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1.5 million people have been displaced for Olympic Games
"A human rights organization is accusing the Chinese government of widespread forced evictions along with other human rights violations during preparations for the Beijing Olympics. In a new report, the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions says 1.5 million people have been displaced from their homes to make room for Olympic venues and city beautification schemes. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.
The Center on Housing Rights and Evictions says it is becoming normal practice for housing rights to be violated by countries hosting mega-events, such as the Olympics. But, it says the scale of displacement that is taking place in China is unprecedented.
The Center's Executive Director, Salih Booker, tells VOA from 1991 to 1999 China displaced an average of 70,000 people a year to make room for economic and urban development projects.
But during the period since Beijing was awarded the games, he says an average of 165,000 people have been displaced through evictions, demolition of houses and relocation to alternative housing.
He says the process was supposed to involve mediation and tenants were supposed to receive adequate compensation for their homes.
"The compensation rates were most frequently below market value," said Booker. "And, because of the corruption that also was encouraged by the process, by the time families actually received money, the original compensation amount had been reduced by middle men among the municipal authorities and construction companies. In cases where citizens absolutely refused, we have witnesses report forced evictions, often using violent techniques and harassment."
China has signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which protects the right to adequate housing. These rights also are protected under China's national law and constitution.
But Booker says there is no independent judiciary in the country and the judicial system is riddled with corruption. As a consequence, he says there is no legal redress for people who have been thrown out of their homes.
The Housing Rights Organization has harsh words for the International Olympic Committee, which it accuses of being an apologist for the Chinese Government. Booker says the International Olympic Committee has refused to take action against the government's human rights violations and massive displacement of its people.
"We are dismayed that the IOC President has suggested that as a result of the Beijing Olympics, the human rights situation in China has improved," he said. "We believe the evidence is completely to the contrary, particularly with regard to housing rights. So, we feel that it is appropriate to hold the IOC accountable for its role in not acknowledging these problems and not seeking to address them in the case of China."
The Center on Housing Rights and Evictions is calling for the International Olympic Committee to bring pressure on the Chinese government to ensure people who are inadequately compensated for being displaced have some form of redress.
The Organization is also demanding that China immediately halt demolitions and evictions." ... more -
4.7 million Iraqis have been displaced since 2003
Iraq remains one of the most dangerous places in the world. Its refugee crisis is worsening. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, an estimated 4.7 million have been displaced both within and outside Iraq and for many the situation is desperate.
A new report by Amnesty International, Rhetoric and reality: the Iraqi refugee crisis, says that the international community continues to fail to respond to the crisis in a meaningful way. Countries like Jordan and Syria host most of the refugees but are simply not equipped to meet the needs of all those arriving.
Syria alone may be hosting more than a million refugees. As of 2007, only 1 percent of the total Iraqi displaced population was estimated to be in the industrialized world.
To mark World Refugee Day, Amnesty International has called on the international community and, in particular, those states who participated in the US-led invasion of Iraq, to take real steps to alleviate the suffering of those displaced. The organization said these countries must urgently act on their responsibility to assist the host nations and humanitarian organizations operating in the region to support the large numbers of refugees.
Many families are destitute and facing impossible choices and new risks, like having to resort to child labour and the prospect of being forced through circumstances to undertake "voluntary" return to Iraq.
Iraq remains one of the most dangerous places in the world. Its refugee crisis is worsening. According to the United Nations High Comm... more -
Invincible feat. Finale- "Locusts" (docu-music-video)
Detroit based Hip-Hop artists Invincible and Finale rhyme about the impacts of gentrification on the Motor City. This piece includes interviews with community activists discussing displacement and predatory planning versus sustainable development in the D.
Both the song and video for "Locusts" by Invincible feat. Finale, (produced by DJ House Shoes) are from Invincible's debut album Shapeshifters available on www.EMERGENCEmusic.net and www.bling47.com). Detroit based Hip-Hop artists Invincible and Finale rhyme about the impacts of gentrification on the Motor City. This piece includes i... more -
Northern Uganda: A Silent Disaster
It is said Sudan's Darfur region is often overlooked by the media as one of the biggest humanitarian disasters in history. But to the south, an even lesser-known war has raged on in Northern Uganda. And the media have shared very little about this "silent disaster" as well. This unique look at the crisis in Northern Uganda follows a Portland, Oregon musician's journey to share her music and compassion with those who have been left to pick up the pieces in the wake of a decades-long war. It is said Sudan's Darfur region is often overlooked by the media as one of the biggest humanitarian disasters in history. But to the ... more
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Uganda strikes deal with LRA on trials
The Ugandan government has struck a deal with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) about where their leaders will be tried. LRA leaders accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes would be tried by a national court under the terms of the deal.
Many of the people have been charged with horrific crimes – and international warrants have been out for their arrest for more than two and a half years.
As a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC, Uganda has the duty to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigations and prosecutions. In particular, it must cooperate in arresting and surrendering any person charged by the Court, without delay.
Arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and the others who are still alive were issued on 8 July 2005 and Uganda is obliged under international law to arrest and surrender them regardless of any agreement reached in the peace process. They are also obliged to bring to justice all those responsible for crimes under international law in fair trials without the death penalty.
