United Nations

From ABC News, "Joy Anger After Kosovo Claims Independence" :

Ethnic Albanians, who with nearly 2 million people make up 90 percent of Kosovo's population, have struggled for years to achieve independence from what they say is illegitimate Serbian rule.

But Serbians have for centuries considered Kosovo an integral part of their nation, and the government has cracked down on ethnic Albanian separatist movements in the past. Serbian leaders today denounced Kosovo's declaration of independence as a breach of international law.

In the Serbian capital of Belgrade, angry crowds sang patriotic songs and attacked the American embassy with stones, breaking windows and stopping traffic in nearby streets.

The declaration of independence also pits Belgrade against the United States and the European Union, which have long supported Kosovo Albanians' aspirations to self-rule.

In 1999, a U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign halted a Serbian attack on Albanian separatists. Since then, the province has been patrolled by 16,000 NATO-led peacekeepers and administered by UN and NATO officials.

The crackdown in Burma continues while Chevron continues to make huge profits and while much of the world quietly shakes its collective head and says, "tsk, tsk."

Everyone is waggling their finger at the Burmese dictators, but as democracy is ONCE AGAIN crushed by those who refused to allow Burma's properly elected president take control very little effective is being done.

Here is the latest from UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari (from BBC News):

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari has described as "extremely disturbing" new arrests in Burma, calling on the ruling junta to stop detaining democracy activists.

Several prominent Burmese student leaders were arrested over the weekend.

Mr Gambari said the detentions ran "counter to the spirit of mutual engagement" between the UN and Burma...

According to the same article, the EU is progressively using their economic might to put pressure on Burma to end the crackdown. Unfortunately the impact is likely to be minor because 90% of Burma's exports go to other Asian nations. Nevertheless, the EU is taking an increasingly strong stand against Burma's dictators and their massacre of students and priests. This has, if nothing else, one major message. To paraphrase the (then) Bishop Desmond Tutu when I heard him during an anti-apartheid protest in my college days, it "backs the right horse," whether or not it is effective. And backing the right horse is sometimes the best you can do.

This one is going to make the right wing nutosphere go absolutely bat shit --along with a few liberals and progressive. Last night during the Latino Netroots podcast Nic mentioned Al Gore's imminent departure to Europe. I said it was to go pick up his Noble Peace prize.

Boy, you would have thought I said he was going out there to skin some puppies.

La Bloguera brought up the excellent point that Mr. Gore was vice-president when Clinton bombed Sudan but also when the Clinton administration passed the horrid anti-immigration laws that we are now contending with. Check out her rant at about 41 minutes into podcast.

BTW : I am listening to the podcast right now and it's really, really fun.

Check out the committee's press release : The Nobel Peace Prize for 2007; and another naysayer at What has Al Gore done for world peace?

It was 22 years in the making, but today, in a strictly symbolic move (in other words, it has no enforcement) the United Nations has passed a resolution protecting the rights of indigenous peoples around the world.

From BBC News:

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples after 22 years of debate.

The treaty sets down protections for the human rights of native peoples, and for their land and resources...

There are estimated to be 370 million indigenous people in the world.

Only four nations opposed the treaty: Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. This despite the fact the resolution doesn't even have any teeth. Phil Fontaine, leader of the Assembly of First Nations, a group representing Canada's native communities, criticized the failure of the nations to support the resolution:

We're very disappointed... It's about the human rights of indigenous peoples throughout the world. It's an important symbol.

The resolution was already adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2006, but a final vote was deferred because of initial opposition by African nations. Those differences were resolved and the resolution went to a final vote today.

Here is a summary of the resolution from the International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs:

New America Media, Commentary, Michele Deitch and Sunita Patel, Posted: Jun 14, 2007

Editor’s Note: When the U.S. government denied a United Nations expert access to two immigrant detention lock-ups it sent a worrying message about secrecy and lack of transparency in a system already being condemned as woefully inadequate. Michele Deitch teaches at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and is an expert on independent oversight of prisons and jails. Sunita Patel, a Soros Justice Fellow with the New York Legal Aid Society, is a human rights attorney focusing on immigrant detention issues. She is a member of Detention Watch Network, a national coalition working to reform the U.S. immigration detention system. IMMIGRATION MATTERS regularly features the views of the nation's leading immigrant rights advocates.

