The International Criminal Court has begun accepting children’s drawings as supporting evidence of alleged crimes taking place in Darfur. The pictures depict the horrors of the region as seen through the eyes of a child provide vivid insight into what is going on on the ground.
By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
PYONGYANG, North Korea – North Korea military officials and the U.S.-led UN Command met for talks at Panmunjom today. It is the first time in seven years after the tension rises over North Korea planned rocket launch. According to the U.N. Command, North Korea requested this meeting to discuss tension reduction on the Korean Peninsula.
During the talk, North Korea complained the forthcoming joint military exercises by South Korean and U.S. troops. Froom March 9 to 20, South Korean and U.S. troops will hold the annual joint military exercise. About 12,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and 14,000 from off-peninsula, along with South Korean forces will be involved in the exercise. North warned US and South Korea to stop “provocations” in the area or face retaliation. The United Nations Command said they discussed ways to ease tensions and agreed to further talks.
Fears of a border clash escalated as North Korea prepare to test a long-range missile for what it calls a satellite launch. North Korea may launch the test missile in the middle of March to match the timing of the South Korea and U.S. joint military exercises, the Japanese newspaper, Sankei reported. Satellite images show a launch pad is being prepared, the report cites an unidentified official at Japan’s Ministry of Defense. South Korean news media also report North Korea is testing radar and other monitoring equipment in preparation for a satellite launch. North Korea has rejected calls to give up the launch.
South Korea and US say the test missile could theoretically reach Alaska. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for “restraint”. He says that no one forbids anyone to launch satellites, but on the other hand, we must understand what kind of missile this is. At the same time, the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers agreed a rocket launch for any reason would violate a UN resolution passed after the last missile test in 2006.
For more information, please see:
AFP – North Korea, UN hold talks amid border tensions – 02 March 2009
CNN – Rare North Korea, U.N. talks last 32 minutes – 02 March 209
Korean Time – NK Holds Rare Meeting With UN Command – 03 March 2009
International Herald Tribune – South Korea’s Lee calls on North to stop missile plans – 03 March 2009
Voice of American – North Korea Requests Rare Meeting With UN Command – 02 March 2009
Voice of American – South Korea: North Testing Radar, Ahead of Planned Launch – 02 March 2009
His parents are concerned for his safety. “If the Taliban find out about him, they will kill him,” said Wakil’s father. “We are also concerned about his education and his future.”
Madrasas typically provide classes about Islam, free education, shelter and food. Madrasas are funded by private donors.
“Pakistani madrasas brainwash students and teach them religious extremism, armed Jihad and hatred against the government in Afghanistan and the West,” said Gulab Mangal, the Helmand province’s governor.
Madrasas are believed to be a recruiting ground for militant organizations. In fact, the Taliban has been strongly linked to them.
But supporters of madrasas claim that the religious schools are necessary in countries where of Muslims live in poverty and state educational infrastructure is poor.
Today, Pakistan alone is home to over 13,000 madrasas. The rise in the number of madrasas increased in the 1980s when they became recruiting grounds for Islamic volunteers fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Some madrasas later supplied recruits for the Taliban regime.
President Pervez Musharraf attempted to reform madrasas, but failed due to strong support of the education. The International Crisis Group claims that madrasas have survived attacks from the government because of the government’s reliance on religious parties.
For more information, please see:
CRS Report for Congress – Islamic Religious Schools, Madrasas – 23 January 2008
Irin – Afghanistan: Taliban Forces Students Out of Schools into Madrasas – 17 February 2009
Reuters – Factbox: Key Facts about Pakistan’s Islamic Madrasas – 10 July 2007
Reuters – Pakistani Taliban Force Girls’ Schools to Close – 17 January 2009
By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania
SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s Interim Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, has warned ousted Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, that his SDL party might not be included in the proposed President’s Political Forum if the party continues to criticize the interim government.
Spokesman for the SDL, Ted Young, says it is nothing that has not been said before but his party is surprised by the response, “The threats of excluding SDL from the forum would be a very counter-productive move, in fact the forum will not achieve its purpose if the biggest political party is absent from the Forum and it will be an unwise move on the part of the interim regime and Bainimarama to exclude SDL.”
Mr. Young believes the threat is a reaction of comments made by Mr. Qarase who is in Australia. Mr. Qarase has been unable to leave Fiji since he was charged with abuse of office after his government was overthrown in December of 2006. However, the High Court in Fiji altered his bail restrictions this week, allowing him to travel abroad as long as he is in Fiji in early March for his case’s hearing. He is in Australia lobbying for support of the SDL party and visiting family.
Meanwhile, the Fiji political situation will be discussed at a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) in London next week. CMAG will meet in London next week to discuss Fiji and whether further measures need to be taken in light of the interim Government’s refusal to adhere to the May 1 elections deadline. Fiji was suspended from the Councils of the Commonwealth immediately following the 2006 coup.
For more information, please see:
Fiji Times – CMAG to discuss Fiji at London meet – 27 February 2009
Radio New Zealand International – Fiji interim regime threat undermines planned political forum – 24 February 2009
Fiji Daily Post – Qarase seeks help in Australia – 17 February 2009
World News Australia – Qarase free to visit Australia: reports – 12 February 2009
By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
Manila, PHILIPPINES – Local radio journalist Ernie Rollins was killed at gunpoint Monday in Ozamiz City, in Misamis Occidental province of southern Mindanao.
International media groups urge that the murder be promptly investigated. “We firmly condemn the murder of Rollins, the latest victim of a culture of violence and impunity that has ravaged the media in the Philippines for too long,” said Reporters Without Borders. “The motive has not yet been established by the modus operandi indicates it was a contract killing ordered by Rollin’s enemies and carried out by professional hitmen.”
At 5:30 a.m., Rollins was on the way into work to host his program. He parked his car at a gas station in Barangay Talic when two men wearing ski masks approached by motorcycle. Rollins was shot three times in the body and a fatal shot to the head.
Ligaya, his partner, who witnessed the murder states, “I had not expected that Ernie would be targeted.” She then added that she believed that his outspoken commentaries against local officials might have prompted the attack.
Police superintendent Leonilo Cabug was placed in charge of the investigation.
Cabug and Misamis Occidental Governor Loreto Leo Ocampos stated that the murder was a “big blow and grave offense to press freedom.” They continued, “The dynamics of a democratic society hinge on the free flow of information, exchange of ideas, respect for one’s opinion and tolerance for the thoughts of others.”
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) believes that the date of the killing is of great significance. “There can be no greater irony than the timing of Rollin’s murder. He was killed on the 23rd anniversary of the Edsa People Power I uprising that supposedly restored the people’s basic freedoms, including (that) of expression,” said the NUJP.
Rollin was the first journalist killed this year in the Philippines. However, he was the 99th murder since the 1986, when the Philippines returned to democracy.
For more information, please see:
GMANews – Press Groups Condemn Killing of Filipino Radioman – 24 February 2009
Inquirer – Special PNP Unit to Probe into Rollin’s Slay – 25 February 2009
Reporters Without Borders – Popular Radio Journalist Gunned Down on Mindanao Island – 23 February 2009