African governments and refugee activists hope a ground-breaking refugee forum will deliver much-needed funding and voice to a region whose challenges are often eclipsed by more headline-grabbing crises.

Two decades ago, John Bolinga fled his hometown of Goma, in Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive northeast.

“Rebels came and attacked our home so my father was shot dead. So I had to run to Uganda,” Bolinga said.

He started out destitute, but eventually launched his own NGO in Kampala, which today helps women and children who like himself, were uprooted by violence.

He is sharing his story in Geneva, where countries are meeting for a first-ever global refugee forum. Here and elsewhere, Bolinga says, giving refugees a voice and active role in decisions that affect their lives is critical.

“The challenge is if refugees feel they’re not welcomed,” Bolinaa said, “and also the root causes which is making refugees to flee their countries is not tackled, there is going to be a crisis.”

Africa is a leading exporter of refugees. They count among the millions making perilous journeys across the Sahara and Mediterranean for a better life in Europe … which often isn’t realized. But Africa also shelters more than one-quarter of the world’s displaced people.

Critics note that some African countries severely restrict refugees’ opportunities. Still these nations are opening doors that others slam shut.

“African governments continue to carry the extra responsibility on behalf of all of us, in hosting refugees in keeping borders open,” Ambassador Mohamed Abdi Affey said.

The official is Horn of Africa special envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which is hosting this forum.

“While we appreciate more spotlight and attention to other refugee cases like Syria and Yemen, Affey said. “… the ones in the Horn of Africa particularly, the ones who have been with us for 30 years, risk being forgotten.”

Those demands join broader calls here for wealthy nations and the private sector to do more for poorer countries that together host more than 80%  of the world’s refugees.

It’s coming from countries like Ethiopia, which hosts roughly one million refugees from 26 nations. Fisseha Meseret Kindie is director of humanitarian assistance and development at Ethiopia’s Agency for Refugees and Returnees.

“We are in shortage of finance, we cannot help them. And shortage of money,” Kindie said. “And we need the support from the international community at large.”

Some feel the page may be turning here in Geneva. Cameroon representative Tirlamo Norbert Wirnkar from Cameroon, which hosts more than 400,000 refugees, is optimistic this meeting will make a difference.

“We are really hopeful that pledges are going to be made on both sides — by the international community and host countries,” Wirnkar said.

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From: MeNeedIt

The number of journalists killed globally in 2019 is the lowest in over a decade as some war zones became less deadly, say two of the world’s leading free-press advocacy groups.

New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Paris-headquartered Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which is known by its French initials, released separate reports that identified the same trend on Tuesday.

Each of the annual reports, however, based findings on distinct research methodologies, resulting in some hard data discrepancies.

CPJ says at least 25 journalists were killed in the line of duty in 2019, the lowest figure since 2002 when 21 journalists lost their lives in the field. RSF reported 49 killed, the lowest number since 36 were killed in 2003.

Both organizations emphasized that although journalist war zone fatalities have declined, the number of journalists killed in countries at peace remains consistent with years prior, and that the decrease is no cause for complacency.

CPJ: Syria, Mexico are deadliest

CPJ logs killings only in direct reprisal for reporting combat-related crossfire, “or while carrying out a dangerous assignment such as covering a protest that turns violent.” Syria and Mexico are the deadliest for journalists in 2019, its report said.

“Deaths in Syria, where at least 134 journalists have been killed in the war, have declined since a high of 31 in 2012,” the CPJ report states.

“Even more striking, the subset of journalists singled out for murder, at least 10, is the smallest in CPJ’s annual records, which date to 1992,” the organization says, adding that half of those “singled out” for murder were killed in Mexico.

CPJ also reports that the decline comes amid “unprecedented global attention on the issue of impunity in journalist murders,” highlighting the October 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the October 2017 murder of Maltese investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“One place where efforts to combat impunity seemingly have had no effect is Mexico,” the report said.

“The decline in the number of journalists killed is welcome after years of escalating violence, and reinforces our determination to fight impunity and do all we can to keep journalists safe,” said Joel Simon, CPJ’s executive director.

The report also says the Oct. 11 death of Turkish Kurdish journalist Vedat Erdemci, who died in a Turkish airstrike on the northeastern Syrian city of Ras al-Ain, represents the only foreign journalist killed in the line of duty this year.

