East Sussex, England — Launching on Youtube on Monday, December 17, ‘Freedom For Birth’ is an abridged 15 minute version of the full-length campaigning documentary made by British filmmaking couple, Toni Harman and Alex Wakeford as part of their “One World Birth” global film project.

‘Freedom For Birth’ features academics, doctors, midwives and Human Rights lawyers calling for all women to be afforded real choice as to where and how they give birth and for those choices to be respected by all care providers.

Toni Harman, the film’s co-Director, says, “We were inspired to make the film after the difficult birth of our daughter five years ago where a cascade of medical interventions culminated in a caesarean. As parents in the hospital delivery room, we felt shut out of the decision-making process. We felt we weren’t offered any real choice. When we started making Freedom For Birth, we discovered that the right to choose the circumstances of where and how a woman gives birth has recently been recognised by the European Court of Human Rights (Ternovszky vs Hungary no. 67545/09 14 December 2010) and yet, women’s rights in childbirth are routinely being violated not just in Europe, but in many countries around the world.”

‘Freedom For Birth’ highlights how, in some countries today, women who want to have a normal vaginal birth are sometimes forced by judges to have c-sections and some are threatened with having their baby taken away by child welfare services if they refuse to sign the consent form. In some countries, if a woman wants to have a home birth supported by a midwife, those midwives face criminal prosecution. Some midwives like Ágnes Gereb in Hungary have even been imprisoned.

Hermine Hayes-Klein, US lawyer and organiser of the Human Rights in Childbirth conference held at the Hague earlier this year, says, “Too many birth professionals are labouring under the illusion that a woman can be told what to do and that her job is to do what she’s told. When a birthing woman doesn’t do what she is told, but instead asks for the information necessary to make a decision appropriate for her and her baby, these providers assert that she is suddenly in conflict with her unborn child and use this false conflict to justify coercion and force.”

The full-length (58 minute) ‘Freedom For Birth’ documentary launched on September 20, 2012 with over 1,000 simultaneous screenings held in 50 countries in 17 different languages including screenings hosted by the Royal College of Midwives in London, the Museum of Motherhood in New York and Yale University.

Alex Wakeford, the film’s other co-Director says, “We estimate that 100,000 people saw the film on the launch day. It prompted many to set up local action groups and create petitions. But what if, through the release of a free short web version of our film, we could take this even further? We want as many people as possible to see the film so that they become aware of their rights in birth. The next step is to connect individuals who feel disenfranchised, who feel passionate about this issue but who feel their voice isn’t being heard. What if we could connect all these voices together into one loud powerful voice to help bring about change? Suddenly, this is more than just a campaign, this has the potential to be a global revolution”.

Hermine Hayes-Klein adds, “‘Freedom For Birth’ has been embraced around the world as more than a documentary, but as a conversation about the issues of universal and fundamental concern to birthing women everywhere, a conversation that everybody can join. The film has literally gathered individuals into regional groups and regional groups into a global movement”.

The online campaign is being launched on the “One World Birth” web site and on YouTube on Monday, December 17 2012. For more information, visit http://oneworldbirth.net.

The article “Freedom For Birth,” A Documentary About Childbirth Airs Dec. 17 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

David Cameron flew to the middle east on November 5 for a three day trip, aiming to promote British businesses. The prime minister visited the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to try and showcase the NHS, boost British defence exports to the area and also discuss the unrest to the region Iran is causing.

The most talked about aspect of the trip, however, was his aim to sell weapons to both countries. If successful, his trip could provide a vital boost to the UK’s economy and defence industry, which is worth 5.4 billion in annual exports.

Last year, exports to the Gulf Coast were up by 18% and the government is attempting to continue this trend. Mr Cameron is hoping to sell as many as 100 Typhoon jets during his trip, according to the Daily Telegraph, and this deal could be exactly what BAE need after their failed merger with EADS.

However, the visit has caused concern with human rights groups. Amnesty International said David Cameron shouldn’t be attempting to sell weapons to any countries with such questionable human rights. Amnesty are also doubtful that any assurance either country give to the UK is credible saying “assurances often don’t amount to much.” To prove how likely it is that these weapons will be used to commit human rights abuses, Amnesty highlighted the Saudi Arabian air force operations in North Yemen in 2009, where they killed hundreds/thousands of civilians. Despite calls from Amnesty International, no proper investigation took place into the events. It is likely to have been the UK supplied weaponry that were used in these attacks.

The Human Rights Watch, in their world report 2011, said how “Human rights conditions remain poor in Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah has not fulfilled several specific reform promises.” The European parliament is also critical, releasing a resolution concerning the human rights situation in the United Arab Emirates. In the resolution the European Parliament say how it “expresses great concern about assaults, repression and intimidation against human rights defenders, political activists and civil society actors” and goes on to say “the evidence indicates that national security is the pretext for a crackdown on peaceful activism designed to stifle calls for constitutional reform and reform on human rights issues”

In the face of such evidence, detailing the lack of human rights in both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates one has to wonder why the UK are still attempting to sell weapons and jets to both countries.

The gorvernment claims that it is reducing the risk of arms exports being used for human rights abuses. It is an advocate of the Arms Trade Treaty, that would ensure that no trade in weapons would be allowed if there was any risk they would be used in violations of international human rights.

Its actions belie this though. The Foreign and Commonwealth office lists Saudi Arabia as a cause for concern in its 2011 report. The UK trade & Investment website meanwhile makes no mention of human rights abuses instead mentioning how Saudi Arabia has been “Designated a ‘High Growth Market’ by UK Trade & Investment”

If the UK was truly committed to protecting human rights, if it was committed to creating and following an international Arms Trade Treaty as it says it is, then it would not sell weapons to countries with poor human rights and a history of using UK weapons to repress or kill citizens. Instead it seems to be focusing more on reducing unrest in the middle east and boosting its economy.

Image Courtesy : The Prime Minister’s Office

The article David Cameron’s Arms Deals with Middle East Concern Human Rights Groups appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

On August 16, a fourteen-year-old Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, was arrested in Islamabad for having allegedly burned pages from the Quran. She was found carrying a plastic bag containing several singed papers inscribed in Arabic. It was then unclear whether the leaves had come from the Quran; but an incensed mob, tipped off by the local imam, had converged at her door, threatening to torch the house.

300 Christian families fled in the incident’s wake for fear that they, as minorities, would be made scapegoats – as has happened in previous infringements of Pakistan’s unforgiving blasphemy laws. As investigations ensued, however, authorities’ perusal of Rimsha’s medical reports revealed she had been born with Down’s Syndrome and that her mental age was several years shy of her real age. A game-changing revelation rocked the case when a month later, Khalid Jadoon, the religious leader who had initially called the police, was arrested on suspicion of having planted the burned papers.

In an interview with ABC News the day before his arrest, Jadoon stoically declared that Rimsha had confessed to the burning of the pages. “It’s a matter of my religion. If there’s a threat to Islam, if our government doesn’t stand up to that person, then the people will. I’ll be the first of them.”

What Jadoon had really meant by “threat” became clear when two witnesses and Jadoon’s deputy, Hafiz Muhammad Zubair, brought evidence against him. Zubair had seen several people handing Jadoon some burnt papers. To this pile Jadoon had added additional pages of the Quran. “I asked him what he was doing,” Zubair told a television station, “and he said, ‘This is the evidence against them (the local Christians) and this how we can get them out from this area.’”

Religious tension as just one factor

Rimsha’s arrest had been at the nucleus of a larger scheme to evict Christian families from the neighborhood. “I have known for the last three months that some people in this area wanted the Christian community to leave so they could build a madrasa (on their land),” Hafiz Mohammad Ashrafi, Chairman of the All Pakistan Ulema Council, a body of senior muslim clerics, reportedly said. “Our heads are bowed with shame for what [Jadoon] did.”

Breaking the political code of simply glossing over religious tensions, Paul Bhatti, the minister for national harmony, conceded, “It is not just a religious problem. It’s a caste factor, because (the victims) belong to the poorest and most marginalized people. Unfortunately, they are Christians, and this caste system creates lots of problems.” The Muslim-Christian animosity predates the British occupation of Pakistan, stemming from a Hinduism-instilled social hierarchy that demoted the Christians to the most menial and despised rank.

Rimsha was acquitted and released from a prison in Rawalpindi on September 8, from where she was flown in a military helicopter to meet her family in an undisclosed location. Rimsha’s neighbors told ABC News reporters they do not believe she and her family will ever return to her village.

Implications for the future

Despite the exonerating evidence, Rimsha’s acquittal is a miracle in a country where those convicted of defiling the Quran face life in prison. The family is living in protective custody, in constant fear of assassination by vigilantes and Islamic hardliners who side with the tunnel-vision judiciary.

Critics of the blasphemy law, however, nurture a cautious hope that the court’s decision bodes a revision of the laws, as the case has highlighted how the stringency of the laws can invite people to misuse them for their own advantage. “The decision by a Pakistan court to grant bail to Rimsha Masih is an encouraging step, but the Pakistan government must urgently reform its blasphemy laws to prevent similar cases in future,” said a spokesman from Amnesty International. “In the recent past individuals accused of blasphemy have been killed by members of the public, often in incidents where the victim has not been formally charged by the authorities,” he continued. He then went on to stress the importance of “legal, policy and social reforms” to address “vilification on the basis of religion that has lead to almost daily intimidation and deadly attacks.”

Dr. Nazir S. Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) has demanded reinvestigation in all cases lodged against Christians, Ahmaddiya and Muslims under charges of blasphemy.

Image Courtesy of   Mikhail Levit / Shutterstock.com

The article 14-year-old Girl Arrested for Allegedly Burning the Quran appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea – Equatorial Guinea has hosted the first day of the 9th Biennial Leon H. Sullivan Foundation Summit, which is being held in Malabo’s Sipopo Conference Center from August 20-24, 2012.

This year’s Sullivan Summit is focused on the continent’s development objectives under the theme of “Africa Rising,” and will address critical human rights issues as they relate to food security, human security, freedom of the press, education, civil-society development, gender empowerment, innovation and youth development, and building economies of opportunity.

“The African Diaspora is almost like another continent, and it can contribute to the development of the African economy,” said President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. “The developed countries need resources and Africa needs development.”

President Obiang continued to say, “It’s true we have problems but it also needs to be recognized that we have reached significant progress in the areas of education, healthcare, technologies, infrastructure and others. Equatorial Guinea offers great business opportunities, good climate, and natural resources.”

Through financial investments and the transfer of knowledge, the African Diaspora is having a significant impact on African development.

