South Sudan: Widespread Atrocities in Government Offensive

Killings, Rapes of Unity State Civilians Are War Crimes

(Nairobi) – South Sudanese government forces and allied fighters carried out scores of killings, rapes, and widespread burning and pillage of civilian property in a military offensive in Unity State causing forced displacement, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian property during the offensive between April and June 2015 amount to war crimes, and the killings and rapes may also constitute crimes against humanity.

The 42-page report, “They Burned it All: Destruction of Villages, Killings, and Sexual Violence in South Sudan’s Unity State,” is based on more than170 interviews in June and July with survivors and witnesses. More than 125 of these were displaced by fighting or attacks on their villages by government troops or allied militia from the Bul Nuer ethnic group. Human Rights Watch documented shocking accounts of about 60 unlawful killings of civilian women, men, and children, including the

SEBASTIÃO SALGADO: O Drama Silencioso da Fotografia

REFLORESTAMENTO

De volta à origem

Sebastião Salgado captures the dignity of the dispossessed through large-scale, long-term projects.

Why you should listen to him:

A gold miner in Serra Pelada, Brazil; a Siberian Nenet tribe that lives in -35°C temperatures; a Namibian gemsbok antelope. These are just a few of the subjects from Sebastião Salgado’s immense collection of work devoted to the world’s most dispossessed and unknown.

Brazilian-born Salgado, who shoots only using Kodak film, is known for his incredibly long-term projects, which require extensive travel and extreme lifestyle changes. Workers took seven years to complete and contained images of manual laborers from 26 countries, whileMigrations took six years in 43 different countries on all seven continents. Most recently Salgado completed Genesis, an ambitious eight-year project that spanned 30 trips to the world’s most pristine territories, land untouched by technology and modern life. Among Salgado’s many travels for Genesis was a two-month hike through Ethiopia, spanning 500 miles with 18 pack donkeys and their riders. In the words of Brett Abbott, a Getty Museum curator, Salgado’s approach can only be described as “epic.”

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Quero mostrar-lhes agora, para encerrar, algumas fotos que para mim são muito importantes nesse sentido. Lembram-se de que contei a vocês, quando recebi a fazenda de meus pais que era meu paraíso, que era a fazenda. Terra completamente destruída, erosão, a terra tinha secado. Mas podem ver nesta foto, estávamos começando a construir um centro educacional que se tornou um centro ambiental muito grande no Brasil. Vocês veem muitos pontos úmidos nesta foto. Em cada um desses pontos, plantamos uma árvore. Há milhares de árvores. Agora vou mostrar-lhes as fotos feitas exatamente no mesmo local,dois meses atrás.

Disse-lhes no começo que era necessário plantar aproximadamente 2.5 milhões de árvoresde cerca de 200 espécies diferentes para reconstruir o ecossistema. E vou mostrar a última foto. Estamos com dois mihões de árvores no chão agora. Estamos fazendo a retirada de mais ou menos 100.000 toneladas de carbono com essas árvores.

Meu amigos, é muito fácil de fazer, Fizemos isso, não? Por um acidente que aconteceu comigo, voltamos, construímos um ecossistema. Nós aqui nesta sala, acredito que tenhamos a mesma preocupação, e o modelo que criamos no Brasil, podemos transplantá-lo aqui. Podemos usá-lo em todos os lugares no mundo, não? E acredito que podemos fazer isso juntos.  Muito obrigado."