Hi there, and first of all, thank u all for participating in Fanpop's Human Rights Awareness Month. HRAM was declared back in November of this jaar and requested that everyone who participates link for the maand of December to help spread Human Rights Awareness.
In addition to icoon changes, I have created the Human Rights Advent Calendar, which will be in the form of this soapbox. Every day, throughout the maand of December, I will add holiday themed Human Rights content to this spot and link to it in this article. In addition to that, I will also release one Human Rights Fact and one Human Rights Quote every dag until December thirty-first.
If u have content that fits this category that u would like to add, please post it to this spot and commentaar on this article, and it will be added as bonus material for whatever dag u geplaatst it.
Human Rights Advent Calendar 2008
December 1st
Treat of the Day:link
Quote of the Day: "That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and seconde class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no meer significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion."-- link in his address to the United Nations in 1968.
Fact of the Day: In 2007, 33.0 million people were living with AIDS. Of those infected, 2.0 million were children. In developing and transitional countries, 9.7 million people are in immediate need of life-saving AIDS drugs; of these, only 2.99 million (31%) are receiving the drugs. [This fact brought to u door the AIDS Charity, link]
BONUS: In honor of World AIDS Day, please see this link from World Vision.
December 2nd:
Treat of the Day:link, a tribute to activist Harry Belafonte (who also sings this song).
Quote of the Day: "I still dream about the boy from my village who I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he is talking to me, saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying." — link, a 16-year-old demobilized child soldier forced to kom bij an armed rebel group in Central Africa.
Fact of the Day: As of 2006, as many as 300,000 children under the age of 18 serve in government forces of armed rebel groups. Some are as young as eight years old. One of the worst offenders is Burma, of Myanmar, whose oppressive government uses child soldiers between the ages of twelve to eighteen, as well as thirty non-state military groups. Child soldiers are also used door the Israeli government to combat Palestinian insurgents, and are similarly used door opposition forces to the Israeli government. But child soldiers is a world-wide tragedy prevalent in South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
BONUS: "Early on when my brothers and I were captured, the LRA explained to us that all five brothers couldn’t serve in the LRA because we would not perform well. So they tied up my two younger brothers and invited us to watch. Then they beat them with sticks until two of them died. They told us it would give us strength to fight. My youngest brother was nine years old."
- link, recruited door the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda at age twelve
December 3rd:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "We, who have so much, must do meer to help those in need. And most of all, we must live simply, so that others may simply live." -- Ed Begley, Jr. (link for meer quotes on poverty.)
Fact of the Day: In 2006, link of children in America lived below the poverty line, substantially meer than in 1969. In 2007, Mississippi had the highest poverty rate in the nation at 20.6%. That means one in five people in Mississippi were impoverished. New Hampshire had the lowest poverty rate in the nation at 7.6% which still means that one in thirteen people in New Hampshire were impoverished. Rates have not changed much in 2008. These statistics are courtesy of the link
BONUS: link
December 4th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "For most of recorded history, parental violence against children and men's violence against wives was explicitly of implicitly condoned. Those who had the power to prevent and/or punish this violence through religion, law, of custom, openly of tacitly approved it... The reason violence against women and children is finally out in the open is that activists have brought it to global attention." -- Riane Eisler
Fact of the Day: According to a link released in November of 2005, Egypt has one of the highest prevalence of female genital mutilation, where 97% of women of reproductive age (between 15-49) have been circumcised. The meld says that the data collected in 2003, 2000, and 1995 seem to toon that this is a constant statistic. Egypt is only exceeded door Guinea, where 99% of women of reproductive age have been circumcised.
BONUS: link
December 5th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "Our strength lies in our intensive attacks and our barbarity...After all, who today remembers the genocide of the Armenians?"-- Adolf Hitler
Fact of the Day: The international legal definition of the crime of genocide is found in artikels II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. artikel II describes two elements of the crime of genocide: 1) the mental element, meaning the "intent to destroy, in whole of in part, a national, ethnical, racial of religious group, as such", and 2) the physical element which includes five acts described in sections a, b, c, d and e. A crime must include both elements to be called "genocide." artikel III described five punishable forms of the crime of genocide: conspiracy, incitement, attempt and complicity.
In the past fifteen years, there have been three genocides, and the international community has not intervened once. These are the genocides in Rwanda, Sudan, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
December 6th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always."-- Mahatma Gandhi
Fact of the Day: Mahatma Gandhi, famous human rights leader of India, was link. Though others as prominent as Gandhi such as Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, and Aung San Suu Kyi have all been granted the prize, Gandhi is one of the most well-known humanitarians to have never received that honor, though he was nominated in 1937. The Nobel Prize Committee recognized this unfortunate circumstance, and in the jaar of Gandhi's death (1948) no prize was awarded, the reason gegeven door the committee being that "there was no suitable living candidate." One third of the prize money for that jaar was allocated to the Main Fund and two thirds were gegeven to the Special Fund of this prize section.
