International News

[lusciouskiwi]

Hi all, was looking for a thread to add about same-sex couples adopting in NZ but couldn't find one, so I thought I'd start an international thread. Should I see anything interesting from Asia, I'll add that as well.

Here's an article (and link) from Express Magazine, Aotearoa/New Zealand about adoption (http://www.gayexpress.co.nz/2012/07/nats-pass-remit-on-adoption-for-civil-union-couples/)

The National party has passed a remit for the 1955 Adoption Act to be extended to couples in civil unions.
The remit was passed with a two-thirds majority at the National party’s annual conference yesterday.
It was pushed through by the youth wing of the party, the Young Nats.
Prime Minister John Key said while the remit showed the party is modernising, adoption reform was not high on its to-do list.
“Realistically it’s just not the biggest issue that we face. I know it’s important to those people, but they’re a very small group,” he said.
“We have a limited amount of house time that we can work through a limited number of issues… You have to think through the amount of parliamentary time that would be chewed up on that issue.”
The 1955 Adoption Act currently allows only legally married couples to adopt children.
Two separate bills that seek to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption, drafted by Labour MP Louisa Wall and Green MP Kevin Hague, are currently in the members’ bill ballot.

(p.s. our Prime Minister, John Key, is a self-serving rich d*ckhead)

[lusciouskiwi]

And on it goes - any LGBT Malaysian citizens should .... immigrate.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/09/18/go-west-lgbt-told/?fb_comment_id=fbc_503720079658160_6050520_5041202 99618138#f3b8248ef

[lusciouskiwi]

Australian lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected a Labor MP's bill that would have legalised same-sex marriage ...

http://www.fridae.asia/newsfeatures/2012/09/19/11938.australias-same-sex-marriage-bill-defeated-senator-resigns-after-bestiality-remarks

[lusciouskiwi]

From China:

The country's first transsexual twin sisters are expected to complete their surgeries and have their registered gender changed at the police, said the younger of the two, who will be discharged from a local hospital this week.

http://english.people.com.cn/90782/7938279.html

[lusciouskiwi]

This organisation, Family First, think it's funny to talk about incest, pedophilia and same-sex marriage in the same breath. I just watched most of their promotional video - the guy heading the organisation is very clever. Getting the name of FF out there in the media and lulling people into thinking that it's an organisation who's goals are sensible. And also what's interesting, for those of you interested in representation in media, that all of the people featured in the promotional video are Maori or Pacific Islanders. Hmmmm, wonder what the target it?

yZbzyIu8W5Q&feature=player_embedded#!

[lusciouskiwi]

Very short interview from protesters in Kuala Lumpur regarding the comments on how to identify a child who is gay or lesbian.

kZafhxn6DKM

Protests over Malaysia advice on gay 'symptoms' - YouTube

[Reader]

14-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai

Thousands rally in Karachi for Malala, 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot by Talibanhttp://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/14/14431038-thousands-rally-in-karachi-for-malala-14-year-old-pakistani-girl-shot-by-taliban?lite

http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/317621-MalalaYousafzai-1325866457-702-640x480.JPG
14-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai

A Pakistani woman shouts slogans during a protest march against the assassination attempt by the Taliban on 14-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai, in Karachi on Sunday. Malala is making "slow and steady progress" in her recovery, the military said.

[ruffryder]

IAF Targets Terrorists While South Under Missile Barrage
http://unitedwithisrael.org



The Israeli Air Force has been targeting terrorists who have fired over 40 rockets into southern Israel in the last month. They struck a terror cell which was on the way to a launching site to fire a missile into Israel – killing on and seriously injuring the second. In a separate strike, Israel killed the Palestinian leader of an al-Qaida-affiliated group in the Gaza Strip. Hisham Al-Saedni, also known as Abu Al-Waleed Al-Maqdissi, headed the Jihadist Salafi group Tawhid and Jihad (“One God and Holy War”). Sources have said that Saedni joined al-Qaida in Iraq at the beginning of the US-led invasion in 2003. An IDF source reported that this cell was involved in past terrorist attacks on Israel, and was in the last stages of preparing another attack.

One of the missile attacks on Israel exploded in the backyard of a family home in Netivot. Shrapnel from the rocket flew into the home and pierced the walls of a child’s bedroom. Thankfully, the child was not in the room and only one civilian was hospitalized for shock.

The IDF spokesman reacted by asking: “What if the child would have been there ?”

The air force has also targeted a terrorist center in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, a training camp belonging to Hamas’s Izzadin Kassam armed wing, and a terrorist tunnel in northern Gaza in recent days.

[Daktari]

Pussy Riot news. Should have posted it on Friday.

Wed. 10 Oct 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/oct/10/pussy-riot-member-freed-moscow?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Fri. 12 Oct 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/oct/12/pussy-riot-resume-protests-against-vladimir-putin

[Daktari]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/17/julia-gillard-australia-misogyny-dictionary

Woohooo! Go Julia!!

The Australian Prime Minister launches an attack on the leader of the opposition about his repeated use of sexist language. The Macquarie dictionary is looking into amending it's entry under misogyny.

[Hollylane]

Brazil night club fire kills 230 in Santa Maria (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-21220308)

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/65538000/jpg/_65538947_65538943.jpg

At least 230 people have died in a fire that swept through a nightclub in a university city in southern Brazil, police and officials say.

Local media say the fire began when a band let off fireworks at the Kiss club in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul.

Many victims reportedly inhaled toxic fumes or were crushed as panicking clubbers tried to escape.

Bereaved families have gathered at the scene where the fire is out and bodies are being removed.

President Dilma Rousseff, who cut short a visit to Chile, has been visiting survivors at the city's Caridade hospital along with government ministers.

She said earlier that everything possible would be done to help the injured and the families of the victims.


"I would also like to say to the Brazilian people and to the people of Santa Maria that we stand together at this time, and that even though there's a lot of sadness, we will pull through," she said, speaking from Chile.

In a tweet, the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Tarso Genro, said it was a "sad Sunday" and that all possible action was being taken in response to the fire. He would be in the city later on Sunday, he added.

A firefighter told BBC News he had never seen such a tragedy in his life, with the victims "so young".



The priority for the authorities is now to identify the dead with many distressed relatives arriving at the scene, but in the hours ahead the focus will turn to the cause of this accident and safety procedures at the club, the BBC's Gary Duffy reports from Sao Paulo.

The death toll, which had earlier been put at 245, was revised down by fire officials. Emergency services said a further 117 people were being treated in hospital.
'Ceiling on fire'

The fire broke out some time after 02:00 (04:00 GMT) when between 300 and 500 people are believed to have been in the club, where a band was playing.

According to local newspaper Diario de Santa Maria, students from the city's federal university (UFSM) were holding a freshers' ball.

Thick smoke engulfed the venue after acoustic insulation caught fire, officials say.

"We looked up at the ceiling in front of the stage and it was catching fire," eyewitness Luana Santos Silva, 23, told Brazil's Globo TV.

"My sister grabbed me and dragged me out on the ground."

he exit, she said, was a "small door for lots of people to come out by".

The young woman's sister, Aline Santos Silva, 29, added: "We managed to see it in time and to get out quickly, before the smoke began to spread.

"The smoke spread really quickly, it didn't give enough time for people to get out. I think people started to feel unwell, and then they began to come out covered in black smoke stains."

The witness commended the emergency services: "Help arrived really quickly, ambulances, police."

Fire crews tried knocking through an exterior wall to help those trapped inside to escape.

Some 15 bodies were found in the club's toilets where people had apparently sought refuge, local reports said.

Speaking to BBC Brasil, Sergeant Arthur Rigue, from the local fire department, said: "I never witnessed a tragedy like this in my whole career.

"These people are so young… There were many bodies piled up in various parts of the place. Some were in the toilet. They died of asphyxiation."

Fire chief Guido de Melo told local media. "People started panicking and ended up treading on each other."
Identification

A temporary morgue has been set up in a local gym as the city's main morgue is unable to cope.

Family members have begun identifying the dead at the gym, Diario de Santa Maria reports.

They were led in one by one to see the bodies, according to the paper.

President Rousseff said the air force had made "resources" available at an air base near Santa Maria to help.

Santa Maria has a population of about 250,000 people, while UFSM has some 27,000 students.

