(Editor’s Note: This article is part of the Just Security symposium “Thinking Beyond Risks: #Tech and Atrocity Prevention,” organized with the Programme on International Peace and Security (IPS) at the Oxford Institute for #Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict. Readers can find here (link) an introduction and other articles in the series as they are published.)

Leveraging Local Knowledge for Atrocity Prevention
https://www.justsecurity.org/108314/atrocity-prevention-open-source-local-knowledge/ #internationallaw #humanrights #humanrightseducation #OSINT

“Rank favoritism, such as a sole-source award to a contractor who is a major donor to the governor, leads past waste to outright #corruption, for the motivation of the award is not the bid’s economy but the governor’s campaign treasury.” https://www.texasobserver.org/abbott-operation-lone-star-contractors-bonanza/

#politics #USpol #border #immigration #GregAbbott #Texas #TXlege police #HumanRights #news

Two days after SOHR demand | Dr. Sa’er Shaddoud released, while scientific research academics remain detained for the 29th consecutive day https://www.syriahr.com/en/357165/ #Science #Syria #HumanRights

I imagine that #WomensStudies, #GenderStudies, #NativeAmericanStudies, and other history / anthropology studies will be next on the chopping block. #BlackHistory already is!

New York's governor orders college to remove #PalestinianStudies job listing

February 28, 2025

"The job posting at Hunter College had called for a historian 'who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to #SettlerColonialism, #genocide, #HumanRights, #apartheid, #migration, #climate and #infrastructure devastation, health, race, #gender, and sexuality,' according to screenshots published by the New York Post, which first reported the job announcement."

https://apnews.com/article/hochul-palestinian-studies-genocide-cuny-hunter-04f5e9bf1b718bf0441f9b6cde260141
#Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #SignsOfFascism #Resist #ResistFascism #Censorship #Universities #HigherEducation #DumbingUsDown #DenyingHistory #DenyingReality

"I've never been threatened with arrest before, Germany has a huge problem!"

#berlin
#icc #icj #UnitedNations

One of the most candid interviews with Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.

Has international law collapsed in #gaza?

In this wide-ranging conversation, Albanese breaks down the role of international law and the failures of the global system. #ihl #humanrights

📲 Video: PALCHR TV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3twR4t5gjo

#ICYMI, an update on the #ICE lawyer with a fascist X account: Following the Observer’s reporting, three U.S. House members have demanded accountability, while James Rodden still appeared on an ICE court schedule this week.

https://www.texasobserver.org/investigation-ice-prosecutor-racist-x-account/

#news #SocialMedia #racism #WhiteSupremacy #immigration #HumanRights #politics #USpol #Congress

Es ist still geworden um die Frauen im #Iran. Der Protest gegen die #Islamische Republik und ihre unmenschlichen Gesetze geht aber weiter. Die Bilder unten stammen aus einem Video aus #Mashad, in dem eine Frau sich auszieht und fast nackt auf das Dach eines Polizeiautos springt. Februar 2025: Der Mut ist ungebrochen - die Revolution lebt.

#jinjihanazadi #womenlifefreedom #IranRevolution #ZanZendegiÂzâdi #womenrights #humanrights #courageous #Mut #BeTheirVoice

The U.N. Human Rights Chief has accused Israel of showing an unprecedented disregard for human rights in its military actions in the Gaza Strip and said Hamas had violated international law. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/02/27/world/israel-gaza-un-human-rights-chief/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #middleeast #israel #gaza #israelhamaswar #palestinians #hamas #benjaminnetanyahu #humanrights

Human rights and environmental violations throughout Australian supply chains ?
Creating a mandatory human rights due diligence regime for Australian companies

"We analysed the human rights commitments of 25 of the top companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), including some of our largest banks and mining companies."

"We found Australian companies have a long way to go in “knowing and showing” a commitment to respect human rights, suggesting an urgent need for reform...It is clear from our research that many large Australian companies are not operating in line with international standards."

