UN says Israel's evacuation orders in Gaza endangering civilians, not protecting them

'There's been an average of 1 evacuation order every 2 days this month, forcing as many as a quarter of a million Palestinians to uproot their lives,' UN official says

Merve Aydogan |23.08.2024 - 




HAMILTON, Canada

The UN on Thursday warned of the adverse effects of Israel's mass evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip, saying such orders are endangering the lives of civilians.

"The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Muhannad Hadi, today warned that successive mass evacuation orders issued by Israeli forces are exposing people in Gaza to harm and depriving them of the essentials they need to survive," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters at a news conference.


"There has been an average of one evacuation order every two days this month – forcing as many as a quarter of a million Palestinians to uproot their lives yet again," Dujarric quoted Hadi as saying.

"Hadi said that if these evacuation orders are meant to protect civilians, they are in fact doing the exact opposite. They are forcing families to flee again – often under fire and with the few belongings they can carry with them – into an ever-shrinking area that is overcrowded, polluted, with limited services and – like the rest of Gaza – unsafe," Dujarric noted.

Emphasizing the impact of evacuation orders on aid work, Dujarric said: "Many of our humanitarian colleagues have been forced to move because of these directives, which affect their premises, warehouses and other facilities."

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack last Oct. 7 by Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

The Israeli onslaught has resulted in nearly 40,300 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and more than 93,100 injuries, according to local health authorities.

The ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.

Palestine's UN envoy invites those 'who have spine' to visit Gaza Strip, demand cease-fire

'Gaza does not need more paralysis and death,' Riyad Mansour tells UN Security Council

Merve Aydogan |23.08.2024 - 


HAMILTON, Canada

Palestine's envoy to the UN on Thursday reiterated his call for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and invited the UN Security Council members to witness firsthand the "horror" endured by Palestinians.

Speaking at a Security Council session on Palestine, Riyad Mansour said he calls on "all those who have spines to come and say we are coming to demand a cease-fire and to demand it now in the Gaza Strip."

"Gaza does not need more paralysis and death. First by bombs and bullets, now combined with occupation-sponsored famine and disease, Gaza has witnessed life destroyed. It needs life to be restored, and it needs it right now," Mansour said.

Describing the collapse of essential services under the ongoing Israeli assault, he said: "The Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip have witnessed and felt in their flesh, the planned collapse of all the requirements of life."

"Israeli government does not care about even its own citizens... It cares more about killing Palestinians than it cares about saving Israelis," the envoy said.

He reminded of US President Joe Biden's remarks about the need for a "minimum of 600 truckloads of humanitarian assistance to enter the Gaza Strip on a daily basis," and asked the council: "Who is stopping you from implementing this?"

"There is no excuse for the Israelis' continued killing of innocent Palestinian civilians, of kids, of babies," he stressed, and asked the council again: "How much longer are we going to fail them?"

Mansour further highlighted the Palestinian leadership's plans to pursue further action at the UN, including a push for the implementation of the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on ending the Israeli occupation.

"We are going to initiate another action to put an end to this illegal occupation as soon as possible," he stated.

"The time for waiting is over. The time for action is now," he added.

He called on the UN Security Council to fulfill its mandate to maintain international peace and security, and reminded the members that they "are entrusted with the maintenance of international peace and security. Stop the bleeding in Gaza, impose an immediate cease-fire, stop the suffering, protect our children and all our civilians as international law and our collective humanity demand."

Meanwhile, Israel's new UN envoy Danny Dannon called Mansour "a terrorist in a suit" and claimed that if the Palestinian envoy would not condemn Hamas, then he is one of them.

Emergency declared after volcano erupts in Iceland

A large fissure has opened on the Reykjanes peninsula 2.42 miles (3.9km) wide. Lava is already spreading over a large area.


Friday 23 August 2024 

Image:A surveillance flight over the Sundhnuks crater in southwest Iceland. Pic: Björn Oddsson, Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management

Police in Iceland have declared a state of emergency after a volcano erupted, forcing homes to be evacuated.

The eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula, in southwest Iceland, is the sixth outbreak since December.

Iceland's meteorological office recorded increased seismic activity and earthquakes at the volcanic hill, Sundhnukar, days before the volcano erupted.

A large fissure has opened up nearby, at the Sundhnukagígar crater north of Grindavik, with lava flowing both east and west.

One estimate by the country's Met Office suggests "the lava flow has travelled about 1km in 10 minutes".


Experts also said the total length of the fissure was about 2.42 miles (3.9km) and had extended by 1 mile (1.5km) in about 40 minutes.

Recent studies showed magma accumulating underground, prompting warnings of new volcanic activity in the area south of Iceland's capital, Reykjavik.