Other nightclub fires

2009: Santika Club, Bangkok, Thailand - sparked by fireworks; 66 killed
2009: Lame Horse Club, Perm, Russia - sparked by fireworks; 150 killed
2004: Cromagnon Republic Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina - flare fire 194
2003: The Station, Rhode Island, US - sparked by fireworks; 100 killed
2000: Luoyang dance hall fire, China - fire blamed on welders kills 309
1996: Ozone Disco Club, Quezon City, Philippines - 160 killed
1990: Happy Land, New York, US - arson kills 89 at unlicensed club
1977: Beverly Hills Supper Club, Southgate, Kentucky - 165 killed
1970: Club 5-7, Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France - 146 killed;
1942: Cocoanut Grove, Boston, US - 492 killed

[Hollylane]

France's parliament approve gay marriage article (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21305150)

The French National Assembly has approved the most important article of a bill to legalise same-sex marriage.

Deputies voted 249-97 in favour of redefining marriage as being an agreement between two people - not just between a man and a woman.

President Francois Hollande's Socialists and their left-wing supporters backed it, opposed by the opposition UMP and many centrist MPs.

The proposals have generated protests and counter-protests for months.

Opinion polls suggest that around 55-60% of French people support gay marriage, though only about 50% approve of gay adoption.

The draft bill, which also includes provisions to allow gay couples to adopt children, marks one of France's biggest social reforms since the abolition of the death penalty in 1981.

It is expected that the legislation will reach the statue books by the middle of the year, AFP reports.

In September last year, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Lyon, argued that plans to redefine the concept of marriage would open the door to incest and polygamy.

The debate in the National Assembly is due to last throughout the weekend.

[Soon]

On Holding Hands and Fake Marriage: Stories of Being Gay in Russia (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/07/world/europe/stories-of-being-gay-in-russia.html?src=recg)

[Kobi]

By DAVID CRARY
AP National Writer
January 17, 2014


While gay-rights activists celebrate gains in much of the world, their setbacks have been equally far-flung, and often sweeping in scope.

In Russia, a new law against "gay propaganda" has left gays and lesbians unsure of what public actions they can take without risking arrest. In India, gay-rights supporters were stunned by a recent high court ruling re-criminalizing gay sex. A newly signed law in Nigeria sets 10-year prison terms for joining or promoting any gay organization, while a pending bill in Uganda would impose life sentences for some types of gay sex.

In such countries, repression of gays is depicted by political leaders as a defense of traditional values. The measures often have broad support from religious leaders and the public, limiting the impact of criticism from outsiders. The upshot: A world likely to be bitterly divided over gay rights for years to come.

Globally, the contrasts are striking. Sixteen countries have legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, including Canada, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and New Zealand as well as 10 European nations, and gay marriage is legal in parts of the United States and Mexico. Yet at least 76 countries retain laws criminalizing gay sex, including five where it's punishable by death.

Here's a look at major regions where the gay-rights movement
remains embattled or marginalized:

___


AFRICA:

According to human rights groups, more than two-thirds of African countries outlaw consensual same-sex acts, and discrimination and violence against gays, lesbians and transgender people is commonplace. While many of the laws date to the colonial era, opposition to homosexuality has gained increasing traction as a political tactic over the past two decades.

In 1995, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe — who's still in office — denounced gays and lesbians as "worse than pigs and dogs." He has since been joined by political and religious leaders continent-wide calling for punishments ranging from arrest to decapitation.

Africans promoting anti-gay legislation have expressed alarm about gains made by sexual minorities in the United States and Europe. They say laws such as the one newly signed in Nigeria can serve as a bulwark against Western pressure to enshrine gay rights.

In Liberia, for example, a religious group called the New Citizen Movement has spent the past year collecting signatures urging President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to sign a law banning same-sex marriage — even though, as in Nigeria, there has been no local movement to legalize it.

Rev. Cleopatra Watson, the group's executive director, said Nigeria's law was "a prayer answered" that could lead to the passage of similar legislation in other African countries.

From afar, Nigeria's new law has drawn harsh criticism from human rights groups, Western governments, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. However, support for anti-gay legislation presents few domestic political risks for African leaders, with polls suggesting most citizens believe sexual minorities are not entitled to basic civil rights.

In Cameroon, gay men are routinely sentenced to prison for gay sex, and in July a prominent gay activist, Eric Ohena Lembembe, was tortured and killed in an attack.

Gay-rights supporters nonetheless hold out hope for long-term change, suggesting that recent anti-gay rhetoric and laws were a response to an emergence of sustained gay-rights activism.

"If there weren't an increasingly effective movement, there would not be such a virulent backlash," said Neela Ghoshal, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.

___


ASIA:

The world's largest continent, Asia is a mixed bag when it comes to gay issues, due to vast differences in culture, religion and history. Though no Asian nation yet allows gay marriage, Thailand has a government-sponsored campaign to attract gay tourists, while China, Vietnam and Taiwan, among others, are increasingly accepting of gays and lesbians.

However, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Pakistan outlaw gay sex and, for the moment, so does India, following the recent decision of its high court to revive a ban on gay sex that had been quashed by a lower court in 2009. The high court said it's up to lawmakers, not judges, to change the law.

Amid the legal wrangling, gays and lesbians have gained a degree of acceptance in parts of India, especially in big cities where gay-pride parades are now a fixture. Many bars have gay nights, and some high-profile Bollywood films have dealt with gay issues.

In most of the country, however, being gay is seen as shameful, and many gays remain closeted.

Gautam Bhan, an Indian gay activist, said he was heartened by the vocal outcry against the high court ruling.

"There may be a backlash and reversals, but the long-term trend is toward openness, freedom and diversity," he said. "Eventually we will get past this law."

In majority-Muslim Malaysia, the government has shown no interest in promoting gay rights. Sodomy is punishable by 20 years in prison and whipping with a rattan cane, and censorship rules forbid the production and screening of films that might be considered supportive of gay rights.

Earlier this month, the Home Ministry declared a coalition of activist groups illegal, partly because they were deemed to have championed gay rights.

"Malaysia is at the worst end of the scale," said Grace Poore, a Malaysian who is Asia program coordinator for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. "They are targeting LGBT people because they are convenient scapegoats."

In heavily Muslim Indonesia, gay sex is not criminalized, and many young, urban Indonesians are relatively tolerant of homosexuality, but most citizens consider it unacceptable.

"Gay people are still living in fear," said King Oey, chairman of the country's main gay-rights group.

___


CARIBBEAN/LATIN AMERICA:

While the gay-rights movement has achieved major victories in some South American countries, gays remain targets of violence and harassment in parts of Central America and the Caribbean.

In Honduras, activists report a serious problem of violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 90 members of the LGBT community were killed between 2009 and 2012.

Several countries in the English-speaking Caribbean still have colonial-era laws criminalizing sex between men, including Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia and Dominica. Gays in Jamaica say they suffer frequent discrimination and abuse, and have little recourse because of widespread anti-gay stigma.

"Homophobia is expected, celebrated, culturally ingrained," said Dane Lewis, leader of the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals and Gays.

Anti-gay sentiment is fueled by some church leaders who accuse gays of flaunting their behavior to "recruit" youngsters, and some stars of Jamaican dancehall music use gay-bashing lyrics to rouse concertgoers.

For gay tourists, the Caribbean is generally safe, but not always. Masked gunmen broke into a vacation cottage in St. Lucia in 2011 and beat three gay Americans while making anti-gay slurs. In 2006, two gay men from New York were assaulted outside a bar in Dutch St. Maarten; one of the victims sustained brain damage.

In Cuba, homosexuality was frowned on in the early decades after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Gays were commonly harassed by police, sent to work camps or dismissed from government jobs. Some fled into exile.

More recently, Castro apologized for the persecution. His niece, Mariela Castro, the daughter of current President Raul Castro, is a leading activist for LGBT rights on the island and has lobbied, so far unsuccessfully, for same-sex marriage.

___


EASTERN EUROPE:

Russia's law banning "gay propaganda" has drawn extensive criticism abroad, but seems to be widely accepted at home — perhaps not surprising in a country where a popular news anchorman recently said homosexuals' hearts should be buried or burned.

The law was signed in June by President Vladimir Putin after sailing through Parliament. It levies heavy fines on anyone convicted of propagandizing "nontraditional sexual relations" among minors.

Putin, in his third term, has been catering to an increasingly conservative constituency, repeating catch-phrases about Russia's traditional values and condemning the West for trends that threaten to destroy them, including homosexuality.

That language has struck a chord in much of Russia, where the rising influence of the Orthodox Church and widespread ignorance about gays has contributed to acceptance of the propaganda law. Polls indicate that the vast majority of Russians don't have a single gay acquaintance and oppose expansion of gay rights.

As a result, a growing cadre of public figures shows no hesitation to demonize gays.

State television anchor Dmitry Kiselyov told audiences that homosexuals should be banned from donating blood or organs, saying that they should be burned or buried instead. Kiselyov later was appointed by Putin to head Russia's largest news agency.

