When Israel bombed disabled Palestinians

Bassam Abu Obaid with his daughter Ibtisam.

 Abed Zagout

Sarah Algherbawi -15 July 2019

Nasser al-Buhaisi had just graduated from college.

The 22-year-old obtained a degree in religious law from Gaza’s Al-Azhar University during June. One day later, he died.

Al-Buhaisi had been paralyzed due to a road accident in 2006. He had studied hard despite being in intensive care.

His determination made me reflect on the situation facing people with disabilities in Gaza. The situation is never easy but becomes far more difficult when Israel attacks vital services – as it did a few months ago.

In the early evening of 5 May, Israel bombed the Zoroub building in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. The General Union of Disabled Palestinians was based on one floor of the building.

Approximately 50 people were told to evacuate that floor before the bombing occurred.

Bassam Abu Obaid was the last one from the union to quit the building. “I was finishing off some woodwork and didn’t want to leave,” he said.

Soon after he left, the building was attacked by Israel, using guided bombs made by the Chicago firm Boeing. Although all the people using the services run by the General Union of Disabled Palestinians had made it out safely, three others were killed in the building.

“Killed twice”

The destruction made Abu Obaid recall last year when an Israeli sniper shot him as he took part in Gaza’s Great March of Return.

“It felt like I had been killed twice,” he said. “I had a life there [in the Zoroub building].”

Abu Obaid had one of his legs amputated from the knee down as a result of the injury inflicted on him by an Israeli sniper. A doctor told him that Israel had used an exploding bullet and “committed a war crime,” he said.

Making matters worse, Abu Obaid was denied permission to travel for treatment in Israel. As an alternative, he went to Egypt, where the amputation was carried out.

When he returned to Gaza, a friend suggested that he should join the General Union of Disabled Palestinians. Soon, Abu Obaid was an active member, giving classes in artistic woodworking.

“Being a member of the union gave me an opportunity to overcome what Israel destroyed inside me,” he said. “It helped me physically and psychologically. But unfortunately, that didn’t last long. Now, it’s all gone.”

Yasmin Abed and Bassam Abu Obaid in the destroyed offices of the Union of Palestinians with Disabilities in Rafah, southern Gaza.

 Abed Zagout

The union provided services for more than 1,000 people with disabilities in Rafah. They included around 80 people who were injured during the Great March of Return, 24 of whom had undergone amputations.

Yasmin Abed, head of the union’s office in Rafah, gave the instructions to leave. “If we were a little bit late in evacuating the building, a real massacre was going to take place,” she said. “I heard from neighbors that the Israelis fired four rockets at the buildings – without any warning.”

The Zoroub building was bombed in an Israeli offensive against various parts of Gaza. Twenty-five Palestinians were killed during that offensive, which lasted more than 48 hours.

Israel has claimed that the offensive was aimed at armed groups. In the past, Islamic Jihad ran offices in the Zoroub building. Yet an investigation by B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, found that the offices had been vacated nine months earlier.

A probe by Human Rights Watch concluded there was no evidence of the building being used by armed groups around the time of Israel’s attack.

The fact that Israel had caused immense damage to a charity working for people with disabilities was omitted from most, if not all, reports by mainstream media on the May offensive.

“Helpless again”

The attack on the Zoroub building had profound personal consequences for Yasmin Abed. She had only been appointed the head of the union in Rafah six months earlier.

Since taking up that position, she had drafted and begun implementing plans to benefit people with disabilities through increased psychological support and by encouraging their involvement in small businesses.

Abed was so shocked after the attack that she stayed indoors for the next three days. When she felt strong enough to venture towards her old offices, she was taken aback by how much equipment was destroyed.

She estimates that the damage inflicted on the union came to $25,000.

Abed is determined to resume the union’s work in Rafah. At the moment, she is looking for an office from where she and colleagues can work.

Muntasir Mahmoud was paralyzed after falling from the roof of his home east of Rafah four years ago.

He went into a deep depression when he realized he could no longer walk. During 2016, some of his friends convinced him to join the union, where he received counseling.

“My life changed in that union,” he said. “I had even started to give psychological support to other people. I have no idea how to live now without the union. Here I am going back to bed in my dark room. I am feeling helpless again.”

Sarah Algherbawi is a freelance writer and translator from Gaza.