More on Iceland

https://news.sky.com/story/volcano-eruption-forces-evacuations-in-iceland-13201365

Watch live: Volcano in Iceland erupts again


Iceland volcano eruption: Piercing alarm rang loud as orange glow of a mushroom cloud filled the sky


Iceland volcano erupts for fourth time in three months - the 'most powerful so far'

The local police chief for the area has declared a state of emergency.

Meanwhile, Iceland's meteorological office said: "An eruption has begun. Work is underway to find out the location of the recordings."

Read more:
Watch: lava flows from Iceland volcano

Iceland volcano: Their hazard and their beauty

The nearby town of Grindavik has been largely abandoned since late last year when nearly 4,000 residents were first ordered to evacuate.

The most recent eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula, home to some 30,000 people, ended on June 22 after spewing fountains of molten rock for 24 days.

A fissure eruption in May on Reykjanes Peninsula, similar to the most recent eruption. Pic: AP

In February, lava flows from an eruption in the same area engulfed a road. Pic: AP

Since 2021, there have been nine eruptions in that area.

The geological systems had previously been dormant for 800 years.

Authorities have constructed man-made barriers to redirect lava flows away from critical infrastructure, including the Svartsengi power plant, the Blue Lagoon outdoor spa and the town of Grindavik.

The popular Blue Lagoon geothermal spa has been closed, while the Svartsengi area has also been evacuated.

Flights are currently unaffected.

Volcanic outbreaks in the Reykjanes peninsula are so-called fissure eruptions, which do not cause large explosions or significant dispersal of ash into the stratosphere.

Commentary

The German Far-Right: A Critical Examination of the AfD Manifesto
Professor L. Ali Khan | Washburn U. School of Law
AUGUST 21, 2024 12:11:00 PM

Edited by: JURIST Staff
L. Ali Khan, an Emeritus Professor of Law at the Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas, takes a critical look at the manifesto of the far-right German political party Alternative für Deutschland, arguing that it advocates for a return to a dead, discriminatory past...

Far-right movements gaining popularity in many European countries are primarily anti-immigrant and anti-Islam. This study examines Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a far-right political party in Germany. Founded in 2013, the party launched the AfD manifesto, a public document approved at its Federal Party Congress held in Stuttgart from April 30 to May 1 2016. Presently, the AfD holds 77 seats in the German Bundestag, the federal parliament comprising 733 seats. As a threat to German democracy and constitutionalism, the AfD is under domestic surveillance. Recently, a regional court fined a prominent AfD leader for posting a Nazi slogan on social media. The party claims that the AfD membership has grown dramatically since January 2023.

The AfD manifesto advances several themes, some genuinely conservative and some extreme. Endorsing sovereign nation-states, the AfD opposes the European Union and the Euro as a regional currency. It romanticizes the German past that, in the AfD calculus, is rapidly unraveling or is under mortal threat of disappearance. The AfD advocates for the de-foreignization of German culture and the restoration of the standard language. Like other far-right parties in France, Hungary, Poland, and the Netherlands, the AfD sees Islam as a threat to European values. The AfD manifesto declares in unambiguous words that “Islam does not belong to Germany.”

This study challenges the far-right parts of the AfD manifesto from philosophical and historical viewpoints. It explains the AfD’s pastism (love of the past), its advocacy for de-foreignization, and that its anti-Islam fears have no place in modern denkweise (way of thinking). Contrary to the AfD manifesto, most Germans are committed to modernity and constitutionalism, do not live in some dreamy past, or wish to de-foreignize Germany by retreating into a self-suffocative nationalist sheath.

History demonstrates that Germany has had a soft corner for Islam, even when they were fearful of the Ottoman invasions. The admission of over a million Syrian and Afghan refugees into Germany in 2015 is credible evidence to show that the modern German denkweise does not view Muslims as a threat to German culture. Nor do most Germans see Islam as a threat to Germany as a prominent country in Europe and the world. Indeed, Islam may have found a beautiful home in Germany. The far-right fear of Islam is that of the far-right, not of the mainstream Germany. The AfD will likely remain a fringe far-right party and is doomed to die as a failed ideology. Yet, examining the AfD manifesto for its misguided vision for a dynamic and prosperous Germany is crucial.

Pastism

Philosophically, pastism is a group’s fascination with the cultural, social, religious, and legal past. Pastism comes in two distinct forms: conservatism and far-rightism. Conservatism is a legitimate desire to retain traditional values, social mores, and religious interpretations. No culture or tradition can survive without conservatism, which provides a restraining anchor for otherwise senseless changes. Far-rightism is a more militant pastism that proposes dismantling all diversions from a fantasized past and is inherently anti-evolutionary. Future-oriented movements are critical of the present and propose constructing a brand-new future. Past-oriented movements like AfD are also critical of the present. However, they aspire for the future to look like the past. No future can look like the past.

