#pols470

The treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China has been something that not a lot of people have been talking about. This article in particular makes me think of the 1936 Olympics being held in Berlin in which the world was aware of the Nazi’s treatment of Jewish citizens. Many cries were made for countries to boycott the 1936 Olympics but ultimately the United States ended up participating. The Olympics are a special event that celebrate different cultures around the world in the name of sports. It makes sense that the human rights violations China is committing may raise some questions of whether to participate in these games. 

The United Nations’ top commission on human rights voted late on Thursday to put together a “commission of inquiry” to investigate the recent events in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Israeli Defense Forces. In response, the Israeli government denounced the commission and cited it as a “one-sided sham” of an investigation. Though this is not the first time that the Human Rights Council has voted to put together such a commission, this particular commission maintains two privileges that the two previous ones have not. First, the investigation is ongoing and indefinite with no specific time-limit or parameter in which to complete its work. Second, the geographical scope has been extended to investigating incidents and root causes everywhere in the state of Israel and the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank. Critics of this commission range from Israeli government officials who plainly do not believe their actions constitute violations of international humanitarian law to British officials who believe without a doubt that they do but that a commission of this sort would only further tensions between Hamas and the Israeli government. 

In Egypt, mother Hoda Abdel Hamid has been detained by authorities for filing a complaint regarding sexual assault and torture that her son endured in Egyptian prison. Her son, Abdelrahman Gamal Metwally al Showeikh, has been detained in a maximum security prison for nearly 15 months. When his mother came to visit him, Abdelrahman was able to pass her a letter detailing harrowing experiences in which his fellow inmates committed sexual crimes against him with the complicity of prison guards in addition to his being beaten and abused on multiple occasions by both inmates and officers. After Abdelrahman’s mother complained to the prison warden and later formally to the Minya public prosecution headquarters, Hoda and Abdelrahman were both interrogated without lawyers about the situation. Later on, Hoda, her daughter, and her husband were arrested in a raid on their home in Cairo. This situation, with many more brutal details than I found myself capable of sharing in a brief summary, is a flagrant example of how important it is not only for us to pay attention to the state of human rights internationally, but to act as an international community in direct opposition to such abuses by the state.

Though this London peoples’ tribunal is in no way shape or form an authority over the Chinese government, the general consensus from Beijing is sharp anger at the tribunal that they have deemed a “machine producing lies.” Chinese authorities have refused to participate in any aspect of the tribunal and have claimed that the detention camps are “re-education centres,” in stark opposition to both the evidence and the international perspective on these events. Their insistence on denouncing a tribunal which has no actual authority and will only produce what amounts to an opinion piece based on the decisions of jurors exposes a sense of fear at what public hearings like this may lead to. These hearings are a type of sentimental education in themselves, and we can only hope that hearing directly from victims in such a setting will inspire a shift in how nations are dealing with China.

A major result of the state-sanctioned massacre was the cementation of China’s limitations on political expression and censorship of material deemed threatening to the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party. That this censorship is alive and well is demonstrated clearly as the Chinese government has yet again begun forcefully putting down peaceful gatherings in remembrance of the victims, an annual occurrence around this time of year. As China continues to suppress speech and pose a danger to political dissidents who dare to remember the flagrant violation of human rights represented by the Tiananmen Massacre, the international community has a responsibility to pressure China at the very least into abandoning the arrests of protestors charged with organizing memorial vigils.

In Denmark, asylum pleas are accepted less than half of the time. Government spokesperson Rasmus Stokland claims that the refusal of asylum to so many seeking refuge is an attempt to counter “issues of integration and criminality” in Denmark, citing zero evidence of the issues he claims are severe enough to warrant this legislation. The Social Democrat party at the head of the coalition comprising the current government is often seen by those in the US (who pay attention to Danish politics, that is) as a party of true rights-based liberalism that aims to promote social safety and opportunity while protecting individual freedoms and liberties. This new legislation is a perfect example of how the party has tended especially in recent years to rebrand and operationalize far-right talking points advocating in opposition to human rights in a way more palatable to parliamentary members and voters while achieving the same end-result.

This is another interesting post that takes a look at how the U.S. interacts with other countries in regards to human rights. It is important that we stress the importance of human rights when we meet with countries that may be violating human rights in some way. I personally do not see how Putin's mind will be swayed by simply a talk with the president. It may take sanctions or other economic moves to pressure countries across the world to stop human rights abuses. Many of these countries will also point out human rights abuses happening inside the United States. Often times it can become a finger pointing match on an international level.

This article was interesting which discussed how the one-child policy in China is gone although women now faces new challenges. Some were trying to find jobs and in these jobs advertisements, they listed that they want women who have already had children. Women also reported that they were asked about their childbearing status during job interviews. Employers can impose punishments on employees who become pregnant. Sometimes the women is forced to resign or is fired due to pregnancy. China's constitution guarantees equal rights between men and women. Although they have laws that ban gender and pregnancy based discrimination in employment their isn't specific enformencent mechanisms. This is a violation of their rights and this is unfair treatment to the women in the workplace.