Sex slaves in Asia
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
Although old days are already gone and people are becoming more and more concious about their rights, which has already resulted in total ellimination of sex slavery in various countries in the world, the trend is still continuing under various names and banners.
In Islamic Republic of Iran, for example, sex slavery is continuing under the garb of Temporary Marriage, which is popularly known as Mut´ah Marriage. It is continuing in a number of Arab nations as well as some of the tourist hot-spots in Asia.
Sexual slavery is the organized coercion of unwilling people into different sexual practices. Sexual slavery may include single-owner sexual slavery, ritual slavery sometimes associated with traditional religious practices, slavery for primarily non-sexual purposes where sex is common, or forced prostitution.
In general, the nature of slavery means that the slave is de facto available for sexual intercourse, and ordinary social conventions and legal protections that would otherwise constrain an owner’s actions are not effective. For example, extramarital sex between a married man and a slave was not considered adultery in most societies that accepted slavery.
The term “sex slave” and “consensual sexual slavery” are sometimes used in BDSM to refer to a consensual agreement between sexual partners.
According to the Rome Statute [Article 7 [2][c)] sexual enslavement means the exercise of any or all of the powers attached to the “right of ownership” over a person. It comprises the repeated violation or sexual abuse or forcing the victim to provide sexual services as well as the rape by the captor. The crime has the character of a continuing offence. The Rome Statute’s definition of sexual slavery includes situations where persons are forced to domestic servitude, marriage or any other forced labour involving sexual activity, as well as the trafficking of persons, in particular women and children.
Sexual slavery encompasses most, if not all, forms of forced prostitution. The terms “forced prostitution” or “enforced prostitution” appear in international and humanitarian conventions but have been insufficiently understood and inconsistently applied. “Forced prostitution” generally refers to conditions of control over a person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity.
In 1949 the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others [the 1949 Convention]. The 1949 Convention supersedes a number of earlier conventions that covered some aspects of forced prostitution. Signatories are charged with three obligations under the 1949 Convention: prohibition of trafficking, specific administrative and enforcement measures, and social measures aimed at trafficked persons. The 1949 Convention presents two shifts in perspective of the trafficking problem in that it views prostitutes as victims of the procurers, and in that it eschews the terms “white slave traffic” and “women,” using for the first time race- and gender-neutral language. Article 1 of the 1949 Convention provides punishment for any person who “[p]rocures, entices or leads away, for purposes of prostitution, another person” or “[e]xploits the prostitution of another person, even with the consent of that person.” To fall under the provisions of the 1949 Convention, the trafficking need not cross international lines.
The line between forced and voluntary prostitution is very thin, and prostitution in and on itself is seen by many as an abusive practice and a form of violence against women. In Sweden, Norway and in Iceland it is illegal to pay for sex [the client commits a crime, but not the prostitute], as these countries consider all forms of prostitution to be exploitive or de facto slavery, and place emphasis on suppressing the demand for sex services, by prosecuting the customers and the profiteers.
Many individuals and organisations believe that prostitution [or the activities which surround it] should be kept illegal; they argue that legalized prostitution does nothing to improve the situation of the prostitutes and leads only to an increase in criminal activities and human trafficking. Many feminists are also opposed to prostitution, see feminist objections to prostitution.
However, the the criminalization of voluntary prostitution is condemned by sex workers’ rights advocates, who argue that the decriminalization and extension of labor rights to sex workers is more effective in ensuring their general wellbeing than any form of prohibition. Sex worker activists, however, oppose systems of regulated prostitution [such as in Nevada in Unted States], as they see these approaches and these tight regulations as degrading and oppresive for the sex workers; instead they lobby for full decriminalization.
Forced Prostitution:
Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution, is the act of performing sexual activity in exchange for money on a non-voluntary basis. There are a wide range of entry routes into prostitution, ranging from “voluntary and deliberate” entry, “semi-voluntary” based on pressure of circumstances, and “involuntary” recruitment via outright force or coercion. Sexual slavery encompasses most, if not all, forms of forced prostitution. The terms “forced prostitution” or “enforced prostitution” appear in international and humanitarian conventions but have been insufficiently understood and inconsistently applied. “Forced prostitution” generally refers to conditions of control over a person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity.
Enticement to and maintenance of all forms of involuntary prostitution is regarded as international offence under customary law based on the uniformity of national legislations, as well as from official pronouncements in international fora and other relevant treaties.
