Why all the fuss with World Youth Day?

It appears that World Youth Day (WYD) is mirroring the heavy security situation that the people of Sydney is expected to endure during APEC.

The latest furore over WYD are the new or amended regulations which will give police extra powers to ‘arrest and fine people for “causing annoyance” to World Youth Day participants and permit partial strip searches at hundreds of Sydney sites, beginning today (1 July 2008)’. To read in detail on the new regulations, you can download the 51- page copy of the gazette at the NSW Bar Association website. It includes a hefty 40- page listing of areas affected.

Charge Howard with War Crimes?

It appears that being a former leader of a country can no longer be a passport to immunity for crimes against humanity as a growing number of individuals are calling for the prosecution of these individuals.

In April this year, former Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, himself a dictator, has called for an international tribune to try President George Bush, former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair and Howard over the Iraqi invasion.

The Australian refugee system lets down Zhang…

The suicide of Bill Zhang (not his real name), a Tiananmen protestor and dissident who was forcefully returned to China, after having failed to apply for refugee status in Australia, has revealed the inadequacy of the country’s refugee system.

According to Mary-Anne Toy, the Chinese correspondent for Sydney Morning Herald, Zhang jumped from his friend’s housing estate after being despaired of trying to return back to Australia. According to the journalist, after arriving in China, Zhang was ‘arrested, beaten and tortured for “shaming” China by accusing its government of human rights abuses in articles he had written in the Chinese-language press in Australia.’