Recently in Rights Category

Poison Pill Slipped Into Indian Health Bill. Michelle Chen. In These Times. 7/09/2008.

Pro-life amendment used to derail legislation.

When it comes to their health, American Indian women face extraordinary barriers -- from high disease risks to increased incidents of sexual violence. They now face another obstacle, rooted in the political battleground of abortion.

INDIA: Public Hearings Grant Justice to Rural Women. Nitin Jugran. Inter Press Services. 6/02/2008.

SAWAI MADHOPUR, Rajasthan, Jun 2 (IPS) - The Indian state of Rajasthan is historically known for its cultural traditions and the epic tales of valour of its womenfolk are legendary. But sadly, today, this state fails to present a vibrant picture with regard to the status of its women who lead a backward existence.

New Criminal Record: 7.2 Million. Darryl Fear. Washington Post. 6/12/2008.

The number of people under supervision in the nation's criminal justice system rose to 7.2 million in 2006, the highest ever, costing states tens of billions of dollars to house and monitor offenders as they go in and out of jails and prisons.

We won't be Berlusconi's scapegoats, say Gypsies. Tom Kington. Guardian/UK. 6/15/2008.

Tom Kington in Rome meets families evicted by the city's new right-wing mayor at their isolated camp and hears them demand 'a few rights'

.Inside the RUF: at last the child soldiers of Sierra Leone have their say. Hannah Strange. Times Online/UK. 6/16/2008.

The trial of the rebel leaders behind a devastating civil war is soon to come to a close. The child soldiers who knew them tell their stories

Study: Language barrier can keep children from getting healthcare. Patrick McGee. Huston Star-Telegram. 6/16/2008.

Children from homes where English is not the primary language have far more health problems than other kids in the U.S. and have less access to health insurance.

The impact goes beyond those youngsters and their families, said study author Dr. Glenn Flores, director of general pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Destroying African Agriculture. Walden Bello. Foreign Policy in Focus. 6/03/2008.

Biofuel production is certainly one of the culprits in the current global food crisis. But while the diversion of corn from food to biofuel feedstock has been a factor in food prices shooting up, the more primordial problem has been the conversion of economies that are largely food-self-sufficient into chronic food importers. Here the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) figure as much more important villains.

Price rises hit Indonesia parents. Lucy Williamson. BBC. 6/04/2008.

Financial pressures in Indonesia are driving more families to give up their children, a report says.

FRANCE: Noble Ignorance Fails the Minorities. Hilaire Arvil. IPS. 6/04/2008.

PARIS, Jun 4 (IPS) - According to the French constitution, France has no minorities. French law makes it illegal to record citizens' ethnic origin or religion. But in the face of mounting discrimination, France recently introduced corrective institutions. However, the system is still in its infancy.

Analysis: US Terrorism List Also a Political Tool. Foster Klug. AP. 6/04/2008.

WASHINGTON - North Korea has not been linked to a terrorist attack in more than two decades, but it is still on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Now, it may be on the verge of its coveted goal of getting removed for reasons having little to do with terrorism.

Senate committee: Bush knew Iraq claims weren't true. Jonathan S. Landay. McClatchy. 6/05/2008.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials promoted the invasion of Iraq with public statements that weren't supported by intelligence or that concealed differences among intelligence agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday in a report that was delayed by bitter partisan infighting.

HEALTH-CUBA: Free Sex Change Operations Approved. Dalia Acosta. Inter Press Service. 6/06/2008.

HAVANA, Jun 6 (IPS) - New horizons opened up for transsexuals in Cuba with the approval of a Public Health Ministry resolution that establishes guidelines for their health care, including free gender reassignment operations.

Solving the global food crisis starts with women's rights. Yifat Susskind. The Progressive. 6/03/2008.

Solving the food crisis means empowering women.

U.S.-born children feel effects of immigration raids. Anna Gorman. 6/08/2008.

Federal agents say they try to act humanely when a parent is arrested, but advocates charge that youngsters are often traumatized and are sometimes left without supervision.

Japan's Ainu hope new identity leads to more rights. Takehiko Kambayashi. Christian Science Monitor. 6/09/2008.

URAKAWA, JAPAN - While Friday's parliamentary decision to recognize the ethnic Ainu as Japan's indigenous people is a major step for a country long proud of being ethnically homogeneous, for many members of the long-discriminated-against minority it's not enough.

111 Nations, But Not US, Adopt Cluster Bomb Treaty. Shawn Pogatchnik. AP. 5/31/2008.

 Dublin, Ireland - Chief negotiators of a landmark treaty banning cluster bombs predicted Friday that the United States will never again use the weapons, a critical component of American air and artillery power.

Sex trade traffickers get busy among cyclone orphans. Anne-Claire Duffay. The First Post/UK. 5/14/2008.

