Human rights

Our Race Against the Clock to Affirm Water as a Human Right

On the ten year anniversary of the United Nations historic vote to recognize water as a basic human right, Barlow reflects on where we go from here. A demonstrator holds a sign during a Detroit water shutoffs rally in 2014. (Photo: uusc4all/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Ten years ago today, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution affirming that water and sanitation[Read More...]

Xi Jinping’s ugly double face needs to be unmasked

A “state”, according to Max Weber, is “a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory” (WEBER, M.: “Politics as a Vocation” in GERTH, H.H.; WRIGHT, Mills, C. (eds.): From Marx Weber: essays in sociology, London, Routledge, 1991 [1948], p. 78). A “nation”, on the other hand, according to Montserrat[Read More...]

In Denial: Australia, Human Rights and Climate Change

When the complaint was lodged in May 2019, there was a sense of the audacious about it.  Eight Torres Strait Islanders had taken the trouble to petition the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Committee, citing climate change and Australian violations as their main concern.  Australia, they claimed, had violated their fundamental rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Condemn NIA summons to Delhi University professors Dr. PK Vijayan and Rakesh Ranjan!

Stop the witch-hunt of academics and activists in the name of Bhima Koregaon! Immediately release all political prisoners! The Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) condemns the summons by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to Dr. PK Vijayan and Rakesh Ranjan, faculty members in Delhi University, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad case yesterday. Following the recent arrest of Delhi[Read More...]

BC Punjabi Press Club condemns attack on three journalists in Delhi

The Punjabi Press Club of British Columbia (PPCBC) has come out with a strong statement against assaults on three reporters by the supporters of ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. The August 11 incident happened in New Delhi, the national capital of the world’s so-called largest democracy. Three journalists, including one Sikh, one Muslim and an unidentified[Read More...]

Three Women And A Minor Girl Dragged Out On Street And Stoned In Haryana

Four Christian women including a minor girl were dragged out on the street and mercilessly beaten up by religious fanatics in the Indian state of Haryana. The severity of the attack was such that it left one woman with a broken leg, one with stitches to her forehead and two others unconscious with severe head and body injuries. “I was[Read More...]

Covid-19: Past, Present and Future

The current pandemic continues to have a large negative impact on most aspects of our lives. Over 20.6 million have been infected and almost 750,000 have died worldwide (about 5.3 million infections and over 168,00 deaths in the US) due to this pandemic. Besides these horrific impacts, this pandemic has also made clearer the failure of the bipartisan neoliberal economic approach that puts profit before people and planet.
Pre-pandemic