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Dutch MPs want to make leaving kids abroad punishable
https://nltimes.nl/2019/07/05/dutch-mps-want-make-leaving-kids-abroad-punishable
Every year hundreds of Dutch children are left abroad by their parents. With the summer vacation around the corner, a majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, is calling on the government to make it punishable to leave your children in a foreign country, RTL Nieuws reports.
Last year the the national center for forced marriages and abandonment LKHA received 39 reports of children being left abroad by their parents. “But the actual number of abandonments is much higher. Sometimes victims do not dare to report it. Or the child who is left behind cannot report it because he has no phone, for example”, Diny Flierman of the LKHA said to the broadcaster. Based on research, the center estimates the total number of children left abroad between 180 and 800.
These kids are taken abroad under the guise or of a vacation or a family visit, and are then left there. This most often happens in countries in North Africa, West Africa and the Middle East, according to the broadcaster. “For example, parents opt for this because they think their child is too westernized. The child is sent to an aunt or grandmother to learn the norms and values of the parent’s country of origin”, Flierman said.
Parents also sometimes leave their kids abroad because they think their child is unmanageable, according to Flierman. “Parents see abandonment as a temporary solution to the problems at home.” In most cases, parents are convinced that this is the best option for the child, or see no other solution. But sometimes their intentions are less good, for example leaving their child to get married or for genital mutilation, according to RTL.
Abandonment is almost always very traumatic for the child involved. The Tweede Kamer therefore wants to make it punishable. Currently leaving a child abroad is not punishable in itself, only if it is paired with coercion or violence. “As government, we must act against this”, GroenLinks parliamentarian Kathalijne Buitenweg said. “Children are being left in places where they have no future.”
Flierman does not know whether criminalization will reduce the number of victims. “Children are often very loyal to their parents. If you make it punishable, children who have experienced it may not dare to report it.”
U.S. dream pulls African migrants in record numbers across Latin America (reuters, Jul 5, 2019)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-africa/u-s-dream-pulls-african-migrants-in-record-numbers-across-latin-america-idUSKCN1U01A4
‘Possessed’ Bangladeshi headteacher arrested over child rapes (gulfnews, Jul 5, 2019)
https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/possessed-bangladeshi-headteacher-arrested-over-child-rapes-1.1562339020497
“Bangladeshi police have arrested a religious school’s principal for allegedly raping at least a dozen children under his care, an official said Friday, sparking demonstrations by hundreds of people.
Al Amin, the head teacher and founder of the Baitul Huda Cadet Madrassa at Fatulla outside Dhaka, claimed innocence, saying he was “possessed by Satan”.
Madrassas are religious institutions that provide everything from basic Koran-based education to graduate-level religious studies.
Elite police from the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the teacher on Thursday after the mother of a 10-year-old student filed a rape complaint against him.
Local RAB chief Lieutenant Colonel Kazi Samser Uddin said the young girl watched a TV news report on serious sexual assault and told her mother that the seminary founder “did the same to her”.
“The mother immediately rushed to us with the complaint. Then we arrested the principal,” Uddin told AFP.
The teacher later admitted he forcibly had sexual intercourse with several of his minor students.
“We found he raped and sexually assaulted at least 12 girls in the madrassa,” Uddin said.
Hundreds of local people protested in the town demanding justice and exemplary punishment of the principal, who is also an imam of a local mosque.
The police also last week arrested two high school teachers at a nearby town for allegedly raping 20 students.
Uddin said those teachers have been blackmailing and raping the victims and some of their mothers for the last four years.
Rights groups raised concerns about the spike in the number of rape and sexual assaults in the Muslim-majority South Asian nation.
The Manusher Jonno Foundation, a local rights group, published a report early this year saying 433 children were raped in 2018. Most were aged between seven and 12, it said.
Rights groups said “a culture of impunity” is partly to blame for what they say is a rise in sexual violence in the country.
According to Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, a women’s rights group, only three percent of rape cases end in convictions.
