#humanrightsviolations — Public Fediverse posts

Kamran Hekmati, 71 anni, cittadino iraniano-americano di fede ebraica e malato di cancro, è stato liberato dal carcere di Evin il 5 settembre. Resta però sottoposto a un divieto di espatrio e non può lasciare l’Iran. Durante la detenzione gli era stato concesso un permesso per cure mediche, ma era stato riportato in carcere prima di poter iniziare la chemioterapia.
#KamranHekmati #Freedom #EvinPrison #Iran #HumanRightsViolations
https://www.en-hrana.org/kamran-hekmati-dual-national-jewish-citizen-released-from-evin-prison/

Kamran Hekmati, 71 anni, cittadino iraniano-americano di fede ebraica e malato di cancro, è stato liberato dal carcere di Evin il 5 settembre. Resta però sottoposto a un divieto di espatrio e non può lasciare l’Iran. Durante la detenzione gli era stato concesso un permesso per cure mediche, ma era stato riportato in carcere prima di poter iniziare la chemioterapia.
#KamranHekmati #Freedom #EvinPrison #Iran #HumanRightsViolations
https://www.en-hrana.org/kamran-hekmati-dual-national-jewish-citizen-released-from-evin-prison/

Kamran Hekmati, 71 anni, cittadino iraniano-americano di fede ebraica e malato di cancro, è stato liberato dal carcere di Evin il 5 settembre. Resta però sottoposto a un divieto di espatrio e non può lasciare l’Iran. Durante la detenzione gli era stato concesso un permesso per cure mediche, ma era stato riportato in carcere prima di poter iniziare la chemioterapia.
#KamranHekmati #Freedom #EvinPrison #Iran #HumanRightsViolations
https://www.en-hrana.org/kamran-hekmati-dual-national-jewish-citizen-released-from-evin-prison/

Abolfazl Mohammadi, detenuto originario di Varamin, nella provincia di Teheran, è morto il 7 settembre nel carcere di Ghezel Hesar, a Karaj, dopo un problema cardiaco e senza aver ricevuto cure mediche tempestive. Le autorità carcerarie avrebbero ostacolato l’accesso alle cure e ritardato il suo trasferimento in una struttura sanitaria esterna al carcere.
#AbolfazlMohammadi #StopMedicalNeglect #GhezelHesarPrison #Iran #HumanRightsViolations
https://hengaw.net/en/news/2026/09/article-41-1

Siamak Mofidi, 17 anni, e Soroush Enayati, 16, di Takab, sono stati arrestati dalle forze di sicurezza il 5 settembre e trasferiti in un luogo sconosciuto a Teheran per essere interrogati. Arrestati nelle loro abitazioni senza mandato, sono privati dell’avvocato e dei contatti con le famiglie. Ignote accuse e luogo di detenzione.
#SiamakMofidi #SoroushEnayati #ChildRights #Iran #HumanRightsViolations
https://www.en-hrana.org/siamak-mofidi-and-soroush-enayati-two-teenagers-arrested-in-takab/

Siamak Mofidi, 17 anni, e Soroush Enayati, 16, di Takab, sono stati arrestati dalle forze di sicurezza il 5 settembre e trasferiti in un luogo sconosciuto a Teheran per essere interrogati. Arrestati nelle loro abitazioni senza mandato, sono privati dell’avvocato e dei contatti con le famiglie. Ignote accuse e luogo di detenzione.
#SiamakMofidi #SoroushEnayati #ChildRights #Iran #HumanRightsViolations
https://www.en-hrana.org/siamak-mofidi-and-soroush-enayati-two-teenagers-arrested-in-takab/

Siamak Mofidi, 17 anni, e Soroush Enayati, 16, di Takab, sono stati arrestati dalle forze di sicurezza il 5 settembre e trasferiti in un luogo sconosciuto a Teheran per essere interrogati. Arrestati nelle loro abitazioni senza mandato, sono privati dell’avvocato e dei contatti con le famiglie. Ignote accuse e luogo di detenzione.
#SiamakMofidi #SoroushEnayati #ChildRights #Iran #HumanRightsViolations
https://www.en-hrana.org/siamak-mofidi-and-soroush-enayati-two-teenagers-arrested-in-takab/

Siamak Mofidi, 17 anni, e Soroush Enayati, 16, di Takab, sono stati arrestati dalle forze di sicurezza il 5 settembre e trasferiti in un luogo sconosciuto a Teheran per essere interrogati. Arrestati nelle loro abitazioni senza mandato, sono privati dell’avvocato e dei contatti con le famiglie. Ignote accuse e luogo di detenzione.
#SiamakMofidi #SoroushEnayati #ChildRights #Iran #HumanRightsViolations
https://www.en-hrana.org/siamak-mofidi-and-soroush-enayati-two-teenagers-arrested-in-takab/

“Terrorizing Our City”: #ICE Targets Immigrants in #DanburyCT , Including at School #BusStops

#DemocracyNow
September 04, 2026

"We go to Danbury, #Connecticut, where residents held a mass #demonstration this week to protest recent immigration arrests and to support the city’s #immigrant community. Danbury, like many other communities across the United States, has been the target of a spike in immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, including local reports of ICE arresting parents at school bus stops.

" 'We really have been describing it as the administration terrorizing our city, because that is what it felt like. The streets were empty. Kids stayed home from practice. Kids stayed home from school,' says Juliana Soares, the lead organizer for Danbury Unites for Immigrants. 'Masked agents often would shut down the street to just abduct people. … They just do a gross display of force and intimidation in a grocery store parking lot, where they’re just walking around, kind of hunting their next target.' "

Read / watch / listen:
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/9/4/danbury_ct_ice_crackdown_resistance

#ViewerSupportedNews #USPol #ICESucks #DefundICE #DefundDHS #ICETerrorists #ICEAreTheRealTerrorists #HumanRightsViolations #DanburyUnitesForImmigrants

“Terrorizing Our City”: #ICE Targets Immigrants in #DanburyCT , Including at School #BusStops

#DemocracyNow
September 04, 2026

"We go to Danbury, #Connecticut, where residents held a mass #demonstration this week to protest recent immigration arrests and to support the city’s #immigrant community. Danbury, like many other communities across the United States, has been the target of a spike in immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, including local reports of ICE arresting parents at school bus stops.

" 'We really have been describing it as the administration terrorizing our city, because that is what it felt like. The streets were empty. Kids stayed home from practice. Kids stayed home from school,' says Juliana Soares, the lead organizer for Danbury Unites for Immigrants. 'Masked agents often would shut down the street to just abduct people. … They just do a gross display of force and intimidation in a grocery store parking lot, where they’re just walking around, kind of hunting their next target.' "

Read / watch / listen:
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/9/4/danbury_ct_ice_crackdown_resistance

#ViewerSupportedNews #USPol #ICESucks #DefundICE #DefundDHS #ICETerrorists #ICEAreTheRealTerrorists #HumanRightsViolations #DanburyUnitesForImmigrants

“Terrorizing Our City”: #ICE Targets Immigrants in #DanburyCT , Including at School #BusStops

#DemocracyNow
September 04, 2026

"We go to Danbury, #Connecticut, where residents held a mass #demonstration this week to protest recent immigration arrests and to support the city’s #immigrant community. Danbury, like many other communities across the United States, has been the target of a spike in immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, including local reports of ICE arresting parents at school bus stops.

" 'We really have been describing it as the administration terrorizing our city, because that is what it felt like. The streets were empty. Kids stayed home from practice. Kids stayed home from school,' says Juliana Soares, the lead organizer for Danbury Unites for Immigrants. 'Masked agents often would shut down the street to just abduct people. … They just do a gross display of force and intimidation in a grocery store parking lot, where they’re just walking around, kind of hunting their next target.' "

Read / watch / listen:
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/9/4/danbury_ct_ice_crackdown_resistance

#ViewerSupportedNews #USPol #ICESucks #DefundICE #DefundDHS #ICETerrorists #ICEAreTheRealTerrorists #HumanRightsViolations #DanburyUnitesForImmigrants

“Terrorizing Our City”: #ICE Targets Immigrants in #DanburyCT , Including at School #BusStops

#DemocracyNow
September 04, 2026

"We go to Danbury, #Connecticut, where residents held a mass #demonstration this week to protest recent immigration arrests and to support the city’s #immigrant community. Danbury, like many other communities across the United States, has been the target of a spike in immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, including local reports of ICE arresting parents at school bus stops.

