Oleuanna

Discrimination and Police Violence Against Transgender Women in Kuwait

Oleuanna — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:00:06 PST

Transgender people in the West receive a pretty discriminative way of life even though the they are now being represented on Equal Opportunities Monitoring forms on job applications (I was shocked and then binned it) but you may have seen recently on my blog that there is still a long way to go in some of our countries. I far from want to make any comparisons of severity of treatment, any thing or one restricting the freedom of another to express who they are, is a violation of democracy, on saying that, Kuwait has been playing with the idea of the democratic process rather than allowing it to truly influence it’s culture for some years now. The disgusting treatment these transgender women are being exposed to in Kuwait is horrifying, they have become victims of mockery and torture and they try but they can’t hide.

The frustrating part of this report is that they never received this hostility until there was an amendment to the law in 2007; If anyone is caught impersonating a person of the opposite sex, they would go to prison or be fined. Before this, transgender people were slowly being accepted. This alteration in the law allowed the police to turn into fascists, the cruelty these women endured and still endure is beyond inhumane but what I find incredibly significant is the use of rape on transgender women.

It is such a hate filled, depraved, feral control tact, almost like there is a part of themselves they hate and project that onto these women because even when the women revert back into their original biological gender of man, they are still hunted down and raped, as if the law itself is not enough to punish them? It’s a psychological minefield. I am sure a campaign will start up soon to get that filth of a law, which blatantly flouts humans rights, changed, when it does, you’ll be the first to know here.

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SUDANESE STUDENT ACTIVIST DETAINED SUDAN

Oleuanna — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:26:56 PST

Below is a letter sent to me by Amnesty’s Individuals at Risk Programme, have a read and see if you can help.

UA 21/12 24 January 2012 URGENT ACTION AFR 54/003/2012

SUDANESE STUDENT ACTIVIST DETAINED SUDAN

Taj Alsir Jaafar (m)

On 30 December 2011, student activist Taj Alsir Jaafar was arrested by security forces in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. He is being held incommunicado at an unknown location, and is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. He may be a prisoner of conscience, detained for the peaceful exercise of his rights to freedom of expression and association. His mother has been threatened because of her attempts to see her son.

Taj Alsir Jaafar, aged 25, was arrested by security forces in Khartoum on 30 December on his way home from university. According to a witness, he was travelling on a bus when security forces forced him to get off. On 18 January, Taj Alsir Jaafar’s mother was informed that he was being held by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS). However, his exact whereabouts are unknown. After several attempts to find out the whereabouts of her son, Taj Alsir Jaafar’s mother was able to take a package of his clothes to the NISS headquarters in Khartoum on 21 January. However, she was unable to see him. Since her son’s arrest, his mother has been verbally threatened on at least two occasions by plain-clothed individuals believed to be linked to the security forces, and told not to inquire about her son. She may be at risk if she continues to do so.

Taj Alsir Jaafar is a student coordinator for the opposition party The Movement of New Democratic Forces (known as HAQU, meaning “right” in Arabic) at Khartoum University. He is believed to have been arrested for participating in student protests from mid-December 2011 into January 2012, which included a sit-in at the university. If he is detained solely for participating in peaceful protests, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience. He was previously detained by the NISS in 2009 and January 2011 for his activities as a student activist and was allegedly tortured in detention in 2009. He was released without charge on both occasions.

Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:

* Call on the authorities to release Taj Alsir Jaafar immediately and unconditionally, if he is held solely for his participation in peaceful protests;

* If he is facing other recognizably criminal charges, unrelated to the peaceful protests, call for him to be tried promptly in proceedings that meet international fair trial standards;

* Call on the authorities to ensure that Taj Alsir Jaafar is not tortured or otherwise ill treated and has access to his family, a lawyer and any medical treatment he may require;

* Urge the authorities to take action to protect Taj Alsir Jaafar’s mother, in accordance with her wishes, following the threats against her;

* Call on the Sudanese government to immediately stop the harassment and intimidation of activists in Sudan and to respect their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 6 MARCH 2012 TO: (Time difference = GMT + 2 hrs / BST + 1 hrs)

