(2019-06-13). Sexual abuse of elderly likely to 'grow dramatically', UN expert says. un.org As the world prepares to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day this Saturday, the UN independent human rights expert mandated with defending the rights of older persons, Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, has stressed that they are often victims of sexual abuse and rape, although it remains rarely detected, reported or exposed.
(2019-06-13). China Invites UN To Visit 'Education Centers' in Xinjiang. telesurenglish.net The Chinese envoy to the United Nations has formally welcomed U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to visit China, including Xinjiang, where Beijing has been accused of putting more than one million ethnic Uyghurs in mass detention centers. | RELATED: | Floods Kill 16, Affect Millions in China, With More Rain To Come | According to the Chinese envoy, the U.N. human rights chief is more than welcome to visit their "education training centers", which Beijing claims is helpin…
(2019-06-13). Oceana Shines Light on Possible Illegal Fishing and Human Rights Abuses at Sea. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2019-06-13). TROUBLE BREWING IN LIBERIA FOR PRESIDENT WEAH. blackstarnews.com 
June 10, 2019 (GIN) — Liberian President George Weah is having a few bad days. And more may be on their way. | A citizen action group — the Council of Patriots (COP) — has a long list of demands covering governance, human rights and the rule of law, national peace and reconciliation, integrity and accountability, among others. | The group has called on President Weah to part ways with some of his close lieutenants they believe are not up to the task and may cause him more harm politically. | Thousands of Liberians turned out on June 7 to protest corruption and economic decline that many blame on…
(2019-06-13). Despite Police Crackdown, Historic Hong Kong Protests Against New Extradition Law Continue. democracynow.org 
Authorities in Hong Kong have shut down government offices and postponed debate in the Legislative Council, one day after riot police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray at tens of thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets to protest a bill that would allow the extradition of Hong Kong residents to mainland China. On Wednesday, demonstrators attempted to storm the Legislative Council Building, where lawmakers are debating the extradition bill. Human Rights Watch criticized Hong Kong authorities for using what it described as "excessive force" to suppress peaceful demonstrations. Protesters de…
(2019-06-13). US Coalition Demands the End of Sanctions against Cuba. plenglish.com Washington, June 13 (Prensa Latina) In Washington, Metro DC Coalition in Solidarity with Cuban Revolution demanded on Thursday the end of all US sanctions against Cuba, including the new travel restrictions imposed last week.
(2019-06-13). Israeli Intel Agents Key Part of Anti-BDS Activities: Documents. telesurenglish.net Israeli government documents disclosed Wednesday have revealed that the national intelligence agency of Israel, Mossad, has collaborated over the past years with Israeli government through its Strategic Affairs Ministry, to sabotage the international pro-Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement on a global scale. | RELATED: | Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, AOC Sign Bill to Stop US Aid to Israel over Children Detention | The Strategic Affairs M…
(2019-06-13). Overcrowding, rotten food & nooses: DHS watchdog confirms horrific conditions at immigrant jails. nationofchange.org Now Homeland Security's own inspector general has revealed how detained immigrants are subjected to rotten food, severe overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and broken and overflowing toilets.
