Welcome to the weekly world briefing, a Tuesday feature to help you stay up to date with major happenings around the globe. Here, we dive into some of the world’s biggest issues and how they affect travelers. Is there something you think should be added to the next briefing? Tell us on Twitter.
In Cambodia…
Last week, an international tribunal declared for the first time that the Khmer Rouge committed genocide in Cambodia. “It may be finished, but I won’t ever have peace,” 52-year-old Iam Yen told the New York Times of her years in a child camp under the Khmer Rouge. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia tribunal has been working for more than a decade to convict Khmer Rouge leaders of crimes against humanity, yet has only convicted three. Many would like the tribunal to broaden to include lower-ranking officials, while current Prime Minister Hun Sen (a former member of the Khmer Rouge) would like the tribunal to stop its work altogether.
In 1975, Pol Pot and his Communist forces marched into Phnom Penh with the goal of making Cambodia an agrarian society, without “corrupt” influences like western culture. People were executed for speaking French, wearing glasses (it implied literacy), being academics, having any connection to the former government, and a wide range of other offenses. From 1975 to 1979, at least 1.7 million people died–more than 20 percent of the population. About 60 percent of that number were executed, while the rest died of disease or starvation.
The Khmer Rouge moved Cambodians to camps, where they were forced into labor, tortured, and mass executed. The regime exploited teenage children, using them as guards and forcing them to commit atrocities. Of the 196 prisons operated by the Khmer Rouge, the Toul Sleng Centre, or Security Prison S-21, was one of the most dreaded. Only seven out of the 20,000 adults who passed through the prison gates survived. The United States, which was fresh out of a disastrous defeat in Vietnam, denounced the killings–President Carter called the Khmer Rouge “the worst violator of human rights in the world today”–but did little to step in.
The recent verdict of genocide, though it took years and is criticized for its limited range, provides hope for future prosecutions of crimes against humanity in Myanmar, Sudan, and elsewhere.
Today, you can visit the Killing Fields in Cambodia, which hold mass graves and sights like a glass case filled with 8,000 human skulls, nooses, and signs reading things like “Killing Tree Against Which Executioners Beat Children.” You can also visit the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, where original torture devices and beds are still in place, and the walls are still stained with blood. Both are painful to visit, but many say it’s important for tourists to understand the weight of the country’s recent history.
Our take: visit and learn as much as you can, but be respectful and don’t turn your trip into disaster porn for your Instagram followers.
In Gaza…
On November 11, Israeli intelligence attempted a covert operation in Gaza, but was intercepted by Hamas. Seven Palestinians and one Israeli were killed in the operation. From there, Hamas fired hundreds of rockets into Israel and blew up a bus, injuring dozens of civilians and killing one, while the Israeli government launched an air raid on Gaza that killed five Palestinians. The fighting was the most intense since the 50-Day War in 2014.
Israel and Gaza settled on a ceasefire, causing Israel Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to resign and call Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response “insufficient and inappropriate.” Dozens of Israeli border community residents protested the ceasefire and called it a “lack of action by the Israeli government.” Lieberman’s resignation threatened the collapse of the current government, but on Monday far-right education minister Naftali Bennett saved Netanyahu’s coalition when he announced he would not resign, despite disagreements over the Gaza truce. “It’s better that the prime minister beats me in a political battle than [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniya beats Israel,” he said at a press conference.
The Gaza Strip, a 140-square mile stretch of land between Israel and Egypt, has been through decades of violence and military conflict. Before Israel became a country, the most people living in the area were Palestinians. Israel was declared a state on May 14, 1948, and a day later the Arab-Israeli war broke out between Israel and five Arab countries: Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. Egypt was given control of the Gaza Strip after the war and more than 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes in what was now Israel to settle there. As of 2018, most of the Gaza Strip inhabitants are the original 1948 war refugees and their descendants, and many of them still live in refugee camps. In 1967, Israel gained back control of Gaza during the Six-Day War. In 2006 Hamas, an Islamist political group, took control.
The U.S. State Department warns against travel to Gaza “due to terrorism, civil unrest, and armed conflict.” If you hope to visit the West Bank from Israel, you will have to pass through a large military separation wall controlled by Israeli checkpoints. There are no direct flights to either West Bank or Gaza. Instead, fly to either an Israeli airport or neighboring Jordan, then make your way to an Israeli checkpoint to enter Palestinian territories. Most tourists have little issue crossing between the two, though there are exceptions.
Related, Airbnb said on Tuesday it would remove its West Bank settlement listings because they were “at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.” The settlements are considered illegal under international law and human rights officials had criticized the home-sharing company for allowing listings there. Secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Saeb Erekat, said it was “crucial for Airbnb to follow the position of international law that Israel is the occupying power and that Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including occupied east Jerusalem, are illegal and constitute war crimes.” Meanwhile, Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Lenin told the BBC that the decision is “the most wretched of wretched capitulations to the boycott efforts,” and said Israel would back lawsuits against Airbnb from settlement home renters in United States courts.
In Eritrea…
On November 14th, the United Nations lifted sanctions against Eritrea, citing recent peace and stability efforts in the Horn of Africa region. The East African nation has endured travel bans, asset freezes, and an arms embargo since 2009. But recent developments including a landmark peace agreement with neighboring Ethiopia have convinced the UN to soften its stance on the country.
