Latest news with #COI
Iraqi News
5 days ago
- Iraqi News
Seven officials arrested over Iraq's shopping center fire
Baghdad ( – The Iraqi Commission of Integrity (COI) revealed on Saturday that seven officials in Wasit's Civil Defense Directorate and the Kut Municipality, including the director of civil defense, have been arrested over a shopping center fire that killed 61 people earlier this week. The fire, which erupted late Wednesday at a recently finished retail center in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut, is the latest tragic accident in a country where safety laws are frequently disregarded. After a preliminary inspection, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior identified clear negligence among several officials and employees in Kut. Besides the seven officials that have been arrested, 17 staff have been suspended from work until further notice over the violations that led to the fire at the shopping center. The original cause of the shopping center fire remained unknown; however, an eyewitness told AFP that an air conditioner blew on the second floor before the five-story structure was quickly destroyed by flames.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Time of India
No proof of personal problems, soldier's suicide due to military service, says Armed Forces Tribunal
Chandigarh: The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has attributed a soldier's suicide to military service and granted special family pension to his widow, noting that there was no evidence of personal problems in his life. "Absence of call data records of the mobile of the deceased has been a handicap even with the court of inquiry (COI). Had there been forensic evidence, the picture would have become clearer. However, with no evidence of personal problems in the life of deceased and his taking own life on the day of 'Vijay Divas', predominately shows linkage of service factors with suicide," the tribunal has held. The soldier, a Naik with Maratha Light Infantry, had served in Army for 13 years before he allegedly shot himself with a service rifle on 'Vijay Divas' on Dec 16, 2018, while being posted at a training unit in Assam. He wrote 'My Vijay Divas' on his forearm and palm before dying by suicide. His wife filed an appeal for family pension with AFT, saying she was struggling to bring up their two children since her husband's death. The ordinary family pension amounting of Rs 19,475 per month wasn't enough, she said in her petition, adding that this amount would be further reduced to Rs.11,685 per month after Dec 17, 2028. She pleaded that her husband was neither unwell nor did he have any suicidal tendency. Shed argued that she is entitled to special family pension because her husband died while on duty and the COI and General Officer Commanding (GOC) had declared his death attributable to military service. A division bench comprising Justice Shailendra Shukla, judicial member, and Vice-Admiral Atul Kumar Jain, administrative member, of the AFT Mumbai bench examined all the records and witnesses, and observed that what is of utmost importance is that the COI itself found the death attributable to military service and the Station Commander and GOC concurred. The tribunal further held that the COI's opinion shows that conditions for awarding special family pension had been fulfilled, meaning thereby that it was established that service factors were responsible for the death. "The onus now shifted on military authorities to prove otherwise and it was their incumbent duty to prove that the writing on the forearm and palm of the deceased was not in his own handwriting which they have not been able to do…In absence of definite opinion, benefit of doubt has to be accorded in favour of the applicant and therefore we are inclined to align with the opinion of COI, Commander and GOC that suicide was attributable to military service. The onus under these conditions was upon military authorities to prove contrary, which has not been discharged. Thus, the applicant is found to be entitled to Special Family pension," the tribunal said in its recent judgment. The tribunal, however, refused to grant an ex gratia amount to the widow.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
UN blasted for funding committee 'created to destroy the Jewish state,' despite budget crisis
Critics slammed the United Nations for rewarding a controversial anti-Israel Commission of Inquiry with four new positions worth up to three-quarters of a million dollars, even as the world body undergoes a severe cash crisis. "When it comes to spending money for the spread of antisemitism, the U.N. doesn't have a spending limit," Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital. On June 4, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem (COI), led by South African Navi Pillay, announced four new job openings for senior-level positions in Geneva. These include two P-2 level associate interpreters, one higher-level P-3 level human rights officer, and a still more senior P-4 level human rights officer. Revealed: The Extensive Perks Un Officials Receive While Ordering Budget Cuts Combined, their salaries will range from $530,000 to $704,000, based on salary scales released by the U.N. and its location-based salary multiplier (set at .814 for Swiss employees), published in a document supplied to Fox News Digital by a diplomatic source. These salaries do not include other senior-level U.N. employee benefits, including dependent costs, housing allowances