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UNITED NATIONS — The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted a non-binding declaration upholding the human, land and resources rights of the world’s 370 million indigenous people, brushing off opposition from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

The vote in the assembly was 143 in favor and four against. Eleven countries, including Russia and Colombia, abstained.

The declaration, capping more than 20 years of debate at the United Nations, also recognizes the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination and sets global human rights standards for them.

It states that native peoples have the right “to the recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties” concluded with states or their successors.

Indigenous peoples say their lands and territories are endangered by such threats as mineral extraction, logging, environmental contamination, privatization and development projects, classification of lands as protected areas or game reserves amd use of genetically modified seeds and technology.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the Philippine chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, joined UN chief Ban Ki-moon in hailing the vote.

“It marks a major victory for Indigenous peoples,” said Tauli-Corpuz, adding that the document “sets the minimum international standards for the protection and promotion of the rights” of native peoples.

But Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, countries with sizable indigenous populations, expressed disappointment with the text.

Australia on Friday defended its decision to oppose the declaration, saying the document was “outside what we as Australians believe to be fair.”

“We haven’t wiped our hands of it, but as it currently stands at the moment, it would provide rights to a group of people which would be to the exclusion of others,” Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said.

But Australia’s top rights group, which welcomed the declaration, said it was “a matter of great regret” that it was opposed by Canberra.

The declaration, which recognises the right to self-determination, was “a milestone for the world’s indigenous peoples,” Tom Calma, of Australia’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, said.

“It also acknowledges that without recognising the collective rights of indigenous peoples and ensuring protection of our cultures, indigenous people can never truly be free and equal,” he said.

The New Zealand government said Friday it voted against the UN declaration on indigenous rights because it disadvantaged non-indigenous people and conflicts with the country’s laws.

Parekura Horomia, the New Zealand minister responsible for policy on the native Maori people, said his government was committed to protecting the rights of indigenous people.

But Horomia, himself a Maori, said the UN declaration on the human, land and resource rights of indigenous people was incompatible with New Zealand law.

“These articles imply different classes of citizenship where indigenous people have a right of veto that other groups or individuals do not have,” Horomia told Radio New Zealand.

New Zealand was far ahead of other countries in promoting the rights of indigenous people, he said.

“Unfortunately, the provisions in the Declaration on lands, territories and resources are overly broad, unclear, and capable of a wide variety of interpretations, discounting the need to recognize a range of rights over land and possibly putting into question matters that have been settled by treaty,” Canada’s UN Ambassador John McNee told the assembly.

Among contentious issues was one article saying “states shall give legal recognition and protection” to lands, territories and resources traditionally “owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired” by indigenous peoples.

Another bone of contention was an article upholding native peoples’ right to “redress by means that can include restitution or when not possible just, fair and equitable compensation, for their lands and resources “which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior ad informed consent”.

Opponents also objected to one provision requiring states “to consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples …to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.”

Indigenous advocates note that most of the world’s remaining natural resources — minerals, freshwater, potential energy sources — are found within indigenous peoples’ territories.

A leader of Canada’s native community, Phil Fontaine, slammed his government’s stance.

“We’re very disappointed with Canada’s opposition to the declaration on indigenous peoples,” said Fontaine, leader of Assembly of First Nations, who came to New York to lobby for adoption of the text.

Canada’s indigenous population is about 1.3 million people, out of a total population of 32.7 million.

Adoption of the declaration by the assembly had been deferred late last year at the behest of African countries led by Namibia, which raised objections about language on self-determination and the definition of “indigenous” people.

The Africans were won over after co-sponsors amended an article to read that “nothing in the declaration may be …construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent states.”

The declaration was endorsed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council last year.

Kenyan MPs have passed a law which may make it impossible to prosecute corrupt politicians implicated in big scandals.

The law limits Kenya’s Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate alleged crimes committed only after 2003.

Two notorious cases predate this – the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scams when huge sums were diverted from the Kenyan exchequer into officials’ back pockets.

President Mwai Kibaki won polls in 2002 on an anti-graft platform he has yet to fulfil. He faces re-election this year.

