Human Rights

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• Chinese police fire on Tibetan protesters

  New Internationalist - The people, the ideas, the action in the fight for global justice

  New Internationalist

  26 Jan 2012 | 5:58 am

  The brutal crackdown by the Chinese government must be stopped, says Pete Speller.

• US: Number of Aging Prisoners Soaring

  hrw.org

  Human Rights Watch

  26 Jan 2012 | 10:45 pm

  Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care. Because of their higher rates of illness and impairments, older prisoners incur medical costs that are three to nine times as high as those for younger prisoners. (New York) – Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.read more

• BURUNDI: Fears of looming food shortage

  IRIN

  26 Jan 2012 | 7:01 pm

  BUJUMBURA, 27 January 2012 (IRIN) - There are fears of a looming food shortage in Burundi after heavy rains damaged two successive harvests, say officials.

• South Sudan: Urgent Steps Needed to Counter Inter-Communal Violence

  Global Voices » Humanitarian Response

  Ndesanjo Macha

  28 Jan 2012 | 5:38 am

  Urgent steps are needed to counter inter-communal violence in South Sudan: “Inter-communal violence in Jonglei and throughout South Sudan, while traditionally cyclical in nature, is not inevitable. The causes of this violence go beyond the retaliatory nature of cattle raiding and touch upon broader issues of accountability, reconciliation, political inclusion, state effectiveness, development, and the proliferation of arms among the civilian population.” Written by Ndesanjo Macha · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit ·…

• David Weinberger: Too Big To Know

  ...My heart's in Accra

  Ethan

  25 Jan 2012 | 10:02 pm

  David Weinberger‘s new book “Too Big To Know” (#2B2K – be sure to pick book titles that make good hash tags…) launched last night at Harvard Law School with a talk entitled “Unsettling Knowledge”. If you know David’s work, it’s obvious that the title is a pun. And David’s new book is a wonderfully unsettling piece – it challenges our notion of what knowledge is, and introduces the uncomfortable question of how we navigate this new space. Knowledge as we know it is coming apart, David tells us. The bastions of knowledge, the…

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  hrw.org

• US: Number of Aging Prisoners Soaring

  Human Rights Watch

  26 Jan 2012 | 10:45 pm

  Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care. Because of their higher rates of illness and impairments, older prisoners incur medical costs that are three to nine times as high as those for younger prisoners. (New York) – Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.read more

• China: Refrain From Using Excessive Force Against Protesters

  Human Rights Watch

  26 Jan 2012 | 5:33 pm

  The Chinese government should immediately investigate shootings of Tibetan protesters by security forces, open Tibetan areas to international observers, and engage with representatives of the Tibetan community to address grievances and growing violence. (New York) – The Chinese government should immediately investigate shootings of Tibetan protesters by security forces, open Tibetan areas to international observers, and engage with representatives of the Tibetan community to address grievances and growing violence, Human Rights Watch said today. read more

• US/New York: Discipline Police Showing Anti-Muslim Film

  Human Rights Watch

  26 Jan 2012 | 2:46 pm

  New York City officials should order a full investigation into the showing of an anti-Muslim film during police training and take appropriate action against all those responsible. (New York) – New York City officials should order a full investigation into the showing of an anti-Muslim film during police training and take appropriate action against all those responsible, Human Rights Watch said today. read more

• AU: African States Should Increase Support for Justice

  Human Rights Watch

  26 Jan 2012 | 12:57 pm

  Over 30 civil society organizations from close to 20 African countries wrote today to African member countries of the International Criminal Court (ICC) urging their renewed support for the court’s efforts to combat grave international crimes. The letter was sent on prior to the 18th summit of the African Union (AU), which will take place on January 29 and 30 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.   (Johannesburg) – Over 30 civil society organizations from close to 20 African countries wrote today to African member countries of the International Criminal Court (ICC) urging their renewed…

• France: Abusive Identity Checks of Minority Youth

  Human Rights Watch

  25 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm

  French police are using overly broad powers to conduct unwarranted and abusive identity checks on black and Arab young men and boys. (Paris) – French police are using overly broad powers to conduct unwarranted and abusive identity checks on black and Arab young men and boys, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. read more

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  IRIN

• BURUNDI: Fears of looming food shortage

  26 Jan 2012 | 7:01 pm

  BUJUMBURA, 27 January 2012 (IRIN) - There are fears of a looming food shortage in Burundi after heavy rains damaged two successive harvests, say officials.

• OPT: Boosting protection and tackling food insecurity

  26 Jan 2012 | 7:01 pm

  RAMALLAH, 27 January 2012 (IRIN) - The humanitarian community's 2012-2013 Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has a narrower scope than in previous years, focusing on two strategic objectives: improving the protective environment, including access to essential services like health care and education, and tackling food insecurity especially in areas where the Palestinian Authority (PA) has limited access.

• SLIDESHOW: Living on the edge in Kenya's Turkana region

  26 Jan 2012 | 7:01 pm

  NAIROBI, 27 January 2012 (IRIN) - The 850,000 residents of northwestern Kenya's vast and parched Turkana region face some of the most inhospitable living conditions on Earth.

• AFGHANISTAN: Time running out for displaced farmers

  26 Jan 2012 | 7:01 pm

  MAZAR-I-SHARIF, 27 January 2012 (IRIN) - Much of Dawood Boy's village in northern Afghanistan is empty. More than 1,000 families from Alburz in Balkh Province abandoned it 4-6 months ago after a drought affecting nearly half the country left 2.8 million people in need of food assistance, according to the World Food Programme.

• Analysis: When aid meets arsenic in Nepal

  26 Jan 2012 | 7:01 pm

  PARASI, 27 January 2012 (IRIN) - After the discovery of unsafe levels of arsenic in Nepal's groundwater more than a decade ago, government officials and aid groups are finally taking a critical look at whether their efforts have made a difference.

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  Global Voices » Humanitarian Response

• South Sudan: Urgent Steps Needed to Counter Inter-Communal Violence

  Ndesanjo Macha

  28 Jan 2012 | 5:38 am

  Urgent steps are needed to counter inter-communal violence in South Sudan: “Inter-communal violence in Jonglei and throughout South Sudan, while traditionally cyclical in nature, is not inevitable. The causes of this violence go beyond the retaliatory nature of cattle raiding and touch upon broader issues of accountability, reconciliation, political inclusion, state effectiveness, development, and the proliferation of arms among the civilian population.” Written by Ndesanjo Macha · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit ·…

• Myanmar (Burma): Betwixt and Between

  Onnik Krikorian

  27 Jan 2012 | 6:27 am

  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees considers the situation of between 110-150,000 Burmese refugees located in camps on the border with Thailand as one of 29 protracted refugee situations globally. And, according to East Asia Forum, there are also an additional 1.5-2 million refugees in Thailand and represent the ‘visible side of human rights abuse.' Ruled by a military junta from 1962 to 2011, Burma, known locally and by the United Nations as Myanmar, has often been accused of violating human rights and the forcible relocation of civilians. Although an ostensibly…

• El Salvador: Top Stories of 2011

  Silvia Viñas

  16 Jan 2012 | 12:53 pm

  Tim's El Salvador Blog summarizes the top stories from El Salvador in 2011. Written by Silvia Viñas · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

• Philippines: Malong and Typhoon Sendong Evacuees

  Karlo Mikhail Mongaya

  14 Jan 2012 | 6:55 am

  Journalist Keith Bacongco writes about how Typhoon Sendong evacuees in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao uses the malong, a traditional Muslim blanket, to cope with the disaster. Written by Karlo Mikhail Mongaya · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

• Syria: Emergency Refugees

  Dieyna Ba

  13 Jan 2012 | 7:49 am

  With large scale violence in Syria, the exodus towards neighboring countries is increasing continuously (Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey). As per Islamic Relief [it] non-profit organisation, at least 650 Syrian families (mostly from the high risk areas of Homs and Hama) are in urgent need of food, sanitation and other assistance.  Currently different  activities such as fundraising and other initiatives are taking place, details here.   Written by Bernardo Parrella · Translated by Dieyna Ba · View original post [it] · comments (0) Share: Donate ·…

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  ...My heart's in Accra

• David Weinberger: Too Big To Know

  Ethan

  25 Jan 2012 | 10:02 pm

  David Weinberger‘s new book “Too Big To Know” (#2B2K – be sure to pick book titles that make good hash tags…) launched last night at Harvard Law School with a talk entitled “Unsettling Knowledge”. If you know David’s work, it’s obvious that the title is a pun. And David’s new book is a wonderfully unsettling piece – it challenges our notion of what knowledge is, and introduces the uncomfortable question of how we navigate this new space. Knowledge as we know it is coming apart, David tells us. The bastions of knowledge, the…

• Beth Kolko: “Hackademia – Leveraging the conflict between expertise and innovation to create disruptive technologies”

  Ethan

  25 Jan 2012 | 9:42 am

  Beth Kolko is the sort of academic who follows her muse from one fascinating topic to another. Colin Maclay traces some of her past work from a doctorate in English through research on use of technology in the developing world, through her current research on human-centered design and engineering at the University of Washington. For the past couple of years, Beth has been focused on research for a book on hackers and makers. This is a project that comes from her daily life, where she’s spent the last six years participating in hacking and making events in the Seattle area –…

• MIT Media Lab opposes SOPA, PIPA

  Ethan

  15 Jan 2012 | 1:31 am

  I’ve been working with friend (and boss) Joi Ito to help the Media Lab put up a statement about our collective opposition to SOPA and PIPA. Joi and I are both posting this piece on our personal blogs, and a shorter piece from the Media Lab site leads to both these posts. As we get ready to post, it seems like the tide in the battle is turning, and major concessions are being offered by bill sponsors. That’s good news, but SOPA and PIPA are still worth our close attention – there are powerful forces advocating for their passage, and as we try to document below, the harms of…

• More notes from Microsoft Research Social Computing Symposium

  Ethan

  13 Jan 2012 | 4:07 pm

  Some notes from day 2 of the Microsoft Research Social Media Symposium: My attempts to transcribe Wael Abbas’s talk about media and protest in Egypt prior to the Arab Spring. Becky Hurwitz has been active in the Occupy movement in New York City, and offered reflections on how Occupy is developing and testing technology for protest. She invites us to use the people’s mic, a technology created to ensure that participants in Occupy General Assemblies can hear speakers, despite police bans on amplification. We dutifully echo her in a mic check and in repeating a few words of her talk,…

• Wael Abbas on video and social media in Egypt prior to the revolution

  Ethan

  13 Jan 2012 | 9:53 am

  Wael Abbas himself to the crowd at Microsoft’s Social Media Symposium saying, “I’m just a blogger.” Yeah, and Clay Shirky, who introduces him, is just some bald dude. Here’s my attempt to transcribe Wael’s talk. I want to talk about social media in Egypt from 2004 through the revolution and why we needed to use social media. In our country where we’re told we have freedom of speech, where they’ve convinced us we have independent media, we weren’t being told the whole truth. The media is not covering everything. In 2004, we started seeing…

