http://www.irinnews.org/irin-fp.aspxUpdated everydayen-gbFri, 12 Mar 2010 13:14:02 GMTBOSASSO Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - In an attempt to deal with a growing influx of migrants, authorities in Somalia's autonomous region of Puntland are adopting new measures to stop people from undertaking the hazardous journey to Yemen, officials said.BOSASSO Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - In an attempt to deal with a growing influx of migrants, authorities in Somalia's autonomous region of Puntland are adopting new measures to stop people from undertaking the hazardous journey to Yemen, officials said.

"The problem of migrants is not going away and the Puntland authorities, particularly in the Bari region [Bosasso area], had to come up with a new strategy to deal with this problem," said Mohamud Jama Muse, director of the Migration Response Centre (MRC) in the regional capital, Bosasso.

MRC was created in April 2009, under the office of the Bari governor, to "register and provide counselling and assist" the migrants. Between April and December 2009, it registered 7,223 persons.

"This number is smaller than the actual number," Muse told IRIN on 1 March. "You have to understand, a lot of these people are not very trusting of authorities, so they never bother registering."

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 78,487 Ethiopians and Somalis crossed into Yemen from Somalia and Djibouti in 2009, of whom 685 died.

So far in 2010, 5,032 have crossed and four have died, said Roberta Russo, spokeswoman for UNHCR Somalia.

Learning to fish

Muse said the government had adopted a two-track approach. Apart from the MRC, security forces had cracked down on smugglers and closed the ports from which they operate.

"With the help of IOM [International Organization for Migration] we started a pilot project with a local NGO, Red Sea Fishing Organization [RESFO], in skills training and income generation, for 100 migrants and locals to teach them skills to make a living," he explained.

The group is taught how to fish, process the catch, repair nets and keep books.

"We are even teaching some of them to swim," said Mohamed Said of RESFO. "The aim is to provide an alternative to boarding those boats [to Yemen]."

The project aims to integrate the migrants into the community, said Ahmed Muse Mohamed, IOM officer-in-charge in Bosasso. "We want to create opportunities here for them so they don’t have to go on these dangerous journeys," he added.

Too weak to walk

"By the time they reach us they have walked over 1,000km and are dehydrated and almost starving," said Muse, and reports indicated some died on the way to Bosasso.

Abdi, not his real name, came from Ethiopia four months ago. He walked 760km to reach Bosasso, with the aim of going to Yemen.

He and six others had to avoid being stopped by security forces or attacked by bandits. "It is not a trip I would want to make again," he said. "It was too difficult and dangerous. By the time I arrived I was so weak I could barely walk."

He has registered with MRC but has not started the training yet.

Addis Tolosa, 30, an Ethiopian migrant who has been in Bosasso for a couple of years, went to Yemen but was intercepted by the Yemeni coastguard and returned to Bosasso.

He is now being trained by RESFO. "I don’t have the means to go back [to Yemen] so I am now in this training to learn how to earn a living," said. "As soon we finish the training I will get fishing gear and go to work."

Some locals, however, insisted they would still like to go to Yemen.

Mohamed Hassan Shire, 23, from the coastal town of Kismayo, 2,000km south, arrived in Bosasso six months ago. He said he left out of fear he would be forcibly recruited into a militia.

"I came here because I was not safe in Kismayo," he said. "People I knew died trying to get there [Yemen]. I know also that what I am doing is like flipping a coin, but I will try it. I have no other option."

More help needed

The former Puntland Bari Governor Muse Ghelle (replaced on 6 March) told IRIN he was determined to help the potential migrants. "With the very little resources we have we are trying but we need help," he added.

He called on the international community to increase its support to Puntland to help it deal with the growing influx of migrants.

Puntland would not be able to cope on its own. "We need more meaningful help from the donor community," he said.

Muse of MRC said the migrants needed emergency food upon arrival, temporary shelter, a health centre and a reception centre to receive them.

"Most of these people are economic migrants and when they come here they have exhausted what little they had, so it is important to at least have somewhere where they can get some help immediately."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88405NAIROBI Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - Government troops - the FARDC - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to blame for much of the epidemic of sexual violence in the east of the country, according to US and UN reports detailing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by various groups there.NAIROBI Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - Government troops - the FARDC - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to blame for much of the epidemic of sexual violence in the east of the country, according to US and UN reports detailing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by various groups there.

FARDC is trying to rout the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) and the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from the Kivu region and Oriental province in eastern Congo, but operations have been criticized for their impact on civilians.

“Armed groups such as the LRA and FDLR commit atrocities that amount to grave breaches of international humanitarian law and, in some instances, may also constitute crimes against humanity,” according to the UN experts.

“In North Kivu, an assistance provider for victims of sexual violence recorded 3,106 cases between January and July 2009; half of these cases were perpetrated by FARDC members,” a group of seven UN experts said in their second report on the situation in DRC, submitted to the Security Council on 8 March.

Many of the FARDC troops used to be members of rebel groups who joined the army as part of peace initiatives.

In 2009, groups still under arms “continued to commit numerous, serious abuses - some of which may have constituted war crimes - including unlawful killings, disappearances, and torture”, according to the US government’s annual global human rights report, released on 11 March.

The UN experts added arbitrary arrest, forced labour and extortion to this litany of abuses.

In Dungu territory of Oriental Province, according to the US-based Enough Project, soldiers committed 116 rapes in a single neighbourhood last October.

“A particularly egregious case involved the gang rape of a pregnant woman by five Congolese soldiers near the market of Bangadi on 8 October, 2009,” it said.

FARDC commander General Leon Mushale told Enough the problem was isolated: “It is the fault of the man, not of the organization … we are dealing with the problems on a case–by-case basis,” he said.

“There is a correlation between peace and rape,” Bora Kawende, acting head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) office in North Kivu, recently told IRIN. “During war, soldiers here commit collective, massive rape.”

Legal gaps

The UN experts’ report said impunity, absence of the rule of law and women’s subordinate social and legal position reinforced a climate of general acceptance and tolerance for violence against women and girls in increasingly militarized societies, such as eastern DRC.

"The application of the law is weak," Kawende said. “And if a perpetrator is sentenced, the government must have a good jail where he can stay,” she added. In Mbandaka, a soldier was sent to jail for rape, but could not be locked up because the prison had been destroyed during the war.

Congo’s military justice system, the experts said, had retained jurisdiction over most cases involving serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, but was weak and susceptible to executive interference by military or political decision-makers.

“The solution is justice, justice, justice,” said Esteban Sacco, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in North Kivu. “There has to be a system that brings to justice those who commit the crime of rape.”

Speaking at a seminar in Goma, North Kivu prosecutor-general Mulumba Kifulya said arrests and prosecutions took too long, and many victims were too poor to pursue cases or preferred to keep quiet.

Involving men

The charity, Women for Women, called on men to help reduce sexual abuse. “In December, we held a seminar for 550 trainers of trainers, including soldiers, clergy, traditional rulers and local administrators,” Clovis Mulungula, sponsorship assistant, told IRIN. “In the seminars, we noticed that some men did not know the consequences.”

At least 1.36 million are displaced by violence in the Kivus, according to OCHA. In Hauts Plateaux, Uvira region of South Kivu, thousands of civilians have been trapped by conflict since February, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said.

"We heard from people who have reached our medical structure that there are many civilians who are afraid to come to the hospital,” Philippe Havet, MSF's head in DRC noted on 11 March. “They are in constant fear of being attacked.”

eo/am/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88410NAIROBI Thursday, March 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Rwanda's upcoming presidential elections has cast a spotlight on its democratic credentials, with observers warning that allegations of intimidation of opposition leaders could mar the process.NAIROBI Thursday, March 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Rwanda's upcoming presidential elections has cast a spotlight on its democratic credentials, with observers warning that allegations of intimidation of opposition leaders could mar the process.

"It is a very important event for our country because it is the second time we are electing a head of state," Chrysologue Karangwa, President of the Electoral Commission, told IRIN. "The people are preparing themselves for it."

Observers say the prevailing political environment restricts opponents of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

“Rwanda needs to allow the democratic process, to create political space for everybody,” a Nairobi-based regional analyst, who requested anonymity, said. “Otherwise the elections will be a fait accompli. That will undermine Rwanda's democratic growth.”

Paul Kagame has been president since March 2000, after leading the RPF to power in July 1994 and ending the Rwandan genocide. The slaughter of more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus was by far the bloodiest chapter in a long power struggle between the minority Tutsis and majority Hutus.

In August 2003, Kagame won 95 percent of the votes in the first national elections since 1994. His main competitor, Faustin Twagiramungu, won 3.5 percent.

Kagame is widely expected to be nominated again as the RPF flag-bearer in the 9 August election, but recent incidents involving other potential candidates have fuelled concerns that the poll will not be fair.

Election questions

"It is very difficult to imagine any opposition candidates who can get a significant share of the votes," Thomas Cargill, assistant head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, said. "The RPF dominates political life in Rwanda, but it is good for Rwanda to start going through the motions."

He warned, however, that elections sometimes delivered only a semblance of democracy. "Like Ethiopia and Uganda, the governments of the day need to maintain the strings of power in some kind of democratic process. So you need an opposition.

"These governments tread a fine line - allow the opposition to operate and field candidates, but in a way that does not readily give them any chance," he added.

Aid workers in the capital, Kigali, and in Goma, in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are concerned about the potential fallout.

"A political crisis in Rwanda could trigger a humanitarian problem, including displacement across borders," an international security observer at an aid mission in Goma told IRIN. "There is also the unresolved question of armed Rwandan militias in DRC."

The alleged “lack of political space” in Rwanda is frequently cited by the Hutu diaspora, refugees and such DRC-based militias to justify their refusal to return home.

Karangwa insisted nothing would disrupt the polls. "I can assure you the forthcoming elections are going to be free and fair," he told IRIN on 10 March. "We are working towards that objective and are totally open."

Jean Paul Kimonyo, a policy adviser to Kagame, writing in The New Times newspaper of 9 March, said the country was on the right political track. "The issue here is how do you ensure political cooperation when confrontational politics will almost certainly lead to renewed violence?

"Under President Kagame’s leadership, Rwanda has persistently ensured ownership of its nation building process by its citizens. It is much more challenging but certainly more promising."

Impressive gains

Rwanda has, since 1994, recorded impressive gains towards the Millennium Development Goals, according to the UN Development Programme. Primary school enrolment, for example, is now 97 percent of all school-going age children.

Family planning, according to the World Bank, has tripled in the last three years, while assisted deliveries have increased from 39 to 52 percent. The use of insecticide-treated nets is up by 70 percent, and under-five mortality has fallen by 30 percent.

Policies and laws that guarantee equal opportunities for men and women, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, have resulted in Rwanda holding a world record of women parliamentarians: 56.3 percent, just ahead of Sweden at 46.4 percent.

This year, according to Finance and Economic Planning Minister John Rwangombwa, the economy should grow by 7-8 percent, up from 5.5 percent in 2009.

Nevertheless, Rwanda “needs to open up and encourage past wounds to heal positively”, a diplomat in the capital, Kigali, told IRIN. Advocacy groups claim a lack of respect for basic political and human rights, and harassment of perceived political opponents.

According to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an Indian NGO, article 13 of Rwanda’s constitution, which makes it an offence to engage in “revisionism” or “negationism” [denial of genocide], has been “broadly defined to include anyone who disagrees with the ruling RPF’s account of the genocide”.

"CHRI is deeply concerned at the continued restrictions and threats to opposition parties in the run-up to Rwanda’s Presidential elections,” it said in 6 March statement.

Referring to a 25 February warning by the security ministry that politicians who “slander the country” or are “against public unity” would be punished, it called for “immediate steps to ensure respect for the basic, universal rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly of opposition parties”.

Attacks on opponents

The 3 February attack on Victoire Ingabire, president of the United Democratic Forces party, and her aide Joseph Ntawangundi, by a mob in Kigali was the most visible example of opposition harassment so far, the Nairobi analyst said. Attacked while reportedly collecting party registration documents, she reportedly lost her passport, while Ntawangundi was severely beaten.

Ingabire returned to Rwanda in January, after living in Europe for 16 years. During a visit to the Gisozi Genocide memorial site, she upset survivor groups by alluding to the killing of Hutus, 85 percent of the population.

The day after the attack on Ingabire, Frank Habineza, president of the Green Party, reported being threatened. Earlier, the leader of the Ideal Social Party, Bernard Ntaganda, was called before the senate to answer accusations relating to propagation of genocide ideology.

