Tunisia's quest for historic justice under threat from Ben Ali-era officials

Leaked amnesty proposal puts Tunisia's transition from old regime under threat, as reparations advocates accuse past officials of undermining them

A live broadcast of testimonials by the victims before Tunisia's Truth and Dignity Commission in 2016 (AFP)

By Faïrouz ben Salah-16 May 2019 

Members of the independent commission set up to investigate crimes by the Tunisian state in the wake of the 2011 revolution say former Ben Ali-era officials are actively trying to overturn their findings.

After five years of work, 63,000 complaints of violations, tens of thousands of interviews and 12 televised public hearings, the Instance Verite et Dignite (IVD) – or Truth and Dignity Commission – released its final report in late March.

'Our commission has been under constant attack'

- Sihem Bensedrine, Head of the Truth and Dignity Commission

The panel proposed a laundry list of reforms, from dismantling corrupt and repressive state systems to restricting security forces. It also called on Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi to apologise on behalf of the state to all victims of human rights violations since 1955.

But as the 2,000-page report was released, a draft law leaked to civil society organisations that would allow alleged perpetrators to go unpunished was already circulating among members of the Tunisian parliament. 

Drafted by Mohamed Fadhel Mahfoudh, Tunisia’s minister of human rights and transitional justice, the law would give amnesty to those accused of human rights violations and corruption if they apologised, according to a copy seen by Middle East Eye.

In a note attached to the draft, Mahfoudh said reconciliation would allow Tunisia’s nascent democracy to take root and put an end to political instability which, according to the human rights minister, has stopped lawmakers from tackling the country’s serious economic issues.

“The country’s profound socio-economic challenges leave us little choice but to reconcile and go forward,” he wrote.

The leak caused an outcry among victims and their advocates. Madfoudh then told a group of civil society actors involved in the transitional justice process on 24 April that the draft was just some personal thoughts and not anything that had been approved, according to Khayem Chemli, a coordinator for Lawyers Without Borders (ASF), who was at the meeting.

Sihem Bensedrine, head of the Truth and Dignity Commission, in 2018 (AFP)

Personal thoughts or not, the draft has alarmed several Truth and Dignity Commission officials, lawmakers and human rights advocates who say the proposed bill is only part of a broader attempt by the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RDC), the former ruling party under Ben Ali, to return to power.

Sihem Bensedrine, the head of the IVD elected by the Tunisian parliament, told MEE: “Our commission has been under constant attack, particularly from the moment we started to investigate the role of Ben Ali and his administration in human rights and corruption violations.”

Chemli, the coordinator with ASF, said he believed the leak was intentional and a prelude to more.

"The minister is not stupid. It’s a bargaining strategy. He must have expected the leak and hopes to end up somewhere in the middle," he told MEE.

"We - the civil society organisations - are just wondering when? Before or after the elections? Sometimes laws pass all of a sudden."

'Drafted by victims, carried out by purported perpetrators'

The transitional justice process in Tunisia is wrapped up in the political struggle following the 2011 revolution.

Tunisia’s interim "Troika" alliance, formed in the revolution’s wake and led by the Ennahda party, passed the transition justice law, which set up the Truth and Dignity Commission, in 2013.

But after its victory in 2014, the Nidaa Tounes party was saddled with the responsibility of carrying it out, with the commission lagging behind the economy and security as a priority.

“We have to understand the amnesty law proposal in the political context,” said human rights lawyer Mokhtar Trifi, in a roundtable discussion in April at civil society organisation L'Art Rue.

Jailed, tortured and forced into exile: In Tunisia, now we have our moment of truth

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“The transitional justice law was drafted by the supposed victims but is carried out by the purported perpetrators.”

Meanwhile, with the establishment of Nidaa Tounes in 2012 and the use of media, money and networks, former officials under Ben Ali have made a steady return into Tunisian politics.

While former RDC members joined all of the political parties, including Ennahda, Nidaa Tounes became the main political shelter for the Ben Ali-era lawmakers, particularly after the 2014 elections which empowered the party.

“Their political clout remains significant,” Trifi said during the discussion at L'Art Rue. Parties that support amnesty "are battling to salvage their political future and to consolidate their presence on the political scene".

It’s in this context that Mahfoudh released the draft amnesty law in which he proposes to abolish the specialised chambers set up for the truth and reconciliation process to prosecute perpetrators.

In his draft, Mahfoudh proposes the creation of two brand new reconciliation commissions, one focused on human rights violations and a second concentrating on corruption and embezzlement cases.

Each commission would be overseen by nine members of a committee, with three appointed each by the president, the head of government and the speaker of the parliament respectively. 

Through an administration procedure, the two bodies would grant amnesty to alleged perpetrators who apologise before them, and the commissions’ decisions would not be subject to appeal in any court, including "an appeal for abuse of power".

'Forward, not backwards'

A coalition of civil society organisations, dismayed by Mahfoud’s initiative, published a manifesto on 25 April saying his proposal was a flagrant violation of the Tunisian constitution and international human rights.

If passed, they wrote, the bill would strengthen impunity and only encourage those responsible for current and future human rights violations.

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The minister however, can count on political support from ruling party Nidaa Tounes, including Mongi Harbaoui, a Nidaa Tounes MP and the party’s spokesman, who told MEE he supports the bill.

“We need to go forward, not backwards,” Harbaoui said, adding that the eras of presidents Ben Ali and Habib Bourguiba shouldn't be swept under a rug.

“To a certain extent, Nidaa Tounes embodies the old regime. We believe in continuity, we aim to continue down the road taken by former president Bourguiba… Ben Ali wasn’t all bad, we must preserve his achievements and learn from the mistakes.”

