#human rights ombudsman

[hostageofeurope]

📽️ Fortunately, the subpoena from the Evelpidon Court, deliberately discarded on the pavement at the distant corner of my Placard by its deliverer on Wednesday, July 05th, 2023, without prior notification, was noticed before it blew away. I was required to be at their Court on July 13th for a deposition.

Being kept waiting for hours before being given an audience, the purpose of their subpoena at the Judge's chamber was revealed to me. It pertained to incidents at the Syntagma Police Station on August 18th, 2021.

Where, in addition to property damages, they physically assaulted me on five occasions. During one incident, they made a gesture alluding to rape, while in another instance, they attempted to suffocate me with a pillow.

I was called in to give yet another recount of those incidents.

Find out more here: 👇

👉🔗 https://chng.it/kcCFLsQgJp

Kindly extend your support to me by signing the Petition, Donating and sharing.

🙏💔🆘

[celestiarambles]

Hi this may divert from my usual content, but as someone with a platform like this I need to speak up about this.

The Philippines-China maritime dispute has been going on for years now, but lately the tensions had been getting more and more worse to the point it’s super concerning now.

Here’s a bit of a history lesson: China claims that the West Philippine Sea is theirs because of the nine-dash line, but the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled in 2016 that that had no basis under international law. Other than that, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) said that China’s historic rights on the territory no longer exists. So basically, the West Philippine Sea belongs to the Philippines.

However, China rejects that decision. They have harassed, intimidated, and even used armed conflict on our vessels. China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels had even used a water cannon against our ships TWICE, in which one incident resulted to getting seven Navy personnel wounded.

Worse, there are also allegations of a spy being planted here. Alice Guo, one of the mayors in Tarlac (a city in the Philippines) had mysteriously risen to power despite having no prior experience or connections whatsoever. Literally no one even knew her in her town. She just claims to live in a simple farm. However, she owns a luxury sports car and a helicopter. And somehow, everything regarding her past is inconsistent; she doesn’t know what her mother’s name was, who she grew up with, no school documents, hell she didn’t even have a birth certificate up until she was 17 years old. This was all brought up because she was involved in the criminal activities (like human trafficking, scams, etc.) of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) which also has the Chinese involved.

The US has also been taking advantage of the situation by deploying 9 EDCA sites (military bases) for a supposed military pact, but former US Marine Intelligence Officer Scott Ritter has admitted to using the Philippines as a tool to gain leverage over the Chinese.

What has our government done regarding this dispute? They’re too busy infighting to focus on the bigger picture and on how to settle on an agreement with China.

I just want to take the time to speak up and make people more aware about the ongoing dispute. I know that this has been going on for several years now, but my memory and knowledge about the topic may be a bit wonky so I apologize in advance if I had said anything wrong. You can add more information regarding this or correct the information that I've given if I phrased things wrong.

Regardless, I do know one thing: the West Philippine Sea is ours.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-china-sea-why-are-china-philippines-tensions-heating-up-2024-04-11/

https://www.youtube.com/live/aOrmFJXyAVI?si=P9rPJkJM6BF0NIbW (check 1:57:00)

[irithnova]

The Russian state using ethnic minorities as cannon fodder - with a focus on Buryats

Article written in 2022, update on the Free Buryatia Foundation in September 2023 given at the end of the post.

Putin announced on October 14th 2022 that by the end of October, his partial mobilisation process would be complete

The recruitment target was 300,000. 222,000 were recruited, and it was claimed that there'd be no more plans for future recruitment

The mobilisation process soaked nation wide outrage which lead to mass protests.

It drew in criticism from some of the Russian political elite

The mobilisation process disproportionately affected ethnic minorities/impoverished regions (many impoverished regions have a high ethnic minority population)

Tuva Republic

Regions that held high populations of ethnic minorities bared the brunt of war-related deaths.

Both Ukrainian media and authorities have levelled accusations at Russian ethnic minorities - that they committed war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine

This accusations was made in May 2022 by Lydmyla Denisova, Ukrainian ombudsman for human rights

Buryats and Chechens were being accused of this

This was a form of scapegoating (not to say they 0 ethnic minorities have committed war crimes in Ukraine of course)

The Free Buryat Foundation investigated this and produced a report that challenged the notion that Buryats were ever sent to Bucha, let alone being responsible for the war crimes committed

Victoria Maladaeva is the vice president of the Free Buryatia Foundation.

She said:

Dagestan, Tuva Republic and Buryatia Republic have the highest death tolls

Moscow, with 17 million, had >50 deaths.

