Cluster Munitions Treaty to Take Effect Sunday

Cluster Munitions Treaty to Take Effect Sunday
The Convention on Cluster Munitions goes into force Sunday, August 1, with 107 signatories agreeing to ban the use of cluster munitions.

The convention that goes into force Sunday bans the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions. It also requires countries to clean up contaminated land and assist victims, and it gives a deadline for the destruction of stockpiles.

Thomas Nash is the coordinator of the Cluster Munitions Coalition, an umbrella body that has campaigned for the ban since 2003. He compares the Convention on Cluster Munitions to the 1997 treaty that banned landmines, saying the cluster bomb treaty is a comprehensive convention. "...to provide a forum for providing for clearance and for victim assistance and for stockpile destruction and to make sure that donors are interacting with affected states in a positive way so that resources can flow to those areas," he said.

Cluster bombs are damaging because they contain hundreds of smaller explosives, or submunitions, that detonate across a wide area. The submunitions that fail to explode on impact can then act as landmines, posing a threat to civilian populations long after a conflict is over.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted in Dublin in May 2008 and opened for signature in Oslo at the end of that year. Norway was the first to sign, and Lebanon and Laos - two countries that have experienced the lingering effects of cluster munitions - quickly followed. U.S. President Barack Obama has signed a law banning the export of cluster munitions that do not meet a certain standard.

But the United States has not signed the cluster bomb ban. China, Israel, India and Pakistan are among other countries that have not agreed to the treaty. Neither Georgia nor Russia has signed the treaty. Human Rights Watch says both of those countries used cluster munitions during the 2008 conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Yet, Nash says there has been a change in the international community's attitude toward cluster bombs, and that even has an affect on nations that have not signed the agreement.

"What we hope and expect is that the strong international stigma against cluster munitions will begin to curtail the actions of these countries," he said. "Even though they haven't formally signed, they will feel a kind of pressure to not use or produce or transfer these weapons anymore, and that's exactly what we've seen in the 10 years of the mine-ban treaty where there are far fewer producers now. Virtually nobody uses landmines anymore, and we've seen the weapon pretty much eradicated from a weapon of war."

Nash says 37 countries have ratified the cluster munitions treaty, and many countries have already started taking action. His organization, the Cluster Munitions Coalition, says Moldova and Norway recently destroyed the last of their cluster munition stockpiles, and Spain demolished its stockpile last year. Also in 2009, Albania became the first signatory to finish clearing contaminated land. The coalition adds that nearly a dozen nations, including Britain, have started to destroy the weapons. However, the U.S. State Department's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement said in 2008 that cluster bombs are a necessary tool in a nation's military arsenal, but they could be made safer for civilians.

That same year, the U.S. Department of Defense implemented its current cluster munitions policy. The crux is that after 2018, the military will only use cluster munitions containing submunitions that do not result in more than one-percent unexploded ordnance. That reduces the number of bomblets that can act as de facto landmines.

Scientists Find Evidence That Oil And Dispersant Mix Is Making Its Way Into The Foodchain

Scientists Find Evidence That Oil And Dispersant Mix Is Making Its Way Into The Foodchain
Scientists have found signs of an oil-and-dispersant mix under the shells of tiny blue crab larvae in the Gulf of Mexico, the first clear indication that the unprecedented use of dispersants in the BP oil spill has broken up the oil into toxic droplets so tiny that they can easily enter the foodchain.
Marine biologists started finding orange blobs under the translucent shells of crab larvae in May, and have continued to find them "in almost all" of the larvae they collect, all the way from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Fla. -- more than 300 miles of coastline -- said Harriet Perry, a biologist with the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.
And now, a team of researchers from Tulane University using infrared spectrometry to determine the chemical makeup of the blobs has detected the signature for Corexit, the dispersant BP used so widely in the Deepwater Horizon
"It does appear that there is a Corexit sort of fingerprint in the blob samples that we ran," Erin Gray, a Tulane biologist, told the Huffington Post Thursday. Two independent tests are being run to confirm those findings, "so don't say that we're 100 percent sure yet," Gray said.
"The chemistry test is still not completely conclusive," said Tulane biology professor Caz Taylor, the team's leader. "But that seems the most likely thing."
With BP's well possibly capped for good, and the surface slick shrinking, some observers of the Gulf disaster are starting to let down their guard, with some journalists even asking: Where is the oil?
But the answer is clear: In part due to the1.8 million gallons of dispersant that BP used, a lot of the estimated 200 million or more gallons of oil that spewed out of the blown well remains under the surface of the Gulf in plumes of tiny toxic droplets. And it's short- and long-term effects could be profound.

UN declares clean water a 'fundamental human right'

BBC News - UN declares clean water a 'fundamental human right'
The UN has declared that access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right. The resolution was passed with 122 nations in favour, none against and 41 abstentions.
Abstaining countries said the resolution could undermine a process in the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva to build a consensus on water rights. Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and Botswana were among the countries which abstained from voting. China, Russia, Germany, France, Spain and Brazil were among those supporting the resolution.
The text of the resolution said that 884m people have no access to safe drinking water and more than 2.6bn lack access to basic sanitation. It "declares the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life". It urges the international community to "scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable water and sanitation for all".
Portuguese lawyer Catarina de Albuquerque is due to report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva next year on countries' obligations related to water and sanitation.

