AMNESTY LAMENTS 'EROSION' OF MINORITY RIGHTS IN ITALY

Amnesty International on Tuesday slammed what it called a "steady erosion" of minority rights in Italy as the country's record came under review by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. "There is a steady erosion of human rights, especially regarding migrants, minorities and possible asylum seekers," said the rights watchdog's Italian spokesman Riccardo Noury. "There are worrisome laws and practices," he said on Italian radio. Noury criticized security and anti-terrorism measures, in particular an accord between Italy and Libya that allows the Italian navy to intercept migrants at sea and return them to Libya with no possibility of applying for asylum. Noury also mentioned "norms that are not there but should have been in place long ago, such as a law that establishes torture as a crime." The Italian government came under criticism last month for its handling of a wave of violence against migrant farm workers in the southern town of Rosarno. The clashes left dozens injured and prompted more than 1,000 immigrants to leave the area, most on special buses arranged by the Italian authorities. In Geneva, Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Vincenzo Scotti told the Human Rights Council that Rome was committed to fighting racism and xenophobia. Scotti told the 47-state UN body: "The stigmatisation of certain ethnic or social groups remains a matter of serious concern for the government, state and local authorities. "We are fully aware of the challenge we are facing in this field and we are strongly committed to eradicate racist and xenophobic attitudes from our society," he added on the second day of the council's periodic review, which will run until February 19. Scotti acknowledged that an informal economy had taken hold in Italy that left migrant workers without protection.


The deputy minister detailed a project to improve housing and integration for migrants in Rosarno. He noted that 300,000 non-European workers obtained documents under measures introduced last year. The Rosarno violence prompted two UN human rights experts to call on Italy to make a "vigorous" response to "growing xenophobia" in the country. Some representatives to the council recognized the "challenge" of dealing with an immigrant population that has grown by nearly 250 per cent in the past 10 years. John Mariz of the United States voiced concern over the fingerprinting of Italy's 160,000 Roma and Sinti (gypsies), which he said "could perpetuate their social stigmatisation." Italy took a sharp turn to the right in 2008 when conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi swept to power for a third time in coalition with the anti-immigration Northern League. Their campaign emphasized pledges to fight illegal immigration and crime, often closely linking the two.

AFP

Students shocked by graffiti campus attack (UK)

A POLICE investigation is underway after a university was daubed with offensive slogans.

Swastikas and offensive wording, including "no Pakis", were sprayed on a number of buildings at Staffordshire University's Leek Road and College Road campuses at roughly 2am yesterday.

Once spotted, maintenance staff were dispatched to clean up the graffiti.
However, the incident has left students upset, with many saying they wouldn't recommend Stoke-on-Trent as a suitable destination to come and study.
Charlotte McKenzie, aged 20, came to the university from Nottingham.

The broadcast journalism student said: "The graffiti is disgusting. I came to Stoke-on-Trent already aware of the high number of BNP councillors, but gave it a chance.


"This sort of thing makes me not want to be here anymore, or recommend it to my friends.

"I have experienced racism during my time here, whether it is sly remarks or innuendos."

Rochelle Owusu, aged 18, is originally from North London.
The law and journalism student said: "I cannot believe something like this has happened at the place I chose to come to study.

"I'm only in my first year and I didn't sign up to deal with this sort of thing. This is somewhere we should feel safe."
The incident has been linked by some to the imminent university elections where current students' union president Assed Baig is fighting to hold on to his position.
The 28-year-old is facing the polls after a group of students moved for a vote of no confidence.
Mr Baig has been heavily involved in protests against the BNP and in the recent English Defence League demonstration in Hanley.
He also made headlines last year after posting an article on the union website, containing a link to a site identifying 30 BNP members living within two miles of the university's Stoke campus.
Mr Baig, who has Pakistani parents, believes the attack was a message to him.

"I have no idea who has done this, but when they write "no Pakis" outside the entrance to my work, I feel it is aimed at me, especially with the election approaching," he said.

"I cannot understand why somebody would do this, it makes me sick to my stomach."
Gary McNally, aged 24, is chairman of the Students' Union Council.
The modern and international history student, who moved to the Potteries from Newbury, said: "I think it's disgusting that people are trying to intimidate students. We need to bring the community together, from all religions, to fight this.
"This sort of thing really puts people off studying here."

A spokesman for the university said: "We wish to send a strong and clear message to say we do not tolerate racist behaviour in any form on our campuses.

"Our campuses are covered by CCTV and regular night patrols and we will be fully co-operating with police."

A police spokesman added: "We are working with the university and students' union. CCTV footage is being checked."

Witnesses are asked to call PC Keith Emery on 0300 123 4455.

Origianly post This is Staffordshire

Italy immigrants fall into clutches of mafia

Illegal immigrants to Italy get little shelter from the law - leaving them prime targets for exploitation by the local mafia, finds the BBC's Emma Wallis in Castel Volturno, near Naples.

"Immigration is not the first problem of Castel Volturno, it's Camorra, this system of illegality," says Padre Filippo, a Catholic missionary who lives and works in Castel Volturno with Italy's biggest African population.

