Syria ( Watchdog says Syria most dangerous country for journalists )

             

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

11/28/2013 01:54

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The New York-based group Committee to Protect Journalists cited the case of two kidnapped Swedish journalists.

Syrian opposition fighters drag a rocket launcher near the 80th Brigade base in Aleppo Nov. 13, 2013 Photo: REUTERS

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Tuesday that the civil war in Syria posed the greatest danger for working reporters in conflict areas.

“Syria remains the most dangerous country in the world for journalists,” CPJ said. “At least 55 journalists have been killed covering the conflict since 2011, with local journalists comprising 90 percent of the fatalities.”

The New York-based group cited the case of two kidnapped Swedish journalists.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by a spokeswoman for the Swedish Foreign Ministry, the two had been “taken away” on Saturday. It is unclear whether Syria’s regime or rebel forces kidnapped the men.

CPJ said there were at least 30 local and international journalists missing there.

“The number of journalists currently missing in Syria is nothing short of shocking,” said CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa coordinator, Sherif Mansour.

“We call on all players in the conflict to respect journalists’ status as civilians and ensure their safety.”

Many cases of missing journalists have not been publicized because of family wishes and the probability of damaging complex negotiations to secure their release.

According to the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, the two journalists were Magnus Falkehed and Niclas Hammarstrom. The Paris-based Falkehed worked for the paper as a freelance reporter, and Hammarstrom as a freelance photographer. The paper said they had not been on assignment for the daily when they disappeared.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders issued an extensive report earlier this month titled “Journalism in Syria, impossible job?” According to the report, “more than 110 news providers have been killed in the course of their work in Syria since March 2011 and more than 60 are currently detained, held hostage or missing.”

The difference in statistics between CPJ and Reporters Without Borders is typical in war reporting where civilian deaths and casualty numbers vary according to sources and methods used to track victims.

Reporters Without Borders is an international organization that seeks to expand freedom of information. It released its report to coincide with the six-month date of captivity for Edouard Elias and Didier François, two French TV journalists.

The report noted that Syrian president Bashar Assad’s forces targeted journalists at the outset of the revolt against his regime in 2011. While Assad continues his crackdown on journalists, rebel jihadi groups in northern Syria also aim to kidnap journalists.

Reporters Without Borders placed Assad on its annual list of “Predators of press freedom” in 2011. The Al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra group was added in 2013.

The advocacy organization now seeks to add the al-Qaida-linked ISIS to its list. ISIS controls large swaths of territory in northern Syria and goes to great lengths to target Western and independent journalists working in the country.

Writing for the Daily Beast website on Tuesday, Jamie Dettmer described how Syrian army forces attempted to kidnap him in the Kurdish-controlled region of northeast Syria.

CPJ said Rami al-Razzouk, a journalist for the local news outlet Radio ANA, was abducted by ISIS gunmen in October. In August, Mohamed Nour Matar, a local journalist, disappeared while reporting on a protest against ISIS in the city of Raqqa. He worked for the non-profit media organization Al-Shara, according to CPJ.

Benjamin Weinthal reported for The Jerusalem Post on the Turkey-Syria border, where he entered the Syrian-side of the border town of Jarabulus in September. He is a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

GUATEMALA ( City Councilman Gunned Down in Guatemala )

GUATEMALA CITY – A member of the municipal council in the eastern Guatemalan city of Jalapa was fatally shot by unknown assailants, first responders said Friday.

Carlos Valdez was slain Thursday night in the capital of Jalapa province, fire rescue spokesman Mario Cruz told reporters.

The shooting took place as the councilman was getting into his vehicle in a parking lot, according to the official report. Valdez, 49, took office in January 2012 after winning election on the ticket of a short-lived coalition of the UNE and GANA parties.

Authorities declined to speculate on the motive of the killers.

With an average of 15 homicides a day, Guatemala is one of the most dangerous nations in Latin America.

