Tag Archives: Law & Politics

Class + Socioeconomics, Ideology + Affiliation

Kazakhstan News | Citizens

Suspicion of land privatization policies erupts into rare protests across Kazakhstan
  • Despite the Kazakhstani government’s low tolerance for dissent, thousands rallied across the cities of Aqtobe, Semei, and Atyrau to protest proposed land privatization policies that will put 1.7 million hectares of public land up for auction beginning on July 1.
  • Kazakhstanis have expressed concern that land will be sold to foreigners (particularly the Chinese) or will end up in the hands of the elite, inflected by centuries of redrawn borders that have seen ethnic Kazakhs divided between Kazakhstan, Russia, and China.
  • Government officials have stated that the legislation only extends the foreign lease period cap from 10 to 25 years foreigners and have threatened to punish those who say otherwise.

Read more:
“Kazakhstan’s land reform protests explained” (BBC)
“Protesters In Kazakhstan Rally Against Land-Privatization Plan” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
“Land Sales Unearth Kazakhs’ Love For The Motherland” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

(Image Credit: Sania Tolken/RFE-RL)

Ideology + Affiliation, Sexual + Gender Minorities

Jordan News | LGBT & Secular Artists

Jordan reverses ban on Lebanese band with gay frontman
  • Amman Governor Khaled Abu Zeid had announced the cancellation of Lebanese indie rock group Mashrou’ Leila’s concert in Amman, citing lyrics and belief that the band “violates the traditions and customs of the Jordanian society.”
  • Despite the band’s promotion of gender, sexual, and religious freedom, Mashrou’ Leila claimed to have had no problems performing in Jordan before, where they have given three concerts.
  • Although the travel ban was lifted, the reversal arrived too late for the band to play its scheduled concert, though they have indicated they look forward to playing in Jordan in the future.

Read more:
“Mashrou’ Leila: Jordan lifts ban on Lebanese band with gay singer” (BBC)
“Ban on Mashrou’ Leila concert triggers controversy” (The Jordan Times)
“Jordan lifts ban on popular Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila” (The Daily Star and AP)

Additional:
Mashrou’ Leila (official website)

(Image Credit: Hussein Malla/AP, via The Daily Star)

Class + Socioeconomics, Ideology + Affiliation

Argentina News | Workers

Thousands from Argentina’s main unions protest economic policies in Buenos Aires
  • Demonstrators took to the streets to protest currency devaluation, inflation, and massive layoffs stemming from new President Mauricio Macri’s economic policies.
  • Union leaders delivered speeches accusing the government of shifting the burden of economic stabilization onto workers and demanding measures to protect job security.
  • The mass demonstration took place ahead of International Workers’ Day, with leaders threatening to strike if the government ignored their concerns.

Read more:
“All five umbrella unions hold massive demonstration against Macri’s policies” (Buenos Aires Herald)
“En un multitudinario acto, las centrales obreras reclamaron por los despedidos, inflación y Ganancias” (La Nación, in Spanish)
“Argentine unions flex muscle in anti-government street protest” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: via La Nación)

Nationality + Migration

Costa Rica News | African Migrants

Costa Rica looks to deport hundreds of African migrants
  • An estimated 600 African migrants have become stranded in the country in an attempt to reach the U.S., and the Costa Rican government is attempting to deport them despite the high costs of repatriation or resettlement in a third country.
  • The country is dealing with an ongoing crisis involving thousands of stranded Cubans, who because of border closures have found themselves unable to continue on their trek to the U.S.
  • The government has reportedly received around 200 applications for asylum since late March and denied all of them.

Read more:
“600 US-bound Africans stranded in Costa Rica after officials block route” (The Guardian)
“Deporting 600 migrants back to Africa could be expensive, and impossible” (The Tico Times)
“Deportation Will Be The Final Solution For African Migrants Who Re-enter Costa Rica IllegallyDeportation Will Be The Final Solution For African Migrants Who Re-enter Costa Rica Illegally” (QCostaRica)

(Image Credit: Public Security Ministry, via The Tico Times)

Gender, Nationality + Migration

Papua New Guinea & Australia News | Asylum Seekers

Papua New Guinea court and PM say offshore refugee detention center for Australia to close
  • The PNG supreme court ruled the Manus Island-based center, one of two offshore centers Australia funds, was unconstitutional, with some detainees having been held for more than 1,000 days.
  • With only eight refugees having been resettled, PNG PM Peter O’Neill stated that Australia would have to make new arrangements for the 850 men who have been detained in the Manus center.
  • Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton has reiterated that the government will not allow the asylum-seekers onto Australian soil.

Read more:
“Manus Island detention centre to close, PNG Prime Minister says following court bombshell” (The Sydney Morning Herald)
“Manus Island detention centre to close, Papua New Guinea prime minister says” (The Guardian)
“Papua New Guinea Finds Australian Offshore Detention Center Illegal” (The New York Times)

(Image Credit: Ben Doherty/The Guardian)

Age, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Interregional Feature | Holocaust Survivors

Finding Healthcare Justice for Aging Holocaust Survivors

With the youngest among them now in their 70s, Holocaust survivors are facing late-in-life issues compounded by the traumas from the policies of targeted persecution just over seven decades ago. Dementia has returned some to the nightmares of their youth, while social isolation, physical ailments, and other mental health issues stemming from the violence of the period have left many with high care needs as they age.