In 1949 the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others [the 1949 Convention]. The 1949 Convention supersedes a number of earlier conventions that covered some aspects of forced prostitution. Signatories are charged with three obligations under the 1949 Convention: prohibition of trafficking, specific administrative and enforcement measures, and social measures aimed at trafficked persons. The 1949 Convention presents two shifts in perspective of the trafficking problem in that it views prostitutes as victims of the procurers, and in that it eschews the terms “white slave traffic” and “women,” using for the first time race- and gender-neutral language. Article 1 of the 1949 Convention provides punishment for any person who “procures, entices or leads away, for purposes of prostitution, another person” or “exploits the prostitution of another person, even with the consent of that person.” To fall under the provisions of the 1949 Convention, the trafficking need not cross international lines. The 1949 Convention penalises the procurement and enticement to prostitution as well as the maintenance of brothels, and has been ratified by 95 member nations including France, Spain, Italy and Denmark; and not ratified by another 97 member nations including Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The line between:
The line between voluntary and involuntary prostitution might be fluid. William D. Angel finds that “most” prostitutes have been forced into the profession through poverty, lack of education and employment possibilities. Kathleen Barry argues that there should be no distinction between “free” and “coerced”, “voluntary” and “involuntary” prostitution, “since any form of prostitution is a human rights violation, an affront to womanhood that cannot be considered dignified labour”. However, proponents of sex workers’ rights argue that some adult sex workers make a relatively free decision to go into prostitution and that they should be at liberty to do so.
The effects of keeping prostitution illegal are not clear, and are suject of ongoing debate and controversy. Those who support the prohibition of the sex trade argue that all forms of prostitution represent an exploitation of women, thus all forms of prostitution should be illegal; they also argue that legalizing and regulating prostitution has very negative effects and does not improve the situation of the prostitutes: many women who work in licensed brothels are still controlled by outside pimps; many brothel owners are criminals themselves; the creation of a legal and regulated prostitution industry only leads to another parallel illegal industry, as many women do not want to register and work legally [since this would rob them of their anonymity] and other women can not be hired by legal brothels because of underlying problems [for example, drug abuse]; legalizing prostitution makes it more socially acceptable to buy sex, creating a huge demand for prostitutes [both by local men and by foreigners engaging in sex tourism] and, as a result, human trafficking and underage prostitution increase in order to satisfy this demand.
Others however believe that the criminalisation of prostitution is very harmful and contributes to the increase of human trafficking and sexual slavery. Martha M Ertman and Joan C. Williams argue that criminalisation of voluntary prostitution in many parts of the world greatly contributes to involuntary prostitution and human trafficking. This is because criminalisation limits the number of individuals taking up the professions voluntarily [deterrence is a primary justification for criminalisation] and because criminalisation means that those who coerce, trick, or force others into prostitution can earn great profits. Ertman and Williams argue that were prostitution is legal, the likelihood of market saturation by willing providers and the concomitant price competition would reduce, and possibly remove, the profit motive for procurers to victimise others. Also, where voluntary prostitution is illegal, victims of forced prostitution often cannot obtain help. In most countries, including international trafficking destinations, prostitutes are considered immoral, and are arrested rather than assisted, regardless of how they have entered the profession.
Global Scenerio:
In Europe, since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the impoverished former Eastern bloc countries such as Albania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have been identified as major trafficking source countries for women and children. Young women and girls are often lured to wealthier countries by the promises of money and work and then reduced to sexual slavery. It is estimated that two thirds of women trafficked for prostitution worldwide annually come from Eastern Europe, three-quarters of whom have never worked as prostitutes before. The major destinations are Western Europe [Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, UK, Greece], the Middle East [United Arab Emirates), Asia, Russia and the United States.
In 2002, the US Department of State repeated an earlier CIA estimate that each year, about 50,000 women and children are brought against their will to the United States for sexual exploitation.
In the Middle East, a significant problem in human trafficking for the sex trade industry — much of it involving women from Eastern Europe. Eastern European women are also trafficked to Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
A high number of the Iraqi women fleeing the Iraq War are turning to prostitution, while others are trafficked abroad, to countries like Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Iran. In Syria alone, an estimated 50,000 Iraqi refugee girls and women, many of them widows, have become prostitutes. Cheap Iraqi prostitutes have helped to make Syria a popular destination for sex tourists. The clients come from wealthier countries in the Middle East High prices are offered for virgins.
Turkey operates municipal brothels and offers this as the only legal way to independent sex workers to work in them, the example of which is seen in many countries such as Germany and Greece. These institutions, called Genelev in Turkish, excercise a franchise on sex work.
In Asia, Japan is the major destination country for trafficked women, especially from the Philippines and Thailand. The US State Department has rated Japan as either a ´Tier 2´ or a ´Tier 2 Watchlist´ country every year since 2001, in its annual Trafficking in Persons reports. Both these ratings implied that Japan was [to a greater or lesser extent] not fully compliant with minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking trade. Currently an estimated 300,000 women and children are involved in the sex trade throughout Southeast Asia. It is common that Thai women are lured to Japan and sold to Yakuza-controlled brothels where they are forced to work off their price. Further in Japan, fatal prejudice and the absence of anti-discrimination acts often drive a transwoman into forced prostitution. In Cambodia at least a quarter of the 20,000 people working as prostitutes are children with some being as young as 5.
