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	U.N. General Assembly condemns Burma/Myanmar government crackdown by Associated Press   November 21, 2007   A U.N. General Assembly committee approved a draft resolution Tuesday strongly condemning the Myanmar government"s crackdown on peaceful protesters and calling on the military junta to immediately release political prisoners.   The vote in the assembly"s human rights committee was 88-24 with 66 abstentions. The resolution now needs the backing of the 192-nation world body. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion.   The draft resolution calls on Myanmar"s military government "to desist from further arrests and violence against peaceful protesters" and to lift "all restraints on the peaceful political activity of all persons by ... guaranteeing freedom of peaceful assembly and association and freedom of opinion and expression."   It also calls on the junta to provide U.N. special adviser Ibrahim Gambari with unrestricted access to all parties -- including ethnic minority representatives, student leaders and dissident monks -- and to engage with him to achieve "effective progress towards the restoration of democracy and the protection of human rights in Myanmar."   Gambari, who visited Myanmar earlier this month, said last week he was making progress in nudging Myanmar"s military junta toward meaningful dialogue with the pro-democracy opposition. But he acknowledged there were "serious concerns" about "the willingness of the government to move forward in a new direction."   Myanmar, also known as Burma, tried to block a vote on the draft resolution,it was defeated by a vote of 88 against to 54 in favor, with 34 abstentions. Myanmar"s government has been strongly criticized for sending troops to quash peaceful protests, initially led by students and then by Buddhist monks, in late September.   At least 15 people were killed, according to information authorities provided to U.N. human rights investigator Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, however many reports suggest the true figure is much higher. Thousands were arrested.   The draft resolution calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in detention for 12 of the last 18 years.   Myanmar"s military has ruled the country since 1962. The current junta took power in 1988 after crushing the democracy movement led by Suu Kyi. In 1990, it refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi"s party won a landslide election victory.
	FBI says Hate Crimes rose 7.8 Percent in ‘06 by Michael J. Sniffen The Boston Globe USA   November 2007   Hate crime incidents in the United States rose last year by nearly 8 percent, the FBI reported yesterday, as racial prejudice continued to account for more than half the reported instances.   Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias against a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin, or physical or mental disability. That was up 7.8 percent from the 7,163 incidents reported in 2005.   Although the noose incidents and beatings among students at Jena, La., high school occurred in the last half of 2006, they were not included in the report. Only 12,600 of the nation’s more than 17,000 local, county, state, and federal police agencies participated in the hate crime reporting program in 2006 and neither Jena nor LaSalle Parish, in which the town is located, were among the agencies reporting.   Nevertheless, the Jena incidents and a rash of subsequent noose incidents around the country spawned civil rights protests in Louisiana and, last week, at Justice Department headquarters in the capital. The department said it investigated the incidents but decided not to prosecute because the federal government does not typically bring hate crime charges against juveniles.   The Jena case began in August 2006 after a black student sat under a tree known as a gathering spot for white students. Three white students later hung nooses from the tree. They were suspended by the school but not prosecuted. Six black teenagers, however, were charged by LaSalle Parish prosecutor Reed Walters with attempted second-degree murder of a white student who was beaten unconscious in December 2006. The charges have since been reduced to aggravated second-degree assault, but civil rights protesters have complained that no charges were filed against the white students who hung the nooses.   “The FBI report confirms what we have been saying for many months about the severe increase in hate crimes,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who organized Friday’s march. “What is not reported, however, is the lack of prosecution and serious investigation by the Justice Department to counter this increase in hate crimes.” Sharpton called for Attorney General Michael Mukasey to meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and civil rights leaders to discuss the matter.   The Justice Department says it is actively investigating a number of noose incidents at schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods around the country. It says “a noose is a powerful symbol of hate and racially motivated violence” recalling the days of lynchings of blacks and that it can constitute a federal civil rights offense under some circumstances. The FBI report does not break out the number of noose incidents but the two most frequent hate crimes in 2006 were property damage or vandalism, at 2,911 offenses, and intimidation, at 2,046 offenses. There were 860 aggravated assaults and 1,447 simple assaults. There were three murders, six rapes, and 41 arsons.   Other offenses included robbery, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft.   The 7,722 criminal hate crime incidents involved 9,080 specific criminal offenses, including 5,449 against individuals, 3,593 against property, and 38 classified as against society at large. An incident can involve attacks on both people and property.   As has been the case since the FBI began collecting hate crime data in 1991, the most frequent motivation was racial bias, accounting for 51.8 percent of the incidents in 2006. That was down slightly from the 54.7 percent in 2005.   Also in 2006, religious bias was blamed for 18.9 percent of the incidents; sexual orientation bias for 15.5 percent, and ethnic or national origin for 12.7 percent.   Of the 7,330 offenders identified by police, 58.6 percent were white, 20.6 percent were black, 12.9 percent were of unknown racial background, and other races accounted for the remainder.
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