Human Rights
CHILD LABOR
The UN Special Session on Children has been formally rescheduled by the UN
General Assembly for 8-10 May 2002. The Special Session, originally planned for
19-21 September 2001, was postponed following the tragic events of September 1 .
This meeting marks a follow-up to the 1990 World Summit for Children.
 Catch
up on the Important Issues:
What Do the Children Say?
For BBC, Sue Lloyd-Roberts has been to India to ask working children
there about their needs.
Sue Reports:
Rag pickers collect for four hours, sort the spoils into paper, plastic and
metal and take them to middlemen in exchange for a few rupees. It is just enough
for food and the minimum of clothing.
What do the boys say to those organizations who say they should not work?
Fifteen-year-old Suraj, who left home because there were too many mouths to
feed, looks at me incredulously.
Suraj and the other boys have written up their views and requests for what would
help them to get an education.
A week after we finished filming Suraj was badly beaten while he was rag
picking, in an unprovoked attack, by a policeman. A complaint was lodged with
the Juvenile Welfare Board and an enquiry is underway.
BBC 
Sue
Lloyd-Roberts Whose life is it anyway?
Girls
of Bangalore Know the importance of
education
Boys
in Delhi Hampered by police in distribution
of their newspaper
PATRIOT ACT
President Bush signed an executive order allowing foreigners suspected of
international terrorism to be tried in special military tribunals. Suspects
detained under the Executive Order may not even be told a reason for their
arrest. Human Rights Watch called on President Bush to rescind
that order. "The next time the United States criticizes a foreign dictator
for trying a dissident - or even an American citizen - before a military court,
this is going to be thrown back in America's face," Kenneth Roth, the
executive director of Human Rights Watch said.
In past weeks the Bush administration began working to bring the criminals to
a trail in the US if necessary. Bush did not back down from the possibility that
tribunals will be used. However, there are none planned.
People For the American Way has urged Congress to assert its constitutional
oversight role and has proposed these principles to guide congressional action:
- Congress should insist that the administration restore to the judicial and
legislative branches their rightful and constitutional roles. Meaningful
judicial review and oversight should not be short-circuited by the attorney
general or other federal officials.
- Congress should urge federal law enforcement officials to follow and respect
existing legal avenues. There are already legal avenues through federal
officials can seek authority for taking extraordinary actions-such as detaining
suspects for extended periods of time-in the interest of protecting the health
and safety of Americans.
- House and Senate leaders should develop a plan to provide sufficient
oversight for the nation's anti-terrorism efforts. To avoid duplicative efforts
and ensure proper oversight, we urge the leadership in both chambers to
determine, in a bipartisan spirit, the appropriate committees to fulfill this
critical role.
- A Congressional board of inquiry should be established to examine the events
and environment within which the September 11 tragedies occurred. This inquiry
should review the work of our nation's intelligence forces and law enforcement
agencies, with the goal of learning lessons and preventing future catastrophes,
rather than casting blame.
Join in holding
public officials accountable.
MILOSEVIC TRIAL
Genocide Conviction Predicted
The chief prosecutor of the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague has
said she is convinced there is now enough evidence for the former Yugoslav
leader Slobodan Milosevic to be convicted of genocide. Milosevic says the court
is prejudiced against him.
Slobodan Milosevic entered the dock of The Hague war crimes tribunal on
January 9, 2002 for a last hearing before his trial for alleged crimes against
humanity in Kosovo in 1999. Lawyers and judges were to set the procedural course
for the start of the former Yugoslav leader's trial on February 12.
Milosevic, accused of responsibility for a Serb campaign of mass killings and
expulsions of ethnic Kosovo Albanians, is due to face a separate trial on
charges of crimes against humanity and genocide in Croatia in 1991 and in Bosnia
in 1992-95.
The 60-year-old ousted Yugoslav and Serb president, who lost power to
reformists in Belgrade after 2000 elections, has branded the court
"illegal," the charges against him "monstrous." He has
chosen not to appoint defense counsel.
