Human rights groups are complicit in murder, says Trimble

The Nobel Peace laureate and Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble called human rights organisations a "great curse" yesterday and accused them of complicity in terrorist killings.

"One of the great curses of this world is the human rights industry," he told the Associated Press news agency at an international conference of terrorism victims in Madrid.

"They justify terrorist acts and end up being complicit in the murder of innocent victims."

His words drew an angry reaction from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, two of the world's biggest human rights groups, with about 200,000 members in Britain and more than a million worldwide.

Steve Crawshaw, director of the London office of Human Rights Watch, said:"It is extraordinarily regrettable and disappointing that, above all, a man like that says something like this.

"His own emphasis, together with other politicians in North ern Ireland, on the fact that violence against civilians on all sides of any conflict cannot be justified, has been so important in recent years."

Kate Allen, Amnesty International's UK Director, said: "The threat of terrorism must never be used as an excuse for abus ing people's human rights. David Trimble should remember that human rights organisations have condemned killings and other abuses by terrorist groups all over the world, while at the same time criticising governments who use the 'war on terror' as a pretext to abuse their citizens."

A spokeswoman for the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, which awarded Mr Trimble his prize in 1988, declined to say whether it considered itself a member of the "human rights industry".

"We don't comment on what former laureates say. We have no reaction to that," she said.

Mr Trimble was joint winner of with the former leader of the SDLP, John Hume, for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

He made his comment as one of the keynote speakers at the first international congress of terrorism victims, which ended in Madrid on Tuesday night.

He backed another politician at the conference, the Colombian vice-president Francisco Santos, who said that human rights groups were hindering progress towards peace in his country.

"For human rights organisations to call [the Colombian rebel group] Farc 'armed opposition groups' undermines the struggle of those who have decided to side with democracy," Mr Santos said. "That is not right. It is unacceptable."

After hearing of Mr Trimble's comments Robin Kirk, a researcher on Colombia for Human Rights Watch, said: "Human rights defenders are under attack in Colombia, so these are dangerous comments to make."

Human Rights Watch has criticised Colombia's anti-terrorist legislation and calls groups such as Farc either "illegal armed groups" or "leftist guerrillas".

The Madrid conference ended with a declaration which went some way to supporting Mr Trimble.

It said: "We call on NGOs and other civil organisations that stand for the defence of human rights to make a commitment to defend victims of terrorism and to identify terrorist acts for what they are, regardless of their cause or pretext and without striking balances or blurring the distinction between victims and executioners."

Children Sold Into Slavery by UN Charity
London Mirror

With her big blue eyes and cute smile, four-year-old Angela would tug at the heartstrings of any parent.

But like her five-year-old brother Aco and their friend Jovanna, blonde Angela is up for SALE to anyone with enough cash to buy her.

Incredibly, the head of a British-funded charity is at the centre of this despicable trade.

The children, some as young as three, are snatched from their parents and sold for as little as L300. Some are feared to have been taken as child sex slaves. Others are put up for illegal adoptions by couples, including Britons, desperate to start a family.

These three youngsters all live at a former United Nations refugee camp in Montenegro, part of the old Yugoslavia.

Posing as child traffickers, Sunday Mirror investigators visited the camp outside Montenegro's capital of Podgorica run by Christian charity boss Sinisa Nadazdin to expose the sick trade facilitated.

He receives donations from the British-based evangelical charity Smile International and Catholic aid organisations which are unaware of his "sideline".

Nadazdin, 27, told our reporter: "A hundred kids were trafficked from this camp...any of the children you see here are up for sale... I am willing to do it because of my finances."

The camp was set up by the United Nations after the 1999 Kosovo war and now houses 5,000 refugees in three units.

We were shown children for sale - from L300 for a dark-skinned three-year-old gipsy boy to L3,000 for a blonde girl of four. Nadazdin works closely with two gipsy mafia bosses, Vlasnim and Arton Shkreli, who "harvest" the best-looking ones.

Locals say the brothers use violence to rule the camps and force families to hand over their children before fixing false papers and smuggling them overseas.

Nadazdin said: "Arton has a really bad reputation and you are not surprised about anything you hear. He said about feeding sharks with those girls."

Despite admitting he was aware that children could be sold to paedophiles, Nadazdin continued to negotiate with our investigators. "Last year there was a couple from Liverpool who wanted to buy a child," he said. "The year before, some people from Scotland. We don't have set prices. You must negotiate. The price least is 500 euros (L300) for a gipsy. The maximum is 5,000 euros (L3,000)." He took us to see two children whose pictures he had emailed to us in the UK. We found Angela and Aco playing on a cockroach-infested floor with other children. Nadazdin said: "This is the best family for you to buy a child. They are desperate." Angela was on sale for e3,500 (L2,500). Aco was available for e2,500 (L1,500). Their destitute mother cried: "Sometimes I sell myself to give them bread. I don't want to lose my children."

But she was quickly silenced by 6ft 5in Nadazdin who said: "She doesn't matter. This woman has no choice. Vlasnim wants to sell Angela. No one defies Vlasnim. Not if they want to be safe. He uses the knife."

One of the gang's henchmen then made a cut-throat gesture to the mother.

Nadazdin, director of a local evangelical Christian charity called Philia, claims British charity Smile International has given him e2500 (L2,000) to look after children at the camp. On its website Smile, run from Orpington, Kent, by Baptist minister Clive Doubleday and his wife Ruth, write about working with Podgorica Pentecostal Church and of visiting the camp to distribute aid and show a religious video.

Nadazdin told us he hopes to persuade Smile International to help him set up a day creche - which he would use as a "child supermarket". He then showed us more children for sale, including Jovanna, four, who was on offer for 1,500 euros (L900). Nadazdin said: "Take photos. Any of these children is for sale if you like. Pressure will be put on the parents to sell - lighter the skin, younger child, more you pay. Black gypsies are cheapest - no one wants them." Nadazdin told us he also arranges illegal adoptions for cash. After leaving the camp we got a call from Vlasnim's brother Arton, pressing us to wrap-up a child-buying deal. He said: "You like Angela? She is 3,500 euros. But you must pay 1,000 euros deposit to obtain documents. If that is good, we see about more business." We claimed we were also looking for young girls to work in massage parlours in the UK.

Arton said: "We have children for more delicate business than adoption. Have girls of 12, girls of 13, girls of 14 for you. There are 20 available now. They are pretty girls, all of them. Some are experienced in movies, some have been on internet sites. You will not be disappointed.

"Don't wait long. I have other people interested."

When confronted Nadazdin denied having sold children from the camp. "That is illegal," he said. "But it's the right thing if a white person is buying a child." He admitted a paedophile could buy a child, but added: "I wouldn't approve."

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