Soon after, local government minister James Musoni warned politicians "who violate the constitution and the rule of law by politicking along ethnic lines. Whatever they do should not be a stumbling block to people's peace, unity and security," he said in a press statement.

“Politicians and all those who wish to practise politics are not allowed to do anything that undermines the sovereignty of Rwanda and its citizens."

The attack on Ingabire, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said, “appeared to have been well coordinated, suggesting it had been planned in advance”.

"The Rwandan government already tightly controls political space," said Georgette Gagnon, HRW’s Africa director. "These incidents will further undermine democracy by discouraging any meaningful opposition in the elections. On several occasions, the government has used accusations of participation in the genocide or ‘genocide ideology’, as a way of targeting and discrediting its critics.”

Karangwa denounced HRW. "That woman has not been beaten, not at all," he told IRIN. "I do not believe the entire Human Rights Watch report. In our country there is no intimidation or harassment of opposition leaders."

Kigali resident Joseph Barigye said Ingabire had "provoked" people. "The memories [of the genocide] are still fresh, so one needs to talk to people carefully," he told IRIN. "And that is the reason Kagame will win again."

Silencing critics

Ingabire, in an interview with The EastAfrican newspaper on 15 February, said: “Kagame's government is not ready to accept opposition. This is why they sent young men to beat me and my aide two weeks ago - which was a true reflection of the lack of democracy and freedom of expression in Rwanda.

“This treatment extends to all opposition politicians,” she added. “We are not enemies. Instead, he uses the genocide ideology against us. The genocide took place 16 years ago and now is the time for democracy.”

Kagame told a recent news conference that Ingabire had "gone too far in abusing the country’s goodwill in attempting to destroy [Rwanda’s] positive steps", but "whoever tries to act in contradiction to what the laws say will not be given room".

Meanwhile, there are concerns about Kagame’s relations with the media after he publicly accused unnamed journalists of conspiring with two former military officers he accused of carrying out two recent grenade attacks in the capital.

“Kagame’s televised warnings will help silence critics prior to the August presidential election," wrote Tom Rhodes, Africa programme coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists, on the organization’s website.

“With pro-government media outlets outweighing the country’s beleaguered private press, the chances of balanced election coverage are now slimmer than ever,” he added.

Chatham House’s Cargill said Rwanda's past had to be put in context. "There are clearly some authoritarian tendencies within the Rwandan state, but Rwanda is coming from a place few countries have to been in recent years," he told IRIN. "Still, there is a need for balance because the government is using all the advantages of incumbency."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88392LUSAKA Thursday, March 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Parity Zulu, 17, constantly recited a Biblical verse asking God for protection from her persecutors while her mother ferried her to hospital following complications from the teenager's illegal abortion.LUSAKA Thursday, March 11, 2010 (IRIN) - Parity Zulu, 17, constantly recited a Biblical verse asking God for protection from her persecutors while her mother ferried her to hospital following complications from the teenager's illegal abortion.

Her mother, Margaret, was unaware that her daughter had paid K350,000 (US$74) for a back-street abortion three days earlier. "All the way to the hospital I asked my child what happened. She wouldn't tell me. Then she began to sing Psalm 57, a cry for help. I began to suspect she was aborting a pregnancy," she told IRIN.

At the hospital's emergency admission desk, Zulu's medical condition was immediately apparent to Nurse Serephina Moonde. "I can tell a botched abortion as they come in through the doors - on average I see up to ten new patients a day. Women and young girls coming in, bleeding - sometimes we can save them; other times, like in Parity's case, it's too late - their wombs are rotting and they have lost too much blood."

Moonde said she had seen the results of the horrific methods women sometimes used to induce abortion: drinking crushed glass boiled with coca-cola, inserting crudely sharpened wooden sticks into the cervix, taking heavy doses of anti-malaria tablets, and even ingesting poisons such as battery acid.

Zambia's maternal mortality rate of 591 per 100,000 live births is one of the highest in the world, according to the 2008 Demographic Health Survey (DHS), the most recent.

One-third of maternal deaths are thought to be the result of abortion, but a shocking statistic is that 80 percent of the women who die from abortions are under the age of 19.

Abortion law

The Zambian Termination of Pregnancy Act 1972 is based on British colonial legislation, which permits abortion when continuation of the pregnancy can be proved to be detrimental to the mother, or the child, or both.

The law states that those wanting a termination must seek the consent of three physicians, but this requirement may be waived, if the abortion is deemed an emergency, to save the woman's life or prevent grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health.

In 2009 the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in the capital, Lusaka, the country's largest medical facility, recorded 5,295 abortions, of which 5,246 were a consequence of incomplete abortions; 31 women died as a result of complications.

Only nine terminations of pregnancies were performed at UTH in 2009, according to the provisions of the law, down from the 2008 figure of 126 legally performed terminations.

Dr Peter Mwaba, UTH's managing director, told IRIN that the hospital was a place of last resort, and the statistics did not include women seeking help for complications from an abortion at other public or private clinics.

He said many women did not have access to effective contraception, and there were gender inequalities as well as deeply entrenched stigmas around abortion, which contributed to women practicing self-abortion or seeking other unsafe procedures. Women seeking to terminate pregnancies were also making use of the greater availability of a variety of drugs at pharmacies and private clinics.

It was the attempts to procure abortions this way [unsafely] that brought on the complications - it was basically guesswork, and that was why women arrived at hospitals "half dead", he said.

Holo Hachoonda, a clinical director at the Planned Parenthood Association (PPAZ), told IRIN that many health practitioners did not understand the abortion law, and were reluctant to provide these services.

"People still do not see abortion as a right backed by law. They still also have not gotten used to the thinking that a woman has rights over her own body, and can make decisions about something like abortion," he said.

Mary Beth Jones, 46, decided to seek an abortion after falling pregnant with her fifth child. At the clinic she was asked why, as a married woman who had no health issues, she wanted an abortion. Had she had committed adultery?

"They wanted me to tell my husband, go through couple counselling, etc. I also felt they were judging me, and I was afraid that there would be no confidentiality, as we were being lumped together like naughty children and lectured. I can imagine how horrible it must be for a young girl seeking an abortion," she told IRIN.

Jones resorted to a herbal remedy from a traditional healer to induce a miscarriage. "I haemorrhaged so badly I ended up in hospital and had to have my womb removed. Needless to say, I am now a divorcee."

Religious barriers

In an effort to improve the efficacy of the Act, in June 2009 the government launched the Standards and Guidelines for Reducing Unsafe Abortion Morbidity and Mortality in Zambia, for interpreting the 1972 legislation.

The guidelines provided for abortions to be performed in the interests of a women's physical or mental health; nurse practitioners had been trained to provide medical abortions and first-trimester abortions; women no longer had to stay overnight in hospital after the procedure. Family planning services, including abortion services, have been extended throughout the country.

However, the biggest challenges to abortion are the deeply held religious views that think girls engage in sex when they should not, and see abortion as a sign of promiscuity.

Zambia's more than 11 million people are predominantly Roman Catholic, but conservative evangelical churches have grown considerably in recent years; in combination these represent a formidable degree of social disapproval of terminating pregnancy.

Suzanne Matale, Secretary-General of the Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ), the Catholic Church's mother body in Zambia, told IRIN that life began at conception. "There are no grey areas, no room for discussion. We condemn abortion. It's an absolute no-no."

Government spokesman Ronnie Shipakwasha, a Pentecostal church elder, told IRIN the abortion law would not be touched until there had been wide consultations with medical authorities, policy-makers and religious bodies.

He did not provide a timeframe, and there has been no call for this dialogue; he said the law, read in conjunction with the guidelines, was sufficient to ensure safe abortions.

"We just need to make this information available," he said. "We are a Christian country, so the church's teachings on morality are a major factor in how we deal with the issues of abortions."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88393HANOI Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Serious efforts are under way to respond to the impact of climate change in Vietnam but a lack of capacity and resources remains a challenge, experts say.HANOI Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Serious efforts are under way to respond to the impact of climate change in Vietnam but a lack of capacity and resources remains a challenge, experts say.

Vietnam has been identified as one of 12 countries at highest risk from climate change and is the most threatened by rising sea levels, according to World Bank studies. [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85179]

UN-cited data on global climate change and model studies show that Vietnam is at increased risk of floods and droughts, saline intrusion and increased health risks from heat waves, dengue fever and malaria.

However, experts say the government has acted quickly and is leading neighbouring countries such as Cambodia and Laos in trying to create policies to respond to climate change.

The National Target Programme (NTP) was approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in December 2008, and began implementation last year.

“Vietnam is to be commended for having pulled this off so quickly,” Koos Neefjes, policy adviser on climate change at the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, told IRIN.

Coordinated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), the NTP is intended to help develop an overall climate change strategy, including goals for adaptation and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.

The document lays out responsibilities for ministries and government agencies and asks all cities and provinces to devise their own climate change action plans by the end of this year, to be implemented by 2015.

It also aims to assess climate change impacts and ensure assessments are incorporated into development and investment plans.

Challenges

Vietnam is home to two major fertile plains, the Mekong Delta and Red River Delta, key agricultural areas and home to 40 percent of the country’s 86.2 million inhabitants.

They were identified as the most vulnerable areas in a November 2009 government report [http://www.roap.unep.org/pub/VTN_ASS_REP_CC.pdf] supported by the UN Environment Programme, which stated that more than one-third of the Mekong Delta could be submerged if sea levels rose by 1m.

Nine of the 10 provinces in Vietnam likely to be worst hit are in the Mekong Delta, but the effects on Ho Chi Minh City could be equally devastating.

Besides hosting potential climate change “refugees” from the Mekong Delta, infrastructure and housing would be damaged in the city, energy demands would increase, as would vector-borne diseases, experts say.

Vietnam is well-versed in water management because of a history of disasters such as floods, but there are questions over its capacity to fully implement policies, they say.

“The policy frameworks are very good. [The problem is] the capacity in government agencies to pick up on policy commitments. It’s not only skills,” said Jeremy Carew-Reid, director of the Australia and Vietnam based-International Centre for Environmental Management (ICEM) consultancy [http://www.icem.com.au/index.htm]. There are possible hurdles in multi-tiered government with 58 provincial administrations.

“The challenge is to do the planning of the sectors [such as agriculture] as well as the planning in provinces,” said Nguyen Van Kien, climate change adviser to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in Vietnam.

Strong coordination between sectors and effective oversight are needed at a national level, while capacity, technical expertise and awareness of climate change varies from ministry to ministry, according to a UN discussion paper on Vietnam and climate change released in December 2009. [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/MDCS-7YCJ3Y?OpenDocument]

“Provinces and lower-level authorities must rapidly develop their action plans to respond to climate change too, which will also require large-scale awareness raising and capacity-building efforts,” it says.

Funding questions

The government said last month it needed US$3-$5 billion until 2015 to respond to climate change.

“To protect Vietnam’s deltas and coastal regions from … sea level rise and related saline water intrusion, large investments in research and design are needed, followed by investments on an unprecedented scale.”

For the NTP, the government is aiming for foreign and private sector capital to comprise 60 percent of the funds needed for the activities outlined.

However, experts say it will be difficult to attract private sector funding for adaptation or mitigation measures. Meanwhile, Vietnam also needs to develop the capacity to access international financing available for climate change adaptation.

“Vietnam still needs to raise the money itself,” said UNDP’s Neefjes. “The high economic growth the country is experiencing is the magic bullet. Vietnam realizes it will have to rely on itself. If you can keep the economic growth up, the money will flow in the right direction.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88362BOSASSO Monday, March 08, 2010 (IRIN) - A long civil war, frequent droughts, unemployment and high food prices have led to an increase in the number of street children in Bosasso, the commercial capital of Somalia’s self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, with NGOs and government officials calling for urgent steps to resolve the problem. BOSASSO Monday, March 08, 2010 (IRIN) - A long civil war, frequent droughts, unemployment and high food prices have led to an increase in the number of street children in Bosasso, the commercial capital of Somalia’s self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, with NGOs and government officials calling for urgent steps to resolve the problem.

"In the past, most of the children on the streets of Bosasso were from south-central Somalia," said Muse Ghele, governor of Bari region. "Now we are noticing more and more locals both from urban and rural areas.”

Between 4,500 and 5,500 children are on Bosasso's streets, according to the governor.

Abdulaziz Mohamed Hamud, child protection consultant with OxfamNovib, told IRIN: “You have to understand that numbers of street children are estimates and could be even higher... There are no exact figures but the numbers seem to be increasing daily."