'It's hell': The bureaucratic nightmare facing Palestinians in East Jerusalem

Despite a court order, Palestinians in East Jerusalem still forced to wait in humiliating line to obtain basic services

Palestinians in East Jerusalem wait in line at the Israeli interior ministry branch in Wadi al-Joz (MEE)

By MEE correspondent-in Wadi al-Joz, Occupied East Jerusalem- 18 July 2019 09

In the neighbourhood of Wadi al-Joz, meaning “Valley of the Walnuts,” in occupied East Jerusalem, lies a branch of the Population and Immigration Authority of the Israeli Ministry of Interior.

Registering a birth or death? Need to apply for a passport or an ID card? This is the only place providing these services to the nearly 300,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem.

In most countries, these basic services would be provided without hassle – or at least not too much. But for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, obtaining essential services is an uphill battle.

'We are dealing with a colonial entity that aims to exhaust Palestinian Jerusalemites'

- Rami Saleh, Jerusalem Legal Aid Center 

Residents and their lawyers say Israeli officials at the branch are purposefully dragging their heels with their duties in order to make Palestinians’ lives so unbearable that they will leave Jerusalem.

"It's hell. It's just hell," said Erez Wagner, a coordinator with the Jerusalem-based HaMoked Center for the Defence of the Individual, which went to Israeli High Court earlier this year to try to improve what they describe as “inhuman conditions” at the branch.

The court ruled that ministry branches in West Jerusalem should provide some services to Palestinians from East Jerusalem, but even this concession has had little material change on the ground, he said.

The challenges that residents face at the branch are just one piece of a wider puzzle of Israeli occupation that has made life for Palestinians in East Jerusalem a bureaucratic nightmare for decades.

As a result of the Israeli occupation in place since 1967, any Palestinian born in East Jerusalem receives only temporary residency status, leaving them essentially stateless.

A Palestinian woman walks past Israeli border police at an entrance to the Old City in East Jerusalem (AFP)

But even holding on to that temporary residency is a challenge. Among other legal hurdles, Palestinians in Jerusalem must continuously prove that the city is their “centre of life” by submitting dozens of documents including rent contracts, salary slips, electric and water bills, as well as tax payments.

Children must be registered as East Jerusalem residents in order to go to local schools and get health insurance, and marriages must be registered so that couples can live together in East Jerusalem.

All of these services are only available at the branch office, leaving Palestinians determined to continue living in East Jerusalem with a stark choice: hire a lawyer or wait in line.

'Like a military base'

Under blazing sunshine or pouring rain, long lines of people of all ages including infants, the elderly, and people with special needs, regularly snake outside the gates of the ministry branch in Wadi al-Joz.

There are no umbrellas to provide shade, seats or toilets, and many of those waiting will have come before sunrise for a spot in line, like Fida Abbasi, who lives in East Jerusalem's Silwan neighbourhood. 

Fainting in line is not unusual and sick people have been known to give up on critical services, unable to stand for hours, according to HaMoked.

But the hours of waiting, often dealing with guards who are willing to humiliate those in line, she said, is just the tip of the iceberg. After standing outside, Palestinians must then pass through metal gates, where men and women are separated.

Israeli guards then call them, one by one, to pass through metal detectors and have their bags thoroughly searched. If someone is carrying a water bottle, they must take a sip in front of the guards.

'It’s like a military base. No photography is allowed, and sometimes the guards will confiscate your water bottle or other items'

- Fida Abbasi, Palestinian in East Jerusalem

“It’s like a military base. No photography is allowed, and sometimes the guards will confiscate your water bottle or other items,” Abbasi told Middle East Eye. 

In 2018, the Israeli government introduced a Hebrew-language phone app, and obliged Palestinians to register for an appointment this way to obtain any kind of service at the ministry. 

But the only appointments on offer, residents told MEE, range from six months to a year in advance. Meanwhile, those who attempt to enter without an appointment are stopped by guards at the gates.

In August 2018, four employees at the Wadi al-Joz branch were arrested, on suspicion of collecting hundreds of thousands of shekels in exchange for expediting waiting times. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, investigators found that the employees had reserved hundreds of appointments and sold them for hundreds of shekels each.  

Unable to secure timely appointments or use the app due to lack of proficiency in Hebrew, many Palestinians in Jerusalem have resorted to seeking legal aid, paying up to $500 to have help simply to book appointments or fill out applications.

