Reporting on Conflict | Media Watch Blog

• News source:
• 17 August 2010
• ReliefWeb
• By International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

With a real risk of mines and unexploded ordnance being washed down with the floods, people living in previously uncontaminated areas are now at risk.

• News source:
• 17 August 2010
• National Post
• By RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP

Pakistan is a nation in crisis. Since the onset of torrential rains and floods two weeks ago, 1,600 people have died; two million are now homeless. The United Nations estimates that US$460-million is required for food, clean water, shelter and medical supplies. The country’s government pegs the cost of rebuilding housing and infrastructure at between US$10-billion and US$15-billion…

So why is that as the floods in Pakistan continue to claim more victims, the world seems comparatively hesitant to help…

Quite simply, there is grave suspicion that aid will end up in the wrong hands: those of the Taliban…

• News source:
• August 2010
• Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs

Scholars and practitioners have devoted increasing attention to the roles played by religious leaders and communities, both in instigating and prolonging violent conflict and in negotiating and building peace. In much of the world, formal religious leadership tends to be heavily dominated by men, and so investigations of religion and conflict have tended to focus on men’s perspectives and roles. Women’s engagement in religious peacemaking has received far less attention and their perspectives, needs, and unique leverage are often largely ignored in the design of traditional religious peacemaking initiatives. However, women often play critical roles in conflict situations…. Recent Interviews

• News source:
• 12 August 2010
• Toronto Star
• By Lorne Waldman

Another boatload of Tamil refugees is expected in Canada later this week. Its imminent arrival has raised important questions about how we should deal with boats that might arrive in the future.

Should Canada adopt a policy similar to Australia and turn the boats away before they enter Canadian waters? This is not a viable option for Canada as it would be a violation of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms and of our obligations under international law. In 1997, The Inter-American Court of Human Rights determined unequivocally that such conduct would be contrary to Canada’s international obligations. Simply put, to summarily turn away refugees without determining the validity of their fear of persecution and without regard to their fate is illegal and unthinkable.

If turning the boats away is not in the cards, then what options are available to Canadian policy-makers? The answer lies in a multi-faceted approach. The best long-term solution is to deal with the root causes of the problem.

• News source:
• 12 August 2010
• Asian Tribune
• By Hemantha Abeywardena

I listened to the short interview on BBC Radio 4 conducted by Martha Kearney, the Irish-born news presenter, with Mr Nihal Jayasinghe, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in London yesterday, almost by accident.

Based on the report submitted by Charles Haviland, the BBC correspondent in Colobmo, on the Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) that commenced yesterday in Sri Lanka, she threw three relatively-simple straight-forward questions at the top diplomat.

• News source:
• 12 August 2010
• The New Nation (Bangladesh)
• By Professor Dr. M. Zahangir Kabir

Just as corruption has a debilitating effect upon the economy so does the virus of terrorism-as Stern (2003) sees it-thrive upon hopelessness at the level of the individual and weak government at the level of the state. Stern feels that the virus spreads as a result of various risk factors. The precise identification of these factors is difficult but she considers them at different levels (Stern 2003:283-6) from the global to the individual…

Media is thus one of the principal agents for societal development, democracy and good governance, and a crucial element in areas of conflict, terrorism and extremism.

• News source:
• 11 August 2010
• Reuters
• By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO – Sri Lanka vowed on Wednesday to investigate the conduct of the war against Tamil separatists, but critics dismissed the inquiry as a whitewash after authorities rejected an international probe into possible war crimes.

The Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation, appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, held its first sitting, focusing on the final phase of the 25-year conflict, leading to the surrender of the Tamil Tigers in May 2009.

• News source:
• Abstract posted 6 August 2010
• Abstract posted on Zunia.com
• By Aon Benfi eld UCL Hazard Research Centre, University College London

This report intends to open up a dialogue on an issue, it asserts, that could put the lives and livelihoods of millions of people at risk in the foreseeable future. This issue is water – water as a vital resource and as a potential crisis driver in the Hindu-Kush Himalaya (HKH) region.

• News source:
• 3 August 2010
• The Elders | Press release

The Sri Lankan government’s clampdown on domestic critics and its disdain for human rights deserves a far tougher response according to The Elders. While welcoming the end of the decades-long civil war, the Elders say that meaningful progress on reconciliation in Sri Lanka is still desperately needed. They describe the international response to Sri Lanka’s worrying approach to human rights, good governance and accountability as a ‘deafening global silence’ that may encourage other states to act in a similar way.

• News source:
• 8 May 2010
• Asian Human Rights Commission
• Press Release
• By Asian Human Rights Commission

The communiqué from the Presidential Media Unit announcing a probe into the violations of internationally accepted norms of conduct has incorporated several new words and phrases which are not yet familiar terms in the political discourse in Sri Lanka. A few such words and phrases are: the need for restorative justice; a probe of violations of internationally accepted norms of conduct; no recurrence of such tragic conflict in the future; institutional, administrative and welfare measures already taken in the post conflict phase and which should be further taken in order to effect reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation; legislative and administrative measures that may be necessary to prevent such situations in the future; assessing the lessons learned from the recent conflict phase; identification of any persons or groups responsible for such acts, (and) payment of compensation for victims.