Reparation for the victims

But Yamina Zoghlami - an Ennahda MP and vice president of the parliamentarian commission charged with the transitional justice process, a body separate from the IVD - says the proposed amnesty law violates the country’s existing transitional justice law.

“Tunisia urgently needs truth and reconciliation regarding years of state repression and human rights violations,” she told MEE.

Ennahda was banned before the overthrow of Ben Ali. During the years it continued operating underground, Zoghlami said many of its members suffered severe repression “ranging from physical deprivation and torture while in prison, to the harassment and abuse of families of those sent to prison”.

'Apart from the systematic sabotage of remnants of the old regime, all political parties are equally to blame for obstruction'

- Adel Maizi, former Truth and Dignity Commission member

“To the Muslim democrats [how Ennahda describes its members], reconciliation is one of the key objectives of transitional justice based on a fair trial, reparations for victims and restoring victims to their position as rights bearers and citizens,” she said.

For Adel Maizi, a former member of the IVD, however, “Nidaa or Ennahda, it’s all the same.” His five years in the Truth and Dignity commission have made him cynical.

“Apart from the systematic sabotage of remnants of the old regime, all political parties are equally to blame for obstruction,” he told MEE.

Chemli, from Lawyers Without Borders (ASF), said he believes Ennahda has used some of the victims for its own political purposes.

“They are one-sided and picky in choosing the civil society stakeholders with whom they want to maintain relationships," Chemli said.

“Ennahda,” he said, “will eventually support the amnesty bill and hope victims can be convinced to accept apologies in exchange for financial reparation.” 

'Irreversible change'

The Ministry of Interior has confidentially warned some critics of former Ben Ali officials, Truth and Dignity Commission officials and others working on transitional justice that their security is at risk.

But citing policy and security reasons, the ministry has refused to elaborate or give further information.

Judges of the specialised transitional justice chambers, supported by lawyers and civil society activists, have repeatedly called for better protection, logistical support and police collaboration to little avail.

Victims testify during a live broadcast of the Truth and Dignity Commission in Tunis in 2016 (AFP)

But Sihem Bensedrine, the head of the IVD, and others say they have little doubt: they suspect Ben Ali regime holdovers to be the driving forces behind the threats – and the proposed amnesty bill.   

“Impunity for old top officials of the Ben Ali regime is a key component of the strategy to bring back an authoritarian regime,” said Chemli of the draft bill. “It’s basically a form of rehabilitation.”

Both Chemli and Bensedrine, however, remain optimistic.

“They won’t win this war,” said Chemli. “There might be setbacks for democracy, but the country has irreversibly changed."

Homeless in Gaza

Salah al-Juju, who has been homeless for 21 years, spends his nights searching for books in Gaza’s trash.Abed Zagout

Hamza Abu Eltarabesh - 15 May 2019

When Gaza’s people sleep at night, Salah al-Juju wakes up from his makeshift bed in Palestine Square, in the center of Gaza City, and begins his customary tour.

Al-Juju, 56, has lived on Gaza’s streets for some 21 years. Every night until sunrise he searches through Gaza’s garbage containers looking for books.

This routine, or “personal initiative,” as he puts it, started seven years ago.

“Books are my only friend on this planet,” he told The Electronic Intifada. “This undertaking is a message to our youth not to undermine their future by throwing away books.”

Sarcastically, he added: “It seems that the best library in Gaza is garbage. I don’t know how to handle formal library conditions that involve dealing with regulations and library membership.”

Al-Juju’s bed is an old wood and metal cart that he has slept in for two decades. He prefers to talk about Gaza’s educational challenges such as declining standards and young people’s lack of interest in books and reading, rather than his own personal life.

“I was always different from my friends. I didn’t like playing when I was a child like my peers, but I always enjoyed reading and going to the cinema that existed in the 1960s in Gaza. I have read more than 1,000 books in my life.”

Al-Juju, who tends to repeat himself, believes that reading is his only medicine. “I don’t go to any doctor. Sometimes I forget the meaning of things, but reading guides me to the track again.”

Inspiration

Homelessness, separate from the displacement caused by Israel’s blowing up of houses in the occupied coastal territory, has become increasingly visible in the last two years.

The disturbing phenomenon can be attributed in large part to the ongoing Israeli blockade.

Additionally, the Palestinian Authority’s punitive political and economic measures against Palestinians in Gaza are deepening poverty and playing a part in pushing some Palestinians into homelessness.

One of the most densely populated areas in the world, the Gaza Strip has suffered a damaging Israeli-imposed blockade for well over a decade. The siege has made it virtually impossible to import crucial materials for development and reconstruction of destruction Israel itself wrought during three devastating wars in that period.

Just over a year ago some 22,000 Palestinians were still internally displaced, down from approximately 100,000, following the most recent Israeli assault in 2014.

Last July The Electronic Intifada reported that reconstruction was progressing at a snail’s pace.

Repeated assaults on Gaza and the constant terror of Israeli airstrikes have had profound implications for the mental health of Palestinians in Gaza. Mothers, fathers and children feel unsafe and unable to think with some semblance of certainty about the future.

The psychological toll is ongoing. At least seven large residential and commercial buildings along with 14 homes were leveled by Israeli attacks in the first week of May.

Abd al-Hamid al-Firani, a historian, is well aware of the trauma his neighbors, particularly the children, are subjected to year after year by the Israeli military.

In fact, al-Juju’s love of books inspired al-Firani to turn his private library at the front of his house, with its approximately 2,000 volumes and helpful lists of books and academic research studies, into a free educational resource for the public.

“Al-Juju inspired me to think differently and in a way that benefits upcoming generations.”

