A United Nations resolution is quickly making its way through the highest ranks of the General Assembly. The resolution, L.37, condemns the Islamic Republic of Iran for the massive human rights abuses the government committed on students, activists, protesters and journalists following a widely perceived rigged June 12th Presidential election. Hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered on the streets of major cities and towns in Iran to condemn the re-election of President Mahmood Ahmadinejad over his opponent Mir Hussein Mossavi.

Iranian authorities have confirmed approximately 4,500 arrests surrounding the post-election unrest, with 89 convictions in post-election trials, 5 of which were capital sentences. Other reports cite up to 72 people killed in detention or in clashes with security services.

The protests garnered worldwide support and jumpstarted the “Green Movement” which has mobilized thousands in favor of a reformed Iran.  Police and Basij militia jailed, raped, beat and murdered journalists, students and protesters who demanded action be taken to formulate a recount of votes. Some 20-30 journalists, writers and bloggers remain behind bars.

Resolution L.37 was brought forward by the government of Canada in an appeal for action by  the 192 member UN body. The resolution was co-sponsored by 42 other countries, and calls on Iran to better cooperate with UN human rights monitors–by allowing them to make visits to Iran, and requests the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon,  to report back next year on Iran’s progress in fulfilling its human rights obligations.

Robert Wood, Deputy Spokesperson from the US Department of State added:

“The resolution also calls on Iran to cooperate fully with and admit entry to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance. It calls on the Government of Iran to abolish torture and arbitrary imprisonment, as well as any executions, including stoning, carried out without due process of law.”

Canada has led the drafting of resolutions on alleged human rights abuses in Iran every year since the 2003 torture and murder while in Iranian custody of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi. A prominent Canadian-Iranian Newsweek reporter, Maziar Bahari was freed recently after spending 118 days in jail. Many of the victims (both men and women) sent to Iran’s notorious prisons reported being raped.

“This is the toughest resolution on the human rights situation in Iran,” said Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.

“The adoption of this resolution is another clear signal of the international community’s concern for the human rights of people in Iran. With this resolution, and those presented in previous years, international attention has been drawn to the unacceptable human rights situation in Iran, and the Government of Iran has been forced to account for its actions. We continue to invite the Iranian government to take meaningful steps to respect the human rights of all people in Iran,” he added.

The adoption of the resolution sends a clear message to Iran to act quickly to investigate these crimes committed during the election coup and to uphold due process of the law.  Iran has rejected several requests from member-states including Canada, to visit the country and investigate the abuses.

The resolution was  approved by a vote of 74 to 48 by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly.

The resolution also expresses concern over the treatment of  minority communities inside Iran including Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds, Christians, Jews, Sufis and Sunni Muslims.

“The nuclear issue has been used by the Islamic Republic to avoid international scrutiny of its fraudulent election and mounting human rights violations,” said Akbar Atri, a leading student activist and democracy advocate who served on the board of the Office for the Consolidation of Unity, Iran’s most prominent student organization. ”While it seeks a solution on the nuclear front, the international community must pressure the regime to release political prisoners and allow the full spectrum of liberties, including free and fair elections.  Anything less will amount to a validation of a regime fast losing all semblance of legitimacy.”

The Iranian mission representative to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaee, issued a statement in response the adoption of the resolution:

“No Government including my own can claim perfection. Nonetheless, we believe that the old worn-out policy of introducing resolution on Iran is not only an unfair and unjustified action, but also a disservice to the Iranian policy of cooperation with the UN human rights mechanisms.  The move is, therefore, doomed to fail and should be categorically rejected.”

By Marianna Levyash – Talk Radio News Service

In a phone interview with Talk Radio News Service Thursday, Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Research Fellow Brian W. Walsh said that language used in the federal cyber-bullying bill, introduced earlier this year by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), is overly broad.

“The terms [in the bill]…don’t have a precise, clear, accepted, generally agreed upon definition in federal law,” said Walsh.