or relocation fees. Read On The Fox News App Bayefsky asked why the U.N.'s "belt-tightening exercise … applies to all kinds of urgent matters but exempts the COI, which has simultaneously gone on a spending-spree." "The COI was created to destroy the Jewish state and is now conducting itself accordingly." She said its latest report, issued in June, is "totally unhinged" and "claims Israelis are like Nazis engaged in 'extermination' of the Palestinians, refers to those 'extremist Jews,' denies biblical history, [and] fuels antisemitism by claiming Jews defile Muslim holy sites." A spokesperson from the U.N. Human Rights Office did not respond to Fox News Digital's questions about the Commission's findings. Doge Usaid Budget Cuts Hit Un In 'Worst Liquidity Crisis Since Its Establishment' Pillay and the COI have come under fire previously for anti-Israel sentiment. In January 2022, 42 Republicans and Democrats in Congress signed an open letter calling for the U.S. to defund the COI. The Representatives expressed concern that "Chairwoman Navi Pillay, while serving as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, repeatedly and unjustly accused Israel of committing war crimes." They stated that while she condemned Israel, Pillay "reportedly said nothing at all about egregious human rights abuses in dozens of other countries which, unlike Israel, received the worst, 'Not Free' rating from the respected Freedom House." In October 2023, a representative from the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in Geneva said before the Third Committee of the U.N. that the U.S. "remains deeply concerned about the scope and nature of the open-ended Commission of Inquiry established in May 2021. The COI demonstrates a particular bias against Israel in subjecting it to a unique mechanism that does not exist for any other U.N. Member State." In October 2024, a report from the COI excluded information about Hamas' use of Kamal Adwan Hospital for operations, failed to recount the maltreatment Israeli hostages received at Gazan hospitals, and could "not verify" that tunnels found below Al-Shifa hospital "were used for military purposes." Bayefsky said the report trafficked in blood libels. In March, Pillay's commission claimed that rape and sexual violence are part of the Israel Defense Force's "standard operating procedures towards Palestinians." Pillay also said that the IDF's sexual violence creates "a system of oppression that undermines [Palestinians'] right to self-determination." In response, Bayefsky said "Pillay and her COI are notorious for turning reality upside down. October 7 was marked by grotesque Palestinian use of sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war. In response, the COI diminished those atrocities and instead concocted the reverse." In March 2024, Congress passed a budget bill that eliminated funding for the COI while simultaneously banning funds for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), according to the Jerusalem Post. The U.N. Human Rights Council is already experiencing the impact of the organization's liquidity crisis. In a June 16 letter penned by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, the Human Rights Council outlines more than a dozen reports, as well as studies, regional workshops, and panels mandated by the Council, which could not be completed due to inadequate resourcing. In response to a request for comment about how the COI has received additional personnel while the Human Rights Council deals with scarcity, spokesperson Pascal Sim told Fox News Digital that the Human Rights Council's "views are only expressed in the resolutions and decisions that its 47 Member States adopt at the end of each of its sessions." Former Trump Official Slams Un Reforms As 'Eight And A Half Years Late' To the question of whether the council is in greater need of personnel or funds to fulfill its current workload, Sim said that "Member States of the U.N. are currently continuing consultations on this matter." In a press conference on July 1, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Policy Guy Ryder updated reporters on U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres' cost-cutting UN80 Initiative. Ryder said that the U.N. recognizes "that we have a difficult task of untangling the undergrowth of decisions and resolutions and mechanisms that we put in place to implement them, and we wonder if we're going to be able to advance significantly." Ryder also admitted that "When a similar review was undertaken 20 years ago, it ran rather quickly into the sand. It did not produce the results that were hoped for and expected at that time. We're looking at that experience of 20 years ago, and we hope we can avoid some of the pitfalls." However, Bayefsky said, "For decades, the U.N. has engaged in phony cost-saving measures while their actual expenditures have ballooned," she said, noting that the U.S. "has always been satisfied by moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic." Bayefsky said that "it's our government's job to put an end to this devious calculus by immediately withholding the entire U.N. budget until such time as the dangerous lesions are removed. It's our job to deny visas to the COI members planning to come to the United States in the next couple of months. "Contrary to popular belief, it is not required by the U.S.