Holocaust Memorial Berlin
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Zimbabwe-Now What?
Robert Mugabe just keeps getting caught-out, this time with his fingers in diamond mining. The Kimberly Process", a joint initiative (goverments, industries, civil society) to curb the trade of conflict diamonds will decide this week if it will suspend Zimbabwe's certification.
"Canadian Ian Smillie was one of the architects of the Kimberley Process set up seven years ago to try to end trade in conflict diamonds. He resigned earlier this year because he said the organization had failed to act against Zimbabwe over what he and some non-governmental organizations say are many gross human-rights abuses at the Chiadzwa diamond fields...Several informal miners at the diamond fields said the Zimbabwe army used helicopter gunships in an operation to take control of the Chiadzwa diamond field in the Marange district of eastern Manicaland last year. They said that many poverty stricken people digging for diamonds were shot and wounded and that an unknown number were killed. Others said they had been beaten and chased away by security forces." http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-03-voa49.cfm
The funny thing about Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe is that he has managed to get away with abuses which have been ongoing for a couple of decades. Every new crisis brings a moderate slap on the hand (at most) and he has somehow managed to convince other African states and other investment partners to support him...or has he been able to find leverage points with other parties to ensure that if he goes down, he won't do it alone?
"Canadian Ian Smillie was one of the architects of the Kimberley Process set up seven years ago to try to end trade in conflict diamonds. He resigned earlier this year because he said the organization had failed to act against Zimbabwe over what he and some non-governmental organizations say are many gross human-rights abuses at the Chiadzwa diamond fields...Several informal miners at the diamond fields said the Zimbabwe army used helicopter gunships in an operation to take control of the Chiadzwa diamond field in the Marange district of eastern Manicaland last year. They said that many poverty stricken people digging for diamonds were shot and wounded and that an unknown number were killed. Others said they had been beaten and chased away by security forces." http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-03-voa49.cfm
The funny thing about Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe is that he has managed to get away with abuses which have been ongoing for a couple of decades. Every new crisis brings a moderate slap on the hand (at most) and he has somehow managed to convince other African states and other investment partners to support him...or has he been able to find leverage points with other parties to ensure that if he goes down, he won't do it alone?
Friday, November 6, 2009
Somalia: At Least it Keeps Human Rights Groups Busy
The latest news comes out of Somalia where an "adulterer" has been stoned to death. If that isn't bad enough, his pregnant girlfriend has been spared UNTIL she gives birth, at which point she will also be stoned to death and the child given to her family to take care of...
"Meanwhile, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has accused al-Shabab of spoiling the image of Islam by killing people and harassing women."Their actions have nothing to do with Islam," said the moderate Islamist during a ceremony at which he nominated a new administration for the capital, Mogadishu." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8347216.stm
Of course this has nothing to do with Islam...since when do any acts which harm, torture, or marginalize people have anything to do with any religion? Humans have learned to harness power and corruption to meet their own needs, sad but true.
"Meanwhile, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has accused al-Shabab of spoiling the image of Islam by killing people and harassing women."Their actions have nothing to do with Islam," said the moderate Islamist during a ceremony at which he nominated a new administration for the capital, Mogadishu." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8347216.stm
Of course this has nothing to do with Islam...since when do any acts which harm, torture, or marginalize people have anything to do with any religion? Humans have learned to harness power and corruption to meet their own needs, sad but true.
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Far Western Reaches of China
Last year's violent ethnic protests in the city of Urumqi resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people and injuries in the thousands. The Chinese government has dealt with this situation the way it always deals with ethnic issues within its borders: through suppression, censorship, (mis-)trial, and the eventual execution of a few scapegoats:"On October 12, the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court tried seven men and sentenced six to death and one to life imprisonment. On October 14, another 14 men were tried and sentenced. Six received the death penalty, three of them with a two-year reprieve, while others were sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. All the trials took place without prior public notification and were conducted in less than a day." http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/10/15/china-xinjiang-trials-deny-justice
I do not condone violence or violent protest, but I do empathize with situations which bring anger, frustration, and helplessness to a head. China, please don't blame the people, don't put them to death, don't set examples...find a process which allows for non-violent protest, freedom of speech, and legal processes which ensure fair and just treatment of those convicted.
