Peace is built person by person, group by group, nation by nation. In commemoration of the United Nations International Day of Peace, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice invites University of San Diego students, faculty, staff, as well as the San Diego community, to join in celebrating this day of nonviolence and reconciliation.

The event will feature live music, food vendors and a march for peace. Local and campus organizations working for peace and social justice will provide information and ways to get involved. Participants in this celebration of peace will observe a moment of silence followed by a dove release.

Tuesday, September 20, 2012

Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, Garden of the Sky

12:15-2:15pm

Cost: Free

Source: https://www.sandiego.edu/about/news_center/events/events_detail.php?_focus=39327

Photo credits: sandiego.edu

Please join the University Of San Diego Trans-Border Institute for a reception to welcome the academic year, the new dean of the Peace Studies School and to celebrate Mexico’s independence. Come learn about Trans-Border Institute’s new projects and upcoming event programming.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, Room G & Terrace

5:00-7:00pm

Cost: Free and open to the public

Source: https://www.sandiego.edu/peacestudies/tbi/news/events/eventlist.php?_focus=42072

Jane Ellen Bergman Memorial Lecture Series Presents Cherie Blair

Cherie Blair—human rights barrister, part-time judge and wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair—gives her perspectives on life, learning and the law. She discusses highlights from her own career and explains the critical role of lawyers in promoting human rights and rule of law to create a more equitable and sustainable future.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

University of San Diego, Warren Auditorium, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall

Schedule

5:30 p.m. — Doors open
6:00 p.m. — Presentation in Warren Auditorium
7:00 p.m. — Reception in Hilton Loggia

Admission is free, but reservations are required to attend the lecture. Reserve by Monday, September 17, 2012.

Presented by the University of San Diego School of Law and Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies.

Source: http://www.sandiego.edu/law/news/calendar_of_events/event_details.php?_focus=42208

Photo credits: theolivepress.es

Saturday, September 8th

WHERE: Institute of the Americas (University of California, San Diego

4:00pm— Screening of Reportero/Reporter (Directed by Bernardo Ruiz) preceded by Silencio  Forzado/Forced Silence

5:30pm— Panel Libertad De Expresión y Persecución a Periodistas/ Freedom of Expression and Persecution of                                        Journalists [With: Lynne Walker, Adela Navarro, Bernardo Ruíz, Carlos Dada, Mariclaire Acosta (as Moderator)]

                   Trans-Border Institute (University of San Diego)

8:00pm— Screening of Al Otro Lado/To The Other Side (Directed by Natalia Almada)

Saturday, September 8, 2012

WHERE: Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT)

4:00pm— Screening of Vol Special/Special Flight (Directed by Fernand Melgar)

5:30pm— Panel Migración y Centros de Detención/ Child Migration and Detention Centers [With: Fabienne Venet, Gisele Bonnici, Michelle Brané, Uriel González (as Moderator)]

                   El Faro, Playas de Tijuana

8:00pm— Screening of Una Frontera, Todas Las Fronteras/ One Frontier, All Frontiers (Directed by David Pablos)

Sunday, September 9, 2012

WHERE: Institute of the Americas (University of California, San Diego)

4:00pm— Screening of Vol Special/ Special Flight (Directed by Fernand Melgar)

 5:30pm— Panel Migracion y Centros de detention/ Child Migration and Detention Centers [With: Fabienne Venet, Gisele Bonnici, Michelle Brané, Kevin M. Keenan (as Moderator)]

                  Centro Cultural La Raza, Balboa Park

 8:00pm— Screening of Una Frontera, Todas Las Fronteras/ One Frontier, All Frontiers (Directed by David Pablos)

Source: Trans-Border Institute, Ambulante, Ford Foundation

Photo: ambulante.com.mx

This article is written by Syed Muhammad Modassar Shahid, the only intention behind writing and publishing is to highlight and visualize the real social structure of the on-board culture of Pakistan, its political parties, policy both internal and external, popular and population opinion and general life style and institutions…

http://voiceforhumanrights.org/opinion/

Three pieces of legislation infringing on human rights marked the first few months of Putin’s presidency and attracted fierce criticism from leading human rights activists.

On June 9, 2012, changes to the federal law on assembly, rally, demonstration, and picketing came into force. They were initiated by the “United Russia” party and increased the fine for participating in “unsanctioned public meetings” by 150 times.  According to the introduced changes, each public gathering must be sanctioned in advance by local authorities. Individuals who initiate a peaceful assembly, rally, demonstration, or picketing without the authorities’ permission will pay a fine of up to 30,000 rubles (about 1,000 USD), and a civil servant will be fined for 40,000 rubles for the same “violation”. The fines rise dramatically if a public meeting obstructs the movement of vehicles or pedestrians or violates other “norms” established by the law.

Amnesty International states that it considers “ridiculous” the new provision in the law that allows public gatherings to be held only in “particular places designated by local authorities for public events”. John Dalhuisen, the director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia program, believes that isolation of participants in a designated zone where they cannot address those to whom they would like to express their protest is against the essence of the right to assemble. He further states that the law on public meetings is meant to prevent any political protests and curb free expression of thoughts that are different from the officially accepted point of view.

On July 13, State Duma, the lower chamber of Russia’s parliament adopted a law turning certain types of libel from administrative into criminal offense. Human Rights Watch advised that the international community call on President Putin not to sign the law because “criminal penalties for libel are regressive and out of step with international human rights law”. Just seven months earlier, President Medvedev ensured that libel is considered an administrative offense, a step which was praised by the Council of Europe.

Human Rights Watch is especially concerned with a provision in the law that makes libel against judges, jurors, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials subject to a fine of up to 2 million rubles (about 61,000 USD). It states that “Under international human rights law, the threshold for criticism of a public official is greater than for a private individual, and this provision could restrict legitimate criticism of public officials to an extent not permitted under international standards”.

On July 13, the State Duma also approved a law which was soon named the “smear campaign against NGOs” by leading human rights organizations. The notorious law requires NGOs receiving funding from abroad, financially or in kind, to register as “non-commercial organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent”. The changes apply specifically to those NGOs that are engaged in political activities, that is in the law’s wording, if they attempt to influence decision making by public authorities in order to change public policies pursued by them or if they attempt to affect public opinion for the same purpose. Amnesty International believes that such a broad definition of political activities includes any human rights organization and most civil society organizations. The penalties for a failure to register an organization as “performing the functions of a foreign agent” are severe and range from a fine of up to 1 million rubles for organizations to imprisonment of certain NGO members.

A notion of a “foreign agent” has strongly negative associations in the Russian language, as Amnesty International pointed out. The fact that NGOs registered as “performing the functions of foreign agents” are obliged to state that on all their publications, whether available in hard copy or via the Internet, means that the law also aims to delegitimize the work of such organizations by making them appear as serving some foreign powers.

With regard to these three important legislative changes that happened in just two months, United Nations human rights chief, Navi Pillay, urged the Russia’s government “to avoid taking further steps backwards to a more restrictive era,” referring to the more than 70 years of communist rule.