(2019-06-13). US Gov't Plans to Detain Migrant Children at WW2 Japanese Internment Camp. theantimedia.com (CD) — Lending even greater significance to the parallels commentators and historians have drawn between U.S. migrant detention centers and concentration camps of the past, the Trump administration is reportedly planning to hold more than a thousand immigrant children at an Oklahoma army base that was used as an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. …
(2019-06-13). REPRESSION FAILS TO QUELL OPPOSITION TO CAMEROON REGIME. blackstarnews.com 
June 10, 2019 (GIN) — Facing a growing pro-democracy movement, Cameroon is resorting to an old formula — namely unleashing government power in the form of threats, arrests and excessive force. | This week, hundreds of supporters of Maurice Kamto, leader of the opposition Cameroon Resistance Movement, filled the streets, demanding his release from detention but were detained themselves by security forces. | According to his lawyer, Kamto could be charged with: insurrection, hostility against the homeland, criminal association, threats to public order, rebellion, group rebellion, and inciting insurrecti…
(2019-06-13). US to Jail 1,400 Immigrant Children at WWII Japanese Internment Site. globalresearch.ca The Pentagon announced yesterday that the Trump administration will detain 1,400 immigrant children at the site of a World War II-era Japanese internment camp, Fort Sill Army Base in Lawton, Oklahoma. | The decision, announced Tuesday as Trump denounced immigrants and …
(2019-06-13). Syrian Families Released from the Infamous Rukban Concentration Camp. globalresearch.ca Dozens of Syrian families have been released from the US-controlled Rukban Concentration Camp in Al-Tanf, southeast of Syria. | The released families arrived at the Jaligam crossing in Homs eastern countryside after spending years in forced displacement and detention by the …
(2019-06-13). Wyden Bill to Strip Tax Breaks From Private Prison Industry Profiting From Child Detentions. commondreams.org "Companies that profit off of putting children in cages shouldn't get tax breaks." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2019-06-13). Chicago Police Tortured Victims With Electric Shocks, Burns and Beatings. truthout.org Flint Taylor, a founding partner of the People's Law Office in Chicago, has spent almost 50 years defending some of the most vulnerable people within the criminal legal system. In his new book, The Torture Machine: Racism and Police Violence in Chicago, Taylor describes the history of systemic violence running rampant within the Chicago Police Department. It's a history he knows all too well from his work with the Fred Hampton assassination case, among many others. This excerpt recounts some of the torture unleashed by police in Chicago during the 1980s, under Police Commander Jon Burge. During this time, Burg…
(2019-06-13). Invoking FDR, Sanders lays out his agenda for "democratic socialism" peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON—Invoking the "unfinished business" of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders laid out a comprehensive "democratic socialist" platform of an "Economic Bill of Rights" to benefit the entire country, rather than the oligarchs, right-wing politicians, and corporate elite at the top. That platform would mandate "quality health care for all," …
(2019-06-13). Germany Passes Deportation Legislation. therealnews.com 
Germany's parliament adopted the first part of a new legislation packet to restrict the rights of asylum-seekers and refugees in Germany, denying them the right to work, sending them to prison once room in the deportation centers runs out, and even allowing apartment raids in search of "illegal" immigrants…
(2019-06-13). Trans communities are being left out of abortion debate. peoplesworld.org 
Trans men and non-binary individuals are being left out of reproductive rights conversations. During the last four months, a number of draconian bills have swept the nation. States like Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, and Ohio voted on and passed near-total abortion bans. Since then, several of the bills have been challenged in lower courts. But it's …
(2019-06-13). Justice for Layleen Polanco: Community Demands Answers After Trans Black Latinx Woman Died at Rikers. democracynow.org 
Outrage is mounting over the death of Layleen Polanco, a transgender Afro-Latinx woman who was found dead in a cell at Rikers Island on Friday. Polanco was arrested on misdemeanor charges and jailed on Rikers in April when she was unable to post $500 bail. Nearly two months later, she was dead. Her family, friends and transgender rights activists are now demanding answers for the conditions that led to the 27-year-old's death. The city says the cause of death has not yet been determined. Polanco was held in a unit for transgender women while jailed at Rikers, but a week before her death she was transferred to so-…
(2019-06-13). Six new books for an ecosocialist bookshelf. greenleft.org.au 
System Change Not Climate Change: A Revolutionary Response to Environmental Crisis
| Edited by Martin Empson
| Bookmarks, 2019 | Marxist essays on the global crisis. It includes Ian Angus on Metabolic Rift; Kohei Saito on Marx's Ecosocialism; Camilla Royle on the Anthropocene; Martin Empson on agriculture; Amy Leather on plastic; Sarah Ensor on biodiversity; Ian Rappel on 'Natural Capital'; Suzanne Jeffery on social movements; Michelle Robidoux and Carolyn Egan on tar sands and Indigenous rights. It is availabl…
