By: Al Jazeera The arrests come before a planned protest by South Africa’s third-largest party against the country’s economic woes. South African security forces say 87 people had been arrested in the last 12 hours across the country over public violence before planned protests by the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party. The EFF, the third largest party in the country, has called for a national shutdown to protest crippling power cuts and demand the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa. “No one can stop a revolution,” EFF leader Julius Malema told supporters on Friday. Ports, parliament, border crossings and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, among others, will be targeted as key protesting points, Malema has said. The party draws heavy support among poor and working-class Black South Africans who feel left out of the country’s prosperity since the governing African National Congress (ANC) ended white minority rule in 1994. Authorities said there would be a heavy police presence to deal with any possible violence. The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJOINTS) said in a statement that of the 87 arrested, 41 were in Gauteng, the province which includes the capital Pretoria and the main city Johannesburg, 29 were in North West province and 15 in Free State. There have also been arrests in other provinces such as Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape. Parliament said in a statement on Sunday that the South African military would deploy 3,474 soldiers for a month until April 17 to prevent and combat crime in cooperation with the police. “Law enforcement officers are on high alert and will continue to prevent and combat any acts of criminality,” NatJOINTS said. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/20/south-african-authorities-arrest-87-ahead-of-anti-government-protest © 2023 Al Jazeera Media Network

More than two million Palestinians have been left with limited access to clean water, something the United Nations is raising alarms about. Palestinians queue to fill containers with water in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 14, 2023, as bombs fall on Gaza for an eighth straight day [Mahmud Hams/AFP] The United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians has said water has now become a “matter of life and death” for people in the Gaza Strip after Israel cut their water supplies. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on Saturday that more than two million people are now at risk as water runs out. “It has become a matter of life and death. It is a must: fuel needs to be delivered now into Gaza to make water available for two million people,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. No humanitarian supplies have been allowed into Gaza for a week now, according to the agency. Clean water is running out in the Gaza Strip as its water plant and public water networks stopped working. Palestinians are now forced to use dirty water from wells, increasing the risk of waterborne diseases. Israel has also enforced an electricity blackout on Gaza since Wednesday, which has impacted the water supply. Meanwhile, thousands have moved out of northern Gaza after Israel ordered them to do so amid its air attacks, something the UN called “impossible”. Nearly one million people have been displaced since last week. “We need to truck fuel into Gaza now. Fuel is the only way for people to have safe drinking water. If not, people will start dying of severe dehydration, among them young children, the elderly and women. Water is now the last remaining lifeline. I appeal for the siege on humanitarian assistance to be lifted now,” added Lazzarini. Last Friday, the Palestinian armed group Hamas launched a surprise multi-pronged assault on Israel, which killed at least 1,300 people. Israel then began pounding the enclave of Gaza, dropping thousands of bombs that have killed at least 2,215 Palestinians. UNRWA also said its shelters in Gaza are no longer safe, something it called “unprecedented”. “Wars have rules. Civilians, hospitals, schools, clinics and United Nations premises cannot be a target. UNRWA is sparing no efforts to advocate with parties to the conflicts to meet their obligations under international law to protect civilians including those seeking refuge in UNRWA shelters,” it said. “This war should be no exception. Protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure including UN buildings applies to this conflict, too.” Efforts are under way by organisations and governments to deliver humanitarian assistance to many, including hundreds of thousands of children, who urgently need it. © 2023 Al Jazeera Media Network

Without international support, more children who bear no responsibility for the crisis will die, UN agency warns. The UN tally is surely an undercount of the real toll because many more child deaths and injuries go unrecorded [File: Yahya Arhab/EPA-EFE] At least 10,000 children have been killed or injured in Yemen in violence linked to years of war in the impoverished country, the United Nations children’s agency said on Tuesday. “The Yemen conflict has just hit another shameful milestone: 10,000 children have been killed or maimed since fighting started in March 2015. That’s the equivalent of four children every day,” UNICEF spokesman James Elder told a UN briefing in Geneva, where he urged an end to the fighting. The figure only included child victims whose fates were known to the organisation and there were countless others, Elder said. He added the verified tally collected by the UN provided what is surely an undercount of the real toll because many more child deaths and injuries go unrecorded. “UNICEF urgently needs more than $235m to continue its life-saving work in Yemen till mid-2022,” Elder said. “Otherwise, the agency will be forced to scale down or stop its vital assistance for vulnerable children. Funding is critical. We can draw a clear line between donor support and lives saved. But even with increased support, the war must come to an end.” The UN has long considered Yemen as home to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The country on the Arabian Peninsula faces the combined troubles of protracted conflict, economic devastation, and crumbling social and health services, as well as underfunded UN assistance programmes. Children play at a makeshift camp for internally displaced people in Marib province [File: Reuters] Funding needed The UNICEF spokesman warned at current funding levels, and without an end to fighting, UNICEF could not reach all the children in the country. “There is no other way to say this, without more international support, more children – those who bear no responsibility for this crisis – will die,” he said. “Four out of every five children need humanitarian assistance. That’s more than 11 million children.” In addition, “400,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition. More than two million children are out-of-school. Another four million are at risk of dropping out,” said Elder. The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 when Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year. Tens of thousands of people have died and millions more have been displaced. © 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network

