lundi 18 mars 2013
samedi 16 mars 2013
vendredi 15 mars 2013
European Parliament Urges Protection For Iraqi Turkmen
European Parliament Urges Protection For Iraqi Turkmen
On Thursday 14 March 2013, the European Parliament adopted the resolution "Iraq: plight of minority groups, in particular the Iraqi Turkmen", urging the Iraqi government to provide the Iraqi Turkmen with "security and protection".
PRESS RELEASE for immediate release
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UNPO Welcomes European Parliament Resolution On The Plight Of The Iraqi Turkmen
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European Parliament Puts Pressure On Iraqi Government To Do More To Protect The Iraqi Turkmen Community
Brussels, 15 March 2013
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) welcomes the decision, made yesterday (14 March) at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, to adopt the Resolution on the plight of minority groups in Iraq, in particular the Iraqi Turkmen.
The resolution states that the European Parliament condemns the recent attacks on the Turkmen community and affirms that ‘despite the reference in the Constitution to the rights of Turkmen and other minorities, these minorities continue to be plagued by ethnic sectarian violence and discrimination’. The European Parliament also calls on the Iraqi government ‘to take the necessary measures to provide security and protection for all Iraqi citizens in general and members of vulnerable ethnic and religious minorities in particular’.
This resolution was supported by MEPs from across the political spectrum and was passed unanimously, apart from one abstention. The UNPO welcomes the breadth of support shown for the Iraqi Turkmen within the European Parliament.
This comes at a crucial time for the Turkmen community in Iraq who are being targeted in frequent and bloody sectarian attacks. On 23 January 2013, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded mosque during the funeral of a Turkmen civil servant – himself the victim of sectarian assassination the previous day – killing 42 and injuring a further 117. Unfortunately, this is far from an isolated incident. Attacks on the Turkmen have seen a dramatic increase since the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and there is currently no sign of an end to this violence. Violence and intimidation have become a part of daily life for the Iraqi Turkmen, who have been caught up in the collateral damage of the conflict between the Arab and Kurdish populations of Iraq.
The UNPO now urges the Iraqi government to implement the terms of this resolution, in order that the Iraqi Turkmen – and the other minorities within Iraq – receive the appropriate protection from the Iraqi Government as guaranteed to them in the Constitution.
For media queries please contact:
Maud Vanwalleghem | +32 251 314 59 | m.vanwalleghem@unpo.org
The full text of the resolution can be found here.
(Photo courtesy of the European Parliament)
http://www.unpo.org/article/15643
Speech by MEP Metin Kazak on IRAQ: Plight of Minority groups in particular the Turkmens
Speech by Metin Kazak [ ALDE MEP / Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe / European Parliament ] on : Iraq: plight of minority groups, in particular ...
VIDEO OF MR. METIN KAZAK'S SPEECH AT THE EU PARLIAMENT ON 14th MARCH 2013
VIDEO OF MR. METIN KAZAK'S SPEECH AT THE EU PARLIAMENT ON 14th MARCH 2013
jeudi 14 mars 2013
PLENARY SESSION AT THE EU PARLIAMENT – IRAQ: PLIGHT OF MINORITY GROUPS, IN PARTICULAR THE IRAQI TURKMEN (video)
PLENARY SESSION AT THE EU PARLIAMENT – IRAQ: PLIGHT OF MINORITY GROUPS, IN PARTICULAR THE IRAQI TURKMEN
photo: MEP METIN KAZAK
On the initiative of MEP METIN KAZAK the European Parliament discussed and voted in Strasbourg an urgency resolution on the plight of minority groups, in particular the Iraqi Turkmen.
FOR VIDEO OF PLENARY SESSION AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on 14th March 2013 PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW
TEXT OF JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION:
mercredi 13 mars 2013
23 MEP’s call for suspention of EU-Israel Association Agreement
23 MEP’s call
for suspention of EU-Israel Association Agreement
– POSTED
ON 13 MARS 2013
In a letter sent to the chief of EU foreign policy Catherine
Ashton, 23
members of European Parliament called for the suspention of EU-Israel
Association Agreement.
