HUMAN RIGHTS

Photo: Rice is the staple food in many Asian countries. Weed killers containing Glyphosate are used in rice cultivation too. UN IARC claims Glyphosate as a substance capable of causing disease in living tissue. Credit: www.agrifarming.in

Rounding Up Coca-Colonization – Will the UN Human Rights Council Stand Up For The People?

By Jayasri Priyalal

The writer is the Regional Director responsible for Finance Sector of UNI Global Union, Asia & Pacific Organization - Singapore.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Regulatory capture and the influence of powerful Transnational Corporations in lobbying the policy makers towards their own advantage is no secret. Putting profits before people and planet is their ordinary course of business.

Now that the first draft of a legally binding treaty in International Human Rights Law has been submitted to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will they have the courage to stand up for the people against powerful transnational corporations [TNC]?

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 21 September 2018

Photo: UN Women Deputy Executive Director Åsa Regnér speaks at the 12th ODA International Conference session on “the role of inclusive ODA by realizing human rights and gender equality” in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. Photo: UN Women/Younghwa Choi.

Gender-Responsive Investments, ODA are of Vital Importance

Viewpoint by Åsa Regnér

Following are extensive excerpts from remarks delivered by Åsa Regnér, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women at the session on “the role of inclusive ODA by realizing human rights and gender equality” at the 12th Seoul ODA International Conference in the Republic of Korea, on September 14, 2018. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Gender equality is always a result of political will. Gender equality does not come automatically. It does not arrive with a new generation; we have to actively work towards it. In every country of the world, gender inequality is about an imbalance in power, which normally favours men over women. Achieving gender equality requires negotiations around how society should be and political priorities and positions to change.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 16 September 2018

Photo: Sweden's third largest city Malmö, All sorts of wild ideas are now floating around about murder and rape. One of wild ideas now floating around is that because of immigrants the murder rate has gone up over the last two years. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons.

Sweden's Political Balance Threatened by Immigration Debate

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The arrival in Sweden of 163,000 refugees, mainly Syrians, in 2015 – making for a higher proportion of Sweden's population than almost any other European country – has been used by the far right to drum up broader fears about immigration. A recent spate of shootings, grenade attacks and burnt-out cars has made many Swedes feel afraid of what is going on. This is despite international surveys showing it's the best nation at everything from economic competitiveness to doing good for humanity to achieving happiness.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 04 September 2018

Photo: Protests for freedom of Bobi Wine. Credit: Facebook Bobi Wine

Ugandan Leader Tarnished by Torture of Reggae Star Bobi Wine

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | KAMPALA (IDN) – Images of a popular reggae music star in a wheel chair holding crutches have raised questions of whether Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ordered the arrest and torture of the star-turned-parliamentarian, Bobi Wine, who attended a rally of the opposition in the town of Arua.

Museveni was forced to release the star for treatment in the U.S. after an outcry by Wine's supporters.

Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known professionally as Bobi Wine, arrived on September 2 in Boston. Initially blocked from boarding his flight, he was briefly held in a government-owned hospital before finally being released.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 September 2018

Photo: Families leave Maasai Mau Forest on July 8, 2018 as evictions of illegal settlers started. Photo | File | Nation Media Group

Settlers Face Eviction in Kenya as Gov't Plan to Save Trees

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – Some 40,000 settlers in the Maasai Mau forest in Kenya face imminent eviction by the Kenyan government which says it is protecting the forest in the name of conservation.

Deputy President William Ruto said those who encroached on the forest should be flushed out but in a humane manner. "We respect every Kenyan's rights. No force should be used as they are Kenyans and not animals," Ruto said.

Ruto’s calls for negotiations were dismissed by Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko who declared that the evictions were non-negotiable and that there would be no compensation.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 August 2018

Photo: Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: First Informal Interactive Hearing with Indigenous Peoples. 17 April 2018. United Nations, New York. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

Indigenous Peoples in the Grip of 'Criminalization', Warns New UN Report

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – A new United Nations report warns that "in a wide variety of countries," both physical violence and legal prosecution are used against Indigenous Peoples defending their rights and lands. They are "criminalized".

The report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, to the UN Human Rights Council describes how private sector interests collude with governments in coveting the lands of Indigenous Peoples for economic development projects.

She was Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from 2005 to 2010, and actively engaged in drafting and adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 28 August 2018

Photo: Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong settlement in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, hold a sign demanding their repatriation to their homeland in Myanmar. Credit: Caroline Gluck/UNHCR

The Rohingya are Subject to Genocide, International Community Must Act

Viewpoint by Razia Sultana

The author is a Rohingya lawyer, researcher and educator specializing in trauma, mass rape and trafficking of Rohingya girls and women. She has been working with Rohingya women and girls in the refugee camps in Bangladesh documenting the stories of women and girls who fled Myanmar, and has published two reports: in 2017 and in February 2018. She is coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition, Director of Arakan Rohingya National Organization’s (ARNO) women section, and the founder of Rohingya Women Welfare (ROWW). – The Editor

DHAKA (IDN) – One year ago, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar with only the clothes on their back and stories of terror, rape, and murder. The UK, the U.S. and others have described the events as ethnic cleansing but I describe them without hesitation as genocide.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 26 August 2018

Photo: Mary Robinson and Kofi Annan attend Citizens Manifesto event in Zimbabwe in July 2018. Credit: The Elders

The Elders Call for Restraint and Justice in Zimbabwe to Honour Kofi Annan’s Legacy

By The Elders

LONDON (IDN-INPS) – The Elders today urged Zimbabweans at every level in society to uphold the democratic rights to justice and peaceful protest, and refrain from words or actions that could incite violence, drawing on the counsel of their late Chair, Kofi Annan (1938-2018).

Ahead of the ruling by Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court on the petition filed by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance regarding the 30 July election result, The Elders called on political leaders to act responsibly to avert further bloodshed.

: Ramesh Jaura; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; Kofi Annan; 23 August 2018

Mozambique Imposing Hefty Fees on Local and Foreign Media

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Press freedom in Mozambique just got a lot less free. Under a new government decree, local and foreign journalists must now pony up thousands of dollars for the right to report in this Southern African country.

The little dribble of news about Mozambique in the foreign press could disappear altogether, ending press freedom at a crucial time. Human rights groups call it an attempt to discourage reporting from the country.

"We think this is completely exorbitant and out of any reasonable proportion," said Arnaud Froger, head of the Africa desk for the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 August 2018

Photo: Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

The Indigenous Peoples, TRIPS & Biodiversity Convention

By Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

The writer is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and a Member of the South Centre Board. She has served as chairperson of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2005-2010). Following are extensive extracts from her presentation at the International Conference on the TRIPS-CBD Linkage: Issues and Way Forward, held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva on 7-8 June 2018. South Views carried the full text. The conference was jointly organized by the South Centre, the Centre for WTO Studies, New Delhi and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa to the WTO. - The Editor