UN chief sought Sri Lankan cooperation
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein of Jordan, on September 8th urged Sri Lanka to cooperate with the international probe mandated by the Human Rights Council. He took charge as UN High Commissioner for Human rights from Navi Pillay. He encouraged the Sri Lankan authorities to cooperate with this process in the interests of justice and reconciliation.
Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ravinatha Aryasinha responded reiterating Sri Lanka’s categorical rejection of the resolution and its call for a ‘comprehensive investigation’ by the OHCHR.
Sri Lanka has been in the spotlight ever since the Human Rights Council in March 2014 adopted a U.S.-backed resolution calling for a probe into the island’s rights record, where India abstained from voting. The Sri Lankan government however rejected the resolution, and said it would not offer any cooperation.
UN High Commission
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a United Nations agency that works to promote and protect the human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The office was established by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 1993 in the wake of the 1993World Conference on Human Rights.
World Bank warns of global jobs crisis
The world is facing a global jobs crisis that is hurting the chances of re-igniting economic growth and there is no magic bullet to solve the problem, the World Bank warned on 8th September. In a study released at a G20 Labor and Employment Ministerial Meeting in Australia, the Bank said an extra 600 million jobs needed to be created worldwide by 2030 just to cope with the expanding population.
As this report makes clear, there is a shortage of jobs, and quality jobs. He said that overall emerging market economies had done better than advanced G20 countries in job creation, driven primarily by countries such as China and Brazil, but the outlook was bleak.
The report, compiled with the OECD and International Labor Organization, said more than 100 million people were unemployed in G20 economies and 447 million were considered "working poor", living on less than US$2 a day.
It said despite a modest economic recovery in 2013-14, global growth was expected to remain below trend with downside risks in the foreseeable future, while weak labour markets were constraining consumption and investment.
The persistent slow growth would continue to dampen employment prospects, it said, and warned that real wages had stagnated across many advanced G20 nations and even fallen in some.
Ukraine offered autonomy
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed on 10th September that Russia had withdrawn most of the troops it allegedly snuck across the border to bolster pro-Kremlin rebels, and vowed greater autonomy for the separatist east in order to sustain a fragile new truce. He also said that the recent ceasefire agreement, backed by both Kiev and Moscow since the conflict erupted five months ago — had dramatically improved security in the war-ravaged industrial rustbelt.
Back ground
Russia intervened in Ukraine on several fronts following the events of the February 2014 Ukrainian revolution and the success of the Euromaidan movement which led to the disputed impeachment of President Viktor Yanukovych. Following the ouster of Yanukovych government, a secession crisis erupted in the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. In late February, unmarked soldiers gradually took control of Crimea. The local population and the media referred to these men as "little green men". These men were identified as Russian Special Forces and other paramilitaries, although the Russian government initially denied involvement. After this take-over, Russia annexed Crimea following a disputed status referendum. Several months later, as Russian-backed separatist insurgents fought a war against Ukrainian forces in the Donbass region of Ukraine, unmarked troops and military vehicles from Russia crossed into Ukraine, reinforced the insurgents, and opened a new front on the coast of the Sea of Azov.
During the Crimean crisis, the Russian government insisted that the anti-Ukrainian government forces that took control of the autonomous republic did not include Russian troops stationed in the area, but local self-defence forces. Despite this, Russian president Vladimir Putin admitted on 17 April that Russian troops were active in Crimea during the status referendum, and said that this facilitated self-determination for the peninsula. In mid-April, the United States accused Russia of responsibility for unrest in eastern and southern Ukraine and the subsequent war in the Donbass region, which the Russian Foreign Ministry also denied. Many of the separatist insurgents are Russian citizens, and American and Ukrainian officials said they had evidence of Russian interference in Ukraine, including intercepted communications between Russian officials and Donbass insurgents.
There is also evidence that indicates the Buk missile system, widely believed to have been used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on the 17 July, came from Russia. The SBU claims key commanders of the rebel movement during this time, including Igor Strelkov and Igor Bezler are Russian agents. In late August NATO released satellite images which it said showed evidence of Russian operations inside Ukraine with sophisticated weaponry. After the heavy defeat of Ukrainian forces by early September it was evident Russia had sent soldiers and armour across the border and locals acknowledged the role of Putin and Russian soldiers in effecting a reversal of fortunes.
