Government (3)

22 July 2010 : AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Amnesty International has called on Somali authorities and armed opposition groups in the country to respect freedom of expression amid a growing government crackdown on independent journalism.

A campaign of harassment and intimidation has seen a spate of arrests and interrogations of journalists since June. Media workers already face serious threats from armed groups, with 10 reporters killed in the last 18 months.



Amnesty International's new briefing paper, Hard News: Journalists' lives in danger in Somalia, launched on Somali Human Rights Day (22 July), documents the targeting of journalists in the country.

"Somali journalists are being prevented from informing the local population about daily violence that affects their lives - a service that is particularly vital in a conflict too dangerous for consistent international media reporting," said Michelle Kagari, Amnesty International's Africa deputy director.

"Somalia's authorities must investigate the attacks and harassment of journalists, both by armed groups and members of their own government, and ensure that freedom of expression is respected."

Somalia's internationally backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) controls only a small part of the capital Mogadishu, while the rest of southern and central Somalia is under the control of armed groups.

The two largest are al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam, which are allied against the TFG but have also engaged in fighting against each other.

While the armed groups are the most deadly threat to journalists in the country, media workers have come under increased pressure from the TFG in a recent clampdown on independent journalism.

On 26 June, New York Times correspondent Mohammed Ibrahim fled Somalia after threats from government security forces, following the publication of an article alleging that government forces included child soldiers.

On 29 June, several journalists were wounded when missiles were fired on a press conference being held by Al-Shabab in Mogadishu. Local journalists at the scene believe they were indirectly targeted by the TFG, who did not want the press conference to go ahead.

On 1 July, police detained journalist Mustafa Haji Abdinur and freelance cameraman Yusuf Jama Abdullahi for taking pictures of their colleague, photojournalist Farah Abdi Warsame, who had been hit in the crossfire during fighting in Mogadishu.

The journalists were interrogated and forced to delete their photographs. Warsame was only able to get medical treatment after being interrogated.

"Rather than protecting journalists from feared armed groups such as al-Shabab, the Somali authorities are increasing the problems for media workers by adding to the harassment they face," said Michelle Kagari.

Armed groups opposed to the Somali government now control many towns in the country. They have killed, harassed and intimidated journalists, shut down radio stations, restricted what local media can report on and frequently prevent journalists from publishing information which they believe is unfavourable towards them. This makes it almost impossible to disseminate vital information on the situation in Somalia.

On 5 May - the most recent journalist killing - three gunmen shot dead broadcast journalist Sheik Nur Mohamed Abkey as he was returning home from the state-run Radio Mogadishu.

He was abducted by the gunmen near his home in southern Mogadishu and then shot repeatedly in the head. Members of al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the killing.

In 2009, nine journalists were killed, the highest total in any one year since 1991, when armed conflict broke out after the collapse of ex-President Siad Barre’s government.

In the first five months of 2010, in addition to the killing of one journalist, many more were abducted and harassed by armed groups.

The TFG was backed militarily by Ethiopian troops who remained in Somalia until early 2009. TFG officials and institutions are now protected by the African Union Mission in Somalia, AMISOM.

The TFG is opposed by a number of armed Islamist groups. Groups on both sides of the conflict often overlap, forge or shift alliances, or divide into separate groups.

Read the report:
Hard News: Journalists' lives in danger in Somalia

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For further information, please contact:
John Tackaberry, Media Relations
613-744-7667, ext. 236

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Ontario Environment Minister John Gerretsen, shown in this 2003 file photo, said his government is ending the controversial eco fee program.

Ontario Environment Minister John Gerretsen, shown in this 2003 file photo, said his government is ending the controversial eco fee program. (Tobin Grimshaw/Canadian Press)

Ontario Environment Minister John Gerretsen confirms the province is scrapping its eco fee program, saying the government did a poor job of telling the public about the new fees.

CBC NEWS: July 20, 2010: Ontario Environment Minister John Gerretsen has confirmed that the province is dropping its eco fee program, saying he takes "full responsibility" for not doing a better job of communicating the introduction of the new charges.

The fees, which went into effect on July 1, applied to a wide variety of items, including batteries, soap, fire extinguishers and paint.

The fees were collected by manufacturers and retailers to help fund a recycling program that diverts those potentially hazardous items from landfills.

But there was no public warning that the eco fee would be slapped on thousands of new items this month.

"These new eco fees are gone," Gerretsen told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.

"That means all products added on July the 1st will not have any fee on them."

Stewardship Ontario, an industry-led organization appointed by the government to oversee the program, collected the fees from retailers and manufacturers.

Manufactures and retailers, in turn, determined which fees they would pass on to consumers.

"The bottom line is Stewardship Ontario could have done a better job for rolling out the changes, and we, the Ministry of the Environment, the government, and I as minister, could have done a better job of helping them communicate their changes, and I take full responsibility for that," said Gerretsen.