By the late 1990s, UNICEF estimated that there are 60,000 child prostitutes in the Philippines, describing Angeles City brothels as “notorious” for offering sex with children. UNICEF estimates many of the 200 brothels in the notorious Angeles City offer children for sex.
For the last decade it has been estimated that 6,000 – 7,000 girls are trafficked out of Nepal each year. But these numbers have recently risen substantially. Current numbers for girls trafficked out of the country are now 10,000 to 15,000 yearly. This is compounded as the US Central Intelligence Agency states that most trafficked girls are currently worth, in their span as a sex-worker, approx US$250,000 on the sex-trades market.
In Australia, even during present days, women and children are being sold as ´sex slaves´ by a number of organized racket. Some of such rackets even openly give advertisements in media to allure people in buying ´slaves´ from them. One such organization, named ´Asian Slaves´ having its office at 65 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia. This company in its website says, “Asian Slave Escorts offers oriental sex slaves worldwide. We have been providing high class submissive services worldwide for more than 30 years. Our elegant slaves are typically Chinese, Japanese and Korean ladies that are willing to provide submissive services.
“Ours are students, nurses, models or have other careers; none of them are occupational sex workers. This ensures that your slave will be fresh and eager. Because they are not jaded or overworked, your service is always unique and they are able to give everything to their Master or Mistress.”
It is very strange to ascertain as to how the Australian authorities are allowing such open activities of an organization, engaged in selling women as ´sex slaves´ to people.
The Arab slave trade:
The Arab slave trade was the practice of slavery in the Arab World, namely West Asia, North Africa, East Africa and certain parts of Europe [such as Sicily and Iberia] during their period of domination by Arab leaders. The trade was focused on the slave markets of the Middle East and North Africa. People traded were not limited to a certain color, ethnicity, or religion and included Arabs and Berbers, especially in its early days. Later, during the 8th and 9th centuries of the Islamic Caliphate, most of the slaves were Slavic Eastern Europeans [called Saqaliba], people from surrounding Mediterranean areas, Persians, Turks, peoples from the Caucasus mountain regions [such as Georgia, Armenia and Circassia] and parts of Central Asia and Scandinavia, Berbers from North Africa, and various other peoples of varied origins as well as those of Black African origins. Later, toward the 18th and 19th centuries, slaves increasingly came from East Africa, until slavery was officially abolished by the end of the 19th century. It still continues today in a smaller form in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, where women and children are trafficked from the post-Soviet states, Eastern Europe, Far East, Africa, South Asia and other parts of the Middle East.
Historians estimate that between 11 and 18 million Black Africans were enslaved by Arab slave traders and taken across the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Sahara Desert between 650 and 1900, compared to 9.4 to 14 million Africans brought to the Americas in the Atlantic slave trade.
Periodic Arab raiding expeditions were sent from Islamic Iberia to ravage the Christian Iberian kingdoms, bringing back booty and slaves. In a raid against Lisbon in 1189, for example, the Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur took 3,000 female and child captives, while his governor of Córdoba, in a subsequent attack upon Silves in 1191, took 3,000 Christian slaves.
Arabs also enslaved substantial numbers of Europeans. According to Robert Davis between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates, who were vassals of the Ottoman Empire, and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries. These slaves were captured mainly from seaside villages from Italy, Spain, Portugal and also from more distant places like France or England, the Netherlands, Ireland and even Iceland and North America. The impact of these attacks was devastating – France, England, and Spain each lost thousands of ships, and long stretches of the Spanish and Italian coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants. Pirate raids discouraged settlement along the coast until the 19th century.
The Ottoman wars in Europe and Tatar raids brought large numbers of European Christian slaves into the Islamic world too.
The ‘Oriental’ or ‘Arab’ slave trade is sometimes called the ‘Islamic’ slave trade, but a religious imperative was not the driver of the slavery, Patrick Manning, a professor of World History, states. However, if a non-Muslim population refuses to adopt Islam or pay the Jizya protection/subjugation tax, that population is considered to be at war with the Muslim “ummah” and therefore it becomes legal under Islamic law to take slaves from that non-Muslim population. Usage of the terms “Islamic trade” or “Islamic world” has been disputed by some Muslims as it treats Africa as outside of Islam, or a negligible portion of the Islamic world. Propagators of Islam in Africa often revealed a cautious attitude towards proselytizing because of its effect in reducing the potential reservoir of slaves.
From a Western point of view, the subject merges with the Oriental slave trade, which followed two main routes in the Middle Ages:
Overland routes across the Maghreb and Mashreq deserts [Trans-Saharan route];
Sea routes to the east of Africa through the Red Sea and Indian Ocean [Oriental route].
