FROM this week’s news ON: human rights and humanitarian aid - PART ONE OF TWO [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”.

Fromm 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: 

• “‘Correct a black mark in US history’: former prisoners of Abu Ghraib get day in court”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2024/apr/14/abu-ghraib-iraq-torture-abuse   “Jury trial against military contractor CACI over ‘sadistic, blatant and wanton abuses’ comes 20 years after scandal broke”   That scandal was utterly unconscionable   

 

• “‘Unconscionable’: US sends dozens to Haiti on deportation flight”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/18/unconscionable-us-sends-dozens-to-haiti-on-deportation-flight   unconscionable indeed!  
  

 

• “One year of conflict has cast Sudan into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis”   https://theaimn.com/one-year-of-conflict-has-cast-sudan-into-a-catastrophic-humanitarian-crisis/   “Plan International Press Release”   “France hosts international conference on Sudan one year into a ‘forgotten’ war”   https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20240415-france-hosts-aid-conference-for-sudan-a-year-into-forgotten-war   “A yearlong war in Sudan has devastated the country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. Top diplomats and aid groups are meeting Monday in Paris to drum up humanitarian support for the northeastern African nation to prevent further collapse and misery.”   “‘Humanitarian aid in Sudan is constantly being blocked by all the belligerents’”   https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20240416-humanitarian-aid-sudan-constantly-blocked-by-belligerents-humanitarian-conference   “Sudan’s Crisis Requires a New Approach to International Aid”   https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/sudan-s-crisis-requires-a-new-approach-to-international-aid   “A year into the civil war, the humanitarian crisis is only worsening”      “‘Crimes against humanity’ may have been committed in Sudan, says UN chief”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/15/crimes-against-humanity-may-have-been-committed-in-sudan-says-un-chief   “War in Sudan is ‘a crisis of epic proportions’ as atrocities abound”   https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148791   “The world cannot turn its back on Sudan and its neighbours any longer”   https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/4/18/the-world-cannot-turn-its-back-on-sudan-and-its-neighbours-any-longer   I think around eight million people are at risk of hunger becoming famine ... maybe more, according to   “Sudan: Famine risk is real, FAO warns”   https://news.un.org/en/interview/2024/04/1148786   “Across Sudan, 18 million people – more than a third of the population – are going hungry”  
  

• “UN leaders urge ‘wholesale reform’ of global financial architecture”   https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148591   “The Secretary-General and President of the General Assembly ... led the clarion call for urgent reform of the global financial system, notably how to approach debt relief on behalf of the billions of citizens living in the developing world.”    

 

• “Latin America makes it harder for Venezuelan refugees as xenophobia mounts”   https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2024/04/17/latin-america-venezuela-refugees-xenophobia   
  

• “Commentary on the Migration Amendment Bill 2024”   https://theaimn.com/senate-submission-on-migration-amendment-bill-2024/   Prepared by a voluntary refugee advocate for over 11 years. This is well laid out, and makes what I consider to be sound points   
  

 

• “Sydney attacker had ‘mental health issues’ but most people with mental illness aren’t violent”   https://theconversation.com/sydney-attacker-had-mental-health-issues-but-most-people-with-mental-illness-arent-violent-227868   “No matter the circumstances, such acts of violence must be condemned. If mental health issues contribute to such acts, they need to be understood and prevented.   However it’s important to note the vast majority of people with mental illness do not pose a risk of violence to others.”    “Bondi and mental health under attack?”   https://theaimn.com/bondi-and-mental-health-under-attack/   Contrary to the aspersions in some mainstream media outlets, the person who recently committed an act of violence had been treated in the private system, not the public   “Bondi Junction attacker's interactions with police 'forensically' examined amid debate over stop-and-search laws”   https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-16/queensland-wanding-laws-bondi-junction-attack/103709942   “Michael Cope from the Queensland Civil Liberties Council said there would be no benefit from wanding being expanded, only fewer civil liberties.”   Qld will give police powers to do wand searches in shopping centres      

• The best, in my opinion, commentary on the second attack - which was in a church, not a shopping centre - is the following, which addresses the hate and bigotry (including vile homophobia and Islamophobia) of both people involved - and I have to wonder if the rioters afterwards were part of the hang of hundreds of thugs who violently attacked trans people a year or so ago   “Religious violence”   https://theaimn.com/religious-violence/   “What is particularly sad in this case, is that we have an immigrant community which has brought with it the divisions which led to their desire to leave their homeland because of war and religious discrimination and have bought with them the very attitudes they are trying to escape from.”  
  

• “UN report points to yawning gap of inequality in sexual and reproductive health worldwide”   https://apnews.com/article/abortion-un-reproductive-health-sexual-women-7237fdde4bb9c1b2f8f9c445a9e1c197  
  

• “Teen girls post artwork in Melbourne's Hosier Lane, documenting classroom sexism, misogyny”   https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-16/teenage-girls-create-misogyny-artwork-in-hosier-lane-melbourne/103698962   

• “Victorian Public Servants To Receive Paid Period, Reproductive and Menopause Leave”   https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/victorian-public-servants-to-receive-paid-period-reproductive-and-menopause-leave/230005    

• “‘I was severely stalked and severely abused’: Richard Gadd on the true story behind Baby Reindeer”   https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/apr/18/i-was-severely-stalked-and-severely-abused-richard-gadd-on-the-true-story-behind-baby-reindeer   Covers sexual violence against men, and women stalking men  
  

 

• “Annoying Queer People Are Not Why We're Oppressed”   https://drdevonprice.substack.com/p/annoying-queer-people-are-not-the  “I Don’t Feel Safe Around Cis Women”   https://drdevonprice.substack.com/p/i-dont-feel-safe-around-cis-women   “No identity promises safety”  

• “Germany Passes Self-Determination Act To Allow Individuals 14 and Over to Change Name and Gender”   https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/germany-passes-self-determination-act-to-allow-individuals-14-and-over-to-change-name-and-gender/230044   
  

 

• “Crisis communication saves lives – but people with disability often aren’t given the message”   https://theconversation.com/crisis-communication-saves-lives-but-people-with-disability-often-arent-given-the-message-224968  

• “More adults are being diagnosed as neurodivergent. Here’s how employers can help in the workplace”   https://theconversation.com/more-adults-are-being-diagnosed-as-neurodivergent-heres-how-employers-can-help-in-the-workplace-225882   

• “Report explores and recommends peer support networks for U.S. journalists facing online abuse”   https://journalistsresource.org/home/peer-support-networks-for-journalists-facing-online-abuse-pen-america/   “The PEN America report fills an important gap in knowledge about the existing structures of peer support networks inside and outside of the news industry and journalists’ general views and needs for peer support.”   These principles need to apply elsewhere as well.   

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/