The latest arrest came months after another madrassa head teacher was arrested over the April murder of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 19, burned to death by attackers on the rooftop of her seminary.
The murder shook the nation of 165 million people after a police probe found that Rafi was murdered at the order of the madrassa principal after she refused to withdraw a sexual assault charge filed with the police against her seminary head.
Rafi’s death received widespread media attention, and 16 men were arrested and are being tried for the killing. They face the death penalty.”
Moroccan Authorities Arrest Terrorism Suspect on International Search Warrant (moroccoworldnews, Jul 5, 2019)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/07/277408/moroccan-authorities-terrorism-international-warrant/
“Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), which is part of the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGSN), announced in a statement on July 5, the arrest of a 19-year-old from Beni Chiker in the province of Nador, suspected of affiliation with ISIS terrorist group.
The individual was apprehended on an international search warrant.
In an official statement, the BCIJ revealed that it had coordinated with the Spanish Civil Guard as part of its effort to monitor extremist individuals with terrorist projects/plans.
The BCIJ explained that initial investigations confirmed the individual’s extremist ideology, his significant involvement in propaganda and promotion of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS), and his glorification of the group’s violent operations.
The investigation, carried out in collaboration with Spanish authorities, showed that the suspect intended to learn how to manufacture explosives and search for firearms to be used in the execution of high-level terrorist operations in coordination with ISIS militants…”
2% of honour killing suspects convicted (tribune, Jul 5, 2019)
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2006248/1-2-honour-killing-suspects-convicted/
“A combination of the loopholes in the law, police incompetence and poor prosecution have led to only 2% of the people involved in honour killing being punished over the last one year.
According to statistics obtained by Express News from across Punjab, 234 cases of honor killing were reported in the province of which six were withdrawn. As many as 400 out of 439 suspects involved in the 228 cases were arrested, but only 2% of the accused were convicted. A police source said that the main reason for this abysmally low rate of conviction is that the aggrieved party tends to reconcile with the suspects and the matter never ends up in court.
Once there is reconciliation, the complainants do not testify against the accused and, therefore, getting a conviction becomes difficult, if not impossible. He said that in cases of honor killing, the ratio of arrests is more than 90%, but the option to reconcile means that the culprits go largely unpunished.
Meanwhile, human rights groups put the majority of the blame on the shoulders of the police force. They say that the force does not perform duties to the best of its ability. Civil society members say that due to the possibility of reconciliation, investigation officers do not gather substantial evidence and this increases the possibility of the accused being acquitted.
Leading social activist Advocate Abdullah Malik says poor investigation, delayed filing of challans, incompetence of investigation officers and tampering with the crime scene are also among the major reasons for the accused going scot-free.
“We need to change the law and such matters should be discussed in the provincial and national assembles, as well as the Senate. Along with the investigation, basic changes are desperately needed in the prosecution department.” He said that rights groups have been raising this matter on all available forums.
Meanwhile, DIG Investigation Inam Wahid said that in order to improve the process, investigation officers are being trained through courses designed along modern lines. “All staff is being trained phase-wise and step by step.” He added investigation staff is being trained to adopt a modern method of examination.
The DIG boasted that an arrest ratio of 90% is a major achievement. “In many cases, the suspects are released due to reconciliation and blood money. However, investigation methods, techniques and efficiency are being improved day by day,” the officer said.
SSP Investigation Zeeshan Asghar said the victims of honour killings are those who married for love. He added that in such cases, the complainant does not fully cooperate with police after registering an FIR. Another hindrance is that evidence is removed in some instances. The SSP continued that in most cases, the entire family is involved in the murder and the crime is carried out according to a plan.
In the meantime, the Investigation Wing, he said, is increasing its capabilities at a rapid pace. He pointed out that the responsibility to investigate a case of honour killing is given to an officer of the rank of an inspector. Asghar revealed that the CIA also joins the police to investigate such crimes.