In the U.S., home to more than 100,000 survivors (most Jewish), politicians have begun calling on the German government to do more for victims, arguing that current caps on assistance leave many survivors struggling. While reparations have expanded since the 1951 establishment of the Claims Conference, questions over who shoulders the burden for late-in-life care have yet to be resolved. The increasing needs that come with aging have reignited debates about Germany’s obligations to those its government systematically disenfranchised, impoverished, and subjected to physical and mental anguish that outlived the liberation of the final concentration camp.

Read:
“As Holocaust Becomes More Distant, Survivors’ Needs Intensify“(The New York Times)
“Federal grants to assist Holocaust survivors draw praise, concern” (The Sun-Sentinel)
“Harrowing story of the Holocaust survivors still fighting for a dignified life 75 years on” (The Daily Mirror)
“Romanian Holocaust survivors aging without benefits” (Ynetnews, July 2015)
“Holocaust survivors deported from France can now apply for reparations” (The Washington Post, November 2015)
“Germany to Pay 772 Million Euros to Survivors” (Der Spiegel, May 2013)

(Image Credit: Kacper Pempel/Reuters, via The New York Times)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

China Feature | LGBT

The Silver Lining of Loss for China’s LGBT Community

The recent dismissal of China’s first case challenging the government’s ban on same-sex marriage would seem to be a disheartening moment for LGBT activism, but advocates point to evidence of a changing culture as reason for celebration. Hundreds traveled to Changsha for the ruling, and rights activists say young Chinese are becoming more cognizant of the need to push for legal recognition.

The encouraging developments continue: a 2014 court ruled against a gay conversion clinic, state media coverage of LGBT issues has increased, an anti-trans discrimination case recently became the first of its kind to be heard in Chinese legal history, and LGBT rights advocacy has grown in the country. Despite the legal loss for partnership rights, advocates have enjoyed the increased visibility of their movement for equal rights and hope to convert it into future legal victories and social acceptance.

Read more:
“China court refuses to allow gay marriage in landmark case” (The Guardian)
“Despite Court Ruling, China Gay Rights Movement Makes Gains” (The New York Times)
“Guizhou court hears China’s first-ever case on transgender discrimination at the workplace” (Shanghaiist)
“China rights: Gay people pledge not to enter into sham marriages” (BBC)

(Image Credit: Darwin Zhou/EPA, via The Guardian)

Gender, Nationality + Migration, Religion + Belief

Latvia News | Muslim Women

Latvian ministry plans proposal to ban niqab despite paucity of affected individuals
  • The Ministry of Justice is crafting legislation to ban the niqab, though only a handful of women among the country’s estimated 1,000 practicing Muslims wear the full-body veil.
  • The proposed legislation is a part of Latvia’s widespread anti-immigration reaction to the surge of migration to Europe, framed as a preventative measure as the country prepares to take in 776 refugees over two years (of whom only six have arrived).
  • The legislation does not criminalize the wearing of hijab, but Latvian Muslims have reported public discrimination and vocal prejudice despite the absence of explicitly discriminatory laws.

Read more:
“Latvia Wants to Ban Face Veils, for All 3 Women Who Wear Them” (The New York Times)
“Latvia mulls face veil ban – but only 3 women wear them” (Al Arabiya)
“Latvia wants to become the third country in Europe to ban the face veil” (Al Bawaba)

(Image Credit: Reinis Hofmanis/The New York Times)

Class + Socioeconomics

U.K. News | Middle & Working Classes

Scotland works to correct massive land ownership inequality through pro-community initiatives
  • The Land Reform Bill of 2015 promotes community ownership and settlement in Scotland’s rural regions, establishing a new land registry and the Scottish Land Fund to help community groups purchase land.
  • A 2014 government report found that half of Scotland’s privately held land is owned by 0.008% of the population.
  • Scotland’s land inequality has been driven by aristocratic inheritance, violent land hoarding in the 1800s, and massive contemporary real estate investments by the wealthy.

Read more:
“Scotland moves against wealthy gentry dominating land” (Reuters)
“‘New dawn’ as MSPs approve land reform proposals” (BBC)
“New £10m community buy-out fund revealed as MSPs debate land reform” (Scottish Housing News)
“A new dawn for land reform in Scotland?” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian)

Nationality + Migration

Arabian Peninsula News | Lebanese Immigrants

Lebanese immigrants in the Gulf fear deportation as GCC-Lebanon relations deteriorate
  • Relations between Lebanon and the Gulf Cooperation Council have deteriorated after Lebanon refused to condemn attacks on a Saudi ambassador in Iran.
  • Sunni Gulf countries have targeted those viewed as sympathetic or connected to Shiite group Hezbollah in Lebanon, though Lebanese immigrants fear what constitutes “sympathy” or “connection” may be broad and arbitrary.
  • To date, Bahrain and Kuwait have deported Lebanese on the basis of Hezbollah sympathy, and Lebanese in other Gulf countries fear their visa-renewal process.

