Wednesday, June 26, 2024

OOPS

Myanmar junta chief apologises after security forces shoot dead prominent Buddhist abbot

Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has made a rare apology after security forces killed the popular abbot of a Buddhist monastery in an incident the military initially blamed on opponents of its coup. — AFP pic

Wednesday, 26 Jun 2024

YANGON, June 26 — Myanmar’s junta chief has made a rare apology after security forces killed the popular abbot of a Buddhist monastery in an incident the military initially blamed on opponents of its coup.

Sayadaw Bhaddanta Munindabhivamsa, 78, was a prominent teacher and author on Buddhism and head of a monastery that had publicly opposed the military’s 2021 coup that has plunged Myanmar into turmoil.

He was shot dead on June 19 as he travelled by car through central Mandalay region.

Junta-controlled media initially blamed opponents of its coup for the killing but the next day a senior monk who had been at the scene said security forces were responsible.

His accusation went viral on social media and the junta said it would investigate the incident.

“We are extremely heartbroken for losing Sayadaw Bhaddanta Munindabhivamsa,” junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said in a letter that was read out at the abbot’s monastery on Monday.

“We would like to give our sincere apology for this case,” the letter said.

The car the abbot had been travelling in had no religious markings on it, according to the letter, and had not slowed down at a checkpoint, leading junta troops to open fire.

An investigation would be carried out and the junta would take “action based on the facts.”

The abbot’s funeral would take place on Thursday

The military has long sought to portray itself as a protector of Buddhist identity, the majority religion in Myanmar.

Since seizing power in 2021 it has arrested and jailed locals and foreigners accused of “harming” Buddhism in its sweeping crackdown on dissent that has seen thousands jailed or killed, according to a local monitoring group.

But the clergy have also been at the forefront of political protests.

Huge demonstrations sparked by fuel price hikes in 2007 were led by monks, and the clergy also mobilised relief efforts after 2008’s devastating Cyclone Nargis and the inaction of a former junta.

— AFP

Yangon - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) strongly condemns the looting of food supplies and burning of its warehouse in Maungdaw in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State last Saturday.

WFP is providing emergency food support to conflict-affected populations in Myanmar and has assisted almost one million people so far this year. The seizure of food and other goods and the destruction of humanitarian facilities in Maungdaw undermines these efforts and must be stopped.

WFP calls on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under International Humanitarian Law to ensure that humanitarian facilities and assets are respected and protected, and safe and secure access is provided for the delivery of vital assistance to those in urgent need.

WFP staff have been unable to access the Maungdaw warehouse since late May due to increasing conflict in northern Rakhine. The warehouse was holding 1,175 metric tons of life-saving food and supplies - enough emergency food to sustain 64,000 people for one month. WFP continues to gather details of the circumstances surrounding the incident.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.

Myanmar junta still able to access weapons and money overseas, says UN expert

Sanctions and other international efforts can have an impact on the military's ability to launch attacks like air strikes.

JUN 26, 2024

WASHINGTON - International efforts to isolate Myanmar’s ruling junta appear to have dented its ability to purchase new military equipment from overseas, but the military is still able to access money and weapons for its war against anti-coup forces, a UN expert said in a report published on June 26.

Myanmar has been plunged in turmoil since the military seized power from an elected government in a 2021 coup, which sparked financial sanctions imposed on the military, banks and other associated businesses by Western countries.

More than three years on, a protest movement against the coup has evolved into a full-blown civil war, with the military accused of launching air strikes on insurgents and civilians alike as it lost control of large swathes of territory.

A report by the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Mr Tom Andrews, found the value of weapons, dual-use technologies, manufacturing equipment and other materials imported by the junta amounted to US$253 million (S$343 million) in the year up to March 2024.

That was a third less than the previous year, the report said, thanks to efforts by Singapore to prevent its companies from aiding the junta.

Mr Andrews told Reuters in an interview that the progress showed that sanctions and other international efforts can have an impact on the junta’s ability to resupply, and therefore reduce the military’s ability to launch attacks like air strikes that have killed civilians in their villages.

“The very means by which they are attacking these villages are dependent upon their access to weapons and materials supplied from overseas,” he said.

Myanmar’s military denies accusations it has committed atrocities against civilians and says it is fighting “terrorists”.

Officials have played down the impact of sanctions and said they only delay the military’s plan to return the country to democracy.

Mr Andrews looked at purchases by entities controlled by the junta’s defence ministry, identifying US$630 million in military procurement between 2022 and 2024.

