RIGHTS & WRONGS: ANGOLA, TURKEY, CHINA AND MORE
Juliette Terzieff
World Politics Review
aspx?id=1975
April 21 2008
U.N. TO CLOSE ANGOLA OFFICES — United Nations officials announced
April 18 the world body will close its Angola offices by the end of May
at the request of Angolan authorities, who no longer wish to cooperate
with the U.N. on formulating a comprehensive human rights policy.
Angola, which is still struggling to recover from more than two
decades of warfare that ended in 2002, has used growing oil revenues
to insulate itself from Western criticism of its rights situation
and to lay big plans for its own development. Human rights groups and
U.N. officials, however, have expressed grave concerns over Angola’s
commitment to improving its record regarding unlawful detentions,
torture, religious freedom and free speech.
U.N. officials expressed regret about the decision and reinforced
the need for Angola to work towards improving its human rights record.
"The human rights of the civilians, the citizens in a country
like that are usually in a very poor state by the time the war is
over. . . . That was the case in Angola," U.N. spokesman Rupert
Colville told Voice of America. "Human rights depend on there being
good national laws that protect citizens. It then depends on people
implementing those laws if they do exist. So, that involves training,
that involves making sure police officers, people at very ground
level actually understand what their obligations are according to
international human rights standards."
GROUP: ONLINE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY COULD BE STOPPED — A concerted
effort by the international community could put an end to Web sites
that disseminate materials depicting the sexual abuse of children,
according to the Internet Watch Foundation.
In its annual report, released April 17, the Britain-based group
reported that a total of 2,755 Web sites make up the global core
of trade in such materials. Most of the sites switch countries and
Internet hosts frequently in order to avoid detection by authorities.
"We hope that this . . . will lead to a better understanding of the
issue and justify the need for more international partnerships to
pool resources and thinking in order to find solutions. A coordinated
global attack on these Web sites could get these horrific images
removed from the Web and those responsible investigated," IWF Chief
Executive Peter Robbins said.
Because the number of core sites has remained stagnant for the last
three years, the adoption of an international initiative to block
access to such sites and the formation of a transnational body
to coordinate tracking, identification and closure efforts could,
the group argues, effectively bury the industry. Such moves would
require the cooperation of security forces, governments and the
online community.
REPORT FINDS CHINA LEADS WORLD IN EXECUTIONS — China is the undisputed
world leader in state executions, with 470 known executions in 2007,
according to Amnesty International’s latest annual report on worldwide
executions. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United States rounded
out the top five executioners in 2007. Saudi Arabia, Iran and Libya
had the most executions per capita last year.
In total more than 1,200 people were executed across the globe in
2007, according to the April 15 "Death Sentences and Executions
in 2007" report, with an additional 3,347 individuals sentenced
to death. Between 18,000 and 27,000 people are currently awaiting
execution around the globe, the report estimates. It notes that many
executions are carried out unofficially or in secret, making accurate
numbers in many countries hard to gauge. The group called for an end
to such secrecy.
"The secretive use of the death penalty must stop: The veil of secrecy
surrounding the death penalty must be lifted. Many governments claim
that executions take place with public support. People therefore have
a right to know what is being done in their name," the group said in
a statement.
Chinese authorities in 2007 reformed how the death penalty is applied,
requiring the country’s high court to review all capital cases before
any sentence is carried out. But in the wake of the Amnesty report,
Chinese officials said now is not the time to abolish the death
penalty in the country.
TURKEY MOVES TO ADDRESS FREE SPEECH CONCERNS — A Turkish parliamentary
commission voted April 18 to consider amendments to a controversial
law that critics say has been used to stifle free speech in Turkey.
The proposal to amend Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which
criminalizes any insult to "Turkishness," would remove that term
and replace it with "the Turkish nation" and require approval of the
justice minister to pursue any prosecution under the law.
Article 301 became law in 2005 and has been used hundreds of
times to investigate or prosecute Turkish citizens for their public
comments. Journalists, writers, academics and artists have all fallen
afoul of the law, which has been a major sticking point in Turkey’s
bid to join the European Union.
"Article 301 should have been abolished a long time ago. The revisions
proposed by the government will not change the fundamental flaws in the
law. The government’s half-hearted revision is a real disappointment,"
Holly Cartner, Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia director,
said of the proposed changes.
Juliette Terzieff is a freelance journalist specializing in human
rights. She pens Rights & Wrongs for World Politics Review every week.
Photo: The late Turkish journalist Hrant Dink. Dink was prosecuted
three times under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for his
writings on Armenian issues. He was eventually assassinated by a
critics of those writings.