(2019-06-13). Community Demands Answers After Trans Black Latinx Woman Died at Rikers. truthout.org Outrage is mounting over the death of Layleen Polanco, a transgender Afro-Latinx woman who was found dead in a cell at Rikers Island on Friday. Polanco was arrested on misdemeanor charges and jailed on Rikers in April when she was unable to post $500 bail. Nearly two months later, she was dead. Her family, friends and transgender rights activists are now demanding answers for the conditions that led to the 27-year-old's death. The city says the cause of death has not yet been determined. Polanco was held in a unit for transgender women while jailed at Rikers, but a week before her death she was transferred to…
(2019-06-13). New York's Top Leaders, De Blasio and Jumaane Williams, Hail Rent Bill Boosting Tenants' Rights. blackstarnews.com 
Jumaane Williams. Photo: Twitter | | New York City's top elected officials including Mayor Bill de Blasio and Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams have hailed the bill that will significantly increase tenants rights. | | The new bill which could be voted on as early as Friday includes several protections such as: protection against evictions from apartments so long as a tenant occupies the unit in a preferential unit and blocking landlords from exponentially increasing rents; the so-called vacancy bonus whereby landlords could increase rent by as much as 20% when a unit is vacant has been eliminated; lan…
(2019-06-13). New York Activists Are Leading the Charge on Sex Work Decriminalization. truthout.org The struggle for sex workers' rights is ramping up around the U.S. Over the winter, the Decrim NY coalition came together in New York City to win sex workers the right to survive and not be harassed by state law enforcement. In May, 100 current and former sex workers, trafficking victims and advocates who were part of the coalition traveled to Albany, where they spoke to legislators about how the existing laws governing the industry enable the profiling of trans people for allegedly selling sex. They also pushed for expanding relief for those with criminal records. | Thi…
(2019-06-13). New Zealand protest opposes persecution of Julian Assange and Australian journalists. wsws.org Tom Peters of the Socialist Equality Group warned that press freedom and democratic rights are "not compatible with endless war and endless attacks on living standards."
(2019-06-13). Bernie Sanders Proposes New Economic Bill of Rights. truthout.org Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders delivered a full-throated defense of democratic socialism in his June 12 speech at George Washington University. Sanders quoted FDR's 1944 State of the Union address: "We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without e…
(2019-06-12). Bernie Sanders Makes Impassioned Case for Democratic Socialism. truthdig.com In a speech at George Washington University on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders laid out his vision of a democratic socialist society and made the case for why an ambitious agenda centered on economic rights for all is the only way to confront America's deep inequities and defeat far-right authoritarianism. | "We must recognize that in the 21st century, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, economic rights are human rights," said Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. "And that is what I mean by democratic socialism." | Decrying an economic system that has left millions of families one…
(2019-06-12). How Venezuela's US-backed opposition distorts 'human rights' to push regime change. thegrayzone.com Venezuelan lawyer Lucrecia Hernández, director of the NGO Sures, discusses how US-funded opposition groups have politicized and weaponized "human rights"…
(2019-06-12). ACLU Asks US Court To Delay Census Citizenship Question Ruling. telesurenglish.net Human rights groups challenging the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. census Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to consider delaying a ruling on the issue in light of new evidence. | RELATED: | Trump: Dictators' Kids Will Benefit From Birthright Citizenship | In a court filing, immigrant advocacy groups repre…
(2019-06-12). Watch Bernie Sanders Deliver Speech on Why Democratic Socialism 'Only Way to Defeat Oligarchy and Authoritarianism'. commondreams.org "We must recognize that in the 21st century, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, economic rights are human rights. This is what I mean by democratic socialism." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2019-06-12). Colombians Victimized by Delays in Peace Process: UN Report. telesurenglish.net The United Nations (U.N.) denounced on Wednesday the numerous human rights violations and extrajudicial killings in 2018 in Colombia as consequences of poor implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement in the region. | RELATED: | Colombia: 3 Indigenous Social Leaders Murdered | The representative of the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights in Colombia (Acnudh), Guillermo Fernandez Maldonado, released the organization's annual report, along with a list of homicide victims killed in 2018. | The r…
(2019-06-12). UN calls for investigation into Sudan's slide into 'human rights abyss'. thecanary.co UN experts are concerned that Sudan is sliding into a "human rights abyss" in the aftermath of the Sudanese authorities' deadly break-up of the main protest sit-in in the capital, Khartoum. Military forces reportedly killed at least 100 people. | The experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, called on Wednesday for an independent investigatio…
(2019-06-12). Understanding of LGBT realities 'non-existent' in most countries, says UN expert. un.org Policymakers in most parts of the world are taking decisions in the dark when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity, an independent UN human rights expert said on Wednesday.
