom of the press. People are often threatened and arrested when they state something not conforming to the Party’s opinion. Dieu Cay, for example, was convicted to several years in prison.

Dieu Cay, whose real name is Nguyen Hoang Hai, was arrested on April 19^th 2008 without an explanation until 5 days later. Later, he was charged and convicted of tax fraud. The government claimed that he hasn’t paid taxes for 10 years on the house he’s living in. Which is right. He didn’t. Not in person. He had the company from which he rented his house paying the taxes in his name.

The real issue is that Dieu Cay founded a group of bloggers called the “Free Vietnamese Journalists Club,” which focuses mainly on corruption and human rights. Furthermore, he published an article on his blog about protests staged during the Olympic torch relay in cities around the world including Ho Chi Minh City, where Dieu Cay lives, and encouraged people to take part in the protests. Prior to that, the police had already harassed and monitored him because he took part in a demonstration against China’s claim to sovereignty over Spratly and Paracel Islands in the beginning of the year.

Dieu Cay’s case is not an exception. There are now eight Internet dissidents in jail, which is why Vietnam is ranked 168 out of 173 countries in the Reporters Without Borders ranking of Internet enemies.

Another example of how little freedom of the press really exists in Vietnam is the case of Truong Quoc Huy. He uses Paltalk to meet with other like-minded people to criticize corruption and to talk about democracy. He is a member of the 8406 group, a Vietnamese pro-democracy movement about which he spoke in an interview with a foreign radio station. The next day, he was arrested and sentenced to a six-year jail sentence.

So even if the government succeeds in forcing the Internet giants to censor their blog platforms it is questionable if that it will silence all the Vietnamese who are obviously longing to talk about democracy and express their displeasure about their political system.

Read also the following articles:

• about Dieu Cay written by ‘Reporters Without Borders’
• about Dieu Cay written by the Open Net Initiative
• about Truon Quoc Huy

Photo: Monuc/Myriam Asmani

The Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced 2 wars in the last 12 years, resulting in over 5.4 million deaths. The first war, which was in 1996, was a consequence of the Rwandan genocide and the second followed in 1998 as fighting for control over the DRC’s vast resources had heightened. The rising death tolls from past as well as present conflicts are not only a result of violence between ethnic groups, but also, as a result of disease, lack of food, shelter and medicine. The UN has stated that over a quarter million people have also become displaced due to the rebel groups that run rampant throughout the DRC.

The DRC currently has a democratic transitional government in place, with Joseph Kabila as president. Opposing him is General Laurent Nkunda, who is Tutsi by birth, but claims to be fighting for all Congolese. Nkunda leads his rebel army out of North Kivu. Along with Nkunda’s rebel army occupying the DRC and Kabila’s National Congolese Army, there are also Hutu rebels from Rwanda as well as The Lord’s Resistance Army from neighbouring Uganda – all active players in the fighting. Why all the fuss?

The DRC is one of Africa’s richest countries in terms of its vast mineral and natural resource wealth – it is rich in gold, diamonds, timber, copper, coltan and cobalt. And Although the holes within the peace process, ongoing competition of rebel groups and a massive lack of social infrastructure are a large part of the problem silver none repeat scroll the shared desire for control of the DRC’s resources is also a main driving force behind the conflict. The exploitation of resources does not solely stem from groups within the DRC or its neighbouring states, Uganda or Rwanda, but the West is also a key player in the quest for the DRC’s resources.What is happening within the region is that neighbouring countries, like Uganda and Rwanda, are extract them to Western companies. According to his article, published in the Briarpatch in 2001, Asad Ismi states that the diamond industry alone in the United States supplies $2 million US per year to the Rwandan Army. Money is being funnelled back into these countries and as Ismi suggests, is potentially being used to fund the activities of the rebel militias. The bottom line is that the spark behind what is fuelling these fires is western demand for these resources and the profit that is to be made from them.

