President Obama speaks at the opening day of the General Debate at the United Nations Headquarters, New York. Credit: UN Photo-Marco Castro

By Lawrence Del Gigante
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 25 2012 (IPS)

Addressing the 67th General Assembly at the United Nations in New York Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama accused the Iranian government of propping up the dictatorship in Syria and supporting terrorist groups abroad.

He charged that Tehran has failed to demonstrate the peaceful intentions of its nuclear programme to the United Nations, and warned that time for a diplomatic solution was “not unlimited”.

“Make no mistake: a nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained,” Obama said. “The United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

Obama also said that the violent reactions to an anti-Islam video produced in the U.S. are a sign that the international community must “address honestly the tensions between the West and the Arab World.”

He described the video as “crude and disgusting” but defended the right to free speech. He also said that the video, no matter how offensive, does not justify acts of violence.

“There are no words that excuse the killing of innocents. There is no video that justifies an attack on an embassy,” he said.

Obama promised a firm response to the killings and to be “relentless in tracking down the killers and bringing them to justice”.

He also acknowledged Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen for helping to secure U.S. facilities following the attacks.

In the context of the attacks, Obama called for all leaders in all countries to speak out against violence and extremism.

“It is time to marginalise those who… use hatred of America, or the West, or Israel as a central principle of politics,” he asserted.

While noting the adverse effects of extremism on human rights and education, he also said that “Muslims have suffered the most at the hands of extremism.”

Still speaking on relations in the region, Obama called for a secure, Jewish state of Israel and an independent Palestine, as well as an end to the Assad regime.

“As we meet here, we again declare that the regime of Bashar al-Assad must come to an end so that the suffering of the Syrian people can stop, and a new dawn can begin,” he said.

Throughout his address he encouraged unity, tolerance and understanding between Western and Eastern countries and cultures.

“We have taken these positions because we believe that freedom and self-determination are not unique to one culture. These are not simply American values or Western values – they are universal values,” Obama said.

Secretary-general warns of “regional calamity”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon told the assembly that the Syrian crisis is no longer confined to the country itself but has become “a regional calamity with global ramifications”, and called for Security Council action.

He placed responsibility on the international community to find a Syrian-led resolution to the situation as well as to support humanitarian aid efforts in the country.

Ban also called for a peaceful solution between Palestine and Israel, saying that a two-state solution was the only sustainable option, but warned that “the door may be closing for good”.

He expressed his concern over the continued growth of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory in that it was seriously undermining peace efforts.

He strongly rejected potential military action by one state against another.

Ban also spoke about the need for nuclear weapons to be controlled, and said that “Iran must prove the solely peaceful intent of its (nuclear) programme.” He also encouraged the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to move towards the de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Sustainable development formed a crucial part of Ban’s address, a path that is “the key to our hopes for the future” and “my top priority as secretary-general”.

He called on states to honour their promises to reach a legally binding agreement on climate change by 2015.

“Sustainability and the green economy offer compelling opportunities to promote jobs, growth, innovation and long-term stability,” he said.

He also called for greater attention and support for the humanitarian crisis in Africa’s Sahel region, where some 18 million people face food insecurityand one million children under five are at risk of starvation.

“The international community needs a major concerted effort to address this alarming situation,” Ban said.

The secretary-general also voiced concern over volatile food markets, saying that “governments must not impose trade restrictions on grains or other agricultural products” in order to maximise food supplies.

He spoke in the context of the looming 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, saying “even if we achieve the MDGs, there is still a long way to go.”

Growing volatility

During his opening address of the General Debate, the new president of the General Assembly, Vuk Jeremić, spoke of the need to attend to the increasing volatility and unpredictability of the global environment.

“We are beset by a series of ruptures that seem to be building in intensity. Their effects can barely be kept in check,” he said.

Jeremić highlighted three variables in the global environment that must be attended to.

He spoke first of states aspiring to take on more significant roles and exercise a greater level of influence in their region.

“Virtually no one’s position is the same today as it was just a generation ago, making it more difficult for a meaningful and enduring consensus to be reached on significant items on our shared agenda,” he noted.

The second issue he noted as the increasing access of “capabilities” to non-state actors, such as the ability to inflict harm on a massive scale, and the concerns this raises for member states.

The third issue he posited was the quest for empowerment, whereby populations around the world seek greater influence in shaping their own destiny, noting that although “the Arab Spring advanced democratic aspirations in a number of countries, the fate of some others still hangs in the balance.”