At least two civilians and attacker killed in the first attack targeting the military base in Mogadishu, officials say. A suicide bomber's explosives were detonated outside a Turkish military training base in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, killing at least two people, police said on Tuesday. It was the first time the Turkish base in Mogadishu, Turkey's largest overseas military base, had been attacked by the al-Qaeda-linked rebel group al-Shabab. The Somalia-based group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Radio al-Furqan, one of the group's radio affiliates. Somali government spokesman Ismail Mukhtar told Anadolu news agency that security guards shot the bomber who was trying to enter the military facility. "He pretended to be a trainee at the Turkey-Somali military academy but was shot and exploded outside the camp, killing himself and two civilians," Mukhtar said. He added no Somali soldiers or Turkish nationals were killed or injured in the attack. Police Captain Mohamed Hussein said the attempted bombing occurred as new military cadets were doing their morning drills. Turkey has a significant presence in Somalia and operates one of a number of foreign military training operations in the Horn of Africa nation long destabilised by conflict. Al-Shabab controls parts of southern and central Somalia and often targets the capital with suicide bombings. Source: Al Jazeera and News Agencies

Report says about 130,000 Rohingya live under ‘squalid and abusive’ conditions and calls for an end to their ‘arbitrary detention’. Rohingya refugees gather near the fence at the 'no man's land' zone in Maungdaw district in Myanmar's Rakhine State in 2018 [File: Nyein Chan Naing/EPA] Approximately 130,000 Rohingya Muslims who remain in refugee camps in Myanmar’s conflict-torn Rakhine state live under “squalid and abusive” conditions, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday urging that their “arbitrary and indefinite” detention be ended immediately. HRW said the mass detention of the mostly Muslim Rohingya in camps was like an “open prison”. “The Myanmar government has interned 130,000 Rohingya in inhuman conditions for eight years, cut off from their homes, land, and livelihoods, with little hope that things will improve,” said Shayna Bauchner, author of the report. Before 2017, there were an estimated one million Rohingya in Myanmar. They have lived in the country for generations, but the government considers them migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and has refused to grant them citizenship or even refer to them as Rohingya. In 2017, a brutal military crackdown forced some 750,000 Rohingya to flee across the border into Bangladesh in violence that is now the subject of genocide charges against Myanmar at the United Nations’ top court. Of the more than 250,000 Rohingya left in Myanmar, at least 100,000 have been living in refugee camps having been displaced during an earlier wave of violence in 2012. Tens of thousands of other Rohingya live in villages spread across Rakhine. But they are fearful of the military, which keeps a constant watch on their communities. Compounding their problem is a parallel conflict between the military and the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed group, which has intensified over the last year and displaced tens of thousands of people in the state. ‘Not liveable’ The new 169-page HRW report published on Thursday said that of the tens of thousands of Rohingya living in the refugee camps and camp-like communities, many experience “severe limitations” on their livelihoods and their movement. “The camp is not a liveable place for us,” a Rohingya man was quoted as saying in the report. Rakhine is subject to an internet blackout and remains off-limits to foreign journalists unless they travel in a prearranged trip with government minders. Al Jazeera found people living in squalid conditions and in constant fear of the authorities during a media trip to the state earlier this year. The HRW report said that the living conditions in the camps had “increasingly threatened Rohingya’s right to life and other basic rights,” adding that the community faces higher rates of malnutrition and other health problems. The group called on the international community to exert more pressure on the government of Myanmar and hold officials accountable for the alleged abuses. Over 100,000 Rohingya have been living in refugee camps in Myanmar’s Rakhine State after being displaced during an earlier wave of violence in 2012 [File: Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP] The report draws on more than 60 interviews with Rohingya as well as Kaman Muslims and humanitarian workers which took place from late 2018. Among the rights abuses recorded were the denial of freedom of movement such as the establishment of checkpoints and barbed-wire fencing around Rohingya camps and villages, as well as “widespread extortion”. Those found outside the camp were also reportedly subjected to torture and other abuse by security forces, the report said. “Life in the camps is so painful” another Rohingya man was quoted as saying. “There is no chance to move freely .… We have nothing called freedom.” HRW accused the Myanmar government of using the earlier 2012 violence against Rohingya communities as a “pretext” to segregate and confine the population from the rest of the population. In April 2017, the government announced that it would begin closing the camps. But HRW said that actions later taken by the authorities only perpetuated the segregation of the Rohingya, denying them the right to return to their land, rebuild their homes, find work, and take their place back in Myanmar society. The report said that the “sense of hopelessness in the camps” had become pervasive, with not one Rohingya interviewed expressing the belief that their indefinite detention would end. “I think the system is permanent,” a Rohingya woman said. “Nothing will change. It is only words.” Further complicating the situation for the Rohingya is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has prompted the government to impose more restrictions on movement as part of an effort to contain the spread of the disease. Bauchner, the author of the report, called on Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the military to take the necessary steps to grant more freedom to the Rohingya who remain in the country. “The government’s claims that it’s not committing the gravest international crimes will ring hollow until it cuts the barbed wire and allows Rohingya to return to their homes, with full legal protections,” she said. © 2020 Al Jazeera Media Network