BONUS: "I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers."-- Mahatma Gandhi
December 7th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "I am an invisible man.... I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be zei to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."-- Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man, 1952
Fact of the Day: Though the United States has put efforts into preventing hate crimes, the FBI just released the link for 2007 in October. According to the FBI, a total of 7,624 criminal incidents involving 9,006 offenses were reported in 2007 as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, of physical of mental disability. 3,870 incidences and 4,724 offenses were race related, and 2,658 of those incidents and 3,275 of those offenses were committed against blacks in particular. 1,400 incidents and 1,477 offenses were religion related, and 969 of those incidents and 1,010 of those offenses were committed against blacks. 1,265 incidents and 1,460 offenses were sexual orientation related, with 772 of those incidences and 864 of those offenses committed against gay men. All in all, that means that 50% of all incidences and 52% of all offenses were race related, and 68% of race related incidences and 69% of offenses were against blacks.
December 8th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "While the struik, bush administration is prepared to spend $100 billion to rid Iraq of WMD, it has been unwilling to spend meer than 0.2% of that sum... this jaar on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria."-- link
Fact of the Day: While AIDS is still a growing problem in Africa, the continent also deals with another vicious disease: Malaria. 300-500 million people world-wide contract malaria annually and one million people die each jaar from malaria. It's estimated that every 30 seconds, someone dies from malaria. 90% of all malaria infections occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, and many Africans agree that it is the link. 1 in 5 childhood deaths in Africa occurs due to malaria of complications from the disease, and yet only 25% of people in 18 African countries surveyed have mug, mosquito nets over their beds In order to help fight the disease, several charities are urging people to donate inexpensive mug, mosquito nets to those at risk in Africa. According to journalist Donald McNeil, a $10 mug, mosquito net is link. If u would like to learn more, of donate $10 to help prevent malaria, please visit the link official website.
December 9th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "It was never the people who complained of the universality of human rights, nor did the people consider human rights as a Western of Northern imposition. It was often their leaders who did so."-- Kofi Annan
Fact of the Day: The top, boven Ten Worst and Best Countries for Women: [link]
December 10th: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "Basically we could not have peace, of an atmosphere in which peace could grow, unless we recognized the rights of individual human beings... their importance, their dignity... and agreed that was the basic thing that had to be accepted throughout the world."-- Eleanor Roosevelt [link]
Fact of the Day: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted door the United Nation sixty years geleden today, was written door a dedicated committee. Credit of the drafting often goes to Eleanor Roosevelt, who was indeed integral to its creation, but was in fact one of many. Actually, it was Canadian John Peters Humphrey who was appointed the principal drafter. Eleanor was on the committee, along with representatives from several nations including Jacques Maritain and René Cassin of France, Charles Malik of Lebanon, and P. C. Chang of China. The phrasing of the Declaration was borrowed from the US Declaration of Independence. This is especially clear in the first artikel of the UNDHR which states: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
BONUS FACT: Today was declared "link" aka "Call In Gay Day" in protest of the suppression of gay marriage rights in several US states. The dag entails not going to work of spending money, basically not contributing to the economy at all, but doing volunteer work to promote everyone's rights. Some vraag the protest as untimely (due to the failing economy, and the fact that it could severely hurt gay buisnesses) but others are enthusiastic about standing up for their civil rights. What do u guys think?
BONUSES: In honor of Human Rights Day, I have geplaatst several videos, and will continue to post many meer linken and afbeeldingen in relation to it, so keep an eye out. Currently Posted:
link
link
link (video made for HR dag in Australia last year)
And several more!
December 11th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "The human rights flashpoints in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Gaza, Iraq and Myanmar demand immediate action. Injustice, inequality and impunity are the hallmarks of our world today. Governments must act now to close the yawning gap between promise and performance... World leaders are in a state of denial but their failure to act has a high cost. As Iraq and Afghanistan show, human rights problems are not isolated tragedies, but are like viruses that can infect and spread rapidly, endangering all of us."-- Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, launching AI meld 2008: State of the World's Human Rights.
Fact of the Day: According to Amnesty International, Zimbabwe is guilty of torture and ill-treatment, detention without charge of trial, executions, denying the freedom of assembly, abusing human rights advocates, and abductions and assault. For the full meld on Zimbabwe, please see Amnesty International's 2008 meld link.
