Worst violence in years rocks northern French city

About 100 youths clashed with police in the French city of Amiens overnight. Sixteen police were reported to have been wounded as the youths set cars, a sports center and a primary school ablaze.

"The confrontations were very, very violent," Amiens Mayor Gilles Dumailly told French television network BFM . Demailly also said he had encountered a "scene of desolation" in the northern quarter of a city that is known for its university and its 13th century Gothic cathedral.
"There have been regular incidents here but it has been years since we've known a night as violent as this with so much damage," Demailly told AFP.

The crowd, composed mostly of young men, also pulled drivers from their cars and stole the vehicles. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to quell the unrest after suffering injuries caused by buckshot, fireworks and other projectiles thrown by rioters. Up to 150 police were involved in fracas.
"Sixteen police were injured, some by buckshot fire," prefect's office spokesperson Thomas Lavielle told television station i>TELE TV.
On Tuesday, French President Francois Hollande voiced his concern over the violence.
"The state will mobilize all its means to combat these violent acts," Hollande said. "Security is not only a priority for us, it is an obligation."
Later Tuesday, Interior Minister Manuel Valls was due to visit the city to survey the damage.
Amiens police said the riot began around 9 p.m. local time. It ended, they said, when federal law enforcement reinforcements arrived early Tuesday morning. Local media reported the clashes were apparently sparked by tension over recent police checks on residents.
A restless city
The violence followed smaller clashes over the weekend, which were triggered by the arrest of a man for dangerous driving. According to AFP, the arrest was seen as insensitive as it came as many residents of the neighborhood were attending a funeral for a local youth who had died in a motorbike accident.
Amiens has had a history of unrest recently. Earlier this month, the district where Monday night's violence occurred, was declared among the 15 most troubled in France, with the French government pledging more security and more money.
Tensions remain high in France's rundown suburbs, where high unemployment, racial discrimination, a widespread sense of alienation and mistrust of police has periodically sparked violence.
Weeks of rioting in 2005 were followed by months of debate over the integration of millions of black and North African immigrants into mainstream society.
The death of two youths hit by a police car sparked further violence in 2007. More unrest followed in 2010, when police shot and killed a youth who robbed a casino.

Westerwald: nature at its best

Westerwald boasts a plethora of forests, plateaus, river valleys and romantic villages with half-timbered houses. The eroded mountain range about 40 kilometers northwest of Frankfurt is ideal for nature lovers.

The best way to explore this expansive region is through its many hiking trails. The Westerwaldsteig is 235 kilometers (146 miles) long and is one of Germany's most popular hiking trails. It runs through the Westerwald Lake Plateau to Birkenhof Distillery, where you can observe the production of schnapps - a sweet liquor - and, of course, sample the product too.
Hachenburg, with its Baroque castle situated on a basalt outcrop, is immediately noticeable from a distance. The castle was once home to the Counts of Sayn. The town's half-timbered buildings are typical of the region.
In the countryside around Hasselbach, about five kilometers away, sculptor Erwin Wortelkamp, together with 40 artists and landscape architects, has created "Im Tal," a landscape garden and sculpture park. The artworks are integrated into the natural surroundings, linking them closely to the Westerwald.
Our tour guide Potter Joachim Ermert has three travel tips: the ceramic museum in Höhr-Grenzhausen, the village of Grenzau with its castle ruins, and the restaurant "Zur Burg Grenzau."

Kunduz victims angry over colonel's promotion

A German colonel, Georg Klein, who ordered a tragic bombing near Kunduz three years ago, will be promoted to the rank of general. The Bundeswehr says it’s ‘normal’, but Afghan survivors view it as a provocation.

German Bundeswehr Colonel Georg Klein has a reputation in Afghanistan, but his name does not conjure up the best memories. On the the night of September 4, 2009, Col. Klein ordered the bombing of two hijacked tanker trucks near a Kunduz military camp. More than 100 Afghans died in the incident or were seriously injured, most of them civilians, many of them children. Despite the tragic misjudgment which Colonel Klein may have made out of fear of a possible attack, he was never charged.
The incident, however, did trigger consequences at the staff level. The poor information policy within the German Defense Ministry led to the resignation of the defense minister and to the dismissal of the Bundeswehr's Inspector General. But legal proceedings related to the case never led to formal charges or a verdict against Colonel Klein.
'Normal procedure'
Now, the Bundeswehr sees it as a ‘normal procedure' that Col. Klein should be promoted to the rank of general, three years after giving his fateful order. In future, he will be sitting behind a desk in his new position as head of the new Bundeswehr department for human resource management. But editorials in the German press mostly criticize the decision, saying what may be considered a ‘normal procedure' within the Bundeswehr, is probably seen differently abroad and also from a moral perspective. "That's not how the West can win the Afghans' hearts", read one editorial.

