Cambodian govt defends NGO law – report
A Cambodian government spokesperson has defended a controversial law aiming to regulate non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and has slammed critics who have urged foreign donors to consider a funding-freeze if the law passes in its current form, the Phnom Penh Post reported.
A coalition of 10 NGOs including Human Rights Watch, Global Witness and Freedom House has angered Cambodia - which relies on foreign aid to cover as much as 60 percent of its spending - by writing to 36 foreign ministers of major donor countries and the European Union last week.
The letters urged donors to press the Southeast Asian country to not pass the law, and to reassess assistance if it is passed. The law, in its third draft, is currently before the Cambodian Council of Ministers for consideration.
“What else do they want? We just want to have a proper law to regulate their operations to follow the rule of law in the country where they are operating,” Ek Tha, a spokesman and deputy director of the press unit at the Council of Ministers, told The Post by e-mail.
He also criticised the international community for not helping the country during the bloody Khmer Rouge years:
“I wish we had foreign NGOs and human rights activists voice their concerns in the 1970s when we were being treated badly under the Khmer Rouge regime,” he said.
Among concerns raised over the current draft, the UK’s Guardian newspaper has pointed to the law’s mandatory and complex NGO registration, a lack of safeguards to ensure objectivity in registration denials or involuntary dissolutions, the absence of a period for an appeal process when registration is denied, and many sections in the law being vague.
RISING TENSIONS
The letter said that, in its current form, the NGO law “will allow the Royal Government of Cambodia to intimidate and potentially shut down local, national and foreign NGOs, associations, and informal groups that criticise the government or government officials.”
“As written, the current draft law empowers the government to violate fundamental rights and does little to protect state or social interests,” it said.
The organisations said such a “grave threat should elicit a serious response from Cambodia’s development partners, who have poured billions of dollars into efforts to support just and sustainable development in Cambodia.”
The letters came at a time of rising tensions between NGOs and Cambodia’s government.
In recent weeks, the Foreign Ministry warned an umbrella organisation of 88 NGOs over a letter it wrote to two donors about the impact of a railway refurbishment project on people who were resettled, suspended an NGO that signed the letter for allegedly inciting villagers to protest against the railway project and summoned another to meet with officials.
Last week it also postponed indefinitely a top-level meeting with foreign donors. This followed an announcement that the World Bank has halted loans to the government over its failure to curb forced evictions.
REGULATION OR REVENGE?
Supporters of the draft law say, in a country of only 15 million people, it would help regulate a sector accommodating more than 3,000 NGOs and associations – according to some estimates – that work on issues ranging from health, education and infrastructure to environmental protection and governance.
The large number of NGOs in Cambodia has raised questions about their own levels of transparency and accountability as well as the hefty salaries earned by expatriate staff in the impoverished country.
Critics have said the law is an attempt to muzzle a burgeoning civil society that has become openly critical of Hun Sen – who has been prime minister for the past 25 years – and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
The NGOs behind the latest letter also said a new Civil Code, which will take effect in November this year, already has provisions on the registration and operation of non-profit entities in Cambodia.
The international community pledged $1.1 billion in aid for Cambodia last year, an increase from the previous year's commitment of $990 million.
That figure is dwarfed by investment pledges by Chinese firms, which agreed to spend $8 billion in 360 projects in Cambodia in the first seven months of this year.
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Sunrise-area ice cream man among entrepreneurs cruising for customers
Craig Grant started his Sunrise Manor-based mobile business Beach Bum Ice Cream about six years ago. Initially, he would take his vintage 1976 Good Humor ice cream truck to corporate events.
"We did grand openings, corporate picnics, employee appreciation days, that sort of thing," Grant said. "A couple of years ago we had contracts with companies to come out weekly and service their employees. A lot of that stuff went away when the economy slowed down."
While Beach Bum Ice Cream still services corporate events, they've become fewer and far between. Ex-Con, an annual event put on for the Metropolitan Police Department in June, was Beach Bum Ice Cream's last big event.
Grant has his fingers crossed that something will come up. In the meantime, he patrols the neighborhoods and light industrial areas selling ice cream to anyone who will buy.
"We used to go to the industrial complexes and do pretty good business," he said. "So many of those places have gone out of business or shrunk. Some of those places are ghost towns."
With kids back in school and temperatures running high, things are quiet for the ice cream truck.
"Ice cream's not appealing when it's 112 outside," Grant said. "The market's stronger in the spring and fall."
Thousands of valley business owners call the road home. Services rendered range from car detailing and mechanic work to dog grooming, party starters and spray tans. Medical services -- and not your grandmother's house call -- even join the ranks.
For the owners, the overhead of a static address is eliminated, and for the clients, they get convenience, said Kamela Brewer, owner of Bold Body Bronzing.
For three years, Brewer and her staff have peddled their spray-tanning service through the streets of Clark County. She visits locals and tourists who want to stay tan but don't want the hassle of a salon.
"They can dry in the comfort of their home," she said. "It's saves them the time and the travel trouble, and it's not interrupting their day."
Brewer pegs her business as a "VIP Service" and said the feeling of special treatment drives many people to use mobile services.
"We are everywhere, and we come to you," she said. "People like to be catered to."
All mobile business have to pay for state and local licenses just like any other start-ups. Food- and human services-related operations are regulated by the Southern Nevada Health District, too.
Gas prices can be a challenge, too.
Grant doesn't feel that gas prices have affected him directly, but he recognizes a strong secondary effect.
"The gas prices really affect us by affecting the customers," he said. "When they have to spend extra money on gas, money they can spare on a novelty or whatever goes away."
Food trucks have made their mark on the mobile market in the past few years, hawking everything from sliders to gourmet sandwiches to snow cones. Dog groomers and car washes and detailing professionals in the mobile scene provide dense competition for each other.
Like any business, it's all about finding a niche, said Ashleigh Ngo, co-owner of a Games2U van. The custom vehicle is equipped with game systems, laser tag and a human hamster ball available for birthdays, reunions, weddings, corporate events and beyond, she said.
Ngo and her husband, Son, bought into the Games2U franchise a year ago and have brought the party to Las Vegas since.
"We live in a world of convenience," she said. "We're completely mobile entertainment."
Patrons bring their own food to their Games2U-hosted events but staff members take care of the rest, Ngo said. The setup is ideal for parents, she added.
"It's nice for us to come to them," she said. "They don't have to transport a group of kids and then worry about what to do."
Business has been steady, Ngo said, because Games2U constantly changes the games and packages available to patrons.
"We've been very lucky," she said.
Ngo, a parent, said she has sought out other mobile businesses, such as car detailing, in the past.
"That was very convenient," she said. "We didn't have to go anywhere."
For those whose mobility is limited or privacy is at a premium, one mobile service provides a doctor's office.
Mantro Mobile Imaging, 8778 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 105, provides mobile X-ray, ultrasound and screening services, co-owner Ken Chapman said.
The business, co-owned by John Missig, Curt Castro and Shane Mantes, has two custom vans for X-rays and one for ultrasounds. The vans handle an average of 150 calls per week, Chapman said.
