HUMAN RIGHTS

Mozambique Imposing Hefty Fees on Local and Foreign Media

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Press freedom in Mozambique just got a lot less free. Under a new government decree, local and foreign journalists must now pony up thousands of dollars for the right to report in this Southern African country.

The little dribble of news about Mozambique in the foreign press could disappear altogether, ending press freedom at a crucial time. Human rights groups call it an attempt to discourage reporting from the country.

"We think this is completely exorbitant and out of any reasonable proportion," said Arnaud Froger, head of the Africa desk for the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 August 2018

Photo: Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

The Indigenous Peoples, TRIPS & Biodiversity Convention

By Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

The writer is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and a Member of the South Centre Board. She has served as chairperson of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2005-2010). Following are extensive extracts from her presentation at the International Conference on the TRIPS-CBD Linkage: Issues and Way Forward, held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva on 7-8 June 2018. South Views carried the full text. The conference was jointly organized by the South Centre, the Centre for WTO Studies, New Delhi and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa to the WTO. - The Editor

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 17 August 2018

Photo: Kumi Naidoo. Credit: Amnesty International

Kumi Naidoo Wishes a 'Bigger, Bolder & More Inclusive' Amnesty

By Devendra Kamarajan

NAIROBI (IDN) – The human rights movement needs to be bigger, bolder and more inclusive if it is to tackle the challenges that people face today, says life-long social justice campaigner Kumi Naidoo as he officially starts his four-year tenure as Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Amnesty is the largest human rights movement worldwide, with a global presence including offices in more than 70 countries, 2,600 staff and seven million members, volunteers and supporters worldwide. Naidoo wants more.

: Devendra Kamarajan; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 16 August 2018

Empower Indigenous Women, Strengthen Communities

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) - August 9 is International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. On this occasion, UN Women calls on each of us to commit to making the voices of indigenous peoples, and indigenous women, louder and more impactful than ever before: http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/8/statement-un-women-international-day-of-the-worlds-indigenous-peoples.

At a time of unprecedented human mobility, indigenous women are on the move too, often fleeing violence, environmental disasters and land encroachments that have eaten into their sources of food, water and way of life. The positive economic spin-offs of migration don’t always reach them. Theirs is a move also for justice, as they mobilize to make their voices heard, demand punishment for perpetrators and reparations to restore their dignity.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 09 August 2018

Photo: Members of the Hadzabe community in Manyara region making bows for hunting. The group is among beneficiaries of the mapping project run by the Ujamaa Community Resources Team. Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

Tanzania's Indigenous Communities Racing to Secure Land Eyed by Investors

By Kizito Makoye

DAR ES SALAAM (IDN) – Helena Magafu smiled as she held a piece of paper that recognizes her as the sole owner of a disputed farmland in her village was handed over to her, thus resolving a raging dispute with her neighbours.

"I am very happy, I don’t think anyone with ever again claim this is their land," she said

For the past eight years the 53 year-old widow, who lives in Sanje village in the rural district of Kilombero – in Morogoro Region, south-western Tanzania – has been embroiled in a dispute with her neighbours who attempted to take 30 hectares of her family land when her husband died.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 August 2018

Photo: Nikki R. Haley, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, addressing the Security Council meeting on 9 July 2018. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

Nikki Haley Blames Rights Groups for Her Misguided 'Reform'

By Kenneth Roth

Kenneth Roth is the executive director of Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading international human rights organizations, which operates in more than 90 countries. This article was published in The Hill on 29 July 2018.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Shortly after arriving in New York as Donald Trump’s representative to the United Nations, Nikki Haley said she would be “taking names” of those who stood in her way. Most assumed she was referring to governments that blocked U.S. initiatives at the United Nations Security Council.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 02 August 2018

Photo: Young talented composers and musicians from Afghanistan, Turkey, the United States, Austria, and Japan with IOM Regional Director Argentina Szabados and Bärli Nugent, Assistant Dean and Director of Chamber Music of the Juilliard School, and UNIS Vienna Director Martin Nesirky. Credit: Lanna Walsh / IOM

UN in Vienna Stages World Premieres by Migrant Composers

By Reinhardt Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – The first-ever musical event of its kind at the United Nations in Vienna has showcased the richness of culture and art that migration brings. Co-hosted by the UN migration agency (IOM) and the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), the 'Voices of Migration' concert at the Vienna International Centre on June 28, featured powerful performances. These included two world premieres by migrant composers from Iran and Turkey, performed by a diverse group of world-class musicians.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; UN INSIDER; 30 June 2018

Photo: EU heads of state or government meet on 28 June 2018 in Brussels to focus on migration, security and defence, as well as economic and financial affairs. Credit: consilium.europa.eu

EU Summit Must Conquer Misleading Immigration Policies

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

The Syrian and African migration that has filled our television screens the last two years is overstated. The massive Syrian flow was a panic attack. Now it has dramatically subsided. There is no reason to think there will be another such great influx from the eastern Mediterranean countries. The African migration comes and goes, writes veteran journalist Jonathan Power. – The Editor

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Navel-gazing can sometimes be a good thing. But, as the self-help books and articles advocate, looking at one’s achievements to date to boost one’s morale is always a good step forward before attempting to improve the mind and spirit.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 26 June 2018

13,000 Africans Left to Die in the Sahara

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – In one of the most shocking reports on the ill-treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers, the International Organization for Migration has confirmed that thousands of African migrants are being left to die in blistering desert heat after being deported by the government of Algeria and dumped in the Sahara.

A new investigation by the Associated Press has prompted an avalanche of media reports although the deportations have been going on for more than a year. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released reports about them this year and in 2017 but such reports received little major media coverage until now.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 June 2018

Photo: Migrant workers in Kerala. Courtesy of firstpost.com

The South Indian State of Kerala Shows the Way By Embracing Migrant Workers

By Shastri Ramachandaran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – By any yardstick of human and social development, Kerala in South India is ahead of most Indian states. It provides social security to all sections of employees and workers through schemes that are superior to what obtains in most other states. Its labour policies are progressive. Minimum wages, especially, for unorganised, and even unskilled workers are higher – perhaps the highest, than in any other state.

Healthcare and education are good, and there is no dearth of opportunities, especially, for low-end work, which pays well and is a sustainable long-term proposition. Yet, the cost of living is not high.