Posts Tagged ‘Human rights’
August 20, 2010
Ethan Bronner reports in the New York Times that a report on the situation in the Gaza Strip from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
says that anti-Israeli militants operate from the border areas in question, planting explosive devices, firing at Israeli military vehicles and shooting rockets and mortar rounds at civilians. But it argues that Israel has an obligation under international law to protect civilians and civilian structures.
Bronner devotes the first part of his article to noting the impact on a Palestinian family, whose “trees and wells were bulldozed”, noting “destroyed houses” surrounding the family’s “desolate fields”. He notes that, according to the report, 12 percent of the population “have lost livelihoods or have otherwise been severely affected by Israeli security policies along the border, both land and sea, in recent years”, and that “the restricted land comprises 17 percent of Gaza’s total land mass and 35 percent of its agricultural land”, but this is about the extent of his discussion with regard to the content of the report. Most of the rest of the article is dedicated to offering the Israeli point of view and response to the release of the report:
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Tags:Ethan Bronner, Gaza Strip, Human rights, international law, Israel, Multimedia, propaganda, United Nations, war crimes
Posted in Gaza, war crimes, Zionist Israel | Leave a Comment »
June 18, 2010
Outlook India, June 14, 2010
AP
Mourning after Grief-stricken Ahmadis
pakistan: the ahmadis
Wretched Of The Land
The attack on their mosques exposes the raw wound that is Ahmadi existence here
| Ahmadis In Pakistan |
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Ahmadis In India |
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| Population: 4 million |
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Population: Estimated to be from 60,000 to 1 million |
| Headquarters: Rabwah town, Punjab |
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Headquarters: Qadian in Gurdaspur district, Punjab, where the sect was established. The 2001 census counted roughly 20,000 Ahmadis in Qadian. |
| Status: Since 1974, declared non-Muslim |
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Why low numbers: Partition saw the bulk of Ahmadis becoming citizens of Pakistan |
| What they can’t do: Call themselves Muslim, offer prayers in mosques, quote Quranic verses in their newspaper, propagate their religion |
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Status: Several high court verdicts say they must be treated as Muslim |
| Threats from fundamentalists: They say it is ‘permissible to kill’ them. Some 2,000 died in riots in 1953, suffered untold misery in 1974. The attacks on them claimed nearly 100 lives. |
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What they can’t do: They don’t sit on the Muslim Personal Law Board, but are governed by Muslims |
As the international media frenetically reported the simultaneous terror attacks on the two mosques of the Ahmadi community in Lahore, Pakistani journalists countenanced an arrantly absurd situation—they were required to eschew the M-word under law. In their dispatches, as poignant as any, the two Ahmadi mosques became mere “places of worship”. Between the two nomenclatures—mosque and place of worship—lies the gulf separating Muslims from non-Muslims in Pakistan. The wishes of Ahmadis do not matter, their own definition of themselves as Muslim counts for nothing. The Constitution of Pakistan declares them as non-Muslim and proscribes the use of the word mosque to describe their places of worship. The defiant can flout the law at their own peril.
Tags:1974 campaing against Ahmadis, Ahmadis, discrimination against Ahmadis, Human rights, Pakistan, religious persecution of Ahmadis
Posted in Commentary, crime, Human rights, Pakistan, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
March 24, 2010
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“Silencing Shia advocates will do nothing to hide the Saudi government’s record of harassment and discrimination against the group. But jailing a peaceful critic for months on end shows just how far Saudi officials will go to avoid criticism.”
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director
(New York) – Saudi Arabia’s domestic intelligence service should immediately release Munir Jassas, an advocate for Shia rights, who has been detained without charge for over five months, Human Rights Watch said today.
“Silencing Shia advocates will do nothing to hide the Saudi government’s record of harassment and discrimination against the group,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “But jailing a peaceful critic for months on end shows just how far Saudi officials will go to avoid criticism.”
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Tags:discrimination, Human rights, Munir Jassas, Saudi governmen, Shias
Posted in Human rights, Saudi Arabia, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
March 11, 2010
Government Should Free Young Activists Convicted After Staged Attack
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Today’s ruling is yet another setback for freedom of expression in Azerbaijan. The case is blatantly part of a pattern of prosecutions in which the authorities have brought trumped-up charges against outspoken journalists and activists in Azerbaijan.
Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus researcher for Human Rights Watch
(New York) – The Azerbaijani government should release two bloggers who have been detained since July 2009 as the result of a staged fight designed to frame them, Human Rights Watch said today. The bloggers, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, lost their appeal against their conviction today.
In a hearing that lasted two and a half hours, the Baku Appeal Court upheld the trial court’s decision in November, convicting Milli and Hajizade of hooliganism and inflicting minor bodily harm. The Appeal Court did not examine the two bloggers’ central contention, that the attack that led to their conviction had been deliberately staged to frame them, even though multiple witnesses would corroborate their claim.
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Tags:Azerbaijan, bloggers, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, Human rights, Human Rights Watch
Posted in Commentary, Human rights, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
March 10, 2010
As NPC Gathers, So Do Calls for Release of Peaceful Critic
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Liu Xiaobo is a human rights activist in China who has been repeatedly arrested for his political activities.
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Imprisoning Liu Xiaobo for his criticism of the government is a stain on China’s reputation and standing in the world. Instead of punishing and making an example of Liu, the Chinese government should address the concerns expressed in Charter 08.
Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch
(New York) – More than one hundred leading China scholars, writers, and human rights advocates from around the world are today releasing a letter to China’s National People’s Congress that calls for the immediate and unconditional release of imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Liu, a long-time critic of the government, was sentenced in December 2009 to 11 years in prison for his publication of six political essays and for his role in the drafting of Charter 08, a petition calling for the rule of law and respect for human rights in China.