The vehicles are dispatched to private homes, skilled nursing facilities and acute care hospitals to perform health-care services. The trained technician then transmits findings digitally in the van and sends them to the appropriate medical care providers.
"Instead of them going to a facility and having to wait their turn, we come directly to them," Chapman said. "They can often find their results right away."
The software also accounts for error. If something went awry, the technician can go back inside and try again. In a traditional setting, the patient would have to make another trip.
The services are safe, and the amount of radiation is comparable to a long airplane ride, Missig said.
Ken Farrington at American Mobile Drug Testing, 2810 W. Charleston Blvd., No. 44, said mobile businesses are less expensive to run, with no rent or overhead. He said the business is more efficient to customers with its "at your door" approach to customer service. Farrington, a field services supervisor, said he has conducted roadside drug tests, collected urine samples in portable toilets on construction job sites and administered middle-of-the-night Breathalyzers for truck drivers and manufacturing plant workers. Some are random tests, others he conducted after accidents on the job, driving hundreds of miles throughout the state.
"For us, it was an inexpensive way to get started," Farrington said. "We just needed a vehicle and a small amount of equipment to test. For the client, it's not having to coordinate all of your employees to show up to some place."
Usually, companies send employees to a clinic for testing. Drug testing becomes a low priority when up against broken bones, bumps, bruises and squirting blood.
"What should be a 15- (or) 20-minute ordeal could be hours," Farrington said.
The seven-year-old company is open 24 hours per day, seven days a week to collect urine, saliva and hair samples for clients such as NV Energy, Southwest Gas and the state's transportation department. It wasn't until clients requested the company open an office that the Charleston Boulevard location was created.
A drug test costs about $50, alcohol tests are about $30 to $40, and a fee is charged for after-hours calls between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. The company performs random testing, reasonable suspicion and post-accident testing.
"Those are some of the interesting ones," Farrington said. "I had one guy, his boss thought he was under the influence of something. I asked how he was doing today, he was swaying back and forth. He blew a .172 on an alcohol test. I did a second test to verify. The problem was, it was 7 in the morning, and he was coming to work. He goes, 'What happens now?' I told him to go over and see his supervisor."
Stephen Miller, an economics professor who chairs the business college at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said mobile businesses are a relatively new concept, and not much research has been conducted locally.
Problems with sustainability could come from a reduction in capital investment because there is no rental space in a building. Mail delivery to the place of business might be difficult. And "with the services you're providing or good you're providing, is there something about the good or service that going to a person's place of business or house makes sense?" Miller added.
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AAG blasts NGO stance on Marange diamonds
THE Affirmative Action Group has hit out at non-governmental organisations that continue to seek relevance by attacking and undermining Zimbabwe’s right to sell it s Marange diamonds unconditionally.
In a statement emailed to the Zimbabwe Guardian on Tuesday, the President of the AAG, Supa Mandiwanzira, said since the Kimberly Process certified Marange and Mbada diamonds to sell their rough diamonds, a host of clue-less non-governmental organisations have started making unsubstantiated allegations of human rights abuses in Chiadzwa.
“Thankfully, right thinking citizens of the world are no longer taking these western-backed groups seriously as everyone, including the European Union, are now aware that the Marange diamonds are the most clean diamonds in the world when measured by the Kimberly Process’s blood diamonds yardstick,” said Mr Mandiwanzira.
The AAG president’s comments come ahead of an NGO seminar exclusively to discuss Marange Diamonds at University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa today.
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Should nightclubs be banned near schools and universities?
THE growing number of young people in Cambodia has drawn strong interest from many businesspeople. Because of strong competit-ion in the battle for target audiences, businesspeople believe entertainment places could be a marketing strategy to target young people.
After seeing this significant interest, the number of entertainment places in Phnom Penh, especially nightclubs, has been growing rapidly. But it’s worth noting that some of these nightclubs are located near places of study that generate human resources that are crucial for our nation’s development.
If you travel past some schools and universities in Phnom Penh, you will see that several nightclubs are built close to study places. Those nightclubs include Rock, Spark, DJ Club, Andry Khmout, The Best, The Classic, Café Disco and My House.
Although these nightclubs have licences from the government, some social civil organisations fear their location may have a bad impact on students when they go to study and see a nightclub near their school.
According to an article by Norbert Klein posted on the Mirror website on February 21 last year, young people enjoy the increasing number of nightclubs, bars, karaoke parlours and beer gardens where they can drink alcohol, use drugs and find many other services.
Mao Puthearoth, co-ordinator of the Cambodian Youth Council, was quoted by Rasmei Kampuchea on February 20 last year as saying the number of libraries, book stores and places for playing sports had not increased in recent years, but there were many more places of entertainment attracting young people.
From my observations, many young people wearing school uniforms go to nightclubs with their friends or girlfriends and stay there until late at night.
In nightclubs, customers like drinking alcohol, smoking and dancing to loud music. As well, some young people use nightclubs as a place to use drugs.
Exposure to these activities will lead young people into unsafe behaviour including unsafe sex and driving too fast, putting them at risk of HIV infection and traffic accidents.
For instance, according to the April, 2010 monthly report of Road Safety Cambodia, the main causes of traffic accident are excessive speed and drink-driving. The report showed that 60 per cent of injuries and 55 per cent of fatalities are aged between 15 and 29.
Among this age group, farmer had the highest accident rate (46 per cent), followed by students (23 per cent).
According to a most-at-risk young people (MARYP) survey by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in 2010, the proportion who drank alcohol was as high as 91 per cent among males aged between 10 and 24.
The report demonstrated that drinking alcohol was linked with high-risk sexual and violent behaviour.
This indicates that the increasing number of nightclubs close to schools and universities will have a bad impact on students because they will prefer hanging out in nightclubs to studying.
Students will spend much more money and time drinking alcohol, smoking and using drugs in nightclubs, perhaps leading them to lose their bright futures.
In short, nightclubs close to schools and universitiy campuses cause several serious problems for young people that need an urgent response from the government.
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Naga City policeman, NGO lead 19 awardees in PNP Bicol 110th Police Service Anniversary celebration
A national police awardee from Naga City and a peace group in Masbate will lead today’s 110th Police Service Anniversary celebration at Camp Gen. Simeon Ola headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Bicol.
Similarly, the Police Regional Office 5 will pay tribute to the heroic deeds of policemen who died during duty through the blessing of a memorial shrine in their honor.
Police Chief Inspector Benigno F. Albao Sr., chief of Naga City Police Station 2, winner of the 2010 Lead PNP Award and the Masbate Advocates for Peace are at the forefront of the roster of six special awardees, six individual honorees and seven unit awardees.
Supt. Renato Battaler, chief of the PNP Bicol community relations department, announced in yesterday’s PIA radio program Aramon Ta Daw, the recognition of outstanding police and units is the highlight of the 110th Police Servce Anniversary in Bicol. The award-giving activity is an annual undertaking of PNP Bicol since 1978.
