(2018-12-18). Weaponizing Humanitarian Aid. zcomm.org The Trump administration is explicitly using humanitarian aid as another weapon to sanction adversaries…
(2018-12-18). Texas Educator Files Lawsuit after She was Fired for Refusing to Sign an Oath to Israel. mintpressnews.com Bahia Amawi's federal court suit may constitute the first direct challenge to new legislation aimed at curbing support for the growing Boycott Divest Sanctions (BDS) movement in the United States, which ultimately aims to end apartheid in Palestinian and Israeli territories.
(2018-12-18). Every single member of U.S. Congress approved crushing sanctions on Nicaragua. mronline.org 
After defeating a violent U.S.-backed coup attempt, Nicaragua's elected government faces the NICA Act. The bill aims to force the Sandinistas from power by ratcheting up economic despair. | Source
(2018-12-18). How Come So Many Bernie Bros Are Women and People of Color? commondreams.org Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks at "Workers' Right=Civil Rights" rally in Canton, Mississippi on March 4, 2017. (Photo: Youtube/Screenshot) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2018-12-18). Indigenous Leader to EU: Sanction Brazil, Avoid Genocide. telesurenglish.net Sonia Guajajara, the leader of the Articulation of Brazil's Indigenous Peoples or Articulacao dos Povos Indigenas do Brasil (APBI) which represents more than 300 Brazilian Indigenous groups, called on the European Union to impose trade sanctions on Brazil to avoid an ecological disaster and potential genocide by President-elect Jair Bolsonaro. | RELATED: | Two Members Of Brazil's MST Landless Movement Murdered | "We are afraid of a new genocide against the Indigenous population and we are…
(2018-12-18). Standing for border communities and vulnerable migrants. zcomm.org Upholding the dignity of border communities and those seeking sanctuary depends on everyone's bold and courageous actions…
(2018-12-18). New Zealand to Hold Cannabis Referendum. telesurenglish.net New Zealand will hold a referendum on the legalization of the recreational use of cannabis during the next general election in 2020. | RELATED: | New Zealand's Women Celebrate 125 Years of Voting Rights | The referendum's decision will be binding. | The proposed referendum represents a step closer to reaching an alternative to the criminalization of…
(2018-12-18). Marc Lamont Hill Speaks Out After CNN Fires Him for Pro-Palestine Speech at U.N. democracynow.org 
Less than a month after CNN fired Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill for giving a speech at the United Nations supporting Palestinian rights, we speak with him about the international attention his comments have received, academic freedom and why he feels it's more important than ever to speak out about Israeli human rights abuses. Marc Lamont Hill is a professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University. He is the author of several books, including "Nobody: Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond." We also speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning journa…
(2018-12-18). Shine a Light for Immigration Rights in Providence. counterpunch.org 
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a network of nationwide groups that puts its energy and focus into educating and organizing so-called white people to oppose white supremacy and racism. Recently the co-founders were interviewed on The Laura Flanders Show (youtu.be/mq5NbdVcR_U). On December 18 from 4 to 6 PM the Rhode Island SURJ chapter More
(2018-12-18). . aljazeera.com Al Jazeera speaks to Abdul Aziz Muhamat, who has been held captive on the island by Australia for over five years.
