Pope Frances Phones Iraqi Refugees, Using Christmas Message to Draw World’s Attention to Iraq and Syria’s Crisis

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Managing Editor, Impunity Watch

THE VATICAN, VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, made a phone call to several Iraqis forced to flee their homes as a result of the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in their region telling the refugees that they are in his thoughts this Christmas and using the holiday to bring the attention of the Catholic community, with more than one billion members worldwide, to the plight of refugees who have suffered as a result of the ISIS advance as well as Syria’s ongoing civil war. Frances told the refugees now living in a camp in Ankawa, a suburb of Erbil in northern Iraq, that they were like Jesus, were forced to flee because there was no place for them.

Pope Francis addresses the crowd after a mass at the San Giuseppe all’Aurelio parish on December 14, 2014 in Rome, The leader of the Catholic faith ushered in the Christmas season by calling refugees in Iraq who have fled the advance of ISIS in the region. (Photo courtesy of Time Magazine)

For Christians, Christmas is a holiday that calls for peace and celebrates the birth of Jesus in barn manger in the Palestine in the town of Bethlehem in modern day Palestine, chosen because there was no room for his parents at an inn. “You are like Jesus on Christmas night. There was no room for him either” Pope Francis told the Iraqis in the call arranged via satellite phone by the Italian Catholic television station TV2000.”I embrace you all and wish for you a holy Christmas,” he said.

On Monday Pope Francis denounced ISIS as a “terrorist organization of a size that was unimaginable before, committing all types of abuses… [And] striking some among you who have been brutally chased from your lands, where Christians have been present since apostolic times.” In recent months the Holy Pontiff has denounced all forms of religious extremism and murder in the name of religion.  During a visit to Turkey last month Pope Francis called for an end to all forms of religious fundamentalism and called on the world to focus on achieving the important goals of the world’s great faiths, fighting hunger and poverty. During a visit to Turkey the pope called for solidarity in opposing the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Syria, “It is essential that all citizens – Muslim, Jewish and Christian – both in the provision and practice of the law, enjoy the same rights and respect the same duties,” Francis said.

The pope used the phone call to address the crimes committed by ISIS, forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes in Iraq and Syria.  “Innocent children, children who have died, exploited children… I am thinking, too, about grandparents, about the older people who have lived their lives, and who must now bear this cross.” “Dear brothers, I am close to you, very close to you in my heart,” he told Iraq’s refugees.

For more information please see:

BBC News – Pope Francis makes Christmas call to Iraqi refugees – 24 December 2014

Newsweek – Pope Urges Solidarity to Stop Militants in Syria and Iraq – 24 December 2014

New York Magazine – 11 Touching Christmas Photographs of Christian Refugees in Iraq’s Kurdish Capital

Time Magazine – Pope Francis Ushers in Christmas with Phone Call to Iraqi Refugees – 24 December 2014

Argentina Town Cancels ‘Sexist’ Beauty Pageants

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina– A small town in Argentina has banned beauty pageants, because they are considered to be sexist.  The Chivilcoy council, in the Buenos Aires region, said that the pageants encourage violence against women.  The Chivilcoy council further criticized the pageants for emphasizing and focusing on physical beauty.  The council also claimed that the beauty pageants concentration on physical image, encourages illnesses like bulimia and anorexia among the pageant contestants.

Miss Argentina/image courtesy of the Independent

The Chivilcoy council said the pageants are “a discriminatory and sexist practice”, that “reinforce the idea that women must be valued and rewarded exclusively by their physical appearance, based on stereotypes”.

Beauty pageants were also condemned for being “acts of symbolic and institutional violence against women and children.”

The competitions will instead be replaced with an event recognising “people of between 15 and 30 years who, in an individual or collective way, have stood out in volunteering activities aimed at improving the quality of life in neighbourhoods within the city or the district,” the council said.

Latin American beauty pageant winners often use their pageant experience to build careers in entertainment or television.

Beauty pageant competitions are getting a closer look after Julia Morley, the chairwoman of the Miss World pageant announced that the competition would no longer include a swimsuit round.  The swimsuit round was introduced to the competition 63 years ago.

“Miss World should be a spokesperson who can help a community,” said Ms. Wilmer, “She’s more of an ambassador, not a beauty queen.  It’s more about the outreach and what a woman could do with a title like Miss World.”

However, everyone does not agree with banning the pageants.

“If the only value is beauty, that’s bad, I don’t identify with that,” said Nadia Cerri, 41, director of Miss World Argentina and a former pageant contestant.  But she added that an all-out ban goes too far.  “We don’t oblige anybody to take part in the contests,” she said.

