Human Rights News

The earthquake that recently struck Haiti has caused unprecedented devastation and suffering to the country and its people. Thursday’s aftershock aggravated an already grave humanitarian crisis. Across Africa, government, church, business and civil society leaders are mobilizing support for the people of Haiti. In South Africa, CIVICUS and its partners, African Monitor, Trust Africa, the Southern Africa Trust, Charity Aid Foundation (CAF) Southern Africa, the South African Red Cross Society; the National Welfare Forum; and Ivan May through 1485 Radio Today on 1484 AM in Jozi and through SADC (also DStv 169), and the Synergos Institute have agreed to join what is known as the “Africa for Haiti Project” and to help in co-ordinating efforts.

Read the full text of press release here.

To support this cause visit:
Africa for Haiti: www.africaforhaiti.com/
African Monitor: www.africanmonitor.org
Trust Africa: www.trustafrica.org

See SABC's news coverage of the Africa for Haiti press conference here.

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO HOLD SPECIAL SESSION FOR HAITI RECOVERY PROCESS

The Human Rights Council will hold a Special Session on "The Support of the Human Rights Council to the Recovery Process in Haiti after the Earthquake of January 12, 2010: a Human Rights Approach" on Wednesday, 27 January.

The Special Session comes at the request of Brazil and supported by 32 member states such as Chile, South Africa and the UK as well as nine observer states. This will be the thirteenth Special Session of the Council. Previous Special Sessions have been held on the human rights situations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in Lebanon, in Darfur, in Myanmar, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Sri Lanka.

Ten million people have signed a petition calling for a "fair, ambitious and binding climate treaty" to be signed by world leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this week. Commenting on the importance of this conference, Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan, together with Mary Robinson – former President of Ireland, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and member of the Elders, says that "basic human rights for the world's poorest and most marginalised communities will hang in the balance. The rights to food, water, shelter and health all risk being undermined by climate change." To read more, visit http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/ten-million-demand-fair-ambitious-binding-climate+treaty-20091207

Source: Mandeep Tiwana, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
The 61st anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December provides occasion to reflect on the attitude of various UN member states in supporting one of the most important human rights institutions in the world – the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The UNHRC was created by the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights which was largely viewed by many as a forum for selective finger pointing by countries seeking to advance their political interests. The then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan hoped that the new body would help in devolving politics from the human rights agenda at the UN. Although, the UNHRC has made some substantial gains, human rights concerns are being increasing subsumed by politics in this important forum. For details, click here.

Source: TckTckTck
The Elders are a group of eminent global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela and also the initiators of the Every Human Has Rights campaign. In an inspiring personal letter, The Elders have urged 192 world leaders to attend the Copenhagen climate talks in person and to reach a fair, ambitious, effective and binding agreement to reduce emissions and build a low-carbon, and sustainable future for us all. For more, http://tcktcktck.org/stories/campaign-stories/elders-call-world-leaders-heed-future-generations

Source: Maureen Lynch and Angela Blake, Refugees International
The statement “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” may be true in theory but it is a far cry from the reality faced by the world’s 12 million stateless. According to High Commissioner for Human Rights Navenethem Pillay, “Discrimination lies at the root of many of the world’s most pressing human rights problems.” There is no clearer example of this than statelessness. For details, click here.