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 (note: the source of news items [but not reference links] is in brackets after each item - normal rules around abbreviations will apply, and abbreviations are listed at the end of this post; links behind hard paywalls have a [$]; also, comments by me are in purple). 

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Content shown in green (which may be only part of a news story) is about what is generally considered “good news”, but personal history may still make such events triggering. Reader caution is recommended.

• on the CLIMATE CRISIS (noting the UNFCCC) and ENVIRONMENT (noting multiple  international agreements): 
• grave concerns over extreme bail conditions (which NSW police apparently have a history of using - and they LAUGHED to one activist about the conditions) imposed on climate activists in NSW which have forced one person to move interstate (IA);   the “world’s glaciers are melting faster than expected, with visible consequences” (F24);   internal politics governs how nations respond to the climate crisis (PVG);   “as my son choked on bushfire smoke it was clear our most vulnerable are feeling our climate negligence” (TG);   “highway underpasses for wildlife actually work” (TC);   “houseplants don’t just look nice – they can also give your mental health a boost” (TC);   the risk of human extinction is BEING SERIOUSLY UNDERESTIMATED (TG);   seven threats to Australia's biosecurity (TG);   the UN Secretary-General has called for the “immoral profits” arising from the “grotesque greed” of fossil fuel companies to be subjected to a windfall tax (TG) - see also this (TG);   the extreme weather impacts of the climate crisis (TG);   a coal mine may be blocked (ABC);   New Zealand has launched a plan to enable people to live after climate disasters (TG);   the increasingly irrelevant national neolibs latest is “beyond ludicrous” (TG);   “why environmental defenders are under threat” (PVG);   our new climate legislation has started its passage through Parliament - with amendments that were made to include the views of Greens and independents (ABC);   the increasing use of batteries for small communities (ABC);  
  
  
• climate / environmental issues have occurred in:   Australia (progress, but more to be done) (TC),   Murray-Darling basin (TG),   Great Barrier reef (TG),   health care (TC),   greenwashing (TG);  
  
  
• 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: 
• neoliberal MPs are showing their gross irresponsibility (TND);   “if we allow COVID to overwhelm Australia’s health system, medical care will suffer” (TG);   “long COVID should make us rethink disability – and the way we offer support to those with ‘invisible conditions’” (TC);  
   
  
• 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:   more bloody-minded stupidity from Ukraine (DW);  
  
• on human rights in the region and globally:   more evidence of Russian human rights abuses (WP [$]) - see also here (NYT [$]);   an expert reflection on war crimes of Russian soldiers - and others (ABC);   grain exports (UN) have resumed (TND) ... and some food prices have fallen (UN), but the food crisis in Africa continues (HRW);   Russia has quit the European Court of Human Rights (RFE);   an attack that killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia will be investigated (TG);   Ukraine is endangering civilians (TG);   fears for the safety of a nuclear power plant under Russian control (ABC);  
  
• inside Russia:   some soldiers have been jailed for refusing to fight (TG);  
   
• on INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (noting the UN Charter [particularly Chapters VI and VII] and numerous  international  treaties): 
• the world is “one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation” (TG);   as US-China-Taiwan tensions grow (DW) over a potential visit to Taiwan by the US House leader (TG) (see also this objective assessment (PVG)), China announced it will perform military drills (DW) in the Taiwan Strait ... (DW) ... and when the speaker’s (American BC) visit (TND) did (DW) eventuate (TG), China made a military (TG) display (ABC) including live-firing (DW) of missiles (CNN) - see also here (TC), here (ABC), and conflicting assessment of Taiwanese reactions here (DW) and here (ABC) ;   Kosovo-Serbia border tensions (DW);   “Egypt protests Ethiopia plans to fill mega Nile dam for third year” (TEA);   promising signs that the half millennia of violent foreign exploitation (including slavery), “massive corruption, conflict, and state capture” of the DRC may finally be being reined in (Project Syndicate);   the human rights abusers in power in Afghanistan have clearly been breaching the agreement which led to international withdrawal, but Pakistan appears to also be playing a major role (Sarah Chayes);   the military rulers of Sudan have said they back China’s claims over Taiwan (ST);  
  
  
• 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:   an anti-nuclear action on social media: #Cranes for Our Future;   social media platforms are not keeping pace with VE and other misuse of their platforms (WP [$]);   a monthly overview of crises (ICG);   the truce in Yemen will be extended another two months (UN);   China’s ultra-nationalist propaganda has led to violent ultra-nationalist calls for violence on China’s social media (HRW);  
  
  
• incidents / action of concern in/regarding:   Qld (TG);
   
• on CORRUPTION (noting international  agreements and monitoring), MISGOVERNANCE and MAL-/MIS-/NON-FEASANCE:
  
