A group of Kashmiri university students. Athar Parvaiz/IPS

SRINAGAR, Feb 29, 2012 (IPS) – Kashmir is missing out on a ‘demographic dividend’ and unable to cash in on its youthful population for lack of initiatives from a state government bogged down by a two-decade-old separatist insurgency.

Mercy Corps, a United States-based development agency, found 48 percent of youth in Kashmir unemployed, in a comprehensive survey, the results of which were published in August 2011.

According to the survey, Kashmir is experiencing a ‘youth bulge’ with about 70 percent of its 10 million-strong population under the age of 31.

The World Bank’s chief economist, Justin Yifu Lin, submits in his blog ‘Let’s Talk Development’ on Jan. 5 that the increase in the number of working age individuals can, if fully employed in productive activities, other things being equal, result in a youth bulge becoming a demographic dividend.

“However, if a large cohort of young people cannot find employment and earn satisfactory income, the youth bulge will become a demographic bomb, because a large mass of frustrated youth is likely to become a potential source of social and political instability,” Lin warns in the posting.

Signs of youth unrest are already visible in the Kashmir valley in several stone-throwing sprees lasting days and occasioning the imposition of curfews since 2008. Several hundred youth, including juveniles, are currently lodged in jails on charges of rioting that are not entirely unrelated to separatist militancy.

“These stone-throwing episodes are largely the result of frustration among Kashmiri youth from a sense of hopelessness and frustration regarding the future,” says Roshanara Malik, a schoolteacher and psychologist. “The government needs to think of career counselling and placements seriously, rather than lock young people away.”

The Bank holds that most developing countries have a short window of opportunity to enact policies and promote investments that raise the human capital of young people while positioning them for greater economic productivity.

Citing official data, Mercy Corps said that the incidence of unemployment amongst youth in Kashmir has continued to rise since 1993. “With more and more educated youth entering an already over-saturated job market each year, Kashmir faces a mounting challenge.”

One issue reflected in the survey is that government jobs continue to be prized in Kashmir, creating a mindset in which jobs in the private sector or entrepreneurship are less valued.

But Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has made it clear that it is unrealistic to expect the government to provide more employment in a state already groaning under an annual wage bill worth 3.6 million dollars.

“The preference for government jobs in a conflict zone, where investing in businesses is risky, is understandable. But this preference has resulted in high unemployment rates,” Shamas Imran, a researcher on social issues and teacher at Kashmir’s Central University, told IPS.

Imran and others say that if the government cannot provide jobs it should create conditions for the growth of entrepreneurship in Kashmir beyond traditional activities like tourism.

Several participants of a November 2011 youth gathering in Kashmir’s capital, the ‘Young Kashmir Leadership Meet’, told IPS that they would like to see the government encourage private sector investments aimed at generating jobs and incomes.

“We do need to give up this notion that government jobs alone are everything and rest is nothing. But this mindset can change only when employment opportunities are created in the private sector,” said Imtiyaz Lone, a participant in the meet.

Imran, however, said limited employment opportunities in government and the private sector were already beginning to push youth towards self-employment in such areas as floriculture.

Mumtaz Sheikh, 27, a post-graduate from Kashmir University, is happy growing flowers on his farm. “After realising that a government job or even a private job is hard to find, I started exploring options of self-dependence,” Sheikh told IPS.

Nusrat Jahan, 37, a woman who graduated in computer applications, is another entrepreneur who has taken the floriculture route to self-employment. She has no regrets and now employs 20 people in her business supplying flowers to such clients as ‘Ferns N Petals’, India’s largest florist chain.

“Floriculture pays good dividends, giving an average farmer an additional income of around 2,000 dollars per season,” Harcharan Pal Singh, director of floriculture in Kashmir, told IPS.

When Alexander Mudragey, director of Wisdom Flowers, a major Russian importer, visited Kashmir last year, he put the potential of floriculture in the state at 100 million dollars a year, though this would call for initial investments.

Mudragey said the cost of flower production was much lower in Kashmir than elsewhere in the world, with climatic conditions favouring roses and tulips which were of better quality than those grown in major flower exporting countries like the Netherlands, Columbia, Ethiopia, China and Vietnam.

Entrepreneurs like Sheikh complain that Kashmir’s provincial government has done little to boost entrepreneurship in horticulture or other potentially income-generating activities.

