Malian and French Forces Take Control of Gao

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali—The French and Malian forces, working together, pushed forward to the desert town of Timbuktu today, as the two-week-long French mission began gathering momentum against the Islamist extremists, who have been in control of the region for more than nine months.

A French military convoy makes its way toward Timbuktu. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)

This move toward Timbuktu comes just a day after the French army announced that they had succeeded in seizing the airport and a key bridge in Gao, which is one of the other northern provincial capitals currently under the control of the Islamist insurgents. Diarran Kone, a spokesman for Mali’s Defense Ministry said, “Since yesterday the Malian army has been in Gao, controlling the airport.” “Police actions are under way,” he continued.

Gao is the largest city in northern Mali. It was seized more than nine months ago, by a mixture of al-Qaida linked Islamist fighters. This group of fighters turned the city into a replica of Afghanistan under the Taliban. The group also has close ties to Moktar Belmoktar, an Algerian national who has been operating in Mali for a long time, and claimed responsibility for the attack on a BP-operated natural gas plant in Algeria.

Gao is one of the main strategic points and represented the biggest move yet in this battle to retake the northern half of the country. The French Defense Ministry spokesman, Colonel Thierry Burkhard, said that Malian, Nigerian and Chadian troops were now deploying in Gao after the French special forces took the airport yesterday. “The taking of control of Gao, which has between 50,000 and 60,000 inhabitants, by Malian, Chadian and Nigerian soldiers, is under way,” he noted.

However, in Paris, a defense ministry official clarified that the city of Gao has not yet been completely liberated. While a lot of progress has been made, the process of freeing the city still continues.

Yesterday, Saturday, January 26, 2013, the United States said that it would provide aerial refueling for France’s warplanes. This decision increases American involvement, which until yesterday had consisted only of transporting French troops and equipment, while also providing some intelligence, including but not limited to satellite photographs.

Since France began its operation, the insurgents have retreated from three small towns in central Mali: Diabaly, Konna, and Douentza. The Islamists continue to control much of the north. This conflict will now dominate the African Union summit in Ethiopia on Monday.

 

For further information, please see:

The Guardian – Mali Conflict: French and Malian Troops Begin Restoring Control in Timbuktu – 27 January 2013

The New York Times – French Troops in Mali Push On to Timbuktu – 27 January 2013

The Wall Street Journal – In Mali, French Troops Step Up Role – 27 January 2013

The Washington Post – French Forces Press Ahead Toward Malian Town of Timbuktu – 27 January 2013

Russian Duma Overwhelmingly Backs “Homosexual Propaganda” Ban

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – On Friday, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, passed the first reading of a bill that would ban spreading “homosexual propaganda” among minors.  Police arrested about 20 protestors outside the Duma after a fight broke out between supporters and opponents of the ban.

Interior Ministry officers detain gay-rights activists for participating in a protest outside the State Duma. (Photo Courtesy of RFE/RL)

Deputies of the Duma passed the first of three required readings with near-unanimous support: 338 voted in favor of the bill, 1 (Sergei Kuzin of United Russia) in opposition, and 1 (Dmitry Gudkov of A Just Russia) abstained.  In addition to passing the readings, the bill must also be approved by the Federation Council, and be signed by President Vladimir Putin to become law.

Although the bill was introduced in the Duma last March by lawmakers from Novosibirsk in Siberia, where locally such laws are already in effect, the bill’s consideration date was pushed back several times.

Echoing laws in St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Novosibirsk, and other regions, the bill would impose fines on individuals and organizations promoting “homosexual behavior among minors.”  Individuals could be fined up to 5,000 roubles (£105; 124 euros; $166) and officials could face a fine of ten times that amount, or 50,000 roubles (£1,050; 1,240 euros; $1,660).  Legal entities, including businesses and schools, could be fined at 100-times the individual limit, resulting in fines of 500,000 roubles (£10,500; 12,400 euros; $16,600) per incident.

Opposition from the gay community has been strong, and gay-rights activists particularly note that the bill fails to define “homosexual propaganda.”  Like its forerunners, the bill also fails to give precise legal definition of homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender.  However, when the LGBT community attempted to challenge this lack of precise language in regional legislation last year, they were turned denied through the Supreme Court.  Accordingly, with the vague language, activities ranging from demonstrating to kissing in public, all in possible view of minors, could constitute “homosexual propaganda.”

