Human Rights Action Update Oct.23-29

Miriam, human rights defender, 1947-2012

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.

FRANCE

The forced eviction of an informal settlement near Bobigny, in the outskirts of Paris, has left more than 60 people, including 15 children and infants, homeless. They are currently sleeping in a gymnasium in the centre of Paris but will have to leave imminently and without any alternative housing solution proposed to date. Please join the demand that the French government find a housing solution for these people.

VENEZUELA
Private defense lawyer Omar Ernesto Silva Martínez has made a formal complaint after being repeatedly targeted with threatening calls and surveillance. Guaranteeing the safety of lawyers to perform their functions without intimidation, hindrance or harassment is integral to ensuring that the right to a fair trial is respected. Please protest on his behalf and on behalf of human rights in Venezuela.

EGYPT
Five Palestinian refugees from Syria are at imminent risk of being forcibly returned to either Gaza or Syria by the Egyptian authorities. Their travel documents have been confiscated and they have been confined to a terminal in Cairo airport. Please call for them to be treated properly as refugees.

PAKISTAN
Although no mail connection exists between Israel and Pakistan, we ask readers in other countries to put emphasis on this terrible case. Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi, sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010, has had her appeal rejected by the Lahore High Court of Appeal. This is outrageous from all standpoints. Please act at once.

USA 
It may come as a surprise, but it really should not. The company that owns the ZARA brand, Inditex, is a transnational corporation that wants to be seen as socially responsible.
For example, it signed a global agreement with UNI Global Union committing it to respecting the rights of its workers worldwide. And to be fair, in many countries, workers in Zara and other Inditex brands enjoy rights consistent with the obligations laid down in the global agreement.
But not in the USA. Please join the protest on behalf of workers in the US.