Maternal Mortality, Unplanned Pregnancy and Unsafe Abortion in Timor-Leste

Dili, 09 June, 2009-- The improvement in the quality of life of Timorese women and their families is the objective that Alola Foundation, supported by UNFPA, expects after launching the report, "Maternal Mortality, Unplanned Pregnancy and Unsafe Abortion in Timor-Leste: A Situation Analysis." The launch of this publication took place on Tuesday 3 June at the Alola Foundation installation, and was attended by Kirsty Gusmao, Chairwoman of Fundasaun Alola, Dr. Hernando Agudelo, UNFPA Country Representative and Eng. Idelta Maria Rodrigues, Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI).

This research, carried out by the Charles Darwin University with the endorsement of the Ministries of Justice and Health, will offer to the Government and to the people in Timor-Leste tangible facts regarding the occurrence and practice of unsafe abortion in the country.

"With this study in Timor-Leste, we wanted to show this reality -women may die because of unsafe abortion- within the Timorese society and give to the society a tool for reflection, for taking informed decisions at this point time of its history where the parliament and the government were taking the decision on how to deal with this controversial issue, this study shows that there are unwanted pregnancies and therefore a necessity to ensure country wide access to Family Planning services" added Dr. Agudelo.

Due to their continuous work debating on the issues of abortion and the reproductive health of mothers, Alola and other women’s organizations have been branded as pro-abortion by certain institutions in the country. Ms. Kirsty Gusmao, in her speech referring to this regard, specifically after the publication of this report, appoints: "Such public defamation is inappropriate and offensive to our organizations which have worked tirelessly to free the women of Timor-Leste from a life of violence, ignorance, poor health and poverty… We must not turn a blind eye to the reality of women's lives, to their sexuality, to their experiences of violence in their homes and communities, just because the reality does not sit nicely with the image of Timorese culture we would like portray to the world."

This publication will be used as an advocacy tool in lobbying for women's full access to quality medical care and family planning services and the full realization of their reproductive rights.

For more information, contact Mariano Redondo, UNFPA, Tel: +67..., Email: redondo@unfpa.org

Alita Verdial – Alola Foundation, Tel: +670 7..., Email: alita.adv@alolafoundation.org

Source - http://easttimorlegal.blogspot.com/2009/06/alola-foundation-and-unfpa-launch.html

Lao Hamutuk on Land Processes in Timor-Leste

9 June 2009 DILI La'o Hamutuk - Land Processes in Timor-Leste La'o Hamutuk has just posted a new webpage on Land Processes in Timor-Leste in English and Tetum. This includes information, resources, commentary and analysis on Land Laws, Customary Land, and the USAID funded Strengthening Property Rights program and Ita Nia Rai process.

Various land processes are occurring at the moment:

* The draft Civil Code which will administer land, has already been through public consultation.

* Maps of registered land claims for Manatuto and Liquiça were published last week. People have 6 weeks to contest claims through the Ita Nia Rai process.

* A draft Transitional Land Law – which will decide a structure for determining land ownership from the confusion emerging from colonialism and conflict, will soon open for public consultation.

See the webpage in English at: http://www.laohamutuk.org/Agri/land/09LandEn.htm
Or in Tetum: http://www.laohamutuk.org/Agri/land/09LandTe.htm

We will continue to update this page and welcome any further documents, commentary and analysis on land processes in Timor-Leste, particularly in Tetum.

--
La'o Hamutuk - The Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis
1/1a Rua Mozambique, Farol, Dili
Mob: +670 730 2439
Office: +670 332 5013
Web: www.laohamutuk.org

Source - http://easttimorlegal.blogspot.com/2009/06/lao-hamutuk-on-land-processes-in-timor.html

East Timor Government Publishes First Land Data Collection Results

Press Release 04 June 2009 National Directorate for Land, Property and Cadastral Services (DNTPSC), Timor-Leste TIMOR LESTE'S GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES FIRST PUBLIC DIPSLAY OF LAND CLAIMS

Today the Minister of Justice, Lucia Lobato, and the Director of the National Directorate for Land, Property and Cadastral Services (DNTPSC), Antonio Verdial de Sousa, launched the public display of the pilot land data collection areas in the towns of Liquica and Manatuto.

