CRISTIANI: MOZIONE PD AL SENATO, L'ITALIA S'IMPEGNI A FERMARE LE STRAGI

11-01-11                                                           ( NEWS IN ENGLISH)
(ASCA) - Roma, 11 gen - ''Gli ultimi episodi di violenza nei confronti dei cristiani, come l'attacco di oggi a un villaggio in Nigeria costato la vita ad almeno 13 persone, confermano l'urgenza di un problema che, oltre che culturale e morale, e' strettamente politico: l'opinione pubblica e la classe politica devono destarsi da un torpore che sconfina nell'indifferenza''. E' quanto affermano i senatori del Partito democratico Mauro Cerruti e Giorgio Tonini, primi firmatari della mozione sulla persecuzione dei cristiani nel mondo in discussione domani a Palazzo Madama.

''Siamo di fronte a fatti certi e inconfutabili - sottolineano i due parlamentari Pd - lo spettro tanto paventato ed esorcizzato, a parole, dello ''scontro di civilta''' si potrebbe materializzare sotto l'aspetto di una guerra di religione munita di armi di distruzione di massa.

La persecuzione in atto contro i cristiani nel mondo non e' un evento lontano, ma una minaccia diretta alla sopravvivenza della nostra stessa democrazia, per non dire della stessa umanita' come noi oggi la conosciamo''.

''E' per questo che chiediamo al governo italiano - proseguono Cerruti e Tonini - di esercitare ogni forma possibile di pressione politica e diplomatica sugli Stati e i governi che impediscono o comunque non garantiscono la liberta' religiosa, perche' mettano in atto misure efficaci di contrasto ad ogni forma di persecuzione, con particolare riguardo alle comunita' cristiane oggi tra le piu' colpite, insieme a misure di prevenzione dell'intolleranza, attraverso la messa al bando di ogni forma di incoraggiamento del fanatismo e dell'odio religioso, sia in ambito educativo e culturale, sia attraverso i mezzi di comunicazione di massa''.

''L'Italia deve farsi promotrice in sede Onu di una Conferenza internazionale sulla liberta' religiosa, finalizzata a dar vita ad un monitoraggio permanente delle persecuzioni religiose e ad impegnare gli Stati nel contrasto e nella prevenzione dell'intolleranza e del fanatismo religiosi. Infine - concludono i senatori del Pd - il nostro Paese deve porre alla base delle relazioni interne e delle collaborazioni economiche il rispetto dell'articolo 8 della Costituzione cosi' come da noi costantemente applicato, ritenendone la violazione elemento sanzionabile da parte degli organismi internazionali''.

On patrol with Nigeria's police

In the first of a series of articles looking at policing in Nigeria, the BBC's Andrew Walker goes on a patrol with the newly formed, elite Specialist Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) in the eastern city of Enugu.

With machine-gun at the ready, a policeman flags down a car with his torch.

"You! Out Now!" he barks.

The driver wordlessly complies, standing with hands raised before being asked, the routine is now so familiar.

What kind of human being are we working with, we needed back-up! Stephen Osaghae Sars commander Who polices the police?

The Nigerian police have a terrible reputation for corruption and brutality.

But they also have problems with their technical capacity to fight crime.

The main method used by this elite unit of police officers is to stop cars at random looking for guns.

"When criminals see us, their behaviour changes. We're looking for people who try and run from us," Sars' Commanding Officer Stephen Osaghae told the BBC.

Their aggressive manner, which includes pointing loaded automatic weapons at drivers who have done nothing to arouse suspicion, is necessary, they say.

"You have to make everyone think when Sars are around, they are the owners of the job," says Inspector Olawole Ohiolebo.

On the night the BBC was out with them, Sars did not find any weapons.

Mr Osaghae admits there is probably a better way of catching armed robbers.

"But we don't have the equipment. In Europe you have helicopters and other sophisticated gadgets, we don't."

Chase

At one of the patrol stops, a van approaching them does a quick u-turn.

Enugu's Special Anti Robbery Squad are an elite police unit

It's the moment the police have been waiting for.

But it takes them too long to get into their truck and by the time they are in pursuit, the van has gone.

The radio they have doesn't work properly and they can't inform other police of where they are for several minutes.

Only one truck has been pursuing the suspects.

When they meet up with their second police car, Mr Osaghae is furious.