Buenos Aires ( Sex workers protest " Topless " over legal structure for sex work )

Sex Workers Demand Law to Protect Their Rights

by Chiara Gnoli, 27 November 2013. Tags: AMMAR, law, protest, sex work, sex workers, violence against women

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Ammar members protesting yesterday (Photo: Raúl Ferrari/Télam/aa)

A day after the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which took place on Monday 25th November, the sex worker collective Ammar (Association of Women Prostitutes of Argentina) organised a manifestation in front of the Congress building in Buenos Aires to support the “self-determination of sex workers.” Holding up a poster demanding for a law on autonomous sex work, the demonstrators called for the government to recognise the violence sex workers suffer as a result of a non-existent legal structure for sex work.
Georgina Orellano, the National Coordinator of Ammar, stated: “In the last few years we have been suffering constant persecution, discrimination, abuse, loss of jobs, and police bribery.”
Ammar’s aim through the demonstration was to shed light on the problems sex workers face on a daily basis, including violence and abuse. According to Ammar, a recent crackdown on brothels and the law to criminalise clients are forms of violence towards the sex workers as it denies their self-determination. In Ammar’s online statement, they write: “Banning our right to exercise our work is violence. The impossibility of being able to decide on issues regarding our body is violence…. the constant confusion between trafficking and sex work is violence.”
Orellano stated that the collective does not believe the state helps sex workers as sexual work in Argentina has no legal foundation. She stated that the work “is not prohibited but it’s not permitted” and emphasised that due to this lack of legality there is a void in which sex worker’s rights are denied and their situation is often confused with that of human trafficking victims. Orellano declared that there are many sex workers that become so voluntarily, and are thus in need of protection from criminalisation, discrimination, violence, and abuse.
“Our sector has always been criminalised and stigmatised, there is a lot of prejudice around our work and we wish for society to see us not as victims but as a subjects of rights,” Orellano stated.
Ammar’s protest in the context of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women comes on the same day NGO Casa del Encuentro presented findings on violence against women. According to their findings, a woman is killed every 35 hours in Argentina. 

Mexico ( Amnesty International Blasts Mexico for Inaction on Human Rights Issues )

MEXICO CITY – Twelve months after taking office, the administration of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto “has failed to demonstrate that human rights are its priority,” Amnesty International said Friday.

Abuses, such as forced disappearances, violence against migrants and attacks on rights activists, have gone on with impunity during the first year of Peña Nieto’s six-year mandate, AI’s Mexican chapter said in a statement.

Besides abetting existing rights violations, the new government has presided over increased police brutality toward protesters and a rise in arbitrary arrests, the rights watchdog said.

The few advances, including a crime victims’ bill of rights and the creation of a special missing-persons unit in the Attorney General’s Office, have had no “real impact” on Mexico, according to AI.

The clearest sign Peña Nieto’s administration has not prioritized ending the “epidemic of violence and abuse ... that characterized the (2006-2012) tenure of Felipe Calderon” is that the government put off until next March its review of a set of recommendations from the U.N. Human Rights Council, AI said.

Fully implementing those recommendations, issued last month, “would contribute to mitigating this serious human rights crisis,” Amnesty International said.

Jerusalem ( Toddler injured from rock thrown at car in Jerusalem; 4 arrested )

Police arrest four Arab men between ages of 15 and 20; two-year-old evacuated to hospital in moderate-serious condition.

MDA paramedics evacuating woman to hospital in Jerusalem. Photo: Magen David Adom spokesman

Police arrested four Arab men between the ages of 15 and 20 on Thursday night, following suspicions that they had thrown stones at a vehicle in Jerusalem which left two-year-old Abigail Ben-Zion injured.
In what police believed to be a nationalistically-motivated attack, reports emerged on Thursday that a two-year-old toddler was wounded from an object that was thrown at a car that she was riding in, in the Armon Hanatziv area of Jerusalem on Thursday evening.