• our Department of Defence, when it first considered the issue of submarines in the mid-1980s, decided they weren’t worth the money - except for a small force for training/maintenance of skills (PnI);   “Sudan’s military authorities have launched a “manhunt” for people suspected of providing information to CNN for an investigation that exposed Russia’s plundering of gold in the African nation” (CNN);   “the massive cost of not taxing gas companies revealed” (TND);   “influencing a public servant to assess the merit of a grant in a dishonest or impartial way is a red flag that a minister is engaging in pork barrelling and could be corrupt behaviour” (Government News);   the devastating effects of Brexit (M);   “why the collapse of the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund is a reckoning for regulators” (ABC);   “Queensland’s Public Trustee agency faces questions over executor charges and allegations of fees for no service” (ABC);   the economic crisis in Afghanistan (HRW);   the deletion of texts possibly about the attempted insurrection by the US defence department will be investigated (TG);   
• vile social media post show a disturbing lack of character (and professionalism) amongst Qld police on domestic violence (TG) - and six police officers are facing allegations (remember: innocent until proven guilty) of DV (TG) as “Assistant Commissioner tells of “significant” cultural issues within Queensland police force impacting domestic violence response” (MN);  
  
  
• concerns around past/current/potential corruption/misgovernance in   Australia (SMH);
   
• on DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE (noting Article 25 of the ICCPR and monitoring  projects): 
• globally:   election results in Senegal are in dispute (F24);   as one young person stands as a candidate (TRF) and others shun (DW) the coming elections (ICG), police impunity in Kenya is putting democracy there at risk (HRW);   fears of unrest in Iraq (TG);  
  
  
• in Australia:   the referendum process to act on the Uluru Statement from the Heart has been launched (TG);   an assessment that the proposed referendum on a voice to Parliament may, as with other referendums about Indigenous matters, succeed (TND) - and an Indigenous former Liberal MP is supportive (TA);   a Senator has branded the Queen a coloniser (correctly, IMO) while taking her oath (TND);   an opinion piece: “sole parents like myself are facing homelessness. It’s time our PM realised this is not the Australia he grew up in” (TG);   “‘war profiteering’: Government flags gas crackdown after scathing ACCC report” (TND);   more concerns over the continued use of a cut down cashless welfare card (TC);   a call for adequate taxation to fund government (TND);   jobseekers are being forced to do grossly inappropriate personality tests (TG);   plans for a crackdown on multinational corporations (TND);   the status (“standing”) of the AHRC has been restored (MN);  
  
  
• suppression of dissent / media in   Australia (TM),   Ethiopia (CPJ),   my home state (TG) - see also this (TG),   Cambodia (UN),   Solomon Islands (ABC);
  democracy is also at risk in   Iraq (R),   Zimbabwe (AJ),   the Pacific (The Diplomat),   Kashmir (DW),   South Sudan (News24); 
  
  
• on HUMAN RIGHTS (noting the various rights and treaties summarised here, IHL, Article 5 of the Rome Statute founding the ICC): 
• a bill banning some weapons has passed the first part of the US Congress - now for the Senate (F24);   a human rights abuser in Libya has been ordered by a US court to pay his victims compensation (F24);   a former Israeli soldier’s admission of the “extraordinary” powers they had in the West Bank (TG);   hate on social media in Africa (TRF);   “Burkina Faso army admits to killing civilians in air raid” (the admission is a good sign - one hopes it will lead to a cessation of such killings) (AJ);   a right wing conspiracy fantasist has been ordered to pay millions in compensation to the victims of his egregious lies (TG);   Australia’s role in the disaster in Afghanistan (TG);  
   
• human rights are at risk or abuses have occurred in:   Morocco (HRW),   Afghanistan (TC),   Sudan (DS);
  
  
• violence in:   Guinea (R),   CAR (militias) (UN),   Gaza Strip (TND),   Kashmir (HRW);
  
  
• noting the GENOCIDE  Convention:   the genocidal junta in Burma is facing problems of its own arrogant making (TC);   as a social media platform is criticised (GW) for “covering up” hate speech in India, the neochristian pope has described (DW) abuse at Canada’s Indigenous residential schools as cultural genocide;   an atrocity alert for Ukraine, CAR, and China;  
  
  
• noting the conventions and the Global Compact on REFUGEES:   “Australia’s policy of indefinite mandatory detention is harming detainees’ friends, family and supporters” (MN);   Europe is continuing to return refugees to abuses in Libya (HRW);   “Ukrainians at risk from anti-refugee tensions in host countries” (TG);   a court in the Netherlands has acted to protect Syrian refugees (HRW);  
  
  
• noting the Yogyakarta Principles on LGBTIQ+ PEOPLE:   more on the nuances of the recent backdown by a sporting club over an attempt to be inclusive (ABC);   threats by bigots has led to a partial backdown of an attempt to celebrate the service of LGBTIQA+ service in our military (TA) (this a bit like caving in to terrorists - you are showing exactly how far they have to go in order to have what they want happen! Keep workers safe, yes - and track and charge those making the threats, but don't cave in to them!!!);   a social media thread on the lies and false claims in comparisons of cis and trans people (Twitter);   protection for Intersex children in Greece (Intersex Greece);   a non-binary athlete has called for sport to be inclusive (SBS);   an excellent perspective on one group’s resistance to LGBTIQA+ inclusion (M);   as was expected, inevitably trans exclusion has trickled down to youth and amateur groups (TRF), although triathlons will continue to be inclusive (9News);   two Saudi sisters found dead commented on violence against lesbians in Saudi Arabia (TG);   over 100 arrested after a mass gang rape in South Africa (TG);   a lesbian in Tasmania is taking transphobic, sexist (anti-male) legal action (Star);  
  
