Courage flies beneficiary, Emin Huseynov, out of Azerbaijan to seek asylum in Switzerland. * Leading Azerbaijani press freedom campaigner travelled to Bern last night after being sheltered at the Swiss Embassy in Baku since August last year * Courage has been involved with Huseynov’s case for over six months after contact was established with Julian Assange in early 2015 * Courage is providing support for Huseynov in his application for political asylum in Switzerland * European Court of Human Rights has confirmed that Azerbaijan is guilty of serious infringments of Emin Husenyov’s basic rights, including the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment While audiences around the world were glued to the opening of the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, attended by European national leaders, a secret Swiss Air Force flight made its way from Baku to Bern, Switzerland.
Inside was “Azerbaijan’s Julian Assange,” Emin Huseynov, who has spent the last year holed up in the Swiss Embassy in Baku after a government crackdown against journalists and activists. I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss. DHAKA, BANGLADESH—Some days are good for Meem, others she likes to forget as quickly as possible. The first time I saw Meem, which was also my first day at work at a sweatshop, she was having a good day despite the wretched heat. She sat cross-legged on the concrete floor, a tiny, frail figure among piles of collars, cuffs and other parts of unstitched shirts. She had a pair of cutters in her hands, much like eyebrow tweezers, and she was trimming threads from a navy collar. She cleared one collar after another of threads until the big pile, which had been bigger than her, was no more.
She did that from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., except for an hourlong lunch break. Later, she said, it had been a good day: the electricity didn’t play hooky (which meant the three ceiling fans worked all day) and so it wasn’t oppressively hot, she had fish curry for lunch, and the floor manager didn’t yell at her for humming too loudly. It was a very good day, she said again, dancing a little jig. View 3 photos zoom.
IPS – Army’s Former Sex Slaves Testify in Guatemala | Inter Press Service | Rights & Liberties. ZIMBABWE: Minister Trying to Create a "Paper Tiger" Human Rights Commission. HARARE, Oct 10, 2011 (IPS) - Zimbabwe’s justice minister is frantically trying to fend off probes into allegations of human rights abuses perpetrated by President Robert Mugabe’s regime since the country’s independence in 1980. Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa, a member of the highest decision-making body of the ruling ZANU-PF party, the Politburo, is reportedly trying to weaken the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) so that it would not be able to investigate decades of governing party abuses. The commission was established in March 2010 but has been dormant due to the absence of an enabling act that clearly spells out its scope of work.
In late 2010, Chinamasa introduced a bill that seeks to operationalise the commission, which is currently being debated in the lower house. If approved, it will be submitted to the Senate, but will require Mugabe to sign it into law. Chinamasa, in response, said parliament would make its decision on the bill soon. Sri Lanka's claim to be second to none on human rights debunked - storify.com. The Future of Syria | Refugee Children in Crisis. Al Jazeera Magazine: Natural born stateless - Press Office. At the beginning of 2013, more than 45 million people had been forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of armed conflict, violence and human rights violations, and the number is rising every day.
In the October issue of the Al Jazeera digital magazine, we tell some of their stories - from the Rohingya babies born stateless in IDP camps in Myanmar to the Afghans risking their lives to reach European cities where they encounter dangers and difficulties as real as those they fled. We explore the power of the Right of Return to unite generations of Palestinians, whether they reside in refugee camps in the Middle East or comfortable homes in the West. While, in Lebanon, we meet Palestinians who have once again been forced to flee - this time from the conflict in Syria. And, as environmental disasters, climate change and unsustainable development destroy ever more homes and livelihoods, we ask if it is time to reconsider the definition of a refugee.
Featured in this edition: Human rights are the best weapon to combat hunger, report says. By Mark Tran, The GuardianWednesday, September 26, 2012 7:50 EDT A report by civil society groups says it is impossible to tackle the causes of hunger if existing power relations remain untouched Human rights are the most powerful tool to ensure efforts against hunger and malnutrition tackle structural causes and are not reduced to short-term strategies, civil society groups said in a report published on Tuesday. Who Decides About Global Food and Nutrition?
