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.

© Survival International

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.

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.

© Survival International

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.

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

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.

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

© Fiona Watson/Survival

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.

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

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 Yanomami, who are the largest relatively isolated tribe in South America. They live in the rainforests and mountains of northern Brazil and southern Venezuela. They number approximately 32,000. Mining, ranching, and health care chaos threaten Yanomami

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

© Fiona Watson/Survival

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.