Month: February 2019

The European Parliament urged Saudi Arabia on Thursday to abolish its male guardianship system, under which women have to seek permission from their guardian on issues such as getting married, saying it and other rules reduce women to second-class citizens.

Parliamentarians also expressed concern over “government web services” that allow male guardians to track women when they cross borders. A Saudi application called Absher notifies men when women travel.

Although male guardianship has been chipped away at over the years it remains in force. Under the system, every Saudi women is assigned a male relative — often a father or husband but sometimes an uncle, brother or even a son — whose approval is needed if she is to marry, obtain a passport and travel abroad. In their resolution, approved by more than two thirds of the assembly, EU lawmakers urged the Saudi government to immediately abolish the system.

Current rules in the kingdom effectively make women “second-class citizens,” the document said. EU states should continue pressuring Riyadh on improving women conditions and human rights, lawmakers said.

Resolutions by the parliament are not binding but can influence decisions made by EU governments and EU institutions. The resolution passed a day after the EU executive commission added Saudi Arabia to its blacklist of countries that pose a threat because of lax controls on money laundering and terrorism financing.

The bloc’s relations with Saudi Arabia have cooled since the murder of Washington-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate on October 2.

Despite reforms introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that have reduced discrimination, such as the lifting of the driving ban for women, lawmakers said “the Saudi political and social system remains discriminatory.”

They urged the release from Saudi prisons of women’s rights defenders, including some who were arrested after campaigning to end the ban on women driving.

Lawmakers also called for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, where it is still applied to punish non-violent offenses, such as drug smuggling, treason, adultery and apostasy, they said.

The EU parliament passed a resolution in October urging an international investigation into Khashoggi’s killing and called on EU states to stop the sale of weapons to the kingdom.
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Tensions appear to be surfacing between Russia and Turkey just hours into a three-way summit on the Syrian conflict being hosted in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

According to Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Russia has told Turkey it lacked authorization to create a “safe zone” inside Syria without the express consent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“The question of the presence of a military contingent acting on the authority of a third country on the territory of a sovereign country, and especially Syria, must be decided directly by Damascus,” she told reporters during a press conference. “That’s our base position.”

While Russia and Iran, whose president also is participating in the summit, are close allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad—Turkey, like the United States, which already is beginning to withdraw equipment from the country as part of a recently announced troop withdrawal—supports differing Syrian rebel factions.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has long insisted that Syria’s territorial integrity will be compromised so long as U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG militants, whom Ankara considers terrorists, remain in the area.

All three countries have made efforts to coordinate military forces on the ground, but contradictory military objectives—and competition for natural resources in Syria’s oil-rich northern regions, has created friction between Moscow and Ankara in particular.

President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of a U.S. troop withdrawal has been welcomed by Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria, though the sudden shift has left Astana trio leaders unclear about how to reconfigure their objectives in the absence of U.S. forces.

Some high level U.S. officials have anticipated that diplomatic differences between Ankara and Moscow could undermine progress at the summit.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday the three presidents would discuss the formation of a committee that would be tasked with drafting a postwar constitution for Syria.

Lavrov did not discuss whether Syrian officials would be involved in that process.

Pete Cobus is VOA’s acting Moscow correspondent.
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Spain is caught in the political crosswinds as a Supreme Court trial of 12 Catalan independence leaders gets underway this week against the backdrop of a congressional defeat for socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who may be forced to call snap elections.

Government spokesmen said Wednesday that a date for elections would soon be announced, following the defeat of the budget proposed by Sanchez, who lost the support of regional parties whose handful of parliamentary votes were crucial for his minority government.

Conservatives have been demanding Sanchez hold elections since he assumed office last year through a parliamentary censure motion against conservative Popular Party (PP) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Sanchez had the backing of Catalan nationalists seeking to punish Rajoy for dismantling their independence bid.

Sanchez abandoned

The Catalans are now abandoning Sanchez as he submits his socialist budget with significant tax increases for parliamentary approval. While he showers Catalonia with promised public spending, separatists balk at his slow progress in meeting their demands for self-determination and the trial against their leaders, which spokeswoman Elsa Artadi calls “shameful.”

“Sanchez has been unable to withstand the torrents of pressure from the right,” said a parliamentary representative for the separatist Catalan Republican Left party during Tuesday’s congressional debate, in which he urged a vote against the government.

Conservative opponents gathered 200,000 people in the center of Madrid last Sunday to denounce attempts by Sanchez to establish formal negotiations with Catalan leaders through an international mediator.

PP leader Pablo Casado and Albert Rivera of the Ciudadanos party called Sanchez a “traitor” and demanded his resignation before the flag-waving multitude, including invited celebrities such as prize winning author Mario Vargas Llosa.

Suggestions for an international mediation of the conflict were included in a 21-point proposal that Catalan President Quim Torra handed Sanchez at a meeting in Barcelona last month, according to government officials.

