Daily Archives: July 16, 2015

Gender, Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.A.E. News | Black Women

Black hotel visitors receive apology from five-star hotel in Dubai after being asked to leave
  • A Nigerian event manager and her friend had been out for the evening at the lounge in the Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach, where a waitress reportedly refused to serve them and a security guard told them to leave.
  • The hotel issued an apology for the “misunderstanding” and claimed that such measures were not standard practice at the beachfront hotel.
  • Black women in Dubai face targeting under suspicion of prostitution–particularly at hotels–leading to racial profiling.

“A female staff came out and tried to hush up the matter saying ‘Obama is the President of US’ as if that had anything to do with us. I want the management of the hotel to realise that this isn’t 1930. This is 2015. You cannot walk up to random black women and tell them you will not serve them because they are black.”

Read the full story at Gulf News.

(Image Credit: Wanderforth.com)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

U.S. News | LGB

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules existing civil rights law covers sexual orientation
  • The EEOC found that discrimination claims lodged by lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals against employers fall under sex discrimination, which is covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
  • The decision applies directly to federal employees but impacts nationwide employment security more broadly because the EEOC investigates discrimination claims from the private sector as well.
  • The development follows the commission’s 2014 ruling that gender identity was protected under Title VII, which the Justice Department joined later in the year.

“'[T]he question is not whether sexual orientation is explicitly listed in Title VII as a prohibited basis for employment actions. It is not,’ the commission found. Instead, the commission stated that the question is the same as in any other Title VII sex discrimination case: ‘whether the agency has “relied on sex-based considerations” or “take[n] gender into account” when taking the challenged employment action.’”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed.

(Image Credit: via BuzzFeed)

Nationality + Migration

Kazakhstan News | International Visitors

Kazakhstan extends visa-free travel to 19 countries
  • Following a successful pilot program over the past year, the Kazakh government has extended visa-free travel for up to 15 days to residents of Australia, Hungary, Italy, Monaco, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Finland, France, Switzerland and Japan.
  • Should residents desire to stay longer than 15 days, they will be required to reenter or obtain a visa.
  • The program will last through the end of 2017 and has been implemented as Kazakhstan plans to host two major international sporting and cultural events–Winter Universiade and Expo 2017–in the next two years.

Read the full story at Tengrinews.

(Image Credit: Infopass.ru, via Tengrinews)

Nationality + Migration

U.A.E. News | Seychellois Visitors

Seychelles added to list of countries whose residents can travel to the UAE visa-free
  • The Indian Ocean archipelago’s 90,000 residents will now be able to travel to the United Arab Emirates for up to 90 days without a visa, with typical restrictions against working or studying applying.
  • Seychelles is the first African nation to be added to the UAE’s visa-free list, and according to one report is the African nation with the highest mobility as measured by passport-power.
  • The UAE is the most popular travel destination for Seychellois, with more than 9,000 trips to the country made in 2014.

Read the full story at the Seychelles News Agency.

(Image Credit: Wikipedia, via Seychelles News Agency)

Gender, Nationality + Migration, Religion + Belief

Canada News | Muslim Women

Religious freedom and politics face off over face-covering ban for Canadian citizenship oaths
  • A legal showdown looms over the constitutionality of the 2011 policy requiring oath-takers to have their faces uncovered, which conservative Muslims say violates their religious freedom.
  • A federal judge ruled in favor of a Muslim woman who had been denied citizenship after refusing to unveil herself, leading the government to appeal.
  • Lawyers for the woman hope to have the constitutionality of the ban addressed in the appeal ruling, while Conservative politicians have drummed up the issue as a political one.

“Despite the party’s success with new immigrants and ethnic communities … and spearheading connections to those communities, a lot of the base still has a view that minority cultures have inappropriate practices.”

Read the full story at The StarPhoenix.

Nationality + Migration

India & Bangladesh News | Immigrants & Nationals

Indian and Bangladeshi enclave residents decide on citizenship as deadline nears
  • In May, India and Bangladesh agreed to return enclaves within their respective borders to one another.
  • More than 50,000 enclave residents must now choose which citizenship they would like to have by July 31st, which will determine whether they will have to move.
  • Despite having officially been citizens of their country of national origin, the residents have effectively been stateless as they lack access to public services in their country of residence.

Read the full story at the BBC.

(Image Credit: via BBC)