“The suspects often take benefit of the fact that the crime scene is tampered with and relatives of the victim(s) do not testify. He continued that investigation officers are being trained in modern forensics, while their number has also been increased. “An increase in conviction rate can be possible if laws/rules are changed and the capacity of investigation officers increased.””
Turkey’s fertility rate drops in 2018 (hdn, Jul 5, 2019)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-fertility-rate-drops-in-2018-144722
“Turkey’s fertility rate reached 1.99 children in 2018, remaining below population’s replacement level of 2.10, said the country’s statistical authority on July 5.
Last year’s total fertility rate, the average number of live births that a woman would have during her reproductive period, was down from 2.07 in 2017, according to TÜ?K ahead of World Population Day on July 11.
TÜ?K projected the current downward trend in fertility rates would continue in the future to become 1.85 by the year 2050.
“The world’s fertility rate, which was 4.8 in 1969, decreased to 2.5 today,” it added.
The figure was at 1.7 in developed countries and 3.9 in less developed countries, according the institute.”
Turkish judge takes office at Euro court (hdn, Jul 5, 2019)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-judge-takes-office-at-euro-court-144736
“Turkish scholar Saadet Yüksel, who was elected as a judge to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), took office on July 4 in a ceremony attended by the top brass of the Turkish judiciary.
Zühtü Arslan, head of the Turkish Constitutional Court, ?smail Rü?tü Cirit, head of Turkey’s High Court of Cassation (Yarg?tay), and Zerrin Güngör, head of the Council of State (Dan??tay), participated in the oath-taking ceremony held at the ECHR building in Strasbourg. Kaan Esener, the permanent representation of Turkey to the Council of Europe, also attended the event hosted by ECHR President Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos.
Yüksel replaced I??l Karaka?, the previous Turkish judge to the ECHR, after Turkey’s previous candidate lists were rejected three times. The 36-year-old Harvard University graduate is the youngest judge to be serving the European top court.
“My goal is to make rulings and undertake work that will contribute to the development of human rights in both Turkey and member states of Council of Europe, along with the entire Europe. I’ve always been interested in the judicial assurance of human rights in my work,” she told daily Hürriyet after being elected in April.”
Salvini breached human rights – Rackete (ansa, Jul 5, 2019)
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/07/05/salvini-breached-human-rights-rackete_b8e24674-44c2-4de5-8ff6-41a9ba1047c7.html
“Interior Minister Matteo Salvini breached human rights with his policy of closing ports to NGO run migrant rescue ships, Sea-Watch3 skipper Carola Rackete says in an interview to be published Saturday by Der Spiegel.
“Salvini’s policy violated human rights: his way of expressing himself is disrespectful, it is not appropriate for a high-level politician,” she said after the minister branded her a rich Communist “scamp”.
The crew of the Sea-Watch3, she added, sent daily medical reports on the condition of the 42 rescued migrants, also to the Italian rescue centre in Rome, “but no one listened, no one responded”.
Rackete’s lawyer said Friday the German NGO captain was set to sue Salvini for instigating crimes after he called her release “disgraceful” and she was threatened with rape on social media.”
Salvini explain where Sea Watch judge was wrong – ANM (ansa, Jul 5, 2019)
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/07/05/salvini-explain-where-sea-watch-judge-was-wrong-anm_71f0c8e6-4a76-473c-885e-6f76689ab5ff.html
“Interior Minister Matteo Salvini should explain where the judge who released the Sea-Watch3 skipper, judging her innocent of ramming a police boat, went wrong, magistrates union ANM said Friday.
Preliminary investigations judge Alessandra Vella released Carola Rackete saying she had acted properly in saving migrants at risk of drowning and had not deliberately rammed the Guardia di Finanza boat.
Salvini called Vella’s ruling “disgraceful” and said she should stand for election if she wanted to make such “political” decisions.
ANM chief Luca Poniz said Friday “Salvini is fully entitled to criticise a decision by the magistrature but he must explain why it is wrong and we still haven’t heard one reason why that decision was wrong”.