Ivan Okhlobystin, a popular actor and former priest, told his fans that he would gladly "burn them (gays) alive," calling them "a real danger to my children."

Gays face various problems in many other parts of Eastern Europe, including the Balkans, a traditionally conservative region where anti-gay violence has been on the rise. Assaults and harassment have coincided with the strengthening of right-wing groups amid persistent economic problems.

Conservative groups in Croatia, backed by the Roman Catholic Church, forced a referendum in December to define marriage as a union of a man and a woman only. Voters overwhelmingly supported the measure, dealing a blow to the liberal government and triggering criticism from the European Union, which had just admitted Croatia.

In Serbia, a gay pride march in 2010 resulted in daylong violence, with more than 100 people injured. Planned marches in subsequent years were canceled because of extremist threats.

Montenegro held its first pride event last year in the coastal town of Budva. Hundreds of police officers fought right-wing extremists who sought to disrupt the gathering, and participants were eventually evacuated in boats.

___


MIDDLE EAST:

Across most of the Middle East, homosexual relations are taboo, though not all nations choose to prosecute homosexuals and punishments vary.

The pervasiveness of religion in everyday life, along with strict cultural norms, plays a major factor in how Middle Eastern societies view homosexuality. The common Arabic word used to refer to gays is derogatory and its actual meaning translates as "abnormal" or "queer."

Same-sex relations are punishable by death in the Muslim-majority nations of Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.

In Yemen, more than 30 people suspected of being of gay were killed by unidentified assailants in the past two years, many in southern provinces where al-Qaida is active. Iraq also has experienced a surge of killings of gays.

In Egypt, consensual same-sex relations are not explicitly prohibited, but other laws — those prohibiting "debauchery" or "shameless public acts" — have been used to imprison gay men.

Public acceptance of gays in Israel and Lebanon is higher than the rest of the region, according to a Pew Research Center study released last year. Lebanon and Israel promote gay tourism, and publisher Nabil Mroueh says his company in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, has translated nearly a dozen English books about homosexuality into Arabic.

Among most Palestinians, homosexuality is generally disdained, and gays tend to be secretive about their social lives. In the West Bank, a 1951 Jordanian law banning homosexual acts remains in effect, as does a ban in Gaza passed by British authorities in 1936.

In Israel, by contrast, gays serve openly in the military and in parliament, and many popular artists and entertainers are gay.

Assessing the region as a whole, activists take heart from modest changes — even it's simply the inclusion of gay rights in broader discussions about human rights in the Middle East.

"The situation doesn't look good," said Hossein Alizadeh, a Middle East specialist with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. "But that doesn't mean we stop working."

___

[*Anya*]

The Huffington Post | By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 01/27/2014 9:37 am EST | Updated: 01/27/2014 1:59 pm EST

The mayor of Sochi is under the impression that there are no gay people in his city.

Anatoly Pakhomov spoke with the BBC ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics and discussed how gay people would be treated in the Russian region with the country's "homosexual propaganda" law in place. Pakhomov said gays are welcome at the Games in spite of this, so long as they "respect the laws of the Russian Federation and [don't] impose their habits on others."

He claimed gay people do not have to hide their sexuality in Sochi.

"No, we just say that it is your business, it's your life. But it's not accepted here in the Caucasus where we live. We do not have them in our city," he said. He later admitted that he isn't absolutely certain there are no gay people in Sochi. "I am not sure, but I don't bloody know them."

There are at least two gay clubs in the city, Russia's RT noted. Russian social networks also point to multiple lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in the area.

Nikolay Alekseyev, a Russian gay rights activist, compared Pakhomov's comments to those of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who once reportedly said, "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals." Alekseyev said, per RT, gay people are present “in any city, any country, any culture and any historical epoch."

Russia's anti-gay law makes it illegal to disseminate information about "nontraditional sexual relations" or "relations not conducive to procreation" to minors, the Associated Press reported. Individuals found in violation of the law could face fines up to 5,000 rubles ($156) or up to 1 million rubles ($31,000) for media organizations. Tourists have already reportedly been detained under this law.

Various celebrities and political figures have in turn backed a boycott of the Sochi Games.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/27/sochi-mayor-no-gay-people_n_4673232.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

[Kobi]

Child prostitution has been defined by the UN as "the act of engaging or offering the services of a child to perform sexual acts for money or other consideration with that person or any other person".

By 1990, international awareness of the commercial sexual exploitation and the sale of children had grown to such a level that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Here is a list of the five countries with the highest rates of child prostitution.

Sri Lanka

The number of crimes against children in Sri Lanka increased by 64% in 2012 , compared to the previous year, a Unicef report said.

"According to Unicef and ILO [International Labour Organisation] there are 40,000 child prostitutes in Sri Lanka and 6.4% of the country's child population gets pregnant," said United National Party MP Rosy Senanayake.

Although girls are sexually exploited both in the sex industry and by sex tourists, many NGOs believe that it is boys who face greater abuse by foreign sex offenders, NGO Ecpact (Ending Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking) said.

In Sri Lanka, the plantation sector has been identified as a notorious area for trafficking of children into the worst forms of child labour, particularly child domestic work and commercial sexual exploitation, according to ILO.

The National Child Protection Authority issued a warning in 2011 of an increase in child sexual exploitation, related to the rapid growth of tourism.



Thailand

Child prostitution in Thailand involved 800,000 children under the age of sixteen in 2004.

According to Ecpat, due to the hidden nature of child sexual abuse reliable figures are hard to compile and cases difficult to document. Available figures estimate that currently some 30,000 to 40,000 children, not including foreign children, are exploited as prostitutes.

Sexual exploitation of children in Thailand, as in many other countries, is tremendously influenced by tourism.

"In Pattaya [ Thailand], if there were fewer foreign people coming in to buy sex, then the problem would be easier to manage," Palissorn Noja, who runs Pattaya's Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Abuse Centre, told the Huffington Post.

"They [pedophiles] have an entire worldwide network of people looking for children through human trafficking. And sex tourism makes it harder to stop."

The photographic documentary, "Underage" by photographer Ohm Phanphiroj shows the life of thousands of underage male prostitutes in Thailand.

"The film aims at exposing the rotten problem about sexual exploitation against minors and mistreatment towards children," the photographer said in a statement.
Child Prostitution Brazil
Underage prostitutes in Brazil

Brazil

Sex trafficking is an appalling truth to many young people in Brazil, where there are half-a-million child sex workers, according to the National Forum for the Prevention of Child Labour.

Children as young as 12 are selling themselves for sex for as little as 80p in Brazil, according to an investigation by Sky News.

The shocking revelation comes as international footballers join a campaign warning fans travelling to Brazil for the World Cup to exploit children.

According to the documentary "Brazil- Children for sale", hundreds of children who live in the slums leave their homes in search of tourists, who are "eager for easy and cheap bodies", to earn money and escape poverty.

Unemployment and poverty is extremely high in Brazil and children are sometimes encouraged by their parents to start prostituting.
Child Prostitution
FBI agent leading away a suspect arrested in the "Operation Cross Country II" in 2008.

United States

According to Crimes Against Children research Centre (CCRC), the numbers of juvenile prostitutes within the United States range from 1,400 to 2.4 million, although most fall between 300,000 and 600,000.

16 children as young as 13 were rescued from the sex trade in a law enforcement operation that targeted suspected pimps who brought the victims to New Jersey for Super Bowl weekend, in February 2014.

"Prostituted children remain the orphans of America's justice system. They are either ignored or, when they do come in contact with law enforcement, harassed, arrested, and incarcerated while the adults who exploit them - the pimp and their customers - largely escape punishment," said Julian Sher, author of the book Somebody's Daughter: The Hidden Story of America's Prostituted Children and the Battle to Save Them.



Canada

Inuit babies and children are being sold by their families and are "prostituted out by a parent, family member or domestic partner", according to a recent report by Canadian Department of Justice.

The sexual exploitation of children is a deeply–rooted reality in too many Canadian homes, families and communities, according to a 2011 report by a Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights.

The committee, which started the investigation in 2009, heard that in one year there were almost 9,000 reported sexual assaults against children
(many of whom belong to aboriginal communities) in Canada. The overwhelming majority of sexual abuse goes unreported.

Social service organisations have estimated the number of trafficked Canadians to be as high as 16,000 a year, but the number of children trafficked within Canada from place to place remains uncertain due to the clandestine nature of the activity, Unicef Canada said in a statement in 2009.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/top-five-countries-highest-rates-child-prostitution-1435448

[LeftWriteFemme]

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[MsTinkerbelly]

Lord have mercy

A Maylasian Airlines flight has crashed near the Russian border, presumably killing all 290+ people on board.

