20/06/2014 BBC World News

The human cost of war and persecution - 50 million people

around the world are thought to be displaced, according to new figures

A peace plan for Ukraine is to be announced by President Poroshenko,

hours after a phone call with Russia's President Putin.

No combat troops on the ground, but the United States will send

hundreds of military advisors into Iraq to help fight Islamist

militants. And - why would you blow the top off a mountain?

Being forced out of your home, even your country,

is a trauma and often a tragedy, caused by wars and persecution.

And last year, the number of displaced people hit

50 million, according to the UN's refugee agency.

and the highest level since the end of the Second World War. Out of

Korea, and the highest level since the end of the Second World War.

Rica to stand any chance of progressing.

17 million have left their country in search of security. The vast

majority are internally displaced, so they often end up living in huge

camps that in some cases have become permanent slum cities.

New arrivals from Syria. The conflict is in its fourth year. 2.5

million Syrians have fled their country, they may be safe, but this

can never be home. A further 6.5 million are displaced inside Syria.

Short of food, shelter and medical care and aid agencies can scarcely

reach them. Round the world, war and persecution have driven over 51

million from their homes. The highest figure since the Second

World War. It is a quantum leap, it's a qualitative change we are

witnessing, the world is becoming more violent, and more people are

being forced to flee, and the capacity to solve these problems

from a humanitarian point of view doesn't simply exist.

UN aid agencies are impatient at what they see is paralysis within

the UN Security Council. Designed to prevent and solve conflict, it seems

to be doing anything but. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have been

in camps for years. Meanwhile, new wars add to their numbers. In 2013,

32,000 people fled their homes every day. From the Central African

Republic, from South Sudan, from smash that, from Syria. Their lives

are on hold until they can go home. Among that figure of 51 million

displaced, the latest from Iraq haven't even been included yet.

So, Imogen saying 51 million there. That 33 million figure for

internally displaced is something we can look at now. The country with

the most refugees is Pakistan, at the moment, civilians are fleeing

combat areas in north Waziristan as the army prepares to renew its

offensive against militants. Thank you for joining us there.

