Swiss to raise Anwar at UN Human Rights Council

Swiss Embassy in Kuala Lumpur reminds Malaysian authorities of the rule of law and the right to a fair trial.

FMT


KUALA LUMPUR: Switzerland will raise the jailing of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim at the next meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, a Swiss government spokesperson said on Friday.

According to a statement by the Swiss Foreign Ministry, obtained by the Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), the Swiss Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has also reminded the Malaysian authorities that Switzerland lends importance to respect for the rule of law and the right to a fair trial.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry will also raise Anwar’s plight during the next round of bilateral political talks between Malaysia and Switzerland later this year.

Human rights issues are part of the ongoing free trade talks between Malaysia and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), for which Switzerland is the lead negotiator within EFTA.

The Bruno Manser Fund, in welcoming the statement by the Swiss authorities, called on the international community to demand that Malaysia immediately release Anwar from jail.

The Federal Court, on Tuesday, upheld a Court of Appeal verdict jailing Anwar for five years on a sodomy charge. “The trial was flawed,” said BMF.

BMF also stressed that Anwar’s alleged sex partner met with then Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and lead prosecutor Muhammad Shafee Abdullah at Najib’s house two days before the alleged offence took place.

Putrajaya claims reduced poverty but UN report shows more poor Malaysians

Whether poverty has declined in Malaysia depends on how it is measured. An example is Putrajaya's reliance on absolute poverty figures, which according to a United Nations report, results in data that does not reflect reality.

The Malaysia Human Development Report 2013 commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) instead says poverty is better measured against what households earn in general, rather than by a fixed minimum level.

The report measures relative poverty, which sets the threshold at half the national median income, and finds the number of Malaysians in this category has been rising since 2007, with one in five households considered relatively poor.

Absolute poverty, on the other hand, is a measurement based on the declared poverty line. In Peninsular Malaysia, this is fixed at RM763, RM912 in Sarawak and RM1,048 in Sabah.

But the relative poverty line in 2012 was RM1,813, or half of the household median income of RM3,626.

The report, released last week and prepared by Malaysian researchers, notes that in 2007, 17.4% of Malaysians were in relative poverty, and this increased to 19.3% in 2009 and 20% in 2012.

The figures fly in the face of Putrajaya's claim to have successfully reduced absolute poverty to 1.7% in 2012, from 49.3% in 1970.

While Putrajaya relied on the declining absolute poverty rates, the UNDP report argues that relative poverty is “a better approach to assess inclusiveness”.

“Absolute poverty has decreased but relative poverty has emerged as a growing concern in recent years,” said UNDP while releasing the report last Tuesday.

“Relative poverty, which measures the number of households living with less than half of the median income, is a better approach to assess inclusiveness compared to absolute poverty, which measures the number of households living below the poverty line.”

“If poverty is measured using the relative poverty rate (defined as less than half of the median income) as suggested in the New Economic Model, about 20% of Malaysian households are considered poor,” reads the report.

This is not the first time a higher poverty line has been suggested by Malaysian researchers.

In 2010, Jayanath Appadurai, who has worked for the Centre for Policy Initiatives, told The Malaysian Insider that a poverty line of RM1,886 was more accurate.

The Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor government, meanwhile, recently raised the state's poverty income threshold to RM1,500 to reflect the higher cost of living in the state.

This was made in the state's budget for 2015, which sees about 30% of Selangor's five million residents classified as poor.

More inclusive picture of poverty

The Malaysia Human Development Report 2013 analyses the country's current situation to spur policy reforms to ensure inclusive and equitable growth.

Among ethnic groups, the report shows higher relative poverty rate since 1989, the highest among the Malays at 19.1%, followed by the Chinese at 17.9%.

Meanwhile, the relative poverty rate in urban and rural households has remained stagnant since 1989.

“This is in contrast to the normal convention of measuring poverty using the poverty line income, where the official data show the poverty rate decreasing for all ethnic groups, as well as among the urban/rural areas,” the report says.

It argues that broadening the concept of poverty, with more emphasis on relative poverty, is “more fruitful”.

It notes that Malaysia’s lower absolute poverty rate compared to many countries with higher income and lower inequality raised questions on the suitability and plausibility of Malaysia’s poverty line.

“Aligning (poverty) measurement to international norms will certainly raise – possibly steeply – the poverty line and subsequently the poverty rate."

