Human Rights

I met Lucy at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum that took place in Bonn from 25 to 27/6/12. She was introducing some of her nonviolence work in Palestine and I was struck by the similarities of concepts and language with my own humanist take and work on active nonviolence, which is exactly how she put it. I wanted to know more about her work.

On the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour on 12 June, two United Nations independent human rights experts highlighted that of the 215 million children working throughout the world, more than half are subjected to the worst forms of child labour, including sexual and labour exploitation.

Violent clash between peasants and police in Paraguay left 15 to 17 dead and 80 wounded and could have taken place in any Latin American country, except Cuba, Uruguay and Venezuela. In other regions there is a repeat of a pattern of rural entrepreneurship and investment of funds that attempt to appropriate public lands belonging to indigenous communities or occupy them.

Political commentator Sai Latt says human rights abuses and violence are committed not only by the state but also by different ethno-religious groups against each other. Racism and racial profiling in the media deserve careful attention, and the transnational nature of fostering ethno-religious intolerance as part of the new dynamic of human rights need to be addressed.

Protesters marched Sunday 10 June (2012) as the first official account of labour activist Li Wangyang’s suspicious hospital death arrived in the territory accompanied by news of statements of local authorities claiming that relatives requested cremation. The spontaneity of the protest march took many locals by surprise and surely much more so the authorities!

I wrote an article that I helped reconstruct demolished Palestinian homes out of civil disobedience. After the article by Melanie Lidman in The Jerusalem Post on April 30, stating that the Interior Ministry was accusing me of illegally constructing Palestinian homes demolished by the municipality, I wrote an op-ed that appeared on May 8.

Thousands of people have attended the candle-light vigil in Victoria Park to commemorate those who died during the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square 23 years ago. Organisers said more than 180,000 people were there, although police put the figure at 85,000. brought to our attention by Pete Spurrier, (from RTHK report).

On May 25th at around 11:30 a lawsuit was submitted to the Superior Court by the FEUQ and the FECQ to enable students to receive instruction from the institutions they attend, or the special law, deemed null and void immediately. This action is a temporary measure to avoid irreperable damages while the case is brought through the standard legal venues.

Reports Without Borders strongly condemns the arrest by Israeli troops on 17 May in the West Bank of Baha Khairi Attalah Mousa, the director of the Palestinian Prisoner Channel, a satellite television station for Palestinian prisoners. The soldiers also seized broadcasting equipment, computers, video cameras and documents.

World Health Organisation releases groundbreaking report condemning ’conversion’ therapies. We reproduce here a Press Release from [IDAHO](http://www.dayagainsthomophobia.org/Media-Release-World-Health,1557) regarding today’s statment by the WHO on a form of violence against homosexuals based on unproven and harmful “therapeutic” interventions.