"One response could be for Australia to follow the European Union’s lead and create a mandatory human rights due diligence regime. Australian companies must take proactive steps to comply with international standards. Our findings suggest the government should enact a stronger and broader mandatory human rights due diligence law covering all human rights. "
>>
https://theconversation.com/some-of-australias-largest-companies-are-failing-to-know-and-show-their-respect-for-human-rights-250055
#HumanRights #ModernSlavery #transparency #DueDilligence #EUDR #SupplyChains #environment #pollution #LoggingImpacts #PayGap #ChildLabour #industry #DoingBusiness #mining #banks #energy #insurance #transportation #telecommunication #media #health #pharmaceuticals #governance

📢 Es gibt keine Ausnahmeregelungen für Israelische Minister oder Mitglieder der ISR Streitkräfte!

Deutschland hat das Römische Statut am 11.DEZ 2000 ratifiziert - damit verpflichtet sich das Land, gesuchte Kriegsverbrecher an das Tribunal in Den Haag auszuliefern.

Tun Offizielle dies nicht, machen sie sich mitschuldig.

#völkerrecht

#learningbydoing #humanrights

#InternationaHumanitarianLaws
#genevaconventions #germany #ngo
#media #presse

👇🏽 https://mastodon.social/@villebooks/114069839261020326

Microsoft workers protest sale of AI and cloud services to Israeli military

"The protest on Monday came after an investigation by The Associated Press revealed last week that sophisticated AI models from Microsoft and OpenAI had been used as part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during the recent wars in Gaza and Lebanon."

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-ai-technology-microsoft-gaza-lebanon-90541d4130d4900c719d34ebcd67179d

#Israel #Gaza #AI #HumanRights #News

Vietnam targets independent journalist

https://vietnam-aujourdhui.info/2025/02/26/vietnam-targets-independent-journalist/

#VietnamNews #HumanRights #Journalism #Justice #Vietnam

USAID freeze opens door to Russian influence in Eastern Europe https://www.politico.eu/article/usaid-freeze-russia-influence-eastern-europe-georgia-ukraine-moldova-belarus-ngo-media/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication #Energyinfrastructure #Aidanddevelopment #Electionsecurity #ForeignAffairs #Transparency #Development #Humanrights #Democracy #Elections #RuleofLaw #Security #Politics #Media #NGOs

#Trump praises Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman [#MBS] of #SaudiArabia as “tremendously respected all over the world,” without mentioning that the #CIA during Trump’s first term said the prince was responsible for the grisly murder & dismemberment of #JamalKhashoggi a Saudi #journalist for The Washington Post.

#InternationalLaw #journalism #HumanRights

#Reading Georges Erasmus' #memoir Hot'a! It's a walk through 50 years of fighting for #Indigenous #rights and the role community development plays in mobilizing for the good fight. #Canadians can learn a lot from this book especially if you weren't/aren't part of movements that stand for #equality and #humanrights,

#Israel plans to bar freed Palestinians from entering Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque in Ramadan https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250223-israel-plans-to-bar-freed-palestinians-from-entering-jerusalems-al-aqsa-mosque-in-ramadan/ #HumanRights

https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/opinion-indifference-is-worse-than-hate/

#jews #hamas #HumanRights #israel #hostages #NeverAgain

I wrote this five years ago:

“Democracy or capitalism? Pick one.

If, like me, you grew up in the 80s, you probably unthinkingly accepted the neoliberal maxim that democracy and capitalism go hand-in-hand. This is one of the greatest lies ever told. Democracy and capitalism are polar opposites.

You cannot have a functional democracy and billionaires and trillion-dollar corporate interests and Silicon Valley’s Big Tech misinformation and exploitation machinery. What we’re seeing is the clash of capitalism and democracy and capitalism is winning.

Are we past a tipping point? I don’t know. Perhaps. But we can’t think like that.

Personally, I’m going to keep working to effect change where I feel I can be effective: in creating alternative technological infrastructure to support individual freedoms and democracy.