" 'We really have been describing it as the administration terrorizing our city, because that is what it felt like. The streets were empty. Kids stayed home from practice. Kids stayed home from school,' says Juliana Soares, the lead organizer for Danbury Unites for Immigrants. 'Masked agents often would shut down the street to just abduct people. … They just do a gross display of force and intimidation in a grocery store parking lot, where they’re just walking around, kind of hunting their next target.' "

Read / watch / listen:
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/9/4/danbury_ct_ice_crackdown_resistance

#ViewerSupportedNews #USPol #ICESucks #DefundICE #DefundDHS #ICETerrorists #ICEAreTheRealTerrorists #HumanRightsViolations #DanburyUnitesForImmigrants

“Terrorizing Our City”: #ICE Targets Immigrants in #DanburyCT , Including at School #BusStops

#DemocracyNow
September 04, 2026

"We go to Danbury, #Connecticut, where residents held a mass #demonstration this week to protest recent immigration arrests and to support the city’s #immigrant community. Danbury, like many other communities across the United States, has been the target of a spike in immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, including local reports of ICE arresting parents at school bus stops.

" 'We really have been describing it as the administration terrorizing our city, because that is what it felt like. The streets were empty. Kids stayed home from practice. Kids stayed home from school,' says Juliana Soares, the lead organizer for Danbury Unites for Immigrants. 'Masked agents often would shut down the street to just abduct people. … They just do a gross display of force and intimidation in a grocery store parking lot, where they’re just walking around, kind of hunting their next target.' "

Read / watch / listen:
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/9/4/danbury_ct_ice_crackdown_resistance

#ViewerSupportedNews #USPol #ICESucks #DefundICE #DefundDHS #ICETerrorists #ICEAreTheRealTerrorists #HumanRightsViolations #DanburyUnitesForImmigrants

Pure evil! #Genocide, #landTheft, #dehumanization, #humanRightsViolations, #settlerviolence #colonialViolence - words that @cbcnews stumbles over in its reporting to normalize #Israeli's murderous regime.

#Palestine #Palestinians #FreePalestine

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/defence-minister-israel-katz-palestinians-gaza-9.7330886

#DemocracyNow

#HumanRightsWatch

#Ecuador + #TrumpAdmin = #HumanRightsViolations

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/2XEow_bSL60

#Mexico to request criminal charges over deaths following shooting of #HoustonTX man by #ICE

By María Verza, July 9, 2026

MEXICO CITY (AP) — "Mexico will request criminal charges over 17 Mexicans who died in ICE custody or during immigration enforcement operations by the #Trump administration, officials said Thursday.

"Mexican Foreign Minister #RobertoVelasco’s announcement Thursday morning further escalated tensions with the United States, as Mexico’s government has sharply criticized the treatment of its citizens under U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to increase deportations.

"The request, which carries no legal weight, will be submitted to state prosecutors’ offices and the U.S. Department of Justice, asking them to consider criminal charges against those responsible for the deaths.

"It will be accompanied by civil lawsuits against the companies that operate the #DetentionCenters in an effort to put an end to #HumanRightsViolations in those facilities, Velasco said.

"President #ClaudiaSheinbaum said Thursday that Mexico decided to “move beyond diplomatic channels” and escalate its complaints after an ICE agent killed Mexican citizen #LorenzoSalgadoAraujo in Houston this week. Sheinbaum said the killing 'is not only sad and regrettable, but also appears to have been targeted.'

" 'We are going to do everything in our power, because we cannot stand silent' in the face of the deaths of Mexicans 'whose only crime is working honestly in the United States,' Sheinbaum said."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/mexico-ice-houston-shooting-immigration-9c3998a2666d7cb60fd095545f7bc866

#ICESucks #JusticeForLorenzo #LorenzoSalgado #HumanRights #USPol #WorldPol #VictimsOfICE #DetentionCenters #CoreCivic #AcquisitionLogistics #CampEastMontana #AbolishICE

🚨 Nei primi sei mesi del 2026, almeno 45 donne sono state vittime di femminicidio in Iran. È il dato raccolto dal Centro Statistiche e Documentazione di Hengaw Organization for Human Rights nel suo rapporto sulle violazioni dei diritti delle donne.
#StopFemicideinIran #Iran #StopViolenceAgainstWomen #StopFemicide #HumanRightsViolations
👉 Link Rapporto Completo
https://hengaw.net/en/reports-and-statistics-1/2026/07/article-4

"#Canada’s response demonstrates that extreme #violence can proceed without consequence when the perpetrators align with the interests of empire." https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/the-gaza-world-order/

#Cdnpoli #genocide #SettlerColonialism #ColonialViolence #Palestine #HumanRightsViolations #WarCrimes #CrimesAgainstHumanity

In Iran, il femminicidio non è un fenomeno isolato, ma il risultato di un sistema che discrimina e abbandona le donne. Tra leggi patriarcali, impunità per i familiari violenti e assenza di protezioni contro la violenza domestica, migliaia di donne continuano a vivere sotto una costante minaccia.
#Iran #StopFemicide #StopFemicideInIran #WomanLifeFreedom #HumanRightsViolations
http://freedom-dignity-respect.blogspot.com/2026/05/femminicidio-in-iran.html

In Iran, il femminicidio non è un fenomeno isolato, ma il risultato di un sistema che discrimina e abbandona le donne. Tra leggi patriarcali, impunità per i familiari violenti e assenza di protezioni contro la violenza domestica, migliaia di donne continuano a vivere sotto una costante minaccia.
#Iran #StopFemicide #StopFemicideInIran #WomanLifeFreedom #HumanRightsViolations
freedom-dignity-respect.blogspot.com/2026/05/femminicidio-in-iran.html?m=1

@fabio Also due to these regulations I cannot buy antibiotic ointment when the Czech regime is depriving me of healthcare when I have an infected eczema and am afraid it will produce sepsis and I die, because antibiotic ointment ran out and when I call a dermatologist and tell I need it urgently she gives me an appointment 4 months (!!!) in the future!

In a corrupt developing 3rd world dictatorship Cambodia it is possible to buy antibiotic ointments without prescription and also dermatologist wait there is only 7-10 days, not 4 months.

I feel

e x t r e m e l y s t r o n g c o n t e m p t

towards the Czech regime.

#healthdeprivation #deprivation #czech #czechia #czechregime #czechrepublic #failedstate #contempt #regulations #overregulation #bureaucracy #overbureaucratization #healthcaresystem #healthcare #antibiotic #prescription #otc #overthecounter #ointment #eczema #infection #infected #sepsis #death #lethal #dangerous #danger #hazard #risk #eu #deathbybureaucracy #deathbyregulation #kafkaesque #humanrights #humanrightsviolation #humanrightsviolations #righttohealth #humanrighttohealth #basichumanrighttohealth

Maria Hossein-Panahi, donna curda di 32 anni e in stato di gravidanza, è stata accoltellata a morte dal marito a Sanandaj, dopo ripetute minacce e una lite domestica. Nonostante l’intervento chirurgico, né lei né il bambino che portava in grembo sono sopravvissuti.
#MariaHosseinPanahi ‬⁩#Sanandaj #Iran #StopFemicide #StopfemicideIran #StopFemicideinIran #WomanLifeFreedom #HumanRightsViolations #stopfemminicidio

Hengaw lancia l’allarme: dall’inizio del 2025 in Iran sono stati documentati almeno 203 femminicidi. Un dato parziale, nascosto da leggi discriminatorie, cultura patriarcale e mancanza di dati trasparenti. La violenza contro le donne non si ferma, anzi aumenta.
#Iran #StopFemicide #StopFemicideinIran #WomanLifeFreedom #HumanRightsViolations

How communities in #SacrificeZones suffer environmental injustices in #Mexico, #Chile, #Nigeria and #Indonesia (analysis)

Daniela Sepulveda and Angélica Arellano, 9 Apr 2025

"Across continents, 'sacrifice zones' resemble wounds carved deep into the fabric of our planet. These are regions where ecosystems and livelihoods have been ravaged by fossil fuel and other industries that promise progress but leave devastation in their wake. These are places where big business and transnational corporations are contaminating the rivers, darkening the skies, and making the soil barren; where the toll of development is paid in human suffering and ecological destruction.

"What unites these 'sacrifice zones' is the shared story of areas where prosperity for the few is built on the suffering of many, and where communities fight to mend the fractures inflicted upon their land, health and dignity.

"Here are four case studies highlighting the experiences of communities and civil society organizations collaborating with us in the Coalition for Human Rights in Development’s Community Resource Exchange.

#Tula, #Mexico

"In the #TulaTepejiApaxco region, where the #Toltec plains once supported rich #biodiversity and #CulturalHeritage, the water and air are now saturated with pollution. This devastated landscape was declared both in 1975 and again in 2005 by the U.N. as one of the most polluted places on Earth, marking it as an #EnvironmentalDisaster zone. Since the early 20th century, the arrival of #CementPlants, #refineries, #ChemicalFactories, a #coal-fired power plant and #LimeKilns has transformed the region. Backed by all levels of government, these industries have destroyed the area’s ecological balance and ruined the health of its people, poisoning the water, air and soil with #ToxicWaste.

"Prominent among these polluters are cement giants like #Holcim, #CEMEX, #CementosFortaleza and #Clarimex, whose operations release harmful gases that exacerbate the region’s environmental and public health crises. One of the epicenters of this environmental catastrophe is the #TulaRiver, which receives 150,000 liters (nearly 40,000 gallons) of untreated wastewater every second from Mexico City and the Valley of Mexico. These 'black waters' are teeming with industrial and hospital waste plus sewage, overwhelming the river and its tributaries.

"The #EndhóDam, originally built to support local #agriculture, has become a toxic dumping ground, poisoning thousands of people who rely on wells for drinking water. Despite decades of warnings, local and national governments have allowed this contamination to persist. The poisoned waters have killed fish, flooded the land with toxic sludge, and led to a surge in cancer, leukemia, respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases among the 15,000 inhabitants living along its banks. In 2021, a devastating flood related to the overflowing Tula River left 17 dead and displaced thousands, a stark reminder of the ongoing risks of government inaction.

"The region now faces a massive public health crisis, and the recent declaration by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to designate the area as an ecological restoration zone is a necessary but overdue step. This declaration covers municipalities such as #Atitalaquia,TepejiDelRío, #Tepetitlán and Tlahuelilpan, where 498 businesses have been identified as generators of hazardous waste, including 14 that produce hydrocarbons. The study, based on a water, air and soil analysis, could mark the beginning of recovery if it is implemented with urgency and seriousness.

"Over the years, organizations like #RedDeConcienciaAmbiental '#QueremosVivir' have resisted, bringing visibility to the devastation and fighting to halt deforestation and continued pollution. In the words of one of the leaders of Queremos Vivir ('We want to live'), 'There needs to be a legal solution, because it’s that urgent. We believe there is still a way to reverse it, and we have time to show the newly elected president #ClaudiaSheinbaum the dire situation we’re in.'

"Their demands include a reduction in the water flow of the Tula River through holistic water management solutions, and government accountability for decades of environmental neglect, calling for reparations for both industrial pollution and the catastrophic 2021 floods.

"While they welcome Sheinbaum’s promises to clean the river and launch a circular economy project, they emphasize that meaningful environmental justice must not be delayed any longer. After stating the communities’ demands through tears, the Queremos Vivir leader said, 'Are we really just going to be destined to be a sacrifice zone? The damage is so severe, the degradation we are in, that if we don’t protect it, don’t defend it, then what are we going to do?' "

Read more:
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/how-communities-in-sacrifice-zones-suffer-environmental-injustices-in-mexico-chile-nigeria-and-indonesia-analysis/

#SEZs #Antofagasta #Nigeria #Indonesia #HumanRights #HumanRightsFreeZone #CorporateColonialism
#Exploitation #RaceToTheBottom
#HumanRightsViolations
#Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation
#EconomicSacrificZones
#ForcedRelocation #ForcedDisplacement #TraditionalLifestyles #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #EnvironmentalRacism #Exploitation

#SEZs in #India: Balancing Economic Growth and #Environmental Concerns

July 27, 2024

"Picture this: vast stretches of industrial land buzzing with activity, modern factories producing goods for global markets, and thousands of job opportunities emerging overnight. This is the promise of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India. But behind this gleaming facade lies a complex web of environmental challenges and social concerns that demand our attention. SEZs represent one of India’s most ambitious economic policies, designed to accelerate industrial growth and boost exports, yet they often come at a significant cost to the environment and local communities.

[...]

"[T]he rapid expansion of SEZs has raised significant environmental red flags. The most pressing concern is land acquisition, which often involves converting fertile agricultural land into industrial zones. This conversion not only reduces the country’s agricultural capacity but also disrupts local ecosystems and biodiversity.

"The establishment of SEZs typically requires large tracts of land – sometimes spanning thousands of acres. Much of this land is acquired from agricultural areas, leading to the displacement of farming communities who have depended on these lands for generations. For instance, the proposed #RaigadSEZ in #Maharashtra would have required over 14,000 hectares of #agricultural land, leading to massive #protests from local farmers.

"The conversion of agricultural land to #IndustrialUse has long-term implications for #FoodSecurity. As India’s population continues to grow, the loss of productive #farmland could exacerbate food shortage issues in the future. Moreover, agricultural land often has better soil quality and water retention capacity compared to industrial land, making this conversion environmentally costly.

"Industrial activities within SEZs generate various forms of #pollution. Air pollution from #manufacturing processes, water #contamination from industrial effluents, and #SoilDegradation from chemical usage are common problems. The concentration of industries in SEZs can create pollution hotspots that affect air and water quality in surrounding areas.

"#WaterScarcity is another critical issue. SEZs require substantial water resources for industrial processes, often competing with local communities for this precious resource. In water-stressed regions, this competition can lead to conflicts and further environmental degradation.
Human rights and social displacement

"The human cost of SEZ development cannot be overlooked. Land acquisition for SEZs often involves displacing local communities, particularly small farmers and agricultural workers. These communities frequently receive inadequate compensation and struggle to find alternative livelihoods.

"The displacement process can be traumatic for local communities who have strong cultural and emotional ties to their land. Traditional occupations like #farming, #fishing, and #SmallScaleTrading are disrupted, forcing people to adapt to entirely new economic realities. The promised employment opportunities in SEZs often don’t materialize for displaced communities, as they may lack the required skills for industrial jobs.

"Women in these communities face particular challenges, as they often have limited access to alternative employment opportunities and may lose traditional income sources like kitchen gardening or small-scale agricultural activities. The social fabric of rural communities can be severely disrupted, leading to increased poverty and social inequality."

https://csr.education/urban-planning-development/sezs-india-economic-growth-environment/#environmental-concerns-the-hidden-costs

#HumanRights #HumanRightsFreeZone #CorporateColonialism
#IMFLoanSharks #Exploitation #WorldBank #RaceToTheBottom
#HumanRightsViolations
#Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation
#EconomicSacrificZones
#ForcedRelocation #ForcedDisplacement #TraditionalLifestyles #EnvironmentalRacism #Exploitation
#CorporateColonialism

The #environmental burdens of #SpecialEconomicZones on the coastal and marine #environment: A remote sensing assessment in #Myanmar

Thiri Shwesin Aung, Indra Overland, Roman Vakulchuk, Yanhua Xie
November 2022

"Special economic zones (#SEZs) are unusual parts of the world economy in terms of law, institutions, and economic functions (Chaisse and Dimitropoulos 2021). SEZs are geographically delimited areas created to facilitate industrial activities through fiscal and regulatory incentives and infrastructure support (UNCTAD 2019). Such zones carve out jurisdiction as a subset of the overall state jurisdiction for the purposes of enacting different laws and regulations that are more trade and investment friendly (Zeng 2021). Since the year 2000, SEZs have mushroomed in developing countries to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), accelerate industrialization and create jobs (Aiyer 2017). There are 5400 SEZs in 147 economies around the world. Asia is home to three quarters of them (UNIDO 2015). They have been a core element of the economic development strategy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and currently all ASEAN member states have SEZs (Aggarwal 2022).

"As part of an export-oriented development strategy, the zones commonly include industrial mega-areas that accommodate large-scale infrastructure, deep-sea ports, logistical infrastructure for oil and gas, hotels and tourism, and industrial complexes (Aggarwal 2022). They are primarily defined by a specific regulatory regime and a dedicated governance mechanism designed to relieve customs and tariffs and reduce the burden on businesses from permits, licenses, employment laws, and land access. In return, host governments expect investors to create positive spillover effects, such as facilitating innovation, boosting employment, raising exports, and diversifying the economy. The global experience of SEZs have been mixed, with some countries achieving successful economic outcomes, while others struggle to overcome market failures, institutional constraints, and social and environmental costs (Aggarwal 2022; Zeng 2021).

"The lax regulatory regimes of SEZs often raise concerns about environmental, social, and #HumanRights standards, as well as possible conflicts over #LandRights (Brussevich 2020). Several SEZs have failed to yield the expected economic benefits while having severe adverse impacts on the environment and local communities (Adunbi 2019; Aritenang and Chandramidi 2020; Chaisse and Ji 2020). On the other hand, while SEZs can be hotspots for environmental #mismanagement, they can also provide opportunities for implementing environmental policies specifically designed to regulate industries within the zones. Also, certain environmental advantages may ensue from the introduction of foreign financial resources and environmental technologies that are otherwise not readily available (Richardson 2004).

"However, according to the 'race to the bottom' literature, most SEZs have a net negative impact on the environment and local communities (Richardson 2004; UNIDO 2015; ZENG and DOUGLAS, 2012).

