‘We have been abandoned. Who will protect us? Who will help us?’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
HRW to Zimbabwe: Where is Mukoko? 
Dec 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Mukoko has been abducted in suspicious and alarming circumstances, and we are profoundly concerned about her well-being.’… Read the rest
COSATU Condemns Union Arrests in Zimbabwe
Dec 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
COSATU condemns arrest of dozens of union leaders and the abduction of Jestina Mukoko.… Read the rest
AI Demands Release of Jestina Mukoko
Dec 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mukoko is the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was grabbed by gunmen December 3.… Read the rest
Nigeria: Child ‘Witch’ Killer Arrested
Dec 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Police in south-east Nigeria have arrested a man who claimed to have killed 110 child ‘witches.’… Read the rest
Odinga, Tutu Say Mugabe Must Go
Dec 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Collapse of health systems and water supply in Harare are major reasons for the cholera deaths.… Read the rest
Study Shows Physical ‘Self’ is a Trick of the Mind
Dec 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Neuroscientists induced ‘out of body’ experiences; will help researchers understand how the brain constructs a sense of physical self.… Read the rest
Launch of Campaign Against Sharia in UK
Dec 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Campaign organiser Maryam Namazie says sharia’s voluntary nature is a sham: many women will be forced. … Read the rest
Romania Removes Evolution From Curriculum
Dec 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Minister of Education says it’s implicit. Nonsense, say critics: if it’s not there it’s not there.… Read the rest
Aid Worker Murdered in Sri Lanka
Dec 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A Vigneswaran worked for the Norwegian Refugee Council, was killed by gunmen in Batticaloa last week.… Read the rest
UNESCO Deplores Killings of Journalists
Dec 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
UNESCO has called on India, Mexico and Pakistan to take greater steps to protect reporters.… Read the rest
UNHCR Worker Murdered in Afghanistan
Dec 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She was shot dead on 26 November at a meeting of local elders in a temporary settlement for returnees. … Read the rest
Launch of Campaign against Sharia law in UK
Dec 4th, 2008 | By One Law for AllThe One Law for All campaign against Sharia law in Britain is to be launched at the House of Lords on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2008 from 4:00 to 5:00pm.
According to campaign organiser, Maryam Namazie, ‘Even in civil matters, Sharia law is discriminatory, unfair and unjust, particularly against women and children. Moreover, its voluntary nature is a sham; many women will be pressured into going to these courts and abiding by their decisions. These courts are a quick and cheap route to injustice and do nothing to promote minority rights and social cohesion. Public interest, particularly with regard to women and children, requires an end to Sharia and all other faith-based courts and tribunals.’
The campaign has … Read the rest
The sleep of reason begets monsters
Dec 4th, 2008 10:48 am | By Ophelia BensonWe’ve finished the book. Don’t say what book – the book we’ve been writing – Does God Hate Women? It’s finished.
It’s full of nightmares – but the nightmares are only a tiny fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the nightmares there are. Nicholas Kristof has been finding some.
… Read the rest[A]longside the brutal public terrorism that fills the television screens, there is an equally cruel form of terrorism that gets almost no attention and thrives as a result: flinging acid on a woman’s face to leave her hideously deformed. Here in Pakistan, I’ve been investigating such acid attacks, which are commonly used to terrorize and subjugate women and girls in a swath of Asia from Afghanistan through Cambodia
The universality of the UDHR
Dec 3rd, 2008 5:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnthony Grayling is doing a series on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It is easy now, as it always has been, to think that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a fine-sounding efflation of rhetoric, or, conversely, to think that it is a piece of Eurocentric Enlightenment imperialism whose highminded pronouncements – for example, about the equality of men and women – do not please all members of all cultures.
Indeed. Highminded pronouncements about rights and equality of anyone are bound to fail to please some members of all cultures because there are always some members of cultures who want to be able to exploit and dominate other people. The UDHR is intended to be an obstacle … Read the rest
Grayling on Freedom Without Borders
Dec 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There are few major states in the world that are guiltless of subjecting some people to torture or degrading treatment.… Read the rest
How the UDHR Builds a Base of Liberty
Dec 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The intention is to assert, as the default position, a status of inviolability for the human individual.… Read the rest
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Dec 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A C Grayling notes that the UDHR has already made a real difference to our world.… Read the rest
Pilger Looks Down on Obama From Great Height
Dec 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The American elite has grown adept at using the black middle and management class.’… Read the rest
The Racist Flipside of Anti-imperialism
Dec 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sunny Hundal says for John Pilger to call Obama an ‘Uncle Tom’ betrays an ugly contempt for those who refuse his revolutionary romanticism.… Read the rest
