"On the International Day for the Right to Truth about Human Rights Abuses, we honour victims and human rights defenders who break the silence and uncover the facts." Volker Türk, United Nations Human Rights

Volker Türk

@volker_turk

 

Knowing the truth about human rights violations is crucial to reconciliation and justice. On the International Day for the Right to Truth about Human Rights Abuses, we honour victims and human rights defenders who break the silence and uncover the facts.

 https://x.com/volker_turk/status/2036398864719057139/photo/1

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The UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territory says the cost of rebuilding Gaza should be paid not only by Israel, but also by the US, Germany, Italy and the UK, as they are the main arms suppliers to Israel.

Albanese stresses the need for the international community to activate accountability mechanisms without delay [File photo: Pierre Albouy/Reuters]

UN’s Albanese says Israel and backers should pay for rebuilding Gaza

The UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territory says the cost of rebuilding Gaza should be paid not only by Israel, but also by the US, Germany, Italy and the UK, as they are the main arms suppliers to Israel.

Speaking at an event organised by the London-based think tank ODI Global, Albanese said the support the UK provides to Israel through its military bases in Cyprus should be investigated for its connection to the attacks in Gaza, stressing the need for a comprehensive probe into “the UK’s complicity in the genocide”.

She said many of Israel’s practices were inherited from the UK’s colonial presence in Palestine, adding that administrative detention and torture systems are a reflection of the practices the UK employed with Palestinians.

Albanese also talked about the US sanctions against her, saying that they seriously affect her personal and professional life. She said that under the US legal system, she was treated like a criminal and cannot travel to the US.

https://aje.io/ogexhj?update=4169605 

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"We may not be born in Palestine but our hearts are" Hibah Musthafa

Artist: Hibah Musthafa

Instagram: hibah_musthafa

 

Salma Hayek at Cannes Film Festival - #FreePalestine !!!

Salma Hayek at Cannes Film Festival - #FreePalestine !!!

I put in an exclamation point "!!!" for each of the three religions that are based in The Holy Land: Palestine/Israel

Citizens of the Earth

International Day of Peace 

This is just one of the ‪#‎PeaceDay‬ contributions from our Friends at the The Prem Rawat Foundation TPRF... Huge ‪#‎PeaceHug‬ to all...

In a common struggle for education and against extremism: "“If with my humble efforts the voice of tens of millions of children in the world who are living in servitude is being heard, congratulations to all,” Kailash Satyarthi on winning the Nobel Peace Prize 2014

Malala Yousafzai, with her father, Ziauddin, spoke in Birmingham, England, after learning she had won the Nobel prize. Darren Staples/REUTERS

Reaching across gulfs of age, gender, faith, nationality and even international celebrity, the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded the 2014 peace prize to Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India.

The award joined You-safzai, a Pakistani teen who attained worldwide fame when she was shot by the Taliban in 2012 for promoting girls’ education, with Satyarthi, a veteran of campaigns to fight child labor and trafficking...READ MORE

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Malala Yousafzai speaks in Britain about winning the Nobel Peace Prize with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi, who speaks with journalists at this home in New Delhi after the announcement.

“I’m thankful to my father for not clipping my wings and for letting me to fly.” Malala Yousafzai

Today is International Day of the Girl Child! To mark the day, Hina Jilani calls on the international community and civil society to work together to improve the lives of girls and women.

The Elders

“Have the courage to take action. Society is ready to change.”

Today is International Day of the Girl Child! To mark the day, Hina Jilani calls on the international community and civil society to work together to improve the lives of girls and women.

Read her blog: http://theelders.org/article/lets-not-be-afraid-challenge-traditions-harm-girls

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Opinion

Hina Jilani, 11 October 2014

Let's not be afraid to challenge the traditions that harm girls

“Have the courage to take action. Society is ready to change.”

Marking the International Day of the Girl Child, Hina Jilani calls on the international community and civil society to work together to improve the lives of girls and women.

In the international community we talk about the family as being the basic unit of society. Today we see that the family has become the biggest locus of violence, especially against women and children.
If we do not address issues like child marriage, we will never expect the family – or allow it – to become a unit which is able to give dignity and equality to all its members.

Challenging culture and tradition

We need to correct the perception that any harmful practice is a part of what we call culture and tradition, which people can be proud of. Harmful practices should not be equated with culture and tradition.

Even if some parts of the world consider harmful practices a part of culture or tradition, we must remember that those who are harmed by these cultural and traditional practices are women.
Are women not a part of that society? Are they only subjects of culture, with no hand in making culture?

Culture and tradition in themselves evolve out of historical changes. They should not be allowed to become obstructions to change.

International community: have the courage to act

Local and international actors need to understand that child marriage is an issue that has gone from the local to the international. It is not an issue that the international community is using or is imposing on national and local communities.

There are political movements in these countries. I come from such a movement. We don't deal with figures; we leave that to UNICEF and the United Nations. We deal with actual lives, so we are not talking about child marriage and its effects on society, and on girls and women in the abstract. We have faces to show you; we have victims to put before you; and our society has seen those faces.

The international community needs to know that any initiative to eliminate and curb child marriage will receive the weight of those movements behind it.

Have the courage to take action. Society is ready to change – and accept change.

In Pakistan – my country – about two decades ago, there were a significant number of people, myself included who were trying to resist state-sponsored trends, trends which would have decimated women’s and girls’ rights. Instead, there have been legal reforms on child marriage, progressively making it better for women and girls. It’s still inadequate, but when these positive reforms were implemented, there was no resistance from the broader society.

We must work together

Governments should make sure that they have courage to take the step, to ensure that they are not being overcautious. They must not submit to the influence of interest groups, of religious lobbies, of conservative lobbies. This is not the time to either become an apologist or be defensive, or over-romanticise what is certainly something which has proved to be – figures have proved it, data has proved it, research has proved it – definitely harmful for the world’s population, whether they are girls or women.

It is time that local and national movements – and international initiatives – become mutually reinforcing and strengthening. We need to work together to ensure that local initiatives and movements do have an impact. Because local pressure as well as international pressure can force governments to change. To make sure that state social policy and the weight of state social policy is put behind laws – so that these laws have impact.

The work for the defence of human rights must prioritise the welfare and the protection of the girl child.

Governments have the duty to protect. At the same time, civil society also has the duty to promote and defend human rights.

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The Elders were impressed that men in nearby Ambo Meske village were willing to discuss gender equality. Many men have taken part in courses that raise issues such as family care, non-violence, alcohol abuse and sharing domestic duties.