Archive for March 10th, 2023

10/03/2023

Next Ebola Outbreak ‘Not a Matter of If, but When’

Human Wrongs Watch

KAMPALA & MUBENDE, Mar 10 2023 (IPS)* – It is two months since the World Health Organization declared Uganda free of the most recent Sudan ebolavirus, which killed 55 people.

Uganda used public health measures like screening, testing of temperatures, and isolation of suspected cases to contain the Ebola outbreak. While those measures were successful, scientists warn that another outbreak could occur. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS

Uganda employed public health measures to end the outbreak. In the absence of vaccines and therapeutics, the threat of the next outbreak looms.  Scientists are yet to find answers to questions like who was the first person to be affected? Or the index case, what viral host reservoir did that patient get in contact with?

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10/03/2023

USA: Sanctions against Individuals Abroad ‘Violates Due Process Rights, Including the Presumption of Innocence and Fair Trial’

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — A UN independent human rights expert criticized the United States for using extraterritorial jurisdiction to impose sanctions on foreign individuals, in a statement issued on Thursday [].

The United States Capitol Building, Washington, DC.
© Sarah Scaffidi | The United States Capitol Building, Washington, DC.

UN Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan said the practice raises concerns about rights violations, including the right to due process, as enshrined under a decades-old international treaty. 

Longstanding practice 

“The United States has for years been imposing sanctions on individuals and entities without national criminal jurisdiction and in the absence of universal jurisdiction,” she said. 

“This is a clear violation of due process rights, including the presumption of innocence and fair trial.”

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10/03/2023

US Exceptionalism and the Wars in Syria and Ukraine

Human Wrongs Watch

By Rick Sterling – TRANSCEND Media Service*

The following is an adapted version of the presentation made at the webinar “Connecting Dots” on 25 Feb 2023. Other speakers were Dr. Marwa Osman and Dr. Atif Kubursi.

rick-sterling-2021-e1623208293720

Rick Sterling

Introduction

Syria has been at war since 2011. The conflict is in a stalemate. US troops control nearly a third of the country. The US finances the operation and a secessionist army with oil and wheat they take from the area. It funds them and deprives the Syrian government from their own resources.

In the northern province of Idlib, the Syrian version of Al Qaeda is in control, receiving the majority of aid from Europe while the 90% of  Syrians who live in government controlled areas go hungry and have electricity only three hours per day.

Meanwhile in Ukraine, the bloodshed continues as Russian troops battle Ukrainian soldiers while the US and NATO pour in weapons. Russian troops have taken control of much of the eastern region, the Donbass.

How did we get here and what is driving the process?

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