Awards will be bestowed to different units who excelled in their performance. Sorsogon police units will receive three awards: best police provincial police office, best provincial public safety company and best city police station.
Meanwhile, Daraga Municipal Police station was named vest MPS, the 5th Regional Public Safety Batallion as best RPSB, the Regional Finance Service Office 5 as best regional administrative support unit and the Regional Intelligence Unit 5 as best regional operations support unit.
Individual awardees, on the other hand, are PSupt Oscar R. Regala as best senior police commissioned officer (PCO) for operations; P/SInsp Dennis B. Balla, best junior PCO; SP04 Elmer B. Antang, best senior police non-commissioned officer (PNCO); P02 Michelle H. Morales, best junior PNCO; Josephine A. Oliquino, best non-uniformed personnel (NUP) supervisory level; and Charwen B. Buenafe, best NUP non-supervisory level.
Special awardees include Legazpi City Mayor Carmen Geraldine B. Rosal, P/CSupt Victor P. Deona, P/SSupt Henry S. Rañola Jr., and SP01 Asuncion C. San Juan.
Before the awarding ceremony, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo will head the blessing of PRO 5 Memorial Shrine and female quarters.
This year’s 110th police anniversary is being commemorated with the theme Sandaang Taon at Sandekadang Paglilingkod ng Kapulisan Kaagapay ang Sambayanan Tungo sa Matuwid na Daan.(MAL/AAN, PIA V)
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BMC gears up for immersion days
In order to ensure that the Ganesh immersion days are safe, the BMC has kept ready 248 lifeguards (and 2,000 NGO lifeguards), 49 motorboats, 43 health centres, 39 ambulances, 48 mobile toilets, 83 nirmalya kalash, 195 floodlights, 36 searchlights, 33 watchtowers and 16 floaters.
Overall, 1,054 BMC employees have been deployed. The civic body has also started pruning trees that come in the way of immersion routes. The solid waste department will also collect garbage regularly, and try to make the city garbage free.
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Li Jinjun: NGOs do what governments can’t
Li Jinjun, the executive vice-president of the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE) meets a number of Chinese media in Nairobi, Kenya Aug 30 during the First China-Africa People’s Forum. The forum is co-hosted by CNIE and Kenya Non-Governmental Organizations Coordination Board (Board), and is the first non-governmental exchange between China and Africa ever held in Africa.
China Daily Website reporter Feng Xin: “We know the First China-Africa People’s Forum is going to pass the Nairobi Declaration during its closing ceremony. Can you tell us what it will be about?
Li Jinjun: “China and Africa have established a formal, governmental system of dialogue and exchange, which is the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) where Chinese and African governments host a round table conference every year in turn. However, we haven’t had a similar system between non-government organizations, so we hope the First China-Africa People’s Forum will lay a foundation for such a system in the future. The Nairobi Declaration will outline the guiding principles of people-to-people exchange between China and Africa and propose the establishment of a regular forum for such exchanges.
Reporter: What different effects do you think non-government exchanges will achieve than that of governments?
Li: Government exchanges are often more serious and formal. There are a lot of courtesy and manners involved, so sometimes it is not easy to talk extremely frankly. Non-government exchanges, on the other hand, are less formal, just like our opening ceremony – we had Chinese and African dancers performing for us – we opened the forum to the beat of music. We also had entrepreneur meetings and an HIV/AIDS training workshop alongside the forum. In other words, non-government communications can really take place in a variety of forms, and people are able to have more straightforward and sincere talks with each other.
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Israel Police orders its Arab, Bedouin officers to leave illegal homes
Regavim, an NGO whose stated aim is 'preserving national lands,' sends letter to national police chief containing names of seven Israeli Arab and Bedouin officers it claims lived in unauthorized dwellings.
Bedouin and Arab officers serving in the Israel Police who live in unauthorized buildings in southern Israel and East Jerusalem will be instructed to leave their homes. The decision is based on a response from the police legal department to a nonprofit organization that challenged a directive ordering a police officer to leave his home in an unauthorized Jewish settler outpost in the West Bank.
In that case, a police sapper living in an illegal house in Migron was ordered to move out, together with his family, or face an investigation that could end in his dismissal from the police force.
Regavim, an NGO whose stated aim is "preserving national lands," sent a letter to the national police chief containing the names of seven Israeli Arab and Bedouin officers it claimed also lived in unauthorized dwellings. "It is undoubtedly impossible to accept a double standard in which the same person who enforces the law in the day brutally violates it at night when he returns to his illegal home," the letter said.
"Nothing could do more to undermine the public's trust in law enforcement," said the letter, "and so we praise your determined efforts to clean the stables as well as the unequivocal demand from those in the police ranks who are living in illegal buildings to choose at once between continued service and their illegal home."
Regavim provided details about four Bedouin officers and three East Jerusalem officers living in unauthorized structures. They included a Bedouin officer from the Arad police station living in the vicinity of Hura, one who lived near Nabatim Junction and served in the Southern District and one who served in Be'er Sheva and lived in the nearby Bedouin community of Kseifa.
In a response to Regavim, Israel Police legal adviser Shaul Gordon wrote, in part: "The officers of the Israel Police are obligated to uphold and to enforce the law. There is no doubt that officers may not live in quarters that have been declared illegal and against which final demolition orders have been issued." Gordon went on to explain that in accordance with instructions from the national police chief, "any officer living in such a structure will be requested to leave the home."
According to a response statement issued by the police, "The police do not have the ability to initiate examinations into where each of the force's 28,000 officers lives. In this matter the Israel Police acts on the basis or complaints or information that it receives."
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NGO Gives Sh1million Computers to Boost E-Learning in Schools
An NGO has provided Sh 1 million worth of computers to boost e-learning in Kikuyu schools.
The France-based Fungana Association Director Nathalie Favreau said the initiative is one of its kind. She praised primary and secondary schools for embracing e-learning adding that much needs be done to improve access to IT skills.
Favreau, who was speaking to the press at Kikuyu Township Primary School ,asked the government to provide schools with facilities to boost e-learning. The NGOs' Kenyan chapter director Juliana Kisimbi said the organisation will continue donatingcomputers to schools in the country. "Their efforts have has helped us to get the waivers showing that the Kenyan government is very much concerned towards ICT learning in our institutions," Kisimbi said.
So far, she said, Fungana has given 5 computers to 91 municipally Primary school in Nyahururu, Mbitini Primary in Kitui 3 computers, Usueni Girls Secondary School Kitui,5, West Pokot school,5, Kitui technical school,6 and Othaya primary getting five computers. "We believe that the world has become a global village and with ICT in our schools we should meet the purpose. Our children are exposed to ICT technology from an early age; many portents come from other countries to Kenya ," said Kisimbi.
She noted that with the government's initiative of offering free primary and secondary school education, it was the high time for Kenyan elite to give back to the community by boosting education in others ways like improved technology. "We have free secondary and primary education, what we need is more ICT in the country and we should build it to the maximum standard so that we can move with the technology," said Kisimbi. "I managed to by one computer at home and because I saw that it was helping me a lot, we were able to get corroboration with Paris organization and we started Fungana," she explained.
