Category Archives: human rights

Nasrallah: Takfiris present Muslims as ‘savages’ | News , Lebanon News | THE DAILY STAR

Jihadist terrorism poses “a threat to Islam as a religion [as well as] its principles and values,” Nasrallah said, warning that “takfiris”

This takfiri trend “will instill this false understanding of Islam,” he said, warning that the nature of modern day communication would allow radicals to spread a false image of Islam across the world.

“This would push non-Muslims away from Islam, because the [takfiri] method presents Muslims as a savage and bloodthirsty group,” he added.

via Nasrallah: Takfiris present Muslims as ‘savages’ | News , Lebanon News | THE DAILY STAR.

Quarantined Nurse Believes Her “Basic Human Rights” Have Been Violated: Gothamist

Hickox, a 33-year-old nurse who had been in contact with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and became the first person to be placed under mandatory quarantine, was particularly angry with Christie. Christie has described her as “obviously ill,” (obviously lying) and said on Fox News this morning that he had “no second thoughts” about the mandatory quarantine policy. “I’m sorry if in any way she was inconvenienced, but inconvenience that could occur from having folks that are symptomatic and ill out amongst the public is a much, much greater concern of mine,” Christie said. “I hope she recovers quickly.” (Nothing for her to recovery from tested twice – no Ebola!)

Hickox responded: “I’m sorry, but that’s just a completely unacceptable statement in my opinion. For him—a politician who’s trusted and respected—to make a statement that’s categorically not true is just unacceptable and appalling,” she said in a separate interview with CNN. She believes that public health decisions should be made by public health officials, not politicians: “For the first 12 hours, I was in shock. Now I’m angry,” she said. “To put me in prison is just inhumane.”

via Quarantined Nurse Believes Her “Basic Human Rights” Have Been Violated: Gothamist.

Settlers burn 100 olive trees near Nablus in the occupied West Bank

Extremist settlers set fire on Wednesday to agricultural lands in the town of Huwara, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, Al-Resalah newspaper reported.

According to Al-Resalah, the mayor of the town said that a group of masked settlers had sneaked onto the land in western Huwara and then poured incendiary fluids on the trees, setting them on fire, which led to the burning of at least one hundred olive trees.

The mayor also pointed out that Israeli occupation forces prevented Palestinian citizens from reaching the lands in order to extinguish the fire. Later on, the Israeli forces allowed the civil defence, existing in the adjacent Palestinian village of Burin, to access the fire and extinguish it, but only after it had expanded to an even larger area of land.

via Settlers burn 100 olive trees near Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

NEW VOICES: Pope Francis Calls for Abolition of Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center

Pope Francis called for an end to capital punishment in an address on October 23 to the International Association on Penal Law. “It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend peoples’ lives from an unjust aggressor,” the Catholic leader said. He cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which says that the death penalty can be used only if it is the “only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor,” and that modern alternatives for protecting society mean that “cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.” Pope Francis said, “All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty.” In discussing a variety of criminal justice issues, he critiqued the tendency to focus solely on punishment, rather than addressing broader social issues.

via NEW VOICES: Pope Francis Calls for Abolition of Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center.

Israeli “teabag” and racist rightists hold anti-Palestinian demo at light rail station | Maan News Agency

Dozens of Israeli rightists late Thursday protested at the site of a suspected attack which left a three-month-old baby dead, witnesses said.

Protesters held aloft signs reading “Death to Arabs!” and “Revenge” by the Ammunition Hill light rail station in Sheikh Jarrah.

There were reports of attempted assaults on Palestinians as they crossed the road in the area, with Israeli forces deploying to prevent such incidents.

Israel immediately labeled the incident on Wednesday as a “terrorist” attack, while the Palestinian suspect’s family denied that it was intentional.

via Israeli rightists hold anti-Palestinian demo at light rail station | Maan News Agency.

Studies show more TB cases worldwide than earlier estimates | Vaccine News Daily

Old diseases, not as interesting? Or if not perceived as a threat to US or EU – so no worries like for Ebola?

New studies show that there are approximately 500,000 more cases of tuberculosis than was previously estimated.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) “Global Tuberculosis Report 2014″ details how 9 million people developed TB last year and 1.5 million died, including approximately 360,000 individuals who were HIV positive.

“Following a concerted effort by countries, by WHO and by multiple partners, investment in national surveys and routine surveillance efforts has substantially increased,” WHO Director of the Global TB Program Dr. Mario Raviglione said. “This is providing us with much more and better data, bringing us closer and closer to understanding the true burden of tuberculosis.”