The report further points out another shortcoming in the government's method of measuring poverty: it does not indicate the different poverty rates within an ethnic group.

“For instance, although the (absolute) poverty rate for Bumiputeras in 2009 is 5.3%, the poverty rate for the Kadazan Dusun and Murut in Sabah are four times higher at about 25%.”

Even among states, the disparity in the absolute poverty rates showed “skewed distribution”, the report says.

In Sabah, the absolute poverty rate of 8.1% was significantly higher than the state with the lowest poverty rate, Malacca, at 0.1%.

The UNDP report was written by Tan Sri Datuk Dr Kamal Salih, an adjunct professor of Economics and Development Studies at Universiti Malaya, Dr Lee Hwok Aun, from the UM Department of Development Studies; and Dr Muhammad Khalid of Khazanah Research Institute. – December 1, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/putrajaya-claims-reduced-poverty-but-un-report-shows-more-poor-malaysians#sthash.DkgDHkgr.dpuf

Asean to consider impact of cultural, religious practices on child rights – Bernama

Delegates from across Southeast Asia are meeting today for the Asean Consultation on Cultural and Religious Practices Impacting on the Rights of Children.

The event that is taking place in Jakarta from today until Thursday, according to a press release from the United Nations Children's Education Fund (Unicef).

It said representatives from governments, United Nations (UN) agencies, civil society organisations and academia will join religious and cultural leaders to analyse religious and traditional practices that have implications for child rights in Southeast Asia, using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

The event aims to build a network of child rights advocates among the various stakeholders, and will end with joint recommendations on promoting children’s rights.

“This consultation is one of the Asean priorities for 2012–16 in promoting the rights of children through religious and cultural practices,” said Ahmad Taufan Damanik, Indonesia's Representative for Child Rights to the Asean Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC).

“Spirituality and religion can have a profound influence on children’s development and socialisation, with the potential to reinforce protective influences and promote resilience,” said Daniel Toole, Unicef Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific.

“But if our shared goal of creating a world fit for children is to be realised, we all need to speak about issues that harm children, share solutions, and work together to implement them.”

Unicef said religion and culture could be a positive force in society, promoting the enjoyment of child rights.

However, while many cultural values of Asean member countries contribute to the protection of child rights, some practices can undermine it by objectifying children, discriminating against girls, exploiting children and condoning violence against them.

A 2006 study by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children found that a range of violent traditional practices which harm children may be perceived as normal in their communities, particularly when they do not result in lasting visible physical injury.

All Asean member states will be expected to have national consultations to end any form of violence against children from religious and cultural practices.

The event is organised by the Indonesian Representative to the ACWC, in cooperation with Unicef’s East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indonesian Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection. – Bernama, November 18, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/asean-to-consider-impact-of-cultural-religious-practices-on-child-rights-be#sthash.HZLvYgwp.dpuf

Malaysia Wins UN Security Council Seat

Datuk Seri Anifah AmanFrom Nani Rahayu Yusof

NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Benama) -- Malaysia won a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), taking 187 out of the total 192 votes.

The voting took place at the United Nations General Assembly hall to fill five vacancies among the Security Council's non-permanent membership.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman was at the hall to cast the vote for Malaysia.

Malaysia needed to garner at least 130 votes to get elected.

A total of 193 representatives of UN member countries were eligible to cast their votes to elect the five new members of the council.

The new members will take up their seats on Jan 1, 2015 and will serve on the Council until Dec 31, 2016.

The five seats available for election in 2014, distributed regionally, are: one seat for the African Group (currently held by Rwanda); one seat for Asia-Pacific Group (currently held by the Republic of Korea);

One seat for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, (currently held by Argentina); and two seats for the Western European and Others Group (currently held by Australia and Luxembourg).

Lithuania will maintain for another year the seat for the Eastern European Group.

The respective winners for other vacancies were Angola (Africa), Venezuela (Latin America and the Caribbean) and New Zealand (Western European and Others Group) while Spain and Turkey are involved in a third round of balloting to fill the remaining seat.

The five permanent Council members, which each wield the power of veto, are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Along with Lithuania, the non-permanent members that will remain on the Council until the end of 2015 are Chad, Chile, Jordan, and Nigeria.

Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Each of the Council's members has one vote. Under the Charter, all UN Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.

The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or acta of aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security.