(2018-12-18). China 'Re-education Camps' Provide Labor for US Sportswear. telesurenglish.net One million Uighur Muslims in China's "re-education caps" camps have been working in factories making sportswear for United States companies, an investigation by the Associated Press revealed Monday. | RELATED: | Huawei CEO Meng Wanzhou Faces Iran Fraud Charges, Court Hears | A United Nations panel accused China of turning the western region of Xinjiang "into something that resembled a massive internment camp shrouded in secrecy, a 'no rights zone.'" | Most of those who have been r…
(2018-12-18). Glenn Greenwald: Congress Is Trying to Make It a Federal Crime to Participate in Boycott of Israel. democracynow.org 
Twenty-six states have laws preventing state agencies from contracting with companies or individuals aligned with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. BDS is an international campaign to pressure Israel to comply with international law and respect Palestinian rights. However, its opponents say BDS is a thinly disguised anti-Semitic attempt to debilitate or even destroy Israel. We speak with Glenn Greenwald, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and one of the founding editors of The Intercept. His latest piece is headlined "A Texas Elementary School Speech Pathologist Refused to Sign a Pro-Israel Oath, Now…
(2018-12-18). Headlines for December 18, 2018. democracynow.org Government Shutdown Looms as Trump Demands $5 Billion for Border Wall, Yemen: Fragile Ceasefire Takes Hold After Hodeidah Fighting Dies Down, Yemeni Mother of Dying 2-Year-Old Child Is Denied U.S. Entry, Ex-Associates of Michael Flynn Arrested over Illegal Turkish Lobbying, Senate Committee Claims Russia Targeted African Americans on Social Media, Nicaraguan Government Raids Journalists' Office, Human Rights Group, U.N. Appeals for Palestinian Aid as Trump Withdraws U.S. Support, Australia Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's Undivided Capital, U.S. and Hungary Dissent as U.N. Votes 181 to 2 for Refugee Pact, Hungary…
(2018-12-18). Global Peasant Declaration Represents Huge Advance for Human Rights. commondreams.org This radical framing of the rights of rural producers to determine what and how they produce helps ensure the health of the environment as well as people and cultures. (Photo: Wendy Stone/Corbis via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2018-12-18). Saudi rights commission interviews detainees over alleged torture. aljazeera.com Saudi officials familiar with government-sponsored body's work say it is unlikely to hold anyone accountable.
(2018-12-18). The Coming of Hyperwar: "Alexa, Launch Our Nukes!" commondreams.org A number of human rights and humanitarian organizations have even launched the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots with the goal of adopting an international ban on the development and deployment of fully autonomous weapons systems. (Photo: Sharron Ward/Campaign to Stop Killer Robots/Facebook) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2018-12-18). 100% of Congress Approves Anti-Nicaragua Sanctions, HR1918. indybay.org All members of Congress in both houses, Democrats and Republicans together, approved the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act of 2017, HR1918 (NICA), placing sanctions on the democratically elected government of Nicaragua which is fighting CIA sponsored gangsters, with the last vote taken in the Senate on November 27, 2018 and in the House on December 11, 2018. See www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/hou……
(2018-12-18). Sustainable Activism Workshop: Berkeley, CA #ChangeMakersTour. indybay.org Berkeley Animal Rights Center | 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704…
(2018-12-18). Advanced Leadership Training: Emergent Leadership. indybay.org Berkeley Animal Rights Center | 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704…
(2018-12-18). Animal Rights Meetup: The Legal Case for Animal Rights. indybay.org Berkeley Animal Rights Center | 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704…
(2018-12-18). Animal Rights Meetup: Organization & How to Become a Leader. indybay.org Berkeley Animal Rights Center | 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704…
(2018-12-18). Animal Rights Meetup: New Community Member Celebration. indybay.org Berkeley Animal Rights Center | 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704…
(2018-12-18). Advanced Leadership Training: DxE's History and Vision. indybay.org Berkeley Animal Rights Center | 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704…
(2018-12-18). Animal Rights Meetup: The Power of Nonviolence. indybay.org Berkeley Animal Rights Center | 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704…
(2018-12-18). January Vegan Pop-Up. indybay.org Berkeley Animal Rights Center | 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704…
(2018-12-18). Advanced Chicken Care Training. indybay.org Berkeley Animal Rights Center | 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704…
(2018-12-18). Take the Money Out of Prison Slavery. therealnews.com 
Activists and students continue a national divestment movement to stop the corporate funding of private prisons. Sylvester Owino, a Kenyan immigrant, spent 10 years in an immigrant detention center while his case bounced between the lower and higher courts. Owino and other activists talk about the private prison divestment movement and abuses in the transporting…
(2018-12-18). Congress Is Trying to Make It a Federal Crime to Participate in BDS. truthout.org Twenty-six states have laws preventing state agencies from contracting with companies or individuals aligned with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. BDS is an international campaign to pressure Israel to comply with international law and respect Palestinian rights. However, its opponents say BDS is a thinly disguised anti-Semitic attempt to debilitate or even destroy Israel. We speak with Glenn Greenwald, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and one of the founding editors of The Intercept. His latest piece is headlined "A Texas Elementary School Speech Pathologist Refused to Sign a Pro-Israel Oath,…
(2018-12-18). 181 Nations Voted to Help Refugees. Only Hungary and US Voted "No." truthout.org The United States was a near global outlier Monday at the United Nations General Assembly in rejecting a framework to bolster international cooperation on refugees. | Only Hungary — headed by far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose administration has been accused of carrying out "a full-frontal assault on migrants and refugees" — joined the US in voting "no" on the Global Compact on Refugees (pdf). One hundred eighty-one nations vot…
(2018-12-18). Australian Labor Party to boost police-military operations to block refugees. wsws.org Shorten unequivocally restated Labor's intent to keep using the navy to push back refugee boats and to retain the "offshore processing" regime of detaining asylum seekers on remote Pacific islands.
