THEY ARE KILLING US! \#RutoMustGo #RejectFinanceBill2024 #RoadToStatehouse #OccupyStatehouse #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo2024, #RutoMustBeStopped

@amnestynl @unitednationsclimatechange @potus @BarackObama @[email protected] @[email protected]

KENYAN DCI Officers in this pick up has been killing people since Tuesday \#RutoMustGo #RejectFinanceBill2024 #RoadToStatehouse #OccupyStatehouse #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo #RutoMustGo2024, #RutoMustBeStopped

@amnestynl @unitednationsclimatechange @potus @BarackObama @[email protected] @[email protected]

archive.org link

> The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Belarus and Russia have prepared the first joint report on the human rights situation in certain countries. The document was published on the websites of the foreign ministries on the morning of 20 June, BelTA has learned.

> The review covers more than 40 countries. Among them are many EU countries (including the closest neighbors of Belarus), the UK, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Ukraine, Moldova and others.

> A very detailed fact-finding report has been prepared for every country. As visual confirmation, the document has numerous photos. The document is large, more than 1,800 pages long!

> Addresses to readers were written by Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Yuri Ambrazevich and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin. As they noted, the facts the Report contains show that racist and neo-colonial views are typical of Western "model democracies" in principle.

archive.today link

> Evidence cited in the ruling showed how Russia, and its proxy government in the region, have created an atmosphere of oppression, using blanket laws targeting extremism and terrorism to silence dissent. Pro-Ukrainian media outlets have been abolished, while the Ukrainian language has been suppressed in schools. Ukrainian banks have been nationalized, along with their customers’ property and assets, the court found.

> Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority, have also been targeted, and between 15,000 and 30,000 Tatar have fled the region since 2014. Tatar television channels have been removed from the air, their cultural and religious buildings vandalized and some Tatar homes have been painted with crosses. Any gatherings by Tatar leaders or groups deemed pro-Ukrainian have been violently broken up, with attendees detained.

> Crimea’s occupying government has also cracked down on religious diversity, raiding madrassas and mosques, expelling Ukrainian Orthodox priests and repurposing their churches. Journalists critical of the regime are also routinely harassed and threatened.

archive.org link

> Yet while human rights offer a salient language of social justice, it is unclear whether they are legally and conceptually adequate to address the most important political, social and economic questions and conflicts raised by the platformization of social life. Critical literature suggests that the individualized, state-oriented legal protections and non-confrontational language of human rights have historically been as likely to stabilize state and corporate power as to challenge it. Moreover, technology regulation scholars argue that greater attention should be directed towards how digital platforms are transforming the material and socio-technical environments that constitute the conditions of possibility for realizing human rights in practice.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/17235581

> "The Oslo Freedom Forum, held annually by the Human Rights Foundation, has become a worldwide cornerstone for human rights activists. This year, the 16th edition of the forum was centered around the theme "Re-claim Democracy." It brought together activists, thinkers, and leaders to discuss the challenges of rising authoritarianism and how bitcoin can support activists fighting against oppressive regimes."

Link without paywall: http://archive.today/L1n4y

archive.org link

> “When governments neglect to invest in their healthcare systems, people and families end up shouldering the burden,” said Matt McConnell, economic justice and rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “While more spending is not enough on its own to ensure universal access to high quality healthcare services, it can help shift this burden, which causes the most harm for people with the fewest resources.”

> The Human Rights Watch analysis of healthcare spending in more than 190 countries around the world, available in a summary table at the end of this document, also found that:

> Despite a mass increase in healthcare spending across the globe in response to the pandemic, 38 governments spent less on health care in 2021, as a share of their GDP, than the year before it began.

> Despite governments’ commitments to reduce out-of-pocket expenditures, individuals and their households collectively paid the equivalent of about US$1.68 trillion for health care out of their own pockets in 2021, a figure comparable to the annual GDP of Australia or the Republic of Korea.

> At the height of the pandemic, out-of-pocket payments covered the costs of more than 20 percent of health care in 119 countries. Only high-income countries averaged less than 20 percent in 2021 (17 percent), while upper-middle (29.9 percent), lower-middle (34.6 percent), and low-income (39.1 percent) countries averaged far more.