Sex trade traffickers are preying on child survivors of Burma's devastating Cyclone Nargis, writes Edward Loxton for The First Post. At least two suspected traffickers have been arrested in Rangoon since the cyclone hit, according to UNICEF's child protection officer in Burma, "A broker came to a shelter and tried to recruit children," she told the French news agency AFP. "The police intervened and made arrests."

How do Muslims view women's rights?. Christian Science Monitor. 5/16/2008.

Many Muslims believe that women should have the right to vote and to hold any job outside the home that they qualify for.

Hungry for Justice. Sameer Dossani. Foreign Policy In Focus. 5/30/2008.

When Paul Konar left his native India for the United States in 2006, he could never have imagined that less than two years later, he and several of his co-workers would be giving a lesson in Indian-style change making. Yet Konar, joined by his supporters and fellow fasters, has been on a vigil in Washington, DC for 17 days. He hasn't eaten anything since May 14.

Q&A: 'Biofuels Must Include the Poor'. Interview with Ali Mchumo. IPS. 5/30/2008.

ROME, May 30 (IPS) - Biofuels are being criticised for contributing to the rise in commodity prices, but their energy potential can be developed too, on condition "that the poor are part of the production chain."

By Rowan Wolf. 5/01/2004. Published at Portland Indy Media; Correspondences; Panopticon

Comments from Abuzaid in Iraq, Bush, and the Pentagon, all express disgust over the abuse (I'd call it torture) of prisoners being held at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. We are told it is "under investigation." Actually, it has been "under investigation" since January. The US public is being led to believe that this is an isolated incident by some rogue US soldiers. The story emerging paints a very different picture.

By Rowan Wolf. 12/19/2004 Published by Online Journal 6/18/04 under the title Creeping Fascism

Merriam Webster Dictionary fascism: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

I watched Gore Vidal on DemocracyNow yesterday saying that we lost the republic when the US Supreme Court illegally intervened in the Presidential election of 2000. He said that we are living in a fascist state. The day before that, I heard a caller to the Randi Rhodes (Air America) program read a list of the characteristics of a fascist state from Veterans for Peace, and decided she was right, and went to look for myself.

The Other Karen Tribe Antonio Graceffo. Boxun News. 5/22/2008.

The Long neck Karen (Karen-Padaung) are not actually Karen at all, but they are also refugees, escaping the genocidal madness in Burma. They have become a symbol of tourism in Thailand's Mae Hong Son province. On the Burmese side of the border, agents of the junta gather the Karen, Akha, Lihsu, Lahu and other tribal people into human zoos.

Family Seed Business Takes On Goliath of Genetic Modification. Marian Scott. The Edmonton Journal (Canada). 5/25/2008.

Heather Meek leafs through the seed catalogue she wrote on the family computer, on winter nights after the kids went to bed.There are Kahnawake Mohawk beans and Painted Mountain corn; Tante Alice cucumber and 40 varieties of heritage tomatoes.

Fair Trade: Spreading The Wealth. Sharon Cullars. One World Net. 5/28/2008.

CHICAGO - Before the advent of the Fair Trade system some 60 years ago, an average farmer in Ecuador could expect to receive only a few cents per pound for his crops -- barely enough to sustain himself, his family, and his farm.

New Look at Death Sentences and Race. Adam Liptak. NY Times. 4/29/2008.

About 1,100 people have been executed in the United States in the last three decades. Harris County, Tex., which includes Houston, accounts for more than 100 of those executions. Indeed, Harris County has sent more people to the death chamber than any state but Texas itself.

Global press freedom declines in 2007: study. The Age / AU. 4/30/08.

Global press freedom declined in 2007 for the sixth year running, with worrisome restrictions imposed in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, the rights group Freedom House has stated in a report.

UN: Biofuel Production 'Criminal Path' to Global Food Crisis. Environmental News Service. 4/29/2008.

GENEVA, Switzerland - The United States and the European Union have taken a "criminal path" by contributing to an explosive rise in global food prices through using food crops to produce biofuels, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food said today.At a press conference in Geneva, Jean Ziegler of Switzerland said that fuel policies pursued by the U.S. and the EU were one of the main causes of the current worldwide food crisis.

Chevron Complicit in Abuses in Burma - Rights Lobby. Marwaan Macan-Markar. Inter Press Services. 4/20/2008.

BANGKOK - An environmental group is warning U.S. energy giant Chevron to clean up its act in Burma or face legal proceedings where the multinational's links to gross human rights violations in the military-ruled country could be exposed.

Bolivia nationalises key firms. Al Jazeera. 5/01/2008.

The Bolivian president has nationalised the country's leading telecommunications company and announced plans to return four foreign-owned gas companies to state control.

No let up in India farm suicides. Prachi Pinglay. BBC. 5/05/2008.

The rate of farmer suicides in India's Maharashtra state has gone up in recent years despite expensive relief schemes, a government report says.

India rules out new farm debt aid. BBC. 4/22/2008.

India's agriculture minister has rejected calls for additional debt cancellation for millions of farmers.

