Human Rights Abuses

Homosexuality has been frowned upon for many centuries. Nevertheless, individuals should not be beaten for loving the same gender.Unfortunately, homosexuals in Russia are experiencing physical abuse from anti-gay organizations. Groups are approaching gay individuals and throwing punches, along with kicks. The government should not allow this kind of hatred to continue. Assault charges should be filed against the violent anti-gay parties. Homosexuals are not attacking the organizations, so why should the anti-gay initiate?

Eastern Orthodoxy plays a huge role in Russia. It is obvious that homosexuality is not welcomed in the community of the Church. According to spiritual figures, it is offensive for homosexuals to enter the church or even consider to wed inside a church. However, homosexuals are currently keeping their distances from the church. They are minding their own business and not creating any tension between religious, political, or social parties. It is the other parties who are initiating everything. It must stop if Russia desires to establish peace and acceptance, which will probably never occur.

Authorities should prevent future attacks by arresting anti-gay parties for disturbing homosexuals. Recently, a gas bomb was released in a gay nightclub in Moscow. The bouncers pretended like nothing happened since their views are similar to the vicious parties. Hopefully, Russian society will get their shit together and allow individuals to live their lives as they please.

WRITTEN BY DIMITRIS VITALAKIS

Should the US intervene where there are human rights abuses?

Human rights are a set of moral principals or norms that are protected from legal laws of the nation and international laws. Human rights are rights are entitled to simply for just being human. There should be no regards to nation, location, language, religion, ethnic origin or any other status. But not gays in East africa, specifically Keyna. In Kenya, it is illegal to be gay. Homosexuality is considered a taboo and is widely shunned by the country, around 96 percent of the Kenyan residence believe that homosexuality is a way of life that society shouldn't accepted according to the 2007, Pews Global Attitude project. Around 89 percent of the people that come out or outed by the family was disowned. Employees reported were terminated and were publicly humiliated, ridicule, and discriminated when they sexual orientation and gender identity is revealed. In 2011,Kisauni Islamic College principal Sheikh Majid Obeid even blamed inflation and drought on the LGBT community. Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya organizing secretary Sheikh Mohammed Khalifa said, "We are asking Kenyans to shun businesses owned by such people and further show them open discrimination as a way of stopping the beastly act. They grossly abuse rights of others and should not be accepted among the society:, The LGBT community is till this day, often denied of basic protection from the police often arrested in search for other crimes so that they could be thrown into jail. Often times, police even sexually abuse from police office when identities are discovered. They're denied of medical assistant because their information were often leaked. The LGBT community cannot seek employment of own their own business. They ever have to relocate their residential area to hide their identity often times evicted from their rental house by neighbors. If not condemned enough, they’re not allowed to use common utilities. They’re also not allowed into spiritually nourishment from society because they’re labelled as evil and it would be “unnatural and unacceptable” for them to be in such settings. 

Despite how the LGBT community is condemned, various groups are working to fight such human rights violation. Groups like The National Gay and Lesbian Human Right Commission (NGLHRC) are beginning to stand up for LGBT people who have been victims of violence. However when the NGLHRC tired to register in 2013, they were denied because the Non-Governmental Organizations Coordination Board deemed the group’s name “unacceptable.” “

“The stated aims of NGLHRC are to advance full participation, equality and inclusion of LGBT people in Kenya by engaging with the law, culture and politics. Without formal registration the organization’s ability to operate is compromised. It cannot enter into basic contracts such as leasing premises or open bank accounts, and its ability to raise funds is curtailed.” The government shouldn’t denied the NGLHRC because its against the law according to according to article Article 2 of the covenant requires countries to adhere to all the rights in the covenant without discrimination, including freedom of association. The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights Article 27 (2) says, “The rights and freedoms of each individual shall be exercised with due regard to the rights of others, collective security, morality and common interest.” It will take a long time to integrate the LBGT community into Kenya, but I think if there are enough protest and support from around the world like the U.S since we also have a LGBT community. I think if all the LBGT community around the world worked together, their voice would get through faster. The US should intervene in human rights abuses, they I don’t think they would intervene in accepting the community to this day only 34 states legalized same sex marriage. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Kenya

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/02/kenya-allow-rights-groups-register

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_laws_on_same-sex_unions

Joyce Lu G Band

Human Rights Abuses

The reason why Human Rights are called that way, is because they’re the rights for every single human in the world. It shouldn’t matter what race, gender, age, political view, religion or opinion you have. If Human Rights exist, then people should be protected. However, many countries, create ‘laws’ to protect those right, but don’t really care if people follow those them or not. For example, Bolivia has been having problems in the criminal justice system for many years, but the government does nothing to improve itself. Bolivian law claims to give people freedom of speech and of the press. However, it’s not a secret that the government has been censoring the media ever since this law has been made, and journalists can actually serve time in prison for writing or saying ‘wrong’ information. The press is not the only group of people in Bolivia who has little rights. Women are being constantly abused. Everybody knows it, including the government, but nobody seems to care. Even though there are laws against any kind of women abuses, including marital rape, whenever an act of violence is committed against a woman, chances are, whoever did it is not going to be punished. In addition to women, children of Bolivia suffer as well. In schools, teachers are allowed to beat kids, ages 11 to 16 if they feel that it’s necessary.  There is no minimum age for marriage in Bolivia, so parents sell their kids into marriage, which eventually turns into human trafficking or prostitution. Many kids live in prison with their parents, and have no rights for proper childhood and many live on the streets. Again, Bolivian government created many offices around the country, to ‘protect children’s human rights’, but all of that is for a show off and barely anybody actually works by justice. In addition to the press, women and children, there are many more groups of people who have little or no human rights in Bolivia. Those include, disabled people, indigenous people, asylum-seekers, gays, prisoners and many more. The Bolivian government is full of corruption and needs to be put under some type of supervision. There are more civil people than there are people in the government. There should be more protests against government’s ignorance, because if those people don’t do anything, then nothing will change. They do have elections, and even though many times there’s corruption there too, they should start choosing more carefully, to find someone who could give them the human rights, that they deserve, just  as everyone else on this planet. I think that in this case, the US should interfere with human rights abuses, because everybody knows about whats going on in Bolivia, so now its time for somebody to actually do something about it. The US has enough power to take action and help all of the people who are suffering everyday in the cities of Bolivia.

