Ben Agina

International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo whose searchlight is trained on prime suspects of Kenya’s post-election violence will on Wednesday make them known by name to the ICC pre-trial Chamber.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo, who has made no secret he is itching to make Kenya an example to the world on the ills of impunity, is expected to divulge the names of individuals to be probed and the specific crimes he wants them charged with.

He has today and and Wednesday to build on his case for investigation and possible trial of prominent Kenyans, in line with the 12-day window he got from the pre-trial Chamber will decide whether or not to issue warrants of arrest at the prosecutor’s request and whether or not to confirm the charges against a person suspected of a crime.

They may also decide the admissibility of the situations and cases and on participation of victims at the pre-trial stage. The prosecutor had in November asked judges to allow a full-scale probe into the violence in which 1,500 people were killed after opposition candidate Mr Raila Odinga accused President Mwai Kibaki, who was hurriedly sworn-in, of electoral fraud. 

The pre-trial judges at the ICC had ordered Moreno-Ocampo to provide more evidence to support the Kenya case. It is believed the judges were keen on laying hands on what more Moreno-Ocampo could have on the State actors whose actions or inactions could have led to the killings and lawlessness.

Names likely to be presented to the judges for prosecution include those of six senior Government officials, including Cabinet ministers.

More information

The three judges at the ICC wanted more information from the prosecutor in his bid to open an investigation into the deadly violence that followed Kenya’s 2007 General Election. In an interview with The Standard Group recently, Moreno-Ocampo allayed fears the post-election violence case at The Hague could stall.

The prosecutor said he would forward names of the key masterminds of the violence as additional information to the judges. “We did not want to give the names of the suspects, but now that they have requested for them, we will give them,” said Moreno-Ocampo on telephone.

He expressed confidence the judges will give him a go-ahead to prosecute the suspects. Moreno-Ocampo had then said the prosecutors handling Kenya’s case were experts, ‘who know what they are doing’.

“Everything is proper, and nothing will go wrong in this court,” said Moreno-Ocampo.

The judges had asked Moreno-Ocampo to provide “clarification and additional information in the process of assessing whether or not to authorise” a full investigation, a court statement read. The new data should be filed by Wednesday.

Greatest responsibility 

Moreno-Ocampo said at the time he would focus on “those who bear the greatest responsibility, those who organised, planned and supported the attacks” in which thousands of people were injured and about 300,000 internally displaced.

These acts constituted crimes against humanity, said the prosecutor, who has been conducting a preliminary investigation of the crimes since February 2008. 

The court said it wanted the prosecutor to demonstrate the link between the events on the one hand, and “a policy of a State or one or more organisations” on the other. 

It also wanted more detail on specific incidents and individuals to be probed, as well as the status of any domestic investigations.

Kenya has yet to act on the recommendation of its own inquiry that a special tribunal be set up to probe the violence.

Yesterday, as part of mounting international pressure on Kenya, America’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Karl Wyckoff called for bold and decisive steps to be taken in favour of trials of post-poll violence suspects. He spoke at US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger’s residence in Nairobi.

In its last quarterly report, Southern Consulting Firm contracted by Dr Kofi Annan and his group of Africa’s Eminent Persons to monitor the status of implementations of Agenda Items One through Four, noted insecurity has been rising in tandem with the Government’s failure to hold perpetrators of post-election violence accountable.

Monday night , the International Center for Policy and Conflict Executive Director Ndung’u Wainaina said if Moreno-Ocampo is authorised to investigate and prosecute, there is an urgent need to break the cycle of impunity that has encouraged gross violations of human rights in Kenya.

Macabre occurrences

“Respect of human rights is a key guarantee to governance in any democratic country, and macabre occurrence like post-election violence put at risk the validity of the state of law, prevalence of justice and progress in the peace process,” said Ndung’u in a statement.

Mr Wainaina said without justice for victims and/or survivors of post-election violence, the celebrations for the National Accord and Reconciliation Agreement were hollow.

“We strongly denounce continued obstruction of justice by the Government and Members of Parliament,” he said.

Wainaina called on the President and Prime Minister to ensure the right of post-election violence victims to recourse to legal redress within a reasonable period will not be further compromised.

The head of the Catholic Church in Kenya, John Cardinal Njue is on record saying those implicated in the violence should be brought to book so as to tackle the culture of impunity.