Those who can resort to hiring private lawyers pay fees of around $5,000 for restoring their residency status, and about $10,000 to register a large number of children. 

Ongoing struggle 

For those who can’t pay, there are organisations like the Community Action Center in occupied East Jerusalem offering free legal aid to Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Mohammad al-Shihabi, who heads the centre, can list endless examples of those who have come for help over intentionally difficult Israeli bureaucratic procedures. 

Mohammad al-Shihabi and his staff at Community Action Center in East Jerusalem offer free legal advice to Palestinians (MEE)

Most of the cases, he said, involve registering children, and “family reunification,” a procedure that Israel obliges Palestinians from East Jerusalem who marry Palestinians from the West Bank, or those who carry other nationalities, to undergo.

At the interior ministry branch office in Wadi al-Joz, he said Palestinians are subject to intense scrutiny, questioned as though by intelligence officials, and treated in an autocratic manner. 

One couple whom he helped, who both carry Jerusalem residency, gave birth to their baby in the West Bank for reasons out of their control, but ministry officials rejected their request to register their child, Shihabi said. Their response to the mother, who was in tears, was: “He who is responsible for their mistake, deserves worse.” 

How Israel is 'cleansing' Palestinians from Greater Jerusalem

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Another example, he said, was a woman from East Jerusalem who lived with her Gazan husband in Gaza until the couple got a divorce in 1994. When she returned to Jerusalem with one of her children, Israeli officials refused to grant her residency because she had been living in Gaza.

Until today, she lives in the city without an ID, bank account or health insurance, despite the fact that she owns two homes in Jerusalem and has lived there for 25 consecutive years. 

MEE attempted to interview several Palestinians living in East Jerusalem about their struggle with the interior ministry, but many refused, citing fear of repercussions. 

Interior ministry in numbers 

Rami Saleh, the head of the Jerusalem Legal Aid Center and Human Rights Center, said that between 2013 and 2018, 7,236 requests for child registration made at the Wadi al-Joz branch were approved out of a total 9,966, according to figures provided to him by the ministry.

The rest, they told him, were under review. And, out of a total 3,236 family reunification requests, only 1,534 were approved. 

Saleh told MEE that he reached out to the ministry to ask why only one branch provides services to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents, while Israeli residents of Jerusalem can go to any branch across the country and receive services swiftly.

'We really care about this issue and we are working to find solutions'

- Israeli interior ministry spokesperson

Their response to him, he said, was that the employees at the ministry’s branch in Wadi al-Joz were more experienced in dealing with temporary residents. 

Earlier this year, Israeli authorities opened another ministry branch at the Qalandia military checkpoint separating the West Bank city of Ramallah from Jerusalem. But the services provided there are limited in scope and are only offered at specific days and times. 

An Israeli interior ministry spokesperson told MEE they are aware of the issues at the Wadi al-Joz branch and said they have tried to ease the situation over the past two years, including providing services at the Qalandia office and allowing for booking through the app, which she said provides appointment options within weeks, not months.

She also said the ministry is considering opening another office in East Jerusalem.

“We really care about this issue and we are working to find solutions so the residents of East Jerusalem can get better and faster service,” the spokesperson said in an email.

But Erez, the lawyer with HaMoked, said the changes that have been made have not relieved the majority of the hurdles that Palestinians in East Jerusalem face.

Any Palestinians going to the Qalandia office, he pointed out, must pass through the checkpoint there twice – and even then it only offers a limited set of services.

In West Jerusalem, which has less crowded ministry branches and where the High Court ordered the ministry to provide services to Palestinians from East Jerusalem, the branches have yet to make substantial changes, he said.

Jerusalem's Old City: How Palestine's past is being slowly erased

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Most services, including renewing residency IDs and registering children, are not provided, employees don’t speak Arabic and many of them, unaware of the court order, end up sending Palestinians back to the Wadi al-Joz branch.

Saleh said it’s no shock to him that nothing has changed on the ground, despite efforts in court.

“It is no surprise that they are rejecting calls to improve conditions for Palestinians,” he said.

“We are dealing with a colonial entity that aims to exhaust Palestinian Jerusalemites, not to ease restrictions for them.”