Bangladesh children toil to survive. Al Jazeera. 4/14/2008.

It was a routine raid by Bangladeshi police on a textile factory in a shadowy suburb of the capital, Dhaka.

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden Hand. David Barstow. NY Times. 4/20/2008.

In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded "the gulag of our times" by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

Immigration agents detain hundreds at poultry plants. CNN. 4/17/2008

Federal immigration agents fanned out across five states Wednesday, detaining hundreds of employees of Pilgrim's Pride, one of the nation's largest poultry companies.

Seattle Battles the Homeless. Silja Talvi. In These Times. 3/27/2008.

Underneath the I-5 highway in south Seattle, Isaac Palmer had found a spot to sleep. Hidden away from public view, Palmer likely thought he had found a bit of safety in a city where many homeless people die, often as a result of hypothermia, illness, drug overdose or violent attack. But while tucked in his sleeping bag on June 3, 2007, Palmer, 66, was crushed to death by a brush-clearing machine rolling through the weeds that had been his cover.

High Rice Cost Creating Fears of Asia Unrest. Keith Bradsher. NY Times. 3/29/2008.

HANOI -- Rising prices and a growing fear of scarcity have prompted some of the world's largest rice producers to announce drastic limits on the amount of rice they export.

IMF backs shift in voting power. BBC. 3/28/2008.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed plans to redistribute voting power in the organisation.

Wed to Strangers, Vietnamese Wives Build Korean Lives. Norimitsu Onishi. NY Times. 3/30/2008.

KWANGMYONG, South Korea -- The two couples' baby girls were born last month only two days apart, the younger one on the morning of the Lunar New Year. Each girl, everyone later agreed, had her Korean father's forehead and her Vietnamese mother's nose.

Forty years after the shot rang out, race fears still haunt the US. Paul Harris. Guardian/UK. 3/30/2008.

Life has changed beyond recognition for many Americans since an assassin's bullet killed Martin Luther King in 1968. Yet despite the rise of a black middle class and Barack Obama's challenge for the White House, the racial divide still exists - and for an urban underclass, things have only got worse. Paul Harris reports from Memphis

Time runs out for islanders on global warming's front line. Douglass McDougall. Guardian/UK. 3/30/2008.

Rising sea levels threaten to flood many of the islands in the fertile Ganges delta, leading to an environmental disaster and a refugee crisis for India and Bangladesh

Hopes fade for Tanzanian miners. Al Jazeera. 3/30/2008.

Hopes are fading for dozens of miners trapped by floods in a pit in northern Tanzania, with the rescue operation being criticised as inadequate.

Mining forces out thousands in SA. BBC. 3/25/2008.

Nearly 20,000 South Africans have been displaced by mining giant Anglo American in its search for platinum, a BBC File on 4 investigation has found.

Mexico plans water supply boost. BBC. 3/25/2008.

Mexico is to make a major investment in water projects to try to guarantee that at least 95% of the population has access to clean drinking water by 2012.

BRAZIL: Growing Foreign Appetite for Land. Mario Osava. International Press Service. 3/24/2008.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 24 (IPS) - It is a question of "national sovereignty, not xenophobia," said the president of Brazil's land reform agency, INCRA, explaining the need to regulate foreign land ownership in Brazil.

Q&A: EU and U.S. Offering Special WTO Deal to Lure South Africa. International Press Service. 3/25/2008.

Interview with Rudi Dicks*

GENEVA, Mar 25 (IPS) - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has been an active civil society player in South Africa's decisions during the current World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Round of talks on non-agricultural market access (NAMA).

RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Pantanal Indians Threatened by Deforestation. Mario Osava. IPS. 2/09/2008.

CAMPO GRANDE, Brazil, Feb 9 (Tierramérica) - The indigenous peoples of the central-western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul do not look like the tribes portrayed in film, decked out in colourful clothing and adornments and depending on their natural surroundings to survive in the Amazon jungle. But some of their problems are similar to their Amazonian counterparts, and in some cases even more serious.

UN forum aims to end trafficking. BBC. 2/13/08.

The first major United Nations conference on the growing problem of human trafficking has opened in Vienna.

Peru Tribe Battles Oil Giant Over Pollution. Peter Collyns, BBC. 3/24/2008.

It is a familiar story. Big business moves into a pristine wilderness and starts destroying the environment and by turn the livelihoods of the indigenous people who live there.

Americas Slave Labor. Christopher Moraff. In These Times. 1/17/2008.

Inmates are being forced to work in toxic 'e-waste' sweatshops.

U.S. prisoners working for a computer-recycling operation run by Federal Prison Industries (FPI) are being exposed to a toxic cocktail of hazardous chemicals through their prison jobs while efforts by some prison officials to protect them have been met with stonewalling and subterfuge.

Bush orders clampdown on flights to US. Ian Traynor. Guardian. 2/11/2008.

EU officials furious as Washington says it wants extra data on all air passengers