He said there was sufficient evidence of human violation and killings to open up a case against the perpetrators of violence.

source.standard.ke

Photo: contributor/IRIN

Arulamma Thambiraja dreams of celebrating her 100th birthday in her home village

————-

COLOMBO,  – This time last year, Arulamma Thambiraja, 99, was among tens of thousands of civilians trapped in Sri Lanka’s north by fighting between government forces and the since-defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

When the fighting reached her village of Navajeevanam, near the town of Paranthan in Kilinochchi district in January 2009, her family fled deeper into areas controlled by the LTTE. She was carried on a chair by her sons and grandchildren during most of their journey.

In April 2009, she entered a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) with her family and was there until January this year. She now lives with a relative near the capital Colombo, where she told IRIN of the fighting and her dreams to return home:

“Things were deteriorating by the minute, there was shelling from all sides. I never expected to survive. Every second was like a lifetime there.

“My sons were carrying me. We could not stay in one place for long, it was very difficult. Food was hard to find … going to the toilet was risking death.

“It is with God’s grace that I am here, nothing else. I don’t know how I made it out, it was terrible, there were people everywhere running scared. I just closed my eyes every time there was a loud sound; I never expected to open them. It was a like a very long, very bad dream.

“So many things have happened in my lifetime. The war began when I was already a grandmother and in my 60s. I have seen things I never thought I would, so much death, so much destruction.

“When the authorities said we could return to our villages, my family did not want to return immediately. We were not sure what we would find in the village. The house was destroyed, there were mines everywhere. And my children felt I needed rest.

“I don’t know anyone in my lifetime who has lived to 100 years, no one in my village has lived that long. I want to be the first, I want go there and celebrate.

“I just want to go back to my village, live like I used to, in peace, with no worries. That is my only dream.”

contributor/ey/mw source.irinnews

Photo: Ana Santos/IRIN

A Manila resident with four of her 10 children. The country’s total fertility rate in 2008 was 3.3 children per woman

———–

MANILA,  – The controversial issue of family planning is taking a prominent role in campaigning for the general election in the Philippines.

Family planning advocates in the predominantly Catholic country are calling on voters to ditch candidates opposed to government funding of contraceptives before the 10 May poll for presidential, legislative and local representatives.

“If they want us to vote for them, they should allocate funding for contraceptives. We want a real reproductive health programme here in Manila,” said Fe Nicodemus, 50, a reproductive health campaigner.

Nicodemus has been fighting Manila’s local government over an executive order issued in 2000 by then Mayor Lito Atienza, which prohibits the provision of modern contraceptives and sterilization at the city’s public health facilities.

The city has since selected a new mayor, but calls to repeal the order have been ignored – which Nicodemus said was contributing to a worsening reproductive health situation in the capital.

“In Manila, girls as young as 14 get pregnant. There are 18-year-old girls who already have four children,” Nicodemus told IRIN. “They come to my house to ask for help. In spite of the [order], we make a stand to help these children, even if the village officials threaten to arrest us.”

Unwanted pregnancies

The availability of contraception is hotly contested in the Philippines, where more than 80 percent of the population is Catholic.

In Manila, girls as young as 14 get pregnant. There are 18-year-old girls who already have four children

Reproductive health advocates, however, say family planning and modern contraceptive methods such as condoms and birth control pills are sorely needed.

“The poorest are [most] affected because of the lack of contraceptives,” said Clara Rita Padilla, executive director of EnGendeRights, a women’s rights NGO.

In a 2008 national demographic survey released on 14 January 2010, the National Statistics Office said about one in three births in the Philippines was either unwanted or unplanned.

It also said the country’s total fertility rate was 3.3 children per woman, but that four out of 10 women said they preferred to have only two children. Poorer women, or those with less education, wanted more children.

The Philippines’ population is projected by the National Statistics Office to have reached 92.2 million in 2009, compared with neighbouring countries Malaysia, with 28.3 million, and Thailand, with 65.4 million.

Family planning advocates are now pressing presidential candidates – including incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo – to support a comprehensive nationwide family planning programme.

Photo: contributor/IRIN

Reproductive health advocates have made family planning an election issue

“Presidential candidates should make a clear stand on reproductive health now,” said Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development, a non-profit group that assists lawmakers in pushing for reproductive health legislation.

“We need a national policy on reproductive health that will make sure that the likes of Mayor Lito Atienza will not be able to curtail our reproductive health rights,” he said.