Espionage in Canada and Western Countries: Part One to Five

https://poetsofottawa.ning.com/profiles/blogs/espionage-in-canada-and

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https://poetsofottawa.ning.com/profiles/blogs/espionage-in-canada-and-4

Program being re-evaluated

People who have already had to pay eco fees since July 1 will not be refunded, Gerretsen said. All that money will go to Stewardship Ontario, he said.

Gerretsen couldn't say how much money has been collected by the agency since the start of the month, but stressed that "not one penny of this comes to the government."

The government will take 90 days to re-evaluate the program, he said. It will fork over up to $5 million during that time to keep the program going.

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Semitic illegal drug calls Khat spreads in North America and Europe

The government signalled its reversal shortly after Canadian Tire announced Monday it would stop charging the fee because the program was too confusing.

The fees are part of a larger program called Orange Drop, which aims to make it easier for people to dispose of hazardous materials in a way that ensures they don't end up on the landfill.

The Orange Drop program in turn builds on the Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste Program, first introduced in July 2008, aimed at increasing diversion of hazardous materials. The program provides drop zones throughout the province where consumers can dispose of the products on the overall list.

In 2008, the government outlined nine categories of products that it said were designated for recycling and disposal. On July 1, 13 more categories of products were added to that list.

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The moncitizenship is the new Canadian governmental task. The diplomatic lines of Republics of Yemen and Poland are non grata with their masks.

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Crime statistics not accurate, Day suggests

Treasury Board President Stockwell Day speaks during a news conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Tuesday. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

August 3, 2010 ; CBC NEWS: Treasury Board President Stockwell Day says the government will go ahead with its plan to spend billions for new prisons, suggesting statistics that show crime is declining in Canada are not accurate.

During a news conference on Tuesday in Ottawa, Day said the government has received indications that more and more people are not reporting crimes committed against them.

"It shows we can't take a Liberal view to crime which is, some would suggest, that it is barely happening at all," Day said. "Still, there are too many situations of criminal activity that are alarming to our citizens, and we intend to deal with that."

When questioned by perplexed reporters, Day did not elaborate on what information source he was basing his claims, but said he would provide figures to them later.

P.O.V.:

Have you ever been the victim of a crime you didn't report to authorities? Take our poll. [http://www.cbc.ca/news/pointofview/2010/08/crime-have-you-ever-declined-to-report-one.html]

Speaking shortly after Day, Liberal MP Mark Holland said his comments show Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government "doesn't have any respect for facts."

"You don't make up statistics to try to scare people and use crime as a wedge issue," Holland told reporters in Ottawa.

In a statement to CBC News on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's office cited Statistics Canada's report of its last general social survey conducted in 2004, which found an estimated 34 per cent of Canadians who are victims of crime still aren't reporting the crime to police.

The statement said Day was "correct in his assertion that many crimes go unreported in Canada" and "[t]he amount of unreported victimization can be substantial."

According to the Statistics Canada survey, conducted every five years, an estimated 88 per cent of sexual assaults go unreported, as well as an estimated 69 per cent of household thefts, the minister's office said.

The information gathered from the 2009 survey on unreported crimes has yet to be released.

Freezes, census changes staying

In the meantime, the federal government will not ease off on plans for fiscal restraint in other departments, despite indications Canada could eliminate its deficit a year earlier than predicted, Day said.

Last week, the Conference Board of Canada said the federal government should be able to eliminate the annual budget deficit by 2015. The business think-tank said in a report it depends on the government sticking to its promises to constrain spending.

Day said that while the global economic recovery is still "somewhat fragile," the government will continue with its freezes on spending, as well as departmental reviews to look for savings.

"We will be sticking to our fiscal plan," Day said.

In its February budget, the federal government projected a budgetary shortfall of $54 billion in 2010 but said annual deficits should be eliminated through spending cuts by 2016.

The Treasury Board president also was adamant that the Conservative government will stick with its controversial plan to scrap the mandatory long-form census.

The government has faced a month of turmoil ever since it announced in late June it would end the mandatory survey and replace it with a voluntary form. Opposition parties, statisticians' groups, provinces, municipalities and social agencies have condemned the move, saying it would lower the quality of data gathered by Statistics Canada and used by a wide array of policy makers.

The government has maintained Canadians should not be coerced through threat of jail time or fines to fill out information they don't want to disclose.

When questioned by reporters over the opposition parties' suggestions to amend the Statistics Act to remove the threat of jail time for those who refuse to fill out long-form census, Day said the government is "open to discussion" on any move to stop "criminalizing Canadians" who don't want to answer "intrusive" questions.

Day maintained the mandatory long-form survey will be abandoned in the spring 2011 census, but said the short-form census will remain compulsory because the government requires "some basic data."

He also questioned the value of information gathered by the census, suggesting data older than a year is "untenable in today's information age."

Day also acknowledged he has only heard directly from three people on the census issue in his constituency.

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Ottawa International Poets and Writers for human Rights (OIPWHR)