Exports from Singapore dropped from more than US$110 million in the 2022 fiscal year to just over US$10 million, the report said.

However, Myanmar’s neighbour Thailand partially filled the gap. Companies registered in Thailand transferred weapons and related materials worth US$120 million in the 2023 fiscal year, compared with US$60 million the year before, the report said.

“In a striking example, in 2023, Thailand-registered companies became the SAC’s source for spare parts for its Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters that Singapore-registered companies provided previously,” the report said, referring to the junta’s formal name, the State Administration Council.

“The SAC uses these helicopters to transport soldiers and conduct air strikes on civilian targets, such as the April 2023 attack on Pazigyi village in Sagaing region that killed approximately 170 people, including 40 children.”

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told Reuters in an interview in April that Thailand will not take sides and will address all concerns in the conflict.

The military said members of the armed resistance were killed in the Pazigyi village strike.

REUTERS

Battles, conflict complicate ethnic judicial system in Myanmar

A rise in crime in southeast Myanmar is putting stress on already struggling systems.

By Kiana Duncan for RFA
2024.06.26
Mae Sot, Thailand

Battles, conflict complicate ethnic judicial system in Myanmar

Soldiers of Karen National Union (KNU) march during the 70th anniversary of Karen National Revolution Day in Kaw Thoo Lei, Kayin state, Myanmar, Jan. 31, 2019.

Ann Wang/Reuters

Myanmar’s ethnic minority insurgent groups are grappling with a growing problem as they take over larger areas from junta forces in a surge of fighting since a 2021 coup: how to maintain law and order with few resources and while under constant threat of attack.

The Karen National Union, or KNU, controlling areas of Kayin state, is among the groups dealing with rising violent crime rates, especially offenses against minors, while struggling to maintain governance amid battles with junta forces.

“When there is conflict, there is not a normal situation. Whoever commits crimes like this, they have a lot of chances to flee,” said KNU spokesperson Saw Taw Nee, highlighting the difficulties in prosecuting offenders amid the chaos of war.

2024-04-15T115522Z_2114058003_RC2U67A22ERI_RTRMADP_3_THAILAND-MYANMAR-BORDER.JPG — Soldiers of Karen National Union (KNU) march during the 70th anniversary of Karen National Revolution Day in Kaw Thoo Lei, Kayin state, Myanmar, Jan. 31, 2019. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

The conflict has displaced more than 229,000 people in Kayin state alone, according to the U.N. and amidst the turmoil, the KNU’s justice system has been pushed to its limits, resulting in controversial measures to combat heinous crimes.

Saw Taw Nee confirmed that “two or three” death sentences had been carried out in recent years, but declined to comment further, citing a lack of knowledge on the details. The KNU’s Department of Judiciary did not respond to requests for comment from Radio Free Asia.

In January 2024, a 60-year-old man was sentenced to death for raping two 12-year-old girls. This followed a 2022 case where two men received death sentences for the rape and murder of sisters aged 9 and 12.

These cases underscore the KNU’s resort to capital punishment, despite criticism from human rights organizations.

“As a human rights organization, we utterly condemn capital punishment in all circumstances,” said Saw Nanda Hsue of the Karen Human Rights Group. However, he acknowledged the complex reality in the “absence of proper mechanisms to hold civilian perpetrators accountable.”

The challenges faced by the KNU are not unique. Other political organizations opposing military rule and trying to administer civilian populations, such as the United League of Arakan and the Karenni Interim Executive Council, struggle with similar issues.

A source asking to be cited as an observer of the Arakan Army insurgent force, part of the United League of Arakan political group, told RFA that the group did not have enough lawyers or judges, and “very inadequate” infrastructure and facilities while prisons are at a constant risk of being attacked by junta troops.

“As [they gain] more controlled area and more population, the ULA will definitely face an increase in all types of cases,” the source said in a statement. “In some areas, gender-based violence and sexual assault cases might be more heard [in the] public domain.”

He told RFA he was not aware of any recent executions under the United League of Arakan.

Huge caseload

Similarly, the Karenni Interim Executive Council in Kayah state has begun training police forces to handle an increase in looting of homes abandoned because of the conflict, and petty crimes, as well as security for civilians, said John Quinley, director of Fortify Rights. Quinley interviewed members of the police force, who told him about the shortage of both facilities and personnel.

“They said, ‘you know, it’s really difficult. We have airstrikes and artillery fire in this area almost on a daily basis. But we’re also trying to get these guys that are trying to steal goods from houses,’” he said.