(2018-12-18). Egypt: Court orders release of woman human rights defender imprisoned for speaking out against sexual harassment. amnesty.org Egyptian authorities must immediately comply with a court decision to release Amal Fathy, a woman human rights defender who was given a two-year sentence in September for posting a video online in which she criticized the Egyptian authorities for failing to tackle sexual harassment. | A Cairo criminal court today ordered Amal Fathy's release on probation after accepting…
(2018-12-18). UN: World leaders must seize historic opportunity to protect the rights of migrants. amnesty.org States who have adopted the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) must honour their word and take immediate action to protect the human rights of migrants, Amnesty International said on International Migrants Day. | The GCM, a global agreement to promote safe, orderly and regular migration, will be formally endorsed at the UN General Assembly tomorrow. Amnesty International made a number of recommendations to the draft text. |
(2018-12-18). Summary Report TB-NET & Amnesty International Event on Treaty Body Elections. amnesty.org This is the summary report of a roundtable working meeting under the Chatham house rule to discuss amongst States and other key stakeholders including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and NGOs, the current nominations and elections processes for Treaty Body membership, and proposals for improvements which aim to enhance the quality, independence and diversity of Treaty Body membership.
(2018-12-18). Nicaragua: Further information: Human rights organizations at risk. amnesty.org As the National Assembly approved cancelling the legal registration of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), the National Police broke into their offices, and the premises of other three human rights organisations and an independent newspaper. These recent attacks are examples of the continued strategy of repression by the Nicaraguan state against journalists and human rights defenders.
(2018-12-18). Bermuda: A Human Rights Friendly School approach. amnesty.org Students and teachers of a school in Bermuda talk about their experience after five years participating in the Human Rights Friendly Schools project | Warwick Academy was the first school established in Bermuda, in 1662. 300 years later, it was the first traditionally white school in the country to integrate, almost a decade before the 1971 Bermuda Education Act made it illegal for any school in Bermuda to base admission on race. In 2011, the school achieved another first: the first school in Bermuda to make themselves human rights friendly. A few years on, students and teachers from Warwick Academy tell their st…
(2018-12-18). MENA governments must end discriminatory crackdowns and abuse of migrants. amnesty.org Governments across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are collectively failing to protect the rights of migrants in their countries, said Amnesty International, marking International Migrants Day. | Across the region, migrants regularly face discrimination, exploitation and other forms of abuse as well as in some cases arbitrary arrest, detention and unlawful expulsion. Whether they are sub-Saharan African migrants passing through North African countries on their way to Europe or domestic or const…
(2018-12-18). Crowdsourced Twitter study reveals shocking scale of online abuse against women. amnesty.org Content warning: contains screenshots of racist and sexist abuse and threats of violence | One in ten tweets mentioning black women politicians and journalists in a sample analyzed by Amnesty International was abusive or problematic, the organization said today, as it released a ground-breaking study into abuse against women on Twitter conducted with Element AI, a global artificial intelligence software product company. | More than 6,500 volunteers from 150 countries signed up to take part in Troll P…
(2018-12-18). Migration: to / from / in. amnesty.org …
(2018-12-18). Malaisie: Un réfugié syrien a obtenu l'asile au Canada. amnesty.org Hassan al Kontar a obtenu l'asile au Canada, où il est arrivé le 26 novembre 2018 après avoir été bloqué à l'aéroport international de Kuala Lumpur, en Malaisie, pendant environ sept mois. Il a été arrêté le 1er octobre pour s'être trouvé dans une ´ zone interdite ª de l'aéroport et les autorités malaisiennes ont d'abord envisagé de le renvoyer en Syrie.