Sources

HRW :

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/16/russia-criminal-libel-law-blow-free-expression

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/17/president-putins-first-60-days

AI :

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/russia-putin-urged-reject-law-restricting-right-peaceful-assembly-2012-06-07

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR46/029/2012/en/242fadd2-c20c-4cce-b78c-071edd1c142a/eur460292012en.html

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/russia-end-smear-campaign-against-ngos-2012-07-13

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/russia-end-smear-campaign-against-ngos-2012-07-13

Russian sources :

http://www.rg.ru/2012/06/09/mitingi-dok.html

Other :

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/07/18/227107.html

Snagfilms is currently showcasing the heart -wrenching short film, Footprints. Footprints is a film that aims to raise awareness to the issue of cluster bombs dropped on countries such as Laos and Afghanistan and the many that fail to detonate. These bombs lay dormant for years, sometimes decades, until they are triggered by farmers and children causing many civilians to lose limbs, their livelihoods, and even their lives. Footprints calls attention to a serious threat for many today that has been swept under the rug and forgotten.

To watch the film click the following link: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/footprints#

Special thank you from Voice For Human Rights to Chase Chambers from Snagfilms for sharing this with us!

WRITTEN BY: Urmila Chanam

“Don’t tell your daughter she cannot go out alone at night. Don’t restrict the clothes she wears. Teach your sons better.”

A minor girl studying in class 11 was molested by 20 men over 30 minutes while she was coming out of a posh club in a crowded street of Guwahati’ s GS road publicly while everyone either watched it or joined in! The teenager had gone to celebrate a friend’s birthday party at the Club. It happened after all her friends left and she was catching an auto back home when at 9.30 pm she was targeted by the mob. Hundreds of people looked on, cars whizzed past her and no one came to her rescue as she was dragged by several men who were all laughing and enjoying at her plight, slapped her, pulled her, tore her clothes open and ruthlessly molested her. Defenceless as she was, she cried for help and she cried in humiliation and helplessness. One man slapped her several times while she fell down on the road while others laughed and took pictures of her.

These men who violated the human rights of a girl, who is technically speaking still a child at 16 years old, are men who feel a girl coming from a club at night justifies their treatment meted out to her. In India, most men feel a girl’s place is in her house and not outside. They smashed her as if she was some toy, a play doll. They enjoyed as mute spectators, laughed and grinned as the miscreants played with the innocent soul and tore open her clothes. They see a girl as some sort of a doll to fiddle with, to twist and turn, break and bend, smash and slash. This is injustice. No one came to her rescue till the time a senior journalist, by the name, Mukul Kalita who happened to pass by, stopped the men and rescued her with the help of police who by then had arrived at the scene. As per reports, he also got some blows from the mob and the police also had a tough time in controlling the mob.

The incident would have gone unnoticed but for the footage uploaded on Youtube on July 10^th. It sparked outrage across the country, highlighting the increasing crime against women.

Public pressure finally forced the police to act, and on July 11 &12^th four arrests were made, although the main accused named Amarjyoti Kalita is still roaming free. Eleven people have been identified by the police and efforts are on to trace the others involved in the crime. An NGO put up hoardings showing the pictures of some of the accused in Guwahati on July 13^th. “We have put up hoardings in prominent places and at all the bus stops in the city. The basic objective of putting the photographs of the culprits is to help police to bring them to book and to create awareness so that such things do not occur in future,” said Avijit Sarma of NGO Assam Public Works. 
Members of the National Commission of Woman have reached Guwahati to take a stalk of the situation determined to bring to book the culprits. Several civil society organisations said they would take to the streets of Guwahati on Sunday the 17^th July to protest against the incident. 

Just when the public outrage and the police seemed to be heading in the right direction of nabbing the accused, a new turn of event takes place when a RTI activist and Team Anna member, Akhil Gogoi, claims that a reporter of News Live TV Channel, which shot and aired the footage on 11^th July, was the main culprit. He also informed that Amarjyoti Kalita, the main accused, is a friend of the reporter. “They went to the bar in the reporters Hyundai car. They are being safeguarded by the owner of the TV Channel who is a Minister”. Gogoi claimed that he had a CD about the News Live reporter’s involvement which he will hand over to the police and media.

Whole India sees this video clip of a mob molesting a girl. Shot in full view of an open camera, moving right in the middle as the mob pulls her face and says-“ Show it to the camera!” The editor turns it into a sensational story, moral policing and how pubs and bars contribute to such incidents, and how his reporter got beaten and still got the footage. But from what is emerging from the statement of the girl, and the CD given to the police by activist Akhil Gogoi, the reporter was acting fresh with the girl in the bar after having a few drinks with his mobster friends. When she turned down his advances she was pulled out of the auto and lynched. There is evidence of reporter telling the mob to strip her. This news channel is owned by an Assam minister and there is little hope of nabbing the accused. Whole of the country is fooled to believe what they see but no one sees the real story, that it was deliberately done at the behest of the reporter and the editor hawking a false TRP boosting story. Nobody has even asked the police if they have recorded this reporter’s statement.

You have to be blind to not see how well the footage is shot while hardly anyone from the mob attacks him, as his editor plays out a story for everyone to buy. The editor of News Live Channel has been reported to be tweeting how every channel in India is calling him for the footage.

This gets uglier by the hour and you can see what is the status of a girl in India. When the Police Chief of Assam, Jayantha Chowdhury said that the police were not an ATM machine, dispensing instant service, he was voicing the attitude of the police towards the rising crime against women. They lack commitment towards the cause of protecting women and are unable to rise to the urgency of the situation. Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram retorted to such a lax statement when he said, “Every incident of molesting a woman is condemnable….anyone who tries to make light of the incident is condemnable.”

It’s sad to see some sections of public opinion on social media attribute this crime incident to the girl and not the miscreants. One senior lady professor says, “I think the girl is as responsible for what happened to her. Who told her to go to a club and come home at 9.30 pm!”  This misplaced value system is also the reason why these crimes are increasing every year and why the accused go scot free while the victims suffer all their lifes.

Time will tell if all the accused will be penalized by a jail term or will the power and political connections of the minister who owns NewsLive Channel in Guwahati silence the voices of the thousands of protesters who are marching on the roads of the city today. What about the hundred odd people who were mere bystanders and mute spectators that night on July 9^th outside Club Mint, and the driving cars that whizzed past her without offering help or calling the police? Will they not be penalized as well?

We need a strong law against molestation and rape, preferably a life imprisonment. These men who destroy the life of an innocent girl should be ostracised, and banned from public life. They should not be employed. We also need to change our perceptions and stop blaming the victim. A victim needs an embrace, acceptance and our support and not a question on her integrity.

While the whole country sees another crime against a woman, this time a girl, I wonder who will be next. In a country where the rape cases last year recorded stood at 24, 206 and molestation instances at 42,968, there is a sense of insecurity among us now. Today it happened in full view of hundreds of people on the main road of a crowded place in Guwahati city, earlier this year in January it happened outside Sahara Mall in Gurgaon, in October last year two young men were beaten to death by a mob in Mumbai while trying to protect their women friends. The question of the hour is, WHAT IS THE STATUS OF A WOMAN IN INDIA TODAY?

We are living in a mock security. It happened to her, it could happen to you tomorrow. Don’t be too confident. At least not yet.