Anne Rice Breaks Up With Christianity via Facebook

Anne Rice Breaks Up With Christianity via Facebook - Idol Chatter
This isn't the usual "Humanist News", but it's of interest in the broader movement away from fundamentalism...

"Some stars like Amanda Bynes use technology like Twitter to tell the world they are retiring. Some stars like Kelsey Grammar announce the end of his marriage. But today Anne Rice became the first pop culture figure I know that decided to break up with Christians, and she did it using facebook. On her official website she posted the following announcement via her facebook feed this afternoon:

"I quit being a Christian. I'm out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of ...Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."

Atheist Pocket Debater, an iPad/iPod Application

,Atheist Pocket Debater, an iPad/iPod Application | iPad Weekly
Here is an advertisement (!) for the Atheist Pocket Debater, a currently popular IPad App. Note the section on Humanism provided by the AHA. Featured in recent front page story of the NEW YORK TIMES

"Atheist Pocket Debater is an excellent and useful tool for Atheists and Skeptics." - Michael Shermer, Skeptic Magazine. ON TOP 10 LIST out of 27,000 apps in BOOK CATEGORY.

ATHEIST POCKET DEBATER contains old and new arguments against the existence of God. The DEBATER gives many ways to argue against Christians, Creationists, and Bible thumpers. It is set up for very quick reference and memorization, yet contains full arguments as well as different ways to argue the same topics. Current Rating = 4.66/5

SKEPTICISM section contains many subjects related to being a skeptic. Learn how to debunk claims scientifically in just a few questions with "Bogus Claims Debunker." Aliens, ghosts, psychics, and get-rich-quick schemes are deconstructed using logic.

HUMANISM section is a positive and uplifting area consisting of humanistic articles, including "Declaration of Human Rights" and "Life Is to Be Lived Now," to name a few. It shows that most of us share humanistic interests, whether we realize it or not, and science is our most valuable tool for humanity. "The Humanist Manifesto" is among several articles provided by the American Humanist Association.

Christopher Hitchens: Israel Needs To End The Occupation To Truly Join The West

Christopher Hitchens: Israel Needs To End The Occupation To Truly Join The West
Last week Christopher Hitchens was interviewed on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, and he had some tough words for Israel.
The author said that if Israel truly wants to be part of the West then it will have to end its occupation of Palestinian territories and accused Israelis of being "unbelievably irresponsible" (via Daily Dish):

In order for Israel to become part of the alliance against whatever we want to call it, religious barbarism, theocratic, possibly thermonuclear theocratic or nuclear theocratic aggression ... it'll have to dispense with the occupation. It's as simple as that.
It can be, you can think of it as a kind of European style, Western style country if you want, but it can't govern other people against their will. It can't continue to steal their land in the way that it does every day. And it's unbelievably irresponsible of Israelis, knowing the position of the United States and its allies are in around the world, to continue to behave in this unconscionable way. And I'm afraid I know too much about the history of the conflict to think of Israel as just a tiny, little island surrounded by a sea of ravening wolves and so on. I mean, I know quite a lot about how that state was founded, and the amount of violence and dispossession that involved. And I'm a prisoner of that knowledge. I can't un-know it.

Gay-lesbian group overcomes opposition at UN

Reuters AlertNet - Gay-lesbian group overcomes opposition at UN

UNITED NATIONS, July 19 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Monday accredited a major gay and lesbian organization that Egypt, Russia and others had tried to keep out as a group permitted to lobby at the world body. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, a U.S.-based advocacy group, had applied for "consultative status" at the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) three years ago.

Last month, a U.N. committee that accredits nongovernmental groups rejected the application after "no" votes from countries including Egypt, Russia and China. Western diplomats vowed at the time to override the committee vote. The United States, Britain and other Western delegations urged the full 54-nation ECOSOC to vote on the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission's application, which it did on Monday. It was approved with 23 "yes" votes, 13 "no" votes and 13 abstentions.

Among those who voted "no" were once again Egypt, China and Russia, along with Niger, Morocco, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Those voting in favor included the United States, Britain, Canada, Germany, Brazil and Japan. U.S. President Barack Obama hailed the outcome. "I welcome this important step forward for human rights," Obama said in a statement. "Today, with the more full inclusion of the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission, the United Nations is closer to the ideals on which it was founded, and to values of inclusion and equality to which the United States is deeply committed." British Deputy Ambassador Philip Parham told ECOSOC that the group's presence at the world body "will add an important voice to our discussions at the U.N."

Cary Alan Johnson, the group's director, said the decision was "an affirmation that the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have a place at the United Nations as part of a vital civil society community." "The clear message here is that these voices should not be silenced and that human rights cannot be denied on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity," Johnson said.

Syria Bans Full Islamic Veils At Universities

Syria Bans Full Islamic Veils At Universities
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria has forbidden the country's students and teachers from wearing the niqab – the full Islamic veil that reveals only a woman's eyes – taking aim at a garment many see as political.
The ban shows a rare point of agreement between Syria's secular, authoritarian government and the democracies of Europe: Both view the niqab as a potentially destabilizing threat.
"We have given directives to all universities to ban niqab-wearing women from registering," a government official in Damascus told The Associated Press on Monday.
The order affects both public and private universities and aims to protect Syria's secular identity, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. Hundreds of primary school teachers who were wearing the niqab at government-run schools were transferred last month to administrative jobs, he added.
The ban, issued Sunday by the Education Ministry, does not affect the hijab, or headscarf, which is far more common in Syria than the niqab's billowing black robes.