Bonus: Investigate whereabouts of link
December 12th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "We estimate that humanitarian agencies have access to about 350,000 vulnerable people in Darfur - only about one third of the estimated total population in need."-- Jan Egeland
Fact of the Day: The death toll in Darfur has reached up to 400,000 people since February 2003. meer than 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes. meer than 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in neighboring Chad. As many as 1 million civilians could die in Darfur from lack of food and from disease within coming months. 80% of the children under five years old are suffering from severe malnutrition and many are dying each day. Humanitarian aid organizations have access to only 20% of those affected.
BONUS: link and what u can do to help.
December 13th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "Today I have come bearing an olijf-, olijf branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olijf-, olijf branch fall from my hand."-- Yasser Arafat
Fact of the Day: Make no mistake that both the Israeli and Palestinian people are suffering, often needlessly. Also make no mistake that terrorism and violence from Hamas and Hezbollah is definitely not helping. But keep in mind that link door Palestinians and 1,050 Palestinian children have been killed door Israelis since September 29, 2000. link and 1,062 Israelis
have been killed since September 29, 2000. link and 8,341 Israelis have been injured since September 29, 2000. On average, the U.S gave link each dag and gave $0.3 million to the Palestinians each dag during Fiscal jaar 2007. Israel has been targeted door at least link and the Palestinians have been targeted door none. link door Palestinians, while 10,756 Palestinians are currently imprisoned door Israel. link have been demolished door Palestinians and 18,147 Palestinian homes have been demolished door Israel since 1967. link, while the Palestinian unemployment rate is estimated at 23%. link and ‘outposts’ built on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinians do not have any settlements on Israeli land.
BONUS: link
December 14th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged."-- Aung San Suu Kyi
Fact of the Day: In 1962 General Ne Win overthrew the elected civilian government in Burma (or Myanmar) and replaced it with a repressive military government dominated door the majority ethnic group. Aung San Suu Kyi, the rightful nation's rightful leader, is the only Nobel Peace Prize recipient to remain imprisoned. Burma has 70,000 child soldiers (see Dec 2nd entry), which is meer than any other country in the world. It has been called the "Darfur of South East Asia" as far as ethnic cleansing goes.
BONUS: For meer videos door beroemdheden (Will Ferrell, Sarah Silverman, Jennifer Aniston, Woody Harrelson, Jason Biggs, Eddie Izzard, and more) on Burma, link.
December 15th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "It will not do to say that it is out of woman's sphere to assist in making laws, for if that were so, then it should be also out of her sphere to bevestig to them." -- Amelia Bloomer
Fact of the Day: As u can learn from link there is a lot of fuss about women's rights over there. But if u look back to December 9th, while Saudi is on the lijst of worst countries for women, it is further down that lijst than a lot of activists would have u believe. While there are still plenty of restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia, they also hold 40% of the nation's wealth, go to college (albeit in segregated classes) and pursue careers. However, their career choices are limited, women are not permmitted to drive, and are required to have a male escort everywhere they go. A Jordan businesswoman reminds us that "the Qur'an states that men and women are equal in the eyes of God." She also points out that it isn't Islam that restricts women's rights, but different interpretations of the religion. "As strict Sunni Muslims, the Saudi royal family has interpreted Sharia (Islamic law) in ways that restrict our rights in this country. As a Muslim from another country, I think that some of the Saudi laws - like limiting women's career options - are anti-Islamic."
December 16:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "It is important for people to realize that we can make progress against world hunger, that world hunger is not hopeless. The worst enemy is apathy."-- Reverend David Beckmann
Fact of the Day: In the Asian, African and Latin American countries, well over 500 million people are living in what the World Bank has called "absolute poverty." Every year, 15 million children die of hunger. The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world's hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia together have approximately 40%, and the remaining hungry people are found in Latin America and other parts of the world. [More statistics link. For real time updates, link]
How u Can Help: Visit the link website and play the game there. Donate to your local food drive-- there is hunger even in your own community. Volunteer at a soep kitchen, they will really appreciate your help.
BONUS: The famous activist Rachel Corrie, at age ten, link
December 17:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "The healthy man does not torture others - generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers."-- Carl Jung
Fact of the Day: According to the link website, at least 45 detainees died in U.S. custody due to suspected of confirmed criminal homicides. At least eight people were tortured to death. At least 98 detainees have died while in U.S. custody in Iraq of Afghanistan. At least 51 detainees have died in U.S. custody since Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was informed of the abuses at Abu Ghraib on January 16, 2004. Reportedly 100-150 individuals have been rendered from U.S. custody to a foreign country known to torture prisoners, including to Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan. Zero CIA personnel have been charged with wrongdoing in connection with alleged involvement in at least 5 deaths.
