Monday, March 08, 2010
From the urgent and compelling need for an atheistic religion, by Marie-Eve Martineau
Believing in God and life after death, it's pure (small) madness. Anyone who simply believes (without proselytizing) is a victim. As one who teaches broadcast and religions is a dangerous madman.
Why? Why are so intolerant of me?
Believing without evidence or explanation is characteristic of the child. Naturally, because it would take too long to explain, and because their reason (reasoning) is still mostly underdeveloped. It is a product of evolution: only those who believe and obey without thinking have survived and have therefore passed their genes. Unfortunately, the transition to adulthood, many of them continue to believe everything they are told without thinking too much ... and a small portion of them have understood the advantage to take advantage of the credulity and obedience. Hence the classical division of the society of men among those who have power, those dealing with religion, and others, all other more or less slaves but also producers of wealth consumed by the first two classes.
Believing in God, this is mostly part of a community living and enjoy a set of rules to respect and assistance of others. In short, a religion is primarily a binder allowing a community to remain united. At the cost of nonsense and a little madness, everyone was happy to feel part of a group that protects, albeit at the cost of the loss of real freedom ... because in those times, be free is to be alone, driven group, condemned to wandering and death.
But times have changed. The concept of community, once limited to a small group of men, then a tribe, then to a small nation, has exploded and these religions because they are naturally expansive and invasive, have conquered other peoples and d other territory, often by force, but sometimes also because they brought an improvement to other people. Finally, "better" means in relation to a small difference or a different concept of good and evil ...
And, in this scheme, therefore no place for the Atheist, one who has realized the folly of man's original and wishes to settle his life clearly face the inevitable: death. No place for the unbeliever, for the unbeliever, for ... many words are to describe the traitor, who has criticized the dogmas, one who has dared to say what he thinks, he who has dared to show others how madness they are. For to those who believe, understand and admit he was wrong his entire life is unbearable because what could he tell his children? he was wrong? because what could he tell his parents? they were wrong and they have been deceived? and how can he live once rejected by her community? assumed they would not kill him before he goes to spread the bad word ...
So for those who want to live out the foolishness of God, they are doomed to lose the benefit and comfort and help from a community. Here they are "lost" alone in front of the crowd seeking the friendship of others who, like them, have realized the folly of men, and want to preserve it, they and their families. But against the insidious and continual proselytizing religions, even those of them that might seem most impaired or wiser, they are disarmed. So for them to meet the gregarious qu'al'Homme need to get together with equal and co-religionists, there remains the solution to regroup in a new kind of church, atheist, whose goal is to provide its members everything that men have a natural need: the loving gaze of friends or caring, solidarity, support in the event, the contribution of a culture and a reflection on life and the world death: an atheist spirituality and rituals for all major stages of the life of a Man: Birth, transition to adolescence, transition to adult life, decision to start a family, and life after separation departure of children, sickness, old age and death. We all need that. But not stupid to believe a benevolent God or life after death reassuring. It is not reason to put forward. For the reason of man is very weak against what his unconscious mechanisms led him to do. But he is moving to another stage. The time is past stupid beliefs. Faced with this new world, full of science but also threats to our species survival time, we must invent and develop a new way to live together, in which spirituality has an important place, and free of stupid ideas whether Judeo-Christian or Buddhist or Hindu, or communist, or ... Otherwise, it is certain that no organization in communities strong atheists, religious madness of reconquered land and will again pay a high price for atheists their desire to have the freedom to think and daring to say clearly what they think of the folly of putting all his hopes in life after death.
Link
Labels: Atheism, Marie-Êve Marineau
Friday, December 04, 2009
Cult of personality excessive in American schools?, by Marie-Eve Martineau
Relatives of several U.S. states (New Jersey, Maryland) complain of the excessive politicization of their schools. It would, indeed, the children sing odes to the glory of Obama. One of the songs, which incorporates an air well known in the United States, changing the name of Jesus with that of Obama.
In the case of New Jersey school director initially refused to comment on the video merely to condemn the capture of the video ... We learn, moreover, that the song also boasts equal pay was part of celebrations of the Month Black History in the United States.
Words of the first song
Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in His sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama
Words of the second song
Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!" [February 2009?]
Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!
Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great shots
To make this country's economy number one again!
Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White and Blue!
So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Link
Labels: Children, Education, Marie-Êve Marineau, Obama, United States
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The boys, weaker sex at school, by Marie-Êve Marineau
Save the boys!, Jean-Louis Auduc, part but not against the law-thread Go Girls! (Seuil, 1992) and What's New in girls? (Nathan, 2007), sociologists Christian Baudelot and Roger Establet.
If social inequalities in access to education are now questioned and give rise to the establishment of public policies, there is another divide largely ignored. Yet again, the numbers are overwhelming: boys and girls are not equal in class. Of the 150 000 young people leaving without any qualifications in the education system in which the media often tell us, we do not say that over 100 000 are boys. From elementary school, boys show a delay in the acquisition of reading and writing and clog structures for students in difficulty or perpetrators of violent behavior. The sexual divide is often more significant than the social divide in the analysis of school careers. The traditional studies, developed in terms of economic inequality and cultural, must evolve to a place in this disturbing reality. School failure has a sex. Claiming to solve this societal problem without taking into account one of its main features is illusory.
A bad score that continues from primary to tertiary, as seven out of ten women have a tank or a diploma postbac, against six out of ten men. According to 2008-2009 figures from the Ministry of Education, girls are 31% to get one as good or very good bac S (which do not attract the scientists, but strong), against 24% of boys.
Why such a difference and such a failure? "The girls, or poorly recognized in the house, have over-invested in the school and they are recognized, the author explains, deputy director of the IUFM Paris-XII Val de Marne at Creteil. Conversely, boys are often found in their family but they live in an identity crisis at school. (...) The belief of their superiority confronts the boys to insoluble contradictions do not result in a superior intellectual girls in their class."
