Practical information for the media on the 21 September 2011 opening of the confirmation of charges hearing in the case The Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali
 
The opening of the confirmation of charges hearing in the case The Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 21 September 2011, at 14:30 (The Hague local time). The hearing is scheduled to last until 5 October 2011, and will be before Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is composed of Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova (presiding judge), Judge Hans-Peter Kaul and Judge Cuno Tarfusser.
 

A confirmation of charges hearing is held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that each suspect committed each of the crimes being charged. If the charges are confirmed for a suspect, the Pre-Trial Chamber commits the person to trial before a Trial Chamber, which will conduct the subsequent phase of the proceedings: the trial.

 Mr Muthuaura and Mr Kenyatta are allegedly criminally responsible as indirect co-perpetrators for the crimes against humanity of: murder; forcible transfer of population; rape; persecution and other inhuman acts. Mr Ali has allegedly otherwise contributed to the commission of the above-mentioned crimes against humanity alleged to have been committed in Kenya in the context of the 2007-2008 post-election violence.

By ICC, Hague

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peter kaul, mohammed hussein, international criminal court, election violence, and mr ali.

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On Sunday, 18 September, the International Criminal Court (ICC) will open its doors to welcome visitors between 11:00 and 16:00, as part of The Hague International Day organised by the Municipality of The Hague. The ICC will also set up an information booth at the International Fair in the World Forum.

The Hague International Day is an opportunity for the public to learn more about the functioning and aims of the city’s international institutions and non-governmental organisations. For more information on The Hague International Day and the International Fair, please visit the Municipality of The Hague website <http://www.denhaag.nl/> .

At the ICC, visitors can take guided tours covering multiple facets of the world’s only permanent international criminal court. In the one-hour interactive tours, ICC officials will brief visitors in a very accessible way on different responsibilities of the Court. With the support of videos and photos, visitors will learn about:

*        The ICC and its mandate, structure, judges, States Parties, and premises;

*        Investigations and how they are conducted by the Office of the Prosecutor;

*        The protection of victims and witnesses;

*        The Courtroom, as viewed from the Public Gallery; and

*        The Court’s Outreach activities to connect with communities affected by the crimes under investigation.

ICC officers will answer visitors’ questions during the tours, which will be conducted in English.  

End

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hague international, international criminal court, outreach activities, non governmental organisations, and international institutions.

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Where is help for these people? Where is the UN to help instead of leaving them sell sex which may lead to HIV?

DADAAB,  - At Ifo trading centre, a short distance from northeastern Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex, Hawa*, a teenage girl, sits in a dark room on an old jerry can holding a small bunch of fresh khat, a mild stimulant, ostensibly for sale.

But Hawa is not selling khat; she is selling sex. The kiosk is a convenient way for her to meet clients.

“I don’t live here and I don’t sell miraa [a local name for khat]. This is where my friends and I meet men. We sell them sex and they give us some little money to survive,” the 17-year-old told IRIN/PlusNews.

Like most of the residents of Dadaab, Hawa is a refugee who escaped conflict in her native Somalia two years ago. Her sex work is kept very secret; only the girls she works with and a few local pimps know how she earns a living.

“If anybody knew that we were [selling sex], they would scald us with hot water. In our culture, that is punishable by death,” she said. “When a customer comes, we take him in as if he is going to choose the best miraa, then we negotiate and have sex. We charge them about 200 Kenya shillings [US$2.15].”

With close to 470,000 residents, Dadaab is bursting at the seams. The local trading centres are busy hubs for small business owners and truck drivers delivering trade goods, food and other humanitarian commodities.

“Many of our customers are people who drive these trucks that bring goods here from the other urban centres. We also get clients from the villages around here,” Hawa said. “When they arrive, our [pimps], who mostly work as loaders, ask them if they are interested in sex and they bring them here.”

Hawa says she usually leaves the decision on condom use to her clients, and has never been for an HIV test.

The HIV prevalence in Kenya’s North Eastern Province, where Dadaab is located, is about 1 percent, much lower than the national average of 7.4 percent. Nevertheless, experts say interventions to reduce the population’s vulnerability to HIV are important.

