Monthly Archives: January 2016

Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.K. News | Ethnic Minorities

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U.K. PM Cameron appoints MP to investigate racial discrimination in British criminal justice system
  • Labour PM David Lammy will lead a government review of the British criminal justice system.
  • Black and other ethnic minorities account for more than 25% of British prisoners despite only comprising 14% of the population of England and Wales.
  • Minorities are also disproportionately more likely to represent Crown Court defendants and receive custodial sentences if found guilty than white counterparts.

Read more:
“David Cameron calls on David Lammy to investigate race bias in UK courts” (The Guardian)
“David Cameron appoints David Lammy to lead review into racism in the justice system” (The Independent)

(Image Credit: AFP/Getty, via The Independent)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Italy News | Gay & Lesbian

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Thousands protest same-sex civil union legislation under review in Italian parliament
  • The protesters, estimated in size from the tens of thousands to the millions, gathered as part of Rome’s “family day,” where they expressed opposition to the legislation currently under examination by the Italian senate.
  • A similar protest in 2007 contributed to the withdrawal of a civil union proposal, but PM Matteo Renzi anticipates the legislation’s passage this time.
  • Italy remains the only holdout among the major Western powers in granting same-sex couples the right to legal partnership or joint adoption, with polls indicating around 70% of the country in support of partnership rights and 24% in support of adoption rights.

Read more:
“Tens of thousands protest against same-sex unions in Rome” (Deutsche Welle)
“Italians protest against civil unions for same-sex couples” (The Guardian)
“2m march in anti-civil union protest in Rome, ‘Family Day’ organizer says” (Gay Star News)

(Image Credit: R. Casilli/Reuters, via Deutsche Welle)

Age, Nationality + Migration

Europe News | Child Refugees

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At least 10,000 refugee children reported missing after arriving in Europe
  • The EU’s criminal intelligence agency has reported that the child refugees went missing after registering with state authorities, including 5,000 in Italy and 1,000 in Sweden.
  • Authorities fear the children may have fallen into the hands of human traffickers, who, according to intelligence, have begun linking their slavery networks to migrant-smuggling networks.
  • Unaccompanied minors have become a source of serious concern in the migration crisis, with the U.K. having recently pledged to accept an additional but limited number of unaccompanied children from conflict-ridden regions of North Africa and the Middle East.

Read more:
“10,000 refugee children are missing, says Europol” (The Guardian)
“UK to give sanctuary to unaccompanied refugee children” (BBC)
“Ministers offer unaccompanied child refugees in Europe limited UK help” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: Darko Vojinovic/AP, via The Guardian)

Nationality + Migration

Greece & Libya News | Migrants & Refugees

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January sees record number of migrant deaths in eastern Mediterranean
  • To date, there have been 218 deaths as migrants have crossed the Aegean Sea to reach Greek shores, a number not reached until mid-September in 2015.
  • The spike in deaths comes as the overall number of migrants and refugees attempting to reach Europe has reached its lowest point since June 2015.
  • The migration shift occurs as a changing of the guard has taken place among people-smugglers in North Africa, with the brief calm in traffic from Libya having recently given way to a fresh, more lethal round.

Read more:
“Mediterranean deaths soar as people-smugglers get crueler: IOM” (Reuters)
“Mapped: The Refugee Crisis in the Aegean Sea” (Foreign Policy)
“Protests at Greek border after more migrants drown in Aegean Sea” (AP, via The Chicago Tribune)

(Image Credit: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Indonesia News | LGBT

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Indonesian city orders Muslim hardliners to remove anti-gay banners
  • Bandung, Indonesia’s third-largest city, ordered the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) to take down banners and encouraged them to leave.
  • The FPI targeted boarding houses in the city they believed to be housing LGBT residents.
  • The pro-LGBT support comes as Indonesia’s education minister has faced a storm of criticism over anti-LGBT comments and a call to ban an LGBT research and counseling group at the University of Indonesia.