The Rome Statute provides that, once the men have been surrendered to the ICC, the Ugandan government may then apply to have the cases returned to Ugandan courts. However, it would be up to the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC to decide whether Ugandan courts are able and willing to genuinely investigate and prosecute the LRA suspects named in the warrants.
Amnesty International has called for LRA members charged with crimes under international law to be surrendered to the International Criminal Court (ICC) immediately.
“It is not acceptable for the Ugandan government and the LRA to make a deal that circumvents international law,” said Christopher Keith Hall, Senior Legal Adviser in Amnesty International’s International Justice Project. “They must be handed over to the ICC so that their guilt or innocence can be determined once and for all. The people of Uganda deserve no less.
“At the moment, we have no evidence to suggest that even a new court established in Uganda to deal with these cases would be able and willing to do so in fair proceedings that are not a sham.”
During approximately 20 years of fighting between the LRA and the Ugandan government, soldiers on both sides have murdered tens of thousands of people and forcibly displaced about two million people. The Ugandan government has struck a deal with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) about where their leaders will be tried. LRA leaders ac... more -
Not Open to Interpretation - An Iraqi interpreter for the US ARMY tells her story
If you were a college student at a university in Baghdad when the US-led invasion began, the job prospects upon graduating were not too hot. Many Iraqis took jobs as interpreters with the US forces; putting their lives, and those of their families at risk.
A departure from the typical media coverage of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," this pod tells the gut-wrenching story of a young Iraqi's struggle to make ends meet and stay alive. Eventually forced to flee the only home she had ever known, she set sights on a life in the US. But, what she didn't realize was once she left Iraq, the struggle would not soon be over.
She is one, but her story represents many. If you were a college student at a university in Baghdad when the US-led invasion began, the job prospects upon graduating were not to... more -
1.5 million people in Beijing to be displaced for Olympics
Geneva-based housing rights group says about 13,000 people a month are being evicted in time for the Beijing Olympics. Beijing says figures are exaggerated. Geneva-based housing rights group says about 13,000 people a month are being evicted in time for the Beijing Olympics. Beijing says f... more
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Falling Together in New Orleans- The Trailer
This is a long version trailer of the documentary, Falling Together in New Orleans - A Series of Vignettes featuring music by Ani Difranco www.righteousbabe.com
SOLO JOURNALIST & DOCUMENTARY ARTIST Farrah Hoffmire was inspired by grassroots organizing and volunteer efforts in the weeks and months after Hurricane Katrina. She has traveled to New Orleans numerous times to create a solo work that is part art-vignette, part documentary film and part grassroots journalism.
In stark contrast to the failure and corruption stories that have dominated mass-media coverage, Falling Together introduces us to powerful people fighting to save lives, preserve culture and bring a sense of well-being back to New Orleans. Conceived as an ongoing, subscription-based platform to follow events in New Orleans as they unfold over the next few years, it also explores the ongoing complexities of rebuilding in areas of the city still severely damaged -- such as the Lower 9th Ward. The film features music by Ani Difranco as well as some of New Orleanss top musicians.
The film series has been featured at the:
* Oral History Association national conference (Little Rock, AR)
* Langston Hughes African American Film Festival (Seattle, WA)
* Lake Eden Arts Festival (Asheville, NC)
* Zeitgeist Film Series (Tulane University, New Orleans)
* Hurricane Katrina Campus Media Project (worldwide 2007-2008)
*ConvergeSouth Film Festival (Greensboro, NC 2007)
*Ani DiFranco U.S. Winter Tour (SouthEast 2007)
This is a long version trailer of the documentary, Falling Together in New Orleans - A Series of Vignettes featuring music by Ani Difr... more -
Falling Together in New Orleans - Vignette 4
Social Dress New Orleans - 730 After
Takashi Horisaki and a small team of volunteers were working 20-hour days in the 100-degree heat when OPP found them completing an art project in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. Working on a largely abandoned block of the city, they worked with a mission to remind people of "what is still happening" in NOLA two years after the floods.
Takashi's ambitious media project involved the laborious process of covering the surface of the shotgun-style house in latex and cheesecloth to create a replica that itself could be "displaced" as a sculpture.
Falling Together in New Orleans: Vignette 4 looks at the process and motivations and then visits the artist and the sculpture at it's first home in New York City's Socrates Sculpture Park.
Takashi hopes to displace the sculpture across the U.S. and world to raise awareness about the still displaced people of New Orleans struggling to return home.
The film features music by Kevn Kinney. http://www.kevnkinney.com) Social Dress New Orleans - 730 After ... more -
The "Other" Iraq
VC2 producer Hala Alsalman recently traveled to Kurdistan, the northern territories of Iraq, a region considered relatively safe for refugees. According to the UNHCR, 2.3 million Iraqis are internally displaced. That's a record high for refugees globally. VC2 producer Hala Alsalman recently traveled to Kurdistan, the northern territories of Iraq, a region considered relatively safe for r... more
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FEMA is just now taking action?
Are you kidding me? This is just now happening....Federal disaster officials plan to move thousands of hurricane victims out of travel trailers as worries grow that people might have been living for months in government-issued campers contaminated with a carcinogen Are you kidding me? This is just now happening....Federal disaster officials plan to move thousands of hurricane victims out of trave... more
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Displaced People
