Swaziland: Desperate HIV+ People Eating Cow Dung to Sustain Treatment | PlusNews Global

MBABANE, 28 July 2011 (PlusNews) – Organizations fighting HIV/AIDS in Swaziland were at first incredulous at reports that hundreds of impoverished HIV-positive rural residents were eating cow dung to give their stomachs something to digest before taking their antiretrovirals (ARVs).

“It seemed too sensational to me when I first heard it, but then an MP stood up in parliament and said it was in his area that people on ARVs were doing this,” said Wandile Khoza, an AIDS activist in Swaziland’s central commercial hub Manzini. “It has come to this; the food insecurity most Swazis are experiencing has come up against the world’s highest HIV prevalence rate.”

The Swaziland National Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (SWANNEPHA) confirmed that some of its members were consuming cow dung after MP Josephs Souza of rural Lugongolweni reported first-hand knowledge of the practice following visits to his HIV-positive constituents.

“A rural health motivator took me to one of the patients on ARVs who is among those that now mix cow dung with water and then eat it before taking the tablets,” the MP told parliament.

“We have resorted to eating rubbish for purposes of taking our ARVs because they must be consumed after a meal,” said SWANNEPHA in a statement.

Research shows that taking ARVs on an empty stomach can exacerbate the side-effects of the drugs, including headaches, dizziness and tremors.

Excerpt, read:  Swaziland: Desperate HIV+ People Eating Cow Dung to Sustain Treatment| PlusNews Global

 

Militants Hang 8 Year Old Boy in Southern Afghanistan –By David Ariosto | CNN

Map of Afghanistan (Courtesy of National Geographic).

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) – An 8 year-old boy was hanged by militants in Afghanistan’s Helmand province after the boy’s father — a police officer in the southern city of Gereshk — refused to comply with militants’ demands to provide them with a police vehicle, officials said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the hanging, saying “this action is not permitted in any culture or any religions,” according to a statement Sunday, which provided details of the incident. Karzai said he has ordered local authorities to root out the militants and arrest them “as soon as possible.”

The boy was kidnapped Friday. It was unclear when he was killed.

The incident comes amid a recent wave of attacks on local officials who are considered anti-Taliban. Less than two weeks ago, Ahmed Wali Karzai, Karzai’s half-brother and a provincial council chief in neighboring Kandahar, was killed in his home by a longtime bodyguard.

Excerpt, read: Militants Hang 8 Year Old Boy in Southern Afghanistan –By David Ariosto | CNN

 

UK Toughens Female Genital Mutilation Laws –By Hugh Muir | Guardian UK

New guidelines to target families that take young girls abroad to undergo female genital mutilation are being sent to prosecutors by the government.

Ministers want to encourage more action against those who inflict the brutal procedure on their children and relatives amid concerns that the current approach serves as little deterrent.

Female genital mutilation is an illegal procedure in the UK with those convicted risking 14 years’ imprisonment. The Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2003 also allows for the prosecution of British citizens who breach the provisions of the act and perform the procedure abroad.

But while the law seems strict on paper, it seems to have limited effect in practice. Campaigners say 22,000 girls are at risk each year. However, MPs were this week told that there has yet to be a single conviction, despite 100 investigations being carried out over two years by the Met. By contrast the French authorities have successfully prosecuted in 100 cases.

Fears are currently acute because the long school summer holidays are when many girls are flown to Africa, the Middle East and parts of the far east, oblivious to what has been planned for them.

Outlining the new approach to the House of Commons, the Home Office minister Jeremy Wright said: “There are a number of things we can do. We should look not only to punish those who are responsible for committing these offences but to improve the guidance available to prosecutors so that they can prosecute more often. If there are difficulties with prosecuting, they might be to do with the types of information and understanding that crown prosecutors need to have and later this summer the CPS will therefore be issued with new guidelines to assist.”

Excerpt, read:  Female Genital Mutilation Laws To Be Toughen Against Families –By Hugh Muir | Guardian UK

 

 

Caught on Video: Taliban Execute 16 Pakistanis –By Salman Moosad | NYT

WARNING: The video above is extremely violent and/or graphic. You must be 18+ years old to view it.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Taliban insurgents have released a video showing them killing 16 Pakistani men who were captured in a raid last month in a restive northwestern province, a spokesman for the Pakistani military said Monday, July 18th.