We note immediately that the obvious physical precocity of girls do not seem to have touched the author as a possible explanation for the difference in results between boys and girls, nor the fact that the school promotes attitudes traditionally "female": listening and obedience.
Results for author: The boys are taken to devalue the academic knowledge and to rebel against the school. The spiral of failure is initiated. She checks into the direction where the girls are under-represented in the so-called short courses (CAP, BEP, Bac STI, bac pro, etc..) However, they are overrepresented in higher education, except networks of excellence, where boys fro before them.
Indeed, despite the best educational pathways, girls less often than they choose the channels of the elite. This situation is linked to a "cultural atavism" that prevents "shake the boundaries of male and female within the family" by the author. Recall that, according to other authors, it is simply a strategy to choose careers that allow maternity and employment (by avoiding areas where knowledge quickly becomes obsolete). According to a study (March 2009) of the National Fund for Family Allowances, two thirds of parenting and household work based on women.
The author's family - one that students and the one reproduced - there she is, the great fault ... "The professional discrimination no longer find their roots in the institutional inequalities, whether at school or in the laws, but in private homes and consciences," writes the author. Discrimination based on traditional images of both sexes who have strong repercussions on the education of each other. It does not, however, how the struggle for adequate fight against these stereotypes would solve the problems of boys!
The author argues that the fact of less verbally and physically stimulate the boys (which wants stronger) has a direct influence on language acquisition slower in male children. And therefore their education. One wonders which conveys stereotypes here.
Many boys "do not rise forever the stereotype that often embodies the parenting that verbal communication is a skill largely female," says Jean-Louis Auduc. In contrast, the image of women portrayed in some circles "to help girls develop the ability to listen and order which will be an asset to the school." And in society? This is all the more true as we descend the social ladder, and ultimately more damaging to boys from disadvantaged backgrounds. Kings home, they are disallowed in school, where, according to the author, the macho mentality places them in a position of rebels, therefore refusal and failure. In short, if the boys are not doing it because boys are not educated as girls.
How to overcome this situation? For the author, struggling against the macho stereotypes and limiting mixed paradoxically, the author proposes that does not mean campaigning for the return of single-sex classes, but questioned "the appropriateness of some activities where to better manage the entire class, boys and girls are separated.
Worst case for Le Monde but not unrealistic: it is also conceivable that the gender gap will decrease with the continued rise of girls. By dint of closer social positions of the boys, they also adopt the codes and develop turn perverse aspects still own stereotypes of sex "safe". But would it be a victory for them?
This is the portrait of the painful adjustment to male school that this essay focuses. These include social and cultural reasons that predispose boys to fail and girls to succeed in order to propose concrete solutions to this problem collectively.
Source : Le Monde and the publisher
Link
Labels: Children, Education, Marie-Êve Marineau
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Kamal Meddane, the most dangerous young offenders in Quebec, by Marie-Eve Marineau
Kamal Meddane today became the youngest criminal in Quebec, and one of the youngest in Canada to be declared a dangerous offender by a judge, an exceptional sentence, the heaviest in the Criminal Code.
Judge Patrice Hurtubise has made the decision this afternoon in the Youth Division of Montreal. Kamal Meddane was 14 when he committed his first sexual assault. At 16, he relapsed, this time with great violence. At that age he refused an initial therapy for sex offenders. He has refused three in total.
At 17, while on probation followed, he made three new victims. Most of its victims are teenagers from 13 years to fragile tunes chosen at random from a bus or a subway station. He forced one of them watching him masturbate. He has violated another without a condom.
In these last three cases, he pleaded not guilty. After trial, the judge Hurtubise has been convicted of any assault. The Crown, represented by Sylvie Lemieux, then asked the judge to impose an adult sentence, what the judge has consented. This is why in the media he can be identified, even if he committed his crimes while he was still a teenager.
Judge Hurtubise has ordered the imprisonment of Meddane indefinitely. He will serve at least seven years in prison and will be evaluated every two years to determine if he is fit to go out or not.
The young man has a "deviant sexual sadist type," according to psychiatrist Louis Morissette was evaluated at the request of the Crown. He uses violence and humiliation for assaulting teenage and pubescent female. Meddane has no mental illness or drug problem or alcohol. The young man was a dunce at school and refused all approaches proposed for finding a job. It has a "high opinion of himself" and lack of empathy, according to the doctor.
Meddane had been held since his arrest in April 2007. He is awaiting trial in another sexual assault case before an adult court this time. His mother and brother were in the courtroom this afternoon, and one of his victims. His mother collapsed in tears at the sentencing.
See also:
The Crown wants to declare a young offender rapist to be controlled by Christianne Desjardin, (La Presse May 21, 2009)
Excerpt: "It rewarding to me to see that victims might be afraid," he said yesterday. Initially, it was touching. But over time, attacks have increased in severity up to rape. Eldest of eight children, he lived with his family in a five-bedroom in Montreal North.
Link
Labels: Hostile races, Marie-Êve Marineau, Montréal
Friday, September 04, 2009
SADC: Press Zimbabwe to Implement Rights Reforms, by Marie-Êve Marineau
(Johannesburg) - Southern African leaders should press Zimbabwe's power-sharing government to end ongoing human rights violations and to implement legal reforms, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Heads of state from members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are holding a summit meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on September 7 and 8, 2009.
The 20-page report, "False Dawn: The Zimbabwe Power-Sharing Government's Failure to Deliver Human Rights Improvements," highlights the transitional government's lack of progress in rights reforms in the six months since it was created. The former ruling party, Zimbabwe Africa National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), has demonstrated a lack of political will to effect change and wields more power than the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the former opposition party and now a partner in government. Police, state prosecutors, and court officials aligned to ZANU-PF conduct politically motivated prosecutions of MDC legislators and activists, and fail to ensure justice for victims of abuses or to hold perpetrators of human rights violations to account.
"Southern African leaders should stop looking at Zimbabwe through rose-colored glasses," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The region's leaders need to press Zimbabwe openly and publicly for human rights reforms to prevent the country from backsliding into state-sponsored violence and chaos."
