Saudi Arabia Puts 47 to Death, Including Prominent Shiite Cleric – Ben Hubbard in The New York Times

Saudi Arabia holds the United Nations Chair of the Commission for Human Rights because – why???

BAGHDAD — Saudi Arabia drew condemnation from Iran and its allies in the region on Saturday after putting to death a prominent Shiite cleric who had criticized the government’s treatment of its Shiite minority, in a mass execution of 47 men on terrorism-related charges. Saudi officials said the mass execution, one of the largest in the kingdom in decades, was aimed at deterring those committed to violence against the state. But analysts said that the grouping of the cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, with hardened militants was a message to dissidents, and that it could exacerbate sectarian tensions across the Middle East. The executions were the first of 2016 and followed a year in which at least 157 people were put to death, the conservative Muslim kingdom’s highest yearly total in two decades….

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Source: Saudi Arabia Puts 47 to Death, Including Prominent Shiite Cleric – The New York Times

FATAL EXTRACTION

Australia is a giant in African mining, but its vast — and in some cases deadly — footprint has never been examined.

Australian-listed mining companies are linked to hundreds of deaths and alleged injustices which wouldn’t be tolerated in better-regulated nations.

The stories that follow are from people across Africa, rarely heard outside their own communities.

via FATAL EXTRACTION.

Open letter on the Border Force Act: ‘We challenge the department to prosecute’ | Australia news | The Guardian

Open letter regarding the Border Force Act 2015

Today the Border Force Act comes into force. It includes provision for a two-year jail sentence for “entrusted persons” such as ourselves if we continue to speak out about the deplorable state of human rights in immigration detention without the express permission of the minister for immigration and border protection. This strengthens the wall of secrecy which prevents proper public scrutiny.

If we witness child abuse in Australia we are legally obliged to report it to child protection authorities

We have advocated, and will continue to advocate, for the health of those for whom we have a duty of care, despite the threats of imprisonment, because standing by and watching sub-standard and harmful care, child abuse and gross violations of human rights is not ethically justifiable.

If we witness child abuse in Australia we are legally obliged to report it to child protection authorities. If we witness child abuse in detention centres, we can go to prison for attempting to advocate for them effectively. Internal reporting mechanisms such as they are have failed to remove children from detention; a situation that is itself recognised as a form of systematic child abuse.

Evidence of the devastating effects of institutional self-protection and blindness to child abuse has been presented before the current royal commission. We are determined not to collude with a system that repeats these same mistakes.

Why we spoke out: former detention centre workers explain

Paul Farrell

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There are currently many issues which constitute a serious threat to the health of those in detention for whom we have a duty of care. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection is aware of these problems and has for years failed to address them adequately.

We are aware that in publishing this letter we may be prosecuted under the Border Force Act and we challenge the department to prosecute so that these issues may be discussed in open court and in the full view of the Australian public.

Detention centre staff speak out in defiance of new asylum secrecy laws

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Dr John-Paul Sanggaran, MBBS M.H.Med B.H.Sc, former IHMS medical officer

Dr Richard Kidd, BHB, MBChB, Dip.Obs., FAMA, Deputy Chair AMACGP, former IHMS medical officer

Dr Grant Ferguson, MBBS B.Sc (Hons), former IHMS medical officer

Dr Ben Hew, MBBS B.Sc, former IHMS medical officer

Dr Alison Bleaney, MBchB FRACRRM OBE, former IHMS medical officer

Dr Merrilyn Williams, MBBS, M. (GP Psych) FACRRM, former IHMS medical officer

Dr Ai-Lene Chan, MBBS FRACGP ObsSC MPH&TM, former IHMS medical officer

Dr John Vallentine, MBBS MRCP, former IHMS medical officer

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Dr Jill Maxwell, MBBS OAM, former IHMS medical officer

Dr Sally Manuell, MBBS FRACGP, former IHMS medical officer

Prof Bernard Pearn-Rowe, BSc (Hons), MBBS, FAMA, former IHMS medical officer

Tracey Donehue, secondary school teacher

Judith Reen, secondary school coordinator

Jane Willey, former secondary school teacher

Evan Davis, former senior secondary school teacher

Dr Peter Young, MBBS FRANZCP, former IHMS medical director mental health services

