UN Criticised For Complicity In Congo War Crimes
The UN head of peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of Congo today rejected accusations that the organisation is complicit in war crimes. Alan Doss, the Head of the Mission in Congo (Monuc), has been criticised by human rights and aid groups for providing operational and logistical support for an army offensive, Kimia II, against Hutu militias from neighbouring Rwanda. UN forces have provided military firepower, transport, rations and fuel for government troops as they seek to disarm the militias, who call themselves the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Human Rights Watch last week called on Monuc immediately to suspend its support to the Congolese army or risk being implicated in further atrocities. Human Rights Watch said it had documented the deliberate killing of at least 270 civilians in a remote part of North Kivu province since March 2009, when the offensive began. Most of the victims were women, children and the elderly, it said… Monuc is the world's largest UN peacekeeping mission, with a budget this year of $3.1bn (£1.9bn) and some 20,000 peacekeepers.
 

Fatal Landslide Hits Tanzania
A landslide has killed at least 20 people in Tanzania after a torrential downpour triggered a flash flood. Seven schoolchildren are among the dead and more people are missing, local officials said. Rescuers are digging out bodies in the village of Goha, Kilimanjaro province, which was swamped when the side of a mountain collapsed on Tuesday night. Until these past four days of rain came, eastern Africa has been battling a drought for the past two years…

Severe Effects Of Poor Nutrition
Poor child nutrition still causes major problems in the developing world. A third of deaths in children under five in certain developing-world countries are linked to poor diet, a report by UNICEF suggests. It also reveals 195m children (one in three) have stunted growth, even though rates have fallen since 1990. Rates of stunted growth are higher because while some children may be a normal weight - in fact some can even be overweight - the food they are getting is of such poor quality that they have growth problems. Experts warn that such a condition is often irreversible and effectively condemns children to a lifetime of poor health.

Poor Nations Pledge Low-Carbon Future
Poor countries considered vulnerable to climate change formed an 11-nation forum, Climate Vulnerable Forum called V11 (made up of Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Nepal, Rwanda, Tanzania and Vietnam) who have vowed to practice a low-carbon future, in turn, challenging richer nations to follow in suite. The forum was established by Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed to highlight the climate "threat" to poor nations. The declaration from the first meeting of a new 11-nation forum calls on rich countries to give 1.5% of their GDP for climate action in the developing world. The declaration states that man-made climate change poses an "existential threat to our nations, our cultures and to our way of life, and thereby undermines the internationally protected human rights of our people".

‘Black Jails’
Large numbers of Chinese citizens – including children – have been held for days (even months) in unofficial "black jails" that appear to have emerged when a controversial detention system was abolished, according to a report published today by a human rights group. Citizens who had travelled or tried to travel to Beijing, in order to seek legal justice for local discrimination and injustices they had experienced, told Human Rights Watch they were instead abducted, detained and in many cases abused in the illicit prisons. Journalists, Chinese human rights organisations and Chinese scholars have collected details of several jails as well as speaking to those who have been held there. Human Rights Watch interviewed 38 former detainees for the report but withheld all names for fear of reprisals. Interviewees reported physical violence by guards, extortion, threats and deprivation of food, sleep and medical care.