Some human rights and other news links [Note: Content Warning - reader discretion is advised!] and thoughts - Saturday 19th November, 2022

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, wear a face mask in public if prudent to do so, and follow informed medical advice.

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.

• a powerful criticism of the attitudes of many people - which applies across many areas, which is why it is here (M); 
  
• on the CLIMATE CRISIS (noting the UNFCCC) and ENVIRONMENT (noting multiple  international agreements): 
• renewables in Africa (DW);   a speculation on a carbon tax for the super-rich (DW):   an examination of the concept of degrowth (CNN);   “‘toxic cover-up’: 6 lessons Australia can draw from the UN’s scathing report on greenwashing” (TC);   criticism of a major Australian mining company for “no longer leading nor even following” (ACCR);   the devastating rains in eastern Australia will also break the drought in the Murray-Darling system (TG);   climate change worsens the disadvantage of Indigenous communities (TC);   the G7 has launched a scheme to aid poorer nations hit by climate disasters, but this is not a real reparations/transition/preparation scheme (DW);   “Africa will lose 64% of GDP to climate change by 2100” (Q);   a soundly based call for hope (YT);   weather changes are happening 40 years earlier than anticipated (TC);   “scientists warn a third of people face life in climate hotspots” (CT);   “the Pacific nation of Tuvalu is planning to create a version of itself in the metaverse, as a response to the existential threat of rising sea levels” (TC);  a mass fish kill in Qld may be due to a heatwave (ABC);   the inherent failures of building in flood plains, despite Indigenous and other knowledge (TC);   “Brazil, Indonesia and Congo sign rainforest protection pact” (NYT [$]);  
  
• on COP27:   daily updates here, here, here, here, here, here;   the UN is investigating misconduct by Egyptian police (AP);   criticism of the first draft statement (TG) - including for rich nations letting down poor nations (TC) ... see also here (UN), and the omission of fossils (DW); 
  
• “you are now one of 8 billion humans alive today. Let’s talk overpopulation – and why low income countries aren’t the issue“ (TC);   despite the claims of the vested interests of the plastic industry, recycling is NOT a silver bullet (TC);   “US approves largest dam removal in history to save endangered salmon” (TG);   air pollution is killing hundreds of thousands in Africa (PT);   “what do rivers want?“ (Aeon);  
  
• climate / environmental issues have also occurred in:   Africa (WP [$]),   a company boardroom (TC),   Nepal (good news) (The Indian Express),   methane pollution (DW);
  
  
• 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: 
• violent clashes with police against lockdowns in China (TND) - and on social media, over the death of a four month baby withOUT COVID (TG);   more (TC) on the next (TND) wave (TG);  
  
  
• on NATURAL and OTHER DISASTERS (noting Article 1(3) of the UN Charter): 
  
• a building collapse in France (F24);   Tigray is now getting aid, in a conflict that has likely killed at least three times more people than in Ukraine (DW);   cholera in Haiti (UN);   food crisis in Peru (UN);   access to shoes could prevent a major tropical disease (TG);   floods in eastern Australia (TND);  
  
  
• 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:   amongst a flurry of missile launches and defensive measures, one missile landed in Poland and killed two people (TND), but is likely to have been the misfire of an old Russian anti-aircraft missile used by Ukraine (DW);   there is still a risk of a “spillover war” (UN);  
  
• on human rights in the region and globally:   an Australian billionaire has pledged A$744 million towards rebuilding Ukraine, and will try to attract investors (ABC);  more on human rights abuses (UN);   the grain export initiative has been extended (UN);   millions of Ukrainians are facing a European winter without power (TND); 
  
• internationally:   “Belarus opposition leader ... said ... her country was under de facto “military occupation” by Russia as she urged the EU to maintain pressure on the regime” (Barrons);   the UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for reparations from Russia (UN);   Russia is pushing military diplomacy in Africa (DW):   
   
• on INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (noting the UN Charter [particularly Chapters VI and VII] and numerous  international  treaties): 
• on the G20 summit: see here (TC), here (DW), and here (TG);  
  
• the USA given (R) the Saudi crown prince immunity (TND) in relation to the gruesome murder of a US-Saudi journalist (in the event of major crimes, such as crimes against humanity, sovereign leaders DO NOT have immunity; there seems to be a grey area about so-called “lesser” crimes such as murder. In any case, a warrant is required for an arrest to be made - and those seem to be after the leader has left power. That is not good enough - human abusers need to be held accountable, and no-one should be above the law, no matter what their job is. The USA is particularly regressive on this matter - I suspect because they think they are better than us, and should be able to commit war crimes, torture, kidnapping, etc whenever they want. Disagree, USA? Prove it is not so);  
  
• the relationship between Australia and China is improving (TND);   “the entire credibility and relevance of the United Nations will be called into question unless the General Assembly finally takes a lead on reforming the Organisation’s most powerful body responsible for peace and security issues, the Security Council” (UN);   New Zealand's PM has said “she must be able to raise concerns in Xi Jinping meeting without ‘retaliatory acts’” (TG);  
  