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  UN Dispatch

• Agencies On The Future Of Aid

  Christopher R Albon

  27 Jan 2012 | 2:20 pm

  AlertNet has published a great new feature on what humanitarian aid is going to look like in the coming years. The core of the AlertNet project is a survey of 41 aid agencies conducted between November and December of 2011. The respondents — often the head of an NGO — were asked about the future need for aid, challenges of delivering aid, aid funding, and aid efficiency. The results of the survey paint a unique picture of what humanitarians see for the aid sector in the future. Of factors likely to increase the need for humanitarian aid the the coming years one threat stood out: climate…

• Secretary-General in Davos/World Economic Forum; Climate Change and Private Sector; Yemen; and more

  Insider

  26 Jan 2012 | 5:05 pm

  Secretary-General in Davos: In Davos today, the Secretary-General met with the President of Switzerland and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, as well as  the Prime Ministers of Kenya, Denmark, and Brazil.  Asked about the Secretary-General’s message in Davos, the Spokesperson said that he would stress the importance of social justice and equality, in these times of economic crisis. He added that the Secretary-General would voice the need to look at the difficulties faced by many people and particularly young people. World Economic Forum:  The Secretary-General called today on…

• With UNITAID in Liberia: The First Step is Identifying the Problem

  Mark Leon Goldberg

  26 Jan 2012 | 4:30 pm

  Ed note. I’m posting from Liberia this week where I am accompanying a delegation from UNITAID that is visiting health projects in the country. (Monrovia, Liberia) –Pretty much anywhere in the world, when a person tests positive for HIV, the next step is to get your white blood cells counted. When the “CD-4” count, as it is known, falls below a certain threshold that person is prescribed anti-retroviral treatment (ARTs). HIV positive people are generally not put on ARTs right away because once treatment starts, it must continue for life. It is a relatively straightforward…

• New Syria Resolution Might Back Russia into the Corner

  Mark Leon Goldberg

  26 Jan 2012 | 10:14 am

  The diplomatic gambit to press Bashar al Assad just got a little more interesting. You may recall that the Security Council has been paralyzed on Syria because of a split between Russia and the West.  That may soon change. Reuters is reporting that the the “P-3″ are working with Qatar and Morocco to draft a Security Council resolution that endorses an Arab League plan to have Assad step aside and appoint a deputy as the first step in a political transition in the country. Morocco is the only Arab member of the Security Council, so their support is crucial. Qatar is the de-facto…

• SG’s Action Agenda; Security Council; Iran; Yemen; Green Economy; and more

  Insider

  25 Jan 2012 | 5:35 pm

  SG’s Action agenda: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today outlined a series of actions he believes the global community must take over the next five years to build “the future we want.” In a speech to the General Assembly last September Mr. Ban presented five imperatives – or generational opportunities – that must be addressed to ensure a better future for the world’s people.  The “action agenda” presented today describes specific measures regarding each of the five imperatives, including an unprecedented campaign to wipe out five of the world’s major killers – malaria,…

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  Human Rights Now - Amnesty International USA Blog » Women’s Rights

• Faxes Jammed! Guatemalan Government Responds to Our Actions for Norma Cruz

  Bryna Subherwal

  27 Jan 2012 | 3:18 pm

  Norma Cruz Earlier this week, we started an exciting new faxjam action – calling on our members and Facebook and Twitter supporters around the world to send a fax to the Attorney General of Guatemala on behalf of human rights defender Norma Cruz. Last night we spoke to Norma, the leader of the women’s rights organization Fundación Sobrevivientes, who has received repeated death threats because of her work supporting victims of violence against women and calling for those responsible to be prosecuted. And the news is good – the authorities are really taking notice. Norma told us…

• Stop the Death Threats. Defend Norma Cruz.

  The Editors

  23 Jan 2012 | 9:17 am

  Guatemalan human rights defender Norma Cruz is the director of Fundación Sobrevivientes (c) Amnesty International Norma Cruz is a Guatemalan human rights defender who has been repeatedly threatened with death because of her work documenting cases of violence against women and fighting for justice. Some of her relatives have even suffered threats and attacks because of her work. It’s time someone defended Norma.  Through our new Faxjam campaign you can help stand up for Norma and other activists in Guatemala who face constant danger. Norma Cruz leads an organization called ‘Survivors…

• Egyptian Court Ruling on “Virginity Tests” a Win For Women

  Cristina Finch

  17 Jan 2012 | 3:26 pm

  Women protestors in Cairo. Photo by Sarah Carr By now, almost everyone has heard the about the 18 women protestors in Egypt’s Tahrir Square who this past spring were detained, beaten, given electric shocks, strip searched and forced to submit to “virginity tests.” But courageous action by two Egyptian women has led to a landmark ruling on these “tests” by an Egyptian court. In July 2011 Samira Ibrahim and Maha Mohamed stood up for their rights and filed a case before the Egyptian administrative court to end “virginity tests” against female detainees.  Ibrahim was subjected to…

• The Year of Rebellion

  Christoph Koettl

  9 Jan 2012 | 8:24 am

  Demonstrators' resilience in 2011 has changed the regional context for human rights © AP Photo / Tarek Fawzy This week, we  approach the first major anniversary of the popular uprisings that began to sweep through the Middle East and North Africa last year. On January 14, 2011, Tunisia’s long time president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, fled the country to Saudi Arabia. Since December Ben Ali has been on trial – in absentia – along with about 40 other senior officials, for the killing of protesters. The following weeks will be marked by the anniversaries of uprisings and the…

• No Woman, No Peace

  Cristina Finch

  19 Dec 2011 | 1:35 pm

  © UNHCR/B. Heger Just moments ago U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a comprehensive new plan by the U.S. government to help protect women and girls in conflict zones and ensure that peace processes include women. The new plan by the Administration is the first ever U.S. national action plan and Executive Order to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.   Often dubbed “the women’s resolution,” UNSC Resolution 1325 recognizes that significant action is needed to protect women and girls from armed conflict and include them…

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  OurPledge

• Sudanese Government Is Holding the UN Hostage (Again)

  the OurPledge Team

  12 Jan 2012 | 10:19 am

  From the AFP: The United Nations said Wednesday that the Sudanese government is “severely” restricting movements by peacekeepers in Darfur where fresh clashes have broken out and peace talks are deadlocked. The Khartoum authorities are also holding up hundreds of visa applications for military, police and civilian personnel for the UN mission in Darfur, UNAMID, peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told a UN Security Council meeting on the Sudanese region where there has been conflict since 2003. Clashes between government forces and rebel groups have increased in various parts of…

• The New Bystanders?

  the OurPledge Team

  9 Jan 2012 | 9:15 am

  A must-read from Act for Sudan Co-Founder Susan Morgan in The Huffington Post: “Still, in spite of this dedicated activism, the Obama administration seems blind and deaf to the ongoing genocide in Sudan. In Mohamed’s words, “It is morally wrong to keep millions of Darfuris in the IDP camps for almost a decade, Nuba Mountain people trapped in the caves, Blue Nile people refugees in another country (Ethiopia) away from their homes. We see clearly this administration has made its choice. Yet history is taking notice.”

• More Media Attention for Sudan, Please

  Nikki Serapio

  19 Oct 2011 | 1:34 pm

  Good for Congressmen Frank Wolf. (Hope he has followed through on his promise below.) From the Enough Project blog: Visibly frustrated by the lack of tangible U.S. action as human rights crimes unfold in Sudan, Congressman Wolf noted that part of the challenge of mobilizing the political will for the U.S. government to act is that the atrocities unfolding in Sudan are largely taking place without any media spotlight. Wolf said he would send all of the panelists’ testimonies to the main media networks, including ABC, FOX, NBC, and CNN, to stir up some needed media attention.

• Article: How Many Internally Displaced Persons Are There in Darfur?

  Nikki Serapio

  2 May 2011 | 7:24 am

  From Eric Reeves: The simple answer to the question, “How many internally displaced persons are there in Darfur?” is easy: we don’t know, and we don’t know the margin of error for various figures that have been promulgated by the UN in the past. But we are not without data, and the data raise troubling questions about the integrity of the current UN estimate of 1.9 million IDPs, very quietly first published in July 2010. When precisely this consequential revision—down from a previous UN figure of 2.7 million IDPs—took place is unclear, as is the decision-making process itself. As…

• Quote of the Moment

  the OurPledge Team

  1 Mar 2011 | 10:03 pm

  “It is not Gration’s responsibility as U.S. special envoy to Sudan to play the role of the UN Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs in Darfur. But his role must certainly include speaking honestly about humanitarian realities as they exist, not as is convenient for obtaining a diplomatic post. In responding to the acute suffering of innocent civilians, he falls well short of what we have a right to expect of our representatives abroad. Gration’s consistent missteps, miscalculations, and disingenuousness make him unfit to be ambassador to Kenya. The Obama administration should…

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  The Ushahidi Blog

• Students learn programming with Ushahidi

  hleson

  27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm

  [Guest post: Cam Macdonell is an Instructor of Computer Science at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, AB. He completed his PhD from the University of Alberta in 2011 and began teaching at Grant MacEwan in September, 2011.] In September, I began teaching my first upper-level University course at Grant MacEwan University. Having taken some (and heard about some other) lack-lustre undergrad Software Engineering courses, I really wanted to make this course practical, project-based and interesting for the students. One inspiration was the Undergraduate Capstone Open Source Project (UCOSP) where…

• Empowering Action New Tools for Crisis and Humanitarian Response

  hleson

  26 Jan 2012 | 9:40 am

  [Guest Blog post by Ryan Lanclos, ESRI, originally appeared on the ESRI Site.] This week several members of our team attended the 3rd International Conference of Crisis Mappers (ICCM) that was held in Geneva, Switzerland and we were blown away by the turn out (Follow #ICCM on Twitter). This community has grown substantially over the last 3 years – when we attended the first conference held in Cleveland, Ohio back in 2009 there were about 100 attendees. Now there are more than 400 gathered here discussing crisis mapping and the challenges they face. There are really 3 main things that we…

• Google Inc + World Bank = Empowering Citizen Cartographers?

  patrick

  25 Jan 2012 | 7:47 am

  [Cross-posted from Patrick Meier's blog iRevolution] World Bank Managing Director Caroline Anstey recently announced a new partnership with Google that will apparently empower citizen cartographers in 150 countries worldwide. This has provoked some concern among open source enthusiasts. Under this new agreement, the Bank, UN agencies and developing country governments will be able to “access Google Map Maker’s global mapping platform, allowing the collection, viewing, search and free access to data of geoinformation in over 150 countries and 60 languages.” So what’s…

• Crisis Mapping Syria: An Important Update

  patrick

  23 Jan 2012 | 8:46 am

  [Guest blog post by Syrian activist, author identity withheld for security reasons] Syria Tracker was launched on April 23, 2011 and has been able to log aggregate or individual reports since March 18, 2011 [accessed January 9, 2012], including 550 reports for the category “Killed (قُتِل)” and 356 reports for the category “Missing-مفقود or Detained-مُعتقل”. A total of 6,317 individuals killed over 286 days (March 18, 2011 thru January 8, 2012) were documented and verified. Killing ranged from 1-210 killings per day (median of 17.5 (95% CI: 14-19)), in 463 cities,…

• Haiti and the Power of Crowdsourcing

  patrick

  12 Jan 2012 | 8:29 am

  It’s been two years today since Haiti’s devastating earthquake… here’s a blog post from then on the power of crowdsourcing in crisis response. Cross-posted from iRevolution.net It’s been two weeks since I called David Kobia to launch Ushahidi’s crisis mapping platform in Haiti. I could probably write 100 blog posts on the high’s and low’s of the past 14 days. Perhaps there will more time be next month to recount the first two weeks of the disaster response. For now, I wanted to share an astounding example of crowdsourcing that took place 10 days…

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  united-nations « WordPress.com Tag Feed

• سعید ملک پور را آزاد می کنیم.