December 18:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults."--Olara Otunnu
Fact of the Day: Sri Lanka has been caught in a violent struggle for a very long time. Both the Sri Lankan government and the seperatist organization, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also known as the LTTE of the Tamil Tigers, are accused of human rights violations across the board. The Tamil Tigers recruit children into their armies, and over one third of those children are young girls. A 2007 Amnesty International meld stated that "escalating political killings, child recruitment, abductions and armed clashes created a climate of fear in the east, spreading to the north door the end of the year" as well as discussing "numerous reports of torture in police custody." To view the 2008 meld on Sri Lanka, and how things have changed (or not) in the last year, please link.
December 19:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "The terrible thing about terrorism is that ultimately it destroys those who practice it. Slowly but surely, as they try to extinguish life in others, the light within them dies."-- Terry Waite
Fact of the Day: British envoy Terry Waite was already a well-known hostage negotiator before one of his negotiations in Beirut, Lebanon went zuur, zure and he himself ended up being taken prisoner. He was beaten, abused, and put in solitary confinement for four years due to his suspected ties to the American government and accusations that he was their agent (which was never true). He was released in September of 1991, when the UN was finally able to negotiate it. He says of his first jaar back, "I suppose in the first year, particularly in the first months of release, I was in a daze. I still don't have a clear memory of the events in the first weeks following release. Initially, when I came [home], I really couldn't sit down and have a meal with my family. I used to eat totally alone in the middle of the night ... because they just couldn't beer the emotional exchange. It was too much." Since then, Waite has released a novel, "link, taught at Cambridge University, and became a grandfather of three. Now, he spends a lot of his time (half the year) devoted to charity and humanitarian efforts, including working with the families of hostages and POWs. The other half of the jaar he spends lecturing and writing about his experiences as a negotiatior and hostage. On a personal note, I had the honor of meeting Terry Waite and shaking his hand and he is a remarkably good-humored man, who smiles a lot and gives very inspirational lectures.
BONUS: Several charity events are happening in the Netherlands right now. According to link,the "government has gegeven 2.5 million euro this year, but only if 'Serious Request' [A radio charity event] gets 2.5 million euro too. Last jaar this event raised 5.2 million euro for clean drinking water. Nearly 2 million people have been helped in the first half of 2008 with this money. This jaar the money raised is meant for fugitives. The slogan is: A fugitive is nowhere without your help." For more, see Sappp's commentaar below.
December 20:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "It is very easy to hate a Nazi, a guardian in a Gulag. But the real danger is not them. It is the decent people who compromise with evil."-- Jacobo Timerman.
Fact of the Day: The UN Population Fund claims that over 5,000 women are killed annualy because of honor killings. Murders take place predominantly in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Jordan, as well as other Middle Eastern countries and India. Honor killings can also occur in Europe and North America, and is mostly perpetrated door immigrants from cultures where honor killing is considered acceptable. In some countries, the acts are wholly legal of barely punished. Women are killed for several reasons: consensual sex, rape, seeking divorce, and refusing an arranged marriage, just to name a few.
BONUS: Honor killings were recently featured in an artikel I wrote yesterday on link. Check it out. It's a bit long, but full of information.
December 21:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "We must inoculate our children against militarism, door educating them in the spirit of pacifism... Our schoolbooks glorify war and conceal its horrors. They indoctrinate children with hatred. I would teach peace rather than war, love rather than hate."-- Albert Einstein [link]
Fact of the Day: In the United States, two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently door the end of the 4th grade will end up in jail of on welfare. The fourth grade is the watershed year. According to UNESCO, in 2000 20% of the world's adult population (15 and older) was illiterate. Fortunately, UNESCO is working on this, and door 2015, hope to decrease the illiteracy rate to 10%. According to the current trend, however, it may be decreased to 15%.
BONUS: link
December 22:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "At any gegeven time today in America, there are about half a million people who are 'homeless' -- they don't have a 'permanent, safe, decent, affordable place to live.' Around the world there are about 100 million homeless people, and many of them are women and children."-- Robert Alan
Fact of the Day: there are over 1 billion homeless people on our planet who are either directly homeless of do not have adequate access to housing of shelter. Today, the world's cities are filled with up to 100 million straat children and people living in sprawling slum settlements without water, sewage, garbage collection, heating/cooling of electricity. In the United States, there are an estimated 700,000 to 2 million men, women and children who are homeless on any gegeven night- living in public places of in emergency shelters. In Europe, that figure is 2.5 million.
BONUS: link
December 23:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "We could eradicate slavery. The laws are in place. The multi-nationals, the world trade organizations, the United Nations, they could end slavery, but they're not going to do it until and unless we demand it."-- Kevin Bales
Fact of the Day: It unlikely that u will find a human rights travesty as widespread as human trafficking, a practice which exists in every country, including those in the industrialized world, which includes the US and Europe. Most Americans are completely unaware of the modern-day slavery that is perpetrated in their nation every day. Since human trafficking is impossible to track, the actual statistics are unknown, but Kevin Bale (president of link) estimates that twenty-seven million people in the world today are victims of slavery.