“Unfortunately, the government has been slow in tapping such identified employment-generating sectors as commercial floriculture, fisheries and forest- and agriculture-based industries,” says Mohammad Ashraf, an independent researcher.

Ashraf’s views were in consonance with the findings of the Mercy Corps survey that said “Kashmiri youth are highly resilient, educated and motivated, but currently lack the skills needed to compete in the 21st century.”

“Kashmir’s burgeoning youth population is an untapped asset and represents a potential opportunity for positive economic and social change. Large percentages of Kashmir’s youth are potential entrepreneurs,” the survey said.  (END)

Radio Zibonele began broadcasting under the bed of a shipping container truck in 1995. Davison Mudzingwa/IPS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Feb 7 (IPS) – When a financial crisis threatened the existence of Africa’s oldest community station, Bush Radio, an outpouring of sympathy and appeals went viral on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. However, despite this outspoken support that showed that the station is worth saving, its future remains uncertain.

It got the message out there to the decision makers, and because it was in their faces all the time… there has been offers of assistance,” said Adrian Louw, programme integrator at Bush Radio.

The emergence of social media has opened new opportunities for community broadcasters in Cape Town, South Africa. Not only are they able to interact more effectively with their audiences, but they can now do so cheaply.

Bush Radio broadcasts to at least 260 000 listeners, predominantly in the poor Cape Flats, formerly an apartheid housing area for people of colour.

But thanks to social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a blog, Bush Radio now maintains a strong presence in the community.

“The use of social media has been important for us because it has allowed us to do stuff without getting a specific designer on board that knows our internet protocols,” said Louw.

The station has a rich history of defiance during the apartheid era. Back then it broadcasted illegally after repeated applications for a licence were turned down. Since the granting of a broadcasting licence in 1994, the station has evolved with the times.

“If blogging works, why do we have to pay thousands of (South African) Rands to get a designer to design a fancy website for news when a free CMS (content management system) works?” asked Louw.

Core to Bush Radio’s programming are issues that affect their audiences. These include HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, poverty and crime. Highlighting these issues through social media is convenient in several ways. “The nice thing about social media is that it really assists community media with its mission, in terms of increasing access to the station and really making people feel that they are owners of the station because they now can communicate with the station quickly,” says Louw

“Even if you are not interested in something you get an alert, like ‘do not forget that Sakhisizwe (radio programme) is going to talk about HIV/AIDS at 12pm.’ In that way, a specialised audience will interact.”

Bush Radio is also renowned for training young people in broadcasting. Social media has enabled them to spread the message quicker. “For instance we had a recruitement for news volunteers. We had a response from over sixty applicants within three days.”

For Bush Radio, social media complements the weaknesses of radio – its immediacy and transient nature. With social media, the station can now relay important messages that have a presence on the internet.

“We seriously believe that technology must be used in bettering people’s lives,” said Louw.

Across town in South Africa’s biggest single township of Khayelitsha, Radio Zibonele has a lot in common with Bush Radio. Radio Zibonele’s listenership has steadily increased with the station’s meteoric rise from its days of broadcasting under the bed of a shipping container truck in 1995.

With over 220 000 listeners, feedback grew and inundated the single studio phone line. The advent of social media has been a welcome development for Radio Zibonele.

Like most community media, Radio Zibonele traditionally interacts with its audiences through outreach programmes such as road shows and other sponsored community activities. However, of late, dwindling sponsorship has been a hindrance. Social media, said Ntebaleng Shete, the station’s programme manager, fills the gap by reconnecting with the community.

Radio Zibonele broadcasts mostly in the local language, isiXhosa. Its flagship programme discusses various social problems, and feedback peaks during this two-hour programme.

The high penetration of mobile phones with internet connectivity has also boosted the number of listeners who log onto social networks. According to latest figures provided by Cellular Online, a mobile portal, South Africa has a growing subscriber base of close to 20 million users.

“I think people are growing with technology…many of the people want to be on Facebook and Twitter,” said Shete.

However, Chris Kabwato, the director of Highway Africa, a Pan-African programme at Rhodes University that focuses on research, education, media and digital technologies, said community media in Africa has a long way to go to utilise social media.

“(There are ) the perennial challenges of lack of internet access… and the general lack of technical knowledge around the use of new media on – mobile, internet, web-based social applications,” said Kabwato of the factors that have hampered the full usage of social media.

He, however, believes that vast opportunities to develop more interactive programmes and to generate revenue from social media exist.