The Security Council also recommends to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General and the admission of new Members to the United Nations.

And, together with the General Assembly, it elects the judges of the International Court of Justice.

Prior to this, Malaysia has been on the UNSC thrice - in 1965, 1989 till 1990 and 1999 till 2000.

Full horror of the Yazidis who didn’t escape Mount Sinjar: UN confirms 5,000 men were executed and 7,000 women are now kept as sex slaves

• Yazidi refugees were lined up, shot dead, then bulldozed into mass graves
• At least ten men at the village of Hardan were beheaded
• Jihadists came into villages and selected women at will to make slaves

Thousands of Yazidi men in Iraq were murdered in scenes reminiscent of the Bosnian Srebrenica massacre when Islamic State jihadists swept through in August, according to researchers.

Tens of thousands of Yazidi refugees took up residence at make-shift sites and villages across the Kurdish region of northern Iraq after fleeing across Mount Sinjar in August - but equal numbers remained trapped behind the Isil lines.

Researchers, piecing together reports of attacks, have now concluded that more than 5,000 Yazidi were gunned down in a series of massacres by jihadist.

A further 5-7,000 women are also being held in makeshift detention centres, where they either been taken away and sold into slavery or handed over to jihadists as concubines.

Five detention centres in the town of Tal Afar is thought to hold around 3,500 women and children.

Due to the magnitude of the killings and enslavement they occurred largely unreported, but now United Nationals researchers have verified many of the tales of horror.

Bakat Khalaf, 60, said 14 of his family were missing or kidnapped, including his son.

Khartun Yusef said her daughter and four granddaughters were being detained in Tal Afar. Her son managed to get away with her to Mount Sinjar, but he was shot and killed when they tried to return home for supplies.

Her other son, who is 18, had been captured by jihadists.

The UN researchers have been collecting accounts of the Isil incursions.

It says that 250-300 men were killed in Mr Khalaf's village, Hardan, including ten that were beheaded. Another 400 were gunned down in the village of Khocho; Isil shelling killed another 200 civilians in the village of Adnaniya and 70-90 men were shot in a ditch in the village of Quinyeh.

On another road, out of al-Shimal village, near to Sinjar town, witnesses reported seeing dozens of bodies.

Researchers said hundreds more men had been killed for refusing to convert to Islam.

Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2792552/full-horror-yazidis-didn-t-escape-mount-sinjar-confirms-5-000-men-executed-7-000-women-kept-sex-slaves.html

Malaysia Confident Of Securing UNSC Non-permanent Member Seat - Anifah

From Jamaluddin Muhammad

NEW YORK, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has expressed confidence in securing a non-permanent member seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2015-2016 term.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said Friday said the country had reason to believe it could secure a two-third majority among the 193 UN member states to get the seat.

"Malaysia's stand on the international arena, its efforts in facilitating the peace process, its status as a moderate Islamic country and its chairmanship of Asean next year are contributing factors," he told Malaysian media here.

UN member countries will cast their vote during the current United Nations General Assembly and the result is expected by next month.

Malaysia has served on the UN Security Council thrice, for the first time in 1965 (shared the 1964-1965 term, with Czechoslovakia serving in 1964 and Malaysia in 1965), second time in 1989-1990 and third time in 1999-2000.

Anifah said Malaysia s candidature for the UNSC seat had received the endorsement of most countries.

Membership in the UNSC will allow Malaysia to continue advocating peaceful means in the prevention of conflict as well as promoting mediation as an approach towards peaceful conflict resolution.

The theme for Malaysia s candidature is Peace and Security through Moderation .

The Security Council is the highest security body recognised by the world to defend and preserve global peace and security. It has five permanent members

China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States

with veto power.

Malaysia has been commended for its role as a facilitator of the peace process between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine government.

It has traditionally been a major contributor in terms of personnel for peace-keeping operations under the UN aegis, including in the Congo, South Sudan, Western Sahara, Bosnia, Somalia and Lebanon. Currently, almost 1,200 peace-keeping troops from Malaysia are stationed around the world.

Al Qaeda Rebels to Try UN Peacekeepers Under 'Divine Law'

UK-based monitoring group reveals Al Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front rebels say they will put 45
captive Fiji troops on Islamic trial.

The 45 UN peacekeepers from Fiji who were abducted by Al Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front rebel forces on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights last Wednesday are to "stand trial" under sharia (Islamic law), according to a Britain-based monitoring group.

Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that the commander of Al-Nusra Front has declared that the 45 peacekeepers will be tried under "divine law," according to Asharq Al-Aswat as cited by Yedioth Aharonoth.

It was revealed on Monday that the rebels issued three demands for the release of the peacekeepers: to be taken off the UN terrorist list, delivery of humanitarian aid to parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, and compensation for three of its fighters it says were killed in a shootout with UN officers.

In response, the 15 members of the UN Security Council on Wednesday demanded the "immediate and unconditional release" of the Fijians, denouncing their abduction "in the strongest terms."

The statement added that "there can never be any justification for attacks on or the detention of UN peacekeepers." Fiji has issued a similar statement calling for the release of its soldiers.

In addition to the 45 Fijian troops, 72 Filipino troops were surrounded by the rebel forces; however, the two units of soldiers from the Philippines managed to escaped over the weekend into Israel.

The Fijians and Filipinos are part of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) established in 1974 to maintain the ceasefire between Syria and Israel forces in the Golan, and oversee the implementation of a disengagement agreement.

The Israeli-Syrian border has been growing increasingly tense, as fighting between Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces and rebel forces has occasionally spilled over.

Just on Thursday afternoon the IDF returned fire on a Syrian army position after a mortar shell struck Israeli territory. Several mortar shells have hit Israeli territory in recent weeks, and the IDF shot down a Syrian drone last week after it strayed into Israeli airspace.

Elephants at the UN - Al Jazeera

Why the US can't - legally - bomb the Islamic State in Syria.

This sculpture caused quite a scandal when it was unveiled back in 1998 for being just a bit too life-like [UN Photo/Pernaca Sudhakaran]

A life-sized, anatomically correct bronze elephant stands partially hidden on the North Lawn of the United Nations compound in New York. It's one of many treasures scattered around the UN campus, gifts from member states or, in this case, the Bulgarian artist Mihail Simeonov. This sculpture caused quite a scandal when it was unveiled back in 1998 for being just a bit too life-like in the case of its genitalia. As the story goes, the three-and-a-half tonne sculpture was cast from male who was sedated and, in the words of one observer at the time, "having a sweet dream”. As a result, the UN decided to strategically plant some bushes around its legs to hide the offensive part of his anatomy.

I was reminded of the statue this week, as the US threatened to extend its bombing campaign against the self-proclaimed Islamic State group in Iraq to include positions in Syria. If there's one thing on which world powers on the UN Security Council can agree, it is the fact that the Islamic State poses a serious threat to international peace and security. The Council recently passed a resolution saying as much and expanding sanctions to include anyone who helps recruit for the group.

Yet no one at the UN wanted to talk about President Barack Obama's threats.

"It's the elephant in the room," veteran UN reporter and Huffington Post contributor Evelyn Leopold winked at me after a press briefing on Syria by the current Council President, the United Kingdom's Mark Lyall Grant.

The Security Council had just received its monthly briefing on the humanitarian situation in Syria. Despite more access by aid workers in some locations, the UN says 240,000 civilians remain trapped in areas besieged by conflict. It also says Islamic State and the government are blocking aid deliveries and, as a result of intensified fighting between these groups, more people died in Syria in the month of July than since the beginning of the conflict in 2011. It's gotten so bad that literally half the population of Syria has had to leave home, fleeing either to another part of the country or, in the case of three million refugees, across the border.

Legality of military action

Given the UN's concerns, I asked Lyall Grant if the council had discussed the possibility of US air strikes in Syria, and whether or not such strikes would be legal under international law.

Lyall Grant, a key American ally on the council, never really answered the question. "There hasn’t been any discussions of that in the Security Council."

"But would it be legal?" I pressed.

"Well, the British Government is not currently planning any military actions."

He ignored the question and moved on to another. Similarly, Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, through his spokesperson, refused to speculate on the legality of something that hadn't yet happened.

Syria has said it would welcome international assistance in fighting the Islamic State, as long as any strikes were coordinated with the government. President Bashar al Assad has always blamed his country's three-year civil war on "terrorists" after all. The West, however, blame Assad's repressive crackdown on Syrian civilians for giving rise to groups like the Islamic State. Needless to say, they are reluctant to help, much less collaborate with the Syrian government, on anything.