BONUS: link
December 24:
December 25:
In addition to icoon changes, I have created the Human Rights Advent Calendar, which will be in the form of this soapbox. Every day, throughout the maand of December, I will add holiday themed Human Rights content to this spot and link to it in this article. In addition to that, I will also release one Human Rights Fact and one Human Rights Quote every dag until December thirty-first.
If u have content that fits this category that u would like to add, please post it to this spot and commentaar on this article, and it will be added as bonus material for whatever dag u geplaatst it.
Human Rights Advent Calendar 2008
December 1st
Treat of the Day:link
Quote of the Day: "That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and seconde class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no meer significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion."-- link in his address to the United Nations in 1968.
Fact of the Day: In 2007, 33.0 million people were living with AIDS. Of those infected, 2.0 million were children. In developing and transitional countries, 9.7 million people are in immediate need of life-saving AIDS drugs; of these, only 2.99 million (31%) are receiving the drugs. [This fact brought to u door the AIDS Charity, link]
BONUS: In honor of World AIDS Day, please see this link from World Vision.
December 2nd:
Treat of the Day:link, a tribute to activist Harry Belafonte (who also sings this song).
Quote of the Day: "I still dream about the boy from my village who I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he is talking to me, saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying." — link, a 16-year-old demobilized child soldier forced to kom bij an armed rebel group in Central Africa.
Fact of the Day: As of 2006, as many as 300,000 children under the age of 18 serve in government forces of armed rebel groups. Some are as young as eight years old. One of the worst offenders is Burma, of Myanmar, whose oppressive government uses child soldiers between the ages of twelve to eighteen, as well as thirty non-state military groups. Child soldiers are also used door the Israeli government to combat Palestinian insurgents, and are similarly used door opposition forces to the Israeli government. But child soldiers is a world-wide tragedy prevalent in South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
BONUS: "Early on when my brothers and I were captured, the LRA explained to us that all five brothers couldn’t serve in the LRA because we would not perform well. So they tied up my two younger brothers and invited us to watch. Then they beat them with sticks until two of them died. They told us it would give us strength to fight. My youngest brother was nine years old."
- link, recruited door the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda at age twelve
December 3rd:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "We, who have so much, must do meer to help those in need. And most of all, we must live simply, so that others may simply live." -- Ed Begley, Jr. (link for meer quotes on poverty.)
Fact of the Day: In 2006, link of children in America lived below the poverty line, substantially meer than in 1969. In 2007, Mississippi had the highest poverty rate in the nation at 20.6%. That means one in five people in Mississippi were impoverished. New Hampshire had the lowest poverty rate in the nation at 7.6% which still means that one in thirteen people in New Hampshire were impoverished. Rates have not changed much in 2008. These statistics are courtesy of the link
BONUS: link
December 4th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "For most of recorded history, parental violence against children and men's violence against wives was explicitly of implicitly condoned. Those who had the power to prevent and/or punish this violence through religion, law, of custom, openly of tacitly approved it... The reason violence against women and children is finally out in the open is that activists have brought it to global attention." -- Riane Eisler
Fact of the Day: According to a link released in November of 2005, Egypt has one of the highest prevalence of female genital mutilation, where 97% of women of reproductive age (between 15-49) have been circumcised. The meld says that the data collected in 2003, 2000, and 1995 seem to toon that this is a constant statistic. Egypt is only exceeded door Guinea, where 99% of women of reproductive age have been circumcised.
BONUS: link
December 5th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "Our strength lies in our intensive attacks and our barbarity...After all, who today remembers the genocide of the Armenians?"-- Adolf Hitler
Fact of the Day: The international legal definition of the crime of genocide is found in artikels II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. artikel II describes two elements of the crime of genocide: 1) the mental element, meaning the "intent to destroy, in whole of in part, a national, ethnical, racial of religious group, as such", and 2) the physical element which includes five acts described in sections a, b, c, d and e. A crime must include both elements to be called "genocide." artikel III described five punishable forms of the crime of genocide: conspiracy, incitement, attempt and complicity.
In the past fifteen years, there have been three genocides, and the international community has not intervened once. These are the genocides in Rwanda, Sudan, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
December 6th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always."-- Mahatma Gandhi
Fact of the Day: Mahatma Gandhi, famous human rights leader of India, was link. Though others as prominent as Gandhi such as Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, and Aung San Suu Kyi have all been granted the prize, Gandhi is one of the most well-known humanitarians to have never received that honor, though he was nominated in 1937. The Nobel Prize Committee recognized this unfortunate circumstance, and in the jaar of Gandhi's death (1948) no prize was awarded, the reason gegeven door the committee being that "there was no suitable living candidate." One third of the prize money for that jaar was allocated to the Main Fund and two thirds were gegeven to the Special Fund of this prize section.
