THE BEDROOM TAX AND THE UN

Just to make Mr Cameron’s day, a leading United Nation’s officialis visiting the UK to examine the impact of the Government’s toxic ‘bedroomtax’ policy on the human rights of thousands of vulnerable people in the UK. However, the UN special rapporteur for housing, Raquel Rolnik, will be visiting every UK nation apart from Wales during her two-week tour of major cities.

One of the not unforeseen consequences of the Con Dem Government’s (Labour approved) Bedroom tax will be an increase in the number of people and families ending up homelessness. The early effects of the bedroom tax arealready beginning to show in official figures with a rise in the number of Landlord Possession claims and orders issued in the 3 months from April to June 2013.

This follows the introduction of the bedroom tax, statistics show that - compared to the same period last year – the number of claims had risen by 11% and the number of possession orders issued increased by 16%. The majority of these claims and orders was in the social housing sector which is the sector most affected by the bedroom tax. The statistics also show an increase of 6.5% in the number of warrants for eviction issued in the private rented sector, as families in Wales continue to struggle with the cost of living and other changes to the benefits system introduced in April.

As we all brace ourselves for the financial consequences of a potentially hard winter (increased heating and fuel bills) it will be less well off vulnerable poorer families who will be least able to face the prospect of larger and more expensive heating and energy bills. If their finances have already been squeezed by the costs of the bedroom tax then extra heating and energy costs could be the final straw resulting in many families potentially facing eviction by Christmas.

NOT RULING ANYTHING OUT...

William Hague (the UK Foreign Secretary) has said that he is not ruling anything out in relation the situation in Syria - anything save any action to protect the Syrian people - that is. The whole situation reminds me in many ways of the early months of Bosnia in the 1990's - where the West made many pious pronouncements about Human rights, arms embargo's etc, yet did little. If you are the ones being shelled by the a government that has been stockpiling arms for the best part of forty years then Hague's words will bring scant comfort.

The UN and the Arab League are failing to halt the killing, the UN is stuck between a rock and a hard place, as both Russia and China will veto any moves to actually act to save lives. The days are gone when Russia and China will step back from supporting and protecting their somewhat bloodstained Allies at the UN.

How many more Houla style massacres will we see before anything is done? Back in February, the European Parliament backed a resolution calling on Russia to stop arms sales to Syria and allow the UN Security Council to take the lead in resolving the crisis and has actively condemned the "brutal massacre" in Houla , and repeated calls for the Syrian government to implement the UN peace plan. Yet still the bodies pile up.

In many ways it is entirely natural for the few remaining Communist dictatorships like Cuba and the Peoples Republic of China (itself a brutal repressive dictatorship) to side with the Syrian Government. Cuban repression is well documented and the PRC's behaviour towards dissidents and ethnic minorities (and the peoples of Tibet and East Turkestan to name but two) within its own border is a matter of record. China has other concerns and anxieties, spreading democracy definitely is not among them, and stability at any price may be a key factor here along with arms sales.

Yet Syria also has some fair weather friends who should know better, including Cuba, Venezuela, South Africa, Brazil and India (who have abstained on Syria related UN resolutions) who remain silent along with the old traditional ‘left’. There is some irony here in that some of the states supporting the Syrian dictatorship were themselves involved in liberation struggles, they might once had a degree of sympathy for the Syrian people who are laying down their lives for freedom and liberty or perhaps they are stuck in the vice like grip of the past or merely enjoying the trappings of power.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Thursday is International Women's Day, which was first celebrated in 1911 in Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland – were one million men and women attended rallies to demand amongst other things voting rights and equal pay. On our planet women perform around 66% of the work, are responsible for the production of 50% of our planets food yet take home around 10% of overall income and own around 1% of the worlds property. When it comes to elected representation worldwide barely 19% of the world's parliamentary seats are held by women, around 16% of the world's elected political leaders are women.

