Category: Human Rights
After riots tear through South Africa, the nation wonders: What now?
DURBAN, South Africa — The sense of shock was palpable as a handful of residents stared at a shopping center in ruins. Windows were smashed, the parking lot was filled with debris, and “Free Zuma” was spray-painted on the facade of The Ridge, a once-pristine center that sits on Shallcross Road, a major thoroughfare in Durban,…
Arrest of Eswatini lawmakers condemned by international community
Rights groups have condemned Eswatini’s arrest of two lawmakers this week and the use of force against pro-democracy protesters. The southern African kingdom, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, has been rocked by protests since June. Protests re-ignited Thursday in Eswatini, previously known as Swaziland, as two pro-democracy members of parliament appeared in court. Mthandeni Dube and…
Amazon Africa HQ site facing indigenous backlash
CAPE TOWN — A legal battle is looming over plans to build Amazon’s multi-million-dollar African headquarters on land cherished by South Africa’s indigenous Khoi San people. Amazon is setting up its African HQ in Cape Town — a project with the promise of thousands of jobs in a country where unemployment is cripplingly high. City…
‘No new worlds’: New artwork highlights darker side of Mayflower’s impact
“No new worlds.” These words stand emblazoned 20 feet tall at the Plymouth harbor, on England’s southwestern coast, from where the Mayflower set sail to establish a new life for its passengers in America. The art installation is one of several commemorations erected to mark the 400th anniversary of the transatlantic voyage Wednesday. The anniversary comes as…
Atomic bomb dropped on Japan’s Hiroshima 75 years ago still reverberates
Regular nosebleeds, three bouts with cancer and blinding cataracts. It’s been 75 years since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima — marking the end of World War II and the dawn of the nuclear age — but survivors like Masaaki Takano still live with the consequences. “I’m mentally trying hard to…
Critics question reparation offers from British corporations with slave trade ties
Too little, too late? As a number of British institutions and corporations respond to Black Lives Matter protests with pledges of reparations for their historic links to slavery and exploitative colonialism, some are asking whether their moves are no more than “empty gestures.” Calling it “an unacceptable part of English history,” the Bank of England…
Thousands take to London streets to protest racism, George Floyd death
LONDON — After almost a week of violence in cities across the United States following the death in police custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis, thousands took to the streets of central London on Wednesday to protest racism and show solidarity with their American counterparts. On a gray and dreary day in Britain’s capital, the crowd met…
U.N. warns of ‘hunger pandemic’ amid threats of coronavirus, economic downturn
While the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, the head of the United Nations food agency warned on Tuesday that a looming “hunger pandemic” will bring “the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.” Famine in as many as three dozen countries is “a very real and dangerous possibility” due to ongoing wars and conflicts, economic…
Lockdowns are fine for the rich, but millions are too poor to shelter from coronavirus
Lockdowns are being championed as a way to help contain the coronavirus, but experts warn that will not be easily achieved in developing countries where crowded cities and slums could see the virus spread “like fire.” Questions over how the world’s poorest will survive the coronavirus pandemic surged Wednesday, a day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced…
Climate activist group Extinction Rebellion overturns London protest ban
LONDON — The eco-protest group Extinction Rebellion won a bid against London’s Metropolitan Police on Wednesday over the imposition of a city-wide ban against the group’s series of demonstrations last month. The high court ruled that the blanket ban police issued on Oct. 14 to 18 was unlawful, a decision protesters are celebrating. “It is a victory,” Tobias Garnett,…
Trump’s foreign aid policies endanger women, experts say
LONDON — Caroline Nyandat will never forget the day she watched a 14-year-old girl die due to complications from an unsafe abortion. Nyandat, 36, was then completing her training as a nurse midwife in Kisumu, Kenya, when the teen was in need of surgery but suffered from sepsis before doctors in the hospital could react….
‘Learning how to be good allies’: Restoring relationships with Indigenous peoples for reconciliation
VANCOUVER — As Canada grapples with how to achieve reconciliation with Indigenous people, a group in British Columbia has come together to figure out how to restore relations person-to-person. About a dozen people meet once every three weeks at Kristi Lind’s house in the small community of Naramata south of Kelowna to discuss how to…
Renters struggle to find homes as prices climb, availability declines
VANCOUVER — Joanna Fletcher lives in a one-bedroom apartment on Vancouver’s east side with her 10-year-old son. The building has mice and mould, and her new landlord is threatening eviction. While she has plenty of reasons to leave, Fletcher says she’s fighting to stay for as long as possible because she can’t afford anything else…
Missing and murdered inquiry emboldens those to move forward: chairwoman
RICHMOND, B.C. — Some of those who have told their harrowing stories at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls have since redoubled that courage by taking their complaints to police, getting treatment, or reuniting with family, said the head of the inquiry. Marion Buller said in an interview with The…
Activist tells inquiry that women working in Vancouver sex trade were seen as ‘disposable’
A Vancouver sex-trade activist recounted the justice system’s failure to protect women who were killed or have disappeared as posters of missing persons were shown on screens Wednesday at a national inquiry. Jamie Lee Hamilton said sex workers from Vancouver’s “Downtown Eastside killing fields” deserved better. “I feel that the women were deemed as disposable,”…
B.C. outreach group hopes smartphone app will improve safety of sex workers
VANCOUVER—An outreach group supporting vulnerable women in British Columbia is hoping a cellphone app designed to monitor remote workers in resource industries will help keep sex workers safe. Hope Outreach, a non-profit group that provides support to homeless and exploited women in Kelowna, is partnering with the makers of YodelMe to launch a pilot project…
Some sex workers choose industry due to benefits of occupation: study
Some sex workers are choosing the industry because it can be more lucrative and rewarding than low-paying service industry jobs, says a recent study by a researcher at the University of Victoria. Prof. Cecilia Benoit, a scientist at the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., said she’s heard a variety of reasons why sex workers…
Male sex workers in Vancouver feel safer on the internet than on the street
A study on male sex workers in Vancouver has found that although the move to selling sex online rather than on the streets improved safety, a recent law prohibiting the advertisement of sex online may be driving the industry further underground. The study by the B.C. Centre of Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the outreach program Hustle surveyed 39 men…
Uganda’s youth are choosing peace hashtags over violence as elections loom
KAMPALA — At a bustling Kampala market, Desire Karakire listens to a group of young men express their frustrations over the state of their country. Like most of their peers, they’re underemployed and extremely poor—and they feel the only way the situation will change is through violent revolution. “Leadership involves blood,” says Richard Ssenyoga, 23….