13 February 2011

AFRICA:

• Botswana = The Court of Appeal decided what was the 1^st test case of the UN Right to Water Resolution this week. The Kalahari Bushmen will retain legal access to the waters on their ancestral lands. The ruling quoted a UN Report categorizing water as a “fundamental human right.” (PMBZ, COC)

• Egypt = On Thursday, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor on behalf of missing detainees and victims of the alleged massacre at Al Qata prison. This filing follows the protestors’ successful movement to force President Mubarak out of office this week in an 18-day-short revolution. (EIPR, FIDH, CHNG)

• You can view an 18-day photo recap of the Egyptian uprising here.

• Tunisia = Yay! Tunisia is abolishing the death penalty and ratifying the 2^nd Additional Protocol to the ICCPR. (HRD)

AMERICAS:

• USA = Civil Unions are now legal in the state of Hawaii after the state’s House of Representatives voted 31-19 in favor of legalization. (ADV)

• USA = Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Thomas may have had conflicts of interest in the Citizens United case (increasing corporations’ allowable election spending), which they failed to disclose. Allegedly, both justices engaged in strategy sessions with key corporate interests in the case and justice Thomas’ wife benefitted financially from the decision. (CHNG)

• You can sign this petition asking the Department of Justice to investigate these claims.

• Venezuela = A group of students is on a hunger strike protesting in front of the Caracas office of the Organization of American States. The students want justice for people who are currently detained, “deprived of their freedom” including Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni and three members of Parliament. (OAS)

ASIA:

• Afghanistan = The Council of Ministers, which meets every Monday, is debating passing a draft regulation on Women’s Protection Centers. This would give the government control over domestic violence shelters for women and girls in Afghanistan. As the Afghan government is “increasingly dominated by hard-line conservatives who are hostile to the very idea of shelters,” local women and activists fear that passage of this regulation will result in the closure of many shelters and resources for women seeking freedom from their abusive family members. (HRW)

• To take action and contact the council of ministers, click here.

• Thailand = 91 Rohingya people were found on a boat in the Indian-administered Nicobar Islands this week, claiming that the Thai Navy had set them adrift in the boat, without an engine or adequate food and water. People who are Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Burma and have been fleeing to Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia for decades to escape persecution. Three boatloads of refugees have entered Thailand this month; the first boat arrived on January 22^nd and the people aboard are missing and were allegedly “returned to Myanmar by Thai authorities.” (IRIN)

EUROPE:

• Holland = This week, prosecutors and defense attorneys made their closing arguments in the case against Charles Taylor of Liberia in the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The trial has been under way for 3 years and revolves around allegations of murder, rape, and dismemberment committed by Taylor’s rebel groups in Sierra Leone. (OSF, HRD)

MIDDLE EAST:

• Yemen = On Friday morning, protestors gathered in Sana’a, calling for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. These protests follow those in Egypt (see above) and also raise concerns about demonstrators’ safety. Yemeni security forces have allegedly been working together with “armed thugs” using tasers against activists, along with clubs, axes, traditional daggers, and sticks, contravening the freedom of assembly. (HRW)

ALSO OF INTEREST:
• The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) is launching 2 short public service announcements, “Slavery Lives”, in Times Square. These PSAs come prior to the US governmental debate on whether or not to renew the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). You can watch the PSAs online here.

• A December 2010 interview with the Islamic Human Rights Commission is now online here at the Institute for Policy Studies’ website.

• The movie, Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter about a Malian immigrant in the US who is seeking asylum so that her daughter will not be subjected to Female Genital Mutilation will be airing on PBS this month.

6 February 2011

AFRICA:

• Egypt = Protests against police brutality and President Mubarak continued this week, despite Egypt’s prior attempts to quash the demonstrations by using live fire against civilian marchers and instituting a nation-wide internet blackout. Egyptian security forces, including the police and the Special Police, have been detaining and abusing Egyptian citizens, activists and journalists, as well as international activists and journalists in an apparent attempt to cover up or at least minimize the reporting of the protests. On Friday, security forces raided a Law Center in Cairo, detaining 30 people including two Amnesty International staff and local human rights activists. (AI, ICTJ)

• Gambia = YAY!! 24 communities in Gambia’s Upper River Region have officially abandoned the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). (AA, GRD)

• Uganda = After last week’s murder of David Kato, a Ugandan gay rights activist, his local colleagues are calling on both the Ugandan government and American evangelicals to take responsibility for the role they played in spreading the homophobia and hate which led to Kato’s death. (CHNG)

· You can sign a petition to “Tell Evangelicals to Condemn the Murder of a Gay Activist in Uganda” here.