The Arab slave trade originated before Islam and lasted more than a millennium. It continues today in some places. Arab traders brought Africans across the Indian Ocean from present-day Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan,Eritrea, western Ethiopia and elsewhere in East Africa to present-day Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Turkey and other parts of the Middle East and South Asia [mainly Pakistan and India]. Unlike the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the New World, Arabs supplied African slaves to the Muslim world, which at its peak stretched over three continents from the Atlantic [Morocco, Spain] to India and eastern China.
From approximately 650 until around the 1960s the Arab slave trade continued in one form or another. The Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail “the Bloodthirsty” [1672-1727] raised a corps of 150,000 black slaves, called his Black Guard, who coerced the country into submission. Historical accounts and references to slave-owning nobility in Arabia, Yemen and elsewhere are frequent into the early 1920s. In 1953, sheikhs from Qatar attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II included slaves in their retinues, and they did so again on another visit five years later. As recently as the 1950s, the Saudi Arabia´s slave population was estimated at 450,000 — approximately 20% of the population. It is estimated that as many as 200,000 black Sudanese children and women had been taken into slavery in Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Slavery in Mauritania was legally abolished by laws passed in 1905, 1961, and 1981. It was finally criminalized in August 2007. It is estimated that up to 600,000 black Mauritanians, or 20% of the Mauritania´s population, are currently enslaved, many of them used as bonded labour.
Bride kidnapping and raptio:
Bride kidnapping, also known as marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice throughout history and around the world in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry. Bride kidnapping still occurs in countries spanning Central Asia, the Caucasus region, and parts of Africa, and among peoples as diverse as the Hmong in southeast Asia, the Tzeltal in Mexico, and the Romani in Europe. In most countries, bride kidnapping is considered a sex crime, rather than a valid form of marriage. Some versions of it may also be seen as falling along the continuum between forced marriage and arranged marriage. The term is sometimes used to include not only abductions, but also elopements, in which a couple runs away together and seeks the consent of their parents later; these may be referred to as non-consensual and consensual abductions respectively. However, even when the practice is against the law, judicial enforcement remains lax, particularly in Kyrgyzstan, Chechnya, and Georgia.
Bride kidnapping is distinguished from raptio in that the former refers to the abduction of one woman by one man [and his friends and relatives], and is still a widespread practice, whereas the latter refers to the large scale abduction of women by groups of men, possibly in a time of war.
Some modern cultures maintain a symbolic kidnapping of the bride by the groom as part of the ritual and traditions surrounding a wedding, in a nod to the practice of bride kidnapping which may have figured in that culture’s history. According to some sources, the honeymoon is a relic of marriage by capture, based on the practice of the husband going into hiding with his wife to avoid reprisals from her relatives, with the intention that the woman would be pregnant by the end of the month.
Bride kidnapping is distinguished from raptio in that the former refers to the abduction of one woman by one man [and his friends and relatives], and is still a widespread practice, whereas the latter refers to the largescale abduction of women by groups of men, possibly in a time of war The Latin term raptio refers to abduction of women, either for marriage [for example, kidnapping or elopement] or enslavement [particularly sexual slavery]. In Roman Catholic canon law, raptio refers to the legal prohibition of matrimony if the bride was abducted forcibly. The historical English term for the abduction of women is rape, see below; Frauenraub, originally from German, is still used in English in the field of art history. The practice is surmised to have been common since anthropological antiquity. In Neolithic Europe, excavation of the Linear Pottery culture site at Asparn-Schletz, Austria, the remains of numerous slain victims were found. Among them, young adult females and children were clearly under-represented, suggesting that the attackers had killed the men but abducted the nubile females.
In Africa the colonial powers abolished slavery in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but in areas outside their jurisdiction, such as the Mahdist empire in Sudan, the practice continued to thrive. Now, institutional slavery has been banned worldwide, but there are numerous reports of women sex slaves in areas without an effective government control, such as, Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, northern Uganda, Congo, Niger and Mauritania. In Ghana, Togo, and Benin, a form of religious prostitution known as trokosi ["ritual servitude"] forcibly keeps thousands of girls and women in traditional shrines as “wives of the gods”, where priests perform the sexual function in place of the gods.
In India as many as 200,000 Nepali girls, many under the age of 14, have been sold into sex slavery. Nepalese women and girls, especially virgins, are favoured in India because of their fair skin and young looks. In Pakistan, young girls [sometimes as young as 9 years old] on few instances have been sold by their families to brothels as sex slaves in big cities. Often this happens due to poverty or debt, whereby the family has no other way to raise the money than to sell the young girl. Few cases have also been recorded where wives and sisters have been sold to brothels to raise money for gambling, drinking or consuming drugs. Many sex slaves are also bought by ‘agents’ in Afghanistan who trick young girls into coming to Pakistan for well-paying jobs. Once in Pakistan they are taken to brothels [called Kharabat] and forced into sexual slavery for many years. Sexual slavery also exists in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, where women and children are trafficked from the post-Soviet states, Eastern Europe, Far East, Africa, South Asia and other parts of the Middle East.
