31 January 2013

SHARES News Items Overview: 16-31 January 2013

The SHARES Project has been closely following and collecting news items that are linked to the issue of shared responsibility (see: www.sharesproject.nl/news). We hereby introduce our second ‘SHARES News Items Overview’, a new category of blog posts consisting of a summary of recent news relating to shared responsibility.

• The New York Times reported that African Union (AU) troops mistakenly opened fire on a religious school while pursuing militants in Somalia, killing five children and two adults.
• The French corporation Amesys is being investigated in France for complicity in acts of torture, because of supplying communications surveillance equipment to the Gaddafi regime.
• The International Rivers Network published a report that examines the legality of the controversial Xayaburi Hydropower Project, undertaken by Laos on the Lower Mekong River.
• A recent United Nations report showed that Afghan authorities are still torturing prisoners who have been transferred by foreign governments.
• On 17 December 2012, the Court of Appeal of The Hague decided that three Congolese witnesses who had testified before the International Criminal Court (ICC), and who were still detained in the ICC Detention Centre in the Hague, were not within the jurisdiction of the Netherlands in the sense of Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
• Patriot missiles from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) began arriving at the Turkish border with Syria on 21 January 2013. The missiles are intended to protect Turkey from a potential Syrian attack.
• The New York Times reported that militant factions in Africa represent a new face of terrorism. These groups are violently anti-American but not under the command and control of al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan.
• United States military aircrafts were used in order to transport more than 80 French troops and 124 tonnes of equipment to Mali.
• The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has submitted a Congressionally mandated report identifying ten countries whose fishing vessels engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in 2011 and/or 2012. These ten states are: Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Italy, Mexico, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Tanzania and Venezuela.
• Israeli officials have maintained that Israel could launch a pre-emptive strike if Syria transfers chemical weapons to Hezbollah or al-Qaeda groups, as there is growing concern that the government in Syria might lose control over its chemical weapons due to the ongoing struggle in the country.
• An international donor conference to raise funds to support the African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA) opened on 29 January at the African Union (AU) headquarters.
• Italy’s highest criminal court has ruled that Italian radar systems did not adequately protect jets from stray missiles, and that Italy must compensate the families of the victims. The Court held there was ‘abundantly’ clear evidence that a stray missile caused an Italian passenger jet to crash into the Mediterranean Sea in 1980, resulting in the death of all 81 people aboard.
• The United States has concluded an agreement with Niger, allowing it to use surveillance drones in the West African country, in order to increase unarmed surveillance missions on Islamist extremist groups.
• On 30 January 2013, the District Court of The Hague held that Shell Nigeria is liable for oil spills in Nigeria since it has violated its duty of care, and did not take sufficient measures to prevent sabotage by third parties. Shell Nigeria was sentenced to pay damages to one plaintiff for oil pollution damage.