Some human rights and other news 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): 
• after a false report leading to an apology to their families, two bodies have been found and arrests have been made over the suspected murder of a climate crisis focused journalist and Indigenous rights activist in a drug gang infested area of the Amazon;   “funding needed for climate disasters has risen ‘more than 800%’ in 20 years”;   not only do heatwaves kill animals, they cause long term health problems;   “Biden’s praise of Bolsonaro is [an] affront to Brazil's forest defenders”;   “student climate activists warn [a] super fund ... over ad they claim implies false endorsement”;   a report claims major flaws in corporate pledges on the climate crisis - particularly around the use of carbon offsets;   attempts to manage the risk of a major oil spill from a decaying oil tanker moored off Yemen have now resorted to crowd funding ... ;   an opinion that we need to relocate away from floodplains;   the world missed an opportunity for green recovery during pandemic recovery;   sea level rises will put 200,000 homes in England at risk by 2050;   disasters may make flood insurance unaffordable - see also here;   extraordinary heating in the Arctic;   protests over fossil fuel sponsorship of a festival in the NT;   how the climate crisis is exacerbating the spread of disease - and violence against women and minorities;  
  
  
• climate / environmental issues have occurred in:   Russia;
   
• 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: 
• pandemic health habits to keep for managing other illnesses;   North Korea may also be experienced a typhoid or cholera outbreak in the midst of its first officially admitted COVID-19 outbreak;   mental health issues rose during pandemic lockdowns;   funding for the states will continue;   concerns over the failure to agree to an IP waiver on COVID vaccines;  
   
  
• 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:   
• on human rights in the region and globally:  Amnesty International has said that “ ‘death sentences’ against foreigners who defended Ukraine [are a] 'blatant violation of international law' ” (see also here) - and has criticised other actions;   another explainer on how the war is harming global food supplies;   the USA will build grain silos on the border with Poland to make export of Ukrainian grain that way easier;  
  
• inside Russia:   an examination of the possibility that Russians and Ukrainians would reconcile a few decades after the current war;   Wikipedia is fighting an order to stop posting accurate information;   the small but growing risk of Russia collapsing as a nation;   some Russians are fighting for Ukraine;   more arrests of those in Russia who are protesting against the war;  
  
• internationally:   “why the US can’t get the Middle East to support it on Ukraine”;   a suspected Russian spy has been arrested at a UK airport, and another tried to infiltrate the ICC;   in a move which may make ending the fighting difficult, if not impossible, key EU leaders will support Ukraine’ s desire to join the EU;   Russia is continuing to sell stolen Ukrainian grain;  
   
• on INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (noting the UN Charter [particularly Chapters VI and VII] and numerous  international  treaties): 
•  the diplomatic freeze between China and Australia has ended ... but there is still a long way to go;   the “Saudi Crown Prince outlasts US’ moral outrage”;   the EU has launched “legal action against UK over post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland”;   tensions are growing between Kenya and Somalia (again);   an explainer as to why the UK's proposed laws on the Northern Ireland protocol breach international law - see also this;   an international law perspective on Iran's recent seizure of two Greek oil tankers;  
  
  
• 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:   “Xi Jinping announces plans to allow Chinese military to undertake 'armed forces operations' abroad”;   Yemen’s truce is holding, but more needs to be done;   a multi-lateral East African force will be deployed in eastern DRC;   Tigray and Ethiopia have agreed on Kenya convening their peace talks;
  
  
• incidents / action of concern in/regarding:   the world’s “nuclear arsenals are expected to grow as states continue to modernize”;
   
•  on CORRUPTION (noting international  agreements and monitoring) and misgovernance: 
• ten years of underinvestment in renewables and storage and stupid  decisions by the former neolib national government has caused a power supply crisis in Australia;   “Australian authorities have had a “myopic” focus on Islamist extremism since 9/11, experts have lamented, warning that it has come at the expense of identifying the rise of far-right extremism”;   an opinion that “sooner or later, the integrity commission will take out a Labor minister”;   serious concerns about Kazakhstan;   the problems of uncollected taxes and the shadow economy in Africa (corruption would also have to be dealt with, to make sure gained funds were properly used);  
   