WATCH: Catalonia Trial Reopens Spain’s Painful Debate

Some senior socialist figures such as former Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales joined conservatives in their storm of criticism about treating Catalonia like a de facto foreign state. Sanchez caved and announced last Friday that “dialogue” with the Catalan government was suspended.

PP spokesmen have also warned the government not to interfere in the trials by negotiating pardons or reduced sentencing, as proposed by some officials close to Sanchez, such as leaders of the Catalan branch of the Spanish socialist party.

Government attorneys are trying to drop the charge of rebellion filed against former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras and other officials who organized an October 2017 independence referendum, which the Spanish government had declared illegal.

The attorneys have argued that the disobedience of central authorities actions did not constitute rebellion because no violence was used. But the motion has been opposed by leaders of the far right VOX party who are gaining much media exposure as public accusers in the trial where they are pushing for a 74-year prison sentence for Junqueras.

VOX has a strong grass-roots base among patriotic Spaniards viscerally opposed to regional nationalism.

“We are playing politics with the trial the same way that the Catalans are,” said VOX lawyer Pedro Fernandez.

Trial to last months

The courtroom drama is expected to last at least three months, during which about 500 witnesses will be called, including former Prime Minister Rajoy and King Felipe.

The newspaper El Pais observes that the Catalans are basing their defense on a “political offensive” to undermine the trial’s legitimacy. Torra called a press conference after the first day’s session in which he said that the proceedings were an “attack against democracy and human rights” and “should never be taking place.”

He has threatened to take the case before European courts, which have blocked Spanish efforts to arrest Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who led the 2017 independence bid and fled to exile in Belgium.

The budding Catalan government has been trying to cultivate support abroad through a network of embassies, which Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Borrel accuses of promoting a “black legend about Spain.”

German authorities have joined Belgium in rejecting rebellion charges against Puigdemont. But analysts say it’s doubtful that EU institutions would lend any significant support to Catalan separatists at a time when cementing the bloc’s unity takes priority in order to confront Brexit.

VOX leader Santiago Abascal has told VOA that he has also lobbied populist movements elsewhere in Europe to shun Catalan separatists after they received some initial backing from parties forming part of Italy’s governing coalition.
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Spain is caught in the political crosswinds as a Supreme Court trial of 12 Catalan independence leaders gets underway this week against the backdrop of a congressional defeat for socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who may be forced to call snap elections.

Government spokesmen said Wednesday that a date for elections would soon be announced, following the defeat of the budget proposed by Sanchez, who lost the support of regional parties whose handful of parliamentary votes were crucial for his minority government.

Conservatives have been demanding Sanchez hold elections since he assumed office last year through a parliamentary censure motion against conservative Popular Party (PP) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Sanchez had the backing of Catalan nationalists seeking to punish Rajoy for dismantling their independence bid.

Sanchez abandoned

The Catalans are now abandoning Sanchez as he submits his socialist budget with significant tax increases for parliamentary approval. While he showers Catalonia with promised public spending, separatists balk at his slow progress in meeting their demands for self-determination and the trial against their leaders, which spokeswoman Elsa Artadi calls “shameful.”

“Sanchez has been unable to withstand the torrents of pressure from the right,” said a parliamentary representative for the separatist Catalan Republican Left party during Tuesday’s congressional debate, in which he urged a vote against the government.

Conservative opponents gathered 200,000 people in the center of Madrid last Sunday to denounce attempts by Sanchez to establish formal negotiations with Catalan leaders through an international mediator.

PP leader Pablo Casado and Albert Rivera of the Ciudadanos party called Sanchez a “traitor” and demanded his resignation before the flag-waving multitude, including invited celebrities such as prize winning author Mario Vargas Llosa.

Suggestions for an international mediation of the conflict were included in a 21-point proposal that Catalan President Quim Torra handed Sanchez at a meeting in Barcelona last month, according to government officials.

WATCH: Catalonia Trial Reopens Spain’s Painful Debate

Some senior socialist figures such as former Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales joined conservatives in their storm of criticism about treating Catalonia like a de facto foreign state. Sanchez caved and announced last Friday that “dialogue” with the Catalan government was suspended.

PP spokesmen have also warned the government not to interfere in the trials by negotiating pardons or reduced sentencing, as proposed by some officials close to Sanchez, such as leaders of the Catalan branch of the Spanish socialist party.

Government attorneys are trying to drop the charge of rebellion filed against former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras and other officials who organized an October 2017 independence referendum, which the Spanish government had declared illegal.

The attorneys have argued that the disobedience of central authorities actions did not constitute rebellion because no violence was used. But the motion has been opposed by leaders of the far right VOX party who are gaining much media exposure as public accusers in the trial where they are pushing for a 74-year prison sentence for Junqueras.

VOX has a strong grass-roots base among patriotic Spaniards viscerally opposed to regional nationalism.

“We are playing politics with the trial the same way that the Catalans are,” said VOX lawyer Pedro Fernandez.

Trial to last months

The courtroom drama is expected to last at least three months, during which about 500 witnesses will be called, including former Prime Minister Rajoy and King Felipe.