Link of the footage:

Earlier this year, leading international Human Rights organizations reported the purportedly illegal detention and mistreatment of a group of Somali asylum seekers in Ukraine. On January 19, 2012, Amnesty International (AI) announced that about 60 Somali nationals, including 20 children, went on a hunger strike to protest against their “pointless” detention, one of many in a row for some detainees, at the Zhuravichi Migrant Accommodation Centre in northwestern Ukraine. According to AI’s later reports, there were also 6 Eritreans among the protestors. The 60 Somalis are part of a larger group of 125 Somali citizens detained at the center since January 6th.  Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that around 80 of the Somalis notified UNHCR of their intention to apply for asylum in Ukraine and that the Somalis’ detention deprived them of the opportunity to file an application for a refugee status or appeal a rejection of their asylum applications by the State Migration Service.

AI believes that the detention of Somali nationals “for the purposes of deportation”, as stated in official papers, is pointless because according to records, no Somali or Eritrean citizens have ever been deported from Ukraine. AI stresses, “Everyone knows – the police, the ministry of internal affairs and the Somalis themselves – that they won’t ever be deported”. The reason is that Ukraine, as party to a few international conventions on human rights, is obliged not to return anyone to any country if there is a threat of serious human rights violations for the returnees. What usually happens to Somalis is that they are first detained for being illegally present in the country for up to a year, then released and given five days to reach the Somali embassy. Since there is no Somali embassy in the country, the former detainees are soon re-arrested and put in a detention center again for another year. HRW confirms this scenario for the majority of the detainees. AI concludes that since there is no prospect of deportation, detention “for the purposes of deportation” is “arbitrary and unlawful”.

What makes the situation even worse is that the Somali detainees maintain they were blatantly abused and tortured while at the detention facilities. For example, AI reports that some said “they had been placed in an isolation unit without a bed for several days, and that they received anonymous emails and phone calls containing death threats and racist abuse”. During the hunger strike, also according to AI, security forces attempted to end the strike by forcing the protesters to eat and filming them whilst eating. HRW points out that the Ukrainian authorities have previously been found responsible for torture under European human rights law by forcibly feeding detainees. It also adds that during the strike “a group of approximately 21 police officers, masked and armed with batons and tear gas,” came to the detention center to search detainees’ rooms and while searching hit some of the hunger strikers with batons. HRW sent a letter to the Ukrainian authorities urging immediate release of the detainees.

This case reveals a few of the many problems in the Ukraine’s legal framework and law enforcement. In a report in 2010, HRW found that “migration detention in Ukraine is often arbitrary and detainees do not enjoy reliable access to a judge or other authority, or access to legal representation to challenge their detention”. Besides, the report claimed that “asylum applications from detainees are frequently not processed”, “many claims are rejected as manifestly unfounded”, and that “a migrant or asylum seeker may be detained without any individual assessment of such necessity”.

Photo source: http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/news/2012/uk-supporters-ukraine-refugee-protest-picket-london-embassy-solidarity

If you have seen the whole world and could not visit the two great nations of India and Pakistan you have certainly missed something very special.

India and Pakistan share a common border of nearly 1800 miles between them. Despite the recent conflicts and three wars between the two nations over the issue of Kashmir, constant efforts are being made in order to maintain the peace between both nations especially by the  people of both sides.

Generally, people of Pakistan are very friendly towards their Indian brothers and sisters. Each year a large number of Sikhs and Hindu yatris pay visit to Pakistan in order to perform their religious duties, as they have many holy and sacred places in Pakistan, despite of the political tensions. There has not been any change in the relations among people, instead they are making their bond stronger than ever before.

The resplendent countenance of visitors especially while entering into Pakistan from Wagah border are worth noticing. Pakistan is a very friendly country and it is particularly hospitable host towards individuals from India, because India and Pakistan both enjoy a somewhat similar culture. Local residents of Lahore Sheikhupura , Taxila, Hassanabadal and some other cities where Indians pay frequent visits are eagerly waiting to host them in their respective cities and homes this  good gesture imparts a positive message.

As the media grows rapidly in Pakistan, one of the most amazing initiative taken by Indo-Pak was “AMAN KE AASHA” (Hope For Peace).  Together with the corroboration of local news papers on both sides and a private Geo television channel from Pakistan, this initiative proved to be successful making the cultural exchange program take off, while also paving the path for artists of Pakistan to go to India and offer their talents. Many Indian natives and media widely appreciated our artists by spreading red carpets for them.

In the past, artists from Pakistan did have this privilege to go to India, however all of them were well  established and recognized internationally; but now singers like Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Atif Aslam, Ali Zaffer and many more are warmly welcomed by Indian media and people.

Bollywood and Indian t.v channels have always found a special place among Pakistanis. Many Pakistanis are a fan of numerous Bollywood actors/actresses, singers and dramas, including: Amitab Buchan, Sharhrukh khan, Kumar Sanu, Muhammad Rafi , Kishore Kumar  Lata Mangeshkar and the list goes on. These people have won the hearts of Pakistanis by their impeccable talent. There is no city, village and street of Pakistan where the performances of these legends have not reached and been appreciated.

Pakistan, being an agricultural country, heavily relies on its exports. India is Pakistan’s most significant importing partner. Even under the existing curtailed and restrictive trading conditions, it is clear that India plays an important role in Pakistan’s trade. However, if trade between both countries were to be normalized  and barriers and restrictions done away with, India and Pakistan might begin to enjoy better trade terms.

Pakistan has been progressing in its education sector by leaps and bound, with many engineering institutes being opened up all over the country. Students are encouraged to study the books of Indian authors, especially regarding information technology ,computer sciences and engineering subjects.

With all the other sectors making it possible for friendly relations between both countries non government organizations (NGOS) are playing their roles as well. INSAR BURNEY TRUST, headed by the ex-minister of Pakistan, Mr.Insar Burney, has been one of the organizations leaving no stone un-turned  to better relationships between the two great nations. Burney  freed Kashmir Singh, an ex-Indian police man jailed in Pakistani prison for more then 20 years. Moreover, he paid a huge amount to Somali pirate to free six Indian sailors held with them for almost 10 months .This gesture was widely appreciated around the world with the message being imparted that humanity is important to Pakistanis.

All these efforts send a strong message to politicians of both Indo-Pak that people from both sides want to work with each other, want to live in peace and friendship. It is time for politicians to stop themselves being dictated by external powers who do not want peace in the region because they benefit from the instability.

“Dear Indians, we love you a lot because once we were one and most importantly our descendents were from you. God has written the partition of land but not the partition of heart  because God loves all human beings irrespective of creed, cast and colour. Let us love each other and make this region a symbol of peace and love.”

 “Live long Indo-Pak”

According to Karl Marx, the founder of communism, due to the clash of classes, society came into existence. To him the formation society and the state are just to secure the identity of BOURGEOISIE class and only for the humiliation and subjugation of the peasant or PROLETARIAT class. To the founder of communism, society is the mixture of only two classes, the major one in authority and minor in number is the aristocratic, imperial or the bourgeoisie class, while the minor in all status and major in number and quality is the working labor class or the proletariat class.

This division also present in the Pakistani society, the heads /peoples who are just using the decision making and direction giving power and privileges are very few, but at the same time the persons, whom the direction have to be given and those who have to follow and obey all orders are countless in contrast to the former direction givers. From top to toe this threat and victimization is present but here the main victims are not only the proletariat class but none other than MIDDLE-CLASS itself.