We’ve already laid the infrastructure of techno-fascism. We’ve already created (and are creating) the panopticons. All the fascists need to do is move in and take the controls. And they will do so democratically, before destroying democracy, just as Hitler did.

And if you think the 1930s and 40s were something, remember that the most advanced tools to amplify the destructive ideologies of the time were less powerful than the computers you have in your pockets today. Today we have machine learning and are on the brink of unlocking quantum computing.

We must ensure the 2030s are not like the 1930s. Because our advanced centralised systems of data capture, classification, and prediction plus a hundred years of exponential increase in processing power (note: I do not use the word “progress”) mean the 2030s will be exponentially worse.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, we have a common enemy: the nationalist international. The problems of our time transcend national borders. The solutions must also. The systems we build must be both local and global at once. The network we must build is one of solidarity.

We created the present. We will create the future. Let’s work together to ensure that that future is the one we want to live in ourselves.”

– In 2020 and beyond, the battle to save personhood and democracy requires a radical overhaul of mainstream technology

https://ar.al/2020/01/01/in-2020-and-beyond-the-battle-to-save-personhood-and-democracy-requires-a-radical-overhaul-of-mainstream-technology/

And that’s why I’m working on building the Small Web.

https://ar.al/2020/08/07/what-is-the-small-web/

With ZERO funding from the EU and multiple rejections from NLNet/ngi (because they still don’t get it).

https://ar.al/2022/10/20/nlnet-grant-application-for-domain-rejected/

(That’s from 2022. We were also rejected in 2024 for my work on Kitten, Domain, and Place as outlined in my talk, linked below, but I was too tired to write about it again.)

https://ar.al/2024/06/24/small-web-computer-science-colloquium-at-university-of-groningen/

So for fuck’s sake, if you agree with my vision for a technological (and thus societal) future different from the hellscape we currently inhabit, and want to help us explore one possible path towards it, please fund our damn work. (Because, clearly, the EU is adamant about not doing so.)

https://small-tech.org/fund-us/

Other ways to help:

- If you know of folks that are ethically compatible who offer no strings funding, please try to secure some for us (my time is 100% spent on coding at the moment).

- If you know of conferences that pay their speakers, ask them to have me speak on the Small Web. It can be as technical or non-technical as you like and I won’t do it for free but I’m happy to accept, within reason, what they can afford (in addition to travel and accommodation being covered) and any fees received go to Small Technology Foundation, our not-for-profit.

- Help share this far and wide.

Once Domain is released and we have the first Small Web host running on small-web.org – hopefully the first of many that will be run by other folks in the future – and we start taking commercial sign-ups for Small Web places, we should eventually have the money problem solved (because apparently that’s a problem you have to solve to gain the privilege of working for the common good in our world because our system is unabashedly shortsighted).

So, yeah, anyway, g’morning! How’s your day going so far? :)

(You made it this far? You deserve a hug. And don’t worry, I’m just venting. Things will get better. It’s just frustrating swimming upstream all the time.)

💕

#SmallWeb #SmallTech #humanRights #democracy #anarchy #BigWeb #BigTech #capitalism #neoliberalism #technoFascism #technology #fascism #society #freedom #personhood

"Among the many targets of the executive orders from Trump’s first few weeks in office are the over 70 million adults in the United States who report having a disability. That’s about one in four American adults, according to 2022 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—people who now face threats to their employment, education, and more."
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/disability-under-trumps-anti-dei-agenda/
#DEI #DisabilityRights #HumanRights #HealthEquity #Diversity #USPol

Five years since COVID. For the impacts on minority language media check this article:
📖 https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2021.2005074

#minorityrights #minority #language #covid #socialmedia #press #healthcare #democracy #humanrights

📷©blvdone - stock.adobe.com

You Are the "Inefficiency"
https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/you-are-the-inefficiency

"Musk and his online minions often refer to #liberals as NPCs, or nonplayer characters, a #VideoGame term referring to the figures who populate the background of #games...

as they see it, most of humanity is simply not #human. We are ants, or even less: bits of #programming to be moved around at Elon’s whim...