U.S., EU intensify sanctions on Russia
The US and the European Union have decided to "intensify" their coordinated sanctions on Russia in the defense, finance and energy sectors as punishment for its illegal actions in Ukraine, President Barack Obama said on 11th September.
The US and EU are implementing these new measures in light of Russia's actions to further destabilize Ukraine over the last month, including through the presence of heavily armed Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, he said. The new EU sanctions will also add 24 more Russian officials and rebel leaders to a blacklist, subjecting them to visa bans and asset freezes.
Western help to Ukraine
The US says it is supplying Ukraine with non-lethal military equipment, including radios, vehicles and "non-lethal individual tactical gear". The US is also sharing some intelligence information with Ukraine, the New York Times reports. But that does not include real-time data on potential targets, the paper's sources say. Ukraine is not in NATO - so that restricts the kind of military help the West can provide legally. There are unconfirmed reports that US military advisers have been helping Ukraine in its major offensive against the rebels in July-August.
The EU has put in place a wide-ranging economic support package for Ukraine, to help Kiev manage its debts and balance-of-payments problems.
Obama orders air strikes in Syria against IS
President Barack Obama told Americans on 10th September he had authorized U.S. airstrikes for the first time in Syria and more attacks in Iraq in a broad escalation of a campaign against the Islamic State militant group.
Obama's decision to launch attacks inside Syria, which is embroiled in a three-year civil war, marked a turnabout for the president, who shied away a year ago from airstrikes to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for using chemical weapons against his own people.
Obama asked Congress to authorize $500 million to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels. The training would take place in Saudi Arabia. It is unclear whether more American weapons and training can shift the battlefield balance toward the U.S.-backed rebels, who are badly outgunned by Islamic State, other militant groups and Assad's forces.
Obama plans to expand the list of targets inside Iraq beyond several isolated areas. The U.S. military has launched more than 150 airstrikes in Iraq in the past month to help halt Islamic State advances.
The new target list will include Islamic State's "leadership, logistical and operational capability," as well as an attempt to "deny it sanctuary and resources to plan, prepare and execute attacks," the White House said.
Obama will send 475 more American advisers to help Iraqi forces, which will bring to 1,600 the number there. Obama, determined to avoid a repeat of the Iraq war, stressed they would not engage in combat.
The president laid out his emerging plan for tackling the group two weeks after coming under fire for saying: "We don't have a strategy yet" for the group in Syria and six months after declaring that groups like Islamic State were minor players.
What is IS?
Islamic State (IS) is a radical Islamist group that has seized large swathes of territory in eastern Syria and across northern and western Iraq. Its brutal tactics - including mass killings and abductions of members of religious and ethnic minorities, as well as the beheadings of soldiers and journalists - have sparked fear and outrage across the world and prompted US military intervention
What does IS want?
The group aims to establish a "caliphate", a state ruled by a single political and religious leader according to Islamic law, or Sharia. Although currently limited to Iraq and Syria, IS has promised to "break the borders" of Jordan and Lebanon and to "free Palestine". It attracts support from Muslims across the world and demands that all swear allegiance to its leader - Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
What are its origins?
IS can trace its roots back to the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who set up Tawhid wa al-Jihad in 2002. A year after the US-led invasion of Iraq, Zarqawi pledged allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and formed al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which became a major force in the insurgency.
After Zarqawi's death in 2006, AQI created an umbrella organization, Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). ISI was steadily weakened by the US troop surge and the creation of Sahwa (Awakening) councils by Sunni Arab tribesmen who rejected its brutality. After becoming leader in 2010, Baghdadi rebuilt ISI's capabilities. By 2013, it was once again carrying out dozens of attacks a month in Iraq. It had also joined the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, setting up the al-Nusra Front.
In April 2013, Baghdadi announced the merger of his forces in Iraq and Syria and the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis). The leaders of al-Nusra and al-Qaeda rejected the move, but fighters loyal to Baghdadi split from al-Nusra and helped Isis remain in Syria.
At the end of December 2013, Isis shifted its focus back to Iraq and exploited a political stand-off between the Shia-led government and the minority Sunni Arab community. Aided by tribesmen, the group took control of the central city of Falluja.
In June 2014, Isis overran the northern city of Mosul, and then advanced southwards towards Baghdad. At the end of the month, after consolidating its hold over dozens of cities and towns, Isis declared the creation of a caliphate and changed its name to Islamic State.