Minister of Justice
Mr Mohammed Bushara Dousa
Ministry of Justice, PO Box 302
Al Nil Avenue
Khartoum, Sudan
Fax: 00249 183 764 168
Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Interior
Mr Ibrahim Mohamed Hamed
Ministry of Interior
PO Box 873
Khartoum, Sudan
Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:
President
HE Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir
Office of the President
People’s Palace PO Box 281
Khartoum, Sudan
Email: info@sudan.gov.sd
Fax: 00249 183 770 621

PLEASE SEND COPIES OF YOUR APPEAL TO

His Excellency Mr Omer Mohammed Ahmed Siddig
Embassy of the Republic of Sudan, 3 Cleveland Row, St James’s, London, SW1A 1DD

Fax: 020 7839 7560 Email: admin@sudanembassy.co.uk

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

From mid-December 2011 into January 2012, students at Khartoum University peacefully demonstrated in solidarity with the Manaseer, an ethnic group that were forcibly displaced from their land due to the construction of the Merowe dam, in River Nile state. The demonstrations were violently dispersed on 22 December by police and security forces using batons and teargas. Large numbers of students were arrested during and after the demonstrations. A number of students sustained serious injuries from the excessive use of force by security forces.

Inspired by protests throughout the Middle East and North Africa which began in Tunisia at the beginning of January 2011, hundreds of demonstrators throughout Sudan took to the streets calling for democracy and an improvement to their socio-economic conditions. The police and the NISS in Sudan responded by frequently arresting and ill-treating peaceful demonstrators. Student movements and organizations are regularly targeted by the NISS.

The 2010 National Security Act provides the NISS powers to search and seize assets and to arrest and detain people for up to four and a half months without judicial oversight. Furthermore under the same act, NISS agents are provided with immunity from prosecution for any act committed in the course of their work.

PLEASE CHECK WITH THE INDIVIDUALS AT RISK PROGRAMME AT AIUK BEFORE SENDING APPEALS AFTER 6 MARCH 2012

Individuals at Risk Programme, Amnesty International UK, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA, 0207 033 1572, iar@amnesty.org.uk

Human Rights Watch ~ World Report 2012

Oleuanna — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:28:17 PST

As the report is 690 pages long I am still working my way through it but I may as well share it now so we can discuss in tandem if you so desire. Below are a few links to other reports and articles they have as well seemed easier just to leave it in quotes.

“The World Report 2012 documents human rights abuses worldwide, including: violations of the laws of war in Libya and Afghanistan; the plight of political prisoners in Vietnam and Eritrea; the silencing of dissent in China and Cuba; internet crackdowns in Iran and Thailand; killings by security forces in India and Mexico; election-related problems in Russia and the Democratic Republic of Congo; mistreatment of migrants in Western Europe; neglectful maternal health policies in Haiti and South Africa; the suppression of religious freedom in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia; torture in Pakistan and Uzbekistan; discrimination against people with disabilities in Nepal and Peru; and detention without trial in Malaysia and by the United States.“

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Bank of America/Countrywide’s discriminatory mortgage lending and its implications for racial segregation

Oleuanna — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:12:42 PST

At the weekend I did a doodle of how, in my 40 years on this planet, I perceived this amazing society of which we should all clamber over broken corpses to be a part of.

Alone it would seem a little farfetched, a narrow, bitter almost socialist view of how we scrape along together with an over dramatized support for the Dickensian impoverished, alone it would be a book cover destined for the supermarket sale box but accompanied by the document below, it becomes incredibly insightful.

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Forced sterilisation in Sweden?

Oleuanna — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:58:35 PST

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has decided that it is in the countries best interest to keep the law to force transgender people in Sweden to be sterilised, no, really… once I found out this barbaric practice was being issued, I couldn’t believe it either, in fact I had to check the country twice.

If a transgender person changes their identity, they will be forced to give up their biological right to have children, I can’t from many attempts, understand the reasoning behind this conceptual abomination, it has the mentality of the middle ages when destroying the life of the norms anomalies was common place. We use to take great pride in putting disabled people in enclosures until someone started noticing that their tears were conducive to pain, even animals are treated with more respect and protected in Sweden.

