Digest

Digest

UNHCR: Permit Gazans to Flee Across Borders

The UN official responsible for refugees, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres, has declared that civilians who wish to flee fighting in the Gaza Strip must be allowed to pass across borders.  Both parties should not deny access at their borders to anyone attempting to avoid the fighting.  In addition, he called on both Israelis and Palestinians to abide by international humanitarian principles in all conduct.

A variety of organs of the UN have expressed increasing concern over the continuing violence in Gaza.  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, in addition to Mr. Guterres, have pressed for an end to the fighting and for increased access for humanitarian aid workers and supplies.

Although humanitarian efforts through agencies like UNICEF and the World Food Programme are ongoing, the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen.

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Digest

UN Secretary General Calls for an Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza

Addressing the Security Council on January 6, 2009, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, called for an immediate ceasefire. Ki-moon’s recommendations were made particularly in light of the deadly Israeli strike of a United Nations School where hundreds of Gazans had sought refuge. Referring to the damage caused to the United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees for the Near East (UNRWA) run schools, he stated as follows: “These attacks by Israeli military forces which endanger UN facilities acting as places of refuge are totally unacceptable, and should not be repeated. Equally unacceptable are any actions by Hamas militants which endanger the Palestinian civilian population. Today’s events underscore the dangers inherent in the continuation and escalation of this conflict. I call once again for an immediate ceasefire.”

Ki-Moon also pointed out that earlier he had met the United States President, George W. Bush and explained to him the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire. The Secretary General announced that he would be traveling to Israel and Palestine next week, but that the ceasefire cannot wait until then. Emphasizing the gravity of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza he observed: “Entire families have perished in the violence, including women and children, UN staff, and medical workers. There are no shelters for the vast majority of the civilian population. Food and fuel supplies are insufficient. A million people have no electricity. A quarter of a million have no running water.” Welcoming the French and Egyptian resolution for a ceasefire, he stated that third parties will have to play a major role in achieving and implementing any ceasefire and ensuring successful relief and reconstruction work in Gaza.

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Digest

Secretary of State Presses for Cooperation in Mumbai Attack Investigations

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice visited India and Pakistan last week in the wake of the November 26 terrorist attacks on Mumbai in which gunmen killed more than 170 people. Rice pledged U.S. support to India’s investigation of the attacks and emphasized the importance of cooperation in international counterterrorism efforts between India, the U.S., and Pakistan.

“I know that this is a very difficult time for the people of India, for the people of Mumbai, but I hope that it is a time also when you can feel the sense of solidarity and support that is there in the international community from your friends,” Rice said during a joint press conference with Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Kumar Mukherjee.

Rice declined to respond to accusations that the gunmen were linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Kashmir-based group on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, stating she would not, “jump to any conclusions about who is responsible.” However, Rice said that the U.S. expects “all responsible nations to participate and cooperate in bringing these perpetrators to justice,” noting that “Pakistan has a special responsibility to do so.”

Rice also met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other top officials. Meanwhile, Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and his security advisers in order to help coordinate security efforts and defuse regional tensions. U.S. security experts, including FBI forensics investigators, have been deployed to the region to support the investigation.

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Digest

United States Supports Resuming NATO-Russia Relations

While attending a conference in Belgium on December 2, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed the United States’ support of a gradual, informal resumption of contacts between NATO and Russia.  She stated, “This isn’t an issue of isolating Russia, but it is an issue of what kinds of contacts are appropriate.  And I think this is a completely appropriate thing for the alliance to do.”

Relations between NATO and Russia were suspended in August following the Russian-Georgian crisis.  The resumption of relations was also supported by NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and other foreign ministers attending the conference.

Though Georgia and Ukraine have yet to be offered an official invitation to join NATO, Rice stressed that their eventual membership remains important to the U.S.

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Digest

Court Orders Five Guantanamo Bay Detainees to be Released

A federal judge has ruled that the United States lacks adequate evidence to justify holding five Algerians detained as terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon rejected government claims that there was enough evidence to continue detaining the men, who have been held in Guantanamo for nearly seven years after being arrested in Bosnia.  “Seven years of waiting for our legal system to give them an answer to a question so important is, in my judgment, more than plenty,” Judge Leon said.

The men released by Judge Leon’s order – Lakhdar Boumediene, Mohamed Nechla, Hadj Boudella, Mustafa Ait Idir and Saber Lahmar – were among a group of detainees who won the right to challenge their detention in U.S. federal courts in an earlier Supreme Court ruling. In October, another federal judge ordered a separate group of Chinese Muslims released after a federal court hearing.

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Digest

ICJ Will Hear Croatia v. Serbia Case

On November 18, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that it had jurisdiction, on the basis of Article IX of the Genocide Convention, to entertain the case concerning Croatia’s Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia). The ICJ rejected the Republic of Serbia’s three preliminary objections: that the Court lacked jurisdiction ratione materiae because Serbia was not itself a party to the Convention at the date of filing of the Application; that the Court had no jurisdiction over claims based on acts before 27 April 1992; and that some of the claims were beyond the jurisdiction of the Court.  Next, the Court will set the time for further proceedings.

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