Dead Can Dance - The Host Of Seraphim
October 17 is End Poverty Day...one of my favourite clips that reminds me of what's still happening around the world is from the movie "Baraka".
On this rainy Friday morning, I only need to go out my front door and see people sleeping in doorways and at bus shelters to remind me that poverty is at the local level as well.
Happy thoughts for the start of the weekend.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Sri Lanka on my mind...for all the wrong reasons.
Once again, Sri Lanka has done it...used it's Draconian politics to convict another journalist who is exercising his right to free speech.
"A High Court in Sri Lanka sentenced journalist Jayaprakash Sittampalam (JS) Tissainayagam to 20 years rigorous imprisonment on Monday, for writing and publishing articles that criticized the government's treatment of Sri Lankan Tamil civilians affected by the war. The court said the articles caused "racial hatred" and promoted terrorism." http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/sri-lanka-jails-journalist-20-years-exercising-right-freedom-expression-20090901
The Sri Lankan government has not only done a good job of convincing the world that the war is over, it's held on to its "terrorism" laws which allows it to do what it wants to those who are not convinced of its claim to peace...shame on a country that has so much potential but so little interest in its people.
"A High Court in Sri Lanka sentenced journalist Jayaprakash Sittampalam (JS) Tissainayagam to 20 years rigorous imprisonment on Monday, for writing and publishing articles that criticized the government's treatment of Sri Lankan Tamil civilians affected by the war. The court said the articles caused "racial hatred" and promoted terrorism." http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/sri-lanka-jails-journalist-20-years-exercising-right-freedom-expression-20090901
The Sri Lankan government has not only done a good job of convincing the world that the war is over, it's held on to its "terrorism" laws which allows it to do what it wants to those who are not convinced of its claim to peace...shame on a country that has so much potential but so little interest in its people.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Delhi Ruling Rules!
Delhi's High Court ruled that the law outlawing homosexual acts was discriminatory and a "violation of fundamental rights". The court said that a statute in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which defines homosexual acts as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and made them illegal, was an "antithesis of the right to equality". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8129836.stm
In a country of over 1 billion, this ruling, in my opinion, will set a precedent for dialogue on sexual rights, de-stigmatization, and HIV/STI related issues throughout India and in the South/South East Asian region in general.
This decision will not go unchallenged, nor will it be an easy road ahead for advocates who continue to fight for the cause...but as a first step I'm sure it has created hope, along with a feeling that there is at least some political and legal will to advance the rights of people marginalized because of their sexuality.
In a country of over 1 billion, this ruling, in my opinion, will set a precedent for dialogue on sexual rights, de-stigmatization, and HIV/STI related issues throughout India and in the South/South East Asian region in general.
This decision will not go unchallenged, nor will it be an easy road ahead for advocates who continue to fight for the cause...but as a first step I'm sure it has created hope, along with a feeling that there is at least some political and legal will to advance the rights of people marginalized because of their sexuality.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
USA Okay, Lithuania Nay
After coming out of the Bush era, Obama has begun paving the way for an American society that is finally beginning to acknowledge same-sex couples:
"The presidential memorandum signed by Mr. Obama allows same-sex partners of U. S. civil-service employees to be added to the government's long-term-care insurance program. Gay and lesbian civil servants can also use their sick leave to care for an ill domestic partner or non-biological, non-adopted children. Same-sex partners of U. S. foreign-service employees will be able to use government medical facilities and be eligible for medical evacuations from overseas posts. Extending equal benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees is "the right thing to do," Mr. Obama said at a late-afternoon signing ceremony. "As Americans, we are all affected when our promises of equality go unfulfilled." http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=1708559
On the other side of the planet in the European Baltic country of Lithuania, gay persons will have to keep fighting just for the right to be treated with dignity.