From the UAE to Gaza’s streets

In November 2018, five families erected tents and took up residence in al-Saraya Square in the center of Gaza City. They had all – along with their furniture – been thrown out of various homes because they could not afford rent.

Among the protesters was Omar Abu al-Nimr whose personal life has been profoundly shaped by occupation and war. Even his wedding had to take place in a temporary school run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, during Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza.

Prior to living for two months in this commercial district, he moved repeatedly in the months after his expulsion from his flat, living during that time in the streets, mosques and public places as well as occasionally with his wife’s parents.

Abu al-Nimr studied public relations in the United Arab Emirates in 2008. But even when he worked it was a struggle to pay the rent, he told The Electronic Intifada.

“Now, after I lost my job, I can’t pay rent. This is why I came to al-Saraya with my wife and two sons.”

This is not the first time Abu al-Nimr, 34, has been homeless. In 2009 when he traveled from the UAE, where his family lives, to Egypt, the Egyptian authorities deported him to Gaza because his family is Palestinian with ties to the territory.

At that time, Abu al-Nimr didn’t have a place to live in Gaza. He was, however, allowed to spend his nights in Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

In return, he worked for the hospital, filling oxygen cylinders and distributing them among the departments. Abu al-Nimr worked without wages until 2012 when he chose to live on the streets by the sea and work in nearby cafeterias.

By the beginning of 2013, he had found a job in one of Gaza’s restaurants. With this newfound stability, he decided to settle down. He married Hiba Fayad, 28, a university graduate with a degree in psychology.

Her family home had been destroyed in the 2014 war. They labored together to find housing and, Fayad told The Electronic Intifada, sought assistance from both the social affairs ministry and the housing ministry, with no result.

“My husband and I have diplomas, but this isn’t enough to have a decent life in Gaza for our children.”

No one in a position of authority shows “sympathy in light of the difficult conditions we’re living,” she said.

The lack of housing has been painful and traumatic. Now, she said, she feels she’s regarded, along with her family, as a “nobody.”

Muhammad al-Askari, director of the housing ministry in Gaza, confirmed that the homeless rate is increasing.

He blamed the blockade and the resulting economic situation for the rise in homelessness, while acknowledging that “there are more than 3,000 families in Gaza after the third Israeli aggression who have no stable residence.”

According to the World Bank, the unemployment rate in Gaza in 2018 was 52 percent and even higher among youth at 67 percent.

“Homelessness was not a phenomenon in Gaza in the past,” al-Askari said, “but during the last two years the number of people living in the streets increased because of the deteriorating economic conditions and the ongoing political conflict.”

Living with the dead

Homelessness is not the only challenge faced by these families.

The Electronic Intifada has seen the preliminary findings of a December 2018 study by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics regarding socioeconomic food security which indicates that almost 70 percent of Gaza’s households were food insecure in 2018.

Abu al-Nimr’s family is one of these.

Their situation worsened when the municipal government required the five families to leave al-Saraya Square because that area is zoned for commerce.

Unable to find any other place to go, Abu al-Nimr is now living with his family in al-Mamadani cemetery in Gaza City.

“It seems that living among the dead is much better.”

Abu al-Nimir and his family are not alone.

The reality of people living in cemeteries began in Gaza in 1948 with the massive dispossession of Palestinians during the Nakba, when some 800,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes inside what became Israel and were never allowed to return.

In Gaza, some children are born among the graves, grow up and live their lives there, and may be buried in the same location.

Said al-Basiouni has lived in a Khan Younis cemetery in a concrete room with an asbestos roof for all of his 32 years.

“My family has lived in cemeteries since the Nakba. No one cares about us. We inherit living here,” he said.

Al-Basiouni collects plastic from garbage to buy food for his family. “The money I make can barely buy us food. How would I pay rent?”

Authorities have told al-Basiouni they would find a place for his family to live, but so far it has been empty words and broken promises.

Hamza Abu Eltarabesh is a journalist from Gaza.

Indian It And Pharma Sectors At The Crossroads

Among the twenty drug makers named in the case are Indian generic drug makers including Sun Pharma, Aurobindo, Lupin, Zydus, and Glenmark

by N.S.Venkataraman-2019-05-16

• 
  

The performance and achievements of Indian IT and pharma sector during the last two decades have been hailed and appreciated both by the Government of India and people. Certainly, both these sectors have been important prime movers of Indian economy and also job generators. Due to their exposure to developed countries in the day to day functions ,both these sectors have reasonably modernized themselves and are meeting the global standards and expectations to a large extent, as of now.

Both these sectors largely depend on the US market for their sustenance and profitability. While the performance and growth of Indian IT and pharma sectors, during the last two decades have been impressive, it appears that they are now reaching saturation level.

As the US market is becoming more competitive with the entry of players from several other countries and in view of the “America first” policy of the USA government , it is doubtful whether the same tempo of growth can be maintained by the Indian units in the coming years.

If the IT and pharma sector were not to change the strategies and would fail to enter new areas of growth in tune with the global trend, their growth profile is likely to suffer

IT sector at the crossroads

Indian IT companies have no option but to cough up more expense for H-1B visas, if the US government would continue to rise the visa application fee. While the additional costs for Indian IT companies will impact their margins, they have no alternative because the US is, after all, their biggest market.

What is worrying is that Indian companies may not get the number of visas they are looking for in future .In April 2019, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that it had received enough applications for fiscal 2019 which starts in October, reflecting the enormous demand for these permits. This was the seventh year in a row in which the visa cap was reached in the first five business days.

Last year, USCIS received 190,000 cap-subjected H-1B petitions, 199,000 in 2018 and 236,000 in 2017.The rejection rate for H1B visas for Indian IT companies has been rising in the last few years. The scrutiny too has increased.

