The Miriam Shlesinger Human Rights Action blog

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Human Rights Action Update Feb. 12-18

Miriam, human rights defender, 1947-2012

EMBASSY FINDER

Survival International provides a useful tool for locating the embassy of any country in your country.
http://embassy.goabroad.com/

GOOD NEWS

USA

The governor of the State of Pennsylvania in the United States has declared a moratorium on all execution. Governor Tom Wolf, who took office on 20 January 2015, has declared that he will grant a reprieve in each case in which an execution is scheduled until any recommendations of the forthcoming report of the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment has been “satisfactorily addressed”. We praise Governor Wolf and hope that the next step will be abolition.

MEXICO

You may recall the case of Claudia Medina who was tortured and sexually abused by the marines who forced her to confess to a number of trumped up charges. A judge has just dropped the last remaining charge against her, arguing that the sole piece of evidence – a report filed by the marines – is a lie.

The judge confirmed that after her arrest Claudia was tortured and sexually assaulted by marines in order to force her to incriminate herself and others in drug-related crimes. The offenses took place on 7 August 2012 at a Navy barracks in Veracruz state, Eastern Mexico.

Claudia Medina was tortured and sexually assaulted by marines in Mexico ©Amnesty International.

Claudia Medina's struggle is not over. Her torture complaint is not being pursued by the Federal Attorney General and impunity reigns supreme. Please take the actions requested at the end of the report and let the Federal government of Mexico know that the eyes of human rights activists are upon them.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Young Mursi shepherds looking after livestock, Ethiopia.

This week we focus on the tribes of Ethiopia, in particular, the Omo Valley tribes. A massive hydroelectric dam and associated land grabs for plantations threaten the tribes of the Lower Omo River The tribes have lived in this area for centuries and have developed techniques to survive in a challenging environment. They have not been consulted about the dam or the plantations and stand to lose their livelihoods based on the river’s natural flood cycle. Please read about the tribes and take the steps proposed at the end of the article.

CHINA

At least 27 people remain behind bars in China after showing support for the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Nine people have not been given access to their lawyers, the whereabouts of four are unknown, and at least two have reported being tortured in detention. All of them continue to be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Please act on their behalf.

BRAZIL

Twelve people were shot dead and four others injured by military police officers during an operation in the neighborhood of Cabula in Salvador, north-east Brazil. Residents report feeling threatened and afraid as the military police have maintained their presence in the neighborhood ever since. Please call for an investigation and protection for the people of Cabula.

GREECE/GERMANY

Prominent leaders of the trade union movement in Germany have issued a call for a new policy towards Greece and other struggling EU countries. They point out that the bailouts so far have benefited banks, but have done nothing for the structural problems and needs of the people, You are invited to join their call.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Human Rights Action Update Feb. 5-11


Miriam, human rights defender, 1947-2012

EMBASSY FINDER

Survival International provides a useful tool for locating the embassy of any country in your country.
http://embassy.goabroad.com/

MEXICO

Key eyewitnesses into the killings of two human rights defenders have been harassed in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. This is an apparent attempt to stop them from giving testimony in court. Their lives could be at risk. Please act.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Indigenous tribes do not simply die out. They are killed by the actions of so-called civilized nations. Survival International provides a long list of cases in which a letter from you can and will make a difference. Please open this link and write at least one letter. This link will be a permanent feature on our blog and we would be grateful if you gave it a bit of attention each week. We suggest going down the list in the order given. The letters are pre-written for you. All you need to do is send them. It would be nice also if a donation to Survival International could be forthcoming.

This week we focus on the the Ogiek of Kenya. They are hunter-gatherers – some in the deep forest live purely by hunting and gathering, while the majority grow vegetables and keep livestock also. They have traditionally hunted such animals as antelope and wild pigs, which is now generally illegal. Now they are in danger of eviction from their forest home. Please join the protest to the Kenyan government.