The court has entered "not guilty" pleas on his behalf to all three
indictments and appointed three prominent international lawyers as "amici
curiae" or "friends of the court" to ensure he has a fair trial.
The Kosovo indictment accuses Milosevic of responsibility along with four
other senior Serbs for the murder of 900 Kosovo Albanians and expulsion of
around 800,000 civilians from their homes.
United Nations war crimes prosecutors say Kosovo marked the beginning and end
of Milosevic's plan to create a "Greater Serbia" during his 13 years
at the helm in Belgrade as both Serb and Yugoslav president.
MORE: Human
Rights
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Refugee News (BBC)
despite donor pledges, six million people in Afghanistan are facing a food
crisis
 The
worst fighting may be over in Afghanistan but aid agencies warn that the refugee
crisis will not be solved for years to come. Three and a half million Afghan
refugees are fighting to survive in bordering countries, and the number has been
increasing every day since the U.S. vowed retaliation for the September 11
attacks.
Afghan women who fled the ruling Taliban's oppressive
regime comprise more than 70 percent of those in refugee camps; many are already
starving. The primary obstacle to large-scale repatriation now is security as
tribal warlords continue to fight over the spoils of war.
22 years of war in Afghanistan have defined the lives of at least two
generations of children, most of whom have grown up in the midst of violence,
death, deprivation, lack of education and despair.
 International
aid agencies have been battling to overcome endless logistical and other
obstacles in their effort to get emergency aid to tens of thousands of starving
Afghans. Villagers have been living off little more than grass.
Before the three-year-old drought, the villagers, mostly farmers, grew wheat.
Now the hills are parched with cracked mud.
A spokesman for Save the Children, which provides food and aid in other areas
of Afghanistan, said aid organisations had warned months ago that food aid had
to get to the mountains before winter.
  Even
before the events of September 11, Afghanistan was facing a major food crisis.
Its 22-year war, three years of drought and a collapsed economy had left 5.5
million people partially or fully dependent on World Food Programme (WFP) food
aid. At this point the number is approaching 6.5 million people from
Afghanistan, living in many camps and temporary situations in a number of
countries. The scale of need facing Afghans forced WFP to rethink its entire
relief strategy for the region.
 WFP
spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said that although the WFP had the staff to
feed six million hungry people in Afghanistan, they were faced with security
problems. "There are bandits and warlords," she said. "It's not
the easiest place to work.
UN
Special Representative says rehabilitation of war-affected children must be
placed at forefront of international response to Afghan situation
Does the West need to do more to help the Afghan refugees? What should the
new interim government do to help the Afghan people repatriate?
News Online from Rome, said villagers in the northern region have been on a
meager diet of little more than grass since before the 11 September attacks on
the United States. Left, a woman shows the effect of starvation beginning with
this child's stomach bloated from hunger.
You can call the US Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121
and ask to be connected with your senator’s office. Urge your senators to:
1. Expand humanitarian aid for the people of Afghanistan
by supporting Senator Biden’s proposal for $1 billion in aid.
2. Urge aid for the smaller indigenous nonprofit
organizations,
especially the women-run groups, that will continue their assistance
long after our aid dollars are gone.
 
REPORTS ONLINE
You can help: Humanitarian
Crisis in Central Asia
MORE: Refugee
News
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Editorial
Don't
Do That!
FOCUS SHIFTING
The US most recently announced that it has taken into custody one of the
highest-ranking members of Bin Laden's al Qaida network, Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi,
who reportedly ran training camps for the group which is accused of carrying out
the 9/11 attacks on the US. Mullah Zaeef, the best-known face of the deposed
Afghan leadership, was taken into US custody on Saturday.
Now that there are prisoners to focus on, the American focus is on money.
Important examples (from USA Today) of monetary focus
since 9/11 include:
- The Defense Department says that from Sept. 11 through Dec. 10, the most
recent date available, it spent nearly $2.9 billion for operations in
Afghanistan, plus $1.8 billion domestically for combat air patrols over some
U.S. cities and to call up National Guard and Reserve troops. That averages more
than $1.5 billion per month. Repairing the damaged Pentagon, replacing equipment
and temporary workspace are expected to total $1 billion.