“Even the amount of judges that you have is fairly limited and their caseloads are really high, and so you just have a lot of petty crime, you have also other cases that are related to prisoners of war or related to crimes that maybe the resistance forces committed that need to go through the courts, so it’s just really quite a big caseload.”

2024-04-15T113117Z_552015566_RC2U67AKWGVB_RTRMADP_3_THAILAND-MYANMAR-BORDER.JPG — A soldier of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) raises Karen’s national flag after burning Myanmar’s national flag at a Myanmar military base at Thingyan Nyi Naung village in Myanmar, April 15, 2024. (Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Ethnic minority political groups and their armies are increasingly taking over areas that have been devastated by the battles in which control over them was won.

“If you’re dealing with towns and villages that have been bombed out ... the courthouse is gone, the jails are gone, what they use for detention, and then once the sentences have been issued, prisons just simply aren’t available,” said Jonathan Liljeblad, an associate professor at Australian National University’s College of Law.

The United League of Arakan’s handling of more than 4,000 cases in recent years may soon be dwarfed by the growing caseloads across all areas controlled by ethnic minority organizations potentially leading to a bigger crisis in their makeshift justice systems.

“There’s a lot of challenges, like how to maintain the rule of law in our territory, especially prisons and the capacity of our people,” said the KNU’s Saw Taw Nee.

“We are still in a struggling time for our rights and liberties, so we could not focus on the specific issues like that,” he said in reference to the death penalty.

Edited by Taejun Kang.

Kiwifruit’s 100-year odyssey from China to New Zealand

Xinhua News Agency

June 26, 2024

When shopping in Chinese supermarkets, it is easy to find domestically produced Chinese kiwifruit, often called mihoutao by locals, and New Zealand’s brand — Zespri kiwifruit. They have a similar oval, brown shape and a refreshing sweet and tangy taste, making them a welcome delicacy pleasing to Chinese consumers’ refined palates.

However, many people are unaware that New Zealand kiwifruit originates from China. Over a hundred years ago, the fruit embarked on an adventurous journey across the Pacific from China to New Zealand. Its cultivation and development in New Zealand have since become a testament to the enduring bond and friendship between these two nations.

CROSS-PACIFIC ODYSSEY

The earliest record of the fruit can be traced back to 2,800 years ago, when the fruit was depicted in the “Shijing,” or the “Book of Odes,” the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry dating from the 11th to 7th centuries B.C. Its original name in Chinese, mihoutao or macaque fruit, refers to the monkey’s liking for it, according to the 16th-century Chinese medical encyclopedia, the “Compendium of Materia Medica.”

Its seeds were first introduced to New Zealand in the early 20th century by Isabel Fraser, a teacher from Whanganui on the North Island, who had visited her sister in China and brought back the seeds. The seeds were planted by a local farmer and the vines first fruited in 1910. People thought the fruit had a gooseberry flavor and began to call it the “Chinese gooseberry.”

The Chinese gooseberry’s rebranding didn’t happen until New Zealand’s merchants began to promote overseas market demand for the fruit in the 1950s. They decided to name the fuzzy, brown fruit after the country’s furry, brown, flightless national bird — the kiwi. In 1997, the Zespri kiwifruit brand was unveiled by the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board as part of a new global marketing strategy.

New Zealand growers spent many years to develop the first commercial variety of kiwi fruit. Selected by New Zealand horticulturalist Hayward Wright in 1928, the green-flesh variety is renowned for its delightful blend of sweet and tangy flavors and remains a household staple worldwide.

Later, it was brought back to China, “laying the foundation for the Chinese kiwifruit industry,” said Ivan Kinsella, head of corporate affairs China at Zespri International.

The gold flesh variety became famous in the last 15 years, followed by the ruby red variety in the last couple of years, he said. “China already accounts for about 50 percent of our total exports of the new red kiwifruit,” Kinsella said.

CHINESE MARKET

“The Chinese market is really important,” Kinsella told Xinhua in a recent interview. “China is by far the largest country market (of Zespri),” he said, noting that China’s imports account for approximately 27 percent of Zespri’s total exports, which should be around 200,000 tons this year.

“This year we will have probably around 23 chartered reefers, or refrigerated vessels, that are 100 percent with Zespri fruit coming directly from New Zealand to China,” he said. Without stopping, it takes about 12 days for the fruit to arrive in the best condition at a number of Chinese ports, including Shanghai, Taizhou and Dongguan, he added.

With the steady growth of kiwifruit exports to China, Zespri will continue the expansion and consolidation of its supply chain throughout China, Kinsella said. “That’s a major focus for us.”