First of all, give us an indication as to where they have GCSEs are

gathering. -- where the refugees are gathering. I am in a town which is

the biggest town on the edge of north Waziristan where Pakistani

army started military air strikes. During the first few days there was

a curfew, people couldn't leave. In the last few days curfew has been

partially lifted and people are coming out. They are coming out in

tens and thousands. I was talking to a senior official and they said the

number of those displayed is approaching 200,000. In the last few

hours, on this main road, we have seen truck loads of women, children,

elderly, overloaded vehicles, carrying whatever they can to get

out of from north Waziristan. Normally it takes them an hour to

travel between two town, in this environment where they have several

checkpoints to cross it is taking 27 hours in some case, they have been

travelling without food, without water and I can tell you it is

really hot here, the temperature is about 41 degrees C. But it feels

like more than 45. And what sort of help are they

getting? Are they depending on family and friends, or is there some

sort of infrastructure provided for them? Well, the Prime Minister and

the army chief are meeting in Peshawar which is the capital in

North West Frontier Pakistan. They have been saying we will do

everything we can to take care of these people this this difficult

time, but I can tell you that there are two camps being set up, one

right behind me, and we haven't seen any people there. There is another

camp in, basically at the gate point where people are coming from north

Waziristan, that too is empty. Many of these people are coming to the

town, and then hoping to either rent places, or move in with their

friends or relatives, not just here but across Pakistan, families have

been travelling to Karachi and other areas, because they have very little

faith in Governments efforts. These people are poor, but they have a

sense of dignity. They have a lot of self respect and think don't want to

be reduced to a life of poverty and begging in Government camps which is

what we have seen in the past. So many of these people are here on a

self-help basis, and they are trying to seek refuge where they can, not

depending on the Government. Thank you for that. The scale is just

terrifying really in so ways. Many of the people who are escaping the

conflict in Syria for example, parts of Africa, they head not just down

the road, they try to get to Europe. Matthew Price is on a ship where a

rescue of people from a boat carrying migrants is currently under

way. I will explain, we are using a

smartphone here, so the quality might not be as perfect as we would

hope. It is pretty good We are in the Mediterranean, we are on the

high seas. North of Libya to the east of Malta, this is a boat that

was first spotted 16 hours or so ago, and the naval frigate we are on

raced to the scene. We got here just after dawn. Originally 270 people

onboard. They have told the crew of the Tam -- Italian navy ship they

are from Syria. All the women and children, we believe some 50 women

and 18 children have been taken off, and if I just ask Martin, the

cameraman to swing other smartphone to this way, you will see the bridge

of this ship, and then in the distance there, the Italian naval

frigate to which these migrants are being taken. It is a time consuming

operation, the sea is relatively calm at the moment but they are

taking no chances, so the first thing they do here is to send a

small launch, a small dinghy out to the boat in question, in this case

the Ibrahim, we don't know where it is from but we believe it has come

from Egypt, with the Syrians onboard. This boat is fist, they put

life vests on to the boat itself, make sure everybody wears them,

there was anxious moments because the migrants onboard get excited

they believe they are about to be rescued. They all stand up and that

can create great instability on the boat, but the Navy has done this an

awful lot over the last few months, pinpointing boats either in trouble

or sometimes not those in trouble but boats which they believe could

get into trouble, they come out as fast as they can, and one by one,

using the launch, I don't know if you can see that launch there, they

take people off the boats. This of course is the Ukrainian

President Poroshenko Poroshenko who may feel he has good news reported

because there are reports that suggestion Government troops have

regained control of the country's eastern border with Russia. That

claim has come from Ukraine's acting Defence Minister and follows months

of conflict with pro-Russian separatists, all of which coincides

with a 14 point peace plan drawn up by Mr Poroshenko. Our correspondent

is in Kiev and I asked if the reports have been confirmed and how

significant this development would be? To the first point, we can't be

certain there is no way of verifying this independently, but to the

second point it is significant, of Ily this is something that the

Ukrainian Government has set out to do, in fact this is one of the first

steps that President Poroshenko named in, before he introduced this

peace plan, he said they would restore Ukrainian control over the

border, then they would introduce a unilateral seas fire and then the

peace plan. The first step according to the fishes is in players we will

see what happens, we are awaiting the announcementer, or the unveiling

of Mr Poroshenko's 14 point peace plan you mentioned, and then we will

see what happens after that. Right. I suppose it helps to be in a

position of strength when you want to launch a peace plan, but from

what we understand, is there much in that plan which you can imagine

separatists in the east are going to be able to put their hands up to?

Well, it is difficult to say. Obviously there is a lot that points

to a certain amount of scepticism, or if not pessimism about the peace

plan, the fighting continues, there are casualties, NATO officials say

that the Russians are building up troops against on the board, they

say said this would not be so worrisome if they were preventing

fighters getting into Ukraine which they say is not the case, there are

still fighters entering. Obviously there is a lot that can tern into it

and we will see if the fighters themselves accept the peace plan or

even the ceasefire, maybe they will continue fighting, so it remains to

be seen but the next few hours will indicate the success or failure or

potential success or failure of this plan. To Iraq now, and the message

from Washington, no air strikes at least not at the moment, but # 00

American military advisers are heading to Iraq to back the

Government's efforts to hold back the tide of ISIS militants. Fierce

fighting goes on, and for a stras jibgly important airport near the

city of Mosul. These are the fighters the US wants

to stop. ISIS Islamists who have made swift gains and are threatening

to advance on Baghdad. After delicate deliberations President

Obama announced the US will send 300 military adviser, who will have

non-combat roles and he threatened limited air strikes. Going forward

we will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action, if and

when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it. This was

not the big announcement of a counter strike that some in the

Iraqi Government and the American opposition had been waiting for.

American combat troops, the President repeated, won't be

fighting in Iraq again. His focus is on political pressure, he wants the

Shia-led Government to take into consideration the grievances of its

Sunni citizens. President Obama believes Prime Minister Nouri

Al-Maliki is an obstacle to reconciliation. In the Sunni areas

round Baghdad they are staying away from the streets, fearful of ISIS

and Civil War. The bombings in central Baghdad continue, Sunnis

against Shias and Shias against Sunnis and the battle for the

country's biggest oil refinery in northern Iraq goes on. Meanwhile, in

Britain, membership of ISIS becomes a criminal offence from today. There

is concern about the number of British sympathisers who are being

targeted on social media sites, and urged to join the fighting.