"What kind of human being are we working with? We needed back-up!" he yells at his men.

They return to the barracks without making any arrests.

Ambush

The life of a policeman in Nigeria is dangerous.

A few weeks before the BBC caught up with the men from Sars, their patrol was ambushed by a gang.

The robbers we come up against have sophisticated weapons, better than ours Patrolman Tiku

Someone sent them into a trap. Their pick-up truck was blown up with dynamite placed by the side of the road.

Three officers were killed in the gunfight that followed.

Inspector Godspower points to a line shaved into his scalp.

"The bullet went here. Fsst!"

He motions over his head, tracing the path of the shot that nearly killed him.

Another one went right through his arm.

The police officers say armed robbers are unredeemable evil misfits who smoke marijuana to dull their senses, kill without remorse and use black magic charms to protect themselves.

Patrolmen say Enugu's robbers are led by a notorious bandit called Ngukelomo, who has political connections which have enabled him to be released from custody in the past.

Capacity

Some of the men admit to being afraid they might one day get killed.

"The robbers we come up against have sophisticated weapons, better than ours. We have no bulletproof vests. We need better equipment to protect us," says patrolman Tiku, a 34-year-old officer who has been with the police for 10 years.

Kemi Okenyodo, of police reform group the Cleen Foundation, says the police need more than just expensive gadgets to improve their ability to work effectively.

"The police capacity to investigate crime is next to zero," she says.

Officers are not trained in policing techniques - if they do have qualifications, they are often irrelevant to police work, she says.

Nowhere is the police's lack of capacity more evident, reformers say, than in the interrogation of suspects.

Interrogation

Back at the Sars office the next day, two suspects are brought to Mr Osaghae's office.

One, a young man is accused of organising the rape and robbery of a woman who lives in a building he used to guard.

Police have been accused of torture and executing suspects

"You will take us to your accomplices," orders Mr Osaghae.

"I don't know who you are talking about," says the man.

"Why are you lying? Take him back to the cells. In 15 minutes you will tell the truth," says Mr Osaghae.

When asked what he meant by that, he refuses to elaborate.

Before speaking to another suspect, Mr Osaghae asks for 15 minutes alone with him.

When the BBC is let back in the room, the man tearfully confesses to being a kidnapper.

Mrs Okenyodo says the Cleen Foundation has pictures and witness statements that accuse Sars police of torture and killing of suspects.

Enugu Commissioner of Police Mohammed Zarewa denies his men beat confessions out of people - the deaths are likely to be as a result of fire-fights with armed criminals, he says.

"Any criminal can get a lawyer and make up a story," he says.

Mr Zarewa has just been posted to Enugu, and he promises to investigate any accusation levelled against his officers.

But Mrs Okenyodo says none of the cases brought up by police reform activists have been investigated.

"The east of Nigeria, in terms of policing, is crazy," she says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7986039.stm

Nigeria police: Issuing corpses and denials

By Caroline Duffield BBC News, Lagos

The police are facing criticism over the deaths

"It really overwhelms our capacity to store bodies," says Dr Anthony Mbah, chief medical director at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital.
His mortuary is overflowing - with corpses brought in by the police.
"We have between 70 and 80 bodies right now... and about three weeks ago, there was a mass burial of some other corpses," he says.
"We are now getting ready to get these ones buried."
Inside the mortuary in the south-eastern city of Enugu, two rooms are set aside for the remains of the young men.
In the first room, they are stacked, naked, one on top of the other. In places the piles are four or five deep.
Faces peer out amongst a forest of legs. Heads loll into groins. Limbs are flung around torsos. Some almost seem to embrace. The smell - and the flies - make it impossible to get close.
It is a scene beyond belief.
Fathers' pain
The mortuary is in a state of chaos. No-one working here can put a precise number on the corpses. Many of the bodies have no names. Mortuary records simply say "suspected armed robber" or "unknown thief".

