What’s New June 2004

This page lists changes to this site for June 2004. See below for other updates and to get notified of changes to the site.

The permanent link for this update is http://www.globalissues.org/whatsnew/2004/june.

That was the charge from Amnesty International. Powerful governments were accused of sacrificing human rights in a blind pursuit of security even when human rights provide a framework for real security.

The U.S. and British governments appeared to be stunned about new revelations of torture by their troops on Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. Yet, this had been feared and reported at the very least over a year ago. Furthermore, revelations are coming out that torture tactics may have been indirectly encouraged from the very top of the U.S. chain of command. In addition, a number of Iraqi women, possibly illegally arrested and jailed in Abu Ghraib, have been raped, some pregnant as a result.

In light of the prisoner abuse and torture in Iraq by occupation forces, and that some of those involved were women in the U.S. army, a short sub-section has been added about women's rights, militarism and violence.

Believed to be Russia's main hope for their control of the region, Kadyrov's assassination is a big blow to them. Update about questionable Al-Queda link also added to this page.

Related Issue:

The number of obese people in the world is believed to have overtaken the number of hungry. Some of the deeper causes of obesity point to a waste in the economy and of environmental resources. A few updates have been added regarding the impacts and action (or lack of) in the United Kingdom on this issue.

A small update has been added to the free trade criticism page regarding protectionism and how some wealthier countries use it when it suits them but pressures poorer countries to avoid it. In addition, the IMF admitted that it made mistakes in how it dealt with Argentina's economic crisis that saw some half of the population thrown into poverty.

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