Read more:
“Indonesian city reprimands Muslim hardliners for harassing gays” (Reuters)
“Minister on back foot over anti-gay remarks” (The Jakarta Post)
“Affectionate gay students should be banned from university campuses, Indonesian minister says” (ABC)

(Image Credit: Agus Bebeng/Antara Foto/Reuters)

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Syria & Turkey News | Turkmen

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Syrian Turkmens flee coastal Syria for Turkey as violence intensifies
  • Hundreds of Syria’s minority Turkmen community left the province of Latakia for Turkey as violence between pro-government and opposition forces increased.
  • Women- and children-majority groups were bussed across the Turkish border as a key opposition-held town fell in the province.
  • Turkey has been particularly critical of what it argues has been Russia’s targeting of the Turkmen minority, which has displaced tens of thousands among the Turks’ ethnic cousins.

Read more:
“Syrian Turkmens cross to Turkey, fleeing advances of pro-Assad forces” (Reuters)
“Hundreds of Turkmens flee Russian airstrikes, enter Turkey” (Today’s Zaman)
“Displaced Turkmen Villagers Brace for a Cold Winter” (Syria Deeply)

(Image Credit: Stringer/Reuters)

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Germany Feature | Refugees

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Germany’s New Growing Pains

In the wake of mass sexual assaults carried out on New Year’s Eve by a small group of Arab and other North African men in Cologne, refugees and their German supporters are having to confront difficult integration issues with the country’s now massive numbers of new residents. Migrants scramble to distance themselves from the criminal behavior of a few and turned to educational programs to tackle cultural differences in everyday life. As far-right groups continue to intimidate immigrants new and old alike, The Guardian examines the challenges facing the new immigrant community.

“There was a big hype two months ago, when it was seen to be cool and trendy to go to a refugee centre and donate old clothes, but this hysteria of joy is now turning into a hysteria of frustration. Just giving a refugee a donated jumper will not turn them into a German citizen. That needs time and both sides must approach each other with flexibility.”

The full story:
“‘If we want Germans to accept Arabs, Arabs must also learn to accept them’” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images, via The Guardian)

Gender

Taiwan News | Women

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Taiwan elects first female president in significant victory
  • Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen became the nation’s first woman elected to the executive office after securing just over 56% of the vote.
  • The DPP unseated the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the 8-year incumbent party, as questions about the country’s relationship to China, which doesn’t recognize its sovereignty, grow.
  • Analysts view Tsai’s election as an attempt by voters to turn around the country’s struggling economy and reexamine the last administration’s pro-China policies, concerning China’s political leaders.

“The results today tell me that the people want to see a government more willing to listen to the people, a government that is more transparent and accountable, and a government that is more capable of leading us past our current challenges and taking care of those in need.”

Read more:
“Madam President” (The Taipei Times)
“Taiwan Opposition Wins Presidency, Parliament in Rout of Ruling KMT” (Radio Free Asia)
“Taiwan elects first female president” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: CNA, via The Taipei Times)

Nationality + Migration

Iran News | Iranian-Americans

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Iranian government releases five Americans as U.S. sanctions lifted
  • Four of the released, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, were dual Iranian-American citizens released as part of a U.S.-Iran prisoner exchange.
  • A fifth American, student Matthew Trevithick, was released separately.
  • The exchange comes as the U.S. lifts its sanctions as a part of its agreement with Iran to halt its nuclear development program.

Read more:
“Iran Frees 4 Americans, Including Jason Rezaian, in Prisoner Swap” (The New York Times)
“Iran frees Post reporter Jason Rezaian, 4 other Americans, officials say” (The Washington Post)
“Iran separately releases fifth American: U.S. official” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post, via The New York Times)

Nationality + Migration

Burkina Faso News | Foreigners

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Al-Qaeda–linked militants kill more than two dozen in attack on Burkina Faso capital
  • At least 28 were killed when Islamist extremists launched an attack at the Cappuccino cafe and the Splendid Hotel, popular with UN staff and foreign visitors in the capital city of Ouagadougou.
  • At least 18 nationalities were identified among the victims, including Burkinabe, Canadian, French, Swiss, Dutch, and American citizens.
  • Of the 176 hostages freed by security forces, at least 56 were injured in the violence.

