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Human Rights

Another Club Gitmo Guest Kills Himself

Some of the most cartoonish pseudo-tough-guy, play-acting-warrior-low-lifes of the Right -- Rush Limbaugh, The Weekly Standard, National Review's Andy McCarthy -- have long referred to Guanta

Posted in guantanamo, Human Rights, war on terror

Yemeni Prisoner Muhammad Salih Dies At Guantánamo

It has just been reported that Muhammad Ahmad Abdallah Salih (also known as Mohammed al-Hanashi), a Yemeni prisoner at Guantánamo, has died, apparently by committing suicide.

Posted in guantanamo, Human Rights

The Rape of Gaza

How would you feel if you found out that an American school, paid for with your tax dollars, was bombed and completely destroyed by a US ally? This happened in Gaza just a few months ago, during Israel's now-infamous Operation Cast Lead.

Posted in Human Rights, war crimes, free gaza, Israel/Palestine

Underlying the Economic Crisis is a Human Rights Time Bomb

Underlying the economic crisis is an explosive human rights crisis. The economic downturn has aggravated abuses, distracted attention from them and created new problems. In the name of security, human rights were trampled on. Now, in the name of economic recovery, they are being relegated to the back seat. The world needs a new global deal on human rights - not paper promises but commitment and concrete action from governments.

Posted in financial crisis, Human Rights

Oil Firms and Loggers 'Push Indigenous People to Brink of Extinction'

Mashco-Piro woman on the Las Piedras river, south-east Peru (Photograph: Heinz Plenge Pardo/Frankfurt Zoological Society)

Five "uncontacted" tribes are at imminent risk of extinction as oil companies, colonists and loggers invade their territiories. The semi-nomadic groups, who live deep in the forests of Peru, Brazil and Paraguay, are vulnerable to common western diseases such as flu and measles but also risk being killed by armed gangs, according to a report by Survival International, which identifies the five groups as the most threatened on Earth.

Posted in deforestation, Human Rights, Indigenous peoples, oil

World Sitting on 'Powder Keg' of Social Unrest: Amnesty

Palestinians inspect the rubble of destroyed houses following an Israeli incursion into the town of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip in 2008. The world is sitting on a \"powder keg\" of social unrest, which risks exploding as human rights are eroded by the global economic slowdown, Amnesty International warned. (AFP/File/Said Khatib)

LONDON - The world is sitting on a "powder keg" of social unrest, which risks exploding as human rights are eroded by the global economic slowdown, Amnesty International warned.

But its annual report -- detailing abuses from China to Guantanamo Bay and from Sri Lanka to the ex-Soviet Union -- said the global meltdown also offers a chance to rebuild an economic framework putting human rights at its heart.

Posted in Human Rights, inequality

Chevron, Shell and the True Cost of Oil

The economy is a shambles, unemployment is soaring, the auto industry is collapsing. But profits are higher than ever at oil companies Chevron and Shell. Yet across the globe, from the Ecuadorian jungle, to the Niger Delta in Nigeria, to the courtrooms and streets of New York and San Ramon, Calif., people are fighting back against the world's oil giants.

Shell and Chevron are in the spotlight this week, with shareholder meetings and a historic trial being held.

Posted in big oil, Human Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2009
4:48 PM

CONTACT: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Tel: +1-212-216-1832
Email: hrwpress@hrw.org

China: Leading Civil Rights Lawyers Face Threats to Licenses

Government Should Guarantee Independence of the Legal Profession

NEW YORK - May 26 - More than 20 of China's most prominent civil rights lawyers face the possible loss of their right to practice law as an apparent official reprisal for their rights advocacy efforts, Human Rights Watch said today.

Under Chinese law, lawyers and law firms must get their licenses to practice renewed annually, a process sometimes marred by political considerations. These civil rights lawyers say that in recent weeks the Beijing judicial authorities have been trying to pressure their firms not to endorse their re-licensing applications.

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Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Links:
Posted in Human Rights, China

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2009
1:32 PM

CONTACT: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Tel: +1-212-216-1832
Email: hrwpress@hrw.org

Jordan: End Administrative Detention

Practice Is Routine, Arbitrary, and Undermines Rule of Law

AMMAN, Jordan - May 26 - Jordan should end administrative detention and abolish the Crime Prevention Law that authorizes the practice, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The 56-page report, “Guests of the Governor: Administrative Detention Undermines Rule of Law in Jordan,” details how governors and other officials routinely circumvent the criminal justice system when they detain people by administrative order and without judicial review.

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Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Links:
Posted in Human Rights, Jordan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2009
1:27 PM

CONTACT: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Tel: +1-212-216-1832
Email: hrwpress@hrw.org

Pakistan: Lift Swat Curfew for Trapped Civilians

Food, Water, Medicine Running Out in Conflict Zone

NEW YORK - May 26 - The Pakistani authorities should immediately lift a 24-hour curfew in place since May 18 in the Swat valley and adjoining areas of the Malakand Division of Pakistan’s Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), Human Rights Watch said today.
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Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Links:
Posted in Human Rights, Pakistan
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