Human rights advocates from across the country are joining together today in a National Day of Action to raise awareness about the state of human rights in the United States at the local, state, and federal levels, and to spotlight areas where the U.S. has fallen behind in its international human rights obligations....

Full Story Here...

Podcast:  Engaging Civil and Political Rights in the U.S.  The US Human Rights Network is working to promote full implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) by educating the public about the U.S. Government obligations under the treaty and by engaging community groups in the effective use of the treaty to promote human rights at home.  Listen to it here

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was established by the UN General Assembly in 2006 as a process through which the human rights records of the United Nations’ 192 Member States could be reviewed and assessed. This review, conducted through the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), is based upon human rights obligations and commitments expressed in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights instruments to which the State is party, etc. The United States is a strong supporter of the UPR process, which provides a unique avenue for the global community to discuss human rights around the world.

Individual countries are slated for review every four years, with the United States scheduled for its review in 2010-2011. UPR sessions take place at the HRC in Geneva, and are framed by reports submitted by national governments.The United States submitted its report to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on August 20. The report, which reflects input collected during an extensive program of consultations with the American public, can be found here.  See more here

“A little bit of money makes a real difference”  “Welcome to Ferentári. Welcome to a part of the European Union,” says Valeriu Nicolae, a human rights activist and himself a Roma, who in 2009 initiated the only social project in the slum and who is one of the founders of the European Roma Grassroots Organizations.   OHCHR Regional Representative for Europe Jan Jařab is urging support for programmes similar to those being run by Valeriu in the Ferentári slum.  View the article here

The Department of Labor's annual Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor focuses on the efforts of 144 U.S. trade beneficiary countries and territories to eliminate the worst forms of child labor through legislation, enforcement mechanisms, policies and social programs.

The Report presents:

• Findings on the prevalence and sectoral distribution of the worst forms of child labor in each country.
• Country-specific suggestions for government action (since 2010).
• Individual country assessments that identify where Significant, Moderate, Minimal, or No Advancement has been made (since 2011).

The Report serves as a resource to foreign governments, NGOs, academics and policymakers working on labor and human rights issues. It helps inform Congress and Executive Branch agencies that formulate labor and trade policy and is an important resource for the Department in assessing future technical assistance and research priorities as it seeks to combat child labor around the world.

The Department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has published the Findings each year since 2002, as mandated by the Trade and Development Act of 2000 (TDA). The TDA requires that countries fulfill commitments to eliminate the worst forms of child labor to be eligible for certain U.S. trade preference programs. It also requires the U.S. Secretary of Labor to issue annual findings on beneficiary country initiatives to implement these commitments.

See more here

Ten Ways To Combat the Worst Forms of Child Labor:  No individual or organization acting alone can eliminate the worst forms of child labor, but together we can make a difference.  Individuals, governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and civil society groups each have a unique and vital role to play.  To reach our goal, we must focus our collective efforts on eradicating the root causes of child labor so that children can break out of the cycle of poverty.

See the site here

Recognizing the Signs -  Is someone you know being trafficked? Is human trafficking happening in your community? Is the situation you may have encountered actually human trafficking?  The following is a list of potential red flags and indicators of human trafficking to help you recognize the signs.  Read the full article here

Human Rights in the United States - a contemporary and informative history from Wikipedia.

Excerpt:

Human rights in the United States are legally protected by the Constitution of the United States, including the amendments,state constitutions, conferred by treaty, and enacted legislatively through Congress, state legislatures, and state referenda and citizen's initiatives. Federal courts in the United States have jurisdiction over international human rights laws as a federal question, arising under international law, which is part of the law of the United States..

View the full article here

Gambia: The National Council for Civic Education (NCCE), in collaboration with Action-Aid The Gambia, on Monday ended a two-week nationwide sensitization of schools on basic human rights.

The tour took NCCE officials to various schools across the length and breadth of the country.

The sensitization that targeted thirty schools was funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

View the full article here

August 9, 2013

Washington – On occasion of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) urges Member States to guarantee full respect for the human rights of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact in the Americas because they are in a situation of high vulnerability. The lack of protection of their human rights entails a grave risk to their life and physical, cultural and spiritual integrity.

Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact in the Americas inhabit regions of the Amazonian jungle and the Gran Chaco in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. Their territories are often zones in which legal and illegal extractive activities take place in search of natural resources, primarily wood, hydrocarbons and minerals, as well as commercial agriculture and cattle raising in some countries. These activities in general constitute a threat to the life and integrity of these peoples, since they can lead to contact and all the consequence it entails for their health and physical and cultural survival. Since peoples in voluntary isolation do not have immunological defenses against common illnesses, contact can cause not only the loss of their worldview and cultural identity, but also epidemics that may lead to the disappearance of entire peoples.