- Legislation bailing out financially battered airlines and providing money to
compensate victims of the four crashed hijacked airliners is projected to cost
$13.6 billion from 2001 through 2006.
- A $40 billion anti-terrorism bill provided $17 billion for defense, $11
billion for New York and other affected communities and $10 billion for domestic
security. Nearly $2 billion has yet to be allocated.
- Overall, lawmakers provided about $3 billion for countering bio-terrorists,
such as helping state and local health agencies and research. The Customs
Service got $3.6 billion to upgrade security at ports and along U.S. borders,
and the Immigration and Naturalization Service got $4.4 billion to strengthen
enforcement.
Now that casualty figures are finally leaking out from the chaos of the
Afghanistan war, warlord carnage, and US bombing, the frenzy hungry media wants
us to place all of our focus on airport flight schools and the chances for
another student pilot suicide run. They plan to "balance
the news" one way or another. We aren't supposed to worry... go
about our lives and what... Forget?
Don't Do That!
 Now
that we Americans know about that there are refugees to feed and protect, the
media focus is on getting bin Laden. The elusive terrorist that mapped out the
strategy to destroy the World Trade Center wanted financial collapse for the US.
Now, he wants the US to forget the refugees and to put aside our standards of
human rights too.
Don't Do That!
Now, some would find it convenient if the American people would forget to
focus on civilized dialog. Some want the US to forget that we are committed to
making a difference for our next generations.
Don't Do That!
 There
will be a multitude of real issues and needs to focus your attention onto. I
encourage you, stay with it and keep up on what is happening. Vote, give a few
dollars for a good cause, read the news, and believe in your heart that America
can be a strong and generous nation.
Remember this, you make reality every day and with your every action.
As always, your comments and encouragements are appreciated.
Sincerely,
ESHunt@MailCity.Com
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EDITORIAL
source: International Action Center (NY)
Bush Pushes War
On Many Fronts
By Fred Goldstein
The Bush administration is pushing out on all fronts in an effort to develop a
permanent state of belligerency and war. Right now it is trying to prolong the
war in Afghanistan, is supporting Israel's war in Palestine, is planning to
launch wars in other areas of the world, and is trying to keep the people
of the U.S. in a perpetual state of fear, suspicion and patriotic war fever.
This is what was behind the showing of the inflammatory tape of Osama bin Laden
for 24 straight hours by all the television networks. This is what is behind the
escalating campaign against Muslim students, other Middle Eastern immigrants and
Muslim charities. And this is what is behind the periodic announcements of
"terror alerts" coming from Washington.
On the battlefield in Afghanistan, the Pentagon is trying to prolong the war and
the killing as long as possible-to wreak destruction and havoc and to condition
the population at home to a state of prolonged war.
As an example, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld went to Afghanistan to
review the troops, assess the situation and dictate instructions to the new
puppet leadership. During a visit to an airfield, he met with Hamid Karzai, who
is to be installed as the provisional head of the new government, and the
incoming Secretary of Defense, Gen. Muhhamad Fahim. Rumsfeld told them that even
though the Afghan local forces considered the war over, the U.S. was going to
continue its military operations in the country.
Rumsfeld decides when war is over
Warlord commanders in the Tora Bora region said they had taken control of the
area and, according to the New York Times of Dec. 17, commanders Muhhamed Zaman
and Hazirat Ali, tribal leaders in the region, both declared that the military
conflict was over.
"There is no need for American bombing," commander Zaman said.
"Our men have control over the situation." Commander Ali, speaking of
the fortified caves in which bin Laden might be hiding, said, "There is no
cave that is not under the control of the mujahadeen."
On the next day, according to the Times of Dec. 18, "the Pentagon delivered
its answer. ... American AC-130 gunships continued to prowl over the mountain
area. Then a thunderous explosion lit up the sky. The American bombing had
resumed and was continuing on the other side of the mountain today."