Beyonce’s Kuala Lumpur debut postponed
AFP – US singer Beyonce Knowles has postponed her concert in Malaysia planned for this weekend, organisers said Monday, denying that the move was linked to threats of protests by Muslim groups.
The R&B star was scheduled to perform on Sunday at a stadium on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, two years after she cancelled her debut concert here amid fears of protests by conservative Muslim groups.
“The postponement is solely the decision of the artiste and has nothing to do with other external reasons,” the event organiser Marctensia said in a statement.
It said a new date for the concert will be announced “shortly” and more details will be released this week.
The conservative Pan-Malaysian Islamic party (PAS), which has called for a ban on Beyonce’s performance, said the event should be cancelled outright rather than merely be postponed.
“We are not against entertainment, but it’s the way she performs — her gyrating moves on stage and her sexy outfits. It will erode the moral values of our young people,” PAS youth chief Nasruddin Hassan Tantawi told AFP.
The concert was part of Beyonce’s “I am…” world tour, which has seen her perform in North America and Europe.
Marctensia had indicated the singer would tone down her dress for the Malaysian performance, saying earlier that “all parties have come to an amicable understanding on the matter”.
Performances by foreign bands frequently come under fire in Malaysia — a multicultural country with a Muslim Malay majority and ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities — with PAS typically leading the charge.
US hip-hop band the Black Eyed Peas played in front of a multiracial audience last month after a ban on Muslims was lifted, although frontwoman Fergie was forced to cover up.
PAS called for Danish band Michael Learns to Rock to be banned from performing in September, saying it was an insult to Muslims during the fasting month of Ramadan.
It also held protests against Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne’s concert last year after failing to have it banned, while a performance by Gwen Stefani went ahead despite allegations it would weaken youth “morally and mentally”.
A school is the wrong place to promote divisions
I have just returned from a holiday in Toronto, where one of the biggest topics of conversation is a controversial new school catering for African-Canadian students that has just opened. The Africentric Alternative School has black teachers, 128 pupils all of whom are of African descent, and a curriculum focused on African culture and history.
The obvious argument against the school has been that it is segregated. Supporters, however, point out that unlike the racist policies imposed on black people in the past century in South Africa and elsewhere, this school was opened after much lobbying by black parents and educators who were concerned that their children were not performing well in school.
The drop-out rate among Toronto’s black community is a staggering 40 per cent. Supporters partly blame a European-focused curriculum.
On the school’s opening day, students sang the Canadian national anthem and something called a “black national anthem” to the sounds of a west African drum troupe. One of the goals of the school is to promote self-esteem. It is hoped that teaching youngsters about positive black figures from history will inspire them to make something of their lives.
As James Pasternak, one of the trustees of the Toronto District School Board, which manages the state-funded schools, put it: “We don’t have an education system that fits all. We have to have a wide range of choice for parents because they’re coming from all over the world and they want different things.”
Call me old-fashioned but I think that is a worrying statement. When my family moved to Canada from Afghanistan when I was young child, I had a difficult time adjusting to a new country. But was the answer an Afghan-only school to nurture my self-esteem? I don’t think so
A well-funded, public education system that gives all children a solid start in life regardless of their colour or their family’s income is a tie that binds Canadians together as citizens. A good education, of course, leads to decent jobs, and that is one of the reasons why minorities are well integrated, Muslims in particular. This is in contrast to Islamic minorities in many European countries, who suffer from second-class status well into second and third generations.
Toronto, surely, must be one of the few cities in the world where people live peacefully together despite half of the population having been born abroad. One of the quintessential immigrant experiences is being dragged by your parents away from Saturday morning cartoons and to the local community centre to learn Farsi or Hindi.
If you are, say, Chinese or Armenian and settle in Canada, it is silly to complain that the schools don’t teach enough about your culture. In reference to black history, it is even more perplexing.
The great Martin Luther King’s experiences as a civil rights leader were rooted in a uniquely American experience. Africa is a hugely diverse continent. Dr King had as much in common with the Masai people of Kenya as I have with a carpet merchant in Turkey who also happens to be Muslim.
Toronto’s schools may well need a shake-up to ensure fewer pupils drop out. It is terrible that so many black children will not fulfil their potential because they don’t have a good education.
But whether more of them will stay in school because they have learnt to count from the patterns on a piece of Ghanian cloth, rather than learnt to appreciate great literature by reading the sonnets of dead, white Shakespeare, remains to be seen. Instead, a black-only school seems a good way to promote divisions and fissures within a society. And that is a lesson that should apply worldwide – not just in Canada.