Any suffering he brings down on NPCs is meaningless"

#ElonMusk #Musk #Doge #Bigotry #Coup #Corruption #Government #HumanRights #USA

"To my German Friends: How many rivers of Palestinian blood need to flow before you feel cleansed of your guilt over the Holocaust?"

@blackvoices
@politics @palestine@a.gup.pe @palestine@lemmygrad.ml @gazawatch @flawed @lebanon @irannachrichten @yemen
#tiktok
#blackmastodon
#canada
#germany
#eu
#uk
#africa
#democracy
#socialism
#anarchism
#antifascism
#resistance
#humanrights
#security
#safety
#unitedstates
#propaganda
#media
#journalism
#china
#russia
#hasbara
@blackmastodon

There is NO opposition party in the USA.

#usa
#tiktok
#humanrights
#health
#blackmastodon
@blackvoices
@politics
#Gaza
#Palestine
#Syria
#iran
#lebanon
#Genocide
#geopolitics
@palestine@a.gup.pe
@palestine@lemmygrad.ml
@gazawatch @flawed
@lebanon
@irannachrichten @yemen
#SettlerColonialism
#AntiImperialism
#antiPalestinianracism
#politics

OpEd: Why #MAGA Loves #Russia and Hates #Ukraine

Feb. 8, 2024
By David French

"In 2021, The American Conservative’s Rod Dreher praised a #Putin speech condemning the West and said that Putin and #Hungary’s #ViktorOrban were 'completely clear and completely correct on the society-destroying nature of #wokeness and postliberal leftism.' (It should be noted that Dreher has nonetheless unequivocally condemned Putin’s invasion.) A 2022 exchange between Steve Bannon and #ErikPrince, the founder of private military contractor #Blackwater, was even more illustrative. Bannon hosted Prince on his podcast shortly after Putin’s invasion and proclaimed Putin 'anti-woke.' Prince replied supportively that the people of Russia 'still know which bathroom to use.' And Bannon kept the thought alive, asking, 'How many genders are there in Russia?'"

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/opinion/why-maga-loves-russia-and-hates-ukraine.html

#Transphobia #ChristoFascism #ErikPrinceColonialism #CorporateColonialism #Fascism #TigerSwan #NoDAPL #HumanRights #EnvironmentalJustice #LGBTQ

Extent of #Blackwater and #CIA Collaboration Uncovered

By Yana Kunichoff
Published December 11, 2009

"New details of Blackwater participation in clandestine CIA raids detail the extent to which private security contractors were involved in covert government antiterror operations.

"According to former employees and current and former American intelligence officials, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions, Blackwater security guards participated in clandestine raids to capture or kill suspected insurgents in #Iraq and #Afghanistan and in transportation of detainees on CIA flights.

"The raids against suspects were said to occur almost nightly between 2004 and 2006, the height of the Iraqi insurgency. Several of the former Blackwater employees said the lines dividing the government-sanctioned agencies (the CIA and the military) and Blackwater began to blur.

"This information highlights a more extensive relationship between the CIA and Blackwater, now re-named Xe Services, than government investigation had previously acknowledged.

"This was confirmed recently by an article about #ErikPrince, the founder of Blackwater, published in Vanity Fair. In it, Prince spoke about the extent of his involvement with the CIA, which ranged from putting together, funding and executing operations to bring personnel into 'denied areas' to targeting specific people for #assassination who were deemed enemies by the #USGovernment.

"Though Prince alleged that he participated as a private citizen and used his personal funds to carry out operations, the Blackwater employees interviewed by The New York Times confirmed both their full knowledge of and participation in the raids.

"#Xe spokesman Mark Corallo, however, continued to deny this."

Full article:
https://truthout.org/articles/extent-of-blackwater-and-cia-collaboration-uncovered/

#TigerSwan #BigOil #HumanRights #Covert #Corporatism #Corporatocracy
#Corruption #Capitalism #Colonialism

#GiftArticle

They arrived at the #US border from around the world, hoping to seek #asylum. Instead, they were detained, shackled & flown by US #military to a faraway country, #Panama.