> In 47 countries in 2021, individuals and their households collectively paid more out-of-pocket for health care than their governments spent on it.

> Twenty years after agreeing to the Abuja Declaration and committing to spend at least 15 percent of their national budgets on health care, only 2 of the African Union’s 55 member countries met this target in 2021: Cabo Verde (15.75 percent) and South Africa (15.29 percent). On the whole, countries in the African Union spent an average of 7.35 percent of their national budgets on health care that year.

> Eighty-three governments paid more per person to service their external public and publicly guaranteed debts in 2021 than on health care.

archive.org link

> Multiplying and escalating crises are placing ever greater strains on people’s mental health and the services available to support them. From the lingering effects of COVID-19, the uptick in climate-related emergencies and the ongoing impacts of conflict and displacement in many regions, more and more people are suffering. Meanwhile, stigma and discrimination against people with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities continue in our schools, workplaces and communities.

> With as many as one billion people – one in eight of us – living with a mental health condition, and a persistent history of under-investment in mental health services, the gap between the need for and availability of quality care and support can be expected to widen further. This will have predictable consequences for the health, happiness and wellbeing of millions of people.

archive.org link

> Ultimately, achieving health coverage for all is a political choice, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

> “But the choice is not just made on paper. It is made in budget decisions and policy decisions. Most of all, it is made by investing in primary healthcare, which is the most inclusive, equitable, and efficient path to universal health coverage,” he emphasized.

archive.today link

> Human rights are fundamental and universal rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of nationality, ethnic origin, age or any other status without which they cannot live a dignified life. These principles should be at the center of all public policies and practices, including, as WHO’s Constitution recognizes, those related to health and health care.9 But human rights norms and standards are not just widely accepted: human rights treaties create specific legal obligations for member states that have ratified them to respect, protect, and fulfil these rights in the development and implementation of laws, policies and programs. The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health10—a right that practically all countries have committed to uphold—articulates numerous concrete obligations for States relevant to UHC, thus making UHC an expression of an important dimension of this right. Among others, it requires that States ensure the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of health services. Some of these obligations and principles are discussed below.

archive.today link

> What are human rights? How do they relate to the economy? Why are they a powerful tool for systemic transformation? Here, you can find short, digestible answers to commonly asked questions about human rights and the economy.

archive.today link

> We are excited to invite you to our upcoming webinar to explore how a Rights-Based Economy can challenge the neoliberal model through an intersectional lens.

> Register to join a diverse group of allies to discuss human rights tools that strengthen gender equality, and how shifting narratives through research can open the way to systems change.

> Date: Wednesday, 19 June 2024

> Time: 12 PM GMT, 7 PM MYT, 7 AM ET

> Languages: English, Spanish

> Speakers:

> Nelly Shiguango, Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Napo, Ecuador

> Jessica Mandanda, Feminist Macro-Economic Alliance Malawi

> Eva Martínez-Acosta, Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales (CDES)

> Amna Terrass, Observatoire Tunisien de l'Economie (OTE)

> Moderator:

> Nicole Maloba , African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET)

> We look forward to seeing you there!

archive.org link

> Human rights defenders and government critics continue to face persecution.

> In January, authorities released human rights lawyer Tang Jitian after forcibly disappearing him for 398 days. In March, a Guangxi court sentenced human rights lawyer Qin Yongpei to five years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.” In April, a court in Shandong province sentenced prominent legal scholar Xu Zhiyong and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi to 14 and 12 years in prison, respectively, for “subversion of state power.”

archive.org link

> ...

> Beijing and Hong Kong authorities continued their assault on human rights in the territory, a downward trajectory that is expected to continue as Beijing appointed an abusive former police official, John Lee, as the city’s chief executive.

> International attention to Chinese government human rights violations grew. Eight governments engaged in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in protest. In June, entry into force of the United States Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act established a presumption that goods from Xinjiang are made from forced labor and cannot be imported. In August, the former United Nations high commissioner for human rights released her report on Xinjiang, concluding that the abuses in the region “may constitute crimes against humanity.”

> ...

archive.org link

> The Russian Federation has created a stifling climate of fear in occupied areas of Ukraine, committing widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in an effort to consolidate its control over the population living there, according to a UN Human Rights Office report issued today.