(2019-06-12). Europe has no freedom but to choose "freedom gas" mronline.org 
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently renamed U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports "freedom gas." But freedom for who? For Europe who already has a cheap and reliable source of natural gas, but is being forced to switch over to more expensive U.S. gas under the threat of sanctions? Certainly not. Or freedom for […] | Source
(2019-06-12). DHS Watchdog Confirms Horrific Conditions at Immigrant Jails. truthout.org We look at horrific conditions for some 52,000 immigrants held in for-profit jails around the country. At least 24 immigrants have died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump, and at least four more died shortly after being released. Now Homeland Security's own inspector general has revealed how detained immigrants are subjected to rotten food, severe overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and broken and overflowing toilets. This comes as a separate report recently documented "dangerous overcrowding" at a Border Patrol processing facility in El Paso, Texas. Meanwhile, the Trump admin…
(2019-06-12). US: Police Remove 'Haunting' Artwork of Caged Migrant Children. telesurenglish.net New York police are disassembling a collection of 24 pop-up art installations meant to bring awareness to the treatment of migrants in United States0 immigration detainment centers. | RELATED: | US State Sues Trump for Violating 'Safe Release' Migrant Policy | Wire cages containing life-size models of children wrapped in silver blankets dotted New York city streets Wednesday as recordings of sound of wailing echoed from the cage. Measuring 5 feet by 3 feet, the mannequin childre…
(2019-06-12). Trump Administration Plans to Detain Children at Former Japanese Internment Camp. truthout.org Lending even greater significance to the parallels commentators and historians have drawn between U.S. migrant detention centers and concentration camps of the past, the Trump administration is reportedly planning to hold more than a thousand immigrant children at an Oklahoma army base that was used as an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. | According to Time, Fort Sill "
(2019-06-12). 'This Is Sick': Horror as Trump Administration Plans to Detain Migrant Children at Former Japanese Internment Camp. commondreams.org "It feels as though history can't yell any louder than this." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2019-06-12). Overcrowding, Rotten Food & Nooses: DHS Watchdog Confirms Horrific Conditions at Immigrant Jails. democracynow.org 
We look at horrific conditions for some 52,000 immigrants held in for-profit jails around the country. At least 24 immigrants have died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump, and at least four more died shortly after being released. Now Homeland Security's own inspector general has revealed how detained immigrants are subjected to rotten food, severe overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and broken and overflowing toilets. This comes as a separate report recently documented "dangerous overcrowding" at a Border Patrol processing facility in El Paso, Texas. Meanwhile, the Trump administ…
(2019-06-12). New York Teachers Fight for Divestment From Prison Industry. truthout.org Teachers in Rochester, New York, recently discovered, to their horror, that their pensions are invested in the private prison and immigrant detention industry. After learning this from Basma Eid, an organizer with the group Freedom to Thrive, one teacher, Michelle Sapere, spearheaded the formation of a rank-and-file organization in her union called Teachers Against Student Exploitation ( TASE)…
(2019-06-12). Headlines for June 12, 2019. democracynow.org Police Crack Down on Second Wave of Hong Kong Mass Protests, Trial Against Humanitarian Activist Scott Warren Ends in Hung Jury, House Votes to Sue Trump Admin over AG Barr and Don McGahn Subpoenas, DOJ Advises Trump to Block Possible Contempt Motions Against Wilbur Ross and Barr over 2020 Census, Donald Trump Jr. Testifies Before Senate, Mass Arrests in Russia After Protests over Detention of Journalist, Reports of Injuries After Houthi Missile Hits Saudi Airport, Sudanese Protesters and Military Gov't to Resume Talks After Bloody Crackdown, Botswana Decriminalizes Homosexuality, DHS Secretary Testifies to Congr…
(2019-06-12). Facing Affordable Housing Crisis & Record Homelessness, New York Passes Landmark Rent Protection Law. democracynow.org 
In New York, housing rights advocates are celebrating after state lawmakers announced an agreement that would provide the strongest tenant protections in over a quarter of a century. The deal came just days ahead of the expiration of the current rent laws at the end of this week. Democracy Now! co-host Juan González explains how lawmakers agreed to abolish laws allowing landlords to deregulate rents on apartments after they exceed a certain limit, and to curb provisions allowing landlords to raise the rent of rent-controlled apartments after renovations. The law is one of several similar efforts nationwide and is…
(2019-06-12). German parliament passes draconian deportation law. wsws.org The new law against refugees and immigrants is an integral part of an attack on the democratic rights of the entire working class.