They were stripped of their passports & most of their cellphones,…& then locked in a hotel, barred from seeing lawyers & told they would soon be sent to a makeshift camp near the Panamanian jungle.

#HumanRights #immigration #law #CrimesAgainstHumanity #Trump #TheCrueltyIsThePoint
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/world/americas/trump-migrant-deportation-panama.html?unlocked_article_code=1.x04.ujdF.9MVWYcYCM3dc&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

For years, Ukraine’s civilians have faced relentless attacks, unlawful detentions, and crushed freedoms due to russia’s invasion.

The world must not look away. Accountability and justice are urgent.

Read more on the ongoing human rights crisis:
https://www.hrw.org/the-day-in-human-rights/2024/11/19?story=paragraph-9792

#Ukraine #HumanRights

Five years since COVID. Migrants and ethnic minorities in Europe are disproportionately affected by the impact of long-COVID:
📖 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100427

#minorityrights #minority #healthcare #europe #covid #democracy #press #humanrights #longcovid

📷 Unsplash

A $7M grant to install solar panels through the EPA’s Solar for All program is in limbo. Also unclear: a $300,000 grant for resilient infrastructure from the Department of Energy and $600,000 for food distribution from the Department of Agriculture. https://www.texasobserver.org/climate-funding-freeze-tribes-community-groups/

#Indigenous #NativeAmerican #politics #USpol #Trump #HumanRights #USpol #news

Featured story: Travis County’s progressive DA has secured indictments for the 2021 death of Juan José Galvan Batalla, remembered as a “cheerful” hard worker and beloved sibling. https://www.texasobserver.org/austin-rare-prosecution-worker-death-trench-collapse/

#Austin #Texas #politics #labor #workers #HumanRights #USpol #news #CriminalJustice

🇰🇭 CAMBODIA
🔴 Press Freedom Under Attack

🪧 UK journalist Gerald Flynn banned from Cambodia after exposing environmental issues.

🪧 Reporter Chhoeung Chheng shot dead investigating illegal deforestation—echoing past journalist killings.

🪧 Crackdown intensifies: arrests, media shutdowns, & Cambodia ranks 151st in press freedom.

#Cambodia #PressFreedom #HumanRights #Journalism

Minority groups experience disparities in health care access. See a European comparative study:
📖 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1204854/full

And an overview on ethnic and racial inequalities of COVID19 impacts:
📖 https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2020-216061

#minorityrights #minority #healthcare #inequality #humanrights #press #democracy #covid

📷 Melanie Cervantes

A couple days ago I posted that #Trump took control of the Kennedy Center board, and one of the first things he cancelled was the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington concert scheduled for this summer.

Well they said fuck you we'll sing in the streets! 🙌 🏳‍🌈💪

#Equality #Protest #HumanRights #USpol #FuckFascism

Did #albo say anything about the attack on two Muslim women in Melbourne? No?

Didn't they say: "We value every Australian, regardless of their faith, race, gender or LGBTIQ+ status,” ?

Someone reminds me, what do we call it when actions don't match the words?

So violent attacks are not ok if inflicted on Christians or Jews but it's apparently acceptable if inflicted on #Muslims , #women , #indigenous or #lgbtqia community. Because hey it's too complicated and hard to protect anyone other than Christians and Jewish people.

And Albo calls Dutton divisive, while he follows in his footsteps.

#trans #transgender #lgbtq #lgbt #women ##humanrights #auspol

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/feb/17/melbourne-alleged-islamophobic-assaults-women-epping-high-street-shops-ntwnfb

#March8 seems to be the next big #protest day. Unless I'm snowed in, I'll be at #MonumentSquare in #PortlandMaine. I hope some folks will join me! Otherwise, it will be another #ProtestOfOne. But a protest of one is better than None!
#ProtestFascism #Maine #50501movement #HumanRights #EnvironmentalJustice #ResistFascism #ResistICE #Resistence