Our featured image shows our beloved Miriam, a great human rights defender

HE WHO PERMITS OPPRESSION PERMITS CRIMES.-Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHARITY CORNER

This week we turn our attention to Amnesty International, a major human rights organization. It serves us on this blog by providing urgent action information. It is worthy not only of your donation but also of your active participation in its campaigns.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Indigenous tribes do not simply die out. They are killed by the actions of so-called civilized nations. Survival International provides a long list of cases in which a letter from you can and will make a difference. Please open this link and write at least one letter. This link will be a permanent feature on our blog and we would be grateful if you gave it a bit of attention each week. We suggest going down the list in the order given. The letters are pre-written for you. All you need to do is send them. It would be nice also if a donation to Survival International could be forthcoming. They are the best conservationists--help that fact go viral.

A major calamity for indigenous people is enforced contact which can be deadly. Please act for people on the Peruvian contact border.

You can download this book

Look for these logos:

 

 

 

 

 

Find a campaign to work for. Light must be made to shine in the darkest of places. We invite you to join Freedom United        and lend your voice to the call to stop the persecution of anti-slavery activists in Mauritania.

 

URGENT ACTION CASES

SOUTH SUDAN

Urgent Action Victory! President Pardons Two Men Sentenced to Death

James Gatdet and William Endley received a presidential pardon on 31 October 2018. The president also ordered the immediate deportation of William Endley to his home country, South Africa. They were released on 2 November.

 

 

James Gatdet and William Endley received a presidential pardon on 31 October 2018. The president also ordered the immediate deportation of William Endley to his home country, South Africa. They were released on 2 November.

James Gatdet, the former spokesman for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army – In Opposition (SPLA-IO), and William Endley, a South African national and former adviser to the South Sudanese opposition leader, Riek Machar, were released on 2 November. Their release comes after they were granted a pardon by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir during celebrations attended by Riek Machar in the capital Juba, marking the latest peace agreement aimed at ending nearly five years of armed conflict in the country. The president also ordered the immediate deportation of William Endley back to South Africa.

James Gatdet was sentenced to death on 12 February after he was convicted of treason, while William Endley was convicted and sentenced to death on 23 February for espionage, terrorism, spying and attempts to overthrow a constitutionally-established government.

Thank you to all those who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network.

PAKISTAN

Urgent Action: Christian Woman Accused of Blasphemy at Risk

Aasia Noreen, known as Aasia Bibi, is a Christian farmworker who was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 2010. Despite being acquitted of all charges by the Supreme Court, the Pakistani government gave in to demands by a violent mob, stopping her from leaving the country and having the Supreme Court review its ruling.

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HONG KONG

Urgent Action: Nine Umbrella Movement Leaders to Stand Trial

Nine leaders of the 2014 Hong Kong pro-democracy protests are being charged with three vague and ambiguous offences, each facing a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment. The continued prosecution of prominent figures of the Umbrella Movement is having a chilling effect on freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.

TAKE ACTION

BURUNDI

The Government of Burundi has failed to take effective measures to bring perpetrators of gross human rights violations to justice. Act to demand accountability

TAKE ACTION

QATAR

Qatar: World Cup migrant workers unpaid for months

An engineering company involved in building infrastructure linked to the 2022 FIFA World Cup took advantage of Qatar’s notorious sponsorship system to exploit scores of migrant workers.

Mercury MENA failed to pay its workers thousands of dollars in wages and work benefits, leaving them stranded and penniless in Qatar. Please open the link and shore via all your social media. Shame the exploiters into paying their workers.

Our featured image shows our beloved Miriam, a great human rights defender.

HE WHO PERMITS OPPRESSION PERMITS CRIMES.-Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHARITY CORNER

This week we turn our attention to HIAS Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society .

HIAS works around the world to protect refugees who have been forced to flee their homelands because of who they are, including ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. For more than 130 years, HIAS has been helping refugees rebuild their lives in safety and dignity.

The killer in the Pittsburgh synagogue was targeting the work of HIAS> Please make a donation in the memory of the victims.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Indigenous tribes do not simply die out. They are killed by the actions of so-called civilized nations. Survival International provides a long list of cases in which a letter from you can and will make a difference. Please open this link and write at least one letter. This link will be a permanent feature on our blog and we would be grateful if you gave it a bit of attention each week. We suggest going down the list in the order given. The letters are pre-written for you. All you need to do is send them. It would be nice also if a donation to Survival International could be forthcoming. They are the best conservationists--help that fact go viral.