Currently, the company has established an offline presence in over 60 cities in China and plans to double the number to 120 over the next five years as economic and trade relations between the two countries continue to flourish, he said.

China’s ever-improving customs clearance process allows kiwifruit to enter the Chinese market more quickly. For example, at the Shanghai Nangang port, where Zespri’s freighters frequently dock, Yangshan customs provides convenient clearance measures through advance declaration and other initiatives. Customs officers work around the clock to supervise the unloading and storage of goods, ensuring seamless clearance.

“We already have very rapid clearance of our fruit,” said Kinsella. With the implementation of a quarantine protocol between the two countries last year, the clearance rate has been accelerated even more, he added, noting “the big majority of the kiwifruit that arrives actually clears customs the same day.”

“So that’s been very successful, and a great outcome from the various free trade agreements that we have established,” he said.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest free trade deal comprising 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries, as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, entered into force on Jan. 1, 2022.

This monumental agreement not only underscores the importance of regional economic integration but also highlights the growing interconnectedness of markets. Such developments create a favorable condition for the ongoing cooperation and mutual benefits seen in the kiwifruit trade between China and New Zealand.

STRENGTHENED COOPERATION

Today, China is the world’s largest grower of kiwifruit, while New Zealand is the world’s largest exporter of kiwifruit. Experts believe that research and innovation in the kiwifruit industry offer immense potential for the two countries to cooperate and better meet the needs for high-quality kiwifruit among Chinese consumers.

In his recent official visit to New Zealand, Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited the China-New Zealand Belt-and-Road Joint Laboratory on Kiwifruit in Auckland. He said that the laboratories in China and New Zealand complement each other’s strengths and collaborate effectively. Through the empowerment of science and technology, the laboratories provide support for the further improvement and upgrading of the kiwifruit industry in both countries, and add momentum to the development of the kiwifruit industry in the Belt and Road countries.

In 2014, the China-New Zealand Kiwifruit Joint Lab was unveiled. In 2020, the lab was included in the list of Belt and Road joint laboratories by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.

The lab established an international cooperation and exchange platform for Chinese and New Zealand scientists, said Li Mingzhang, former Chinese director of the joint lab.

It has facilitated extensive collaboration in kiwifruit germplasm resource development and utilization, industry standardization, food safety and talent cultivation, exploring a path of international cooperation in science and technology and innovation, said Li, who is also a senior researcher at the Sichuan Provincial Academy of Natural Resource Sciences.

Researchers from China’s Sichuan province have also independently cultivated a commercially viable red-flesh kiwifruit variety called “Hongyang” after years of efforts, Li said. “Currently, the new variety we developed has obtained variety protection rights in 14 countries and the European Union, and has been authorized for cultivation on more than 3,500 hectares of farmland in countries such as Italy and Chile.”

“China has got some fantastic varieties of kiwifruit, particularly the green kiwifruit. They’re a little bit sweeter than the New Zealand ones. The red varieties, like Hongyang from Sichuan, are also very tasty,” Kinsella said.

The two countries’ kiwifruit industries “are very complementary,” he said, as New Zealand kiwifruit began arriving in China at the end of March, filling a gap in the market when Chinese kiwifruit is not available.

China produces more than 2 million tons of kiwifruit annually. In comparison, New Zealand’s production is much smaller, estimated at around 700,000 tons this year, said Kinsella. “Despite our smaller industry size, New Zealand has made significant strides in developing the international market.”

Expressing hope to provide consumers with a year-round supply of kiwifruit, Kinsella said Zespri is actively exploring the cultivation of kiwifruit in China to leverage the New Zealand growing season in the Southern Hemisphere and the Chinese growing season in the Northern Hemisphere to better serve the Chinese market.

WORKERS CAPITAL

Norwegian fund blacklists Caterpillar over concerns about its role in Israeli operations in Gaza

Norway’s largest pension fund said today it had divested from US industrial group Caterpillar because of the risk its equipment was being used by the Israeli army in Gaza. — AFP pic

Wednesday, 26 Jun 2024

OSLO, June 26 — Norway’s largest pension fund said today it had divested from US industrial group Caterpillar because of the risk its equipment was being used by the Israeli army in Gaza.

“For a long time, Caterpillar has supplied bulldozers and other equipment that has been used to demolish Palestinian homes and infrastructure to clear the way for Israeli settlements,” Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP, said in a statement.

“It has also been alleged that the company’s equipment is being used by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in connection with its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7 last year,” she added.

Because of this, there is a “risk that the US company may be contributing to human rights abuses and violation of international law in the West Bank and Gaza,” KLP said.