They are being careful to not say (at least on CNN) that it was a rocket, or a malfunction, but several planes have gone down in that area in the last few weeks via rocket fire.

[MsTinkerbelly]

The anti-gay bill signed into law earlier this year was ruled illegal and was invalidated yesterday.

I'm on my ipad and have trouble copying and posting, so if someone wants to find it, go to LBGTQ nation for the story.

[*Anya*]

By James Gallagher

Health editor, BBC News website

9/5/14

William Pooley, 29, has been treated in a special isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

Mr Pooley was given the experimental drug ZMapp and has praised the "world class" care at the hospital.

About half of the 3,000 people infected in the outbreak, which started in Guinea, have died.

The pace of the outbreak has been accelerating with more than 40% of cases in the past three weeks.

Mr Pooley was working as a volunteer nurse in one of the worst affected countries, Sierra Leone, when he contracted the virus.

He is unsure when he became infected, but started feeling sick and needed a blood test.

He recalled the moment his fears were confirmed: "I was woken early that evening by one of the World Health Organization doctors and immediately I knew it was bad news.

"I was worried that I was going to die, I was worried about my family and I was scared."

'Very lucky'

Mr Pooley has been treated at a specialist isolation unit at London's Royal Free Hospital
He was flown back to the UK by the RAF on Sunday 24 August.

Mr Pooley was in the earlier stages of the disease. He had a high temperature but was not bleeding.

He said: "I was very lucky in several ways; firstly in the standard of care I received, which is a world apart from what people are receiving in West Africa at the moment.

"And my symptoms never progressed to the worst stage of the disease, I've seen people dying horrible deaths, I had some unpleasant symptoms, but nothing compared to the worst of the disease."

He was treated with the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp, a 12-hour infusion of antibodies, that has been given to only six other patients.

It is not clear if the infusion helped, but levels of the virus in his bloodstream did fall significantly after the treatment.

The global response to the disease has been "lethally inadequate", according to the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Estimates suggest up to 20,000 people will be infected during this outbreak.

Overall, 51% of those infected have died - ranging from 41% in Sierra Leone to 66% in Guinea.

Mr Pooley praised the efforts of other people working on the ground.

"It's just heroic what they're doing, they know what might be facing them," he said.

"In the face of quite likely a horrible death, they're continuing to work all day, every day helping sick people, it's amazing."

He said it had felt "natural" to go and help in West Africa, that he had no regrets and was "more committed than ever to nursing".

Mr Pooley is heading back to Eyke in Suffolk with his family this afternoon.

"They incinerated my passport, so my mum will be pleased to know I can't go anywhere," he added.

[*Anya*]

A Spanish nurse who treated an Ebola victim in Madrid has contracted the virus herself in the first case of contagion outside Africa, health officials say.

The nurse tested positive for Ebola in two separate tests, according to reports.

She was part of the team that treated Spanish priest Manuel Garcia Viejo, who died of Ebola on 25 September.

Some 3,400 people have died in the outbreak - mostly in West Africa.

The priest died in the hospital Carlos III de Madrid after catching Ebola in Sierra Leone.


Manuel Garcia Viejo, seen in a file photo, was the second Spanish priest to be repatriated from Africa with Ebola
Another Spanish priest, Miguel Pajares, died in August after contracting the virus in Liberia.

The nurse was admitted to hospital on Monday morning with a high fever, Spanish newspaper El Pais said.

Doctors isolated the emergency treatment room, the report said.

Ebola spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of someone who has the virus and the only way to stop an outbreak is to isolate those who are infected.

There have been nearly 7,500 confirmed infections worldwide, with officials saying the figure is likely to be much higher in reality.

Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have been hardest hit.

Celebrations in West Africa for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha are being badly affected by the Ebola outbreak, with many public places deserted this weekend.

Earlier health officials said people arriving in the US from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa could be subject to extra screening at airports.

But the White House said on Monday it was not considering a ban on travellers from such countries, according to Reuters.

It comes as the US tries to limit the spread from its first confirmed case, a Liberian in Dallas.

Thomas Duncan's condition is critical but stable, Reuters quoted doctors in the state of Texas as saying on Monday.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29514920

[*Anya*]

Iran hangs woman despite campaign

Iran has gone ahead with an execution of a woman despite an international campaign urging a reprieve.

Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, was hanged in a Tehran prison on Saturday morning. She had been convicted of killing a man she said was trying to sexually abuse her.

Jabbari was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former intelligence ministry worker.

Human rights group Amnesty International said her execution was "deeply disappointing in the extreme".

A campaign calling for a halt to the execution was launched on Facebook and Twitter last month and appeared to have brought a temporary stay in execution.

However, government news agency Tasnim said on Saturday that Jabbari had been executed after her relatives failed to gain consent from the victim's family for a reprieve.

It said her claims of self-defence had not been proved in court.

A Facebook page set up to campaign for a stay now says simply: "Rest in peace".

Jabbari's mother, Shole Pakravan, confirmed the execution in an interview with BBC Persian, saying she was going to the cemetery to see her daughter's body.

Ms Pakravan had been allowed to see her daughter for an hour on Friday.

After her arrest, Jabbari had been placed in solitary confinement for two months, where she reportedly did not have access to a lawyer or her family.

She was sentenced to death by a criminal court in Tehran in 2009.

Amnesty International said she was convicted after a deeply flawed investigation.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Programme said: "This is another bloody stain on Iran's human rights record."

"Tragically, this case is far from uncommon. Once again Iran has insisted on applying the death penalty despite serious concerns over the fairness of the trial."

Amnesty said that although Jabbari admitted to stabbing Abdolali Sarbandi once in the back, she alleged that there was someone else in the house who actually killed him.

Jalal Sarbandi, the victim's eldest son, said Jabbari had refused to identify the man.

He told Iranian media in April: "Only when her true intentions are exposed and she tells the truth about her accomplice and what really went down will we be prepared to grant mercy,"

The United Nations says Iran has executed about 250 people this year.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29769468

Global executions for 2013

• China: 1,000+

• Iran: 369+

• Iraq: 169+

• Saudi Arabia: 79+

• United States: 39

• Somalia: 34+

• Sudan: 21+

• Yemen: 13+

• Japan: 8

• Others: 42+ (in 12 countries)

Source: Amnesty International


BBC © 2014

[*Anya*]

Kenyans rally for woman stripped naked in Nairobi

CNN iReport
By Faith Karimi, CNN
updated 11:00 PM EST, Tue November 18, 2014

Protesters crowded the streets of Nairobi, Kenya on Monday to send a message that women should not be attacked for the way they dress.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The incident was captured on a video that went viral last week
It prompted outrage on social media under the hashtag #mydressmychoice

(CNN) -- Kenyans took to the streets of Nairobi on Monday to send a message to men: Stop attacking women because of the way they dress.

The protests followed the latest incident of a woman stripped naked in the capital by a group of men who accused her of "indecent" dressing. The attack captured on video last week prompted outrage on social media under the hashtag #mydressmychoice.

Protesters marched through downtown carrying placards that read "My dress, my choice" while others donned mini-skirts, the same attire the unidentified woman wore when she was attacked. Some men wore dresses to show their support.

Others joined the march to rally against the protests, chanting "don't be naked" and "wear clothes."

This is not the first time a woman has been undressed for purported indecent dressing in the East African nation, which is a majority Christian. Such incidents sporadically happen in other major cities, including Nakuru and Mombasa.

In the footage posted on YouTube and shown on local television, the woman is confronted by her attackers at a bus stop. She looks terrified as she is pushed and shoved by a group of men, who eventually strip her naked. In the background, attackers yell "Toa" -- Swahili for "take it off!" as they tug at her clothes.

"It's so sad that these men who strip women are the same same men who ... will go out in the night looking at women who are dressed to kill and they drool over them," said Brenda Otieno, who supported the protests in Nairobi.

While some applauded the protests, others said they are a distraction from the main issues.
"Kenyans are actually not concerned about clothes ... this is just a media created frenzy trying to redirect the nation's attention away from hard questions like poverty and poor education system," Edu Gezuka posted on social media.

After the videotaped incident, other instances of women getting undressed have been reported including in Mombasa, Kenya's second-largest city.

The issue in not limited to Kenya. Over the years, such incidents have occurred in other African nations, including Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Kenyan authorities have said they are investigating the latest incident.

CNN's Daisy Carrington and Rachel Rodriguez contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/17/world/woman-stripped-kenya/index.html

[*Anya*]

The Vietnamese government repealed a ban on same-sex marriage on New Year’s Day.

While the government does not officially recognise or provide legal protections for same-sex marriages, weddings can now take place without the threat of fines.