Today’s Sullivan Summit Plenary Session has focused primarily on reuniting the African Diaspora in order to form key partnerships that will shape African growth.

Equatorial Guinea has been increasingly active in African affairs in recent years. It has used its oil resources to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to its African neighbors, and it has conducted a robust regional foreign policy featuring bilateral summits, citizen exchanges, technical assistance and investment promotion. It has also hosted a number of regional conferences in its new facilities in Sipopo.

At the 2011 Sullivan Honors Awards, President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who received the Beacon for Africa award, discussed human rights programs in the context of African integration and development, stating, “The positive effects of these programs have resulted in an increased school ratio, life expectancy, malaria reductions, as well as the progressive increase of technical and professional staff.”

Image Courtesy of  US Army Africa

The article Africa Today & Tomorrow Talks Hosted on Equatorial Guinea appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

During the holy month of Ramadan, life usually  slows down in the Middle East. The main focus is on observing the month of fasting and fulfilling religious obligations.

Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the scene across the Middle East has changed dramatically. Ramadan is no longer a month where wars, protests and feuds disappear; instead, it has become a month where people have used its significance to get their message across to regimes ruling body. On August 3, the Pakistani public took to streets to protest against killings in Myanamar.

Since the commemoration of Ramadan on July 19, over 25 demonstrations against the 200 year old ruling dynasty of Alkhalifah have taken place in Bahrain. These demonstrations come amidst the official warnings that any protests and public rallies will be considered illegal. On July 31, 2012, frustrated protestors took to streets in Bahrain and in the neighboring country of Saudi Arabia.

On Monday, clashes broke out between security forces and protestors in the village of Sitra. According to Agence France Presse, “wounded demonstrators are afraid to go to hospital for treatment because they are afraid that they will be arrested.” On Thursday, August 2, the security forces clashed with protestors in the village of Dair and Bani Jamarah.

Since last year, the human rights situation has further deteriorated in Bahrain. Last year, Saudi Arabia deployed more than 1,000 troops to Bahrain to help Alkhalifah government to quell anti-government uprisings in country’s capital city of Manama. Subsequently, there were over 50 fatalities, more were injured and many were incarcerated for their participation.

It was later revealed in a special report in November 2011 that security forces used torture and excessive force against those that were arrested during the assiduous crackdown on public demonstrations. The Bahrainis held the ruling King Hamad bin Isa Khalifa liable for scenes of carnage on streets, civil unrest and mass arrests.

Aljazzera International stated that ‘Forty people, including the daughter of a leading opposition activist, have been arrested hours after security forces used tear gas and birdshot to disperse hundreds of protesters demanding political reforms in Bahrain.’ Press Tv further reported that Bahraini authorities arrested opposition party al-Wefaq’s female member, Ahlam al-Khuzai, at the airport on Friday as she was travelling to Tunisia to attend a conference organized by Amnesty International.

One of the focal point of mass protests is calling an end to discriminatory measures used by the ruling monarchy towards the country’s 70 percent of marginalized Shiite population. Following the popular Arab Spring revolt across the Gulf region, Bahrainis too took to streets in mid-February 2011, demanding a transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy and to new socio economical and political reforms.

However, like any other Arab country, the problems of Bahrain could be traced back to 1975, when Sheikh Isa dissolved the national assembly, thus marking an end to country’s short lived constitutionalism and rendering democratic reforms. In the 1990s, a popular uprising and a demand to restore the 1973 constitution threatened the ruling seat of Alkhalifa family.

In 1992, the United Nations Human Rights Council placed Bahrain on a list of monitoring for its use of torture and force against opposition members. In 1999, Sheikh Hamad ascended the Alkhalifa throne and introduced new reforms to avoid repeat of 1990s mass political unrests by making promises to take country towards new reforms, democracy and constitutionalism.

On the surface Bahrain appears to be a model country in the Arab world and is signatory to eight human rights treaties from the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1990) to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (2006) to the Arab Charter on Human Rights (2008). In contrast, the country has failed to abide by most of these treaties. In December 2011, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton lauded Bahrain on being a ‘model partner’ for not only the United States but also for other countries.

According to Amnesty International “The Bahraini government’s response to the findings of an international commission of inquiry has proved inadequate as human rights violations continue.” However, the failure of the ruling body to live up to its promises has resulted in mass uprising, liberalized autocracy and suppression of human rights activists and opposition figures.

The West has come under much scrutiny in the media and with human rights organizations for maintaining its silence over Bahrain’s violation of human rights, its restriction on freedom of expression and right to assembly. Patrick Cockburn said in The Independent: “While Barack Obama and David Cameron vigorously oppose the atrocities against protesters in Syria, they handle Bahrain with kid gloves.”

The scene on the streets of Bahrain does not show any signs of dwindling down. A lesson should be learned from the ousting of governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Taking to the streets in the sweltering heat of July and August without food or drink indicates that Bahraini people have not given up their struggle for justice.

Image Courtesy of  malyousif

The article Protests Intensify in Ramadan Across Bahrain appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Supporters held solidarity vigils in support of the imprisoned private Bradley Manning and the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, outside the U.S and Ecuador embassy in London on Monday, 16th July 2012. Organized by Veterans for peace in UK, rally started from Bond Street at 3pm and ended at Knightsbridge in front of Ecuadoran embassy at 4:30pm. From Australia to Germany to USA, these rallies have become sufficiently well organized and have given the Manning and Assange movement some momentum.

The message to the American government was clear and reinforced in blunt precision as protesters gathered outside the U.S embassy in Bond street to observe the silent vigil for Manning.

Former American soldier, 24 year old Bradley Manning appeared in US court in Ft. Meade, Maryland this week. Manning was arrested in Baghdad on 29th May 2010, for providing whistle blowing website Wikileaks with classified secret documents on US government. For the past two years, human rights organizations have been highlighting the plight of Manning in U.S. cells. UN Torture Chief Juan Mendez’s investigating report for UN special rapporteur on torture states that “I believe Bradley Manning was subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the excessive and prolonged isolation he was put in during the eight months he was in Quantico.”

According to Manning’s Defense Lawyer David Coombs ‘aiding the enemy’ charge is stricter against US soldiers than it would be against terrorists. According to Coombs: “It defies all logic to think that a terrorist would fare better in an American court for aiding the enemy than a US soldier would.”

The peaceful protesters made their way across to Knightsbridge to the Ecuadorian Embassy, encouraging others to join in.

Born in Queensland, Australia, Assange has been at the centre of media firestorm for past several months now. Since last year, London has become a central hub for Assange campaigns and this movement has grown into an unstoppable force. Assange faces threat of extradition to the U.S. on the charges of espionage for publishing 250,000 classified diplomatic documents. After losing an appeal for asylum in UK Supreme Court, Assange has sought political asylum in an Ecuadoran embassy in London. Other problems also persist for Assange, Swedish authorities want him in Swedish court over sexual molestation and rape charges.

In an interview with Sydney Morning Herald the head of the US Senate’s intelligence oversight committee, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein said, “I believe that Julian Assange has knowingly obtained and disseminated classified information which could cause injury to the United States … He has caused serious harm to US national security and should be prosecuted accordingly.”

Former SAS soldier Ben Griffin spoke exclusively to The Toonari Post about 16th July rally outside the Ecuadoran embassy.

Toonari Post (TP): What is the political and social message of today’s rally?

Ben Griffin (BG): So today, private Bradley Manning who is accused of leaking, and the information to wikileaks that reveals war crimes committed by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, today he is facing a pre motion hearing in the United States and every time that Manning has been taken before the court, we have held a silent vigil outside the U.S. embassy and in the meantime Julliane Assange has sought the asylum in the Ecuadoran embassy and we have been holding a daily vigil outside this embassy in support of the Ecuadorian people in the hope that they will grant him asylum and so today we combined the two things to have our silent vigil outside the embassy and a protest down here to also support Julliane Assange.

TP: Please tell us more about Veteran for Peace’s role in the mobilization process and the composition of today’s protest?

BG: well what we have here is a group of people who are all concerned about Bradley Manning and Julliane Assange and we have all come from different organizations. There are many other organizations represented here and it just so happens that on this specific occasion I have taken the lead through veterans for peace in organizing this but as i say we have Italian friends of Bradley manning, we have got the London Catholic worker, and we have got UK friends of wikileaks, so there is lots of other organization, so it just happens that veterans for peace just took the lead on this occasion, but it is a multi organization event.

TP: What message of support do you have for supporters and activists of Manning and Assange across the world?

BG: Right, I mean it is important that, even in the case of Manning its important, even though, he is being held in the United States, and we all can do small things in our country to get the awareness of his issue out in the public domain. So whether you are in London, in Australia, in Russia, in Africa, we can all go out on the streets, in solidarity for Manning on the days he’s in court in America. And as far as Assange is concerned, we could do similar things, we may not be able to go out on streets, there may not be something happening in your areas, but you can either go on internet, and spread information on internet, and so what we are looking for is people to do what they can, you may not be able to go out on streets, but you can do something on the internet.

TP: What is the current update on Assange?

BG: So Julianne Assange is still in the Ecuador embassy. He is still putting his application forward for asylum. He faces very serious threats to his life in the United States, there are numerous American politicians who are calling for his assassination, and execution, this process could take a long time and here is no rush and the Assange has got to put his case forward and Ecuadoran government has to decide whether it’s a case for asylum or not. In the meantime, we all will continue to come here and support Assange and Ecuadoran people.

Toonari post would like to thank Ben Griffin and Steve from Veterans for Peace for their cooperation.

The article London’s Call: Free Manning and Protect Assange appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

China is presently the second largest economy in the world, only surpassed by the United States. But some economic annalists believe that in five years China will overtake the United States. China has also made moves to become an important player in world politics, underlined by the Chinese Veto over U.N. action in Syria this past February. But how are the U.S.-China diplomatic relations these days?

In the diplomatic relation with China and with the rest of the countries, Obama has tried to follow the so called Obama Doctrine by trying to make negotiation his priority. China is the United States’ second largest trading partner, but since China opened its economy in the 1980s, the U.S. has imported more Chinese goods than it has exported to the Asian giant.

This phenomenon has helped China to industrialize and to start creating jobs. This is causing the United States an enormous problem because the manufacturing sector can’t compete with cheaper wages abroad, and the American market doesn’t have any trouble accepting the cheaper Chinese products.

Also China is the U.S. third biggest market for exports after Canada and Mexico. In 2011, the country exported almost $104 billion in goods, but President Obama is sure the country can export more. That’s why by 2015 he plans to double the exports, a strategy he is sure will create more jobs at American manufacturers.