Just a short while ago I spoke to the US editor of the Economist

magazine. I started by asking him if President Obama's pledge was really

the minimum he could promise, considering public opinion towards

Iraq in the United States. There is very little public support back in

America for anything big. How little? About 10% in the latest

poll, so that is not going to happen. What, I mean what America

can do, what it has got is air power and that is useful up to a point.

They can blow up anything they want to blow up. The difficulty is

knowing what to blow up. A Jihadi looks the same as someone doing

their shopping a lot of the time. They have been through that

experience a few times as well. So what is the, if you like, what is

the next trigger for Obama, to take the next step? Well, there is two

things. Supposing there was a sustain assault on Baghdad, if you

had columned of ISIS people the Americans would blow those up. But

the thing is the ISIS people know that, so they are probably not going

to do a frontal assault. The other thing, the conditions that Obama has

placed on this, he said look, we are prepared to help you but, you have

to ditch the Prime Minister. He hasn't said that directly, but he is

saying we will want a new Prime Minister and people in the White

House are openly briefing they want someone different running the

country. Given that is the guy you are negotiating with, that is a

difficult starting point. It is. It is not as if they have the leverage

they of course once might have had. They haven't got 180,000 troops on

the ground. One has to wonder how much influence they can have there.

The other risk is, if they move towards air strikes, that is mission

creep to a certain extent already isn't it, and as you pointed out,

this is a man who wants to be seen as the one who extricated the United

States from all these troubled fields abroad.

That only really works as a strategy if you know what your end point is.

At the moment there don't seem to be any good guys. They're ticktively

allied with Iran who they don't like and with Maliki who's proven to be a

terrible leader of Iraq. He is a President who is known for biding

his time, for thinking things through. What do you think would be

his inclination now? His strategy since the Americans left has been to

solidify a Shia powerbase around himself, to ramp up ethnic

divisions. He agreed before the Americans left that he was going to

run an inclusive Government and include Sunnis but his first action

after the Americans left was to fire his Sunni number two and then try to

- well, he had him condemned to death in absentia. He has tried to

subvert institutions of democracy the Americans tried so hard to build

up. He is trying to put his placemen and people he has allowed to take

bribes and that kind of thing inside all the institutions that matter,

sacking competent people from the army, replacing them with Shia

placed men. He has tried very much to undermine institutions and that

will be difficult to undo even if you have a new Prime Minister.

Stay with us here, still to come: A political scandal in Poland could

mean snap elections within weeks. We report from war saw.

-- Warsaw. The World Cup now

and all the drama of day eight. And that means that England are

now on the brink of elimination. Uruguay's star striker Luis Suarez

scored twice. He was playing

against a side with four Wayne Rooney scored

England's only goal. Colombia have been delighting fans

with their celebration dancing. They're through to the next round

by beating Ivory Coast 2-1, Just imagine you have got dressed up

for the party and you have to leave early. That was the possibility

facing England. Lose, and barring extraordinary results elsewhere, you

are heading home. It's a big game for England. We need to win. We hope

to win. 2-1 would be good. And if England were going to win they would

have to deal with this man, controversial, not 100% fit, but

very, very special. Who else was going to score first, a perfectly

placed header giving Uruguay a half-time lead. England have decent

players of their own. In the second half Wayne Rooney made it 1-1 with

his first ever goal at a World Cup finals. But then Suarez again. His

anticipation, his pace, his power breaking English hearts. In the

earlier match in Group C Colombia took on the Ivory Coast. Half the

fun is watching them celebrate and they didn't disappoint. It was more

mundane at 2-0. Ivory Coast got one back but Colombia held on for the

win. Thursday's last match was Japan in a goalless draw with Greece. Not

every game can be a thriller. You are watching BBC World News. The

latest headlines: More than 50 million people were classed as

refugees or internally displaced people last year, according to the

UN. It's the highest figure since the Second World War.

