Monthly Archives: August 2016

Nationality + Migration

Costa Rica News | Haitian Migrants

Haitian migrants in Costa Rica seeking passage to U.S. pose as West African to avoid deportation
  • The ongoing migration bottleneck in Costa Rica continues to pile up, with 100 to 150 new arrivals each day adding to the 2,500 already stranded in the overwhelmed country.
  • The majority of undocumented migrants are Haitian, many coming from Brazil with some posing as West African in an attempt to avoid deportation, deprioritized for those from distant countries because of the high cost.
  • Haitians point to ongoing economic destitution in their home country, poor prospects in host countries like Brazil and Ecuador, and what they perceive as a double standard of preferential treatment for certain migrants as motivation for migrating and the tactical deception.

Read more:
“IOM Reports Growing Number of Irregular Migrants Stranded in Costa Rica” (International Organization for Migration, via ReliefWeb)
“95% de los migrantes irregulares son haitianos ‘disfrazados’ de africanos” (La Nación, in Spanish)
“Flood of ‘Muhammad Alis’ Highlights New Migration Toward U.S.” (Bloomberg)

(Image Credit: José Cordero/La Nación)

Class + Socioeconomics, Gender

India News | Women

Indian state strengthens property rights for slum-dwelling women
  • Women living in slums in the state of Maharashtra will now hold ownership rights equal to men thanks to a new land title plan.
  • The plan comes as the government seeks to regularize slums in the state, giving families land titles with joint ownership between marital partners.
  • Though the development has been lauded, advocates warn that women continue to struggle to exercise equal rights once gained, with lack of education and intimidation perpetuating gender-based legal inequalities.

Read more:
“India’s Maharashtra state to give women slum dwellers joint ownership rights” (The Thomson Reuters Foundation)

(Image Credit: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

Nationality + Migration

U.S. News | Syrian Refugees

U.S. meets target of 10,000 Syrian refugee admissions
  • The White House announced that the 10,000th Syrian refugee had been scheduled for arrival a month before the end of the fiscal year, with Michigan and California topping the list of most popular destinations for arrivals.
  • The number of admissions is expected to be capped at 10,000 again for 2017, though plans have been announced to increase the number by a few thousand each year thereafter.
  • The number of admissions will be contingent upon the outcome of the 2016 national elections, with refugee admissions and immigration more broadly a controversial topic in the presidential campaigns.

Read more:
“U.S. to meet target of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees: White House” (Reuters)
“US meets goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees ahead of schedule” (The Guardian)
“Top Destinations for Syrian Refugees: Michigan and California” (NBC News)

(Image Credit: David Ryder/Reuters)

Gender, Religion + Belief

India News | Muslim Women

Indian court grants women access to famous Islamic tomb in Mumbai
  • The Bombay High Court ruled that trustees of the Haji Ali tomb could not ban women from entering the tomb, though the decision was stayed in anticipation of an appeal to the Supreme Court.
  • Although India’s constitution protects religious groups’ rights to manage their own affairs, the Court invoked an exception for matters that are not “an essential and integral part of the religion.”
  • The ruling follows a similar one earlier in the year allowing Hindu women access to temples in the state of Maharashtra.

Read more:
“Indian Court Orders Haji Ali Tomb to Give Women Full Access” (The New York Times)
“Women can enter Haji Ali sanctum, rules HC” (The Hindu)
“Haji Ali: India court says women can enter Mumbai shrine” (BBC)

(Image Credit: Punit Paranjpe/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images, via The New York Times)

Gender, Religion + Belief

France News | Muslim Women

French court overturns ban on burkinis in Villeneuve-Loubet
  • The State Council, the highest administrative court in the country, ruled the ban on the religiously inspired bathing suit constituted a violation of civil liberties, including freedom of movement and religious freedom.
  • The decision opens the door to challenges to similar bans in at least 30 other municipalities.
  • The bans have roiled political tensions in the aftermath of IS-coordinated and -inspired attacks in the country, with government officials and civil liberties advocates clashing over the limits of the national security apparatus.

Read more:
“Court Overturns ‘Burkini’ Ban in French Town” (The New York Times)
“Le Conseil d’Etat met un terme aux arrêtés « anti-burkini »” (Le Monde, in French)
“Burkini ban suspended by top French court” (euronews)

(Image Credit: Hannah Mckay/European Pressphoto Agency, via The New York Times)

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Japan Feature | Refugees & Immigrants

The Narrow Lane of Life for Refugees in Japan

“The truth is I have lived in Japan for such a long time. … All I want to do is work and carry out a decent life.”

