Can ICC warrant really secure Gaddafi arrest?

By Christien van den Brink

THE HAGUE, July 1 (Xinhua) — The issuing of arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and two of his family members was cheered by many desperates for signs of breaking a deadlock in the North African country but a new question arises:

Now that the warrants are out, how to actually arrest Gaddafi and by whom?

NATO forces operation in Libyan skies have no mandate to arrest suspects.

“It is not the NATO to enforce that warrant, that is for the appropriate authorities. Our mandate is to protect civilians from attacks. The decision of NATO and our ally partner to extend the mission for another 90 days is clearly a signal of that determination,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungus said.

Then the task is mainly left on the shoulders of Libyan rebels.

Earlier this week, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo said Libya has the primary responsibility to implement the arrest warrants for Gaddafi.

He said Gaddafi’s inner circle “to be part of the solution, rather than the problem,” hinting that the Libyan Transitional National Council (NTC) needs to play a major role in arresting Gaddafi.

Although Libya is not a member of the ICC, the NTC has promised to cooperate with it to arrest Gaddafi and his wanted family.

Mohammed al-Alagi, minister of Justice of this temporary Libyan government told Dutch local media that the arrest warrant could lead to a discouragement of the Libyan army when they realize that fighting for their leader results in nothing.

Mohammed believed it won’t be easy to arrest Gaddafi, stressing the need for cooperation between the NTC and the State Parties of the Rome Statute.

The NTC worked closely together with ICC prosecutor Ocampo during the investigation period.

The NTC said not to be afraid to investigate crimes and won’t hesitate to trial criminals themselves.

Another way of arresting Gaddafi is to wait until he travels to a member state of the Rome Statute, which has the obligation to cooperate with the court and to comply with requests for arrest and surrender.

But what about the non-parties of the ICC statute? There are still plenty of destinations, such as Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe and Angola.

Gaddafi could even go to the United States as they are not a member party of the ICC.

The Security Council urges these countries to cooperate with the court but it also explicitly recognises that non-parties have no obligation under the Statute.

In an apparent effort to boost confidence in bringing Gaddafi and his family to court, Moreno-Ocampo on Tuesday cited the arrest last month of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic after 15 years on the run.

“It’s a matter of time. See what happened with Mladic,” he said. “Gaddafi will face justice. The arrest warrants are not going away.”

But Gaddafi does not seem the least impressed by the warrant and the NATO mission.

In a radio broadcast in June he said: “We are in our country and we insist on staying until death. We are staying, we are staying. Let them even use nuclear bombs. And if they come to the ground, we will wait for them, but they are cowards, they will not dare.”

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-07/01/c_13961288.htm

Unemployment in the Netherlands lowest in EU

Christien van den Brink

News analysis: THE HAGUE, June 30 (Xinhua) –  In the first quarter of 2011 youth unemployment in the Netherlands was the lowest in the European Union. These rates were presented by the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics CBS after investigation based on CBS and Eurostats figures.

The reasons why the Netherlands was ranked this high is partly due to a stable economy and the structure of the job market, said financial spokesperson for CBS Senne Janssens.

“The overall Dutch unemployment has been very low for many years compared to other countries.  Dutch are often employed as a part timer, which results in more jobs for the same production. In addition, the Dutch economy is rather competitive; the wage costs per product unit are relatively low, compared to most European countries. During the economic recession Dutch unemployment increased less than expected. Many econonomists think this is because companies were reluctant to dismiss their employees, as they were expecting better times. Also, the increasng amount of entrepreneurs helped to get the figures low.”

Young people often work as temporary workers, which was a vulnerable group after the economic crisis.  Many companies fired these groups first, which explains the higher unemployment rate during the crisis.

In the Netherlands less young people work in construction business, which was a sector that was particularly hit by the economic crisis. Many young constructors in Spain and Ireland ended up jobless, while in the Netherlands this was not the case.

In the last few years the Dutch government has changed their policies to reduce youth unemployment by prolonging compulsory school attendance. Janssens: “This has proofed to be an effective measure. Many young unemployed are early school leavers. Adolescents without a certificate of qualification are unemployed twice as often than people with a diploma.”

budget cuts for truant students

The ministry of education wants to cut the budget of truant students, in an attempt to fight against premature school leaving, the website of the ministry reported Monday.

In the Netherlands students receive a study allowance from the government for a period of at least four years. But especially at schools called Regional Education Centers (ROC), many students in between 18 and 19 years old play truant for a long period, while still receiving their allowance.