Saudi Arabia defends letter backing China's Xinjiang policy

FILE PHOTO: An elderly man is seen behind a Chinese national flag in the Old City in Kashgar in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China September 6, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Michelle Nichols-JULY 18, 2019 

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Thursday defended signing a letter along with 36 other countries in support of China’s policies in its western region of Xinjiang, where the United Nations says at least 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained.

China has been widely condemned for setting up detention complexes in remote Xinjiang. It describes them as “education training centres” helping to stamp out extremism and give people new skills.

Last week nearly two dozen nations at the U.N. Human Rights Council wrote a letter calling on China to halt it mass detention. In response, Saudi Arabia, Russia and 35 other states wrote a letter commending what they called China’s remarkable achievements in the field of human rights.

When asked about Saudi’s support for the letter, Saudi U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi told reporters in New York that the “letter talks about China’s developmental work, that’s all it talks about, it does not address anything else.”

 

“Nobody can be more concerned about the status of Muslims anywhere in the world than Saudi Arabia,” he said. “What we have said in that letter is that we support the developmental policies of China that have lifted people out of poverty.”

A copy of the letter, seen by Reuters, said security had returned to Xinjiang and the fundamental human rights of people of all ethnic groups there had been safeguarded.

“Faced with the grave challenge of terrorism and extremism, China has undertaken a series of counter-terrorism and deradicalisation measures in Xinjiang, including setting up vocational education and training centres,” the letter read.

Human Rights Watch U.N. Director Louis Charbonneau said Al-Mouallimi’s characterisation of the letter was “a slap in the face of Muslims being persecuted in China, inaccurate to the point of absurdity.”

 

Earlier this month the United States and Germany slammed China during a closed-door U.N. Security Council meeting over the detention centres. In response, China told diplomats them they had no right to raise the issue in the Security Council as it was an internal matter for his country.

In June the United States, Britain and other western countries objected to a visit by the U.N. counterterrorism chief to Xinjiang, concerned the visit would validate China’s argument that it was tackling terrorism.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan spoke with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres ahead of the trip to convey Washington’s concerns because “Beijing continues to paint its repressive campaign against Uighurs and other Muslims as legitimate counterterrorism efforts when it is not.”

May wrongly takes credit for disabled jobs rise

By Georgina Lee-10 Jul 2019

“We are seeing many more people — over 900,000 more disabled people — in work as a result of what this government have done”

That was the claim from Theresa May at what’s expected to be her penultimate Prime Minister’s Questions.

We assume she’s referring to the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey, which shows the number of disabled people in employment rose by 930,000 in the five years to 2018.

But she failed to mention the findings of a March 2019 report on disabled people in work by the National Audit Office (NAO), which monitors government spending.

The watchdog says even the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) “acknowledges that the increase [in the number of disabled people in work] cannot be attributed to a particular cause, including its policies or programmes” and that it has “limited evidence of what works”.

In other words, the DWP accepts that the rise has not come about as a result of the government’s actions — despite Mrs May’s claim today.

So what’s the real cause? The NAO says “The evidence indicates that [the rise in the number of disabled people in work] is likely to be due to more people already in work reporting a disability rather than more disabled people who were out of work, moving into work.”

The report also makes clear that “the recent increases in the number of disabled people in work have not been matched by a reduction in the number of disabled people who are out of work”. The watchdog finds that this second figure has “remained broadly the same at around 3.7 million” in the past five years.

We looked in more detail at how the UK’s disability benefits system compares to other countries’ in June — read the full FactCheck analysis here.

FactCheck verdict

Theresa May says 900,000 more disabled people are in work “as a result of what this government have done”. It’s true that in 2018, there were 930,000 more disabled people in jobs than in 2013.
But she didn’t mention that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted that it can’t attribute this rise to government policies.

The government spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, says the increase is probably caused by more people already in work reporting themselves as disabled — rather than out-of-work disabled people moving into jobs.

She also forgot to add that the number of disabled people out of work has not fallen in that time, but remained static at around 3.7 million.

Battle underway in Ireland over ban on settlement goods

The Irish government is using an obscure measure to block a bill that would ban imports from Israeli settlements.

 Niall CarsonZUMA Press

Ciaran Tierney -11 July 2019

A battle is underway in Ireland to ensure that a ban on imports from Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank will not be vetoed.

Legislation to introduce such a ban has received majority support in both houses of Ireland’s parliament, the Oireachtas. Yet the country’s government is expected to try and wreck the legislation by invoking the little known “money message” provision.