A major calamity for indigenous people is enforced contact which can be deadly. Please act for people such as the tribes of the Congo basin.

You can download this book

Look for these logos:

 

 

 

 

 

Find a campaign to work for. Light must be made to shine in the darkest of places. We invite you to join Freedom United        and lend your voice to the call to the government of Australia to enact  a strong and robust Modern Slavery Act that sets new global standards in protecting victims and holding businesses accountable, other nations will have a higher bar to follow — resulting in better protections for victims and survivors both regionally and all over the world.

 

 

URGENT ACTION CASES

ISRAEL/OPT

Urgent Action Victory! Palestinian NGO Worker Released

On 30 September, Salah Hammouri, French-Palestinian lawyer and NGO worker, was released from Ketziot prison in southern Israel. He had spent one year in administrative detention without charge or trial.

On 30 September, a French-Palestinian NGO worker and lawyer Salah Hammouri was released from Ketziot prison in southern Israel, after spending 378 days in administrative detention without charge or trial. Salah Hammouri works as a field researcher in Jerusalem for Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian human rights organization based in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. According to Addameer, Salah Hammouri’s release came after an Israeli judge ruled to not renew his administrative detention again. He has now returned to his home in the neighbourhood of Kafr Aqab, in occupied East Jerusalem.

On 17 August 2017, Israel’s Minister of Defence Avigdor Lieberman issued a six-month administrative detention order against Salah Hammouri. Consequently, he was arrested during an overnight raid on 23 August 2017, at his home in occupied East Jerusalem. On 5 September, the day of the hearing to confirm the six-month administrative detention order, an Israeli district court in Jerusalem decided instead to reinstate a three-month sentence, the remainder of a previous prison sentence Salah Hammouri had served following a conviction in 2005. However, on 13 September, Israel’s High Court ruled in favour of the prosecution’s appeal against reinstating the sentence and approved placing him under administrative detention for six months. And on 17 September, the Israeli District Court confirmed the initial six-month administrative detention order, which was renewed twice by the same court on 5 March and 27 June, each time for a further four months.

In February 2016, the Israeli authorities deported and banned Salah Hammouri’s wife Elsa Lefort, also a French national, from entering the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and Israel, after detaining her for three days at a detention centre near Ben Gurion airport. She and their two-year-old child have not been able to see Salah Hammouri since his arrest.

Salah Hammouri spoke to Amnesty International after his release and delivered the following message of thanks to all those who took action on his behalf: “Despite my deprivation of liberty, I had no doubt that the mobilization would grow in support of my case. I had no doubt that supporters from all over the world would stand again to denounce the injustice and arbitrary detention and to demand my release.’’

He added: ‘’This was a real hope for me, for my family, for my wife and son that I have not seen in over a year. I thank you all sincerely. I want to tell you that I will be worthy of the support you are giving me and keep fighting the injustice that strikes us. Our freedom is not for sale, even if we sometimes pay a very high price. The Palestinian people, like all others, should live freely. The fact that you do not intend to give up, gives me and others so much strength to continue our struggle against the occupation. The support and mobilization should continue until the release of all Palestinian political prisoners and detainees, including my colleagues from Addameer Ayman Nasser and Khalida Jarrar, which are cases that Amnesty International continues to campaign on.’’

Thank you to all those who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

Urgent Action: Human Rights Defender Brutally Attacked

Alfredo Okenve, an Equatorial Guinea human rights defender was brutally attacked on 27 October by unknown armed men. He was later abandoned in a lonely area outside the city of Bata, Equatorial Guinea’s capital.

TAKE ACTION

INDONESIA

End Shackling in Indonesia

In 2016, Human Rights Watch exposed the shackling of 18,000 people with psychosocial disabilities in Indonesia. Since then the government took promising steps to rescue people from chains while raising awareness and providing services. However, today, more than 12,800 people are still shackled—to beds, cement blocks, or in animal pens. Help end shackling once and for all by calling on the Indonesian government to monitor and end the practice of shackling inside institutions.

