Daily Archives: April 15, 2014

USA

UN Human Rights Committee Finds US in Violation on 25 Counts

TruthOut

Adam Hudson

(Illustration: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t)
(Illustration: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While President Obama told the country to “look forward, not backward” when it came to Bush’s torture program, the United Nations has taken a different route. Recently, the UN Human Rights Committee issued a report excoriating the United States for its human rights violations. It focuses on violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the country is party. The report mentions 25 human rights issues where the United States is failing. This piece will focus on a few of those issues – Guantanamo, NSA surveillance, accountability for Bush-era human rights violations, drone strikes, racism in the prison system, racial profiling, police violence, and criminalization of the homeless.

Continue reading UN Human Rights Committee Finds US in Violation on 25 Counts →

Environment, Peru

COP Out? Peru Pulling the Plug on Environmental Oversight in View of COP 20

Alianza Arkana

peruPeru was selected to host the COP 20 this December, widely considered to be the paramount meeting on global climate change strategy. Yet only recently, the Peruvian Minister of Energy and Mines, Eleodoro Mayorga Alba, announced that a new Peruvian law would potentially eliminate submission and approval of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for oil and gas companies during the seismic testing phase. This means that already haphazard and irresponsible enforced oversight practices required for petroleum companies would be further undercut, no longer requiring participatory environmental research prior to exploration.

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Kenya

Kenya faces uphill battle to revamp police force

Mail & Guardian

Reuben Kyama

Kenyans are losing patience with their ill-equipped and notoriously corrupt police force.

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Poorly paid police officers and their families often have to share cramped and dilapidated quarters in Nairobi.
Their capital tarred with the nickname “Nairobbery” and under almost constant threat of attack by Islamist militants, Kenyans are losing patience with the ill-equipped and notoriously corrupt police force.

Continue reading Kenya faces uphill battle to revamp police force →

Immigration, USA

More Deportations Follow Minor Crimes, Records Show

New York Times
GINGER THOMPSON and SARAH COHENA
With the Obama administration deporting illegal immigrants at a record pace, the president has said the government is going after “criminals, gang bangers, people who are hurting the community, not after students, not after folks who are here just because they’re trying to figure out how to feed their families.”

But a New York Times analysis of internal government records shows that since President Obama took office, two-thirds of the nearly two million deportation cases involve people who had committed minor infractions, including traffic violations, or had no criminal record at all. Twenty percent — or about 394,000 — of the cases involved people convicted of serious crimes, including drug-related offenses, the records show.

Deportations have become one of the most contentious domestic issues of the Obama presidency, and an examination of the administration’s record shows how the disconnect evolved between the president’s stated goal of blunting what he called the harsh edge of immigration enforcement and the reality that has played out.

Continue reading More Deportations Follow Minor Crimes, Records Show →

trafficking

Pope Francis says human trafficking is ‘a crime against humanity’

Police from around the world and religious leaders pledge to work together and to fight against human trafficking

theguardian.com – Sent by Magdalene Randall, SNDdeN

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Pope Francis men privately with four women, all former sex workers who were the victims of trafficking. Photograph: ZUMA/REX
Pope Francis has described human trafficking as “a crime against humanity” as international police chiefs and religious figures pledged in the Vatican to work together to fight modern-day slavery.

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Children, Church

Pope Francis on clerical sexual abuse: Not one step back

Vatican Radio

church2(Vatican Radio) “I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children.

The Church is aware of this damage, it is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church, and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and the sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, we have to be even stronger. Because you cannot interfere with children”. This was Pope Francis’ clear message to members of BICE [International Catholic Child Bureau] whom he received Friday in audience at the Vatican. Emer McCarthy reports Listen: Real, mp3

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Environment

Mapping ecological conflicts

Eco Jesuit

env-maps

Paula Sendín
Many countries are affected by multiple ecological conflicts, often generated by the increasing demand for energy and natural resources. To spatially illustrate these ecological conflicts globally and the spaces of resistance, the Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities and Trade (EJOLT) project launched the Atlas of Environmental Justice, an online interactive online mapping platform detailing around 1,000 environmental conflicts (and growing) around the world.

Continue reading Mapping ecological conflicts →