"They have got their own program," declared Ali. "Last night they
even bombed us."
Washington's determination to keep the war going as long as possible and to
bring as much killing and destruction as possible was further demonstrated
earlier in the week. "The anti-Taliban, anti al-Qaida commanders were
furious and dejected," reported the Times of Dec. 13, " believing that
they had negotiated a cease-fire and surrender agreement in good faith, only to
see it derailed by American bombing and strafing by AC-130 gunships through the
night and a heavy barrage early in the morning, just before the surrender was
supposed to take place."
The agreement was to allow the Al Qaeda fighters to surrender and for Arab,
Pakistani and other foreign fighters to be turned over to the United Nations.
But Rumsfeld was not having any of that. The Pentagon vetoed the agreement with
bullets and the killing continued.
The Bush Doctrine: military devastation
This military policy was dictated by the political strategy of the so-called
Bush Doctrine of perpetual war for decades to come, first enunciated to a joint
session of Congress on Sept. 14. Bush made a follow-up elaboration of this new,
ultra-militaristic doctrine in a speech at the Citadel military college in
Charleston, S.C., on Dec. 12.
Pumped up by the victory in Afghanistan, he denounced those who thought that
after the destruction of the Soviet Union "our military would be used
overseas, not to win wars, but mainly to police and pacify; to control crowds
and contain ethnic conflict. They were wrong."
He drove home the lesson that the Pentagon and the ruling class wanted everyone
to learn from the war in Afghanistan. "Our military has a new essential
mission: For states that support terror, it's not enough that the consequences
be costly; they must be devastating."
The New York Times, reporting on the speech, said that "Mr. Bush cited the
American military campaign in Afghanistan as a model for future wars, and said
the United States needs to further develop unmanned planes, like the Predator,
and precision-guided bombs."
With intentional racist insensitivity, Bush referred to the war in Afghanistan
and the new use of high technology by Special Forces operations as "strikes
from horseback in the first cavalry charge of the 21st century." Speaking
at this Southern military academy in the land where slavery was defended and the
Native people were conquered by the cavalry, the symbolism was hard to miss.
It is fitting that Bush has now chosen the Citadel to make two major policy
speeches. Charleston is the birthplace of the Confederacy-the site of Fort
Sumter.
U.S. nuclear terror and cancellation of ABM Treaty
In the same speech Bush signaled his intention to withdraw from the ABM Treaty
of 1972, which he did officially a few days later. It shows the dimension of the
global military threat that the Rumsfeld wing of the Pentagon had been working
on before Sept. 11. Breaking the treaty will free up the U.S. government to
begin the construction of anti-missile silos in Greeley, Alaska, as early as
June of next year.
There was much ado in the ruling class opposition about how this would damage
relations with Russia. It is a characteristic of this administration's fiercely
militarist wing, headed by Rumsfeld and his deputy
secretary Paul Wolfowitz and supported by a host of strategists for the
military-industrial complex, that they advocate subordinating diplomacy wherever
it interferes with military expansion or plans for aggression. These are the
so-called unilateralists.
The multilateralist "coalition builders," represented in the
administration by Secretary of State Colin Powell, tried mightily to work out a
negotiated arrangement with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In fact, Powell
was in Moscow trying to work it out when, according to the New York Times of
Dec. 12, "Mr. Bush concluded ... that Secretary Powell's last effort would
likely fail." Bush had already told Putin by telephone that he was pulling
out.
Setting up an ABM system is a highly aggressive act. It means the establishment
of a first-strike force, since an opponent is prevented from retaliating to an
attack. Thus a country like the People's Republic of China, which has only 20 or
so missiles capable of reaching the U.S., would have no deterrent to prevent a
military attack by the U.S. in the event that the Pentagon is able to perfect a
workable ABM system.
During the era of the USSR, both Moscow and Washington signed the ABM Treaty
precisely to eliminate first-strike capability on the other side. Setting up an
effective missile "defense" system, however, lays the basis for
further Pentagon nuclear terrorism.
