(2021-06-19). [Editorial] Protecting refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic. thelancet.com This World Refugee Day, June 20, coincides with 70 years of the 1951 Refugee Convention, a multilateral treaty that shaped the standards that provide the bedrock of international protection for refugees against discrimination and violation of their human rights. The COVID-19 pandemic has weighed heavily on the 26 ∑3 million refugees worldwide today. International guidelines and national programmes to curb transmission have not always considered the needs of refugees living in densely populated shelters without water and sanitation facilities.
(2021-06-18). The US suspends sanctions against Venezuela for COVID-19 related purchases. peoplesdispatch.org The United States suspended part of the sanctions against Venezuela on Thursday June 17. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published a license that lifts the penalties to companies that carry out transactions with the Venezuelan state related to combatting COVID-19. | The document provides for the Central Bank of Venezuela and three other state banking entities to carry out operations with US companies. However, it does not allow transactions with Petróleos da Venezuela S.A (PDVSA) or the Economic and Social Development Bank (BANDES). | The license also does not authorize the exportation or re-exportati…
(2021-06-18). Forced displacement at record level, despite COVID shutdowns: UNHCR. news.un.org The number of people fleeing wars, violence, persecution, and human rights violations, rose last year to nearly 82.4 million people, a further four percent increase on top of the already record-high of 79.5 million, recorded at the end of 2019.
(2021-06-18). ICE Shut Down One Gruesome Detention Center—Then Transferred Immigrants to Another. progressive.org Georgia's Irwin Detention Center, where immigrant women were subjected to forced sterilization, is finally closing down. Now, ICE is moving detained immigrants to a private prison with a record of human rights abuses.
(2021-06-18). 'Dangerous Precedent': US High Court Sides With Corporate Giants Nestle and Cargill in Child Slavery Case. popularresistance.org Human rights advocates Thursday denounced a Supreme Court decision in favor of the U.S. corporate giants Nestlé USA and Cargill, which were sued more than a decade ago by six men who say the two companies were complicit in child trafficking and profited when the men were enslaved on cocoa farms as children.
(2021-06-18). PM Trudeau's Donors' Conference on Venezuela: An Exercise in Deception. orinocotribune.com June 16, 2021, Toronto — "Canada must immediately cease its aggression against Venezuelans and stop deceiving Canadians and the world about what the government is truly up to," declared Maria Paez Victor, spokesperson for the Canadian Campaign of Venezuelans and Friends Against Sanctions (CCVFAS). The sanctions have contributed to 100,000 deaths according to former UN Rapporteur Alfred de Zayas, as well as significant outward migration. The New York Times recently determined that those sanctions were a key generator of migrants. | The International Donors' Conference in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees a…
(2021-06-18). Michigan lawmakers make pilgrimage to Arizona for voter suppression tips. peoplesworld.org 
After recently having introduced 39 bills that restrict voters' rights in the Senate, Republican lawmakers from Michigan traveled to Arizona to "visit" the 2020 Election audit. What they're really up to is learning the means and methods of voter suppression. Maricopa County is the site of the ballot count, where workers have already tallied over …
(2021-06-18). Cases against the medical profession: an extended review by Marina Wheeler QC. ukhumanrightsblog.com 
During the pandemic, the public's gratitude to the medical profession has been palpable. But rightly, practitioners continue to be regulated, supervised by the Courts. Here we report a clutch of decisions highlighting some common themes: the importance of transparency and maintaining public confidence in the profession; managing conflicts of interest; making and handling findings of …
(2021-06-18). US Eases Some Sanctions Against Venezuela to 'Address the Pandemic'. orinocotribune.com This Wednesday, June 16, the The Office for the Control of Foreign Assets (OFAC) explained that the license granted permits transactions and activities with the Central Bank of Venezuela, Banco de Venezuela and Banco Bicentenario, among others, that involve masks, ventilators and oxygen tanks, vaccines and the production of vacci…
(2021-06-18). Dear PETA, Israel's Animal Rights Record is Anything but Praiseworthy. counterpunch.org Last Wednesday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) praised Israel for being the first country to ban the sale of animal furs. Laws like these are obviously worthy of praise, however, in the case of Israel, any praise, especially regarding its ethics towards animals, is completely misled. Throughout Israel's short history, they have
(2021-06-18). Without Social, Economic, and Political Equality, There is No Freedom. aclu.org While preparing for our Juneteenth celebration at Carnegie Hall this year, I re-read General Order No. 3, presented by General Granger in Galveston, Tex. on June 19, 1865. This order famously communicated to Texans news of the Emancipation Proclamation: all enslaved people were to be freed. I observed that the order combines two elements that only the Creator could grant. From a prophetic perspective, although the proclamation of freedom was from the president of the United States, only God can grant freedom and absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves. Cons…
(2021-06-18). Former correctional officers sentenced to prison for assaulting inmate. nationofchange.org "The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee will continue to prioritize the criminal prosecution of public employees who violate the civil rights of others."