"Despite this contradiction, existing studies focusing on the direct and indirect impacts of SEZs have been rare (#WorldBank, 2017). Particularly, the magnitude and intensity of SEZ impacts on the environment remain understudied.
SEZs tend to be located in remote regions. As such, SEZ-related information and data are generally scarce, making it difficult to assess the environmental consequences of such zones. Many SEZs are also located in countries where there is limited scope for independent environmental assessment due to #authoritarian rule, #corruption, and/or #secrecy surrounding deals with foreign investors. Recent improvements in access to satellite data and computing platforms for machine learning have greatly improved the ability to comprehensively assess SEZs in any location in the world in near real time (Ali et al., 2020; Jensen et al., 2019). This article demonstrates how these technologies can be applied to provide evidence related to the environmental impacts of SEZs. The method is tried out on the Kyaukpyu SEZ in Myanmar. Myanmar is an authoritarian country and the #KyaukpyuSEZ is a flagship project of China's Belt and Road Initiative (#BRI) located in an inaccessible part of #Myanmar. This is precisely the type of case where independent access can be limited and a remote sensing approach can be useful.

"From 2010 onwards, Myanmar was navigating its economic transformation and a partial loosening of military rule. SEZ development was prioritized as a critical element of the country's industrialization (Oxfam 2017). The three most notable ongoing SEZ projects are the Kyaukpyu SEZ in the rural but strategically important Rakhine State, which is also the largest SEZ in Myanmar, the Thilawa SEZ on the outskirts of Myanmar's former capital Yangon, and the Dawei SEZ in the Tanintharyi Region. Tanintharyi is a long narrow southern territory of Myanmar bordering the Andaman Sea to the west and Thailand to the east.

"Although they are expected to encourage economic growth and reduce poverty, all three SEZ projects continue to face local opposition, particularly the Kyaukpyu and Dawei SEZs. The International Commission of Jurists (2017) has reported that SEZs in Myanmar are linked to human rights violations and environmental abuses (Donateo 2017). Although Myanmar's SEZ law adopted in 2014 reaffirms the applicability of environmental regulations to SEZ development, it does not clearly delineate responsibilities between developers and the state (DICA 2014). The law also does not conform with international human rights standards (MCRB 2018)."

Read more:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352938522001173

#RaceToTheBottom #HumanRightsViolations #Pollution #EnvironmentalDegradation #EconomicSacrificZones #ForcedRelocation #ForcedDisplacement #HumanRightsViolations #EnvironmentalDegradation #IndigenousPeoples #ForestPeoples #SaveTheForests #Exploitation #CorporateColonialism

YouTube Quietly Erased More Than 700 Videos Documenting Israeli Human Rights Violations https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/youtube-google-israel-palestine-human-rights-censorship/ #tech #YouTube #NotNeutral #IsraeliPropaganda #genocide #Gaza #HumanRightsViolations #FreePalestine

Attorneys Face Trump’s Salvadoran Black Hole

There’s a real risk that hundreds of people sent to a brutal prison camp will never be free
#NoFascistUSA #TrumpNaziRegimeCrimes #HumanRightsViolations
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cecot-el-salvador-lawyers-judges-ice-custody_n_67f980e4e4b05c9df5d3a9ad

Now it's the minority report Traitor Trump's ass kissing worm, Marco Rubio memo cites #MahmoudKhalil beliefs in justifying his deportation

Department of Homeland Security announced a task force to monitor the social media activity of immigrants, including foreign students, for antisemitism. The task force will be screening an estimated 1.5 million foreign students studying in the US for potential grounds to revoke their visas
#TrumpNaziRegime #HumanRightsViolations
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mahmoud-khalil-deported-serious-foreign-policy-consequences-rubio-memo-rcna200612

BREAKING NEWS: In a shocking statement, Karoline Leavitt confirms the #TraitorTrumpRegime is taking steps on a pathway to deport AMERICAN CITIZENS to El Salvador. This is absolutely insane. A concentration camp network may be funded for the US, and there are already labor camps in the Prison-Industrial-Complex where work gets off-shored at the state-level #HumanRightsViolations #FuckTrumpMafiaRegime #FuckTrumpNaziDeathParty https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/8/2315354/-Anyone-seems-brandable-into-deportable-enemy-aliens-on-the-current-path-to-perfect-lawlessness #prison_industrial_complex #StopProject2025

#PortlandME - The American Civil Liberties Union of #Maine says dozens of federal detainees are currently being held at the #CumberlandCountyJail and many others are being held at the #FederalPrison in #BerlinNewHampshire.

"Last week, the #ACLU of New Hampshire said it confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was already holding prisoners in Berlin. The Los Angeles Times has reported more than 500 detainees could be held at #FCIBerlin.

"As of Monday, March 10, 2025, at ACLU says there were 61 people held in ICE custody at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland."

Read more:
https://www.wmtw.com/article/federal-detainees-held-maine-jail-nh-federal-prison/64148626
#HumanRightsViolations #ICEDetention #IndefiniteDetention #PrivatePrisons #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #ResistICE #ImmigrantsRights

#MaineACLU Denounces ‘Cruel’ Use of #NewHampshire #FederalPrison to Hold #ICEDetainees

By Edward TomicMarch 11, 2025

"The #Maine American Civil Liberties Union (#ACLU) has issued a statement denouncing the use of a New Hampshire federal prison by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain suspected illegal aliens.

"Last month, media outlets began reporting on a leaked memo, signed Feb. 6, that indicated ICE was intending to use #FCIBerlin, a medium-security prison in Berlin, N.H., to hold immigration detainees in custody.

"That memo noted that the units at FCI were not currently available due to there being a 'substantial amount of preparation and resources' needed before the prison could accept detainees, such as additional funding for staffing, food, utilities, clothing and other items.

"The memo also indicates that the federal Bureau of Prisons or warden at each locally designated prison may approve or reject a request by ICE to hold an ICE detainee for any reason, such as for lack of space, or medical, mental health, safety or security reasons.

"ICE lodges immigration detainers against unlawfully present noncitizens who have been arrested on criminal charges or who the agency has probable cause to believe are deportable from the U.S.

"'The government should not be using federal prisons to support the president’s #MassDeportation efforts,' said Carol Garvan, legal director of the ACLU of Maine, in a Monday statement.

"'The federal government itself acknowledged that FCI Berlin would require a ‘substantial amount of preparation,’ yet just weeks later they have already begun detaining people there,' Garvan said. 'We have strong concerns about the #inhumane treatment of people in ICE custody, and we will not stand by while our region is used to carry out these cruel policies.'"

https://www.themainewire.com/2025/03/maine-aclu-denounces-cruel-use-of-new-hampshire-federal-prison-to-hold-ice-detainees/
#HumanRightsViolations #ICEDetention #IndefiniteDetention #PrivatePrisons #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #ResistICE #ImmigrantsRights

Causing major harms through development projects

"World Bank-funded projects have also continually been found to be in direct, serious violation of international human rights standards. Major recurring issues include mass evictions and the forced displacement of peoples and communities for major infrastructure and agricultural projects (see Observer Spring 2015), violations of the rights of indigenous and forest peoples, targeting of human rights defenders, triggering local food insecurity, and serious labour rights violations, such as child and forced labour reportedly being used in Bank-funded projects (see Observer Winter 2016). The IFC has also been shown on several occasions to have invested in companies that avoid or evade taxes (see Observer Autumn 2016). More recently, the Bank has also acknowledged that its projects can create an environment that can foster gender-based violence, including sexual abuse and the spread of HIV/AIDS (see Observer Spring 2017).

"To safeguard against risks like these, the World Bank launched its revised Environmental and Social Framework in 2018, although it applies only to its project lending and not to its DPF.

"Many in civil society remain unconvinced that the safeguards are fit for purpose if the Bank is to deliver on its mandate to implement policies that benefit the poorest, especially as the Bank is set to focus on more complex and difficult environments from 2018."

#ForcedRelocation #ForcedDisplacement #HumanRightsViolations #EnvironmentalDegradation #IndigenousPeoples #ForestPeoples #SaveTheForests #Exploitation #CorporateColonialism
#IMFLoanSharks #WorldBank #GenderBasedViolence #ManCamps

Japan asks Denmark to extradite anti-whaling activist #PaulWatson

Denmark announced Thursday that it has received Japan's extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was arrested in Greenland last month on an international arrest warrant. Watson, the 73-year-old founder of #SeaShepherd, is facing charges related to a 2010 confrontation with Japanese #whaling ships, raising concerns over his potential extradition and the motivations behind Japan's request.

Issued on: 01/08/2024

"#Denmark's justice ministry said Thursday that it had received Japan's extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was detained in #Greenland last month on an international arrest warrant.