Most far-right movements in Europe and elsewhere, even in some Muslim countries, are sentimental for the traditional past, offer criticisms of divergences from the past, and advocate for the restoration of ancient times. Some far-right movements wish to reinstate a specific historical period, while others want to restore a more nebulous past spread over centuries.

The Salafi movement, for example, is a far-right Muslim ideology that romanticizes the period of the prophet’s companions and the rule of the first four Caliphs, a period that lasted for less than thirty years (632-661 CE) after the prophet’s death. ISIS is the most violent face of the Salafi movement. Ironically, three of the four Caliphs were murdered by Muslims, and this was the period when the great Sunni-Shia schism originated over succession disputes, which later morphed into theological and jurisprudential divisions. Yet, whitewashing violence, apostasy wars, and Arab tribal warfare, the Salafi movement draws inspiration from the idealized era of the first four Caliphs. If Muslims of the 21st century, Arabs and non-Arabs, follow the prophet’s companions, say the Salafis, Muslim nations will restore their lost power and dignity. This ideology, ignoring the worldwide evolution of Muslims and conditions over fourteen centuries, is an example of far-rightism.

Like the Salafi thinking, the AfD manifesto declares, “We want to reform Germany and return to the roots.” Where do we start tapping the German roots? How deep do we dig to see the origins of Germany? Back to 59-50 BCE, when Julius Caesar conquered Gaul and named the people on the East of the River Rhine as Germans? Back to 313 CE, when the Catholic Church began to found its Dioceses in Germany? Back to 785 CE, when Charlemagne (later The Holy Roman Emperor) passed a law to execute Saxons who refused to convert to Christianity? Back to 1517, when Martin Luther posted his documented rebellion against the Catholic Church and launched a movement that would forever divide Christianity into a thousand denominations? Back to 1618-48, when the Thirty Years War, one of the most savage wars in Germany, destroyed houses, burnt crops, and butchered the people of competing Christian faiths? Of course, finding German roots in the Third Reich (1933-45) is not even a plausible thesis.

Germany’s golden period, spanning over two hundred years (18th and 19th centuries), saw the rise of intellectual and artistic superhumans like Bach, Mozart, Kant, Wagner, Nietzsche, Marx, Beethoven, Hegel, Goethe, Planck, Gauss, and Mann. Dictated by inevitability, Germany’s golden period was on a downward Gaussian slope when Hitler was born in 1899. Perhaps referring to this golden period, the AfD manifesto states: “Germany has a rich cultural heritage. German writers, philosophers, musicians, artists, architects, designers and film producers have made significant contributions on an international scale in each of their respective disciplines.” Germany can indeed be very proud of this extraordinary period. But life moves on.

The word “again” is a historical ruse (Make America Great Again is a form of pastism). As a guiding hand, the “again” pastism defies mutation and entropy, two cardinal principles of natural and social evolution. A beautiful period in a nation’s history is like a beautiful dream. The country cannot go back to sleep to redream the beautiful dream. The past is gone forever; it is un-resurrectable. The Greeks (469 -322 BCE) will never have Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle again. England (1798-1837 CE) will never have Burns, Blake, Wordsworth, Keats, Byron, and Shelly again. Those waiting for the Buddha or any other divine figure will wait forever. However, the future offers infinite new opportunities.

Looking backward and denying realities on the ground, the AfD manifesto points out that Christianity, the Renaissance, and Roman law are the roots of German culture. But are these roots mutually supportive? In another paragraph, the manifesto describes “the Judeo-Christian foundations of our culture.” It is unclear how the AfD reconciles this part of the German foundation with the Holocaust. The AfD also conveniently overlooks the fact that close to 50 percent of Germans subscribe to no religion.

The AfD must understand that even historical periods follow a bell-curve distribution: rising, peaking, and eventually flattening. Each generation has the inherent right to live as they please, and to subject them to past generations is unjust. This generational selection is as inevitable as natural selection. Great generations rise and pass away, replaced by average generations, including far-right groups that do nothing but spread hatred and hubris, contributing poison to the heritage. A selective coloring of history is possible, which cherry-picks periods, events, and laws to paint a romantic past that looks perfect not only to the naïve but also to the educated, except to those who understand the futility of historical romanticism (originalism jurisprudence is selective pastism).

Suppose the AfD’s love for the German tradition is heartfelt. What the AfD fails to understand is that no tradition is static. Nothing remains the same, and intelligent nations understand the dynamic tension between conservatism and change. Conservatism guides change, for change without traditional constraint is willful and erratic. Far-rightism resents change and forcibly, but unsuccessfully, stamps pastism over the forces of evolution. Far-rightism, in every case, is doomed to fail.

De-foreignization

De-foreignization is an intriguing German phenomenon that the AfD also advocates. Historically, Germany has ousted things foreign to preserve its moral and cultural integrity. No culture comes into being, let alone survives if people throw away their social mores. A good deal of pride and genuine respect for customs, particularly the mother tongue, is critical for a culture to breathe freely and grow organically. To this extent, the AfD manifesto is on the right footing.