The Camorra are the mafia in the Campania region, made world-infamous by Roberto Saviano's best-selling book and film, Gomorra.
"Castel Volturno… is a forgotten land, that Camorra is using for their business, and that is the problem. The state here is absolutely absent," says Padre Filippo.
In the vacuum left by the state, illegality reigns, and it is possible to survive here without papers.
The local council was dissolved in January for its failure to collect taxes and dispose of residents' rubbish. The town is now run by an emergency prefect.
The only real indications of the state are the road blocks manned by police, carabinieri and soldiers. They arrived in September 2008 after six West Africans were apparently shot dead by members of the Casalesi, one of the Camorra's most powerful clans. The trial is under way at the moment.

Broken dreams
Violence is not obvious in this region, but suspicion whistles through the empty hulks of villas, holiday villages and hotels that crouch menacingly along the Via Domitiana, the coast road to Naples
The buildings are a testament to the financial clout of the Camorra - but also to the absence of planning permission.
Projects halted half-way through by the state are ten-a-penny here, and are the most visible casualties of the not-so-bloodless civil war between the Italian state and the Camorra, whose tentacles easily gain a stranglehold in places like Castel Volturno, where poverty and desperation are the order of the day.
The other thing you notice all along the roads in town are bicycles, chained up along fences by the bus stops, where every morning at the crack of dawn thousands of migrant workers line up in the hope of finding a job for the day.
Cars, coaches and buses file by to pick them up and transport them to the fields or building sites, where, if they are lucky, they are paid 25-35 euros (£22-26) a day. The unlucky ones head home mid-morning, dejectedly picking up their bikes and cycling back down the road that Padre Filippo has nicknamed "the boulevard of broken dreams".
After violence against African farm workers exploded in the southern Italian town of Rosarno, in southern Italy, at the beginning of January, the uncomfortable symbiosis between organised crime and illegal immigration was laid bare.

Phantom presence
Now Italy's Interior Minister, Roberto Maroni, is creating task forces to crack down on immigration. He says he hopes, by doing so, to hit organised crime where it hurts; by turning off the flow of cheap illegal labour.
Caserta's police commissioner, Guido Nicolo Longo, said that his force's aim was to check up on the migrants and try to legalise their work status, so that the revenue they generate could be funnelled to the state's coffers, instead of enriching organised crime
The proposal seems to pay lip service to a centre-left idea of integration through legalisation. But the migrants themselves, and Padre Filippo, say that that is not how it works in reality.
They complain of police checks increasing, nights spent in the cells and, at times, violent treatment at the hands of some officers.
Without any protection from the police, and desperate to work in order to survive, they become vulnerable to O sistema - organised crime - which effectively provides an alternative system to the state.
Campania's councillor for immigration, Lili De Felice, said that her region had put in place an 18m-euro (£16m) fund for services to migrants. But those without papers cannot access it. They barely speak Italian, and without the correct work permits they are just a phantom presence in a lawless town.

Forced underground
The government's new plan for integration is predicated on strict criteria, giving immigrants two years to learn fluent Italian and pass a series of citizenship tests - a time limit that many of the Ghanaians in Castel Volturno have already exceeded.
One of them, Dani, stands in a ripped coat and begs the BBC to tell the world how difficult it is for illegal migrants in Italy.
He says he has been unable to send back even 10 euros to his wife and children in the last few months, as he regularly goes for weeks without working at all.
What he thought was going to be paradise, has turned into a living hell.
Roberto Saviano, the best selling author of Gomorra, rang a warning bell in the New York Times recently.
He sees the migrants revolt in Rosarno as a way of standing up to the mafia. He believes that if the Italian authorities continue to criminalise migrants by targeting them, instead of the Camorra itself, then conversely they will push the Africans into the arms of organised crime in search of protection.
He pleads for the Africans to stay, stand up and fight the Camorra, which has infiltrated almost every inch of Campania.
But, as the sun sets low and red in the sky, sliding across rubbish dumps and the polluted river that runs into the sea, a dusty gloom falls over the town and the migrants line up along the road, hiding from the police, and hoping to find work.
For the moment, the cogs of the Camorra's wheels show no sign of stopping.
BBC

Neo-Nazis plan rally with German peers in Budapest

The Hungarian Nationalist Socialist Front (NS) will hold a rally in Budapest on March 6 with fellow German a neo-Nazis, Nepszabadsag daily said on Wednesday.
The neo-Nazi group originally planned to hold their event to commemorate a WWII battle together with the local group called the "Hungarists" - followers of the Hungarian collaborators with German Nazi rule - on February 14 at Heroes' Square.
But police issued a stern warning that they would not be allowed to gather either in Heroes' Square or at any other frequented site.
The Hungarists will instead commemorate the "Day of Honour", a WWII battle in defence of Budapest where German and Hungarian soldiers broke out of the besieged Buda Castle, in a small group up in the Buda Hills.
The Nationalist Socialist Front, however, insists on holding their event in a public space. The group has since set up a party called National Revolutionary Party, a source told Nepszabadsag. The idea is to hold the rally as a political campaign and circumvent a police ban.
NS has postponed the date to March 6 at the request of their German peers, unable to attend the February commemoration in Budapest because of a similar commemoration in Dresden coinciding with it.
politics.hu

Study finds major discrimination against Turkish job applicants (Germany)

Researchers at the Bonn-based Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) sent two applications responding to each of 528 advertisements for student internships, one application with a German-sounding name and the other with a Turkish-sounding one. Both applicants were German citizens with native German language skills.

The applications bearing the German names were 14 percent more likely receive a phone call response from the employer, and 24 percent more likely in the case of smaller firms.