It also laughs in the face of the Swedes anti-discrimination act enforced in 2009

“Anti-discrimination act will combat discrimination on grounds of gender, transgender identity or expression, ethnic origin, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age”.

I’m left confused, which is the usual case when I read governments convenient polices around the globe; surely taking away the basic biological human right to have children is exercising a hell of a lot of discriminatory practice?? The incredibly suspicious reveal is that 90% of his government actually want the law reformed hmm? When a leader stops listening to their people you know there is a despot in the making, or he is fighting a latent gay desire which is usually the assertion, just look at the church.

There has to be a legal way round this of which I am running out of space to scrutinise now, so I implore you to click the link and sign the petition, we have stopped these benighted, separatist, desktop politicians before and we can do it again. He’s held his silence on this for too long, sign now to make him squeal !

Sources:

Sweden: Transgender actress mourns her “forcible sterilization” – Many countries typically seen as progressive on LGBT rights continue to mandate the practice.
www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/culture-lifestyle/111101/sweden-transgender-LGBT-gay-lesbian-bisexual-sterilization

Sweden keeps sex-change sterilization law
www.thelocal.se/38466/20120112/

Human Rights Watch’s Letter to the Swedish Prime Minister
www.hrw.org/node/104368

UPRISING

Oleuanna — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:18:39 PST

VICTIMS OF FORCED EVICTION DETAINED, CAMBODIA

Oleuanna — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:10:10 PST

Any regular visitors would know I post up letters sent to me by Amnesty in order to support through letter writing any atrocities we think we can influence. Below explains the latest nefariousness, help if you can. By the end of the year YOU WILL SEE, that at least one of your letters made a difference, it’s better than doing nothing right?

UA 7/12 11 January 2012 URGENT ACTION ASA 23/002/2012
VICTIMS OF FORCED EVICTION DETAINED
CAMBODIA
Evictees (f)

Twenty-four women and six children forcibly evicted from the Borei Keila area of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, were arrested on 11 January during a peaceful protest. They are being arbitrarily detained, and are at risk of ill-treatment.

The 30 women and children were among a group protesting peacefully in Phnom Penh against the detention of around eight people arrested during the forced eviction of Borei Keila on 3 January 2012. The women and children were arrested and taken to Prey Speu Social Affairs Center in Phnom Penh. The Center is used by the authorities to arbitrarily detain homeless people, drug users and sex workers rounded up from the streets. Human rights NGOs have previously reported that detainees there have been subjected to abuses including rape, murder, and threats of violence. No human rights monitors have been able to visit the 30 women and children in the Center.

On 3 January, the homes of around 300 families living in Borei Keila were destroyed by workers from a construction company which had acquired some of the land in 2003. Human rights monitors and media reported that security forces who were present used tear gas and rubber bullets against the residents, and rocks, logs and bottles were thrown during clashes. More than 64 people were reportedly injured. At least eight of the residents were arrested, and remain in detention. The charges against them are not known. Most of those evicted have been moved to two separate sites. Conditions at one site, Srah Po, 45 kilometres from Phnom Penh, are reportedly poor, with no adequate sanitation or housing. Some families have only received a plot of land and are living under tarpaulins, others have not been given anything. Many lost their possessions when their homes were destroyed.

Please write immediately in English, Khmer or your own language:

Express concern at the arrest of 30 peaceful protesters on 11 January, including 24 women and six children, who are now detained at Prey Speu Social Affairs Center, and call for their immediate release;

Urge the authorities to conduct a full and independent investigation into the forced eviction of some 300 families living at Borei Keila, Phnom Penh on 3 January, including into why the eviction took place, and the apparent excessive use of force by security forces;

Call for the release of at least eight villagers, pending further investigations and for members of the security forces found to be responsible for excessive use of force to be suspended and prosecuted;

Call for all those forcibly evicted to be provided with adequate compensation and suitable alternative accommodation that meets international standards for adequate housing, and remind the authorities of their obligation to prevent forced evictions and respect and protect the right to adequate housing, in accordance with international treaties to which it is a state party.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 22 FEBRUARY 2012 TO: (Time difference = GMT + 7 hrs / BST + 6 hrs)

Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister
Sar Kheng
#75 Norodom Blvd.
Khan Chamkarmon
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: moi@interior.gov.kh
Salutation: Your Excellency

Governor of Phnom Penh
Kep Chuktema
# 69 Blvd. Preah Monivong
Khan Daun Penh
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: info@phnompenh.gov.kh
Salutation: Dear Governor

And copies to:

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hor Nam
No 3 Samdech Hun Sen Street
Sangkat Tonle Bassac
Khan Chamcar Mon
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Fax: 00855 23 216141

PLEASE SEND COPIES OF YOUR APPEAL TO

His Excellency Mr. Nambora Hor,
The Royal Embassy of Cambodia,
64 Brondesbury Park,
Willesden Green
London,
NW6 7AT
Fax: 020 8451 7594
Email: cambodianembassy@btconnect.com

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Borei Keila has been the home for a large poor urban community for many years. The government designated the area as a so-called social land concession for residential development in 2003. Poor homeless families are the primary beneficiaries of social land concessions, according to the 2003 Sub-Decree on Social Land Concessions. The Borei Keila social land concession was intended to be implemented as a land-sharing arrangement between a private developer, a government ministry, and residents. The agreement gave the developer 2.6 hectares of the land for commercial development, in exchange for constructing new housing for over 1,700 residents on two hectares of the land. The remainder, consisting of 10 hectares, was to be returned to the ministry concerned. However in April 2010, the company claimed that it could not afford to build all of the housing and received government approval to build only eight of the 10 apartment blocks it had pledged. Left with no prospect of new homes, the 300 families have been protesting against the company and local authority during the past year.

As a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international human rights treaties, Cambodia has an obligation to stop forced evictions and to protect the population from them. Forced evictions are evictions carried out without adequate notice, consultation with those affected, legal safeguards or assurances of adequate alternative accommodation. Whether they be owners, renters or informal settlers, everyone should possess a degree of security of tenure which guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats.

PLEASE CHECK WITH THE INDIVIDUALS AT RISK PROGRAMME AT AIUK BEFORE SENDING APPEALS AFTER 22 FEBRUARY 2012
Individuals at Risk Programme, Amnesty International UK, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA, 0207 033 1572, iar@amnesty.org.uk.

Guantanamo ~ Obama promised to close it within a year of office……LIAR!

Oleuanna — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:41:30 PST

He killed off Osama Bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi because of their crimes against humanity he stepped up the war in Afghanistan to completely level the dissentients to rubble showing the rest of the world the West would not be desensitised, threatened or persecuted but under our very noses he shows us that he too is a tyrant not to be messed with when it comes to human life.

We all know there are people held captive that are innocent in Guantanamo’s detention hell, in fact in the West, our general rule is they are all innocent until brought to trial and PROVEN guilty and it would seem these military trials are not forthcoming and how an American government can justify holding prisoners indefinitely with no trial or conviction process occurring and use a flimsy *process review* for long term detainees is inhuman, mocking their own long fought for civil rights policies and hypocritically barbaric and their defence? “they must continue to be detained because they ‘in effect, remain at war with the United States,’” HOW SO?? After 10 years detention, just how good are they to keep America on a red alert whilst tied up and occasionally beaten?

They are playing war games with people’s lives again, I’m not sure if the American government just can’t get out of the habit of turning the world into a big board game for their tea time amusement but Obama and his administration need a reality check, you can’t stomp around policing the world, playing god and controlling who gets to live or die, can’t you see you are no more different than the despots you continue to destroy in the name of war on terror…. Just remember all empires come to an end and usually quite a messy one.

Help stop the rot sign the petition now, if he sees the rest of the world is disgusted with his inability to stop warring he might just start listening, I personally want him to give up the Noble if Guantanamo remains open, it’s the definitive oxymoron.

Sign our global petition calling on President Obama to take action to close Guantánamo by ending indefinite detention. It’s been ten years too long.

Europe’s oil, gas and mining transparency plan

Oleuanna — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 01:15:59 PST

This may be the signs of a promising attitude and cultural change within governments to come, well that’s the hope. The European Commission have continued in empowering LDCs to start benefiting from their natural resources, the legislation which will obviously only involve EU based timber, gas and oil mining companies will have to start practicing disclosing the payments they make to each project they invest everywhere in the world, this will allow us to pull their practices apart making them accountable at last, once again that is the hope.

I have never understood why LDCs are resource rich but continually poor (well except for obvious corruption) but it will be good to see if transparency eventually reveals if abuses occurred on both sides of the corporate tables, tax avoidance has to be stopped, how can billions of dollars of natural resource exports NOT benefit the LDCs, it’s the most desired commodity out there, surely they should have some sort of sustainable advantage by now and by manipulating these countries only serves to cause and continue conflict just look at DRC but that’s my conspiracy theories going into justifiable over drive.

Last year the Americans passed an Act called the Dodd-Frank Act which became law. Most of you know it was created because of the ill doings and unaccountability that led us to plummet into a recession, it is simply risk management (no I have no idea why it was not in place either, oh no yes I do, easier corruptible access). So now there is a regulator (Financial Stability Oversight Council) to make sure the US economy is not put at risk again by any non-banks harbouring assets of over $50bn, it amuses me that if it seems like they are perilous that the Federal reserve puts them under supervision (hmmm? Right). Anyway if the Dodd regulates as well as it should (which the critique has been less than graceful) then this new EU drive should supplement it effortlessly, yes I know but we have to start somewhere, disclosure is the key and the lock alas.

I mainly wanted to highlight the work of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative whos videos are above showing how they have brought together industries, governments and civil organisations to sign up to a global transparency standard, I think it’s beautiful work, below you will see the countries getting involved. If those resource rich countries can operate with transparency maybe it can encourage the rest of the world to start trading exercising mutual benefit. As I said before, we have to start somewhere, I’ll keep my eye on this as it acts as part of my research in trade and LDCs and shall report intermittently as the year unfolds, I’m excited.

Compliant Countries

Azerbaijan	Mongolia
Central African Republic	Niger
Ghana	Nigeria
Kyrgyz Republic	Norway
Liberia	Timor-Leste
Mali	Yemen (Suspended)

Candidate Countries

Afghanistan	Kazakhstan
Albania	Madagascar (Suspended)
Burkina Faso	Mauritania
Cameroon	Mozambique
Chad	Peru
Côte d´Ivoire	Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of Congo	Sierra Leone
Gabon	Tanzania
Guatemala	Togo
Guinea	Trinidad and Tobago
Indonesia	Zambia
Iraq

News Archive

December 21st, 2011 – 12:01 GMT

President of South Sudan commits to global transparency standard

December 15th, 2011 – 17:08 GMT

EITI invited Libya to follow oil transparency standard

December 13th, 2011 – 16:19 GMT

Clare Short: Transparency in practice, lessons from development and EITI

November 30th, 2011 – 12:26 GMT

Niger enters oil era, commits to disclose revenues by 2012

November 30th, 2011 – 11:53 GMT

Avocet Mining supports the EITI

Write for Rights !

Oleuanna — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:27:59 PST

As you all know by now I am an active member of Amnesty (alright alright I haven’t been to the meets in a while but Edinburgh isn’t around the corner anymore you know and I stopped using a car because of the environment and the threat of obesity, well intrinsically something has to give!). Anyway I love it, I’m in awe of its work and I know it gets things done, so I want to encourage people to join, read the issues and write the odd letter to support the people in need or against the tyrant despots denying people of their freedoms.

In January 2012, Amnesty will be launching a new Urgent Action blog where they will be posting the latest information on all their cases. I am very excited to have it so concentrated but obviously saddened that there will be a database of human rights atrocities, we really shouldn’t have a flip card system of crappy human behaviour but I accept this is how primitive we still are and if we want to grow we need to confront. Everyone is free, we just have to keep reminding autocratic governments of this birth right. Below is a Newsletter I received and will give you an update of a few things that still need attention and highlights some successes. BOOKMARK !! We have a lot of work to do…

Download (PDF, 434.16KB)