The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has said it will provide a grant worth 1.5 million U.S. dollars to finance innovative Diaspora projects in Somalia in a new initiative to tap investment.
IFAD said amounts ranging from 20,000 dollars to 100,000 dollars will be provided to implement projects such as cross- border investment in agriculture, improve food security and increase rural employment. "We must harness this often-times invisible investment in agriculture, particularly in post-conflict countries and fragile states. Helping the Diaspora invest in agriculture represents an opportunity to mobilize new resources to achieve our common goal," said Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD in a statement issued in Nairobi on Monday.
The initiative, Rebuilding Somalia through the Diaspora Investment in Agriculture (DIA) and working with the Somali government and the U.S. Department of State's International Diaspora Engagement Alliance (IDEA), IFAD will provide a grant worth 1.5 million dollars to finance innovative Diaspora projects. Late 2012, Nwanze assured the East African Community (EAC) of full support in its efforts to fight hunger and become food self- sufficient. He said that EAC would be their top priority in 2013 adding that his senior officials would be dispatched to discuss areas of co-operation in revamping food production in the region."EAC is exemplary in its integration programmes and I fully endorse opportunities to work with the region," Nwanze said.
According to UN, two interconnected problems must be tackled - the immediate issue of some high food prices, which can impact heavily on food import-dependent countries and on the poorest people; and the long-term issue of how people produce, trade and consume food in an age of increasing population, demand and climate change. IFAD's DIA initiative is expected to raise an additional one million dollars in Diaspora investment in agriculture in the first four years in Somalia. IFAD said the development follows the recent call by Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to its diaspora abroad to invest in the reconstruction of the country.
The new programme will leverage more than one billion dollars sent home by Somalis annually.
Remittances from Somalis living abroad are estimated to equal up to 50 percent of the gross domestic product, which is vital for the country's economy. The initiative draws on successful projects implemented by Somali Diaspora organizations and investors around the world. The Netherlands-based organization Himilo Relief and Development Association for example, created an online remittance platform that allows people living abroad to send money to families in areas of Somalia that are difficult to reach and where security is a concern.
Working together with local merchants, remittances can be picked up at local shops in the form of food staples (or groceries) avoiding the need for recipients to carry around large amounts of cash.
Internationally, recorded remittances are approximately three times the amount of official aid and almost as large as foreign direct investment flows to developing countries. About four times as much is invested in agriculture – largely smallholder agriculture – through remittances, than is invested in agriculture through official development assistance. Up to 40 percent of remittances are sent to recipients in rural areas.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Nonprofits Should Share Their Data, Too
BY David Eaves | Thursday, January 24 2013
Whenever I'm at a hackathon — or any discussion about open data, really — I'm always disappointed to see that there are few people there from the non-profit sector. Obviously this is a sector with limited resources and capacity, but not without a history of effective open data use. For example, some nonprofits — particularly those that provide housing for the elderly, or engage in advocacy around homelessness — are big consumers of census data as it helps them either plan or spot longer term trends that impact their core issues. Such analysis can help ensure scarce resources are allocated more effectively, enhancing the organization's impact.
Environmental advocacy groups also come to mind. At one point, "anthropogenic disturbance footprint within boreal caribou ranges across Canada" was one of the top 10 most-downloaded data sets from the Canadian government's open data portal over a 30 day period. In part, this is because it is useful to environmental groups, who can use it to help assess the range of woodland caribou, a species at risk. Indeed, saving this species is at the core of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA), an unlikely partnership between environmental groups and the logging industry designed to improve logging practices to minimize the negative impact on species like the woodland caribou. Indeed, the CBFA is an example of how open data can play a small role in helping drive policy recommendations.
And yet, despite these examples of data literacy in the non-profit sector, organizations rarely seem to know that there is open government data they could use. And they are even more conservative than governments about publishing their own data so that other organizations can leverage it or insights gained that might advance their mission.
There are a few exceptions. The Water and Environmental Hub appears to be trying to serve as a platform where nonprofits and universities can share environmental and water data with one another, but I've yet to see similar efforts in other sectors, particularly ones more related to social policy. Less ambitious, but perhaps more necessary, are sites like Markets for Good. That one appears to be an effort to engage the non-profit sector in this discussion. And, while not a nonprofit per se, the UNs Global Pulse initiative is potentially an example of data being used to gain insights in the realm of social policy that may ultimately provide lessons and insights to the non-profit sector.
