This weekend German people punished severly the Socialdemocrats (SPD), who had governed for 4 years in a Great Coalition with the Christian democrats (CDU), and gave thus rise to a powerful neoliberal coalition between the rightwing of the Christian democrats and the Liberals (FDP), who besides gained about 5% additional votes. Also, the Left (LINKE) counted 3% more votes, some more than the Greens.

Voters did judge very negatively a perspective of a coalition government composed of Socialdemocrats and Greens, which existed under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder with the foreign minister Joschka Fischer until 2005. More than 1 Million traditional SPD voters didn't trust the socialdemocratic agenda anymore, mainly remembering a reform regarding disoccupation called Hartz IV and the social political and labour market reform under the name Agenda 2010, and as nearly 900.000 others gave now their vote to the Left, SPD lost this election very clearly with a decline of 10% in regard to 2005. As well, as Socialdemocrats declared before election that they wouldn't accept to govern in a coalition with the Left, who has partial links to the old East German regime, no national consensus for a Socialdemocratic-Green-Left coalition could be established. Klaus Wowereit, current major of Berlin and governing in a SPD-Left coalition, declared that the Socialdemocrats dared to open themselves to this perspective.

Personnally, looking at the election results, I cannot but agree with Klaus Wowereit, the SPD needs to return to its very social roots and besides needs to solidarize clearly workers with migrants in an evergrowing flow of people. I am very worried about the rise of no's to a major solidarity in our society. Already we have to cope with everhardening capitalism generating severe disoccupation, a rise of poverty, an education as well as income gap...in these conditions I cannot but imagine further accelerations put forward by a neoliberal coalition in Parliament.

Since 2004, more than 650 gay men have been killed in Iraq and the unofficial number is suppose to be much higher. During the 60s and 70s Iraq was a very liberal country, especially with regard to its gay community. However, this has changed during the last five years. Islamists are using the internet to track down gay groups and its members. These gay men are then first tortured and afterwards brutally murdered. These killings are terrible and horrific and there is no need for them. It will be up to the new government to change the current situation and to protect its minorities!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/13/iraq-gays-murdered-militias

More than 20 African countries have tried to enforce laws against the practices of FGM but these laws somehow seem to be unenforceable. Although top government officials may want to enforce these laws, the problem remains at the local and communal level. Still, many people believe in these traditions and local officials don't understand and refuse to enforce the laws against FGM. Some sources even say that these laws are not enforced because they are "too" harsh. For example, a new law in Uganda would consider up to 10 years imprisonment on traditional surgeons and 15 years on parents. If the girl acutally dies the practitioner could face life improsenment.

But there is light, people try to act against FGM and are opening schools for girls who face FGM and would like to be safe.

A single example ... A 10 year old girl who was suppose to be married to a 69 year old man for 45 cows. Furthermore, she was soon to be "cut". The girl run away to the boarding school of Kajiado, Kenya. And since then she has been safe.

In the whole 16th Legislature the Committee for Foreign Affairs has decided only once on refugee matters, in regard to Iraq and through initiative of the Greens:
antrag der gruenen im bundestag (pdf, 77 KB)

In this it is acknowledged that every month 60.000 Iraqis leave their country! Around one quarter of the Iraqi people is fleeing: 4.4 milion people! But nobody reports this crisis in the mainstream media...

As well the initiative to offer more help to Iraqi refugees has been cruelly refused by the CDU and SPD with the help of the recommendations of other committees which they control through their majority, even if Germany and all other European countries would be in the position to help!
ablehnung des antrags seitens cdu und spd (pdf, 73 KB)

I have asked today on Abgeordnetenwatch.de to the candidate Andreas Steppuhn about this decision of his party and his personal opinion! We need to inform ourselves much more widespread...our everyday media is extremely politically biased!