The UNAMID peacekeeping mission was deployed in Darfur in 2007 to end a bitter conflict that erupted in 2003. A joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region will end on Thursday, after more than 13 years of operation. The UNAMID in a statement on Wednesday said the Sudanese government will take the responsibility of providing security and services to citizens in the region. “As of 1 January 2021, UNAMID’s troops and police personnel will focus on providing security for the mission’s drawdown activities, personnel and assets,” the mission said. “UNAMID will have a period of six months to undertake the drawdown, which will be conducted in a phased manner,” it said. Last week, the 15-member Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to terminates the mission, outlining a six-month phased pull-out of troops with a complete withdrawal by June 30. The mission was deployed in Darfur in 2007 to end a bitter conflict that erupted in the western region in 2003 between government forces and rebel groups. According to the UN website of the peacekeeping mission, there are currently some 4,000 troops, 480 police advisers, 1,631 police, 483 international civilian staff and 945 national civilian staff on the ground. Conflict spread in Sudan’s western Darfur region from 2003 after mostly non-Arab rebels rose up against Khartoum. Government forces and mainly Arab militia that moved to repress the revolt were accused of widespread atrocities. An estimated 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million displaced. Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was deposed by the military in April 2019 after months of protests against poor economic conditions and al-Bashir’s authoritarian, 30-year rule. A transitional government was formed under a three-year power-sharing agreement between the military and civilian groups that is meant to lead to free and fair elections. In June, the Security Council established a UN political mission to assist Sudan’s political transition, support the peace processes, aid peace-building, civilian protection and rule of law, in particular in Darfur and help coordinate humanitarian aid and development assistance. Many Darfuri residents say UNAMID has not effectively protected them, but they fear its withdrawal will leave them more vulnerable and have staged protests in recent weeks. On Sunday, thousands of displaced people in the region protested against the UN decision to end the UNAMID mandate. The protesters, mostly displaced women and children, want the peacekeepers to stay. Adam Regal, a spokesman for a local organisation that helps run refugee camps in Darfur, told the Associated Press news agency that the UNAMID exit would create a “security vacuum” in a region with several active militia groups. In October, Sudan’s transitional authorities finalised a peace deal with some rebel groups from Darfur. But the agreement excluded the group that has been most active on the ground. Earlier this week, tribal clashes in the troubled region killed at least 15 people, forcing authorities to deploy more troops, the state-run news agency reported. The unrest poses a challenge to authorities in the capital, Khartoum, who are trying to end the country’s long-running rebellions as part of a fragile transition to democracy. See article here © Al Jazeera

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing says the military will hold an election and hand over power to the winning party. A protester holds a placard with an image of Myanmar military ruler Senior General Min Aung Hlaing [AP Photo] Myanmar’s new military rulers have imposed a curfew in the country’s two biggest cities and banned gatherings of more than five people, as they seek to stop growing protests against last week’s military coup. The decrees issued on Monday came as Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, in a televised address to the nation, called on the public to prioritise facts and not feelings and repeated the claim that there were irregularities in November’s election that were ignored. The military ruler’s remarks were his first since he led the coup against de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government on February 1, in a move that has sparked widespread protests and triggered international condemnation. The army has announced a one-year state of emergency and on Monday announced new restrictive measures, including the banning of rallies and gatherings of more than five people, along with motorised processions. Martial law was also imposed in parts of Yangon and Mandalay and other townships in Myanmar, a country previously ruled by the military for 49 years after a 1962 coup. Also on Monday, military authorities warned of action against protesters, saying there had been violations of the law and threats of force by groups “using the excuse of democracy and human rights”. “Action must be taken according to the law with effective steps against offences which disturb, prevent and destroy the state’s stability, public safety and the rule of law,” said a statement read by an announcer on state-run MRTV. The generals had previously tried to justify their takeover on the grounds of election fraud and had promised a new poll. Min Aung Hlaing reiterated that position in his address on Monday, saying the military government would form a “true and disciplined democracy” different to previous eras of military rule. The general said his military government would hold new elections as promised in a year and hand over power to the winners, and explained its intended policies for COVID-19 control and the economy. Ronan Lee, author of Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide, told Al Jazeera that Min Aung Hlaing’s speech was “utterly tone deaf to the obvious frustration and anger that’s been demonstrated in the towns, cities and villages across Myanmar for the last week”. “Hundreds of thousands if not millions of people have been protesting about the coup and Min Aung Hlaing’s response astoundingly seemed to blame the democratically elected government of not being appropriately