Salvini retorted by saying “I have no enemies, only allies for the defence of the legality, security and welfare of my country.
“And trying to kill Italian (police) is not something that can remain unpunished”.”
Two more migrant ship standoffs in Med (ansa, Jul 5, 2019)
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/07/05/two-more-migrant-ship-standoffs-in-med_645c36c0-592d-41ee-9f6a-efc8d35b4090.html
“Friday saw two more migrant rescue ship standoffs in the Mediterranean after the 17-day case of the Sea-Watch3 whose skipper was cleared of ramming a police boat in Lampedusa earlier this week.
The Italian NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans’ Alex migrant rescue ship carrying 54 migrants rescued off Libya Thursday has been stopped off Lampedusa according to a landing ban issued by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, sources said Friday.
Salvini said the ship must go to Malta or else it “will be an act of violence”.
Malta offered a port to the ship but the Mediterranea at first said this was “unfeasible”.
It said because of the physical and psychological conditions of the migrants it was unable to go that far out of its way.
However, Alessandra Sciurba, spokesman of Mediterranea Saving Humans, later said it was ready to offload the migrants at Malta.
It was reported that a Maltese navy ship was heading for the Mediterranea to take the migrants, but the NGO said that “no ship is on the way, sadly”.
The Italian navy later offered to take the Alex’s migrants to Malta. And the first 13 “vulnerable” individuals including women and children and their families were taken aboard a Coast Guard cutter.
The Maltese government said Italy would take 55 migrants off its hands in exchange for the 54 migrants Malta would take from the Mediterranea ship.
Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio said it was right that the ship should go to Malta.
He said NGOs that used sailboats like the Mediterranea were “reckless”.
Meanwhile The ‘Alan Kurdi’ migrant rescue ship run by German NGO Sea-Eye rescued 65 migrants off Libya.
It said it was now awaiting a response to landing requests from Malta, Rome and Tripoli.
A woman journalist was aboard the migrant dinghy.
Salvini said the Sea-Eye “can choose between Tunisia and Germany”.
“Anyone who defends the borders and security of my country is welcome,” he said.
He added that the Alex, with its 54 migrants, was going to Malta.
A safe port is also needed for the Alan Kurdi with its 65 rescued migrants, German government spokeswoman Martina Fiez said Friday.
She said saving migrants at sea was a European task, as was the redistribution of migrants.
Meanwhile the head of the Italian magistrates union, the ANM, said Salvini should explain where the judge who released the Sea-Watch3 skipper, judging her innocent of ramming a police boat, went wrong.
Preliminary investigations judge Alessandra Vella released Carola Rackete saying she had acted properly in saving migrants at risk of drowning and had not deliberately rammed the Guardia di Finanza boat.
Salvini called Vella’s ruling “disgraceful” and said she should stand for election if she wanted to make such “political” decisions.
ANM chief Luca Poniz said Friday “Salvini is fully entitled to criticise a decision by the magistrature but he must explain why it is wrong and we still haven’t heard one reason why that decision was wrong”.
Salvini retorted by saying “I have no enemies, only allies for the defence of the legality, security and welfare of my country.
“And trying to kill Italian (police) is not something that can remain unpunished”.
Rackete responded Friday by saying she would sue Salvini for instigating hatred and crimes, after she received rape threats on social media.
“I’m not scared of a rich Communist,” retorted Salvini.
Rackete says in an interview to be published by Der Spiegel Saturday that Salvini breached human rights with his policy of closing ports to NGO run migrant rescue ships.
“Salvini’s policy violated human rights: his way of expressing himself is disrespectful, it is not appropriate for a high-level politician,” she said after the minister branded her a “scamp”.
The crew of the Sea-Watch3, she added, sent daily medical reports on the condition of the 42 rescued migrants, also to the Italian rescue centre in Rome, “but no one listened, no one responded”.”
