Tom Porteous

Este archivo solo abarca los artículos del autor incorporados a este sitio a partir del 1 de diciembre de 2006. Para fechas anteriores realice una búsqueda entrecomillando su nombre.

Internacional

The world is facing a massive refugee crisis. Yet there's something missing from the international response: compassion.

Claiming threats to national security, economic and political stability, and social cohesion, governments are building fences, patrolling the high seas, pushing migrants and asylum seekers back at borders, detaining and summarily deporting them, and denying them their right to apply for asylum.

The latest manifestation of this callous approach is playing out in the Malacca Straits and the Andaman Ocean, where Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia have been pushing back boatloads of desperate ethnic Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar, joined by destitute Bangladeshis.

The International Organization for Migration reports that as many as 8,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi men, women, and children are stranded at sea, crammed into heavily overcrowded boats with poor sanitation, insufficient food and a lack of potable water, in some cases abandoned by boat captains and crews and left to drift at the mercy of the weather and tides.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

On the surface things are getting back to normal.

Shops have reopened, and the dust and din are back to choking, deafening levels. Motorcyclists have returned to their dangerous habit of speeding along pavements to avoid the epic traffic jams.

On Saturday I was able to sip tea peacefully at the recently revamped Hurriya (Freedom) Café in Bab El-Louk, where just a week before protesters were fighting pitched battles with the hired thugs of the ruling Hizb al-Watani (National Democratic Party).

The atmosphere retains the hope of the revolutionary moment. The departure of President Hosni Mubarak on Friday evening, greeted by rapturous and noisy celebrations that continue days later, have filled Egyptians with rediscovered dignity and hope for a better future.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica

The crisis in Somalia, the result of a dangerously escalating conflict pitting Ethiopian forces and their Somali allies against insurgent groups, is the world's worst, according to the UN. Serious human rights violations and war crimes have been committed by all sides.

Yet the British government consistently downplays both the gravity of the crisis in Somalia and the role of Ethiopian forces there. Among other things, Ethiopia has been accused of indiscriminate bombardment of residential areas of Mogadishu. But in the assessment of Somalia in the Foreign Office's latest annual human rights report there was not a single mention of Ethiopia, let alone the conduct of its troops.…  Seguir leyendo »