• 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:   Kenyan peacekeepers have arrived in France (F24) - see also this (VoA);   narcissists have longer wars (PVG);   the peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic has been extended (AN);   the latest missile fired by North Korea could (F24) potentially (TG) have reached the USA (TG);   “seventy five countries led by the US, UK and France are expected to sign a declaration ... to refrain from urban bombing, the first time countries have agreed to curb the use of explosive weapons in populated areas... but ... not Russia, China, Israel, India or Ukraine” (TG);
   
• on CORRUPTION (noting international  agreements and monitoring), MISGOVERNANCE, MAL-/MIS-/NON-FEASANCE, MISCONDUCT and THREATS TO DEMOCRACY/FREEDOM: 
• on cyberhacks:   on the deliberately vicious criminals in Russia and eastern Europe who likely committed at least one of the recent hacks in Australia (TC);   an examination of the topic of banning cyber-ransoms (TC);   dataveillance (CT);   “Australian special forces member allegedly stole and published personal data of intelligence official” (TG);   an opinion that Australian companies don’t value keeping data safe as “they have nothing to lose” (TG);   concerns over use of data collected by a rental company (TG);  
  
• the vested POTUS45-linked (TG) interests of the mining industry (TG) are threatening an attack ad campaign unless the government caves in to demands for guarantees of no windfall tax - and even just taxing gas companies properly would bring staggering levels of additional revenue (TG);   a claim that people in my home state have lost $66 billion through gambling is too low (ABC);  “”Seoul crowd crush: history suggests authorities may try to blame the victims (TC);   public officials sent xenophobic threats to asylum seekers without Ministerial approval, thereby showing, IMO,  the problems of a public service that has been infested by nine years of neoliberal hate (ABC);   the US child “welfare” system (YT - HRW);   in Nigeria, “when greed governs, profits rise and buildings fall” (MG);  
  
  
• on DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE (noting Article 25 of the ICCPR and monitoring  projects): 
• globally:   some thoughts on political issues including “moral outsourcing”;   a rebuttal of some right wing extremism conspiracy fantasies on masculinity (YT);   women and other minorities are canary-in-the-mine indicators of problems with democracy (M);   gambling losses come predominantly from the poor (TG) - see also this (TG);   elections are underway in Türkiye (WotR);   the USA remains fairly evenly split (TG);   “despite restrictions, citizens conducted hundreds of protests across China in recent months” (FH);   the destructiveness of chokepoint capitalism (TC);   possible moves towards democracy in Sudan (ST);  
  
• in Australia:   a call to NOT use the above-the-line voting system (TG);   “PM Anthony Albanese and his intrepid band of leftie ministers are soon going to have to start doing something that they appear strangely unenthusiastic about – telling companies what to do” (TND);   chronic pain sufferers may be left in pain by proposed (TND) restrictions (SBS) on access to pain relief;  
  
• suppression of dissent / media in   Tunisia (GE);
  democracy is also at risk in   Libya (UN); 
  
  
• on HUMAN RIGHTS (noting the various rights and treaties summarised here, IHL, Article 5 of the Rome Statute founding the ICC): 
• on the protests in Iran:   hundreds have been killed (CNN), and Iran has, for the first time in this event, sentenced a protestor to death (F24);   the EU may impose more sanctions (BB);   protestors in Iran are also marking the anniversary of the violent suppression of 2019 (F24) as police again use violent suppression (TG - CW: graphic violence);   
• atrocities by Russian soldiers (“mercenaries”) in Mali are giving violent extremists ammunition for propaganda (VoA);   concerns about soccer (CNN) as Qatar belatedly apologises for suppressing media reporting - with threats (TG), and a fact check is published on how many people Qatar harmed in the building of venues - and in what ways (DW);   “UN Experts urged to intervene over protesters arrested in Sudan” (ST);   a call for more action against child abuse (UN);  
  
• human rights are at risk or abuses have also occurred in:   Belarus (HRW),   USA (TG),   Qatar (TG);
  
• violence in:   Türkiye (R),   Israel-Syria (R),   Somalia (news24),   PNG (ABC);
  
  
• noting the GENOCIDE  Convention:   an atrocity alert for DRC, Burma and Mali (GCR2P);  
  
  
• noting the conventions and the Global Compact on REFUGEES:   a call for a cessation of forced returns of asylum seekers to eastern DRC (UN);  
  more refugee issues:   Türkiye (HRW)
  
  
• noting the Yogyakarta Principles on LGBTIQ+ PEOPLE:   a US state is repeating the LGBTIQA+phobias of 1930s Germany (M);   “the first place in Australia to ban discrimination on the basis of homosexuality now has the worst LGBTQ+ legal protections” (TG);  
  