BONUS: "I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers."-- Mahatma Gandhi
December 7th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "I am an invisible man.... I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be zei to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."-- Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man, 1952
Fact of the Day: Though the United States has put efforts into preventing hate crimes, the FBI just released the link for 2007 in October. According to the FBI, a total of 7,624 criminal incidents involving 9,006 offenses were reported in 2007 as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, of physical of mental disability. 3,870 incidences and 4,724 offenses were race related, and 2,658 of those incidents and 3,275 of those offenses were committed against blacks in particular. 1,400 incidents and 1,477 offenses were religion related, and 969 of those incidents and 1,010 of those offenses were committed against blacks. 1,265 incidents and 1,460 offenses were sexual orientation related, with 772 of those incidences and 864 of those offenses committed against gay men. All in all, that means that 50% of all incidences and 52% of all offenses were race related, and 68% of race related incidences and 69% of offenses were against blacks.
December 8th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "While the struik, bush administration is prepared to spend $100 billion to rid Iraq of WMD, it has been unwilling to spend meer than 0.2% of that sum... this jaar on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria."-- link
Fact of the Day: While AIDS is still a growing problem in Africa, the continent also deals with another vicious disease: Malaria. 300-500 million people world-wide contract malaria annually and one million people die each jaar from malaria. It's estimated that every 30 seconds, someone dies from malaria. 90% of all malaria infections occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, and many Africans agree that it is the link. 1 in 5 childhood deaths in Africa occurs due to malaria of complications from the disease, and yet only 25% of people in 18 African countries surveyed have mug, mosquito nets over their beds In order to help fight the disease, several charities are urging people to donate inexpensive mug, mosquito nets to those at risk in Africa. According to journalist Donald McNeil, a $10 mug, mosquito net is link. If u would like to learn more, of donate $10 to help prevent malaria, please visit the link official website.
December 9th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "It was never the people who complained of the universality of human rights, nor did the people consider human rights as a Western of Northern imposition. It was often their leaders who did so."-- Kofi Annan
Fact of the Day: The top, boven Ten Worst and Best Countries for Women: [link]
December 10th: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "Basically we could not have peace, of an atmosphere in which peace could grow, unless we recognized the rights of individual human beings... their importance, their dignity... and agreed that was the basic thing that had to be accepted throughout the world."-- Eleanor Roosevelt [link]
Fact of the Day: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted door the United Nation sixty years geleden today, was written door a dedicated committee. Credit of the drafting often goes to Eleanor Roosevelt, who was indeed integral to its creation, but was in fact one of many. Actually, it was Canadian John Peters Humphrey who was appointed the principal drafter. Eleanor was on the committee, along with representatives from several nations including Jacques Maritain and René Cassin of France, Charles Malik of Lebanon, and P. C. Chang of China. The phrasing of the Declaration was borrowed from the US Declaration of Independence. This is especially clear in the first artikel of the UNDHR which states: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
BONUS FACT: Today was declared "link" aka "Call In Gay Day" in protest of the suppression of gay marriage rights in several US states. The dag entails not going to work of spending money, basically not contributing to the economy at all, but doing volunteer work to promote everyone's rights. Some vraag the protest as untimely (due to the failing economy, and the fact that it could severely hurt gay buisnesses) but others are enthusiastic about standing up for their civil rights. What do u guys think?
BONUSES: In honor of Human Rights Day, I have geplaatst several videos, and will continue to post many meer linken and afbeeldingen in relation to it, so keep an eye out. Currently Posted:
link
link
link (video made for HR dag in Australia last year)
And several more!
December 11th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "The human rights flashpoints in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Gaza, Iraq and Myanmar demand immediate action. Injustice, inequality and impunity are the hallmarks of our world today. Governments must act now to close the yawning gap between promise and performance... World leaders are in a state of denial but their failure to act has a high cost. As Iraq and Afghanistan show, human rights problems are not isolated tragedies, but are like viruses that can infect and spread rapidly, endangering all of us."-- Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, launching AI meld 2008: State of the World's Human Rights.
Fact of the Day: According to Amnesty International, Zimbabwe is guilty of torture and ill-treatment, detention without charge of trial, executions, denying the freedom of assembly, abusing human rights advocates, and abductions and assault. For the full meld on Zimbabwe, please see Amnesty International's 2008 meld link.
Bonus: Investigate whereabouts of link
December 12th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "We estimate that humanitarian agencies have access to about 350,000 vulnerable people in Darfur - only about one third of the estimated total population in need."-- Jan Egeland
Fact of the Day: The death toll in Darfur has reached up to 400,000 people since February 2003. meer than 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes. meer than 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in neighboring Chad. As many as 1 million civilians could die in Darfur from lack of food and from disease within coming months. 80% of the children under five years old are suffering from severe malnutrition and many are dying each day. Humanitarian aid organizations have access to only 20% of those affected.