Buryatia with only 980,000 had 364

A Buryat is 7.8 x more likely to die in the war compared to an ethnic Russian.

A Tuvan is 10.4x more likely

The biggest losses were at the beginning of the war and numbers gradually decreased.

Mobilisation was first and foremost carried out in ethnic republics

The day Putin announced this, authorities came to Buryatia at night, went into people's homes and took them from their beds.

No one was given draft notices

They even took men with multiple children, men from the same family

Endangered ethnic groups reside in Dagestan

There are very small communities of those people with populations of around 13,000

Despite this, those minorities were still drafted

There are also very small communities in the Sakha Republic.

They are so remote, helicopters are needed to be called for medical treatment

They almost never come because of how remote these communities are

Funnily enough, helicopters came immediately to draft those people upon Putin's announcement

Putin is a Russian imperialist through and through

None Russians are treated like second class citizens

Russian cultural chauvinism is seen even in small things - such as names

Putin would frequently mispronounce Kazakhstan's president's name. If you have an ethnic Buryat name for example, Russians are reluctant to use it, instead assigning you an "easier" Russian name

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

Unfortunately, many of the people of Buryatia believe in the Russian narrative about Nazi ideology in Ukraine

It is one of the missions of the free Buryatia Foundation to help Buryats understand that this is Russian propaganda

The focus on Buryat/ethnic minority war crimes has a racial element

When an ethnic minority commits a war crime, their ethnicity is singled out

It should not matter the ethnicity of a war criminal

78 Buryat soldiers from the 11th air assault brigade were barred from terminating their contract

They were imprisoned in Luhansk.

Only Ilya Kaminskiy returned. The fate of the other men is unknown

The Free Buryatia Foundation knows they cannot help everyone but they do their best. They help people in terminating their contracts for example and have been quite successful in this.

The Free Buryatia Foundation was established to counter Russian propaganda and to protest the war.

People worldwide took an interest to this, so they founded the free Buryatia Foundation.

The Free Buryatia Foundation is the first ethnic anti war organisation in Russia

They aided in founding anti war organisations in other ethnic regions such as Tuva, Kalmykia, Udmurtia, Sakha

Many Buryats fled to Mongolia and Kazakhstan

Some men were able to come back after being drafted, some were not

The economic situation for Buryatia is dire. It ranked 81st out of 85 of Russia's regions when it came to living standards

Buryats had to spend money on a list of supplies for war that Russia did not provide them

Very recently, on September 1st, Russia banned the Free Buryatia Foundation, labelling them as undesirable and anti Russian.

Here is the website for the Free Buryatia Foundation:

And here is where you can donate:

Please spread around or give what you can.

[vague-humanoid]

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus is calling on Gov. Glenn Youngkin to investigate. 

A number of inmates at a western Virginia state prison have intentionally burned themselves in response to alleged abuse, prompting state lawmakers to call for immediate action and an investigation. 

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus (VLBC) on Tuesday urged Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the Virginia Department of Corrections Director Chadwick Dotson to investigate allegations of abuse and mistreatment at Red Onion State Supermax Prison in Wise County. 

Since Sept. 15, at least 12 Black men have burned themselves in response to alleged systemic abuse, neglect, and human rights violations at Red Onion, according to the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. The self-burnings are “acts of desperation” by inmates fed up with alleged racism and intolerable conditions and come after a hunger strike at Red Onion earlier this year that lasted more than 40 days.

Asked by The Dogwood if Youngkin planned to investigate, Youngkin’s Press Secretary Christian Martinez shared the following statement: “Governor Youngkin is aware of the six inmates at Red Onion State Prison who burned themselves using improvised devices that were created by tampering with electrical outlets. They were treated for electrical burns at the Department’s secure medical facility at the VCU Medical Center and cleared to return to the facility.”

A spokesperson for Attorney General Jason Miyares declined to comment, citing a pending investigation. The spokesperson did not clarify any details about the nature of the investigation. 

The Virginia Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment.

Advocates say the problems at Red Onion have been known for years. 

“The real, fundamental issue over the conditions that led to people taking such desperate actions – that is not a new story about Red Onion,” said Chris Kaiser, policy director of ACLU of Virginia, in an interview with The Dogwood. “It is well past time for some action.”

Prisoners at Red Onion have allegedly been subject to racial and physical abuse from correctional officers and have had medicine withheld from them. Prisoners there have reportedly dealt with excessive stays in solitary confinement, including the case of Tyquine Lee, who spent over 600 days in solitary.

Advocates have called on Youngkin to reconsider his position on solitary confinement, even though the governor vetoed legislation earlier this year that would have banned it in Virginia. The debate around solitary confinement can get bogged down in euphemisms and definitions in a way that advocates say overlooks the inhumane treatment of isolating prisoners. 

