Some (mostly) human rights links and thoughts

Black Lives Matter! Be Anti-Racist, Anti-Sexist, and Actively Inclusive in ALL Areas.
The Climate Crisis is real, urgent and existential!

The Pandemic is Real, and Vaccinations save lives. Stay safe - wash your hands, practice social distancing and wear a face mask in public, and follow informed medical advice - and be considerate towards those at risk or in situations of vulnerability (including economic) while the COVID-19 pandemic is a problem.

Some mostly human rights (including significant, relevant links in other fields - such as geopolitics, democracy, or authoritarianism) links: 

• on the CLIMATE CRISIS (noting the UNFCCC) and ENVIRONMENT (noting multiple  international agreements): 
• the risk we will reach one of 15 tipping points;   the climate crisis will make access to water and sanitation more difficult;   “the heatwave scorching India and Pakistan has been made 30 times more likely by the climate crisis, according to scientists. Extreme temperatures and low rainfall since mid-March have caused widespread suffering, including deaths, crop losses, forest fires, and cuts to power and water supplies”;   “unlike India facing intense heatwaves or France battling drought, Brazil this week has witnessed some of the most chilling temperatures ever seen in its southern states. Experts are not ruling out climate change”;   “limited conservation efforts could save at least 47 Australian animals from extinction”;   “a series of complex challenges, including a lack of funding and political will as well as rising insecurity linked to extremist groups ... , are obstructing progress on Africa’s Great Green Wall”;   a rebuke to a rural party over its denialist as a pastoralist company and Indigenous people join forces against fracking;   one of Qld’ s new MPs is a denialist fantasist;   new coal mines are unlikely to be profitable;   “dumbed-down curriculum means primary students will learn less about the world and nothing about climate”;   the need to plan for resilience;  
   
• on the COVID-19 PANDEMIC (noting WHO advice, Article 12 of the ICESCR, and public emergency provisions of the ICCPR and the ICESCR) and other health matters: 
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• a monkeypox  (which is a disease Africa has dealt with for years)  outbreak has occurred (complete with some quarantines - 21 days in Belgium), but may not spread widely - see also here;   the United Nations’ Aids agency has called some reporting on the monkeypox virus racist and homophobic, warning of exacerbating stigma and undermining the response to the growing outbreak”;   “data prior to current outbreaks [of monkeypox] suggested resurgence of the disease, with waning immunity from smallpox vaccination contributing to spread”;  
   
  
• on Rashist  Putin and his cronies’ ILLEGAL (it is contrary to Chapters VI and VII of the UN Charter  and international law [and the 1928 Pact of Paris which was successfully used in post-WW2 trials], and possibly includes conduct contrary to the "laws" of war and international humanitarian law (IHL)) INVASION of UKRAINE: 
• on military matters:   Ukraine’s President has said “only  diplomacy can end the war” (subject to some conditions . . . including recovery of all land, which may make talks impossible);   some Russian soldiers are resigning;   the war is also continuing in the cyber field;   a “former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman ... [has] said on ... that US officials should consider the possibility of Russia using a nuclear weapon amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine”;   “technicians linked to the Syrian military’s infamous barrel bombs that have wreaked devastation across much of the country have been deployed to Russia to help potentially prepare for a similar campaign in the Ukraine war, European officials believe”;   
• on human rights in the region and globally:   “while invasions and war crimes are recognised as breaches of international law, causing famine as collateral damage in countries not directly related to the war is not a recognised crime. There is not even a name for this type of atrocity, one that could kill millions”;   the damage being done to Ukraine’s environment may take decades to repair;   Russia has banned hundreds of US citizens from entering Russia;  consideration of the possibility of reparations for victims;   an assessment of why Russia’s military are being so brutal;   Romani refugees are the latest group identified as facing discrimination;   another war crimes trial in Ukraine (are these being run with due process? They seem very quick ... );   more of Russia's notorious mercenaries have been accused of murdering civilians;  
  
• inside Russia:   “a veteran Russian diplomat in Geneva has resigned over his country’s invasion of Ukraine . . . “today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not about diplomacy, . . . It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred” ”;   a social media platform still on air and popular in Russia “has taken down more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to the war in Ukraine for violating content guidelines, including removal of videos that referred to the invasion as a “liberation mission” ”;  a warning that Putin is obsessively concerned with Russia’ s declining population;  
  
• internationally:   a call to stop letting Russia “define the terms of” the invasion of Ukraine;   an assessment of Austria’s neutrality;   a warning not to ease up on climate action;  
   
• on INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (noting the UN Charter [particularly Chapters VI and VII] and numerous  international  treaties): 
• a call for the EU “and its member states [to] take concrete steps to strengthen the international justice system, including through national prosecutions of crimes under international law”;   Ethiopia is continuing work on its hydro-power dam - despite no water sharing plan with downstream, arid Sudan and Egypt;   SIPRI has warned that “world leaders are failing to prepare for a new era of complex and often unpredictable risks to peace as profound environmental and security crises converge and intensify”;   an indication relations between Australia and China may improve - but we will determine our own values, and see also this ... the relationship with France may also recover ... and the Pacific;   according to US President Biden, in the world after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, “the United States stands by its One China policy that sees Taiwan as a part of China, but Washington would intervene if Beijing was to use force against the island”;   a call to improve DFAT by improving its diversity;  
  a thoughtful (long read) reflection on the various interpretations of “balance of power”;  
  