Young providers

The children, according to Abdihakim Farah Arush, chairman of the Bari Child Protection Network (BCPN), fall into two categories: those who work to help their families, mostly local and internally displaced (IDPs) who go home at night; as well as those who sleep on the street, mostly substance abusers.

The reasons for the children being on the street vary, he said. Many of those from south-central Somalia were separated from their families on their way north while others end up on the streets to help their families, or fend for themselves.

Shoe-shining and car-washing, serving as porters or washing sacks in the market are the jobs of most of the street boys in Bosasso.

Arush said while most street children were boys, more and more girls were joining them, cleaning business premises or people’s homes. Some children as young as two or three were put on the streets to beg by desperate families.

Hamud of OxfamNovib said most of the children suffered abuse and physical violence. "Many of them have the scars as proof. On the street at night they are easy prey with no one to protect them."

Risks

Many have been infected with "all sort of diseases, such as TB, skin diseases; while many others suffer from malnutrition. Most don’t know what they suffer from," Hamud added.

Abdullahi Said, 12, is on the street because he has to help his mother with his three younger siblings. He collects garabo (leftover khat) and sells it to those who cannot afford the good khat or he shines shoes. On average, he takes home 30,000 Somali shillings (about US$1) a day.

"What I make from garabo and shining shoes is what I take home to help my mother feed us,” he told IRIN. Said’s father died in 2009 so the responsibility of helping his mother care for the family fell on him.

“My mother used to go to the market and do any job she could find but now she cannot even do that. She just had the baby,” he said.

There are no agencies that help the street children directly, said Hamud.

Arush’s agency is part of a child protection network in Puntland. "Unfortunately we cannot provide material support but we advocate for them and when we get information that they are in trouble we try to intervene,” Arush said.

Hamud said a lot more was needed to help the children. "First, serious assessments need to be carried out to determine the extent of the problem,” he said. Many of the older children were turning to crime. “They not only pose a security, but also a social, risk. We need to address their needs as a matter of great urgency.”

Legal intervention needed

He said Puntland should have a separate juvenile justice system to deal with child offenders. “Now, children arrested by the police end up in the same cells as adults, where they are vulnerable to abuse.”

He said those involved in child protection were trying to lobby the legislature for a Juvenile Justice Law, aimed at guaranteeing children's rights, so that children would no longer be kept in jail with adults or tried in adult courts.

“Agencies and local authorities should do everything possible to provide them with an alternative to the streets.”

Governor Ghele said the authorities had identified a site to build a home for the children but did not have the financial resources to build and operate it. "We need a lot of support if we are going to put them in safe homes," he said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88351LOMÉ Sunday, March 07, 2010 (IRIN) - An empty market, tightened security and a general wariness of possible violence have greeted the announcement of President Fauré Gnassingbé’s re-election, pending constitutional court approval, with 61 percent of the two million votes cast on 4 March. LOMÉ Sunday, March 07, 2010 (IRIN) - An empty market, tightened security and a general wariness of possible violence have greeted the announcement of President Fauré Gnassingbé’s re-election, pending constitutional court approval, with 61 percent of the two million votes cast on 4 March.

Business at the largest market in the capital, Lomé, has slowed after anxious merchants shuttered their stands. “I am waiting to see how the country will be after results are announced to continue my work in the market,” fish vendor, Da Vivi, told IRIN. “Since Friday [5 March] I have not been to the market because I do not know what will happen. My life is more important than money.”

Demonstrations were quickly dispersed with tear gas during the vote count and again on 7 March. There have not been reports of excessive use of force, according to local human rights groups. Hotlines set up to report poll violence remained silent.

President Gnassingbé was elected in a 2005 contested poll that led to a bloody security crackdown, hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of Togolese fleeing to neighbouring countries, according to the UN.


Photo: Etonam Ahianyo/ IRIN
Lomé's largest market was empty on 7 March during an electoral row
Leading opposition candidate, Jean-Pierre Fabre, told IRIN on 7 March that his party, the Union of Forces for Change, will dispute the vote with daily demonstrations. “We will launch a popular uprising until victory is ours.” Even though counting has proceeded publicly, this has not stemmed the opposition’s accusations of fraud. “They [ruling party] want to hide the real results to put forth false ones. And we will not accept it,” Fabre told IRIN.

The ruling party has dismissed claims of fraud as “fantasies from the opposition to foment violence” in the country’s most closely observed election since Togo started holding multi-party elections in 1993. There were more than 3,000 local and international election observers covering almost 6,000 voting stations.

A newly formed youth group – Citizen Movement for Change – claiming hundreds of members trained in “democracy vigilance” is ready to take to the streets, said one of its leaders, Guillaume Messan. “People of Togo, if you love your country and are ready to die for it, know that the time has come to fight for the liberation of your country,” he told IRIN on 6 March.

A political and security professor at the University of Lomé, Sodokin Koffi, told IRIN how the armed forces responds to these threats and any eventual outbreak will determine if lives are lost. “The security forces were trained before the elections and I hope they use conventional methods [to put down violence] that we have seen [used] elsewhere so the worst cannot happen.”

Relief workers have been trained in every potential election outcome, Togolese Red Cross director of relief services, Amah Victor Sodogas, told IRIN. “We went through simulation exercises in January and have been on alert. Given the tension, anything can happen and we are ready.”

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/// This article includes updates to the report first published on 6 March.///http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88337BAGHDAD Sunday, March 07, 2010 (IRIN) - Amid tight security and strict limits on vehicle movement, millions of Iraqis hoping for change went to the polls on 7 March in what is the country’s second parliamentary election since the US-led invasion of the country toppled former president Saddam Hussein in 2003. BAGHDAD Sunday, March 07, 2010 (IRIN) - Amid tight security and strict limits on vehicle movement, millions of Iraqis hoping for change went to the polls on 7 March in what is the country’s second parliamentary election since the US-led invasion of the country toppled the government of former president Saddam Hussein in 2003.

“I hope this time we get a strong government capable of maintaining security and stability and able to help all displaced people go back to their homes,” said Saif Abdul-Qadir Naji, 38, one of more than 2.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country, according to the UN Refugees Agency (UNHCR).

Naji, a Shia Muslim from Baghdad’s Sunni-dominated southern suburb of Youssifiyah, said he fled his home with his family in late 2006 after receiving threats from Sunni militants at a time when sectarian violence shot up because of the bombing of a Shia shrine.

He returned to his home in late 2008 when the security situation started to improve, only to be driven out after just nine days.

“Militants broke into a nearby house belonging to another formerly displaced family, killed them and bombed their house so we fled again fearing the same fate. And I returned to the same two rooms I rent in a house,” Naji said, adding that his family had initially lived in a tent in an IDP camp but found conditions unbearable.

Challenges ahead

Facilitating the return of IDPs and the nearly 2 million refugees outside the country is one of the biggest challenges the new government faces. While some 300,000 have returned over the past two years, “large-scale returns have not taken place”, according to UNHCR.

Other challenges are insecurity, corruption, unemployment and poor public services, according to analysts.

“The outgoing government has been handcuffed from the beginning due to political wrangling, which took its attention away from improving basic services, health and education institutions, fighting corruption and creating job opportunities,” Mohammed Abdul-Aziz Jassim, a political sciences lecturer at the University of Anbar, told IRIN.

“Although it achieved some improvement in the security situation, which allowed some of the displaced people to return to their homes, it couldn’t offer services and other things as all the political parties were preoccupied with how to boost their power,” he said.

He hoped that the new government would “take office as soon as possible to handle daily needs” and not get bogged down in protracted negotiations between political groups to form the government, creating a power vacuum that would take the country backwards.

More than 6,200 candidates across Iraq are competing for 325 seats in parliament, according to Iraq’s Independent Electoral Commission, while some 19 million Iraqis are eligible to vote.

Observers say the new government will face a crucial test to improve security and national reconciliation before US troops withdraw from the country in 2011.

Bigger role for NGOs?

While improved security since early 2008 has encouraged some foreign and local aid agencies to resume their operations in Iraq, and a new law giving more freedom to NGOs was passed in February, Iraqi activists are hoping for a new era of cooperation with the next government.

“The government and statesmen are still far from understanding the role and concept of NGOs,” Hanaa Adward, head of Baghdad-based Al-Amal NGO, said. “So I hope the coming period will bring new people who understand NGOs and the importance of having a partnership between them and the government.”

Ahmed Hassan Rasheed of the NGO Human Relief Foundation said bureaucracy and an absence of cooperation with some ministries were the main obstacles NGOs faced in doing their jobs.

“There is no link between NGOs and the interior and defense ministries to facilitate, for example, the transportation of aid materials or when implementing projects,” Rasheed said. “The problem is not with the law but with the one who implements the law, and whether he knows how to implement it properly.”

sm/edhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88339LOMÉ Friday, March 05, 2010 (IRIN) - Vote counting is underway in Togo, a day after presidential polls closed, with electoral authorities saying they are concerned not to repeat the mistakes of the violence-marred 2005 ballot. LOMÉ Friday, March 05, 2010 (IRIN) - Vote counting is underway in Togo, a day after presidential polls closed, with electoral authorities saying they are concerned not to repeat the mistakes of the violence-marred 2005 ballot.

The head of the independent electoral commission, Tafa Tabiou, told IRIN that the results would not be announced progressively by voting districts, as in previous elections. "We are still learning our lessons about democracy, and we fear that partial results that would be a bit different from the final ones would only incite unrest."

Counting is taking place publicly so voters can see which ballots are rejected. The president of the truth and reconciliation commission - created to address past human rights abuses - said the largely peaceful election was a "significant" step on the country's road to reconciliation.

Togo's 2005 presidential election was condemned by much of the international community, and hundreds died in the ensuing opposition protest. Casting his ballot on 4 March, voter Ayaba Esiomlé commented, "It is not easy to pardon [past crimes] ... but if these elections are transparent, that will show us that reconciliation is possible, and we would be more likely to forget more quickly the past."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88329KATHMANDU Thursday, March 04, 2010 (IRIN) - Efforts to help thousands of families displaced during Nepal’s decade-long armed conflict (1996-2006) to return to their homes or resettle have stalled over government inaction, leaving many unassisted, aid agencies say.KATHMANDU Thursday, March 04, 2010 (IRIN) - Efforts to help thousands of families displaced during Nepal’s decade-long armed conflict (1996-2006) to return to their homes or resettle have stalled over government inaction, leaving many unassisted, aid agencies say.

There are an estimated 52,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) registered with the government, according to the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MOPR), although the UN estimates there could be up to 70,000.

In 2007, the government formulated a national IDP policy that allowed for the return, integration and resettlement of IDPs.

Crucial directives for implementing the policy on the ground were also submitted to the Cabinet at the end of 2007, but are still waiting to be approved.

“The failed implementation of the IDP policy is clearly at the heart of the problem,” said Frederik Kok, senior country analyst with the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

“The failure to adopt the directives is undermining return efforts and preventing IDPs from enjoying their full rights,” he told IRIN.

The IDP policy provides assistance which includes shelter, food, security, health services, training and appropriate compensation. It also includes a rehabilitation programme for IDPs to help them recover their lives where they used to reside.

The directives were intended to give clear instructions from the central government to district-level officials on how to implement this policy.

Wendy Cue, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Nepal, said information about the IDP policy and its implementation had not been transmitted to district-level authorities, who are key in ensuring IDP returns and rehabilitation.

“The displaced people haven’t received the type of assistance they need in terms of legal assistance or access to information that the government should provide,” Cue told IRIN.

Assistance lacking

About half of the IDPs are in Kathmandu, where they live in squatter settlements, crowded neighbourhoods and along the Bagmati river. Families are also scattered in the urban areas of Bardiya and Dhangadi districts in the country’s mid- and far-western regions, and other major cities such as Biratnagar and Nepalgunj. “We... have been constantly making efforts to help the IDPs,” Shankar Prasad Pathak, a senior official from the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, told IRIN.

“We will be introducing an IDP rehabilitation programme which includes income generation and reintegration support for the IDP families,” he added.

In spite of these efforts, displaced families still lack access to basic services such as water and sanitation, and health and education, and have poor livelihood opportunities, say agencies.