  Empty Seat Campaign

  27 Jan 2012 | 3:52 am

  وی با رتبه ۲۳ کنکور سراسری وارد دانشگاه صنعتی شریف شد. برنامه نویس آزاد و شهروند ایرانی کانادایی نیز میباشد!! می خواین بدونید او کیست؟ اینجا رو نگاه کنید: j.mp/xxAxqa http://flic.kr/p/bjeNDT

• سعید ملک پور را آزاد می کنیم.

  free saeed malekpour

  27 Jan 2012 | 3:39 am

  وی با رتبه ۲۳ کنکور سراسری وارد دانشگاه صنعتی شریف شد. برنامه نویس آزاد و شهروند ایرانی کانادایی نیز میباشد!! می خواین بدونید او کیست؟ اینجا رو نگاه کنید: j.mp/xxAxqa

• سعید ملک پور را آزاد می کنیم.

  Empty Seat Campaign

  27 Jan 2012 | 3:36 am

  http://flic.kr/p/bjeNDT

• Bombings: Police arrest 160 Chadian mercenaries in Kano.

  greatriversofhope

  27 Jan 2012 | 3:32 am

  AS life gradually returns to normal in Kano city after a weekend of bombings, Police sources on Thur

• Empire State of Mine

  monicastangledweb

  27 Jan 2012 | 3:32 am

  Not that anyone has asked, but I’ll say it anyway: I thank my lucky stars I grew up in New Yor

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  Forced Migration Current Awareness

• Last Minute January Events/More February Events

  EEM

  27 Jan 2012 | 11:15 am

  Comparative Approaches to the Use of International Human Rights Law in Asylum Cases in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, London, 31 January 2012 [info]- The next lecture in the Refugee Law Initiative's seminar series.Forced Migration, Statelessness and Issues of Citizenship in South Asia, New Delhi, 22-23 March 2012 [info]- Application deadline is 31 January 2012.Using Evidence to Support Traumatised Women Seeking Asylum, London, 7 February 2012 [info]- Scroll to p. 17; free training by the Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law; register by 31 January 2012.Reminder!

• Focus on Asylum Issues in the U.S. and UK

  EEM

  27 Jan 2012 | 10:30 am

  Credibility Determinations are not Credible (The Asylumist, Jan. 2012) [Part one] [Part two] [Part three]Discretionary Powers of the Immigration Court and the Board of Immigration Appeals and Issues Surrounding Particular Social Groups (Birdsong's Law Blog, Jan. 2012) [text]Guidance for Adjudicating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Refugee and Asylum Claims (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Dec. 2011) [text]"I feel like as a woman I'm not welcome": A Gender Analysis of UK Asylum Law, Policy and Practice (Asylum Aid, Jan. 2012) [text]The Interpretation of the…

• New Issues of Conflict & Education, JID, Intl. Migration, Refuge

  EEM

  26 Jan 2012 | 12:45 pm

  Conflict and Education, vol. 1, no. 1 (Winter/Spring 2011) [full-text]- Inaugural issue. The journal's purpose is "to promote research and inform policy so that access to, and quality of education delivery in war-affected societies may be improved." Includes "Conflict, Education and Displacement."International Migration, vol. 50, no. 1 (Feb. 2012) [contents]- Includes features on "Turkish Migration" and "Diaspora."Journal of Internal Displacement, vol. 2, no. 1 (Jan. 2012) [open access]- Contents include "Development induced displacement in the African context: what says the African Union…

• Health-related Articles

  EEM

  26 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am

  "Epidemiology of Respiratory Viral Infections in Two Long-term Refugee Camps in Kenya, 2007-2010," BMC Infectious Diseases 12:7 (Jan. 2012) [open access text]"The Hopes of West African Refugees during Resettlement in Northern Sweden: A 6-year Prospective Qualitative Study of Pathways and Agency Thoughts," Conflict and Health 6:1 (Jan. 2012 [open access text]"An Ill Wind? Climate Change, Migration and Health," Environmental Health Perspectives, Online Ahead of Print (Jan. 2012) [open access text]"Long-Term Impact of War on Healthcare Costs: An Eight-Country Study," PLoS ONE 7(1): e29603 (Jan.

• Writing Opportunities

  EEM

  25 Jan 2012 | 10:00 am

  UNHCR's Policy Development and Evaluation Service (PDES) is now accepting contributions to its working paper series, "New Issues in Refugee Research." Here is the style guide.In addition, the following journals have issued calls for papers:Journal of Internal Displacement [info]- The July 2012 issue will focus on "Forced Migration and Displacement during the Arab Spring." The deadline for submissions is 15 April 2012.Migration Studies [info]- This new journal, to be launched in Spring 2013, is seeking contributions; no deadline has been specified.Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration [info]-…

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  Brain Off

• A Week for the Record Books

  mikel

  24 Jan 2012 | 7:09 am

  That was a week where I really was truly and completely welcomed to DC. Some great things, some other things, and some things I can’t talk about yet. Social Technologies at the GWU Humanitarian Mapping Workshop View more presentations from mikel_maron Was invited to fill for Kate Chapman at the Mapping the World of Humanitarianism workshop (not the geo kind of mapping). Talked about the challenges with community centered social technologies, within the humanitarian system. Most difficult question “Do you consider yourself a humanitarian?” Open Mapping and Community…

• Thanks to the 2012 OpenStreetMap Foundation Board. This is going to be the year.

  mikel

  11 Nov 2011 | 8:32 pm

  Last weekend in Seattle, the OSM Foundation Board met “face-to-face”. We get together because no matter how much you try otherwise, there’s way more done in person in a couple intensive days. It cost about 4 or 5k USD this time, and it’s worth the cost. But, I think we’ve always done a terrible job explaining what happens at the Board meetings, and a middling job following up, and those two things are totally related. I want this meeting to be different. It must be different. This is my fifth year on the Board and final year on the Board (I was elected again this…

• Opening Data in Kenya. My Method is to Hack.

  mikel

  9 Aug 2011 | 1:03 pm

  There’s good reason to join the excitement about Open Data in Kenya. As Tariq says on the World Bank blog Open data in Kenya is special: it comes at a time of national change; it’s got a head start on tools and expertise from the global open data community and it’s happening in a country where the information ecosystem is still maturing. I’m proud that our work with Map Kibera has any relation to this at all. And it’s certainly due to the hard work of passionate people, in a tough environment, especially Dr. Bitange Ndemo (if you have the time, Dr. Ndemo’s talk at…

• Jerusalem, Moving the Ladder

  mikel

  31 Jul 2011 | 11:19 am

  (x-posted from GroundTruth Initiative) After 4 weeks, we’re leaving Jerusalem. The finest puzzle of human passion, and passion beyond, resting solidly and unsteadily on 5000 years or so of accumulated white stone and dirt. The most complicated and absurd and somehow, sometimes wonderful city. Our host Micha Kurz of Grassroots Jerusalem warned us that 4 weeks would be just enough to just begin understanding Jerusalem. In fact, it’s only enough time for the city to get a healthy grip on you so that you really don’t want to leave. And it’s definitely not enough time to…

• Doing

  mikel

  5 May 2011 | 4:41 pm

  The past few months have most entirely been about discussing, strategizing, arguing, planning. Really missing actually doing stuff. So I decided to ignore the emails, concepts notes, budgets, design documents. Build something. Just small things, but cool things. Makes me happy. On the OpenStreetMap site, the history tab is super important for keeping tabs on changes, but visually dull and hard to immediately parse. I added a map, with highlighting between the list and map views. TomH cleaned up the code and improved the layout. Basically, just some javascript and view changes, and I had to…

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  ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace)

• How to bypass Twitter’s censorship in-country

  Sanjana Hattotuwa

  28 Jan 2012 | 12:01 am

  Twitter’s recent announcement that it had implemented a system which would let it withhold particular tweets from specific countries has caused a storm, with many decrying the move as one that aids repressive regimes more easily control information flows within the country. As the Guardian notes, The company has insisted that it will not use the gagging system in a blanket fashion, but would apply it on a case-by-case basis, as already happens when governments or organisations complain about individual tweets. The new system, which can filter tweets on a country-by-country basis and has…

• International Network of Crisis Mappers (ICCM) 2011 keynote address

  Sanjana Hattotuwa

  11 Jan 2012 | 1:52 am

  I was privileged to deliver a keynote address at the 2011 International Network of Crisis Mappers, held in Geneva from 14-15 November, 2011. The ICCM network has now kindly put a video of my keynote on YouTube.

• Speech at the Awards Ceremony of Agenda 14’s Short Film Festival 2011

  Sanjana Hattotuwa

  11 Dec 2011 | 9:06 pm

  Delivered this speech in Sinhala at the Awards Ceremony of Agenda 14’s Short Film Festival 2011, held at the National Film Corporation Cinema. A PDF of the Sinhala version can be downloaded from here. Good evening. In the time I have for this speech, which is around 10 minutes, over 6,000 new videos would have been uploaded to YouTube. That’s over 10 days of video content.  Over 600 videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute, or around a day’s worth of video a minute. A minute. Let’s pause for a moment and think about that. On 24th July 2010, YouTube asked its millions of…

• On photography

  Sanjana Hattotuwa

  4 Dec 2011 | 7:59 pm

  Granularity of many vs. the vantage of the few: Photography and activism today was the title of a lecture I delivered recently at the American Centre, and in a slightly revised form, at the Fulbright Commission. The preparation for the lectures reminded me of my experience with photography. I first handled Thaththa’s Minolta when I was a small child, shooting all manner of domestic drama without any film in it. However, we weren’t a family that celebrated or used photography to any great degree. Happy events that I now see other families have captured on film – a party, the first day at…

• Crisis mapping, disasters and aid: A new paradigm

  Sanjana Hattotuwa

  19 Nov 2011 | 8:52 am

  Prezi presentation on ICCM 2011 by Geeks Without Borders Last week I delivered a keynote address at the 3rd International Conference of Crisis Mappers held in Geneva, an annual meeting of the practitioners, academics and some of the best minds in the world involved in shaping the future of humanitarian aid and post-disaster relief work. My involvement and enduring interest in this field is accidental. At the time of the Boxing Day tsunami, I used a programme called Groove Virtual Office to support a political initiative called One Text that brought together actors in, what at the time was…

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  Phayul Latest News

• A Young student killed protecting his friend – A round up of events

  27 Jan 2012 | 8:52 pm

  The Tibetan shot in yesterday’s police violence in Ngaba Bharma Shang has been identified as a young school student. Urgyen, a 20-year old student was shot dead while he

• Protest in Lhasa, China tightens security

  27 Jan 2012 | 3:06 am

  A Tibetan man was arrested for shouting free Tibet slogans and distributing leaflets at Barkhor Square, the heart of the Tibetan capital city Lhasa, Wednesday. Namkha Gyaltsen, 25, was arrested shortly after

• US to raise Tibet killings with Xi Jinping

  26 Jan 2012 | 11:51 pm

  The US government has said that it will raise the recent killings of Tibetans by security forces with Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping during his state visit next month.