committed to democracy as one cause for the coup,” Lee said. “He then suggested that the economic environment for investment would be good under the military. This is during the week when multinational corporations are running away from Myanmar.” Senior General Min Aung Hlaing addresses the nation on live television [Screenshot/Reuters TV] Growing protests Demonstrations against last week’s coup had intensified on Monday and spread to more towns and cities, with tens of thousands joining a third day of street protests to denounce the military’s actions including the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate whose National League for Democracy (NLD) party won the November polls in a landslide. In the capital, Naypyidaw, where Myanmar’s top civilian leaders are believed to be held, videos posted on social media on Monday showed police firing brief bursts of water cannon to try and disperse peaceful protesters gathered on a highway. Three lines of police in riot gear stood on the road as the crowd chanted anti-coup slogans and told police they should serve the people, not the military, according to media and a live feed of events. Police placed a sign on the road saying that live ammunition could be used if demonstrators breached the third line of officers. In Yangon, nurses, teachers, civil servants and monks joined anti-coup demonstrations. Some held signs denouncing the coup and calling for democracy, as others flew multicoloured Buddhist flags alongside red banners, the colour of the NLD. Kyaw Zin Tun, an engineer protesting in Yangon, told the AFP news agency he was at the rally because he remembered the fear he felt growing up under the military rule during his childhood in the 1990s. “In the last five years, under democracy government, our fears were removed. But now fear is back again with us, therefore, we have to throw out this military junta for the future of all of us,” the 29-year-old said. People demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon [Stringer/Reuters] Thousands also marched in the southern city of Dawei and in the capital of far northern Kachin state, Myitkyina – the massive crowds reflecting a rejection of military rule by diverse ethnic groups, even those who have been critical of Aung San Suu Kyi and accused her government of neglecting minorities. Monday’s demonstrations came a day after tens of thousands of people protested against the coup in cities and towns across the country, in the biggest show of public dissent since a 2007 revolt by monks that was brutally suppressed by the military. A year later, the generals held a referendum on a newly drafted constitution, which made sure the military maintained considerable power but opened the door to a civilian government. A quasi-civilian government took power in 2011, and four years later the NLD swept to victory at polls. UK, EU propose UN special session Separately on Monday, the United States said it stood with the people of Myanmar and supported their right to assemble peacefully. “We join them in demanding the immediate and full restoration of the democratically elected government,” Ned Price, US State Department spokesman, told reporters. Earlier, the United Kingdom and the European Union requested that the United Nations Human Rights Council hold a special session in response to the continuing political crisis in Myanmar. “The United Kingdom would like to inform all colleagues that together with the European Union, we have submitted a request for a special session on the human rights implications of the crisis in Myanmar,” Julian Braithwaite, the UK’s ambassador in Geneva, told a council organisational meeting. People hold up placards as they join a rally to protest in Yangon [Stringer/Reuters] Braithwaite said the call was “in response to the state of emergency imposed in Myanmar, the arbitrary detention of democratically elected politicians and civil society by the military”, which he said had “grave implications for human rights in the country”. “We must respond urgently to the plight of the people of Myanmar and the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation there,” he said. Braithwaite said the backers of the special session call would inform other council members soon about the drafting of a resolution on the issue. He said the motion had the support of an additional 19 of the council’s 47 members. That means in principle that the request would fulfil the requirement for the backing of at least a third of the council’s members, paving the way for a special session before the next regular council session, which kicks off on February 22. © 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network

Rights groups warn the people could face persecution if they are returned to military-ruled Myanmar. There are an estimated 180,000 refugees, who are registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia, the vast majority from Myanmar, while thousands more await registration [File: Darren Whiteside/Reuters] Rights groups are urging the Malaysian government to halt plans to send more than 1,000 Myanmar people currently in immigration detention back to Myanmar despite the political turmoil triggered by the military coup on February 1. Malaysia said this week that it had accepted Myanmar’s offer to send the navy to bring back 1,200 people who are currently held in its detention centres. ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said the government should “immediately suspend” the planned repatriation, saying it was “abhorrent” that Malaysia was willing to allow the people to be returned. Malaysia’s immigration chief, Khairul Dzaimee Daud, says the group includes people with “invalid documents” or who have overstayed their permits, and could leave Malaysia for Myanmar on board three navy ships as early as February 23. The government has said that no Rohingya refugees will be deported. However, UNHCR’s Malaysia office has been unable to enter immigration detention centres since August 2019 to verify whether people are in need of its protection. People from Myanmar currently make up more than 85 percent of all refugees in Malaysia. Amnesty International Malaysia said it was “aghast” at the plan. “The Malaysian immigration authorities claim their ‘repatriation program’ does not involve refugees or asylum seekers, but how have they determined this if the UN has been prevented from accessing people in immigration detention for over one and a half years?” asked Amnesty International Malaysia’s Executive Director Katrina Jorene Maliamauv. “The Malaysian government is recklessly imperilling the lives of over 1,000 Myanmar people by deporting them under a curtain of secrecy to a country in the