Exploitation of Nepal’s Migrant Workers

May 8, 2012 at 3:26 PM
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Nepal migrant workers

Families of migrant workers in Morang district, Nepal, 2011, who were interviewed by Amnesty International.

 “Migrant workers from Nepal and other countries are like cattle in Kuwait.  Actually, cattle are probably more expensive than migrant workers there.  No one cares whether we die or are killed. Our lives have no value.” –N.R., domestic worker from Ilam district, Nepal

Anyone who has waited for a flight at Kathmandu, Nepal’s international airport has seen the large groups of men and women quietly lining up to board flights for Qatar or Malaysia, many appearing nervous, clutching only their papers or a small bag of belongings.

But the men and women boarding these flights have reason to be nervous. While some Nepalese migrant workers arrive in the destination country and earn decent wages, others end up in forced labor or exploitative conditions.

These are some of the estimated 25,000 people a month who leave Nepal for work abroad to escape poverty and unemployment at home and to send remittances back to their families in Nepal.

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Violence Against Armenian Women is a Crime, Not a Tradition

May 7, 2012 at 10:13 AM
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Armenian woman protests

Will Armenia step up protections for women? (Photo KAREN MINASYAN/AFP/Getty Images)

The smallest yet probably oldest of the successive Soviet nations, Armenia prides itself for its ancient traditions. In his International Women’s Day statement, President Serge Sarkissian wishes women “happiness, luck, and healthy and strong families,” commending the preservation of women’s “traditional role.”

Does the latter include being a victim of violence? The Armenian government’s very poor record on combating widespread violence against women may suggest so.

Armenia is the only country among its Council of Europe neighbors without legislation criminalizing domestic violence. Armenia’s government has been arguing that it will pass comprehensive legislation once the Council of Europe finalizes its convention on the issue. It’s been nearly a year since the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence opened for signatures, yet Armenia hasn’t ratified it (see the interactive map of countries that have).

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The Elephant in the Courtroom

May 6, 2012 at 8:44 PM
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No matter how hard the Military Commissions try they can’t escape the elephant in the courtroom. The five defendants in the 9/11 case were tortured by the CIA and the government is tying itself in knots trying to work around this fact.

In his press conference on the eve of the arraignment the Chief Prosecutor, General Mark Martens, tried to address this issue:

“Some have said that any attempt to seek accountability within the Military Commissions system must inevitably be tainted by torture… we acknowledge your skepticism, but we also say that the law prohibits the use of any statement obtained as a result of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and we will implement the law.”

Of course the law also requires the state to investigate allegations of torture – yet in the case of the five defendants being arraigned this hasn’t happened. That might explain some of our skepticism.
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Inside Syria’s crackdown: ‘I Found My Boys Burning in the Street’

May 4, 2012 at 10:03 AM
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Syrian refugee family

A Syrian family sits around a fire resting in the northewestern village of Janoudia, in Idlib province, as they wait to be helped by rebels of the Free Syrian Army to cross the Syrian border with neighbouring Turkey. (Giorgos Moutafis/AFP/Getty Images)

Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s senior crisis adviser, was in Syria’s Idlib province for 10 days at the end of April. Here she reports some of the first-hand accounts of the brutal crackdown by the Syrian regime against its people:

“Soldiers came to our home and took my son. Later, as I was peering out of the window I saw soldiers line up eight young men standing facing the wall with their hands tied at the back and shoot them. Then they put the bodies in the back of a pick-up truck and left. I don’t know if the men were all dead or injured. At that point I did not know that one of the men was my son. His body was found with other bodies at a school not too far from our home.”

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Military Commissions: Still a Failure

May 4, 2012 at 8:00 AM
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Camp Justice, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

Last week a court in Brooklyn convicted Al Qaeda operative Adis Medunjanin of plotting to bomb the New York subway.

Bosnian-born US citizen Medunjanin conspired with Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay to launch a major attack before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2009.

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials disrupted the plot before anyone could get hurt, and arrested those involved.

Make no mistake, this plot represented a serious threat to the United States. It was conceived in 2008 by the then head of Al Qaeda’s external operations, Rashid Rauf.

