The Guardian 25 January, 2006
Global briefs
INDIA: The decommissioned French aircraft carrier Clemenceau, which saw duty during the 1991 Gulf War, is on its way to the Alang scrap yard in Gujarat, India, where workers are to dismantle the 24,200-tonne ship. The ship’s lining, however, is contaminated with about 500 tonnes of asbestos, a known carcinogen and toxic waste. Greenpeace India Toxics campaigner Ramapati Kumar said of the French Government, "Instead of investing in safe removal and disposal of the asbestos on the Clemenceau, they are trying to dupe the Indian Government and dump their toxic wastes onto the poorest of the poor of the world. This is absolutely reprehensible." Environmental activists in India have demanded the ship be thoroughly decontaminated before it is allowed to enter India. To do otherwise, they insist, is a violation of the Basel Convention, an international treaty prohibiting trade and movement of hazardous waste materials. The use and manufacture of asbestos is banned in many European countries, including France.
GUANTÁNAMO BAY: January 11 marked the fourth anniversary of the first transfers of detainees from Afghanistan to the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. To highlight the occasion, Amnesty International released a report containing new allegations of torture and cruel treatment of inmates at the facility, which serves as a detention centre for 500 prisoners. Only nine detainees have been charged with any crime. "The US Government would like to turn Guantánamo into a permanent prison camp with no legal recourse for detainees and to create a permanent legal black hole in which hundreds of individuals are held without being charged", Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, stated. Jumana Musa, a legal observer for Amnesty International, commented, "The US continues to try and assert that Guantánamo is a place that exists sort of beyond the law, that no rules apply." Amnesty has called for an independent investigation. Meanwhile, some detainees are participating in a hunger strike to protest against their detention and harsh living conditions.
INTERNATIONAL: In a report released last week, Doctors Without Borders listed the 10 most under-reported humanitarian crises of 2005. These stories were almost invisible in the US media. Five of the 10 crises were in African countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, southern Sudan, Somalia and northern Uganda. Also listed were Colombia, Haiti, Chechnya, Northeast India and the worldwide AIDS crisis, which hits the poor hardest, the report said. The root of every country-based humanitarian crisis was violent conflict. The consequences: extreme poverty, illness, malnutrition, displacement of hundreds of thousands and complete disruption of normal, everyday life. The most vulnerable are young girls, women and children.