How this new class established???? For getting an answer we have to move towards history. This class is not a new class but the features of this class are quite different from all other classes around. The middle class is the outcome of working / labor / peasant and the proletariat class. The middle class rises up by acquiring education. Thus as they are educated they are also working for the betterment of the state and society.

The maltreatment of this class  is spoiling both the creativity and progress of the society . The main targets are the students unfortunately, especially the students of public institutions or those granted admission to government-oriented educational organizations, particularly  those who are college going and get themselves admitted into the state owned educational campuses just after completion of metric.

There are several shades and flavors of debarring and depriving features for a college student, some of them are as:

♀ Lack of merit.

♀ Transfer from one College to another.

♀ Governmental Establishment.

♀ College Administration.

♀ Lace Cutting Culture.

♀ Political Influences.

♀ Principals’ one man show.

♀ Teacher Autocracy.

♀ Governmental Lethargy.

♀ Lack of Coordination.

♀ Mental Level.

♀ Student Dependence.

♀ Students’ Bhaigeeri.

♀ Privatization.

♀ Standard Gap.

♀ Inferiority Complex.

♀ Racial Discrimination.

♀ Class Deprivation.

♀ Private Institutions.

♀ Lack of Professionalism.

♀ Injustice.

♀ Partiality.

♀ Deficiency in Curriculum Plan.

♀ Reference Custom.

♀ State Sleeping Attitude.

♀ Under Table Money.

♀ Red Carpetism.

♀ Student-Teacher Relations.

♀ Duality of the State.

♀ Commercialization.

And many, many more…………………………..

In Pakistan about 46% peoples are categorized in the student class. The state of Pakistan takes the responsibility of only 23% where the other remaining 23% go nobody knows. As the state is just taking the responsibility foronly 23% students but due to several reasons, the number and percentage is going towards the diminishing level of 15%.

The student who remains concerned with book and pen are very few, and those who get admission in the governmental institutes can be counted on the pores of the palm. There it is essential to describe why and how this BOOK AND PEN LEAVING CULTURE is leaving and GUN AND PEG PICKING CUSTOM is flourishing.

According observation and thorough study of mine, the teachers of the governmental institutes are playing a dominant role and they also have a lions’ share in the instability and lawlessness in the society. Almost every teacher from lecturer to professor is running his own private institutes, termed as COACHING CENTER(S), during the official college teaching timings they show their pedantries there-punctually, attentively, and much more effectively, where they teach the subject with the guarantee “A” and “A-1” grades or “First Division” and if the purpose and perspective is not achieved, then money back policy and assurance is also assured.

Due to the operation of these centers, a large number of students have left their education who wish to continue, and feel compelled to have themselves enrolled in these teacher recommended and owned coaching centers. To me, this appears to be a trick to trap the progressing middle class. The privileged class is frightened. It’s important to note down here that it’s the strategy of the ruling class to shake the middle class from all the directions- Morally, Ethically, Linguistically, Educationally, Socially, Economically, Sociologically and Psychologically.

These so called private educational institutions or in other words the milking cows charge a huge lump sum amount that a person who belongs to middle class cannot be able to afford, but for the sake of a bright educational future many students and  parents of students take out enormous loans. The majority of these sort of institutes are located in the posh areas of the city and that is how there is risks of wastage of time, threat of life and none other than danger of bad company and misconducts. The environments of these centers are also not according to social and ethical norms. It is recommended that we initiate the “Stop Privatization Campaign” as well as create a sense of liability and responsibility among government-employed teachers. By this we can be able to curtail and cure the worst phase of education.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.  - Mr. Nelson Mandela

Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains.

Unnecessary restriction means that there are many avoidable and un- needed less obstacles faced by many in society, hampering the livelihood and creativity, seizing of useful work or thoughtfulness.

Men shut their doors against a setting sun.

For the purpose of simplicity, we will have to divide the factors in to two categories: The one is primary or the main aspect of unnecessary restriction, and the later is the secondary or derived form of avoidable restriction.

Creative imagination is the core of happiness.

An individual is the moral and ethical unit of society. He is the main victim as well as the executioner of the restriction.

What light is to the eyes, what air is to the lungs, what love is to the heart,

What liberty is to the soul of the man.

A person’s extreme emotion, temperament, like, dislike, love, hate, fear, enthusiasm, honor, and thinking can be the cause behind his / her failing life style. The parents bring up their child with great and gentle care and affection, but this is the rule of nature that after the maturity of their off springs, their off springs also wants to take over the world as their parents have done. But due several reasons perhaps or due to a communication gap they both thought that only they are in the right. To me, these are main, major, primary, primitive and prominent form of restrictions.

Real freedom is of the mind and spirit; it can never come to us from outside.

Now I am coming towards secondary abuses. They are countless, but some among them are very apparent.

Society then solicitude is worst but man to man is the greatest curse.

Society is a mixture of several sorts of peoples and classes but elite or ruling class and the proletarians or the subjugating classes are the two vital and distinct version of this. People who belong to middle class are also categorized in the subjugating and dominated proletarian class.

This class system is the main mark and one of the most vital form of restriction or sanctions that impede the person capabilities and abilities of doing.

Poverty is also one of the main factors that came across and creates hinders to the aptitude of a person. In our society, the elite are enjoying much more privileges then common man. This dilemma is all around, and the main victims are students.

Riches are the parent of eternal care.

Self finance schemes as well as the quota system are also one of the main depriving features of this aspect.

Poverty is the mother of all crimes.

Gender as well as the sexual discrimination is one of the leading factors that hinders creativity. Still in this sophisticated era, our so called professional universities and institutes as well as some enlightened moderated multinational companies and corporations  select  individuals according to gender. For example, sometimes females are encouraged to apply to certain jobs within a distinct field. The terms male oriented and female oriented are common in the market these days.

Religion hides many mischiefs from suspicions.

Last but not the least: religion, beliefs as well as political influence can dominate the creativity of an individual’s capabilities.

Some falsehoods mingled with the truth.

If you go through the history the popes of Rome, the priests of Italy and the clergies of turkey as well as the contractors and so-called religious lords of the sub-continent, they have all used the name of the religions of peace for their own selfish motives, through manipulation of innocent and unknowing minds.

 

Where:  UC Riverside, University Theater

When: 10:00 am- 5:00pm , May 25, 2012

In light of the recent protests across UC campuses including Berkeley, Davis, and UC Riverside on January 19th, 2012, many feel the imperative to publicly respond and engage in a dialogue about the state and future of protest and policing on UC campuses. It is hoped as well that the symposium will address the function of policing and explore alternatives models for dealing with violence, maintaining social order and creating a system of community accountability.

Continuing the discussion from part I of this event, come listen, learn and engage with a variety of UCR student activists, faculty, and guest speakers as they discuss these topics; addressing the ways in which police have functioned in the past and how they currently interact with the UCR student and faculty body as well as the greater outside community. Several speakers will be presenting on current issues pertaining to protesting and activism here on campus and how the police and administration have responded in the past to such actions. The keynote speaker for the day will be political activist, scholar, and author, Angela Davis.

The event is free and open to all.