Paradoxically, however, coercion, pressure, social sanctions, criminal punishments, incentives, and propaganda to reject new ideas hasten the demise of culture. A healthy culture reinforces itself when each subsequent generation freely decides to carry forward the traditions they inherited. Much like nature, each generation selects from culture what it wants and deselects what it does not. In this generational selection lies the dynamic continuity of a culture. Far-rightism is dead wrong when it wishes to suppress generational selection.

Historically, there have always been AfD-type German factions committed to cultural preservation. Consider Martin Luther (d. 1546), the professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, who launched the undermining of the Roman Catholic Church. Aside from doctrinal disputes and heresies, two key elements drove Luther: One, why should Germans finance a foreign institution (the Roman Church) by paying for repentance? Two, why should Germans pray in a foreign language, Latin, and not in their mother tongue? By promoting these fundamental ideas, Luther was de-foreignizing Germany. True to his de-foreignization ideology, Luther first translated the New Testament into German and later translated the Old Testament. In addition to his Ninety-Five Theses, Luther worked all his life to polish and refine the German version of the Bible.

Reflecting on history in Mein Kampf, Adolph Hitler (d. 1945) argued that Germans living under foreign rulers, like the House of Hapsburg, yearn to uphold “the sacred right of using their mother tongue . . . and come to realize what it means to have to fight for the traditions of one’s race.” Lamenting the Austrian policy of multiracialism, Hitler writes “the poison of foreign races was eating into the body of our people, and even Vienna was steadily becoming more and more a non-German city.” Hitler praises the youth who “refused to sing non-German songs” and were “incredibly alert” while learning from “un-German” teachers.

Both Luther and Hitler wished to rid Germany of foreign intrusions. However, there is a remarkable difference in their motives and purpose. Luther deforeignized Christianity to make it more meaningful for Germans to understand and practice spirituality. By throwing away a corrupt foreign church, Luther wished to purify rituals from making money. Hitler, however, had less than noble motives. By emphasizing the “German songs” and sowing seeds against “un-German” teachers, Hitler planted hatred and engaged in ethnic cleansing. For Luther, religion was inseparable from the German language; for Hitler, race was inseparable from the German language.

The AfD must show that the emphasis on the German language is not a secret code for ethnic cleansing or mass expulsion of immigrants. Chapter 7 of the AfD manifesto states: “Our culture is inextricably linked to the German language, which has developed over centuries, and which in itself is a reflection of its intellectual history, national identity within central Europe, and German set of basic values.” This statement is valid, but what is its purpose? Even the Europeans need an answer.

Language Agenda

Even without any racial agenda, the AfD agenda about language is crude, anti-evolutionary, and internally inconsistent unless it is promoting linguistic imperialism. The AfD manifesto demands long-term action to maintain and strengthen the German standard language. It also demands that German be a spoken and written language worldwide. The demand for the standard language means the exclusion of foreign vocabulary, grammar, and humor into the German language. However, the AfD manifesto demands that the German language be taught in foreign lands through the Goethe Institute and other cultural institutions. The irony is palpable. The AfD would be very happy if Turks in Turkey spoke a mixture of Turkish and German languages, but they would not allow the Turks living in Germany to do the same.

Furthermore, the AfD firmly rejects degenderized and politically correct language. Again, the AfD makes a generational selection mistake. Each generation speaks a different version of the same language, selecting and deselecting words and phrases and borrowing expressions from other populations. This interactivity is unstoppable in the age of social media when the world’s young trade ideas and memes. The new generations must be free to form and speak gender-neutral words. They must also be free to consider political sensitivities in speech. The AfD cannot slam the ancient “table manners” in language on future generations. (Das ist doch Quatsch!)

The AfD manifesto wants the German language to be placed “on an equal footing” with English and resents the infiltration of English in Germany. Of course, the imperial clout of “Anglo-Saxon” countries, especially England and the United States, have internationalized the English language. Yet, there is more to the story. There is no one standard English. Various English accents, words, spellings, phrases, witticisms, and vernaculars freely roam worldwide. English is open to borrowing yogurt from Turkish, chutney from Hindi, coffee from Arabic, and hamburger from German. The AfD must understand that a language is a free-range organism that falls ill in a cage of restrictions. A language flourishes only when it freely interacts with other languages. For example, many languages have borrowed the Arabic word Sharia (Islamic law), including Scharia in German.

Islamophobia

Chapter 7 of the AfD manifesto states: “Islam does not belong to Germany. Its expansion and the ever-increasing number of Muslims in the country are viewed by the AfD as a danger to our state, our society, and our values.” Nearly 6 percent of the population of Germany, the most populated country in Western Europe, is Muslim, predominantly of Turkish and Syrian origin. The 6 percent of 85 million comes out to be roughly 5.5 million. Germany has a net negative population growth and needs immigrants to keep the economic engine going.