CPJ’s report, which says military officials were the “most frequently suspected killers of journalists this year,” reflects the number of journalists killed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 13, 2019.

RSF: Fewer killed, more behind bars

RSF’s “Worldwide Roundup of Journalists Killed, Detained, or Held Hostage” summarizes abusive treatment and deadly violence against “professional journalists, non-professional journalists and media workers.”

Like CPJ, RSF says journalism remains a “dangerous profession,” with 49 journalists killed this year, 389 currently imprisoned and 57 others being held hostage.

RSF’s data indicate that although most journalists were killed covering conflicts in Syria (10), Afghanistan (5), and Yemen (2) — compared with 34 last year — targeted assassinations in “at peace” nations such as Mexico (5) were alarmingly high.

“Latin America, with a total of 14 reporters killed across the continent, has become as deadly as the Middle East,” the report says.

“More and more journalists are being assassinated for their work in democratic countries, which is a real challenge to democracy,” said RSF director Christophe Deloire.

While fewer journalists are dying, more are ending up behind bars, RSF said. The 389 detained in 2019 represent a 12% increase since last year.

Nearly half of reporters imprisoned in state custody are in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and China, which alone “holds a third of the journalists locked up in the world,” the report says.

Turkey currently has 25 journalists in prison.

Meanwhile, 57 journalists are being held hostage across the globe, mostly in Syria (30), Yemen (15), Iraq (11), and Ukraine (1).

RSF’s report reflects the number of journalists killed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2019.

Information from AFP is included in this report.
 

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From: MeNeedIt

Turkish military operations which began in October in northern Syria have left over 200,000 thousand Syrians displaced in northern Iraq. The refugees left all their belongings behind so people around the world have stepped up to help.  VOA’s Hateen Mahmood  reports on a group of Kurdish volunteers in Nashville, Tennessee doing what they can.

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From: MeNeedIt

The U.S. this week deported a German man convicted in the high-profile killings of his girlfriend’s parents 35 years ago, in a crime that stunned a Virginia community and prompted decades of media obsession.

Jens Soering, 53, flew from a Washington, D.C.-area airport to Frankfurt on Monday, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

He served two life sentences for the first-degree murders in 1985 of Nancy and Derek Haysom, whose daughter Elizabeth attended the University of Virginia with Soering at the time. Both were found nearly decapitated in their Virginia home.

The young couple led police on an international chase after the killings and were arrested in London in 1986. Soering fought extradition on the grounds that the U.S. allowed for the death penalty in certain cases, but in 1990, capitulated to authorities.

Virginia authorities released him last month, on the condition that he be taken into immigration custody immediately.

Soering, the son of a German diplomat, told a reporter in 2011 that Elizabeth Haysom committed the double murder; but he “decided to lie and to cover (…) up” the crime by taking the blame, thinking that if he were returned to Germany, he would only spend a decade in prison at the most. 

“I loved Elizabeth and I believed that the only way I could save her life from the electric chair was for me to take the blame, and that I personally really faced no more than a few years in a German prison,” Soering testified at the time.

He was convicted of first-degree murder in 1990.

Elizabeth Haysom pleaded guilty to being an accessory in her parents’ stabbing deaths. She remains in prison in Virginia and must be released by 2032, if she is not paroled before.

Motives given at varying times during the trial and in the years since included disapproval of the young couple’s relationship by the Haysom family, and allegations of abuse against Elizabeth.
 

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From: MeNeedIt

Rallies against a new Indian citizenship law based on religion continued for a fifth consecutive day Monday amid clashes between students and the police. The protests that started Thursday in the northeastern state of Assam last Thursday have spread through university campuses and have left at least six people dead so far. The controversial law allows non-Muslims from three majority Muslim nations to obtain Indian citizenship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended the law, saying it protects non-Muslims from persecution. But critics say the Hindu nationalist government is pushing a partisan agenda and undermining the country’s status as a secular republic.  VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.

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From: MeNeedIt

With the U.S. House of Representatives expected to vote to impeach President Donald Trump this week, the White House is shifting focus to the Republican-led Senate, where the president will face trial as early as January. Patsy Widakuswara has this story on how Trump and his allies are planning to mount a fast and aggressive defense, with the goal of turning the tables on opposition Democrats.