**Early arrival is advised to obtain your seats**

Public parking is available on campus for $8 for a day pass

Program for the Event:

10:00 – 11:45
Speakers:
Pat Morton, Chair of the Art History, UCR
Jennifer Doyle, Professor of English, UCR
Shaheen Nasser, UCR undergraduate student
Taher Herzallah, student activist & Alumni, UCR
Dylan Rodriguez, Chair of Ethnic Studies, UCR

break for one hour

1:00-2:45
Greeting by Dean Stephen Cullenberg of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Science
Speakers:
Farah Godrej, Associate Professor, UCR
Ken Ehrlich, Artist/Lecturer, Art Department, UCR
Randall Williams, independent scholar and author of Divided World: Human Rights & its Violence
Mike Davis, Professor of Creative Writing, UCR
Gina Dent, Associate Professor, Feminist Studies, UCSC

Question & Answer period followed by coffee, tea & refreshment break

3:00- 5:00
Live Performance by Faze Lucciano – hip hop artist/producer
Speakers:
Vorris Nunley, Associate Professor, English, UCR
Brittnay Proctor, Alumni, UCR
Martha Escobar, Assistant Professor of Chican@ Studies, Cal State Northridge & UCR Alumni
Rachel Herzing, Development Director, Critical Resistance
Angela Davis, Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, UCSC
Question & Answer

Guiding Questions for Panels 1 & 2:
What has been the history and function of policing in our communities and on our campuses?
Should the university campus be a sanctuary free of administrative and police repression and surveillance?
What is the relationship between administrative power and policing? How has the administration
functioned to enhance or delimit dissent on our campus?

Guiding Questions for Panel 3:
How can we create safer and more secure communities and campuses that are free from police and economic violence?
What alternative forms of accountability and justice can we implement and practice to better serve all members of our communities?

Organized by Setsu Shigematsu

Co-sponsored by: CHASS Dean’s Office, Center for Ideas & Society, Ethnic Studies and the Media & Cultural Studies Department

Contacts: geoff.cohen@ucr.edu, setsus@ucr.edu, laura.lozon@ucr.edu

Photo source: occupyeverything.org

First it looked unbelievable and yet very real when one of the local television stations during the 9:00pm o’clock news on 23^rd April continually showed scenes in which a police officer repeatedly squeezed the breasts of one of the opposition women leaders of Forum for Democratic Change. This was supposedly in an attempt to arrest and stop her from traveling to the venue where Activists for Change a political pressure group was re-launching their organization. It was this incident that has caused many well-known women activists and new ones as well to publicly protest the lack of respect in which Ingrid Turinawe, the survivor of the violence was handled. Many have summed it up as sexual assault and a brutal way in which any woman should never be treated.

Women activists however refused to be silent. The following day they mobilized and marched to the central police station in Kampala holding placards to protest what they called the police’s continuous brutality and demanded for the suspension of the police officer in question including the resignation of the Inspector General of Police for his apparent failure in handling peaceful demonstrations. Two of  the women striped to their bras as they informed the police of how they had brought  more breasts for them to press and squeeze if that was their new strategy of stopping them from peacefully assembling and expressing themselves. The behaviour of the police man in question has been regarded as humiliating by the minister of Ethics and similarly decried by other parties that have continuously called for respect of citizens’ right to free assembly. They also cautioned the opposition and civil society activists on remaining peaceful and within the confines of the law.

While Ingrid undergoes treatment for a swollen chest and a painful breast after the brutal handling, many Ugandans are locked in formal and informal debates about how far the government and the police will go just to stop the opposition. The incident happened at a time when a petition by the civil society leaders to the speaker of parliament is in the pipeline over what they have called ‘the systematic attempt by the state to use sexual assault as a political weapon’. In their plea, civil society leaders under the umbrella Uganda Governance Monitoring Platform want parliament to challenge all acts of brutality by men and women in uniform and also speed up the enactment of the Anti-torture bill, review the public order management bill and other bills attendant to the prevention of abuse of human rights.

We don’t need no education

Lots of hazards in the classroom!!

-Pink Floyd

Years ago this song was banned in the US where the youth were revolting against the stringent and authoritative dictates of teachers and the stifling atmosphere in classrooms. The rejection of teachers and this kind of teaching had the threat of crippling the education system in the US back then. Years down the line whenIndiais growing at such a rapid pace, classrooms have become the mirror of these changes. The new teaching methodology, in some instances, seem to totally discard the stress these children carry on their shoulders from their homes to school everyday.

When the newspapers were bombarded with the news of a 15-year old boy stabbing his Hindi teacher to death in a classroom in Chennai’s St. Mary’sAnglo-Indian Higher Secondary Schooljust a month ago, the world talked about the goodness of Uma Maheshwari, the 41- year old woman who taught Science and Hindi for classes 9 and 10. The teacher fraternity pointed their accusing fingers at the student community and were heard saying-“Why should she be punished for trying to do the best for her students?” The boy had stabbed her first in the neck, then thrice more in the chest and abdomen. The boy had carried the knife for three days but had found his teacher alone only on that fateful day. The question on everyone’s mind was spoken aloud by one student from the same school, “I don’t understand why the boy would have such hatred for her?” To the people who knew Uma Maheshwari in her neighbourhood or who taught alongside with her in the same school, Uma was  a gentle person who kept to herself and did not speak much to others unless necessary. In fact, a Times of India article carried her neighbour’s version of how reserved she had been, and how she didn’t invite any attention to herself and that she was seldom seen outside her house. At school she had a reputation of being a dedicated teacher who took interest in keeping parents informed of their children’s progress. The teachers went on ahead with their one-sided opinion-“It seems like we cannot try to direct students on the right path anymore.”

A simple murder story or so it appears at first glance with the boy at fault. Perhaps it’s the times we live in where children are more exposed to violence, through TV and video games. When reporters reached the boy’s neighbourhood, a contrast to this was found on ground. Many of the arrested student’s school mates and neighbours could not believe that he could commit such a crime. Neighbours tell that the boy was rarely seen outside his house and had very little interaction with the outside world. “He goes to school by car and returns in the same car or sometimes in an auto rickshaw,” a neighbour laments. Workers at a small mill opposite his house said they have seen the boy a few times on the terrace of his building and that he minds his own business and steps out only with his mother. The owner of a departmental store in the locality said that the boy bought some chocolates from his shop a day before the murder- “There was no sign of aggression in him. He doesn’t fight with anyone. In fact, he doesn’t even talk to other children in the neighbourhood.”

If opinions were to be taken into account to judge a person’s ability to kill another person, the people’s opinion of the boy certainly doesn’t indicate he was a murderer. So what went wrong here? The boy told the police that he killed her because she had been strict with him. And that he was under pressure after the teacher repeatedly sent adverse remarks to his parents. The juvenile offender was worried that he would not be promoted to class 10. He was upset that his teacher kept complaining to his father about his under performance in Hindi. His father had met the teacher three days before the murder.