“We interpret this finding as evidence for statistical discrimination,” he authors wrote.
However, the discrimination disappeared when the applications contained positive letters of reference about the candidate’s personality.
“The study shows that employers still have some things to learn when it comes to in-house human resources,” said an IZA spokesman. “Workers with immigrant backgrounds’ potential is not being fully realised.”
For the German candidates, the researchers used the names “Dennis Langer” and “Tobias Hartmann,” which were among the 30 most common first names and surnames in Germany for the years 1986 to 1988.

For the Turkish candidates, they used “Fatih Yildiz” and “Serkan Sezer” – both common for male descendants of Turkish immigrants in Germany.
Though the researchers were concerned by the results, they said the discrimination was mild compared with discrimination studies on ethnic minorities in other countries, such as Albanians in Greece, Arabs in Sweden or African Americans in the United States.
Th Local German Edition

BULGARIA SLAMMED BY COUNCIL OF EUROPE OVER MINORITY, CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, has criticized Bulgaria for failing to do enough to uphold minority and children’s rights. “More efforts are needed to better protect minorities and children and to ensure that their needs are embedded in the decision making process,” said Hammarberg, who published Tuesday a report on his visit to Bulgaria carried out in November 2009. “Protection of minorities against discrimination, racism and intolerance should be enhanced. Adequate measures should be taken to prevent and punish cases of police misconduct,“ the CE Commissioner says while also urging the Bulgarian authorities to provide reparation and find speedily a solution for pending pension claims to victims of the ‘Revival Process’, the assimilation campaign undertaken by the Bulgarian communist regime against the ethnic Turkish minority. The CE Commissioner goes as far as suggesting a Constitutional amendment “in order to better safeguard minorities’ freedom of association and assembly and to fully align practice with the Council of Europe standards.” “Evicted Roma should be offered decent alternative solutions. More generally, access to adequate housing, education and social rights remain problematic and all too often they are victims of racially motivated discrimination and violence. The authorities should urgently reverse this situation,” Hammarberg says with respect to the Roma community. The Council of Europe Commissioner recommends that Bulgaria undertake a deinstitutionalization program with respect to children with intellectual disabilities.
novinite.com

BNP to contest borough mayoral elections

Politicians today expressed their anger after it emerged that the British National Party is to field candidates for the May mayoral elections in three London boroughs.

Candidates representing the far-Right party will campaign in the boroughs of Lewisham, Newham and Hackney, sparking outrage from anti-fascist organisations and local politicians.

The BNP has not released details of who will stand but Bob Bailey, the party's London organiser, said he is convinced people will vote for the party.

He said: “We need to raise money before we can announce the full details. But it is time the BNP stood in these elections. People in these boroughs have asked us to field candidates because they are so unhappy with the other political parties.”
A spokesman for Unite Against Fascism said: “Hackney, Lewisham and Newham are proud, multi-cultural and multi-racial London boroughs. They are a living testament to everything the BNP would like to destroy.”

This is London

Journalists launch campaign to challenge BNP in run-up to election

Campaigning journalists and media workers are to launch EXPOSE, a campaign aimed at "revealing the undemocratic and racist nature" of the British National Party.The new campaign will tackle the BNP's "attempts to construct a respectable public image" and support media workers who refuse to work on uncritical programmes or material, the group announced today.

EXPOSE aims to brief reporters and news editors to help them challenge the BNP's statements and spokespersons in the run-up to the UK election, the campaigners said.

A launch rally at the Amnesty UK headquarters in London on 23 February will feature Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, columnist and broadcaster; Mehdi Hasan, political senior editor for the New Statesman; Sunny Hundal, editor of the Liberal Conspiracy blog; and Peter Hain, secretary of state for Wales.

"The political and media consensus appears to be that the way to tackle the BNP is to meet it halfway, by talking up tough anti-immigration measures (...) this conventional wisdom must urgently be challenged," said one its founding supporters, James Macintyre, political correspondent for the New Statesman.

"The BNP is not an 'ordinary' political party (...) So why does the media, including the BBC, give them so much time, space and opportunity to spread their bile?" added his New Statesman colleague Mehdi Hasan.

The campaign is also backed by the unions, with speakers at the launch event including Michelle Stanistreet, deputy general secretary of the National Union of Journalists; Pat Styles, national official for BECTU, the media and entertainment union, and Weyman Bennett of joint secretary, Unite Against Fascism.

"Journalists have a duty to hold up to the closest scrutiny the claims and activities of those who would foment racial tension and violence. The BNP's inflammatory rhetoric about immigration cannot be taken at face value," said Stanistreet.
journalism.co.uk

Russian Court Reduces Sentences For Skinhead Group Leaders

Russia's Supreme Court today reduced the prison sentences of the leaders of a group of 10 skinheads jailed in September for ethnically motivated attacks, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

The court ruled to cut by one year the sentences of skinhead leaders Ilya Shutko, 19, and Yevgenia Zhikhareva, 18, to nine and seven years in prison, respectively. All the members had originally received sentences of three to 10 years in jail.

The court said the criminal liability on a number of charges against the two had expired.