• The Dalai Lama to return to Dharamshala at month’s end

  26 Jan 2012 | 11:48 pm

  His Holiness the Dalai Lama will return back to his exile home of Dharamshala in north India at the end of this month. The 76-year old Tibetan leader is currently in New Delhi, recuperating from a minor eye surgery.

• Kalon Tripa calls for wordwide vigil on Feb. 8, Says entire Tibet under martial law

  26 Jan 2012 | 6:07 am

  In his first official statement on the recent killings of Tibetans in Tibet, Kalon Tripa Dr Lobsang Sangay urged Tibetans and Tibet supporters all over the world to take part in a global vigil on Wednesday, February 8.

• 

  hrw.org

• US: Number of Aging Prisoners Soaring

  Human Rights Watch

  26 Jan 2012 | 10:45 pm

  Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care. Because of their higher rates of illness and impairments, older prisoners incur medical costs that are three to nine times as high as those for younger prisoners. (New York) – Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.read more

• China: Refrain From Using Excessive Force Against Protesters

  Human Rights Watch

  26 Jan 2012 | 5:33 pm

  The Chinese government should immediately investigate shootings of Tibetan protesters by security forces, open Tibetan areas to international observers, and engage with representatives of the Tibetan community to address grievances and growing violence. (New York) – The Chinese government should immediately investigate shootings of Tibetan protesters by security forces, open Tibetan areas to international observers, and engage with representatives of the Tibetan community to address grievances and growing violence, Human Rights Watch said today. read more

• US/New York: Discipline Police Showing Anti-Muslim Film

  Human Rights Watch

  26 Jan 2012 | 2:46 pm

  New York City officials should order a full investigation into the showing of an anti-Muslim film during police training and take appropriate action against all those responsible. (New York) – New York City officials should order a full investigation into the showing of an anti-Muslim film during police training and take appropriate action against all those responsible, Human Rights Watch said today. read more

• AU: African States Should Increase Support for Justice

  Human Rights Watch

  26 Jan 2012 | 12:57 pm

  Over 30 civil society organizations from close to 20 African countries wrote today to African member countries of the International Criminal Court (ICC) urging their renewed support for the court’s efforts to combat grave international crimes. The letter was sent on prior to the 18th summit of the African Union (AU), which will take place on January 29 and 30 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.   (Johannesburg) – Over 30 civil society organizations from close to 20 African countries wrote today to African member countries of the International Criminal Court (ICC) urging their renewed…

• France: Abusive Identity Checks of Minority Youth

  Human Rights Watch

  25 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm

  French police are using overly broad powers to conduct unwarranted and abusive identity checks on black and Arab young men and boys. (Paris) – French police are using overly broad powers to conduct unwarranted and abusive identity checks on black and Arab young men and boys, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. read more

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  UUSC Blog

• Hundreds of Ways to Help People Live With Dignity

  Guest

  27 Jan 2012 | 9:16 am

• We Are One: Crossing Borders as Unitarian Universalists

  Guest

  23 Jan 2012 | 3:46 pm

• Standing Shoulder to Shoulder with Partners in Haiti

  Kara Smith

  18 Jan 2012 | 3:26 pm

• Two Years Later, Haitians' Pride and Resilience Support Earthquake Recovery

  Aiesha Cummings

  12 Jan 2012 | 8:58 am

• Awakening the Soul at Occupy Wall Street

  Guest

  5 Jan 2012 | 11:53 am

• 

  PhD studies in human rights

• Young Penalists Course in Siracusa

  23 Jan 2012 | 12:09 am

  The International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences is holding its 12th Specialization Course in International Criminal Law for Young Penalists on "Assessing Patterns of TransnationalOrganized Crime, the International Criminal Responsibility of Non-State Actors, and the Effectiveness of the International Enforcement System". The course will take place from May 20th to May 30th and is open to all international graduate law students. It is held in Siracusa, Italy, in beautiful Sicily.The deadline for application submissions is March 25th, 2012. ISISC will select 60 participants…

• A Nasty Judgment from the European Court of Human Rights in a refoulement case

  18 Jan 2012 | 2:20 am

  Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights dismissed an application by two individuals, Harkins and Edwards, who were resisting extradition to the United States. The issue of the death penalty was relatively secondary, because diplomatic assurances had been given by the Americans authorities and the Chamber considered these to be satisfactory, enjoying a presumption of good faith. The heart of the case was the threat that the two men would face a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without any hope of release on parole if convicted upon return to the United States. In the trade, this…

• David Scheffer : All The Missing Souls

  15 Jan 2012 | 5:06 am

  I’ve been meaning to write about David Scheffer’s book All the Missing Souls since it was issued late last year.Yesterday’s very favourable book review in the Financial Times by Philippe Sands brings it to the attention of readers here in the UK, and internationally, and prompts me to comment after an unusually lengthy winter break this year.As would be expected, Philippe Sands is critical of the US policy, but he is also full of respect for David Scheffer’s account. As the first Ambassador at large for War Crimes Issues, David Scheffer was literally at the centre of what is the most…

• BS Watch

  15 Jan 2012 | 5:02 am

  Readers of the blog may have seen, from time to time, reference to scurrilous attacks from the blog named ‘UN Watch’.  On Friday, its headline story noted the third anniversary of the Goldstone Report, the colloquial label given to the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Gaza war. It gloats over what it calls the retraction by Richard Goldstone of ‘The core charges of the report—that Israel's leadership intentionally plotted to murder Palestinian civilians, and did so from racist motives’. But they were not the 'core charges'. They were actually very secondary and…

• Mugesera Case: Yet Another Twist in the Debate about the Rwandan Justice System

  15 Jan 2012 | 4:58 am

  To anyone who has followed the recent history of Rwanda, and particularly those familiar with the case law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the name Leon Mugesera will be well-known. His role in fomenting the climate of anti-Tutsi hatred that led to the 1994 genocide is discussed in several of the judgments, notably the first major ruling of the Tribunal in the Akayesu case. This is from paragraph 99 of the Akayesu judgment:…there were other propaganda agents, the most notorious of whom was a certain Léon Mugesera, vice-president of the MRND in Gisenyi Préfecture and…

• 

  Chez Rémi

• Yes we want?

  11 Jan 2012 | 7:54 am

  The Secretariat of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) has uploaded last night the long awaited “zero draft” of the conference's outcome document. Also known as the Rio+20 conference, the UNCSD will take place in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit of 1992. The Zero Draft forms the basis for further negotiations. I'll be at what the UN jargon calls an informal informal this month, 25-27 January in New York (there will be several more before everyone meets in Rio in June). The most immediate question is…

• Snapshot

  20 Nov 2011 | 10:14 am

  It is too early to say whether the next UN "Earth Summit" in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20) will be a success. But the official Rio+20 website now offers an interesting and useful snapshot of the expectations, perspectives, hopes and proposals of large segments of the international community.In March, 2011, the second session of the Preparatory Committee of the Rio+20 Conference decided that governments, international agencies and "majors groups" (organizations representing all walks of "civil society") would have until 1st November to send to the UN their proposals for Rio+20. These…

• McFish

  6 Oct 2011 | 4:55 am

  I've just read on the BBC website that McDonald's restaurants have announced that they will be "serving" MSC-certified fish in Europe.This reminds me of a dinner I was at in Geneva about 12 years ago, organized by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Fish was the main dish on the menu, and, sitted on my left a Vice-President of McDonald's asked me "How is this fish called? It's very tasty."  Half-jokingly only, I responded: "I won't tell you, because otherwise there won't be any left within a few months!" The man did not seem to catch what I was telling him.

• Golden rule for a planet

  27 Sep 2011 | 4:59 pm

  Today is Earth Overshoot Day according to calculations by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and the Global Footprint Network (GFN). This means that in the first nine months of this year Humanity has surpassed its natural budget for the year (well, those who like me, and probably you also have access to abundance) . From today and for the rest of the year we will now operate in overdraft, borrowing (stealing) resources from the future.I can't help wondering what future generations will think of us when they hear of the sharp contrast between the lightness with which we spend…

• Dignity

  28 Jul 2011 | 6:33 pm

  I took this photo this evening at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, the epicenter in the last two months of the youth revolt against a political class that has lost values and is largely corrupt in a variety of ways.Like any youth mass movement, this one has its own challenges to face. But there is little doubt already that it will be the hallmark of a generation. Here in Spain, and maybe elsewhere too.The odds that I ever have another daughter again are very slim to say the least. But if I ever had one I'm thinking that I could call her Dignidad.  Not Esperanza. [Spanish readers will…

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  Foreign Policy BlogsForeign Policy Blogs | The FPA Global Affairs Blog Network

• Paper Wars

  Aarti Ramachandran

  27 Jan 2012 | 3:09 pm

  It’s all-out war, and yes, South Indians plan to relish every minute of it. After all, it is rather gratifying to see the dignified Hindu getting down and dirty with the more boisterous Times. In a recent series of much-discussed ads, The Hindu wittily takes on the Times’ penchant for sensational and tabloid-centric news, urging readers to “stay ahead of the times.” The adverts sharply smack Times of India’s readers for being clueless about everything except inane Bollywood gossip. Yet, the ads are another sign that South India’s grand old paper itself is finally catching up to…

• Unsafe Abortions on the Rise

  Cassandra Clifford

  27 Jan 2012 | 2:20 pm

  Photo by EuroWeb The right to life is unquestionably one of the biggest human rights debates in the United States. Some argue there is never an acceptable reason for the termination of a pregnancy, others will allow it in the case of a medical emergency or to save the life of the mother, some are for the use of only early term abortion, others argue that it is simply the mother’s choice.  The recent March for Life in DC this month is only one manifestation of this debate, which has been a major battle amongst individuals and parties since the historic Roe vs. Wade decision. However,…

• Standing up for Women’s Rights

  Catherine Shakdam

  27 Jan 2012 | 12:03 pm

  Amal Hassan, a young mother of three, began fighting to promote women’s rights in Yemen based on her own experiences of injustice. Amal always aspired to better herself academically as she felt she truly came alive when she was learning new things, her mind opening up to novel possibilities and ideas. Like many women across Yemen, Amal is bright and gifted, she only wanted to be given the opportunity to choose her path in life, not to be forced onto a mold by others. Raised in a traditional Muslim Yemeni household which idea of morality and properness was to stifle their girls and…

• Toy Story: Revolt of the Little Guys

  Vadim Nikitin

  27 Jan 2012 | 9:39 am

  “Political opposition forces are using new technologies to carry out public events” lamented an exasperated Russian police chief yesterday. What are these insidious technologies? Twitter? Talking spy rocks (wait, those are British!)? Putin’s beloved nano-particles? Wait, he was getting to that. The protesters are “using toys with placards at mini-protests”, he concluded. That’s right: toys. Protesters in Siberia have circumvented the ban on demonstrations by assembling a series of dolls, teddy bears and action figures in the snow, complete with miniature…

• Know Your Religion

  Sahar Said

  27 Jan 2012 | 7:12 am

  A year ago I stumbled upon an interesting website. After relating a short story, it asked the reader to guess the religious context in which the tale was set. The questions varied from the way women dressed (burqa-esque, fully clad) to the practice of allowing men multiple wives. When I finished taking the quiz and looked up the answers, I realized how pre-programmed my perceptions were. As a Muslim, I was willing to accept that all listed societal vices were somehow traceable to acts of Muslims (albeit not in line with the true teachings of Islam); but what I was not expecting was for these…

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  MEC blog

• Looking for Yeti?