This is no longer acceptable, Minister of education Van Bijsterveldt states: “School absence is the forerunner of premature school leaving. In order to fight against this phenomenon it is highly important to have a well working absence office. In addition, schools need to use the current arrangements in a more efficient way.”

By taking this measure, the government wants to reduce the number of premature school leavers from 40.000 to 25.000. The focus will be on the group of students in between 18 and 19 years old.

Marja Dullemond, team manager of the ICT academy in Amsterdam doesn’t believe this measure will have the hoped results: “Our ROC has already adopted a strict policy when it comes to truancy. Students are expelled from school when they lack to attend class, which includes that they lose their allowance automatically. As a result, classes are now full with students who are unwilling to learn and are a nightmare to some teachers. I think it is very important that students are guided towards the right school, corresponding to their interests. In this way students will be more motivated, which will result in a better work attitude at school.”

Tags:education, ROC, truancy

Business in renewable energy flourishes- despite Dutch government policy

Christien van den Brink for Xinhua

The discussion on renewable energy is a constant topic that dominates the Dutch newspapers. In this analysis an overview of the different visions of policy makers on the one hand and environmental organizations on the other hand.

According to a UN report published in May, renewable energy sources could supply the world with 80 percent of its total energy demand by 2050. The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) set up this document counting 26 pages where they stressed that now 12. 9 percent of our worldwide energy supply is renewable energy.

Ambitions at the European level are high. European leaders jointly promised to reduce the CO2 emissions by 20 percent in 2020.

The Dutch government seems to follow another policy. Since the elections that were held in June last year, the cabinet scaled down their green ambitions to only 14 percent. Also, the construction of 4 coal plants in the south west of The Netherlands has already started, even though construction licenses haven’t been fully authorized yet. In addition, plans have been made to build another nuclear plant in Borssele, a small town in the southern part of The Netherlands.

Dutch professor Jan Rotman, who is the leader of a protest action that consists of 70 professors against the current policy, is doing everything to stop the construction of 4 coal plants. He would rather see the government investing in renewable energy instead.

Also, several organizations and media have shown their disapproval of the Dutch government policy in renewable energy.  The Dutch television program Radar demonstrated in their show that nothing is done to facilitate and to promote renewable energy. Several interviews with users of solar panels showed that the panels produced more energy than the consumers needed. A good deal, you would think, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. The energy company took back the energy without compensating the consumers. Moreover, the consumers had to pay extra when they needed to use electricity of the supplier. Several cases were reported where consumers gave back1/3rd of their produced energy to their supplier without being compensated.

Despite these discouraging energy policies, the enthusiasm for renewable energy is still growing fast among the Dutch.

Miro Zeman, professor and Chairman of Photovoltaic Materials and Devices: “With the newest innovations within the solar panel industry solar panels get better and better. The Energy Pay Back Time proofs it; this system allows you to calculate the time a solar panel needs before becoming lucrative. Nowadays this is already after 2 years. And a solar panel can easily reach an age of 25 years!”

In addition, Dutch and Chinese energy companies show that they believe in renewable energy as a lucrative business and they are not willing to wait for Dutch government policy to be put in place. And so they concluded several enormous deals in the last couple of days. (In presence of Dutch minister of economy Verhagen, ironically enough) Solar Total, one of the biggest solar panel suppliers inEurope, placed an order with Yinli factory. The Dutch company bought solar panels with a capacity of 50 megawatt, which is 20 megawatt more than the total amount of energy generated in The Netherlands last year.

Tags:renewable energy, solar panels

Beiruti taxidrivers

Saying that I have a love hate affair with taxidrivers might be the understatement of the year. Some of them have managed to irritate me in a way that I would be able to kill them. Fortunately  I don’t hit guys.

Ok, I have to admit: most of the time Beiruti taxidrivers had deep and thoughtful conversations with me and thanks to them I was able to improve my Arabic language skills.

The following dialogue illustrates it all:

Welcome in my taxi
Thank you.
You’re welcome
Thank you.
No worries, you are welcome, more than welcome. You’re welcome to Lebanon.
Thank you.
Where are you from?
From Holland.

 During the first week this is how the conversation went. But after a while I started to get tired of saying the same thing repeatedly, so I started to make up nationalities for myself. Ethopia was the one I used when I wanted the conversation not to get serious; Israel when I had a headache of the previous night and didn’t feel like talking.

Anyhow, despite the choice of nationality, the bit of conversation that followed was ALWAYS the same.

My brother/grandson/nephew/nephew of my fathers’ nephew also lives in Holland/Ethiopia/is in jail in Israel!

Fake astonishment: Really? What does he do there?

