Human Rights Action update December 15-20

Miriam 1947-2012, Human Rights Defender

We start with a death penalty case in China.  Indeed, the condemned is apparently a recidivist drug dealer and we have scant patience or regard for such people.  Nevertheless, as people who oppose the death penalty in principle for all cases, we should protest and ask for clemency. You will need to click on the download button to get the text of the UA.  I have also provided a template letter.

In India we have a human rights defender in danger of torture.  Aparna Marandi, a long-time Dalit rights defender who has been repeatedly targeted by the state government for her activities, was arrested on 8 December.

MYANMAR
Days ago, 7 year-old Fatimah died of dehydration, cast out and neglected by her home country of Burma. And she’s not alone -- thousands of Rohingya Muslims are starving to death or even murdered because of their religion and ethnicity. But we can force Burma’s President to save the Rohingya.
Please act on the AVAAZ petition.

Now on to labor rights matters:
We start with a link that presents union busting activities in Turkey and Ecuador.  Please act, it just requires a few clicks..

In January 2012 a Make Fruit Fair appeal was launched in response to the sacking of Lester Freire Burgos, the newly elected General Secretary of the Los Alamos union, SITBA. Read more.

RUSSIA
An Uzbek man has disappeared in Russia under suspicious circumstances that indicate that he may have been abducted by Uzbek agents.  He is in danger of torture in Uzbekhistan.

The Miriam Shlesinger Human Rights Action blog

Miriam 1947-2012

On Tuesday we went to the cemetery to mark the 30th day since Miriam's death.  The magnitude of our loss is still sinking in.  For these who did not know her, we refer you to her biography/obituary.  She was famous as a translator/interpreter.  She also was a tireless fighter for human rights and justice for the oppressed and minorities. Along with her varied translation career, Shlesinger sought to use her professional skills to reduce social gaps and "promote a more just, egalitarian society," as she put it. Among other things, she launched a course that trained volunteer interpreters in various minority tongues. She was instrumental in advancing interpretation for people who needed signed languages.




We invite you to join the Amnesty International annual December  Write for Rights marathon.  The link contains a list of urgent cases of people in distress for whom you can choose to write.


It is not often that we find a human rights issue in the Netherlands.  Here we have a case of a union organizer denied access to home care workers.  Please act.

We call your attention to a labor union rights issue in Turkey as well.  Please click and act.

Happy Hannukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa to all in full solidarity.

Action Update Dec. 1-8

Miriam

We start for once with a few  positive items. We have a release of prisoners of conscience in Mexico, which is always good news.

Indigenous rights activists and prisoners of conscience, José Ramon Aniceto Gómez and Pascual Agustín Cruz, are finally free!

We also have a reversal of a ludicrous conviction of a labor activist in Egypt, Kamal Abbas.

Now on to the heavy stuff and the bad news.
In the US, we have a rape case of an 11year old girl in which the defense attorney claims that she seduced the rapists.  We need to get something across to this man.
Eleven year old girls are not partners in consensual sex!

In Thailand there is a severe problem with security for teachers and students in schools in the southern part of the country.  Please call on the Thai government to protect teachers and students from the insurgents who have been attacking them. The details of the Thai embassy in Israel are as follows:
Thai Embassy

21 Shaul Hamelech Blvd. Tel Aviv 64367 Israel
Phone	local: 09-954-8413 international:  +972.9.954.8413
Fax	local: 09-954-8417 international:  +972.9.954.8417
Email	thaisr@netvision.net.il
Web site	http://www.thaiembassy.org/telaviv

I have posted a template letter on my google drive.

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.

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.

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

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.