As they killed him, they killed me, my life is over Dennis Onovo Father of victim

The register says police left 75 bodies between the beginning of June and 26 November this year.
But the records are imperfect - staff correct mistakes as they go along, one page appears to be missing.
It is uncertain how many of these bodies really are those of armed robbers.
The father of one victim of a police shooting has no doubt about the innocence of his son.
"A child is a gift from the Gods. They have taken him from me," Chief Dennis Onovo murmurs.
The morning that Mr Onovo's 22-year-old son, Matthew, died he had been walking to a computer class. Police were searching for an armed man in the area - and shot him dead.
"I always hoped my son will one day be governor of this state, or even head of state - but all my effort is in vain," says Mr Onovo.
For two days, the community stood still as people came out in peaceful demonstration.
The police told Matthew's parents he was suspected of armed robbery.
"This boy was not an armed robber. He was never a thief, much less an armed robber," says Mr Onovo.
"As they killed him, they killed me, my life is over."

Emmanuel Egbo's parents say he was a keen student, not a criminal

A few miles away, another father echoes his words.
Chief Mark Ngena trembles, remembering.
"He was playing with his fellow children," he says of his 13-year-old son Emmanuel.
"Suddenly policemen, three of them, came in. They shot and killed this boy. Murdered him in cold blood."
It was later claimed that Emmanuel too was an armed robber.
His family have never recovered his body.
Lawyers and relatives point to a pattern - of unlawful killings by police, followed by claims the deceased was an armed robber.
It is an easy way to cover dirty tracks, they say.
Police 'are victims too'
Enugu State Police Commissioner Mohamed Zarewa looks at the photograph of piled up bodies in the mortuary and covers them with his hand.

Why are you not asking about the policemen who died? Mohamed Zarewa Enugu State police commissioner On patrol with Nigeria's police

"I am not aware of that number you are talking. I am not aware, I am not aware," he says.
He mutters it five or six times.
Officers in his force do not carry out unlawful or arbitrary killings, he insists.
He says the young men were all killed in gun battles, fighting the police.
"Not just to go and kill somebody, we don't do that, it's unconstitutional. We are in a democracy," he says.
"You are asking about the young men, why are you not asking about the policemen who died? We people, we lose our lives."
It is true that police work in Nigeria is a difficult job - often deadly.
An encounter between a police officer and a real armed robber is a matter of life or death.
Police officers' wages are low. Corruption in the force is endemic. Poorly trained and ill-equipped policemen are sent to face armed gangs.
But it is also true that many people are killed in police custody.
Punishment without trial
In the Brought in Dead book, seven names are of particular interest.

The Brought in Dead book revealed names of interest

Kennis Victor Okonkwo, Adolphus Odumegwu, Sunday Okoye, Hussein Yusuf, Ugochukwu Ogbonnaya, Amichi Nnamdi, and Ifeani Eze Leonard.
They were arrested, accused of a kidnapping in early September.
On 11 September they were paraded by the inspector-general of Police.
Photos of them alive appeared in local newspapers.
But they never reached court.
By 15 September six of them were dead. The body of the last was delivered to the mortuary the following day.
By each name is written SARS, Special Anti-Robbery Squad - a feared police unit.
When asked for an explanation, Police Commissioner Zarewa said he was too busy.
'Equivalent to hell'
"They told me they have transferred my brother to Abuja," says Charles, a shy 22-year-old.
His older brother was in trouble with the police, accused of robbery.
Charles took a food flask for his brother, and travelled for two days to reach the police station.
On arrival he was arrested, accused of armed robbery, and held for three months.
"Inside there was equivalent to hell," he says.
He says he was taken out of his cell, hung by the knees and beaten. But he feels lucky as it happened only a couple of times.
A man held with him suffered a similar punishment, but his joints were smashed. He screamed as he crawled back into the cell.
Briefly, Charles was held opposite his own brother and the two had the chance to talk.
After that, Charles never saw him again.
"It is the slang they use," he says quietly.
"They are not going to tell you openly your brother is killed. They just tell you they have transferred his case to Abuja."

500 Nigerian victims of forced prostitution killed in Italy

500 Nigerian victims of forced prostitution killed in Italy

Saturday, 01 January 2011 01:22 |

Research by the Association of Benin City Girls calls for better protection for victims

More than 500 Nigerian girls and women have been killed in Italy in the recent years. They were all victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution, a new research has revealed.

The research carried out by the Association of Benin City Girls, was financed by the Government’s Equal Opportunities Department.

Three Nigerian former victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution conducted the research, headed by Ms. Isoke Aikpitanyi, the founder and spokesperson of the Association of Benin City Girls, the only association of victims and former victims of human trafficking in Italy.