Data released by USCIS shows that request for further evidence’ (RFE) for H-1B applications from Indians increased to 72.4% in Q4CY17 from 18.2% in Q1CY17.

The denial rate for H-1B applications increased to 23.6% in Q4CY17 from 18.3% in Q1CY17, possibly due to the US government’s order issued in April 2017 that more Amercians be hired. The higher rate of denials and RFE for skilled visas continued in CY18. The H-1B approval rate was approximately 75% in Q1FY19 against the five-year average of around 90%, while the approval rate for L1 (A/B) dropped to about 74% in Q1FY9 against five-year average of ~82%—a trend similar to that seen for H-1B visas.

Export of software services from India in FY18 were $77.3 billion, not much higher than the $74.3 billion in FY17.

The new rules in USA give preference to professionals with a post-graduate degree from US educational institutions; such professionals would get an opportunity in the 65,000 general category and, if they fail, in the 20,000 advanced degree pool.

The largest market namely USA is likely to maintain “American first” policy due to its popularity amongst US citizens and pressure of public opinion in USA. India’s IT sector is certainly at the cross roads.While demand should pick up over the long term,Indian IT companies have to be well-positioned to cater for the growth in demand in emerging new avenues.

Indian firms have to focus on the emerging areas such as AI, analytics, automation and cloud.

While challenges facing the Indian IT sector are obvious, one is not sure whether Indian IT companies are adequately preparing themselves to meet the requirements of the tasks ahead. It is not easy, as large pool of manpower have to be trained in emerging areas for which support from academic institutions are very much needed.

While some of the large IT companies in India may be preparing themselves for such challenging conditions, most of the IT companies in India are carrying out routine functions and as of now are functioning more as “body shoppers” (selling man power).It is common to read about the IT professionals sitting on bench in USA, awaiting work opportunities. While role of such small IT companies can not be ignored and they are also playing vital role , the question is whether they have the wherewithal to equip themselves with updated skills and have investment capability to do so.

Pharma sector at the crossroads

Indian pharma companies are focused on export market to a considerable extent, not only to USA but also to several other countries. However, focus of export of Indian pharma companies are more on formulations such as tablets, capsules, syrup etc and not on APIs or development of new drugs. Most of the pharma exports are formulated products.

R&D efforts and initiatives in Indian pharma sector is certainly not globally competitive and lags far behind the developed countries.

In recent time, we increasingly hear about Indian pharma companies being subjected to rigorous inspections by regulatory authorities from USA and quiet a number of Indian units have been getting warnings and a few of them have received ban orders for export to USA.

It is seen that the Indian pharma industry is becoming import dependent due to increasing import of APIs(Active pharma ingredients) from several countries, particularly from China. In the case of domestic production of API, it is also seen that the most production is made from penultimate stage by importing the intermediate chemicals and not from the basic stage.This condition certainly weakens the basics of the Indian pharma industry.

Generic drug makers in India took a hit as details of a case filed by 44 US states on alleged drug price manipulation emerged.

Generic drugs are chemically similar versions of innovative drugs and are marketed in the US, once the patent protection period has expired on the innovative drug. The entry of generics results in price erosion of over 90 per cent on the originator’s drug. Generics are often favoured by policymakers to bring down healthcare costs. The allegations of price collusion hurt the Indian generic drug industry.

In the US District Court in Connecticut,it was said that the drug companies were engaged in numerous illegal conspiracies in order to unreasonably restrain trade, artificially inflate and manipulate prices and reduce competition.” The price inflation and manipulation was reported across products and treatments.

Some Indian companies have been caught in the net as investigations threw up communications between different company officials, though sales revealed no excessive behaviour.

Among the twenty drug makers named in the case are Indian generic drug makers including Sun Pharma, Aurobindo, Lupin, Zydus, and Glenmark

The latest development on the generic drug front in USA brings more bad news for the Indian generic drugs industry.

Indian generic drug producers say that the allegations made in these lawsuits are without merit and they would vigorously defend against them.It remains to be seen as to what extent they can succeed

With the US government training its guns on drug companies and escalating prices, the last word is yet to be heard on this legal battle.

What strategies for Indian IT and pharma sector ?

Obviously, the Indian IT and pharma sector have to re invent themselves to meet the challenges and demand of consumers and users.They have to necessarily focus on building up capabilities in emerging areas of technology and reduce their dependence and exposure to traditional technologies.

Further, special and more efforts have to be taken to re skill the employees with regard to emerging technology practices to meet the demand and expectations. Obviously, it implies re assessment of skills that are required, which have to be improved. There is also need to improve the productivity at lower cost in delivering services.

Globally, IBM has set up an example to “re-invent” themselves and meet changing needs of customers. IBM sacked nearly 300 employees from its service division. A majority of these employees were in software services roles. They were let go as IBM focuses on emerging technology capabilities and reduces exposure to traditional services.

Obviously, it is not clear to what extent Indian IT and pharma sectors can meet the challenges ahead by re inventing themselves, which is a time consuming and investment oriented exercise. However, given the compulsions, where they have no alternative, it is well possible that Indian IT and pharma sector may rise upto the level of expectation and needs. One has to keep the fingers crossed

China says French asylum for ex-Interpol chief’s wife ‘abuse of procedure’

Grace, the wife of the missing Interpol president Meng Hongwey, talks to journalists on October 7, 2018 in Lyon during a press conference during which she did not want her face to be shown. Source: JEFF PACHOUD / AFP

@ascorrespondent-16th May

BEIJING said Wednesday France granting asylum to the wife of former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei — who has been charged in China with accepting bribes — would be an abuse of its own legal procedures.

