UN Security Council urged to refrain from making deals that help Iranian regime survive

UN Security Council urged to refrain from making deals that help Iranian regime survive
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Updated 03 November 2022

UN Security Council urged to refrain from making deals that help Iranian regime survive

UN Security Council urged to refrain from making deals that help Iranian regime survive
  • Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi also called on all countries to withdraw ambassadors from Tehran and reduce their diplomatic presence there
  • More than 300 people killed, 14,000 arrested in regime crackdown on ongoing peaceful protests, figures human rights watchdogs describe as conservative estimates

NEW YORK CITY: The people of Iran are asking Western governments, and especially the US, to refrain from making any deals with the Iranian regime that might help to ensure its survival, the UN Security Council heard on Wednesday.

The government in Tehran will use any funds it receives from international agreements not to improve the welfare of its people but to buy more weapons and cause more destruction domestically and in the wider region, council members were warned.

Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, also urged “governments of the free world” to withdraw their ambassadors from Iran and reduce their level of diplomatic representation there to that of charges d’affaires.

She called on the UN to appoint a commission of inquiry, similar to the one set up by the organization in Myanmar, to investigate the Iranian regime’s most recent crimes and rights violations.

She was speaking at a Security Council meeting convened by Albania and the US, who said the objectives were to highlight the ongoing repression of women, girls and members of religious and ethnic minorities in Iran; the regime’s “unlawful use of force against protesters, (its) pursuit of human rights defenders abroad and its attempts to abduct or assassinate them;” and to identify ways to promote “credible, international, independent investigations into the Iranian government’s human rights violations and abuses.”

The wave of anti-government protests sweeping Iran was sparked by the death in police custody on Sept. 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year old woman from Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, who was arrested three days previously for failing to follow strict rules on head coverings.

Since the latest demonstrations began, at least 300 protesters have been killed and more than 14,000 arrested during the regime’s brutal crackdown on the dissent. Human rights watchdogs describe the figures as conservative estimates.

Lawyers and journalists reportedly have been detained for supporting or reporting on the protests. Hundreds of those arrested are charged with offenses that potentially carry the death penalty. Meanwhile the government is blocking the internet in most of the country.

Independent experts at the UN have denounced the actions of the Iranian government as part of “a continuum of long-standing, pervasive, gender-based discrimination embedded in legislation, policies and societal structures” and expressed support for “the establishment of an international investigative mechanism to ensure accountability in Iran and to end the persistent impunity for grave human rights violations.”

Ebadi told the meeting on Wednesday that the efforts of the Iranian people to change the situation in the country and force reforms have constantly “hit a hard wall but now (Iranians) will not settle for anything but a democratic and secular government.”

Nazanin Boniadi, a Tehran-born British actress and activist, told council members that in 14 years of working with human rights campaigners she has never witnessed “such widespread and committed opposition to the Islamic Republic’s regime as there is in Iran today.”

She said: “While Iran has become accustomed to mass protests nearly once every decade, neither the student protests of 1999 nor the green movement of 2009, or even the most more recent November 2019 protests, compare in fervor or magnitude to the current protests, in which for the first time since the inception of the theocracy in 1979, people are not only openly opposing 83-year old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which they started to do in 2017, but are actively fighting back to defend themselves against the security forces, and tearing down billboards and burning pictures of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini.

“Iranians, and the world, have repeatedly been hoodwinked to think that presidential elections, which have never been free or fair, would make a difference for them. But elections in Iran are a theater.

“The rise of the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi, who has been a pillar of the oppressive state and implicated in crimes against humanity, and whose leadership harks back to 1980s Iran, is proof enough that a culture of impunity reigns supreme in Iran.”

Boniadi said the future of Iran will be “written by its own people, on its own streets” but added that no country can stand alone in pursuit of freedom and self-determination. She therefore called on the Security Council to assist the people of the nation in their time of crisis “because the Islamic Republic isn’t just a threat to its own people; its human rights abuses have become one of its primary exports.”

She said: “The catalog of abuses by the regime in Iran and around the world is well documented.

“The Islamic Republic regime has taken foreign hostages to use as political bargaining chips and has intimidated, abducted and assassinated dozens of dissidents beyond its borders, including recent attempts on the lives of prominent writers and activists just miles away from where we’re currently gathered.”