The theme for this year’s debate, as chosen by the Assembly’s president, is “adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations by peaceful means”.

“Rarely has it been more necessary for the world to draw closer together. It is to this endeavour that I believe we should devote the full scope of our resources,” Jeremić said.

By Walter García and Lawrence Del Gigante
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 13 2012 (IPS)

Following the revolution that culminated in the ouster of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, Tunisia embarked on a transitional justice process with the intention of addressing the gross human rights violations of the dictatorship.

Said Mechichi. Credit: UNDP

The new administration established commissions with the purpose of addressing the abuses committed during the popular protests, and to aid them in this endeavour, a Ministry of Transitional Justice and Human Rights was created.

The country is also transitioning from a justice system that was fraught with corruption, impunity and lack of autonomy, to a model of judicial integrity. In a post-revolutionary society, this process is not a straightforward one.

Said Mechichi serves as state secretary of reform in the Ministry of the Interior of Tunisia. A lawyer by profession, he is a member of the Tunisian Association for the Defence of Human Rights and of the National Council of Civil Liberties and is also a founding member and director of the Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, a founding member of the Tunisian Association Against Torture and serves on the lawyers’ committee of the Tunisian branch of Amnesty International.

Speaking with IPS correspondent Lawrence Del Gigante, Mechichi discussed the important steps needed to ensure a Culture of Peace in Tunisia, as well as the challenges that the country currently faces.

Q: What role does trust play in re-establishing the rule of law?

A: The question is more than good. Why was the revolution launched? It’s a protest against the institutions of the regime, and the revolution is launched assuming that there was no longer any credibility for the prevailing institutions.

Naturally the revolution shows that there is no link, that there is a severed link between the institutions and the citizenry. The most important action to be taken post-revolution is to restore confidence in the institution of the state; the judiciary, the media, the institutions that are in charge of social and economic affairs, the institutions that represent the sovereignty of the state, the officials who are in charge of administration and public affairs domestically, regionally and nationally, beginning with the lowest employee all the way up to the prime minister and the president.

Trust must be built so that we can respond to the basic needs, in the initial phase. In the subsequent phase there must be thinking of reform relating to the laws and employment, jobs and the positions that govern the work of these institutions. A new culture must be propagated widely in all fields, to do away with the culture inherited from the previous regime.

Q: What is happening at a grassroots level in Tunisia, from a humanitarian point of view?

A: The people who launched the revolution have certain benefits because they have demanded improving their socioeconomic conditions. Since the inception of the revolution until now, there have been no protests or demonstrations that call for employment and improvement of the situation.

Naturally, we seek to meet all demands and support the budget that is set aside for development in particular, and to accelerate the study and implementation of development projects in cooperation with fraternal and friendly countries and specialised agencies.

Unfortunately, there are many, many demands. Many of them are extremely urgent and they have to do with providing the basic necessities such as water, power, roads and basic equipment for the work of the authorities. We are seeking to provide for these needs because there has been a delay in the support.

We are awaiting an improvement in the situation and the provision of resources and the provision of support by donors and by the organisations.

Q: What are the barriers to fostering a Culture of Peace in a post-revolutionary country?

A: The biggest is the disruption of dialogue between the basic parties and the major players. One of the most important impediments is the failure to achieve, as far as development is concerned, because people will run out of hope, having entertained great hopes, and they may have reactions which are uncalculated and unexpected.

Excerpt:

Australia’s recent decision to move asylum seekers to offshore detention facilities has alarmed human rights organisations.

“Re-opening offshore detention centres could result in human rights violations, including potentially indefinite detention,” Pia Oberoi, advisor with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) told IPS, despite that international human rights law requires that time limits be placed on immigration detention and that any detention should decided according to individual situations.

A spokesperson for the Australian government told IPS, “The government has been clear that under offshore processing arrangements, asylum seekers transferred to (detention facilities on) Nauru and Manus Island(s) will be processed in accordance with international obligations.” An interactive map of the area can be found here.

Even though some migrants coming to Australia by boat are not entitled to make a valid claim under the Refugee Convention, many are still protected under human rights law, such as victims of trafficking and stateless persons, including protection from refoulement.

The principal of non-refoulement in international law, specifically refugee law, concerns protecting refugees from being returned to places where their lives or freedoms could be threatened.

