southwatch

Congo - the forgotten tsunami

The rape victims in the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu are stark representatives of the «forgotten, permanent tsunami of the Congo».

Writing in the Norwegian magazine Samtiden, Jan Egeland, Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) tells of his visit last year to the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). At that stage he was Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

A twenty six year old women told him how she was raped by 30 militiamen after being tied to four stakes in the ground. The violence was repeated for three weeks. Then one day the militias fled. She was left lame in both feet and hands as well as suffering from vaginal fistula. The violence was so brutal that the wall between her vagina and anus was ruptured. A nun brought her for treatment to Panzi Hospital’s fistula clinic run by the Pentecostal church network CEPAC and CRN.

«As on so many other field trips the realization grows: We cannot rest until such Dark Age-violations and such vast injustices are ended. And this generation has shown, in some places, that when we want, it is possible to stop such massive suffering,» writes Egeland in Samtiden.

«The terrible violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a rarely spoken about aspect of the wars of this country,» writes Egeland in Samtiden. In his book «Det nytter» – It helps – due later this year, he says the war in Eastern Congo is «the worst of our generation». Between 1998 and 2003 more than four million people died. And people are still dying.

While pointing out that the suffering in the Congo hardly ever makes international news, Egeland does not despair:
«With the help of amongst others the UN, Norway and this years Norwegian Medical Students´Humanitarian Campaign, thousands of women are getting help at Panzi.» He also emphasises that without the effort of UN peacekeeping troops to disarm over ten thousand militiamen, the situation in Eastern Congo would have been much worse.

Text: Jan Speed
Photo of Jan Egeland by © Tugela Ridley/IRIN

World pressure for African press freedom

Release imprisoned journalists, abolish “insult laws” and laws that restrict press freedom.

These were the demands of The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum meeting in Cape Town this week.
The leaders of the world newspaper industry underlined their opinion that press freedom remains a key to the establishment of good governance and durable economic, political, social and cultural development, prosperity and peace in Africa, and to the fight against corruption, famine, poverty, violent conflict, disease, and lack of education

In a declarations they urged African countries to abolish “insult’’ and criminal defamation laws “which in the five months of this year have caused the harassment, arrest and/or imprisonment of 103 editors, reporters, broadcasters and online journalists in 26 African countries (as outlined in the annexure to this declaration).”

WAN also urged African governments as a matter of urgency to review and abolish all other laws that restrict press freedom, as well as to release jailed journalists. Ethiopia and Eritrea are these worst violators of press freedom, but even the South African government has on occasion withheld advertising to punish critical newspapers.
by Jan Speed

Annan: All are peacemakers

Change in Liberia will not take place overnight. It is imperative that the international community stays with Liberia over a length of time.

That was the message of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan when he Tuesday addressed the Liberian parliament.

«There has been a tendency for international actors to leave to hurriedly and that can reverse hard won progress,» he said, at the same time promising the ongoing support of the UN. With 17.000 troops in Liberia this is the biggest UN peace keeping mission at the moment.

«All of you must work as peace-makers with messages of tolerance and respect,» Annan urged the parliamentarians. He also underlined the importance of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which started its work last year.

«Now I believe that we are in Africa’s third wave – one that will lead Africa to make the best of it’s rich resources and know that its best resources are its sons and daughters,» said Annan.

He stressed that development, security and human rights depend on each other and secure each other:
«Investment and prosperity will follow. And people will be more equipped to stand up for their rights, he said.
By Jan Speed

Freedoms crushed prior to Olympics

When lobbying to host the 2008 Olympics China promised to respect human rights and freedom of speech. They were lying.

According to the USA-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) the situation for journalists in China is deteriorating. Other organisations are of the same opinion.

In a press release CPJ points out that Wang Wei, secretary-general of the Beijing Olympic Games bit committee told reporters in July 2001: “We will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China…We are confident that the Games’ coming to China not only promotes our economy but also enhances all social conditions, including education, health, and human rights.”