It is seen by many as a move designed to promote Vietnam’s image as a tolerant and accepting country, and boost tourism especially from LGBT travelers. It is the first country in South East Asia to make such a move.

Singapore’s courts upheld its anti-gay laws in October, parts of Indonesia punish homosexuality with 100 lashes, and Brunei passed a law calling for gays to be stoned to death.

Jamie Gillen, a researcher at the National University of Singapore told the Bangkok Post: “This makes Vietnam a leader in Asia. Singapore just reaffirmed its ban on homosexual behaviours. Vietnam is trying to pitch itself as a tolerant and safe country.”

Luong The Huy, a legal advisor for Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment, a minority rights organisation in Hanoi said: “They say the society in Vietnam needs some time to accept gay and lesbians in general. The revision in the law signals to the country that “same-sex marriage is not harmful to society.”

He also spoke about the positive influence of the new US Ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius, who arrived in December with his husband and is the first gay US ambassador to an Asian county. Mr Huy said: “He promotes a very good image of a very successful person who is gay. We could get more support from civil society in Vietnam because the American ambassador is gay.”

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/01/08/vietnam-abolishes-ban-on-same-sex-marriage/

[cricket26]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/11327416/India-Transgender-woman-elected-mayor.html

India has elected a transgender mayor.
Madhu Bai Kinnar – an independent candidate – defeated her opponent from prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) by more than 4,500 votes to be elected mayor of Raigarh, in the central state of Chhattisgarh, on Sunday.
Kinnar, 35, is a member of the lowly Dalit caste, once known as ‘untouchables’. Before running for mayor, she earned a living by singing and dancing on Howrah to Mumbai trains, collecting money for her performances. She only stopped when asked to represent her community.
“People have shown faith in me. I consider this win as love and blessings of people for me. I’ll put in my best efforts to accomplish their dreams,” said Kinnar after her win.

[*Anya*]

ISIS executing 'educated women' in new wave of horror says U.N.

By AFP | Geneva
Tuesday, 20 January 2015

The UN on Tuesday decried numerous executions of civilians in Iraq by the Islamic State group, warning that educated women appeared to be especially at risk.

The jihadist group is showing a “monstrous disregard for human life” in the areas it controls in Iraq, the UN human rights office said.

The group, which controls large swathes of territory in Iraq and in neighbouring war-ravaged Syria, last week published pictures of the “crucifixions” of two men accused of being bandits, and of a woman being stoned to death, allegedly for adultery.

Numerous other women have also reportedly been executed recently in ISIS-controlled areas, including Mosul, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.

She said “educated, professional women, particularly women who have run as candidates in elections for public office, seem to be particularly at risk.”

“In just the first two weeks of this year, reports indicate that three female lawyers were executed,” Shamdasani said.

A number of other groups are also targeted by the jihadists, Shamdasani said, pointing to “the ruthless murder of two men, who were thrown off the top of a building after having been accused of homosexual acts by a so-called court in Mosul.”

Minorities are not the only ones suffering, with IS meting out “cruel and inhuman punishments” to anyone accused of violating its “extremist interpretations of Islamic Sharia law, or for suspected disloyalty,” she said.

Four doctors were recently killed in central Mosul, allegedly after refusing to treat IS fighters.

The group also reportedly executed 15 civilians in front of a large crowd in Fallujah on January 1, on suspicion they had cooperated with Iraqi security forces, and 14 more in a public square in Dour, north of Tikrit, for refusing to pledge allegiance to IS, Shamdasani said.

Last Update: Tuesday, 20 January 2015 KSA 21:31 - GMT 18:31

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/01/20/ISIS-executing-educated-women-in-new-wave-of-horror-says-U-N-.html

[*Anya*]

Saudi Historian Says U.S. Women Drive Because They Don't Care If They're Raped

The Huffington Post | By Ed Mazza

A Saudi Arabian historian trying to justify the nation's ban on female drivers says women who drive in other countries such as the United States don't care if they're raped and that sexual violence "is no big deal to them."

Saleh al-Saadoon claimed in a recent TV interview that women can be raped when a car breaks down, but unlike other countries, Saudi Arabia protects its women from that risk by not allowing them to drive in the first place, according to a translation posted online by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

"They don't care if they are raped on the roadside, but we do," al-Saadoon said on Saudi Rotana Khalijiyya TV.

“Hold on. Who told you they don’t care about getting raped on the roadside?” asked the host, a woman who is not named in the transcript.

“It’s no big deal for them beyond the damage to their morale,” al-Saadoon replied. “In our case, however, the problem is of a social and religious nature.”

Two other guests on the show -- a man and a woman -- appeared to be in shock over his comments. Al-Saadoon said they were out of touch.

"They should listen to me and get used to what society thinks," al-Saadoon said.

Since the rape argument didn't seem to be convincing anyone, al-Saadoon tried another approach, claiming that women are treated "like queens" in Saudi Arabia because they are driven around by the men of the family and male chauffeurs. That led the host to ask if he wasn't afraid that women might be raped by their chauffeurs.

Al-Saadoon agreed.

"There is a solution, but the government officials and the clerics refuse to hear of it," he said. "The solution is to bring in female foreign chauffeurs to drive our wives."

That caused the female host to laugh and cover her face with her palm.

"Female foreign chauffeurs?" she said. "Seriously?"

Saudi women face serious penalties if they are caught driving, including lashing. Two women who defied the ban on driving last year, Loujain al-Hathloul and Maysa al-Amoudi, are being tried in a court that handles terror cases.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/09/saudi-women-drivers_n_6649896.html

[Cin]

I came across a rather fascinating, albeit disturbing, article in the magazine The Atlantic. It's rather long but who knows maybe somebody, besides me, will find it interesting.

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/03/is-it-time-for-the-jews-to-leave-europe/386279/

[Martina]

I saw that and the article by Michael Douglas about his son getting harrassed. I had no idea how bad it was in Europe. I was surprised. And Israeli politics are such a mess. Wow. I think the U.S. should welcome anyone who wants to come because of ethnic intimidation.

[*Anya*]

The Saudi Foreign Minister says LGBT rights are 'counter to Islamic law'

Samuel Osborne Tuesday 29 September 2015

UN removes gay rights from the organisation’s Global Goals, saying it is “counter to Islamic law”.

The protest comes from the Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, who told the UN General Assembly that “mentioning sex in the text, to us, means exactly male and female. Mentioning family means consisting of a married man and woman,” AP reported.

He stated Saudi Arabia has the right not to follow any agenda that runs “counter to Islamic law”.

The Sustainable Development Goals program sets a series of “ambitious targets” for the UN’s 193 member states, related to poverty, equality and ending climate change.

However, overt references to LGBT equality were removed from the final agreement, Pink News reports.

The goals pledge to ensure that “human rights and fundamental freedoms are enjoyed by all, without discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity, colour, sex, age, language, religion, culture, migration status, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic situation, birth, disability or other status.”

Homosexuality is illegal under Sharia law in Saudi Arabia and punishments for those engaging in same-sex relationships include execution, chemical castration and imprisonment.

The United Nations was criticised recently for handing Saudi Arabia a key human rights role, despite its record on human rights abuses and freedoms for women, minorities and dissidents.

Faisal bin Hassan Trad, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador at the UN was elected as chair of a panel of independent experts on the UN Human Rights Council. He has said calls for Saudi Arabia to support rights for same-sex couples were “unacceptable” and a “flagrant interference in its internal affairs”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/saudi-arabia-insists-un-keeps-lgbt-rights-out-of-its-development-goals-a6671526.html

[*Anya*]

The World Economic Forum believes it will take another 118 years - or until 2133 - until the global pay gap between men and women is finally closed.

Women are only now earning the amount that men did in 2006, data from the WEF's Global Gender Gap report says.

It says progress on closing the gap has stalled in recent years at a time when more women are entering the workplace.

In fact, nearly a quarter of a billion more women are in the global workforce today than a decade ago.

In several countries, more women are now going to university than men but - crucially - this is not necessarily translating into more women occupying skilled roles or leadership positions.

The WEF report looks at whether men and women have the same rights and opportunities in each country in four areas: health, education, economic participation and political empowerment.

Nordic countries are still doing the most to close the gender gap overall, just as they were 10 years ago. They may not have achieved total equality, but Iceland (1), Norway (2), Finland (3) and Sweden (4) occupy the top four rankings out of 145 countries.

"They have the best policies in the world for families," says the report's lead author, Saadia Zahidi. "Their childcare systems are the best and they have the best laws on paternity, maternity and family leave."

Not far behind, though, is Rwanda (6) which sits above the US and the UK in the index. Its high score is down to the number of female politicians active in the country.

