STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Over the past twelve months there have been 14 attacks on mosques in Sweden, with three arsons alone in the past week. With no suspects and praise online, it appears that these recent attacks fall in line with a rising “Islamophobia” sentiment in Sweden.
People add hearts to the front of a mosque that was firebombed, calling it a “love bombing.” (Photo courtesy of Vox)
In addition to the recent arsons, there have also been several accounts of vandalism with racist remarks and symbols attached to mosques and even cars of Muslims. Muslim women claim that they are harassed on the streets on The Swedish Democratic Party, a popular nationalist political party, has also increasingly been adding fuel to the anti-immigrant movement. Sweden Democrats have pushed for a 90% reduction in asylum seekers allowed into Sweden due to the fact that roughly 16% of Sweden’s population is foreign-born, many from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. Sweden accepts more asylum seekers per capita than any other nation in Europe, and expects over 100,000 asylum applications this year; Sweden Democrats aim to change that.
While Sweden Democrats aim to make change through political means, others have taken matters into their own hands. On Thursday, a mosque in Uppsala was attacked with a petrol bomb, although the building did not catch fire. Not long before, however, arson at a mosque in Eskilstuna injured five people. Social media praise claims that these attacks intend to intimidate and scare away Muslims. Some of the anti-Muslim sentiment comes from the fact that Sweden has one of the highest rates of ISIS recruits in Europe and reports of sleeper cells within Sweden.
In response to the rising Islamophobia, Muslims have staged a rally in Stockholm to raise support for Muslims across the nation. Further, the rally aims to solidify the validity of a Muslim political acceptance in Sweden, essentially affirming the high asylum rate and combatting Sweden Democrats’ proposed changes.
By Kathryn Maureen Ryan Impunity Watch, Managing Editor
DAMASCUS, Syria – According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a human rights organization based in the United Kingdom, more than 76,000 people were killed in fighting in Syria in 2014, making last year the deadliest year in the country’s four-year-old civil war. More than 200,000 have been killed since the conflict began in 2011. Reportedly, 17,790 of those killed in Syria last year were civilians and 17,000 were fighters from militant groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and al-Nusra Front. Another 15,000 fighters killed in fighting came from moderate rebel groups and other Islamist factions. 22,627 of those killed were Syrian soldiers and fighters loyal to the Assad regime. According to the human rights group, 2,051 of those killed in Syria were civilian children.
Residents look for belongings amid debris of a collapsed building in Aleppo December 31, 2014. (Photo courtesy of Time Magazine)
The announcement of 2014’s death tolls came shortly after President Assad made a rare appearance on what was said to be the front lines of the conflict for a New Year’s Eve dinner of baked beans, boiled potatoes and tomatoes in an eastern Damascus neighborhood that has seen fierce fighting, according to Syrian state TV. “On New Year’s Eve families gather but you decided to be here to protect your country,” Assad told the troops. “I like to be with you on this occasion.”
the Syrian Observatory for Human also reports that An estimated 10.8 million people are in need inside Syria, Over 10 million displaced by the conflict, 3.2 million refugees in neighboring countries, More than 50% of the country live in extreme poverty, Half of the country’s children are not in school.
In a statement announcing the 2014 death toll, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights blasted the “silence of the international community” as the fighting has dragged on. Assad, meanwhile, described the rebels as “rats” during his appearance with government troops.
The advance of ISIS militants in Syria played a major role in the increase in violence over the past year. Airstrikes carried out by the United States and other countries in the region also contributed to the deaths. Airstrikes continued on Thursday with 17 ISIS targets hit near the Syrian cities of Raqqa, Kobane and Deir al-Zour and 12 near the Iraqi cities of Falluja, Mosul and Sinjar.
Iraq also reported a sharp rise in deaths over the past year. according to the 15,538 people were killed in 2014 and more than 22,000 were injured during the course of the year making it the deadliest year since 2011. The UK-based NGO Iraq Body Count gave a higher figure of 17,073 civilian deaths. The sharp rise in deaths is mostly related to the advance of ISIS in Northern Iraq. 2014 began with the government losing control of Falluja and parts of Ramadi in western Iraq and in June, an offensive by ISIS left large parts of northern Iraq in militant hands, including the second largest city in Iraq, Mosul.
