Miriam, human rights defender, 1947-2012
Think of enslaved workers when buying clothes–look at our featured image above
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 Fistula Foundation. Fistula is a childbirth injury largely eradicated in the developed world, but still devastating women in the poorest countries. It leaves the woman incontinent with catastrophic results for her family and social life.
It’s treatable with life-transforming surgery.
This charity is highly rated by Charity Watch.
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 racism. Help stamp it out.
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.
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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 close the Libyan slave markets.
URGENT ACTION CASES
ISRAEL/OPT
Urgent Action Victory! Palestinian Human Rights Defender Released
Palestinian human rights defender and media coordinator for prisoners’ rights group Addameer, Hasan Safadi, was released on 7 December from Ketziot Prison in Israel. He spent nearly a year and a half in administrative detention without charge or trial. He has now returned home to his family in Beit Hanina, in occupied East Jerusalem.
CHINA
Urgent Action: Health Fears for Poet Under Illegal House Arrest
Liu Xia, a poet, an artist and the widow of late Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Liu Xiaobo, wrote a letter expressing her deep depression and loneliness under house arrest. According to reports, she received surgery in recent months to remove uterine fibroids. No direct contact with her has been allowed, nor confirmation of her whereabouts, since her husband’s death in July.
HAITI
Urgent Action: Women’s Rights Defender Threatened With Death
Sanièce Petit Phat, a Haitian women and girls’ rights defender, has reported receiving death threats because of her work on behalf of victims of domestic and sexual violence in the community of Canaan, Haiti.
COLOMBIA
Urgent Action: Killings Of Land Claimant Leaders
Two land claimant leaders of collective Afro-descendent territories in Curvaradó, Jiguamiandó, Piedeguita and Mancilla in Chocó have been killed by paramilitary groups belonging to the Gaitanistas Self-Defense+ Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia, AGC). The inhabitants of these humanitarian zones and areas of biodiversity feel threatened.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Urgent Action Update: Cartoonist Held In Pre-Trial Detention
Ramón Esono Ebalé, an Equatorial Guinean cartoonist and activist, has been charged with counterfeiting money and is being held in pre-trial detention after being detained without charge for almost 3 months.
IRAN
Trade unionist wrongly imprisoned
Maths teacher Esmail Abadi is a leader of the Tehran branch of the Iran Teachers’ Trade Association. He was convicted of national security offences in February 2016, after organizing peaceful protests.
He was given a six-year prison sentence, but following a hunger strike, was released on temporary leave on 25 June after making a large bail payment. He has now been recalled to prison to continue his sentence.
