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	EU says fingerprinting of Roma in Italy racist by CNN / Associated Press Italy   July 21, 2008   Italian outrage over Roma drowning photos. (CNN)   Italian newspapers, civil liberties campaigners and the archbishop of Naples have expressed shock and revulsion after photographs were published of sunbathers apparently enjoying a day at the beach just meters from where the bodies of two drowned Roma girls were laid out on the sand.   Italian news agency ANSA reported that the incident had occurred on Saturday at the beach of Torregaveta, west of Naples, southern Italy, where the two girls had earlier been swimming in the sea with two other Roma girls. Reports said they had gone to the beach to beg and sell trinkets.   Local news reports said the four girls found themselves in trouble amid fierce waves and strong currents. Emergency services responded 10 minutes after a distress call was made from the beach and two lifeguards attended the girls upon hearing their screams. Two of them were pulled to safety but rescuers failed to reach the other two in time to save them.   The Web site of the Archbishop of Naples said the girls were cousins named Violetta and Cristina, aged 12 and 13. Their bodies were eventually laid out on the sand under beach towels to await collection by police. Photographs show sunbathers in bikinis and swimming trunks sitting close to where the girls feet can be seen poking out from under the towels concealing their bodies. A photographer who took photos at the scene told CNN the mood among sunbathers had been one of indifference.   Other photos show police officers lifting the bodies into coffins and carrying them away past bathers reclined on sun loungers.   "While the lifeless bodies of the girls were still on the sand, there were those who carried on sunbathing or having lunch just a few meters away," Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported.   Corriere della Sera said "few left the beach or abandoned their sunbathing. When the police from the mortuary arrived an hour later with coffins, the two girls were carried away between bathers stretched out in the sun."   The incident also attracted condemnation from the Archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Crecenzio Seppe. "Indifference is not an emotion for human beings," Seppe wrote in his parish blog. "To turn the other way or to mind your own business can sometimes be more devastating than the events that occur."   Recent weeks have seen heightened tensions between Italian authorities and the country"s Roma minority amid a crackdown by Silvo Berlusconi"s government targeting illegal immigrants and talk by government officials of a "Roma emergency" that has seen the 150,000-strong migrant group blamed for rising street crime.   That has provided justification for police raids on Roma camps and controversial government plans to fingerprint all Roma -- an act condemned by the European Parliament and United Nations officials as a clear act of racial discrimination. Popular resentment against Romanies has also seen Roma camps near Naples attacked and set on fire with petrol bombs by local residents.   In a statement published on its Web site, the Italian civil liberties group EveryOne said: "The most shocking aspect of all this is the attitude of the people on the beach," the statement said. "No one appears the slightest upset at the sight and presence of the children"s dead bodies on the beach: they carry on swimming, sunbathing, sipping soft drinks and chatting":.   July 10, 2008   EU says fingerprinting of Roma in Italy racist. (AP)   The European Parliament on Thursday called the fingerprinting of Roma in Italy a clear act of racial discrimination and urged the authorities to stop it.   In a resolution, the EU assembly said the measure is not supported by EU human rights treaties and that EU citizens of Roma, or Gypsy, origin must not be treated differently from others in Italy, who are not required to submit their fingerprints.   The Italian government has begun the Gypsy fingerprinting as part of a wider crackdown on street crime.   Early examples of the papers filed in Naples showed local authorities also were identifying those fingerprinted according to their religion, ethnicity and education level.   EU lawmakers called on the European Union executive to thoroughly check whether the steps taken by the Italian government violate European law.   They said Italian claims that the presence of Roma camps around large cities justifies the government to declare a state of emergency and implement extraordinary measures are disproportionate and inappropriate.   More than 700 encampments have been built in Italy, mainly around Rome, Milan and Naples, housing tens of thousands of Roma in squalid conditions.   The EU has no definitive policy to help its 7-9 million Roma, or Gypsies, to integrate into the society. For decades, members of the continent"s largest, poorest and fastest growing minority have been at risk of social exclusion, despite many government programs designed to help them.   They often move around in search of seasonal work and live in encampments in squalid conditions with no access to health services, education, basic sanitary facilities or jobs.
	International court seeks arrest of Sudan"s President by ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo International Criminal Court (ICC) Darfur, Sudan   The Hague, 14 July 2008   Situation: Darfur, Sudan   ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has presented evidence today showing that Sudanese President, Omar Hassan Ahmad AL BASHIR committed the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.   Three years after the Security Council requested him to investigate in Darfur, and based on the evidence collected, the Prosecutor has concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe that Omar Hassan Ahmad AL BASHIR bears criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.   The Prosecution evidence shows that Al Bashir masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups, on account of their ethnicity. Members of the three groups, historically influential in Darfur, were challenging the marginalization of the province; they engaged in a rebellion. AL BASHIR failed to defeat the armed movements, so he went after the people. “His motives were largely political. His alibi was a ‘counterinsurgency.’ His intent was genocide. ” The Prosecutor said.   For over 5 years, armed forces and the Militia/Janjaweed, on AL BASHIR orders, have attacked and destroyed villages. They then pursued the survivors in the desert. Those who reached the camps for the displaced people were subjected to conditions calculated to bring about their destruction. AL BASHIR obstructs international assistance. His forces surround the camps. One victim said: “When we see them, we run. Some of us succeed in getting away, and some are caught and taken to be raped -- gang-raped. Maybe around 20 men rape one woman. […] These things are normal for us here in Darfur. These things happen all the time. I have seen rapes too. It does not matter who sees them raping the women -- they don''t care. They rape girls in front of their mothers and fathers”.   For over 5 years, millions of civilians have been uprooted from lands they occupied for centuries, all their means of survival destroyed, their land spoliated and inhabited by new settlers. ‘In the camps AL BASHIR’s forces kill the men and rape the women. He wants to end the history of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa people’ said the Prosecutor. ‘I don’t have the luxury to look away. I have evidence’.   For over 5 years, AL BASHIR has denied the crimes. He says rape does not exist in the Sudan. This is a fabrication. “By preventing the truth about the crimes from being revealed; concealing his crimes under the guise of a ‘counterinsurgency strategy’, or ‘inter tribal clashes’, or the ‘actions of lawless autonomous militia’, AL BASHIR made possible the commission of further crimes. He promoted and provided impunity to his subordinates in order to secure their willingness to commit genocide” The Prosecutor said.   Al BASHIR’s intent to commit genocide became clear with the well coordinated attacks on the 2.450.000 civilians who found a haven in the camps. “AL BASHIR organized the destitution, insecurity and harassment of the survivors. He did not need bullets. He used other weapons: rapes, hunger, and fear. As efficient, but silent.” Said the Prosecutor.   Today, the evidence shows that AL BASHIR, instead of assisting the people of Darfur, has mobilised the entire state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system, to subject the 2.450.000 people living in IDP’s camps, most of them members of the target group, to conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.   “AL BASHIR is the President. He is the Commander in Chief. Those are not just formal words. He used the whole state apparatus, he used the army, he enrolled the Militia/Janjaweed. They all report to him, they all obey him. His control is absolute.” added Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo.   The Pre-Trial Chamber I will now review the evidence. If the judges determine that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the named individual committed the alleged crimes, they will decide on the best manner to ensure his appearance in court. The Prosecution has requested an arrest warrant. Visit the related web page
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