“There is no so-called political persecution,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, days after Grace Meng’s lawyer in France said she had been granted asylum.

“If Meng Hongwei’s wife wanted to apply for political asylum in France, it would be an abuse of French legal procedures.”

Grace Meng, who was given police protection in France after she alleged an abduction attempt at the start of the year, was granted asylum on May 2 along with the couple’s two children, their lawyer Emmanuel Marsigny told AFP.

Meng Hongwei disappeared last September after leaving the French city of Lyon, where Interpol is based, for China.

SEE ALSO: ‘Missing’ Chinese Interpol chief detained over alleged crimes, says Beijing

He later sent his wife a social media message telling her to “wait for my call”, and then a knife emoji signifying danger.

A few weeks later, Interpol was informed that Meng, the first Chinese president at the international police agency, had resigned, with Beijing later announcing he was being held on suspicion of taking bribes.

He was officially charged with accepting bribes last week and Chinese prosecutors said Meng had abused his positions as Marine Police chief and vice minister of public security to illegally obtain “extremely large” amounts of property.

SEE ALSO: Missing China tycoon’s company says ‘operating as normal,’ shares slump 
But his wife said recently that Chinese officials had presented “no proof whatsoever to back up their charges”.

In French media interviews, she has said she fears for her life, and was afraid she and her seven-year-old twins would be the targets of kidnapping attempts.

Meng is among a growing group of Communist Party cadres caught in President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign, which critics say has served as a way to remove the leader’s political enemies.

He has since been replaced as president of Interpol by South Korea’s Kim Jong-yang. © Agence France-Presse

Two Indian climbers die on Mount Kanchenjunga in Nepal

A view of the Kanchenjunga mountain along the Himalayan mountain range on the frontier between Nepal and Sikkim is seen March 14, 2005. Reuters/Files

MAY 16, 2019

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Two Indian climbers died near the summit of Mount Kanchenjunga in Nepal and a Chilean mountaineer was missing on the world’s third highest mountain, their hiking company said on Thursday.

Kanchenjunga is popular with climbers who visit Nepal for the spring climbing season which ends this month.

The Indian climbers were identified as Biplab Baidya, 48, and 46-year-old Kuntal Kanrar, who died overnight at an altitude of about 8,000 metres (26,246 feet).

Pasang Sherpa of the Peak Promotion hiking company said Baidya, who climbed the 8,586 metre (28,169 feet) Kanchenjunga main summit on Wednesday, died due to altitude sickness on the way down. Kanrar died while trying to climb the peak, he said.

Both were from Kolkata.

Sherpa said they lost contact with Chilean Rodrigo Vivanco, who was descending after scaling the same peak on Wednesday afternoon, at an altitude of about 8,400 metres (27,559 feet).

“He was without a guide as he was climbing alpine style and reported that he was low on batteries,” Sherpa said, adding that Vivanco was not using oxygen.

Climbers say Kanchenjunga is a difficult mountain to conquer because of its remote location and is prone to avalanches.

414 million pieces of plastic found on remote island group in Indian Ocean

Debris on Cocos (Keeling) Islands was mostly bottles, cutlery, bags and straws, but also included 977,000 shoes, study says
Plastic waste on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is like the ‘canary in the coal mine’ in warning about the vast amount of litter in the oceans. Photograph: Jennifer Lavers

Ben Smee @BenSmee-Thu 16 May 2019

On the beaches of the tiny Cocos (Keeling) Islands, population 600, marine scientists found 977,000 shoes and 373,000 toothbrushes.

A comprehensive survey of debris on the islands – among the most remote places on Earth, in the Indian Ocean – has found a staggering amount of rubbish washed ashore. This included 414m pieces of plastic, weighing 238 tonnes.

The study, published in the journal Nature, concluded the volume of debris points to the exponential increase of global plastic polluting the world’s oceans and “highlights a worrying trend in the production and discharge of single-use products”.

The lead author, Jennifer Lavers from the University of Tasmania’s Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, said remote islands without large populations were the most effective indicator of the amount of plastic debris floating in the oceans.

“Islands such as these are like canaries in a coal mine and it’s increasingly urgent that we act on the warnings they are giving us. Plastic pollution is now ubiquitous in our oceans, and remote islands are an ideal place to get an objective view of the volume of plastic debris now circling the globe,” Lavers said.

The study found the quantity of debris buried up to 10cm beneath the beach was 26 times greater than the amount visible; that previous surveys that only assessed surface garbage might have “drastically underestimated the scale of debris accumulation”.

Microplastics on the beaches of South Island of the Coco (Keeling) Islands. Photograph: Cara Ratajczak

Lavers led a previous study, published in 2017, that found the remote Henderson Island in the eastern South Pacific was among the places most affected by plastic pollution.

While most of the debris found on Henderson Island was fishing-related, on the Cocos (Keeling)
Islands, the plastic was mostly single-use items such as bottles, plastic cutlery, bags and straws.

“Our excessive and unrelenting demand for plastics, coupled with ineffective policy and waste management, has resulted in myriad negative effects on marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments, including entanglement and ingestion of debris, and subsequent exposure to plastic-associated chemicals,” the report said.

“The Cocos (Keeling) Islands [are] touted as ‘Australia’s last unspoilt paradise’, with tourism a primary source of income for the local community. However, the impact of debris on tourism and [their] beaches is increasingly difficult to avoid.

38m pieces of plastic found on uninhabited Henderson Island

“Sadly, the situation on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is not unique, with significant quantities of debris documented on islands and coastal areas from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Together, these islands and coastal areas reflect the acute symptoms of an otherwise rapidly increasing environmental hazard.”