They interviewed more than a thousand new Nigerian victims of human trafficking in Italy.

One of the key findings of the research is that the number of Nigerian girls and women forced into prostitution in Italy continues to grow day by day, but very few manage to find a way out.

Most of the victims are minor children, and they are usually brought to the country upon an agreement to repay a loan which keeps on growing in order to force them into prostitution for a much longer period.

The average amount each victim must pay for her freedom is 80,000 Euros. This in fact forces them to work every day, whether they are sick, have their periods, are pregnant, etc. Whether it’s hot or cold, the girls and women must go out to look for clients.

The research underlines the fact that prostitution is a very complex issue and warns against the common belief that most prostitutes freely decided to become prostitutes.

Even though many of them easily claim that they chose to become prostitutes and enjoy doing it, in reality this is just a mask they’ve learnt to put on to hide the fact that they are convinced there is no way out.
While there may be people who willingly decide to become prostitutes, this research however, shows that none of the victims interviewed chose to become a prostitute.

The research reveals that there are at least 10,000 female pimps (maman) in Italy managing human trafficking and girls and women forced into prostitution.

The exploiters usually hijack children of their victims so as to blackmail them and force them not to rebel. At least 50% of the victims have performed clandestine abortions, the research shows.

All the Nigerian girls who are victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution in Italy are managed by the Nigerian mafia, the research shows. It also reveals that human trafficking and forced prostitution are just two of the many activities carried out by the Nigerian mafia in the country, which Isoke describes as “one of the most dangerous in the world.” She adds that the Nigerian mafia is specialized in human trafficking especially of women and girls for forced prostitution, men for forced labour, organs, drugs, and arms.

The survey also reveals that social assistants find it very difficult to approach victims of human trafficking because they live in isolation and underground. This makes it difficult to help the victims find their way out.

Even though the Government has banned street prostitution, the research shows that there are still some Nigerian girls and women working on the streets. There is an increasing tendency of transporting them from one area to another, depending on where there is a high concentration of clients and less inspection by the police.

It emerges that the public opinion is not informed of the dramatic situations in the Identification and Expulsion Centres where irregular immigrants are taken before being deported from Italy.
The research also shows that deportation of girls forced into prostitution is not a solution at all to their problem.

Even after deportation, the girls are still under the control of their exploiters who do arrange for them to go to new destinations for the same work, or be marginalized if not killed.

A truly worrying finding of this research is that many Nigerian churches and associations in Italy are accomplices of traffickers. The research reveals that some of them actively collaborate with human traffickers while others are aware of their activities but avoid doing something for fear.

The role of former clients in saving victims of forced prostitution also emerges from this research. Most of the prostitutes and victims of human trafficking who escaped from traffickers were assisted by a client or a former client. This is why the research calls for a campaign to inform the clients of the important role they can play in saving the victims of forced prostitution.

The former victims of trafficking should be involved as peer counsellors and social operators in anti-trafficking operations, the research recommends. It also recommends national campaigns to inform the public of the real situation of the victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution.

The research recommends implementation of the recently adopted European norms calling for tougher penalties for traffickers and better protection for victims.

Recognising the important role former victims of human trafficking can play in helping the new victims, the research recommends involving them in a national campaign in Nigeria to inform potential victims of what they risk if trafficked to Europe. It also recommends establishing care homes for the victims where the former victims of human trafficking play key roles in supporting the new victims and working as peer counsellors. This is supported by the fact that many former victims are ready to help the new victims, especially the very young ones.

It is equally important to help the victims re-establish relationships with their families in their home countries, the research suggests, in addition to a national campaign to raise awareness of the Nigerian mafia.

The research recommends simplifying the bureaucratic procedures in order to make it easier for the victims to seek help.

Isoke says that the Association of Benin City Girls receives so many requests for help from victims of forced prostitution, but with limited resources, they find it difficult to help all of them. We’d like to appeal to all public institutions, private companies and individuals to support the Association of Benin City Girls and all other similar associations helping the victims. People in need of help to save their lives should never find doors closed.

ASSOCIATION OF BENIN CITY GIRLS
If you are a victim of forced prostitution or if you know a victim in need of help, please contact the
Association of Benin City Girls using the following contacts:
Tel: 346 9406053
Email: isoke.aikpitanyi@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

By Stephen Ogongo Ongong’a

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