Polling evolution in three countries | NCSE

Polling evolution in three countries | NCSE

A new poll indicates that public acceptance of evolution is significantly higher in Great Britain and Canada than in the United States. The poll, conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion, asked (PDF), "Which of these statements comes closest to your own point of view regarding the origin and development of human beings on earth?" and offered the choices "Human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years" and "God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years."
In the United States, there was no statement commanding the assent of the majority of respondents: 35% of respondents preferred the evolution statement and 47% preferred the creationism statement, with 18% unsure. In Canada and Great Britain, however, evolution was the majority view. In Canada, 61% of respondents preferred the evolution statement and 24% preferred the creationism statement, with 15% unsure. In Great Britain, 68% of respondents preferred the evolution statement, and 16% preferred the creationism statement, with 15% unsure.
The results were also presented by region. Acceptance of evolution in the United States was lowest in the South (27%, as opposed to 51% accepting creationism) and highest in the Northeast (43%, as opposed to 38% accepting creationism). In Canada, acceptance of creationism was highest in Manitoba/Saskatchewan (39%, as opposed to 50% accepting evolution) and Alberta (31%, as opposed to 51% accepting evolution). In Great Britain, acceptance of creationism was highest in London (25%, as opposed to 58% accepting evolution).

Women Break New Ground As Bishops And Judges

Women Break New Ground As Bishops And Judges
Possibilities for careers have just widened in places across the globe, and this progress has been made in spite of various traditional religious roadblocks.

Earlier this month, Malaysia announced its first female judges on its strict, Islamic, sharia court. The court is traditionally composed entirely of men, and the introduction of two female judges is hoped to lessen the country's onerous regulations against women. The Times of India reports:

The appointment of the first two women judges to Malaysia's Islamic courts was hailed Thursday as a move to address the gender imbalance in the country's religious judiciary. Premier Najib Razak announced the appointments, made by the king in May, as an example of the government's commitment to transforming the Sharia judiciary.

"The appointments were made to enhance justice in cases involving families and women's rights and to meet current needs," Najib was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama last week.

