The New Nation - Internet Edition

Rehabilitating the Sundarbans

RESTORATION of the Sundarbans based on assessment of damage caused by cyclone Sidr is underway. Plants and animals of the forest suffered devastation in last November's cyclone Sidr. The forest absorbed much of the rage of the cyclone. About 26.5 percent of the Sundarbans was damaged completely and a large area of it partially. The Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and a heritage site for mankind, is spread over an area of 41,14,000 hectares and is the safe abode of 425 species of trees, herbs and creepers and 246 species of animals including spotted deer, estuarine crocodiles and the world famous Royal Bengal Tigers. This forest is known all over the world for its unique biodiversity. The economic contribution of the Sundarbans is immense. It is also an important tourist attraction. The Sundarbans serves as a barrier to natural calamities.

The government is going to take up a strategic programme for the restoration of the Sundarbans. Experts have suggested some mid-term and long-term priorities including study of the natural regeneration process, impact of Sidr on the Sundarbans ecosystem and climate change effects. The rehabilitation programme would reportedly consist of immediate employment opportunities for the affected people, coastal areas plantation and education campaign. Without alternative employment, the affected people will exert stress on the forest and cause further damage to it. Awareness of the people is very important. Without their active participation, restoration of the forest may remain unachieved. Reclamation of the fresh water ponds inside the forest would complement the regeneration process. Immediately after the cyclone, experts had suggested natural regeneration of the forest for which the forest should be left undisturbed. Even the trees that had fallen to the ground under the impact of the cyclone may better not be removed.

Dhaka a big slum

THE residential areas developed in different parts of the city have turned into veritable slums. The physical facilities like roads, supply of water, gas and electricity have turned inadequate compared to the increase in demand. Around seventy percent of residential buildings have turned problematic as the building code plus the rules on construction of buildings in residential areas have been bypassed.

Owners of buildings did not follow the rules relating to open space between buildings and the use of ground floors that are supposed to be used for parking cars plus installation of generators for power and water tanks and gas pipelines. Thus, over seventy percent of houses in residential areas have turned into virtual slums.

Heights of buildings, the narrower roads in such areas have given those a look unlike residential areas. Water supply problems, water logging in the rainy season and unplanned disposal of garbage from such areas have created problems for inhabitants. Professionals in the field have asserted that the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) of Dhaka City has to be completed and the rules and procedures on use of urban spaces have to be followed to make residential areas habitable and safe.

The population of Dhaka city has reportedly reached the range of twelve million. The growth of population may continue in coming years and decades. That being so, authorities in charge of city planning and expansion of infrastructure facilities have to work carefully for expansion of city areas and development of residential, commercial and industrial zones. The availability of water power, gas, oil and coal for day-to-day use has also to be ensured.

Justice for Darfur?

Aijaz Zaka Syed

FEW issues have exercised me as much as the conflict in Darfur has. One hates to blow one's trumpet but I have the dubious distinction of being the first journalist from the Middle East to break the silence on the genocide in Sudan.

When I first wrote about Darfur way back in 2006 criticising the deafening silence of the Arab and Muslim world on the genocide, it was as though I had hit the proverbial hornets' nest with lots of brickbats - and some bouquets - coming my way. Not surprisingly, most of those brickbats originated in Sudan.

It was a blistering critique of the government of Sudan and its incredibly inept handling of the Darfur conflict.

That article, and subsequent ones, censured the Sudanese leadership for its failure to rein in the bloodthirsty militias and warlords prowling in the region who have killed hundreds of thousands of people from a besieged minority and drove millions from their homes. (By the way, few people even in the Muslim world seem to realise that those at the receiving end in Darfur also happen to be Muslim. Not that it makes any difference in the cutthroat, survival-of-the-fittest world of the Dark Continent!)

Today, as the International Criminal Court at The Hague deliberates on the fate of Sudan President Omar Bashir for 'genocide and crimes against humanity,' you would think people like us who have regularly written about the conflict would be delighted by the development. And all those human rights groups and aid agencies, the courageous soldiers of humanity who have relentlessly toiled and endangered their own lives to save a defenceless people, would be relieved.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. It's too simplistic and dangerously naïve to assume that President Omar Bashir planned and perpetrated the atrocities against the people of Darfur, just as Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic did against the Muslims of Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo in 1990's.