Read more:
“Burkina Faso attack: Foreigners killed at luxury hotel” (BBC)
“Burkina Faso hotel attack: 18 nationalities among dead” (The Guardian)
“Six Canadians killed in Burkina Faso attack, PM Trudeau says” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: AP, via BBC)

Health + Ability

U.K. Feature | People with Disabilities

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Bodybuilding with Disabilities

After having been born with physical or mental disabilities or suffered a life-altering injury, a small but growing group of men with disabilities in the U.K. have begun taking on a sport reluctant to create space for their inclusion: bodybuilding. The Guardian profiles a few of the competitors, who discuss their road to bodybuilding, challenges faced by the disability community, and what they hope to see as the future of the sport.

Read more:
“Pecs appeal: the rise of disabled bodybuilding” (The Guardian)
Bodybuilding and Disabilities (Facebook)

(Image Credit: Abbie Trayler-Smith/The Guardian)

Gender, Health + Ability

Turkey News | People with Disabilities

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MHP members call for investigation into conditions facing people with disabilities in Turkey
  • Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputies called on the Turkish parliament to confront the problems facing Turkey’s 8.4 million–strong disability community, including illiteracy (36.34% of the community) and unemployment (77%), according to a 2002 survey.
  • As state positions set aside for people with disabilities have gone unassigned, accommodations gone unfulfilled, and high financial burdens continued mounting, advocates have criticized the government’s slow response, fueling the MHP’s motion.
  • Women with disabilities face particularly difficult circumstances including public harassment and domestic violence, but have seen their concerns take a backseat in disability advocacy organizations largely run by men.

Read more:
“MHP calls on Parliament to investigate problems of the disabled” (Today’s Zaman)
“Women with disabilities facing double challenges” (Andalou Agency)

(Image Credit: Sunday’s Zaman)

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Norway Feature | American Immigrants of Color

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The Americans of Norway

With its strong social safety net and reputation for friendliness, Norway has had a lot to offer Americans of color who, because of work or relationships, have made a home in the Scandanavian country. Although Norway has had a long history of ethnic homogeneity, contemporary immigrants have begun to carve out a place for themselves as Norway joins the rest of Europe in diversifying. The Root shares the stories of a few American immigrants, who discuss racism, quality of life, and American privilege above the 57th parallel.

Read more:
“For Americans of Color, Is Norway a Racism-Free Utopia?” (The Root)

(Image Credit: Dayvee Sutton/The Root)

Nationality + Migration

U.S. News | Central American Migrants

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U.S. government begins detaining asylum-denied Central American families
  • At least six families in Texas and five in Georgia have been detained as the Obama administration begins implementing its 2016 plan to deport undocumented families denied asylum in the U.S.
  • Families were transported to detention centers in south Texas as advocates rushed to provide legal assistance.
  • An ongoing wave of families fleeing Central America has created a political firestorm as anti-immigration politicians have accused the migrants of flouting the immigration system and pro-immigrant advocates have accused the opposition of downplaying the increase in violence in what is already one of the world’s most violent regions.

Read more:
“Families are taken into custody as push to deport immigrants denied refuge begins” (The L.A. Times)
“U.S. Begins Immigration Crackdown on Central Americans” (The Wall Street Journal)
“Immigration Crack Down on Central Americans in US Begins With First Arrests” (teleSUR English)

(Image Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images, via the L.A. Times)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Turkey News | Kurds

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Turkish president backs criminal probe into Kurdish opposition party leaders
  • President Tayyip Erdogan threw his support behind a criminal investigation into the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.
  • The call comes after a two-day meeting of Kurdish groups called for greater self-governance in Turkey’s embattled southeast region, where Erdogan’s government has attempted to quash a fresh wave of separatist sentiment led by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
  • Erdogan has called for parliament to lift the political immunity of MPs to facilitate the investigation of politicians suspected of working with militants.

Read more:
“Turkish parliament to consider ‘lifting Kurdish leaders’ immunity’” (AFP, via Yahoo! 7 News)
“Erdogan backs criminal probe into Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: Christian Hartmann/Reuters)