At the summit meeting, heads of state are expected to assess Zimbabwe's compliance with a number of rulings by the SADC Tribunal on illegal land seizures in Zimbabwe. President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, the organization's current chairman, is also expected to brief leaders on the progress made by Zimbabwe's power-sharing government, which has been in place since February. The government was created by a SADC-brokered September 2008 agreement, which followed a period when ZANU-PF and its allies unleashed a campaign of violence to prevent an MDC electoral win.
In its new report, Human Rights Watch urged Southern African leaders to extract concrete commitments on human rights from the government of Zimbabwe and to tie them to specific benchmarks for progress within a clear time frame. The summit meeting's participants were also urged to raise concerns about Zimbabwe's failure to enact basic institutional and legislative reforms that would guarantee the rule of law as well as fundamental rights for Zimbabweans.
"SADC leaders should stand with the people of Zimbabwe by calling for urgent reforms to address the country's political and human rights crisis," said Gagnon. "Without these necessary changes, Zimbabwe's inclusive government will continue to be built on sand."
Link
Labels: Human Rights Watch, Marie-Êve Marineau, Zimbabwe
Friday, May 01, 2009
Shut up, otherwise you will harm our false harmony, by Marie-Eve Marineau
This kind of initiative, always initially built on good intentions, invariably ends up being transformed into monstrous Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and Suppression of Vice led forces islamoleftists ... We see Canada, where the commissions of human rights authorities are custodians of property and threaten democracy and our freedoms. We saw in Quebec with the astonishing document attached to the Bouchard-Taylor Report recommended that the media are at the service of Utopia Wellness and the Harmony total ... and everyone around, let's sing Kumbaya!
Australia will implement the mandatory Internet censorship
Australia added to China as a country which implements the mandatory censorship of the Internet, under a program developed by the federal government.
These revelations came out when the giant U.S. technology, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo and a coalition of advocacy groups for human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct to protect freedom of expression and privacy on the Internet.
The government said it will not allow Internet users have the option to withdraw from the proposed national internet filter.
The program was initially conceived as a way to fight against child pornography and adult content, but it could be extended to include controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy revealed the mandatory censorship to the Senate committee on estimates, while the Global Network Initiative, which brings together major corporations, organizations, human rights, academics and investors have asked technology companies to commit themselves to "protect freedom of expression and the right to privacy of their users."
Mr. Conroy said that tests should be made, but "we are talking about mandatory blocking, where possible, of illegal content."
The proposal for "Net Nanny" was originally offered to Australians who wanted uncensored access to the Web can contact their ISP to be excluded from this service.
Human Rights Watch has condemned internet censorship, and argued the U.S. Senate that "there is a real danger of a Virtual Curtain dividing the internet, just as the Iron Curtain had done during the Cold War because some governments fear the potential of the Internet, and want to control it. "
Groups including the System Administrators Guild of Australia and Electronic Frontiers Australia have attacked the proposal, saying it unfairly restrict Australians' access to the Web, it would slow the speed of the Internet and increase the price of access to Internet.
Colin Jacob, a board member of EFA, said the filter had little effect on illegal content on the Internet, including child pornography, because it would not cover file-sharing networks.
"If the government clearly announced that it intends to target only pornography, it would be a whole other debate," he said.
The initiative of technology companies, which follows criticism that companies were working to censorship of the Internet in countries such as China, requires them to narrowly interpret requests for information or censorship government and to fight for their collaboration reduce to a minimum.
The initiative provides a systematic approach to "work together to resist efforts by governments that seek to mobilize companies in acts of censorship and surveillance that violate international standards", said participants.
In a statement, co-founder and president of Yahoo, Jerry Yang welcomed the new code of conduct.
"These principles provide a valuable roadmap for companies like Yahoo operating in markets where freedom of expression and privacy are unfairly restricted," he said.
"Yahoo was founded on the belief that promoting access to information can enrich people's lives, and the principles we unveil today reflect our determination that our actions match our values around the world" .
Yahoo has been propelled to the forefront the issue of online rights after the Californian company has helped Chinese police identify cyber dissidents whose supposed crime was expressing their views online.
China exercises strict control over the Internet, it blocks sites linked to Chinese dissidents, the outlawed spiritual movement Falun Gong, the Tibetan government in exile and those with information about the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen.
A number of U.S. companies, including Microsoft, Cisco, Google and Yahoo, have been dragged before the U.S. Congress in recent years and accused of complicity in building the "Great Wall Chinese Firewall."
The Australian Christian Lobby, however, has hosted the program with satisfaction.
The Executive Director Jim Wallace said that such measures were necessary. "The need to prevent access to content and coarse child pornography must be placed above the desire of industry to see unrestricted access," said Wallace.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has published a list of 10 worst countries in the world for bloggers. The Internet culture is expanding in several countries in Asia and the Middle East, resulting in an aggressive crackdown by some governments. Three of these countries are members of Consel Human Rights of the United Nations, China, Cuba and Egypt.
"Bloggers are the vanguard of the information revolution and the number is growing," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "But governments have got to turn the technology against bloggers by censorship, restrictions on Internet access and retrieval of personal information. When all else fails, the authorities simply throw a few bloggers in prison for intimidating the rest of the Internet community and force them into silence or self-censorship."
Here is the list of the worst predators of freedom of expression online:
1. Burma
2. Iran
3. Syria
4. Cuba
5. Saudi Arabia
6. Vietnam
7. Tunisia
8. China
9. Turkmenistan
10. Egypt
IRAN: A Nation Of Bloggers from ayrakus on Vimeo.
Labels: Freedom of expression, Marie-Êve Marineau, Religion and fanaticism
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Sikh teen gets absolute discharge for assault with hairpin, by Marie-Êve Marineau
MONTREAL — A Sikh teen won't have a criminal record after he was granted an absolute discharge on a conviction on one charge of assault with a hairpin.
The local Sikh community expressed relief Wednesday that the judge in the case also acquitted the 13-year-old on two other assault charges — including one that stemmed from the alleged use of a ceremonial dagger on a classmate in Montreal last September.