The fund said that since Caterpillar “cannot provide us with assurances that it is doing anything in this regard, we have decided to exclude the company from investment.”

KLP — not to be confused with Norway’s massive sovereign wealth fund — said that earlier this month it owned Caterpillar stock valued at 728 million kroner (RM323.3 million), which it had now divested.

The fund has around US$90 billion under management.

In April 2021, KLP excluded companies linked to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including telecom equipment giant Motorola.

The Gaza Health ministry says at least 37,658 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive following Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.

That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Gunmen also took 251 people hostage in the attack, 116 of whom remain captive in the Gaza Strip, according to Israel. The army says 42 of those are dead. — AFP

South Korean authorities order battery maker to halt operations after deadly blaze

Emergency personnel work at the site of a deadly fire at a lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell, in Hwaseong, South Korea, June 24, 2024.
PHOTO: Reuters

PUBLISHED ONJUNE 26, 2024

SEOUL — The South Korean authorities on June 26 ordered a lithium battery maker to halt factory operations indefinitely after a fire killed 23 people and said three company officials were under investigation on suspicion of having violated industrial safety laws.

The fire at unlisted battery maker Aricell on June 24 was one of the deadliest industrial accidents in recent years. Each year, dozens of workers in South Korea lose their lives on the job despite tougher laws and other efforts to improve safety.

The company, located in Hwaseong, an industrial hub south-west of Seoul, was ordered to shut down its only factory for inspections, Labour Ministry official Min Gil-soo told a briefing.

The names and titles of the Aricell officials under investigation were not disclosed. Violations of the 2022 industrial safety code can result in jail terms for fatal accidents.

A firefighter works at the site of a deadly fire at a lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell, in Hwaseong, South Korea, June 24, 2024.
PHOTO: Reuters

Aricell chief executive Park Soon-kwan apologised on June 25 for the fire but said the company had complied with all safety regulations and training requirements.

The factory, which had 35,000 lithium batteries stored at the time of the fire, was quickly engulfed and the spread of toxic smoke likely left workers unconscious within seconds, fire officials have said.

Only three of the dead — who were South Korean men — have been identified. The others, including 17 Chinese people, have yet to be identified due to the severity of damage to the bodies.

Investigators have begun a probe to determine the cause of the blaze amid questions about Aricell's hiring of foreign workers on a temporary basis and whether they received adequate safety training.

Established in 2020, Aricell has 48 full-time employees and makes lithium primary batteries for sensors and radio communication devices.

Its parent company, S-Connect, supplies lithium-ion battery parts to Samsung SDI, one of the country's major secondary battery makers.

ALSO READ: South Korea battery maker apologises for deadly fire but says it complied with safety rules

Source: Reuters

Did a US State Department official say Israel has the right to attack civilians?

Verdict: Misleading

Illustration by Paul Nelson/RFA; Images by Adobe Stock, AFP

A claim emerged in social media posts that U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated at a June 6 press conference that Israel “has a right” to target civilians, citing a short clip as evidence.

But the claim is misleading. Miller did mention such words, but it was later corrected by the State Department. The full context of the response makes it clear that Miller was referring to Hamas fighters when he mentioned civilians.

The claim was shared on the Weibo account of the Russian state-owned video news agency Ruptly on June 7.

“#US State Department said Israel has a right to attack civilians#,” the claim reads in part.

The post was shared alongside a 21-second clip that shows what appears to be Miller at a press briefing.

In the video, Miller can be heard saying: “Israel has a right to try and target those civilians but they also have the obligation to minimize civilian harm and take every step possible to minimize civilian harm.”

1 (7).png — Several Weibo accounts reposted claims that a State Department spokesperson said Israel had the right to target civilians. (Screenshot/Weibo)

But the claim is misleading.

A keyword search found a full transcript of Miller’s statement published on the website of the State Department on June 6.

“Israel has a right to try and target those civilians[1] but they also have the obligation to minimize civilian harm and take every step possible to minimize civilian harm,” the transcript reads in part.

Miller’s statement was made as part of a longer response to a question about a recent Israeli strike against a school purportedly housing Hamas fighters in Gaza that reportedly resulted in the deaths of 14 children.

A review of the full context of the response shows that Miller meant to refer to Hamas fighters when he said “target those civilians”.

The State Department noted in an annotation, indicated by the number 1 in the quote above, that Miller’s phrase “target those civilians” was specifically referring to “Hamas fighters”.