But I'm left thinking that there is a tremendous opportunity in the non-profit space around not just using data, but also sharing data, to better understand some of the world's toughest challenges. I'm also left acknowledging that even where data usage is strong — such as in the environmental community — few stakeholders in these sectors see open data as something relevant or meaningful to their organizations and their strategies.
I'm not sure how to change that, but it seems like a huge opportunity.
http://techpresident.com/news/23412/nonprofits-should-share-their-data-too
Whenever I'm at a hackathon — or any discussion about open data, really — I'm always disappointed to see that there are few people there from the non-profit sector. Obviously this is a sector with limited resources and capacity, but not without a history of effective open data use. For example, some nonprofits — particularly those that provide housing for the elderly, or engage in advocacy around homelessness — are big consumers of census data as it helps them either plan or spot longer term trends that impact their core issues. Such analysis can help ensure scarce resources are allocated more effectively, enhancing the organization's impact.
Environmental advocacy groups also come to mind. At one point, "anthropogenic disturbance footprint within boreal caribou ranges across Canada" was one of the top 10 most-downloaded data sets from the Canadian government's open data portal over a 30 day period. In part, this is because it is useful to environmental groups, who can use it to help assess the range of woodland caribou, a species at risk. Indeed, saving this species is at the core of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA), an unlikely partnership between environmental groups and the logging industry designed to improve logging practices to minimize the negative impact on species like the woodland caribou. Indeed, the CBFA is an example of how open data can play a small role in helping drive policy recommendations.
And yet, despite these examples of data literacy in the non-profit sector, organizations rarely seem to know that there is open government data they could use. And they are even more conservative than governments about publishing their own data so that other organizations can leverage it or insights gained that might advance their mission.
There are a few exceptions. The Water and Environmental Hub appears to be trying to serve as a platform where nonprofits and universities can share environmental and water data with one another, but I've yet to see similar efforts in other sectors, particularly ones more related to social policy. Less ambitious, but perhaps more necessary, are sites like Markets for Good. That one appears to be an effort to engage the non-profit sector in this discussion. And, while not a nonprofit per se, the UNs Global Pulse initiative is potentially an example of data being used to gain insights in the realm of social policy that may ultimately provide lessons and insights to the non-profit sector.
But I'm left thinking that there is a tremendous opportunity in the non-profit space around not just using data, but also sharing data, to better understand some of the world's toughest challenges. I'm also left acknowledging that even where data usage is strong — such as in the environmental community — few stakeholders in these sectors see open data as something relevant or meaningful to their organizations and their strategies.
I'm not sure how to change that, but it seems like a huge opportunity.
http://techpresident.com/news/23412/nonprofits-should-share-their-data-too
KAMPALA: Launch of New Programme for Improved Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Africa [press release]
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| Hassan Shire Sheikh Executive Director EHAHRDP |
Kambala:
Marking the commencement of support from the European Commission under the
global fund of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, the
Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network (PAHRD-Net) today officially
launches a 3-year programme totalling 1.8 million Euros to promote a safe legal
and working environment for human rights defenders (HRD) across Africa.
“The tireless and innovative work done at utual support and reinforcement,” said
Hassan Shire Sheikh, Chairperson of PAHRD-Net and Executive Director of the
East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP). Today’s
launch marks the fruition of a process set off in 1998 at the Johannesburg
All-Africa Human Rights Defenders Conference and renewed in 2009 at the
Johannesburg +10 Conference in Kampala where the need for such a protection
programme was discussed.
As stated in European Union Guidelines on Human Rights
Defenders, “the EU acknowledges that the activities of human
rights defenders have over the years become more widely recognised. They have
increasingly come to ensure greater protection for the victims of violations.
However, this progress has been achieved at a high price: the defenders
themselves have increasingly become targets of attacks and their rights are
violated in many countries. The EU believes it is important to ensure the
safety of human rights defenders and protect their rights.”
