euro|topics - Desmond Tutu

08/09/2008

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Tutu, Desmond

2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

The Irish Times - Ireland | 16/05/2008

Global weapons trade

Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu comments a Chinese weapons delivery to Zimbabwe. "Shipping arms to African governments which could use them to abuse their own people is an abhorrent but almost daily occurrence. And at present there is nothing the international community can do about it. ... At the moment the United Nations is working on an arms trade treaty that could stop weapons transfers like this one to Zimbabwe. If a strong treaty eventually becomes law, then an arms exporter will have to block the sale if there is evidence the weapons are likely to be used to commit serious violations of human rights law. ... Governments who treat their people well have nothing to fear from a treaty, and neither will legitimate arms producers. In fact there is support from many arms manufacturers for a treaty: they want their business recognised as legitimate and the crooks banned from operating."

Sme - Slovakia | 02/03/2006

Putin's new strategy in Eastern Europe

In connection with Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Prague, the former Czech president Vaclav Havel and eight intellectuals have sharply criticised the Kremlin's Chechnya policies. In their open letter which, after first appearing in Czech newspapers is now reprinted in the Slovakian paper, the critics talk of a "return to autocracy". They accuse Russia of using the fight against terrorism as an excuse to suppress the independence which came following the collapse of the Soviet Union", and liken the fighting in Chechnya to the Nazi's destruction of Warsaw. They also say that it is "unacceptable" that the Chechnya problem has been struck from the agenda for the G8 Summit in June in Russia. The letter, which was also signed by former South African president Frederik de Klerk and French philosopher Andre Glucksmann, says: "We are not shutting our eyes to Russia's conduct."