Observers say the move may have been timed to ensure no politicians face damaging legal proceedings ahead of the polls.

After a heated debate, opposition MPs surprised the government by winning a vote on the controversial amendment, which deletes key sections of the 2003 Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act.

Justice Minister Martha Karua argued against the change, saying the sections were the core of the Act and their deletion would strip the KACC of powers essential to carrying out its remit.

Speaking in parliament she said: “Past economic crimes have not been successfully investigated and this amendment would give the KACC a deadly blow.”

The head of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission, Maina Kiai, has described the law as an affront to the people of Kenya.

“The politicians are spitting in our faces,” he said.

Mrs Karua told parliament that the architect of the amendment, Paul Muite had an interest in sabotaging the KACC investigation.

“Hon Muite’s interest is obvious and this amendment is mischievous”, she said.

Back in 2003 when the KACC was set up, Mr Muite told Kenya’s Daily Nation he was looking forward to “defending himself against allegations that he received 20 million Kenyan shillings” from a businessman implicated in the Goldenberg scandal.

The big scams

Under former President Daniel arap Moi’s administration, the government devised a scheme to persuade exporters to repatriate hard currency earnings, promising a 20% premium on foreign currency deposited in Kenya’s Central Bank.

It is alleged that a company called Goldenberg International colluded with government officials to make a claim for a 35% compensation for the export of minerals, in spite of Kenya having no diamond reserves and producing little gold of its own.

At least $80m was paid in export compensation, but some estimates suggest that Kenya’s overall losses amounted to around $600m – the equivalent of more than 10% of the country’s annual GDP.

Then under President Kibaki, officials sought to order a replacement for Kenya’s passport printing system.

It involved buying sophisticated equipment – originally quoted at 6m euros ($8.3m) from Francois Charles Oberthur of Paris, a leading credit card supplier.

Without a proper competitive tender, the contract was instead awarded for five times the price to a company registered in the UK, the Anglo-Leasing and Finance Company Limited, whose plan was to sub-contract Oberthur to do the work.

It was subsequently revealed that Anglo Leasing’s agent was a Liverpool-based firm, Saagar Associates.

The company records showed Saagar Associates was owned by Mrs Sudhan Ruparell, a daughter of Chamanlal Kamani, the 72-year-old multi-millionaire patriarch of a business family which enjoyed close links with senior officials in the Moi regime.

No graft convictions

The former anti-graft adviser, John Githongo, fled to the UK in 2005 after saying he had been threatened because of his investigations into corruption.

His successor, Aaron Ringera. recommended that two former finance ministers, an ex-transport minister and a former security minister should be prosecuted, along with eight top civil servants.

Three senior ministers stood down following their implication in corruption in February 2006, but in January 2007 the Attorney General deemed there was not enough evidence against them to proceed with a prosecution.

So far, for all the investigations and charges, not a single businessman, official or politician has been brought to trial.

The international corruption watchdog, Transparency International, ranks Kenya among the 20 most corrupt countries in the world.

Kenya’s MPs have already provoked a public outcry in recent days when they voted just last week to award themselves a $22,000 bonus each at the end of their five-year term in December.

The bill also legalised huge perks received by ministers.

Kenya’s 222 MPs already earn more than $10,000 a month in salaries and expenses, much of which is tax-free, in a country where most people live on less than $1 a day.

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh — Hundreds of thousands of people in southern Bangladesh fled their homes in panic fearing a tsunami after a major earthquake off Indonesia, officials said on Wednesday.

Local officials said some 600,000 people rushed from coastal regions of the disaster-prone country following a government tsunami warning.

Police with loud-hailers raised the alarm after the 8.4-magnitude earthquake hundreds of miles (kilometres) south in the Indian Ocean.

“Around half-a-million have left their homes. They’ve taken shelter in schools, colleges, cyclone shelters and relatives’ houses,” said Chittagong district administrator Ashraf Shamim.

“There’s a panic but we’re using loudspeakers to ask people to take shelter in safe places.”

