By The Guardian posted 24 October 05
Kofi Annan warns huge shortfall in south Asia quake relief funds risks "massive second wave of death".
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, warned today that a huge shortfall in relief funds after the south Asia earthquake risked causing a "massive second wave of death".
Mr Annan said that with so many people still in need of shelter, food and other aid in Pakistan, the risk to life there was "not over yet".
He appealed for a big increase in international donations, saying that of the funds secured so far only 12% had been given with firm commitments.
He said this sum amounted to only £20m of the UN's appeal for £176m after the October 8 quake, which is estimated to have killed 79,000 people as it devastated Pakistani Kashmir and the surrounding regions.
By contrast, Mr Annan said, within 10 days of December's tsunami appeal the UN had received more than 80% of the funds it needed.
He said he would be attending an emergency donors' conference in Geneva next week, which the UN was convening.
Speaking at a press conference at the UN's headquarters in New York, Mr Annan said: "There are no excuses ... If we are to show ourselves worthy of calling ourselves members of humankind, we must rise to this challenge."
He called for "an immediate and exceptional escalation of the global relief effort".
An estimated 3 million survivors were homeless and facing the "merciless" Himalayan winter, Mr Annan said, adding that there was an urgent need for 450,000 more winter tents and shelters, plus 2m blankets and sleeping bags. Without the aid, there would be a "second, massive wave of death", he warned.
Relief teams are struggling to distribute aid over a disaster area of some 11,000 sq miles. The quake blocked roads, hampering relief efforts and stopping aid workers from reaching remote villages.
More than 80 helicopters from various countries are taking part in the operation. The UN's relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, said today he was asking Nato for more helicopters.
Speaking in Geneva, Mr Egeland said the quake had caused a "logistical nightmare" that was making the delivery of aid even more difficult than it had been after the tsunami.
He said he was urging Nato officials to "think big", adding: "The world has more helicopters than ever and must deploy more of them to help the quake victims, because many have yet to be reached with food and shelter."
* A boy of 12 was confirmed today as the first British fatality in the earthquake. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the boy, from Luton, Bedfordshire, had been in the disaster area with his family at the time of the quake. His family are believed to still be in the area.
UK Herald Editorial posted 24 October 05
UK: IN the relatively short period of time since it was discovered, DNA fingerprinting has become one of the most powerful weapons in the armoury of the police.
It can clear the innocent and identify the guilty, even if decades have passed since an offence was committed. Without it, criminals like Thomas Galloway, who raped and killed pensioner Emily Mutch in 1996 but who was only convicted after DNA tests in 1999, would still be free.
It is not surprising that ministers now want to broaden its use by creating a national DNA database. If they had such a system, police would undoubtedly catch more rapists and murderers, as well as those who commit less serious crimes. If used wisely, it could help protect children from criminals like Ian Huntley, who may have been identified much earlier as the dangerous sexual predator we now know him to be if police had kept and shared the information they held on him.
There are, however, potential problems. Ministers are proposing that DNA data should be taken from all those arrested or detained on suspicion of committing a crime for which they could be imprisoned, even if they are never convicted. Essentially, it means innocent people will have very personal information kept on police files.
The Information Commissioner believes the rights of the few will be trampled in our zeal for justice. In a letter seen by The Herald, the commissioner's office warns: "This will result in real and ongoing intrusion into the private lives of innocent people."
GeneWatch UK, the policy research group, is similarly concerned. It warns that the DNA database in England and Wales, which was introduced in 2003 - the year after Ian Huntley killed Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - contains DNA profiles of one-third of all black men in the two countries, compared to just 8% of white. Ethnic minorities are more likely than the white population to be stopped by police, to be arrested, and so to have their genetic fingerprints copied and stored - even if they are not subsequently charged with a crime. It is not in itself a sign of discrimination, but an illustration of wider problems in our criminal justice system and in our society. The concern minority groups may feel about the database must be taken into consideration.