Lawyer Karim Popal criticizes Colonel Klein's promotion

The lawyer of the relatives of the Kunduz victims, Karim Popal, is disappointed with Colonel Klein's promotion and about Germany's Afghanistan policy as a whole. "The Federal Republic of Germany decides to promote Mr Oberst Klein and his First Sergeant at the time, Master Sergeant Wilhelm. That's a slap in the face of Afghan civil society", he says and adds that the decision to have the pair promoted is certainly not perceived as an act of international understanding by the Afghans.
Karim Popal, who works as a lawyer in the Northern German town of Bremen, is in close contact with the surviving relatives of the Afghan victims in Kunduz Province. As a group, they wrote a long and detailed letter to the German government, asking that the people responsible for the death of their children, their fathers, their families be convicted. These people, Karim Popal says, perceive Colonel Klein's promotion as a personal insult.
Angry about 'half-hearted help'

Burnt-out tanker trucks in Kunduz Province

To them, the memories of that night in September 2009 are still too vivid. Sayed Rasoul, who lost his brother in the Kunduz incident, is desperate. He has had to take over responsibility for his brother's orphans and hardly knows how to feed them, he says. "The help we got was pointless. If we'd known that they didn't plan to offer long-term help to us and that three years on, nobody thinks about what to do with the orphans, then we'd never have accepted it." Rasoul wants to see the responsible people stand trial.
Noor Jaan, who was severely injured in the incident three years ago, is equally bitter about the news from Germany. "I lost a hand, and half my bones are missing in one shoulder. They promised me surgery. But nothing's happened so far." Noor Jaan is close to tears and trembling with anger. If the injured and the victims' surviving members of family had known at the time that there was only ever going to be half-hearted help, he says, they would never have accepted it. (The Bundeswehr granted the families of 91 dead and 11 severely injured 5,000 US dollars in humanitarian aid each.)
"We have never forgiven (Colonel Klein). If the German government has forgiven him now that would disappoint us severely", Noor Jaan stresses. The letter the relatives and victims wrote will be published in a few days' time. Karim Popal will continue representing his clients and says he hopes that the so-called Kunduz affair will have a fair ending eventually.

Latvian mother seeks damages for Down's child

A controversial court case has angered disability groups across Europe. A Latvian mother has accused doctors of breaching her rights after her daughter was born with Down's syndrome.

In 2002, a 41-year-old Latvian woman, Laura (not her real name), gave birth to a child with Down's syndrome. It was only then that the she found out that mothers over the age of 35 fall into a higher risk category. Many doctors offer prenatal screening tests to detect such chromosomal disorders - and some parents decide to terminate the pregnancy based on the results of those tests.
Laura's doctor apparently failed to do this. She therefore lodged a complaint with the health authorities in a bid to get compensation - but judges in Latvia rejected the claim.
So Laura has taken her case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), claiming her right to a proper family life has been violated. She wants around 300,000 euros ($371,000) in moral damages to provide an allowance for her child.
"We're basing our complaint on two articles of the European Convention on Human Rights," her lawyer, Solvita Olsena. "First, the right to respect for private life prescribed by article eight. In other words, the right to have a reproductive choice and to know about reproductive matters. And secondly, we think there's been a breach of article six of the convention because she was denied a fair trial."
Olsena claims there is evidence of malpractice on the part of the doctor that was not allowed by the court in Latvia. Laura is now facing legal costs of around 4,000 euros, which she cannot afford.
Rights groups up in arms
Her quest for justice has provoked an angry response from more than 20 associations who work with people suffering from Down's syndrome. Earlier this year they launched an online petition calling on judges in the ECHR in Strasbourg to reject Laura's case. Liva Veiherte from the Latvian Down's Syndrome Society was among those who signed the petition.
"This is the first case where a mother has asked for the fundamental human right to euthanize her unborn child. And I really want to stress that we are not talking about abortion which is right or wrong depending on one's moral standards. This is about euthanasia which would be carried out in the last months of pregnancy," said Veiherte.
Veiherte believes people shouldn't be discriminated against because of genetic defects. And people with Down's syndrome, she says, don't usually suffer any physical pain because of their condition. They go to school, have jobs and can live full and independent lives.
Personal experience
Laimdota Landisa has also signed the international petition against Laura's case. She herself has a 13-year-old daughter who has Down's syndrome. And like Laura, Landisa was 41 when she gave birth.
"Victoria was our fourth child, and the long-awaited girl in the family. We didn't suspect any disorder because I'd had a sonogram, which usually detects irregularities during pregnancy. And the doctor didn't offer any additional genetic screening."
Landisa says that Victoria's Down's syndrome came as a shock and turned her life upside down. She considered rejecting the baby but eventually decided to take her daughter home. Her husband, though, couldn't accept this decision, and he left the family. Landisa went back to work and has raised Victoria alone along with her three other children. She says it's been a rough ride, but it's been worth it.
"I realized that I wouldn't cope, and I sought help," Landisa explained. "I joined a support group, and from early on I took Victoria to various day care centers. But I raised her. I don't know how it is in other countries, but here in Latvia mothers have to manage everything themselves if they want to raise children with disabilities."
Legal controversy
According to Henrietta Roscam Abbing, an editor at the European Journal of Health Law, Laura's claim has caused an uproar over issues which are not even the essence of the case:
"The court will not judge on those issues because the case is not about that," she told DW. "It's about informed consent and whether the woman was given a choice about taking screening test or not. And that is personal autonomy, which is in the European Convention of Human Rights. You shouldn't bring that in the light of abortion and of the disabled. That's what disturbing me very much."
The case has only just come before the ECHR, so it will be months before judges deliver their verdict. In the meantime, disability rights groups are continuing to collect signatures for their petition.

