United Nations expert on human rights in Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro stated:
“Serious human rights violations have been widespread and systematic, suggesting that they are not simply isolated acts of individual misconduct by middle- or low-ranking officers, but rather the result of a system under which individuals and groups have been allowed to break the law and violate human rights without being called to account.”
Thousands of child soldiers
Villages burned to the ground
2 million left without homes
The United States is set to become the head of the UN Security council in August, an opportunity to take action on these atrocities.
LET THE US KNOW WE WANT THEM TO ACT!
Check out the US CAMPAIGN FOR BURMA website for more information on what is happening in Burma, and how you can take action!
(Photos courtesy of US Campaign for Burma)
Who read the news today? If you have, you know about North Korea's new stunt of conducting an illegal nuclear test today. This event had caught me in a fury. The fact that North Korea completely swore not to conduct nuclear testing anymore to every nation in the UN.. better yet, every country in the world, really shows how much a promise can mean.
This defiance has gotten me thinking.
1. The environmental precautions that the other countries have been making are officially cancelled out with every blow that N. Korea commits. Think of all of the agencies and movements being taken to cut back on nuclear energy and environmentally hazardous wastes on our planet. It's sad how little the North Koreans really think about other people.
2. North Korea is a poor country as it is. Although we don't have exact details of what goes on inside the borders, it's blatant to see that the country does not have enough extra currency lying around to fund nuclear testing.
3. With each defiant setback, North Korea loses more and more possible support from other countries. This could turn back around on them in time.
My ultimate question: What will this eventually lead to?
Each time Pyongyang conducts a nuclear test, the impact is more and more massive. The ammo is more and more powerful. Sooner or later, something will happen in which the North Koreans will have no control. This most recent nuclear test caused an earthquake with a seismic meter reading of 4.7. Imagine in a few years what may be happening if we don't get this under control.
If North Korea thinks this is something to boast about, there's no stopping them from doing this again. Unfortunately, this may come down to the United States.
I clipped this paragraph out from an article in the Associated Press, entitled "Defying world powers, N. Korea conducts nuke test":
Paik Hak-soon of the South Korean security think tank Sejong Institute said North Korea is "putting maximum pressure" on the United States for direct, high-level negotiations resulting in a "grand deal" that would include aid, concessions and a normalization of ties.
Apparently, if Obama goes over to negotiate, maybe this problem can be resolved.
Why does it always come down to the US?!
---- But not to worry. Peter Beck, a Korean Affairs expert at American University gives some reassuring words:
"They are still at least several years away from being able to deliver a nuclear device on a weapon."-Beck
Ohhhh... Good. At LEAST "several" years away from nuclear weapons. Someone needs to stop them immediately.
my name is aakash narendra.i am 14 and i hv been inspired to volunteer and help others and increase awarness this very year hence i don't hv any experience and hv not volunteered any where.well my dreams are big and my goals not about me but for others,for this world
as you all know The United Nations (UN) is an international organization .who's aim is to to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights and achieve world peace.it was formed in 1945 after world war 2.
Sadly I hv to admit that inequality lies in united nations at such an international level countries such as UK, japan,germany,US,china,Italy,Saudi arabia,CANADA,RUSSIA WHICH HOLD 54 PERCENT OF THE VOTING POWER.THE VOTE OF EACH COUNTRY IS WEIGHTED BY HOW MUCH MONEY IT HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE IMF AND NOT BY THE POPULATION OF THE COUNTRY.Well if such inequality lies at such international leve how can we expect equalit in different nation.if some how this issue is solved citizens of various backward countries can hv a bright future and steps can be taken in a more efficent way.
the folllowing are the ways the un can function in a democratic way towards a change
1 UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SHOULD BECOME LIKE A WORLD PARLIMENT WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM EACH COUNTRY IN PROPOTION TO THE POPULATION OF THE COUNTRY.THESE REPRESENTATIVES SHOULD ELECT A WORLD GOVERMENT.
2 INDIVIDUAL CONTRIES SHOULDN'T HV ARMY .THE UN SHOULD MANTAIN FORCES ON BEHALF OF THEM
3 A UN PRESIDENT SHOULD BE ELECTED DIRECTLY BY ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD.
Remember when Al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, threatened to expell humanitarian aid from his country, and increase the violence if the arrest warrent was issued?
He has.
The recent explusion of 16 humanitarian aid agencies from Sudan, puts 4.7 million Darfuris currently at risk of death. Those agencies deliver neccessary supplies to the people whose lives have already been torn apart by genocide, and it is urgent we act now and urge the international community to take all measures possible to ensure that humanitarian aid can be delivered.
Call on the UN to protest this decision by the Government of Sudan!
The year was 1948. Eleanor Roosevelt had been chosen as the leader of the UN comission that wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its first article says the following: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
That declaration stablished some concepts that nowadays seem so ordinary, obvious and common, and I find that a huge advance, since 60 years ago those same concepts were more than innovative. The Declaration was obviously a huge breakthrough, but there is still too much to be done in order to make it a full reality.
All countries that are members of the UN have to commit to following every one of the 30 articles of the Declaration.
The weird thing is that even in great democracies, such as the United States of America, is possible to find violations of those articles. I dare say that prop 8 is a huge violation of the human rights. According to article 16 of the Universal declaration states that "Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution."
Humankind has come a long way in these past 60 years, however there's a even longer way to go. I believe that those who idealized the declaration wouldn't be satisfied to learn that 60 years after it was released there are still children slaves, that there are women who are still forced into a undesired marriage and that not all judgement is honest and fair.
Today I saw an UN ad featuring a very well known brazillian author, Paulo Coelho, and as a form of respect for the anniversary of the Declaration, he asked for 60 seconds of silence. He also suggested that the viewers took this moment to consider what the world, as a whole, had done for human rights. "Not much, not enough", he said. And I couldn't agree more.
We have yet to fight for those who can't. We ought to stop the cruel reality that many live in. Our generation should be the one to make every single article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights an unquestionable truth to all.
