Category — Human Rights

The US Response to Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, Honduras and now Haiti is simply business (be it military or corporate) as usual for an imperialist and capitalistic regime.  The following is a statement from the International Action Center on Justice for Haiti.

Also there are some excellent informational pieces at Commondreams.org such as Please Don’t Superdome Haiti,  US Accused of Occupying Haiti as Troops Flood In, Disaster Profiteering: US ‘Security’ Companies offer ‘Services’ in Haiti.

Statement from the International Action Center

Justice for Haiti means immediate aid, reparations, debt cancelation, restoration of President Aristide, asylum for all Haitians and self-determination not military occupation.

The International Action Center expresses its full solidarity with the Haitian people at this time of greatest crisis following the devastating Jan.12 earthquake. In the Haitian capital, tens of thousands of lives have been lost and the lives of hundreds of thousands of additional people are at stake. It is essential that there be an all-out effort for immediate and massive humanitarian relief effort.

Tons of supplies could be parachuted to desperate people in immediate need of food and especially water. The delivery of this essential aid, plus the placement of rescue and medical teams must be the priority. Dozens of countries from all over the world, rich and poor, immediately sent hundreds of doctors and emergency medical teams and search and rescue teams and supplies. Cuba already had 344 health workers in Haiti and is ready to send 152 more. [Read more →]

Queers without Borders recognizes ASWAT ~ Palestinian Gay Women Organization (Haifa, Israel) that provides a safe space and serves as a critical resource for Palestinian women who self-identify as lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender or intersex. As they note, their mission is to raise our voices to echo in the corridors of our society, promote our existence to raise public awareness, and create a safe environment for gay Arab women within our Arab and Palestinian society.  According to Aswat, most of their members-enveloped by occupation, homophobia and misogyny-are closeted, and the very existence of these meetings is groundbreaking. Women travel from near and far, while enduring Israeli checkpoints or the loss of critical income from work. For many, it is the only time they can freely discuss their true selves in Arabic.

QWB has linked to a few excellent video’s produced by ASWAT and do check out their website or facebook, to learn much more  about their important work and how all queers around the world can be in solidarity with their amazing work.

From Human Rights Watch
Click here to view in full screen at HRW

On June 23, 2009, the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission released its final Report and proposed Standards to prevent, detect, respond to and monitor sexual abuse of incarcerated or detained individuals throughout the United States. To view the report in detail, click here.

Note: For information regarding prison abolition we refer you to blackandpink.org’s piece on prison abolition. Read Incite’s! Statement Gender Violence and the Prison Industrial Complex. And from wikipedia on alternatives to imprisionment:

Shorter-term strategies include restorative justice models, which primarily work to create healing and accountability without necessarily transforming the cultural context in which harm may have occurred.

Longer-term strategies include transformative justice strategies and what some people call “justice reinvestment.” Unlike some restorative justice practices, transformative justice practices are community-based and are not organized in conjunction with the state. Transformative justice responses to incidences of harm work both to create immediate accountability, intervention, and/or healing, but also prioritize transforming the cultural conditions that fostered the incident in the first place, such as by collectively working to transform the values of survivors’ and aggressors’ social networks. Some networks that have affinity with this approach include INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence and Generation Five, which has convened a National Transformative Justice Working Group.

 The key findings from the report are:

FINDING 1
Protecting prisoners from sexual abuse remains a challenge in correctional facilities across the country. Too often, in what should be secure environments, men, women, and children are raped or abused by other incarcerated individuals and corrections staff. 

FINDING 2
Sexual abuse is not an inevitable feature of incarceration. Leadership matters because corrections administrators can create a culture within facilities that promotes safety instead of one that tolerates abuse. 

FINDING 3
Certain individuals are more at risk of sexual abuse than others. Corrections administrators must routinely do more to identify those who are vulnerable and protect them in ways that do not leave them isolated and without access to rehabilitative programming.  [Read more →]