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Resources updated between Monday, November 24, 2014 and Sunday, November 30, 2014
November 28, 2014
"In the last two months, the UN's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Makarim Wibisono, has not issued any statements condemning terror attacks that killed Israelis in the last few months, including the Har Nof murder of four rabbis and a Druse policeman last week.
Similarly UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Leilani Farha, has not commented on the hundreds of homes Egypt has destroyed along the Rafah border in the last month to prevent Hamas from digging smuggling tunnels.
Both rapporteurs are under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council. On Tuesday they issued a joint statement calling on the Israel to 'end its punitive demolition of Palestinian homes in response to alleged acts of violence by Palestinians.'...
Israel's mission to the UN in Geneva on Thursday said in response, 'We regret that, despite the escalating trend of family evacuations and house demolitions throughout the entire Middle East region, the special rapporteur on adequate housing has never commented on the issue before, but deemed it necessary to make a statement regretting the demolition of the house of a terrorist who killed in cold blood a three-month-old baby, a young woman, and injured six others.'
Israel's mission noted that the rapporteurs ended their press release by asking Israel to place human rights at the center of its policy- making so that the cycle of violence could end.
'By saying this, the mandate holders have turned a blind eye to terrorism, incitement, celebrations of violence and encouragement of extremism carried out by Palestinians and their leaders,' Israel's UN mission said."
Israel accuses UN investigators of turning blind eye to terrorism Article
"The father of a 14-year-old child bride accused of murdering her husband said Thursday he was appealing to a Nigerian court to spare his daughter the death sentence.
"Wasilat Tasi'u is on trial for the murder of her 35-year-old husband, Umar Sani, who died after eating food that Tasi'u allegedly laced with rat poison.
"'We are appealing to the judge to consider Wasilat's plea,' her father, Isyaku Tasi'u, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
"On Wednesday witnesses told the High Court in Gezawa, a town 60 miles outside Nigeria's second largest city of Kano, that Tasi'u killed her husband two weeks after their wedding in April. Three others allegedly died after eating the poisoned meal.
"The prosecution, led by Lamido Soron-Dinki, senior state council from the Kano State Ministry of Justice, is seeking the death penalty.
"The case calls into question the legality of trying a 14-year-old for murder under criminal law and the rights of child brides, who are common in the poverty-stricken, predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria region.
"'She was married to a man that she didn't love. She protested but her parents forced her to marry him,' Zubeida Nagee, a women's rights activist in Kano, told AP. Nagee and other activists have written a letter of protest to the Kano state deputy governor.
"Nagee said Tasi'u was a victim of systematic abuse endured by millions of girls in the region. Activists say the blend of traditional customs, Islamic law and Nigeria's constitutional law poses a challenge when advocating for the rights of young girls in Nigeria.
"Justice Mohammed Yahaya adjourned the court until December 22. Tasi'u is in state juvenile custody."
November 26, 2014
"A Pakistani actress has been sentenced to 26 years in prison for blasphemy after appearing in a mock TV wedding. Veena Malik took part in the staged marriage on a morning show while musicians sang a devotional song about the wedding of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter. Her husband, Asad Bashir Khan, and the chief of the country's biggest media group, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, were also handed 26-year jail terms."
November 25, 2014
Jerusalem, A/RES/69/24 Development
The Syrian Golan, A/RES/69/25 Development
"The following statement was issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, in Geneva on 25 November 2014...
'I am deeply concerned at the disproportionate number of young African Americans who die in encounters with police officers, as well as the disproportionate number of African Americans in United States prisons and the disproportionate number of African Americans on Death Row.
It is clear that, at least among some sectors of the population, there is a deep and festering lack of confidence in the fairness of the justice and law enforcement systems. I urge the United States authorities to conduct in-depth examinations into how race-related issues are affecting law enforcement and the administration of justice, both at the federal and state levels.
Concerns about institutionalized discrimination in the United States have repeatedly been raised, by respected national bodies and by United Nations bodies monitoring the implementation of international human rights treaties, ratified by the United States.'"
"Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday arrested pro-democracy demonstrators who refused to comply with a court order to clear a protest site in the city's Mong Kok district, scene of previous violent confrontations with police and angry mobs.
"Police took away about a dozen protesters after warning people not to interfere with workers and bailiffs enforcing the court order to remove obstructions from the site, one of three that activists have occupied for nearly two months.
"Protesters initially put up no resistance as workers in white hard hats and gloves tore down barricades, moving wooden pallets and other junk into the middle of an intersection to be taken away in a truck that had pulled up.
"But as the authorities pushed down the 50-meter (164-foot) occupied stretch of Argyle Street to remove tents and other debris, they faced defiance from protesters, who used delaying tactics such as asking for more time to pack up their belongings.
"Pro-democracy lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung was among those taken away by officers to waiting police vans.
Traffic on the previously occupied section of Argyle Street - which had been blocked by the protesters for two months - was flowing in one of the four lanes by late afternoon.
"Protesters have been camped out on major thoroughfares in three areas of Hong Kong since Sept. 28 demanding greater democracy. The standoff has continued with no end in sight as neither the government nor the student-led protesters have shown any willingness to compromise.
"'I'll continue to fight for true democracy,' said housewife Candy Chan, 50, who visited Mong Kok regularly to support the protesters. 'We're fighting because we want the government to come out and respond to our demands.'
"A crowd of people supporting the police clearance operation applauded from the sidelines.
