Word: drafts
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Ravaged by rights groups and upbraided by the U.S. for failing to take measures against human trafficking, the Iraqi government has been quietly working on a draft law to tackle the scourge. Baghdad was prodded into action late last year, after the release of the U.S. State Department's "Trafficking in Persons Report," according to Human Rights Minister Wijdan Mikhail Salim. "Let's say it was a tough report about the situation in Iraq, and in so many cases it was right," she says...
...situation is slowly changing. The draft law, a copy of which was obtained by TIME, imposes tough penalties, including life imprisonment and a fine not exceeding 25 million dinars ($21,000) for traffickers if the victim "is under 15, or a female, or has special needs." The same punishment applies if the crime was committed by kidnapping or force, or if the criminal "is a direct or distant relative or the victim's caretaker or husband or wife," a tacit acknowledgment that victims are often trafficked by people they know...
...stop it?" Salim says. Similarly, the principle of temporary marriages, known as al-Mut'a in Shi'ite Islam and al-Misyar in Sunni Islam (they can extend anywhere from two hours to six months in the Shi'ite tradition), has also been exploited to trade in women. The draft law does not address how victims are trafficked, avoiding the sensitive subject of the abuse of religious principles, but says it is an offense to transport people with the purpose of trading in them. (See more about human rights...
...delegates noticed when Obama told a public audience in Prague that the world needs to tackle global warming and that "the U.S. is now ready to lead." But hopeful talk doesn't necessarily translate to numbers or action. One of the biggest topics of debate at Bonn was the draft climate-change bill released in late March by Democratic Congressmen Henry Waxman and Edward Markey, which aims to cut U.S. carbon emissions 20% below 2005 levels by 2020. That goal is significantly less ambitious than what the E.U. has pledged, but getting that bill - or anything close to it - through...
...from former Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who resigned in mid-February after appearing to be drunk at a G-7 press conference. Prime Minister Taro Aso tapped Yosano as the ultimate insider; as minister of economy, a post he has held since September, Yosano knew his way around the draft budget for 2009. Still, the breadth of his responsibilities now is daunting. (Read "Sony's Woes: Japan's Iconic Brands Under Fire...