"The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, approved a bill Tuesday that bans gay speech in schools..The bill prohibits schools from discussing being gay and bans any reference to homosexuality where it might be viewed by children. The amendment denies the right to freedom of expression and deprives students access to the support and protection they may need...The bill bans information that “agitates for homosexual, bisexual relations or polygamy,” calling such information detrimental to youth. Critics said the bill's broad language effectively bans any discussion of homosexuality except in a negative context, effectively legislating homophobia. Lithuania has signed up to these international humanitarian declarations but it is now defying them. It wants the rights of EU and UN membership, but not the responsibilities. Lithuania has no right to belong to European institutions if it violates their human rights principles."http://ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=4026&MediaType=1&Category=24
You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...the ludicrous nature of the world in which we live.
"The presidential memorandum signed by Mr. Obama allows same-sex partners of U. S. civil-service employees to be added to the government's long-term-care insurance program. Gay and lesbian civil servants can also use their sick leave to care for an ill domestic partner or non-biological, non-adopted children. Same-sex partners of U. S. foreign-service employees will be able to use government medical facilities and be eligible for medical evacuations from overseas posts. Extending equal benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees is "the right thing to do," Mr. Obama said at a late-afternoon signing ceremony. "As Americans, we are all affected when our promises of equality go unfulfilled." http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=1708559
On the other side of the planet in the European Baltic country of Lithuania, gay persons will have to keep fighting just for the right to be treated with dignity.
"The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, approved a bill Tuesday that bans gay speech in schools..The bill prohibits schools from discussing being gay and bans any reference to homosexuality where it might be viewed by children. The amendment denies the right to freedom of expression and deprives students access to the support and protection they may need...The bill bans information that “agitates for homosexual, bisexual relations or polygamy,” calling such information detrimental to youth. Critics said the bill's broad language effectively bans any discussion of homosexuality except in a negative context, effectively legislating homophobia. Lithuania has signed up to these international humanitarian declarations but it is now defying them. It wants the rights of EU and UN membership, but not the responsibilities. Lithuania has no right to belong to European institutions if it violates their human rights principles."http://ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=4026&MediaType=1&Category=24
You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...the ludicrous nature of the world in which we live.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sri Lankan "Bloodbath"
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Volunteers dug mass graves in the marshes of Sri Lanka's northern war zone Monday as they buried hundreds of civilians killed in artillery attacks that the U.N. characterized as a "bloodbath."
A doctor in the war zone said as many as 1,000 civilians may have been killed in two days of shelling that marked some of the worst violence in this Indian Ocean island nation since the civil war flared up again more than three years ago.
With the civilian death toll skyrocketing, the Tamil Tiger rebels and a coalition of international human rights groups separately called for the U.N. Security Council to urgently hold talks on the conflict. But with several nations protesting such talks, that seemed unlikely.
The government and the separatist rebels both denied responsibility for the artillery attacks that struck the tiny sliver of northeast coast still held by the rebels in two waves. The worst barrage pounded the area, which holds an estimated 50,000 trapped civilians, from Saturday night until Sunday morning, health officials said.
Another attack hit the area overnight Sunday, landing in a newly demarcated "safe zone" where the government had urged civilians to gather, according to Dr. V. Shanmugarajah, who works at a makeshift hospital in the area.
A total of 430 ethnic Tamil civilians, including 106 children, were either brought to the hospital for burial or died at the facility, he said. More than 1,300 wounded came to the hospital as well, he said. But, he said, the death toll was likely far higher because many of those killed would have been buried in the bunkers where they were slain, and many of the gravely wounded never made it to the hospital for treatment. "There were many who died without medical attention," Shanmugarajah said. "Seeing the number of wounded, and from what the people tell me, I estimate the death toll to be around 1,000."