Islamic courts run in parallel with civil courts in this Malay Muslim-majority country but women say they face much discrimination in Islamic divorce proceedings, inheritance and child custody cases.
~~~~~~~~~~~

England, too, is ushering a new age of equality with a recent announcement that they are taking the first step towards allowing women to be bishops in the Church of England.

The Church of England national assembly decided Monday that women should be allowed to become bishops, making only minor concessions to theological conservatives who have threatened to break away over the issue.

Dioceses will now consider the draft law, which would leave it up to individual bishops to allow alternative oversight for traditionalists who object to serving under women bishops. The dioceses must report back by 2012 and a final vote by the ruling body, the General Synod, will still be needed, but supporters say a milestone has been passed.

"The decision to consecrate women as bishops has been taken," said church spokesman Lou Henderson. "Everybody recognized the importance of offering safeguards and assurances to those who find it very difficult (to accept women bishops), but in the end Synod as a whole was not prepared to go as far as the traditionalists would have liked."

Unfortunately, the proposal still has a few hurdles to overcome, most notably a fight with traditionalist who still believe that Biblically only the man can be a mouthpiece to God. But in both cases, small, incremental steps have been made that provide hope that true gender equality may be found down the road.

Vatican: Ordaining Women Grave Crime, Much Like Sex Abuse

Vatican: Ordaining Women Grave Crime, Much Like Sex Abuse
Just as the Church of England is getting ready to consider allowing women to become priests, the Catholic church is staying loyal to its Dark Ages roots and reaffirming its position that woman should never be allowed to be ordained.

How firm are they on this issue? The Vatican claims it would be just as bad as allowing sexual abuse in the church.

The Vatican issued a revised set of church guidelines Thursday to respond to the clerical sex abuse scandal, targeting priests who molest the mentally disabled as well as children, defining child pornography as a canonical crime but making few substantive changes to existing practice.

The new rules make no mention of the need for bishops to report clerical sex abuse to police, provide no sanctions for bishops who cover up for abusers and do not include any "one-strike and you're out" policy for pedophile priest as demanded by some victims. As a result, they failed to satisfy victims' advocates, who said the revised guidelines amounted to little more than "administrative housekeeping" of existing practice when what was needed were bold new rules threatening bishops who fail to report abuse.

The Vatican's sex crimes prosecutor acknowledged it was "only a document," and didn't solve the problem of clerical abuse. He defended the lack of any mention of the need to report abuse to police, saying all Christians were required to obey civil laws that would already demand sex crimes be reported.

"If civil law requires you report, you must obey civil law," Monsignor Charles Scicluna told reporters. But "it's not for canonical legislation to get itself involved with civil law."

The rules also list the attempted ordination of a woman as a "grave crime" to be handled according to the same set of procedures as sex abuse — despite arguments that grouping the two in the same document would imply equating them.

US News: Texas Judge Dismisses Creationism Degree Lawsuit

Natural Rejection: Texas Judge Dismisses Creationism Degree Lawsuit
In a decision that’s bound to further rile the advocates of creationism-as-science, Austin federal judge Sam Sparks has dismissed a suit filed by the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research. Its graduate school (ICRGS) had petitioned the court for the right to offer a master’s degree in science education from a biblical perspective. To use a distinctly non-evolutionary metaphor, in his rejection of the suit the judge tore the ICRGS a new one.

First, a little background: in 2008, the ICRGS applied to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the right to offer master’s degrees in science education grounded in a literal interpretation of the biblical version of creation and the vigorous repudiation of evolutionary theory. The application was rejected due to the strong bias toward creationism; the ICRGS then sued, claiming that the board violated the institute’s first amendment rights of the free exercise of religion and freedom of speech.

Part of Sparks’s opinion states, “Having addressed this primary issue, the Court will proceed to address each of ICRGS’s causes of action in turn, to the extent it is able to understand them. It appears that although the Court has twice required Plaintiff to re-plead and set forth a short and plain statement of the relief requested, Plaintiff is entirely unable to file a complaint which is not overly verbose, disjointed, incoherent, maundering, and full of irrelevant information.” (Thanks to Care2’s Scott Pasch for pointing out this out.)

Argentina legalizes gay marriage

Argentina legalizes gay marriage
BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – Argentina on Thursday became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, following a landmark Senate vote carried live on national television.
The law, backed by the center-left government of President Cristina Kirchner, was adopted in a 33-27 vote after 15 hours of debate. In this majority Roman Catholic country, some had reservations, but the law passed.
"It is a historic day," said ruling party leader Miguel Pichetto. Opposition Radical senator Gerardo Morales said Argentine society has changed, stressing that the bill was aimed at guaranteeing the rights of minorities. Hundreds of people outside Congress cheered when the bill passed. Some chanted "Equality, Equality." Some tearful couples embraced.

Court adds genocide to Sudan president's charges

Court adds genocide to Sudan president's charges | TPM News Pages

The International Criminal Court added genocide Monday to the list of charges against Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir, after issuing a warrant for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity last year.

"The Chamber finds that there is sufficient evidence to establish reasonable grounds to believe that (Omar al-Beshir) is criminally responsible ... for those charges of genocide," said a court decision published on Monday.

The ICC's appeals chamber ordered judges in February to rethink their decision to omit genocide from a warrant issued for the Sudanese leader's arrest in March 2009.

The prosecution had appealed against the absence of genocide charges on that warrant, the ICC's first ever issued for a sitting head of state. Based on Monday's decision, a second warrant was issued listing three counts of genocide.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accuses Beshir of personally instructing his forces to annihilate three ethnic groups -- the Fur, the Masalit and the Zaghawa in Darfur. The prosecutor says 2.7 million people have been uprooted from their homes, of whom 100,000 died of causes related to their displacement, such as starvation.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died since conflict broke out in Darfur in 2003, when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime for a greater share of resources and power.

APA campaigns against CIA ‘torture doctor’