Former Envoys Critique Approach to Bosnia
Three former envoys to Bosnia have issued a joint statement critiquing the latest EU-US effort to end the country’s political crisis and proposing a new international approach.
The statement was issued by Wolfgang Petritsch, Paddy Ashdown and Christian Schwarz-Schilling, who served as high representatives to Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1999 and 2007.
EU and US officials and representatives of the main Bosnian parties are scheduled to resume negotiations on Tuesday.
Referring to the military base near Sarajevo where the talks are being held, the trio wrote: “The ad hoc talks at Butmir [...] evoke both our concerns and hopes.”
Two weeks ago, Bildt and US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg delivered a package to local politicians detailing both conditions and incentives to help end Bosnia’s grinding political deadlock.
According to diplomatic sources, the package offered the country involvement in the EU visa-free regime, rapid moves towards NATO membership and the status of an EU candidate state. This, in return for the fulfillment of the remaining criteria for closing the Office of the High Representative, OHR, and the continuation of constitutional reform.
The package faces an uncertain future as almost all Bosnian leaders have rejected some or all of its parts. Bosnian Serb leaders say it is too demanding; Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) officials, that the proposed reforms are too weak and shallow; and Bosnian Croat politicians complain its implementation will further weaken their position within the country.
The three former envoys’ statement claims that the current High Representative Valentin Inzko has been excluded from the package formation process and that this threatens his position. See West’s Bosnia ‘Package’ Has Dealt Envoy A Final Blow
The West Should Try New Approach
“In close cooperation with the United States, Europe should provide financial, structural and organisational support to facilitate a final, effective reform process,” the trio wrote.
They said that Bosnia will only be stable in future “if a balance is found between the democratic principle of majority rule, [and] the consideration of the interests of the three constituent peoples as well as others and minorities”.
The three former envoys stressed that Bosnia’s entity-based voting system – which is currently one of the most disputed issues in any constitutional reform – does not have to be tackled at the upcoming talks.
However, they said that as long as entity voting is not changed, it may be used by any of the sides to block key reforms and thus “will continue to harm the life of all citizens and endanger Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European future”.
“We wish, hope and believe that this week’s talks must not fail. However, it is prudent that we should consider what would happen if they do,” the trio cautioned.
In the event the talks fail, the international community “must maintain reserve power to internationally guarantee Bosnia and Herzegovina’s peace and stability; also after the closure of the Office of the High Representative”.
“The existence of such reserve power is no impediment to further EU integration and NATO membership as German post-war history has shown. To the contrary, it will be an umbrella under which these processes can develop, and a real commitment by the international community to the country.”
Linking “the freedom of travel with other political issues in these negotiations seriously damages the credibility of the European Commission and of EU member states”, they alleged.
Britain: Government anti-terrorism strategy ‘spies’ on innocent
The government programme aimed at preventing Muslims from being lured into violent extremism is being used to gather intelligence about innocent people who are not suspected of involvement in terrorism, the Guardian has learned.
The information the authorities are trying to find out includes political and religious views, information on mental health, sexual activity and associates, and other sensitive information, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Other documents reveal that the intelligence and information can be stored until the people concerned reach the age of 100.
Tonight Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, branded it the biggest spying programme in Britain in modern times and an affront to civil liberties.
The intelligence is being gathered as part of the strategy Preventing Violent Extremism – Prevent for short. It was launched three years ago to stop people being lured to al-Qaida ideology and committing acts of terrorism.
The government and police have repeatedly denied that the £140m programme is a cover for spying on Muslims in Britain. But sources directly involved in running Prevent schemes say it involves gathering intelligence about the thoughts and beliefs of Muslims who are not involved in criminal activity.
Instances around the country include:
• In the Midlands, funding for a mental health project to help Muslims was linked to information about individuals being passed to the authorities.
• In a college in northern England, a student who attended a meeting about Gaza was reported by one lecturer as a potential extremist. He was found not to be.
• A nine-year-old schoolboy in east London, who was referred to the authorities after allegedly showing signs of extremism – the youngest case known in Britain. He was “deprogrammed” according to a source with knowledge of the case.
• Within the last month, one new youth project in London alleged it was being pressured by the Metropolitan police to provide names and details of Muslim youngsters, as a condition of funding. None of the young Muslims have any known terrorist history.
• In one London borough, those working with youngsters were told to add information to databases they hold to highlight which youths were Muslim. They were also asked to provide information, to be shared with the police, about which streets and areas Muslim youngsters could be found on.
• In Birmingham the programme manager for Prevent is in fact a senior counter- terrorism police officer. Paul Marriott has been seconded to work in the equalities division of Britain’s biggest council.
• In Blackburn, at least 80 people were reported to the authorities for showing signs of extremism. They were referred to the Channel project, part of Prevent.