2 (2).png — The State Department annotated the transcript of its June 6 press conference to indicate that Miller was referring to Hamas militant fighters and not civilians. (Screenshot/U.S. Department State Department website)

A State Department spokesperson told AFCL: “Our State Department spokesperson clearly meant to say “Hamas”, and it was officially noted in the briefing transcript.”

Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke and Taejun Kang.

Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.

SAY NO TO GENDER APARTHEID STATE

Doha meeting aims to integrate Afghanistan into international community: DiCarlo

By Amu TV

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, has outlined the objectives of the upcoming Doha meeting on Afghanistan, describing it as a step towards integrating the country into the international community while ensuring it meets its global obligations.

The meeting, hosted by the UN, is scheduled for next week in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

In her statement, DiCarlo said that the participants will discuss the various challenges facing the Afghan people, their neighbors, the region, and the broader international community.

“The Doha discussions are part of a process; they are not a one-off,” DiCarlo emphasized. “The ultimate objective of this process is an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbors, fully integrated into the international community, and meeting its international obligations, including on human rights, particularly those of women and girls.”

This meeting follows UN-led initiatives from May 2023 and February 2024. Representatives from approximately 30 countries and international institutions have been invited to participate, according to a UN statement.

DiCarlo further explained that the meeting would also explore “avenues for further principled engagement with the de facto authorities for the benefit of all Afghans.”

For the first time in the three rounds of meetings, the Taliban has announced its participation.

However, many human rights defenders and women’s rights organizations have criticized the Taliban’s inclusion, arguing that it grants undue concessions to the group.

AMERIKA IS MIGRANT LABOUR

Andres Oppenheimer: Biden-Trump debate on immigration is pointless: U.S. jobs will keep luring immigrants| Opinion

Andres Oppenheimer
Wed, June 26, 2024

President Joe Biden and Republican hopeful Donald Trump are likely to spend much of their time during their first debate Thursday sparring over immigration, but allow me to suggest that - as a new study shows - much of that discussion will be pointless.

First, despite constant claims by Trump that there is an “invasion” of undocumented migrants who are allegedly “poisoning the blood” of this country, the number of illegal crossings has gone down by 40 percent during the first four months of this year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures.

Granted, crossings of undocumented migrants reached a record high in 2023, but they have gone down dramatically since. And illegal crossings may go down further after Biden’s June 4 announcement of an asylum ban that will severely limit the number of people who can seek asylum in the United States every month.

Immigration still ranks high in polls about Americans’ top priority issues for the November elections, but it’s mostly because Trump and Fox News, among other right-wing media, are getting high ratings stoking fears about migrants.

Second, according to a new study by Brown University immigration expert Dany Bahar, it doesn’t really matter what Biden or Trump do to stop people at the border because they will keep coming anyway as long as there is a demand for jobs in the U.S.

In his study for the Center for Global Development, a Washington D.C. think tank, Bahar examined the number of migrant border crossings over the past 25 years and found that “people come whenever there are jobs to be filled in the American economy,” regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in power.

As long as Americans don’t want to work as janitors, maids, or gardeners, foreigners from poorer countries will keep coming to fill those jobs, he said. “The so-called ‘border crisis’ will fix on its own, naturally, as the labor markets cool off,” Bahar told me.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are nearly 9 million job openings in the country but only 6.4 million unemployed workers. Florida, for instance, has now only 53 available workers for every 100 open jobs, the Chamber of Commerce figures show.

Third, the solution to unauthorized migration may not lie at the U.S. border, but much farther south, in Mexico or Central America.

In an interview last week, Panama’s President-elect José Raúl Mulino, who takes office July 1, told me he would offer Biden a deal to stop migrants in his country’s Darien jungle and put them on repatriation flights to their home countries if the U.S. government pays for the airlift.

U.S. taxpayers are already paying for deportation flights from the United States. It would cost less to send these flights from Panama than from New York.

More than 500,000 migrants crossed the Darien jungle on Panama’s border with Colombia last year on their way to Mexico and the U.S. border, Mulino said. “Today, the U.S. border is not in Texas, but in Darien,” he told me, referring to the migrants’ route.

Fourth, as America’s population keeps aging, it will need more, not fewer, immigrants. Without immigrants, there will be increasingly fewer workers paying taxes to cover retirees’ social security.

All of this brings me back to my main point: there are many falsehoods surrounding the so-called “immigration crisis,” including Trump’s false claim that undocumented migrants are bringing crime to this country. Studies show that migrants work hard, lie low, and commit fewer violent crimes than U.S.-born Americans.

