Category Archives: human rights

Obama sends small military to continent to South Sudan to help protect US Embassy

President Barack Obama has deployed a small military contingent to South Sudan to help bolster security at the U.S. Embassy amid escalating violence in the fledgling African nation.

In a letter to Congress, Obama said the 45 military personnel were sent to South Sudan on Wednesday. While they were equipped for combat, Obama said their purpose was to protect U.S. citizens and property and that they would remain in South Sudan until the security situation there improved.

\”South Sudan stands at the precipice,\” Obama said in a written statement. \”Recent fighting threatens to plunge South Sudan back into the dark days of its past.\”

via Obama sends small military to continent to South Sudan to help protect US Embassy.

Chinese Immigrants Will Soon Outnumber Dominicans In NYC: Gothamist

A surging number of immigrants from China will soon surpass immigrants from the Dominican Republic in New York City, according to a report from the City Planning Department. It\’s 235 pages, and you can curl up with it by popping open this pdf, but the short version is that NYC\’s immigrant population is at a record high, and the leading demographic is Chinese. Some fun facts to scare your xenophobic uncle with:

The largest numeric growth in immigration took place in the Bronx, while Staten Island saw the largest percentage increase.

The largest immigrant group is from the Dominican Republic, with 380,200 residents. China follows with 350,200 residents.

But immigrants from China are surging, having grown by 34 percent since 1990.

Dominicans have increased by just 3 percent.

China gave NYC more legal immigrants than any other nation between 2002 and 2011.

Mexicans are now in third place, with 186,300 residents, but that immigrant group increased a whopping 52 percent over the last decade.

Jamaicans (169,200) and Guyanese (139,900) are in third and fourth place, respectively.

Ecuador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, India, and Russia round out the top ten groups.

Many of Brooklyn’s immigrants settled along a “horseshoe” formed by the B, Q and N train lines.

Most Queens immigrants are along the 7 line.

Immigrants comprise 47 percent of all employed residents across all major industries.

According to the report, New York now \”boasts the most diverse population of any major city in the world because of the flow of immigrants from across the globe.\” The city is so diverse, there is currently no single dominate ethnic group in New York City. If you\’re curious to see which ethnic groups live where, check out the neat interactive map on the Department of City Planning website.

via Chinese Immigrants Will Soon Outnumber Dominicans In NYC: Gothamist.

IAVA – Letter from a Master Sergeant to Congress: “My family and I should not be penalized to subsidize the budget” | Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

As I finish out my 20 year career, the last thing I expected was to find out the government is now going to penalize my cost of living adjustment on my retirement pay for the next 22 years. Over the past few years, the government has threatened to not pay me numerous times and I find it absolutely despicable the United States Government has to put the burden of a budget on the back of it’s military. The fact we require a law to protect the pay of our military demonstrates a fundamental disconnect the government has from the citizens.

Be that what it is, I will press on with pride and explain to my wife and son, this is yet another sacrifice we will make for our great nation. It seems to me the cost of freedom keeps going up every year, but now I am being told my retirement pay won’t keep up with that cost. I guess the old adage is true, freedom isn’t free.

Please seek a resolution to this problem as my family and I should not be penalized to subsidize the budget.

Thank you for your time.

Brandon Bennett, MSgt, USAF

via IAVA – Letter from a Master Sergeant to Congress: “My family and I should not be penalized to subsidize the budget” | Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

71 journalists were killed in 2013 – Reporters Without Borders

71 journalists were killed in 2013

2013 in numbers

Journalists killed: 71 (-20%)

Journalists arrested: 826 (-6%)

Journalists threatened or physically attacked: 2160 (+9%)

Journalists kidnapped: 87 (+129%)

Journalists who fled their country: 77 (+5%)

Media assistants killed: 6

Netizens and citizen-journalists killed: 39 (-17%)

Bloggers and netizens arrested: 127 (-12%)

Journalists killed:

39% in a war zone

8% freelance

4% women journalists

Media types

Print: 37%

Radio: 30%

TV: 30%

Website: 3%

via 71 journalists were killed in 2013 – Reporters Without Borders.

Byline Portal – Did we mean to cut people off from medicine with sanctions?

A combination of international sanctions and mismanagement by the Iranian government are blamed for the current state of medical chaos in Iran.