> The report, based on more than 2,300 interviews with victims and witnesses, details the measures taken by the Russian Federation to impose Russian language, citizenship, laws, court system, and education curricula on the occupied areas, while at the same time suppressing expressions of Ukrainian culture and identity, and dismantling Ukraine’s governance and administrative systems in these regions.

> “The actions of the Russian Federation have ruptured the social fabric of communities and left individuals isolated, with profound and long-lasting consequences for Ukrainian society as a whole,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

archive.today link

> Russia's Human Rights Commissioner said on Tuesday she had issued a fresh appeal to senior U.N. and other officials to take action to secure the release of Russian nationals still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Tatyana Moskalkova, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said she had launched the appeal after meeting in Moscow with relatives of those still being held.

> "In one conversation, one of the mothers told me details of the situation of those being held," she wrote. News reports have put at eight the number of hostages holding Russian passports, including three who were released.

> Moskalkova said she had appealed to the U.N. High Commissioner For Human Rights, Volker Turk, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, and other officials "for the rapid return home of our compatriots".

Archived link

• One of the most direct ways that Beijing promotes authoritarian governance is through training programs for foreign government officials on Chinese governance practices. Beijing uses these sessions to directly promote ideas and practices that marry economics and politics to make a case for its authoritarian capitalism model.
• The training sessions also appear to serve intelligence-collection purposes by requiring each participant to submit reports detailing their prior exchanges and engagements with other foreign countries on specific training subjects, and it fits into China’s broader ambitions to undermine the liberal democratic norms.
• The reportis based upon 1,691 files from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) containing descriptions of 795 governmental training programs delivered (presumably online) in 2021 and 2022 during the pandemic. Beijing began delivering training programs in 1981, first in coordination with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as part of an effort to provide aid and basic skills to developing countries. In 1998, the Chinese government broke away from that cooperation arrangement and began offering its own centrally planned training programs directly to governmental officials from countries across the Global South.
• The trainings offer authoritarian principles in areas such as law enforcement, journalism, legal issues, space technologies, and many other topics. Given that in China, law enforcement is designed to protect the state and the Party rather than the people, journalism is prescribed to create national unity rather than act as a check against the system, and the law is intended to protect the regime rather than its citizenry, these training programs naturally offer foreign officials different lessons than they would receive from democratic countries.
• According to the report, the Chinese embassy in a country identified for training typically is notified roughly three months before a training program is expected to be hosted, and the Chinese embassy is tasked with selecting and inviting targeted individuals in the host country. For example, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security attaché at the embassy would be responsible for inviting local law-enforcement representatives to join programs organized by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
• Each training, no matter the subject, has contained language on CCP ideology and organization and related contributions to the PRC’s achievements in that subject area. In this way, authoritarian governance choices are being promoted even in the most niche of subject areas.
• Even programs on seemingly innocuous topics like beekeeping, bamboo forestry, meteorology, or low-carbon development all begin by briefing participants about the Chinese reform and guiding management principles raised at the latest plenary sessions of the Party committee.
• For the purpose of this research, the 795 training programs were reviewed and categorized into six groups based on their reported activities as outlined in the files:

> 1. Clearly authoritarian: The first group describes training programs which include explicit lessons on PRC practices that are widely regarded in liberal democracies as direct infringements on personal freedom. This includes PRC endorsement of non-democratic regime practices in political, government, and legal affairs, including administrative control over the media, information, and population.

>2. Potentially authoritarian: These training programs contain lessons on PRC practices which have, in some cases, infringed on personal freedom or indirectly aided infringement of personal freedoms and individual rights. This includes, for example, training on dual-purpose technologies that could be exploited to access individuals’ data in ways that expand state surveillance and control over citizens’ personal lives.

> 3. Infrastructure and resource access: These training programs are centered on setting standards and imparting industrial technical skills for various aspects of infrastructure and resource extraction, which may further PRC access to critical resources. This includes, for example, renewable energy application, mechanization of the agricultural sector, and technologies in mining, copper processing, and biotechnology.

> 4. Information operation access: These training programs are centered on activities that might further PRC access for its information operations, such as programs on Chinese culture and Mandarin-language promotion for foreign officials.

