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Human Rights

Nicaragua And The Western Human Rights Industry

April 1, 2021 Stephen Sefton, Tortilla con Sal. , , ,
Every area of reporting has become increasingly shaped by corporate funding either directly or else indirectly, via government bodies strongly under corporate influence. The Western intellectual managerial classes have generally abandoned basic reporting standards. This is self-evident to anyone who has tried to challenge false received wisdom in relation to NATO country aggression against sovereign nations from Cuba and Venezuela to Libya and Syria. Western organizations and institutions claiming to be accountable and transparent are not – neither UN bodies nor regional institutions like the Organization of American States, nor any of the major international NGOs. Practically invariably, reporting by these kinds of agencies systematically omits facts inconvenient to their findings, denies relevant actors a fair chance to make their case, and systematically avoids corroboration of their findings by genuinely independent sources.

China Issues Annual US Human Rights Report

March 26, 2021 By Chen Qingqing and Cao Siqi, Global Times. , , ,
China published its annual US human rights situation report on Wednesday at a time when the US-led ideological battle against China has intensified, mainly over Xinjiang and other domestic issues.  By highlighting the COVID-19 turning into a human tragedy, disorder in American democracy vividly reflected in the Capitol riots, and recent growing discrimination against ethnic minorities including Asian-Americans, China slammed the US' terrible human rights record, which makes its remarks on other countries' human rights situation pure "hypocrisy and double standards."

Biden Administration Cynically Manipulates LGBTQ Rights Struggle To Advance Empire

March 12, 2021 Morgan Artyukhina, Liberation News. , , ,
Perhaps feeling wind in his sails after an executive order reversing Trump-era anti-LGBTQ policies, US President Joe Biden is now seeking to make defense of LGBTQ rights abroad a part of US imperialist foreign policy. The hypocrisy of his claim is all too apparent: LGBTQ people continue to lack basic rights here in the US, and many of Washington’s closest allies have abysmal records on the issue. “There will be no ambiguity,” a senior Biden administration official recently told the media. “This is not the word of one envoy or cabinet secretary. Biden wants this to be seen as the policy of the United States government. This administration prioritizes LGBTQ rights as human rights.” “We are lucky to have close allies in Europe who are forward-leaning and in the right place when in it comes to these issues, whether in Chechnya or Russia.

No Human Rights In Texas

February 25, 2021 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Texas, the Lone Star state, was once a part of Mexico but broke away after that nation outlawed slavery. Such reactionary beginnings have carried over into its governance in the 21st century and millions of people now pay a high price as a result. That state’s government perpetuates its history by committing itself to being regulated as little as possible. Texas is disconnected from the two electric grids which provide power to the rest of the country. Its system failed under the strain of a freak snowstorm and people went without power and heat and even without water. Consumers pay unregulated utilities who are allowed to charge a fluctuating wholesale price which soars when demand is high. Those lucky few whose power stayed on now have bills in the thousands of dollars .

Firsthand Report On The Crisis In Haiti: ‘The People Are Screaming For Help’

February 15, 2021 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , ,
Jovenel Moïse's term as president in Haiti ended on Sunday, February 7, but he is refusing to leave office with the support of the Biden administration, the United Nations and other western imperialist countries and institutions. Moïse was placed in power by the United States and is ruling unilaterally by decree. He is violently repressing anyone who challenges his power. Clearing the FOG speaks with Wilkenson Bruna, a filmmaker and political activist in Haiti, about the dire situation, the events surrounding Moïse's refusal to step down and what people in the United States can do to support the rights of the Haitian people.

Forced Labor In The United States

February 13, 2021 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
By any measure, the United States has the worst human rights record among the nations called democratic or developed or advanced or “free world” or any of the other labels that rich capitalist countries use to describe themselves. The U.S. has the worst health care system in that group, the worst benefits for workers, and the worst income inequality. It also has the dubious distinction of being the world’s biggest jailer, with some 2.3 million people behind bars. This country which treats its people so terribly is also the one most likely to project its evil doing on to others. There is a method to the madness.

UN Special Rapporteur Urges US To Lift The Blockade Against Venezuela

February 13, 2021 Mision Verdad, Orinoco Tribune. , , , ,
The Special Rapporteur of the United Nations (UN) on the effects of sanctions on human rights, Alena Douhan, held a press conference today before leaving Venezuela. Douhan detailed the impact of the United States’ unilateral coercive measures on the Venezuelan people. Douhan reported that the unilateral “sanctions” violate International Law. The conclusion followed Douhan’s comprehensive report on damages caused by coercive measures implemented by Washington and its European partners against Venezuela, and specified that the final report will be presented to the UN in September 2021. Douhan urged the interlocutors to continue presenting additional material so that she can include them in her final report.