The secretariat of PAHRD-Net hosted by EHAHRDP
coordinates the implementation of the programme with the ultimate objective of
improving the quality, capacity and consistency of protection support available
to the most-at-risk HRDs across the continent. PAHRD-Net brings together the
five sub-regional human rights defenders networks in Africa (the Central
African HRD Network, the East and Horn of Africa HRD Network, the North Africa
HRD Network represented through the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies,
the Southern Africa HRD Network hosted by the International Commission for
Jurists and the West African HRD Network) to meet the protection needs of human
rights defenders and especially to address the needs of the five groups of
most-at-risk HRDs: journalists fighting to end impunity and corruption, women
human rights defenders, defenders working on issues of sexual orientation and
gender identity, HRDs working under oppressive regimes or in
armed/post-conflict areas, and HRDs engaging with the resource extraction
industries.
Human rights defenders are individuals working
alone or through organizations under the goal of promoting respect for
universal human rights norms. Frequently HRDs come into conflict with the
entrenched local power structures of state and non-state actors through their
activism. This conflict can put in jeopardy the security of the HRD and their
work and family networks. HRDs are often the victims of harassment, threats,
assault, injury, and death across Africa, and many are forced into exile, a
move which may effectively end their advocacy for human rights. The
consolidation and growth of protection mechanisms within the sub-regions will
improve the responses available to mitigate these threats and develop HRDs’
ability to manage their own security effectively.
Participants at today’s launch event include
representatives of the five sub-regional HRD member networks, members of the
PAHRD-Net Steering Committee, the EU Ambassador to Uganda, the EU Delegation to
the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, HRDs who have benefited from the
EHAHRDP protection programme, and other members of the diplomatic and NGO
community in Uganda.
For further information please contact:
Hassan Shire Sheikh – Chairperson, Pan African
Human Rights Defenders Network: Tel +256-772-753-753, or executive@defenddefenders.org
Joseph Bikanda – Coordinator, Pan African Human
Rights Defenders Network: Tel +256-312-202133, +256-312-265825, or panafrica@defenddefenders.org
Rachel Nicholson – Advocacy Officer, East and
Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project: Tel +256-312-265-824,
+256-778-921274, or advocacy@defenddefenders.org
Somaliland: Abaarso School’s Student Gains Full Scholarship to Historic US University
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| Somaliland Minister of Education: H.E Zamzam Abdi Aden |
Nimo Ahmed Ismail, 4th year student at Abaarso School of Science and Technology, just received her acceptance letter to Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. In the acceptance letter, Oberlin noted that Nimo’s “intellectual curiosity, social conscience, and personality made her stand out as a particularly impressive and well-rounded student-citizen.” Oberlin’s tuition, housing, food, student activities, and health insurance, normally costs a student $60,000 per year for a total of $240,000 over the 4 years needed to graduate. Nimo will be getting all of this for free.
In its most recent rankings, US News and World Report ranked Oberlin the 26th best National Liberal Arts College in America. Oberlin was established in 1833 and its famed history includes being the 1st American university to integrate black and white students, as well as the 1st American college to teach male and female students.
Jonathan Starr, Abaarso’s Headmaster and Managing Director, said, “Nimo’s acceptance and $240,000 scholarship to Oberlin is a great success for Nimo, her family, her school, and her society. Without Nimo’s hard work and that of Abaarso’s current and former staff, this would not be possible. Nimo is a wonderful person who continues to make us all proud.”
In addition to Nimo, Abaarso has high hopes for a number of its other students being admitted to strong international universities and provided with scholarships.
TO: Managing Director,
Abaarso School of Science and Technology
In its most recent rankings, US News and World Report ranked Oberlin the 26th best National Liberal Arts College in America. Oberlin was established in 1833 and its famed history includes being the 1st American university to integrate black and white students, as well as the 1st American college to teach male and female students.
Jonathan Starr, Abaarso’s Headmaster and Managing Director, said, “Nimo’s acceptance and $240,000 scholarship to Oberlin is a great success for Nimo, her family, her school, and her society. Without Nimo’s hard work and that of Abaarso’s current and former staff, this would not be possible. Nimo is a wonderful person who continues to make us all proud.”
In addition to Nimo, Abaarso has high hopes for a number of its other students being admitted to strong international universities and provided with scholarships.
TO: Managing Director,
Abaarso School of Science and Technology
Abaarso, Somaliland
Sub.: A Letter of appreciation
The Ministry of Education is writing this letter as a sign of appreciation for the good news of Ms. Nimo M. Ismail for her hard and diligent work to receive full scholarship to Oberlin College, USA. This is an indicator that Abaarso School of Science and Technology is really competitive in educating Somaliland youngsters and at the same time, the knowledge offered here is accepted by International universities.