> 5. Security access: The fifth group involves and describes training programs centered on activities that may further PRC access to the sensitive security infrastructure of a foreign country, such as programs on aviation emergency, satellite imagery, and geochemical mapping.

> 6. Others: The sixth group includes all other training programs that do not fit into the above categories, such as pest control, climate change, soybean production, tourism development, and preschool-education sector capacity building.

Intelligence value of the trainings

As detailed in the files, the majority of these training programs, no matter the category, require participants to submit a report prior to the training. The trainings, therefore, provide a reliable intelligence benefit to the Chinese government. Even if an audience does not engage with the program content or demonstrate receptivity to party ideologies and narratives, the reports submitted by participants contain potentially valuable information that Beijing routinely receives en masse. Foreign officials are asked to write about current developments in their country related to the training subject, their country’s current cooperation and partnership with other countries on that subject, and potential ideas for collaboration with the PRC on that subject.

Beyond obtaining immediate, updated, and accurate intelligence from foreign government officials, this approach enables Beijing to assess their future willingness to cooperate on that subject. Specifically, the process directly identifies the scope of potential areas of cooperation from leading experts and officials in charge, prepares the way for potential informal discussion about future cooperation, and, most importantly, identifies individuals who are willing to facilitate and build long-lasting relations with China. With this in mind, this research effort focused on trainings aimed at expanding China’s footprint in the Global South’s infrastructure, resources, information operations, and security domains.

archive.org link

> According to Türk, a human rights economy framework “ensures that business models and economic policies are guided by human rights standards and enables an integrated and mission-oriented combination of socio-economic policies that advance each and every SDG goal and target, including in particular by ending discrimination against women and girls, as well as racial, ethnic and linguistic minorities.”

> It also advances a fairer distribution of resources that reduces inequalities within and between countries, Türk said.

> “A human rights economy is one in which core human rights goals and methods infuse every policy and decision-making process, including taxation, investment and all issues of resource allocation in Government budgets,” he said.

archive.org link

> According to UN Human Rights, a human rights economy places people and the planet at the heart of economic policies, investment decisions, consumer choices, and business models, with the goal of measurably enhancing the enjoyment of human rights for all.

> Deepening inequality remains a key obstacle to achieving globally agreed ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the promise to leave no one behind.

> “We need to work together and harder to truly place human rights at the core of all dimensions of sustainable development,” he said.

> According to Türk, a human rights economy seeks to “redress root causes and structural barriers to equality, justice, and sustainability, by prioritizing investment in economic, social and cultural rights.”

Archived link

Here is the article as pdf.

Huge planetary problems were fixed in the past, yielding lessons for the current climate crisis — yet this time a solution is justice - [Book review]

Solvable: How We Healed the Earth, and How We Can Do It Again Susan Solomon Univ. Chicago Press (2024)

From lead pollution to the hole in the ozone layer and climate change, Earth is no stranger to human-made — often, man-made — global disasters.

In Solvable, atmospheric chemist Susan Solomon describes how high-income countries, and the United States in particular, have repeatedly inflicted incredible amounts of damage on people and ecosystems. She relates the long and difficult struggles that concerned individuals — often from marginalized groups — faced in trying to convince governments to stop industries from destroying lives and the planet in the pursuit of profit. Solvable is a harrowing read, but Solomon is an engaging writer and there is a lot to learn in this book about the environmental crises of the past century.

Solomon relates the story of US marine biologist Rachel Carson, who rang alarm bells about persistent pesticides such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in her eloquent book Silent Spring (1962). Now that we know just how harmful these pesticides are, it is jarring to read how difficult it was to stop their use.

Carson described how falcons and other birds of prey started to lay eggs with thinner shells, then almost no eggs at all; various other bird populations shrank markedly; DDT in mammals led to the development of tumours and caused sterility. Although the overwhelming evidence for the effect of DDT on animals that Carson presented was independently confirmed by the then US president John F. Kennedy’s own science advisory council, Carson was belittled and portrayed as a hysteric by politicians and the media.

This playbook of deliberate ignorance of the scientific method, disinformation and a hefty dose of misogyny is all too familiar to those advocating for climate justice today.