  
• noting ICERD and DRIP on RACISM:   the racist biases around intelligence (M);   a racist street murder in Italy (TG);   the legacy of Australia’s disgraceful use of that form of slavery known as blackbirding (TC);   there is a racist lack of outrage over the deaths of Aboriginal women (TG);   concerns have been expressed over the extent and possible race-focus on new police powers in my home state (NIT);  
  
  
• noting CEDAW on SEXISM:    commentary on the adoption option suggested by anti-abortionists (M);   one conservative US state has voted to protect abortion (TND), and federal legal action has been launched against another state’s near total ban (TG);  moves to protect abortion in my home state (TG), but more needs to be done at a national level (BT);   the problem of “reproduction coercion and abuse” (TG);   staggering misogyny against female journalists by those about to execute a prisoner in the USA (TG);   “affirmative consent and ‘stealthing’ laws to be introduced to Victorian parliament” (TG);   PNG NEEDS more women in Parliament (TC);   women in El Salvador’s ultra-macho gang wars (ICG);   global food insecurity is gendered (ABC);  
  
  
• 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 Office of the Australian Information Commissioner is investigating how K-Mart and Bunnings handle personal information, specifically facial recognition technology” (IA);  
  
  
• noting Article 7 of the ICCPR,   and   the CAT on TORTURE:   concerns that proposed immunity over the use of restraints in aged care in Australia may breach international law over torture (TG) - see also this (TG);   
  
  
• 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:   fears for children in adult jails (TG);   bail laws in my home state are harming the children of those held under bail (TG);   a report by the Australian Law Reform Commission states that “judges need better education and structures to improve impartiality” (TC);   
  
  
• noting the CRPD on PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES:   continuing use of an ableist slur (TG) - see also this (TG);   an Auslan interpreter has been used for the first time in our national Parliament (SBS);   a discrimination complaint by a passenger in a wheelchair who an airline turned away (TG);   
  
  
• 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 call to acknowledge sex work as honest work (M);   concerns (including about competence, based on the example given) about courses job seekers are being forced to take (at profit to the job assistance company) (TG);   a four day working week in the UK had excellent results (CNN);  
  
  
• 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:    a renter has been forced to give up her pet (ABC) as an employer calls for change to invasive questions (TG);   appalling behaviour by Qld real estate agents (TG);   
   
• on NATURAL and OTHER DISASTERS (noting Article 1(3) of the UN Charter): 
• floods in Iran (F24) and the USA (F24);   bushfires in the (F24) USA (TG);   heatwave in the USA (TG);   drought in Mexico (NYT [$]);  
   
• a proposal for affordable vet care;

(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.)

Abbreviations:   Aeon Magazine - Aeon;   Africa Centre for Strategic Studies - ACSS;   Africa News - AN;   Al Jazeera - AJ;   Amnesty International - AI;   Associated Press - AP;   Australian Broadcasting Corporation - ABC;   Australian Independent Media Network - AIMN;   Bloomberg - BB;   Brisbane Time - BT;   British Broadcasting Commission - BBC;   Cable News network - CNN;   Committee to Protect Journalists - CPJ;   Crikey - C [$];   Dabanga Sudan - DS;   Deutsche Welle - DW;   European Union - EU;   Forbes - F;   Foreign Policy - FP;   France 24 - F24;   Freedom House - FH;   Genocide Watch - GW;   Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect - GCR2P;   Human Rights Law Centre - HRLC;   Human Rights Watch - HRW;   International Crisis Group - ICG;   Lawfare Blog - LFB;   Lowy Institute - The Interpreter - Lowy;   Medium - M;   Mirage News - MN;   National Indigenous Times - NIT;   New York Times - NYT [$];   News24;   Pearls and Irritations - PnI;   Political Violence at a Glance - PVG;   Politico - P;   Premium Times Nigeria - PT;   Radio France International - rfi;   Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE);   Reuters - R;   Robert Reich - RR;   (Bruce) Schneier - Sch;   Special Broadcasting Service - SBS;   Star Observer - Star;   Sudan Tribune - ST;   Sydney Morning Herald - SMH;   The Age - TA;   The Big Smoke (TBS);   The East African - TEA;   The Guardian - TG;   The Monthly - TM;   The New Daily - TND;   The Saturday Paper - TSP;   The Shot - TS;   Thomson Reuters Foundation - TRF;   United Nations - UN;   Voice of America - VoA;   War on the Rocks - WotR;   Washington Post - WP [$];   Yahoo News - Yahoo; YouTube - YT;