Youth court Judge Gilles Ouellet said there was enough reasonable doubt created by contradictory testimony for the acquittals.
That came as a relief to community members who have seen the dagger, known as a kirpan, come under increased public scrutiny in recent years.
“The community is happy in the sense that the case has nothing to do with the kirpan,” said Ishan Singh, a community member and friend of the accused's family.
“A kirpan has never been nor will it ever be a threatening weapon. A kirpan is a religious object and it is sacred to the culture and the religion and in that case (the ruling is) a relief to the community.”
But Judge Ouellet said there was “technically” enough evidence to convict on the single assault charge.
However, Judge Ouellet said he gave the unconditional discharge because it is time for everyone involved to move on.
That means the youngster will not have a criminal record.
The pin, which is not a religious object, is used to tuck loose strands of hair into a turban.
The spat took place off school grounds in Montreal last Sept. 11 and stemmed from a tale of jealousy over the friendship of a mutual schoolyard chum.
The two victims were angered that a friend preferred to play with the accused instead of wanting to hang around with them.
They alleged that the Sikh teen assaulted them by threatening them with the hairpin and one of them said he was poked with the kirpan, which was wrapped in a cloth and worn by the accused near the waist under clothes.
The accused had received the kirpan only days before the alleged incident after being baptized.
In his ruling, Judge Ouellet said the case would have been better served by the mediation process and that it may not have ended up in court had all the parties come from the same background.
Defence lawyer Julius Grey agreed.
“I think the boys came from different millieus and the parents didn't understand each other and they did not have the way open to them to sit down and work it out amongst themselves,” Mr. Grey said.
But the Crown questioned the timing of Judge Ouellet's remarks.
“I don't think those comments were appropriate ... especially given the evidence the judge saw,” said Sylvie Lemieux, adding her office will review the ruling before deciding whether to appeal.
The kirpan was returned to the teen Wednesday but the hairpin was ordered destroyed.
In 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a Montreal school board's ban on the wearing of the kirpan. The school attended by the accused and the alleged victims in the case is part of the same board.
“I think (this case) would have gotten a bit less media attention if it had not been a Sikh boy and certainly if it not had involved a kirpan,” Mr. Singh said.
“But maybe a lot more people know about the religion know and understand better the religious value a kirpan holds.”
Link
Labels: Canada, Marie-Êve Marineau, Québec, Religion and fanaticism, Sikh
Saturday, April 04, 2009
The Taliban who kidnapped a Canadian pro-jihad in Vancouver say they will run Sunday, by Marie-Êve Marineau
The Taliban militants holding the Canadian Khadija Abdul Qahaar in the tribal region of North Waziristan have distributed a flyer on Friday in which they threaten to kill them if ransom is not met tomorrow (Sunday).
The militants had given until March 31 for payment of a tell than 2 million. They then extended the deadline until April 3. Now they warn that the new deadline of April 5 is final.
Manuscript in a flyer distributed in parts of North Waziristan by an unknown "Gumnam Mujahideen-e-Islam" (anonymous fighters for Islam), activists allege that the Canadian is not a journalist but has been sent by the Government of Canada to spy on the Taliban, North Waziristan.
"We ask once again to the Governments of Pakistan and Canada to accept our demands by April 5, otherwise we will kill Khadija Abdul Qahaar because it is not a journalist. She came to Pakistan on a mission of spying for the Canadian government.
Under Islamic law, the penalty is death. So far, not a single official of Pakistan or Canada we have not approache. On 5 April is the deadline, "says the flyer made available to The News.
Link
Labels: Afghanistan, Marie-Êve Marineau, Pakistan, Religion and fanaticism
Pakistan - (video) A 17-year-old whipped in public in Swat, which is governed by the sharia, by Marie-Êve Marineau
The blurred images appear to show a girl aged 17 being beaten by radical Islamists in the Swat region of northwest Pakistan where Sharia has been introduced after the conclusion of a truce with the Taliban in February.
A local commander of the Taliban in Matta, a militant stronghold 25 miles from the regional capital, Mingora, ordered that the girl was whipped a week ago after being accused of adultery, according to local reporters.
But some residents of Matta have accused the commander had ordered that the girl was beaten to avenge she refused his proposal of marriage, told reporters at the Times.
"Please! Enough! Enough!" implored the girl in Pashtu, the language of the tribes that dominate the north-west Pakistan, now the main hub of Taliban and al Qaeda.
At another point, she exclaimed: "I repent, my father repents, what I did, my grandmother repent for what I did ... "
The man who insults the flagellum his colleague who is struggling to control the girl and to prevent him from protecting his back with his hands.
We hear: "You must keep it tight so it does not move."
The President Zardari stressed that the truce was signed with "moderate"....
Link
Labels: Islam, Marie-Êve Marineau, Pakistan, Sharia
Friday, March 06, 2009
ICC: Bashir Warrant Is Warning to Abusive Leaders, by Marie-Êve Marineau
(New York) - The International Criminal Court's (ICC) issuance of an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan signals that even those at the top may be held to account for mass murder, rape and torture, Human Rights Watch said today. ICC judges granted the warrant for Bashir, its first for a sitting head of state, on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role in orchestrating Sudan's abusive counterinsurgency campaign in Darfur.
"With this arrest warrant, the International Criminal Court has made Omar al-Bashir a wanted man," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "Not even presidents are guaranteed a free pass for horrific crimes. By ruling there is a case for President al-Bashir to answer for the horrors of Darfur, the warrant breaks through Khartoum's repeated denials of his responsibility."
The court did not confirm the three counts of genocide that were requested by the ICC prosecutor. Genocide requires evidence that the crimes were committed specifically "with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part," a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group solely on the basis of its identity.
"Proving genocide charges is always extremely difficult," said Dicker. "President Bashir is hardly off the hook, as he is sought for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including widespread rape, murder, and torture committed as part of a government plan."