In the United States, it took a non-governmental organization, the Environmental Defense Fund, and a few highly publicized lawsuits to ban DDT in 1972 — seven years after Carson’s death. Others followed suit, slowly, including in the European Union with partial bans from 1978 and the United Kingdom in 1984.

Yet, the chemical industry continued to manufacture and export DDT to countries that lacked regulation, such as those in Africa and southeast Asia. A global limit was placed on DDT use in 2004 — when the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants came into force. It’s hard to assess adherence, however, because there’s little monitoring.

Geopolitical inequities

In another parallel with the climate crisis, exported DDT found its way back to nations that had banned it, through global supply chains, such as those involved in importing fashion goods from Asia, which often rely on farms that use DDT to grow cotton. Similarly, by consuming goods produced in Asian nations, European countries are exporting their production of carbon dioxide emissions, as well as exploiting cheap labour.

As inexpensive, practical and short-lived alternatives have been found, DDT use is slowly fizzling out. As a result of the bans, populations of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) in the United States and Europe are recovering. Solomon takes hope from this, even though she points out that the alternatives, such as neonicotinoids, are not harmless either. Because of them, bees are now dying out.

Lead additives in petrol and paint are another example of policymakers and industry dragging their feet. Solomon highlights how, in the 1920s, Thomas Midgley Jr, a chemist at the US automotive company General Motors (GM), discovered that adding tetraethyl lead to petrol increased the efficiency and lifespan of internal combustion engines. The health hazards associated with lead were well known — even the ancient Romans had realized, centuries before, that drinking wine from lead-lined pottery caused poisoning. Yet, GM’s compound, marketed under the trade name Ethyl, became widely used.

Lead contaminated the environment and caused serious public-health issues, affecting the brains and nervous systems of many children, causing comas, convulsions and even deaths. From the early 1960s, citizen groups demanded change, citing strong scientific evidence. Yet, policymakers didn’t feel compelled to stop the use of lead in paint and petrol for more than a decade. The US Environmental Protection Agency limited the amount of lead allowed in petrol in 1973. Although the harm such fuels caused — exacerbated by the increasing number of vehicles on the road — was known, they were only fully banned in the 1990s.

Lead-based house paints were banned in 1978 in the United States. Yet, even today, some people are still exposed to lead in old, peeling paints. Similar to climate change, it is often Indigenous communities, people of colour and other marginalized groups who are disproportionately paying the price, with their health and lives, for the decades of profits that have enriched a few in the petroleum industry.

Within a decade, now at the Frigidaire division of GM, Midgley had turned his attention to refrigerants and was involved in the creation of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), particularly Freon. CFCs were initially celebrated for their non-toxic, non-flammable properties, which made them ideal, or so it seemed, for use as coolants in refrigerators and as propellants in aerosol sprays. In the mid-1970s, it became apparent that these compounds break down at cold temperatures and react with ozone.

Over the next 15 years or so, CFCs created a massive hole in the ozone layer that protects Earth and its inhabitants from dangerous ultraviolet radiation. Rates of skin cancer rose. In what Solomon, rightly in my view, sees as an outstanding success of international collaboration, leaders around the globe agreed in the 1987 Montreal Protocol to phase out CFCs. The ozone hole is now closing. But, once again, this phasing out was planned to be very slow, and only sped up when CFCs were replaced with safer alternatives, in the mid-1990s — more than a decade after their harms were known, and only after companies making and using them had found a profitable alternative.

For Solomon, all these examples show that change happens when impacts are personal, perceptible and practical solutions are available — “the three p’s”. For the climate crisis, in her view, the three p’s have been met: its devastating consequences are being felt around the world and renewable energy has become affordable. Thus, she concludes, we can “do it again”.

Broader solutions

I love Solomon’s optimism and agree that it is important to show that the climate crisis is solvable. Yet, as a climate scientist and philosopher, I don’t quite share her outlook. Each struggle she explores, from pesticides and smog to lead in paint and petrol, demonstrates just how keenly policymakers listen to industry — over other people and living things.

None of these cases were solved by overwhelming scientific evidence, or public concern and outcry. Each time, the industry responsible let go of a harmful product (such as DDT) only once it was sure to make a profit from selling its substitutes (other pesticides) — a strategy it could implement owing to its immense lobbying power in governments. But to solve the climate crisis, technological substitutions won’t be enough.