"Watson, the 73-year-old American-Canadian founder of the Sea Shepherd activist group, was arrested on July 21 in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, over a 2010 altercation with Japanese whaling ships.

"Watson, who featured in the reality TV series '#WhaleWars', founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (#CPWF), and is known for #DirectAction tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.

"'The Ministry of Justice received a formal extradition request regarding Paul Watson from the Japanese authorities yesterday,' the ministry told AFP in an email."

[...]

"'#Japan has a personal vendetta against #PaulWatson, and this so-called offence is the pretext for revenge against a man who defied and therefore humiliated them,' [Francois Zimeray] told AFP.

"He said an extradition to Japan would be a violation of the European Convention on #HumanRights, since 'the country does not respect international standards on fair trials and prisons.'"

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240801-japan-asks-denmark-to-extradite-anti-whaling-activist-paul-watson

#Greenpeace #Ecocide #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest
#CriminalizingDissent
#BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders #Fascism
#CivilDisobedience #Activism #ClimateActivists #HumanRights #SilencingDissent #Corporatocracy #Article20 #HumanRightsViolations #DefendNature #Japon #SaveOurSeas #FreePaulWatson

#BigOil’s Plan To #Criminalize #Pipeline #Protests

By ExposedByCMD Editors
| June 18th, 2024
at 12:21 PM (CDT)

"#AnneWhiteHat found herself facing up to 10 years in prison after she was arrested for two counts of felony trespassing in September 2018 under one such law, which had just taken effect in Louisiana following pressure from oil and gas lobbyists.

She was one of four Native women who founded a resistance camp called L’eau Est La Vie, which was organizing nonviolent direct actions in protest of the #BayouBridgePipeline — a now-operating 163-mile pipeline owned by #EnergyTransfer that transports crude oil throughout the state. The protests ranged from a rendition of 'Crawfish the Musical' on the construction site to protesters locking themselves to pipeline equipment to tree sits in the centuries-old cypresses the company planned to tear down.

"The Bayou Bridge pipeline is the tail end of the #DakotaAccess route — White Hat had already joined her relatives to participate in the resistance camp at Standing Rock in North Dakota. 'I felt like it was a righteous cause, not to let them comfortably continue to threaten the waters of Indigenous #FirstNations,' she said. 'I was inspired from the work up North and just couldn’t let them continue down here unanswered and unchecked.'

White Hat had just finished leading a prayer ceremony when she was arrested at a boat ramp miles from the pipeline construction site. She was hauled into a sheriff deputy’s car with two other women and driven through tall sugar cane fields on the way to jail.

'It was terrifying,' said White Hat. 'We’re way out in the middle of nowhere. I was like, ‘Is this the point where I actually disappear?’

Investigative journalist Karen Savage was arrested that day, too — her second arrest under felony trespass charges as she reported on the Bayou Bridge protests. She was one of the only reporters to travel to the Atchafalaya Basin swamp, where the pipeline was being constructed.

By the time the water protectors got to the swamp, Savage said, they 'had done everything — they went to public meetings, they had petitions, they wrote letters, they tried to meet with the governor — they did everything they tell you in school, to participate and use your civil obligation in your community.' Despite their best efforts in one of the most oil- and gas-friendly states in the country, said Savage, 'nobody was listening.'"

https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2024/06/18/big-oils-plan-to-criminalize-pipeline-protests/

#BigOilAndGas #CriminalizingDissent #ACAB #HumanRightsViolations #IndigenousActivism #CorporateColonialism #IndigenousLandDefenders
#DirectAction #CorporateFascism #CriminalizingDissent
#WaterIsLife #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #EcoActivists #NoDAPL

via @arizonamirror

If #Hobbs is serious about protecting #groundwater, she must work to close the #mining loophole

by Russ McSpadden
February 12, 2024

"In her first State of the State address just over a year ago, Gov. #KatieHobbs was unequivocal about her commitment to tackling one of the state’s greatest challenges: our dwindling #water supply.

“Our groundwater should be used to support #Arizonans, not foreign business interests,” she said in that speech, referring to the Saudi Arabian conglomerate #Fondomonte. Over the past few years, Fondomonte has been pumping unlimited amounts of groundwater in La Paz County for alfalfa crops that it ships to feed cows on the other side of the earth.

"Though the Hobbs administration has already canceled one of Fondomonte’s four leases and says it won’t renew the others when they’re up this month, the problem doesn’t end with Saudi agriculture.

"It’s also mining companies that take advantage of loopholes in the state’s water laws to maximize profit at the expense of Arizonans — including mining giants #RioTinto and# BHP.

"Because of intense pressure from #lobbyists, when lawmakers adopted the much-heralded #ArizonaGroundwaterManagementAct in 1980 they exempted #mines from groundwater regulation, even when located in #ActiveManagement Areas — state-designated areas where groundwater pumping is controlled. That means that mines can pump unlimited amounts of water without paying the state a dime.

"This exemption was controversial in 1980. Today it’s existentially dangerous.

#ResolutionCopper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto and BHP, is a perfect example. Their proposed mine at #OakFlat — about 70 miles east of #Phoenix in the #TontoNationalForest and within the Phoenix Active Management Area — would pump 250 billion gallons of desert groundwater over the life of the project.

"That’s 17 million gallons of water every day for four decades.

"Under current water prices, that equates to $404 million worth of groundwater that Resolution Copper will get for free. Arizona won’t see a cent for it. And it’s more than likely that the copper ore from Oak Flat will be exported to China for smelting, again depriving local communities of economic benefit.

"This limitless pumping would happen even as the #megadrought that has plagued the #AmericanSouthwest for the past two decades is likely to worsen, straining the #ColoradoRiver and #Gila rivers even more and making us all more reliant on groundwater aquifers.

"If left intact, the mining loophole will facilitate construction of Resolution’s massive mine. The extreme water pumping from the #EastSaltRiverValley will lead to groundwater depletion and subsidence, threatening to deplete wells and damage infrastructure.

"The #CenterForBiologicalDiversity, where I work, has been fighting for decades to stop this mine, and Canadian mining company Hudbay’s disastrous plan to mine for copper in the #SantaRita Mountains south of #Tucson (in the Tucson Active Management Area).

"Both projects would devastate surrounding fragile #ecosystems, pushing endangered species like the #MexicanSpottedOwl closer to the brink of #extinction. They would also destroy sacred #TribalLands and gulp down massive amounts of water when other users are being asked to conserve.

"Handing mines unlimited access to Arizona’s precious desert groundwater would be an injustice to Arizona’s #Tribes and every resident of this state.

"Fortunately, Hobbs has the vision and courage to fight for a secure water future for Arizona. It is time for her to work with legislators to close the mining loophole in Arizona water law and subject mines to the same groundwater pumping limits that apply to other entities within the state’s Active Management Areas.

"We’re hopeful she will work to block #ResolutionCopperMine and other terrible mining projects like #Hudbay’s. At the very least, it’s time for mining giants to pay for the water they use just like the rest of us."

https://azmirror.com/2024/02/12/if-hobbs-is-serious-about-protecting-groundwater-she-must-work-to-close-the-mining-loophole/

#WaterIsLife #HumanRightsViolations #CulturalGenocide #CopperMining #Mining #CorporateColonialism #EnvironmentalRacism #IndigenousNews #SaveOakFlat #IndigenousRights #Apache

ICYMI from 2023: #Biden Moves Forward With #Mining Project That Will Obliterate a Sacred #Apache Religious Site

In court, the feds said #OakFlat would be in the hands of mining giants #RioTinto and #BHP by early summer.

“This is a people matter. This is about the people and their freedom: freedom to be Apache, to be Indigenous, to be Americans.”

by Ryan Devereaux
March 22 2023

"Biden administration attorneys were in court this week to defend a mining project that will obliterate one of the most sacred Apache religious sites in the American Southwest.

"In oral arguments Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service said it was nearing completion of an environmental impact study that will transfer land east of Phoenix to two of the world’s largest mining companies for the purpose of building one of the largest #copper mines on the planet. The massive project will hinge on the destruction of Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, a plateau otherwise known as Oak Flat, that is sacred to many Native American tribes, particularly the #SanCarlosApache, who consider the area among their most holy of sites.

"In a nearly two-hour hearing, an 11-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California, peppered lawyers on both sides of the high-stakes legal fight with an array of complex case law questions raised by the project. Begun nearly two decades ago, the battle for Oak Flat sits at the intersection of Indigenous rights and dispossession, religious liberty, public lands and private sales, and a growing demand for so-called green energy solutions in an era of #ClimateCatastrophe.

"'As the court is aware, this case is not about an agency action. It’s about an act of Congress, in which Congress considered demands on a piece of property, balanced those interests, and made a decision,' said Joan Pepin, an attorney for the Forest Service, the agency that exchanged the land in a controversial deal nearly a decade ago. 'It decided that Oak Flat should be transferred to #ResolutionCopper so the third-largest copper ore deposit in the world can be mined.”