The graphic video shows the 16 men, most of whom appear to be police officers, standing in a line with their hands tied behind their backs. Four insurgents stand in front, holding assault rifles, with their faces covered by scarves.

One insurgent makes a brief speech in Pashto, the language spoken in the country’s northwest, accusing the men of killing six children in the Swat district.

“These are the enemies of Islam who originated from Pakistan,” he says, according to a translation of the statement posted by the Long War Journal, a Web site that specializes in reports on militancy. The speaker in the video describes the 16 men as “murtards,” or those who have abandoned Islam.

“They are the Pakistani police, soldiers and their supporters who recently lined up six kids in Swat and shot them execution-style,” the insurgent says. “These Pakistanis are now our captives, and we will avenge the death of the children by doing the same to them.”

A quick burst of gunfire follows. The men fall to the ground, and some can be heard moaning. Then an insurgent approaches them one by one and fires rounds at each man who still appears to be alive.

Another person, holding a video camera, films the execution and walks up and down capturing images of the victims. The video runs 5 minutes, 36 seconds in all.

No Taliban group had yet publicly claimed responsibility for the video, which was first shown on the LiveLeak video-sharing Web site.

Excerpt, read:  Video From Taliban Shows Killing of 16 Pakistanis –By Salman Moosad | NYT

 

How Sanitation Can Save The World | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Videos)

Approximately 2.6 billion people around the world live without access to basic sanitation facilities – including toilets. Rose George, author of “The Big Necessity,” traveled to Mozambique to learn how one village is tackling the problem.

 

Four out of 10 people worldwide don’t have a safe way to poop. Find out why we need a toilet revolution. We need new ideas to help reduce disease and find new ways to turn crap into valuable stuff, like fuel, fertilizer, and fresh water.

 

 

United Nations Expands Listing Criteria to Protect Children in Armed Conflict Zones

New York City- On July 12, The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1998 (2011), recognizing schools and hospitals as safe havens for children, called for all parties to conflict that attack such facilities to be held accountable and that they be added to the list published annually by the United Nations of those who commit grave violations against children.

The list, contained in the Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict, already names those parties which commit violations such as the recruitment of child soldiers, killing or maiming of children, and rape or other forms of sexual violence against children.

Office of the Special Representatives of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict | United Nations

 

Dying for Human Rights: The Prison Hunger Strike at Pelican Bay –By Bruce Reilly | SF BayView

Demonstrators in San Francisco on July 1 (Photo: Associated Press).

In picturesque Crescent City, California, a coastal town six hours north of San Francisco, roughly one in five “residents” are prisoners. Several cell blocks of these isolated men began their hunger strike on Friday, July 1. After decades of living in some of the most deplorably inhuman conditions in America, they have organized themselves to say “Enough!” Pelican Bay State Prison is in many ways the prototypical American prison, illustrating the historical gap betweem “haves” vs. “have nots,” and is quixotically surrounded by the peaceful beauty of Klamath National Forest, Jedediah Smith Redwoods, Tolawa Dunes, Lake Earl and Pelican Bay.

A petition of solidarity directed towards Gov. Jerry Brown, the head of the California Department of Corrections and the prison warden has gained nearly 4,000 signatures without a single piece of mainstream media. The petition lists their core demands, including a letter sent by these men to the prison administration.

A website has been set up as a base of community support for the hunger strike. With 2.4 million people in American cages, every prison administration will certainly be on full alert to crush solidarity efforts elsewhere, with the First and Eighth Amendments being of little obstacle in these mini-fiefdoms run by wardens in every jurisdiction. This action comes seven months after Georgia prisoners organized a massive work stoppage. The need for “order” and control will likely override any violations of human rights … for now.

The famous Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky once stated, “If you want to understand the humanity of a society, go to its prisons.” His book, “House of Death,” is not as celebrated as “Crime and Punishment,” but it is his true account of life in the gulags, where he got seven years worth of 19th century Tsarist “humanity.”