Nonetheless, Russia’s state television has reported that members of the gay and lesbian community will be invited to attend the second hearing of the bill, which will most likely be in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, outside the Duma Friday, gay-rights activists clashed with Russian Orthodox Christians.  The gay-rights activists protested with a “kiss-in,” which drew an angered, violent reaction from the bill’s supporters, some of them holding Russian Orthodox icons or crosses.  A scuffle ensued between the two sides, which was broken up by police from the Interior Ministry, who made several arrests.

According to opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta correspondent and gay-rights activist Yelena Kostyuchenko, “”Some of them threw eggs at us, others chanted prayers. They poured ‘zelyonka’ [‘brilliant green,’ a common antiseptic that is hard to wash off] on us. They tried to attack us several times.”

Sources conflict as to whether, of the 20 people arrested by police, any proponents of the bill were among them.  However, Kostyuchenko, claiming the police were clearly on the Duma’s side, reported, “In our police van, there are only LGBT activists and their friends, people who were protesting the bill. There aren’t any fascists or so-called Orthodox activists among us here.”

Deputy Dmitry Sablin, a member of the ruling United Russia party explained the bill was necessary because “[a]lready 30 percent of children have a more or less positive attitude toward [homosexuality].”  He further stated, “We live in Russia after all; not Sodom and Gomorrah.”  Sablin concluded that defending “traditional values” is “even more important than oil or gas.”

United Russia’s parliamentary faction leader, Vladimir Vasilyev, noted the narrowness of the law in only restricting propaganda “among minors.”  In explaining the goal of the bill, he started “We want our young generation to grow up without this kind of influence.”

By contrast, Amnesty International has criticized the bill as “an attack on the right to freedom of expression,” and cautioned that the bill, which “further stigmatizes and alienates” homosexual people, could be interpreted very loosely.

In Washington, the Obama administration was “deeply concerned” over the bill.  State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the bill will “severely” restrict freedom of expression and assembly for LGBT individuals, and “indeed for all Russians.”  She called on Russia to protect its citizens’ democratic rights, without discrimination.

For related Impunity Watch posts, please see:

Russia Pushes Forward Anti-Gay Law – 22 January 2013

Russia “Gaga” Over Homosexuality Promotion Debate – 12 December 2012

For further information, please see:

France24 – Russia Backs Nationwide ‘Anti-Gay’ Bill – 26 January 2013

RFE/RL – Russian ‘Gay Propaganda’ Bill Passes First Reading Amid Scuffles Outside Duma – 26 January 2013

Amnesty International – Russia’s Anti-Gay ‘Propaganda Law’ Assault on Freedom of Expression – 25 January 2013

BBC News – Russian MPs Back ‘Gay Propaganda’ Ban Amid Scuffles – 25 January 2013

Moscow Times – Duma Passes Anti-Gay Law in First Reading – 25 January 2013

Returns – Russian Police Break up “Kiss-in” Over Anti-Gay Law – 25 January 2013

RT – Russian Duma Gives First Nod to Nationwide Ban on Gay Propaganda – 25 January 2013

U.S. Chides Russia by Leaving Bilateral Group on Human Rights

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, United States — In a protest of Russia’s repression on civil rights and activism, the U.S. State Department announced on Friday that it was leaving a bilateral group aimed at promoting civil society in both countries.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights and Democracy Thomas Melia announced the U.S. withdrawal from a bilateral group aimed at promoting civil society in the United States and Russia. (Photo Courtesy of Russia Beyond the Headlines)

Thomas Melia, deputy secretary of state in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said the Working Group on Civil Society of the Russian-American Bilateral Presidential Commission was not working.

“[The group] is no longer an appropriate or effective forum that would facilitate the development and strengthening of civil society,” Melia said in an interview with Interfax.

A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin called the United States’s decision to withdraw “regrettable.”

But Matthew Rojansky of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace blamed Putin’s government for the U.S. withdrawal.  Rojansky told the Washington Post that the Russian government is not taking any of the necessary steps to ensure a civil society.

“We take these things seriously,” Rojansky said in the Post interview, characterizing the American message.  “And you have shown you don’t take them seriously.”

The American pull out comes amid tense relations between Washington and Moscow.