For further reading of the Green Human Rights Policy, have a look at the following reader, which is outlining the various initiatives undertaken in order to better the human rights involvement of Germany.
green politics of human rights (pdf, 408 KB)

The German associationFRAUENRAT, linking around 30 organisations concerned with the Equality among the Sexes, has invested a huge amount of time elaborating a serious comparison of the programmes of the German political parties running for the 17th Parliamentary Elections on 27th September 2009.

We may choose!
equality among the sexes - 17th german parliamentary elections (pdf, 119 KB)

As we have the direct vote for one specific candidate of our region, we should try to choose the one which fits best to our opinions and worldviews. In order to give us a broad comparison Abgeordnetenwatch.de has organized an online Candidatecheck!

Following the link
http://www.abgeordnetenwatch.de/projects/kandidatencheck/popup.html

and inserting your Postal code, you will answer around 40 questions around work, health, economy, foreign policy, family, security, etc, which will be compared with the preferences of the direct candidates of our regions. The result can give you a first overview of the candidates most affine to you.

Have a go!!

A Sudanese woman was suppose to get 40 lashes for wearing pants. However, the court decided that she will not get the 40 lashes but she would have to pay ca. 120 Pounds for wearing indicent clothing.

This woman and many of her supporters said no to the court's ruling. Hence, they started a demonstration, some of the women were even wearing trousers. As a result to this, many man started to attack these women because of their point of view.

Why is this world so unfair? ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/07/sudanese-woman-escapes-lash-trousers

Adopted from REINHARD WOLFF, Taz

In six cities more than 10.000 danish people demonstrated against the deportation of 22 iraqi refugees. They had been recently arrested in a danish church and were deported. Five of them have been already imprisoned in Bagdad, of none we have any news, and others seek to hide in North Iraq.

I find it extremly horrible that
a) we allow so few iraqis to refuge in Europe &
b) the few who arrive are treated without any respect!

There was a really interesting article in Spiegel Online today. A woman in Kenia founded a village for women who have been abused by their fathers or husbands, were raped by soldiers, had undergone female genitale mutilation or had an arranged marriage. These women learned to live on their own and to make money by selling self-made jewellery or fresh vegetables.

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/0,1518,643155,00.html

I just saw this really good report on the Economist:
http://audiovideo.economist.com/?fr_chl=0fa322324169698ba7c97f415d40939f65d6df2d&rf=bm

It is a report about girls being married at a young age. Imagine, 60% of all girls below the age of 16 are married in Afghanistan. They don't even know what is ahead of them and that they can never return to school. It shows so much how important education is for boys and girls.

Abgeordnetenwatch.de fühlt nicht nur den Kandidierenden auf ein Bundestagsmandat auf den Zahn, sondern auch denen die es vor vier Jahren geschafft hatten. Man erhält daher gründliche Informationen über Abstimmungsverhalten und Ausschussmitgliedschaften. Einfach super!

Für den Landkreis Harz treten wieder an:
Andres Steppuhn (SPD - 49 von 51 Fragen beantwortet)
und
Undine Kurth (Grüne - 12 von 17 Fragen beantwortet).

Wer diese Webseite noch nicht kennt, dem sei sie hiermit mit Auszeichnung empfohlen!!!

http://www.abgeordnetenwatch.de

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Allgemeine Info zur Wahl aus dem Bundeswahlgesetz:
Jeder deutsche Wähler hat zwei Stimmen, eine Erststimme für die Wahl eines Wahlkreisabgeordneten,
eine Zweitstimme für die Wahl einer Landesliste.

Wahl in den Wahlkreisen:
In jedem Wahlkreis wird ein Abgeordneter gewählt. Gewählt ist der Bewerber, der die meisten Stimmen auf sich vereinigt. Bei Stimmengleichheit entscheidet das vom Kreiswahlleiter zu ziehende Los.

