Post from my blog (tenderhooligan/ wordpress).

• I was shocked this morning to hear a report on Radio 4 that there is something of an “adoption apartheid” in Britain (reported by thetimes). White children in care are three times more likely to be adopted than black children, and the waiting time for initial decisions about black children is up to six months longer than it is for white children. Delays and discrimination are apparent at every stage of the adoption system, the report says. One would think that as the little brown babies are all the rage nowadays in some circles, young black children would not be discriminated against in this country, but perhaps the little brown babies are only desirable (read: fashionable) if they’re born to mothers more than 1000 miles away. The Times is subscription only these days, of course, but I’m sure there will be several other reports about this story throughout the day.

• How is this going to work? Nearly two-thirds of universities in England want to charge the highest fee available (£9,000) for all of their courses (BBC). Now, far be it from me to pass judgement (ahem!) but I can think of about four institutions in this country who would get away with charging nine grand a year, and the rest can sing for their supper. The government (in its infinite wisdom) initially stated that universities could charge £9,000 only in exceptional circumstances so I have no idea how two-thirds of England’s universities are going to argue that one. But there’s a larger and more important issue at stake here. If it wasn’t already blindingly obvious, higher education has, once again, become the preserve of the elite in England. There is lots of tokenistic chatter about continuing to widen participation and ensuring the less-well-off can still afford higher education, but at £9,000 a pop, we all know how ridiculous that is. The current social mobility rhetoric of David Willets et al is now bordering on offensive.

• Libby Brooks’ Guardian piece - beware the anti-abortionists’ tiny steps towards reform - discusses worrying progress being made by the anti-abortion movement in the UK (which has utilised some of the same movement’s tactics from the US).

The modest group of protesters standing vigil outside the office of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service may not initially appear to embody the alarming infiltration of US anti-choice tacticians into the rather less noxious abortion debate on this side of the Atlantic. But the presence of 40 Days for Life, a Texas-based, church-funded anti-abortion campaign, in London’s Bedford Square over Lent is a reminder that, with a coalition led by the traditionally choice-sceptic Conservatives, peddling a localism agenda that favours the involvement of voluntary, charitable and religious organisations, the concomitant dangers for British women may be more real than they seem.

These campaigns are being helped along, of course, by the now notorious Conservative MP Nadine Dorries who appears to be prepared to say and do anything to get abortion restricted in this country. It’s a pity (for her) that a recent report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists refutes many of Dorries’ favourite lies which claim that abortion always negatively affects mental health. It might not be enough to get her to be quiet but it might be a start.

In other “news”, while looking down my Comment is Free RSS on google reader, I must have noted at least ten pieces about Kate Middelton. Enough already! I don’t care. Who does care?! Seriously!

There is new evidence that state governments are finally understanding what a tragic mistake they made during the 1990s when they began trying ever larger numbers of children as adults instead of sending them to the juvenile justice system.

Prosecutors argued that harsh sentencing would protect the public from violent, youthful predators. But it has since turned out that most young people who spend time in jails and prisons are charged with nonviolent offenses. As many as half are never convicted of anything at all. In addition, research has shown that these young people are vulnerable to battery and rape at the hands of adult inmates and more likely to become violent, lifelong criminals than those who are held in juvenile custody.

A new study by the Campaign for Youth Justice, a Washington advocacy group, shows that state legislatures across the country are getting the message. In the last five years, the authors say, 15 states have passed nearly 30 pieces of legislation aimed at reversing policies that funnel a quarter of a million children into the adult justice system each year.

Life after Haiti’s earthquake has been especially difficult and dangerous for displaced women and girls. In addition to the ongoing crises of homelessness and cholera, a chronic emergency of sexual violence prevails in the settlements where hundreds of thousands still live, well over a year after the disaster.