LIMA, Peru—At least 5000 people protested in the capital on Monday against a new Peruvian labor law, which discriminates against young people. Protests were held outside of the home of President Ollanta Humala, in downtown Plaza San Martin, and in front of Confiep, which is Peru’s biggest business organization. The peaceful protest has been the third protest against the legislation. The first protest earlier this month became violent as police armed with riot gear and water tanks used tear gas and beat protesters to disperse crowds. Some protesters fought back by throwing sticks and stones, and small Molotov cocktails.
Protesters march in opposition to the new Youth Labor Law (photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)
The Youth Employment Law, which has been dubbed “Ley Pulpin” is supported by President Humala and passed by Congress. The law allows for employers to cut employment benefits, such as social security, life insurance, bonuses, and holiday benefits for young employees between the ages of 18 and 24.
The Peruvian government maintains that the new law will not only help reduce youth unemployment, which is four times higher for those aged between 18 and 24 than those between the ages of 30 and 65, but it will also help the poor. Lawmakers believe that because it will be cheaper to employ young people, employers will be more drawn to the idea of hiring new graduates and younger workers. Further, the benefits initially reduced will be incorporated if the employee continues to work for the employer after he or she turns 25.
However, the law has been met with opposition from student groups and labor unions. “We cannot allow the government, through their inaction and the few measures they have taken to reactivate our economy, to claim it has an effect on us young people with this package [law], with these abusive measures that violate the labor rights of the young,” declared Leonardo Rojas, one of the many protesters. Another protester, Marco Agurre said, “Unfortunately the fundamental rights of young people are being assaulted, many young people, this law is affecting all the young people in the country.” Picket signs were used, such as the one protester Cesar Ames used which read, “We are not just university students but also the people, citizens, and hundreds of members of the unions to annul this law and to open it up for debate and a general plan about what the labor law is.”
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has also criticized the new law. The ILO argues that the informal labor sector will not disappear, which is what the Peruvian government has claimed to justify the law.
By Kathryn Maureen Ryan Impunity Watch, Managing Editor
RAMALLAH, Palestine – The United Nations Security Council has rejected a draft resolution on the Palestine issue which failed to receive the necessary nine votes. The resolution would have called for a peace deal with Israel within a year and an end of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories by late 2017. The Security Council will convened at 5:00PM on Tuesday to discuss the Palestinian proposal calling for peace. Twenty-two Arab ambassadors to the United Nations met on Tuesday and decided to move forward and put the resolution to a vote before the Security Council. A United Nations spokesperson confirmed that the Security Council would convene today to discuss the Palestinian statehood bid. A senior Israeli diplomat said the likelihood of a vote was expected to take place either later tonight or Wednesday at noon. The Israeli diplomat said it expected the United States to veto the bid if it were to pass. Palestinian officials have warned that if the bid to win support for a United Nations resolution failed they are prepared to join the International Criminal Court to file suits against Israel.
Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador addresses the United Nations Security Council. (Photo courtesy of the International Business Times)
The Palestinian resolution called for occupied East Jerusalem to be the capital of the new state of Palestine, an end to Israeli settlement building and settling the issue of Palestinian prisoner releases. Palestinian officials also said the draft resolution calls for negotiations to be based on pre-1967 territorial lines, meaning the borders that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in 1967. “We’ve been deliberating this issue for almost three and a half months. It is not a lack of flexibility, because we took some of the French ideas in our revised text,” Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador said.
“The Security Council has once again failed to uphold its charter duties to address this crises and to meaningfully contribute to a lasting solution in accordance with its own resolutions,” Mansour said when the resolution failed. “This year, our people under Israeli occupation endured the further theft and colonization of their land, the demolition of their homes, daily military raids, arrests and detention of thousands of civilians including children, rampant settler terrorism, constant affronts to their human dignity and repeated incursions at our holiest sites,” he added.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally in the international community, had reiterated its opposition to the draft resolution. The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said the resolution undermined efforts to “achieve two states for two people.” She said “It is deeply imbalanced and contains many elements that are not conducive to negotiations between the parties including unconstructive deadlines that take no account for Israelis legitimate security concerns.”
