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Source: UN News

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“One of the most alarming findings of the report […] is how Turkish authorities reportedly detained some 100 women who were pregnant or had just given birth, mostly on the grounds that they were ‘associates’ of their husbands, who are suspected of being connected to terrorist organizations,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a news release announcing the findings.

[contextly_sidebar id=”K8CnaZyNmrGnV6Ygj1TMc9AgFxO4HoRH”]“Some were detained with their children and others violently separated from them. This is simply outrageous, utterly cruel, and surely cannot have anything whatsoever to do with making the country safer,” he added.

While taking note of the complex challenges Turkey has faced in addressing the attempted coup in July 2016, as well as a number of terrorist attacks, the report cites that the sheer number, frequency and lack of connection of several emergency decrees to any national threat seem to point to the use of emergency powers to stifle any form of criticism or dissent vis-à-vis the Government.

During the 18-month state of emergency, nearly 160,000 people have been arrested; 152,000 civil servants dismissed, many arbitrarily; and teachers, judges and lawyers dismissed or prosecuted.

The report also documents the use of torture and ill-treatment in custody, including severe beatings, threats of sexual assault and actual sexual assault, electric shocks and waterboarding by police, gendarmerie, military police and security forces.

It also notes that about 300 journalists have been arrested under allegations that their publications contained “apologist sentiments regarding terrorism” or other “verbal act offences” or for “membership” in terrorist organisations.

Over 100,000 websites were reportedly blocked in 2017, including a high number of pro-Kurdish websites and satellite TV channels.

Covering the period January to December last year, the report also states that the April 2017 referendum which extended the President’s executive powers into both the legislature and the judiciary as seriously problematic, resulting in interference with the work of the judiciary and curtailment of parliamentary oversight over the executive branch.

By the end of 2017, 22 emergency decrees were promulgated with a further two more since the cut-off date of the report.

The report further underlines the need ensure independent, individualized reviews and compensation for victims of arbitrary detentions and dismissals and calls on Turkey to promptly end the state of emergency, restore normal functioning of State institutions, as well as revise and release all legislation not compliant with its international human rights obligations, including the emergency decrees.

“I urge the Government of Turkey to ensure that these allegations of serious human rights violations are investigated and the perpetrators are brought to justice,” said Mr. Zeid, also calling on the Government to allow full and unfettered access to his Office (OHCHR) to be able to directly, independently and objectively assess the human rights situation in the southeast of the country.
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By: news.un.org

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One of the team probing possible acts of genocide said Facebook had “turned into a beast.”

About 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar’s military launched an operation in August against “insurgents” in Rakhine state.

Facebook has said there is “no place for hate speech” on its platform.

“We take this incredibly seriously and have worked with experts in Myanmar for several years to develop safety resources and counter-speech campaigns,” a Facebook spokeswoman told the BBC.

“This work includes a dedicated Safety Page for Myanmar, a locally illustrated version of our Community Standards, and regular training sessions for civil society and local community groups across the country.

“Of course, there is always more we can do and we will continue to work with local experts to help keep our community safe.”

‘Incitement to violence’
The UN’s Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar announced the interim findings of its investigation on Monday.

During a press conference the chairman of the mission, Marzuki Darusman, said that social media had “substantively contributed to the level of acrimony” amongst the wider public, against Rohingya Muslims.

“Hate speech is certainly, of course, a part of that,” he added.

“As far as the Myanmar situation is concerned, social media is Facebook and Facebook is social media.”

A colleague acknowledged that the service had helped people in the country communicate with each other.

But Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, added: “We know that the ultra-nationalist Buddhists have their own Facebooks and are really inciting a lot of violence and a lot of hatred against the Rohingya or other ethnic minorities.

“I’m afraid that Facebook has now turned into a beast, and not what it originally intended.”

The interim report is based on more than 600 interviews with human rights abuse victims and witnesses, which were carried out in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand.

In addition the team has analysed satellite imagery, photographs and video footage taken within Myanmar.

“People died from gunshot wounds, often due to indiscriminate shooting at fleeing villagers,” the report said.

“Some were burned alive in their homes – often the elderly, disabled and young children. Others were hacked to death.”

The government of Myanmar has previously said the UN needs to provide “clear evidence” to support allegations of crimes against Rohingya.

Officials have claimed that “clearance operations” against militants responsible for attacks on police stations ended in September, but that has been disputed.

