Council Of Europe Chick To England: You Idiots Have Some Enlightenment Coming

Telegraph – “Banning corporal punishment is the model that the Council of Europe would like countries to follow. You can call it ’pressure’ if you like, but we are not about to shove anything down your throats. It is a matter of time and understanding, and we think that time will prove that we are on the right side of the debate on whether to ban corporal punishment of children.”

United Nations Confirms Joke Status

National Post – “Iran wins a seat on UN Commission on the Status of Women.”

But this is no laughing matter. The country that sees women as second-class citizens and stones adulteresses to death has won a place by default on the world body’s commission charged with improving the lot of women around the world.

Human Rights Chick: Hey, Where’s All The Free Money?

Globe and Mail – What issues are you going to be raising?

We’re thrilled the Canadian government has decided to focus on maternal and child health for the G8. But the fact is that they’ve been backsliding. This is a government that hasn’t taken gender equality and women’s rights issues very seriously in terms of our foreign aid. The Canadian government used to give a lot of funding directly to women’s organizations, but we’ve been shrinking that funding over the years.

Video: What They’re Studying At Harvard These Days

There’s no way you’ll watch the whole thing, but the first screen will do: “The Human Rights And Social Movements Program at the Carr Center for Human Rghts [sic] Policy.” Basically four well-to-do chicks bitching about life for 100 minutes.

Noted Humanitarian State Elected To UN Commission For Women

Fox – Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged “immodest.”

Video: Human Rights For Dummies

Nonsense story. Good graphics, though.

Turns Out, Disabled People Are Human Beings After All

Chronicle Herald – Peter MacKay, the defence minister and a supporter of the UN effort, said the March 11 ratification signals Canada’s commitment to be governed by the agreement.

“The convention is important internationally because it is the first international human rights treaty that explicitly reaffirms existing human rights guarantees for people with disabilities and promotes respect for their inherent dignity,” said MacKay in a news release.

Denise Peterson-Rafuse, the provincial minister responsible for the disabled persons commission act, said she was proud Nova Scotia was one of the first provinces to signal support for ratification of the treaty.

An “Interview.” Creepy.

Examiner – Threat by US Marshals Service – Attempt to Muzzle US Human Rights Report to the UN

Dr Joseph Zernik, founder of Human Rights Alert, a Los Angeles–based NGO, who has been actively producing a Human Rights report for the 2010 review of the United States by the United Nations, [1] was requested to appear for an “interview” by the US Marshal Service at the “earliest convenience” (attached below).

UN Human Rights Council To Everybody: Don’t Be Islamophobic Or Else We’ll Keep Telling You Not To Be Islamophobic

AFP – The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday narrowly passed a resolution condemning Islamophobic behaviour, including Switzerland’s minaret building ban, despite some states’ major reservations.

The resolution, which was criticised by the United States as “an instrument of division”, “strongly condemns… the ban on the construction of minarets of mosques and other recent discriminatory measures.”

Human Rights Is Big Bucks #13

VOANews – The United Nations Human Rights Council has called on Israel to pay Palestinians in the Gaza Strip reparations for damages suffered during the Israeli offensive about a year ago.

Assholes Have Human Right To Drive Slow In The Fast Lane

Toronto Star – You cannot say 2010 has been without milestones on the human rights front for people with disabilities.

After years of hard work by advocates, last week Canada ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. That means all communities should be open to everyone no matter how they move, communicate or process information.

UN Chief: Cleaning Up Slums Good For People And Keeps World From Ending

Sify – ‘Conditions in slums are a violation of human rights,’ the secretary-general said in a message to the fifth session of the World Urban Forum, which begun in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro Monday.

Helping the urban poor reclaim their rights strengthened societies and stemmed environmental degradation, Ban said.

Canadian Cities Finally Agree To Stop Treating Disabled People Like Dirt

Toronto Star – You cannot say 2010 has been without milestones on the human rights front for people with disabilities.

After years of hard work by advocates, last week Canada ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. That means all communities should be open to everyone no matter how they move, communicate or process information.

No World Series Game 7, But Still A Tough Ticket

Chronicle-Herald – It takes a long time to clear security at UN headquarters these days. But after waiting nearly eight years for the moment, I was in no rush. Last Thursday, with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as witness, the government of Canada took the final step towards ratifying the new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD); and I had a ringside seat!

International Minorities Expert: Canada OK, Just Racist

Relief Web – The report of the Independent Expert on minority issues on her mission to Canada (13 to 23 October 2009) (A/HRC/13/23/Add.2) notes that, while Canada has an impressive constitutional and legislative framework in the area of equality and non-discrimination and numerous policy initiatives to promote multiculturalism, significant and persistent problems affect persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, including negative experiences at school; higher unemployment; relatively poor access to services; racial profiling by police; and low representation in political structures and institutions.

Good Luck

Troy Media – In other words, the UN was born to be the savior of a species hell-bent on destroying itself. It has been a miserable failure in its overall mission, and worse, a destructive force in almost every one of its individual endeavors. It’s time to say, “Enough!”