“Low risk”, not “no risk”

“Knowledge about HIV and AIDS is high here – about 90 percent – but the use of prevention methods like condoms is low and not many people turn up for tests. So we encourage them to turn up for tests and promote prevention methods like condoms to ensure they are safe,” said Mohamed Ibrahim, a peer counsellor working at a youth centre in the camp. “The fact that HIV prevalence is low doesn’t mean you say let us rest and forget about HIV.”

A 2010 HIV Behavioural Surveillance Survey conducted by the UN Refugee Agency and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Dadaab found that 7 percent of male respondents and 3 percent of female respondents reported symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection – which increases susceptibility to acquiring and transmitting HIV – in the past year.

The BSS found that 3 percent of sexually active respondents reported transactional sex for money, gifts or favours.

Just 12 percent of sexually active survey participants reported ever using a condom, dropping to 5 percent for the female condom, and only 22 percent of respondents had comprehensive knowledge about HIV.

If anybody knew that we were [selling sex], they would scald us with hot water. In our culture, that is punishable by death

“HIV programmes should focus on increasing awareness and consistent condom use,” the authors noted. “Interventions focusing on condom negotiation skills may help individuals convince reluctant partners.”

Initiatives to help sensitize the youth on HIV exist in Dadaab; at one youth centre within the trading centre, young men and girls read materials and watch educational videos on the subject.

Liban Rashid, a young Somali man working with the NGO Film Aid International in Dadaab, has become convinced of the value of condom use in protecting sex workers and the general population from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

“Sex work is a business here for many young girls and women because they have to get a little money,” he said. “But they need to be put on the safe side by being given education on the need to use condoms if they can’t leave the practice.”

*Not her real name

ko/kr/mw source www.irinnews.org

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hiv prevalence, mild stimulant, northeastern kenya, small business owners, and condom use.

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 By.Thomas Ochieng (API Kenya)

In the pursuit of food security a Kenyan scientist has come up with an interesting research on that if approved and applied will involve insects like termites and mayflies as part of the country’s diet. The Maseno University lecturer Professor Monica Ayieko, has conducted a study on how farmers can easily trap the insects, preserve them and turn them into a delicacy, arguing that such insects are privileged by the erratic weather conditions brought about by the climate change the world is witnessing. According to Ayieko, insects are readily available, even in arid areas where people often experience famine, and are rich in essential nutrients, such as protein, fatty acids, vitamins, calcium, iron and potassium.

The researcher states that there are over 500 edible insects in Africa, with nutrition studies showing that eating 100 grams each day can provide enough nutrients to maintain good health, with mayflies and termites, for example, assisting lactating mothers produce milk. In a bid to make the insects palatable to Kenyans who have reservations about eating them, she has already made de dough and butter from the insects, a method she has patented and which has gained popularity in the US “locally in Kenya even though insects have been used as food in many Kenyan societies, the major challenge is acceptance by the general populace” said Prof.Ayieko.

She, however, warns that not all insects are edible and thus selectivity is important in order to identify and protect the edible ones from major hazards like the use of broad-spectrum insecticides in farms.

The discovery of insects as excellent food sources that contain nutrients more traditionally found in food sources such as beef comes alongside a report released in March 2011 by a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) researcher that predicted that by 2050 it will have become far more expensive to buy beef, as the necessary resources for the production of beef will be three, four, five times higher that those of chicken and pork. The researchers also compared emissions created by producing livestock for food and by producing insects. In particular, they focused on the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide, which have a greater warming effect than carbon dioxide. They also measured ammonia production, which harms the environment by acidifying soil and water. Professor Ayieko’s idea has already interested the Research Project for Sustainable Development which has funded her research to a tune of $20,000.

The Kenya Bureau of Standards is also investigating samples of her muffins, crackers, sausages and meatloaf to see if they could eventually be sold in supermarkets locally.However according to a leading Kenyan entomologist Dr.Phillip Ndonga, argues that raising insects on a large-scale could invite disaster since rearing such insects in their millions would be hard to control and in the event that the insects disappears into nature, the entire world would face hunger.

Ends.

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maseno university, edible insects, lecturer professor, erratic weather, and food and agriculture organization.

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A popular Norwegian passenger ship that travels on the shores of Norway from North to South has exploded killing two people and injuring two.

Police has reported that the explosion was at the engine room. After the explosion there was fire.

Now the police and firemen are working on ways and means to redirect the water that is already pouring into the ship.