So don’t fall for Trump’s demagoguery about hordes of violent criminals allegedly “invading” this country. No border walls nor mass deportations will fix this problem as long as there are jobs to be filled in America, and desperate people wanting to flee their countries.

The solution lies, like it always has, in bipartisan immigration reform to fix a broken system, and in forging closer economic ties with America’s southern neighbors to help lift their people out of poverty.

Don’t miss the “Oppenheimer Presenta” TV show on Sundays at 9 p.m. E.T. on CNN en Español. Blog: andresoppenheimer.com

Trump suggests having migrants fight for entertainment

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News
Mon, June 24, 2024

Donald Trump suggested over the weekend having migrants fight one another as a form of entertainment.

While President Joe Biden is preparing for his Thursday night debate with Trump, the Republican candidate for president has been on the campaign trail claiming he proposed a “migrant fight league” to UFC President Dana White.

“You’re going to go and start a new migrant fight league, migrants, only migrants,” Trump recounted saying to White while speaking at a Christian conference in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. “At the end of the year, the champion migrant is going to fight your champion. And I hate to tell you Dana, I think the migrant might win. That’s how tough they are.”

The crowd cheered as Trump — who has a history of demonizing immigrants — told supporters White didn’t care for that plan.

“It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever had,” the 78-year-old Queens native joked.

Trump launched his first presidential run in 2015 by characterizing people coming into the U.S. through the southern border as drug dealing criminals and “rapists.”

He has since referred to some migrants as “bad hombres” who are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

During an interview last year, Trump denied knowing his sentiments echoed verbiage used by German dictator Adolf Hitler leading up to the Holocaust.

Immigration reform is shaping up to becoming one of the key issues of November’s presidential election. The Biden White House issued an executive order meant to moderate crossings at the nation’s southern border at the start of the month. Trump has consistently called for a wall to be built along that divide.

While gruesome crimes involving immigrants have captured headlines in recent months, numerous studies have found undocumented immigrants are far less likely than U.S. citizens to break the law.

THE LAST COLONY VIVA INDEPENDENCE!

'We must not ethnicise the events' - France on New Caledonia crisis

Demonstrations amid tension over planned Vale sale in early December Photo: Théo Rouby / Hans Lucas

The French Ambassador to Vanuatu and Solomon Islands has rejected claims there is a military operation in New Caledonia, saying "articles, commentaries and fake news portraying the riots as one community against another just simplify and distort reality".

On 7 June, Vanuatu's Council of Chiefs, the Malvatumauri, led a demonstration in front of the French Embassy in Port Vila to raise their concerns about the situation in New Caledonia - which has led to eight deaths and mass destruction of property and businesses - and submitted a petition.

On Wednesday, the top French diplomat in the country, Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer, released a five-point statement, first published in the Vanuatu Daily Post, to respond to the demands expressed in the petition.

Vilmer doubled down that the actions of France in New Caledonia is consistent with the United Nations Decolonisation Committee (C24) and adheres to the principles of the 1998 Nouméa Accord.

"Decolonisation cannot be reduced to independence," he said.

"In accordance with democratic principles and the constant will of the people, who have been consulted three times since 2018, and who have therefore been able to exercise their right to self-determination, New Caledonia remains part of France.

"Today, as a result of the decolonisation process engaged in 1988, New Caledonia enjoys a high degree of autonomy, with the local Government and the provinces having all powers except those of a sovereign nature (defence, security, currency, for instance) and those they have not asked to be transferred (rules governing the administration of local authorities, higher education and research, audiovisual communication)."

Vilmer said the third and final referendum that was partially boycotted "was the choice of the independentist parties". However, boycotting did not invalidate the referendum, he added.

"The legitimacy of this vote has not been called into question by the UN and the independentist parties participated to the general elections organised right after."

The Pacific Islands Forum, which has expressed its concerns about the situation in New Caledonia, has said it is ready "to facilitate and provide a neutral space for all parties to come together in the spirit of the Pacific Way".

The immediate former PIF secretary general Henry Puna had also called out France of being "disrespectful" to the Kanak custom in the lead up to the third referendum.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Vanuatu government have also released statements, calling for the "urgent need...to discuss a way forward".

"These events could have been avoided if the French government had listened," the MSG chair and Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai said in a statement last month.

This photograph taken on December 12, 2021 shows ballots reading "Yes" and "No" for the referendum on independence at a polling station of the City Hall in Noumea, on the French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia Photo: Theo Rouby / AFP

But Vilmer, in his statement, has questioned: "what can one say to those who believe that the process described above is invalid because only the Kanaks should have taken part, as the only legitimate people?"