But President Obama’s relationship with China has had its ups and downs. It has lacked in constancy during specific periods. For example, in February, during his State of the Union speech, he announced the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that would have the responsibility to investigate unfair trading practices in countries like China.

This changing relationship has not been ignored by the Chinese. Shen Dingli, who is in charge of the Center of American Studies at Fudan University in Shangai, described Obama’s diplomacy as “unstable.” Although U.S.-China relations might be problematic in certain aspects, Dingli explained that at least both Presidents, Obama and Jintao, have something clear: no matter how bad things are, a rupture in their trade relationship is not an option, because it would be a disaster for both nations.

A new protagonist has recently appeared in U.S.-China relations named Chen Guangcheng. He is a blind human rights defender who escaped from house arrest and took shelter in the U.S. embassy in Bejing. After his escape, all the world’s eyes were concentrated on him, and this left the United States in a very delicate situation. They could grant him asylum and endanger their relations with China or give him back, betraying a basic principle that the U.S. supports: human rights worldwide.

The story ended with the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson of China, Liu Weimin, demanding the United States government an apology for intervening in China’s domestic issues. In the end, Chen was able to leave China because he was offered a visiting scholar position at New York University. The Chen issue was the last big struggle between the U.S. and China.

Image Courtesy of  International Monetary Fund

The article Chinese Power: Can it Take Over America’s Role? appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

A man was in the kitchen on what promised to be another relaxing night at home. He washed up and plopped on the living room couch next to his wife who wore a smile, perhaps glad to have her husband around after another hectic day at work; a typical scene repeated in households worldwide. In most stories, what follows next is another night’s sleep. Not many end with armed forces bursting through your door and dragging your husband away.

In our post 9/11 world, the word ‘torture’ has been overused up to the point that the shock factor at the mention of its happenings is almost non-existent. ‘Waterboarding’ is now a household term and, just like the Mexican drug wars, the proverbial starving children of Africa and what’s now a disturbingly all too common Middle Eastern civilian deaths, there is an information overload regarding government tortures that we are now numb to it.

Amnesty International’s new video titled Hooded lets us see what it’s like to be tortured. The viewer is given a first person view on the terrifying ordeals of being abducted and having your face covered with a hood, but the worse is yet to come. Coupled with the abductee’s growing sense of disorientation, he became subject to electro-shock and water boarding. The torture is portrayed so powerfully in this video with the intention of depicting the ordeal exactly the way the detainee would see it. Blinded, except for streams of light that penetrates through small holes in the hood, perhaps the only thing worse than the actual torture is not knowing what will happen next.

Amnesty International provided a description to accompany the video stating its purpose:

“Hooded is an exploration of visual and auditory senses to convey the horrific nature of torture. It combines extensive sound design with abstracted visuals to provide a disturbing experience. It is a powerful reminder that torture is barbaric and never justifiable.

This film has been made as part of Amnesty International’s Security with Human Rights campaign, which aims to end abuses of human rights which take place in the context of terrorism, countering terrorism and national security.”

Though many countries have prohibited torture in the past century, what is now labeled ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ has brought the issue back into the public eye, with some nations even practicing it openly. Amnesty International reported that torture is more prevalent in G-20 nations. Torturers are trained and most wouldn’t exist without government backings. The acceptance of using cruel treatment on anyone signifies a serious erosion to fundamental human rights, and though some argue that it’s a necessary tool in the ongoing war against terror, a four-decade study by the US Intelligence Science Board reported torture as being ineffective in obtaining reliable intelligence.

CIA Veteran, Bob Baer, admitted, “To be honest, in those situations (of interrogation) I really had no idea what I was doing.”

In plenty of cases, the victims who are subjected to these interrogation techniques are merely suspects with little to no evidences regarding their involvement in the crimes they were accused of. Such is the case with Maher Arar, a Canadian who was held for a year and tortured in Syria after the US authorities had relied on accurate information to detain him. Although Arar received compensations and a formal apology, no amount of either can compensate for the trauma and emotional scarring suffered by such torture victims.

Torture is the most widespread human rights crime in the world and we find ourselves in yet another situation where we are left to ponder: how can something so horrific be so prevalent? As a civilization that aims to move forward, this is one barbaric act that we can do without because as the video stresses: Nothing justifies this. Nothing makes it right.

The article Amnesty International Lets You Experience Torture Virtually appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Brazil has recently announced the creation of its National Truth Commission to investigate the human rights abuse committed by the military dictatorship that existed from 1946 to 1988. During this dictatorship almost five hundred people were killed or disappeared and several thousand were arrested, exiled, or tortured. Since then the government has compensated citizens for missing family members, but many claim this is not enough.

Current President Dilma Rousseff created the Commission after passing a law this year. The Truth Commission will investigate for two years; a panel of seven people were sworn in by President Rousseff on 16 May 2012. The members of the Truth Commission include Jose Carlos Dias (former justice minister of Brazil), Gilson Dipp (Supreme Court judge), Rosa Maria Cardoso da Cunha (lawyer), Claudio Fonteles (former attorney general), Paulo Sergio Pinheiro (UN diplomat), Maria Rita Kehl (psychoanalyst), and Jose Cavalcante Filho (jurist).

Rousseff herself was arrested during the military dictatorship as a left-wing guerilla. She was tortured and jailed for three years.

International rights groups such as Amnesty International and the International Center for Transitional Justice have praised the creation of the Truth Commission. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay has called the creation of the Truth Commission “a necessary and very hopeful step.”

Rousseff herself stated that “Brazil deserves the truth, new generations deserve the truth, and – above all – those who lost friends and relatives and who continue to suffer as if they were dying again each day deserve the truth.” Although Rousseff passed the law that created the Truth Commission she emphasized that it is not an initiative of the government but of the state of the whole, including past administrations and the people of Brazil. At the swearing in ceremony for the Truth Commission Rousseff was accompanied by the four previous presidents of Brazil since democracy was re-established in 1985.

However several people have criticized the creation of the Truth Commission as an attempt to get revenge. Many retired military officers are upset about the allegations that may arise and have announced that they are planning to create a “shadow commission” that will counter any accusations.

An amnesty law passed in 1979 and upheld in a Supreme Court decision in 2010 guarantees that any military officials or left-wing guerillas would not be prosecuted for crimes. This is disappointing for many of the relatives of victims who wish to see justice served. Many international rights groups, although encouraged by the creation of this commission, wish to see Brazil repeal this law so that arrests and prosecutions would occur.

Many also worry that, although the Truth Commission will be investigating these crimes, they may not fully publicize the information or may be denied access to some files. However, a new Access to Information Law ensures that the human rights abuse information cannot be classified, which means that state archives will be open for the first time.

The article Brazil Announces Truth Commission for Investigation appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Geneva, Switzerland – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, urged the republic of Gabon to adopt urgent measures to tackle trafficking in children from West and Central Africa into the country, including traditional and cultural factors that exacerbate this phenomenon.

“I am confident that Gabon can become a model for other countries in the region and beyond in the fight against trafficking,” she stressed.

“Although the Government has adopted legislation to combat human trafficking, significant gaps remain,” Ms. Ezeilo said at the end of her official visit to Gabon from 14 to 18 May. “There are a number of challenges that must be addressed by the Government if it is to succeed in effectively combating trafficking in persons and protecting the human rights of trafficked victims of all ages.”

The rights expert underscored that current laws limit protection to victims under the age of 18 and do not provide for all forms of exploitation including labor and sexual exploitations, slavery and removal of organs.

“I urge the Government to expand the scope of trafficking, to explicitly widen the forms and scope of protection to both trafficked women and men as per the Palermo Protocol, aimed at preventing, suppressing and punishing trafficking in persons.”

Gabon is a destination and transit country for trafficked persons from the sub-region of West and Central Africa. Boys and girls below the age of 18 predominantly from Benin, Mali and Togo are attracted to coming in the country, which is seen as one of the wealthy economies in the region, with prospects and opportunities for work.

“Most common forms of trafficking in Gabon are domestic work for young girls, servitude, and to some extent forced and early marriage; while for boys, work in the informal sector including auto mechanics and hard labor are common,” she said while noting that root causes of trafficking, include poverty and traditional practices, especially in West Africa, of sending children to live with relatives and demand for domestic workers by rich Gabonese families.

“The trend, forms and manifestation of trafficking in persons are not well-understood in Gabon, and there is a general lack of awareness and knowledge of trafficking in persons beyond child trafficking for exploitative labor,” Ms. Ezeilo stressed. “As a result, other victims of trafficking remain invisible and unrecognized by not only the general population, but also the victims themselves and the competent authorities.”

The human rights expert called on the authorities to help improve the understanding of the nature and scale of the problem of trafficking in persons in the country, through the collection of reliable national data to determine the prevalence rate, forms, trends and manifestation of human trafficking, including of children and women.

“With a coastal border of more than 800kms and a porous border with 3 countries, Gabon requires good cooperation with its neighbors to fight the phenomenon of trafficking,” she said, stressing that so far the signing of agreements with neighboring states have not materialized in spite of initiative of the government.

The Special Rapporteur also expressed her concern about the absence of a specific visa program to enable victims of trafficking to remain legally in the country, as well as for the safe return and repatriation of victims of trafficking. In her view, there is always a risk of re-trafficking and re-victimization, especially for trafficked children because family members are implicated in the exploitation of victims of trafficking.

During her five-day mission to Libreville, Ms. Ezeilo met with government officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Interior and Defense. She also met with the Public prosecution, the Police’s service for protection of minors, the monitoring committee in charge of implementing the platform of action on trafficking of children for the purpose of labor exploitation, the National Commission for Human Rights and civil society organizations.

“More importantly,” she stressed, “I met with victims themselves, including foreign girls during my visits to the government run Angondjé Shelter and two other shelters for girls and boys run by civil society organizations.”

Image Courtesy of    Brad Ruggles

The article Republic of Gabon Urged to Tackle Child Trafficking appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The women of Saudi Arabia may have a chance of partaking in the London 2012 Olympics. Saudi Arabia is the last country to confirm the participation of  women in the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee’s executive board has met with the Saudi Olympic officials and said in a statement that it was “confident that Saudi Arabia is working to include women athletes and officials at the Olympic Games in London.”

Qatar, Brunei, and Saudi Arabia’s Olympic team only consisted of all-male teams in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Progress has been made, and the women of Qatar and Brunei are planning to compete this year. “Saudi Arabia is the last to hold out, denying women and girls the ability to take part in sports,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

“The clock is running out for Saudi women to join the games and for the international community to insist that the Saudi government allow women to participate.”