The newspaper El Pais observes that the Catalans are basing their defense on a “political offensive” to undermine the trial’s legitimacy. Torra called a press conference after the first day’s session in which he said that the proceedings were an “attack against democracy and human rights” and “should never be taking place.”

He has threatened to take the case before European courts, which have blocked Spanish efforts to arrest Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who led the 2017 independence bid and fled to exile in Belgium.

The budding Catalan government has been trying to cultivate support abroad through a network of embassies, which Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Borrel accuses of promoting a “black legend about Spain.”

German authorities have joined Belgium in rejecting rebellion charges against Puigdemont. But analysts say it’s doubtful that EU institutions would lend any significant support to Catalan separatists at a time when cementing the bloc’s unity takes priority in order to confront Brexit.

VOX leader Santiago Abascal has told VOA that he has also lobbied populist movements elsewhere in Europe to shun Catalan separatists after they received some initial backing from parties forming part of Italy’s governing coalition.
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The trial began in Madrid this week against the leaders of Catalonia’s independence movement, who face up to 25 years in jail if found guilty. The semi-autonomous Catalonia region, whose capital is Barcelona, attempted to declare independence from Spain in 2017 but Madrid imposed direct rule and arrested its political leaders. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the trial risks reopening wounds that threatened to tear Spain apart, and the prospect of an imminent snap election is adding to the tension.
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The trial began in Madrid this week against the leaders of Catalonia’s independence movement, who face up to 25 years in jail if found guilty. The semi-autonomous Catalonia region, whose capital is Barcelona, attempted to declare independence from Spain in 2017 but Madrid imposed direct rule and arrested its political leaders. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the trial risks reopening wounds that threatened to tear Spain apart, and the prospect of an imminent snap election is adding to the tension.
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The European Commission added Saudi Arabia, Panama, Nigeria and other jurisdictions to a blacklist of nations seen as posing a threat because of lax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering, the EU executive said Wednesday.

The move is part of a crackdown on money laundering after several scandals at EU banks but has been criticized by several EU countries including Britain worried about their economic relations with the listed states, notably Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi government said it regretted the decision in a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency, adding: “Saudi Arabia’s commitment to combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism is a strategic priority.”

Panama said it should be removed from the list because it recently adopted stronger rules against money laundering. Despite pressure to exclude Riyadh from the list, the commission decided to list the kingdom, confirming a Reuters report in January.

Financial relations complicated

Apart from damage to their reputations, inclusion on the list complicates financial relations with the EU. The bloc’s banks will have to carry out additional checks on payments involving entities from listed jurisdictions.

The list now includes 23 jurisdictions, up from 16. The commission said it added jurisdictions with “strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing regimes.”

Other newcomers to the list are Libya, Botswana, Ghana, Samoa, the Bahamas and the four United States territories of American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam.

The other listed states are Afghanistan, North Korea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and Yemen. Bosnia, Guyana, Laos, Uganda and Vanuatu were removed.

Bad for business?

The 28 EU member states now have one month, which can be extended to two, to endorse the list. They could reject it by qualified majority. EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova, who proposed the list, told a news conference that she was confident states would not block it.

She said it was urgent to act because “risks spread like wildfire in the banking sector.”

But concerns remain. Britain, which plans to leave the EU March 29, said Wednesday the list could “confuse businesses” because it diverges from a smaller listing compiled by its Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is the global standard-setter for anti-money laundering.

The FATF list includes 12 jurisdictions — all on the EU blacklist — but excludes Saudi Arabia, Panama and U.S. territories. The FATF will update its list next week.

​Saudis lucrative for EU

London has led a pushback against the EU list in past days, and at closed-door meetings urged the exclusion of Saudi Arabia, EU sources told Reuters.

The oil-rich kingdom is a major importer of goods and weapons from the EU and several top British banks have operations in the country. Royal Bank of Scotland is the European bank with the largest turnover in Saudi Arabia, with around 150 million euros ($169 million) in 2015, according to public data.

HSBC is Europe’s most successful bank in Riyadh. It booked profits of 450 million euros in 2015 in the kingdom but disclosed no turnover and has no employees there, according to public data released under EU rules.

“The UK will continue to work with the commission to ensure that the list that comes into force provides certainty to businesses and is as effective as possible at tackling illicit finance,” a British Treasury spokesman said.

Missing ‘washing machines’

Criteria used to blacklist countries include weak sanctions against money laundering and terrorism financing, insufficient cooperation with the EU on the matter and lack of transparency about the beneficial owners of companies and trusts.

Five of the listed countries are included on a separate EU blacklist of tax havens. They are Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and the three U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam and U.S. Virgin Islands.

Critics said the list fell short of including several countries involved in money-laundering scandals in Europe. 

“Some of the biggest dirty-money washing machines are still missing. These include Russia, the city of London and its offshore territories, as well as Azerbaijan,” said Greens lawmaker Sven Giegold, who sits in the European Parliament special committee on financial crimes.

Jourova said the commission will continue monitoring other jurisdictions not yet listed. Among the states that will be closely monitored are the United States and Russia.

 
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