Refugees and human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have accused the military of carrying out executions, rapes and the burning and bulldozing of hundreds of villages.

The UN has said that the government has attempted to block its efforts to carry out an independent investigation.

Facebook has previously discussed the problems it has faced trying to tackle hate speech in the country.

Last July, it gave the example of policing use of the word “kalar”, which it said could be used both innocuously and as a slur against Muslims.

“We looked at the way the word’s use was evolving, and decided our policy should be to remove it as hate speech when used to attack a person or group, but not in the other harmless use cases,” it explained.

“We’ve had trouble enforcing this policy correctly recently, mainly due to the challenges of understanding the context; after further examination, we’ve been able to get it right. But we expect this to be a long-term challenge.”

A final report from the UN team is due to be published in September.

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Source: BBC

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In the two-hour film, posted online, Mr Putin says he was told a plane from Ukraine to Turkey had been hijacked as the Games were about to start.

It was found to be a false alarm, he says. The plane was not shot down.

The film comes ahead of an election he is expected to win on 18 March.

Mr Putin faces seven challengers but none are expected to attract widespread support and the most prominent opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, has been barred from standing.

“I was told: a plane en route from Ukraine to Istanbul was seized, captors demand landing in Sochi,” Mr Putin says in the film, Reuters reported.

The pilots of a Turkish Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying from Kharkiv to Istanbul with 110 people on board, said a passenger had a bomb and had told them to divert the plane to Sochi, reporter Andrey Kondrashov says.

In the film, Mr Putin says security officials told him that the emergency procedure in such a situation was to down the plane.

“I told them: act according to the plan,” Mr Putin says.

Minutes later he received another call informing him that it was a false alarm, he says.

He arrived at the Olympic venue in Sochi with Olympic officials shortly afterwards, he says.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed Mr Putin’s account, Reuters reported.

The first part of the documentary, entitled Putin, has been posted on social media accounts, including one belonging to key state media manager and commentator Dmitry Kiselyov, and a pro-Kremlin YouTube account.

Incredulity at Crimea question

During the film Mr Putin was asked by interviewer Mr Kondrashov – a top state TV presenter and currently Mr Putin’s election campaign press secretary – if there were any circumstances in which he could envisage returning Crimea to Ukraine.

“What are you talking about? Such circumstances do not exist and never will,” Mr Putin said. Russia’s Tass news agency reported his remarks.

Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine after the country’s pro-Russian leader was overthrown in 2014.

Last September the UN accused Russia of committing “grave human rights violations” in Crimea.

Betrayal ‘unforgivable’

In the film, Mr Putin says that he may forgive some things, “but not everything”.

When asked by Mr Kondrashov to clarify what cannot be forgiven, the Russian leader says: “Betrayal.”

However, Mr Putin says he has not yet had to deal with “serious events that can be called betrayal”.

“Maybe I have chosen people who are not capable of doing such a thing,” he says.

Grandfather ‘cooked for Stalin’

The Russian president’s paternal grandfather worked as a chef for the former leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, Mr Putin says.

Spiridon Putin was a highly regarded member of Stalin’s staff, Mr Putin says.

“[He] was a cook at Lenin’s and later at Stalin’s, at one of the dachas in the Moscow area,” Mr Putin says, Reuters reported.

Spiridon Putin continued to cook for the Soviet establishment until not long before his death in 1965 at the age of 86, the film says.

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Reports of bulldozing of alleged mass graves showed a “deliberate attempt by the authorities to destroy evidence of potential international crimes, including possible crimes against humanity,” Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein added in a speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine into Bangladesh since insurgent attacks sparked a security crackdown in August, joining 200,000 refugees from a previous exodus.

Zeid noted that his office said on Tuesday that it believes ethnic cleansing is still underway in Rakhine.

Rohingya are still fleeing because of “systematic” if lower-intensity persecution and violence there, he said.

“Victims have reported killings, rape, torture and abductions by the security forces and local militia, as well as apparently deliberate attempts to force the Rohingya to leave the area through starvation, with officials blocking their access to crops and food supplies,” Zeid told the Geneva forum.

“This Council is aware that my office has strong suspicions that acts of genocide may have taken place in Rakhine State since August,” he added.

There was no immediate comment by the Myanmar government. In the Council, its delegation is allowed to respond on Thursday.

His office had received reports of land inhabited by Rohingya being appropriated and members of other ethnic groups replacing them.

