NYMHM: SoCal hazmat scofflaws; Pakistan chief justice arrested

Wed Mar 14 09:25:09 PDT 2007

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 NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * March 14, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 11

 Important but overlooked news from around the world.
 NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org.

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THIS WEEK: 

   Haiti rapes defy U.N. intervention, SoCal scofflaws dump hazmat 
   waste deep in canyon country, Pakistani's chief justice is under
   house arrest, immigration officials are in the spotlight at home 
   and abroad, Muslims face discrimination from Massachusetts to
   Mindanao ... and apartheid aftershocks shake up South Africa. 

QUOTED: 

   "Previously we were too black to own the land where we lived 
   and worked, and now it seems we're too white."

   -- Willem Diergaardt of the Richtersveld Sida !hub Communal 
   Property Association, on a bitter dispute over diamond mine 
   claims in South Africa (see "Apartheid," below).  

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TOP STORIES
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 > Haiti Rapes Defy U.N. Intervention

   Kidnappings and rape went hand-in-hand during Haiti's years of 
   political repression. But even as U.N. peacekeepers crack down 
   on gangs in the slums of Port-au-Price, rapes there are on the 
   rise. Social workers say at least 800 women there were raped in 
   the past 12 months, and estimate that many never tell police or
   their families out of shame or fear. 

 > SoCal Scofflaws Take Hazmat to the Hills

   The forested canyons of San Bernardino County, California, are 
   full of construction debris, old computers, TV sets, and other 
   refuse dumped by people trying to avoid increased landfill 
   fees. Much of it is hazardous waste, and subject to new, strict 
   recycling regulations. Forest Service officials say that as a 
   result, illegal dumping has massively increased. 

 > Pakistan's Overrule of Law

   Pakistani lawyers were rioting in the streets last week after
   President Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad 
   Chaudhry for "misconduct and misuse of authority." Critics say
   the judge, who was appointed in 2005, is being punished for 
   enforcing laws against human rights abuses and illegal 
   detentions, and for blocking privatization plans. 

   Two TV stations that broadcast the protests went off the air 
   temporarily, and did not show the footage thereafter. The BBC
   reports that the conflict is exacerbating election-year 
   tensions between the civilian government and Musharaff's 
   military regime. 

Sources:

"Haiti kidnap wave accompanied by epidemic of rape"
Reuters, March 8, 2007
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070308-1002-haiti-rape-.html 

"San Bernardino National Forest trashed by dumpsites"
Press-Enterprise (CA), March 10, 2007
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_B_trash10.ad2108.html 

"Violent protests in Pakistan over chief judge's suspension"
Indo Asian News Service, March 12, 2007
http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/233628/cs/1/

"Pakistan panel quizzes top judge"
BBC, March 13, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6444355.stm

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IMMIGRATION
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 > Immigration Officials in the Spotlight

   The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's "Operation 
   Return to Sender" has arrested 18,000 undocumented immigrants 
   since June, provoking an inquiry by the ACLU into reports 
   that agents illegally entered homes, posed as police officers, 
   and racially profiled suspects. 

   In McHenry County, Indiana, activists accuse county jail 
   officials for dehumanizing treatment of 36 Mexican detainees 
   by writing numbers on their hands instead of using their names, 
   shackling them in cells and jailing them with criminals. The 
   practices stopped when the Mexican Consulate stepped in, and 
   I.C.E. disavowed any knowledge of it. 

   And Mexican federal police detained 22 immigration agents 
   suspected of accepting bribes to help 81 Chinese nationals, 
   who were found "hiding" in the Cancun airport, sneak into the 
   United States, the Associated Press reports. 

Sources:

"Immigrant sweeps rouse ACLU"
San Mateo County Times, March 7, 2007
http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_5373306 

"Enraged activists: Jail marked illegal workers' hands"
NBC5 (Chicago), March 9, 2007
http://www.nbc5.com/news/11215998/detail.html 

"81 Chinese immigrants arrested"
Associated Press, March 10, 2007
http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/miami/23726.html

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DISCRIMINATION
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 > Muslims Targeted, From Massachusetts to Mindanao

   Four Muslim truck drivers for FedEx in Massachusetts are suing
   over claims that upper management ignored racist verbal abuse 
   and unfair work assignments. A judge has ruled that the suit 
   can proceed because the men are employees and not independent 
   contractors -- a finding that also undermines the company's
   case against a unionization bid by its 15,000 truckers. 

   On the overwhelmingly Christian island of Mindanao in the 
   Philippines, Muslims say they have been barred from working at
   malls over fears that they might be suicide bombers. Critics
   say this increases tensions in a province with a decades-old
   Islamic independence movement, where Muslims tend to be poorer, 
   and have shorter life expectancies than average. 

Sources: 

"Arab Americans charge harassment by FedEx"
Reuters, March 10, 2007
http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=7863

"Philippines: Muslims 'banned' from working in malls in Mindanao"
ADNKRONOS International (March 9, 2007)
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.393394051&par= 

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APARTHEID
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 > South Africa's Mining Laws: A Divisive Legacy

   Two Italian companies are suing South Africa over a law that 
   requires firms to sell to black investors to redress abuses 
   of black laborers under the apartheid system. The companies 
   say that their purchase of granite operations there occurred in
   1994, after the fall of apartheid. 

   The legacy of institutionalized racism has also taken a
   particularly bitter turn in the struggle over South Africa's
   diamond mines, where the ethnically mixed residents of the
   diamond-rich Richtersvelders province are enraged by a 
   government deal to sell mine holdings there to de Beers. 

   The land, which was appropriated by the state in the 1920s, 
   is claimed by residents in lieu of a $26 million settlement. 
   But South Africa's public enterprises minister says his 
   primary concern is the well-being of the government-owned 
   Alexkor mining company. 

Sources:

"Italian firms sue SA over mining law"
Mail & Guardian (South Africa), March 9, 2007
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=301479&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__business/ 

"Erwin's 'get lost' to Richtersvelders"
Mail & Guardian (South Africa), March 10, 2007
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=301474&area=/insight/insight__national/

"Richtersveld talks back on track"
South African Press Association, March 14, 2007
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=411953

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Editors: Julia Scott, Josh Wilson
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