Indian schoolgirls dropping out during puberty

Young girls in India menstruating for the first time are considered impure and are excluded from social life. Tradition dictates they are not allowed into the family home and many are forced to stop going to school.

Tucked away beside a large public bus station in the heart of the city of Bangalore in India's southern Karnataka state, the Yeshwantpur slum is relatively quiet, with most of its residents away at work or school. Kousalya Velayutham, 14, sits alone at the doorway of the tenement building, washing clothes. For the past few days, the young girl has not been going to school because she got her period for the first time.
It's a common tradition in many parts of India to make menstruating girls sit outside the house for five days at a stretch. She sat at the doorway under a temporary shelter made of banana leaves.
"I was not supposed to come inside," Kousalya said. "I could come in only to sleep. Even then I had to sleep near the door, and was not allowed to come further inside. All of god's photos in our house were covered with a cloth, and I was not supposed to look at them for nine days. They say god will get angry."
Kousalya's family are migrant laborers from neighboring Tamil Nadu state. She shares her single room with two siblings, a widowed aunt and her three children. Kousalya's father abandoned the family, and her mother returned to their native village, leaving Kousalya and her brothers to the care of her Aunt Lalitha.

When Kousalya mentruated for the first time, all religious pictures were covered

While Lalitha works as a domestic helper during the day, Kousalya helps out by doing all the household chores.
As per tradition, Kousalya was allowed to enter the house again after the first five days, but she has other restrictions she must adhere to for nine days. She is not allowed to leave the slum - a protection against "evil spirits." But since the tenement they live in has only a small bathing area and no toilet, Kousalya is allowed once a day to walk over to the public toilet at the nearby bus station that is used by all the slum dwellers. Here, too, Kousalya was told to cover her face with her dupatta or scarf.
Being a 'big girl' now
"The boys and men walking around the bus station shouldn't see my face. I have got my period for the first time, so now if anyone sees me they say I will get pimples all over my face."
Apart from this list of instructions, Kousalya knows little else about the changes in her body. All she knows from her aunt and teachers at school is that she is considered a "big girl" now and has to be careful around boys and strangers, although no one has told her why. She is happy that she got new clothes and jewelry for the occasion.
Meanwhile, about half a kilometer (0.3 miles) away, Kousalya's school, the T.A. Higher Primary, is in full swing.
Kousalya's classmate Shalini Bhavu discovered during class about seven months ago that she was bleeding. The teacher sent Shalini home, where her mother told her that she had got her period.
Like Kousalya, Shalini also had to go through the ritual of sitting outside for five days. The ancient Hindu tradition was designed to give women a break from the housework. But over the years, the practice has often been interpreted differently. Women and girls were told that their bodies were "polluted" during this time, so they had to sit away from others and avoid chores like cooking so as not to "contaminate" others.
School drop-outs
Today, the practice still continues in rural areas and in poor or less educated families in India. But it's limited to girls having their period for the first time.
Shalini often misses a few days of school every month, complaining of severe stomach ache and heavy bleeding. She says she hasn't gone to a doctor yet.

