NEWSECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

We typically don’t think about the people who make our iPhones, computers and iPods.  They come to us in perfectly white boxes from the Apple store, ready to be played with.  Rarely do we consider the hands that made them, the human cost associated with them.  But thanks to some incredible investigative reporting by Mike Daisey and the New York Times and fast action by an Apple customer, the barrier between the makers and buyers of Apple products has been lifted.

As soon as NPR’s “This American Life” and the New York Times issued investigate reports of the working conditions at Apple’s factories in China, self-professed Apple-lover Mark Shields knew he had to take action.  So he started a petition on Change.org calling on Apple, Inc. to release a worker protection strategy for new product releases and publish the results of the Fair Labor Association’s monitoring of its suppliers.  Mark expected that his petition would resonate with his fellow Apple-lovers but he was completely blown away by the incredible level of support it drew.

By Sasha Kinney and Abubakar El-Amudy

The community of Lamu is fighting to have its voice heard in the development of a massive new infrastructure project, which threatens to destroy their idyllic and historic island off the coast of Kenya.  Corporations and the Kenyan government are pushing forward with plans to develop the large port and a host of related infrastructure.  Despite its dire environmental consequences, the project has gained momentum due to significant profit prospects and vague promises of economic development.

Thomas Jefferson once stated, “If there’s something wrong, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action.” Unfortunately, most of us are not fully acquainted with our abilities and this state of amnesia forces us into the realms of fearfulness, complacency, unwillingness, and utter hopelessness. We are blind to our true, awesome potential because there is this constant sense of seclusion and divide instilled in us by our environment. And it’s true. When we’re alone, it’s naturally difficult … but when united, we can move mountains and earlier this month, we did!

(Traduccion al Espanol por debajo)

It’s hard to believe that in Ecuador, a country that has legalized homosexuality in its constitution, there are “ex-gay clinics” that claim to cure their patients through means of torture.  That’s right, under the guise of drug-rehabilitation, these clinics use verbal threats, shackling, days without food, sexual abuse, and physical torture to “cure” homosexuality.While 30 of these such clinics have been closed this year, over 200 remain open.  That’s why Ecuadorian activists are speaking out against these remaining clinics and demanding that the government close them.

Malawi is often referred to as "the warm heart of Africa," but concerned citizens who are calling for changes to the country's economic conditions have been met with violent cruelty by the country's security forces. At the end of July, 19 people were killed in protests across the country.

Facing a deteriorating economy, trade unions and civil society organizations presented Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika with proposals for addressing the country's rising fuel costs, electricity shortages, foreign exchange shortages, corruption, financial mismanagement, problems with higher education, attacks on freedom of the press and other issues. Joining together under the theme "Uniting for Peaceful Resistance Against Poor Economic and Democratic Governance: A Better Malawi is Possible," citizens rallied across the country on July 20th. While the demonstrations were peaceful, security forces violently repressed demonstrations, killed 19 people, arrested around 500 individuals and assaulted and arrested several members of the press.

In response to growing repression on behalf of Mutharika's government, the US has frozen $350 million in aid to the country. Britain froze aid earlier in the year due to a diplomatic dispute. Civil society organizations had originally planned to hold vigils across the country this week in order to honor those who were killed during the demonstrations and to continue to put pressure on the government to address their concerns. However, government officials obtained a court injunction to prevent these events and organizations leading the movement decided to postpone the vigils.

The vigils were postponed amid growing tension in the country as the President continued to publicly demonize human rights organizations. According to Amnesty International, Mutharika called the July demonstrations "the work of Satan" and he threatened to "smoke out the organizers" while some prominent advocates received death threats. Currently, civil society organizations are working to establish a dialogue with the government that is being mediated by the United Nations. However, even though demonstrations have been postponed, a heightened police presence on the day when protests were previously scheduled to occur was evident across the country.

The Malawi Congress of Trade Unions has started a petition on Change.org calling on President Mutharika to cease attacks on civil society organizations, begin a genuine dialogue around citizens' concerns and to respect freedom of association and expression. You can show your solidarity with these brave human rights advocates facing extraordinary risks for their efforts to exercise their rights by signing the petition here.

Photo credit: tlupic

According to a soon to be released investigative report from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are spent each year on evangelical fundamentalist Christian concerts, retreats, youth programs and other events all aimed at converting military personnel and their families to Christianity.

This is not the money the military has historically spent on chaplains who provide support for military personnel who identify as people of faith.

Instead, the Department of Defense is spending on these programs with the intent to proselytize -- here are just a few examples of programs funded with taxpayer dollars:
--$30 million a year spent on the Army's Strong Bonds program. Strong Bonds is supposed to be non-religious, but has been hijacked by chaplains who have turned the program's pre- and post-deployment getaways for soldiers and their spouses into evangelical fundamentalist Christian retreats held at Christian camps and resorts.

Dolce & Gabbana deleted Facebook wall posts as soon as Change.org members led by the Clean Clothes Campaign wrote on the luxury Italian fashion house’s wall, demanding that they stop using a highly dangerous garment production method which gives Dolce & Gabbana jeans a ‘worn’ look

LONDON – The Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana deleted posts on its Facebook wall after Change.org members posted messages demanding that the company ban sandblasting, a technique used to give jeans a used look which is highly dangerous to workers.

The move comes after more than 25,000 European and American activists have joined a campaign on Change.org demanding that the company ban sandblasting.

High Representative and European Commission Vice President Catherine Ashton formally responds to Saudi women’s Change.org campaigns asking her to support for Saudi women’s right to drive; calls on Saudi Arabia to implement UN anti-discrimination convention.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has called on Saudi Arabia to implement an international women’s rights convention in a letter to Saudi women fighting for the right to drive.

The letter, signed July 6 and received by Saudi Women for Driving on Wednesday, directly calls on Saudi Arabia to implement the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, a rare statement of criticism for such a senior diplomat.

Female driver surrounded by four police cars in dramatic, nighttime arrest; Saudi Women for Driving responds with emergency call on Change.org to free those arrested.

Saudi Arabian police arrested five women for driving on Tuesday for the first time since dozens of women began testing the ban on driving on June 17, according to reports by local Saudi media.

In one incident, first reported on Facebook by Saudi journalist Jamal Banoon, four young women driving in the Dorat Al Aroos area of Jeddah were arrested by agents of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, Saudi Arabia’s religious police. The women were taken to a criminal investigations unit. In a second incident that night a woman driving in downtown Jeddah was suddenly surrounded by four police cars and taken into custody for driving. Her car was confiscated, according to the conservative Saudi news site SABQ. It is not clear whether or not the five women are still in detention, and there have been no reports of their whereabouts since.

The incidents mark a significant departure from the hands-off approach Saudi police have taken since women’s rights activists launched a nationwide right-to-drive campaign on June 17.