At least 15.3 million Syrians are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. The crisis has impacted nearly 70 percent of the country’s population. Syrians are struggling with access to electricity, with hours of blackouts each day. In the wake of the horror of World War II, the phrase “Never Again” was coined to suggest that the international community will never allow any country anywhere and at any time to commit human atrocities with impunity. Where is moral responsibility of the global leaders, abandoning the Syrian people to a despot and his brutal allies, Russia and Iran?
#Syria #MiddleEast #HumanRights #HumanitarianAid #HumanitarianCrisis #NeverAgain
Afghanistan’s Taliban regime is systematically subjugating women, flagrantly violating their fundamental human rights by drastically impeding the health and education of women and girls, and denying freedom of movement, expression, and association. Women are also being deprived of their earned income, and their right to work. Women are not permitted to work in NGO offices, and as the UN states: “Since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021, women have been wholly excluded from public office and the judiciary. Today, Afghanistan’s women and girls are required to adhere to a strict dress code and are not permitted to travel more than 75 km without a mahram,” or male chaperone who must be a close family member. With day-to-day activities in public places severely restricted, women and girls are essentially forced to stay at home. According to Amnesty International, the Taliban have been “increasingly introducing new restrictions with the apparent aim of completely erasing women’s and girls’ presence from public arenas.”
#Afghanistan #WomensRights #HumanRights #Discrimination
Kurti’s current approach toward Serbia has done nothing but significantly damage his relations with the EU to a point where the latter was forced to impose sanctions on Kosovo, which demonstrates how deeply their bilateral ties have sunk. If Kurti continues to travel on this dead-end road, the EU will have little choice but to wait until the next government in Kosovo is formed and leave Kurti with nothing to show for. Indeed, instead of advancing the integration process into the EU to which all Kosovars are yearning for, he further distanced Kosovo from the EU to the utter dismay and disappointment of his people. This may well be the legacy he will leave behind.
Read more from my latest article; link in bio.
#Kosovo #Kosova #Serbia #Kurti #Democracy #EUAccession #EuropeanUnion #Balkans #WesternBalkans
The New York Times reports that much of Lake Okeechobee’s 730-mile square surface is now regularly inundated by toxic algal blooms. This life-threatening green slime is mainly due to phosphorus-based agricultural fertilizers which have been worsening the mess over decades. Recently, however, “the problem has become more dire. Climate change is making storms and rainfall more intense and less predictable, and last fall Hurricane Ian stirred up so much phosphorus that this summer is expected to be particularly bad.” The algae season has just begun and there are months to go, yet “more than half the lake is already suffering algal blooms.” Just over-exposure to the fume’s arising from the lake can be deadly. The only life that the poisonous vapors seem to attract is that of buzzards, that “love the smell of death and decay.” “The immediate dangers include lung infections and gastrointestinal distress. There are also concerns that long-term exposure could lead to organ damage and the risk of certain neurological disorders.”
#Environment #EnvironmentalPolicy #ClimateChange #Algae
By the end of February 2023, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre had identified 212 cases of labor and human rights abuses “perpetrated against at least 108,000 garment workers, revealing widespread and systemic abuse in international brands’ supply chains.” These workers were employed at dozens of factories that produce goods for many name brands and retailers including Inditex, H&M Group, Primark & BESTSELLER. Stockholm-based H&M is the world’s second-largest clothing retailer, and said it was investigating 20 allegations of labor abuses in factories in Myanmar. It has also recently said that it has “now taken the decision to gradually phase out our operations in Myanmar.” These abuses indicate an alarming surge in worker abuses, and involve most commonly wage theft, unfair dismissal and inhumane work rates and mandatory overtime – but they also include cases of “killings, arrest and arbitrary detention of workers by the military, gender-based violence, attacks on freedom of association, harassment and child labour.” It must also be noted that far more cases go unreported than ever see the light of day due to the “severe restrictions on civic freedoms and reporting under military rule and risk of reprisals for workers who speak out against abuse.” According to fairwear.org, “urgent action is needed to protect workers in the Burmese garment sector.”
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At least 15.3 million Syrians are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. The crisis has impacted nearly 70 percent of the country’s population. Syrians are struggling with access to electricity, with hours of blackouts each day. In the wake of the horror of World War II, the phrase “Never Again” was coined to suggest that the international community will never allow any country anywhere and at any time to commit human atrocities with impunity. Where is moral responsibility of the global leaders, abandoning the Syrian people to a despot and his brutal allies, Russia and Iran?
#Syria #MiddleEast #HumanRights #HumanitarianAid #HumanitarianCrisis #NeverAgain
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Iran’s parliament has passed a new bill that doubles down on punishing women and girls who defy the country’s degrading, compulsory veiling laws. These punishments, including seizing unveiled women’s vehicles, denying them access to education, banking services, and public transport, and washing corpses, among many others, as well as increased prison terms and fines, violate women’s and girls’ human rights to freedom of expression, religion, belief, and bodily autonomy. Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa said: “This bill is a despicable assault on the human rights of women and girls that will further entrench violence and discrimination against them in Iran.” I agree with Amnesty International’s call that “States must urgently call on the Iranian authorities to revoke the bill and abolish all degrading and discriminatory compulsory veiling laws and regulations. They must also pursue legal pathways at the international level to hold Iranian officials accountable for ordering, planning and committing such widespread and systematic violations against women and girls.”
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THIS is what it looks like when religion “informs” government, … Ms Boebert.
China’s imprisonment of peaceful activists knows no bounds, no matter the subject being advocated for. Two Chinese activists - #MeToo activist Sophia Huang Xueqin and labor activist Wang Jianbing, are facing sentences of up to five years (longer if they are considered “ringleaders”) for their activism, which the state is calling “inciting subversion of state power.” Amnesty International and dozens of other civil society groups have called for their immediate release. “Sophia Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing represent the courageous wave of younger Chinese activists who have connected with the public concerned about social issues. They have been targeted for their peaceful activism on women’s and labour rights by a government that fears organized dissent,” said Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for China. The Biden administration should initiate new and comprehensive discussions with the Chinese government about all their differences and concerns on human rights abuses. However, if private pressure does not work, especially in ending China’s egregious violations, including genocide against its minorities, public pressure can be resumed.
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