Shalini's family has allowed her to continue her education

"My mother told my aunt that I had severe bleeding, but my aunt said that I don't need to go to a doctor," she says. "She just told her to give me some nuts, sweets and spicy food, and the bleeding will be reduced."
Shalini is lucky: she has her parents' support to continue her schooling. This is not the case for many other girls in India. Many parents take their daughters out of school when they reach puberty and start planning to marry them off. One of the reasons is the fear that they might become pregnant at an early age, especially since there have been cases in Bangalore of older men taking advantage of young adolescent girls in schools.
Teachers at the T.A. Higher Primary School say they have not had cases of dropouts in their school. Sometimes, however, they have to go to students' homes and convince the parents to send their daughters to school.
Up to a quarter of Indian girls are estimated to drop out of school for good after they reach adolescence. Some stay away from school during their menstruation because they can not afford proper menstrual protection like sanitary napkins.
Sex education not part of Indian culture?
Earlier this year, the state of Karnataka introduced sex education in the school curriculum. But whether it will be implemented by teachers and school authorities in the state remains to be seen.

Shalini (left) and her sister on her way back home from school

Shalini's English teacher Shanthi Baskaran says it would help to equip the girls with more awareness on how to behave around strangers and how to identify sex abuse, so they can prevent or report such incidents.
Yet she says a complete education on the female anatomy, puberty-related changes and sexuality would not be appropriate, because discussing these issues openly is not part of Indian culture.
"The children watch TV and know too much nowadays. If we just casually mention the word ‘love' or 'affection' in class, they start getting all kinds of wrong ideas," she told DW. "We don't feel comfortable discussing these things in detail. My personal opinion is that we don't need sex education. If there is a need to educate them about the do's and don'ts of sexual behavior, let other people come and teach them."

Indian court orders media to honor children’s privacy

The Delhi High Court issued new guidelines for the broadcast of news about children after a complaint about an infant who was shown on television as she was brought into a hospital with multiple injuries.

The Indian media will not be allowed to reveal personal details of children who have been victimized or who feature in stories concerning sexual offences, elopement and drug abuse.
According to the new guidelines, "The media shall ensure that a child's identity is not revealed in any manner, including but not limited to, disclosure of personal information, photograph, school or locality and information of the family including their residential or official address."
The rules, submitted to the court by a committee, also asked the media to not sensationalize stories about children. They require journalists to be conscious of the consequences of revealing sensitive information about child who are victims or who are connected to a crime.
The guidelines also say that the media must ensure the right to privacy of a child so that he or she may not be exposed to anxiety, distress, trauma or social stigma in the future.
In January this year, a-two-year-old battered baby was brought into a hospital in New Delhi. Media reports disclosed her identity and also that of a young girl who brought the baby to the hospital.

Journalists are being asked to be more sensitive about what they portray

A lawyer then filed a petition saying that the media exposure was a violation of the Juvenile Justice Act, according to which no report in any broadcasting medium is allowed to disclose the identity of a minor in conflict with the law. The Delhi High Court then appointed a committee which submitted its guidelines.
Insensitivity or ignorance?
The Indian media has not been very discreet about children's identities. Notable cases include the recent investigations into the murder of a teenager, whose photographs were widely publicized by the media. Another case in 2004 involved a teenager who was mentally bullied when her videos were circulated among her schoolmates. Some channels even publicized her name.
Ritu Jain, magistrate at the Delhi Police's special unit for women and children said that publicizing a child's identity only creates problems and doesn't offer any solutions. "There is no advantage for the child if his or her identity is made public. No one offers her any assistance, only the court or the police can help her and the child is reduced to just a name."
Jain believes that revealing a child's identity makes him or her a subject for discussion and this may have an effect on his or her future - especially when it comes to getting admissions in school and college.
Hunger of a growing media
The Indian media is expanding rapidly. According to Price Waterhouse Coopers, media is expanding at 11.4 percent every year, a pace that is one of the highest in the world. This is one reason why the media constantly needs new people with new skills.