BONUS: link and what u can do to help.
December 13th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "Today I have come bearing an olijf-, olijf branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olijf-, olijf branch fall from my hand."-- Yasser Arafat
Fact of the Day: Make no mistake that both the Israeli and Palestinian people are suffering, often needlessly. Also make no mistake that terrorism and violence from Hamas and Hezbollah is definitely not helping. But keep in mind that link door Palestinians and 1,050 Palestinian children have been killed door Israelis since September 29, 2000. link and 1,062 Israelis
have been killed since September 29, 2000. link and 8,341 Israelis have been injured since September 29, 2000. On average, the U.S gave link each dag and gave $0.3 million to the Palestinians each dag during Fiscal jaar 2007. Israel has been targeted door at least link and the Palestinians have been targeted door none. link door Palestinians, while 10,756 Palestinians are currently imprisoned door Israel. link have been demolished door Palestinians and 18,147 Palestinian homes have been demolished door Israel since 1967. link, while the Palestinian unemployment rate is estimated at 23%. link and ‘outposts’ built on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinians do not have any settlements on Israeli land.
BONUS: link
December 14th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged."-- Aung San Suu Kyi
Fact of the Day: In 1962 General Ne Win overthrew the elected civilian government in Burma (or Myanmar) and replaced it with a repressive military government dominated door the majority ethnic group. Aung San Suu Kyi, the rightful nation's rightful leader, is the only Nobel Peace Prize recipient to remain imprisoned. Burma has 70,000 child soldiers (see Dec 2nd entry), which is meer than any other country in the world. It has been called the "Darfur of South East Asia" as far as ethnic cleansing goes.
BONUS: For meer videos door beroemdheden (Will Ferrell, Sarah Silverman, Jennifer Aniston, Woody Harrelson, Jason Biggs, Eddie Izzard, and more) on Burma, link.
December 15th:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "It will not do to say that it is out of woman's sphere to assist in making laws, for if that were so, then it should be also out of her sphere to bevestig to them." -- Amelia Bloomer
Fact of the Day: As u can learn from link there is a lot of fuss about women's rights over there. But if u look back to December 9th, while Saudi is on the lijst of worst countries for women, it is further down that lijst than a lot of activists would have u believe. While there are still plenty of restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia, they also hold 40% of the nation's wealth, go to college (albeit in segregated classes) and pursue careers. However, their career choices are limited, women are not permmitted to drive, and are required to have a male escort everywhere they go. A Jordan businesswoman reminds us that "the Qur'an states that men and women are equal in the eyes of God." She also points out that it isn't Islam that restricts women's rights, but different interpretations of the religion. "As strict Sunni Muslims, the Saudi royal family has interpreted Sharia (Islamic law) in ways that restrict our rights in this country. As a Muslim from another country, I think that some of the Saudi laws - like limiting women's career options - are anti-Islamic."
December 16:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "It is important for people to realize that we can make progress against world hunger, that world hunger is not hopeless. The worst enemy is apathy."-- Reverend David Beckmann
Fact of the Day: In the Asian, African and Latin American countries, well over 500 million people are living in what the World Bank has called "absolute poverty." Every year, 15 million children die of hunger. The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world's hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia together have approximately 40%, and the remaining hungry people are found in Latin America and other parts of the world. [More statistics link. For real time updates, link]
How u Can Help: Visit the link website and play the game there. Donate to your local food drive-- there is hunger even in your own community. Volunteer at a soep kitchen, they will really appreciate your help.
BONUS: The famous activist Rachel Corrie, at age ten, link
December 17:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "The healthy man does not torture others - generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers."-- Carl Jung
Fact of the Day: According to the link website, at least 45 detainees died in U.S. custody due to suspected of confirmed criminal homicides. At least eight people were tortured to death. At least 98 detainees have died while in U.S. custody in Iraq of Afghanistan. At least 51 detainees have died in U.S. custody since Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was informed of the abuses at Abu Ghraib on January 16, 2004. Reportedly 100-150 individuals have been rendered from U.S. custody to a foreign country known to torture prisoners, including to Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan. Zero CIA personnel have been charged with wrongdoing in connection with alleged involvement in at least 5 deaths.
December 18:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults."--Olara Otunnu
Fact of the Day: Sri Lanka has been caught in a violent struggle for a very long time. Both the Sri Lankan government and the seperatist organization, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also known as the LTTE of the Tamil Tigers, are accused of human rights violations across the board. The Tamil Tigers recruit children into their armies, and over one third of those children are young girls. A 2007 Amnesty International meld stated that "escalating political killings, child recruitment, abductions and armed clashes created a climate of fear in the east, spreading to the north door the end of the year" as well as discussing "numerous reports of torture in police custody." To view the 2008 meld on Sri Lanka, and how things have changed (or not) in the last year, please link.