At the heart of the AfD, Islamophobia is the concern for German identity. The AfD is correct to the extent that language, ethnicity, and religion are the fundamental ingredients of identity everywhere in the world. Most Muslims in Germany speak the German language but differ in two distinct aspects: ethnicity and religion. Still, under the restraining influence of the Jewish Holocaust, any robust connection between race and German identity is something unacceptable in public discourse, though, silently, race remains a significant factor in German identity politics. Even reference to ethnicity has the odor of racism. So, Islam surfaces as the primary identity feature that the AfD has selected to draw the contrast between traditional Germany and the new Germany.

One of the three founders of the AfD quit the party, accusing its members of Islamophobia and Xenophobia. Some converted to Islam. Islamophobia, much like anti-Semitism, is a readily available label for any criticisms of Islam and Muslims. The term Islamophobia is legitimate to the extent that it describes hatred, hostility, and violence against Muslims. However, philosophical disputes with Islamic theology, law, or practices cannot be Islamophobia, and to this extent, the AfD manifesto is not problematic. Jews, Christians, Hindus, or any others have no obligation to accept Islam or refrain from disputing Islamic law and theology. Caricatures of the prophet of Islam, which the AfD endorses, are, in my view, counterproductive, even under German decency standards.

In 2023, an independent group of experts concluded that “at least one-third of Muslims in Germany have experienced hostility due to their religion. However, the experts pointed out that the real numbers are likely vastly higher since only 10% of Muslims appear to report hostility and hate crimes against them.” Nearly 50 percent of the current German population subscribes to no faith, about 25 percent are Protestants, and 25 percent are Catholic. There are no figures to show whether German Protestants, German Catholics, or non-believers hate Islam the most.

I believe the fear of Islam that the AfD advocates is deeply rooted in German history, as some German factions in almost every period have viewed Islam and Muslims as a threat to Germany. The Islamic threat is not fiction; it is real for many Germans. For centuries, the danger was territorial. Now, it is ideological. The question is whether the Germans should resist Islam by raw force or authentic intellect, prejudicial suppression, or genuine non-acceptance. Just as Germans are free to accept any faith, they should be free to accept Islam as well. The German Basic Law (Constitution) is clear: “Freedom of faith and of conscience and freedom to profess a religious or philosophical creed shall be inviolable.”

Even history supports the Basic Law. Consider Martin Luther again. During the period Luther translated the Bible for the Germanization of Christianity, the Ottomans besieged Vienna under Suleiman the Magnificent (1529). The Ottoman invasions started more than a hundred years before Luther was born in 1483. In 1389, the Ottomans conquered a large portion of Serbia. In 1422, the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, which dismantled the Eastern citadel of Christianity called the Byzantine Empire. Luther saw the entire reign of Suleiman the Magnificent and died while Suleiman was still in power.

Many German factions pressured Luther, living a life as a declared heretic and outlaw, to pronounce a holy war against Islam and its Turkish invaders. A theologian who built his intellect and spirituality on distinctions and fine points saw it legitimate to fight the Turks as invaders but not as Muslims. A secular war against the Turks is the duty of Germans, but it cannot be a holy war against Islam.

In reprinting and writing the preface to a book called The Tract on the Religious Customs of the Turks, Luther is critical of the Catholic Church for misrepresenting Islam to Christians. Luther extols Islam by highlighting “the modesty and simplicity of their food, clothing, dwellings, and everything else, as well as the fasts, prayers, and common gatherings of the people.” That Luther tactically prefers Islam over Catholicism is a plausible theory. However, it is hard to believe that a professor of theology, a translator of the Bible, and the founder of Protestantism was so narrow-minded and spiritually corrupt that he portrayed Islam favorably only to put down the Catholic Church. The AfD must not misrepresent Islam by sensationalism and distortions. Honest and considered criticisms of Islamic law and theology are not Islamophobia.

Conclusion

This commentary does not oppose German conservatism, only far-rightism. The AfD manifesto promotes significant conservative values, an acceptable ideology to criticize and deter senseless cultural, social, and legal alterations. Change without conservative constraints is unruly and anarchic. Far-rightism, however, is anti-evolutionary as it denies mutation and entropy, the two cardinal principles. Values change and decay. The AfD must respect generational selection and allow present and future German generations to make changes in what they inherited from their ancestors. By all counts, the AfD opposition to Muslims and Islam is irrational and contrary to the Basic Law of Germany. In my view, Islam and Germany are fully compatible.

PantheraLeo1359531, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Opinions expressed in JURIST Commentary are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, donors or the University of Pittsburgh.