• noting particularly Chapters VI and VII of the UN Charter, the 1928 Pact of Paris used in post-WW2 trials, the "laws" of war and IHL and Article 20 of the ICCPR on WAR / CONFLICT:   although the ceasefire is holding, there are concerns the peace in Ethiopia is fragile;   a suggestion to reframe nuclear risk reduction tools i from preventing “risks associated with misperception or inadvertent escalation ... to the type of intentional escalation and risk-taking that Russian President Vladimir Putin has demonstrated”;   a “former Nigerian president ... has secured a diplomatic victory in the Ethiopian civil war, with ... Tigray committing to release more than 4 000 prisoners of war”;   Rwanda has accused the DRC of artillery shelling its territory;  
   
  
•  on CORRUPTION (noting international  agreements and monitoring) and misgovernance: 
• an article beginning with “the incurable inadequacy of despotic power” on how massive corruption has undermined Russia's military capacity;  
   
• on DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE (noting Article 25 of the ICCPR and monitoring  projects): 
• “a historian specialising in minorities who currently heads the museum of the history of immigration in Paris, is President Emmanuel Macron's surprise choice to head the French education ministry”;   an assessment of Lebanon’s political situation after their recent elections, which may leave a political vacuum;   Chile is moving towards a new  Constitution;   a warning Sudan needs to resolve its crisis quickly;   a call for the African Union to “focus on [the] root causes of conflict, political instability”;   political tensions are growing in the DRC one year ahead of the next Presidential elections;   attempts to improve health care in PNG;   the USA may apply sanctions if the military junta continue to delay Sudan’s return to democracy;  
  
  
• Australia  has  elected (“we are stronger than fear”) a Prime Minister who can genuinely talk of kindness in an election which shows the incompetence of our media (but see also this),   the rise of independents,   the continuing growth of the Greens,   improved diversity,   the damage to the self-destructive (a suggestion here to forget about right vs left and try good, sensible policies) neoliberals of not actively including women - in fact, the abuse-of-women roosters for both major parties have come home to roost,   “and all the way back to Howard, Coalition leaders have never understood – or never cared - that appealing to fear and prejudice means more than clever political positioning. You don’t just take your party down there. You take the country”,   inane claims of the former-POTUS45 variety which have been debunked,   a right wing MP has belatedly (his actions may have affected the election: this sot of issues needs to be dealt with immediately!) been sued by the AEC for allegedly breaking the election act,   a staggering abuse of power by former PM Morrison;   an opinion “that sector idealism won’t help if we want to avoid a return to conservative rule in 2025”;   determination to improve Parliament's functioning;   a call to increase taxation;   11 suggested human rights targets for our new government;  
  
  
• suppression of dissent / media in Hong Kong,   Turkey,   Ethiopia,   Sudan (violently),   Thailand,   Solomon Islands,   Gabon;
  democracy is also at risk in Hungary; 
  
  
• on HUMAN RIGHTS (noting the various rights and treaties summarised here, IHL, Article 5 of the Rome Statute founding the ICC): 
• THERE HAS BEEN ANOTHER MASS SHOOTING IN ANOTHER USA SCHOOL - see also this powerful US speech, this information, here, here, here, here, here and here (on police inaction/delays), here, here, here (renewed calls for a gun database in Australia), here, here, here and here - which shows the psychopathic pathology of the right in the USA, here, here;  
  “how businesses can step up for human rights during this global crisis”;  
  “a [menstruating] 14-year-old girl of mixed white and black ethnicity was so traumatised after being strip-searched by Metropolitan [UK] police officers that she tried to kill herself” - in a similar case, racism was identified as a factor (and I know someone who left the UK police over their rabid racism);   a noted constitutional / political expert has warned to NOT believe those who claim overturning Roe v Wade in the USA would not change society;   former POTUS45 and a notorious right wing media commentator have shared the Conservative Political Action Conference Hungary “platform with [a] notorious racist and anti-Semite”;   another death in custody has raised concerns over Australia’s immigration detention centres;   a court in the USA will decide whether an animal deserves basic “human” rights (the arguments about isolation of a social creature are particularly noteworthy in view of the pandemic);   “the problem of sextortion in sport”;   the dental crisis in the UK has seen one woman remove 13 of her own teeth;   “murder, rape and abuse in Asia’s factories: the true price of fast fashion”;   Russia's mercenaries have increased the killing of civilians in the CAR;   millions of schoolchildren in Ghana are missing school meals and school caterers try to get a fairer deal;   “a new trove of hacked Chinese police photographs and documents shedding light on the human toll of Beijing’s treatment of its Uyghur minority in Xinjiang has been published”;   Human Rights Watch has said that DRC “authorities have not meaningfully investigated the role of security forces in the killing of at least eight people in ethnic violence ... in April 2021”;   key support ensuring social media companies preserve evidence of war crimes;   mass evictions of Palestinians by Israel could be a war crime;   police in Brazil have killed 20 people in a raid on a poor area;   the housing crisis in Australia;   “Russian mercenaries accused over use of mines and booby traps in Libya”;   the utter inanity of some religious bigots;   attempts in Africa to keep poor people poor by taxing mobile phone banking;  
   