*This story was produced with the support of UNESCO.

**The story that moved on Feb. 3 incorrectly stated that Bush Radio had received sufficient financial support to save the station.

(END/2012)

Poppy Agha, Pakistani chef on the 'Foodistan' reality TV show. Credit: NDTV

KARACHI, Feb 3, 2012 (IPS) – If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, then the path to peace between India and Pakistan may lie in the commonalities in their cultures and cuisines.

So when Poppy Agha, a renowned Pakistani chef, was recently served up kebabs made of okra (lady’s finger) and biryani (rice), followed by firni (dessert), the misgivings she had about India melted away.

“I was brought up in a very patriotic household with the usual Pakistani stereotypes in my mind towards India. This feeling has now changed completely,” she tells IPS from the Indian capital of New Delhi, where she has gone to take part in a reality show on food.

“You don’t have to think poorly of Indians to be a patriotic Pakistani!” said Agha, who runs a professional culinary institute in Pakistan, ladling out aromatic delights to entice the judges.

The Indian television channel NDTV Good Times, through its cookery show ‘Foodistan’, has diverted South Asia’s archenemies away from a nuclear race by pitting chefs against each other to a gruelling “cross border cook off”.

The 26-part series has 16 professional chefs, eight from each side of the border, who show what the “two most culturally rich and fascinating countries” in Asia can do with their respective cuisines.

“Cookery can be a terrific friendship builder,” said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani physicist and peace activist. “It can transcend manmade boundaries.”

And that is exactly what the programme producers are hoping to achieve.

In an email exchange, Smeeta Chakrabarti, chief of NDTV Lifestyle, told IPS: “India and Pakistan have many common passions such as music, cricket and yes, fabulous food. The boundaries are just political, and the reality is that in many ways, the people of the two countries live and think in a similar fashion.”

“I wish the real wars were over,” said Vir Sanghvi, an Indian judge on the programme. “But, until we can be sure of that, the best way of ensuring peace is for our people to interact with each other in arenas such as Foodistan,” he told IPS.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 and a traumatic partition on the basis of religion. Their relationship since then has resembled a rollercoaster with moments of understanding punctuating hostilities over the possession of the province of Kashmir.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, an Indian diplomat turned politician, told a roomful of Pakistanis that both nations had a choice to either continue living in “simmering hostility” or engage proactively and prosper. He said 90 percent of the people on either side of the border did not nurse grudges from a dark past.

Aiyar, who was invited by the Jinnah Institute, an Islamabad-based think tank, to speak on ‘India and Pakistan: Retrospect and Prospect’ said: “History may have divided us but geography binds us.”

In India, Agha learnt to develop menus in different ways, but she told IPS that she gained much more at a personal level. “I have met some great people I can call friends,” she declares.

Zohra Yusuf, a Pakistani rights activist, believes that “any kind of contact, even a highly competitive one” can contribute to a better understanding in the long run.

“While passions may be inflamed, during a tense cricket match, for example, face-to-face interactions helps remove prejudices about the ‘other’ to a great extent,” she told IPS.

In spite of hurdles thrown in by officialdom on both sides, such as denial of visas, requirements for visitors to report to police stations and restrictions on travel, people-to-people contacts seem to find their own way.

Thus, India’s tennis star Sania Mirza could marry Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, or the tennis duo of Indian Rohan Bopana and Pakistan’s Aisam ul Haq Qureshi could get together to start a movement called “Stop War Start Tennis.”

The Jang Group, a Pakistani media house, has joined hands with the Times of India daily newspaper in a campaign called ‘Aman ki Asha’ (Hoping for Peace) that, over the last two years, has relentlessly promoted peace efforts.

Aman ki Asha’s success depends on a plan to begin anew with the next generation of Indians and Pakistanis and get them to take the responsibility for “shedding the baggage of history.”

Stark facts such as the 250 million dollar daily expense in maintaining an electrified, barbed fence with floodlights and security equipment along the border are thrown at young participants.

The success of the Aman ki Asha initiative can be gauged by the fact that it was unaffected by the public acrimony generated during the difficult period after the terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 2008, carried out by a group of armed Pakistanis.

If anything, the peace show has been gaining ground. In 2010, ‘Chote Ustad’ (Little Master), a music reality show for young Pakistani and Indian singing and dancing talent, run by the Star Plus TV channel, turned into a huge hit on both sides of the border.