Items such as shoes and toothbrushes were found in such large quantities, the researchers said it would take the local population about 4,000 years to generate the same amount of waste.

The local community has struggled to find an appropriate landfill site, or other ways to properly dispose of the garbage.

“In the absence of rapid and meaningful change, anthropogenic debris will accumulate on beaches, with impacts increasingly felt by biodiversity and marine plastic mitigation will remain a perpetual game of catch-up,” the report found.

“Mitigation initiatives, including policy, should be mindful of the challenges faced by remote islands, and the communities that reside there.”

 Garbage on the beach on South Island. Photograph: Cara Ratajczak

A co-author of the report, Annett Finger from Victoria University, said global production of plastic continues to increase. The amount of plastic produced since 2006 is almost half that manufactured in the past 60 years.

“An estimated 12.7m tonnes of plastic entered our oceans in 2010 alone, with around 40% of plastics entering the waste stream in the same year they’re produced,” Finger said.
“As a result of the growth in single-use consumer plastics, it’s estimated there are now 5.25 trillion pieces of ocean plastic debris.

“The scale of the problem means cleaning up our oceans is currently not possible, and cleaning beaches once they are polluted with plastic is time consuming, costly, and needs to be regularly repeated as thousands of new pieces of plastic wash up each day.”

Stripped of women’s records, transgender powerlifter asks, ‘Where do we draw the line?’

Mary Gregory rests and checks her digital timer between sets during a workout. (Parker Michels-Boyce for The Washington Post)

 

By Rick Maese-May 16 at 1:33 PM

 

RICHMOND — When Mary Gregory filled out the registration form to compete in a local weightlifting event, she checked the box that read “female” without hesitation.

“I mean, that’s my gender,” she said “I didn’t even think about it. That’s who I am.”

If any eyebrows were raised, Gregory didn’t notice, and on April 27, after months of training, she strode onto the platform at the Best Western hotel just east of Charlottesville and wowed the spectators and fellow powerlifters in attendance. That night she posted a picture on Instagram of herself holding a trophy, telling her 120 followers about the records she set for her age and weight class in the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation, which organized the day’s competition.

“What a day, 9 for 9!” she posted. “Masters world squat record, open world bench record, masters world dl record, and masters world total record! Still processing …”

She continued: “As a transgender lifter I was unsure what to expect going into this meet and everyone — all the spotters, loaders, referees, staff, meet director, all made me welcome and treated me as just another female lifter- thank you!”

The positive feelings would be short-lived. News of the transgender lifter who broke female records began circulating, and just a couple of days later, Gregory was stripped of her titles and barred from competing as a woman.

“She put down female. Clearly, she’s not a female,” said Paul Bossi, 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation’s president. “Not biologically anyways.

“In our rules, we go by biological,” he said. “According to the rules, she can only lift in the men’s division. … I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings but I have to follow the rules.”

He said Gregory never volunteered that she was transgender and event organizers didn’t confirm she’d competed in the wrong category until a post-match drug test was administered.

“We could’ve rectified a lot of this prior had we known,” Bossi said. “In a way, we felt like we were duped.”

Gregory, 44, says she never misled anyone. Two weeks later, she is still hurt and angry, as the larger sports world continues to wrestle with defining and imposing gender classifications, finding a balance for competition that’s both fair and inclusive.

“I felt like they were invalidating my gender and my identity,” said Gregory, who began hormone replacement treatment a year ago and feels she should be allowed to compete alongside any other female.

Gregory’s impressive performance followed by the organization’s swift reversal created an immediate stir in both the LGBTQ and weightlifting communities, prompting heated debates about fairness, physiology and gender traits.

Sharron Davies, a retired Olympic swimmer from England, said that “woman with female biology cannot compete” against a “male body with male physiology.”

“Socially I’m for everyone living the way they wish, safely, not harming others but sport is ALL about biology not ideology,” she tweeted.

Retired middle-distance runner Kelly Holmes, a two-time Olympic champion from England, called the affair “a bloody joke” and said transgender athletes should perhaps have separate competitions. “Otherwise i’m starting to worry about the backlash and abuse that the trans community will get from spectators,” she wrote on Twitter. “It will happen!”

Gregory’s shoulders dropped slightly this week, when she talked about the criticism she’s faced. It’s mostly rooted in ignorance, she said, people who assume because she was born a man that she’s naturally stronger and holds an unfair advantage over female competitors.

“There’s this sense out there that I put on a dress and just stepped on the platform,” she said. “That’s the furthest thing from the truth. I mean, I’ve had to work my ass off.”

Powerlifting is 'just about what you can do and what you might be capable of,' Gregory says. 'That’s such an empowering thing.' (Parker Michels-Boyce for The Washington Post)

'Reality is not that simple’

Sports organizations and governing bodies increasingly are grappling with gender issues, evolving definitions and identifications. At the high school level, transgender athletes have won track races and wrestling matches. Transgender athletes have made headlines in cycling and high-level rugby, where they’ve at times collectively drawn the ire and condemnation from other competitors and event organizers.

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has offended many in the LGBTQ community with some of her comments on the subject. She wrote a piece in The Sunday Times this year, saying, “It’s insane and it’s cheating” and once tweeted (and deleted), “You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women. There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard.” She later apologized for saying transgender athletes are cheating, noting that “all I am trying to do is to make sure girls and women who were born female are competing on as level a playing field as possible within their sport."

For many, the issue revolves around biological advantages, testosterone and equality. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has struggled in recent years to settle on a fair playing field and has overcome legal challenges to institute a rule that puts a limit on testosterone levels for female competitors in some events.