• on DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE (noting Article 25 of the ICCPR and monitoring  projects): 
• globally:   India has retaliated against some of those who protested against inflammatory Islamophobic remarks by a BJP official;    as violence continues in Sudan and civilians set conditions to be met prior to talks with the junta, what the USA could do;   the quantitative risk of a coup in Mali;   a call for the USA to remember and apply the banking reforms of the 1930s to manage cryptocurrency risks;   Nigeria’s economy may collapse;   “socio-economic meltdown leaves Lebanese ‘hanging on by a thread’”;   violent protests in India against a new compulsory earlier retirement scheme for the military;  
  
  
• on hearings into the attempted insurrection in the USDA in 2020:   investigators say they have enough evidence to criminally charge #45 - but see also here,   Republican allies' attempts to obtain pardons are considered damning,   an opinion that #45 is Richard Nixon's heir,   how close the USA came to catastrophe,   a conservative judge has warned that #45 remains a danger to democracy; 
  
  
• in Australia:   anonymous threatening letters are being delivered to supporters of one recently elected independent MP;   “renewed calls to introduce a windfall profits tax on the gas industry after a new report found companies exporting the commodity from Australia were 95 per cent foreign-owned”;   a draft Code of Conduct for Commonwealth MPs;   a review of the decision to lift the minimum wage;   more concerns (on the usual basis) about the future of our aged care system;   Australia will seek to learn more about our CALD communities;  
  
  
• suppression of dissent / media in   Australia,   Russia,   Afghanistan,   Senegal,   Ethiopia;
  democracy is also at risk in   Cambodia,   USA,   Kazakhstan,   Brazil (under a #45-lite president),   Sudan,   Tunisia; 
  
  
• on HUMAN RIGHTS (noting the various rights and treaties summarised here, IHL, Article 5 of the Rome Statute founding the ICC): 
• doctors have been urged to use the privilege and call out racism and sexism in their workplaces;   a criticism of Indonesia for “tolerating intolerance”;   extracts from the debate in my home state’s debate on banning hate symbols;   as tens of thousands protest against gun violence, the US Congress appears to have reached agreement for a modest tightening of gun laws in that nation - which is, after years of inaction after mass shootings, a sort of breakthrough (although a key Republican has now walked out), and a task force on online violence has been launched;   European Union envoys are discussing the deteriorating human rights situation in Afghanistan;   the belongings of a missing journalist and Indigenous rights activist have been found submerged in a river;   “Gaza: Israel’s ‘Open-Air Prison’ at 15”;   a “direct cash scheme in U.S. South aims to lift Black women out of poverty”;   concerns over Israeli military inquiries into deaths of Palestinians;   “the US government has not fully investigated its own role in perpetuating human rights abuses in Yemen, according to a [GAO] report”;   Burma has “detained over 135,000 Rohingya and Kaman Muslims arbitrarily and indefinitely in Rakhine State for a decade”;   “new Philippine security adviser urges end to [the often fatal practice of] ‘red-tagging’”;   a calling out of hypocrisy over assumptions vs. the reality of equality;   the risks of growing insecurity in Haiti;   “hate speech ‘dehumanises individuals and communities’”;  
   
• human rights are at risk or abuses have occurred in:   Russia,   Iran,   India;
  
  
• violence in:   Mali   and   Burkina Faso - see also here and here,   Libya,   Togo,   DRC - see also here, SE Asia (piracy),   Sudan - see also here,   Mozambique,   Niger;
  
  
• noting the Yogyakarta Principles on LGBTIQ+ PEOPLE:   a mainstream media paper hypocritically tried to out a celebrity - to the despair of its staff, and is now experiencing an international backlash - leading to retraction of the article and several apologies;   in the USA “more than two dozen members of white nationalist group Patriot Front face charges over conspiracy to riot during a pride event”;   LGBTIQA+phobia in Romania and Saudi Arabia;   the ACT has released a consultation draft law to protect the rights of intersex people - joining Malta, Portugal, Germany and Iceland;   a Greens Senator has questioned the suitability of a state coordinator over past transphobic statements;   a bunch of LGBTIQA+-phobic nations have  - rightly, in my my opinion - been described as idiots;  
  