Despite international pressure, Japan has allowed only a trickle of politically persecuted and war-fleeing migrants to make their way into the country, with migrants only accounting for 2% of the population. The government’s economy-first stance has led some to question political blindness to the relationship between immigration and the economy, and Japan’s declining birth rate and aging population have led pro-immigration advocates and the business community alike to push for a relaxation of immigration policies.

The New York Times takes a closer look at the situation facing Kurdish refugees in the context of Japan’s political and cultural resistance to immigration. Visa-free travel made Japan an alluring destination as violence in the 1990s led many Turkish Kurds to look abroad for relief from conflict, but arrivals have found significant resistance to demographic change in the country. The same fears that drive anti-immigrant sentiment globally have been amplified in the largely ethnically homogeneous echo chamber of Japan: ignorance of cultural backgrounds, limited economic prospects, and hyperpolicing have created a narrow lane for Kurds to thrive.

Read more:
“Ethnic Kurds Find Haven, but No Home, in Insular Japan” (The New York Times)

(Image Credit: Ko Sasaki/The New York Times)

Gender

Peru News | Women

#NiUnaMenos demonstrations brings tens of thousands out in Peru
  • The campaign, which has ignited throughout Latin America, protests the high levels of gender-based violence women face, with a particular focus on women’s and girls’ vulnerability to femicide.
  • Peru’s women’s minister indicated that 10 women are killed per month in the country, with an additional 20 attempted murders.
  • A series of court rulings that gave reduced or lenient sentences to perpetrators of violence against women led to social media outcry, which has fueled the demonstrations that reportedly brought out more at least 50,000 in downtown Lima, including the President and First Lady.

Read more:
“#NiUnaMenos: 50,000 protest violence against women in Lima” (Peru Reports)
“Women in Peru protest against rising tide of murder and sexual crime” (The Guardian)
“#NiUnaMenos: así fue la marcha contra la violencia a la mujer” (El Comercio, in Spanish)

(Image Credit: Omer Musa Targal/Getty Images, via The Guardian)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Canada News | Indigenous

Killing of Indigenous man stokes racial tensions in Saskatchewan
  • Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old man belonging to the Red Pheasant First Nation, was shot and killed by a farmer while driving with four friends on private property near Glenside.
  • The shooter was arrested and charged with second-degree homicide, but First Nation leaders have accused the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) of releasing a prejudicial press release to bias public opinion against the victim.
  • A torrent of racist social media comments led the Saskatchewan premier to issue a warning that laws would be enforced to prosecute online hate speech.

Read more:
“Racial tensions flare in Saskatchewan after shooting of Indigenous man” (The Guardian)
“Racial tensions flare in Saskatchewan after killing of First Nations man” (The Canadian Press via The Globe and Mail)
“‘We are all in shock’: 22-year-old man fatally shot in farmyard, 54-year-old man charged with murder” (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

(Image Credit: via The Guardian)

Nationality + Migration

Iran News | Dual Nationals

Iran arrests British-Iranian dual national as crackdown continues
  • An Iranian prosecutor indicated through state media that an Iranian-British dual national had been arrested for links to British intelligence services.
  • The official indicated that the arrest was a part of an ongoing crackdown against Western “infiltration,” which has ramped up in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal.
  • The arrest is at least the seventh of such dual nationals—whose non-Iranian citizenship the Iranian government does not recognize—arrested in the last year.

Read more:
“Iran says it has detained a dual national linked to British intelligence” (Reuters)
“Iran accuses dual national of spying for British intelligence” (BBC)
“Iran arrests suspected British spy” (Bloomberg via The Toronto Star)

Gender, Religion + Belief

France News | Muslim Women

Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet mayors ban burkinis on public beaches
  • Cannes Mayor David Lisnard said the hooded full-body swimsuits “create risks of disrupting public order,” with another municipal official elaborating that such garments display “allegiance to terrorist movements.”
  • The measure falls in line with the French government’s antagonism of public displays of religious affiliation, which have discriminated against observant Muslims—particularly women—in the country.
  • Following in Cannes’ footsteps, Mayor Lionnel Luca banned burkinis in the coastal town of Villeneuve-Loubet, stating such garments aren’t “hygienic” or in line with the ideological principle of laïcité, or enforced public secularism.