Rouhan Abbas, one of the Pakistani winners, returned home with a medal, a trophy, the prize money as well as a basketful of memories. He still misses the bonhomie that developed with young Indian participants at the show.

“The notion that India was our enemy was fixed in my mind, since I was little; that was completely erased after our Indian hosts showed us love and warmth,” Abbas told IPS.

There has, of late, been a definite thawing of the relations between the two neighbours, riding on the cultural front: enough for India to slip down to third position among Pakistan’s enemies, after the United States and Israel.

Shows like Foodistan can spread the message of brotherhood says Chakrabarti. “If you see participants from both sides and unless you are told you wouldn’t be able to tell who is from which side of the border,” she said.

“Because of travel and visa restrictions, we don’t know enough about each others’ cuisine and culture,” she said, adding that shows like Foodistan can help bridge that gap.

(END)

Various organisations from across the world were represented at the WSF march in Dakar, Senegal. / Credit:Isolda Agazzi/IPS

DAKAR, Feb 9, 2011 (IPS) – It is only the second time that the World Social Forum (WSF) takes place in Africa, the first one having been held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2007. Since the start of the WSF in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 10 years ago, the organisers have been building African participation.

The number of people attending the WSF has steadily gone up: from 20,000 to 150,000. In Nairobi it dropped to 70,000, which made some observers announce “the end of the anti-globalisation movement”.

“But one has to compare apples with apples,” says Chico Whitaker, one of the founders of the forum. “Most of the participants come from the country or the region where it takes place. Senegal has only 12 million inhabitants, compared to 180 million in Brazil. Therefore, this year we will not have a huge gathering.”

He adds that, “our original intention was not to create a new movement that would change everything but to increase the possibility of people to get to know each other and come together. Politically, we needed to change our methods. Instead of creating a pyramid based on power, we decided to launch networks.”

The WSF is still concerned with the globally dominant neoliberal dictum: “We are told that the market is the solution and that it needs to be free. But the market does not solve the problem of inequalities,” Whitaker concludes.

The WSF kicked off on Sunday Feb 6 with the traditional rally. Thousands of people marched in the city centre of the Dakar, capital of Senegal in West Africa, to reclaim food sovereignty, debt relief, trade equity, women’s rights, access to health, liberalisation of migration and many other causes aimed at fairer and more inclusive globalisation.

“The total number of participants is not known yet,” Taoufik Ben Abdallah of Enda Tiers Monde, the coordinator of the African Social Forum and one of the main organisers of this year’s event, told IPS in an interview. Enda Tiers Monde is an international development organisation with headquarters in Dakar.

“People have come from 130 countries. Many groups have arrived from all over Africa, often by bus. The participation of Asia is rather low but that is mainly due to the cost of the journey.”

Ben Abdallah welcomed participants at the Cheikh Anta Diop University by saying, “Africa is a rich region if you to let countries determine their own policies”. Asked by IPS whether the “Jasmine Revolution” could spread across Africa, Ben Abdallah answered that, “the way the Tunisian delegation was welcomed shows that what happened there is considered very significant”.

The actual work started on Feb 7 amid some confusion. Most of the workshops scheduled in the university building had to be cancelled because students were attending classes as if the WSF did not exist. The former university director had promised use of the buildings for the whole week but the current director decided not to suspend classes.

The organisers met with university authorities while tents were set up rapidly. Several workshops were relocated there. Many participants think that the Senegalese government is not making any effort to support the global event but Ben Abdallah ensures journalists that it is only an organisational problem.

Feb 7 was devoted to Africa and hundreds of self-organised workshops took place on varied issues until today (Feb 9).

For Anna Dramé of the National Council of Civil Society Organisations of the small West African state Guinea, “holding the WSF in Africa is a good thing because it gives us the possibility to exchange ideas and find solutions to common problems.

“I have been inspired by the workshops on violence against women and on land grabbing,” she told IPS. “I did not know about the situation in Mauritania and Mali and, once I am back home, I will be able to pass information along.”

For Sidibe Abou from Covire, a coordinating body that attends to victims of repression in Mauritania, “unity is strength and holding the WSF in Africa will give visibility to the problems of the unemployed, the widowed, the orphans and other excluded people. Discussing common problems may help us to find solutions.”

Nama Sidiki of Diobass in Burkina Faso, an organisation of small farmers, is also concerned about unlawful expropriation of land. “It creates conflict. In Burkina Faso, mainly rich locals and some members of government — rather than foreigners — have grabbed land. The WSF helps raise the awareness of people.”