UN Independent Expert: ‘This Is How The Human Rights Industry Works’

January 30, 2021 Geraldina Colotti, Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
Indeed, a “human rights industry” exists, and many officials of the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner [for Human Rights], diplomats, activists from non-governmental organisations, human rights teachers, and, of course, also many “independent experts” and rapporteurs are more or less opportunistic. These people consider themselves “better” than others, but do not necessarily feel solidarity with the victims of human rights violations. Some of my bosses were models of integrity and professionalism, such as Professor Theo van Boven, Professor Kurt Herndl, Judge Jakob Muller, or High Commissioners Bertrand Ramcharan and Navi Pillay, but many others are simply there for good pay, prestige and other benefits.

UN Expert: End US Sanctions On Syria

January 16, 2021 Aaron Maté, The Grayzone. , , ,
An independent United Nations expert is calling on the US to lift its crippling sanctions on Syria. Under the Caesar Act, US sanctions explicitly target Syria’s reconstruction in the aftermath of a catastrophic 10-year war. Alena Douhan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the impact of sanctions, says that the US sanctions are illegal and depriving Syrian civilians of their basic needs. “People shouldn’t die, people shouldn’t suffer, and people shouldn’t fear whether they can survive after tomorrow, because they have neither medicine or food, because of the sanctions applied,” Douhan says.

Violent Right Wing Forces Have Been Activated, It Requires Strategic Action To Stop Them

January 10, 2021 Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Since the assault on the US Capitol on January 6 by right-wing Trump supporters, the fallout has been rapid. The Democrats, both elected officials and voters, were quick to jump on the impeachment train. Some elected officials are calling for Members of Congress who supported the events to resign and to refuse to seat them in the new Congress. Employers are firing employees who participated or supported the events. And, people on the Left are cheering on social media censorship and calling for stronger laws to go after domestic terrorists. It is important in times of crisis like this to pause, take a deep breath and think about the ramifications of our responses given the present makeup of the US political structure.

The Future Will Only Contain What We Put Into It Now

January 2, 2021 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , ,
At Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, we take the UN Charter as the foundation of our work. To advance its goals is an essential step for the construction of humanity, which is a concept of aspiration rather than a concept of fact; we are not yet human beings, but we strive to become human. Imagine if we lived in a world without war and with respect for international law, if we lived in a world that honoured fundamental human rights and tried to promote the widest social progress? This would a be a world where the productive resources would no longer be used for military hardware but would be used to end hunger, to end illiteracy, to end poverty, to end houselessness, to end – in other words – the structural features of indignity.

This Is How We Fight For Our Human Rights

December 21, 2020 Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. , , ,
It was ten years ago last week that the Arab Spring began. I recall it well as the day before Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia and ignited a revolutionary movement, I stood in the snow for hours protesting outside the White House with hundreds of veterans against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Inside the White House, President Obama was telling the press how well the wars were going. Outside, soldiers who fought in those wars told a different story. Tired of symbolic actions, many involved in that protest held a series of meetings afterwards that resulted in organizing the occupy encampment on Freedom Plaza in October 2011.

Canada Will Violate Human Rights If It Extradites Huawei Executive To The US

December 20, 2020 Hispan TV, Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou, a top executive of Huawei, argued that the Canadian government would violate international law if it extradites her to the United States. The Canadian national media outlet CBC reported this Saturday that, according to new documents presented on Friday by Meng’s defense before the court in Vancouver (southwest Canada), the alleged actions of their client “have no connection” with the United States. Meng’s defense, in its latest attempt to prevent her extradition to the United States, denied Washington’s jurisdiction to indict a Chinese national for her activities outside of US soil, and implicating a non-US executive of a British bank.

UN Experts Concerned About Charges Against US Indigenous Leader

December 17, 2020 United Nations. , , ,
Nicholas Tilsen, human rights defender of the Oglala-Lakȟóta Sioux Nation and president of the indigenous-led NDN Collective, is due in court on 18 December, charged with four felonies and three misdemeanours after he and others blocked a road leading to a fireworks celebration event, led by President Donald Trump, which was held on 4 July at the South Dakota site in the Black Hills region.   “Obviously we cannot pre-judge the outcome of the case against Nicholas Tilsen, but we are seriously concerned about his arrest and the charges brought against him in connection with the exercise of his rights as an indigenous person, particularly the right to assembly”, the five UN Special Rapporteurs said.  

The Black Alliance For Peace Calls For People(s)-Centered Human Rights

December 16, 2020 the Black Alliance for Peace. , ,
The global economic crisis of neoliberal capitalism—exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—has exposed the ethical, moral and political contradictions of the liberal interpretation of human rights that contends these rights can be viewed separately from the political economy, global structures and power relationships. Operating from the false premise that human rights are objective and politically neutral, neoliberals began weaponizing the framework in the 1990s as an instrument that rationalized naked imperialist interventions. Humanitarian interventionism and the “responsibility to protect” became the contemporary white-supremacist expression of the “white man’s burden” that involved “saving” natives in the global South from their autocratic rulers.
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