Mistrust

Meanwhile, those IDPs who do attempt to return to their homes face a number of obstacles, according to the latest report on Nepal IDPs issued on 28 January 2010 by the IDMC. [http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004BE3B1/%28httpInfoFiles%29/FFF5958EB13C0AF8C12576B900395E1D/$file/Nepal_Overview_Jan10.pdf]

Returnees have to cope with inadequate livelihood opportunities and discrimination borne of the mistrust amongst communities generated during the years of conflict. Along with the IDPs, returnees are also locked in a struggle to win back homes and land confiscated by the rebel Maoists and their supporters during the conflict.

“We have lost all hope of ever reclaiming our land and have lost our only source of livelihood,” said Dipendra Shrestha, originally from mid-western Bardiya District, but who fled the conflict and now lives in Nepalgunj city.

“The question is, what do they return for when they have no land to grow their crops and many suffer from insecurity,” said Bhola Mahat, regional coordinator of the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), [http://www.insec.org.np/] a Nepali human rights group.

Losing interest?

Besides the stalled implementation of the government’s IDP policy, aid workers say they are now concerned about diminishing interest by the international aid community in this issue, now rarely discussed.

Since 2008 there has been a gradual disengagement of the UN and the international community in general, including international NGOs, from the issue of conflict-induced IDPs, according to the NRC.

“Priorities have now again shifted back to development programmes with decreasing funding available for humanitarian programmes,” said the NRC’s Kok.

The humanitarian community has also lost its capacity, while local and international NGOs and UN agencies are no longer as active on the issue as before, said OCHA's Cue.

“We are trying to get together and find the capacity to have somebody who can focus on this issue to work with the government and get the IDP directives passed,” she added.

Government forces battled Maoist guerrillas for 10 years before a peace agreement was signed in November 2006, ending an anti-monarchist revolt that killed more than 13,000 people.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88310BUJUMBURA Thursday, March 04, 2010 (IRIN) - As Burundi approaches elections designed to cap the country’s democratic transition after years of civil conflict, there is growing concern about worsening security and limits to political freedom.BUJUMBURA Thursday, March 04, 2010 (IRIN) - As Burundi approaches elections designed to cap the country’s democratic transition after years of civil conflict, there is growing concern about worsening security and limits to political freedom.

“The situation is explosive,” Pierre Clavier Mbonimpa, chairman of the Association for the Promotion of Human and Prisoner Rights (APRODH), told IRIN.

“Demobilised people [former members of now defunct armed groups] have become uncontrollable,” he said. (Read an IRIN story on the prevalence of weapons and political youth wings)

“Youths from the [ruling] CNDD-FDD party cause many problems in the country. But in reaction, the [opposition] FRODEBU youth has become very active. Judging by their name, Intakangwa, which means ‘those who cannot be frightened’, they are prepared to respond to any provocation,” said Mbonimpa.

Elections for councillors in Burundi’s 117 communes take place on 21 May. There is a presidential election on 28 June, a legislative poll on 23 July, and senators will be elected on 28 July. In September, Burundians will vote for heads of 2,639 “collines”, the country’s smallest administrative units.

“People are killed in their houses for unknown reasons,” according to François Bizimana, spokesman for the CNDD opposition party.

“When we organize meetings, the Imbonerakure break them up and beat our supporters,” he said, referring to the ruling party’s youth arm, whose name means “those with foresight”.

“Some of our supporters are arrested. How can people come to meetings under such conditions? How can people vote for our programme if we have no chance to explain it?” he asked.

“They used to sing war songs to intimidate our members, but they have now passed from threats to acts, killing our supporters here and there,” alleged Jean-Bosco Havyarimana, spokesman for the National Liberation Forces, one of several rebel groups turned political parties.

Destabilizing factor

Party youth wings are a “major destabilizing factor” in Burundi, Gertrude Kazoviyo, deputy president of the Observatory of Government Action, warned while presenting the annual report of the Forum of Civil Society Organizations in late February.

Alexis Sinduhije, leader of another opposition party, the Movement for Solidarity and Democracy, who spent several months in jail in late 2008 and early 2009 for insulting President Pierre Nkurunziza, accused “agents of the national intelligence service” of killing two student members of his party in February 2010.

“I do not know if an arrest warrant has been issued, but they have not been prosecuted,” he told IRIN.

Ruling party chairman Onesime Nduwimana dismissed the idea that politics or the elections were linked to recent killings in Burundi. Cases of one kind of manslaughter or another feature in newspapers on an almost daily basis. According to APRODH, in 2009 there were 411 killings in Burundi, a country of some eight million inhabitants.

“We have a history of conflicts of every kind, conflict over land… People can kill each other because of what they have gone through during the civil war. But there is a tendency to use some facts for political ends,” he said.

For Salathiere Muntunutwiwe, a political analyst and university lecturer, the prevailing climate imperils the whole electoral process.

“In the absence of the free exercise of political competition, people will not have the right to choose whoever they want. Coupled with the opposition parties’ mistrust of the government’s ability to organize free and fair elections, this could lead to the rejection of the election results,” he said.

Isolated cases

But as far as the ruling party chairman was concerned, by and large the situation was under control. “There are isolated cases in provinces where the administration is weak and not well organized, like Kirundo [in the north], or zones like Kinama, in the capital. However, those behind such acts are punished accordingly,” Nduwimana said.

“Compared with the situation of the 1960s and in 1993 the situation is more favourable. Today there is no ethnic or regional mistrust among Burundians, there is no situation of war as it was in 1993,” he added.

While discounting the likelihood of a return to full-scale war, Sinduhije, the once-jailed opposition leader, believes the instability is a deliberate ploy by the ruling party “to have its term extended or to force people to vote for it”.

A view echoed by FRODEBU’s chairman, Leonce Ngendakumana, who in late February accused elements of the police and army of “intimidating the population to force them to vote for the ruling party”.

Police neutrality questioned

The partisan nature of some in the security forces is in part due to the fact that many were drawn from former rebel groups integrated into state machinery after signing peace accords.

“In spite of the training, some elements of the national security forces have not yet [internalized] that they have to remain neutral during the electoral process,” explained Kazoviyo of the Observatory of Government Action.

In a February report on Burundi, Ensuring credible elections, the International Crisis Group also noted that “the police have remained passive or become accomplices to the ruling party abuses”.

“There are thus legitimate fears they could become politicized, similar to the national intelligence service, which is already trying to destabilize the opposition,” ICG warned, calling for neighbouring countries to provide a regional force to help train their Burundian counterparts and to support election security and monitoring.

Grievances over living conditions among the lower ranks are yet another cause for concern, after protests led to some arrests and sackings.

“There is serious mistrust between junior officers and commanders. A delegation of junior officers came and told me that if their claims were not met before the elections, the polling stations would be burned,” Mbonimpa, the human rights activist, told IRIN.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88313LOMÉ Thursday, March 04, 2010 (IRIN) - As up to 3.2 million Togolese cast their ballots in the presidential election on 4 March, IRIN asked voters and experts what it would take to reach true reconciliation after decades of political violence. This is the first of a two-part series on Togo's road to reconciliation.LOMÉ Thursday, March 04, 2010 (IRIN) - As up to 3.2 million Togolese cast their ballots in the presidential election on 4 March, IRIN asked voters and experts what it would take to reach true reconciliation after decades of political violence. This is the first of a two-part series on Togo's road to reconciliation.

"Impunity will no longer be tolerated, the blood of Togo's sons and daughters will no longer flow freely on our land, the land of our ancestors." These words, penned five months after a bloody poll in April 2005 that killed at least 400 and dispersed tens of thousands, formed the basis of a truth and reconciliation commission, created to help the country move past decades of recurring political violence.

"Elections will not be enough to bring together the people," said Gameti Akuyo, a fabric vendor in the capital, Lomé. "Those who carried out violence must recognize their wrong and ask for pardon. If not, reconciliation is just a joke, and evil will continue."

President Fauré Gnassingbé, whose post is up for grabs, took power after his father died in early 2005 in an election marred by a security crackdown that included torture, rape and extrajudicial killings, according to Amnesty International, a human rights watchdog.

The truth and reconciliation commission was formed in 2006 as part of a peace pact between the opposition and ruling parties, but its president, Christian Barrigah, told IRIN that the commission had not yet begun the formal process of reconciliation so as to not destabilize the country before the elections.

When to start?

"We decided not to inflame again the hearts of Togolese [so near the election], but instead to ensure the holding of transparent elections ... to begin the reconciliation process afterwards," Barrigah told IRIN.

The commission interviewed more than 20,000 people in July 2008 about their vision of justice and reconciliation, and decided not to proceed with identifying the perpetrators of human rights abuses, or rendering justice.

But peace pacts and elections do not always guarantee lasting peace. "The commission is here to offer to Togolese the peace of mind of 'never again'. We have had violence, but still do not know who is guilty," a Lomé-based traditional justice expert, André Anfanou, told IRIN. "Beyond raising awareness [about its mission], which is a good thing, the commission should have the courage to propose harsh punishments."

Until the Togolese could close this chapter, there would always be the risk of renewed political violence, he said. "The same causes can produce the same effects ... You have to somehow attack as much as possible these germs of violence."

Voter Ankra Wiliam was sceptical about lasting reconciliation. "It is the same ruling party that was in place during the 2005 violence, and I am sceptical we will reach a true reconciliation when the process is managed by the same people who have hurt us - I strongly doubt it."

Next steps

Commission president Barrigah told IRIN that once the elections were over, the group would start identifying the perpetrators of human rights abuses and "soothe the hearts of Togolese, and help them heal their wounds."

The 2007 legislative election was judged to be mostly fair and free, which unlocked a 13-year partial freeze on funding by the European Union (EU), imposed in protest over Togo's human rights record. The EU, Togo's largest bilateral donor, has re-launched programmes and committed US$441 million from 2008 to 2013.

Yet elections were only a first step in reconciliation. "A presidential election is not enough to reunite Togolese, but a well-run one would mark a very important step in the process of reconciliation," Barrigah commented.

Unlike the presidential poll in 2005, the 2010 presidential election is being scrutinized by hundreds of international election observers and more than 3,000 local observers.

The office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights in Togo is on alert; two hotlines have been set up to report any violence; 600 Togolese Red Cross volunteers were trained in election day scenarios and have been posted at all voting stations, and a number of Togolese simply chose to abstain from the vote.

Ajavon Zeus, president of the Collective of Associations Fighting Against Impunity in Togo, a local NGO, told IRIN: "Reconciliation is not an incantation, it is not a slogan, it is concrete acts that must be carried out."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88317KHARTOUM Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (IRIN) - Weeks of fighting in parts of Darfur have raised concern over the plight of civilians, as insecurity has prompted humanitarian agencies to suspend activities in some areas.KHARTOUM Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (IRIN) - Weeks of fighting in parts of Darfur have raised concern over the plight of civilians, as insecurity has prompted humanitarian agencies to suspend activities in some areas.

The clashes have led to displacements in eastern Jebel Marra in South Darfur and North Darfur states, and in western Jebel Marra and the Jebel Moon region in West Darfur state, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update on 2 March, stressing that accurate information from the ground was very scarce because of lack of access.

The rebel Sudan Liberation Army, Abdel Wahid Nour faction (SLA-Nour), which refuses to join peace talks with the Sudanese government until a full cessation of hostilities is implemented, has accused government forces of attacking its positions east of Jebel Marra.

"There were random air attacks on villages," Al-Sadeq Al-Zein Rokero, an official with SLM-Nour faction, said. "The situation is very tragic. This may be the most violent attack by the Sudanese armed forces."

However, Sudan's army spokesman, Al Sawarmi Khaled, denied there had been any government military action. "The armed forces are present in the area to preserve order. They did not clash with Abdel Wahid's forces."

The US State Department cast doubt on this denial in a statement expressing extreme concern “about reports that Government of Sudan forces are conducting offensive operations against ... [SLA-Nour] positions in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur that have reportedly caused significant civilian casualties, displacement, and the evacuation of humanitarian organizations".

The statement called on both parties “to refrain from further violence and to allow the Joint African Union-UN Mission in Darfur access to Jebel Marra to assess the humanitarian situation and restore stability".

OCHA spokesman Sam Hendricks said media reports about the number of casualties in the recent fighting were unreliable.

“There is no way to find about casualties. There is no access to areas affected by the fighting," he said.

Malnutrition concerns

French aid group, Médecins du Monde (MdM), the only medical NGO in the Deribat area in eastern Jebel Marra, suspended operations after attacks last week, which resulted in the displacement of more than 100,000 people, the group stated on its website.

