CURRENT AFFAIRS ON THE WORLD INCLUDING RUSSIA/US/DOHA & ETC.

AMS 2009 - A Global Learning and Sharing Event
by Javad Mottaghi
The Asia Media Summit 2009 has become a global learning and sharing event for broadcasters and other stakeholders not only from Asia Pacific, but also from Africa, Europe, North America and the Middle East.
This unique opportunity affords participants from more than 50 countries a diversity of insights that can empower media organizations better address the changing preferences of citizens and audiences, the demands of business growth, and the good of society. more...
News and Highlights
3rd Asia-Pacific and Europe Media Dialogue
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 9 - 10 November 2009
To build on the successes of the 1st and 2nd Asia-Pacific and Europe Media Dialogue, we are engaging more broadcasters and other stakeholders of the electronic media industry in promoting better understanding of media issues and enhancing interaction through the 3rd Asia-Pacific and Europe Media Dialogue, co-organised by Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the AIBD at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam from 9 to 10 November 2009. more...
35th AIBD Annual Gathering and 8th General Conference and Associated Meetings
For the first time in its 32-year history, AIBD will hold its General Conference in a Pacific Island. Fiji has accepted to host the 35th AIBD Annual Gathering and 8th General Conference and Associated Meetings from 20-23 July 2009. more...
Invitation to the 2009 Co-Production "I Am..."
AIBD is pleased to announce the 2nd round of the International Co-Production on Children's TV programmes "I Am...". It provides you an opportunity to join this international production and to benefit from the outcome. more...
Broadcast Asia 2009
From 16 to 20 June, Singapore Expo will see the 14 Digital Multimedia and Entertainment Technology Exhibition and Conference. Broadcasters in the region look forward to see the cutting edge technology before deciding on new equipment to procure. It is also the time to listen to the thoughts of industry leaders and ponder on the new strategies and business models. more...
Invitation to On–Line English Courses
The advanced Online English Course (Level 3) for Broadcasters will be started from 24 February 2009. more...
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Undefended - Russia's migrant workers
Jane Buchanan, 13 - 03 - 2009