Struggle to the top

Over the last decade one of the most dramatic changes has been in education. In fact, the report shows that a reverse gender gap is emerging in higher education, with more women in university than men in 98 countries.

Ms Zahidi says there are six times more women in university than men in Qatar, which has seen a strong push towards women's education in recent decades. In Barbados and Jamaica, two-and-a-half times more women are enrolled at university than men, she adds.

And as more women go to university, families want to see a financial return on that education. Sixty-eight countries in the world now have more women than men in skilled positions, such as doctors, teachers and lawyers.

But despite this, women still do not seem to reach the top positions in business, politics or public service in the same way that men do. The WEF believes only three countries have more women than men in leadership positions: the Philippines, Fiji and Columbia.

There may be some eyebrows raised that Saudi Arabia (134) scores more highly than Jordan or Lebanon. But Ms Zahidi is convinced that change is being made there under the surface.

"It's actually one of the countries that has made the most progress over the last 10 years," she says. "There's a pretty clear strategy in place by the Ministry of Labour to try to get more women into the workplace."

Call for cultural shift

The global picture, though, is not always one of continual progress toward equality. A handful of countries have been moving backwards in the index: Jordan, Mali, Croatia, Slovak Republic and Sri Lanka.

And the authors say they are particularly disappointed that progress on closing the wage gap has been "stalling markedly" in the last few years.

The data suggests women are earning now what men were 10 years ago - a global average of just over £7,300 ($11,000; €10,400) compared with £13,500 ($20,500; €19,200) paid to men.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34842471

[Cin]

Cologne sex attacks 'not even crimes according to German rape laws'
'If you don’t in the end have any physical harm to show for it - you haven’t been ripped apart, you haven’t gotten bruises, you’re not getting a conviction'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/cologne-sex-attacks-not-even-crimes-according-to-german-rape-laws-a6954586.html

The reported sexual assault of as many as 1,000 women on New Year's Eve in Cologne may not even be considered a crime in Germany.

Currently, Germany's rape laws only include attacks where a victim can prove they physically resisted and verbally said "no".

“The German law accepts that a man generally has the right to touch a woman, to have sexual intercourse with a woman. It’s his right, unless the woman shows her resistance very, very strongly,” Chantal Louis, an editor at Emma, Germany’s oldest feminist magazine, told Buzzfeed.

“We have a situation where … even touching the breasts or vagina can’t be punished in the logic of that law, because if the perpetrator does it very quickly, you don’t have time to resist. It seems weird and crazy, but that’s German law.”

The law focuses on the overwhelming force of the perpetrator, reportedly requiring there to be a "threat of imminent danger to life and limb".

As such, for a court to rule a woman was raped, she must prove she physically resisted her attacker with bruises or other injuries on her body.

“You have to be able to show that violence has been committed against you,” Nancy Gage-Lindner, a member of the German Women Lawyer's Association, told Buzzfeed.

“If you don’t in the end have any physical harm to show for it - you haven’t been ripped apart, you haven’t gotten bruises, you’re not getting a conviction."

The government has approved an amendment which no longer requires physical refusal. Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet signed off on the change, which will now go to the parliament for approval before being passed into law.

Refugees were widely blamed for the attacks, leading to a hardening of attitudes towards Ms Merkel's open door policy.

[Greyson]

This story is a series of investigative journalism done by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalist (ICIJ), a project of The Center for Public Integrity. I am going to follow this series. When I read stuff like this it makes me rethink much of what I think I know.

The documents include nearly 40 years of data from inside Mossack Fonseca, a little known but powerful law firm based in Panama with branches in Hong Kong, Miami, Zurich and 35 other cities worldwide. In the first of six articles posted today, ICIJ and its partners detail the the inner workings of the Mossack Fonseca firm, which is one of the world’s top creators of shell companies — corporate structures that can be used to hide ownership of assets.

Another article reveals a clandestine money network with ties to Putin that has shuffled at least $2 billion through banks and offshore companies linked to some of Putin’s closest allies. A third article details how the law firm of a FIFA ethics watchdog had created offshore accounts for three men indicted in the world soccer association’s corruption scandal. One of the men, a former FIFA vice president, has been charged by U.S. authorities with wire fraud and money laundering for his role in the alleged bribery conspiracy.


http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article69729112.html

https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/04/03/19503/massive-leak-reveals-offshore-accounts-world-leaders

[Jesse]

At Least 75 Dead as Truck Plows Into Crowd in Southern France, Driver Killed

A truck plowed into pedestrians during Bastille Day celebrations in the popular French seaside city of Nice Thursday, leaving at least 75 people dead, officials said...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/truck-reportedly-plows-crowd-bastille-day-france-n609621?cid=eml_nbn_20160714

[MsTinkerbelly]

There is an attempted military coup going on in Turkey right now!

This could be very bad, as they are one of our closest allies in the fight against Isis.

[MsTinkerbelly]

There is an attempted military coup going on in Turkey right now!

This could be very bad, as they are one of our closest allies in the fight against Isis.

We have a friend that lives in Turkey...she says that she thinks this "coup" was all a plot by the Government. She thinks the primary reasons are grabbing for more power, and wanting the Cleric that lives here in Pennslyvannia to be handed over so he can be killed.

She says she has no proof, but this is the prevailing feeling after watching what has played out over the last 10 years.

[*Anya*]

22-Year-Old Somali Woman Sentenced to Death for Being Lesbian

By Adi Chowdhury

In the latest of vitriolic homophobia’s manifestations as hindrances in our quest for progress, a young Somalian woman has been sentenced to death for being homosexual.

The young Sahra (whose name has been altered due to safety reasons) had been a crusader for women’s rights and hence was no stranger to controversy. But things took a turn for the fatal as she was exposed as a lesbian and subjected to the vehement fury from acquaintances.

Al-Shahabab is an Islamic terror group that has amassed notoriety for their vitriol and violence taken against the gay community of Somalia. If not the al-Shahahbab, then other armed gangs are feared to take action against Sahra for her sexuality.

“I felt like I couldn’t breathe. One day they were looking for a guy for me to marry, the next they were looking to take my life,” Sahra recounts. “It was horrible.”

From an article from The Independent:

Everything changed late last year when an acquaintance publicly revealed that Sahra was gay. She started to receive threatening calls, but going to the police was difficult, as they are often openly hostile towards the LGBT community. In the wake of a draconian new anti-homosexuality law passed two years ago, many gay people fled to neighbouring Kenya for refuge after the act triggered a wave of house burnings and violence. That law was later annulled on a technicality.

Officially punishable with a three-year prison sentence, but in areas where the government does not hold sway, the killing of the few people suspected of being gay is a probability, with victims sometimes stoned to death.

Being gay in Somalia is “just not acceptable”, says Leyla Hussein, the London-based Somali founder of women’s rights group Daughters of Eve. “There are a lot of gay Somali women, but they will never come out. They don’t even come out to their own families.”

Sahra was flown to Mogadishu, with the assistance of Jason Jeremias, an activist and theatre producer who had struck up a friendship with Sahra during workshops in Uganda.

https://thebangladeshihumanist.wordpress.com/2016/08/08/22-year-old-somali-woman-sentenced-to-death-for-being-lesbian/

[*Anya*]

Official Suggests Uganda Will Force LGBT People Into State-Run ‘Ex-Gay’ Program

By John Wright
August 9, 2016

Days after police violently raided a gay Pride event in Uganda, the nation’s ethics minister on Monday announced a new government-sanctioned “ex-gay” therapy program.

“A program to rehabilitate members of the LGBT Community, with the ultimate aim of giving them a chance to lead normal lives again, has been developed,” Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo said in a statement posted by the Uganda Media Center.

Lokodo, a former Catholic priest, didn’t provide specifics of the program, but in the meantime he vowed to continue to crack down on LGBT gatherings.
Police in Uganda, one of 36 African countries where gay sex is illegal, arrested more than a dozen people, including prominent LGBT activists, during the Mr. and Miss Pride Uganda 2016 at Venom Club in Kabalaggala last week.

The following day, organizers canceled a Pride paradescheduled for Saturday after Lokodo reportedly threatened to put together a police-led mob to assault participants.

On Monday, Lokodo told reporters that the government “will continue to suppress” the public activities of homosexuals, the Associated Press reports. He also alleged that Pride activities are being organized “with the influence of some foreign forces.”

“A program to rehabilitate members of the LGBT Community, with the ultimate aim of giving them a chance to lead normal lives again, has been developed,” Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo said in a statement posted by the Uganda Media Center.

http://www.towleroad.com/2016/08/uganda-gay/

[*Anya*]

Chechnya detains 100 gay men in first concentration camps since the Holocaust

Arrests are being made as part of an anti-LGBT purge in the region.

