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	World must sit up and pay attention to situation in Central African Republic by Navi Pillay High Commissioner for Human Rights   20 March 2014   Despite the recent halt in large-scale violence that took place in crisis-riven Central African Republic (CAR) in December and January, people are still being killed every day, the United Nations human rights chief warned today, deploring the “dire” humanitarian situation facing the country and calling on the international community to dramatically step up vital aid efforts.   “The inter-communal hatred remains at a terrifying level, as evidenced by the extraordinarily vicious nature of the killings,” said Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a statement to the press during a visit in the capital, Bangui.   “This has become a country where people are not just killed, they are tortured, mutilated, burned and dismembered – sometimes by spontaneous mobs as well as by organized groups of armed fighters. Children have been decapitated, and we know of at least four cases where the killers have eaten the flesh of their victims,” she deplored.   Thousands of people are believed to have been killed, and 2.2 million, about half the population of CAR, need humanitarian aid as a result of the conflict that began in December 2012, when mainly Muslim Séléka rebels launched attacks.   More than 650,000 people are still internally displaced, and over 290,000 have fled to neighbouring countries in search of refuge from the conflict, which has taken on increasingly sectarian overtones as mainly Christian militias known as anti-Balaka (anti-machete) have taken up arms.   Around 15,000 Muslims are reportedly trapped in Bangui and other areas in the North, North-West and South of the country, protected by international forces, but nevertheless in an extremely dangerous and untenable situation.   “The anti-Balaka, who originally came into existence as a reaction to the depredations of the Séléka, are now metamorphosing into criminal gangs who, in addition to continuing to hunt down Muslims, are also starting to prey on Christians and other non-Muslims,” explained Ms. Pillay.   During her two-day stay in Bangui, the UN rights chief met most notably with the Head of State of the Transition, the Prime Minister, Minister of Justice, the Head of the African Union peacekeeping mission (MISCA), as well as various civil society and humanitarian organizations.   With increasing food insecurity and malnutrition, rape and sexual violence on the rise – especially in refugee camps – and the collapse of the economy, healthcare, justice and education systems, the State is now facing a gargantuan crisis where impunity reigns.   “The State’s top leadership told me there is, in effect, no State: no coherent national army; no police, no justice system; hardly anywhere to detain criminals; and no means of charging, prosecuting or convicting them. The so-called ‘penal chain’ is not only missing links, it is not functioning at all,” explained Ms. Pillay.   “It was highly symbolic that, during my meeting with the Minister of Justice yesterday, there was no power,” she continued. “Although the lights eventually came back on, [the Minister] described how she doesn’t even have computers to record data concerning arrests, how prosecutors are threatened and at least one magistrate has been assassinated. There is, as a result, almost total impunity, no justice, no law and order apart from that provided by foreign troops.”   Though restoring law and order is a particularly urgent priority, the Government’s current inability to pay salaries makes this unlikely to happen any time soon.   “How many more children have to be decapitated, how many more women and girls will be raped, how many more acts of cannibalism must there be, before we really sit up and pay attention?” pleaded Ms. Pillay, as she called on the international community to increase funding, particularly for the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission, which the Transitional Government’s Prime Minister has committed to do.   “National Human Rights Commissions are important independent bodies with specific powers, governed by an international set of standards, known as the Paris Principles, and I offered the services of my Office to help the Government ensure it is of a high standard from the outset,” noted Ms. Pillay.   The High Commissioner warned however that “specific institutions such as these will find it very difficult to operate unless law and order and the justice system are restored, and displaced populations are able to swiftly return and rebuild their houses and their lives in full confidence that they will be properly protected by the State. There will be no political solution until these conditions are fulfilled.”   Noting that “the vital humanitarian aid effort is deplorably under-funded, with only 20 percent of requirements met so far,” Ms. Pillay urged the international community “to respond quickly to the Secretary-General’s appeal for a fully equipped force of 10,000 international peacekeepers and 2,000 police.   “I cannot help thinking that if the Central African Republic were not a poor country hidden away in the heart of Africa, the terrible events that have taken place – and continue to take place –would have stimulated a far stronger and more dynamic reaction by the outside world,” she said. Visit the related web page
	Time to stop secret contracts by Rueben Lifuka Transparency International   March 2014   We entrust governments – with our votes and money – to act transparently in our interest. This includes for the public contracts that they bid out to deliver: everything from schoolbooks to sanitation systems. Globally, these costs are estimated to top nearly US$ 9.5 trillion each year.   Yet many of these contracts are done behind closed doors. Without the public in the know, people are without the basic facts – for how much and to whom – to make sure that corruption and abuses don’t happen.   Take the example of my country, Zambia. In Zambia the government and local councils are the biggest spenders of public money. Unsurprisingly, government procurement is one of the areas where corruption is most pervasive.   One stand-out case of abuse and secrecy was the privatisation of the country’s lucrative copper industry between 1997 and 2000. Zambia is Africa’s largest copper producer and exports nearly US$7 billion of the metal annually. Parts of the privatisation deals, called “Development Agreements”, were sealed off from the public.   The agreements “sweetened” the terms of the privatisation deals and covered issues such as the liabilities of the old state companies (including pensions that were owed), tax payments, and application of national laws (such as for levels of environmental pollution).   And while the agreements had impacts on the local communities and all of Zambian society, the agreements were kept secret. Although a change in laws in 2008 was to have rescinded all these agreements, many mining contracts continue to be secret.   This has meant that local governments, copper trade unions, members of parliament and even the bodies tasked to directly regulate the companies do not know what is in them. Recently, the government has begun a process of renegotiating agreements to ensure participation of Zambians in the ownership of mines.   The agreements continue to stir so much controversy since the money the mines is producing is largely not being returned to Zambia. While copper accounts for 70 per cent of the country’s export earnings, revenue from the mining industry accounts for under five per cent of the national budget. Estimates are that roughly US$2 billion annually is lost to tax avoidance schemes by companies.   Sadly, secret contracts have been a constant problem in Zambia, bringing with them many tales of corruption.   As recently as last year, a US$210 million procurement contract for government closed circuit television cameras was directly awarded by senior Zambian government officials to a Chinese company without any open tender or the terms of the contract being made public. By the end of 2013, the contract was voided after numerous allegations of corruption were made.   A new global campaign and petition to stop secret contracts, supported by Transparency International and others, aims to make sure that all public contracts are made publicly available to stop funny business before it starts.   Let’s hope the petition serves to remind governments where the money is coming from in their coffers: us. http://stopsecretcontracts.org/ Visit the related web page
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