Egypt police in new protests demanding more rights

CAIRO (AP) — Dozens of Egyptian police officers disobeyed orders and stormed a superior's office in the capital, shut down a security directorate in the north and went on strike in the south in a new round of protests Sunday that threaten to unhinge the country's already weakened security force.

It was the year's third wave of strikes by police, who demand incentives to work, like better wages, greater firepower and more benefits.

The police force has not recovered from the days of the 2011 uprising that deposed longtime President Hosni Mubarak. His police were a symbol of the regime's unchecked powers and abuses, and they were forced from the streets in the early stages of the revolt by angry protesters.

After losing much of their power, now police are demanding more rights. Last month thousands of police stopped working for several days. In some cases, citizens found police stations closed.

In an effort to show support, President Mohammed Morsi addressed riot police and attended traditional Islamic Friday prayers with them shortly after their strike ended. He praised the police for protecting security but warned them against divisions.

The Interior Ministry, which oversees police in Egypt, relies on low-ranking police to protect government buildings. Hundreds of policemen have been wounded this year and several have been killed in anti-government protests.

Many officers say they are fed up with promises of reform. Thousands of low-ranking officers have refused orders to guard courts during heated trials and protests.

On Sunday, dozens of low-ranking officers stormed the office of the deputy interior minister in charge of health care for police. His office is inside the main police hospital in Cairo's Nileside neighborhood of Agouza. They said promises of better health care have gone unfulfilled.

In the south, police at two stations in the province of Assuit went on strike, charging that the government did not fulfill any of their demands.

In the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh, police locked the gate to the security division with chains, according to security officials and state media reports.

Some of the police force is also calling for the dismissal of Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, appointed by Morsi in a limited Cabinet shuffle in January. Five different interior ministers have headed the force in the past two years, and none has been able to exercise full control over the unsettled ranks.

Some policemen are also protesting alleged attempts by the powerful Muslim Brotherhood to try to control the force, a charge the Islamist group denies. For decades, Egypt's police aggressively targeted the Brotherhood, and Morsi himself was imprisoned under Mubarak.

Rights activists accuse the police force of continuing its brutal tactics under Morsi. Around 100 protesters have been killed in confrontations with police this year. There are concerns that a recent decision to purchase 100,000 new 9mm pistols for police could lead to an even greater use of excessive force against unarmed protesters and civilians.

Officer Mohammed Mustafa was among those who stormed the deputy minister's office in Cairo on Sunday. He told The Associated Press that the group ended its sit-in after superiors vowed to look into their demands, which include purchasing bullet-proof vests and enacting stronger laws to protect them.

Policemen say they are being arrested and put on trial for using lethal force to protect themselves against well-armed criminal gangs that are smuggling weapons, drugs and antiquities. He said they do not have enough protection to go after suspects.

They also demand the same benefits available to their superior officers.

Mustafa said neither he nor his family can be treated at the police hospital where the sit-in took place. He said he has to take his four children to rundown public hospitals, and he is allowed treatment at the police hospital only if he is injured on the job.

Many police complain that their wages are too low.

Though his salary has increased by almost three-fold following the uprising, Mustafa said he still earns only $185 a month. After 15 years on the job, low-ranking officers receive just $2,000 in compensation when they retire.

"Morsi, before he was president, promised that he would solve the problems of the police force," he said. "We want action, not words."

Also Sunday, several thousand students from state universities marched through Cairo, taking their demands to Cabinet headquarters. They called for the dismissal of the Minister of Higher Education Mustafa Mosaad, accusing him of allowing violence on campuses against student protests. They also want improvements in the education system.

Muslim Brotherhood students did not join the protest.

View the original article here

U.S. proposes U.N. Western Sahara rights monitor; Morocco warns of "missteps"

By Louis Charbonneau and Aziz El Yaakoubi

UNITED NATIONS/RABAT (Reuters) - The United States has proposed that the U.N. peace-keeping mission in the disputed territory of Western Sahara help monitor human rights there, U.N. diplomats said on Tuesday, an idea that has prompted an expression of regret from Morocco.

The U.S. proposal was contained in a draft U.N. Security Council resolution Washington circulated to the so-called Group of Friends on Western Sahara, which includes the United States, France, Spain, Britain and Russia, U.N. diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

"The U.S. has proposed a human rights-monitoring component for the U.N. in Western Sahara," a diplomat said. Other diplomats, as well as the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, confirmed his remarks.

