We hope people are acting in these requests. We note that the blog is being read in many places around the world, apparently through Facebook and Twitter. We hope the locals are reading and acting as well, but the cluster map does not show this.
The most urgent item on the world human rights agenda is the new law pending in the parliament of Uganda that would criminalize all homosexual activity up to and including the death penalty. This law includes heterosexuals who help gays. Please act quickly since the proponents want to get it enacted before Christmas.
ABUSE OF ASYLUM SEEKERS BY AUSTRALIA
The treatment of asylum seekers interned on a remote island by the Australian government is abysmal. Please act to protest and to demand proper treatment for them.
In India, the government is about to resume executions in the wake of the execution of the Pakistani terrorist. This is a regression away from the drive for abolition. Please protest to the Indian government. You may find a template letter.
Rehov Ben Yehuda 1
Tel Aviv
Israel Phone: +972-3 517-1731 +972-3 517-6157 Fax:
+972-3 517-6303
We have a case of a persecuted journalist in Cuba. I have put up a template letter. There is no Cuban embassy here, alas. Thanks to the Belgian section for their UA site. It would be nice to have one here, but someone decided long ago that it is not important.
This week we lost a dear friend and a long time human rights activist, Prof. Miriam Shlesinger. This blog will be named for her and dedicated to her memory. May she rest in peace and may we be worthy of her legacy.
MYANMAR
Following communal violence in June, largely directed against the ethnic
Rohingya, there is a growing humanitarian and human rights crisis which
is not receiving sufficient international attention, and it is highly
likely that many lives are being lost as a result. The Rohingya are Muslims who have lived in Burma for generations, but are still considered but are still regarded by the government as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The latter claims that it cannot accept additional refugees from Burma. The situation remains exceedinglygrim for these people.
Burmese police, security forces and soldiers are raping, looting, torturing and arbitrarily killing Rohingya people.
There have been mass arrests with Rohingya people kept in detention camps without trial, without food or medical services. Amnesty International has issued a press release but not a UA. Burma Campaign UK has called on British subjects to write to their Foreign Minister. We can only suggest a letter to the local foreign minister tailored to the situation in each country. Israel has leverage in Burma so a letter to Avigdor Lieberman (the noted human rights advocate...) might help.
VIETNAM
We start with a UA from Amnesty On 24 September, a court in Viet Nam’s Ho Chi Minh City sentenced
bloggers Nguyen Van Hai, known as Dieu Cay (“the peasant’s pipe”), Ta
Phong Tan, and Phan Thanh Hai to 12, 10 and four years’ imprisonment
respectively for “conducting propaganda” against the state. The trial
lasted only a few hours and their friends and family were detained and
assaulted to prevent them from attending. Please pick up on the action on behalf of these prisoners of conscience.
In addition two popular singers have been sentenced to prison for writing songs "critical of the state."
Vo Minh Tri and Tran Vu Anh Binh were sentenced to four and six years
in prison, respectively, on charges of spreading propaganda against the
state, said Tri's lawyer, Tran Vu Hai. They faced possible sentences of
up to 20 years.
In a half-day trial, a court in Ho Chi Minh City accused the
musicians of posting songs on a website operated by an overseas
Vietnamese opposition group, Patriotic Youth, according to Hai.
Communist Vietnam does not tolerate challenges to its one-party rule.
No action has been called for yet, but stay informed.
Obviously the SMS campaign of AIUK is not for us, but scroll down and you will find the usual UA format. Here is a link to a template letter.
Ni Yulan is a lawyer who is fighting the wave of forced evictions that is rolling across China. It takes much courage for a lawyer to take up these cases. Please get behind Ni Yulan.