"The legislation in question — the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act — was the product of a proposal then-Arizona Sens. #JohnMcCain and #JeffFlake added to a must-pass defense authorization bill late one night in 2014. The addendum, known as a rider, incurred no congressional debate.

"Described by the San Carlos Apache as a 'midnight backroom deal,' the law transferred Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a British-Australian concern jointly owned by the extractive giants Rio Tinto and BHP, both of which had sought access to the wildly lucrative ore deposit for years.

"The project centers on a 2,200-acre area known as Oak Flat Campground, part of the #TontoNationalForest, that has served as a centerpiece of Apache #ReligiousCeremony and #cosmology since before settler expansion into the West. To access the ore underneath, Resolution Copper will use a technique known as block cave mining, which over several years will turn the sacred mountain into a two-mile-wide crater deep enough to hide a skyscraper.

"Initiation of construction hinges on the publication of an #EnvironmentalImpact study from the Forest Service, which, under the law passed in 2014, starts a 60-day countdown before the transfer of the land from the federal government to the mining company must happen.

"Luke Goodrich, the lead attorney for Apache Stronghold, an Arizona-based nonprofit that brought the lawsuit to stop the transfer, told the panel of judges that the destruction of Oak Flat was a direct and flagrant violation of the #ReligiousFreedomRestoratioAct. Violation of the statute requires the imposition of a “substantial burden” on a person or group’s ability to practice their faith.

"'A fine is a substantial burden, but here the government is doing something far worse,' Goodrich said, 'not just threatening fines, but authorizing the complete physical destruction of Oak Flat, barring the Apaches from ever accessing it again and ending their core religious exercises forever.'

"In January 2021, five days before leaving office, the administration of President Donald #Trump released a study supporting the creation of the #OakFlatMine. #ApacheStronghold had filed a federal lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the project.

"Unsuccessful in the attempt, the group filed an emergency appeal to the 9th Circuit the following month. Six hours before its deadline to respond passed, the Forest Service — by then, in March 2021, under the leadership of President Joe Biden — announced that it was withdrawing the environmental impact study and postponing the land transfer.

"A three-judge panel of 9th Circuit dismissed Apache Stronghold’s case in October 2021 but agreed to hear the case again before a full panel last winter. The unusual decision set the stage for Tuesday’s hearing.

"While the postponement of the project had given opponents of the mine a moment of respite in the long-running battle, the government’s testimony this week confirmed that the Biden administration is moving forward with a new environmental impact study and stands behind the controversial land swap."

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2023/03/22/oak-flat-mine-arizona-biden/

#HumanRightsViolations #CulturalGenocide #CopperMining #Mining #CorporateColonialism #EnvironmentalRacism #IndigenousNews #SaveOakFlat
#NativeAmericanNews

Trial of #LandDefenders Fighting the #CoastalGasLink #Pipeline is Put on Hold as Canadian #Police Come Under Scrutiny for Excessive Force

The defense for three activists from #FirstNations argues abuse of process by security forces around the pipeline construction site, as the U.N. and Amnesty International allege excessive force, surveillance and #criminalization of land defenders.

By Keerti Gopal
January 24, 2024

"The trial of three Indigenous land defenders arrested at a pipeline construction site on #unceded #Wetsuweten First Nation land was adjourned until spring on Friday, as the court looks into potential abuses by Canadian police.

"In the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Smithers, B.C., the trial is the latest development in the nearly 12-year fight against the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in the Canadian province.

"Land defenders #Sleydo’ #MollyWickham, #ShayLynnSampson and #CoreyJocko were found guilty of criminal contempt earlier this month, with Justice Michael Tanmen ruling that they broke a court injunction forbidding them from blocking access to construction for the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

"But immediately following the verdict, Tanmen began a week-long hearing to listen to the three individuals’ abuse of process applications, which allege that their Charter rights were violated during their arrests and detentions. During the hearing, the defense argued to stay the charges based on these applications, citing excessive force, aggressive behavior, offensive language and mocking by police.

"In Canada, the abuse of process doctrine allows courts to stay, or postpone, a proceeding on the grounds that some element of the process was unfair, and might undermine the legal system. In this case, the abuse of process application focused on treatment during and after arrests.

"The trial began on Jan. 8 and consisted mainly of witness testimony and evidence gathered in November 2021, during one of four major police raids at the pipeline between 2019 and 2023. The evidence included videos from social media and other videos taken by officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada’s national police service.

"The videos, and testimony from witnesses, including #RCMP officers, detailed the police using dogs and firearms and wielding chainsaws to cut down the doors of a cabin where Sleydo’ and Sampson were arrested. Jocko was arrested in another small structure close by.

"The activists allege police used excessive force to break down the doors and used offensive language, showing videos in which officers described arrestees as 'orcs' and 'ogres.' The abuse of process hearing will likely restart in June.

"Chief Na’Moks, a Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief and prominent advocate against the pipeline, said that the trial may serve as a template for future legal battles across Canada, where several other pipeline projects are underway.

"'This is going to affect everything else that happens, not only in #BritishColumbia but in #Canada,' Chief Na’Moks said last week. “This is the template that they want to use...and the harassment and constant abuse of #HumanRights has to stop.”

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24012024/first-nations-activists-fighting-coastal-gaslink-pipeline/

#ACAB #HumanRightsViolations #IndigenousActivism #BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism #IndigenousLandDefenders
#UncededLand #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent
#WaterIsLife #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #EcoActivists

#Wetsuweten Law Cannot ‘Coexist’ with BC Court Order, Judge Determines
Chief Dsta’hyl has been found guilty of criminal contempt.

by Amanda Follett Hosgood, #TheTyee

21 Feb 2024

"Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders have opposed #pipeline construction through their traditional territory since before the #CoastalGasLink pipeline project was first proposed. In December 2018, the B.C. Supreme Court issued an interim injunction to the company, which prohibited anyone from blocking pipeline access roads or work sites. A year later, on Dec. 31, 2019, the court granted a permanent injunction for the duration of the project.

[...]

"Last month, Tammen determined there was sufficient evidence to convict three #Indigenous #LandDefenders — Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko. They were arrested the day after Dennis and later charged with criminal #contempt. Hearings have begun into an application by the defence to stay the charges based on police conduct during the arrests.

"#ChiefDstahyl’s arrest took place in October 2021, after a series of interactions with Coastal GasLink workers and security contractors on the Shea Forest Service Road on Likhts’amisyu Clan territory.

"During those interactions, Dsta’hyl and others blocked access to a work camp and 'seized and rendered inoperable' multiple pieces of machinery belonging to Coastal GasLink contractors by cutting electrical wires and removing batteries, according to evidence presented during the trial.

"When Dsta’hyl was arrested, he had four batteries from heavy machinery in the back of his pickup truck, the judge said.

"'There is little dispute concerning the basic facts,' Tammen said, noting that video evidence documenting the incidents was presented during the trial.

"'Chief Dsta’hyl, acting as an enforcement officer for the Likhts’amisyu Clan, participated in the decommissioning of a piece of heavy equipment owned by a CGL subcontractor on Oct. 17, 2021. That action consisted of removing the battery from the equipment, an excavator, thus rendering it inoperable.'

"Witnesses for the defence included other #Likhtsamisyu Chiefs, who described the Wet’suwet’en traditional clan system and its role in governing the traditional territory. Among the Chiefs’ duties is preservation and protection of the traditional territory, or #yintah, Tammen said.

"Tammen also summarized the Wet’suwet’en law of trespass, something described in detail by defence witnesses, saying permission is required to access territory belonging to a house group 'beyond just passing through it.'

[...]

"Criminal contempt penalties can include fines or imprisonment. Sentencing has been set for 9 a.m. on March 6."

https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/02/21/Wetsuweten-Law-Cannot-Coexist-BC-Court-Order/

#SLAPPs #IndigenousActivism #BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism #IndigenousLandDefenders #LandBack #2023PublicOrderAct #DirectAction #ACAB #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterIsLife #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #EcoActivists #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SlowMarch

Gantry climber, #CressieGethin 22, found guilty

Court & Prison, Press / February 19, 2024

#JustStopOil supporter and gantry climber, Cressie Gethin, has been found guilty. Cressie took action in July 2022, demanding the UK government immediately halts all licensing and consents for new fossil fuel exploration and extraction.