migrant workers in Russia is in the lurch as the country reels from the global financial crisis. Even in the best of times, during the recent years of Russia's major economic boom, migrant workers in Russia have been subject to widespread abuses both in and outside the workplace. Now, economic crisis, coupled with a growing tide of hate-motivated violence in Russia, puts migrant workers at even greater risk. That is, unless the government takes immediate action to protect workers from abusive employers, employment agencies, and the police.
With over 40 percent of Russia's migrant workers employed in the construction industry, the fate of this sector is particularly relevant. Russia's multi-year construction boom, driven by high energy prices, appears to be grinding to a halt, with building projects across the country frozen and workers asked to go home.
Of course, workers' options at home, in countries like Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Moldova, which rank among the poorest in the region, were limited even in good economic times. They will still try to earn a decent living for themselves and their loved ones. This leaves most workers feeling that they have little choice but to stay on in Russia, or at least to try their luck in Russia again for seasonal work after workers' typical winter hiatus at home with their families.
Moreover, Russia needs migrant workers to offset a serious demographic crisis. Since 1992, Russia's population has declined by 6.5 million, and the yearly rate of decline is increasing. Both the UN and International Labor Organization (ILO) have indicated that Russia is likely to face labor shortages in the near future, perhaps as soon as 2012.
Russia has one of the largest migrant populations in the world, second only to the United States. Although estimates vary, some 4-9 million of Russia's migrants have come in search of work, and find it: overwhelmingly low-skilled employment in construction, agriculture, transport and manufacturing. Some 80 percent of Russia's migrant workers come from 9 former Soviet states, with which Russia maintains a visa-free regime.[1]
Most workers are recruited in their home countries for work in Russia by relatives, friends, or neighbors who have previously worked on Russian construction sites. In much smaller numbers, workers utilize formal employment agencies, the largest of which are usually run by the state.
Very often, though, migrant workers' problems begin with these intermediaries who have promised to find them decent jobs with steady pay. In the worst cases, workers are unwittingly trafficked into forced labor. Typically in such cases the employment agency or other intermediary delivers workers to employers in Russia who confiscate their passports in order to coerce them to work without wages. Workers may also be forced to endure long working hours, forced confinement at the work site, poor or no food, and even beatings.
Forced labour
Take Siarkhon Tabarov, a 40-year-old worker, from Tajikistan. After seeing a television advertisement by a local employment agency promising good jobs in Russia, he signed an agreement with the agency and traveled with 33 others to Rostov, in southern Russia, last March. Once in Rostov, the agency and employers immediately confiscated everyone's passports then drove and later forced them to walk to a remote mountainous area. Only then did the workers learn that they would be employed in a quarry digging stones, using only hand tools. When Tabarov and the other workers initially refused to perform this job, the employment agency's representative threatened them, "Whether you want to work or not, you will work. We will deport you."
Tabarov and the other workers worked for 85 days, were not paid, and for the most part were forced to live in an abandoned refrigerator truck containing filthy mattresses and a few cots. To eat they were given macaroni, bread, and kasha and only two large containers of water for the almost three months that they were there. The workers mostly drank puddles or water that they managed to collect from a nearby swamp. When the workers protested these conditions by refusing to work, demanding that they be paid or allowed to return home, the employer punished those seen as the initiators by refusing to give them food for two days.
Tabarov and the others were eventually freed when he managed to contact some relatives who alerted an international organization and the Tajik government to the case.
Nonpayment of wages
Trafficking and forced labor are particularly severe abuses of exceptional violation, but nonpayment of wages is utterly rampant, by private and state employers alike. Migrant workers typically do not know when they will be paid, how much they will be paid, or even if they will be paid. Because the practices of non-payment or delayed payment are so pervasive, many workers feel they have no choice but to remain at a job for weeks or months in hopes of one day receiving all or some of the wages owed to them.
Employers also frequently require migrant workers to work excessively long working hours and do not provide safe working conditions. Some employers use violence or threats of violence to coerce workers into accepting these terms and conditions of work.
Employers in most cases refuse to provide migrant workers with written employment contracts, as required under Russian law, making workers even more vulnerable to wage violations and other abuses and limiting their opportunities to seek assistance from official bodies in cases of abuse.
In many instances police officials responsible for providing protection and facilitating redress themselves prey on migrants. Police regularly target ethnic minorities, including migrant workers, for petty extortion during spot document inspections on the street. Sometimes, during these inspections, police also beat or humiliate them.
The government's response to these abuses has largely been to hail its recent migration policy reforms as evidence that they are looking out for the interests of migrants (at the same time looking out for Russia's national interest by facilitating a steady stream of workers). Reforms that came into effect in 2007 made it easier for workers who can enter Russia without a visa to legalize their stay and employment. These reforms, while positive, have clearly not been sufficient, to protect workers from the range of abuses that many of them face.
The government has also expressed a "love it or leave it" attitude, suggesting that if migrant workers don't like the conditions they find in Russia, then they can just stay home.
But everyone knows that the expectation that the workers "just stay home" is not realistic, or desirable, neither for the workers themselves, who have few or no opportunities for productive employment at home, nor for Russia's employers who rely on low-skilled employees from abroad to do the dirty, low-paying, and dangerous jobs that most Russian citizens aren't willing to do. Furthermore, migrant workers in Russia have a considerable impact on the economies of both Russia (experts estimate that migrant workers contribute eight to nine percent of Russian GDP) and their home countries. Remittances constitute significant portions of many regional governments' GDP (42 percent of Tajikistan's and 39 percent of Moldova's in 2007, according to the World Bank).
Nor is the "love it or leave it" position viable for protecting the human rights of migrant workers in Russia. Yes, governments have the right to develop laws and policies to regulate migration, including migration for work. But Russia's laws and policies on migration must be consistent with the country's obligations under international human rights law to protect the fundamental rights of every individual, including migrant workers, irrespective of their migration status.
Although the full impact of the economic downturn in Russia remains far from clear, without urgent action by the Russian government, Russia's already vulnerable migrant workers will be that much more exposed, as employers increasingly try to cut corners, intermediaries look to capitalize on workers' desperation, and private citizens look to scapegoat migrants for their economic woes.
What's to be done?
The Russian government must ensure rigorous labor inspections, prosecution of abusive employers, and effective regulation of intermediaries. It should also develop accessible complaint mechanisms for victims and timely and effective investigations into allegations of abuse. Further reform in migration law is also necessary to allow workers to regularize their stay more easily, making them less vulnerable to abuse and more likely to seek protection from state agencies.
The Russian government has an obligation under its own laws and international law to take these steps. It should have an interest in doing so, as these steps would create a better protected workforce. It should also be concerned about creating a better reputation for itself on labor migrants' rights in advance of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics to avoid the embarrassment the Chinese government was subjected to over the same issue.

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[1] The countries are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.