Lost opportunity

Reproductive health advocates almost scored a victory when a bill was presented to Congress in January this year that mandated the government to fund modern contraceptives. The government only supports natural forms of birth control.

An October 2008 nationwide survey conducted by polling firm Pulse Asia showed that 63 percent of Filipinos supported the bill.

However, intense debate among legislators, including pro-Church lawmakers, delayed a vote on the bill, which expired after the congressional session ended.

“That’s why it’s important to have a president who can stand up to the Catholic Church in favour of reproductive health rights,” said Benjamin de Leon, president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc, an NGO.

Photo: Ana Santos/IRIN

In 2008, some 90,000 women in the Philippines were hospitalised for post-abortion care. Abortion remains illegal in the Philippines

The advocates have vowed to file the same bill in the next Congress after the elections.

Church campaign

In December, the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a paper advising Catholics not to vote for candidates who support government funding for contraception. “It would not be morally permissible to vote for candidates who support anti-family policies, including reproductive health … Otherwise one becomes an accomplice to the moral evil in question,” it said.

Out of nine presidential candidates, only one, Benigno Aquino III, son of the late president Corazon Aquino, favours government funding of contraceptives.

Former Department of Health Secretary, Alberto Romualdez, lamented that the presidential candidates appeared to have “meekly acquiesced to the CBCP dictates”.

“Not a single politician has dared to question any of the contents of the issuance while at the same time avoiding the subject as much as possible,” Romualdez told IRIN.

“Interference of a religious body in civil and political affairs is a violation of our constitution’s section on the separation of church and state and candidates should take a stand on this issue,” he said.

cf/ey/mw source.irinnews

Photo: Tariq Saeed/IRIN

Poverty and deprivation exist across Balochistan

QUETTA, – Significant development and poverty challenges in Balochistan Province, southwestern Pakistan, are being exacerbated by growing security concerns, according to aid workers.

Decades of nationalist unrest, underdevelopment and the scaling down of UN and NGO activity have left residents feeling neglected and fearful for their safety, they say.

President Asif Zardari on a recent visit to the province, which is nearly as big as Germany but has a population of only 10 million, said he was aware of the problems but urged people not to resort to violence.

In April 2009 ethnic violence led to a wave of killings and riots.

“We know there is a feeling of sadness in Balochistan. The people here do not sob, and prefer to pick up guns,” he said in a statement on 25 February. He called for patience: “I have good knowledge of the problems of Balochistan. I need some time to solve these problems… There might not be any immediate relief, but over a period of time, you will witness significant change in your lives.”

Abductions

Photo: Tariq Saeed/IRIN

Balochistan residents Sadiqa Bibi and her husband say they cannot survive without help

In recent years, there have been a number of abductions of aid workers, causing the UN and many NGOs to scale down operations, making life even harder for the most vulnerable. There have also been recent media reports of Taliban militants operating in the province.

“A few years ago, many NGOs were active here, running schools or offering aid. Now many have pulled out,” said Naimat Khan, 60, a resident of a village a few miles outside Quetta, the provincial capital. “This has also led to unemployment, because some NGOs have let local staff go.”

The head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) office in Quetta, John Solecki, was kidnapped in February 2009 and released a few months later. Because of concerns over the safety of its staff, the UN scaled back operations in Balochistan in July 2009, and in October the World Food Programme (WFP) closed 20 food hubs, though Amjad Jamal, a spokesman for WFP in Pakistan, told IRIN WFP projects in the province were continuing “as usual”.

The reported abduction on 18 February 2010 of four Pakistani employees of US-based NGO Mercy Corps while visiting projects in Balochistan has added to concerns.

“Our programmes in Balochistan have been temporarily interrupted as we determine the nature of this incident,” Joy Portella, director of communications for Mercy Corps in Seattle, told IRIN.

Impact on health care

Access to health care is limited in Balochistan and officials in Islamabad and Quetta accept there is a need to improve the situation.

“There was good work going on for us here. Doctors came in to take care of women, but now after this latest incident where people have been abducted, we are worried no one will come,” local resident Azmatullah Jalal told IRIN from the town of Zhob, some 300km north of Quetta.

“Security concerns further handicap people, since few volunteers or NGO activists are now willing to travel in Balochistan,“ said Robina Mughul, who runs a voluntary clinic in Quetta.

Meanwhile, I.A. Rehman, secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told IRIN: “The problem in Balochistan is the perception of injustice as well as the reality of deprivation that people suffer.”

kh/ed/cb source.irinnews