RIGHTS TO EDUCATION

PENGAWAL PENJARA GUANTANAMO BAY MEMELUK ISLAM

Terry Holdbrooks (29) adalah bekas pengawal penjara yang bertugas di kem tahanan "pengganas" di Guantanamo Bay. Semasa bertugas sebagai pengawal penjara tentera ini, beliau seorang athiest yang percaya kesemua agama di dunia ini adalah kejam dan jahat. Ini semuanya berubah selepas beliau bertugas di Gitmo.

Terry bertugas selalunya pada shift malam. Kerana kebosanan beliau mula berbual dengan banduan yang ditangkap. Beliau sering berbual dengan seorang banduan bernama Ahmed Errachidi yang berasal dari Ethiopia. Perbualan tentang agama antara mereka berdua membawa kepada terbukanya hanti Terry untuk memeluk agama Islam pada tahun 2003. Beliau mengucap syahadah di hadapan beberapa orang banduan dan secara serta merta kehidupan beliau berubah. Terry mula kehilangan rakan dan dicemuh pengawal penjara yang lain. Beliau juga dituduh sebagai PEMBELOT kerana memeluk agama "ganas" Islam. Selepas berhenti berkhidmat kepada tentera beliau kembali semula ke Amerika Syarikat.

Di Amerika beliau mula menjadi seorang pemabuk dan mengambil dadah. Ini adalah kerana beliau mahu melupakan apa yang beliau lihat sepanjang beliau bertugas di Gitmo. Menurut Terry lagi beliau melihat banduan diseksa dengan teruk sekali. Ada banduan yang dipaksa berdiri sambil tangan digari selama 8 jam berturut-turut sehingga terbuang air besar. Beliau melihat muka banduan dicalit dengan darah haid serta banduan bogel disimbah air di dalam bilik dengan penghawa dingin pada tahap maksimum.

Kerana tidak mahu meneruskan hidup yang tidak tentu arah beliau berubah untuk menjadi seorang muslim sejati. Beliau berhenti meminum minuman keras dan mengambil dadah. Terry menulis sebuah buku bertajuk "TRAITOR" yang menceritakan pengalaman beliau bekerja sebagai pengawal penjara di Gitmo dan hijrah beliau menjadi seorang muslim. Kini beliau berusaha untuk memaksa Presiden Obama menutup kem tahanan Gitmo yang pada hemat beliau melanggar hak asasi manusia dan tidak langsung menepati ideal Amerika Syarikat yang mengutamakan kebebasan dan hak saksama antara manusia. Obama pernah berjanji pada tahun 2008 untuk menutup Gitmo jika memenangi pilihanraya presiden. Janji tidak ditepai kini masa menjawab kepada Terry.

Apabila ditemuramah mengapa beliau memeluk Islam, Terry Holdbrooks berkata;

“I had all the freedom in the world,But I was waking up unhappy while these men were in cages, smiling and praying five times a day.

p/s: sumber Pen Patah Blog [Retrieved: 22 June 2013]

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty and AI) is a non-governmental organisation focused on human rights with over 3 million members and supporters around the world. The objective of the organisation is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."

Amnesty International was founded in London in 1961, following the publication of the article "The Forgotten Prisoners" in The Observer 28 May 1961, by the lawyer Peter Benenson. Amnesty draws attention to human rights abuses and campaigns for compliance with international laws and standards. It works to mobilise public opinion to put pressure on governments that let abuse take place. The organisation was awarded the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize for its "campaign against torture," and the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 1978.

In the field of international human rights organisations, Amnesty has the longest history and broadest name recognition, and "is believed by many to set standards for the movement as a whole."

Amnesty International primarily targets governments, but also reports on non-governmental bodies and private individuals ("non-state actors").
There are six key areas which Amnesty deals with:

• Women's, children's, minorities' and indigenous rights
• Ending torture
• Abolition of the death penalty
• Rights of refugees
• Rights of prisoners of conscience
• Protection of human dignity 

Some specific aims are to: abolish the death penalty, end extra judicial executions and "disappearances," ensure prison conditions meet international human rights standards, ensure prompt and fair trial for all political prisoners, ensure free education to all children worldwide, decriminalise abortion, fight impunity from systems of justice, end the recruitment and use of child soldiers, free all prisoners of conscience, promote economic, social and cultural rights for marginalised communities, protect human rights defenders, promote religious tolerance, protect LGBT rights, stop torture and ill-treatment, stop unlawful killings in armed conflict, uphold the rights of refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers, and protect human dignity.

Americas: Decriminalize Personal Use of Drugs

(Antigua) – National drug control policies that impose criminal penalties for personal drug use undermine basic human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. To deter harmful drug use, governments should rely instead on non-penal regulatory and public health policies. The 43rd General Assembly of the Organization of American States, taking place in Antigua, Guatemala from June 4 to 6, 2013, will focus on drug control policy in the Americas.

Governments should also take steps to reduce the human rights costs of current drug production and distribution policies, Human Rights Watch said. Among the steps should be reforming law enforcement practices and exploring alternatives for legal regulation that would reduce the power of violent criminal groups.

“The ‘drug war’ has taken a huge toll in the Americas, from the carnage of brutal drug-trafficking organizations to the egregious abuses by security forces fighting them,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments should find new policies to address the harm drug use causes while curbing the violence and abuse that have plagued the current approach.”

Personal Use of Drugs
Subjecting people to criminal sanctions for the personal use of drugs, or for possession of drugs for personal use, infringes on their autonomy and right to privacy, Human Rights Watch said. The right to privacy is broadly recognized under international law, including in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights. Limitations on autonomy and privacy cannot be justified unless they meet the criteria for any restriction of a basic right, namely legitimate purpose, proportionality, necessity, and non-discrimination.