The Sudan regime may be guilty of not doing enough to stop the mass murder, rape and persecution of the ethnic minority. The regime could certainly have done more to deal with the murderous thugs of Janjaveed militia whose reign of terror is far from over despite the presence of UN peacekeepers and African Union troops.

Sudan's leaders could and should have done more to alleviate the suffering in the region by working with the UN agencies and aid groups. By refusing to allow in the UN peacekeepers and relief agencies in initial years of the conflict, the authorities exacerbated the humanitarian crisis and multiplied the woes of the local population. But it would be unfair and unreasonable to accuse President Bashir of being the architect of the Darfur catastrophe.

God knows I am no fan of the Sudan leader. And I do not doubt the intentions of monsieur Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the high profile chief prosecutor of the world court. I know he means well. The honesty of his intentions is demonstrated by the number of war criminals he has brought before the ICC since its inception. The world court has issued warrants at least in 10 cases presented before it by Ocampo, including those for the mass murderers of the Balkan wars in the last decade of the last century. But is monsieur Ocampo on the equally firm-footing in this case? We are not so sure.

It is feared that the prosecution of Bashir will achieve too little too late at an incalculable cost to the people of Darfur. More to the point, notwithstanding Ocampo's good intentions, the world court cannot put Bashir in the dock because Sudan as yet does not come under the jurisdiction of the world court.

The African country, just like Bush's America, the leader of the free world and champion of human rights, is not a member of the ICC. In fact, instead of making a difference to the unfortunate lot of Darfurians, the prosecution of President Bashir could actually end up aggravating the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

The African Union has warned of a 'dangerous leadership vacuum and chaos' in Sudan if attempts are made to prosecute Bashir. Even the United Nations fears grave consequences of such an action. It has already put its peacekeepers and personnel on high alert fearing reprisal attacks by the militias and Sudanese forces. Not to mention the increased threat to the people of Darfur themselves, as a consequence of such an action.

This is no defence of the Sudan leader. But if we are really talking accountability, fair play, justice and equality before law, what about dealing with other perpetrators of crimes against humanity? I respect ICC chief prosecutor Ocampo for his courage to bring justice to the people of Darfur. But I would respect him even more when and if he brings justice to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan too.

In case, the ICC official has failed to notice, more people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan than those claimed by the conflict in Sudan over the past five years. And don't forget the mass killings in Iraq started almost around the same time as they did in Darfur.

Information Clearing House, a funny sounding but diehard anti-war online publication based in the US, in its daily newsletter keeps telling me how many more innocents have died the day before in Iraq. Yesterday, ICH reminded me that the number of Iraqis killed since the US invasion stood at 1,236,604. That is more than a million lives!

Trust me, monsieur Ocampo, most of those killed in Iraq had been innocent too. The only crime they had committed was being born in a wrong country and being found at a wrong place at a wrong time. Can they hope for justice too, monsieur Ocampo, just as the people of Darfur do?

And while you are administering justice, could you please also remember the people who have been waiting for justice in the holy land for nearly 70 years? They call themselves Palestinians. Someone stole their country many years ago, driving them from their ancient land and homes. And they have been waiting for justice and deliverance ever since. They die every day but refuse to let their free spirits die.

They have lost generations and generations of the young and old, men and women to this daily war that is their existence. They have simply lost the count how many loved ones they have buried over the past seven decades.

Can they hope for justice too, monsieur Ocampo? And those who did this to them are around too. Would you deal with them too? Or are there two different standards of justice?