“A recent announcement that seven soldiers and three police officers will be brought to justice for the alleged extra-judicial killing of ten Rohingya men is grossly insufficient,” he added.

Myanmar’s government must take steps to provide real accountability for violations and respect the rights of Rohingya, including to citizenship, Zeid said.

A fact-finding mission set up by the Council, headed by former Indonesian Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman, is due to report on its initial findings on Monday after interviewing victims and survivors in Bangladesh and other countries.

Pending their final report, the U.N. General Assembly should establish a new independent mechanism to expedite criminal proceedings in courts against those responsible, Zeid said.

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Source: Reuters

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Unicef estimates that 25 million child marriages have been prevented in the past decade.

One in five girls are now married before they are 18, compared with one in four a decade ago.

South Asian countries have seen the biggest reduction in child marriages, Unicef says.

In India this was achieved by better education for girls and by publicising the harm child marriage causes.

The agency said the problem was now most severe in Africa but even so, Ethiopia had cut child marriage rates by a third.

Anju Malhotra, Unicef’s principal gender adviser, said that given the life-changing impact child marriage had on a girl’s life, “any reduction is welcome news – but we’ve got a long way to go”.

“When a girl is forced to marry as a child she faces immediate and lifelong consequences,” she said.

“Her odds of finishing school decrease while her odds of being abused by her husband and suffering complications during pregnancy increase. There are also huge societal consequences, and higher risk of intergenerational cycles of poverty.”

The report said that the burden of child marriage was shifting to sub-Saharan Africa, where more progress was needed to offset population growth.

Unicef said nearly one in three child marriages were now in sub-Saharan Africa, compared with one in five a decade ago.

World leaders have vowed to end child marriage by 2030 under the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Ms Malhotra said that to meet that target, efforts had to be stepped up “to prevent millions of girls having their childhoods stolen through this devastating practice”.

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Source: BBC

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The Police Administration has also requested the UN to allow it to send a three-man team to also look into the claims.

In a statement released after news of the allegations broke, the Police Administration conveyed “its fullest cooperation and support to investigate the alleged sexual exploitation and abuse case.”

The statement added that “the Police Administration has requested the UN to permit a three-member team to be immediately deployed into the mission area for a better understanding of the incident.”

The unit in question alleged to have engaged in the sexual misconduct has also been recalled, according to a statement from the UN Mission.

The UN started an investigation into the conduct of the officers after reports that they were having transactional sex with women living at one of the protection camps, with gifts or favours given in exchange for the encounters.

Some UN peacekeeping efforts have come under fire over reports of similar acts of sexual misconduct.

In the last quarter of 2017, the UN revealed that it had received 40 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse were made against United Nations peacekeeping missions, agencies, funds and programs and implementing partners.

Of the 40 accusations, 15 were reported from peacekeeping operations, 17 came from UN agencies, funds and programs, while eight were reported by implementing partners.

Find below the full police statement

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The announcement was made at Solidaridad office at East Legon on 24^th January, 2018.

In becoming the ambassador for the climate change initiative, Kwame will help drum home the impact of the climate change.  He will also be very instrumental in using his art work to project the cause.

Mr. Isaac Gyamfi, the Regional Director for Solidaridad West Africa said the choice of Okyeame Kwame was premised on his influence in society and quest to embark on developmental projects.

“We sent some of our staff around to ask who within the showbiz space is so serious by way of how he takes his own business and has carved for himself a brand that resonates positively with the people in our society. And we had a lot of critical discussions and we were unanimous that Okyeame Kwame has made a name in the showbiz space and has a clout in terms of respect for him,” he noted.

“More so, Okyeame Kwame has already demonstrated a strong support for development and is already engaged in addressing issues like Hepatitis B. He has also been involved in some tree planting exercise,” he added.

Okyeame Kwame after being named ambassador for the project, thanked the company for choosing him and promised to use his craft and personality to affect the campaign.

“I believe that if you can put the interest of other people first, that is when you are living the life that God wants you to live. I strongly believe that for us to develop as a people everybody must use their positive attitude, instincts, abilities, talents for the society to grow,” the Rap Doctor intimated.

He further noted that even though this is an opportunity for him to impact society, it will be very challenging and he would be ready to go through all it takes to achieve his goals.

