Human Rights

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“A Human Rights Crisis”: In Unprecedented Move, Amnesty International Sends Monitors to Ferguson

 

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org,The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. As we continue to look at the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, we’re joined by the executive director of Amnesty International USA, which has taken an unprecedented step in sending a 13-person delegation to monitor the developments in Ferguson. Amnesty has never before deployed observers inside the United States.

We’re joined here in our New York studio by Steven Hawkins, who has also worked as an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where he represented African-American men facing the death penalty throughout the Deep South in the United States.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Steven.


STEVEN HAWKINS: Pleasure to be here.


AMY GOODMAN: Talk about this decision.


STEVEN HAWKINS: Well, Amnesty saw a human rights crisis in Ferguson, and it’s a human rights crisis that is escalating. We sent observers down because there was a need for human rights observers. Clearly there are violations of international human rights law and standards, in terms of how the policing is being done on protests. So, for example, we’ve issued reports on, for example, Israel and the Occupied Territories, how tear gas is supposed to be administered—never in an indiscriminate way where children and the elderly could be subject to very harmful effects, even death, from tear gas. So, we sent down observers to be on the ground. We have been thwarted in our efforts to be able to go out on curfew with the police, which would be a clear standard in these circumstances, as well as the opportunity for the press to be able to be in the space. So, we also went down to make sure that the citizens in Ferguson understood that the eyes of the world were watching, that Amnesty is deeply supportive, and we will be continuing to monitor the situation.

 

Source: www.democracynow.org

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Do Heat-Sensitive Inmates Have A Right To Air Conditioning?

Jails and prisons without air conditioning can be uncomfortable for both prisoners and guards. But for inmates with health conditions that make them heat-sensitive, hot cells can pose serious risks.

Source: www.npr.org

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The Alarming Rise of Migrant Deaths on U.S. Soil—And What to Do About It

 

More migrants’ lives could be saved with a few inexpensive adjustments in water availability, rescue beacons, and search-and-rescue capability. A directive by the Department of Homeland Security for the Border Patrol to establish water drums, particularly alongside rescue beacons, would be an important step to avoid preventable deaths on U.S. soil. Increasing the number of rescue beacons, as well as providing additional funds to expand Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue Unit teams (BORSTAR), particularly in southwest border sectors with high numbers of migrant deaths, could also help to assist migrants in distress.

Many of the recovered remains of migrants, which now number in the thousands, are unidentified. Local officials in Brooks County, Texas, estimate that the costs of dealing with the unidentified dead, including mortician fees and autopsies, amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. No unified procedure exists to process remains and DNA samples of bodies found in the border region. Many remains have not had their DNA sampled, and there has been no consolidated effort to match the DNA of unidentified remains with family members searching for missing loved ones.

Measures such as the following would greatly contribute to identifying these remains and provide answers to family members of missing migrants about the whereabouts of their loved ones:

  • Providing federal funding to counties and tribal governments for the handling and DNA analysis of migrant remains;
  • Creating a Missing Migrants program within the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs); and
  • Encouraging genetic laboratories receiving federal grant monies to process samples from unidentified remains and compare the resulting genetic profiles against samples from the relatives of missing migrants

Immigration reform legislation currently before the U.S. Senate (S. 744) includes billions of dollars in new funding for border security. It makes no mention, however, of steps to prevent needless deaths of migrants on U.S. soil, or to help cash-strapped counties identify the dead. The current bill offers an important legislative opportunity to stem the rise of this alarming human tragedy on the U.S. side of the border.

 

Click through to read more.

 

 

Source: www.wola.org

 

Texas recently sent 1000 National Guard to the border. That should prevent some deaths. But we need to prevent all the deaths.

 

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New Born Babies Given No Right To Life In Prison

 

“Wichita County Texas District Attorney Maureen Shelton isn’t talking about the case. We should.

Is there any time when a human being stops being a human being because the mother is an inmate?”

 
See on blackbutterfly7.wordpress.com

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Video: Yasiin Bey Force Fed Under Standard Guantánamo Bay Procedure

 

“Yasiin Bey—also known as Mos Def—is cur­rently work­ing with dir­ector Asif Kapa­dia and Human Rights organ­iz­a­tion Reprieve on a reveal­ing pro­ject that deb­uted this morn­ing. In the clip, Yassin par­ti­cip­ates in the stand­ard force-feeding pro­ced­ure con­duc­ted for detain­ees at Guantá­namo Bay. s Ramadan begins, more than 100 hunger-strikers in Guantá­namo Bay con­tinue their protest. More than 40 of them are exper­i­en­cing this procedure.”

 

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

I had my stomach pumped out like this, minus the chains. It was painful.

 

See on www.iamhiphopmagazine.com

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Border Patrol Agent Commits Atrocities While On Duty

 

“Texas Border Region: The Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) expresses deep concern over recent events involving Border Patrol agent Esteban Manzanares who is reported to have assaulted three Honduran women immigrants, left two for dead, and then killed himself. We urge that the victims be protected, regardless of immigration status and receive fair treatment as survivors.

The following are statements from SBCC members in Texas.

 

Astrid Dominguez, ACLU of Texas:

This incident is one more in a pattern of CBP abuses in our border communities. Last September, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report on Border Patrol use of force, which identified key problems with training. This followed revelations by the Government Accountability Office of significant incidence of misconduct within CBP. We demand that DHS conduct a thorough and transparent investigation of this incident, in parallel to independent review by external investigators and determine what policy and training enhancements are necessary.”

 
See on soboco.org

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Southern States Push Anti-Gay Jim Crow Laws

 

“Over the past few weeks, Republicans in various state legislatures have been advancing bills that target gay Americans for Jim Crow style discrimination. These laws represent an imminent and grave threat to not only the entire gay community but to the entire idea of a secular society.”
See on theprogressivecynic.com

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Forks Over Knives – Official Trailer

 

http://www.forksoverknives.com

The feature film Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

Eating plants is healthy and no animal will be incarcerated or oppressed from harvesting plants.

See on www.youtube.com