“In sports, it’s traditionally been viewed very simply. There are two categories: male and female. The complication is that biology and reality is not that simple,” said Roger Pielke Jr., director of the Sports Governance Center at the University of Colorado, a critic of the IAAF’s controversial rule and the organization’s research on the subject. “ … I think the first thing to understand is it’s complicated and there are legitimate perspectives on all sides of these issues. Society is obviously changing and evolving, and sport has to accommodate.”

The International Olympic Committee updated its rules in 2016 to allow transgender female athletes to compete against women as long as they can maintain a certain testosterone level. But USA Powerlifting has opted to follow its own more rigid guidelines, barring those competitors from the female classification.

In explaining its decision earlier this year, the organization said, “Men naturally have a larger bone structure, higher bone density, stronger connective tissue and higher muscle density than women. These traits, even with reduced levels of testosterone do not go away. While [male-to-female] may be weaker and less muscle than they once were, the biological benefits given them at birth still remain over than of a female.”

'Too much emphasis is put on testosterone,' says Gregory, here leaving an early-morning workout at Richmond Balance gym. 'There are so many other factors that determine how much you lift.' (Parker Michels-Boyce for The Washington Post)

‘Where do we draw the line?’

A carpenter by trade and male by birth, Gergory was still living as a man then and was looking to lose weight when she started lifting four years ago. When she made the decision to transition to female last year, she began hormone therapy and legally changed her name. Lifting also had become a core part of her identity, a stabilizing force during a period of change and uncertainty. Shehad found a community that both accepted and celebrated her.

“In lifting, you see people of all different shapes and sizes under the bar, and it doesn’t matter what you look like or how big you are, how small you are, how pretty you are,” she said. “It’s just about what you can do and what you might be capable of. That’s such an empowering thing, and it really gave me the strength to handle everything.”

She had no designs on breaking records at the time, and in fact, her lifting suffered. Gregory has been taking hormone treatments for nearly a year — estrogen along with pills that suppress testosterone — and her strength was diminished. “It was like a switch flipped,” she said. She estimates she lost about 100 pounds on her squat and more than 60 pounds on the bench-press in just a few days.

“But I was inspired by other women and thought, ‘Well, they don’t have testosterone and they still lift a lot of weight, so why can’t I?’” she said.

She started focusing on her technique, improving her leverage, tweaking her grip and stance. She visits the gym at least five days a week, lifting for 90 or so minutes before dawn. Gregory said she now has “to work so much harder to lift less,” and feels her strength can’t be attributed simply to testosterone levels or physique.

“Too much emphasis is put on testosterone,” she said. “There are so many other factors that determine how much you lift: biomechanics, better leverages, joints, lengths of bones — where do we stop and draw the line? — socioeconomics and access to nutrition and coaching and gyms.”

Her strength was increasing, and Gregory was looking forward to the April competition, a “masters” event for older lifters that was located less than an hour from her Richmond home. She double-checked the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation’s rule book and saw no mention of gender-based restrictions. The organization is a 20-year-old outfit that prides itself on drug-free competition. Gregory had a doctor’s note for her hormone treatment and because her driver's license and medical paperwork all identify her as female, she hoped there would be no issue.

Bossi, the president of the 100% Raw organization, said he was alerted to Gregory’s application the day before the event by the meet director. Gregory said the meet director knew her from a previous competition, though Bossi said organizers weren’t certain Gregory was the same person they recognized from previous event. Bossi said he told the meet director, “Let the lifter lift, don’t embarrass or insult the lifter. We’ll figure it out afterward.”

Gregory talks with fellow gym member Mel Jones during an early morning workout. (Parker Michels-Boyce for The Washington Post)

Unwelcome attention

Gregory was the only female competing in her age group, and on the platform, Gregory performed nine legal lifts. She squatted 314 pounds, benched 233 and dead-lifted 424. Women have lifted more, but not in Gregory’s age and weight class at an event organized by the 100% Raw organization.

She said fellow lifters, officials and spectators were congratulating her. She shook hands with organizers and thanked them for their kindness. Because of her winning lifts, Gregory automatically was placed into the drug-testing protocol. After an initial test, she said she was approached again.

“They said there was a problem with the sample. ‘We need another one, but this time we need to watch you,’” Gregory recalled. “It was a female referee. I told her, ‘This is kind of awkward. My anatomy doesn’t match who I am. But if that’s what you need to do, fine.'”

According to Bossi, the tests revealed Gregory had male anatomy and had improperly competed in the female division.

The organization didn’t make its ruling until May 1, three days later. Trophies and medals had been passed out, competitors had gone home and news of Gregory’s accomplishments had circulated widely on social media. “

After her initial Instagram post, Gregory started comments from strangers, some skeptical, some vile. “They’d tell me to go kill myself, just all these nasty things,” she said. “I honestly think that the only reason they decided to take the actions they took was because of all the negative attention that it got — I mean, because there were so many people that just don’t understand.”

Bossi said the organization would be creating a category for transgender competitors, perhaps as early as this month, and Gregory would be reclassified there. But that’s not what she wants.

“Because it segregates us,” she said. “I think it’s discrimination. It’s not that different than having a category for tall people or for African Americans or for Hispanics.”

Gregory still has her trophy and said her sense of accomplishment doesn’t stem from any number or record. She said she’ll continue competing and will find events that allow her to check the “female” box on the registration form.

“I can’t quit,” she said. “Lifting is too important to me.”

What Actually Happens When a Country Bans Abortion

Romania under Ceausescu created a dystopian horror of overcrowded, filthy orphanages, and thousands died from back-alley abortions.

