Pollution-plagued Bangladesh has passed an extra “green tax” in an attempt to force polluting factories to clean up their act. The factories will have to pay extra levies if they are found to have polluted “air, soil and water.”

The green tax is part of Bangladesh’s $32 billion budget for 2014-2015, announced Thursday.

Announcing the budget in parliament, Finance Minister A.M.A Muhith said that industrial effluent and waste from urban sewage was “severely contaminating our rivers and taking heavy toll on the aquatic environment and its surroundings.”

The tax was aimed mainly at Bangladesh’s powerful textile and leather processing industries, which pour untreated effluent into the nation’s rivers.

“I propose to impose a one percent Environment Protection Surcharge or Green Tax on an ad-valorem basis on all kinds of products manufactured in Bangladesh by the industries which pollute the environment,” continued Muhith.

Munith said that Bangladesh was one of the world’s most polluted countries and the green tax would “get rid of this situation.” He expected it would encourage industries “to set up effluent treatment plants”.

Factories in Bangladesh already face one-off fines for breaches of pollution standards, but bribes often influence inspectors, reportedly.

Munith also announced tax exemptions for brick factories that build environmentally friendly kilns. There are approximately 6,000 such brick factories in Bangladesh.

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Further strictening of Russian internet law passed the legislature Monday, and is expected to further cool Russian internet expression, while Russian President Vladimir Putin explained the law in terms of “the way its done everywhere” to deal with the CIA-initiated internet, and thanked Edward Snowden for playing his part.

Under the law, commonly refereed to as the “bloggers law” because the owner of any website–referred to as a “blog” in the language of the bill–with a daily following of 3,000 or more, including social media followers such as those on Twitter and Facebook, will be forced to register a real identity and address with the government, and will be responsible for any content posted on the site, including its accuracy. Henceforward, no internet user with a basic amount of social media clout will be anonymous legally in Russia, and will be held to the same standards as mass media outlets, but without the protections granted regular media. The law is expected to have a cooling effect on expression on the internet in Russia.

Recently, two of Russia’s largest blogging services, Yandex and LiveJournal–announced that publicly visible counters would stop below the 3000 number.

The law also requires all online platforms–search engines and social networks–to maintain records of everything posted online for the previous six months. The records must be kept inside Russia. In is not clear in the law whether this provision covers Google, Twitter, Facebook, and other international social media.

The new internet regulations will take force August 1.

The legislature also ruled Monday that as of July 1, common swearing will no longer be allowed in movies, television, theater or music. The four words that were banned are those crudely denoting male and female genitalia, sex and prostitutes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his views of the internet a few weeks ago on a live national TV broadcast, saying, “You know that it all began initially, when the Internet first appeared, as a special C.I.A. project.” “Special services are still at the center of things,” Putin continued, and thanked American fugitive exile in Russia, whistleblower Edward Snowden, for showing the world the efficiency of NSA data collection.

Putin explained the new law, saying that anyone affecting thousands or more people with their opinions should be considered a media outlet, and said that this was “the way it is done all over the world.”

Comparing the new internet laws to the Chinese model, one prominent critic said, “It is part of the general campaign to shut down the Internet in Russia. They have not been able to control it until now, and they think they should implement the Chinese model. But they don’t understand how it works. The Chinese model also stimulates the development of local platforms, while the Russian laws are killing the local platform.”

China employs a policy of tightening censorship of the internet, and has banned all Western social media, including Google, Facebook, YouTube and twitter.

Sources:

The Wire

Land and Sea Journal

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In a vote of 115 to 1, the parliament of Georgia outlawed discrimination against homosexuals. The most debated point had been the inclusion of the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” Orthodox Christian groups had opposed what “believers view” as “non-traditional sexual relations” and “a mortal sin,” according to the head of the Georgian church, Patriarch Ilia II. “In its current form, this legislation provides propaganda and legality to this sin,” the Patriarch warned.

The consideration weighing on the parliament leading to this decision was meeting the conditions for an Association Agreement with the EU, which includes relaxed visa procedures with EU states. The requirements of the agreement include law that includes gender identity and sexuality.

“The question is as follows,” said Speaker Davit Usupashvili, “Either we go towards Europe and recognise that we cannot violate human rights, or we reject those views and stay in Russia. So which is it to be – Russia or Europe? This decision is to be made by parliament and the country. We must all make that choice together.”

Of the benefits of EU partnership, Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani said, “That is a far greater benefit for our country, including for its territorial integrity, than these unfounded worries about whether certain revisions might cause local objections.”

The Georgian constitution already guarantees equality rights, but has been criticized as lacking mechanisms for enforcing the guarantees. Human Rights activists in Georgia have reported that homophobia is “a grave social trend that results in hate crimes and other discriminatory acts”.

One notable revision was the removal from the legislation of a proposed “equality inspector.” Instead, the Public Defender of Georgia will be responsible for oversight. The ombundsman’s office will attempt first to resolve matters through mediation before proceeding to court redress.

The revision has sparked criticism from some. Giorgi Gotsiridze of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association said, “If we pass the law as it now stands, it will be ineffective because actions that are not criminal offences but which are discriminatory will go unpunished.”

Although it has been noted that proving harm caused by discrimination can be difficult, the law gives victims the right to claim compensation.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting

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