Volunteers dug mass graves in the marsh near the hospital, putting 50 to 60 bodies in each pit, he said. One of the hospital's nurses was killed along with his family as they sheltered from the onslaught in a trench that was then filled with soil and turned into their grave, he said. "The U.N. has consistently warned against the bloodbath scenario as we've watched the steady increase in civilian deaths over the last few months," U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss said. "The large-scale killing of civilians over the weekend, including the deaths of more than 100 children, shows that that bloodbath has become a reality."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly expressed deep concern.
"We think that there's an unacceptably high level of civilian casualties," he told reporters. The hospital in the war zone was so overwhelmed that many of those wounded in Saturday's barrage had still not been treated Monday morning. Every time Shanmugarajah left the operating room, he was mobbed by those seeking treatment, he said. "The hospital death rate is increasing, but we are helpless," he said.
People were begging the doctors to send them away on a Red Cross ship that comes every few days to evacuate the wounded, saying they could not bear the shelling anymore, he said.
Reports of the fighting are difficult to verify because the government bars journalists and aid workers from the war zone.
U.N. figures compiled last month showed that nearly 6,500 civilians had been killed in three months this year as the government drove the separatist rebels from their northern strongholds and vowed to end the war.
Selvarasa Pathmanathan, a top rebel official, appealed to the international community and the Security Council to take up the war "as a matter of urgency," according to a statement posted on the rebel-linked Web site TamilNet.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other rights groups called on Japan, the largest international donor to Sri Lanka, to press the U.N. to urgently address the war, and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for discussions to be held at all levels of the U.N. on the plight of the civilians. "No one can be in any doubt that this is an issue that deserves the international community's attention," Miliband told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. Sri Lanka is not on the Security Council agenda because Russia, China, Japan and Vietnam consider the fighting an internal matter.
The rebels, listed as a terror group by the U.S. and the EU, blamed the artillery assaults on the government, with Pathmanathan calling them "a deliberate massacre of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan armed forces. "Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe denied the government was responsible for any artillery attacks and claimed health officials in the area were under pressure from the rebels to lie. "We have consciously avoided firing into the areas where civilians are forcibly held by the LTTE," he said, referring to the rebels by the acronym of their formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Rights groups have accused the government of bombing and shelling the war zone despite pledges to stop using heavy weapons, and accuse the rebels of holding civilians as human shields and shooting at many who tried to flee. The government has brushed off international calls for a humanitarian truce, saying any pause in the fighting would give the rebels time to regroup and prolong a war that has already lasted more than a quarter century.
___
Associated Press writers Krishan Francis and Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report from Colombo and Edith Lederer contributed from the United Nations.
A doctor in the war zone said as many as 1,000 civilians may have been killed in two days of shelling that marked some of the worst violence in this Indian Ocean island nation since the civil war flared up again more than three years ago.
With the civilian death toll skyrocketing, the Tamil Tiger rebels and a coalition of international human rights groups separately called for the U.N. Security Council to urgently hold talks on the conflict. But with several nations protesting such talks, that seemed unlikely.
The government and the separatist rebels both denied responsibility for the artillery attacks that struck the tiny sliver of northeast coast still held by the rebels in two waves. The worst barrage pounded the area, which holds an estimated 50,000 trapped civilians, from Saturday night until Sunday morning, health officials said.
Another attack hit the area overnight Sunday, landing in a newly demarcated "safe zone" where the government had urged civilians to gather, according to Dr. V. Shanmugarajah, who works at a makeshift hospital in the area.
A total of 430 ethnic Tamil civilians, including 106 children, were either brought to the hospital for burial or died at the facility, he said. More than 1,300 wounded came to the hospital as well, he said. But, he said, the death toll was likely far higher because many of those killed would have been buried in the bunkers where they were slain, and many of the gravely wounded never made it to the hospital for treatment. "There were many who died without medical attention," Shanmugarajah said. "Seeing the number of wounded, and from what the people tell me, I estimate the death toll to be around 1,000."