Steve Brooker, BSc MA, former IHMS director of mental health services

Dr Rodney Juratowitch, MBBS FRANZCP, former IHMS psychiatrist

Dr Amanda Trenaman, MBBS, FRANZCP, former IHMS psychiatrist

Prof Robert Adler, PhD MBBS, former IHMS psychiatrist

Ryan Essex, BHSc, Grad Dip Psych, BSocSc (Psych), (Hons), MHL, MPH, former IHMS counsellor

James Harris, former case manager and residential youth worker

Toby Gunn, former child and youth recreation officer

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Samantha Betts, BA, former child and youth recreation worker

Martin Reusch, former humanitarian worker

Timm Knapp, former humanitarian worker

Amanda Lloyd-Tait, former humanitarian worker

Jennifer Dennis, former humanitarian worker

Amy Marden, former humanitarian worker

Prof David Isaacs, MBBChir MD FRACP FRCPCH, former IHMS paediatrician

Dr Hasantha Gunasekera, MBBS FRACP, former IHMS paediatrician

Alanna Maycock, BN RN, former IHMS paediatric nurse

Prof Louise Newman, MBBS PhD FANZCP AM, former DEHAG consultant IHMS psychiatrist

Dr Micheal Dudley, AM MBBS BD FRANZCP, former DEHAG consultant

Prof Caroline de Costa, PhD MPH MBBS BA FRANZCOG FRCOG, former DEHAG consultant

Viktoria Vibhakar, MSW, LCSW, AASW, former senior child protection and support worker

Ashleigh Millard, former adult case manager and social worker

Jaime O’donovan, former social worker, child protection team

Hamish Tacey, BBehavSc, former unaccompanied minor team leader and refugee assistance program case manager

Serena Hansen, former case manager and residential team leader

Marc Isaacs, BA (Com), BA (Int.S), former recreations manager

via Open letter on the Border Force Act: ‘We challenge the department to prosecute’ | Australia news | The Guardian.

73% of Australians want Indigenous recognition in constitution – study | Australia news | The Guardian

Reposted from the Guardian:

The vast majority of Australians believe that the constitution should be changed to recognise Indigenous people, and remove clauses that discriminate on the basis of race, a study by the Australian National University found.

The telephone survey of more than 1,200 people aimed to record public opinion on injustice and social disadvantage faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders.

It found that 82% of Australians supported the removal of clauses in the constitution that discriminate on race.

And 73%, or nearly three out of four Australians believe that Indigenous Australians deserve special reference in the preamble of the founding document.

Tanya Hosch, the campaign director of Recognise, which advocates on the recognition of Indigenous Australians, said that “the strong levels of support from Australians reflect what we have heard in our own extensive community engagement across the country in the past few years.

“Australians want to fix this lack of recognition and want to fix the race discrimination in our highest legal document.”

The prime minister, Tony Abbott, has indicated that he would hold a referendum on the issue in 2017, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders being counted in the census.

“It’s important to get this right. Yes, we want to do it. But we want to get it right and it’s more important to get it right than to rush it,” Abbott told reporters on Friday.

“We’ve got the joint parliamentary committee, chaired by Ken Wyatt, deputy chaired by Nova Peris and that committee will be reporting in the next couple of months and that will give us a strong foundation on which to build.”

Constitutional recognition has strong bipartisan support.

via 73% of Australians want Indigenous recognition in constitution – study | Australia news | The Guardian.

Glimpses of Our Power – NationofChange

Research over the last 100 years of resistance movements shows that when just 3.5% of the public mobilizes to support a movement for social, economic or environmental justice, it always wins. Many win with a smaller percentage, but no government can withstand 3.5% of the population working for transformative change.One way to look at the movement is like an archery target, a series of concentric circles. At the center is the core group of people who feel strongly about a particular issue, often those directly affected. There are many who have been working on police abuse, racial injustice and militarization of police long before Ferguson, just as there have been Michael Brown-like incidents across the country. There are many Ferguson’s throughout the United States. With Ferguson, a whole new group of people joined, the circle grew as people were horrified that an unarmed teenager could be killed by police and his body left lying in the road for 4.5 hours. As publicity about the case grew, more people joined the circle of concern seeking Justice for Mike Brown.  Then, there were more police killings in additional cities throughout the country and the circles grew larger; and after the grand jury reached its decision, more people joined. When people heard of the grand jury decision, and now as they learn about how the grand jury was manipulated to protect the killer of Mike Brown, more joined.

via Glimpses of Our Power – NationofChange.

Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in resolution 1994/45, adopted on 4 March 1994, decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur on violence against women, including its causes and consequences. The mandate was extended by the Commission on Human Rights in 2003, at its 59th session in resolution 2003/45. In the same resolution the Commission on Human Rights:”Strongly condemning all acts of violence against women and girls and in this regard called, in accordance with the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence in the family, within the general community and where perpetrated or condoned by the State, and emphasized the duty of Governments to refrain from engaging in violence against women and to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women and to take appropriate and effective action concerning acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State, by private persons or by armed groups or warring factions, and to provide access to just and effective remedies and specialized, including medical, assistance to victims;Affirmed, in this light, that violence against women constitutes a violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and that violence against women impairs or nullifies their enjoyment of those rights and freedoms.”Since March 2006, the Special Rapporteur reports to the Human Rights Council, as per Human Rights Council’s decision 1/102. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur was lastly renewed in 2013 by resolution 23/25.According to his/her mandate the Special Rapporteur is requested to:a Seek and receive information on violence against women, its causes and consequences from Governments, treaty bodies, specialized agencies, other special rapporteurs responsible for various human rights questions and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, including womens organizations, and to respond effectively to such information;

via Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences.

Informing Climate Negotiators about emerging Climate Justice Research – News

New research on equity and human rights informed the ADP Intercessional in Bonn – October 2014The October session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, taking place in Bonn from 20-25th of October, is informing and shaping the draft text of a new climate agreement which is expected to be the key outcome from COP 20 in Lima and is a milestone to the final agreement at COP21 in Paris.  The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, used this opportunity to convene a group of 23 senior negotiators representing a range of regional groups on the evening of the 23rd October to present new climate justice research.Tara Shine, Head of Research and Development at the Foundation presented the key findings from the Foundation’s latest research on human rights and climate change and the equity dimensions of a carbon phase-out. Participants discussed how these considerations could inform the draft text for Lima/ COP20.The recommendations in the Foundation’s research are supported by two recent proposals, an open letter from 28 UN independent human rights experts to all Governments; and the International Bar Associations’ recently published task force report on “Achieving Justice and Human Rights in an Era of Climate Disruption”.

via Informing Climate Negotiators about emerging Climate Justice Research – News.

‘Cleansing the stock’ and other ways governments talk about human beings | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian

To blot people out of existence first you must blot them from your mind. Then you can persuade yourself that what you are doing is moral and necessary. Today this isn’t difficult. Those who act without compassion can draw upon a system of thought and language whose purpose is to shield them – and blind us – to the consequences.The contention by Lord Freud, a minister in the UK’s Department of Work and Pensions, that disabled people are “not worth the full wage” isn’t the worst thing he’s alleged to have said. I say “alleged” because what my ears tell me is contested by Hansard, the official parliamentary record. During a debate in the House of Lords, he appeared to describe the changing number of disabled people likely to receive the employment and support allowance as a “bulge of, effectively, stock”. After a furious response by the people he was talking about, this was transcribed by Hansard as “stopped”, rendering the sentence meaningless. I’ve listened to the word several times on the parliamentary video. Like others, I struggle to hear it as anything but “stock”.

via ‘Cleansing the stock’ and other ways governments talk about human beings | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian.

RCMP tracked movements of Indigenous activist from ‘extremist’ group: documents » APTN National News

“When you read the document closely it shows an intimate surveillance,” said Monaghan. “The documents show the breadth of and the normalization of the regular systematic surveillance of protest groups, of people who criticize government policy and critics of energy policy. You have national security bureaucracies, agencies, focused on domestic protest groups and it has nothing to do with terror, but with the energy economy.”

via RCMP tracked movements of Indigenous activist from ‘extremist’ group: documents » APTN National News.

Why I returned my 2014 Lecturer of the Year (College of Business and Law) award

Why I returned my 2014 Lecturer of the Year (College of Business and Law) award.

 

…Now, to my reasons for returning my award. The University of Canterbury is a wonderful organisation and I have enjoyed my time here more than any other appointment I have had. I am supported in my teaching and research as well as have great friends here. However, there is an underbelly of hate that raises its head from time to time. My earliest experience of this came in my first semester of teaching at UoC when I was reading the anonymous feedback from students. In the section where it asked “what should be changed to improve the course” one student wrote “his ethnicity”. I’ve been brown all my life, so I’m used to racism. Whether it’s the ignorant throwaway comment or the overtly aggressive act, I’ve seen it and experienced it and I know one day my daughters will see it and experience it. This is why I’m taking a stand. Because I don’t want my girls to live in a world where hate exists and I know I’ve done nothing to try and stop it….