Ogiek ritual masks

PERU

Intimidation by the police--Máxima Acuña and her family, subsistence farmers in northern Peru, have reported further acts of intimidation and harassment by the police. They are in an ongoing legal dispute against a mining company over the ownership of a plot of land where the family lives. They believe this harassment and intimidation by the police is an attempt to drive them away. Please protest for them.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Four journalists have been harassed and received death threats in the Dominican Republic as the result of their advocacy for the respect of the rights of Dominicans of Haitian descent.
On 2 February, four Dominican journalists, Juan Bolívar Díaz, Huchi Lora, Amelia Deschamps and Roberto Cavada, known for taking a strong stand against discrimination towards Dominicans of Haitian descent, reported a number of threats and acts of harassment they have suffered as a result of their work. Please protest to the Domincan authorities on their behalf.

ETHIOPIA AND MALDIVES

Worker abuse by Sheraton Hotel chain.

Recently, workers at Sheraton hotels in Ethiopia and Maldives sought to exercise a basic human right: negotiate through their unions their employment terms and conditions. They got Sheraton management's full service abuse treatment - brutal mass dismissals and intimidation. Please click to register your protest to Starwood, the owners of Sheraton.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Human Rights Action Update Jan.28-Feb. 4

Miriam, human rights defender, 1947-2012

EMBASSY FINDER

Survival International provides a useful tool for locating the embassy of any country in your country.

GOOD NEWS

Last week we asked for your support for the workers of International Flavours and Fragrances (IFF) factory in Dandenong, Australia. The occupation of the factory has ended with a strong union agreement. The workers wish to thank the more than 6,000 supporters who quickly responded to the IUF call for messages to the company. Cheers!
IFFvictory

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Indigenous tribes do not simply die out. They are killed by the actions of so-called civilized nations. Survival International provides a long list of cases in which a letter from you can and will make a difference. Please open this link and write at least one letter. This link will be a permanent feature on our blog and we would be grateful if you gave it a bit of attention each week. We suggest going down the list in the order given. The letters are pre-written for you. All you need to do is send them. It would be nice also if a donation to Survival International could be forthcoming.

This week we focus on the Masaai of Kenya and Tanzania. They are a nomadic people of whom you are invited to read at this site. They are under stress because of pressures to settle
and land grabs by government and corporations. The most immediate threat to the Maasai is against those from Loliondo, an area in northern Tanzania. Here, Maasai villages have been burnt to the ground, and thousands have been evicted, allegedly to provide a safari hunting company, Otterlo Business Corporation Ltd (OBC), with easier access to hunting land. Survival International asks you to raise the issue of the Masaai with your local Kenyan embassy. You may use the tool linked above to find it. This time there is no letter template, so use your own creativity or our letter as an example.

A Maasai woman in Southern Kenya. © Adrian Arbib/Survival

SIERRA LEONE

Eight people have been arbitrarily detained by a Presidential order under the State of Emergency powers in Sierra Leone for over three months following an alleged riot concerning a suspected Ebola patient in October 2014. Please write to call for their immediate release.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Thousands of individuals of foreign descent remain stateless in the Dominican Republic in spite of a law facilitating restoration of the Dominican nationality for some, and providing access to a naturalization scheme for others. Please appeal on their behalf.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Elena Klimova, a journalist from the Urals city of Nizhniy Taghil and founder of the online project Children 404 aimed at supporting LGBTI teenagers, was found guilty of “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors” and ordered to pay a fine. Children 404 risks being shut down. Please appeal to the Russian authorities on her behalf.

CHINA

Chinese activist and prisoner of conscience Chen Xi has been suffering from a number of serious health problems and has not received the treatment he needs in prison. His health has deteriorated severely and there are serious concerns for his well-being. Chen Xi was detained in November 2011 after he announced his intention to run for the Guiyang City People’s Congress Election as an independent candidate. On 26 December 2011, the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court convicted him of “inciting subversion of state power” for posting articles on a foreign website. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Please call for his release and medical care.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Human Rights Action Update Jan. 21-28


Miriam, human rights defender, 1947-2012

EMBASSY FINDER

Survival International provides a useful tool for locating the embassy of any country in your country.

El SALVADOR

Good news for a change--the woman who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for abortion after suffering a miscarriage. has been granted a pardon. She was sentenced in 2007. This is finally a correction, albeit delayed, of a most egregious injustice. We hope that pardons will be granted to the other 15 women in a similar situation and that El Salvador will change its most draconian laws. Thanks to all who participated in the worldwide outcry.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Bushman woman Xoroxloo Duxee from the Metsiamenong community, died of dehydration and starvation in 2005 after the government blockaded the reserve and armed guards prevented her people from hunting, gathering or obtaining water, Botswana.