middle of a coup marred by human rights violations.” Describing Malaysia’s plan to cooperate with the generals who seized power in Myanmar this month as “utterly abhorrent”, Chamnan Chanruang, a member of APHR and former member of Thailand’s parliament, said many of the deportees could be refugees and asylum seekers who would be put back “into the hands” of the very military that had prompted them to flee their country. He urged Malaysian authorities to immediately grant access to the UN refugee agency to verify the identities and status of those in immigration detention centres, and ensure “that nobody requiring international protection is returned to Myanmar.” Malaysia ‘pandering’ to coup leaders There were nearly 180,000 refugees registered with UNHCR in Malaysia at the end of December. Thousands more are awaiting registration. Rohingya, who are mostly Muslim, make up the largest group of refugees, but Malaysia is also home to other ethnic minorities, including the Chin whose state in the far west has been affected by the conflict in the neighbouring state of Rakhine. Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and does not have a legal framework to protect refugees, leaving refugees and asylum seekers vulnerable to detention as undocumented migrants. “It is therefore believed that there may nevertheless be refugees and asylum seekers among those scheduled to be deported who were arrested in mass immigration raids by Malaysian authorities last year,” APHR said. The group warned the deportees could face persecution on their return. Myanmar’s military seized power nearly three weeks ago, claiming there had been electoral fraud during parliamentary elections last November. It has detained the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other politicians and activists, sparking nationwide protests. Instead of “pandering” to the Myanmar military coup leaders and putting more lives at risk, Malaysia should instead work with its ASEAN neighbours to help protect the lives of the Myanmar people protesting against the coup, said Teddy Baguilat, an APHR board member and a former congressman in the Philippines. Myanmar’s military seized power on February 1, following unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud during parliamentary elections last November [AP Photo] “The coup is threatening the lives of all vulnerable communities. There is no doubt that the risk of further discrimination and violence against ethnic and religious minorities, including the Rohingya, is high. We know what the Myanmar military is capable of in terms of human rights abuses,” Baguilat said. Malaysia’s Lawyers for Liberty also urged the government to “at the very least” delay the deportation process “until and unless it can provide” the UN access to the 1,200 deportees “to ensure that they are indeed merely economic migrants and not vulnerable or oppressed peoples”. The group said that if the government fails to do so, it may “unknowingly violate” the principle of non-refoulement, a provision in international human rights law that prohibits the return of individuals to a country where they would face torture, punishment and other irreparable harm. The group also said such an action would “legitimise” the military power grab in Myanmar, after Malaysia’s stance criticising the coup. © 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network

British lawyer Karim Khan is sworn in as ICC’s chief prosecutor and pledges to improve court’s track record. Karim Khan, 51, took an oath to serve his nine-year term honorably and impartially during a ceremony in The Hague. [File: Michael Kooren/Reuters] British barrister Karim Khan took over as the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor on Wednesday with a pledge to improve its track record by taking only its strongest cases to trial. Khan, who is only the third person to hold the role, faces many challenges at a time of fierce political pressure on the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal. He takes over from Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, whose nine-year term ended Tuesday. The ICC is handling a number of sensitive cases, including in the occupied Palestinian territory and Afghanistan, and members of the prosecutor’s office were personally targeted by US sanctions while Donald Trump was president. Under Trump, Washington opposed decisions by Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, to examine war crimes allegations in Afghanistan, including against US troops, and alleged atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories by Israeli troops, Palestinians and other armed groups. The sanctions have been dropped, but US and Israeli opposition to the court remains. ‘Building stronger cases’ Khan, 51, took an oath to serve his nine-year term honorably and impartially during a ceremony in The Hague. He said one of his main tasks would be improving the performance of the prosecutor’s office. ICC chief judge Piotr Hofmanski said during the swearing-in ceremony that being prosecutor was a “tough job” but hailed Khan’s “outstanding credentials”. Khan also pledged to reach out to nations that are not members of the court and to try to hold trials in countries where crimes are committed. World powers the United States, Russia and China are not members and do not recognize the court’s jurisdiction. “The priority for me, and I believe that’s the principle of the Rome Statute, is not to focus so much on where trials take place, but to ensure that the quest for accountability and inroads on impunity are made,” Khan said, referring to the treaty that founded the court, in his first speech after taking his oath of office. “The Hague itself should be a city of last resort,” he said. “Wherever possible, we should be trying to have trials in the country or in the region.” Since opening in 2002, the ICC has convicted five men for war crimes and crimes against humanity, all African militia leaders from Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mali and Uganda. Sentences ranged from nine to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors dropped or lost at least three major cases, or failed to gather enough evidence in others to proceed to trial. “Opening preliminary examinations, requesting authorization or commencing investigations is a start, but as we say in English the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We have to perform in trial,” Khan said. “We cannot invest so much, we cannot raise expectations so high and achieve so little, so often in the courtroom,” he said. “We need a greater realization of what is required… Building stronger cases and getting better cases in the courtroom.” Already short of