UN: Airport Scanners Violate Rights

Montreal Gazette – A UN expert yesterday said the growing use of full body scanners in airport security was a breach of individual rights.

Martin Scheinin, the UN special rapporteur on the protection of human rights, said while countering extremism scanners were both an ineffective means of prevention and an excessive intrusion into individual privacy…

Scheinin, who was appointed to monitor the impact of anti-terror measures on individual freedoms five years ago, told the UN Human Rights Council better detection technology could be better for human rights.

UN: Beautiful Game Ain’t So Pretty

LA Times – A United Nations human rights investigator criticized FIFA on Monday, saying soccer’s international governing body hasn’t done enough to protect people from being forced out of their homes in cities hosting the World Cup.

U.N. investigator Raquel Rolnik cited reports saying more than 20,000 people are expected to be removed from a makeshift settlement near Cape Town before the June 11 start of the World Cup in South Africa. She says FIFA, or the International Federation of Association Football, hasn’t made the protection of housing rights a priority in its World Cup host selection process.

UN Rapporteur on Right to Food Stunned by Way World Works

Earthtimes – Large corporations and multinationals should change their food pricing and standards policies, the United Nations rapporteur on the right to food said Friday. Olivier De Schutter said that there were imbalances between smallholders – those with tiny plots of land – and large corporations, leaving the weaker party at a significant disadvantage.

We Just Like This Story Because The UN Has a “Special Rapporteur On Adequate Housing”

IPS – The United States rarely finds itself brought before HRC, and issues of U.S. domestic policy seldom make their way into official U.N. proceedings.

But Raquel Rolnik, a Brazilian architect and urban planner and the HRC’s special rapporteur on adequate housing, found that U.S. housing practices were not in keeping with the agreed international framework on human rights.

Member of Regime That Shoots Women Bummed By Lewdness

Reuters – Iran launched a fierce verbal assault on the West on Monday, charging some European countries of subjecting Muslim communities to insult and violence and suggesting the United States and Europe aided terrorism. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the United Nations Human Rights Council, to which it is bidding for election in May, that some Western states are gross violators of rights and are promoting lewdness to undermine family life.

UN To Fat Cat Canada: Be Nicer to Women, Bigots

Tri-City News – For the government of Canada, this year’s theme will have an unpleasant sting. Our federal government has received a humiliating reprimand by several UN human rights bodies for its handling of the issues of women’s poverty and endemic violence against Aboriginal women and girls. In his official 2006 report, National Council of Welfare chairperson John Murphy called Canada’s welfare rates for women “shameful and morally unsustainable in a rich country.”

Stephanie Dion: In The “Post-Apology Era,” Time To Do The UN’s Bidding

We love you, Stephanie

[Liberal Party Website] RICHMOND, British Columbia — On the first anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations General Assembly Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said a new Liberal government would reverse the Conservative government’s position and endorse the Declaration.

“Last year’s appalling decision to vote against the Declaration was an insult to First Nations, Métis and Inuit who were expecting the government to stand up for their rights, and an international embarrassment that must be corrected,” said Mr. Dion. 

“In the post-apology era there is no excuse for not ratifying the Declaration. A new Liberal government will ratify the Declaration and show the world that we can be a leader on aboriginal issues,” he said.

High gas prices? Lousy real estate market? Extreme taxation? Never mind that. Stephanie’s right. Canadians want a government that will show the world we’re in line with UN mandates. Very important agenda.

New Website To Teach Canadians How To Make Human Rights A Reality…Inside Canada

Who knew? The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is Canada’s approach to meeting standards set by the UN. Someday, maybe we’ll get there.

DWE’s suggestion for a great website ad campaign:

Who Needs A Charter When You’ve Got A Declaration?

[Miramichi Leader] A new, interactive website has been established to encourage young Canadians to learn more about human rights. The website was developed in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Targeted to Canadians aged 18 to 35, the website was developed by the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies (CASHRA), in collaboration with TakingITGlobal and the John Peters Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights. CASHRA is the national association of Canada’s government agencies charged with administering federal, provincial and territorial human rights legislation.

From the website:

The Declaration has become the heart of international law and has led to the development of a rich body of human rights instruments and treaties around the world, both internationally and domestically. There are more than 80 international treaties that build upon the basic principles set out in the Universal Declaration. In Canada, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms represents our country’s approach to implementing the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration.

Israel, Come Forth And Be Judged

Your taxes pay their salaries, restaurant tabs, and airline tickets. They poke and prod your country. They cluck their tongues in disappointment. They judge your culture and find it lacking. They tell your leaders how to run your lives. And how many of them are elected to office? Zero. Worse yet, having a beer with any of them would be akin to eating a dirt sandwich.

[Jerusalem Post] A three-country panel was chosen Monday to examine Israel’s human rights record as part of a Universal Periodic Review this year of 64 countries by the United Nations Human Rights council in Geneva.

All 192 UN states are subject to review.

According to Israel’s ambassador to Geneva Roni Leshno Yaar, the review will be conducted by Nigeria, South Korean and Azerbaijan at the council’s December session.