Indigenous tribes do not simply die out. They are killed by the actions of so-called civilized nations. Survival International provides a long list of cases in which a letter from you can and will make a difference. Please open this link and write at least one letter. This link will be a permanent feature on our blog and we would be grateful if you gave it a bit of attention each week. We suggest going down the list in the order given. The letters are pre-written for you. All you need to do is send them. It would be nice also if a donation to Survival International could be forthcoming.

This week we focus on the Bushmen of Botswana. They are subject to obscene persecution and are being driven from their ancestral hunting grounds. Although they have won court cases against the government, they are still being prevented from hunting in the Kalhari region where a tourist reservation has been established. Their lawyer has been barred from the country and all attempts are being made to make their lives impossible. Much of this is related to the existence of diamond fields on their lands and the income from tourism. Survival International calls for a tourist boycott of Botswana. On the site you can find means of helping them such as letters of protest. Please help.

COLOMBIA

The government has enacted legislation to restore land to those from whom it was stolen during the long armed conflict. Paramilitaries have threatened dozens of land claimants and community leaders, as well as human rights defenders, trade unionists, journalists and state officials working on land restitution in the departments of Atlántico and Magdalena in northern Colombia. This is a totally unacceptable situation. Please protest to the President and government of Colombia.

BURUNDI

Bob Rugurika, director of African Public Radio (Radio Publique Africaine, RPA), has been detained since 20 January after broadcasting investigative reports about the September 2014 murder of three elderly Italian nuns. He is using his journalist right to refuse to reveal the identity of his source. His report may implicate senior intelligence officials in the murders. Please call for his immediate release.

CHINA

Prominent Tibetan monk Karma Tsewang was sentenced to two and a half years
imprisonment in July or August 2014. His lawyers have repeatedly been denied access to
him and his family have not been allowed to visit since he was first detained over a year
ago. There are ongoing fears for his health and he is at risk of torture and other ill-
treatment. Please write on his behalf.

AUSTRALIA LABOR ISSUE

National Union of Workers (NUW) members at the International Flavours and Fragrances (IFF) facility in Dandenong (Victoria) have responded to a management lockout by occupying the lunchroom.

Months of fruitless bargaining have led to unacceptable behavior by management. Please open the link and send a message in their support.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Human Rights Action Update Jan. 14-21


Miriam, human rights defender, 1947-2012

EMBASSY FINDER Survival International provides a useful tool for locating the embassy of any country in your country.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
Indigenous tribes do not simply die out. They are killed by the actions of so-called civilized nations. Survival International provides a long list of cases in which a letter from you can and will make a difference. Please open this link and write at least one letter. This link will be a permanent feature on our blog and we would be grateful if you gave it a bit of attention each week. We suggest going down the list in the order given. The letters are pre-written for you. All you need to do is send them. It would be nice also if a donation to Survival International could be forthcoming.

This week we focus on the Baka or so-called "pygmy" people of Cameroon. The development of protected areas in southeast Cameroon has progressively robbed the Baka “Pygmies” of access to their ancestral lands. They are regularly harassed, arrested and even tortured by wildlife officers and the soldiers that accompany them. The World Wildlife Foundation is responsible for these actions. Please click on the site and go to the email action to call for the cessation of abuse of the Baka people. To help arouse your outrage, we quote "A government official has openly admitted that torture is not only acceptable but necessary in the fight against poaching."

Wildlife officers attacked this woman with pepper spray and destroyed her cooking pots.

COLOMBIA

This week we have two UA requests from the same country. Both deal with harassment of human rights defenders. One is about woman harassed for fighting sexual violence

Two men forced their way into the home of human rights defender Blanca Nubia Díaz, demanding to see one of her daughters. Both women have faced threats and intimidation as they campaign for justice in a case of sexual violence. Please protest.
The other deals with death threats by paramilitary forces against dozens of human rights defenders, as well as trade unionists and land restitution claimants who have been threatened by the Black Eagles paramilitary group in Northern Colombia. The group has also labelled them guerrillas. Please protest on this issue as well.

NIGERIA

Please sign a petition by AVAAZ against the reign of terror imposed by Boko Haram.