Sources:

http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/bolivia

http://fsdinternational.org/country/bolivia/hropps

http://internationalpoliticalforum.com/bolivias-new-child-labor-law-a-violation-of-human-rights/

By Caterina Arnautova G-Band

Human Rights Abuses

North Korea is a horrible place to live for people. People there practically have no rights or any sort of freedom. The government continues to impose totalitarian rule. There is a human rights watcher that looks at how human rights are handled in different country's.North Korean refugees living in exile, some of whom fled after Kim Jong-Un took power, told Human Rights Watch that people arrested in North Korea are routinely tortured by officials seeking confessions, bribes, and obedience. Common forms of torture include sleep deprivation, beatings with iron rods or sticks, kicking and slapping, and enforced sitting or standing for hours.

The government uses fear, generated mainly by threats of forced labor, and public executions, to prevent dissent, and imposes harsh restrictions on freedom of information and travel. All media and publications are state controlled, and unauthorized access to non-state radio or TV broadcasts is punished. North Koreans are punished if found with mobile media such as DVDs or computer ‘flash drives’ containing unauthorized TV programs, such as South Korean drama and entertainment shows. Unauthorized use of Chinese mobile phones to communicate with people outside North Korea is also harshly punished.

Whats going on in North Korea is horrible and eventually some other countries will have to step in and end the madness. 

By: Rony Rud G-Band

Human Rights Abuses

It’s a privilege to have human rights. But not everyone has them, especially the people in North Korea. The government of North Korea gave no human rights to their people. The government continues to impose totalitarian rule. Everything is controlled by the government. All the media and publications are state controlled and unauthorized access to non-state radio or TV broadcasts are punished. The punishments are crucial and horrifying. In addition if a person is accused of political offenses, they will be sent to kwan li so. It is a brutal forced labor camp. It is a nightmare. People live in terrible living conditions, abuse, starvation, no or very little health care, and execution by the guards. Individuals also get tortured such as beating with iron rods, kicking, slapping, standing for hours, and women will also be raped by the guards. Death rates in these camps are extremely high. It is estimated that there are between 150,000 to 200,000 political prisoners that are detained in concentration camps. Nobody wants to be in these camps but that’s how the government is run. No one can tolerate the government; if they do they will be sent to the concentration camps. In North Korea only the good is spoken about their leader/government, nothing bad is spoken about. I believe the people who live in North Korea need to know and realize what is happening and learn how terrible their leader is. The people are brain washed. They can’t do anything as well because the government is controlling everything. It’s a nightmare living in North Korea. People in North Korea have no idea how life is like outside North Korea, they have not witness anything besides being stuck like in like a jail place and being torture.I hope there can be a solution for the people in North Korea, but under no human rights and having the government controlling everything they do, its hard for them to speak up. 

Amy Zhang    
G-Band

Thai vs U.S Constitution

The U.S constitution was written and signed by a group of men that wanted independence from Britain. The U.S Constitution starts off with the basic precepts of the English Governance along with an american twist of three branches of government that acts to check and balance each other. The Constitution sets out three distinct branches of the national government: The Executive (the President), The Legislative Branch (Congress), and the Judicial Branch (The Supreme Court). Then we also have the First Ten Amendments, known as the Bill of Rights that spells out the rights of individual citizens in contrast to the establishment of powers of the federal government. The U.S Constitution basically reflects our democratic beliefs. Whereas in Thailand, they also have similar beliefs to us, their constitution called “Rattha Thammanun Haeng Ratcha Anachak Thai,” which provides the basic set of laws in Thailand. Since Thailand has been under the rule of democratic government with the King as head of the state for more than 75 years, during which several constitutions were promulgated and amended. Until 2007, where the Thai Constitution was replaced by one written by a group of drafter appointed by the army-led Council of National Security.  The main objective of the new Constitution is to further promote and protect the rights and liberty of the people, encouraging people to participate in the administration of the country cross examining the powers, similar to the U.S Constitution. The major difference between the Thai Constitution is that the Thai King is still extremely protected in their Constitution, stating the King still has power among the people, stated in Section 8 (The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated.

No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action.) However it is limited by Section 3 stating (“The sovereign power belongs to the Thai people. The King as Head of the State shall exercise such power through the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the Courts in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”). The major major difference in the two is how the Thai Constitution also focus on religion unlike the U.S’s.

JOYCE LU G BAND 

US and CHILE constitution similarities and differences

The US and CHILE both have constitutions filled with many articles, sections, and chapters explaining the governments, peoples freedom, and much more. They also both talk about the freedoms of the people and both have a plan for the government. 

The US Constitution shows the plan for government. The Articles of the Constitution talk about the duties of the three main parts of government: the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch.The articles also talk about the separate powers of the Federal and State government, and how to change the Constitution. The US constitution also has 27 amendments which are pretty much peoples rights and the laws.

The Chilean Constitution also has some what of amendments except they have 29 transitory provisions. One main difference from the US Constitution is that the Chilean Constitution focuses mainly on religion and how the Constitution, other laws, and policies protect religious freedom along with the government which protects religious freedom as well. 

BY: Rony Rud G-Band