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10 Fair Trade Gifts for Mother’s Day

May 3, 2012 at 2:33 PM
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What better way to give thanks to mom then by giving her something beautiful and with a sincere message!

Our mother’s day picks are all handmade, fairly traded and support local mothers and their families.

We source products from organizations like Mercado Global and Swahili Imports that work with local communities to produce beautiful, high quality and sustainable crafts to increase livelihoods of their artists. Your gift would not only be in celebration of your own mother, but also a contribution to other mothers and their families!

And feel free to explore more free trade items on our online store. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Why Is China So Afraid of One Blind Activist?

May 3, 2012 at 2:15 PM
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Protect Chen Guangcheng

Chinese human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng, who is blind, escaped house arrest in Shandong province last week – but his future remains uncertain.

Chen, a self-taught lawyer who was imprisoned and then subjected to violence and house arrest for exposing forced abortions and sterilizations in China, made a daring, Houdini-like escape to the U.S. embassy. Following delicate negotiations with the United States, Chinese officials pledged to allow Chen to live a “normal life” with his family, and he initially agreed to return home.

Does this sound normal to you?

“I don’t know what’s happened to my mother. There are guards inside the yard, in all the rooms, even on the roof. They’ve set up lots of cameras in my home and are preparing electric fences. They told my family they’d take wooden sticks and beat my family to death, so it’s very unsafe.”
-Chen Guangcheng, in an interview with NPR

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Is the US Abandoning Afghan Women?

May 3, 2012 at 12:11 PM
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afghan women protest

Afghan Young Women for Change (YWC) activists, holding placards which read "where is justice?", take part in a protest denouncing violence against women in Afghanistan in Kabul on April 14, 2012.

President Obama made an announced visit to Afghanistan on May 1 to sign an agreement intended to lead to a pullback of US troops from Afghanistan by 2014. The document is very specific on issues around the arrangements related to security and interestingly, trade and commerce but inadequate when talk to turns to human rights in general and specifically women’s rights.

Amnesty will continue to urge the US government to implement an action plan to protect and promote women’s rights in Afghanistan as they pull back from the country.

Women in Afghanistan, however, aren’t waiting around for vague assurances by the US and Afghan governments. They are taking matters into their own hands and demanding justice for the victims of past human rights violations and the promotion of human rights for all in their country.

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5 Countries Where Being a Journalist Can Be Dangerous to Your Health

May 3, 2012 at 7:00 AM
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17 journalists have been killed so far in 2012 and there are currently 179 journalists imprisoned around the world.

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Low pay, long hours, and dwindling job opportunities are professional challenges faced by many journalists.  For some, however, the risks can be considerably steeper.

At least 17 journalists have been killed so far in 2012 and there are currently 179 journalists imprisoned around the world because of their work.

These numbers only begin to describe the risks faced by journalists, bloggers, filmmakers and others who dare bring to light uncomfortable truths that powerful interests would prefer to conceal.  Most of those detained or killed were reporting on human rights failings in their country.

Today on World Press Freedom Day (May 3), here is a brief look at five countries where people risk much in the service of truth:

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If I Keep Quiet, Impunity Wins

May 2, 2012 at 9:57 AM
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By Dina Meza, Honduran journalist

dina meza

Dina Meza, a Honduran journalist and human rights activist, has been threatened repeatedly with sexual violence.

26 years ago I decided to study journalism at the National Autonomous University of Honduras.

I began my studies in 1986, and dreamed of working for the big press outlets and speaking freely. But I never imagined that speaking, writing and telling the truth about what was happening could mean walking the line between life and death if anyone powerful in Honduras felt threatened.

Serious threats to freedom of expression are on the rise in Honduras. One of the first killings of journalists took place on November 26, 2003, when the environmental journalist German Rivas, of CMV Noticias, Channel 7, was killed. Eight months previously he had been attacked, but the Attorney General’s Office never investigated, or brought the culprits to justice.
Four years on, the crimes continued, and with the coup d’etat in 2009, intolerance grew to such an extent that censorship and self-censorship are now the inseparable companions of every journalist.

Since the coup d’etat, 20 journalists have been killed in Honduras. The files on these deaths carry on gathering dust in the drawers of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, impunity tries to silence a story which was never told.

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