On January 18,numerous internet giants including Wikipedia,Google,Wired,and Mozilla Firefox censored their homepages in an unprecedented one-day protest of anti-piracy legislation. The protests caused senators to change course in backing the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa),which is currently passing through the House of Representatives,and the Protect IP Act (Pipa),a similar bill in the Senate. By the afternoon of January 18th,two of the bill’s original co-sponsors,Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Orrin Hatch,had withdrawn their support of the bill. After an onslaught of online protest,legislators across the country made public statements to assure constituents of their opposition to the bills. This protest demonstrates that new media lobbying is a fast and efficient way to garner widespread support from the public,particularly in reference to censorship.
Human Rights Watch says Guantanamo detainees are currently tried under a flawed system and should instead be transferred to the United States for trial. Some of the findings that support their position include:
Since the September 11,2011 attacks,578 terrorism-related cases have been prosecuted in the federal courts,while only 6 cases have been completed by military commissions at Guantanamo during the same time period.
The average time between arrest and conviction in federal court for the main defendants in the top 50 terrorism plots was 1.4 years. The average time between capture and conviction for all six detainees prosecuted by military commissions at Guantanamo was 7.6 years.
Of the 171 detainees that remain at Guantanamo only one faces any formal charges.
In November 2010,a 15 year-old Indonesian boy allegedly stole sandals that had been placed outside of a police boarding house. The police officer who owned the sandals found this child,beat him badly,and then went on to file a suit. The young boy faces up to five years in prison – a longer sentence than has been given to convicted terrorists in Indonesia.
Activists cite poverty as a reason for the theft,and advocate for reform rather than imprisonment in petty theft cases that involve children. More than 1,200 sandals have been placed in front of the National Commission for Child Protection as a peaceful protest against the suit.
The conflict,famine and chaos of Somalia have contributed to a rise in rape and sexual abuse incidents targeting Somali women and girls according to victims,aid workers and United Nations officials. The famine has forced hundreds of thousands of women to trek hundreds of miles seeking food,often alone with children,leaving behind the traditional defenses provided by their clan.
Victims and aid workers report Shabab militants,rogue militiamen and government soldiers are preying upon displaced women and girls resulting in 2,500 reports of gender-based violence in the past two months in Mogadishu alone.
Rapid economic growth in India has helped to elevate the status of Dalits –previously known as “untouchables” in the Indian caste system. A generation ago,Dalits were not allowed to eat the same foods,drink at the same wells or wear the same clothing as members of other castes. Now,many Dalits have opened their own businesses or climbed the corporate ladder,and are earning respect along with increased salaries.
The Indian government has adopted affirmative action measures to create economic opportunities for Dalits. A recent analysis of survey data found that the education gap between other castes and Dalits has been halved,and the wage gap has decreased to 21 percent,less than the gap between white male and black male workers in the United States. Dalits have benefitted from these measures as their social and economic status rises in India.
Hate crimes represent a particular form of human rights abuse says Human Rights First in a recently released paper entitled,Hate Crimes and Human Rights. The paper defines hate crimes within the framework of human rights law and offers a ten point plan to help governments combat hate crime.
Click here for more insight into hate crimes as a human rights issue.
A group of New York City police officers has used Facebook to express their feelings about working the West Indian American Parade in Brooklyn. Before being removed,the group’s page referred to parade goers as “animals” and suggested dropping a bomb to “wipe them all out”.
Of 150 people commenting on the page,more than 60 percent match the New York City police roster. Comments stretching over 70 printed pages may violate rules prohibiting officers from making disrespectful remarks about race or ethnicity and are under scrutiny by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
A basic economic principal states that paying workers higher wages will boost their standard of living,and increase the number of consumers in the market. Henry Ford adopted this strategy,paying his assembly line workers $5 per hour – a large sum in 1914. Shortly thereafter,Ford employees had enough income to purchase Ford vehicles,boosting sales exponentially.
Unfortunately,businesses and corporations in 2011 have frozen wages and slowed hiring. Profits are being pocketed by executives,rather than spread out among workers. The economy is becoming stagnant,and the only way to boost it is to put dollars back into the wallet of average Americans,rather than showering money on already-rich executives. How about a revival of Henry Ford’s strategy?
Recent studies by Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have found strong evidence that where you live has massive health consequences. The HUD study,published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine,tracked a group of families –some of whom were given vouchers to move outside of impoverished neighborhoods. Results indicate that health improved dramatically over time for the group living in a lower-poverty neighborhood.
Health is often poor in high-poverty areas due to issues such as:
Old housing stock,containing mold,dust and bacteria that causes asthma,and respiratory problems
Dangerous neighborhoods where inhabitants are less likely to exercise or play outdoors
Fewer grocery stores with healthy food options and a prevalence of fast-food chains
Lack of access to business opportunities and hospitals
HUD study author JensLudwig expressed hope that these results will help the health industry view neighborhood improvement as a form of preventive care.
Until recently Israel was hailed as a global leader in gender equality. Women in Israel now say a quickly growing community of ultra-Orthodox is gradually stripping them of their basic rights. In recent months there have been increasingly successful efforts by this community to segregate women from men,not only in private buildings but in public spaces such as buses and main streets. Such incidents have caused Israel’s ranking in gender equality on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index to slip from 36th in 2007 to 55th in 2011.
Members of the ultra-Orthodox community,which has grown to about 15% of Israel’s total population,say their segregation efforts are to protect the dignity ofwomen. It is certainly disappointing that the nation who elected one of the first female democratic leaders in the world would now bully Golda Meir to sit in the back of the bus.