There are also concerns that DNA fingerprinting may not be as infallible as we would like to believe. There are instances when convictions based on DNA evidence have later been overturned and, although few, they should still be enough to discourage over-reliance on genetic profiling. They include the case of Brian Kelly, a policeman who served a six-year prison sentence for rape, only to have his conviction overturned after his release when it was found that crucial DNA evidence may have been contaminated. That wrongful conviction was blamed on the less-than-perfect methods of the early days of DNA fingerprinting. Yet the technique is still relatively young.
A national DNA database could prove invaluable to our police forces. Are we, as a society, willing to sacrifice some personal privacy in order to achieve this? Many will feel that the innocent have nothing to fear and much to gain from the measure in terms of public safety. It is vital there is a proper debate about this. Ministers must consider all the arguments very carefully. The Information Commissioner's letter and the concerns of GeneWatch UK are therefore to be welcomed. Hopefully, they will encourage the serious public consideration of this issue so that the new database wins the confidence of the country as a whole.
By Jamie Doward posted 24 October 05
Mentally ill and record number of children locked up
UK: The departing head of the prison and probation service has launched a scathing attack on Britain's penal system, expressing his deep concern that a record number of prisoners are behind bars when the crime rate is falling.
Martin Narey, a civil servant who has served every Home Secretary since 1989, highlights statistics showing that thousands of mentally ill inmates and a record number of children now constitute a significant part of the prison population.
'As I leave, I cannot pretend to be other than dismayed at a prison population now heading towards 78,000,' writes Narey, who quit this month as permanent secretary at the National Offender Management Service, the combined prison and probation service.
'With such pressures on prisons, and even after the investment they have received, the numbers locked up often overwhelm regimes. Overcrowding condemns about 16,000 prisoners every day to conditions - sharing a toilet in a cell in which they also eat their food - which are simply gross,' Narey says in an article to be published in December. 'And the problem is not only numbers or the consequent overcrowding. Within the 77,500 we are locking up right now are about 5,000 people who are profoundly mentally ill.'
The damning comments - written for the December issue of HLM, the magazine of the Howard League for Penal Reform - come at a critical time for the prison service. Reformers claim that Britain's jails have only around 400 spaces left before they are full to capacity and express fears about the consequences for prisoners.
The problem has prompted the Home Office to consider radical options to relieve congestion, including recommissioning the floating prison ship, HMP Weare, which was closed after extensive criticism. Other proposals being considered by the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, could include early release of up to 700 offenders, greater use of electronic tagging and converting women's jails - which still have some capacity - to house men. In addition, a building programme is predicted to boost the total number of prison places to 80,400 by 2007. Since 1995 the UK prison population has increased by 51 per cent, and the numbers have risen by 17,160 since Labour gained power.
Narey, who is the new head of the children's charity Barnardo's, says the rise is impossible to justify: 'Crime has been falling for some years. Some crime, burglary for instance, has fallen very significantly indeed.
'So there is simply no need for us to incarcerate the numbers we do. And in particular, there is no need for us to lock away 3,000 children... and because there are so many we have not been able to make children's custody the safe and constructive environment which it could be.'
Narey's concerns about the children were echoed in the House of Lords last week by the Bishop of Leicester, the Right Reverend Timothy Stevens. 'The vulnerability of the young people in prison service custody has been well documented,' he said. 'Some 60 per cent have previously been looked after by a local authority; 85 per cent exhibit signs of personality disorder; and 25 per cent of males have suffered violence at home.'
The Howard League says the most overcrowded prisons are also those with most suicides. A quarter of jails account for more than half of all suicides. 'Overcrowding is the canker at the heart of the system,' said Frances Crook, its director. 'This government has been sleepwalking to a crisis. There are signs Charles Clarke is beginning to wake up to the seriousness of it, but the government has to develop alternatives to prison.'
A Home Office spokesman said it was spreading innovative sentencing strategies to ease the pressures and keeping the prison population under continuous review.
