Yemen

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) came to an agreement that they would grant the President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, immunity from being prosecuted. President Saleh has been in office for 33 years and has announced that he was going to resign many times only to change his mind. Amnesty International is not impressed with this decision because the President would not be held accountable for human rights violations. However, Yemen is responsible for investigating these human rights abuses and persecuting those involved due to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The GCC decided to allow Saleh to stay in office for 90 days until the elections stay place. The President and vice-President, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, will share presidential powers.

Yemen is another country in the Arab World that is experiencing the Arab Spring. The situation happening in Yemen is similar to Syria. The population wants another ruler that has been power for decades out of office. However, the ruler does not want to leave. Violence is rampant in Yemen. Protesters are being murdered for speaking out against the Saleh regime. Yemen is also experiencing a pro-Shia Muslim movement. This has led to the deaths of many Sunni Muslims. Just recently, 24 people were murdered in a Sunni section of Yemen. Many human rights violations occurring in Yemen include: the right to life, religion, and expression. Many people in Yemen are losing their lives because of their values. They have a differing religion so they are murdered. They want a new government so they are murdered.

DO you think that President Saleh should be granted immunity from prosecution?

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19825

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/27/world/meast/yemen-clashes/?hpt=hp_t2

Violence Continues in Syria

This week Syria refused to agree to having people place in the country to try and stop the eight months of violence with a peace treaty. Syria was told if it did not cooperate it would be subject to economic sanctions. Since Syria's President Bashar al-Assad did not agree to start the peace agreements, the Arab League has to meet to decide why sanctions it will set on Syria. Possibilities will be stopping transactions with Syria's banks and stopping flights to Syria. These sanctions could lead to more violence in Syria. Syria has had the deadliest attack on protests in the Arab Spring. There have been 3,500 deaths in eight months and Assad continues with the killing. The violence started mostly against peaceful protesters but then civilians became to be armed and fought back against Assad's forces.


The United Nations Commission against Torture Is investigating the many human rights abuses occurring in Syria. Human rights groups have reported that the police forces in Syria have been torturing children. This is an obvious violation of special protections for children. The military was also using force against peaceful protesters. These are violating rights to life and freedom of expression. Assad is justifying his actions against civilians saying that terrorists are plotting to get him out of power. Many of the same abuses are happening in countries experiencing the Arab Spring. For example, Egypt's military regime is arresting anyone who speaks out in opposition of the government.

What do you think it will take to get Assad out of power?

http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1770118

Freedom of Expression in US

Every year college students in California gather and protest against rising college tuition rates. This year the campuses have been inspired by the occupy movement. Specifically at the University of California, tuition has almost doubled in recent years. Just this month, the California State Board of Trustees decided to increase tuition for next year by 9%. These protests that are typically peaceful took a different turn this year when police officers sprayed pepper spray into the protesting students. This video has gone viral and is causing uproar across the country. Many who have watched the video are pressuring the Chancellor, Linda Katehi to resign. The Chancellor apologized to the student body and is working to earn the schools trust back.

Most of my blogs have focused on human rights issue abroad and I thought it would be nice to focus on an issue that is close to home. The freedom to assemble for these students was taken away from them. They were performing a peaceful protest and the school police officers pepper sprayed them. There right to freedom of expression was also violated. I feel that in the United States we pride ourselves on all the freedoms that this country has to offer. However, there are still times when we do not provide these rights. It would have been a different situation if the crowd had turned violent and the police needed to use pepper spray to pacify the crowd. The police officers that were involved in the pepper spraying were put on administrative leave.

Do you believe that the University of California should take a stronger action against the police officers? Or do you believe that the pepper spraying can be justified?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/us/police-officers-involved-in-pepper-spraying-placed-on-leave.html

Rights for Human Rights Activists

This article is about a nun, Valsa John, who was an activist for her local community in India. She was brutality murdered as a result of her human rights work. This makes her the fourth activist to be killed in India this year. In 2007, Valsa was imprisoned for protesting at a coal mine. She was fighting against the coerced obtainment of adivasi lands. She was released in the same year and made a deal with the company trying to obtain the land. The company was allowed to acquire the land in exchange for, "alternate land, employment, a health centre and free education for the children of the displaced families." It is believe that the 40 people that beat Valsa to death were a part of a gang that was involved with illegal coal mining. Valsa received death threats just hours before she was killed. The article also mentions the three other activists that were killed this year. One activist was fighting for environmental issues and was exposing violations with mining. Another was a social activist who was killed after exposing contractors who had stolen money. Lastly was an activist who was murdered after testifying For 95 victims who were killed in a massacre.


There are many human rights violations that are taking place here. A main one that is leading to the deaths of these activists is the freedom of speech. These activists are being murdered because they are standing up against corruption in their societies. Obviously if the freedom of expression was respected these people would not have been murdered. Another obvious right violation is the right to life. These individuals are again being murdered because of their opinions and expressions. While India has the second largest population in the world, much of its population is still in poverty and there is a high crime rate. There is also a lot of corruption in the country. This corruption is leading to these human rights violations.

Should the Indian government provide special protections for activists?

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/india-nun-murdered-in-fourth-activist-killing-in-2011

Mexican Violence

A few weeks back I posted a blog about Mexican citizens wanting to press charges against the Mexican President because of the violence he has allowed during the war on drugs. The Mexican government has been accused of using torture techniques like, water-boarding and cattle prods. President Caldron has sent 50,000 troops to the streets and it has caused an outstanding number of deaths. The numbers are rising with 46,000 killed in sake of this drug war. A 214-page report was submitted to President Caldron that was backed by, “200 interviews with officials, witnesses and alleged victims and on documents obtained through public information requests.” Caldron’s response was that the criminals are responsible for human rights violations and the criminals are responsible for the continued violence.