Groups of Haitian women have been struggling to defend themselves, banding together to prevent assaults and now taking their case to a wider world. At a hearing March 25 in Washington before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a grass-roots group, Kofaviv, joined other human-rights advocates in pressing for an end to what they called a rape epidemic. The police, they said, rarely patrol inside unlighted camps or investigate attacks. Victims live in constant fear and shame while attackers go unpunished.

Their evidence, compiled in a wrenching petition delivered to the commission last fall, led the commission to demand urgent action by Haiti to protect its women and girls. The Haitian government, beset by political and other crises, has failed to do its job. But others, including the United Nations, the United States and other international donors and aid agencies, can and must do more.

Thanks to Illinois, we now have more proof: ending the death penalty saves money - a lot of money - and quickly.

So what is California waiting for?

It’s less than a month since Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed the death penalty repeal bill, replacing the death penalty with life without the possibility of parole and diverting the cost savings to victims’ services. Just two weeks later savings had already reached $4.7 million!

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

These first budgetary savings in Illinois came through the State Appellate Defender’s office, which is the office that provides attorneys for men and women on death row who otherwise can’t afford their own lawyer for appeals. With the end of the death penalty, that agency has been closed.  Now the entire budget of nearly $5 million can be directed to victims’ services. And some of the highly-trained and experienced attorneys from that office are elated at being out of work for such good reason.

The 37 jobs once held by these lawyers perfectly illustrate why the death penalty is so expensive. When a poor person is sentenced to life without parole, the state goes to reasonable lengths to make sure the conviction was valid and due process was met by providing the person with a lawyer and paths to one appeal.

But if the sentence is death, the state’s responsibility is drastically more important. In order to make sure the state doesn’t make the ultimate mistake and execute an innocent person, it provides poor people on death row with attorneys and investigators for habeas corpus, a whole other set of appeals. It’s only in this second appeals process that people are allowed to present evidence that they are actually innocent, or mentally retarded, or were represented at trial by an incompetent attorney. And, because someone’s life is at stake, capital appeals lawyers must be some of the best attorneys available and have more training and experience than their colleagues handling lower-stakes cases.

Every human being needs water to survive. Yet, we have had to fight for governments to recognize access to clean and safe water as a universal right. Finally, last October, the United Nations Human Rights Council officially recognized that right to water is contained in existing human rights treaties, affirming it as a legally binding obligation.

But there is more to be done. The next step in the process of making clean and safe water accessible is for our governments to put their human rights commitments into action. All UN member states must devise and implement a plan of action showing how they will make the right to water a reality – and the Obama Administration must be part of this effort. 

You can help realize this demand.

Why the Right to Water?

Over a billion people are denied access to clean water. As world leaders continue to advance policies that to pollute, destroy and privatize a fundamental necessity of life, women will bear the brunt.

All over the world, women are primarily responsible for providing water for their families and communities.  In remote areas, women will spend up to one-third of each day finding and collecting water, walking over three miles and carrying water jugs that weigh up to 44 pounds.  In droughts, they will often walk twice as far in the search for scarce water.

Just as women are most affected by lack of access to water, they are also leaders in the fight to protect water rights in their communities. They recognize that access to safe water is essential to the enjoyment of all other rights. They demand that their governments guarantee water as a human right for all. Now that the Human Rights Council has recognized the right to water, women have the backing of international law when they insist that their governments be accountable for their obligation to ensure access to clean water.

In celebration of World Water Day, MADRE is calling on you to take action. Tell President Obama that his Administration must produce a plan of action to uphold the right to water.

I am still absolutely aghast at what is happening to this woman. It must stop and it is fundamental that we do not forget her plight and allow her instead to become some sort of proxy measure for the barbarism of the Libyan government.

Eman al-Obaidi courageously pleaded for help from journalists in a Tripoli hotel on March 26, 2011 only to be tackled by Gaddafi security forces and taken away. Her condition and whereabouts are not known. We are appealing to human rights groups and the Office of the High Commission of Human Rights at the United Nations and the Turkish Consulate to do whatever possible to secure her relsease. Please help by signing the petition and sharing it widely.