May I take this opportunity to express my thanks to the Oberlin College and Abaarso-Tech. In this regard, I would welcome if more similar scholarships are offered to the girls in Somaliland in the future.
Zamzam Abdi Adan
Minister of Education & Higher Studies
The Ministry of Education is writing this letter as a sign of appreciation for the good news of Ms. Nimo M. Ismail for her hard and diligent work to receive full scholarship to Oberlin College, USA. This is an indicator that Abaarso School of Science and Technology is really competitive in educating Somaliland youngsters and at the same time, the knowledge offered here is accepted by International universities.
May I take this opportunity to express my thanks to the Oberlin College and Abaarso-Tech. In this regard, I would welcome if more similar scholarships are offered to the girls in Somaliland in the future.
Zamzam Abdi Adan
Minister of Education & Higher Studies
Malala, teen champion of girls' rights, nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
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| Pakistani Teen Girl Nominee for Nobel Peace Prize 20013 |
Malala Yousufzai of Pakistan leaving Queen Elizabeth
Hospital Birmingham, Britain, on Jan. 4 after she was discharged. She will have
to undergo specialist cranial surgery at a later date.
Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani girl who rose to
international fame after the Taliban nearly killed her for her efforts to
promote girls’ education, has been formally nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace
Prize.
Her name was put forward by three members of the
Norwegian parliament from the ruling Labor Party on their website Friday, which
was the deadline for nominations.
Malala’s name was put forward because of "her
courageous commitment to the right of girls to education. A commitment that
seemed so threatening to the extremists that they chose to try and kill
her," said parliamentarian Freddy de Ruiter on the Labor party web site.
De Ruiter made the nomination with fellow members of
parliament Gorm Kjernli and Magne Rommetveit.
Malala was attacked in October with two other girls while
traveling home from school in Pakistan’s Swat valley. The gunman boarded the van and asked for her
by name before firing three shots at her — singling her out for writing a blog
that criticized the Taliban for barring girls for getting an education.
A week later, Malala was flown to a hospital in the UK
for treatment. She is now facing a final major surgery to place a titanium
plate over the hole left in her skull. While in the hospital she has received
thousands of messages from well-wishers around the world, and continued to
speak out on behalf of her cause, becoming a global icon.
The Norwegian MPs said they believed that Malala was
"a worthy winner for many reasons. She has become an important symbol in
the fight against destructive forces that want to prevent democracy, equality
and human rights."
She was also reportedly nominated by members of
parliament in France, Spain and Canada. NBC News has not confirmed that
information.
To be sure, it is very early in the Nobel process, which
culminates with a winner in October.
The Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation, which has been
awarding Nobel awards for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine,
literature and peace since 1901, said 231 names were submitted for the Peace
Prize last year, including 41 organizations.
Nominations can be made only by a select group of people
worldwide, including national lawmakers, university presidents and previous
Nobel winners
.
VIDEO: Djibouti's First Lady H.E Khadra Mohamoud Hayd Paid Warm Welcomes to the Somaliland's First Lady, H. E. Amina- Waris Sh. Maxamed Jirde
Djibouti's First Lady H.E Khadra Mohamoud Hayd Paid Warm Welcomes to the Somaliland's First Lady, H. E. Amina- Waris Sh. Maxamed Jirde
Marwada Koowaad ee Qaranka Somaliland: Marwo Aamina Xaaji Maxamed Jirde (Aanina Waris) oo Jid Cusub Xadhiga Ka Jartay
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| Somaliland's First Lady H.E. Amina Haji Mohamed Jirde (Aamina Waris) |
Wasiir Ku Xiggeenka Amniga ee Wasaarada Arimaha Guddaha C/laahi Abokor Cismaan oo halkaasi ka hadlay ayaa ka waramay maaraaxilkii kala duwanaa ee hirgalinta wadadani ay soo martay isaga oo sheegay in guud ahaanba wadadu ay dhan tahay 1 km iyo laba boqol oo mitir balse hadda la dhamaystiray 1 km , waxaana uu halkaasi mahadnaq uga soo jeediyey cid kasta oo gacan ka gaysatay hirgalinta wadadan halka dadweynaha xafadana uu ku booriyey in ay ilaashdaan wadadan.