Under the ICC Statute, the prosecutor is able to request an amendment of the warrant to include genocide if he obtains additional evidence to support the charge.
The ICC prosecutor requested an arrest warrant for Bashir on July 14, 2008. Following the prosecutor's announcement, Sudanese government officials made implicit and explicit threats of retaliation against international peacekeepers and humanitarian workers. On July 25, a Sudanese presidential advisor, Bona Malwal, stated in regard to peacekeeping forces that, "We are telling the world that with the indictment of our President al-Bashir we can't be responsible for the well-being of foreign forces in Darfur." President Bashir has also threatened to expel international peacekeeping forces if a warrant is issued.
The Security Council, its individual members, the UN Secretariat, the European Union, and the African Union have a critical role in promptly responding to any government-supported retaliation in Darfur following news of the warrant.
"The Sudanese government is obliged to maintain security in the country and the Security Council should act decisively to hold them to it," said Dicker. "Khartoum should not be allowed to use the arrest warrant as a pretext for stepping up its obstructionist policies that have hobbled peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts in Darfur."
The government of Sudan is required by a Security Council resolution to facilitate the deployment of the African Union/UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and to cooperate with the ICC. Under international law, Sudan remains obligated to protect its own civilians and to provide full, safe, and unhindered access by relief personnel to those in need in Darfur. The arrest warrant does not change these obligations, nor does it have any impact on Khartoum's obligations to carry out the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the government of Southern Sudan.
"The Security Council and concerned governments should impose targeted sanctions against Sudanese officials responsible for any retaliatory violence, and consider other measures such as further banking restrictions or a widening of the arms embargo," said Dicker.
The ICC is an independent judicial institution. Sudan, though not a party to the Rome Statute creating the court, is subject to ICC jurisdiction through Security Council resolution. Having an official position as head of state does not provide immunity from criminal responsibility before the ICC.
Apart from the warrant against President Bashir, the ICC has issued two other warrants in relation to Darfur. On April 27, 2007, the court issued arrest warrants for State Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun and a "Janjaweed" militia leader, Ali Kosheib. The prosecutor has also requested arrest warrants for three rebel leaders in connection with attacks on international peacekeepers at Haskanita in October 2007. That request is currently under consideration by the court.
Sudan has so far refused to cooperate with the ICC. All the arrest warrants remain outstanding. Haroun continues in his official position as state minister of humanitarian affairs. On November 24, the Sudanese government arrested and tortured three human rights defenders in Khartoum for allegedly giving information to the ICC.
"Khartoum is required to cooperate with the court," said Dicker. "Because the ICC has no police force of its own, it needs strong support from governments to ensure that all those charged with crimes are arrested."
Background
In a March 31, 2005 resolution, the Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC prosecutor for investigation and prosecution. The decision was based on the recommendation of an international commission of inquiry, which found that violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law were continuing in Darfur and that the Sudanese justice system was unwilling and unable to address the crimes. Darfur is the first situation referred by the Security Council to the ICC.
Link
Labels: Darfur, Human Rights Watch, ICC, Marie-Êve Marineau, Sudan
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Religious are shocked by the Al Azhar-Vatican on the revision of textbooks, by Marie-Eve Marineau
The final declaration of the Committee for Dialogue between Catholics and Muslims who met in Rome on 24 and 25 February on the theme "Promoting a pedagogy and a culture of peace ', provides that" textbooks should be reviewed so that they do not contain documents that could affect the religious sentiments of other believers, sometimes through a false dogmas, ethical or historical reconstructions of other religions. "
IslamOnline reported a worrying but not surprising.
An agreement between the Vatican and Al Azhar raised eyebrows
An agreement on the rewriting of textbooks between Al-Azhar, the seat of the highest authority in matters of religious education in the Sunni world, and the Vatican, gave the university Egyptian anger.
"Muslims respect all other religions, told IslamOnline.net Sheikh Youssef al-Badri, a preacher and former official of Al-Azhar.
"I challenge anyone to find such materials offensive in our textbooks. "
Religious leaders of Al-Azhar met with the Vatican cardinals in Rome on February 24 and 25 to discuss measures to develop friendly relations and peace in the world.
They suggested that textbooks should be rewritten to expunge any content that might offend the religion of another.
"The textbooks should be reviewed so that they do not contain documents that could affect the religious sentiments of other believers, sometimes through a false dogmas, ethical or historical reconstructions of other religions," have they wrote in a statement.
The document does not specify how the two major religions proceed.
The statement has raised the anger of religious leaders of Egypt, including some of Al-Azhar.
They argue strongly that the textbooks in Muslim countries do not contain offensive material, and it is rather the West needs to review its own textbooks.
"Muslims have no need to rewrite their books," says Taha Riyan, a professor of religion at Al-Azhar. "Islam calls for respect for other religions. "
The authorities of Al-Azhar said that the Grand Imam Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi has ordered a review of textbooks long ago, and that these books contain no trace of insult against the other religions.
Like many people, El-Badri said that the problem is rather the part of Westerners who defame Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him).
Link
Labels: Egypt, Marie-Êve Marineau, Religion and fanaticism
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Sudan - The International Criminal Court seeks the arrest of President Al-Bashir for genocide in Darfur, by Marie-Eve Marineau
The actions and threats have not intimidated Sudanese ICC. It has just issued a request for the arrest of President of Sudan, Omar Al-Bashir.
The Sudanese president had said yesterday that his country was not affected by the decision of the Court. Defying the international community, he had asked the ICC to "boil the decision and to drink the juice."
The ICC has thus confirmed its accusations against the President of Sudan, referred by seven charges, including genocide in Darfur and calls on Khartoum to deliver the President, recalling that it occurred under Chapter VII of the Charter United Nations. The ICC also called all countries, especially the signatories of the Rome Convention (on the ICC), to cooperate in order to arrest and hand over Al-Bashir at the ICC.
In their first response, the Sudanese authorities have called the decision of the ICC policy, accusing the West to lead a new offensive against colonial Sudan.