Obviously there are human rights being violated here whether it is by the troops or the criminals. There are numerous reports of inhumane treatments while detained or imprisoned which is breaking a human right. For example, a man had his faced wrapped in cloth with his nose exposed. His interrogators would continually submerge him into water with the hopes that he would confess information. (Which he later did)One woman who was detained was forcefully stripped from the waist down and her interrogator told her she would have many friends in prison. This is a violation also because women have special protections and the interrogator was insinuating sexual abuses.

Do you believe that the criminals are the only ones responsible for violating human rights and inciting violence?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/torture-surges-in-mexicos-drug-war-rights-group-says/2011/11/09/gIQAphSI6M_story.html

Pardons in Myanmar

As we have seen in recent months, many people have been arbitrarily detained due to political views. For example, Egypt is being run by the military and those not in favor of the new military government are being unjustly detained. Myanmar was also a country that was arresting people who did not agree with its political views. The country announced that it will start to release some of these prisoners. Myanmar has undergone reforms recently and is starting to come out of its international isolation. Western countries have urged Myanmar to release political prisoners and journalists. The government has released 6,300 political prisoners since October.

I chose this article because you can tell that the country is trying to make changes and is reforming. Rights that are being violated are the right against arbitrary detainment. Many countries are trying to establish new governments, especially those involved in the Arab Spring, and they are imprisoning all those who oppose in order to not leave room for revolutions. Another right that has been violated in countries that are arbitrarily detaining prisoners is due process. Egypt is experiencing the highest number of people convicted through military courts.

Do you think that it is necessary for countries to detain citizens who are in opposition to their newly formed government?

http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/14-Nov-2011/Myanmar-to-free-more-prisoners

Iran and LGBTs rights.

It is no secret that the Islamic Republic of Iran does not accept same sex relationships, but Iran’s LGBT rights abuses is being brought to light. Iran has signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) along with 166 other countries. Countries have to go under review every 5 years; however, Iran has not been reviewed in the past 18 years. The rights of “sexual orientation and gender identity” are protected under the ICCPR. Iran torments and discriminates against LGBTs and even sentences those to death who have homosexual sex. The United Nations Human Rights Committee is urging Iran to document on how LGBTs are being treated better in its report due in 2014. Iran is supposed to be a country that prides itself on morality and culture and yet it is not living up to its words. A coordinator for The Middle East and North Africa for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Committee (IGLHRC) said that Iran has broken international laws that it has promised to abide by.

Iran is not only breaking international covenants that it has signed; it is also breaking international human rights. The right against discrimination is clearly being broken by the Iranian government. LGBTs do not even feel safe in their own country. This also infringes on their freedom of assembly. Since LGBTs are not tolerated in general in Iran they are also not tolerated in groups. LGBTs obviously are not seen before a jury of their peers because the jury is more than likely not gay. Therefore, many LGBTs are being sentenced to death because of their sexual orientation. This strong hatred towards gays reminds me of readings I have read on gays and how they were treated in the Holocaust. Gays were not only murdered in the Holocaust but they were also forced to have sterilization procedures and underwent “remedies” to make them “straight.” Since then the rights of LGBTs have been respected and many more countries are more accepting. Iran is a very religious Islamic country and their views on LGBT rights are embedded in their culture.

What are ways for Iran to be more accepting of LGBT and thus respecting their rights as humans (besides not killing them)? Do you think that Islam plays a role in the disapproving nature of Iran towards LGBTs?


http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/11/04/UN_Report_Spotlights_LGBT_Rights_Abuses_in_Iran/

Justice in Kenya

Human Rights Watch is urging Kenyan authorities to look into disappearances of hundreds of people during a conflict over land starting in 2006. While hundreds have disappeared, thousands of people were killed and tortured in the western Kenyan region of Mount Elgon. The violence began when the Sabaot Land Defense Force, “resisted efforts by the Kenyan government to evict squatters in the Chepyuk area of Mt. Elgon district”. Human Rights Watch is accusing the Defense Force of starting to attack civilians who supported the government. The forces are also accused of murdering hundreds of people and thousands of unrightfully detaining civilians. Human Rights Watch wants the bodies of those buried in mass graves to be exhumed in order to assess the position the Kenyan forces played in the violent attacks. The Kenyan government claims that it has investigated the accusation of torture and did not find any evidence.

("Phylis Tamnai Kipteyo, 49, whose husband Patrick Kipteyo Sewui was taken from his home in front of her and their six children by soldiers during a crackdown in 2008, appears at a news conference held by Human Rights Watch in Nairobi, Kenya, October 27, 2011.")

The article itself mentions the violation of arbitrary arrest. Many other violations have been committed by these Kenyan forces: the right to life, security, and liberty. The families of these murdered and disappeared people are suffering emotionally, as well as economically because without having proper death certificates they are not granted rights to their family members’ belongings and land. Murdering people because of their political views is an infringement on their right of speech and yet we still see it to continue today. Egypt would be one example where the military is murdering thousands of people and arbitrarily detaining them because they do not support the military regime. This type of violence needs to be stopped, but like we have recently discussed in class one of the fastest ways to bring about change is through violence.

Do you believe that these Kenyan forces should now be held accountable for these violent attacks?

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Human-Rights-Watch-Urge-Kenya-to-Investigation-Missing-Kenyans-132713148.html