Kisimbi added, "we are gong to source through more computers because we have a vision for the whole country, we will go and visit other countries to help our children to appreciate the world from a global perspective." "When I moved Paris I had very limited knowledge to computer but within a span of five years, we were using Google maps and I was able to shop online and everything was just within a click of a mouse and the delivery was done into my house after short time," said Kisimbi.
She continued, "so with those inspirations, we should open our children's eyes, I a child is natured since childhood, and then we shall have a lot of potential. This is s voluntary service. The organizations vision is to move the whole Kenyan into such a vital technology to enhance more accessibility.
Winnie Ndung'u, Kikuyu Area Educational Officer, hailed the organization's efforts to be the first to provide the computers. She said that with E-learning on the way, the government and cooperate world should intervene and boost it in schools.
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High court issues notice to 48 mining companies
The high court of Bombay at Goa on Friday issued notices to 48 mining companies in the state for carrying on large scale illegal mining in violation of environmental norms.
A division bench comprising Justice D G Karnik and Justice F M Reis issued the notices in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Mapusa-based NGO Goa Foundation.
During the hearing, the petitioner's advocate, Norma Alvares argued that the Union ministry of environment and forests and the Goa State Pollution Control Board should be directed to prosecute the directors and owners of these 48 mines by launching appropriate criminal proceedings. The government should recover the sale proceeds of all the mineral ore extracted in violation of the production limits, Alvares stated. She further sought a direction from the court to direct the state government to suspend the consent granted to all the 48 mines to operate, pending further hearing of the PIL.
The bench declined to grant an interim order and observed that the 48 companies had not been added as respondents to the PIL. The court thereafter directed the petitioner to amend the petition before the next date by including the names of the 48 companies.
The petitioner alleged that the companies have violated the Environment Protection Act 1986 by carrying out mining in violation of the statutory production limits imposed on their mining operations as per the environment clearances and the consent to operate granted under the Water Act, 1974, and Air Act, 1981. The petitioner also pointed out that no action has been taken by the authorities to stop the excess production which 'has reached gigantic proportions and was adversely affecting the fragile ecology in these areas'. The court will hear the PIL further on September 19.
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Postwar Libya poses weapons threat
The uprising against deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has unearthed thousands of weapons, from assault rifles to missiles, in arms caches around Tripoli, and a major international NGO is warning of potentially grave consequences if they're not secured.
Anti-Gadhafi forces now control the vast number of military armories in and around the capital, but they are being looted by the truckload, with opposition fighters carting off machine-guns, boxes of ammunition and tank shells.
"There is real concern that these advanced weapons could end up being sold on the black market, fetching thousands of dollars apiece in some cases," said Fred Abrahams, a researcher with Human Rights Watch.
"The bigger stuff that we've seen, including surface-to-air missiles that can target a civilian airliner, that's the kind of weaponry that could obviously be used by terrorist groups. It should be a top priority and it needs to be secured immediately."
At a secret weapons depot south of Tripoli, discovered this week by anti-regime forces and a gaggle of reporters, dozens of men checked out guns and munitions from the now-defunct Libyan army.
"This is different weapons: tank weapons, machine-guns, machines. There's a lot of things there," said Ibi Beck as he watched men load up pickup trucks with crates of ammo.
Wrong hands
It's exactly what happened after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Abrahams said it wouldn't take much to keep the weapons secure.
"You post a couple of guards in front of these depots … many of these depots have already been looted in eastern Libya. Now, with western Libya just coming under the control of the rebels, there's a chance to still do it," he said. "Left abandoned, this is just going to slip into the wrong hands."
Mohammed al-Alagi, the justice minister for the National Transitional Council, the anti-Gadhafi group recognized as Libya's legitimate government by many countries including Canada, said the new Libyan government has created a task force of army and police officers that is set to launch a program to collect all the weapons and hand them over to the government.
But it will be a tough job. So many of the young, jeans-clad anti-Gadhafi fighters throughout the capital have their own assault rifles. They're at every corner, every checkpoint, in the hands of men like Lockman Hamoud, who used to live in Victoria, B.C., before taking up an AK-47 against the former Libyan army's tanks.
"I never thought I would hold a gun in my hands before," he said. "I did it just for my country, for the land.”
'Please take my gun from me!'
Human Rights Watch says Western nations need to beef up their intelligence — especially at Libya's borders — so the ammunition and more advanced weapons systems aren't smuggled out and used in an attack.
Al-Alagi said once underlying conditions change and people can feel more secure, the new government will be able to decommission the weapons.
"For 42 years, the people of Libya have been treated very badly. That’s why so many now carry guns – to protect themselves," he said. "But absolutely we will collect all these weapons. We will make sure Libya is a civilian country based on democracy, not a military country where everyone carries guns.”
And that's just fine for Moustafa Mujber, a gun-toting anti-Gadhafi militant who said he paid dearly for his firearm, but it was worth it to defend his freedom.
"Please take my gun from me! You know, I work in oil field. I have no reason to keep it in my drawer anymore."
Mr. Bernard Guri, Executive Director of Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD), a non-governmental organisation, has said natural resources are no longer owned and managed by traditional authorities but by politicians and administrators.
He was speaking at a one day workshop on natural resources management organised by CIKOD in Sunyani and attended by chiefs and queen mothers in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
The workshop was to build the capacity of the participants to enable them to understand and support the idea of transparency at regional and traditional council levels.
Mr Guri said chiefs had lost control and ownership of natural resources and this had led to the emergence of illegal chainsaw operations as well as environmental and food crisis.
“More than half of our forest cover is gone, water sources are either dried up, there is increasing flooding and increasing pollution of water bodies, climate change is with us – environmental crisis,” Mr. Guri said.
He appealed to traditional authorities to take back and manage what belonged to them and manage the forests and food production for the benefit of their communities.
He appealed to the chiefs to help revitalize community spirit among the people to check deforestation and forest degradation.
“We expect Nananom to bring back the resilience in our communities to be able to cope with the changing trends”, Mr Guri said.
Mr. Wilberforce Lartey, the Deputy Executive Director of CIKOD, said public perception in a research conducted indicated traditional authorities “are contributing positively to forest governance through the enforcement of traditional customary laws and regulations.”
He said traditional authorities used revenue to preserve their heritage, culture and traditions as well as upkeep and maintenance of their palaces and stools.
He said there are laid down procedures for the disbursement of royalties in the paramountcy but this is unknown to the public.
Mr Guri said there was an increase in resource-related conflicts between community members and their traditional leaders as well as between communities and companies/state due to the non-disclosure of royalties and other revenues by some traditional leaders.
Osahene Kwaku Aterkyi II, Paramount Chief of Kukuom Traditional Area and President of Brong-Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, said chiefs lacked organizational capacity and information on forest and natural resources management at the local level.
He appealed to the chiefs and queen mothers to pay attention to the workshop so they could be enlightened on natural resource management.
“It is when the enlightenment has been grasped that we can contribute our quota to the proper utilization and sustainability of our forests and natural resources,” Osahene Kwaku Aterkyi said.