Lost in the news about the immigration reform package was an incident with diplomatic implications. Recently the U.S. government shamefully denied a United Nations expert access to two immigrant detention lock-ups during the expert’s three-week fact-finding mission to the United States.

Jorge Bustamante, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, was invited by the U.S. State Department to observe and investigate immigrant detention in the United States. Yet on April 30, he was denied access to the T. Don Hutto detention facility, a private Texas prison that holds entire families, even small children, behind bars. Then, on May 14, the official was refused access to the Monmouth County jail in New Jersey, which houses almost 150 immigrant men and women pursuant to a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Last night, I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish reading A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah’s account of his years as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. Mr. Beah, who recently completed his undergraduate degree at Oberlin, has lived in the United States since 1997.

Some of you may have read the startling excerpt from his book in "http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/magazine/14soldier.t.html?ex=1326430800&en=18db63da3854259e&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"> The New York Times Magazine a few weeks back. It was that article that prompted me to buy the book, which I actually picked up at my local grocery store (!).

As you might expect, a book about a boy who had an AK-47 shoved into his hands after suffering the trials of Job during his country’s civil war, is not happy reading.

I have never been so afraid to go anywhere in my life as I was that first day. As we walked into the arms of the forest, tears began to form in my eyes, but I struggled to hide them and gripped my gun for comfort. We exhaled quietly, afraid that our own breathing could cause our deaths. The lieutenant led the line that I was in. He raised his fist in the air, and we stopped moving. Then he slowly brought it down, and we sat on one heel, our eyes surveying the forest. We began to move swiftly among the bushes until we came to the edge of a swamp, where we formed an ambush, aiming our guns into the bog. We lay flat on our stomachs and waited. I was lying next to my friend Josiah. At 11, he was even younger than I was. Musa, a friend my age, 13, was also nearby. I looked around to see if I could catch their eyes, but they were concentrating on the invisible target in the swamp. The tops of my eyes began to ache, and the pain slowly rose up to my head. My ears became warm, and tears were running down my cheeks, even though I wasn’t crying. The veins on my arms stood out, and I could feel them pulsating as if they had begun to breathe of their own accord. We waited in the quiet, as hunters do.

Student shoots self at Philadelphia high school | Top News | Reuters.com or why can't people understand that, to some kids, school = death.

Sixty killed in Baghdad suicide truck bombing - CNN.com, or why there is more reason to listen up when Muhammed Yunus says that poverty is a threat to world peace.

Award augurs well for United 93's Oscar hopes | News | Guardian Unlimited Film, or, OK, now I am going to have to see this movie.

A dangerously nice man | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited, or how Kofi Annan cautiously takes no shit from no WASP hill-billy wannabe, but in the process effed up the United Nations reputation as the leader in world politics.

John Bolton famously said of the United Nations : "There is no such thing as the United Nations. United States makes the U.N. work when it wants it to work. If the U.N. Secretariat building in New York lost 10 stories, it would not make a bit of difference".

Well, his unwelcomed time at 1 UN Plaza is over :

Bolton's attempt to hang on to his diplomatic post, already tenuous, became even more problematic after Democrats who had blocked his nomination won control of the Senate in November elections. Bolton has held the job on a temporary basis.

Bolton had a history of angering diplomats and colleagues in his previous State Department job and could not gain sufficient support from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to stay on despite winning praise from some envoys at the United Nations.

Surprising some White House officials still searching for a way for him to keep his job, Bolton submitted a resignation letter to President George W. Bush on Friday. Aides said Bush thought about it over the weekend before reluctantly accepting it.

Bush reluctantly accepted it. It being that pesky little thing called the real world. The real world being that wretched thing that keeps getting in the way of Bush's reality.

Reality ... as Marth would say, "It's a good thing".

The lame-duck presidency of George W. Bush has begun with Lincoln Chafee 's rank breaking move.

Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who was defeated in this week's election, said he would block Bolton's nomination.

Chafee, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters that he did not believe Bolton's nomination would move forward without his support.