-U.N. host agreement to allow international travelers into the U.S. to fan the flames of antisemitism, and vandalize our fundamental values and the Constitution from the middle of New York City," Bayefsky said. "We need a new boat, not new deck chairs." A budget proposal from the Trump administration leaked in April announced the intention to eliminate all expenditures to the U.N. and international organizations. In response to questions about whether a decision about U.N. funding has been finalized, a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital that "President Trump is ensuring taxpayer dollars are used wisely. Any announcements regarding funding to international organizations will come from the President or the administration." The U.S., through its taxpayers, is the single-largest contributor to the U.N. In 2022, the U.N. reports that $18.1 billion, or 26.8%, of its $67.5 billion in expenditures came from the U.S. Original article source: UN blasted for funding committee 'created to destroy the Jewish state,' despite budget crisis
Fox News
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
UN blasted for funding committee 'created to destroy the Jewish state,' despite budget crisis
Critics slammed the United Nations for rewarding a controversial anti-Israel Commission of Inquiry with four new positions worth up to three-quarters of a million dollars, even as the world body undergoes a severe cash crisis. "When it comes to spending money for the spread of antisemitism, the U.N. doesn't have a spending limit," Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital. On June 4, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem (COI), led by South African Navi Pillay, announced four new job openings for senior-level positions in Geneva. These include two P-2 level associate interpreters, one higher-level P-3 level human rights officer, and a still more senior P-4 level human rights officer. Combined, their salaries will range from $530,000 to $704,000, based on salary scales released by the U.N. and its location-based salary multiplier (set at .814 for Swiss employees), published in a document supplied to Fox News Digital by a diplomatic source. These salaries do not include other senior-level U.N. employee benefits, including dependent costs, housing allowances, or relocation fees. Bayefsky asked why the U.N.'s "belt-tightening exercise…applies to all kinds of urgent matters but exempts the COI, which has simultaneously gone on a spending-spree." "The COI was created to destroy the Jewish state and is now conducting itself accordingly." She said its latest report, issued in June, is "totally unhinged" and "claims Israelis are like Nazis engaged in 'extermination' of the Palestinians, refers to those 'extremist Jews,' denies biblical history, [and] fuels antisemitism by claiming Jews defile Muslim holy sites." A spokesperson from the U.N. Human Rights Office did not respond to Fox News Digital's questions about the Commission's findings. Pillay and the COI have come under fire previously for anti-Israel sentiment. In January 2022, 42 Republicans and Democrats in Congress signed an open letter calling for the U.S. to defund the COI. The Representatives expressed concern that "Chairwoman Navi Pillay, while serving as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, repeatedly and unjustly accused Israel of committing war crimes." They stated that while she condemned Israel, Pillay "reportedly said nothing at all about egregious human rights abuses in dozens of other countries which, unlike Israel, received the worst, 'Not Free' rating from the respected Freedom House." In October 2023, a representative from the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in Geneva said before the Third Committee of the U.N. that the U.S. "remains deeply concerned about the scope and nature of the open-ended Commission of Inquiry established in May 2021. The COI demonstrates a particular bias against Israel in subjecting it to a unique mechanism that does not exist for any other U.N. Member State." In October 2024, a report from the COI excluded information about Hamas' use of Kamal Adwan Hospital for operations, failed to recount the maltreatment Israeli hostages received at Gazan hospitals, and could "not verify" that tunnels found below Al-Shifa hospital "were used for military purposes." Bayefsky said the report trafficked in blood libels. In March, Pillay's commission claimed that rape and sexual violence are part of the Israel Defense Force's "standard operating procedures towards Palestinians." Pillay also said that the IDF's sexual violence creates "a system of oppression that undermines [Palestinians'] right to self-determination." In response, Bayefsky called Pillay "the world's leading champion of the 2001 U.N. 'Durban Declaration' slander that a Jewish state is a racist state." In March 2024, Congress passed a budget bill that eliminated funding for the COI while simultaneously banning funds for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), according to the Jerusalem Post. The U.N. Human Rights Council is already experiencing the impact of the organization's liquidity crisis. In a June 16 letter penned by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, the Human Rights Council outlines more than a dozen reports, as well as studies, regional workshops, and panels mandated by the Council, which were not able to be completed due to inadequate resourcing. In response to a request for comment about how the COI has received additional personnel while the Human Rights Council deals with scarcity, spokesperson Pascal Sim told Fox News Digital that the Human Rights