If the number of crime and instances of violent behaviour among school children is on rise, it’s time we take stalk of the situation and attribute it to the change in our society, not these children. Many a times it has been found that the seemingly aggressive child had been witness to domestic violence or subject to severe punishment at home. Psychiatrists report an increase in the number of children coming to them with ‘agitated depression’. Parents are so busy in our times that they fail to notice changes in their children’s behaviour. Children are no longer entitled to play time after school where they are whisked off to their lonely homes to sit in front of the TV under the paid eye of a chaperon. There is no one at home to share about their concerns and issues let alone help them solve it. With no play, no interaction with the outside world, alone to fend for themselves, exposed to the violence on TV  and media, and a young mind incapable of communicating and reaching out for help, a wavering judgement of what is right and wrong in the absence of parental guidance, a child succumbs and turns into an ‘aggressor’ effortlessly. “In most cases of violent behaviour of children in school it has been found that the problem is generated at home and children end up venting their frustration in schools,” said Dr Seema Hingorrany, a Mumbai based psychiatrist.

Perhaps this boy had very little time with his parents at home. Perhaps there was a kind of conflict at home and any reprimand from school aggravated this situation. Perhaps his parents beat him and had high academic expectations from him. Perhaps he was depressed and lived a lonely life. He could have even been suicidal. Insecure, unsure, confused, depressed, unattented, lonely. Now think about this boy going to school from this house and meets a harsh teacher who ridicules him for lagging behind in Hindi which is tough to master for any South-Indian. Think of the tension, the humiliation and the pressure he might have been subject to. Perhaps at one point he might have not even wanted to go to school thinking about what he would face everyday. Think about the loss of peace when the matter was escalated to his parents. What might have happened when he got home everyday. Whatever happened to this boy following that was big enough and major enough in his life to finally make him go and buy a knife costing Rs 20 to end his agony.

Life might have gone ahead by leaps and bounds, advancement in technology, economies and our life styles might have kept pace but our children are still unable to cope with the demands of this metamorphosis. Let us help them in this process. Let us see each disciplinary issue with a child at school as a case study and understand the underlying reasons for it. Let classrooms be a place where children would want to come everyday not for studies alone but for a kind of understanding and support they seem to no longer get from their homes.

A teacher lost her life. But the boy lost something too that day in school- his childhood, which was supposed to have been guided, educated and nurtured. It’s not easy to carry the label of a murderer, at least from a tender age of fifteen.

~Penned down by~

Urmila Chanam

E-mail- urmila.chanam@gmail.com

The aims of the project:

After corresponding with the Initiative Middle and Eastern Europe  for the Speak Up for Human Rights! New Media! campaign, independent film makers Johannes Franke and Sebastion Hasse decided to form a documentary team to follow the project. The documentary follows a human rights seminar uniting 30 young adults from Germany, Ukraine and Belarus for three one-week seminars, in which they discuss the state of human rights in general and in their countries. During this time participants learn about the past and current state of human rights, and importantly how they can help advocate for those rights. All the participants come from very different political and social backgrounds, and it is hoped through the project that the participants will not only learn from one another but find a way to unite in the struggle and fight for human rights.

At the end of the project, Johannes and Sebastian plan to release a 30-45 minute documentary which chronicles the project and portrays diverse group of participants, their interests, goals and their lives in Central and Eastern Europe, and the limitations they must face.

The film intents to follow the project and its participants; How do they see their joint future, what are their desires, hopes and visions for their countries? What kind of external powers are they facing in their daily struggle to maintain their grounds and their human rights? And how do they relate to each other?

The filmmakers hope to create a very informative and innovative documentary that will be available to many around the world. However, these efforts are costly and the crew need every penny they can get to contribute to the project. To find out more about the project or to donate select the following link:

To meet other fans and supporters of this project visit their facebook page. Take part in the development of this film.
http://www.facebook.com/speakup4humanrights

Who are the filmmakers:

Sebastian Hasse studied computer science and drama. He ended up in the film business over producing interactive DVDs. While he works as an computer scientist half of the time, he devotes the rest of his time to making film projects. Among others he produces the intercultural web-comedy-series „Points Of You“: www.pointsofyou.eu. In the board of the non-profit organisation “Kunstwandel e.V.i.G.” he engages in the support of the free filmmakers and art scene in Berlin: www.kunstwandel-berlin.de.

Johannes Franke is cameraman, cutter, and director as well as an actor, which makes him a film maker all through. His most recent movie EWE successfully ran at the “up-and-coming” film festival in Hanover and at the „Youki“ in Wels (Austria). In the past years he mostly worked on documentaries such as a short documentary on a gestures singing workshop for deaf children with Rolf Zuckowski and a long-playing documentary on the generation of “young entrepreneurs”. More information on his work as a filmmaker on: www.gone-astray-films.de – and on his work as an actor on: www.johannesfranke.de

Lara Sielmann studies Creative Writing and Cultural Journalism. She is working as a freelance journalist, production manager and as assistant for miscellaneous cultural projects such as: litradio, Edition Pächterhaus,100 Wort!, documentary “Gründerbus” and is the co-editor of Landpartie 2010, Kein Katalog.

They are lent support by Sophia Gross (second camera in Ukraine and camera assistance www.lights-n-arts.de) and Elisabeth Wolf (second camera in Germany).

By: Urmila Chanam

I have lived, studied and worked in several towns and cities in my country and trust me, I have been to almost every corner of India. It’s interesting to see the variation in the way people look, dress, eat, live, marry, differ, hold their perspective regarding life in general and towards other communities other than themselves. In India, with every 100 km you will find another community or perhaps you don’t have to even go that far. India is like a vast sea of ethnic communities. So it is but right to believe that discrimination also thrives along with this variety in people. Discrimination which is as old as India and runs as deep as history.

Bangalore is one city in India which I believed was most cosmopolitan than most cities, Delhi being the worst. After having worked in Delhi I was convinced it wasn’t a place where a girl from the north-east could live in dignity. The degree of discrimination by the North-Indians towards north-eastern girls was humiliating, demeaning and alarming. Eve teasing, instances of molestation, public humiliation and rape is a frequent occurrence. I am a Mongoloid by race and hail from the state of Manipur in the North-Eastern region of India. The seven states of the north-east include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. The people from this part are all from a different race from the main land Indians who are either Caucasoid or Dravidians/ Negroid. This racial distinctness has fuelled a discrimination against us when we migrate to other parts of the country for pursuing studies, work or marriage.

It’s not an exaggeration to see a group of boys in Connaught Place in Delhi tease two girls drinking coffee in a coffee shop and within no time it turns nasty. These girls hail from the north-east where we speak different language and may not be well versed with ‘hindi’ – the language spoken most in North-India. No one comes to their rescue because all the bystanders and onlookers do not relate to the girls who look different form themselves and appear as ‘foreigners’. It’s astounding to note that in the entire country a very discriminatory and demeaning term has been coined for us in India who hail from the north-east- ‘ a chinky’. What happens next is for us to imagine and think about. Had these two girls been from Punjab or Jammu they have been helped by several people around them and the miscreants would have been publicly beaten up or at least the girls would have been rescued.