The land data and claims collection process was authorized by the Minister of Justice in Ministerial Decree 229/2008 of 1 July 2008. This decree also requires the DNTPSC to publish all the data gathered for a minimum period of 30 days. In the pilot areas, the DNTPSC has decided on a public display period of six weeks, beginning on the 5th of June 2009 and closing on the 17th of July.

The areas which will be included in this public display period are:

- Liquica District: Sub-District of Liquica, Suco Data, Aldeia Leopa; and

- Manatuto District: Sub-District of Manatuto, Suco Maabat, Aiteas, Sau, and Ailili; Aldeia Maabat, Bi'uac, Sau, and Ailili.


Public display is a critical process that guarantees the transparency of the land claims collected, since it provides an opportunity for the public to verify all the land claims that were collected at the community level. During the public display period, a new claim can be made, or a counter-claim can be made to dispute another claim. Once the public display period has closed, new claims and counter-claims will no longer be accepted in the closed areas.

During the public display period, land maps and the name and photograph of each claimant can be found at 4 levels: locally in the relevant aldeia or suco; at the district DNTPSC and Ita Nia Rai offices; nationally at the DNTPSC headquarters in Bebora, Dili; and internationally via the Ministry of Justice’s webpage, at: http://www.mj.gov.tl/pt/index.php?p=55.

According to Decree 229/2008, once the public display period has closed for an area, the data will be considered official, and the Government may use this information as the basis for land titling according to the forthcoming Transitional Land Law.

This initative is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the ‘Ita Nia Rai’ (“Our Land”) program, a five-year, $10 million dollar project that is supporting the DNTPSC and the Ministry of Justice to develop a land administration framework for independent Timor-Leste. - ENDS -
-----

Komunikado iha : 04 Junu 2009, Direçcão Nacional Terras, Propriedades e Serviços Cadastrais (DNTPSC) Timor – Leste.


GOVERNU TIMOR LESTE LANSA PROGRAMA PUBLIKSAUN MAPA RAI-NIAN BA AREA PILOTU MANATUTO NO LIQUICA

Ohin loron, 4 Junu 2009, Ministra da Justiça, Dra. Lucia Lobato, no Director Direçcão Nacional de Terras, Propriedades e Serviços Cadastrais (DNTPSC), Antonio Verdial de Sousa, halo lansamentu ba programa publikasaun mapa rai-nian ba area pilotu rua iha Distritu Manatutu no Distritu Liquica.

Levantamentu de dadus kona-ba rai no na’in ba rai autorizada husi Ministra da Justiça liu husi Dekretu Ministerial N. 229/2008 de 1 Julhu 2008. Dekretu ida ne’e fó mandatu ba DNTPSC atu hala’o publikasaun dadus ne’ebe rekolhe tiha ona. Prazu minimal ba publikasaun ne’e maka loron 30; iha area pilotu DNTPSC sei loke dadus ba publiku durante semana 6, husi 5 Junu to’o 17 Julhu 2009.

Area ne’ebe sei inklui iha prosesu ne’e maka:

- Distritu Liquica, Sub-Distritu Liquica, Suco Data, Aldeia Leopa; no

- Distritu Manatuto, Sub-Distritu Manatuto, Suco Maabat, Aiteas, Sau, no Ailili; Aldeia Maabat, Bi’uac, Sau, no Ailili.


Publikasaun hanesan prosesu kritiku hodi garantia transparensia, tanba fo oportunidade ba populasaun atu verifika dadus ne’ebe foti iha nivel local. Durante tempu ne’e, ema sei bele hato’o deklarasaun foun ida, no mos bele hatama reklamasaun, ne’ebe hanesan disputa ida kontra ema seluk nia deklarasaun. Bainhira publikasaun hotu ona, ema sei labele hatama deklarasaun foun ka halo reklamasaun ba ema seluk nia deklarasaun iha area ne’ebe refere.