Council's "views are only expressed in the resolutions and decisions that its 47 Member States adopt at the end of each of its sessions." To the question of whether the council is in greater need of personnel or funds to fulfill its current workload, Sim said that "Member States of the U.N. are currently continuing consultations on this matter." In a press conference on July 1, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Policy Guy Ryder updated reporters on U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres' cost-cutting UN80 Initiative. Ryder said that the U.N. recognizes "that we have a difficult task of untangling the undergrowth of decisions and resolutions and mechanisms that we put in place to implement them, and we wonder if we're going to be able to advance significantly." Ryder also admitted that "When a similar review was undertaken 20 years ago, it ran rather quickly into the sand. It did not produce the results that were hoped for and expected at that time. We're looking at that experience of 20 years ago and we hope we can avoid some of the pitfalls." However, Bayefsky said, "For decades, the U.N. has engaged in phony cost-saving measures while their actual expenditures have ballooned," she said, noting that the U.S. "has always been satisfied by moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic." Bayefsky said that "it's our government's job to put an end to this devious calculus by immediately withholding the entire U.N. budget until such time as the dangerous lesions are removed. It's our job to deny visas to the COI members planning to come to the United States in the next couple of months. "Contrary to popular belief, it is not required by the U.S.-U.N. host agreement to allow international travelers into the U.S. to fan the flames of antisemitism, and vandalize our fundamental values and the Constitution from the middle of New York City," Bayefsky said. "We need a new boat, not new deck chairs." A budget proposal from the Trump administration leaked in April announced the intention to eliminate all expenditures to the U.N. and international organizations. In response to questions about whether a decision about U.N. funding has been finalized, a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital that "President Trump is ensuring taxpayer dollars are used wisely. Any announcements regarding funding to international organizations will come from the President or the administration." The U.S. through its taxpayers is the single-largest contributor to the U.N. In 2022, the U.N. reports that $18.1 billion, or 26.8%, of its $67.5 billion in expenditures came from the U.S.
The Star
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Funding crisis stalls UN probe into possible war crimes in Congo
FILE PHOTO: An M23 rebel sits at the quay in front of the Kituku market in Goma, which is controlled by M23 rebels, in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo March 21, 2025. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File photo GENEVA (Reuters) -A U.N.-mandated commission investigating suspected human rights violations and war crimes in Democratic Republic of Congo cannot proceed due to a funding crisis in the U.N. human rights office (OHCHR), according to a letter seen by Reuters. The OHCHR is facing a major cash crunch caused by some countries failing to fully pay their contributions, compounded by major cuts in foreign aid by the United States under President Donald Trump. In February, a special session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva agreed to set up a fact-finding mission and a formal Commission of Inquiry to investigate rights violations, including massacres and sexual violence in North and South Kivu in the east of the DRC, including the cities of Goma and Bukavu after they were seized by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. Rwanda has denied supporting the M23. Less than six months later, the Commission of Inquiry cannot deliver results "until and unless funding is made available", according to the appendix of the letter sent by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk. He warned that financial and staffing constraints are "critically impeding" investigative work and voiced alarm at the impact of budget cuts on measures to protect human rights. Voluntary contributions to Turk's office are down by $60 million this year, OHCHR told Reuters. Alex El Jundi, head of the Investigations Support Unit at OHCHR, told an informal meeting with council members on Monday the situation was regrettable given preliminary findings of summary executions and "horrific sexual violence," along with other violations. Many of the abuses could constitute war crimes, he said. Commissions of Inquiry (COI) can yield evidence that can be used in pre-trial investigations by tribunals such as the International Criminal Court. El Jundi said the office's reserves are exhausted after it exceptionally allocated $1.1 million of regular funding to launch the fact-finding mission, leaving no resources to start the COI's work. It is budgeted at about $3.9 million. South Africa's envoy at the meeting described the delay as a "grave mistake" and the DRC's representative said it risked creating the impression that the investigation was not important to the OHCHR. The OHCHR told Reuters it would do "everything possible" to secure regular budget funds as early as 2026 to launch the COI. (Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; editing by Dave Graham and Mark Heinrich)