The Prosecutor-General's Office said previously that all the crimes -- which were committed against non-Slavic people -- were done on the grounds of ethnic hatred and aimed to incite national or religious enmity.
On February 1, 2008, Kyrgyz citizen Altynbek Ashirov was beaten by five of the skinheads and stabbed to death by Shutko. In February and March 2008, the group of skinheads made three murder attempts in Moscow against Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Chinese citizens.
rferl.org

Online safety push for five-year-olds (UK)

Children as young as five are being targeted in a new online safety campaign by the UK body charged with protecting children from abuse.

The campaign uses cartoons to show five to seven-year-olds that people are not always what they seem.

It is thought 80% of children in this age group use the web and one-in-five parents of this age group worry about who their children contact online.

The campaign is being launched as part of EU Internet Safety Day.
The organisation behind the safety campaign - the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) - is one of the many which have been behind campaigns designed to help children and teenagers to keep themselves safe from online predators.
The organisation believes that by raising awareness of online risks at an early age, children will be better protected as they grow up.
When it was set up nearly four years ago, it began by running campaigns in secondary schools for teenagers and has gradually targeted younger and younger groups.

'Unnecessary risk'
Head of Ceop, Jim Gamble, said: "Unfortunately, some of the victims we see here are very young.
"People will try to find out where they are, where they go to school. Children can expose themselves to unnecessary risk.
"We do see children who are younger and younger being exposed to risk - and the risk is not always clear. There are a number of subtle messages.

"Unbelievably some of these children have access to webcams, but that's the world we live in."
Ceop says every week, among the 500 cases being reported through its "Report abuse" button found on some websites, there will be four from children at immediate risk of harm.
Anecdotal evidence suggests very young children are getting onto social networking sites aimed at teenagers and adults - where they are very vulnerable to online predators.
Jo Bryce, from the Cyber Research Centre at the University of Central Lancashire, said: "I have been into schools to give talks on e-safety and teachers have told me that six and seven-olds there are on social networking sites."
Among publicised cases of abuse of children who have been targeted individually online, however, she says, the victims have tended to be older - aged 10 and up.
Young teenage girls were most at risk.
Dr Bryce said educating children at a young age was the best approach to take.
"The focus on e-safety education for children aged five-plus is absolutely the right thing to do. Then you can build up the information over time so they can keep themselves safe," she said.
Still traumatised
One teenager has spoken to BBC News about how she was targeted online by a paedophile when she was 12.
He began messaging her after being introduced as a "friend of a friend".
Once he had won her trust, he asked her to pose in front of the family webcam and took images of her.

The man has since been tracked down and jailed for seven years. Ceop says he had targeted 30 other children.
Still clearly traumatised by what happened, the girl, who is now 17, had this advice for other young people: "When I was doing it, I didn't feel wrong. I didn't have the little feeling in my stomach. I'd just tell people 'be careful who you talk to'.
"Don't try and make friends over the internet because you never know who they really are."
'Just horrible'
She said such people would try to win you over in whichever way they could.
"They're not going to be horrible. They're not going to force you to do things. They are going to want you to stay on their good side.
"They are going to be nice to you, they're going to be really nice. You are going to think they are the nicest people in the world and deep down inside they're just horrible."
Child psychologist David Coleman says the cartoon being used by Ceop in its education programme will introduce young children to ideas which will enable them to explore online environments safely.
"Understanding what constitutes 'private' information - and recognising that people can pretend to be different online - are critical to developing safe behaviour online, which greatly reduces their vulnerability to abuse," he said.
Research from Ofcom published last autumn suggested that 80% of five to seven-year-olds use the internet and that among nine to 11-year olds, 94% do so.
At home, more than two-thirds (67%) of five to seven-year-olds were using the internet in 2009 - up from 57% in 2008.
More than a quarter of parents were concerned about the content of the website that their five to seven-year-olds visited
here's a BBC video about the whole thing



BBC

Daughter of a hero (USA)

Daughter of a hero

By Brandon Santiago on the Hanford Sentinel website

The painful images coming out of Haiti depicting the earthquake devastation add to the lineage of horrific events that have occurred in mankind's history.
The events in Haiti may have been caused by a natural disaster, but all tragic moments in time share a common trait: Human suffering.
Anne-Marie Kessler of Riverdale says she knows this all too well. She grew up in France during the Nazi occupation in World War"I can tell you that war is hell," Kessler said. "My father was gone most of the time; we resented him for it, it was difficult for our mother. We always felt he cared more for strangers than us. It was later we realized the strangers needed him more than we did. Many more would have died if he hadn't helped them."