The draft resolution is intended to extend the mandate of the U.N. mission in Western Sahara for another year. It is scheduled to be put to a vote later this month.

Morocco's government responded to the U.S. proposal by canceling the annual "African Lion" war games in protest.

In a statement, it said the country was "confident in the wisdom of the members of the Security Council and in their ability to find appropriate formulas to preserve the political process from any missteps that would have significant and detrimental consequences on the stability of the region."

African Lion is an annual joint military exercise with the Moroccan Armed Forces and the U.S. Army involving around 1,400 U.S. and 900 Moroccan soldiers.

U.N. diplomats said France, which traditionally supports Rabat, was also unhappy with the U.S. proposal.

The U.S. suggestion for a human rights monitoring component of the U.N. mission in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO, comes after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council in a report that he advocated "sustained" independent human rights monitoring for the territory.

The idea of permanent U.N. human rights monitoring is something Morocco opposes but rights groups and the Polisario Front independence movement have long advocated.

RIGHTS VIOLATIONS?

A spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, Payton Knopf, confirmed Washington was discussing the issue. "We are actively reviewing MINURSO's mandate and are working closely with our U.N. Security Council partners on this issue," he said.

"The United States continues to support the U.N.-led process designed to bring about a peaceful, sustainable and mutually agreed solution to the conflict whereby the human rights of all individuals are respected," Knopf added.

In U.N.-mediated talks, Rabat has tried to convince Polisario, which represents the Sahrawi people, to accept its plan for Western Sahara to be an autonomous part of Morocco.

Polisario instead proposes a referendum among ethnic Sahrawis that includes an option of independence, but there is no agreement between Morocco and Polisario on who should participate in any referendum.

The referendum has never been held and attempts to reach a lasting deal have been unsuccessful.

No state recognizes Morocco's rule over Western Sahara but the Security Council is divided. Some non-aligned states back Polisario but France, a veto-wielding council member, has continued to support Rabat.

Polisario accuses Morocco of routine human rights violations in Western Sahara and has called for MINURSO to have the authority to conduct independent human rights monitoring. That is something Polisario has called for in previous years, but Morocco, backed by France, has rejected the idea.

In his report, Ban argued in favor of some form of independent rights monitoring but offered no details on how it would be carried out in the resource-rich territory.

"Given ongoing reports of human rights violations, the need for independent, impartial, comprehensive and sustained monitoring of the human rights situations in both Western Sahara and the (refugee) camps becomes ever more pressing," Ban said.

(Reporting by Lou Charbonneau and Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Todd Eastham)

View the original article here

Supreme Court declines to hear gun rights case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Staying out of the raging national debate over guns, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to weigh in on whether gun owners have a constitutional right to carry handguns outside the home.

The court decided not to hear a challenge to a New York state law that requires those who want to carry a concealed handgun to show they have a special reason before they can get a license.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Christopher Wilson)

View the original article here

After court, gay rights spotlight shifts back to Obama

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama may have made a slow start on gay rights issues, but by the end of his first term his record was such that a news magazine dubbed him the nation's "first gay president." Now activists want more.

Fresh from historic Supreme Court arguments over same-sex unions, advocates want Obama to use his executive powers to fight discrimination at businesses, schools, and military bases and stop waiting for action from a reluctant Congress.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule in June on big issues: the constitutional right to gay marriage and the right of gay married couples to federal benefits. Both are backed by Obama.

Now gay rights groups are pushing for additional measures they believe are key elements for cementing equality.

First on their wish list is an executive order from Obama barring federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, an act that could have sweeping impact.

"There is more that he can do," said Jon Davidson, legal director at Lambda Legal, a non-profit organization supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. "He has repeatedly said as president that it's people's job to push him to do more and more, so we intend to keep doing that."

So far, the president helped bring an end to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that prevented gays from serving openly in the military, signed hate crimes legislation into law, and mandated that nearly all U.S. hospitals give visitation rights to partners of LGBT patients.

Last year, in the middle of the presidential election, Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, concluding an "evolution" of his views that took years.