By Lydia Smith

Updated April 10, 2017 17:39 BST

Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen Republic, has denied the allegations.

More than 100 gay men have been detained in concentration camp-style prisons in the Russian region of Chechnya, according to reports by local newspapers and human rights organisations.

The arrests are being made as part of a widespread anti-LGBT purge in the area. The prison camps are the first to be established for LGBT people since the Second World War.

The information was first published by the Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper, which reported that men were being arrested and kept in concentration camp prisons where violence and abuse is commonplace.

Repressions against the LGBT community began after an application for a gay rights march in the Chechen capital of Grozny.

A prison camp has reportedly been established in the town of Argun, according to eyewitness testimonies.

The report was published on the 1 April, prompting the spokesperson for Chechnya's Interior Ministry to dismiss the claims as an "April Fools' joke".

The press secretary for Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic, described the report as "lies" and stated there were no gay people in Chechnya.

"If there were such people in Chechnya, law-enforcement agencies wouldn't need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning," he said.

Human rights organisations have corroborated the information published by Novaya Gazeta.

"For several weeks now, a brutal campaign against LGBT people has been sweeping through Chechnya. Law enforcement and security agency officials under control of the ruthless head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, have rounded up dozens of men on suspicion of being gay, torturing and humiliating the victims," a report by Human Rights Watch states.

"Some of the men have forcibly disappeared. Others were returned to their families barely alive from beatings. At least three men apparently have died since this brutal campaign began."


http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/chechnya-detains-100-gay-men-first-concentration-camps-since-holocaust-1616363

[C0LLETTE]

First Canada Tried to Charm Trump. Now It’s Fighting back.
Inside Justin Trudeau’s campaign against the American trade war.
By Guy Lawson
June 9, 2018
…
The optimism Chrystia Freeland (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada) displayed only weeks earlier was now mostly gone. With the United States imposing tariffs and threatening the legally binding Nafta treaty, Freeland believed much larger and more troubling issues had been raised. She was worried that Western nations were forgetting the lessons of history from the 20th century and taking for granted the institutions of a rules-based global order constructed over decades under the leadership of the United States. America’s closest friend and ally and a country that might see America more clearly than it sees itself now offered a dire warning about the perils to liberal democracy in this “fraught” era. Freeland said she had recently come across a “terrifying” quote from Adolf Hitler, explaining his rise to power in Germany in a time of economic uncertainty and grievance. “I will tell you what has carried me to the position I have reached,” Hitler had said. “Our political problems appeared complicated. The German people could make nothing of them. ... I, on the other hand ... reduced them to the simplest terms. The masses realized this and followed me.”

She leaned forward, a look of concern in her eyes. “How do you attract voters and public support compared with the flashiness of exciting, chaotic, fact-ignoring populism?” she asked. “The reason Hitler won was because all of the other politicians were giving complicated and difficult explanations about difficult things. Hitler just told people simple things that they wanted to hear.”

[C0LLETTE]

Ottawa medicine board details changes to rules on national drug pricing
CARLY WEEKS HEALTH REPORTER
RACHEL EMMANUEL
PUBLISHED AUGUST 9, 2019

The ( Canadian ) federal government has unveiled its long-awaited overhaul of the country’s drug-pricing regulations with a new framework that the Liberals say will save Canadians billions over the next decade.

Under the new system, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) will no longer consider drug prices in the United States or Switzerland, which have some of the world’s highest drug prices, when trying to set the maximum prices companies are allowed to charge for prescription medications.

Drug manufacturers will also have to provide the price-setting regulator with the actual cost it charges for drugs in Canada, including any discounts or rebates. Currently, most manufacturers only disclose the list or “sticker” price, which is typically higher than what large insurance plans, such as provinces or private companies, pay.

The PMPRB will also have the authority to consider whether a drug’s price matches its value to patients.

Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said the changes will allow the review board to set a proper ceiling on drug prices.

“We’ll have a better idea of how reasonable our price list is comparative to what [drug manufacturers] are selling their drugs for,” she said.

About 20 per cent of Canadians, or more than 7.5 million people, are estimated to be either uninsured or underinsured for prescription drug costs. A national pharmacare plan would address that, and aim to save billions of dollars. ...

Under the new system, Canada will compare itself to 11 other countries when it comes to setting maximum drug prices for patented drugs, including France, Germany, Italy and the new additions of Japan, Spain, Norway, Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands....

“By the announcements that we’re making today with the changes to regulations, we are absolutely going to be able to [lower drug costs],” Ms. Petitpas Taylor said.

In June, a national advisory council ...called for the establishment of a universal single-payer pharmacare program, similar to the system in place for medicare in Canada...

[Cin]

Freeing “Hotel Rwanda” Hero Paul Rusesabagina

The man portrayed by Don Cheadle in the movie about mass slaughter in Rwanda was kidnapped and jailed by the country’s dictator, writes Ann Garrison.

“He questions the official narrative of the 1994 genocide, and that in itself is illegal in Rwanda.”

Paul Rusesabagina, the real life hero whose story is the basis of the movie “Hotel Rwanda,” was kidnapped in Dubai and illegally rendered to Rwanda to stand trial on terrorism charges at the end of August. I spoke to Dan Kovalik, University of Pittsburgh Law School Professor, about possibilities for setting him free. Kovalik is an expert in labor and international human rights law and the author of No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using 'Humanitarian' Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interests .

Ann Garrison: Dan Kovalik, what have you been able to determine about Paul Rusesabagina’s legal situation?

Dan Kovalik: Well, it's pretty clear that he was kidnapped while he was visiting in Dubai, and then illegally rendered to Rwanda to be tried on what clearly are trumped up charges that he allegedly was supporting some armed militia accused of attacking civilians, which just seems outlandish.

AG: Outlandish indeed. It’s hard to think of a gentler person than Paul Rusesabagina, or to think of one who would be more opposed to any sort of attack on civilians.

DK: I believe he was living in Texas.

AG: San Antonio.

DK: And he had been there because he feared that he would be arrested if he were in Rwanda because he questions the official narrative of the 1994 genocide, and that in itself is illegal in Rwanda. You can't question the legally codified narrative, but that’s a travesty in any country that claims to guarantee freedom of expression.

AG: As Rwanda does.

DK: Rwanda was no doubt determined to go after him because he has to be the most prominent Rwandan challenging the official narrative of the genocide.

AG: Which is the foundational justification of Kagame’s brutal totalitarian rule and occupation of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

DK: Exact. But even if there were bonafide charges against him in Rwanda, you can't just go around kidnapping people. That is unquestionably illegal under international law. If they had charges against him, they should have gone into court and tried to have him legally extradited either from the United States or from Dubai. And that would have required them to show some cause to those countries, for arresting him.. So there has to be some sort of concerted effort to get him out of Rwanda.

“You can't just go around kidnapping people.”

AG: Where is the codification that makes this illegal under international law?

DK: Well, this would violate a number of UN conventions. The one that first comes to mind is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , which lays out very specific due process requirements that countries have to follow in an extradition case. That’s a binding covenant, and the US is even signatory to it. As you know, the US rarely signs international human rights conventions, but they have signed, ratified, acceded, and thereby become a “state party” to this one.

AG: As has Rwanda.

DK: Then I think it could be challenged under that treaty for starters, in a United States court because he has those rights under the covenant, but he also has rights as a US resident. I don't fully know his status in the US but he has Constitutional protections as a legal resident, which I believe he could claim in any US courts.

AG: He has permanent resident status, and I think he was applying for citizenship.

DK: Then he has significant Constitutional rights, at least to all those rights that do not mention citizenship, but simply mention persons, and a lot of Constitutional rights are worded in that fashion. So I think he could bring a case here in the US to challenge his incarceration in Rwanda. That would be the best place to start, not only legally but also for political reasons, because that would be a case of great interest to people who know his story, whether it’s the movie version or his own more complex account.

AG: So you think his legal team should go to a US court to argue that he has been illegally extradited and that the US should demand his return.

DK: Yes. And of course the US has a lot of influence over the current government of Rwanda, so I think there could be a lot of power in that type of lawsuit. I'd bring it in the Ninth Circuit, which is in the West. More specifically, I’d bring it in California to make the point that he was the hero of the Hollywood movie “Hotel Rwanda,” and in hopes of getting some Hollywood interest in his case. Don Cheadle was nominated for an Oscar for playing him in the movie, and Paul consulted with him while it was being made. The movie was a great success, so I think Paul is owed support from people in Hollywood.