View the article here

Bullying is wrong and hurtful:  Bullying is a form of abuse at the hands of peers that can take different forms at different ages. It is targeted and repeated. It involves power, aggression, intimidation and shame.  PrevNet:  Canada' authority on research and resources for bullying prevention.   View the full site here

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) announced the recipients of the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. The 2013 laureates are: Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat, North Korean democracy activist Park Sang Hak, and Cuban civil society group the Ladies in White.

NEW YORK (May 3, 2013) - The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) today announced the recipients of the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. The 2013 laureates are: Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat, North Korean democracy activist Park Sang Hak, and Cuban civil society group the Ladies in White—represented by their leader Berta Soler. They will be honored at a ceremony during the 2013 Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway on May 15.

An initiative of New York-based HRF, the Havel Prize for Creative Dissent was founded with the enthusiastic endorsement of Dagmar Havlová, widow of the late poet, playwright, and statesman Václav Havel. The inaugural laureates were Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, Saudi women's rights advocate Manal al-Sharif, and Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ali Ferzat is a Syrian political cartoonist known for his satirical caricatures. Ferzat's cartoons became increasingly critical of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the brutality of the regime's crackdown. In 2011, masked gunmen detained Ferzat and broke both of his hands and his fingers, a clear message of intimidation and retaliation for his work. Ferzat recovered from the attack and continues to produce political cartoons.

Park Sang Hak, a North Korean defector and human rights activist, has worked for the democratization of his homeland since a daring escape in 1999. He is the chairman of Fighters for a Free North Korea, an organization that uses helium balloons to transmit human rights and pro-democracy literature, DVDs, USB drives, and transistor radios from South Korea into North Korea.

The Ladies in White ("Las Damas de Blanco") is a Cuban civil society organization founded by the wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters of political prisoners jailed during the Castro regime's "Black Spring" crackdown in 2003. "Las Damas de Blanco" wear white to symbolize their commitment to non-violence. Despite repeated arrests and beatings by Cuban authorities, the group marches every Sunday in Havana to protest the lack of human rights under the Castro dictatorship. Berta Soler has led the group since the death of founder Laura Pollán in 2011. Soler will accept the award on the group's behalf.

View the full article here

FIRE's Guide to Religious Liberty on Campus

by David French

College and university campuses remain one of the only forums in which the rights of students of faith are regularly curtailed. The ease with which students are denied the right to associate freely among themselves, even in matters of conscience and religion, is profoundly disturbing, as is most students' inability to expose such denials as fundamentally unjust. FIRE’s Guide to Religious Liberty on Campusprovides a history of the struggle for religious liberty and explains how the legal and moral arguments for religious liberty apply differentially on public and private campuses. This Guide also answers pertinent questions such as:

1. What is the modern history and current status of the United States Supreme Court's view of the “free exercise of religion” and of “freedom of association”? How do these concepts apply to student liberty on my college or university campus?
2. What arguments on behalf of religious liberty and the rights of conscience pertain to a private or sectarian institution?
3. What legal and moral arguments may be made against the imposition of double standards by academic administrators in a variety of areas of campus life, including religious freedom?

View the original article here

The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking is a strategic community awareness campaign that educates at-risk children and their parents about the dangers of child trafficking. A digital library of anti-trafficking resources for children. 

Freedom Acts: Forced Labor Adam's story of how he was exploited for forced labor in Northern Ireland

Freedom Acts: Grooming  Alisha's story of how she was groomed for sexual exploitation as a teenager in Northern Ireland

Freedom Acts: Sexual Exploitation Anna's story of how she was tricked and forced into sexual exploitation in Northern Ireland

Freedom Acts: Conclusion The end of Adam, Alisha, and Anna's stories along with more information

Journey to Freedom True stories of two men—21st-century Cambodian Vannak Prum and 19th-century American Solomon Northup—who were sold into slavery more than 150 years apart, and the abolitionists who fight to free slaves.

Warning to Young Women in China: Video in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles; a good warning to young women everywhere, not just in China. 

Backstory: MTV's Interactive Anti-Slavery Campaign:  Interactive videos that show youth how poor choices can lead to being trafficked.  Note: Backstory doesn't play in all browsers; it worked better for us in Safari than in Firefox. 

View the full website here

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum has many resources for teachers striving to help students learn the history of the Holocaust and reflect upon the moral and ethical questions raised by that history.

Learn more about US Holocaust Memorial Museum