“Money messages” rely on a clause in the Irish constitution which states that no law involving the expenditure of public finance will be enacted unless it has been signed by the taoiseach, the country’s prime minister.

A paper drawn up by Michael McDowell, a prominent Irish lawyer and politician, insists that the legislation banning Israel’s settlement goods does not require approval via a “money message.”

The Occupied Territories Bill – as the legislation on settlement goods is called – “does not entail any direct expenditure and instead involves the creation of a criminal offense,” McDowell’s paper states.

Approximately 50 bills are stalled in Dáil Eireann, the lower house in the Oireachtas, as they are awaiting a “money message.”

Although the “money message” provision has long been in existence, it has only become controversial lately as Ireland’s minority government has been using it to block legislation which commands majority support in the Oireachtas.

Earlier this month, the government refused to issue a “money message” for the Climate Emergency Measures Bill aimed at halting oil and gas exploration in the nation’s waters. Simon Coveney, the foreign minister, indicated in January that he would seek to obstruct the Occupied Territories Bill by the same means.

McDowell’s paper argues that the rule of procedure under which these bills are blocked goes further than the “money message” clause in the Irish constitution. The rules of procedure can be changed, according to McDowell, who has formerly been the tánaiste – Ireland’s deputy prime minister – and the attorney general.

“World is watching”

Ireland’s political leaders have been under pressure from Israel and its lobbyists – including some members of the US Congress – to thwart the Occupied Territories Bill.

Yet support for the bill has remained solid among elected representatives in Dublin.

Niall Collins, foreign affairs spokesperson with the main opposition party Fianna Fáil, said that an independent legal adviser to the Oireachtas will soon provide an opinion about the use of “money messages.” The opinion is expected to be delivered in the autumn.

“This money message mechanism does have a role to play, as it stops a populist headbanger from coming forward with crazy promises which would incur a huge cost to the Irish state,” said Collins. “But the mechanism is open to abuse and this government has clearly been abusing it.”

Collins added that advocates of the Occupied Territories Bill are preparing to mount a legal challenge if the government continues blocking it.

Frances Black, the Oireachtas member who formally proposed the bill, vowed to fight for its implementation “even if it’s the death of me.”

“The government should not have what is essentially a total veto over opposition bills,” Black, who is also a well-known singer, said. “To do something like this is unfair and unjust. It’s a vital piece of legislation for the people of Palestine. The reality is this will give so much hope to the people of Palestine, that somebody out there in the international community actually does care.”

“The world is watching this legislation,” she added. “We have been invited to Brussels, the Netherlands, London and Chile to talk to parliamentarians about this piece of legislation. Parliamentarians all over the world are paying attention to this and considering bringing in similar bills of their own. What is happening now is anti-democratic and we have to call it out.”

Ciaran Tierney is a journalist based in Galway, Ireland. He won the Irish current affairs and politics blog of the year award at the Tramline, Dublin in 2018. Twitter: @ciarantierney. Website: ciarantierney.com.

South African Business Role In Creating Sustainable Peace & A Stable Economy

Across the world, South Africa was seen as a pariah state because of apartheid that separated races…. We were ostracised by the international community

2019-07-18

What would be the role of businesses in creating a sustainable economic resurgence? Speaking from experience, South African High Commissioner Robina Marks stated that the primary role of businesses is to play an active part in uniting a country, for both their own survival and sustainability, and for the country’s economic development.

 

“Across the world, South Africa was seen as a pariah state because of apartheid that separated races…. We were ostracised by the international community,” she said, adding that the international anti-apartheid movement successed in applying sanctions against South Africa. This in turn snowballed into civil society, who refused to buy and consume South African products, as that was seen as tantamount to condoning apartheid.

 

The country soon hit an all-time low, as the South African economy was in free-fall.

 

“From the mid-1980s, foreign governments and businesses cut many economic ties with South Africa, and in 1985, international banks began refusing to roll over short-term debt with the result that, over the next year, the country would have to pay one billion US dollars in loans. Inflation rose to 16 percent, the currency tumbled and the government introduced exchange controls. By 1986, over 100 multinationals had disinvested from South Africa,” the High Commissioner said.