Croatian president denies border police abuse (ansamed, Jul 5, 2019)
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2019/07/05/croatian-president-denies-border-police-abuse_abe2295d-21ff-4547-960e-5b1c52cc63e1.html
“Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic said she is opposed to protective barriers and barbed wire along the Croatian-Bosnian border, a migrant transit zone, because it would divide the Croatians “who live on both sides of the border”.
On Thursday Kitarovic visited the border zone, where behavior by the Croatian police has been constantly criticised by international organisations for illegal pushbacks and migrant abuse. She expressed her full support for the border agents and said the wounds and other lesions reported by migrants “are consequences of the difficult terrain” they attempt to cross, and not alleged police violence.
“Our police officers behave in the most humane way possible, but some migrants attempt to enter Croatia as many as 40 times in a row,” she said.
She said that because the migrants don’t want to seek asylum in Croatia, police have no other choice but to take them back to Bosnia. “The migration problem isn’t a problem of Croatia, it’s a problem of the entire European Union, which I hope will be able to understand that European borders must be defended along Croatian borders,” she said.
She added that she hopes approval for Croatian accession to the Schengen Area will be granted as soon as possible.”
Danish refugee board allows Syrians to retain asylum status (thelocal, Jul 5, 2019)
https://www.thelocal.dk/20190705/danish-refugee-board-allows-syrians-to-retain-asylum-status
“The Danish Refugee Appeals Board, Flygtningenævnet, has ruled on six cases involving Syrian refugees who risked losing their asylum status.
The cases are seen as having put to the test the official policy to return refugees to their source countries once it is deemed safe to do so, established with the advent of the so-called ‘paradigm change’ bill.
The bill, passed by parliament earlier this year under the previous government, established as an official position the long-term aim of repatriating people granted asylum in Denmark.
But the six cases involving Syrian refugees all resulted in the individuals’ stays in Denmark being extended.
The outcomes mean that new minister for immigration and integration Mattias Tesfaye has avoided being the first Western immigration minister to return Syrian refugees, Dagbladet Information reports.
The cases hinged on the Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen, DIS) being able to demonstrate improved security in Syria, the newspaper writes.
But the appeals board did not find that the refugees could be returned.
All were given permission to retain asylum status in Denmark and some were adjudged to now have stronger cases for asylum, according to the report.
Should Denmark at a later stage rule that Syrian refugees should be returned, it would likely be the first Western state to revoke asylum for nationals of the Middle Eastern country, going against UN recommendations.
But the six cases could form a precedent which results in the extension of asylum status by DIS for thousands of other refugees, Dagbladet Information writes.
DIS officials travelled to Damascus with Danish Refugee Council staff last year in order to assess safety in the Syrian capital.
A report published in February did not contain specific recommendations but concluded that security had significantly improved in 2018 in Damascus, which is under the control of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The Danish Refugee Appeals Board agreed with DIS that current conditions in Damascus were not of a character which would automatically place anybody in the area at risk of being attacked, Information writes. But current security conditions must also not appear to be temporary in character.
The appeals board did not make a direct judgement on this aspect.
Factors such as whether an individual had spent time in opposition-controlled areas, or had family members connected with opposition factions may influence the security of a person returning to Syria, the board found.
Therefore, although being in Damascus was not deemed to constitute an immediate safety risk in isolation, the unpredictable nature of the treatment of individuals by authorities in Syria — rather than general conditions in the country — was considered sufficient to allow protected persons to retain their asylum status.”
UN report cites ‘shockingly high’ number of likely ‘executions’ in Venezuela (france24, Jul 5, 2019)
https://www.france24.com/en/20190705-venezuela-united-nations-report-michelle-bachelet-human-rights
“Nearly 7,000 people have been killed during security operations in Venezuela in the past year and a half, the UN said Thursday, warning that many of the killings likely constituted “executions”.
In a fresh report, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the Venezuelan government had registered at least 6,856 killed in alleged confrontations with state forces since the beginning of 2018.
“The incidence of alleged extrajudicial killings by security forces… has been shockingly high,” Bachelet’s office said in a statement…”