"Businessman Andrew Tang said he traveled across Victoria Harbor to watch the barricade removal. He said the protesters were not realistic in their demands to China's communist rulers in Beijing and miscalculated by not withdrawing earlier.
"'The Communist Party will never surrender,' he said as he gave a thumbs-up to the police..."
Hong Kong Police Arrest Demonstrators at Protest Site Document
Saudi Arabian restaurants ban single women from entering because of their 'mentally unstable' behavior such as flirting, smoking and using mobile phones
"Restaurants in Saudi Arabia have banned single women from entering because of their 'mentally unstable' behaviour such as using flirting, smoking and using mobile phones.
Several restaurants have put up signs that say 'women are not allowed' in another blow for women's rights in the conservative Muslim kingdom."
"About 100 people were slaughtered last week in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the latest massacre to shake the restive region, lawmakers told AFP on Monday.
The carnage took place on Thursday near Beni in the North Kivu province, where mainly Muslim Ugandan rebels have been blamed for killing more than 200 civilians in gruesome machete attacks since October.
'I have a figure of 95 bodies buried in a common grave,' as well as 'nine others that were shown to authorities in a morgue,' opposition member of parliament Juma Balikwisha told AFP."
100 killed in new DRC massacre Document
"The fact of the matter is that when members of the international community speak about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a fog descends to cloud all logic and moral clarity. The result isn't realpolitik, its surrealpolitik.
The world's unrelenting focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an injustice to tens of millions of victims of tyranny and terrorism in the Middle East. As we speak, Yazidis, Bahai, Kurds, Christians and Muslims are being executed and expelled by radical extremists at a rate of 1,000 people per month.
How many resolutions did you pass last week to address this crisis? And how many special sessions did you call for? The answer is zero. What does this say about international concern for human life? Not much, but it speaks volumes about the hypocrisy of the international community.
I stand before you to speak the truth. Of the 300 million Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, less than half a percent are truly free - and they are all citizens of Israel.
Israeli Arabs are some of the most educated Arabs in the world. They are our leading physicians and surgeons, they are elected to our parliament, and they serve as judges on our Supreme Court.
Millions of men and women in the Middle East would welcome these opportunities and freedoms.
Nonetheless, nation after nation, will stand at this podium today and criticize Israel – the small island of democracy in a region plagued by tyranny and oppression...
The European nations claim to stand for Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité - freedom, equality, and brotherhood – but nothing could be farther from the truth.
I often hear European leaders proclaim that Israel has the right to exist in secure borders.
That's very nice. But I have to say – it makes about as much sense as me standing here and proclaiming Sweden's right to exist in secure borders.
When it comes to matters of security, Israel learned the hard way that we cannot rely on others – certainly not Europe...
As we came into the United Nations, we passed the flags of all 193 member States. If you take the time to count, you will discover that there are 15 flags with a crescent and 25 flags with a cross. And then there is one flag with a Jewish Star of David. Amidst all the nations of the world there is one state – just one small nation state for the Jewish people.
And for some people, that is one too many.
As I stand before you today I am reminded of all the years when Jewish people paid for the world's ignorance and indifference in blood. Those days are no more.
We will never apologize for being a free and independent people in our sovereign state. And we will never apologize for defending ourselves.
To the nations that continue to allow prejudice to prevail over truth, I say "J'accuse."
I accuse you of hypocrisy. I accuse you of duplicity.
I accuse you of lending legitimacy to those who seek to destroy our State.
I accuse you of speaking about Israel's right of self-defense in theory, but denying it in practice.
And I accuse you of demanding concessions from Israel, but asking nothing of the Palestinians.
In the face of these offenses, the verdict is clear. You are not for peace and you are not for the Palestinian people. You are simply against Israel."
Statement by Israel at the UN General Assembly on the "Question of Palestine" Development
November 24, 2014
A Jewish man in his 40s is in moderate-to-serious condition after being stabbed in the upper torso Monday evening, while another man sustained light wounds, police said, when both were attacked by a group of Arab assailants near the Old City's Jaffa Gate.
"According to Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, police "strongly believe the stabbing was a terrorist attack."
"'The victims were surrounded by a group of Arab men, and one was stabbed and the other was lightly injured, although it is not clear if he was stabbed as well,' Rosenfeld said shortly following the attack.
"Police arrested one of the suspects and continue to search for the others after they fled the scene, he said, adding that the stabbing victim managed to walk to a nearby police station where he received first aid before being rushed to Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
"'Police continue to search the Old City for the other suspects and hope to make arrests soon,' Rosenfeld said..."
2 Jewish Men Wounded Outside Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate In Suspected Terrorist Attack Document
The African Union/UN Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID), directly involved in a recent cover-up of mass rapes committed by the Sudanese security forces, is hard at work on an image makeover. Instead of focusing on bringing to justice the perpetrators of the latest horrific crime, and exposing its own complicity, it is styling itself as a women's rights champion for the UN presses.
On November 22, 2014 the UN issued a press release hailing the UNAMID for holding "a Global Open Day forum bringing together more than 140 women representing the five states of Darfur to discuss the role of women in peace." According to the press release "The event, convened in El Fasher, North Darfur, on 20 November, stressed the significance of ... special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse...At the conclusion of the meeting, participants presented recommendations that included...capacity-building programmes targeted at empowering Darfuri women economically and socially."
The story is a far cry from UNAMID's sordid involvement in covering-up recent atrocities committed by Al-Bashir's genocidal regime, despite its "core mandate" being "the protection of civilians."
UN mission engaged in cover-up of mass rapes in Sudan casts itself as women's rights champion Development