Tuesday, March 24, 2009

24 March 2009 -- Short Hiatus

Hello folks, 

We here at the HRRU are getting slammed with work (yay!!) so we're taking a short hiatus from the blog. It'll be back up in April and just as fabulous as ever. 

On a related note, we're working on a rather timely issue, and would love to hear from you if you have any contacts with human rights activists in Israel or Palestine who are involved in the peace process .... especially women's human rights activists

Thanks so much & we'll be back sooooooon ------ 

Sunday, March 15, 2009

16 March 2009

AFRICA:

  • Democratic Republic of the Congo = Mai Mai commander Gedeon Kyungu Mutanga was convicted for crimes against humanity by a military court in Katanga province on March 5th. Yay! (HRW)
    • This ground-breaking ruling also awarded damages to victims of militia violence and found the government liable for failure to disarm militias. (HRW)
  • Nigeria = The National Assembly is debating the “Same Gender Marriage Bill” which would punish same sex marriage by imprisonment. (HRW, Queerty)
  • Sierra Leone = is kicking kids out of school if they get pregnant, or get a partner pregnant. (IRIN)
    • Anyone else think this is a terrible idea? Yowza.
  • Somalia = is instituting Sharia (Islamic) law. (AJ)
  • Sudan = 4 staff members of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) who were abducted in Darfur have been released. (AJ)
    • Following these abductions, DWB pulled out of Darfur almost entirely, like many other aid organizations (see last week’s HRRU posting). (AJ)
  • Tunisia = Political prisoner Sadok Chorou was rearrested this week for speaking his dissident views to the media, apparently. He spent almost 20 years in prison on questionable charges and was only released from that original arrest a few weeks ago. Not cool. (HRW)

MIDDLE EAST:

CULTURAL:

  • Liberia = 10 girls share their stories in a new documentary film: “I Have Something to Tell You” (UNICEF)
  • Yay! Comic Relief 2009 raised £57m overnight. The money is for “disadvantaged people” in the UK and the African continent. Nice. (BBC)

AMERICAS:

ALSO OF INTEREST:

Monday, March 9, 2009

9 March 2009 Special Edition

THE BIGGEST OF THE BIG NEWS: SUDAN

9 March 2009

AFRICA:

MIDDLE EAST:

CULTURAL:

  • PRI published a great story, “Responsibility to Protect”: When will “never again” really mean “never again”? (PRI)
  • Clearly I’m not the only one who found the fatwa against yoga ridiculous … (NYT)
  • Yoni Goodman of Waltz With Bashir fame, turns his talents to Gaza. Watch the video here.
  • Visit mideastyouth.com to see just how cool teenagers can be.

AMERICAS:

  • Unites States = Binyam Mohamed, a 30 year old prisoner caught in America’s “extraordinary rendition” program and held at Guantanamo Bay for seven years, was recently released without charge. (WP)

ALSO OF INTEREST:

Saturday, March 7, 2009

2 March 2009

AFRICA:

  • Ghana = Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, the first female Minister of Justice and Attorney General has been appointed. She has a background as a human rights advocate, and will hopefully continue along that same path toward justice for all … (AT, GG)
  • Kuwait = Dr. Lubna Al-Kazi is been a powerful voice for women's suffrage as well as women’s rights to run for political office. She is a leader of the Kuwaiti Women's Social and Cultural Society, one of the most pwerful women's rights group in Kuwait.
    • Dr. Al-Kazi was interviewed for a podcast with Vital Voices and gives a very thorough and educational account of the current situation in Kuwait. She also advises advocates where to focus our efforts. You can listen here. (VV)
  • Sierra Leone = Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a former rebel group, have been convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity (including forced marriage and recruiting child soldiers) committed during the country's civil war. (AJ)
  • Tanzania = superstitious killings of albinos for their body parts have now claimed the 45th victim since 2007 – a 14 year old girl. Witch doctors are allegedly fueling the killings. (AT)

MIDDLE EAST:

  • Iran = Yay! Hana Abdi, a Kurdish student and activist, was released after spending 15 months in prison. Her release was largely due to women’s human rights activists advocating on her behalf. She was originally charged with "enmity against God" and "gathering and colluding to harm national security". (AI)
  • Iran = Boo! Iran has admitted to holding a US journalist, 31 year old Roxana Saberi, in detention since January of this year. She is a freelance reporter for the BBC, FoxNews, and NPR. (DN)
  • Saudi Arabia = Local activists have been taking action to highlight the abuses of the religious Hey’a police force – formerly the Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice – by posting videos to YouTube. Yay! (NPR)

CULTURAL:

AMERICAS:

ALSO OF INTEREST:

23 February 2009

AFRICA:

  • Opportunity to TAKE ACTION:
    • Sign theAfrica for Women’s Rights Declaration here! This campaign's aim is to call on African states to ratify international and regional women's human rights protection instruments and to respect them in law and practice. (AWID)
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo = Activists call for the UN to take action to stop rebel massacres in Eastern DRC by deploying more troops there. (AT, HRW)
  • Egypt = Opposition leader Nour has been released from jail (after being held for 3 years) and plans to continue his political career. (AT, AJ, DN)
  • Egypt = Dia' el Din Gad, a 23 year old student blogger critical of Egypt’s policy towards Gaza is at risk of torture since his February 6th arrest. (AI)
  • Ethiopia = introduces a law against marriage under the age of 18, as part of new family planning laws. Yay! (BBC)
    • World Vision Ethiopia’s Amhara province office advocated for this law and explains the need for it thus: girls = economic burden = married off early = not ready for childbirth physically = fistula = pain, shame, death. You can listen to the BBC-World Vision interview here. (BBC, WVR)
  • Swaziland = Yay! Attorney Mary-Joyce Doo Aphane has filed a lawsuit to compel the government to overturn a discriminatory law which prohibits women from registering property under their own name. This case will challenge whether the courts will uphold the Constitutional provisions guaranteeing equality for women. (AWID)

MIDDLE EAST:

  • Afghanistan = Detainees at Bagram will not have the Constitutional right to challenge their imprisonment in any US court. Boo! (MSNBC)
  • Iran = The government is targeting Iranian activists … perhaps with the goal of forestalling a larger human and/or civil rights movement in Iran.
    • Shirin Ebadi, a human rights activist and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been harassed, and two Iranian doctors focusing on HIV have been imprisoned and sentenced to prison terms of 3 and 6 years (see previous posts for more info on them). This is extending beyond these well-known advocates, however, and it is unclear how far-reaching this oppression will broaden or how long it will continue. It’s clearly a situation to keep our eyes on. (NPR)

CULTURAL:

  • American author Greg Mortensen, author of Three Cups of Tea is now volunteering for the US military to do cultural sensitivity training in Afghanistan. You can listen to his interview with PRI here. (PRI)
  • Iraq = Nadje al-Ali has written a book entitled, What Kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq. She examines how Iraqi women have managed since the US invasion of March 2003. It’s not a pretty picture. (GUA)
  • Sudan = Jerry Fowler of Save Darfur, an alliance of 180 orgs, gave a comprehensive 15 minute interview—including the background of the current conflict in Darfur, as well as the current nature of the conflict. You may want to check this out because the ICC is deliberating issuing an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, al Bashir. Fowler discusses the politics behind the fighting and looks forward to what activists can and will achieve in Darfur. "Need a peace surge." - JP (USHMM)
    • You can listen here.