While Obama's advisers tout his record on the issue, they make clear that an executive order on federal contractors soon is unlikely, arguing that it would carry far less weight than broader congressional action. Legislation called the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) lacks enough votes to become law.

"We want to continue to advocate for legislation. We think that that's the most robust way to accomplish what we want to accomplish," White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett told Reuters in an interview.

"ENDA is a priority. Right now the votes aren't there, but that doesn't mean they won't be," she said.

However, congressional aides say they see little evidence that the White House - already consumed by gun control, immigration reform and budget issues - is pushing to win support for ENDA.

Political support for gay rights is certainly gathering momentum - a point conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made in the March arguments when he told a lawyer defending same-sex marriage: "Political figures are falling over themselves to endorse your side of the case."

Apart from a few exceptions, however, Republican lawmakers have not been vocal supporters of gay rights. On Friday, the Republican National Committee reaffirmed its commitment to defining marriage as between a man and a woman and called on the Supreme Court to "uphold the sanctity of marriage."

A NEW FOCUS

After lobbying successfully for Obama to weigh in against Proposition 8, a California measure prohibiting same-sex marriage that is now before the Supreme Court, gay rights activists argue executive action is the best way to keep up the momentum.

"Now the priority for our community is definitely continued progress on getting that executive order out of the administration," said Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the gay-rights group Human Rights Campaign.

An order barring discrimination by federal contractors would apply to about 20 percent of the U.S. workforce, according to HRC. It would make it illegal for companies with U.S. government contracts to fire or avoid hiring employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity, just as it now is with race.

Federal action is necessary, activists say, because state laws are inconsistent. They say it is legal to fire someone for being gay in 29 states and for being transgender in 34 states.

Some activists are skeptical that Obama is backing away from executive action because he believes Congress will act. They think he is wary of upsetting the business community by forcing a new regulation on it.

"This Congress is not going to pass ENDA, and they know that," said one activist, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois intend to introduce a bill on the issue, according to a Senate aide. However, a similar bill is stalled in committee in the House of Representatives, another aide said.

Obama's advisers believe he has proven his commitment to gay rights is more than lip service, and gay-rights advocates recognize that patience pays off.

Obama's actions, including his administration's decision to weigh in on Proposition 8 and decline to defend the Clinton-era federal Defense of Marriage Act before the Supreme Court, led Newsweek magazine to call him "The First Gay President" in a story on its cover last year.

"He said going in he wanted to do a lot, but I don't think anybody really was sure that he meant it. I put myself in that category, and I admit to being proven wrong," said Richard Socarides, a former senior adviser on gay issues to President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s.

Critics say it took a while to get there. Some Obama backers were frustrated that his "evolution" on gay marriage took so long, and some thought the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" did not get its momentum from the White House.

"He supported it, he signed it, but it's clear that they weren't pushing it," Socarides said.

Now gay rights activists are cautious. Pushing too hard for an executive order would seem ungrateful and could backfire.

POLITICAL PAYOFF

Activists believe Obama could send other signals - for example, by naming an openly gay member to his cabinet.

He could also grant spouses of gay military personnel equal access to commissaries, allow them to live on bases rent free and give them access to legal services such as preparation of wills.

Legislatively, Obama could push for measures to include LGBT students in public school anti-bullying programs.

And, activists say, he could maintain his support for the inclusion of same-sex couples under protections offered by immigration reform efforts making their way through Congress.

Politically, Obama's actions so far have boosted his standing with young voters, and politicians from both parties have noticed, leading to a wave of new, high profile declarations of support in the last few weeks alone.

Exit polls from the 2012 presidential election showed 5 percent of voters considered themselves gay, lesbian or bisexual, and 76 percent of them supported Obama.

Since endorsing gay marriage, Obama underscored the point by referring to it during his Inaugural Address on January 21, tying the push for gay rights to the broader civil-rights movement.

Polls have shown a rapid shift in public opinion on gay rights issues, but Jarrett said that while Obama recognizes his role in shaping public opinion, that was not what drives him.

"This isn't a matter of satisfying a constituency. It's a matter of doing what's right," she said.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Marilyn W. Thompson, Mary Milliken and David Brunnstrom)

View the original article here

Analysis: Supreme Court energizes gay rights even as it resists

By Joan Biskupic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After two days of Supreme Court arguments over same-sex marriage, the United States may be left with this irony: While the high court is not likely to alter the constitutional landscape for gays, the justices nevertheless have provided a rallying point for the gay-rights cause.