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From: MeNeedIt

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a case that would allow cities to make it a crime to sleep on the streets.

The court let stand a ruling by a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, which struck down a couple of local laws in Boise, Idaho that made it a crime for homeless people to sleep on the streets when no alternative shelter is available.

The Ninth Circuit includes various western states that have a problem of astronomical real estate prices resulting in growing homelessness. Several major cities have tried to curb homelessness by passing strict local legislation.

Boise had appealed the ruling arguing it would allow homelessness to proliferate leading to public health issues.

“As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter,” the appeals court said in its ruling.

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From: MeNeedIt

Amnesty International says its documented death toll from Iran’s recent anti-government protests will rise again from the group’s latest report that at least 304 demonstrators were killed by security forces.

“That is not a final figure by any means,” said Amnesty’s Middle East research director Philip Luther in a VOA Persian interview on Monday. Hours earlier, the London-based rights group had updated its death toll for last month’s Iran protests to 304 fatalities from its previous figure of 208 reported on Dec. 3.

“We think the number could rise (further),”  Luther said, citing the group’s ongoing examination of “credible” reports showing Iranian security forces used live ammunition while suppressing several days of nationwide protests that erupted on Nov. 15.

“(Iranian security forces) have shot protesters with guns and they have done so in some cases when the protesters actually have been running away from them. This shows a clear intention to use lethal force,” Luther said.

In its update published Monday, Amnesty said its researchers determined that Iranian authorities arrested thousands of people as part of a “vicious” crackdown following the protests to stop them from speaking out about Iran’s “ruthless repression.” It said those arrested included children as young as 15, people who participated in the demonstrations, journalists, human rights defenders and students.

The group said it had carried out interviews with dozens of people inside Iran, who described how authorities have held the detainees incommunicado and subjected them to enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment.

Iran has declined to published any official data on those killed, wounded and arrested in the November protests, which the government sparked by raising the subsidized price of gasoline by 50%.

The gas price hike further strained the finances of Iranians facing high unemployment and inflation in a shrinking economy under heavy U.S. sanctions. Tens of thousands of angry Iranians took to the streets in dozens of cities nationwide to denounce government corruption and mismanagement. Initial street protests were peaceful, but quickly turned violent as some people looted stores and set fire to buildings and security forces beat and opened fire on unarmed demonstrators.

The Iranian government has acknowledged that security forces shot and killed some people, whom it referred to as rioters, during the protests.

Patrick Clawson, research director for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told VOA Persian that Iran’s heavy-handed crackdown on protesters and opposition activists could backfire.

“On the one hand, the protests were put down, and that discouraged people who went out there thinking that they could affect some kind of a change,” Clawson said. “On the other hand, over the last 20 years, even though each round of anti-government protests has been suppressed, the response has been for the next round to be more widespread, anti-regime and violent. That is not a good dynamic for the regime, and it’s hard to see anything that is going to stop that trend.”

This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service.

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From: MeNeedIt

A U.N. tribunal will hear arguments in March in the appeal of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, convicted of genocide and war crimes committed in Bosnia’s 1990s civil war.

Mladic, once dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, was sentenced to life behind bars in November 2017 for his role in the Balkans war, including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre — Europe’s worst bloodshed since World War II.

About 100,000 people were killed and 2.2 million others displaced in the 1992-95 war, which erupted as communal rivalries tore Yugoslavia apart after the fall of communism.

Both prosecution and defense have appealed against the verdict, which found 77-year-old Mladic guilty on 10 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder and deportation.

Judges at the U.N.’s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague ordered that the hearings would take place on March 17-18.

In one of its final judgments, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) acquitted the brazen ex-commander of genocide in certain municipalities, a fact which now forms the bulk of the prosecution’s appeal.

Judges had said “ruthless” Bosnian Serb forces under Mladic’s command carried out “mass executions” and showed “little or no respect for human life or dignity”.

The crimes were “amongst the most heinous known to humankind”, the judge said when handing down the sentence.

At Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb forces overran UN peacekeepers before slaughtering almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys and dumping their bodies into mass graves.

