Ramallah, (IINA) - Israeli forces have detained around 1,000 Palestinian minors since the beginning of 2016, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said Saturday.PLO’s committee on detainees said some of the minors were held under Israel’s administrative detention, a policy under which prisoners can be kept for up to one year without charge or trial. “Some of these minors were held under administrative detention, while others were sentenced to jail or paid a hefty fine in order to be released,” the committee said in a report.Speaking to Anadolu Agency, committee Head Issa Qaraqe said targeting Palestinian minors in Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem has significantly increased since October 2015.“Palestinian children were subjected to torture and abuse inside the Israeli jails,” he said. He also appealed to international organizations to intervene and “protect Palestinian children from detention.” “This requires a wide and fast action from the international community,” he added.The Israeli army frequently carries out sweeping arrest campaigns in the occupied territories that ostensibly target Palestinians who are "wanted" by the Israeli occupation authorities.Over 7,000 Palestinians are currently languishing in prisons located throughout Israel, according to the Palestinian government.
Paris, (IINA) - Up to 1,000 unaccompanied minors will be left to fend for themselves when the so-called jungle camp for refugees in Calais is bulldozed next month.The French authorities have made no plans to rehouse the children because it is hoping to force Britain to honor a promise to help child refugees, the Observer reported. According to the Guardian, the French interior ministry has informed charities and aid organizations that it intends to destroy the camp in less than four weeks.Almost 400 unaccompanied youngsters in the camp, some of whom have relatives in the UK, have already been identified as having a legal right to come to Britain. In May, David Cameron announced that Britain would accept as many as 3,000 unaccompanied minors. James Brokenshire, immigration minister at the time, said Britain had “a moral duty to help.” However, Home Office figures reveal that by mid-September, only 30 children had arrived under the scheme. The Home Office did not respond to queries over whether it intended to help lone child refugees once the Calais camp was destroyed.On Monday, President François Hollande is expected to visit Calais and confirm that the refugee camp will be demolished. Details emerged last week when refugee organizations were told that alternative accommodation elsewhere in France would be supplied for 9,000 adults and families. However, because of a supposed lack of emergency capacity for unaccompanied minors, at least 850 children will be made homeless.Josie Naughton of the charity Help Refugees said: “We are particularly concerned for the safety of the unaccompanied children and ask the authorities to ensure they are protected and accounted for. We also urge the UK government to make good on its pledge, as there is little time to act.”Jess Egan of the Refugee Youth Service, which runs a safe area in the camp for many unaccompanied minors, expressed outrage at the development. “It’s really worrying – horrendous – that nothing has been put in place to help these children,” she said.Emily Carrigan, who has been working at the unofficial women and children’s center in the camp for nine months, said: “We’ve been told that there is accommodation provided, but not for unaccompanied minors, because they [the French] hope the UK will help.“Who knows what will happen to them? They will scatter everyone, and we won’t be able to track them. They’ll disappear.”The dismantling of parts of the camp earlier this year caused so much panic among unaccompanied children that many of them disappeared. One charity, Care4Calais, said that after an area of the site was cleared, 129 unaccompanied minors had vanished.Charlie Whitbread of Care4Calais said he was looking to set up a system to track down lone child refugees after the camp was demolished.“The plan is to remain active and help the small camps that will spring up across northern France afterwards,” he said.Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “The plight of hundreds of children, a significant number of whom have a legal right to live in the UK, is being ignored. Some have died waiting for our government to act. This is disgraceful.”
New York, (IINA) - The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) expressed its solidarity with the government and people of Indonesia in handling destructive floods and landslides, which ravaged Java Island, killing scores of people, leaving some missing, and destroying homes and property.The OIC Chief Iyad Madani expressed his condolences to the families of the victims noting at the same time the hope that member states and civil society organizations would provide urgent support to the people of the Island in confronting these floods and reducing the plight of the affected regions.