resources, the ICC is dealing with 14 full-blown investigations and eight preliminary examinations. Khan also inherits investigations opened in countries including Myanmar, the Philippines and Ukraine. Most recently, Khan led a United Nations team investigating atrocities in Iraq, telling the Security Council last month that he uncovered “clear and compelling evidence” that members of ISIL (ISIS) committed genocide against the Yazidi minority in 2014. ‘Critical phase’ The ICC was set up nearly 20 years ago as a full-time successor to the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals and several separate international tribunals into situations such as the former Yugoslavia. But it has long faced criticism on a number of fronts, ranging from alleged bias, its initial focus on cases involving Africa, the large pay packets for judges and the length of time taken to bring suspects to justice. “The ICC is in a crucial phase, it has faced criticism for not being as effective as states have wished,” Carsten Stahn, international criminal law professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands, told the AFP news agency. Bensouda had a number of setbacks, with former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo being cleared of crimes against humanity, while former DRC vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba was acquitted on appeal, and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta had charges against him dropped. But she recently secured high-profile convictions against Ugandan child soldier-turned-Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen and Congolese strongman Bosco “Terminator” Ntaganda. In her farewell statement, Bensouda said that she had “made my decisions, with careful deliberation – but without fear or favour. Even in the face of adversity. Even at considerable personal cost”. © 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network

Police use tear gas, water cannon and rubber-coated bullets to disperse protesters trying to march on PM Prayuth’s office. Anti-government demonstrators burn mock body bags, representing casualties of the coronavirus outbreak, and a puppet depicting Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in Bangkok. [Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters] Police used tear gas, water cannon and rubber-coated bullets to disperse protesters trying to march on Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s office to demand he resign over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic effect. Some protesters attacked police and eight police officers and at least one reporter was injured during the clashes on Sunday, police said. Police did not say if any protesters were injured but said 13 protesters were arrested. Protest organisers called for the demonstration to end just after 6pm (11:00 GMT) but a standoff between the police and hundreds of protesters continued for several more hours before the police dispersed the crowd just before the start of a 9pm (14:00 GMT) curfew that is in force in the Thai capital. More than 1,000 people joined the demonstration. Police intervened with force after some protesters tried to dismantle barbed wire and metal barricades set up by the authorities to block roads from Democracy Monument to Government House where the prime minister works. Deputy police spokesman Kissana Phathanacharoen said the protesters attacked police with “ping-pong bombs, slingshots and firecrackers”. Street protests against the prime minister have been held in recent weeks by several groups, including Prayuth’s former political allies, as frustrations grow over the mounting coronavirus infections and the damage the pandemic has done to the economy. Thailand reported 11,397 infections and 101 deaths on Sunday, bringing the cumulative total to 403,386 cases and 3,341 fatalities, the vast majority from an outbreak since early April that is being driven by the highly transmissible Alpha and Delta COVID-19 variants. The protest marked one year since the first of a wave of large-scale street protests led by youth groups that attracted hundreds of thousands of people across the country. The momentum of those protests stalled after authorities began cracking down on rallies and detaining protest leaders, and after new waves of COVID-19 infections broke out. © 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network

Al Jazeera January 21, 2022 Interviewed by Raqib Hameed Naik Prof. Juan Mendez, First Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide (photo credit: American University) Dozens of Hindu religious leaders and politicians gathered last month for a meeting in Hardiwar, a prominent pilgrimage site for Hindus in the northern Uttarakhand state, where multiple speakers called on the community to arm themselves for a genocide against the Muslim minority. “Even if just 100 of us become soldiers and kill two million of them, we will be victorious,” Sadhvi Annapurna Maa of the far-right Hindu Mahasabha (Grand Assembly of Hindus) told a cheering crowd at the event. The videos of the meeting went viral on social media, sparking outrage and prompting calls for the arrest of those who openly called for the killings. In the month since, two speakers have been arrested while others roam free as the police say they are investigating the matter. Meanwhile, experts have raised an alarm. During a congressional briefing in the United States, Professor Gregory Stanton, the founder of Genocide Watch, warned in unambiguous words that a “genocide could very well happen in India”. In August last year, Stanton, who has modeled 10 Stages of Genocide, put India on the 8th stage, i.e. persecution of a community. The remaining two stages are extermination and denial. Juan E Mendez is the first United Nations Special Adviser on Prevention of Genocide (2004-2007), appointed by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He also served as the president and commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and as the UN Special Rapporteur on torture. Currently, he is a professor of human rights law at the American University in Washington, DC. Mendez has termed the situation in India, home to 200 million Muslims, “dangerous” and “deeply disturbing”. Al Jazeera spoke to him about the explicit calls for genocide against the minority and what the international community, including the UN, can do to prevent it. Al Jazeera: How do you see calls for violence by Hindu extremist leaders in the Hardiwar meeting? Juan E Mendez: I see them with a lot of concern, especially in the context where there have been decades of hostility towards the minority communities. The calls for active violence are much more dangerous