• A youth project manager alleges his refusal to provide intelligence led to the police spreading false rumours and trying to smear him and his organisation.
• One manager of a project in London said : “I think part of the point of the [Prevent] programme is to spy and intelligence gather. I won’t do that.” In another London borough wardens on council estates were told to inform on people not whom they suspected of crimes, but whom they suspected could be susceptible to radicalisation. One source, who has been involved in Whitehall discussions on counter-terrorism, said: “There is no doubt Prevent is in part about gathering intelligence on people’s thoughts and beliefs. No doubt.” He added that the authorities feared “they’d be lynched” if they admitted Prevent included spying.
Ed Husain, of the Quilliam Foundation, who has advised both Labour and the Conservatives on extremism, said: “It is gathering intelligence on people not committing terrorist offences.” Husain, whose group receives £700,000 in Prevent funding, believes it is morally right to give law enforcement agencies the best chance of stopping terrorists before they strike.
Serious concerns that the Prevent programme is being used at least in part to “spy” on Muslims have been voiced not just by Islamic groups, but youth workers, teachers and others. Some involved in the programme have told the Guardian of their fears that they are being co-opted into spying. They did not want to be named, fearing they would lose their job.
Some groups have refused its funding. In several areas the provision of funding is explicitly linked to agreeing to sharing of information, or intelligence, with agencies including law enforcement.
Traditionally in Britain intelligence is gathered by the police and security services. Prevent is trying to turn community, religious and voluntary groups into information or intelligence providers.
Prevent is run by the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, part of the Home Office. It is widely regarded in Whitehall as being an intelligence agency.
The OSCT is headed up by Charles Farr, a former senior intelligence officer, with expertise in covert work. Also senior in the OSCT is another former senior intelligence officer. The Guardian has been asked not to name him for security reasons.
Chakrabarti said she was horrified by the revelations. “It is the biggest domestic spying programme targeting the thoughts and beliefs of the innocent in Britain in modern times,” she said.
“It is information-gathering directed at the innocent and the spying is directed at people because of their religion, and not because of their behaviour.”
The Home Office said: “Any suggestion that Prevent is about spying is simply wrong. Prevent is about working with communities to protect vulnerable individuals and address the root causes of radicalisation.”
Muslim youth abducted in Batticaloa
Unidentified gunmen in a white van abducted a Muslim youth Tuesday around 7:00 p.m from his home at Kavathamunai MPCS road in Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa, said Valaichenai police. Relatives of the victim, Mohamed Thaheem 21, a trader, have registered a complaint with the Valaichenai police.
Local residents speculated local business related dispute might have been the reason for the abduction.
Meanwhile, a fisherman from Thalavai in Eravur police division in Batticaloa was abducted Saturday.
Number of abductions by armed men in the Batticaloa district have increased at an alarming rate, said civil society sources.
Valaichenai is located 30 km north of Batticaloa town.
Dozens of Westerners get trained in terrorist camps
Berlin » Midway through a propaganda video released last month by a group calling itself the German Taliban, a surprise guest made an appearance: a clean-shaven, muscular gunman sporting the alias Abu Ibrahim the American.
The gunman did not speak but wore military fatigues and waved his rifle as subtitles identified him as an American. The video contained a stream of threats against Germany if it did not withdraw its troops from the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. Although the American’s part in the film lasted only a few seconds, it has alarmed German and U.S. intelligence officials, who are still puzzling over his background, his real identity and how he became involved with the terrorist group.
U.S. and European counterterrorism officials say a rising number of Western recruits — including Americans — are traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan to attend paramilitary training camps. The flow of recruits has continued unabated, officials said, in spite of an intensified campaign over the past year by the CIA to eliminate al-Qaida and Taliban commanders in drone missile attacks.
Since January, at least 30 recruits from Germany have traveled to Pakistan for training, according to German security sources. About 10 people — not necessarily the same individuals — have returned to Germany this year, fueling concerns that fresh plots are in the works against European targets.
“We think this is
sufficient to show how serious the threat is,” said a senior German counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
High alert
German security services have been on high alert since last month, when groups affiliated with the Taliban and al-Qaida issued several videos warning that an attack on German targets was imminent if the government did not bring home its forces from Afghanistan.
There are about 3,800 German troops in the country, the third-largest NATO contingent after those of the United States and Britain. German officials say Taliban and al-Qaida leaders are trying to exploit domestic opposition in Germany to the war; surveys show that a majority of German voters favor a withdrawal of their soldiers.
The videos all featured German speakers who urged Muslims to travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan to join their cause.
“They’re doing such good business that they are dropping a new video every week or so,” said Ronald Sandee, a former Dutch military intelligence officer who serves as research director of the NEFA Foundation, a U.S. group that monitors terrorist networks. “If I were a young Muslim, I’d find them very convincing.”