APA campaigns against CIA ‘torture doctor’
Psychologists in the United States have been warned by their professional group not to take part in torturing detainees in U.S. custody.
Now the American Psychological Association has taken the unprecedented step of supporting an attempt to strip the license of a psychologist accused of overseeing the torture of a CIA detainee. The APA has told a Texas licensing board in a letter mailed July 1 that the allegations against Dr. James Mitchell represent "patently unethical" actions inconsistent with the organization's ethics guidelines.
If any psychologist who was a member of the APA were found to have committed the acts alleged against Mitchell, "he or she would be expelled from the APA membership," according to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. APA spokeswoman Rhea Farberman confirmed its contents. The letter is the first of its kind in the board's history, Farberman said.
"The allegations put forward in the complaint and those that are on the public record about Dr. Mitchell are simply so serious, and if true, such a gross violation of his professional ethics, that we felt it necessary to act," Farberman said.

Federal Judge Rules Part Of DOMA Unconstitutional

Federal Judge Rules Part Of DOMA Unconstitutional
A federal judge ruled today that part of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional. Judge Joseph Tauro, of U.S. District Court in Boston, issued rulings on two separate cases today.

"This court has determined that it is clearly within the authority of the Commonwealth to recognize same-sex marriages among its residents, and to afford those individuals in same-sex marriages any benefits, rights, and privileges to which they are entitled by virtue of their marital status," Tauro wrote in the decision for Massachusetts v. Health and Human Services.

"The federal government, by enacting and enforcing DOMA, plainly encroaches upon the firmly entrenched province of the state, and, in doing so, offends the Tenth Amendment. For that reason, the statute is invalid," he wrote.

Give Us This Day Our Daily Glock: Jindal Signs Louisiana 'Guns-In-Churches' Bill

Give Us This Day Our Daily Glock: Jindal Signs Louisiana 'Guns-In-Churches' Bill Into Law | TPM LiveWire
Churches and guns.
I had to post this - I don't even know what to say...
Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a controversial guns-in-churches bill into law yesterday, after it passed the Louisiana state legislature. The bill would allow houses of worship to designate those with concealed weapons' permits as part of an armed "security force," designed to protect the rest of the congregation.

As we previously reported, state Rep. Henry Burns (R-LA) introduced the bill for "those unique situations where maybe a church can't afford law enforcement," but churchgoers want to protect themselves. A church is "really no safe haven". Burns added several provisions to the bill after it initially failed in the state Senate. It now requires training sessions and background checks for those looking to be part of the "security force," and also mandates that they possess a concealed weapons permit for at least five years. The law goes into effect on August 15.

Federal Court sets Khadr deadline

Federal Court sets Khadr deadline - The Globe and Mail
The Federal Court of Canada has given the government seven days to come up with a list of remedies to its breach of Omar Khadr's constitutional rights. In a decision released today, the court said the Canadian citizen now jailed at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is entitled to “procedural fairness and natural justice.”
Mr. Justice Russel Zinn says Ottawa did not meet the standard set by the Supreme Court of Canada when it ordered the federal government to right the wrongs it had brought on the 23-year-old accused of killing a U.S. medic in 2002.
In a January ruling, the top court had declared Mr. Khadr's rights had been violated and it demanded the Harper government come up with a remedy. The Canadian’s defence team had requested a judicial review of the government's response. Khadr lawyer Nathan Whitling says today's ruling means the government has “once again been called upon by the courts to do the right thing.”
Mr. Whitling said he hopes Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon “take advantage of this opportunity” and to finally request the repatriation of Omar Khadr. The government refuses to repatriate Mr. Khadr and has only asked Washington not to use information Canadian officials gleaned from him while imprisoned at the Caribbean island facility.

ESA Portal - Planck unveils the Universe – now and then

Planck unveils the Universe
ESA’s Planck mission has delivered its first all-sky image. It not only provides new insight into the way stars and galaxies form but also tells us how the Universe itself came to life after the Big Bang.

"This is the moment that Planck was conceived for," says ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, David Southwood. "We’re not giving the answer. We are opening the door to an Eldorado where scientists can seek the nuggets that will lead to deeper understanding of how our Universe came to be and how it works now. The image itself and its remarkable quality is a tribute to the engineers who built and have operated Planck. Now the scientific harvest must begin.

SENEGAL: Out of school, into marriage

SENEGAL: Out of school, into marriage
DAKAR, 5 July 2010 (IRIN) - Twelve-year-old Rama* in Senegal’s Sédhiou region is still in school instead of wedded to a man in his 40s, after community members convinced her father to abandon the family’s plan to give her away. But in most cases family or social pressure to marry off young girls still wins out in many regions of the country, researchers and educators say. "It is quite common to see parents remove their daughters from school to force them into marriage," Saliou Sarr, secondary school principal.

In Sarr's school 10 percent of girls aged 12-15 leave school annually because of family-arranged marriages. In a high school in the town of Guiré Yoro Boccar in the Kolda region, 40 of the 43 girls admitted to secondary school have got married and will not continue school.

"Many parents say they push marriage for fear their daughters will start to have sex for money or because keeping them in the household becomes too expensive..."

While some families worry about what they see as the risks of not marrying off their girls, the risks of forced early marriage are many - particularly for health, said reproductive health expert Fatim Thiam.

Senegalese law holds that if a girl is under 18 the man must wait to consummate the marriage but "in practice this is never respected", said Abdoulaye Seck, vice-president of Amnesty International in Senegal. Marriage is legal from age 18; for girls aged 16-18 parents must give authorization; for those aged 13-16, a judge must decide. Marriage to girls under 13 is unlawful.

Atheist Prime Minister in Australia

New Humanist (Rationalist Association) - discussing humanism, rationalism, atheism and free thought

When Julia Gillard became Australia's first female prime minister last week, replacing Kevin Rudd, many were quick to point out that in addition to being (would you believe it?) a woman, Gillard is also openly and unashamedly atheist.

