9 March 2009

AFRICA:

• Kenya = Oscar Kamau Kingara and John Paul Oulu, two Kenyan human rights activists, were executed at close range while trapped in their car in a traffic jam in downtown Nairobi. (WP)
• The two had recently cooperated with a UN investigation into illegal killings by police officers during Kenya’s recent political turmoil. This UN investigation led to calls for the resignation of Kenya’s Attorney General and Police Commissioner. (WP)
• The UN has called for an investigation into their murders. (NYT)
• Tunisia = Tunisian human rights activist Mohamed Abbou was again denied (for the 7^th time, now) permission to leave Tunisia. He was hoping to attend an Amnesty International conference in London; it was suggested to him that he should not try to leave Tunisia again. (AI)

MIDDLE EAST:

• Iran = Independent journalist, Roxana Saberi, will allegedly be released this week, after nearly a month in detention. [see previous posts for more details on Ms. Saberi] (NYT)
• Iraq = View results of studies on the effect of violence on Iraqi civilians’ mental health here. It’s been especially tough for the ladies. (NYT, IRIN)
• Israel = YAY! Bedouin tribes in Southern Israel’s Negev area have stopped practicing female genital mutilation (FGM) according to new research. (IRIN)

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)
• He now alleges that the British government assisted the US in both his rendition and subsequent torture; the British government will hold a judicial inquiry into these allegations that directly contradict Britain’s previous claims of ignorance of rendition and torture. (WP)

ALSO OF INTEREST:

• China = Chinese police shot and killed a Tibetan monk who set himself on fire as a protest after he was refused entrance at a prayer hall. (WP)
• INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY was yesterday, March 8^th
• Then and now. (AI)
• In Afghanistan, women celebrated by gathering at cities throughout the country for a Prayer for Peace With Justice.
• The women wore blue scarves, that match the burka (widely viewed as a symbol of women’s oppression under the Taliban) to “call attention to the need to look beyond the burka toward a future where women’s contribution to society is fully acknowledged.” (UNIFEM)
• Jacqueline Nolley Echegaray suggests issues for women’s human rights advocates to address here. (CAP)
• UNICEF sponsored a “Girl Power and Potential” Reception at UN HQ (UNICEF)
• Sri Lanka = Humanitarian conditions for civilians caught in the middle of the conflict between the government and the Tamil Tigers are “dire.” (IRIN)
• Thailand = the first annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was a bit of a farce. (WP)
• ASEAN’s charter mandates the formation of an independent human rights body … which seems rather unlikely to happen since Burma and Cambodia threatened to leave the summit if human rights activists from their countries were allowed to participate. (WP)
• UNIFEM Executive Director Ines Alberdi issues a Call to Action around women’s treatment in conflict zones, including sexual violence, the lack of female voices in peace processes and the implementation and enforcement of Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820. (UNIFEM)
• See also the Human Rights Index on Women and Armed Conflict here.

23 February 2009

AFRICA:

• Opportunity to TAKE ACTION:
• Sign the “Africa 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 6^th 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.

25 January, 2009

AFRICA:

• Democratic Republic of the Congo = Rwandan Troops Enter Eastern Congo to Pursue the FDLR Hutu Group (AT)
• Congolese troops are denying Red Cross workers and other aid groups to cross the check point north of Goma into the area where Rwandan and Congolese forces are operating. Their alleged objective is to disarm the FDLR Hutu rebels in 2 weeks.
• Democratic Republic of the Congo = The International Criminal Court in the Hague has accused Jen-Pierre Bemba of ordering mass rapes while he was serving as a rebel leader of the Congolese Liberation Movement. He allegedly ordered rape as a tool to terrorize the populace to prevent them from supporting any resistance to Ange-Felix Patasse, the Central African Republic president. He faces counts of crimes against humanity as well as war crimes. (AJ)
• Nigeria = A group of divorced women who planned a protest have been ordered by authorities to cancel the event. Authorities claim that street protests are “un-Islamic” and morally wrong. Additionally, the Director General of the Hisbah, the police force, stated that “never in the history of Islam have women taken to the streets to press for their demands.” Hmm. I imagine lots of women’s human rights activists would disagree with that comment … and even if the comment were true, wouldn’t the international community rally around these gutsy ladies? I hardly think a lack of historical precedent would be a deterrent for these activists. (AWID)
• Somalia = Check out this Amnesty Int’l interview with women’s human rights activist Zam Zam Abdullahi Abdi (AI)
• Sudan = 16 civilians killed in Darfur when Sudanese government planes bombed a “rebel town” (AJ)
• Uganda = Supreme Court Keeps Death Penalty, claiming it is a deterrent to murder (all evidence to the contrary), but the Court did commute the death sentences of people who have been on death row for greater than 3 years, changing their sentences to life in prison, after ruling that mandatory death sentences are unconstitutional. This overrules a 2005 Ugandan Constitutional Court ruling which found the death penalty unconstitutional. It is now up to the Parliament to decide the fate of the death penalty in Uganda, as well as the particulars of it if they keep it (i.e. death by hanging is still legal, though the Constitutional Court has previously deemed it unconstitutional). (AT, AI)
• Zambia = Chipata, the Provincial Capital of Eastern Province has seen at least 4 deaths by drowning so far this rainy season. Authorities from the local Council blame the recent landslides and floods on hillside cultivation. To address this problem, authorities, in full riot gear, destroyed many local maize fields. Many of these had already been fertilized and planted, prompting local residents to protest. Some threw stones at the officers, who fired warning shots into the air and tear gas into the crowd. (JHR)