Volunteers dug mass graves in the marsh near the hospital, putting 50 to 60 bodies in each pit, he said. One of the hospital's nurses was killed along with his family as they sheltered from the onslaught in a trench that was then filled with soil and turned into their grave, he said. "The U.N. has consistently warned against the bloodbath scenario as we've watched the steady increase in civilian deaths over the last few months," U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss said. "The large-scale killing of civilians over the weekend, including the deaths of more than 100 children, shows that that bloodbath has become a reality."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly expressed deep concern.
"We think that there's an unacceptably high level of civilian casualties," he told reporters. The hospital in the war zone was so overwhelmed that many of those wounded in Saturday's barrage had still not been treated Monday morning. Every time Shanmugarajah left the operating room, he was mobbed by those seeking treatment, he said. "The hospital death rate is increasing, but we are helpless," he said.
People were begging the doctors to send them away on a Red Cross ship that comes every few days to evacuate the wounded, saying they could not bear the shelling anymore, he said.
Reports of the fighting are difficult to verify because the government bars journalists and aid workers from the war zone.
U.N. figures compiled last month showed that nearly 6,500 civilians had been killed in three months this year as the government drove the separatist rebels from their northern strongholds and vowed to end the war.
Selvarasa Pathmanathan, a top rebel official, appealed to the international community and the Security Council to take up the war "as a matter of urgency," according to a statement posted on the rebel-linked Web site TamilNet.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other rights groups called on Japan, the largest international donor to Sri Lanka, to press the U.N. to urgently address the war, and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for discussions to be held at all levels of the U.N. on the plight of the civilians. "No one can be in any doubt that this is an issue that deserves the international community's attention," Miliband told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. Sri Lanka is not on the Security Council agenda because Russia, China, Japan and Vietnam consider the fighting an internal matter.
The rebels, listed as a terror group by the U.S. and the EU, blamed the artillery assaults on the government, with Pathmanathan calling them "a deliberate massacre of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan armed forces. "Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe denied the government was responsible for any artillery attacks and claimed health officials in the area were under pressure from the rebels to lie. "We have consciously avoided firing into the areas where civilians are forcibly held by the LTTE," he said, referring to the rebels by the acronym of their formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Rights groups have accused the government of bombing and shelling the war zone despite pledges to stop using heavy weapons, and accuse the rebels of holding civilians as human shields and shooting at many who tried to flee. The government has brushed off international calls for a humanitarian truce, saying any pause in the fighting would give the rebels time to regroup and prolong a war that has already lasted more than a quarter century.
___
Associated Press writers Krishan Francis and Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report from Colombo and Edith Lederer contributed from the United Nations.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Global Economics and Earth Day: We Just Don't Get It!
It's Earth Day today, a time when we are supposed to appreciate our environment, and do things that save rather than destroy the planet. I commend those who are actively involved in all endeavours associated with Earth Day, and admire the commitment of people who make Earth Day an everyday event...
With that being said, I find it laughable that we have global "leaders" who will on one hand talk about the need to save our planet, but on the other, encourage people to continue their consumer habits in order to support "positive" growth. This global economic framework is no longer valid!!!!!!!! It is, simply put, a model built on greed...Growth is monetary and quantitative, we need to focus on a development model which supports qualitative aspects associated with social and environmental betterment.
The Current Economic Growth and Greed model:
-allows places like Dubai to build out of control in order to guarantee that the rich are kept luxuriously ignorant of its unsustainable future...a shopping mall with a ski resort (in a city that hits 50 degrees in the summer)?!...Housing developments built on man-made islands in the shape of the world (by the way they're sinking and because of the dredging, have completed altered the aquatic ecosystems in the area)?!
-gives Beijing the right to tear down long-established Hutong (cultural) communities to make way for progress in the form of sports facilities and shopping malls...industry is also running rampant under its new economic policies (the sky is permantly grey from the pollution)!
-helps support sub-Saharan Africa's downward spiral into poverty from which it can never hope to recover (and due to this poverty, gives no choice to people but to actively degrade their environments further).
-supplies status and wealth to followers, who as loyal subjects are sometimes afforded the freedom to marginalize and suppress others in order to further support the model.