In the last year, Russia has clamped down on demonstrations amid opposition protests that the government blamed the United States for supporting.  Putin’s government also began prosecuting many political activists, as well as requiring nonprofit electoral and human rights groups receiving money from abroad register as “foreign agents.”

In December, the United States imposed financial and visa sanctions against corrupt Russian officials.  Russia responded by banning American adoption of children from Russia.

Russia also has outlawed the U.S. Agency for International Development.  And most recently, just last month, Putin signed a law that bans American organizations considered involved in political activity.

When asked the U.S. withdrawal from the working group, Melia’s Russian counterpart, Konstantin Dolgov, said he had not received official notice yet.

“We have not yet received any written official documents on Washington’s decision to withdraw from this format of dialogue with Russia,” Dolgov told Interfax.

“We will react officially when we get official notification,” he added.  “We can now say that Russia has made specific proposals to our U.S. colleagues to call another meeting of the working group, which was to be held in Moscow throughout 2013.”

The working group was one of about 20 in a bilateral U.S.-Russia commission started in 2009 by President Barack Obama and Russia’s then-president, Dmitry Medvedev, as relations between the two countries were warming.

For further information, please see:

RT — Moscow Regrets US Pullout from Bilateral Commission on Human Rights — 26 January 2013

Chicago Tribune — U.S. Quits Bilateral Civil Society Group in Rebuke to Russia — 25 January 2013

Russia Beyond the Headlines — Washington Quits U.S.-Russia Civil Society — 25 January 2013

Washington Post — U.S. Quits Joint Panel with Russia on Civil Society — 25 January 2013

Apple Terminates Contract with Supplier Using Underage Workers

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Yesterday, Apple terminated its contract with Chinese circuit manufacturer, Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics Co. Ltd., after learning that seventy-four (74) workers were underage.

Apple logo on a rainbow backdrop. (Photo Courtesy of Huffington Post)

“Given the high turnover rate in the factories and the production pressure in the peak season, the factories may not strictly comply with labor laws and the code of conduct,” shared Debby Chan, a spokeswoman for Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior.

After being criticized for working conditions of suppliers including Foxconn, Apple joined the Fair Labor Association last year.

Apple has conducted three hundred and ninety three (393) audits, a 72% increase from 2011, of its suppliers as part of its investigation of staff working conditions.

Per The Telegraph, Apple has audited both small and subsidiary suppliers and larger ones such as Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, for working conditions. From the foregoing audits, Apple learned that 95% of the sites conformed with underage labor requirements.

According to BBC News, Apple relayed that a regional recruitment company, Shenzhen Quanshun Human Resources Co., Ltd., provided the underage workers to PZ and even supplied said workers with false identity papers.  As a result, Shenzhen Quanshun Human Resources Co., Ltd.’s business license has been revoked.

Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics Co Ltd, or PZ, makes “a standard circuit board component used by many other companies in other industries,” read a report. Moreover, the report stated that 92% of the 1.5 million workers covered by the audit worked a maximum of 60 hours per week.

“We go deep in the supply chain to find it,” explained Jeff Williams, Apple’s Senior Vice-President of Operations.  “And when we do find it, we ensure that the under-age workers are taken care of, the suppliers are dealt with,” continued Mr. Williams.

In October 2012, Foxconn, a China-based iPhone and iPad manufacturer, Foxconn confessed to hiring 14-year-old interns in one of its factories.

“We recognise that full responsibility for these violations rests with our company and we have apologised to each of the students for our role in this action,” read a statement Foxconn issued.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Under-age workers found in Apple supply audit – January 25, 2013

Bloomberg – Apple Says China Agent Forged Papers for Underage Workers – January 25, 2013

The Telegraph – Apple audit finds underage workers in China – January 25, 2013

 

Syria Deeply: 25 January 2013

All information and videos contained in this post are original content posted with permission from Syria Deeply, an independent digital media project.  For further information, please visit their website.

Videos

A tank comes under fire in Darya on 25 January 2013.

 

The Forum

Interview: I’m an FSA Battalion Leader –  by Karen Leigh

 

Recent Headlines

Iran Reaffirms Syria, Assad as Key to “Resistance Front” Against Israel – Huffington Post
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Syria Says Troops Raid Damascus Suburb, Discover Rebel Tunnels – Washington Post

 

Community Op-Eds

Why Syria’s 60,000 Deaths Should Not Shock Us – by Lionel Bechner