AMERICAS:
• USA = Closing arguments are expected this week in the Arizona murder trial of 9 year old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul in their Arizona home by anti-immigration extremists. The accused vigilante group leader, Shawna Forde, is a former member of the Minuteman Project and was known to espouse her extremist views to such a degree that she was expelled from some civilian border patrol groups. (IPS, WP)

ASIA:
• Bangladesh = Sometimes “village justice” just isn’t – according to the local human rights advocates. 14 year old Hena Akhter died this week after being whipped by her village elders for having “an illicit relationship with a married man.” (GRD)

· The married man in question is her cousin, who found her outside her home in the early evening one night, gagged her with a cloth and beat her senseless. This attack led her cousin Mahbub’s wife Shilpi to accuse Hena of engaging in a relationship Mahbub. This man Mahbub, Hena’s cousin and attacker, had been found guilty of rape before, but the village elders had him marry that woman—Shilpi—to invalidate any shame on Shilpi’s family.

· Justice did not serve Shilpi, forcing her to marry her rapist, and Shilpi used that same justice system, the shalish—a village meeting led by the elders (elder men only?)—to get her revenge on her husband Mahbub.

· How absurd that Hena got caught up in the middle of this; that village elders, village ANYONE, would think it reasonable to give 101 lashes to a 14 year old girl who could barely stand from the beating her cousin Mahbub had given her.

· The only way to turn this into a positive is to put pressure on the Bangladeshi government to enforce its own laws, which make these village-level punishments illegal. You can contact the Supreme Court of Bangladesh here, and the Prime Minister here.

EUROPE:
• European Court of Human Rights = The Court is introducing fees on applications, which many rights groups fear will deter individuals from filing legitimate human rights claims. (PAMB)

ALSO OF INTEREST:
• Cell Phones = Blood Diamonds? Six African Heads of State are backing a certification plan to track and eliminate conflict minerals from being used in electronic devices, much like the processes that were adopted to prevent the trade in conflict diamonds. The four “dirty” minerals are tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold – regularly used in our cell phones and laptops. This initiative aims to prevent armed groups from reaping the profits of these minerals. (CHNG)

· You can get in on the action, by signing a petition to “Tell the SEC: Keep Conflict Minerals Out of Our Electronics” here.

• The 2^nd Annual Women in the World Summit is happening in New York City this coming March 10^th-12^th. (DB)

• The Draft UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training is available online here.

30 January 2011

AFRICA:

• Egypt = This week’s demonstrations and riots against police brutality and against President Mubarak have resulted in at least 33 civilian casualties in Alexandria, with estimates of over 50 people dead in a Cairo morgue -- due to excessive force and live fire on civilian protestors. Additionally, the Egyptian government imposed a nation-wide blackout, shutting down the internet and most phone networks. (HRW, FC, FIDH, AI, HRW)

• Ethiopia = YAY! Two districts in Ethiopia’s Afar Region have outlawed Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting, citing the many health problems it causes women and girls. (IRIN)

• Uganda = David Kato, a prominent activist for LGBT rights in Uganda was killed in his home this past Wednesday. He was the Advocacy Officer for Sexual Minorities Uganda and was an active opponent to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill before Parliament. This Bill would officially criminalize all homosexuality, making offenses punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty. (HRW)

AMERICAS:
• USA = The state of Pennsylvania’s Superior Court met this Tuesday to hear an appeal regarding whether or not to try Jordan Brown, a 13 year-old boy, as an adult. Jordan allegedly shot and killed his father’s pregnant fiancée when he was 11 years old. Currently, the international human rights community is in almost consistent agreement that putting a minor child on trial for a crime which could result in life imprisonment without a chance for parole, violates international law. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits this action, but the USA (along with Somalia) has not yet ratified that Convention. (AI, CBS)

ASIA:
• Phillippines = Peace talks are scheduled to resume next month between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Phillippine government. Previous negotiations broke down in August 2008 and led to over half a million people being internally displaced. The most contentious topic will likely be Ancestral Domain in disputed territories. (AST)

EUROPE:
• UK = The UK high court—perhaps in response to the killing of David Kato (see above)—granted 29 year-old Ugandan Brenda Namiggade a temporary stay, rather than being deported home on Friday, as was originally intended. Ms. Namiggade is a Ugandan national and a lesbian who has been petitioning for asylum in the UK since 2002. (ADV)

ALSO OF INTEREST:
• The Danish Institute for Human Rights, with the UN, has published The Arc of Human Rights Priorities, a guide developed for businesses looking to integrate human rights practices into their internal management.

