Archive for November 25th, 2016

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25/11/2016

The Tyranny of Democracy

Human Wrongs Watch

By Paul Larudee*

21 November 2016 – TRANSCEND Media Service – With the possible exception of Venezuela, all democracies on earth are considered at least moderately pro-American. Is this because the US is such a model democracy that all other democracies are naturally friendly to it?  Or are all democracies naturally friendly to each other?  Americans may like to think so, but closer inspection reveals a very different picture.

paul-larudee

Venezuela is instructive, because its democracy was considered pro-American before the rise of its immensely popular president, Hugo Chavez, who sought an economic and foreign policy that was independent from the US.

That democracy was almost lost in a 2002 attempted coup, with the US supporting the plotters.  Today, the US continues to side with the same forces seeking to remove Chavez’s successor, Nicolás Maduro.  

One might suspect that democracies that choose an independent path and are not favorable to US meddling (“leadership”) become targets for forcible or coerced change.

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25/11/2016

Black Friday: Breathe, Take a Break – the Planet Can’t Handle It Anymore

Human Wrongs Watch

By Kirsten Brodde*

24 November, 2016 (Greenpeace) – Black Friday and Cyber Monday are expected to generate billions of dollars in sales for clothing and other products this year. But this shopping bonanza also generates greater volumes of waste than ever. That is bad news for the environment.

Time out for fast fashion illustration © Greenpeace

Instead of chasing prey in the jungle like our ancestors did, we chase bargain clothing that seems like a good deal. Just look at the scenes that take place every year in American shopping malls on the fourth Friday of November, when people try to secure a favourable position in the queue outside shops in the early hours of the morning.

One could say “Black Friday” deserves its name: Every year dozens of people are crushed, even to death, as has happened in the past.

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25/11/2016

Initial Global Effects of Trump Even Before Taking Office

Human Wrongs Watch

By Martin Khor*

PENANG, Nov 24 2016 (IPS) – Even before taking office, President-Elect Donald Trump and the policies he promised during his campaign are already having a worldwide impact in at least three areas —  global finance, trade and climate change.

Credit: Bigstock

Credit: Bigstock

If his election is described as an earthquake, the aftershocks are now being felt.

Global funds are starting to move out of many developing countries, reducing the value of their currencies and causing great economic uncertainty.

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25/11/2016

‘Fundamentalism and Populism Pose Deepening Threat to Women Human Rights Defenders’

Human Wrongs Watch

Women who step up to defend human rights are facing worsening obstacles amid a global trend of fundamentalism and populism, a group of United Nations experts has warned.

Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Dubravka Simonovic, speaks to the press in Buenos Aires, November 21, 2016. Photo UNIC /Buenos Aires.

“In the face of rising populism and fundamentalisms and deplorable setbacks on the women’s human rights agenda, we need more than ever to unite our forces to preserve the democratic space in which women human rights defenders represent an essential counter-power and a colossal force of action,” the experts said in a joint statement issued ahead of International Women Human Rights Defenders Day on 29 November.*

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25/11/2016

“The price of no change is unacceptable”

Human Wrongs Watch

By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women*

We believe in and work for a world where women and girls can flourish and prosper peacefully alongside men and boys, sharing in and benefitting from societies that value their skills and accept their leadership. Violence against women and girls has a devastating impact on individuals and on the society.

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Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is Executive Director of UN Women

Women and girls who experience violence lose their dignity, they live in fear and pain, and in the worst cases they pay with their lives.

Violence cuts deeply into the liberties we should all have: the right to be safe at home, the right to walk safely on the streets, the right to go to school, to work, to the market or to watch a film.

We should be able to expect that attackers will be punished, that justice will be done, and that we can get care and support for injuries.

Yet, still in many countries, the laws are inadequate, the police force is uninterested, shelters, heath care and support are unavailable, and the criminal justice system is remote, expensive and biased against women and in favour of the male perpetrators. Change to these elements has a cost, yet the price of no change is unacceptable.

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25/11/2016

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Human Wrongs Watch

By UN Women*

One in three women around the world experience violence in their lifetime, often in the hands of someone they know, love and trust. Of all women who were victims of homicide globally in 2012, almost half were killed by intimate partners or family members.

Women and men around the world wear orange. Photos (L-R):UN Women/Stephanie Raison, UNDP/Tiago Zenero, UN Women/Ellie van Baaren, UN Albania/Olsi Beci, UN Women/Niels den Hollander

Photos (L-R):UN Women/Stephanie Raison, UNDP/Tiago Zenero, UN Women/Ellie van Baaren, UN Albania/Olsi Beci, UN Women/Niels den Hollander

Violence against women and girls, a gross human rights violation, devastates lives, causes untold pain, suffering and illness. It also incurs high economic costs. A recent study estimated that the cost of intimate-partner accounted for 5.2 per cent of the global economy [1].

Beyond the direct medical and judicial costs, violence against women takes a toll on household and national budgets through lost income and productivity.

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25/11/2016

Violence Against Black Women in Brazil on the Rise Despite Better Laws

Human Wrongs Watch

By Mario Osava*

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 24 2016 (IPS) – Four months in hospital and a number of operations saved the life of Maria da Penha Fernandes of Brazil, but the rifle shot left her paraplegic at the age of 37. When she returned home, her husband tried to electrocute her in the bathroom.

A group of black women take part in Black Awareness Day celebrated on Nov. 20 in the city of São Paulo. Gender-related violence has increased, in particular among women of African descent in Brazil, despite the passage of better laws. Credit: Rovena Rosa/ Agência Brasil

A group of black women take part in Black Awareness Day celebrated on Nov. 20 in the city of São Paulo. Gender-related violence has increased, in particular among women of African descent in Brazil, despite the passage of better laws. Credit: Rovena Rosa/ Agência Brasil

It eventually became clear that the author of the first attack, the shot in the back while she was sleeping one night in May 1983, had also been her husband, who claimed four thieves had broken in, tied him up, and shot her.

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25/11/2016

“Nigeria Faces Worst Humanitarian Crisis on African Continent

Human Wrongs Watch

Warning that ongoing unrest and rising inflation have left more than five million people in restive north-east Nigeria facing acute food insecurity, the United Nations agriculture agency on 24 November 2016 appealed for $25 million through May 2017 to support irrigated vegetable production and micro-gardening in the dry season, as well as rebuild livestock systems.*

Displaced girl suffering from malnutrition in Kuya camp, Monsuno, Nigeria. Photo: UNHCR/Hélène Caux

In a situation update, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the urgently needed funds would tackle food insecurity among returnee, internally displaced and host communities. In addition, the agency is seeking funds now to provide critical agricultural inputs to farmers in time for the 2017 main rainy season.

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