Scottish Government Releases Plan for an Independence From United Kingdom Ahead of 2014 Referendum

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

GLASGOW, Scotland – Scotland’s “white paper”, a legal argument for the country’s independence, was unveiled earlier this week in Glasgow.

The “white paper” was released in Glasgow on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of The Scotsman)

The 670-page document, released by Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond, set forth the democratic, social, and economic reasons for Scotland to leave the United Kingdom. The white paper arrives a year before a referendum on the issue to be held next year.

“Scotland’s future is now in Scotland’s hands,” Salmond said on Tuesday, during the launch in Glasgow. “It won’t be decided by me, it won’t be decided by our opponents, it won’t be decided by the media. It will be decided by the people.”

Salmond stated that the much-anticipated white paper will enable the dismantling of the United Kingdom. Under the plan, Scotland would continue using the pound as its currency, would retain the queen as its head of state, and the country would retain its membership in the European Union. However, Scotland would have its own defense force and collect its own taxes.

The white paper also sets out detailed plans for currency, taxation, childcare, welfare and other issues that may face an independent Scotland. Salmond stated that there would be no need to increase taxes once Scotland seceded from the U.K. Salmond also said that Scottish taxes would not be spent on nuclear programs and the United Kingdom’s nuclear missiles, currently stored in Scotland, would be relocated elsewhere.

“We know we have the people, the skills and resources to make Scotland a more successful country. Independence will put the people of Scotland in charge of our own destiny,” Salmond stated. He added that he wanted to tackle a “legacy of debt” stemming from Scotland’s union with England.

The plan calls for Scotland’s oil and gas reserves to presumably boost Scotland’s economy for the next 50 years, but the country will look to renewable energy thereafter.

Meanwhile, the UK government is campaigning to retain the more than 300-year-old union between England and Scotland. The referendum is to be held on September 18 of next year, 2014.

For more information, please see:

The Scotsman – As it Happened: Scottish Government’s White Paper Launch – 27 November 2013

Al Jazeera – Scottish Nationalists Launch Independence Bid – 26 November 2013

BBC News – Scottish Independence: Voter’s Views on White Paper – 26 November 2013

The Guardian – Scotland: Assertions of Independence – 26 November 2013

Human Rights Group Says 6,000 Women Raped During Syrian Conflict

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – A report issued by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network estimates that 6,000 women have been raped since the beginning of the Syrian conflict. The report adds that women are being targeted by snipers and used as human shields.

The report documented 6,000 cases of rape with many more likely unreported. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

The report states the capture, torture, and rape of women is used as strategy to leverage prisoner exchanges and exact revenge on the opposition. Often times women will be abducted in effort to force their male relatives to surrender.

“They are being used as privilege, not in the sense that they are favored, but because sometimes of their relationship to opposition members or government-related members,” EMHRN spokeswoman Hayet Zeghiche told the BBC.

Many of the rape victims are socially stigmatized and forced to leave their families or fear returning to their families because of possible retribution. The social stigma attached to rape victims leaves them alone and isolated.

“Syrian women exposed to sexual abuses subsequently found themselves victimized not only by the crime itself, but also by enduring the silence that surrounds the crime and the social pressure related to it,” the report said.

The findings were backed up by Lauren Wolfe, an award-winning journalist who has focused on rape in conflict for several years. She is currently the director of Women Under Siege, a group that has been mapping reports of sexual violence in Syria over the past year.

“The general rule that I go by, and a lot of public health researchers go by, is for every one woman who speaks out, there are up to 10 more that remain silent,” Wolfe said.

Seventy-percent of the documented rape victims report that they were raped by government or pro-government forces. This is not uncommon in scenarios where, like in Syria, rebel fighters rely heavily on civilian support.

The report said rape was documented in seven provinces, including Damascus, mostly “during governmental raids, at checkpoints and within detention facilities.”

On Monday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that first peace talks during the conflict would begin on January 22. He added that it would be “unforgivable not to seize this opportunity to bring an end to the suffering and destruction.”

For further information, please see:

BBC – Syria conflict: Women ‘targets of abuse and torture’ – 26 November 2013

Global Post – 6,000 cases of women raped during Syrian conflict, human rights group says – 26 November 2013

Gulf News – ‘Rape used as women of war against Syria women’ – 25 November 2013

Reuters – Syrian women suffer inside their country and out – 11 November 2013