Wahl nach Landeslisten:
Für die Verteilung der nach Landeslisten zu besetzenden Sitze werden die für jede Landesliste abgegebenen Zweitstimmen zusammengezählt. Nicht berücksichtigt werden dabei die Zweitstimmen derjenigen Wähler, die ihre Erststimme für einen im Wahlkreis erfolgreichen Bewerber abgegeben haben. Für weitere Einschränkungen siehe http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/de/bundestagswahlen/downloads/rechtsgrundlagen/bundeswahlgesetz.pdf

The Bush-administration "outsourced" partially Iraq war by engaging private security firms such as Blackwater and Haliburton, in order to escape unwanted questions by US Congress and to lower costs of warfare. Theses firms provided diplomacy and oil escorting, food transports and here and there battles.

Six years after two supposedly ex-Blackwater-members are asking the opening of a civil process against Blackwater for reasons such as promoting a culture without law, murdering of civil persons, organizing a women's sexring, child abuse and smuggling weapons!

Already in 2007 Blackwater was in the news for opening fire on civilians and killing 17 people. In relation to this the government of Iraq ended the protection of penal prosecution for firms like this.

The whole article you can find: http://www.taz.de/1/politik/amerika/artikel/1/letzte-chance-auf-ein-urteil/

I do really hope that at least they will have success in their process! But not only this, the way war is organized has changed. It has become a Business-as-usual. All wars get more and more fought by paid soldiers and private security firms, supported by low-cost-personal from Asia...more than 80.000 served in Iraq without any insurance, reported by the ARD, a German public channel in April 2008.

Read whole article on: http://www.taz.de/1/leben/medien/artikel/1/die-schattenarmee-der-usa/

Let us not remember the reasons for which Iraq has been invaded...

And here we go again, today it was revealed that 24 people were killed in Iran due to drug dealing. Another 20 death penalties were carried out at the beginning of July. However, it is also believed that behind these death penalties are political reasons.

I personally find the figures quite shocking - there have been more than 294 death penalties in 2009! There is a good artickle in the Spiegel: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,640686,00.html

Only last week a Moslem women was tried in Malaysia for drinking beer in public and she was found to be guilty. Her penality was 40 lashes!

Today a women in Sudan was accused of wearing indicent clothing and also got 40 lashes. Another 10 women got 10 lashes. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8182658.stm

Personally, I wish that women women would have the same rights than men. Why are women punished for what they are wearing or what they were doing? Would a men get 40 lashes for wearing shorts or drinking beer?

There have been clashes in Iran since June 12th and the world is watching and nobody does anything. Why? On the one hand, all major news websites reported today (3rd August) that the Iranian leaders have approved Ahmadinejad as the new president:

"I am endorsing the presidency of this brave, hard-working and wise man as the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, in praise of Ahmadinejad who will be sworn in by parliament Wednesday." (for the full article see: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL373426820090803)

But on the other hand, the US can threaten Iran with sanctions if they do not stop their nuclear programme:

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,640163,00.html

Why don't Western countries interfere in the Iran's national politics? Iran is killing innocent people, undermining women rights and is above all violating human rights!

To understand more about the Iranian crisis, one should go to BBC. The BBC has put a very good Q&A catalogue together:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8101621.stm

11.6.2009 - Human rights groups have expressed outrage at an Italian agreement to send immigrants back to Libya without screening them for asylum claims, tarnishing Muammar Gaddafi's "historic" visit to Italy, which ends on 12 June.

Italy agreed to pay Libya a $5 billion reparations deal over its 1911-43 colonial rule. But in fact, most of the money is Italian investment committed over 20 years, and no transfer of sums will take place. Libya is also pumping petrodollars into major Italian companies like UniCredit and Eni, as well as supplying a quarter of Italy's oil imports.

Under a 'Treaty of Friendship', the two countries agreed to cooperate in fighting illegal immigration. The pact allows Italy's coastguard to swiftly deport boatloads of illegal immigrants back to Libyan shores, skipping procedures for filing potential asylum applications.

Human right groups claim the agreement violates Italy's international human right obligations by dumping migrants and asylum seekers on Libya. Italy stands accused of handing over immigrants to Libya, which is not party to the United Nations Refugee Convention and has no asylum system.

