Human Rights 70 results

Bill Aimed at Helping Sex Trafficking Victims

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Assemblyman John Hambrick of Las Vegas says giving sex trafficking ...

China arrested ‘Jasmine’ activists

Scores of government critics, lawyers, activists, bloggers, artists and "netizens" have been arrested since February, amid government fears of a "Jasmine Revolution" inspired by events in the Middle East and North Africa. Amnesty International profiles some of the new generation of Chinese activists caught in the sweep.
Liang Haiyi aka Tiny: Early victim of the "Jasmine Revolution" crackdown Status: In detention on suspicion of "subversion of state power" In her own words: "When the country cannot protect a beggar, it cannot protect the emperor!
Liang Haiyi was reportedly taken away by police on 19 February in the northern Chinese city of Harbin for sharing videos and information about the ”Jasmine Revolution” on the internet. Her lawyer confirmed she was detained on suspicion of “subversion of state power”. ...

Racism on Ivy League Campus and by Alum Donald Trump Cut From Same Ugly Cloth

Black in White by Luke Chueh

Recently I've been thinking a lot about Barack Obama, Donald Trump... and Christopher Abreu. OK, Trump and Obama you probably know about. But who's Christopher Abreu? He's a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, about to graduate this spring with honors. But last week, he wrote an op-ed in the Daily Pennsylvanian newspaper in which he made disturbing allegations about a late night incident on the West Philadelphia campus. "I was heading home at 2 a.m.," he wrote, "which meant that students were stumbling out of bars and making their way back home as well." He says a drunk student asked, "Where can I get some fried chicken?... You look like someone who knows where you can get fried chicken." Abreu writes that he suggested they "try Wawa if you're hungry." The white student yelled out to his friends, "I'm gonna go get some fried chicken! This n----- just told me where it's at!" If those words weren't chilling enough, they remind me of something that one of the school's most famous alumni, billionaire Donald Trump, who received an undergraduate degree from Penn's Wharton School in 1968, also said this spring....

REVOK News: Reasons For His Arrest And How To Support Him

The Real Reason Revok Was Arrested

Melrose & Fairfax posted a very interesting article. The "Revok-Case" is pretty weird with him being arrested only a week after "Art in the streets" opened at MOCA and the high bail amount, etc. so I wouldn't be surprised if their accusations against the LAPD are true.
The trumped up charges against Revok have reeked of suspicion ever since his arrest. From nabbing Revok in the first place for a parole violation and not a new crime, to the exorbitant $320,000 bail, to be sentenced to half a year in jail a day after the arrest, the whole thing seemed like there was something bigger going on. The LAPD were clearly looking for someone to make an example of doing graffiti outside MOCA. But when they hadn't made an arrest on the streets after the first week, they wanted a high profile name to take down. There was probably a short list of high profile arrests, so short, there was probably only one name on it--Revok. Read more after the jump!...

Protest in Hong Kong over Ai Weiwei detention

Supporters of the detained Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, have scuffled with the police in Hong Kong, with at least one person being detained after protesters pushed through police barricades. Around 150 protesters held banners and pictures of Ai on Sunday, and carried a large statue representing democracy. Ai disappeared into police custody two weeks ago at Beijing's international airport. China's foreign ministry has said that the prominent artist was being investigated for unspecified "economic crimes". ...

The Power of Music to Ignite Hope in Haiti

Dave "Phoenix" Farrell in Camp Corail

Port Au Prince, Haiti -- As Haiti welcomes a new president, who also happens to be a musician, we started to think about the power of music to bring change to Haiti. Music has long been a source of inspiration to people and can be the perfect motivator to incite action to create a better world. As a member of a rock band and leader at the United Nations Foundation, we are a unique pair, but our goal is the same. We are committed to helping the United Nations protect Haitian women and girls from violence in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and we are urging music fans around the world to do the same. ...

The Kill Team – How U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians

This is an older story (March 27) I found on RollingStone.com and quite disturbing:

Early last year, after six hard months soldiering in Afghanistan, a group of American infantrymen reached a momentous decision: It was finally time to kill a haji. Among the men of Bravo Company, the notion of killing an Afghan civilian had been the subject of countless conversations, during lunchtime chats and late-night bull sessions. For weeks, they had weighed the ethics of bagging "savages" and debated the probability of getting caught. Some of them agonized over the idea; others were gung-ho from the start. But not long after the New Year, as winter descended on the arid plains of Kandahar Province, they agreed to stop talking and actually pull the trigger....

Death Penalty in 2010: Executing countries left isolated after decade of progress

AIDP Countries which continue to use the death penalty are being left increasingly isolated following a decade of progress towards abolition, Amnesty International has said today in its new report Death Sentences and Executions in 2010. A total of 31 countries abolished the death penalty in law or in practice during the last 10 years but China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the USA and Yemen remain amongst the most frequent executioners, some in direct contradiction of international human rights law. The total number of executions officially recorded by Amnesty International in 2010 went down from at least 714 people in 2009 to at least 527 in 2010, excluding China. China is believed to have executed thousands in 2010 but continues to maintain its secrecy over its use of the death penalty. “The minority of states that continue to systematically use the death penalty were responsible for thousands of executions in 2010, defying the global anti-death penalty trend,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “While executions may be on the decline, a number of countries continue to pass death sentences for drug-related offences, economic crimes, sexual relations between consenting adults and blasphemy, violating international human rights law forbidding the use of the death penalty except for the most serious crimes,” said Salil Shetty. ...