In the towns affected by the fighting - Marra, Kidingeer, Leiba and Fugoli, Feina and Deribat - three other NGOs suspended operations because of insecurity and fighting, Hendricks said. Besides water and sanitation, the NGOs also dealt with food, education, NFIs and livelihoods.

"The situation is very bad. We are really concerned," said Jerome Larche, head of MdM's Sudan programme. The population no longer had access to any medical facility, Larche said.

Malnutrition, which the French aid group was addressing, and access to clean water, were among the main problems for the population in the area, Larche said.

"After the fighting started, we had reports that six children died from malnutrition complications. The rate of acute malnutrition is going to increase if we cannot go back to the area soon," Larche said.

The NGOs, whose offices were looted during the fighting, are preparing emergency intervention to return to Deribat as soon as the fighting stops.

In western Jebel Marra, fighting since January between SLA-Nour factions, and between Sudan's government forces and SLA-Nour, displaced several villages, including Nertiti, Guldo and Thur, which are now reportedly calm, OCHA said in its update.

In Nertiti, a joint UN and NGO assessment estimates about 2,000 households recently arrived in the area.

In Guldo, leaders of the community, which is hosting the newly displaced, estimated about 3,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) were staying in the village. "Food shortages are of concern in the area due to the combination of poor harvest and lack of access to markets," the OCHA update stated.

In Thur, the Government Humanitarian Aid Commission, HAC, estimates around 1,760 IDP households are newly arrived.

Poor harvest

In North Darfur state, Aradeep, Katur, Fanga and Gosdor are among the areas affected by the fighting.

Local sources have said it is likely most of Gosdor's 12,000 people have moved to the hills, where food needs are a major concern, due to a recent poor harvest.

In West Darfur, clashes in January and early February between the Sudanese armed forces and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, before the two parties signed a ceasefire agreement on 23 February, have led to unconfirmed reports of the displacement of around 4,000 people in Selea.

"Confirmation of overall affected population remains impossible until assessments can be conducted," the OCHA report said.

In anticipation of urgent needs, the World Health Organization and NGO partners have pre-positioned emergency health supplies for transfer to Kulbus hospital.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88293ABIDJAN Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (IRIN) - After weeks of protests, some which turned deadly, the opposition has joined a new government and called off any further demonstrations. Ivoirians took to the streets following the latest delay in legislative and presidential elections, scheduled to take place in March after six postponements in five years. Disputes over the electoral roll – and who is or is not a true Ivoirian and thus eligible to vote – continue, creating an increasingly xenophobic and violent atmosphere across the country, according to rights watchdog Amnesty International. Here is a timeline of events leading to the current political crisis. ABIDJAN Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (IRIN) - After weeks of protests, some which turned deadly, the opposition has joined a new government and called off any further demonstrations.

Ivoirians took to the streets following the latest delay in legislative and presidential elections, scheduled to take place in March after six postponements in five years.

On 12 February Laurent Gbagbo dissolved government and the Independent Electoral Commission; in response, opposition party leaders stopped recognizing President Gbagbo as head of state.

Disputes over the electoral roll – and who is or is not a true Ivoirian and thus eligible to vote – continue, creating an increasingly xenophobic and violent atmosphere across the country, according to rights watchdog Amnesty International.

Here is a timeline of events leading to the current political crisis.

26 February 2010
A new electoral commission headed by a member of the opposition is formed. Opposition leader calls off demonstrations, announces the opposition’s acceptance of 11 positions in the new 27-member government.

23 February 2010
The president's office announces a partial government, without opposition party representation.

22 February 2010
Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso, mediator in the Ivorian political crisis, arrives in Abidjan, the economic hub of Côte d'Ivoire, to try reconciling the parties.

Two demonstrators are killed during protests in Daloa, about 150km west of the capital, Yamoussoukro, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

18-20 February 2010
Protesters take to the streets on the 18th in Issia in the centre-west, on the 19th in Gagnoa, about 130km southwest of Yamoussoukro, on the 20th in Man in the far west, and also in Korhogo in north-central part of the country. Five protesters are killed in Gagnoa.

On 20 February thousands of protesters march in Bouaké, the second largest city in Côte d'Ivoire, smashing shops, looting a government building, and setting fire to cars.

15-17 February 2010
Protest demonstrations take off in Katiola, in the interior of the country, on 15 February and in Bouaké on the 17th .

12 February 2010
President Gbagbo dissolves the Independent Electoral Commission.

Opposition parties call for people to protest on the streets. A group representing Côte d'Ivoire's leading opposition parties, Rally of Houphouétistes for Democracy and Peace, issues a communiqué stating they no longer recognize President Gbagbo as head of state. Elections are deferred for the sixth time.

11 February 2010
Voter registration for pending elections is suspended.

9 January 2010
President Gbagbo accuses electoral commissioner Robert Mambe of fraudulently adding over 429,000 names to the electoral list of people he said were not proven to be native Ivoirians.

3 December 2009
Burkina Faso mediators announce an election deadline of early March.

14 November 2009
The Independent Electoral Commission confirms that elections will not be held on 29 November as planned.

29 October 2009
UN renews sanctions against Côte d'Ivoire until 31 October 2010.

16 October 2009
Independent Electoral Commission announces a provisional voter list will not be ready for another month.

16 June 2009
Independent Electoral Commission proposes holding elections in the last week of November and the beginning of December at the latest.

26 May 2009
Rebels controlling the north of the country officially hand power over to civilian administrators, which aim to restore government control over the whole country. However,rebels still retain much control over local economy and security forces.

14 May 2009
Prime Minister Guillaume Soro announces presidential elections will take place on 29 November.

18 November 2008
Elections supposed to be held in December 2008 are delayed.

30 July 2008
President Gbagbo visits rebel headquarters in Bouaké for a "Flame of Peace" ceremony to symbolically burn weapons.

24 April 2008
Ivorian Political Party Code of Conduct is adopted at a ceremony attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President Gbagbo, Prime Minister Soro, high-ranking members of the diplomatic community and Ivorian civil society representatives.

14 April 2008
Council of Ministers announces presidential elections will take place on 30 November 2008 under the peace plan, as proposed by the Independent Electoral Commission.

15 January 2008
UN Security Council Resolution 1795 is passed, giving the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Côte d'Ivoire the power to certify elections.

27 November 2007
President Gbagbo and Guillaume Soro sign a peace accord in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital, fixing the date for legislative and presidential elections for June 2008 at the latest.

20 November 2007
The new Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Côte d'Ivoire, YJ Choi, arrives.

15 October 2007
Elections that were to be held in November 2007 are put on hold as voter identification and registration are not complete, according to the government.

30 July 2007
President Laurent Gbagbo travels to central town of Bouaké, stronghold of the former rebels, in his first visit to rebel territory since the rebellion began. Officials burn a pile of arms in a ceremony, declaring “the war in Côte d’Ivoire is over”.

29 June 2007
Prime Minister Guillaume Soro's aircraft comes under attack in the northern Ivorian city of Bouaké, headquarters of his former rebel group. Four people are killed and a number injured from the attack but Prime Minister Soro emerges unhurt. The UN mission in Côte d’Ivoire subsequently endorses the Prime Minister's call for an independent international inquiry into the incident.

18-19 June 2007
A Security Council mission visits Côte d'Ivoire to assess progress of the peace process in the country and to exchange views with parties to the conflict on how to move forward the peace process.

17 May 2007
Government militias start to disarm.

11 April 2007
A quadripartite agreement to eliminate the buffer zone known as the zone of confidence is signed by the Defence and Security Forces of Côte d'Ivoire (FDS-CI), the Armed Forces of the Forces Nouvelles (FAFN), the commanders of the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire and the French Licorne forces.

4 March 2007
President Gbagbo and rebel leader Soro sign the Ouagadougou peace deal under the aegis of Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré. The pact sets a new timetable for organising elections in Côte d'Ivoire and reuniting the country.

31 October 2006
Presidential elections are cancelled.

17 October 2006
The African Union Peace and UN Security Council extend President Gbagbo's mandate by one year, during which time the roadmap is to be fully implemented. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa is replaced by the African Union Chairman as mediator.

6 October 2006
An extraordinary summit is held with ECOWAS leaders, at which recommendations for a roadmap to peace in Côte d'Ivoire are put forward.

12 July 2006
The president’s party Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI) calls for a boycott of the voter identification hearings which sparked bloody demonstrations by the Young Patriots (a militia close to President Gbagbo) who blockaded various cities to prevent the identification process.

4 December 2005
Charles Konan Banny, the governor of the Central Bank of West Africa States, is appointed interim prime minister by mediators.

8 November 2005
The first meeting of the newly established International Working Group (see 21 October 2005) is held.

31 October 2005
Presidential elections are cancelled.

21 October 2005
Security Council adopts resolution 1633, endorsing the previous African Union decision, extending President Gbagbo's term by one year, deciding that a new prime minister acceptable to all parties and with executive powers should be designated; establishing a roadmap for disarmament, identification and organisation of elections supervised by an International Working Group; and strengthening the threat of sanctions against individual spoilers.

29 June 2005
The Declaration on the Implementation of the Pretoria Agreement, signed on 11 April, on the peace process in Côte d'Ivoire is signed in Pretoria under the auspices of the African Union.

6 November 2004
The national armed forces of Côte d'Ivoire attacked the French Licorne forces. The Council condemns the attacks and confirms that French forces and the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) are authorized to use all necessary means to fully carry out their mandate.

30 July, 2004
West African heads of state come together in Accra, capital of Ghana, to get opposition party leaders in Ivory Coast to sign the Accra 3rd Agreement, fixing a calendar for disarmament of the militia and rebels.

27 March 2004
Rebels and the opposition party, Rally for the Republic, pull out of the government after an anti-Gbagbo march is banned, leading to protests in which more than 100 are killed.

27 February 2004
Security Council adopts resolution 1528 establishing UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) forces and the UN Mission in Côte d'Ivoire's (MINUCI) authority is transferred to the new mission.

13 May 2003
Security Council adopts resolution 1479 establishing the UN Mission in Côte d'Ivoire (MINUCI) with a mandate to facilitate the implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement and of the ceasefire.

March 2003
A government of national reconciliation is formed with members from the rebel ranks and a consensus prime minister, Seydou Diarra.

24 January 2003
The French sponsored Linas-Marcoussis Agreement is signed between the Ivorian government and all political forces.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88295JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (IRIN) - The "absurd" claim by Gauteng's police chief that South Africa's richest province was home to as many as three million "illegal" immigrants was part of a pattern by government departments to blame undocumented migrants for their own shortcomings, Loren Landau, director of the University of the Witwatersrand's Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP), told IRIN.JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (IRIN) - The "absurd" claim by Gauteng's police chief that South Africa's richest province was home to as many as three million "illegal" immigrants was part of a pattern by government departments to blame undocumented migrants for their own shortcomings, Loren Landau, director of the University of the Witwatersrand's Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP), told IRIN.

Simon Mpembe, Gauteng's acting chief of police, reportedly told the police parliamentary portfolio committee in Cape Town on 2 March that there were "more people to police, but we don't have enough officials to do the extra work. We can't say we won't police them because they come from another country."

Landau said statements like this were "worrying", and "we should not let the police commissioners' prevarications and fabrications distract us from the reality that they [police] spend far too much of their time and money on policing non-nationals."

A FMSP study conducted in 2009 - One Burden Too Many? A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Immigration Policing in Gauteng - found that the police spent a quarter of their annual budget, or R350 million (US$48 million) in Gauteng alone, on immigration policing, despite instructions from senior officials that this was not a priority.

The 2007 Community Survey by Statistics South Africa, the most recent and accurate data available, estimated the number of foreign-born residents - including South African citizens - at about 1.2 million people, or 2.79 percent of the population. The number foreign nationals residing in Gauteng was put at 580,000.

"That number has undoubtedly increased in the last three years, but the numbers are still likely to be under 2 million - and that is for the whole country. Unless the police have conducted their own survey, they are evidently fabricating the numbers to suit their purposes," the FMSP said in a statement.

Landau commented that undocumented foreign nationals were "blamed for all their [police] failings, and it's not the first time [government departments had blamed foreign nationals]" for their inadequacies. He cited instances where the departments of housing, home affairs and education had attributed their "non-performance" to foreign nationals in South Africa.

At the same parliamentary briefing, Limpopo chief police Calvin Sengani said the province, which borders Zimbabwe, had to deal with foreign nationals "flooding our towns and cities. They cause a great number of problems with crime; we arrest them and protect them with resources that are intended for our citizens."