Television Al Arabiya "said that hundreds of Sudanese demonstrated in this time in Khartoum against the decision of the ICC.
Link
Labels: Darfur, ICC, Marie-Êve Marineau, Sudan
Thursday, February 12, 2009
DR Congo: Groups Fear for Civilian Safety, by Marie-Êve Marineau
(Goma) - A coalition of 100 humanitarian and human rights organizations today called on John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, to insist that protecting civilians be a top priority of the joint Congolese and Rwandan military operation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Holmes is due to arrive in Goma, the North Kivu capital, on February 7, 2009.
In a public letter to Holmes, the Congo Advocacy Coalition expressed alarm that the joint military operation has to date contributed to the flight of thousands of people from their homes in anticipation of violence, adding to the 1.2 million already displaced in earlier waves of fighting. The coalition further raised concerns about reprisal killings and the use of civilians as human shields by the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), as well as reports of rape and looting by all sides.
"Congolese civilians are always targeted when there are military operations and their fears of being killed, raped, or looted are very real," said Juliette Prodhan of Oxfam. "The Congolese and Rwandan forces and UN peacekeepers should do all that they can to ensure that civilians are protected during the joint operations and are not once again the targets."
On January 20, 2009, the Congolese and Rwandan governments began a joint military operation against the FDLR, an armed group based in eastern Congo, some of whose leaders are wanted on charges of genocide. While there have only been a few skirmishes so far, there is widespread anticipation that the fighting could intensify and spread in the coming days and weeks.
The coalition warned against a repeat of the unimaginable brutality suffered by Congolese civilians in Haut-Uele territory in northeastern Congo following the launch of a joint Ugandan and Congolese military operation to disarm the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group based in Congo. More than 700 people were massacred by the rebels in less than one month. Minimal protection measures had been put in place to protect those at risk and to halt the killings.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUC, has a strong mandate to protect civilians but has been left out of military planning in both joint operations, in the Kivus and Haut-Uele. It is also still awaiting 3,000 reinforcements authorized almost three months ago. In its letter, the Congo Advocacy Coalition urged Holmes to insist that the peacekeeping mission be given a central role in civilian protection and relief in planning all military operations and that the mission has the resources it needs, as mandated by the UN Security Council, in order to effectively protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access.
The coalition also called on Holmes to urge parties to resume the political process needed to address the underlying issues driving the Congo conflict, such as exploitation of mineral wealth, lack of justice, and representation of minorities.
"All of the armed groups need to disarm," said Kubuya Muhangi, the president of CRONGD-North Kivu. "People in eastern Congo desperately want to go back to their homes and to be able to stay there without fear of having to run again."
The Congo Advocacy Coalition, made up of local and international nongovernmental organizations, was established in July 2008 to advocate for greater protection of civilians and respect for human rights in eastern Congo. Members of the coalition's steering committee include: ActionAid, ENOUGH Project, Human Rights Watch, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Oxfam, Conseil Régional des Organisations Non Gouvernementales de Développement (CRONGD) - North Kivu, Promotion et Appui aux Initiatives Féminines (PAIF) - North Kivu, Institut Congolaise pour la Justice et la Paix (ICJP) - South Kivu, and Association des Femmes Juristes du Congo (AFEJUCO) - South Kivu.
Other Signatories:
International NGOs:
Action Against Hunger/ Action Contre la Faim (ACF) - USA, American Bar Association (ABA) Rule of Law Initiative in DRC, Beati i costruttori di pace/ Blessed are the Peacemakers , CAFOD, CARE International, Centre Lokole/ Search for Common Ground, Global Witness, International Emergency and Development Aid (IEDA) Relief, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Great Lakes, Refugees International, Tearfund, Trocaire, War Child Holland
Congolese NGOs:
ACAEFAD, Action by Christians Against Torture (ACAT)/Sud Kivu, ACPS, Action des Chrétiens Activistes des Droits de l'Homme a Shabunda (ACADHOSHA), ADECOF/Sud Kivu, AFCD, AFCDI, AFECEF, AJERF, Africa Justice Peace and Development (AJPD), ALCM, AMALDEFEA, AMI-KIVU, ANAMEDAPED, APIBA, APRODEPED, ASADHO (Association africaine de défense des droits de l'homme) - Sud Kivu, ASALAK, Action Sociale pour la Paix et le Développement (ASPD), Association pour le Développement des Initiatives Paysannes (ASSODIP), AYINET/DRC, BDENA, Blessed Aid, CADRE, Collectif des Associations des Femmes Pour le Développement (CAFED), Campagne Pour la Paix (CPP), CCJT, CEDAC, CELPA/SK, Centre d'Appui pour le Développement Rural Communautaire (CADERCO), Centre de Recherche sur l'Environnement, la Démocratie et les Droits de l'Homme (CREDDHO), Centre de promotion socio-sanitaire (CEPROSSAN), Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche en Education de Base pour le Développement Integré (CEREBA), Coalition RDC pour la Cour Pénale Internationale (CPI), Collectif des Organisations des Jeunes Solidaires du Congo (COJESKI)/Sud Kivu, Collectif des Organisations des Jeunes Solidaires du Congo (COJESKI)/ Nord Kivu, COPARE, CUBAKA, DYJESKI, EFD, Encadrement des femmes indigènes et des ménages vulnérables (EFIM), Entraide des Femmes pour les Déshérités (EFD) - Uvira Sud -Kivu, Foyer Social de Mogo (FSM/Kabare), GAIDER, GAMAC, GRAM-Kivu, Group d'Etudes et d'Actions Pour un Développement Bien Défini (GEAD) /Nord-Kivu, Groupe de Voix de Sans Voix (GVSV), Groupe Féminine, HEAL Africa, Héritiers de la Justice, Humanitas, IGE/CCD, La Synergie des femmes pour les victimes des violences sexuelles (SFVS), Mamans Umoja, Martin Luther King Non-Violence Group, OCET, PAL, PAMI, Perspectives "Monde Juste", PIDP-Kivu, PRENAO, PRODES, Promotion de la Démocratie et Protection des Droits Humains (PDH), RADHOSKI-Sud Kivu, Réseau Provincial des ONG de Droits de l'Homme (REPRODHOC)/Nord-Kivu, RFDP, SAMS, SARCAF, SILDE, SJPR/EST, Solidarité pour la Promotion Sociale et la Paix (SOPROP), SYNECAT, UCODE, UPADERI, VOVOLIB (Voix de Sans Voix ni Libertés)
Link
Labels: Congo, Human rights, Human Rights Watch, Marie-Êve Marineau
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Great Britain - A deadly terrorist threat to prison if the guardians did not hide his presence, by Marie-Eve Marineau
He has a good chance to win ...