Sanchez drafted the “The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act” in response to the death of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl from Missouri who committed suicide in 2006 after being cyber-bullied on the social networking site MySpace by a woman named Lori Drew, the mother of one of Meier’s classmates. Drew was indicted and convicted on charges stemming from the incident in 2008, but was later acquitted in 2009.

The bill has received mixed reviews from a handful of members of Congress who have argued that it uses vague terms and would cause potential violations of free speech rights.

“We need to be extremely careful before heading down this path,” said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) during a House subcommittee hearing on the legislation back in September.

The bill would amend the federal criminal code to allow criminal penalties to be levied upon anyone that “transmits in interstate or foreign commerce a communication intended to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to another person, by using electronic means.”

“We are going to end up criminalizing conduct that shouldn’t be criminal in the first place…it’s easy to draft an overbroad criminal law,” said Walsh.

The Washington Bureau will be covering:
-Labor Secretary Hilda Solis delivers remarks at a Latino Leaders Luncheon Series event.
-The Cato Institute holds a policy forum on “Bending the Productivity Curve: How Would Healthcare ‘Reform’ Affect Medical Innovation?”
-The Alliance for Health Reform holds a briefing on “Affordability and Health Reform: If We Mandate, Will They (And Can They) Pay?”
-Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) hold a press conference on health care.
-ManhattanDeclaration.org holds a news conference to release the “Manhattan Declaration,” which is a “4,700 word document, signed by more than 100 religious leaders, that addresses the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious liberty, and endorses civil disobedience under certain circumstances.”
-Republican Senators hold a press conference on health care.

Travis Martinez – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

During her weekly press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lauded abortion language in the Senate’s health care bill on Thursday.

The Senate bill, which was posted online Wednesday night, grants the secretary of Health and Human Services to decide if federal funds will be allocated for those who obtain insurance from the public plan. It would also require that private insurers split premiums from subsidies used to pay for abortion coverage.

“We have all agreed on all sides of this issue that we would maintain the status quo. There will be no federal funds for abortion,” said Pelosi. “I think the Stupak Amendment goes beyond maintaining the status quo. I’m pleased with the language in the Senate bill. I think it’s pretty clear that no federal funds will be spent on abortion,” she added.

The “Stupak Amendment” in the House bill would ban elective abortions for those covered by the public health insurance plan and would prohibit private insurers to offer abortion coverage to those who receive federal subsidies for health care premiums.

“I believe there is plenty of common ground to be found to do that [maintain status quo]… Conversations continue, and we will find common ground,” said Pelosi.

The Senate is expected to bring its bill to the floor for debate this Saturday.

A report entitled: State of World Population 2009, was released today by the UN’s Population Fund (UNFPA). The report says boosting support to women can be the changing factor in tackling global warming.  It underscores that better reproductive health care and improved relations between women and men can make or break the fight against climate change.

“The whole world has been talking about carbon credits, carbon trading and emissions targets. But not enough has been said about the people whose activities contribute to those emissions or about those who will be most affected by climate change, especially women” the report states.

UNFPA’s Daniel Schensul added, “We have to think beyond population growth and on how we organize families. A divorce causes more emissions than a birth of a child.”

The report also highlights that if women were given equal worldwide access to family planning, then population growth could be mitigated to prevent the burden of massive human numbers on earth.  And if there are lower fertility rates across the globe, UNFPA believes this contributes to slower growth in greenhouse gas emissions “in the long run.”

Women are also more likely than men to be sustainable consumers.

By 2050, population in Africa is expected to increase by 1 billion while for Asia, growth is expected to be over 2 billion.

“People have different vulnerabilities and capacities–especially among the poor–and women are the largest population of poor in the world,” added Schensul.

Across the globe, poor people have contributed the least to green house gas emissions. The report underlines that climate change must be a people centered approach–with women at the center.

“With the possibility of a climate catastrophe on the horizon, we cannot afford to relegate the world’s 3.4 billion women and girls to the role of victim,” said Ms. Thoraya Obaid, head of UNFPA. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have 3.4 billion agents for change?”