The Olympic Charter’s 6^th Fundamental Principle of Olympism has been considered violated by a statement made by Prince Nawwaf al-Faisal, the Saudi sports minister and head of the Saudi National Olympic Committee. He stated, “Female sports activity has not existed in the kingdom, and there is no move thereto in this regard. At present, we are not embracing any female Saudi participation in the Olympics.” The Human Rights Watch has made it clear that discrimination under the means of gender is not in consensus with the Olympic movement.

Women taking part in a sport outside of the Olympics is an issue in the country itself. The government bans Saudi girls from physical education classes in state schools. Women are unable to have access to sports facilities, and private gyms created by women have been shutdown because of allegations that they were unlicensed.

Discrimination among the women of Saudi Arabia is not unfamiliar in their own cultural day-to-day lives. Saudi Arabia is considered one of the most oppressed Arab countries. Saudi Arabia is ruled by King Fahd Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud and is a dynastic monarchy. Patrolling the country are secular security forces and the Mutawwa’in, the religious police.

The government allows the forces to treat citizens as they choose, resulting in torturous treatment. Democracy does not exist in the country, and the people have no voice in government. Freedom of religion is exempt, and citizens have to be Muslim. Citizens of America viewing what other countries endure on a daily basis would appreciate the luxury of freedom.

Image Courtesy of  fstockfoto / Shutterstock.com

The article Potential Olympic Participation for Saudi Arabian Women appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

WASHINGTON and BERLIN – After over 20 years the USA (along with Somalia) is the only country in the world (193) where children human rights are NOT legally and internationally recognized through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). All children who are on U.S. soil loose their basic human rights that they have in 193 other countries. Now is the time to change this silent violation of children’s human rights before the 2012 Presidential elections.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Obama, February 2008

The Little Peace Ambassador, Ariana-Leilani, 9 years old, was destined to promote peace and children’s human rights worldwide. She was born a dual German – USA citizen with two nationalities, cultures, races, religions, and three languages.

“We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not when it’s easy, but when it is hard.” Obama, Nobel Lecture,December 2009

Before 5 years she had traveled to ten countries and volunteered to help orphaned children she called “friends.” The Little Peace Ambassador, met President George W. Bush, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Queen Noor at the United Nations in NY, and was named after the “Ariana” museum at the United Nations – Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, where she once ran the halls at the World Health Assembly. Yet, for such an unusual start in life, since the age of 5, the Little Peace Ambassador has been trapped in Washington, DC, USA now fighting for her life.

As a direct result of no UNCRC, Ariana-Leilani has suffered silently for 4 years in the USA with untreated life-threatening Severe Chronic Neutropenia only minutes from The White House, in the most powerful and internationally involved foreign policy and human rights defender governments in the world.

In Germany she would have the basic human right to live. In the USA, she is denied life-saving medicine (nupogen), free since she is on the Severe Chronic Neutropenia International Registry (SCNIR); a full toxicology and expert medical care. A ”gopetition” to President Obama and Chancellor Merkel to “Save Ariana-Leilani” currently has signatures from 117 countries.

“All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart or whether we commit ourselves to an effort, a sustained effort to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children and to respect the dignity of all human beings.” Obama, speech, June 2009

Little Peace Ambassador, Ariana-Leilani, “Happy 9th Birthday.” May you live a long life and continue to educate and advocate for Children’s Human Rights in the USA and worldwide.

Links
Children’s Human Rights; www.Ariana-LeilaniFoundation.org
Petition: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-ariana-leilani.html
Save Ariana-Leilani: www.Ariana-Leilani.org

The article Save Ariana-Leilani ‘The Little Peace Ambassador’ appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Moscow, Russia – Two Arab Spring revolutionaries, Nabeel Rajab and Alaa Abd al-Fattah explain why the reform movements stalled in Bahrain and have destabilized in Egypt on the May 8th episode of “The World Tomorrow” on RT.

Nabeel Rajab is the leading human rights activist from Bahrain and the founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights; right prior to the air of his interview to Julian Assange he was arrested by the Bahraini government forces and will now stand trial for inciting the acts of protests.

Alaa Abd al-Fattah is the Egyptian writer and political activist who was a prominent figure in the Egyptian revolution. The two guests discuss the impetus behind the uprisings in the Middle East, what has been achieved and the prospects for democracy and reform in these countries.

“I speak to two leading revolutionaries: one from Bahrain, where the revolution failed; one from Egypt, where the revolution is now in turmoil. What makes a revolution? And where is the Arab Spring going to go?” – commented Assange on the upcoming episode.

In the interview given prior to his arrest Rajab commented on the struggle of the protest movement inBahrain on the show: “This is freedom. This is democracy that we are fighting for. It has a cost and we have to pay this cost, and the cost might be very expensive – as we have paid high cost in Bahrain. And, we are willing to pay that for the changes that we are fighting for.”

The fourth episode of Julian Assange’s program will air globally on Tuesday, May 8th at 15:30 Moscowtime /11:30 GMT/7:30 EDT across all RT channels in English, Arabic and Spanish, and will be rebroadcast every two hours thereafter.

The progress of the Arab Spring movements across different countries is a topic that Julian Assange has explored continuously starting with the very first episode of “The World Tomorrow.” Interview with the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah caused a global media firestorm and trended on Twitter throughout the day. The most recent episode featured an extended discussion with Moncef Marzouki, the interim President of Tunisia, on democratic reforms in the cradle of the Arab Spring.

“The World Tomorrow” is RT’s weekly interview program created and hosted by the WikiLeaks founder. Promotional materials, an exclusive interview with Assange and the full-length video of the aired episodes are available at http://assange.rt.com.

Image Courtesy of   MOHPhoto / Shutterstock.com

The article Assange Interviews Recently Arrested Arab Spring Revolutionaries appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

During a recent investigation carried out for BBC World Service and Radio 4, Natalia Antelava gathered direct evidence of what seems to be a state-run secret program of forced sterilization in Uzbekistan. Uzbek women victims of sterilization and doctors gave their own account to the BBC journalist, uncovering the details of this absurd secret policy pursued by the ex-Soviet state.

Bakhor, a 32-year-old Uzbek woman, said that for some months after she gave birth to her second baby she “kept bleeding heavy black lumps, and the pain was unbearable.” She understood something was wrong, but she could not imagine what it was. Then, when she was able to afford an ultrasound check, the shocking news was unveiled. She had had a hysterectomy during the cesarean section. The doctor explained to her, “You don’t have a uterus anymore” and added “What do you need more children for? You already have two.”

The same thing happened to Adolat. She always dreamed of having four children, but after her second daughter she realized she could not get pregnant. When she consulted a doctor, she found out she had been sterilized during the cesarean section when giving birth to her daughter.

“I was shocked. I cried and asked: ‘But why? How could they do this?’ The doctor said, ‘That’s the law in Uzbekistan,’” she said. Nigora, 24, is another victim. She had an emergency cesarean section, and the day after, her baby died. She was also told she was sterilized, and now she will not be able to have children.

These are just some of the hundreds of stories of the victims who have been surgically sterilized without their knowledge or consent under the Uzbek regime’s abominable policy. It is very likely that the majority of these stories will remain obscure and that most of the victims are still unaware of what happened to them, especially those in the rural areas.

The first reports of forced sterilization cases in Uzbekistan emerged in 2005, when the pathologist Gulbakhor Turaeva gathered evidence of around 200 uterus removals. This practice became a state policy only in 2009, although it seems to have originated in the late ’90s. Instead of promoting contraceptive methods, the government adopted forced sterilization and reproductive organs removal as a means of birth control and to curb fertility.

President Islam Karimov introduced the surgical contraception policy under presidential decree PP-1096 called “On additional measures to protect the health of the mother and child, the formation of a healthy generation.” The Ministry of Health argues that the sterilization program is intended to control the country’s growing population and, also, that it is carried out only on a voluntary basis, with the consent of both parents and after specialist consultation. The government strongly denies allegations of forced mass sterilization and says it has “nothing to do with reality.”

Nevertheless, doctors and medical professionals who were interviewed stated the opposite. They said that over the last few years, the number of cesarean sections has dramatically increased in relation to the practice of sterilization. Cesarean birth “makes it very easy to perform sterilization and tie the fallopian tubes,” said an Uzbek surgeon at a hospital near Tashkent.

There is an official directive not to let the birth rate rise above a certain figure, and doctors have a quota for the women to sterilize each month. There is a plan for each district health department, and doctors are ordered to persuade women and convince them about sterilization procedures.

“On paper, sterilizations should be voluntary, but women don’t really get a choice,” stated a doctor. “It’s very easy to manipulate a woman, especially if she is poor. You can say that her health will suffer if she has more children. You can tell her that sterilization is best for her. Or you can just do the operation.”

The doctors who fail to reach their quota risk reprisal and fines, so because of this, they often opt for sterilization during cesarean sections. Under the pressure of a dictatorial government, doctors become party to an abhorrent crime of which women are the victims, being unconsciously mutilated and slaughtered like animals.

While the world keeps a deafening silence, and Western countries pretend not to care for lurking interests and economic ties, you can take action, and sign the petition of Avaaz  to call U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to publicly condemn Uzbekistan’s forced sterilization and human rights violation. It is time to break the silence.

The article Uzbekistan’s Forced Sterilization Secret Program appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The 2012 edition of IREX’s Media Sustainability Index (MSI) for Europe and Eurasia measures the struggles and triumphs of the media sector in 21 transitioning countries from Croatia to Kazakhstan.

Evidence from local media experts shows overall stability in the media sector. Increasing use of digital and social media gives hope for expanding freedom of expression. However, reported backsliding in several countries, partly due to the increased political control of media, concerns the experts. See www.irex.org/msi for the full report.

Croatia received the highest score overall. Kyrgyzstan returned to the top spot in Central Asia as the political situation there stabilized. Among Caucasus countries, Armenia maintained its leading score despite a slight slide. Georgia regained lost ground and made a stronger showing in news plurality.

Albania, Bulgaria, and Macedonia’s lower scores reflect politicized editorial policies at respected media outlets caught in a wave of divestment by west European media conglomerates. Bought by local tycoons, these media began to promote political causes.

Despite pro-Putin dominance of Russian media, after opposition protests over elections, independent and state media found more leeway. “After December 10, things started to move. Even federal television channels started to show faces that had not been approved officially,” said MSI panelist Boris Timoshenkofrom the Glasnost Defense Foundation.

Media experts expressed cautious optimism for the future, although difficult obstacles remain and the post-election period will determine the relationship between the regime and the media. Belarus, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, whose governments impose strict controls on free expression and other human rights, ranked at the bottom again this year.