> The harms of persistent pesticides were known long before governments banned them.

Substituting every internal combustion engine with an electric vehicle is not sufficient, neither is replacing coal with solar energy: energy demand needs to fall, too. The consequences of climate change are already very dire. Unlike the issues with the ozone hole or peregrine populations, they will not go away once we stop burning fossil fuels.

Ecological restoration is essential. It includes the sustainable management of forests and rivers, as well as changes in agricultural practices to focus less on livestock and more on diverse, drought-resistant crops. These are not just technical issues that can be implemented by one industry. They require an innovative approach to environmental management, through more decentralized industries and wider participation. The industries that profit from exacerbating the climate crisis will not be the same ones that will profit from change. Ultimately, the justice issues that have been set aside in the more-limited solutions of previous planetary problems — which had inserted technological substitutes into an untouched business model — cannot be ignored any longer.

Solvable is essential reading. I am convinced that Solomon is right: the climate crisis is solvable and this fight does have parallels with previous global challenges. But to address — or rather, redress — the climate crisis, any solution must have human rights at its heart, instead of the continued profits of industries.

archive.org link

> Acknowledging the intersections of human rights and advertising, the United Nations panel gives a call to action to the advertising industry to use its global impact to positively influence human rights crises worldwide.

> The advertising industry operates across various platforms: print, broadcast, radio, and digital. Advertisers wield significant power in shaping public narratives and influencing societal perceptions of diverse issues and individuals.

> As Pia Oberoi mentions in her opening remarks at the recent United Nations panel, Intersections Between Advertising and Human Rights, the industry invests plenty of money in global ad spend.

> In 2023, digital ad spend is projected to reach a staggering $679 billion worldwide. With such substantial financial resources and pervasive outreach into households and communities, advertisers possess immense potential to affect lives positively or negatively, both online and offline.

> Oberoi argues that ethical and informed decisions by industry players can channel advertising spend to support independent and trustworthy media. It can promote inclusive narratives, foster diversity, challenge stereotypes, and empower individuals and communities to enhance their lives and contribute to the betterment of others.

> However, when advertising decisions lack a conscious focus on human rights, there is a risk of funding disinformation and hate speech. This may not only fuel discrimination and hostility but can also incite real-world violence, perpetuating discrimination and other abuses unintentionally. As we watch human rights violations across the world and in our own countries, we must consider the ethics and moral responsibility of our professions.

archive.org link

> Immigrants’ rights groups today sued the Biden administration over the president’s proclamation and a new rule that severely restricts asylum and puts thousands of lives at risk.

> The American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigrant Justice Center, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Jenner & Block LLP, ACLU of the District of Columbia, and Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center (Las Americas) and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES).

> President Biden issued the proclamation last week along with an accompanying interim rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice on the same day. These executive actions will effectively shut off any access to asylum protections for the vast majority of people arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, no matter how strong their claims. The proclamation echoes the Trump administration’s previous asylum entry ban, which immigrants’ rights advocates successfully challenged.

archive.org link

> The question of how social media platforms can respect the freedom of expression rights of users while also protecting others from harm is one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Taking a human rights-based approach to this challenge will help ensure alignment with internationally agreed norms and consistency across borders—but what does a human rights-based approach to content mean in practice? We believe that the elements described in this paper constitute the foundations of a human rights-based approach to content governance. We have arrived at these elements by combining the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) with a consideration of the various human rights principles, standards, and methodologies upon which the UNGPs were built. We believe that a human rights-based approach to content governance can be segmented into four parts: > 1. Content policy—statements about what content is and is not allowed on a social media platform, as well as about the visibility of content. > 2. Content policy implementation—how content decisions are executed in practice. > 3. Product development—how new features, services, and functionalities are introduced and evolve. > 4. Tracking and transparency—how the outcomes and effectiveness of a human rights-based approach is measured and communicated. Further, we believe that a special focus on engagement with affected stakeholders and the needs of vulnerable groups is essential across all four parts.

> There are two important features to highlight about these four parts taken in combination.

> First, these four parts constitute a robust framework of ongoing human rights due diligence that enable content decisions to be made thoughtfully, deliberately, and grounded upon rights-based analysis, rather than “on the go” or according to the whim of the moment. They emphasize that process matters as much as the decision itself— and that while different companies may reach different conclusions, content decisions should be intellectually consistent, defensible on human rights grounds, and conveyed transparently.