The list goes on, and I will stop my rant there before I begin on my own country (tar sands in northern Alberta???).
Happy Earth Day everyone!
T
With that being said, I find it laughable that we have global "leaders" who will on one hand talk about the need to save our planet, but on the other, encourage people to continue their consumer habits in order to support "positive" growth. This global economic framework is no longer valid!!!!!!!! It is, simply put, a model built on greed...Growth is monetary and quantitative, we need to focus on a development model which supports qualitative aspects associated with social and environmental betterment.
The Current Economic Growth and Greed model:
-allows places like Dubai to build out of control in order to guarantee that the rich are kept luxuriously ignorant of its unsustainable future...a shopping mall with a ski resort (in a city that hits 50 degrees in the summer)?!...Housing developments built on man-made islands in the shape of the world (by the way they're sinking and because of the dredging, have completed altered the aquatic ecosystems in the area)?!
-gives Beijing the right to tear down long-established Hutong (cultural) communities to make way for progress in the form of sports facilities and shopping malls...industry is also running rampant under its new economic policies (the sky is permantly grey from the pollution)!
-helps support sub-Saharan Africa's downward spiral into poverty from which it can never hope to recover (and due to this poverty, gives no choice to people but to actively degrade their environments further).
-supplies status and wealth to followers, who as loyal subjects are sometimes afforded the freedom to marginalize and suppress others in order to further support the model.
The list goes on, and I will stop my rant there before I begin on my own country (tar sands in northern Alberta???).
Happy Earth Day everyone!
T
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Better Late Than Never
I forgot to post this note on February 20th...that day marked "The (first) World Day for Social Justice" as proclaimed by the UN General Assembly.
As recognized by the World Summit, social development aims at social justice, solidarity, harmony and equality within and among countries and social justice, equality and equity constitute the fundamental values of all societies. To achieve “a society for all” governments made a commitment to the creation of a framework for action to promote social justice at national, regional and international levels. They also pledged to promote the equitable distribution of income and greater access to resources through equity and equality and opportunity for all. The governments recognized as well that economic growth should promote equity and social justice and that “a society for all” must be based on social justice and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
http://un.org/esa/socdev/social/intldays/IntlJustice/
As recognized by the World Summit, social development aims at social justice, solidarity, harmony and equality within and among countries and social justice, equality and equity constitute the fundamental values of all societies. To achieve “a society for all” governments made a commitment to the creation of a framework for action to promote social justice at national, regional and international levels. They also pledged to promote the equitable distribution of income and greater access to resources through equity and equality and opportunity for all. The governments recognized as well that economic growth should promote equity and social justice and that “a society for all” must be based on social justice and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
http://un.org/esa/socdev/social/intldays/IntlJustice/
Something to Be Positive About
Johanna Sigurdardottir, named as Iceland's prime minister on Sunday, is the first openly lesbian head of government in Europe, if not the world - at least in modern times. The 66-year-old's appointment as an interim leader, until elections in May, is seen by many as a milestone for the gay and lesbian movement.
Up until now, if a gay man or woman has been prime minister, they have done their best to conceal the fact. In Iceland itself, however, the new prime minister's sexual orientation appears to be causing less excitement than it is abroad.
What is really historic about this new cabinet, says Skuli Helgeson, the general secretary of Ms Sigurardottir's Social Democratic Alliance, is not the fact that its leader is a lesbian, but that for the first time in Icelandic history it boasts an equal number of men and women.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7862804.stm
Up until now, if a gay man or woman has been prime minister, they have done their best to conceal the fact. In Iceland itself, however, the new prime minister's sexual orientation appears to be causing less excitement than it is abroad.
What is really historic about this new cabinet, says Skuli Helgeson, the general secretary of Ms Sigurardottir's Social Democratic Alliance, is not the fact that its leader is a lesbian, but that for the first time in Icelandic history it boasts an equal number of men and women.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7862804.stm
Friday, January 9, 2009
UN Addresses Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Courtesy IGLHRC:
(New York, December 11, 2008) - As the world celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the UN General Assembly will hear a statement in mid-December endorsed by more than 50 countries across the globe calling for an end to rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity. A coalition of international human rights organizations today urged all the world's nations to support the statement in affirmation of the UDHR's basic promise: that human rights apply to everyone.
