The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
Tags:
The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
In Ireland's capital, Dublin, tent cities set up by migrants who lack temporary protected status are repeatedly cleared. The situation has been aggravated by Ireland's housing crisis and anti-migrant laws in Britain. The center of Dublin glitters with architectural showpieces, the offices of global corporations. But there are increasingly tents at the base of the glass facades. Some of these belong to people excluded from housing, a scarcity across Ireland and simply unaffordable for many people in the booming capital. The housing crisis is the dominant topic in Ireland right now. When he took office as Taoiseach, or Ireland's head of government, in April, Simon Harris promised to provide 250,000 new homes by the end of the decade. The second group of people sleeping in tents constitute the second-hottest topic in the Irish republic. More and more migrants are arriving here, to this island in north-western Europe, and its capacity to accommodate them is at its limits — not least because of the housing crisis. The situation has been aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, 100,000 Ukrainian refugees have registered in Ireland. An EU-wide agreement means they do not have to apply for asylum first. Ireland's government openly admits that it is unable to provide all asylum-seekers with accommodation while their applications are processed. According to the government, as of May 14, 1,780 male applicants were as yet unhoused. A veritable tent city sprang up around the International Protection Office in Dublin, which is responsible for processing asylum applications. Young men were sleeping here; they had to wash and cook on the street, and rely on bike hire docking bays to charge their phones with USB cables. On May 1, the Irish authorities cleared the camp, and divided 285 male asylum-seekers between two emergency shelters. Since then, new tent encampments have repeatedly appeared near the office, and have repeatedly been cleared.
The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
Tags:
The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
LGBTQ+ rights in Europe5/18/2024 The world celebrates International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia on May 17. To mark the occasion, ILGA Europe — a lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer (LGBTQ+) rights group — is publishing its latest Rainbow Map based on 2023 data. The Rainbow Map, which has been published annually for 11 years now, ranks European countries on their LGBTQ+ rights. It does so according to range of criteria including LGBTQ+ equality, protection from hate crime and discrimination, societal integration and sexual self-determination. Which countries are leading the way This year, Malta tops the ranking as Europe's most progressive country for LGBTQ+ rights, scoring 88 out of 100 possible points. Iceland follows in second with 83 points. EU states Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Denmark, Finland and Greece also scored highly, each with over 70 points. Roughly speaking, Europe's northern and western states tend to have stronger LGBTQ+ rights than other countries on the continent. Russia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye, for example, are the lowest-ranked countries. Poland, meanwhile, occupies the lowest out of all EU states with a mere 17 points due to a decade of conservative PiS party rule. Following the change of government last year, Poland may rise up the ranking next year. Italy undoing progress The situation has worsened for Italy's LGBTQ+ people since the far-right Brothers of Italy, League and Forza Italia coalition government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took over in 2022. For years, Italy has been in the bottom third of the ILGA ranking due to inequality regarding parenthood, adoption and marriage rights, says Katrin Hugendubel, who coordinates policy, advocacy and strategic litigation work at ILGA Europe. Meloni is using these legal loopholes to enforce her idea of families made up of heterosexual parents only. "Laws are important for protecting us against political change," Hugendubel told DW. "And we are not seeing see much improvement at the moment."
Self-determination The ranking of European states has not changed much in recent times because there are hardly any initiatives to enshrine queer rights in law, according to Hugendubel. Germany is a notable exception, which passed a gender self-determination law in spring. Such self-determination is possible only in 11 of the 49 European countries ranked. "While some countries, including Germany, have made progress, there is stagnation in others, meaning no new laws are being passed," Hugendubel said. "This comes at a very dangerous time with hatred and violence on the rise, and governments trying to undermine human rights, especially those of LGBTQ+ people." The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
Tags:
The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
Tags:
The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
French police killed an armed in individual who intended to set a synagogue in the northern city of Rouen ablaze, France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Friday.
"National police in Rouen neutralized early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city's synagogue," Darmanin said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.Local authorities that the man approached police armed with a knife and a crowbar. "It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock," Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol said on X. He said that there were no victims besides the attacker. What do we know about the suspected synagogue attack? The Franceinfo broadcaster reported police were called to the scene early on Friday because smoke was billowing form the synagogue. Local authorities that the man approached police armed with a knife and a crowbar, after which he was shot dead by an officer. Franceinfo cited a police source as saying that a link between the fire and the armed man had not been established. "It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock," Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol said on X. He said that there were no victims besides the attacker. Rouen prosecutors said that they had opened investigations into the fire at the synagogue, as well as a separate probe into the circumstances of the death of the man killed by police. Anti-Semitic incidents in France Yonathan Arfi, who heads the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, condemned what he called an "attempt to intimidate all Jews" in a post on X. "Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the French Republic," he said. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
Tags:
The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
Tags:
The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
A new labour law concerning Belgian sex workers will allow a pimp to demand that the government mediate in cases where a prostitute refuses sex with clients too frequently.