AG: That's an interesting idea that hadn’t occurred to me. The George and Amal Clooney Foundation have, in collaboration with the American Bar Association’s International Human Rights Committee, said that they're sending a monitor to make sure that Paul gets a fair trial in Rwanda, but you and I know it’s preposterous to think he will. So if they want to get serious, they need to support a challenge to his kidnapping and illegal rendition.

DK: Agreed.

AG: George Clooney’s activism in this part of the world has typically been consistent with US foreign policy objectives, most notably separating South Sudan from Sudan and getting former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir rendered to the International Criminal Court, which is commonly known as the International Caucasian Court for trying Africans.

However, Paul is a vastly more sympathetic character than Omar al-Bashir, so perhaps he will feel inclined to depart from longstanding US support for Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his totalitarian government.

DK: We can hope so. And if I were filing a complaint on Paul’s behalf, I would consider naming some key Rwandan officials, maybe even Paul Kagame himself, and you could do that because, while Kagame has some sovereign immunity, heads of state are typically not immune from a suit for an injunction.

That is to say, if you're not asking for damages, you could bring a suit against Kagame to free Paul. You would have to get personal jurisdiction over him or some key Rwandan official, which could be done if you could serve them in the US while they were visiting here or something like that, which has been done before. There was a famous case of a Guatemalan military leader who was served with papers at his Harvard commencement for crimes he committed in Guatemala.

“If you're not asking for damages, you could bring a suit against Kagame to free Paul.”

So I think that that would be the way to go. And, as you know, Kagame regularly comes to the US because he's so close to various people in the US State Department and to former State Department personnel, people like Susan Rice and Samantha Power, who may be back in the State Department soon if Joe Biden is elected.

AG: Not to mention Ben Affleck. Kagame commonly visits Affleck on his trips to Boston, which is jarring if you consider Kagame’s crimes in Congo and Affleck’s charity, Eastern Congo Initiative , which describes itself as “U.S. based advocacy and grant-making initiative wholly focused on working with and for the people of eastern Congo.”

When not inhibited by the danger of contracting COVID-19, Kagame lives a celebrity lifestyle, jet-setting off to basketball games and international racing car events. The National Basketball Association (NBA) has been cluelessly making him the face of basketball’s growth in Africa.

He’s also on the university speaking circuit, and especially popular at fundamentalist Christian universities.

DK: He was in Pittsburgh just last year at Carnegie Mellon . If I were on his legal team—and I would be happy to serve on his legal team if asked—I would first file a complaint against the illegal extradition and then look into serving Kagame here. That would be a very powerful gesture.

AG: What about serving him when he comes to the UN?

DK: Well, he would have diplomatic immunity inside the walls of the UN, but not at the Trump Tower in UN Plaza, or the Hilton, or any other hotel or street in New York.

AG: Attorneys Peter Erlinder and Kurt Kerns managed to serve him in the US in a suit alleging crimes in the Rwandan Genocide and Congo Wars, but the Obama Administration requested immunity and brought out the heavy guns, including Bush administration War Crimes Ambassador Pierre Prosper, who has a history of supporting Kagame at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda. Then the Supreme Court refused to review the case.

But this is a far simpler, less sweeping complaint about the persecution of one individual admired for saving lives in Rwanda in 1994.

DK: And kidnapping is a crime throughout the world. Again, you don't have to look very hard to find international prohibitions on kidnapping. They include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights .

I would start by saying that the kidnapping violated Paul’s Constitutional rights. But then I would also say that it violated Paul’s rights under international law. I might be getting into the weeds here, but Congress has not passed implementing legislation on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, meaning you can't actually go into the court and just sue under the covenant, but once you’re in court arguing for Paul’s Constitutional rights, you can cite the covenant as binding international law, giving you binding international rights.

Paul’s legal team might even think about the Alien Tort Claims Act as a means of getting injunctive relief ordering Rwanda to return him to the US.

AG: US courts have a long history of unjustly extraditing Rwandan exiles to Rwanda, notably including the cases of Professor Léopold Munyakazi and Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana , but neither of those men were nearly so well-known and admired as Paul. Do you think Rwanda could have obtained a warrant for Paul in a proper extradition hearing?

DK: No, I don’t. I think Rwanda kidnapped Paul because they know that they lacked sufficient evidence that he had committed crimes in Rwanda, and no US court would have granted them a warrant to arrest him.

AG: Canadian lawyer John Philpot told me that he thought extradition treaties with the US and Rwanda might be relevant.

DK: I’m not familiar with extradition treaties between the US and Rwanda, but there may be some possibilities there. A lawsuit along the lines I mentioned, beginning with the violation of Paul’s Constitutional rights, could be done in tandem.

But in the end, look, this is a political case and political pressure needs to be brought to bear on Rwanda to free Paul, and a high profile lawsuit could help.

AG: I like your idea of filing the case in California because a Hollywood movie based on his story made him famous and caused a lot of Hollywood human rights activista to embrace him. It’s easy to find pictures of him with Angelina Jolie and, of course, Don Cheadle. Why else would you recommend filing in the Ninth Circuit?

DK: Well, at least historically, it's been a bit more liberal. And again, I do think that the symbolism of bringing it in Los Angeles County would be helpful. The courts in Texas, where Paul is resident, are a little more conservative and possibly less sympathetic to him.

AG: What about the significance of him having been kidnapped in Dubai? Is it significant that he was kidnapped there instead of the US?

DK: This would have been far easier if he had been kidnapped in the US, but he would still have a viable claim because he’s a US resident being held against his will and unable to return to the US.

AG: He can't even choose his own lawyers. They've assigned him Rwandan lawyers.

DK: That is also a violation of his Constitutional rights and his international rights under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.

AG: He’s also a Belgian citizen. His life was threatened there and he survived at least one assassination attempt when the car he was driving was hit and flipped over and he miraculously survived.

DK: Well that may be another good jurisdiction for him, maybe even better because he's got citizenship there. That means he has all rights guaranteed to citizens by the Belgian Constitution, and Belgium also considers itself a place of universal jurisdiction. So that may be a great place to bring a case. At the very least it's another option.

“Belgium also considers itself a place of universal jurisdiction.”

AG: Could cases conceivably be brought in both countries?

DK: If that were done, the courts would probably make a determination as to which court made most sense, and they would be consolidated in either Belgium or the US.

AG: Having observed quite a few of these trials, my guess is that it would be best to argue solely on the merits of the case within the law, and not mount a political trial based on Paul’s disagreements with Kagame about the Rwandan Genocide narrative and his crimes in DRC.

DK: I agree. It would be best not to raise those issues, which are irrelevant in this particular case. The key is to get him out and then he can continue to speak out for Rwandans and Congolese, as he has for many years now.

Challenging the genocide narrative would also be difficult because of how powerful it has become, ironically because of that movie.

AG: Again, I recommend that Black Agenda Report readers read your 2013 conversation with Paul in Counterpunch, Hotel Rwanda Revisited: an Interview with Paul Rusesabagina , where he says that the movie rightly depicted his effort to take a moral stand in “a sea of fire,” but that it also required the simplification of complex events and that the film’s producers wanted a happy Hollywood ending.

DK: I’m glad that’s relevant these many years later.

AG: What about the International Court of Justice? Any legal hope there?

DK: Well, the big problem with the International Court of Justice is that it’s reserved for disputes between states, so you would have to get the US or Belgium to bring a case against Rwanda. Paul could not just go into the International Court of justice on his own behalf.

The European Court of Human Rights does allow individuals to bring cases and there may be a similar court created by the African Union.

AG: There is—the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights —which is, for one, supposed to be an alternative to the International Criminal Court. However, Rwanda withdrew from that court’s jurisdiction after it ruled that Rwanda had violated political prisoner Victoire Ingabire’s rights.

DK: The European Court of Human Rights is the most vibrant of all those types of courts that I know of, but again, the problem would be jurisdictional. How does Europe have any jurisdiction over Rwanda or over Rwanda and its officials? I think, however, that if you could serve Paul Kagame in Europe, you might be able to get jurisdiction. You saw this happen with, for example, Augusto Pinochet.

AG: Is there anything else you’d like to say about this?

DK: Yes. This is a very important case for people who care about justice and human rights. Paul’s kidnapping is a huge miscarriage of justice against a man who has done a lot of good for Rwandans, Congolese, and people of the wider African Great Lakes region by speaking out and enlightening the rest of us willing to listen. He is also 66 years old and his health is challenged. This persecution should really anger people, and there has to be a political campaign, not just a legal case, to get him free.

https://www.blackagendareport.com/freeing-hotel-rwanda-hero-paul-rusesabagina

[homoe]

Canada is keeping its border with the U.S. closed to non-essential travel until at least November 21st due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the extension Monday on Twitter.

The border restrictions were first announced March 18th and have been extended every month since.