 

South Korea court orders Japan company to compensate victims of forced labor during WW ll

Salma Ben Mariem | Faculty of Law and Political Science of Sousse, TN

AUGUST 22, 2024 

The appellate division of the Seoul Central District Court ordered on Thursday that the Japanese corporation Nippon Steel pay 100 million won to the four children of a Korean citizen who was a victim of forced labor in Japan during the Second World War, local media reported.

The Seoul court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, descendants of a South Korean national. They previously demanded 200 million won. The compensation is requested for the forced mobilization of their ancestor to work in the steel mill Nippon Steel between 1940 and 1942. The court refused their demand because the right to claim compensation had expired. Nevertheless, Thursday’s decision reversed this previous ruling.

South Korea used to be a Japanese colony as Japan ruled the Korean peninsula from 1910 until 1945, the year South Korea obtained its independence. During the Second World War, Japan forced hundreds of thousands of Koreans into forced labor in factories and mines to support its economy during the war.

In 1965, South Korea and Japan signed a treaty that normalized the diplomatic relations between them. This treaty included the allocation by Japan of $500 million to the Korean government in economic aid. According to Japanese authorities, this economic aid ended once and for all any compensation allegations.

Nevertheless, this didn’t prevent South Korean survivors of the labor camps and their families from claiming damages for the forced labor and the suffering they had to endure. In 2018, South Korea’s supreme court upheld a lower court’s ruling and ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan to compensate South Koreans who were forced into labor at their factories during World War II. Another verdict rendered by South Korea’s supreme court in 2023 also confirmed that two Japanese companies, the shipbuilder Hitachi Zosen Corporation and the heavy equipment manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries owe 200 million won as compensation to a former South Korean worker and 16 other families of former laborers.

 

UN warns of threat to basic freedoms in Sri Lanka amid upcoming election

Reza Hossaini | Newcastle Law School, GB

AUGUST 22, 2024 06:07:46 PM

United Nations Human Rights Office said on Thursday that basic freedoms in Sri Lanka were under threat as the nation prepares to elect a new president in September.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a comprehensive report on the growing human rights concerns and erosion of democratic principles under Sri Lanka’s legislative system. This is primarily because laws and bills introduced since 2023 have given “broad powers to the security forces” and expanded “restrictions on freedom of expression and opinion and association.” If broad powers are misused, then this could jeopardize the rule of law and fundamental freedoms. The Online Safety Bill was cited as an example of restricting the freedom of opinion and expression, as it gave the government commission sweeping powers to assess and remove ‘prohibited’ content.

As Sri Lanka heads into the presidential election, concerns over the state of democracy in the country have intensified, with significantly more broad powers held by the government’s security forces and restricted fundamental freedoms of expression, opinion, and association. There have even been reports on a trend of increased surveillance and harassment of journalists and civil society actors in Sri Lanka, particularly those working on sensitive political issues such as enforced disappearances and land seizures. For example, on October 28, 2023, journalists Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and Valasingham Krishnakumar were questioned after covering a protest against state-supported land seizures. They were later ordered by the court to hand over unedited footage of a Buddhist monk threatening violence against the Tamil community.

The report also offers some recommendations and reforms, such as repealing the controversial Online Safety Bill. This section seeks to provide a roadmap for both the Sri Lankan government and the international community in light of the above challenges. However, the effectiveness of these recommendations will depend on the political will of Sri Lankan authorities and pressure from international actors to prioritize basic freedoms and human rights.

Sri Lanka has been grappling with a severe economic crisis since 2022, worsened by global economic instability and debt distress, and its economy is still in a precarious position. The crisis has also significantly impacted the human rights situation, as the UN report highlights. The upcoming election, scheduled for September 21, 2024, therefore comes at a critical juncture for Sri Lanka, being the first presidential vote as the country recovers from its recent economic collapse.

Researcher: Young Black people are disproportionately strip-searched—ways the justice system treats them as a threat

by Shantey Francis, The Conversation

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A new report from the Children's Commissioner for England has found that 457 strip searches of children by police took place between July 2022 and June 2023. The report shows that Black children were four times more likely, when compared to national population figures, to be strip-searched.

The Children's Commissioner's reports on this topic began following the terrible case of Child Q, a 15-year-old Black girl who was strip-searched at her school. The Children's Commissioner's research shows that before Child Q's case came to light, Black children were six times more likely to be strip-searched. So there has been some improvement, though Black children remain disproportionately affected.

But my academic work as a criminologist and lecturer in youth justice continues to demonstrate that young Black people are over-represented throughout the whole justice system, from their interactions with the police to their presence in prisons.

For instance, in 2022, Black children made up 31% of children on remand—in custody before the start of a trial. But they comprise only around 5% of the school-age population. Research has found that in 2018, Black children received longer custodial sentences than their white peers.