The resolution received eight “yes” votes, two “no” votes from the United States and Australia, and five abstentions, from the UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, South Korea and Rwanda. Senior Palestinian Authority officials said Tuesday evening that Jordan will request a vote on the Palestinian draft at the end of the Security Council meeting. The Palestinians believe there is majority support for the vote. The Palestinian Authority expects the resolution to receive “yes” votes from Russia, China, France, Argentina, Argentina, Jordan, Chad, South Africa, Chile, and Luxembourg. The United States and Australia are expected to oppose the vote. The U.K., Rwanda, Lithuania and Nigeria are considered to be on the fence on this issue, or may be likely to abstain.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that he believed France and Luxemburg will vote in support of the resolution, which will give the Palestinians the nine votes they need. “I’m sure that the countries that for some reason decided to support the Palestinian move will reach the conclusion that they made a grave mistake.” He said “I hope the Palestinians don’t get the nine votes in the end,” Lieberman said, “but expect that the Americans will” Lieberman said that the Palestinian bid was a political move initiated by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to further his own internal Palestinian political agenda. “The move will not achieve a thing but destroy any chance of reaching an agreement,” he said. “Abbas is doing it as part of his struggle with the Hamas and Dahlan and the rest of his opponents and not for obtaining a Palestinian state. It is all for his political survival.” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to speak about the results of the vote and outline future steps of the Palestinian Authority, during a rally at the Palestinian Authority headquarters commemorating the anniversary of Fatah Party’s founding.
In an attempt to stop the passage of the resolution Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a number of the leaders of Security Council member states and asked them not to support the resolution. Netanyahu referred to the Palestinian resolution during a meeting on Monday with the Indiana Governor Mike Pence during the governor’s visit to Israel. “We expect the entire international community, at least its responsible members, to strongly oppose this dictate to the UN and the Security Council. What we need is direct negotiations and not dictated terms,” Netanyahu said.
The first coalition aircraft to be shot down by ISIS since the start of the U.S lead airstrikes on ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria occurred last week. A Jordanian military jet went down over Raqqa Province in Syria. There is some dispute over the circumstances of the Jet’s crash. ISIS claims that they are responsible for shooting the plane down. The U.S military, claims simply that the plane crashed and it was not due to ISIS anti-aircraft fire.
Captured pilot apprehended by ISIS forces. (Photo Curtesy of The Huffington Post)
ISIS took the Jordanian pilot, Moath al-Kassassbeh hostage after his plane went down. Both Jordan and the U.S have made statements that they are committed to getting the pilot back safely. Since the capture ISIS has published a purported interview of Kassassbeh where he made statements about the circumstances of his crash. He stated that a heat-seeking missile hit his F-16 jet and caused him to go down. Since the interview ISIS has established a hash tag on twitter asking for suggestions on how to execute Kassassbeh, the hash tag has been re-tweeted over 1,00 times. During the interview Kassassbeh was asked what he thought ISIS would do with him and he responded, “they will kill me”.
ISIS is known for coercing captives into participating in their propaganda, so far is unclear whether Kassassbeh made the statements at all and if so whether he was forced to. Kassassbeh comes from a very prominent Jordanian family and his uncle is a former Major General in the Jordanian Army. Kassassbeh’s father has been pleading with ISIS publicly to hand his son back over to coalition authorities. The family has been appealing to ISIS by talking about Kassassbeh’s religious zeal, that he is a good Muslim and that he always flew with a copy of the Quran.
The shock of Kassassbeh’s capture has caused many in Jordan to call for an immediate withdrawal from the coalition against ISIS. Lawmakers and some in parliament are calling for the withdrawal. Jordanian authorities, on the other hand have issued statements that the incident has given nothing but resolve for the cause of fighting ISIS and Islamist extremism. Jordan is a key Arab ally in the U.S coalition, other members include Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE. Jordan has a high security risk, with the ISIS threat present in neighboring Syria.