  
• noting ICERD and DRIP on RACISM:  racist abuse of a sports player is being investigated;   “K’gari (Fraser Island) title deeds handed to traditional owners, the Butchulla people”;   Ecuador has arrested an Indigenous protest leader as fear grow of violent bids to evict Maasai from ancestral lands in Tanzania;   xenophobic protests in the DRC;   in a significant precedent in WA, “a Federal Court determination that extinguishment of native title over the Pila Nature Reserve could be disregarded, paving the way for recognition of the Guyana people’s native title rights”;   another call for reparations for those enslaved in the USA;   a media platform has apologised for internal racism;  
  
  
• noting the CRPD on PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES:   the Albanese government will crack down on fraud/criminality as part of improving the NDIS - which also includes stating that the NDIS was apparently not meant to be the be-all end-all approach;   adequate accessibility to public transport in my home state is still unavailable;   the experiences of those with haemophilia;   a would be presidential candidate in Kenya who was rejected by the electoral commission because of a disability has commenced legal action;  
  
  
• noting the conventions and the Global Compact on REFUGEES:   as the European Court of Human Rights intervenes to stop the first planned flight, information on why Rwanda is unfit as a destination for refugees seeking asylum in the UK;   the world has more than 100 million displaced people (around 1 in 80 people);   as impoverished Bangladesh becomes an exemplary symbol of humanitarianism, a proposal for a fair and transparent allocation of responsibility for payment to support refugees;  
  
  
• noting CEDAW on SEXISM:   gender based violence in Kazakhstan;   a call for longer maternity leave in Nigeria;   a notorious serial killer could have been stopped if his first victim (who survived an attempted rape) had been taken seriously;   a group of toxic males violently assaulted a group of women in a restaurant after advances by one of the men were rebuffed;   after initially positive reactions, a bald woman (initially because of chemo) has been attacked by a vindictive male trying to get back at her husband;   #ChurchToo;   sexual harassment of women in sport in India;   Türkiye is failing domestic violence victims;   “sexual violence in conflict ‘terrorizes populations, destroys lives and fractures communities’ ”;   domestic violence in China;   Australia is moving closer to paid domestic violence leave;  
  
  
• 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:    more older women are finding themselves homeless;   another reminder that Australian houses are closer to tents than “insulated eco-buildings”;   calls for more social housing for homeless youth;  
  
  
• noting Articles 2 (1) (also noting this, this, this, and this), 3, 7, 14 (see here and here), 15, 16, and 26 of the ICCPR,   Articles 3, 5 (a), and 6 (see here and here) of the ICERD,   Articles 2, 12 (2), 37, 39, and 40 of the CRC,   Articles 5, 12, 13, and 14 of the CRPD,   and   Articles 1 - 2, 7 (2), 8 (2) (c), 9 - 10, 12 (2), 20 (2), 27, and 40 of the DRIP on the JUDICIARY / JUSTICE SYSTEM:   in a jump backwards, Iran is planning amputations as punishment;  
  
  
• 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:   the US “bipartisan, bicameral privacy proposal is a big deal”;   a warning of the flow-on effects in the USA of overturning Roe v Wade;   a criticism of major retailers close to covert use of facial recognition;   more on Australia’s Border Force’s search of digital devices, possibly in exceedance of their authority (particularly with regard to coercion);
  
  
• 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: the ILO has added health and safety to the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; 
   
• on NATURAL and OTHER DISASTERS (noting Article 1(3) of the UN Charter): 
• Sri Lanka is in desperate need of aid - some is coming;   a blizzard in Tas and storms on the east coast;   heatwaves in Spain and southern France (seer also this), and the USA;   bushfires in Alaska and elsewhere in the USA;   emergency aid for Afghanistan;   “unprecedented” floods in the USA;   a factory gas leak in Iran;   “food assistance to 1.7 million people in South Sudan has been suspended, the UN World Food Programme ... said ... , citing a funding crunch and rising needs”;   “hunger in [South and Central] America: whole continent is on the move, warns WFP”;   growing food insecurity in East Africa - and one third of Sudan’s population is food insecure;  
   
• an analysis of a social media platform’s attempted defence of the creator of videos which were found to be defamatory (“Aggravated damages aren’t awarded in many cases. You have to go a long way beyond mounting a reasonable defence to justify them. The judge here was utterly scathing of [the social media platform’s] conduct”, “Stripped back, the case exposes the inescapable conflict that plagues the digital platforms. ... content removal is at odds with their commercial interests”);   Nigeria wants social platforms to open local offices;   Japan has an anti-cyberbullying law with punishments of up to one year in jail;  

(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.)