Have we progressed in the Western world? Have the Age of Enlightenment and liberal values created a more humane and civil approach to the problems of violence, poverty, mental illness and addiction? It is easy to argue we have not. The American penal system is as barbaric as any in the history of governments who choose to build such warehouses of mass cages.

This hunger strike cannot be taken out of context, as prisons have always been a place for self-advocacy. Throughout the 20th century, names like Attica, San Quentin, Pontiac and Lucasville – where a recent hunger strike won concessions – are known for prisoners fighting back against overcrowding, lack of food, absence of medical treatment, lack of education and guard brutality, among other issues.

This is another chapter in the American encyclopedia of anti-oppression, to be added with Watts, L.A., Stonewall, Cincinnati, and Harper’s Ferry. Nat Turner’s Rebellion may have seemed “savage” to some, who can’t grasp the full nature of slavery; but keep in mind that John Brown’s uprising was just a few months before the Civil War resulted in the deaths of millions.

And so what can we glean by the latest chapter? For that, the uninitiated must learn about the conditions inside prisons.

Excerpt, read: Dying for Human Rights: Prisoners Begin Hunger Strike –By Bruce Reilly | SF BayView

Related: California Prison Strike Ends | Huffington Post (July 21, 2011)

 

The Agronomist | Documentary

The Agronomist is a profile of Haitian radio journalist and human rights activist, Jean Leopold Dominique. It includes: historical footage of Haiti’s vivid and tumultuous past; interviews with Dominique, himself and with Michele Montas–his heroic wife, life-long love, and extraordinary partner; and incorporates footage shot before Dominique’s assassination on April 3, 2000.

 

Texas, The Death Penalty & International Law –By Nicole Allan | The Atlantic

On Thursday, Texas is scheduled to execute its seventh prisoner this year. While anti-death penalty advocates have rallied against all the executions, this particular case has also drawn protests from former judges and diplomats, the UN, and the Obama administration — not out of opposition to capital punishment, but concern for America’s place in the international community. As Thursday draws nearer, mounting pressure on Texas to stay the execution underscores both the U.S.’s global isolation in its commitment to the death penalty and the highly charged domestic politics of navigating international law.

Humberto Leal Garcia, Jr. is a Mexican citizen who was sentenced to death by a Texas jury in 1994 for rape and murder. Texas provided Garcia with court-appointed lawyers, but at no point during his arrest or trial did the state inform him of his right to contact the Mexican consulate, which could have provided him legal aid. This right is guaranteed by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, signed by the U.S., Mexico, and 171 other nations. In its treatment of Garcia, Texas was in violation of international law.

Whether or not Garcia’s sentencing would have been different with the help of Mexican lawyers, Texas’s decision puts the U.S. in a difficult position abroad — many worry that, if we do not respect the consular rights of foreign nationals, other countries will have less incentive to respect those of our citizens.

Excerpt, read:  In Texas, A Death Penalty Showdown with International Law –By Nicole Allan | The Atlantic

 

Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies | Freedom House

This picture taken on March 30, 2011 shows an inmate pushing his hand out through a hole on a window grille at the Berbera prison in Somalia's breakaway republic of Somaliland (Photo: Tony Karumba /AFP/Getty Images)

Freedom House has prepared this special report entitled  Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies, as a companion to its annual survey on the state of global political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World.   The special report provides summary country reports, tables, and graphical information on the countries  that receive the lowest combined ratings for political rights and civil liberties in Freedom in the World, and whose citizens endure systematic and pervasive human rights violations.

The purpose of this report is to  focus the attention of those who are working to advance respect for fundamental human rights around the world, as well as those who are actively engaged in suppressing  such rights. The report serves a reminder that over 1.6 billion people—more than 24 percent of the world’s population—suffer every day from the  basic indignities of not being able to express their thoughts and opinions, of not having a say in who  governs them and how the wealth of their land and labor is spent, and of being unable to obtain justice for crimes perpetrated against them.

Excerpt introduction: Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies | Freedom House

Related: Least Free Places in the World, 2011| Foreign Policy (Photo Essay)

Postcards from Hell, 2011 –By Elizabeth Dickinson | Foreign Policy