Treated as older

There are themes that continuously emerge from how young Black people are treated by the justice system, as well as in other areas of society, such as education and health care. One is adultification, when Black children are perceived as being older and more mature, and so also less vulnerable and innocent, than other children. This affects how they are treated by adults.

Adultification was clearly at play in the case of Child Q, who was strip-searched while menstruating, without an appropriate adult present and without the consent of her parents, on the incorrect assumption that she possessed cannabis. She received punitive and disciplinary treatment from adults, both teachers and the police, who should have been there to protect and support her.

The safeguarding practice review that followed this incident found there to be a high level of probability that the adults involved in the case were influenced by adultification bias in this regard. The disproportionate decision to strip-search Child Q is unlikely to have been disconnected from her ethnicity or her background as a child growing up on a Hackney estate.

Another theme which stands out in how young Black people are treated by the justice system is that they are more likely to be seen as a threat and as potentially violent—especially Black boys and young men.

Viewed as a threat

This can be seen in the use of police stop and search powers against Black people. In the year ending March 2023, there were 24.5 stop and searches for every 1,000 Black people, compared to 5.9 for every 1,000 white people.

It is also arguably evident in the case of the justice system's treatment of drill music, a form of rap and a predominantly Black genre. Many see it as controversial for its perceived celebration of violence and gang life. On the other hand, drill is an art form, and chronicles experiences that other young people growing up in difficult circumstances can relate to. Its storytelling requires imagination and creativity.

Drill is also perceived as a threat—and in some cases, the police have exercised powers to censor prominent drill artists on the grounds that they incite crime. In 2018, members of drill group 1011 were banned from mentioning death or injury in their lyrics, and had to notify police when releasing music videos.

One of the group, Digga D, was sentenced to a year in prison in 2018, aged 18, for conspiracy to commit violent disorder. During the trial, music videos were used as evidence.

Society provides narrow niches of acceptance to young people of color. There are areas where aspects of Blackness are celebrated, copied, seen as cool—including music, dress, sport, hairstyles or language.

But the line between what is seen as acceptable forms of self-expression and unacceptable, such as with drill, is very fine. In 2023, Digga D performed at the Royal Albert Hall—while still under a criminal behavior order with restrictions, including restrictions on what he could cover in his lyrics.

Research from the Black British Voices Project and The University of Cambridge surveyed over 10,000 Black British people in a project beginning in 2020. The survey findings show that 87% of the participants had little to no trust in Britain's criminal justice system. For young Black people in the UK, awareness of social injustice is just part of everyday life.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Rap music is being used as evidence to convict children of serious crimes: Report

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Ukraine unleashes ‘four-legged killing machines’ against Putin’s forces

Ukraine has deployed the first of its British-made robo dogs in the combat zones with plans for many more automated autonomous fighting machines in the works. / bne IntelliNews

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By bne IntelliNews August 21, 2024

In a real-life version of the 1987 hit Robocop, Ukraine’s military has already deployed 30 British-made robotic dogs for reconnaissance in combat zones against Putin’s forces. But the country’s ambitions get even more sci-fi: plans abound for a homemade ‘army of robots’ complete with AI-powered machine guns and driverless cars, reported The Daily Mail.

“These robot dogs with cameras (known as BAD.2) can slip through trenches and underbrush where Ukrainian soldiers shouldn’t expose themselves to unnecessary danger, and where drones can no longer see,” Kyle Thorburn, head of the British manufacturer Brit Alliance, told Bild.

The BAD.2 robots are reportedly undetectable by thermal imaging, can run at 15 km/h, and have an operational range of 3.5 km. They can operate for up to five hours on a single charge. Each costs between €4,000 and €8,000.

“Army of Robots”

But Ukraine’s not content to just import a few dozen British robodogs. The country’s defence ministry recently emphasised that 80% of army supply contracts are grabbed up by domestic firms. And Ukraine's youngest government minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has been spearheading the development of next-generation weapons for the country's ongoing conflict with Russia, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

Fedorov, who serves as the Minister of Digital Transformation, has overseen reforms that lighten state procurement rules and establish a free-market environment, encouraging more than 200 Ukrainian companies to engage in defence innovation. His efforts have drawn comparisons to the U.S. government's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), created in 1958 to drive technological advancements with potential military applications.

"You know, war starts with one level of technology and ends with a totally different level of technology," Fedorov, 32, told the newspaper. Aware that technology can be a lifesaver in Ukraine's struggle against a much larger Russian force, he emphasised the importance of innovation in preserving Ukrainian soldiers' lives. "We don't have many people, and we value the lives of every soldier," he added.

Fedorov's latest initiative involves creating an "Army of Robots" to undertake tasks that would typically put Ukrainian soldiers at risk. Automated machine guns equipped with artificial intelligence for precision aiming have already been deployed, and recent announcements have highlighted the production of robots capable of laying mines and detecting explosives.