The President of Ukraine is due to publish a peace plan to end fighting

in the east of the country. The head of the company at the heart

of the South Korea ferry disaster has appeared at a preliminary court

hearing with four of his managers. They're charged with professional

negligence and violation of ship safety, following

the deaths of more than 300 people Our reporter in Seoul

Kevin Kim has more. Two months ago the ferry's company

chief apologised in front of cameras, overcome in tears, but at

his first court appearance he seemed less apologetic, faced with charges

of professional negligence and violation of ship safety. Through a

lawyer MrKim said as the company head he felt the overall

responsibility for the tragedy, but rejected charges that the

redesigning of the ship or overloading of cargo was the direct

cause of the accident. Instead, the company believed it was the crewmen

at fault and their inability to evacuate passengers ineffectively

that took so many lives. Recovery efforts are continuing to find the

bodies of 12 passengers who are still missing and crucial details of

the cause of the accident are expected to emerge when the hull

gets lifted out of the water. It's believed on the day the vessel was

carrying cargo far greater than the ship's capacity and the focus of the

investigation has been trying to reveal whether any of the shipping

containers came loose in a sudden turn causing the ferry to capsize.

In relation to the ferry accident scores of indictments have been

filed by the prosecution and different trials have been grouped

together based on the category of charges. A separate trial has

already begun for the captain and 14 other crew members charged with

failing to help passengers and the main deliberations are scheduled to

start next week. For years, Japan has stood alone

as the only country in the OECD that doesn't ban possession

of images of child abuse. Now, parliament has finally voted

to outlaw child pornography. But the new ban doesn't extend to

animations or video games which means that material which would be

outlawed in many other countries is Our correspondent Rupert

Wingfield-Hayes reports from Tokyo. In this neighbourhood in Tokyo there

are lots of shops that specialise in selling a artform, graphic novels or

animated story books that are directed at adults. It is very, very

popular in Japan and there are dozens of different genres. Those

include pornography and child porn. I am going to go in here and see

what I can find. Inside here is a huge variety openly

on display, including stuff like this.

Now you can see from the outside cover this is clearly a child. I am

obviously not going to show you what is inside but I can tell you it

depicts multiple scenes of the child character being raped. Material like

this would be illegal in many countries, including the United

States and Britain, it's not illegal here and it's going to remain legal,

despite this new legislation. As are video games and cartoons depicting

this. The argument made here in Japan is that there are no victims,

real human victims of this sort of material and it is a matter of free

speech. But it's also clearly about money. The industry is huge in Japan

and the publishers don't want any restrictions on what they can

publish. A political crisis has erupted

in Poland after raids on a weekly magazine that published

recordings of the Interior Minister and the head of the country's

central bank discussing ways to help Adam Easton's report from Warsaw

contains some flashing images. It's the most damaging scandal the

Prime Minister has faced since he took office seven years ago. Private

conversations between Government Ministers and senior officials were

secretly recorded in a restaurant. In one a Minister and the head of

the Central Bank discussed ways the bank could boost the economy to help

the Government get re-elected next year. The bank is independent and

not supposed to get involved in party politics. The scandal really

erupted when security forces raided the magazine's offices to retrieve

the tapes. Outraged journalists said the Government was trampling on free

speech. The Prime Minister distanced himself from the event. He said

prosecutors ordered the raid as part of their investigation into whether

a crime was committed when the conversations were recorded. I

realise that eventually my Government and I will pay a

political price for these latest events, rather than the prosecutor's

office. I don't rule out that the future political judgment of voters

will be severe, it may even happen that the only solution will be early

elections. The elections were scheduled for autumn next year. He

is the first Prime Minister to win re-election since 1989. He is hoping

to make it a hat trick of victories. This scandal has damaged his chances

of success. Why would you want to blow the top

off a mountain? It's to install a massive telescope large enough to

give us a chance of seeing the first stars ever created. More than a

million tonnes of rock has been blasted away from the summit of a

mountain in Chile to level a site for what would be the world's

largest telescope. When it's built the telescope will be able to look

further into space than ever before. the telescope will be able to look

Our top story: The human cost of war and persecution, 50 million people

are now thought to be displaced. These are new figures being provided

by the United Nations refugee agency. The country with the most

refugees is marked as Pakistan. An increase of six million on the year

before. Civilians fleeing combat areas in North Waristan, in

particular. Thank you for watching