In his veto statement, Youngkin said, “imposing arbitrary timeframes for stays in restorative housing, including investigation time, restricts the staff’s ability to maintain order and security.” Youngkin also highlighted his support for the creation of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman, which has independent oversight of the state’s prisons. 

Del. Holly Seibold of Vienna visited Red Onion earlier this year to get a first-hand look at conditions there. The visit made her question whether Red Onion was doing anything to actually rehabilitate its prisoners.

“We should be holding them accountable, but our goal should be to rehabilitate them,” Seibold said in an interview with The Dogwood. “How is this going to happen if the prison is structured in a way where they’re just being punished 24/7.” 

[mariacallous]

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has refused to expel the Russian Red Cross (RRC) from its membership, prompting Ukraine to inform the organization’s sponsors of this decision, reported Ukraine’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets.

Lubinets noted that he had repeatedly informed the ICRC leadership about the alleged crimes of the Russian Red Cross and demanded a transparent investigation and the organization’s exclusion from the Federation.

In the spring, the ICRC established a supervisory board to investigate the activities of the Russian Red Cross. Lubinets passed evidence of Russian violations to IFRC President Kate Forbes. However, the Federation’s report on the Russian Red Cross found “no violations”.

The report did acknowledge Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories and confirmed that the Russian Red Cross had visited these regions.

“The Russian Red Cross should only operate within its own territory. Their actions violate the ICRC Charter and Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Yet, the Federation justified these actions as “innovative approaches” and “humanitarian reasons,” Lubinets added.

The report also failed to mention theft of Ukrainian Red Cross property in occupied Crimea and the Russian Red Cross’s involvement in the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

As a result, Lubinets announced plans to inform all donors who fund the ICRC, urging them to reconsider their contributions to an organization that, according to him, is covering up Russian crimes. He also proposed redirecting these funding to the Ukrainian Red Cross.

“In my view, the ICRC has become an advocate for the bloody Russian Red Cross. Those who shield criminals become criminals themselves,” Lubinets added.

Earlier, Ukrainian ombudsman described Red Cross’s lack of reaction to Russia’s crimes as “ostrich mentality”.

[panimoonchild]

Russian culture is islamophobia

"This was stated by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets on Tuesday, 9 April. Ukraine proposed a 1-to-4 exchange formula, meaning that the number of prisoners returned by Russia would exceed the number returned by the Ukrainian side. The list offered by Ukraine to the Russian side for exchange includes 1 Catholic and 146 Muslims. However, Russia ignored the proposed lists. "As we can see, even the Pope's message did not motivate the Russians to carry out the exchange either under the "all for all" formula or under other conditions," Lubinets said. He added that "despite such unreasonable behavior on the part of the Russian side," Ukraine is ready for an exchange under the "all-for-all" formula on the occasion of Orthodox Easter. This proposal was sent to the Russian side. Lubinets will additionally address the Russian Ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova".

[galadriel1010]

Russia praises Azerbaijan’s ‘constructive’ approach to return of Nagorno-Karabakh refugees https://oc-media.org/russia-praises-azerbaijans-constructive-approach-to-return-of-nagorno-karabakh-refugees/

This 'creative approach' is demolishing their homes and cultural heritage and building a university to encourage young Azeri citizens to colonise the annexed region, and all the while saying that the Armenian citizens can come back and become Azerbaijani any time they want.

[tomorrowusa]

Trump's pal Vladimir Putin is back to bombing children's hospitals in Ukraine. Putin can't understand why Ukrainians won't let him take over their country. So he's killing as many of their children as possible as retribution.

Russian missile strike partially destroyed a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday, causing terrified patients and their families to flee for their lives, as officials fear more people could be trapped beneath the rubble. Moscow launched a brazen daytime aerial assault on targets in cities across Ukraine during morning rush hour, killing at least 36 people and injuring 137 others, according to Ukraine’s emergency service. The large scale bombardment struck areas in the capital, as well as in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. In an update on Telegram, the emergency service said the latest figure included the number of dead and injured in the capital, which now stands at 22 people killed. Two people were killed and at least 16 were injured in the strike on Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt hospital. The facility is Ukraine’s largest children’s medical center and has been vital in the care of some of the sickest children from across the country. Every year, around 7,000 surgeries – including treatments for cancer and hematological diseases – are conducted at the hospital, according to Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets. Videos from the scene showed volunteers working with police and security services to sift through the rubble as smoke billowed from the hospital, as staff described how they tried to rush children to safety in the wake of the attack. Ukraine’s health minister Viktor Liashko said intensive care units, oncology departments and surgery units had been damaged.