Kessler, 79, sits in the dining room of her home, sifting through old photographs of her family. Next to the affidavit issued to her mother and father by the Gestapo for their arrest, lies a book with her father's face on the cover.
The book is "A Rescuer's Story: Pastor Pierre-Charles Toureille in Vichy France" by Tela Zasloff. It's the story of Kessler's father, a French Protestant pastor whose efforts resulted in the rescue of hundreds of refugees, most of them Jewish.
Inspired by his Huguenot heritage, Toureille participated in international Protestant church efforts to combat Nazism during the 1930s and headed a major refugee aid organization in Vichy France during World War II. After the war, he was honored by the Jewish organization Yad Vashem as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations."
Kessler said her father was one of many heading a large network of people striving to stop the rise of the Nazi regime. The network established a specialized school and home in Czechoslovakia called The Home for Christian Children.
"The Christian element of it was a front, to ward off Nazis," Kessler said. "In actuality most children who lived there were freed or escaped Jewish children from concentration camps."
Kessler is the fourth of five children in the Toureille family. The author of "A Rescuer's Story," Zasloff, got in touch with Kessler and her brother, Marc Toureille, to get their personal perspectives of their father's work.
Along with interviews with other members of the underground network, the book was compiled and published in 2003.
Marc Toureille details his memory of when the Nazis invaded France in the book.
"We turned off the lights and rushed to the windows, half hiding behind slotted blinds," Toureille said. "They had come, boots hitting the pavement, the shame, the anger, the hate ... I wanted to see them all killed."
Kessler herself remembers living with the Jewish children at the home when she was 10 years old. One day she and the children went on a field trip to a nearby river with a male teacher and chaperone who worked with her father. When they reached the river, the chaperone threw Kessler into the river with all her clothes on and told her to get out on her own.
"That was my first survival lesson; he wanted me to be tough like the Jewish children, [to] learn to endure," she said, looking at the chaperone's photo. "He had me walk barefoot through rocks to toughen my feet, because we never knew when the Germans would come; I loved that man, he was my favorite teacher."
Kessler said that in 1943, her father called her into his office one day and said he had some bad news for her.
The Germans had gunned her favorite teacher down. He was on the run in Czechslovakia, then went to Belgium, and ended up at this house in France.
"He had a little boy he never knew and he was trying to get home to him, and the Nazis found him and killed him," she said through tears.
Meanwhile her older brother, Simon, was in college, but it had been awhile since they had heard from him. Then, one day a stranger stopped her mother in the street and said "I know where your son is."
"She told my mother, 'Come to my home, tonight after dark, and make sure you're alone and I will tell you where he is," Kessler said.
The woman provided her address and her mother ventured out that night, making sure no one knew or saw when she left. She discovered her brother was fighting for the French in the underground against the Germans. The woman told her mother "My son is with your son; they're friends in underground, fighting together," Kessler said.
"I don't like when people say the French never did anything or cared, or were not thankful [for American help during the war]," Kessler said. "... because I know, I was there, and I'll be thankful until the day I die."

Immigrants wanting to settle in France to sign a 'no burka' contract

Immigrants must sign a 'no burka' contract before being allowed to live in France, the country's families minister has said.
The clause will be added to an 'integration agreement' all newcomers to France are already asked to sign.
The contract reminds new arrivals that forced marriages and polygamy are not allowed.
Minister Nadine Morano now wants immigrants to acknowledge that full Islamic face veils like burkas and niqabs are not accceptable.
She said an extra clause reminding newcomers that female circumcism was outlawed in France would also be added.
Ms Morano told French radio: 'Equality between men and women is a fundamental principle of French society.
'This applies to polygamy, forced marriages, female mutilation and the full face veil.'
She was set to propose the changes to the integration contract at a government conference today to take stock of its three-month debate on national identity.
Her call comes after months of heated national debate on whether the burka should banned.
Last month a government committee said women who wear the garment should be barred from using public transport and outlawed from public buildings like schools and hospitals.
More...French MP praises 'courage' of Calais migrants illegally headed for Britain
But the official inquiry by a group of MPs stopped short of recommending a total ban of the garments, saying they should still be allowed in private homes.
The committee's head Andre Gerin said a full ban could enflame Muslim tensions and drive some to extremism.
Such a move could also backfire as it was likely to be challenged by the European Court of Human Rights, he said.
But he added: 'We are recommending that all women must show their faces when entering public institutions or boarding public transport and keep their face uncovered throughout their presence there.
'Failure to do so should result in a refusal to deliver the service demanded.'
Ms Morano has the backing of many prominent MPs in her call to have immigrants who wear burkas banned from staying in France.
French interior minister Brice Hortefeux said in December that both women who wear veils and their husbands should be 'systematically refused' French residents' permits.
And President Nicolas Sarkozy has branded face veils 'a sign of debasement' and said they were not welcome in France.
The burka is a full-body covering worn largely in Afghanistan with a mesh screen over the face, and the niqab is a full-body veil with slits for the eyes.
Only around 5,000 women among France's five million strong population wear the garments.
France already passed a law in 2004 forbidding students and staff from wearing veils and other religious symbols in schools as part of a drive to defend secularism.
This month Switzerland voted to ban minarets on mosques acorss the country. In September a French mother was banned from wearing a 'burkini' swimsuit at her local swimming pool.
Carole, a 35-year-old Muslim convert, was told by the manager of pool in Emerainville, near Paris, that the garment was 'inappropriate' on hygiene grounds.
The woman said she bought her burkini for £40 during a holiday in Dubai, adding: 'I was told that it would allow me the pleasure of bathing without showing off my body, which is what Islam recommends.'
She is now taking her local council to court on the grounds that the ban was not a hygiene issue but a political issue.

The French parliament will vote on a partial or complete ban within several months and the proposals could come into force by the end of the year.
Daily Mail

Human rights group urges UK governement to stop gay deportation

Human rights groups have called on the British government to intervene in an asylum case which could see openly gay Alvin Gahimbaze deported to Burundi.

Refugee charity, ‘Everyone Group’ told Pinknews.co.uk:

“We have just received news that Alvin Gahimbaze, has been removed from his home by the British authorities and taken to a London detention centre to await deportation back to Burundi after the Border Immigration Agency turned down his application for asylum.”