 

However, the country was able to turn themselves around, in just 25 years. South Africa is now considered to be a leader in the African continent, with a GDP of USD385 billion, compared to Sri Lanka, which has a GDP of USD90 billion. High Commissioner Marks attributes this to an invisible role played by their business community and private sector. She does reveal that the reason businesses played such a leading role was that they ‘quite frankly, didn’t have a choice.’ The economy was down, domestic consumption was down, and the international export market was shrinking. In this climate, the private sector had two choices — to help the apartheid government and white society, or to help build a climate of trust in which the political leaders could move the country towards a more stable future. They chose the latter.

 

The role played by the business community

 

In moving towards a more prosperous and united future, the private sector banded together to push South Africa towards success.

 

“They funded efforts at maintaining the peace. They knew that it was in their own interest to make concessions around a decent living wage that would quell the many industrial strikes that we had at the time. Many of them improved their working conditions, improved salaries to workers, and offered scope for promotion to their black workforce.”

 

They basically helped to market the vision of a non-racist South Africa to the international community.

 

“They were vocal about the fact that the country was on the right track, that good, fair and inclusive governance could also be good for business, and more importantly, because they had vested personal and business interests, that they had no intention of leaving. So when prominent companies like Anglo American started “selling” the new SA, the outside world took notice that there would be no local capital flight,” she said.

 

Another point of importance was that the business leaders all stayed back. According to her excellency Marks, ‘nothing demonstrates confidence in a country more than staying and not leaving for what might be seen as greener pastures.’

 

The High Commissioner made these remarks at a panel discussion on The Role of Business in Sustainable Economic Resurgence, conducted by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce at their 180th Annual General Meeting held recently.

 

Responding to a query by the moderator, Ganaka Herath, on what could be done for gender equality, Ms. Marks highlighted that socio-cultural expectations of women needing to stay at home, had to change.

 

“I think that we all know that female participation in the workforce has gone down considerably, by 10% - 12%; because of unfriendly environments. There isn’t a sense of understanding work-life challenges,” she said, adding that we all needed more men like her co-panelists — Dr. A.T Ariyarathne and Mahesh Amalean — as role models.

 

The business of business is not only business, she stressed, and any company that ignores the impact that an uncertain external political environment have on their bottom line is doomed to fail.

Alarmed by Venezuela, U.S. Military Seeks to Sell Arms to Colombia

The Air Force wants a key regional ally to get new F-16 fighter jets to deter threats from Caracas.

Colombian soldiers stand guard as they patrol the outskirts of Medellin, Antioquia department, on June 6. JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

BY LARA SELIGMAN| JULY 18, 2019, 3:07 PM

 

As Venezuela’s Russia-backed leader Nicholás Maduro continues to cling to power, the U.S. military wants to prevent a crisis from spilling over into neighboring Colombia, an important ally, by beefing up its defenses.

The U.S. Air Force is offering Bogotá the latest version of Lockheed Martin’s F-16 fighter jets, Maj. Gen. Andrew Croft, the commander of Air Forces Southern, told Foreign Policy in a recent phone interview.

The addition of an estimated 15 F-16 to Colombia’s arsenal would “be a great advancement for not only their capability to defend their sovereign air space” but would also help enable interoperability with U.S. forces, Croft said during a visit to Colombia, where he attended a major air show and met with senior Colombian military officials.

Venezuela’s economy has collapsed under Maduro’s far-left government, and nationwide electricity blackouts and food shortages have plagued the country’s population. But opposition leader Juan Guaidó has failed to take power despite repeated violent clashes between government forces and civilians.

Now, U.S. officials are worried that the upheaval could threaten Colombia. Maduro, whose government is backed by U.S. rivals China, Russia, and Cuba, is an unpredictable neighbor armed with roughly 150,000 troops and both Russian and U.S. equipment, including advanced fighter jets.

In addition, dangerous rebel groups—both Colombia’s National Liberation Army and factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)—are taking advantage of the crisis to expand their reach. These armed groups are targetingVenezuelans fleeing their home country, offering them food and pay in return for joining their ranks.

“The conditions in Venezuela, the same chronic conditions that have just created abject suffering for the Venezuelan people, have created a lawless zone,” U.S. Navy Adm. Craig Faller, the chief of U.S. Southern Command, told Foreign Policy in April.

Buying new F-16s, a supersonic fighter jet with advanced radar and extended range, would not only deter threats from Venezuela and armed rebel groups but also provide a better capability to intercept narcotraffickers, who are beginning to use fast Learjets to smuggle drugs in and out of the country, Croft said.