A Cambodian government spokesperson has defended a controversial law aiming to regulate non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and has slammed critics who have urged foreign donors to consider a funding-freeze if the law passes in its current form, the Phnom Penh Post reported.
A coalition of 10 NGOs including Human Rights Watch, Global Witness and Freedom House has angered Cambodia - which relies on foreign aid to cover as much as 60 percent of its spending - by writing to 36 foreign ministers of major donor countries and the European Union last week.
The letters urged donors to press the Southeast Asian country to not pass the law, and to reassess assistance if it is passed. The law, in its third draft, is currently before the Cambodian Council of Ministers for consideration.
“What else do they want? We just want to have a proper law to regulate their operations to follow the rule of law in the country where they are operating,” Ek Tha, a spokesman and deputy director of the press unit at the Council of Ministers, told The Post by e-mail.
He also criticised the international community for not helping the country during the bloody Khmer Rouge years:
“I wish we had foreign NGOs and human rights activists voice their concerns in the 1970s when we were being treated badly under the Khmer Rouge regime,” he said.
Among concerns raised over the current draft, the UK’s Guardian newspaper has pointed to the law’s mandatory and complex NGO registration, a lack of safeguards to ensure objectivity in registration denials or involuntary dissolutions, the absence of a period for an appeal process when registration is denied, and many sections in the law being vague.
RISING TENSIONS
The letter said that, in its current form, the NGO law “will allow the Royal Government of Cambodia to intimidate and potentially shut down local, national and foreign NGOs, associations, and informal groups that criticise the government or government officials.”
“As written, the current draft law empowers the government to violate fundamental rights and does little to protect state or social interests,” it said.
The organisations said such a “grave threat should elicit a serious response from Cambodia’s development partners, who have poured billions of dollars into efforts to support just and sustainable development in Cambodia.”
The letters came at a time of rising tensions between NGOs and Cambodia’s government.
In recent weeks, the Foreign Ministry warned an umbrella organisation of 88 NGOs over a letter it wrote to two donors about the impact of a railway refurbishment project on people who were resettled, suspended an NGO that signed the letter for allegedly inciting villagers to protest against the railway project and summoned another to meet with officials.
Last week it also postponed indefinitely a top-level meeting with foreign donors. This followed an announcement that the World Bank has halted loans to the government over its failure to curb forced evictions.
REGULATION OR REVENGE?
Supporters of the draft law say, in a country of only 15 million people, it would help regulate a sector accommodating more than 3,000 NGOs and associations – according to some estimates – that work on issues ranging from health, education and infrastructure to environmental protection and governance.
The large number of NGOs in Cambodia has raised questions about their own levels of transparency and accountability as well as the hefty salaries earned by expatriate staff in the impoverished country.
Critics have said the law is an attempt to muzzle a burgeoning civil society that has become openly critical of Hun Sen – who has been prime minister for the past 25 years – and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
The NGOs behind the latest letter also said a new Civil Code, which will take effect in November this year, already has provisions on the registration and operation of non-profit entities in Cambodia.
The international community pledged $1.1 billion in aid for Cambodia last year, an increase from the previous year's commitment of $990 million.
That figure is dwarfed by investment pledges by Chinese firms, which agreed to spend $8 billion in 360 projects in Cambodia in the first seven months of this year.
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Sunrise-area ice cream man among entrepreneurs cruising for customers
Craig Grant started his Sunrise Manor-based mobile business Beach Bum Ice Cream about six years ago. Initially, he would take his vintage 1976 Good Humor ice cream truck to corporate events.
"We did grand openings, corporate picnics, employee appreciation days, that sort of thing," Grant said. "A couple of years ago we had contracts with companies to come out weekly and service their employees. A lot of that stuff went away when the economy slowed down."
While Beach Bum Ice Cream still services corporate events, they've become fewer and far between. Ex-Con, an annual event put on for the Metropolitan Police Department in June, was Beach Bum Ice Cream's last big event.
Grant has his fingers crossed that something will come up. In the meantime, he patrols the neighborhoods and light industrial areas selling ice cream to anyone who will buy.
"We used to go to the industrial complexes and do pretty good business," he said. "So many of those places have gone out of business or shrunk. Some of those places are ghost towns."
With kids back in school and temperatures running high, things are quiet for the ice cream truck.
"Ice cream's not appealing when it's 112 outside," Grant said. "The market's stronger in the spring and fall."
Thousands of valley business owners call the road home. Services rendered range from car detailing and mechanic work to dog grooming, party starters and spray tans. Medical services -- and not your grandmother's house call -- even join the ranks.
For the owners, the overhead of a static address is eliminated, and for the clients, they get convenience, said Kamela Brewer, owner of Bold Body Bronzing.
For three years, Brewer and her staff have peddled their spray-tanning service through the streets of Clark County. She visits locals and tourists who want to stay tan but don't want the hassle of a salon.
"They can dry in the comfort of their home," she said. "It's saves them the time and the travel trouble, and it's not interrupting their day."
Brewer pegs her business as a "VIP Service" and said the feeling of special treatment drives many people to use mobile services.
"We are everywhere, and we come to you," she said. "People like to be catered to."
All mobile business have to pay for state and local licenses just like any other start-ups. Food- and human services-related operations are regulated by the Southern Nevada Health District, too.
Gas prices can be a challenge, too.
Grant doesn't feel that gas prices have affected him directly, but he recognizes a strong secondary effect.
"The gas prices really affect us by affecting the customers," he said. "When they have to spend extra money on gas, money they can spare on a novelty or whatever goes away."
Food trucks have made their mark on the mobile market in the past few years, hawking everything from sliders to gourmet sandwiches to snow cones. Dog groomers and car washes and detailing professionals in the mobile scene provide dense competition for each other.
Like any business, it's all about finding a niche, said Ashleigh Ngo, co-owner of a Games2U van. The custom vehicle is equipped with game systems, laser tag and a human hamster ball available for birthdays, reunions, weddings, corporate events and beyond, she said.
Ngo and her husband, Son, bought into the Games2U franchise a year ago and have brought the party to Las Vegas since.
"We live in a world of convenience," she said. "We're completely mobile entertainment."
Patrons bring their own food to their Games2U-hosted events but staff members take care of the rest, Ngo said. The setup is ideal for parents, she added.
"It's nice for us to come to them," she said. "They don't have to transport a group of kids and then worry about what to do."
Business has been steady, Ngo said, because Games2U constantly changes the games and packages available to patrons.
"We've been very lucky," she said.
Ngo, a parent, said she has sought out other mobile businesses, such as car detailing, in the past.
"That was very convenient," she said. "We didn't have to go anywhere."
For those whose mobility is limited or privacy is at a premium, one mobile service provides a doctor's office.
Mantro Mobile Imaging, 8778 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 105, provides mobile X-ray, ultrasound and screening services, co-owner Ken Chapman said.
The business, co-owned by John Missig, Curt Castro and Shane Mantes, has two custom vans for X-rays and one for ultrasounds. The vans handle an average of 150 calls per week, Chapman said.
