The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urged states to dismantle law enforcement’s systematic racism against African peoples on Monday in a report entitled “Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law [...]
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Colombia ombudsman: more than 11,000 people displaced by fighting so far this year
Colombia’s Ombudsman Office reported Monday that more than 11,000 individuals have been displaced by fighting between Colombian armed groups so far in 2021. The fighting has been due to crime gangs, such as National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas and former members of the FARC rebels, fighting each other and armed forces for control of Uraba [...]
Iranian authorities on Saturday hanged 31-year-old political activist Javid Dehghan after the United Nations (UN) urged Iran to halt the execution. Dehghan was accused of leading extremist group Jaish al-Adl and was convicted of shooting two Revolutionary Guards officials five years ago in the Sistan-Baluchistan province. The UN rights office said in a prior statement [...]
ICC prosecutor finds 'reasonable basis' of crimes against humanity in Philippines
International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda reported Monday that a preliminary examination into the situation in the Philippines had found a “reasonable basis” to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, torture and the infliction of serious physical injury and mental harm were committed between July 2016 and March 2019. The report follows [...]
Becoming a Stone: America's Law-Desecrating Submission to Presidential "Punishment"
“All people…who dare not defend themselves when they know they are in the right, who submit to punishment not because of what they have done but because of who they are, are already dead by their own decision; and whether or not they survive physically depends on chance. If circumstances are not favorable, they end [...]
COVID-19, Political Prisoners, and the Overcrowding of Prisons
Barely a few months after news broke about a novel virus with the potential for a global pandemic, COVID-19 brought the entire world to a grinding halt. Even though some countries have decided to gradually open up, the rate of new infected cases shows no sign of slowing down. By now, more than 13 million [...]
“Tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart.” – Hamlet For an afflicted American nation, it never seems to end. On June 1, 2020, President Donald J. Trump once again openly defiled US Constitutional protections of free speech and assembly, on this occasion by gratuitously violent treatment of law-abiding civilian demonstrators. A week later, [...]
The Coronavirus is causing major economic upheavals and thousands of deaths and hospitalizations throughout the US. Unfortunately, immigrants, people of color, and marginalized groups are being hit equally hard by the disease. To make matters even worse, refugee admissions are suspended, all in-person naturalization services have stopped, and the status of all immigration into the [...]
In the late 1920s scratch farmers and loggers were facing an unseen threat in the isolated forests of the inland Pacific Northwest of America. Crops were scarred and charred. They had stunted timber yields. The culprit turned out to be a huge zinc smelter In Trail, British Columbia that bellowed sulfurous fumes from across the [...]
UN report: US airstrikes in Afghanistan violated international humanitarian law
US airstrikes in Afghanistan last May resulted in civilian casualties and violated international humanitarian law, the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported Wednesday. On May 4 the US Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) completed airstrikes on buildings located in the Bakwa district, Farah province and the Nimroz province in Afghanistan. The air strikes were aimed at potential [...]