  Michelle

  27 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am

  Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to dust off your snowshoes, if you haven’t already, and go work up a sweat in the snow. It’s time for the Yeti snowshoe series! As title sponsor for the 2012 series, Mountain Equipment Co-op is once again lending its support to this great winter event and we encourage you to check it out. The series is designed for all ages and provides both a Sport (~5km) and an Eduro (~10km) course so you can choose what level of challenge you are looking for. So get out there and join the excitment! Even if you don’t actually take…

• Dare to be Deep in the Southern Strait of Georgia

  ArianeT

  24 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am

  MEC and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) joined forces back in 2004 with a common goal of protecting our beautiful country’s wild spaces. Not only has this partnership allowed us to fund dozens of conservation initiatives instigated by CPAWS, but it also gave birth to The Big Wild. It was therefore normal for MEC to support Dare to be Deep, CPAWS’ latest campaign. “With less than 1% of our oceans protected, Canada lags far behind other countries in marine conservation. CPAWS has identified 12 important marine areas that have long been proposed for protection. And…

• Goodbye to the Old Bags: Rolling with New Panniers

  Philip Torrens

  23 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am

  Except for when the roads become ice rinks for a few weeks in January/February, I cycle commute year-round. Here on the Wet Coast, we get far more rain than snow. (Vancouver just doesn’t do winter as the rest of Canada understands it.) For more years than I can remember, my stuff travelled dry in Aqua‑Not panniers. These bags were the originals, old enough to have been made by the venerable Serratus factory. Kind of like their owner, they’re now a bit wrinkled, scarred, and balding in places. So this season, I finally replaced them with the current generation of Aqua-Nots. Ever had the…

• Lovely Carlyle Norman 1982 – 2012

  Nora

  18 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm

  When the dark face of the mountain casts its cold shadow, we huddle together and reflect warm thoughts… Thoughts of her contagious laughter, precious smile, calming energy, and courage. It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Carlyle Norman, our friend and one of Canada’s best female alpinists. On January 15, 2012, while climbing the route ‘Last Gringo Standing’ on St. Exupéry in Patagonia, she was hit by rockfall and knocked unconscious. Her climbing partner, Cian Brinker, stayed with her on the ledge for two hours, before making the difficult decision…

• Not for the Faint of Heart

  Michelle

  18 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am

  This video was posted on our French blogue the other day and it made me neauseous just to watch it. I can’t even imagine riding on this nerve-wracking cliff edge trail in Austria – but then I’ve never been keen on these types of high edges. What’s the freakiest trail you’ve experienced? Filed under: Activities, Cycling, Media, Tips and Tricks Tagged: fear of heights, mountain biking, trail riding

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  Change.org News / Women's Rights

• Why Is the UFC Paying Fighters for Making Rape Jokes?

  26 Jan 2012 | 2:02 pm

  In these modern times, athletes are considered heroes and icons to thousands, sometimes millions, of people. Even compared to the idols we make of celebrities and musicians, athletes remain our anointed heroes. They often come with backstories that are the stuff of movies (sometimes literally) with tales of overcoming poverty, racism, broken homes, and a variety of other hard knocks. And most of all, athletes remind us of the human potential. They show us the human form in perfection. They dazzle us with their almost superhuman abilities. And it’s thrilling drama. These characteristics make…

• San Francisco Threatens to Tear Down Pro-Choice Posters, Block Walk

  17 Jan 2012 | 11:20 pm

  Victory! After 100 people signed the petition in just a few hours, the Department of Public Works quickly came to an agreement to allow the Walk for Choice to take place Friday and the banners to remain up until Saturday evening. Anti-choicers rip down posters for a "Trust Women" event. Women's rights advocates complain about the vandalism. What does the city do? Threaten to tear down the rest of the banners. Somer Loen, an organizer for the Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights (BACORR), has launched a petition on Change.org calling on the San Francisco Department of Public Works…

• Knocking Out Sexism in Boxing

  17 Jan 2012 | 2:25 am

  There is nothing pretty about boxing. It’s strenuous, fatiguing, and comes with its share of aches, pains, hits and unanticipated smacks. My body still refuses to forgive me for the aftermath of my first fight. The visceral pain in my joints made typing a four letter word on a keyboard so painful I cringed. As a grad student and self-proclaimed twitter addict, it was, to say the least, somewhat debilitating! Nevertheless, there is a particular kind of beauty in roughness. Boxing invigorates and animates every muscle and fragment of flesh in my body. I still remember the astonishment of my…

• U.S. Women's Football Players Say: Let Girls Play!

  13 Jan 2012 | 7:56 pm

  More than 35,000 people have joined a popular campaign on Change.org calling on the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA) to allow girls to play football. Members of the U.S. National Women’s Tackle Football Team launched the online petition on Change.org after they heard that starting linebacker Mina Johnson, a student at Southampton Academy in Virginia, was forced to sit on the sidelines when an opposing team threatened to forfeit rather than play against a girl. The opposing school was a member of the NCISAA, which prohibits girls from playing on boys’…

• Victory! FBI Acknowledges That Rape Really Is Rape

  9 Jan 2012 | 3:28 pm

  Happy New Year -- out with the old, and in with the new! More than 140,000 Change.org members signed a petition launched by Ms. Magazine demanding the FBI recognize that rape is rape -- and it worked. On Friday, the Obama administration approved a new nationwide definition of rape, the first change in 80 years. Goodbye and good riddance to the FBI's narrow Uniform Crime Report definition: "The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” And a hearty welcome to the new definition: "The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or…

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  IT DAWNED ON ME

• Just…show up

  It Dawned On Me

  8 Jan 2012 | 5:28 pm

  Just show up. I think that’s the key to so much. It has been almost four months since I’ve written a blog post. I’ve been through a lot of emotional stuff with a close family member. In the midst of all that, I felt I had nothing to say. I didn’t write. I hardly played the piano (except to prepare for and perform a Christmas recital). I didn’t feel very creative. Today I decided to just show up. I didn’t have an agenda or something particular to say. But I’m here. Isn’t that a lot of what life is about? We don’t have to do things…

• John Francis: 22 Years of Walking. 17 Years of Silence. You: ??

  It Dawned On Me

  18 Sep 2011 | 11:39 pm

  Your environmental footprint. Ever think about it? Care at all about the earth and your  contribution to keeping it healthy and vibrant? John Francis is an environmentalist and author of two books: Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking. 17 Years of Silence. and The Ragged Edge of Silence: Finding Peace in a Noisy World. John Francis - Credit: Art Rogers, Pt. Reyes In 1971, he was living in the San Francisco area and witnessed a devastating oil spill in the Bay. He decided to lessen his own demand for oil by giving up riding in motor vehicles, which he did from 1972 to 1994. In 1973 he also…

• A Lesson after 9/11: Compassion

  It Dawned On Me

  11 Sep 2011 | 9:10 pm

  At the software company I worked for, we watched in horror after the first tower was struck. With my co-workers, we watched as a plane drove into the second tower. We were in shock as was the entire nation. We were glued to the television…waiting for information. We saw people jump from the towers to their deaths and knew that many more had died as the towers crumbled to the ground. We saw the look of sheer terror on the faces of those present and running from the towers. It was an apocalyptic event being broadcast live as we watched. To make it even more surreal, my manager at the time…

• I Feel…Aargh…Can I Go Back to Bed?

  It Dawned On Me

  29 Aug 2011 | 12:09 am

  I’ve cried a lot lately. A LOT. Family stuff. Painful family stuff. Stuff that makes me feel at times scared out of my mind and also deeply sorrowful. Sometimes the day seems really long and I wonder how I’ll get through it, much less through the next minute. I dread going to bed and laying there rehashing everything and sleeplessness and the phone by the bed and wondering if I’ll get a call with bad news. Have you had times like these…the dark nights of the soul? My life lately has been like the quote from Charles Dickens’ The Tale of Two Cities…”It…

• Zappos: Delivering Shoes, Profits, and Happiness

  It Dawned On Me

  31 Jul 2011 | 4:54 pm

  I’ve done it. You probably have too…bought a pair of shoes from Zappos.com. In 1999 buying a pair of shoes online seemed like a C-RAZY idea. Really? Internet entrepreneur Tony Hsieh and a few of his friends (and to-be colleagues), thought it would work, came up with the name Zappos, and started forming the company. Ten years later Amazon bought Zappos “in a deal valued at over $1.2 billion on the day of closing,” per Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh in his excellent book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose. Just how do you go from zero to over $1 billion…

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  UNICEF News

• In Qatar, forum calls for better inclusion of children with disabilities in humanitarian responses

  26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm

  DOHA, Qatar, 26 January 2012 – At the fifth annual International Shafallah Forum, held from 22 to 24 January in Doha, Dr. Rima Salah, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director (a.i.), stressed the need not to let children with disabilities be the forgotten victims of emergencies.

• 'Smart salt' reduces iodine deficiency in Ghana

  26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm

  BOLGATANGA, Ghana, 26 January 2012 – Joseph Opoku pointed to a plastic container in the local restaurant, called a chop bar, belonging to his grandmother, Gertrude Azasim. “That is the smartest salt in Ghana,” he said.

• ‘Humanitarian Action for Children 2012’ calls for continued focus on the Horn of Africa

  26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm

  NEW YORK, 26 January 2012 – The ongoing crisis in the Horn of Africa will remain a significant part of UNICEF’s global humanitarian response in the coming year, according to the ‘Humanitarian Action for Children 2012’ report, which launches tomorrow.

• In areas once affected by famine, Ethiopia builds capacity to wipe out malnutrition

  26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm

  GETER MEDA, Ethiopia, 24 January 2012 – Seven-month-old Aynadis played with her mother, Seta Temesgen, as they waited to be screened at the Geter Meda Health Post. Several weeks ago, Aynadis was diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition – a condition that can be deadly if untreated.

• After flooding in the Philippines, teachers help students recover and resume studies

  25 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm

  CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines, 25 January 2012 – In City Central School, in Cagayan de Oro City, two teachers recently held their first day of classes since the devastating floods that swept through their community – even as their own futures looks uncertain.

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  Oxfam International RSS main feed

• Oxfam statement on the Global Fund 10 year anniversary

  Laurent Le Gouanvic

  27 Jan 2012 | 11:27 am

  Tomorrow, 28th January, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will celebrate its 10 year anniversary. Oxfam is warning that the Fund, which saves 4,000 lives a day, could save millions more if it had all the funding it needs. The Global Fund expects to distribute $10 billion worth of drugs in the two years 2011-2013 but it currently faces a $2 billion shortfall. The next donor funding round has been frozen, meaning life-saving medicines are not reaching the people who desperately need them. Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Head of the Development Finance, said: “The Global Fund…

• Strong political will needed from African leaders to boost critical aspects of intra-African trade

  Joel M Bassuk

  27 Jan 2012 | 10:22 am

  As the 18th African Union Summit starts in Addis Ababa, civil society organizations from across Africa are concerned that the summit’s central theme, “Boosting Intra- African Trade,“ risks being overshadowed and will not get the focus needed to tackle this urgent issue. Addis Ababa 27 January 2012- As the 18th African Union Summit starts in Addis Ababa, civil society organizations from across Africa are concerned that the summit’s central theme, “Boosting Intra- African Trade,“ risks being overshadowed and will not get the focus needed to tackle this urgent issue. The…

• Oxfam in East Africa: a 6 months Thank You

  Joel M Bassuk

  25 Jan 2012 | 9:25 am

  With your help, Oxfam has provided life-giving support to more than 2.8 million across drought-striken areas of East Africa.Six months ago Oxfam launched our biggest ever Africa appeal in response to the drought in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. The crisis is one of the worst we have faced in many years -- over 13 million people have been affected, thousands have died, and many families have lost their livelihoods. The situation remains extremely concerning, especially in Somalia. However, your help has gone a very long way. In response to the appeal, the public all over the world donated…

• Oxfam reaction to outcome of EU Finance Ministers meeting on derivatives

  Julia Doherty

  24 Jan 2012 | 10:10 am

  Today’s EU Finance Ministers meeting inBrussels reached a deal to resolve disagreement on regulators’ powers over clearinghouses that will handle over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives. This decision is a step towards adopting the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). Marc Olivier Herman, Oxfam International’s EU food security policy advisor, said: “It is good news that EU Finance Ministers are making progress towards an EU bill that regulates trading in derivatives. Food commodity derivatives must be much more transparent and better controlled to ensure they don’t wreak…

• Fit for Purpose?

  Joel M Bassuk

  23 Jan 2012 | 7:37 am

  The European External Action Service, one year on Author:  Dr. Steven Blockmans, Head of Research at the T.M.C. Asser Institute, Special Visiting Professor at the University of Leuven, Natalia Alonso, Head of Oxfam International's EU office, and Tidhar Wald, Oxfam International's EU Humanitarian Policy Advisor The first anniversary of the European External Action Service (EEAS) finds the European Union (EU) in the midst of a financial and identity crisis that has precipitated Europe’s ongoing decline on the global stage. The new diplomatic service is a work in progress. This…

• 

  ONE

• ONE Act a Week: Create an anti-poverty Internet meme

  Malaka Gharib

  27 Jan 2012 | 12:35 pm

  Action: 27. Time: 10 minutes. Level of difficulty: Moderate. This week, we thought it would be fun to ask our ONE members to create their own Internet meme based on our issues. In case you don’t know what a meme is, it’s a concept that spreads swiftly via the Internet. It’s the funny cat pictures you’ve been sharing. It’s the “S%@! Girls Say” offshoot videos you’ve been watching. It’s Rebecca Black’s “Friday” song you’ve been listening to. Most Internet memes are funny, crazy and let’s be honest —…

• Proofs: Performing miracles at Ghana’s Tema Clinic

  Morgana Wingard

  27 Jan 2012 | 11:31 am

  Life happens here at the Tema Clinic in Accra, Ghana. Babies trade a death sentence for life. Mothers transform their sickly skeleton figures to healthy, able bodies. Tema offers hope in a place that was once hopeless and ravaged by AIDS. Funded by the Global Fund through financial support from Product (RED), Tema Hospital cares for 2,200 people living with HIV. We recently visited their facility again –- their work never ceases to amaze me. The Global Fund make it possible for the hospital to provide ARV treatment and PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child-transmission). Thanks to these…

• What We’re Reading: African leaders say continent ready to lead world growth

  Emily Walker

  27 Jan 2012 | 10:31 am

  African leaders say continent ready to lead world growth – African leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos declared that they are ready to “play a new role in the global economy as a powerful driver of growth.” While much still needs to be done to improve Africa’s infrastructure and education system, Africa’s economy is already expanding rapidly. According to Guinea’s President Alpha Conde, “the fastest growing continent in the world is determined to keep reforming and innovating.” (AFP, Dave Clark) Business, social media to prevent babies with HIV – Business and social…

• Cocoa can save the world

  Michael Gerson

  27 Jan 2012 | 9:17 am

  Senior ONE Adviser Michael Gerson is on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this blog post, he writes about the benefits of cocoa crops on the country’s economy. A farmer from the Greenhouse project in Beni separates raw cacao beans from an opened cacao pod to be washed, fermented, dried, and shipped. We traveled down dirt roads near the town of Beni, in eastern Congo, close to the Ugandan border. Militias are active in the region, so our group was protected by an armed escort. Interactions at checkpoints along the road are unpredictable. In the town of Beni itself, a…

• New & Buzzworthy: Where people live on less than $1.25 a day

  Malaka Gharib

  26 Jan 2012 | 4:47 pm

  A roundup of the week’s most talked-about international development content from ONE, partners and the web, January 20 to 26. Where people live on less than $1.25 a day. Bono, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and more look back on 10 years of the Global Fund. ONE’s CEO Michael Elliott talks to Facebook about social media and advocacy at the World Economic Forum. A lovely photo album from our time at the Sundance Film Festival. A moving a capella song devoted to the famine in the Horn of Africa. Bill Gates’ annual letter. ONE Campus Challenge, Part 2. This shocking statistic.

• 

  Business & Human Rights Resource Centre: Latest News

• Fairtrade International refutes core alleged evidentiary claims made by Bloomberg’s new article of December 23rd

  22 Dec 2012 | 6:00 pm

  Bloomberg article “Fairtrade Proving Anything But in $6 B market”…claims that the Fairtrade movement is prioritising the interests of its corporate partners at the expense of the development aims for producers and workers which lie at the heart of the organization, and attempts to substantiate this with a number of other specific claims. We refute both the main contention of the article and the core claims used to evidence this. Fairtrade’s unique approach puts producers at the centre of everything we do. Farmers and workers are at the heart of the system. They are represented at the…

• EU takes step towards conflict-free supply chains

  26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm

  Global Witness and CCFD-Terre Solidaire welcomed a commitment today by EU Trade Commissioner De Gucht and Development Commissioner Piebalgs to make supply chains more transparent, a move that will help prevent natural resource-fuelled conflict. The two groups called on the Commission to swiftly roll out regulation requiring companies sourcing minerals to do checks – known as due diligence – on their supply chains…An EU law on supply chain due diligence would level the playing field and ensure that all companies in Europe are meeting the same requirements. Moreover, it would guard…

• Twitter to restrict user content in some countries

  26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm

  Twitter announced…that it would begin restricting Tweets in specific countries, renewing questions about how…[it] will handle issues of free speech…Until now, Twitter had to remove a Tweet from its global network if it received a takedown request from a government. But the company said…that it now has the ability to selectively block a Tweet from appearing to users in one country…In the interest of transparency, Twitter said, it has built a mechanism to inform users in the event that a Tweet is being blocked…[This move]…represents a significant departure from its tone just one…

• Pakistan's unregulated drug industry

  26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm

  Pakistan's government is being criticised for not doing enough to control the country's pharmaceutical industry. A hundred people have died, and 400 others are in hospital, after taking contaminated heart medicine. Pakistan has a number of domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers, making generic versions of drugs and selling them at prices that are more affordable than their overseas counterparts. While they are supposed to be regulated by the government, a recent devolution of the health ministries to the provincial level has meant that most are not monitored at all.

• BP blow in legal fight over gulf spill [USA]

  26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm

  BP has suffered a setback in its attempt to make Transocean, the drilling contractor, pay for the full costs of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Judge Carl Barbier...ruled...that BP should have to pay damages for losses suffered as a result of oil spilt below the surface, even if Transocean were found to have been grossly negligent in the disaster. However, he said Transocean should still be liable for any civil penalties under the Clean Water Act and punitive damages under the Oil Pollution Act, which could potentially run into the tens of billions of dollars.The…

• 

  Change.org News / Economic Justice

• Victory! Video Game Industry Drops Support for SOPA

  23 Jan 2012 | 5:44 pm

  While the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) were both put on hold on Friday, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) became the first major industry association to drop its support for SOPA. The ESA is the main trade association for video game companies and was one of the main business associations pushing for the bills that critics say would result in internet censorship. The ESA spent $190,000 lobbying the Senate to pass PIPA in just six months in 2011. In a statement, the ESA said: "Although the need to address this pervasive threat to our…

• Two Cities, Two Victories Against 'Corporate Personhood'

  19 Jan 2012 | 2:53 pm

  A couple of weeks ago we took note of the exciting role Change.org is playing in the fight against corporate personhood, as more than a dozen regular folks from around the country have started petitions demanding that their municipal governments get behind a constitutional amendment declaring that corporations don't have the same rights as people and that political contributions aren't speech. Well hold on to your hats, because we've got some exciting news -- two of these campaigns were victorious this month! Change.org member Erin Madden's petition to the Portland, Oregon City Council…

• How to Take a Stand Against Corporate Personhood

  10 Jan 2012 | 10:06 am

  There's a exciting, new front in the battle for economic justice on Change.org: real citizens vs. Citizens United. You probably know that in January 2010 the United States Supreme Court, led by a conservative majority, overturned decades of legal precedent in ruling that corporations had the same First Amendment protections as flesh-and-blood people, and that contributions to political campaigns by corporations can be considered protected speech. The decision was handed down in the court case Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission. Americans of all political stripes were outraged by…

• More ways to hold banks accountable to homeowners

  6 Dec 2011 | 4:21 pm

  With today's "Occupy Our Homes" kickoff, the Occupy movement has gone from inhabiting the most public of spaces to the most private. They're not taking over just any home, though -- organizers are defending homeowners around the country facing imminent foreclosure. It's a natural next step for the young but increasingly influential movement. The effort has already been met with great media coverage, and will likely be critical in once again refocusing public conversation on the plight of the 99%. Besides that, there's little question Occupy Our Homes will be successful in saving some homes…

• What's the Real Story Behind 'Black Friday' Sales?