The US Print Media's Relentless Retreat
Posted: 16 Mar 2009 05:17 PM PDT
The bloodletting won't stop, and it's hard to keep up with it.
Today, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the largest US newspaper yet to make this decision, has announced that it will stop its print edition and focus entirely on its webpage.
The 146-year-old newspaper said it will print its final edition on Tuesday after its publisher, the Hearst Corp., failed to find a buyer for the money-losing enterprise.
Also, the 140-year old Tucson Citizen, the one that chronicled the legendary OK Corral shootout in Tombstone, will publish its final edition on Saturday.
Gannett Co. Inc., the Southern Arizona newspaper's publisher, also failed to find a buyer and decided to shut it down because "the paper was losing money and was a drain on Gannett operations."
On Friday, The Washington Post announced it will stop publishing its stand-alone business section and that it will consolidate it with its main-news section starting on March 30.
The Post called the decision "a reality" given the dire straits the industry is going through and that it will "dramatically reduce the amount of stock data it publishes."



Doha Centre Calls for Rejection of 'Protection of Religion' Initiative

Posted: 16 Mar 2009 04:47 PM PDT
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom joined a world-wide chorus of voices condemning a proposal by Islamic countries at the UN Human Rights Council to reject criticism of religion.
The Centre called the initiative, which has the backing of the 57-member-state Organization of the Islamic Conference, "an unacceptable violation" of international agreements of freedom of expression, including Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"Such freedom was only possible if religion could be “discussed and criticized freely” in accordance with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Centre said.

The Council’s “credibility would be destroyed” if the resolution was passed, it said, urging the 47 member-states not to be “naively fooled “by the arguments of the Islamic countries.

The resolution, tabled on 11 March by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), calls “defamation of religions” a “serious affront to human dignity leading to (...) incitement to religious hatred and violence.”

It warns against the substantial risk of Islamophobia and says Islam is “frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism.” It voices great concern about “negative stereotyping” of some religions by the media, an allusion to the 2005 publication in Denmark of cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed (showing him wearing a turban looking like a bomb), which set off riots in many Muslim countries during which 5O people were killed and several Danish embassies burned.

The Centre reminded the Council that "defending the people's right to worship is the same as protecting the religions themselves," adding that this dangerous initiative would be used "to silence all of dissident voices, including religious minorities."
We have expressed our decisive opposition to this initiative on this blog (here and here) and at international fora. We agree with Donald H. Argue and Leonard Leo, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, that this drive for the "respect of religion" is, in fact, "a cleverly coded way of granting religious leaders the right to criminalize speech and activities that they deem to insult religion. Instead of promoting harmony, however, this effort will exacerbate divisions and intensify religious repression."
This campaign is a concerted effort to glorify blasphemy laws, the ancestral predecessors of insult laws. Both seek to shield either religious or political leaders from dissent or the public's criticism. Both seek to perpetuate the uncontested power and influence of elites of one sort or another.
And both are extremely dangerous to freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

Details: Attacking religious criticism “would destroy credibility” of rights council
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom called today on the UN Human Rights Council to reject a draft resolution by Islamic countries condemning criticism of religion, saying it was “an unacceptable violation” of international agreements about freedom of expression.
Such freedom was only possible if religion could be “discussed and criticised freely” in accordance with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Centre said.

The Council’s “credibility would be destroyed” if the resolution was passed, it said, urging the 47 member-states not to be “naively fooled “by the arguments of the Islamic countries when it was discussed on the last two days of the Council’s session in Geneva, on 26 and 27 March.

The resolution, tabled on 11 March by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), calls “defamation of religions” a “serious affront to human dignity leading to (...) incitement to religious hatred and violence.”

It warns against the substantial risk of Islamophobia and says Islam is “frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism.” It voices great concern about “negative stereotyping” of some religions by the media, an allusion to the 2005 publication in Denmark of cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed (showing him wearing a turban looking like a bomb), which set off riots in many Muslim countries during which 5O people were killed and several Danish embassies burned.

The Doha Centre said the notion of defaming religion had no legal basis and was against human rights. “The OIC pretends that defending people’s right to worship is the same as protecting the religions themselves. This is a mistaken and dangerous view because ‘religious defamation’ will clearly be used as an excuse to silence all kinds of dissident voices, including religious minorities.”

US delegate Anna Chambers told the Council session on 12 March that the US was “alarmed” by use of the idea of blasphemy “by some governments to justify actions that selectively curtail civil dissent, halt criticism of political structures and restrict the religious speech of minority faith communities, dissenting members of the majority faith and persons of no religious faith.”

The last time such a resolution was presented to the Council, 21 countries backed it, 11 opposed and 14 abstained.

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Re Edited:MUKTI MAJID,Dacca