“Imprisoning Liu Xiaobo for his criticism of the government is a stain on China’s reputation and standing in the world,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of punishing and making an example of Liu, the Chinese government should address the concerns expressed in Charter 08.”
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Tags:China, Human rights, letter to China's National People's Congress, Liu Xiaobo
Posted in China, Commentary, Human rights, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
March 6, 2010
It was a relatively short response to a question in a town hall-style meeting in Florida, yet it said much about President Barack Obama’s lack of concern about human rights in his foreign policy. The question came not from a hostile Republican opponent, but from a young college student who had volunteered on Obama’s campaign. She spoke directly to an issue that has alienated much of Obama’s Democratic base since the president took office: ongoing U.S. support for Israeli and Egyptian human rights abuses. The Israeli and Egyptian governments, both of which have notoriously poor human rights records, are the two largest recipients of U.S. security assistance.
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Tags:Gaza, Goldstone Report and Obama administration, Human rights, Israel, President Barack Obama, Stephen Zunes, United States, war crimes
Posted in Gaza, Palestine, President Barack Obama, Uncategorized, USA, Zionist Israel | Leave a Comment »
February 13, 2010
Incommunicado ‘Rehabilitation’ Raises Fears of Torture and Enforced Disappearances
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Tamil women in a camp for displaced persons in Sri Lanka asking for news of their relatives who were taken away by the army, allegedly for rehabilitation.
© 2009 Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images
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The government has been keeping 11,000 people in a legal limbo for months. It’s time to identify who presents a genuine security threat and to release the rest.
–Brad Adams, Asia director
(New York) – The Sri Lankan government should end its indefinite arbitrary detention of more than 11,000 people held in so-called rehabilitation centers and release those not being prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 30-page report, “Legal Limbo: The Uncertain Fate of Detained LTTE Suspects in Sri Lanka,” is based on interviews with the detainees’ relatives, humanitarian workers, and human rights advocates, among others. The Sri Lankan government has routinely violated the fundamental rights of the detainees, Human Rights Watch found. The government contends that the 11,000 detainees are former fighters or supporters of the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Tags:detainees, detention of Tamils, Human rights, Human Rights Watch, Sri Lankan government
Posted in Commentary, Human rights, Sri Lanka, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 11, 2010
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| Liu Xiabao, left, had co-authored a political paper calling for sweeping reforms [AFP] |
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A Chinese court has rejected a prominent dissident’s appeal against his 11-year jail term for subversion.
The appeal by Liu Xiaobo, a writer and a former university professor, was turned down after a brief legal hearing in Beijing.
Liu, 54, was first detained in December 2008 after co-authoring a bold manifesto known as Charter 08, which called for sweeping political reform in China and an end to Communist Party dominance.
He was sentenced on December 25 last year on a charge of incitement to subvert state power.
Liu previously spent 20 months in jail for joining the 1989 Tiananmen Sqaure protests, which ended when the government called in the military, killing an unconfirmed number of demonstrators.
Continues >> |
Tags:Charter 08, China, Human rights, Liu Xia, Liu Xiaobo
Posted in China, Commentary, Human rights, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 11, 2010
Rights Violations Mounting as Government Celebrates Revolution’s Anniversary
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“The Iranian government’s effort to use anniversary celebrations to deflect attention from its human rights violations isn’t going to work. Instead, it should use the occasion to finally hold the abusers accountable.”
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director
(Washington, DC) – The scope of the Iranian government’s crackdown on dissent since the disputed June 2009 elections is even broader and the abuses more flagrant than previously reported, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today that documents numerous instances of abuse. The government should immediately release all those still being held for peacefully expressing dissent and make certain that those responsible for human rights abuses are held accountable, Human Rights Watch said.
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Tags:crackdown on dissent, Human rights, human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch, Iran, Iranian government, Kahrizak detention center
Posted in Human rights, Iran, torture, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 9, 2010
By Chris Hedges, TruthDig.com, Feb 8, 2010
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| AP / Fareed Khan |
| Mohammad Ahmed, son of Aafia Siddiqui, takes part in a demonstration arranged by Human Rights Network. |
The conviction of the Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui in New York last week of trying to kill American military officers and FBI agents illustrates that the greatest danger to our security comes not from al-Qaida but the thousands of shadowy mercenaries, kidnappers, killers and torturers our government employs around the globe.
The bizarre story surrounding Siddiqui, 37, who received an undergraduate degree from MIT and a doctorate in neuroscience from Brandeis University, often defies belief. Siddiqui, who could spend 50 years in prison on seven charges when she is sentenced in May, was by her own account abducted in 2003 from her hometown of Karachi, Pakistan, with her three children—two of whom remain missing—and spirited to a secret U.S. prison where she was allegedly tortured and mistreated for five years. The American government has no comment, either about the alleged clandestine detention or the missing children.
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Tags:Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Baghram, Chris Hedges, contractors, democracy, Human rights, justice, mercenaries, military, money, Pakistani neuroscientist, security, terrorism, torture, war
Posted in Afghanistan, Commentary, Human rights, Pakistan, torture, Uncategorized, USA, war | Leave a Comment »
Peace and Justice Post 
Cruel fate of Ahmadis in Pakistan
June 18, 2010Outlook India, June 14, 2010
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Tags:1974 campaing against Ahmadis, Ahmadis, discrimination against Ahmadis, Human rights, Pakistan, religious persecution of Ahmadis
Posted in Commentary, crime, Human rights, Pakistan, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »