Category Archives: human rights

Femen earn victory in right to protest topless – The Local

Three Femen activists were acquitted of exhibitionism on Wednesday for a topless protest staged as former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrived at his trial for “aggravated pimping” in February 2015. “It’s the first acquittal in a trial against Femen on the charge of sexual exhibition,” their lawyer Valentine Reberioux told AFP. “A political demonstration should not be confused with sexual aggression,” she said. “These are political acts using the nude torso as a mode of expression and it ends there.”

Source: Femen earn victory in right to protest topless – The Local

Voter Suppression in Arizona: Desperation Politics – LA Progressive

During every election cycle, there is an outcry against shady practices like what happened in Arizona, but we never do anything about them after the election cycle. We look at our antiquated primary and caucus system (especially on the Democratic side) and wonder how a modern country can actually function this way. We shake our heads at the Electoral College and maybe make some noise about changing it until the next President is sworn in. Then we all go silent. Meanwhile, voter suppression efforts gain ground every year – even when the White House isn’t changing hands. Despite low turnout and nearly non-existent cases of voter fraud, state legislatures are making it increasingly more difficult to vote. A total of 36 states now have draconian Voter ID laws on the books – 33 of them are being enforced this cycle. During the 2015 legislative session, at least 113 bills that would restrict access to registration and voting were introduced or carried over in 33 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. I know. I was part of the successful effort that defeated one of the most severe Voter ID laws in the country in my home state of Pennsylvania. State Rep. Mike Turzai proudly bragged in 2012 that our law would give the state to a Republican president. After protests and petitions from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and everywhere in between, the state Supreme Court struck it down.

Source: Voter Suppression in Arizona: Desperation Politics – LA Progressive

DN: Brussels suspects had ties to dead Algerian resident – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

The three men who have been named as suspects behind the attacks in Belgian were connected with the 35-year-old man who is believed to have been registered in Sweden for several years and who was shot to death last week in a raid outside Brussels, reports Dagens Nyheter. The man, a 35-year-old Algerian national, was shot by a Belgian police sniper after he holed himself up in an apartment in the Forest neighborhood of Brussels. Authorities zeroed in on the man during their four-month-old hunt for suspects linked to the November 13 Paris terror attacks. Dagens Nyheter is reporting that Belgium’s public TV service, RTBF, said the apartment was rented by one of the brothers who are now also suspected in Tuesday’s blasts. Two months before the attacks in Paris the 35-year-old Algerian was also stopped at a road check between Austria and Hungary with the Moroccan national who is considered the mastermind behind the attacks. The second brother, also a suspect in yesterday’s blasts, was also in the vehicle.

Source: DN: Brussels suspects had ties to dead Algerian resident – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

The Success of Greek Structural Reforms by Dimitris Papadimoulis – Project Syndicate

Since July 2015, when Greece and its European counterparts agreed to a new bailout deal, the Greek government has made immense efforts to implement structural reforms under tight deadlines. And while the reforms have at times been controversial, they have also been successful, meriting EU recognition and aid.

Source: The Success of Greek Structural Reforms by Dimitris Papadimoulis – Project Syndicate

Now that the Greek government has delivered on its part of the bailout deal, it is time that its European and international counterparts conclude the first review of the program. This will allow the government to proceed to the second stage: coping with skyrocketing unemployment and putting the economy back on the path to growth. Greece has several sectors that could provide it a comparative advantage within the eurozone, most notably the maritime sector, energy, tourism, agriculture, and social entrepreneurship.

The Greek economy may still be struggling; GDP fell by 0.6% in the last quarter of 2015, according to Eurostat. But predictions that the economy would shrink by as much as 4% last year proved to be unfounded. And because of the government’s reforms and the country’s highly skilled workforce, the European Commission predicts a gradual return to growth by the second half of 2016. It is time that investors acknowledge the progress being made; the wise ones will begin to return to Greece.

Read more at https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/syriza-greek-reforms-success-by-dimitris-papadimoulis-2016-03#KDkWf2S98TTipqrf.99

no veil ,no testimony | nadiaharhash

My point was as simple as it still remains … There is a whole system of degrading women. The sharia law as applied under the name of God, and as a student of law and Islamic philosophy with modest knowledge on Islamic jurisdictions n accordance with Qur’an and pioneer jurists has nothing to do with this applied law of sharia. It is a collection of laws that are a mixture of Turkish, Arabic, and Israeli man enforced law for political gains in overpowering who ever or whatever, and the women seem to be the easiest scapegoats. In a patriarchal structure as such, it is no wonder that the laws are all designed to maintain men power over women, and make sure that a man is always given the just treatment he is entitled to have due his supremacy. After all he is the family “god”. There is something in the system that we women allowed. Whether voluntarily or by force I really don’t know. Changing it is not by condemning an act or two or some. It is by changing it all from the core. And this change can only happen if women are sitting on the same table with men defining and articulating that law. Objecting to a woman’s testimony with a veil or not is not a surprise. Veil is becoming a code dress to societies in the Middle East. A woman can be prostitute and still wearing a veil. Veil is actually becoming a veil to women’s restricted movement. A veiled woman has more access to freedom than that who is not. The controversy and the paradox in describing or comparing veiled with unveiled is also an extreme one. There is no middle way in the comparison. Wearing a veil makes a woman part of the social wanted structure. Not wearing it makes her an infidel. Or as close to one. This should take me to different level of the story … But I will leave it here for now …

Source: no veil ,no testimony | nadiaharhash

Gang members kill 23-year-old radio journalist in El Salvador – IFEX

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns young community radio host Nicolás García’s gruesome murder by members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang on the night of 10 March in El Carrizal, a village in the western department of Ahuachapán. Working as a journalist is very dangerous in El Salvador because of the alarming level of violence.For the past several months, García, 23, had been hosting a programme on El Carrizal-based radio Expressa, voces al aire in which he advised local residents on how to protect themselves from violence and interviewed members of the Civilian National Police (PNC).Local members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang did not like the programme. After many threats, they began suggesting that he join the gang and provide them with information about police movements in El Carrizal in exchange for 100 dollars a month.

Source: Gang members kill 23-year-old radio journalist in El Salvador – IFEX

#FreeIsabel – Isabel Mejia

In as little as two weeks, Isabel Mejia, a mother, survivor of horrific domestic violence, and long-time Los Angeles resident, may be deported to Mexico where she is afraid her ex-husband will kill her. Please, sign this petition demanding that ICE release her from detention and close her deportation case immediately!Isabel is a Los Angeles mother of three U.S. citizen children (3, 5 and 9) and a 13-year-old daughter. LAPD raided a party on November 14, 2015 and arrested Isabel and dozens of others. She was not charged and it appears that most were quickly released; however, Isabel was transferred to ICE after her fingerprint scan showed a decade-old deportation order from when she fled for her and her daughter’s life. Isabel has a single DUI conviction for which she was taking classes as part of a diversion program prior to her detention.

Source: #FreeIsabel