Three major legal outcomes appeared likely as the justices on Wednesday ended the second dramatic day of arguments in the most closely watched dispute of their current term:

* The court would not rule that gay people need special constitutional protection from discrimination.

* The court would not declare a nationwide right to same-sex marriage.

* At the same time, a majority would rule narrowly that the federal government must provide married same-sex couples the same benefits it gives their heterosexual counterparts.

Yet just as the nine black-robed justices made clear that they did not wish to play a leading role in the national conversation about same-sex marriage, they showed they could nonetheless raise its volume. Simply by agreeing to hear the two disputes - one over California's ban on same-sex marriage, the other over the federal law denying benefits to same-sex couples - the justices energized the debate.

Numerous public figures including former President Bill Clinton, who in 1996 signed the law forbidding same-sex couples from obtaining federal benefits, and prominent groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics in recent weeks came out vigorously in support of same-sex marriage and gay civil rights.

Individual members of Congress - Democrats and Republicans - suddenly voiced new support for gay marriage.

Perhaps most dramatically, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, considered a possible future Republican presidential contender, earlier this month announced he was reversing his opposition to such same-sex marriage, citing the fact that his son two years earlier had told him he was gay.

Opponents of gay marriage have not witnessed any similar high-profile testimonials from people who were switching to their side. Recent opinion polls, taken in association with the Supreme Court's decision to take up the gay-marriage cases, have documented a surge in public support for same-sex unions.

The new cases also pushed the Obama administration to break new legal ground.

President Barack Obama had personally endorsed gay marriage but he had long asserted that same-sex marriage was a matter for the states to handle. At the last minute, however, his administration decided to enter the California dispute and argue that federal guarantees of constitutional equality forbid states from limiting marriage to heterosexuals.

The administration also contended that gays deserve extra constitutional protection from bias, as the Supreme Court has afforded women fighting sex discrimination.

Yet as much as the justices effectively propelled others to take a stand, they showed by their own comments and questions from the bench this week that they do not intend to be at the vanguard.

The lawyers who appeared on Tuesday and Wednesday were passionate in their presentations, yet none seemed to seize the justices and generate equal fervor.

To be sure, there were moments of excitement, including some sharp exchanges between lawyers and individual justices such as when Justice Elena Kagan challenged an attorney's assertion that government's overriding interest in marriage relates to procreation and childbearing.

'UNCHARTED WATERS'

There was also the suspense of what swing-vote Justice Anthony Kennedy might say. Kennedy sent conflicting messages at times, expressing concern about the children of gay parents who cannot marry but then suggesting the justices should be wise to stay out of "uncharted waters" on the issue.

There were moments of tedium, too, as the justices wrestled with procedural issues that could prevent them from deciding the merits of either case.

Such hurdles would likely prevent any decision on California's Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. A majority of the justices signaled they might not reach the merits, most likely because California state officials have declined to defend the law and Proposition 8 backers may lack "legal standing" in the case.

A court majority most certainly would not conclude - as the challengers to Proposition 8 argued on Tuesday - that all 50 U.S. states must allow same-sex marriage. Currently nine states permit such marriages, along with Washington, D.C.

Nothing that emerged in oral arguments on Wednesday over a provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) would suggest that the justices had any second thoughts about delving into the larger issues of gay marriage. In fact, their comments reinforced the notion that a majority on the generally conservative court is not ready to carve out new rights for gays.

The Obama administration and other challengers to DOMA had urged the court to declare that government rules tied to sexual orientation deserve "heightened" scrutiny, meaning that the government needs an exceedingly persuasive justification for the regulation.

If the court were to adopt such a level of constitutional protection for gays, as it has in the gender-discrimination context, bans on same-sex marriage would be legally undermined. But that proposition for tougher judicial scrutiny in gay-bias cases gained no traction at the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that the national activity surrounding this week's cases might have demonstrated that gays are, in fact, a political force in no need of special protection.

"As far as I can tell, political figures are falling over themselves to endorse your side of the case," Roberts told lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who was representing a New York woman denied a federal estate-tax exemption because her spouse was another woman, not a man.