She called for global unity as she expressed the belief that “the potential for the current protests to transform Iran from theocracy to representative government could be a geopolitical game changer” and “the single most important key to bringing about stability in the Middle East.”


34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks in two days

34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks  in two days
Updated 25 March 2023

34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks in two days

34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks  in two days
  • According to UN data, at least 12,000 migrants who have reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period of 2022

TUNIS: At least 34 African migrants were missing on Friday after their boat sank off Tunisia, the fifth shipwreck in two days, raising the total number of missing to 67 amid a sharp increase in boats heading toward Italy, Tunisian officials said.
The Italian coast guard said on Thursday it had rescued about 750 migrants in two separate operations off the southern Italian coastline, hours after at least five people died and 33 were missing in an attempted sea crossing from Tunisia.
Tunisian Judge Faouzi Masmoudi said that seven people had died in the boat capsizes off the coast of the city of Sfax, including babies and children.
Houssem Jebabli, an official at the National Guard, said the Coast Guard had stopped 56 boats heading for Italy in two days and detained more than 3,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries.
According to UN data, at least 12,000 migrants who have reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period of 2022. Previously, Libya was the main launch pad for migrants from the region.
The coastline of Sfax has become a major departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East for a shot at a better life in Europe.
Tunisia is struggling with its worst financial crisis due to stalled negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan amid fears of a default in debt repayment, raising concerns in Europe, especially in neighboring Italy.
Tunisia has been gripped by political upheavals since July 2021, when President Kais Saied seized most powers, shutting down parliament and moving to rule by decree.
Europe risks seeing a huge wave of migrants arriving on its shores from North Africa if financial stability in Tunisia is not safeguarded, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday. Meloni called on the IMF and some countries to help Tunisia quickly to avoid its collapse. “If we do not adequately address those problems we risk unleashing an unprecedented wave of migration,” he said.

 


Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas

Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas
Updated 24 March 2023

Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas

Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas
  • Amer Ismail Hilal: ‘The UAE has supported the Syrian people since the quake first struck the country’

LATAKIA, Syria: Latakia’s governor has lauded the UAE’s efforts to rescue those affected by the earthquake that hit several cities in Syria last month, the Emirates News Agency reported on Friday.
“The UAE has supported the Syrian people since the quake first struck the country,” Amer Ismail Hilal was quoted as saying. He added that the support included search and rescue teams, as well as humanitarian aid.
Hilal highlighted the deep-rooted relations between the two countries, underscored by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s visit to the UAE last Sunday.
On behalf of Latakia governorate, Hilal thanked the UAE’s government and people for the continuous efforts of the Emirates Red Crescent field teams.


African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown

African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown
Updated 24 March 2023

African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown

African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown
  • ‘We need evacuation, Tunisia is not safe, there’s no future here when you have this color, it is a crime to have this color’

BEIRUT: Weeks after a violent crackdown on migrants in Tunisia that triggered a perilous rush to leave by smuggler boats for Italy, many African nationals are still homeless and jobless and some say they still face racist attacks.

Outside the UN refugee agency in Tunis, dozens of African migrants stood protesting this week by the temporary camp where they have lived, including with children, since authorities urged landlords to force them from their homes.

“We need evacuation. Tunisia is not safe. No one has a future here when you have this color. It is a crime to have this color,” said Josephus Thomas, pointing to the skin on his forearm.

In announcing the crackdown on Feb. 21, President Kais Saied said illegal immigration was a criminal conspiracy to change Tunisia’s demography, language the African Union described as “racialized hate speech.”

US Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf said Saied’s comments had unleashed “attacks and a tidal wave of racist rhetoric,” with rights groups saying hundreds of migrants reported being attacked or insulted.

Saied and Tunisia’s foreign minister have rejected accusations that he or the government are racist and they announced steps to ease visa regulations for Africans and reminded police of anti-racism laws.

While the official crackdown appeared to end weeks ago, migrants say they still face abuse.

“People told me ‘since you are in our country after the president’s speech, don’t you have any dignity?’ I kept silent and they told me I am dirt,” said Awadhya Hasan Amine, a Sudanese refugee outside the UNHCR headquarters in Tunis.

Amine has lived in Tunis for five years after fleeing Sudan and then Libya with her husband. Now 30, she has been living on the street outside the UNHCR headquarters since local people pelted her house in the capital’s Rouad district with rocks.

“We want to live in a place of safety, stability and peace. We don’t want problems in Tunisia,” she said.