and part of the equation, and particularly in this context, it could lead to some people taking those calls seriously, acting on them, and provoking others, too. In this case, I would look for the worst, which is noting that these speeches were made by non-state actors, i.e. people who claim to represent their ethnic group, who act as if it is protected speech and under freedom of expression, like if it was just an opinion. After all, making calls for killing millions in any legal context is a crime, the crime of threats at the very least. And so, if there is no appropriate response to it by the government, then I think the international community needs to demand action to limit the possible effects of speech of that sort. Al Jazeera: The US-based Genocide Watch and its founder Gregory Stanton have issued a genocide alert for India. Is India moving into a zone where the word “impending genocide” could be used? Mendez: I think Genocide Watch is a very prestigious organisation and its opinion should be carefully considered. Stanton’s 10 Stages of Genocide is a highly respected way of anticipating and preventing genocidal crimes. The usefulness of this model is that it calls for attention to not only the fact that there are populations at risk – in this case, the Muslim minorities in India – but also to the actions that need to be taken for retardation of that situation. The organisation does its work by not senselessly just applying a model but analysing the facts on the ground. But let me say, as a former adviser on the prevention of genocide, that I agree this sort of genocide calls and expressions are of international concern. Al Jazeera: India ratified the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1959 that criminalises genocide and enforces its prohibition. With many Hindu extremists who called for genocidal violence still roaming free and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintaining a conspicuous silence, is India in breach of its obligations to the Genocide Convention? Mendez: The Genocide Convention of 1948 is about the prevention of genocide and it imposes on all states and nations the obligation that they have the power to do all that is required to prevent genocide from happening. The convention is not all explicit for specific preventive actions that are to be taken but it is understood that the government is at the first line when it comes to preventing a genocide, especially those who have ratified the convention. So, it is the responsibility, in fact, the duty of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to monitor the situation and respond appropriately to such calls for violence against any of the minorities, especially against the population at risk and to deploy forms of protection for them. One of them obviously is to investigate, prosecute and punish those who have committed crimes under Indian law. Not doing that constitutes violations of the Genocide Convention. Al Jazeera: Article III of the Genocide Convention makes direct and public incitement to genocide punishable. It includes constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials, or private individuals. Does the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) have any jurisdiction over India when it comes to prosecuting those who give calls for an anti-Muslim genocide? Mendez: No, unfortunately, it doesn’t because India hasn’t signed and ratified the Rome Statute. So, what happens in the territory of India and crimes conducted by Indians abroad can only come under the jurisdiction of the ICC if they commit those acts in a state that has the ICC jurisdiction, or if the UN Security Council (UNSC) decides to refer the case to ICC. For example, in the case of Sudan and Libya. Al Jazeera: Do you think that the world, especially the US, the UK, and the European countries have paid less attention to the Hindu nationalist threat to minorities in India? Mendez: Whatever they (Hindu nationalists) have done so far should not lead anybody to any kind of complacency because, in fact, I do think the situation is dangerous. Also, some of the public policies of the Modi government are discriminatory against minorities. These breaches are in a continuum between discrimination to hate speech to violence and eventually to genocide. The international community has the moral responsibility to protect people from this kind of harm. That is why the UN General Assembly in 2005 passed the “responsibility to protect” resolution. It is not binding on anyone, but it does demonstrate the responsibility of the international community and of each member of the international community for some kind of action to protect the population at risk. Al Jazeera: Don’t you believe that after repeated failures of the UN in preventing genocides, it needs to push for more stringent international guidelines, laws, and proactive intervention? Mendez: Yes. I think the UN should have done more since 2004 when the office on Prevention of Genocide was created. So I take it as a matter of self-criticism as well as the criticism of the institution. The UN as an institution is only capable of doing what member nations and particularly the more powerful member nations will allow it to do. Within that very strong limitation obviously, I think we should take into account the positive steps that the United Nations has taken, and criticize the limited nature of them, and then build on them to do more. I hope that it will begin, but I have to say I am a little skeptical or rather more pessimistic because the power relationships in the international community today are even less sympathetic to the prevention of genocide than they were in 2004 under the leadership of Kofi Annan. Al Jazeera: Do you believe the UN should consider forming laws regulating social media companies that have had reportedly and evidently been used to prepare for the genocide as we saw in Myanmar as well as in Ethiopia, and the trends which we are seeing in India? Mendez: I think social media companies should be subjected to the same rights of freedom of expression that are part of international human rights law, but also the obligation to act responsibly to prevent acts of violence. Now whether the UN is the best place to start regulating social media companies, I think it (the UN) should take the leadership at least. In fact, any legislation that is needed has to be rendered into a treaty and then UN member nations, including the United States, have to ratify it. It is important to generate the words for that kind of treaty that preserve freedom of expression in all its forms, but would also establish limits on freedom of expression when it comes to incitement. The Genocide Convention