Related:

• 5 Arab youths indicted for Molotov cocktail attacks against IDF base

Police national spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said that the police believed the attack was nationalistically motivated. Rosenfeld said that the area Tzur Baher, adjacent to the attack site, was being searched for the perpetrators. He added that stones were thrown on Thursday at a number of vehicles in the area.
Magen David Adom paramedics treated the girl at the scene on Asher Weiner street and transported her to hospital at Hadassah University Medical Center in the city, in moderate condition.
MDA said that the toddler was not fully conscious when they arrived at the scene but that her condition improved on the way to the hospital.
The girl, who was stabilized at the hospital, suffered a head injury.
The girl was riding in the back seat of her family's car with her two brothers when the attack occurred.
Following the attack, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat called for increasing criminal sanctions on stone-throwers.
Barkat also visited the injured toddler in hospital and spoke with the victim's family.
"It must be made clear to everyone that a stone is a weapon for all intents and purposes and it must be viewed this way," Barkat said.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu related to the rock attack as well, pledging Thursday night that Israel would bring the assailants to justice.
"We will protect our city," he said.

Israel NEWS ( The International Fellowship for Christians and Jews will contribute $30 million to program )

The International Fellowship for Christians and Jews will contribute $30 million to program, close to 1/4 of budget.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Education Minister Shai Piron announce Schools of Summer program. Photo: Muki Shwartz

Children across the country will get a shorter summer vacation from school starting next year, according to a plan announced by the Ministry of Education together with Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein’s International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (ICFJ) on Thursday.

Under the plan, from July 1 to July 21, young people studying to become teachers and teachers who choose to, will take over the schools and conduct activities designed to awaken pupils’ creativity such as workshops for reading and writing, sessions on community involvement, environmental education, interactive learning as well as sports, among others. Activities will also revolve around learning about social values.

The initiative, entitled “Schools of Summer”, joins other efforts of Education Minister Shai Piron to ensure that the education system takes responsibility for pupils even when they are not at school. These include this past summer’s ‘Educators around the Clock’ program, a collaboration between the ministry, teachers, local authorities and NGOs which offered a range of activities for students to partake in during the summer.

Senior Vice President of the IFCJ Yael Eckstein told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that the initiative, which she called “historic,” would help children but also parents across the country.

“The children we have helped and continue to help, often come from single parent households that earn the minimum wage,” she said, “Their mum works a double shift to put food on the table and she doesn’t have time to occupy them.”

Eckstein added that the new project will improve the everyday lives of these families during the summer months.

“I know they worry about this all year long,” she said. 

The Fellowship already begun tackling the issue this past summer by establishing summer camps in 50 different communities across the country for children from low-income families to enjoy during the break, close to NIS 16 million were spent on the project.

Eckstein also explained that in partnering with the state on projects such as the summer school, the Fellowship seeks to “enable the government to help more people”

“We don’t want to give funds on projects that would be happening either way,” she said, “The only way the Fellowship would partner with the government on projects is if the government needs extra funds in order to carry out the project.”

“We don’t want to take over the government’s responsibility, we want to fill the gaps,” she added, “My goal is to have projects here in Israel that no one else is doing and get to the people that no one else is getting to.”

The project aims to provide a solution for working parents who are struggling to find arrangements and improvise activities for their children during the summer months.

“This is not just a pilot program, it’s a revolution,” Education Minister Piron said on Thursday.

“Education includes every child everywhere, all year round,” he added, “The 'Schools of Summer' [plan] gives an appropriate and optimized solution to the needs of teachers, parents and pupils.”

Mexico ( Two Catholic Priests " Killed in the Church " stabbed to death )

XALAPA , Ver - The Attorney General of Veracruz ( PGJE ) confirmed that two priests of the parish of the municipality of San Cristóbal Ixhuatlán Madero , in the Huasteca Veracruzana , were killed in the early hours of Friday.