• News source:
• 14 April 2010
• Human Rights Watch And Magnum in Motion
• Vote Online for Human Rights Watch and Magnum

New York – A video telling the story of Kiran Yadav, an Indian woman who died needlessly in childbirth, has been nominated for a prestigious Webby award, Human Rights Watch said today. The video, produced by Human Rights Watch with award-winning Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas, is nominated for Best Documentary: Individual Episode. It highlights the dangers faced by women in India, where more than 60,000 pregnancies end each year in preventable deaths.

Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. The Human Rights Watch video, produced with Magnum In Motion, is also eligible for the Webby People’s Voice Award, which is determined by online votes cast by the global Web community. Supporters of Human Rights Watch have until April 29, 2010, to cast their votes in the People’s Voice Awards at http://webby.aol.com/entries/49544.

• News source:
• 26 March 2010
• ABC

Britain is banning the use of cluster bombs by its armed forces, and has undertaken the destruction of its entire stockpile.

• News source:
• 8 March 2010
• Nepalnews.com

The political standing of women has “improved” in Nepal in comparison to many countries in Asia and the Pacific where works are being done to enhance women’s participation in politics, according to a new Asia Pacific Human Development Report on Gender.

“The political voice of women has improved in Nepal with the recent secured 1/3 quota in the Constituent Assembly. In comparison, only about 1/3 of countries in Asia and the Pacific have quota systems to enhance women’s participation in politics,” says the report titled, “Power, Voice and Rights: A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific” launched on the occasion of International Women’s Day in the capital on Monday.

• News source:
• 8 March 2010
• IPS
• By Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI – With assured backing from India’s main opposition groups, the ruling Congress party hopes to see voted through in the upper house of Parliament Monday a bill reserving 33 percent of seats in national and provincial legislatures for women.

• News source:
• updated 25 February 2010
• New America Foundation
• By Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann

This research was last updated on February 25, 2010. For a full analysis of the repercussions and results of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, please click here for “The Year of the Drone,” by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann, February 24, 2010.

The research on these pages… draws only on accounts from reliable media organizations with deep reporting capabilities in Pakistan, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, accounts by major news services and networks—the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, CNN, and the BBC—and reports in the leading English-language newspapers in Pakistan—the Daily Times, Dawn, and the News—as well as those from Geo TV, the largest independent Pakistani television network.

Our study shows that the 114 reported drone strikes in northwest Pakistan, including 18 in 2010, from 2004 to the present have killed approximately between 834 and 1,216 individuals, of whom around 549 to 849 were described as militants in reliable press accounts, about two-thirds of the total on average. Thus, the true civilian fatality rate since 2004 according to our analysis is approximately 32 percent.

• News source:
• 19 February 2010
• AFP

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka said Friday it plans to release all detained Tamil Tiger child soldiers by the end of May and re-unite them with their families.

Government forces defeated the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May last year, ending their 37-year fight for a Tamil homeland in the north of the country.

Over 500 child soldiers surrendered to the army and were produced before a court before being enlisted in a one-year rehabilitation programme.

• News source:
• 12 February 2010
• Radio Australia
• By David Chen with Vijay Anand, president, 5th Pillar; Anupama Jha, executive director, Transparency International India

For many Indians, bribing corrupt officials is a way of life. Last year, international corruption watchdog Transparency International said almost four million Indian families had to bribe officials for access to basic services. India also dropped in Transparency’s corruption index from 72nd to 85th in a list of 180 countries. now Indians are fighting corruption using a novel idea – the zero rupee.

• News source:
• 8 February 2010
• VOA
• By Steve Herman | New Delhi

Nepal has discharged all of the under-aged combatants from the army of the former Maoist rebels. That is being hailed as the closing of a critical chapter for the peace process in the poor, landlocked country between China and India.

More than 200 former child soldiers boarded buses in the rugged highlands of mid-western Nepal for a ride back into civilian life.

• News source:
• The Cooperative
• By Andrew Hinton

Two-thirds of India’s population of a billion people live in the nation’s 800,000 villages. Despite India’s economic growth, the disparities between wealth and poverty are huge. Many villagers migrate to the cities in search of work and end up begging on the streets. South Indian bank manager J S Parthiban set out to do something to help their economic circumstances. He encouraged beggars to open bank accounts in New Delhi, and pioneered micro-loans to villagers in his home state of Tamil Nadu…. see 3 minute film

• News source:
• 7 January 2010
• BBC

Thousands of former Maoist child soldiers in Nepal have begun leaving camps for ex-rebels where they have been held since a 2006 peace accord.

Some 200 young men and women were freed at a ceremony in central Nepal.

The children have been in UN-monitored camps with other ex-rebels. The release is a key part of the peace process.