“All bets are off, right? You don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group, explaining the renewed push to sell Colombia advanced fighter jets. “Is it a proxy fight? Is it Venezuela lashing out? Is it some other kind of conflict spillover because of the refugee situation? There are all kinds of scenarios.”

The United States has a long and deep military relationship with Colombia, including frequent exercises, officer exchange programs, and visits by senior military leaders. Particularly since 2016, when the Colombian government signed a peace accord with the FARC, ending more than half a century of conflict, the U.S. military has made a concerted effort to support the country’s efforts at security, including arms sales.

The U.S. government frequently uses foreign military sales as a diplomatic tool. The F-35, Lockheed’s most sophisticated fighter jet, is the most prominent example: In addition to the United States, 12 allied nations have plans to operate the plane, boosting not only Lockheed’s top line but also U.S. influence around the globe. These types of agreements typically come with U.S. training, maintenance support, and close security ties for decades after the ink dries.

The United States also uses these types of deals to pressure allies and potential adversaries. The Pentagon this week booted Turkey out of the F-35 program over its purchase of a Russian-made missile defense system, a decision that will cost Turkish industry $9 billion in projected work and damage Ankara’s standing in NATO. In the Pacific, the administration is looking to sell Taiwan 66 new F-16s, a significant provocation of China as the world’s two largest economies agree to restart trade talks.

 

“Anytime we do a foreign military sale program with a nation, especially an airframe, it gives us a 40- to 50-year relationship,” Croft said.

If Colombia chooses to buy them, the F-16s would replace its fleet of 21 aging Israeli Kfir jets that are reaching the end of their usable lives. But the costly U.S. jet faces steep competition: The Swedish defense firm Saab is offering its Gripen fighters as a possible replacement, while Europe’s Eurofighter has proposed its Typhoon jets. Bogotá has also considered buying surplus older F-16s from the Israeli Air Force.

The F-16 offering has been in the cards for a while but “could get new impetus because of Venezuela, because of what Venezuela has been up to,” said Byron Callan, an analyst with Capital Alpha Group.

The United States has sold F-16s to Colombia’s neighbors, including Chile and, ironically, Venezuela. Venezuela also operates Russian Su-30 fighter jets, which Croft said are “a threat to the region.”
Clinching an F-16 sale with Colombia would also come with an added bonus—taking a potential business opportunity away from Russia or China, both of which are quietly trying to grow their influence in Latin America through foreign military sales, disinformation campaigns, and economic investment.

“Selling something like an F-16 to a nation like Colombia builds that long-term relationship and also prevents the Russians or the Chinese from selling them a system that then becomes very difficult or impossible to maintain,” Croft said.

The United States is particularly worried about China’s practice of “debt diplomacy” throughout the region, including investing in infrastructure and providing hefty loans that impoverished nations will have difficulty paying back. China has also bought up key ports in the region and built a new deep-space ground station in Argentina, from which the Chinese military can monitor and potentially target U.S. and allied satellites.

“The Chinese side is all about lending money to these nations so they can do projects that are then run by Chinese companies and Chinese labor, and then the debt becomes a lever … things like port access, control of railroads and roads, and the like,” Croft said.

In order to counter China’s influence, the U.S. military is investing in key military-to-military partnerships, such as the one with Colombia. The strength of that partnership was on display during his visit, Croft stressed.

“These guys are our best partner, one of our strongest partners that we have in the region,” Croft said. “I’m not sure the relationship has ever been stronger than it’s been right now.”

Rohingya activist says US ban on top Burmese generals a first step

Wai Wai Nu, an advocate for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, speaks with AFP during an interview at the State Department in Washington, DC, July 17, 2019. Source: SAUL LOEB / AFP

@ascorrespondent-17 Jul 2019

A FORMERLY imprisoned Rohingya activist said Wednesday that a US ban on Burma’s (Myanmar) top generals was a welcome first step but urged more action to support the long-targeted minority.

The State Department on Tuesday said that army chief Min Aung Hlaing, three other top officers and their families would not be allowed to visit the United States due to their roles in “ethnic cleansing” of the mostly Muslim Rohingya.

Participating in a high-level State Department meeting on religious freedom, peace activist Wai Wai Nu said it was critical to address the “decades-old impunity” enjoyed by the military in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

“Many of us in Burma welcome this decision of the State Department. However, we think this is a first step and we are hoping to see more concrete and efficient steps in the future,” she told reporters.

