HUMAN RIGHTS

Photo: Children fill their cups at a water point built by UNICEF at Kanyosha III primary school in Bujumbura, Burundi. Credit: UNICEF/UNI180029/Colfs

Traditional Polls Will Test Africa's Resistance to COVID-19

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Africa's infection rates are still relatively low to the wonderment of some in the western world who predicted infection rates in the billions. In fact, African governments in many cases took preventative steps – from closing borders, social distancing, shutting educational institutions and banning mass gatherings.

By April 19, the Africa CDC reported that 34 countries had gone further and brought in night-time curfews or partial lockdowns. Eleven brought in rules requiring people to wear face masks in public.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 18 May 2020

Photo: Religious leaders in an online meeting. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

UN Chief Appeals to 'Common Humanity' Across All Faiths to Tackle COVID-19

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN) – Our shared vulnerability to the coronavirus pandemic reveals “our common humanity”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told religious leaders in an online meeting to discuss the role they can play in limiting the damage caused by COVID-19.

Speaking during the meeting on May 12, Guterres said “it lays bare our responsibility to promote solidarity as the foundation of our response – a solidarity based on the human rights and human dignity of all … and it highlights the crucial role of religious leaders in your communities and beyond.”

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 13 May 2020

Photo: The white Mayadevi temple where Gautama Buddha was born in Lumbini on Vesak full moon day.

COVID-19: We Need A Vaccine for The Mind

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 40th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports.

SYDNEY (IDN) – Today the global media reports daily about the race to develop a vaccine against COVID-19, but what they fail to understand is that this vaccine may not help us to overcome the severe human security crisis we face today. Rather than a vaccine for the body, we need a vaccine for the mind.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; COVID-19; 03 May 2020

Photo: A new mosques in Eastern Sri Lanka. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne, INPS | IDN

One Year on, Easter Bombing in Sri Lanka Continues to Puzzle

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 39th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports.

SYDNEY (IDN) – A 22-year-old Sri Lankan law graduate became the first Islamic suicide terrorist a year ago in the predominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka. He detonated an explosive-filled rucksack amid a crowd of Easter Sunday worshipers at a Catholic Church in the seaside town of Negombo, close to the country's international airport.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 26 April 2020

Photo: Julian Assange. Source: acidpolly/Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

The British and American Press Don't Tell All on Human Rights Violations

That's Why We Need Wickileaks and Julian Assange Should Be Exonerated.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Julian Assange of Wickileaks languishes in a British jail during a too-long wait for a court to decide if he can be extradited to the US where the government has made clear that it wants to put him on trial on charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life, even though President Donald Trump was happy to quote from Wickileaks research on his opponent, Hillary Clinton, during his campaign for president. "I love Wickileaks", he said.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 31 March 2020

Photo: Collage of images of Joe Biden (left) and Bernier Sanders (right) from Wikimedia Commons.

Bernie Sanders Pushes Democratic Party to the Left

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Is Bernie Sanders still in with a chance? It is a slim one, but in these primary elections one never knows. There have been a number of surprising upsets.

Even if Joe Biden comes out on top and has to face Donald Trump for the presidency the Democratic Party has been pushed to the left by Senator Sanders. That is all to the good.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 19 March 2020

Amnesty Accuses Facebook, Google of Harming Human Rights

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – Facebook and Google play an important role in the lives of people across the globe – too big a role, according to Amnesty International. The pro-human rights organization recently published a report entitled, Surveillance Giants, which critiques the "insidious" surveillance exercised by these two digital giants.

: Europe Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 11 March 2020

Photo: First unrest in Guyana after announcement of electoral results. Credit: Guyana Standard.

Former ACP Secretary General Appeals for Calm in World's Newest Oil State Guyana

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS | PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (IDN) – Former secretary general of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group, Dr. Patrick I. Gomes whose five-year tenure concluded end of February, has called on "all political leaders to let the rule of law prevail and the country remain calm".

He told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC): "Guyana has always been held in high regard for good governance and respected by the 79-member countries of the ACP family of nations, so it is expected that this will continue in the interest of the good of all, Guyana and the Caribbean."

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 08 March 2020

Photo Credit: Illustration by Emil Lendof/The Daily Beast

America's Christian Right, Republicans and Donald Trump – 6

Viewpoint by John Newsinger*

This is the sixth of a six-part article originally published in International Socialism under the title The Christian right, the Republican Party and Donald Trump. Click here for part five of the series. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

LONDON (IDN) – As for President Clinton, who many evangelicals came to regard as the Antichrist, with him in office the secular humanists were in power and Christian America was in greater danger than ever before.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 26 February 2020

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres attends the High Level Segment of the 43rd Regular Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Credit: UN Photo/Violaine Martin

UN Chief Launches Call to Action at Boosting Equality

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – During the 75th anniversary year of the United Nations, "because of the centrality of human rights in all UN does, and because human rights are under assault", UN Secretary-General António Guterres has launched a Call to Action aimed at boosting equality and reducing suffering everywhere.

"Human rights are our ultimate tool to help societies grow in freedom," he told Member States on the opening day of the UN Human Rights Council’s 43rd session on February 24 in Geneva.