Brave Journalists

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello touched the heart of the matter: ‘‘The right to freedom of information is dealt a fatal blow whenever a journalist is killed or wounded in the performance of his or her vital role.’’ These courageous journalists should be honoured as human rights defenders.

Post-war Iraq

The Iraq war has exhibited some James Bond features. The so-called invincible Republican Guards who swore to defend Iraq to the last drop of their blood inexplicably vanished. So has their Lord and master, Saddam Hussein. Where is he? Is he dead, or alive and kicking in Syria?

We are witnessing a repeat of the Osama Bin Laden mystery. TV showed scores of people including children holding and kissing photographs of Saddam and shouting anti-Bush slogans. This was soon followed by the toppling of Saddam’s statute and subsequent jubilation in which some Muslim clerics also joined. Apparently nothing succeeds like success.

Decadent societies have all along had their share of playboys. Uday Hussein, the playboy son of Saddam, could easily top the list. His palatial residence was stocked with cellars of the finest wines, Cuban cigars and numerous pieces of frosty crystal.

The most bizarre of his possessions was a large private zoo inhabited by cheetahs and lions. As the tale unfolds we have a glimpse of Saddam’s passion for classic cars. American troops on their reaching Baghdad are said to have found 60 cars in two large garages.

Among them were a 1917 Mercedes, a 1930 Packard, a V8 Woody, a 1970 Cadillac Fleetwood and a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air and, to top it all, a 1932 Rolls-Royce Derby. US troops had orders to destroy the cars because it was feared they could be used for suicide bombs.

Private Raul Carbajal, who loved cars, found it painful to see his favourite Bel Air destroyed. The Iraq war has destroyed more than classic cars. It has undermined the authority of the United Nations. And that is the most painful part of this tragic war.

Sex Discrimination

Sex discrimination is encountered in different shapes and sizes. It has generated considerable jurisprudence on the subject. The most recent is the ruling by the Court of Appeals for the 1st Appellate District in San Francisco in a complaint of sex discrimination filed by Elysa Yanowitz, a regional sales manager for a giant cosmetics company. After a top executive of her company, L’Oreal, visited the perfume department, he ordered her to fire a saleswoman for not being sexy enough. The exact words were ‘‘Get me somebody hot’’.

When the general manager on his subsequent visit discovered that Yanowitz had not dismissed the ‘‘unsexy’’ sales girl he thundered ‘‘Didn’t I tell you to get rid of her’’, and as the two passed an attractive blond woman, he said, ‘‘Get me one that looks like that’’. Yanowitz refused and faced reprisals. The case landed up in court. Yanowitz’s argument was that the general manager violated California’s Fair Employment law, which bars sexual discrimination, when he sought to dismiss the unattractive saleswoman.

The California Appeals Court ruled that ‘‘an explicit order to fire a female employee for failing to meet a male executive’s personal standards for sexual desirability is sex discrimination’’.

The essence of the ruling is that sexual attractiveness cannot be used as a criterion for employment unless the same standards are applied for both sexes. A direction that a woman be fired based on sexual attractiveness is sexual discrimination when those same standards are not applied to men.

This decision will make it difficult for an airline to impose more stringent weight limits on female flight attendants than on male ones. Air-India hostesses may well benefit from this ruling in their fight against the corporation in respect of their service conditions.