obligates states to criminalize and prosecute the instances of incitement to commit genocide. So, we have some international elements of the legal framework, but we probably need more than that. Al Jazeera: What do you think is the responsibility of the international community in general and the UN in particular to avert yet another genocide? Mendez: I do think there is a role that the international community has to act sooner rather than later. The facts on the ground are serious enough that some expression of concern comes from the international forums like the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council (UNSC), and the UN Human Rights Council. That should happen soon. If the response from the Modi government isn’t appropriate, then the UNSC should step in to protect Indian minorities. A UNSC resolution under Chapter 7 is the way to go for that. It has a binding power and could include different things, one being the referral of the Indian situation to the ICC. I do think it is important for member states at the UN Security Council to start considering whether or not it should be advised to take actions in order to protect the minorities at risk in India. Copyright 2022 Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera 16 January 2022 Gregory Stanton, who founded the Genocide Watch group, is sounding the alarm on violence against Muslims in India. Attacks on Muslims by Hindu mobs have risen in India, with little apparent official condemnation [File: Ferdi Awed/Opn Images/Barcroft Media via Getty Images] A genocide of Muslims in India could be about to take place, an expert said to have predicted the massacre of the Tutsi in Rwanda years before it took place in 1994, has warned. Gregory Stanton, the founder and director of Genocide Watch, said during a US congressional briefing there were early “signs and processes” of genocide in the Indian state of Assam and Indian-administered Kashmir. “We are warning that genocide could very well happen in India,” Stanton said, speaking on behalf of the non-governmental organisation he launched in 1999 to predict, prevent, stop and seek accountability for genocide. Stanton said genocide was not an event but a process and drew parallels between the policies pursued by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the discriminatory policies of Myanmar’s government against Rohingya Muslims in 2017. Among the policies he cited were the revocation of the special autonomous status of Indian-administered Kashmir in 2019 – which stripped Kashmiris of the special autonomy they had for seven decades – and the Citizenship Amendment Act the same year, which granted citizenship to religious minorities but excluded Muslims. Stanton, a former research professor in genocide studies and prevention at the George Mason University in Virginia, said he feared a similar scenario to Myanmar, where the Rohingya were first legally declared non-citizens and then expelled through violence and genocide. “What we are now facing is a very similar kind of a plot,” he said. Stanton said the Hindutva ideology was “contrary to the history of India and the Indian constitution and referred to Modi as an “extremist who has taken over the government”. In 1989, Stanton said he had warned the then-Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana that “if you don’t do something to prevent genocide in your country, there is going to be a genocide here within five years”. The early warning signs were followed by the massacre of 800,000 Tutsis and other Rwandans in 1994. “We cannot let that happen in India,” Stanton said. Genocide Watch began warning of genocide in India in 2002, when a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat resulted in the killing of more than 1,000 Muslims. ‘Take it seriously’ Aakar Patel, a Bengaluru-based rights activist, writer and the former head of Amnesty International in India, told Al Jazeera that the reports should be taken “very seriously”. “I think the history on the record of India’s civic violence shows either the state does something that provokes the violence (against Muslims) or does not do enough to stop it,” Patel said. “I think the government of India needs to take it seriously … The people outside are naturally alarmed when such things are said in India and nothing is done by the state,” he said referring to a recent call for Muslim genocide made at an event by right-wing Hindu groups. MM Ansari, a former information commissioner and educationist based in New Delhi, termed the report “alarming”. “The fear is very genuine,” he said. Other experts have denounced rising attacks on Muslim vendors and businesses by Hindu supremacist groups. In November, Hindu hardliners set fire to the home of a Muslim former foreign minister, Salman Khurshid, who had compared the kind of Hindu nationalism that has flourished under Modi with “extremist groups” such as ISIL (ISIS). Videos of Hindu religious leaders calling for mass killings and for the use of weapons against Muslims that went viral on social media last month prompted the Supreme Court to order an investigation into hate speech in Uttarakhand state. “Under BJP’s leadership, India became one of the most dangerous countries for Muslims and Christians in the world. They are being persecuted physically, psychologically and economically,” activist and academic Apoorvanand wrote in an OpEd for Al Jazeera. “Laws are being passed to criminalise their religious practices, food habits and even businesses.” Syed Zafar Islam, the spokesperson of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, rejected Genocide Watch’s report, saying “no such things exist as [is] being portrayed.... There have been instances (of attacks) but it is not restricted to one community. In society, we have sometimes attacks on each other over reasons like property disputes or other disputes. These things do not only happen between Hindu and Muslims only but they happen among Hindus as well,” he said. Muslims comprise nearly 14 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people, while Hindus still form nearly 80 percent of the population. Modi’s BJP and its ideological parent, the far-right Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), have warned Hindus about religious conversions to Islam and Christianity, and called for action to prevent a “demographic imbalance” in the world’s second most populous nation. Modi’s BJP has been accused of encouraging the persecution of Muslims and other minorities by hardline Hindu nationalists since coming to power in 2014, allegations it denies. Rifat Fareed contributed to this report Copyright 2022 Al Jazeera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSINHJdLDdk&t=652s