(2019-06-12). Wednesday's Daily Brief: mental health, conflict prevention, Ebola in Uganda, Sudan protests, child labour. un.org This Wednesday's top stories are: one-in-five conflict-affected people suffer from a mental illness; the Security Council holds a special session on conflict prevention; 5-year-old Congolese boy is first to die from Ebola in Uganda; Sudanese protestors' rights baffled; the decline of foreign investment; and tackling child labour.
(2019-06-12). Burma's Suu Kyi joins Hungary's Orbán in promoting anti-Muslim chauvinism. wsws.org Aung San Suu Kyi's meeting with Hungary's far-right leader Viktor Orbán is an indictment of all those who promoted Suu Kyi as a defender of democratic rights.
(2019-06-12). Amid Record Homelessness, New York Passes Landmark Rent Protection Law. truthout.org In New York, housing rights advocates are celebrating after state lawmakers announced an agreement that would provide the strongest tenant protections in over a quarter of a century. The deal came just days ahead of the expiration of the current rent laws at the end of this week. Democracy Now! co-host Juan González explains how lawmakers agreed to abolish laws allowing landlords to deregulate rents on apartments after they exceed a certain limit, and to curb provisions allowing landlords to raise the rent of rent-controlled apartments after renovations. The law is one of several similar efforts nationw…
(2019-06-11). Asylum-Seeking Children from Central America Suffer Multi-Dimensional, Recurrent, Sustained Trauma. globalresearch.ca Since 2014, the number of children arriving at the U.S. border has risen dramatically, as unaccompanied children, adolescents, and young families have fled gang and other forms of violence in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. …
(2019-06-11). The Human Rights Film Festival, 2019. counterpunch.org Now in its tenth year, the week-long New York Human Rights Film festival that opens on Thursday, June 13th is the most important venue for leading-edge politically and socially aware films, both narrative and documentary. It is a project of Human Rights Watch that some on the left write off as little different from the More
(2019-06-11). India Complies with US Sanctions against Iran, Iran Keeps Begging It to Reconsider. globalresearch.ca India capitulated to American pressure and complied with the anti-Iranian sanctions regime, yet Iran keeps begging it to reconsider and continue investing in the Islamic Republic anyhow, with its humiliating behavior revealing just how desperate it is for economic relief …
(2019-06-11). Israel Will Not Allow Iran To Have Nuclear Weapons: Netanyahu. telesurenglish.net Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stern warning to Iran about producing a nuclear warhead on Monday, vowing to prevent them from attaining this weapon by any means necessary. | RELATED: | Iran Says New US Sanctions Show Offer To Dialogue 'Hollow' | The Israeli premier issued the warning after the comments made by the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano on Iran's increased uranium enrichment. | "Israel will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons," Net…
(2019-06-11). 'It's Seen by Indigenous Activists as a Template for Similar Confrontations Around the Globe' – CounterSpin interview with Reynard Loki on indigenous oil victory. fair.org 
Janine Jackson interviewed Reynard Loki about an indigenous environmental victory in Ecuador for the June 7, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…
(2019-06-11). 'The US Has No Real Moral Authority to Talk About Freedoms' – CounterSpin interview with Netfa Freeman on Cuba sanctions. fair.org 
Janine Jackson interviewed Netfa Freeman about Cuba sanctions for the June 7, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…