Last year the government of Burundi criminalised homosexuality, punishing offenders with up to two years in prison.
“His life will be in serious danger if he is deported back to Burundi due to the ethnic clashes and the serious institutional homophobia,” the charity added.
EveryOne Group has contacted the British Home Office and is now appealing to the British Government to release Mr Gahimbaze as soon as possible and cancel the deportation order.
‘Alvin’, explain the group's co-presidents, Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau, “is a young man from the Tutsi ethnic group who fled Burundi with his sister when he was still a boy. The rest of his family was massacred during the ethnic clashes and he has lived in the United Kingdom since 2000. Though his sister has been granted permanent residence in the UK, Alvin now faces deportation.”
Last year over five thousand people signed a petition that would end the deportation of LGBT asylum seekers to homophobic countries. The government defended its current position, explaining:
"Enforced returns to any country will only be undertaken where, after very thorough examination of the asylum claim, it is decided that the individual would not be at risk of execution, torture, unjust imprisonment, or other forms of persecution.
"Where an asylum application has been refused, there is a right of appeal to the Asylum Immigration Tribunal or an opportunity to seek judicial review through the higher courts."
"The government recognises that the conditions for lesbian and gay people in some countries are such that there may be individuals who are able to demonstrate a need for international protection.
"However, there can be no presumption that each and every asylum seeker of a particular nationality who presents themselves as being lesbian or gay should automatically be afforded protection in the UK.”
Stonewall Housing says it has seen the number of asylum seekers and refugees approaching it for advice double in the last year.


Staff Writer Pink News

SCANDAL OF UNWANTED GYPSY SITES (uk)

Cash-strapped councils are being bullied into creating gypsy campsites that no one wants – not even the travellers. The claim has been made as town halls face a multi-million pound bill to develop an extra 7,500 sites for “gypsies, travellers and travelling showpeople” in line with new housing laws. Officials say the council-built sites will help stop unauthorised camps that cost millions in enforcement actions and planning appeals, as well as causing tensions with local communities. But critics say illegal camps, like the one that has led to the so-called Battle of Hemley Hill in Buckinghamshire, will keep springing up as travellers flout laws and use human rights laws to defend their actions. The Government’s Homes and Communities Agency claims there is a national shortage of pitches. Whitehall has allocated £100million to the end of 2011 to “house” 25,000 gypsies and travellers on new and upgraded sites but the Sunday Express has revealed the cost could top £800million by the 2016 time limit. Targets imposed by the Government mean local authorities must provide permanent sites with rubbish collection, running water, electricity and other services. In return travellers must pay rent and council tax. Some planners have claimed they are being forced into a position where swathes of the countryside could be turned into “huge gypsy sites”. Wychavon District Council in Worcestershire, which already provides 34 of the 42 sites it must have by 2017, last week turned down an application for a camp near Evesham, claiming the area was swamped with travellers. Councillor Judy Pearce, the council executive’s planning head, accused Gordon Brown of bullying by setting tough targets.

Regional planners believe Worcester, Wychavon and Malvern Hills should provide about 170 more permanent and temporary sites for up to three caravans. It currently provides 93. Ms Pearce said the figures were not realistic and did not take into account the fact that not all travellers wanted to stay in the same place. She added: “You must bear in mind that this district is well on the way to meeting the target.” Juliana Crowe, of the Worcestershire Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Partnership, said: “We would like to see a bigger focus on places in need of sites rather than just forcing numbers on ­districts.” Campaigners at Hemley Hill, where nine traveller families have lived illegally since last Easter, say official camps would make no difference. The land in the Chiltern Hills is home to a Roman road, is in the green belt and is an area of outstanding natural beauty. More than 600 objectors face an anxious wait until the outcome of a planning inquiry in April. The travellers will use laws passed by the Government as proof of the need for more sites, alleging that Wycombe District Council, which covers Hemley Hill, has made no provision for them. Town hall chiefs hurriedly commissioned a £17,000 report that came up with half a dozen potential sites, but they face opposition over those too. Protester Trisha Kelly said: “These families do not want to stay on official campsites. They know that once they settle in one place it makes it easier for the authorities to track them down. “There will be a lot more Hemley Hills and a lot more money wasted on new campsites and planning rows.” Government figures show the number of traveller caravans in England grew by more than 1,200 in the past two years to 17,900, an eight per cent rise. A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: “It is important we have enough authorised sites to stop the vicious cycle of evictions that is costly to the taxpayer and affects the travelling community’s quality of life and the wider public.”
The Express

There’s Nothing British About The BNP – Supporting the online fight

Many great videos on You Tube that support the Anti-BNP (British national party) are often overlooked. And due to the fact that the BNP see You Tube as their own personal stomping ground the videos just don’t get the publicity they so well deserve.

Here’s one such video from a fantastic campaign called.
There’s Nothing British About The BNP.



