FROM this week’s news ON: human rights and humanitarian aid [Note: Content Warning - links to distressing reports on this topic. Reader discretion is advised]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/. 

Note: in my “from the news” posts, quotes are shown italicised and blue, my comments are in a different shade of blue, and “good” items are shown in green. I have loosely grouped the posts where such seemed reasonable, but that is subjective (i.e., my opinion - others are free to disagree), and challenging, as some posts belong in multiple “groups”.

From this week’s news on human rights (note: I may continue to add links for a few days, possibly up to a week, after these are published), noting that many issues have probably not made it into the news that I see: 

• an Atrocity Alert for Haiti, Sudan and Yemen   https://www.globalr2p.org/publications/atrocity-alert-no-379/    

• “UN expert says human rights violations rage on in Sudan”   https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1145787   
  

• “Iran urged to halt ‘horrific wave of executions’”   https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1145812   

 

• ““Ongoing Failure”: Open letter criticises Victorian government's anti-torture protocol delays”   https://nit.com.au/22-01-2024/9389/ongoing-failure-open-letter-criticises-victorian-government-delay-in-implementing-anti-torture-protocol   “The open letter ... highlighted the "mistreatment of children in the state’s youth prisons and cited the Victorian Government's "ongoing failure to enact the safeguards that Australia has signed up to under international human rights law””    

• “The shockingly high rate of violence against Indigenous women shows the long tail of colonisation”   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/25/the-shockingly-high-rates-of-violence-against-indigenous-women-demonstrates-the-long-tail-of-colonisation   “When Aboriginal women seek help, they are more likely to face discrimination or not receive a timely response from the systems supposed to protect us all”   

• A The Guardian exclusive reports   “Labor urged to press on with stalled treaty body after failed voice vote”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/26/labor-urged-to-press-on-with-stalled-treaty-body-after-failed-voice-vote   “Exclusive: Indigenous leader Marcus Stewart says ‘more need than ever’ for Makarrata commission after referendum highlights disparities”  
  

• “Victorian opposition drops support for treaty, citing [alleged] ‘issues around cultural heritage’”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/22/victoria-opposition-drops-support-for-indigenous-treaty    I consider this likely more fallout from the failed Voice referendum, which encouraged racists ... However, their claimed arguments are rubbish - what is divisive is continuing a society founded on theft and allowing residual white supremacism   See also   “Spectre of irrelevance hangs over John Pesutto as backflip on treaty blind-sides Victorian Coalition MPs | Victorian politics | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/23/john-pesutto-treaty-victoria-coalition-mp-press-conference-indigenous-australians   and   “Victorian government slam Coalition's abandoning of support for Treaty”   https://nit.com.au/22-01-2024/9394/victorian-government-slam-coalitions-abandoning-of-support-for-treaty  
  

• a The Guardian exclusive reports   “Families accuse Queensland police of racially profiling Indigenous children after alleged assault by vigilantes”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/23/families-accuse-queensland-police-of-racially-profiling-indigenous-children-after-alleged-assault-by-vigilantes   “Exclusive: Complaint made over police response to three children who were allegedly restrained with dog collars by accused vigilantes in Mareeba”      “Cairns watch house worker sounds alarm over ‘massive deterioration’ in children’s physical and mental health | Youth justice | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/23/queensland-youth-detention-cairns-watch-house-children-physical-mental-health  
  

• The Minority Rights Group has a new website   https://minorityrights.org/   including map   https://minorityrights.org/world-map/   and improved access to resources   

• “‘Disturbing’ findings of NSW evacuation centre violence and sexual assaults triggers safety protocols review | New South Wales | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/24/nsw-evacuation-centre-safety-protocols-review-violence-sexual-assaults-lismore-floods   

• “The [Australian] government has announced the scope of its sexual violence inquiry. Here’s what it gets right (and what it doesn’t)”   https://theconversation.com/the-government-has-announced-the-scope-of-its-sexual-violence-inquiry-heres-what-it-gets-right-and-what-it-doesnt-221733    

• “Luis Rubiales should stand trial over World Cup kiss, judge says | SBS News”   https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/luis-rubiales-should-stand-trial-over-world-cup-kiss-judge-says/yxyumlibe   Good. The judge also said others should be tried  
  

• possibly phobic behaviour by protestors against the genocide in Gaza:   “Rainbow Labor’s Stall At Midsumma Carnival Targeted”   https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/rainbow-labors-stall-at-midsumma-carnival-targeted/228139   “Witnesses said that Rainbow Labor and Victoria Police stalls were among those targeted by protestors.    ...   “They were shouting slogans against the Labor party over the Gaza war””   

• From the UK:   “Are gender critical beliefs protected in law? No!”   https://medium.com/@notCursedE/are-gender-critical-beliefs-protected-in-law-no-7166034e3f6f   “Following a recent transphobe employment tribunal it seems once again we have to deal with the myth suggesting gender critical beliefs are protected in law. Often citing Forstater’s case against CGD; every single person saying this is objectively wrong.   ...   “This judgment does not mean that those with gender-critical beliefs can ‘misgender’ trans persons with impunity. The Claimant, like everyone else, will continue to be subject to the prohibitions on discrimination and harassment under the Equality Act””   
  

• “Now Boarding Air Anya Flight to LGBT Safety Online”   https://youtu.be/VhICBFlaG38?si=jE1w3h2h4cSGrccL   “We are calling on [social media] to do more to make their social media platforms safe for LGBT users who face digital targeting and severe offline consequences including detention and torture”   See also   “#SecureOurSocials”   https://qnews.com.au/secureoursocials-meta-should-lead-the-way/  
  

• “Jo Phoenix and women being bullied out of work”   https://medium.com/@notCursedE/jo-phoenix-and-women-being-bullied-out-of-work-a4234d48bb59   “Anti-trans claims of women being bullied out of work have hit social media after Jo Phoenix wins tribunal for unfair dismissal over her “gender critical” ie transphobic views   ...   The real scoop here is that yes, women being bullied out of work is definitely a thing that is happening — but more often than not its actually transgender people — with an emphasis on transgender women in particular — being targeted for this. Alongside our allies, supporters and even family members facing similar challenges and targeted abuse for refusing to spit on us whenever they see us in person”   

• “The Gender Pain Gap Revealed – And Women Aren‘t Surprised | Premier of Victoria”   https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/gender-pain-gap-revealed-and-women-arent-surprised   The gap is not only financial   See also   “Symptoms of menopause can make it harder to work. Here’s what employers should be doing”   https://theconversation.com/symptoms-of-menopause-can-make-it-harder-to-work-heres-what-employers-should-be-doing-219314   and   “How both health and safety are compromised for people living with long COVID and intimate partner violence”   https://theconversation.com/how-both-health-and-safety-are-compromised-for-people-living-with-long-covid-and-intimate-partner-violence-221413  

• “More forced marriages and worker exploitation – why Australia needs an anti-slavery commissioner”   https://theconversation.com/more-forced-marriages-and-worker-exploitation-why-australia-needs-an-anti-slavery-commissioner-221318   

• “Aged care residents only receiving appropriate care half the time, world-first Australian study finds”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/23/aged-care-retirement-home-residents-study-data  
  

 

My links for activism post may aid any activism you may decide to do on any/all of these. If you do, don’t get too fixated on specific instances of problems - important though they may well be: take a moment to also consider the broader issues these incidents and groups of incidents may suggest/reveal.

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

• this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/