The decision was regarded as "a major policy defeat for Secretary
Powell" and "a major victory for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,
fresh from the success of the military campaign against the Taliban and
al-Qaida," according to the Times.
Bush and Sharon: Palestine is phase two
The war momentum has swept the Bush administration to new levels of aggression.
The war against the Palestinians is in reality Phase Two. Washington quickly
incorporated the massive offensive by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon into
its so-called "war on terrorism."
Sharon, a war criminal of major proportions who is currently being tried in
Belgium for crimes committed during the siege of Beirut in 1982, is trying to
destroy the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine, the Islamic Jihad, Fatah and all other instruments of resistance
to the Israeli occupation.
U.S. Apache helicopters, U.S. F-16s, U.S. missiles, U.S. bullets and billions of
dollars of U.S. military aid are waging this war. It could not continue without
full support from the Bush administration.
Powell had dispatched a negotiating team headed by retired Gen. Anthony Zinni,
former head of the Central Command, to try to placate moderate Arab regimes and
the European imperialist allies and give the impression that the U.S. wanted to
calm the situation in Palestine.
The Sharon regime sabotaged the mission in advance by assassinating a major
Hamas military commander, then opening up a major attack after the inevitable
retaliation by Hamas. The Zinni mission was converted into a pressure group to
squeeze Yasir Arafat to open up civil war against the resistance movement. Zinni
finally had to be recalled.
Planning the next war well underway
As the war in Afghanistan is winding down and the war in Palestine is heating
up, the Bush administration is already trying to plan its next war. The New York
Times of Dec. 17 wrote that it will be "making some difficult choices in
the next few weeks... . Is it taking the war to Iraq ... to Somalia, or perhaps
Indonesia and the Philippines? Or alternatively, will events pick Phase Two for
him, perhaps in Pakistan or the Middle East.
"For weeks now it has been clear that the White House, the State Department
and the Pentagon are not waiting to see Mr. bin Laden in handcuffs... before
preparing the next phase of the war."
The greatest pressure in the government is to overthrow Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
The struggle inside the administration has progressed from whether to do it to
how to do it. The difficulty in plunging into the heart of the Middle East in a
wild act of unprovoked aggression is giving major sections of the ruling class
pause for thought.
It was one thing for the Pentagon to overthrow the unpopular, austere,
counter-revolutionary Taliban government, which had no military to speak of. It
is another thing to challenge the hundreds of millions of Arab people who have
seen the genocidal destruction of villages and civilians in Afghanistan and who
have been watching the Israelis kill Palestinian men, women and children with
U.S. weapons and U.S. military support for the last 14 months of the Al-Aqsa
Intifada.
At the present there is an active effort to find some way to overthrow the
government of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The Pentagon is exploring the possibility
of encircling the regime and initiating a proxy war involving the Turkish
government, a section of the Kurds in northern Iraq and the
Shiites in the south.
Whether such a course is practical and whether it will satisfy the
ultra-militarists is doubtful. But in any case, one thing is for sure, the
hatred for U.S. imperialism among the masses of the Middle East is growing with
each new act of aggression.
Poverty and unemployment in the Middle East are growing. The governments of
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria are all holding their breath at the
moment, as mass discontent grows daily. A new act of U.S. military aggression
could truly set off a conflagration that could not be put out.
And above all, if the capitalist economic crisis in the U.S. continues to
deepen, the masses of workers who are losing their jobs, going on short hours,
losing benefits, and being driven into poverty may decide that the war they
really want to fight is the war for social and economic justice at home--not a
war to conquer the Middle East or southern Asia for the benefit of the
super-rich who are behind the layoffs and are raking in all the aid Congress can
muster.
What the militarists never count on is that mass resistance, at home and abroad,
can bring all their grandiose plans of world conquest to naught.
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God Bless America
The
BBC's Jill McGivering in Delhi
The
BBC's Emil Petrie
Fighting
over Kashmir