During the last two days of the WSF (Feb 10-11), delegates attending “convergence workshops” will try to produce common positions and pave the way forward on thematic issues. As usual, the WSF will not produce any final outcome document.

“The WSF is based on a bottom-up approach. We do not want to make all people think the same,” explains Whitaker. (END)

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 31, 2011 (IPS) – The African Union Summit drew to a close today in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Among the headline decisions was the continental body’s support for Kenya’s planned request to defer prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of six suspects in post-election violence that claimed more than 1,200 lives in 2008.

The naming of the six by the ICC in December 2010 caused a shock in Kenya; the accused included Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, an ally of President Mwai Kibaki who is the son of the country’s iconic first president, Jomo Kenyatta, and other prominent figures belonging to both sides of the unity government.

The violence that followed the disputed December 2007 elections came to an end when Kibaki agreed a deal with his challenger, Raila Odinga, which made Odinga prime minister – and provided for the perpetrators of the post-election violence to be tried.

Slow progress on naming and prosecuting any suspects led to the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s investigation of the violence and request for summons of six prominent figures.

Neutering the threat of swift justice

Within a week of the naming of the suspects, Kenya’s parliament had voted to withdraw Kenya from the International Criminal Court. As the AU Summit approached, Kenya actively sought support from other African countries to apply to the Security Council to defer action by the ICC for 12 months.

Kenya’s Vice President, Kalonzo Musyoka, said that his country wants to establish an independent local body to look into the case at home.

“The African Union supports the search for solutions and gives reference to local solutions,” Ben Kioko, the AU’s Legal Counsel told IPS, stressing that the continental body remains committed to fighting impunity, but would first allow Kenya a chance to address it within the country’s own legal system.

As chair of the East African regional body IGAD, the Intergovernmental Authority for Development, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said, “We cannot allow the only country in our region that has enjoyed stability to be destabilized on the grounds of a technicality. All that the Kenyans are asking for is a 12 month period to be allowed to put in place a mechanism that will bring about justice and avoid a repeat of the post election violence.”

“If a crime is committed in your country and you are willing to judge it, no one can interfere,” said Jean Ping, AU Commission Chairperson.

“We Africans and African Union are not against ICC… we are against the way Ocampo is running justice,” Ping said, pointing to the well-worn fact that the five countries where the Court is investigating are all in Africa.

Too valuable to prosecute

Among the heads of state attending the Jan. 29-30 summit was Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, himself the subject of an ICC arrest warrant. He too appears to be no closer to answering charges of genocide and war crimes at the ICC, as the African Union has asked the United Nations Security Council for a deferment of his case as well, though no internal process to put him on trial in Sudan has been promised.

“The African position is that critical issues in the Sudan, particularly those aimed at ensuring the peaceful implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement as well as a peaceful resolution in Darfur,” need the involvement of Bashir, Kioko told IPS.

“Therefore, it has been felt that an indictment of a major player, someone who needs to negotiate, who needs to be able to provide direction, is not helpful.”

Stephen Lamony, the Outreach Liaison for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) told IPS many African governments were uncomfortable attending the Summit alongside the indicted Bashir.

“While many of them did not want to associate or be seen with ICC Suspect Omar al-Bashir at the AU summit (because of the crimes Al-Bashir allegedly committed in Darfur), they could not alienate him because of his role in the Sudanese referendum and the manner in which it was conducted as he did not interfere in the elections. As such, African states parties could not ignore his contribution to the transition process in Sudan,” he told IPS via email.

But, Lamony added, neither the endorsement of Kenya’s plan to seek deferment nor similar actions regarding Bashir should be construed as a waning of support by African governments for the International Criminal Court.

“The Court is investigating and prosecuting crimes committed against African victims only when the states where the crimes were committed have been unable or unwilling to do so. Following referrals by states and the United Nations Security Council and more recently on the Prosecutor’s initiative, the ICC Prosecutor has opened investigations in five situations.”

He called on African governments – as well as civil society and the public – to remain committed to the ICC and the rule of law.

“In the past decade alone, millions of Africans have lost their lives in conflicts and have been the target of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and, arguably, genocidal campaigns perpetrated against them. By attempting to punish those responsible for these crimes, the Court is standing up for African victims and attempting to prevent the future occurrence of atrocities. African governments, together with civil society, played an active role in establishing the International Criminal Court.”