The many passengers on board were immediately evacuated. It was not known if the ship will sink, by the time we published this article. The situation is very critical now at 00.13 am Norwegian time. The ship is at the shores of Ålesund town west coast of the country.

According to the Norwegian media VG the ship was built in 1994 in Germany at Strahlsund. It has a capacity to carry 45 vehicles and 691 passengers.

END

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 norwegian time, norwegian media, passenger ship, ways and means, and firemen.

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NAMPULA, 14 September 2011 (IRIN) – Mohidin Adam Ibrahim, 27, arrived at Maratane refugee camp in Mozambique’s Nampula Province in February 2010, but is still awaiting a decision on his refugee status. He told IRIN about his journey there.

“I had a small farm where I was growing things to sell in my shop in Mogadishu. The police wanted to buy from me but Al-Shabab said I was a spy for the government and they would kill me. They took me to their prison where they kept me for 33 days until government forces attacked the place and I escaped. I knew they’d kill me if I didn’t leave the country.

“I left my wife and two children and came to Kismayo and hid there for 12 days. Then I crossed the border into Kenya, but I didn’t go to the camps because Al-Shabab could be there. I went to Mombasa and told the smuggler I had US$300 to get to Mozambique by boat.

“We prefer to come by sea, it’s quicker because there are no road blocks. We know it’s dangerous but with our religion we believe if you die at sea, you go straight to heaven.

“There were two boats containing 500 Somalis and Ethiopians. They dropped us near Mtwara [on Tanzania’s border with Mozambique] and we gave some fishermen clothes and money to take us across the river. Most didn’t know how to swim and two guys drowned in the river. Many people go missing on their way here.

“It took about a week to walk on foot to the border. At Palma we stayed at a camp behind the police station. The police took our mobiles and then we started selling our clothes to survive [until they transported us to Maratane].

“I’m in contact with some of the Somalis who left here and went to South Africa and they tell me that South Africa is now not admitting Somalis. I’m staying here because I’m fighting for resettlement in another a country once I get my refugee status.”

ks/cb source www.irinnews.org

Photo: Amantha Perera/IRIN

Tens of thousands lost their lives in the war

COLOMBO, – The failure of a national accountability commission into human rights abuses in the last days of the civil war could add to calls for an international inquiry, a top US diplomat warned on 14 September in Sri Lanka.

“If it [a national inquiry] is not a credible process, there will be pressure for some sort of alternate mechanism,” Robert Blake, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said at the conclusion of a three-day visit to the island nation.

Blake, who met President Mahinda Rajapaksa and ministers, noted, however, that Washington would wait for the release of the final report of the government’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), appointed by the president in May 2010 to investigate the final days of the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), before passing judgment. The report is due in November.

According to a UN panel report, released in April, both government forces and the separatist LTTE conducted military operations with flagrant disregard for the protection, rights, welfare and lives of civilians and international law during the final months of the war.

Tens of thousands died between January and May 2009, many anonymously, the 196-page report said.

“There needs to be a full credible, independent accounting and accountability of all those individuals who violated international humanitarian law,” Blake said.

Earlier, US diplomats said the failure of a national inquiry would increase pressure for an international inquiry that Sri Lanka has so far resisted.

“The LLRC is inquiring into the conflict and its causes and is evolving recommendations to ensure that such a situation never arises again in Sri Lanka. It is critical to wait for that body to finish its deliberations and come up with its conclusions,” Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, head of the Sri Lanka delegation, told the 18th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 12 September.

Just two days before Blake’s announcement, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced he would be forwarding an Advisory Panel report on Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council, a move strongly criticized by Sri Lanka, which said it was only told on 9 September.

“The failure on the part of the High Commissioner to inform the concerned state – Sri Lanka – was wholly inappropriate to say the very least. This, regrettably, may lead to a loss of confidence in the Office of the High Commissioner,” Samarasinghe told the Council on 12 September.

Photo: Amantha Perera/IRIN

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake

Samarasinghe questioned the impartiality of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay. “Today it may be Sri Lanka, but tomorrow it could be any other member state faced with this predicament,” he said.

Implementation

Local rights activists say that despite the government’s identification of the LLRC as the main mechanism for accountability, many of its interim recommendations had yet to be implemented.

“Significant is that exactly a year after the LLRC made some interim recommendations, they have not been implemented by the government, despite attempts to indicate otherwise by Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe,” Ruki Fernando, head of the Human Rights in Conflict Programme at the Law and Society Trust, told IRIN.