> Second, these four parts encompass more than just what content is and is not allowed on a platform—our approach assumes that international human rights law provides an overall framework for decision-making and action, not simply a “copy and paste” set of content rules for companies to follow.

> fruit company Chiquita Brands International liable for financing a Colombian paramilitary group. The group, the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), was designated by the US as a terrorist organisation at the time. Following a civil case brought by eight Colombian families whose relatives were killed by the AUC, Chiquita has been ordered to pay $38.3m (£30m) in damages to the families. Chiquita said in a statement that it intended to appeal against the jury's verdict, arguing that there was "no legal basis for the claims". The jury in the case, which was heard in a federal court in South Florida, found Chiquita responsible for the wrongful deaths of eight men killed by the AUC. The AUC engaged in widespread human rights abuses in Colombia, including murdering people it suspected of links with left-wing rebels. The victims ranged from trade unionists to banana workers. The case was brought by the families after Chiquita pleaded guilty in 2007 to making payments to the AUC.

archive.org link

> # Key objectives of the session:

> - Offer an opportunity for advertisers, civil society, and other stakeholders to understand and apply human rights due diligence to the advertising industry.

> - Explore how human rights standards provide both a framework for States considering regulatory options as well as guidance for companies in determining how to ensure that advertising is ethical and rights-based.

> - Unpack how businesses, particularly advertisers and media, can support human rights-based narratives on those who are marginalised as well as related societal issues.

> - Deliberate on the possibility of building a "big tent" to push back against hatred and disinformation and uphold freedom of expression and other human rights.

archive.org link

> A brief statement confirmed Hamas had given an official response to the latest ceasefire plan, which has garnered broad international support and was endorsed by the UN Security Council on Monday. This reiterated a demand for what Hamas called “a complete halt of the ongoing aggression against Gaza”, and full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territory.

> A Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, said the response was “responsible, serious and positive” and that it opened up “a wide pathway” to reach an agreement.

> The Israeli prime minister’s office did not release an on-record reply.

> But a statement was issued by an anonymous Israeli official, who said that Hamas had “changed all of the main and most meaningful parameters” and “rejected the proposal for a hostage release that was presented by President Biden”.

> The more critical reaction is now awaited from mediators - particularly, the US - once they have studied the proposal and judged the extent of the Hamas amendments.

> “We're in receipt of this reply that Hamas delivered to Qatar and Egypt and we are evaluating it right now,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday, without elaborating.

> Qatar and Egypt said in a joint statement that they would study Hamas’s response and “co-ordinate with the parties concerned regarding the next steps”. They also pledged to continue their mediation efforts with the US “until an agreement is reached”.

> The U.N. Security Council on Monday overwhelmingly approved its first resolution endorsing a cease-fire plan aimed at ending the eight-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

> The U.S.-sponsored resolution welcomes a cease-fire proposal announced by President Joe Biden that the United States says Israel has accepted. It calls on the militant Palestinian group Hamas to accept the three-phase plan.

> The resolution — which was approved with 14 of the 15 Security Council members voting in favor and Russia abstaining — calls on Israel and Hamas “to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.”

> Whether Israel and Hamas agree to go forward with the plan remains in question, but the resolution’s strong support in the U.N.’s most powerful body puts added pressure on both parties to approve the proposal.

> The U.N. human rights office is citing possible war crimes by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in connection with a deadly raid by Israeli forces that freed four hostages over the weekend and killed hundreds of Palestinians.

> Office spokesman Jeremy Laurence expressed concerns about possible violations of rules of proportionality, distinction and precaution by the Israeli forces in Saturday’s raid at the urban Nuseirat refugee camp.

> Some, including Citizen Lab and UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye, have suggested that a moratorium on the sale, transfer, and use of this kind of surveillance software should go into effect until a robust human-rights-compliant regulatory framework is in place. “Companies appear to be operating without constraint,” says Kaye. “It is critical that companies themselves adhere to their human rights responsibilities, including by disclosing their transfers, conducting rigorous human rights impact assessments, and avoiding transfers to States unable to guarantee their compliance with their human rights obligations.”