Read more:
“The Mayor Of Cannes Has Banned Burkinis On The Riviera’s Beaches” (BuzzFeed News)
“Cannes, Citing Security Risks, Bans Full-Body ‘Burkinis’ From Its Beaches” (The New York Times)
“Après Cannes, Villeneuve-Loubet interdit le burkini” (Le Monde, in French)

(Image Credit: AFP/Getty Images, via BuzzFeed News)

Age, Sexual + Gender Minorities

Iran News | Gay Youth

Iran executes gay teen for alleged rape
  • In the Arak prison, the Iranian government executed Hassan Afshar, who was accused of rape by the parents of Afshar’s sexual partner.
  • Afshar maintained that the sex, which took place when he was 17, was consensual, but Iran’s sodomy laws make it difficult to ascertain consent in same-sex sexual relations.
  • International human rights organizations have expressed outrage at Iran’s practice of capital punishment for juveniles and for rape in opposition to international law.

Read more:
“Iran: Hanging of teenager shows authorities’ brazen disregard for international law” (Amnesty International)
“Iran’s First Juvenile Execution of 2016 Was a Gay Teenager” (VICE News)
“Iran executes teenage boy for being gay” (PinkNews)

Health + Ability, Sexual + Gender Minorities

Japan Feature | Transgender

The Ambivalence of Pathologizing Transgenderism

Bucking the trend in many developed countries to depathologize the mind-body incongruence at the heart of trans identity, Japan has seen resistance to international efforts to eliminate medical classifications of transgenderism as a disorder. A medical diagnosis of gender identity disorder (GID) has at times been necessary to secure the rights to the myriad legal and medical changes necessary to confirm an individual’s gender identity in the eyes of the state.

Much as disability advocates have fought to secure recognition, acceptance, and accommodation of those with disabilities and chronic illnesses in society, some Japanese trans activists and medical professionals have advocated for the continued recognition of GID and the accommodations necessary for trans people to live healthy lives. BuzzFeed News takes a look at the modern history of transgender visibility in Japan, the ambivalent reaction to declassification attempts, and the broader shift in medicine from corrective to adaptive approaches to addressing “illness” in society.

Read:
“Why Transgender People In Japan Prefer To Be Told They Have A ‘Disorder’” (BuzzFeed News)

Related:
“First GID doctors certified in Japan” (The Japan Times)

(Image Credit:  Kate Ferro/BuzzFeed News)

Nationality + Migration, Sexual + Gender Minorities

Turkey News | Gay Refugee

Gay Syrian refugee decapitated, body found in Istanbul
  • Muhammed Wisam Sankari’s violently mutilated body was found in the Yenikapi neighborhood of Istanbul on July 25, two days after he left his house in Aksaray.
  • Friends reported that Sankari had feared for his safety and that police and other officials had been slow to respond to concerns.
  • Sankari had also reportedly been raped in the months before his death and had been attempting to gain refugee status for resettlement outside of Turkey.

Read more:
“Syrian gay refugee killed in Istanbul” (Kaos GL)
“Missing gay Syrian refugee found beheaded in Istanbul” (The Guardian)
“Gay Syrian man beheaded and mutilated in Turkey” (BBC)

(Image Credit: via Kaos GL)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Uganda News | LGBT

Police raid Uganda Pride event, arrest more than a dozen
  • After attendees reported some 10 officers stormed the nightclub where the Mr. and Miss Pride pageant was being held in Kampala.
  • Reports of those arrested ranged from 15 to 25, including prominent Ugandan LGBT activist Frank Mugisha, and some witnesses reported that police beat some attendees and undressed trans participants.
  • The Pride march was postponed indefinitely after a senior government official threatened to bring a mob of opposition to protest the event.

Read more:
“Ugandan police storm Gay Pride event, arrest at least 15 – activist” (Reuters)
“Ugandan Police Storm Gay Pride Event, Arrest More than a Dozen People” (NBC News)
“Uganda’s Pride Parade Has Been Cancelled” (BuzzFeed News)

Religion + Belief

ClimateWatch | France

ClimateWatch
France, Post-Attacks

In the wake of the attack that left more than 80 dead during Bastille Day festivities in Nice, French Muslims have expressed fears of scapegoating for the violent crime and others that have erupted over the last two years in France. An attack that left a Catholic priest dead in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray further inflamed tensions in the country as the nation responded to its fifth terrorist attack in 2016. Fearing the ongoing state of emergency and retaliatory attacks against their communities, many French Muslims, who have been among the victims of these attacks, have made large public condemnations of the attackers and expressed solidarity with non-Muslim French neighbors and the counterterrorism efforts. Observers and commentators have offered analysis on what the recent attacks mean for Muslim relations in France and how the country can move forward as the country battles inequality at home and threats from abroad.

Nice Aftermath
Community Response
Political Response
France and Islam