Ms. Cerri said that in recent years the Miss World Argentina competition had tried to place greater emphasis on factors besides physical appearance.  A winner must perform well in categories such as social responsibility, for which she may be required to show awareness of social issues like sex trafficking in her home province. Contestants must also demonstrate knowledge of general culture, including current events, and exhibit a talent, which can be a skill like acting, singing or painting.

For more information, please see:

The Independent – Town in Argentina bans ‘sexist’ beauty pageants for reinforcing idea ‘women must be valued on physical opinion’ – 25 Dec. 2014

The New York Times – Argentine City Takes Beauty Off Its Pedestal – 22 Dec. 2014

BBC News – Argentina town bans ‘sexist’ beauty competitions – 21 Dec. 2014

Jezebel – Town in Argentina Bans Beauty Pageants; Miss World Bans Bikinis – 21 Dec. 2014

As Lithuania Seeks Further European Union Alignment, Russian Aggression Remains High

By Kyle Herda

Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

VILNIUS, Lithuania – In what may be a move of defiance against Russia, Lithuania is moving to the Euro. This comes in light of recent events over the past several months involving Russian aggression directed towards a number of NATO countries, particularly Lithuania and other Eastern European nations.

Major Linas Pakutka stands before two of his units within Lithuania’s new task force. (Photo courtesy of The New York Times)

Lithuania has only 6% of its population who are Russian speakers, despite the much higher percentages in many bordering countries and also its proximity to Russia. Even so, Russia continues to show aggression that has found some landing in Lithuania. The waters off Lithuania have seen recent Russian military exercises just off Kaliningrad that have involved up to 9,000 troops and 55 ships.

In addition, NATO has had to scramble jets to intercept Russian aircraft over 400 times this year, already more than three times the amount as last year. The number of instances involving Russian jets flying with their radars off and coming close to commercial airlines continues to increase as well and has many worried that a mid-air collision is imminent. This is all in addition to the Russian incursion in Eastern Ukraine and the questionable Russian annexation of Crimea in Southern Ukraine earlier this year.

While not obligated to defend Ukraine from a military invasion due to the lack of protection for Ukraine under Article 5 membership, NATO has answered Eastern Europe’s worries about Russia by creating a rapid response task force should Russia invade a country near Ukraine with Article 5 membership that requires military aid. For Lithuania, however, this new task force is taking too long to take effect, and so Lithuania has created its own fast response task force. While Lithuania’s active military of roughly 8,000 does not size up well to Russia’s military of over one million, Lithuania would like to be prepared to respond within a day of any Russian invasion of the Baltics, Poland, or Romania. “We would go into action in the initial, self-defense phase to buy some time until NATO can get here,” says General Tamosaitis.

Even a Lithuanian archbishop has spoken out about the Russian threat to Lithuania, fearing that “the front could move forward if the international community fails to stand firm.” Archbishop Gintaras Grusas further went on to say that “the information and propaganda war which preceded the military action against Ukraine is very much underway here, too.”

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Russia growls across the border as Lithuania readies for euro – 21 December 2014

The New York Times – Ukraine Crisis in Mind, Lithuania Establishes a Rapid Reaction Force – 19 December 2014

Catholic Herald – Lithuanian archbishop fears Russia attack on Baltic states – 16 December 2014

Business Insider – Lithuania’s Military Is On Alert After Russian Activities In A Baltic Sea Exclave – 10 December 2014

Reuters – Lithuania may supply weapons as part of military aid to Ukraine: minister – 26 November 2014

Pakistan Reinstates Death Penalty for 500 Terrorism Cases in Wake of Peshawar Shootings

By Max Bartels

Impunity Watch Reporter, The Middle East 

 

Islamabad, Pakistan 

Last week Taliban gunmen stormed a school run by the Pakistani army, they shot and killed 149 people including 133 school children. In the wake of this attack Pakistan has decided to reinstate the death penalty for terrorism cases. The public outrage over the Peshawar shooting has driven Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to end a six-year moratorium on the death penalty. The Pakistani government now plans to use the punishment on around 500 militants who have been convicted on charges of terrorism.

Pakistani demonstrators push for executions after the Peshawar shootings. (Photo Curtesy of The Guardian)

So far six convicted terrorists have been executed. Two were executed on December 19th and four more on the 21st. The four executed on the 21st were convicted of terrorism charges for their attempted assassination of then military leader Pervez Musharraf with a suicide car bomb. While one of the two executed on the 19th was convicted of an attack on army headquarters in 2009.

