UN Calls for Greater Efforts Against Forced Disappearances
The United Nations is demanding greater efforts to achieve truth, justice and reparation for victims of forced disappearances, on the 20th anniversary of the declaration adopted by the General Assembly in this respect.
We must break the cycle of impunity that often surrounds such crimes, emphasized the U.N. working group in charge of that problem, in its message to mark the anniversary.
The members of that team regretted that the concern expressed two decades ago is still valid in the present because forced disappearances continue in some countries.
They warned that such cases occur particularly in situations of conflict and inner turmoil or “as a tool in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.”
They stressed that political will is essential for the prevention and eradication of disappearances and called upon states to make greater efforts to eliminate this scourge and turn it into a crime of the past.
In this regard, they recommended increasing prevention efforts and developing updated records of all detainees existing in prisons, accessible to families and lawyers of the prisoners.
The declaration adopted 20 years ago enabled the international community to believe that enforced disappearance constitutes a heinous crime that puts people outside the protection of the law, said members of the UN working group.
Every act of this nature is an affront to human dignity and undermines the deepest values of any society committed to the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, they stressed.
The group consists of Frouville Olivier (France), Ariel Dulitzky (Argentina), Jasminka Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Osman El-Hajjé (Lebanon) and Jeremy Sarkin (South Africa) and was created by the UN former Human Rights Commission.
Iran to Continue Uranium Enrichment
Iran will not cave in to external pressure and halt 20-percent uranium enrichment, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Tuesday.
Western countries led by the United States suspect Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program, but Tehran insists it needs the enriched uranium for peaceful energy generation.
“The Islamic Republic will not stop 20-percent uranium enrichment at the demands of other countries,” Fereydoun Abbasi Davani was quoted by Iranian news agencies as saying.
Abbasi’s remarks follow media reports saying that the next round of negotiations between Iran and a group of international mediators could take place in January 2013.
The IAEA has said an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program could be achieved in January.
Chinese Officials Fired for Handling Crisis Inappropriately
Chinese authorities fired six officials from Guangshan county, due to their poor performance in a critical case in which an insane man stabbed 23 children and an elderly woman.
An official communiqué confirmed that two school principals, two police officers, a local security official and the director of the Department of Education in the county, in the central province of Henan, lost their jobs during the course of the investigation into the incident.
Although the causes of the expulsions were not explained, the officials were fired after the incident was strongly condemned by local media and social networks, due to the lack of responsibility and indifference shown by local officials after the tragedy.
Last Friday, a 36-year-old man, apparently suffering from mental problems, stabbed an 80-year-old woman in Guangshan and then broke into a nearby school and injured 23 children.
The attacker, who was identified as Min Yingiun, was subdued by a teacher who hit him with a stick, and was captured with the help of other educators and the police. He was charged with endangering public security.
The county government said on Monday that Min told the police that he had attacked the children when he heard rumors about the end of the world, an issue that has great repercussion in rural areas in China.
Authorities have tried to persuade people in those regions by explaining that it is just a myth.
The behavior and indifference by local authorities, who ignored the calls and messages from Chinese media, acquired relevance after a report from Xinhua news agency, according to which, the education officials in Guangshan were playing with their computers as they were interviewed by reporters.
The newspaper Xinyang, which responds to the government of that city, did not report on the children attacked. On the other hand, it published an article lauding the work by education authorities in Guangshan county, raising people’s protests.
Via PL