Read more:
“Lebanese expats fearful as Gulf expels dozens accused of Hezbollah links” (Reuters)
“Bahrain sends home Lebanese citizens” (The National)
“Saudi Arabia’s bitter Lebanese divorce” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Colombia News | LGBT

Colombia’s Constitutional Court opens door to marriage equality in 6-3 ruling
  • The Court voted against a proposal to establish marriage as between “one man and one woman” and declared that public employees could not refuse to perform same-sex weddings.
  • Colombian couples won their first partnership rights in 2007 and, in 2015, adoption without full marriage rights, which the Court had ordered the legislature to enact by 2013 in a 2011 ruling.
  • Colombia will join Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and parts of Mexico in permitting marriage for same-sex couples in Latin America.

Read more:
“Colombia’s highest court paves way for marriage equality in surprise ruling” (The Guardian)
“El matrimonio igualitario gana espacio en América Latina” (teleSUR, in Spanish)
“Una década de lucha de los LGBT por la igualdad” (El Espectador, in Spanish)

(Image Credit: John Vizcaino/Reuters, via The Guardian)

Health + Ability

Turkmenistan News | HIV

Turkmenistan passes law requiring HIV test for foreign workers, couples looking to marry, others
  • Testing will be mandatory for foreigners seeing work visas, couples seeking a marriage certificate, prisoners, drug users, and blood donors.
  • The law implies those found to be infected will be denied government documents for the status (residency, marriage) they are seeking.
  • State media indicated that the law was an attempt to promote “healthy families” and includes a provision that guarantees free treatment for AIDS-infected citizens.

Read more:
“Turkmenistan To Require HIV Test For Those Seeking Marriage License” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
“HIV tests now required before marriage in Turkmenistan” (The Philippine Daily Inquirer)
“Turkmenistan requires HIV test for marriage license seekers” (AP)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

U.S. News | LGBT

Mississippi governor signs sweeping anti-LGBT bill into law
  • House Bill 1523 allows for businesses and government workers to set religiously based workplace policies and refuse service to LGBT and unmarried cohabitating individuals on religious grounds, including public accommodations, adoption, foster care, counseling, and marriage certificate registration.
  • Governor Phil Bryant claimed the law didn’t conflict with federal laws but merely provided protection for persons who for religious reasons wished to refuse service to LGBT customers and clients.
  • The bill declares the government cannot discriminate against such “persons,” which includes a “sole proprietorship, or closely held company, partnership, association, organization, firm, corporation, cooperative, trust, society or other closely held entity.”

Read more:
“Mississippi Governor Signs Sweeping Anti-LGBT Bill Into Law” (BuzzFeed News)
“LGBT couples can be refused service under new Mississippi law” (The Guardian)
“Religion law adopted in Mississippi over gay rights protest” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: Rogelio V. Solis/AP, via BuzzFeed News)

Class + Socioeconomics, Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity

India News | Women, Indigenous & Dalit

India PM launches entrepreneurship initiative for members of historically disadvantaged communities
  • PM Narendra Modi announced Stand Up India, a program to spur entrepreneurship and business-technological integration among women and India’s Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, historically disadvantaged groups subject to affirmative action by the government.
  • Banks will be required to sponsor relatively inexpensive loans for entrepreneurs from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities.
  • The initiative comes ahead of next year’s elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh, with the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition seeking to court Dalit and tribal votes.

Read more:
“PM promises to ‘change’ lives of tribals, Dalits with ‘Stand up India’” (The Hindustan Times)
“‘Stand Up India’ will transform lives of Dalits, tribals: Modi” (The Hindu)
“‘Stand up India’: PM Modi to book first e-rickshaw through Ola” (The Times of India)

(Image Credit: Sandeep Saxena/The Hindu)

Nationality + Migration

Greece & Turkey News | Migrants & Refugees

Greece begins mass migrant deportations to Turkey in accordance with controversial new EU deal
  • More than 130 migrants were on the first boat from Lesbos to the Turkish port of Dikili, including Pakistanis, Afghans, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Indians, Syrians, and an Iraqi.
  • To stem the flow of human trafficking across the Aegean Sea, Turkey has agreed to receive migrants and refugees who have arrived in Greece via the Aegean without authorization.
  • In return, the EU will take in Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and give Turkey money, visa-free travel, and progress in its EU membership application.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeAIOeSyAeg

Read more:
“Migrants sent back from Greece arrive in Turkey under EU deal” (Reuters)
“First EU migrant deportations from Greece to Turkey ‘go smoothly’, despite protests” (euronews)
“First boats returning migrants and refugees from Greece arrive in Turkey” (The Guardian)