Nations on four continents are coordinating the statement, including: Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, France, Gabon, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway. The reading of the statement will be the first time the General Assembly has formally addressed rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
"In 1948 the world's nations set forth the promise of human rights, but six decades later, the promise is unfulfilled for many," said Linda Baumann of Namibia, a board member of Pan Africa ILGA, a coalition of over 60 African lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups. "The unprecedented African support for this statement sends a message that abuses against LGBT people are unacceptable anywhere, ever."
The statement is non-binding, and reaffirms existing protections for human rights in international law. It builds on a previous joint statement supported by 54 countries, which Norway delivered at the UN Human Rights Council in 2006.
"Universal means universal, and there are no exceptions," said Boris Dittrich of the Netherlands, advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights program. "The UN must speak forcefully against violence and prejudice, because there is no room for half measures where human rights are concerned."
The draft statement condemns violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization, and prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also condemns killings and executions, torture, arbitrary arrest, and deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights on those grounds.
"Today, dozens of countries still criminalize consensual homosexual conduct, laws that are often relics of colonial rule," said Grace Poore of Malaysia, who works with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. "This statement shows a growing global consensus that such abusive laws have outlived their time."
The statement also builds on a long record of UN action to defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In its 1994 decision in Toonen v. Australia, the UN Human Rights Committee - the body that interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), one of the UN's core human rights treaties - held that human rights law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. Since then, the United Nations' human rights mechanisms have condemned violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including killings, torture, rape, violence, disappearances, and discrimination in many areas of life. UN treaty bodies have called on states to end discrimination in law and policy.
Other international bodies have also opposed violence and discrimination against LGBT people, including the Council of Europe and the European Union. In 2008, all 34 member countries of the Organization of American States unanimously approved a declaration affirming that human rights protections extend to sexual orientation and gender identity.
"Latin American governments are helping lead the way as champions of equality and supporters of this statement," said Gloria Careaga Perez of Mexico, co-secretary general of ILGA. "Today a global movement supports the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and those voices will not be denied."
So far, 55 countries have signed onto the General Assembly statement, including: Andorra, Armenia, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chile, Ecuador, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Montenegro, New Zealand, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Uruguay, and Venezuela. All 27 member states of the European Union are also signatories.
"It is a great achievement that this initiative has made it to the level of the General Assembly," said Louis-Georges Tin of France, president of the International Committee for IDAHO (International Day against Homophobia), a network of activists and groups campaigning for decriminalization of homosexual conduct. "It shows our common struggles are successful and should be reinforced."
"This statement has found support from states and civil society in every region of the world," said Kim Vance of Canada, co-director of ARC International. "In December a simple message will rise from the General Assembly: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is truly universal."
The coalition of international human rights organizations that issued this statement include: Amnesty International; ARC International; Center for Women's Global Leadership; COC Netherlands; Global Rights; Human Rights Watch; IDAHO Committee; International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC); International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA); and Public Services International.
(New York, December 11, 2008) - As the world celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the UN General Assembly will hear a statement in mid-December endorsed by more than 50 countries across the globe calling for an end to rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity. A coalition of international human rights organizations today urged all the world's nations to support the statement in affirmation of the UDHR's basic promise: that human rights apply to everyone.
Nations on four continents are coordinating the statement, including: Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, France, Gabon, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway. The reading of the statement will be the first time the General Assembly has formally addressed rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
"In 1948 the world's nations set forth the promise of human rights, but six decades later, the promise is unfulfilled for many," said Linda Baumann of Namibia, a board member of Pan Africa ILGA, a coalition of over 60 African lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups. "The unprecedented African support for this statement sends a message that abuses against LGBT people are unacceptable anywhere, ever."