Although the UN maintains its largest humanitarian mission in the DRC, it does not seem to be enough to halt the violent actions of local rebel groups. More attention, more action, more aid and more concern must be brought to the DRC. Furthermore, the groups, governments and international institutions that are also directly or indirectly involved must be held accountable for their covert complicity.

• The Economist where you can find an interactive map explaining the conflict (the video is on the third line)
• The UN Refugee Agency and its action in DRC
• World Vision, how you can help the population in DRC and a lot of interesting ressources on the topic

Photo: OLPC Foundation

On November 17th 2008, the non-profit organization, One Laptop per Child, launched its second campaign for the project Give One/ Get One, encouraging people to donate laptops to children living in the developing world.

This project, initiated by U.S. academics and professionals from the new information and communication technology industry, first planned to develop laptops for less than 100 US$. Despite a complicated start, particularly during the first stage of launching, people from about thirty countries (mainly in North America and Europe) can now buy a computer for 399 US$ on amazon.com. For this price, buyers receive the now famous XO  laptop, and simultaneously donate a computer to a child living in one of the developing countries participating in the program. Consumers also have the option of  donating a laptop directly for 199 US$.

In the wake of a global food crisis, where some countries face acute food shortages,  the One Laptop Per Child project has attracted criticism. The following video answers these concerns and states the goals of this ambitious project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMeX2D4AOjM

One Laptop per Child’s main mission is to provide children in the poorest countries access to educational tools, that in turn foster human development.

The XO, which is run by the Linux operating system, has an internet connection and an eco-energetic power supply (running off of  solar and human energy). It is also built to withstand specific environmental conditiions, including high heat and humidity, making it an excellent tool for human development in any area of the world.  

• One Laptop Per Child Foundation
  

]]> http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/one-laptop-per-child-give-oneget-one-project-is-back/feed/ 0 Mathieu olpc1 http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/norway-gives-a-helping-hand-to-liberia/ http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/norway-gives-a-helping-hand-to-liberia/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:00:48 +0000 Mathieu http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/?p=197 ]]>

Credits: easyvoyage.com

On November 14th 2008, Norway announced the cancellation of an important part of Liberia’s debt. The Norwegian government agreed to cancel 35 million USD, making up 90% of the Liberia’s total debt to Norway. This gesture from the Norwegian government is directly in line with the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC Initiative). This program, jointly proposed by the IMF and the World Bank in September 1996, was designed to provide exceptional assistance to eligible countries following sound economic policies to help them reduce their external debt burden to sustainable levels. Norway’s actions are also based on agreements concluded in April 2008 by the Club of Paris, an informal group of official creditors whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor nations, proposing for instance postponement, rescheduling and even partial or total cancellation of debts.

In accordance with the Norwegian Debt Relief Strategy, debt cancellation for Liberia was carried out without taking any funds from the government’s development budget. Erik Solheim, Norvegian Minister of the Environment and International Development, stressed in a press release that the cancellation does not therefore affect the development assistance provided to other poor countries.

The partial cancellation of Liberia’s debt underlies the efforts made by this country marked by more than 25 years of takeovers and civil war. Indeed, since November 2005 and the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard graduate and mother of four, the country seems to have mad significant progress. According to Human Rights Watch, Liberia has made, “tangible progresses by moving from an almost collapsing State to a democratic Sate ruled by the law.” Those improvements are mainly due to policies established to fight corruption. Indeed, Johnson-Sirelaf, dubbed the “Iron Lady”, has made it her goal to put and end to this chronic problem which has burdened Liberia’s economy through the years.
In Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s mind, economic development is essential to peace in her country. Norway’s gesture has no doubt encouraged and provided necessary support to efforts in this direction.

For more information, visit :

• Club de Paris, where you can find information concerning the HIPC Initiative.
• the US department of State, to have more information concerning the situation in Liberia

The 12th annual edition of Quebec’s International Solidarity conference took place this November and ran from the 12th to 23rd. During this event several specialists on agriculture and food supply were present to discuss the problems and potential solutions that currently surround the global food crisis. The central discussion of this conference dealt with the principle of food sovereignty, which is a concept first developed by the Via Campesina, an international farmers movement, at the World Food Summit in Rome in 1996. A former member of Via Campesina, José Bové, was present at Quebec’s International Solidarity Day to further explain the concept and to give recommendations.