The Prime Minister had directed the Pakistani Department of Justice to pursue terrorism related cases and prepare them for capitol punishment. Of the 500 cases chosen, all of the convicts have exhausted their appeals and their mercy petitions have been denied. All 500 executions have been scheduled over a period of the next two weeks.

While the Pakistani public has pushed for the government to take a hardline against the Taliban, in the aftermath of the Peshawar shooting, Pakistan faces international pressure regarding their new anti-terror punishment. There are several economic and political implications to the executions, it dangers an E.U. trade deal, pressure from the U.N. as well as pressure from human rights groups around the world.

Several specific cases have been brought to the media’s attention in an attempt to halt the executions, The U.N. has released that one of the convicted terrorists already executed was a Russian citizen and appeals to Pakistan to avoid a potentially dangerous diplomatic situation by executing more civilians, many of which are foreign citizens. Human rights groups have released the story of one of the condemned terrorists who was only 14 at the time he was convicted of kidnap and murder and has since retracted his confession, saying it was the product of nine days of police torture. Regardless of the international pressure to halt the executions, the domestic pressure stemming from the outrage over the Peshawar school shooting has decided the matter and there is no sign Pakistan will halt any executions.

For more information, please see:

The Sydney Morning Herald — Four Militants Hanged in Pakistan, More Executions to Come — 22 December, 2014

SKY News — Pakistan to Execute 500 Terror Convicts 22 December, 2014

BBC News — More Executions After Peshawar School Massacre — 21 December, 2014

The Guardian — Pakistan Hangs Four More Prisoners as Execution Campaign Widens — 21 December, 2o14

Demonstrator’s Take to the Streets in Protest of “One China Policy”

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

BEIJING, China – Dozens of protesters took to the streets of Macau on Saturday demanding universal suffrage during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first official visit to the region. The demonstrators spoke out against the “One China Policy” supported by the central government in Beijing. The protesters fear the move is simply a power grab by the central government intended on striping the country’s semi-autonomous regions, like Hong Kong and Macau, of their political power.

The recent protests in Macau come days after police cleared the last remaining protest sites in Hong Kong. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

During his visit President Xi warned the people of Macau and Hong Kong, a region racked by protests over the past few months as young demonstrators have taken to the streets to show their support for the Umbrella Revelation, to remember they are part of “one China,” as activists in both semi-autonomous territories call for free leadership elections free from the control of the central government. “We must both adhere to the ‘one China’ principle and respect the difference of the two systems,” Xi said at the inauguration of Macau’s chief executive Fernando Chui, who was selected for a second term by a pro-Beijing committee made up of 400 people in August, he was the only nominee given for the position. “This is the only way leading to sound and steady progress,” Xi added. “Otherwise a misguided approach from the beginning, just like putting one’s left foot into the right shoe, would lead us nowhere.”

On Saturday the protesters gathered in streets of Macao. “We want universal suffrage!” they chanted. The protest march in Macau’s historic district finishing in a public square where approximately 100 protesters remained into the early evening. “I am uncertain about Macau’s future, so we have to come out to make noise for ourselves,” Mark Pang, a 15-year-old high school said as he held up an open yellow umbrella in solidarity with Hong Kong’s umbrella revolution. The Macao protests come just days after Chinese police cleared the last remaining protester camps in Hong Kong.

Unlike Hong Kong, a thriving Industrial city, Macau’s economic health is heavily dependent on strong relations with mainland china, the region is the only place in China where gambling casinos are legal. Its resorts depend on wealthy high-rollers from the mainland to stay afloat. In recent months shares in Macau’s casinos have suffered. Over the past ten years Macau has become the largest gambling destination in the World, today the Casino industry accounts for more than 80% of the region’s economy.

While Macau’s democracy movement has not been as large as the movement in neighboring Hong Kong the formal Portuguese colony, which was returned to China fifteen years ago, saw its largest ever protest in May of this year. The protesters were held over proposed cash benefits for retired Macau officials, with 20,000 people taking part in the demonstrations.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Protesters March in Macau during Xi’s Visit – 21 December 2014

BBC News – Xi Jinping Defends ‘One-China’ Idea in Macau, Amid Protests – 20 December 2014

The New York Times – Macau Looks Beyond Gambling As the Take from the Tables Slows – 19 December 2014 2014

Bloomberg – Macau Casinos Drop $75 Billion As China’s Crackdown Continues – 19 December 2014