Don’t make women trade-item for tourism

Mohammad Shahidul Islam

Sex tourism is buzz words round the world. The subject is also controversial. It receives points and counter-points from the economy development and human rights authorities of sex tourism existed countries. Its definition definitely stands against the humanity of the society of ours. It is defined as traveling to a foreign country with the objective to take on sexual doings with others. Sex tourism has now mostly been identical with child abuse. The figure and statistics are extremely horrible and obnoxious. Sex tourism of children would therefore be defined as traveling to a foreign country with the objective to take on sexual doings with a child younger than the age of 18. The happenings of sex tourism are so serious that even the vulnerable country America for sex tourism has raised its voice louder. It is against the law for any citizen of America to travel to another country to engage in sexual activity with any child younger than the age of 18. Individuals who partake in this illegal activity are subject to prosecution in America even if they committed the crime on foreign soil. But what's the voice of some Asian countries? Would they like to indulge in sex tourism?

At the same time as much of the preliminary international attention on sex tourism of children focused on Thailand and other countries of Southeast Asia, there is no hemisphere, continent, or region unaffected by this trade. As countries develop their economies and tourism industries, this form of tourism seems to surface. Economic difficulties, civil unrest, poverty, and displacement of refugees all contribute to the growth of this industry. The United Nations International Children's Educational Fund (UNICEF) released a report couple years back estimating more than 1 million children, overwhelmingly female, are forced into prostitution every year, the majority in Asia.

End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT), however, also reports increasing evidence of children being exploited in former Eastern Bloc countries. Reports of children entering prostitution, being exploited by foreigners and aid workers, and trafficked to Western European brothels are coming from the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, and Russia.

South Korea remains a major destination in Asia for organised sex tours, the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) has revealed lately. According to the CRS's recent report entitled "Trafficking in Persons: US Policy and Issues for Congress," South Korea is on the same level as the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong as major Asian destinations for sex tourism, while Indonesia and Taiwan were categorized as secondary destinations.

"We're making all-out efforts to present accurate information on Korea to politicians, government officials, academics and experts in the US," a South Korean official in Washington told local Korean news agency ChoSun in response to the report. "It is sometimes possible that accurate information on the reality in Korea is not delivered. We'll take a proper countermeasure after finding out the truth first."

The Korean government has closed down brothels, "organised prostitution for foreign tourists has to all intents and purposes eradicated, and ordinary prostitution has been outlawed and drastically reduced," after prostitution crackdown laws went into effect on Sept. 23, 2004.

"The latest classification by the CRS is, therefore, a blow for the Korean government, highlighting the need to disseminate accurate information to improve the national image," Cho Sun news said.

The CRS report stated that US President George W. Bush on Oct. 18, 2007 issued sanctions against North Korea, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Syria, and Venezuela, which the US State Department had categorised, in its own human trafficking report, as Tier 3 countries for failing to address the problem of trafficking for forced labor.

Even where laws exist, say experts, implementation is often ineffective. Experts contend "tourists travel for the sole purpose of having sex with minors." According to Alexander Kruger, child protection specialist with UNICEF in Thailand, much of the demand for child sex is home-grown, while authorities turn a blind eye. "There is a lack of awareness among government officials," he said. ECPAT, which campaigns against child prostitution, claims that Vietnamese children are being sent to Cambodia, China, Malaysia and Taiwan for abuse. "As a tourist destination, Malaysia has 'unwillingly' become a transit and destination country for human trafficking, especially for women and children in the sex trade," said Christopher Wee Soo Kee, director of Malaysian police investigations department.

Lured by the promise of Malaysia's economic prosperity and easy entry, police investigations reveal most of the sex "victims" in Malaysia are mainly from Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and China who have been recruited with the promise of a job as a domestic or factory worker. Many people travel to these Southeast Asian countries just to have many different sexual partners without any attachments whatsoever.

It is highly advertised in these countries and is not looked down upon, but moreover looked at as a means of making money for young girls. One woman is said to be involved with 5,000 tourists that visit the country in one year.

That is why the STD [sexually transmitted diseases] and pregnancy rate in these countries are so high. These countries can not outlaw this form of labor because sex tourism brings in a lot of new people who bring a lot of money and also the prostitutes only job on occasions.

Canada is one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to enforcement of its own child-sex tourism law recently. At least 146 Canadians have been charged overseas for sexually abusing children, a survey has found. It has been exposed; many more Canadians have likely bribed their way out of being charged in jurisdictions such as Thailand and Cambodia where children are easy prey for foreign pedophiles.