Landau said the claim that undocumented foreign nationals were responsible for one of the world's highest crime rates was not borne out by statistics, which showed that most crimes were committed by South Africans.

The police "spend their time looking for foreigners - it helps their own legitimacy [because foreigners are blamed for crime], and this is then seen as fighting crime. It is a spurious logic. They [the police] are not getting the serious criminals, they are getting the guys selling tomatoes on the street without a licence," he said.

The "real issue" was that it was difficult for people to come to South Africa legally; if there was a regional migration system about 85 percent of undocumented foreign nationals would have documentation, Landau commented.

Dangerous talk

Mpilo Shange, an advocacy officer at the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa, said statements blaming foreign nationals for crime were "dangerous".

Since May 2008, when xenophobic violence swept through South Africa, killing at least 62 people and displacing 100,000 others, the government had started addressing the issue, but "a lot still needs to be done", she said.

Xenophobic violence has often accompanied service delivery protests, which have mushroomed across Gauteng Province since the beginning of 2010. Attacks on foreign owned shops and businesses have been reported. Shange said, "We are worried about it [protests combined with xenophobic violence]."

go/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88303LOMÉ Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (IRIN) - More than 3,000 local election observers, 6,000 soldiers, and representatives of international election transparency watchdog groups are scattered across Togo on the eve of a presidential election crackling with tension, yet billed as a "national reconciliation" by its leaders.LOMÉ Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (IRIN) - More than 3,000 local election observers, 6,000 soldiers, and representatives of international election transparency watchdog groups are scattered across Togo on the eve of a presidential election crackling with tension, yet billed as a "national reconciliation" by its leaders.

Observers, international agencies and Togolese voters are hoping for the best, but are also preparing for the worst. Godwin Agodzé, who lives in neighbouring Ghana, told IRIN: "Many have come from Togo asking me if I will rent them rooms where they can live if the elections do not go well in Togo. We see, daily, worried Togolese coming to Ghana."

In 2005 tens of thousands of Togolese fled east to neighbouring Benin or west to Ghana after a security crackdown in which hundreds died. Despite a 2007 legislative election ruled to be largely free, fair and peaceful, Togolese rattled by a violent electoral past have been opting for safer havens.

Contingency

"People have already started leaving Togo for Benin, perhaps as a precaution. They cannot be classified as refugees, as this is a pre-emptive movement," Patrick Nicholson, an emergency services director at the Catholic NGO, Caritas, told IRIN.

The UN Refugee Agency-led group of agencies and NGOs in Benin working on human rights have prepared an emergency plan, should tens of thousands again seek refugee in Benin as in 2005.

The plan outlines four scenarios, ranging from a peaceful election to armed civil conflict, with a violently contested election most likely. "Despite the calm appearance of preparations thus far, the UN and partner agencies are still sticking with scenario 3 as the most probable, because there is still the risk," Nicholson told IRIN.

"We will not say there is no more risk until results are announced and there is no violent reaction. People can be unpredictable, and we do not know how they will react."

Various NGOs, including Red Cross Benin, CARITAS, the International Federation of Red Cross, and UN agencies have prepared an early warning system that will be activated if Togolese start fleeing en masse to Benin.

In Togo, the UN office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has monitoring stations throughout the country, and has set up two phone numbers where people can report electoral violence: 800 40 40 and 252.

Change or death?

The seven presidential candidates, including the incumbent, President Fauré Gnassingbé, have repeatedly called for peaceful elections, for people to accept the election results, and to abstain from violence. "Nothing can justify the deaths of Togolese, not even a change of power," Gnassingbé said.

A group of youths calling themselves the Citizen Movement for Change (MCA) have rallied under the motto, "change or death", usually holding meetings at unannounced sites; hundreds turned up at a rally on 27 February.

"We will no longer tolerate disorder in Togo. Members of this group have started to recruit people to seed hatred on voting day and during announcements of results," said the head of Togo's security forces, who has put the group under surveillance.

Fulbert Attisso, an MCA leader, told IRIN that a loss by the opposition would be accepted peacefully – if there is no cheating. "If there is fraud, we are ready to die to extract from the ruling party's hand a victory for the opposition," he insisted.

An opposition youth leader not affiliated with MCA, Sylvio Amedégbé, told IRIN he was ready to contest a fraudulent election. "If the ruling power ever tries to steal this vote, we are ready to take to the streets to reclaim victory."

Hubert Atuyo, a supporter of the ruling party, Rally of Togolese People, told IRIN the president's supporters would accept defeat. "We are prepared to accept election results, whichever is the winning party, but we are sure it will be landslide for the president."

On the day

Land borders will be closed as of midnight on Wednesday 3 March. Restaurants and popular meeting spots have been ordered to close on voting day, 4 March, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Only authorized vehicles will be allowed on the roads.

The lead-up to this election has been less tense than previous ones, the head of the National Civil Society Commission and an election observer, Colombo Kpakpabia, told IRIN.

"We have put out the message across the entire country that people should accept the results, and we are confident that nothing [violent] will happen," he said. "It would be a shame if the opposite were to happen."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88305KAMPALA Tuesday, March 02, 2010 (IRIN) - More than 450,000 people have signed an online petition urging Uganda's parliament to drop a bill that would impose the death sentence for the crime of "aggravated homosexuality" - when an HIV-positive person has sex with anyone who is disabled or under the age of 18. KAMPALA Tuesday, March 02, 2010 (IRIN) - More than 450,000 people have signed an online petition https://secure.avaaz.org/en/uganda_rightsurging Uganda's parliament to drop a bill that would impose the death sentence for the crime of "aggravated homosexuality" - when an HIV-positive person has sex with anyone who is disabled or under the age of 18.

Presenting the petition to the speaker of Uganda's Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, on 1 March, AIDS activists - including founder of national NGO, The AIDS Support Organization, Noerine Kaleeba and Canon Gideon Byamugisha, the first religious leader to publicly declare that he was living with HIV - said if the bill was passed, it would roll back the gains made in fighting HIV in Uganda.

Responding to the petition, Ssekandi said it could not be withdrawn at this stage, not even by the MP who tabled it; but he assured the activists that their concerns would be passed on to the legislature.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 - a private member’s bill first tabled by ruling party MP David Bahati in October 2009 - is due for discussion this month. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, but the new law would impose more stringent punishments for homosexual activity, while compelling people in authority with knowledge of such activity to report it or face criminal charges.

"The bill creates a situation where [homosexual] people living with HIV will be denied treatment," said Major Rubaramira Ruranga, a retired army officer who has lived publicly with HIV for more than two decades. "We do not need a new law that picks one section of society and says this should be punished," he added.

However, Ruranga said there was one positive aspect to the controversy. "[The bill] is an opportunity - whether it is passed or not - because people will begin to talk about sexuality," he said.

Stigma

"It is not easy to access medical services; we have private people who treat us but they charge us [a great deal] because they are very few," said Julian Pepe Onziema, programmes coordinator of the rights group, Sexual Minorities Uganda. "When you go to the doctor you have to give them a medical history; the bill will make this even harder."

AIDS activists also argue that the continued stigmatization of homosexuality will drive homosexuals and bisexuals further underground, reducing their access to HIV prevention and care services and increasing their vulnerability to HIV. Men who have sex with men are considered a most at-risk population, but there are no national HIV strategies addressing their needs.

"If the government does not come out to help minorities, HIV is coming back; I know many married people who are bi-sexual," said Dennis Wamala, programmes coordinator for Ice Breakers, a local gay rights organization.

"Family values"

Debate on the bill will go ahead despite Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni distancing himself from it amid calls from international leaders for its withdrawal. President Barack Obama in February referred to the bill as "odious", noting that it was "unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are".

Despite international outrage, the bill has remained fairly popular in Uganda, where proponents argue that homosexuality goes against the country's "family values". In February, hundreds of residents of the eastern city of Jinja held a demonstration supporting the bill, with protesters’ signs admonishing western leaders such as Obama to "leave Uganda alone".

The bill’s agenda is to strengthen the nation's capacity to deal with "emerging internal and external threats to the traditional heterosexual family" and to protect Uganda's "cherished culture".

Roman Catholic and Anglican leaders have rejected the bill, but have said they will back it if the death penalty clause is removed.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88275MANILA Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - The controversial issue of family planning is taking a prominent role in campaigning for the general election in the Philippines.MANILA Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - The controversial issue of family planning is taking a prominent role in campaigning for the general election in the Philippines.

Family planning advocates in the predominantly Catholic country are calling on voters to ditch candidates opposed to government funding of contraceptives before the 10 May poll for presidential, legislative and local representatives.

“If they want us to vote for them, they should allocate funding for contraceptives. We want a real reproductive health programme here in Manila,” said Fe Nicodemus, 50, a reproductive health campaigner.

Nicodemus has been fighting Manila’s local government over an executive order issued in 2000 by then Mayor Lito Atienza, which prohibits the provision of modern contraceptives and sterilization at the city’s public health facilities.

The city has since selected a new mayor, but calls to repeal the order have been ignored - which Nicodemus said was contributing to a worsening reproductive health situation in the capital.

"In Manila, girls as young as 14 get pregnant. There are 18-year-old girls who already have four children,” Nicodemus told IRIN. “They come to my house to ask for help. In spite of the [order], we make a stand to help these children, even if the village officials threaten to arrest us."

Unwanted pregnancies

The availability of contraception is hotly contested in the Philippines, where the Catholic Church holds sway over 80 percent of the population.

Reproductive health advocates, however, say family planning and modern contraceptive methods such as condoms and birth control pills are sorely needed.

"The poorest are [most] affected because of the lack of contraceptives," said Clara Rita Padilla, executive director of EnGendeRights, a women’s rights NGO. [http://engenderights.wordpress.com/about/]

In a 2008 national demographic survey [http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2010/pr1027tx.html] released on 14 January 2010, the National Statistics Office said about one in three births in the Philippines was either unwanted or unplanned.

It also said the country’s total fertility rate was 3.3 children per woman, but that four out of 10 women said they preferred to have only two children. Poorer women, or those with less education, wanted more children.

The Philippines’ population is projected by the National Statistics Office to have reached 92.2 million in 2009, compared with neighbouring countries Malaysia, with 28.3 million, and Thailand, with 65.4 million.

Family planning advocates are now pressing presidential candidates – including incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - to support a comprehensive nationwide family planning programme.

“Presidential candidates should make a clear stand on reproductive health now,” said Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development [http://plcpd.org.ph/], a non-profit group that assists lawmakers in pushing for reproductive health legislation.

“We need a national policy on reproductive health that will make sure that the likes of Mayor Lito Atienza will not be able to curtail our reproductive health rights," he said.

Lost opportunity

Reproductive health advocates almost scored a victory when a bill was presented to Congress in January this year that mandated the government to fund modern contraceptives. The government only supports natural forms of birth control.

An October 2008 nationwide survey conducted by polling firm Pulse Asia showed that 63 percent of Filipinos supported the bill.

However, intense debate among legislators, including pro-Church lawmakers, delayed a vote on the bill, which expired after the congressional session ended.

“That's why it's important to have a president who can stand up to the Catholic Church in favour of reproductive health rights," said Benjamin de Leon, president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc, an NGO [http://www.forum4fp.org/html/about-us.html].

The advocates have vowed to file the same bill in the next Congress after the elections.

Church campaign

In December, the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a paper advising Catholics not to vote for candidates who support government funding for contraception [http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/12037]. "It would not be morally permissible to vote for candidates who support anti-family policies, including reproductive health … Otherwise one becomes an accomplice to the moral evil in question,” it said.

Out of nine presidential candidates, only one, Benigno Aquino III, son of the late president Corazon Aquino, favours government funding of contraceptives.

Former Department of Health Secretary, Alberto Romualdez, lamented that the presidential candidates appeared to have “meekly acquiesced to the CBCP dictates”.

"Not a single politician has dared to question any of the contents of the issuance while at the same time avoiding the subject as much as possible,” Romualdez told IRIN.

“Interference of a religious body in civil and political affairs is a violation of our constitution's section on the separation of church and state and candidates should take a stand on this issue,” he said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88257GOMA Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - For the many thousands of people displaced by conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kivu regions who have returned to their villages, home has its many hardships.GOMA Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - For the many thousands of people displaced by conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kivu regions who have returned to their villages, home has its many hardships.

“Return has not always been durable, as the reduction of food rations in camps [for displaced people - IDPs] and the arrival of the new planting season rather than any improvement in security have led people to go back,” the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) stated in a 24 February report. 