US Republicans and others from the radical right around the world back Putin. They bizarrely see him as "strong" despite the incompetent way he's conducted his war and the enormous losses Russia has sustained.

To give you a ground level view of how Russia is actually doing in its shabby unprovoked war, the Washington Post published intercepts of communications by Russian troops during their failed Kharkiv offensive.

Russian ground troops are poorly trained, poorly armed, and poorly supplied. Putin just mindlessly throws troops at Ukraine the way Trump throws ketchup at walls.

The Russian population is kept ignorant of massive losses and is fed histrionic nationalistic propaganda on state TV. Internet access to Western news sites blocked. Putin mouthpieces dressed like James Bond villains openly promote additional war crimes.

Russia is not a normal country and it is not led by a normal person.

Despite what tankies and far right Putin apologists may tell you, Russia has no fucking business in Ukraine.

[babylon-crashing]

Reporting as it is happening from OneArmenia.

Artsakh is under attack again by Azerbaijan. Multiple civilian casualties and wounded reported.

At approximately 1:00pm local time [9/19/2023], the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched a wide-scale attack against the Artsakh Republic. There are reports of shelling on the Line of Contact, in the residential areas of the capital Stepanakert, in towns and villages throughout the Republic. Artsakh’s Defense Ministry reports that Azerbaijani forces are trying to advance into the heart of Artsakh. 

 According to the Artsakh Human Rights Ombudsman, there are at least 2 casualties including one child, and 11 injuries including 8 children. For live English-language coverage of the situation in Artsakh and Armenia, follow EVN Report and Civilnet.

To our friends and supporters abroad, even if you’ve already alerted your representatives in your respective countries, we ask you to please take 5 minutes today to raise the alarm bell over what is happening in Artsakh right now. See the resources below:

US: Armenian National Committee of America CANADA:Armenian National Committee of Canada AUSTRALIA:Armenian National Committee of Australia EUROPE:European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy

You can also follow these individuals who are reporting live from Artsakh about the situation, and in some cases, daily life there: Siranush Sargsyan, Marut Vanyan,Artak Beglaryan, Neil Hauer, Tatevik Hayrapetyan, Tigran Grigoryan, Nina Shahverdyan, Ashot Gabrielyan, and Mary Black.

[cathkaesque]

Peru’s human rights ombudsman has confirmed that the death toll from last night’s massacre in Juliaca has risen to 17. The protesters were killed while participating in the general strike against the coup regime led by President Dina Boluarte.

The statement from the ombudsman reads: “At nine o��clock at night on January 9, 2023, we recorded 17 deaths in Juliaca, and one further death due to events related to the road blockade in Chucuito, Puno”. The total number dead since the coup is now at 46.

The general strike against the coup is now in its 7th day, with barricades cutting off highways at 45 different points across the country. The indigenous Aymara region of Puno, which borders Bolivia, has been the epicenter of social protest. Other hotspots include; Arequipa, Cusco, Tacna, and Amazonian cities such as Pucallpa and Ucayali.

Following the deaths last night, Prime Minister Alberto Otárola announced that the government will not resign and will continue the repression in Puno in order to ‘restore order’. Otárola asked the Prosecutor’s Office “to capture and prosecute those who are destroying the country financed by foreign interests and by the dark money of drug trafficking.”

The protests began on December 7th, when security forces arrested President Castillo, who is still being held without charge in Lima. The national congress, in which right-wing parties have a majority, installed Dina Boluarte as President until elections in 2024. Protesters want the resignation of Boluarte, immediate elections, and also a constituent assembly in order to draft a new constitution.

[jamesadomian]

Friday Roundup! News moving fast …

- 80k out of 120k indigenous Armenians violently removed from Artsakh by the #ButcherofBaku

- After the 9 month blockade many have died in the 3-day traffic jam as they flee #theTurks

- Countless atrocities committed and celebrated by Azerbaijan in the towns and villages of Artsakh: unknown thousands of beheadings, torture, kids, etc.