President Obama retorted that he did not have to coordinate with Syria when American interests were at stake. But technically, under international law he does.

The United States has been a leading critic of Russia for allegedly sending arms and soldiers into Ukraine against that government's will, charges the Russian government continues to deny despite mounting evidence. It would be hypocritical if the US were to take unilateral action against Syria without the approval of Assad or the Security Council.

So perhaps it's not surprising no one wanted to talk about it at the UN - or that Obama has since backed down from his tough talk. Never mind that Syria is now witnessing beheadings and other atrocities at the hands of the Islamic State, the same stuff which led the Americans and others to help the Iraqi government and it's citizens.

It's the elephant in the room, the dirty underbelly of international diplomacy which the UN chooses to keep hidden.

U.N. accuses Islamic State of mass killings

By Stephanie Nebehay and Ahmed Rasheed

GENEVA/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United Nations on Monday condemned "appalling, widespread" crimes by Islamic State forces in Iraq, including mass executions of prisoners that could amount to war crimes.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay condemned "grave, horrific human rights violations" being committed by Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim group which has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria to the alarm of the Baghdad government and its allies in the West.

Up to 670 prisoners from Badush prison in the city of Mosul were killed by Islamic State on June 10, Pillay said in a statement quoting survivors and witnesses to the "massacre" as telling U.N. human rights investigators.

"Such cold-blooded, systematic and intentional killings of civilians, after singling them out for their religious affiliation, may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity," Pillay said.

Islamic State (ISIL) loaded 1,000 to 1,500 prisoners from the jail on to trucks and took them for screening, Pillay said. Sunni inmates were then separated and removed.

"ISIL gunmen then yelled insults at the remaining prisoners, lined them up in four rows, ordered them to kneel and opened fire," she said.

AIR POWER

Islamic State fighters have made gains against Kurdish forces in the north in recent weeks, seizing towns, oilfields and Iraq's largest dam. Backed by U.S. air power, Kurdish forces later took back control of the Mosul dam.

An Islamic State video last week depicting the beheading of American journalist James Foley prompted revulsion in the West and calls for tougher action against the jihadists, including taking the fight to them in Syria as well as Iraq.

Some experts have suggested that attacking Islamic State in Syria should involve coming to some sort of arrangement with the government of President Bashar al-Assad, seen in the West as a pariah since an uprising against him began three years ago.

Syria said it would cooperate in any international efforts to fight Islamic State in the country, after Washington signaled it was considering extending the battle against the militants into Syrian territory.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem presented his country as a vital partner in the war against Islamic State.

"Syria, geographically and operationally, is the center of the international coalition to fight Islamic State," Moualem said in a televised news conference. "States must come to it if they are serious in combating terrorism," he added.

Asked about the prospect of U.S. air strikes against Islamic State in Syria, Moualem said his government was ready to cooperate with any country fighting militants. But air raids without Damascus's approval would be seen as hostile acts.

While the White House indicated last week that it was considering taking on Islamic State in Syria, Washington has also supported the insurgency against Assad and there has been no sign of any shift in U.S. policy toward him.

GERMANY KEEPS DISTANCE

Germany said on Monday it has had no diplomatic contacts with the Assad government and no plans to rekindle ties because of the threat posed by Islamic State.

The statement by a German foreign ministry spokesman followed a report in The Independent, a British newspaper, which said the United States had shared intelligence with Syria via Germany's BND intelligence service.

"The regime of President Assad has committed unbelievable injustice in every form during the civil war that has been raging for 3-1/2 years. Nearly 200,000 people have died," the spokesman, Martin Schaefer, told a news conference.

"To be honest it is very difficult to imagine that all this can be ignored in the name of Realpolitik," he said.

Russia, Syria's major ally, urged Western and Arab governments to overcome their distaste for Assad and engage with him to fight Islamic State insurgents. "I think Western politicians are already realizing the growing and fast-spreading threat of terrorism," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

The growing perception in the West and in Baghdad that Islamic State represents a threat to the region and beyond has shaken old alliances and enmities.

While there have been suggestions that the West may find itself dealing with Assad, old enemies Iran and Saudi Arabia have united in welcoming this month's appointment of incoming Shi'ite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Iraq.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian left for Riyadh on Monday, the state news agency IRNA reported. This would mark the first visit to Saudi Arabia by a senior government official since President Hassan Rouhani was elected in 2013, promising to try to improve Tehran's relations in the region and with the West.