“It’s been five months now that we are looking for an anti-allergy vaccine for my brother,” says one person interviewed by Global Voices about Iran\’s public health situation. “One of our relatives with cancer cannot find his medicine,” remarked another. “I am struggling to find insulin,” says a diabetic man.

via Byline Portal.

Bachelet pledges radical constitutional reforms after winning Chilean election | World news | The Guardian

After winning the biggest landslide since Chile\’s return to democracy, the president-elect, Michelle Bachelet, vowed on Monday to push ahead with an ambitious programme of tax, educational and constitutional reforms to address inequality.

The centre-left politician – who secured 62% of Sunday\’s vote – was also expected to propose legislation on reproductive rights and same-sex marriage in this predominantly Catholic nation.

In a switch of power, Bachelet trounced her conservative opponent, Evelyn Matthei from the Alianza coalition, which has run the country for the past four years.

Despite a low turnout of 42%, the win puts the Chilean Socialist party leader back in the La Moneda presidential palace, where she had been the incumbent from 2006 to 2010. Her first administration was popular, but made only modest inroads into reducing inequality. In her second term, the president-elect has promised more radical changes.

\”Chile has looked at itself, has looked at its path, its recent history, its wounds, its feats, its unfinished business and this Chile has decided it is the time to start deep transformations,\” Bachelet told supporters in a jubilant victory speech.

via Bachelet pledges radical constitutional reforms after winning Chilean election | World news | The Guardian.

A French Version of NSA Electronic Surveillance Program? · Global Voices

The existing legislation already allows a form of “surveillance” of the web and social networks by the intelligence services. The surveillance that we are talking about here is, in fact, the possibility for some agencies of the administration to access “data connection” logs stored by electronic communications operators services: telecom operators, ISPs and hosts

via A French Version of NSA Electronic Surveillance Program? · Global Voices.

Bloggers celebrated in Paris, arrested and beaten in Vietnam – Reporters Without Borders

Plainclothes police beat the bloggers Chau Van Thi and Hoang Dung in Ho Chi Minh City, while in Hanoi, Dao Trang Loan, Le Hien Duc and Pham Minh Vu were roughed up.

A group of bloggers was attacked at round 5 p.m. on 8 December in Ho Chi Minh City while heading to the demonstration. A woman blogger, Nguyen Hoang Vi, was dragged and beaten. Me Nam, another woman blogger, was pushed to the ground while carrying her five-year-old son.

Seven other bloggers – Hoang Dung, Nguyen Tien Tuyen, Tran Hoang Han, Trung Hieu Hieu, Vo Cong Dong, Hoang Bui and Tin Ba – who were nearby were beaten when they rushed to help them. Vi and Nam were forced to return home, where a policeman prevented them from leaving for several hours.

via Bloggers celebrated in Paris, arrested and beaten in Vietnam – Reporters Without Borders.

Bulgaria Marks Six Months of Continued Protests · Global Voices

Still on the question of the outside world, anti-government protesters seize eagerly on what international media coverage there has been. Such stories are shared and reposted on social networks, a morale booster for the protest participants. Ironically, the very fact that the protests have been largely peaceful, with the very few exceptions where police have been ordered to get tough on anti-government protesters, makes the story hugely less sexy than events elsewhere, from Istanbul to Kyiv and beyond.[…]

This picture of a situation in which no one is winning, neither a discredited government nor those opposed to it, cannot be complete without noting that no political force currently lacking seats in Parliament seems to be making genuine gains. […]

But while there is a standoff, as the current BSP government refuses to give up, the six-month mark being reached on December 14 shows that the anti-government protesters are not ready to give up either.

via Bulgaria Marks Six Months of Continued Protests · Global Voices.

Health Alert Network | HAN Archive – 00358

Notice to Public Health Officials and Clinicians: Recognizing, Managing, and Reporting Chikungunya Virus Infections in Travelers Returning from the Caribbean

Summary

On December 7, 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the first local (autochthonous) transmission of chikungunya virus in the Americas. As of December 12th, 10 cases of chikungunya have been confirmed in patients who reside on the French side of St. Martin in the Caribbean. Laboratory testing is pending on additional suspected cases. Onset of illness for confirmed cases was between October 15 and December 4. At this time, there are no reports of other suspected chikungunya cases outside St. Martin. However, further spread to other countries in the region is possible.

via Health Alert Network | HAN Archive – 00358.