While Australia detains hundreds of children in immigration detention, the situation in the UK is depressingly similar (also housed by private companies such as Serco): When David Cameron declared that his government would “end the incarceration of children for immigration purposes once and for all”, those familiar with the horror of it were cautiously optimistic.…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Another man dead at Villawood and the government shrugs
Murdoch’s Australian newspaper often reports news by simply republishing whatever the government tells them (this story has subsequently been updated but below was the original text of the story): Immigration authorities are investigating the sudden death of a detainee at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre this morning. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship said the 36-year-old…
People smuggling is both necessary and inevitable
James C. Hathaway, a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, writes in Canada’s National Post in defence of human smuggling for refugees. Why? Does this mean that human smuggling is justified? In a way, yes. Canada and other developed countries created the market on which smugglers depend by erecting (literal…
Most asylum seekers in Australia are real, say the facts
This story in today’s Sydney Daily Telegraph says one thing; most refugees who come to Australia are legitimate and deserve sanctuary: The Federal Government has been forced to reveal figures showing of 6310 asylum seekers to arrive in Australia in the past two years only 75 have been rejected and returned to their country of…
American priorities in Pakistan are keeping drones dry
This is pretty extraordinary (and therefore has received no mainstream media coverage). Feryal Ali Gauhar, Pakistani actress, filmmaker, writer and human rights activist, appears on Democracy Now! and reveals the real role of the US in Pakistan after the devastating floods: …But it is well known, if not acknowledged by—particularly by the state, that the…
British unions signal solidarity with the Palestinians
It seems that every few days sees a new BDS victory: Britain’s unions have thrown their weight behind a campaign of disinvestment and boycott from companies which are profiting from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. Trade unions voted unanimously today at the TUC’s annual conference for a motion put forward by the Transport Salaried…
What erasing Iraq means on the ground
Iraqis still remain almost invisible when the war is being discussed. Far easier for the corporate press to interview a US general who blathers about something. But Iraqi refugee schoolchildren are struggling in Syria and literally millions of Iraqis are displaced, abused and lost. All these issues are addressed in my friend Mike Otterman’s recently…
A massive payout coming the way of Assange?
Guy Rundle reports in today’s Crikey that Julian Assange should be defended and supported by those who believe in human rights (and don’t want to back imperial wars in the Middle East or beyond): The treatment of WikiLeaks’ spokesperson Julian Assange, facing investigations of harassment and rape, has been disgraceful, leading international human rights lawyer…
What the MSM wants to forget about Iraq
L. Craig Johnstone writes in the Washington Post about Western responsibility for what we have created in Iraq: Thirty-five years ago, two young Foreign Service officers went AWOL from Henry Kissinger’s staff at the State Department to go to Vietnam in the days before the collapse of Saigon. I was one of them. Our action…
Protecting “honour” in the Islamic Republic
Following the recent extensive essays by Robert Fisk on honour killings around the world, here’s another shocking case: Tehran, Iran. Farsnews reported that on April 25th, 2010 police found a 24 year old woman dead in her apartment, on Shariati St. After an initial investigation it became apparent the woman was called Mahsa and was…