'03 News

12/30/2003 Guatemalan President-elect Oscar Berger has invited the indigenous rights activist and Nobel Peace prizewinner Rigoberta Menchú to join his government and called on all political forces to work together to eliminate inequalities in the country. Background on the Guatemalan elections.

12/30/2003 "Too many governments...fail to recognize that investing in children’s issues means investing in the futures of their countries," said UNICEF Tuesday, naming its top five concerns for children in the new year. The group called investment in basic education the "single best way" to tackle the problems children and countries face over the long term.

12/30/2003 International human rights groups are calling on the U.S. Congress to protest Wednesday's scheduled trial of a journalist and advocate of peaceful political reform in Vietnam. Nguyen Vu Binh is charged with "spying" and slandering the Vietnamese state in written testimony to a briefing sponsored by the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus in July, 2002.

12/30/2003 Following 16 days of debate and discussion, the 502 Afghan delegates to the Loya Jirga (Grand Council) are expected to vote Tuesday on a final draft of a new constitution for the country. While some dissatisfaction remained among various groups, women delegates said they were broadly pleased with the final text. A Chechen suicide bomber killed five in Kabul Monday in what some believe was an attempt to disturb the meeting.

12/30/2003 Syria introduced a resolution to the UN Security Council Monday calling for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. The move was implicitly aimed at Israel, the only country in the region possessing nuclear weapons, and is expected to be vetoed by the United States.

12/29/2003 While other cities around the world are promoting bicycle use to combat air pollution and congestion, Shanghai--a city with nine million cyclists--is banning them to make room for its increasing number of private cars.

12/29/2003 In what many view as a setback for human rights, stability, and democracy in Serbia, the party led by a suspected war criminal awaiting trial in the Hague has won a sizable victory in parliamentary elections, although its 27% share of the popular vote may not be strong enough to form a coalition government.

12/29/2003 Arjan Erkel, the 33-year old Dutch head of mission for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the Northern Caucuses, was abducted by gunmen in Dagestan, a Russian republic neighboring Chechnya, over 500 days ago. MSF is calling on Russian and other authorities to work harder to secure his release, and asking concerned individuals to light a candle for Arjan.

12/29/2003 At a meeting of the science cooperation committee of Islamic countries last week, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf urged Islamic governments to boost funding for science and technology. The initiative is a key plank in his efforts to encourage a more liberal form of Islam, which has earned the president many enemies; a second attempt on his life in two weeks was made as Musharraf left the meeting.

12/29/2003 Friday's massive earthquake in Iran killed over 25,000 and left more than 100,000 homeless. The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UNICEF, Doctors without Borders, and Lutheran World Relief are among the groups providing medical supplies, tents, bedding, and more to the survivors.

12/23/2003 Environmentalists went caroling on the Hill last week, with their own version of an old holiday favorite, beginning: "On the first day of Christmas, the White House gave to me...A Polluter's Bill for En-er-gy." Here are the words, interspersed with background on each of the many issues Congress will take up in early 2004.

12/23/2003 Swaziland's King Mswati III is rapidly pushing the tiny southern African country over the edge, between his megalomaniac spending policies that are driving the economy further into debt, and his failure to address the the country's AIDS crisis. Even the IMF is complaining--perhaps they fail to see how a water park helps to consolidate Swaziland's infrastructure.

12/23/2003 A reporter returns to Afghanistan after one year, to find people's lives have generally taken a turn for the worse, with less aid, less attention, and deteriorating living conditions. Despite an optimistic report from inside the Loya Jirga, it seems that little progress is being made in improving people's lives.

12/23/2003 At a national meeting of his opposition party, Morgan Tsvangirai called for a broad alliance between political and civil society groups to pressure Pres. Robert Mugabe out of power in Zimbabwe. If Mugabe won't agree to reforms allowing free and fair elections, the MDC warned of "mass action."

12/23/2003 Close to 60 people were killed during Bolivia's days of rage over the sale of natural gas this fall. But investigators examining the deaths are getting little cooperation from the government. Human Rights Watch yesterday sent a letter to Pres. Carlos Mesa, urging full support for the the investigation.

12/22/2003 Around 100 delegates to Afghanistan's Loya Jirga are not participating in the sessions, setting the Council up for failure. Those boycotting or remaining silent represent powerful mujahedin that don't want a strong national government under Pres. Karzai. Traditionally a Loya Jirga is not considered legitimate if the opposition does not participate.

12/22/2003 More than 2.5 million Zimbabweans will eat even less than usual in coming weeks, in the wake of an announcement by the World Food Program that it must cut rations in half since donors have not provided enough for food aid. January is known as the "hungry season" in much of southern Africa.

12/22/2003 Thirteen years after the murder of anthropologist and human rights activist Myrna Mack, the InterAmerican Court for Human Rights decreed Friday that Guatemala must not only pay damages to her family, but also perform public homage--in the form of renaming a street or plaza in her honor.

12/22/2003 Once again Uzbekistan--Washington's ally in the war on terror--is in the news. This time for the killing of a 25-year old human rights activist and father of two while in police custody. The government, predictably, is asserting that Kamalodin Jumaniazov committed suicide, but marks on his body indicate otherwise. Here's a way to Take Action.

12/22/2003 What do sea lampreys, purple loosestrife, and zebra mussels have in common? They are all alien invasive species that have choked off native plants and marine life in the United States, threatening biodiversity and damaging farms, forests, fisheries, and human health. Scientists and civil society groups are pressing the government to do more, faster, about the invaders.