Please support the user and his other videos at

 NothingBritish

LATVIAN FAR RIGHT GOES AFTER “DISLOYAL” RUSSIANS CARS

Latvian ultra-rightist have started another witch-hunt by threatening “disloyal car owners” who fix Russian symbols, like St. George Ribbon, or a Russian national emblem or colors on their vehicles. A website registered in the US and still operational, http://www.latvietislatvija.com (Latvian in Latvia), has published a so-called "Okupantu autoparks,” an “Occupants’ car park,” list of those who dared to decorate their cars with the Russian symbols, revealing personal data of these citizens. The black list reveals personal information and the names of 118 persons, including their home addresses and car plate numbers. The witch-hunt was organized not only in Latvia’s capital Riga, but also throughout the country. Any car seen with the abovementioned symbols was photographed and put on that list. Some people from that list have already been blackmailed by e-mail. There is a risk of their cars being smashed or desecrated with paint, but the real concern is for affected children. Latvian police says the website is out of Latvia’s jurisdiction, but the very fact of publishing personal info, probably stolen from some governmental source, is illegal, so an investigation has been launched to find out and fine those guilty. Most of the exposed “disloyal” cars are private, but in at least one case, when a driver of Renault Master belonging to Latvijas Pasts (Latvian Post) tied a St. George Ribbon to it, the end was bitter and he was fired immediately for “improper decoration of an operational vehicle’”– amid economic collapse in the country. Latvian police sees no incitement of ethnic hatred in this case, so the real patriots of the country continue with their job openly, waiting in ambush for disloyal citizens and publishing personal info on them for public use. Needless to say, the names of the crusaders themselves remain in the shadows. About 44% (up to 95% in certain regions of the country) of Latvia’s 2.3 million population are Russian-speakers, and many of them still cannot get citizenship because of it.


RT

Twisted BNP cashing in on hero's funeral

Grieving Jessica Deans has blasted the BNP for using a photo of her fiancé's coffin to plug their hateful policies.

The picture - taken at the funeral of marine Liam Elms - appears in an online video to drum up election support for the far-right party.

But Jessica branded it an outrage - and his family insist the fallen hero would have raged against the BNP's loathsome views.

Corporal Liam, 26, was killed by a roadside bomb while battling the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Jessica, a 22-year-old nurse, said: "I find it an outrage that an image of Liam's coffin on the day of his funeral is being used as propaganda for the BNP's personal gain."
And Liam's father Michael, 51, said: "We haven't give our permission for them to use any coverage of Liam's funeral on this video.
"It's out of order that the picture has been put in the public domain and for the BNP to use it for political gain is not on.
" It feels like an easy way for the BNP to get people involved in their party and to make money."
The video has been watched thousands of times since it was put on the BNP website and YouTube last week.
Party leader Nick Griffin shamelessly uses it in a plea for cash to bolster his election fund.
The photo shows Liam's coffin - draped in a Union Flag - being carried by three comrades.
Griffin, who was filmed in front of a portrait of Winston Churchill, describes the Afghan conflict as "a ludicrous no-win war" and pledges to end British involvement.
And as Liam's coffin flashes on screen, he says: "We need our coffers filled so we can afford to fight every single seat we should be fighting up and down the country."
But Liam's dad - who also served in the forces - said: "I'm angry with the BNP because what they are saying is the complete opposite of what Liam wanted.
"Liam's last words to me were, 'I'm where I want to be, doing what I want to do with the people I want to be with. Don't worry'."
Michael added: "Any party that says the troops should be brought out without any power being in place to look after local Afghans is going against what our boys are fighting for."
Liam died on New Year's Eve 2008 on patrol in Helmand with 45 Commando and Afghan troops. The photo used by the BNP was taken at his funeral last January - when he was hailed a "true patriot".
Hundreds of mourners packed St Joseph's church in his home town of Wrightington, Lancs, and more than 150 had to wait outside.
Liam's mum Maureen, 52, said: "I would love all the soldiers in Afghanistan to come home safe.
"But they have chosen to do a job out there and they will stay until the Afghans are safe."
Liam's family are asking people who want to help British troops to support legitimate charities such as Help For Heroes, the Royal Marine Benevolent Fund and the British Legion - not the BNP.
His sister Rachael, 28, has raised £20,000 for Help For Heroes by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
And she plans to raise more in a 900-mile London-Geneva bike ride - www.justgiving.com/rachael-elms - this year.
The BNP tried to play down the row over Liam's coffin.
An official said: "The picture was intended to be representative of a problem we're trying to give our view on - it is not homing in on an individual.
"No offence was intended to the family."
We have made a donation to the British Legion at the Elms' request for their interviews.
The People

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Asking Sites To Screen For Sexual Predators (USA)

Many teens spend hours on the computer. Facebook, for some, has become a way of life.

"I do use it a lot, because it is a good thing to keep in contact with my sister, who is in college," said Tenn Amanda Wojcinski.
"There are people on it everyday, all day, updating statuses. Every third second sometimes," said student Mark Arnone.

According to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Facebook, MySpace, and more than a dozen other sites have taken advantage of information that has come to New York State through a law called Estop. It requires sex offenders to register their email addressees and internet accounts with the state. The state has turned over that information to those social networking sites, and sex offenders are removed from the sites. To give you an idea, to date, 160 in Erie County, and 75 in Niagara County. The Attorney General is also stressing the importance of being careful online, knowing it is out there.
"I have two high school students at home, two young ladies happen to be my daughters, and they say when I start to talk about this, we know dad, we know. People came into school and talked about it, we know. It is worse than you think," said Cuomo.
Now Cuomo is calling on other other kids websites to do the same thing. Screen their users for sex offenders, because they have already found more than 4000 sex offenders accounts from using EStop information. The Attorney General is also again stressing to students to be very careful.
"Beware. Yes you have to be cynical. Yes you have to be a little skeptical. The people who are out there are very good at coming up with identities, and getting information, making believe they are someone they are not," said Cuomo.
And for the kids who are online a lot, they got Cuomo's message about being careful loud and clear.
"Definitely watch out who I accept as a friend. Who is chatting me. Definitely stuff like that," Arnone added.

