Human Rights

Activists Target 'World of Coca-Cola'

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:03:04 -0500

by Matthew Cardinale

ATLANTA, Georgia - Activists from the U.S. and Colombia are targeting the World of Coca-Cola museum, located near its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, accusing the company of "union busting", paying its workers "poverty wages", and engaging in environmentally destructive practices.

Oil Giant Chevron Accused of 'Extortion' on Capitol Hill

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:45:24 -0500

by Han Shan

Chevron is piling on the lobbyists and PR firms in an extraordinary effort to evade responsibility for its massive toxic contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Building a World Fit for Children

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:17:17 -0500

by Marie Staunton

To 13-year-old Mumo Katumo, the anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is an utter irrelevance. For the past year Mumo and her family have been struggling to stay alive in the drought-ridden Masinga district of eastern Kenya with little food or water and with no hope of going to school.

Mumo describes the pain of her hunger: "You go numb. You lose the ability to do anything. Sometimes I think it is like the feeling of dying."

UN Urges Global Action on Children

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:52:29 -0500

The UN children's agency says one billion children around the world are still deprived of food, shelter, clean water and healthcare 20 years after the adoption of a treaty guaranteeing children's rights.

Hundreds of millions more children are constantly threatened by violence, Unicef said in a report released on Thursday assessing the situation two decades after the UN adopted the Convention of the Rights of the Child on November 20 1989.

'For Afghans, There Is No Refuge'

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:35:11 -0500

by Olivia Ward

For most of her life, the young Afghan woman was fleeing war. But everywhere she went it stalked her.

"She was very quiet and shy, and you could barely hear her speak," said Ashley Jackson of Oxfam. "When the civil war began in the early 1990s, she left Kabul and went to the border. But her son was killed by a rocket attack.

"She went to Pakistan and lived in a refugee settlement, and her daughter was taken by a man who wanted her. When the Taliban fell and the family finally got back to Kabul, her husband was killed.

Australian PM Kevin Rudd Issues Apology to British Child Migrants

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:22:50 -0500

by Bonnie Malkin in Sydney

Speaking to a crowd of 900 survivors of state care who had gathered in Canberra, Mr Rudd apologised for his country's role in the migrations, which continued until the 1960s.

He also apologised to the 500,000 "Forgotten Australians" who were taken from their families and placed in care homes around the country.

Red Cross Says Millions of Displaced Are Neglected

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:10:09 -0500

GENEVA - The international Red Cross on Thursday warned that the majority of the world's 26 million displaced people were often neglected because they found refuge with local communities instead of in camps.

"The focus on camps means that what happens to the majority of displaced people -- those who seek refuge with host communities -- is often ignored," International Committee of the Red Cross chief Jakob Kellenberger said.

Drone Race to a Known Future

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:37:20 -0500

by Tom Engelhardt

For drone freaks (and these days Washington seems full of them), here's the good news: Drones are hot! Not long ago -- 2006 to be exact -- the Air Force could barely get a few armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the air at once; now, the number is 38; by 2011, it will reputedly be 50, and beyond that, in every sense, the sky's the limit.

Congress, Accountability, and the Goldstone Report

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:57:03 -0500

by Salena Tramel

I have been to the Gaza Strip twice and southern Israel once since the 2008-09 war, where I had the opportunity to listen to accounts from both people about what had happened to them during that time. Israelis showed me thickly walled rooms that act as bomb shelters and explained air raid siren systems in Sderot and Ashqelon. As difficult as their situation was, nothing could have prepared me for the level of destruction I found in Gaza.

Bipartisan Attack on International Humanitarian Law

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:30:10 -0500

by Stephen Zunes

In a stunning blow against international law and human rights, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Tuesday attacking the report of the United Nations Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict.