Salem-News.com Human Rights articles Page 32

SRI LANKA: Sinhala Military Becomes More Defiant

Colombo opens new military camps, ‘Red soldiers’ to monitor Eezham Tamils.

(MELBOURNE) - The more Condemnation Stephen Rapp releases, that much more defiant the Sinhala military becomes. I don't think we will be able to know whether it is a make believe game or genuine Sinhalese defiance.

The occupying Sri Lankan military has created a new unit, which has come to be called as ‘Red Army’ with military intelligence personnel fluent in three languages. The new ‘Red’ soldiers of the occupying military will be patrolling the interior villages of Vanni in bicycles.

Colombia: Second Break-In at the Offices of CPDH and ANDAS

Initiate an immediate, exhaustive and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned breaks-in, as well as into the intimidation and threats against CPDH, ANDAS and their members, with a view to identifying those responsible and bringing them to justice in accordance with international standards-William Nicholas Gomes

(WASHINGTON, DC) - On 6 January 2014, the Valle del Cauca offices of the Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos – CPDH (Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights) and of the Asociación Nacional de Ayuda Solidaria – ANDAS (National Association of Assistance and Solidarity) were broken into.

This is the second time in three months that their offices have been broken into and sensitive information taken.

How Would Dr. King React to NSA Spying on Americans?

These government spying programs constitute a clear violation the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures, and chills First Amendment freedom of speech.

(WASHINGTON, DC) - How would Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., have reacted to recent revelations that the U.S. government is collecting and storing nearly every citizen’s phone records and gathering their electronic data?

From 1958 until his 1968 assassination, the FBI conducted extensive surveillance on Dr. King, amassing over 17,000 pages of material on his day-to-day activities.

Cambodia: Trade Union Leader and Human Rights Defender Mr Rong Chhun Issued with Court Summons

Immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against Rong Chhun as they are solely motivated by his peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights. —William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com is concerned that the summons received by Rong Chhun as well as the threats to revoke the license of the CITA are directly related to their peaceful and legitimate activities in the defence of human rights, in particular labour rights, as well as to the exercise of the legitimate right to peaceful assembly, and sees this as an attempt to put an end to these activities.

The summons also comes in the context of the above-mentioned nationwide strikes by garment workers and a heavy-handed reaction by security forces.

Cambodia: Arrests and Ongoing Detention of Human Rights Defenders Messrs Vorn Pao, Theng Savoeun and Chan Putisak

Nationwide strikes demanding better wages for garment workers have been met with violence by the Cambodian security forces.

(WASHINGTON, DC) - On 8 January 2014 the Cambodian Center for Human Rights received confirmation that human rights defenders Messrs Vorn Pao, Theng Savoeun and Chan Putisak, as well as seven other individuals, are being detained in Correctional Centre 3 (CC3) in Kampong Cham Province.

The human rights defenders were arrested by military police along with a number of garment factory workers and five monks, while they were protesting outside the Yak Jin clothing factory on 2 January 2014. Vorn Pao is president of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economic Association (IDEA).

Fundamentalism: A Psychological Problem

Human beings will end violence or Violence will end human beings.

(TASMANIA, Aust.) - Fundamentalism is a widespread problem. It often manifests in a religious context - making it highly visible - but there are plenty of secular fundamentalists too. If we are to understand fundamentalism we should not view it as a religious problem: It is a psychological one.

What is a fundamentalist? A fundamentalist is usually considered to be a person who adheres strictly to a doctrine, viewpoint or set of principles that are considered original and 'pure'; this doctrine might be theological in nature.

Take Israel to the ICC, Abbas or GET OUT of the WAY

Abbas does not speak for Palestine. He cannot sign or agree to any “agreement” for the Palestinians. If he agrees to a U.S. Framework Agreement that gives away Palestinian rights, he is a Traitor.

(WASHINGTON, DC) - It is time for Palestine to Sign the Rome Statute and take Israel to the International Criminal Court. If it is necessary to be a member state at the U.N. in order to sign the Rome Statute, the UNGA will approve that.

These bogus “Peace Talks” are only used by Israel for propaganda purposes and used to further the occupation. The people must demand that the “Peace Talks” end.

Gilad Atzmon on Dieudonné and the Quenelle

The truth is devastating - Palestine is here and the French people are the Palestinians Du Jour...

(LONDON) - If the quenelle is loosely defined as an anti establishment salute, one may wonder why Jews are offended by it and regard it as an ‘anti-Semitic’ gesture? Is it because many Jews actually identify with ‘the establishment’?

And how do we explain the fact that the French government is happy to compromise the most elementary liberties just to appease the French Jewish Lobby (Crif)?

European Circumcision Debate Will Include Jewish American

Psychologist and Author Ronald Goldman Criticizes the Practice.

(BOSTON) - Ronald Goldman, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Circumcision Resource Center, a nonprofit educational organization in Boston, has been invited by the Council of Europe to participate in an interdisciplinary dialogue about circumcision at a meeting in France on January 28.

There is a growing European debate about circumcision. In October the Council of Europe, an organization of 47 member States, overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution that called circumcision, among other procedures, a violation of the physical integrity of children...

There is No Religious Freedom: Christians are Persecuted

The Sunday Express magazine, said that about 200 million Christians in 60 countries live in serious risk of harassment.

(MADRID) - The Nusra Front, an Islamist group linked to Al Qaeda attacked the old part of the Syrian city of Maaloula. Islamic terrorists held several nuns in the convent of Santa Tecla, in the same town.

Moreover, Raimondo Wang Chonglin, who was Emeritus Bishop of Chaohsien (Zhaoxian), in the Hebei Province (China) has spent 20 years of his life in prison and had to fight against the various prohibitions of the Chinese government to exercise his pastoral work.