The centre-left Democratic Party, the anti-corruption 'Italy of Values' party and the Radical Party opposed the visit and lambasted the immigration deals. In a recent interview with EurActiv, former EU commissioner and Radical Party leader Emma Bonino said that under Berlusconi's tenure, there was a "total lack of respect for the rule of law" in fields such as the media, the justice system and immigration.

Link with background details: http://www.euractiv.com/en/justice/italy-immigration-deal-libya-sparks-uproar/article-183116
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Menschenrechtsorganisationen haben ihre Empörung über eine Vereinbarung Italiens ausgedrückt, Einwanderer zurück nach Libyen zu schicken, ohne ihre Asylanträge zu prüfen, was Schatten auf Muammar Gaddafis „historischen“ Besuch in Italien wirft, der am 12. Juni endet.

28.7.2009 - The European Union needs to reconcile its growth and jobs objectives with long-term environmental goals, says the European Commission in a report taking stock of the bloc’s decade-old sustainable development strategy.

Global demand for natural resources is growing fast, European fish stocks are depleting and forests and soils are increasingly challenged by climate change, says the report, published on 24 July.

The EU executive estimates the annual loss of ecosystem services equivalent to €50 billion and the cumulated welfare losses are estimated equivalent to 7% of GDP by 2050.

The report launches a reflection on how the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) should evolve in the future and how it could be better aligned with other cross-cutting EU strategies.

Link with background information, report download, etc: http://www.euractiv.com/en/opinion/eu-launches-reflection-future-green-policies/article-184400
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28.7.2009 - Die Europäische Union muss ihre Wachstums- und Beschäftigungsziele mit ihren langfristigen umweltpolitischen Zielen in Einklang bringen sagt die Europäische Kommission in einem Bericht, in dem sie eine Bestandsaufnahme der zehn Jahre alten Nachhaltigkeitsbilanz vornimmt.

Die weltweite Nachfrage nach natürlichen Ressourcen wächst schnell, europäische Fischbestände werden weiter dezimiert und Wälder und Böden werden zunehmend vom Klimawandel herausgefordert, sagt ein Bericht, der am 24. Juli 2009 veröffentlich wurde.

Die EU-Kommission schätzt die jährlichen Verluste des Ökosystems als equivalent ein zu 50 Milliarden Euro und die kumulierten Wohlfahrtsverluste werden auf gleich bedeutend mit 7 Prozent des BIPs im Jahr 2050 geschätzt.

Der Bericht beginnt eine Reflektion darüber, wie die EU-Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie (NS) sich in der Zukunft entwickeln sollte und wie sie besser mit den übergreifenden EU-Strategien abgestimmt werden kann.

April 2009 - Entgegen der Presseerklärung des Bundesfrauenministeriums (BMFSFJ) zur Anhörung vor dem 43. CEDAW-Ausschuss der Vereinten Nationen am 2. Februar in Genf, in der der "CEDAW-Ausschuss der Vereinten Nationen sich zufrieden mit den Fortschritten der deutschen Gleichstellungspolitik zeigt", betrachtet der Ausschuss in seinem Abschlussbericht vom 10. Februar die frauen- und gleichstellungspolitischen Fortschritten in Deutschland und die Maßnahmen der Bundesregierung als unzureichend.

Die abschließenden Bemerkungen des CEDAW-Ausschusses (in deutscher Übersetzung) können unter folgendem Link heruntergeladen werden: http://www.frauenrat.de/deutsch/allgemein/panel-linke-seite/weitere-meldungen/meldungsdetails/back/48/article/cedaw-2009.html


Inhalt und Bedeutung von CEDAW

Es gibt auf der Ebene der UN insgesamt sieben Menschenrechtskonventionen, die für die Staaten, die diese Konventionen ratifizieren, verbindliche Regelungen zum Menschenrechtsschutz enthalten.