WORKERS RIGHTS

The world’s two largest cement makers, Lafarge and Holcim, recently announced they would merge. They have made it clear that the merger will benefit shareholders, however they have refused to make any commitments to the workers, many of whom will be spun off into another company or made redundant. They have also refused to allow workers and unions to be heard in the merger process. Now workers are fighting back. Unions at Lafarge and Holcim have launched a global campaign and want your support. Please join the campaign.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Human Rights Action Update Jan. 8-14


Miriam, human rights defender, 1947-2012

We too are Charlie this week.

EMBASSY FINDER
Survival International provides a useful tool for locating the embassy of any country in your country.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

A Zo'é family relaxes in a hammock they made from Brazil nut fibres.

This week we focus on the the Zo'e people of Brazil. The Zo’é are a small, isolated tribe living deep in the Amazon rainforests of north Brazil. They only came into sustained contact with outsiders in 1987 when missionaries of the New Tribes Mission built a base on their land.
Their land has been officially recognized by the government, which controls access to it to minimise the transmission of potentially fatal diseases such as flu and measles. They have been threatened by intruders and need help to find their niche in Brazilian society. Please read their story. At the end there is a link to a letter to the Brazilian Minister of Justice expressing concern for the well being and future of this tribe.

CHINA

Protest violent assault on Chinese labour rights defenders! On December 26, unidentified assailants entered the office of the Panyu Migrant Workers Documentation Centre (PMWDC) in Guangzhou and assaulted PMWCD head Zeng Feiyang. PMWCD has been providing legal and other services to migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta since 1998. The assault is the latest in an escalating series of attacks against independent organizations across China advising workers on their legal and workplace rights. Please click and join the protest.

MYANMAR

POLITICAL ACTIVIST DETAINED IN MYANMAR

Political activist Ko Wai Lu has been arbitrarily detained and is facing imprisonment in Myanmar after he provided support to peaceful protesters who are calling on the authorities to resolve their land dispute. Fourteen people have also been charged for taking part in the peaceful protests. Please act on their behalf.

CUBA

Five jailed dissidents whom Amnesty International named prisoners of conscience in 2013 were released between 7 and 8 January. Three remain under conditional release. Please call upon the Cuban government to remove the restrictions on the freedom of Bianco Vargas Martín, Django Vargas Martín and Alexeis Vargas Martín and to complete the process of releasing political prisoners.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION UPDATE, Jan. 1-7


Miriam, human rights defender, 1947-2012

We wish all our Eastern Orthodox Christian readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. Let us hope for a worldwide improvement in the protection of human rights.

EMBASSY FINDER Survival International provides a useful tool for locating the embassy of any country in your country.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Davi Kopenawa, Yanomami leader and shaman surrounded by children, Demini, Brazil.

For thousands of years, the Yanomami have thrived in the rainforests of South America. Now, they are struggling as the government fails to protect them from criminal invasions, attacks and disease. Please read the history of the interaction of the Yanomami with ranchers and gold miners and check out the options for helping the Yanomami at the bottom of the page.

PAKISTAN

In the wake of the horrible Peshawar school massacre, the government has ended its moratorium on executions. While indeed the event was terrible, we nonetheless oppose capital punishment on moral and human rights grounds. Please write and call upon the Pakistani government to halt executions. People are sentenced to death in Pakistan for crimes such as "blasphemy" which do not constitute the type of serious offense for which capital punishment is allowed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Pakistan is a state party.

TUNISIA

JAILED FOR COMPLAINING OF POLICE HARASSMENT

Film director Ines Ben Othman was arrested on 19 December 2014 after lodging a complaint for harassment by a police officer. She is in custody, facing one year in prison for insulting that police officer. (We note that in Israel too you can go to jail for "insulting a public employee" which tells you something of democracy. The law is almost never applied). Please write and protest this heavy-handed police behavior.

MYANMAR

FOUR PROTESTERS DETAINED

Four human rights activists have been arbitrarily arrested and detained in Myanmar after participating in a peaceful demonstration against the shooting to death of a protester the week before. The four have been detained solely for the lawful exercise of their right to freedom of peaceful assembly and must be immediately and unconditionally released. Please write and call for the release of these prisoners of conscience.