The vehicles are dispatched to private homes, skilled nursing facilities and acute care hospitals to perform health-care services. The trained technician then transmits findings digitally in the van and sends them to the appropriate medical care providers.
"Instead of them going to a facility and having to wait their turn, we come directly to them," Chapman said. "They can often find their results right away."
The software also accounts for error. If something went awry, the technician can go back inside and try again. In a traditional setting, the patient would have to make another trip.
The services are safe, and the amount of radiation is comparable to a long airplane ride, Missig said.
Ken Farrington at American Mobile Drug Testing, 2810 W. Charleston Blvd., No. 44, said mobile businesses are less expensive to run, with no rent or overhead. He said the business is more efficient to customers with its "at your door" approach to customer service. Farrington, a field services supervisor, said he has conducted roadside drug tests, collected urine samples in portable toilets on construction job sites and administered middle-of-the-night Breathalyzers for truck drivers and manufacturing plant workers. Some are random tests, others he conducted after accidents on the job, driving hundreds of miles throughout the state.
"For us, it was an inexpensive way to get started," Farrington said. "We just needed a vehicle and a small amount of equipment to test. For the client, it's not having to coordinate all of your employees to show up to some place."
Usually, companies send employees to a clinic for testing. Drug testing becomes a low priority when up against broken bones, bumps, bruises and squirting blood.
"What should be a 15- (or) 20-minute ordeal could be hours," Farrington said.
The seven-year-old company is open 24 hours per day, seven days a week to collect urine, saliva and hair samples for clients such as NV Energy, Southwest Gas and the state's transportation department. It wasn't until clients requested the company open an office that the Charleston Boulevard location was created.
A drug test costs about $50, alcohol tests are about $30 to $40, and a fee is charged for after-hours calls between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. The company performs random testing, reasonable suspicion and post-accident testing.
"Those are some of the interesting ones," Farrington said. "I had one guy, his boss thought he was under the influence of something. I asked how he was doing today, he was swaying back and forth. He blew a .172 on an alcohol test. I did a second test to verify. The problem was, it was 7 in the morning, and he was coming to work. He goes, 'What happens now?' I told him to go over and see his supervisor."
Stephen Miller, an economics professor who chairs the business college at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said mobile businesses are a relatively new concept, and not much research has been conducted locally.
Problems with sustainability could come from a reduction in capital investment because there is no rental space in a building. Mail delivery to the place of business might be difficult. And "with the services you're providing or good you're providing, is there something about the good or service that going to a person's place of business or house makes sense?" Miller added.
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AAG blasts NGO stance on Marange diamonds
THE Affirmative Action Group has hit out at non-governmental organisations that continue to seek relevance by attacking and undermining Zimbabwe’s right to sell it s Marange diamonds unconditionally.
In a statement emailed to the Zimbabwe Guardian on Tuesday, the President of the AAG, Supa Mandiwanzira, said since the Kimberly Process certified Marange and Mbada diamonds to sell their rough diamonds, a host of clue-less non-governmental organisations have started making unsubstantiated allegations of human rights abuses in Chiadzwa.
“Thankfully, right thinking citizens of the world are no longer taking these western-backed groups seriously as everyone, including the European Union, are now aware that the Marange diamonds are the most clean diamonds in the world when measured by the Kimberly Process’s blood diamonds yardstick,” said Mr Mandiwanzira.
The AAG president’s comments come ahead of an NGO seminar exclusively to discuss Marange Diamonds at University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa today.
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Should nightclubs be banned near schools and universities?
THE growing number of young people in Cambodia has drawn strong interest from many businesspeople. Because of strong competit-ion in the battle for target audiences, businesspeople believe entertainment places could be a marketing strategy to target young people.
After seeing this significant interest, the number of entertainment places in Phnom Penh, especially nightclubs, has been growing rapidly. But it’s worth noting that some of these nightclubs are located near places of study that generate human resources that are crucial for our nation’s development.
If you travel past some schools and universities in Phnom Penh, you will see that several nightclubs are built close to study places. Those nightclubs include Rock, Spark, DJ Club, Andry Khmout, The Best, The Classic, Café Disco and My House.
Although these nightclubs have licences from the government, some social civil organisations fear their location may have a bad impact on students when they go to study and see a nightclub near their school.
According to an article by Norbert Klein posted on the Mirror website on February 21 last year, young people enjoy the increasing number of nightclubs, bars, karaoke parlours and beer gardens where they can drink alcohol, use drugs and find many other services.
Mao Puthearoth, co-ordinator of the Cambodian Youth Council, was quoted by Rasmei Kampuchea on February 20 last year as saying the number of libraries, book stores and places for playing sports had not increased in recent years, but there were many more places of entertainment attracting young people.
From my observations, many young people wearing school uniforms go to nightclubs with their friends or girlfriends and stay there until late at night.
In nightclubs, customers like drinking alcohol, smoking and dancing to loud music. As well, some young people use nightclubs as a place to use drugs.
Exposure to these activities will lead young people into unsafe behaviour including unsafe sex and driving too fast, putting them at risk of HIV infection and traffic accidents.
For instance, according to the April, 2010 monthly report of Road Safety Cambodia, the main causes of traffic accident are excessive speed and drink-driving. The report showed that 60 per cent of injuries and 55 per cent of fatalities are aged between 15 and 29.
Among this age group, farmer had the highest accident rate (46 per cent), followed by students (23 per cent).
According to a most-at-risk young people (MARYP) survey by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in 2010, the proportion who drank alcohol was as high as 91 per cent among males aged between 10 and 24.
The report demonstrated that drinking alcohol was linked with high-risk sexual and violent behaviour.
This indicates that the increasing number of nightclubs close to schools and universities will have a bad impact on students because they will prefer hanging out in nightclubs to studying.
Students will spend much more money and time drinking alcohol, smoking and using drugs in nightclubs, perhaps leading them to lose their bright futures.
In short, nightclubs close to schools and universitiy campuses cause several serious problems for young people that need an urgent response from the government.
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Naga City policeman, NGO lead 19 awardees in PNP Bicol 110th Police Service Anniversary celebration
A national police awardee from Naga City and a peace group in Masbate will lead today’s 110th Police Service Anniversary celebration at Camp Gen. Simeon Ola headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Bicol.
Similarly, the Police Regional Office 5 will pay tribute to the heroic deeds of policemen who died during duty through the blessing of a memorial shrine in their honor.
Police Chief Inspector Benigno F. Albao Sr., chief of Naga City Police Station 2, winner of the 2010 Lead PNP Award and the Masbate Advocates for Peace are at the forefront of the roster of six special awardees, six individual honorees and seven unit awardees.
Supt. Renato Battaler, chief of the PNP Bicol community relations department, announced in yesterday’s PIA radio program Aramon Ta Daw, the recognition of outstanding police and units is the highlight of the 110th Police Servce Anniversary in Bicol. The award-giving activity is an annual undertaking of PNP Bicol since 1978.
Awards will be bestowed to different units who excelled in their performance. Sorsogon police units will receive three awards: best police provincial police office, best provincial public safety company and best city police station.