Eine der Konventionen ist die UN-Frauenrechtskonvention zur Beseitigung jeder Form der Diskriminierung der Frau (CEDAW - Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women). Diese Konvention ist das wichtigste verbindliche internationale Instrument für die Stärkung und Verwirklichung von Frauenrechten. Sie enthält unter anderem ein umfassendes Diskriminierungsverbot, welches sich auf alle Lebensbereiche erstreckt. Für den KOK (Bundesweiter Koordinierungskreis gegen Frauenhandel und Gewalt an Frauen im Migrationsprozess e.V.) ist insbesondere Artikel 6 CEDAW von großer Bedeutung. In diesem heißt es:

„Die Vertragsstaaten treffen alle geeigneten Maßnahmen einschließlich gesetzgeberischer Maßnahmen zur Abschaffung jeder Form des Frauenhandels und der Ausbeutung der Prostitution von Frauen.“

Alle Vertragsstaaten, die CEDAW ratifiziert haben, müssen als rechtsverbindliche Verpflichtung die Ziele der Konvention durch gesetzgeberische und gleichstellungspolitische Maßnahmen umsetzen.

Damit überprüft werden kann, ob die Vertragsstaaten ihren Pflichten nachgekommen sind, erstellen sie in regelmäßigen Abständen Berichte über die getroffenen Maßnahmen und diesbezügliche Fortschritte (Verpflichtung zu sogenannten Regierungsberichten).

Diese Berichte werden vom CEDAW-Ausschuss, dem 23 unabhängige Sachverständige angehören, sorgfältig geprüft.

Für unabhängige Nichtregierungsorganisationen (NGOs) hat sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten die Möglichkeit der Beteiligung etabliert. NGOs können in einem "Alternativ"- oder "Schattenbericht“ ihre Kritik an dem vorgelegten Regierungsbericht und an der Situation der Frauenrechte in dem jeweiligen Land darstellen.

Ausgehend von den Verpflichtungen der Regierungen, die Vorgaben von CEDAW zu erfüllen, gibt ein solcher Bericht den NGOs die Gelegenheit dezidiert ihre Sichtweise darzulegen. Für den CEDAW-Ausschuss sind diese NGO-Berichte eine zusätzliche wichtige Erkenntnisquelle.

Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland hat CEDAW im Jahr 1985 ratifiziert, so dass die Bestimmungen der Konvention für die Bundesrepublik rechtlich verbindlich geworden und auch die Pflicht besteht, ihre Bemühungen in einem Regierungsbericht dem CEDAW Ausschuss mitzuteilen.

Die Regierungsberichte wurden in den vergangenen Jahren von deutschen NGOs in Alternativ-, bzw. Schattenberichten kommentiert. Durch die Erstellung eines Alternativberichtes wurden Themenbereiche, in denen die Bundesrepublik nur unzureichend die Vorgaben der Konvention umgesetzt hat, angesprochen und zum Diskussionsgegenstand zu machen.

So hat der CEDAW-Ausschuss bei seiner letzten Befragung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland im Januar 2003 einige Aspekte aus dem Alternativbericht der NGOs aufgegriffen und dazu konkrete Fragen an die Regierungsvertreter/Innen gestellt. Die Berücksichtigung der Kritik und der Forderungen von NGOs durch den CEDAW-Ausschuss bei der Beurteilung des Regierungshandelns verleiht der Arbeit der NGOs einen außerordentlichen Zugewinn an politischer Bedeutung. Dadurch können gesellschaftliche Veränderungsprozesse auf höchster politischer Ebene angestoßen werden.

Nachdem die Bundesregierung 2007 ihren sechsten Regierungsbericht vorgestellt hat, ist es erstmals gelungen, dass sich eine Allianz von mehr als 25 deutschen NGOs zusammengefunden hat, um ausführlich und umfassend auf die Situation der Frauenrechte in der Bundesrepublik einzugehen.

Der CEDAW - Alternativbericht kann über folgenden Link heruntergeladen werden: http://www.frauenrat.de/deutsch/allgemein/panel-linke-seite/weitere-meldungen/meldungsdetails/back/48/article/cedaw-2009.html