The MSI’s unique methodology measures journalism quality, media management practices, news plurality, press freedom, and supporting institutions. Journalists, media advocates, academics, and related professionals evaluate the media in their own country. “From a correspondent in rural Tajikistan, to a blogger in Baku, or a Tirana marketing analyst,” said Leon Morse, managing editor of the MSI, “MSI panelists are selected to present a multi-faceted perspective of the media sector.”

The U.S. Agency for International Development funds IREX’s publication of three regional editions of the MSI covering Europe and Eurasia, Africa, and the Middle East. It is a trusted evaluation of global media health, providing donors, media advocates, local professionals, and scholars a decade-plus of rich data.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.irex.org/msi

The article 2012 IREX Report on Political Control of Media in Europe and Eurasia appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Andean Commission of Jurists and five prestigious international law experts from around the world have joined a growing chorus of criticism targeting Chevron’s attempt to use a secret investor arbitration as part of its campaign to evade an $18 billion environmental judgment in Ecuador, according to letters released.

In a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Andean Commission said it was “alarmed” at Chevron’s attempt to use a private investor arbitration convened under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty (“BIT”) to influence the outcome of a private litigation between indigenous groups and Chevron in Ecuador’s courts.  The panel meets in secret and bars the Ecuadorians from appearing before it.

After an eight-year trial, a three-judge appellate panel in Ecuador on January 3 affirmed an $18 billion judgment against the oil giant for causing what experts believe is one of the worst oil-related disasters on the planet. The decision was based on a 220,000-page evidentiary record, more than 100 expert reports from both parties, and 18 years of litigation in the courts of the U.S. and Ecuador.

The letter from the Andean Commission, part of growing chorus of international criticism of Chevron, accused the oil giant of continuing to use “questionable litigation tactics to deny those injured any forum to seek justice and compensation for their injuries.”

“The latest such tactic is the issue by Chevron of … an arbitration … to force Ecuador’s government to violate international law and quash the human rights of its own citizens by essentially nullifying the result of their case after almost two decades of litigation,” said the letter.

The Andean Commission, which has consulting status with the United Nations, is one of the leading human rights organizations in South America.  Its board members include Diego Garcia-Sayan, the former Chief Justice of the Inter-American Human Rights Court; renowned investor-state arbitrator Pedro Nikken; and other distinguished jurists from Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

Separately, five international law experts wrote a letter to a United Nations official who oversees international arbitrations to question Chevron’s attempts to bypass the public court system of a sovereign nation where it wanted the trial held just because it lost based on the evidence.

“Allowing (arbitration) panels to determine recognition and enforcement issues in private litigation transforms them into venues of final appeal in a way that was never intended and offends the inherent trustworthiness of legal systems around the world to determine matters for themselves,” the jurists wrote to Renaud Sorieul, the Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.

“(Treaty) panel awards ordering States to interfere in private judicial proceedings between different parties is a direct violation of well settled principles of sovereignty and, in this particular case, human rights under international law,” the letter added.  The letter was sent Feb 9, when the U.N. arbitration body headed by Sorieul was in session in New York to discuss the need for greater transparency in investor-State arbitration.

Recently, distinguished international law jurist Jose Daniel Amado issued a separate letter to U.N. Secretary General Ki-moon asking for a review of Chevron’s “egregious misuse” of the BIT.  Amado, a specialist in international arbitration, told the Secretary General that Chevron’s attempt to use the arbitration “stands in direct violation of international law” and threatens to “quash” the fundamental human rights of the 30,000 citizens who initially brought suit against Chevron in the United States in 1993.

Chevron shifted the environmental lawsuit from U.S. federal court to Ecuador in 2002 after praising the country’s judicial system and promising to abide by any judgment there, subject only to narrow enforcement defenses that did not include international arbitration.

The five international jurists who signed the Sorieul letter are Donald K. Anton , Associate Professor of International Law, The Australian National University College of Law; Naomi Roht-Arriaza, Professor of Law, University of California, Hastings College of the Law; Jorge Avendano V., Principal Professor of Law, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru; Timo Koivurova, Research professor, The Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland; and Professor Cesare Romano, W Joseph Ford Fellow, Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.  Other jurists are expected to sign on in the coming days.

Separately, the indigenous rainforest communities filed suit last week in Washington, D.C. before a renowned international tribunal seeking an order that would prevent the oil giant from using the secret arbitration to violate their human rights.

The Ecuadorians are seeking an order from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights requiring Ecuador’s government to protect their right to life, physical integrity, health, a fair trial, and equal treatment under the law as guaranteed by the American Declaration of the Rights of Man and other international human rights treaties.  Any order from the Commission, which was established by the treaty that created the Organization of American States, is binding on the government against which it is issued.

The Ecuador court found that Chevron deliberately dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways that local inhabitants relied on for drinking water. The Ecuador trial court found evidence that Chevron’s contamination decimated indigenous groups and caused an outbreak of cancer, spontaneous miscarriages, and other oil-related diseases.

On January 4, the day after the Ecuador appellate court decision, Chevron petitioned the private arbitration panel to order Ecuador’s President to interfere in its independent judiciary and block the ability of the indigenous rainforest communities to enforce their judgment in countries around the world. Chevron had stripped its assets from Ecuador to avoid paying the judgment.

Lawyers for the Ecuadorians say the arbitration panel does not have the authority to do what Chevron is seeking, and that in any event Ecuador’s government is obligated to ignore its orders given its own binding legal obligations under the Ecuador Constitution and various international treaties protecting the human rights of its citizens.

The private arbitration system under the BIT has come under withering criticism for its conflicts of interest and lack of due process.  Some commentators have likened the secret arbitration panel to a “kangaroo court” imbued with a pro-business culture.

The three arbitrators hearing the Chevron claims – all private lawyers who represent clients before other arbitration panels in the same treaty system – stand to personally reap millions of dollars in fees if they grant jurisdiction over the case, which in itself is a hotly contested issue given that Chevron left Ecuador five years before the U.S.-Ecuador BIT took effect.

In any event, it is clear that any “award” from the panel will be treated with skepticism in countries that observe the rule of law and will not be an obstacle to enforcement of the Ecuador judgment, said Amado.  ”It is our duty as international arbitration experts to prevent it from causing collateral damage to the international legal order that protects the human rights of all peoples worldwide,” he emphasized.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainforestactionnetwork/

The article Chevron Tries “Secret” Panel to Evade $18 Billion Ecuador Judgment appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Indigenous rainforest communities from Ecuador who recently won an $18 billion judgment against Chevron for environmental damage have filed suit  before a renowned international human rights court seeking an order that would prevent the oil giant from using a secret arbitration to violate their legal rights.

The Ecuadorians filed a petition (attached) before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights strongly criticizing Chevron’s “egregious misuse” of the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty (“BIT”) to violate human rights protections. They are seeking an order requiring Ecuador’s government to protect their right to life, physical integrity, health, a fair trial, and equal treatment under the law as guaranteed by the American Declaration of the Rights of Man and other international human rights treaties.

The petition was filed against Ecuador’s government because Chevron is seeking an order from the private investor arbitration panel mandating that the country’s President freeze the court proceedings until the BIT panel can rule, a process which normally takes three years.  Such an order would violate Ecuadorian and international law as well as the human rights protections that the Commission is sworn to uphold, said Pablo Fajardo, the lead lawyer for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs in the underlying environmental case.

The Commission, located in Washington, D.C., hears claims for emergency relief from individual human rights victims and derives its authority from the multilateral international treaty that created the Organization of American States, of which Ecuador and the United States are members. Any order from the Commission is binding on the government against which it is issued.

“The threats are serious and urgent,” the plaintiffs wrote in their petition, referring to their own plight living near extensive levels of toxic oil contamination in the Amazon rainforest for almost 50 years.  An Ecuadorian court in 2011 found Chevron liable for dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon when it operated under the Texaco brand from 1964 to 1992, causing dramatically increased rates of cancer and decimating indigenous groups.

“The idea that an arbitral panel would even contemplate ordering a sovereign state to violate its human rights obligations is repugnant not only to the substance of international human rights law but to the very core of the international legal order,” the petition added.

The petition also argues that the relief sought by Chevron extends well beyond the scope of the BIT in that it does not authorize private investor arbitration panels to act as a “transnational” appellate court that can override decisions in a public court system of a sovereign nation.  The BIT is normally limited to allowing investors to seek monetary damages directly from a government if it feels it has been treated unfairly, a claim that Chevron makes but that the indigenous communities reject.

The Ecuadorians believe the investor arbitral panel convened by Chevron violates international law in that it bars the rainforest communities from appearing before it, does not publish its decisions, and does not inform the public about when and where it meets.  Further, its three members — all practicing lawyers — suffer from a conflict of interest in that they each stand to reap millions of dollars in fees paid in part by Chevron simply by granting jurisdiction over the case when there is little if any basis to do so.

“What Chevron is trying to with this secret arbitration is utterly offensive to anybody who believes in the rule of law,” said Fajardo, whose clients initially filed the environmental lawsuit against Chevron in 1993 in U.S. federal court in New York before it was shifted to Ecuador at Chevron’s request.

“Chevron is trying to convince the private arbitral panel to override the decisions of a public court in a sovereign country where Chevron chose to litigate, even as Chevron continues to pursue appeals in that country making the same arguments it makes before the secret panel,” he added.  “It’s just an outrageous abuse of judicial process.”

“Any decision by the panel granting Chevron’s requests would violate international law and certainly would not bind the indigenous communities who are not a party to the proceedings,” he added.  “We also believe it will backfire against Chevron if the company carries through on its threats to try to block enforcement of the legitimate Ecuador judgment in courts around the world.”

Ecuador’s government has argued that the oil giant has no right to even file the claim under the BIT given that the treaty did not take effect until 1997, or five years after Chevron left the country.

Chevron’s latest maneuver prompted renowned Latin American jurist Jose Daniel Amado to send a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asking for a review of what he called an “improper and illegal expansion of arbitral powers” by the panel. The Amado letter gained immediate support from jurists around the world, who sent a separate letter (attached) backing Amado’s arguments to the U.N. official in charge of international arbitration, Renaud Souriel.

Souriel is hosting a meeting this week in New York to evaluate the issue of “transparency in investment-State arbitration.”

Chevron is seeking any forum it can to delay the Ecuador proceedings given that the company could soon face judgment enforcement actions around the world, said Fajardo. Chevron stripped its assets from Ecuador and a company spokesman said the oil giant would fight the rainforest communities “until hell freezes over, and then skate it out on the ice.”