Mladic was among the top leaders to face international justice over the Balkans wars — along with former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.

They were accused of forming a “joint criminal enterprise” to create a Greater Serbia by ridding the territory of Bosnian Muslims and non-Serbs.

Milosevic died in his cell in The Hague in March 2006, suffering a heart attack before his trial had finished.

Karadzic was convicted of genocide in 2016 for the Srebrenica massacre and other atrocities during the war and sentenced to 40 years.

After an appeal, judges increased his sentence to life, saying the initial term had underestimated the “sheer scale and systematic cruelty” of his crimes.

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From: MeNeedIt

Side by side, the Allies and former enemy Germany together marked  the 75th anniversary of one of the most important battles in World War II — the Battle of the Bulge, which stopped Adolf Hitler’s last-ditch offensive to turn the tide of the war.

At dawn on Dec. 16, 1944, over 200,000 German soldiers started the most unexpected breakthrough through the dense woods of Belgium and Luxembourg’s hilly Ardennes. Making the most of the surprise move, the cold, freezing weather and wearied U.S. troops, the Germans pierced the front line so deeply it came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge.

Initially outnumbered, U.S. troops delayed the attack enough in fierce fighting to allow reinforcements to stream in and turn the tide of the battle by Christmas. After a month of fighting, the move into Germany was unstoppable.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper paid tribute to over 19,000 U.S. troops who died in one of the bloodiest battles in the nation’s history.
“Their efforts not only defended America but also ensured that the peoples of Europe would be free again,” Esper said, calling the Battle of the Bulge “one of the greatest in American history.”

Even though German deaths also exceeded well over 10,000 in the battle that stretched deep into Janurary, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier took special time to thank the U.S. troops.

“On this day, we Germans would like to thank the United States of America. The American armed forces, together with their allies, liberated Europe and they also liberated Germany. We thank you,” Steinmeier said.

“Those who died were victims of hatred, delusion, and a destructive fury that originated from my country,” he said.

Germany is now an ally of the United States and its wartime partners, united in the NATO alliance. During the poignant ceremonies under leaden skies and rain at the star-shaped Mardasson memorial in Bastogne, the current discord between the United States and several European allies over trade and security were never mentioned.

 Even if it was relatively warm 6 degrees Centigrade (43 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to the shivering conditions 75 years ago, there was also a fog hanging low.

Hitler had hoped the advance would change the course of World War II by forcing U.S. and British troops to sue for peace, thus freeing Germany to focus on the rapidly advancing Soviet armies in the east.

Out of the blue at dawn, over 200,000 German troops counter-attacked across the front line in Belgium and Luxembourg, smashing into battle-weary U.S. soldiers positioned in terrain as foreign to them as it was familiar to the Germans.

Yet somehow, the Americans blunted the advance and started turning back the enemy for good, setting Allied troops on a roll that would end the war in Europe less than five months later.

This battle gained fame not so much for the commanders’ tactics but for the resilience of small units hampered by poor communications that stood shoulder to shoulder to deny Hitler the quick breakthrough he so desperately needed. Even though the Americans were often pushed back, they were able to delay the German advance in its crucial initial stages.

“It was ultimately the intrepid, indomitable spirit of the American solider that brought victory,” Esper said.

When the fortunes of war turned, it was most visible in the southern Ardennes town of Bastogne, where surrounded U.S. troops were cut off for days with little ammunition or food.

When Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne received a Dec. 22 ultimatum to surrender or face total destruction, he offered one of the most famous — and brief — replies in military history: “Nuts.” Four days later, U.S. troops broke the Nazi encirclement.

“News of their fierce defense quickly spread, boosting the morale of allied forces all along the Western Front,” Esper said.
 
After the fighting in the Battle of the Bulge ended on Jan. 28, 1945, Allied forces invaded Germany, eventually leading to the Nazi surrender and the end of the war in Europe.   

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From: MeNeedIt

Amnesty International said Monday that at least 304 people were killed in last month’s anti-government protests in Iran, a significantly higher number than what the rights group had reported previously.

The protests, which lasted about four days in several cities and towns in Iran in November, were sparked by a sharp rise in gasoline prices. During the violence and in the days that followed, Iranian authorities blocked access to the internet.