(2021-06-18). Monday 6/21: Remember, Renew, Restore: Voter Rights Actions & Remember Freedom Summer Murders (Day 3). indybay.org Virtual commemoration and voter rights actions…
(2021-06-18). Saturday 6/19: Remember, Renew, Restore: Voter Rights Actions & Remember Freedom Summer Murders (Day 1). indybay.org Virtual commemoration and online voting rights training…
(2021-06-18). Sunday 6/20: Remember, Renew, Restore: Voter Rights Actions & Remember Freedom Summer Murders (Day 2). indybay.org Virtual commemoration and voter rights actions…
(2021-06-18). Dutton, Barilaro and the right's defamation culture war. greenleft.org.au For parties that supposedly stand for free speech, Coalition MPs are increasingly using defamation hearings to silence their critics. Alex Bainbridge looks at the right's culture war.
(2021-06-18). Zionist forces raid West Bank, detain dozens of Palestinians. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jun. 18 (MNA) — Zionist regime's forces launched a large-scale attack in various parts of the West Bank and detained scores of Palestinians in the occupied lands and territories.
(2021-06-18). Renegotiation of JCPOA not to be possible: Zarif. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jun. 18 (MNA) — In his meeting with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell in Turkey's Antalya, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stressed the need to lift US sanctions and the impossibility of renegotiating the JCPOA.
(2021-06-17). Negotiations on TRIPs Waiver Reveal Limitations of Global Structures to Address Covid-19 Pandemic. orinocotribune.com 
By Meenuka Mathew — Jun 15, 2021 | India and South Africa's proposal to the WTO on waiving the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) comes as a hope in addressing the vaccine shortage. | The pandemic crisis in India did not allow the government to accept the invitation to the G7 summit that concluded on Monday at pristine beach in Cornwall, England. India's unavailability reflects the reality of the world. Only the G7 Nations would be able to have experience talks without masks and have beach walks during a global pandemic. The final communiqué of the summit is full of commitments and…
(2021-06-17). Cape Verde Ignores International Outcry in Alex Saab Case. orinocotribune.com 
The president of Cape Verde, Jorge Carlos Fonseca, decided to turn a blind eye to the international clamor and ignore the request made on June 8 by the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations (UN) to suspend the extradition process that the United States that is carried out against the Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, who has been illegally detained in Cape Verde since June 12, 2020. | According to a review published by the Cape Verdean news outlet Noticias do Norte, President Jorge Carlos Fonseca said that "only the Constitutional Court (TC) has autonomous constitutional jurisdiction to decide on the case," i…
(2021-06-17). Lives First, Profits Later: How to Close the Global Vaccine Gap. aclu.org Here in the United States, many are finally seeing the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. More than 60 percent of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and the vaccine is now available to anyone over the age of 12. However, across the world we see a stark contrast to this American experience. Today, Africa only accounts for 1 percent of the world's vaccine administration, and much of Asia and South America are struggling to even acquire access to the vaccines. This alarmingly high discrepancy in vaccine access and administration around the world, known as the global vaccine gap, is…
(2021-06-17). Commander X taken from Mexico by the United States government. indybay.org On Friday June 11th, 2021 between 3: 30 P.M. and 4: 00 P.M. (Mexico City hours), Christopher Doyon was illegally detained. Known Worldwide as Commander X, this Hactivist has the quality of refugee recognized by the Mexican government, and even so he was handed over to the United States government, in violation of his human rights. We demand the Mexican government to act in benefit of the rights of Commander X and manage his urgent release.
(2021-06-17). Peru: Behind the right's attempts to overturn the election. greenleft.org.au José Carlos Llerena Robles and Vijay Prashad look at what's behind attempts by Peru's far-right — with the aid of the United States — to overturn the election of leftist presidential candidate Pedro Castillo.