For a full copy of the report: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2009/en/

For a link to the UNFPA video on climate change go to: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid34626169001?bctid=50859881001

By Ravi Bhatia – Talk Radio News Service

Bank of America (BOA) executives, including two members of the bank’s board of directors, testified Tuesday in front of the House Oversight Committee to explain how a private deal between BOA and Merrill Lynch turned into a federal bailout.

The $50 billion deal between the two banks occurred in September, 2008 and saved Merrill Lynch from bankruptcy. A January 2009 report of its earnings, however, showed that Merrill Lynch lost $21.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, requiring the government to subsequently provide it with an emergency $15 billion preferred stock investment through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Committee Chairman Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), claimed during Tuesday’s hearing that the government did not force Bank of America to take the bailout. Towns noted that it was former Bank of America Chairman Ken Lewis who asked former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson on Dec. 17, 2008 to intervene.

“That one phone call put everything in motion,” Towns said. “Lewis claimed that he believed Bank of America could back out of the deal with Merrill Lynch based on the Material Adverse Change clause in the merger agreement – the so-called ‘MAC clause.’ [Former Bank of America General Counsel Timothy J.] Mayopoulos was suddenly fired nine days later without explanation and replaced by a senior insider who had not practiced law in years.”

Mayopolous testified Tuesday that, “Based on information [that was] already disclosed to shareholders, a reasonable investor would have been on notice that Merrill Lynch might well suffer multi-billion dollar losses in the fourth quarter of 2008.”

During his prepared remarks, Mayopolous also denied involvement in Bank of America’s approving Merrill Lynch to pay billions of dollars in bonuses to its employees. However, he did advise Steele Alphin, Bank of America’s Chief Administrative Officer, that Merrill Lynch, not Bank of America, should determine year-end bonuses for Merrill Lynch employees.

“I also advised Mr. Alphin, however, that it was appropriate for him to make clear to the Chair of Merrill’s Compensation Committee that it would be inappropriate for John Thain, Merrill Lynch’s CEO, to be paid a year-end bonus,” Mayopolous said. “My advice was not legal advice that such a bonus would be illegal, but rather my business judgment as to what would be best for the combined company.”

Bank of America’s President of Consumer and Small Business Banking Brian Moynihan said Tuesday he was proud of the role his firm has played in the economy “during this period of economic difficulty,” and that Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch helped prevent a further financial collapse.

“We have extended $759 billion in new credit since we filed our first report in the fourth quarter of 2008,” he said. “That represents almost $17 for every dollar of the $45 billion of taxpayer assistance to the Bank of America.”


By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico- Talk Radio News Service

Rapid advancement of technology coupled with reduced trade barriers are the most important factors in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, witnesses told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee during a hearing Tuesday.

“An agreement that focuses on technology offers a path forward that developed and developing countries can embrace, “ said Karen Harbert, President and CEO of the Institute for 21st Century Energy.

Harbert said during her testimony that an effort to reduce global tariffs and non-tariff barriers on clean energy goods and services is essential in ensuring that alternate energy technologies can penetrate the global marketplace.

“Future growth of the U.S. clean energy economy will depend on access to foreign markets,” Jake Colvin, Vice President of the National Foreign Trade Council said in his testimony. “Demand for environmental goods and services is growing rapidly in developing countries, which offer significant opportunities for U.S. companies.”

Colvin explained that U.S. exporters are currently facing disproportionally high tariffs that impede their ability to sell environmental goods and services abroad.

“Reducing these impediments would allow U.S. companies to capture a larger share of the the more than $600 billion environmental goods and services market,” Colvin said.

President Barack Obama expressed reservations earlier this year about tariff provisions included in the House climate legislation, the House bill would levy tariffs beginning in 2020 on environmental goods and services from countries that have not committed to control greenhouse gas emissions.

Senate Democrats who represent states dependent on manufacturing have said they will not vote for a bill that does not include “border adjustments” to safe-keep U.S. presence in the market.