The killing of the priests Hipólito Villalobos Lima and Nicolás Martínez Cruz comes less than two months after the complaint made by the Bishop of Apatzingán , Michoacan, Miguel Patiño Velasquez, in the sense that organized crime has taken over and corrupted mayors police officers in the state.
According to the attorney general of Veracruz, Amadeo Flores Espinoza, this afternoon were arrested four people who could be linked to the murder of the bishops , one of whom was stabbed to death and the other by asphyxiation.
The state official explained that the first data that have shed that members of the Catholic Church were executed inside the rectory , located a few meters from the City Hall and police headquarters.
" As a panel investigating officers to fully clarify the facts are integrated . The four people arrested are already paying his statement to the prosecution , "said the prosecutor in a statement .
Separately, the Diocese of Tuxpan , Veracruz , said the priests were found dead in the " parish " church .
" With deep sorrow we communicate the information received by the father Humberto Arce : Parents of the parish of San Cristobal in Ixhuatlán de Madero , Veracruz, ( ... ) were found this morning , murdered in the parish ," he said in a statement .
Father Hippolytus took possession of the church of San Cristóbal Ixhuatlán on December 3, 2012 , and that same year arrived in the parish vicar Nicholas Cruz .
On 28 September, a priest was attacked with a machete by a subject when I went to receive the Eucharist , in the municipality of City Island, also in Veracruz.
The incident occurred when the pastor gave Tomas Alonso Martinez Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus , located opposite the council offices .
Parishioners were formed to receive the Eucharist , and when he tried to give it to a man, this took a machete and attacked the priest , who was shouting " ' antichrist " and had gone to the temple to do justice .
The priest was admitted to a clinic in town with deep lesions in the left arm and leg , in addition to head injuries , which did not endanger his life.
The attacker, identified as Fernando "N " El Gato , was arrested by members of the Municipal Police, who determined that when the attack was under the influences of drugs .
On 15 October, the Bishop of Apatzingán , Michoacan, Miguel Patiño Velasquez, published a letter in which he indicated that organized crime has taken over city halls and corrupted cops.
In this letter , the prelate gave his vote of confidence in the authorities to end the scourge of insecurity, but questioned the few results so far .
In addition, on October 31 led a pilgrimage to pray for peace in the town .
The fact caused various reactions , including the bishop was guarded by soldiers in military facilities XLIII area before an imminent attack by organized crime.
In this sense , the pastor in charge of the cathedral Apatzingán , Salvador González , announced that at least seven priests of the urban region of the municipality have suffered threats and pressure from organized crime groups .
In the letter, Patiño Velasquez said that although it's small communities and know who the criminals are , no one has done anything.
Authorities possibly know where the criminals are , because "it is not a matter of now or is mysterious ," he said .
In Tamaulipas , the pastor Carlos Ornelas Puga disappeared since last Sunday in March and so far no one knows his whereabouts.
According to a spokesman for the Catholic Church of the entity , the priest assigned to the Diocese of Ciudad Victoria was deprived of his liberty by a group of armed men when he finished a Mass in the town of Jimenez.
The Tamaulipas authorities , he said , ignored the complaint filed with the Attorney General of the state, and was only four days after plagiarism when they decided to act .
He said that on 7 November a convoy of state police was sent to the village to investigate the incident, but the soldiers were ambushed .
In another development , the cleric Santiago Alvarez Figueroa disappeared Dec. 27 while heading to the community of Walls, in the town of Jiquilpan , Michoacan, after a Mass officiated .
Authorities have ruled that the disappearance of the religious has been the product of a car accident and even he and the vehicle were searched traveling on roads and canyons of the area , to no avail .
After the disappearance of the priest, the Diocese of Zamora explained that the last time he knew the priest was on December 27 , at the stroke of 21:00 pm , when contacted by telephone to tell a nun bound for Walls by federal Highway , where all traces were lost.
In this situation , religious , priests , family and faithful of the region and Jacona Jiquilpan have organized to try to find the cleric .
He was also filed a criminal complaint with the Regional Attorney for Zamora , who is investigating the disappearance , no progress so far.
In the government of Felipe Calderón were killed 12 priests , about 162 were threatened with death in one year and about a thousand were victims of extortion, according to a study by the Catholic Church, entitled "Increased aggression against priests in Mexico ."
Manuel Corral , spokesman for the Mexican Episcopal Conference ( CEM ), the governing body of the Catholic hierarchy said with concern : " The organized crime groups seek to intimidate everyone. Already have under their control to many government and police authorities. Now try to break the ecclesiastical authorities , to all who may have some religious leadership. "
The states with the highest incidence of crimes against priests are the Federal District , Chihuahua , Guerrero , Jalisco , Oaxaca , Veracruz , Michoacán , Hidalgo , Aguascalientes, Coahuila and Puebla.
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