Aid agencies accused of hiding scale of sexual assaults on employees
Women come forward to tell of attacks by colleagues worldwide, and accuse NGOs large and small of failing to protect them
Women working for international aid agencies are facing a hidden threat of sexual violence and harassment which their employers routinely ignore or sweep under the carpet, according to testimonies gathered by the Guardian.
While exact statistics on the scale of sexual assault in the sector are hard to come by, many working for humanitarian groups worldwide say sexual predation is an unreported and growing evil that needs to be addressed by those at the top.
Women have told the Guardian that organisations – from major international non-governmental organisations and UN agencies to smaller charities – are failing to support and protect their workers from sexual abuse. Victims who speak out are often labelled troublemakers.
Spanish Civil War: Move to exhume victims from mass grave in Valle de los Caídos sparks anger
The relatives of brothers murdered by Franco’s regime want them removed from a mass grave to identify their remainsALISTAIR DAWBER Madrid
A Spanish court is to decide whether to allow the exhumation of bodies from one of the country’s most controversial civil war mass graves, in a move that is certain to provoke anger on both the right and the left of the political divide.
The families of two brothers murdered by the Franco regime in the 1936 to 1939 conflict have asked a court in El Escorial to order an exhumation at the Valle de los Caídos, or Valley of the Fallen, the huge, Francoist monument that lies outside Madrid. They hope to identity the remains of their relatives, before giving both men a proper funeral.
The monument is also the final resting place of Franco himself, albeit inside the church, rather than on the grounds which hold the mass graves. If the family is successful, it will be the first time relatives of those killed in the conflict, which heralded almost 40 years of fascist dictatorship in Spain, have used the country’s Historic Memory law to recovery bodies from the Valley of the Fallen.
Israel begins construction of new wall separating Jews and Arabs in East Jerusalem
Israeli authorities have begun building another barrier to separate Jewish and Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. The efforts come amid a spate of attacks directed at Jewish civilians by Palestinians.
Israel said Monday it is constructing a wall in a section of East Jerusalem that has served as one of the centers of the ongoing conflict between Jews and Palestinians.
The wall is being built between the Palestinian district of Jabal Mukaber and the Jewish district of Armon Hanaziv. Authorities have already started erecting the wall, parts of which could be 9 meters (29.5 feet) high. The cost of construction has been estimated around 4.6 million euros ($5.23 million).
The barrier is meant to prevent Palestinians from throwing stones, molotov cocktails and other projectiles into the neighboring Jewish quarter, which has served as a target for such violence in the past.
More walls to come
Jabal Mukaber has been a source of concern for Israeli authorities because several recent attacks against Israelis have been carried out by residents of the district. Most recently, a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed after attacking Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint there.
How the Iran deal might change the Middle East
What the calculations are behind the nuclear pact and where it could lead.
BOSTON — The nuclear deal hat the United States and five other world powers signed with Iran is a means to an end, not the end in itself. In that regard, the pact, scheduled for formal adoption on Oct. 19, necessarily rates as a high-risk proposition. If the agreement succeeds, it may mark a first step toward restoring some semblance of stability to the Greater Middle East, thereby allowing the US to lower its profile there. If it fails, the current disorder may in retrospect seem tame.
When he inherited the Oval Office, Barack Obama inherited that disorder. However naively, many Americans – and many others across the globe – expected this charismatic new president to make short work of such untidiness. My personal collection of Obama-era memorabilia includes a special issue of Newsweek from December 2008 featuring a cover story on “How to Fix the World: A Guide for the Next President.” As a foreign-policy novice, Mr. Obama himself seemed to entertain such exalted expectations, for example, promising a “new beginning between the US and Muslims around the world.”
Many Uruguayans fed up with complaints from Syrian refugees
By LEONARDO HABERKORN5 hours ago
When Uruguay announced last year that it would be taking in five families fleeing Syria's devastating civil war, residents of this small town pulled together and lobbied to host one.
Then in November, locals welcomed a newly arrived Merhi Alshebli, his wife and their 15 children with food and seeds to plant vegetables. People in Juan Lacaze, a coastal city of fishermen and paper factory workers in southwestern Uruguay, wanted to do their part to help a country where more than 200,000 have been killed in the fighting.
But after months of the Syrians' complaints about their living conditions and demands to be sent to another country, many Uruguayans in this town and elsewhere have come to see the refugees more as rude, ungrateful guests. This month the 51-year-old Alshebli shocked locals by dousing himself in gasoline in protest, furthering Uruguayans' indignation and sense that this South American nation's humanitarian gesture has gone off the rails.
"I'm outraged," said Monica Benitez, who works at a shoe store in Juan Lacaze's tiny downtown. "What they are doing is offensive."
Why Hindu festival of Durga Puja is all about secularism
BYI was watching film director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s short film Debi when I realized how simply and subtly the director put forward the idea of religious inclusiveness that has been a part and parcel of Durga Puja, the most important Hindu religious festival in West Bengal, India, and the most important festival for Bengalis settled in all parts of India and abroad.
The short film shows the return of Anu (played by actress Ananya Chatterjee) from abroad to her ancestral home in Kolkata to celebrate Durga Puja after the demise of her mother, with whom she had an estranged relationship for she married a Muslim man against her wishes. She has her daughter Lali Rehman (played by singer Monali Thakur) with her.
But Lali’s Muslim identity does not stop Anu’s family from welcoming her with open arms and including her in the puja rituals.
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