Roberts may have been referring to national figures including Portman whose endorsement of gay marriage coincided with the court's consideration of the matter.

In the same vein, a record number of "friend of the court" briefs were submitted in the paired cases, most favoring gay rights. In yet another unusual move, marking one of corporate America's most high-profile efforts on same-sex marriage, close to 300 businesses urged the court to strike down the DOMA restriction. (Thomson Reuters Corp, which owns Reuters, was among them.)

Outside the marble-columned Supreme Court building, demonstrators rallying for gay marriage dominated the scene.

So no matter how this court ultimately rules - a decision is expected by late June - it seems clear that the justices' mere involvement was a boost to the gay-rights cause, at least in the court of public opinion.

(Reporting by Joan Biskupic; Editing by Eric Effron and Will Dunham)

View the original article here

UN rights body extends Syria probe to March 2014

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights body has extended its probe of suspected abuses in Syria for another year.

By a vote of 41-1, the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council reauthorized the probe by a panel of four independent experts until March 2014, a half-year longer than originally was proposed.

Those in favor Friday included the United States, Germany, Libya, Pakistan, Qatar and United Arab Emirates. Only Venezuela was opposed. Abstaining were Ecuador, India, Kazakhstan, Philippines and Uganda.

Earlier this month the panel, which began its work in August 2011, said it is collecting evidence on 20 massacres in Syria, a reflection of the civil war's growing brutality.

The United Nations estimates more than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which started two years ago as a popular uprising.

View the original article here

UN votes to probe NKorea suspected rights abuses

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations' top human rights body unanimously approved Thursday a formal probe into North Korea for possible crimes against humanity.

The 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council signed off on the resolution backed by the U.S., Japan and the European Union that authorizes an investigation into what U.N. officials describe as suspected widespread and systematic violations of human rights in North Korea.

Japan's ambassador, Takashi Okada, denounced the abduction of foreign nationals and other disappearances in North Korea, and said the aim of the investigation is to "guide the international community in addressing this situation from an independent and impartial stand point."

The vote follows the recommendations of U.N. special rapporteur Marzuki Darusman, who told the Geneva-based council in a report last month that the secretive Asian nation displays nine patterns of human rights violations. Darusman said the "grave, widespread and systematic violations of human rights" include having prison camps, the enforced disappearances of citizens and using food to control people.

It paves the way for the creation of a "Commission of Inquiry" for one year with three members and calls on Pyongyang to cooperate with that team of independent experts, which will include Darusman.

However, North Korea's U.N. Ambassador in Geneva, So Se Pyong, fiercely denounced the move, calling the resolution "no more than an instrument that serves the political purposes of the hostile forces in their attempt to discredit the image of the DPRK and to change the socialist system chosen and developed by our people."

He was referring to North Korea by the initials of its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The resolution itself was "political invectives with serious distortions, fabrications and accusations about the human rights situation of the DPRK," he added. "As we have stated time and again, those human rights abuses have totally nothing to do with the DPRK."

In 22 previous reports over the past nine years and 16 resolutions adopted by the U.N. General Assembly, the world body of 193 nations has again and again condemned North Korea's human rights record.

The U.N.'s top rights official, Navi Pillay, also has urged such an investigation — the Commission of Inquiry authorized by the United Nations, but performed by independent experts. She has said the U.N. has amassed evidence indicating that up to 200,000 people are being held in North Korean political prison camps rife with torture, rape and slave labor, and that some of the abuses may amount to crimes against humanity.

Julie de Rivero of Human Rights Watch in Geneva said the "long awaited inquiry will help expose decades of abuse by the North Korean government" and send a strong message to Pyongyang that the world is watching.

But North Korea maintains that U.S. hostility and the threat of American troops in South Korea lurk as factors in the push for an international investigation. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Darusman has told the U.N. that little has changed under the country's new leader, Kim Jong Un, who succeeded his father more than a year ago, and who has made it his top priority to strengthen the military while about 16 million of North Korea's 25 million people suffer from hunger and malnutrition.

"For too long the population of the country has been subjected to widespread and systematic human rights violations and abuses," said Ireland's ambassador, Gerard Corr, speaking on behalf of the European Union. "For too long, the government of the DPRK has persistently refused to cooperate with the Human Rights Council and the special rapporteur."