This, she said, should include an end to impunity in the country.

“The only way to move forward, I believe, is holding the perpetrators accountable and abolishing institutionalized religious and ethnic discrimination against ethnic minorities,” she added.

SEE ALSO: ASEAN leaders told to get serious on Rohingya issue

Wai Wai Nu founded two groups promoting inter-ethnic harmony and women’s rights. Along with other survivors and witnesses to abuses who are taking part in the ministerial, she met Wednesday at the White House with President Donald Trump.

Wai Wai Nu, whose father was also an activist, was arrested with her family in 2005 when she was a law student.

The family was freed in 2012 amid a political opening in Myanmar as the military junta reconciled with the West and eventually allowed civilian, elected leaders.

In 2017, Myanmar’s military launched a campaign against the Rohingya that led about 740,000 to flee to neighboring Bangladesh amid accounts of brutal attacks on whole villages.

The army denies wrongdoing and says it was responding to militant attacks.

The Rohingya are widely despised in the country and do not enjoy citizenship, with the government calling them “Bengalis,” suggesting they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. © Agence France-Presse

HRC41 RENEWS CRUCIAL MANDATE FOR PROTECTION AGAINST VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY

17/07/2019

This is another historic victory, not only for communities of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, but for humanity as a whole: In a defining vote, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of the Independent Expert focusing on the protection against violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.


The campaign calling on the Council to renew the mandate of the UN Independent Expert on SOGI was supported by 1,312 non-governmental organisations from 174 States and territories.

“This is another historic victory, not only for communities of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, but for humanity as a whole”, said Paula Sebastiao of Arquivo de Identidade Angolano in Angola and Simran Shaikh, Asia coordinator of the Trans Respect v. Transphobia project, on behalf of 60 human rights groups worldwide. “ Following the call from a record number of organisations from every region imaginable, the UN Human Rights Council has reaffirmed its commitment to combat discrimination and violence on grounds of SOGI and has reminded all States of their obligations towards these communities.”

Created in 2016, the UN Independent Expert on SOGI has been supported by an ever-growing number of States from all regions of the world. The resolution to create and renew the mandate was presented by a Core Group of seven Latin American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Uruguay.

“The renewal of this mandate demonstrates how United Nations States’ support for tackling violence and discrimination against people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities has grown tremendously,” said UN Trans Advocacy Week campaigners. “The Independent Expert is crucial in bringing international attention to specific violations and challenges faced by trans and gender-diverse persons in all regions.”

Although the renewal process had to overcome 10 hostile amendments, the core of the resolution in affirming the universal nature of international human rights law stands firm.

“The existence of a specific UN human rights mechanism looking at SOGI issues is crucial for our communities to be heard at the global level,” added Ryan Silverio of ASEAN SOGIE Caucus from the Philippines. “If the world is truly committed to leaving no one behind, it can’t shy away from addressing the violence and discrimination that we face. Laws criminalising our identities and actions are unjust and should no longer be tolerated”.

The UN Independent Expert on SOGI is tasked with assessing implementation of existing international human rights law, by talking to States, and working collaboratively with other UN and regional mechanisms to address violence and discrimination. Through the work of this mandate since 2016, the impact of criminalisation of same-sex relations and lack of legal gender recognition, the importance of data-collection specific to SOGI communities, and examples of good practices to prevent discrimination have been highlighted globally, with visits to Argentina, Georgia, Mozambique and Ukraine.

”A record number of organisations from every region imaginable has been calling for the renewal of the mandate of the Independent Expert,” said Tess McEvoy, Programme manager at ISHR. “His vital work will now continue and help make our societies more fair, equal and inclusive. We at ISHR are very proud to have been part of this process, along with several of our alumni,” continued Helen Nolan, Programme Manager at ISHR.

We hope that all governments cooperate fully with the UN Independent Expert on SOGI in this important work to bring about a world free from violence and discrimination for all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Our communities have witnessed both fundamental victories and alarming setbacks in recent years,” said Manisha Dhakal of Blue Diamond Society from Nepal, and ILGA Asia co-Chair. “Amidst this challenging political and social climate, the presence of an expert who can foster dialogue and assist States towards more inclusive policies is of fundamental importance.”

ISHR.