Anti-prostitution activists say that the law will allow prostitutes’ managers to “further entrench and maintain their power.” Passed earlier this month, the law allows sex workers to obtain employment contracts from their pimps. These contracts classify prostitutes as hospitality employees and entitle them to health insurance, pensions, unemployment benefits, holidays and maternity leave. Pimps must be licensed by the government to issue employment contracts, and must allow prostitutes to refuse or to stop sex with clients for any reason. However, if a prostitute refuses or stops sex more than ten times over six months, their pimp can open a labour dispute and involve a government mediator. Belgium decriminalized sex work in 2022, allowing prostitutes to work as freelancers. However, employing a sex worker under contract remained a criminal offense, meaning that agreements between pimps and prostitutes existed in a legal gray area and contained no legally-binding protections for the prostitute. UTSOPI, a trade union for sex workers in Belgium, hailed the new law. “Without a labour law, sex workers would still be legally discriminated against,” UTSOPI spokesman Daan Bauwens said in a statement. “That is now over.” “We hope that other countries will copy this text, as they did on topics such as same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia and transgender rights,” Bauwens added. However, anti-exploitation activist Andrea Heinz argued that the new model simply allows pimps to “become ‘managers’ with the backing of the state to further entrench and maintain their power.” “Pimps see women they sell as products, not people deserving of full dignity and respect,” Heinz wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “And ‘government mediator’...Wtf is that? Someone to mediate pimp-victim ‘contracts’, i.e. gently encourage women to get back in the brothel bed when they are ‘not fulfilling their [sexual] obligations?’” According to official estimates from 2022, there are around 3,000 sex workers active in Belgium. However, some studies put that number at ten times higher. The Belgian Federal Police claimed in 2015 that around 26,000 women were working as prostitutes, and that 80% of them were being exploited by trafficking gangs from Bulgaria, Romania, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Nigeria, among other countries. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
Tags:
The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Students from China and Hong Kong who are studying at European or North American universities may be far away from home, but they are also menacingly within reach of their home governments.
The message we get, Chinese student Rowan* told the human rights organization Amnesty International is: "You are being watched, and though we are on the other side of the planet, we can still reach you." Rowan is one of 32 students Amnesty interviewed for its report entitled "On My Campus, I Am Afraid." Researchers sought to document China's transnational repression at universities and spoke with Chinese students in eight countries: Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada and the United States. The real names of all individuals and universities have been withheld in order to protect their identities. Threats against families in China Rowan told Amnesty that she took part in a commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre that was held in the city where she studies. Commemorating the bloody suppression of the pro-democracy movement that took place in Beijing on June 4, 1989, is banned in China and Hong Kong. Only a few hours after the protest, Rowan's father contacted her from China, saying security officials had told him to keep his daughter from taking part in events that could damage China's reputation in the world. Rowan had not given her name to anyone and had not reported on her participation anywhere. Amnesty also spoke with Chinese students in Europe. Before Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Paris earlier this month, Yongzhe* told DW that Chinese authorities threatened those who planned to organize demonstrations and paid visits to their families in China. This kind of thing happens frequently, Yongzhe added. Amnesty International concluded that it's not only the students who are getting the message. "Exercising freedom of expression is not acceptable. No matter where you are, whether in Germany, France or elsewhere, there is no way to escape China's surveillance." The students' family members back in China are also being threatened, Theresa Bergmann told DW. She is an Asia expert with the German branch of Amnesty International. "For example, there have been threats to confiscate passports, terminate jobs and cut pensions or restrict educational opportunities if students continue their activities abroad," she said." These attempts at intimidation are coming from government officials in China," said Bergmann. Accounts of Chinese repression Many students from China and Hong Kong studying overseas live in fear of intimidation and surveillance, according to Amnesty International, with Chinese and Hong Kong authorities trying to prevent them from raising controversial issues. Authorities have targeted any show of solidarity with the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and the 2022 White Paper protests in China, in which people used blank sheets of white paper to protest against draconian measures to curb the COVID-19 measures imposed and against restrictions on freedom of expression. Bergmann said Amnesty has raised the allegations with authorities in China and Hong Kong. "We have not received any response from mainland China," she said, adding that "a sort of denial" had come from Hong Kong. Students are a particularly vulnerable group because of their residency status and financial situation, she explained. Amnesty's researchers cannot speak for all of the estimated 900,000 Chinese students living abroad, but the accounts of repression are similar across borders and match previously known cases. In 2023, the investigative platform Correctiv reported on how China tightly controls students who have received scholarships from the government's China Scholarship Council in Germany and prevents them from making any critical statements. WeChat used to spy on students online One student who took part in a protest and then took a selfie in front of the embassy reported that she was followed on her way from the embassy to the subway," said Bergmann, describing an account from a student in Germany. When students are followed or photographed at protests, it has not always been clear whether this was on behalf of the Chinese government. Online surveillance plays a very important role. There are many indications that the Chinese app WeChat provides data to the government in Beijing. "We have cases where WeChat accounts have been closed or content blocked because people have spoken out openly about protests," Amnesty states in its report, calling this the "Great Firewall." Students rely on state-approved apps like WeChat to communicate with relatives and friends in China, even though it may be monitored. Surveillance and intimidation are frightening Chinese and Hong Kong students studying abroad, Amnesty reported. This has resulted in emotional stress and even depression. "I sought support from the university's psychological counselling service after having psychological problems, but they had little understanding of the Chinese context and were unable to provide effective support," student Xing Dongzhe* said. Some students sever ties with their families in order to protect them, said Bergmann. Almost half of those interviewed are afraid to return home. Six said they wanted to apply for asylum in the country where they were studying The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
Tags:
The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Today, May 12, 2024, the Dresden Peace Prize was awarded to Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who died under mysterious circumstances in an Arctic Circle prison camp on February 16.
"The resistance of the opposition politician was and is an emboldening example to all the human rights defenders who are continuing his activities," the organizers said of the winner. Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya accepted the prize and the laudatory speech was held by former German President Joachim Gauck. Gauck, who had already praised Navalny as an "icon of all decent Russians" shortly after the news of his death, used a German sporting expression on Sunday and called the dissident a "feared opponent" for President Vladimir Putin. The ceremony also included a performance of "Alexei Navalny's Speeches in Court" by the Dresden State Theatre ensemble. The award comes with a €10,000 (roughly $10,800) prize. A blogger with a sense of humour Born in 1976, Navalny gained worldwide attention for his many years of work to expose corruption and human rights abuses in President Vladimir Putin's Russia. As a blogger, Navalny reached millions with his humor, especially younger Russians. In doing so, he made many powerful enemies. The Kremlin endeavored to keep him out of politics but Navalny still managed to organize supporters across the country. Businessman, lawyer, politician Navalny began his career as a businessman and lawyer. At the end of the 1990s, in his mid-20s, he became involved in the left-liberal Yabloko party but was expelled in 2007 due to conflicts with the party leadership and his nationalist views. He was subsequently active in a nationalist movement — a reason that he was also controversial in Russian opposition circles. Keeping up the fight His poisoning in 2020 attracted a great deal of international attention. Navalny was flown to Berlin for treatment and survived. He accused Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, and Putin personally, of attempting to murder him. Once healthy again he returned to Russia despite the risks, only to be immediately arrested at Moscow airport and subsequently sentenced to 19 years in prison. Last December Navalny went missing for several weeks. It was later discovered that he had been transferred to a penal camp in northern Siberia. Navalny believed that Russian authorities wanted to isolate him even further ahead of presidential elections in March, elections that Putin won. Powerful even in prison Before his death Navalny had lodged a series of complaints against the ongoing violation of his rights as a prisoner. Until he died, he used his court appearances to voice biting criticism of Putin's authoritarian rule and Russia's war on Ukraine. A few weeks after his death, Putin himself confirmed that there had been preparations for a prisoner exchange shortly before Navalny's death. It remains unclear why the exchange never took place or if the claim is true. Russian crackdown continues Since Navalny's death the Russian regime has continued its brutal crackdown on critics. Supporters recently expressed concern about the health of one of Navalny's close companions, Vladimir Kara-Murza. The 42-year-old was sentenced to 25 years in prison for "high treason" in April 2023 after accusing Russia of war crimes in Ukraine during a speech in the United States. Parallel to Navalny's fate, Kara-Murza's family and lawyers claim that the FSB attempted to poison him too, in 2015 and 2017. He has suffered from serious health problems ever since. A danger to Putin Navalny repeatedly drilled into the wounds of the Russian dictatorship, becoming the greatest danger to Putin and his system. That is why he became a political prisoner whose death is representative of countless people who stand up for freedom and democracy in Russia," said the statement by Friends of Dresden Deutschland association. The prize has been awarded annually since 2010 to commemorate the Allied bombing of Dresden on February 13, 1945, with the intention of countering the appropriation of the anniversary by right-wing extremists. Previous recipients include former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and the conductor Daniel Barenboim. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
Tags:
The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
It is important to note that the woke movement is a complex and diverse phenomenon, encompassing a range of perspectives and approaches. Its historical base is multifaceted and draws from various social, intellectual, and cultural movements that have challenged inequality and advocated for social justice.
The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
Tags:
The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
|
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|
5/19/2024
0 Comments