AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA'S BLOG
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Stopping Violence against Women in Standing Rock Sioux Reservation
- Posted on 04.15.09
Written by Amanda Flott
Welcome to Standing Rock Sioux Reservation--a sign on one of the border points that indicates you're now on tribal land in North Dakota.
Welcome to Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. This is a sign on one of the border points that indicates you are entering tribal land in North Dakota.
That sign says it all. As you cross this bridge entering tribal land and tribal jurisdiction, this is the only indication you’ll have. While it may seem insignificant to the regular driver cruising U.S. highway 1806, this sign along with many other border points along the Reservation is where the maze of injustice begins for the women of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation.
For the last three years, I’ve been the Amnesty International organizer working in this community in partnership with local Native women to accomplish our Maze of Injustice report goals. As I travel around the Reservation over the next week having meetings and participating in traditional ceremonies,...Read More -
What detention looks like on Twitter
- Posted on 04.09.09
Related causes: Human Rights
Posted by: Geoffrey Mock
One of the side effects of our new social networking technology is we are getting to see human rights violations and the workings of security agencies occur in real time through tools such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. I’ve known that for some time, but the knowledge feels different when it’s someone you have met who is affected.
Laila el-Haddad is a Duke graduate and Gaza activist. She lives most of the time in Gaza but has returned to Duke on several occasions to talk about the Middle East. She was passing through Cairo’s airport today on way to another venue when suddenly she and her family members were detained.
el-Haddad immediately started Twittering her detention. If you have a Twitter account, you can follow her postings at @gazamom. For more than 12 hours she described the unreal procession of questionings, of waiting, of discussions with the other detainees. The most recent word she gives is authorities are denying her return to ...Read More -
Jailed without justice
- Posted on 03.25.09
Mr. N, a Buddhist monk, fled to the U.S. after he was tortured in Tibet for his religious beliefs. When he arrived in New York, he was immediately detained and never had a chance to argue for his case before a judge. After 10 months in detention, he was finally granted asylum. Tragically, Mr. N's story is just one of many in our new report.
We found that countless cases of asylum seekers fleeing torture and long time lawful permanent residents are being unjustly detained in a broken and costly U.S. immigration detention system.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could issue new regulations that would quickly solve many of these problems. But instead, just three weeks ago, the office in charge of these policies testified before Congress that it plans to detain almost a hundred thousand more immigrants this year than last.
Tell the Dept. of Homeland Security that this is wrong, and that they need to fix this deeply flawed system of detention. We promise to hand deliver...Read More -
Tasers: Unnecessary and Deadly Force
- Posted on 03.25.09
Another unarmed teen has died after being Tased by police.
Brett Elder, 15, from Bay City, Michigan was killed after police used Tasers to break up a fight between him and another teenager.
Disturbingly, Brett is already the second teenager to die after being Tased this year. In January, an unarmed 17-year-old boy in Virginia died after police responding to a minor street incident shocked him in his apartment. As of today, the total number of deaths after the use of Taser guns in the US has risen to 351 since June 2001 and it keeps rising. Perhaps what’s most unsettling is that in over 90% of those cases, the person shocked didn’t even have a weapon.
The news of these teen deaths comes soon after the unveiling of a new Taser weapon, the Taser Shockwave, capable of shocking entire crowds at once. Clearly, this money could have been better spent conducting rigorous safety testing and research into why so many have died needlessly as a result of Tasers. Amnesty International h...Read More -
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
- Posted on 03.24.09
Related causes: Arts, Human Rights
Artists For Amnesty is proud to announce a powerful new series on HBO called The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. The show is based on Alexander McCall Smiths’s best selling book series whose main character is an inspirational, independent, determined and empowered women named Precious Ramotswe (played by Jill Scott) who starts her own detective agency in Botswana. The series touches upon many important subjects such as domestic violence.
To celebrate the premiere of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency on March 29th, HBO is partnering with the Botswana Tourism Board and the YWCA to recognize and celebrate inspiring women across the United States through the No. 1 Ladies’ Contest.
Tell HBO about your number one lady and you could win the trip of a lifetime to Botswana! To enter, visit http://www.mynumberonelady.com.
The month of March celebrated International Women's Day, so please go to http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/page.do?id=1011012 to learn more about Am...Read More