Nine years ago, Eritrea drew sanctions when it was accused of supplying weapons to the Somali extremist group al-Shabab. The international condemnation increased through multiple human rights violation reports and a 2011 border dispute with Djibouti. The Eritrean government denies any military involvement with al-Shabab and never believed the sanctions were warranted. After the vote to lift the punitive measures, Eritrea’s Charge d’Affaires Amanuel Giorgio stated, “the long overdue call for justice is finally answered.” Ethiopia’s new prime minister Abiy Ahmed is credited with spearheading recent diplomatic breakthroughs in the region.
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a thirty-year war. In the 1950s, the United Nations established Eritrea as a federal state under the rule of the Ethiopian emperor. Eritrea was supposed to control its own domestic laws and judiciary, but imperial Ethiopia undercut Eritrea’s autonomy. In 1962, the Eritrean parliament was dissolved, sparking the long war for independence. Post-independence, the nation quickly devolved from an anti-imperialist beacon of hope to an isolated autocracy. It embroiled itself in deadly border disputes with Ethiopia and Djibouti, and implemented indefinite mandatory military service. Isaias Afwerki has been president for the country’s entire twenty-five year existence. The constitution, ratified in 1996, has yet to be implemented.
This year’s peace deal with Ethiopia and the lifting of sanctions are signs that Eritrea may be changing. Freedom of movement is one area where change has occurred rapidly. Since the southern border was opened in September, Ethiopia has seen a sharp rise in Eritrean refugees. Over 15,000 Eritreans have crossed the border in the last couple of months.
Traveling to Eritrea remains difficult. The U.S. State Department recommends “exercising increased caution” if you wish to go. Flying into Asmara is the only way into the country and travel permits are required to go elsewhere. However, if you are able to get a visa, the coastal nation can be a beautiful destination.
In the UK…
The UK and European Union have agreed on a draft Brexit proposal. Throughout Europe this week, officials pored over 585 pages of agreements on trade, work requirements, travel, migration, and production. How to handle the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland (the only land border between the UK and the rest of Europe) remains a sticking point. Both sides would like to avoid a “hard” border with increased customs control. An enforced border could frustrate those who cross it daily, and bring back memories of “the troubles,” a thirty-year ethnonationalist conflict between pro-UK protestant unionists and catholic separatists. The draft agreement includes a backstop aimed at ensuring the status quo until both sides can find a solution, but that backstop has some on both sides wary. Under the rules of the backstop, Northern Ireland would possibly be subject to some EU laws that would not apply to Great Britain. That worries the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland, who are staunchly in favor of maintaining their place in the UK.
Now British Prime Minister Theresa May must convince Parliament to vote in favor of the proposal. Since May is unlikely to receive any support from the opposition labour party, she must rally conservatives around a complex and controversial deal. European leaders must also get the agreement approved: a task that will likely be easier than May’s.
The UK joined the EU in 1973, and has had a rocky relationship with the union ever since. Support for a divorce from the union grew through the 2010s as Europe struggled through economic unrest and a migrant crisis. In 2016, the UK narrowly voted to leave the EU, spurring Brexit. A deal must be reached by March 2019 to avoid a “no-deal” split.
If the draft agreement holds, Europeans may find it tougher to gain British citizenship. On Monday, May announced her support for skills-based migration, stating that Europeans would not be considered over “engineers from Sydney or software developers from Delhi.” Though achieving citizenship may become more difficult, travel should be only nominally affected. Some EU citizens who are unwanted by the UK may be barred from Ireland to ensure they do not sneak across the border. But most people will continue to enjoy free travel between the UK and the EU.
In California…
2018 will be the most devastating year of fires in California’s history. The most recent fires, the Camp Fire in Northern California, and the Woolsey Fire on the Southern coast are capping off an already destructive year as they continue to rage on. As of Monday, November 19th, 82 people are dead and over 700 are missing, mostly due to the Camp Fire. Much of Northern California has been enshrouded in smoke for a week, and the death toll is expected to rise. More than 1,600,000 acres have burned this year, which surpasses 2008’s record total. The entire town of Paradise, California is destroyed. Rain is expected to provide relief this week, but heavy rain can bring more problems such as flash floods and debris flows. Last year’s Thomas Fire ravaged Santa Barbara County, but more people died in the ensuing debris flow than the fire itself.
And the fires are only expected to intensify. John Bailey, a wildfire expert at Oregon State University, points out that there is no fire season in California anymore. “It’s part of the year now,” he says. “We’re returning to levels of fire that were present before the era of effective fire suppression in the 1960s and 70s.” California has been in a drought since 2011. The nine hottest and driest years on record have all occurred within the last twenty years. With high temperatures and low precipitation, an already fire-prone ecosystem is set to burn intensely and often.
The fires are already affecting travel. Tourists in San Francisco this week were advised to wear protective N-95 masks. Views of the bay were covered by smoke. In much of coastal California, there are limited routes available. Fires along the coast can block travel routes between Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Travelers check snow conditions before heading to New York in the winter, and watch for hurricanes before vacationing in Florida in the late-Summer. They may need to start checking fire conditions before making their way to California.
Throughout the world, natural disasters are intensifying. Last month, a UN report warned that the most disastrous effects of climate change are nearer than we originally thought. A new report from Nature Climate Change foresees a world in which some areas are dealing with up to six climate disasters at once. Without immediate international action, conditions like those in California will continue to worsen.