Other statistics are grimmer - more women (between the age of 15 and 44) die as result of violence against them, than die of cancer, malaria, road accidents and war. One in five women will become victim of rape, attempted rape and one in four will experience domestic violence. Clearly a great deal needs to be done before women can enjoy the fruits of their labour, have personal security, and collect their long overdue financial and political rewards.

The United Nations theme for International Women's Day 2012 is "Empower Rural Women — End Hunger and Poverty." Even where political liberation is taking place and dictatorships are falling, women's rights are not necessarily secure, as this BBC Newsnight Report on the Egyptian revolution clearly shows:



In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai, who is preparing the ground to negotiate with the Taliban has commissioned the Ulema Council (Afghanistan's top religious council) to produce a statement which outlines the rights and duties of women under Islam. The council has said that women should not mix with men in school, work or other aspects of daily life and has also said that women should not travel without a male relative.

Outside observers and Afghan women's rights campaigners believe that the release of this statement is no co-incidence, merely part of the president's efforts to cut a deal with the Taliban. Clearly we have come long way from the days when Laura Bush spoke out against the Taliban's oppression of Afghan women, and for Afghan women we may be going nowhere good.

THE HUMAN COST OF A UN VETO

The people of Homs (and the rest of Syria) continue to pay the price for the Peoples Republic of China and Russia giving the green light to Syria's rulers to slaughter its opponents. Russia and China have now twice vetoed UN action on Syria. President Assad and his government used the veto as an effective licence to kill those Syrian people who oppose them. Human rights groups and activists say more than 7,000 people have been killed by Syrian security forces since the uprising began last March.

The UN actually stopped estimating the death toll in Syria after it passed 5,400 in January, saying it was too difficult to confirm the figures. Syrian Government forces have been battering the rebel stronghold of Homs since last week. It has been estimated at least 95 people died in the city last Monday alone. The Syrian government has publicly vowed to pursue the offensive until "order" is restored and state television has denied that there had been any bombardment.



Russia may persist in maintaining its relationship with the Syrian dictatorship; sue to a combination of arms sales, strategic desire for a warm water port and a lingering resentment in the corridors of the Kremlin to having lost the Cold War. It has been estimated that some 10% of Russia's global arms sales go to Syria, with current contracts being possibly worth as much as $1.5 billion (£950 million). Aside from ammunition, recent sales have included military training aircraft, air defence systems and anti-tank weapons. The icing on the cake though is the fact that the Assad regime provides the Russian navy with a navy base at the port of Tartus (which is Russia's last base outside of the former Soviet Union).

It's entirely natural for the Peoples Republic of China itself a brutal repressive dictatorship to side with the Syrian Government. The PRC’s behaviour towards ethnic minorities (and the peoples of Tibet and Xinxiang / East Turkestan to name but two) within its own border is a matter of record. China has other concerns and anxieties, spreading democracy definitely is not among them, stability at any price may be a key factor here as well as potential arms sales.

Syria's slightly more fair weather friends Venezuela, South Africa, Brazil and India, abstained on previous UN resolutions have been pretty quiet of late (as has the old traditional ‘left’). Its a little odd that some of the states indirectly supporting the Syrian dictatorship have themselves been involved in liberation struggles themselves, perhaps they might well have once had a degree of sympathy for the Syrian people who are laying down their lives for freedom and liberty or perhaps they are stuck in the vice like grip of the past or enjoying the trappings of power.

However, you spin this, its yet another pretty blatant diplomatic rebuff to the West, perhaps signalling a much stronger stance from Beijing and Moscow who are unhappy to see the weight of the Security Council ranged against the Syrian authorities. Perhaps all of this signals the end of the new era of intrusive diplomacy brought about by the UN Security Council resolution 1973 on Libya last March, overwhelmed by Russia and China's self-interest.