According to the Independent:
A harrowing but unusually public glimpse of the ugly face of Muammar Gaddafi’s police state was afforded yesterday by security men who seized a distraught Libyan woman as she complained of multiple rape by militiamen. Security agents forced her into a car after a brawl in which at least two journalists were attacked and one had his camera smashed. Before she was taken away, the woman shouted: “They say they are taking me to hospital, but they are taking me to prison.

“She shouted to reporters that she had been raped “by 15 men”. Look what they did to me”, she screamed, “Gaddafi’s men. As soon as I am done here they will take me to prison. They violated my honour [the common Arabic expression for rape]. I am not scared of anything. I will be locked up immediately after this. Look at my face. Look at my back. All of my body is bruised.”

She lifted the skirt to show bruises and lacerations on her right thigh, and shouted that they were the work of Gaddafi loyalists.

We are askiing various human rights groups, The International Red Cresent, The Turkish Consulate, the US State Department, the Office of High Commission on Human Rights and other organizations of influence to do whatever is possible to ensure Eman’s protection and immdiaet release.

And we recognize that Eman is the visible face of but thousands of innocent civilians have been forcibly kidnapped and arrested by Gaddafi, and his mercenaries. The National Transitional Council has called for immediate release of all dissappeared persons and we wholeheartedly support their call.

(Much of the text of the appeal and petition was taken directly from The Independent article filed by Donald Macintyre in Tripoli).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8408506/Fight-as-woman-dragged-from-press-by-Gaddafi-forces.html

follow up story filed March 27, 2011

Despite claims by Gaddafi Government Officials, that Eman has been released and is safe, we will not be satisfied until we see and hear from her for ourselves. The Gaddafi Regime has a long history of dishonesty and their words often run counter to verifiable facts.

Statement by (Free) Libyan National Transistional Council (Interim Government) about Eman al-Oabaidi http://ntclibya.org/english/statement-regarding-eman-al-obaidi/

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/thorough-investigation-urged-over-libya-rape-case-2011-03-28

Today, 25,000 girls as young as 8 years old will become child brides. 

Tens of millions of women and girls around the world have lost their dignity, independence and lives due to child marriage.  

When young girls are forced into marriage, they are more likely to suffer from abuse, disease and abandonment. UNICEF estimates that 60 million girls in developing countries now aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18. If current trends continue, this number will increase by 100 million over the next decade.  

If we make a stand, we can bring an end to the practice of child marriage by increasing access to education and life skills training for girls; supporting youth groups that raise awareness about children’s rights; and working with local partners to change social norms and promote community understanding about the harmful impacts of early marriage.  

Take a stand now on behalf of the 25,000 girls who will marry too early today — and show the world that each and every one of these girls deserves the right to her childhood.

The Government has not signed up to new rules which aim at preventing human trafficking in the EU. These new guidelines would work towards making sure EU countries work together to prevent trafficking, ensuring successful prosecution and making sure victims of trafficking are properly looked after. 

We can’t afford to miss out on this chance to make the fight against trafficking more effective. The Government can’t be allowed to lose its nerve on this. We’ve teamed up with Anti-Slavery International, the Independent on Sunday and ECPAT UK to convince the Coalition not to opt out of the new rules.

If thousands of us sign a petition to David Cameron and Nick Clegg, we can persuade them to make the right decision and ensure the coalition does not wriggle out of signing up to these new rules.

Please sign the petition now, then ask your friends to get involved too.

(Source: petitefeministe)

stfuconservatives:

Submitted by ironchefbatali: “I wish that headline was from The Onion, but it’s not. Apparently the gallant defenders of fetuses everywhere have decided that policing thoughts is the next best way to trample on women’s rights protect life.”

(Source: stfuconservatives, via rightsandhumanity)