Durante tempu publikasaun, mapa ho lista deklarante sei bele hetan iha nivel 4: nivel local (iha aldeia ka suco), nivel distrital iha DNTPSC ka Ita Nia Rai, nivel nasional iha sede DNTPSC, no iha nivel internasional liu husi website Ministério da Justiça nian, iha: http://www.mj.gov.tl/pt/index.php?p=55.

Tuir Dekretu 229/2008, bainhira tempu publikasaun remata, dadus sei ofisializa hodi aban bainrua, Governu bele uza atu fó sai titulu ba rai.

Aktividade ne’e mak hetan apoio husi Agensia Amerikana ba Dezenvolvimentu Internasaional (USAID), liu husi programa “Ita Nia Rai”. Programa ne’e ho durasaun tinan lima no orsamentu $10 milloes tulun Direçcão Nacional Terras, Propriedades e Serviços Cadastrais (DNTPSC) no Ministério da Justiça hodi dezenvolve sistema administrasaun rai iha Timor-Leste.

- Remata -

For more information, please contact Jose Caetano Guterres, Manager for Public Information and Awareness, on 7304325, or JCaetano@sprtl.tl.

Source - http://easttimorlegal.blogspot.com/2009/06/east-timor-government-publishes-first.html

Iraq's New Death Squad

Research support provided by the Investigative Fund of The Nation Institute, the Center for Investigative Reporting and New American Media.

The Nation, Shane Bauer, June 22 - The light is fading from the dusty Baghdad sky as Hassan Mahsan re-enacts what happened to his family last summer. We're standing in the courtyard of his concrete-block house, his children are watching us quietly and his wife is twirling large circles of dough and slapping them against the inside walls of a roaring oven. He walks over to his three-foot-tall daughter and grabs her head like a melon. As she stands there, he gestures wildly behind her, pretending to tie up her hands, then pretending to point a rifle at her head. "They took the blindfold off me, pointed the gun at her head and cocked it, saying, 'Either you tell us where al-Zaydawi is, or we kill your daughter.'"

"They just marched into our house and took whatever they wanted," Hassan's mother says, peeking out the kitchen door. "I've never seen anyone act like this."

As Hassan tells it, it was a quiet night on June 10, 2008, in Sadr City, Baghdad's poor Shiite district of more than 2 million people, when the helicopter appeared over his house and the front door exploded, nearly burning his sleeping youngest son. Before Hassan knew it, he was on the ground, hands bound and a bag over his head, with eight men pointing rifles at him, locked and loaded.

At first he couldn't tell whether the men were Iraqis or Americans. He says he identified himself as a police sergeant, offering his ID before they took his pistol and knocked him to the ground. The men didn't move like any Iraqi forces he'd ever seen. They looked and spoke like his countrymen, but they were wearing American-style uniforms and carrying American weapons with night-vision scopes. They accused him of being a commander in the local militia, the Mahdi Army, before they dragged him off, telling his wife he was "finished." But before they left, they identified themselves. "We are the Special Forces. The dirty brigade," Hassan recalls them saying.

The Iraq Special Operations Forces (ISOF) is probably the largest special forces outfit ever built by the United States, and it is free of many of the controls that most governments employ to rein in such lethal forces. The project started in the deserts of Jordan just after the Americans took Baghdad in April 2003. There, the US Army's Special Forces, or Green Berets, trained mostly 18-year-old Iraqis with no prior military experience. The resulting brigade was a Green Beret's dream come true: a deadly, elite, covert unit, fully fitted with American equipment, that would operate for years under US command and be unaccountable to Iraqi ministries and the normal political process.

According to Congressional records, the ISOF has grown into nine battalions, which extend to four regional "commando bases" across Iraq. By December, each will be complete with its own "intelligence infusion cell," which will operate independently of Iraq's other intelligence networks. The ISOF is at least 4,564 operatives strong, making it approximately the size of the US Army's own Special Forces in Iraq. Congressional records indicate that there are plans to double the ISOF over the next "several years."

According to retired Lt. Col. Roger Carstens, US Special Forces are "building the most powerful force in the region." In 2008 Carstens, then a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, was an adviser to the Iraqi National Counter-Terror Force, where he helped set up the Iraqi counterterrorism laws that govern the ISOF.