• violence in:   Australia,   Mozambique (24 nations have sent help),   DRC,   Qld (reducing drinking reduces violence),   Burkina Faso,   Nigeria,   Niger,   Niger,   suggestions on reducing the violence in the eastern DRC/Great Lakes region,   the occupied West Bank,   Afghanistan;
  
  
• noting the GENOCIDE  Convention:  “a judge in Argentina has ruled the state was responsible for the massacre of more than 400 Indigenous people a century ago, calling it a “crime against humanity” ”;  
  
  
• noting the conventions and the Global Compact on REFUGEES:   “the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has said the global number of forcibly displaced people has passed 100 million for the first time, describing it as a “staggering milestone” ”;   17 Rohingya refugees have drowned at sea;   “playing cards adorned with the Australian government’s “Zero Chance” campaign against “illegal migration” were distributed to refugee children in Indonesia by people trespassing on school grounds”;  
  
  
• noting Article 6 (4) (5) (6) of the ICCPR,   this, and this on the DEATH PENALTY:   legal murder (“execution”) rates have risen after lockdowns have eased;  
  
  
• noting the Yogyakarta Principles on LGBTIQ+ PEOPLE:   the devastating impact of transphobia in Australia’s recent national election campaign;   Austria has finally accepted that LGBTIQA+ people also bleed red and that our blood is also good enough for blood donations;   “Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy has [a] positive impact on well-being”;   more transphobic stupidity and lies;   another “performer” is taking cheap shots at vulnerable TGD people;   more Intersex discrimination in sport;  
  
  
• noting ICERD and DRIP on RACISM:   an opinion that a media platform “and its white supremacists in suits give succour to mass killers”;   “National Sorry Day is a day to commemorate those taken. But ‘sorry’ is not enough – we need action”;   limited accountability but killing of black Americans continues . . . although US President Biden has signed an Executive Order to address some of those problems;   racism towards Chinese-Australians remains a major problem;   Indigenous elders have paused plans to rebury archaeological remains until concerns about what was planned can be addressed;   quarter of a century after their situation was made known, the plight of the Stolen Generations has still NOT been addressed;   collated oral histories;  
  
  
• noting CEDAW on SEXISM:   Nepal has been found responsible for the “torture, rape and killing of [a] teenage girl”;  
  
  
• noting the CRC on CHILDREN:   some children have been tracked online by some remote schooling software / apps during pandemic lockdowns;  
  
  
• noting the CRPD on PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES:  “a Melbourne woman with cerebral palsy is fighting to stay in her home ... because the agency running the national disability insurance scheme has decided her funding is no longer “value for money””;  
  
  
• noting Article 6 (1) of the ICCPR,   Article 11 of the ICESCR,   Article 5 (e) (iii) (see here and here) of the ICERD,   Article 14 (2) (h) of the CEDAW,   Article 27 (3) of the CRC,   Article 28 of the CRPD,   and   Article 20 of the DRIP on FOOD, CLOTHING, and HOUSING:    “Home Builder and first home buyer grants made housing less affordable says Reserve Bank”;  
  
  
• noting Article 17 of the ICCPR,   Article 16 of the CRC,   Article 22 of the CRPD,   and   Article 12 (1) of the DRIP on PRIVACY:   legal action against the CEO of a social media platform over its decision to allow third party access despite knowing the privacy risks may not succeed;  
  
  
• noting Articles 6 (1), 7, and 8 (see here) of the ICESCR,   Article 5 (e) (i) (ii) (see here and here) of the ICERD,   Article 11 (1) (a - c) of the CEDAW,   and   Article 27 (1) of the CRPD on WORK and FAVOURABLE WORK CONDITIONS: a groundbreaking legal decision (in Australia) over workplace PTSD;  
   
• on NATURAL and OTHER DISASTERS (noting Article 1(3) of the UN Charter): 
• Syria is in need of major humanitarian aid;   “18 million in Africa’s Sahel on ‘the brink of starvation’”;   a tornado in Germany;   a heatwave in Spain and South Asia (continuing);   the “African Development Bank [has released] $1.5 billion to tackle [the] food crisis”;   a fire in the neonatal unit of a hospital in Senegal;  
   
• how to identify scam calls;   cyber attacks with a physical element as well;   concerns over facial recognition for credit cards;   a call for more consensus on “digital technology for ‘people and the planet’”;   “when self-driving cars crash, who’s responsible? Courts and insurers need to know what’s inside the ‘black box’”;   the ongoing heatwave in South Asia;   sandstorms in West Asia;  
  
• “work addiction” (the article is based on data in Germany, but I consider it is likely to apply elsewhere as well);

(Should you elect to write to your elected representatives or others on these matters, it may be useful to familiarise yourself with the links shown in blue - or to at least refer to them. Don't forget to CHECK whether your nation has RATIFIED the treaty concerned.)