The data on Canadians charged abroad between 1993 and 1997 was released to Benjamin Perrin of the University of British Columbia through a Freedom of Information request.

"To date, the Canadian policy has been to not aggressively, or even actively, enforce our own child-sex tourism law and that needs to change," Perrin said lately. "It's one of the most under enforced provisions of the Criminal Code."

Canada's child-sex tourism law was enacted in 1997 and bolstered five years later to no longer require the foreign country where allegations of sexual abuse took place to consent to the charges.

Donald Bakker is the only person in Canada to be convicted under the law after he pleaded guilty in 2005. He received a 10-year sentence for 10 sexual assaults on girls between ages seven and 12 in Cambodia, where he videotaped his exploits.

Police forces globally are overwhelmed with child-sex cases in developing countries. It is urgently important to enforce child-sex tourism laws across the world.

When daddy is also mommy

Ellen Goodman

ONE of the expressions my grandmother uttered with feeling and frequency was "One man should have one baby." I never knew if this was a wish or a curse, but I'm pretty sure she never imagined Thomas Beatie.

For those of you who do not read tabloids, Beatie is "The World's First Pregnant Man." While the title of "first" is in dispute, Beatie is certainly the most public transgender poster parent to have a baby bump plastered across the media. And now - pass the cigars - he has delivered the baby.

Unlike the tabloids, I will spare you many of the medical details. Let us just say that Thomas was born Tracy and socialized enough into a traditional female role to be a finalist in the Miss Hawaii Teen USA contest. Then, a decade ago she had what we used to call a sex change operation but what some now call sexual realignment surgery. She had her body realigned to fit her self-image.

At this point, she changed pronouns and so will I. Sometime after the surgery, Thomas married Nancy in Oregon, a state that would have banned Tracy from wedding Nancy, but never mind. Nancy, who had two grown children, no longer had a uterus but wanted to be a mother again. Thomas, who had retained a uterus and ovaries, wanted to be a father.

Here is where the story becomes less of a freak show - Bearded Man Gives Birth! - and more like an inevitable next step of medicine on the march, or on the makeover if you prefer.

It is only recently that we began to look at the human body as a template to be altered as we please. I'm not comparing sexual reassignment surgery to liposuction, but if Thomas removed his breasts to fit the male model, how many women enlarge them to fit the female model? For that matter, it's only recently that we could reach into the pillbox and pull out male and female hormones.

Add to that the expanding gamut of reproductive technologies. Over Beatie's 34-year lifespan we have subdivided the word "mother" into its many parts. We now have genetic, gestational, and birth mothers, as well as the mothers who actually raise children. We have egg donors and surrogates. Grandmothers have carried their own grandchildren. Sisters have delivered their own nieces.

Indeed, on the list of reproductive technologies, the Beatie baby-making project was as basic as a turkey baster. The sperm came from an anonymous donor. They used artificial insemination and natural childbirth. But from a social point of view, Thomas and Nancy are going to have an awful lot more 'splaining to do to their child.

"In a technical sense, I see myself as my own surrogate," said Beatie. But in a technical sense, he is not a surrogate. He's the genetic mother and the gestational mother. He told the American talk-show host Oprah Winfrey that he has "a right to a biological child." But what he actually has is a uterus and ovaries.

So, in the same technical sense, this baby has two mommies, the birth mother and the social mother. The baby also has two daddies, the sperm donor and the social dad. In a technical sense, Thomas is both birth mother and social father.

There's no way to opt out of the medical march even if we wanted to. But what made Beatie tabloid fodder is that in a he/she world of opposite pronouns and sexes, he represents the trans in gender, the mind-spinning possibility that gender is not either/or but both/and.

In the end, the most bizarre part of the story may be the Beaties' retro insistence on their titles. "He will be the father and I will be the mother," said Nancy. Having twisted all the biological roles, having bent all our biological images of what it means to be a father or mother, they seem to have asserted old social roles. Let us hope he changes diapers.

Call Thomas a man with a uterus or a woman with a - never mind. But Sigmund Freud notwithstanding, this is another way in which anatomy is no longer destiny. As for the baby? It's a girl! At least for the moment.