HRW report: Attacks on Civilians in the Philippines

Human Rights Watch acaba de publicar un informe sobre as accións terroristas que teñen como obxectivo á poboación civil nas Filipinas. Os civís mortos suman uns 400 en diversos atentados desde o ano 2000.

O informe, titulado “Lives Destroyed: Attacks Against Civilians in the Philippines”, está disponible en HTML ou nun PDF de 4,54 MB. Copio e pego o texto da páxina introductoria:

Since January 2000, radical armed Islamist groups in the Philippines have carried out over 40 major bombings against civilians and civilian property, mostly in the south of the country. Attacks on Mindanao, Basilan, Jolo, and other southern islands have killed nearly 400 civilians and injured well over a thousand more. Bombs have been set off in urban centers, markets and stores, airports, on ferry boats and wharfs, and on rural roads and highways. They have killed Philippine civilians indiscriminately-Christians and Muslims, men and women, parents and children-and left behind orphans, widows, and widowers. Hundreds of other victims have suffered severe wounds, burns, and lost limbs.

In all, bombings and other attacks against civilians in the Philippines have caused over 1,700 casualties in the last seven years, more than the number of people killed and injured in bombing attacks during the same period in neighboring Indonesia (including the 2002 Bali bombings), and considerably more than the number of those killed and injured in bombings in Morocco, Spain, Turkey, or Britain.

Relacionada co terrorismo nas Filipinas está tamén esta nota de prensa que publicaba hai dúas semanas HRW: “Philippines: New Terrorism Law Puts Rights at Risk”. Nela critícase a nova “Human Security Act”, que permitiría a detención indefinida de “sospeitosos de terrorismo” sen garantías procesais adecuadas, dando ademais unha definición extremadamente ampla de “terrorismo”…

AI report: The situation of Iraqi refugees in Syria

Amnistía Internacional publicou o xoves pasado un breve informe sobre a situación de máis dun millón de persoas que fuxiron cara a Siria procedentes dun Iraq ocupado polos exércitos “aliados” (nomeadamente o dos Estados Unidos) e sumido nunha crise política, económica e social onde os actos terroristas son cotidianos.

O informe titúlase The situation of Iraqi refugees in Syria e, ademais da versión en HTML, está disponible en PDF. Copio e pego un extracto da introducción:

More than four years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the conflict that continues to rage in the country has not only caused countless thousands of deaths and injuries but has provoked a continuing and increasing exodus of Iraqis displaced from their homes. Some two million or more have now left the country and almost two million others – out of a total Iraqi population estimated to be around 27 millions – are now living as internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Iraq having been forced from their homes. Some of these also can be expected to make their way to the country’s border and become refugees abroad. It is a dire situation, one that carries grave humanitarian consequences for those directly affected but also a diverse and challenging impact on the neighbouring countries, notably Syria and Jordan, who now bear a critical responsibility for assisting the refugees. It is a crisis to which the international community at large, however, must respond. The governments and people of Syria and Jordan cannot be left to bear this responsibility alone.

Syria is the only country that has so far kept its border open to refugees fleeing the sectarian violence in Iraq. It is estimated that there are now some 1.5 million Iraqis living in Syria, with around 30, 000 more arriving each month. The majority have arrived during the last 17 months following the bombing of al-‘Askari Shi’a holy shrine in Samarra on 22 February 2006. [...]

This briefing summarizes the findings of Amnesty International’s visit to Syria to assess the situation of refugees from Iraq. It includes a number of recommendations addressed to the Syrian, Jordanian and Iraqi governments and to the international community, particularly those states who pledged financial and other assistance at the April conference in Geneva to deliver on those pledges and to take further action to meet the needs of refugees and IDPs.

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier: Gavotte et Ramage

Parece ser que o noso convidado de hoxe, o francés Boismortier (1689 - 1755), foi un dos primeiros da Historia en vivir profesionalmente das súas composicións en calidade de autónomo, isto é, sen patrón.

Gracias ó canal en YouTube de recorderdevoix podemos escoitar, tocadas con distintas flautas de bico e por esta orde, unha Gavotte e unha Ramage de Joseph Bodin de Boismortier:

Rwanda: Abolition of the death penalty

Segundo informou o venres Amnistía Internacional, Ruanda acaba de converterse no primeiro Estado en lexisla-la abolición da pena de morte na rexión dos Grandes Lagos.

A nota de prensa de AI titúlase, como esta anotación, Rwanda: Abolition of the death penalty. Copio e pego o seu contido íntegro:

Amnesty International today welcomed the promulgation of legislation by Rwanda to abolish the death penalty. Rwanda is the first country in the Great Lakes region to abolish the death penalty and strongly confirmed the worldwide trend to end capital punishment by becoming the 100th country to abolish the death penalty in law, with another 30 countries abolitionist in practice. Fourteen countries in Africa, including Rwanda, are abolitionist for all crimes and a further 18 are abolitionist in practice.

Amnesty International hopes that such moves reflect the beginning of an overall regional pattern in Central Africa to abolish the death penalty. Encouragingly, a revised version of the Penal Code in Burundi, currently pending promulgation, has excluded the death penalty as punishment for all crimes. In light of the recent promulgation of the abolition of the death penalty for all crimes in Rwanda, Amnesty International calls upon the Rwanda government to co-sponsor the resolution on a global moratorium on executions that will be introduced at the United Nations General Assembly this October, and to encourage other countries in the region to support such resolution.

The last death sentences were imposed in 2003. The last executions of people sentenced to death took place in 1998 when 22 people found guilty of genocide-related crimes were executed. Rwanda currently holds approximately 600 prisoners on death row. Despite their sentences being commuted with the enactment of the legislation, there are continuing concerns regarding the cruel, inhumane and degrading prison conditions in which these prisoners remain detained.

Background
The continued existence of the death penalty constituted one of the main obstacles preventing the transfer of detainees held by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), or indicted genocide suspects living abroad, to Rwanda’s national jurisdiction. Other obstacles have also been the capability of the Rwandan justice system to provide fair trials as well as additional concerns regarding its independence, impartiality and transparency. The abolition of the death penalty is taking place in this context.

The initiative to table a resolution calling for a global moratorium at the UN General Assembly this year is supported by countries from all regions of the world, including Africa. Amnesty International believes that such a resolution would be an important milestone towards the worldwide abolition of the death penalty.