World

Deportation of Ukranian children, a war crime – UN

Published

7 days ago

March 17, 2023

editor

Russia’s forced deportation of Ukrainian children to areas under its control amounts to a war crime, UN investigators have said.
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said there was evidence of the illegal transfer of hundreds of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Commission’s report is categorical that Russia also committed other war crimes in Ukraine.

They include attacks on hospitals, torture, rape and wilful killings.

Ukraine government figures put the number of children forcibly taken to Russia at 16,221.

Russia has introduced policies such as the granting of Russian citizenship and the placement of children in foster families to “create a framework in which some of the children may end up remaining permanently” in Russia, the report notes.

While the transfers were supposed to be temporary “most became prolonged”, with both parents and children facing “an array of obstacles in establishing contact”, UN investigators wrote.

In some cases, parents or children told the Commission that once in Russia-controlled areas, transferred children were made to wear “dirty clothes, were screamed at, and called names.” They also said that “some children with disabilities did not receive adequate care and medication.”

The burden of contacting their parents fell primarily to the transferred children as the adults faced “considerable logistical, financial, and security challenges” in finding or retrieving their children, the report says.

It also quotes witnesses as saying that the smaller children transferred may have not been able to establish contact with their families and might, as a consequence, “lose contact with them indefinitely”.

The forced deportations of Ukrainian children “violate international humanitarian law, and amount to a war crime”, concludes the report.

The UN said that said that in addition to the rapes, killings and “widespread” torture, Moscow could be responsible for the even more serious “crimes against humanity” – notably the wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that began last October.

The commission is also trying to determine whether the bombing and siege of the city of Mariupol last May might constitute a crime against humanity.

The investigators said they had also documented “a small number” of violations committed by Ukrainian armed forces.

News

Rahul Gandhi gets 2-yr jail term

Published

20 hours ago

March 23, 2023

editor

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced to two years in prison in a criminal defamation case.

Mr Gandhi was convicted by the court in Gujarat state for 2019 comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname during an election rally.

He will not go to jail immediately – he has been given bail for 30 days and can file an appeal against his conviction.

The Congress party MP was present in court for sentencing, which comes a year before general elections are due.

Speaking at an election rally in Karnataka state ahead of the 2019 general election, Mr Gandhi had asked why all thieves have “Modi” as a common surname – according to media reports from the time, he was referring to fugitive diamond tycoon Nirav Modi and former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi.

The case was filed on the basis of a complaint by Purnesh Modi, a lawmaker from India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, who said that Mr Gandhi’s comments had defamed the entire Modi community.

Mr Gandhi’s lawyers had argued that the right legal procedures had not been followed in the case. They also said that Narendra Modi should have been the complainant as Purnesh Modi was not the target of Mr Gandhi’s speech.

The Congress party tweeted that Mr Gandhi will file an appeal and “we will fight and win”.

Mr Gandhi has not commented publicly yet but has tweeted a quote in Hindi from Mahatma Gandhi: “My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, and non-violence the means to get it.”

(BBC News)

World

Chinese President holds talks with Russian counterpart

Published

4 days ago

March 20, 2023

editor

China’s President Xi Jinping is in Moscow for a two-day visit and talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It is Xi’s first visit to Russia since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in 2022 – he’s due to have lunch with Putin later, and hold formal talks on Tuesday.

The trip is taking place days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Putin for an alleged war crime.

Beijing has described it as a trip “for friendship and peace”, with Russia saying the leaders will discuss a “comprehensive partnership and strategic co-operation”.

Last month Beijing offered proposals to end the war in Ukraine, to which the West has given a lukewarm reception.

Western countries have previously warned Beijing against supplying Moscow with weapons.

(BBC News)

News

Millions of fish die in Aussie town (Video)

Published

6 days ago

March 18, 2023

editor

Residents in a regional Australian town have woken to find millions of dead fish in their river.
The large-scale fish deaths were first reported on Friday morning in the New South Wales’ (NSW) town of Menindee.

The state’s river authority said it was a result of an ongoing heatwave affecting the Darling-Baaka river.

Locals say it is the largest fish death event to hit the town, that experienced another significant mass death of fish just three years ago.

In a Facebook post, the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) said the heatwave put “further stress on a system that has experienced extreme conditions from wide-scale flooding”.

Heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

(BBC News)