The statement is non-binding, and reaffirms existing protections for human rights in international law. It builds on a previous joint statement supported by 54 countries, which Norway delivered at the UN Human Rights Council in 2006.
"Universal means universal, and there are no exceptions," said Boris Dittrich of the Netherlands, advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights program. "The UN must speak forcefully against violence and prejudice, because there is no room for half measures where human rights are concerned."
The draft statement condemns violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization, and prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also condemns killings and executions, torture, arbitrary arrest, and deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights on those grounds.
"Today, dozens of countries still criminalize consensual homosexual conduct, laws that are often relics of colonial rule," said Grace Poore of Malaysia, who works with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. "This statement shows a growing global consensus that such abusive laws have outlived their time."
The statement also builds on a long record of UN action to defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In its 1994 decision in Toonen v. Australia, the UN Human Rights Committee - the body that interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), one of the UN's core human rights treaties - held that human rights law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. Since then, the United Nations' human rights mechanisms have condemned violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including killings, torture, rape, violence, disappearances, and discrimination in many areas of life. UN treaty bodies have called on states to end discrimination in law and policy.
Other international bodies have also opposed violence and discrimination against LGBT people, including the Council of Europe and the European Union. In 2008, all 34 member countries of the Organization of American States unanimously approved a declaration affirming that human rights protections extend to sexual orientation and gender identity.
"Latin American governments are helping lead the way as champions of equality and supporters of this statement," said Gloria Careaga Perez of Mexico, co-secretary general of ILGA. "Today a global movement supports the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and those voices will not be denied."
So far, 55 countries have signed onto the General Assembly statement, including: Andorra, Armenia, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chile, Ecuador, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Montenegro, New Zealand, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Uruguay, and Venezuela. All 27 member states of the European Union are also signatories.
"It is a great achievement that this initiative has made it to the level of the General Assembly," said Louis-Georges Tin of France, president of the International Committee for IDAHO (International Day against Homophobia), a network of activists and groups campaigning for decriminalization of homosexual conduct. "It shows our common struggles are successful and should be reinforced."
"This statement has found support from states and civil society in every region of the world," said Kim Vance of Canada, co-director of ARC International. "In December a simple message will rise from the General Assembly: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is truly universal."
The coalition of international human rights organizations that issued this statement include: Amnesty International; ARC International; Center for Women's Global Leadership; COC Netherlands; Global Rights; Human Rights Watch; IDAHO Committee; International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC); International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA); and Public Services International.
(New York, December 19, 2008) - In a powerful victory for the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 66 nations at the UN General Assembly yesterday supported a groundbreaking statement confirming that international human rights protections include sexual orientation and gender identity. It is the first time that a statement condemning rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people has been presented in the General Assembly.
The statement drew unprecedented support from five continents, including six African nations. Argentina read the statement before the General Assembly. A cross-regional group of states coordinated the drafting of the statement, also including Brazil, Croatia, France, Gabon, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The statement drew unprecedented support from five continents, including six African nations. Argentina read the statement before the General Assembly. A cross-regional group of states coordinated the drafting of the statement, also including Brazil, Croatia, France, Gabon, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The 66 countries reaffirmed "the principle of non-discrimination, which requires that human rights apply equally to every human being regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity." They stated they are "deeply concerned by violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms based on sexual orientation or gender identity," and said that "violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization and prejudice are directed against persons in all countries in the world because of sexual orientation or gender identity."
The statement condemned killings, torture, arbitrary arrest, and "deprivation of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to health." The participating countries urged all nations to "promote and protect human rights of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity," and to end all criminal penalties against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
According to calculations by ILGA (the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association) and other organizations, more than six dozen countries still have laws against consensual sex between adults of the same sex. The majority of these laws were left behind by colonial rulers (http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/17/alien-legacy-0 ). The UN Human Rights Committee, which interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a core UN treaty, held in a historic 1994 decision that such laws are rights violations - and that human rights law forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation.
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