“The principle of non-refoulement has extra-territorial scope, meaning that Australia’s non-refoulement obligations are engaged when asylum seekers and migrants come under its jurisdiction or effective control, even if they have been intercepted on the high seas,” said Oberoi.

The decision to reopen offshore detention facilities was intended by the Australian government to deter future asylum seekers from coming by sea, a dangerous venture often attempted in undersized, overcrowded vessels. More than 100 asylum seekers have drowned attempting to reach Australia in 2012.

“Through regional processing and increasing the humanitarian intake, Australia is aiming to put an end to the tragic consequences of dangerous boat journeys by asylum seekers, and improve the prospects of those wishing to seek asylum in Australia,” said the government spokesperson.

Faulty logic

But Oberoi disagreed with this approach, explaining that “there is no empirical evidence that immigration detention deters irregular migration, or discourages people from seeking asylum”.

In a further effort to attract immigrants to apply through regular immigration channels, the Australian government has increased the country’s intake of natural migrants this year from 13,750 to 20,000, and has committed to taking in to 27,000 by 2017.

Ben Farrell from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Canberra told IPS that UNHCR would prefer “an arrangement which would allow asylum-seekers arriving by boat into Australian territory to be processed in Australia”.

Farrell said that the UNHCR believed in the efficacy of cooperative approaches in the region, noting that such strategies had the potential to grant asylum seekers protection without having to risk dangerous journeys across the ocean.

The policy of offshore detention was abandoned in 2007 by the Australian government heeding complaints that refugees were spending months on the islands before resettlement.

In 2011 a deal with Malaysia was planned whereby unprocessed migrants from Australia were transferred to Malaysia in exchange for processed refugees. However, the deal was rejected by the Australian High Court given that Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention.

“For a scheme like the one proposed with Malaysia to be legal, there must be no real risk of breach of Australia’s international human rights obligations and the Refugee Convention in the treatment of asylum seekers and migrants throughout the process in both Australia and Malaysia,” said Oberoi.

Australia is the UNHCR’s largest resettlement country on a per capita basis.

This month, 650 refugees have been picked up trying to reach Australia by boat. The annual number of arrivals by boat represents about two percent of Australia’s total migration.

As of March 2011, the average time spent in detention for asylum seekers arriving in Australia was 213 days.

A fisherman on the Si Phan Don riverine archipelago of the Mekong River. Credit: Courtesy of Suthep Kritsanavarin/Oxfam

By Lawrence Del Gigante
NEW YORK, Aug 18 2012 (IPS)

The Cambodian government has committed to the construction of two dams along the Mekong River in order to meet a huge demand for electricity, but environmental groups warn that severe repercussions loom for this strategy.

“While each project proposed in Cambodia comes with a different set of impacts, large dams are likely to widen the gap between the rich and the poor, increase malnourishment levels and lead to an environmentally unsustainable future,” Ame Trandem, South East Asia programme director for International Rivers, told IPS.

Four dam projects have been approved so far in Cambodia, with one already operational. All are being developed by Chinese companies on build-operate-transfer agreements, according to Trandem.

The Mekong River runs through six countries, including China and Vietnam, most of which are planning the construction of hydroelectric dams.

“The plans to build a cascade of 11 Mekong mainstream dams is one of the greatest threats currently facing Cambodia,” said Trandem.

The mandate on planning and development of hydropower in Cambodia lies within the ministry of industry, mines and energy, which did not respond to requests for comment.

Another danger of damming the Mekong is the threat to the Mekong delta, an extremely fertile area of land which is responsible for much of the region’s rice supply.

“As the Mekong River feeds and employs millions of people in the region for free, it would be irresponsible to proceed with the Xayaburi and other mainstream dams,” said Trandem.

The Mekong is one of the only rivers in the world to reverse its flow in the dry season. This natural mechanism buffers the intrusion of salt water from the South China Sea into the delta, and could be upset by upstream development.

Dams also block fish migration routes, alter flows, and change aquatic habitats, so these projects are also likely to have an adverse effect on Cambodia’s fisheries.

“The Mekong River Commission’s Strategic Environmental Assessment warned that more than one million fisheries-dependent people in Cambodia would lose their livelihoods and even more would suffer from food insecurity,” said Trandem.

“The loss of even a small percentage of the Mekong’s fisheries can represent in a loss of tens of millions of dollars.”

Partnerships have been established between the countries through which the Mekong runs in order to prevent overharvesting of the river’s resources. However, China is not a signatory to the 1995 Mekong Agreement, and can effectively build these projects independently from downstream countries. The dams in Cambodia are being financed by Chinese investors.