TAKE ACTION

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

 

 

Urgent action update: Two Missing Prisoners Found; Torture Fears Remain

After weeks of uncertainty about the fate and whereabouts of IT specialist Victor Filinkov and civil society activist Yuliy Boyarshinov, on 31 October the two men were confirmed to being held at pre-trial detention centers in St. Petersburg, Russia. The authorities failed to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the two men, despite them being in their custody, which amounts to an enforced disappearance. Their allegations of torture and ill-treatment remain un-investigated and there are serious concerns for Victor Filinkov’s health.

TAKE ACTION

MYANMAR

Urgent Action: Activist Charged for Peaceful Anti-Military Protest

Activist Tin Maung Kyi has been detained for staging a peaceful solo protest calling on the international community to arrest senior Myanmar generals. He has been charged under laws often used to silence peaceful activists and faces up to two years and one month in prison if found guilty. He must be immediately and unconditionally released.

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TURKEY

Turkey, the most notorious country in the world in terms of jailing journalists, with 237 currently behind bars, has also come after foreign reporters in an ever-escalating crackdown on freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

Dozens of foreign reporters have faced administrative and legal action including false imprisonment by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which is bent on silencing all critical voices in Turkey including local, regional, national and even foreign ones.

A new report by the Stockholm Center for Freedom titled “The Clampdown on Foreign Journalists in Turkey” explains in detail how reporters from other countries face serious obstacles in Turkey that at times suggest a deliberate, systematic and calibrated policy by the government is in fact being implemented.

Please download this report and post it on all your media–make it go viral.

Our featured image shows our beloved Miriam (1947-2012), a great human rights defender

HE WHO PERMITS OPPRESSION PERMITS CRIMES.-Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHARITY CORNER

This week we turn our attention to Human Rights Watch, a major worldwide human rights defense organization..

MISSION STATEMENT
Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all.

The organization is rated highly  by both Charity Watch and Charity Navigator.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Indigenous tribes do not simply die out. They are killed by the actions of so-called civilized nations. Survival International provides a long list of cases in which a letter from you can and will make a difference. Please open this link and write at least one letter. This link will be a permanent feature on our blog and we would be grateful if you gave it a bit of attention each week. We suggest going down the list in the order given. The letters are pre-written for you. All you need to do is send them. It would be nice also if a donation to Survival International could be forthcoming. They are the best conservationists--help that fact go viral.

A major calamity for indigenous people is theft of their land. Please protest.

You can download this book

Look for these logos:

 

 

 

 

 

Find a campaign to work for. Light must be made to shine in the darkest of places. We invite you to join Freedom United        and lend your voice to the call to end forced child marriage in Niger.

URGENT ACTION CASES

Write for Rights 2018

Please sign up for the annual write for rights campaign. 11 cases of human rights defenders — all of them involving women — are counting on you. Some are in jail. Others under dire threat. All of them targeted for their human rights work.

Your voice can break the chains of injustice that thwart their work and put them at risk. Sign up for Write for Rights 2018, Amnesty’s most important annual human rights campaign.

SAUDI ARABIA-CAR MAKERS

Tell Car Companies To Do The Right Thing

When the Saudi government agreed to let women drive, major car companies publicly and rightly hailed that development. It was a step towards equality for women in the Kingdom and created a lucrative new market for the industry. Now, the courageous women that fought for their right to drive are being arrested, jailed, and harassed. It is a cruel irony that the women who fought for equality are in jail while the companies stand to make millions from the market those women have helped create. They should tell the government to stop going after these activists.

VENEZUELA

Venezuela is facing a heartbreaking human rights and humanitarian crisis that President Maduro’s administration denies is happening. His government is brutally cracking down on dissent while severe food and medicine shortages make it near impossible for many Venezuelans to feed their children and access the most basic healthcare. Infant mortality rates are soaring. According to the New York Times, hundreds of children have died from severe malnutrition. Some Latin American leaders are speaking up, while others are ambiguous or worse, silent. It is time to join together and tell Maduro that enough is enough!

PLEASE ACT

USA

Urgent Action: Mother and Son Separated by Border Authorities

In March, Valquira and her seven-year-old son Abel* fled Brazil and requested asylum in the US after death threats from drug traffickers. US border authorities forcible separated them and continue to detain Valquiria. The extreme anguish she and her son are experiencing may amount to torture. US immigration authorities must immediately free Valquiria while she pursues her asylum claim.