"That the 1998 Nouméa Accord - which was signed by all stakeholders, including the pro-independence parties - establishes the existence of a dual legitimacy: not only that of the Kanak people as the first occupants, whose identity and cultural heritage have been recognised and promoted, but also that of other communities 'who live in the territory [and] have acquired, through their participation in the building of New Caledonia, a legitimacy to live there and to continue to contribute to its development. They are essential to its social equilibrium and to the functioning of its economy and social institutions'.

"This is an important point: it means that, together with the Kanaks (41.2 percent of the population according to the 2019 census), not only Europeans (24 percent), but also Wallisians and Futunans (8.3 percent) and many other communities (Tahitians, Indonesians, Ni-Vanuatu, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc. accounting together for 8 percent) have made Caledonia what it is today."

France calls out fake news amid unrest in New Caledonia duration 11′ :16″

He said the Nouméa Accord also presents decolonisation as an objective consisting in founding "a new sovereignty, shared in a common destiny", adding that "Common, that is, for all the above-mentioned populations, together".

He said a New Caledonian, who has always lived and worked there and contributed to New Caledonia's development, "is fully part of this community, no matter the origins of his or her ancestors".

"We must be careful not to ethnicise the events in New Caledonia," he said.

"Many articles, commentaries and fake news portraying the riots as one community against another just simplify and distort reality.

"Since 1988 and the first Matignon-Oudinot agreements, followed by the Nouméa agreement in 1998, a continuous dialog has been carried out leading to the setup of new institutions, the transfer of meaningful power to local governing bodies, the acknowledgement of the Kanak identity and promotion of Kanak culture, and to policies dedicated to the social and economic rebalancing."

He said dialogue remains France's priority.

"The political path remains to be invented to continue building this "common destiny" in a more inclusive and peaceful way.

"France will continue to work in the coming months with regional partners including Vanuatu, the Melanesian spearhead group, and the Pacific Island Forum, in order to achieve this dialogue essential to the future of New Caledonia."

French President Emmanuel Macron speaking to the media upon arriving in New Caledonia for a two-day visit. Photo: Supplied / Media pool

Kanak inequality

Vilmer admitted that "there are indeed discrepancies" regarding discrimination faced by indigenous Kanaks.

He said poor outcomes in the standard of living, access to employment and education for the Kanaks "is a statistically documented fact" which France has taken steps to correct.

His listed almost a dozen initiatives that he said was aimed at reducing the inequalities faced by the Kanak population.

These include the redistribution of tax revenues between provinces; executive training; a mining and metallurgy policy (saying contrary to popular belief, the French state has no jurisdiction over the extraction, processing or export of nickel; these powers have all been transferred to local authorities; financial aid for business start-ups; a land policy that has considerably increased the surface area of Kanak land; and the defence and promotion of Kanak culture, as demonstrated by the use of local Kanak languages in the education system or the creation of the Tjibaou Cultural Center.

According to Vilmer, these measures have produced results for the Kanak people.

"The GDP/capita gap has narrowed and a Kanak middle and higher classes have developed - but unbalances remain, as President Macron acknowledged on May 24: '"rebalancing has not reduced economic and social inequalities, they have even increased'.

"While major progress was achieved when it comes to economic and social progress or access to public service, we need to do better. One must note, however, that this public policy issue is not unique to New Caledonia," he said.

"In any case, fires, looting, blockades and violence will not solve the problem. On the contrary, by reducing several decades of economic development to ashes, they have undermined the social and economic rebalancing efforts made in favor of the Kanak populations, and destroyed thousands of jobs."

Photo: 123rf

He said the petition submitted by the Malvatumauri called for the immedaite cession of military operations and the withdrawal of troops.

"I must state clearly that there are no military operations in New Caledonia: there are law enforcement operations by internal security forces (police and gendarmerie), to protect the population and public infrastructure, strictly respecting the principle of proportionate use of force."

The French diplomat said the rioters are armed and have robbed several gun shops.

Their roadblocks paralysed certain neighborhoods and cut off access to the international airport, he said, adding some people were running low on essential food and medcine supplies and access to medical care.

"More than nine hundred businesses have been destroyed or vandalised, thousands of jobs have been lost and the damages are estimated at over a billion euros.

"Law offenders are being dealt with by independent courts following due legal process, therefore there is no reason to call for 'international independent investigations'.

"Had the State - whose primary responsibility is to protect the population - not rapidly deployed reinforcements, there would have been many more victims, and the socio-economic damage would have been even greater with more lasting effects."

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

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