“The impacts of these projects are already being felt downstream,” said Trandem.

Hydroelectricity, even if a successful venture, will not solve the country’s electrification problems, other analysts say.

“Right now it is relatively catastrophic, the power situation in the country,” Alexander Ochs, the director of climate and energy at the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, told IPS.

Cambodia has one of the lowest electrification rates in Southeast Asia, estimated at only 24 percent, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The government aims to raise the national electrification rate to 70 percent by 2020, according to the ADB, by expanding the grid and sourcing more than half of the needed electricity from the Mekong River.

A large complication is transmitting the electricity, with only the major cities and surrounding areas having access to power lines, meaning people in rural areas will not benefit from the hydro.

“The number of people that are really connected to a grid as we know it, a modern power service or energy line, in rural areas is as little as seven percent of the population. Overall, nationwide, it’s about 15 percent,” said Ochs.

Biomass is very popular for heating and cooking, predominantly burning wood for fires and stoves.

“Everything else comes from off-grid or micro-grid diesel generators and this is very inefficient and very costly, a very expensive, very dirty way to produce electricity,” said Ochs.

Currently, 91 percent of Cambodia’s power plants are fuelled by imported light diesel and heavy fuel oil, not including the diesel it takes to fuel stand-alone generators.

“All of this happens in a country where you have incredible renewable energy potential. It has amazing potential for wind, very, very good potential for solar,” said Ochs.

Importantly, the solar potential in Cambodia is very high where it’s needed, including in the populated areas, meaning solar technologies can be installed domestically, such as solar panels on the roofs of houses, according to Ochs.

Solar technologies could provide off-grid communities with access to power as well as promoting clean energy in the country. However, solar technologies can be expensive, lack the reliability of stand-alone generators and often need constant maintenance.

The situation is exacerbated by the presence of imitation solar products on the market, which often break easily, thereby diminishing consumer trust in the technology.

Cambodia’s potential for renewable energies exceeds many countries in the developed world, analysts say, and Cambodia is in a good position to create favourable economies of scale for renewable energies.

“I wouldn’t argue for building a national grid, giant coal plants and importing coal, or developing only large hydro, as recent actions seem to suggest. Let’s work with the system as it is today, and develop distributed renewable solutions on the ground,” said Ochs.

By the time the political climate in Iceland was ripe for the Cutlery Revolution, Hörður Torfason was already well practiced at stirring things up.

Hörður Torfason. Iceland’s new constitution will be the “battle of the winter to come”, he says. Credit: Courtesy of Hörður Torfason

“I’ve been doing this all my life,” he told IPS in an interview.

In 1975, Torfason stepped forward as the first openly gay man in Iceland, to much public discontent. After escaping an attempt on his life, Torfason moved to Copenhagen where he lived in exile for many years. However, he continued to fight for gay rights from abroad using his art to spread the message.

“The role of the artist, to me, is to defy the misuse of power in our society, and I’ve been doing that all my life,” said Torfason.

Based out of Copenhagen, he returned to Iceland every year, touring and giving concerts in support of gay rights, and he founded the Icelandic Gay Organisation Samtökin 78 in 1978. Gradually, public sentiment changed and he was able to move back to Iceland in 1991, where he has lived ever since.

“It takes years to change a society, but also it has brought forward a lot of people who are quite capable, intelligent people,” said Torfason.

Today, gay people in Iceland enjoy equal rights.

In July 2008, he found himself on the activist stage again fighting for the rights of Paul Oudor Ramses, a young man from Kenya who was denied political asylum in Iceland along with his wife and son. With the aid of Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Torfason protested the parliament’s decision and in late August, Ramses was granted the asylum he had sought. Now he and his family are Icelandic citizens.

“If we give up and leave it to the politicians, nothing will change,” said Torfason.

The act that Torfason is most acknowledged for is perhaps leading Iceland’s Cutlery Revolution. On Oct. 11, 2008, only five days after the financial crash, Hörður Torfason planted himself outside the parliament building in Reykjavik and started putting questions to the people who passed by.

Every day for a week he stood in the same spot and asked the people two questions. The first, do you know what has happened in this country? The second, do you have any ideas about what we can do about it?

“Everybody was in shock. The people were not very clear on what was happening,” said Torfason.