TAKE ACTION

CHINA

Urgent Action Update: Poor Medical Treatment for Detained Activist

Huang Qi, founder and director of Sichuan-based human rights website “64 Tianwang”, has told his lawyer that his health has further deteriorated due to the lack of appropriate medical treatment in the detention centre. Already facing the possibility of life imprisonment, Huang Qi has been notified that he will also be charged with “leaking state secrets”, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

TAKE ACTION

MEXICO

Urgent Action: Indigenous Environmental Rights Defender Killed

Julián Carrillo was shot death on 24 October, after receiving several death threats for his work defending the territory of his Indigenous community in Mexico. He is the latest death in a series of killings, including several members of his family and Indigenous authorities. The community fears that other attacks could take place.

TAKE ACTION

 

 

 

Our featured image shows our beloved Miriam (1947-2012), a great human rights defender.

HE WHO PERMITS OPPRESSION PERMITS CRIMES.-Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHARITY CORNER

This week we turn our attention Oxfam International and its attempts to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In particular, the issue of polluted water is of utmost importance and danger.  As of now less than four percent of fresh water is drinkable and the surrounding sea is polluted by sewage. A concerted effort by the international community with the cooperation of Israel is needed, but does not appear to be coming. Please support the efforts of Oxfam  to mitigate the crisis.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Indigenous tribes do not simply die out. They are killed by the actions of so-called civilized nations. Survival International provides a long list of cases in which a letter from you can and will make a difference. Please open this link and write at least one letter. This link will be a permanent feature on our blog and we would be grateful if you gave it a bit of attention each week. We suggest going down the list in the order given. The letters are pre-written for you. All you need to do is send them. It would be nice also if a donation to Survival International could be forthcoming. They are the best conservationists--help that fact go viral.

A major calamity for indigenous people is enforced contact which can be deadly. Please act for people on the Peruvian contact border.

You can download this book

Look for these logos:

 

 

 

 

 

Find a campaign to work for. Light must be made to shine in the darkest of places. We invite you to join Freedom United        and lend your voice to the call to help HAART (Awareness Against Human Trafficking) HAART .is a non-governmental organization based in Nairobi,) Kenya to fight human trafficking.

Write for Rights 2018

Please sign up for the annual write for rights campaign. 11 cases of human rights defenders — all of them involving women — are counting on you. Some are in jail. Others under dire threat. All of them targeted for their human rights work.

Your voice can break the chains of injustice that thwart their work and put them at risk. Sign up for Write for Rights 2018, Amnesty’s most important annual human rights campaign.

 

URGENT ACTION CASES

SUDAN

Urgent Action Victory! Online Activist Released Without Charge

Ahmed Al-Dai Bushara Joudah, a social media activist, was released without charge early in the morning on 18 September. He had been unlawfully arrested by six NISS agents from his house in Omdurman on 16 July. Initially he was held at the NISS detention center in Khartoum North and then later transferred to Kober Prison.

During his sixty-four days in detention, Ahmed Al-Dai Bushara was denied access to, medical treatment, a lawyer and family visits despite the consistent requests by his family.

It is believed that Ahmed Al-Dai’s arrest and detention could be as a result of his intensified social media activism since January 2018 in which he shared many videos on Facebook critical of the Sudan government’s economic policy. Through social media, he called on people to reject the new economic austerity measures imposed in January 2018 by the government leading to a rise in the cost of living in Sudan.

Thank you to all those who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network.

NIGER

Urgent Action Update: Activists Cleared of Charges, Two Awaiting Trial

Three activists, Ibrahim Diori, Maïkoul Zodi, and Karim Tanko were released on 5 October after they were cleared of all charges. They had been detained for almost 6 months charged with “organizing and participating in a prohibited protest” and “damaging of public property”.  Abdourahamane Idé Hassane was cleared of all charges on 19 April. He had earlier been released on bail. Two other activists are still awaiting trial in Zinder.

TAKE ACTION

USA

Urgent Action: Tennessee Man at Imminent Risk of Execution

Edmund Zagorski has been on death row in Tennessee for over 30 years after allegedly receiving ineffective counsel. He was scheduled to be executed on 11 October, using a three-drug lethal injection. After challenges made through litigation, the state Governor issued a ten-day reprieve to allow for preparation of the execution.

TAKE ACTION

COLOMBIA

Urgent Action: Several Indigenous Organizations Threatened

The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) reported that several threatening pamphlets against indigenous organizations defending human rights were found on the streets and railroad tracks of the municipality of Uribia in the department of La Guajira, north of Colombia.

