Libya: Crimes against humanity

This week the International Criminal Court (ICC) asked for warrants for the arrest of Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, his son Saif, and his intelligence head for what the prosecution describes as the “widespread and systematic attacks on civilians” resulting in deaths.

But does such a move do anything to help Libyan civilians in practice, or do such legal proceedings prove to be a hindrance? Will it improve the situation in Libya? What would such intervention mean to Libyans? Is the ICC obsessed over crimes that are taking place in Africa, or is targetting African leaders a way of leveling the odds?

Sir David Frost is joined by Philippe Sands, an international lawyer, and David Rieff, an author and activist from New York, to discuss the ICC’s move.

Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, wanted changes to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws which only applied to and protected Islam. It was a deeply controversial and dangerous wish. In January he was murdered by one of his own bodyguards. His daughter Shehrbano Taseer has taken up the fight against extremism that cost her father his life.

Was it his defence of a Christian woman accused of blasphemy that led to Taseer’s murder or was it something else? What exactly was Taseer pushing for with regards the blasphemy law? Have the tentacles of extremism also spread to the judiciary?

Michelle Bachelet, the former Chilean president, about her new role as head of the UN’s new agency for liberating women. As the executive director of UN Women, a newly-established agency for gender equality and empowerment of women, she wants more female peacekeepers and an end to violence against women.

Has gender equality improved, or got worse, since the UN adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) more than 30 years ago? What can the new UN agency do to address this inequality?

Jeffrey Wright, the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor and activist, has played a number of iconic roles such as Martin Luther King Jr in Boycott, US Secretary of State Colin Powell in W., and Felix Leiter in the James Bond movie, Casino Royale.

He talks about playing the role of a real person and the difficulties in re-creating a real character as compared to a new one, and about being more a master of his own destiny on stage than in films.

He explains the reasons for working through the Sierra Leone-based Taia Peace Foundation, an organisation which aims to reassess and improve aid to Africa, as a form of revenge against some of his frustrations with the film industry.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has vast amounts of mineral wealth yet most of its people live in appalling poverty. Part of the reason is a protracted civil war which continues in parts of the country even until today. In addition to that, much of the mineral wealth is stolen by militias and rebel groups, and then shipped abroad.

Medard Mulangula, the head of UDR Party, a new national political opposition expected to contest in November elections, talks about the reality and extent of corruption in the DRC, and the groups behind the theft of mineral wealth and the upcoming elections.

There is a ‘fish-fight’ going on around the world. Lady Gaga’s ‘lobster hat’ is on display in one of Britain’s most famous stores, Selfridges in London, to highlight the issue of dwindling fish stocks around the world.

The latest research shows the world is eating more fish than ever before, over-exploiting over one-third of stocks. Are we about to empty the world’s seas of fish? What can be done about the declining fish stocks around the world?

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, a British chef and food campaigner who runs the River Cottage project-cum-television show, joins Sir David in explaining why the world is running out of fish and what needs to be done, including cutting down on wastage. Click here for more information on the fish fight campaign.

This episode of Frost Over the World aired from Friday, May 20, 2011.