An urgent government warning that a tsunami could hit after midnight was repeated frequently by both state and private television and radio stations. It was finally cancelled at 1:30 am Thursday (1930 GMT).

Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India also issued tsunami alerts but cancelled them hours earlier as the threat of giant waves receded.

“We started using loud-hailers at 8:00 pm (1400 GMT) after the government’s order,” said Mahbubur Rahman, police chief of the southern island of Sandweep.

“So far some 70,000 people have been evacuated to cyclone shelters, colleges, schools and government administrative buildings.

“They have left their homes and are huddled together at the centers.”

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued an alert for the entire Indian Ocean area including Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives — all affected by the devastating December 2004 Asian tsunami.

But the centre said later that the danger had passed.

Bangladesh, a frequent victim of flooding and ferry disasters, escaped the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which killed 220,000 people in a dozen countries after another massive earthquake off Indonesia’s Sumatra island.

But officials, unwilling to take chances, opened disaster control rooms in the capital and the districts to coordinate the evacuation after Wednesday’s quake.

“The district administrations in the coastal areas have been ordered to open temporary shelters so that people can stay the night there,” said government press spokesman Mahbub Kabir.

Tens of thousands were ordered to take shelter in the southern district of Cox’s Bazar, while ships were ordered to stay close to harbour in Chittagong, home of the country’s largest port.

“It’s massive work. But we are going to take all the people to safe places,” said Chittagong official Shamim.

DHAKA – Large swathes of Bangladesh were underwater again on Sunday after heavy rains, adding to the misery of millions hit by flooding that has killed more than 830 people since late July.

Weather officials said that nearly 20 of the country’s 64 districts were flooded after three days of rain swelled major rivers flowing through India into Bangladesh.

At least three people, including a child were drowned, raising the death toll to 833 from monsoon flooding since late July, officials said on Sunday.

Heavy showers caused water logging in the Chittagong port city, disrupting traffic, local residents said.

Hundreds of shanty homes were inundated along the country’s Cox’s Bazar coast as rain and winds set off a “moderate surge” in the Bay of Bengal, meteorology officials said.

The rains have also triggered fresh floods in the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, the officials said.

Thousands of Bangladeshi families that returned to devastated homes after the previous flood had receded in most areas were forced to flee again, disaster management officials said.

Witnesses in the northern Gaibandha district said many people had headed to highways and embankments for safety, while others had taken refuge on boats or on the roofs of houses.

The floods covered vast areas in the country’s northeast and southern areas, disrupting communications and, with rains continuing on Sunday, more areas were expected to be engulfed.

The fresh floods inundated newly planted rice and other crops on more than a million hectares.

“The previous floods washed away my house, cattles and crops … but I had started to piece life together,” Gaibandha villager Shahed Ali told reporters. “I managed to replant some seedlings but they have been destroyed again.”

Floods kill hundreds of people and wreck the lives of many more in Bangladesh every year, but this year’s deluge has been the worst since 2004 when floods killed more than 3,000 people.

The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) in Dhaka said worse could lie ahead because the annual monsoon was still very active in the Ganges, Meghna, and Brahmaputra river basins.

“Experience shows that the floods of late August or September last longer,” said FFWC head Saiful Hossain.

The meteorological department forecast heavy to very heavy rain in various parts of the country over the next 24-48 hours.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — At least 300 families in Nicaragua’s remote northern mountains have been cut off from the rest of the country since Hurricane Felix destroyed all roads into their communities, government officials said Sunday.

Word reached the capital after several villagers hiked three days through forests and over mountains to find help, the civil protection agency said in a news release.

Trapped residents in three communities near the city of Bonanza, about 280 kilometers (180 miles) north of the capital of Managua, are in need of food, water, medicine, clothing and blankets, according to the villagers, who also told authorities that many children are ill.

Bonanza Mayor Manuel Sevilla told Channel 8 television Sunday that the hurricane had ruined crops of bananas, citrus, corn and rice in the region. He asked the government to deliver aid by helicopter.

Felix devastated remote jungle beaches and communities along the Moskito coastline last Tuesday when it struck as a Category 5 hurricane, tearing down homes and killing scores of people.