TAKE ACTION

VENEZUELA

Urgent Action: Councilman Dies in Custody of Intelligence Service

Fernando Albán, councilman for Primero Justicia, an opposition party in Venezuela, died while in custody of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) on Monday 8 October. His body fell from the tenth floor of the headquarters of the SEBIN in Caracas, although the circumstances around his death are unclear.

TAKE ACTION

MOZAMBIQUE

Urgent Action: Journalists and Activists Threatened

Local journalists and civil society activists have received anonymous death threats and intimidating phone calls and messages since 10 October. This began after their engagement in monitoring polling stations and publishing live municipal election results in Nacala-Porto and Nampula cities, Nampula province, in northern Mozambique.

TAKE ACTION

 

Our featured image shows our beloved Miriam (1947-2012), a great human rights defender

HE WHO PERMITS OPPRESSION PERMITS CRIMES.-Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)

Desiderius Erasmus in 1523 as depicted by Hans Holbein the Younger. The Greek and Latin words on the book translate to “The Herculean Labors of Erasmus of Rotterdam”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHARITY CORNER

This week we turn our attention to the Mercy Corps, a non profit that responds to disasters and need around the world. Their mission statement: They are on the ground in Indonesia where the needs are huge. Please donate.

Our mission

Alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.

We believe

• In the value of every human life and that, as members of a global community, we have a responsibility to support one another.
• In the right of all people to meet their basic needs, feel hope for their future and have opportunities to thrive.
• That every man, woman and child deserves to live in a secure, peaceful community and to be empowered to participate in the decisions that affect their lives.

Crisis and challenge provide an opening to act courageously and offer solutions that spark long-term, transformational change.

Mercy Corps is highly rated by    

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Indigenous tribes do not simply die out. They are killed by the actions of so-called civilized nations. Survival International provides a long list of cases in which a letter from you can and will make a difference. Please open this link and write at least one letter. This link will be a permanent feature on our blog and we would be grateful if you gave it a bit of attention each week. We suggest going down the list in the order given. The letters are pre-written for you. All you need to do is send them. It would be nice also if a donation to Survival International could be forthcoming. They are the best conservationists--help that fact go viral.

A major calamity for indigenous people is enforced contact which can be deadly. Please act for people on the Peruvian contact border.

THE STRUGGLE AGAINST SLAVERY

We have added this section to the blog in order to join the struggle against slavery worldwide. This week we refer you to the the ILO’s Protocol on Forced Labor which is all about modern slavery. We call your attention to the anti slavery campaign. There you can sign up for action updates.The importance of checking your sellers’ supply chains cannot be overemphasized.

You can download this book

Look for these logos:

 

 

 

Find a campaign to work for. Light must be made to shine in the darkest of places. We invite you to join Freedom United        and ask the crucial question “who picked my tea?”

 

URGENT ACTION CASES

INDONESIA

Urgent Action: Activist Shot by Police Denied Proper Medical Care

Papuan political activist, Yakonias Womsiwor, has been suffering from severe pain in both his legs for more than two weeks after being shot by police. Despite being unable to stand as a result of the gunshot, proper medical care has been denied by police.

TAKE ACTION

THAILAND

 

Urgent Action: Chinese Refugees at Risk of Refoulement

Chinese human rights defenders YANG Chong and WU Yuhua, UNHCR-recognized refugees, have been charged with immigration offences in Thailand. They could be deported to China, where they would face risks of unfair trial and torture.

TAKE ACTION

Democratic Republic of Congo  (DRC)

Urgent Action Update: Human Rights Activists Sentenced in Unfair Trial

On 24 September, a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) found Grâce Tshiunza, Mino Bopomi, Cedric Kalonji and Carbone Beni guilty of “insulting the president”, “publication of subversive writings” and “civil disobedience”. The same court acquitted Palmer Kabeya. Amnesty International believes that the court’s decision against the four human rights activists is baseless and criminalizes legal and peaceful activism by human rights activists.

TAKE ACTION

NIGERIA

Urgent Action: Community in Nigeria Drinking Polluted Water

There is an urgent need for the government and multinational oil company Shell to ensure a regular supply of safe water to people in the oil-producing Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Their right to water continues to be violated as they are forced to drink dangerously polluted water or buy water at unaffordable prices.

TAKE ACTION