Marwada koowaad ee Somaliland Marwo Aamina Xaaji Maxamed Jirde(Aamina Waris) ayaa geesteeda xustay sida ay ugu faraxsan tahay hirgalinta wadadan iyada oo ku tilmaantay in wadadani tahay mid muujinaysa faa’iidada iskaashiga iyo waxa wada qabsiga iyadoo si gaara ugu mahaqnaqday cid kasta oo ka qayb-qaadatay wadadan gaar ahaana guddida xaafadahaasi oo u guntaday sidii wadadan laamiga ah u hirgalin lahaayeen.
Geesta kale waxa halkaasi ka hadlay Badhasaabka Gobolka Maroodi-jeex Axmed Cumar Xaaji C/laahi (Xamarje), xildhibaano iyo cuqaal waxaana dhamaantood iftiimiyeen qiimaha wada jirka iyo wax wada qabsigu leeyahay.
'Egyptian police did not beat me,' says victim, changing story
CAIRO // Egyptians were fired to a new level of outrage when live television on Friday showed a demonstrator stripped naked, dragged across the ground and beaten with truncheons by helmeted riot police.
But the anger was compounded with disbelief on Saturday when the prosecutor’s office released a statement saying Hamada Saber, 47, had exonerated the police and denied they had assaulted him. He said his clothes had inadvertently come off while police were shielding him from protesters.
While his daughter told a television station that her father was coerced into changing his testimony, the contradictions illustrate the confused atmosphere in Egypt more than a week into a political crisis in which lawlessness has prevailed and more than 50 people have been killed.
“This shows that state institutions are collapsing, as is the rule of law. We are living in chaos,” said lawyer Achraf Shazly, 35.
“Next thing you know, the martyr killed yesterday will rise from the dead and say he wasn’t shot.”
Late yesterday, Mr Saber again changed his account when prosecutors showed him the video footage, the official Mena news agency reported.
The office of the president, Mohammed Morsi, promised an investigation into the incident, which followed the deadliest wave of bloodshed of his seven-month rule. His opponents say it proves he has chosen to order a brutal crackdown like that carried out by Hosni Mubarak against the uprising that toppled him in 2011.
“Morsi has been stripped bare and has lost his legitimacy. Done,” tweeted Ahmed Maher, founder of the April 6 youth movement that helped launch the anti-Mubarak protests.
Yesterday, a sense of calm prevailed across Egypt with no reports of major protests or clashes with the police. But the damage to the country’s political fabric has already been done and there is no sign yet of whether Mr Morsi will be able to regain his footing in the weeks ahead.
The umbrella opposition movement, the National Salvation Front, has vowed to boycott parliamentary elections scheduled for April unless the president appoints a “unity” government and amends the newly ratified constitution. Mr Morsi, on the other hand, has said he would agree to a national dialogue with the opposition only if there were no “preconditions”.
The violence over the weekend proved that neither political parties nor the government could prevent groups of young men from attacking government buildings and police.
The fighting in front of the presidential palace, where one was killed amid firebombs, tear gas and rock throwing, came a day after a broad spectrum of parties, religious leaders and officials agreed to renounce violence in a special meeting convened by Sheikh Ahmed Al Tayyeb, the head of Al Azhar – the 1,000-year-old mosque and university.
Opposition leaders have maintained that they condone only peaceful protests, but members of the Muslim Brotherhood have increasingly blamed them for instigating violent protests.
“As demonstrations lost their peaceful nature in form and substance, it is no longer sufficient for opposition leaders to watch and condemn,” the Brotherhood said on Friday, after the fighting near the walls of the presidential palace. “It is time they took practical action on the ground and stopped giving political cover for acts of violence and lawlessness that we all renounce.”
Friday’s events were captured by Egyptian TV stations, which zoomed in on details of the fighting as the night progressed. The footage showed a small group of young men throw Molotov cocktails and shoot fireworks over the walls of the presidential palace. They managed to set a small fire next to a tree. In the background, a phalanx of police moved slowly down the road and began firing tear gas. A fire lorry inside the presidential palace walls shot water at the protesters and doused the flames they had ignited.
Echoing the dark tones of a military statement warning of the collapse of the state last week, Mohammed Ibrahim, the minister of the interior, said in a news conference yesterday that, if the police collapsed, Egypt would become a “militia state”.