Meanwhile, Daraga Municipal Police station was named vest MPS, the 5th Regional Public Safety Batallion as best RPSB, the Regional Finance Service Office 5 as best regional administrative support unit and the Regional Intelligence Unit 5 as best regional operations support unit.
Individual awardees, on the other hand, are PSupt Oscar R. Regala as best senior police commissioned officer (PCO) for operations; P/SInsp Dennis B. Balla, best junior PCO; SP04 Elmer B. Antang, best senior police non-commissioned officer (PNCO); P02 Michelle H. Morales, best junior PNCO; Josephine A. Oliquino, best non-uniformed personnel (NUP) supervisory level; and Charwen B. Buenafe, best NUP non-supervisory level.
Special awardees include Legazpi City Mayor Carmen Geraldine B. Rosal, P/CSupt Victor P. Deona, P/SSupt Henry S. Rañola Jr., and SP01 Asuncion C. San Juan.
Before the awarding ceremony, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo will head the blessing of PRO 5 Memorial Shrine and female quarters.
This year’s 110th police anniversary is being commemorated with the theme Sandaang Taon at Sandekadang Paglilingkod ng Kapulisan Kaagapay ang Sambayanan Tungo sa Matuwid na Daan.(MAL/AAN, PIA V)
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BMC gears up for immersion days
In order to ensure that the Ganesh immersion days are safe, the BMC has kept ready 248 lifeguards (and 2,000 NGO lifeguards), 49 motorboats, 43 health centres, 39 ambulances, 48 mobile toilets, 83 nirmalya kalash, 195 floodlights, 36 searchlights, 33 watchtowers and 16 floaters.
Overall, 1,054 BMC employees have been deployed. The civic body has also started pruning trees that come in the way of immersion routes. The solid waste department will also collect garbage regularly, and try to make the city garbage free.
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Li Jinjun: NGOs do what governments can’t
Li Jinjun, the executive vice-president of the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE) meets a number of Chinese media in Nairobi, Kenya Aug 30 during the First China-Africa People’s Forum. The forum is co-hosted by CNIE and Kenya Non-Governmental Organizations Coordination Board (Board), and is the first non-governmental exchange between China and Africa ever held in Africa.
China Daily Website reporter Feng Xin: “We know the First China-Africa People’s Forum is going to pass the Nairobi Declaration during its closing ceremony. Can you tell us what it will be about?
Li Jinjun: “China and Africa have established a formal, governmental system of dialogue and exchange, which is the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) where Chinese and African governments host a round table conference every year in turn. However, we haven’t had a similar system between non-government organizations, so we hope the First China-Africa People’s Forum will lay a foundation for such a system in the future. The Nairobi Declaration will outline the guiding principles of people-to-people exchange between China and Africa and propose the establishment of a regular forum for such exchanges.
Reporter: What different effects do you think non-government exchanges will achieve than that of governments?
Li: Government exchanges are often more serious and formal. There are a lot of courtesy and manners involved, so sometimes it is not easy to talk extremely frankly. Non-government exchanges, on the other hand, are less formal, just like our opening ceremony – we had Chinese and African dancers performing for us – we opened the forum to the beat of music. We also had entrepreneur meetings and an HIV/AIDS training workshop alongside the forum. In other words, non-government communications can really take place in a variety of forms, and people are able to have more straightforward and sincere talks with each other.
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Israel Police orders its Arab, Bedouin officers to leave illegal homes
Regavim, an NGO whose stated aim is 'preserving national lands,' sends letter to national police chief containing names of seven Israeli Arab and Bedouin officers it claims lived in unauthorized dwellings.
Bedouin and Arab officers serving in the Israel Police who live in unauthorized buildings in southern Israel and East Jerusalem will be instructed to leave their homes. The decision is based on a response from the police legal department to a nonprofit organization that challenged a directive ordering a police officer to leave his home in an unauthorized Jewish settler outpost in the West Bank.
In that case, a police sapper living in an illegal house in Migron was ordered to move out, together with his family, or face an investigation that could end in his dismissal from the police force.
Regavim, an NGO whose stated aim is "preserving national lands," sent a letter to the national police chief containing the names of seven Israeli Arab and Bedouin officers it claimed also lived in unauthorized dwellings. "It is undoubtedly impossible to accept a double standard in which the same person who enforces the law in the day brutally violates it at night when he returns to his illegal home," the letter said.
"Nothing could do more to undermine the public's trust in law enforcement," said the letter, "and so we praise your determined efforts to clean the stables as well as the unequivocal demand from those in the police ranks who are living in illegal buildings to choose at once between continued service and their illegal home."
Regavim provided details about four Bedouin officers and three East Jerusalem officers living in unauthorized structures. They included a Bedouin officer from the Arad police station living in the vicinity of Hura, one who lived near Nabatim Junction and served in the Southern District and one who served in Be'er Sheva and lived in the nearby Bedouin community of Kseifa.
In a response to Regavim, Israel Police legal adviser Shaul Gordon wrote, in part: "The officers of the Israel Police are obligated to uphold and to enforce the law. There is no doubt that officers may not live in quarters that have been declared illegal and against which final demolition orders have been issued." Gordon went on to explain that in accordance with instructions from the national police chief, "any officer living in such a structure will be requested to leave the home."
According to a response statement issued by the police, "The police do not have the ability to initiate examinations into where each of the force's 28,000 officers lives. In this matter the Israel Police acts on the basis or complaints or information that it receives."
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NGO Gives Sh1million Computers to Boost E-Learning in Schools
An NGO has provided Sh 1 million worth of computers to boost e-learning in Kikuyu schools.
The France-based Fungana Association Director Nathalie Favreau said the initiative is one of its kind. She praised primary and secondary schools for embracing e-learning adding that much needs be done to improve access to IT skills.
Favreau, who was speaking to the press at Kikuyu Township Primary School ,asked the government to provide schools with facilities to boost e-learning. The NGOs' Kenyan chapter director Juliana Kisimbi said the organisation will continue donatingcomputers to schools in the country. "Their efforts have has helped us to get the waivers showing that the Kenyan government is very much concerned towards ICT learning in our institutions," Kisimbi said.
So far, she said, Fungana has given 5 computers to 91 municipally Primary school in Nyahururu, Mbitini Primary in Kitui 3 computers, Usueni Girls Secondary School Kitui,5, West Pokot school,5, Kitui technical school,6 and Othaya primary getting five computers. "We believe that the world has become a global village and with ICT in our schools we should meet the purpose. Our children are exposed to ICT technology from an early age; many portents come from other countries to Kenya ," said Kisimbi.
She noted that with the government's initiative of offering free primary and secondary school education, it was the high time for Kenyan elite to give back to the community by boosting education in others ways like improved technology. "We have free secondary and primary education, what we need is more ICT in the country and we should build it to the maximum standard so that we can move with the technology," said Kisimbi. "I managed to by one computer at home and because I saw that it was helping me a lot, we were able to get corroboration with Paris organization and we started Fungana," she explained.
