The UN's under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Valeria Amos, will be visiting Syria in order to negotiate access for aid workers to areas most affected by the conflict, announced the spokesperson to the UN Secretargy General Ban Ki Moon. The spokesperson, Del Buey, said that Amos, a former member of the House of Lords, would be sent to "to assess the humanitarian situation and renew the call for humanitarian access". Adding that a "comprehensive" approach was required, Ban Ki Moon said, " I n addition to humanitarian (issues), one needs to discuss all political issues. But the...
The UN has accused Syria of committing ‘crimes against humanity’ against its people, in a report released today after an inquiry by a UN panel. The panel was refused entry into Syria and had to gather information from outside sources including regime defectors and human rights activists. The report alleges that "army snipers and Shabbiha gunmen [from pro-Assad militias] posted at strategic points terrorised the population, targeting and killing small children, women and other unarmed civilians. Fragmentation mortar bombs were also fired into densely populated neighbourhoods." "Security...
Accomplished war correspondent Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times has been killed in the Syrian city of Homs. It was reported that the house she was staying in was shelled, killing her alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik. Two other journalists were also wounded in the rocket attack. Paul Conroy, a freelance photographer with the Sunday Times, and Edith Bouvier of the French newspaper Le Figaro were named as the journalists injured in the attack which killed 24 others, apart from Colvin and Ochlik. The acclaimed journalist was the last journalist to talk to the LTTE’s Political Head B...
Republican, Dana Rohrabacher, introduced a bill recognising Baluchi nation's right to self-determination last week. The bill stated that the Baluchi nation “ have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country; and they should be afforded the opportunity to choose their own status .” Rohrabacher said, “ The Baluchi, like other nations of people, have an innate right to self-determination ,” “ The political and ethnic discrimination they suffer is tragic and made more so because America is financing and selling arms to their oppressors in Islamabad .” There have been...
Writing in the Huffington Post, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallstrom, condemned sexual violence as a weapon of war and pledged to "push for an end to impunity and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice". See here for article in full. Extracts reproduced below: "Of particular concern is the fact that many of the reported cases of sexual violence seem to have been perpetrated by national security forces -- the very same people who have a mandate to protect their own citizens . Whereas the uniform should symbolize...
The London-based International Campaign for Tibet has stated that a monk has died after setting himself alight in protest, at a monastery in South West China. The monk, 18-year-old Nangdrol, has raised the number of Tibetans who have self immolated to at least 21 in the past year alone, as protests against the Chinese government’s control over the Tibetan regions continue to grow. Chinese armed forces have cut off access to the Tibetan areas making independent reports almost impossible to verify, but it is known that security forces maintain a high presence in the area and monks are being...
A complaint against the British Government has been filed by legal charity Reprieve in regards to the failure of the government to secure the release of a Pakistani man, held in Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. Yunus Rahmatullah was captured by British forces in 20054 and was then handed to the US military who have held him without charges ever since. Last December three judges ruled that Rahmatullah should be freed but on Monday appeal judges cancelled the release order after being told that American authorities were not going to "play ball" and British ministers had "reached the end of the...
The Iranian oil ministry announced on Sunday it has stopped all sales of crude oil to British and French companies. A spokesman was quoted on the ministry’s website as saying: "Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped … we will sell our oil to new customers. We have our own customers … The replacements for these companies have been considered by Iran." The announcement came after threats earlier this week to stop oil supplies to other countries in Europe. Tehran is thought to attempt to pre-empt sanctions by the EU, stopping all imports of oil from the country from 1...
A Chinese envoy on a visit to Syria has called on all sides to end the violence. Zhai Jun has expressed Chinese support for the government’s plan to hold a referendum on the constitution on February 26. However, the opposition has called for a boycott of the referendum and rejected the plans for as long as violence was still ongoing. "The position of China is to call on the government, the opposition and the rebels to halt acts of violence immediately." said Zhai Jun. "We hope that the referendum on a new constitution as well as the forthcoming parliamentary elections pass off calmly." Mr...
The Australian parliament adopted a resolution Saturday, confirming the judgement of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, that the massacre of over 8000 Bosnian muslims in Srebenica in 1995, was a genocide. The US, Canada, and European Union countries, have already adopted such a resolution.