"All these guys want to do is go out and kill bad guys all day," he says, laughing. "These guys are shit hot. They are just as good as we are. We trained 'em. They are just like us. They use the same weapons. They walk like Americans."

When the US Special Forces began the slow transfer of the ISOF to Iraqi control in April 2007, they didn't put it under the command of the Defense Ministry or the Interior Ministry, bodies that normally control similar special forces the world over. Instead, the Americans pressured the Iraqi government to create a new minister-level office called the Counter-Terrorism Bureau. Established by a directive from Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, the CTB answers directly to him and commands the ISOF independently of the police and army. According to Maliki's directive, the Iraqi Parliament has no influence over the ISOF and knows little about its mission. US Special Forces operatives like Carstens have largely overseen the bureau. Carstens says this independent chain of command "might be the perfect structure" for counterterrorism worldwide.

Although the force is officially controlled by the Iraqi government, popular perception in Baghdad is that the ISOF--the dirty brigade--is a covert, all-Iraqi branch of the US military. That reading isn't far from the truth. The US Special Forces are still closely involved with every level of the ISOF, from planning and carrying out missions to deciding tactics and creating policy. According to Brig. Gen. Simeon Trombitas, commander of the Iraq National Counter-Terror Force Transition Team, part of the multinational command responsible for turning control of the ISOF over to the Iraqi government, the US Special Forces continue to "have advisers at every level of the chain of command."

• PAGE
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next »

Source - http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090622/bauer?rel=emailNation

East-West Center Washington Working Papers

East-West Center Washington Working Papers are non-reviewed and unedited prepublications reporting on research in progress. These papers have a limited distribution, and are available to everyone online as PDF files.
The Dalit Movement and Democratization in Andhra Pradesh
by K.Y. Ratnam
December 2008

State of the States: Mapping India's Northeast
by Bhagat Oinam
November 2008

The State of the Pro-Democracy Movement in Authoritarian Burma
by Kyaw Yin Hlaing
December 2007

Insurgencies in India’s Northeast: Conflict, Co-option & Change
by Subir Bhaumik
July 2007

Origins of the United States-India Nuclear Agreement
by Itty Abraham
May 2007

Internal Displacement, Migration, and Policy in Northeastern India
by Uddipana Goswami
April 2007

Faces of Islam in Southern Thailand
by Imtiyaz Yusuf
March 2007

Committing Suicide for Fear of Death: Power Shifts and Preventive War
by Dong Sun Lee
September 2006

Decentralization, Local Government, and Socio-Political Conflict in Southern Thailand
by Chandra-nuj Mahakanjana
August 2006

Human Rights in Southeast Asia: The Search for Regional Norms
by Herman Joseph S. Kraft
July 2005

Delays in the Peace Negotiations Between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front: Causes and Prescriptions
by Soliman M. Santos, Jr.
January 2005

China's Policy on Tibetan Autonomy
by Warren Smith
October 2004

Demographics and Development in Xinjiang after 1949
by Stanley Toops
May 2004

Source - http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/search-for-publications/browse-all-series/?class_call=view&seriesid=135&mode=view

Muslim Integration into Western Cultures: Between Origins and Destinations

Source: Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Faculty Research Working Paper Series

To what extent do migrants carry their culture with them, and to what extent do they acquire the culture of their new home? The answer not only has important political implications; it also helps us understand the extent to which basic cultural values are enduring or malleable; and whether cultural values are traits of individuals or are attributes of a given society. Part I considers theories about the impact of growing social diversity in Western nations. We classify two categories of society: ORIGINS (defined as Islamic Countries of Origin for Muslim migrants, including twenty nations with plurality Muslim populations) and DESTINATIONS (defined as Western Countries of Destination for Muslim migrants, including twenty-two OECD member states with Protestant or Roman Catholic majority populations). Using this framework, we demonstrate that on average, the basic social values of Muslim migrants fall roughly mid-way between those prevailing in their country of origin and their country of destination. We conclude that Muslim migrants do not move to Western countries with rigidly fixed attitudes; instead, they gradually absorb much of the host culture, as assimilation theories suggest.

+ Full Paper (PDF; 681 KB)

Source - http://www.docuticker.com/?p=26017