London, (IINA) - The United Kingdom is stepping up humanitarian efforts in northern Iraq to put in place food, shelter and water ahead of a major Iraqi-led operation to retake Mosul city from Daesh forces, International Development Secretary Priti Patel announced recently.According to a statement released by the Department for International Development, Patel urged the international community to follow Britain’s lead in preparing for the humanitarian situation that is likely to follow military operations, so that the people of Mosul are helped swiftly, effectively and safely.“As an outward looking, globally-engaged nation, the UK is committed to supporting the people of Mosul and military efforts to destroy Daesh. A safer and more stable Iraq is in everyone’s interest.The people of Iraq have suffered greatly at the hands of Daesh and in efforts to liberate them from this brutality we should not let them go through further undue misery,” Patel said.“New UK support will put in place critical stocks and supplies for basic life support such as food, shelter, sanitation facilities, and protection assistance ahead of Mosul military operations. I urge other countries to follow Britain’s lead,” he added.Through funding partners, UK aid in Iraq has so far helped provide food for more than 70,000 people, ensure more than 80,000 people received essential household items, provide water and sanitation assistance for more than 200,000 people, deliver cash assistance to almost 16,000 people.The UN estimates that up to 1.5 million people could be affected by Mosul operations and will be in need of basic life support such as food, shelter, sanitation and safety.
Algiers, (IINA) - Algeria plans to allow its state banks to list on the local stock exchange to help develop its financial markets and diversify sources of funding after the oil price slide, Reuters cited a senior financial official as saying.The plan will open the door for foreign investors to acquire controlling stakes in banks, reversing a rule requiring Algerian firms to keep a majority shareholding in any partnership with foreigners, the official said. Algeria's six government-run banks account for most of the sector's assets. French companies such as Societe Generale and BNP Paribas have the strongest presence among foreign-owned banks already working in the country.OPEC member Algeria's economy has been largely based on a state-run and centralized system since its independence from France in 1962 and it remains reliant on an energy sector that still provides 60 percent of its budget.However, the oil price drop since 2014 has put Algeria under financial pressure, forcing the government to trim spending and search for alternative financing sources. "The era of $100 a barrel is over. We have no choice but to change our policy," the official said, asking not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media. "Reforms will move slowly, but there will be no step backwards," he added.
Geneva, (IINA) - The UAE has expressed concern over Israel’s continuous confiscation of Palestinian territories and encouragement of illegal settlements, both systematically and deliberately, which aborts and undermines any peaceful initiatives in the future, WAM reported.This came in the UAE's speech before the 33rd session of the UN Human Rights Council, delivered by Obaid Salem Al-Za'abi, UAE Permanent Representative to United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, within the framework of a general dialogue regarding the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories since 1967.Al-Za'abi added that the settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories are still continuing, as a recent report by the Middle East Quartet noted in June 2016, with the Israel announcing its plans to build more than 1,000 housing units in occupied East Jerusalem and 735 housing units in the occupied West Bank. It also unveiled several schemes to build and expand settlements in East Jerusalem, although this represents a war crime under international law.According to the report, Israeli bulldozers still continue its operations, in which 79 houses have been demolished along with 22 facilities in the occupied West Bank during June and August of this year, making 2016 the year that witnessed the largest demolition of homes since 2006, with a total of 188 homes being destroyed.In this regard, Al-Za'abi added that the report has failed to note that Israeli settlements were built on the ruins of demolished Palestinian homes for the benefit of entire families brought from other countries and continents to rebuild the usurped land.He also renewed the UAE's stance, which deems Israeli settlements on the occupied Arab territories as illegal and constitute a major obstacle in the way of achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region. He also called on all countries to claim the need to end the current settlement of Palestinian territories.Al-Za'abi reaffirmed that a comprehensive, lasting, and just peace cannot be achieved without ending the occupation of Palestinian territories and the full withdrawal of Israel from all Arab territories occupied in 1967.
Jakarta, (IINA) - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi is campaigning for Indonesia’s bid for non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the 2019-2020 term, Antara News reported."Indonesia has the required qualifications for UNSC non-permanent membership for the 2019-2020 term, and we are ready for it," the minister said in a press statement. The launch coincided with a diplomatic reception held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to mark the 71st anniversary of Indonesia’s independence.In her address, she spoke of Indonesia’s standing that made it a candidate adequately suited to become a UNSC non-permanent member. Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation, the third largest democratic country and the largest Muslim country in the world, she added.Indonesia has also been able to prove that Islam, democracy, modernity, and women’s empowerment can run in harmony, she underlined. "With more than 17 thousand islands which are home to more than 1,300 ethnic groups, Indonesia is a genuine model for tolerance and pluralism, the values that it has always projected in its relations with other countries," she stressed.Indonesia was first elected a UNSC non-permanent member for the period 1974-1975, then for the second time in 1995-1996 and a third time in 2007-2008, when the country had received 158 votes out of the 192 member states that vote in the UN General Assembly.