The trial began on the 5th February at Isleworth Crown Court, with Judge Duncan presiding. The jury has found Cressie guilty by a majority of ten to two. Cressie, 22, a music student from Hereford, will be sentenced on the 3rd of May with two others. They face a possible ten year custodial sentence. [2]

During the trial Cressie was prevented from talking about her reasons for taking action and was denied any legal defence by the judge. The court heard a witness testimony from acclaimed naturalist and television presenter, Chris Packham, who commented that those taking action like Cressie “should be commended for sounding a vital alarm”. He added: “I am attending court to support Cressie Gethin because I don’t think she is getting a fair trial. I think, along with the UN, that the UK’s protest laws and sentencing of protesters are unjust, draconian, and in conflict with our basic human rights.”

Cressie climbed a motorway gantry above the M25 on the 20th July 2022, two days after the governments’ net zero strategy was declared unlawful, and one day after the UK recorded its highest ever temperature of 40.3 degrees celsius, a milestone that scientists previously thought was impossible. 61,000 excess deaths were recorded across Europe as a result of the extreme heat that summer, whilst the UK government continued to licence new oil and gas. [5]

Speaking before the action in 2022, Cressie said:

“I am terrified by the extreme heat in the UK this week, knowing that this will only get worse as we continue to extract and burn more and more fossil fuels. This country has the technology and money to begin a just and rapid transition to renewable energy immediately, but our government refuses to do so. I feel it is my duty as a human being to demand change in a way that cannot be ignored.

Thousands of people will die this week as a result of the extreme temperatures we are experiencing in the UK. We are in this situation because of increasing global temperatures caused by the emissions from burning fossil fuels. Against this backdrop, the UK government plans to open new oil and gas fields. I am dumbfounded by their negligence.

I am thinking of the countless people across the country and abroad who are now experiencing illness and death as a result of the climate crisis. People are angry that our government is continuing down the path of destruction, and we will not simply stand by and let this happen.”

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson commented:

“It would be extremely convenient for everyone if the climate crisis could be removed from our lives by the ruling of a Judge. If we could imprison the wildfires, if we could arrest famines, or if we could legislate against the rising sea waters that will leave parts of Britain submerged, that would be a fantastic outcome – but the reality is that we can’t and rapid decarbonisation is the only way of preventing these horrifying outcomes.

However, the judiciary – like the police – is proving to be an effective arm of the oil and gas industry, by silencing and imprisoning members of the public taking nonviolent action against climate collapse. Future generations will be disgusted by rulings such as this.”

As the world passes tipping points that threaten the breakdown of ordered civilization, world leaders, captured by the interests of oil lobbyists and big business, are failing to protect our communities. British citizens are sick of being led by liars and crooks. Until we stop Tory oil, supporters of Just Stop Oil will continue taking proportionate action to demand necessary change. Sign up for action at juststopoil.org.

https://juststopoil.org/2024/02/19/gantry-climber-cressie-gethin-22-found-guilty/

#SLAPPs #2023PublicOrderAct #DirectAction #ACAB #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterIsLife #BigOilAndGas #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #ClimateActivists
#ClimateJustice #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SlowMarch

#GretaThunberg cleared after unlawful protest arrest

2nd February 2024, 01:49 EST

"Greta Thunberg and four co-defendants have been found not guilty of breaking the law when they refused to follow police instructions to move on during a #ClimateProtest.

"District Judge John Law threw out a public order charge due to 'no evidence' of any offence being committed adding police attempted to impose 'unlawful' conditions.

"The 21-year-old was arrested at a #ClimateCrisis demonstration near the InterContinental Hotel in Mayfair on 17 October.

"The judge said that the conditions imposed on protesters were 'so unclear that it is unlawful'.

"He added that it meant that 'anyone failing to comply were actually committing no offence'."

Read more:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68180317

#DirectAction #ACAB #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent
#WaterIsLife
#WaterProtectors
#ForestDefenders
#ClimateActivists
#ClimateJustice
#CorporateColonialism
#EcoActivists
#Censorship
#HumanRightsViolations
#Article20
#RightToProtest
#SlowMarch #BigOilAndGas #SLAPPs #2023PublicOrderAct

Inside the last-ditch effort to stop the #MountainValleyPipeline

The project is over budget and behind schedule, with a lot of hard work left to do. Its opponents hope that makes #FossilFuel companies think twice about building the next one.

By Katie Myers
Published Jan 16, 2024

"As day broke over the small mountain town of #EllistonVirginia, one Monday in October, masked figures in thick coats emerged from the woods surrounding a construction site. Three of them approached three excavators and, one by one, locked themselves to the machines, bringing the day’s work to a halt. As they did so, several dozen of their fellow protesters gathered around them, unfurling banners and chanting amid the groaning and beeping of construction equipment.

"They made their way across the field, over patches of bare earth, around sections of rusty pipe meant for burial beneath the mountain. Eventually the metal tubes will form yet another section of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which will soon carry 2 billion cubic feet of #fracked #methane from the #ShaleFields of #WestVirginia to #NorthCarolina each day. Their breath billowed in the crisp air. Beyond them stretched a bright blue sky, and mountains tinged with yellow. The past night’s rain pooled on the muddy and compacted soil beneath their feet.

"Workers in highlighter-yellow vests and hard hats milled around, some looking amused, others frustrated. One or two engaged with the #protesters, only to be told off by an irate site manager. A few miles away at the West Virginia state line, another three dozen or so activists did much the same atop #PetersMountain. One even managed to crawl under an excavator and lock herself in place, despite the cold. The others rallied around, enclosing her in a tight, protective circle.

Some might wonder why they bothered. After all, the project is, by the Mountain Valley Pipeline company’s estimate, 94 percent complete and will be wrapped up before summer. It stalled for several years amid legal fights over various permits, but Senator #JoeManchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, almost single-handedly revived it in 2022 in exchange for his support of key Democratic priorities. Since then, the Biden administration and the Supreme Court have all but assured its completion. With the approximately 303-mile pipeline approaching the final stretch after almost a decade’s work, it might seem hardly worth fighting at this point.

"A large contingent of steadfast opposition begs to differ — and will enthusiastically explain why. The pipeline is six years behind schedule, about half a billion dollars over budget, and, despite promises that it would be done by the end of last year, delayed once again. The remaining construction is over rugged terrain, with hundreds of water crossings left to bridge. The company recently postponed, shortened, and rerouted its planned extension into North Carolina, a proposal long stymied by permitting problems with the main line. And, just last month, #Equitrans, which owns the #pipeline and many others across the country, was said to be considering selling itself. The road to the pipeline’s completion remains rocky, its opponents argue, with many opportunities to make finishing it as difficult as possible.

"'We cannot let them destroy our land and water,' said a young woman named Ericka. Like many interviewed for this story, she gave only her first name out of fear of reprisal from #MountainValleyPipelineLLC, which has begun suing #protesters in a bid to silence them. She had brought her three children to occupy the land that day. 'What are we going to drink? Where are we going to live? People have to come here and stop this.'"

https://grist.org/protest/inside-the-last-ditch-effort-to-stop-the-mountain-valley-pipeline/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

#SilencingDissent #DirectAction #ClimateCatastrophe #NoFracking #WaterIsLife #SLAPPs #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship
#HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #BigOilAndGas

Demonstrators Decry #SLAPP Lawsuits Targeting Movement Against #MountainValleyPipeline

via @igd December 21, 2023

"Report on recent protest in Abingdon, Virginia against SLAPP lawsuits targeting the movement fighting the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).

"Mountain Valley Pipeline is suing dozens of pipeline opponents in multiple jurisdictions for millions of dollars as part of a campaign of ongoing repression. Penn Stuart, the law firm behind the injunctions currently being levied against pipeline fighters in Virginia, and their Lawyer Wade Massie are hired by EQT Midstream, the largest partner in the MVP. Today, people had an office party at the Penn Stuart offices in Abingdon, VA, causing a ruckus."

Read more:
https://itsgoingdown.org/demonstrators-decry-slapp-lawsuits-mvp/

#SLAPPs #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #BigOilAndGas

Don’t Stop: Continuing the Fight against #CopCity

Six More Months in the Movement to Defend the Forest
2023-12-12 via #CrimeThinc

"Escalating Repression: #RICO and the Furtherance of the Conspiracy

"With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that the 'tactics of organized criminals' language Governor Kemp used on July 2 was not just boilerplate copy drafted by an intern, nor was the August 2 press conference simply propaganda to assure backers that the state could still protect their investments. These phrases and statements were shaping operations, carefully crafted interventions designed to position the government for their next operation: the blanket criminalization of the entire movement.

"On August 29, the Attorney General of #Georgia, Christopher M. Carr, filed an indictment with the Fulton County Superior Court, bringing charges against 61 people under Georgia’s version of the Rackeeter-Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act O.C.G.A. § 16-14-4. The indictment became public on September 5. The document, which is over 100 pages long and very poorly written, claims that the 'conspiracy' (which it names 'Defend the Atlanta Forest') was 'founded' on May 25, 2020—the day that #MinneapolisPolice officers murdered #GeorgeFloyd, precipitating a nationwide #uprising.