> North Carolina lawmakers are moving to loosen development requirements that would allow real estate developers to build homes on a "highly significant archaeological site" the state says includes a Native American burial ground up to 3,000 years old.

> Why it matters: A recent archeological survey discovered the site has "no less than 11 potential human burial clusters," each containing multiple individuals as part of a Native American settlement spanning over multiple centuries between 1000 BCE – 1600 CE, the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources said in a letter provided to Axios.

archive.org link

OHCHR Document Page

Executive Summary

> Human rights and mediation are inextricably linked. Both fields aim to prevent conflicts or bring them to an end by addressing core conflict drivers, including human rights violations. Nevertheless, human rights and mediation are sometimes portrayed as incompatible. This practice note outlines why such misconceptions exist and what human rights can tangibly offer the mediation field. It shows that human rights can serve as a practical problem-solving tool to support mediation strategies and assist negotiating parties to reach inclusive and sustainable agreements. Human rights are at the core of the United Nations. While this normative grounding is sometimes cast as a disadvantage when the Organization mediates, it is also a powerful source of legitimacy – particularly in the eyes of civilians. This note highlights that the human rights framework enables mediators to achieve goals such as addressing the root causes of conflicts, promoting inclusivity and participation, and ensuring accountability.

> Mediators and other practitioners can make use of human rights to enhance the quality and effectiveness of mediation efforts, including by opening space for political negotiations, strengthening ongoing peace processes and reinvigorating stalled efforts. Human rights can set the ground for facilitated negotiations, for example, by establishing channels of communication; improving the negotiations context; allowing parties to test conflict resolution efforts; enhancing the credibility of the United Nations prior to mediation; offering mediators networks of interlocutors; improving the quality of conflict analysis; incentivizing parties to initiate negotiations on sensitive issues, including accountability for past crimes; providing entry points for conflict prevention and de-escalation; and building confidence between parties.

> Once mediation efforts begin, human rights can further contribute by providing principles and standards within which to frame agenda issues; leveraging the power of economic, social and cultural rights; improving the inclusivity of processes, such as by enhancing the participation in peace talks of women, victims and survivors, Indigenous Peoples, minorities and other marginalized groups; reframing political grievances in human rights terms; drawing on the more neutral characterizations of conflict situations with which the international human rights system engages; helping to navigate the gaps between the parties’ framing of human rights and international standards; finding solutions to critical issues, including justice and accountability for past crimes; “bracketing” complex issues to allow parties to make progress on other issues; and fostering agreements that are sustainable and can be implemented.

> This practice note is an outcome of a joint project between the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to better understand the constructive role that human rights can play in supporting mediation efforts, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of United Nations mediation, good offices and preventive diplomacy efforts.1 The project also seeks to enhance collaboration between the United Nations peace and security and human rights pillars, in line with the Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human Rights.

archive.org link

SATIRE

> NEW YORK—Emphasizing that it was their only option amid the rampant protests that had erupted on campus, Columbia University announced Monday that it had given students the option to finish classes from prison. “Given the current political turmoil and the many safety hazards it poses, all current students will be permitted to complete their semesters from the New York penitentiary system,” said Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, adding that in light of recent events, all members of the community were encouraged to attend lectures virtually from the comfort of their dark, windowless, 6-by-8-foot cell. “While we wish we could continue in-person learning, the best way to keep our university safe is to allow students, faculty, and staff to complete the last few weeks of the school from behind bars. Also, should students need, they will be permitted to accept their diplomas virtually, regardless of whether they are in the back of a police van, at Rikers Island, or in solitary confinement somewhere off the grid.” At press time, Shafik added that any student who had been beaten to death could, if need be, also complete classes from their morgue.

archive.org link

> Decarbonization of the energy, transportation and industrial sectors by 2050 is a formidable challenge, and getting there will require significant use of nuclear power. But whether nuclear power figures into a country’s future energy mix or not, rigorous planning is needed to determine the clean energy composition that will work best depending on country-specific factors.

> The publication, entitled ‘From Knowledge to Action: IAEA Toolkit for Sustainable Energy Planning’, was presented during a side event held on the margins of a meeting of the G20’s Energy Transitions Working Group in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.