  28 Nov 2011 | 3:11 pm

  This post was authored by Change.org petition creator and Target employee Anthony Hardwick. In November, 2011, Anthony launched a viral Change.org petition asking his employer to "Save Thanksgiving" and push the "Black Friday" opening from midnight on Thanksgiving to 5 a.m. the following morning.  It's fitting that while I write a blog post about Gregg Steinhafel and the NRF'S trumped up Black Friday data, three Target Christmas ads blast me with manufactured cheer. In one of the ads a woman says good bye to her relatives after Thanksgiving dinner (must not be a Target employee) when she…

• 

  Aid Worker Daily

• MSF (Live Online Event) – At Any Price? Negotiating Access to Crisis Zones

  Jon Thompson

  20 Jan 2012 | 4:46 pm

  Copyright: MSF/H.J. Burkard If you want to know how hard it is to save a life you should definitely tune in for this event on January 31, 2012. From the site: Humanitarian negotiations are life-and-death issues for people in need, but they also raise troubling political and ethical dilemmas for the organizations that are engaged in them. In the forthcoming book Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience, published by Columbia University Press, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) takes a critical look at how its teams have negotiated to gain access to people…

• Photo Adventure in Vietnam with William Thompson

  Jon Thompson

  22 Dec 2011 | 2:23 pm

  For over 40 years my uncle, William Thompson, has been shooting photos for in some of the world’s most remote locations. He has shot throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, North South and Central America. He is well know for his work with National Geographic, the Marlboro cowboy and Wells Fargo. He even shot Bill Gates in his early 20′s when Microsoft was still a small company. Bill will lead a small group of individuals through northern Vietnam for 14 days where he will teach them the art of fine photography. If you would like to join this adventure, stay in the mountaintop Topas…

• Slowy App – A Great New App For Testing Your Sites In Low Bandwidth / High Latency Environments

  Jon Thompson

  2 Dec 2011 | 11:42 am

  I just came across this great little app on Y Combinator’s Hacker News site. Slowy markets itself as a “real-world connection simulator and bandwidth limiter” and it seems to work quite well. I am running it on a Mac and it was easy to install and switch on and off. I can test my sites in 56K and LTE network (mobile) environments. The folks over at Aptivate have spend a lot of time on the low bandwidth/ high latency issue and have created tools like Loband. Loband is fantastic but I still want to see all those images and video. Slowy provides a reality check for those of us…

• Tips For Finding A Job With A Humanitarian Aid Organization

  Jon Thompson

  23 Jun 2011 | 1:31 pm

  Copyright: MSF Canada/Olivier Asselin I’ll update this post with more thoughts but, for now, please ask questions in the comments section. Be sure to take a look at my Humanitarian Job Info page for links to organizations. Don’t overlook the importance of an internship/volunteer position Internships and volunteer positions may not pay a lot but they are worth their weight in gold. Spending time inside an organization and getting to know the different units, people, acronyms puts in a great position to land a permanent gig. By being present you odds of permanent employment increase…

• WSJ – Scientists Find an Achilles’ Heel in AIDS Virus

  Jon Thompson

  20 Jun 2011 | 5:01 pm

  Copyright: Wall Street Journal/Nature The Wall Street Journal has an article detailing the efforts of researchers at the Ragon Institute, a joint enterprise of Massachusetts General Hospital, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University: Scientists using a powerful mathematical tool previously applied to the stock market have identified an Achilles heel in HIV that could be a prime target for AIDS vaccines or drugs. The research adds weight to a provocative theory—that an HIV vaccine should avoid a broadside attack and instead home in on a few targets. Indeed, there is a…

• 

  Survival International Blog

• Hello, my name is Hendric and I'am 15 years old. I have to say, I love your work and what you do. I'am reading your newsletter everytime I get it. My question is; Why dont you create an App for survivalinternational? It would be a good publicity and it would be better for news etc. That would be wunderfull!

  27 Jan 2012 | 3:39 am

  Hi Hendric, We’re working on some ideas for apps that can help people campaign for tribal peoples in ways which are different from what we can do on the web. We think apps that work with film, animation and interactives are really interesting, and we should have something ready to launch by the summer. But we also love the open web, and we think the best way to get news and take action is by joining the millions of people who visit our site.  Thanks for your support! Nothing we do is possible without it.

• What is Survival's view on television coverage - and thereby contact - with indigenous groups? I ask because I recently read a 2009 article questioning the BBC's need to revisit Anuta for South Pacific, and for Alice Roberts to walk straight into a Nyangatom village in The Incredible Human Journey, despite sensitive and equally acceptable footage already existing from Bruce Parry's Tribe programme. There seemed to be no need for repeated exposure to television crews.

  27 Jan 2012 | 3:31 am

  TV coverage can make millions of people aware of the problems facing tribal peoples, and sometimes lead directly to action to protect their lands and lives. Many TV programmes focusing on tribal peoples don’t even attempt to do this, of course, and some are downright harmful. Film crews can introduce diseases (such as when a TV research team allegedly introduced flu that killed four Matsigenka Indians in Peru), and the resulting programs can be racist, abusive or distorted (such as the program that eventually resulted from that research trip, which portrayed the Matsigenka quite falsely as…

• The land is… A history of the world’s tribal lands...

  18 Jan 2012 | 5:39 am

  The land is… A history of the world’s tribal lands in under 60 seconds.

• Wounaan children from the Pacific rainforest in Southwest...

  4 Jan 2012 | 6:46 am

  Wounaan children from the Pacific rainforest in Southwest Colombia play in the river. A DVD of Mine, Survival’s film about the Dongria Kondh people’s fight to save their sacred mountain in India, has reached the Wounaan tribe of Colombia. They have sent a message of support to the Dongria. The Wounaan people send a joyful message to the Dongria, and all the peoples fighting against the powers that destroy life. It is always possible to defeat them. Always.  With you we celebrate your victory against the multinational Vedanta.  Dongria brothers and sisters, we know that your sacred…

• Jorge, a Murunahua man who lost his eye when he was shot by...

  28 Dec 2011 | 6:17 am

  Jorge, a Murunahua man who lost his eye when he was shot by loggers during first contact, recalls the tragedy that followed.

• 

  News from Survival International

• Two years after Andaman tribe dies, another 'faces extinction'

  26 Jan 2012 | 4:27 am

  Boa Sr died exactly two years ago. She was the last member of the Bo tribe.© Anvita Abbi/Survival Two years after India’s Andaman Islands lost the last speaker of ‘Bo’, a leading linguist has warned the Jarawa could face a similar fate unless the road running through their reserve is closed. Professor Anvita Abbi specializes in endangered languages, and has recently published a dictionary documenting four of the oldest ones in the world. She said, ‘unless we develop alternative sea routes, we cannot safeguard the life, culture, language and identity of one of the oldest civilizations…

• German travel industry warns Samburu eviction could harm Kenya tourism

  25 Jan 2012 | 4:19 am

  A Samburu girl from Kenya. The tribe has suffered violent evictions.© Adrian Arbib/Survival The German travel industry has called on Kenya to find a solution to the recent evictions of the Samburu tribe, and warned its position as a tourist destination could be damaged. Germans currently spend more money abroad than any other nation. In a letter to President Mwai Kibaki, the head of the German Travel Association (known by its German initials DRV) expressed his ‘great concern’ at the current situation in Kenya’s Laikipia district. Read the letter to Kenya’s President (pdf, 442 KB)…

• Further threats as Guarani Indians remember murdered leader

  24 Jan 2012 | 8:18 am

  Nísio Gomes, a Guarani shaman shot dead by gunmen© Survival Guarani Indians in Brazil have come under further threat since gunmen murdered their leader Nísio Gomes last November. The Guarani of Guaviry community have reported that a non-indigenous man who claimed to be employed by a local rancher approached the Indians last week, threatening that they would be attacked by gunmen again. Gomes was brutally killed after he led his community to reoccupy its ancestral land, which is now occupied by ranchers. The authorities are investigating the case. Several other Guarani have since been…

• ‘Evidence of attack’ discovered where Indian child was reportedly ‘burned alive’

  20 Jan 2012 | 3:47 am

  An Awá man whose uncontacted relatives were victims of an alleged attack by loggers© Survival An investigation into the reported killing of an uncontacted Indian child by loggers, has uncovered disturbing ‘evidence of an attack’ deep in the Amazon forest. The findings suggest loggers were operating 400 meters away from an uncontacted Awá camp where the burned remains of a child were allegedly found. Brazilian NGO CIMI, The Order of Attorneys of Brazil and the Maranhão Human Rights Society, who jointly carried out the investigation, also found, ‘many indications that the Awá had…

• Revealed: Andaman authorities alerted to human safaris two years ago

  17 Jan 2012 | 6:26 am

  Vehicles queue to enter the Jarawa reserve along the Andaman Trunk Road© G Chamberlain/ Survival The Andaman authorities were alerted to the existence of human safaris two years ago by Survival International – but the problem has continued. On January 11, 2010, Survival wrote to the Lieutenant Governor of the Islands, warning him that ‘a number of tour operators are promoting tours which include sightings of, or encounters with, the Jarawa tribe .’ Survival received no response to the letter or subsequent appeals, even after launching a boycott of the Andaman Trunk Road with local…

• 

  Streetlight USA

• Adopt-a-Cottage project for engaging small groups

  Holly Craw

  25 Jan 2012 | 3:38 pm

  Adopt-a-Cottage Projects for small groups Three of the six StreetLight cottages are ready for residents. Credits: Holly Craw StreetLightUSA is ready to make a big push so that all the cottages will be completed and furnished by the end of March.  The sooner we are ready, the sooner we will be able to take in our full capacity of 48 girls.  Each girl we can have under our roof represents a minimum of 10 sex crimes and rapes against that child that will be prevented every single night. In the interest of keeping the girls’ furnishings within each house the same, we would love for groups…

• Does youth mentoring work as a deterrent to sex trafficking?

  Holly Craw

  25 Jan 2012 | 3:26 pm

  My mom is a role model because she went from being on the streets and an addic [sic] to sobriaty [sic] and raising 3 kids on her own starting from nothing.   Krysta*A StreetLightUSA residentSM President Obama championed National Mentor Month with a proclamation. Credits: Photobucket/emilysusan76 January has again been designated by President Obama1 as the  National Mentoring Month.  There is a lot of talk about mentoring these days.  Young professionals in many fields link up with a more experienced colleague to gain valuable tips for the sector and to work through issues that may arise.

• Stalking Roundtable Jan 25: Whitehouse explores use of technology to terrorize

  Holly Craw

  25 Jan 2012 | 1:09 pm

  Stalking may be a point of entree for children to become sex slavery victims. Credits: Nationalstalkingawarenessmonth.org Stalking.  It affects 3.4 million people in the US, mainly women being stalked by men.  January 2012 has been proclaimed National Stalking Awareness Month by President Obama, and today, the Whitehouse is hosting a roundtable to discuss the problem1.  TK Logan, professor in the Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky College of Medicine is an expert on stalking and interpersonal violence and will be contributing to the discussions. The roundtable will…

• Martin Luther King’s dream of freedom: Lost in the nightmare of sex slavery?