By gauging opinion on the streets, Torfason devised three demands which reflected the people’s immediate wishes: the government should resign, the board of the financial supervisorial authority should resign, and the board of the national bank should resign.

“Always, I read out the three demands and I asked people, ‘Is this what you want?’ and the people said ‘Yes,’ by thousands and thousands,” said Torfason.

He began to organise protests, which were held at the same time every week outside the parliament building.

“I asked peopled to help me, and especially I concentrated on getting in contact with young people who are clever with the internet to spread the message, and that succeeded,” said Torfason.

Just after Christmas, Torfason organised everyone to surround the parliament building on the day the MPs came back from holidays.

“I was expecting, I don’t know, 3,000. It turned out to be something we had never, never seen before. There were thousands and thousands and thousands, day after day.”

The protest continued for five days, with the largest turnout on the last day. The day after that, the first minister resigned, and on Monday, the government resigned, taking with it the board of the financial supervisory authority. In another month, the board of the national bank would resign, meeting the third and final demand of the protestors.

“To me and I think most people I talk to, if we hadn’t had the Cutlery Revolution, the far right-wing party would still be in power,” he observed.

The latest development has been a constitution written by the people of Iceland themselves. Any Icelandic citizen could run to be considered for a position at the drafting table. Furthermore, everyone in the country could monitor the writing of the new constitution and submit suggestions via Facebook and Twitter. A referendum to ratify the constitution will be held Oct. 10.

“Things will not change unless we get a new constitution,” Tolfason said. “It’s still going to be the battle of the winter to come, I think.”

Torfason has received numerous awards for his enduring efforts as a human rights activist, including The Tupilak, from the Swedish Gay Organisation for outstanding contribution in the gay rights field in 1995 and 2009, and the Icelandic Social Democratic Party for his courage, bravery and honesty in human right struggles in 2003.

While securing donations for part of his trips and projects, much funding for Torfason’s activism comes from his own pocket, and demands most of his time and attention.

“My aim is not to go into politics or make money out of it… This is a kind of duty on the part of my society. I’m ready to do the work.”

Lisa VeneKlasen (standing) speaks at the panel discussion on Growing Violence against Women Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico. Credit: Kim-Jenna Jurriaans/IPS

By Lawrence Del Gigante
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 2012 (IPS)

There has been an alarming increase over the past two years in violence against women human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico, according to women’s human rights organisations.

“It’s a crisis situation for journalists and defenders,” Lisa VeneKlasen, executive director and co-founder of JASS (Just Associates), told IPS.

Reports of violence, threats, sexual abuse and, in some cases, rape and torture, have emerged, but have largely failed to gain the attention of international media, activists said.

“The problem is that the situation is so complex and volatile the journalists who report on that violent situation are targeted by both government and organised crime and there are not enough protections. The government has no interest in protecting them,” said VeneKlasen.

Margarita Martinez, a member of the National Women Human Rights Defenders Network in Mexico, told IPS, “The issue that unites all the different social movements in Mexico is precisely human rights violations.”

Martinez was part of a panel discussion Wednesday at the United Nations Church Center about women human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico.

She described the many abuses that have been committed by the government against women in Mexico, in particular, the indigenous community.

“Under the free trade agreement our territories have been given away to multinationals,” Martinez said.

She has first-hand experience with human rights abuses in Mexico. “In February 2009, I was jailed and tortured and raped and up to now there’s not even been any investigation of the case and that’s why we really need your help.”

Lucia Lagunas, a member of the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico, spoke about the Mexican government’s lack of action on the issue.

“The violation of the rights of women journalists and women human rights defenders is a symptom of the weakness of democracy in Mexico and a product of the totalitarian government, which is disguised as peace,” said Lagunas.

Press freedom groups report that 76 journalists have been killed in Mexico and more than 300 have been threatened or attacked since 2000.

Last year alone, there were 68 cases of attacks against human right defenders, with 41percent being women, according to a report compiled by the Mesoamerican Initiative for Women Human Rights Defenders.

Yésica Sanchez Maya, the adjunct director of the Consorcio para el Dialogo Parlamentario y la Equidad, a feminist organisation in Oaxaca, also spoke at the conference.

“Currently, Mexico has a very good image internationally. What it has done is try to contain the bad press nationally and really censor, or leave out, or erase all the violence against women defenders and the violations of human rights,” said Maya.

“Up to now the state has been able to defend its image with its control of the media but because of our alliance with progressive journalists that facade is starting to crack,” said Maya.