Amnesty said that Iranian security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing scores. Iranian authorities subsequently arrested thousands of protesters as well as journalists, human rights defenders and students in a sweeping crackdown to prevent them from speaking up about the protests, the London-based watchdog said.

Tehran has yet to release any statistics about the scale of the unrest, though two weeks ago the government acknowledged that the security forces shot and killed protesters. Iranian state media referred to some of those shot and killed as “rioters”.

Amnesty said earlier this month that at least 208 were killed in the Nov. 15-18 protests. It did not provide an explanation for the new and higher death toll, reiterating that it had spoken to dozens of people inside the country and had compiled credible reports.

The majority of the deaths recorded by Amnesty were the result of gunshots to the head, heart and other vital organs. Among those killed, according to Amnesty, was a 15-year-old boy in the city of Shiraz who was shot as he passed by a protest on his way from school.

The rights group had noted how during the protests, Iran shut down internet access, blocking those inside the country from sharing videos and limiting knowledge about the full scale of the turmoil.

The protests were rooted in widespread economic discontent that has gripped the country since President Trump imposed crushing sanctions after withdrawing America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran’s national currency, the rial, has sharply plunged from the time of the 2015 nuclear accord while daily staples have risen in price.

Despite the hike in prices, gasoline in Iran remains among the cheapest in the world.

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From: MeNeedIt

Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated his support for Hong Kong’s embattled leader on Monday even as he declared that the former British colony has faced its “grimmest and most complex year” since its return to China.

Xi praised Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam for holding fast to the principle of “one country, two systems,” and for courage and commitment during an “extraordinary period” for Hong Kong, where Lam has faced harsh criticism for how she has handled months of fiery anti-government protests.

Lam briefed Xi and Premier Li Keqiang during her first visit to Beijing since pro-democracy candidates swept local Hong Kong elections last month in a clear rebuke of her administration.

Hong Kong has been “haunted by this social unrest,” Lam said at an evening news briefing, adding that the Chinese leaders called the situation “unprecedented.”

“Given the severity of the situation and the difficulties that we are facing, I can say that the leaders are fully appreciative of the efforts needed,” she said. “I am heartened because we know that our work to stop the violence hasn’t ended. We are not out of this crisis yet.”

Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” framework that promises the city more democratic rights than are allowed on the mainland. In recent years, however, the arrests of booksellers and activists have stoked fears of a growing encroachment by the ruling Communist Party.

The mass demonstrations began in June in response to proposed legislation that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be tried for crimes in mainland China.

While Lam has since withdrawn the bill, protesters have continued calling for broader democratic reforms and an independent inquiry into accusations of police brutality.

On Monday, Lam again rejected calls for the investigation, a key demand of the movement. A police watchdog council that’s probing complaints should be “given space and time” to complete its report to the government by early next year, she said.

A group of international experts quit the council last week over concerns that the watchdog lacks capacity and independence. The council has no powers to ask for documents or summon witnesses.

The government is also seeking candidates for an independent review committee that will study the issues underlying the crisis, Lam said. Some people fear they would be targeted by anti-government protesters if they join the committee.

A lull in clashes between police and protesters ended Sunday. Police said protesters threw bricks and that officers responded with tear gas. Protesters also set fires, blocked roads and smashed traffic lights with hammers.

Video footage showed truncheon-wielding riot officers squirting pepper spray directly at a photographer in a group of journalists and ganging up to beat and manhandle him. Police alleged that the photographer was verbally abusive and obstructed officers and said he was arrested. His employer, Hong Kong online news site Mad Dog Daily, said he acted legally and heeded police instructions.

Police said they arrested 31 people Sunday and 99 over the past week, taking the total number arrested since June to beyond 6,100. They also said that officers fired 27 tear gas rounds on Sunday.

Protesters said they don’t expect Beijing leaders to ditch Lam in the foreseeable future, because that would be an embarrassment for them and hand too large a victory to the protest movement.

“If they did change, let her step down, then that means that it’s a loss in the battle,” protester Fong Lee, a social worker, said at a rally in Hong Kong on Sunday. “The Communist Party wouldn’t do that.”

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From: MeNeedIt