MIDDLE EAST:

• Iraq = 14 of Iraq’s 18 Provinces will be voting on January 31^st. The 2005 elections were largely boycotted by voters who are Sunni. This time, a dramatic increase in Sunni voting is expected, which puts into doubt whether the Islamic Party that took power in 2005 will win these elections as well. (WPWB)
• Palestine, Gaza Strip
• After a 22-day assault on Gaza, Israel called for a unilateral cease-fire. During those 22 days, Israel bombed 4 United Nations schools, among many other civilian targets. (DN)
• The United Nations compound in Gaza is essentially destroyed, prompting harsh words from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who calls the destruction “outrageous and totally unacceptable.” He has also called for Israel’s attack upon the UN compund to be investigated as a war crime. (DN)
• Amer Shurrab, a Washington, DC resident and graduate of Middlebury College, told Democracy Now his heartbreaking story of his brothers’ deaths in Gaza and his father’s distress at not being able to get his wounded son an ambulance. This is worth a listen by you. Really. (DN)
• Dr. Mousa al Hadad, in an interview with World Vision, described his impressions of the current situation in Gaza. He is a retired doctor living in Gaza City. Dr. al Hadad estimates there have been greater than 4,000 injuries, greater than 60% of which he guesses to be women and children. He has been staying in his home which currently has no electricity and hardly any running water. He says that a pregnant woman and three of her friends who were helping her to the hospital were killed by an Israeli missile. (WVR)
• White Phosphorous = was used as a weapon by Israel against Palestinian civilians. White phosphorous causes 3^rd degree burns, eating away one’s skin down to the bone, and attempting to wash it off with water only makes it worse. (WVR, DN, HRW, AI)
• What will the effect of this be on the kiddos?
• President Obama of the US called the leaders of the PLO, Israel, Jordan, and Syria … but not Hamas. George Mitchell has been appointed by Obama as the United States’ Special Envoy to the Middle East; seems like a good guy for the job based on his Ireland experience … (DN)

CULTURAL:

• Zimbabwe = New Album: Rebel Woman by Chiwoniso released and getting great reviews (WVR)
• United States = Bishop Eugene Robinson’s invocation at the Be The Change concert at the National Mall on January 17^th was not included in the HBO coverage of the event, but is available online here. He is the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop and censorship and bigotry are suspected in the neglectful coverage of his invocation. (DN)

AMERICAS:

• United States = Barack Hussein Obama is the new Prez. JOY! Needless to say, as a human rights advocate, I am feeling invigorated with the possibility of having a leader who may actually care about constitutional as well as international legal obligations. With cautious optimism, I’m waiting to see how this all shakes out.
• In his first week, Obama ordered a 4 month suspension of all Guantanamo cases (but no word on other US prisons abroad – Bagram anyone?), instituted a pay freeze for all top White House staff members, and unveiled new White House ethics rules for lobbyists, among other things. (DN)
• United States = The Meridian Star newspaper in Meridian, Mississippi offered an apology for its coverage of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, stating that they had “acted with gross neglect” in their coverage of the movement. (DN)
• United States = The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture stated that Bush and Rumsfeld should be prosecuted for sanctioning abuse and torture at Guantanamo Bay. (DN)
• United States = Before ending his tenure as President, George Bush pardoned 2 US Border Patrol agents (Ignatio Ramos and Jose Campion) who were imprisoned for killing an unarmed Mexican civilian. (DN)
• The International Court of Justice ruled that the US’ killing of a Mexican citizen in Texas breached US obligations under international law. (DN)
• United States = Leonard Peltier, in jail since 1975 for his participation in a shootout at the Pine Ridge Reservation was transferred to the Canaan Federal Prison in Pennsylvania. He is considered by many to be a political prisoner within the US. Upon his transfer, he was put into the general population and severely beaten, likely with the implicit consent of the guards. Mr. Peltier suffers from diabetes and was placed in solitary confinement after being beaten. (DN)

ALSO OF INTEREST:

• Nepal = Uma Singh, a Nepalese journalist, has been assassinated for voicing her human rights convictions. (WVR)
• Russia = human rights lawyer Stanislav Markilov was assassinated after protesting the release of a Russian officer convicted of atrocities during the Chechen war. (DN)
• Denmark = Is the happiest country on earth. Denmark. Happiest Country. Who knew? (60M)