As part of ensuring that active participation continues, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court is launching a worldwide campaign around the election of new judges, officials and a new chief prosecutor as scheduled in 2011.

A third of the ICC’s 18 judges will be replaced in 2011, six new ones elected by the Assembly of State Parties of the Rome Statute; in addition, Moreno-Ocampo’s term as Chief Prosecutor will end in June 2012, and his successor must also be elected this year.

The personnel chosen over the course of the year will have a significant effect on the direction of the Court for years to come.

(END)

WASHINGTON, Jan 24, 2011 (IPS) – The international community – from Western authorities to Southern powers – lacks courage and hides behind “soft diplomacy” in confronting human rights abusers, a leading rights group accuses in a 649-page world report released Monday.

In its annual flagship publication, Human Rights Watch slams world leaders and global institutions for “simply feigning serious participation” and “ongoing concern” for human rights, claiming that these “expected champions” use rhetoric as substitutes for concerted action.

“The quest for dialogue and cooperation becomes a charade designed more to appease critics of complacency than to secure change,” wrote Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, in the report’s introduction.

Among the guilty, Roth name-dropped multilateral organisations like ASEAN, the European Union and the United Nations as well as leaders like U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, E.U. high representative Catherine Ashton, U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“The secretary-general’s view is that diplomacy and public pressure are not mutually exclusive,” a spokesperson for Ban said Monday, defending against criticisms that the world body’s head is not outspoken enough against countries with deplorable rights records like Burma, China and Sri Lanka.

Prominent developing countries were also targeted for their timid responses to their rights-abusing neighbours.

“Brazil, India, and South Africa, strong and vibrant democracies at home, remain unsupportive of many human rights initiatives abroad, even though each benefitted from international solidarity in its struggle to end, respectively, dictatorship, colonization, and apartheid,” the publication stated.

“The international community, particularly democratic states from North and South, has an obligation to protect and promote human rights,” Ted Piccone, senior fellow and deputy director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, told IPS. “They have influence and should exert it through a range of measures, from dialogue and cooperation to public criticism and sanctions.”

IBSA are urged in the report to use their standing as leading Southern capitals to do more to protect individuals from repression by “less progressive governments”.

“Their foreign policies are often based on building South- South political and economic ties and are bolstered by reference to Western double standards, but these rationales do not justify these emerging powers turning their backs on people who have not yet won the rights that their own citizens enjoy,” the report states.

The publication also highlights timing as key for IBSA, as all three are current members of the U.N. Security Council. Historically, the council has shied away from tackling human rights directly, with some claiming that the issue does not fall under the body’s mandate of maintaining international peace and security.

Rights advocates, on the other hand, have long argued that human rights abuses are often intimately tied to the council’s agenda.

These sorts of “excuses”, the report claims, are used to demote human rights concerns. Economic growth and development, humanitarian emergencies, the desire to build good will and abuses conducted at home are also reasons given for countries’ reluctance to promote human rights more vigorously and condemn others’ oppression.

For instance, the U.S., among others, is accused of being selective in pressuring those with poor rights records depending on its strategic and economic interests in the country, letting partners like Bahrain, India and Indonesia off relatively easy. The U.S.’s own “tolerance of torture and arbitrary detention in combating terrorism” is also criticised in the report.

“The shifting global balance of power (particularly the rise of China), an intensified competition for markets and natural resources at a time of economic turmoil, and the decline in moral standing of Western powers occasioned by their use with impunity of abusive counterterrorism techniques have made many governments less willing to take a strong public stand in favor of human rights,” the publication states.

The report argues that concerted international pressure can help bring change to these loci of repression, from Rwanda to Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia to Cambodia, Roma neighbourhoods to Guantanamo.

But public pronouncements of seeking “dialogue” and “cooperation” with these parties are not enough, the report claims – tactics like outright denunciations, conditional access to aid and targeted sanctions should be used to pressure these known abusers.

“When the parties directly responsible for human rights abuses refuse to cooperate or deny the facts, then the wider international community should take up the cause,” Piccone told IPS. “In many cases, international pressure is the catalysing force behind a change in a regime’s behaviour.”

“It also makes a difference for human rights victims and defenders on the ground who are often threatened to stay silent,” he said. “On the flip side, failure to pressure a government may lead to continued repression.”

(END)