Why Police Lie Under Oath
Opinion
By MICHELLE ALEXANDERTHOUSANDS of people plead guilty to crimes every year in the United States because they know that the odds of a jury’s believing their word over a police officer’s are slim to none. As a juror, whom are you likely to believe: the alleged criminal in an orange jumpsuit or two well-groomed police officers in uniforms who just swore to God they’re telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but? As one of my colleagues recently put it, “Everyone knows you have to be crazy to accuse the police of lying.”
Enlarge This Image
Wesley Allsbrook
But are police officers necessarily more trustworthy than alleged criminals? I think not. Not just because the police have a special inclination toward confabulation, but because, disturbingly, they have an incentive to lie. In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldn’t be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so.
That may sound harsh, but numerous law enforcement officials have put the matter more bluntly. Peter Keane, a former San Francisco Police commissioner, wrote an article in The San Francisco Chronicle decrying a police culture that treats lying as the norm: “Police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is commonplace. One of the dirty little not-so-secret secrets of the criminal justice system is undercover narcotics officers intentionally lying under oath. It is a perversion of the American justice system that strikes directly at the rule of law. Yet it is the routine way of doing business in courtrooms everywhere in America.”
The New York City Police Department is not exempt from this critique. In 2011, hundreds of drug cases were dismissed after several police officers were accused of mishandling evidence. That year, Justice Gustin L. Reichbach of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn condemned a widespread culture of lying and corruption in the department’s drug enforcement units. “I thought I was not naĂŻve,” he said when announcing a guilty verdict involving a police detective who had planted crack cocaine on a pair of suspects. “But even this court was shocked, not only by the seeming pervasive scope of misconduct but even more distressingly by the seeming casualness by which such conduct is employed.”
Remarkably, New York City officers have been found to engage in patterns of deceit in cases involving charges as minor as trespass. In September it was reported that the Bronx district attorney’s office was so alarmed by police lying that it decided to stop prosecuting people who were stopped and arrested for trespassing at public housing projects, unless prosecutors first interviewed the arresting officer to ensure the arrest was actually warranted. Jeannette Rucker, the chief of arraignments for the Bronx district attorney, explained in a letter that it had become apparent that the police were arresting people even when there was convincing evidence that they were innocent. To justify the arrests, Ms. Rucker claimed, police officers provided false written statements, and in depositions, the arresting officers gave false testimony.
Mr. Keane, in his Chronicle article, offered two major reasons the police lie so much. First, because they can. Police officers “know that in a swearing match between a drug defendant and a police officer, the judge always rules in favor of the officer.” At worst, the case will be dismissed, but the officer is free to continue business as usual. Second, criminal defendants are typically poor and uneducated, often belong to a racial minority, and often have a criminal record. “Police know that no one cares about these people,” Mr. Keane explained.
All true, but there is more to the story than that.
Police departments have been rewarded in recent years for the sheer numbers of stops, searches and arrests. In the war on drugs, federal grant programs like the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program have encouraged state and local law enforcement agencies to boost drug arrests in order to compete for millions of dollars in funding. Agencies receive cash rewards for arresting high numbers of people for drug offenses, no matter how minor the offenses or how weak the evidence. Law enforcement has increasingly become a numbers game. And as it has, police officers’ tendency to regard procedural rules as optional and to lie and distort the facts has grown as well. Numerous scandals involving police officers lying or planting drugs — in Tulia, Tex. and Oakland, Calif., for example — have been linked to federally funded drug task forces eager to keep the cash rolling in.
THE pressure to boost arrest numbers is not limited to drug law
enforcement. Even where no clear financial incentives exist, the “get
tough” movement has warped police culture to such a degree that police
chiefs and individual officers feel pressured to meet stop-and-frisk or
arrest quotas in order to prove their “productivity.”
For the record, the New York City police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly,
denies that his department has arrest quotas. Such denials are
mandatory, given that quotas are illegal under state law. But as the
Urban Justice Center’s Police Reform Organizing Project has documented,
numerous officers have contradicted Mr. Kelly. In 2010, a New York City
police officer named Adil Polanco told a local ABC News reporter that
“our primary job is not to help anybody, our primary job is not to
assist anybody, our primary job is to get those numbers and come back
with them.” He continued: “At the end of the night you have to come back
with something. You have to write somebody, you have to arrest
somebody, even if the crime is not committed, the number’s there. So our
choice is to come up with the number.”
