Friday, November 30, 2012

Human Right action update Nov.22-30


Miriam
We hope people are acting in these requests.  We note that the blog is being read in many places around the world, apparently through Facebook and Twitter.  We hope the locals are reading and acting as well, but the cluster map does not show this.

The most urgent item on the world human rights agenda is the new law pending in the parliament of Uganda that would criminalize all homosexual activity up to and including the death penalty.  This law includes heterosexuals who help gays.  Please act quickly since the proponents want to get it enacted before Christmas.




ABUSE OF ASYLUM SEEKERS BY AUSTRALIA
The treatment of asylum seekers interned on a remote island by the Australian government is abysmal.  Please act to  protest and to demand proper treatment for them.

In India, the government is about to resume executions in the wake of the execution of the Pakistani terrorist. This is a regression away from the drive for abolition.  Please protest to the Indian government.
You may find a template letter.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Updates Nov. 17-22

Miriam
We start with hunger strikers in Turkey.  They are being denied medical care.  A template letter is available.
The faxes work.
Turkey Embassy , Israel

Rehov Ben Yehuda 1
Tel Aviv
Israel
Phone:
 +972-3 517-1731 
 +972-3 517-6157 
Fax:
+972-3 517-6303

We have a case of a persecuted journalist in Cuba.  I have put up a template letter.  There is no Cuban embassy here, alas. Thanks to the Belgian section for their UA site. It would be nice to have one here, but someone decided long ago that it is not important.

We have an action on child slave labor in the cotton fields of Uzbekhistan.

It comes up with my details, just erase them and fill in your own.  The labor action people are super user-friendly.

Musicians in Cameroon were attacked by police during a peaceful march.  Please act.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Nov. 9-15

This week we lost a dear friend and a long time human rights activist, Prof. Miriam Shlesinger.  This blog will be named for her and dedicated to  her memory. May she rest in peace and may we be worthy of her legacy.

These apparently was some confusion with last week's blog, so please forgive if there are repeated postings.
We start with something local, a petition from AVAAZ to recognize Palestine and to hold the gunfire here.

We are back with Mao Hengfeng.  If the Chinese authorities obsess about her, so shall we.  Please act.

Finally we have a labor relations issue in the United States that is scandalous.  Please act.
Workers on picket line

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Human Rights Action Updates Oct. 26-Nov. 1

MYANMAR
Following communal violence in June, largely directed against the ethnic Rohingya, there is a growing humanitarian and human rights crisis which is not receiving sufficient international attention, and it is highly likely that many lives are being lost as a result. The Rohingya are Muslims who have lived in Burma for generations, but are still considered but are still regarded by the government as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The latter claims that it cannot accept additional refugees from Burma. The situation remains exceedinglygrim for these people.
Burmese police, security forces and soldiers are raping, looting, torturing and arbitrarily killing Rohingya people.
There have been mass arrests with Rohingya people kept in detention camps without trial, without food or medical services.
Amnesty International has issued a press release but not a UA. Burma Campaign UK has called on British subjects to write to their Foreign Minister.  We can only suggest a letter to the local foreign minister tailored to the situation in each country.  Israel has leverage in Burma so a letter to Avigdor Lieberman (the noted human rights advocate...) might help.
VIETNAM
We start with a UA from Amnesty  On 24 September, a court in Viet Nam’s Ho Chi Minh City sentenced bloggers Nguyen Van Hai, known as Dieu Cay (“the peasant’s pipe”), Ta Phong Tan, and Phan Thanh Hai to 12, 10 and four years’ imprisonment respectively for “conducting propaganda” against the state. The trial lasted only a few hours and their friends and family were detained and assaulted to prevent them from attending. Please pick up on the action on behalf of these prisoners of conscience.

In addition two popular singers have been sentenced to prison for writing songs "critical of the state."
 

Vo Minh Tri and Tran Vu Anh Binh were sentenced to four and six years in prison, respectively, on charges of spreading propaganda against the state, said Tri's lawyer, Tran Vu Hai. They faced possible sentences of up to 20 years.
In a half-day trial, a court in Ho Chi Minh City accused the musicians of posting songs on a website operated by an overseas Vietnamese opposition group, Patriotic Youth, according to Hai. Communist Vietnam does not tolerate challenges to its one-party rule.
No action has been called for yet, but stay informed.

CHINA
When does a week go by without some new human rights violations in China? We have a call on behalf of Ni Yulan, a human rights activist.
Ni Yulan still uses a wheelchair as a result of previous police torture. © Private  
Obviously the SMS campaign of AIUK is not for us, but scroll down and you will find the usual UA format.
Here is a link to a template letter. 
Ni Yulan is a lawyer who is fighting the wave of forced evictions that is rolling across China. It takes much courage for a lawyer to take up these cases.  Please get behind Ni Yulan.