(2021-06-17). Ethiopia: Tribalism Versus National Consciousness. popularresistance.org Nearly 554,000 people are sleeping on the streets in the US — 40% of them are Black. Of 2.3 million US prisoners, 34% are Black. However, the 06/01 quarterly report of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GlobalR2P) says that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the only human rights crisis in the Western hemisphere that warrants the attention of international law established by the United Nations. Those are just a few reasons to take its alarms about the ongoing human rights crisis in Tigray, Ethiopia, with a grain of salt or a hot pepper salad of skepticism. | A coalition of twelve NGOs, inc…
(2021-06-17). US Ambassador to UN Wants to Fight Against China 'Every Step of the Way'. news.antiwar.com President Biden's ambassador to the UN on Wednesday "They exert enormous influence in the United Nations, and it's malign … influence that promotes an authoritarian approach to multilateralism," Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "We need to fight that every step of the way." | Thomas-Greenfield said the US is regularly addressing China's alleged human rights abuses agains…
(2021-06-17). Greater Idlib: Syrian Army Strikes Inflicted More Losses On Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (Photos). southfront.org 
Illustrative image. | Syrian Arab Army (SAA) strikes continue to inflict human and material losses on al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies in on the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib. | On June 17, two militants of HTS were killed and several others were wounded as result of Syrian artillery strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. | The strikes targeted the towns and villages of Ehsim, al-Bara, Ablin, Balshoon, Josef, Abadeta, Arnaba, Fatterah, Fleifel, Benin…
(2021-06-17). Supreme Court Again Rejects a License to Discriminate. aclu.org Today the Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling that one taxpayer-funded religious agency in Philadelphia has a right to renew its contract to provide foster care services to the city, despite its unwillingness to comply with the city's non-discrimination requirement, because the city's contract had a mechanism for allowing individualized exceptions to its non-discrimination policy that it did not grant to that agency. Importantly, the court did not rule (as the agency asked) that there is a constitutional right for government contractors such as the foster care agency to discriminate in their work for the city…
(2021-06-17). UK: Johnson's mendacious defence of media "freedom", while Assange remains imprisoned. wsws.org That Johnson can tweet supposedly in defence of abused journalist Nicholas Watt while perpetrating the criminalisation of Assange speaks to the atrophying of any constituency for democratic rights within the bourgeoisie.
(2021-06-17). US Congressman Urges Biden to End 'Misguided and Immoral' Venezuela Sanctions. venezuelanalysis.com Despite pledges to "review" the sanctions policy, the Biden administration has yet to enforce any changes.
(2021-06-17). New Report: ICE Records On Gynecological Abuse. popularresistance.org Washington — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement failed to properly monitor informed consent protocols used by a doctor accused of performing non-consensual gynecological procedures on women detained at Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, according to a new report published today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the National Immigration Project and Project South. The report also highlights other longstanding problems and systemic oversight failures that are currently the focus of several federal investigations of the facility. | For years, advocates raised concerns about t…
(2021-06-17). Monday 6/21: Remember, Renew, Restore: Voter Rights Actions & Remember Freedom Summer Murders (Day 3). indybay.org Virtual commemoration and voter rights actions…
(2021-06-17). Saturday 6/19: Remember, Renew, Restore: Voter Rights Actions & Remember Freedom Summer Murders (Day 1). indybay.org Virtual commemoration and online voting rights training…
(2021-06-17). Sunday 6/20: Remember, Renew, Restore: Voter Rights Actions & Remember Freedom Summer Murders (Day 2). indybay.org Virtual commemoration and voter rights actions…
(2021-06-17). Tuesday 6/22: LGBTQ+ Communities & Mental Health: Thriving with Courage in the Face of Adversity. indybay.org Online webinar…
(2021-06-17). What Republicans Mean When They Say 'Stacey Abrams'. thenation.com What Republicans Mean When They Say 'Stacey Abrams'
(2021-06-17). ALEC's Corporate Funders Are Complicit in State-Based Assaults on Voting Rights and Democracy. thenation.com ALEC's Corporate Funders Are Complicit in State-Based Assaults on Voting Rights and Democracy…
(2021-06-17). Tens of thousands mobilize in Greece against new labor law. peoplesdispatch.org Tens of thousands of workers marched through various cities of Greece demanding the rollback of a new labor law passed on June 16. Trade unions have pointed out that the new labor law passed by the conservative New Democracy (ND) government will be detrimental to workers' rights in the country.