While protecting health is a legitimate government purpose, criminalizing drug use to protect people from harming themselves does not meet the criteria of necessity or proportionality. Governments have many non-penal options to reduce harm to people who use drugs, including offering substance abuse treatment and social support.

Human Rights Watch research around the world has found that the criminalization of drug use has undermined the right to health. Fear of criminal penalties deters people who use drugs from using health services and treatment, and increases their risk of violence, discrimination, and serious illness. Criminal prohibitions have also impeded the use of drugs for legitimate medical research, and have prevented patients from accessing drugs for palliative care and pain treatment.

“There are many steps that governments can and should take to deter, prevent and remedy the harmful use of drugs,” Vivanco said. “But they shouldn’t do it by punishing the people whose health they are trying to protect.”

Governments have a legitimate interest in protecting third parties from harm resulting from drug use, such as driving under the influence, Human Rights Watch said. They may impose, consistent with human rights, proportionate criminal penalties on behavior that occurs in conjunction with drug use if that behavior causes or seriously risks harm to others.

With respect to drug use by children, governments have obligations to take appropriate legislative, administrative, social, and educational measures to protect children from the illicit use of drugs. Governments should not impose criminal penalties on children for drug use or possession, Human Rights Watch said.

“When someone under the influence of drugs does something that could harm others, whether it’s driving a car or endangering a child through neglect, criminal sanctions may be entirely appropriate, just as they are when people use alcohol in a way that endangers others,” said Vivanco. “However, the penalty is not for drug use alone but for engaging in activity that could endanger others while under the influence of drugs.”

Drug Production and Distribution
The enforcement of criminal laws on drug production and distribution in the Americas and elsewhere in the world has resulted, directly or indirectly, in serious and sometimes widespread and systematic human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said.

The criminalization of drug production and distribution has increased the profitability of illicit drug markets. That has in turn fueled the growth and operations of groups – including paramilitaries and guerrillas in Colombia and organized crime in Mexico – that commit atrocities, undermine public security, and weaken the rule of law.

In Mexico, more than 70,000 people were killed in drug-related violence during the six-year term of former president Felipe Calderón, who deployed the military to fight a “war on drugs.” Abuses by state security forces increased dramatically during this time. For example, Human Rights Watch documented more than 150 cases in which evidence indicates that soldiers and police participated in enforced disappearances.

In Colombia, Human Rights Watch documented how, for decades armed groups were heavily financed by drug trafficking, and, in some cases motivated by profits from the drug trade, committed widespread abuses, including massacres, torture, sexual violence, and forced displacement. Paramilitaries and other drug-trafficking groups have also undermined the rule of law through widespread corruption and intimidation of government officials.

In Brazil, Human Rights Watch has documented how members of police forces in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have responded to violence by well-armed, drug-trafficking gangs by resorting to so-called resistance killings, in which police commit extrajudicial executions and then falsely report them as acts of self-defense.

In the United States, Human Rights Watch has documented unwarranted and often dramatic racial disparities in drug law enforcement, which violate fundamental human rights principles of justice and equal protection of the law. Grossly disproportionate sentences imposed under US federal and state laws for drug offenses have had a harmful impact.

International Drug Conventions
International drug conventions should be interpreted and, where necessary, revised to ensure that they do not prohibit or discourage governments from adopting policies that would enable them to reduce the human rights costs of current policies, Human Rights Watch said.

More than 95 percent of United Nations member countries are parties to the three core drug treaties, which oblige governments to make the possession, purchase or cultivation of drugs for personal consumption a criminal offense.

Although the treaties offer some latitude for interpretation, the International Narcotics Control Board, which monitors compliance, has reprimanded countries that have taken steps toward decriminalization.

Human Rights Watch recognizes that reform of existing strategies for drug control may raise legitimate concerns about unintended social or health costs, such as a significant increase in drug abuse. Governments should carry out their reforms based upon evidence of effective ways to reduce the harm to others that can accompany drug use and drug control.

“Given the violence and abuse associated with existing drug policies, it is critically important for governments not to be constrained from exploring new approaches,” Vivanco said.

WHAT IS HUMAN RIGHTS ???

30 ARTICLES OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Here, the story of articles of human rights. There are 30 articles of human rights that we need and have to know =)

WHERE IS THEIR RIGHT ???

Child labor refers to the employment of children in any work which denied their childhood. This thing has been bothering the children to get the education they were entitled. This is also one of the forms of abuse against children both physically and mentally. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations. Law around the world prohibit child labor. Poverty is one of the things that cause this thing happen. In developing countries, the high level of poverty makes them unable to meet the cost of education.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggests poverty is the greatest single cause behind child labor. For impoverished households, income from a child's work is usually crucial for his or her own survival or for that of the household.

In many cultures, particular where informal economy and small household businesses thrive, the cultural tradition is that children follow in their parents' footsteps, child labor then is a means to learn and practice that trade from a very early age. Similarly, in many cultures the education of girls is less valued or girls are simply not expected to need formal schooling, and these girls pushed into child labor such as providing domestic services.

The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which was subsequently ratified by 193 countries. Article 32 of the convention addressed child labor, as follows:

"Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development"

Under Article 1 of the 1990 Convention, a child is defined as "every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier." Article 28 of this Convention requires States to, "make primary education compulsory and available free to all." Three countries that have not ratified the 1990 Convention are Somalia, South Sudan and the United States.

Young girl working on a loom in Aït Benhaddou, Morocco in May 2008.

Nepali girls working in brick factory.

Child maid servant in India. Child domestic workers are common in India.

Child labor in a coal mine, United States, c. 1912. Photograph by Lewis Hine.

Children engaged in diamond mining in Sierra Leone.