“Chevron lost the trial,” Fajardo said.  “It lost the first-level appeal in Ecuador.  It lost in the United States.  It has very few options left other than a secret arbitration that will carry no weight in any country that observes the rule of law.

“Nevertheless, by filing this petition, we are showing that we will use every legal means available to expose Chevron’s disrespect for the rule of law and to protect the rights of our clients.”

Chevron tried a similar maneuver before, and it backfired.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainforestactionnetwork/

The article Ecuador Communities Target Chevron’s Secret Investor Arbitration appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Mentor Network, a national network of local human services providers, has launched a new website – www.makeadifferenceathome.com – and an online advertising campaign designed to increase awareness about the need for more Host Home providers.

Host Homes consist of individuals and families who provide caring homes in the community for children in need and adults with developmental disabilities.  In partnership with The Mentor Network, Host Home providers open their hearts and their homes and have the opportunity to earn extra money to help make ends meet.

“The Mentor Network is called a ‘network’ for a reason — it’s not just one person or group.  It’s a national network of people, in communities across the country, who are joined by the common belief that positive, nurturing relationships are the basis for growth and change and that these relationships are best fostered through active participation in the daily rhythms of neighborhood and family life,” said Dwight Robson, Chief Public Strategy & Marketing Officer at The Mentor Network.

Across the nation, there are more than 100,000 individuals with developmental disabilities who are waiting for access to community-based services.  In addition, there are more than 400,000 children in the foster care system.

“There are already thousands of individuals who have decided to make a difference at home, but the need for community-based care continues to grow,” Robson said.  “Through this campaign we hope to show people how rewarding this work can be and encourage them to consider how much of a difference they could make in the life of an adult or child in need.”

The new website is designed to help interested individuals learn more about being a foster parent or host home provider and includes videos, case studies and other interactive features.

“We refer to our host home providers and foster parents as ‘Mentors’ because they do so much more than just provide a home to an individual in need — they help them grow and learn, forever changing their lives,” Robson continued.  “Mentors make a huge difference to the life of an individual and they also earn extra money at home that can help make ends meet.”

Mentors are caring individuals from all walks of life who provide support for children with emotional, medical and behavioral challenges and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Mentors help children and adults thrive as part of the community and positively impact their home life.

“When you take in and care for a foster child or an adult with developmental disabilities, you’re giving them something money can’t buy — a helping hand, a home, a family, and someone who wants to share a life with them.  As a Mentor, you show them through your actions that we all matter and we all deserve to live life to the fullest,” said Robson.

The article New Campaign to Recruit Caring Homes for Adults and Children in Need appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, AJC issued the statement below, and re-released its short film on the Nazi death camp, Belzec. More than 500,000 Jews were slaughtered there in less than a year. Only two Jews survived.  The full text of AJC’s statement follows:

We Remember

In the Jewish tradition, we are commanded to remember (zachor) and not to forget (lo tishkach). On January 27, we commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this solemn occasion, 67 years after the liberation of Auschwitz:

We remember the six million Jewish martyrs, including 1.5 million children, who were exterminated in the Holocaust.

We remember the entirely new alphabet created by the Nazis for the Final Solution — from the letter “A” for Auschwitz to the letter “Z” for Zyklon-B.

We remember not only the tragic deaths of the six million Jews, but also their vibrant lives—as shopkeepers and craftsmen, scientists and authors, teachers and students, parents and children, husbands and wives.

We remember the richly hued and ancient Jewish civilizations that were destroyed—from Salonika to Vilna, from Amsterdam to Prague.

We remember the slippery slope that began with the rantings of an obscure Austrian-born anti-Semite named Adolf Hitler and led, in the course of less than 15 years, to his absolute control over Germany.

We remember the fertile soil of European anti-Semitism—cultivated over centuries by cultural, political, and religious voices—that created an all-too-receptive climate for the Nazi objective of eliminating the Jewish people.

We remember the courage of Denmark, as well as Albania, Bulgaria, and Finland, for their extraordinary efforts to protect their own Jewish communities.

We remember the courage of thousands of Righteous Persons—whom we call, in Hebrew, Hasidei Umot Ha’olam—who risked their own lives that others might live.

We remember the millions of non-Jews—Poles and Russians, Roma and the disabled, political opponents and homosexuals—murdered under the relentless Nazi onslaught.

We remember the valiant soldiers of the Allied nations who, at such great human cost, vanquished the Third Reich.

We remember the survivors of the death camps, who endured such unimaginable suffering and who have inspired us all with their indomitable courage, spirit, and will to live.

We remember the absence of an Israel in those war-time years—an Israel that, had it existed, would have provided a haven when so shamefully few countries were willing to accept Jewish refugees.

We shall never forget those who perished.

We shall never forget those who saved even a single life. As it is written in the Talmud: “He who saves one life has saved the world.”

We shall never forget the importance of speaking out against intolerance, whenever and wherever it occurs.

We shall never forget the inextricable link among democracy, the rule of law, and protection of human rights.

We shall never forget the age-old prophetic vision of a world of justice, harmony, and peace.

And we shall never forget that each of us, in ways large and small, can help bring us closer to the realization of that prophetic vision.

The article International Holocaust Remembrance Day appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The National Press Club president expressed outrage recently about the president of Ecuador’s systematic and relentless attacks on the press. Angry over a piece that was critical of him, the Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, has won court rulings– under questionable circumstances– that could result in the shuttering of one of Latin America’s most esteemed newspapers and the imprisonment of its journalists.

The case of the paper, El Universo, is just one of several examples of Correa attacking press freedom. Under Correa, defamation suits against reporters have multiplied, and state ownership of media organizations has grown, according to independent monitoring groups. National Press Club President Mark Hamrick, a broadcast journalist with the Associated Press, expressed hope that justice would be served in Ecuador and press freedom protected.

“President Correa has been condemned by human-rights and press-freedom groups for his mistreatment of reporters,” Hamrick said. “It is past time for this type of harassment and intimidation to stop in Ecuador and anywhere else where reporters face jail–or worse–for merely doing their jobs.” The Washington Post, in a Jan. 12 editorial, called Correa’s campaign against reporters “the most comprehensive and ruthless assault on free media underway in the Western Hemisphere.”

In July, three directors of El Universo were sentenced to three years in jail, and the paper fined $40 million(enough to shut it down) as a result of a defamation suit brought by Correa. But computer forensics later showed that the president’s attorney had, in fact, written the court’s decision, an independent inquiry found.

Three subsequent rulings have upheld the original one, a fact that raises question about the autonomy ofEcuador’s judiciary, according to non-governmental groups.  Another court decision in the case is due any day now.

“The El Universo story is, unfortunately, not unique,” Hamrick said. “The evidence seems clear that the press is under siege in Ecuador. Correa needs to know that concerned people are watching.”

The article National Press Club Condemns President Correa appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

It has long been a pleasant consistency to be well received as a Canadian the world over. This year, that generally well-earned reputation has become soiled. It is still a beautiful country, with friendly folks and a lot of talent, but several high profile events have begun eroding its cherished character as champion of peace and the environment.

Certainly, Canada was a global example of environmental progress: North America’s west coast is widely considered extremely health-conscious, with some of the first anti-smoking laws in the world. Canada is consistently listed among the cleanest, nature-loving countries, with cities topping the lists of ‘best places to live.’

The current Conservative government, led by Prime Minister Steven Harper, has withdrawn Canada from the Kyoto Accord. The government’s antagonistic behavior, as well as its policy, was roundly criticized at the climate talks in Durban, South Africa. Indeed, Canada was awarded the ‘Fossil Award’ for its inaction against climate change. Sadly, the country’s emission levels have “risen by 30 percent over 1990 levels,” according to beloved geneticist, environmentalist, and broadcaster David Suzuki.

China expressed regret over Canada’s decision to withdraw. Among the vocal critics was Nobel-Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “Canada, you were once considered a leader on global issues like human rights and environmental protection. Today, you’re home to polluting tar sands oil, speeding the dangerous effects of climate change.”

The Keystone XL Pipeline proposal, to run from the oil-rich province of Alberta into the U.S., has further stained Canada’s reputation over environmental concerns, including the plan to pass across the U.S. Ogallala-Aquifer, which provides drinking water for over two million people in eight states. On a smaller scale, Toronto, Canada’s largest city and host of the respected Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), elected mayor Rob Ford, who slashed his own popularity along with funding for public transportation, the arts, libraries, day-cares, and other popular services.

Archbishop Tutu’s reference to human rights is particularly poignant to a country with a long and proud tradition of peace-keeping and its reputation as a gentle and humane nation. As leader of the opposition at the time, Harper’s minority supported the invasion of Iraq. After the Conservatives became the ruling party, they deported U.S. war deserters. The party later defeated an attempt to end the deportations on humanitarian grounds.

The world-famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) also fell into considerable disrepute. After several years of recent scandals involving a Taser death and the fatal shooting of a man in custody, this year saw more outrage involving sexual harassment, incompetence, and negligence in the handling of the famous ‘Pickton’ serial killings.

Not last, nor least, is Vancouver. Often credited for its beauty, its cultural and culinary diversity, and its high living-standards, the city became the media focus this year for its riots following the local team’s loss in the ice-hockey championship. Over all, it was a conspicuously poor year for Canada, marked by a loss of the respect and fondness it had earned for so long. What will happen in the following years depends largely on the patience and shifting attitudes of the Canadian people.

However, there have been many positive Canadian events. Its economy did not slide significantly, as did many others, and has held strong. Moreover, the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement began with a blog by Canadian magazine ‘Adbusters.’ Canada’s combat role in Afghanistan ended. Charitable donations increased.

There is a consistent swing of the pendulum in Canadian politics. The RCMP has begun to focus on cleaning its image and its house, and hockey is undergoing intense scrutiny. Next year might not be the disaster the Mayans predicted.

Sergei Bachlakov / Shutterstock.com

The article In Canada, It Is About-Face appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Sri Lankan government report by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission does not take into account the worst abuses perpetrated by government forces and does not advance accountability for the people victimized by Sri Lanka’s civil armed conflict, said the Human Rights Watch.

The report is 388 pages long and was posted on the government’s website on December 16, 2011. The report, while long-awaited, was unsatisfactory and gave very little new information on accountability that could not have previously been enforced by the government. Its shortcomings bring to light a need for an international investigative power, which was suggested by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts last April.

Though the UN Panel of Experts recommended establishing an independent international power to perform investigations into the suspected violations, the Sri Lankan government report shows no realistic way to make the military and government officials that were implicated in serious abuses accountable for their actions. “Governments and UN bodies have held back for the past 18 months to allow the Sri Lankan commission to make progress on accountability,” stated Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The commission’s failure to provide a road map for investigating and prosecuting wartime perpetrators shows the dire need for an independent, international commission.”