- NYT, BBC, most other Western news actively excuse Azerbaijan’s #EthnicCleansing because their governments don’t want to be required to do anything by international law

- Azerbaijan illegally kidnapped famous philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan as he was trying to flee ethnic cleansing, he is most likely being tortured in captivity

- Turks have a kill list of 400 Armenians in Artsakh that they are grabbing as they flee through Lachin to Armenia, media and political figures including several reporters and Artak Beglaryan, the human rights ombudsman for Artsakh, who is disabled

- Azeri military is destroying countless Armenian cultural sites as they devour a 3k year civilization

- Almost all the human rights groups and UN are silent due to Azeri Turkish bribes

- Western news actively required by their governments to pretend this isn’t genocide

[pannaginip]

Four youth human rights defenders filed civil and criminal complaints against former 59th Infantry Battalion commander Lt. Col. Ernesto Teneza Jr., 16 military officers, and five other witnesses before the Office of the Ombudsman on July 19.

At least 22 individuals face charges of perjury, grave coercion, grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service, oppression, and unfair discrimination based on political affiliation.

Their complaint stemmed from charges filed by Sgt. Jean Claude Bajaro and Cpl. Ivan Neil Ogatis against Pecayo, Rementilla, and Rubia, which were dismissed by prosecutors in Santa Rosa City and Antipolo City.

“We are here at the Ombudsman to tell the military that they cannot escape their lies and abuses. We will always be ready to give them their day in court,” said Charm Maranan, spokesperson for Defend Southern Tagalog.

Maranan also criticized the use of the anti terror and terrorism financing laws to target humanitarian work and activism.

2024 Jul. 21

[ohsalome]

Quote from Lubinets: "I sent an urgent letter to the members of the European Ombudsman Institute to withdraw from this association. This step was a consequence of the fact that two Ukrainian children who were in the territory of the Republic of Austria due to Russian armed aggression, and were taken to the territory of the Russian Federation by a "human rights defender of the European Ombudsman Institute (EOI)" .

According to media reports, this was done by Dr Josef Siegele, Secretary General of the EOI, member of the EOI board and Deputy Ombudsman of Tyrol. The Austrian authorities have launched an official investigation into the actions of Josef Siegele".

[djuvlipen]

02/17/2023 Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has condemned the approach taken by the Health Ministry in connection with the compensation being paid to illegally sterilized women. He has called the behavior of the ministry bureaucrats too bureaucratic and unhelpful.

Fiala’s statement was made for public broadcaster Czech Television’s “Reporters” program. The victims of illegal sterilizations and the nonprofit organizations aiding them have been criticizing the compensation mechanism for some time because many cases have been denied.

“I have ascertained that the bureaucrats at the Health Ministry are looking at the compensation for the women who have been affected by forced sterilization in a very unhelpful, too bureaucratic way, they want them to document matters that the women concerned objectively simply cannot,” the Prime Minister said in a text message sent to the Czech Television “Reporters” program. Of 525 women who have applied so far, just 243 have been awarded compensation, or less than half.

While bureaucrats are still handling some of the applications, more than 160 women have already been denied compensation. “They want the women to submit unambiguous evidence in the form of medical records, but many of them cannot because the documentation no longer exists,” human rights expert Monika Šimůnková explained to Czech Television.

“If medical records, as one of the main pieces of evidence, are missing, then the Health Ministry must follow the law and the administrative proceedings must unfortunately be assessed as having failed,” admitted Deputy Health Minister Josef Pavlovic (Pirates). Some women, of course, do not have these medical records because the originals have been shredded by the organizations maintaining them.

Some of the women whose applications have been denied by the ministry then turned to the courts, and the first-instance courts have agreed with them in at least two cases. “At this moment there are already at least two judgments overturning the Health Ministry’s decisions as too strict and too formal. The ministry has appealed those judgments through a cassation complaint and is awaiting the Supreme Administrative Court’s verdict,” Czech Television reports.

For example, Vlasta Holubová, who was sterilized against her will at Fifejdy Hospital in Ostrava at the age of 24 in 1988, has succeeded before the first-instance court. “They did this because they wanted to abate [the reproduction of] the population of Roma. That was a disgrace, including in the families, because among the Roma, a woman is rich because she gives birth, because she has children, and she is honored for it,” she told news server iRozhlas.cz.

Pavlovic said the ministry is researching the reasons for which some applications were rejected and is seeking amicable solutions, if possible. Illegal sterilizations on the territory of the former Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic happened in the 20th century, but cases from the 21st century are also documented.

In 2005, then-ombudsman Otakar Motejl warned of this practice and also began to speak for the first time of the possibility that the victims could be compensated. His report was followed by many years of struggle by NGOs and the victims themselves until, on 1 January 2022, the law took effect that awards a one-time payment of CZK 300,000 [EUR 12,660] to the victims of illegal sterilizations.

[dougielombax]

Just leaving this here.

Feel free to reblog.

Azerbaijan needs to be held accountable for this despicable shit starting yesterday!

And here is a link to the report in question.

Reblog the shit out of this.