"This was a serious escalation. It did not catch everyone by surprise: the #AtlantaSolidarityFund has been braced for such charges since February. The authorities and their extreme-right proxies had been demanding a full-scale crackdown on the movement for over a year, spreading a conspiracy theory that the movement was a mafia controlled by a shadowy and well-connected group (a narrative some activists also reproduced, apparently with no sense of irony). According to one version of this conspiracy theory, circulated by far-right trolls, the Network for Stronger Communities (a Georgia-based nonprofit organization) operates a number of financial enterprises, including the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, that coordinate acts of terrorism in order to accumulate wealth and influence. Of the 61 accused, three were members of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. The 42 people already facing #DomesticTerrorism charges were also indicted, as well as a number of other people whose connection to the movement was unclear. The indictment alleged that some people had committed acts in 'overt furtherance of the conspiracy' such as buying #GlueSticks for #SignMaking. [UK is using similar tactics, arresting people for just having #Superglue or #BikeLocks in their possession.]

"The RICO indictment was not a legal procedure but a political act. It was not a judicial intervention to suppress criminal activity but a government measure to crush what the text describes as '#anarchism,' '#collectivism,' '#SocialSolidarity,' '#MutualAid.”

"It is not simply 61 people who are on trial. By dating the case to the murder of George Floyd, the prosecution showed that their real target was the entire population of millions that participated in the consequent revolt. This is not an unusual court case, but a new chapter in the fight between those who seek to preserve the hierarchies of a structurally white supremacist society and those fighting to destroy it root and branch. The indictment does not present a list of crimes. It describes the contours and values of a rival society emerging within the movement to stop Cop City, aspiring to reinvent the world according to a different logic.

"The Fulton County Judge assigned to the RICO case immediately recused himself. Until then, judges had not recused themselves from cases related to the movement even when they possessed obvious ties to the Atlanta Police Foundation."

Full article:
https://crimethinc.com/2023/12/12/dont-stop-continuing-the-fight-against-cop-city-six-more-months-in-the-movement-to-defend-the-forest

#JusticeForTort #StopCopCity #ACAB #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #ForestDefenders #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SLAPPs

#Activist, 97, among dozens arrested in #Australia #climate protest

26 November 2023

Sydney, Australia, Nov 26 (EFE).- "Dozens of protesters, including a 97-year-old man, were arrested on Sunday during a #ClimateChange protest off Australia’s east coast that disrupted operations at the country’s biggest coal export port.

"#ClimateActivist group #RisingTide had organized the protest to block the traffic of coal cargo ships in the port of Newcastle since Saturday.

"The group said on its Twitter account that at least 59 people have been arrested so far.

"Since Saturday, groups of 50 to 60 protesters have been taking turns in rostered two-hour shifts getting on canoes and inflatable boats and preventing ships from leaving the port.

"Among the protesters who went out to sea was Alan Stuart, a 97-year-old religious pastor.

"Stuart said he was doing it for his grandchildren and future generations after being pulled out of his boat by the police.

"'I am doing this for my grandchildren and future generations because I don’t want to leave them a world full of increasingly severe and frequent #ClimateDisasters,' he said. 'I am so sorry that they will have to suffer the consequences of our inaction. So, I think it is my duty to do what I can and to stand up for what I know is right.'

"Rising Tide claims that the protest prevented more than half a million tonnes of coal from leaving the Newcastle port by the time the demonstration ended.

"Protesters demand that the Australian government stop all new projects that involve the use of fossil energy and confront the #ClimateCrisis more decisively.

"The climate crisis is one of the big issues of political debate in Australia, a country exposed to the effects of #droughts and #ExtremeTemperatures.

"Australia is the world’s second largest exporter of thermal coal and the largest exporter of cooking coal."

https://efe.com/en/other-news/2023-11-26/activist-97-among-dozens-arrested-in-australia-climate-protest/

#DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #BigOilAndGas #BigCoal

Protecting #Activists from #AbusiveLitigation

#SLAPPs in the #GlobalSouth and How to Respond

PUBLISHED: JULY 2020

"In #Thailand, an agricultural company files more than a dozen suits against at least 20 #defendants, targeting #workers, #journalists, and #activists who had spoken out against alleged #LaborAbuses at the company’s chicken farm. In #India, an association of #pesticide manufacturers brings a civil defamation suit against #journalists that had reported on the harmful #health and #environmental effects of pesticide use. In the #Philippines, a #mining company files suit against 85 defendants who had conducted a #PeacefulProtest near the company’s mining site, after the company’s own security forces used #lethal violence against the #protesters. In #SouthAfrica, an #Australian mining company files suit against environmental activists who had criticized a company mine during a lecture at a local university.

What do these suits have in common? They are all “#SLAPPs,” or “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation”: suits filed not to secure relief, but to use the risks and costs of litigation to defuse criticism and opposition and discourage the exercise of fundamental freedoms. SLAPPs have long been prevalent in the #Globa North, but SLAPPs are also being used in the Global South to silence activism.

"In Protecting Activists from Abusive Litigation: SLAPPs in the Global South and How to Respond, ICNL presents the first cross-regional survey of SLAPPs in the Global South, along with the first rigorous comparative analysis of anti-SLAPP policy responses undertaken in the Global North and the Global South. Our survey shows that SLAPPs pose a serious threat to the exercise of fundamental freedoms in the Global South, particularly for activists, civil society organizations, journalists, and community members who dare to criticize powerful entities.

"Our survey, which is far from comprehensive, has identified 82 reported SLAPPs filed in Thailand, India, the Philippines, and South Africa – the most fertile fields for Southern SLAPPs – as well as #Indonesia, #Malaysia, #Armenia, #SierraLeone, and #Honduras. Key features of SLAPPs in our sample include:

- Half of the cases in our sample (41 cases) involved criminal proceedings.
- The most frequent SLAPP targets in our sample were activists and civil society organizations (CSOs) (38 cases, or 46%); journalists and publishers (17 cases, or 21%); and leaders and members of local communities (15 cases, or 18%).
- Nearly all of the cases in our sample – 75 cases, or 91% – were brought by private companies or company officials, with 34 of these cases (41%) brought by mining companies and 28 cases (34%) brought by companies associated with agricultural operations.

"Where the cause of action or charge was reported, the suit was based at least in part on a defamation charge, either civil or criminal, in 66 of 75 cases (88%).

"Of the 33 suits in our sample brought as civil actions, claims in 17 cases (52%) exceeded 1 million USD, with the average claim exceeding 10 million USD."

Full article:

https://www.icnl.org/post/report/slapps-in-the-global-south-report

#HumanRights #Whistleblowing #DigitalFreeSpeech #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SlowMarch #BigOilAndGas

Homelessness, Destitution, and Hunger Soar in the UK | Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/13/homelessness-destitution-and-hunger-soar-uk

#UK
#Homelesness
#Destitution
#Hunger
#FoodBanks
#Poverty
#HumanRights
#TrussellTrust
#TemporaryAccomodation
#HumanRightsViolations
#JosephRowntreeFoundation
#JustFair
#SpecialRapporteurOnExtremePivertyAndHumanRights
#GuaranteeOurEssentials
#SocialSecurityPaymentLevels
#FightPovertyWithRights

As a US citizen, I urge the United States to denounce Saudi Arabia, boycott them, seize / nationalize their U.S. holdings, stop selling them weapons, stop buying their oil. End all ties.

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/31/1196776390/saudi-arabia-man-death-sentence-tweets

#NPR #Saudi #SaudiArabia #HumanRights #HumanRightsViolations #Monarchy #FreedomOfSpeech #Death #DeathSentence #USA #US #Congress #PBS #Twitter #FirstAmendment #Democracy #WeaponSales #Oil #nationalize #seizeassets #Assets #CPB #Oppression #Dictatorship #Hate #UnitedStates

When Fishing Boats Go Dark At Sea, They're Often Committing Crimes – [They] Mapped Where It Happens
--
https://theconversation.com/when-fishing-boats-go-dark-at-sea-theyre-often-committing-crimes-we-mapped-where-it-happens-196694 <-- article
--
https://globalfishingwatch.org/ <-- Global Fishing Watch webpage & webmap
--
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq2109 <-- shared paper
--
#GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #satellite #radar #fishing #illegalfishing #illegal #transponder #SAR #nightlight #goingdark #IUU #AIS #surveillance #global #commercial #fisheries #commercialfishing #EEZ #fisheries #fisheriesmanagement #management #humantrafficking #forcedlabour #forcedlabor #humanrights #humanrightsviolations #maritime #ocean #monitoring
International Maritime Organization | Global Fishing Watch