The report’s findings mainly exonerated government forces for laws-of-war violations. This is in stark contrast to the findings of the UN Panel of Experts, who concluded that the Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam both conducted military operations “with flagrant disregard for the protection, rights, welfare, and lives of civilians and failed to respect the norms of international law.”

Due to a large amount of evidence, the report did admit that there were “considerable civilian causalities” during the last stages of fighting and that hospitals had been shelled, resulting in damage and civilian deaths. “It is important that a government-appointed body has laid to rest the bizarre claims of the government that its forces caused no civilian casualties,” Adams said. “Yet, the commission shockingly fails to call for any criminal investigations into artillery shelling of crowded areas in which tens of thousands of civilians died.”

The report failed to inspect the use of heavy artillery against civilian areas as well, and sexual violence was not talked about in the report, which is probably because the commission lacks any form of witness protection. It also failed to mention the torture of detainees, the months-long detention of hundreds of thousands of people that were displaced by the fighting, or the refusal of due process rights for the detainees in the so-called rehabilitation centers.

“It is clear that justice for conflict-related abuses is not going to happen within Sri Lanka’s domestic institutions,” Adams alleged. “The government has been playing for time by appointing the LLRC. That time has now run out.”

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lewishamdreamer/

The article Sri Lanka Disregards Human Rights Abuse Issues in Own Report appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The international organization Human Rights Watch released a report on Thursday, December 15, concerning violations and abuses in Syria committed by security forces since the beginning of anti-government protests and demonstrations in March 2011.

The 94-pages report called “By All Means Necessary!” is the result of the investigations conducted independently by Human Rights Watch in Syria, and it is based on statements of hundreds of victims and witnesses. In particular, it focuses on the violence and killings that occurred between April and August 2011, in seven of Syria’s fourteen governorates: Damascus, Daraa, Homs, Idlib, Tartous, Deir al-Zor, and Hama.

Sixty-three defectors, both from the army and the intelligence agencies, were interviewed separately and accurately. They provided detailed information and reports on the violations, the abuses, and the orders they received from commanders of the Syrian army at any level for repressive actions, violence, and attacks on civilian protesters.

The orders were to stop the protests “by all means necessary”. The people who were interviewed had firsthand knowledge of the violations. Their statements provide accounts and evidence of the systematic abuse on civilians and of the responsibility of the government forces for these abuses.

Anna Neistat, an associate director for emergencies at Human Rights Watch who participated directly in the investigations for the report, said and wrote to CNN, “But responsibility for these crimes does not stop with the commanders on the ground.

Under international criminal law, al-Assad, as commander in chief of all forces in Syria, bears responsibility for the most serious crimes committed by his forces – even if he did not order them – to the extent that he knew, or should have known, about the abuses and failed to prevent them.”

A quote from the report reads, “Human Rights Watch’s findings show that military commanders and officials in the intelligence agencies gave both direct and standing orders to use lethal force against the protesters (at least 20 such cases are documented in detail in this report) as well as to unlawfully arrest, beat, and torture the detainees.

In addition, senior military commanders and high-ranking officials, including President Bashar al-Assad and the heads of the intelligence agencies, bear command responsibility for violations committed by their subordinates to the extent that they knew, or should have known, of the abuses, but failed to take action to stop them.

Given the widespread public and international criticism of the abuses, it would be incredible for al-Assad to argue that he did not know.” Hence, what comes out from this report is the commitment and the responsibility of the Syrian regime, and its president, in crimes against humanity during the crackdown of the anti-government protests.

The non-involvement and non-responsibility claims of President Bashar Al-Assad were demolished by the witnesses’ accounts and statements documented in the report of Human Rights Watch.

Moreover, the claims of Syrian authorities about the violations and the violence having been committed and organized by armed terrorist gangs that were “incited and sponsored from abroad” and by foreign countries, crumble in view of what has been reported and documented. During the nine-month crackdown, the number of victims is estimated around 5,000 people, of whom at least 300 were children.

Despite the sanctions imposed recently by the Arab League on Syria and the increasing isolation of the country, the violence and the abuses did not stop, and there seems to be no change in the regime’s police. Maybe the worst has yet to come.

The article Syria, Human Rights Watch Report on Crimes Against Humanity appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Britain is on the verge of obtaining approval for a set of reforms that would limit the ability of the European Court of Human Rights to overrule British judges in immigration cases.

Kenneth Clarke, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, told the Daily Telegraph that the changes were intended to limit the use of the court to serious matters involving major points of law. “What we are trying to do is get the role of the court sorted out, so that it deals with serious human rights issues of the kind that require an international court,” he told the Telegraph.

“We want the court back to its proper business as an international court which takes up serious issues of principle when a member state or its courts or its parliament, are arguably in serious breach of the [European Human Rights] convention.”

Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

The article Britain Seeks to Limit Human Rights Law Court’s Remit appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

From the moment Romania officially entered the European Union in 2007, policies were defined, measures were taken and funds were allocated. But while the country awaits the result, the need to address further issues is starting to build.The European status subscribes to rights and responsibilities, but after four years, negotiations are still at a critical point.

Recently, three Romanian citizens living in Paris have felt that being Romanian does not always involve being European. On 9^th of September, three Romanian citizens, one of them a student at Sorbonne, were accused of theft on the grounds that one of their outfits bore a similarity with that of the real culprit.

The local police was alerted about the theft of a mobile phone by the victim in Paris, Pigalle. The description of the persons involved was a random match to two young Romanians who happened to be not far from the site of the theft, along with their friend – a female student at Sorbonne.

Without any other consideration, the three were taken to the police station. Not only were they arrested, but also treated with a complete lack of respect. The police were quoted for mockingly saying that there might be another Sorbonne for poor Romanian people and one even shouted at them: “Shut-up, I don’t like Romanians!”

Fortunately, the story had a happy ending with the intervention of the press but the only apology given by the judge was that “unfortunately other persons from your country steal phones and you suffered the consequences.” The three young Romanians have since decided to sue the French state, according to Hotnews.ro

The incident comes after the football match between France and Romania earlier this month. In the day of the match the TV show Les Guignols de l’Info presented in the form of satire several discriminating observations about Romanians. Examples ranged from “We know that the Romanian national sport is begging, not football” to “We have to pay attention to their game?

Why – is it tough? No, they have lice” or “I have a good joke – do you know how you say trashcan in Romanian? …Bucharest.” Another similar TV discussion took place last year in July, on the same channel France 2, where the humorist Jonathan Lambert showed the Romanian greeting as “S’il vous plait, Messieurs!” with a raising hand.

The whole studio repeated the gesture. Around the same time, France decided to expel all Roma people (n. gypsies) in France to Romania, giving them 300 Euros as incentive. Not to say that Romanians are necessarily different from the Romany community, but their similar sounding names does not have the same background.

However, Romanians or Roma, they are all Europeans and should have access to Europe on the same level as the rest of the Union.Moreover, discrimination and a lack of respect was proved by the lively journalist Nelson Monfort on France 2, when he added to the news about the French swimmer of Romanian origins, Roxana Maracineanu: “We should take care on this issue with Romanians.”

Being in Europe gives you the basic right of fair treatment under the law, without stereotypes and discrimination. The effort has to come from both side: West Europe and East Europe.

If we take a look at the low rate (8, 6%) of absorption of European funds in Romania, the disastrous sporting ground of the aforementioned football match or the large number of Roma people with Romanian citizenship begging on the streets, we should compare them to some of the negative sides of our fellow European nations.

Eventually, being poor in financial capital or simply historical good fortune should not determine whether you are less European than others — should it?

The article Romania: To Be or Not to Be — European appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Amnesty International, the British non-governmental organization, and the international shop ‘Women Secret’ have released an advertising campaign by selling t-shirts and shorts around the 320 shops that they have in Spain, with the objective of supporting those women who suffer gender violence.

With the motto “You can´t keep gender violence as a secret,” the lingerie shop wants to donate around 40.000 Euros (around 55,500 dollars) to this NGO so that they could use it to support the gender violence cases.  Starting this month, this campaign will be available until the next summer.

This mini collection includes three shorts and three t-shirts with positive and solidarity  messages on it that encourage women to say “no” to gender violence. The garment, made by the designer Little is drawing, also includes a yellow logo from Amnesty International.

As the Women Secret´s chairman, Jaume Miquel, stated at the advertising campaign presentation in Madrid the chain is really worried about gender violence because they have around 1.150 employees, and at least 1.000 of them are women.

Miquel has also claimed that they did this campaign last year in Portugal with excellent results. What they did in the shop window was to announce for a short period of time ads with the motto “Coming up in 15 or three weeks” and the word ‘Secret’ covered by  a yellow tape, so people could just see the word ‘Women’ with a candlelight next to it.

On the other hand, the Amnesty International chairman´s, Ana Rebollar, pointed out that gender violence is “the most popular Human Right´s rape, because one of three women is hit, and is forced to have sex with her husband or boyfriend”.

Rebollar also wanted to highlight that according to the World Health Organization, the 70% of women who suffer from the abuse die due to gender violence episodes. This is the first death reason among women between 16 and 34 years old.

The non- governmental chairman also added that gender violence should be recognized by law as a “big crime”. Rebollar also stated that “in Spain the legislation doesn´t guarantee the victim’s protection and it doesn´t take care of the immigrant women that die on average five times more than the Spanish women”.

Today, ‘Women Secret’ has shops in 48 different countries all over the world and you can find it online at women’secret.com.

The article Women’Secret Against Gender Violence appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Uruguay is taking steps toward righting many wrongs committed during the tumultuous period of military rule. From 1973 until 1985 the South American country was run as a military dictatorship . During this time about 200 people are believed to have disappeared.

In 1986, as Uruguay was reestablishing itself as a democracy, the Expiry Law was passed. This law gave amnesty to many of the military personnel responsible for human rights abuses during the military rule. It also gave the president the power to choose which human rights abuse cases could be looked at by the courts.

During the height of the military regime’s rule at least 7,000 political prisoners were detained. Many of the people imprisoned by the regime have come out to say that they were tortured and abused. The Expiry Law kept the guilty safe and out of prosecution’s power. Even after outcries by those who were prisoners, their families and even international pressure, the law was never annulled. What is even more surprising is that the Uruguay Supreme Court has, on more than one occasion, concluded that the law is unconstitutional, yet until recently nothing has been done.