Kisimbi added, "we are gong to source through more computers because we have a vision for the whole country, we will go and visit other countries to help our children to appreciate the world from a global perspective." "When I moved Paris I had very limited knowledge to computer but within a span of five years, we were using Google maps and I was able to shop online and everything was just within a click of a mouse and the delivery was done into my house after short time," said Kisimbi.
She continued, "so with those inspirations, we should open our children's eyes, I a child is natured since childhood, and then we shall have a lot of potential. This is s voluntary service. The organizations vision is to move the whole Kenyan into such a vital technology to enhance more accessibility.
Winnie Ndung'u, Kikuyu Area Educational Officer, hailed the organization's efforts to be the first to provide the computers. She said that with E-learning on the way, the government and cooperate world should intervene and boost it in schools.
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High court issues notice to 48 mining companies
The high court of Bombay at Goa on Friday issued notices to 48 mining companies in the state for carrying on large scale illegal mining in violation of environmental norms.
A division bench comprising Justice D G Karnik and Justice F M Reis issued the notices in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Mapusa-based NGO Goa Foundation.
During the hearing, the petitioner's advocate, Norma Alvares argued that the Union ministry of environment and forests and the Goa State Pollution Control Board should be directed to prosecute the directors and owners of these 48 mines by launching appropriate criminal proceedings. The government should recover the sale proceeds of all the mineral ore extracted in violation of the production limits, Alvares stated. She further sought a direction from the court to direct the state government to suspend the consent granted to all the 48 mines to operate, pending further hearing of the PIL.
The bench declined to grant an interim order and observed that the 48 companies had not been added as respondents to the PIL. The court thereafter directed the petitioner to amend the petition before the next date by including the names of the 48 companies.
The petitioner alleged that the companies have violated the Environment Protection Act 1986 by carrying out mining in violation of the statutory production limits imposed on their mining operations as per the environment clearances and the consent to operate granted under the Water Act, 1974, and Air Act, 1981. The petitioner also pointed out that no action has been taken by the authorities to stop the excess production which 'has reached gigantic proportions and was adversely affecting the fragile ecology in these areas'. The court will hear the PIL further on September 19.
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Postwar Libya poses weapons threat
The uprising against deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has unearthed thousands of weapons, from assault rifles to missiles, in arms caches around Tripoli, and a major international NGO is warning of potentially grave consequences if they're not secured.
Anti-Gadhafi forces now control the vast number of military armories in and around the capital, but they are being looted by the truckload, with opposition fighters carting off machine-guns, boxes of ammunition and tank shells.
"There is real concern that these advanced weapons could end up being sold on the black market, fetching thousands of dollars apiece in some cases," said Fred Abrahams, a researcher with Human Rights Watch.
"The bigger stuff that we've seen, including surface-to-air missiles that can target a civilian airliner, that's the kind of weaponry that could obviously be used by terrorist groups. It should be a top priority and it needs to be secured immediately."
At a secret weapons depot south of Tripoli, discovered this week by anti-regime forces and a gaggle of reporters, dozens of men checked out guns and munitions from the now-defunct Libyan army.
"This is different weapons: tank weapons, machine-guns, machines. There's a lot of things there," said Ibi Beck as he watched men load up pickup trucks with crates of ammo.
Wrong hands
It's exactly what happened after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Abrahams said it wouldn't take much to keep the weapons secure.
"You post a couple of guards in front of these depots … many of these depots have already been looted in eastern Libya. Now, with western Libya just coming under the control of the rebels, there's a chance to still do it," he said. "Left abandoned, this is just going to slip into the wrong hands."
Mohammed al-Alagi, the justice minister for the National Transitional Council, the anti-Gadhafi group recognized as Libya's legitimate government by many countries including Canada, said the new Libyan government has created a task force of army and police officers that is set to launch a program to collect all the weapons and hand them over to the government.
But it will be a tough job. So many of the young, jeans-clad anti-Gadhafi fighters throughout the capital have their own assault rifles. They're at every corner, every checkpoint, in the hands of men like Lockman Hamoud, who used to live in Victoria, B.C., before taking up an AK-47 against the former Libyan army's tanks.
"I never thought I would hold a gun in my hands before," he said. "I did it just for my country, for the land.”
'Please take my gun from me!'
Human Rights Watch says Western nations need to beef up their intelligence — especially at Libya's borders — so the ammunition and more advanced weapons systems aren't smuggled out and used in an attack.
Al-Alagi said once underlying conditions change and people can feel more secure, the new government will be able to decommission the weapons.
"For 42 years, the people of Libya have been treated very badly. That’s why so many now carry guns – to protect themselves," he said. "But absolutely we will collect all these weapons. We will make sure Libya is a civilian country based on democracy, not a military country where everyone carries guns.”
And that's just fine for Moustafa Mujber, a gun-toting anti-Gadhafi militant who said he paid dearly for his firearm, but it was worth it to defend his freedom.
"Please take my gun from me! You know, I work in oil field. I have no reason to keep it in my drawer anymore."
Mr. Bernard Guri, Executive Director of Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD), a non-governmental organisation, has said natural resources are no longer owned and managed by traditional authorities but by politicians and administrators.
He was speaking at a one day workshop on natural resources management organised by CIKOD in Sunyani and attended by chiefs and queen mothers in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
The workshop was to build the capacity of the participants to enable them to understand and support the idea of transparency at regional and traditional council levels.
Mr Guri said chiefs had lost control and ownership of natural resources and this had led to the emergence of illegal chainsaw operations as well as environmental and food crisis.
“More than half of our forest cover is gone, water sources are either dried up, there is increasing flooding and increasing pollution of water bodies, climate change is with us – environmental crisis,” Mr. Guri said.
He appealed to traditional authorities to take back and manage what belonged to them and manage the forests and food production for the benefit of their communities.
He appealed to the chiefs to help revitalize community spirit among the people to check deforestation and forest degradation.
“We expect Nananom to bring back the resilience in our communities to be able to cope with the changing trends”, Mr Guri said.
Mr. Wilberforce Lartey, the Deputy Executive Director of CIKOD, said public perception in a research conducted indicated traditional authorities “are contributing positively to forest governance through the enforcement of traditional customary laws and regulations.”
He said traditional authorities used revenue to preserve their heritage, culture and traditions as well as upkeep and maintenance of their palaces and stools.
He said there are laid down procedures for the disbursement of royalties in the paramountcy but this is unknown to the public.
Mr Guri said there was an increase in resource-related conflicts between community members and their traditional leaders as well as between communities and companies/state due to the non-disclosure of royalties and other revenues by some traditional leaders.
Osahene Kwaku Aterkyi II, Paramount Chief of Kukuom Traditional Area and President of Brong-Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, said chiefs lacked organizational capacity and information on forest and natural resources management at the local level.
He appealed to the chiefs and queen mothers to pay attention to the workshop so they could be enlightened on natural resource management.
“It is when the enlightenment has been grasped that we can contribute our quota to the proper utilization and sustainability of our forests and natural resources,” Osahene Kwaku Aterkyi said.