– Strategies to Regain Control argues that it is impossible to combat the causes of hunger while keeping existing power relations untouched. “Food and power are related. The report expresses particular concern about the increasing influence and control of agribusinesses and financial companies over food and nutrition. The report points to a faultline in how to deal with food security – access to safe and nutritious food. Civil society groups are making themselves heard on the issues surrounding food security and hunger. Human rights | Law. Gary McKinnon will not be extradited, Theresa May announces | World news. The home secretary, Theresa May, defied the American authorities on Tuesday by halting the extradition of British computer hacker Gary McKinnon, a decision criticised by the US state department but welcomed with delight by campaigners and politicians across parties in the UK. In a dramatic House of Commons statement, May told MPs she had taken the quasi-judicial decision on human rights grounds because of medical reports warning that McKinnon, 46, who has Asperger's syndrome and suffers from depressive illness, could kill himself if sent to stand trial in the US.
The irony that May's most popular decision as home secretary was taken because of the Human Rights Act, which she has pledged to scrap, was not lost on her critics. But in a promised overhaul of the extradition laws that accompanied the decision, May indicated that future home secretaries would be stripped of the very power that she had used to save the computer hacker. "He felt like he was a dead person," Sharp said. Special Coverage on Conflict Minerals. Jump to: Overview | Current Policy | Solutions | Campaigns & Programs Your mobile phone, your computer, your portable music player, and your gaming system all fuel fighting in eastern Congo. Take Action Now » Overview Armed groups earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year by trading conflict minerals. These minerals are in all our electronics devices. Government troops and militias fight to control the mines, murdering and raping civilians to fracture the structure of society.
What Are Conflict Minerals? Gold, tin, tantalum, tungsten (the "3 T's"), are mined in eastern Congo and are in all consumer electronics products. Locals in mining communities are forced to take part in the illicit mining economy. Minerals are smuggled out of Congo through neighboring countries, then shipped to smelters around the world for refinement. We must work together to bring about an end to the trade in conflict minerals. Current Policy The Dodd-Frank Legislation As a part of the U.S. Dodd-Frank FAQ Solutions. The Price of Precious. The first child soldier pops out of the bush clutching an AK-47 assault rifle in one hand and a handful of fresh marijuana buds in the other. The kid, probably 14 or 15, has this big, goofy, mischievous grin on his face, like he’s just stolen something—which he probably has—and he’s wearing a ladies’ wig with fake braids dangling down to his shoulders.
Within seconds his posse materializes from the thick, green leaves all around us, about ten other heavily armed youngsters dressed in ratty camouflage and filthy T-shirts, dropping down from the sides of the jungle and blocking the red dirt road in front of us. Our little Toyota truck is suddenly swarmed and immobilized by a four-and-a-half-foot-tall army. This is on the road to Bavi, a rebel-controlled gold mine on the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s wild eastern edge. The mine in the Bavi area is a perfect example. It’s controlled by a potbellied warlord called Cobra Matata, though “controlled” may be a strong word. “Sigara! Conflict Minerals. Organ Gangs Force Poor to Sell Kidneys for Desperate Israelis. Aliaksei Yafimau shudders at the memory of the burly thug who threatened to kill his relatives. Yafimau, who installs satellite television systems in Babrujsk, Belarus, answered an advertisement in 2010 offering easy money to anyone willing to sell a kidney.
He saw it as a step toward getting out of poverty. Instead, Yafimau, 30, was thrust into a dark journey around the globe that had him, at one point, locked in a hotel room for a month in Quito, Ecuador, waiting for surgeons to cut out an organ, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its December issue. The man holding Yafimau against his will was Roini Shimshilashvili, a former kickboxer who was an enforcer for an international organ-trafficking ring, according to evidence gathered by police in Kiev. Yafimau says that when he pleaded with Shimshilashvili to let him get out of the deal and go home, the big man sliced the air with Thai-boxing moves and threatened him. Violence and Coercion ‘Exploit Shortages’ That U.S. Not Enough Donors. Slavery: A 21st Century Evil. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Source: United Nations Department of Public Information Preamble Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge, Now, therefore, Article 1.
OHCHR Report 2010. Obama bans U.S. entry for suspected human rights violators. Groups Hail Obama's Order for Mass Atrocities Board - IPS ipsnews.net | Rights & Liberties. Human Rights. HumanRightsWatch.
Workers/labor. Lgbt. War crimes. Torture. Immigrant. Human trafficking. Indigenous rights.