Now that, in itself, is not necessarily a shock, but as we in Britain are more than aware, politicians aren't usually happy to wear their non-belief on their sleeves, for fear of alienating religious voters (c.f. Deputy UK PM Nick Clegg). And you have to suspect that some politicians keep their atheism quiet in order to avoid offence and remain in office. Just look at the US – California congressman Pete Stark is thought to be the only openly atheist national politician. Even if we only take "national politician" to mean members of Congress, that's still only 1 in 535. Are we really to seriously think that Stark is the only person out of all those to not believe in a deity?

Spain to get church for same-sex marriages: report

Spain to get church for same-sex marriages:
MADRID — Spain, which has become a world leader in gay rights in recent years, is to get its first gay Christian church to celebrate marriages between same-sex couples, a news report said Sunday.

The US-based Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) is to open a congregation in Madrid in October. On its website, MCC said it was founded California in 1968 as "the world's first church group with a primary, positive ministry to gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender persons." It now claims 43,000 members in 300 congregations in 22 countries.

El Mundo said a lesbian couple, both Spaniards living in Canada, have come to Madrid to register an MCC congregation with the justice ministry which they expect to open in October.

UN celebrates a 'watershed day' for women

UN celebrates a watershed day for women

Global body launched: The fight against rape, female circumcision, child mortality and poor healthcare takes on a higher priority. By Nina Lakhani and David Randall

Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations: 'UN Women is recognition of a simple truth: equality for women is a basic human right and a social and economic imperative'

Some 65 years after it was founded, and after decades of reports on every species of sex discrimination and its wasteful effects, the United Nations has decided to set up a single, powerful body to promote equality for women around the world.

The General Assembly voted unanimously on Friday to launch a new agency called UN Women. It will begin its work in January, have a high-level leader, probably twice the $250m annual budget now allocated to gender issues, and will be tasked with challenging governments on women's plights and rights.

UN Women will press hard for women to have a more widespread and prominent role in politics, and also try to reduce some of the world's more glaring discriminations. These include lack of access to health and education, forced marriages, rape, female circumcision, and trafficking. Diplomats at the Assembly greeted news of the new body with spontaneous applause as the decision was announced with a rap of its president's gavel. "This is truly a watershed day," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Member states have created a much stronger voice for women and for gender equality at the global level. It will now be much more difficult for the world to ignore the challenges facing women and girls or to fail to take the necessary action."...

Marianne Mollmann, women's rights advocate at Human Rights Watch, said: "The creation of this agency is a testament to the resilience of women's rights activists ... So much of the promise of the new women's agency depends on finding a leader who can secure the funding and enhanced support that has been pledged."

Three names already floated to lead UN Women are the former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, Rwanda's Foreign Minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, and the UN special representative for children in armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy. It is believed that eight names have been submitted.

United Nations warned that corruption is undermining grants to stop logging

United Nations warned that corruption is undermining grants to stop logging
A revolutionary scheme backed by the World Bank to pay poor countries billions of dollars a year to stop felling trees is the best way to stop logging and save the planet from climate change, according to wealthy countries and conservationists, yet documents seen by the Observer show the plan is actually leading to corruption and possibly more logging.

Human rights and environment groups yesterday called for a radical rethink of the United Nations scheme, known as Redd (Reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation), after it emerged that many countries were trying to cheat the system.

Under Redd, 37 mainly tropical countries have requested more than $14bn in grants from rich countries by 2015 in return for cutting their carbon emissions from logging and other forestry activities. This is expected to lead to an income of more than $10bn a year by 2020 when a global carbon offset scheme is running. The carbon money flowing from rich to poor countries will then theoretically dwarf international aid and could reduce global emissions by 17-20% – more than that emitted by all the world's transport.

But analysis of the 16 forestry reform plans so far submitted by Redd countries to the World Bank shows that many intend to abuse the system in order to collect the money while carrying on logging as usual..the Democratic Republic of Congo wants to open up 10 million hectares (25m acres) of new logging concessions as part of its plan. The country, which is ranked as one of the most corrupt in the world, argues that it will reduce emissions by planting more trees elsewhere.

Guyana intends to use some of its Redd money to pay a property dealer from Florida to build a road and a major hydroelectric plant in some of its most densely forested areas. Indonesia has said it will impose a moratorium on the conversion of its extensive peat forests to palm plantations, but only after 2013, allowing logging companies to ravage its forests until then. Other countries are setting the present rate of deforestation deliberately high or are ignoring all present logging, so that they can be paid to do nothing.

The environment groups, which include Global Witness, Greenpeace International, Fern and Rainforest Foundation, also fear that Redd is being used by governments to victimise and steal the carbon rights of people who live and depend on the forests.

Last month police arrested a UK-based businessman alleged to have paid government officials and others in return for the emission rights on 20% of Liberia's forests. Interpol said last year the chances were "very high" that criminal gangs would seek to take advantage. Peter Younger, Interpol environment crimes specialist and author of a report for the World Bank on illegal forestry, said: "Alarm bells are ringing. Redd is simply too big to monitor. The potential for criminality is vast and has not been taken into account."

Simon Counsell, director of Rainforest Foundation, said: "Redd has been touted as the quickest and cheapest way of preventing climate change, but what we are seeing are expensive and ill-conceived plans that fail to address the underlying causes of deforestation, and might make things worse. Redd needs to be taken out of the hands of the World Bank, and a new global institution [must be] established to rigorously oversee payments to tropical countries on the basis of the actual amount of logging or deforestation that is averted."

Ismail Serageldin Seeks an Arab Age of Reason

The Saturday Profile - Ismail Serageldin Seeks an Arab Age of Reason - Biography - NYTimes.com
FROM his pulpit at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Ismail Serageldin preaches what might be called Islamic liberalism, a philosophical view grounded in reason and tolerance with roots in the early days of his faith, when Muslims led the world in intellectual pursuits.