  
• noting ICERD and DRIP on RACISM:   white supremacist biases in air travel “security” (theatre) (M);   as the head of Qld police's First Nations unit is investigated for alleged racism (TG), criticism of the handling of a whistleblower’s recordings of violent racist comments by Qld police (TG), and police reactions appear to show their true white supremacist colours (TG), but the NT police officer whose killing of an Indigenous man sparked an inquest (which has heard a police expert describe that officer’s approach as “heavy-handed” (TG)) claims he has been banned from all police stations (TG) ... but still is employed (TG);   “ 'mean-spirited' reparations program putting off Stolen Generations survivors from applying” (NITV);   “Traditional Owners should be able to speak for their own country” (“go out on country and get the consent of Traditional Owners: that’s the message government sends companies on major projects. But the government is not doing the same on the Voice”) (NIT);   cultural healing in the Kimberley (TG);   the ongoing problem of unsafe drinking water in Indigenous communities (TC);   “NT child removals plan [in a “a desperate attempt to be seen to be doing something about the chronic under-funding of therapeutic programs for young people in the Territory”] has “deeply traumatic echoes” of Howard’s intervention” (NIT);   “activists continue fight against Amazon’s Africa HQ on historic cultural land” (VoA);   “a Noongar woman whose teenage son was seriously injured in an apparent vigilante attack says she has been threatened and abused online, but has urged supporters not to retaliate” (TG);   “Alice Springs youth crime: Grandmothers call for return to country — not custody” (ABC);  
  
  
• noting CEDAW on SEXISM:    more men than women are now reporting being victims of revenge porn (TG);    the violent misogynists in power in Afghanistan have implemented their full-hate-women regime (TG);   a magistrate has been removed for sexual harassment (ABC);   “other people’s reproduction plans are none of our business!” (M);   most businesses are struggling to cope with the effects of domestic violence (ABC);  
  more sexism issues:   Zimbabwe (MG); 
  
  
• 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:   research by an expert suggests our prison population could be reduced by one third (non-violent offenders) without risk to the broader Australian population (TG);   dangerous and painful restraint of teenager in jails (ABC);   
  
  
• noting the CRC on CHILDREN:   “Catholic church pressuring alleged victims of dead paedophile priests to accept ‘paltry’ payouts, lawyers say” (TG);  
  
  
• noting the CRPD on PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES:   all terrain wheelchairs (WP [$]) - see also this guide;  
  
  
• 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:   “stapling” young workers to their first fund risks leaving young workers without adequate cover (SMH);   more gig economy problems (TC);   hardline attitudes to working conditions are costing companies - and societies resources - see here (YT - NYT), here (TND), and my thoughts here;   
   
• more criticism of social media attempts to manufacture “kindness” videos (ABC);  
  

(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:   Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project - ACLED;   Aeon Magazine - Aeon;   Africa Centre for Strategic Studies - ACSS;   Africa News - AN;   Al Jazeera - AJ;   Amnesty International - AI;   Associated Press - AP;   Australian Associated Press - AAP;   Australian Broadcasting Corporation - ABC;   Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility - ACCR;   Australian Independent Media Network - AIMN;   Australian Unions - AU;   Barrons;   Bellingcat (B);   Bloomberg - BB;   Brisbane Times - BT;   British Broadcasting Commission - BBC;   Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - BAS;   Cable News Network - CNN;   Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - CBC;   Centre for Strategic and International Studies - CSIS;   Committee to Protect Journalists - CPJ;   Context - CT;   the (US) Council on Foreign Relations (CFR);   Crikey - C [$];   Dabanga Sudan - DS;   Deutsche Welle - DW;   European Union - EU;   Forbes - F;   Foreign Policy - FP;   France 24 - F24;   Freedom House - FH;   Genocide Watch - GW;   Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect - GCR2P;   Globe Echo - GE;   HumAngle - HmA;   Human Rights Law Centre - HRLC;   Human Rights Watch - HRW;   Independent Australia - IA;   International Crisis Group - ICG;   Just Equal - JE;   Lawfare Blog - LFB;   Lowy Institute - The Interpreter - Lowy;   Mail & Guardian - MG;   mainstream media - MSM;   Medium - M;   Michael West (news media platform) - MW;   Minority Rights Group - MRG;   Mirage News - MN;   Nation Africa - NA;   National Indigenous Television - NITV;   National Indigenous Times - NIT;   New York Times - NYT [$];   News24;   North Africa Post - NAP;   Out in Perth - OiP;   Pearls and Irritations - PnI;   Political Violence at a Glance - PVG;   Politico - P;   Premium Times Nigeria - PT;   Q News - QN;   Quartz - Q;   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 National Tribune - tNT;   The New Daily - TND;   The Saturday Paper - TSP;   The Sentry - TS;   The Shot - TS;   Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA;   United Nations - UN;   Voice of America - VoA;   Wall Street Journal - WSJ [$];   War on the Rocks - WotR;   Washington Post - WP [$];   Wikipedia - WP;   Yahoo News - Yahoo; YouTube - YT;