Although some West African countries evacuated hundreds of their citizens earlier this month, many remain stuck in Tunisia, unable to support themselves let alone afford passage home or pay smugglers hundreds of dollars to ferry them to Europe.

“Tunisia is an African country. Why do they do racist things to us?” said Moumin Sou, from Mali, who was sacked from his job working behind a bar after the president’s speech and was beaten up the next day by a man in the street who stole his money.

Sou wants to return home, he said, but many others are determined to travel on to Europe.

In the wake of the crackdown, in which police detained hundreds of undocumented migrants and authorities urged employers to lay them off and landlords to evict them, smuggler crossings to Italy have surged.

Tunisian National Guard official Houssem Jbeli said on Wednesday alone the coast guard had stopped 30 boats carrying more than 2,000 people. On the same day and the following day four boats sank, with five people drowned, authorities said.


540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF

540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF
Updated 24 March 2023

540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF

540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF
  • The agency pleads for more aid as a child dies every 10 minutes

JEDDAH: More than 540,000 children under the age of 5 in Yemen are suffering life-threatening severe acute malnutrition and a child dies every 10 minutes from preventable causes, the UN said on Friday.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF warned that it could be forced to slash support for children in Yemen without a funding boost.

A total of 11 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance, UNICEF says.
It said it required $484 million to continue assistance this year, but the UN raised only $1.2 billion for all its agencies in Yemen at a pledging conference in Switzerland last month, well short of the $4.3 billion target.
“The funding gap UNICEF continued to face through 2022 and since the beginning of 2023 is putting the required humanitarian response for children in Yemen at risk,” the organization said said.
“If funding is not received, UNICEF might be forced to scale down its vital assistance for vulnerable children.”

The conflict in Yemen began in 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized the capital, Sanaa, in a coup. An Arab coalition intervened the following year to support the legitimate government, and launched their first assaults against Houthi positions on March 26, 2015.
A truce expired last year, but fighting has remained largely on hold.
More than 11,000 children are known to have been killed or maimed since the conflict escalated in 2015.
Fighting in Yemen has triggered what the UN describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian tragedies. Itsays more than 21.7 million people, two-thirds of Yemen's population, will need humanitarian assistance this year.
 


Rare anti-Houthi protests in Yemen after activist’s death

Hundreds of angry demonstrators are seen carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on March 23
Hundreds of angry demonstrators are seen carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on March 23
Updated 24 March 2023

Rare anti-Houthi protests in Yemen after activist’s death

Hundreds of angry demonstrators are seen carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on March 23

SANAA: Rare protests have erupted against Yemen’s Houthi rebels following the funeral of a popular critic found dead after he was detained by the group.
Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of angry demonstrators carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on Thursday.
Eyewitnesses, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal, said the Thursday protests spanned several neighborhoods and protesters were heard chanting “No Houthis after today.”
Activists have accused the rebel authorities of abducting, torturing and killing Hamdi Abdul Razaq, who spoke out against the Houthi authorities in videos posted on Youtube. Followers knew him by his profile name, “Al-Mukohl.” He was reported dead by authorities late last week. His family have not commented on the incident.
In a series of videos, Abdul Razaq openly criticized Houthi rule, branding its administration as corrupt and repressive.
Houthi forces, who control Sanaa and most of northern Yemen, have cracked down on dissent in their territories. Some who oppose them have been charged for working with Saudi Arabia, which is part of the coalition battling the Houthis.
Yemen’s devastating conflict began in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. The coalition intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power.
In a statement following Thursday’s protest, the Houthi authorities claimed Abdul Razaq had been detained for insulting another influential family in the area. On Sunday, he escaped through a bathroom window of the police station and was found in a half-constructed building later that day, it said.
In a statement Thursday, the head of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, Rashed Al-Alimi, offered his support to the protesters and said a monthly stipend would be given to Abdul Razaq’s family.
Mohammed Ali, a high-ranking Houthi official, later said on Twitter that a committee had been set up to further investigate the incident.
His death comes amid a string of similar reported incidents. Earlier this year, a fruit and vegetable vendor from northern Houthi-held territories was abducted and killed, whipping up widespread anger across the divided country.
On Tuesday four activists were handed prison terms, ranging from six months to three years, by a Houthi court for their criticism of the Iran-backed rebels on social media, a lawyer said.