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	New UN Guidelines recognise the specific needs of Women in the Criminal Justice System by Penal Reform International   On 21 December the United Nations General Assembly adopted 52 resolutions and six decisions recommended by its Third Committee.   Penal Reform International (PRI) welcomed in particular the adoption of a resolution setting out specific standards for the treatment of women accused of crimes or serving custodial and community based sentences.   The guidelines will be known as the Bangkok Rules, in recognition of the role that the Government of Thailand and the Thai Royal Family have played in supporting their adoption.   PRI, with its twenty year history of working with women and children in prisons around the world, played its part also in the development of these important guidelines.   PRI Representatives from the UK and Middle East/North Africa were among groups of experts who in February and November 2009 travelled to Bangkok to draft and then to refine them. PRI translated and disseminated the Rules in their draft form in Chinese, Russian and Arabic, helping to ensure that the broadest possible range of States had the opportunity to consider them well in advance of this week’s vote. This has contributed to the fact that the Rules have been welcomed by States.   The 70 Rules cover such issues as the economic inequality that deprives many women of access to justice, the heightened discrimination and stigmatization they may suffer, the need for gender-sensitive methods of classifying the risks and meeting the needs of women detainees, the need also for gender-specific health and hygiene services, the implications for dependant children both in and outside a prison setting, particular safety and personal security concerns associated with women prisoners, the need to develop coordinated pre-release, post-release and community based programmes that take into account the reality of women’s lives.   These are all issues that were recognised as having failed to receive sufficient attention in 1955 when the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners were developed. These omissions have, in part, also contributed to the rise in numbers of women being imprisoned, and to the resulting international concern that was behind the Bangkok Rules initiative.   With adoption of the Rules now comes the need for States to examine their criminal justice and social welfare policies, legislation and practices so as to identify gaps and plan for the Bangkok Rules’ implementation. PRI and other partners, including the Quaker UN Office, are working together to offer guidance materials to States and other interested bodies.   Needs assessment missions will take place in five Middle East/North African countries in 2011, with the support of the Swedish agency for development SIDA, while the Open Society Initiative will support PRI in organising a regional meeting for activists in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Visit the related web page
	Obama urged to investigate Bush torture claims by BBC World News & agencies   The US rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the US president should order a criminal investigation into alleged torture sanctioned by the Bush administration, saying there is "overwhelming evidence" of torture ordered by George W Bush.   The former president has defended some of the techniques, saying they prevented attacks and saved lives. The Obama administration has launched inquiries into deaths in CIA custody and other "unauthorised actions".   But HRW argues these inquiries will not cover the activities which were specifically authorised as legal by officials within the Bush administration. The former president, vice-president, defence secretary and head of the CIA should all be investigated, the group says.   "There are solid grounds to investigate George Bush, former vice-president Dick Cheney, former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and former CIA director George Tenet for authorising torture and war crimes," said Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch"s executive director.   "President Obama has treated torture as an unfortunate policy choice rather than a crime. "His decision to end abusive interrogation practices will remain easily reversible unless the legal prohibition against torture is clearly re-established."   In its report, HRW claims there is substantial information warranting criminal investigations of Mr Bush and his senior officials for ordering practises such as waterboarding, the use of secret CIA prisons and the transfer of detainees to countries where they were tortured.   Mr Bush has said he followed the advice of his legal advisers, who told him, for example, that the use of waterboarding on several Guantanamo inmates was legal. The failure to investigate officials undermines US efforts to press for accountability for human rights violations abroad in countries like Libya and Sri Lanka, the group argues. Visit the related web page
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