Agreements regarding trade policy will be a critical component as to what the U.S. will commit to during the United Nation’s climate conference in Copenhagen in December, where 190 nations will draft an agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

By Ravi Bhatia – Talk Radio News Service

In a news conference Monday, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) introduced their alternative to the Kerry-Boxer climate bill. The “Clean Energy Act of 2009” would allocate $100 billion in loans for technology-neutral, carbon-free electricity over the next 20 years, with the goal of doubling nuclear production during that time.

The legislation would invest $1 billion over five years on enabling the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review new nuclear reactor designs. Hitachi and General Electric are two companies that have worked on a design that would create reactors that use fewer pumps and would cut the construction time of a nuclear power plant to 42 months.

Both senators argued that their bill could easily attract bipartisan support, unlike the cap and trade plan, which they said encourages the outsourcing of American jobs. Webb said he was particularly concerned with the complexity of cap and trade, claiming that that there is “no way to fully measure [its] potential impact on the economy.”

“[Our bill] is measurable, achievable, targeted,” Webb said.

While the Webb-Alexander bill primarily focuses on nuclear energy, it would also fund what Alexander calls five “Mini-Manhattan Projects,” which would invest in clean coal, advanced biofuels, advanced batteries, solar power, and nuclear fuel recycling.

Webb, whose opposition to the Kerry-Boxer legislation is a serious blow to the oft-debated bill, said that he and Alexander would continue to oppose it even if their legislation was included.

By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Deepti Choubey, Deputy Director of the Nonproliferation Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said Monday that the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is not likely to be presented to the U.S. Senate for ratification before the Non Proliferation Treaty Conference which takes place in Austria next May.

“Certainly CTBT, I don’t see being ratified unless there is a massive reorientation in the administration’s political strategy about how to get it done…I think that’s one issue we can put to the side for this upcoming review conference,” Choubey said.

Adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1996, the CTBT bans all nuclear explosions on Earth, regardless of whether or not they are conducted for civilian or military purposes. Several UN members, including the U.S. signed the treaty, but as of this year, the U.S. Senate has yet to ratify it.

Choubey said she has high hopes for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty Follow-On (START), calling it a “modest arms control measure.” In July of this year, both U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev signed the treaty, which aims to reduce and limit global strategic offensive arms to the range of 500-1100 by 2016.

However, Choubey warned that if the Senate does not ratify the CTBT by 2015 there will be a “negative impact” on the other members of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime.

Ad Malkert, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq addressed the Security Council today to discuss a new election law being implemented in January 2010. The law aims to build on a climate of “trust” and to regain cooperation among United Nations agencies, local ethnic groups and the rest of the Iraqi people.

The long-delayed election law passed by Iraqi parliamentarians last week provides a clear path for national elections to be held in January.

“Most important is the agreement by the Iraqi Council of Representatives on this election law. We are happy that this law has passed,” Malkert added.

President Obama has called the law an ” important milestone toward ensuring lasting peace in Iraq.” The Iraqi elections are  crucial  for the Obama administration which has strapped itself tight with plans to send thousands of additional US troops to Afghanistan. Many of the forces going to Afghanistan will be coming from Iraq.

One of the toughest issues going into the New Year is the slew of ethnic factions – Arabs, Kurds, and Turks–who cannot seem to agree on a new way forward for the Iraqi government.  What the new election law aims to establish is inclusion by all parties–especially on the concern of resources with much of the debate centered on oil.

“Apart from elections, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) is working to resolve the disputed internal boundaries, revenue sharing, promotion of economic growth, joint security provisions, human rights, constitutional reform and improving relations with Iraq and Kuwait. For UNAMI it is important to play a facilitating role to diffuse all these tensions,” Malkert emphasized.

TRNS questioned Malkert on the oil revenue sharing program–especially since the previous US Administration as the occupying force and under the guidance of former Vice President, held a number of oil profitable contracts in the previous years. Malkert replied that there is a distinction between hydro carbon laws and the revenue-sharing in political terms. The UN Mission’s goal is to establish, reform and adjust the balance that has been found in the constitution.

“The hope is to also to ensure a clear and predictable revenue sharing program that could be helpful in bringing about an agreed political understanding on broader issues,” he added.