Back ground for Syria conflict
Over the past three years, more than 100,000 Syrians have lost their lives in the escalating conflict between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule. The bloody internal conflict has destroyed whole neighborhoods and forced more than nine million people from their homes.
The conflict has its roots in protests that erupted in March 2011 in the southern city of Deraa after the arrest and torture of some teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. When security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing several, more took to the streets. The unrest triggered nationwide protests demandingPresident Assad's resignation.
The government use of military force to crush the dissent merely hardened the protesters' resolve. By July 2011, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets in towns and cities across the country
Opposition supporters eventually began to take up arms, first to defend themselves and later to expel security forces from their local areas. The country descended into civil war as rebel brigades battled government forces for control of cities, towns and the countryside. Fighting reached the capital Damascus and second city of Aleppo in 2012. In July 2013, the UN said more than 100,000 people had been killed. It has stopped updating the death toll, but activists say it now exceeds 140,000.
A UN commission of inquiry has been investigating all alleged violations of international human rights law since March 2011. It has evidence showing that both sides have committed war crimes including torture, hostage-taking, murder and execution
Before the uprising began, the Syrian military had one of the world's largest stockpiles of chemical weapons, comprising more than 1,000 tones of precursor chemicals and chemical agents, including sulphur mustard and sarin.
The government insisted the toxic arsenal was secure and would never be used "inside Syria", but reports of chemical attacks began to surface in early 2013.
Then on 21 August 2013, rockets filled with sarin were fired at several suburbs in the Ghouta agricultural belt around Damascus, killing between 300 and 1,430 people. The opposition and Western powers said it could only have been carried out by the government. President Assad blamed rebels for the deaths, but within weeks he agreed to a US and Russian deal that is hoped will see the removal and destruction of Syria's chemical weapons by the end of June 2013.
US urges Turkey to join anti-IS coalition
US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence on 12th September of building a broad coalition including Arab and European nations against Islamic State jihadists, on a visit to Turkey which has refused to allow strikes on the extremists from its territory. The top US diplomat also voiced Washington's opposition to Iran joining a conference on the Iraq crisis in Paris
Kerry held talks in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of a push to establish a coalition of more than 40 countries to defeat the IS militants in Iraq and Syria.
But he added that while Turkey and the US stand together in regional challenges, Ankara's role in the anti-IS campaign would be determined later France meanwhile will host an international conference on Iraq aimed at coordinating actions against the IS militants. The decision to host the conference came after US President Barack Obama vowed this week to expand operations, including to Syria.
Turkey, a NATO member and Washington's key ally in the region, has been reluctant to take part in combat operations against IS militants, or allow a US-led coalition to use its airbases for strikes against the jihadists.
Turkey has been accused of indirectly encouraging the formation of IS with its wholehearted support of Islamist elements within the Syrian rebellion against Assad. IS militants now hold 49 Turks hostage, including diplomats and children, abducted from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq in June.
In this regard, Turkey will continue to share intelligence with the United States, give logistical support to the Syrian opposition and humanitarian aid to the victims of the war in Syria, it added.
Kerry's visit comes a day after 10 Arab states, including heavyweight Saudi Arabia, agreed in Jeddah to rally behind Washington in the fight against IS. Although Turkey was represented in the meeting by its foreign minister, it did not sign the communique.
On arriving in Ankara, Kerry said that the US would provide an additional $500 million (385 million euros) in humanitarian aid to victims of the war in Syria, bringing total US assistance to $2.9 billion since the start of the conflict in 2011.
So far, 10 states in the Middle East have declared a "shared commitment" to President Obama's plan to tackle the extremist group.
Honor for Bangladesh and Timor-Leste
The World Health Organization (WHO) honored Bangladesh and Timor-Leste with South East Asia Regional Award for Excellence in Public Health. The newly instituted awards were presented to Saima Hossain of Bangladesh and National Malaria Control Programme of Timor-Leste in Dhaka on 10 September 2014.
Saima Hossain was conferred the Award in the individual category for leadership in advancing the cause of Autism in South East Asia and worldwide. She is a chairperson of National Advisory Committee on Neuro development and Autism in the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare of Bangladesh.
The National Malaria Control Programme of Timor-Leste was conferred the Award in the region category for its aggressive anti-malaria effort which has drastically reduced malaria cases in Timor-Leste.
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