25th November is a special day

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It also marks the start of the White Ribbon Campaign.

25th November is also the start of "16 Days of Activism", which links 3 days below together.
- International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25th November)
- World AIDS Day (1st December)
- Human Rights Day (10th December)

But more importantly, it's AWARE's birthday, and it's 25 years old this year.

Happy Birthday. :)

Myanmar's Sham Election

International Herald Tribune
I'm quite pissed at some of the articles I've seen, about giving a chance to the elections in Burma/Myanmar. We need to call a spade a spade. Nick Clegg's op-ed piece in the link above is one that calls for continued pressure on the military junta.

Speak Up Stop Discrimination

The theme for Human Rights Day 10 December 2010 is human rights defenders who act to end discrimination.

Understanding and Preventing Mass Atrocity Crimes: A Regional Perspective

The NUS Centre for International Law is organising a talk on genocide prevention.

Date: 11 November 2010 (Thursday)
Time: 11:00am-12:30pm
Venue: NUS Bukit Timah Campus, Block B, Level 3, Executive Seminar Room

More details in the link here.

WHO simplifies treatment of mental and neurological disorders

World Health Organization
How is this related to human rights? See extract from the news release below for the clues.

"People with mental, neurological and substance use disorders are often stigmatized and subject to neglect and abuse."

The guide can be downloaded below.
mhGAP Intervention Guide for mental, neurological and substance use disorders in non-specialized health settings (PDF)

Hong Kong - Public Consultation on enhanced consumer protection legislation

The Hong Kong government is launching a public consultation on proposals to strengthen its consumer protection legislation to tackle unfair trade practices.

The consultation paper
http://www.cedb.gov.hk/citb/ehtml/pdf/consultation/Consultation_Paper_07_15_e.PDF

There's also a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ConsumerProtectionReview.

Tools and tactics for your digital security

Security In A Box

Security in-a-box is one of a few toolkits crafted by the Tactical Technology Collective, the same group that did the 10 tactics film highlighted in the post below.

What I like about this toolkit is the way it's written. Each topic has a nicely-written background scenario, like the one below.

Assani is a human rights activist in a Francophone African country. His two teenage children, Salima and Muhindo, have offered to help him with some routine computer work he has been asked to do. After seeing the state of his computer, they offer to teach him the basics of how to keep it healthy and functional. Assani also likes the idea of using Free and Open Source Software, but he's not sure whether that would be more or less secure, so he asks for their advice.

Quite cool, if you ask me.

BlackBerry Bans Suggest a Scary Precedent: Crypto Wars Again?

Electronic Frontier Foundation

The proposed bans on Blackberry service in several countries suddenly got me thinking; how are such transmissions monitored in Singapore?

Anyway, it really is sad that we allow governments around the world free rein to wiretap ordinary civilians just because they brandish the 'terrorist' card.

10 tactics for turning information into action

1. mobilise people
2. witness and record
3. visualise your message
4. amplify personal stories
5. just add humour
6. manage your contacts
7. use complex data
8. use collective intelligence
9. let people ask the questions
10. investigate and expose

Why should death sentences be mandatory?

TODAYonline
A commentary piece that asks for more discretion to be given to our judges. For me, besides the human rights angle to the issue, I think the simple way to advocate to the man on the street is to highlight that the death penalty is not reversible. For example, if new evidence is found after a person is executed, it is not possible to undo the sentence.

Burma annuls Suu Kyi poll victory

BBC NEWS
It seems the so-called "elections" in Burma this year will simply be a process to entrench the rule of the military junta.

A Women's Day forgotten?

Yesterday, I was having dinner at home at 9pm. My mum was watching the Channel U news. She remarked that it was Women's Day. I told her to see if there was any coverage on the TV news. By the end of the half-hour news, we heard no mention of it at all.

This morning, I took a quick check on ChannelNewsAsia (Chinese) and Straits Times, even The Online Citizen; no coverage :(

Was it because women's issues were no longer serious problem, i.e. women now have it good?

Sadly, it isn't so.

The stats below (a little outdated) show that women generally earn 73% of what men earn.
http://app.mcys.gov.sg/web/Women_Economy_17.asp

This statistic, simplistic as it may be; but it highlights that Singapore has a long way to go before we can start thinking about forgetting Women's Day.

Gendercide - The worldwide war on baby girls

economist.com
The most extreme form of discrimination against women...

11 Myths and Facts about Feminism

Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE)

This appeared in my inbox today, courtesy of a Google Alert. Great explanation of common misconceptions about feminism. I like this one below.

Myth: The fact that there are some women who have a higher social and economic status than some men means inequality has been eliminated.

Fact: Systematic inequalities continue to exist at every level of society. There may be female heads of Fortune 500 companies but the fact that they constitute less than 5% of the total means that barriers remain.

A recent visit to the ISEAS website also reveals a recent bulletin (PDF) from the Gender Studies Programme. The feature article highlights several worrying trends in ASEAN. One particular example is the seemingly bigger gender gap in countries which are more developed.

Disclosure: I am a AWARE member. [and proud to be one] :)

Equality and Human Rights Commission urges review of torture case

BBC NEWS

The independent watchdog has called for a review of the alleged collusion between the UK and other governments regarding torture cases.

Caution against improper weight control

Department of Health, Hong Kong

One wonders why people would consider consuming products containing parasites for weight control.

A department spokesman said infestation of parasites, such as Ascaris, as slimming means had no scientific basis. On the contrary, it could cause abdominal pain and distention, vomiting, diarrhoea and malnutrition.

Safety and good health comes first.

Taking an 'inner-tube taxi' to Thailand

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific |

The key point of the article is the last paragraph on sanctions.

World Health Day campaign: 1000 Cities, 1000 Lives

WHO | World Health Day – 7 April 2010

Urbanisation and health is a nice fresh theme to choose. WHO's blurb below

Virtually all population growth over the next 30 years will be in urban areas, signaling that urbanization is here to stay. It is associated with many health challenges related to water, environment, violence and injury, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors like tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol as well as the risks associated with disease outbreaks.

Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

United Nations

New UN website on the issue of sexual abuse.

Consumer protection news around the world

MemberPressReview-DEC2009.pdf

Consumers International rounds up issues highlighted by its member organisations, and presents them in an easy to digest format. Do take a look.