Five years after Wang’s comments, CPJ says that China’s increasingly repressive policies toward the press belie these promises.

Instead of gradually easing restrictions on journalists as the Games approach, the Chinese government under the administration of President Hu Jintao has stepped up interference in news reporting. Chinese journalists tell CPJ that they face more pressure now than at any time since the aftermath of the crackdown on demonstrators on Tiananmen Square in 1989. According to CPJ research, China held 32 journalists in prison at the end of 2005, a trend that has continued in 2006 with the jailing of Beijing-based documentary filmmaker Wu Hao and reporters Yang Xiaoqing and Li Yuanlong.

Unfortunately I do not think it likely that the International Olympic Committee will make a sustained effort to ensure that China respects freedom of speech prior to and during the summer Olympics of 2008. Like Google and Yahoo the big businesses that sustain the IOC are more interested in embracing the financial benefits of doing business with China than promoting human rights.

Last year there were over 87,000 local protests in China against corruption, taxes, and environmental degradation caused by China’s breakneck economic development contributed to the rise. Many of these have been covered in the media. However, also the government is getting attacked. Many of the protests have according to CPJ occurred over government seizure of farmland for construction of the factories, power plants, shopping malls, roads, and apartment complexes that are fuelling China’s boom.

The initial coverage of these protests has now been shut down.

Comment
by Jan Speed

Zuma, no thanks

Cheering crowds, a not-guilty verdict in a controversial rape case, and the support of clan leaders does not make Jacob Zuma (64) suitable for public office, let alone the position of President of South Africa.

The ex-Deputy President was found not guilty of raping a 31-year-old HIV-positive Aids activist when she stayed overnight at his home in Forest Town, Johannesburg. Zuma has continually pleaded not guilty, saying the sex was consensual. The court agrees with his version.

In his summery of the evidence on Monday, Judge Willem van der Merwe told the Johannesburg High Court, that there was no onus on the accused to convince the court of the evidence he gave. If there was any reasonable possibility that Zuma’s explanation was true, he was entitled to an acquittal.

The judge also said that no risks should be taken with the HIV and Aids pandemic. Thus he indirectly chastised Zuma’s behaviour in having sex with a HIV-positive woman without protection.

During the trial Zuma said he had had a shower after sex and believed that a healthy man was unlikely to catch HIV from a woman. According to the BBD activists say his "irresponsible" approach has set back the fight against HIV and Aids by many years, in a country where more than five million people are HIV positive.

Zumas attitude to the whole aids-issue, and his the fact that he never reprimanded his supporters who attacked protesting anti-rape activists shows that he is unfit to lead a South Africa were rape and aids are very serious issues.

The woman who has accused Jacob Zuma of rape has already started to pack up her belongings in preparation for her new life in protective custody overseas, according to The Star newspaper.

On Sunday Zuma attended a music festival to raise funds for the corruption trial against him that starts in July. A website (picture) also illicits support. His supporters will no doubt again muster outside the courtroom in large numbers. And political conspiracy theories will again abound.

Comment
Jan Speed

Better priced bananas and coffee

More and more people in Europe are buying Fairtrade products. In Norway the import volume increased by 58 percent last year.

This week Fairtrade is the focus of campaigns in Britain and Ireland. According to Ecumenical News International, five million people in 58 countries benefit from the more just pricing policies of the Fairtrade movement.

Global sales of Fairtrade products increased by 40 percent between 2003-2004, to reach an estimated US$1 billion. In Norway the numbers are still small – a mere $ 8 million.   Coffee and bananas sell best under the local Fairtrade label of Max Havelaar.

There is still a long way to go even in an aid-generous country such as Norway. Imports from the least developed countries constitute only 0,25 percent of the country’s total imports. Not much to boast about.

Being generous with aid is one thing. A more open trade policy would perhaps be even more beneficial to the poor people of the world.

by Jan Speed