"We want robots that can absorb as much of the enemy's firepower as possible, so we can be flexible and avoid losing the lives of our soldiers," Fedorov explained. He also envisions fleets of self-driving vehicles to transport weapons, deliver ammunition, and evacuate injured troops from the front lines.

According to The Sunday Telegraph, successful tests have been conducted on a new breed of air-defence sensors that utilise secretive Ukrainian technologies, distinct from the radar systems provided by NATO countries. These sensors are designed to identify and track Russian drones and missiles, aiding in Ukraine's defence efforts.

Global ambitions

Ukraine’s by far not alone in pursuing a real-life version of Robocop. In training exercises this summer with Cambodia’s military, China unveiled an army of robohounds armed with guns. The world's leading military powers, including China, Russia, the USA, and the UK, are racing to develop and deploy robotic war dogs, armed with lethal capabilities ranging from sniper rifles to flamethrowers, reported The Daily Mail.

In the United States, consumers can even purchase a flamethrower-wielding robot dog for personal use. The 'Thermonator,' developed by Throwflame, spits a ferocious stream of fire that can reach several metres, capable of igniting almost any target in its path. Sales of the Thermonator were recently opened across most of the US, making this terrifying technology available to the public.

The British Army has also begun trials with their own version of these robotic dogs, as reported by The Daily Mail. While the British variant has not been shown carrying a weapon, the possibility of arming these machines remains open. In a video shared by China's state broadcaster CCTV, similar robots are demonstrated planning routes, approaching targets, and avoiding obstacles, operating for up to four hours on the battlefield.

General Collins, a senior British military official, has suggested that by 2030, the first contact with an enemy on the battlefield could be made by robotic systems, marking a significant shift in military strategy. Writing in the British Army Review, Collins likened these developments to scenes from the Hollywood blockbuster Terminator, where autonomous machines wage war against humanity.

The fear that these machines could operate without mercy is no longer confined to the realms of fiction. Autonomous or semi-autonomous drones are already being deployed in conflicts to hunt down, target, and eliminate human adversaries. While most drones and unmanned vehicles currently require some level of human control, the technology is advancing rapidly.

A 2020 United Nations report also revealed that the Turkish-made Kargu-2 attack drone was used autonomously in combat during a battle in Libya, marking a chilling milestone in warfare.

Israel, too, has pushed the boundaries of drone warfare, launching an AI-guided drone swarm in 2021 to attack Hamas militants. This technology allows multiple drones to operate as a single, integrated network controlled by artificial intelligence, a significant advancement in military operations.

NATO has acknowledged that while autonomous drones and robots cannot truly think for themselves, they are programmed with a vast array of responses to various battlefield scenarios. According to a NATO report, the limiting factor is no longer the technology itself but the political will to deploy such systems, which would enable lethal machines to operate without direct human oversight.

Russia’s own AI army

Putin’s gotten the message, too. Kyiv continues to endure relentless attacks from Russian-operated Shahed-136 drones supplied by Iran. Russia has also reportedly deployed AI-enabled strike drones like the Kalashnikov ZALA and the Lancet, which have autonomous capabilities, including the ability to independently locate and destroy targets.

And his engineers are increasingly turning to Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) to alter the course of the war. These ground-based robots, capable of carrying weapons, explosives, or conducting reconnaissance, symbolise Russia’s technological advances on the battlefield. Combat footage circulating online has shown Moscow deploying remotely operated versions of old tanks packed with explosives, driven towards Ukrainian positions, reported The Daily Mail.

In addition to these rudimentary tank-bombs, Russia is advancing with high-tech, self-driving UGVs such as the Marker. This platform, equipped with AI and machine learning capabilities, has demonstrated the ability to navigate controlled environments without human operators, according to Samuel Bendett, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

“The ultimate goal is to have these systems function autonomously in battle, working seamlessly with human operators, UAVs, and manned assets in a networked environment,” Bendett told The Daily Mail. “But we are far from that.”

The stakes in this technological arms race are high. Earlier Russian drone strikes near the Khmelnytsky nuclear facility in western Ukraine earlier have heightened concerns among Kyiv’s officials and civilians, who fear a repeat of last winter’s assault on the nation's energy grid.

Civilian uses

The civilian sector isn’t far behind. In February, Russian daily Vedomosti reported a 55% increase in purchases of robotic dogs and a 41% increase in the acquisition of robot assistants in Russia in 2023. These purchases mainly involved low-cost consumer devices priced between 2,000 and 5,000 roubles ($20-55), equipped with microphones, video cameras, and built-in voice assistants. Many of these robots are used for entertainment purposes, such as interacting with children or pets, and for remote communication and monitoring, not shooting weapons.

Still, as the Russia-Ukraine war drags on, military and artificial intelligence experts predict an increasing reliance on drones capable of autonomously identifying, selecting, and attacking targets without human intervention.