The media oligopoly was identified as a key factor in government censorship which prevents reports of human rights abuses exiting the country, or being broadcast at all.

“What makes it so challenging in Mexico is the mainstream media is a monopoly of two companies… there’s all kinds of radio and social media but it’s not penetrating that huge monopoly which is the monopoly that works with international media,” VeneKlasen told IPS.

Social media has been an important tool in voicing protests about human rights violations, especially within youth movements. However, there are many regional communities in Mexico that do not have access to the internet.

“We do have links with other social sectors which do use social media even though it’s not present in a lot of our communities,” Martinez told IPS.

Martinez works with her organisation in regional communities, interacting with youth, children, women and farmers to educate them about human rights.

“The organisation is built from the ground up, and you start training leaders so that the grassroots community themselves organise and lead their own struggles,” Martinez said.

Another topic of discussion during the panel was the importance of raising awareness internationally, especially within the United States.

Alda Facio, one of the founders of the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice of the International Criminal Court, told IPS, “I think the pressure has to be done by U.S. citizens or people living in the U.S. to the U.S. government.”

During the conference VeneKlasen spoke about the cultural, political, economic and social importance of Mexico to the United State, but said the information and analysis about what was happening in Mexico and the role of the United States was “extremely limited”.

The speakers acknowledged that their task would be a very slow process, and a large part of the change would have to occur on a social and political level within Mexico if it were to succeed.

“The legal mechanisms are there, it’s political will pressure that needs to come to bear,” VeneKlasen told IPS.

Knowledge-sharing has become a cornerstone of successful cooperation among developing countries, in areas ranging from agriculture to health and renewable energies.

Helen Clark and John Ashe are joined by representatives from Japan, South Africa, India, Brazil and South Korea at the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the South-South Cooperation exhibition. Credit: Shari Nijman/IPS

“There is a feeling that there are some solutions which can be generated by the South for the benefit of the South, and that ought to be shared between Southern countries,” John Ashe, president of the United Nations High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation, told IPS.

“South-South Cooperation (SSC) is intended to be that vehicle, but it’s not intended to be a replacement for the traditional North-South cooperation,” Ashe added.

To date, Japan is the largest contributor to SSC under the Japan Human Resources Development Fund (JHRDF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) partnership fund.

Between 1996 and 2011, Japan contributed more than 33 million dollars to South-South initiatives.

Masato Watanabe, the vice-president of Japan’s International Cooperation Agency, told IPS, “We’ve devised a couple of modalities and approaches. One is to have triangular training programmes. The second one is to have bilateral partnership programmes with potential providers of development cooperation. The third one is to explore the possibility of utilising so called centres of excellence in the South.”

NERICA (New Rice for Africa), an initiative funded by the Japanese government, the African Development Bank and the UNDP, has been in operation for 15 years. Today, over 700,000 hectares of NERICA varieties of rice are cultivated in 31 countries, leading to a five-percent reduction in poverty in Uganda and a 13-percent reduction in Benin.

“What we are trying to do is to share these modalities or potential modalities and approaches with other partners so that they can learn our experience and through mutual learning processes we may create better models or approaches,” said Watanabe.

Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, permanent representative of India to the United Nations, spoke to IPS on behalf of IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa). “South-South Cooperation is doing what it can and that’s what needs to be accepted in its own framework, in the way it is, based on the national priorities of the countries which are the partner countries,” said Puri.

The IBSA Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation Fund has aided initiatives of the U.N. SSC unit since it was created in 2004.

It has helped to combat HIV and AIDS in Burundi by building and equipping a prevention, testing and treatment centre. This centre will enable around 39,000 consultations per year for various health-care services including HIV and AIDS, reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases, prenatal care and family planning.

The IBSA fund also supports Guinea-Bissau’s agriculture, education and clean energy development by training over 4,500 farmers in enhanced agriculture techniques for rice cultivation, and implementing a solar-energy strategy for rural areas. This has led to a 12-percent increase in crop yields and enabled 3,000 individuals to access electricity, according to IBSA.

The programme will soon be expanded to include 20 additional villages.

Puri also noted the importance of both South-South Cooperation and traditional North-South Cooperation.

“South-South Cooperation can neither be seen as substitute, or in any way as a displacer for North-South cooperation, which must remain strong,” Puri said.

China’s investment in solar energy systems in Kenya has benefitted 250. The project researched and developed solar technologies that were adapted to the geographical conditions of the region.