"The American people have spoken out against the president's agenda on a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on foreign policy," the Rhode Island moderate told The Associated Press.

"And at this late stage in my term, I'm not going to endorse something the American people have spoke out against."

The committee, dominated 10-8 by Republicans, requires a majority vote to send the nomination to the Senate floor. A tie would be the same as a no vote.

After months of quietly stonewalling John Bolton's nomination, yet not strongly enough so as not to ruffle any Republican feathers, now Chafee finds the resolve to kick Bolton out. It seems the senator from Rhode Island finally grew a spine. Does this make him a prodigal politico? Has Lincoln Chafee sprouted a conscience and finally seen the moderate Republican light?

Another awe-inspiring fuckwaddery as uttered by the Concerned Women for America. But, in reading it, I was reminded that there is a huge difference between evangelical Christians and fundamentalist Christians. And while I am neither, I happen to think that the evangelicals may at least have the advantage of conscious thought on their side.

CWA President Wendy Wright said, "It is hard to believe that a foundation that gives millions to Planned Parenthood, International Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and the Center for Reproductive Rights would give money to a group and not expect to see the results it wants. The ECI signers are linked to an initiative funded by a group utterly opposed to the basic Christian principle of life. While it is absolutely necessary that Christians be good stewards of the Earth, there is no Biblical basis for elevating the Earth above human beings in priority. We care for Nature so it can sustain God's crowning creation - the only thing made in His image - mankind. When the mission comes in conflict with the Biblical, pro-life stance that evangelicals live by, it negates itself."

What’s got their grandma-pant knickers in a twist? The fact that the Evangelical Climate Initiative, a group of evangelicals who think it’s time to deal with the impending disaster that is global warming, accepted a chunk of change from Hewlett Packard. It turns out, according to Ms. Wright, that HP wants to kill all the unborn babies in the world and convert them into silica. Okay. Not really. But the woman’s so bat-shit crazy, I would not be surprised if she argues such a thing.

Let's go back to the passage I’ve highlighted: Um. Does that register as cognitive dissonance to you?

So, the UN Security Council has unanimously imposed sanctions on North Korea for its development of nuclear weapons. I have three comments on this:

1. Since the main members of the Security Council are all themselves nuclear powers, isn't this hypocritical? I mean, I CERTAINLY don't want North Korea to have nukes, but when nations that have nukes tell others they can't have them, isn't that hypocritical?

2. It says a lot that China joined in. Usual protective of their neighbor that makes even the craziest Chinese regime seem sane, China must really be pissed at N. Korea.

3. Are these sanctions even meaningful? I mean, N. Korea has almost no contact with the outside world. Do these sanctions actually change anything, or is it merely imposing from the outside what N. Korea has already imposed on itself?

Finally, this reminds me that on Current TV there was a very good segment where Current TV reporters go to North Korea and report on it. VERY bizarre country! It really shows how even when on their best behavior, N. Korea seems insane. The best part of the segment was the way the reporters, forced to bow and speak nice things about the "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung did so with great sarcasm, which was lost on their hosts.

States Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, States Parties shall undertake such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international co-operation.

1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

2. States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures.

3. States Parties shall ensure that the institutions, services and facilities responsible for the care or
protection of children shall conform with the standards established by competent authorities, particularly in the areas of safety, health, in the number and suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision.

1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members.

For the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.

Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly
resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989

entry into force 2 September 1990, in accordance with article 49

An all-time favorite from our archives,
Madona Latina

You know what really amazes me about this story? That it happened in the Philippines and not the United States. Isn't the developed country supposed to be teaching this to the Third World?

[via 3,738 Mothers Set Breast-Feeding Record - Yahoo! News]:

MANILA, Philippines - Nearly 4,000 mothers set a world record this week for the largest number of women simultaneously breast-feeding their babies in the same place, organizers said.

[...]

The event was also held to raise awareness about the benefits of breast-feeding, organizers said.

Dr. Nicholas Alipui, UNICEF representative to the Philippines, said breast-feeding can help curb malnutrition in children under two years old, provide children with antibodies to fight diseases and boost the country's economy because families save on infant formula.