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lenaurick

2010 Human Rights Reports: Antigua and Barbuda - 0 views

www.state.gov/...154490.htm

human human rights politics latin america foreign policy economy

shared by lenaurick on 28 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • Antigua and Barbuda is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy with a population of approximately 100,000.
  • There were human rights problems in some areas, including excessive use of force by police, poor prison conditions, some limits on press freedom, societal discrimination and violence against women, sexual abuse of children, and discrimination against homosexuality.
  • There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
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  • Nonetheless, there were occasional reports of police brutality, corruption, excessive force, discrimination against persons on basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and allegations of abuse by prison guards.
  • Prison conditions were very poor. Her Majesty's Prison, the country's only prison, was overcrowded, did not have toilet facilities, and slop pails were used in all 122 cells
  • Prisoners and detainees had reasonable access to visitors, were permitted religious observances, and had reasonable access to complaint mechanisms and the ability to request inquiry into conditions.
  • Security forces consist of a police force, the small Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which coordinates law enforcement and prosecutorial action to counter narcotics trafficking. The police force had approximately 750 officers.
  • The constitution provides that criminal defendants should receive a fair, open, and public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are by jury. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, have timely access to counsel, may confront or question witnesses, and have the right to appeal. In capital cases only, the government provides legal assistance at public expense to persons without the means to retain a private attorney
  • There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees
  • The constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, but the government respected these rights on a somewhat limited basis
  • There were no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that government monitored e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. There were 75 Internet users per 100 inhabitants, according to Internet World Statistics.
  • The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
  • Members of the Organization of American States observer group reported that the elections were generally free and fair.
  • There were two women in the 19-seat House of Representatives and five women appointed to the 17-seat Senate. The governor general, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and the president of the Senate, all appointed positions, were women. There were two women in the cabinet.
  • The Freedom of Information Act gives citizens the statutory right to access official documents from public authorities and agencies, and it created a commissioner to oversee the process. In practice citizens found it difficult to obtain documents, possibly due to government funding constraints rather than obstruction.
  • The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, creed, language, or social status, and the government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
  • The Directorate of Gender Affairs, part of the Ministry of Labor, Public Administration, and Empowerment, established and publicized a crisis hotline for victims and witnesses to sexual assault, and managed a sexual assault center that coordinates responses to sexual assault. When rape cases are reported to the police, a female police officer accompanies the victim for both questioning and medical examinations at the center. Once the doctor's report is completed, an investigation commences.
  • n situations where the victim did not know her assailant, the cases rarely came to trial.
  • Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a problem. The law prohibits and provides penalties for domestic violence, but many women were reluctant to testify against their abusers.
  • Sexual harassment is illegal, but it was rarely prosecuted. According to the Labor Department, there was a high incidence of sexual harassment incurred by employees in both the private and public sectors. However, only approximately 20 cases were formally reported during the year; the small number was believed to result from concerns about retaliation.
  • Women in society enjoy the same rights as men under the law. However, economic conditions in rural areas tended to limit women to home and family, although some women worked as domestics, in agriculture, or in the large tourism sector. Despite these limitations, women were well represented in the private and public sectors. There was no legislation requiring equal pay for equal work, but women faced no restrictions involving ownership of property.
  • Citizenship is acquired by birth in the country, and all children were registered at birth
  • Child abuse remained a problem. The press reported regularly on the rape and sexual abuse of children.
  • Statutory rape is illegal; the minimum age for consensual sex is 14. Despite a maximum penalty of 10 years to life, authorities brought charges against few offenders, and those convicted did not serve long jail terms due to lack of witness cooperation
  • Homosexual acts for both sexes are illegal under indecency statues, and some male homosexual acts are also illegal under anal intercourse laws.
  • Some LGBT persons claimed that homophobia impairs the willingness of HIV-positive persons to obtain treatment; however, there were no reports of violence or discrimination directed toward persons with HIV/AIDS.
  • Workers have the right to associate freely and to form labor unions. Approximately 60 percent of workers in the formal sector belonged to a union. Unions were free to conduct their activities without government interference
  • Labor law prohibits retaliation against strikers, and the government effectively enforced this prohibition.
  • he constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children.
  • The law stipulates a minimum working age of 16 years, which corresponds with the provisions of the Education Act. In addition persons under 18 years of age must have a medical clearance to work and may not work later than 10 p.m.
  • The minimum wage was EC$7.00 ($2.59) an hour for all categories of labor, which provided a barely adequate standard of living for a worker and family. In practice the great majority of workers earned substantially more than the minimum wage.
  • The law provides that workers are not required to work more than a 48-hour, six-day workweek, but in practice the standard workweek was 40 hours in five days
  • While not specifically provided for by law, in practice workers could leave a dangerous workplace situation without jeopardy to continued employment.
  • lenaurick on 28 Aug 16
     
    This article is about common issues that countries face, and how Antigua and Barbuda deals with these issues. For the most part, it seemed that Antigua and Barbuda was a relatively developed country with a strong and fair government, rights for children, good working conditions, and unrestricted access to internet. However there were also areas where Antigua and Barbuda needed improvements. For example their prisons are overcrowded, women continue to be victims of sexual assault, and homophobia is acceptable. Overall this article helped me to get a better sense of where Antigua and Barbuda stands on major issues.
rachelramirez

How an Indigenous Group Is Battling Construction of the Nicaragua Canal | Science | Smi... - 0 views

www.smithsonianmag.com/...tion-nicaragua-canal-180956418

indigenous nicaragua canal diplomacy

shared by rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16 - No Cached
  • live on Rama Cay, a 22-hectare island that rises from the water like a set of oversized goggles about a kilometer and a half off Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast. The island is home to roughly half of the Rama’s 2,000 or so community members;
  • Unlike most Rama, Becky McCray has a college degree
  • The Rama’s territory, along Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, stretches roughly from the Costa Rican border north to just south of Bluefields. Their territory is shared with the Kriols, descendants of Africans who adopted the Rama way of life centuries ago.
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  • The Rama-Kriols hold a communal title not only to the nine settlements where community members live, but also to the 4,843-square-kilometer territory where they fish, hunt, and farm. If current construction plans for the canal go ahead, that territory will be severed in two.
  • The massive Nicaragua Canal planned by a secretive Chinese billionaire, Wang Jing, and managed by his company, the Hong Kong Nicaragua Development Group (HKND), will stretch from the Pacific coast, across Lake Nicaragua, to the Caribbean coast and is destined to wipe at least one Rama village off the map
  • . The Rama’s fishing grounds will no longer be safe in the path of 400-meter-long megaships approaching the canal.
  • Aside from the Rama, whose territory will likely be the most impacted, at least four other indigenous groups will face disruption if the canal proceeds. Nicaraguan law explicitly bars indigenous land from being bought or sold; that means the land will be rented, not expropriated, says Kautz. Yet, critics say that because this is not expressly stated in the concession law, the land is vulnerable to seizure.
  • Acosta filed a legal challenge to the canal concession law on July 1, 2013, just weeks after it was approved. Like the 31 other legal challenges to the law—based on environmental factors, human rights, and national sovereignty—the Rama’s legal case was dismissed. The Supreme Court said the lawsuits were invalid because the law passed the National Assembly with a wide majority and because the major development project took precedence.
  • According to both international and Nicaraguan law, indigenous people must give their “free, informed, and prior consent” to any project that will affect the community’s territory or way of life.
  • According to Manuel Coronel Kautz, the president of Nicaragua’s Canal Authority, the National Assembly had documents from the Rama-Kriol government giving permission for the canal to be constructed prior to the vote that granted the concession
  • McCray was nervous as she read her remarks in Spanish. She cited three articles in the concession law that explicitly give the Canal Commission the right to expropriate indigenous land, and then she accused the government of violating international norms in the way it conducted community consultations, perhaps most blatantly by paying villagers—many of whom are illiterate—to come to the meetings. (Those villagers, Acosta claims, were then pressured into signing documents that they could not understand.)
  • The following day, McCray and her companions watched in dismay as the law was adopted. “We didn’t get a chance to say anything,” McCray remembers. “They didn’t respect us, they didn’t give us a chance to defend what we were claiming.”
  • Acosta worries that the Rama will lose their territory—displaced by golf courses and beach resorts—even if the Nicaragua Canal is never built.
  • The case at the IACHR is probably the Rama’s best chance for meaningful international intervention, but it remains to be seen whether or not this glimmer of hope is enough to protect their territory and keep their culture alive.
  • rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16
     
    Nicaragua seems to be blatantly attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of the indigenous people, but not expecting to get caught. From what I have previously read Nicaragua wants to be a player on the world stage, but they cannot achieve this status if they are not treating their people humanely. Although the government did get the indigenous group the Rama to sign documents that allowed the canal to be built on their land, government representatives knowingly had illiterate members of the Rama sign these official land documents. The indigenous people of Nicaragua deserve to be better informed about the canal, and the government owe the people understanding.
Ellie McGinnis

2013 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) - 0 views

www.state.gov/...204049.htm

guatemala narcotics security us

shared by Ellie McGinnis on 04 Aug 13 - No Cached
  • more than 80 percent of the primary flow of the cocaine trafficked to the United States first transited through the Central American corridor in 2012.
  • Guatemala’s weak public institutions, pervasive corruption, and porous ports and borders to move illicit products, persons, and bulk cash.
  • Improved law enforcement efforts in Colombia and Mexico, among other factors, led to an increasing volume of precursor chemicals transiting Guatemala.
  • ...30 more annotations...
  • Guatemala produces opium poppy and synthetic drugs for export
  • ombating drug trafficking one of his administration’s top priorities.
  • President Otto Perez Molina
  • government’s extensive anti-drug efforts and established a mobile land interdiction unit charged with targeting DTOs operating in remote areas
  • Guatemala’s pressing issues include high levels of violence fueled by the drug trade, money laundering, and other organized criminal activities; corruption within the police; and an overburdened and inefficient judicial system
  • Guatemala confronts continuing fiscal challenges in seeking to fund its counternarcotics initiatives. The country has the lowest tax collection rate in Central America and one of the lowest in Latin America.
  • Guatemala had the eighth-highest murder rate in the world
  • Guatemala worked with the United States to arrest high-profile traffickers in 2012
  • Guatemala is a party to the Central American Commission for the Eradication of Production, Traffic, Consumption and Illicit Use of Psychotropic Drugs and Substances
  • Inter-American Convention against Corruption
  • A maritime counternarcotics agreement with the United States is fully implemented
  • Guatemala is one of six countries (along with Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, France, Belize and the United States) that ratified the Caribbean Regional Agreement on Maritime Counter Narcotics, which is now in force.
  • 590 hectares of opium poppy on these missions
  • air interdiction efforts, supported by six U.S.-titled helicopters, have significantly deterred drug flights from entering the country.
  • Guatemala seized 4.7 metric tons (MT) of cocaine in 2012,
  • eight kilograms of heroin
  • $5.6 million in drug-related assets
  • United States intends to work with Guatemala to build capacity for proper storage and/or destruction.
  • uatemala lacks current information
  • underfunded with an annual budget of $450,000, of which approximately 80 percent was used to cover salaries
  • SECCATID developed a school-based drug prevention program, “My First Steps,
  • United States continues to work with the Guatemalan Police Reform Commission to address police reform.
  • Guatemala cooperated with the United States and regional partners on several important counternarcotics initiatives in 2012
  • Guatemala and the United States continued to collaborate on a range of ongoing citizen security, counternarcotics, law enforcement, and rule-of-law initiatives in 2012, including the Central America Regional Security Initiative. U.S. assistan
  • United States provided support to an inter-agency anti-gang unit that brought together the PNC, Attorney General’s office (MP), and analysts from the PNC’s criminal analysis unit (CRADIC) to investigate and dismantle local gang organizations.
  • .S. support for rule-of-law activities, Guatemala increased its capacity to prosecute narcotics traffickers, organized crime leaders, money launderers and corrupt officials.
  • productive relations with Guatemala and will continue to support the government’s efforts to improve its technical and organizational capacity in the security and justice sectors.
  • better equipped to combat narcotics-related crimes in the country by fully implementing the Organized Crime Law
  • The United States encourages the Government of Guatemala to continue implementation of the Asset Seizure Law; quickly implement an anti-corruption law enacted by the Congress in October; approve legislation to regulate the gaming industry; and reform its law governing injunctions, which is often used to delay processes and trials
  • Concrete and substantial police reform, with appropriate budgetary support, is necessary for sustained progress in Guatemala. 
Javier E

In Mexico, a Restrictive Approach to Gun Laws - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...tive-approach-to-gun-laws.html

gun law Mexico US comparative

shared by Javier E on 25 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • MEXICO CITY — Juan García relinquished his cellphone, walked through two metal detectors, registered with a uniformed soldier — and then finally entered Mexico’s only legal gun store.
  • To anyone familiar with the 49,762 licensed gun dealers in the United States, or the 7,261 gun-selling pawn shops, the place looked less like a store than a government office. Customers waited on metal chairs near a fish tank to be called up to a window to submit piles of paperwork. The guns hung in drab display cases as if for decoration, with not a single sales clerk offering assistance.
  • The goal of the military-run shop seemed to be to discourage people from buying weapons, and even gun lovers like Mr. García, 45, a regular at a local shooting club, said that was how it should be. “If you want to stop someone who gets mad at their wife or the world from running out and buying a gun and killing everyone, you have to make it hard,” said Mr. García, who waited two months for the approval to buy a .38-caliber pistol. “It’s the only way to make people think.”
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  • Why, Mexicans ask, don’t Americans tighten their gun laws? Doing so, they say, would stanch the violence both in the United States and in Mexico, where criminal groups wreak havoc with military-grade weapons smuggled in from the United States.
  • The 1917 Constitution written after Mexico’s bloody revolution, for example, says that the right to carry arms excludes those weapons forbidden by law or reserved for use by the military, and it also states that “they may not carry arms within inhabited places without complying with police regulations.”
  • the largest weapons in Mexico’s single gun store — including semiautomatic rifles like the one used in the Aurora attack — can be bought only by members of the police or the military. Handgun permits for home protection allow only for the purchase of calibers no greater than .38, so the most exotic option in the pistol case here consisted of a Smith & Wesson revolver selling for $803.05.
Javier E

Tabaré Vázquez Reclaims Presidency in Uruguay Election - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...dency-in-uruguay-election.html

uruguay election presidency politics economy latin america drug legalization

shared by Javier E on 05 Dec 14 - No Cached
  • Uruguayan voters elected Tabaré Vázquez as president on Sunday in a show of support for the leftist coalition that has governed the country over the last decade, presiding over robust economic growth and a pioneering set of socially liberal laws, including a state-controlled marijuana market.
  • The election came after a stretch in which Uruguay’s president, José Mujica, 79, a former guerrilla, raised the country’s profile with legislation that legalized abortion and same-sex marriage and created the marijuana market. He is set to leave office with high approval ratings.
  • Dr. Vázquez is more moderate than Mr. Mujica, having vetoed an abortion law during his first term as president. He has also expressed opposition to parts of the marijuana law, a position shared by many Uruguayans as broad skepticism persists over the project. Still, he has said that he would enforce the law.
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  • A more important issue for many Uruguayans involved the handling of economic policy by the Broad Front, a coalition of left-wing parties, with Uruguay registering average growth of nearly 6 percent a year during the last nine years. Even as growth slowed this year, cautious economic policies were seen as shielding the country from external shocks.
  • “Practically 70 percent of Uruguayans hold a positive or very positive view of the economic situation in the country,”
  • during his first term, Dr. Vázquez also governed with his own style, reserving one morning each week to continue practicing medicine.
  • An increase in violent crime also weighed on voters, and Mr. Lacalle Pou, the conservative challenger and son of a former president, ran on a platform seeking to crack down on crime, reduce inflation and improve Uruguay’s schools.
luckangeloja

Comparative Criminology | North America - Antigua and Barbuda - 0 views

www-rohan.sdsu.edu/...antiguabarbuda.html

foreign policy Antigua and Barbuda Drugs U.S. Drug Enforcement

shared by luckangeloja on 19 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • Antigua and Barbuda is considered a minor transshipment point for narcotics bound for the US and Europe; more significant as an offshore financial center
  • The U.S. Government has maritime drug law enforcement agreements with all seven of the Eastern Caribbean states. A Protocol to amend and update the maritime agreements was submitted to each country in April 2003. The Protocol would permit hot pursuit of maritime drug traffickers into the territorial waters of an Eastern Caribbean state by U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) law enforcement detachments aboard third country ships (e.g., UK). The Protocol also would permit a law enforcement shiprider from any Regional Security System (RSS) member state (The seven Eastern Caribbean states comprise the RSS.) aboard a USCG or third country vessel to authorize drug law enforcement operations in the territorial waters of any RSS member state. Only Antigua and Barbuda has signed the Protocol. To date, none of these countries has signed the Caribbean Maritime Counterdrug Agreement, which would facilitate cooperation among themselves.
  • Most Eastern Caribbean officials regard marijuana production and trafficking as serious offenses, although the question of legalization or decriminalization is being discussed in some quarters. The U.S. supports and encourages eradication campaigns as a means to combat marijuana use in the Eastern Caribbean.
  • luckangeloja on 19 Oct 16
     
    This article discussed the involvement of United States drug enforcement in the Eastern Caribbean. It says that even though several eastern countries have agreed to receive enforcement from the U.S., they have not agreed to receive enforcement from each other. This could help the drug related problems in Antigua and Barbuda and other countries as well.
jackhanson1

Construction of Nicaragua Canal Threatens Indigenous Lives and Livelihoods | Cultural S... - 0 views

www.culturalsurvival.org/...threatens-indigenous-lives-and

shared by jackhanson1 on 04 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • Construction of Nicaragua Canal Threatens Indigenous Lives and Livelihoods
  • In June 2013, Nicaraguan officials approved a $50 billion (US) deal with a Hong Kong firm to oversee the construction of a 278-kilometer long canal. The HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company’s proposed project would attempt to link the Pacific to the Caribbean, allowing the passage of container ships
too large for passage through the Panama Canal.
  • The construction of the canal promises environmental abuses and human rights violations as the proposed route cuts through the land of multiple Indigenous territories on Nicara- gua’s coasts and within its mainland. Thousands of people are expected to be impacted with many being forcibly displaced, primarily including the Kriol and Indigenous Rama people,
in a clear violation of Indigenous autonomy laws in Nicaragua and international human rights documents.
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  • The Nicaraguan Government has failed to properly consult Indigenous communities regarding the canal’s construction.
  • The Nicaraguan Constitution of 1987 recognizes the Indigenous cultures that reside on the land and their right to maintain their languages and cultures. Two additional laws, 28 and 445, grant autonomy and “the use, administration and management of traditional lands and their natural resources” to Indigenous people. Additionally, Nicaragua signed on to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in 2008 and ratified ILO Convention 169 in 2010, a legally bind- ing document guaranteeing prior consultation before such projects.
  • The government is reportedly anticipating that 7,000 homes may be expropriated to make way for the 278-kilometer canal. However, an independent report by the Centro Humboldt states that the impact will be much greater. The report found that 282 settlements and 24,100 homes were identified within the direct area of influence, estimating that the number of people anticipated to be directly affected by construction at over 119,000. The canal’s construction will not only bring the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, but also irreversible environmental damage. The loss of Indigenous communities will be accompanied by the loss of some of Nicaragua’s most precious and rich resources: its ecologically diverse lands and waters.
  • Meanwhile, the social impact assessment conducted by the Nicaraguan government, if being conducted at all, has lacked any transparency. While quick to boast the economic impact of the canal, officials have blatantly disregarded the needs and fears of community members from coast to coast. A coalition of 11 groups including affected In- digenous communities and environmental and legal organiza- tions submitted a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights criticizing the rights violations inherent in the Canal Law.
  • jackhanson1 on 04 Nov 16
     
    This article relates to my topic of promoting intercultural dialogue and inclusion because this article deals with the absence of communication and dialogue between the government of Nicaragua and the indigenous groups of Nicaragua. This article talks about a proposed plan to build a canal across the largest lake in Nicaragua, Lago Nicaragua. Without consulting the indigenous groups living around the lake, the government went ahead and approved the construction of the canal. Thousands of indigenous homes will be wiped out due to the construction of the canal. These indigenous groups have petitioned the government to come up with a different plan for constructing the canal, but the government refused to grant their requests. As a result, many indigenous villages will be wiped out and many people will have to relocate and start again.
nick_gauthier

For Nicaraguans, International Women's Day Marks a Step Back | Human Rights Watch - 0 views

www.hrw.org/...nal-womens-day-marks-step-back

international human human rights women rights nicaragua politics diplomacy history

shared by nick_gauthier on 05 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • Until recently, Nicaraguan women had something to celebrate on March 8, International Women’s Day.
  • decades ago the government eliminated some of the sexist laws that discriminated against women
  • Daniel Ortega’s government is chipping away at the very laws that put them in place. Nowhere is this setback starker than in women’s basic rights to life and health
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • 2006 the National Assembly enacted a blanket ban on abortion, criminalizing the procedure even when a woman’s life is at risk
  • We also asked the Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of the ban, and called on President Ortega to veto the measure stripping the penal code of a provision that had allowed legal abortion for more than 130 years.
  • but women’s lives and health remain at risk in the meantime. According to research by Dr. Arnold Toruño of the Universidad Autónoma de Nicaragua-León, historically although the law has prohibited induced abortions, there has in practice been a high rate of them in Nicaragua.
  • nick_gauthier on 05 Nov 16
     
    This is an article from 2008 outlining the measures Ortegas newly instated government (at the time) took that reversed Women's Human Right's progress. Banning abortion was step back for International Women's day.
bennetttony

US Congress Seeks to Expose Corruption in Nicaragua | The DC Dispatches | Law, Policy, ... - 0 views

jasonpoblete.com/...expose-corruption-in-nicaragua

shared by bennetttony on 04 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • On September 21, the House of Representatives approved passage H.R. 5708, the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act (NICA) of 2017 that, if it becomes law, will prohibit loans by international financial institutions (“IFIs”) to the government of Nicaragua unless Nicaragua takes steps to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections as well as strengthen the rule of law.
  • The left-wing Sandinista government is economic and political disaster. Nicaraguan autocrat, Daniel Ortega, and his power-obsessed wife Rosario Murillo, are running for president and vice president in the upcoming November elections. Unless the opposition unites, quickly, the power hungry Ortegas may pull it off. The road to this point is paved with enough human rights abuses and corruption to keep tribunals and courts busy for years.
  • The Nicaraguan people seem to be reaching their limit. When Ortegas sacked the opposition party leadership a few months ago in the mostly puppet Congress, it seems to have lit a spark within the opposition as well as within his own Sandinista party.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • In addition to the domestic problems, Nicaragua, a staunch ally of Communist Cuba and Venezuela, is causing regional tensions to rise.
  • Corrupt officials, for example, should be denied U.S. visas to visit the United States, something that should extend to immediate family members
  • bennetttony on 04 Nov 16
     
    This article talks about measures that the US is taking to help combat the corruption in Nicaragua (even though the US isn't doing too much).
g-dragon

Antigua and Barbuda - 1 views

www.state.gov/...78876.htm

shared by g-dragon on 12 Jun 16 - No Cached
    • g-dragon
      g-dragon on 12 Jun 16
       
      Antigua and Barbuda is a diplomatic government with laws, but sometimes those laws are not followed well. Some problems are excessive force by police, bad prison conditions, sexual abuse of children, and discrimination and violence against women. There are been reports of police brutality, corruption, and discrimination against gay people. Prisoners are treated poorly by prison guards and children are held in the same prison as adults. There are not a lot of women in the government. There are 1/17 in the House of Representatives, 2/17 in the Senate and none in the cabinet. There are also no minority members in parliament or cabinet. On the bright side, both speaker of the House and president of the Senate are women. Another problem is the violence and abuse towards women. Since women do not testify against their harassers, the government has had trouble addressing this issue however they have been trying to increase women's awareness of their rights and providing a safe place for women and children.  - Daniel Lin
    • g-dragon
      g-dragon on 12 Jun 16
       
      Part Two  The few schools that the government provided often has shortages and the parents often provide the chairs, tables, and books. There is a huge problem with child abuse like rape and men having sexual relationships with young girls. Contrary to other sources, this one states,"girls and boys have equal access to health care and other public services." They also state that there are no reports of discrimination against people with disabilities considering that there is not a law that prohibits discrimination against the handicapped. - Daniel Lin
Javier E

Drug Gang Killed Students, Mexican Law Official Says - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...-mexico-law-official-says.html

mexico drug gangs corruption politics civil rights

shared by Javier E on 14 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Human rights workers have criticized the investigation from the start, faulting federal authorities for initially keeping a distance from the case and leaving much of the forensic work to ill-equipped state authorities. It took 10 days for federal authorities to take over the case and begin their investigation, precious time lost, in the view of independent observers.“He reacted late and poorly,” José Miguel Vivanco, director for the Americas for Human Rights Watch, said of Mr. Peña Nieto on Thursday after meeting prosecutors.“The rule of Mexico is impunity,” he said. “It is not a nation of laws.”
lenaurick

Children of Antigua and Barbuda | Humanium - Together for Children's Rights - 1 views

www.humanium.org/...antigua-and-barbuda

children human rights policy education

shared by lenaurick on 12 Jun 16 - No Cached
    • g-dragon
      g-dragon on 12 Jun 16
       
      There is a huge problem concerning children's rights in Antigua and Barbuda. First of all, the country does not have enough schools and the ones there are are overcrowded. Higher education schools usually require a fee AND and entrance exam. This means that if you have no money or could not go to school, higher education is basically impossible. Third, the law system there is troubling. Eight year olds can get the same penalties as adults in court and any person under the age of eighteen can be imprisoned in the same jails as adults for life for a murder. Fourth, there is a problem of discrimination in this country. Girls, children born out of non- married parents, people in poverty, and the handicapped children face great discrimination. - Daniel Lin
  • The United Nations has thus been advising Antigua and Barbuda since 2004 to put an end to laws that authorize any form of violence against children.
  • Even though a number of steps have been taken, like providing free schoolbooks and uniforms, access to education remains very unequal in Antigua and Barbuda.
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  • Antigua and Barbuda must therefore continue with its efforts towards universal access to education by promoting free schooling at all levels.
  • A law on corporal punishments still exists in these islands, and it authorizes physical punishment of children at home as well as in more official locations, such as school.
  • Antigua and Barbuda, a small country made of two islands, has made great efforts in the protection of children’s rights
  • Any child 8 years of age can be called before the court and risks the same penalties as an adult. Similarly, a minor (an individual under 16 years of age) may receive the same punishment as an adult if charged with a crime. In this way, it is possible for a person under 18 years of age to be imprisoned for life for a murder.
  • Once the minors are tried, they do not have any special conditions on retention: they are locked up in the same prisons and sections as adults,
  • Girls, children born out of wedlock, and those living in poverty experience differences in access to basic services.
  • Another source of discrimination stems from the absence of physical systems to accommodate handicapped children; t
horowitzza

Nicaragua | Country report | Freedom of the Press | 2012 - 0 views

freedomhouse.org/...nicaragua

nicaragua freedom press politics latin america foreign policy

shared by horowitzza on 26 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • The constitution provides for freedom of the press, but in practice the government acts to restrict it.
  • Ortega has claimed that right-wing business magnates retain a stranglehold on the media, but his own family, party, and supporters have recently taken control of many outlets, especially television and radio stations.
  • Criminal libel laws are used frequently against journalists and news outlets
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • A 2007 law established the right to access public information. However, Ortega’s administration is highly secretive, and he has given no press conferences since taking office in 2007, according to local reports.
  • media organizations were subject to threats and harassment by both governmental and private actors.
  • horowitzza on 26 Oct 16
     
    This article talks about Nicaragua's freedom of the press
nick_gauthier

Nicaragua 2015/2016 | Amnesty International - 0 views

www.amnesty.org/...report-nicaragua

Nicaragua

shared by nick_gauthier on 25 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • Sandinista National Liberation Front party continued to excercise significant control over all branches of government
  • Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ordered Nicaragua to provide protection measures to the Miskito people, after the ongoing conflict between the Indigenous community and colonos (settlers) attempting to take over the community's ancestral land escalated in September
  • Government officials and supporters sought to repress and stigmatize the work of civil society organizations and media outlets that had been critical of the ruling party
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • In a hearing in October before the IACHR, Nicaraguan and regional human rights organizations discussed their concerns about human rights abuses against women and g
  • However, the NGOs expressed concern about reforms passed in 2013 that weakened the Comprehensive Law against Violence against Women (Law 779),
  • by offering women mediation with their abusive partners in some cases of domestic violence.
  • nick_gauthier on 25 Oct 16
     
    The Nicaraguan government stigmatized the local groups and the NGOs that advocate human rights. National Liberation Front party continued the exercise significant control over all branches of government.
tristanpantano

Nicaragua 2015 Crime and Safety Report - 0 views

www.osac.gov/...ContentReportDetails.aspx

crime safety politics latin america foreign policy Nicaragua

shared by tristanpantano on 25 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • Nicaragua has low overall reported crime
  • In 2014, the most frequent violent crime reported by U.S. citizens was robbery (accounting for 75 percent of all violent crime reports).
  • For a large number of incidents, victims reported that the perpetrator possessed a weapon, but acts of gratuitous violence either with or without a weapon were only reported 33 percent of the time.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • The number of reports of burglary increased 63 percent from 2013 to 2014.
  • 248:
  • ost frequently reported non-violent crime was thefts from or parts of a motor vehicle, accounting for almost half of all non-violent crime reports.
  • The most frequent locations where non-violent crimes were reported to occur were restaurants, hotels (60 percent increase), roadways (700 percent increase), and on buses.
  • 9:100,000 inhabitants.
  • 100,000
  • Areas of Concern
  • 100,000
  • The U.S. Embassy must pre-approve all travel by U.S. government personnel to the Northern and Southern Caribbean Coast Autonomous Regions due to crime and transportation safety concerns.
  • anagua, Granada, Masaya, San Juan del Sur, Rivas, Tipitapa, Leon, Diriamba, Bluefields, Puerto Cabezas, and the Corn Islands.
  • 102:100,000
  • Nicaraguan law requires vehicles to be equipped with a stopped/disabled vehicle indicator (a reflective triangle) and a fire extinguisher.
  • Nicaraguan law requires drivers to be taken into custody for driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs.
  • In 2014, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, there were 13 5.0+earthquakes near/in Nicaragua at depths from 8-124 miles
  • Nicaragua has many active and potentially active volcanoes.
  • tristanpantano on 25 Oct 16
     
    This article gives a lot of statistics about crime rates in Nicaragua. It has various foreign policies and how it affects the US. 
runlai_jiang

Supporting the Organization of American States in victim protection in Colombia - 1 views

www.giz.de/...13137.html

protection colombia

shared by runlai_jiang on 03 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • The aim of this international peacekeeping mission is to support Colombia’s justice and peace process. Its mandate was extended in 2010 to include support for the land restitution process and implementation of the Victims and Land Restitution Law.
  • The Mission also helps to identify new armed parties and advises Colombia on alternative methods of resolving conflicts and strengthening democracy.
  • The international community pays into a fund to facilitate the work of MAPP/OEA. In 2015 funds were received from the Netherlands, the UK, Spain, the USA, the EU and Turkey as well as from Germany. This money is used to support MAPP/OEA’s general mandate and all the associated activities. BMZ has a financing agreement in place with MAPP/OEA.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • For the first time governmental institutions now recognise victims’ representatives as legitimate partners and take the lead in inviting them to meetings. Representatives’ proposals are taken into account when planning and implementing initiatives under the Victims and Land Restitution Law.
  • The support that MAPP/OEA provided to the victims during the trial was and remains a crucial element in the proceedings. The German contribution enables 100 victims to take part in each trial, offering general guidance, legal advice and psychological support throughout.
  • ourts, public prosecutors and victims’ associations use shared databases to exchange information with one another on the demobilised paramilitaries and update these databases continuously.
  • runlai_jiang on 03 Nov 16
     
    The OAS has started fund raising and programs such as offering general guidance, legal advice and psychological support.
nick_gauthier

SISCA - 0 views

www.summit-americas.org/...hr.html

human rights mandates OAS foreign policy diplomacy

shared by nick_gauthier on 05 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • To reaffirm our support for the objectives set out in the Declaration of the Decade of the Americas for the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities (2006-2016) and its Plan of Action
  • advance in strengthening the protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of older persons through promotion of public policies, programs, and services, thus safeguarding their dignity, their physical, mental and social well-being, and their quality of life
  • To strengthen the administration of public security by governmental agencies through promotion of citizen and community participation, institutional coordination, and training and education of civilian and police personnel, with full respect for the rule of law, domestic law, gender equality, and human rights.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • o prevent and fight the smuggling of migrants and trafficking of persons, particularly of women, children and adolescents, and to promote cooperation among states to that end, respecting and fully protecting their human rights
  • eiterate our commitment to protect and promote human rights in our Hemisphere, and to the strengthening of the inter-American human rights system, with due respect for its autonomy and independence. We express our support to continue furthering the constructive dialogue with the participation of all actors, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Right
  • Our commitment to full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is based on shared principles and convictions. We support strengthening and enhancing the effectiveness of the Inter American human rights system, which includes the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
  • nick_gauthier on 05 Nov 16
     
    This page is a summary of previous mandates made by the OAS at Summits of the Americas in various cities including Cartagena, Colombia, and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. They mainly reaffirm the mission and re-concentrate efforts.
nataliedepaulo1

Annual Reports | Managua, Nicaragua - Embassy of the United States - 0 views

nicaragua.usembassy.gov/arcotics_control_strategy.html

nicaragua

shared by nataliedepaulo1 on 18 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • Nicaragua continued to be a major drug transshipment point for South American cocaine flowing to the United States in 2011. Nicaragua‘s limited law enforcement capabilities and sparsely populated regions provide an enabling environment for drug
  • Drug consumption in Nicaragua rose in 2011, particularly on the Atlantic coast where the transshipment of drugs is highest.
  • U.S. assistance in Nicaragua is focused on enhancing the abilities of government law enforcement agencies to detect and intercept shipments, detain traffickers, stop the laundering of illegal profits from the drug industry, and support preventative programs to protect youth from drugs and recruitment into gangs.
  • nataliedepaulo1 on 18 Oct 16
     
    This article shows the drug issue in Nicaragua and why it is an increasing problem.
Javier E

In Honduras, Deaths Make U.S. Rethink Drug War - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...-make-us-rethink-drug-war.html

foreign policy US drug central america

shared by Javier E on 13 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Fearful that Central America was becoming overrun by organized crime, perhaps worse than in the worst parts of Mexico, the State Department, the D.E.A. and the Pentagon rushed ahead this year with a muscular antidrug program with several Latin American nations, hoping to protect Honduras and use it as a chokepoint to cut off the flow of drugs heading north.
  • the antidrug cooperation, often promoted as a model of international teamwork, into a case study of what can go wrong when the tactics of war are used to fight a crime problem that goes well beyond drugs.
  • “You can’t cure the whole body by just treating the arm,” said Edmundo Orellana, Honduras’s former defense minister and attorney general. “You have to heal the whole thing.”
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • A sweeping new plan for Honduras, focused more on judicial reform and institution-building, is now being jointly developed by Honduras and the United States. But State Department officials must first reassure Congress that the deaths have been investigated and that new safeguards, like limits on the role of American forces, will be put in place.
  • the new plan, according to a recent draft shown to The New York Times, is more aspirational than anything aimed at combating drugs and impunity in Mexico, or Colombia before that. It includes not just boats and helicopters, but also broad restructuring: several new investigative entities, an expanded vetting program for the police, more power for prosecutors, and a network of safe houses for witnesses.
  • The country’s homicide rate is among the highest in the world, and corruption has chewed through government from top to bottom.
  • The foreign minister, Mr. Corrales, a hulk of a man with a loud laugh and a degree in engineering, said he visited Washington in early 2011 with a request for help in four areas: investigation, impunity, organized crime and corruption.
  • Members of the Honduran police teams told government investigators that they took their orders from the D.E.A. Americans officials said that the FAST teams, deploying tactics honed in Afghanistan, did not feel confident in the Hondurans’ abilities to take the lead.
  • there were no detailed rules governing American participation in law enforcement operations. Honduran officials also described cases in which the rules of engagement for the D.E.A. and the police were vague and ad hoc.
  • the killing — along with the soaring homicide rate and the increased trafficking — sounded alarms in Washington: “It raised for us the specter of Honduras becoming another northern Mexico.”
  • Representative Howard L. Berman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to Mrs. Clinton, “Unfortunately, this is not the first time the United States has come perilously close to an overmilitarized strategy toward a country too small and institutionally weak for its citizens to challenge the policy.”
  • Mr. Brownfield, the assistant secretary, said it was impossible to “offer a zero risk program for interdicting drugs in Central America.” He noted that the shootings during interdiction raids happened in the middle of the night, in remote locations that were hard for investigators to reach. Despite these challenges, he said that investigations were conducted and that he was “basically satisfied” that he knew what had happened.
  • From the moment the Honduran pilot departed in his aging Tucano turboprop, just before midnight, he was in radio contact with Colombian authorities, who regularly receive radar intelligence from the American military’s Southern Command.
  • Mr. Corrales, the foreign minister, and some American officials have concluded that the downed planes amounted to misapplied military justice, urged on by societal anger and the broader weaknesses of Honduras’s institutions.
  • Creating a stronger system is at the core of what some officials are now calling Anvil II. A draft of the plan provided by Mr. Corrales shows a major shift toward shoring up judicial institutions with new entities focused on organized and financial crime.
  • The D.E.A.’s role will also probably change. A
  • “It’s a tragedy; there is no confidence in the state,” she said, wearing black in her university office. The old game of cocaine cat-and-mouse tends to look like a quicker fix, she said, with its obvious targets and clear victories measured in tons seized.
  • “This moment presents us with an opportunity for institutional reform,” Dr. Castellanos said. But that will depend on whether the new effort goes after more than just drugs and uproots the criminal networks that have already burrowed into Honduran society.
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