Essentially, food sovereignty refers to the idea that countries should have the sovereign power to establish food policies that best suit the needs of their own people. They should not be forced to abide by international markets, which as many have pointed out, have only led to extreme inequality in the distribution of the wealth and food supply. Currently the World Trade Organization (WTO) heavily dictates the policies that surround agricultural markets. Unfortunately for many developing countries this means that their own policy makers are thus forced to follow the WTO’s lead, even if it hinders their development.

The concept of Food Sovereignty is viewed by many as a break from the current agricultural market structure because it would give much more power to local farmers, especially in developing nations. Under the current situation small, local producers often have a hard time buying or selling goods at prices that are set without their input and not feasible to them. Considering the fact that more than half of the world’s population, 52% approximately, are farmers, change certainly needs to be examined.

During the conference, several panelists, such as Andre Beaudoin, the general secretary of the Union of Agricultural Producers in Quebec (UPA), argued that the development of agriculture should first and foremost focus on local needs. Moreover, he suggests that we should put pressure on our governments to try to reduce the power of the large agribusiness corporations that currently dominate the agricultural market. Perhaps most importantly, in order to secure the success of Quebec agriculture, we must aim to establish equal prices for each producer, which would give them greater capability of exporting abroad.

To conclude, one of the most important thing at the moment is to renew the promotion of the farmers work around the world and adjust their production plan in optics to be able to ensure food safety for all since it is already recognized that the current food production could be enough to supply the world needs, but that it is not the case due to the desires of the international market.

To get more information on the concept of food sovereignty or on the Quebec international solidarity days, you can visit the following links:

• AQOCI, the agency of Quebec international development organizations.
• Via Campesina, an international peasant movement.
• UPA, the Union of agricultural producers of Quebec.
• Food first, the institute for food and development research.

]]> http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/food-sovereignty-getting-to-know-a-concept/feed/ 0 Michael souval11 souval21 http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/feeling-the-weight-of-the-debt/ http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/feeling-the-weight-of-the-debt/#comments Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:57:01 +0000 Ella http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/?p=164 ]]>

A brief but powerful video portraying the basic essentials of the relationship between lending institution (The World Bank and/or IMF) and their borrowing countries.

To learn more about Third World debt you can visit these websites:

• Social Justice Committee and our activities on debt
• Jubilee USA Network

]]> http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/feeling-the-weight-of-the-debt/feed/ 0 Ella http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/child-soldiers/ http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/child-soldiers/#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:00:05 +0000 Andrea http://blogsjc.wordpress.com/?p=9 ]]>

We have all seen the horrifying images of children with vacant stares and machine guns slung across their necks like violent accessories. These are the child soldiers who live in the poorest and most desperate countries like Sudan, Nepal, Sierra Leone or Sri Lanka. They cannot tell the world about the atrocities that they face every day.

Luckily, human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International give these  children a voice by educating others about their situation.

Human Rights Watch estimates that there are about 300,000 child soldiers worldwide in over 33 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. Most children, who are enlisted as soldiers, are between the ages of 14-18, although some have been reported to be as young as 8 years old. The light, easily maneuvered weapons are easy for youth to operate. Child soldiers can be forced to serve as front line combatants, spies, mine workers and are sometimes even sent on suicide missions.

Although there are some programs in place to help rehabilitate child soldiers, there are still places in the world where programs do not exist. Without this support, children must find a way to deal with extremely traumatic memories of violence, murder and abuse on their own.

The following video depicts efforts to demobilize child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It includes testimonies from former child soldiers and some footage of training camps for child soldiers.

For more information on child soldiers, visit :

• Human Rights Watch
• Amnesty International
• Child-soldier.org