In this light I felt Bangalore was better. My illusion lasted few months only. The truth came looking for me to look me in the eye one night in the streets of Indiranagar, one of the posh places in the city well-known for high-class shopping, a house for most brands and best restaurants and pubs. My office happened to be here and like most nights when I wrap up work by 7 pm and take a bus to my house, this particular night I was still working till 9:30 pm. My colleague wanted me to assist her in one event we were hosting that day at office. At 10 pm she told me to go before her as she lived nearby and I lived like 15 km away. I took my cardigan, my handbag and walked in the street all alone. Even in my stress and exhaustion I realized I was really ‘alone’ and the only noise in the street was the click-clack of my 5-inches heels. The busy streets at 7:30pm and the traffic jams, the people, the buses, the autos, the flower girls on the road, the chat wala, the scores of shops and showrooms, just about everything was almost frozen at that time of the night. In my naivety I felt momentary happiness at the emptiness and thought how calm it was. I stood at the bus stop for 30 minutes but I guess the buses from BMTC stop their service much earlier. So I dialled for Easy Cabs. The problem with them is that the call is kept on waiting for as long as 15-20 minutes and sometimes even more while all the time the IVR tells you to not hang up and that your call is important!! It so happened that Easy Cabs Customer Service never took my call that night or perhaps they would have eventually had that auto not come and stop right in front of me. “Memsahab, kahan jana hai apko?(Madam, where do you want me to drop you).”

I didn’t notice the auto drivers vermilion (‘sindoor’) smeared forehead and his face which looked haughty and ill-tempered. In my earnestness to get home as soon as possible I just hopped onto the auto and told him, “Banaswadi.” A chill runs down my spine now when I recollect that ride with a stranger, a prospective criminal in the lurch with no clue of what I was in store next. I was busy looking at the texts I had got through out the day from friends and family while at work and which I had failed to reply due to my busy-ness. I began replying to some of them when I noticed the auto driver begin to sing loudly and look at the rear view mirror and throw glances at me.

There is an instinct every woman is born with, you may call it ‘sixth sense’ or an unexplained alert that goes off in our minds when we sense danger of whatever kind. I possess that instinct too and that night it didn’t desert me. It told me I was in danger. What it didn’t tell me was what kind of danger I was in!!! I looked at the certificate of license pasted in front of me which bore the name of the driver, the vehicle number and other details as address. I composed a text in my mobile phone giving all these details to my parents, my elder brother with whom I lived in Bangalore, my best friend and another relative. I wanted to make sure if something happened to me tonight, I would want this man behind bars. All throughout he was smiling and singing and giving me those lewd glances. He took a lane which was really deserted and when I revolted he shouted at me to keep quiet. I was so scared that I didn’t know what to do. At one point, he stopped the auto and took on two more guys to travel with me so that he could earn more from the same ride. Had the co-passengers been women I would have felt relief at not being alone anymore with this man, but they were men and men from the road, of the same class and category as this auto driver. I was sitting in one extreme while the other two add-ons occupied the remaining part of the seat. It was then we began arguing and landed up in a heated discussion. I told the driver that he should not have taken this street at all in the first place and second, he cannot add men to share the ride. Due to our heated argument the two men got off in Aiyappa Temple area which was still not very deserted and I could see several people still around. He was clearly angry for having lost out on money that he could have earned if he had kept the two men till the point they wanted to be dropped to. He started swearing and making angry faces. The only thing on my mind was I was just 4 kilometres away from home. And I would shut the door once I was home to this nightmare.

We rode silently. We reached Banaswadi. We reached my neighborhood. There was a ‘pandal’ being constructed right across the road so the auto couldn’t go further. I was still a 1000 metres from the gate of the gated community I lived in. 1000 metres from the security guards which manned my flats, the best in Bangalore from a security firm called the “Peregrines”. I got off and asked him how much I owed him. I found him standing next to me about one-fourth of a feet away from me and that is an indecent space if you are an Indian girl. I knew it would be around 100 rupees as I took an auto every second night from work to home but I guess, the question was to test the situation I was in. He looked aggressive, indecent, animated, violent, in a rage when he demanded I pay him 500 rupees. I asked him what was the logic in his expecting five times of what I pay every time. He started shouting and in between all the screaming I could make out what he was trying to tell me is he would have made 500 rupees if I had allowed him to bring along the two men who dismounted the auto on my insisting. I told him that it is not correct for him to make me share the ride with unknown men and my expectation was within the parameters of law. The argument was getting out of control so I gave him 200 rupees and told him I was giving him double of what he was entitled thinking that would make peace.

I turned to go and walked some distance and saw two shops near my house still open. The shopkeeper was standing in the front of his shop and from his frightful eyes that looked onto me, I could sense danger right behind me. I turned to look and to my horror I saw the auto driver run in complete possession of extreme rage I had yet to encounter in my entire life, to go pick up the biggest rock boulder from the side of the road and run towards me to crush my head with it. He came running at me while I looked around me in despair to see if I could get help. It was then I saw the hand of racial discrimination. Every one present in that spot looked away, turned away from me and it was then I knew if I died, I would die alone and with no one to bear witness to what became of me.

My aggressor stood next to me, everyone else fled. His face was wrought with a hatred I couldn’t understand, the vermilion spoke loud and clear of his religious belief and his political affinity to a group I call ‘fanatics’(and any individual from secular India would as well), he was speaking abusively in the local Kannada dialect to me, perhaps he had a picture of me tinted with discrimination. I don’t know what happened next when he was about to hit me with the large rock. He just happened to look at my eyes then and his expression changed. I still don’t know why I said softly, “Bhaiya”(Brother). Perhaps it was my upbringing that made me use that word. Born to an army officer I grew up addressing everyone as ‘bhaiya’.Something changed swiftly after that moment. My aggressor snatched the money from my hands, dropped the rock, ran all the way to his auto and started it in an urgency quiet maddening to witness. Later on I found that he had taken 200 rupees.

I stood there for as long as I can imagine, shaking like a leaf. I had survived death at the hands of a perpetrator who was inflicted with racial or gender discrimination and for whom I appeared as someone who deserved his aggression and torment. Five months have passed by since that horrifying day in my life and I thank god for having given me the bridge of communication at the right, crucial moment (when I called him ‘bhaiya’ in hindi). And I learnt the only way to mitigate discrimination in this world of ours and save the thousands of people who die at its hands, is to build these ‘bridges’ and keep building them till we begin to see each other as a person who lives in the same world as us.

Article 19 of the UDHR states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”. The ICCPR correspondingly reiterates the same in article 19 although in paragraph 3 it is mentioned of  how this particular right  carries with it special duties and responsibilities where it may therefore be subject to certain restrictions although shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary  for:

• Respect of rights or reputations of others;

• For the protection of national security or of public order or morals.

While I am certain the people behind these rights meant well, I fear it is these very restrictions provided for that could be abused especially by governments in young democracies like Uganda to meet their ends especially regarding freedoms related to information and expression through media.

The government three weeks ago tabled a bill which once passed into law would give the state legal powers to influence the content of what is aired and transmitted by all media houses. The new bill is intended to regulate broadcasting, telecommunication and postal service providers by creating a new body called the Uganda Communication Regulatory Body which in effect will disband the currently existing Uganda Communication Commission and broadcasting council. The proposed law would go a step further to tighten the process of acquiring licenses for radio and television operators. But more worrying for the state of media freedom in the country is the intention to hand to the government the power to control the operations of broadcast houses; for instance, for one to obtain a licence the bill sets a condition for the “provision of service on priority service to the government or specified organisation”. What this means is that government will make it a requirement that any broadcast house publishes its propaganda material or that of allied agencies as and when it deems fit. Another issue included in the bill is one related to prohibiting the publication of material which infringes on the privacy of any individual or which contains false information. The question which ensues is; what happens when “privacy” becomes an issue of public concern? The issue of slipping in a clause of false information and privacy has been often used by officials the broadcast council said and wealthy businessmen to silence critical reporting which could actually be true.