A deadly terrorist Al-Qaeda has sparked outrage after threatening to sue under the Act on the rights of the people if the prison guards do not veil in his presence.
Kamel Bourgass, 33, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004 after stabbing to death the brave Special Branch officer Stephen Oake during a police raid.
Not only Bourgass now recruiting members to his cause twisted in Wakefield Prison, but he also claims that the custodians unveiled infringe his human rights.
He jokes in bad taste on the posthumous bravery medal awarded to DC Oake, saying it had been made with the metal from my knife. "
The Algerian was preparing an attack on ricin, a deadly poison, against Great Britain when Detective Oake, a father of three children aged 40, arrested.
Bourgass, the first Muslim fanatic to assassinate a British police officer, is in Wakefield prison last few weeks.
But insiders say that it has already begun to preach to prisoners Islamist hatred against the West.
With his long black cloak, he placed guards angry with his disgusting jokes on DC Oake.
A source inside the prison revealed: "It is very violent and aggressive towards staff and he said that the presence of women in the prayer meetings is a violation of their human rights."
"If they are in use, it requires that they wear the veil."
"We were told to monitor it closely because it preaches hatred for prayer meetings." ...
Labels: Human mistake, Islam, Marie-Êve Marineau, Religion and fanaticism, United Kingdom
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Morocco: Suppressing Rights in Western Sahara, by Marie-Êve Marineau
(Rabat, December 19, 2008) - Morocco violates the rights to expression, association, and assembly in Western Sahara, Human Rights Watch said in a new report issued today, revealing stark limits to the progress that Morocco has made in protecting human rights overall. Human rights conditions have also improved in the Sahrawi refugee camps managed by the Polisario Front in Algeria, although the Polisario marginalizes those who directly oppose its leadership.
Human Rights Watch called on both Morocco and Polisario to take specific steps to improve the human rights situation in the territories under their de facto control, and on the United Nations Security Council to ensure regular human rights monitoring in both Western Sahara and Tindouf.
"The repression has eased somewhat, and today dissidents are testing the red lines," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "But Moroccan authorities - to their credit - ask us to judge them not against their own past record, but against their international human rights engagements. By that standard, they have a long way to go."
The 216-page report, "Human Rights in Western Sahara and in the Tindouf Refugee Camps," focuses on the present-day situation rather than on past abuses. Human Rights Watch documents how Morocco uses a combination of repressive laws, police violence, and unfair trials to punish Sahrawis who advocate peacefully in favor of independence or full self-determination for the disputed Western Sahara.
"The Western Sahara is an international problem that has been on the back burner for decades," said Whitson. "But through this conflict, the world can also understand and address the broader human rights challenges that remain for Morocco."
In Western Sahara, Moroccan authorities consider all opposition to their rule of the disputed territory as illegal attacks on Morocco's "territorial integrity," and use this as a basis to ban or disperse peaceful demonstrations and to deny legal recognition to human rights organizations. The problem goes well beyond repressive laws, however: police beat peaceful pro-independence demonstrators and sometimes torture persons in their custody, Human Rights Watch said. Citizens file formal complaints about police abuse that the justice system routinely dismisses without conducting serious investigations, reinforcing a climate of impunity for the police.
While Sahrawi demonstrations sometimes involve acts of protester violence that Moroccan authorities have a responsibility to prevent and punish, this cannot justify blanket bans on peaceful assemblies. Moroccan courts have convicted Sahrawi human rights activists of inciting or participating in violence based on dubious evidence, in trials that were patently unfair.
In preparing this report, Human Rights Watch interviewed scores of people living in Western Sahara as well as present and former residents of the Tindouf refugee camps. Both Moroccan and Polisario authorities received the Human Rights Watch delegation, imposed no significant obstacles on its work, and provided extensive answers to questions from Human Rights Watch that are reflected in the report.
In the Tindouf refugee camps, the Polisario Front allows refugees to criticize its management of daily affairs, but effectively marginalizes those who directly oppose its leadership. Residents are able to leave the camps if they wish to, including to resettle in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. The fact that most take the main road to Mauritania rather than a clandestine route shows their confidence in being allowed to travel. Yet, those headed to Western Sahara tend to hide their plans, fearing both official obstacles and the disapproval of other camp residents if their final destination becomes known.
The population of the camps remains vulnerable to abuses due to the camps' isolated location, the lack of any regular independent human rights monitoring and reporting, and Algeria's claim that the Polisario, rather than Algeria itself, is responsible for protecting the human rights of the camps' residents.
"The refugees in Tindouf have, for more than 30 years, lived in exile from their homeland, governed by a liberation movement in an environment that is physically harsh and isolated," said Whitson. "Regardless of the current state of affairs, both the Polisario and the host country, Algeria, have responsibilities to ensure that the rights of these vulnerable refugees are protected."
Human Rights Watch said that the UN Security Council should ensure that the UN presence in the region includes regular human rights monitoring. Virtually all UN peacekeeping missions around the world include a human rights component and, with MINURSO forces operating in a peacekeeper capacity in Western Sahara, this region should be no exception. In this, France and the United States, as the permanent Security Council members with the strongest interests in this region, have a critical role to play.