The Indian media is undergoing a period of rapid expansion

Senior Journalist Qamar Waheed Naqvi believes this is one big reason why it is getting difficult to sensitize the media towards such issues. "If you look at the way the media is expanding and at the institutions of training, it's not necessary that all institutes take such issues into account. "
Naqvi says that there is no regulatory authority in India which ensures that all institutes teach the basics of sensitivity to their students.
Ritu Jain also believes that the media needs to be sensitized and many journalists themselves do not believe they are doing any harm by revealing the details of a child when they are reporting on a crime.
Naqvi says that most journalists are ignorant, and "by the time they become sensitive to such issues, it is already too late. The mistake has been made and the damages have to be dealt with."
And will the new guidelines be successful in ensuring protection to children? Naqvi believes that the new guidelines will at least help create awareness among journalists and such blatant revelations of a child's identity will be much lesser in the future.
Author: Manasi Gopalakrishnan
Editor: Richard Connor

Survival in the Sahel

More than a million children are going hungry in the Sahel because of drought. A German aid group believes it can help to contain the crisis by offering financial inducements for the slaughter of weaker livestock.

Adamou Nouhou is patiently sawing away at a bone. He is a butcher from the village of Yatakala in the Tera region of Niger. Two tables are standing in the sand, they are covered with plastic bags. Adamou's two assistants are putting pieces of raw meat on metal skewers and then hanging them out to dry in the sun. Nearby two beef carcasses, supported by a wooden frame, are swaying in the wind. The air is full of sand and dust, and it is hot, more than 40 degrees in the shade. Adamou Nouhou places his saw to one side. "After we have skinned the animals, we bring them here, cut them up and remove the bone. Before we put the meat out to dry, we have to weigh it.," he says
That is the job of Fati Salou, an independent weights and measures inspector. She examines the carcasses, notes down their weight and ensures the meat really does go to those who need it.

Weaker animals are slaughtered and the meat is dsitributed to the needy

Buying up livestock
This provisional abattoir is one of eight that the German aid organisation Welthungerhilfe (World Food Aid) have set up in villages across Niger. Some 60,000 people have benefited from the project since it started at the beginning of the year. All needy households in the villages have been supplied with meat, as well as millet and seed.
Fati Salaou opens the gate into a farmyard. A few underfed cattle and goats are chewing away in the shade of a tree. Because of the drought in the Sahel, oxen and cows have hardly anything to eat. Welthungerhilfe buys the weakest cattle from the farmers at a price which they would never get if they went to market. In and around Yatakala these animals now end up in cooking pots and save human lives.

Carcasses drying in the sun

Willi Kohlmus is Welthungerhilfe's regional director for Africa. He says they are trying to do everything they can to stop people leaving the area, because that would be the worst that could happen. "It would mean they would stop growing crops and the next harvest would also be a disaster. That in turn would mean more dependence on foreign aid, in refugee camps,".he warns.
 For farmers and the nomadic peoples of the Sahel, cows and oxen are status symbols. They are also an investment for the future, or savings to fall back on in hard times. Livestock is slaughtered only on special occasions, for example, when the son of the family gets married. Normally, they would let animals starve to death rather than take a knife to their throats. Selling them is the only option. But who is going to buy cattle when there isn't any feed because of the drought? It is a real dilemma, as Saydou Abdoulaye, a young father from Yatakala explains. "One really can't expect us to reduce the size of our herds, because we don't have anything else. They are all that we possess," he says.

"Things were different in the old days"

Worst drought ever
The food crisis is closely linked to the broader crisis enveloping the environment. Climate change has made the rainy season less predictable. Periods of drought now occur more frequently. Simultaneously, the growth in population is putting a greater strain on the soil. More people are keeping more livestock and the pastureland becomes overgrazed. As it is not given a chance to recover, it becomes worn out. In addition, more and more trees are cut down for firewood.
Slowly the people of Yatakala are realizing that they are partly to blame if nothing grows any more. For 60-year-old farmer Gambina Birma this is the worst drought she has ever experienced.
"We pray that this year there will be enough rain so that we never have another season like the last one ever again Now, we have a disaster here every second year. Two years ago we were hit by flooding. Things were different in the old days, there used to be a lot more trees and hardly any sand," she says.
Learning to treat animals

Learning to be a veterinary assistant at classes supported by Welthungerhilfe

In a school building in Tera, there is a class in which all the students are adult men. Rows of tables are covered with medicines and medical equipment. The students are being trained to become veterinary assistants. Two cattle breeders from Yatakala are also taking part.
Welthungerhilfe's Willi Kohlmus gives a short introductory speech. "We are not here just to offeryou emergency aid, instead we want - together with you -  to lay the foundations for a better future," he says.
Everyone completing the course will be able to run their own pharmacy, which will supply famers with the medicines they need for the care of their animals free of charge. They also learn that a small herd of healthy animals is far more valuable than a larger one, which cannot be fed adequately in times of drought.