  Holly Craw

  16 Jan 2012 | 2:34 am

   Photo credits:  PhotoBucket/rmmcda One hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation,Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech, in which he decried the social conditions that still kept the Blacks socially enslaved.  Although there are still many racial injustices in America, much progress has been made in some circles to allow people of color the same freedoms and privileges offered to others. However, there is a much larger and darker issue of slavery in this era that affects every single person on this planet.  For some, human slavery in the…

• January is prevention month for human slavery and trafficking

  Holly Craw

  13 Jan 2012 | 1:28 am

  What is a more lucrative and faster growing crime industry than selling drugs or guns?  According to the FBI, the enslavement of people in the labor and sex trades is the second largest underworld activity, with growth outpacing arms and drug running.  The epidemic proportions of human trafficking involve up to 27 million victims around the word, or nearly one out of every 260 people. Up to 80% of these are kept in bondage in the sex trades, and half of these are children. The United States has been a leader in addressing human trafficking worldwide and domestically.  President Barack…

• 

  About.com Civil Liberties

• Ron Paul is a Serious Candidate

  31 Dec 2011 | 2:34 pm

  Like many people who have written about Ron Paul's presidential candidacy over the past two election cycles, I've been so impressed with the consistency and uniqueness of his paleoconservative philosophy ...Read Full Post

• Understanding the 2012 NDAA

  26 Dec 2011 | 4:24 am

  Benjamin Wittes' excellent article "NDAA: A Guide for the Perplexed" begins: "The volume of sheer, unadulterated nonsense zipping around the internet about the NDAA boggles the mind." It does. (Wittes' article is, I think, a necessary antidote.) But the question of why it's so hard for the blogosphere to get the basic details right cuts to the heart of why civil liberties is becoming an issue in the 2012 election, and in several distinct ways:...Read Full Post

• Six New Historical Timelines

  30 Nov 2011 | 5:58 pm

  I've added six new historical timelines exploring the history of specific civil liberties issues:The Death PenaltyFreedom of SpeechIndecency and the FCCMarijuana LawsObscenity>Sodomy LawsFor more timelines, check out my timelines update from last month.

• 40th Anniversary of the Stanford Prison Experiment

  20 Nov 2011 | 6:16 pm

  October 25, 2011 marks 40 years since Philip Zimbardo reported the results of his Stanford Prison Experiment to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. While the ethical and scientific ...Read Full Post

• Luther Strange: A George Wallace for Our Times?

  8 Nov 2011 | 10:38 am

  Alabama attorney general Luther Strange has refused to comply with a U.S. Department of Homeland Security request dealing with the number of public school students receiving English-language assistance, including citizens, ...Read Full Post

• 

  INTER PRESS SERVICE

• ICELAND: Recovering Dubiously From the Crash

  27 Jan 2012 | 8:26 pm

  Three years ago, thousands of Icelanders were standing outside Iceland's parliament building chanting "incompetent government" in an attempt to bring down the conservative government that had been seen as responsible for the collapse of the country's banking system.

• THEMATIC SOCIAL FORUM: Working Towards a Never-Ending Democracy

  27 Jan 2012 | 12:42 pm

  For five centuries, Europe has taken it upon itself to enlighten the world, teaching it ways to address and overcome crises, from ideas and wars to missionary work and genocides.

• GUATEMALA: Ríos Montt to Stand Trial for Genocide

  27 Jan 2012 | 6:46 am

  After a hearing that lasted more than 11 hours, a Guatemalan court ordered the trial of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983), who could face up to 30 years in prison if he is convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.

• INDIA: Male Activists Enhance Pre and Postnatal Care

  27 Jan 2012 | 6:35 am

  The primitive Juang tribe in remote Nola village on Chandragiri hill experienced its first three institutional childbirths only a month ago.

• DEVELOPMENT: Uniting Against Extreme Poverty

  27 Jan 2012 | 5:23 am

  When Louisamène Joseph Alionat unexpectedly began singing in a packed hall at the United Nations cultural agency here this week, it was an attempt to give encouragement to her peers engaged in the uphill battle of trying to end extreme poverty.

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  EarthRights International

• US appeals court rejects Chevron's attempt to avoid $18bn pollution judgment in Ecuador

  Rick Herz

  26 Jan 2012 | 9:02 pm

  A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about an Ecuadorean appeals court upholding an $18 billion dollar judgment against Chevron for massive oil pollution in the Amazon rainforest. The Court rejected Chevron’s arguments that the judgment was procured by fraud. Today, a decision by a federal appeals court in New York makes it more likely that this judgment can be enforced.  Last year, fearing that it was going to lose in Ecuador, Chevron sued the plaintiffs in New York seeking a court order that would prevent the plaintiffs from trying to enforce any Ecuadorean judgment outside of Ecuador.

• Keystone XL rejection is a victory for environmental and human rights advocates

  Guest

  20 Jan 2012 | 5:39 pm

  This guest post was contributed by Emily Ponder, a legal intern in our US office. Emily is a first-year law student at the University of Virginia School of Law. Everyone knows that oil is a dirty business, but tar sands oil may be the dirtiest. That is why environmentalists, indigenous groups, and small-town Nebraska famers alike are celebrating President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline Jan. 18. The tar sand oil extraction process and its transport poses serious health and environmental hazards, and the Keystone XL pipeline would have made 2,000 miles of land—and…

• Downstream from Lago Agrio, Ecuador continues to put megaprojects before people and their land

  Marissa Vahlsing

  17 Jan 2012 | 4:18 pm

  When an Ecuadorean appeals court in Sucumbíos upheld an $18 billion judgment against Chevron earlier this month, I happened to be passing through Lago Agrio—the famed location of the oil contamination at issue in the case. As we took the highway out of town, we followed the path of the oil-pipeline that snakes its way southwest, towards Quito. “The government does more to protect the pipeline than it does to protect drivers,” my guide informed me as we headed east. I wasn’t surprised. In fact, the purpose of my trip southeast of Lago Agrio was to visit another project that is wholly…

• U.S. Anti-Corruption Statute at Risk

  13 Jan 2012 | 1:17 pm

  ERI and NGO coalition Urge Congress to Protect Federal Anti-Corruption Law In an effort to protect a landmark U.S. anti-bribery law from industry attack, EarthRights International and over 30 civil society organizations and socially responsible investors sent letters to all U.S. House and Senate members yesterday, urging them to reject proposals to amend and weaken the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). This letter was drafted in response to intense lobbying by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who reportedly spent $700,000 in 2011 in efforts to cut back on anti-bribery protections…

• Federal Appeals Court Confirms That Oklahoma "Sharia Ban" Is Unconstitutional

  Marco Simons

  11 Jan 2012 | 9:46 pm

  In November 2010, Rick and I blogged about the Oklahoma constitutional amendment that would ban state courts from considering foreign law, especially Sharia (Islamic law), as well as international law. As Rick noted at the time, the amendment was very likely unconstitutional. This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over Oklahoma and is generally a fairly conservative court, confirmed that the amendment is unconstitutional. The court's opinion determined that the plaintiff, a Muslim (and U.S. citizen) living in Oklahoma, was stigmatized by the…

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  Peace and Justice from YES! magazine

• Vandana Shiva: Teachers for a Living World

  Madhu Suri Prakash

  27 Jan 2012 | 12:17 pm

  While Ivy League schools marvel at India’s economic growth, Vandana Shiva’s University of the Seed looks to the earth—and Gandhi—for guidance.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/yes/peace-justice/~4/c1qdB4tB3cY" height="1" width="1"/>

• Beyond “Free” or “Fair” Trade: Mexican Farmers Go Local

  Mike Wold

  25 Jan 2012 | 6:41 pm

  We usually think of the demand for local, organic foods as coming from the North. But in southern Mexico, the growing localist movement is a strategy for survival.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/yes/peace-justice/~4/Ecc_bGcoZvc" height="1" width="1"/>

• The (Remote-Controlled) War at Home

  Valerie Schloredt

  18 Jan 2012 | 7:48 pm

  One in three military aircraft is now a drone. How activists are trying to bring the moral implications of drone warfare to light.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/yes/peace-justice/~4/y2milVfFDWA" height="1" width="1"/>

• Deepak Bhargava: A Voice for the Grassroots Inside the Beltway

  Lynsi Burton

  17 Jan 2012 | 1:37 pm

  The YES! Breakthrough 15: Expanding the American Dream to include people left behind by economic inequality.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/yes/peace-justice/~4/fkdSPhzAcQA" height="1" width="1"/>

• After the Quake: Haiti's Slow Road to Healing

  Rachel Harmon

  17 Jan 2012 | 12:51 pm

  Photo Essay: Two years later, poverty, corruption, and health crises persist. But so does hope.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/yes/peace-justice/~4/-A1FyKxyzbI" height="1" width="1"/>

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  Women News Network

• Special UN mission cites violence against marginalized women Italy

  Women News Network

  27 Jan 2012 | 2:46 pm

  WNN Breaking (WNN)ROME, Italy: Despite efforts to combat violence against women in Italy, the levels of such violence remain high and there is an urgent need to address the underlying structural causes of inequality and discrimination, said the UN independent expert and Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Rashida Manjoo. At the end of a [...]

• Could a New Civil Law Unify a Divided Society?

  Women News Network

  27 Jan 2012 | 5:10 am

  Mona Alami – IPS - Friday, 27 January 2011 (originally published 25 Jan) BEIRUT, Jan 25, 2012 (IPS) – Odette Klysinska, a Catholic French native, sits in her living room in an affluent neighbourhood in Beirut, clutching her will in one hand, shocked to learn that it is no longer legally valid in the country [...]

• ‘It’s a Girl’ is Fatal

  Women News Network

  26 Jan 2012 | 6:31 am

  Derek Bekebrede – The  Harvard Crimson  – Thursday, 26 January 2012 (originally published 23 Jan) The United Nations estimates that there are 200 million “missing” women in the world today, and by “missing,” the UN means they are dead. With the advent of abortion on demand, the modern world has encouraged parents around the world [...]

• Dalit women face three-fold discrimination from birth

  Women News Network

  25 Jan 2012 | 8:27 pm

  Hetal Shah – WNN Opinion (WNN) Opinion Bhuj, India:  There are two Indias, and Dalit women have learned to survive in both these worlds.  Take a look at two related but opposing headlines in The Hindu last month. January 5, 2012: Dalit woman sarpanch emerges as poster girl for gender issues January 11, 2012:  Dalit [...]

• Where are the women? Egypt’s revolution one year on

  Women News Network

  25 Jan 2012 | 6:51 pm

  Lys Anzia – WNN Feature (WNN) Cairo, EGYPT: As the women of Egypt stress concerns over food costs and security, human rights and political exclusion, along with reports of rape and attacks made against those who were publicly protesting throughout the year, the movement of women to push forward is evident in what some say [...]

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  New Internationalist - The people, the ideas, the action in the fight for global justice

• Stop using white history as a smokescreen

  New Internationalist

  27 Jan 2012 | 7:20 am

  African leaders should stop trying to divert attention from their own shortcomings by pointing to white people's wrongdoings, says Mgcini Nyoni.

• Podcast: Haiti's colonial past still burdens

  New Internationalist

  27 Jan 2012 | 4:20 am

  In part one of a special edition of the Radio NI podcast, Mario Joseph, Phillip Wearne and Anne McConnell talk about the historical context of Haiti’s problems.

• Papua New Guinea

  New Internationalist

  26 Jan 2012 | 9:40 am

  A small group of islands with a long history

• Chinese police fire on Tibetan protesters

  New Internationalist

  26 Jan 2012 | 5:58 am

  The brutal crackdown by the Chinese government must be stopped, says Pete Speller.

• A year without David

  New Internationalist

  26 Jan 2012 | 3:45 am

  A year after the LGBT rights activist David Kato was murdered in Uganda, Sokari Ekine writes to him about changes in Africa since his death.