Category Archives: Government

Africa, Britain, Government, Human Rights, Legal, Society, United Nations

Tackling rape in war through international law…

INTERNATIONAL PROTOCOL

For as long as wars have been fought, rape and sexual violence have conventionally featured in them. Men running amok with guns will always be hard to control; that the level of rape and sexual assaults in conflict zones haven’t fallen since 1945, when the Nuremberg trials decried it as a crime against humanity, points to the stubborn depravity of man. The difficulties of bringing perpetrators to justice have proven to be complex with the process often described as being an “uphill task”.

This week, a global summit has begun in London with the arch objective of changing perceptions. Participants to the symposium whose aim it will be to change the narrative are faced with a steep and problematic issue. Within the last two decades alone hundreds of thousands of women have been victims of serious sexual assault. The British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, a leading figure at the summit, acknowledges the difficulties the summit is addressing and has said that, if anything, sexual violence is getting much worse.

Mr Hague is not mistaken, though, when he says there are measures which can be taken to limit the scourge of sexual crimes. Whilst, of course, it will never be eradicated, recent studies portray a more nuanced picture of rape’s prevalence in times of war. Although the levels of rape are notoriously high in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, a survey of all African conflicts between 1989 and 2009 concluded that only 26 per cent of armed groups were reported to have been engaged in sexual violence.

In addressing the hugely difficult issue of what can be done to make soldiers on the front lines think twice, an International Protocol is to be launched to standardise the kind of evidence needed for a case to be brought to court. This will lead to more convictions. And it will also hold commanders legally responsible for the behaviour of their troops. A change in the law to this effect will make it much harder to get away with rape.

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Egypt, Foreign Affairs, Government, Middle East, Politics, Society, United States

Abdulfattah el-Sisi: Egypt’s new political leader…

EGYPT

Once again, Egypt has a senior military officer in charge of the country’s affairs. Field Marshal Abdulfattah el-Sisi, recently promoted from the rank of General, has been elected with the support of 97 per cent of the voters (of a low turnout) and has been inaugurated into office. He officially stood down from his military appointment in contesting the presidency. For the past 60-years, ever since the Free Officers Movement overthrew King Farouk in 1952, the Egyptian government has had a senior military strongman at the helm. Successive leaders – Naguib, Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak – all came from the military, so on that basis el-Sisi’s political victory in now leading his country should come as no great surprise.

For many, though, given the political earthquake and subsequent tremors that have occurred over the past three years, and the way in which power has been handed over, will leave many feeling uncomfortable if not untoward. The high hopes of the Arab Spring and the resulting revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak were undone by the election of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mohammed Morsi’s mandate suggested that the Arab world’s most populous country would become increasingly Islamised, and became a significant factor in his eventual deposition that came in the form of a military coup. But now the Brotherhood is proscribed once more and most of its leaders are in prison.

Whether President el-Sisi is to be remembered as another Arab tyrant will depend on how he utilises his unparalleled position of public dominance. Time will tell – and history will record – whether he is able to reform his country’s anachronistic and decrepit institutions and his ability to convert an inward-looking society into one that is more representative of the modern age. In the short-term, his priorities must be to overhaul the police and judiciary and to end the daily charades of how justice is dispensed in the courts.

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Government, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, Politics, United States

The formation of a Palestinian ‘unity’ government…

ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

The formal announcement earlier this week of a Palestinian unity government, embracing both Fatah and Hamas, curtails any remaining hope of a successful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for some time to come. In truth, the attempts by John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, over the past nine months in brokering a process for peace, was already dead in the water following the rapprochement between the rival factions. The decision of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to enter into agreement with the Gaza-based terror organisation has simply served to convince doubters that he was never serious or intent enough on delivering a two-state model. The Palestinians have also maintained that alleged Israeli dithering over prisoner releases has been a clear demonstration that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was simply going through the motions. Once Hamas was brought on board, though, the talks were always likely to founder. To suggest otherwise is illusionary.

Mr Kerry has devoted large swathes of his time over the past nine months in attempting to bring about a workable solution. Although many of the arguments have been thrashed out many times before, Mr Kerry’s timetable for delivery of an agreement was unrealistic, despite his efforts and commitment to the process being commendable. Progress has been made. Mr Netanyahu has come a long way from his previous implacable opposition to a two-state solution and agreed to halt new settlement buildings along the border while the talks continued.

For their part, the Palestinians have been forced to merge through weakness rather than strength: Hamas, in particular, has been affiliated with those unwieldy and tyrannical despots in both Egypt and Syria. The new ‘unity government’ in Palestine is being portrayed as a technocratic administration (whose members have no political affiliation). Fatah’s reconciliation with an organisation widely regarded as a terrorist movement, however, will be seen by many as being toxic.

There is one clear way to move forward. And that is for Hamas to recognise Israel and renounce violence for good.

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