(2018-12-18). Malaysia: Further information: Syrian refugee granted asylum in Canada: Hassan al-Kontar. amnesty.org Hassan al-Kontar has been granted asylum and arrived in Canada on 26 November 2018 after having been stranded in Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia for about seven months. Arrested on 1 October for being in a "forbidden area" of the airport, Malaysian authorities initially considered deporting him back to Syria.
(2018-12-18). China: Christian house church members criminally detained: Li Yingqiang. amnesty.org …
(2018-12-18). DeVos' Solution to Mass School Shootings? Scrap the Rules Designed to End Discrimination Against Students of Color. commondreams.org The highly anticipated Final Report from the Federal Commission on School Safety, led by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, was released Tuesday—and includes a long-rumored recommendation that is alarming civil rights advocates: to rescind Obama-era policies crafted to end racial disparities in school disciplinary practices. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2018-12-18). Iran's Oil Revenues Surged Despite Sanctions. iranian.com Iran's revenues from crude oil and oil products surged by 55 percent between March and October, the first seven months of the Iranian year, compared to the same period of the previous year, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Monday, quoting data from the Central Bank of Iran. Between March and October, Iran's oil exports […]
(2018-12-18). US: Fears of Prescribing Hurt Chronic Pain Patients. hrw.org 
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(2018-12-18). Mali: Militias Kill Over 75 Civilians. hrw.org 
| | Members of the Dogon militia, Dan Na Ambassagou, which was founded to defend the Dogon community from attacks by Islamist armed groups. Dan Na Ambassagou has been implicated in numerous serious abuses against Peuhl civilians. | © MALIJET | (Bamako) — Ethnic militias in Mali killed at least 75 civilians during a one-week period in early December 2018. Malian authorities began investigations into the incidents and made some arrests, and should appropriately prosecut…
(2018-12-18). Don't Punish US Companies That Help End Abuses in the West Bank. hrw.org 
| | Barkan, located in the occupied West Bank, is an Israeli residential settlement and industrial zone that houses around 120 factories that export around 80 percent of their goods abroad. In the background is the Palestinian village of Qarawat Bani Hassan. © 2004 David Silverman | Today the US Congress is weighing draft legislation based on problematic logic that conflates a call for businesses to stop operating in West Bank settlements, which are unlawful under the 1949 Geneva Conventions that prohibit transferring…
(2018-12-18). South Sudan: Spate of Sexual Violence. hrw.org 
| | Women line up for food rations at a distribution site in Bentiu, South Sudan, on December 8, 2018. | © 2018 Nyagoah Tut Pur/Human Rights Watch | (New York) — South Sudan's government should urgently investigate rape and other sexual violence against women and girls traveling in the former Unity state and provide protection and services to survivors. Investigations should focus not only on the individual crimes, but also on whether the crimes were coordinate…
(2018-12-18). Former UN Rights Chief Joins Human Rights Watch Board. hrw.org 
| | Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, addresses the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland February 26, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters | (New York) — The former United Nations human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, has joined the board of Human Rights Watch, where he will be one of 34 directors overseeing the work of the organization, Human Rights Watch said today. | "We're thrilled that Zeid is joining the board of Human Rights Watch at this crucial time,…
(2018-12-17). Will the Supreme Court Overturn Roe v. Wade After All? aclu.org Reading the tea leaves on abortion rights. | This piece was originally published in The New York Times. | When the Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear cases brought by Louisiana and Kansas attempting to exclude Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from their Medicaid programs, legal soothsayers were out in full force opining about what it means for the future of abortion rights un…
(2018-12-17). Theresa May Days in Britain, Stonewalled in Europe and the Parliament. globalresearch.ca It is hard to envisage sympathy for a person who made a name as a home secretary (prisons, detentions, security and such) taking the mast and banner of her country before hopeless odds, but inadequate opponents will do that to …