It is very unique that such a significant, cross-party
initiative has been taken by MEP`s to call outright for suspention of the
Association Agreement.
In their letter MEP`s stated that:
“The Agreement is based on mutual respect for human rights and
democratic principles, as explicitly stated in article 2 of the Agreement. The
ongoing authorisation for settlement activity of the Israeli government, as
well as several human rights abuses that have been extensively documented by
the United and international human rights organizations, are in breach of
Israel’s commitments under article 2 of the Agreement”
They also demand that “the violation of international law and
human rights by the Israeli government’s activities, and the lack of response
to the EU’s calls to respect international law, in particular a moratorium on
settlement expansion, compels the EU to engage more deeply in a political
dialogue with Israel on these troubling issues which need to be formally and
duly addressed in the context of the Association Agreement »
In their letter 23 Members of European Parliament called EU to
take the lead in observing international law and protecting universal human
rights and to suspend the EU – Israel Association Agreement: “We therefore call
upon the Commission to formally address the aforementioned concerns as soon as
possible in the Association Committee, as established by article 67 of the
Association Agreement and to consider the (partial) suspension of the
Agreement. We also ask for your reaction and a serious proposal to address this
crucial issue.”
Here you
can download the full letter
Iraqi Kurdistan: Free Speech Under Attack
Government Critics, Journalists Arbitrarily Detained, Prosecuted for Criticizing Authorities
- © 2010 Human Rights Watch
These are dark days for freedom of expression in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Instead of ensuring the justice system investigates high-level corruption, the Kurdistan Regional Government is ignoring its own laws to protect free speech and assembly, and using “laws” that are not in force to silence dissent.
(Baghdad) – Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) should stop arbitrarily detaining journalists, activists, and political opposition figures, and end its prosecution of journalists for insulting or defaming public figures. The Asayish – the Kurdistan Security Agency – and police arrested without warrants journalists and others who published articles criticizing public officials, and detained them without charge or trial for periods ranging from several weeks to a year.
In what appears to be a blatant violation of the rule of law, officials in the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs have sought to enforce a proposed law criminalizing “insult” against religious and political leaders, even though the legal and human rights committees of the Kurdish parliament have so far blocked the law’s enactment. If passed, the law would be a serious violation of basic free speech standards in the Kurdistan Region, Human Rights Watch said, and could prevent investigative journalism and disclosures about high level corruption in the oil rich region.
“These are dark days for freedom of expression in Iraq’s Kurdistan region,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.“Instead of ensuring the justice system investigates high-level corruption, the Kurdistan Regional Government is ignoring its own laws to protect free speech and assembly, and using “laws” that are not in force to silence dissent.”
During 2012, KRG security forces are reported to have arrested and detained at least 50 journalists, critics, and opposition political activists arbitrarily, and prosecuted at least seven of them on criminal charges concerning insulting or defaming public figures, according to information obtained by Human Rights Watch during six visits to the Kurdistan Region, the most recent in November and December. One former customs official, Akram Abdulkarim, has been in jail for more than a year without trial on national security charges after he accused leading members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of the two parties in the coalition that rules the Kurdistan Region, of siphoning off customs revenues.
In November and December, Human Rights Watch interviewed 16 journalists, political activists, and others arrested since the beginning of 2012, after criticizing regional government authorities. The authorities released some without charge after a period in detention but successfully prosecuted others on defamation or insult charges, resulting in fines and prison sentences. One, lawyer Zana Fatah, said police detained him without charge for six days at a prison in Chamchamel in October, after he wrote an article accusing the judiciary of lacking independence from the main political parties. The police accused him of defaming the judges but did not charge him with any offense.