The report states that the death rate from TB is still falling and has actually dropped by 45 percent since 1990. The number of people developing TB is declining by approximately 1.5 percent a year, while 37 million people have survived TB through thorough diagnosis and treatment over the past 14 years.

Another aspect of the report shows that while an astounding number of lives are being lost to curable diseases, TB is the second biggest killer from one infectious agent. Approximately three million people stricken with TB are still misdiagnosed, or diagnosed but not reported.

A lack of funding is hindering worldwide efforts to fight the TB epidemic. An estimated $8 billion is needed each year, but there is currently a $2 billion shortfall.

via Studies show more TB cases worldwide than earlier estimates | Vaccine News Daily.

Capitalism in Crisis Amid Slow Growth and Growing Inequality – SPIEGEL ONLINE

In this sense, the crisis of capitalism has turned into a crisis of democracy. Many feel that their countries are no longer being governed by parliaments and legislatures, but by bank lobbyists, which apply the logic of suicide bombers to secure their privileges: Either they are rescued or they drag the entire sector to its death.

via Capitalism in Crisis Amid Slow Growth and Growing Inequality – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

A netizen is killed in Tamaulipas – Reporters Without Borders

{I have to wonder – is the President of Mexico in with the criminals or does he just not care?}

Netizen María del Rosario Fuentes Rubio was kidnapped by armed men on 15 October in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas. A picture of her dead body appeared on her Twitter account the next day.

Netizen María del Rosario Fuentes Rubio was kidnapped by armed men on 15 October in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas. A picture of her dead body appeared on her Twitter account the next day.

Fuentes Rubio was kidnapped as she left the Tierra Santa clinic in Reynosa, where she worked as a doctor.

The photo of her body that appeared on Twitter was followed by a series of messages, including “Shut down your accounts, do not risk your families’ lives as I have done. I ask your forgiveness.”

For several months, Fuentes Rubio, under the pseudonym “Felina,” had been contributing via the Twitter account @Miut3 to the Valor por Tamaulipas citizen information service. It focuses on violence and organized crime activities in the state. Fuentes Rubio’s family left the country on 16 October, after filing a formal complaint.

via A netizen is killed in Tamaulipas – Reporters Without Borders.

How Can a Three Year Old Represent Himself in Court? – Immigration Impact : Immigration Impact

Each week, in immigration courts across the United States, hundreds of children, some as young as just a few months old, come before immigration judges and are called upon to defend themselves against deportation. Among them is Arturo,* a three year old who arrived at the United States border in April 2014 because family members feared for his life in El Salvador. Although he is only a toddler, the government has put him (named in our lawsuit as “A.E.G.E.”) into deportation proceedings on his own. He has no attorney to help him explain to the court why he should not be deported.

via How Can a Three Year Old Represent Himself in Court? – Immigration Impact : Immigration Impact.

WHO: TB one of world′s deadliest infectious diseases | News | DW.DE | 22.10.2014

WHO: TB one of world′s deadliest infectious diseases | News | DW.DE | 22.10.2014.

1.5 million deaths a year – yet we follow the media lead and run for cover from ebola hype. Ebola and and should be stopped but taking years to stop new types of TB is insane!

“The death toll from this disease is unacceptably high,” the report read. “A staggering number of lives are being lost to a curable disease.”
Last year, there were 9 million new reported cases of tuberculosis, with 1.5 million of those being fatal.
The number of cases, however, continues to decrease: “TB is slowly declining each year and it is estimated that 37 million lives were saved between 2000 and 2013 through effective diagnosis and treatment.”
The trend indicated that one of the Millennium Development Goals – established by a UN panel in 2000 – to reverse TB infection rates could be achieved by the deadline.
“The 2015 Millennium Development Goal of halting and reversing TB incidence has been achieved globally, in all six WHO regions and in most of the 22 high TB-burden countries,” the report stated.
Multidrug-resistant TB alarming
Multidrug-resistant TB remains alarming – high cost prevented many people from getting proper diagnoses and treatment.
“There are severe epidemics in some regions, particularly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” the report read, adding that for people infected with this strain, rates for successful treatment were “surprisingly low.”
Grania Brigden, a TB expert with the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, said, as reported by the Reuters news agency, that the “alarming spread of drug-resistant TB from person to person in the former Soviet Union is of critical concern, along with the growth in MDR-TB and XDR-TB cases,” she said, referring to multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of the disease.
“Access to proper treatment is drastically low: Only 1 in 5 people with multidrug-resistant TB receives treatment; the rest are left to die, increasing the risk to their families and communities and fueling the epidemic,” she said in a statement.