Among its many recommendations, Human Rights Watch urges Morocco to:
- Revise or abolish laws that criminalize speech and political or associative activities deemed affronts to Morocco's "territorial integrity" and that are used to suppress nonviolent advocacy in favor of Sahrawi political rights;
- End impunity for police abuses by ensuring serious investigations into civilian complaints and, where warranted, charges or disciplinary measures against abusive agents;
- Allow independent human rights associations to follow the procedure for obtaining legal recognition; and
- Ensure that courts reach verdicts based on the impartial weighing of all relevant evidence. Judges and prosecutors should give effect to suspects' right under Moroccan law to demand medical examinations, and reject as evidence any statement that is established to have been made as a result of police torture.
Human Rights Watch urges the Polisario Front to:
- Take pro-active measures so that all camp residents know that they are free to leave the camps, including to settle in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara;
- Ensure that camp residents are free to challenge peacefully the leadership of the Polisario Front and to advocate options for Western Sahara other than independence; and
- Eliminate or restrict broadly worded articles of the Polisario penal code that, for example, criminalize the printing of publications or participating in demonstrations deemed "likely to disturb the public order."
Morocco has ruled Western Sahara de facto since its troops moved in following Spain's withdrawal from its former colony in 1976. Morocco officially refers to the region as its "southern provinces," but the United Nations does not recognize Moroccan sovereignty.
Morocco opposed as unworkable a UN-brokered plan for a referendum on the territory's future and has proposed autonomy for the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. Morocco has made clear, however, that the plan envisages no rollback of laws criminalizing "attacks on territorial integrity." Thus, Moroccan-granted autonomy will not give Sahrawis their right to demand independence or a referendum to decide the region's future.
"Sahrawis differ on how to resolve the conflict," said Whitson. "But wherever they live, authorities must allow them peacefully to express and act on behalf of those views. Any proposed solution for the Western Sahara that does not guarantee these rights is no solution at all."
Human Rights Watch takes no position on the issue of independence for Western Sahara or on Morocco's proposal for regional autonomy.
Labels: Human rights, Human Rights Watch, Marie-Êve Marineau, Morocco
Monday, December 15, 2008
Mosque fights for rights, but slurs Jews and West, by Marie-Êve Marineau
A mosque asking that Canadian workplaces respect a strict Muslim dress code is at the same time disseminating slurs against Jews and Western societies, and warning members against social integration.
The Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque near Kipling Ave. and Rexdale Blvd. serves as the religious authority for eight Somali women complaining to the Canadian Human Rights Commission that UPS Canada Ltd. violated their religious rights at a sorting plant. The mosque, founded in 1990 and serving upwards of 10,000 people, preaches strict adherence to sharia, or Islamic law, and no compromise with the West.
Teachings on the mosque's website, khalidmosque.com, refer to non-Muslim Westerners as "wicked," "corrupt" and "our clear enemies."
Sometimes Jews are singled out.
"Is it permissible for women to wear high-heeled shoes?" begins one posting in question-and-answer format. "That is not permissible," comes the reply. "It involves resembling the Disbelieving Women or the wicked women. It has its origin among the Jewish women."
Modern pastimes are condemned.
"What is the ruling on subscribing to sports channels?" another question begins. "Watching some of the female spectators, when the camera focuses on them time after time" stirs "evil inclinations," the lesson reads. "Some (players) may not even believe in Allaah."
Mosque leaders refused repeated requests for an interview.
A disclaimer on the website says questions and answers do not necessarily reflect the mosque's views. But the About Us page says: "All questions and answers on this site (are) prepared, approved and supervised by (the mosque's imam) Bashir Yusuf Shiil."
The mosque's stand on the UPS case also appears contradictory.
In September, a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal heard two weeks of testimony from eight mosque members alleging "Islamophobia" at the company's west Toronto plant. Three final days of testimony are scheduled for next week.
The eight women, who lost their jobs at UPS, say Islam dictates that they wear a full-length skirt for modesty. The courier company insists that any skirt be knee-length for safety, as workers climb ladders up to 6 metres high.
Under their skirt, the women wear full-length trousers but say they do not want the lower part showing in case the shape of the calf can be discerned.
The complaint originally centred on the company's use of temporary workers and uneven enforcement of its safety rules.
But the key question remains: Is UPS insisting on shorter hems for safety or is it violating religious rights by denying the women permanent jobs unless they conform?
So far, no Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque representative has attended the sessions, but the women cited the mosque as their place of worship and religious authority, and tabled a letter from its administration. "This is to certify that the religion of Islam requires all Muslim women to cover her entire body inclusive of the legs, arms, head, ears and neck," the letter reads. "As such, (the women) would not be able to wear pants as an outfit."
On the other hand, the mosque's website teachings forbid women to work outside the home in the first place. "It is known that when women go to work in the workplaces of men, this leads to mixing with men," one such posting says.
"This is a very dangerous matter," it reads. "It is in clear opposition to the texts of the Shariah that order the women to remain in their houses and to fulfill the type of work that is particular for her ...
"We ask Allah to protect our land and the lands of all Muslims from the plots and machinations of their enemies."
Two of the women making the complaint – Dales Yusuf, 46, and Nadifo Yusuf (no relation), 36 – said in an interview that they live in Canada now, and are free to pick and choose from Islamic law.
"We must work," said Dales Yusuf. "I'm a single parent raising my kids." Jacquie Chic, a lawyer with the Workers' Action Centre representing the women at the hearings, said neither she nor her clients were aware of the mosque's posted teachings. "I, the Workers' Centre and these women are concerned enormously about any expression of anti-Semitism or any other form of racism," she said.
Questions to the mosque about its teachings were met with evasiveness over three weeks.
Mosque chairman Osman Mohamed three times agreed to an interview and three times cancelled at last minute. Imam Shiil was said to be in Saudi Arabia and unreachable. Mosque administrator Abukar Mohamed confused matters further by appearing to agree with UPS, saying: "The Quran says women must be covered – it doesn't give you the specific clothes. But I am not a religious authority."
Link
Labels: Canada, Islam, Marie-Êve Marineau, Religion and fanaticism, Secularism
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