It is entirely naive to think that that President Bashar al-Assad will go peacefully or any time soon. A brutal leader can kill as many of his people as he likes when there are no real consequences for him or his regime over the short time and stay in power. Assad's brutal murderous regime continues to rocket and shell its own citizens and to bring buildings crashing down on top of women and children in Homs.

The West and the Arab League invested a great deal of time and effort in putting together the UN Security Council resolution – which if not vetoed would have condemned the violence and called for a transition to democracy. Such a resolution would have sent a powerful signal not only to Assad but also to those around him that the world had taken note and a potential coalition forming against him. Although the wording of the resolution was weak, making no reference to sanctions or even the specific removal of Assad – both Russia and China quickly used their veto to kill it stone dead.

DEMOCRACY POSTPONNED

The Afghan Electoral Commission has, stating that a lack of funds and security considerations being the primary cause, has announced that Afghan parliamentary elections that were set to take place prior to the 22nd May 2010, have been postponed for four months until September 2010. A few things strike me, in the bad old 'Cold War' days, unpleasant, corrupt, unstable and undemocratic regimes would usually announce that democratic elections would take place ' within 6 months' so 4 months is an improvement - and oddly enough said promised 'democratic elections' usually never took place.

While the Afghan Government is hopelessly corrupt, ridden with warlords, paedophiles, former (and current) drug dealers and criminals, and a few honest persons, there is a more than fair chance (with Western support) that the Afghan parliamentary elections will actually take place, if the UN manages to complete its passing around the hat operation to find the funds, whether or not any UK forces will be on the ground (or busy packing their bags) is another matter, somewhat dependent upon whether of not David Cameron manages to keep the appeasement wing of the Conservative Party quiet. And I suspect that Gordon Brown, wishes he could put back the forthcoming Westminster election by four months...

Ending Piracy: No easy answer merely a question of consequences

Piracy off Somalia is continuing to grab the headlines and this despite the presence of increasing numbers of warships from a variety of different nations - there seems to be no end to the problem. Piracy has been around off and on and one way and another for a very long time - since the time of Pompey and Caesar - it thrives in regions where there is no effective authority and when there are no real consequences for acts of piracy.

Historically once the near incessant wars of the late 18th and early 19th century's came to an end and the various powers stopped using 'pirates' empowered by 'letters of marque' the days of the pirate were effectively over. Even before this period the consequences for Piracy were made pretty severe i.e. death at execution dock (in London) or sooner if captured by the Royal Navy.

The background to this problem is the lack of any central authority (or any authority) that the West is prepared to deal with in what used to be Somalia. Failed Western intervention in the 1990's left Somalia a political vacuum and the Somali people at the mercy of a combination of tribal militias, warlords and Islamic fundamentalists, Ethiopian military intervention has failed to improve the situation.

When it comes to dealing with the Pirates, the situation is made more complicated by problems of jurisdiction, France when it captures pirates tries them in France, Germany transports Pirates to Kenya, etc.

This may be a case of here we go again, the United States first intervened overseas to deal with Piracy in the Mediterranean. When US Commodore Stephen Decatur attacked the Barbary pirates off North Africa in 1815, Decatur simply captured the flagship of the Algerian Bey and forced a capitulation and a promise of an end to Piracy. This action was backed up by a later British and Dutch bombardment of Algiers, when the Bey later tried to repudiate the agreement.

There is no easy bloodless uncomplicated answer to the problem of Somali piracy, even though the United Nations Security Council has authorised the use of the "necessary means" to stop pirates on the high seas and even hot pursuit into Somali territorial waters, the problem will not be really addressed until the Pirates are made fearful of the consequences of their actions. Additionally the long-term consequences of the failed state that passes itself of as Somalia will also need to be addressed.

If it is at all possible to learn any lessons from History, then one thing to remember is that the payment of ransom by ship owners, much like Danegeld will merely encourage more Piracy.

If it comes down to a case of 'boots on the ground' in Somalia, then the merchant sailors of the world may well have a long wait before they can sail without peril through the horn of Africa.