“Many people returned home to find their land occupied, while renewed clashes in return areas also forced people to flee again soon after their arrival home,” it said.

Across eastern DRC, “access to basic necessities … has deteriorated over the last year in the context of military operations and reprisals and continuing abuses against the population. The vast majority of IDPs and returnees have no access to health centres and schools, or to clean water, food, seeds, tools or building materials,” according to the report.

During 2009, according to IDMC, about a million people returned to their villages in North and South Kivu - about the same number who fled because of clashes, mainly between government forces and Rwandan Hutu rebels.

In North and South Kivu, there are 1.36 million IDPs, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In the North Kivu capital of Goma, some 77,000 people live in IDP camps, against about twice that number two years ago.

"Many have gone back to their land, and we are getting noises that more want to return," Masti Notz, head of the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in North Kivu told IRIN.

“Positive change is progressively taking place in Eastern DRC,” Alan Doss, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, wrote in the East African newspaper on 1 March.

"While displacements and isolated attacks remain a problem in the Kivus, a number of people feel more secure today than they were a year ago," he added.

Status issues

Aid workers believe that in the wake of a tripartite agreement between Rwanda, DRC and UNHCR, many of the 50,000 DRC nationals living in Rwandan camps could soon return home.

Before the accord, thousands had already returned spontaneously. "In 2009 in Masisi, more than 6,000 people told us they had returned from Rwanda since 2000, under the auspices of various groups that controlled the area," Karl Steinacker, UNHCR coordinator for eastern DRC, said. "The challenge is to identify genuine civilians."

The status of the returnees, according to Refugees International, needs to be resolved given that some are Rwandans. There is also a need for stronger verification mechanisms to regulate future population movements.

In a 19 February statement, the group said locals had told its researchers of an area inside the Virunga National Park called "Coline Banyarwanda" ("the hill of those who come from Rwanda"), where they should not be.

Another large group of recently arrived Rwandans was living illegally in Bwiza, in a settlement inside the national park. In nearby Matanda, armed cattle herders had reportedly occupied land by force.

"It is important to note that these tensions are taking place in zones that are controlled by the former CNDP [The Congrès national pour la defense du peuple ] rebel group, who are clearly protecting these Rwandans," it added.

The CNDP, led by Bosco Ntaganda, theoretically ceased to be a rebel movement with the integration of its elements into the Congolese army in 2009, but security sources in Goma say it has retained some of its structures.

Land pressures

Competition for land, exacerbated by the destabilizing effects of enforced or spontaneous migration, is more commonly a source of conflict than generally supposed, according to analysts.

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI), for example, argues that reallocations of land during conflict or the profit from sale or use of land can provide a means of sustaining such conflict.

In the Kivus, notes the Goma-based Pole Institute , the economy is historically based on agriculture and long-distance trade, while the economic dimension of ongoing conflict is about rights of access to land and control of trade routes, not about minerals.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88269GABORONE Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - Botswana is adopting a two-pronged approach to tackle abuse of its immigration system by increasing the sophistication of travel documents, visas and work permits, and putting more boots on the ground to apprehend undocumented foreign nationals.GABORONE Monday, March 01, 2010 (IRIN) - Botswana is adopting a two-pronged approach to tackle abuse of its immigration system by increasing the sophistication of travel documents, visas and work permits, and putting more boots on the ground to apprehend undocumented foreign nationals.

Zimbabweans escaping their country's continuing economic, political and social malaise - despite the formation of a unity government more than a year ago - have favoured neighbouring Botswana, one of southern Africa's most prosperous nations.

Letso Mpho, acting spokesman for Botswana's Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, told IRIN that workplace inspections would be "intensified" from 1 March 2010, and special immigration assistants would accompany police and home affairs officials to help identify undocumented foreign nationals.

The government has also begun introducing electronic online passports (e-passports), and the computerization of work and residence permits for all foreign nationals. The current passport is to be phased out in 2011.

"The ongoing e-passport project will improve the security features of the Botswana passport. The document is machine-readable - it will be difficult to fake or even tamper with it," Mpho said.

Britain, the former colonial power, has issued strong warnings to Botswana to improve its passport security systems or risk its citizens having to apply for visas to visit the UK.

In 2009 Britain withdrew South Africa's visa-on-demand privileges after raising concerns about the security of its identity documents and South Africans now have to apply for a visa ahead of travelling to the UK.

Zimbabwean nationals presenting a passport are allowed a maximum 90-day annual stay in Botswana and extensions can be granted on written requests, but Zimbabwean passports are both expensive and difficult to access, and many people migrating in search of work cannot afford to apply for one.

"From December 15, 2009 to January 15, 2010, in our South Central region, which includes such areas as Mochudi, Sikwane and Gaborone [the capital] we repatriated a total of 195 illegal immigrants," Mpho said.

"[Of these] 147 were males, 45 females and 3 were minors; all were from Zimbabwe. Prior to 15 December 2009 - that is, from January 2009 to December 14, 2009, we repatriated a total of 12,200 illegal immigrants in the same region. The numbers in our other regions like the Francistown region [bordering Zimbabwe] are even more."
 
Most of the undocumented foreign nationals were from Zimbabwe, but other countries of origin included China, Egypt, Somalia, India and Sudan. The number of undocumented migrants in Botswana is unofficially estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands.

"Other than the normal procedure of arresting culprits and handing foreign passports to the embassies of holders of such passports, the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, through the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, is engaged in two major projects ... the computerisation of the issuance of residence permits and visa, and the computerisation of passports and border control," Mpho said.

Arrest of permit dealers

The recent arrest of a Zimbabwean "permit dealer", Raymond Dube, who was feted by his fellow countrymen in Botswana for his ability to help many of them get work and residence permits, has created widespread concern.
 
"When I came to Botswana last year [in 2009], he helped me secure a work and residence permit, using my emergency travel document. I had exceeded my days [I was allowed to be in Botswana], but he was so helpful. Now I am afraid they may blacklist all permits he facilitated," Nothando Ncube, a Gaborone hairdresser, told IRIN.

Dube appeared in court early last month facing 11 charges of issuing false documents, including work and residence permits, and those who received false documents have had them withdrawn. In January 2010 Zimbabwean national Peter Elton was charged with possession of counterfeit immigration stamps.

"These ones were unfortunate to have their documents detected and confiscated," Ncube said. "Many of us got our papers through Ray [Dube] and his colleagues, and it will be very hard for us when the authorities manage to detect the serial numbers of the permits and licenses he issued. I can assure you, thousands of people will be affected."

Local citizens are also being implicated in permit scams, including marriages of convenience to foreign nationals, but government has announced that it will review the automatic access to residence papers of non-nationals married to Botswana citizens.

"Many Batswana have been arrested or charged for aiding and abetting illegal immigrants. Some would act as witnesses to help foreigners acquire the national identity document – omang," Mpho said. "With an omang, the foreigner would be able to acquire other documents like the passport."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88270YANGON Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - The government of Myanmar and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have for the third time renewed an agreement aimed at tackling forced labour.YANGON Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - The government of Myanmar and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have for the third time renewed an agreement aimed at tackling forced labour.

“Neither party sought any changes and there were absolutely no issues in terms of its renewal,” Steve Marshall, liaison officer for the ILO in Myanmar, told IRIN in an interview.

The agreement will come into effect on 26 February for another year.

However, Marshall said much work was still required to ensure the proper application of the agreement.

Recently, 17 people - mostly farmers who complained about forced labour, or people helping them to lodge their complaints - were imprisoned because of their involvement in ILO cases, breaching the agreement.

While 13 were subsequently released, four are still in detention.

Under the agreement, first signed in February 2007 [http://www.ilo.org/yangon/info/lang--en/docName--WCMS_106131/index.htm], anyone who complains about forced labour or facilitates a complaint is protected by law.

Marshall said arrests of this kind raised “serious credibility issues” as far as the implementation of the pact was concerned.

“Although harassment of this nature is reported only in respect of a minority of cases, they of course impact on the confidence of people to complain,” he said.

The agreement will examined by the ILO governing body in Geneva in March, where it will be fully reviewed, he said.

Fears of retaliation

The Myanmar government passed a law in 1999 forbidding the use of forced labour but the phenomenon is still documented in various forms by the UN and international human rights groups.

In a farming village in Kunchangone Township in the southern Ayeyarwady Delta, men are forced to work as night guards at a nearby army post, or hand over the equivalent of US$2 to the military unit.

“We don’t want to do this job, but we can’t refuse,” one angry farmer told IRIN. “If we are unlucky, we can be put on the list,” he said, referring to retaliation by the military.

Despite joint awareness-raising by the ILO and the government about the law, most perpetrators are from the military or local authorities.

Under the agreement, the agency assesses complaints directly from victims, or through a nationwide network of volunteers who act as facilitators for complainants.

The ILO compiles evidence and hands over the cases to the government for investigation, which can result in compensation to victims and prosecution of perpetrators.

Since 2007, the ILO has submitted more than 200 cases - about half concerning underage recruitment to the military.

Child soldiers

Government law states that no one younger than 18 should be in the army, but military units are under pressure to maintain their strength.

“While some kids volunteer to join up, many of the cases we get are not voluntary,” said Marshall. “In either case it is against the law.”

“A kid is walking home from the market, or home from school or at the bus stop or at the railway station, and he is approached by a broker … and either tricked or straight out abducted into the army,” he said.

The average age of child soldiers seen in cases submitted to the ILO is about 15 or 16, but there have been cases of children as young as 11.

Of all the types of forced labour, Marshall said the government was the most responsive in this area, locating the child, returning him to his family and prosecuting perpetrators.

Since 2007, the ILO has helped with the release of more than 80 children from the military, while about 30 cases are still under negotiation, he said.

Despite this, Marshall said a lot more had to be done to disseminate information about the law. “There is a large proportion of people out there who don’t know what their rights are,” he said.

“Also, in the country you have to be quite brave to exercise your rights. So the number of complaints in no way can be seen to be reflecting the size of the problems.”

Blame economics

According to the ILO and rights groups, the military regularly uses forced labour for its activities, such as sentry duty, or when camps are shifted and porters are needed to carry supplies, or in construction.

Military units are also under-funded and rely on farming to survive, and villagers are often compelled to work for them.

The practice is also used by civilian authorities, who cannot afford the labour to build roads, for example.

“A lot of forced labour is driven by a very bad economic structure. The local authorities have no money, they’ve got no resources,” said Marshall. “It’s not just a social issue; it’s an economic policy management issue as well.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88240MANILA Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - Humanitarian agencies and rights groups are concerned about overcrowding in Philippine prisons, where tuberculosis (TB) is now taking a toll.MANILA Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - Humanitarian agencies and rights groups are concerned about overcrowding in Philippine prisons, where tuberculosis (TB) is now taking a toll.

At the Manila city jail, every available space has been appropriated. Men and youths angrily jostle each other, while some sleep standing up as a medical worker walks the corridors to check on their condition.

The oppressive heat creates a nauseating smell of humanity, but there is a bigger problem - TB - an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs.

Otherwise treatable, the disease is spreading rapidly through the prison population, officials say.

"We have seen that the overcrowding of jails and prisons has serious consequences for detainees," Jean-Daniel Tauxe, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) head of delegation in Manila, told reporters recently after numerous prison visits across the Philippines.

"Access to safe water, sanitation, healthcare, and acceptable living conditions are a major problem in overcrowded detention facilities," he said, adding that the steady spread of tuberculosis had become "a serious concern".

Built in the 1940s, the Manila City Jail was designed to accommodate about 1,000 inmates. It currently houses more than 5,000 prisoners, adult men mixing with teenage boys awaiting trial, on trial or awaiting transfer to a penal colony after conviction.

The women's section is equally grim.

According to the Bureau of Jail and Management Penology (BJMP), which has administrative control over all the country's 1,132 city, district and municipal jails, the total inmate population has doubled to nearly 70,000 from about 35,000 a decade ago.

In Metro Manila, some 22,000 inmates are now registered, over an actual capacity of 16,000, the same agency reports.

And with cases, including petty offences, taking years to resolve in backlogged, understaffed courts, the number of inmates will likely rise to more than 115,000 this year, the penology bureau says.

Tauxe said concern over tuberculosis spreading in Philippine jails had prompted his group to support local authorities to implement a national programme to help combat the disease, a pilot project involving some 30,000 inmates in seven prisons.

"Legal and procedural problems, which delay the processing of cases, are the root causes of overcrowding," Tauxe said.