In 2004, the Supreme Court struck down the law against publication of false news, declaring it unconstitutional following a protracted appeal by two local journalists. The bill also hands down a fine of about 2 million Uganda shillings or a four year jail term upon conviction for anyone who intercepts government communication. While the proposal is silent about email communication, it worries journalists who for instance may report a story from a source who will not want his identity revealed about a curious radio communication issued by say the military. To sum it all, the bill is packed with just enough ammunition for state control, handing the government leeway to take full control of any communication station in Uganda for at least a year in the event of a state of emergency (as per article 101 of the constitution). Regarding private mail by post, the proposal hands the director general to examine the mail if the authority believes the article contains “prohibited subject matter” or items deemed threatening, obscene or of “grossly offensive character.” This has already attracted wide spread discontent as some people assert it as a gross invasion of privacy with intentionally vague wording to allow the authority free access to intercept individuals mail.

Yet another issue proposed is the mandatory registration of Television Sets (TV) by any person who owns one, failure of which elicits a fine not exceeding Shs 50,000/= or imprisonment for not less than one month. A media policy analyst found this rather unrealistic in county where TV coverage is still small with perhaps 20 people owning TV’s per every 1,000. Rather than encouraging people to acquire TV sets and access information, the fees would be a disincentive which deems this a poor decision taken. The contentious bill currently is before the parliament’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) committee awaiting scrutiny. However, this proposal shows how governments whose responsibility is to promote and protect such freedoms as rights to freedom of expression and opinion through in this case the media may go round to use certain clauses knowingly or unknowingly to their own end if not challenged.

Turkmenistan, a post-Soviet state in Central Asia, has appeared in the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International news recently. Information on human rights in Turkmenistan is scarce, because the country is known to impose severe limits on international human rights monitoring. According to Amnesty International, the authorities have denied international non-governmental human rights organizations requests to visit the country, including the Amnesty International own repeated requests. But some progress has been achieved recently.

The Human Rights Watch reports that in March 2012, the Human Rights Committee, a UN monitoring body consisting of 18 independent experts, scrutinized Turkmenistan’s rights record as part of its mandate to review governments’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It notes that although Turkmenistan has been a party to the Covenant since 1997, it only submitted its initial report to the committee in 2010. So, the review was the committee’s first opportunity to scrutinize the Turkmen government’s record.
The review was held in New York and was organized a direct exchange between the committee and a delegation of Turkmen government officials over two days. The committee announced its observations publicly on March 30, 2012, at the conclusion of its three-week session.

Some of the areas of concern emphasized by the committee are:

- Turkmen government’s longstanding denial of access to the country for independent human rights monitors, including no fewer than 10 UN rapporteurs, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and nongovernmental organizations, through its “refusal to grant entry visas to international human rights organizations.”

- repression of free speech and civil society. According to the committee, the government “systematically does not respect the right to freedom of expression,” “harass[es] and intimidate[s] journalists and human rights defenders,” and “monitors the use of the internet and blocks access to some websites.”

- torture and ill-treatment, specifically “at increased reports of torture and ill-treatment in places of detention, where it is often used to extract confessions from accused persons,” and the government’s denial of access to places of detention to international human rights monitors.

- violation of the right to freedom of movement through 1) restrictions on “the exit and entry into [the country] by certain individuals who are on the list of individuals under State surveillance,” and 2) “the system of mandatory registration at the place of residence, which is a prerequisite for residence, employment, acquisition of real estate and access to health services.”

- the Law on Public Associations, which “severely restricts freedom of association,” forcing associations to “undergo cumbersome administrative processes for registration,” and containing “onerous obligations on associations to report to authorities.”

-  the use of child labor in cotton harvesting.

- an overly restrictive law on religious organizations, providing “for the compulsory registration of religious associations and similar entities.”

-  criminalization of homosexuality.

- the “alleged use of a forced assimilation policy of ‘Turkmenisation,’ which seriously reduces opportunities for ethnic minorities in the fields of employment, education and political life,” and the “limited access of ethnic minorities to employment in the public sector and in decision-making bodies.”

The meeting in New York and the resulting review may mark a turning point inTurkmenistan’s government attitude to human rights organizations and their work. Although it is not clear whether the government will take any definitive action regarding the review’s findings, the first step has been taken.

Amnesty International

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR61/002/2012/en/f67cbdeb-a287-441b-9b4b-9bac2d5fd12e/eur610022012en.html

Human Rights Watch

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/03/30/turkmenistan-damning-un-report-shows-need-urgent-action

A recent news report by Human Rights Watch calls attention to the critical political situation in Hungary and the resulting tensions between the state’s ruling party and a few European political bodies. According to HRW, Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party is “using its super-majority in the parliament, spent its two years in office ramming through a new constitution that includes discriminatory provisions and other new laws that undermine media freedom, judicial independence, and the rights of religious minorities.”

On March 20, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional affairs – the Venice Commission – published a scathing report on recent developments in the country. In particular, the report says that changes to judicial appointment procedures, moves to force judges into retirement, and vesting power to assign cases in a single individual, threaten judicial independence and the right to a fair trial itself.  The Hungarian government did not offer any explanation except for saying that the translations of the laws may be incorrect.  It ignored the Venice Commission’s criticism of Hungary’s new constitution last year.

Amnesty International reports that in December 2011, Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, raised concerns with the Hungarian government about specific portions of the Constitution.  But this human rights organization is concerned that the European Commission’s analysis has been too focused on technical shortcomings while ignoring the wider negative impact on human rights caused by the new laws.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, a non-profit human rights watchdog, released a fact sheet that resulted from the meeting of Hungarian NGOs with the rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission in February. This document summarizes the concerns raised by the participants of the meeting, and presents in a well-structured and organized way the threats that the new laws and regulations pose for human rights in Hungary.

The facts sheet’s major claim is that new laws disrupt the system of checks and balances. It substantiates this statement by examining the impact of the new rules on the Constitutional Court, administration of courts and standing of judges, prosecution service, mandate of the Data Protection Commissioner, criminal policy, rights of members of the private pension scheme, protection of families and church freedoms. Notably, the fact sheet starts with accusing the ruling party of illegitimacy: “The Fundamental Law is the sole product of the governing political party and has been adopted by the governing majority without the support of any other political force. The governing majority has earlier removed the provisions from the old Constitution that would have forced them to seek consensus with the opposition in this regard.”

The Human Rights Watch pointed out that on January 17, the European Commission started legal action, known as ‘infringement proceedings’, against Hungary over the judicial appointments, the independence of the central bank, and data-protection regulation. The Hungarian government has until 7 April to provide further clarification or face action in the European Court of Justice.

Human Rights Watch

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/03/28/hungarys-downward-slide-rights-requires-stronger-eu-action

Amnesty International

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/eu-must-press-hungary-to-respect-human-rights-norms

Hungarian Civil Liberties Union

http://tasz.hu/files/tasz/imce/2011/hungary_ngo_fact_sheets_20120224.pdf

http://tasz.hu/en/political-freedoms/hungarian-ngos-met-rapporteurs-council-europe