Uruguay’s current president, Jose Mujica, has finally decided to reopen 80 cases of abuse for investigation. This comes just a month after a failed attempt in Uruguay’s congress to annul the Expiry Law. Pressure from the Inter-American Human Rights Court paved the way for President Mujica to reopen the cases.

According to Presidential Secretary Alberto Breccia, all of this is being done for “ethical reasons” as well as a result of various human rights treaties that Uruguay has ratified.

Many of the abuses were perpetrated outside of the country. Uruguayan citizens were abducted and killed in various countries throughout South America. The military worked with neighboring countries in an operation dubbed “Operation Corridor.” This allowed the militaries of other countries to find, abduct, and eliminate leftist political opponents to the military regime in Uruguay.

Mujica was a guerilla that fought against the military dictatorship. During this time Mujica himself was captured and tortured by the military. It is surprising that a man who was subjected the cruelty of the military dictatorship would wait so long to allow the investigation of human rights abuses that he witnessed and lived though.

The last time Uruguay allowed an investigation into the crimes committed from 1973-1985 was in 2005 under President Tabare Vazquez. This investigation concluded that at least 38 people were executed or died as a result of torture at the hands of the military, although the number is most likely much higher.

President Mujica is expected to sign the decree to reopen the 80 cases by the end of this week. After that, the cases are given over to the courts, which will then decide how to go about each case and whether to open the archives containing the files about the cases that will be reopened or not. The reason for the delay in signing is to give relatives of victims the time to ask for their cases not to be reopened.

Although the Expiry Law is still in effect, Uruguay is taking measures to ensure justice. Lawmakers need to get on the same page and annul the law in order to bring down criminals of the regime and to give victims and their families the closure and justice that they deserve. For now all anyone can hope for is that the 80 cases that are to be reopened are successful in bringing down those responsible for the abuses and human rights violations that were committed.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/57813072@N05/

The article Jose Mujica, Uruguay Re-Opening 80 Cases of Human Rights Violations appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

RATKO MLADIC has been arrested. Here’s what did not happen: a team of 79 members of the Bosnian special forces – on the orders of the Bosnian government – did not helicopter into Serbia, without the permission or knowledge of the Serbian government, and execute him with a bullet to the head. That’s what did not happen.

There are some very good reasons why that did not happen. The first is that it would not only have been illegal, but detrimental to the very concept of law. The second is that it would have damaged an already tender relationship between Bosnia and Serbia, thus potentially risking the lives of many innocent people. The third is that it would have been immoral for a government to execute a man without trial, against the principle of universal human rights (particularly as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights articles 10 and 11). The fourth is, very simply, that the United States was not involved. When the United States assassinated Osama Bin Laden on May 1st, this is exactly what happened.

Ratko Mladic was allegedly responsible for war crimes just as serious as Bin Laden’s. He was a leading figure of the Bosnian Serb army during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, and in particular he is suspected of having been directly responsible for the Srebrenica massacre of 7,500 Muslim men in July 1995. He will be tried in The Hague.

Living, as I do, in London, I must ask what the UK government has to say about this. Foreign Secretary William Hague, commenting on the arrest, said that this ‘historic moment” would bring “belated justice for [Mladic's] victims”. I must also ask why exactly William Hague’s opinions on justice have changed so radically in the past month. After the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, Mr Hague “congratulated” the United States, praising President Obama’s proclamation that “justice has been done”. Needless to say, this is fundamental hypocrisy. Either justice lies in cold blooded illegal state assassination, or it lies in arrest and trial.

“If we believe in the most basic of moral principles, we will surely conclude that assassinating suspected criminals without trial is an abrogation of universal human rights, and therefore unconscionable.”

Geoffrey Robertson QC, following the May 1st assassination, made the very modest point that the West correctly “insisted upon judgement at Nuremberg” for the Nazi leadership, and that this has “confounded Holocaust-deniers ever since”. His conclusion on Bin Laden’s assassination is rather more convincing than Mr. Hague’s: “it is absurd to claim that justice has been done”.

If we believe in the most basic of moral principles, we will surely conclude that assassinating suspected criminals without trial is an abrogation of universal human rights, and therefore unconscionable. The arrest of Mladic is clearly a victory for international justice. Yet we must also ask why it is that individuals responsible for crimes just as heinous as Ratko Mladic and Osama Bin Laden are given a completely free pass. Ariel Sharon, the former Israeli general and Prime Minister from 2001-2006, is strongly suspected of responsibility for the 1973 Yom-Kippur war, and the massacre of 3,500 Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Rifaat al-Assad, the man directly responsible for the murder of 20,000 Sunni Muslims during the Hama Massacre of 1982, is currently living in Mayfair. Those who have denied Serbia membership of the EU on the basis of its failure to capture Mladic, have been unwittingly calling for the expulsion of the United Kingdom. Quite clearly, our own leadership does not believe in the most basic of moral principles.

The article On Tyrants and Trials, Ratko Mladic & Osama Bin Laden appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

This week the libel proceedings against Rue89, a French online journal, began in Paris. Behind the lawsuit is Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva – the younger daughter of the incumbent president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, who has been in power since 1990. Karimov is widely recognized as the leader of a dictatorship, and his regime has been widely criticized by several human right organizations and large segments of the international community.

The focus of the suit is an article from May 2010 titled “AIDS: Uzbekistan Represses at Home, but Parades in Cannes” which claims that Ms Karimova-Tillyaeva paid Western celebrities to attend her charity events in an attempt to ‘whitewash’ her country’s image. The article also identified Ms Karimova-Tillyaeva as the daughter of a “dictator”.

The French reporter behind the words, Augustin Scalbers, is accused of making defamatory statements about the 32-year-old philanthropist who works in Paris as Uzbekistan’s ambassador to the UN cultural body Unesco.

According to the BBC, she disputes Mr. Scalbers claim that she paid actress Monica Bellucci $270,800 to appear at a charity event to “whitewash” Uzbekistan’s poor human rights record. Her lawyers are seeking $48,000 in damages.

Mr. Scalbert says he can prove his claim, said the BBC

Numerous reports have described Uzbekistan as one of the worst places for human rights. Thousands of political and religious prisoners are systematically exposed to torture, abuse and eventually death. One notorious case was that of Muzafar Avazov who died in 2002 while imprisoned. According to Human Rights Watch, his remains showed clear signs of torture including large bloody wounds, heavy bruising and lack of fingernails. The medical examiners also found evidence that suggested Mr Avazov was immersed in boiling water – cooked.

Another victim of the notorious Uzbek jails, Mutabar Tadjibayeva, will be testifying for the defense. Ms Tadjibayeva is one of the most vocal human rights activists in Uzbekistan and was tortured and raped during her time in prison, which she was released from only after international pressure.

Eurasianet.org explained that plenty of other international media have called Karimov a “dictator” during his rule, but this is the first time the Karimov family has sued for libel outside of their country.

Last month, Scalbert was quoted for saying “It will be interesting to discuss in court whether Islam Karimov is a dictator or not.” The court hearing, which started on Thursday, will have witness statements from a handful of people who have been victimized by the Uzbek regime. “Islam Karimov is a dictator, and I will participate as a witness,and as a victim of torture by this dictatorial regime,” said one of the witnesses to the Telegraph.

Image provided by UZ01

The article Daughter of Uzbek President Karimov Sues French Website for Libel appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

On Sunday, the internationally renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei sat down with his wife Lu Qing at an unknown location for the first time since his arrest more than 40 days ago. His wife described the meeting as tense and inhibited and told correspondents from the BBC that their unification was watched by several other people, some taking notes, and she was told not to ask too many questions and mainly talk about family and health. Mr Ai, who suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes, ensured his wife that he was being taken care of and was in good health.

The artist was detained at Beijing’s airport on his way to Hong Kong last month and has remained incommunicado ever since. He is allegedly being held under investigation for suspected “economic crimes” according to the BBC but his detention has come amid a nationwide crackdown on political dissidents following the revolts in the Middle East. Mr Ai is well known as a vocal critic of the Chinese government and has championed social activism since the earthquake in the Sichuan province, 2008. His work has delivered recurring provocations against the government which is why the greater question seems why he wasn’t detained before.

Calls for information and his release had so far led to a dead end as China’s foreign ministry has insisted, according to a BBC report, that Mr. Ai’s case has “nothing to do with human rights or freedom of expression.”

One of Mr Ai’s friends, the lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan, met with Lu on Monday and determined that the artist is most likely being held under residential surveillance within the capital. According to Chinese law, a suspect can be held in this type of detention for up to six months before a decision is made on the case, a research manager from the human rights group Dui Hua Foundation explained to the Washington Post. But in most cases, the law is used to legitimize a ‘blackout’ of the whereabouts of a suspect outside the regular detention facilities where a case must be processed within 30 days.

The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU officials have respectfully criticized Beijing for ‘backsliding’ on human rights – but where is the outrage?

In an online column for The Telegraph, one of Britain’s best known politicians Boris Johnson, mayor of London, raises this significant point: “Where are the candlelit vigils, the rallies for Ai Weiwei? Where are the newspaper campaigns and petitions, the why-oh-why-oh-weiweis?”

His own answer? The West has acquired an unflattering habit of tip-toeing around the Chinese government, afraid that with China slowly overtaking America as a ruling economy, any critical assessment of China’s flagrant disregard for human rights towards its own public could turn up a financial checkmate. “I had forgotten that this is the Chinese Year of the Rabbit. What we are hearing is the silence of the rabbits — and all the global rabbits are hoping that if they keep still and say nothing, they will be rewarded with nice, big, crispy wodges of Chinese lettuce.”

Madame Fu Ying, the former Chinese ambassador to London, has said that any “fuss” about Ai Weiwei’s detention by Western media is “condescending”. In response, Johnson argues that China’s free reign to behave in ways found unacceptable by the rest of the world should be regarded as even more “condescending.” Why does the governments of this world continue to allow China to export their economic superiority and culture while import is limited to raw material and currency? Why do those with the greatest power to foster freedom of existence in the Chinese society deliberately gag themselves when the chance arrises to speak up on relevant problematics?

The West rightfully opened its arms to the potential of the largest population on this planet, no question about that, but in its excitement (and greed), something seems to have been lost in translation: This is not the West, individual freedom is not a right and no matter how famous you are, the rule of the state is absolute. Admittedly, Mr Ai has been given an unusually great amount of leeway but that should only add to the cause – If this is really about taxes, he should be tried as others would in the same situation. And as far as Western leaders are concerned, they should stop hiding in the bushes and stand up for their supposed principles in the face of the Chinese dragon.

Image provided by espaciovirtual

The article Ai Weiwei Allowed First Visit in 43 Days, Where is the Outrage? appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.