When the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay speaks of the ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION in Venice, you sit up!
We were pleasantly surprised to be informed, retrospectively, of her powerful message on World Art Day 2024, which emphasised the key role of the protection of the status and livelihoods of artists and cultural professionals by the UNESCO-Aschberg Programme.
Over 100 MPs and Lords have signed a letter calling on the UK government to respect the International Criminal Court. #ICC#WarCrimes#HumanRights#palestine
Keir Starmer and David Lammy have not signed the letter.
#Poverty & #FoodInsecurity have worsened in most of #Canada in the past year & most provincial governments aren't doing enough to address the problem, according to a just-released series of #ReportCards.
In the recent update,
Norway, Ireland and Spain recognize Palestinian state saying there would be no peace in the Middle East without it while Israel condemned the move and called it "taking the side of the it's enemy".
What a wonderful crowd! A heartfelt thank you to everyone for your contributions, passion and solidarity to the ARTISTS AT RISK PAVILION — Artists. Risks. Humans. Rights held with the support of UNESCO.
Photos from the events on the 18th and 19th of April. Photo Credits: recompo.se / Artists at Risk (AR)
"None of this is about keeping us safe. It’s about policing the boundaries of debate, suppressing attempts to challenge economic power and stifling protest against environmental destruction, the massacre of Palestinians and other great harms"
George Monbiot on the 'independent' report by sex pest John Woodcock (ennobled as Lord Walney for his part in removing Jeremy Corbyn). The report is horrifying in its clampdown on protest.
At last. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is launching an enquiry into the way the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) treats claims by ill and disabled people.
The focus will be on health checks that assess individuals’ eligibility for disability benefits such as personal independence payment and “fit for work” tests that qualify claimants for the disability elements of Universal Credit.
On the publication of Article !('s latest annual report on freedom of expression, executive director Quinn McKew summarises the situation:
'At no point in the last 20 years have so many people been denied the benefits of open societies, like the ability to voice opinions, access a free media or participate in free and open elections' (quoted in The Guardian).
And you'll note that the UK ranks 33rd in their report on freedom of expression.
The head of #Russia’s #HumanRights Council, Valery Fadeev, has said the government should consider a ban on wearing #niqabs, a traditional #Muslim veil that covers the entire face apart from the eyes.
The official voiced the proposal in an interview with the Parlamentskaya Gazeta newspaper published on Monday, which focused on the risks of extremism in multi-ethnic society.
I don't know how a judge can feel good after sentencing a 77 year old theoretical physicist to the penal colony. Especially, if what apparently counts as treason is the vetted(!) publication of research papers.
(He is the second in a series of four similar cases; where the first one "testified" to shorten his own sentence.)
It looks like #Academia should be intimidated, to silence the remaining critical voices. #HumanRights#Russia#Treason https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-hypersonics-expert-jailed-14-years-treason-2024-05-21/
#FrontLineDefenders condemns targetting of members of #Nozhin assn & sentencing of #HumanRights defenders Soma Pourmohammadi, Serveh Pourmohammadi, Seivan Ebrahimi & Edris Menbari, as it believes it is in #retaliation of their peaceful & legitimate human rights work in #Iran.
On 13 May 2024, Soma Pourmohammadi appealed a 10 yr prison sentence issued by Branch 1 of #SanandajRevolutionaryCourt on 16 April & announced to the defender on 21 April 2024.
The Chinese government is using extreme forms of pressure to coerce Tibetans to relocate their long-established villages, according to a report by Human Rights Watch
A #Chinese woman who served 4 years in #prison over her video reports from #Wuhan during the early days of the #pandemic has been released from a #Shanghai prison facility, following more than a week of online speculation about her whereabouts.
Zhang Zhan, 40 years old, was detained & sentenced by a Chinese court in 2020 after #documenting in more than 120 vids how #Covid19 ravaged the city where the #coronavirus was first detected.
#China's internet #censors have deleted a video in which #children at a private #PerformingArts school in the southwestern province of #Sichuan dance to British rock band #PinkFloyd's 1979 hit "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" which featured a choir of #schoolchildren protesting overbearing authority & "thought control" in #education.
The series provides an #InDepthAnalysis of the idea that human rights violations, armed conflict & #war cause #psychological & #psychiatric outcomes, using the Kingdom’s tragic past to explore themes.