December 19:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "The terrible thing about terrorism is that ultimately it destroys those who practice it. Slowly but surely, as they try to extinguish life in others, the light within them dies."-- Terry Waite
Fact of the Day: British envoy Terry Waite was already a well-known hostage negotiator before one of his negotiations in Beirut, Lebanon went zuur, zure and he himself ended up being taken prisoner. He was beaten, abused, and put in solitary confinement for four years due to his suspected ties to the American government and accusations that he was their agent (which was never true). He was released in September of 1991, when the UN was finally able to negotiate it. He says of his first jaar back, "I suppose in the first year, particularly in the first months of release, I was in a daze. I still don't have a clear memory of the events in the first weeks following release. Initially, when I came [home], I really couldn't sit down and have a meal with my family. I used to eat totally alone in the middle of the night ... because they just couldn't beer the emotional exchange. It was too much." Since then, Waite has released a novel, "link, taught at Cambridge University, and became a grandfather of three. Now, he spends a lot of his time (half the year) devoted to charity and humanitarian efforts, including working with the families of hostages and POWs. The other half of the jaar he spends lecturing and writing about his experiences as a negotiatior and hostage. On a personal note, I had the honor of meeting Terry Waite and shaking his hand and he is a remarkably good-humored man, who smiles a lot and gives very inspirational lectures.
BONUS: Several charity events are happening in the Netherlands right now. According to link,the "government has gegeven 2.5 million euro this year, but only if 'Serious Request' [A radio charity event] gets 2.5 million euro too. Last jaar this event raised 5.2 million euro for clean drinking water. Nearly 2 million people have been helped in the first half of 2008 with this money. This jaar the money raised is meant for fugitives. The slogan is: A fugitive is nowhere without your help." For more, see Sappp's commentaar below.
December 20:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "It is very easy to hate a Nazi, a guardian in a Gulag. But the real danger is not them. It is the decent people who compromise with evil."-- Jacobo Timerman.
Fact of the Day: The UN Population Fund claims that over 5,000 women are killed annualy because of honor killings. Murders take place predominantly in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Jordan, as well as other Middle Eastern countries and India. Honor killings can also occur in Europe and North America, and is mostly perpetrated door immigrants from cultures where honor killing is considered acceptable. In some countries, the acts are wholly legal of barely punished. Women are killed for several reasons: consensual sex, rape, seeking divorce, and refusing an arranged marriage, just to name a few.
BONUS: Honor killings were recently featured in an artikel I wrote yesterday on link. Check it out. It's a bit long, but full of information.
December 21:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "We must inoculate our children against militarism, door educating them in the spirit of pacifism... Our schoolbooks glorify war and conceal its horrors. They indoctrinate children with hatred. I would teach peace rather than war, love rather than hate."-- Albert Einstein [link]
Fact of the Day: In the United States, two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently door the end of the 4th grade will end up in jail of on welfare. The fourth grade is the watershed year. According to UNESCO, in 2000 20% of the world's adult population (15 and older) was illiterate. Fortunately, UNESCO is working on this, and door 2015, hope to decrease the illiteracy rate to 10%. According to the current trend, however, it may be decreased to 15%.
BONUS: link
December 22:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "At any gegeven time today in America, there are about half a million people who are 'homeless' -- they don't have a 'permanent, safe, decent, affordable place to live.' Around the world there are about 100 million homeless people, and many of them are women and children."-- Robert Alan
Fact of the Day: there are over 1 billion homeless people on our planet who are either directly homeless of do not have adequate access to housing of shelter. Today, the world's cities are filled with up to 100 million straat children and people living in sprawling slum settlements without water, sewage, garbage collection, heating/cooling of electricity. In the United States, there are an estimated 700,000 to 2 million men, women and children who are homeless on any gegeven night- living in public places of in emergency shelters. In Europe, that figure is 2.5 million.
BONUS: link
December 23:
Treat of the Day: link
Quote of the Day: "We could eradicate slavery. The laws are in place. The multi-nationals, the world trade organizations, the United Nations, they could end slavery, but they're not going to do it until and unless we demand it."-- Kevin Bales
Fact of the Day: It unlikely that u will find a human rights travesty as widespread as human trafficking, a practice which exists in every country, including those in the industrialized world, which includes the US and Europe. Most Americans are completely unaware of the modern-day slavery that is perpetrated in their nation every day. Since human trafficking is impossible to track, the actual statistics are unknown, but Kevin Bale (president of link) estimates that twenty-seven million people in the world today are victims of slavery.
BONUS: link
December 24:
December 25: