We Have Moved AGAIN!

New Website, New (Second) Issue:

www.theyalejournalofhumanrights.com

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WE MOVED!

We have moved our blog to another website! Please visit us now at yjhr.wordpress.com Click Here to View the Full Blog!

The Spotlight's on Israel

contributed by Zach Plutzik

Op-Ed Contributor
Rights Watchdog, Lost in the Mideast
By ROBERT L. BERNSTEIN
Published: October 19, 2009

AS the founder of Human Rights Watch, its active chairman for 20 years and now founding chairman emeritus, I must do something that I never anticipated: I must publicly join the group’s critics. Human Rights Watch had as its original mission to pry open closed societies, advocate basic freedoms and support dissenters. But recently it has been issuing reports on the Israeli-Arab conflict that are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state.


Click here to read the entire article on 'The New York Times'. Click Here to View the Full Blog!

Not a Holiday Destination

contributed by Laura González

Former Marine Becomes Face of New Vieques Battle

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 11, 2009

Marrero is a key witness in a lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in compensation for illnesses that past and current Vieques residents have linked to the bombing range, where the U.S. and its allies trained for conflicts from Vietnam to Iraq. ... Marrero, who was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in New York City, has had colon cancer twice. He is losing his vision and suffers from more than dozen other illnesses, including Lou Gehrig's disease, that he believes are lingering effects of his 18 months at Camp Garcia. He said he was recently diagnosed with a new bout of cancer that is inoperable in part because of a lung disease that requires him to stay on oxygen around the clock."

Click here to read the entire article on 'The New York Times' website.
Read Laura's article about Vieques, 'Paradise Lost,' in the latest issue of The Yale Journal of Human Rights. Click Here to View the Full Blog!

Punished for Sex

contributed by Meredith Morrison

Saudi gets 5 years, 1,000 lashes for TV sex talk
Comments by ‘sex braggart’ led to hundreds of complaints from viewers

AP Associated Press

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A Saudi court on Wednesday convicted a man for publicly talking about sex after he bragged on a TV talk show about his exploits, sentencing him to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes, his lawyer said.

Click here to read the entire article on MSNBC. Click Here to View the Full Blog!

Kim Jong Il the Spaceman

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT! Oh. Wait a moment. There's nothing to read.

Human rights organizations, including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Korea, are repeatedly denied access to North Korea, which is notoriously reclusive yet provocative. The state-run news outlet, North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA), is not only North Korea's only news outlet but is also (unsurprisingly) censored and nationalistic. Far from critiquing the government it speaks only in awe of it, giving it its absolute support and admiration. Consider its reporting on the 'Trial of American Journalists' who illegally entered North Korea this summer, "Clinton expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists against the DPRK after illegally intruding into it."

As a result of its closed- doors policy, the international community, NGOs, and news stations have been forced to make things up about the country of secrets that is North Korea. The Onion has been especially successful at this:

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Homeless in New Haven

Contributed by Sunnie Jaye Tölle

On the way home from basketball practice Sunnie met Will, a New Haven homeless man who frequents Temple Street. Will urged her to share this Youtube interview of him (embedded below) with her friends. Sunnie is at a loss as to how a man becomes homeless merely by losing his job. The only people Sunnie spots on the street in her hometown of Zurich, Switzerland are people who have "...really messed up- drug addicts, criminals. In Switzerland there are too many safety nets, too many social programs that prevent you from losing your home as soon as you lose your job."

Has America failed Will? Or has Will failed himself?

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Drop Words not Weapons

From: Benjamin
Date: October 5, 2009 12:12:53 AM EDT
To: Meredith
Subject: Re: yjhr article

Hey Meredith,

Sorry it took me a little while to get in touch. Anyway, about the Israel article: I started thinking about it after you guys mentioned in Egypt that you'd like something from an Israeli perspective. I spent parts of the rest of the summer working with Israeli children who have lost a family member to terrorism, talked with the mostly right-wing Israelis who are part of that organization, and visited Sderot, so there's a lot I can talk about. My discomfort comes from the fact that I can't really write two sentences sympathetic to the Israeli cause without qualifying them with a list of the reasons the Palestinians have to be more upset. If I sit down to write an article about human rights in the Middle East, I'm not going to be talking about Israel's problems. That said, I don't think we're going to get anywhere in the region unless we understand that the Israelis, like Palestinians, are not generating their hatred out of nowhere, and so I think there's merit in presenting the Israeli side.

Basically, I'm confused about what kind of article would be most appropriate and honest. There's the option of working in both points of view by talking about my experience in the West Bank. Or I could just talk about Israel, but I'm not sure what exactly we'd consider an issue of human rights, and I'd need to figure out how to write an article about Israeli concerns without suggesting that they're the victims. In general, it seems like focusing more on my specific experiences and less on a wider-angle political piece would be helpful.

If you've got any thoughts on what would be right for the magazine, I'd love to hear them.

Best, Ben


Look forward to what Ben ultimately comes up with in the next issue of The Yale Journal of Human Rights to be released this November.

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It's Only Africa.

(Picture taken from BBC Newsnight website.)

by Kwaku Osei, Saybrook College, Yale 2010
Accra, Ghana

I don’t blog.

It’s just not something I do. I have never really felt so strongly about something that I feel the urge to write it down and share it with the world. And on the off- chance that something really gets my blood boiling, I have never felt like I have much to say. This has been my philosophy for the better part of the past few years.

So what is it, you ask, that brought me out from hiding and forced me to go against my philosophy on blogging? Oh, only some new developments in the biggest toxic dumping scandal of the 21st century that no one is talking about! I was so pissed off when I read this article; not only because the Ivory Coast is near and dear to my heart (my older brother grew up there) but also because it is yet another reminder of a global attitude towards the African continent that continues to anger, frustrate, and confuse myself, other Africans, and all human beings with any sense of empathy.



If before now, you haven't heard of the Trafigura Scandal, I encourage you to take 10 minutes to educate yourself by watching this video. For those of you with a little more time on your hands, or with more of a need to procrastinate, this video goes a bit more in depth. And if you prefer to read go here.

The initial article that I linked to (and the one that inspired me to hop into the blogosphere) basically says that emails obtained by the BBC reveal that high level executives in Trafigura, the oil company at the center of the case, knew perfectly well about the hazardous nature of the waste that they were dumping in the Ivory Coast and were perfectly aware that it might have dangerous consequences for the population living there. This discredits their previously held stance that the toxic waste couldn't possibly have caused the illnesses and deaths in the affected regions.

"The e-mails obtained by [BBC] Newsnight show that in the months before the waste was dumped the company knew about the difficulties they would face in disposing of the waste. 'This operation is no longer allowed in the European Union, the United States and Singapore" it is "banned in most countries due to the 'hazardous nature of the waste,' one e-mail warns. Another e-mail points out that "environmental agencies do not allow disposal of the toxic caustic."

This new development raises many questions. Why did Trafigura, knowing all of this, and after being prevented from treating the waste in the Netherlands, decide to move it to the Ivory Coast, a country still recovering from civil war? Why is this scandal so underrepresented in the media, and barely even reported on? How would the coverage and handling of the scandal be different if the waste had been dumped in a different country?

I think the answer to one of these “Whys?” is pretty easy to determine: Because companies, and especially oil companies, are out to make profits. This is what happens when corporations focus solely on their bottom line. Stories like just convince me that a lot of right can be done in the world if we set our goals above the bottom line, putting people over profits.

The other reason why this happened and why it's so under- reported is even more frustrating to acknowledge. After telling this story to my friend Drew Ruben (great kid, founder of Blue State Coffee; y'all should check him out) he said as horrified as he was he wasn't surprised. You see a few months ago, he had the opportunity to meet Harold Koh, former Dean of Yale Law School and current legal adviser to the United States Department of State. Ruben asked him "Why isn't more being done or said about the Darfur conflict?"

Koh’s response? "Because it's Africa."

That's the way the world thinks. It should therefore not be surprising that a company like Trafigura would feel that they can get away with injustice. We also should not be surprised that stories like this never make mainstream media.

After all, it's only Africa.

Check out Kwaku's blog, Afropolithoughts, here.
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A Predictable Future

By Ashley Gutierrez, Filipina

Silliman College, Yale 2010

Will the Philippines put its foot down against the United States (U.S.)? The Department of Foreign Affairs (Philippines) is reviewing the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which governs the treatment of American troops engaged in joint military exercises in the Philippines, after recommendations from the Senate and the House Human Rights Committee. There are complaints of the VFA being a "downright unconstitutional treaty" and that the Philippines has been getting the "short end of the stick." Highlighted by the case of the American Marine placed under United States' custody last year instead of in a Philippine prison after raping a Filipina, the claims of the VFA being "lopsided" is a fact that I personally believe most Filipinos know about - and have chosen to ignore.

Or will that now change?

Re-evaluating or possibly terminating the VFA is a bold move. Yes, it will do a lot for Philippine sovereignty. Yes, it will affect RP (Republic of the Philippines)- U.S. relations. But the VFA is also necessary for stability in the region and the fight against terrorism.

That said, I am almost positive of how this will turn out: The review will indeed find that the VFA is lopsided. There will be many recommendations for change. The U.S. is getting the most out of this deal. But nothing will change. Because at the end of the day, the Philippines is still too dependent on the U.S. The country is too unstable at the moment given the conflict between the government and the Muslims in Mindanao. President Arroyo is trying to forge a strong relationship with Obama before the 2010 Presidential elections. The Philippines needs the U.S. much more than it needs us.

In short, once again, the Philippines will bend backwards to accommodate the U.S.

Read more on this issue here.

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Correction for YJHR Issue i, Fall 2009

The pullquote on page 14 ("New Solutions or New Problems" by Justin Petrillo) is an excerpt mistakenly taken from the previous article ("The United States and Human Rights: Still Only Halfway There" by Jordan Laris Cohen). The editors apologize for the error and any confusion this may have caused our readers. Click Here to View the Full Blog!

Nuestros Desaparecidos

Contributed by Jason Ketola
GEOVISION Production Company

(San Francisco CA) OUR DISAPPEARED/NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS is the heart-breaking chronicle of director Juan Mandelbaum’s personal search for the souls of friends and loved ones, idealistic young students and activists, who were caught in the brutal vise of the right-wing military and “disappeared” in his native Argentina during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. OUR DISAPPEARED/NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS will air nationally on the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, hosted by Terrence Howard, on Monday, September 21, 2009 at 10PM. Find your local listing here.


Mandelbaum’s quest was triggered by a recent and very painful revelation. Through a Google search, he made the terrible discovery that Patricia Dixon, a long lost girlfriend,was among the desaparecidos. Almost thirty years after he left at the height of the repression, to escape the pervasive climate of feat, Juan returned to Argentina to explore her story and the stories of other friends and loved ones who had also disappeared. He learned first-hand of the horrors that befell them and the almost 30,000 people who were kidnapped by agents of the military government, secretly detained without trial, brutally tortured and then killed, never to be seen again.



Although idealistic and involved in community organizing, Mandelbaum was not willing to join the more militant and radical groups that were recruiting many of his friends. Inspired by the Cuban revolution and the election of Chile’s Salvador Allende, the first democratically elected Socialist president in the Americas, many of his fellow students at the University’s School of Philosophy and Letters were willing to support an armed struggle for a cause they believed in passionately -- that former President Juan Peron, who had been exiled to Spain, would lead Argentina on the road of socialism. It was a hope that was quickly crushed when Peron returned in 1973, and disowned the young radicals who had fought so hard for his return. Instead, right wing death squads began to pave the way for the military regime that, after 1976, targeted thousands of leftist activists for annihilation. Over 250 of Mandelbaum’s fellow students are among the disappeared.

In OUR DISAPPEARED, NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS, Mandelbaum meets with the parents, siblings and children of many of these old friends, piecing together their dramatic stories through reminiscences, home movies and old photos. The film also uses rare and extraordinary archival footage (including an appearance by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1977 endorsing the military president) to bring the energy and tension of the time and place to life. It is a quietly devastating story of young lives viciously ended and the unending pain suffered by their families and their country.



To learn more about the film, visit the OUR DISAPPEARED, NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS interactive companion website (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/ourdisappeared/) which features detailed information on the film, including an interview with the filmmaker and links and resources pertaining to the film’s subject matter. The site also features a talk back section for viewers to share their ideas and opinions, preview clips of the film, and more.

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