Shi'ite Muslim Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are enmeshed in a struggle for influence in the Middle East and back opposing sides in conflicts and political disputes in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and Yemen.

IRNA said Abdollahian was due to meet Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal. Riyadh officials were not available to comment, but Saudi-owned satellite news channel al-Arabiya said the Iranian minister would arrive on Tuesday for talks.

The visit follows talks in Baghdad on Sunday between Abadi and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who reaffirmed Tehran's support for Iraq's territorial unity and its fight against militants.

Abadi said on Monday that talks on forming a new government were constructive and predicted a "clear vision" on a unified administration would emerge within the next two days, state television reported.

Abadi is tasked with forming a power-sharing government that can tackle deepening sectarian violence and counter Islamic State.

In Baghdad, a suicide bomb attack in a Shi'ite mosque on Monday killed at least nine people and wounded 21, police and medical sources said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying in a statement that it was to avenge an attack on Friday when Shi'ite militiamen opened fire in a Sunni mosque in Diyala province north of Baghdad on Friday, killing 68 people.

Later on Monday, two car bombs killed at least 11 people and wounded 25 in a mainly Shi'ite district of Baghdad, police and medical sources said. One exploded in a busy street and another at a restaurant in the Utaifiya district in the west-central area of the capital.

(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy and Kareem Raheem in Baghdad, Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Katya Golubkova in Moscow, Noah Barkin in Berlin, Michelle Moghtader in Dubia and Angus McDowall in Riyadh; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by David Stamp and Jonathan Oatis)

UN's Pillay slams Security Council 'failure'

In final address Navi Pillay says a more responsive UN Security Council could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

Pillay suggested a number of measures to make UN Security Council more effective [Reuters]

In her last address to the Security Council, the UN human rights chief sharply criticised the body for its ineffectiveness on Syria and other intractable conflicts, saying its members have often put national interests ahead of stopping mass atrocities.

"I firmly believe that greater responsiveness by this council would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives," said Navi Pillay, whose term as high commissioner for human rights ends on August 30.

Pillay said Syria's conflict "is metastasing outwards in an uncontrollable process whose eventual limits we cannot predict."

She also cited conflicts in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza.

"These crises hammer home the full cost of the international community's failure to prevent conflict," Pillay said. "None of these crises erupted without warning."

Call for change

Pillay spoke at a meeting where the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution promising more aggressive efforts to prevent conflicts.

However, the resolution said little about the political differences that often paralyse the Security Council, where sharp divisions between veto-wielding members Russia and the United States have often thwarted action on Syria and Ukraine.

Pillay touched on the problem in her remarks.

"Short-term geopolitical considerations and national interest, narrowly defined, have repeatedly taken precedence over intolerable human suffering and grave breaches of - and long-term threats to - international peace and security," she said.

The human rights chief said the use of veto power on the Security Council "to stop action intended to prevent or defuse conflict is a short-term and ultimately counter-productive tactic."

Pillay proposed that the council adopt a menu of new responses, including "rapid, flexible and resource-efficient human rights monitoring missions."

She also suggested building on the Arms Trade Treaty by requiring that, in countries where there are human rights concerns, governments accept a small human rights monitoring team as a condition of purchasing weapons.

Source: AP

UN report: Inequality high in Malaysia

Hard times have befallen the bottom 40 percent of Malaysian society, with inequality in the country “high or rising”, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report says.

According to the Human Development Report 2014 released in Tokyo today, Malaysia is on the high end of the inequality spectrum.

This is despite the country ranking 62 out of the 168 countries studied, making Malaysia a country with “high human development”.

According to the report, growth in consumption for the poorest 40 percent in Malaysia is much slower compared with the general population.

The bottom 40 percent’s consumption grew by about eight percent between 2005 and 2010, while the population’s consumption grew by about 14 percent in the same period.

This is worse than China and Uganda, which the report said also have high and rising inequality.

For example, consumption growth in China for the poorest 40 percent is about eight percent, compared to the population’s consumption growth of eight percent for the same period.

Inequality, the report says, can lead to conflict and violence, especially if prosperity is only reported in certain sections of community.

However, it said Malaysia has in place policies that have helped to address inequality, such as the redistribution of government-owned land, restriction of land ownership and public sector employment quota.

Side-effects of pro-bumi policies

However, such policies, have “unintended consequences”, the report says, including the exodus of a million highly-skilled Malaysians, mostly due to pro-bumiputera policies.

Most of the emigrants, the report said, are ethnic Chinese and highly-educated.

It said that 60 percent of skilled Malaysian emigrants “cited social injustice as an important reason for leaving”.

“The positive discrimination policies favouring the ethnic Malays, or bumiputera, in Malaysia over the dominant Chinese and minority Indian populations have improved their access to education and jobs and helped them more fully realise their economic potential.

“Yet Malaysia’s Chinese and Indian minority citizens chafe at 70  percent quotas in university admissions, flocking instead to private and foreign schools and often staying away from the country.”

SLAP IN THE FACE FOR M'SIAN AUTHORITIES: 'Not our job' to warn about dangers of missiles - UN aviation body:

OTTAWA/MONTREAL - The UN civil aviation body said on Friday it was not responsible for issuing warnings about potential dangers such as military conflicts, saying that duty fell to individual nations. (Rebel Leader Gives Bizarre Account of Malaysia Airlines Plane Crash)

The role of the International Civil Aviation Authority has come under scrutiny after a Malaysian airliner was shot down by a missile on Thursday over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people. (Barack Obama Reaches out to Global Leaders for Investigation on Malaysia Airlines MH17)

Montreal-based ICAO rejected suggestions it should have issued a warning about the potential dangers of flying over the area. (Malaysia Airlines Crash: Downing of Jet Exposes Defects of Flight Precautions Over Ukraine)

"ICAO does not declare airspace safe or unsafe or undertake any other direct operational responsibilities with respect to civilian air services," said spokesman Anthony Philbin. (Obama Points to Pro-Russia Separatists in Downing of Malaysia Airlines Plane)

"It is always the responsibility of our sovereign member states to advise other states of potential safety hazards."

Asked whether ICAO would ever issue warnings about the dangers of missiles, he replied: "It's not our job."

Malaysia's transport minister said earlier that ICAO had shut down a route over eastern Ukraine after the disaster. ICAO said it did not have the power to open or shut routes.

ICAO did issue a warning to airlines in April about flying over Crimea in the wake of the Russian invasion but it cited potential problems with conflicting air traffic controllers, not the risk of violence. The warning was not an order but rather said "consideration should be given to measures to avoid the airspace".

Malaysia said ICAO had approved the route the doomed airliner took but this appears to be a misreading of what the body does. ICAO issues advisories based on decisions taken by delegates rather than telling members what to do.

"It is up to countries to implement them or not, most countries do ... but ICAO standards are more or less equivalent to a treaty, you can either comply or not as you see fit," said a Canadian expert on aviation law, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Despite having an expertise in aviation, ICAO is challenged by its inherent structure as a UN body with 190 members, said John Saba, a lecturer at McGill University's Integrated Aviation Management Programme in Montreal.

"The political constraints are beyond them," Saba said.

"You have people from different countries who are trying to represent the interest of their country but also hammer out deals.

"To condemn them (ICAO) would be very, very unfair."

Philbin said ICAO would not pass on any information it might receive about airlines avoiding certain parts of the world because "ICAO doesn't really have an operational mandate".

Ukraine had allowed airliners to fly at 32,000 feet (9,753 metres) and higher above the area where the Malaysian flight crashed. US and other officials say the jet was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from territory controlled by Russian-backed separatist rebels. Brussels-based Eurocontrol is the agency responsible for coordinating European airspace. It and ICAO were cited in a safety bulletin issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency in April advising that Crimean airspace should be avoided.

Domestic authorities also have significant powers. The US Federal Aviation Administration issued an order on Thursday prohibiting American aircraft from flying over eastern Ukraine.

ICAO said on Friday that, in response to an official request from the Ukrainian government, it would send a team to assist with the investigation into the downing of the plane. But it noted that Ukraine is officially in charge of the investigation by virtue of being the "state of occurrence".

The crash highlights the fragmented nature of global aviation regulation.

Philbin said there had been no talk of ICAO taking on a more global regulatory role and Saba said the organisation was unlikely to change in the near future.

"The countries that are members of ICAO have to agree to it. How are you going to get them all to agree to give ICAO more power over them?" he said.

"They are our best hope for having any international rules. It may be an imperfect hope but they are our best hope." – Reuters