His goal is to help spark the Arab world’s own age of reason, though he acknowledges that there is a long way to go.
"We can defeat the forces of hate and confrontation and build through education, science and culture better understanding for our future," he said at the opening ceremony of a recent conference at the library.
Mr. Serageldin has fashioned himself as the anti-Islamist, a self-declared "secularist when it comes to the civil state," a calling that does not endear him to the conservative majority of this society. But he is comfortable in his role as the founding director of the library, the modern successor to the ancient library of Alexandria.
He uses his position to counter what he has called the "current drift toward an intolerant, pseudoreligious fanaticism." He defends and promotes women’s rights, saying “no issue looms larger," and calls for freedom of expression as "the foundation of self-fulfillment." He opposes the Muslim Brotherhood, the popular Islamic movement, and has resisted pressure to allow the creation of a mosque or prayer room within the library itself.
And one of his core messages, aimed at his own community, is that Muslim societies today need to learn from Muslim leaders of the past, like Ibn al-Nafis, the 13th-century religious scholar, philosopher and scientist who called for tolerance in hearing out opposing views.
"How different these enlightened voices from the past sound compared to the frenetic ranting and condemnations of everything that is new and different that we see and hear everywhere in the Arab and Muslim worlds today," he wrote in one of a series of pamphlets issued by the library...

SWAZILAND: Women's property rights take one step forward, two steps back

SWAZILAND: Women's rights take one step forward, two steps back
MBABANE, 16 June 2010 (IRIN) - Much to the frustration of gender activists, Swaziland's Supreme Court has reversed a February 2010 High Court ruling that allowed a married woman to register property in their own name. After centuries of being classified and treated as minors, the new Swazi Constitution granted women equal status in 2005. Activist Mary-Joyce Doo Aphane wished to register a house in her own name and challenged the country's 1968 Deeds Registry Act. She was granted a High Court order declaring the section unconstitutional.

Yet a mere three months later, "The Supreme Court suppressed the High Court judgment granting women the immediate right to register property in their own names. From a legal and constitutional point of view, this is a big deal," said Tenille Brown, legal advisor to the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA),

Although the Constitution grants men and women equal rights, in practice the old laws on the statute books still define gender relations in a country ruled by sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III. The second-class status of women had long denied them their inheritance rights, and hobbled their progress as entrepreneurs and traders. Observers blame a lack of political will for the slow progress in replacing laws in conflict with the Constitution.

"The Constitution is clear that any law on the books that is counter to rights guaranteed in the Constitution must fall away, but in the face of government inaction, who is to do this?" an attorney who declined to be named told IRIN. "We welcome the fact that Parliament has been directed that they have one year to amend the law, so that women married in community of property can hold property individually and with their husbands. However, we must remember that the constitution is now five years old. It is SWAGAA's position that Parliament has taken too long to ensure that the laws of Swaziland provide protection for women," SWAGAA said in a statement.

"People need to be aware that the inability of women to equally control the property they own with their husbands leads to situations of dependency and possible cases of abuse. We see many women who are not able to leave abusive husbands because it would mean they have nowhere to live, no money, and no family support."

Swazi women are watching and waiting. "Thousands of Swazi women are trapped in abusive situations that are endangering their lives and mental health because no one wants to challenge the old patriarchal authority," said Thab'sile Ndlovu, a secretary in Manzini, Swaziland's commercial hub. "What use is the constitution?”

Women largely excluded from Asia HIV prevention efforts - U.N. expert

Women largely excluded from Asia HIV prevention efforts - U.N. expert
BANGKOK (AlertNet) - Efforts to prevent the spread of HIV in Asia-Pacific must be urgently adapted to target a greater number of women as they are getting infected at a faster rate and pass on the virus that causes AIDS to their children, a U.N. gender expert said. Women accounted for 35 percent of new infections in Asia-Pacific in 2007, up from 18 percent in 1990, according to U.N. agency UNAIDS.

"Given the volume of the population in the region, a 1 percent increase in prevalence means many, many people," UNAIDS' Asia-Pacific gender adviser Jane Wilson told AlertNet. "If China and India's national responses don't include effective engendered AIDS response, then millions of women will be needlessly infected."

The main drivers behind the spread of HIV among women in the region are unprotected sex and infection by their long-term male partners, particularly if the men are drug users who use contaminated needles, have sex with men or buy sex. Women in abusive relationships are many times more likely to get the virus from their partners, the United Nations has found. Moreover, cultural restrictions on women's freedom of movement and their lesser standing in society in Asia-Pacific mean that they do not get tested as regularly as men and many can't afford health services at all. And HIV/AIDS is still seen as a predominantly male problem.

"Between 32 to 40 percent of women are tested (for HIV) only because their husbands become sick," Wilson said. "And 75 percent don't have enough money to access (health) services."

An estimated 1.6 million women were living with HIV in Asia-Pacific in 2009. Moreover, more than 50 million are at risk of catching the virus from their high-risk partners but are largely ignored in HIV prevention programmes because they are married or in long-term relationships, according to the Independent Commission on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific. For example, the commission estimated in 2008 that up to two-thirds of male injecting drug users in the region were married or had regular female partners.

"The need (for gender-specific services) is so evident we can't ignore it anymore," Wilson said. "This is not to say we take away money from the programmes for most-at-risk populations, but to integrate consideration for the female sexual partners." Early this week, the United Nations launched a report to address, as it says, "the persistent gender inequalities and human rights violations that put women and girls at a greater risk and more vulnerable to HIV. Women are disempowered to actually take control of their lives and their bodies, particularly in south Asia," Wilson said.

Humanists announce formation of new institute dedicated to ethics: ISHV

Humanists announce formation of new institute dedicated to ethics

Brandishing a statement of "Neo-Humanist" values, a group of leaders in the humanist movement has established a new non-profit aiming to re-humanize secularism.