Last week, German officials disclosed that a 10-member cell from Hamburg had left for Pakistan earlier this year. The cell is allegedly led by a German of Syrian descent but also includes ethnic Turks, German converts to Islam and one member with Afghan roots.
Other European countries are also struggling to keep their citizens from going to Pakistan for paramilitary training.
In August, Pakistani officials arrested a group of 12 foreigners headed to North Waziristan, a tribal region near the Afghan border where many of the camps are located. Among those arrested were four Swedes, including Mehdi Ghezali, a former inmate of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Meanwhile, three Belgians and a French citizen are facing trial in their respective home countries after they were arrested upon their return from Pakistani camps last year. The suspects deny they were part of a terrorist conspiracy or plotting attacks in Europe. But one defendant has admitted to French investigators that the group received explosives training while in Waziristan. Three other Belgian and French members of the alleged cell are still believed to be at large in Pakistan or Afghanistan.
Recruiting networks
European security officials have warned for many years of the threat posed by homegrown radicals who have gone to Afghanistan and Pakistan to wage jihad. Officials in some countries, such as Britain, said they have successfully cracked down on the number of would-be fighters going to South Asia. But others, such as Germany, are seeing a significant increase and struggling to contain it.
In the past, such volunteers were largely self-motivated and had to find their own way to South Asia. Today, however, al-Qaida and its affiliates have developed extensive recruiting networks with agents on the ground in Europe, counterterrorism officials said. The agents provide guidance, money, travel routes and even letters of recommendation so the recruits can join up more easily.
In a recent report, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service said there were a “growing number of indications” that more Europeans were attending camps in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Obama administration has said that al-Qaida’s command structure and operations wing have become weaker in the past year because many of its leaders have been killed in drone missile attacks. But in its report, the Dutch intelligence agency offered a different assessment, saying that al-Qaida’s ability to carry out attacks has generally improved in recent years largely because it has successfully bolstered its alliances with other terrorist groups.
“With the jihadist agenda of those allies becoming more international, at least at the propaganda level, the threat to the West and its interests has intensified,” the Dutch report found.
German officials said they have discovered multiple recruitment networks that work for al-Qaida, the Taliban and other groups, such as the Islamic Jihad Union, which has been issuing many of the online threats against the German government. But they said the recruiting networks often operate independently, making it difficult for the security services to detect or disrupt them.
“In Germany, we don’t have a uniform structure that recruits people,” another senior German counterterrorism official said in an interview. “We have a wide variety of structures.”
U.S. residents detained
Another sign of the internationalization of the recruitment networks is the small but growing participation of U.S. residents.
Abu Ibrahim the American, the gunman in last month’s German Taliban video, is also being touted as a poster boy for jihadi recruitment on a Turkish-language Web site. The site, Sehadet Zamani, issues propaganda on behalf of the Islamic Jihad Union, an offshoot of an Uzbek terrorist group that now counts Turks, Germans, Arabs and Chechens among its members.
In July, U.S. officials announced that they had apprehended Bryant Neal Vinas, 25, a resident of Long Island, N.Y., who has confessed to traveling to al-Qaida camps in Pakistan and firing rockets at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.
Vinas, the son of immigrants from Peru and Argentina, is cooperating with U.S. and European authorities. He has testified about his interaction with the six-member cell of recruits from Belgium and France. Vinas has also told the FBI that he spent time in Pakistan with another New York resident, whose identity and whereabouts are unknown.
Last month, the FBI arrested yet another U.S. resident, Najibullah Zazi, and accused him of plotting a bombing in New York. Zazi, 24, an Afghan national who has lived in New York since he was a child, traveled to Pakistan last year.
U.S. intelligence officials have said that he made contact with a senior deputy to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and learned how to make homemade bombs. Zazi said he went to Pakistan to visit his wife but has denied going to a training camp.
Terrorism analysts said the CIA campaign to kill al-Qaida and Taliban leaders had been generally effective, but warned that the strategy had its limitations and that missile attacks alone would not put an end to the training camps.
“The drone attacks seriously weaken these organizations, but you can’t rely on that alone,” said Guido Steinberg, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. “They obviously have no problem recruiting new members. In the long run, they won’t have any problem replacing the leaders who have been killed.”
On Saturday, the Pakistani military deployed 30,000 troops into South Waziristan as part of a broad offensive against the Taliban and other militant groups. U.S. and European officials have said they hope the mission will force many of the training camps to shut down.
But analysts said the camps, which offer basic lessons in homemade explosives and countersurveillance as well as weapons training, could easily relocate elsewhere in Pakistan or even back across the border in Afghanistan, where they operated before the U.S. invasion in 2001.
“We’re talking about much smaller, much more mobile camps that don’t train by the hundreds, but by the handful,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University. “They can be repacked and set up again fairly easily and quickly.”
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13594235
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