Human Rights Watch expressed its concern about the crackdown on free speech in meetings in November with officials of the regional government’s Department of Foreign Relations and the Asayish. In response, one official said that, “Talk of corruption cannot be tolerated.” Officials said that detained journalists were liars and were “violating the human rights of the government,” in one official’s words.
Article 2 of the Kurdistan Press Law (Law number 35 of 2007) protects journalists’ right to “obtain information of importance to citizens and relevant to the public interest from diverse sources.” The law also says that journalists are protected against arrest for publishing such information, and requires the regional government to investigate and punish “anyone who insults or injures a journalist as a result of his work.” The law says that a journalist may not be charged with defamation if “he has published or written about the work of an official or a person entrusted with a public service…if what he has published does not go beyond the affairs of the profession,” although the law does not define these terms.
In what appears to be a blatant violation of the rule of law, officials in the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs have sought to enforce a proposed law criminalizing “insult” against religious and political leaders, even though the legal and human rights committees of the Kurdish parliament have so far blocked the law’s enactment. If passed, the law would be a serious violation of basic free speech standards in the Kurdistan Region, Human Rights Watch said, and could prevent investigative journalism and disclosures about high level corruption in the oil rich region.
“These are dark days for freedom of expression in Iraq’s Kurdistan region,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.“Instead of ensuring the justice system investigates high-level corruption, the Kurdistan Regional Government is ignoring its own laws to protect free speech and assembly, and using “laws” that are not in force to silence dissent.”
During 2012, KRG security forces are reported to have arrested and detained at least 50 journalists, critics, and opposition political activists arbitrarily, and prosecuted at least seven of them on criminal charges concerning insulting or defaming public figures, according to information obtained by Human Rights Watch during six visits to the Kurdistan Region, the most recent in November and December. One former customs official, Akram Abdulkarim, has been in jail for more than a year without trial on national security charges after he accused leading members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of the two parties in the coalition that rules the Kurdistan Region, of siphoning off customs revenues.
In November and December, Human Rights Watch interviewed 16 journalists, political activists, and others arrested since the beginning of 2012, after criticizing regional government authorities. The authorities released some without charge after a period in detention but successfully prosecuted others on defamation or insult charges, resulting in fines and prison sentences. One, lawyer Zana Fatah, said police detained him without charge for six days at a prison in Chamchamel in October, after he wrote an article accusing the judiciary of lacking independence from the main political parties. The police accused him of defaming the judges but did not charge him with any offense.
Human Rights Watch expressed its concern about the crackdown on free speech in meetings in November with officials of the regional government’s Department of Foreign Relations and the Asayish. In response, one official said that, “Talk of corruption cannot be tolerated.” Officials said that detained journalists were liars and were “violating the human rights of the government,” in one official’s words.
Article 2 of the Kurdistan Press Law (Law number 35 of 2007) protects journalists’ right to “obtain information of importance to citizens and relevant to the public interest from diverse sources.” The law also says that journalists are protected against arrest for publishing such information, and requires the regional government to investigate and punish “anyone who insults or injures a journalist as a result of his work.” The law says that a journalist may not be charged with defamation if “he has published or written about the work of an official or a person entrusted with a public service…if what he has published does not go beyond the affairs of the profession,” although the law does not define these terms.
mardi 12 mars 2013
IRAQ: 10 YEARS 100 VIEWPOINTS (video)
Please see:
http://irak.arte.tv/en/
http://irak.arte.tv/en/mosaic/
http://irak.arte.tv/en/
http://irak.arte.tv/en/mosaic/
IRAQ ON THE ROAD
Crossing Iraq from north to south, passing through Kurdish Erbil, Turkmen Kirkuk, Abassid Baghdad, through Fallujah, the city of mosques, and Basra, the Venice of the Middle East: Iraq on the road and through the window…
http://irak.arte.tv/en/trip-diary/iraq-on-the-road/
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