"We aim to be inclusive and to work with religious and non-religious groups to help solve common problems facing the Planetary community," Paul Kurtz, chairman of the new Institute for Science and Human Values (ISHV), said.

Kurtz also said the group will promote scientific inquiry and critical thinking in evaluating claims and "develop values that are naturalistic and humanistic in character and appropriate to the 21st century." He said religion is often at the root of society's ethical values, and that ISHV wants to reevaluate them on rational grounds.

“We’re going to enlist the brightest scientists and scholars, and not just in the United States but everywhere there are humanists,” Kurtz said. “We want to find out how to better develop the common moral virtues that we share as human beings.”

Kurtz is an emeritus professor of philosophy and has been involved in humanist, skeptical,and secularist movements for more than 30 years. In 1991 he brought together two organizations, one focused on skepticism and the other on humanism, to form the Center for Inquiry (CFI). Kurtz resigned from CFI’s board in May of this year.

"The secularist garden doesn't necessarily produce humanist blooms," Kurtz said. “The questions we want to answer are, how do you develop among secularists a personal morality? How does one develop empathy? How can we motivate morality? It’s a common belief that morality can only come from religion. Well, I have known scores of excellent human beings who behave very morally and yet do not subscribe to religious belief systems.”

Kurtz, with input from other prominent humanists, has composed a "Neo-Humanist Statement of Secular Principles and Values" that will help guide the new organization's activities. It is the latest public declaration of a humanist movement that has been punctuated by similar documents in 1933, 1973, and 2003. The Statement is signed by more than 100 prominent Humanists including Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, former Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder, and writer Ann Druyan, wife of the late Carl Sagan.
The Statement lays out 16 "recommendations" that emphasize the development of a positive ethical system in order to help the humanist movement better understand and express what it is for.

"We've never had a problem expressing what we're against," Kurtz said."Humanists have always been critical of theism. But as our movement matures politically and socially, it will be beneficial to express our positive values, like ethical values based on reason and support for critical thinking as a way to solve public problems."

The Statement also includes some decidedly liberal ideas, including support for the rights of "women, racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities," and for "education, health care, gainful employment, and other social benefits." Other recommendations support democracy, a "green economy," population restraint, and "progressive positions on the economy."

Toni van Pelt, former director of CFI's lobbying arm the Office of Public Policy, said that humanism had significant accomplishments petitioning Congress over the last several years.

"We had great success, to the point where several members accepted our Science and Reason award and even spoke in our D.C. office, which was just a short walk from the Capitol," van Pelt said.

Van Pelt, who signed the new Statement, said part of ISHV’s mission would be to fill the lobbying gap left by the effective closure of CFI’s Office of Public Policy. Retired NASA astrophysicist Stuart Jordan is also among ISHV’s organizers. He said ethics would take priority in ISHV’s activities.

"Science and reason are the means to achieving the ethical goals, which were and are the ultimate goals of the Enlightenment that helped jump start our country,” he said. "The overriding goal was and still is a better world for all humanity."

Kurtz said what he sees as a crisis in secularism prompted him to form the ISHV.

"It is becoming obvious to an increasing number of secularists that to be disaffected from religion doesn’t bestow moral or ethical superiority..For example, Ayn Rand and her ideological heirs promote freedom, but don’t consider the virtue in selflessness and cooperation. We want to investigate whether there is a moral framework reinforced by reason that non-theists can embrace."

Amnesty International appalled as Nicaragua refuses to uphold women's human rights

Amnesty International appalled as Nicaragua refuses to uphold women's human rights
Amnesty International appalled as Nicaragua refuses to uphold women's human rights

Amnesty International is very disappointed that Nicaragua has rejected the recommendations made by 12 States to change or reconsider the law imposing a total ban on abortion. The recommendations were made during the review in the UPR Working Group of Nicaragua’s human rights record at the United Nations.

So long as the total ban on abortion remains in place, victims of rape and incest – many of them still children themselves – are compelled to bear children or risk their health and imprisonment if they seek an illegal abortion. A further consequence of the total ban on abortion is that medical professionals, fearful of prosecution, delay or deny life-saving medical treatment to women and girls who suffer complications during pregnancy.

Since the introduction of the abortion ban in 2006, UN experts have repeatedly condemned the law and urged its revision, including UN treaty bodies such as the Committee Against Torture. Today, sadly, Nicaragua refused once again to heed these important recommendations.

KENYA: Muslim leaders champion HIV testing in marriage

KENYA: Muslim leaders champion HIV testing in marriage
Interesting on many levels - one assumes that if the 3rd wife is HIV positive, he will not marry her. But they seem to be testing the HUSBAND as well. Interesting social implications...

MOMBASA, 2 July 2010 - Binti Omar waits anxiously for her HIV test in a tent erected as part of a testing drive being conducted by the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) in the coastal city of Mombasa; Omar is accompanied by her fiancé, Abubakar Ismael, and his two wives.

"I'm about to be part of Abu's larger family, so we found it necessary to come here and get ourselves tested so that we can plan our future much better," Omar said. "Life nowadays is so risky... It would be good for us all to get to know each other's HIV status."

Ismael and his family, as well as hundreds of other locals, are getting tested at the CIPK camps in response to calls by imams - Muslim scholars - in mosques in Kenya's largely Muslim Coast Province.

Outgoing Chief Kadhi Sheikh Ahmed Kassim recently led some imams and locals in getting tested for HIV. He noted that the camps, held with the joint US-Kenya government programme, AIDS Population and Health Integrated Assistance in Kenya's Coast Province, APHIA II, were meant to enlighten and encourage Muslim youths, couples and Kenyans in general on the importance of getting tested.

Muslim men are allowed four wives and the initiative is encouraging all spouses to get tested. For many years, Muslim leaders in Kenya shied away from discussing HIV, especially in the mosques; more recently, however, they have joined the national prevention campaign, although many still reject some aspects of it, particularly the use of condoms.

The HIV prevalence in Coast Province is 7.9 percent, marginally higher than the national average of 7.4 percent. The 2007 Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey revealed that an estimated 44 percent of new HIV infections in Kenya occur among married or cohabiting couples.