Exposing police lying is difficult largely because it is rare for the
police to admit their own lies or to acknowledge the lies of other
officers. This reluctance derives partly from the code of silence that
governs police practice and from the ways in which the system of mass
incarceration is structured to reward dishonesty. But it’s also because
police officers are human.
Research shows that ordinary human beings lie a lot — multiple times a
day — even when there’s no clear benefit to lying. Generally, humans lie
about relatively minor things like “I lost your phone number; that’s
why I didn’t call” or “No, really, you don’t look fat.” But humans can
also be persuaded to lie about far more important matters, especially if
the lie will enhance or protect their reputation or standing in a
group.
The natural tendency to lie makes quota systems and financial incentives
that reward the police for the sheer numbers of people stopped, frisked
or arrested especially dangerous. One lie can destroy a life, resulting
in the loss of employment, a prison term and relegation to permanent
second-class status. The fact that our legal system has become so
tolerant of police lying indicates how corrupted our criminal justice
system has become by declarations of war, “get tough” mantras, and a
seemingly insatiable appetite for locking up and locking out the poorest
and darkest among us.
And, no, I’m not crazy for thinking so.
Michelle Alexander is the author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.”
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on February 3, 2013, on page SR4 of the New York edition with the headline: Why Police Lie Under Oath.
Editorial: The West Needs Somaliland More Than Somaliland Needs The West
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| Republic of Somaliland |
Having not yet absorbed the shock-effect of this reckless action by the US, a step which will most likely come back to haunt it, the British government issued a warning to its citizens alerting them of a potential terrorist threat in Somaliland without consulting, or even informing, the government of Somaliland about it. These two steps plus many previous slights have incensed the people of Somaliland. Feeling the rising anger of his people toward the US, Britain, and Western countries in general, the president of Somaliland, Ahmed Sillanyo, tried to re-assure his citizens in his speech to the joint session of parliament and the Upper House, that he had received assurances from the Obama administration that their policy toward Somaliland has not changed and that both their engagement with Somaliland and their programs in Somaliland will continue.
And this is precisely the problem. For although President Ahmed Silanyo considers US re-assurances as a positive thing, they really are not, because once they raised the status of Somalia’s government, the only way in which such a move would not be to Somaliland’s disadvantage is by also raising Somaliland’s status, and the fact that they didn’t raise Somaliland’s status means they weakened Somaliland’s position despite their insistence that their policy toward Somaliland has not changed. Furthermore, the US move is not just about recognition, it is also about putting the government of Somalia on a trajectory that promises more US backing and sends a signal to other western powers to do likewise, which means further chipping away at Somaliland’s position. This is the reality of the Obama administration’s policy which sets the tone for the policies of other western countries, and no amount of sweet words or after the fact explanations can change it.
This being the situation, the question is: what can Somaliland do about it? The answer is: a lot. And the reason we say this is because when all is said and done, the fact remains that the US and western countries need Somaliland more than Somaliland needs them. This may seem like an odd or counter-intuitive thing to say but it is true, and here is why. The main reason that the US and western countries are involved in Somalia is because they see Somalia as a security threat. That same security threat to western countries potentially exists in Somaliland but until now has been contained because of the efforts of Somaliland’s government and its people. The west needs the cooperation of Somaliland to prevent security threats coming from Somaliland, whereas Somaliland does not need western cooperation to exist. This is the other reality that favors Somaliland. The problem is that Somaliland has always approached western governments from the position that it needs the west more than the west needs it rather than the other way around, and in order for western policies to change, Somaliland’s attitude must first change.
The fact of the matter is that the attitudes of Somaliland’s people toward Western governments are already in the process of changing. Many people in Somaliland are reaching the conclusion that these governments are pursuing ruthless policies that hurt and endanger the interests of Somaliland. What has been lagging behind is the attitude of Somaliland’s government which until has not yet pursued policies based on the position that the west needs Somaliland more than Somaliland needs the west. Somaliland’s government must change their attitude and policies so it would be more in line with the wishes, interests, and conclusions of its own people.
As part of this change, Somaliland’s government must establish some markers or red lines which it will not accept from western and foreign countries to cross. One of these markers is the arming of Somalia’s government. Somaliland government should also make it absolutely clear to western countries that although it has no objection to helping the people of Somalia, their efforts to change the playing field in favor of Somalia’s government and to the detriment of Somaliland are unacceptable; and that most certainly Somaliland will not attend a conference chaired by the President of Somalia whether it is in London or on March.
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