View the original article here

UN rights body urges more thorough Sri Lanka probe

GENEVA (AP) — For the second time in as many years, the U.N.'s top human rights body approved a U.S.-backed resolution Thursday calling on Sri Lanka to more thoroughly investigate alleged war crimes committed by both sides during the country's quarter-century civil war with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

By a 25-13 vote, the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council urged the South Asian nation "to initiate credible and independent actions" to ensure justice and accountability in the aftermath of the conflict, which ended in 2009.

The resolution followed a U.N. report alleging the government may be to blame for thousands of civilian deaths during the military campaign to defeat Tamil Tiger rebels. Like a similar resolution in March 2012, the measure asks Sri Lanka to probe allegations of summary executions, kidnappings and other abuses, but stops short of calling for an international investigation.

Sri Lanka and its allies staunchly opposed the resolution, saying it unduly interfered in the country's domestic affairs and could hinder its reconciliation process.

The head of Sri Lanka's delegation to the council, Cabinet Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, insisted before the vote that the resolution would set "a dangerous precedent" with its "interventionist" aims and could undermine the Human Rights Council's credibility.

"Today it is Sri Lanka, tomorrow it may be any other country," he told diplomats.

The Sri Lanka government has argued that its own investigation should suffice. A Sri Lankan commission report, released in December 2011, cleared government forces of wrongdoing.

Rights groups and foreign governments have called for an independent probe since government troops crushed the separatist rebels. Backers, such as the United States, the European Union and India, argued that credible probes into alleged crimes are an important step to heal the nation.

""The end of the conflict in Sri Lanka provided a unique opportunity to pursue a lasting political settlement, acceptable to all communities in Sri Lanka, including the Tamils," said India's ambassador, Dilip Sinha. "We urge Sri Lanka to take forward measures to ensure accountability. We expect these measures to be to the satisfaction of the international community."

In the end, the Geneva-based council passed the resolution with 25 countries in favor, 13 against and eight abstentions.

View the original article here

Iran, Russia, Vatican threaten to derail U.N. women's rights appeal

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An "unholy alliance" of Iran, Russia, the Vatican and others is threatening to derail a U.N. declaration urging an end to violence against women and girls by objecting to language on sexual, reproductive and gay rights, some U.N. diplomats said Wednesday.

Delegates to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women are racing to reach a consensus deal on a final document by Friday and some diplomats say the future of the commission - a global policy-making body created in 1946 for the advancement of women - is at risk if they fail to broker a compromise.

"There's this sort of unholy alliance ... coming together to oppose language on sexual health, reproductive rights and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights," one senior U.N. diplomat said. "It's tough going, but progress is being made."

"People recognize that if there's a failure again this year to get an outcome document, then the whole future of the status of women commission is at risk," he said on condition of anonymity because negotiations are still underway.

Russia, the Vatican, Iran and other conservative Muslim states including Egypt, object to references to access to emergency contraception, abortion and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, women's rights activists said.

Last year, disagreements over similar issues prevented the commission from agreeing on a declaration of a theme of empowering rural women. Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile and head of U.N. Women, which supports the commission, described last year's impasse as "deeply regrettable" and disappointing.

Diplomats say key sticking points in this year's draft text again revolve around sexual and reproductive rights, the inclusion of gay rights and an amendment proposed by Egypt that would allow countries to avoid implementing recommendations if they clashed with national laws, religious or cultural values.

"It's still a big fight," said one U.N. diplomat involved in negotiations and speaking on the condition of anonymity, adding that language on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights of women was unlikely to be included in a final document.

CULTURAL TRADITION

Egypt's amendment to recognize states' sovereign rights in implementing the commission's recommendations was made on behalf of the African group of nations, although diplomats say several African countries distanced themselves from the proposal.

Some diplomats and rights activists said the Egypt amendment undermines the entire declaration by allowing states to ignore calls to end cultural and religious practices, such as female genital mutilation. Western human rights advocates say the idea of cultural tradition is often used to justify abuse of women.

"There's also an amendment that Russia has put forward about how unilateral sanctions are promoting violence against women, which strikes us as a bit of a stretch and it's slightly out of place," the senior U.N. diplomat said.