· “The Arc builds upon the Sphere of Influence concept, and is designed to allow companies to focus their resources on the most urgent human rights issues in their operations.” (BHR)

• TED Talks go old-school, sort of … you can now read several of their talks on your Kindle. TED Talks are publishing short (10,000 to 20,000 word) electronic books by authors who have given Talks. The launch is 3 TED favorites, including The Happiness Manifesto, for $2.99 each. (FC)

23 January 2011

AFRICA:

• South Africa = This week, Johannesburg hosted a summit on global poverty. The participants were in general agreement that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are falling short of targets and will not be reached by the originally anticipated 2015 deadline. (IRIN)

• Do the MDGs remain helpful targets? Is there a way to address accountability which would prompt leaders to work harder toward achieving these goals?

• Sudan = The 9^th-15^th January voting period in Sudan on the Referendum for Secession was “peaceful and calm,” according to observers. The final results of the vote will be revealed on 14^th February and are expected to return strongly in favor of Secession. (IRIN)

• The women’s vote may be the deciding factor in the outcome of this Referendum. Local rights activists see separation as “liberation” for the women of the South, freeing them from the rule of Islamic law, which many see as the primary limit to their freedom. Polling returns show that the majority of women voted for Secession. (IPS)

AMERICAS:
• Haiti = This week the City University of New York’s International Women’s Human Rights Clinic issued a press release regarding the incidence of sexual violence against displaced women in Haiti. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is now pushing the Haitian government to “take immediate measures” to prevent sexual and gender-based violence in the displacement camps, based on advocacy by CUNY and other Haitian and American human rights activists. (CUNY)

• The decision is available online here.

ASIA:
• Thailand = 85 detained Pakistani people remain in detention in Bangkok over a month after arriving in the country seeking asylum. The refugees are of Pakistan’s Ahmadi sect; while they consider themselves Muslim, Pakistan does not and discriminates against Ahmadi people. Local rights groups are concerned that the Ahmadi refugees face either indefinite detention in Thailand or persecution and prejudice back home in Pakistan. (IRIN)

EUROPE:
• Germany = This past Tuesday marks the start of Germany’s first Rwandan genocide trial. A former Rwandan mayor who sought asylum in Germany in 2002 is now being tried in a Frankfurt court for murder, genocide, and incitement to both. The German prosecutors partnered with the Rwandan government to gather evidence and secure over 50 witnesses. This case could mark the beginning of a trend: because many Rwandan refugees fled to European countries, the future will likely bring similar continued cooperation between European governments, the Rwandan government, and the International Criminal Court. (DW)

• Is this a positive justice-sharing program? Are the European courts over-stepping their bounds? Should the ICC support these types of cases? What role does the Rwandan government have here? Would justice be better served by trying all of the accused within Rwanda?

CULTURAL:
• Liberia Women Democracy Radio is now in its 6^th operating month. The station was launched in August 2010 by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf with funding from the UN Democracy Fund to focus on women’s advancement. The UN funding expires in March 2011 and the station is now looking for donations and sponsorships. The station focuses on both producing gender-relevant radio shows and on training female reporters, who are currently a tiny minority in Liberia’s media. (WEN, YWCA)

ALSO OF INTEREST:
• The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights is offering an Advanced Training Course on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva from 9^th-13^th May 2011. Course information and registration form are available here.

• Open Society Foundations just published a new study regarding the rule of law in international criminal cases in 3 African States, entitled “Putting Complementarity into Practice: Domestic Justice for International Crimes in DRC, Uganda, and Kenya” and available online here.

• The Final Report of the Organisation of American States Mission to Haiti regarding Vote Tabulation of the November 2010 Presidential election is available online here.