Romanian orphans in a Bucharest orphanage shortly after the December Revolution in 1989. KEVIN WEAVER/GETTY IMAGES

BY AMY MACKINNON

 | MAY 16, 2019, 4:38 PM

As lawmakers in Alabama this week passed a bill that would outlaw abortion in the U.S. state entirely, protesters outside the statehouse wore blood-red robes, a nod to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, in which childbearing is entirely controlled by the state. Hours later, the book was trending on Twitter.

But opponents of the restrictive abortion laws currently being considered in the United States don’t need to look to fiction for admonitory examples of where these types of laws can lead. For decades, communist Romania was a real-life test case of what can happen when a country outlaws abortion entirely, and the results were devastating.

In 1966, the leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu, outlawed access to abortion and contraception in a bid to boost the country’s population. In the short term, it worked, and the year after it was enacted the average number of children born to Romanian women jumped from 1.9 to 3.7. But birthrates quickly fell again as women found ways around the ban. Wealthy, urban women were sometimes able to bribe doctors to perform abortions, or they had contraceptive IUDs smuggled in from Germany.

Yet Romania’s prohibition of the procedure was disproportionately felt by low-income women and disadvantaged groups, which abortion-rights advocates in the United States fear would happen if the Alabama law came into force. As a last resort, many Romanian women turned to home and back-alley abortions, and by 1989, an estimated 10,000 women had died as a result of unsafe procedures.

The real number of deaths might have been much higher, as women who sought abortions and those who helped them faced years of imprisonment if caught. Maternal mortality skyrocketed, doubling between 1965 and 1989.

“Sometimes a woman couldn’t even tell her husband or best friend that she wanted to have an abortion as it would put them at risk as well,” said Irina Ilisei, an academic researcher and co-founder of the Front Association, a Romanian feminist group, and the Feminist Romania website.

“For many women, sexuality represented a fear and not a part of life that can be enjoyed,” Ilisei said.
Another consequence of Romania’s abortion ban was that hundreds of thousands of children were turned over to state orphanages. When communism collapsed in Romania in 1989, an estimated 170,000 children were found warehoused in filthy orphanages. Having previously been hidden from the world, images emerged of stick-thin children, many of whom had been beaten and abused. Some were left shackled to metal bed frames.

Nor did the Romanian law do much to achieve Ceausescu’s goal of dramatically increasing the population. “Making abortion illegal will not lead to women having more babies. So if the goal is to bring about more lives and to protect more lives, this is not the instrument to use,” said Maria Bucur, a professor of history and gender studies at Indiana University.

Born and raised in Romania, Bucur describes herself as a product of the abortion ban, after her mother twice failed to have an abortion.

On Wednesday, a day after it was passed by the legislature, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law the country’s strictest abortion law, which bans the procedure at every stage of pregnancy and could send doctors who carry out the procedure to prison for life.

Alabama’s law goes even further than Romania’s, which in principle at least allowed for exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or congenital defect. The new law allows for abortions only when there is a serious threat to the mother’s health.

Romana’s abortion ban was compounded by a ban on contraception, which was not mentioned in the Alabama bill. But the Trump administration took a swipe at birth control in 2017 when it allowed employers to opt out of providing it as part of employee insurance plans on the grounds of religious belief. This decision was halted by a federal judge in January of this year.

The legal tussle between the courts over abortion looks set to continue as anti-abortion groups seek to push through laws they hope will be upheld by a newly conservative Supreme Court, to which U.S. President Donald Trump has appointed two new members. So far this year, over a dozen other states have attempted to outlaw abortions after six weeks of gestation—before many people even realize they are pregnant. Last week, Georgia became the sixth state to successfully pass such a bill. Already, six states in the United States have only one abortion clinic left.

Although the laws may be struck down by the courts, anti-abortion advocates hope that they will eventually reach the Supreme Court to challenge the precedent set by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which enshrined the right to seek an abortion.

Alabama State Rep. Terri Collins, a co-sponsor of the bill, which is now the most restrictive in the country, told the news site AL.com, “My goal with this bill, and I think all of our goal, is to have Roe vs. Wade turned over.”

On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump promised to appoint conservative justices with a view to overturning Roe v. Wade. The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh in October 2018 gave conservative justices a solid majority on the bench, raising the hopes of anti-abortion advocates.

If the Supreme Court were to change its mind on abortion, it would become the prerogative of individual states to decide how to regulate the procedure.

“We need to take into consideration the long-term consequences of legislation like this,” said Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the author of Romania’s Abandoned Children.

Starting in 2000, Nelson examined the impact that Romania’s orphanages had on children in post-communist Romania and found that many were left with severe developmental impairment and mental health issues. For some, their confinement in orphanages even had a physical impact on the size of their brains.

Nelson said that Romania offers a cautionary tale of what happens when a state tries to control reproductive rights. The new Alabama law raises questions about what kind of support the state would provide if someone doesn’t have the option of ending a pregnancy when the fetus is found to have profound birth defects.

“Does the state have the bandwidth to take care of those kids and support the families?” he said in an interview.

When communism collapsed in Romania in December 1989, one of the first acts of the transitional government was to overturn the ban on abortion. Romania remains a highly conservative country, and in recent years there have been renewed calls to outlaw abortion, spearheaded by the influential Orthodox Church and other religious groups.

Bucur, the author of Birth of Democratic Citizenship: Women and Power in Modern Romania, is skeptical that the new movement will gain any political momentum.

“I think the real, raw firsthand memory is still too present in still too many voters. I don’t think there’s any intelligent politicians who would make it happen,” she said.

Ilisei, the Romanian activist, said that she was worried to see parts of the United States—a country that Romania had once looked to as an example—now pursuing new restrictions on abortion. “In 1989, we aspired to build a stable democracy, a pluralistic society, with equality between men and women, and the United States was the main source of inspiration,” she said. “Now that is not the case any more.”