The reference to unilateral sanctions appeared to be in relation to U.S. and EU sanctions against Iran and Syria.

Russia's difficulties with language on sexual, reproductive and gay rights appears to be driven by what critics have described as a bid by President Vladimir Putin to shore up support in his country's largely conservative society.

Putin has criticized gays for failing to help reverse a population decline. Putin has also drawn closer to the Russian Orthodox Church, one of the most influential institutions in Russia.

Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, also recently cited low birth rates in Russia and Iran as one possible reason for their stance on reproductive rights.

Another senior U.N. diplomat predicted that a watered down document would likely be agreed by Friday to "save face."

Shannon Kowalski, director of advocacy and policy at the International Women's Health Coalition, said prominent cases of violence against women, such as the shooting of a Pakistani schoolgirl and education advocate and the gang rape of a young woman in India, has mobilized women around the world.

"Countries can't go back home and look women in the eye and tell them they could not reach agreement on ending violence against women," said Kowalski, who has been following the negotiations. "There's a lot of pressure here to have a strong agreement."

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

View the original article here

France's Hollande juggles trade, human rights in Moscow

PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande wants to boost trade ties with Moscow and will have to balance that with French concerns over Russia's human rights record during a debut Moscow visit on Thursday that could prove a diplomatic obstacle course.

An encounter in Paris last June between the newly elected Socialist Hollande and Russia's Vladimir Putin bristled with tension, unlike the cosy meetings between Putin and Hollande's conservative predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac.

Aides on both sides want to avoid the full-frontal clash on rights that marked German Chancellor Angela Merkel's trip to Moscow last year, when she accused Moscow of stifling dissent.

Moreover, with the French economy edging closer to recession and domestic demand moribund, Hollande needs all the outside help he can get to kick-start growth, and will be pushing for Russian business to step up investment in France.

Yet everything from Moscow's support of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, in defiance of the West, to Putin's very public relish at French actor Gerard Depardieu's decision to take Russian nationality for tax reasons means the scope for misunderstandings is great.

"You can get on with someone without loving them," veteran Russia specialist Helene Carrere d'Encausse said of the strained pragmatism she saw defining the visit, whose high point is an 06.00 a.m. EST joint news conference with Hollande and Putin.

Hollande aides insist that, aside from Syria, the positions of Paris and Moscow converge in several areas - notably on Mali, where Russia has backed a U.N. resolution which is a key part of French efforts to extricate its soldiers and put African troops in the front line against al Qaeda allies.

RIGHTS RECORD

Russia sees Tuesday's move by major powers to offer Iran some sanctions relief in return for a halt of some atomic work as a sign that France and other Western states are moving closer to its thinking on an issue that has divided the U.N. Security Council for years.

"In bilateral ties I see no major problems," said Alexei Pushkov, head of foreign affairs committee in the Russian parliament's lower chamber.

"From my contacts with the French lawmakers I get the impression they have a calm attitude towards Russia. Of course there is come criticism, but not to the extent that can be heard in the U.S. Congress or the German Bundestag," he added.

French officials insist Putin's embrace of Depardieu after his decision to seek exile from French taxes on the rich will not jar relations - even with the actor's outing this weekend to the Chechnya region where rights groups accuse security services of extrajudicial killings and other abuses.

But Hollande is under pressure at home to raise human rights concerns including the fate of Putin critics such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky, 49, once Russia's richest man and now serving 13 years jail on fraud and tax evasion charges.

"The last year has been the worst for human rights in Russia in recent memory, and Hollande should not miss this chance to persuade Putin to turn things around," said Rachel Denber of New York-based Human Rights Watch, pointing to new laws which she said restricted public assembly and Internet content in Russia.

The two leaders may broach delicate energy issues, with the European Union seeking to wind down its gas reliance on Russia and Moscow angry over EU efforts to force dominant suppliers such as Russia's Gazprom to sell off infrastructure.

But Paris is keener to focus on raising Russian investment in France, which at around one billion euros only accounts for a 12th of the value of French investment in Russia.

While no major deal is due to be announced, small economic cooperation pacts, plans to facilitate visas and student exchanges are likely to be announced.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Jon Boyle and Michael Roddy)

View the original article here