Well, he is a…..( Here follows a bit of conversation that until now I haven’t been able to follow, due to a lack of Arabic conversation skills)

O, wow, that is Very interesting, did I mention to tell you that what you just said is Very interesting?

At this point the taxidriver and I really started to develop a strong bond and this is probably the reason why the next conversation part always went like this:

Are you married?

No was the answer when I was still naïve. Yes, happily with four children was the answer when I was still naïve.  I am a lesbian who is fundamentally against the principle of marriage as a life time commitment was when I had enough confidence and no, but would you like to be my new husband when I knew the destination was almost reached.

Funnily enough, whichever reason I gave them, the answer they gave me was, you might be surprised, always the same.

Well, if you want to improve your Arabic I can walk you around in Beirut next Sunday and I can also show you my house.

Once there was this taxidriver, who was that old that he had probably even fought against the Ottomans himself, who wanted to have my phonenumber.

The first time that this happened to me I looked at his wrinkled face before bursting out in laughter, saying that I higly appreciated his dry sense of humour, after which I left his taxi, leaving him surprised.

But I started to get used to this inappropriate behaviour and the next time when someone wanted my number I just asked their card saying that I would put them on this pile of other cards I had collected from Ali Anytime Anywhere, Moustafa and sons and Mohammed Abu taxi.

But now that I am back in the Netherlands, sitting in a crowded train with people staring silently out of the window I suddenly realize that even though there have been times that I despised the drivers in Beirut, I also really miss them.

Cars – first necessity of life in Beirut

It’s Friday night, Gemayze. A pedestrian bravely tries to walk in the streets. The side walk is a no-go area, as it is crowded with cars. A well-dressed man seated in his open roof Lamborghini Murcielago honks impatiently as he tries to pass her. He is looking for a parking space; a challenge in this area where there seem to be more luxury cars than people. This is Beirut, where showing off with a fancy car has become an important part of daily life.

Imad Ghorra is a Sales Manager for the Ferrari dealer in Downtown Beirut. His clients are mostly wealthy Lebanese: Doctors, engineers, business men. Some of them aren’t even that rich. “I once had a client who still lived with his parents, but absolutely wanted to buy a Ferrari. He went to the bank, secured a loan and finally got his long-awaited treasure.”

The priority for most people doesn’t lie in having a beautiful looking house; more important is the car that is parked in front of it. A walk through the inner city of Beirut gives away more clues:

Ghorra: “It is relatively easy to get a loan at the bank for a fancy car. It has become a lifestyle for many young people.

Lebanese are not the only ones cruising in downtown in those fancy cars.  Especially during summer, businessmen from gulf states such as Saudi Arabia  and Dubai come here to enjoy the thing Beirut has become famous for: Its nightlife.

Sometimes they take their own convertible with them; but in most of the cases they pick one up at the local rent-a-car. One of the biggest renting companies is Halal Rent a Car. For a daily price of 700 dollars one can call himself the proud ‘owner’ of a Bentley Continental Flying Spur. And if this might come across as too shabby; no worries, the Ferrari F430 takes you anywhere for the reasonable price of 1350 dollars a day.

Tags:Beirut, cars, Ferrari, luxury cars, wealth

Nargileh unhealthy, but nobody cares

Smoking nargileh in Lebanon is as common as riding a bike in The Netherlands. When I take my walk at the corniche Al-Mina in Tripoli (the so called boulevard at the sea) on a late Sunday afternoon I realize how popular the waterpipe is.

While the waves crash against the rocks, three  young men light the fazem (coal) and choose their flavour. The smell of grape and apple reaches my nose few minutes afterwards. Next to them a small group of headscarfed women do the same. And on the boulevald I count an endless series of terraces crowded with smoking people. This scenery gives a very harmless and attractive picture of a tradition that goes back for centuries.

However, the results of several studies show that in an hour-long smoking session of hookah, users consume about 100 to 200 times the smoke of a single cigarette;  in a 45-minute smoking session a typical smoker would inhale 1.7 times the nicotine of a single cigarette. The water used to filter the smoke does not remove harmful cancer-causing chemicals from the smoke as is believed by some.

Even though the results of those studies are familiar to most of the Lebanese, it doesn’t stop the majority from doing it. Intrigued by tourist brochures showing the cultural beauty of this old tradition with great pictures; and hundreds of advertisements promoting the latest flavours such as lemon and mint, the habit is kept alive.

Bartender Moustafa: “Smoking nargileh is part of my daily life. Every single day I smoke one with friends after work. It relaxes me and gives me a little bit of a buzz. I kind of know that it isn’t good for your health, but I don’t really care.”

Tags:Lebanon, nargileh, Saida