WKBW

BERLINERS FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM AMONG MUSLIMS(Germany)

Yasmin Kassar is one of the many activists in Berlin who find anti-Jewish sentiments among young Muslims intolerable. For a year and a half now, the Syrian-German woman has been working to change people's attitudes in Kreuzberg, a neighborhood with a large Muslim population. "You can see that whenever the Israeli-Palestinian conflict gets worse - like when we had the Gaza conflict towards the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 - anti-Semitic views are articulated here more often by residents with a Muslim background," Kassar told Deutsche Welle. But instead of criticizing the particular aspects of the Israeli government's policies, it's often Jews in general who become the target of verbal - and in rare cases physical - attacks in Berlin. At the Kreuzberg Initiative Against Anti-Semitism (KIGA), Yasmin helps to develop programs and concepts to enable multi-ethnic schools to tackle anti-Jewish sentiments with sound arguments. There's a lot of work to be done. According to a recent study conducted by the Emnid polling institute among young Turks living in Germany, a minority has taken a real interest in learning more about Jews, their contributions to German society and what they had to endure in Nazi Germany.

Invisible targets

The leader of Germany's opposition Green party, Cem Oezdemir, who has Turkish roots himself, calls it a form of "anti-Semitism without Jews. "These young Muslims are often people who don't know any Jews in person," Oezdemir said. "Their radical views stem from an over-identification with the Middle East conflict, from parents who are willing to employ all the well-known Jew-related cliches, and from schools that don't know how to tackle the problem in classes full of students with migrant backgrounds." The Berlin project Anti-Semitism in the Context of Migration and Racism (AMIRA) has been tackling the problem since 2007. The organization's Gabriel Freville says he and his colleagues aim to provide social workers on the ground with viable programs and arguments for their discussions with young Muslims about Jewish life in the city and anti-Semitism. "It's a question of attitude, of how you approach the youngsters," says Freville. "If somebody says 'I hate Jews' it's important not to start moralizing, telling him that he's a bad guy. Instead, you have to try to understand his reasoning and look into the problems behind it."

Knowledge gaps

The Emnid survey found that almost 70 percent of those polled knew nothing or almost nothing about the Holocaust. Seventy-five percent said they had never been to a concentration camp memorial site in Germany, let alone a Jewish museum. Ufuk Topkara is trying to change that. The historian, who also has Turkish roots, shows young Muslims around Berlin's Jewish Museum. "While they're here in the museum, young Muslims start questioning everything they've ever heard about Jews before. You can see this in their faces," Topkara told Deutsche Welle. "Only, I very much doubt whether this has a lasting effect when the kids are back in their normal environment," he added. Others say too much fuss is being made about anti-Semitism within Germany's Muslim communities. While admitting that anti-Jewish sentiments can certainly be found there, Kenan Kolat, chairman of the secular Turkish Community in Germany, says this phenomenon should be placed in a wider context. "There never was a Holocaust, they say. The Jews capitalized on the 9/11 aftermath, they say. All Jews are rich - you can find all these prejudices among some Muslims here and it is just a reflection of what you find in society here at large," Kolat told public broadcaster ARD.

DW

Unknown Gunmen attack Turkey's new BDP party HQ

The headquarters of Turkey's Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) was attacked by unidentified gunmen late on Friday.
In a statement made after the attack that took place at around 2130 hours, the deputy chairperson of BDP, Gulten Kisanak, said that "we condemn those who have perpetrated the attack, those who tolerate such attacks and those who encourage such attacks."
Kisanak said that the BDP headquarters was attacked by armed assailants on Friday night.
According to Kisanak, more than 15 bullets were fired on the BDP headquarters.

Our headquarters was empty at the time of the attack. Had there been individuals in the building, many of them could have been killed, Kisanak said.
If a political party gets attacked frequently and if the (Turkish) government, Prime Minister, Interior Minister, those responsible for security in the country and political parties do not condemn such attacks, then we have to express that we are being seriously discriminated against, Kisanak underlined.

If an official has not phoned us to express sadness over the armed attack and not assured us that the shooting will be investigated and those responsible for the attack would be brought to justice, then we do have the right to stress that we are being discriminated against, Kisanak noted.
Had the armed attack taken place against any other political party (in Turkey), would the reaction have been the same? We have not witnessed a similar reaction (by Turkish officials). On the other hand, we expect and request identical reactions as of tomorrow (Saturday), Kisanak said.
Those who have organized Friday's attack should not expect any results. We will continue to exist in all corners of Turkey. We will always support tranquility, peace and brotherhood. No one should attempt to scare and discourage us. We are a political party that knows how to take an attitude against such attacks, Kisanak said.

Asked by a reporter if they had received any threats in the past few days, Kisanak said that "we have not received any threats in the past few days. However, we have been attacked for the fifth time in the past one year".
In response to an other question, Kisanak underscored that the bullets were sprayed on party rooms whose lights were already turned off at the time of the attack.

The way the attack was conducted shows that it was a very organized one and it was implemented to not kill but rather to threaten and cause fear, Kisanak also said.
Meanwhile, Sirri Sakik, a deputy of the BDP from eastern province of Mus, argued that "the assailants (who attacked BDP on Friday night) were arrested but were released later".
World Bulletin