Moreover, Fernando pointed out that many of the witnesses giving evidence at the LLRC spoke of the same allegations contained in the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Panel report.

“Many of the testimonies put forward to the LLRC are similar to the allegations contained in the UNSG’s panel of experts report.”

In April, Ban said he would welcome a mandate from the Human Rights Council, the Security Council or the General Assembly to establish an international inquiry into allegations of possible war crimes.

ap/ds/mw source www.irinnews.org

Photo: Anthony Morland/IRIN

Vegetable stall at Treichville market, Abidjan

ABIDJAN, 15 September 2011 (IRIN) – When banks and ports in Côte d’Ivoire reopened some five months ago it was a blast of oxygen for the economy, but many in the commercial capital Abidjan are seeing jobs vanish and food prices soar.

Higher food and transport costs coupled with the fallout of unprecedented post-election violence and economic stagnation mean it will be some time before relative political stability translates into better living conditions.

Pauline Brou and her family cannot afford to eat meat more than twice a month. “Milk and sugar prices have been rising all year,” the mother of four told IRIN. She said the price of a 50kg sack of rice has gone up twice since January, from the equivalent of US$29 to $35. Meanwhile her civil servant husband’s pay has stayed at $200 a month for the past four years.

“It’s really unbearable. I don’t sleep well at night for worrying about it.”

From June 2010 to June 2011 rice, sugar and beef prices rose by 11 percent, 44 percent and 20 percent respectively, according to the National Institute of Statistics.

The government in August ordered a reduction in the price of rice, but many traders have not applied it. Deco, a sugar supplier in Abidjan’s Abobo District, said the state’s influence in applying price changes will be limited without an overhaul of the entire sector. “When the government asked us to reduce [prices], they don’t cut taxes. So of course traders are not going to comply. We are not in business to lose money.”

Along with efforts to ease price hikes, the Alassane Ouattara government is struggling to attract investors needed to restore the economy, as companies continue to shut down and private investors are holding back. Industry and Commerce Minister Moussa Dosso told reporters on 5 September that Côte d’Ivoire would ease paperwork and other formalities for new businesses.

Big debt, no credit

Companies supplying services to the government have been closing at a rate of at least two a day since February, said Faustin Gré, president of a federation of small- to medium-sized companies that supply services to the government

“It’s a daily struggle for businesses to remain open,” Gré told IRIN. “On paper, many companies are rich, but without guaranteed state credit lines commercial banks aren’t interested in lending.” The government has promised it would disburse 40 billion CFA francs ($83 million) to member companies, he said. “But for now it’s just talk; we can’t do a thing till we’ve got the money in our hands.”

He said many bosses are asking their employees to stay at home till companies can ensure payment of salaries. “But people come to work anyway because they’re scared of losing their job altogether.”

The government owes some 900 billion CFA francs ($1.8 billion) to companies and creditors, a Finance Ministry official told reporters on 31 August.

“Our boss stopped turning up to work [after the banks closed]. We were told to return once the situation normalized, but we haven’t heard from him since. We’ve not received any compensation, and we’ve been searching high and low for work since,” said Koné Kader, a 38-year-old port worker in Abidjan.

He said the lack of income was driving many youths to join the troops that brought Ouattara to power “because at least they can shake people down and make money that way”.

Alleged abuses by the pro-Ouattara soldiers (now the government army) and the slowness in restoring the rule of law and proper police and gendarme services, are also hitting the economy.

Economic migrants

As bad as things are in Abidjan, many people from other harder-hit parts of Côte d’Ivoire are flocking there to seek work. Aboubacar Ouédraogo, 27, a tailor in Sinfra, 230km west of Abidjan, is one.

“I found work for 10 days with a bricklayer before [the boss] admitted he wouldn’t be able to pay my salary because of problems with creditors. We all wanted to come to Abidjan because we heard big companies would be opening here, but that’s not at all the case.”

He added: “Some cousins here are feeding me and lodging me. I feel like a burden, but I don’t even have the bus fare to return [to Sinfra].”

The International Monetary Fund reckons the country’s economy will contract 7.5 percent in 2011. A $6.3-billion government-approved budget will come mostly from international donors.

mm/np/cb source www.irinnews.org