This project will strengthen the knowledge and practices of targeted local communities in the Western and Brong-Ahafo Regions of Ghana in REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus Conservation of Forest Carbon Stocks, Sustainable Forest Management, and Enhancement of Forest Carbon Stocks) processes and sustainable forest management.

The Solidaridad-World Bank partnership

The World Bank has approved funding of $5.5 million under the Ghana Dedicated Grant Mechanism (G-DGM) for local communities. The project will support 52 communities in natural resources management in the Brong Ahafo and Western regions of the country.

Under the G-DGM, Solidaridad will partner with the Forest Investment Programme (FIP) and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) project to strengthen the knowledge and practices of communities for reducing deforestation and improving the sustainable management of their activities. This initiative will take place during a three-year period from 2017 to 2020.

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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In a statement released after an emergency session, the group said it was “extremely appalled at and strongly condemns the outrageous racist and xenophobic remarks attributed to the president of the United States of America as widely reported by the media.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”ztlo66KOLgQtyIu58NP9IOhJiA0lN7ir”]The group also said it was concerned at the “continuing and growing trend from the US administration towards Africa and people of African descent to denigrate the continent and people of colour.

It concluded by reaffirming its commitment to the values of “multilateralism, diversity and equality of nations as enshrined in the relevant African Union and UN charter and instruments.”

It was first reported by the Washington Post that Trump had called some nations on the continent ‘shithole countries.’

The alleged remarks were said to have also been made in reference to Haiti and El Salvador.

According to a Democrat Senator, Dick Durbin, Trump, during a meeting at the White House to consider migrant policies, said, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”

President Trump has since rejected the claims against him in a series of tweets but White House communicators have however failed to categorically deny that he made those comments.

There was global outrage after the Washington Post reported the alleged comments from President Trump with many, including Former President John Mahama describing the US leader as a racist.

The African Union has also said it was alarmed by President Trump’s remarks and issued a statement calling for the US leader to apologise for the remarks.

It said the “remarks dishonor the celebrated American creed and respect for diversity and human dignity”.

“While expressing our shock, dismay and outrage, the African Union strongly believes that there is a huge misunderstanding of the African continent and its people by the current Administration,” the AU added.

It also said there was a serious need “for dialogue between the US Administration and the African countries.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Russia’s envoy Vassily Nebenzia said involving the council in an “internal affair” damaged the top UN body.

Minutes earlier, US Ambassador Nikki Haley praised the protests as a “powerful exhibition of brave people”.

Iran’s ambassador said the US was abusing its power as a permanent member of the council. At least 21 people have been killed in the protests.

They broke out in one Iranian city in late December against the state of the economy and quickly spread to dozens of cities, with slogans chanted against the government and ruling clerics.

On Wednesday, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards declared the defeat of what he described as “sedition” in the country.

A number of countries criticised the US for convening the emergency meeting of the Security Council.

The US had “lost every shred of moral, political and legal authority and credibility in the eyes of the whole world”, Iranian envoy Gholamali Khoshroo told the gathering.

His Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted to say that the Security Council had “rebuffed the US’ naked attempt to hijack its mandate”.

At the meeting, France said any interference in Iran’s affairs would be counter-productive and that recent protests there, while worrying, did not threaten international peace and security.

Ambassador François Delattre said the international community must commit to fully implementing the nuclear agreement with Iran – which the Trump administration has refused to recertify.

Ms Haley’s call for the emergency meeting took Security Council members by surprise, and she had to lobby against Russian opposition to get it, says BBC UN Correspondent Barbara Plett-Usher.

For an issue to be added to the council’s agenda for discussion, it must be supported by at least nine of its 15 members.

The US envoy told the council that Washington stood “unapologetically with those in Iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families and dignity for their nation”.

But Mr Nebenzia of Russia said that if the US “logic” was followed, a Security Council meeting should also have been held after protests in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014 sparked by the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer.

US President Donald Trump has issued numerous messages of support to the protesters via Twitter.

His administration has taken a tough line against Iran, which is competing for influence across the Middle East with Saudi Arabia, a key US ally.

Iranian officials have blamed the demonstrations on foreign meddling and at the UN on Friday Mr Khoshroo said Tehran had “hard evidence” that they were “very clearly directed from abroad”.

Ms Haley earlier said that “no dishonest attempt to call the protestors puppets of foreign powers” would deter the US from speaking out.

On Friday, tens of thousands of government supporters again took to the streets across Iran, state TV reported.

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Source: BBC

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