GNERI (The Gansu Natural Energy Research Institute) was the partner responsible for researching and developing these solar products, and produced 50 solar photocaic demonstration systems, 100 solar water heating systems and 100 solar cooker systems, all designed for use by villages and households in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Korean National Commission for UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), and KEMCO (Korea Energy Management Corporation) are piloting projects for the RICE (Regional Initiative for Climate change Education) which provides climate change education in developing countries throughout Asia.

To date, pilot projects are underway in Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In 2012, seven projects will be added in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Burma.

The UNDP has been credited for facilitating South-South and Triangular development as an important means for advancing development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

In an exhibition that opened last Friday at the United Nations, SSC and its successful partnerships are now displayed for the public to see.

Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, Helen Clark, UNDP administrator and chair of the United Nations Development Group, said, “We believe that through the universal presence we have in developing countries we have the capacity to link people, countries, communities, ideas, experience and best practice.”

Since March 2011, Syrian authorities have subjected tens of thousands of people to torture, rape, sexual abuse and unlawful detention, with some cases of ill treatment leading to death, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Tuesday.

“I think we’re just scratching the surface,” the deputy director of HRW’s Middle East and North Africa division, Nadim Houry, told IPS.

“It helps to remember that the numbers of people who have gone into detention are really in the thousands,” Houry said.

The report, entitled “Torture Archipelago”, is based on interviews with over 200 people, both former detainees in such facilities and defectors from the Syrian military and intelligence agencies, and features reports on 27 facilities. Victims in the report include men, women, the elderly and children.

The report identifies the country’s four main intelligence agencies, collectively referred to as the “mukhabarat”, as operating the network of detention facilities.

Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, told IPS, “There are many other situations where state employees – including military and intelligence personnel – have been charged and convicted of serious human rights violations, including torture, once the circumstances in the country have changed.”

The persons interviewed in the report recount a wide range of torture methods used, including electrocution, severe beating, mock execution, exposure to cold and heat, hanging upside down, sleep deprivation and the use of acid.

A soldier who was held at a facility in Latakia described his torture in the report: “The guard brought two electric prongs. He put one in my mouth, on my tooth. Then he started turning it on and off quickly. He did this 7/8 times. I felt like, that’s it. I am not going to leave this branch.”

Interviewees also reported grave violations of human rights, such as rape, sexual abuse and humiliation.

A man detained in a facility in Kafr Souseh said in the report, “Because they couldn’t sleep and had to stand all the time, people started to go crazy, to hallucinate. There was a group of five or six people in my group cell that started going crazy.”

When asked about the treatment available to victims of torture, Houry said, “It varies on the kinds of needs… and again on the country.”

Houry said that most victims spoken to had received treatment in neighbouring countries to Syria. “There is a need for more psychological follow up. Some NGOs are offering these services,” he said.

The report also documented several interviewees who witnessed the deaths of fellow detainees and five defected security force officers who witnessed detainees being executed and beaten to death.

The Violations Documentation Centre, a Syrian monitoring group, has recorded the names of 575 people who died in custody since March 2011.

The HRW report also stated, “In many cases, families of those killed in custody had to sign documents indicating that armed gangs had killed their relatives and had to promise not to hold a public funeral as a condition of receiving the body.”

The report recommends that the U.N. Security Council demand access to all Syrian detention facilities, as well as deploying monitors specially trained to identify gender specific human rights violations and personnel trained to work with children.

It also advised, amongst other recommendations, that the Security Council refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court and demand access to these facilities for humanitarian missions, foreign journalists and independent human rights organisations.

The report also urged Russia and China to support Security Council action on Syria, suspend all military sales and assistance to the Syrian government, and “condemn in the strongest terms the Syrian authorities’ systematic violations of human rights.”

All countries were advised to adopt targeted sanctions against Syrian officials credibly implicated in violations of international human rights laws.

“More can be done, but I think the priority right now is to get U.N. monitors and others to finally be given access to these people in detention,” said Houry.

“International non-governmental organisations, humanitarian assistance providers, the United Nations, and local organisations should develop, expand, and improve access to medical, psychological, social, and legal assistance including to Syrian male and female victims of sexual abuse inside and outside of the country,” Houry said.

Syria is party to international treaties that ban torture under all circumstances, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

“It can take years, or even decades,” Colville said “but there are an increasing number of ways in which abusers can one day be brought to justice.”