"Criminal neglect"

In one highly publicized case in 2008, Melvic Lupe, a factory worker jailed with 18 others in a labour dispute, died due to tuberculosis.

One of the surviving 18 meanwhile died in September last year, although the cause of death remained unclear, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission, which was following the case.

"It is appalling that anyone should die of tuberculosis today. It is no longer the dreaded affliction that has killed millions of people over the past decade," the commission said in its letter to the BJMP last year.

"It has been for many years now a treatable disease and the fact that prisoners have died of it while in custody speaks of the criminal neglect of the prison authorities."

Lawyer Rita Arce Alfaro, in a study for Manila's Far Eastern University on the problems facing inmates, said the situation had become so dire that inmates "fall easy prey to outbreaks of skin diseases such as boils, infections and various allergies.

"Tuberculosis proliferates inside prison walls," she said, stressing that the Philippine government allots less than US$1 a day per prisoner to cover three meals and water. This harsh reality contravenes the UN's Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners [see: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/treatmentprisoners.htm] , she wrote.

"The main thrust of the present-day prison system has not evolved from the time of the guillotine. But if urgent needs are to be addressed, reform in the prison system is a must," she said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88241BANGKOK Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - Thousands of migrant workers from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar face possible deportation from Thailand unless they register their nationality this weekend.BANGKOK Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - Thousands of migrant workers from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar face possible deportation from Thailand unless they register their nationality this weekend.

Under a nationality verification (NV) scheme, migrants must register by 28 February for their work permits to be extended.

Thailand is a magnet for migrants seeking economic opportunities and the government says the process will give migrant workers legal status and better protect them from exploitative labour practices, including human trafficking and other rights violations.

However officials admit that just 500,000 people have applied to take part in the NV process so far.

And with threats of immediate deportation for those who do not comply, rights activists are worried.

“We support the policy as a concept, but the way in which that concept has been applied is simply terrible,” Andy Hall, director of the Migrant Justice Programme at the Human Rights and Development Foundation, said during a public discussion on the issue on 24 February in Bangkok.

“We have to give credit to the government for trying to sort out the illegal migration problem in Thailand, but we think the nationality verification policy has failed and is failing.”

Humanitarian “consequences”

According to the Thai Department of Employment, there are some 1.3 million legal migrant workers in the kingdom.

In addition, an estimated two million are irregular migrants, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), mainly from Myanmar.

Jackie Pollock, director of the MAP Foundation, a Thai NGO that assists migrants, warned that mass deportations of Burmese could have serious humanitarian consequences.

“There is a high likelihood the Burmese regime would close the border to stop them, so the migrants would be stuck in no man’s land because Thailand doesn’t want them either,” Pollock told IRIN.

“That’s when they start hiding out in fields and jungles,” she said, citing previous mass deportations in the late 1990s where NGOs were left to assist Burmese migrants stranded along the border.

Verification process questioned

Under the NV process, applicants are required to submit information, including their name, age and place of birth, both to the Thai government and to their home country, to confirm their identity.

So far, most of those who have complied come from Cambodia and Laos, whose governments have been sending representatives to areas where their citizens live and work in Thailand to help register them.

But the process is proving problematic for Burmese migrants, whose government only agreed late last year to set up three areas near the border with Myanmar where Burmese workers in Thailand could have their documents processed.

Before then, they were expected to travel back to their home provinces.

However, according to NGOs working with Burmese migrants, many are reluctant to provide details to the Myanmar authorities for fear their families back home could be forced to pay additional taxes and subject to other forms of pressure.

“Even if the Burmese government doesn’t have a policy to do bad things with that information now, they are worried that might change in the future,” said Hall.

The process is also expensive, with NGOs claiming each worker has to pay up to US$300 to brokers to help with the paperwork - the equivalent of several months’ wages.

According to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report [see: http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2010/02/23/tiger-crocodile-0] on migrant worker abuses launched this week, workers are already forced to pay up to $150 annually to brokers to renew their work permits, visas and health insurance.

The report also outlined the abuses that migrant workers allegedly suffer, including extortion, beatings and even extra-judicial killing, at the hands of Thai police and their employers.

Increasing vulnerability

The prospect of mass deportations was criticized by the UN Special Rapporteur on Migrants, Jorge Bustamante, who said the NV process would increase the vulnerability of irregular migrants in Thailand.

"Among the groups who may potentially be deported, there may be some who may be in need of international protection and should not be returned to the country of origin,” warned Bustamante in an 18 February statement [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/SKEA-82SCY7?OpenDocument&rc=3&cc=tha].

"If pursued, the threats of mass expulsion will result in unprecedented human suffering and will definitely breach fundamental human rights obligations," he warned.

The Bangkok-based Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women also warned that the threat of mass deportations would increase the risk of trafficking.

“Restrictive migration policies are one of the main causes of trafficking,” it said in a 23 February statement. “If working-class migrants are not able to access legal or safe migration and labour channels, third party agents become one of their only options to access opportunities abroad.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88244BAMAKO Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - A husband and wife can keep separate homes, but only with the husband’s approval. A divorcée can keep her ex-husband’s name – if he agrees. A girl should be able to marry at 15. These and a dozen other changes to the family code are being proposed by Mali’s top Islamic council, even though they were blocked last August after strong opposition from some Muslim leaders. BAMAKO Friday, February 26, 2010 (IRIN) - A husband and wife can keep separate homes, but only with the husband’s approval. A divorcée can keep her ex-husband’s name – if he agrees. A girl should be able to marry at 15. These and a dozen other changes to the family code are being proposed by Mali’s top Islamic council, even though they were blocked last August http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85960 after strong opposition from some Muslim leaders.

Legislative efforts to update a decades-old family code sparked nationwide protests from Muslim associations, which said the new code would threaten religious values.

“Without these amendments, it would be an open road to debauchery,” the head of the group within the council created to propose changes to the family code, Mamadou Diamouténé, told IRIN. He said that while Koranic law allowed spouses to keep separate homes, “it is not that anyone can go wherever she wishes without her husband’s approval, because we cannot forget that the man is the head of the family”.

However, Bakary Togola, a teacher and Malian Association of Human Rights member, told IRIN that Council members pushing for the amendments had to face reality. “The world is evolving every day and we must change with it… there are countries all over the world passing laws to authorize marriage between homosexuals and we Muslims are moving heaven and earth over details that are not worth anything.”

These amendments risk pushing people to extremism, said Rokia Traoré Sanogo, a housecleaner who is Muslim. “Here in Mali, not everyone is Muslim… They [High Islamic Council] are acting as if Mali were an Islamic state. At this rate, they will soon demand that Sharia law be imposed.”

Article 291 currently states that marriages are celebrated publicly in front of a government registrar, to which the Islamic council wants to add “and religious and traditional leaders”. Diamouténé said that otherwise, “it is as if we were trampling over religious and traditional marriage ceremonies”.

Article 311 of the draft currently puts spouses on an equal footing. “Spouses owe each other fidelity, protection, relief and assistance. They commit themselves to the community of life on the basis of affection and respect." The council wants to add: “The wife must obey the husband.”

The council is proposing amending articles on inheritance, marriage, adoption and family responsibilities, which are at the core of Mali’s social and religious values, said the council’s Diamouténé.

April vote

Parliament is treading more carefully this time in trying to pass a new family law. “We recall that the Islamic associations, led by the High Islamic Council, sparked unprecedented protests http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85676 throughout the country to remove language [they] considered blasphemous,” the head of the national assembly, Dioncounda Traoré, told IRIN.

Two lawmakers, one of whom is a religious leader, are to reconcile the proposed amendments, the code under draft and the existing law, which they will present to parliament for approval in April.

Political analyst and University of Bamako professor, Badra Alou Macalou, told IRIN that lawmakers were hoping to reach a consensus on the contested articles. “The president of the assembly… was clear in saying that the legislators will never adopt a code that will affect again the social climate. I think that in April if the code is not voted [on] and adopted unanimously, it will simply be shelved.”

Domestic worker Sanogo is not optimistic of any significant change even if the code is passed. “Whether or not the code is adopted, it does not matter much to me because we know here in Mali, laws are not enforced. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85737”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88251MBABANE Thursday, February 25, 2010 (IRIN) - The High Court of Swaziland ruled on 23 February 2010 that some married women will be allowed to register property in their own name. It has been five years since the new Constitution granted women equal status, after centuries of being classified and treated as minors.MBABANE Thursday, February 25, 2010 (IRIN) - The High Court of Swaziland ruled on 23 February 2010 that some married women will be allowed to register property in their own name. It has been five years since the new Constitution granted women equal status, after centuries of being classified and treated as minors.

Gender activists greeted the ruling as a small victory; despite the 2005 enactment of the Constitution, the second-class status of women in the country ruled by sub-Sahara's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, has largely remained intact, denying women their inheritance rights and hobbling their progress as entrepreneurs and traders.

"I went to apply for a bank loan, and I was shocked to find that nothing has changed for women in this country. The loan was approved for my business, the bank was in support of my project, but the bank manager asked me, 'Where is your husband? He must sign the loan forms,'" Thabsile Masuku told IRIN.

"The bank did not recognize me as an adult who can enter into a contract. Legally, I am just a minor who is dependant on my husband. He is a good man but the situation is galling - I am not dependant on my husband, I am an independent person, but in Swaziland I don't exist," she said.

A woman who declined to be identified told IRIN that a house she had built from the proceeds of her chicken-breeding business was sold by her husband without her knowledge. In Swaziland the husband remains the legal administrator of the marriage estate, to use as he likes - with or without his wife's knowledge or consent.

Lack of political will

Although the Constitution has granted women equal rights with men, in practice old laws still on the statute books continue to define gender relations. Observers blame a lack of political will for the slow progress in replacing laws that conflict with the Constitution.

Lomcebo Dlamini, director of the Swaziland branch of Women in Law in Southern Africa - one of the legal bodies advising the Mswati-appointed Constitutional Review Commission during the 10 years it took to create the Constitution - told IRIN that gender equality could be partly achieved with a new law that defined modern marriages.

"The Marriage Act No. 47 of 1964 dates from the colonial era before Swaziland's independence [in 1968] and was really written with European residents in mind. Under the law, Swazis are assumed to be wed according to the traditional practice, which falls under the rules of Swazi Law and Custom that Swazis have always lived by," said Lomcebo Dlamini.

When the Constitution took effect, it stated that all laws counter to the Constitution were null and void, yet a recent ruling by the High Court of Swaziland said government must be given time to revise or repeal all non-compliant laws, but failed to provide a timeframe.

Activism has contributed to eroding gender-prejudiced legislation, and this week the High Court amended the 1968 Deeds Registry Act by making it possible for a Swazi woman to register immovable property, like a home or business, in her own name.

Justice Qinisile Dlamini, the High Court's sole female judge, ruled that "Section 151 (2) of the Constitution states that the High Court has jurisdiction to enforce fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed by (the Constitution). This includes the right to equality, which is guaranteed by section 20 and 28 of the Constitution."

However, the ruling only applies to women married in a civil ceremony, and with a community of property agreement. About 80 percent of Swaziland's one million people live on communal Swazi Nation Land under customary law administered by chiefs.

"The marriage law must be changed because it assumes that all Swazi women are married the traditional way, which is really arranged marriages that unite two families. A woman is a minor under her parent's homestead until she goes to her husband's homestead, where she is also a minor. The law considers the husband the administrator of the marital property," said Lomcebo Dlamini.

Polygamy

Social historian Anita Magongo told IRIN: "Traditional marriages are polygamous, which is one reason why a man is given administrative control. How do you divide administration of family property amongst any number of wives? ... A traditional homestead is a communal affair, without any real property."

The question of land ownership was also problematic. "The land belongs to the King, and Swazis reside on a piece of land at the pleasure of their chief. There was no wage-earning or commerce, no material objects beyond blankets and pots, and no need for loans or savings - but that was then."

With increasing numbers of women widowed by HIV/AIDS and in need of family property on which to live and raise their children, AIDS activists object to Swazi Law and Custom that results in the family of the deceased husband inheriting all marital property.

Widows are often left destitute, but custom dictates that a widow must mourn for at least six months, during which she is forbidden to leave the home, preventing her from working to support her children and compounding the vulnerability of the family.

"A new Marriage Act is essential," said Lomcebo Dlamini. "Fewer women are entering into traditional marriages, and it is wrong for the law to assume that 21st century Swazi women live as the Colonial-era lawmakers assumed they did long ago."

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